Chapter 207: To own a battlefield

Ru Yi had arrived at the underground training chamber before dawn, long before the servants began moving through the corridors above them.

She stood silently before the Eclipse Relic with her hands clasped behind her back, studying the ancient crescent-shaped stone as though she were trying to understand an opponent she intended to defeat.

The chamber was almost completely dark, illuminated only by the faint blue glow of the spiritual formations carved into the floor. The relic hovered above its stone pedestal, motionless and cold, yet Ru Yi could feel something within it responding to her presence.

She had barely slept.

The previous night, she had thought about the message she had sent to Ashen Fortress and the way Qingyue’s face had appeared through the darkness. She had told herself that she only wanted them to know she was alive, but deep down she knew that wasn’t the whole truth.

Ru Yi hated that she still cared.

"You’re here early." General Sheng’s voice came from the entrance.

Ru Yi turned to find him walking toward her, his dark robes moving quietly across the stone floor. "I couldn’t sleep," she replied.

General Sheng stopped beside the relic and studied her. "That makes two of us."

Ru Yi raised an eyebrow. "You’ve been thinking about yesterday?"

"I’ve been thinking about what you are capable of."

Her expression immediately became guarded. "I told you that I don’t want to discuss them."

"I wasn’t talking about them." General Sheng gestured toward the Eclipse Relic. "I was talking about this."

Ru Yi looked toward the relic. "What will happen today?"

"Today," Sheng explained, "we move beyond individual combat."

Ru Yi turned back toward him. "What does that mean?"

Instead of answering, Sheng raised one hand. The large doors behind Ru Yi opened, and twenty soldiers entered the chamber.

They were dressed in dark armor, carrying spears, swords and shields, and each one possessed enough spiritual energy to make Ru Yi instinctively straighten.

She looked at them, then back at Sheng. "You want me to fight all of them?"

"No," Sheng replied calmly. "I want you to command them."

Ru Yi stared at him. "I’ve never commanded an army."

"You don’t need to command an army yet." He gestured toward the soldiers. "You only need to learn how to connect with them."

Ru Yi frowned. "Connect?"

"Your shadow can establish a temporary bond with another person’s shadow."

"I know that already."

"Then you know what comes next." He walked toward the first soldier and pointed toward the man’s shadow.

"Your shadow contains a reflection of your spiritual energy, just as theirs do. If you establish a connection between them, you can temporarily strengthen their bodies, senses and spiritual abilities."

Ru Yi’s eyes narrowed. "And control them?"

"No," Sheng answered immediately. "Not unless you deliberately force the connection beyond its natural limit, and I strongly advise against doing that."

"Why?"

"Because a forced connection damages both the bearer and the person being controlled."

Ru Yi considered his words. "So I can make them stronger without taking away their will."

"That is the purpose."

A small smile touched her lips. "That could be useful."

Sheng’s expression became slightly more serious. "It could also be dangerous."

Ru Yi looked toward him. "Everything about my shadow is dangerous."

"Which is why you need to learn restraint."

Ru Yi didn’t answer. She walked toward the nearest soldier. The man lowered his weapon and waited.

She extended her hand. Her shadow stretched across the floor, slowly crawling toward his. The moment the darkness touched his shadow, Ru Yi felt something strange.

His heartbeat.

His breathing.

The movement of spiritual energy through his body.

She immediately pulled away.

The soldier stumbled.

"What happened?" she asked, looking confused. "It felt like he was inside my body."

General Sheng folded his arms. "You felt his spiritual core. And that happened because you opened the connection too quickly."

Ru Yi looked at the soldier.

"Again."

She extended her hand once more. This time, she allowed the shadow to move slowly.

The darkness touched his shadow and a faint pulse passed through the chamber. The soldier’s posture suddenly changed as his eyes widened.

"My strength..."

Ru Yi could feel the difference too. His spiritual energy had become denser, his senses sharper, and even his breathing seemed steadier.

General Sheng gave her an approving nod. "Hold it."

Ru Yi maintained the connection for several seconds before withdrawing.

The soldier blinked. "That was incredible."

Ru Yi looked at Sheng. "How long can I maintain the enhancement?"

"That depends on how much energy you can control."

Ru Yi glanced at the remaining soldiers. "Can I connect all of them?"

General Sheng’s expression changed. "Eventually."

"I want to try now."

"Twenty people at once?"

The faster she can grow her powers, the closer her reunion with the triplets. "Yes." Ru Yi’s gaze hardened.

For several seconds, Sheng said nothing. Then he stepped back. "Very well."

The soldiers moved into formation. Ru Yi walked into the center of the chamber and closed her eyes. She summoned her shadow and the darkness spread beneath her feet.

Then it divided. One tendril moved toward the first soldier. Another reached toward the second. Then the third. Within moments, twenty strands of darkness connected Ru Yi to every soldier in the room.

Her breathing became labored, the sensation was overwhelming. Twenty heartbeats. Twenty spiritual cores. Twenty different streams of energy flowing through her at once.

She almost lost control.

"Ru Yi," Sheng warned from across the chamber, "slow your breathing."

She obeyed. She remembered what he had taught her. Don’t fight the connection...Understand it.

Ru Yi steadied herself. The darkness stopped trembling and the soldiers suddenly moved. Their weapons struck almost simultaneously, their movements coordinated with startling precision.

Ru Yi opened her eyes. She could see through them. She could feel where each soldier stood without turning her head.

When one shifted his weight, she felt it. When another raised his sword, she knew where the attack would land before the weapon moved.

A smile slowly appeared on her face. "This is incredible," she murmured. She remained silent for several moments before asking, "How many people could I eventually connect to?"

Sheng’s expression became unreadable. "If the Eclipse Relic reaches its full potential, perhaps hundreds."

Ru Yi’s eyes widened. "And beyond that?"

"Thousands, perhaps." The thought settled heavily inside her. An entire army connected to her shadow. An army that could move as one. An army whose strength could be amplified by her presence alone.

Ru Yi looked toward the Eclipse Relic. "What would happen if I connected an entire battlefield?"

General Sheng’s smile was faint. "You would become the battlefield."

Ru Yi stared at him.

Finally, she understood why he had searched for her. Why he had been willing to risk so much to find the bearer of the shadow. But another thought followed.

If her shadow could strengthen an army, then whoever controlled the shadow controlled the army. Ru Yi had no intention of becoming anyone’s puppet.

She turned toward General Sheng. "There is something I want to know."

"What is it?"

"If the relic can amplify my shadow," she began carefully, "can I eventually control the relic itself?"

Sheng was silent, but only for a moment.

But Ru Yi noticed. "You hesitated."

His eyes narrowed. "You notice too much."

"I’ve learned to."

Sheng walked closer. "The Eclipse Relic responds to its bearer."

"And I’m the bearer."

"For now."

Ru Yi’s expression changed. "For now?"

"Power is never permanently possessed," Sheng explained. "It has to be maintained."

Ru Yi understood the warning. She also understood the challenge. He believed he was teaching her how to become powerful enough to serve his ambitions. He didn’t realize that every lesson was also teaching her how to eventually stand without him.

Ru Yi looked toward the twenty soldiers. Then she looked at the Eclipse Relic. Then at the shadow beneath her feet.

She had spent her entire life believing that power was something dangerous that needed to be hidden. Now she understood something different.

Power was only dangerous when someone else held the reins. And Ru Yi intended to make certain those reins belonged to her.