THE CRIPPLED SON-IN-LAW UNLOCKED IMMORTAL CULTIVATION

Chapter 10: The Voice Behind the Seal

“Don't let them open the door. If they do, none of you will leave this place alive.”

The warning still hung over us when Zhao Lei raised his weapon and stepped toward the sealed entrance. Han immediately ordered him to stop, but the younger cultivator barely glanced at him. His attention remained fixed on the stone stairs, where the missing caretaker might still be trapped.

“If someone is alive down there, we're leaving him to die,” Zhao Lei said. “I'm not returning to the family with nothing but a frightening voice and a broken instrument.”

Han blocked his path. “We have an injured guard and a formation we don't understand. We report what happened and bring someone qualified to deal with it.”

“And what if the caretaker is still alive when they arrive?”

“Then we rescue him properly.”

Their argument was reasonable, but neither man understood what troubled me most. The voice had called me by name before anyone could have told it who I was, and the primordial entity inside me had gone silent at precisely the same moment.

I had never visited this property before. Whatever waited beneath it had no obvious reason to recognize me, unless the energy that had reacted to my presence was connected to the power I had awakened beneath the Zhao estate.

I wanted answers, but I had survived long enough to understand that curiosity could be as dangerous as fear.

“Don't open it,” I told Zhao Lei. “The energy nearly brought the building down once. If you disturb the seal again, we might not get another chance to escape.”

He turned on me. “Since when do you give orders to cultivators?”

“Since you nearly got everyone buried under a broken ceiling.”

The guard who had been struck by the earlier surge was struggling to stand, and even Zhao Lei could not pretend he had escaped unharmed. His protective barrier had weakened, leaving a thin line of blood at the corner of his mouth.

He lowered his weapon slightly but did not put it away. “You seem very interested in keeping that entrance closed. Perhaps you know more than you're telling us.”

“I know that the last time someone touched it, you nearly lost control of your own feet.”

His jaw tightened, but Han stepped between us before the argument could grow worse.

“We're wasting time,” the steward said. “Everyone away from the stairs. We secure the entrance and leave.”

As the others moved back, I watched Han collect the inspection papers from his leather folder. He checked the pages twice before placing them inside again, taking more care than the situation seemed to require.

Something about his behavior bothered me. He had been cautious from the moment we arrived, which made sense for an experienced steward, but he had also seemed unusually concerned about the underground chamber before the first surge occurred.

I could not accuse him of anything without evidence, so I decided to ask a question instead.

“Han, may I see the inspection order?”

He looked at me. “Why?”

“I want to confirm the property's designation. If we report this incident, the details should be accurate.”

For a moment, he seemed reluctant to hand it over. Then he removed the document and passed it to me.

The order carried Grandfather Zhao's seal, and the instructions at the top matched what I had been told at the estate. We were to inspect the disturbance, assess the condition of the property, and report any danger to the family's cultivation resources.

I checked the seal carefully. The wax appeared genuine, but its surface had a faint unevenness that suggested it might have been pressed down more than once.

“Was this opened before we arrived?” I asked.

Han reached for the paper. “I reviewed it during the journey. Why?”

“The seal looks disturbed.”

“Then perhaps it was damaged when the order was prepared. I received it directly from the family office.”

His explanation was possible, but his quick answer did not settle my doubts. I returned the document without mentioning what I had noticed.

Before I could ask anything else, the ground vibrated beneath our feet.

The sealed entrance released a deep rumble, and the monitoring device in the guard's hand flashed red before its screen went dark. A wave of spiritual energy swept across the room, throwing Zhao Lei backward and forcing Han to grip a pillar for support.

The injured guard stumbled toward the stairs. A second surge was building beneath him, gathering along the same hidden current I had redirected earlier.

I moved instinctively, drawing a narrow thread of primordial energy and guiding it across the current's path. The force shifted away from the guard just before it struck, slamming into an empty section of wall instead.

Stone fragments scattered across the floor, and pain spread from my palm to my shoulder. I hid my trembling hand inside my sleeve, but Zhao Lei had already turned toward me.

“You moved before the energy changed,” he said. “How did you know where it would strike?”

“I saw the guard standing in its path.”

“That doesn't explain how you moved him out of danger without touching him.”

“I didn't move him. The energy changed direction.”

Zhao Lei studied me with growing suspicion, while Han hurried to help the injured guard. I had prevented another serious injury, but I had also given Zhao Lei a reason to question what he had seen.

The primordial entity remained silent when I tried to reach it. I could sense its presence, yet it offered no explanation for the reaction beneath the property or the warning that had come from the sealed chamber.

For the first time since our bond began, I wondered whether it was deliberately withholding information that could affect my survival.

Han finished checking the injured guard and ordered everyone to retreat beyond the damaged building. This time, Zhao Lei did not argue. His confidence had been shaken by the disturbance, and he seemed more concerned about escaping than proving his courage.

I supported the guard on one side while Han helped him toward the entrance. Once we reached the outer yard, I looked back at the sealed chamber and tried to understand why the energy had changed direction when I approached.

The voice had warned us not to open the door, but that did not mean it wanted to protect us. A prisoner might be desperate to escape, while something dangerous could just as easily invent a story to make us hesitate.

We needed a specialist, someone capable of examining the seal without triggering another surge. Until then, opening the entrance would be reckless.

“We should secure the property and request help from the family,” I said. “No one goes underground, and no one touches the seal again. If the disturbance spreads, we withdraw completely.”

Han considered my suggestion before nodding. “That's the safest option. I'll send the report as soon as we reach the vehicle.”

Zhao Lei looked displeased, but he finally lowered his weapon. “If the caretaker is dead, I'm holding whoever approved this assignment responsible.”

I said nothing. I was beginning to suspect that the assignment had been designed to test more than the property's condition, although I had no proof that Grandfather Zhao knew what lay beneath it.

As we prepared to leave, the voice returned.

“Ryan Shaw.”

I stopped beside the vehicle, and the others turned toward the entrance.

“You said you wanted answers,” the voice continued. “Then listen carefully. The power inside you is not the same as the energy surrounding this place.”

My heart tightened. The speaker knew something about my cultivation, but I could not tell whether it understood the primordial entity or merely recognized the unusual energy it had awakened.

“How do you know what's inside me?” I called toward the chamber.

There was a pause, followed by a faint scraping sound beneath the stones.

“The seal was never built to keep something out,” the voice replied. “It was built to keep something contained.”

Before I could ask another question, the voice fell silent.

I looked at Han, who had gone pale, then at Zhao Lei, whose weapon was raised again. Neither man appeared to understand the full meaning of the warning, but both knew we had discovered something far more serious than a damaged cultivation station.

Han opened his folder and began preparing the report. I asked to see the inspection order once more, claiming I needed to confirm the property's designation before we left.

He hesitated, then handed it over.

This time, I noticed a second line beneath the original instructions. The ink was darker and fresher, and the writing ordered the team to inspect the underground chamber if unusual energy was detected.

The added instruction bore the Zhao family seal.

I looked up. “Who added this?”

Han stared at the paper. “That wasn't there when I first read the order.”

“You just said you reviewed it during the journey.”

“I reviewed the assignment, not every line. I didn't notice the addition.”

His answer sounded defensive, but I could not determine whether he was lying or genuinely surprised. Someone might have altered the document before it reached him, or he might be hiding his involvement. Either possibility left us with a dangerous problem.

The primordial entity finally stirred.

“Someone wanted you to reach that door.”

I tightened my grip on the order. “Who?”

It gave no answer.

Behind us, three knocks echoed from beneath the stone entrance. The sound was followed by a low grinding noise, and the sealed slab began to shift.

I turned toward the property as a narrow gap opened between the stone and the frame. Dust spilled across the stairs, and the energy around the entrance rose sharply.

Then I felt something answer the knocking from inside my own body.

The primordial power surged toward my palm without my permission, and a matching pulse rolled through the ground beneath our feet.

I tried to suppress it, but the energy beneath the property responded again, stronger than before.

The stone door continued opening. And whatever waited below had just recognized me.