THE CRIPPLED SON-IN-LAW UNLOCKED IMMORTAL CULTIVATION

Chapter 20: The Voice Beneath Property Seven

The communication device continued playing my voice long after the servant lowered it. The words were unmistakable, but the fear beneath them was unfamiliar.

“Don't let me out.”

I took the device and replayed the message. A faint metallic tapping followed the final word, three uneven knocks that reminded me of the sealed chamber beneath Property Seven.

“When did this begin?” I asked.

“Only a few minutes ago, sir. The device belonged to the caretaker. It stopped transmitting after the inspection team disappeared, then started again without anyone touching it.”

The primordial entity stirred inside me.

Do not answer it. That voice is carrying an imprint, not merely a recording.

I kept my expression steady. “Can you tell where the transmission came from?”

The servant shook his head. “The signal came through the estate receiver, but its source was listed as Property Seven.”

Before I could question him further, footsteps sounded outside. Grandfather Zhao entered with Elder Wu and two guards, his face already set in the hard expression he wore whenever something threatened his authority.

“Give me the device.”

I handed it over. He listened once, then replayed the message without looking away from the screen. The tapping sounded again, and his fingers tightened.

“Who else has heard this?” he demanded.

“Only the servant and me.”

“Keep it that way. No one discusses this transmission outside this room.”

His gaze settled on me. “Have you returned to Property Seven since the inspection?”

“No.”

“Have you touched anything taken from that place?”

“I have not.”

He watched me as if he expected my answer to change. I held his gaze, hiding that the chamber had reacted to me before.

Grandfather Zhao turned to Elder Wu. “Gather six experienced cultivators. Take formation tools and medical supplies. No one enters the underground chamber until I arrive.”

Elder Wu bowed. “Should we inform Master Shen?”

“Not yet. I want to know what is happening before more people hear about it.”

The patriarch slipped the device into his robe. His decision told me enough. He was not merely investigating a strange transmission; he wanted to reach Property Seven before anyone outside the Zhao family learned what had awakened there.

As the others left, I stepped toward him. “You recognized the sound.”

His eyes narrowed. “I recognized a disturbance. That does not mean you understand it.”

“You seemed more concerned about the message than the missing guards.”

“The guards are a problem I can deal with. Whatever is beneath that property may not be.”

He walked away before I could press him. For once, he had admitted that the Zhao family did not control everything it guarded.

When the corridor emptied, I turned inward.

“What is the imprint?” I asked the entity.

The voice carries a trace of your energy. Something has copied the pattern it encountered when you entered that chamber.

“Can it copy my appearance too?”

I cannot say. The transmission may be a warning, a lure, or an attempt to make you approach. Do not assume it is harmless because it sounds like you.

“Is it connected to the presence behind the western passage?”

The entity paused. Both disturbances carry traces of an ancient formation. That is all I can confirm.

“You know more.”

I know enough to tell you that the mark on your wrist is reacting to both places. If you let the two forces connect, you may give them a path into your consciousness.

I lowered my sleeve. The symbol had grown darker since the stranger appeared, and a faint warmth spread through it whenever I thought about Property Seven.

A quiet knock interrupted me. Crystal entered after checking the corridor, closing the door behind her.

“I heard the guards talking,” she said. “The team sent to Property Seven has disappeared.”

“They haven't confirmed that.”

“They have. My grandfather ordered the report buried, but one of the servants heard the conversation. He said the caretaker's device started transmitting again.”

I showed her the receiver's empty place on the table. “It played my voice.”

Crystal's expression changed. “What did it say?”

“Don't let me out.”

She looked toward the window as though the property might be visible through the walls. “That place was never supposed to belong to the Zhao family.”

“What do you mean?”

“I found an old transfer record while searching the family documents. Property Seven was acquired after an incident involving a formation specialist. The description of the underground chamber was removed from every later copy.”

“Was the specialist Jian Luo?”

“The record doesn't give his name, but it says the property was transferred after a containment failure. The Zhao family was instructed to keep the underground structure closed.”

That explained why the family had monitored the property without understanding what lay beneath it. They might have inherited the duty along with the land, preserving instructions they no longer knew how to follow.

“Can you find the original record?” I asked.

“I can try, but the archive is being watched. If my grandfather discovers what I'm searching for, he'll take away whatever access I still have.”

“Don't risk it tonight.”

Crystal folded her arms. “You are planning to go there.”

“I need to know what happened to the guards, and I need to see whether the voice is coming from the chamber.”

“Then I'm coming with you.”

“The place may be dangerous.”

“So is staying here while your family decides what to do with you. I know the eastern boundary better than you do, and I can get us past the outer guards.”

She was right about the route. More importantly, sending her away would not stop her from investigating alone.

“Stay behind me once we reach the chamber,” I said. “If anything changes, you leave. Don't wait for me.”

She nodded. “I can agree to that.”

We waited until attention shifted toward the western wing. Crystal led me through a service path and across a narrow stretch of ground behind the eastern wall. I kept my energy suppressed, using only enough perception to sense the guards ahead. We avoided two patrols and reached the outer road without being noticed.

Property Seven looked different from the last time I had visited. The monitoring equipment beside the entrance was active, its screen flickering with readings that rose and fell too quickly to be reliable. The main gate stood open, and the guards' equipment lay scattered across the ground.

One weapon had been bent almost in half.

Crystal crouched beside a dropped communication unit. “There should be six guards here. I don't see anyone.”

I examined the ground. There were footprints leading toward the building, but none returning. A faint spiritual residue clung to the doorway, carrying the same metallic scent I had noticed beneath the Zhao estate.

The monitoring screen flashed. Its readings showed a steady flow of energy rising from below the chamber, even though the formation should have been dormant.

The seal has been disturbed, the entity warned. Do not approach without caution.

I moved toward the underground entrance. The circular mark on the stone had changed, its three cuts glowing faintly beneath a layer of dust. My wrist burned in response, and the communication device in my hand crackled.

My voice came through again.

“Don't let me out.”

This time, the message continued with a breath before the signal ended. Crystal stared at me, her face pale.

“That wasn't a normal recording,” she whispered.

“No. It wasn't.”

A vibration travelled through the floor. I felt it through my boots before the stone door gave a slow, heavy shudder. The energy beneath it was stronger than before, and something inside seemed to be moving toward the entrance.

Crystal stepped closer. “Ryan, we should leave and bring help.”

The entity had warned me not to let the forces connect, and every instinct told me that opening the chamber would be a mistake. Yet the missing guards might still be alive, and whatever was speaking in my voice had somehow learned enough about me to imitate it.

I placed one hand near the stone, careful not to touch the symbol.

A voice rose from beneath the door. The sound seemed to rise from deeper than the chamber, as though the stone had learned to speak using a voice.

“Ryan, if you can hear me, don't open it. I'm still trapped inside.”

My blood seemed to turn cold. The voice sounded exactly like mine, but unlike the recording, it carried panic and exhaustion. It was not coming through the communication device. It was speaking from the other side of the stone.

The entity surged inside my consciousness.

Step away. That voice is not a recording.

Three heavy knocks struck the door from within. Dust fell from the frame, and Crystal caught my arm as the stone trembled again.

Then the voice whispered, with desperate urgency, “It's pretending to be you.”

I stared at the sealed entrance, unable to tell which voice was lying, while the mark on my wrist burned brighter.