NOVEL WEB Chapter 96: Chapter 96: Into the Singing Abyss
The dunes gave way to jagged cliffs as Liu Shen, Lei Qing, and Ji Suyin crossed into the outer bounds of the Singing Abyss—a forbidden zone where the winds carried voices of the dead, and the sands wept with sorrow.
No sunlight pierced the veil overhead. Instead, an eerie silver hue coated the canyon's walls, glistening like polished bone. The ground trembled every few steps, as if the land itself resented their presence.
> "The Singing Abyss," Suyin murmured, wrapping a soul ward around herself. "They say those who enter either find answers—or lose their minds."
Liu Shen stared ahead, unshaken.
> "Then let's pray we go mad together."
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Abyssal Whispers
As they descended deeper, the wind began to sing. Low at first—like a mother's lullaby—then twisting into something harsher, sadder.
Each gust carried voices: pleading, laughing, crying… whispering forgotten names.
> "Do you hear them?" Lei Qing asked, his grip tightening on his spear.
> "Ignore them," Liu Shen warned. "They're Echoes—remnants of souls that tried to manipulate the Loom. Failures turned into wailing spirits."
Suddenly, the ground beneath them cracked open. A black mist poured out, and three shadowy figures emerged—wisps given shape by despair.
Their faces flickered with familiarity.
> "Mother…?" Suyin took a step forward in shock.
> "Don't believe them!" Liu Shen roared, severing one with a swift arc of demonic qi.
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Trial of the Forgotten
The trio pressed on, fighting back waves of Echoes, each embodying a piece of their past.
One took the form of Lei Qing's brother, whose sacrifice had sent him into the demonic path.
Another resembled the sect master who once raised Ji Suyin like a daughter—then betrayed her for celestial favor.
Each encounter chipped away at them, not in body, but in spirit.
And then the canyon opened.
Before them lay a massive chasm, glowing faintly with violet light. Floating stones spiraled down like stairs into the deep.
In its center stood an obsidian altar. Upon it: a slender golden needle humming with power—the Needle of Lament.
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Guardian of the Needle
But the Needle wasn't unguarded.
Floating above it was a woman—pale-skinned, hair like smoke, her eyes hollow and gleaming. She wore tattered robes once fit for a goddess.
> "I am the Echo Queen," she intoned, voice like broken bells. "You who seek the Needle… must trade your greatest sorrow."
Liu Shen stepped forward.
> "And what if we have none to offer?"
> "Then suffer," she said, spreading her arms.
A shockwave of soul force erupted. Liu Shen barely deflected it with a demonic shield. Suyin summoned six soul threads into a defensive weave, while Lei Qing invoked his spear's blood seal.
> "She's feeding on our regrets!" Suyin warned.
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The Bargain of Sorrow
They fought hard—dodging psychic strikes, battling twisted illusions.
At last, Liu Shen charged, black flames searing the air. He landed a devastating strike on the Echo Queen, shattering her chest—but instead of dying, she only smiled.
> "Your sorrow... is the deepest of all," she whispered.
And in that moment, Liu Shen faltered.
He saw her—Yu Meixing, bleeding beneath a silver moon.
He saw Zhao Wenxiu, eyes hollow, blade dripping red.
He saw himself, abandoned by the very world he once sought to protect.
> "This… again…" he muttered, knees buckling.
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A Thread Pulled Tight
But then a voice rang through the void.
> "You're not that man anymore."
Suyin, her eyes glowing with soul fire, cast a web of threads into the illusion, severing it.
> "You died once for your sorrow, Liu Shen. But you rose again for your vengeance."
Lei Qing followed, thrusting his spear through the illusion. "We walk this path with you. No regrets."
The Echo Queen shrieked as the illusion shattered. Her body twisted, then broke apart—dissolving into a burst of silver dust.
All that remained was the altar—and the Needle of Lament.
Liu Shen stepped forward, hands steady now.
He grasped the needle.
> Thrum.
The abyss pulsed with light.
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A Loom Awakens
Far away, in the heart of the Hollow Empire, Xue Tianren stirred.
A glowing mark flared on his wrist—the sigil of Lament.
> "They've taken the first Needle…" he whispered. "Faster than expected."
He turned to the Loom—massive gears turning in slow rhythm, threads of fate stretching across realms.
> "Let them collect the rest," he said softly. "Only then will they realize that changing fate… always comes at a cost."
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The First Needle Reclaimed
Back at the canyon's edge, the abyss began to collapse.
> "Time to leave," Liu Shen said, activating a spatial tear with the needle's energy.
As the world warped around them, he looked at the artifact in his hand.
One of seven.
And ahead of them—six more trials, six more truths, six more prices to pay.
> "Let's see how far fate bends before it breaks."