Breaking the Contract Shakes the Heavens

On the wasteland, every contract makes slaves. Kyle watched his mother’s body, locked into a soul-fire shadow by the Prison Cage Contract, and only then learned that he was the kingdom’s long-sought “contract-breaking key” — wielding the Rift-Splitting Blade that can sever all contracts, at the cost of burning his soul.

“You are merely His Majesty’s sacrifice.” The Duke of Soul Tax’s sneer still lingered in his ears, even as he split open the first Slave Contract in the middle of pursuit. His True Sight reveals the truth: the so-called “soul tax” is a scam that drains the soul fire of refugees, and beneath the Bell of Ten Thousand Contracts lies the transaction between the first emperor and the soul-devourers.

Every contract broken brings soul-shaking pain, while the energy core at the tower’s base crazily devours his power. Stone Fist’s loyal sacrifice, Yisella’s mystery of betrayal and rescue, and the whisper in his mother’s soul fire — “your father is the cornerstone of the seal” — all drag him into a deeper whirlpool.

When the soul-devourers kidnap Xiaoya and the Bell of Ten Thousand Contracts rings across heaven and earth, the first emperor’s lingering soul is about to awaken, and Kyle finally realizes: he is nothing more than a piece in everyone’s game.

“This deadlock, I’ll smash it for sure!” The Rift-Splitting Blade swells to over a zhang long, and golden-silver light blades tear through space. But when the blade touches the bell, he sees black light from the soul-devourers in his own pupils — it turns out he was born to be a vessel of evil thoughts.

Save his mother, protect his friends, break the conspiracy, and fight the evil thoughts within him as well. Clenching the Rift-Splitting Blade, Kyle takes his first step as the sound of contracts shattering rings out.