Dawn under the mountain altar. An abandoned shrine of thresholds lies behind cracked stone doors, with old seals painted over in fresh whitewash. Suye and Shen enter alone.

At the center of the shrine, Suye lays out jade needles, green thread, and a plain ceramic bowl. Shen sits across from her in the threshold circle.

Suye binds her green soul-thread around Shen's bronze cuff and her own wrist, making a visible bridge between them.

The soul-thread ritual opens Shen's inner world. Suye appears inside a cracked plain where red god fragments orbit a black chained door.

The dead appetite reacts to Suye's thread and opens a wider memory: the world as a divine pasture beneath the heavens.

The physical shrine door explodes inward. Elder Qiu and Jian Mo enter with sealing talismans while Shen and Suye remain bound by the soul-thread.

Elder Qiu stops pretending. He frames Shen not as a patient or disciple, but as contaminated property of the divine system.

Suye turns from Elder Qiu to Shen. She understands enough to be afraid and still offers controlled qi through the thread, believing consent can make it survivable.

Shen accepts Suye's offering with ritual restraint. The feeding is intimate, dangerous, and visibly costs her strength.

Strengthened by Suye's controlled offering, Shen rises. Elder Qiu begins a sealing scripture; Shen interrupts by feeding on the prayer beads' stored divine residue.

The shrine erupts with stolen divine residue. Shen stands before Elder Qiu and Jian Mo, Suye behind him, the old threshold seals burning away to reveal a black door symbol under the paint.