"I'll create a distraction with the artifact. You attack then."
'That was the plan he'd told me. Simple. Everything hinged on whether I could land that hit perfectly. At least, that's what I thought.'
Yunxi, seeing the knife pierce the Grand Elder's eye, didn't hesitate. She adjusted her stance midair, took a deep breath, and her focus sharpened.
A chance had opened. No second guesses.
"Celestial Threadbinding." Her whisper cut like ice.
Moon-qi lanced from her sword-tip as invisible threads, latching to the Grand Elder's limbs and weapons, binding and slowing him, tearing through his technique.
"Ghk!" The Grand Elder staggered; the tablet slipped free. Jin dove, his fingers brushed the slab and then a cold hand snapped over it. Someone else had it!
Hana's laugh cut through him. "Catch me if you can, little prize," she purred, voice soft and hungry.
"Get arrested, you creep!" Jin shouted, then ran after her.
His friend stumbled after him, demons barreling behind. For a beat it looked absurd. Jin lunging, friend tripping, pursuers tumbling. Before they all spilled out of the estate.
Jin had dragged most of the swarm with him, but the strongest held their heads and did not take the bait. The palace guards would not hold much longer. After that, it would be an open feast.
The Grand Elder panted, face hot with fury and shame. "Huff-huff-You… you. I thought you would humbly take the chance given to you by the Lord, but you're still as foolish as you were all those years ago. Nothing has changed. You all, kill all the members of-"
Pressure began rising from every side; his words faltered, breaking off before he could finish.
"You all have finally arrived," Yunxi said calmly, eyes on the late party as they closed in.
Reinforcements, of course trickled in. Impeccably on time: just after the house had begun to burn.
Loyal guards and elders surged in with weapons raised, their voices thundering as they called for discipline and unity. And ten unknown hooded martial artists too. Though the betrayal had spilled blood and left scars, the Qin still stood,
Qin Yunxi stood at the heart of it, eyes sharp as winter. "I noticed strange movements across the estate," she said, voice cold as she looked to the traitorous elders. "I ordered those sent on mission not to go far. Seems my caution was warranted."
"RAAAAAAHHHHH!!"
The Grand Elder roared, fury cracking the air. He poured qi into a single, brutal force and tore through Yunxi's chains. "I've had enough of this!" his voice boomed. "Domain: Crimson Abyss!"
Blood-red light swelled and snapped into a dome as his blood-arts flared.
He touched his spot where the blade had hit; his eye bled where the blade had struck.
He sucked a breath and pressed qi into the wound, a simple, savage task: plug the numbness, hold the poison from crawling to his head. It took focus. It took strength.
"You brat," he growled, voice low and furious. "You'll pay."
The dome rose, brutal and alive, but there was a thinness to it. Where the field should have roared full and round, its edges came out frayed — bloodlight that stuttered and thinned, a shield held together by strain. He forced it taller anyway; it cut the air, dangerous enough, but you could see where power was missing, worn away at the seams.
"I'll handle him, you take the others." With that, the main duel in the sky reignited.
The ten hooded figures struck in unison, their blades a sudden storm around Zhenyao. Xiao An, gone to put a seal around the estate as Jin had told him to do just in case. Below, the traitors' smirks curdled as steel and fury met them head-on. Advantage gone, balance overturned.
And the other traitors who were still gloating about having the advantage were finally on the receiving end.
. . . . . . . . . .
Meanwhile, the chase thinned. Hana pulled ahead, the others dropped off one by one, until only Jin remained on her heels.
They slipped into a hollowed clearing between the Qin woods and the Peng border. A ring of trees, low moss, and a thin shaft of sickly light. The estate's chaos dimmed to a faraway drum; here, sounds came slow and soft.
Hana stopped, turned with a slow smile that didn't reach her eyes. "So?" she purred. "Join us. Or keep chasing things you'll never have."
Jin, finally up to her, stopped after running for fifteen minutes.
'After this long, she stops. Two options: this is a meeting point or a place she can't afford to expose. Plus, I can't take her alone. Even wounded, she's Golden Core.'
Jin stood silent, eyes fixed on Hana. Her eyes lingered on him, not just with simple lust, but with a twisted possessiveness of someone eyeing a prize they refused to share.
'Thought chasing the assassin would earn me some brownie points with Yunxi. Didn't expect to be the only one left. Best hear her out.'
A few Qin guards had started the chase with him, and he'd woven plans around that. Those plans were ash now. 'Fine. I'll improvise. Same as with the elder.'
The sprint had burned the poison clean from his body. Even so, his hand never touched the sword at his waist.
"Don't worry, pretty boy. I won't torture you. But I will make you my disciple." Hana's voice dropped, low and sensual.
Jin held his silence a little longer, then mumbled, "Wha-what benefits would I get?" His voice wavered on the last word.
Hey, benefits are benefits. Pride doesn't matter much if you're dead, right?
Hana's grin deepened, slow and hungry. "Benefits depend on what you bring," she said, voice soft and sure. "But since I'm recruiting you myself, you won't need to worry about the small things. Shelter, coin, safe havens. Obey, and I'll see you provided for. I won't ask for anything extreme."
She watched him when she spoke.
"That sounds too good to be true," Jin said, wary. "I don't go on words. Especially not from someone who tried to kill me an hour ago."
Hana laughed, a low, pleased sound. "Fair enough. I would have killed the old you. After our first clash… something shifted. Now? Snuffing you would be a waste of that light." She breathed the last line so softly it could have been a wind; Jin heard it all the same.
"Still, I know trust has to be built. So here."
She pulled a scroll from her sleeve and tossed it toward Jin.
"What's this?"
"You don't know?" Her brows lifted, then she chuckled. "Ah, a country bumpkin. No wonder." She nodded smugly to herself. While Jin's lips twitched.
"This is a Qi Contract Scroll. Think of it as a binding pact between cultivators. You only need to channel a thread of Qi with your intent, and the terms write themselves. It can only be formed from higher realm to lower. Break it…and the backlash is brutal. Qi blockage, even death."
"So it can never be broken?" Jin asked, his gaze sharpening, voice carrying a rare steadiness.
Hana's smile deepened for half a heartbeat. There was something in his eyes—an savage glint, a flicker that didn't belong on someone so young and innocent. It wasn't bravado. It wasn't fear. It was…a spark.
Her breath hitched before she masked it with a deeper smile. Of course he'd ask that. And those eyes…gods, those eyes. Serious. Alive. Too alive.
Heat crept through her chest, quickening her pulse, stacking on her lower. She steadied herself, slowing down on the tremor threatening to rise. Not yet. First, his trust. Slowly, carefully. Then…that spark will be mine.
She cleared her throat lightly. "Ahem. It can be broken, yes. But only by someone far stronger than either party. Until then, the contract holds."
Jin's eyes relaxed as he finally turned to the scroll. He inhaled sharply, every part of him radiating extreme focus. For a heartbeat, the world seemed to still around him.
He 'read' the scroll, then lifted his gaze to Hana, eyes cold. Hana tilted her head, confusion and a touch of anxiety knitting her brow.
"Huh? What's wrong? I'm pretty sure I didn't wrote anything unreasonable," she said, trying to read his unreadable expression.
Jin's stare didn't change. Not a flicker. Not a twitch. Then, with perfect gravity, he said,
"I… can't read."
. . . . . . . . . .
The forest fell silent, the wind catching on Hana's hesitation as she blinked, mouth parting, then closing.
Finally, she exhaled, a faint, amusing smile tugging at her lips. "Well, that's one thing I'll keep in mind. I'll start teaching you once we get to the base." She stepped closer, eyes lingering on him, already mapping the path she intended.
She leaned in, pointing at the starting letters of the scroll, voice calm and assured.
"See, this says, clause number one—Jin Ranyi must never betray-"
GURK!
Her words cut off as a hot, burning pressure filled her throat. Blood welled, dripping down, a knife buried deep.
HHKK!
Hana's eyes went wide with disbelief, staring at him. The forest seemed to pause around them.
"Two in a row… is crazy." he muttered softly, voice low, almost conversational.
She collapsed to the forest floor, the scroll still in her bloodied hands. Red pooled beneath her as it streamed endlessly from her neck.
He knelt calmly, expression unreadable, almost casual.
"You just saw how the elder got careless and got hurt… and made the same mistake again. Thought you'd won… let your guard down," he said, voice oddly soothing.
Jin lowered himself, mounting her, settling his weight onto her chest. As he withdrew the knife, droplets of blood sprayed onto his face. A tiny shake, unnoticed unless looked for.
Then-
He stabbed her. Again and again, targeting the major areas with calculated precision, each strike final and terrifyingly calm. A faint tremor ran through his hand as he withdrew the knife.
Jin took a deep breath,
"Well, that makes this the first one in my new life," he said. He got up and searched her body, slipping the tablet and other items into her storage ring.
While he was admiring his new ring, the distant clang of metal caught his attention. 'No time to linger.' His eyes narrowed, and he was already moving toward the sound.