The rain had stopped by dawn, but Lin Fan was still standing there.
Soaked, silent, unmoving — like a broken statue that no longer knew what purpose it had once served.
Above him, the room where Hei Long and Lan Xueyi stood was dimly lit now, curtains drawn tight. No silhouettes passed by. No sounds escaped. Just stillness. And it drove him mad.
He turned away.
But the fire inside didn't.
Two Days Later – The Royal Inventor's Conference
An event known across the empire as a gathering of the brightest minds in cultivation theory, alchemy, and invention. Nobles, scholars, and sect elders filled the grand observatory hall, lit by enchanted sunlamps and lined with floating scrolls that chronicled each guest's achievements.
Lan Xueyi stood at the center — white robes trimmed in obsidian black, her long hair braided with silver thread, expression like a frozen mountain peak.
Hei Long, dressed in the black and crimson uniform of the imperial guard, stood at her side.
