It wasn't a battle.
Not one of swords or cultivation or even schemes.
But when Yan Yiren requested private audiences with each of the women connected to Hei Long — not to fight, not to threaten, but to speak — the Empire itself seemed to pause and wait for the aftermath.
Because when a woman reborn in flame speaks with those who inherited her absence…
Something always burns.
First: Qingxue
Location: The Blade Shrine
Yan Yiren found her kneeling before a stone monument, cleaning her sword with quiet, deliberate strokes. Qingxue didn't rise when Yiren arrived. Didn't turn. Only said:
"You won. Why speak with me?"
Yan Yiren knelt beside her.
Not as a challenger.
But as a shadow returning to where the light now shined.
"Because you remind me of myself. The part I carved out to let him live."
That got Qingxue's attention.
Her hands stopped. Slowly, she looked at the woman she'd once dismissed as legend.
"Do you want him back?" Qingxue asked bluntly.
Yiren tilted her head.
