From the perspective of Zhuge Yu Jin
The southern wind carried a damp scent of cultivated earth, mixed with the faint sweet aroma of flowers blooming along the roadside. With each step, the landscape slowly changed, drifting away from the dense shadows of the Black Forest and opening into vast fields, green as polished jade.
To the left and right, the horizon seemed endless. Rice fields stretched like a still ocean, rows of slender stalks swaying with the breeze, reflecting the sky in mirrors of crystal-clear water. The plantations were only interrupted by mud dikes and narrow passages, where peasants in straw hats bent their bodies under the pale sun, tending each seedling with the patience of those who knew many mouths depended on it.
The sounds were different now. No longer the distant growls of beasts or the snapping of branches hiding predators. Here, there was only the croaking of frogs, the chirping of birds, and the whisper of water running through irrigation channels. A place of calm… or at least, it should have been.
Yu Jin walked a little behind Lin Xue and Mei Rong. The two of them, side by side, exchanged quick words in a light tone, as if the desperate fight a few hours earlier was nothing more than a forgotten memory. They laughed softly at trivial details — the way the sun reflected on the rice fields, how their boots were muddied, or even the faces of the merchants they had seen on the previous road.
The contrast made him raise an eyebrow.
"A few hours ago, they almost died… and now they laugh as if they were just travelers on holiday."
It wasn't disdain. Nor was it incomprehension.
It was recognition.
Yu Jin knew that kind of strength well: the ability to smile even when the body still carried the tremor of battle. For many, it was naivety. For him, it was simply… another method of survival.
Behind him, Lin Hao's steady breathing.
The girls' cousin always kept one or two steps back, as if every extra inch was a barrier against Yu Jin's presence. His face carried the same rigidity since the clearing: clenched jaw, narrowed eyes, fists occasionally tightening in silence. It wasn't open hatred — it was discomfort. Resentment. Perhaps shame.
Yu Jin wasn't concerned.
Not only because Lin Hao was weaker — still stuck within the limits of Body Refinement, incapable of casting even a shadow on his path — but also because, after hours of travel, he was beginning to understand.
Little by little, the fragments fit together.
The three companions now walking at his side came from a city called Yellow Lines, larger and livelier than the modest Sky Gray. A place where the streets were lined with markets of silk and weapons, and where the three great clans dictated the fate of all others.
Lin Xue and Lin Hao were from the Lin Clan, one of those three pillars. Both had participated in the local tournament, where their young generation competed for prestige. The outcome was notable: Lin Xue earned a position of respect, and Lin Hao, even more, reached the top five in the city.
This achievement inflated his chest with confidence — enough to believe he could compete for a place in the selection of the Seven Great Sects of the Empire.
But not all victories are the same.
Lin Xue came from the direct bloodline of the family. She wasn't heir, nor considered a successor, but her origin gave her a degree of protection. Lin Hao… he was just a name from a side branch. To the higher-ups, his existence was worth little more than convenience. The looks he received in childhood were different. The attention, lesser. The resources, scarce.
He carried that in his bones.
Mei Rong, on the other hand, belonged to the Mei Clan, also among the three great clans of Yellow Lines. She was a young woman of the direct bloodline, but equally distant from the core that vied for inheritance. Among all the daughters of the clan, she was but another thread in the tapestry of prestige — important, yet replaceable.
That was why, when she decided to head to the capital, no voices tried to hold her back.
Lin Xue made the same decision. Two young women traveling together could protect one another. If not in strength, then at least in dignity. It was a silent, but firm, agreement.
And Lin Hao… followed.
The reason, Yu Jin had noticed far too quickly. His eyes betrayed more than the silence of his clenched fists. Since childhood, Lin Hao had harbored feelings for Mei Rong. But being only from a side branch, he had never dared to approach her within the clan's walls. Now, away from the family's shadow, he saw a chance. The road to the capital was not just a road — it was hope.
For days, they had traveled together. Lin Hao, more patient than he had ever been, took advantage of every detour, every campfire, every late-night conversation to place himself beside Mei Rong. He tried to be her protector, her discreet shield, the shoulder always ready.
Unfortunately, the heavens rarely respected such efforts.
A few days ago, they had been attacked by bandits on the roadside, already near the capital. They fled into the Black Forest, but even then the bandits pursued them. And when all seemed lost, Yu Jin had appeared — a blade against the darkness. With a single stroke, he changed the course of that journey.
To Lin Xue and Mei Rong, he was now a savior. To Lin Hao… a rival.
That was it. The origin of his harsh gaze, his heavy silence, the fist opening and closing as if trying to crush something invisible. Jealousy.
Yu Jin didn't need much more to understand.
He was stronger, with a body forged in fire and battle. Not unattractive, either — quite the opposite. Whether he wanted it or not, he represented everything Lin Hao feared losing: Mei Rong's admiration, the slim chance he believed he had finally earned.
In truth, it didn't matter that Yu Jin had no interest in her. To Lin Hao's eyes, his mere presence was a threat.
And threat, to a young man with wounded pride, was something difficult to endure.
Mei Rong walked ahead, the sword strapped to her back swaying gently with each step. The plain's breeze caressed her brown hair, lifting stray strands that contrasted with her fair skin and green eyes, so vivid they seemed to reflect the very grass of the fields. Even covered in dust and the marks of travel, her beauty was not something that could be erased.
Yu Jin observed her for a moment. Yes, she was beautiful. She had a presence that stood out, even amidst the simplicity of the rural world around them. But in the end, that was all. Beauty.
There was no special attraction, no charm that could make him lose his path.
In Yu Jin's eyes, her image dissolved when compared to Lan Xue. The softness of Lan Xue's features, the calm glow in her eyes — she carried a harmony far harder to ignore. Mei Rong was beautiful like a polished blade; Lan Xue, like a silent jade.
Thus, Lin Hao's worries were pointless.
Still, Yu Jin did not dismiss them. He remembered what it was like to be looked down upon, to carry the title of "useless" in his own clan. That memory made him understand the resentful cousin.
So he chose to keep a respectful distance from the two girls — not out of fear of Lin Hao's dark glare, but as a silent gesture of respect. A way of saying, without words: "I am not your enemy."
The road stretched long and patient before them. The sun advanced, dyeing the rice fields with a gentle gold, until, little by little, the scenery began to change.
On the horizon, a wall rose.
Not a simple wall, but a colossal barrier of gray stone, whose joints bore the mark of centuries. The afternoon sun reflected on its smooth surfaces, revealing moss stains that resembled ancient paintings. Square towers, erect as watchful giants, aligned along its length, each bearing scarlet flags with the emblem of the White Flame Empire — a golden flame inscribed within a crimson circle.
It was as if the wall itself was a horizon.
Too tall to be ignored.
Too solid to be questioned.
The main gates were visible even from a distance: iron doors reinforced with bronze plates, adorned with symbols engraved in ascending flame patterns. Nearby, organized lines of wagons, travelers, and merchants awaited their turn to enter. The dust of wheels mingled with the murmur of voices, the rustle of exotic fabrics, and the scent of spices escaping from the cargo.
And above it all, there was the suffocating sensation of grandeur.
Yu Jin stopped for a moment.
His eyes traced every detail of the wall, and within himself he felt the weight of reality.
There stood Albivion — Capital of the White Flame Empire.
The eternal city, stage of heroes and aberrations, the heart from which all decisions echoed to the four corners of the land.
It was a brutal contrast. Until that day, his world had been limited to the dust of Sky Gray and the shadows of a forgotten forest. Now, before him, rose a wall that seemed built to remind men of their own smallness.
And Yu Jin, standing only a few meters from the entrance, understood in silence:
The road had ended.
The true path was only beginning.