Within the estate, Wu Han sat at a low table, casually pouring tea. Across from him, Wu Haoyu sat stiff-backed, her face tight with barely concealed anger.
"What is the occasion, Wu Haoyu?" Wu Han asked with striking calm, sliding a cup toward her as though offering goodwill.
"Don't you dare act like you don't know…" she hissed. The change in her tone, quiet and subdued compared to her usual sharpness, told him everything. She wanted something.
"The pill, isn't it?" Wu Han said lightly.
Her body jolted.
"I ate it," he continued smoothly, watching her closely. "So you can stop wasting your time."
Her face paled, her fists clenching before she exhaled slowly. "Then I have no reason to be here."
She made to rise, but Wu Han lifted his hand. His voice rolled out, not spoken but commanded.
"Sit."
Her body froze against her will. Confusion flashed in her eyes before she lowered herself back down. "What…?"
"Why so hasty? I know you still have questions in your heart. Let me answer them." Wu Han reclined, smiling faintly while her body remained stiff as a willow in a storm.
Her breath caught in her throat. Finally, she asked, "Are you the one who killed my son?"
Wu Han waved lazily. "That question again? No. I didn't kill your son. Come now—ask something better."
"…A date," Haoyu whispered.
Wu Han's lips curved. "Ah. So you are interested after all." He leaned in, watching as her cheeks flushed crimson.
"Do you really intend to tease an old woman like me?" Haoyu murmured, turning her face away, her heart pounding.
For days she had repeated the same thought — her son dead, Wu Han's denials echoing in her ears. At first, she had hated him, believed him guilty. But with each denial, with each moment she spent thinking of him, that certainty frayed. And her thoughts of him only grew more frequent.
Wu Han broke her reverie with a mocking laugh. "I suppose Wu Wei isn't doing his homework these days. As expected of the head of a declining clan."
"You—don't you dare insult our family!" Haoyu shot back, her voice sharp.
Wu Han's gaze turned cold and fierce. "Your son is dead. Our so-called best disciple has been stuck at the Fifth Stage for years. And I am the only hope your clan has left."
From his inherited memories, he knew the truth: the Wu Clan was collapsing. Their fighting force dwindled year after year. Each time an elder at late-stage Qi Condensation died, no disciples were strong enough to replace them.
"That's why your husband gave me the pill," Wu Han said with a cutting smile. "He's already surrendered the right of succession. To me."
His words struck like knives. Haoyu bit her lip, her posture stiffening. What he said was true.
Her husband had grown hollow over the past year, weighed down by their son's lack of talent and the slow decline of the clan. Each failed breakthrough, each wasted pill, had crushed his hopes further.
The clan's disciples faltered generation after generation, unable to match the strength of their elders.
The boy's death had only been the final nail in the coffin. At first, the plan had been to kill Wu Han and grasp at any way to delay the inevitable collapse. But when Wu Han suddenly broke through, Wu Wei had shifted his gamble.
For all the bitterness between the family lines, Wu Wei placed the clan's survival above pride.
Wu Han's smile deepened. "Admirable. But you hate it, don't you? Let me guess—you wanted to take the pills, sell them, and run from this clan altogether?"
Haoyu's eyes widened, her face turning pale. "Wha—" Her heart skipped.
Wu Han feigned surprise, raising his brows. "Oh? Did I guess right? Pure imagination on my part."
"You!" Wu Haoyu's eyes blazed as her anger finally broke through. She had been exposed. Her plan had been to leave this family altogether. The man she once loved had long since drowned in depression, reduced to nothing but an elder with no ambition left. With her son now gone, she had no reason to stay. She wanted an escape.
Wu Han chuckled, eyes glinting. "Wait. Did Wu Wei know about this? No… he didn't, did he?"
Her breath caught.
He leaned back with a smile, savoring it. I didn't think I'd find something to play with this easily.
"What do you want?" she demanded.
"What I want?" His grin curled upward, eerie and cold, making her shiver. She stepped back, her legs trembling uncontrollably, breath growing ragged. The room itself seemed to wither — tea smoke stilled in the air, the warmth of the brazier extinguished, as if life itself had been stolen away.
Wu Han stepped forward. "What I want is…"
In one swift motion, he pressed her down, his knee pinning her as he loomed over her trembling form.
"You."
Her body froze, her heart hammering wildly. "Y-you… want me?" Her head spun, thoughts spiraling. Just looking at him like this — fierce, young, brimming with strength — brought back memories of her husband's youth. No, it was more than that. He was far greater.
Wu Han's lips brushed her ear as he whispered, "To do something for me."
Then he stepped back, smiling faintly as if nothing had happened. "That's all."
"Huff… huff… why would I need to help the likes of you?" Wu Haoyu steadied her breath, forcing her voice to hold firm as she pointed at him.
"Because," Wu Han said calmly, his hand opening. A pill shimmered into existence, glowing faintly. "I lied."
Her eyes widened. The Body-Refining Pill!
"I didn't eat it," Wu Han continued with a sly smile. "I was joking. I need it to break through from the Sixth to the Seventh Stage."
Hope flickered in her gaze, only to collapse when Wu Han casually slipped the pill back into his pouch.
"What did you think?" His eyes narrowed, glinting darkly. "Why would I hand it over to you? You've made me waste a week in confinement before my most important tournament. So tell me—what will you trade for your so-called ticket to freedom?"
Wu Han leaned forward, studying her intently. It was the one thing he hadn't quite pieced together. Why had she walked so boldly into his chamber, demanding the pill as if she had the upper hand? What gave her such confidence?
Wu Haoyu bit her lip hard, refusing to meet his gaze. Finally, in a voice barely above a whisper, she said, "M… myself."
Wu Han almost slipped from his feet. That easy? He had expected to persuade her a little more. Instead, it seemed this woman had already made up her mind long ago—he had merely accelerated it.
But let's see how far I can push her.
"Isn't that already a cost to me? A handsome young master like myself… and an old hag like you?"
He stepped forward and pinned her to the floor, his hand pressing down on her chest.
A faint moan escaped her lips. Beneath his palm, her breast firmed under the touch, soft and pliant yet resilient. He sneered. "What do you have that others don't? I can find a hundred younger women who would give me what I want, for a far cheaper price."
He leaned closer, tugging loose the knot of her robe. Her pale cleavage, smooth as porcelain, spilled free beneath his gaze.
Her breath quickened. Sweat glistened across her skin as his hands roamed lower, his touch burning with lust.
Then—
Steel flashed. She pulled a knife and drove it straight for his neck.
Blood spurted.
"I've got you now!" she cried, triumph breaking through her fear.
But her victory lasted only a breath.
The blade had not pierced his throat. Wu Han's hand clamped tightly around the edge, the knife embedded through flesh and bone instead of his neck.
"So," he said coldly, twisting the blade free, "this is your true plan."
Agonizing pain surged through his nerves. It was sharp, burning, raw. His lips curled, but not in fear—only grim amusement. Pain.
It had been so long since he had felt it. This disgusting, hated sensation.
He ripped the knife out of his own hand, flinging it aside. It struck deep into a wooden beam with a dull thunk.
"You fool," Wu Haoyu spat. "That blade was coated with the venom of ten poison toads. Did you think me stupid enough not to prepare for a cultivator like you? In ten breaths, you'll be dead!"
But Wu Han only raised his hand.
From the wound, dark liquid oozed—not blood, but a clean, odorless slime, slightly viscous, flowing against nature. Slowly, impossibly, it gathered into a bead that floated in the air.
Wu Haoyu's eyes widened in horror. She recognized it instantly. The same poison she had laced upon her knife.
"You underestimate me, woman."
Panic seized her. She spun, ready to flee.
"Kneel."
His voice was a command, heavy with soul power.
Her legs buckled instantly. She crashed to her knees, body trembling, her will powerless against the invisible chains binding her. No matter how she struggled, her body refused to rise.
Wu Han walked leisurely toward her and crouched down, his eyes gleaming with cruel delight.
Draining her soul would have been easy. But where was the fun in that? And alive, she was far more useful.
Without the proper foundation, he could not yet engrave binding formations into others, nor make her a true puppet. But there were other ways to shackle her.
"You think Wu Wei or the elders would protect you? That they wouldn't strike me down if you die here?" Haoyu's voice shook, desperation lacing her words. "If you kill me, you'll be hunted to death!"
Wu Han smirked. "Then you won't die. Not yet."
He pried her mouth open, ignoring her muffled cries, and pressed the bead of poison past her lips, forcing it down her throat. She gagged and thrashed, but the venom dissolved into her body, entwined with his qi.
"The poison is mine now," Wu Han said softly, almost tenderly. "It must be stabilized by me, every single day. If anyone else tries to treat it, the venom will erupt. You will rot from the inside out before you can even scream."
Haoyu's face drained of color. If that poison could kill a cultivator within ten breaths, how long would it take to kill her, a mere mortal woman?
Wu Han tilted his head, smiling as if amused by her terror.
"Now then. Where were we? Ah, yes… I needed you to do something for me. Let's start with…"