Chapter 4: The Shadow in the Night, The Seal's First Light
The memory fragment of his father hung in the air for a moment longer before dissolving into specks of light, leaving the stone chamber in a heavy, suffocating silence. Ye Chen stood motionless, his fingers tracing the cold, intricate carvings of the Great Seal of the Azure Dragon.
A puppet. His father's words echoed in his mind, carrying a weight that shifted his entire perspective of the Azure Dragon Empire. In his previous life as a corporate strategist, Ye Chen had seen many "puppets"—ambitious men who thought they held the strings, unaware they were merely being used as a front for a much larger, darker interest. If the Second Elder, Ye Kun, was merely a pawn, then the "true enemy" was likely someone positioned at the very apex of the Empire's power structure.
[Ding! Warning: Host's presence in the Forbidden Vault has been detected by the library's ancient warding array. The 'Puppeteer' may be alerted.]
Ye Chen's eyes sharpened. He couldn't afford to linger. He gripped the Azure Dragon Seal, and the moment his palm touched the jade surface, the Chaos Heart-Refining Technique reacted with a violent hum. The seal, which had been dormant for a thousand years, pulsed with a regal, ancient energy. A surge of draconic power flowed into his arm, etching a faint, glowing blue dragon tattoo onto his inner forearm. This was the mark of the true Patriarch, a symbol of authority that resonated with the very foundation of the Ye Clan.
He ascended the spiral stairs quickly, finding Ye Ling pacing nervously at the top. Her face lit up with visible relief when she saw him emerge from the shadows. She urged him to move, informing him that Ye San's lackeys had already sprinted to the Second Elder's pavilion to report the humiliation at the library.
Ye Chen didn't slow his pace, but he stopped long enough to hand Ye Ling a small jade bottle containing a single drop of the Ancestral Dragon-Blood Marrow. He instructed her to consume it in secret, knowing that her loyalty deserved the protection of power. As they parted, Ye Chen headed not for his hut, but for the Black-Water Cliff at the edge of the estate. The jagged rocks and violent winds provided the perfect sanctuary to test his evolving strength.
Throughout the afternoon, he practiced the Heaven-Shattering Void Palm. With his Sovereign-Level Comprehension, he didn't just mimic the movements; he felt the atomic structure of the air shifting around his strikes. He discovered that by infusing the palm with the Azure Dragon Seal's aura, he could create a "Dragon-Void" strike—a terrifying technique that could bypass external defenses and paralyze an opponent's meridians instantly.
By the time the moon reached its zenith, Ye Chen had broken through to the Peak of the 7th Stage. His body felt like a finely tuned instrument of war, his skin possessing a metallic sheen that hinted at the defensive power of the Chaos Physique.
He returned to the Penance Courtyard under the cover of a moonless sky. He sat on his tattered mat, but he did not enter a deep sleep. Instead, he activated the Spirit-Censing Divine Sense, allowing his consciousness to expand like a ripple on a pond. The world became a symphony of vibrations. He heard the owls in the distant woods, the rhythmic breathing of the distant gate guards, and then—four distinct, shallow heartbeats approaching with the calculated lightness of trained killers.
They didn't even wait for the ceremony. The Second Elder's impatience was a weakness Ye Chen intended to exploit.
The four shadows converged on the hut from different angles, their movements synchronized. They were the Hidden Vipers, the Second Elder's private executioners, all at the 8th stage of Body Refinement. They dived through the windows and the door simultaneously, their curved daggers coated in Bone-Melting Poison aiming for his vitals.
Their blades pierced the figure on the mat, but there was no resistance. The figure dissolved into a cloud of gray mist—a mirage created by the sheer speed of Ye Chen's movement.
"Looking for me?" The voice came from the rafters above.
Ye Chen dropped like a falling star, his hands glowing with a faint, draconic blue. He struck the lead assassin's chest before the man could even raise his dagger. The Azure Dragon Palm exploded inside the man's lungs, and the Dragon Seal's power froze his spiritual flow in a heartbeat. He fell, dead before his body hit the floor.
The remaining three roared, their daggers flickering like serpents' tongues. Ye Chen moved with a grace that transcended the 7th stage, blurring through their formation. Every impact of his palm was accompanied by the faint, spectral roar of a dragon.
Within ten seconds, the hut was silent once more. Four corpses lay scattered across the floor. Ye Chen stood in the center of the carnage, his azure robes unstained. He reached down and pulled the mask off one of the assassins, recognizing a senior guard who had once sworn fealty to his father.
The betrayal stung, but it also solidified his resolve. He didn't hide the bodies. Instead, he dragged them out and hung them from the archway of the Penance Courtyard for the morning sun to reveal. On the wall, he used the assassins' blood to write a message that would shake the clan to its core:
"The Qilin has returned. Who dares to stand in the way?"
He looked toward the Second Elder's distant, glowing pavilion. The game had moved from the shadows into the light. There were two days left until the ceremony, and Ye Chen was no longer just surviving—he was hunting.