"My mother once said she and Lan Huiwen were close as sisters when they studied at the Celestial Beast Academy. But after marriage, Lan Yunlai caged her from the realms."
Yan Wuhen's voice came, almost idle, as though he were not standing amidst slaughter.
His blade flashed. A serpent lord's head split cleanly from its body.
Wuhen drew his sword free in one smooth motion, blood scattering like a brief rain before he turned, already meeting the next attacker.
"It makes one wonder," he continued, as if he was speaking of trivial matters, "whether Lan Meishan and Lan Shiyu were ever truly born of choice."
Steel met flesh again. Another body fell.
Across the hall, Rong Yue stood unmoving, hands clasped behind his back. His tiger ears twitched faintly, tail swaying in a slow arc as his feline blue eyes followed Wuhen's elegant movements in their brutality.
He did not respond.
Wuhen did not expect him to.
