Luo He's expression didn't change but he was listening. Xu Mun's voice grew firmer now, a shadow of his former self returning. "I cornered you more than once," he said. "Forced you into positions where any normal man would have broken."
A faint smile returned. "I saw it. The moment. The hesitation." His eyes narrowed slightly. "You were close to losing." A pause. "Very close."
Then his shoulders slowly lowered.
"But you weren't just a man." The realization settled in his voice like weight.
"You were something else entirely."
Silence.
Xu Mun looked down at his own hands.
"A prince." Not just any prince. The crowned prince of the Yu kingdom. Power. Authority. Matched as such.
Resources beyond measure.
And more importantly. A safety net no strategist could overcome.
He laughed again quietly. "Do you know what the cruelest part is?" Luo He didn't answer. Xu Mun looked up again, his gaze sharp despite everything. "I didn't lose because I was weaker."
A pause.
The chamber was silent except for the faint crackle of torchlight. "I lost because I chose the wrong enemy." Xu Mun's voice was calm but the weight behind it pressed heavily against the stone walls, as if even the air understood the truth in his words.
Luo He finally answered. "You were somewhat right but not entirely."
His tone was even, almost indifferent but there was something colder beneath it now.
"I am the crowned prince of the Flame Kingdom not the Yu Kingdom."
That made Xu Mun's breath catch.
For a brief moment, his mind went blank.
Then the realization struck. "The Flame Kingdom" he muttered under his breath, his voice barely audible.
That name alone carried a weight far beyond politics or territory. It was power. Absolute power. The kind that crushed entire regions without resistance.
Luo He stepped closer, his gaze unwavering.
"The cruelest part," he continued quietly, "is that I am not like you." Xu Mun slowly looked up. "I thought I was unbeatable," Luo He said. "Too much like you."
A pause.
"Then I was defeated." His eyes narrowed slightly. "By you." That shocked Xu Mun more than anything else he had heard. For the first time since Luo He entered the chamber, genuine confusion appeared on his face.
Luo He continued. "And because of that I will never underestimate my enemy again." Silence followed. "If I was a normal man by any chance you final move would have been a check mate. No questions asked. I along with my family would have been where yours is today maybe even worse. The Jin family was never was strong as the Xu family."
Heavy silence.
Xu Mun stared at him, his mind racing.
He had been wrong. Again. "Flame Kingdom…" he whispered, almost to himself. A level of power he had never even considered. He even planned to be the emperor of Yu kingdom. That's the highest of his goals but the Flame Kingdom.
A force he could never have overcome no matter how perfect his plans were.
"If I had known…" he began slowly.
His voice tightened. "If I had known who you really were…"
A long silence stretched between them.
"I would have never stood against you."
The words were not desperate. They were absolute. Then "I would have stood beside you." Luo He said nothing.
Xu Mun continued, his voice gaining strength not defiance, but conviction.
"I would have bent every resource I had. Every connection. Every plan" His eyes burned not with anger, but regret.
"I would have made sure the Xu family stood with you."
A faint, hollow smile touched his lips.
"Do you understand what that means?"
Luo He remained silent. Xu Mun answered his own question. "You would have had me at my peak." Not chained.
Not broken. Not kneeling. "But whole," he said quietly. "Sharp. Dangerous."
A pause.
He was shocked by his bold comment
"I was not just a family head." His voice lowered. "I was the architect of everything around me." His gaze hardened slightly. "And I would have built for you." The weight of those words settled into the room like stone.
Then it faded. Luo He was not a man who wasted his words on a defeated enemy so he calmly listened. "But instead" h
Xu Mun exhaled slowly, "I tested you."
A small shake of his head. "I tried to outplay you." A bitter smile formed.
"And in doing so" He lowered his gaze.
"I walked my entire family into ruin."
Silence. The chains felt heavier. The air colder. "I offered everything too late," he said softly. "Even my daughters."
"But by then" He looked up again.
"You had already taken everything."
Luo He finally spoke. "You still have value." Xu Mun froze slightly. Then let out a quiet breath. He understood. Even now he was being used. Even his defeat had purpose. "What a man" he thought.
Aloud, he said "That's what makes you terrifying." He lowered his head again slowly this time. Not in defeat. In acceptance. "You don't destroy what you defeat," he said. "You repurpose it."
"And that" his lips curled slightly, "is why you will stand above everyone else."
The torchlight flickered once more.
Xu Mun closed his eyes. "If there is another life" he murmured, "I won't make the same mistake." A final breath.
"I would find you first." Silence.
Luo He stood still for a moment longer.
Then he pulled his sword. The sound of steel slicing through the air echoed sharply in the chamber. Xu Mun did not move. He did not resist. He expected death. The blade fell but not on his neck.
Instead CLANG. The chains shattered.
Metal links split cleanly, falling to the stone floor in broken pieces.
Xu Mun's eyes snapped open. For the first time he looked truly stunned. Luo He lowered his blade. Without a word He turned and walked away. The heavy door shut behind him. Leaving Xu Mun alone.
Still kneeling. But no longer chained.
And no longer broken. Because even in defeat he had been given something far more dangerous than freedom. A second chance.
Xu Mun slowly stood. His limbs were stiff but his mind was sharper than ever. He walked to the door. Unlocked. Unprotected. Deliberate. "A test," he murmured. He stepped outside. The corridor was quiet. Too quiet. Then He saw them. The guards. Dead. Every single one. Clean kills. Precise. Efficient.
No struggle.
Xu Mun's lips curled slightly. "Of course..." This was not mercy. This was calculation. He moved. Fast. Silent.
A shadow reborn.
The first guard he encountered didn't even have time to react. A swift strike to the throat. Down. The second stabbed through the ribs. The third neck snapped.
The fourth and fifth fell just as quickly.
His body remembered everything.
Every technique. Every instinct. Within moments Five more corpses lay behind him.
Xu Mun reached the outer corridor. Freedom was just ahead. Then he stopped. A figure stood there. Still. Unmoving. Waiting. Vera. The torchlight danced across her armor as she stood firmly in his path, her gaze cold and unwavering.
Xu Mun exhaled slowly. "So this is the final piece." He raised his hands slightly not in surrender, but acknowledgment.
"I know I am no match for you," he said calmly. Vera said nothing. He tried again.
"I could still be useful" Before he could finish she moved. A blur. Faster than he could react. A single precise strike.
THUD. Darkness.