"Ranyi! Are you okay?!" Guard Xiao called, spotting Jin slip away for a moment. "How did you even get mixed up in this mess?"
Jin, finally granted a breath, looked up at Xiao. His master, the man who'd taken him from the street and raised him.
He didn't answer. The courtyard was broken. Floors upturned, houses stripped away, people on fire.
When high-realm cultivators clash, the ordinary pay the price.
"HAHAHA! What is happening, Yunxi? Can't you keep up with me anymore!?"
Grand Elder's laughter rolled across the estate, deep and cruel. It spread despair.
Yunxi held the domain; it healed Jin and the others and slowed the enemy. Still, she was fighting someone far more experienced. Prodigy or not, she was only human.
'At this rate, she'll lose.' Jin watched from behind the statue, heart tight.
Two elephants fought; they were ants under the thunder. All anyone could do was hope they would not be crushed.
His hands clenched. 'I thought my plan would work after the poison, but the Grand Elder's power is too great.'
Jin wanted to help, he really did. He knew he'd be a hindrance to Yunxi. Still, she had saved him; she had protected him. He couldn't just walk away.
But what could he do?
With the assassin pushed back, Zhenyao waited at the edge; the real clash burned between Yunxi and the Grand Elder.
"I- I don't know, Old Man. Everything feels… orchestrated. Maybe this was their plan all along. I only sped it up." The words poured out, effortless and unrestrained, as if speaking to this man cost him no thought at all.
The sky over the estate was one hard red, full of techniques and killing intent, smoke twisted into the blood-colored light.
To everyone else it was a wound.
To Jin it broke into light.
The red split into blue, green, gold and pink. Colors thrown onto a white canvas suspended above the ruin, beautiful and terrible at once.
"Pretty…" he breathed.
Even Xiao turned his head, staring at him. 'How the hell could that be a "pretty" sight?'
"So you have a plan, right?" Xiao asked. Jin sounded a little off, tired and guarded. But he knew Jin wouldn't abandon someone who'd helped them.
"I do. At first it was only to give Yunxi an opening for a heavy strike. But with the Grand Elder showing up, she'll be tied down. Zhenyao's there too."
"I can handle Zhenyao." Xiao's voice tightened with resolve. "He's drained from the earlier clash and spent a lot of qi. But the assassin, can you take her on by yourself? She's injured, yes, but she's still dangerous."
Jin grinned, all confident. "You're underestimating me, Old Man. I once shattered a girl's spirit just by saying hello. One assassin? She won't last."
Xiao blinked, puzzled. 'When did that happen?'
"Anyway, here's the plan..." Jin muttered a few words, then yanked one of his friends close and bolted.
Towards Yunxi's fight? Hell no.
He made straight for the Qin estate's main entrance, where traitors and loyalists still clashed in blood and fire.
"Hey! You demonic cowards!!"
All eyes turned toward the noise. One's knees trembled, the other grinned like he owned the stage, an actor in his element. Jin, and the unfortunate friend he'd dragged along.
"Ra-ra-ranyi, I know you wanna act hero and all but why involve me into thi-"
"Shut it," Jin hissed at his friend. "Stop whining and look proud. We've got to sell this arrogance."
Jin threw up his hands, grinning wide enough to be obnoxious.
"All of you! Selling your souls for scraps from some shadow creep?"
The moment Jin's words landed, their eyes flared with a hungry red light, qi surging like wildfire.
Jin shouted, his voice slicing through the chaos like a blade.
"What, that devil juice got you all hyped and brainless?"
"You dare mock us? I'll tear you limb from limb!"
"Brat, your arrogance will be your end, prepare to suffer!"
The assassin's anger didn't erupt; it tightened, like a wire pulled tight.
"Naughty boy. Taunt me enough and I'll take what's mine."
"And you! Antique assassin. Your era's over. Retire before I bury you myself!"
Hana's lips twitched, she fixed on Jin, every motion around her dismissed, as if he alone remained in the battlefield.
"Such fire in you, child; I'll claim that spirit as my own prize."
He gave a theatrical bow toward the assassin and the traitors.
"Demonic qi? Forbidden Arts? That's just loser talk for 'couldn't cut it as a real cultivator'! Flock to me, you brain-dead sheep. I'll make this easy for idiots like you!"
He hit the one nerve of men that never fails: pride. The crowd answered in a rising, furious chorus.
"Kill that bastard!!"
"I'm gonna have his head!"
"Come here you brat!"
"Wh-what are we gonna do now Ranyi!?" his friend stammered.
"Now…" Jin said, fingers sweeping through his hair with a grin. He spun—an absurdly sharp Michael Jackson turn, and for a heartbeat the world blurred.
"We run!" he screamed, bolting like his life depended on it.
"RANYIII, IF I DIE I'LL CURSE YOU FOREVER!" his friend shrieked, stumbling after him.
Behind them the demonic horde became aggressive. Roars, snapping qi, even a flying shoe. Less a charge, more an enraged parade.
Jin glanced back, flashed a cocky thumbs-up, and kicked into an even faster sprint, dust exploding under his heels.
While running, Jin deliberately bared the artifact he'd been hiding. It was a dense, black stone slab. No ordinary boy could have sprinted with it on his back, yet his legs carried him as if it weighed nothing.
He peeled back the binding cloth. The instant the slab met the air, a column of light detonated, a second sun that washed the courtyard white. Mortals squinted; for a handful of heartbeats the world lost its edges.
Hana saw the flash and surged. Zhenyao moved at last, but Xiao An stepped between him and the gate, blade bracing.
The Grand Elder's eyes narrowed at the slab. "Impossible… that thing-" He deployed a defensive relic into place and met Yunxi's blow. One parry was enough to shift the whole rhythm of the fight.
Yunxi, unable to break him, drew herself back and began charging a fiercer strike.
Hana closed in, fingers curled for the kill. And then the slab slipped from Jin's left hand.
Everyone watched, dumbstruck, until the truth sank in: Jin's right hand hung useless. He'd been carrying that slab on his left.
The Grand Elder's lips curled. He read the scene in a blink. Crippled boy, heavy prize, one clean opportunity. With slow certainty he pivoted mid-flight and bore down on Jin, every step a statement.
"Fools," he announced, voice cold enough to cut. "You set the table for me." He took out a second relic from his sleeve. A small, dark shield, and slotted it across his palm.
Yunxi lunged, a thunder of moonlight; the Grand Elder met her, the shield flaring brilliant and true. Their clash sprayed sparks across the broken court. For a breath he held the edge. He had the tablet, he had blood, he had the moment.
"Smart scheme… wasted. The prize is mine."
He tasted victory. Pride softened his shoulders; he straightened as if to savor the fall. "With this," he said, eyes bright with triumph, "the Qin shall fall. Your efforts wasted in the end."
Then the world cut.
A slender knife whistled across the air, aimed at his eyes. Impossible small, impossibly precise. It slid between the Grand Elder's sight and the world.
It did not crash. It was the sick, soft snap of flesh giving way.
"GUHHHRK! - AAAAAAHHHHHH!"
The Grand Elder's expression ruptured.
He reeled back, fingers drenched in red. His scream came out warped, half howl, half wail.
Jin stayed silent. His smile was small, tidy, almost too calm for the ruin around him.
"Knives-throw," he said in a calm, quiet voice. "Left hand's specialty. Seems luck likes foolish boys."