The morning mist hung low over the narrow forest path, clinging to the underbrush like pale fingers. Li Fan moved quietly, footsteps soft on the damp earth. Beside him, Mei Xiu kept pace, though her breaths were uneven and shallow. She hadn't said much since they left the hall at dawn. She simply walked, clutching a cloth bundle to her chest as if it were a lifeline.
They hadn't traveled far before Li Fan spoke.
"Tell me again," he said quietly, "everything about this sect's involvement with your family. Leave nothing out this time."
Mei Xiu hesitated. Her eyes flicked to him—then down to the path.
"My father borrowed spirit stones from a Violet Serpent elder three years ago. Not for greed—just to buy medicine for my mother. She was dying, and we had no other way." Her voice trembled. "He promised to repay it within a year. But the price... it changed."
"Changed how?" Li Fan asked, scanning the trees as they walked.
"They demanded more. Tenfold. Then land. Then silence. When my father tried to resist, they killed my uncle to make a point." Her hands gripped the cloth bundle tighter. "I ran when they came for us. They burned our fields. Took my brother. I don't know if he's even still alive."
There was a silence between them, not awkward, but weighty—like walking through fog you couldn't breathe through.
Li Fan nodded slowly. "And you never went to the officials?"
Her laugh was dry, bitter. "They're in the Serpent's pocket. The mayor bowed to them. Even our clan elders said to 'accept our fate.'"
Li Fan didn't reply. He had heard it all before—different village, different names, same poison. People abandoned by the system, chewed up by power, forgotten.
By noon, they reached a cliff overlooking the river valley. Mei pointed across the ridge, where old trees gave way to a stone courtyard hidden deep in the forest below. A decaying manor squatted in its center, guarded by two crumbling pagodas. Violet banners hung from wooden poles, faded but still recognizable.
"There," she whispered. "That's their outpost. They keep prisoners in the back storage house. My brother... he might be there."
Li Fan crouched beside a mossy tree, studying the layout. The manor had aged poorly, likely built by cultivators a generation ago. The sect hadn't bothered to restore it—just took it as their own. That told him something important: they didn't fear anyone enough to make the place defensible.
"How many guards?"
"Four that I saw. Maybe more inside. One's a cultivator—a minor elder named Yan Heng. He wears a snake talisman around his neck."
Li Fan's eyes narrowed. He didn't like it. One cultivator was enough to end this before it began. He wasn't even sure how strong this Yan Heng was, but judging by the size of the place and the casual abuse of power, it was likely someone in the Qi Merging Realm, maybe higher.
Too high for someone like him.
"I'll go in tonight," he said finally. "Alone."
Mei Xiu looked alarmed. "But what if—"
"You can't help me. If they see you, they'll kill you. If they see me... well, that depends."
She opened her mouth as if to argue, then stopped. Instead, she looked away, toward the manor, her shoulders slumping. "Just bring my brother back. Please."
That night, the forest came alive with the low murmur of insects and the soft rustle of leaves. Li Fan moved through the darkness like a shadow. The Art of Silent Reaping guided each step, each breath, each pause. He was learning how to listen to silence—not just hear it, but blend with it.
This time, there was no hesitation in his heart. He didn't carry rage or vengeance. Only purpose.
He scaled the back wall of the compound and dropped silently behind an empty water barrel. He waited, counting seconds, mapping movement. One guard passed. Then another. Inside the manor, laughter echoed—drunken, careless. They weren't expecting danger. They never did.
A storage house stood apart from the main structure, its windows barred, but the door only latched.
Li Fan slid the blade from its sheath. It wasn't spiritual steel, or glowing with symbols—just sharpened metal. Honest. Deadly. That was enough.
He reached the door in six heartbeats and slipped inside. The darkness was thick, but not complete. A sliver of moonlight broke through the cracks in the wood.
Someone stirred.
"Who's there...?" a weak voice whispered.
Li Fan froze.
Then: "Xiao? Is that you?"
He stepped closer and saw the boy. Thin, no older than fifteen. Shackled to a support beam, his face bruised but his eyes alive. Mei's brother.
"I'm a friend," Li Fan whispered, kneeling. "Your sister sent me."
The boy's eyes widened. "She's alive?"
Li Fan nodded. "We're getting you out."
He worked quickly, prying the chain from the wooden frame, not bothering with keys. Just as the final shackle came loose, a voice rang out from outside the door.
"You smell that?"
Li Fan's blood turned to ice. A second voice laughed.
"Probably a rat. Or the boy shitting himself again."
Li Fan whispered, "Don't speak. Don't move."
He slid his body against the wall, blade in hand. The door creaked open.
A guard stepped in, lantern raised.
He never saw the blade coming.
Li Fan struck once—clean, silent. The man dropped without a sound. But the lantern fell with him, smashing against the floor. Light flared—and then came the shout.
"INTRUDER!"
Li Fan grabbed the boy. "We run."
They sprinted through the storage room, ducking past crates, bursting into the open yard. Torches lit up the front of the manor. Shouts rang out. He could feel the presence of a cultivator approaching—heavy, oppressive. A wave of killing intent rolled through the air.
Yan Heng.
He had to make a choice—fight, or flee.
Li Fan didn't hesitate. He threw a smoke bomb to the ground and vanished into the mist with the boy in tow.
They didn't stop running until the manor was far behind them and the moon had risen high in the sky. Mei waited by the riverbank, and when she saw her brother, she ran to him, tears flowing freely.
"You're safe. You're safe."
Li Fan stood back, breathing hard, sweat cold on his brow. His heart was still racing—not from the fight, but from the narrowness of their escape. He had been lucky. Next time, he might not be.
"You'll need to leave this region," he told them once they calmed. "The sect will retaliate."
Mei nodded. "We will. Thank you, Li Fan. You saved him. You saved both of us."
He turned away.
"No," he said softly. "I just delayed the storm. It's still coming."