oke curled toward the crimson skies, and the wails of dying men blended with the clashing of steel. The Jun Clan estate, once a monument of power, was now nothing more than a crumbling relic under siege from within.
Jun Mo Xie descended the eastern corridor with Xiao Ru following hesitantly behind. Her hands clutched her sleeves tightly, and her eyes remained lowered. The once-disgraced young master was walking with purpose now—his movements slow but measured, like a predator testing its strength.
Guards stumbled past them, bloodied and disoriented. None dared question his presence. His aura had changed. Even without strength, he walked like a man who owned death.
At the Grand Courtyard, four elders stood in fierce argument.
"The Second Branch orchestrated this rebellion!" one barked.
"We should eliminate them before they spread like a plague!" shouted another.
Jun Mo Xie stepped forward into the courtyard. The elders turned and froze.
"Jun Mo Xie?" one scoffed. "You dare show your face after the disgrace you brought upon this family?"
Jun Mo Xie's gaze sliced through him like a dagger. "You speak to me as if I am the same fool you once knew."
The elder raised a brow, stepping forward. "You should have stayed in your bed, cripple. We don't have time to clean up corpses tonight."
Mo Xie raised the rusted sword.
"I agree. Which is why you'll clean your own blood."
With a flick of his wrist, the sword whistled through the air. It didn't cut—yet. But the message was clear.
The courtyard fell silent. One elder turned away. Another coughed nervously. The bold one stepped back.
Jun Mo Xie planted the sword into the stone at his feet.
"I'm not here to take sides. I'm here to survive. If that means destroying both branches to rebuild something worthy, then so be it."
The youngest of the elders, a woman named Elder Bai, stepped forward. Her voice was quieter, yet sharp.
"You're speaking big words for a man who's yet to cultivate even a basic spiritual root."
He smiled thinly. "Then perhaps I'll start with yours."
She smirked, intrigued, and turned away.
The tension cracked. The storm would not pass yet—but a new player had entered the game.
And the shadows took notice.
Jun Mo Xie remained still for a moment longer, letting the weight of silence drive his point deeper. A low wind carried ash across the courtyard, settling like judgment over the scene.
Xiao Ru dared a step closer, whispering, "Master... what now?"
His answer was cold and clear. "Now, I listen."
He turned his attention toward the direction of the ancestral hall. From there, decisions would be made—decisions that shaped bloodlines.
But as he stepped away, he caught sight of a small figure lurking near a stone pillar—a girl no older than sixteen, garbed in tattered robes, watching him with cautious eyes. Her presence didn't belong to the inner clan.
A spy? A servant? Or something more?
He said nothing, but he noted her face, her silence, and the intelligence that gleamed in her eyes.
The game was growing deeper.
And Jun Mo Xie was just getting started.
He paused before exiting the courtyard, glancing once more at the elders behind him. "You may continue your petty power games," he said, voice low yet cutting. "But remember—I'm no longer the boy you cast aside."
One elder clenched his fists in silence while another murmured something to Elder Bai, who only watched Mo Xie's retreating form with veiled interest.
As the sun dipped further behind the smoke-filled horizon, the s
hadow of something greater began to rise.
---
*To be continued...*