For three days after killing Jian Lu, Lin Yan remained silent.
Not out of guilt.
Not out of fear.
But because something deep within him had shifted.
Taking a life had changed him—but not in the way he expected. It hadn't shattered him. It hadn't filled him with joy either. It had simply… **unlocked** something.
The fear was still there, but it no longer ruled him.
Instead, something else had taken root: **clarity**.
---
Mei Qingxue watched him quietly as he trained, his form sharper now, his movements steadier.
"You held back," she said suddenly, her voice as even as ever.
Lin Yan stopped mid-strike and turned to her. "Held back?"
She nodded. "You didn't use the flame."
Lin Yan glanced at his palm. The First Flame, his cultivated inner fire, responded to his thought—flickering to life just above his skin. Golden-red and pure.
"I didn't want to lose control," he said.
Mei Qingxue's expression remained neutral, but she stepped forward, her boots crunching on the snow-dusted stone.
"You think control is safety," she said. "But in this world, **power is the only protection**. You've tasted revenge. But your enemies won't be old drunks hiding in valleys. They'll be sect masters. Elders. Women who drank your energy like wine and laughed as you screamed."
She drew her blade, and the cold glint of it caught the morning light.
"I'll show you what it means to fight for real."
---
Their duel was unlike any of their past training.
Mei Qingxue no longer held back. She moved like a shadow split by moonlight—blades spinning, strikes as sharp as ice. Lin Yan dodged, deflected, stumbled, bled.
He activated his flame—finally letting it flow through his limbs—and the battlefield changed.
The snow around his feet sizzled. His strikes grew faster, fiercer. He didn't win. Of course not. But for the first time… **he didn't lose instantly**.
When he finally collapsed to one knee, panting, bruised, and burned, Mei Qingxue sheathed her blade.
"Again," she said.
---
By nightfall, Lin Yan was on the floor, barely breathing, but his dantian pulsed with new heat.
**Breakthrough. Body Tempering — Fifth Layer.**
The Path of Shattered Flame was brutal… but it worked.
---
As he lay beside the campfire, staring at the stars through the cave's opening, he spoke without looking at her.
"Why are you helping me?"
Mei Qingxue sat with her eyes closed, her sword across her knees.
After a long pause, she answered.
"Because I once begged for someone to save me," she said softly. "And no one came."
The fire crackled between them.
"But now," she added, opening her eyes and gazing into the dark, "I'm strong enough to be the one who arrives."
Lin Yan's throat tightened.
He didn't respond.
But something in his soul burned warmer that night.
Not vengeance.
Not rage.
But hope.