The day passed slowly—like a breath held for too long.
Li Yuan spent most of the time alone in the forest between the two tribes, meditating not in a formal cultivation way, but in a way of organizing his thoughts, ensuring every detail of his plan had been considered.
Through his Wenjing Realm—when he occasionally got close enough to the settlements to hear—he could feel the growing tension. Vareth moved among the Kael youths with a quiet confidence, his intentions resonating with anticipation:
Tonight. We will finally show them. We will finally prove that true power is the only language Valen understands.
In Valen, Karim did something similar—but more cautiously, with subtler words. Li Yuan heard his intention when the young man spoke to his allies:
Vareth will take the risk. Let him. And when blood is spilled, I will be the voice of wisdom calling for a 'necessary' war. Mira is too weak to lead in a time of war. The people will see that tonight.
Two intertwined conspiracies, moving towards the same moment—midnight, when the moon was highest and most people were asleep.
An hour before midnight, Li Yuan was already at the western border post—unseen, standing in the shadows of large trees, observing with eyes that had seen thousands of nights like this.
The border post was a large area with a few small houses—Valen families who lived on the edge of the settlement, close to the land they worked. There were no guards here—it had never been necessary before. Just ordinary people living their lives, unaware that they had been chosen as targets for reasons that had nothing to do with who they were as individuals.
Li Yuan heard through his Wenjing Realm the stillness of those houses—the breathing of sleepers, peaceful dreams, unsuspecting lives.
And then he heard something else.
Six people moving through the darkness with a practiced carefulness—not professional, but coordinated enough. Vareth led them, his intention focused and cold:
The second house from the left. There are two children inside—I have been observing for days. Start with that one. Make it quick but noisy. We want Valen to hear the screams.
Li Yuan felt something cold and hard settle in his chest. Not an explosive rage, but something more like... an absolute awareness that a certain line must not be crossed.
Allowing corrupt leaders to expose themselves is one thing. Allowing children to die for a philosophical lesson is a very different thing.
I cannot let this happen, he decided with a calm clarity. But how to prevent it without exposing everything prematurely?
Torin and Daran appeared from the direction of Kael—Li Yuan heard their intentions even before he saw them. Torin brought Daran with the reason he had promised—suspicious sounds, an elder's instinct, a need to check without creating an alarm.
And Daran, though skeptical, followed because he trusted Torin. Through his Wenjing Realm, Li Yuan heard the Council Leader's intention:
This is probably nothing. But Torin is never paranoid for no reason. And if there is something—if some of our youths are doing something stupid—it's better I know now before the situation explodes.
From the other direction—from Valen—Kai and Mara brought Mira and two other council members. Mira was not entirely sure why she was asked to come to the border post in the middle of the night, but Kai had worried her enough to come.
Kai said he heard about a possible attack, Mira's intention resonated. But from where? From Kael? But we just met at the landslide. We just saw evidence that no one is stealing water. Why now—
The two groups stopped when they saw each other in the darkness—about twenty meters apart, an awkward position, unsure if this was a trap or a coincidence.
And then they all heard a sound that made their blood run cold.
The sound of a door being broken down. A scream. The sound of metal—an axe or a spear—hitting wood.
Vareth and his group had started the attack.
Daran ran forward without thinking—the instinct of a leader who heard his people in danger overriding caution. But as he approached the second house from the left, he saw something that stopped him in his tracks.
Six young men in Kael clothing—youths from his own tribe—stood with weapons in their hands, in front of the door they had broken down.
And Vareth, with an axe in his hand, stood on the threshold with a frozen expression as he realized that Daran was there, staring at him with disbelieving eyes.
"Vareth," Daran whispered in a broken voice. "What... what are you doing?"
For one long moment, no one moved. Vareth stared at Daran, his mind racing quickly—Li Yuan heard his intention through the Wenjing Realm:
He sees. They all see. This is not part of the plan. I was supposed to have time to carry out the attack, escape, and let the consequences unfold tomorrow. But now—
And then something shifted in Vareth's intention. Something hard and desperate:
There's no turning back now. If I retreat, I will lose everything. But if I push forward—if I make this about Daran betraying his own tribe, siding with Valen instead of his people—maybe I can still win.
Vareth backed away from the door and turned to face Daran with an accusing posture.
"What am I doing?" he said in a loud voice, designed to be heard by everyone. "A better question is what are you doing here, Daran? How did you know we would be here unless someone told you? Unless you are working with them?"
He pointed towards Mira and the Valen group who stood not far away.
Daran looked at him with absolute disbelief. "You were attacking civilian houses. You were going to kill innocent families. And you dare to accuse me of being a traitor?"
"Innocent families?" Vareth repeated with a mocking tone. "They are Valen! They are the ones who steal our water, who let us suffer, who taint the purity of their race with shameful mixing! And you—you are so weak, so afraid of conflict, that you would let your tribe die rather than do what is necessary!"
Some of the youths behind Vareth nodded—Li Yuan heard their intentions, a mixture of genuine belief and manipulation that had shaped their minds.
But there was also doubt. One of them—Rekan, the youth involved in the quarrel at the river—looked at the door they had broken down with an expression that was beginning to show horror:
This is not what I thought we would do. Vareth said we would attack a guard post, not a family home. He said there would be no children—
A sound from inside the house—the cry of a frightened child, the voice of a mother trying to soothe—cut through the tension like a knife.
And something broke in Rekan. Li Yuan heard his intention shift from doubt to rejection:
This is wrong. This is so wrong. I didn't sign up for this.
Rekan dropped his weapon—a spear that fell to the ground with a loud clatter in the tense silence.
"I won't do this," he said in a voice that was trembling but firm. "Vareth, you said we would fight guards. You didn't say anything about children."
Vareth turned to look at him with eyes that blazed with anger—but also a panic that was starting to creep in. His plan was falling apart.
"You coward," Vareth hissed. "You—"
"No," another voice cut in—Torin stepped forward from the shadows where he had been standing, his face pale but his eyes hard. "Rekan is the only one who still has honor here. What you planned, Vareth, is not strength. It is murder. It is terrorism against the innocent."
The tension reached a dangerous point. Vareth looked around—at Daran who stood with a shattered face, at Mira and the Valen group who stared with a mix of horror and anger, at the Kael youths who were still loyal but some were beginning to doubt.
And then he saw Li Yuan.
The traveler had stepped out of the shadows, standing in the space between the two groups—not with a threat, not with a weapon, just with a presence that somehow silenced everyone.
"You," Vareth whispered with deep hatred. "You set this up. You brought them all here."
"I set up nothing," Li Yuan replied in a voice that was calm but carried a weight that could not be ignored. "I only ensured that when you chose to do this, the truth could not be hidden. That witnesses from both tribes would see with their own eyes who is truly threatening the peace."
"You have no right—"
"I have the same right every human being has," Li Yuan cut in with brutal simplicity. "The right to prevent the murder of innocent children. The right to expose a conspiracy that would have made thousands of people suffer for the ambition of a few."
Vareth looked at him with absolute hatred—but also with something else. Through his Wenjing Realm, Li Yuan heard the true panic:
He knows too much. How could he know all this? And Karim—where is Karim? He was supposed to be here to support me if something went wrong. Where is—
"Karim will not come," Li Yuan said calmly, answering the unspoken thought. "He is too smart for that. He would let you take all the risk, and then use your failure to strengthen his own position."
Vareth looked at him with wide eyes—not just because Li Yuan knew about Karim, but because the truth in those words resonated with a suspicion he had been suppressing.
Karim said he would be here if something went wrong. He said we were partners. But he's not here. He never planned to be. He was going to let me fail and then—
That realization—the betrayal from someone he thought was his ally—was the final blow to Vareth's plan.
He dropped his axe. Not dramatically, just with the sudden weariness of someone who realizes he has lost.
"This was supposed to be different," he whispered in a broken voice. "Our tribe is suffering. Someone has to do something. Daran is too weak, too peaceful—"
"Peace is not a weakness," Daran said in a low voice that finally carried authority. "Peace is the most difficult choice of all. And you—you chose the easy path. The path of violence, the path of hatred, the path that would have made us all suffer more than the drought ever could."
Daran turned to look at the other youths who had followed Vareth.
"You will all face consequences for what you planned tonight. But because no blood was spilled—because you were stopped before you could do the worst—there will be a possibility for redemption."
He looked at Mira who stood with her group, her face pale but controlled.
"In the name of Kael," Daran said in a formal voice, "I apologize for what almost happened here tonight. This was not the will of my tribe. This was a conspiracy of a few who have been blinded by fear and ambition."
Mira looked at him with appraising eyes—Li Yuan heard through her Wenjing Realm how she considered those words, considering whether she could trust them.
And then she nodded.
"I accept your apology," she said in a firm voice. "And I acknowledge that Valen also has those who would rather see conflict than peace. Perhaps it is time for us to face the fact that the greatest threat to both our tribes is not each other, but those among us who would use our fears for their own gain."
She looked towards the Valen settlement—in the direction where, Li Yuan knew, Karim was waiting to hear the outcome of Vareth's "plan."
"There is a conversation I need to have when I return," Mira said in a cold tone. "About loyalty. About trust. And about the price of uncontrolled ambition."
The night ended not with blood, but with a long and difficult conversation—two groups of leaders sitting together under the stars, talking about how to proceed, how to prevent this from happening again, how to build something stronger than the fear that had almost destroyed them all.
Li Yuan did not participate in that conversation. He stood on the sidelines, observing, listening—not through his Wenjing Realm this time, just with his ordinary ears and eyes.
Because this was their conversation to have. This was their future to shape.
And as dawn began to break—the gentle light sweeping away the darkness—Li Yuan began to walk away.
Kai ran after him, his breath ragged.
"Li Yuan, wait. You're not staying? To see what we will build?"
Li Yuan stopped and turned to look at the young man with a gentle smile.
"What you build is yours," he said with simplicity. "I am just a traveler who happened to pass by at the right time. But you—you are the ones who will live with the choices made tonight. You are the ones who will determine whether this peace endures or crumbles."
"But—"
"Trust yourself," Li Yuan cut in gently. "And trust the people who choose love over hatred, who choose dialogue over violence. You are stronger than you think."
And with those final words, Li Yuan continued his journey—out of the territory of the two tribes that had almost destroyed themselves, towards an unknown destination, to an unwritten adventure.
Behind him, the two tribes began a difficult but necessary conversation—about cooperation, about trust, about how to build something better from the fear that had almost killed them all.