Mist clung to the stones of the Mausoleum of Truth as Xie Lan emerged from its depths, his breath shallow, heart pounding. The ghostly whispers of the shrine still echoed in his ears, the memory of his mother's illusion—a final goodbye, and a solemn vow.
He clenched his fist.
> [System Alert: Hidden Quest Complete – "Blood Remembers"] Reward: Ancestral Soul Flame – Dormant New Trait: Spirit-Wound Resistance (Level 1)
"Mother," he whispered. "I swear, I won't let your death be in vain."
The wind shifted. Somewhere behind him, the clouds began to part, revealing a slice of silver moonlight.
[Back at the Imperial Palace – Hall of Rising Phoenix]
Crown Prince Xie Yan stood at the edge of the reflecting pool in his private quarters, his golden robes whispering around his feet. His brows furrowed as he studied the reflection of the stars above, disturbed by a single ripple on the water's surface.
"Something is changing," he murmured.
"Your Highness," Li Meiyan said from behind him, her voice soft yet urgent. She was no longer in the elaborate silks of a Crown Princess but in the plainer robes of mourning ostensibly for her uncle's recent death, but Xie Yan knew better.
He turned slowly. "Has the Emperor grown suspicious?"
Li Meiyan hesitated. "Not yet. But the reports from the Imperial Martial Academy say Xie Lan has not only returned to classes… he's excelling."
A flash of annoyance passed through Xie Yan's eyes.
"He should have been broken," he muttered. "Disgraced, discarded. What is he trying to prove now?"
"I think he has remembered," Meiyan said.
Xie Yan turned sharply. "What?"
"I think Xie Lan knows what we did… or is starting to suspect."
A long silence.
"He was weak," Xie Yan said coldly. "Still is. Whatever game he's playing, it ends the same. I will be Emperor, and he'll rot like the others."
But in his heart, a seed of doubt had sprouted. His visions had returned nightmares of red lotus blossoms, burning imperial halls, and Xie Lan's glowing eyes staring from the shadows.
Li Meiyan stepped closer. "Should we move against him now?"
Xie Yan shook his head. "No. Let him rise a little higher… then we'll cut him down in front of them all. The court loves a spectacle."
But as they turned away from the pool, the waters behind them shimmered—then stilled.
---
[Location: Hidden Court - Outer Ring Compound]
Xie Lan sat beneath a withered tree, robes damp from earlier rain, his fingers tracing the edges of a jade medallion he had unearthed in the mausoleum.
"Yue Clan…" he whispered. "So that's where my mother was born."
> [System Notification: New Lineage Detected – Yue Clan Bloodline: Locked] Optional Quest Unlocked: "Unseal the Lunar Veins" Objective: Find the Three Lunar Keys scattered across the Empire Reward: Unlock Partial Ancestral Cultivation Path
He exhaled slowly.
Behind him, Yao Qing approached quietly, her usual smirk absent.
"You've changed again," she said, eyes scanning his face.
"I remember more now," he said. "I know who I was… and who I must become."
"What's the next move?"
Xie Lan stood, slipping the medallion into his robes.
"We visit the old governor of Jadefall Province. He once served the Yue Clan."
"But the Jadefall Prefecture is a war zone," Yao Qing warned. "The Crown Prince's loyalists hold it with iron fists."
Xie Lan's eyes gleamed.
"Then we tear the fists open."
---
[Meanwhile – Inside the Emperor's Inner Court]
Emperor Xie Rui sat alone, gazing at an old painting of a woman half-erased by time. Her features had long faded… but her eyes remained.
A voice whispered behind him.
"Your Majesty… your seventh son has begun stirring unrest."
"I know," the Emperor said quietly.
"Shall I silence him?"
The Emperor shook his head. "No. Let him run. Let him fight. Let him hate me."
"Why?"
"Because the truth is not ready to rise yet," he said. "Not until the curse awakens fully."
---
[Final Panel – System Interface]
> [New Chapter Begins: Act II – The Crown's Cracks] Main Quest Updated: "Split the Empire – Win Over One Great House"] Time Remaining Until Eclipse: 168 Days
The shadows deepened.
And the game... had just begun again.
Rain drizzled over the Imperial Capital, soft and persistent, soaking banners and tiled rooftops in silvery mist. The sun had not shown its face all morning, and within the opulent Eastern Palace, the tension hung heavier than the storm clouds above.
[Location: Imperial Palace – Eastern Wing, Crown Prince's Private Study]
Crown Prince Xie Yan stood before a scroll-strewn table, one hand clutching a carved jade seal, the other clenched tightly behind his back. His golden robe shimmered faintly in the candlelight, though his face bore no such warmth. He had barely slept since the last confrontation with his half-brother Xie Lan, and now, every report arriving from the Martial Academy soured his stomach.
"Again?" he hissed, voice low. "He embarrassed the chief instructor again?"
Li Meiyan, poised and serene beside the table, raised a hand to calm him. "He didn't disobey the Academy's rules… not overtly. But his influence is growing. The junior disciples have begun referring to him as the 'Ghost Blade.'"
Xie Yan's knuckles turned white on the seal. "Let them speak. Whispers have no power against the throne."
She studied him with careful eyes. "They might, if they grow loud enough."
He shot her a sharp look, but she held it, her gaze steady and unreadable. It was hard now to see the girl who once wept beside him when their father disowned her closest maid. Time had carved them both into different creatures.
"I'll deal with him," Xie Yan said finally. "My way."
"And what way is that?" Meiyan asked softly.
He didn't answer.
Instead, he swept the pieces off the Go board on the far side of the room. The black and white stones clattered across the floor, like teeth shaken loose.
---
[Location: Martial Academy – Shadow Forest]
The forest was silent, except for the soft rustle of movement through the undergrowth. Xie Lan crouched beside a shallow stream, letting water cool his fingers. Blood stained the knuckles of his right hand, training wounds, this time. Nothing fatal.
Beside him, the System interface pulsed softly.
> [Quest Complete: Win three duels in Shadow Forest] Reward: Silver Qi Refinement Pill + 20 Villain Points
He tucked the pill away into his sash and leaned against a crooked tree.
The scent of iron, moss, and distant rain was oddly soothing. Here, among the shadows and spirits, he could think.
"Are you not tired?" came a voice.
Xie Lan didn't flinch. He recognized that quiet cadence. "Yu Shijie," he said, without turning.
The masked figure emerged from the trees like mist, dressed in flowing black robes, eyes glittering behind a half-mask of moonsteel.
"You cultivate like a dying man racing time," Yu Shijie murmured. "Is revenge such a fire that it cannot wait to be stoked?"
Xie Lan smiled faintly. "Revenge is not a fire. It's the air I breathe."
Shijie looked at him, unreadable. "And what will you do when it consumes everything else?"
"I won't let it," he said simply. "Because I'll burn my enemies first."
---
[Location: Imperial Court – Hall of Jade Serpents]
Grand Chancellor Huai knelt before the Emperor, head bowed. Servants stood like statues, silent and pale.
"Speak plainly," the Emperor commanded.
"Your Majesty," the Chancellor said, "there are rumors… that Prince Xie Lan has begun gathering allies within the Academy. That he is… plotting."
The Emperor's eyes narrowed. He was older now, his face like carved stone, expression unreadable even to those who had served him for decades.
"I gave that boy ten years of nothing," the Emperor said. "He is not a threat. He is merely barking to hear his own voice."
Chancellor Huai hesitated. "And yet the nobles speak of his duels… his victories. His presence in the Shadow Forest…"
"Then let them speak." The Emperor stood. "Let them build him up. The taller the tower, the harder the fall."
[Location: Secret Courtyard – Yue Clan Estate]
A woman sat beneath an umbrella of crimson silk, sipping tea that no longer steamed.
She wore robes the color of old blood, her hair coiled like a crown, her eyes as cold as the mountains.
Before her, knelt a messenger, breathing hard from travel.
"He is growing stronger, Lady Yue. The prince… he has changed."
She smiled faintly. "Of course he has. That's what makes him useful."
The messenger blinked. "Useful?"
She rose, and the wind caught her sleeves like wings.
"We will let him shake the palace gates," she said. "And when the house begins to fall..."
Her smile turned into something sharper.
"... we will be the ones to rebuild it."
[Location: Martial Academy – Inner Courtyard, Moonview Pavilion]
Xie Lan stood atop the moonlit roof, gazing out across the training fields where younger disciples trained under torchlight.
The wind tugged at his robe, the scent of wet leaves and burned incense in the air.
> [New Quest Unlocked: Discover the Hidden Traitor within the Academy] Reward: Whispering Token – Grants access to the Forbidden Archive
"Another secret," he whispered.
The game was expanding.
And soon, it would no longer be a game.