Chapter Twenty-Nine: A Burning Oath: The Su Vow
The Su Family Palace — once pulsing with pride and power — was now shrouded in a suffocating silence, as if mourning itself had taken permanent residence within its walls.
News of Su Ling Tian's fall had spread across the continent, but within the confines of this palace, its weight struck harder than anywhere else — like a blade driven straight through the family's heart.
Inside the grand hall, Su Tian, the father of Su Ling Tian, sat upon his ivory throne.
But he no longer sat as the man he once was.
He was no longer the unshakable figure before whom clans once bowed in respect.
He had become… a shattered man.
His hands were stiff as he clutched the letter that had arrived, his eyes frozen — unable to comprehend the words that told him of his only son's death.
His only son… the pride of the family… his heir… his dream and the source of his strength… was gone.
The letter slipped slowly from his grasp and fell to the floor with a faint sound — yet to his ears, it thundered like the heavens collapsing.
He did not rage. He did not weep. He did not scream.
He simply sat there, paralyzed — swallowed by a silence as heavy as stone.
Then, his eyes ignited — flickers of black fire burning with pure fury.
His fists clenched tight, and tears shimmered down his cheeks.
But they were not tears of weakness… they were tears of searing hatred.
"My son… my only son…" he muttered, his voice cracking apart, "Who killed you? Who dared to steal your life from me?"
With a single strike of his fist, the wall beside him exploded, fragments scattering across the floor.
In a trembling but burning voice, he whispered,
"I will burn this continent to ashes… for you, my child."
But there was one who could not bear the weight of this loss — his wife, the mother of Su Ling Tian.
"Nooooo!!!"
Her scream pierced the palace's silence like a spear splitting the air.
She collapsed to her knees, striking the ground with trembling hands as tears streamed endlessly down her face.
"This is a lie… it can't be true! My son… my precious boy… Ling'er!!!
She ran to the fallen letter, picking it up with shaking hands and clutching it tightly against her chest — as if by holding it close, she could somehow embrace her son again through it.
"You promised me… you promised you'd never leave! You said you'd come back stronger… that you'd make our family proud… so how?! How could you leave me like this?!
But the letter lay silent in her grasp.
And because the truth would never answer — the pain, too, remained silent.
For her son would never return.
In a corner of the hall stood Su Mi — her body rigid, her face pale as a corpse.
The palace groaned with wails and sobs from every direction, yet she — alone — remained silent as a nail driven into a pitch-black night.
Her gaze was utterly vacant, as if her spirit had drifted far from her body. Her lips trembled; she clenched her hands until her nails dug into her skin — blood welled up, but she barely felt it.
Deep down, Su Ling Tian had not been merely the Su Family's heir; he had been the only person she had ever loved with a rare, true devotion — the one who embraced both her weakness and her strength, the one who made her heart believe there was a real reason to live.
But now… he was gone.
"Su… Ling… Tian… no… this can't be… no no no no no!"
Her voice exploded like a scream that cleaved the darkness. She collapsed to the floor, the trembling letter clutched in her hands, her black eyes drowning in tears she could no longer hold back.
"My love… Ling Tian cannot die… you're lying… right?!"
She cried out in shattered gasps, clutching the paper as if it were a vessel of warmth that might restore his pulse.
She whispered his name in a soft voice, as one afraid that speaking it aloud would make fate real. Finally, her dark eyes filled with tears — but they were not tears of pure sorrow.
They were mixed with red; tears infused with hatred, resentment, and an unbridled thirst for revenge.
"This is just a nightmare… Su Ling Tian will come back… he will return to me!" she murmured, but her words were lost in the sorrow-dampened air.
The palace remained motionless, as if mourning had seeped into its very stones. She, however, was a girl who had lost the man she loved above all else — a girl drained by a vow she had never dared to voice.
Then, with sudden violence, she struck the ground with her fist.
A tremendous surge of energy burst from her! The marble beneath her splintered with a thunderous crack, and an imposing aura rose around her — a wave of power that threatened to obliterate everything nearby.
The air tightened; the candles trembled; the hall's breath halted for an instant — it was a moment that would determine destiny, a moment whose echo would linger in the memory of every witness.
In the depths of the Purple Turtle Clan, within the Water Palace shimmering under a serene blue light, sat a woman of breathtaking beauty — Su Ling Tian's teacher, the elegant and refined figure whose presence was as tranquil as a still wave upon the sea.
She stood motionless, her closed eyes unable to stop the silent tears that streamed down her cold cheeks.
That boy…Ling Xuan whispered hoarsely, her hands trembling like leaves in a storm.
She remembered the first time she met him — that stubborn smile, and those eyes burning with unyielding determination.
"How… how can the world be so cruel?" she murmured, clutching at her chest.
In her right hand, she held a torn piece of his black robe — the last remnant of him that remained.
Su Ling Tian…
His name escaped her lips as nothing more than a trembling whisper, but within her… a storm raged — tearing through her heart mercilessly.
She was not merely his teacher — she was the woman who had loved him in painful, silent secrecy, a love that no one had ever known.
She had watched over him since his youth — older, wiser, but captivated as she saw him grow stronger, his spirit burning ever brighter.
She had seen him laugh through pain, defy fate with courage she had never witnessed before… and yet, she had never found the strength to tell him a single word.
She thought she had time — that life would someday grant her a moment to confess what lay in her heart…
But she had been wrong.
She closed her eyes, and memories surged like furious waves —
His voice still echoed in the depths of her soul: Xuan… do you think I'll ever reach the top one day?
He had sat beside her under a blooming cherry tree, his smile — that same smile that had stolen her heart from the beginning — radiant like the sun itself.
She had laughed then and said to him,If you believe it… who am I to say otherwise?
But now… he was gone.
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