The grand hall was submerged in a heavy silence, the kind of silence that precedes a storm, as Xue Mei stood while dozens of eyes were fixed upon her. Some were astonished, some were angry, while others did not even try to hide their desire to see her erased from existence at this very moment.
This hall was one of the places where it was forbidden for any living being to approach without permission. It was guarded by two of the fiercest guards the kingdom had ever known, two men whose true strength remained unknown to everyone. Even so, Xue Mei stood there in her simple clothes and with her hair flowing down, as though the walls, the guards, and the laws had never been obstacles before her.
Whispers spread among those present. Each one asked the person beside him, "How did she get in? Who allowed her to enter?" Yet no one dared to raise his voice and ask openly, for the place could not tolerate such boldness.
As for the king, he was seated upon his majestic throne, looking at her with a hidden smile that no one noticed—a smile belonging to a man who knew a small secret that he shared with no one. He would play with her from time to time whenever the hall was empty of witnesses, and no one could have imagined that the majestic king of this land, whose dignity made heads bow, concealed within his heart such tenderness toward a little girl.
But despite all of that, Xue Mei was trembling inside. She did not know what to say or where to begin. All she possessed was her mother's voice echoing in her ears:
"Go. Shout in their faces. Do not let them take what is rightfully yours."
Her mother had heard that the elders intended to deprive her of the scroll. Although the matter was extremely dangerous, and although entering this hall alone was considered a crime worthy of punishment, one certainty resided within her: no one would dare lay a hand on her daughter.
She finally let out a sigh, raised her head, and looked at the elders lined up before her with a gaze of disdain that did not suit her young age.
"Who do you think you are? You are nothing but humans who have reached the end of your days. Your breaths are numbered, yet you dare decide the fate of something that rightfully belongs to me?"
The hall shook for a moment, and every gaze froze upon her. But the silence did not last long, as the elders quickly returned to their affairs as though her words had been nothing more than a passing breeze.
One of them rose to his feet, an old man with a white beard and sunken eyes.
"I object to these words. This is a grave matter that cannot be settled by the words of a little girl. I propose that we seek the opinion of the Five Great Elders."
The moment his words fell, the council split apart. Some supported the proposal loudly, while others strongly opposed it. Before long, the place turned into a chorus of conflicting voices, each louder than the last, as though the forbidden hall itself had forgotten its dignity.
Xue Mei stood amidst this storm of words, helpless, not knowing how to silence the argument she had ignited with a single sentence. She secretly lifted her eyes toward the imposing figure of the king and suddenly felt a lump in her throat. Just yesterday, she had been running after him through the rear gardens, laughing and playing. Yet today she stood alone before one of the greatest kings in this world, defending a right that belonged to her alone.
"I propose that we postpone this matter until another time," one of the elders said in a tense tone. "Today we have guests from the Fire Clan, and even the Clan Master himself is among us."
"Yes, yes, that is true. They are guests of great importance," another elder quickly agreed.
But a sharp voice interrupted them.
"I strongly object! This matter needs nothing more than a yes or no. Why this sudden delay? Or do you actually want this girl to obtain the scroll?"
The argument erupted once again, louder and fiercer than before. It seemed that no one would ever reach a conclusion, and Xue Mei appeared like someone drowning in endless waves of words.
Then, suddenly... everything stopped.
All voices ceased at once, as though an invisible hand had strangled every throat at the exact same moment. The elders began vomiting blood one after another. At the same time, a blue aura erupted out of nowhere and swept through the entire hall, sparing no one—not the guards, not the elders, not even the king himself.
Xue Mei looked around in terror, first to the right and then to the left, trying to understand what was happening. She was the only one who felt no effect from this mysterious power, as though the aura recognized her and deliberately passed over her.
Then transparent fish, woven from the light of that very blue aura, began floating in the air. Before her astonished eyes, the floor of the hall transformed into what resembled an endless ocean. Its waters rippled with enchanting calmness, even though the elders around her were truly dying, their breaths breaking apart amidst that terrifying beauty.
Xue Mei stood captivated by the scene, caught between a terror she could not suppress and an amazement she could not drive away. As her eyes moved between the illusory ocean and the dying elders, she noticed that the elders' heads, despite the pain that was nearly tearing them apart, slowly began turning... not toward her, but toward whatever was standing behind her.
Xue Mei slowly turned around, her heart pounding violently. When her eyes finally fell upon the one standing behind her, the blood in her veins froze.
He was a tall man, standing one meter and seventy-five centimeters in height, surrounded by a cold aura that seeped into the bones before the skin, sending chills through the heart of anyone who looked at him, even for a single moment. He wore loose robes the color of the deep sky, leaning toward the blue of the calm sea at its deepest point. Their long sleeves hung down until they completely covered his hands, not even the tip of a finger could be seen, as though those sleeves concealed a secret forbidden for eyes to approach.
His long hair fell over his shoulders in two strangely harmonious colors: brilliant blue like the clarity of the deepest oceans, and snowy white like the peaks of distant mountains. This combination granted him a dignity that engraved itself into memory as an unforgettable image.
As for his face, it was as expressionless as solid rock, showing no trace of emotion. His cold eyes carried a gaze as heavy as a mountain of ice, a gaze capable of extinguishing the courage of anyone who dared to stare into them for too long. No one had ever witnessed a smile crossing his face, until his permanent frown had become an inseparable part of his features rather than a passing expression that came and went.
For this reason, people no longer referred to him by his real name, but by a title that had become so attached to him that it overshadowed his very identity—a title whispered through the corridors with fear mixed with reverence:
"The Water Frowner."
At that moment, as always, Xue Mei smiled despite all the terror surrounding her, the smile of a little girl who had finally found someone to protect her, and she said in a voice filled with sudden relief:
"Cousin... Murong T..."
She did not finish her sentence, for his voice interrupted her. It was deep, calm, yet carried enough weight to silence the entire hall.
"Who dared refuse to give my sister what she deserves?"
The moment his words left his mouth, the power of the blue aura multiplied several times over. The elders drew closer and closer to the brink of true death, until a dazzling golden light suddenly burst forth from the depths of the hall. It began erasing half of Murong's blue aura, as though the sun itself had descended to restore the balance.
Murong slowly lifted his gaze away from Xue Mei and turned it toward the king, who in turn released a defensive golden aura equal in grandeur to his son's blue aura.
Then the king's voice thundered throughout the hall, a voice carrying such majesty that even the walls themselves seemed to tremble with awe.
"Do you truly dare... to unleash your power before my throne without my permission?"
It was one of the absolute taboos for anyone to stand before the king and release their power without permission. The elders' earlier confrontation had taken place only because of the king's tacit approval, as he wished to see who would stand beside my younger brother. If he had wished, he could have granted the scroll to the lowest servant in the palace, and no one would have dared utter a single word of objection.
Although the king appeared stern, he harbored deep affection for Murong, concealing it behind a mask of anger. How could he not, when Murong was his own son, his own flesh and blood? He had always tried to get close to him, to understand what lay within that cold heart, to know who had changed his little son into this mysterious being. Yet every attempt had ended in failure, failure repeated so many times that he had come to expect it as something inevitable.
Murong looked at his father with complete indifference and said in a tone that held no open challenge, but rather a calm certainty even more overwhelming than challenge itself.
"Yes. If I wished, I could kill you now and sit upon this throne whenever I pleased. But this throne... does not suit me. It is far beneath my ambition, far too insignificant to satisfy what I seek."
None of the elders were shocked by these bold words spoken before the king. They had long since grown accustomed to Murong's arrogance and to a manner of speech that bowed before no one, not even his own father, the bearer of the crown.
The king gazed at him for a long while. Within his eyes was a mixture of sorrow and pride that no one could decipher. Then he spoke in a quiet voice, heavy with years of futile attempts.
"Murong... I tried. I tried with all the power and authority I possessed to understand what was in your heart, to know who changed you, when that change began, and why I was unable to stop it."
The king's voice was sincere, free of any pretense. Murong recognized the truth in those words and answered with a calmness resembling the ocean before a storm.
"Father... do you think that a man who chooses his own path, then abandons it simply because it is harsh and difficult, deserves to be called a man?"
"No, certainly not. He is not a man, but merely the shadow of one," the king replied without hesitation.
Murong then added with unwavering resolve,
"I chose my path with my own hands, and I will not stray from it by even a single inch, even if its end is death itself."
The king was stunned for a brief moment and looked at his son with eyes overflowing with emotions he could not name—pride mixed with the deep fear of a father. Yet he did not add another word, as though he had realized that any further attempt would be swept away before such an unshakable will.
Murong finally turned toward his sister. The intensity of the blue aura surrounding him gradually faded, and he spoke in a voice warmer than those present had ever been accustomed to hearing from him—a warmth that appeared only for her.
"Listen, little sister. There is no need for all this pointless argument over the Sun Scroll. I have something far greater than it."
He slowly withdrew his blue aura and took an ancient scroll out of the storage ring on his finger. The edges of the scroll shimmered with a faint purple light as he extended it toward her.
"This is the Purple Dragon Scroll. It surpasses the Sun Scroll in both power and status by an incomparable margin. Take it. It is yours by right, and from this day forward, no one will dare contest your claim to it."
Xue Mei extended her trembling hand and accepted the scroll between her fingers. Astonishment and gratitude mingled within her eyes.
Murong then turned around without waiting for a reply and without casting another glance at the collapsed elders or at his father, the king. He walked out of the forbidden hall with steady footsteps, leaving behind a solemn silence and an aura of awe that still lingered within the walls of the place.