The assassin's blood had barely dried from the courtyard stones when the next ripple arrived.
Not violent.
Not explosive.
But cold.
Unnaturally cold.
Lin Xiao felt it before anyone else.
He was seated beneath the elm tree in the secluded courtyard, breathing carefully, guiding thin threads of qi through the newly fractured pathway in his meridians.
The crack in the seal remained unstable.
But usable.
Pain no longer overwhelmed him.
It sharpened him.
Then—
The air temperature shifted.
A thin frost crept along the stone beneath his palm.
The golden shard pulsed once.
Alert.
But not hostile.
Different.
He opened his eyes.
Across the courtyard entrance stood a girl.
She could not have been more than sixteen.
Her robe was plain white, but the hem was rimed with frost.
Her skin was pale—not delicately so—but as if warmth had abandoned her long ago.
Her breath misted in the morning air.
Yet the sun was high.
Behind her stood Elder Liu Zheng.
"She insisted," the elder said calmly. "And I wished to observe."
The girl stepped forward slowly.
Each step left faint ice patterns along the stone.
Lin Xiao did not rise.
He simply watched.
Her eyes met his.
Clear.
Gray.
But distant.
"You are Lin Xiao," she said quietly.
Her voice was soft, but edged with something brittle.
"Yes."
"You broke the stone."
"Yes."
A faint smile touched her lips.
"I nearly broke one too."
Elder Liu Zheng folded his hands behind his back.
"This is Mu Yin."
Lin Xiao's gaze shifted slightly.
Mu Yin.
He had heard whispers.
The Liu Clan had adopted a girl years ago.
A child found half-frozen near a collapsed mountain shrine.
She carried extreme Yin imbalance.
Severe enough that even minor qi circulation caused frost to spread uncontrollably.
Most assumed she would not live past twenty.
Yet she had.
Barely.
Mu Yin stepped closer.
The frost intensified slightly.
"You feel different," she said.
"Different how?"
She tilted her head.
"Not broken."
A faint pulse echoed in Lin Xiao's chest.
The golden shard stirred.
Curious.
Mu Yin extended her hand slowly.
"May I?"
Lin Xiao did not hesitate.
He extended his own.
Their fingers brushed.
For a heartbeat—
Nothing happened.
Then—
An explosion of contrast.
Her cold Yin qi surged forward instinctively.
His fractured seal reacted violently.
Golden heat flared.
Frost shattered.
A burst of steam erupted between them.
Elder Liu Zheng stepped forward immediately—
But neither youth moved.
Mu Yin's eyes widened slightly.
Lin Xiao's pupils flickered gold.
Heat and cold clashed.
Yin and something far older.
The golden shard did not attack.
It did not dominate.
It absorbed.
Mu Yin inhaled sharply.
Her frost patterns faltered.
The chill around her weakened.
For the first time since stepping into the courtyard—
She did not feel freezing.
Lin Xiao felt something equally unfamiliar.
The golden shard calmed.
Not suppressed.
Balanced.
The seal fissure stabilized slightly.
The clash ended naturally.
They separated.
Steam dissipated into thin air.
Silence lingered.
Elder Liu Zheng's gaze sharpened dangerously.
"Again," he said quietly.
Mu Yin hesitated only a breath before stepping forward once more.
Their palms met fully this time.
No explosion.
No burst.
Yin flowed outward like a river.
Golden pressure met it.
Instead of destruction—
There was adjustment.
The seal no longer trembled violently.
It flexed.
Accommodated.
Mu Yin's frost patterns thinned.
Her breathing steadied.
She exhaled slowly.
"I am not cold," she whispered.
Lin Xiao felt warmth settle deep within his meridians.
Not consuming.
Not raging.
Balanced.
The golden shard pulsed.
Not aggressive.
Interested.
Elder Liu Zheng stepped closer.
"Separate."
They did.
Mu Yin looked at Lin Xiao with new focus.
"You are not dragon blood alone."
It was not a question.
Lin Xiao's gaze remained calm.
"Neither are you."
Her lips curved faintly.
"No."
Elder Liu Zheng's mind raced silently.
Yin imbalance extreme enough to freeze inner organs.
Dragon fragment volatile enough to rupture estate walls.
Together—
Stable.
He exhaled slowly.
"This is not coincidence," he muttered.
Mu Yin lowered her gaze briefly.
"I came because I felt warmth."
Lin Xiao understood.
He had felt cold.
Her Yin qi had called to the fracture in his seal.
Two incomplete states seeking equilibrium.
The golden shard pulsed again.
Satisfied.
Later that evening, Elder Liu Zheng summoned them both to the inner hall.
"This cannot become public," he said plainly.
Mu Yin nodded.
Lin Xiao remained silent.
"The empire hunts irregular bloodlines," the elder continued. "If they sense this compatibility…"
"They will separate us," Mu Yin finished calmly.
"Yes."
Silence.
Lin Xiao finally spoke.
"You intend to use us."
It was not accusation.
Observation.
Elder Liu Zheng met his gaze without flinching.
"I intend to protect this clan."
"And yourselves?" Mu Yin asked softly.
The elder did not answer immediately.
Protection and use were often indistinguishable.
Lin Xiao exhaled slowly.
"We will train together."
Elder Liu Zheng blinked.
"You choose this?"
"Yes."
Mu Yin nodded once.
"If I am alone, I freeze."
"If he is alone, he burns."
Elder Liu Zheng looked between them.
Balance.
Yin.
Uncrowned flame.
Dangerous.
Powerful.
"If you lose control," the elder said, "I will intervene."
Lin Xiao met his gaze.
"You will not be able to."
The elder felt a faint chill.
Not arrogance.
Fact.
That night, Lin Xiao sat across from Mu Yin within the secluded courtyard.
They did not speak much.
They did not need to.
They placed their palms together again.
Yin flowed.
Golden responded.
The seal fissure widened slightly—
But cleanly.
Not violently.
Mu Yin exhaled slowly.
"My meridians hurt less."
Lin Xiao felt his second pathway thinning.
Opening.
Not shattered.
Unlocked.
He studied her quietly.
"You should not have survived," he said.
She smiled faintly.
"I was not meant to."
The words carried no self-pity.
Only truth.
"I think," she added softly, "someone sealed me as well."
The golden shard pulsed.
Agreement.
Two sealed existences.
Two incomplete inheritances.
The empire crowned dragons.
But these two—
Were not crowned.
They were restrained.
Far away—
In Longhuang City—
Long Xiu watched the black mirror tremble.
Golden ripples now intertwined with faint silver frost.
He leaned slightly forward.
"So."
"Yin awakens."
His lips curved.
"The board becomes interesting."
In another wing of the palace, Long Wei received new intelligence.
"Mu Yin," he murmured.
"Extreme Yin case."
He tapped the table lightly.
"Balance."
He smiled faintly.
"Let them grow."
Back in Liu Clan estate—
Lin Xiao felt something new.
For the first time since rebirth—
He did not feel alone inside his own body.
The golden shard was still there.
Watching.
Ancient.
Uncrowned.
But no longer pressing blindly.
It adjusted to Mu Yin's cold presence.
Accepted it.
Mu Yin withdrew her hand slowly.
The frost around her remained faint—but controlled.
"You are dangerous," she said softly.
"So are you."
She looked toward the distant wall.
"The empire will not ignore this."
"No."
"Will you run?"
Lin Xiao's gaze sharpened.
"Running wastes time."
Mu Yin studied him for several seconds.
Then nodded once.
"Then we rise faster."
He almost smiled.
Almost.
Inside, the golden shard pulsed.
Not violently.
Not challengingly.
But steadily.
For the first time—
It felt like alignment.
Not dominance.
Not submission.
But direction.
The seal did not feel like prison anymore.
It felt like preparation.
Lin Xiao closed his eyes briefly.
Once, he devoured to climb.
This time—
He would balance.
Refine.
Ascend.
And when the empire came—
They would not find chaos.
They would find something controlled.
An Uncrowned Dragon.
Not alone.