In the Kulu Nation, the world turned upside down in a single night.
The moment the news spread—Kent King had crushed Shui Lan, humiliated the twin-sword prodigy in one blow, and been declared the Golden Heir—the streets erupted. Taverns lit bonfires, merchants rewrote contracts, and sects convened urgent councils.
But the family that felt the tremor deepest was the Han family.
The Han estate—usually bright with arrogance and gilded lanterns—was that night cloaked in gloom. Patriarch Han sat in the main hall, veins bulging in his temples, the clan's high elders around him. Scrolls of intelligence reports littered the table, all repeating the same cursed name: Kent.
One elder slammed his palm on the table. "He should have died when we schemed against him with Lee! He was a stray dog! Now he sits on the throne of the Golden Heir—above every family in the Seven Nations!"
