"COURTING DEATH!!"
The assassin's voices overlapped as her clones lunged at Jin in unison. By now, the treasure hardly mattered. What she wanted was to seize that insolent brat, drag him off, and personally make him pay for his mouth.
"Boy, you sure know how to rile someone up." Yunxi dodged a blade with effortless grace, amusement in the tilt of her fan.
"Still, what happens if I simply walk away with the artifact and leave you here?"
Jin's eyes widened.
He turned toward her and put on the most pleading face he could manage, too big, too earnest.
"Please, don't. I mean… don't take it? I mean-"
Yunxi laughed, soft and warm. "Oh? Begging already?" She tapped his nose with a tender fingertip. "I'm a woman, not a rock. Words sting more than blades sometimes."
Panic flashed across Jin's face.
He gestured helplessly. "No- wait. When I said 'old' I meant her heart. Very old. Wrinkled values. Dusty morals. Nothing to do with skin."
He nodded too fast and turned to her, words tripping over each other. "You're young. Pure. Vibrant. An excellent soul."
Then he hesitated, scratched his cheek, and added, almost thoughtfully,
"Besides… aren't people measured by how much they still expect from tomorrow, rather than their age?"
He gave a crooked smile. It was all he could muster now.
"Damn brat…!" the assassin, overhearing their teasing, snapped back.
Jin thought, 'Damn it. Are they both plus two hundred years? I said that on a whim to annoy the assassin. Well, who even knows the real ages here? Some people look like kids and have a thousand years in their bones. Better be careful.'
Yunxi's expression softened; a small smile grazed her lips. "Is that so?"
She ruffled his hair once, fond. "You say the strangest things, Jin Ranyi. I was only joking."
He exhaled in relief, turning pink, "Please don't. These jokes are too harmful for my heart."
She laughed. Light, genuine.
[+30 Affection Points]
"I wouldn't harm the innocent. I know that you're not part of all this mess. And you're amusing, so don't worry, I'll keep you safe."
As she said this, she refocused on the assassins.
"But now it's time to end this farce."
"Moon-Petal Veil!"
She flicked her fan; dozens of shimmering petals spun out, both shield and blades. The clones and the assassin stood no chance, shredded in an instant. Blood and fragments stained the ground, and silence followed.
Then only two figures could be seen on the battlefield.
A graceful woman, fan in hand, a boy clinging to her back. Opposite her, a black-clad figure, bloodied and swaying, dagger trembling in her grasp. The outcome was clear.
The assassin also knew this, that's why she shouted,
"How long are you just gonna stand there, Zhenyao!"
Cold wind swept the field. Yunxi blinked in astonishment, turning her gaze toward Zhenyao.
A massive wave of demonic qi seeped from Zhenyao, slamming into anyone nearby. He met Yunxi with cold eyes.
"Damn it, I was hoping not to reveal myself this early. Plan's blown. I'll improvise."
Like a spark, demonic qi flared from others: elders, guards, servants, even some mortals. Hidden weapons flashed as men and women drew blades they'd kept for this day.
"From now on, the first action of our Lord's "Grand Plan" begins. Wipe out the Qin Family."
At that command the courtyard unraveled. Neighbors turned on neighbors; friends and family became killers in an instant.
"AAH, RUN! IT'S A MASSACRE!"
"EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!"
"Brother... why?"
"SAVE ME!"
The place dissolved into slaughter.
But before the chaos could spread further. Yunxi made a move-
With a snap, the fan's ribs locked into place, unfolding into a gleaming sword.
"Domain: Moon Lotus Sanctuary"
She planted the sword, whispered, "Bloom and still," and the air folded. A pale crescent of moonlight and drifting lotus fell onto the world.
A crescent of pale moonlight expanded up to hundred meters. Within it, translucent lotus petals drift in slow motion and the ground took on faint silver veins. The air smelled faintly of cold rain.
Allies felt their wounds cool, pain slackens, their breathing slows and steadies. Enemies found their techniques delayed by the smallest, fatal milliseconds, a window for a killing strike.
For Yunxi it felt like drawing a second lung: warmth flooding the chest and then being funneled outward as a steady pulse.
"Crimson Torrent Slash!"
Zhenyao's blade swept; crimson mist gilded the air, and every calm qi flickered.
He had rejoined the fray at the assassin's side. The stronger enemies also shrugged off Yunxi's domain. She'd chosen to widen it, not deepen it to protect the members.
"Black Bloom Shroud!"
Hana used a burst of leeching qi; it thinned the blood, brought nausea and weakness to those it touched.
Yunxi, however, blocked it without trouble.
"What took you so long!" The assassin snarled at Zhenyao.
"Calm down, Hana," Zhenyao shot back. "You know my situation's complicated. With your strike and her using domain, her qi should already be running low."
As the three locked into position, even the drifting petals felt heavy, drawn toward the storm about to break.
"Blood Serpent Strike!"
Zhenyao made a writhing mist of crimson qi that coiled like serpents. A dozen blood-serpents launched, hissing against moonlight.
Yunxi shattered them with a sword sweep and returned a rain of razor petals. While she and Zhenyao traded blows, Hana vanished.
'I'm sure she wouldn't leave without taking Jin or atleast the artifact. So that means I can't leave a single opening.' Yunxi thought.
Even though she knew this.
Her senses were spread far too wide.
Healing Jin, the activation of domain, her fight with Zhenyao and most importantly, the sudden betrayal of a few elders she had seen since her childhood.
Her mind was preoccupied which dulled her senses just a little bit.
Hana finally seeing a chance, slid in beside Yunxi and threw a black needle from between her fingers.
A hairline arc aimed straight for Yunxi's heart.
But the one who reacted was none other than one she desperately wanted to kill.
'A flicker of familiar energy.' Jin thought.
The same twisting, shadow-cloaked qi movement Jin had felt moments ago when he unconsciously learned Shadow Steps, brushed against his senses. But reacting to it will take a long time, which would be more than enough for the assassin.
'Predict it!'
Time stopped. Jin flung himself from Yunxi's back. The needle buried into his right hand with a wet hiss.
"AAAH—!" He screamed as poison laced his arm; numbness crawled up toward his shoulder.
Through clenched teeth he pointed one bloody finger, half-lifted, and forced out, "East! Old hag!"
For a single, frozen instant Yunxi only saw him: the way his face went white, the way his jaw stubbornly set. Her chest slammed tight, then went cold as a blade. No shout, no wail. A quiet, dangerous stillness settled over her.
"Pearl of Stillness"
A ripple spread outward, qi hushed, techniques faltered, and the battlefield held its breath.
Then Yunxi moved.
"Lotus Bloom Assault!"
Qi became sword; sword became rhythm.
Each strike birthed a silver petal, lingering only a heartbeat, before it bloomed and burst in gentle thunder.
One after another, petals blossomed and shattered, each detonation cutting through qi barriers. Inside the domain, their force multiplied, a chain of ripples weaving light and destruction together.
As her attack was about to finish off the enemies, the air bent.
With a resounding explosion, they had broken through the domain and arrived just in time. Her killing blow withered before it could bloom.
Someone else had arrived.
The Grand Elder of the Qin Family, Qin Daoxu.
Zhenyao and Hana were hurled back, battered and shaken.
Not slain… but scattered before her grace.
Yunxi closed the gap in two steps and grasped Jin's injured hand, precise and unflinching. Blood marked her fingers. She didn't flinch.
Jin whispered under his breath, his fingers curling once, "It's just numb. That actually helps. You injured them enough so you don't need to protect me anymore. I can play the bait more convincingly this way. The priority now is the old man who just showed up."
Yunxi sighed. Even after being afflicted with an even deadlier poison, Jin remained calm, already thinking several steps ahead. She couldn't understand him.
"Reckless," she murmured, voice low, clipped, ice in every syllable. "Stay still." Her eyes sharpened, assessing the battlefield anew. Her jaw tightened.
The Grand Elder stood straight, robes immaculate, expression carefully unreadable. A man she'd trusted. A man who now wore no hesitation in his eyes.
"Grand Elder…" Her name for him was a blade. Not pleading. Not broken. Just a quiet accusation.
Yunxi didn't crumble. She pulled herself between Jin and the Grand Elder, sword ready, eyes ice. "If you meant to stab us in the back," she said flatly, "then you better be prepared to face the consequences."
The wind carried her warning, quiet but unyielding.