The full moon rose over the Moon Sect's inner spire like a silver coin balanced on the edge of a blade. Lanterns burned along the marble walkways, and the air smelled of incense and cold stone. But the peace was a lie.
Inside the high Pavilion of Ten Thousand Petals, elders knelt in a crescent before the Saintess's dais. At their center, Yue Lan stood — hands folded, robes pristine, eyes shadowed by exhaustion she could not show.
Below her, Elder Shen Wei's voice dripped venom into the silence.
"The Bloodbound devours our hunters. Zhen Wu lies cold in the cliffs. He defiles our sacred lands with each breath. Yet you, Saintess, let him pass not once, but twice."
Whispers rippled through the chamber like wind through dead leaves. Paper talismans fluttered from the rafters, each rune flickering in time with the elders' rage.
Yue Lan's voice was calm. "If I hadn't stayed Zhen Wu's hand, we'd be scouring the Inner Court for his spies now. Li Shen was never our only threat—"
A snort cut her off. Elder Shen Wei's lip curled. "Excuses. You let your heart blind your duty. The Nine Heavens judge all things — even you."
He turned, a sweeping gesture that pulled the circle tight.
"It is decided. You will bind the Bloodbound. Bring him back — chained in soul and flesh. Or the Saintess's veil will pass to your cousin Yue Xiu."
At that, Yue Lan's mask cracked — the smallest tremor at the corner of her mouth. Yue Xiu: a snake wrapped in silk. Power-hungry. Cruel behind a thousand blessings.
Another elder, voice softer but no less sharp, spoke next. "You will lead the Moon Sect's Warden Blades yourself. If you refuse…"
He left the threat unfinished. He didn't need to say it.
Yue Lan, the fallen Saintess. Yue Lan, oath-breaker. Yue Lan, nothing.
She lowered her head — the silk clasp in her hair glinting like a trapped star.
"If I bring him back…" she said, voice careful as a blade's edge, "he will be executed."
Elder Shen Wei's smile was thin as a paper cut. "No, child. He will be unwoven. The Codex Ku Mo will be sealed in the Grand Vault. The rest — ashes scattered to the Four Winds."
Somewhere deep in Yue Lan's chest, something fragile splintered.
She bowed — because there was no choice. Not here. Not yet.
When she straightened, her face was the Saintess's mask again — perfect, cold, and unreadable.
---
That night, as the Pavilion's lanterns flickered out one by one, Yue Lan stood alone at the Moon Shrine. Water pooled in marble basins, reflecting the high silver disk above.
She whispered to her reflection: "Li Shen… why didn't you run?"
The water offered no answer. But deep inside, she knew. Some threads cannot be severed. Some chains, even made of mercy, still bind.
She pressed her palm to the shrine's stone — a silent promise no elder could hear.
If I must choose… I will.
---
Far to the south, under a canopy of ash trees and drifting mist, Li Shen knelt by the corpses of the bounty pack. The clearing was littered with torn talismans and snapped blades.
He wiped a smear of blood from his cheek, staring at the night sky through tangled branches.
The Codex coiled in his bones, quieter now — fed well on Qi and fear, but leashed by his stubborn, ragged will.
The Moon comes, Ku Mo murmured. Your little Saintess will come with chains.
Li Shen's breath clouded in the cold.
"Let her come," he whispered. His eyes burned red in the dark, but something human still lived behind that crimson glow.
"Let them all come."
Above, the moon drifted through torn clouds — a single watching eye.
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⚡ End of Chapter Twelve
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