"Let the ancestors watch in silence. They never raised a hand for me before."
– Xie Lan
---
[Location: Ancestral Shrine, Eastern Imperial Grounds]
The mist thickened as Xie Lan climbed the cold stone steps toward the ancestral shrine. Gray-robed monks lit incense within, their chants dull beneath the weight of centuries. Statues of past emperors loomed in the dark, carved from black jade and veined marble, their eyes blank yet judging.
He stopped before the altar, staring at the dragon-etched stone where names of dead royals were inscribed. The air inside the shrine was thick with smoke, the fragrance a mix of sacred lotus and dried bloodroot. His fingers traced a familiar set of characters on the third column from the left, his mother's name had once been here. Now, it was chiseled away, replaced by the Emperor's seal.
> [System Update: Villain Archive Unlocked]
Accessing Past-Life Echoes…
New Memory Fragment: Mother's Voice (First Thread)
His heart clenched.
A faint sound—soft as silk—echoed in his mind.
"Lan'er… if they ever raise swords against you, remember: our blood does not kneel."
His mother. Lady Ruoyan. Low-ranked concubine. Gentle, quiet… and erased from palace records within a week of her death. Even now, he remembered her holding his hand during festivals, humming lullabies from a region the court claimed never existed.
He knelt—not out of reverence, but calculation.
> Sub-Quest Unlocked: "Recover Lady Ruoyan's Legacy"
Reward: ???
"They thought hiding you would erase you," he whispered. "But I remember."
As the incense smoke curled upward, a spiritual ripple danced across the air. A shimmer in the veil of time. A single gust of wind blew out the candles inside the shrine.
Xie Lan's spine stiffened. Someone was watching.
He rose slowly.
Behind him, nestled in the shadows of the temple eaves, a figure emerged. Hooded, clad in robes of muted blue. No insignia. No presence. Silent steps, but not spiritual suppression. This was practiced stealth.
Danger.
Yet the figure did not strike.
Instead, the stranger tossed something at his feet: a folded slip of red silk.
Then vanished into the mist.
> [System Notification: Hidden Court Invitation Acquired]
Location: Ninth Pavilion, Inner Sect Grounds
He picked up the slip. Four words, written in sharp black ink:
"The empire cracks quietly."
A message and a warning.
---
[Location: Imperial Martial Academy – Outer Compound, Nightfall]
That evening, Xie Lan sat cross-legged in his room, Shadow Lotus Technique cycling through his meridians. The glow of spiritual energy moved with new ease—rebirth made his body supple again, unclogged by trauma and scars. The pale violet aura shimmered at his fingertips, pulsing like a heartbeat.
> [Skill Advancement: Shadow Lotus Technique – Level 2]
+10% stealth movement in low-light environments
He opened the system panel.
> Villain Points: 25
New Title: Shadow-blooming Snake
Upcoming Threat Detected: Hostile Spiritual Beast inbound. Source: Crown Prince's Private Menagerie
He didn't flinch. Of course Xie Yan would retaliate immediately. No warning. No hesitation.
A low growl sounded beyond the window.
A glimmer of scales. Red eyes in the dark.
"System," Xie Lan whispered, eyes narrowing. "Summon Shadow Cloak."
> [Item Equipped: Shadow Cloak – Concealing Spiritual Signature]
He vanished just as the beast crashed through the window in a blur of fangs and claws. The room splintered. Furniture shattered. A long tail swept aside his table like paper.
But Xie Lan was already behind it.
He struck.
A burst of spiritual energy flared from his palm, enhanced by Shadow Lotus. The technique's petals bloomed midair before slamming into the beast's spine.
The creature screeched.
But it didn't fall.
It turned—hissing, then speaking.
"You are marked," it rasped. "The heir commands your death."
Xie Lan's heart stuttered. The beast wasn't a simple attacker. It had been given sentience—altered through forbidden spiritcraft.
He dropped low and kicked upward, launching the creature into the rafters. It crashed through the ceiling, roaring in rage.
> [New Alert: Mutation Detected. Beast Class: Obsidian Flame Serpent]
Weakness: Eyes, underbelly, unstable Qi core
"I see it," he muttered.
He leapt, grabbed a shattered chair leg, and channeled energy through it. A makeshift weapon but it would do.
He rammed it into the serpent's eye.
The beast howled, thrashing wildly before collapsing in a heap of twitching muscle and torn silk.
> [Quest: Survive Assassination – Complete]
Villain Points +10
New Passive: Predator's Intuition – Detect spiritual threats within 30 meters
He exhaled slowly.
No guards came. No one questioned the sound. No help. Just like last time.
He dragged the beast's body to the courtyard and left it there displayed like an offering.
Let them know he saw.
Let them wonder how he survived.
Let the whispers begin.
---
[Location: Servants' Corridor, Midnight]
Eunuch Lian arrived an hour later. White robes, hawk eyes, a fan made of crow feathers tucked into his sleeve. He bowed but only a fraction of what custom demanded.
"Your Highness," he said. "I was informed of… noise."
"A misunderstanding," Xie Lan replied, sipping tea as if nothing had happened. "One of the Crown Prince's pets wandered off."
"A curious misunderstanding. The Obsidian Flame Serpent is considered sacred by the Phoenix Sect."
Xie Lan looked him dead in the eyes. "Then tell them to train their beasts better."
A tense pause.
Then, a faint smile from Lian. "As you say, Your Highness."
> [Villain Reputation +5]
Hidden Favorability: Eunuch Lian +3
Before Lian left, he paused at the doorway. "Your mother," he said quietly, "once offered me the last peach in a harvest bowl. She never asked anything in return."
Then he was gone.
Xie Lan said nothing. But he held the memory like a blade.
---
[Location: Inner Sect Grounds, Ninth Pavilion – 3rd Watch of Night]
The pavilion stood on a cliff's edge, half-forgotten by the empire. Ivy crept up its cracked walls. Wind howled through hanging lanterns.
Xie Lan stepped through the broken gate.
Inside, a single candle flickered. And beside it, a veiled figure.
"You came," they said. The voice was soft. Female. Touched with spiritual resonance.
"I don't answer summons," Xie Lan said, "unless the sender bleeds easily."
A faint laugh. "Then you'll enjoy this partnership. We want the same thing: to see the Crown fall."
"Who are you?"
The veil lifted.
A face he knew.
Not from this life.
From the end of the last
The Spy Queen. The woman who poisoned generals and seduced emperors.
In this timeline, she was young. Unmarked. Not yet feared.
"Call me Yue," she said. "And let's start by burning their secrets."
> [New Major Quest: Form Alliance with Yue – Success Unlocks Access to Hidden Court Network]
Hidden Court Favorability: Neutral
She tossed him a scroll.
It bore the Emperor's seal—cracked.
"This," Yue said, "is the location of a hidden vault beneath the Academy. It holds records of spiritcraft experiments—possibly the same that altered that beast sent after you."
He raised a brow. "And you're giving this to me because...?"
"Because if you survive that vault," Yue said, "you're worthy of more than just my alliance. You're worthy of fear."
Xie Lan smiled.
The shadows were growing teeth.
And he would wear their fangs like a crown.