Time/Date: TC1853.01.22 – Afternoon
Location: Imperial Palace, Throne Room
Lord Mingzhe watched Kaelith Long leave and realized, with the clarity that came from one hundred sixty years of political experience, that they were watching the first domino fall.
The Long clan would survive. Kaelith was too strong, too honorable, too deeply rooted in military tradition to let his family collapse entirely. But they'd been dealt a crippling blow. The guardian withdrawal. Darian's very public disowning. The cultivation weakening affecting their entire military structure.
They were vulnerable. For the first time in centuries, genuinely vulnerable.
And the Lin clan wasn't much better. Patriarch Lin had managed to stand upright through sheer force of will, but his cultivation damage was visible. Healers were trying to heal when their own spiritual channels were breaking. The family that had built its reputation on medical excellence suddenly couldn't maintain their own health.
