The Ling Clan estate was a maze of hallways, chambers, and hidden courtyards, but the echoes of battle had already begun to fade. Ling Feng moved with the shadow disciples, her breaths shallow yet careful, every step measured.
"Miss… we were sent on the Patriarch's orders," one whispered. "To ensure your safety."
Ling Feng's lips trembled. Relief and disbelief flooded her chest, and she allowed a small laugh to escape through tears.
> "Guess there's still another idiot trying to stop me from dying…"
She wiped her eyes, a mixture of joy and sorrow tangling in her heart.
The group fought through corridors and hallways, shadow and steel clashing with those loyal to her family. Ling Feng kept her thoughts inward, every movement cautious, though a spark of hope flared in her chest.
---
Suddenly, from the end of the hall, a new group emerged. An older man, her stepmother's relative, led the charge. Behind him, her stepbrothers—those who had nothing to do with her mother's death—rushed forward. Their eyes were sharp, their expressions cold.
This was not a rescue, nor a battle for justice. Their goal was simple: remove the obstacle standing in the way of their family's pride… and perhaps claim her as a slave, for she had always been the best among the City Lord's children in martial skill.
> "Like mother, like daughter," one growled. "You'll be gone for good now."
"You think your strength matters here? Pathetic," hissed another.
The shadow disciples intercepted immediately, forming a protective shield around Ling Feng. Steel and energy collided, the air thick with tension. Every move was precise; every strike, calculated. Yet even their skill could not prevent the swift, coordinated assault of her step-relatives.
---
Ling Feng's mind raced as she observed the chaos, her heart pulling toward Ye Tian in distant memory. Every smile he had given her, every moment of warmth—they had become her anchor, the reason she dared not despair.
Despite their best efforts, the attackers managed to subdue the disciples and ensnare her. An artifact, glowing faintly with chains and magical seals, rose around her, lifting her weightlessly. She struggled, but the bindings were flawless.
> "No… not now…" she whispered, panic prickling through her chest.
She could only clutch the artifact's edges, her thoughts spinning. Every slight, every betrayal of her childhood flashed before her eyes: her father's cold indifference, the duels where she sought his approval and received none, the countless times her life had been treated as a bargaining chip.
The stepbrothers' voices echoed in her mind:
> "We remove what's unwanted. A daughter left by chance is no longer ours to manage."
---
Trapped within the artifact, Ling Feng's pulse raced. She thought of Ye Tian—the only person who had ever defended her without expectation or agenda. Every conversation, every small smile, every glance he had given her now seemed a lifeline she clung to desperately.
Her fists tightened. Her mind raced through the words, the small interactions, the quiet moments: he would come. He must. Even if hope was faint, she refused to give up.
The artifact lifted her higher, and the stepbrothers and their elder led her out of the hall. Ling Feng's eyes scanned their movements, memorizing every detail, every face. She whispered to herself under her breath:
> "No matter what… you will come for me. You must."
Though she had no idea how, though the danger pressed against her from all sides, she held on to that certainty.
Outside the artifact, the world continued—shouts, clashing steel, but Ling Feng's entire focus narrowed to one thought: Ye Tian.
And so, she was carried off, the glow of the artifact sealing her fate for the moment. Trapped, captured, yet her spirit refused to yield. Every small conversation with him, every tiny interaction, replayed in her mind, fueling her hope, her desperation, and the desire to survive.
In her heart, she knew: she would not die yet.
The hall fell silent behind her, the shadow disciples regrouping to watch, powerless in this moment, as Ling Feng vanished into the unknown, her thoughts consumed entirely by him—the one who had awakened a spark in her heart, the one she now silently prayed would save her.