The envoy lunged, dagger slicing toward Zihan's throat. Zihan caught it between two fingers. Chaos qi shimmered along his arm, absorbing the strike, and with a lazy twist he shattered the blade into glittering fragments.
"Didn't your parents ever teach you not to play with sharp things?"
He moved then too fast for the eye to follow. Cloaked figures fell likemeat on a chopping board, their own shadows rising against them as chaotic qi twisted reality around his strikes. The ground cracked around him, red fire snuffed out by the chill of his aura.
The envoy retreated, raising his hand. Dozens of shadow tendrils erupted from the floor, forming a serpent of pure chaotic qi energy. Zihan didn't step back. He simply raised his hand, eyes beneath the blindfold glowing crimson-blue.
[Skill Activation: Echo of domain]
The air screamed. The serpent dissolved, and the envoy was flung against the wall, mask cracking. Zihan appeared before him in a blink.
"Tell me," he said softly, pressing a finger to the man's forehead, "who sent you after me?"
The envoy's lips bled. "You… you think the Pavilion answers to anyone? Foolish boy… you're already marked."
" Shit,"
A rune flared in his eyes. Zihan felt the surge of explosive qi but it was too late to stop it.
The envoy's body detonated in a burst of chaotic qi light. The underground hall collapsed around him, stones cracking, fire exploding outward.
Zihan's form flickered and vanished, reappearing outside the ravine, dust and smoke trailing off his cloak.
[System Alert: Host's Sin Points +8, Madness Points +4.]
[System Report: Black Hand Pavilion branch eliminated. New data fragment acquired: "Shadow Seed Protocol." Decoding… incomplete.]
He exhaled, brushing soot off his shoulder. "So they wanted my essence. That's new."
[System: 'Essence harvesting' usually ends badly. For the harvested.]
Zihan looked back at the smoking ground. The runes that marked the hidden entrance were gone, erased as if the place had never existed. But he could feel it the faint pulse of something deeper , dangerous.
"This was just a finger of the hand," he murmured. "The real one's still reaching. Quite annoying"
He turned, the night wind tugging at his cloak, and he began walking toward the horizon. The stars above burned faintly crimson, reflected in the faint glow beneath his blindfold.
[System Notification: Quest Progress – 'Trace the Hand' 12% Complete.]
[Reward: hidden Authority I - hidden Authority II, anyone near you will automatically free up for a 2 seconds . Only works for those below your level.
Spirit stones-20 ]
[New Objective: Follow the decoded fragment to the Flame Sovereign's Territory.]
Zihan smiled, cold and satisfied. "Good," he said softly his smile twisting. "I was starting to miss a proper hunt."
And with that, the prince vanished into the dawn mist alone, amused, and very much awake to the scent of blood on the wind a testament of the shadows.
....
In the far reaches of the Yue Empire, a storm had begun unseen, unnamed, but deeply felt. Rumors whispered through the courts like wind through vast plains uninterrupted: assassins burned to ash, a prince vanished into mist, a shadow cult buried beneath the earth looking and waiting.
In the palace, Empress chu lit an incense stick before the ancestral altar, her calm hands betraying the faint tremor of a mother's worry. "He's alive," she murmured, though no message had come. She could feel it. The king said nothing, but his aura coiled around the room like restrained thunder.
Betraying his worry.
Beyond their reach, Yue zihan walked alone under a sky of ink and stars. His blindfold shimmered faintly in the moonlight; each step left ripples of qi that the world itself seemed to watch.
[System: Congratulations, Host. You've officially survived another assassination arc.]
[Current Quests: 'Trace the Hand' – Ongoing. 'Flame Sovereign Tournament' – Pending.]
Zihan smiled. "Flame, shadow, chaos… everyone wants something."
He looked toward the distant horizon where the mountains burned faint red.
"Let's see who burns first."
And the wind carried his laughter across the dark fields a low, dangerous sound, half amusement, half promise.
. ...
The sun of the Flame Sovereign's lands was merciless an ever-burning crown hung above crimson plains. The air shimmered like molten glass, and even the wind carried the taste of ash. Through that furnace rolled a single, unadorned carriage: wood darkened by travel, wheels squeaking like weary insects. No banners, no guards, only a lone driver and the faint presence of someone within.
Inside sat Yue Zihan, blindfold in place, robe sleeves loose at the wrist. He looked half asleep, yet every bump in the road echoed like a heartbeat in his mind. The blindfold's runes pulsed faintly, sensing the faint stirrings of Qi around them.
[System: Reminder – You're entering the Flame Sovereign's domain. Locals worship fire. Do not, under any circumstances, make jokes about roasting them.]
"You mean like 'medium-rare geniuses'? Noted," Zihan murmured, lips curving.
Beyond the carriage window stretched the border town of Yanxu, a sprawl of red-stone buildings clinging to the edge of volcanic ridges. Traders shouted over the hum of forges; smiths beat glowing metal into blades said to drink sunlight. Somewhere within that chaos, Zihan could feel the unnatural rhythm of concealed killing intent the cold breath that didn't belong in a land of fire.
The driver ,Ruo Jin pulled the reins. "Your highness , we've arrived. This is as far as we can go by carriage . I'll need to get a permit."
Zihan nodded, stepping down. The ground radiated heat through the soles of his boots. As he adjusted his robe, his system chimed again.
[System: Multiple energy signatures detected. Three belong to cultivators registered with the Flame Sovereign's sect alliance. Two… are not. Probability of affiliation with the Black Pavilion: 74%.]
"Only seventy-four?" he whispered. "Let's make it a hundred."
He walked through the crowd with the unhurried grace of a scholar on a stroll. Every head turned without knowing why, the blindfolded traveler seemed both fragile and impossible to ignore. At a tea house balcony, a few young disciples from the Blazing Sun Sect whispered about the upcoming Flame Sovereign Tournament, boasting of their sect's prodigies. But Zihan's attention drifted elsewhere to a man cloaked in black, exchanging sealed letters with a merchant bearing the crest of the Crimson Lotus Sect. They thought they were discreet , zihan smiled.
He sipped tea at a nearby stall, pretending disinterest. His system flickered a holographic panel behind the blindfold lines of text glowing like molten script.
[Hidden Quest – Thread of Ashes]
Trace the movements of the Black Pavilion's agent within Yanxu.
Reward: +200 Madness Points | +1 Sin Fragment | Hidden Ability Unlock (Partial).
Zihan sighed. "You always make it sound like I'm the villain."
[System: Correction You are the villain. A stylish one, though.]
He set the cup down, leaving a single silver coin. Then, moving like smoke between streets, he followed the black-cloaked figure through the bazaar. The man slipped into an alley carved between two cooling forges. Sparks fell like red snow as Zihan entered after him.
A blade flashed from the darkness. Zihan twisted aside, robe sleeve flaring as he guided the strike past him with casual elegance. The attacker's eyes widened he hadn't even touched the man.
"Too quick," Zihan murmured. "You practice Pavilion forms… but your heart's uncertain."
The next motion was subtle: a single step, a pulse of unseen Qi. The attacker froze, his weapon trembling mid-air as if bound by invisible threads. Zihan leaned close enough to whisper.
"Tell your master the blindfolded one isn't blind."
The man slumped unconscious as Zihan released the tension. Before he could search him, the system pinged again.
[System: Incoming signal – Multiple hostiles converging. Estimated count: 10+]
"Good," Zihan said softly. "I was getting bored."
He moved back into the main street just as the sky dimmed. Ten shadows dropped from rooftops, blades gleaming dull silver. The townsfolk fled. The heat of the land met the chill of killing intent the two clashing elements formed a visible shimmer in the air.
When the first enemy lunged, Zihan's blindfold flared with faint red and blue light. His hand rose lazily , his fan opened and the attacker was thrown sideways by invisible force, smashing into a cart of coal. Another swung from behind; Zihan ducked, pivoted, and used his opponent's momentum to send him crashing into a wall. The air rippled with bursts of chaotic Qi, just enough to stagger, not destroy.
[System: You're leaking chaotic energy. Want me to cap it?]
"No," he said, voice calm. "Let them see the rumor."
One by one the attackers fell, until only the whisper of their retreat remained. Dust settled; the tea house crowd peered out, eyes wide, seeing nothing but the blindfolded traveler adjusting his robe as if brushing off stray ash.
Zihan turned toward the horizon, where a trail of molten clouds marked the direction of the Flame Sovereign's capital. His smile returned slow, patient, dangerous.
"If the Pavilion wants to play," he said, "then I'll bring the board to their doorstep."
And with that, he stepped back into his carriage, the wheels creaking once more toward the tournament and toward the burning heart of conspiracy.