Lin Yue's POV
"Don't scream," Shen Qinghan whispered again, his hand still covering my mouth. "They'll hear you."
My heart hammered so loud I was sure Elder Zhao could hear it through the wall. Shen Qinghan pulled me deeper into the shadows, away from the window where Mother and Elder Zhao were plotting my death.
When we were far enough away, he finally released me.
I spun to face him, my voice barely a breath. "How long were you there?"
"Long enough." His ice-blue eyes were cold fury. "I suspected Elder Zhao was up to something when he tried to have you poisoned, so I followed you when you left the guest house."
"You knew about the poison?"
"I have spies throughout the sect. The young disciple reported to me before she even reached your door." His jaw clenched. "I was testing Elder Zhao to see how far he'd go. I didn't expect your stepmother to be working with him."
The betrayal burned fresh and sharp. "My own mother is trying to frame me for demon collaboration."
"Stepmother," Shen Qinghan corrected gently. "Your real mother wouldn't have done this."
Something about the way he said it—like he understood that specific kind of pain—made my chest ache. "What do we do now?"
"Now?" A dangerous smile crossed his face. "Now we let them think their plan is working. Let them plant their fake evidence. Let them think they've won."
"And then?"
"Then I personally destroy every single person who tried to harm you." The temperature dropped around us, frost forming on the nearby stones. "But first, I need to get you somewhere truly safe. Somewhere even Elder Zhao can't reach."
"Where?"
"My personal cultivation chamber. It's sealed with my own spiritual energy—no one can enter without my permission, and the barriers would alert me immediately if anyone tried." He held out his hand. "Trust me?"
I looked at his outstretched hand, remembering another time I'd trusted him without knowing who he was.
[FLASHBACK - Five Years Ago]
I was walking home from the market when I saw him—a man collapsed on the side of the road, his lips turning black, his breathing shallow and wrong.
Most people would have kept walking. Father always said not to get involved with strangers, especially ones who might be cultivators in trouble. Cultivator business was dangerous.
But his hand was reaching out weakly, and his eyes—those ice-blue eyes—were filled with pain and fear.
I couldn't just leave him.
"Hey," I dropped my market basket and knelt beside him. "Can you hear me?"
He tried to speak, but only blood came out. Poison. I could see the black veins spreading up his neck.
"Okay, okay, don't talk." My mind raced. The old hunter's cabin was only half a mile away. If I could get him there, I had some spiritual herbs hidden in my cave that might help.
He was heavy—way heavier than a normal person because of his cultivation-strengthened body—but I managed to half-drag, half-carry him through the forest. My arms screamed in protest, but I didn't stop.
The cabin was dusty and abandoned, but it had a bed. I laid him down carefully and ran to my secret cave to grab every healing herb I'd collected.
My hands shook as I crushed the herbs and mixed them with water, trying to remember everything my real mother taught me about poisons before she died. "This might not work," I told him, lifting his head to pour the medicine down his throat. "But I'm trying, okay? Just hold on."
His hand suddenly gripped mine, squeezing weakly. Like he was saying thank you.
I stayed with him that whole first night, changing cold compresses on his forehead and forcing more medicine down his throat every few hours. The black veins slowly began to fade.
On the second day, demon beasts attacked—drawn by the scent of his powerful cultivation. I had to use my hidden abilities to drive them off, my ice sword techniques cutting through three wolf demons before they could reach the cabin.
I dragged their bodies away and took their cores, then went back to nursing the stranger.
"Who are you?" I whispered, studying his face. He was handsome in a cold, perfect way, with silver-white hair that seemed too young for his face. "Why was someone trying to kill you?"
He didn't answer. His fever was still too high.
On the third day, his breathing finally steadied. The black had completely faded from his lips, and his hand, which had been gripping mine on and off for three days, squeezed gently one last time before relaxing.
"You're going to be okay," I told him, relief flooding through me. "I don't know who you are or what trouble you're in, but you're going to live."
I stood to get more water, but his hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. His eyes opened—those stunning ice-blue eyes—and he stared at me like he was trying to memorize my face.
"Thank you," he whispered, his voice rough from disuse.
"You're welcome. Now rest—"
"What's your name?"
I hesitated. Giving my real name to a cultivator could be dangerous. But something about his eyes made me trust him.
"Lin Yue," I said softly. "My name is Lin Yue."
He smiled, just a little. "Beautiful name."
"What's yours?"
Before he could answer, voices shouted in the distance. "Sect Master! Sect Master Shen, where are you?"
Sect Master? My blood ran cold. I'd saved a Sect Master?
His disciples burst into the clearing outside the cabin before I could run. They saw me through the window and immediately drew their swords.
"Step away from the Sect Master!" one of them shouted.
"Wait—" the man—Sect Master Shen—tried to sit up, but he was still too weak. "She saved me—"
"We'll handle this, Sect Master. We need to get you back to the sect immediately." The disciples surrounded him, and I was pushed aside in their urgency.
I watched from the doorway as they lifted him onto a spirit beast. He looked back at me, his eyes desperate, like he wanted to say something important.
"Find her," he told one of his disciples. "I need to repay her kindness."
"Yes, Sect Master. After we get you to the healers—"
But they were already flying away on their spirit beasts, and I was left standing in the clearing alone.
I never expected to see him again.
[PRESENT]
"You never came back," I said quietly, my hand still not taking his. "You said you'd repay my kindness, but you never came back."
Pain flashed across Shen Qinghan's face. "I tried. I sent my disciples to find you two weeks later, but by then—" His voice broke slightly. "By then they reported that Lin Yue, daughter of Officer Lin, had died. Some scandal with her family and an accusation of demon collaboration. They said you took your own life rather than face trial."
My breath caught. "They faked my death?"
"Who?"
"My stepmother and Mei Ling. Five years ago, they tried to frame me the first time. I had to run away and hide, and they must have spread the story that I died to cover up my disappearance." My fists clenched. "And you believed them."
"I had no reason not to." His voice was anguished. "I went to your village myself. Your father confirmed his daughter was dead. He was drunk and broken, and he told me about the accusations and the shame. I thought—" He stopped, swallowing hard. "I thought I'd failed to save the one person who saved me."
The weight of five years of misunderstanding crashed over both of us.
"You've been looking for a dead girl," I whispered.
"And you've been hiding from a world that wanted to enslave you." He finally lowered his hand. "Lin Yue, I can't change the past. But I can protect you now. Please. Let me finally repay that debt."
I looked into his eyes and saw genuine pain, genuine regret, genuine determination.
I took his hand.
"Okay," I breathed. "I trust you."
His fingers closed around mine, warm and strong. "I won't fail you again. I swear it."
He led me through the sect grounds using hidden paths I didn't know existed. We were almost to his personal residence when a voice called out from the darkness.
"Sect Master Shen. How convenient to find you alone at night."
We both spun around.
Elder Zhao stepped out of the shadows, and he wasn't alone. Twenty disciples stood behind him, all with their hands on their sword hilts.
"Elder Zhao." Shen Qinghan's voice was ice. "You should be in your quarters."
"And you should be following sect law instead of harboring a demon collaborator." Elder Zhao smiled coldly. "We just received evidence that Lin Yue has been summoning demons for months. As per ancient sect law, I'm authorized to execute demon sympathizers on sight without trial."
"That evidence is fake and you know it—"
"Nevertheless, it exists. And as your elder advisor, I'm invoking emergency authority." Elder Zhao's smile widened. "The girl dies tonight, and there's nothing you can do about it. Sect law is above even the Sect Master when demon collaboration is proven."
The twenty disciples drew their swords as one.
Shen Qinghan pulled me behind him, his own sword appearing in his hand. "If you want her, you'll have to go through me."
"We were hoping you'd say that," Elder Zhao said softly.
And then I saw it—all twenty disciples had strange red marks on their necks. Demon possession marks.
"You're working with demons yourself!" I gasped.
Elder Zhao laughed. "Who do you think gave you those demon cores to collect, little girl? I've been breeding demons in the sect's basement for five years, and you've been my perfect scapegoat." His eyes glinted with madness. "The Sect Master is too soft to use the old ways. But once he's dead and you're blamed for it, the sect will return to my control."
Shen Qinghan's cultivation aura exploded outward, making the ground shake. "You dare—"
The possessed disciples attacked as one, and Shen Qinghan met them with devastating force. His sword moved like liquid lightning, but he was one against twenty.
I wanted to help, wanted to fight, but my cultivation was nothing compared to this level of battle.
Then I saw Elder Zhao pulling something from his robes—a demon summoning talisman, and this one was glowing with enough power to summon something truly terrible.
"Shen Qinghan!" I screamed. "Behind you!"
He turned, but he was too far away, too engaged with the other disciples.
Elder Zhao crushed the talisman with a triumphant laugh.
The air split open with a sound like reality tearing, and something massive started pushing through the dimensional rift.
Something with too many teeth and eyes that burned like red stars.
A Demon Lord was coming through.
And we were about to die.