Yufeng slowed as the familiar silhouette of Heavenly Sword Villa emerged beyond the mountains.
She landed several li away.
Instinct.
Never approach the target directly.
Observe first.
She pulled her hood lower before silently advancing across the treetops.
The moment the villa came into view...
Her footsteps stopped.
"..."
Her eyes widened.
"...What happened here?"
The once-pristine Heavenly Sword Villa no longer resembled the proud Sacred Ground she remembered.
The outer walls had collapsed in several places.
Massive scorch marks covered entire courtyards.
Ancient pavilions lay shattered.
Stone walkways had been split apart.
Several enormous battle arks lay crashed across the mountainside, their hulls broken and half-buried within the earth.
One had torn through an entire forest before finally stopping against the outer wall.
Another rested upside down near the eastern courtyard.
The destruction stretched as far as the eye could see.
Yet...
One scar dwarfed everything else.
A single sword slash.
It began at the villa's main gate...
And continued in a perfectly straight line...
Through halls.
Training grounds.
Defensive formations.
Ancient buildings.
All the way toward the villa's central district.
Everything standing within its path...
Had simply ceased to exist.
Yufeng quietly inhaled.
"...One strike..."
"...Impossible."
Not even the strongest experts she knew should have been capable of leaving such devastation.
Her gaze swept across the ruined grounds.
Servants hurried between collapsed buildings.
Disciples carried broken stone away.
Formation masters attempted to restore shattered arrays.
Medical halls overflowed with injured cultivators.
The villa was no longer thriving.
It was rebuilding.
Without making a sound...
Yufeng circulated profound energy through the soles of her feet.
Silent Step.
Her aura gradually disappeared.
Shadow Cloak.
Even the fluctuations of her profound energy faded until she seemed no different from an ordinary breeze passing through the trees.
She remained hidden among the branches.
Listening.
Observation before action.
Just as the Codex taught.
Fortunately...
She remained a powerful cultivator.
Conversations that ordinary ears could never reach became perfectly clear.
Two disciples passed beneath her.
"I still can't believe Princess Cang Yue did all this..."
"I heard she nearly killed the Villa Master."
"No..."
"The old Villa Master was the one she nearly cut down."
"Ling Tianni?"
"Yes."
"They said one more strike and he would've died."
"What happened?"
"I don't know."
"I only know she arrived a few days after Lady Yufeng..."
The disciple lowered his voice.
"...after she committed suicide."
His companion sighed.
"Don't remind me."
"Everything went mad after that."
Yufeng remained perfectly still.
"...After..."
"...my death?"
Another servant joined the conversation while carrying broken timber.
"You weren't here."
"The Princess looked completely different."
"Different?"
"Her hair..."
"It had turned black."
"So had her eyes."
"She didn't look like the gentle Princess at all."
"They say she arrived riding one of those flying battle arks."
"She demanded to see Villa Master Ling."
"When he refused..."
The servant unconsciously glanced toward the enormous sword scar cutting through the villa.
"...that happened."
Another disciple shivered.
"I've served here twenty years."
"I've never seen Villa Master Ling Yuefeng lose."
"He and Old Master Ling Tianni fought together..."
"And still..."
He shook his head.
"They're both still recuperating."
"Medical elders say they'll need months before recovering completely."
Yufeng narrowed her eyes beneath the hood.
Cang Yue...
Dark hair.
Dark eyes.
She remembered the young princess she had secretly aided days ago by sabotaging the formation meant to capture her.
Kind.
Gentle.
Always smiling despite carrying the burdens of the empire.
"...Is it truly the same girl?"
She found it difficult to reconcile those memories with the devastation before her.
Then again...
A faint smile appeared.
Whether intentional or not...
Cang Yue had dismantled much of Heavenly Sword Villa for what reason?
Many defensive formations had been destroyed.
Security had become chaotic.
Patrol routes were inconsistent.
Entire sections of the villa remained abandoned while reconstruction continued.
An infiltrator could scarcely ask for better circumstances.
Her attention shifted toward the central courtyard.
Two familiar young men were directing servants as rubble was cleared away.
Ling Jie.
And...
Ling Yun.
Her sons.
Neither appeared seriously injured.
Both worked tirelessly beside the disciples rather than issuing orders from afar.
Yufeng quietly watched them.
A complicated emotion stirred within her chest.
They were strangers...
Yet they were also her sons.
Children she had never remembered raising.
Children born during eighteen years stolen from her.
She said nothing.
Merely watched from afar.
"...You're safe."
A quiet sense of relief settled over her.
Then her expression returned to calm.
Personal feelings could wait.
She had not come here as their mother.
She had come...
As an Assassin.
She shifted her attention toward the inner districts of the villa.
The treasury.
The private workshops.
Her personal residence or her former self's residence.
The villa's vault where her Sacred Ground resources had been stored.
One by one...
She began silently mapping every patrol.
Every sentry.
Every blind corner.
Every broken formation.
The villa believed it was recovering from a devastating attack.
None of them realized...
Another shadow had already entered their walls.
The destruction had become an unexpected blessing.
With so much of Heavenly Sword Villa in disarray...
No one paid attention to another shadow moving across rooftops.
Yufeng remained hidden.
She had no intention of rushing toward the treasury.
Not yet.
She reminded herself of the very first lesson she had learned from Altaïr.
Observe first.
Strike later.
If she wished to one day guide Li Xuan...
Then she first had to become worthy of being called an Assassin herself.
Knowledge inherited through memories was one thing.
Experience...
Could never be borrowed.
She needed to earn it.
Silently...
She abandoned the rooftops and made her way toward the tallest structure within the villa.
The Watchtower.
The highest point overlooking nearly every district.
Normally...
She could simply fly.
As a Throne Realm cultivator, soaring through the air was effortless.
But that was precisely why she refused.
"...Flying..."
"...is merely cultivation."
"...Parkour..."
"...belongs to the Assassin."
If one day her profound energy became exhausted...
If she found herself trapped inside an array...
If an enemy sealed the skies...
Then flight would become meaningless.
An Assassin always prepared for the worst possibility.
Her hands grasped a stone ledge.
She climbed.
Not using profound movement arts.
Not flying.
Only her own body.
Every movement mirrored Altaïr's memories.
One hand.
One foothold.
One leap.
Smooth.
Precise.
Economical.
She transitioned from wall to beam.
Beam to balcony.
Balcony to roof.
Roof to tower.
Each movement flowed naturally into the next.
Her body gradually adapted.
The memories were no longer borrowed.
They were becoming her own.
Minutes later...
She stood atop the highest tower.
The entire Heavenly Sword Villa unfolded beneath her.
Her eyes calmly swept across the grounds.
North Courtyard.
Training Grounds.
Medical Pavilion.
Treasury.
Armory.
Residential District.
The Elder Hall.
Collapsed formations.
Temporary guard posts.
Replacement patrols.
Every route slowly engraved itself into her memory.
She silently reconstructed a map.
If she entered from here...
She could reach the treasury unseen.
If discovered...
Three escape routes remained viable.
The western wall.
The collapsed pavilion.
Or...
The drainage tunnels beneath the medicinal gardens.
"...Good."
She slowly nodded.
Observation complete.
Only then...
Her gaze drifted downward.
The tower was high.
Very high.
Instinctively...
She spread her arms.
The familiar posture.
The Leap of Faith.
She smiled faintly.
"...Old habits."
Her eyes searched below.
"...No hay."
No wagons.
No pond.
No river.
Nothing capable of cushioning the landing.
She frowned thoughtfully.
"...That won't do."
Altaïr's Leap of Faith relied upon terrain prepared by circumstance.
Hay carts.
Leaf piles.
Water.
But the Profound Sky Continent offered something his world never possessed.
Profound Energy.
"...Perhaps..."
"...the landing itself can evolve."
She visualized profound energy reinforcing the muscles of both legs at the instant of impact.
Absorbing momentum.
Redirecting force.
Turning the entire body into a spring rather than a falling weight.
She would teach this to Li Xuan when she returned later in the evening.
Leap of Faith only worked if there was something to cushion the fall. She feared Li Xuan might attempt it and plunge to her death simply because there was no hay or water below.
A true Assassin should never rely solely upon hay.
The technique itself...
Needed refinement.
Then...
Movement below caught her attention.
Several servants had gathered fallen branches and leaves cleared from the damaged courtyards.
A surprisingly large pile rested beside the western wall.
Yufeng blinked.
"...Leaves."
Not hay.
Not water.
Leaves.
A faint smile appeared beneath her hood.
"...Curious."
The first Leap of Faith she had ever performed had not been into safety.
It had been into a raging river.
Escaping Ling Yuefeng and Ling Tianni.
That leap had been desperation.
However, it was her first Leap of Faith.
This one...
Would be choice.
She stepped onto the edge of the tower.
Closed her eyes.
For a brief moment...
She remembered Altaïr.
Not as a memory.
But as a fellow Mentor whose footsteps she now followed.
Then...
She stepped forward.
The world became silent.
Her body fell freely through the open sky.
Instinct took over.
Her arms opened.
Her body rotated effortlessly.
Perfectly aligned.
As though embracing the wind itself.
Far above...
An eagle's cry echoed across the mountains.
The familiar sound accompanied her descent.
Her cloak fluttered behind her like wings.
Seconds later—
Fwoosh.
She disappeared cleanly into the mound of leaves.
Not a branch snapped.
Not a stone shifted.
Only a gentle rustling remained.
Several servants nearby instinctively looked toward the pile.
"...Hm?"
"...Did the wind pick up?"
Another servant glanced around before shrugging.
"Probably."
"We've had strange gusts ever since the Princess cut some of the buildings."
The leaves settled once more.
No one noticed the white-cloaked figure silently emerging from the opposite side of the pile.
Yufeng dusted a few leaves from her shoulder.
A small smile curved her lips.
"...Needs work."
"The posture was correct."
"The landing..."
"...can still be improved."
Already...
Ideas for a revised Leap of Faith began forming within her mind.
Not one dependent upon hay.
Nor rivers.
But one perfected through profound energy.
Another note...
For the New Brotherhood Codex.
===========
Silently, Yufeng slipped away from the pile of leaves.
Using grass, shadows, and blind spots, she moved through the villa's perimeter before ascending once more onto the rooftops.
As an Assassin, one did not walk openly through the world. They moved within its forgotten spaces—erasing their presence until even memory failed to acknowledge they had ever been there. The rooftops were the most convenient path, a silent road above the eyes of the living.
Every corridor.
Every rooftop.
Every beam overhead.
Became another path.
She deliberately avoided the ground whenever possible.
An Assassin belonged above the eyes of ordinary people.
Not before them.
As she crossed the familiar halls...
Her thoughts drifted toward the two young men she had seen earlier.
Ling Yun.
Ling Jie.
Her sons.
"...Sons..."
The word still felt unfamiliar.
Li Xuan had told her much during the past few weeks.
The brothers respected her...
But only when it suited them.
Their hearts belonged to cultivation.
To the Heavenly Sword Villa.
To becoming stronger.
Family...
Always came second.
Even when she had supposedly taken her own life...
Neither had secluded themselves in mourning.
Neither had searched for her.
Neither had questioned the circumstances.
Instead...
They continued cultivating.
As though nothing had happened.
Yufeng felt no anger.
Only an indescribable emptiness.
"...Perhaps..."
"...they were never truly my sons."
Or perhaps...
They had been sons to the former Xuanyuan Yufeng.
Not to the eighteen-year-old girl who had awakened only weeks ago.
They possessed memories with a mother...
She possessed none with her children.
Their bond existed.
Only on one side.
She quietly exhaled.
"...Li Xuan."
That timid girl had shared only several weeks with her.
Yet...
Those few weeks felt more genuine than eighteen years stolen by another life.
She smiled faintly.
"My precious daughter..."
The title came naturally.
Without hesitation.
Without confusion.
Without guilt.
That alone told her where her heart truly rested.
Her feet carried her toward the main residence.
Normally...
The inner residence remained among the most heavily guarded locations within Heavenly Sword Villa.
Today...
Chaos had scattered nearly every guard.
Physicians.
Servants.
Formation masters.
Everyone rushed from room to room.
She ascended silently onto one of the supporting beams hidden beneath the roof.
Remaining motionless.
Almost invisible.
Then...
She retrieved a small glass bottle containing small amount of pills.
Star Concealing Grass Pills.
Made from Star Concealing Grass.
To ordinary cultivators...
It looked no different from common weeds growing beside the road.
Worthless.
Forgettable.
Yet Altaïr's memories had revealed something unexpected.
Not merely poisons...
But methods of refining herbs into tools of concealment.
She had spent several nights experimenting.
Grinding.
Heating.
Condensing.
Eventually refining the humble grass into a pill.
With practiced movements...
she formed it into a small, translucent pellet and placed it beneath her tongue. As it dissolved, a faint chill spread through her meridians.
Her presence blurred.
Then faded.
Within moments, she vanished completely from view.
Then...
So did she.
Not physically.
Rather...
The eye simply refused to linger upon her.
Anyone glancing upward would see only wooden beams.
Shadows.
Dust.
Their attention naturally slid elsewhere.
Yufeng quietly nodded.
"...Interesting."
"It doesn't make one invisible."
"It merely encourages others..."
"...to overlook what is already there."
A perfect medicine for an Assassin.
Below...
The main hall remained crowded.
Physicians hurried between beds.
Several elders examined profound injuries.
Ling Yuefeng lay seated against the headboard, his complexion noticeably pale.
Heavy bandages covered his chest and left shoulder.
Even breathing seemed painful.
Nearby...
Ling Tianni fared little better.
The former Villa Master sat in meditation while physicians continuously transferred profound energy into his meridians.
His aura fluctuated erratically.
Clearly...
The battle had wounded him deeply.
One elder sighed.
"The Princess showed mercy."
"Had Elder Ling Kun not intervened..."
He did not finish the sentence.
Another simply nodded.
"No one expected Her Highness to possess such terrifying strength."
"Cang Yue..."
Yufeng silently repeated the name.
She found herself strangely grateful.
Not because they had been injured.
But because they had been spared.
Had Cang Yue truly wished it...
Neither Ling Yuefeng nor Ling Tianni would still be alive.
"...Thank you."
The words escaped only within her own heart.
For dismantling the villa.
For exposing its weaknesses.
For creating the very opportunity she now used.
Most of all...
For showing mercy.
Yufeng remained perfectly still upon the beam.
Listening.
Watching.
Gathering every fragment of information before making her next move.
Just as every Assassin should.
From her concealed position upon the beam...
Yufeng quietly watched the room below.
To think...
Only two weeks ago...
These two men had cornered her atop the cliffs.
Ling Yuefeng.
Ling Tianni.
One her husband.
The other her father-in-law.
At the time...
She had been forced into a desperate Leap of Faith.
Prepared to die rather than remain their prisoner.
Now...
Everything had changed.
She silently measured the distance between herself and the two injured men.
Two Hidden Blades.
One heartbeat.
Double Air Assassination.
That was all it would take.
Neither Ling Yuefeng nor Ling Tianni possessed the strength to stop her in their current condition.
If she wished...
The Heavenly Sword Villa would lose both of its pillars before sunrise.
Her fingers rested lightly against the Hidden Blade beneath her sleeve.
...
Then relaxed.
"...No."
Altaïr's memories had taught her one lesson repeatedly.
Assassination was never committed for revenge.
It existed to remove those whose deaths served a greater purpose.
Ling Yuefeng's downfall had already begun.
His authority had crumbled.
His prestige had been shattered by Princess Cang Yue before the entire villa. The villa's ark fleet and protective formations had been destroyed, leaving it vulnerable to attack. His body would require months to recover.
Killing him now...
Would accomplish nothing.
It would merely satisfy fleeting emotion.
That...
Was not the way of an Assassin.
She quietly withdrew her hand.
"...Live."
"...Bear the consequences."
Just then...
Footsteps approached the room.
Yufeng's gaze shifted.
Ling Yun entered first.
Followed shortly by Ling Jie.
The two brothers carried medicinal soup and several refined spiritual herbs.
"Father."
"Grandfather."
Ling Yun bowed respectfully.
"How are your injuries today?"
Ling Yuefeng managed a weary smile.
"Much better."
"The physicians say another month should stabilize my meridians."
Ling Jie carefully placed the medicine beside the bed.
"The reconstruction is proceeding smoothly."
"The disciples have already restored three defensive formations."
Ling Tianni nodded approvingly.
"Good."
"The villa cannot remain weak for long."
"Damn Cang Yue... I swear I'll take revenge for our villa one day." Ling Yun gritted his teeth, his hatred for Cang Yue deepening with every word.
Ling Jie remained silent.
Unlike his brother, his expression was unreadable, but his silence was heavier than agreement.
Cang Yue...
Once, she had been his quiet admiration.
A girl he had silently loved long before her engagement to Yun Che.
At one point, he had even considered challenging Yun Che himself for her hand.
But that memory no longer matched reality.
The girl he remembered—gentle, composed, with fuchsia and gold eyes—no longer existed.
In her place stood a woman draped in coldness and darkness, the one who had torn through Heavenly Sword Villa without hesitation.
Ling Jie's fingers tightened slightly at his side.
He refused to acknowledge it.
And yet...
It was the truth he could not escape.
He could still remember the towering water column that had risen like a pillar of judgment, ready to crash down upon the villa. Then came the immense water sword that cleaved through the front defenses, shattering formations and overwhelming both his father and grandfather. There had been no hesitation in her actions—no mercy for anyone who stood in her way. He still remembered how she had wiped out the Ark fleet and destroyed the villa's protective formation as if it were nothing more than glass.
Her threat of considering killing him for standing in her way.
Ling Jie felt his heart break all over again.
The conversation soon shifted toward cultivation.
Repairing formations.
Resources.
Future training.
Sect affairs.
Not once...
Did they mention Xuanyuan Yufeng.
Not once...
Did they speak of the woman who had supposedly died only days earlier.
Yufeng watched silently.
There was no disappointment.
Only understanding.
Li Xuan had been right.
These two young men...
Had been raised as cultivators first.
Sons second.
Their pursuit of strength overshadowed nearly everything else.
Perhaps...
That was simply how the villa raised their heirs.
She searched their expressions one final time.
No grief.
No lingering sorrow.
Only determination.
Plus, their father divorced her and she committed suicide.
Which, in the eyes of the Heavenly Sword Villa, would be considered a disgrace—an easy way out, a failure to endure, a path taken only to avoid capture.
But Yufeng knew better.
If she were captured again...
She would not remain herself for long.
They would break her mind the same way it had been broken before.
Not through simple torture alone, but through refinement of control using the Eternal Love Potion—forcing her to relive obedience, to relearn loyalty that was never truly hers.
They would extract everything she knew about formations, about hidden techniques, about the Assassin methods she had only just begun to understand.
And if Ling Yuefeng wished it...
He would use their sons.
Ling Yun.
Ling Jie.
To stand before her and plead.
To call her "mother."
To ask her to wake up.
To return to the woman she had once been.
She had already lived that life.
Twenty years of it.
A life she could barely remember in full, as though it had been sealed behind fogged glass.
Xuanyuan Yufeng—the villa mistress.
Obsessive.
Possessive.
A woman who had once loved too fiercely and too narrowly, until love became chains.
Jealous of everything that threatened her place.
Consumed by a husband who never truly saw her.
And then...
Nothing.
A blank awakening.
A stolen youth.
A life that had not felt like hers even while she was living it.
She had no desire to return to that cage.
Not as a wife.
Not as a mother.
Not as a tool of the villa.
Yufeng slowly closed her eyes.
"...I've made my decision."
She would not attempt to shape them into Assassins.
The Brotherhood required more than talent.
More than cultivation.
It required conviction.
Patience.
Compassion.
The resolve to protect freedom from the shadows.
Neither Ling Yun nor Ling Jie possessed such hearts.
Nor did they desire such a path.
Forcing the Creed upon them...
Would only cheapen it.
"...They shall remain cultivators."
"...Nothing more."
Her thoughts naturally drifted toward another girl waiting for her return.
Li Xuan.
A girl who had once been nothing more than a servant.
Yet...
She had chosen Yufeng.
Not for status.
Not for strength.
Simply because she wanted a family.
She had cried when Yufeng announced she would return to the villa.
She had begged only one thing.
"...Come home."
A faint smile appeared beneath Yufeng's hood.
"...That child..."
"...already possesses the heart of an Assassin."
Not because she could kill.
But because she understood loyalty.
Trust.
And the value of another person's life.
Those qualities...
Could never be taught through cultivation manuals.
The Brotherhood would begin with one disciple.
One daughter.
One family.
Not with villa heirs who had never desired such a life.
Silently...
Yufeng turned away from the family gathering below.
There was nothing more to see.
Her objective remained unchanged.
Recover what rightfully belonged to her.
Leave unseen.
And return home...
Where someone was waiting for her.
Yufeng slowly closed her eyes.
The wind passed over the roof.
For a moment...
She imagined the world as Altaïr must have seen it.
A world divided between two philosophies.
The Templars sought order.
Control.
A world where humanity would surrender its freedom in exchange for peace.
The Assassins fought for the opposite.
Freedom.
Choice.
The right for a person to decide their own path—even if that freedom inevitably brought conflict.
At first, Yufeng had thought the struggle belonged only to Altaïr's world.
Then she had awakened here.
The more she learned about the Profound Sky Continent...
The more familiar everything became.
The Sacred Grounds.
The great sects.
The powerful families.
The empires.
The weak.
The powerless.
The difference was merely the method.
Here...
Power itself became the chain.
A cultivator at the Sovereign Profound Realm could determine the fate of thousands beneath the Emperor Profound Realm.
A Monarch could command entire regions.
A Sacred Ground could interfere with an empire's affairs.
Even emperors could become little more than puppets when faced with forces they could never oppose.
Human lives became numbers.
Families became pieces on a board.
Entire cities could be sacrificed because someone powerful desired something.
Yufeng slowly opened her eyes.
"...It's the same."
Altaïr's world had Templars.
This world had Sacred Grounds.
Both claimed to know what was best for everyone else.
Both possessed enough power to impose their will upon those beneath them.
And both could turn freedom into an illusion.
Her expression gradually hardened.
Perhaps...
This was why the Brotherhood of Assassins belonged here.
Not because the continent needed more killers.
There were already enough.
Not because cultivators needed another martial art.
There were already countless sects teaching them.
The continent needed someone willing to stand between the powerful...
And those who could not resist them.
An Assassin did not rule.
An Assassin did not become emperor.
An Assassin did not replace one tyrant with another.
They watched.
They listened.
They intervened when necessary.
And then...
They disappeared.
She understood that...
Order without freedom was tyranny.
Freedom without order was chaos.
The Assassins stood between the two—not as rulers, but as a balance. A quiet equilibrium where neither control nor anarchy could consume the world. That was the Brotherhood Altaïr had forged.
And now...
It was a Brotherhood she intended to bring to this continent.
One that would inevitably stand against the Sacred Grounds.
Against her lineage.
Against her bloodline.
After what they had done to her, she no longer held any respect for the so-called Sacred Grounds. Even their names alone were enough to make the common people tremble in fear.
Yufeng looked toward the distant mountains.
"...Even if that means opposing my own Sacred Ground."
Her own origin.
The Mighty Heavenly Sword Region.
The place that had once been her entire world.
And somewhere within the greater network of the Sacred Ground...
Was the answer she had been searching for.
The Eternal Love Potion.
The infernal medicine that had stolen eighteen years of her life.
Someone had created it.
Someone had refined it.
Someone had allowed it to circulate.
She still did not know who.
But she knew one thing.
It was not merely her story.
Chu Yuechan had nearly fallen victim to it.
The Frozen Cloud Asgard had women who had been forced to freeze themselves in time while their sect searched desperately for a cure.
How many others had suffered?
How many women had their minds altered?
How many families had mistaken an artificial obsession for genuine love?
How many had never awakened at all?
Yufeng's hands slowly tightened.
"...How many more?"
Her eyes became cold.
The Eternal Love Potion was only one example.
This world possessed mind-control profound arts.
Soul-manipulation techniques.
Formation methods capable of restricting movement.
Forbidden arts capable of controlling weaker cultivators.
Techniques that could invade someone's consciousness.
Methods of binding one's soul.
And treasures capable of influencing the mind.
The Profound Sky Continent did not possess Altaïr's Pieces of Eden.
It did not need them.
Humanity of this continent had already developed its own methods of control.
Some were perhaps even more frightening.
Yufeng looked down at the Heavenly Sword Villa beneath her.
"...Then the Brotherhood has a purpose."
She finally understood.
The Creed would not be copied blindly.
It would be adapted.
Its enemy would not necessarily be Templars.
It would be anyone who sought to steal another person's freedom.
A tyrant.
A sect.
A Sacred Ground.
A corrupt family.
A forbidden technique.
A potion.
The Brotherhood would not care about titles.
Only actions.
She reached beneath her cloak and touched the edge of one Hidden Blade.
The weapon remained concealed.
Waiting.
Just like the Brotherhood itself.
"...I don't know who created that potion."
"I don't know where they are."
"I don't even know how many women have suffered because of it."
"But I will find them."
Her gaze sharpened.
"And when I do..."
"...they will answer for every life they ruined."
Not revenge.
Not hatred.
Justice, in the only form she knew how to provide.
Yufeng turned toward the inner villa.
Her objective remained unchanged.
Recover her wealth.
Recover the materials.
Recover the forge.
Then return to Li Xuan.
But now...
There was another purpose behind everything she would build.
The armor.
The Hidden Blades.
The Codex.
The Brotherhood.
They would not exist merely to make her stronger.
They would exist so that one day...
Someone like Xuanyuan Yufeng would not have to suffer twenty stolen years in silence.
Someone like Li Xuan would not have to grow up believing she was worthless.
Taken from her only living sister.
And someone who attempted to control another person's mind...
Would eventually discover that the shadows were watching.
Yufeng pulled her hood lower.
"...The Brotherhood will begin here."
She stepped from the roof.
Not falling.
Not flying.
Moving.
One rooftop to another.
One shadow to the next.
The Assassin had found her purpose.
Now...
She only needed to build the Brotherhood capable of fulfilling it.
Yufeng finally reached the room that had once belonged to Xuanyuan Yufeng.
She stopped outside the doorway.
For a moment...
She simply stared.
This had once been her room.
Yet it felt like entering the residence of a stranger despite she stayed in this room for a while.
She slipped inside.
The room had been thoroughly searched.
Drawers had been pulled open.
Cabinets emptied.
Scrolls scattered.
Several personal ornaments were missing.
Even the bed had been disturbed.
"They searched everything..."
Of course they had.
She defected that very night, killing several villa disciples in her attempt to escape, until she was eventually cornered and forced to stage her own death in order to slip away.
After the villa mistress was presumed to have committed suicide, the villa would naturally investigate anything that might explain her defection—or anything that might reveal what she had been planning before she disappeared.
Yufeng did not blame them.
An Assassin would have done the same.
She began searching through the remaining papers.
Most were meaningless.
Then she found something interesting.
A stack of old records.
Her former self's handwriting.
Yufeng carefully opened the first page.
It listed cultivation resources.
Profound crystals.
Rare medicinal herbs.
Profound beast cores.
Forging materials.
Spiritual treasures.
And beside nearly every entry...
A small note.
Sent by Father.
Her eyes softened slightly.
Her father.
The man who had always supported her.
Even after she married into Heavenly Sword Villa, he had continued sending resources from the Mighty Heavenly Sword Region.
And where had those resources gone?
Yufeng read further.
Most had been allocated toward the cultivation of Ling Yun and Ling Jie.
Her former self had apparently spent a significant portion of her personal resources on her children.
Yufeng remained silent for several moments.
"...So you did care."
Not everything about the woman she had become was as monstrous as the rumors claimed.
Even the woman created by the potion had still retained fragments of the person she once was.
She continued reading.
Then...
A line caught her attention.
Remaining personal resources transferred to the central vault for safekeeping.
Yufeng's eyes narrowed.
"...There."
Her personal wealth had never disappeared.
It had simply been stored.
Which meant...
She could reclaim it.
She folded the records and placed them inside her spatial ring.
"Good."
She turned toward the door.
The treasury would be her next destination.
The villa's security around the vault had been reinforced after Cang Yue's assault.
Naturally.
Several guards stood along the corridors.
Formation barriers had been reconstructed.
Disciples patrolled the surrounding halls.
Yet the attack had left the villa stretched thin.
It was nighttime.
Many of the stronger cultivators were either recovering, assisting with reconstruction, or protecting the injured elders.
And Yufeng...
Was no longer the woman they remembered.
She moved silently through the darkness.
The Star Concealing Pill remained active.
Her presence was almost impossible to notice.
She watched the patrols.
Counted their steps.
Memorized their timing.
Waited.
Then...
Two disciples approached the treasury entrance.
Yufeng quietly withdrew a small vial.
A sleeping compound.
Its foundation came from medicinal herbs available in this world.
Its refinement...
Came from Altaïr's memories.
She had no intention of killing them.
That would be unnecessary.
She released a thin mist.
The two disciples froze.
One blinked.
"...What..."
His knees weakened.
The second attempted to draw his weapon.
Too late.
Both collapsed silently against the wall.
Yufeng caught them before they struck the ground.
She carefully lowered them down.
Then checked their breathing.
Alive.
Sleeping.
She smiled.
"This is quite useful."
She looked at the Hidden Blade beneath her sleeve.
"I was considering killing them."
A small shake of her head.
"Good thing I didn't."
The Creed had already begun changing her.
Not every obstacle needed to become a corpse.
She retrieved the key.
There were three.
One carried by Ling Yuefeng.
One by Ling Tianni.
And the third...
Had belonged to her.
They had never bothered changing the locks.
Why would they?
Xuanyuan Yufeng was dead.
As far as the villa knew...
Her key had disappeared with her.
Yufeng almost laughed.
"...You should have changed it."
She inserted the key.
Click.
The heavy door opened.
Yufeng slipped inside.
The vault was enormous.
Rows upon rows of treasures stretched into the darkness.
Purple Profound Coins.
Profound crystals.
Medicinal resources.
Rare ores.
Spiritual herbs.
Weapons.
Armor materials.
Artifacts.
For a moment...
Yufeng simply stared.
This was the wealth accumulated by one of the great Sacred Grounds.
And yet...
Her attention remained selective.
She did not need everything.
She did not want everything.
An Assassin carried only what was necessary.
She began collecting the resources recorded in her former self's notes.
The ores her father had sent.
The metals needed for forging.
Rare medicinal ingredients.
Profound crystals.
Purple Profound Coins.
Cultivation resources.
Then she reached a particular section.
Her former self's personal reserves.
Half of the vault.
She paused.
"...Half."
She took approximately half.
Not more.
Not less.
The remainder could remain with the villa.
She wasn't interested in destroying Heavenly Sword Villa's treasury.
She simply reclaimed what belonged to her.
Then...
She noticed another collection.
Resources originally intended for Li Xuan.
Her eyes narrowed.
"These too."
Li Xuan had once been a member of the villa.
Resources allocated to her cultivation had been stored here.
The girl had never received most of them due to her being a mere servant.
Yufeng took them.
Every suitable cultivation resource.
Every medicinal treasure.
Every profound crystal that could help her daughter establish her foundation.
"These belong to Xuan'er."
She packed them carefully in her spatial ring.
Then she found something particularly useful.
A portable forge.
Compact.
Foldable.
Designed for traveling cultivators.
Yufeng's eyes immediately lit up.
"...Perfect."
She took it.
She would eventually need a proper workshop...
But this would allow her to begin experimenting immediately.
Hidden Blades.
Assassin armor.
Weapons.
Perhaps even the first prototype of Altair's armor.
Finally...
She inspected the remaining space.
No unnecessary treasures.
No weapons she did not understand.
No artifacts merely because they were valuable.
An Assassin did not become a hoarder.
She closed the vault.
The room looked almost untouched.
Except for one problem.
A considerable portion of its former wealth was now sitting inside her spatial ring.
Yufeng smiled.
"Reclaiming what is mine..."
"...is surprisingly satisfying."
She glanced back toward the vault.
One final thought crossed her mind.
The villa believed Xuanyuan Yufeng had died.
They believed her possessions were abandoned.
They believed the third key was lost.
They believed the shadows inside their own walls belonged only to them.
They were wrong.
Yufeng pulled her hood over her head.
She had entered the villa as a woman searching for her past.
She would leave...
As something entirely different.
A cultivator.
An Assassin.
A future Mentor.
And soon...
The founder of a Brotherhood that would exist entirely within the shadows of the Profound Sky Continent.
A dangerous combination was taking shape.
Not because Yufeng possessed the strongest cultivation.
Not because she had inherited Altaïr's memories.
But because she possessed both.
The strength of a cultivator...
And the patience of an Assassin.
And someday...
Li Xuan would possess them too.
The vault door had barely closed behind her when Yufeng stopped.
Something was wrong.
The hairs along the back of her neck rose.
Not from fear.
From instinct.
An Assassin's instinct.
She slowly turned her head.
Footsteps.
Several.
Coming from both ends of the corridor.
"...So they noticed."
A voice rang through the hallway.
"Thief!"
Yufeng's eyes narrowed.
A group of disciples emerged from the darkness, weapons already drawn.
Spirit Profound Realm.
Earth Profound Realm.
More than a dozen of them.
They had surrounded the vault.
And standing at the front...
Was Ling Yun.
Her own son.
Yufeng stared at him from beneath her hood.
Ling Yun's eyes narrowed.
"You!"
"Who are you?!"
The hood concealed most of her face, and the Star Concealing Pill continued to obscure her presence.
He did not recognize her.
Of course he didn't.
Why would he?
The woman standing before him was not the Xuanyuan Yufeng he remembered.
She was an Assassin.
Ling Yun pointed his sword toward her.
"She stole from the vault!"
"Grab her!"
Yufeng remained perfectly still.
No panic.
No hesitation.
She measured the room.
Four disciples to her left.
Five to her right.
Ling Yun directly ahead.
Two behind her.
The vault door behind them.
No escape route through the corridor.
Weapons.
Distances.
Cultivation levels.
Everything entered her mind within seconds.
Altaïr's memories had taught her something important.
When surrounded...
Do not fight everyone.
Fight the one attacking you.
Then the next.
Then the next.
One movement at a time.
A disciple stepped forward.
"Die!"
His sword flashed.
A basic Heavenly Sword Art.
Yufeng's body moved before her mind consciously processed the attack.
She shifted half a step.
The blade passed beside her shoulder.
Her left hand caught the attacker's wrist.
Her right arm snapped forward.
Shhk!
The Hidden Blade pierced directly into his shoulder.
Not the heart.
Not the throat.
A disabling strike.
The disciple cried out and collapsed.
Yufeng released him.
Her eyes widened slightly.
"...My body..."
She had not consciously planned that counter.
Her body simply knew.
Evade.
Close distance.
Redirect.
Strike.
Counter.
It was as though Altaïr's combat instincts had become another layer of her muscle memory.
The surrounding disciples froze for half a heartbeat.
That was enough.
Yufeng moved.
One disciple swung downward.
She stepped inside the sword's range.
Elbow.
Wrist.
Hidden Blade.
The disciple fell.
Another attacked from behind.
She ducked beneath the sword.
Pivoted.
Her heel struck his knee.
He staggered.
Her hidden blade stopped against his throat.
She did not kill him.
She shoved him aside.
"She's fast!"
"Don't let her get close!"
Ling Yun's expression darkened.
"Murderer!"
Yufeng's movement stopped for the briefest instant.
Murderer.
Her own son had called her that.
She looked at Ling Yun.
The hood concealed her expression.
But beneath it...
Something inside her hurt.
Not because she feared him.
Not because his words mattered.
But because somewhere within her...
There was still a mother.
A mother who had once raised this boy.
A mother whose memories were mostly gone.
And now...
That same son was ordering her death.
Ling Yun raised his sword.
"Kill her!"
Yufeng's eyes became cold.
"...As you wish."
If he could not recognize her...
Then there was no reason for her to pretend he was her son.
The disciples charged.
This time...
She welcomed them.
A sword came from the left.
She leaned backward.
The blade passed over her face.
She caught the attacker's arm and used his momentum to throw him into another disciple.
Two collided.
A third thrust forward.
Yufeng twisted sideways.
The sword passed through empty air.
Her palm struck his abdomen.
Boom!
Profound energy exploded through the impact.
The disciple was sent backward.
Another sword came from above.
Yufeng crossed both arms.
Clang!
The hidden blades caught the sword.
She rotated her wrists.
The attacker's weapon was redirected.
Then—
Thud!
Her knee struck his stomach.
He doubled over.
Her elbow smashed into the back of his neck.
He collapsed.
Yufeng breathed calmly.
"Too slow."
The disciples began using more advanced techniques.
Sword intent erupted through the corridor.
Phantom blades formed in the air.
Yufeng's eyes sharpened.
She immediately recognized the danger.
"...So that's what you do when simple swordsmanship fails."
She reached into her cloak.
Several throwing knives appeared between her fingers.
She infused them with profound energy.
Shing!
The first knife flew.
It collided with a phantom blade.
The second pierced through another.
The third struck the sword of an attacking disciple and knocked it aside.
Yufeng advanced.
One step.
Two.
Three.
Every movement was calculated.
She picked up a fallen sword from the floor.
For the first time...
She fought with both.
Sword in one hand.
Hidden Blade in the other.
The combination felt strangely natural.
The sword dealt with distance.
The Hidden Blade dealt with openings.
One attack created the opportunity for the other.
A disciple swung.
She parried.
His balance shifted.
Hidden Blade.
Another attacked.
She countered with the sword.
Then drove her fist into his stomach.
A third tried to flank her.
She spun.
Her blade caught his wrist.
She kicked his knee.
He collapsed.
The corridor became a storm of steel.
But Yufeng remained at its center.
Calm.
Precise.
Almost eerily graceful.
She finally understood why Altaïr had been so dangerous.
It wasn't simply that he was fast.
It wasn't merely that he possessed superior technique.
He reacted.
He adapted.
He turned the opponent's attack into his own opportunity.
And now...
Her body was beginning to understand that principle.
Then—
A disciple rushed her from the side.
Yufeng's right arm moved instinctively.
BOOM!
A gunshot shattered the corridor.
The disciple froze.
Everyone froze.
A small cloud of smoke drifted from the mechanism mounted beneath Yufeng's sleeve.
The Hidden Gun.
The weapon integrated into her Hidden Blade.
Yufeng stared at her own arm.
"...Oh."
She had forgotten she had it.
One of the disciples pointed at her tremblingly.
"A... a cannon..."
Another stared at the strange mechanism attached to her forearm.
"A cannon on her arm?!"
Yufeng slowly raised her Hidden Blade.
A faint smile appeared beneath her hood.
She glanced toward Ling Yun.
And for the first time...
The disciples of Heavenly Sword Villa realized that the woman they had cornered was not an ordinary thief.
They had surrounded something they did not understand.
And that...
Was their first mistake.
Bodies now lay scattered across the corridor.
Some groaned in pain, clutching wounded shoulders or limbs.
Others were motionless.
Yufeng stood among them, breathing steadily.
She had tried to avoid killing whenever possible.
That was the Assassin's way.
Innocents were not targets.
Unnecessary deaths served no purpose.
But when disciples continued attacking her with lethal intent...
She had responded accordingly.
Her gaze shifted toward Ling Yun.
He was still standing.
His face was twisted with rage.
"Huarrgghh!!"
Ling Yun suddenly charged.
His sword swept toward her neck.
Yufeng tilted her head.
The blade passed harmlessly beside her cheek.
Another slash.
She stepped backward.
Another.
She pivoted.
Another.
She ducked.
Ling Yun's swordsmanship was fast.
Powerful.
But predictable.
Yufeng watched his shoulders.
His hips.
His feet.
Every movement telegraphed his next attack.
Altaïr's memories surfaced naturally.
Do not follow the blade.
Follow the man.
Yufeng moved accordingly.
Ling Yun thrust.
She stepped aside.
He immediately reversed the sword.
She leaned away.
The blade passed before her chest.
Ling Yun roared and unleashed another series of attacks.
Yufeng simply continued avoiding them.
Step.
Turn.
Duck.
Pivot.
Every attack missed.
Her eyes remained calm.
Then she noticed something.
His sword.
Ordinary.
Not one of the powerful Sky Profound weapons he had once possessed.
Yun Che had destroyed both of those during their previous battle.
Ling Yun had been forced to replace them with an ordinary weapon.
Yufeng almost felt a strange pang of sympathy.
"...You've fallen this far."
Ling Yun heard her.
"What did you say?!"
He swung again.
Yufeng caught his wrist.
Their eyes met despite her hood concealed her eyes.
For a brief instant...
She saw the little boy hidden somewhere behind the young man's face.
A child she had once held.
A child she had once protected.
A child who had once called her mother.
Her Hidden Blade was already positioned against his throat.
One small movement.
That was all.
She could kill him.
Easily.
Ling Yun froze.
Yufeng's eyes softened.
"...I won't."
She released his wrist.
Ling Yun stumbled backward.
Because despite everything...
He was still her son.
Whether he recognized her or not.
Whether he loved her or not.
Whether the woman he remembered was truly the woman standing before him...
That blood connection remained.
She would not become the monster the villa believed her to be.
Then—
A disciple noticed her distraction.
"Now!"
He lunged from behind.
Yufeng's head turned.
Too late for a conventional counter.
But not too late for an Assassin.
Her left arm snapped backward.
The mechanism beneath her sleeve aligned.
BOOM!
The Hidden Gun fired.
The disciple's body jerked as the projectile struck him.
He fell backward.
Yufeng stared at the weapon.
Unlike the Hidden Gun Altaïr had originally designed...
This one was powered by her own profound energy.
A portion of her Throne-level profound energy had been compressed into the firing mechanism.
The result was terrifying.
Against ordinary people, the weapon would already be lethal.
Against Spirit and Earth Profound Realm cultivators...
It could still penetrate flesh.
The disciple clutched his wounded chest, eyes wide with disbelief.
"What... kind of weapon..."
Yufeng lowered her arm.
The smoke slowly drifted from the barrel.
She looked at the assembled disciples.
"Do not attack me."
Her voice was quiet.
"I have no desire to kill any of you."
Ling Yun's expression hardened.
"She's lying!"
"Everyone, attack!"
Yufeng sighed.
"...So be it."
Her Hidden Blades extended with a metallic click.
The Assassin stood ready.
Not because she wanted their blood.
But because they had chosen to make themselves obstacles.
And obstacles...
Were something an Assassin knew how to overcome.
The fight continued for several more moments.
Then...
Silence.
The final disciple collapsed against the wall, his weapon clattering across the floor.
Yufeng stood alone in the corridor.
Her breathing remained steady.
Around her, the disciples who had attempted to kill her were either unconscious, wounded, or dead.
She had deliberately avoided killing those she could spare.
But there were only so many times she could allow someone to swing a sword at her before the outcome became inevitable.
Her gaze returned to Ling Yun.
He was still standing.
Barely.
His breathing was ragged, his clothes torn, and his ordinary sword was already stained with dust and blood.
Yet his eyes remained filled with anger.
"Damn you!"
He charged again.
Yufeng sighed.
"Still?"
Ling Yun's profound energy erupted.
The sword in his hands began to hum.
A sharp sword intent filled the corridor.
"Heavenly Sword of Extreme Lightning!"
The sword flashed.
Yufeng stepped aside.
A second strike.
She ducked.
A third.
She caught the blade with her Hidden Blade and redirected it.
Ling Yun's expression changed.
Impossible.
He changed his stance and launched another technique.
Then another.
Then another.
Every one of them was countered.
Yufeng's movements were almost insulting in their simplicity.
She didn't overpower him.
She didn't even need to.
She simply understood where his attacks were going before they arrived.
His shoulders moved first.
His hips followed.
His feet revealed his balance.
His sword intent revealed his intention.
Altaïr's combat experience had transformed the way she fought.
A Master Assassin did not simply react to attacks.
They read the person behind them.
Ling Yun suddenly stepped back.
"Moon Break!"
A violent sword aura erupted.
The corridor shook.
The surrounding walls trembled as the sword intent condensed into a powerful crescent-shaped slash.
Yufeng's eyes narrowed.
"So that's the technique you intend to use to kill me."
She planted her foot.
Her body twisted.
Her sword swept across the incoming attack.
BOOM!
The two forces collided.
The sword aura shattered.
The remaining wind exploded through the corridor.
Yufeng's cloak billowed violently.
Her hood was thrown backward.
Her long hair spilled across her shoulders.
Ling Yun froze.
His sword slowly lowered.
His eyes widened.
"...M..."
His lips trembled.
"Mother?"
Yufeng said nothing.
For several seconds, neither of them moved.
Ling Yun stared at her face.
The face he had seen countless times when he was younger.
The face that had disappeared from his life.
The woman everyone believed had thrown herself to her death.
"No..."
His voice became almost inaudible.
"You're..."
Yufeng slowly reached up and pulled her hood back over her head.
"I am not your mother."
Ling Yun's eyes widened further.
"What?"
"I am not that woman anymore."
She looked at him calmly.
"I don't remember carrying you."
"I don't remember raising you."
"I don't remember the years you spent growing up."
Her hand slowly lowered.
"And I won't pretend that I suddenly possess those memories just because we share blood."
Ling Yun stared at her.
"But you're..."
"Yes."
She paused.
"You are still my flesh and blood."
There was no warmth in her voice.
But neither was there hatred.
"That is the only reason you are alive."
Ling Yun's expression collapsed.
"Mother..."
Yufeng shook her head.
"Don't call me that."
He remained silent.
Yufeng looked at him for a long moment.
Li Xuan's words returned to her.
He never came to see you.
He never talked to you.
They cultivated and cultivated until familial bonds became almost meaningless.
Her former self had been obsessed with her husband.
Her sons had been obsessed with cultivation.
Somewhere along the way...
The family had stopped being a family.
Yufeng couldn't pretend otherwise.
Perhaps if she had possessed her former memories...
She might have felt differently.
But she didn't.
She only had fragments.
And those fragments were not enough to manufacture maternal love.
Still...
He was her son.
That much remained.
"You are an adult now, Yun'er."
Ling Yun's eyes trembled.
"I may not feel the maternal love that I should."
She turned slightly.
"But I will not kill you."
Ling Yun clenched his fists.
"Why?"
Yufeng glanced back at him.
"Because despite everything..."
"...you are still my son."
For the first time, Ling Yun looked genuinely lost.
Yufeng pulled her hood back into place.
"Live well."
She paused.
"Make your own choices."
"Become whatever kind of person you want to become."
Her voice softened.
"But don't waste your life chasing someone who is already gone."
Ling Yun stared at her.
"Mother..."
Yufeng turned away.
"Goodbye, Yun'er."
Suddenly—
BOOOOM!
A loud alarm rang throughout the villa.
Red warning lights illuminated the corridor.
"Intruder in the treasury!"
"Seal the western passage!"
"Search every rooftop!"
"Don't let her escape!"
Yufeng's expression immediately changed.
"...That's my cue."
She stepped backward.
Ling Yun instinctively reached toward her.
"Wait!"
Yufeng looked at him one last time.
He wanted to say something.
Anything.
But no words came.
The woman standing before him was simultaneously his mother...
And a complete stranger.
Yufeng smiled faintly.
"Live well."
Then—
Whoosh!
She disappeared into the darkness.
"Mother!"
Ling Yun rushed toward the corridor.
But Yufeng was already gone.
A shadow crossed the rooftop above him.
Then another.
By the time Ling Yun reached the courtyard...
There was nothing.
No figure.
No profound aura.
No trace.
Only the faint movement of leaves beneath the moonlight.
Ling Yun stood frozen.
His sword hung loosely from his hand.
"...She really came back."
For days, he had believed his mother was dead.
Yet she had returned.
Not as the woman he remembered.
Not as the villa mistress.
Not as the mother who once existed in his childhood.
But as something else.
And for reasons he couldn't understand...
She had spared him.
================
Yufeng ran.
She did not fly.
Not yet.
The moment she took to the sky, the remaining Sky Profound Realm elders would immediately notice her movement and pursue her. Her cultivation might be high enough to escape them, but there was no reason to give them a convenient target.
Instead, she relied on what she had learned.
Parkour.
Free running.
Rooftop movement.
She vaulted over a railing and landed on the edge of a roof, immediately rolling forward to absorb the impact.
Behind her—
"Stop her!"
"She's heading toward the tower!"
Yufeng reached into her sleeve.
Puff!
A smoke bomb exploded behind her.
White smoke flooded the corridor.
"Cough!"
"Where did she go?!"
"Search the roof!"
Yufeng was already gone.
She sprinted across another rooftop, jumped over a narrow gap, caught the edge of a balcony, and pulled herself upward.
Her body moved with a strange fluidity.
She had spent only a short time practicing Altaïr's movements, yet the memories had given her an enormous advantage.
Her cultivation made the physical aspect easier.
Her Assassin training gave that strength direction.
She climbed higher.
Higher.
Until eventually...
She reached the highest tower on the edge of the villa.
Thick forest and shadow below.
And stopped.
Because someone was already waiting.
Several figures stood across the rooftop.
Sky Profound Realm elders.
Their profound auras spread across the tower, blocking every obvious route.
Yufeng's eyes narrowed.
"...So they finally sent the stronger ones."
Then she saw the man standing among them.
Ling Yuefeng.
His injuries were nowhere near as severe as his father's.
But he was still recovering.
His face was pale.
His breathing was heavier than normal.
He would need months before completely recovering from the injuries Cang Yue had inflicted.
Yet the moment his eyes landed upon the hooded woman...
He froze.
His expression changed.
Recognition.
"Yufeng?"
The elders around him looked confused.
"Master?"
"That's..."
"Impossible."
Ling Yun and Ling Jie soon arrived on the tower as well.
Yufeng stood silently.
There was nowhere left to hide.
The jig was up.
She slowly turned around.
Then...
She pulled her hood backward.
Moonlight fell across her face.
Her long hair flowed behind her in the night wind.
The beautiful face that the villa had mourned as dead was revealed once more.
Ling Yuefeng's eyes widened.
"It's you..."
His voice trembled.
"My wife..."
Yufeng stared at him coldly.
"Wife?"
She almost laughed.
"Since when?"
Ling Yuefeng's expression stiffened.
"I came back to reclaim my wealth."
She touched the spatial ring on her finger.
"I still need to survive, after all."
"You..."
"I remember."
Her voice became colder.
"I remember what you did to me."
Ling Yuefeng's face paled.
"The Eternal Love Potion."
The surrounding elders fell silent.
Some looked confused.
Others exchanged uncomfortable glances.
Yufeng continued.
"Do you really think I would simply let that go?"
Ling Yuefeng's hand tightened around his sword.
"You don't understand..."
"I understand enough."
Yufeng took a step forward.
"The Heavens have sided with me this time."
Her gaze sharpened.
"Princess Cang Yue already spared you."
She smiled faintly.
"So now..."
"I can finally end this myself."
"Mother!"
Ling Yun stepped forward.
"Why are you doing this?!"
Ling Jie stared at her in disbelief.
"Mother!"
Yufeng looked at the two young men.
For a moment, she simply stared.
Then she sighed.
"Oh."
"So I'm your mother now?"
Both brothers froze.
"I was your mother for twenty-three years."
Her expression became complicated.
"But I am not your mother anymore."
"What are you talking about?" Ling Jie asked.
"I am merely a victim of your father's ensnarement."
Ling Yuefeng immediately shouted.
"She's lying!"
"Don't believe her!"
Yufeng didn't even look at him.
"Believe me or don't."
She looked at Ling Yun and Ling Jie.
"That is your choice."
"I have regained memories from twenty-three years ago."
Her expression softened slightly.
"Unfortunately..."
"I don't remember either of you."
Ling Yun's face went pale.
Yufeng continued.
"But you are still my children."
She placed a hand against her chest.
"I will not pretend otherwise."
"Whatever happened to your father, whatever happened to me..."
"You two were innocent children."
Ling Yun stared at her.
"Then why..."
"Why don't you remember us?"
"Because the woman who lived those twenty-three years is not the woman standing here now."
Yufeng's gaze shifted toward Ling Yuefeng.
"Forgive my former self."
She paused.
"And forgive my current self."
Ling Jie clenched his fists.
"Mother..."
Yufeng looked at him.
"I cannot give you the mother you remember."
Her voice was gentle, but firm.
"I don't possess those memories."
Ling Yuefeng suddenly stepped forward.
"My wife..."
"Shut your mouth!"
Her voice cracked across the tower.
Ling Yuefeng stopped.
"Wife?"
Yufeng's eyes became ice.
"You divorced me, remember?"
The elders stared.
Ling Yuefeng's expression became ugly.
Yufeng continued.
"You severed our marriage."
She slowly raised her hand.
A faint trace of blood-colored profound energy gathered around her palm.
"I even spat out my blood essence."
The implication was clear.
Their marriage bond was gone.
"So I am a free woman now."
She turned toward the elders.
"My father and uncle will be delighted to learn that I am alive."
Then she looked directly at Ling Yuefeng.
"You..."
Her expression became almost pitying.
"Not so much."
Silence.
Yufeng smiled.
"One word from me..."
She gestured toward the villa below.
"...and this entire villa will become abandoned."
The elders exchanged glances.
Nobody spoke.
Because they understood.
Xuanyuan Yufeng was not merely alive.
She had returned with her memories.
She had reclaimed her wealth.
And if she revealed what had happened to her...
The consequences would not stop at Heavenly Sword Villa.
The Mighty Heavenly Sword Region would hear.
Her father would hear.
Her uncle would hear.
And the Sacred Ground behind them would eventually have to answer questions.
Ling Yuefeng's expression darkened.
He was trapped.
He could not kill her in front of his sons.
And even if he wanted to...
His injuries had weakened him severely.
The elders surrounding Yufeng were already unconsciously stepping backward.
They had watched the battle in the vault.
They had seen what she had done to their disciples.
They had seen her strange weapons.
And now they knew exactly who stood before them.
Xuanyuan Yufeng.
A Throne from the sacred ground.
The former villa mistress.
The woman they believed had died.
The woman who now stood before them as something far more dangerous.
An Assassin.
Ling Yuefeng stared at her.
His hand tightened.
But he said nothing.
For the first time...
He was afraid of his own former wife.
Ling Yuefeng's hand remained clenched around his sword.
But he did not attack.
None of them did.
Because attacking Xuanyuan Yufeng now was no longer a simple matter of dealing with a former villa mistress.
She was a Throne from the Sacred Ground.
A daughter of a powerful family.
And, more importantly, she had already demonstrated that she possessed enough strength and skill to slaughter everyone standing on this tower if she truly wished to.
Killing her would mean offending the Sacred Ground behind her.
And even if they somehow succeeded...
Could Heavenly Sword Villa withstand the consequences?
No one was willing to gamble their lives on that answer.
Yufeng looked across the silent elders.
"Don't worry."
Her voice was calm.
"I'll be seeing you again once I'm ready."
A faint smile appeared beneath her hood.
"Come after me..."
Her eyes became cold.
"...and I'll kill all of you."
The elders stiffened.
"Even if you were once my subordinates."
Her gaze shifted toward Ling Yuefeng.
"...and my former husband."
Ling Yuefeng's expression darkened.
But he still didn't move.
Yufeng then looked toward her two sons.
Her expression softened.
"My children..."
Both Ling Yun and Ling Jie looked up.
"Please don't come after me."
She paused.
"I won't hurt either of you."
Her voice became quieter.
"But I have no memories of you two."
The two brothers lowered their eyes.
"Being my children spared your lives."
Yufeng's gaze sharpened.
"Do not force me to reconsider that."
Neither brother answered.
They couldn't blame her.
They had only ever known their mother during the periods when she had been useful to them.
They had grown up cultivating.
The moment they became capable of standing on their own, they had been taught that familial bonds were weaknesses.
Strength mattered.
Cultivation mattered.
Everything else came second.
And now...
The woman standing before them didn't remember the childhood they had shared.
Perhaps they had no right to demand that she suddenly feel like their mother.
Ling Jie lowered his head.
Ling Yun remained silent.
Finally, Ling Yun spoke.
"Then..."
He swallowed.
"If you're not our mother anymore..."
"...who are you?"
Yufeng looked at him.
Then she slowly raised both arms to her sides.
Her hood concealed most of her face.
The moonlight illuminated the edges of her cloak.
"I am still Xuanyuan Yufeng."
She paused.
"The one from twenty-three years ago."
Her lips curled upward.
"I am..."
"...an Assassin."
Ling Yun's eyes widened.
Before anyone could react—
Yufeng stepped backward.
And fell on her back.
"Yufeng!"
She fell from the tower.
Straight into the darkness below.
Several elders rushed toward the edge.
"No!"
Ling Yun's eyes widened.
"Wait!"
But halfway through the descent—
Yufeng twisted her body.
Her cloak spread behind her.
The wind caught it.
For a brief instant, she looked like a bird descending through the moonlight.
Then—
The Star Concealing Grass activated.
Her presence vanished.
Not diminished.
Not concealed.
Gone.
The elders' profound senses swept through the forest.
Nothing.
No profound aura.
No figure.
No movement.
Nothing.
"Find her!"
"Search the forest!"
"Spread out!"
The elders immediately leapt from the tower.
Ling Yun and Ling Jie followed.
Even Ling Yuefeng forced himself forward despite his injuries.
But there was nothing to find.
The forest stretched beneath the moonlight.
Branches swayed gently.
Leaves rustled.
A night bird flew between the trees.
Yet Xuanyuan Yufeng had disappeared as though she had never existed.
Ling Yun landed beneath the tower.
He looked around desperately.
"Mother..."
Nothing.
Ling Jie landed beside him.
"Big brother..."
"I know."
Ling Yun clenched his fists.
They had finally learned the truth.
Their mother was alive.
She had returned.
She had regained the memories of the woman she had been twenty-three years ago.
Yet she had also become something neither of them understood.
An Assassin.
Ling Yuefeng slowly descended behind them.
He stared into the darkness.
His former wife had escaped again.
His former wife had threatened the entire villa.
And there was nothing he could do.
Not tonight.
Perhaps not ever.
Ling Yun looked toward the forest one last time.
He remembered her words.
Live well.
Make your own choices.
Become whatever kind of person you want to become.
His expression became complicated.
"...She really doesn't remember us."
Ling Jie lowered his head.
"But she still spared us."
Neither brother spoke afterward.
=====================
Far beyond the villa...
A shadow landed silently on a thick tree branch.
Yufeng crouched there, her cloak blending perfectly with the darkness.
She looked back toward the distant lights of Heavenly Sword Villa.
No one had followed her.
Good.
She allowed herself a small smile.
"An Assassin..."
She whispered.
The word felt strange.
Yet somehow...
It felt right.
She had been a cultivator.
A wife.
A mother.
A daughter.
A victim.
Now she would become something else.
Something that could move through the darkness without permission.
Something that could fight those who believed power gave them the right to control others.
She touched the hidden blades beneath her sleeves.
"Altair..."
She smiled faintly.
"I think I finally understand."
Then she turned toward the direction of home.
Li Xuan was waiting.
Her daughter was waiting.
And for the first time in twenty-three years...
Xuanyuan Yufeng had someone she genuinely wanted to return to.
She leapt from the branch.
No hesitation.
No fear.
Only the wind.
And the Assassin vanished into the night.