On a winter's day in the Duravia Trade Prefecture.
Deep footprints marked a path through the unshoveled snow outside as an old man made his way toward the main hall. Melting snow dripped from the eaves. Inside the hall sat an exceptionally handsome young nobleman. He held a small paper kite messenger cupped in his hands, watching it leap in his palm. A steady stream of spiritual Qi flowed from his hand, causing his eyelashes to shimmer faintly.
"Your Highness, Prince Qian." The old Daoist, Baimei, shook the snow from his shoulders and bowed.
He had been visiting Prince Qian's mansion for several years, and he knew full well that one must never let their guard down simply because of the young man's harmless appearance.
"The people of the Li family have finally made their move," Prince Qian said. "I have waited many years for this moment, waited for them to act."
The paper kite flew from Prince Qian's hand and hovered before Baimei's eyes.
With a single glance, Baimei perceived the intelligence contained within: Feng Chunlin, the former Region Prince of the Azure Cloud Region, had shouldered his coffin once more and, after a twenty-year interval, had stepped out from the Feng Royal Mansion.
"Your Highness, Prince Qian," Baimei began, "based on this piece of intelligence alone..."
Baimei's eyebrow twitched. For years, Prince Qian and the Li family had been locked in a constant struggle, fighting both openly and in the shadows.
Behind the scenes, a storm had long been brewing.
The two sides constantly probed one another, neither willing to risk a major war that would inflict crippling losses.
Both were waiting for the perfect opportunity—a time when, if they chose to strike, the blow would be fatal.
"The Li family defeated that disciple of yours," Prince Qian said. "They used a single grand formation to plunder everything Tian Xing had built."
Prince Qian's gaze looked past Baimei, settling on the falling snowflakes outside.
"They are more terrifying than Tian Xing," he said, "because they have more people. The entire Azure Cloud region is at their command. Their Old Ancestor is mysterious and unfathomable. After acquiring all of Tian Xing's assets, no one knows what hidden cards they now hold."
"Truthfully, you didn't need to remind me. I was already well aware that the Li family is a thorny problem," Prince Qian continued. "And that's not to mention that Li Yaowen, who is always watching me like a venomous snake."
"But what they don't know," he said, "is that in a contest between beasts, the moment one loses patience and reveals the slightest opening, the situation becomes fatal."
He slowly rose to his feet, his gaze locked on Baimei's eyes.
Even though he had lived for tens of thousands of years, when Baimei met Prince Qian's gaze, it was like staring into a bottomless abyss.
Prince Qian's voice was like that of Yama, the King of Hell, come to claim a soul.
"Senior Baimei," he asked, "do you know where you went wrong against the Li family?"
"You have forgotten," Prince Qian said. "We have always stood at the very peak of the mountain."
"The Li family members are a pack of ravenous beasts. After devouring Tian Xing, they set their sights on devouring me. Such is their desire! That is why they are never willing to submit to me. They refused my marriage proposal in an attempt to humiliate me, and then sent those three to the three great powers."
"Desire is like a boulder rolling down a mountain; once it begins to move, it cannot be stopped. But what they fail to realize is that they are merely halfway up the slope, while I stand at the very summit."
"From my position of strength, I will chain their desires to the foot of the mountain. They must be made to understand that I, and I alone, am the true master of this high peak!"
Every word, every sentence, left Baimei staring blankly, lost in a daze.
He turned stiffly. He saw that Prince Qian had already left the main hall.
Outside, the unsightly woman the Li family had sent for the marriage alliance was waiting. Prince Qian slowly took her hand, and together, they began to walk through the snow.
Prince Qian's words—they were also a warning to him!
"Come, Senior Baimei," Prince Qian called back. "It is time for those of us who stand on the mountain peak to go and finish our work."
Prince Qian glanced back over his shoulder, and Baimei couldn't help but swallow hard. Not daring to delay a second longer, he hurried to follow.
It was as if he were watching a venomous snake finally shedding its skin.
...
On the journey back from overseas to the main continent.
A dozen or so pirate ships sailed in a procession. Each vessel carried thirty to fifty pirates, who were laughing and cursing boisterously. Some were even tossing Spirit Stones into the sea.
The ship's sails, embroidered with the image of an ancient tree, billowed in the wind.
Standing on the deck was Li Xingchen.
Dressed in tight-fitting cyan garments, he was tall and handsome, with a rugged, masculine air far surpassing that of his father, Li Chang'an. His long black hair streamed wildly behind him.
A woman stood beside him, clad in a form-fitting black dress that accentuated her slender yet curvaceous figure.
Li Xingchen was about 1.75 meters tall, and the woman, likely wearing height-enhancing shoes, stood level with him.
Her beautiful black hair was parted in the middle, cascading over her shoulders like a waterfall, which made her delicate face seem even longer and more slender.
She wore a hair ornament adorned with tiny, sand-like crystals.
They looked like a pair of celestial lovers, a match made in heaven.
"Xingchen, I've never traveled so far from home," the woman said. "This Li family you keep talking about—what kind of place is it?"
Fan Feixuan's large eyes were wide with curiosity.
Since childhood, she had carried the bloodline of a serpent spirit. Her uncle, the City Lord, had arranged for her to be married off to the Sea Serpent Clan in the coming year.
Perhaps it was the rebellious streak inherent in her bloodline that led her, feeling trapped in a cage, to seek one last, willful moment of pleasure. And so, she met him—this cheerful, handsome pirate.
She had assumed that this pirate, who gazed out at the starry sea each night, would simply continue on his quest for riches and dreams, just like all the other pirates the island girls spoke of—the kind you meet once and never see again.
But she had never imagined that Li Xingchen would return, much less that he would want to take her home with him.
She had a homeland, but the word 'home' had always felt so distant, so unattainable to her.
Hearing Fan Feixuan's question, Li Xingchen gazed off in the direction of his clan.
"That," he said, "is the one place I have wanted to escape from my entire life."
"Are your clansmen terrible people?" she asked. "Like my uncle?"
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