Ruan Kingdom – Imperial Capital, Yuzhou
The opulence of Yuzhou, capital of the Ruan Kingdom, was marred by a stifling silence. Envoy Ruo Yemin stood before the Grand Chancellor Li Yuehong, her travel robes still stained with the dust of her return. The Hall of Ministers was filled with the kingdom's highest officials, all bearing witness to her failure.
"You exposed the kingdom to humiliation," Li Yuehong said, voice calm but deadly. "You acted without authorization. You used imperial codes."
"I did what had to be done," Ruo Yemin replied, lifting her chin. "If we don't understand Xingzhao's strength, we risk being crushed by it."
"A bold justification," the Minister of Defense, Qin Zhennan, scoffed. "Yet your methods have jeopardized every negotiation we've carefully staged."
The king, Ruan Xian, had not spoken. He watched from behind his translucent golden screen, his face unreadable.
"Do we reward her foresight," murmured the Minister of Commerce, "or punish her insubordination?"
"The court will decide," the chancellor concluded.
But as Ruo Yemin was led away, her eyes burned with restrained fury. They fear what Xingzhao represents, she thought. And their fear will make them blind to their own ruin.
The Forests Beyond the Luohai Borderlands
Where whispers echoed, the Black Hall stirred. In a hollowed-out monastery overtaken by vines and rot, a circle of robed figures knelt. At the center, Master Qian Muheld a scrap of cloth, a piece torn from a Xingzhao uniform. It had taken weeks for their infiltrators to retrieve it.
"Confirmed," he said. "Smart fabric, resistant to flame and blade. Interwoven with metal threads not native to this world."
The figures shifted. One, Sister Bai Xueni, leaned forward. "This aligns with the prophecy: the One with the Flame of Heaven. The Weaver of Iron and Light."
"The woman," Qian Mu said. "Song Lian."
"What of the exiled prince?" asked another figure. "Yun Zhen is alive, and some of our informants suspect he has grown close to her."
"He is useful," Bai Xueni said. "His blood carries legitimacy. But he is not the source of the anomaly. She is."
Qian Mu stood, drawing a sigil in the dust with his staff, a black sun pierced by a crimson arrow.
"Then we watch. We wait. And when the time is right, we tear down her world, brick by brick, hope by hope."
Around him, the Black Hall disciples bowed their heads. "Darkness," they whispered. "Darkness that devours the stars."
Back in Xingzhao – Council Room
Unaware of the movements outside their borders, Song Lian and Yun Zhen studied the latest reports. The envoy from Ruan had returned home in disgrace, but not without sowing seeds of doubt among the other kingdoms.
"We've pushed them into a corner," Song Lian said quietly. "Cornered beasts bite."
Yun Zhen nodded. "The Ruan Kingdom will recover, but next time, they'll send something worse than a spy."
She placed a hand over the map of the continent. "Then we prepare. Not just for spies. But for war."
Outside, the sun dipped behind the horizon and in the distance, clouds gathered not of weather, but of fate.