Bai Yanli frowns as she notices frost forming across the floor from her presence. "Sorry," she says softly. She closes her eyes and channels her inner energy, forcing her blood to settle. Within moments, the biting cold vanishes, but the frost lingers in thin patches on the floor like white scars.
When she opens her eyes again, her cousin Bai Jun is still frozen in place, staring at her in shock. The other woman, Xialing, eyes her with open suspicion.
Bai Jun finally finds his voice and rises. "Cousin? Why are you here? I heard only Brother Bai Ming was coming."
Bai Yanli sits gracefully on one of the empty chairs. "He came with me. He went to see Uncle Bai Ju. I came here instead."
Xialing doesn't care who she is—not exactly. One glance is enough to identify her as a high-blood member of the Bai family. Snow-white hair and cat-like eyes of a brilliant, unnatural blue. If Bai Ju holds thirty per cent ancestral blood purity, this girl's purity is over seventy. Maybe higher—Xialing can't judge the exact figure. But it's enough.
With blood this rich, Bai Yanli doesn't even need to cultivate to reach the Great Samurai realm. With effort, her path to the Dharma Realm is almost guaranteed. She is an object of envy and awe among humans.
But Xialing isn't human. She is a Dryad.
And while blood purity may grant humans strength, her kind walks a path of balance, patience, and depth. If she cultivates diligently, she too can reach the Dharma Realm—though the ancestral realm remains distant, veiled in uncertainty.
Now is not the time for such comparisons.
Xialing's tone sharpens like the edge of a blade. "What do you know?"
Bai Jun leans forward, his usually composed face drawn tight with tension. He failed to protect Kanoru, a man who healed his uncle and brought a priceless method to their family. If Kanoru dies or is captured under his watch, it won't just stain the Bai Family's honour—it will warn others never to extend their hand toward them. The message would be clear: the Bai are weak, unable to protect those who stand with them.
He echoes Xialing's urgency. "Yes, cousin. What do you know?"
Bai Yanli's eyes flicker. "After you sent Kanoru's healing method for Uncle, we began investigating him."
That wasn't the full truth. She couldn't say more—not with an outsider in the room. Not yet.
When Kanoru's name first reached the family, it caused a ripple—no, a storm. Because her fiancé's name was also Matsuda Kanoru.
For four years, her family debated how to sever the engagement without disgrace. When she was younger, just an ordinary child with no awakened blood, her engagement to someone from a commoner lineage mattered little. A promise was a promise. The Bai prided themselves on that.
But everything changed the day she turned ten.
Without warning, her bloodline awakened. Her purity reached over eighty per cent. The elders were stunned. The match was no longer acceptable. A treasure of the Bai family could not be given to a boy with no bloodline, no status. But still, they couldn't simply break the engagement. The Bai weren't like that.
They searched for excuses, waited for time to provide them with a path. And now, it had come. She herself had volunteered to carry out the plan.
She speaks again, calm and measured. "The family found that Kanoru and Asuna escaped from Susa City over two months ago, chased by men under the Fourth Prince."
Her words land like stones dropped in a still lake.
Bai Jun's frown deepens. Something doesn't add up. "They escaped from men under the Fourth Prince… that means they offended the Fourth Prince. But now Kanoru is being hunted by forces tied to the First Prince?"
Xialing folds her arms, her gaze cold and steady. "Then the men under the Fourth Prince should be the ones causing trouble. Why are men under the First Prince chasing him?"
Bai Yanli exhales softly, her voice dropping. "Because of Asuna."
Bai Jun blinks, confusion flashing across his face. "Asuna?" He pauses, thinking. "Kanoru said his wife's name was Mori Asuna… I did hear she awakened ancestral blood, but…" His words trail off.
He hadn't given it much thought. A few commoners awaken dormant ancestral blood every decade, and their purity is usually low. Most of them don't go beyond the third turn of the Great Samurai realm. And there was no noble Mori Family in the Owani Kingdom—just another forgotten name.
He frowns. "Asuna… does she have another identity? I thought she was just Kanoru's wife."
Bai Yanli lifts her eyes to meet his. Just as she opens her mouth to explain, her gaze flicks to the healer. Xialing's face has changed—there's no shock, no curiosity. Only quiet restraint and a hint of cold understanding.
Bai Yanli narrows her eyes slightly. She doesn't miss it. She already knows.
Her attention shifts fully. "Healer… it looks like you know the truth."
Xialing gives her a glance, brief but telling. There's no confirmation, no denial—but her silence is louder than words.
Bai Jun looks from one to the other, frustration building. "What truth?" His voice rises slightly. "What are you two talking about?"
Bai Yanli exhales. "Asuna and Kanoru are not husband and wife."
Bai Jun jerks back in surprise. "They're not—?"
He stares blankly at the floor, trying to gather scattered pieces of a puzzle. Not husband and wife… then why pretend? And why be chased?
Then the memory hits—Yanli's earlier words. Chased by the Fourth Prince's men.
His head snaps up. "They're not married… and they offended the Fourth Prince?" His voice lowers. "Then how… how did they also end up enemies of the First Prince's men and the Sky Sword Sect?"
And then, another flash of memory—he sent guards to protect Asuna. But the guards reported she hadn't been seen in their room for days.
At the time, he hadn't thought much of it. With the army now stationed in Miji Town, many civilians were relocating. She might've moved to another village for safety. That had seemed reasonable.
But now… now he wasn't sure of anything.
His voice turns quiet but intense. "What is Asuna's true identity? And why was the Fourth Prince after them?"
He stares at the two women, as if trying to pull the truth from their expressions.
This time, Xialing speaks. Her voice is calm but heavy with weight. "I only know what Asuna told me. She and Kanoru didn't even know each other more than two months ago. Their meeting and escape together... it was fate."
Bai Jun listens closely, his brows knitting.
Xialing continues, "Asuna entered Susa City with her sect members. They were just planning to spend a night there. But they were suddenly attacked—black-masked men and a local family in the city. In the chaos, her elder gave her something valuable to protect and told her to run. She did… and during her escape, she crossed paths with Kanoru."
She pauses. "The black-masked men mistook Kanoru for one of her sect allies and went after him too. So he escaped with her. After that, to hide her identity and avoid suspicion, she told everyone they were husband and wife. That's how they arrived in Mugan together."
She glances at Bai Yanli, then back at Bai Jun. "About a week ago, Asuna returned with the rest of her sect to rejoin the Sky Sword Sect."
Bai Jun leans back, the weight of it all pulling at his thoughts.
It makes no sense.
He mutters, half to himself, "Why would the Fourth Prince target the Sky Sword Sect? And more than that, why would the Sky Sword Sect want to kill Kanoru? They should be thanking him, not hunting him."
He looks up, eyes sharp with new questions. "What was Asuna guarding? What's so important that it made her a target of a prince?"
Xialing shakes her head slowly. "She didn't tell me. Even back then… she was afraid. Not of being hunted, but of what she was carrying. I asked, but she said it was better I didn't know."
Her eyes narrow. "And now… to hear Kanoru was reported by the Sky Sword Sect… I don't understand that either."
She falls silent, her gaze drifting to the frost still lingering on the floor.
Bai Yanli, knowing the silence won't last long, finally says, "The Fourth Prince wants to stop the sect leader of the Sky Sword Sect from obtaining the Blood Pearl."
Xialing's expression doesn't change, but inside, her thoughts stir.
Blood Pearl… of course.
Among humans, the Blood Pearl is a rare treasure, revered for its cultivation benefits. But for her race, it holds no special meaning. In fact, it naturally forms within their ancestral territory. Its power may aid humans, but to her people, it's just a crystal born of bloodline pressure and deep-rooted energy.
She now understands why Asuna never told her.
I told her I was stuck at the peak of High-Ranking Samurai… unable to break through. If she had known she was carrying a Blood Pearl… maybe she'd fear I'd try to take it.
Their friendship, though strong, was only two months deep. Not enough for complete trust.
Just like she never revealed her true self to Asuna—for the same reason.
Bai Jun narrows his eyes. "Wait a minute. Why does the Sky Sword Sect's leader even need a Blood Pearl? According to our intelligence, she cultivates the spiritual path, and her realm already reached the peak of the Spiritual Core Realm."
Xialing glances at him, then slowly speaks. "Blood Pearls have another use. If refined with certain rare materials, they can be turned into a potion that helps break through to the Spirit True Core Realm."
Bai Jun's brows shoot up. This was new to him. "So… that's the reason?"
Beside him, Bai Yanli turns her gaze sharply toward Xialing. Her eyes narrow slightly, calculating. She had assumed Xialing was simply a healer. But in the Seven Kingdom Region, very few knew such obscure details about the spiritual path.
And this woman, a so-called healer, just casually said it?
Something doesn't match.
Who exactly is she?
Bai Yanli wonders again—but quickly pushes the thought aside. Xialing's identity, though curious, isn't her concern right now.
She focuses on the matter at hand. "Yes," she says evenly, "the old elders and the sect leader plan to refine the True Core Potion. Once the sect leader breaks through, the Sky Sword Sect will remain above the kingdom's coming chaos."
Bai Jun's eyes widen, the realization hitting him hard. "The new elders… they leaked the Blood Pearl's existence, didn't they?"
His voice is low, but the answer is clear in his tone. He already knows.
Bai Yanli nods. "They did. Every one of the new elders awakened ancestral bloodlines… but their purity is too low. They're stuck at the peak and will never reach the Ascension Realm on their own. They've long been dissatisfied. So now, they're aligning with the royal family. Leaking the Blood Pearl's location was the price to earn favor."
She pauses, then adds, "They also want Asuna to marry the First Prince."
"What?" Bai Jun stares at her, stunned. "That doesn't make sense. Asuna's background… even if she's the sect leader's disciple, she doesn't have any noble family behind her. Her marriage won't benefit the First Prince—if anything, it'll damage his political standing. The Sky Sword Sect is tied to the western continent."
He stops. Everything clicks.
The Eight-Headed Serpent—one of the world's only Eight Ancestral Beasts. The Owani royal family's Ancestral bloodline. If the First Prince ties himself to the Sky Sword Sect, it could spark opposition within the court. So why—
"What bloodline did Asuna awaken?" he asks slowly.
Bai Yanli's answer is quiet, but heavy.
"Scarlet Yin Snake."
Silence drops over the room.
Bai Jun's mouth opens slightly, his breath caught. Across from him, even Xialing's sharp gaze deepens with understanding.
It all makes sense.
The First Prince—powerful, cunning, and ambitious—is stuck at the peak of the High-Ranking Samurai Realm. He has the strength. The knowledge. But not the stability. His cultivation method contains a flaw—when breaking into the Great Samurai Realm, it risks igniting his own inner fire, burning him from within.
Only a rare Yin treasure could suppress that fire during the breakthrough. But Yin treasures are scarce, even for royalty.
And the other option?
Double cultivation—with someone who holds a powerful Yin-type beast bloodline.
The Scarlet Yin Snake.
Now they understand.
Asuna isn't just a target because of what she holds—but because of what she is.
A key. A solution. A resource to be claimed.
Bai Yanli doesn't need to say more. The political web is already drawn. And Kanoru? He's just the unlucky soul who got caught standing next to her when the storm hit.