The Wine and Color Pavilion flickered under lantern light, shadows dancing across carved screens and silken drapes.
At the far end, Yujin sat with another Lan junior, robes pristine, posture unbending even in this place where discipline was as foreign as mercy.
His gaze, sharp as frost on lotus petals, never left the door.
The suspect stepped inside. Heavy perfume clung to his sleeves, and for a heartbeat, laughter and pipa music faltered under the weight of his presence.
Yujin's jaw tightened. Where in the name of Yeyan lan had those two gone? His fellow juniors had slipped away to check the secret chamber, leaving him here to guard the hall with only one companion ... and, infuriatingly, Xiao...he silently felt like in trouble too because Xiao is like on fire with his wounded ego because of rejecting a borrowed night with him last week while nobody dares to do it..
they instead stand on line the while day to have a night with him . So Yujin was clearly a new and rare topic to chase around for Xiao in this regular , boring and..silently a dark life .
This is when they vanish? Yujin cursed inwardly, hands folded in seeming calm.
Xiao caught his eye across the lacquered tables, smirking faintly....that teasing curve of lips Sujin had come to recognize and, unwillingly, remember.
But then Xiao's expression changed. His pupils narrowed, breath catching like a thread pulled too taut.
The suspect's eyes had locked onto him ... a gaze dripping with cold hunger. Step by slow step, the man crossed the crowded hall, never blinking.
Sujin shifted his weight, robes whispering against polished floorboards. The Lan rules echoed in his skull: Do not intervene unnecessarily. Do not show anger in public.
Yet when the man reached out, iron-fingered, and wrapped his hand around Xiao's slender wrist, Sujin's discipline strained to shatter.
"Did you think you could deny me again?" the man rasped, voice sweetened with poison.
Xiao tried to twist away, forced calm masking the panic swimming in his eyes.
"Esteemed guest, please— this one is already booked tonight…"
But the man's grip only tightened, knuckles whitening, pulling Xiao closer until painted hair ornaments trembled.
Yujin rose, movement smooth but edged with frost. The other Lan junior beside him glanced up, silent acknowledgment between brothers-in-discipline.
"Release him," Yujin's voice came, low and clear as cold water over jade.
The suspect's eyes flickered, hate blooming alongside fear.
"A righteous cultivator meddling in courtesans' games? The Yeyan Lan Sect must have grown bold indeed."
His words dripped scorn, but Sujin saw it: the pulse jumping at the man's throat.
Coward, Yujin thought, stepping closer.
Xiao's sleeve slipped in the struggle, revealing a glimpse of ink traced in faint silver beneath the suspect's robes. Sujin's eyes narrowed, the ancient pattern leaping from memory:
易容术 — Yì Róng Shù. Appearance-shifting technique.
"Who are you really?" Yujin demanded, hand ghosting toward his sword hilt — though blades were forbidden in the pavilion.
For a heartbeat, the suspect's mask cracked. His fingers twitched, grip faltered.
Then desperation seized him.
With Xiao gasping beside him, the man jerked back, hand darting to his collar. A glint of metal, a snap of teeth on hidden capsule.
"NO—!" Yujin lunged, but too late.
A wet choke. Crimson foamed at the man's lips as he collapsed, breath rattling once, then silence.
The music died. Laughter shriveled into brittle silence as patrons shrank back.
Yujin caught Xiao's elbow, steadying him. The courtesan's pulse fluttered wild under pale skin, eyes wide, mouth parted in shock.
Xiao whispered, voice breaking:
"Why… why would someone rather die than speak?"
Sujin swallowed, the scent of crushed herbs and bitter poison sharp in his nose. His hand stayed on Xiao's arm a heartbeat too long...the contact oddly grounding.
"Because what waits behind him is worse than death," Sujin murmured, gaze on the lifeless body.
From the man's slack fingers, something slipped free: a lacquered talisman, its painted surface scorched by dying spiritual energy.
A clue, Yujin realized, as Xiao sagged against him, lashes wet, pride torn raw.
Above them, lantern-light flickered like restless spirits, and the shadow of a secret war spread further across the night.
[ End of Chapter 3 ]