Lin Chaoyuan raised his hand.
From the shadows behind him stepped a woman in her late thirties. Her face was aged by pain and time..but her eyes were sharp with memory.
"This woman…" he said, "was the one who found Yu Sui after the chaos.
And she's the one who delivered him… straight to Kin Lishuan's hands."
Master Kin Lishuan looked at her with disbelief.
"You… You said he was just a child we rescued…!"
She shook her head.
"I didn't lie… I just didn't tell the full story."
She stepped forward..and slowly laid out the evidence:
The sealing mantra, scorched and marked with ancient ash.
The royal letter, written by Queen Guzuie..the final message she left for her son and Yu Sui.
The blood sigils, marked with the same energy now glowing on the boys' wrists.
The letter's words echoed through the room:
"Yu Sui…
As long as Mo Yan is with you, no curse shall touch you.
And Mo Yan…
As long as Yu Sui is near, you will never know my absence."
But then came the final blow.
The woman looked straight at all three men and said, voice cracking:
"Yu Sui was the child at the center of the ancient ritual.
But the true heir of the throne…
The real son of Queen Guzuie…
Was Mo Yan."
A stunned silence.
"Lin Chaoyuan," she continued, pointing at the man beside her, "tried to kill him.
He threw the infant Mo Yan into the mountain river that day.
But fate had other plans.
A family from the Linyan clan found the child…
Raised him…
And named him Mo Yan...
After the name carved on his wrist by the Queen herself."
The library was deathly still.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Outside, the sky rumbled..as if the heavens themselves were listening.