The room was quiet. Only a long and heavy conversation had shifted the atmosphere. Every face was composed on the surface....but within, a storm brewed.
The three Masters could only wonder what torment their Lord Yu Sui must be enduring, now that the truth had been laid bare before him...
That the traitor was someone close.
Everything was revealed...
Wang Gung's departure with a few students under the guise of a ritual, the arguments within the academy, the bitter words of Master Kinji Yo…
Everything.
Yet Yu Sui remained seated, unmoving, his face a mask of calm.
The Masters took their leave.
But behind them, they left a broken soul...
A soul already scarred by grief, now bracing itself for fresh wounds.
Yu Sui was shattered.
Alone in that room, his spirit turned against him, feeding on his swelling rage.
The air grew still and ominous.
Candles flickered… then died.
A dark aura began to emanate violently from his body.....his fury and anguish pouring outward.
He was both in pain and wrath, locked in a battle with himself.
Haunted by the memory of Mo Yan, as always.
It had become his daily torment.
His body trembled. His eyes burned crimson with rage.
But his heart wept...yearning for Mo Yan.
Like a tree that had lost its ability to bloom...
And yet still clung to the hope that in some spring, its flowers would return.
His trembling hand reached for the flute.
Fighting the chaos within, he raised it to his lips and played.
A melody so piercing, so sorrowful.....
It could split stone,
Shatter mountains of memory,
And fill the eyes with oceans.
After some time, Yu Sui calmed himself.
But perhaps… in quieting his own storm, he had awakened another in someone else's life.
He rose slowly, and made his way outside.
There, the three Masters were seated beside the lotus fields with Master Lee Wen, deep in discussion.
Upon seeing Yu Sui approach, they stood respectfully.
Yu Sui bowed to them in gratitude.....for bringing him this bitter truth.
He told them to now leave the rest… to him.
His words were soft, like petals.
But inside, a volcano had erupted.
How could there be a threat to Mo Yan.....and Yu Sui remain still?
Not in this lifetime.
Wey Xiong stood by his side.
The two departed together...
And though Yu Sui wore sadness on his face, there was a quiet joy too.
For the first time, his steps were carrying him toward Mo Yan...
Not away.
Wey Xiong understood that faint glimmer of happiness.
They journeyed together until they reached the river.....
The one that flowed between the Xuemo Sect and Hei Lin San Sect,
where peach blossom petals always drifted downstream.
So many peach trees lined the banks.
Yu Sui plucked five peach blossoms,
and with reverence, offered them to the river.
In the midst of this, he also gave Wey Xiong a task.
Wey Xiong possessed a spiritual beast.....a majestic black horse.
According to the beliefs of Hei Lin San Sect,
among all spiritual beasts,
only the horse had the ability to see the future.
And that was what Wey Xiong intended to do.
He sat beneath a peach tree, closing his eyes in deep meditation.
His spirit beast, the black horse, soared into the sky, its graceful stride carrying it above the clouds.
The clouds looked like a vast field of cotton blanketing the world.
As Wey Xiong focused, brilliant waves of energy radiated from his spirit beast's body.....
flowing into the air like silken threads.
The threads stretched, spread, expanded.....until they reached his master's mind.
And the moment they connected...
Wey Xiong saw it all.
What poison had recently seeped into the Xuemo Sect.
His eyes snapped open. His breath hitched.
He rushed to find Yu Sui.
He reached the spot where the Masters had stood earlier,
but they were no longer there.
He searched everywhere,
until finally he found Yu Sui by the marketplace river.
And there...he told him everything.
Master Kinji Yo had sent assassins...armed with cursed weapons.
Their target: Lord Mo Yan.
As the words sank in,
Yu Sui's fury tore through the sky.....
reaching heights no soul dared imagine.
He wasted no time.
Wey Xiong went with him.
First, Yu Sui summoned the Twin Phoenixes, ordering them to hunt.
His wicked smile returned.....sharp and vengeful.
The phoenixes… they had already been hungry.
And now, they made the most fearsome kill...
The spiritual beast of Master Kinji Yo...a serpent.
Burned from the skies.
---
Flashback ends.