A mysterious hunt.
Master Kinji Yo sat in his chamber.....
A place drowned in unnatural silence and thick darkness.
Outside, a frozen wind howled.
But it wasn't the cold that chilled his bones.
It was the sweat that refused to stop…
The fear that he had failed.
---
He and Master Fijion had stolen the scroll from Hei Lin San Sect.
Yet… they had only secured half the ritual.
And worse.....
The prophecy had come true.
His breath echoed through the room.
Hands trembled.
He wasn't alone.
He could feel it.
A shadow lurked.
A scent he recognized all too well.....
And dread froze his limbs.
---
The curtain rustled.
His eyes darted.
His heartbeat thundered in his ears.
And then.....
Slash!
A blade, faster than lightning, cleaved the silence.....
And his neck.
Kinji Yo dropped
No struggle. No scream.
One heartbeat ago, he was alive.
The next....
A corpse on the cold stone floor.
Blood slowly painted the ground.
And the shadow?
Gone.
Out the window.
Like a breeze after a storm.
What it left behind wasn't just death.
It was a statement.
A message painted in blood.
---
Elsewhere...
Not far...beneath a snowing sky…
Master Fijion and Lady Zhiyu
lay lifeless on an icy path,
dead lifeless.
snowflakes gently falling over them,
as if the heavens wept.
The pure white snow was now stained red,
like a child's art painted with madness.
The scene whispered of a silent massacre.
Even the wind dared not speak.
Only dead trees and frozen breath
stood witness.
---
Far away, hooves thundered against the earth.
Master Wanjiang and his allies raced forward,
injuries ignored,
spirits blazing.
---
They weren't alone.
Guiding them were their spiritual beasts:
A majestic white cheetah,
A soaring swan whose feathers shimmered,
A fierce falcon,
A sacred lion,
A serene deer....
All led by a silent predator...
A violet-hued owl
with glowing blue eyes
and wings that made no sound.
From its feathers shimmered ancient, luminous threads.....
like threads of fate.....
connected to the foreheads of every beast it guided.
A path of light,
A trail of destiny.
Behind them, six horses raced,
but not even they could match the speed of the spiritual beasts.
The land blurred.
Blood left behind with each gallop.
But the destination...
was near.
The owl let out a sharp cry.
The signal:
They had arrived.
Hei Lin San Sect.
Where the unseen colors of faith emerge.