Outside the grand gates of Daoren Academy, Master Azhai Rong stood waiting.
The cold night air bit at his skin, the darkness wrapped around the world like a shroud.....but in his hand, the crimson lantern still burned steadily.
Its light flickered in the wind, but his eyes… his eyes burned even brighter.
The carriage carrying the children had still not arrived.
And then...cutting through the thick curtain of fog...a man emerged.
His steps were heavy, his expression shadowed with despair.
He carried news.
News that struck like a dagger:
Someone had intercepted the carriage midway.
The words were like salt thrown onto Azhai Rong's wounds, each grain stinging, inflaming his rage.
The very thing he had feared...the very shadow that had been gnawing at his thoughts...had come to pass.
His voice turned sharp and bitter as steel.
"Go," he ordered the man. "Find the Fengxian household. See where they are."
The man disappeared into the mist and returned after a short while.
This time, what left his mouth was like the venomous bite of a serpent.
"There's no one at the residence. Not a single person."
The blow struck deep. For a moment, all resolve seemed to drain from Azhai Rong's frame.....until, quite suddenly, something in his mind shifted.
The sharp edge of anxiety dulled… replaced by a strange, almost eerie satisfaction.
A faint smile touched his lips. It was not the smile of joy.....it was the smile of a curse come true, the smile of someone who saw through the darkness.
And then, softly, almost as if speaking to himself, he said:
"A serpent… always prefers to slither into another's den."
The words hung in the cold air like a whisper of doom.
Then his voice cracked like a thunderclap:
"Prepare the horses! We ride to the Xuemo Sect...before they arrive!"
At once, men moved. Hooves struck the ground, the stable doors flew open.
In moments, several soldiers and Master Azhai Rong himself were mounted, the crimson lantern still clutched in his hand.
They spurred their steeds forward, the hooves pounding with a speed so fierce it seemed they were riding not on earth, but upon the very wind itself.
They did not follow the road marked by the carriage's wheel tracks...instead, they took the path running alongside it, driving their mounts at full speed, intent on reaching their prey before the serpent could coil.
Meanwhile, far ahead and utterly unaware of the chase behind him, Yin Fengxian guided the intercepted carriage forward at a slow, steady pace.
The delicate snow kept swallowing the wheels, each time threatening to trap them, yet somehow, the journey did not stop.
The wheels turned.
The road stretched on.
And the night's hunt had only just begun.