At Imperial Capital – Treasury Hall, Dawn,
A soft drizzle fell upon the golden rooftops of the Imperial Capital. In the predawn gloom, shadows shifted outside the Treasury Hall—long robed figures emerging from alleys like wraiths. Ji Yeyan, clad in a deep obsidian cloak stitched with the symbol of the Hall of Shadows, moved silently with two agents.
The gate guards didn't see them, didn't hear them—only collapsed seconds later with needles in their necks, unconscious.
"Move. We have two minutes," Ji Yeyan murmured.
Inside the treasury offices, three high-ranked Compact-aligned officials from the Shi and Tang factions sat quietly. Ledgers and account books lay open, their ink still wet.
Ji Yeyan threw a small dart with his thumb—it struck the chandelier, extinguishing the spirit flames. Shadows overtook the room.
Screams never came.
Moments later, Ji Yeyan emerged, dragging one bound man behind him. Two others were being carried by Hall of Shadows agents.
"Deliver them to the State of Records. Quietly. No fanfare. Let the Empire's auditors find the rot themselves."
At Crimson Sky Empire's Crimson Ministry of Crystal Archives,
In the restricted wing of the Ministry of Crystal, star-etched glass walls refracted faint cosmic light from orbs tethered above.
Xuan Le of the Hall of Astral Command sat cross-legged before the floating archive node. Eyes shut, spirit flowing outward, he entered the starfield.
In the astral realm, files appeared like constellations—paper trails glowing with truths and lies.
"Begin Phase Two," his voice echoed, distant and low.
He reshaped a node—falsified records of a Shi-owned arms trade, suggesting they were secretly diverting weaponry to rogue bandits. In another archive, he altered routes to obscure Compact shipments being sent toward Kun Island.
The Crystal Ministry would be blindsided for days before anyone noticed.
"The stars bend tonight," Xuan Le murmured, as he opened his eyes, sweat beading on his brow.
At Kun Island – Midnight Cliffs,
Waves crashed against basalt rocks as Yueying and Su Mengtian stood alone near the edge of the cliffs, the moonlight washing them in silver.
Yueying clutched a sealed letter—her uncle Tang Xuanming's betrayal still raw. Her voice broke the silence.
"I don't understand how family can just… turn."
Mengtian looked at her, the wind tousling his hair. "Because family is bound by blood, not always truth."
"Do you think I made the right choice? Leaving neutrality behind? Standing with you?"
Mengtian didn't answer immediately. He took her hand.
"You didn't stand with me," he said softly. "You stood with what was right."
She blinked, the moon reflecting in her eyes.
"And I will not let them make you regret it."
At Yueying's Camp – Hours Later,
Lan Qiu and Yue Mei were deep in discussions about the border defenses when Yueying entered with a new letter. Her eyes were unreadable.
"Lianhua sent this," she said, handing it to Yue Mei.
The letter was pleading. Tang Lianhua's handwriting was ragged, as though written in haste.
"Yueying, the family is being pulled apart. Don't let his ideals blind you. Return. Please."
Yueying looked at the flames of the lantern beside her.
"It used to be a sister's voice I trusted," she whispered. "But now I know better."
She folded the letter and placed it in the fire.
"Tell Lan Qiu to double the guard."
At Shi Territory, Shadow Cell Activation,
In a sunken shrine beneath Shi Clan's outer estate, six assassins knelt in silence. Each bore a red snake tattoo coiled over their spine. All came from "The Veinless Hand".
Shi Leiming entered with a single scroll. "Kun Island. Target: Lan Qiu and Yue Mei. The rest? Collateral."
No words. Only the shifting of blades.
The Red Fang was being unleashed.
At Tianzhen City – State of Records, Strategy Alcove,
Su Mengtian studied reports brought by Ji Yeyan. The captured treasury officials had confessed under subtle pressure. Enough to implicate half a dozen Compact assets.
He turned to Inara, Baojin, Rao Lin, and Kai Chan.
"They're hunting us in silence. So we bleed them the same way."
He pointed to three regions on the map.
"Next move is Phase Three: Operation Ghostroot. We destabilize their internal trust. Make them suspect each other."
Baojin raised an eyebrow. "Dangerous."
"So is waiting."
Mengtian stepped into the center of the hall.
"Tonight, the Compact learns what it means to hunt in the dark. And be hunted."
Lightning cracked the horizon.
At Shi Territory – Moonfen Vale, Eastern Watchpoint,
The forest mist coiled like serpents under the waning moon, silverlight glinting off obsidian blades as a group of cloaked figures moved silently between shadowed glades. These were no common mercenaries—they bore the seal of the Shi family's clandestine order, The Veinless Hand, a lineage of assassins trained in emotionless execution.
Their target: Lan Qiu and Yue Mei.
The Hallmaster of Tempests had recently been spotted inspecting defensive weather arrays along Kun Island's cliff-side citadels. Yue Mei, meanwhile, was engaged in gathering court allies through hidden diplomatic routes. Their removal would fracture the Alliance's elemental and illusion command structures.
But Ji Yeyan had foreseen this.
At Kun Island, Operation Ghostroot Activated,
In a sealed chamber beneath the Tianzhen observatory, Ji Yeyan moved three black jade pieces on a fog-shrouded board. "Phase two," he whispered.
Hall agents embedded as weather technicians and illusion apprentices activated glyph nodes along the assassination route. False trails erupted like flower petals—decoys posing as Lan Qiu and Yue Mei began their scheduled patrols.
Meanwhile, Xuan Le coordinated astral diversions through his starmap net, subtly guiding real-time hallucinations into the minds of the Veinless Hand. One assassin froze, unsure if he'd seen Yue Mei vanish into mist or if the mist had whispered her name.
A trap snapped shut.
From the moss-covered ridgeline, the Wyrmcallers' shadow-hounds pounced.
Lan Qiu and Yue Mei emerged from the high grass with spears that shimmered with wind runes and fractured light. The ambush inverted—the assassins were the prey.
Yue Mei struck first, her form splitting into seven illusions that circled like halos of light. Each moved unpredictably, whispering in dissonant tones. The assassins nearly killed Yue Mei by activating a forbidden ability based skill obtained by absorbing a beast core, but Inara intercepts them, nearly dying in the process.
Lan Qiu whirled her spear, summoning cyclone wisps that pinned two assassins against bark and earth.
Within minutes, five were down. One fled.
Ji Yeyan would let him flee.
They wanted a message delivered.
They took Inara to the Hospital operated by the Hall of Luminousveil, in Tianzhen city. Yue Mei desperately tried her best and successfully saved Inara.
At Long Territory – Long Clan Inner Estate,
Shi Ruolan stood alone in her husband's private sanctum, holding the coded message bearing the phrase: The Dragon bleeds. The implications were impossible to ignore.
Long Xielan's absence had gone unreported for two days. The message arrived via a defector courier who once served the Peng family, confirming that the Long elder was not missing—but poisoned, detained, and hidden in an abandoned monastery outside the Shi jurisdiction. The courier claimed Shi Jainhong himself authorized the decision, fearing Xielan's recent support for Su Mengtian's peace overtures.
Ruolan's hands trembled.
Her son, Long Yucheng, would never forgive this. Nor would her husband, Long Aotian.
And neither would she.
At Tianzhen – Crescent Pier Balcony,
The night wind was soft. Yueying sat beside Su Mengtian, the stars reflected in her eyes. Her voice was low.
"You remember the day we first spoke alone? The day you walked me past the Wyrm pens, and I asked if you were lonely?"
He nodded slowly. "You told me that silence was the loudest answer."
She smiled faintly. "I think I finally understand what you meant. And I'm not afraid of silence anymore—not when you're in it with me."
They said nothing else for a long while. But Mengtian held her hand as the wind stirred the hem of their cloaks.
At Shi Territory – Silent Courtyard of the Jade Mausoleum,
Shi Jainhong received the escapee from the failed assassination.
"You failed," he said coldly.
"They knew. They countered. Wyrmcallers... illusions... even astral manipulation. We were ghosts hunted by ghosts."
Jainhong said nothing. Then he reached into a chest and handed the assassin a white cube. "Deliver this to the Feng Patriarch. We begin Phase Three."