Li Yuan stepped out of the Harmony Inn into a night filled with the light of torches and the sounds of unrest. Behind him, Zhang Wei, Liu Ming, Henrik, Kesi, and Elsa followed with tense but determined steps. The night air felt heavy with smoke, fear, and something darker—hatred that had already turned into violence.
As they walked toward the center of the riot, Li Yuan began to feel something he hadn't felt in a long time: the need to use his true strength. Not for domination or revenge, but for protection—to protect those who couldn't protect themselves.
For 15,693 years, I have learned that wisdom without presence is just impotent idealism, Li Yuan thought, feeling his Zhenjing—the inner world containing his 17 understandings—begin to vibrate with anticipation. But presence without wisdom is destruction. Tonight, I need both.
When they approached the mixed-race family area, the sight that greeted them broke Li Yuan's heart and ignited his anger at the same time.
A small house—the Chen family's house that Kesi had mentioned—was surrounded by about thirty people with torches. They were not yet committing physical violence, but their intimidation was clear and terrifying. In the house's window, Li Yuan could see the silhouettes of a frightened family—a father trying to protect his wife and children, while the crowd outside was shouting racial slurs and threats.
"Come out!" someone from the crowd yelled. "You don't belong here!"
"Mixed blood is not welcome in Sancheng!" another one added.
What made Li Yuan angriest was the sound of a small child crying from inside the house—a sound filled with confusion and terror, not understanding why people were angry at their family.
Enough, Li Yuan decided. He stepped forward, passing Zhang Wei and the others, toward the hostile crowd.
"Li Yuan, be careful," Zhang Wei whispered, but Li Yuan was already moving with a clear and unwavering purpose.
As Li Yuan approached the crowd, some people started to notice him. Some recognized him from the confrontation at the festival yesterday.
"Look! The newcomer who ruined the festival!" someone shouted.
"He's the one who's influencing our children with liberal ideas!" another one added.
Li Yuan stopped right at the edge of the crowd, positioning himself between the mob and the Chen family's house. For a moment, he was silent, just observing the faces that were distorted by hatred and fear.
Then he spoke, and his voice—although he wasn't shouting—somehow could be heard by everyone with perfect clarity.
"I see many people here that I know from yesterday's festival," Li Yuan said in a voice that was calm but authoritative. "I see people who yesterday smiled hearing their children's music. I see people who yesterday were proud of the creativity and talent of their communities."
The crowd started to calm down a bit, not expecting a speech but ready for hostility.
"What has changed?" Li Yuan continued. "What makes people who were capable of joy yesterday now terrify innocent children?"
"They are contaminating our culture!" Zhao Kang shouted from the middle of the crowd.
"Contamination?" Li Yuan looked directly at Zhao Kang. "Is a child born from the love between two people who happen to have different skin colors a contamination? Is a child who can speak two languages, who understands two traditions, who can be a bridge between communities—is that contamination?"
Li Yuan began to walk slowly around the crowd, and something extraordinary started to happen. With every step, with every word, there was a change in the atmosphere that couldn't be explained by ordinary logic.
Universal Wenjing Realm, Li Yuan decided to release the limitations he had put on it. The radius of his passive effect began to expand—not just 5 centimeters, but meters, tens of meters, hundreds of meters.
Everyone within that radius began to feel something strange. Not a manipulation or control, but... clarity. The ability to hear the intention behind their own words, to feel the true motivation behind their actions.
"You say you are protecting tradition," Li Yuan continued, his voice now carrying a weight that made everyone listen despite themselves. "But I want to ask—what tradition are you protecting? The tradition of terrifying children? The tradition of burning other people's property? The tradition of claiming that love is wrong if it happens between people of different skin colors?"
A woman in the crowd—whom Li Yuan recognized as one of the mothers who had smiled seeing her child play music yesterday—started to look uncomfortable. Through his now-expanded Wenjing Realm, Li Yuan could feel the internal conflict within the woman.
She is starting to question what she is doing here, Li Yuan realized. The effect is starting to work.
"I have traveled to many places," Li Yuan continued as he kept walking, his presence now affecting everyone in the crowd. "I have seen many cultures, many traditions. And I have learned one important truth: true tradition, the authentic one, the one worth preserving, is never built on a foundation of hatred toward others."
Li Yuan stopped right in front of the Chen family's house and turned to face the entire crowd. When he did that, something extraordinary happened.
For the first time since arriving in Sancheng, Li Yuan allowed his true presence to be felt a little. Not a dramatic display of supernatural power, but a simple revelation of what he really was—someone who had lived for millennia, who had seen the rise and fall of civilizations, who understood the deepest currents of human nature.
His gray eyes now seemed to contain the depths of ancient wisdom. The way he stood, the way he moved, the way he spoke—everything suddenly carried the weight of someone who had witnessed far more than any normal human could in a single lifetime.
Around Li Yuan, nature itself began to respond to his presence. The night wind that had been blowing chaotically began to move with a calmer pattern, as if joining in the rhythm of Li Yuan's breathing. The light of the torches flickered in a hypnotic way, creating an almost sacred atmosphere.
"You want to know what I see when I look at the family in this house?" Li Yuan asked, and now his voice carried something that made everyone stop moving, stop shouting, stop everything except listening.
"I see a father who works hard every day to provide a good life for his family. I see a mother who cooks with love, who sings lullabies to her children in two languages because she wants them to be connected to the heritage of both their parents. I see children who play, who learn, who have dreams and hopes just like other children."
Li Yuan looked directly into the eyes of every person he could see in the crowd.
"And do you know what else I see? I see the future. I see a coming generation that will not care whether someone has dark or light skin, that will judge people based on their character, not their ancestry."
Silence began to descend on the crowd. Not a silence because of agreement, but a silence because of... awe. There was something in Li Yuan's presence that made them feel as if they were facing a force of nature—not threatening, but absolutely overwhelming in its wisdom and authority.
Zhao Kang, who was apparently the most resistant to this effect, tried to rally the crowd again.
"Don't listen to him!" he shouted. "He's a newcomer who doesn't understand our history, our struggles!"
Li Yuan turned to Zhao Kang with an expression that was... different. Not angry, not hostile, but there was something in his gray eyes that made Zhao Kang instinctively take a step back.
"History?" Li Yuan said in a voice that was quiet but somehow could be heard by everyone. "Struggles?"
Li Yuan stepped toward Zhao Kang, and with every step, there was a sense of... presence that was growing stronger. Not magical or supernatural, but a weight of experience that was vast beyond human comprehension.
"Brother Zhao Kang," Li Yuan said when he stopped right in front of the man, "how long have you lived in Sancheng?"
"T-thirty years," Zhao Kang answered, stuttering even though he tried to sound defiant.
"And you feel that gives you the right to determine who belongs and who doesn't?"
Li Yuan looked at the entire crowd once again.
"I want to share something with all of you. I have lived... a very long time. Very, very long. I have seen nations rise and fall. I have seen great civilizations destroyed by hatred, and small communities survive and thrive because of love."
There was something in the way he said "a very long time" that made some people in the crowd start to feel... reverence. And a little healthy fear.
"And in all those years, I learned one universal truth: civilization advances when people choose to extend their circle of care. Civilization retreats when people choose to shrink that circle."
Li Yuan raised his hand and pointed to the house behind him.
"The family inside this house—they chose to extend their circle of care. They chose a love that crosses artificial boundaries. They chose to create something new while honoring something old."
Then Li Yuan pointed to the crowd.
"You, tonight, chose to shrink your circle of care. You chose fear over love, the past over the future, hatred over hope."
Now, with the Wenjing Realm effect fully deployed and a presence that was ancient beyond measure, Li Yuan could feel the exact emotional state of every person in the crowd. Some were starting to feel ashamed. Some were resistant but doubt was beginning to creep in. Some were starting to back away from the core group.
But there were also a few—including Zhao Kang and some of the core instigators—who were resistant and becoming more desperate because they felt their authority was being challenged.
Li Yuan made a decision that would change everything.
He stepped back from the crowd and stood directly in front of the door of the Chen family's house. Then, with absolute calm, he said:
"I will stand here. All of you who still want to harm this family—you will have to go through me first."
Total silence descended on the crowd. No one expected a direct challenge like this.
Zhao Kang, feeling his authority challenged in front of his followers, stepped forward with a face red with anger.
"Who do you think you are? You think you can stop everyone here?"
Li Yuan smiled—a gentle smile but one containing a depth of certainty that made Zhao Kang stop moving forward.
"I am someone who is tired of seeing innocent people suffer because of the hatred of people who are afraid of change. And yes, I am confident that I will stand here, whatever it takes."
There was something in the way Li Yuan said "whatever it takes" that was not a threat but a simple statement of absolute commitment that made the atmosphere shift dramatically.
One by one, people started leaving the crowd. First the ambivalent ones, then the uncomfortable ones, and finally even some of the core supporters.
Within ten minutes, all that was left was Zhao Kang and a handful of the most hardcore—maybe five or six people.
Zhao Kang looked around, realizing that he had lost the crowd, lost the momentum, lost everything. Desperation made him do something stupid.
He took a torch from one of his followers and raised it, preparing to throw it toward Li Yuan.
What happened next was something that would be remembered in Sancheng for generations.
Li Yuan did not move. He did not flinch. He just stood with absolute tranquility, looking directly into Zhao Kang's eyes.
And in that moment, something extraordinary happened.
The night wind that had been barely noticeable suddenly picked up with a gentle force. Not violent or threatening, but steady and purposeful. The wind blew directly from Li Yuan toward Zhao Kang, carrying with it a sense of... inevitability.
Zhao Kang raised the torch to throw it, but the wind blowing from Li Yuan's direction made the flames flicker violently. Instinctively, Zhao Kang paused, realizing that throwing a burning torch in a wind like this could easily backfire and hurt himself or his followers.
As he hesitated, Li Yuan spoke with a voice that carried across the wind with perfect clarity.
"Even nature is giving you a chance to choose wisdom over foolishness," Li Yuan said. "The wind that is blowing now will carry the fire back toward anyone who chooses to use it for destruction. That is not a threat from me—it is a natural law."
Zhao Kang stared at Li Yuan, then at the torch in his hand whose flames were becoming even more erratic in the persistent wind. Around him, the remaining followers began to back away, recognizing that the situation had become something beyond their understanding.
"What... what are you?" Zhao Kang whispered.
Li Yuan did not answer that question directly. Instead, he said something that would haunt Zhao Kang for the rest of his life:
"I am someone who has seen civilizations rise and fall based on choices like the one you are making tonight. I have seen how hatred destroys communities from within, and how love builds bridges that last for generations. And I am tired of watching good people suffer because bad people are allowed to act on their worst impulses."
Li Yuan stepped forward one step, and the wind intensified slightly, making the flames on Zhao Kang's torch dance even more wildly.
"Go home, Zhao Kang," Li Yuan said with a voice that combined authority with mercy. "Drop that torch before the wind carries the fire to where you don't want it to go. Think about what kind of legacy you want to leave for your children and grandchildren. Think about whether you want to be remembered as someone who spread hatred or someone who learned from his mistakes."
Zhao Kang, completely overwhelmed by the combination of Li Yuan's presence, the natural forces that seemed to respond to his will, and the realization that he had gotten into something far beyond what he had bargained for, dropped the torch he was holding. The flames extinguished when they hit the ground, and the wind immediately calmed.
Without another word, Zhao Kang and his remaining followers scattered into the darkness, not looking back.
Li Yuan stood alone in the empty area, surrounded by abandoned torches and the debris of an aborted riot. Behind him, in the Chen family's house, he could hear the sounds of a family cautiously emerging from hiding.
Zhang Wei, Liu Ming, Henrik, Kesi, and Elsa—who had watched the entire confrontation from a safe distance—slowly approached Li Yuan.
"Li Yuan," Zhang Wei said in a voice full of awe, "what just happened? How... how did the wind know to blow at that exact moment?"
Li Yuan turned to his friends with a tired but peaceful smile.
"Sometimes," he said gently, "when someone is fully committed to protecting the innocent and standing for what's right, nature itself responds. Not because of magic or supernatural power, but because of... harmony. A harmony between a pure intention and the natural order."
He paused, looking up at the night sky that was slowly beginning to lighten with the first hints of dawn.
"What's important is not how the wind blew at the right moment," Li Yuan continued. "What's important is that it's over. The Chen family is safe. The children of Sancheng can sleep without fear tonight. And maybe, hopefully, tomorrow will bring wisdom to those who chose hatred tonight."
But in his heart, Li Yuan knew that a display of natural harmony like this would have consequences. People would talk, would speculate, would wonder about the stranger who somehow commanded respect from both humans and the elements around him.
Maybe it's time to continue the journey, he thought, looking at the horizon that was slowly brightening. Maybe it's time to leave Sancheng to its people to determine their own future, armed with the lessons that hopefully they learned from nights like this.