Sui Sui and Yizhou stood before the tall gates and knocked. The sound echoed faintly, but no one came to answer. Sui Sui frowned. That was strange. Even if Grandma Shang couldn't come to the door herself, the servants should've been around.
He raised his hand and knocked again, this time a bit harder.
Knock. Knock—-
The familiar courtyard greeted them with its usual quiet charm—the trees swayed gently in the breeze, the pond rippled faintly, and even the old wooden chair sat exactly where he remembered it. Everything looked the same.
But something was off….There was no one around.
"Hello? Is anyone here?" Sui Sui called out, raising his voice. However, only the wind replied, brushing past them like a ghost.
Yizhou tugged on his sleeve and tilted his head. "Gege, maybe… there's no one home yet?"
Sui Sui gave a short, awkward chuckle. "Well… maybe you're right."
Thud thud—
However, just when they were about to turn around, a sudden noise came from the backyard, a faint clatter, like something being dropped. Both of them froze, their eyes met.
Sui Sui quickly straightened his back and said. "Yizhou, stay here for a bit. Gege will go check."
But Yizhou immediately frowned and shook his head. "No. I'll go with Gege."
Sui Sui ruffled his hair gently. "No need, I'll be quick. You stay here and watch the front, maybe the servants will come back."
Yizhou pouted but didn't argue further. "...Okay."
Sui Sui strolled through the backyard, his steps light and unhurried. The place was spacious, it was quiet, with not a single soul in sight. Despite the clear skies above, the stillness carried a faint sense of eeriness.
He wandered aimlessly for a while until something caught his eye—a door, slightly ajar, nestled at the far end of the courtyard.
Curious, Sui Sui paused. He tilted his head, brows gently furrowed, then padded forward with quiet steps. His fingers touched the edge of the door, and with a soft creak, he pushed it open.
A sharp metallic scent suddenly hit him in the face. His nose wrinkled instinctively, and his steps faltered as his eyes adjusted to the dim interior.
The sight inside made his breath hitch.
Blood.
It had soaked deep into the wooden floor, dark and sticky beneath a figure slumped lifelessly against the frame. The woman's green robes were dyed a deep, heavy red, the original color long lost beneath the crimson flood. Her eyes stared wide in a frozen, twisted scream—empty, glassy, forever fixed on something only she had seen.
Sui Sui's heart dropped. "…Granny Shang?"
Sui Sui's breath caught in his throat. "No…" he whispered, stumbling back a step in shock. But just as his foot touched the ground, the surface beneath him rippled like disturbed water.
A sudden gust of wind howled through the space, unnatural and cold. From the shadows, a figure emerged: tall and draped in black robes that moved like smoke. His long black hair framed a pale face, and his blood-red eyes glowed with eerie light, locked directly onto Sui Sui. In the center of his forehead, a strange mark pulsed, casting a faint crimson glow in the dark.
Sui Sui's eyes widened.
A demon cultivator?
"So it's true," the man said with a low chuckle, his voice smooth but laced with menace. "That dragon brat's really staying here."
Sui Sui quickly stepped back, his gaze sharp. "You're after Yizhou?"
The man's grin widened, eyes gleaming with cruel amusement. "Yeah. Too bad though, you walked in first."
Without warning, a surge of demonic energy erupted from his palm—sharp, fast, and aimed straight at Sui Sui.
Sui Sui twisted to dodge, but he was not fast enough. The blast grazed his shoulder, tearing through fabric and flesh. Blood splattered across the wall behind him as the impact threw him backward. He slammed into the wooden frame with a painful thud, teeth gritting as a sharp jolt ran through his spine.
Sui Sui tried to get up, however the pain rendered his body motionless. He could already feel the blood rising to his throat.
The man strode closer, his boots clicking against the blood-streaked floor. Between his fingers, he held a glowing talisman, it pulsed faintly in the dark, casting eerie shadows across his face.
Sui Sui's vision blurred slightly, but he could still hear the man's voice—calm, almost casual.
"General, I've found the boy. Should I kill him, or bring him back?"
The talisman flared. A second voice answered, low and cold, echoing from the charm. "No need to bring him back alive. Kill him now."
Sui Sui's heart lurched—but he couldn't move. The pain in his shoulder throbbed, his limbs heavy. The room tilted sideways as darkness crept in from the edges of his sight.
That was the last thing he heard before his body gave out and everything faded into black.
—---
In the main courtyard, Yizhou heard a loud bang, it was sharp and sudden. At the same time, the air shifted, thick with the scent of ominous smoke. His chest tightened.
"Gege!"
Without a second thought, Yizhou dashed toward the backyard, wind howling past his ears. He ran fast, faster than he ever had before, but he was still a little heartbeat too late. By the time he arrived, the old house was already swallowed in flames.
The fire roared, climbing higher with each second, swallowing everything in its path. Yizhou skidded to a halt, eyes wide with disbelief. He instinctively moved to rush in, but the moment he got close, something stopped him.
These weren't ordinary flames.
The fire pulsed with divine fury, tongues of blue-gold heat twisting unnaturally, devouring wood, stone, even the very air. A pressure settled over the yard like the weight of a mountain.
Yizhou's chest tightened.
This was Phoenix Fire.
His breath hitched. Through the swirling inferno, he caught a glimpse—no, a flash—of someone inside. Sui Sui.
Or rather, what was left of him.
Sui Sui's body lay at the heart of the blaze, completely engulfed. It was as if the fire had a mind of its own, the flames danced, wild and violent, it clearly wanted to swallow Sui Sui.
"Gege!!!" Yizhou cried out, voice cracking.
He lunged forward—but the divine flames reacted instantly, lashing out at him like a living beast. Even from a distance, the heat seared his skin, forcing him back. Yizhou's legs trembled and he couldn't move.
This wasn't something the current him could fight. This was fire from the sacred flame of a phoenix.
Phoenix fires were one of the strongest, if not the strongest, flames in the world. It wasn't just deadly, it was terrifyingly thorough. If used on a low-level cultivator, it wouldn't just burn their flesh. It burned everything: body, spirit, and soul, leaving behind nothing but dust.
Yizhou's chest tightened. His eyes remained locked on the blazing ruin before him, but his mind couldn't keep up.
Something in him cracked.
A silent, splintering break.
Then—
"Like what you see?" a voice drawled lazily behind him, laced with amusement. Yizhou turned sharply, face darkening.
The man who stepped out from the shadows wore black robes, his long hair swaying slightly with the wind. A smirk tugged at the corners of his lips, as if pleased with the destruction he'd caused. On his forehead, the faint glow of a mark pulsed steadily.
Yizhou's expression stiffened the moment he saw it.
That was no ordinary mark. He recognized that mark, It was the brand of a high-level demon—from the Upper Realm.
They must have come to kill him.
The moment that truth sank in, Yizhou's knees nearly buckled. His breath caught, his chest tightened, and an unbearable weight settled over his shoulders like a curse he couldn't shake off.
It was his fault.
All of it—every last bit.
If only Sui Sui hadn't saved him that day…
If only he hadn't stayed in this place…
If only he hadn't let himself grow attached to that smile, that voice, that presence…
If only he had just sent word to his clan, walked away when he still could…
If only….
If only he wasn't so weak and useless.
Then maybe—just maybe—Sui Sui wouldn't have been dragged into this.
Maybe Sui Sui wouldn't be—
His throat clenched.
Now, Yizhou could only watch—frozen and helpless as Sui Sui, the same boy who had smiled so brightly at him just moments ago, was swallowed by the raging divine blaze.
His Gege's smile was gone.
His Gege's warmth was... gone.
And he stood there, unable to do anything. The house gave one final groan before collapsing in on itself, consumed completely by fire.
And in that instant—
Everything inside Yizhou completely shattered.