At the Wu clan's main estate, the grandest house in their territory, Wu Wei stormed past the guards and into the inner halls.
Inside, he found his wife sipping tea. She glanced up at him with mild surprise.
"Where did you go, dear?" Wu Haoyu asked. She had returned from her stroll earlier and noticed he hadn't been at work as usual.
Wu Wei strode up to her, eyes sharp. "You said you had a master alchemist, didn't you? Tomorrow, bring him to me. I need assistance."
"B-but…" Startled by his furious tone, Wu Haoyu stumbled over her words.
"No buts! Bring your master, or you won't be allowed to go out anymore!" Wu Wei snapped, his anger pressing down on her.
Wu Haoyu's heart pounded. "I… I can't!"
"Why not!? You go out every day to see him, and I never question it. I ask one favor, and you refuse?"
"I-I'll try," she whispered, voice trembling. "Please… just understand."
She knew she would be caught sooner or later, but why was her husband suddenly so desperate to meet her supposed master? And why did he look as if he'd been injured?
Wu Wei's expression softened slightly. "Fine. I'm sorry. I just…" He exhaled, heavy with fatigue, before retreating to his private chambers.
The door shut behind him, and silence fell. He had taken wounds in his battle with Wu Zhen. Even for him, a night of rest and recovery was needed.
Don't tell me… he got into a fight. But with who? Wu Haoyu wondered, unease gnawing at her chest.
She tried to think of the reason and her mind drifted back to yesterday.
After the poison had been removed, her heart had sunk.
"What…?"
She couldn't believe the words written on that paper.
Frustration welled up inside her. This past week she had told herself she was supposed to hate it, but it had been… fun.
Her face fell, sadness dragging her features down into a frown.
This was the first time someone had shown interest in her.
For years, she had been nothing but Wu Wei's wife
No action of her own. No urgency.
All she did was care for him behind the scenes. No one cared about her, and she had always known she would one day simply die like an ordinary mortal, replaced without a thought.
She and Wu Wei had been childhood sweethearts, growing up together.
He became a warrior blessed with longevity yet still chose her as his only wife.
It was for this reason she had been so fiercely protective of their son.
The rest of the clan despised her for "tainting" the head lineage.
It was her fault, they said, that Wu Yaoshi had grown up talentless.
But that boy, Wu Han… he saw her as someone with worth.
Even if it was only to carry out his bidding, at least she was doing something.
Wu Haoyu couldn't accept the reality that she no longer needed to come here.
Worse, she had no idea what to do next.
Go back to the mundane life of a trophy wife, growing older, waiting for death?
Just because she wasn't a cultivator, did she really deserve such a fate?
"No!" Wu Haoyu decided. He didn't get to choose what to do with her, she did.
That night, after returning home, she found her husband already there. He looked worse than usual, weighed down by something heavier than exhaustion.
"What happened?" she asked. She had seen him tired before, but never like this. Some might even call it hopeless.
"The Luo clan refused to see me," Wu Wei muttered, his voice low with disbelief. "They said they had something more important."
Even Wu Haoyu was shocked. Everyone in the town knew that anything involving Luo Lan was always Luo Chen's top priority.
For him to deny an audience about her marriage… it meant either war was coming, or the Wu clan's importance in Luo Chen's eyes had simply vanished.
"If it weren't for that damn brat!" Wu Wei roared, his voice cracking with fury.
His pressure exploded through the room, making the air quake. Wu Haoyu almost fainted under the oppressive weight.
And then she caught it, a bitter scent mixed with his qi.
"You're drunk?" Wu Haoyu whispered, stepping back.
She was only a fragile mortal, standing in the same room as an angry, intoxicated cultivator. Even if it was her husband, one wrong motion could kill her instantly.
"Stop nagging me," Wu Wei slurred, waving his hand. "I just had a few drinks with fellow daoists. What's it to you?"
"I-I" Wu Haoyu's voice trembled.
Wu Wei laughed, sharp and bitter. "Hah! At a time like this is exactly when a man should drink! My clan slipping away, the Luo clan spitting in my face, my so-called allies whispering behind my back, why shouldn't I drink!?"
"Please, calm down," she said softly.
"Calm down? Calm down!?" Wu Wei slammed his hand on the table, the wood splintering under his palm. "Do you know what it's like to watch everything your family-built turn to dust? No, of course you don't!"
Wu Haoyu stammered. "I only ever wanted—"
"Wanted what?" Wu Wei's eyes narrowed, red with drink and rage.
Wu Haoyu's heart raced, not in excitement, but in fear.
Normally she would have kept quiet, waited for him to burn out his temper and then slipped away to her usual silence.
He hadn't been this drunk in years, maybe decades.
But sometimes, things didn't go the way they always had.
"You need to get a grip, Wei! What's wrong with you!?" she shouted suddenly.
She had been toyed with long enough. If she didn't speak now, when would she ever?
Wu Wei blinked in shock. "What did you just say?"
"I said get a grip! You're the head of our clan!" The words poured out of her like a flood breaking free.
This knot in her chest, this shame, had bound her for years. Her husband—her pride—had become nothing but a man who bowed and apologized, over and over.
If you're a warrior, then fight!
What good is being a warrior's wife if her husband cowers like a servant?
"Grip to what!? I don't have anything else; we don't have anything else…" Wu Wei's roar broke into a hoarse rasp.
He collapsed onto the bed, his anger draining into silence, his face twisted with pain.
He had always worn the mask of a cold patriarch. To see him drop it, to see the man behind it finally beaten down, should have frightened her. Instead, it filled her with an unexpected rush.
Confidence.
For the first time, she felt like she had won.
"Come now, dear, don't be too sad. There's still a way." Wu Haoyu sat at his side, patting his back gently. "I remember you talking about Wu Meiyi and the Han family. How is that going?"
"Well… nothing official yet. Han Suwen hasn't said anything. That boy, if only he would just—!" Wu Wei's fists clenched, his words stumbling into frustration.
Han Suwen followed Wu Meiyi everywhere, did everything she asked and more. Anyone with eyes could see he liked her. He just wouldn't admit it.
"Then why don't we give them a nudge?" Wu Haoyu's lips curved into a scheming smile.
"A nudge?" Wu Wei frowned. He couldn't think of a single way.
"I learned that Wu Han still has the body-refining pill," Wu Haoyu said smoothly.
Wu Wei's eyes went wide. "How do you know that?"
"He came to see my alchemist master, asking what he should do with it. I was there, so I learned about it too."
She lied without hesitation, feeding her husband the bait.
She might not be able to deal with that boy herself.
But her husband surely could.
--
"Is that so?" Wu Wei's eyes widened, then curved into a smile.
He had been forced to give that boy the pill after the failed trial, but if the brat still carried it, there was still a chance to take it back.
With that pill in hand, proposing an alliance and securing ties with the Han clan might finally become more than mere speculation.
"But I'll need a reason. Wu Zhen and the other elders won't let me kill him so easily."
"He left his house today," Wu Haoyu said calmly.
"Really!?" Wu Wei leaned forward, too drunk to question how his wife knew such details.
"I had a maid keeping an eye on him. She saw him leave."
She let the words hang, then loosened her robes, letting pale skin spill into the candlelight.
"I think you may have a chance… don't you agree, my husband?"
Wu Haoyu's voice dripped with sweetness, but her eyes gleamed with calculation as she leaned closer, using her body to steer his drunken thoughts.
Wu Wei grinned, already imagining how to seize the opportunity.
His gaze dropped to his wife's exposed chest, and reason dissolved. He shoved her down, and the night descended into tangled sheets and muffled whispers.
Just remembering it now made her wet, not from love for her husband, but from the thrill of finally controlling something.
For once, she wasn't a side piece watching the game unfold around her.
She was a player, moving the pieces herself.
Or so she thought.
"Uhmp!"
A hand clamped over her mouth from behind. Cold, merciless fingers pressed into her skin as a voice hissed against her ear.
"Scream, and everyone here dies."
Wu Han's words were deadly calm.
And then he dragged her into the shadows, vanishing into darkness without a trace.