Chapter 13 – Oath Beneath the Crimson Moon
The silence of Ironfang Town lingered long after they left.
No merchant dared open his stall, no cultivator dared take a step in their path. Behind them, only whispers remained—of blood, of shadows, of a boy who walked like a demon.
Under the pale light of the moon, Ye Tianlan and Xu Lian camped on the outskirts, near the broken pillars of an abandoned shrine. The flames of their campfire flickered, casting long shadows on the cracked stone.
For a while, neither spoke. The night was filled only with the hiss of burning wood and the distant cry of night-birds. Finally, Xu Lian broke the silence.
"Do you know why I follow you, Tianlan?" Her voice was calm, but there was weight in every word.
Tianlan glanced at her. "Not for safety. Not for gratitude. Tell me, then."
Her hand tightened around the hilt of her sword. "Because your eyes remind me of that night. The night my clan was destroyed."
Tianlan's gaze hardened. "Destroyed? By whom?"
Xu Lian's shoulders trembled, but she forced herself to speak. "It was not bandits. Not rival sects. It was a judgment carried out by the Seven Realms themselves. The White Lotus Realm declared my clan heretics, hiding behind their false righteousness. The Serpent Shadow Realm sent assassins to finish what was left. And the decree… came from above."
She looked up at the sky, her eyes reflecting the firelight like molten blood.
"The Celestial Phoenix Realm itself gave the order. They feared the Phoenix bloodline that flows in me. So they slaughtered every man, woman, and child of the Xu clan. Only I survived."
The fire popped, sparks flying into the dark.
Ye Tianlan remained silent for a long moment. But inside him, the Golden Heavenly Dragon coiled, restless, its roar echoing faintly in his veins.
Xu Lian raised her blade, pointing it to the heavens. Her voice shook, but her will was iron.
"I swore that night—I will destroy them all. The Lotus Saints who hide behind their holy masks. The Serpent Queen who wields shadows as knives. And the Celestial Emperor who thinks himself divine. Until their realms burn, I will not rest."
The wind howled across the ruined shrine, as if carrying her vow to the stars themselves.
Ye Tianlan slowly stood, his robes fluttering with the surge of his qi. He stepped into the moonlight, eyes burning with a light that seemed to challenge heaven.
"Good," he said softly. "Because their fate is already written. The Seven Realms will fall, one by one. If they stand in my way, I'll cut them down. If the heavens themselves resist, I'll split the sky open."
Xu Lian looked at him, breath caught. "Ye Tianlan… what are you?"
He smiled faintly, though there was no warmth in it. "Not man, not god. I am the shadow they tried to erase—the blade they could not break."
Lightning rumbled faintly in the distance, though no storm clouds gathered. The Earth Realm itself seemed to shudder.
And far away, in a palace of jade and flame within the Celestial Phoenix Realm, an emperor's eyes snapped open. His voice echoed across the Immortal Court.
"The bloodline lives… and the Dragon has awakened."
The storm had begun.