.
The sun rose behind the Lingyun Mountains, spreading pale light across the frozen valley.
The Silver Lake shimmered like liquid crystal — beautiful, yet hiding the cold truth beneath.
Shivay sat silently beside a dying campfire. His cloak was torn, and a streak of dried blood crossed his cheek.
Across from him, Xue Lan tended to her wounds in silence, her delicate fingers glowing faintly with healing Qi.
Neither spoke — but the air between them was heavy with the echo of the night before.
He watched her, the way she moved — calm, controlled, like someone who had already lost too much.
Finally, he broke the silence.
> "That flute…" he said. "Its melody — I've heard it before. In my dreams."
Xue Lan's hand froze. The wind blew softly, lifting strands of her white hair across her face.
For the first time, her eyes met his — deep, distant, filled with memories not meant for this world.
> "It's not a dream," she said quietly. "It's a memory. Yours… or mine."
She looked at the horizon — a faint sadness touched her lips.
> "Do you know why the Frost Orchid Sect was destroyed, assassin?"
Shivay shook his head. He only knew rumors — whispers of betrayal, forbidden power, and divine punishment.
She closed her eyes, and her voice trembled like falling snow.
> "My clan worshiped the Spirit of Winter Lotus — the goddess of stillness and rebirth.
We guarded her relic, the Heart of Frost, for generations.
But the Lotus Temple was attacked… by assassins wearing black lotus emblems."
Shivay's heart skipped a beat.
The symbol of his clan.
> "They said the relic could grant immortality," she continued, her tone turning sharp.
"My people died protecting it. My master sealed it within me — her last act before the flames consumed the temple."
Shivay looked down at his hands — the same hands that carried the mark of that black lotus.
He didn't need to ask. The truth was already clear.
His clan… his "family"… had murdered hers.
A gust of cold wind blew, scattering the ashes of the fire.
> "If you're here to finish what they started," she said, standing slowly, "then do it now."
Her words cut deeper than any blade. Shivay rose, his sword still sheathed.
> "No," he said. "I came here to end their sins… and my own."
The silence that followed was fragile — like the thin layer of ice over deep water.
Then Xue Lan turned away, her voice barely audible.
> "Then perhaps, Shivay… fate has brought you not to kill me — but to remember."
Above them, snow began to fall — soft, pure, endless.
And within each flake, the past whispered of pain, love, and a bond older than their memories.
Far away, in the Black Lotus Temple, Master Wei Long stared into a burning sigil.
> "So… the assassin remembers," he murmured.
"Then let the hunt of fate begin."
---
🔥 End of Chapter 3: "The Frost Memory" 🔥
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Chapter 4: "The Assassin's Mark" —
Shivay returns to the shadows to uncover his clan's hidden purpose… but the mark of the Black Lotus begins to burn, binding his soul to the one he swore to kill.