It was past midnight. The moon—a cold, silver eye, stared down at the Mount Jinghu, bathing its courtyards in the color of bone. However it had long crossed its zenith when the peace of the midnight broke out. The air inside the room filled with the faint scratch of ink, the crackle of lanterns, and the lingering scent of parchment and sandalwood.
Matriarch Lin felt the presence of that person. Immensely cold, and utterly silent. The faint tremor of qi was like a ripple across the still air, as if the world itself had exhaled. Her hand had already frozen mid-stroke. Senses sharpening instantly — centuries of instinct flaring alive. Someone was here. Someone strong. She looked up, her heart lurching.
A figure stood in the deepest shadows of her study, having bypassed every trap, every guard, every ward. The figure was motionless, cloaked in darkness, armor glinting faintly where moonlight touched it. The golden lines etched across the lion headed spaulders, shone like scars under the starlight.
The phantom general had arrived.
Matriarch Lin's heart hammered a single, painful beat against her ribs. She hadn't heard the door. Hadn't sensed a single one of the high-level sensory wards on her study—wards keyed to her own blood—not even a tremble. For a long, yet a fragile moment, the two women simply looked at one another — equals bound by rank, separated by era.
The Matriarch placed her brush down with a steady hand, masking her shock. She rose, her sleeves brushing the table as she bowed.
"Welcome to the Lin Clan, General Wuyin1"
A voice answered from the dark — low, smooth, and dangerously calm.
"The pleasure is mine, Sect Leader."
When the figure stepped into the lantern's glow, the air itself seemed to grow heavier. The moonlight caught the silver in her hair and the cold, dead light in her eyes. She returned the salute with a single, sharp bow.
"Please," the Matriarch gestured to a chair, her voice regaining its iron composure. "Have a seat."
JiLan strode forward, her movements economical and silent, the sound of her armored plates a soft, lethal whisper. She placed her swords beside her as she sat them down with a heavy yet low thud. One, a divine silver blade. The other, a thing of pure, light-devouring darkness.
"So," she murmured, half to herself. "That's you… too."
"Please be seated, Matriarch," JiLan's voice was a low, melodic rumble, utterly devoid of warmth. "We have much to talk about."
The Matriarch snapped out of her thoughts and moved to the tea set, her hands perfectly steady as she poured a cup. "Have some tea. It's refreshing."
JiLan accepted the cup. A long moment passed, a silent battle of wills. Matriarch spoke first, her voice gaining a sharp edge.
" So, General… what you should I call you? Miss Lian or—"
" Han JiLan. You can call me by my surname, if you want…"
Matriarch's hands stilled mid air. Never thought this young woman to be this rigid.
"Han JiLan…. Clever orchid… it's fitting." Matriarch Lin uttered slowly as she sat down.
" I prefer the sword2 more, sect leader.... And now, if your little chit chat is over, shall we get to the real deal at hand?"
Matriarch Lin looked right into JiLan's eyes. Trying to find any kind of weakness but—found none.
JiLan spoke. "I believe you received my father's letter, Sect Leader."
Matriarch Lin's eyes flicked up. "Yes.. we did."
JiLan's tone stayed even. "Yet we didn't received any official answer."
"You didn't receive the reply?" The matriarch's breath hitched. At last, her worries had come true.
"Oh," JiLan said softly, setting down her cup. "So that's that." She leaned against back in the chair, arms crossed over her chest. "You do realize what that implies, don't you, Sect Leader?"
Matriarch didn't reply right away. She simply set her cup down and reached out to a drawer, taking out a neatly rolled scroll.
"This is a copy of our official reply. But—" She reached into the inner fold of her robes and drew a thin letter sealed with black wax, placing it on the table between them. "I believe you did receive this one, General?"
The slight smirk JiLan had in her face moments ago deepened. "That's exactly why I'm here, sect leader Lin."
JiLan reached out inside her chest plate as she pull out another sealed letter and slide it across the table. "You should be thankful we took care of your— dirty laundry. Or things would be much worse." Her head titled slightly to the side, as she drew her hands back. "It was getting… filthy."
The matriarch's expression changed as she broke the seal and unrolled the list of names. Her blood ran cold when she scanned the first column. A cousin. Two decorated captains of her own guards. The steward of her western granary. These weren't just spies, they were her family. They were her own people, betraying her from the inside. "So many… betraying their own blood." Her hands clenched around the corners of the scroll.
" Many thanks… General…" Matriarch's voice was steady but low. She looked up at the young woman sitting across the table. "What is your next move?"
"I'm here to ask only one thing of you, Sect Leader."
"And what is that?"
"Do not get in my way." JiLan's voice was nonchalant, but the words were a threat. "Unless you are prepared to face the consequences."
" That means there's still more inside these walls—is it?"
JiLan stood up from her seat, drawing close to the window, her eyes holding the silver moon in capture. " The traitor who murdered my sister is still inside. All I need to do is to capture him. And for that—" she turned back to face the matriarch. "I need your cooperation."
Matriarch Lin's gaze sharpened. "I can assure you of that — for most matters. Since this deal benefits us too…But my granddaughter—"
"She needs to understand," JiLan interrupted, voice steel-cold. "The world doesn't bend to her will all the time."
The Matriarch's back straightened, anger build out of honor flashing in her eyes. "General, you are well aware of her ranks. And what that makes her… to you."
JiLan smiled.
It was a slow, soft, terrifying expression. It was the smile of a predator that had just heard its prey boast of a trap it had already disarmed.
"Yeah, I've been wondering too... What is she, to me?" The woman drew closer to the table. " An equal or a—superior… well that's-- debatable…." JiLan sat back down on her seat, crossing her arms in such a casual way, which the elder there, didn't like that much.
"But I can assure you, she need to learn more about the real deals here."
Matriarch placed her hands on the table leaning forward. Her anger flaring. " What do you mean?"
" Do you remember the question you asked, few days ago…. About the Coiling dragon formation?"
Matriarch Lin's eyebrows knitted involuntarily " What about that?"
" She said that she intend to take the River's heart position…. Brave move, but not clever… Not anymore…"
The Matriarch froze. " Stop with the riddles General. Get to the point."
JiLan leaned forward.
"To take the position of the 'River's Heart' is no longer a sacrifice. It is a suicide that serves only the enemy. Sorry tell you but, the battlefield has changed so much in the past sixteen years you've been hiding in this mountain."
The Matriarch looked utterly confused. But JiLan continued with her lecture. The voice of the Phantom General in her element. "Our enemies no longer use 'brute-force' charges. They employ 'Shadow Skirmishers.' They flow around your stones, ignoring your little trap entirely. They hunt one thing, the commander's qi signature."
The Matriarch was petrified, her eyes wide.
"They track down your qi, a technique I've seen 16 years ago.3 It was still fresh back then, but now… it had become more and more complicated."
Her gauntleted hand moved, fingers tracing the twisted hilt of Crimson Mourning. Its surface caught the firelight, casting bloody reflections on her face.
"So, the most dangerous position," She continued. "has no name. Because it should never be on a map. You give your second-in-command a banner and create a false River's Heart. A grand target. You, the true commander, become a 'Hidden Fang.' You shed your armor, mask your qi, and melt into the chaos with the most lethal unit of your army. You strike their supply lines, their healers… and finally…their commander."
"The old way was about being an unbreakable shield. The new way is about being an unstoppable, poisoned dart."
The Matriarch was speechless. The truth struck her like thunder. This was not a soldier. This was a master of assassination, the complete opposite of the righteous Long Xiao Yue. She was starting to realize why people fear this young woman this much.
"You are nothing like your mother," she whispered.
LiuYan's face, which had been a mask of cold logic, shifted ever so slightly. A flicker of pain passed through her eyes before they turned to ice "That's not a subject you should ever broach, Matriarch Lin."
The Matriarch snapped back to reality. "My apologies, General."
LiuYan rose to her feet again, walking to the window, seeming couldn't stay any longer facing the elderly woman. "You need to make sure Yuehan stays out of this. Her feelings cloud her judgment. You of all should already know this."
"Yes… I do. But," the Matriarch admitted, a soft sigh escaping her. "It won't be easy to stop her. She runs toward fire, not away from it."
"Then teach her how not to get burned." LiuYan's voice was sharp. "I don't want to hurt innocent people while pursuing my targets."
At this moment, the Matriarch had seems to realize what is LiuYans's hidden motive is. The phantom General she had heard about was someone who didn't really cared much about the consequences while taking actions but— this time, it was different.
She stood up from her seat and stepped closer to LiuYan. "Have you realized who she is, Your Highness? Don't you remember her?"
LiuYan's composure fractured. For a single, agonizing moment, the Matriarch saw how the mask of the general fall away through the reflection in the glass window. Revealing a flash of deep, profound longing. She knew.
JiLan turned around to face the elderly woman, who seems to know too much about her past life. "Seems like you know too much for your own good, sect leader."
"Don't avoid the question, your Highness. It's not very likely of a seasoned General."
JiLan's eyes softened for an instant when she thought back to that day. "That's, exactly why I'm trying to make her stay away."
Matriarch's gaze softened. A knowing, soft smile touched her lips. "Your actions aren't exactly helping your intentions. Have you realized that, general?"
JiLan became confused. "What do you mean?"
"You want to make her stay away, but you keep doing things that would draw her….to you."
" I don't see where you're coming from, sect leader…" JiLan's gaze sharpened, palms clenching into fists. The Matriarch continued, as she walk back to her table.
"The illusion. The Vixen… You reversed it, didn't you? How did you know about this technique?"
A soft scoff escaped LiuYan's mouth. She shook her head as she looked down at her feet, but then, pointed to the dark sword beside the table.
"My answer to you is lying there. And the technique…? That was left to me by one of yours. Also, sect leader…" LiuYan slide towards the table in a smooth motion. " I didn't had to reverse it. That's was done for me already.."
"What do you mean?" the matriarch asked. Her voice sharp.
"Do I really have to explain every single thing to you, sect leader? Can't you see what's happening? I just used my beloved new sword to take advantage what was already been handed to me…. Probably by an accident— but who cares?" LiuYan said, pointing towards Crimson mourning.
Driven by her terrible premonition, the Matriarch reached out towards that dark sword. But before her fingers even made contact, a wave of corrupt, violent Qi lashed out, eager and hungry. A sharp sizzle, and the Matriarch recoiled with a pained hiss, her palm seared severely.
"What is this abomination?" she gasped, cradling her hand.
" My answer for you, Crimson mourning." JiLan said, reaching towards a medicine bottle which contained some kind of medication for severe burns. She handed it over to the matriarch who looked at her in both confusion and terror.
"I forged it from the blade that killed my sister. The blade that belonged to your traitor, Feng Ruo."
The Matriarch recoiled. "Whose… whose soul does it carry?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"Mine," LiuYan replied. "And many others."
"You… what?"
"There was a part of my soul that was corrupted on my journey here. I had to take it out."
"How?" the Matriarch whispered, horrified.
"Oh, simple." LiuYan echoed the same casual words she'd used on Xie Yuan. "I tore it out."
Silence….The Matriarch sank back into her chair, the weight of it all too heavy on her shoulders.
"All I need," JiLan repeated, her voice low. "is for you to stay out of my way. And keep Yuehan out of it."
"You still care about her," the Matriarch said. It wasn't a question, it was the truth she had already realized.
JiLan's gaze drifted to the window. The sigh that followed was long, deep and filled with distant memories. "She was the first ever person who treated me like a human. I….don't want her caught in this."
"And how can you be so sure about my granddaughter's safety, General?" the Matriarch asked, her eyes sharp. "She's destined to be your life partner. She's your soulmate that was chosen in the ceremony. And now, the biggest threat she has is also…. You…" matriarch rose to her feet, drawing close to JiLan, trying to capture even a slightest mishap of vulnerability.
"How exactly do you plan to keep her safe from the fate you two already share?"
"She will be fine," JiLan said, her eyes distant. Voice hardening. "As long as she doesn't cross my path."
A mocking scoff escaped the Matriarch making JiLan's eyebrows furrow.
"Your paths are already crossed, General. I don't know if you've realized this already but.." the matriarch made JiLan turn towards her with a single move. " She's already falling for you. But the most dangerous part is… she hasn't even realized that herself.."
JiLan was momentarily speechless. She knew that the lotus general was indeed interested in her but, didn't expected their fates to play out this soon.
JiLan drew a deep, long breathe as she closed her eyes. "As long as I am here, I'll keep her safe. I promise. I'll be taking the responsibility if anything bad come in her way."
"And what about later? You'll leave her after your mission is done? Is that your plan?"
JiLan was silent, the weight of the impossible future pressing in. This was the first time ever in her whole life that she was strangled in a situation like this. "She doesn't know who I am. So it won't be a problem."
"That's all?"
" what do you even what me to do?" JiLan was getting restless. She was also new to this kind of feelings.
"Keep her beside you."
JiLan blinked, surprised. "I'm sorry?"
"Being with you is the safest place for her, now" the Matriarch said, her voice suddenly urgent. "That man, Feng Ruo, was a close comrade of her years ago. He was like a mentor to Yuehan. That plants a huge target on her back, too. I will help you find him, and prove him guilty. But in return… you'll keep my granddaughter safe. Your destinies are bound. Let time sort out the rest."
JiLan turned back to the window, her reflection lost against the dark.
After a long silence, she spoke — quiet, final.
"…Keep your words, sect leader. And I'll keep mine."
Author's note:
1. GENERAL WUYIN – REFER TO CHAPTER 1. GENERAL WUYIN IS PHANTOM GENERAL
2. THE NAME HAN JILAN HAS TWO MEANINGS. ONE CLEVER LOTUS WHILE THE OTHER IS GREAT SWORD OR LUCKY SWORD.
3. REFER TO CHAPTER 10. THE METHOD WAS FIRST USED BY XIE YUAN TO ERASE HIS QI SIGNATURE. 16 YEARS LATER IT WAS DEVELOPED AND REVERSED INTO TRACK DOWN QI SIGNATURE.