Deep within the prison, the stone walls were damp and cold. The air reeked of rust and moisture, and flickering torches cast wavering shadows that clung to the walls like restless specters.
When the prison convoy arrived at the Golden Yao Citadel, Tie Ye gave a single command. Lin Yaochen, Luo Yan, Ge Zhiyao, Mozi, and the unconscious Ge Ruifeng were dragged one by one into the dungeon. The rattle of chains echoed endlessly down the corridors, heavy and suffocating.
Late into the night, torches crackled outside the cells as wind crept through the passageways. Draped in black-and-gold robes, Tie Ye entered the dungeon under the guard of two elite soldiers. The sentries at the gate immediately saluted and withdrew. With a curt gesture, he ordered the others to stay back.
He wanted this alone.
The prison was dim. Water dripped down the walls, striking the ground with hollow taps. Luo Yan was shackled to a stone pillar, his body covered in wounds. His hands were bound behind his back, his head lowered, his clothes stained with ash and blood.
Tie Ye stopped before him, his gaze sharp as a blade, cold enough to pierce flesh.
After a long silence, he spoke softly.
"You carry the aura of the Fire Yao."
Luo Yan let out a quiet scoff and did not lift his head.
"What's more," Tie Ye continued calmly, as if dissecting a weapon, "you wield fire as if it were an extension of your body—yet you have never been trained in any formal Yao cultivation system."
A flicker of something close to admiration passed through his eyes before sinking into darkness again.
"A pity. I will not allow any of you to leave this place."
He turned to leave—then stopped.
His gaze caught on something half-hidden beneath Luo Yan's torn clothing.
A pendant.
Tie Ye stepped closer and brushed aside the fabric.
It was a longevity lock.
Old, slightly worn, yet exquisitely crafted. Despite the erosion of time, a single engraved character remained unmistakably clear.
— Luo.
Tie Ye's pupils constricted violently.
His body stiffened, as though struck by lightning, breath caught in his throat.
With trembling hands, he lifted the pendant. His fingers brushed over the familiar character, and a door long sealed within his memory burst open.
Years ago—before he became a Yao Marquis—Tie Ye had been a frontier commander, a man who guarded the borders of the realm. He had also been newly married, and newly a father.
That winter, he and his beloved wife, Luo Junyan, welcomed their child into the world. He forged this longevity lock himself, using rare Yao silver and crimson copper, embedding a Yao crystal within its core, tempering it with his own Yao power for three days and three nights.
It was meant to be given on the child's first full-moon celebration.
On the back, he engraved a single character—Luo.
It was not only the child's surname, but his wife's. The name of everything he loved.
"This lock is my promise to you," he had said, fastening it around the infant's neck as he held his wife's hand.
"Tie Yu-luo. Yu sounds like 'together'. You, me, and your mother—never apart."
It had been his gentlest dream.
Until fire devoured it.
While returning from a campaign, he received word that his home had burned. He spurred his horse into a frenzy, riding as though the wind itself obeyed him. But when he arrived, there was nothing left—only ashes and ruins.
He tore through the charred remains with his bare hands, searching desperately. He found his wife's hairpin, once gleaming beneath candlelight, now twisted and blackened. His fingers whitened as his heart split open.
His child's laughter still echoed in his ears.
But the child was gone.
The lock he had forged—the symbol of his vow—had vanished without a trace.
That night, he knelt in the ashes, tears mixing with soot, his cries tearing through the sky.
And now—
That lock hung on the chest of this young man.
Tie Ye's throat tightened. His fingers shook as he traced the engraved character, as though time itself had collapsed back into fire and ruin.
His voice came out hoarse.
"Where did you get this? Who gave it to you?"
Luo Yan frowned, instinctively guarding it.
"Don't touch my things."
Tie Ye did not seem to hear him.
His eyes were locked onto the pendant.
"This… is yours?"
Luo Yan laughed coldly.
"Of course it is. What, you think it's yours? After all the evil you've done, you still want longevity?"
Tie Ye staggered, emotions surging violently beneath his iron composure. He pointed at the lock, his hand shaking.
"I forged this myself… It was winter's end. You were barely a month old. The 'Luo'—that is your mother's surname."
Luo Yan froze.
Tie Ye whispered, as if speaking to the past.
"Tie Yu-luo… the name I gave you. 'Yu' meaning 'together'. You, your mother, and I—never apart…"
The dungeon fell into a terrible silence.
The torchlight flickered, shadows dancing across the stone like broken memories.
Tie Ye lifted his head, eyes sharp yet restrained.
"What is your name?"
Luo Yan clenched his jaw.
"Luo Yan."
Tie Ye murmured, "Luo… Luo Yan…"
Suddenly, Luo Yan erupted.
"You are not my father!"
His roar shattered the stillness of the cell.
"I don't have a father who sacrifices everything for power—who tramples others to get what he wants!"
Tie Ye recoiled as if stabbed, stumbling back.
"No… that's not it. I wasn't after power—"
His voice broke as the truth tore its way out.
"It was him. The former Yao Marquis, Lin Qingyuan. He used his royal status to covet my wife. When I went to war, he burned my home and took her captive. She believed you died in the fire… and could not bear the humiliation. That is why… she chose death!"
"I wanted revenge—not the throne!" Tie Ye shouted, fury and grief bleeding together.
"I orchestrated Lin Qingyuan's 'accident' for her—for our family!"
Luo Yan's teeth sank into his lip. The pendant burned against his chest, melting the walls he had built around his heart.
"She's dead!" he cried.
"You failed to protect her—and you failed to find me! How can you call yourself a husband? A father?"
Tie Ye did not argue.
He slammed his fist into the stone wall.
Blood ran down his knuckles.
"I am a failed husband. An unforgivable father," he said hoarsely.
"I left to defend the borders. I served the royal house—yet look how they treated me!"
Luo Yan's eyes reddened.
"Do you know how I survived? I didn't know who I was or where I came from. If not for Uncle Fu taking me in, teaching me how to cook just to live—do you think I'd be standing here?"
His voice cracked.
"You say you weren't after power, but you killed a Marquis and took his seat. Have you ever thought how the world sees you?"
Tie Ye spoke as though ripping words from his chest.
"I thought revenge would bring peace. It didn't. Standing in his blood, I felt nothing—only emptiness. Junyan was gone. You were gone. And I was already gone."
Luo Yan fell silent.
He wanted to speak—yet the fire in his throat refused to move.
Finally, he whispered, torn and uncertain:
"I… don't know if I can believe you."
Tie Ye did not press him.
He gently placed the longevity lock back against Luo Yan's chest, his fingers lingering on the engraved character.
"This lock was forged by my hands. That 'Luo' is her surname—and the last thing I could leave you."
He stepped back.
"Whether you believe me or not… I never forgot you. Not once."
With heavy footsteps, he turned and left. His black-and-gold robes stretched into the torchlight, his shadow drawn long and thin as it disappeared into the depths of the dungeon.
Silence returned.
Luo Yan leaned against the stone pillar, eyes red, hair falling over his face.
No one could see what burned in his gaze.
Only the longevity lock remained pressed to his chest—
a spark that refused to die, quietly smoldering in the dark.