The rhythmic pounding of hooves against packed dirt filled the air as two figures rode in silence beh the waning light of dusk. The wind carried the st of pine and distant smoke, whispering through the tall grass that stretched endlessly across the horizon.

  Mei Liao barely noticed.

  Her grip on the reins was too tight, her knuckles pale. The rhythmic motion of the horse beh her did little to soothe the sting inside her chest.

  It had been weeks since Feiyin was taken.

  Weeks of restless nights.

  Weeks of suppressing the gnawing terror g at her insides.

  Weeks of searg for answers, only to be met with silence.

  And now, after exhausting every resource avaible in Pine Vilge, she and Cai Feng had left.

  Left the home they had built.

  Left the people they had sworn to protect.

  Left behind the st pce Feiyin had been before he was stolen from them.

  Her heart ched painfully.

  "Where are you, my son?"

  A flicker of movement caught her attention, and she go her left.

  Cai Feng rode beside her, his expression unreadable. But she knew.

  She khe grief he carried. The silent rage buried beh his ever-stoic mask.

  She had seen the way he ched his fists when no one was looking, the way his eyes had darkened in a way she hadn’t seen sihey first met.

  Cai Feng had always been a man of discipline, of restraint.

  But this…

  This had broken something inside him.

  The Saint Spirit Sect.

  That wretched name.

  It had appeared out of nowhere, sweeping across the kingdom like a shadow, leaving only devastation in its wake.

  Entire vilges, erased.

  Merts, vanished along trade routes.

  Sect disciples, sughtered before they could eve.

  And the most horrifying part?

  There was no pattern. No trao clear purpose—except destru.

  And Feiyin…

  Her son…

  Had been taken right in the midst of it.

  A deep breath.

  She could not lose herself to fear. Not yet.

  Not until she found him.

  Not until she held him again.

  The t walls of Hei Province’s capital city finally came into view, breaking through the rolling pins like a slumbering titan.

  Massive, ebony stone fortifications surrouhe city, their sheer size a testament to the wealth and power trated within.

  Even from a distance, Mei Liao could see the u.

  Soldiers and cultivators crowded the entraheir expressions grim, their armor battered.

  The st of blood and sweat lingered in the air.

  This was a city preparing for war.

  She exged a gh Cai Feng.

  No words were needed.

  The Saint Spirit Sect was not just a problem for them.

  It roblem for everyone.

  They reached the city gates just as the sun dipped below the horizon.

  A long line of travelers, merts, and warriors stood before them, waiting to be processed.

  Tension hung thi the air. versations were hushed. Every face bore the weight of fear, loss, or determination.

  A captain of the city guard stood at the entrance, his sharp eyes sing eadividual that passed.

  Mei Liao and Cai Feng dismounted, leading their horses forward.

  The captain’s gaze nded oaking in their weathered travel clothes and well-maintained ons.

  "State your business."

  Cai Feng took a step forward.

  "We seek entry to the Spirit Sying Alliance." His voice was firm, steady. "We have informatiarding the Saint Spirit Sed wish to join the effainst them."

  The captain’s expression didn’t ge. "You and everyone else in this damn kingdom." He eyed them both, his gaze lingering on the way Cai Feng carried himself—the quiet strength, the disciplihe military precision.

  "Are you affiliated with a?" the captain asked.

  "No," Mei Liao answered.

  "Do you hold any titles within the kingdom's forces?"

  Cai Feng exhaled sharply. "Not this kingdom."

  The captain’s eyes narrowed slightly.

  "Then where?"

  Cai Feng's jaw tensed. "I was once a General of the Falling Sun Army."

  A ripple nition passed through the surrounding soldiers. Some looked startled. Others… wary.

  Mei Liao ched her jaw.

  Even here, his past followed him.

  The Falling Sun Army—a once-feared military force from a neighb kingdom. A force that no longer existed due to internal corruption arayal.

  And Cai Feng, its greatest ander, had vanished into obscurity.

  The captain studied him for a long moment before nodding. "Wait here."

  He turned and disappeared behind the gate.

  Mei Liao’s fingers curled into her sleeves.

  More waiting.

  More wasted time.

  More distaween her and Feiyin.

  Her breath came faster, her chest tightening—

  A hand on her wrist.

  She turned, startled.

  Cai Feng’s grip was firm, grounding. His eyes met hers—steady, unwavering.

  "Breathe."

  She did.

  Slowly.

  Deeply.

  "He’s alive," Cai Feng murmured. "And we will find him."

  Mei Liao swallowed hard.

  She wao believe him.

  But with every passing day, every rumor of anhtered vilge, every whispered tale of children disappearing without a trace…

  That belief was fraying.

  The city gates finally opened.

  The captaiurned, apanied by two figures in long robes—cultivators.

  "The Alliance will see you," the captain said. "Don’t waste their time."

  The Spirit Sying Alliance was headquartered in a massive stone fortress at the heart of the city.

  Uhe gra halls Mei Liao had seen before, this pce had no orion, no frivolous dispys of wealth or prestige.

  It was built for war.

  The moment they stepped ihey could feel it.

  Cultivators, warriors, and strategists moved with purpose, their voices low but urgent. Maps lihe walls, covered in red markings—indications of attacks, disappearances, possible enemy locations.

  A man stood at the ter of it all.

  A sect elder—an older man with streaks of gray in his hair, his robes bearing the insignia of the Emerald wood Pavilion.

  Mei Liao and Cai Feng approached, stopping a few paces away.

  The elder turned, his pierg gaze sweeping over them.

  "You are the feneral Cai Feng," he stated rather than asked.

  Cai Feng nodded.

  The man’s gaze flickered to Mei Liao. "And you?"

  "Mei Liao," she said. "Formerly of the Mei ."

  A brief pause.

  Then—reition fshed in the elder’s eyes.

  "The fallen branch."

  Mei Liao’s jaw tightened, but she did not react.

  She had abahat name long ago.

  The elder studied them both for a long moment before speaking.

  "The Alliance does not turn away skilled warriors," he said. "But this battle will be long and without mercy. If you wish to fight, you must be prepared for what it entails."

  Cai Feng’s expression didn’t ge. "We are."

  Mei Liao stepped forward.

  "We are not here just to fight," she said, voice steady, eyes bzing.

  "We are here to find our son."

  Silence fell between them.

  The elder nodded slowly.

  "The’s begin."