When Xiao Yan exited the hidden chamber, the vast hall was completely deserted, not a single soul in sight. He was mildly taken aback before shaking his head with a wry smile. He chose a seat by himself and shrunk into the soft, plush armchair, letting out a relaxed sigh. These past days of travel had truly exhausted him.
“Creak…”
As Xiao Yan rested his eyes, the hall’s large door was suddenly, softly pushed open. A tall, graceful figure stepped inside from the sunshine, her silhouette stretching long as it landed on the ground beneath her feet.
As she pushed the door, this mysterious beauty had not initially seen Xiao Yan resting in a nearby chair with his eyes shut. Her beautiful eyes glittered with sudden delight as soon as she saw him. It was but a flicker—as if fearful of breaking his peace, she soon hesitated, then moved as though to quietly retreat out once again from fear of disturbing his rest.
“Heh… why leave again once you’ve already come in?” A soft voice rang suddenly, startling her with unexpected warmth. Her backward step stopped at once, and her beautiful eyes now turned to Xiao Yan in the chair. Somehow, during that moment of distraction, Xiao Yan had opened his eyes again and was gazing at her with an easy smile on his lips.
“Is that scar all healed on you?” Standing still by the threshold, Xiao Yu averted her gaze slightly while asking softly.
Xiao Yan lifted his eyes toward Xiao Yu sharply and exclaimed with a surprised smirk: “When did *you* ever speak so gently of voice?”
The girl, who used to scold him unkindly in earlier years, had now displayed such rare tenderness of tone. It bewildered him more than touched him.
Hearing his surprise-filled words, Xiao Yu was somewhat incensed, but his teasing banter felt achingly familiar after these two lonely years apart. Because of this, the distance quietly thawed, and warmth returned between the pair as naturally as a summer breeze after years apart.
Breaking the tension, she stopped hesitating and took her steps forward onto the grand hall. Each movement was mesmerizing as those legs so long and beautiful had haunted young Xiao Yan in times long gone.
She finally settled down and sat beside him. With another gaze toward his smile-furled face she asked softly: “Have you both kept yourselves safe and well throughout?”
“It’s been two years since we truly sat and chatted alone…,” she whispered to herself, gazing in slight longing before speaking louder while casting her emerald-glazed gaze sideways, her tone shifting with slight accusation and care woven all in one.
“The little ones like Xiao Ning and Xiao Mei already made the inner academy—thankfully kept safe under the ‘Band of Peng’s refuge. They live well enough…” She let out a soft sigh after that note, her pretty lips curved downward in mild disapproval for him.
“And you—you better take care this next time too. Know how broken many of our hearts were when we heard about the demonic flames nearly claiming you! The only hope left for Xiao family is now yours—their burdens are not only for revenge—there still remains many of your own yet. But if something ever happened—if fate was cruel again—we wouldn’t even have anyone left for them left at all.”
Seeing her delicate brows slightly knitted, a hint of concern still in her frown for him, Xiao Yan exhaled softly with a helpless look.
Once she allowed her last words to hang still, he replied with a reflective voice full of regret:
“One can’t seek revenge without strength; without it, where would our strength lie? But seeking this strength—it never lacks danger.”
Inwardly, he always blamed himself. Perhaps their misfortune was tied somehow to him after all—his escape, the families that paid the price in loss… None of which laid truly on his hands. Yet… the pain remained.
For quite a moment, Xiao Yu was struck speechless. She kept gazing quietly into weary lines forming subtly around weary black eyes that held his burdens well-hidden but felt. And yet—it lingered in her heart. She understood… what a burden he carried—the burden of a name.
A weight that never truly faded even if he never shared it.
“H-heh. Never mind that, right?” His smile shifted once more into something lighter, shaking off the heavier air between. “Two full years—none of you caught just yet?”
A tiny, rare grin crept to Xiao Yu’s lips briefly. But only briefly. Instead she shook her head dismissively:
“Trying to catch *me*? Please, it’s going to take much more skill than that!”
With a gentle flick of motion, the young girl unrolled from a hidden compartment of her necklace a series of cards. She extended one forth solemn.
“This… is the ‘Flame Point Cards’ for the Band of Peng. Brothers Wuhao and Hujia insisted you’d need this once recovery was whole, no matter how briefly.” One last look. “After all… this was your work—only fair that it goes back into the right hands for what is coming.”
The fire-tinged energy glinted with potential. She waited patiently to pass along such weighty power… waiting as he refused it with only the gentle tilt of head and warm whisper in reply:
“Peng Band has grown into what it is only with all of your bloodshed and effort. It isn’t something I built alone. I may not even stay long within the halls of the Ga’Nan College… so such burdens will lie heavier in you capable hands instead.”
“You… *leave* then?” Xiao Yu lifted brows, startled with concern. “Where to?”
“Where I first stepped into flames.” His lips curved faintly—eyes dark now glinted faintly. “Some debt must yet be settled…”
“You mean Yun Yan? Then I go as well—I’ll be back to see what remained of *ours* alive as well.”
The smile lingered in quiet amusement. He lifted his fingers to halt her.
“Patience, Xiao Yu,” He replied coolly.
“This path… is longer even than you realize. I won’t enter their gates so easily. Not when it can lead all too well to another escape from that Empire…”
The boy had once fled from them… chased into dust.
Today—he walked with the fire itself trailing *behind* him.
She needed stay… where safety reigned.
“But—understand,” His voice remained firm. “This is no family call. It may be death before victory finds even a place—something the others cannot withstand yet…”
Watching the fire in Xiao Yan as it hardened in silent, unshakable determination—he was no boy playing by ideals and hope…
No… today he bore the burden himself alone with shoulders steeled.
In the presence of this man… all that was left behind was her acceptance whispered with finality into the hush.
As he smiled wider at seeing her understanding at last—light hand pat to those slim but strong shoulders:
“I promise when all’s done… those doors can open home.”
He rose slowly with soft farewell. Moments later, Xiao Yu’s voice called as memory suddenly struck:
“Oh! Brother Xiao Li—He’s been looking for you. Maybe go meet him before you go elsewhere.”
That brought an eyebrow arch, but only for a heartbeat.
“Hmm?”
Yet, moments later, as expected: Xiao Yan found Xiao Li inside. Seemly expecting him, his elder warmly beckened him into private chamber with care etached in simple tones:
“Your wounds healed?”
Xiao Yan merely smiled, nodding once but keeping quiet to hear what he had to say. His older brother hesitated, but only briefly.
“This… moment of chaos within the ‘Black Horn Region’ since the Black Union dissolved—it could not happen at a better time for us.”
“Though chaotic by nature—we can mold it into strength that we lacked for the years past. There lies a sea, filled with blood-soaked men who survive only through power. Should we manage the conquest—they become the fire in shadows waiting to consume the clouds at their peak.”
“The ‘Horn Region’? Extend power?” Xiao Yan lifted a brow skeptically: “There—only warriors willing to die serve… and they do as they wish for no laws bind anymore.”
With confidence however, Xiao Li shrugged in amusement instead at his worry.
“That they are rough I agree—but I’ve handled fiercer once. They too thought dominance *they* held unchallenged. They too thought they were the ones giving order…” He laughed softly as if reliving old memories.
“All you need is something fiercer than they. I have men loyal to me… even when they walked taller than mountain peaks once before in pride.”
With an approving glance, he leaned closer.
“This may not even strain our hands overmuch *if* you assist.”
“Think again. My boys within Peng Band still carry heart of dream. Their blood hasn’t been soaked by war and pain that the horn holds for its den. No… the Band follows with loyalty not born from blades’ fear. It is different.”
His fingers curled with decision then—his younger brother’s smile mirroring that same fierce look:
“But Black Horn? They will fear the blade before obeying it.”
Silence lingered only until that final whisper passed between them:
“Do we understand one another?”
After a pause—a small nod.
“Black horn fighters, yes—fierce beyond most,” Xiao Yan admitted slowly, mind weighing.
“If we could *break* them to obedience… if their might served our justice… yes—it will change all when facing Yun Lin Sect again.”
“So you have no… *objections* then?” Xiao Lie was suddenly lit brighter once, grinning now.
“Carve the path then.” Xiao Yen nodded, leaning in. “I will always be behind you both. Wherever resistance still thrives—if it bleeds… end it.”
A fierce grin widened upon Xiao Li’s face, proud of the resolve.
“KILL?”
“Only when needed,” the answer was calm, yet unshaking, like mountain meeting storm.
The two nodded then—a shared understanding born of loss, of vengeance unfulfilled.
“But that brings yet a final problem,” Xiao Li reminded after the brief triumph of blood-laced dreams.
Xiao Yan blinked curiously.
“What problem now? Speak!”
With a more measured voice, came the weight of his brother as he spoke:
“The INNER ACADEMY.”
Xiao Yan now tilted his brows sharply.
“The Inner…”
“The ‘Black Horn,’” Xiao Li gestured toward imagined halls beyond, “has been watched by them with deep suspicion. The Union that vanished is not gone from their records… merely another chapter on watchlists. Any rise of new forces… might again attract their gaze… if the Academy believes your new strength a threat—they will move before even understanding us… blades might fly *before words are spoken*.
So,” he warned gravely, “we can’t ignore them until we speak of our purpose. Only with permission or understanding will this be peaceful. Or so… we hope.”
Xiao Yan listened silently, eyes flickering with careful calculation in their shadowed corners before his own expression slowly formed.
Yet even so—he grinned faintly:
“Let them watch,” He breathed, calm and assured. “The reason they keep their watch… isn’t for power… only when power threatens *them*. That’s all that is.”
“They will see: what I build has no interest in tearing their world apart…”
His eyes gleamed.
“What I seek… it is not *the college*. It is far beyond its gate.”
The halls will know: I have come… not for conquest within, but *a flame forged in retribution.*
But Xiao Li—suspicion laced every glance outward to anything outside even as he trusted only family closest held.
“So… you’ll speak to Elder Suchan first?”
A nod—finalized in certainty.
Xiao Yan rose.
“I shall.”
A step taken, followed by the quiet but unwavering certainty woven through every movement as if he already saw his fire reaching to scorch heavens above:
“And once I win the Elder’s nod? That is when this war begins…” He paused only to glance briefly toward the door beyond.
“The time may come soon… the time… when even clouds shall know this fire.”
The words carried a promise. No longer was it vengeance whispered in solitude—it had now been made oath. Not for revenge in blood, but for justice. Restoring honor, restoring hope.
A single path forward… paved in embers and the roar of phoenix reborn.
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