He had assassinated rival nobles and slaughtered demonic beasts.

But looking into the dark, blazing, unyielding eyes of a sixteen-year-old chef who had just blown a carriage apart with a single kick, the Commander felt a very real, very profound sense of mortal dread.

"Martial Uncle Lin," Mo stammered, his eyes darting nervously toward Yichen, who simply smiled and offered a lazy wave of his fan, giving the Commander silent permission to spill the sect’s darkest secrets.

***

"The Blood-Iron Syndicate," Commander Mo began, his voice tight, "is not a standard bandit troupe. They are a conglomerate of rogue cultivators, deserters from orthodox sects, and demonic practitioners. Their leader is a man known as Blood-Hand Tu. He is a peak Golden Core expert, bordering on the Nascent Soul realm."

Ji’an’s jaw tightened. "A Golden Core expert is hiding in a muddy ravine, stealing supply carts? Why?"

"He isn’t stealing supplies. He is stealing... people," Mo corrected, a grim, disgusted shadow falling over his scarred face. "Blood-Hand Tu practices a highly forbidden, extremely aggressive branch of demonic Yin-Yang Harvesting method to cultivate."

Ji’an’s blood turned to absolute ice.

She was an avid web novel reader in her last life. She knew exactly what "Yin-Yang Harvesting" translated to in the Xianxia genre.

"Dual cultivation," Ji’an whispered, a wave of profound nausea washing over her.

"The most parasitical form of it," Commander Mo nodded grimly. "He doesn’t just share energy; he violently drains the spiritual essence, vitality, and life-force of his victims to forcefully accelerate his own cultivation. He prefers mortals or low-level cultivators with unique physical constitutions. They are... batteries to him. Once he exhausts their essence, they are discarded into the mass graves beneath his fortress."

Ji’an felt her stomach physically drop.

The mental image of Lin Xuan, her naive, stubborn, sheltered little brother, locked in a cage with a demonic predator, made her vision blur with red, unadulterated rage.

"There’s more," Mo added, his voice dropping into a hesitant, deeply uncomfortable whisper. "Blood-Hand Tu... his cultivation method requires a chaotic balance. He does not discriminate based on the Yin or Yang alignment of his victims. He takes young girls to harvest their Yin, and he takes young boys to harvest their Yang. He has an... equal appetite for beauty, regardless of gender."

The silence in the muddy forest was deafening.

Ji’an let go of Commander Mo’s armor. She took a slow step backward, her hand rising to cover her mouth.

’Boys and girls,’ Ji’an’s mind spiraled, sheer panic finally breaking through her anger. ’He likes beautiful boys and girls.’

And when it came to genetic lotteries, the Lin General’s Estate was offensively, dangerously blessed.

General Lin himself was renowned as the most terrifyingly handsome warlord in the Azure Empire.

His children had inherited every single ounce of that devastating charm.

The original host of Ji’an’s body possessed a face so androgynously, flawlessly striking that she could pass as a peerless immortal maiden or a tragically beautiful young master with merely a change of clothes.

And Lin Xuan? Xuan was only thirteen years old, still a boy who hadn’t hit puberty.

He hadn’t hit his awkward growth spurt yet.

With his pale skin, his aristocratic features, and those mesmerizing, silver-flecked eyes, the kid was a walking, talking bishounen heartthrob in training.

He wasn’t just a battery with an Iron-Marrow Physique.

To a bisexual, demonic dual-cultivator, Xuan was a premium, top-tier, five-star delicacy.

"He is going to be molested," Ji’an breathed, her voice trembling with a terrifying, hollow realization. "My little brother is going to be thrown onto a bed... by a Golden Core stage pervert?"

Ji’an didn’t pause to process the trauma.

She whirled around, her Black Iron Spatula raised, pointing the heavy cast-iron weapon directly at the smiling face of Xiao Yichen.

"I am going to strangle you," Ji’an hissed, taking a purposeful, murderous step toward the Prince. "I am going to rip out your vocal cords and use them to tie my apron! I am going to feed your liver to a wild dog, you pathetic bastard! In terms of seniority, even if Xuan’er is still young, he is your Little Royal Uncle! How could you do this, you royal son of a bitch?!"

"Martial Uncle, please!" Commander Mo shouted, instantly throwing himself between Ji’an and the Prince, his arms raised in a desperate, placating gesture. "Killing His Highness will not breach the fortress! The Syndicate’s base is located at the bottom of a labyrinthine ravine, protected by an ancient Nine-Palace Illusion Array! Even if we slaughter every sentry, the moment we trigger the array, Blood-Hand Tu will execute the hostages and collapse the tunnels!"

"Then how were you planning on getting inside, you incompetent fools?!" Ji’an roared, shoving Mo backward, though she refrained from breaking his collarbone. "You used my brother as bait! You must have had a tactical entry plan!"

Commander Mo wiped a bead of sweat from his scarred forehead.

He glanced back at Yichen, who was watching Ji’an’s violent protective instincts with that same, dark, suffocating fascination.

"We... we did have a plan," Mo admitted, his voice tight with professional embarrassment. "The original strategy, before His Highness altered the variables to utilize your brother, was a classic Trojan Horse infiltration."

Ji’an crossed her arms. "Explain. Quickly. Before I tenderize someone."

"Blood-Hand Tu is paranoid, but he is ruled by his vices," Mo explained rapidly. "He rarely leaves the inner sanctum of his subterranean fortress. The only things permitted past the final layer of the Nine-Palace Illusion Array without undergoing a rigorous, invasive spiritual scan are his ’tributes.’ The captives deemed beautiful enough for his personal chambers."

Guard Mo pointed to a heavy canvas bag slung over the shoulder of one of his shadow guards.

"We brought a set of binding cuffs forged from Null-Stone. They suppress a cultivator’s Qi entirely, making them appear as a helpless mortal," Mo said. "The plan was to have one of our operatives pose as a captured tribute. They would be led directly through the arrays, bypassing the defenses, straight into Tu’s bedchamber."