"My mother once said she and Lan Huiwen were close as sisters when they studied at the Celestial Beast Academy. But after marriage, Lan Yunlai caged her from the realms."

Yan Wuhen’s voice came, almost idle, as though he were not standing amidst slaughter.

His blade flashed. A serpent lord’s head split cleanly from its body.

Wuhen drew his sword free in one smooth motion, blood scattering like a brief rain before he turned, already meeting the next attacker.

"It makes one wonder," he continued, as if he was speaking of trivial matters, "whether Lan Meishan and Lan Shiyu were ever truly born of choice."

Steel met flesh again. Another body fell.

Across the hall, Rong Yue stood unmoving, hands clasped behind his back. His tiger ears twitched faintly, tail swaying in a slow arc as his feline blue eyes followed Wuhen’s elegant movements in their brutality.

He did not respond.

Wuhen did not expect him to.

At that moment, from beyond the palace walls, waves of violent pressure crashed against the heavens with two monstrous forces colliding without restraint.

Rong Yue turned his head. A figure emerged at the far end of the corridor.

"Ningyan," he said quietly.

Wuhen turned at once.

Ningyan approached swiftly, his robes disturbed, breath uneven. In his arms lay a woman, frail as a dying flame, her presence thin.

Behind him trailed a young serpent guard, his expression torn between fear and disbelief.

Rong Yue’s eyes flickered over him once. Not a threat.

He stepped forward.

Wuhen followed, wiping the blood from his cheek, only for it to smear again as another dying serpent collapsed at his feet. His lips twitched in faint irritation before he abandoned the effort entirely.

By the time they met, Ningyan’s breathing had grown heavier.

"Wuhen... Rong Yue..." His voice tightened. "Meishan, he must not kill Lan Yunlai."

Rong Yue’s brow lifted. "Must not?"

Wuhen said nothing.

His attention had already settled on the woman in Ningyan’s arms.

Ningyan’s jaw tightened and a faint violet radiance unfurled from his form. It was quiet at first, then rushed outward like a restrained tide. Space itself trembled, folding as a portal tore open beneath their feet.

Without warning, the ground vanished.

They were drawn through.

When they emerged once more, the night roared.

The battlefield stretched before them, torn earth, shattered stone, and the suffocating pressure of two overwhelming forces colliding without restraint.

Lan Meishan and Lan Yunlai.

Both were grievously wounded.

Meishan fared worse. His robes torn, blood trailing from his lips, yet the emerald fury around him only burned brighter.

Opposite him stood Lan Yunlai, his dark presence vast and oppressive.

A short distance away, Jun Haoxuan stood in silence, his attention focused upon the clash.

"Oh... heavens..." The young serpent guard’s voice broke into a trembling whisper before he staggered back and fled without restraint.

Ningyan paid him no mind.

He stepped forward and placed Lan Huiwen carefully into Rong Yue’s arms.

Rong Yue caught her with ease, though his brows knit faintly at her fragile state.

Ningyan did not linger. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

He crossed the distance to Jun Haoxuan, urgency sharpening every step.

Haoxuan turned at once, a flicker of surprise passing through his golden eyes.

"She lives?" he asked.

Ningyan nodded, his breath still uneven. "This is no ordinary conflict. It is a sealing ritual. That personality... it seeks to anchor itself as the dominant will through Lan Yunlai’s death."

His voice lowered. "I do not yet understand the full mechanism but if Meishan strikes the final blow, he will not return. Please hold him as long as you can."

Jun Haoxuan’s expression hardened.

He gave a single, decisive nod and turned but Ningyan caught his hand.

The movement stopped him.

Haoxuan looked back, caught off guard.

For a brief moment, the chaos of the battlefield seemed to fall away.

Ningyan’s lips curved faintly.

"If it were you," he said quietly without hesitation, "I would do the same. Whatever the cost."

Haoxuan’s eyes widened just for a breath.

Then Ningyan released him.

His brilliant white wings burst forth from his back, vast and radiant, their lower feathers gilded in gold, yet threaded through with that ominous violet that coiled like living flames of roaring fire.

With a single beat, he descended.

A violent gust split the battlefield, slamming between Lan Meishan and Lan Yunlai and forcing them apart with overwhelming force.

Before either could recover, lightning answered.

Jun Haoxuan’s form dissolved into a blazing azure storm, thunder tearing through the heavens as his true form emerged.

The dragon descended.

Lan Meishan’s eyes sharpened in rage.

He understood that they meant to stop him.

With a hiss that tore through the air, his body twisted and expanded, shifting once more into his colossal, wrathful serpent form and he moved forward to meet the dragon head-on.

Ningyan’s eyes narrowed as it fell upon Lan Yunlai.

The beast king stood half-wounded, yet the black-red miasma coiling around his body flared, knitting flesh and bone with unnatural speed.

His serpent eyes darkened and turned.

A grotesque, blood-deep crimson bled into the faint emerald, and in the next breath, his form twisted, expanding, scales splitting through skin as he shifted into his true serpent form.

Dark scales rippled across his length, streaked with pulsating veins of blackened red, as though corruption itself had taken root within his flesh.

Without hesitation, he lunged straight for Ningyan.

Ningyan did not retreat.

A violent blast of violet qi erupted from his body, crashing forward like a tidal force. It struck Lan Yunlai head-on, halting his advance, if only for a fleeting moment.

But not enough.

A deafening hiss tore through the battlefield.

From Lan Yunlai’s body, a colossal phantom serpent burst forth, translucent, yet dense with demonic aura.

It mirrored his true form, yet far more grotesque, its presence suffocating as it lashed forward and drove straight into Ningyan’s chest.

The impact was terrifying.

Ningyan exhaled sharply, his expression tightening.

His qi ignited.

The violet glow deepened, condensing around the invading force as it began to unravel it from within and rushed out to Lan Yunlai.

The serpent shrieked, a high, tearing sound, its form distorting, breaking apart strand by strand until it disintegrated completely, dissolving into nothing but lingering demonic residue.

Ningyan staggered, his wings dissolving back into his body in flickers of fading light. His breathing grew shaky but his gaze remained steady as he turned toward Lan Meishan.

The clash between dragon and serpent had ceased.

Lan Meishan stood there right in front of him, having shifted back into his humanoid form, his robes torn, his body marked by battle but it was his expression that stopped everything.

Fury. Raw, unfiltered fury as he stepped closer and raised his hand. "How dare you?! He was mine to slaughter!"

Ningyan’s heart lurched.

He did not move. He could not.

Not against him....

The raised hand suddenly trembled and stopped.

Lan Meishan’s expression broke as though something was wrenching control away, his brows drew tight, his lips parted, and without warning, tears spilled down his face.

Ningyan’s breath caught. "...Meishan?"

Slowly, carefully, he lifted his hand... reaching for him. But before his fingers could touch, Yan Wuhen appeared behind Ningyan in a blur of red-gold light, his nine tails unfurling like flames, his fox eyes sharp and unwavering.

With a flick of his finger, a condensed spark of spiritual light shot forward, striking Lan Meishan between the brows.

The effect was immediate.

Lan Meishan’s body froze. His eyes fluttered shut. And then, he collapsed forward.

Ningyan caught him instinctively, arms tightening around him as his weight fell fully against his chest.

For a moment, he simply held him there, breathing and shaking.

Behind him, Wuhen exhaled softly, the tension leaving his shoulders as he reached out, his hand coming to rest against Ningyan’s head, his fingers threading gently through his hair.