The air in the alley was thick, smelling of refuse and old rain. The light from distant lanterns barely managed to pierce the darkness, creating long, trembling shadows. Wei Yao walked beside her uncle, the euphoria of the auction beginning to fade, replaced by the cold reality of the night and its dangers.
Wei Feng held the quartz sphere in his hand, observing it with the interest of a child with a new toy. The Decree's internal light pulsed softly, casting a golden glow on his smiling face.
"Did you really have to humiliate that old man like that?" Wei Yao asked, her voice a worried whisper. "Now you have the entire Red Lotus Sect as an enemy. They're known for their cruelty and their grudges."
"The honor of a man who bids on a Decree of Lust isn't honor, it's hypocrisy," he replied without looking away from the sphere. "I simply exposed the truth. Besides," he added, a glint in his eye, "a little excitement makes the wine taste better. Danger is an excellent seasoning."
"You're incorrigible."
"And you're adorable when you worry."
Just as she was about to retort, the world seemed to flicker.
It was a subtle but unmistakable sensation. The colors of the distant lanterns faded to a dull gray. The sounds of the city—the distant murmur from a tavern, the bark of a dog—vanished completely, replaced by an unnatural, oppressive silence. The alley walls seemed to stretch and curve as if they were inside a ceramic bowl.
Wei Yao's heart hammered. With a fluid motion, she unsheathed a hidden dagger from her sleeve, her body tensing for battle.
"What is this?" she hissed. "A spatial sealing formation!"
"No, no," Wei Feng corrected her, his tone so calm it was infuriating. His gaze still hadn't lifted from the quartz sphere. "Much cheaper than that. It's a Silent Mirage Veil. Common among third-rate assassins, bounty hunters, and jealous husbands who don't want witnesses. So unoriginal. And very poor quality, by the way. I can see the cracks in the weave from here."
As if his words were a cue, five figures appeared on the surrounding rooftops, dark silhouettes cut against the grayish moon. Four of them were clearly disciples, dressed in the red robes of the Red Lotus Sect. At the forefront, on the highest roof, stood Elder Fei. His face, illuminated by the glow of his own power, was a mask of livid fury.
He completely ignored Wei Feng. In his eyes, the man was simply a rich, arrogant merchant, a mortal with no cultivation to speak of—the kind of person his sect regularly extorted. His gaze, filled with oppressive power, focused on Wei Yao, the only one whose cultivator's aura was palpable.
"Young lady," Elder Fei began, his voice booming in the artificial silence, "your cultivation is in the Soul Palace Realm. Impressive for your age, I must admit. You are clearly a talent from a major clan." He paused, his tone becoming condescending. "This matter does not concern you. The man you're protecting is an arrogant merchant who has gravely offended my Red Lotus Sect. His crime cannot go unpunished.
"Stand aside," he ordered. "Hand over the Decree he stole from us and the bag of gold he humiliated us with, and we will spare your life. We have no interest in creating a conflict with your clan. Our only target is him."
Wei Yao glanced at her uncle. He was still examining the Decree's sphere as if the most interesting conversation in the world were happening inside the crystal, completely oblivious to the danger. Idiot, she thought, but a wave of protective instinct washed over her. She knew he was strong, much stronger than he let on, but she didn't know his limits. And these were no common thugs; they were powerful cultivators.
Without hesitation, she took a step forward, physically placing herself between Elder Fei and her uncle. The air around her began to swirl, a manifestation of her newfound power.
"The man you insult," she said, her voice as cold as the ice of a tomb, "is my master. And the treasure you claim is his by right." She looked at him directly, her golden eyes shining in the darkness. "If you want to touch him, you'll have to do it over my dead body."
Elder Fei laughed, an ugly, contemptuous sound.
"Master? That wine sack? Girl, your loyalty is admirable, but misplaced. It seems you need a lesson in how the world works!" He turned to his four disciples. "Teach this arrogant girl the power of the Red Lotus! But don't kill her! Her clan might pay a handsome ransom for her."
"Yes, Elder Master!" the four shouted in unison.
The battle began.
Two of the disciples leaped from the rooftops, landing heavily in the alley. The first, a burly man with arms like tree trunks, roared as his fists ignited, turning into molten rock.
"Decree of Magma Fists!" he yelled.
The second, a leaner, faster man, snapped his fingers, and two whips of pure fire erupted from his hands, hissing through the air.
"Taste my Decree of the Fire Whip!"
The two attacked simultaneously. The magma fists slammed into the ground where Wei Yao had been a second before, causing the pavement to crack and melt. The fire whips slashed through the air, leaving searing trails.
But Wei Yao was no longer there.
"Too slow!" a voice mocked from above.
The two disciples looked up, stunned. Wei Yao was in the air, held aloft by an unseen wind, her dark robes billowing around her. She had unleashed the "Storm" aspect of her Decree. A violent whirlwind of icy wind and void blades formed around her, a spinning shield of destructive power.
"Attack together!" shouted the man with the whips.
From the rooftops, the other two disciples sprang into action. One launched a shower of fire daggers, while the other created an earth barrier to try and trap her.
The battle became chaotic. It was Wei Yao against four, and all of them were experienced cultivators. The fire whips clashed against her wind shield, creating explosions of steam. The magma fists struck the ground, trying to destabilize her. The fire daggers were deflected by the void blades.
It was a deadly and exhausting dance. Despite her superior talent, her enemies' coordination was a problem. She dodged a fireball only for a pillar of rock to erupt from the ground at her feet. She leaped back to avoid a whip and felt the heat of a fire dagger graze her arm.
"Agh!" she hissed in pain as a shallow but painful wound opened on her skin. The pain, however, didn't frighten her; it focused her.
The game is over, she thought, her anger finally awakening.
"I've got you!" shouted the man with the magma fists, lunging at her.
"No, I have you," she replied coldly.
She used the storm not just as a defense, but as a weapon. A concentrated blast of wind struck the fire-whip user, sending him crashing into a wall. At the same time, the whirlwind intensified around the magma-fist user, trapping him and lifting him off the ground.
"What is this? I can't move!" he yelled, suspended in mid-air.
Wei Yao extended a hand. A dozen small, razor-sharp void blades materialized and shot toward him. They didn't kill him, but they inflicted hundreds of small, painful cuts all over his body. With a scream, the man fell to the ground, defeated and bleeding.
From the rooftops, the other two disciples stared at her in horror. Before they could react, she was on them, a silent fury of wind and jade. The battle against them was short and brutal; she defeated them with precise blasts of energy that knocked them unconscious.
Four down. Only one remained.
Elder Fei, on the main rooftop, watched her, his face no longer a mask of fury, but of livid disbelief.
"Who... who are you? That Decree... it's not from the lineage of any clan I know."
"I am the student of a master you underestimated," Wei Yao answered, her chest heaving with effort. She was tired, her qi reserves rapidly dwindling.
"Arrogant girl!" the Elder roared, his power finally exploding forth. The air instantly grew hot, becoming suffocating. "Even if you've defeated my disciples, you are still in the Soul Palace Realm! I am at the peak of that realm! I will show you the difference between a stream and an ocean!"
He manifested his Decree. A flower of pure fire, the size of a wagon wheel, appeared above his head, spinning slowly and emanating a devastating force.
"Die! Decree of the Burning Lotus Heart!"
He launched the fiery lotus at her. It wasn't a projectile, but a bomb of pure power. Wei Yao knew she couldn't block it; her storm would be incinerated. She couldn't match his raw strength. She had to be smarter.
Just as the lotus was about to hit her, she did the opposite of what he expected. She didn't retreat. She didn't defend.
She activated the "Eye" of her Decree.
For her, the world slowed to a near standstill. The fire lotus, approaching at an incredible speed, now seemed to be moving through honey. She could see every petal of flame, every spark of energy. And she saw its trajectory.
With a calm she shouldn't have possessed, she dodged the explosion by a margin of inches. The fire lotus flew past her and slammed into the alley below, detonating in a massive fireball that would have vaporized a lesser cultivator. The ground trembled.
Using the explosion's shockwave to propel herself, Wei Yao appeared directly beside Elder Fei while he was still recovering from launching his most powerful attack, his face a mask of shock at seeing her unharmed.
"Impossible..." he stammered.
"Nothing is impossible," she whispered. "Just improbable."
She didn't use an energy attack. Her hand, moving with the speed of a striking snake, shot out and struck a series of pressure points on his chest and neck. The Elder's power vanished like water down a drain. His eyes widened in shock, and he collapsed onto the rooftop, conscious but completely paralyzed, humiliated and defeated.
The Mirage Veil shattered.
Suddenly, the sounds and colors of the city rushed back in an avalanche. The alley was no longer silent. Wei Yao stood on the rooftop, panting heavily, sweat sticking her hair to her forehead and temples. The cut on her arm burned. The battle had been extremely difficult. She had won, but she was almost completely exhausted.
She looked down. She expected to see her uncle looking at her with concern, or perhaps fleeing with the Decree. Instead, she found him exactly where she had left him, leaning against the wall, holding the quartz sphere and looking up at her with an expression she had never seen on him before. It wasn't mockery or laziness. It was genuine, deep admiration.
Slowly, he put the Decree away in his robe and approached the building, leaping onto the rooftop with an ease that belied his apparent lack of cultivation. He stood before her.
"You did it," he said, his voice quiet.
And then, he wrapped her in a firm, protective hug. It was the first time he had held her like this, not as a playful uncle or a distant master, but as... something more. Something that recognized her worth as a warrior, as an equal.
"You fought," he whispered in her ear, his voice a warm vibration against her skin. "You thought. And you won. I'm proud of you, my little lioness."
She relaxed into his embrace, an overwhelming, exhausted happiness flooding her. For a moment, she felt completely safe.
Then, she felt his hand, which had been resting on her back, slide down with deliberate slowness and firmly squeeze one of her buttocks.
His tone of voice changed instantly, becoming low, husky, and lecherous.
"And such a... stimulating victory..." he continued, his breath now hot on her neck, "...shouldn't be wasted by returning to a cold, lonely bed."
She pulled away abruptly, staring at him with a mixture of exhaustion and a shock that left her speechless.
He gave her a roguish grin, his eyes glinting in the dark.
"Did you think we were going back to the palace? No, no, no. The night is young. And you, my dear student, have proven yourself worthy of the next phase of your training." He leaned in, his mouth close to her ear. "This was the practical lesson. Now... it's time for the theoretical study. Let's go to my chambers. It's time to open our new textbook and explore the mysteries of the Twin Soul Fusion... and to try out some of those cultivation positions I promised you."
She just stared at him, blushing, too tired to argue and too intrigued to refuse. She let him lead her away, leaping from the rooftops and disappearing into the night, heading toward a lesson of a completely different kind.