Legacy of Blood: Reclaiming the Lost Throne

Chapter Six: I will end you no matter what

Kaien sat cross-legged outside his room, slowly adjusting the qi circulation in his damaged meridians. Each breath was a quiet war, his inner flow still fractured.

Still, he was healing. Slowly. He had recovered just a tiny piece of his cultivation, so he could defend himself now.

And he had to. In that place, weakness was an invitation.

Just before the sun dipped behind the eastern ridge, he heard soft footsteps approaching his quarters. Then he saw her.

Liwei.

What was she doing there?

She stopped a few steps from him, clutching a small lacquered tray wrapped in cloth.

“You’re up early,” she said.

“Yeah, do you need something?”

She hesitated. Then sat beside him on the stone, tucking her legs beneath her neatly.

“I brought food,” she added, placing the tray down. “I figured… outer disciples don’t exactly get treated well.”

Kaien glanced at the tray. It was simple—steamed buns, pickled r****h, and a small ginseng broth. Far better than the dry rice and stale tea the others were given.

“You didn’t have to.”

“I know.”

She looked up at him, eyes soft and earnest. “But I wanted to.”

There was awkward silence stretched between them, gentle and unspoken.

Kaien could feel eyes watching from beyond the wall.

Across the courtyard, near the gathering grounds, a group of outer disciples stood half-hidden behind a railing pretending to spar, but clearly watching them.

Among them was Zhou Shan.

His expression was… peculiar. At first glance, he was smiling faintly. But his hands were clenched. His shoulders were quite rigid.

He didn’t look away.

His gaze was fixed on her.

Kaien turned back to Liwei. And he immediately understood what was going on.

She poured the broth into a small wooden cup and held it out to him. “How are you feeling now?”

“Better,” Kaien said, accepting it. “You shouldn’t be here.”

She blinked. “Why?”

“Because you’re an inner disciple and I’m an outer disciple. We’re not supposed to mix, besides it might cause,” he nodded toward the courtyard, “unnecessary attention.”

Liwei followed his gaze. Her brows furrowed briefly.

She looked back at him, her voice softer. “It doesn’t matter.”

Kaien held her gaze for a long moment.

Then nodded once. “I know but I’d like to avoid as much attention as possible right now.”

Liwei stood after a moment, brushing her hands on her robe.

“You’ll be joining the spirit beast hunt?” she asked.

“If I want to remain in this sect,” Kaien said, “I don’t have a choice.”

She hesitated. “Be careful in the ravine. The beasts there aren’t ordinary.”

Kaien simply nodded again.

Liwei lingered a moment longer before she left.“

She handed him a talisman—faintly glowing with pale green runes. “It won’t do much, but… it might buy you time just in case.”

Then she bowed slightly and turned to leave, vanishing into the morning mist the way light fades behind clouds.

The courtyard fell quiet again.

Until Zhou Shan stepped inside, arms crossed, smiling thin and venomous.

“Don’t you dare step on my bottom line, new boy,” he said.

Kaien looked up lazily. “You’ll have to be more specific on what the bottom line is?”

His gaze darkened. “Stay away from her.”

Kaien raised a brow. “Liwei?”

“She’s not someone you can associate with.”

He stepped closer, voice low with bitterness. “She’s like a goddess in this place. She’s pure like white lilies and extremely talented too. And you—”

He sneered, eyes scanning Kaien’s ragged robe, his plain quarters.

“You’re just filth dragged in from the mountains. You’re not even worthy to breathe the same air as her.”

Kaien scoffed lightly and met his eyes. “And you think you’re worthy?”

His jaw tightened. For a moment, he didn’t speak. His fists curled at his sides.

“Watch your back carefully,” he growled. “On the day of the hunt.”

“The sect forbids fighting between disciples… but no one can guarantee what might happen during a spirit beast hunt.”

He leaned in, voice dropping to a cold whisper.

“Out there, accidents happen.”

Then he turned, robe swaying behind him, and left the room without another word.

Let him come. Kaien checked his qi level and the tiny fraction he had healed himself would be more than enough to give him a light…. beating.

In the wild, only one law holds weight.

Hunt, or be hunted.

The room was quiet again. Finally some peace.

Zhou Shan’s threat still lingered in the air like spoiled incense, but Kaien ignored it. His jealousy was predictable. His words meant nothing. He had no interest in those things.

It was what he couldn’t feel that unsettled him.

Kaien sat cross-legged once more, shutting his eyes. Drawing in slow, deep breaths. He was trying to go back into the void. But nothing happened. He hadn’t been able to contact him since he saved him with the lunar shield.

He steadied his breathing and tried again. There was still nothing.

He pressed two fingers against the shattered qi lines over his heart and reached inward.

Nothing.

No response. No pull. No whisper of the wolf.

Kaien frowned, sweat forming at his brow. He tried again, this time with everything he had. He ended up coughing out blood due to the exhaustion.

But there was still total silence.

“What’s happening…?” he whispered.

Confusion was filling in his gut.

Had he grown too weak again?

Or worse… had the fragment moved?

Kaien gritted his teeth and forced himself to remain calm.

He couldn’t panic. Not now.

Still, his thoughts drifted back to his home.

To the burning palace.

To the last screams he had heard before he blacked out.

His mother. His father.

Were they alive? Or dead?

Kaien clenched his fists.

He couldn’t ask for any information there.. It was too dangerous. One wrong word, one accidental recognition, and the truth would surface like blood in clear water.

So he buried the questions.

For now.

But the fury… he could not bury that.

And he said the name through gritted teeth.

“Rong Zhen.”

The name left his lips like poison, searing his throat on the way out. His chest tightened with every syllable, rage clawing against the walls of his ribs. His hands trembled.

“I will end you,” he whispered, voice raw. “Even if it takes the remaining of my life force.”