The sky beyond the gate was pale and washed with drifting mists, neither dawn nor dusk. Li Wei erged into the mortal realm once more, the air cold on his cheeks, the scent of pine and charred earth mingling in the wind.
For a long mont he stood still, allowing the world to settle around him. Behind him, the faint shimr of the gate flickered like a second heartbeat before dissolving into the air.
The mountain was silent. Not in parity, but in expectation.
Li Wei looked down the winding path beneath his feet. He had departed one world only to return to another already choking on turmoil. The horizon bore scars of smoke. Faint red glows pulsed irregularly, the all-too-familiar stain left behind by Blood Lotus marauders.
The young master exhaled slowly. "When a storm refuses to wait for you to prepare, you learn to sail in chaos."
He tightened his grip around the Heart Stone inside his sleeve. Though dimd from the gate’s creation, its warmth throbbed gently, as if responding to his resolve.
Li Wei knew war was coming. This would not simply be a series of skirmishes, but a tide that would sweep across mountain and valley alike. Crescent Moon City was tearing itself apart between imperial ambition, rchant tyranny, and Blood Lotus interference.
Although the Liu clan had found sanctuary in the subspace, sanctuary did not equate to survival. If he did nothing, the waves crashing outside would soon flood even hidden shores.
Thus, he sought forces that could be voices, arms, and hearts not yet claid by the empire or the cults. Small settlents were scattered across the Qianlong frontier such as the lonely hamlets, woodcutters’ villages, mining posts with barely a handful of defenders.
These had been abandoned by the imperial garrisons, their pleas for aid drowned beneath the larger cities’ cries.
Such settlents were ripe for despair, despair was a fertile ground for tyranny. But it could also be the foundation for solidarity.
Li Wei intended to sow the latter.
He had summoned his disciples and appointed Leng Yue as acting leader precisely because this task could not be shared.
Jia Lin lacked subtlety. While i Yu had the mind for coordination but not the empathy for fragile spirits. Ning Xue possessed a serene presence, but her devotion to the Liu clan ant she would struggle to negotiate without bias.
Only Li Wei carried the right balance of firmness and grace. "n follow strength," he murmured as he unfurled the worn rug gifted to Pei Wong long ago, "but they stay for hope."
The magic carpet expanded with a whisper, its threads glowing faintly in the cool air. He stepped upon it, and it lifted without hesitation, carrying him above the treetops and into the open sky.
The wind whistled around him. From high above, he saw the truth laid bare.
Villages reduced to embers. Fields left untended, overrun by weeds and hoofprints.
Trails of bodies mostly peasants, hunters, rchants. That were currently being picked clean by wolves.
His jaw tightened. ’That I co now and not earlier...’ He paused, bitterness caught in his throat. ’A man does not lant what he failed to foresee, only what he failed to prevent.’
The carpet tilted downward, guided by his will.
Smoke rose from a cluster of burned huts to the east. No survivors. Across a ridge, an irrigation canal had been clogged with corpses. Farther on, a watchtower had collapsed inward, its guards hung from its beams.
With every sight, Li Wei’s fury sharpened faintly not blinded by his resentnt. It was cold, controlled, honed like the tip of a needle.
The Blood Lotus cultists were no longer scattered remnants. They had ford marching lines, so had left their vile banners behind. There was no doubt that they had pillaged with one purpose in mind, to act as a unified fist of malice that could overthrow the empire.
If left unchecked, they would swallow the outlands and march toward every city that dared oppose them.
Li Wei descended toward a patch of farmland where the tilled earth had barely cooled from fire. Scattered tools lay abandoned, and shallow pits indicated hurried graves.
He knelt, touching one mound gently. The soil was still warm. "It is only a day old," he murmured.
A faint rustle broke the silence.
A child’s head poked from beneath a broken cart, eyes wide with terror. Behind him, two won and an elderly man huddled under the boards.
Li Wei lowered his voice. "Co out. I’m not one of them."
But his robes, his bearing was too clean, too eloquent. Many of them feared he was, perhaps a royal adjudicator here to wipe them out.
The boy trembled violently. "You... you have red on your hands..."
Li Wei glanced down. A sar of dried blood clung to his wrist, leftover from a skirmish during his descent.
He wiped it clean on the grass. "Not mine," he said softly. "I am Li Wei a benefactor of the Liu clan. I’ve co to stop the ones who did this."
The elder crawled forth, his eyes sunken and weary. "Young master... why would soone like you wander into our graves? The empire turned its back on us. You’ll do the sa once the wind shifts."
Li Wei stood. His voice carried no arrogance, only quiet certainty. "The empire has forgotten you. But I have not." He gestured to the ruins around them. "Your dead deserve more than to be footnotes of tyranny. Gather what remains of your village. When night falls, follow the smoke trails west. There is a grove untouched by the cultists, I will personally ensure your passage is safe."
The elder stared at him for a long mont, then bowed his head. "If your words hold truth... then may the heavens grant you a longer life than ours."
Li Wei inclined his head but did not smile. Words mattered little when the road ahead demanded an iron will.
The Qianlong province stretches were treacherous even without enemies. Ravines cut
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