The half-collapsed storehouse stank of old grain and mold, but the ten figures inside treated it as if it were a war hall. Knees dug into dirt. Heads bowed. They barely dared breathe. The small fla in the corner flickered weakly, painting their faces in jagged light.
Zheng Huang stepped into the threshold.
The mont his boots scraped the ground, the murmurs died.
Not because of loyalt,rather the n gathered here were frightened creatures searching for the first shadow that looked strong enough to follow.
Zheng pulled down his hood, revealing a face still marked with dust and dried blood from the earlier clash.
"Straighten your backs," he said. "You kneel as though awaiting a funeral."
One of the older fighters, a scarred man nad Ge Shan began slowly lifted his head. "Lieutenant… you summoned us with urgency."
"I did." Zheng strode past him, kicking aside a splintered crate. "You ten were present in Ku Pao Valley. You saw how the envoy delivered that ill-tid retreat." His lip curled slightly. "And you've all watched her stroll through camp as if the dead do not weigh on her shoulders."
A few n nodded stiffly. Others avoided his gaze. The youngest, barely in his twenties, swallowed hard.
"But," Zheng continued, "what concerns most is that she hides behind soft words while clutching power like a miser clutches coin."
Ge Shan frowned. "The n… do not hate her. She tends to their wounds."
"Tending to wounds does not win battles," Zheng snapped. "A leader must bleed beside their fighters, not behind walls writing reports."
The youngest man cleared his throat. "Then… Lieutenant… what do you intend?"
Zheng's gaze sharpened. The boy had courage,but it was only the kind bred from ignorance.
"What I intend," Zheng said, "is to seize control before she leads us into an early grave."
A few n shifted uneasily.
"Seize?" soone whispered. "Are you speaking of a coup?"
Zheng snorted. "Call it whatever you want. I call it correction. We have been wandering like beggars, unsure of whether to disband or keep fighting. That stops tonight."
He stepped onto a broken beam, towering over them.
"Li Wuji is gone. The cult is scattered. The world will hunt anyone left wearing our colors. Do you honestly think a gentle envoy can hold this ss together?"
Silence.
They didn't agree, but they didn't disagree either.
Zheng studied them carefully. Weak-willed n either required a banner to worship or a monster to fear. He intended to be the monster.
"Let be clear," he said quietly. "When dawn breaks, every fighter in this camp must see one truth. There is only one path forward and only one worthy to lead it."
"aning you," Ge Shan said slowly.
"aning soone capable." Zheng's eyes glead. "If that happens to be … then Heaven has made its decision."
One man raised his hand timidly. "But Yuan Yi is protected. Captain Feng Long and the reorganized squads."
"Feng Long is loyal to whoever protects the clan's future," Zheng cut him off. "If I crush the envoy decisively, that old soldier will bow like a reed in storm winds."
He let his voice drop lower.
"And if he doesn't… reeds are easy to cut."
Several n exchanged uneasy glances. The youngest flinched.
Zheng continued, tone calm but laced with iron. "Tonight, I will not ask you to fight her head-on. That is a fool's errand. She is skilled with formations—we saw that firsthand."
So n shivered at the mory of the explosive charm turning against its wielder.
"No," Zheng said. "We will strike where her eyes cannot reach. We set the stage. We isolate her. We erase her from the picture so thoroughly the n will think she vanished like smoke."
The boy whispered, "Kill her?"
Zheng lifted an eyebrow. "If she refuses to step aside peacefully."
Everyone knew what that ant.
A man in the back, the tallest among them muttered loudly, "But we are outnumbered. She has the central units watching the periter. How can we erase her without the camp realizing?"
Zheng smiled faintly, as if amused by the simplicity of their doubt.
"You underestimate how fragile this camp truly is. Half the n are already questioning her. The rest are wounded and exhausted. One well-tid move will tilt their minds."
He lowered his voice.
"We will turn this place into fog and make her look unstable. Spread word that she intends to abandon the wounded. Suggest she plans to flee north with loyalists and leave the rest behind. Once the doubt spreads, the camp will break on its own."
Several eyes widened. Lies were familiar territory. They required no formation arts, only tongues sharp enough to slit trust. "But those who follow her," Ge Shan said, "will evidently resist."
"We deal with them quietly." Zheng flicked his fingers as if brushing away dust. "A small fire set near the supply wagons will cause chaos. Bla her unit for negligence. The n will demand an answer from her. That is when I step in."
"And if she refuses to be cornered?" the young fighter whispered.
Zheng's smile sharpened.
"Then she dies in the dark while the camp watches the flas."
A hush fell across the storehouse.
No one moved.
Then Ge Shan bowed his head. "What do you require of us?"
Zheng turned from them and walked deeper into the shadowed corner. There, he unrolled a map of the camp. It had been stolen from Feng Long's tent earlier that afternoon.
"We split into three tasks," he said.
"Firstly, spread rumors. Quietly. Nothing loud enough to sound like accusation, only quiet enough to breed certainty."
Four n nodded uneasily.
"Secondly, sabotage the supply wagons. Set the fire at the mont the moon reaches its apex." Three more bowed.
"Thirdly, isolate Yuan Yi and drive her to the ridge. Sowhere close enough to the forest that everyone believes she tried to flee."
Ge Shan stepped forward. "And the envoy herself? Will you face her alone?"
Zheng exhaled through his nose. "Do not mistake her composure for weakness. She has technique, yes. But her heart is soft. She will hesitate. And hesitation is a rope she will hang herself with."
He rolled up the map.
"Prepare yourselves. We strike when the moon is highest."
Zheng left the storehouse, and the ten n bowed. When their footsteps faded, Ge Shan finally spoke. "This road leads nowhere good."
The boy whispered, "But it leads sowhere… better than the road we are on."
Under the Frost-Bitten Trees, Zheng chose the ridge for the eting point.
A jagged thread of stone sat above the camp, half-hidden by crooked pines. The moonlight washed it silver, and the wind curled through the branches with a soft hiss, like soone drawing breath through teeth.
He waited with his arms folded, cloak pulled tightly.
The camp below had devolved into confusion. Shouts carried on the wind—supply wagons burning, n scrambling to douse the flas, others swearing they saw Yuan Yi's shadow near the edge of the northern tents.
By dawn, they would declare her attempt to flee. The stage is set, Zheng rested his hand on the hilt of his blade. He didn't want to kill her only to relinquish power.
Only then would the camp acknowledge him as rightful heir to command.
Footsteps approached.
Soft. Barely stirring the frost.
Zheng smirked. "You ca alone."
The moonlight caught her figure as Yuan Yi stepped between the trees. She wore no armor, only a dark cloak that fluttered in the breeze. Her expression was unreadable.
"So you chose the ridge," she said. "How fitting."
Zheng's smile tightened. "You knew."
"I knew the mont you left the tent," she said, as if discussing weather. "Your eyes were too eager to justify themselves."
"How observant," he drawled. "Then you also know why you are here."
"Because you fear what you cannot control," she answered simply.
Zheng flicked his blade free with a tallic scrape, pointing it toward her.
"I fear nothing," he said. "But I refuse to hand the future of my n to soone who hides their true nature."
"My nature?" Yuan Yi stepped closer. "I have stood beside dying n every night. I have offered what little dicine we have. I have buried children and elders. If you see that as deception, then perhaps the rot is in your own eyes."
Zheng's jaw tightened. "Do not twist this. You were Li Wuji's shadow. You carried his secrets. You delivered orders that cost us blood."
"You bla for your commander's madness," she said. "That is not my burden to carry."
Zheng's voice rose. "He trusted you above us!"
"And what did that give ?" she asked quietly. "I watched him kill his own people in the na of so twisted prophecy. I watched hundreds die while you stayed silent because speaking against him would have cost you your rank."
Zheng froze.
Yuan Yi's expression remained calm.
"Do you want to know what your n whisper?" she asked. "They say you were always quick to thrust others into danger while you observed from behind shields."
A vein pulsed in Zheng's forehead. "Enough."
"You called yourself their protector," she said, "yet you abandoned them when it mattered the most."
"Silence!"
Zheng Huang lunged forward, closing in for the kill.
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