"I wonder what urgent matter brings my loyal minister here today?" The King of Han tried to sound regal, but the fear in his eyes when he looked at Ji Wu Ye was obvious to anyone with sense.
"Princess Honglian has grown into a fine young lady," Ji Wu Ye said, folding his hands with formal courtesy that didn't reach his face. "She is of marrying age. I intend to take her as my wife. What says Your Majesty?"
"B-but Honglian is still young… Might you wait a while longer?" the king ventured, testing the waters.
"Is His Majesty refusing my goodwill?" Ji Wu Ye asked mildly, a cold light flashing and vanishing in his eyes.
The king's heart lurched. He swallowed, bleakness washing over him. "Since my loyal minister bears such… goodwill, I shall agree."
One sharp look from Ji Wu Ye, and the king crumpled. He was even more spineless than Yan's king.
"Two days from now is an auspicious date. I will come then to escort the princess," Ji Wu Ye said, satisfied. He offered a shallow bow and turned to go.
---
Beneath the jacaranda, Princess Honglian practiced with fierce focus. Her perfect, youthful figure moved in concert with the snake-like strikes of the chain-sword—a beautiful, deadly tableau.
"Your Highness—bad news!" A palace maid hurried toward her.
"What is it? Why the panic?" Honglian stopped with a frown. "Did I not order you not to come near here?"
"It's not that, Your Highness—please listen. His Majesty… His Majesty has promised you to Ji Wu Ye!"
"What?!" Honglian froze, then bolted toward the palace.
---
"Father, please—don't make me marry Ji Wu Ye. I beg you!"
In the king's bedchamber, Honglian knelt at his feet, pleading.
"Lian'er… I don't want this either, but… I have no choice. Endure it. Marrying him… isn't the worst outcome," the king muttered.
"No! I'd rather die than marry him!"
"Enough. This is not for you to decide," the king snapped, flinging his sleeve as he left.
Honglian slumped to the floor, face drained of color. Was this the same father who once doted on her?
She returned to her quarters in despair. Seeing a woman standing in the hall, Honglian felt as if she'd glimpsed sunlight and rushed into her arms.
"Master… what do I do? I don't want to marry Ji Wu Ye…"
"Are you willing to descend into the deepest hell?" her master asked calmly.
"Master… what are you saying?"
"If you have the courage—kill Ji Wu Ye. Then you can seize your own fate… perhaps even Han's fate."
Honglian's mind went blank. A certain figure surfaced in her thoughts—then her gaze steadied, turning resolute. "I can."
"Is it because of him?" her master murmured. "Then let me see what you've learned with him these past nights. Remember—no holding back. To reach your goal, use any means. Strike to kill."
Her master's blade flashed—cold, ruthless, straight for Honglian's heart. There was no hesitation in the killing intent; she aimed to push her disciple to the brink—or end her.
Honglian's face tightened. She drew the chain-sword from her waist; with a deft flick it lunged like a serpent, clanged against her master's edge, and diverted it.
But her master flowed like water, sword buzzing as a storm of cuts fell ice-cold and unrelenting.
"Master—!" Honglian sprang back, then snapped the chain-sword short and whipped it forward to coil and tear—an executioner's stroke that would have ended it.
At the last instant, Honglian twisted her wrist; the blade veered past her master's ribs.
"Hmph." The master's sword fell without mercy.
Honglian leapt, but steel still traced a bloody line along her forearm.
"Your resolve is lacking," her master said, lowering the blade. "To kill Ji Wu Ye, you must first possess a killer's heart—or you will die. Again. Grip your sword. Imagine I am Ji Wu Ye. Strike to kill—no mercy."
"No mercy… a killer's heart…" Honglian whispered. She pictured herself being handed to Ji Wu Ye; she pictured the figure buried in her heart—and her eyes hardened. "Understood. I won't hold back."
The chain-sword thrummed in her grasp, sensing her decision.
She swept her arm. The links unfurled into layered blades, lancing forward at terrifying speed. In a blink, a net of crackling steel coiled around her master, sealing every path of retreat.
"W-what—?!"
Her master slashed; the edge met the chain—ting—and snapped in two. The links surged on—puff—punching through her heart.
"You…" Disbelief glazed her master's eyes; then darkness closed in and she crumpled to the floor.
"Master…" Honglian stared, stunned.
Goku had forged the chain-serpent sword by bending the world's rules; it was no mortal weapon. He had even nurtured a hint of spirit within it. Feeling Honglian's resolve, the blade had unleashed its full might—and the careless master paid with her life.
Even without Wei Zhuang to guide her down a killer's path, fate, nudged by Goku's presence, had turned the wheel the same way: the master died by Honglian's hand.
After a long, dazed silence, Honglian's eyes grew cold and steady. "Rest easy, Master. I will kill Ji Wu Ye."
"Has the gear of fate begun to turn? Interesting…" Far away, Goku stood at a window, looking toward the palace with a faint smile. "Grow quickly, Chi Lian. You're promising now—but I still prefer the you yet to come."
---
Next day.
Honglian waited alone beneath the jacaranda from dawn till dusk. He never came. Sorrow drew clouds across her heart again.
"Why… when I needed you most… were you not here?"
Soft footsteps approached.
Honglian spun, joy lighting her face—"Go—" then fell when she saw who it was. "It's you."
"You've changed," the woman said gently, meeting Honglian's eyes.
"Why are you here?" Honglian asked coolly.
"I guessed you might go after Ji Wu Ye. So I came."
"…"
"Let me do it," the woman said. "You are a princess; you shouldn't risk yourself. Let me go in your place… and kill him."
---
In a lush forest, Bai Feng stood like a feather on the crown of a tree, gazing down at the bustling capital, lost in thought.
A shadow dropped beside him—Mo Ya.
"Let's go. Enough brooding," Mo Ya said. "Que Pavilion has a new mistress. I wonder what she'll be like. Come see?"
"What? When did Ji Wu Ye find another?" Bai Feng turned, surprise in his voice.
_____
T/N:
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