The walk back to the Heart of the Peaks was silent, but the silence was a living thing. It pressed in from the sides, made of a thousand staring eyes and held breaths.
Disciples didn't just step aside for Lin Tian, Xueya, and Su Lan. They melted back, creating a corridor of empty stone. No one met his gaze. They looked at his feet, at the sky, anywhere but at him.
They're not afraid of me, Lin Tian thought, his hand resting lightly on Xueya's lower back as they walked. They're afraid of whatever I've become.
Su Lan walked on his other side, her posture rigid. She was holding herself together, but he could feel the simmering anger through their bond, a low heat beneath her calm exterior.
Xueya's connection was different, a glacial lake of quiet pride, but beneath that, a thread of deep, cold worry.
