The mist of Vermilion Chasm thinned behind them, but the echoes of the battle still clung to the wind. Huang and his companions emerged, weary yet alert, their breaths measured, their bodies marked by both victory and restraint.
But they didn't have to wait long for answers.
Because at the edge of Scorpions Pass, beneath a crooked ancient pine, stood the man with the black pearl hairpin.
He hadn't moved since they last saw him.
His presence returned with it: not violent, not oppressive—but deeply unnatural in its stillness. The kind of presence that made the wind falter and the soil remember its place.
> "You've made it out," he said softly as they approached, eyes resting on Huang.
Without word or gesture, spiritual force rippled across the field like a wave—and the others froze in place, locked in time. Only Huang remained unaffected.
Huang stood firm.
> "Why did you wait here?" he asked evenly.
The man's obsidian eyes scanned him, not with scrutiny, but something gentler—measured recognition.
> "To return what was borrowed. And to deliver a message."
He reached behind his back and produced the Beast Crown, still faintly glowing.
> "Take this to your Sect Leader. Let its appearance not be wasted in confusion and rumor."
He held it out.
Huang didn't move. "Unfreeze them first."
The man's lips twitched ever so slightly, a fragment of amusement breaking the mask of serenity. Then he flicked a finger, and the pressure vanished.
Lan Qin stumbled forward, catching himself.
Yi Meixue immediately dropped to one knee.
> "Sword King…!"
The words passed her lips like instinct.
> "HAIL, SWORD KING OF SINGULARITY!" she and Bao Yun cried out together, their voices laced with awe and fear.
The man's presence was too singular, too powerful. Only one title could belong to such a figure.
Even Lan Qin, slow to bow, finally knelt—eyes wide, breath short.
The Sword King gave a slight nod. "Enough. Rise."
The group obeyed, still shaken.
He turned back to Huang, tossing the Beast Crown toward him without ceremony. Huang caught it without flinching, though the moment stretched.
> "You're calm," the Sword King noted. "Even after all that. Good."
Before Huang could reply, the wind parted.
A gust of silver Qi blew through the pine trees—sharp and contained like a drawn blade. Moments later, a weathered figure stepped into view.
Master War.
Clad in his signature heavy martial coat and leather-forged bracers, his sword at his back, he stopped the moment he saw the man before them.
Then—a deep bow.
> "War greets the Sword King of Singularity."
There was no hesitation in his voice. Only reverence.
The Sword King inclined his head. "Still breathing, I see."
Master War gave a rare smirk. "Barely. The years have been... eventful."
He turned to Huang and the group. His expression sobered as he saw the marks of battle.
> "You retrieved the Crown?"
Huang stepped forward and opened his ring, allowing the glow of the artifact to shine.
> "He gave it back to me," he said, nodding at the Sword King.
Master War's eyes sharpened with a glint of curiosity before returning to the Sword King.
> "Then I assume there are... parties to be dealt with."
> "Two foreign sects," the Sword King said. "Still stirring where they shouldn't."
> "I was planning to go," Master War replied. "Would you join me?"
The Sword King gave a simple, calm answer.
> "Of course."
The statement settled like thunder, silent but final.
Master War turned back to Huang. "Take the Crown to the Sect Leader. Deliver the report fully—and stay alert. This is no small thing."
The Sword King added nothing more. He simply turned, his black pearl hairpin swaying, and walked beside Master War into the west—where judgment awaited.
Once they vanished from sight, the others exhaled deeply.
> "You spoke to him like an equal…" Lan Qin said softly, eyes locked on Huang. "Who are you?"
> "I'm the one carrying this Crown," Huang replied, tucking it away again. "Let's go."
He turned toward the east—toward the Azure Sect.
Behind him, the wind picked up once more, and the pine tree where the Sword King had stood began to shed its needles—one by one—like a quiet salute.
The journey back to the Azure Sect was swift—but heavy.
News of the chaos at Scorpions Pass had already spread through spirit talisman networks and traveling cultivators. Yet no rumor matched the truth.
The rescued disciples, still shaken from their ordeal, were escorted back to their respective peaks. Some wept openly as they bowed to Huang and his team before departing. They had seen what true battle meant—and who had shouldered it alone.
Lan Qin, Yi Meixue, and Bao Yun walked beside Huang without words. Whatever they had been before this mission, they were something more now. Tied by blade, fire, and loyalty.
As they arrived at the Mission Hall, an elder was already waiting outside with a tightened expression. The jade talisman in his hand flared the moment he saw Huang.
> "The Sect Leader requests your presence," he said. "Azure High Palace. Immediately."
No debrief. No delay. The matter had reached the summit.
They followed the elder through long winding paths usually reserved for inner court affairs, past towering statues of the Azure Sect's founding Grandmasters. At the topmost tier of the mountain, where even flying swords slowed, rose the majestic gates of Azure High Palace—where policy, alliances, and war were decided.
The guards there didn't question them. They stepped aside the moment they saw Huang.
The great blue crystal doors swung open silently.
Inside, the air was heavy with power and politics.
At the head of the room stood Sect Leader Kang, clad in simple but commanding azure robes. His eyes, like sharp mirrors, caught every twitch of those before him.
To his left was the Prime Minister of the Loc Empire, Pei Li, robes adorned with imperial cloud-threads, his gaze distant yet precise.
Arrayed along both sides were the leaders of the Eastern Bough Sect, Sky Palm Temple, and the Iron Soul Assembly, seated like stars in silent tension.
As Huang and his group entered, all conversation ceased.
> "You've returned," said Sect Leader Kang, voice smooth but unmistakably powerful.
Huang bowed with the precision of one trained not by ceremony, but by experience.
> "Reporting, Sect Leader."
The Prime Minister motioned with two fingers. "Let him speak uninterrupted."
And Huang spoke.
He told them everything—except the sanctum, and except the true nature of the Sword King's exchange. He spoke of the foreign sects' schemes, the brutal fight at the Vermilion Chasm, and the awakened thousand-year-old beasts—a direct consequence of broken balance.
Finally, he revealed the Beast Crown, carefully unsealing it from his ring.
A golden light flooded the chamber as the artifact hovered between them, glowing softly, rippling in gentle pulses like a heartbeat.
No one spoke.
Even the Prime Minister leaned slightly forward.
> "That is indeed the Beast Crown," murmured Sect Leader Royi of the Sky Palm Temple. "And its will is docile in his presence."
Pei Li turned to Kang.
> "Your sect gains not only the artifact… but the loyalty of one capable of retrieving it."
Huang said nothing.
Sect Leader Kang finally rose from his seat and approached the artifact. He did not touch it. He simply inspected Huang.
> "And you did not keep it for yourself?"
> "It would not obey me fully," Huang said truthfully. "It was given to our sect. That is what matters."
There was a long pause. Then Kang smiled faintly—just enough to show the satisfaction of a gamble paying off.
> "You've earned the right to speak freely in this hall. You and your students may rest now. We will convene a new council in three days. Your presence will be expected."
Pei Li rose next.
> "If I may," he said, addressing the room. "Let it be recorded: with the Beast Crown now within the Empire's hands, and resting in the halls of its greatest sect, our foundation has grown firmer in these times of Realm Unrest."
He turned to Huang with a penetrating gaze.
> "But this young man… should not be left without protection."
Sect Leader Kang nodded. "I already have something in mind."
And with that, the chamber's gravity broke slightly. Some cultivators exhaled. Others whispered. The Crown remained floating, still pulsing faintly as though watching everything unfold.
As Huang and his companions turned to leave, Pei Li's voice called once more:
> "Tell me, Disciple Huang… where did you learn such swordsmanship?"
Huang paused, eyes steady. "From many places. But only one path."
Pei Li narrowed his eyes.
> "The path of the blade?"
> "No," Huang said, already turning. "The path of responsibility."
And with that, he walked out of Azure High Palace, the Beast Crown secured, and every eye in the cultivation world slowly turning toward him.