Chapter 78: Broken Petals, Hidden Blades
Point of View: Bai Ru
The wind shifted.
It came with a taste of rust and magnolia—unsettling and sweet. Bai Ru stepped into the inner garden of the envoy estate before dawn, the sky still kissed in indigo, the plum trees trembling beneath an unseen pressure.
She knelt by the reflection pond, dipping her fingers into the water's cool surface. Her pulse beat steady, but her breath caught. A single plum petal floated toward her—cut clean in half. A warning. An omen.
Behind her, the door creaked.
"Couldn't sleep either?" Yue asked, stepping barefoot into the courtyard, her night-robe drawn tight.
"No dreams. Just weight," Bai answered.
Yue crouched beside her. They sat in silence.
Then Bai Ru whispered, "He's changing."
Yue did not deny it.
---
Kai Jin stood atop the stone balcony overlooking the imperial southern training fields. Below, cultivators sparred in ritual drills—some preparing for ceremony, others for blood.
He felt Lin Su's approach before he heard her. Her presence was like silk drawn over hidden knives.
"They're talking about you," she said. "Even the neutral sects are hedging their bets. Half of them want to see you fall. The other half want to claim you."
Kai didn't answer right away. The wind tugged at his robe.
"Let them." He turned to her. "Will you still stand if I fall?"
Lin Su shrugged. "I'd prefer if you didn't. Falling's so... dramatic."
Kai chuckled. "Fair."
---
That evening, a scroll arrived by blade.
Literally.
A ceremonial dagger pierced the courtyard table where Bai had set her salves. Attached was a black scroll bearing the sigil of the Crownless Tournament: a thorn-wrapped ring.
Kai pulled it free.
> "To Kai Jin, Envoy of the Broken Sky,
>
> You have been named among the Uncrowned—candidates for the empire's next generation of Sovereign Blades.
>
> The Tournament begins in ten days' time. Bring only what you can lose.
>
> Leave behind what you cannot."
---
Preparations began that night.
Yue trained longer hours, her strikes sharper, her eyes calmer. Bai Ru poured over forbidden texts, learning pressure points once deemed sacrilegious. Lin Su vanished for hours, returning with bruised knuckles and rumors trailing her shadow.
And Kai meditated beneath the moon, whispering questions into the World Eye.
"Why me?"
And the Eye whispered back:
*Because you were not meant to rule. But to break the ones who would.*
---
In the hallowed chambers of the Jade Falcon Sect, old rivals prepared.
In a frozen monastery, the masked youth tightened his grip around a cursed spear.
And within the capital itself, a noble daughter wrote three names into her war-fan:
> Yue Zhu.
> Bai Ru.
> Lin Su.
She smiled, fangs behind lacquered lips.
"Let's see what they bleed."
---
**\[To Be Continued in Chapter 79: Letters Written in Flame]**