Yu Xiang's violet eyes tracked Zhao Chen's retreating figure as he stormed away from the wedding platform, with that usual anger in his eyes that didn't take more than a few days for her to learn to read.

"Chen, wait!" she called out, her voice pitched perfectly to carry the right note of concern as she hurried after him through the dispersing crowd.

He didn't slow down, pushing past confused wedding guests with barely restrained violence.

His spiritual energy fluctuated wildly around him—the telltale sign of someone whose cultivation base was still unstable from recent trauma.

'Pathetic,' she thought, even as she maintained her facade of worried devotion. 'Even now, he can't control himself.'

She caught up to him at the edge of the ceremonial grounds, where fewer people gathered and their conversation wouldn't draw unwanted attention.

Her hand reached out to touch his arm, but he yanked away before she could make contact.

"Don't," Chen snarled, whirling to face her with wild eyes. "Don't pretend you didn't see what just happened up there. My mother... that monster has her, and she..." His voice cracked. "She kissed him like that in front of everyone. Like I was nothing."

Yu Xiang let her expression soften with manufactured sympathy. "Chen, I know you're hurting, but you need to think clearly. Getting emotional won't help your mother."

"Think clearly?" His laugh was harsh, bitter. "How can I think clearly when that bastard is probably—" He cut himself off, hands clenching into fists so tight that blood welled between his knuckles.

She stepped closer, lowering her voice to that gentle tone that had always worked on him before. "What did that woman tell you? The fox cultivator? You went after her for a reason."

Chen's expression shifted, a flicker of hope cutting through the despair. "She... she agreed to help me. To make me strong enough to kill him." His bronze eyes met hers, desperate for validation. "I can become powerful enough to save my mother, to take back everything he stole."

'And there it is,' Yu Xiang thought, her heart sinking as the full scope of his foolishness became clear. 'He's walking straight into another trap.'

Her mind raced through the implications.

She had seen the way Emperor Tianlong's demeanor shifted when that fox woman arrived—the carefully calculated retreat, the perfectly timed submission.

Though it might not be evident to everyone, for someone like her who knew when to bow and when to rise, it was clear. The Emperor, in front of so many people, would never let himself be humiliated.

Yet he did... did in a way where it might not seem like humiliation to others. But to Zhao Chen, who had much sensitivity toward the Emperor's decisions, it might have looked like the Emperor backed off.

Zhao Chen's pride made him see what he wanted to see.

But Yu Xiang's analytical mind had caught the subtle tells. The slight smirk that ghosted across the Emperor's lips when he thought no one was looking. The way he positioned himself to give Chen the perfect view of his apparent weakness.

Even his words of agreement had been too smooth, too convenient.

'He wanted Chen to go after her,' she realized with crystalline clarity. 'This is all part of whatever game he's playing.'

And Chen, blinded by rage and desperation, had fallen for it completely. Worse, he now knew far too much about her own plans and secrets.

Her cultivation physique, her desire to become strong—all of it could be used against her if he survived whatever trap awaited him.

"Chen," she began carefully, "are you certain this woman can be trusted? What if—"

"What if nothing!" he exploded, spiritual energy lashing out in chaotic waves that made nearby stones crack. "She's powerful, Yu Xiang. Really powerful. And she hates Tianlong just as much as I do. This is my chance—maybe my only chance—to become strong enough to kill that bastard."

He turned away again, preparing to leap skyward toward whatever meeting he'd arranged. "I have to go. She's waiting for me, and if I miss this opportunity..."

Yu Xiang watched him prepare to launch himself into the air, her mind making cold calculations, but externally her face was blank.

Chen had become a liability.

He knew too much, was too unstable, and was now walking into what was almost certainly a trap designed to eliminate him—or worse, turn him into an even more dangerous enemy for her.

She had invested days in cultivating his obsession, feeding him just enough hope and affection to keep him useful.

But utility had limits, and Chen had just exceeded his.

Her hand slipped into her storage ring, fingers closing around a small paper packet she'd hoped never to use.

The powder inside had cost her nearly everything—a rare beast attractant refined from the glands of a Peak Nascent Soul realm Shadow Wolf.

A single pinch was enough to draw every dangerous creature within fifty miles to its target—though the capital city was protected due to constant patrolling guards fending them off.

But what about once outside this place?

"I understand," she said softly, injecting just the right amount of resigned sadness into her voice. "Do what you must. Just... be careful."

Chen paused, something in her tone making him glance back. For a moment, his expression softened with what might have been genuine affection.

"Yu Xiang, I—" he started, but she shook her head.

"Go. Don't keep her waiting."

He nodded once, then launched himself skyward with a burst of golden qi, his figure rapidly dwindling against the afternoon sky.

The moment he was airborne, Yu Xiang's hand moved with practiced precision. She tore open the packet and flung its contents in a wide arc behind his retreating form, the green powder dispersing invisibly in his wake.

Chen never noticed. His attention was fixed ahead, toward meeting that strange woman.

Yu Xiang stood motionless for several heartbeats, watching his figure disappear over the mountain peaks.

Then she exhaled slowly and shook her head.

'Fool,' she thought without heat. 'You forced my hand.'

The powder would take an hour to fully activate, but once it did, every predator in the northern mountains would converge on Chen's location.

Even if he survived the initial assault, he would be too busy fighting for his life to cause her any immediate problems.

And if he didn't survive... well, that would solve several problems at once.

She turned away from the mountain peaks, her violet eyes now focused on the sprawling celebration below.

The sight that greeted her was unlike anything she had ever witnessed.

The dome-shaped restaurants stretched as far as the eye could see, each one glowing with that pink light.

Hundreds of thousands of people moved between them like streams of living color—cultivators in their sect robes, common folk in their finest clothes, even children running and laughing as they sampled foods that shouldn't have existed.

'What kind of power does this require?' she wondered, her strategic mind automatically cataloging the implications.

The logistics alone should have been impossible.

Feeding this many people, maintaining order, creating structures that defied spatial limitations—it spoke of resources and abilities that went far beyond simple cultivation strength.

She had underestimated Emperor Tianlong.

Badly.

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