Chapter 4: Echoes of a Broken Throne

The wind on Immortal Cliff had never stopped blowing. It howled through the night like a beast in pain. But Li Tianming stood firm, unmoving, as if the storm was nothing but a gentle breeze.

His eyes looked down upon the vast lands once ruled under his name.

"Still breathing," he whispered. "Still rotting."

He turned and vanished into the shadows.

---

Somewhere deep in the lower district of Eastern Glory City...

The Jade Serpent Inn hadn't changed in a hundred years. Same moldy walls, same broken lanterns, same stench of old ale and sweat. But behind its filthy curtains lay the secret meeting place of the few who still remembered.

A single candle lit the small backroom. Four figures sat in silence. Men and women once powerful, now hunted, branded, and broken.

Until the door creaked open.

He entered, cloak dusty, eyes unreadable.

They didn't recognize him at first.

Then... one of them gasped. "Tianming?"

He gave no greeting, no embrace, no tears.

"I need your swords," he said. "Your loyalty. And your silence."

No hesitation.

Four blades touched the floor.

"We never stopped being yours," the eldest man said. "Just waiting for your shadow to return."

Li Tianming closed his eyes. For the first time, the crushing loneliness lightened.

---

Back in the imperial palace...

The young emperor, Li Junhao, was no fool despite his arrogance. Word had spread too quickly. Too many rumors. Too many spies missing.

He paced his throne room, fingers twitching.

"Call in the Shadow Division," he ordered. "I want every rat's hole in this empire turned upside down. If the corpse walks... we'll burn the bones this time."

A general knelt. "What if it really is him, Your Majesty?"

Junhao stopped. His lip curled.

"Then we remind the world why we buried him the first time."

But doubt was in his eyes.

---

Three days later, in a ruined monastery west of the city...

The night was silent.

Li Tianming sat alone on the cracked altar, meditating.

The monastery had once been a holy site—before the empire's betrayal turned it to ash. Now it was perfect for hiding.

A sudden presence stirred the dust.

He opened his eyes.

A child stood before him. No more than ten. Barefoot. Dirty. Eyes sharp.

"Are you... the real one?" the boy asked.

Li Tianming tilted his head. "The real what?"

"The one they say will bring fire back. That used to fly with dragons. That... doesn't die."

Silence.

Then, a small smile.

"I suppose I am."

The boy sat beside him without fear. "My dad says hope is for fools."

"Then your father has never seen a kingdom fall in one night."

---

Elsewhere, the pieces began to move.

Old allies stirred. Ancient debts awakened. Whispered names were spoken again after a hundred years of silence.

And in the coldest depths of the Blackthorn Prison, a man opened his eyes after decades of sleep.

"They let him come back?" he rasped. "Then I have something left to do."

---

Back in the city...

The inn exploded at dawn.

Shadow assassins, dressed in black, burst in—blades ready, but too late.

The room was empty.

A single note pinned to the wall with a dagger:

> "You'll have to do better than that. —L.T."

The empire began to panic.

Li Tianming was not only alive.

He was watching. Planning. Waiting.

---

And that night, under the stars...

Li Tianming knelt before a grave.

Unmarked.

Overgrown.

"My sister," he whispered. "I don't know if you're alive. But I swear—if you are, I'll find you."

He stood, eyes burning.

"If you're not... I'll make them pay twice as much."

---

[End of Chapter 4]