A traitor dies like a dog
"NO! NOOO!! STAY AWAY!!"
Lin Chaoyuan shrieked like a beast as he scrambled across the chamber, tearing at talismans, flinging sacred water in the air, crawling like a cornered rat.
But no door would open.
No escape awaited him.
His legs were chained.
Thick, rusted chains dug into his skin....binding his ankles to a dark iron ring embedded into the floor.
Each time he pulled, they rattled like the dying cry of a bell.
And then…
Yu Sui, calm as ever, took a step back… and whispered.
"Come."
From the shadows of the altar behind him, something moved.
Dragged.
A figure emerged… his entire body wrapped in chains that scraped along the floor like the grinding of tombstones. His face was half-burnt, half-dead… eyes hollow, skin pale. He walked like a corpse, but with purpose.
Lin Chaoyuan froze.
"L…Lao Duan…?"
The chained man stopped.
Then lunged.
Like thunder, he fell upon Lin Chaoyuan.
No words. No mercy.
His fists pounded into Lin's ribs, shattering them one by one.
Blood spattered across the walls like sacred ink defiled.
He slammed Lin's skull into the stone floor ...once, twice, a third time ... until the talismans began to peel away not from spirits… but from splattered blood.
And still…
He didn't stop.
Hours passed.
No light.
No sound.
Only the crunch of bones… and the sound of Lin Chaoyuan's voice slowly fading into silence.
---
Far away, at the edge of a quiet path under the cold twilight, Yu Sui walked alone.
He left the chamber without another glance, as if the screams behind him were nothing but wind.
And then
Wu Zu appeared.
She stepped from thin air as if it bent for her.
She fell to one knee in front of Yu Sui, her wild grin now replaced with solemn respect.
"Grandmaster…
My task is complete.
I ask your leave."
Yu Sui gave a slow nod.
She vanished into mist.
Behind her, deep within the chamber, Lao Duan stood alone.
His hands trembled. His eyes blinked...once, as if waking from a dream.
And then he smiled.
A broken, resigned smile.
He took the oil lamp from the altar.
Poured it across his body.
And struck a spark.
The flames engulfed him.
The chamber lit up like a funeral pyre.
The talismans turned black, curling like dry leaves.
The smoke rose like a serpent… spiraling into the cracks above.
---
Later that night…
Under the moonlight, Mo Yan sat quietly near a tree, bandages wrapped around his scorched limbs, his gaze lost in thought.
Soft footsteps approached.
Yu Sui appeared beside him… holding out a small bundle wrapped in cloth.
"Apples," he said softly.
"I traded for them."
Mo Yan looked up, surprised.
His hand trembled as he reached for the fruit.
Yu Sui sat beside him, resting his sword down in the grass.
"It's over," he said.
"Shen Jichuan. Rong a Cheng. Fung Shu Ri. Chui Yong. Kin Lishuan… all of them."
"But this…"
He looked to the eastern sky, where the first breath of dawn stirred the clouds.
"This is not the end.
This is the seed of a new morning."