"Father?"
"You?"
Lu Jinyun stared blankly at the golden command token in his palm, its icy metallic touch reminding him—
None of this was an illusion.
Under the sunlight, the token reflected a blinding gleam. The seven gilded seal-script characters—"Grand Marshal of All Troops"—seared his eyes with pain.
This was the first time in Lu Jinyun's life that he had touched this token, the symbol of supreme military authority.
Yet before his fingertips could warm the cold metal, a muffled bang suddenly rang out beside his ears.
Then, a splash of warm liquid struck his face.
A sweet, metallic taste surged up Lu Xuan's throat as a crimson mist of blood, mixed with shattered inner energy, burst from his mouth.
Lu Jinyun's pupils contracted sharply. He saw only that his father's face had turned red as blood, while terrifying crimson light burst from his eyes.
Bang!
With a thunderous boom, a shockwave carrying fierce astral winds exploded outward from Lu Xuan.
Lu Jinyun and the old steward flew backward like kites with snapped strings, slamming heavily into the blue-brick wall.
"Father!"
"Master!"
The two cries rang out at once.
Still not recovered from their dizziness, the two staggered up from the shattered porcelain scattered across the ground and stumbled toward the aura-disordered Lu Xuan.
"Stop!"
Lu Xuan pressed his bloodstained palm through the air.
In an instant, a translucent, invisible wall of force rose with a boom, violently knocking the two rushing men back.
Drip—
Crimson drops of blood rolled down Lu Xuan's chin, splashing across the blue stone slab in blooming, eerie blood lotuses.
The old steward suddenly began to tremble violently. Pointing at the turbulent, disordered astral essence around Lu Xuan, his voice was filled with terror.
"Master, this... this is clearly a sign of qi deviation!"
Lu