Morning light fell across the stone bridge. Chen Wuya stood in the middle of Azure Cloud Ferry, feeling the chill seeping up from the flagstones beneath his feet. He stared at the red flag ahead, his fingers twitching slightly. The signal he had altered earlier was still fluctuating, and the traces on the banner had not fully faded.
Bai Zhi walked to his side, her gaze sweeping over the flagpole. She said nothing, but her hand was already resting on her sword hilt. Mo Feng crouched by the roadside, fiddling with a mechanism box as his eyes remained fixed on the markings on its surface.
"It's back," Chen Wuya said quietly.
The moment the words left his mouth, the red flag suddenly trembled, as though stirred by wind—yet there was no wind anywhere. Four characters slowly surfaced in the banner's formerly blank space—The mystic realm has changed. Come at once!
Li Chengyan's face changed. He gripped the flagpole, his voice taut. "This is a Blood Letter Decree personally issued by the sect master."
The other Qingfeng disciples gathered around as well, each drawing their blades and forming a back-to-back circle. They did not doubt Chen Wuya; they simply knew this order was anything but ordinary. Once a Blood Letter Decree appeared, it meant something grave had happened in the sect's core territory—perhaps an external enemy invasion, perhaps the eruption of internal strife.
"Did you really receive this order?" Chen Wuya asked.
"When we set out last night, we were only told to escort someone back to the mountain." Li Chengyan stared at the banner. "We're only seeing these words now."
Bai Zhi reached out and touched the banner. A searing heat struck her fingertips, and she immediately withdrew her hand. "This wasn't left behind by ordinary true qi. It's an