Revenge in Heaven Dou City

[At seventeen, your Soul Power Level reached fifty-nine. Drawing on the ancestral land's immense nourishment and the deep reserves of her hundred-thousand-year transformation into human form, Ah Yin had already broken through to the Soul Emperor Realm.]

[Late spring gave way to early summer, and the vegetation flourished.]

[You left the Blue Silver Ancestral Land and headed north toward Heaven Dou City in a carriage with a blue-green canopy.]

[The wheels rolled along the official road, their rumbling monotonous and dull. Outside the window, the scenery gradually changed from a sea of verdant forest to fields crisscrossed by paths, then to rolling, dark-blue mountains.]

[Throughout the journey, your relationship remained neither warm nor cold.]

[Ah Yin sat by the window, her eyes lowered toward the tree shadows flitting past outside; you leaned against the other side of the carriage, eyes closed as you regulated your breathing.]

[A distance neither near nor far lay between you, its boundaries maintained with perfect precision.]

[Your occasional conversations were confined to practical matters such as cultivation methods, food, and lodging along the way, courteous yet distant.]

[The ease and intimacy you had once shared seemed sealed beneath the water by a thin layer of ice.]

[You still worked together in perfect harmony, yet you were no longer close.]

[Over the long journey, that faint flicker of hope in your heart finally went out little by little, reduced to embers.]

[After three months of travel, the wheels came to a halt, and Heaven Dou City's towering walls finally came into view.]

[After several years away, you found the imperial capital as prosperous as ever. Carriages and horses streamed like dragons along the broad streets, pedestrians jostled shoulder to shoulder, and vendors' cries rose one after another, steaming with the warmth of everyday life.]

[The tremendous storm stirred up by those leaflets years ago had long since been buried beneath layer upon layer of the city's clamor, as though it had never left the slightest trace here.]

[You did not rush to take revenge. Instead, you first rented a quiet little courtyard in a secluded part of the southern city and settled in for the time being.]

[Ah Yin silently spread her Blue Silver Domain. Invisible mental fluctuations rippled like water across several miles, forming secret connections with every blade of Blue Silver Grass beneath the walls and beside the alleys.]

[The movements of the crowds in the streets, the arrangement of courtyards within secluded residences, even the hushed whispers behind their walls flowed back along the grass's slender veins, all entering her perception.]

[In just two short days, you had uncovered every detail about the enemies who had taken part in your family's extermination.]

[The masterminds were the Mo and Liu families, two mid-ranking clans in Heaven Dou City. Their strongest members were merely Soul Emperors, their high-ranking Soul Masters were few, and their foundations and reserves had always been shallow.]

[With your current strength at level fifty-nine, and Ah Yin's Blue Silver Domain secretly sealing off your auras and concealing your movements, silently wiping out these two great families would not be difficult.]

[That night, the moon was hidden, the wind was high, and the darkness was black as ink.]

[You changed into black stealth clothing and slipped alone toward the two families' residences. Your figure hugged the shadows at an alley entrance, Soul Power surging covertly at your fingertips. Just as you were about to vault over the wall, you suddenly stopped.]

[Before the residence's gates, hanging lanterns cast halos of warm yellow light. Two children of about three or four crouched beneath the steps, their heads together as they played with a little calico cat. Their clear laughter drifted far on the night wind.]

[Not far away, a woman held a slightly older child by the hand, bending down as she helped him toddle along. The child called indistinctly, "Mama." His soft little voice struck the night and scattered into tender fragments.]

[As you watched, the light in your eyes flickered uncertainly.]

[You had never been indecisive.]

[Having lived two lives, you understood this continent's law of survival, where the strong devoured the weak, better than anyone.]

[You understood even more clearly that this was a struggle: cut the grass without pulling out the roots, and it would grow again when the spring wind blew.]

[If you spared these children, once they grew up and learned what had happened today, they might well become new avengers.]

[Mercy and a soft hand today would only sow greater calamity for the future.]

[You stood in the heavy shadows, wavering.]

[You even tried to persuade yourself with the principle, "Those who receive the benefits must bear the responsibilities"-]

[They had been born into your enemies' families, sheltered by their clans since childhood and enjoying fine clothes and lavish food. If one day they inherited that blood debt and died at your hands, they could hardly be called "innocent."]

[Yet what nine years of compulsory education had carved into your bones ultimately kept you from raising a butcher's blade against a few ignorant young children.]

[You lowered your eyes and remained motionless for a long time.]

[The night wind swept dew against your robes, carrying the cool dampness of early summer.]

[Lantern light fell across your face, half bright and half dark, so very like your conflicted heart.]

[At last, you slowly exhaled a stale breath, quietly stepped back, and vanished completely into the shadows.]

[Back at the little courtyard in the southern city, you sat alone on a stone stool for a long time in silence.]

[Moonlight poured down like white silk upon your tightly knitted brows, illuminating that trace of struggle.]

[Extremely light footsteps sounded behind you, without the slightest trace of Soul Power, only a familiar, faint fragrance of plants quietly lingering around you.]

[You knew who it was without turning around.]

[Ah Yin walked slowly to your side, lifted the celadon teapot from the stone table, and refilled your cup with hot tea.]

["What's wrong?" she asked softly, her tone gentle but entirely unsurprised.]

[You raised the cup, took a small sip, and sighed. "I couldn't do it."]

["Because of those children?"]

[Though she had not accompanied you, she had watched you through the Blue Silver Domain the entire time.]

[Unsurprised, you merely nodded.]

[Your fingers tightened slightly, and a bitter note of self-mockery entered your voice. "I know I should pull out the roots when I cut the grass, but looking into their innocent eyes... I just couldn't do it."]

["Then don't force yourself."]

[She suddenly reached out and gently covered your clenched fist. Her palm was slightly cool, carrying the fresh, moist touch unique to Blue Silver Grass, like morning dew from a mountain stream falling upon your skin.]

[This was the first time since regaining her memories that she had taken the initiative to be so close to you.]

[You froze slightly and looked up at her.]

[Moonlight fell over her brows and eyes, spreading a soft wash of light and shadow that made her whole figure seem gentler.]

[Her azure eyes held a faint silver glow, like two tranquil pools wrapped in an unchanging, timeless tenderness.]

["This isn't your fault!" she said softly, her voice calm, as though stating something perfectly natural. "You were never supposed to be able to do it."]

["You love life and hold living beings in reverence. That's why you hesitated."]

[Her voice was very soft, yet every word was clear.]

["You hold justice in your heart, and gentleness is carved into your bones. That's why you couldn't bear to strike when faced with those pure, untainted eyes."]

[You remained silent for a long time. The knot in your heart seemed to warm little by little beneath the warmth of her fingertips, loosening somewhat.]

["Gentleness has never been a weakness, and mercy has never been a vulnerable spot."]

["Besides, you're so clever... I believe you'll find another way."]

[She withdrew her hand, a faint smile appearing at the corners of her mouth.]

[As you watched her smile, something in your heart softened, then suddenly ached. You said nothing more and merely nodded.]

[That night, you lay on the bamboo couch in the courtyard and pondered for a long time.]

[Where, exactly, did the boundaries of revenge lie? How could you do right by both your past and yourself?]

[In a haze, you recalled the words of a professor from your previous life-]

[The purpose of law was to end private grudges through public authority, to place guilt upon the guilty, and to let hatred end in the present.]

[This world had no comprehensive legal system, but you still had brush and ink, and the public opinion of an entire city.]

[The next day, you sought out Ah Yin again and asked her to use the Blue Silver Domain to help you gather evidence of the two families' years of rampant lawlessness.]

[These two great families habitually relied on their influence to seize wealth through force and fraud and oppress the innocent. The lives on their hands and the wicked debts they had incurred were beyond counting. Brazen and unrestrained in their conduct, they had left evidence everywhere; there was no need to dig deep.]

[In just three days, a list of crimes, every charge supported by evidence, had been compiled.]

[You hired people to make several hundred handwritten copies of this evidence.]

[Early morning, before the sky had brightened.]

[You hired a group of idlers and displaced people to scatter these leaflets throughout Heaven Dou City's streets and alleys once again.]

[This time, there were no court intrigues or struggles over the succession involved. Every charge concerned only the suffering of ordinary people. The evidence was indisputable, every word shocking, and in an instant it ignited the resentment of the entire city.]

[The people's voices boiled, their cries surging skyward and sweeping from the streets and alleys into the depths of the imperial palace.]

[Upon hearing this, Xue Ye flew into a rage and immediately ordered the Mo and Liu families' estates searched and confiscated, and everyone implicated detained and rigorously interrogated.]

[Seven days later, the verdict was delivered: the principal offenders would be publicly beheaded, their accomplices exiled to bitterly cold lands, all family assets confiscated, and the clans' women, children, elderly, and infirm dispersed and sent back to their hometowns.]

[On the day of the execution, dusk was gloomy, and leaden clouds hung low.]

[You mingled with the onlookers and watched your former enemies being escorted onto the execution platform, kneeling on the cold bluestone slabs and baring their necks for execution.]

[Blades flashed, blood sprayed three feet, and heads tumbled into the dust.]

[You watched quietly for a moment, then turned and disappeared into the bustling crowd, the hem of your robe brushing the bluestone slabs without stirring the slightest dust.]

[With your great vengeance fulfilled, the burden should have lifted from your heart. Yet the gloom between your brows did not disperse; instead, it grew heavier.]

[You knew why.]

[It was not the emptiness after revenge, nor a lament over life and death. It had nothing to do even with the blood splashing beside the blades.]

[It was because of Ah Yin.]

[This experience had instead made you see your own feelings with complete clarity-]

[You liked Ah Yin.]

[It was neither pity for a blade of Blue Silver Grass nor dependence on a dear friend traveling beside you, but a true, genuine affection that made you want to spend the rest of your life with her.]

[You could almost be certain that she, too, held you in her heart.]

[Those days and nights she had curled beside your knees while you cultivated, those vines that had silently wound around your fingertips, that light kiss upon your cheek on a cool night-none of it could be false.]

[Even though her old memories had returned and her past had come flooding back, the feelings that had blossomed had long since been carved deep into her soul. Like the gilded patterns on the Blue Silver Emperor's leaves, they would not fade with the passing years, only grow clearer and more radiant as time steeped them.]

[Yet because she had a past, a history and an identity she could not let go of, an uncrossable chasm would forever lie between you.]

[She could never walk toward you with an untroubled heart.]

[You knew that if this continued, the ambiguity, haziness, and fluttering feelings stretching between you would eventually be worn smooth by time, leaving an ending that was clear and secure, yet without the slightest ripple-]

[You would become true family, true dearest friends.]

[Nothing more.]