"Brother!" Fang Tian’s voice cracked raw and pained.
Behind him, Princess Qin Yuyan collapsed to her knees, retching violently.
Who wouldn’t? To watch the brother you grew up with, decapitated in an instant, his head rolling lifeless across the dirt was a nightmare no heart could bear.
Fang Yuan did not flinch. His gaze never softened, not even a fraction.
He looked only at Fang Tian.
"If you want to stop ," he said, voice low and immovable, "then grow strong enough to defy ."
Fang Tian’s jaw tightened.
Fury trembled in his bones, but he forced it down, swallowing it.
Slowly, painfully, he bowed his head.
"Forgive , brother. I was... driven by my emotions. I made a fatal mistake."
Fang Yuan sighed, long, quiet, almost weary.
"Take the princess and the others back."
He turned away before the answer could co. His gaze swept across the battlefield.
The Qin soldiers, all of them, were pressed to their knees, groaning under the unbearable weight of his pressure.
He waited patiently until every last soul, except Lin Zhaoyue, got dragged back by Fang Tian’s hand.
Only when the last shadow of retreat vanished did he look to her.
Their eyes t. She gave a single, silent nod, then slipped away like a phantom.
And then, the culling began.
Each heartbeat, a head rolled. Each breath, another body fell limp.
The Qin soldiers died as though reaped by an invisible scythe.
One by one, until the battlefield was stripped bare of the living.
Blood stead in the night air. Silence rang louder than screams.
Lin Zhaoyue’s daggers danced lazily in her hands as she spun them midair, her smile faint, unreadable.
"Say, husband," she asked, her tone feather-light yet chilling, "won’t it be sad if so of them had wives waiting at ho?"
Fang Yuan did not even glance at the corpses. His reply was firm, stripped of hesitation.
"If it isn’t them, then it would be us. So don’t waste sympathy on the dead."
Lin Zhaoyue flicked the last trace of blood from her dagger before sliding it back into its sheath.
Her gaze lingered on the dark-stained ground, but her words turned elsewhere.
"Earlier, your brother, that wasn’t like him," she murmured.
Fang Tian’s desperate outburst, his reckless defiance, clung in her mind like a thorn.
He was usually composed, deferential to his brother, never foolish enough to defy his brother in front of so many eyes.
Fang Yuan inclined his head slightly, acknowledging the truth in her words.
His silence said enough, he had seen it too.
Zhaoyue’s thoughts, however, pressed deeper. A man only casts aside reason when his heart is caught. Could it be...?
Her eyes narrowed faintly, catching the image of Qin Yuyan in her mory, the third princess, pale and trembling, retching after the crown prince’s death.
So that’s it. For him to step so far out of line... she must already have a thread tied around his heart.
She did not voice it, not yet. There was no need.
anwhile, Fang Yuan’s own mind weighed quietly. Fang Tian’s actions had been strange, almost alien to the man he knew.
The only thread that fit, however loosely, was his brother’s attachnt to the princess.
Affection—soft, unguarded, perilous. A flaw no blade could carve out, yet one sharp enough to cut him down in ti.
Fang Yuan let the thought dissolve before it rooted too deep.
What use was there in prying further? Besides... a harem, was that even allowed in this world?
He almost snorted. If it wasn’t, then his brother’s path was already dood from the start.
"Go ahead," Fang Yuan said at last, his voice steady, almost absent-minded.
Lin Zhaoyue tilted her head, a faint smile brushing her lips.
"Yes, husband." Without another word, she turned and walked ahead, her silhouette slipping into the distance like a streak of silver shadow.
Fang Yuan remained still for a heartbeat longer before his gaze shifted east.
With a flick of his sleeve, he rose into the air and flew straight toward the place where Xiao Bai had been hurled.
He descended into a clearing where the aftermath of battle still lingered.
There, Xiao Bai sat cross-legged, her aura calm, her expression unreadable. Behind her stood six girls, her attendants.
Three of them radiated the oppressive weight of Nascent Soul cultivators.
Their gazes sharpened the mont Fang Yuan appeared, and without hesitation their bodies moved on instinct, forming a protective wall before their mistress.
Energy stirred in the air, battle-ready.
But before the tension could snap, a single voice cut through.
"Stand down."
It was Xiao Bai, her tone unyielding yet calm.
None of the attendants questioned, none hesitated.
They instantly broke formation, retreating back behind her in perfect silence.
Fang Yuan’s eyes narrowed slightly. His nod was faint, but not without weight. Their loyalty was unquestionable.
Even after having seen his strength firsthand, they had still been willing to throw themselves before him.
That kind of devotion was rare, an iron chain of trust forged by sothing more than re duty.
Interesting, he thought.
Xiao Bai’s eyes snapped open. "So, where are the Hollow Spirit Pills?"
Fang Yuan flicked his sleeve, and a jade bottle appeared in his hand.
He tossed it lazily forward.
Xiao Bai caught it, her lips curling into a thin smile. "A whole bottle of Hollow Spirit Pills? Clan Head Fang, you’re truly generous."
Fang Yuan nearly choked. "Generous my ass! Thui! You think I’m made of pills? That bottle’s got one, just one, inside."
"One?" Xiao Bai arched a brow, her voice dripping with scorn.
"We agreed on six!"
"Yes, six. But do you think Hollow Spirit Pills grow on trees? Refining them takes ti."
She let out a sharp laugh, spitting to the side. "Refine? You refine them yourself? Phtoo! I’d rather eat shit than swallow a pill you refined."
Fang Yuan placed a hand over his chest, face twisting in mock offense.
"Hah! Then give it back. I’ll hand you shit instead, fresh and warm."
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