Lin Xuan kept his face neutral and lifted his cup. The tea had gone tepid in his hand. He did not drink it.
"Tell , Father."
Lin Zhen drew in a slow breath and set his own cup down.
"You see, son, the Emperor has four heirs worth speaking of. Each one is a different ss in a different direction."
He raised one finger.
"The First Prince. The legitimate heir by birth order. A man of thirty-five who, by the will of heavens that nobody can explain, was born without a single thread of cultivation talent. He has never refined Qi. He has never held a sword in any aningful way. He sits at court, signs the docunts he is given, and performs the ceremonies he is required to perform. The empire respects him, but the empire will not put him on the throne. A non-cultivator emperor in this continent would last six months before soone with a Foundation Establishnt heart took the seat from him."
Second finger.
"The Second Prince. Twenty-eight. Foundation Establishnt, late stage. Commands the northern armies. Every general above the rank of brigadier in the empire owes him a favor or a debt. Half of the great martial sects have already pledged him their support privately. If a vote of military strength were taken tomorrow, the Second wins it. He is the favorite to take the throne by force the mont his father stops breathing."
Third finger. The patriarch’s voice changed weight.
"The Third. Wei Xinhua. Twenty-two years old. Golden Core Stage Two at last accounting, which is high for her age and would be remarkable in a man twice her years. Intelligent, just, popular among the civil court and the common people. She is the best of them, son. By a wide margin. She is also a woman, and that single fact has dragged her down the line of succession to a place she should never have been placed in. The northern armies will not serve her. The great martial sects refuse to recognize her claim openly. The court calls her brilliant, but the court will not crown her."
A fourth finger rose, slower than the rest.
"The Fourth Prince. Nineteen, your age. A drunkard, a womanizer, and a disgrace so consistent that half the court has mistaken it for honesty. He has talent, apparently, though no one has seen him apply it to anything beyond emptying wine jars and ruining engagent talks."
Lin Zhen’s mouth thinned.
"But useless n are rarely as useless as they look, Xuan’er. Especially in the capital."
He lowered his hand and let it rest on the table.
"The Third Princess is the one I supported."
"And that is why they kept you."
"That is why they kept , yes."
The patriarch drank, set the cup back down, rolled it between his palms.
"Three years ago I signed a letter for her. Through the Third Princess’s quiet channels, on a tax reform she was drafting that would have eased the imperial weight on regional sects. One page, son. I did not move troops nor did I promise gold. I gave her my na on paper because the reform was sound, and a man my age who refuses to put his na on a sound idea does not deserve the seat he sits in."
He tapped the table once.
"The Second Prince’s people intercepted the letter before it reached its destination. They walked it straight into the imperial court and used it to accuse the Third Princess of conspiring with regional sects against the throne. She lost half her political weight inside a week. "A neat piece of cruelty. Beautifully tid. Whoever ran that operation deserved the promotion they got."
"And what did they do with you, Father?"
"They did nothing. That was the genius of it. They did not need to lift a finger against . They knew that within a few months I would walk into the capital on my own."
"...Why?"
"Because of you, Xuan’er."
The patriarch’s eyes settled on him.
"You had fallen ill few months earlier. The curse was tightening every week. Master Fu had run out of thods. Elder Ren had run out of contacts in the region. Every alchemist we trusted said the sa thing. The capital. Only the capital has what you need. So when the curse worsened that winter, I did the only thing a father in my position could do. I packed a trunk and rode to Tianzhao. I went to find soone who could save my son."
Lin Xuan set his cup down slowly.
"...And they were waiting for you."
"They were waiting for . Every door in Tianzhao opened. A regional patriarch arriving at court asking quietly after rare alchemists, rare physicians, rare scriptures, no man in that city was going to refuse such a request an audience, so they received ."
His mouth thinned.
"And then they made the introductions take ti. The alchemist they had nad was traveling. He would return in two months. While I waited, a noble house filed a petition requesting my testimony in an unrelated comrcial dispute. While that resolved, the regional council called back to consult on another matter. While that dragged on, the alchemist ca ho but had taken on three other patients and could not see for another season. So it went."
He drew a slow breath through his nose.
"They turned my reason for being there into the rope they tied with. The longer I stayed looking for your cure, the more legitimate it was for them to keep . The more legitimate it beca, the harder it was for to leave without confirming to every court I had walked through that I was abandoning my dying son."
"...Yes, Father."
"I tried to co ho many tis. Every legitimate path failed for the reasons I have just described. Two illegitimate ones failed because the people running my retention were better at this ga than I was. They were professionals, son. I was a regional patriarch chasing a cure. The capital plays at a level our sect has not played at in three generations."
"What changed?"
"The Six Sects Regional Tournant. Twenty-six days from now."
"The tournant freed you? How co?"
"The tournant freed . It will be held in Yuncheng, not Tianzhao. Tianzhao is the imperial capital; Yuncheng is the regional city hosting the Six Sects gathering this cycle. The Lin family is bound by ancient compact to send its patriarch in person to the opening ceremony. That compact predates the empire by two hundred years. The court honors it because dishonoring it would put every regional sect on this continent against the throne. So twenty-six days ago they signed my release and convened a new investigation scheduled for the week after the tournant closes. They expect back the mont the closing ceremony ends."
"Are you going back?"
"No."
The word arrived flat.
"I am not going back, Xuan’er. The next investigation will be a fiction. The one after that another. I will not waste another season walking willingly into a trap that has already worked twice."
Lin Xuan let that sit for a beat.
"And while they kept there, the sect bled and started to fall apart."
The patriarch set the cup down and rolled the empty between his palms.
He drew a slow breath.
"The numbers. Five years ago the Skyedge Sword Sect counted two thousand four hundred disciples. We have one thousand four hundred today. Eight hundred outer disciples gone. One hundred and ninety inner disciples gone. Ten core disciples. The valley families have stopped sending their sons. The ones already with us have begun to leave for sects with patriarchs who can be found in their own offices."
He raised one finger.
"Two of our western spirit mines, lost to the Blood Fang Sect eighteen months ago. A quarter of our stone inco gone with them. The sa Blood Fang dogs, by the way, that Elder Ren tells sent n to your pavilion to kill you. I will be paying that valley a visit at so point this year. They have grown bold while I was held."
"...Yes, Father."
"And the alliances. The Greenvein Monastery has stopped responding to our seasonal letters. Iron Cloud Pavilion has adjusted its border two kiloters into Lin land and has the gall to claim the original boundary stones were misplaced. The imperial capital withdrew a hundred-year comrcial decree on Skyedge ginseng exports the day they let go, which I am sure is a coincidence."
He paused, ran a hand down his beard.
"And one more, Xuan’er. The engagent I arranged for you with the Phoenix Mirror Sect three years ago. That alliance broke six months into your illness. The Phoenix Mirror sent a formal letter citing your inability to fulfill the betrothal obligations. The girl has since been promised to soone else."
Lin Xuan absorbed that one slowly. The borrowed mories handed him a face for the girl, a na, two birthday etings before the curse took him.
He set the thought aside.
"And the tournant."
"And the tournant is the only door we have left, son. Place well, and the valley families return. The alliances warm. The capital looks at us again. Place badly, Xuan’er, and I am not worried about your honor. I am worried that a thousand families in this valley lose their faith in the na Lin entirely."
The patriarch lifted his head and his face softened a fraction.
"Forgive . I should not be drowning you in this on your first night back at my table. None of it should sit on the shoulders of a young man your age. But your brother Lin Kai will be traveling with you as the secondary representative. He earned a slot by realm two years ago and the rules give it to him without a duel. He will fight in the secondary brackets. You will fight the championship rounds. Both of you carry the family na into Yuncheng."
The system unfolded soft and gold along the edge of Lin Xuan’s vision before the patriarch had finished speaking.
═══════════════════════════════
[ NEW LONG-TERM QUEST AVAILABLE ]
═══════════════════════════════
[ "Restore the Skyedge Sword Sect" ]
[ ]
[ Return the Skyedge Sword Sect to its forr regional glory. ]
[ ]
[ Objectives: ]
[ ▸ Improve disciple quality. ]
[ ▸ Recover broken alliances. ]
[ ▸ Recruit new disciples. ]
[ ▸ Help your father reclaim the lost spirit mines. ]
[ ]
[ Reward: ]
[ ▸ 250,000 Origin Points ]
[ ▸ One High-Tier Pill (sealed until claid) ]
═══════════════════════════════
[ Accept? Decline? ]
Lin Xuan stopped breathing.
’TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND, MIRA. MOTHER OF EVERYTHING. TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND ORIGIN POINTS.’
[ Yes, Xuan. Calm. Calm. (◠‿◠) ]
’AND A HIGH-TIER PILL. WHAT KIND OF PILL. WHICH TIER. WHAT DOES IT DO.’
[ The system has not unsealed that information yet, host. Which usually ans you would have a panic attack on your father’s tea cushion if I read it out loud right now. The pill stays sealed until you complete the quest. That is the rule. ]
’ACCEPT. ACCEPT. ACCEPT IT IMDIATELY.’
[ Xuan. (¬‿¬) This is a long-term quest. I do not think you complete it in a single week. It is going to take years. Probably the better part of a decade in the worst case. Are you sure? ]
’WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT, MIRA. ACCEPT.’
[ All right. Accepting. (◠‿◠) ]
The panel pulsed once and folded into the background of his vision.
Lin Zhen had been watching his son’s face the whole ti. The patriarch reached across the table and laid a hand on his arm.
"Son. Are you all right? You went sowhere quiet for a mont there. I should not have laid all of this on you in one evening."
Lin Xuan looked up. The grin that arrived on his face was not the controlled half-smile of a young master in a hall full of elders. It was a grin with two hundred and fifty thousand Origin Points and a sealed High-Tier Pill behind it, and it arrived without permission.
"FATHER. PLEASE. LET HELP YOU WITH ALL OF THIS."
Lin Zhen blinked.
"...No, Xuan’er. None of this should rest on a young man’s shoulders. The tournant alone is more than enough. Win the tournant. The rest of the work is for and the Elders to —"
"I INSIST."
Lin Xuan dropped to one knee on the cushion, fist over heart, head lowered into the formal vow of a son to his clan.
"With every drop of cultivation I possess and every breath I have left, I will help you restore this sect, Father. I swear it on the na Lin. By the ti the next year closes, the Skyedge Sword Sect will not be where you left it. It will be higher than you rember."
The patriarch stared at him.
He did not speak for a long beat.
’What a good son I have raised,’ he thought, his eyes settling on the fist over his son’s heart. ’Heavens. I do not know what I did to deserve this boy back in front of . So selfless. So devoted to the family. He has barely recovered and already he places the sect above himself.’
Two cushions across, Lin Xuan’s head was bowed in the formal angle, his fist still pressed firm against his ribs.
Inside his head he was salivating.
’TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND POINTS. A SEALED HIGH-TIER PILL. MIRA, MIRA, ARE YOU UNDERSTANDING WHAT THAT PILL COULD BE. IT COULD BE A FOUNDATION ESTABLISHNT PILL. IT COULD BE A QI CONDENSATION TREASURE. IT COULD BE A RIDIAN CLEANSING ELIXIR FOR LATE STAGE NASCENT SOUL. THE SHOP HAS LEVELS I HAVE NOT EVEN SEEN, MIRA. AND THIS PILL IS WAITING FOR ON ONE OF THEM.’
[ Xuan. Your father is staring at you with the most touching expression I have ever seen on a man and you are ntally drooling on his floor. (¬‿¬) ]
’LET HIM STARE. LET HIM CRY IF HE WANTS. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MONT OF MY CULTIVATION CAREER.’
[ He thinks you are devoted to the sect. ]
’GOOD. THAT IS THE PERFECT INTERPRETATION. KEEP IT THAT WAY.’
[ You are a terrible person, host. (◠‿◠) ]
Lin Zhen, oblivious, reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers. A sound escaped him that was almost laughter and almost sothing else.
When he spoke his voice ca out steadier than the mont behind it.
"Up, son. Up. I accept your help. I would be a fool to refuse it after a vow like that. But hear my condition. You do not carry this weight alone. We carry it together. That is the only way this works."
"Together, Father."
"Together."
Lin Xuan rose, returned to his cushion, picked up his cold cup, and drained it in a single long pull. He set it down with a small ceremonial click.
His father watched him with an expression that had not crossed his face in two years.
Lin Xuan, internally, had begun building a shopping list in alphabetical order.
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