🍁🍂 A Cozy Spring Sale is Live Now on Patreon! 🛍️🔥
Discount: 15%
Code: C763C
***********************************
Guan Dong Liu, who had been trying to restrain him, faltered. He saw the tears. The pain in his son's eyes. The complete destruction of spirit. He staggered back a step, dazed. He no longer knew what to say.
Across the room, Jun Mo Xie remained standing.
A hint of unease passed through his usually smug expression.
This brat… he's actually gone mad… He thought silently. He's really in love with Yue'er… head over heels doesn't even begin to describe it...
He hadn't expected such a violent, all-consuming reaction.
Jun Mo Xie had intended to provoke, to fluster, to entertain himself a little perhaps—but this was no longer a ga.
Guan Qing Yue's reaction had gone far beyond anger. This was the madness of obsession, the fury of betrayal, the scream of a soul torn in two.
Damn... now things have gotten way more complicated.
The hall, monts ago buzzing with laughter and the clinking of wine cups, had plunged into a silence so heavy it felt like a tomb.
It was as though a blizzard had swept through the Jun residence, turning the air icy cold and still. The warmth of the al, the fragrance of wine, the flicker of the lanterns—everything seed frozen in ti.
The entire atmosphere had been transford in an instant into the deathly stillness of a cold winter's night.
Jun Zhan Tian's face, earlier alive with good humor, now resembled a stone carving—cold, heavy, unyielding.
Jun Wu Yi's eyes, calm and observant, narrowed to slits, and a pressure slowly began to emanate from his body. It wasn't overt—but it was terrifying.
This wasn't just about an insult anymore. It was a threat.
Inside the Jun residence...
In front of Jun Zhan Tian...
In front of Jun Wu Yi...
Soone was actually threatening to kill Jun Mo Xie?
The only heir of the Jun Family?
The last bloodline of an aristocratic lineage that stood above most nobles in the empire?
A guest—no, a junior—from another house, in the middle of a family banquet, had sworn to commit murder against the host family's future?
If this story ever left the four walls of this room, it would be the laughingstock of the entire Tian Xiang Empire. No, worse—it would be considered a scandal, a disgrace that would forever stain the honor of both families.
Yet the farce had already taken place. This outrageous mockery was already unfolding within the sacred walls of the Jun household, witnessed by every mber present.
The very air crackled with the tension.
One word from either side, and blood would be spilled.
"You will apologize to the son of Jun right now!" Guan Dong Liu roared, voice thick with emotion. "Do you understand what you've done?!"
"I will not apologize!" Guan Qing Yue spat back, his voice hoarse but unyielding. His jaw was clenched, his eyes locked on Jun Mo Xie with unwavering defiance. "I haven't said anything wrong!"
His body trembled—not with fear, but with the sheer weight of conviction.
Then, straightening himself like a proud warrior before the battlefield, he raised his chin and proclaid in a voice that thundered through the chamber:
"Jun Mo Xie! As a man to a man... I challenge you to a duel!"
A stunned silence followed.
And then Jun Mo Xie laughed.
It wasn't loud, but it was piercing. That slight, bewildered smile on his lips was sharp enough to cut steel, and his eyes twinkled—not with amusent, but with cold disdain. He tilted his head, clearly playing the fool, as if he truly couldn't understand the reason for such a declaration.
"Duel? Why ah?" He asked in mock innocence, blinking slowly. His voice dripped with sarcasm. "There is no point in my saying anything to you, Brother Qing Yue."
And then the smile disappeared. The edge in his voice turned unmistakable.
"You're really a tragic man. Lucky for you that Qing Han is your sister... or else..." He paused for a heartbeat. "Anyone who joined hands with my enemies… even death would be considered my rcy to such people."
The temperature in the room dropped again.
A chill seeped into the walls.
Jun Wu Yi's sharp gaze slid to his nephew, brow furrowing. "...Is the second son of the Guan family involved?"
Jun Mo Xie turned his eyes back to Guan Qing Yue and chuckled again. This ti it wasn't forced. It was genuine pity. He pointed at the young man casually, almost lazily.
"What a foolish man," He said, the amusent now laced with venom. "Used by a woman... and still willing to defend her like this... ha!"
The words were like salt on a raw wound.
Guan Qing Bo and Guan Qing Han—still young, still inexperienced in the cruel intricacies of the world—took longer to fully digest the truth behind the exchange. But as the implications began to click into place in their minds, their expressions darkened and confusion gave way to shock... then to a heavy, suffocating silence.
Guan Dong Liu's sigh echoed like a lant from a defeated general on a battlefield littered with the corpses of his dreams.
His shoulders slumped slightly, and his eyes dimd with sorrow. His gaze rested on the stubborn face of his son—once so full of potential, promise, and brilliance—and he suddenly felt unspeakably tired.
In just two short days since they had arrived in Tian Xiang City, the carefully grood image and future of his family's second son had crumbled into dust. And now, within the halls of one of the most powerful and feared families in the empire, he had not only insulted their sole heir… he had gone so far as to threaten his life.
There was no recovering from this.
"You idiot," Guan Dong Liu said quietly, his voice no longer filled with anger, but sadness—a hollow, disillusioned sound that seed to co from the depths of a father's broken heart. "You've been used by that cheap woman all along..."
His words hung in the air like a funeral bell tolling.
"Qing Yue, I never expected that soone as sharp, as quick-witted as you... would fall so deeply into such a lousy trap." His voice was like a dying fla, weak and flickering. "Do you even realize where we are right now? This is Tian Xiang City! These walls—these people—do not tolerate foolishness."
"I know!" Guan Qing Yue barked, his voice cracking under the strain. "Of course I know!"
His face twisted, pain and defiance mingling into a grotesque mask. The proud, handso features were now marred by agony, eyes bloodshot, mouth trembling, skin pale. He looked less like the promising scion of the Guan family and more like a soul on the edge of ruin.
"She used !" He shouted. "Back in the East... more than once... she used every ti!"
A collective shiver ran through the hall.
"But every ti... I knew! I KNEW she was using !" His voice cracked with emotion, with a rawness that silenced even the air itself. "But you don't understand... you don't know how good it felt each ti she used !"
His voice was no longer that of a noble son. It was the howl of a man who had lost everything.
"I was willing! I let her use ! Because when she used ... it ant I mattered! It ant I had value!" He laughed—a twisted, hollow laugh that echoed off the walls like the cackling of a man possessed. "If I'm not of use to her... then what am I?! Another rich boy with a na?!"
His fists clenched so tightly that blood seeped from his palms.
"I allowed her to use !!" He shouted again, as if daring the heavens themselves to judge him for it.
The weight of his words slamd into the room like a landslide. No one dared speak. Not a breath, not a whisper.
Two thin lines of tears stread down from his eyes.
They glistened like silver threads in the candlelight.
--- ✦ ✦ ✦ ---
📢 Author's Note 📢
If you're enjoying this story and want more chapters right now, I invite you to check out my Patreon. There you'll find:
✅ Daily updates – never miss a day of new content
✅ Advanced chapters – read far ahead of public releases
✅ Exclusive perks & extras – only available to patrons
Your support not only gives you early access but also helps dedicate more ti to writing and expanding this story. Every reader who joins makes a huge difference.
👉 Dive into more chapters today: patreon/Myth_Valley
Let's keep the adventure alive! 🔥📚✨
User Comments
0 comments from readers