The early morning mist clung to the narrow alleys of Baojing like a second skin.
Vendors yawned and opened shop doors. Street sweepers passed, their brooms whispering along cobblestones.
But in the Southern Quarter, the smoke had not lifted since dawn.
Tang Yun'er crouched on a rooftop, peering through a spyglass.
Below, the Incense Sparrow Teahouse burned.
She watched the flames curl up from the second floor, where the hidden chamber once lay—a neutral meeting place for lesser sect emissaries and rogue cultivators. Wuyin had told her about it. A quiet place. Useful.
Not anymore.
Yun'er narrowed her eyes. She recognized the scorch patterns. Controlled ignition, multiple starting points. Precision.
Not bandits.
Cultists.
She pressed two fingers to the jade talisman on her hip. A faint flicker of Wuyin's qi pulsed in response across the link.
"Trouble," she muttered.
Then leapt from the rooftop.
---
When Lin Wuyin arrived at the scene, it was already cordoned off by the city constables.
Yun'er met her near the alley behind the teahouse.
"Twelve dead. All martial-affiliated," she reported. "No survivors. Looks like they were caught in a smoke charm—knocked unconscious before the fire started."
"Silent," Wuyin muttered. "Efficient. Like they wanted no eyes watching what they took."
"They took something?" Yun'er asked.
Wuyin didn't answer immediately. She stepped into the half-burnt ruins.
She walked the steps blindfolded—in her mind—like she was retracing a memory.
There. That scent. Beneath the char.
Not blood. Not tea.
Ink.
She moved to the scorched eastern wall and pried loose a charred wooden panel.
Behind it lay a hidden compartment, now empty.
But the traces of an energy-seal were still warm.
She nodded slowly.
A map," Wuyin said. "Old. From before the dynasties unified. It marked all the lost cultivation grounds between the Jade Forest and the Northern Wastes."
Yun'er narrowed her eyes. "How do you know that?"
"I stole it a few months ago. Before I met Yujin. Sold it to a teahouse broker when I needed coin."
"…You sold a map that could lead to ancient martial inheritances?"
"I memorized it first."
Yun'er exhaled through her nose and rubbed her temple. "Of course you did."
---
Three Days Ago — On the Road to Baojing
They found her surrounded by corpses.
Tang Yun'er stood barefoot in a shallow stream, a rusted sabre in one hand, her arm dripping blood. Six men lay around her—broken, silent.
Yujin had hesitated. Wuyin didn't.
"She's breathing," Wuyin said. "That's enough."
Yun'er had raised her eyes slowly, wary and exhausted. "You're not here to finish me off?"
"No," Wuyin said. "But if you swing that blade again, I won't be as polite."
Yun'er barked a laugh. "Polite isn't the word I'd use for the woman who just stepped on my shoulder wound."
"Your wound should've stayed still."
Yujin had interrupted then, voice calm. "We saw your wanted posters. The Iron Tiger Gate thinks you betrayed their heir."
"I did," Yun'er had said, spitting blood. "Because he sold children like cattle."
Silence.
Then Wuyin said, "What do you want now?"
Yun'er had looked at her, eyes hard. "A new sword. A bath. And people worth killing for."
Yujin glanced at Wuyin. "What do you think?"
"I think she's got a decent left hook."
"I kicked him," Yun'er muttered.
"Even better."
---
Back at the Bai estate, Yujin read the report from the city guard in silence.
"Second incident in two days," she said. "They're getting bolder."
Wuyin leaned against the windowsill, arms folded. "They've realized we're not passive. That means they'll strike harder next."
"I've sent word to our ships," Yujin said. "No merchant vessels are to leave Baojing. If they're trying to smuggle ritual materials, we cut them off."
Wuyin gave her a nod of approval.
"You're calmer than I expected," she said.
"I was raised with fire around me," Yujin replied. "I don't flinch from smoke."
Wuyin turned her head slightly. "Did you ever wonder… if part of you carries the same flame?"
Yujin paused.
Then, in a quiet voice, she said, "Every day."
---
That evening, beneath the willow trees of the Bai estate's inner garden, the three women met—Wuyin, Yun'er, and Yujin.
The lanterns glowed dimly around them.
"They're moving fast," Yun'er said. "We need to hit them back. Hard. Scare them into crawling underground again."
"No," Wuyin said.
Yun'er frowned. "You've never backed down from a fight."
"This isn't a fight," Wuyin replied. "It's a message war. And we're losing because we're playing by their rhythm."
She plucked a lotus leaf from the water.
"Tomorrow, I'm going to make them afraid."
Yujin met her gaze.
"How?"
Wuyin's lips curved into a dangerous smile.
"I'm going to pay a visit to their whisper nest."
Yun'er looked up sharply. "You know where it is?"
"Not exactly. But I know someone who does."
"Who?" Yujin asked.
Wuyin's eyes glinted in the lantern light.
"A man who owes me his life. Or at least, the last three of his teeth."