THE SYSTEM IS NOT MINE

The Sun was hiding behind the salt water.

Its rays fell on the edge of a cliff where the sea deepened without warning. At the remote place, fishing boats were rare and no lanterns marked the shoreline except the wind and the slow drag of waves against stone.

The black wool sack lay at his feet.

Yan checked the knots once then he wrapped the rope around his forearm and pushed the bundle over the cliff.

It struck the rock face once.

Slowly, the rope slid steadily through his palm as the rays fell on the bag, and illuminated it as if the entire world was focused on the black bag.

The bag halted for a second before it almost reached the sea.

Then it resumed the fall at a slow pace.

The sea accepted it without resistance.

When the tension softened, he knew it had reached the water.

When the rope finally became less heavier, he released it.The remaining length slipped from his hand and vanished beneath the dark surface.

Yan waited.

The water moved for a while, waves formed, disturbed by the descent and after sometime, the surface regained the calm.

Only then did he turn.

Hours Ago

She realised but it was too late. The liquid touched her tongue.Her fingers tightened around the cup.

A faint line appeared between her brows.

Her breathing shortened.

Then her eyes lifted toward him.

“Yan…”

Tan Suzi’s voice barely carried.

Her throat moved again, but no sound came out because it could not.

Understanding reached her before the poison did.

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Her hand caught his sleeve, gripping hard enough to crease the cloth.

She recognised.

Her body trembled once.

Then again.

He caught her before she struck the floor.

Her pulse fluttered weakly beneath his fingers.

For a moment, her gaze remained fixed on him.

Then it emptied.

Yan lowered her gently.He closed her eyes as the sun dipped slowly toward the sea.Yan worked without hurry.

Everything that could identify her was removed.

Ring.

Token.

Outer robe.

Each buried separately.

The soil near the trees was loose and dark. It yielded easily beneath his hands.

He pressed the earth flat when he finished.

Dirt gathered beneath his fingernails.

He did not wipe it away.

For a moment, memory surfaced.

Ren promised him to give the sword

Tan Suzi siding to the side where she shouldn’t have.

He had almost believed he could keep both.

The wind shifted.

Yan flexed his fingers. Dry soil cracked against his knuckles.

“You were wrong,” he said quietly.

He did not specify to whom.

The tide began its slow return.

Yan walked away.

Far from the coast, steel clashed across a field stained dark with blood.

The lone soldier stood surrounded.

His armor was broken. Blood ran down his sleeve.

Around him stood more than a dozen cultivators.

Each held a drawn sword.

Each watched him with the patience of hunters closing in.

The soldier tightened his grip on his blade.

He lunged and pierced through one man.

Another staggered back with a broken jaw but numbers pressed from every side.

A sword flashed toward his ribs, another toward his throat and another toward his spine.

”So this is it”

He closed his eyes.

Death approached from all directions.

Then

Nothing happened, nothing hit him.

The soldier opened his eyes again.The swords had stopped but the men surrounding him had not.

They stood frozen for a heartbeat and then their blades moved.

Not toward him but toward each other.

Steel pierced flesh.

One throat opened.

Another sword drove through a chest.

Bodies collapsed across the ground.

Within seconds, every attacker lay dead.

The soldier stood alone among them.

He stared down at the corpses, he noticed.

Beside several bodies lay small stones.

Pebbles.

Each resting near the hilt of a sword.

And then he heard the sound.

Slow Footsteps approached from behind.

The soldier turned.

A figure walked calmly across the battlefield.

Dust moved gently around his steps.

Recognition appeared instantly in the soldier’s eyes.

Respect followed.

He straightened despite the blood running down his armor.

“General Yan.”

Yan stopped a few paces away and looked at the soldier once.

Then asked calmly, “What’s the status?”