Weapon seller in the world of magic

For years, those yellow crystals remained safe and steady. But tonight, one crystal was missing.

The guards froze. One swallowed hard, while the other stepped forward, staring at the empty gap left in the rotating formation. The missing crystal left a small ripple in the air, the faint energy trembling, as if mourning its departure.

”H–Hey... where did the one on the right go?” one guard whispered, voice tight.

The other frowned. ”It didn’t fall. It would’ve shattered. This one... vanished.”

A long, tense silence followed, and both men exchanged a nervous look.

”We need to report this. Immediately,” the first guard said.

”To whom?” the second asked.

”The Patriarch, of course. Who else?”

The first guard hesitated at that. His lips twitched before he leaned closer and whispered, ”You mean the current Patriarch? Hah, do you really want to go tell him that one of his elders died on his first day in power?”

The second guard blinked rapidly, suddenly imagining Mark glaring at him with that same terrifying gaze he used on the Fourteenth Prince. His face paled. ”Right. He... is a bit fierce.”

”And crazy enough to go against the imperial family in broad daylight,” the first guard added with a shudder. ”Do you think he’ll be calm about an elder dying under his rule? He will turn the entire clan upside down in rage. And everyone will suffer because of it.”

”Probably...” the second conceded.

The first guard snapped his fingers as if discovering a heavenly secret. ”Let’s inform Former Patriarch. He’ll handle it calmly.”

The second guard shook his head violently. ”No way! If we report to him first, the current Patriarch will think we aren’t loyal. And then he’ll kill us in our sleep.”

Both men stared at each other in mutual terror.

”Grand Elder Yuxuan?” the second guard finally suggested.

The first guard nodded vigorously. ”Yes! Yes! That’s safe. She’s calm. Mature. Won’t kill us. And she is also Lady Xia’s master.”

”Good,” the other exhaled. ”Let’s go.”

And so they did.

Grand Elder Lan Yuxuan listened silently as the two guards knelt and reported the missing elder life-crystal. Her eyes narrowed faintly, not in panic, but in deep suspicion.

She dismissed the guards and immediately summoned all elders through a fast-transmission talisman. Her voice was calm, but her heart had tightened. No elder dies quietly. No crystal disappears without violence. And no event of this scale was ever ignored.

When Mark received the summons, he was in his room, still in his sleep, and for a moment, he simply stared at the message as if amused. Then a slow smile tugged at his lips. He stretched lazily, as if waking from a nap, and remarked softly to himself, ”So... they finally noticed.”

He left his residence calmly and followed the escort toward the Elder Hall, each step sounding soft yet unfazed.

When he arrived, he found a room full of familiar faces. Some elders looked tense, some visibly surprised, a few pale from anxiety, and some tried to mask their nervousness with forced politeness.

Lan Xia stood among them as well, her usual cold mask in place. She didn’t show him a smile, nor any hint of intimacy, not here, not during an official summons. She simply bowed in greeting, showing an image of proper discipline, though Mark caught the faint flicker in her eyes that belonged to someone who wanted to cling to him but couldn’t.

All the elders lowered their heads when he entered. ”Patriarch.”

Mark nodded once, expression calm but not warm. As he walked further inside, he noticed one particular absence. His brows pinched slightly. ”Where is my great grandpa?” he asked aloud, his tone relaxed but edged with something unreadable. ”He’s a Grand Elder, too. Why isn’t he here? And what about Grand Elder Lan Ming?”

Lan Yuxuan answered without hesitation. ”I did not summon the grand elders. Only the elders and the Patriarch were called.”

An eyebrow twitched upward on Mark’s face. He didn’t comment further.

Instead, he walked straight toward the seat of authority prepared for him and sat down slowly, letting the room settle into silence before he spoke again.

”So,” he said, crossing one leg over the other. ”What happened that it couldn’t wait until morning? You summoned everyone at night, which usually means something urgent... or something stupid.”

Lan Yuxuan inhaled softly, folding her hands behind her back. ”A yellow crystal went missing. One of the elder life-markers.”

Mark tilted his head slightly. ”And you summoned me because you think someone murdered an elder tonight? Who is it?”

His tone was casual, almost conversational, yet the atmosphere around him shifted, becoming subtly heavier.

Lan Yuxuan kept her hands folded behind her back, speaking. ”Elder Meiran’s servants claim he stepped out earlier tonight, barely half an hour ago... and then the crystal vanished.”

A faint ripple of glances spread across the chamber. Several elders glanced in Mark’s direction, subtly but noticeably, as if hunting for a reaction.

Mark didn’t flinch. He didn’t tense or blink. He just stretched his legs slightly and said with that same calm tone, ”So it’s Elder Meiran, huh? Well... that’s unfortunate.”

He tapped the armrest lightly, but glanced at certain elders whose names Meiran revealed before his death. They sure were looking at him nervously.

And then Mark acted as if he had nothing to do with it and asked, ”Did you check the surrounding areas? He was old. His strength has been slipping for years. I even heard he dropped back to the first stage of Transcendent recently. Perhaps he was trying to restore his cultivation and swallowed something he couldn’t handle?”

Several elders exchanged looks. A few nodded slowly, as if the explanation held some merit. Mark’s gaze drifted around the room deliberately, as if measuring every twitch, every shift of posture.

”Anyway,” he added, ”investigate Elder Meiran’s activities for the past few days. Who he saw. Who he spoke to. What he purchased. Everything.”

The elders lowered their heads one by one. ”Yes, Patriarch.”

Yuxuan, however, didn’t back down so easily. She narrowed her eyes, her voice edged with suspicion. ”So... are we ruling out the possibility of assassination entirely?”

Mark gave a firm shake of his head. ”No way. That’s exactly why I said investigate. If we know what he did, we can see who had a grudge against him to the point of daring to kill him.”

He leaned forward a little, elbows on his knees, lowering his voice into something sharper. ”First of all, the imperial family wouldn’t waste time killing Elder Meiran. If they wanted to assassinate someone, they’d go after an active elder... or someone close to me.”

His eyes slid briefly toward Lan Xia.

She instantly tensed, a faint blush coloring her ears before she forced it away, straightening her posture until she looked like a statue.

Mark continued without pause. ”If this is an assassination, then the killer must have a personal grudge against Elder Meiran. And for someone to kill him quietly and this fast, the assassin must be at least a first-stage Transcendent. Either that or they must have divine artifacts too. Or have a terrifying talent like me.”

The elders murmured at that, faces shifting uneasily. The traitorous elders stiffened when Mark said that, implying that even he could be the murderer.

”So,” Mark then said, straightening his back and lifting his chin, ”check internal conflicts. Find out who he argued with, what feuds he held, and whether anyone in the clan stood to benefit from his death. Everything.”

Silence filled the hall for a moment.

Then he dropped another stone into the pond.

”Until the results of the investigation come out,” he declared, ”no elder is allowed to leave the clan estate.”

Instantly, the room rippled with quiet gasps. Some elders stiffened with offense, others frowned deeply as if the command struck too close to their pride. But Mark didn’t soften. He let them stew for a breath or two before he added calmly, ”It’s for the security of the clan. And my order is final.”

They bowed reluctantly. ”Yes, Patriarch.”

Mark relaxed back into his seat and exhaled as if concluding the matter. But then he paused, glancing over the assembled crowd with a strange gleam in his eyes, and said, ”Oh. Since we’re gathered anyway... I have one more announcement.”

The elders tensed instantly. Some looked like they were praying to ancient gods for mercy.

Mark shifted his gaze toward Lan Xia, who kept her expression neutral, but he saw the tiny spark in her eyes, that brief moment where her breath paused as he said, ”My wedding with Lan Xia...”

Mark announced in a clear, unwavering voice, ”It will commence in three days. Prepare the arrangements.”

The hall erupted at once, in surprise,