Here is Chapter Three (around 500 words) 🔥⚔️
Blood Ties: When Trust Breaks
Chapter Three — Exile Beneath the Ashen Sky
Snow swallowed the northern wilderness.
For three days, Yun Jian walked without stopping.
Blood had dried stiff against his sleeve. His shoulder burned where an arrow had grazed him. Each breath felt like inhaling knives, yet he did not allow himself to fall.
If he fell, he would die.
If he died, the Yun name would vanish completely.
The forest stretched endlessly—black trees clawing at a gray sky. By the fourth night, exhaustion finally betrayed him. His vision blurred. His knees buckled.
He collapsed into the snow.
Darkness followed.
When Jian opened his eyes again, he was no longer in the forest.
A wooden ceiling loomed above him. The faint scent of herbs filled the air.
“You’re awake.”
The voice was old but steady.
Jian tried to sit up, but pain shot through his side.
A man stood near the doorway—tall despite his age, dressed in plain gray robes. His hair was tied loosely, streaked with silver. A sword rested against the wall behind him.
Not decorative.
Used.
“You were fortunate,” the old man said. “Another hour in that snow, and even your stubbornness would not have saved you.”
Jian’s voice was rough. “Why help me?”
The man studied him carefully.
“Because you hold your sword hand even while unconscious.”
Jian glanced down. His fingers were indeed curled as if gripping a hilt.
The old man continued, “And because imperial soldiers searched the forest yesterday. They said the Yun clan was executed for treason.”
Silence thickened.
Jian’s jaw tightened. “We were loyal.”
“Loyalty,” the man replied calmly, “is often the first sacrifice in politics.”
Jian forced himself upright despite the pain. “I must return.”
“To die?” the old man asked sharply. “The capital is celebrating your family’s fall. The Crown Prince gains power by removing heroes who might oppose him.”
Jian’s breath stilled.
“And my brother?” he asked quietly.
The old man’s gaze sharpened. “Yun Kaito now serves as commander under the Crown Prince. They say he exposed your father’s treason himself.”
The words felt heavier than any wound.
Jian closed his eyes briefly.
So it was true.
Kaito had not been forced.
He had chosen.
Something inside Jian shifted—not breaking, but hardening.
“I need strength,” Jian said at last. “Enough to cut through the capital itself.”
The old man gave a faint, humorless smile.
“Strength alone will not win against the throne. You need patience. Discipline. And a blade no one expects.”
He walked to the wall and lifted the sword resting there. The scabbard was worn, but the steel gleamed like cold water.
“I was once called Shen Wu,” he said quietly. “Before the empire erased my name.”
Jian looked up sharply.
A fallen general.
Another man betrayed by the court.
“If you seek revenge,” Shen Wu continued, placing the sword before him, “then you must survive long enough to understand your enemy.”
Outside, wind rattled the shutters.
Jian reached for the sword.
The metal felt heavier than his own—but steadier.
“I will not die in the snow,” he said softly.
In the distant capital, Yun Kaito stood at the palace balcony, watching fireworks burst over the city in celebration.
He felt no joy.
Only the faint, persistent sense that somewhere in the vast northern wilderness—
His brother was still alive.
And when Yun Jian returned…
The empire itself would tremble.
For Chapter Four, do you all want:
⚔️ Jian training brutally under Shen Wu
👑 Kaito struggling with guilt inside the palace
🩸 A secret about the forged evidence
🔥 Or the Crown Prince revealing his true cruel nature?
***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***
Updated 19 Episodes
Download
Like this story? Download the app to keep your reading history.
Comments