The elders’ discussion ended not with arguments, but with silence.
In the inner hall of the Long Clan, the lamps burned low. Long Meiyun sat with her hands folded, gaze distant. Xing Lianchen leaned against a pillar, eyes closed, while Xing Liuyue stood by the open doors, watching the courtyard beyond.
Outside, five boys were laughing.
Their voices rang clear and careless, cutting through the heaviness like sunlight breaking through storm clouds. Long Tianyao chased Huo Yulian around the stone steps. Feng Jinluo pretended to be stern while Long Jianxu mocked him mercilessly. Xing Hanxu stood between them, smiling softly, trying—and failing—to keep order.
They were loud. Messy. Alive.
Liuyue’s fingers tightened slightly at his side.
“They don’t know,” Long Meiyun said quietly, as if reading his thoughts. “And perhaps… for now, that is mercy.”
Liuyue didn’t turn. His gaze remained fixed on the children.
“They are standing at the edge of a blade,” he replied. “Laughing, because they do not yet see the blood.”
The room fell silent again.
Then, softly—so softly it barely seemed like sound—Xing Liuyue spoke, his voice carrying the weight of centuries:
“The world has always been cruel,42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS49wABI1Tf
yet children still learn to laugh.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZjLNiuGHQl
Storms gather where songs are sung,42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2XmNIm4Ci
and blades are forged where hands once held flowers.If heaven truly had mercy,42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc247bgCO9H
it would let them remain ignorant forever.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7bcG0cp9kv
But fate… never grants such kindness.”
Behind him, the laughter outside grew louder.
Liuyue closed his eyes.
“For now,” he said, turning back to the elders, “we let them part as children. The next time they meet… they may no longer be.”
The Parting
Morning came too quickly.
At the Long Clan gates, the five boys stood in an awkward line, bags slung over shoulders, expressions unreadable.
“So,” Yulian said, arms crossed, forcing a grin, “who’s going to miss me the most?”
“Your noise?” Jinluo replied flatly. “All of us.”
Tianyao laughed. “I’ll miss your stupidity.”
Jianxu added calmly, “Statistically, chaos increases by when you are present.”
Yulian gasped, clutching his chest. “Traitors. All of you.”
Hanxu stepped forward, eyes moving over them—memorizing. He didn’t know why his chest felt tight, only that something precious was slipping through his fingers.
“We’ll meet again,” he said, quietly but firmly.
“When?” Tianyao asked.
Hanxu smiled faintly. “When the world needs us to.”
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then Yulian pulled Hanxu into a sudden, crushing hug. “Don’t get boring without me.”
Jinluo joined, then Tianyao, then Jianxu. It became a tangled mess of limbs, complaints, and laughter.
“Oi—don’t squish him—”42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMqGKMGJ9c
“Who stepped on my foot?”42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv8bmQCva7p
“Let go, you idiots—”
When they finally separated, no one looked directly at each other.
One by one, they turned away.
Huo Yulian left first, waving over his shoulder without looking back.
Feng Jinluo followed with his grandfather.
The Long twins stayed behind, standing tall beneath their clan’s banners.
Xing Hanxu walked away with his father and grand-uncle, not daring to turn around.
None of them knew when they would meet again.
and then Add to home screen.