Tao Mu stood tall, his presence like the calm before a thunderstorm, the breeze still coiling lightly around his form. His gaze rested on the man standing across the clearing—a man with venom in his voice and calm in his fury.
"Long time no see, Yunfan," Tao said, the corner of his mouth curling into a faint, unreadable smile.
Jiang Yunfan didn't return the sentiment. His eyes, sharp and full of suppressed violence, flicked to the sobbing girl kneeling by the mangled corpse of her brother. "Spare me the pleasantries," he said coldly. "I'm taking her with me."
His finger pointed—not at Tao, but past him.
"To save time, let's not pretend. You know if you come after her, I'll melt your student's organs before you can blink." His hand gestured to Lin Shu, who leaned against the bark of a shattered tree, one eye closed from exhaustion, the other locked on them like a wounded beast daring anyone to get close.
Tao Mu's smile didn't waver. "Fair enough," he said softly. He wasn't in a position to argue. Not here. Not now.
They were both toeing the edge of something dangerous—neither allowed to cross into a real fight yet, both on the cusp of breaking through into Rank Two. The balance was delicate, and both knew it. Tao turned slowly, the wind tapering off around him into a gentle breeze. But even Jiang Yunfan understood: a breeze could become a hurricane in an instant.
He moved toward Yuyan, who hadn't lifted her head. Her fingers clutched at the torn fabric of her brother's clothes, hands trembling, lips mouthing prayers or curses—perhaps both.
Lin Shu, still kneeling, exhaled through clenched teeth and cut off the activation of the Burning Vein Art just before it bloomed. He couldn't risk Tao Mu recognizing it.
Tao glanced back at him. "Why's she crying?"
Lin Shu's voice was dry. "I killed her brother. Turns out there were two young masters, not one." His blood-smeared face remained expressionless, but his words were edged, a subtle accusation buried underneath.
Tao Mu chuckled. "I see. So they fed you incomplete inte."
He didn't deny it. He didn't apologize either. "That's war, isn't it? You assume the enemy has more than you know since anything can happen in war. But don't worry," he added with a faint smirk, "your reward will be more than generous after all you faught Two high-stage opponents as a mid-stage, and you survived and even managed to kill one of them along with their subordinates and would've probably killed yuyan from the state i saw her in if jiang yunfan didn't save her from you so i can count that for you to be fair so you didn't do badly."
Lin Shu didn't respond. His body was wrecked, and though he had taken several pills to restore his Qi and slow the bleeding, he was still far from recovered. Still, he forced himself upright, dragging what strength remained into his limbs. The moment Tao Mu turned away again, Lin Shu shifted just slightly, hiding the berserker's Brand pill and then putting in his spacial ring he pulled it out earlier in case he had to fight anyone of these mighty peak stage cultivators.
Meanwhile, Yunfan lifted Yuyan off the ground. She resisted, her hands still reaching blindly for Junxi's corpse, whispering something incoherent between sobs. With an impatient sigh, Yunfan pulled out a spatial ring and sealed Junxi's body inside. Lin Shu watched her shatter in silence.
Then Yunfan turned to him.
"You'd better sleep with one eye open boy." he said.
There was no threat in his tone—only the certainty of inevitability. He didn't have to declare war. The look he gave Lin Shu said it all: The Jiang Clan will always be after you.
Tao Mu chuckled again, unconcerned. "Well. Looks like you've made some new enemies. Tell me everything, Lin Shu. I want a full report of what happened—from the moment the mission began until your fight with the siblings."
Lin Shu, bleeding, worn, but alive, said nothing for a moment. He stared at the place where Junxi had fallen. Then, with a breath like broken glass, he looked up at Tao Mu and said:
"They said there was one young master," he began, the bitterness in his voice sharp enough to cut. "One. Not two. No mention of Junxi or Yuyan both being there. No mention of the many items that were extremely dangerous and should be a must to include in most missions such as the black prison bindings i almost died because of that."
Tao Mu didn't interrupt. He watched with that calm, unreadable gaze of his, hands clasped behind his back, his robe fluttering gently in the breeze.
"And my team," Lin Shu went on, chuckling dryly trying to appear as the victim as much as he can, "they ran. After I bought them time. After I held off the two young masters alone. I even helped them during their fight, believe it or not. They only had four low-stage cultivators to deal with, and I still stepped in."
A lie—but one Lin Shu delivered like truth, with the weary conviction of someone betrayed.
"They left me," he said simply, "after I gave everything. Cowards."
Tao Mu turned slightly, eyes drifting over the battlefield—the craters of melted earth, the dying trees still steaming from the toxic mist, the crushed bones scattered like splinters of white glass. He didn't need to say he believed most of it. The land itself confirmed enough.
"You fought both Junxi and Yuyan?" Tao finally asked.
Lin Shu nodded, allowing a flicker of fatigue to show. "Yuyan only survived because Jiang Yunfan dropped from the sky like some ghost out of nightmare. If I had ten more seconds, her corpse would be beside her brother's."
Tao Mu's brow lifted faintly, but his face betrayed no judgment. "not bad."
He paused, considering Lin Shu. "Actually… better than not bad. You've impressed me, Lin Shu. You've done more than expected on every mission, your performance was Efficient you were always Focused and Cold in your actions." A glint of interest passed through his gaze. "You remind me of someone i know."
For a moment, there was silence as Lin Shu acted interested"and who might that be"tao mu then said"a student of ours who's now at the Stormbreak sect he is quite the prodigy maybe you'll meet him some day".
Then Tao Mu's eyes narrowed just slightly, as if weighing something heavier than Lin Shu's mission report.
He saw through some of the lies, of course. The embellishments. Maybe one or two reshaped events. But he didn't really care after all what student wouldn't try to claim a larger slice of glory—especially after bleeding this much for it? In truth, it didn't matter. The battlefield said more than Lin Shu's words ever could.
Still, Tao Mu's thoughts were colder beneath the surface, and he did not share them.
"His file says his talent is rank one the lowest tier there is for a cultivator. A pebble on the road. He posses oo special bloodline nor does he have secret art that we know of. Nothing that justifies investment. He's not the future of the institute. At best, he's a blade we can use once or twice before it dulls and breaks."
But despite that, Tao couldn't quite look away from the boy. From what he'd done. From what he was becoming.
"His instincts, his ruthlessness, his discipline—all born in blood. And more refined than most prodigies with triple his talent. He reminds me of Xie Lang—minus the flare. Or Han Yi—if Han Yi had the stomach for uglier decisions. Maybe even Han Lei, though Lei still hesitates when morality gets in the way. This one doesn't. Lin Shu walks the battlefield like a child raised by knives. Ruthless without apology."
Tao glanced down at the youth, almost broken but refusing to break.
"If he had even a rank three talent, he'd be unstoppable. But no. He's a child born in chains, clever enough to see the cage, just not strong enough to shatter it. His value won't last long. A tool for this war, nothing more. His name won't survive a decade. But for now, we can keep him alive, let him fight—and when he burns out, we toss the ashes aside like every other expendable."
Yet even in that cold calculus, something in Tao stirred—a reluctant respect he had to give the boy the respect he earned through his own blood.
He spoke at last, his voice low. "The mission report will reflect your contribution. I'll handle the rest."
Lin Shu gave a small nod. He didn't say thank you.