Lan Xueyi's secret meeting with Shen Li
"The moment you choose someone over your orders, you become someone new. That's the first betrayal—and the first truth."
— Frostveil Maxim (Redacted)
The forge above had sealed behind them again, and night cloaked Emberheart in uneasy silence.
Shen Li stood at the balcony outside his quarters, robes still dark from ash and leyline dust. The forge's lingering heat clung to his skin, but his eyes were distant—focused on the horizon, where lightning flickered behind the northern peaks.
He didn't turn when he heard her approach.
He didn't need to.
"I thought you were with Elder Yun," Lan Xueyi said quietly, stepping into the half-light beside him.
"I was," he replied. "He's meditating to suppress the spiritual backlash. The soul-flame's memory… it fought him."
A pause.
Then he asked without looking at her, "Did you follow me to say you told me so?"
Lan shook her head. "No."
He turned now. Her expression was unreadable. Calm, poised.
But her hands trembled—barely.
He noticed.
"What happened?" he asked.
She hesitated. The words clawed their way past everything Frostveil had trained into her.
"I overheard Elder Kaiyuan in the upper archives," she said. "He's drafting a petition to disqualify you as heir. Citing the release of Yi Wuren as treason against sect law."
Shen Li's jaw clenched.
Of course. He had expected resistance. But not so soon. Not this.
"They'll try me for doing what my father left unfinished," he said bitterly. "And they'll call it justice."
"They'll call it order," Lan replied, "and many will believe it."
She stepped closer now, voice low. Urgent.
"He's moving fast. He plans to leak word of the seal's breach before dawn. By morning, the outer council will demand a formal inquiry."
Shen Li turned fully to face her. "And what are you doing, Xueyi?"
She didn't answer right away.
His voice lowered, quieter now. "Your duty is to observe. Report. Not interfere."
"I know," she said.
Silence stretched between them.
"I broke my orders," she finally said, eyes locked with his. "I broke them for you."
He blinked once. Slowly.
His expression didn't change, but something flickered in his qi—like a tightly bound flame momentarily flaring too hot.
"Why?" he asked.
Lan's breath caught.
"For the sect?" he offered. "For fear of what he'll do next?"
She shook her head.
"For you."
The words left her like something unburied.
Then, softer: "I don't know when it happened. Maybe the night you stood alone before the Flame Mirror. Maybe before. But I believe in what you're trying to do. And I won't watch them gut you for it."
Shen Li stepped closer, barely a foot between them now.
Lan's pulse quickened. His voice was steady, but laced with something quieter, more dangerous.
"Then we're both traitors now."
Lan looked up into his eyes. The fire behind them. The burden. The hurt.
"You were never the one betraying anyone," she said. "They just never deserved you."
A wind rose, scattering a few crimson leaves across the stone balcony. From somewhere deep below, the mountain rumbled faintly—Yi Wuren stirring again.
Lan stepped back.
"I'll stall the outer elders," she said. "Buy you a day. Maybe less. But whatever you're going to do—do it before Kaiyuan binds your hands with law and flame."
Shen Li gave her the faintest nod.
And before she turned to vanish into the mist, he said, just loud enough for her to hear:
"Thank you… for choosing me."
She didn't respond.
But her steps faltered, once.
That was enough