The palace corridors went silent.
Lan walked alone, his boots clacking against marble floors polished far more than they had any reason to. Behind him, the throne room still lingered with the aftermath of his sentencing—nobles whispering, Duke Veyl gloating, his father's cold gaze burning into his back.
It didn't matter, especially not now.
He had thirty days.
Thirty days to prepare for exile in a territory that had killed better men than he was.
A smile curved his lips, slowly.
He reached his chambers.
Lan slammed the door shut behind him, the sound final as a tomb sealing. His chambers, was usually one of quiet humiliation, but now it felt like a war room.
He strode to the window, throwing open the curtains. Below, the capital stretched—glittering rise of spires and smoke, its streets teeming with lives that would never know his name unless he made them know it.
"Ranevia," he murmured.
A death sentence? Perhaps.
No, it most certainly was.
Ranevia was the land of the lawless, mercs and bastards who did not kneel to anyone, not the king nor the Emperor.
There was also the issue of mana beasts that seemed to hunt the territory's inhabitants persistently, it went without saying that those who survived there were far from ordinary.
But Xie Wuchen had crawled out of worse graves.
A knock interrupted his thoughts.
"Enter."
The door creaked open, revealing Lady Seraphine. Her usual composure was frayed at the edges, her fingers clutching a medical satchel too tightly.
"You're alive," she said.
"Disappointed?"
"Fascinated." She stepped inside, shutting the door with her hip. "The entire court expected you to beg. Or at least show fear."
Lan turned from the window. "Fear is for men who haven't met death." He tapped his temple. "I know him well."
She wouldn't understand what he meant, he knew that. Yet, he felt the need to tell someone.
Seraphine's gaze dropped to his abdomen—where beneath bandages, his first cleansed meridian hummed with newborn qi.
"You're different."
"And you're observant."
"I'm your physician. It's my job to notice when my patient starts smiling at his execution." She set the satchel on his desk with deliberate calm. "Ranevia has no healers. If you take wounds there, you'll rot from the inside out and die."
Lan crossed his arms. "Are you volunteering to join me, Lady Seraphine?"
Her laugh was sharp as a scalpel. "Not even if you were the last prince in the Empire." She withdrew a vial of emerald liquid—thick, swirling with mana. "But I did steal this from the royal alchemist. One dose of Everleaf Elixir. It'll seal a gut wound long enough to scream your last regrets."
Lan took the vial, rolling it between his fingers.
"How thoughtful."
"Practical." Her eyes narrowed. "What are you planning, Your Highness?"
The title dripped with irony.
Lan pocketed the vial. "To survive."
"Liar."
He grinned.
———
Midnight found Lan seated on the floor, his back against the bed, his breath steady as a metronome would be.
The Frozen Vein Purification technique demanded absolute focus. One misstep, and the cleansing qi could shred his meridians like paper.
But Lan wasn't afraid.
Xie Wuchen had pioneered this stolen method after all.
He exhaled, and the temperature in the room plummeted. Frost spiderwebbed across the floorboards. His skin turned ghostly pale as the technique activated, sending needles of icy energy spiraling through his meridians.
Pain.
Whitehot and relentless.
His muscles locked. His veins stood out like blue wires beneath his skin.
But he pushed deeper.
The second meridian was more stubborn than the first—clogged with what felt like tar, a viscous darkness that resisted the cleansing.
Not natural.
This was sabotage.
Someone had done this to him.
Could it be one of the bastards from his last life?
The realization sent fury burning through the cold. He redoubled his efforts, grinding his teeth until he tasted blood.
Then—
Snap.
The second meridian cleared.
Qi flooded his system like a dam breaking, a torrent of power so intoxicating Lan nearly laughed aloud.
[ Achievement Unlocked: Two Meridians Cleansed ]
[ Reward: Perception (Stage 1) Activated ]
His vision shifted.
Suddenly, he could see the mana and Ki around him—the lazy swirls in the air, the dormant energy in the stones of the palace walls. And when he looked down at his own hands...
Threads of gold.
Pulsing faintly beneath his skin.
Ki.
Dormant.
But not dead.
———
Dawn came too soon.
Lan barely had time to wash the blood from his lips when the knock came.
"Your Highness." A servant's voice, trembling. "The Imperial city envoy has arrived. You're summoned to the courtyard."
Lan stilled.
Imperial?
Now?
He threw on a fresh tunic—black, trimmed with silver—and strapped a dagger to his thigh. A useless weapon against real power, but symbols mattered.
He knew that, understood it.
The courtyard was already crowded when he arrived. Royal guards stood at attention, their spears forming a glittering fence around a figure clad in white and gold.
Envoy Cassian.
The Emperor's favorite hound.
Tall, lean, and sharp as a razor, Cassian looked more scholar than warrior—until you noticed the way his fingers curled around the hilt of his sword, or the way his eyes missed nothing.
"Prince Lanard." Cassian's smile didn't go past his lips. "You've caused quite the stir."
Lan bowed just deep enough to be polite. "I live to entertain."
"A figure is... fascinated by your recent... assertiveness." Cassian stepped closer, his voice dropping. "He wonders if you've finally grown teeth—or if you're just biting blindly."
A test.
Lan met his gaze. "Tell them that my teeth are just fine. It's my claws one should worry about."
For a heartbeat, Cassian's mask slipped—surprise, then something like hunger.
"Ranevia will break you," he murmured.
"I have no doubt it will try."
Cassian laughed, loud enough to startle the watching nobles. "Oh, this is quite the surprise."
He tossed something at Lan—a small silver token engraved with a phoenix. "A gift. For when you realize survival requires... allies."
Then he was gone, his white cloak billowing behind him like a specter.
The courtyard erupted in whispers.
Lan pocketed the token without looking.
He didn't need allies.
He needed time.