Chapter 72: A Master Plan

Chapter 72: A Master Plan

"What made you think I don’t know that the Overseer is watching?"

Xue Lan gripped his dagger. Lifting it slowly up, he pointed it toward a wall, then with an effortless flick of his wrist, he threw it toward the wall, blurring the blade through the air.

A grotesque crimson eye burst open on the surface of the wall. The dagger pierced through it, impaling the iris. With a glance at the wall, he pulled his hands back. A swarm of luna moths came out of his sleeve, grabbing the handle, and carried the blood-slicked dagger back to him again. Ban could only watch it, flabbergasted by how Xue Lan had found the Overseer’s gaze.

***

At that same moment, on the palace balcony, the Overseer’s smile widened. His perfect face twisted into something darker. He turned his head toward the prison. "Interesting," he murmured. "The moth has flown from its cocoon."

He drove his hand toward his head, running a hand over his crimson elegant crimson hair; with a flick, he blew his hair in the air. "I’ll watch; let me see what your plan is and how you are going to save him." He chuckled, then put one hand on his cheek and the other hand on his thigh. His eyes gleamed with dark fascination.

***

Xue Lan held the dagger. "I already know everything."

The royal guard lunged, his blade aiming at Xue Lan’s throat, but it passed through him. Then, Xue Lan sidestepped and held his wrist. "I had no intention of killing you tonight." Xue Lan whispered in his ear. "But now you just ruined your only way out."

​Xue Lan twitched his fingers. The blood lingering on his dagger smelled of the Overseer’s lingering essence from the eye—then it ignited into faint, violet flames, casting long, eerie shadows across the damp cell walls.

​The royal guard’s eyes went wide as he realized he couldn’t move. His whole body was bound by a predatory plant’s roots. He tried to move but couldn’t.

​"You thought that the Overseer was watching me?" Xue Lan leaned in close, his voice dropping to an icy murmur. He stepped toward Ban, reaching out to untie the ring of keys from the belt on his waist. "I used your dreams to locate the location of his eye."

​Xue Lan squeezed his fist. Ban collapsed like a puppet with cut strings, the thorn in the roots, buried his hands, and then disappeared, but the pain was real. "And now he’d think that I took the keys to the first gateway, because that is the safest option, and also because I have these keys; no one would suspect that I didn’t go by that way."

Before Ban could even register the movement, Xue Lan struck a quick, decisive blow to his neck, sending him tumbling to the floor. With another swift motion, he cut off his head. Blood sprayed around the place. "Sleep now."

Finally, he turned toward the elders, his eyes scanning each of them. He moved toward the prison gate and opened the door, then he pointed toward the second gateway. "Escape from there."

The oldest elder asked confusedly. "But that path has security."

"Follow this or go back to the cells." With that, Xue Lan quickly came out of the prison and rushed toward the first gateway.

Within a few minutes he reached the gateway. There were only a few normal guards, holding spears. He quickly moved through the shadows and came behind them one by one; with a snap of his fingers, he put them to sleep, and then he scanned the unconscious guards scattered across the floor. "That’s the opposite pathway; if my plan goes right, those who would try to act smart would follow this path." He thought, calculating the next steps.

Without wasting another moment, he quickly turned, and his physical form scattered into moths, who were launched toward the gateway two.

Through the haze of fluttering wings, he spotted the elders below, creeping along the shadows while hiding whenever a guard passed by. Soon, they reached the second exit, which led to the open field.

Ahead were two royal guards; both of them wore fine furs. One was a tall man who controlled the slaves. The moths flew at the entrance; a strong perfume reached their noses, their eyelids going heavier. Xue Lan’s body appeared there, and he clawed at the empty air, pulling them with vines. He gestured at the elders as they rushed outside.

As they broke through the second gate, the bitter, biting chill hit their faces. Snow tossed by the howling wind slammed against their feet.

That was it...

Now it was finally time for the main plan.

He walked toward his room through the corridors.

Yin stood by the door of Xue Lan’s room, his back against the cold stone wall. He had been waiting for a while—long enough that the frost had begun to gather on his sleeves. He had seen the execution preparations outside and heard the crowd’s roar. But more than that, he had seen his brother’s face as he walked past him earlier.

Xue Lan stopped in his tracks. "Yin."

"Brother I was wai—"

"Get out of here. Do not stay any longer." Xue Lan’s stare hardened.

Yin blinked at the sudden order. "What? What happened?"

"I don’t have time to explain; get out of here and don’t return. Do not question now."

Upon hearing that urgency, Yin’s face shifted into something unrecognizable. "Huh? But why?" Yin’s hand hovered near his sword hilt, his knuckles turning white. "Brother... you’re doing something insane, aren’t you? Let me hel—"

​"You’ll only be a body for the crows," Xue Lan cut in, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper that hid the fraying edges of his composure. "The elders have escaped. If you stay any longer, you’ll be caught by the Overseer."

Yin was surprised by the answer, and he leaned forward. "Did you do that?"

Xue Lan slowly opened the door without answering and shut it. The crescent star ornament waved by the blow of wind; the mask rested on the table. He picked it up and moved it toward his face, then slowly wore it. With a tight knot, he placed it completely still.

He grabbed different clothes and changed his perfume, then tied his hair in a ponytail. Finally, he held a sword in his hand and put it in the sheath.

His hand pressed against the mask as he felt the coldness in his fingers. The bells on the mask rang once before his body disappeared completely from there through the window.

***

In the prison chamber, guards rushed inside, and behind them were two royal guards. They gave the guards instruction, but when they opened the gate, the blood scent followed. All of them came out again, watching it from the outside.

Then they looked at the heads hanging there and beneath the bodies of those guards. Their breath stopped at the scene in front of them.

One of the royal guards glanced at Ban’s decapitated body. Looking at the missing keys of the first gateway, he assumed they had escaped through that. "Go toward the first gateway!"

With that command, they ran toward the first gateway. The guards were asleep, lying on the ground, which made the royal guard believe more that they had gone through this path.

***

Meanwhile, the elders ran through the second path. Feeling the cold wind of Trasia, they escaped through that path.

Running in the open field, Xue Wei’s brain burned from the ancient worms eating his brain much faster than they ever did, making his vision much more dizzy and seeing double. His sprinting slightly slowed down, but he knew that his son would come and save him. That was the hope for his son.

Suddenly, when the other four elders were further away from them. Wolves jumped out in the open field between them; another elder looked back and found Xue Wei stopped. They shouted toward him.

"Run, come here fast."

Xue Wei responded with. "Don’t wait for me; my son will save me. You need to escape; go now!"

Something shifted in the trees. A shadow that wore a mask stood at the top of the tree, watching them run.

Upon hearing that, all the elders ran away without looking back. They trusted Xue Wei at that moment, but they didn’t realize that things weren’t as simple as they looked.

When they had gone, Xue Wei stepped back a few steps, but then the wolves retreated. And in the bushes, they disappeared.

Thud!

The shadow jumped on the ground from the tree, holding the blade in his grip tightly. Xue Wei heard the sound and turned to see. His face drained pale; those wolves were traps... That shadow must be sent by the Overseer... Another royal guard.

The man drew his blade out; the silver bells on the stranger’s mask chimed once in the frozen field. Then he walked toward Xue Wei with slow, deliberate steps.