A Quiet Return

The battle ended faster than Hao Nhien had expected.

Inside the narrow stone fissure, the clash of weapons still seemed to linger between the two rock walls. Dust and sand thrown into the air by spiritual power had not yet fully settled, yet four bodies already lay motionless on the ground. Three mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators and one late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator who had directly taken part in the fight were dead, leaving only the early-stage Fire Qilin tribesman standing near the far end of the passage.

Hao Nhien lowered Fire Spirit Sword and slowly steadied his breathing. The webbing between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand had split open during the direct clashes, and blood still seeped between his fingers before running down the hilt. His sword arm remained slightly numb, and a faint tremor still lingered in his meridians, but the injuries were not serious enough to affect his movements.

He circulated spiritual power to slow the bleeding, then quickly treated the wound with medicine. Only after confirming that it was no longer bleeding heavily did Hao Nhien put Fire Spirit Sword back into his storage ring.

Not far away, Lanh Hoa was also tending to the wound on his left shoulder. The saber cut had not reached the bone, but one section of his robe was already soaked red. He simply applied Hemostatic Powder, wrapped a strip of cloth tightly around the wound, then wiped the blood from the ancient Fire-aligned sword. His movements remained as efficient as ever, with no intention of wasting time simply because he had been injured.

Hao Nhien looked over just as Lanh Hoa raised his head.

The two exchanged only a brief glance before turning toward the far end of the stone passage.

The surviving Fire Qilin tribesman had already retreated until his back was pressed against the rock wall. His face was pale, and his eyes kept moving between the four corpses on the ground before finally settling on Lanh Hoa.

The moment Lanh Hoa began walking toward him, the man dropped his sword.

He instinctively stepped back again, only to find the cliff already behind him. With nowhere left to retreat, he dropped to his knees, his voice hoarse with fear.

"Don't kill me. I'm from the Fire Qilin Tribe. I followed Duong Quang, but I know the purpose of this ambush team and what they arranged here. I can tell you everything I know."

Lanh Hoa stopped in front of him.

The ancient sword in his hand had not yet been sheathed. Its tip stopped less than an inch from the man's throat, and the lingering Fire energy along the blade quickly reddened the skin on his neck.

Lanh Hoa's voice was very low.

"Name. Purpose."

The man swallowed and tried to steady his voice.

"My name is Luu Tan. I was originally from the Fire Qilin Tribe. Back then, when Duong Quang persuaded a group of tribesmen to leave, I followed him."

He glanced at the sword tip near his throat before continuing quickly.

"This time, Duong Quang suspected that Fire Qilin tribesmen might return from the Forward City, so he sent us here to wait. If only a few people returned and they were not too strong, our orders were to capture them alive or kill them immediately. If too many returned, or if powerful cultivators accompanied them, we were not to act recklessly. We were to stay hidden and send word back to the Forward City for reinforcements."

Hao Nhien stood nearby and listened in silence.

That almost completely confirmed his earlier reasoning. This ambush team had not been deployed for a decisive battle. They were a layer of eyes and ears positioned in front of Fire Qilin territory, meant both to identify those returning and to prevent small groups from gathering again.

Lanh Hoa continued.

"How many?"

"The original team had twelve people. We left Heavenly Eye Forward City last night. Five were assigned to this secondary route, while the remaining seven were stationed in Dragonmist Thorn Forest along the main road into Fire Qilin territory."

Lanh Hoa's gaze turned slightly colder.

"I scouted that area. There were more than seven."

Luu Tan immediately lowered his head.

"I'm not lying. There were really only twelve of us at first, but on the way here we met five wandering cultivators. They had heard that Heavenly Eye was recruiting experts and wanted to follow us to earn merit. The leader saw that their cultivation was not weak, so he allowed them to come along. All five stayed with the group on the main road."

That meant the number of people in Dragonmist Thorn Forest had increased from seven to twelve, matching what Lanh Hoa had observed earlier.

"What cultivation are those five at?" Hao Nhien asked.

Luu Tan shook his head.

"I don't know exactly. I was only responsible for guiding the way and recognizing Fire Qilin tribesmen. Their auras were all much stronger than mine, and at least several of them had definitely reached mid-stage Foundation Establishment."

Hao Nhien gave a slight nod.

"All right. That is enough for now."

Luu Tan looked up, his eyes clearly pleading for mercy.

Hao Nhien met his gaze directly.

"If what you said is true, I will give you a chance to prove yourself."

Luu Tan immediately lowered his head.

"I will definitely..."

Hao Nhien raised a hand and stopped him.

"No need to swear. From now on, you come with us. Whether you live or die will not depend on what you say, but on what you do."

Luu Tan stiffened for a moment before hurriedly nodding.

Hao Nhien continued.

"You should also understand that returning to Heavenly Eye now may not leave you in a better position than staying here. You have revealed the mission, the ambush positions, and the number of people involved. Whether Duong Quang would keep a man who failed and exposed all of that, you understand better than I do."

Luu Tan's face grew even paler.

After several breaths, he finally said in a low voice:

"I understand."

Only then did Lanh Hoa withdraw the sword tip from his throat.

Luu Tan had barely exhaled when he heard Lanh Hoa speak.

"This is the Clan Head."

He froze.

His gaze immediately shifted from Lanh Hoa to Hao Nhien, then back again as though trying to confirm that he had not misheard. Doubt was obvious on his face, but under Lanh Hoa's pressure he did not dare question it directly.

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Lanh Hoa added only one sentence.

"The Fire Qilin Jade chose him."

Luu Tan's expression changed instantly.

As a member of the Fire Qilin Tribe, he might not know every secret connected to the inheritance, but there was no way he could fail to understand what the Fire Qilin Jade meant. He stared at Hao Nhien for a long moment before finally lowering his head deeply.

"Luu Tan greets the Clan Head."

Hao Nhien did not ask him to kneel any further.

"I have not yet completed the rite at the Fire Qilin Altar. There is no need to rush to show your loyalty. I only want the truth."

Luu Tan raised his head slightly.

"Please ask, Clan Head."

"First, tell me about the Fire Qilin tribesmen who followed Duong Long and Duong Quang back then. Say only what you know. If something is only hearsay, make that clear. If you saw it yourself, separate that from what others told you."

Luu Tan took a deep breath and began to speak.

According to him, not everyone who left the Fire Qilin Tribe back then had truly been loyal to Duong Long. After the internal split, some feared retaliation and chose to follow the stronger faction, some believed the promises of resources and cultivation arts, and some simply wanted to take their families somewhere safer.

Luu Tan belonged to the last group.

At the time, they had been promised that following Heavenly Eye would mean no longer fighting other tribes over every well or small spirit-stone mine. Those with talent would receive better cultivation arts, those with combat ability would be placed into stronger units, and their families would be given stable places to live.

But after leaving the Fire Qilin Tribe and traveling deeper into Heavenly Eye territory, what Luu Tan saw with his own eyes was very different from what they had been promised.

Duong Long and Duong Quang were allowed to contact higher-ranking members of Heavenly Eye, while most of the Fire Qilin tribesmen were sent to a separate camp for inspection and training. At first, everyone believed it was only a procedure, but the process dragged on much longer than expected, and the people inside the camp gradually began to be divided into smaller groups.

"They did not allow us to form our own Fire Qilin units."

Luu Tan's voice lowered as he reached this point.

"After some time, each group was transferred into different Heavenly Eye units. Some became guards, some transported supplies, and some were sent to places I had never even heard of. We were no longer allowed to gather on our own, nor were we allowed to use the Fire Qilin name when carrying out missions."

He paused.

"A few people objected. All I know is that they were taken away from the camp and never returned. I don't know whether they died or were transferred somewhere else."

Hao Nhien did not interrupt.

Luu Tan continued, explaining that his cultivation had been weaker than most of the tribesmen who left with him, so he had remained at the training camp longer than the others. Recently, when Duong Quang had been assigned to Heavenly Eye Forward City, an old acquaintance recommended Luu Tan to accompany him because he still remembered the faces of many former Fire Qilin tribesmen and could help identify anyone who appeared in the area.

By the time Hao Nhien finished listening, he understood more clearly how Heavenly Eye dealt with tribes willing to rely on them.

There was no need to destroy them outright.

It was enough to separate people who had once belonged to the same tribe, scatter them among different units, make them gradually grow accustomed to taking orders under another name, and strip away their ability to organize themselves or preserve their own inheritance. Given enough time, even if the people remained alive, the tribe itself could eventually survive only in memory.

"Are there no Fire Qilin tribesmen among the group still in Dragonmist Thorn Forest?" Lanh Hoa asked.

"No."

Luu Tan shook his head.

"I am the only Fire Qilin tribesman among everyone sent here this time. They brought me only to recognize people from the tribe and guide the way."

Lanh Hoa's hand tightened slightly around the hilt of the ancient sword before slowly relaxing again.

Hao Nhien did not ask anything else immediately.

He walked over to inspect the leader's corpse and collected the storage pouch, storage ring, and token from his body. The other three corpses were searched as well. Aside from some spirit stones, pills, weapons, and several Heavenly Eye tokens, there was nothing capable of long-distance communication and nothing that directly identified whoever stood behind this assignment.

The people here truly were only the outermost layer.

Hao Nhien collected everything, then looked toward Lanh Hoa.

"We cannot let the group on the main road discover too quickly that something happened here."

Lanh Hoa nodded.

Together, they dragged the four corpses into a deep crevice behind the Dragonmist Thorn and covered the entrance with loose stones. They buried the bloodstains beneath fresh sand, erased the most obvious footprints, and Lanh Hoa even restored the warning cord from earlier until it looked almost the same as before.

They could not make the place appear completely untouched, but unless the group on the main road deliberately came to inspect it soon, they would have difficulty realizing immediately that something had happened to the five people guarding the secondary route.

Once everything was finished, Hao Nhien looked at Luu Tan.

"Let's go."

Luu Tan immediately stood.

The three continued along the old route circling toward the rear of Fire Qilin territory. For the rest of the journey, Luu Tan walked between Hao Nhien and Lanh Hoa. The closer they came to his old home, the more his expression changed. Several times, he looked toward familiar rock formations, mountain fissures, and old traces along the path, as though recognizing places from long ago, yet he never volunteered a word.

Lanh Hoa also grew quieter.

Hao Nhien did not ask.

Near sunset, the mountain passage ahead finally opened.

The Fire Qilin Tribe came into view.

The settlement lay within a sunken basin surrounded by rocky mountains on three sides. To the east stretched the open desert, while the west and north were bordered by dark-red cliffs carved by wind and sand into countless jagged folds.

At the very center of the settlement, an ancient altar of black stone rose above the low rooftops.

Even from a considerable distance, it was the first thing Hao Nhien noticed.

Houses built from stone and desert timber were scattered around the altar. Smoke still rose from a few places, proving that people continued to live there, but many other sections were silent. Some roofs had collapsed, stone walls were cracked, courtyards were half-buried under sand, and the narrow paths between clusters of homes showed little sign of regular traffic.

There were no large patrols, and no tribal banners still flew above the rooftops. The presence of a tribe that had once stood at the top of the Western Wastes had nearly vanished, leaving only a sparse silence spread across broken walls and abandoned courtyards.

From afar, the settlement resembled a flame that had burned for generations and now survived only as red embers buried beneath a thick layer of ash.

Hao Nhien raised one hand, signaling them to stop.

"We do not enter yet."

There was still daylight. If the ambush team on the main road had scouts watching other approaches, appearing openly now would only waste all the effort they had made to remain hidden.

He looked toward Lanh Hoa.

"Go ahead and check the rear route and the northern edge. Do not go too deep. Just confirm whether there is another ambush and find somewhere we can hide temporarily."

Lanh Hoa cupped his hands.

"Understood."

He left the mountain passage, his figure quickly blending into the shadows spreading beneath the foothills.

Hao Nhien and Luu Tan remained behind a large boulder.

Neither spoke.

Luu Tan occasionally looked toward the settlement, and each time his gaze lingered longer on the collapsed rooftops. Hao Nhien did not know what he was thinking, but from the moment Luu Tan saw his old home, the panic of having narrowly escaped death had gradually been replaced by something heavier.

Hao Nhien also looked toward the black stone altar.

This was the first time he had truly seen the birthplace of the Fire Qilin Tribe, the place Luu Thai had wanted him to return to, and the place that would ultimately determine whether he could formally assume the position of Clan Head.

Yet at that moment, the altar itself was not what drew his attention most.

It was the houses that still contained living people within a tribe that had already been drained of so much of its vitality.

After some time, Lanh Hoa returned.

He stepped out from the darkness between two rocky outcrops. His posture remained straight and his steps were still steady, but his expression had changed completely from when he left. Both hands were clenched, and instead of looking at Hao Nhien immediately, his eyes remained fixed on the distant rooftops.

He stopped in front of Hao Nhien.

"Clan Head, I found no ambush along the rear route. There are several abandoned houses on the northern edge. We can enter there first and continue observing from inside."

Hao Nhien studied him for a moment.

"Lanh Hoa."

Lanh Hoa raised his head.

"The Fire Qilin Tribe has changed greatly since you left, hasn't it?"

Lanh Hoa did not answer at once.

After a long silence, he gave a slight nod.

He drew the ancient sword from his back and planted its tip into the sand beside him. One hand rested on the hilt as he lowered his head for several breaths. When he looked up again, only the faintest trace of moisture remained at the corner of one eye.

Hao Nhien did not ask anything more.

He stepped forward, placed a hand on Lanh Hoa's shoulder, and gave it a single firm squeeze.

"We have returned."

His gaze passed over the low rooftops and settled on the Fire Qilin Altar as it slowly disappeared into the gathering darkness.

"The Fire Qilin Tribe will return as well."

Lanh Hoa followed his gaze.

After a moment, the hand resting on the sword hilt slowly relaxed.

"This subordinate believes it."

Hao Nhien turned toward Luu Tan.

The man was also staring at the settlement. At some point, the hands hanging at his sides had tightened into fists, but when he noticed Hao Nhien looking at him, he immediately lowered his head.

Hao Nhien did not ask what he was thinking.

"Let's go."

The last light of sunset disappeared behind the cliffs.

The three quietly followed the mountain passage and entered Fire Qilin territory from the rear. There were no shouts, no horns, and no tribal banners waiting to welcome them. Even the people still living inside the settlement did not yet know that anyone had returned.

And on that night, no one knew that the bearer of the Fire Qilin Jade had quietly stepped into the homeland of the Fire Qilin Tribe.