The evening approached like a tightening noose.

The metropolis, usually bustling with laughter, quarrels, and hawker cries, felt eerily subdued. Torches burned along the central boulevard, casting wavering gold across the jade towers that flanked the Oolong headquarters. Word of the impending execution had traveled fast. Much too fast and now the streets hummed .

Merchants whispered behind shutters, while Commoners murmured prayers.

Cultivators felt their qi coil uneasily.

Somewhere, a mother held her child tightly. Elsewhere, a group of elderly monks shook their heads at the cruelty of the world. In the midst of this, a single young man walked with calm, measured steps.

Each one echoing like a drumbeat preparing for war, Li Wei did not hide anymore.

He moved through the city dressed in plain, travel-worn robes, hood drawn low, the faint glow of the emerald compass tucked into his sleeve illuminating his path in subtle pulses.

Tang Li walked beside him, her hand tightly grasping the youth by her side.

She wanted to be brave, but the weight of the city's fear pressed down upon her tiny shoulders. "Brother Wei…" she murmured. "If we go straight to them… will you be safe?"

Li Wei did not answer immediately.

Far above, the sky crackled with low thunder—strange, considering the cloudless heavens. It was the city formations shifting subtly, sealing the air currents. Huo had closed even the sky.

He finally answered "Safety is a luxury. Doing what must be done is a duty."

Tang Li swallowed. "Then… am I a burden?"

Li Wei paused. The girl had stopped walking, her eyes glimmering in the moonlight like trembling stars.

"I do not want to be the reason you get hurt."

Li Wei crouched slightly before her. "Tang Li," he said softly, "listen carefully."

He placed his hand over her heart. "You are not my burden."

His hand rose to her head. "You are not a weakness."

Then he smiled warmly, yet carrying the edge of a man who had seen too much. "You are the promise I must keep."

Tang Li's lips parted, trembling. A moment later, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. He returned the embrace, briefly but firmly.

When they separated, the compass in her hand flickered again. This time glowing faint gold and green, a sign of a nearby spiritual interference.

Li Wei straightened. "It seems they have sent scouts ahead of us."

Tang Li tightened her grip on his sleeve. "What do we do?"

Li Wei's eyes drifted upward toward the towering Jade Pagoda at the city's heart—the execution platform beneath it already assembled, banners unfurled, torches lit.

And at its center, awaiting dusk…

An empty platform with a child-sized restraint.

Li Wei's voice lowered into something cold and measured.

"We begin by letting them believe they hold the advantage."

He led Tang Li into a narrow side alley that ran parallel to Tea Lantern Street, it was a winding passage known for faint spiritual traces, Long since abandoned because spiritual illusions often disoriented unwary travelers.

But Li Wei walked with certainty, The compass pulsed. "It's pointing… this way," Tang Li whispered.

"Yes," Li Wei replied. "It seems fortune favors inconvenient roads."

They moved until the alley widened into a small courtyard. Three lanterns swayed above, their flames flickering green. Li Wei froze.

"So. They arrived first."

A group of enforcers stepped from the shadows—six of them, each clad in Oolong armor etched with cloud motifs. Their qi signatures pulsed in sync, forming a suppressive ring around the courtyard.

Tang Li gasped.

Li Wei placed a steadying hand on her shoulder.

The leader, a tall woman with a spear strapped across her back and a sharp nose, bowed slightly.

"Li Wei," she said. "On orders of Magistrate Yun and Steward Huo, the woman and child is to be returned to Oolong custody. If you resist, we are authorized to strike end your life.

Li Wei exhaled softly. "And if I comply?"

Her eyes grew sharp.

"Then your life will be spared… temporarily."

Li Wei smiled faintly. "Sensible. But flawed."

"How so?"

"You assume I care to give your superiors face…."

The enforcers stiffened.

Then Li Wei flicked his sleeve.

A thin ripple of jade-green qi swept across the courtyard—subtle, elegant, but carrying a pressure that made the lantern flames bend away from him.

The leader gritted her teeth.

"So you intend to resist."

"No," Li Wei said calmly. "I intend to pass."

With no more words, he stamped lightly on the ground.

A ring of emerald light burst outward, the force shaking dust from the courtyard tiles. The enforcers lunged as one, but Li Wei was already in motion.

He slid forward, catching the spearwoman's wrist with two fingers.

She fell to one knee, breath knocked from her lungs.

Two others rushed him from behind.

Li Wei bent backward but sideways, evading with an almost lazy grace. His sleeve brushed one man's shoulder, depositing a thread-thin talisman that ignited instantly.

Boom.

The explosion wasn't lethal, but it sent both enforcers tumbling across the courtyard.

Tang Li ducked instinctively as debris flew.

By the time the dust settled, three lay incapacitated.

Three remained.

"Last chance," the spearwoman rasped through clenched teeth. "Yield."

Li Wei stepped forward.

His eyes gleamed with malice, but with unshakable calm.

"There are two kinds of strength," he said quietly. "Strength used to rule others…"

He raised his hand.

"…and strength used to protect."

A soft glow gathered in his palm.

"Your masters have forced me into the latter."

The final exchange lasted less than a breath.

Three silhouettes blurred—

And the fight was over.

The spearwoman collapsed, gasping. Her spear skittered across the floor.

Li Wei used only enough force to disable, not maim.

Tang Li ran to his side.

"I'm unhurt." He turned to the leader, who gritted her teeth, looking up at him with bitter disbelief. "They are alive. They made poor choices, not unforgivable ones."

"Li Wei…" she rasped. "Why fight so hard for a woman and child?"

Li Wei paused.

For a moment, his expression softened.

Silence.

Tang Li squeezed Li Wei's hand.

"Brother Wei… we have to go."

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