[The Frayed Rope of Longing]
At the Yao-Capital Outpost, the rain had just ceased. Si Moheng sat in his tent, his cold eyes scanning battle reports, but his mind was leagues away. His thumb traced the frayed braided rope on his wrist—the token Gu Xingyu had left behind.
"One month... I can't wait much longer," he rasped. A dark, suffocating thought gripped his heart: If she isn't the Emperor's blood, if she's just a Saintess to them... is she being tortured? Is she cold? Is she being violated?
The mere thought ignited a feral murderous intent in his soul. He had searched for Feng Mian to find the entrance to the Rift-Realm, but the man had vanished like mist. "Xingyu, wait for me... do not let anything happen to you."
[The Red Thread of Promise]
Deep within the Rift-Realm, in the Qing-Yu Pavilion, the "Saintess" was no longer Gu Xingyu, but Princess You Qing.
She sat by candlelight, carefully weaving a red silk cord. Her movements were clumsy, but her eyes were focused. She remembered the makeshift braid she had tied on Moheng's wrist and whispered to the dark, "When I return, I will tie a real one on you myself."
Life in the Underworld was not what she expected. Walking the markets with her mother, Qing Fei, she saw the truth. There were no monsters here—only people with cleft palates, albinism, and dwarfism. They didn't use coins; they bartered with kindness and necessity. They weren't "demons"; they were the Yao Realm's outcasts, gathered under her father's iron wing to survive the darkness.
[A Daughter's Soup, A Father's Truth]
You Qing entered the Emperor's study, carrying a bowl of medicinal soup she had brewed herself. Hades You Nian froze. To see his daughter—once a distant shadow—caring for him as a father, moved his stone-cold heart more than any victory on the battlefield.
"Father," she asked softly, "if the people here are so peaceful, who were the Rift-Raiders I saw in the Yao Realm? Why did they burn villages?"
You Nian's red eyes darkened. "Those are the Remnant Rebels—tribes who refuse my law, driven mad by hunger and hatred. And then... there is Feng Mian."
He gritted his teeth, his voice laced with venom. "Feng Mian was my spy, meant to pave a way for our people to one day walk in the sunlight. But he has gone silent. He manipulates the board for his own gain now. He is no longer my shadow; he is the greatest traitor to the Rift-Realm."
[The Silent Oath]
You Qing felt a surge of clarity. The conflict wasn't between two races, but between a world that abandoned its weak and a traitor who exploited that pain.
She looked at her father, her gaze steady and fierce. "Father, the lies of Feng Mian will be unmasked. If no one else can do it... I will."
You Nian looked at his daughter, a flicker of pride warming his chest. She was his blood—gentle yet unyielding.
Under the eternal moon of the Underworld, You Qing made a vow: She would tear off Feng Mian's mask. Not just for her father, but for every soul in this dark realm who dreamed of the sun.