Word of General Cao's severed head spread like wildfire. Before dawn, whispers of Li Tian's raid traveled from village stalls to city inns, slipping through palace gates and echoing inside hidden sect halls.
In the Zhao Clan's ancestral hall, Lord Zhao Yun sat on his black marble throne. His robe shimmered with gold patterns that looked like flames in the candlelight. All around him, generals and servants knelt so low their foreheads touched the cold floor.
At the center of the hall lay General Cao's head, wrapped in the silk banner he once carried into battle.
Lord Zhao Yun's fingers tapped the armrest — each tap echoing through the silence.
"He dares," Zhao Yun said softly. "A fatherless boy with no army — and he spills my blood at my gates."
A trembling advisor spoke up. "My Lord, we can gather the southern regiments now, crush him before he grows stronger—"
Zhao Yun raised a single finger. The advisor shut his mouth, staring at the floor.
"Not yet," Zhao Yun said. "Li Tian wants a war — but I will bury him before he draws his sword again. We'll break his clan from the inside."
He turned to his spymaster, an old man in dark robes, face hidden under a hood.
"Send word," Zhao Yun ordered. "Promise gold to any traitor in his house. Spread poison, fear, anything that rots him from within."
The spymaster bowed low enough for his forehead to scrape the stone. "It will be done, My Lord."
Back in the Li Clan's mountain stronghold, Li Tian walked alone through the quiet halls. Servants bowed so low they barely breathed until he passed.
In the small courtyard, under an old plum tree, Elder Yuan and Xiao Chen waited for him. The ground beneath the tree was still dark with fresh soil — the grave of an elder who had "fallen ill" after whispering Zhao Yun's name behind Li Tian's back.
Li Tian touched the dirt with two fingers. A silent promise.
He looked at his men. "Zhao Yun will not attack yet. He wants to turn us against each other. So we'll turn his plan against him."
Elder Yuan's voice shook. "What do you want us to do, Young Master?"
Li Tian's eyes were cold and clear. The System's whisper lingered like a secret behind them.
"We feed him lies. We send him a traitor carrying false secrets — tunnels that don't exist, bribes that lead to poison. Let him open his purse wide enough to choke on it."
Two nights later, a single rider left the Li Clan gates at dusk. His name was Han Shu — a drunken steward who'd once stolen wine from the clan cellar. Now he rode alone toward the Zhao outpost, saddle packed with fake scrolls and forged maps.
In his belt pouch, hidden between the papers, was a tiny vial of Shadow Toxin — the same poison that turned Cao's gate into a graveyard.
Far behind him, high on a misty cliff, Li Tian and Xiao Chen watched through a battered spyglass.
"He'll betray you," Xiao Chen whispered. "He'll tell them everything."
Li Tian lowered the glass. His smile was thin and sharp.
"He won't get the chance."
At the Zhao Clan's outpost, Han Shu arrived near dawn, half-starved and pretending to beg for mercy. He dropped to his knees, stammered out Li Tian's "secrets," begged for gold and protection.
The Zhao guards sneered but took the scrolls. They fed him wine and meat to loosen his tongue.
When Han Shu slumped over his plate, foaming at the mouth, the poison worked its way into the outpost's food and drink. By sunrise, half the guards were dead — killed by their own greed for a spy's lies.
Panic spread faster than swords. Riders fled back to Zhao Yun, carrying tales of treachery and poison — a rumor that any traitor who tried to betray Li Tian might die before the first coin hit his palm.
At dawn, Li Tian stood on the old watchtower, the wind tearing at his dark robe. The System pulsed behind his eyes.
[Villain Mission Complete: Spread Fear Through Treachery.]
[Villain Points +2500 | Influence +10%]
Xiao Chen stepped up beside him, hugging his thin cloak tight against the wind. "You poisoned your own spy," he said softly. There was fear in his voice — but something like respect, too.
Li Tian didn't look at him. His eyes stayed fixed on the misty valley below, where the farmers brought baskets of rice and fish through the gates, still living their simple lives.
"He was never my spy," Li Tian said. "He was my message."
Xiao Chen swallowed. "What message?"
Li Tian's mouth curled into the smallest smile. "That if the Zhao Clan wants to buy traitors — they should remember some gold costs more than they can pay."
He turned away from the edge. Far to the east, the Zhao banners shivered above the fortress walls.
Let them come.
The villain was waiting.