Night bled into the district like spilled ink, swallowing lantern light one street at a time.
Inside the residence of Official Han Duqing, a single candle still burned, its flame shivering against the silence. Papers were scattered across the table as the man drank alone, humming off-key, indulging in wine bought with stolen lives.
He didn't notice the window sliding open.He didn't notice the air shift.
But when the flame suddenly flickered…
and went out…
He froze.
"W-what…?"
The room fell into absolute darkness.No wind.No sound.
Only shadows.
Han Duqing's breath hitched.The hairs on his arms rose as a chill crawled down his spine.
"…W-who's there?"
Silence answered him.
Then
A soft sound, like footsteps gliding over floorboards.Too light to be human.Too steady to be accidental.
His heart pounded.
"N-no… don't tell me"
Memories crashed through his mind:the farmers he accused,the families he stole land from,the husband he executed without trial
all for profit.
He stumbled backward, voice breaking.
"G-Ghost…? It's you, isn't it? You've come back! Listen! I-I didn't mean to… I…"
He couldn't finish.
Because in the darkness…
two faintly glowing eyes opened.
Pale.Cold.Moonlit.
Han Duqing fell to the floor.
"P-please! Mercy! Mercy…!"
A figure stepped into the dying moonbeam.A young man, expression blank, face half-lit, half-shadow.His fishing rod hung loosely in one hand.
It was not a ghost.It was worse.
It was Jin Yue.
"You… You're not a spirit…" Han Duqing stammered, terror flickering before twisting into arrogance.
"You're a thief. A Beta, aren't you? No Pulse, no rank… nothing."
His lip curled. "And you dare step into an Alpha's home?"
Han Duqing's palms ignited… flames bursting outward in a wild, uncontrolled wave.Fire pulsed through his veins, flaring like a creature trying to tear its way out.
Every cultivator carried a Pulse, a hidden current of elemental nature that shaped their strength.But without discipline, that Pulse only made the chaos worse.
"Burn!" he screamed. "Burn and die!"
A torrent of fire roared toward Jin Yue
And Jin Yue simply stepped aside.
Effortless.Soundless.Like a leaf gliding away from a reaching flame.
The second blast came faster…
a spear of fire that split the table in half.
Jin Yue slid beneath it, moonlight brushing his cheek.
The third attack was a wave of fire sweeping across the room.The ceiling darkened, plaster cracking from the heat.
Jin Yue moved like water.No techniques.No counterattacks.Just… pure instinct.
He's slow.Heavy.Clumsy with fear.
Han Duqing panted, sweat dripping, fire flickering unstable in his trembling hands.
"W-why won't you die?! What are you?!"
Jin Yue didn't answer.He didn't need to.
The official attacked again
another desperate explosion of fire.
Jin Yue stepped forward this time.Just one step.Enough to pass through the ring of flames without a single burn.
His shadow fell across Han Duqing's face.
The man stumbled backward, collapsing against the wall.
"N-no! Stay away! S-stay…"
The fishing line unwound from his rod…
a faint shimmer of a Pulse that brushed beyond the other elements,
too vast and too quiet to belong to any known path.
With a flick, it shot forward
silent, deadly, precise.
The line wrapped around Han Duqing's neck.
Tightened.
Han Duqing's eyes bulged as the fishing line constricted, biting into his skin like a cold, merciless serpent.He clawed at it desperately, nails scraping against the shimmering thread until his fingers bled.
"Gh…hh…!"
He tried to inhale, but the line crushed his breath before it could reach his lungs.
In blind panic, he summoned what little control he had left
a frantic attempt to awaken his Fire Pulse.
Heat flickered along his arms.Sparks cracked from his fingertips.A faint glow pulsed beneath his skin.
For a heartbeat, it looked as if flame might burst free
But the tighter the line pulled,the more his breath strangled,the weaker the fire became.
His energy choked along with him.
The sparks sputtered out like dying embers in a storm.
A thin wheeze escaped his crushed throat.
"Why…? Why won't it ignite?!""Why… can't I… breathe…?"
He tried again, forcing his core to flare
but the attempt only sent a jagged bolt of pain through his chest, burning from the inside out.
Without breath, without focus,there was no power to awaken.
The flames in his palms guttered… then died completely.
His voice cracked into a raw, horrified whisper:
"No… impossible… I'm an Alpha…so why… why am I losing…to a Beta… with no Pulse…?"
His greed meant nothing.His strength meant nothing.Even his fear meant nothing now.
His hands twitched weakly against the line.His mouth opened for a scream that never formed.His eyes rolled back, dimming like cooling embers.
The fight slipped out of him in a shuddering silence.
Jin Yue watched, unreadable as moonlight carved pale silver across his face.Han Duqing sagged, his final breath stolen before it could escape.
As the last flicker of the man's Pulse unraveled, the fishing rod in Jin Yue's hand gave a faint, shivering pull…
as if drinking in the dying spark.A soft glow rippled along the line, brief and hungry, then vanished.
Jin Yue pulled.
The sound was sharp.Final.
The body fell.
Silence flooded the room again, cold and absolute.
Jin Yue stood over the corpse, expression unchanging, the moon resting on him like frost.
He whispered the words…
words that carried the shape of judgment:
"Moon above, river below.You fall between."
A line of fate.A sentence passed.
Without a backward glance, Jin Yue retracted the line, turned, and walked into the night.
Justice would not sleep.