The knock came once.
Soft.
Almost polite.
Neither of them moved.
Li Xuan's hand drifted toward the sword resting beside the table.
Across the room, Shen Lian had already slipped a dagger from inside his sleeve.
Another knock.
This one slower.
Deliberate.
"Guests?" a man's voice called through the door.
The innkeeper.
Or someone pretending to be.
Li Xuan looked toward Shen Lian.
Shen Lian shook his head once.
Too quickly.
Too certain.
"No," he mouthed.
The voice came again.
"Your tea has gone cold."
Silence.
Then footsteps.
Not one pair.
Several.
Wood creaked beneath shifting weight.
Shen Lian's expression hardened.
"They found us."
Li Xuan crossed the room in three quiet strides.
The window overlooked a narrow alley barely wide enough for a cart.
A dangerous jump.
A better option than the door.
"They're covering the back," Shen Lian whispered after listening through the shutters.
"How many?"
"I heard six."
Li Xuan frowned.
"You heard six."
"I smell lamp oil."
"What?"
"They've soaked the stairs."
A cold realization settled between them.
"They're going to burn the inn."
The first bottle shattered downstairs.
Glass exploded against the floor.
The smell of burning oil rushed upward almost instantly.
Someone shouted.
A heartbeat later—
Flames bloomed beneath the staircase.
Guests screamed.
Furniture crashed.
The building seemed to groan.
"They're forcing us out," Li Xuan said.
Shen Lian nodded.
"And they'll be waiting."
Li Xuan glanced toward the frightened voices below.
Families.
Travellers.
People with nothing to do with either of them.
Without another word, he pulled a heavy blanket from the bed and threw it over the flames creeping toward the landing.
It wasn't enough to stop the fire.
Only enough to buy time.
"Get them out," he said.
Shen Lian stared at him.
"What?"
"The people."
"We don't have time."
"We'll make time."
For a brief second, Shen Lian simply watched him.
Then something inside him shifted.
The old Shen Lian would have left.
The man beside Li Xuan didn't.
Together they kicked open the nearest room.
A frightened couple stumbled out.
"This way," Li Xuan shouted.
Smoke filled the corridor.
An elderly woman leaned against the wall, coughing violently.
Shen Lian lifted her without hesitation.
Another door.
Another family.
A child crying.
Li Xuan scooped the little boy into his arms.
The flames climbed faster.
Beams overhead cracked under the heat.
By the time the last guest escaped through a side window—
The roof began collapsing.
Outside—
Masked figures waited exactly where Shen Lian predicted.
Eight of them.
Black robes.
Black lotus stitched onto each shoulder.
One stepped forward.
"You've become sentimental."
His voice carried easily through the smoke.
Shen Lian slowly handed the elderly woman to another survivor.
Only then did he face the masked man.
"I remember you."
The man laughed.
"I'd be disappointed if you didn't."
Li Xuan looked between them.
"You know him."
"We trained together."
The words were flat.
Emotionless.
"He was always stronger."
The masked man tilted his head.
"And you were always softer."
Without warning—
He drew his sword.
The others followed.
Steel sang as eight blades left their scabbards.
Li Xuan stepped beside Shen Lian.
Not in front.
Beside.
"You don't have to fight alone anymore."
Shen Lian didn't answer.
He simply moved.
The first attacker lunged.
Shen Lian turned with practiced precision, catching the blade on the edge of his fan before driving his dagger toward the man's ribs.
At the same instant—
Li Xuan intercepted two more attackers.
The alley erupted into chaos.
Steel clashed against steel.
Rain hissed against fresh flames.
Smoke blurred every movement.
The fight felt less like a duel and more like surviving a storm.
Across the rooftops—
Advisor Chen arrived too late to stop the fire.
But not too late to witness the battle below.
His sharp eyes followed every exchange.
The Fourth Prince.
Fighting like a seasoned warrior.
Not clumsy.
Not lucky.
Trained.
Very trained.
Chen's expression remained calm.
Inside, however, another piece of the puzzle fell into place.
"So..."
he murmured.
"You've been hiding your own face as well."
He turned and disappeared into the darkness before anyone noticed him.
He had seen enough.
The battle ended as suddenly as it had begun.
A shrill whistle echoed through the street.
The surviving Black Lotus assassins retreated without hesitation.
Within seconds—
They were gone.
Leaving only smoke.
Rain.
And the bodies of those who hadn't escaped.
Shen Lian bent to catch his breath.
Blood dripped steadily from a shallow cut across his forearm.
Li Xuan stepped closer.
"Are you hurt anywhere else?"
Shen Lian looked at him for a long moment.
Then, despite everything—
He smiled.
Not because the danger had passed.
Because someone had asked.
No one ever had before.
The smile disappeared almost as quickly as it came.
"We have to leave."
Li Xuan nodded.
"This city isn't safe anymore."
Shen Lian looked toward the burning inn.
"No."
His voice was quiet.
"It never was."
Far away, Advisor Chen unrolled a fresh scroll.
He dipped his brush into ink.
This time, he didn't write the assassin's name.
He wrote:
Fourth Prince Li Xuan.
Then, beneath it—
Investigate in secret.