Blood Calls to Blood
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1. The Shadows of the Past
The messenger's words lingered in the air long after he had spoken them.
"She knows your new guest is the key to reclaiming it."
Chen Zhen felt the weight of every gaze in the hall shift toward him—some wary, some curious, and a few outright hostile.
He had expected the Lou Clan to notice his arrival eventually, but not like this.
Not with an open invitation.
Shanggu Meilin's expression darkened. "You expect us to believe the Matriarch merely wants to 'reclaim' something?" Her voice was edged with disdain. "She has spent decades trying to bury what's left of our clan. If she wants him, it's because she sees him as a weapon."
The messenger did not deny it.
Instead, he simply turned back to Chen. "What happens now is not for the Shanggu to decide. It is for you."
His you carried weight.
Because, in the Lou Clan's eyes, Chen was not an outsider.
He was one of them.
And that realization made his stomach tighten.
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2. The Divided Keep
The messenger left as quickly as he came, but he left unrest in his wake.
The Shanggu elders withdrew into their council chambers, voices rising in heated debate. Some called for Chen's immediate expulsion, claiming he was a danger. Others believed keeping him close was their only chance of understanding the threat they faced.
But the warriors—the ones who had fought beside him during the Hollow Stalker attack—were caught somewhere in between.
Chen could feel the unease as he walked through the keep's halls.
He wasn't just a guest anymore.
He was a dividing line.
"They don't know whether to see you as an ally or a danger," Lou Tian murmured inside his mind. "And they're right to hesitate."
"You think I should go to the Lou Clan?" Chen asked.
A pause. Then, the phoenix sighed.
"I think you don't have a choice."
The thought unsettled Chen more than he cared to admit.
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3. The Fear of the Unknown
That night, Chen overheard the elders arguing behind closed doors. He hadn't meant to listen, but as he walked past the council chambers, their voices spilled through the cracked doorway.
"He is dangerous."
"He saved us."
"Only because he needed to. Do you truly think the Lou Clan will let him go? Do you think we should trust the blood of Lou Tian to remain neutral?"
Chen's fists clenched at his sides. He shouldn't care what they thought of him. He had always been an outsider in this world.
But hearing them reduce him to just a bloodline, to a piece of history they despised, struck deeper than he wanted to admit.
And it made his decision even clearer.
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4. Meilin's Warning
As dawn approached, Meilin found him at the edge of the watchtower, staring out into the mist-covered valley.
She didn't announce herself, but she didn't have to.
"You're going to leave," she said.
It wasn't a question.
Chen exhaled. "I don't have a choice."
Meilin's gaze was sharp. "You always have a choice. It's just a matter of how many people will suffer for it."
Chen turned to face her fully. "I'm not your enemy, Meilin."
"Not yet." Her voice was quiet, but her stance was firm. "But if you go to them, you'll have to decide what you are before you return."
She hesitated for a moment, then sighed.
"My father trusted Julong, once." Her voice softened, but the bitterness remained. "And it cost us everything."
Chen held her gaze.
"I'm not Julong."
"Then prove it."
She stepped back, her expression unreadable.
"Go, if you must. But when you return, be certain of who you are."
And just like that, he knew—this wasn't just about alliances anymore.
It was about identity.
About which world he belonged to.
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5. The Road to the Lou Clan
Chen left before dawn.
He traveled alone, his glaive strapped to his back, the weight of two souls and two histories pressing down on him with every step.
The closer he drew to Lou territory, the more he felt something stir in his blood.
It was like the land itself recognized him, like the qi in the air was waiting for him to return.
"This place remembers you," Shanggu Feng muttered.
"No," Lou Tian corrected. "It remembers us."
The road led him to the Red Spire, the towering stronghold of the Lou Clan, built into the cliffs overlooking the Valley of Embers.
The air here was thicker, charged with an old power that had never faded.
And standing at its gates, waiting for him—
Was the Matriarch herself.
She was nothing like he had imagined.
Her robes flowed like molten gold, her eyes dark and bottomless, and her presence weighed heavier than gravity itself.
A small smile touched her lips, but it held no warmth.
"You've taken your time, boy." Her voice carried like a whisper and a thunderclap at once. "Come inside. We have much to discuss."
Chen felt a strange pull in his chest, as if something deep within him recognized her—before his mind had even registered the thought.
And that terrified him more than anything else.
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