Xiao Ling's eyes widened, her features contorting into a mask of barely contained disbelief as she processed the implications of her father's words. "But Father, the masked one's power is absolute," she protested, her voice laced with a desperate urgency that seemed to grate against the tense atmosphere. "To defy him would be tantamount to signing our own death warrants."
Xiao Mingyuan's laughter was a harsh, grating sound that seemed to reverberate through the very walls of the room, sending a shockwave of apprehension rippling through those gathered. "Do you think I do not understand the gravity of our situation, my child?" he snarled, his voice laced with a venom that seemed to hang in the air like a shroud. "The masked one has made his intentions clear – but he has also shown us the true nature of power, the fragility of the order he has imposed upon this city."
