“Who are you?”
Feng Baoshu stood three metres from Leng Yao.
His posture had not changed.
Back straight.
Hands relaxed.
Breathing steady.
Only his eyes were wrong.
For most of Leng Yao’s life, those eyes had contained some mixture of patience, irritation and quiet vigilance whenever they settled on him.
Now there was nothing.
Not hatred.
Not fear.
Nothing.
Leng Yao opened his palm.
The Claim fragment activated.
Black lines filled the corridor.
Feng remained connected to the estate.
To the Leng family crest.
To his weapons.
To several Houshan officers nearby.
But the line between him and Leng Yao was gone.
Not broken.
Gone.
Dark text appeared.
Hostile Severance complete.
Target bond removed.
Restoration through recognised claim unavailable.
Leng Yao reached towards him anyway.
A new message appeared.
Invalid claim target.
Living will cannot be possessed.
Leng Yao stopped.
Behind him, Ji Xueyan entered the corridor.
“What happened?”
“Qin severed him.”
Ji looked at Feng.
“Do you know me?”
“Yes.”
“Bai Qingyu?”
“Yes.”
Bai raised her cane slightly.
“Unfortunately.”
Ji pointed towards Leng Yao.
“And him?”
Feng looked at Leng Yao again.
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
Leng Yao’s jaw tightened.
Feng noticed.
“You seem displeased.”
“You raised me.”
Silence.
Feng’s expression did not change.
“That seems unlikely.”
Bai lowered her cane.
“That is unsettling.”
Feng looked towards her.
“You are staying in the eastern guest wing.”
Bai paused.
“You remember that?”
“Yes.”
“Who assigned me the room?”
Feng opened his mouth.
Then stopped.
His brow furrowed.
“I did.”
“Why?”
No answer.
Feng reached inside his coat.
Three Houshan guards immediately raised their weapons.
His hand stopped.
Slowly, he removed his phone.
The device unlocked to his fingerprint.
He opened the estate management application.
His schedule appeared.
07:00 — Breakfast service.
08:00 — Security review with Young Master.
10:30 — Hospital acquisition.
12:00 — Song Zhen interrogation.
Dozens of entries mentioned Leng Yao.
Feng stared at them.
“Young Master.”
He looked up.
“Is that you?”
“Yes.”
Feng looked back at the phone.
“I have no memory of writing this.”
Ji stepped closer.
“Do you remember this morning?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Breakfast.”
“Who was there?”
“You.
Bai Qingyu.
Xue Lihua.”
“And?”
Feng’s eyes narrowed.
There should have been another person.
He knew that.
The chair at the head of the table had not been empty.
He remembered pouring tea.
Remembered the broken table.
Remembered the Central Court notice.
But whenever he tried to recall who had sat there, the memory became blank.
Pain flashed across his face.
Leng Yao noticed.
“Stop trying.”
Feng looked at him.
“Why?”
“The Severance may react.”
“You know what was done to me?”
“Enough.”
“Then explain.”
Leng Yao did.
No riddles.
No omissions.
Qin Zhaoming.
The Central Mandate Court.
The attack on the Leng lineage.
The black family crest.
The moment Qin changed targets.
Feng listened without interrupting.
When Leng Yao finished, the old butler looked towards Ji.
“Is that possible?”
“Yes.”
“Can you reverse it?”
“No.”
Bai lifted her hand.
“I may be able to see it.”
Leng Yao looked at her.
“You used the Seven Aperture Eye yesterday.”
“I know.”
“Doctor Ren said three days.”
“I heard her.”
“Then no.”
Bai frowned.
“It may show us what happened.”
“And damage your brain.”
“It is my brain.”
“That remains a poor argument.”
Feng looked between them.
“You argue often.”
“Yes,” Bai said.
Leng Yao ignored her.
The golden line around Feng’s heart appeared again.
This time everyone saw it.
Ji’s spear reacted.
Silver characters lit along the blade.
“Move away from him,” she said.
Leng Yao did not.
“What?”
“That is not Severance.”
Golden text formed above Feng.
UNATTACHED ASSET IDENTIFIED.
Feng read it.
His face hardened.
A second line appeared.
Previous allegiance invalidated.
Custodial reassignment authorised.
Leng Yao’s expression changed.
Qin had not merely severed Feng from him.
He had emptied the connection first.
Now Heaven intended to fill the space.
Designated administrator: Central Mandate Court.
Feng stared at the words.
“Asset?”
Ji gripped her spear.
“Reject it.”
“How?”
“Say no.”
“That simple?”
“No.”
The golden line tightened.
Feng’s body stiffened.
Information entered his mind.
Central Mandate Court.
Authority.
Purpose.
Resources.
A place prepared for him.
A role.
He would retain his skills.
His experience.
His cultivation.
He would serve an organisation recognised by Heaven itself.
No uncertainty.
No ruined family.
No doomed young master.
No reason to remain in a house full of people he no longer knew.
The offer was efficient.
Leng Yao could feel the Mandate pressing against him.
The Court had learned from Xue.
This time it did not promise something Feng desperately wanted.
It offered logic.
Current allegiance: none.
Prior service obligation: void.
Accept reassignment.
Feng closed his eyes.
The golden line entered his chest.
Leng Yao moved.
Ji caught his arm.
“Don’t.”
“He is being claimed.”
“And your authority cannot stop it.”
“I can absorb the claim.”
“You might absorb the bond with it.”
Leng Yao looked at her.
Ji continued.
“You cannot decide for him.”
The words irritated him.
Because they were correct.
The black mark in his palm agreed.
Living will cannot be possessed.
He lowered his hand.
The Court continued. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Accept.
Feng opened his eyes.
“Before I answer, I have a question.”
The Mandate did not respond.
Feng looked at Leng Yao.
“You say I raised you.”
“Yes.”
“How old were you when I began?”
“Five.”
“Why?”
“My father trusted you.”
“Was I paid?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
Leng Yao told him.
Feng frowned.
“That little?”
“You complained about it.”
“I would.”
Bai covered her mouth.
Leng Yao glanced at her.
She lowered her hand.
Feng continued.
“Your family was destroyed six years ago.”
“Yes.”
“I survived?”
“Yes.”
“Why did I remain?”
Leng Yao did not answer immediately.
Because that was the question.
The Court had removed every bond.
Any answer Leng Yao gave could become an attempt to rebuild it for his own benefit.
“I don’t know.”
Feng looked at him.
“You do.”
“Yes.”
“Then why refuse to answer?”
“Because whatever reason you had belonged to you.”
Something changed in Feng’s face.
Small.
Not recognition.
Interest.
The Court reacted.
Prior motivation irrelevant.
Current allegiance: none.
Feng looked at the golden text.
“I disagree.”
The line around his heart tightened.
Clarify.
“If you erased my reason, you cannot then use its absence as proof that I had none.”
Ji’s eyes sharpened.
Bai smiled.
Leng Yao said nothing.
Feng looked around the estate.
At the guards who had raised weapons when he reached into his coat.
None had fired.
At the corridor he knew without remembering how he learned it.
At the phone filled with appointments made for a man whose face had been removed from his mind.
He looked down at his clothes.
A black thread had been stitched inside his left cuff.
Feng pulled it free.
A tiny silver emblem hung from the end.
The old Leng crest.
He stared at it.
“I hid this.”
Leng Yao recognised it.
“You have carried it since the old estate fell.”
Feng rubbed his thumb over the crest.
“Why?”
“You never told me.”
That was true.
Feng had refused every time Leng Yao asked.
The golden Court message returned.
Past attachment cannot establish current allegiance.
Feng nodded slowly.
“That part is true.”
He put the crest back inside his cuff.
Then looked at Leng Yao.
“I do not know you.”
Leng Yao said nothing.
“I do not remember raising you.”
Nothing.
“I feel no loyalty to you.”
The words landed harder than Leng Yao expected.
Feng continued.
“But I know myself.”
The Court paused.
“I know what kinds of men I serve.”
Golden pressure increased.
“I know what kinds I do not.”
The old butler looked towards the Mandate text.
“And anyone who calls me an asset before introducing themselves is already at a disadvantage.”
Bai laughed.
Ji looked away.
Even Leng Yao’s mouth almost moved.
The Court did not appreciate it.
Reassignment is mandatory.
Feng’s expression hardened.
“Then why ask me to accept?”
Silence.
That was the flaw.
If acceptance did not matter, the Court would not have requested it.
The black Claim fragment reacted.
Dark text appeared.
External claim requires recipient recognition.
Leng Yao understood.
Qin could sever a bond.
He could create vacancy.
He could designate a replacement allegiance.
But he could not make Feng choose it.
Not without crossing another threshold.
“Reject it,” Leng Yao said.
Feng looked at him.
“Is that an order?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He faced the golden text.
“I refuse.”
The line around his heart constricted.
Feng stumbled.
Blood ran from his nose.
Reconsider.
“No.”
Central Mandate Court offers recognised status, authority and protection.
“No.”
Previous master possesses no legal standing.
Feng glanced at Leng Yao.
“I noticed.”
Then back at the Court.
“No.”
The golden line entered deeper.
Feng dropped to one knee.
Leng Yao stepped forward.
Ji did not stop him this time.
“You said I cannot claim him.”
“You cannot.”
“I can claim the attack.”
Ji looked at him.
The black scale in Leng Yao’s palm opened.
The Judgement fragment identified the verdict imposed upon Feng.
UNATTACHED.
AVAILABLE.
TRANSFERABLE.
Three golden labels.
Leng Yao reached for them.
Not Feng.
The labels.
His inverted core pulled.
The first tore free.
UNATTACHED
It entered his palm and shattered.
Pain spread through his arm.
Feng gasped.
A black line flickered between them.
Then vanished.
The second label resisted.
AVAILABLE
Leng Yao pulled harder.
Golden pressure struck his chest.
He did not stop.
The word broke.
His core consumed it.
The Court reacted.
Interference with reassignment prohibited.
“I am not reassigning him.”
The last word remained.
TRANSFERABLE
Leng Yao touched it.
The black Claim fragment stopped him.
A message appeared.
False premise detected.
Leng Yao frowned.
Then understood.
A person could not be transferred.
Not truly.
The Court treated allegiance like property.
His emerging authority did not.
Leng Yao closed his hand around the word.
“Rejected.”
The label cracked.
Not absorbed.
Rejected.
The golden line around Feng disappeared.
He collapsed.
Ji caught him.
The corridor lights returned to normal.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Then dark text appeared before Leng Yao.
Independent ownership principle: 21%.
A second line followed.
Rule established: voluntary allegiance cannot be transferred.
A third.
Rule established: living will is not property.
Leng Yao stared at those words.
They felt different from the earlier observations.
He had not merely learned them.
His authority had accepted them.
Somewhere deep inside his inverted core, two fractures shifted.
Not closed.
Rearranged.
Making room for something that had not existed before.
Feng opened his eyes.
Ji helped him stand.
He looked at Leng Yao.
Still no recognition.
Leng Yao had expected that.
Destroying the Court’s claim had not restored what Qin severed.
Feng checked himself.
“The pressure is gone.”
“Yes.”
“Do I work for the Court?”
“No.” Find the original chapter at g.com.
“Do I work for you?”
Leng Yao paused.
“No.”
Feng lifted an eyebrow.
Bai turned towards Leng Yao.
“That sounded painful.”
“It was accurate.”
Feng looked around.
“What happens now?”
“You decide.”
“Immediately?”
“No.”
“How generous.”
The old butler tested his balance.
Ji released him.
Feng looked at Leng Yao again.
“I want records.”
“You can have them.”
“Everything.”
“Yes.”
“My personnel file.”
“Yes.”
“Family history.”
“Yes.”
“Security footage.”
“Yes.”
“Financial records.”
“Yes.”
Bai raised her hand.
“He also keeps corpses underground.”
Feng looked at her.
“I remember those.”
Bai lowered her hand.
“Of course you do.”
Feng continued.
“I will review what I can.”
“And after?”
“I decide whether the man I apparently served is worth serving again.”
Leng Yao nodded once.
“Fine.”
Feng started walking.
He took four steps, then stopped.
Without turning, he said, “Your collar is crooked.”
Leng Yao froze.
Feng looked back.
“Was that something I used to correct?”
“Yes.”
“Often?”
“Every day.”
Feng considered that.
Then continued walking.
No memory returned.
But habit had survived.
Leng Yao watched him disappear around the corner.
Ji stood beside him.
“You cannot rebuild a relationship through authority.”
“I know.”
“You hate that.”
“Yes.”
Bai tapped her cane against his shoe.
“You could try behaving well.”
Leng Yao looked at her.
“Do that again.”
“What?”
“Hit my shoe.”
She did.
The cane tapped leather.
Nothing happened.
Bai smiled.
“I remain unafraid.”
“That can be corrected.”
Ji looked at him.
“You realise threatening her immediately weakened her argument.”
“It improved mine.”
“It did not.”
A Houshan officer hurried towards them.
“Young Master.”
“What?”
“We have movement outside the estate.”
“How many?”
“One.”
The officer handed him a tablet.
A man stood beyond the eastern gate.
No weapon.
No guards.
Black business suit.
He held a golden envelope.
Ji recognised him.
Her expression changed.
“Central Court messenger.”
The officer continued.
“He says he has revised terms for the hearing.”
Leng Yao looked at the feed.
“What terms?”
“He will only deliver them to you.”
The correction system appeared.
Notice: Respondent interference has exceeded permitted threshold.
Central Court offers settlement.
Bai tilted her head.
“Heaven wants to negotiate?”
Ji shook her head.
“No.”
Leng Yao agreed.
“Qin does.”
That distinction mattered.
They went to the eastern gate.
The messenger waited outside the barrier.
He bowed.
“Leng Yao.”
“Speak.”
The man held out the golden envelope.
“Central Chosen Qin Zhaoming offers resolution without hearing.”
“What does he want?”
“Your independent claim.”
Leng Yao’s eyes narrowed.
The messenger continued.
“Return all stolen Mandate fragments.”
“Ji Xueyan keeps Judgement?”
“Yes.”
“Bai Qingyu?”
“May retain the Seven Aperture Eye.”
Bai straightened.
“My property is not his to offer.”
The messenger ignored her.
“White Crane Clinic remains under her administration.”
“Xue Lihua?”
“Removed from Mandate review.”
“And Feng Baoshu?”
The messenger hesitated.
Leng Yao’s expression changed.
“What about him?”
“Severance remains.”
Silence.
Ji looked at the messenger.
“Why?”
“Completed corrections cannot be reversed through settlement.”
Leng Yao knew that was probably a lie.
But not necessarily the messenger’s.
“What does Qin receive?”
“Your Claim fragments.”
“And?”
“Your counterclaim is withdrawn.”
“And?”
The man remained silent.
Leng Yao stepped closer to the barrier.
“There is always another term.”
The messenger looked at the envelope.
Then answered.
“You accept your designated role.”
Bai’s face hardened.
Ji gripped her spear.
Leng Yao remained still.
“What role?”
The messenger looked directly at him.
“Primary antagonist.”
Not dead.
Not erased.
Not imprisoned.
Heaven would allow him to keep his life.
His organisation.
His companions.
Perhaps even his cultivation.
In exchange, he would become what the novel had always required.
Shen Mingzhi’s enemy.
A villain permitted to rise because his eventual fall had already been approved.
The messenger extended the envelope.
“Qin Zhaoming believes this arrangement benefits everyone.”
Leng Yao looked at it.
“Does he?”
“Yes.”
“Then tell him I have a counteroffer.”
The messenger waited.
Leng Yao pointed towards the road behind him.
“He can come here himself.”
The man lowered the envelope.
“That is your response?”
“Yes.”
“He will interpret refusal as escalation.”
“He sent someone to erase forty years of another man’s life with me.”
Leng Yao’s voice remained calm.
“He has already escalated.”
The messenger bowed.
“I will deliver your answer.”
He turned.
“Wait.”
The man stopped.
Leng Yao activated Claim.
A thin golden line connected the messenger to the envelope.
Another connected the envelope north.
To Qin.
Leng Yao smiled faintly.
“Keep the envelope open when you speak to him.”
The messenger frowned.
“Why?”
“So he hears me clearly.”
The man left.
Ji watched him disappear down the road.
“You placed something on the letter.”
“No.”
“What did you do?”
“Recognised its owner.”
“Qin?”
“Yes.”
Bai turned towards him.
“And?”
Leng Yao looked at the black Claim mark.
The connection remained visible.
For the first time, he had a direct line leading to Qin Zhaoming.
“He has spent all day showing me what belongs to whom.”
The black line stretched north.
Leng Yao closed his hand.
“It would be rude not to learn.”