"More what? Fireworks? A choir of angels? You’ve slaughtered the most powerful men in the region, Xiaochen. You’ve erased a thousand years of history in a single morning. That’s more than most men achieve in ten lifetimes."
"I expected to feel... something. Peace. A release. But the silence is just as loud as the screaming was."
"That’s the secret of vengeance, little spark. It’s a meal that leaves you hungrier than when you started. You’ve cleared the weeds, but the garden is still rotten. Did you think killing a few sheepdogs would stop the wolves?"
Xiaochen stood up, his black cloak dragging through a pile of ash that had once been an Elder. He walked to the edge of the dais, looking out over the ruined hall. "They called me trash. They said I was a hole in the world. Now they’re the
