If Jian Vareth had indeed returned, if he truly was this 'Van' who registered as the lowest of the low, then his intentions could only be one thing: vengeance. And she, who had stood silently by, was surely on his list. The thought sent a fresh wave of dread through her. What have we done?
The three days leading up to the Grand Tournament passed in a blur of anxious speculation for Lin Xier. She found herself constantly scanning faces in the sect, searching for a hint of the masked stranger, for any sign of that distinctive, almost invisible crimson thread. Every shadowy corner, every passing figure, seemed to hold a sinister potential. She even found herself glancing at the tournament notice boards, looking for 'Van', for '999', a name and number that now felt loaded with an unsettling s
