Chapter 37 The Night the Owls Went Silent
The storm that had been threatening the village all afternoon finally broke after sundown.
Thunder rolled like a dragon turning in its sleep, shaking the clay walls of Shen Wei’s home. The lantern flickered, throwing restless shadows across the room as he paced, jaw tight, every movement sharp and controlled except for his eyes, which betrayed the fear he couldn’t voice.
Lian Hua sat by the low table, her fingers tightly clenched around the edge, pretending to read the old herbal scroll spread in front of her. But she wasn’t reading. She could barely think. Her pulse was still uneven, ever since the masked intruder left her unconscious in the bamboo grove.
Shen Wei stopped pacing.
“Lian Hua.”
She looked up.
“What exactly did you see before he struck you?”
Her breath caught because she had remembered something only moments ago, something she hadn’t dared tell him yet.
She swallowed.
“There was a… symbol. On his glove. A hawk with one wing broken.”
The room froze.
Shen Wei went still, utterly still, as if even his heartbeat had paused.
“That emblem…” he whispered. “It belongs to the Shadow Court.”
The words felt like a knife slicing through the air.
Lian Hua blinked. “Shadow… Court?”
“They’re a hidden faction,” Shen Wei said, voice low, controlled but pulsing with a restrained fury. “Ruthless. Ancient. They operate outside the Empire’s laws. They hunt rare bloodlines, priceless artefacts anything they believe holds power. If they’ve come here…”
His jaw locked.
“…they weren’t after the village. They were after you.”
Lian Hua’s blood turned cold.
“Me? Why?”
Shen Wei shook his head. “I don’t know yet. But we will find out.”
A sudden knock thundered against the door.
Both stiffened.
Shen Wei reached instinctively for the dagger concealed at his waist while signaling her to stay back. He opened the door with one swift motion only to find Elder Ming, drenched from the rain, lantern in hand, and fear written across every wrinkle of his aged face.
“Shen Wei Lian Hua you must come quickly,” he gasped. “The forest… something is happening.”
Lian Hua rose instantly. “What happened?”
The old man swallowed.
“The owls, every last one… stopped singing at once.”
Lian Hua felt the hair rise on her neck.
For a moment, none of them spoke.
Even Shen Wei’s face tightened.
In the village, owls were guardians of the night. They never went silent, not unless something unnatural disturbed the balance.
“Show us,” Shen Wei said.
THE FOREST WAS BREATHING WRONG
They followed Elder Ming through the rain soaked path toward the forest’s edge. Lightning split the sky, illuminating the dense trees, the slick earth, the trembling bamboo swaying as if whispering warnings.
When they stepped closer, Lian Hua felt it a pressure deep in her chest, like the forest air was too heavy, too full.
Then she realized:
There were no owl calls ,no rustling,no frogs,no night insects.
The entire forest was holding its breath.
Shen Wei’s voice was barely a whisper.
“This isn’t natural.”
Lian Hua shivered. “It feels like the world has paused.”
A second elder, Dao Lu, hurried toward them from the shrine path. “I checked the spirit markers,” he breathed. “They’re cracked. Something powerful crossed through.”
Lian Hua’s pulse spiked. “Something like the masked man?”
Dao Lu hesitated.
“No, Something worse.”
Lightning flashed revealing deep gouges carved into the bark of several trees long precise. Not made by any animal she knew.
Elder Ming knelt beside one. “These are fresh. Less than an hour old.”
Shen Wei crouched, running his fingers lightly over the grooves.
“These marks… they were made by a blade, but not an ordinary one.”
Lian Hua leaned close. “What do you mean?”
He looked up at her, eyes dark, unreadable.
“This cut is too clean, too perfect. Only a weapon forged with ancient qi techniques could make a mark like this.”
Dao Lu whispered, “A Shadow Court spiritual blade?”
But Shen Wei didn’t answer.
His silence was the answer.
THE DISCOVERY
A distant sound finally broke the awful stillness a crack, like bamboo snapping. Shen Wei immediately stepped in front of Lian Hua, one arm shielding her instinctively. His other hand tightened on his dagger.“Stay behind me.”
Elder Ming raised his lantern, casting trembling light deeper into the forest.
And then they saw it.
Something glinting on the ground.
Metal.
A fragment of shattered mask.
Lian Hua froze.
“That’s his…”
Shen Wei bent to pick it up, turning the shard between his fingers.
The broken hawk emblem was etched on the inside.
But there was something else something that hadn’t been there before.
A smear of dark silver residue, shimmering faintly under the lantern light.
Lian Hua frowned. “What is that?”
Shen Wei’s face darkened.
“Spirit-forged poison.”
His fist closed around the shard.
“If they used this… they weren't just trying to capture you.”
Lian Hua stared at him, breath thinning.
“What were they trying to do?”
Shen Wei looked straight into her eyes.
“Kill you.”
Her heart slammed painfully.
Dao-Lu crossed himself with trembling fingers. Elder Ming whispered a prayer.
Lian Hua felt the world tilt, her knees nearly giving way but Shen Wei steadied her with a firm hand on her arm.
“I won’t let that happen,” he said. Not a promise. A vow, a blade sharp truth.
Before she could speak, a rustle erupted behind them.
They spun.
The trees parted and a bloodied figure staggered out.
Lian Hua gasped.
It was the masked intruder.
Except now, his mask was gone. His face was pale, twisted with pain, and a deep wound carved across his chest leaked shimmering silver blood.
But the moment he saw Lian Hua, his eyes widened in recognition fear, hatred, something sharp and desperate all tangled together.
He pointed at her with a trembling finger.
“You…” he rasped. “You are”
His body convulsed violently.
A black sigil burned itself into his throat.
Shen Wei’s eyes flared. “No he’s been silenced!”
The man collapsed to his knees.
Clawing at the earth ,Choking.
Trying to force out the last word the word that would reveal why the Shadow Court wanted Lian Hua.
He managed a single sound:
“Li..—”
And then his entire body dissolved into ash.
The wind swept the ashes away.
Lian Hua’s scream caught in her throat.
Shen Wei grabbed her before she collapsed.
Elder Ming stumbled backward, horrified. “Spirit severing curse… They erased him.”
Dao Lu fell to his knees. “Only the Shadow Court’s inner circle uses such a spell. Whoever sent him… they’re watching her.”
Shen Wei held Lian Hua tightly as she trembled.
But then as the last of the ashes settled Shen Wei stiffened.
Because something remained on the ground.
Not ash,not metal.
A single slip of silver paper.
Marked with one word.
A name.
Shen Wei picked it up slowly.
His face drained of color.
Lian Hua looked up at him, terrified.
“What… what does it say?”
Shen Wei swallowed hard, voice barely audible.
“It’s your true name, Lian Hua.”
He lifted the paper.
“It says Lián Xue.”
Lian Hua’s vision blurred because she had never told anyone that name.
Not even him.
And only the Shadow Court should know it.