The old man stood still at the cliff's edge, the wind tugging at his long white hair. His scarlet eyes followed the faint silhouette far below — the broken, motionless body of Lin Fang.
For a long moment, he said nothing. The only sound was the wind howling through the mountain peaks.
Then he sighed. A soft, almost regretful sound.
With a small flick of his fingers, the air shimmered — the dark chains that had once bound Lin Fang disintegrated into nothing.
"Foolish kid," he murmured. "You had promise… and you wasted it."
He turned away, his cane tapping lightly on the ground as he began to walk back toward his small hut. But before he entered, he paused again, glancing over his shoulder, his expression unreadable.
"No," he corrected himself quietly, his voice nearly lost in the breeze.\
"Not foolish kid… foolish **Spirit King**."
A faint smirk crossed his lips. "It would rather destroy its host than let me read its memories. Loyal to the end."
