He paused, gathering his breath before continuing.
"Then she gave birth to Lan Gengxin. The boy should have been discarded as an unwanted child of shame, but he carried the bloodline of Blizzard Pegasus. And a few years later, she passed away from an illness."
Mark inhaled slowly, absorbing every word. It was a story buried for decades, yet every sentence resonated like an old wound reopening.
The elder lowered his gaze as he went on. "The Patriarch's only son, Lan Jing, had mediocre talent. But Gengxin… he was a genius with the sacred bloodline. The Patriarch had no choice but to raise him as his own, to groom him as the successor. But every time he saw him, he remembered the sister he loved and lost, and the disgrace she brought."
The room seemed to grow colder.
