The air inside the prison cell was thick and stale, saturated with the scent of damp stone and rusted iron. Yuan Guo sat in silence, his back straight despite the cold that seeped through his thin robes. His hands rested lightly on his knees, his breathing steady, but his mind was a battlefield of clashing thoughts.
The pain of imprisonment—the shackles biting into his ankles, the bruises left by rough handling—was nothing compared to the deeper wound in his chest. The betrayal.
News had reached him, carried in whispers through the halls of Guangling Fortress. Luo Wen had taken power. The imperial capital had fallen, the Four Families had been driven from their seats of influence, and the emperor had been freed. For a moment, he had dared to hope.
He had spent weeks envisioning the moment his pupil would restore balance to the empire, dismantling the structures of corruption and placing the emperor back at the helm as a true sovereign.
But now, the truth stood before him, cold and undeniable. Luo Wen had not restored the empire. He had seized it.
For all their greed and ambition, the Four Families had never been able to fully consolidate power. Their infighting had kept them in check, ensuring that no single faction ever ruled unopposed. But now, Luo Wen had wiped away that chaotic balance and placed absolute control in his own hands.
Yuan Guo had trained him, guided him, shaped him—and now, Luo Wen had taken all that wisdom and forged it into a weapon to serve his own rule.
A bitter laugh escaped Yuan Guo's lips. Had he been blind? Had he failed to see the ambition lurking beneath the surface of his most promising student?
The betrayal burned deeper than the iron shackles around his wrists. If Luo Wen had turned against the ideals they once fought for, Yuan Guo would not sit idly by.
He had built this empire once. He would not let it fall into tyranny.
The flickering torchlight barely reached the corners of his cell when heavy footsteps approached.
A guard, clad in An Lu's colors, stopped before the iron bars, watching him carefully before speaking.
—"The Lord of Guangling has received your request."
Yuan Guo lifted his gaze.
—"And?"
The guard hesitated.
—"He will hear you out."
Yuan Guo nodded, allowing himself the briefest sigh of relief. He had spent years as a commander, strategist, and mentor—but now, he had to be a negotiator.
And he had to convince An Lu that their mutual enemy was far more dangerous than their past rivalries.
Guangling Fortress – A Meeting of Enemies
An Lu's war room was a grand chamber, its high ceilings supported by thick wooden beams carved with depictions of past victories. Maps, reports, and battle plans covered the large table in the center, detailing the shifting tides of the empire.
When Yuan Guo was led inside, shackled but walking with dignity, the room fell silent.
An Lu sat at the head of the table, swirling a cup of wine between his fingers, studying his old rival with an unreadable expression. Around him, generals and advisors stood in tense anticipation.
—"Yuan Guo," —An Lu mused, setting his cup down—"I never thought I'd see you like this. If I recall, you were always the one giving orders, not the one in chains."
Yuan Guo remained unmoved.
—"I have no time for pleasantries, An Lu."
The warlord chuckled.
—"Then speak. I'm curious why a man like you would ask for an audience instead of an execution."
Yuan Guo met his gaze without hesitation.
—"Because we both know that as long as Luo Wen sits in the capital, we are all living on borrowed time."
That wiped the amusement from An Lu's face.
The murmurs in the room ceased.
Even the most loyal of An Lu's men had to admit the truth—Luo Wen's rise to power had changed everything.
An Lu leaned forward, his fingers tapping against the wooden table.
—"Luo Wen's ambition doesn't concern me. The more he tightens his grip on the empire, the more unstable it will become. Feudal lords despise centralized power, and if he continues down this path, rebellion will come to him naturally. I only have to wait."
Yuan Guo shook his head.
—"You underestimate him."
An Lu raised an eyebrow.
—"Do I?"
—"Luo Wen is not a reckless warlord. He is methodical, precise. He does not seek to rule through chaos—he seeks to eliminate it.
Yuan Guo motioned towards the map on the table.
—"He is already setting the feudal lords against each other. Declaring some as traitors, granting others false legitimacy. He forces them to weaken themselves before he moves in to crush them. This is not the work of a man waiting for rebellion—this is a man engineering it so that he controls the outcome."
An Lu frowned, his fingers tightening on the table's edge.
—"He's removing the feudal system entirely," —one of his generals muttered, realization sinking in.
An Lu's jaw clenched.
He had once thought that Luo Wen's rule would further fragment the empire, giving him free reign in the south. But if what Yuan Guo was saying was true, then the exact opposite was happening.
Luo Wen wasn't weakening the empire. He was reforging it under his absolute rule.
And if he succeeded, An Lu and his allies would be the next to fall.
The Birth of an Alliance
An Lu exhaled, standing up and pacing toward the grand window overlooking his city.
—"You are proposing an alliance."
Yuan Guo nodded.
—"A war."
Silence hung between them.
Finally, An Lu turned, his eyes sharp with a decision made. He approached the table, resting a hand over the map.
—"We will strike from three sides—my armies from the south, the Four Families from the east, and your loyalists in the west. We won't wait for Luo Wen to come for us—we will bring the war to him."**
Yuan Guo studied the man before him, searching for deception, for hesitation. He found none.
—"If we do this, it must be swift. We cannot afford a prolonged war."
An Lu smirked.
—"Then we will not prolong it."
With those words, a pact was formed. A war that would determine the fate of the empire had begun.
Meanwhile, in the Imperial Capital, Luo Wen sat in his chamber, a report in his hands—its edges singed from the flames of a nearby brazier.
His gaze was cold, calculating.
—"They think they can challenge me?"
A general knelt before him.
—"Shall we mobilize the army, Canciller?"
Luo Wen let the parchment slip through his fingers, watching it crumble into ashes.
—"No."
He smiled, dark and knowing.
—"Let them come. I have been preparing for this war since the day I seized the capital."
As the moon hung high over the empire, battle lines were drawn.