The Official Palace smelled of cold incense and old judgment.
Yan noticed that first.
Not the towering pillars carved with divine law. Not the golden tablets floating above the court. Not the rows of officials seated according to rank beneath white banners embroidered with the Heavenly Pact.
The smell.
Clean. Sharp. Merciless.
It reminded her of sealed rooms, polished blades, and people who could decide another person's suffering without ever touching blood.
The moment Yan stepped inside, every voice in the court fell silent.
Then the whispers began.
"So it is true."
"She has awakened."
"Impossible. Her seal should have held."
"Look at her wrist."
"Do not stare too openly."
Yan heard all of it.
She wished she had not.
Jin Liwei walked at her right side, his expression colder than the stone beneath their feet. Ran stood at her left, smiling beautifully enough to look harmless and dangerously enough to prove she was not. Behind them came Huan Mei, Jin Qiang, Ye Tianxin, and Jin Fen.
The court watched them enter like a pack of wolves forced to make room for tigers.
At the far end of the hall stood seven high seats.
Six were occupied.
The seventh, placed above the others, remained empty.
Yan's gaze lingered on it.
Something inside her reacted to that seat.
Not fear.
Not comfort.
A strange ache.
Before she could ask, an official in white robes rose from the left row. He looked middle-aged, with a narrow face and eyes that measured people like items in a ledger.
"Goddess of Reincarnation," he said, bowing just low enough to be correct and not a fraction lower. "This court welcomes your return."
Yan looked at him.
His words were polite.
His tone was not.
Ran's smile sharpened.
Jin Liwei's hand twitched near his sword.
Yan lifted her chin. "Do I thank you, or would that disturb procedure?"
A ripple moved through the court.
Jin Fen coughed into his sleeve.
Ye Tianxin opened his fan to hide his smile.
The official's expression stiffened. "This is a formal assembly."
"I noticed."
"Then perhaps Your Grace should treat it with the seriousness it deserves."
Yan looked around the hall.
Rows of spotless robes. Calm faces. Hidden eyes.
"I died less than an hour ago," she said. "If my manners are lacking, I ask heaven to forgive the inconvenience."
Silence struck the court.
Not soft silence.
Sharp silence.
The official's face darkened.
Another man rose from the central row before he could reply.
This one was older, with silver threaded through his hair and a gentle expression that did not reach his eyes. His robes were finer than the others, marked with the crest of the High Ministry.
Yan did not remember him.
Her body did.
A cold feeling crawled beneath her skin.
Jin Liwei noticed immediately.
"That is High Minister Mo Zun," he said quietly. "Be careful."
Mo Zun smiled.
"Goddess Yan, the court understands your confusion. Your awakening was sudden, irregular, and unfortunately connected to a disturbance in the Heavenly Pact."
Unfortunately.
Yan almost laughed.
"What a delicate way to describe being burned alive."
Several officials frowned.
Mo Zun's smile did not move. "The mortal incident is under review."
"Mortal incident," Yan repeated.
The words tasted bitter.
The library. The fire. Her body under a white sheet. The stolen painting.
A mortal incident.
Huan Mei's aura chilled.
Jin Qiang shifted one step forward.
Ye Tianxin tapped his fan once against his palm. The sound was light, but it stopped Jin Qiang before he could speak.
Mo Zun continued, "The more urgent matter is the report submitted to the Authority of Heaven before your awakening."
Yan's eyes narrowed.
"What report?"
A younger official stood quickly. "Unverified accusations."
Another added, "Slanderous accusations."
A third said, "Baseless claims aimed at damaging the dignity of the divine court."
Ran muttered, "How tragic. Their dignity survived wars but trembles before paperwork."
Jin Fen whispered back, "Should we offer incense?"
Yan's mouth nearly twitched.
Mo Zun heard them. His gaze cooled.
"The report claims," he said, "that certain officials benefited from the curse placed upon Goddess Yan and later attempted to recreate similar effects upon newborns, children, and unstable cultivators in lesser realms."
The hall erupted.
"Absurd!"
"Who dares accuse the court?"
"This is a stain upon divine order!"
"Produce the witness!"
"Produce evidence!"
Yan stood still.
The words entered her slowly.
Newborns.
Children.
Curse.
Her curse.
The silver mark on her wrist burned faintly.
Images flickered behind her eyes.
A child crying in darkness.
Small hands gripping prison bars.
A voice saying, "Fresh vitality produces cleaner spiritual yield."
Yan's stomach twisted.
She swallowed hard.
Jin Liwei stepped closer, but still did not touch her.
That restraint kept her upright.
Mo Zun watched her reaction carefully.
Too carefully.
"Goddess Yan," he said, "as the center of this matter, you must understand the court's concern. If such accusations are false, they threaten the stability of the realms."
Yan looked at him. "And if they are true?"
The court quieted.
Mo Zun's smile thinned.
"If they are true, then the guilty will be punished according to heavenly law."
Ye Tianxin chuckled softly.
Every eye turned to him.
Mo Zun's expression remained courteous. "Does the God of Wealth find something amusing?"
Ye Tianxin waved his fan. "Only the confidence. A man who says 'if they are true' before asking who buried the evidence is either innocent, foolish, or very prepared."
The court stirred again.
Mo Zun's eyes sharpened.
Before he could answer, a cold voice came from the right.
"Mind your words, God of Wealth."
Official Song Byin rose from his seat.
Yan recognized the name from Jin Liwei's earlier warning, but this was the first time she saw him clearly. His face carried the arrogance of someone who had never been punished enough. Beside him sat a young woman in pale robes, her gaze fixed not on Yan, but on Jin Liwei.
Yan noticed.
So did Ran.
Ran leaned closer and whispered, "That one has the self-preservation of a moth near a heavenly flame."
Yan whispered back, "Which one?"
"Both."
Official Song bowed toward the high seats, then turned toward Yan.
"Let us speak plainly. The Goddess of Reincarnation awakened before her remaining cycles were completed. Her seal is unstable. Her memories are incomplete. Her authority is unsettled. For such a person to stand at the center of accusations against the court is dangerous."
Jin Liwei's eyes went dark.
Huan Mei smiled.
It was not a kind smile.
Yan felt fear move through her again, but this time anger followed it.
"Such a person?" she asked.
Official Song looked at her. "This official speaks only of your condition."
"No," Yan said. "You speak of me like a damaged artifact."
A few officials shifted uncomfortably.
Song Byin's face hardened. "If Your Grace wishes to be treated as the Goddess of Reincarnation, then Your Grace should first prove that her awakened authority is stable."
Jin Qiang laughed.
The sound was low and dangerous.
"Careful, Song. Your bones are also unstable."
"God of Destruction," Mo Zun said sharply, "this is court."
"Yes," Jin Qiang replied. "That is why he still has bones."
The officials paled.
Huan Mei sighed. "Qiang."
"What? I am being restrained."
Yan should not have found that funny.
She did.
Only a little.
Mo Zun lifted one hand, and the golden tablets above the court shifted.
The hall quieted again.
"Since the matter has been raised," Mo Zun said, "the court must examine the sequence of events."
Yan's fingers tightened around her sleeve.
Sequence of events.
The phrase sounded harmless.
That made her distrust it immediately.
Mo Zun turned slightly, allowing the entire court to hear him.
"First, an unverified report was submitted to the Authority of Heaven, accusing ranked officials of benefiting from Goddess Yan's curse."
A few officials murmured.
"Second, before the report could be formally examined, a mortal library burned. An ancient object disappeared. A painting connected to old divine records was stolen."
Yan went cold.
"Third," Mo Zun continued, "Goddess Yan died in that fire and awakened before her remaining cycles were complete."
The court grew still.
Yan understood it then.
Her death.
Her fire.
Her awakening.
They were lining them up like pieces on a board.
Mo Zun's gaze settled on her.
"Is this court not permitted to question such convenient timing?"
Yan could not move.
For one terrible second, she was back in the library.
Smoke in her lungs.
Fire swallowing the shelves.
Her body trapped beneath burning wood.
And now these people were turning that death into a calculation.
Official Song seized the opening.
"Perhaps the false accusation was created to justify disturbing the Heavenly Pact," he said. "Perhaps the mortal fire was not an accident. Perhaps those standing beside Goddess Yan wished to wake her before the court could review her condition."
The hall erupted again.
"Reasonable concern."
"The timing is suspicious."
"The Pact must be protected."
"Her seal must be inspected."
"Until proof is presented, the court cannot ignore the possibility of manipulation."
Yan's breath grew shallow.
She had burned.
She had died.
She had watched strangers carry her body beneath a white sheet.
And now they were turning her death into evidence against her.
A laugh almost escaped her.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was disgusting.
Jin Liwei took one step forward.
The temperature in the hall dropped.
"You will not use her death as a shield for your crimes."
Mo Zun's smile faded. "God of Death, no crime has been proven."
"Not yet."
The two words fell like a blade.
For the first time, Mo Zun's eyes sharpened with something close to anger.
Before he could answer, the golden tablets above the court trembled.
A pressure descended.
Not loud.
Not violent.
Absolute.
Every official in the hall fell silent at once.
Even Jin Qiang stopped speaking.
The seventh seat glowed.
Yan turned.
No servant announced him.
No bell rang.
No guard stepped forward.
They did not need to.
The court lowered its head as if fear itself had given an order.
A man entered the hall in white-gold robes, plain compared to the richness around him. His long hair was tied with a simple jade crown. His face was calm, almost gentle, but the air bent around him like the world had remembered who held its laws together.
Yan could not breathe.
The ache inside her chest deepened.
Master.
The word rose from somewhere broken.
The man stopped before her.
For the first time since entering the court, his expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Yan saw it.
Pain.
Relief.
Control.
"Yan," he said.
Her eyes burned.
She did not know why.
"Who…" Her voice almost failed. "Who are you?"
Several officials exchanged glances.
Jin Liwei lowered his eyes.
The man's face remained calm, but the light in his gaze dimmed for one painful moment.
"I am Lu Si Cheng," he said. "Authority of Heaven."
He paused.
Then his voice softened.
"And your master."
Yan stared at him.
Master.
The word did not open her memories.
It opened grief.
Lu Si Cheng looked at her wrist, at the unstable silver mark, then at Jin Liwei's blood-red seal.
His gaze hardened.
Only then did he turn to the court.
"Continue," he said. "I would like to hear how far this assembly intends to insult my disciple."