The scent of pine ink and burning parchment filled the study as Ling Tian stepped over the shattered remains of the door. Elder Bai's brush hovered over an unfinished character, the ink dripping like black blood onto the pristine rice paper. Moonlight streamed through the window, casting long shadows that made the old man's wrinkles appear deeper, his eyes more sunken.
"You're slower than I expected," Elder Bai said, setting down his brush with deliberate calm. His fingers, stained with years of ink, trembled slightly. "I thought you'd come raging in here weeks ago."
Ling Tian's mutated arm throbbed, the ledger's pages whispering against his skin. The words burned: Make him eat his words.
"You sold my sister to the Ghostfang." Ling Tian's voice was flat, devoid of the rage that had carried him here. That was more dangerous than any shout.
Elder Bai chuckled, reaching for the sword mounted above his desk. The blade was a masterpiece—folded steel with a pearl-inlaid hilt, a gift to his son on his sixteenth birthday. "And what will you do, Ling whelp? Kill me in my own home? My disciples will—"
The crack of breaking bones echoed through the room as Ling Tian's claw closed around Elder Bai's wrist. The old man's scream was cut short when Ling Tian slammed his head into the desk, scattering brushes and inkstones. Blood dripped from the elder's nose onto his unfinished calligraphy, blurring the character for "honor" into an unrecognizable smear.
The ledger pulsed. His son's blade.
Ling Tian kicked the fallen sword up with his foot, catching it in his human hand. The weight was familiar—too familiar. He turned the blade, revealing the Bai family motto etched along the fuller: Honor Cuts Both Ways.
Elder Bai's breath came in ragged gasps. "That sword belongs to—"
"Your son." Ling Tian drove the blade through the old man's palm, pinning it to the desk. The scream that followed was muffled as Ling Tian shoved a crumpled sheet of paper into his mouth. "Now you'll write. Every name. Every deal. Every piece of silver you took to betray my clan."
He yanked the sword free and placed a fresh sheet of paper before the trembling elder.
"Start with my sister."