Lin Chaoyuan raised his hand. With a sharp gesture, he signaled a woman in her thirties to speak. Though her face was weathered by pain and the passage of time, her eyes held memories as clear as glass. Lin Chaoyuan commanded her:

  "Tell them everything you saw."

  He then turned back to the Masters.

  "This woman is the one who found Yu Sui amidst the chaos, and she is the one who delivered him directly into your hands, Kin Lishuan."

  Master Kin Lishuan looked at her in sheer disbelief.

  "Fuie! You... you said he was just a child we had rescued...!"

  Fuie bowed her head.

  "I did not lie, Master. But it is also true that I found Yu Sui lying in the very center of that ritual pavilion. I did not lie to you, Master I simply did not tell the whole story."

  She stepped forward and slowly revealed the evidence. There it was: the seal-binding mantra that Queen Guzuie had inscribed in her final moments. The paper was scorched at the edges and stained with ancient ash. Beside it lay Queen Guzuie’s royal letter her final message to her son and Yu Sui. The blood-mantras pulsed with the exact same energy that was currently glowing on the boys' wrists. Master Kin Lishuan took the seal in his hand, his fingers trembling and his eyes brimming with tears.

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  The words of the letter seemed to echo through the room without even being read:

  "Yu Sui... as long as Mo Yan is with you, no curse shall ever harm you. And Mo Yan... as long as Yu Sui is with you, you will never feel the void of my absence."

  But then came the final, crushing blow. Fuie looked directly at the three Masters and said in a trembling, piercing voice:

  "Yu Sui was the center of that ancient ritual. But the true heir to the throne... the real son of Queen Guzuie ... is Mo Yan."

  The words struck like the point of a sword. The eyes of the three Masters widened in shock. Even Lin Chaoyuan was momentarily taken aback, his mouth hanging open as he stared at her for revealing it so bluntly for he had known since that first day that Mo Yan was the Prince.

  The silence that descended upon the library felt like the mourning of a death. But Fuie did not stop; she pointed a finger at Lin Chaoyuan and screamed:

  "Lin Chaoyuan tried to murder Prince Mo Yan! On that day, he doesn't throw the newborn Mo Yan into the mountain river.

  But fate had other plans. Some fishermen from the Linyan Clan found the Prince. They handed him over to Master Chui Yong, who raised him... and named him Mo Yan... the very name the Queen herself had written upon his wrist!"

  The air in the library grew so thick it felt as though the silence itself was suffocating. The truth was as bitter as poison. No one moved. No one even dared to breathe. Outside, the sky roared with thunder, as if the Heavens themselves were listening.