Peking Opera Cat: I Became A Zi's Brother

"Cough cough..."

The old man coughed violently, and the black blood seeping from between his fingers dripped onto the chain, making a corrosive sound. He raised his head with great effort, and his cloudy eyes moved with difficulty:

"A month ago... when Chaos invaded Dazong again, I sensed a power... that did not belong to Chaos."

The Adam's apple rolled up and down, and the cracked lips almost stuck together.

"That power was cold and overbearing, like the roar of a dragon breaking through ice."

"That's Brother Mo Yun!"

Wu Song suddenly gripped the iron bars tightly, twisting the metal into shape. Flames gushed out from the flame whistle stick, outlining his angry figure in the darkness.

"That day he arrived riding an ice dragon, and the chaos dissipated wherever the dragon's breath passed!"

A tiny flame ignited on Yun Bai's tail. She held the flaming whip in her claws, remembering how the starlight flowing on the dragon's scales when the ice dragon carried the cats away had shattered the chaotic shackles in her dantian into powder. That power was cold and had the power to purify everything, completely different from the blazing flames of Da Zong.

"Mo Yun..."

The old man's skinny fingers trembled as he grasped at the air, as if trying to grasp a vague moment from ten years ago.

"Many years ago... there was an unusual movement at the border of the sect."

His voice suddenly became distant, and a strange light appeared in his sunken eye sockets.

"After the earth shook, an icy blue crack appeared in the sky. The power... was so strong that it frightened all the rhythmic practitioners."

"Hmm? Grandpa, you're talking about..."

"boom……"

The dungeon suddenly shook violently, and rubble above fell.

"Senior Sister, be careful!"

Wu Song quickly protected Yun Bai behind him, and the flaming whistle swept out a blazing arc of light. The orange-red flame illuminated the old man's scarred face - among those old whip marks, there were several with strange dark golden lines, exactly the same as the chaotic rhyme.

"Back then, Yueli was also the most dazzling talent in Da Zong in recent years."

The old man gasped, his voice torn into pieces by the roaring vibration.

"Her flaming whistle can burn a ten-mile wasteland when wielded. Her talent for rhymed carving is admired even by the old sect leader."

He suddenly twitched violently, and the chains made a sharp clang.

"After the Chaos invasion, she discovered fragments of the 'Ember Fire Rebirth Formation' in the Forbidden Book Pavilion... That formation is said to be able to gather the power of myriad fires and reverse the defeat of the Da Zong."

"What……"

Yun Bai's pupils suddenly contracted.

She remembered that on the night she first arrived at the Yue Lai Inn, there seemed to be half a yellowed drawing pressed under the moldy bedding thrown by Yue Li.

Twisted flames were painted in cinnabar on the edge of the drawing. At that time, she thought it was just a discarded talisman, but now thinking about it, the direction of those flame patterns was vaguely similar to the traces of chaos eroding the martial arts hall's plaque.

"She said... seeing the children of Dazong eating hard biscuits in the ruins, she would rather trade her consciousness for power."

The old man's voice suddenly calmed down, and with a dead despair, he slowly lowered his head, his white hair falling to cover his face.

"But that formation was a trap set by Chaos! When the rhyme seeped into my meridians, I could feel... her claws trembling, yet she was still smiling."

"This……"

Wu Song suddenly smashed his club against the iron bars, and the flames spread along the metal, sizzling the chaotic rhyme.

"Why didn't you tell us! If you had known earlier..."

"What if I tell you?"

The old man raised his head, the light in his eyes completely extinguished, leaving only endless emptiness.

"She left the last half piece of cake for you. Can you bring yourself to take it?"

The dungeon fell into silence, with only the sound of chains scraping and heavy breathing intertwined.

Wu Song remembered how Yue Li always secretly added an extra spoonful of honey to their medicine late at night, and how she dragged the injured disciples back to the inn while cursing, but her tail gently brushed across their wounds.

"The last time I saw her..."

The old man's voice was as light as a sigh.

"Her left eye had already turned dark gold, but she was still polishing the inn's copper kettle, saying, 'Once the formation is complete, the children will be able to drink hot osmanthus tea.'"

He suddenly coughed violently, and black blood splattered on the chain. The Chaos Rhyme became more dazzling after absorbing the blood.

"The most poisonous thing about Chaos isn't its claws... it's making you feel that the wrong path is the only path."

"Click..."

Spider-web-like cracks suddenly appeared on the ground, and purple-black mist poured out from the cracks, condensing into Yue Li's distorted shadow in the air.

The shadow held a whistle stick burning with dark purple flames in its hand, with a crazy smile on the corner of its mouth. Chaos vortexes surged in its dark golden pupils, and the mark of the Dazong flame pattern was still faintly visible between its eyebrows.

Wu Song immediately protected Yun Bai behind him, and the flaming whistle stick danced out many circles of fire, colliding with the mist and making a sharp scream; Yun Bai swung out the flames, drawing scorching light marks in the air, trying to dispel the strange remnants of chaos.

"Senior Sister, take Grandpa out! I'll cover their retreat!"

Wu Song's roar caused rocks to fall from the dungeon walls.

Yun Bai was just about to reach out and touch the chain when he saw Yue Li's remaining chaotic rhyme suddenly burst out with a dazzling light. The flame patterns that had been engraved by Yue Li herself had now been dyed by the chaos into a strange purple-black color, twisting and spreading on the wall like living things.

"Back off!"

The old man burst out his last bit of strength from nowhere, and slammed his skinny body into the chains. The broken stones were mixed with the blood he coughed up.

"Though Yueli has fallen, the remnants of Chaos still exist! These rhymes will devour all life. Let's go—"

His back, covered with whip marks, was bent into a broken bow in the light, and the gesture of holding the flaming whistle stick still maintained the posture of fighting and starting. A glimmer of clarity suddenly flashed in his originally cloudy pupils, like the last rays of a candle.

"Tell those kids...the fire of fighting against the clan should burn in their hearts...don't learn from her...don't let obsession..."

"..."

Before he finished speaking, the entire dungeon groaned as if it were overwhelmed.

The chaotic rhymes on the wall frantically absorbed the energy from the surroundings, twisting the air into a vortex.

Wu Song's flaming whistle baton swayed violently under this force, and cracks began to appear on Yun Bai's weapon.

The old man's figure gradually became transparent in the light. He took one last look at the flame-patterned token that symbolized the glory of the Dazong clan, and with his last bit of strength, he swung out a rhythmic force, forcibly shaking open the dungeon exit.

"Ugh……"

In the purple-black dust, only the old man's final sigh echoed - in that sigh, there was hatred for chaos, pain for his disciples, and endless regret for the fall of his ideals. Accompanied by the loud sound of collapse, it was forever sealed under this scorched earth.