The izakaya suddenly fell silent. Other diners either lowered their heads and pretended not to see anything, or quietly moved away. The owner, behind the counter, wiped the already clean glasses, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
Aya Ikegami slowly set down her wine glass. The "click" of the glass hitting the wooden tabletop was particularly jarring in the silence.
"The three of you," she began, her voice as smooth as silk gliding over a blade, "Leave now, and you'll still see tomorrow's sun."
The blond man finally recovered from the suffocation and staggered back two steps: "A...a monster..."
"What did you say?" The man with the earring didn't hear clearly and reached out to grab Aya Ikegami's shoulder.
The next second, all the light bulbs in the izakaya exploded simultaneously. Three muffled thuds echoed in the darkness, followed by the sound of bodies collapsing to the ground. When the emergency lights came on, the three men were already slumped in the hallway, their eyes rolled back and white foam bubbling from their mouths.
"Really," Mu Xiaoxiao pouted and complained, "You spilled all their wine."
Aya Ikegami withdrew her hand, a wisp of red mist slowly dissipating from her fingertips. She looked at the trembling shopkeeper behind the counter: "Sorry, put the broken items on my tab."
The boss nodded vigorously, not daring to utter a single word.
Mu Xiaoxiao took out several ten-thousand-yuan bills and placed them on the table: "Let's go, this place is boring." She tilted her head and looked at Chi Shangling, "Your control isn't good enough; the power of the Moon Eye will backfire."
Aya Ikegami did not refute. She took one last look at the three unconscious men on the ground, among whom the man with the earring had his right hand twisted at a strange angle, as if he had been torn apart by some ferocious beast.
Stepping out of the izakaya, a night breeze carrying a light drizzle hit her face. Mu Xiaoxiao opened a transparent umbrella and suddenly asked, "Do you want to go back and check on things?"
Aya Ikegami stopped in her tracks. Raindrops pattered on her pale face like silent tears.
"Your master is probably crying over your father's head right now, and with your father dead, some people are bound to get restless," Mu Xiaoxiao chuckled. "But don't worry, the organization needs the Chishang family's bloodline to continue... those disloyal elders won't be able to cause trouble for much longer."
The streetlights at the corner cast long shadows of the two men, intertwining and then separating, like two venomous snakes poised to strike. In the distance, the sound of police sirens grew louder, likely someone had called the police to report a fight at an izakaya (Japanese pub).
"Three days later." Mu Xiaoxiao's figure gradually disappeared into the rain. "Don't be late."
Aya Ikegami stood still, raindrops dripping from her long hair. She raised her hand, looking at the faint red lines on her palm—the price for awakening her Moon Eyes, and proof of her power.
Police cars sped past her, but the splashes of water strangely avoided her, as if an invisible barrier existed. As the headlights disappeared into the distance, a red light returned to her eyes, more intense than ever before.
The rain intensified. Aya Ikegami turned and walked in the opposite direction, her figure quickly swallowed by the night. At the entrance of the izakaya, three unconscious men suddenly convulsed simultaneously, their eyeballs darting rapidly beneath their eyelids, as if experiencing some kind of nightmare from which they could not awaken.
The council chamber of the Ikegami family remained brightly lit until late at night. The sounds of arguing drifted through the heavy shoji doors, startling the night crows from the pine trees in the courtyard.
"We must immediately suppress the news!" Misaki Ikegami slammed her hand on the table, making the teacups clatter. "If the other families find out that their patriarch has been murdered, the Ikegami family will instantly become the target of everyone's wrath!"
The white-haired Second Elder across from them sneered: "Mizaki, are you still waiting for that traitor to return? Don't forget who put the old patriarch in such a dangerous situation!"
"Aya is the only bloodline of the family head!" Misaki Ikegami dug her nails deep into her palms. "Besides, with her current strength—"
"Strength?" the Third Elder interrupted sarcastically. "You think you can call yourself strong just because you learned some evil magic from that woman of unknown origin? Our Chishang family's 'Moonlight Guide,' passed down for centuries, is the only legitimate one!"
In a corner of the council chamber, several young members exchanged uneasy glances. They clearly remembered that three months ago, when Aya Ikegami last appeared in the family, she had repelled seven guards with a single move. The red light that flashed in her eyes then remained a nightmare for many.
The debate continued until the early hours of the morning without a resolution. Finally, the First Elder wearily adjourned the meeting. As everyone dispersed, Ikegami Misaki noticed that the Third Elder and the other two elders exchanged glances discreetly.
(As expected, there was a mole...)
She suppressed her anger and returned to her villa. Moonlight filtered through the bamboo curtains, casting dappled patterns on the ground. Misaki Ikegami removed her hairpins, letting her long, silvery-white hair fall loose. In the mirror, her eyes were sunken, and she seemed to have aged ten years in just a few days.
\"teacher.\"
A voice suddenly rang out from behind. Misaki Ikegami froze—with her cultivation level, she hadn't even noticed someone had infiltrated!
A slender figure was reflected in the mirror. The girl, dressed in black with black hair, stood at the boundary between shadow and light. Her eyes were particularly striking on her pale face; her left eye was the pale purple characteristic of the Ikegami family, while her right eye glowed with an eerie red light.
"Aya..." Misaki Ikegami slowly turned around, her voice trembling, "You're finally back."
Aya Ikegami took a step forward, the moonlight illuminating her gaunt face. Her once round cheeks were now sharply defined, and there were dark circles under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept well for a long time.
"I heard he's dead." Aya Ikegami's tone was as calm as if she were discussing the weather. "Where's the body?"
Misaki Ikegami felt a tightness in her chest. She knew Aya hated her father, but she hadn't expected her to refuse to even call him "Father."
"It's in the family's secret chamber, kept under a layer of thousand-year-old ice." She carefully observed her disciple's expression. "You...would you like to go take a look?"
Aya Ikegami's lips curled into a sarcastic smile: "No need. Those elders eager to divide the family must be quite disappointed that I'm still alive, right?"
"Aya!" Misaki Ikegami couldn't help but grab her wrist, but it felt like holding a block of ice. "The family is in imminent danger, we need you—"
"What do you need from me?" Aya Ikegami gently withdrew her hand. "To be an obedient puppet head of the family? So that those old men can continue to control the Ikegami family?"
Misaki Ikegami then noticed that her disciple's inner wrist was covered with fine red lines, as if something alive was moving beneath the skin. She gasped: "Your eyes..."
"It evolved into Moon Eyes." Aya Ikegami's right eye suddenly glowed brightly red. "Thanks to Sister Mu's help."
Upon hearing this name, Misaki Ikegami's expression changed drastically: "What did that vixen do to you?! Your father was killed by her—"
"Teacher. He doesn't deserve to be my father." Aya Ikegami suddenly moved closer, her cool fingers tracing Misaki Ikegami's cheek. "You've always been so good to me, so..." Her voice was as light as a feather, "Don't make things difficult for me."
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