Heavenly Opposers-Chapter 362 - 361-Midnight Conversations[2].

Lin Mei's blood turned cold. Her first instinct was to deny it, to question how he could know, to demand proof. But deep down, in the part of her that had been screaming danger for days, she recognised the truth immediately.

"How do you know this?" she asked, her voice steady despite the fear clawing at her throat.

"I have sources. I've been watching the Burning Sky family's movements since arriving in Scarlet Peak City. The specific details don't matter right now. What matters is what you do with this information." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Lin Mei's mind shifted into high-speed analysis. "I could tell my father. Cancel the banquet. Increase security. Expose the plot publicly—"

"All of which would result in temporary survival at best," Azrail interrupted. "Luo Ying will just try again with a different method. The Burning Sky family won't face real consequences—they'll deny involvement, claim rogue elements, and issue meaningless apologies. And you'll spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder, waiting for the next attempt, never safe, never free."

"Then what do you suggest?" Lin Mei demanded, frustration bleeding into her voice. "I just... accept death? Let them kill me?"

"No," Azrail said, his voice taking on a strange intensity. "I suggest you use this assassination attempt as an opportunity. Let them come. Let them think they've won. And then, when they've committed fully, when they're confident and exposed... You show them what you really are."

Lin Mei stared at him. "What am I really? I don't understand."

Azrail took a step closer, closing some of the distance between them. His eyes seemed to glow faintly in the moonlight.

"You asked me earlier how much I know. Here's something you don't know about yourself: you're not Qi Refinement Peak. You're not even close to that weak. Inside you, locked away by instincts and trauma and survival mechanisms, is power far beyond what this little corner of the realm has ever seen. Tomorrow night, when your life is truly threatened, when you're facing death with nowhere left to hide, that power is going to wake up."

He paused, letting his words sink in.

"What happens in that moment—whether you control it or it controls you, whether you use it to build or only to destroy—that's the critical choice. And I'm offering you the knowledge and framework to make sure that when you awaken, you stay yourself. You don't become a mindless berserker. You don't lose your mind to instinct. You remain Lin Mei, just... finally with the power to match your will."

Lin Mei's hands were shaking now, a tremor she couldn't quite control. "That's insane. You're talking about... about letting myself almost die just to trigger maybe some hypothetical power that you claim I have? Based on what? Your 'sources'?"

"Based on what you've felt your entire life," Azrail countered. "You've always known you were different. The way your meridians burn but never break. The way your Qi refuses to follow normal patterns. The dreams you have sometimes of burning and being divided in space. The fact that you're alive when statistically you should have died years ago from one of the many subtle assassination attempts your enemies have already made."

Each statement hit like a hammer. Because he was right. She had felt all of those things, experienced all of those anomalies, and explained them away as cultivation quirks or luck or stress-induced hallucinations.

"How..." she whispered. "How do you know these things? I've never told anyone. I barely acknowledge them to myself."

Azrail replied with a smile. "Lets say I have a good source."

Lin Mei's mind spun. This was insane. Everything he was saying contradicted basic survival instincts. You didn't walk into assassination attempts hoping to trigger mysterious powers. You avoided death by any means necessary.

And yet...

And yet somewhere deep inside, in that place she usually kept locked and silent, something stirred. Something that had been waiting. Something that recognized truth when it heard it.

"What would I need to do?" she heard herself ask, and was surprised by her own voice.

Valencia spoke up from her position near the doorway. "Trust yourself. When the moment comes, when you feel the power rising, don't fight it. Don't try to suppress it like you've been doing your whole life. Let it flow, but maintain your sense of self. Remember who you are, what you want, and why you're fighting. The power is a tool, not a master. As long as you remember that, you'll be fine."

"And we'll be watching," Azrail added. "Not interfering unless necessary, but watching. If something goes catastrophically wrong, if you genuinely can't control the awakening, I won't help; if you need it, you will owe me a favour, something you can be sure I will collect."

Lin Mei looked between them—Azrail with his absolute confidence, Valencia with her calm certainty. Behind them, through the doorway, she could sense others watching: the cold presence that felt like winter given form, the dangerous, seductive aura that promised death wrapped in beauty.

These were powerful people. People who moved through the world as they owned it. And they were offering her a path to join them, if she was brave enough—or crazy enough—to take it.

"Why?" she asked again, because she needed to understand. "Why help me? What do you gain from this?"

Azrail's smile turned. "Cause it will help me in the future, I am not expecting anything from the current you but from the future you."

"There is no assurance that I will be alive towards the future to pay it back."

Lin Mei said with narrowed eyes, to which Azrail smirked as he replied.

"Something tells me you will survive, be alive and even thrive."

It was honest. Brutally so. He wasn't pretending to be altruistic—he had his own reasons, his own agenda. But at least he was transparent about it.

Lin Mei took a deep breath, then another, centring herself. This was possibly the most important decision of her life, made in the middle of the night on a stranger's balcony based on claims that defied logic.

But her instincts—those same instincts that had kept her alive through years of hidden dangers—were screaming at her that this was right. That this was the opportunity she'd been unconsciously waiting for.

"If I do this," she said slowly, "if I let the assassination attempt proceed and try to... awaken... whatever this power is... I need something from you."

"Name it," Azrail replied.

"Information. After it's over, assuming I survive, I need to know everything. What do you know about this power, where it comes from, and what it means? No more hints and vague statements. Full transparency."

Azrail nodded. "Agreed. After your awakening, we'll talk properly. I'll answer every question I can."

"And..." Lin Mei hesitated, then pushed forward. "And if it works, if I survive and control this power... I want to know what you're really doing here. Visiting nobles don't arrange midnight meetings with minor clan daughters to help them survive assassination attempts out of pure goodwill. You're playing a deeper game, and if I'm going to be part of it, I need to know the rules."

Azrail's smile widened into something almost proud. "Smart. Very smart. Yes, once you've proven you can walk this path, I'll tell you about the larger picture. Fair warning, though: it's going to sound insane."

"More insane than 'let assassins attack you to unlock hidden powers'?" Lin Mei asked dryly.

"Considerably," Azrail confirmed.

Despite everything—the fear, the uncertainty, the sheer insanity of what she was agreeing to—Lin Mei felt a laugh bubble up. It was half-hysterical, half-genuine amusement at the absurdity of her life.

"Alright," she said finally. "Alright. I'll do it. I'll walk into the banquet tomorrow night, I'll let events unfold, and I'll try to... awaken. And I'll try not to die in the process."

"You won't die," Azrail said with absolute certainty.

Lin Mei nodded, accepting his words even as part of her screamed that she was being reckless, stupid, suicidal.

"I should go," she said. "Before anyone notices I'm gone. My family..."

"Your family will be fine," Azrail assured her. "Focus on yourself right now. Tomorrow night, when the knives come out, remember: you're not the gentle flower they think you are. You're the fire that burns pretenders to ash. Act accordingly."

Lin Mei turned toward the balcony's edge, preparing to descend the same way she'd come. But she paused, looking back at Azrail one more time.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"Thank yourself," Azrail replied.

Lin Mei nodded once more, then vaulted over the balcony railing, descending into the darkness of the city streets below.

As her presence faded into the night, Valencia moved to stand beside Azrail.

"That went well," she observed. "She's committed now. No turning back."

"She was always going to commit," Azrail said. "She just needed permission to be what she actually is instead of what everyone told her she should be. Tomorrow night, the gentle flower burns away. And what rises from those ashes..."

He smiled into the darkness.

"...is going to be magnificent."