Ye Hann’s dim apartment. Rain taps lightly against the window. The air is still. The air is still.

  Ye Hann, internal:

  I’ve died before. Felt the cold bite of betrayal and the burn of unfulfilled regret.

  I was 37. Alone. Broken. Discarded by my family. The so-called "useless son" of the Hann family who climbed the martial world too late—after everything else had already been taken from me.

  So waking up here—back in my 17-year-old body, staring at the same cheap calendar with the wrong year—wasn’t a miracle.

  It was a curse.

  A second trial.

  Ye Hann sits on the edge of his bed, running a hand through his hair. His fingers tremble slightly.

  Ye Hann (quietly):

  Twenty years… and I’m right back where it started.

  Right before I begged for my father’s approval.

  Right before I let Junyu—my perfect older brother—frame me.

  Right before I was cast out like garbage.

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  [He gets up, looks in the mirror. Fresh face. No scars. No blood. No hate—yet.]

  Ye Hann:

  Not this time.

  This time… I won’t kneel.

  [Hann Family Estate – Cold marble halls, still as always. The weight of old money and older traditions.]

  The Hann family didn’t raise sons. They raised weapons.

  And I was the blunt blade no one wanted to polish.

  [Ye Hann steps into the dining hall. Everyone’s already seated. His father, HANN ZHENGYUAN, barely glances up. His brother, JUNYU, offers that same polished smile that once fooled the entire world.]

  Father:

  You’re late.

  Ye Hann:

  No. I arrived exactly when I meant to.

  [Silence. Even the maids stop moving.]

  Father (cold):

  Still playing games. If only you took your martial training half as seriously.

  Jianxun (smiling):

  Father, don’t be harsh. Hann is just… spirited.

  Ye Hann (meeting his eyes):

  Spirited? Right. That’s what you called me after I caught you stealing Grandfather’s scroll.

  What was it again? "Don’t worry, little brother—everyone forgets things they weren’t meant to see."

  [Jianxun’s smile falters. Just for a second.]

  Last time, I let that moment pass. Laughed it off. Trusted him.

  That was the beginning of my end.

  This time, I want him to know—

  I remember everything.

  [Outside the estate gates. Ye Hann steps into the rain. The city sprawls before him, vibrant, chaotic, alive. The world he once fell behind in.]

  Ye Hann (to himself):

  This city devoured me once.

  This time, I’ll feed it my rules.

  But first… I need strength. I need allies. I need time.

  Because the war isn’t coming.

  It already started. I just arrived early.