Alex met his gaze without flinching.

"I stole the original Prussian designs,” he said. "Then I gathered the brightest minds Xia has many of them from Wudang itself—and we reverse-engineered every component. The drones that now guard these provinces were built here, by Xia's people, using Xia's resources. They watch our borders. They help our farmers. Tell me why I should not use tools that protect our people."

Namgung's face darkened to a deep, furious red. His knuckles whitened around the hilt of his sword.

"That is evil Prussian technology," he snarled. "How can you bring it into Xia and call it your own?"

The old master's qi began to rise again, thick and heavy, pressing down on the ruined courtyard like a coming storm.

Alex took one deliberate step forward. His voice remained calm, clear, and unafraid.

“Old man, if these technologies can help the people of Xia―better harvests, safer lives, food on every table-why shouldn't I use them for our people's good?"

Namgung's mouth opened, then closed. For the first time, no roar came. Only silence.

"That same technology killed thousands of Xia's people," he said at last, voice rough. “Our cultivators. Our soldiers. Whole villages gone because of machines that fell from the sky like judgment."

Alex shook his head once.

"None of the drones we built have ever killed a single person from Xia. They watch. They warn. They help farmers read the weather and soldiers guard the borders. Do not confuse the weapons Prussia once used against us with the systems Wudang and I created together."

"How dare you stand there and claim your drones have taken no lives?" Namgung's qi flared again, hot and unstable. “I have heard the stories. Thousands of soldiers and innocent people erased by your machines. Gone without a trace."

Alex stepped forward once more. He did not raise his voice. He simply claimed the ground between them.

"If you have no proof, old man, do not spread rumors as fact. Name one soldier who died under our drones. Give me a single name. I will bring that man here alive so you can speak with him yourself."

Namgung Hyuk went utterly still.

He had no name. He had only the stories that had reached him on the wind- whispers of shadow machines that swallowed men whole. Now the man he had come to kill stood before him demanding evidence, offering to produce the supposed dead as living proof. The certainty that had driven him across provinces began to crack.

Namgung forced the words out anyway.

"Second," he said, though the fire in his tone had cooled. "It is still Prussian

technology. What you do here is blasphemy against Xia itself."

Alex studied the old master for a long moment. Then he took another step, closing the distance until only a few paces separated them.

“Then tell me what Xia truly is,” he said quietly. “If Xia is the Emperor, then Emperor Liu Wei has already placed his seal on the use of these technologies for the protection and prosperity of the people. If Xia is the government, then as Prime Minister I am legally empowered to employ every tool that serves the realm. And if Xia is the people..."

Alex met Namgung's eyes without blinking.

"Then the people have already been helped. Fields that once flooded now stand safe behind dikes. Families that once starved now eat. Children who once had no future now have land and roofs and hope. That is what these technologies have given Xia."

Namgung Hyuk stopped breathing.

His sword arm slowly lowered. The furious red in his face drained away, leaving something raw and uncertain in its place. For the first time since he had descended from the sky, the old master had no answer.

Alex did not let the silence stretch.

P.ne

"Don't tell me what Xia is, old man," he said. "The Xia you speak of is nothing but poor people. Backward villages where men and women break their backs from dawn to dusk just to survive another winter When technology arrives that can make them healthier, feed their children, and give them a future worth living, you call it betrayal. No. It is you who betray Xia. You betray the better future they deserve."

Namgung Hyuk stepped back as if struck. His eyes widened. For a heartbeat the righteous fire in them flickered with something dangerously close to doubt. How had this young governor turned the accusation so cleanly that he now stood painted as the villain?

"You!" Namgung's voice cracked with renewed fury. "You use Prussian technology as a weapon of war. You bring suffering to the people!"

Alex laughed once, short and hard, the sound carrying across the ruined courtyard.

In

"I don't know where you heard that story," he said. "But listen clearly. In the two years since I became lord of city and governor, I have never marched on another province, have never raised my banner against another governor. I have only ever been attacked. And every time, I used these tools to end the fighting faster. To turn soldiers back into farmers instead of corpses. To stop the endless cycle of killing. Tell me, old man-where exactly have you seen me make the people suffer?"

He took another step forward, voice steady.

"I have already taken in one million refugees. One million men, women, and children who arrived with nothing but rags and fear. I gave them land. I gave them houses. I gave them dignity. They now work fields that will not flood. They sleep without worrying that soldiers will burn their homes for a sack of grain. That is what these technologies have done for Xia."

Alex's gaze sharpened.

"But you, Namgung Hyuk-have you ever helped the people of Xia? How

many lives have you saved? How

many have you taken in the name of your righteous anger? The drones

and

sbuilt by Wudang have never killed a single Xià citizen. They have already saved one million. Has your Namgung family ever done as much? If not, then by what right do you stand in judgment over me?"

Namgung opened his mouth. No words came.

The old master stood frozen, his legendary composure cracking under the weight of questions he had no answer for. His sword hand trembled once.

Then something inside him broke.

"You sly-tongued bastard," Namgung snarled. “I have heard enough."

In one fluid motion he hurled a small black pouch toward Feng Taiyi. At the same instant he drew his sword and threw it to Wudang's Sect master.

The pouch burst open mid-air, releasing a choking cloud of violet poison that spread with unnatural speed. Feng Taiyi was forced to twist aside, sword flashing as he dispersed the deadly mist before it could reach the ground.

Namgung used that single heartbeat of distraction. He drove straight at Alex with his

bare fist, the air around his knuckles warping from the sheer force of Nascent Soul

qi.

Alex met the blow head-on.

Namgung's eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed with vicious satisfaction.

"You, a mere Core Formation cultivator, dare to meet my fist?" He laughed, the sound cold and cruel. "Die!"

Their fists collided with a thunderous crack that shook the broken stones beneath their feet. The impact sent a shockwave outward, kicking up dust and debris in a wide ring.