# The Morning After

The sun rose pale and indifferent over the Jade Heart Sect, its light creeping across the courtyard stones now stained with spilled wine, scattered petals, and darker fluids that had pooled and dried through the night.

The moans had faded hours ago. What remained was a hollow silence, broken only by the occasional sob or the shuffle of boots as bandits moved among the fallen women, hauling them upright, dragging them toward the center of the compound.

Gao stood on the raised platform before the main hall, arms crossed, watching his men round up the survivors. His smile was lazy, satisfied—like a cat that had spent the night in a creamery.

One by one, the women were forced to their knees in the courtyard. They came in every state of dishevelment. Some wore tattered remains of white robes. Others had been left naked, their bodies exposed to the morning chill, covered in sweat and bruises and the drying evidence of what had been done to them. A few walked on unsteady legs, thighs slick. Others had to be carried, their limbs still numb from chi strikes, their eyes glassy and distant.

Chen Ling knelt in the front row, her hair a tangled mess, her robe hanging open to reveal the purple bite marks across her collarbone. She stared straight ahead, jaw clenched, refusing to look at anyone.

The women beside her trembled. Some wept openly. Others held their heads high, trying to salvage whatever dignity remained, but their voices cracked when they tried to speak.

When all the survivors were gathered—forty-three women, from senior disciples to the youngest initiates—Gao raised his hand.

"Silence."

The command cut through the murmurs. Every woman flinched.

"Last night was just a taste," Gao said, pacing the platform, his boots thudding against the wood. "A sampling, you might say. Of what your bodies can offer. Of what you will offer, from this day forward."

He stopped, scanning the crowd of broken women. "The Jade Heart Sect is no more. In its place, I am founding a new establishment. A place where men from across the Jianghu—and beyond—can come to enjoy the finest pleasures that martial women have to offer."

A ripple of horror passed through the crowd. One woman, a senior disciple named Mei, struggled to her feet. "You can't—we are warriors, not whores—"

A bandit cuffed her across the face …