Night, eleven o’clock.
“Ah— it’s late. Let’s sleep.”
Drowsy first, I sat on the bed and yawned, then told Xinuo and Hill.
“Yeah! Sleep, sleep!”
Hill dropped her novel and sprang onto the bed, diving into my arms like a playful swallow.
“Hey, hey! Hill, stop pouncing every time. You almost knocked me off.”
Resigned, I looked at the tiny girl cradled against me; she did this every night like a ritual.
“Quit it. Sleep.”
Already reclined, Xinuo shot us a cool, displeased look, a shadowed moon under her lashes.
“Okay, okay! Sleeping now.”
“Mhm— sleep.”
Under Xinuo’s gaze, sharp as frost, Hill and I didn’t dare stall. We dove beneath the quilt and lay quiet.
“I’ll turn off the light.”
She gave us one last glance, then flicked the switch. Darkness poured in like ink.
…
Midnight, in the Kage Family’s grand hall.
“Enough. We move now. We’ll head to the Soul-Sunder Grand Canyon, a thousand li southwest of the Eastern Moon Empire. Aisha, you bring that Holy Peak dragon and the boy over. Clear?”
Gu Aosen glanced at the moon outside the high window, silver like a cold coin, his voice clipped and stern.
“Yes. Vice Chair, we’ll go. We take our leave.”
“Vice Chair, wait for good news.”
“That’s right. We’ll have them at Soul-Sunder Grand Canyon in no time.”
With that, Aisha and Traufa, Traus vanished where they stood.
“Good. No delays. We go too.”
Gu Aosen swept the hall with a hawk’s gaze and spoke to the gathered men.
“My apologies, Vice Chair. As head of the Kage Family, I can’t leave freely. I’ll await your good news here.”
Asasiya answered the moment Gu Aosen finished.
“It’s fine, Patriarch Asasiya. Wait for our call. We’ll bring back the boy who injured Laer.”
Gu Aosen waved it off, steady as a stone.
“Still, our Grand Elder Jiafa, Second Elder Kaiwen, and Third Elder Dingqila will go with you. Few in number, but Jiafa is a Holy Peak powerhouse, while Kaiwen and Dingqila are high-stage Sacred Realm.”
Asasiya introduced the elders at his side, each a pillar like old pines.
“You’re too kind, Patriarch. That’s more than enough.”
Gu Aosen looked at Jiafa standing by the window, then at Kaiwen and Dingqila beside Asasiya, a satisfied smile touching his lips.
“Enough courtesy. Let’s move.”
Grand Elder Jiafa strode from the window, his tone like iron.
“Of course. We depart.”
“Yes.”
Whoosh!!
As the words fell, everyone in the hall vanished at once, save Asasiya and a few butlers.
“Sigh… may it go smoothly. Yet why does this omen sit ill with me?”
Asasiya stared at the emptied hall, its echo like a shell against the night, and murmured his unease.
Elsewhere.
Aisha and Traufa, Traus appeared before a refined inn, lanterns glowing like warm fireflies along its eaves.
“They’re in one of these rooms.”
Aisha nodded to Traufa and Traus.
“What are we waiting for? We level the inn, then pull them toward the canyon.”
Traus’s voice was hot-blooded, like sparks at tinder.
“Mm. I don’t like it, but we finish the job.”
Aisha’s slender brows knit, then she drew her divine wand—Shining Heaven—its surface glinting like a dawn blade.
“Back off. I’ll flush them out.”
“Got it, big sis Aisha. You’ve got this.”
“Mhm. We’ll wait back there.”
Traufa and Traus shared a look, then retreated a few hundred meters, feet whispering over stone.
“Forbidden Art—Seven-Colored Radiance!”
Aisha tightened her grip. She unleashed her strongest spell, a river of law shimmering under her will.
Even if it didn’t wound them, it would drain them. That would make the whole operation easier, she thought, calm like winter water.
Above the inn, a multicolored magic array bloomed, a celestial wheel turning.
Gather— gather—
At its heart, a seven-colored orb swelled, bright as a newborn sun.
Three seconds later.
“Fire!”
The orb speared downward, a rainbow lance falling from the heavens, aimed square at the inn.
…
“Hm? Xiao Nuo, what’s wrong?”
The jolt hit me first—dread like a chill. I sat up too, rubbed my eyes, and asked her.
Outside the window, a blinding light flared, colors spilling like liquid silk.
!!!
The next breath brought an oppressive surge from above, a tidal wave of violent energy.
“Seems more ants have come to bother us.”
Xinuo’s voice stayed calm, frost over spring. She lifted a finger toward the ceiling.
A soft, white glow unfurled, wrapping the room like a gentle veil.
“What?!”
The instant she lowered her hand, a colossal rainbow beam crashed into the inn. It struck the white halo around our room and stopped, fury meeting still water.
Ten seconds later.
The beam guttered out. The inn lay erased—ash and splinters ringed the night—except for our untouched room, floating like a pearl in ruin.
Outside.
“Go. Now. Before they regroup.”
One glimpse of that white light, and Aisha knew her spell couldn’t harm them. She waved Traufa and Traus away.
“Right!”
“Move, big sis Aisha.”
“Mhm.”
They shot skyward, becoming a streak of light, racing southwest.
Inside the room.
“Whoa— what was that?”
As the roar faded, Hill sprang off the bed. The noise had been a drumbeat against sleep.
“Nothing. More ants nipping at our heels.”
Xinuo sounded the same, cool like dusk. But I knew—beneath that calm—she was angry.
Midnight intrusions fray anyone’s temper; sleep torn is peace ripped.
“Master, what do we do?”
Hill was already dressed, her usual black gothic lolita outfit a raven’s wing against her pale skin.
“Nothing messy. Hill, return to your true form.”
While I pulled on clothes, Xinuo spoke softly, command like moonlight over steel.
“At once!”
Silver-white light washed over Hill. When it faded, the tiny girl was gone; in her place, a silver giant dragon coiled, scales like flowing mercury. I tied my last clasp.
“Servant, get up here.”
At some point, Xinuo was already seated on Hill’s broad back, poised like a queen on a cloud.
“Right. I’m coming.”
“We move. Those noisy ants need a heavy lesson.”
Once I climbed up and settled, Xinuo’s words fell cool and certain.
“Understood. ROAR!!!”
Hill’s dragon cry split the night like thunder. Her titanic wings unfurled, blotting out the moon, and with a single forceful beat, we soared into the high sky.
