“Myriad Spirit Lock!” Eli’s hands flicked. Chains whipped out like iron serpents, lashed the Bear King’s arms, then yanked him down like a fallen star.

The Bear King blinked too late. Eli dragged him off the giant bear’s crown, wind-chant on his lips like rushing gusts.

He caught the limp Liqianyu with one arm. The other bent like a drawn bow, hauling the Bear King to the dirt.

He planted a boot on the giant bear’s head, turned like a startled deer, and bolted.

The Bear King crawled from the soil like a wounded boar; already broken, he couldn’t stand. He shot Eli a venomous glance, then had the giant bear ferry him away.

Eli slung Liqianyu over his back and ran on, hooves of panic drumming like rain.

Only when the bear’s silhouette melted into the horizon did his breath loosen like slackened rope. Then he felt someone clinging, sticky as sap.

He hauled Liqianyu forward and grumbled, “All your fault. My sparring partner’s off-limits for now.”

She gave him a brief smile. Her eyes rolled like tossed marbles, and she fainted cold.

“Holy—what’s wrong?” Eli patted his cheeks, panic fluttering like startled sparrows. He froze, then eased Liqianyu to the side.

The one-eighty “man” shrank like a receding tide. Her chest lifted like new moon swells. Loose clothes hung awkwardly on a small frame.

Liqianyu’s leering mask dissolved like wax in summer heat. Black gunk slid down her face in inky rivulets.

Eli frowned, fish-hook sharp, and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. He wiped her face, then chuckled, a dry breeze. “Heh, this one.”

He tossed the soot-dark cloth away like dead leaves. He uncapped his canteen and rinsed her cheeks. “Out on the road, caution’s a good shield.”

On the girl’s perfect face, water traced silver threads. Eyes closed, skin paper-pale, brows pinched like bowstrings.

Eli peered closer, lantern-bright. At her neck lay a thin slip, sketched with a simple voice-shifting array.

He lifted it and studied awhile, then shook his head, like shaking dust. “Low-grade stuff. Three hours, tops.”

Then memory slammed in like thunder. Cold sweat beaded his back. He eyed her jade-white feet and clicked his tongue. “Looks deceive. How did she pull that off?”

He pulled a coat from his carry-space like drawing a cloud. He dressed the girl, shouldered her again, and walked toward Moon City like drifting smoke.

“Heh-heh, that’s why you brought her back?” Edlyn sat on the bed, face stormy, staring at Eli kneeling half-down.

“Uh, Edlyn-chan, yeah. Truth is, she saved me,” Eli scratched his head, awkward as a truant breeze.

Edlyn watched Angela tuck Liqianyu in, her mood dark like gathering rain. She’d planned to tidy up and eat out. That plan was ash.

Her small foot tapped like a woodpecker, spelling her annoyance. She pointed at Eli’s nose. “I work half a day, leave you alone half a day, and you haul back another pretty girl.”

Eli covered his face and wailed, like a wolf cut from the pack.

“Looks like this city really favors you,” Edlyn snorted, hugging Angela and squishing her cheeks. “Two pretty girls the moment you arrive.”

Eli glanced at Xili and protested, “But Xili isn’t a pretty girl!”

Xili nodded, earnest as a pebble.

Edlyn glared, frost hard. “Did I say you could talk?” The Demon King’s pressure rolled out like storm surf. Eli lowered his head, afraid to meet her eyes.

Angela looked at her sister, then at Eli, then at the unconscious Liqianyu, then at awkward Xili. She asked, solemn as a judge, “Uncle Eli, are you starting a harem?”

“Huh?” x3

Edlyn sprang up and stomped Eli’s face, thunder-footed. “What have you been letting my sister read?”

Only then did Eli notice the jade-white foot wrapped in black stockings. His eyes lit up like lanterns; seemed yesterday’s words had sunk in.

He cupped Edlyn-chan’s small foot, holding tight like a barnacle. “Aaah, Edlyn-chan, don’t hit me—aaah.”

With her legs trapped, Edlyn couldn’t move, much less beat the rascal. Her face flushed like sunset. She didn’t know why she’d worn them. She swallowed shame and headbutted his skull.

Both dropped, groaning on the floor like beached fish. Edlyn huffed, “Don’t change the subject. I still need to settle our future expenses with you.”

Eli lay there with a bitter smile, playing dead like a possum.

Edlyn sat back on the bed and shot Angela a glare, sharp as a needle. “Less of those messy books.”

Angela nodded fast, like a sparrow pecking.

Just then, Liqianyu’s eyes fluttered open. She smirked at Eli, voice teasing as windbells. “Wow, quite the luck. You shameless rogue.”