As Zero’s silhouette vanished, Eli felt himself drop into a whirlpool, a spiraling drain that tugged him like a hooked fish.

His body tumbled as if crammed into a drum washer, rolling and rolling, a storm of motion with no sky to fix on.

He had no idea how long that rip current held him. His thoughts were a flock scattered by wind.

At last his feet found ground. He swayed like a reed in a gust, then staggered and folded to the snowy earth.

Unease pricked behind his eyelids. He kept them shut, breathing slow, riding out the nausea like a boat in chop.

The laws were shifting—time flowing down from a higher stream back to the world’s original river. That change would jar the body.

He didn’t know how much time slipped by, soft as snow sifting.

“Eli?”

A voice, pleasant as a bell in winter air, reached him.

Eli opened his eyes, inch by inch. Bright light stabbed like fine needles.

“What happened? Eli? Hey, wake up!”

He forced them wider and tracked the voice. White cotton gleamed like a cloud; Liqianyu stood there, worry flickering in her eyes.

“I’m fine.” Eli shook his head. Scattered focus drew back like birds returning to a branch.

“Eli, where did you go?” Liqianyu looked at his matted hair and grime. Concern wrestled with the urge to laugh.

Eli blinked at the snowbound landscape, frost trees and pale sky. It took a long breath for his mind to catch up. “Where… am I?”

“Why are you dressed so—so ragged?” Liqianyu frowned. “We’ve been searching two days.”

Eli stared at her, as if he hadn’t seen her in years. Curiosity colored his voice. “Li… qianyu?”

“What’s wrong with you? You weren’t assaulted, were you?” She eyed his torn clothes, his lost-from-home look, doubt gathering like a storm front.

Was he really assaulted? Liqianyu’s gaze raked his outfit, then she nodded, solemn as a judge passing sentence.

Eli finally snapped back. Seeing her face—like a proper lady convinced he’d been wronged—his temper flared like dry grass catching flame.

He stood, reached out, and pinched Liqianyu’s cheeks. “To hell with you. If I don’t give you a scolding, you’re not happy, huh? A masochist?”

“Hey, hey! I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Liqianyu’s face begged for mercy, though her heart settled like dust after wind.

Seems he’s fine.

“What’s up with you, really?” She rubbed her cheeks, watching Eli drift off mid-thought.

Eli shook his head. “Nothing. Just… a bit of insight.”

“Hah? You cultivating immortality now?” Liqianyu laughed, light as sleet ticking on a window.

Eli gave her a look like she’d grown antlers, then asked, “Where are the others?”

Liqianyu pointed across the snowy corners. “They’re scattered, all looking for you. You just vanished. Who knows where you ran off to?”

She looked him up and down. “You look no different from a beggar.”

Eli ignored her and rose slowly, steady as a crane unfolding.

He drew a strip of holy light over himself, then changed clothes right in front of Liqianyu, calm as a monk in rain.

Liqianyu arched a brow. She couldn’t see the essentials; the rest wasn’t worth blushing over. So she watched his abs and chest like a critic.

Eli gave a sheepish smile. He unclasped the thin cord at his neck, then five black rings revealed themselves—on his hands, his waist, his feet. Liqianyu’s eyes widened.

He slipped off each ring, unhurried as peeling bark, and tossed them with the necklace into his personal space.

He rolled his neck and vented a long, muddy breath. “Ah—light as a feather.”

He stretched. His bones crackled like a string of firecrackers, sharp pops racing down his frame.

Liqianyu quickly backed off fifty feet, eyes narrowed. “What’s going on? Did you put a bomb in your body?”

“Nope.”

She stayed wary, watching his odd manners like a cat watching a strange shadow, not daring to step closer.

Eli raised a finger at her, mockery in the curve. He wagged it gently. “Stinky woman, dare you duel me with only Battle Aura?”

Liqianyu approached again like someone inspecting a rare beast. She pressed a palm to his forehead. “Huh? No fever. What’s wrong with you?”

Eli brushed her hand aside and grinned. “Just answer—do you dare?”

Liqianyu lit up like dawn. “Sure! You said it. No magic halfway!”

“Hey, how can you fight without calling me?” Li Gongxuan stepped between them, a reckless smile flashing like a blade. “Brat. A few days away and you’ve learned to bully women?”

Eli shrugged. “Your sister’s a she-dragon. Who could call that bullying?”

Li Gongxuan chuckled. “Why did you disappear for two days? I couldn’t find your aura anywhere.”

“Eh, leave that. How about you fight me?” Eli rubbed his palms. Zero had hammered him with training till shadows clung to his mind; he needed a place to vent.

Li Gongxuan stared. “You pop back in and immediately want a fight?”

“Yeah.” Eli’s eyes gleamed, bright as frost stars.

Liqianyu tilted her head. “Hey. Weren’t you going to fight me—”

“Anyone below Sacred Rank, shut it.”

“Little sister, just watch your brother show off.”

Eli and Li Gongxuan turned their heads toward Liqianyu. She pouted, grabbed a stick, and trotted aside to cheer.

“May I use magic?” Eli smiled, easy as wind over grass.

“Of course. If you don’t, what then—fight me with your butt?”

“Tsk. Must your mouth be a muddy ditch?”

Li Gongxuan laughed. “Aren’t you reporting to the Ninth Prince first?”

Eli smiled. “It’s fine. Won’t take long.”

“Oh? You mean you’ll lose to me fast?”

“Heh. Dream on.”

The moment the words fell, a white barrier rose under Li Gongxuan’s feet, a curtain of frost pinning him in place.

Eli lifted his hand. A glass-shatter crack answered.

Li Gongxuan punched through the barrier and surged forward, fist aimed straight at Eli like a comet.

This guy’s spell speed is absurd. When did he chant? Li Gongxuan’s eyes rolled.

Facing the rush, Eli pressed his palms together, body turning like a reed in wind. He slid past the punch and whipped a kick that launched Li Gongxuan.

Li Gongxuan crossed his forearms to guard his chest, spinning several times in midair to bleed off force, a hawk caught in a sudden gale.

He drew his white blade, Jade North Star, from his waist with a snap, then advanced with eerie footwork, steps like drifting snow.

Liqianyu blinked. She’d seen her brother locked in a white screen; then, in a heartbeat, it shattered. Two figures collided like hammer and anvil. Her brother spun in the sky, landed, and unsheathed Jade North Star.

“Damn! Too fast. What am I even watching?” she muttered, neck craned like a goose.

Li Gongxuan gave his sister a quick smile, then fixed a heavier gaze on Eli.

Last time, Eli was pinned under his speed like a stone under a torrent.

Now, Eli still couldn’t catch him—but his speed had leaped several tiers, like a river after rain. What happened?

Eli raised his right hand high. “O wind—”

Li Gongxuan closed in with his sword, sprint light as lightning. “Chanting that long? You’re asking to be interrupted.”

His blade aimed for Eli’s wrist. He’d break the spell and seize the stilled instant to decide victory.

But as Li Gongxuan neared, Eli smiled like a fox. “Sigh, Zero the old bastard. This ridiculous style works too damn well.”

Li Gongxuan felt danger rise, a cold snake at his nape. He snapped his sword back, guarding his throat with his fastest motion.

Eli’s left hand swung from behind, fingers gripping a brick. In that guard’s split-second, the brick slammed into Li Gongxuan’s face.

“To hell with you!”

A tidal force crashed through. Li Gongxuan flew, hurled like a leaf in a gale.

Eli dropped his right hand. “Wind Spirit Surge!”

Boom.

A huge blast of air erupted from Eli’s palm, tearing through trees, soil, and grasses, all swept like a wave toward the airborne Li Gongxuan.

“Ah! Sir Eli, you’re back?” Hilriad’s voice carried warm as hearth-fire when Eli returned.

Eli waved to him and sat off to the side, quiet as a stone under pine.

“Where did you go?” Hilriad began, then paused, eyes shifting past Eli.

Behind him, Liqianyu hauled Li Gongxuan along. The man’s face wore the look of someone who’d lost to fate, flat as winter pond water.

Hilriad clicked his tongue, studying the odd sight. “Mr. Li… did you change your hairstyle? What happened to your face?”

Li Gongxuan stared blankly, like a dead fish on a slab.

Liqianyu hid a laugh behind her hand. She pointed at Eli for Hilriad’s benefit, then dumped her unlucky brother onto the ground.

Hilriad’s curiosity drifted toward Eli. Eli flashed him a cheeky V-sign, then hugged a waterskin and drank, calm as rain.

“Mr. Li? Did you just fight Mr. Eli?”

Li Gongxuan lay there, eyes blank, like a dead fish.

“So… you lost?” Hilriad asked, fascination bright as a lantern.

Li Gongxuan lay there, eyes blank, like a dead fish.

Liqianyu shrugged. “Ah, Ninth Prince, don’t rub it in. He didn’t catch Eli’s little trick, got roasted hard, so he’s like this.”

Li Gongxuan lay there, eyes blank, like a dead fish.

Eli shrugged. “Not my fault. I only laughed twice.”

Li Gongxuan lay there, eyes blank, like a dead fish.

“Oh… that’s pitiful.” Hilriad sighed, a winter wind through pines.

He had a decent read on Eli’s temperament.

“Sigh, someone can’t beat me now.”

Li Gongxuan lay there, eyes blank, like a dead—he sprang up, flames in his words. “I swear—you bastard! Screw your grandpa! You shameless dog!”