Of course, Eli didn’t rocket straight into the cosmos; the night above was a black ocean, and Birand’s lock sat in it like a hidden reef.

He smashed into the air-born chains; the sky shivered like water under a thrown stone.

The invisible links almost flashed into sight, like fish surfacing then slipping back under.

Momentum grabbed him like a rip tide and hurled him toward the sea again.

He glanced at his clothes, singed by the atmosphere like moth-wings burning, and he let a grin bloom.

“This feeling! This is… Buddha’s Palm!!!” Eli laughed, thrust his hand out, and pressed toward the mirror-bright sea.

To nail the TV drama effect, he poured in a heap of energy, pressing the ocean down like a swelling drumhead.

He was basking, and then a red-wrapped silhouette flared at his side, riding the wind like a comet.

Eli’s face went flat; the curse stuck at his teeth like grit. “Ah… it’s you.”

“Yup. It’s me. Miss me?” The voice rippled like heat over sand.

“Why would I miss you? I’ve got a wife. Don’t start nonsense,” he said, dry as driftwood.

“Tsk. Your skull’s stuffed with junk; I ought to pry it open and check if it’s sewage,” she snapped, sparks in her eyes like flint.

“Been a while. You’ve… grown,” Eli chuckled, the tease light as foam.

Liqianyu shrugged, eyes bright like twin stars. “Say it. Whose party are we crashing?”

“A few crabs,” he said, voice cool as deep water.

“…Huh? A few crabs?”

“Yeah. Not interested?”

“Interested, interested—who wouldn’t be—come on, I’m—”

“Save the bragging. Lend me that Far East style Battle Aura, juice my hits a bit. I don’t wanna leave a few old crabs breathing.”

“Old… crabs?”

“Yeah. Old enough to be half stone.”

“What did you run into, a legendary sea monster?”

“Please. Sea monsters are dime a dozen here. Go a little deeper and you meet things that look like nightmares. Magic world, sis.”

“Figures… the books lie.”

“You read novels. Through a mortal’s eyes, we’re monsters too.”

“Fair point,” Liqianyu said, scratching her head like a puzzled cat.

“Hold up.” She waved a hand in front of Eli’s face; the wind hissed like knives.

“What?” Eli’s patience was a thin shell on hot sand.

“Gonna change the look.”

“You’re a lady thug. What’s there to change?”

“Tch. I’m a top scion from a great clan. Don’t underestimate me,” she shot back, eyes like drawn blades.

“Fine. But we’re brawling in the abyss. Pretty won’t help you,” Eli said, rolling his eyes as he steadied, hand still cutting the gale like a prow.

“I’m not doing fireworks.” Liqianyu shrugged, casual as a gull.

“Huh? You gonna conjure a flower?” Eli asked, doubtful, wind roaring like a storm organ.

She smiled. A silver hairpin flashed like moonlight on steel; she swept her long hair into a side ponytail, aquamarine strands blazing in their clashing auras like waves under noon sun.

“Borrowing a bit of your strength,” she said, and set a small palm to his chest like a warm seal.

Eli’s mouth twitched; the sea-salt humor soured. “Lady, if you like me, don’t cop a feel mid-fall.”

“Stuff it.” A blush flickered across her face like dawn on snow. She tapped his forehead, then slid her hand away.

A pale-blue stream of energy tugged free of him, like a spring drawn from rock.

Liqianyu studied it, surprised, eyes wide like lake ice catching light. “Such high harmony… what’s going on?” she murmured, voice lost in the wind.

The fall howled around them like wolves, so Eli only heard ghosts of words. “Huh? What’d you say?”

“Nothing.” She shook her head and drew the energy into herself like a tide pulling foam.

Power unfurled from her skin in the same hue as his, twin flames in one wind.

Eli blinked. “That’s one hell of a skill.”

“Just copied a bit. No big deal,” she said, mind snagged on his strange power like silk on thorn.

Their energies matched, so they pulled each other like magnets; her control drifted, and her footing in the air wobbled like a gull in a squall.

Eli sighed, then wrapped an arm around her slim waist; she fell into his hold like a reed into a river’s bend.

Inward, he hammered one thought like a mantra: No stray thoughts. No stray thoughts. No stray thoughts.

Liqianyu seemed not to notice, still channeling the copied power like a steady stream.

“Here it comes!” Eli roared, voice like thunder over open water.

Liqianyu sharpened her focus, eyes locked on the sea like a hunter on the brush.

“Watch. Buddha’s Palm!” Eli shouted, and drove his hand at the ocean below like a falling mountain.

Boom!

The sea burst like a struck drum; a crater bloomed, spray leaping skyward like shattered glass.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

“Man… buddy, those ‘few crabs’ were ancient,” Liqianyu panted, half-collapsed, clutching a gleaming lump of crab meat like a prize pearl.

Eli looked like he’d rolled through coral—scrapes everywhere, clothes torn like kelp in a rip.

“Save it. I did the heavy lifting. You yelled ‘go team’ and bullied the runts. Now you’re freeloading on my crab and talking smack.”

“Nonsense. Each one was nasty. I can’t just feed myself to them. Cleaning the field’s worth doing,” she said, sheepish as a wet cat.

“Tsk. Tell it to someone who buys it.”

… … …

Angela watched them bicker, one brow arching like a gull’s wing. “Well now. You two are tight.”

“Close to him/her? I’d rather die,” they both shot back, voices overlapping like echo in a canyon.

“Why’re you copying me?!”

“Why’re you copying me?!”

“Still copying?!”

“Still copying?!”

“You asking for it?!”

“You asking for it?!”

Angela sighed, let the waves take their noise, and led the dazed Gelashe to a heap of squid, pale as moons on the sand.

“Easy. Those crabs were scum. Big sister just cleaned house for your clan. If crab’s not your thing, have octopus. Ignore those two. Eat.”

“Uu… uu…” Gelashe’s sigh leaked out like fog.

His clan’s great elder was dead, a pillar snapped like a dead tree in storm.

Only after the corpse cooled did they learn—he was the Hero, and they’d been clowning at his feet.

Fighting crabs had been no game; Eli one-shotted, lightning clean.

He’d tried to leash his gravity so gently, like holding an egg in water.

The crab clan still got crushed flat, shells cracking like dry clay.

They had no choice but to retreat, a tide slipping back.

Then their great elder refused to let the strangers leave, as stubborn as rock.

Trouble bloomed.

Liqianyu hauled Gelashe out by sheer will, like yanking a net before it tore.

When he woke, he saw the elder tied to a rack, five-flowers tight, with a weird fire beneath that burned bright without wood, a blue-white blossom.

His vision went black, fear slamming down like a lid; he fainted.

Lucky—he only fainted.

After he woke and explanations tumbled, he understood: their great elder had crossed the line.

So he’d set things to make Eli suffer, a trap laid like a hooked barb.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

“Does it hurt? I’ve got wound salve… good stuff for mending,” Liqianyu said, fishing a small jade vial from her robe like a cool pebble from a stream.

“No need. Take care of yourself,” Eli said with a half-smile, shoulders loose as reeds. “I kept these scars on purpose. They mark where carelessness beat me.”

“They remind me danger’s real, so I don’t close my eyes and die.”

Liqianyu tilted her head, a soft smile like sunlight through leaves. “You’ve changed a lot.”

“So have you,” Eli said, then his gaze drifted over her shape like a boat over a sandbar.

Our Miss Li was no longer a flat plane; not huge, but a curve was a curve, a tide coming in.

Eli sighed, a breeze through teeth. When would his Demonic Lord step up?

Though… he’d heard.

After childbirth, that place… tends to grow.

Next time, we’ll try it.

The thought flashed wicked, like a fox slipping through bamboo.

Liqianyu’s right brow ticked up, a bird’s wing flick. “What’s with him? Looks… off. Did a hit rattle his brains?”

Eli wore a piggish grin, a line of drool like a thread of sap.

He noticed, scrubbed his mouth with a sleeve, and put on calm like a mask. “I’m… hungry. Was thinking of food. So…”

“Stop. I don’t wanna hear your excuse,” Liqianyu said, flicking her hand like shooing a fly.

“Heh.” Eli scratched his head, sheepish as a boy in rain.

He gathered his long hair, smoothed it, and let the tail rest on his chest like a dark ribbon.

“Long time no see, Liqianyu.”

“Mm-hmm. Long time no see, Eli.”