“Huh? Lady Liuyi?! And Sister Dixue?!”
Emily froze the moment she saw Yue Liuyi, her hand suspended in midair. Panic hit first—then those brown eyes brimmed, and tears fell like beads from a snapped thread.
Dixue went still too. She didn’t know why this brown‑haired girl was here, or why her urgency burned like dry grass in wind.
“Huh? Emily?”
“Th‑that’s great! It’s really you, sisters!”
Emily ran toward them. Scrapes still shadowed her skin—healing spells had closed the wounds, but smeared blood streaked her like wilted petals on snow.
“Emily, what happened?”
“H‑help! Sister Lia and the others… they’re about to fall!”
Emily gulped air in ragged mouthfuls, like someone who’d sprinted through thorns for miles.
“Lia? She’s here too?”
“Mm! Sister Lia actually… ugh, long story…”
With quick, clipped words, the brown‑haired girl sketched Lia’s past and what happened after she entered the Rainbow Sanctuary.
“What? Lia and Qinhui are sisters?”
Yue Liuyi gaped. She’d known Lia’s full name, yet never tied the threads together. Hearing Lia was a princess of the Principality of Kowei Lailia stunned her like a bell struck in a quiet hall.
“Yes! I was shocked too. I never imagined Lady Lia was a princess of the Principality of Kowei Lailia… But the Rainbow Sanctuary’s too dangerous, so we came with Tiger Girl.”
“What? Qinhui’s little sister came too? Looks like she really plans to raise a banner and rebel!”
Arms crossed, Shao Rong bristled like a cat in a draft.
“Don’t talk nonsense!”
Dixue rapped the Fourth Princess on the head, frowning. “No one’s rebelling. Things back then weren’t like that. If you keep guessing wildly, I’ll tie your hands and lock you with Qinhui.”
“Wha—! I knew it… Qinhui’s with you! Hiding a wanted traitor—Dixue, you’re trampling the law!”
“Prisoners don’t get to lecture. LittleSnow, bring me those vines.”
“How dare you—mmph! What are you doing!”
“Feels like we should seal her mouth too~”
“Mmph—mmph mmph mmph!”
Resistance went nowhere. Dixue moved with the ease of water finding a groove; in moments, Shao Rong’s hands were bound, and her mouth silenced.
Her deft, neat motions left Yue Liuyi awed the way one stares at moonlight cutting a blade’s edge.
Liuyi didn’t know Dixue’s skill came from proper training courses back in Night City.
Dixue propped the trussed princess aside.
“LittleSnow! What do we do next? Breeze hasn’t woken up, and everyone else is still petrified…”
Yue Liuyi looked around. They’d finally shattered the Golden Fortress’s army, yet victory felt hollow as ashes. All their allies stood frozen in stone by Breeze, and Breeze himself lay collapsed, spent like a snuffed candle.
“Breeze only overexerted. He’ll be fine. Once he wakes, everyone’s petrification should lift.”
“Petrified? These are… Lady Dixue’s companions? Why are they all turned to stone?!”
Only now did Emily notice the statues were people. She shivered like a leaf in a cold draft—she’d never seen the Lost City, never known Breeze’s power.
“Long story. Right now… we go support Lia.”
By Emily’s account, Lia’s battle had gone white‑hot, like iron in a forge.
The Black Fortress had emptied its nest. A black canopy of undead blanketed the sky, swallowing the sun.
Lia had summoned Alisa—mighty as a mountain storm—yet she stood alone. Sent to find help, the brown‑haired girl had been drawn by the forest’s clamor of battle and ran into them by fate’s crooked path.
“But if we go help… what about everyone here?”
Yue Liuyi stared at her stone‑stiff companions and winced. Even if she shifted back into a boy, there was no way she could carry so many statues. And Dixue was a girl, and Emily was frail as a morning reed.
The Rainbow Sanctuary was full of teeth. Leaving the statues here felt like setting bait in a tiger’s path. Getting them to a safe place was the wise move.
“Let me think… mm~! We’ll ask the Sanctuary’s native spirits to help!”
Dixue clapped once, eyes lighting like lanterns.
“Spirits? There are spirits in the Rainbow Sanctuary too?”
“Yes. But these spirits aren’t like the outside elf clans. More like pixies’ distant cousins.”
“Oh… wait—why are you suddenly touching me, LittleSnow!”
Still puzzled, Yue Liuyi felt Dixue’s fingers knead her arm. The silver‑haired girl wasn’t rough, but her technique was odd, ticklish as a feather under silk.
Dixue only looked at Liuyi, genuinely curious and in no hurry to apologize.
“Huh? Wrong spot? Or wrong pressure?”
“Wrong… spot?”
“Oh, right! It should be your palm.”
Suddenly, Dixue drew Liuyi’s wrist close. One hand held her wrist; the other opened Little Moon’s palm.
Liuyi saw it this time. Cool, smooth fingertips traced her palm like a stream over pebbles. The sensation shivered through her, and the blue‑haired girl let a small sound slip free.
“Hehe, that’s the right one!”
“Right what?!”
“Hehe. We’ll lure spirits with Little Moon’s voice. Look—there they come.”
“Huh?”
Liuyi turned where Dixue pointed. The distant undergrowth rustled like rain on a thatch roof.
Strange little creatures hopped out of the trees one by one.
They looked like rabbits, but not quite. Big round eyes. Springy steps. They boinged over and stopped before Yue Liuyi.
If Ailuna were here, she’d dive right in, squealing about how unbearably cute they were.
But Liuyi was a boy at heart. He had a boy’s pride, a face to keep. Even facing puff‑ball critters, he couldn’t act like a sheltered girl and pounce while shouting “so cute”…
Liuyi held back. The creatures didn’t. They leapt as one into her arms.
The moment they saw Yue Liuyi, these green fluff‑spirits perked their ears like saplings in sun and piled onto the blue‑haired girl, nuzzling her cheeks with buttery affection.
Their squishy faces flattened like warm mochi, elastic and sweet to the touch.
“Uu… s‑so cute!”
In the end, Yue Liuyi abandoned the tatters of boyish dignity and drowned in the softness.
The truth was, the pixies were too soft—cloud‑soft, like a girl’s chest.
“Now, Little Moon, give the order. Ask them to carry these statues back to their village.”
“Give an order? B‑but… how? Hey! Don’t rub me—be good, be good…”
The little ones kept nuzzling, relentless as tide against shore.
“Just speak. They’re nature’s spirits. Of course they understand.”
“Really? Then… could you please help carry our petrified companions?”
“Woof‑meow!”
The green spirits blinked, then boinged to the statues.
Their tiny bodies didn’t look like they could lift a stone cup, let alone a person.
“LittleSnow, will this work? There are lots of them, but they can’t lift statues… right?”
“Don’t underestimate them. Watch.”
“Huh?!”
“Mew‑woo, woof‑meow!”
They made odd calls, pressed their noses to the stone, sniffed, then raised their “ears.” In one smooth motion, they lifted the statues as if their ears were levers of air.
Steady. Not a wobble.
“Wow, amazing!”
“Now we just follow them.”
“And then we go rescue Lia?”
“Yes. We can’t rob Peter to pay Paul. And we need supplies from the spirits’ village.”
“Um… Lady Dixue, the girl the sisters captured is trying to run.”
Emily, still dazzled by the little spirits, noticed Shao Rong sneaking for an escape.
The Fourth Princess had picked her moment, hoping to slip away while the girls planned.
No chance. Dixue flicked a spell and reeled her back like a fish on a line. The Fourth Princess sagged and shook her head in despair.
Her escape plan had failed… again.
