By the time Nana Shi reached the conference room, everyone was already gathered, like birds packed tight on a winter branch.

She glanced at the clock; she was nearly half an hour late, like dusk slipping past the threshold.

“So? You all silent and self-studying?” Her voice skimmed the room like a cold breeze. “Weren’t we meeting? The screen’s blank like an empty pond.”

“Uh… Your Majesty… we were all waiting for you.” City Lord Aitixi stepped in, smoothing things like a hand across ripples.

Most leaders on the continent had survived Moragus’s era, weathered like stone under storm. This woman’s ruthless edge was a blade everyone had seen.

Unless you wanted death, no one picked a fight with her, like moths steering clear of the candle flame.

“Ha, I’ve got that much pull?” Nana’s words flicked like a sparrow’s tail, yet her posture was bold as a mountain.

“Let’s just start now. Everyone’s here.” She chose the center chair, settling like a hawk to a perch. “Keep it brief. I can’t stay long, like wind that won’t linger.”

Huh? She couldn’t stay? The thought pricked like needles. She was leaving soon?

Leaders traded looks like shadows crossing water, silent and quick.

“Uh… Your Majesty, Cangwind Sacred Land’s people aren’t all here.” Aitixi’s tone dipped like a reed in rain. “You know your airborne fortress is massive as a drifting iceberg. The ships after you got jammed. Should we wait?”

“Tsk. If so, why can’t they come by the main road?” Nana’s brow lifted like a blade. “Roads don’t clog like sky lanes.”

“……” Who knew you’d bring the fortress right over, like a moon blotting the stars! If we’d known, we wouldn’t have flown, like fish leaping into nets!

“Meh, fine.” She owned the delay like dust on her sleeve. The words fell easy as leaves. “We’ll wait. After half an hour of grinding, a bit more’s nothing.”

She drew a phone from her pocket, smooth as a card from a sleeve, and started gaming in plain view, sound blasting like tin drums.

“……” She had to be doing it on purpose, like a cat knocking cups off a shelf. Gaming in the chamber was one thing. Loud? That was a gauntlet.

“Hey, gamer woman, keep it down.” The red-clad youth at Nana’s right spoke, irritation sharp as a thorn. He’d been resting with eyes shut, like embers under ash. “You’re disturbing my nap.”

“Oh. Here. Put this on.” Her reply landed like snow.

Without looking up, Nana tossed over earmuffs, a clean arc like a bird’s flight. Her thumbs never slowed, a river of moves. “Latest noise-canceling from my country. Wear them to sleep; not just my game—someone could fire artillery by your bed and you’d hear nothing.”

Her character racked up kills, crisp callouts cracking like ice. Each shout slapped the Pan Mountain Empire’s red-clad youth, invisible palms popping his cheeks.

“……” Okay. She was strong as iron, flippant as flame.

Six months out cold hadn’t dimmed her swagger, like a torch relit.

Many rulers, Qi Luo among them, had their mouths twitch like taut strings.

“What? You all find it loud?” Nana glanced up during a respawn, curiosity like a lifted brow. “Say so. I’ll hand out more earmuffs. I’ve crates at home, like apples in harvest. Free.”

“……” If you care we’re bothered, use headphones or mute, like closing a window in wind!

Earmuffs? With tech that advanced, do you research toys all day, like bees chasing flowers? This woman’s nerves were steel wire!

As they silently griped, the door swung open with a clack, like a blade against stone. A hurried young man strode in, air around him flustered like scattered leaves. “My apologies, everyone. We had an incident on the road, so I’m slightly late.”

“No harm done, Patriarch Feng. Please take your seat.” Aitixi’s tone lifted like lantern light.

“Ah… lost.” A crystalline shatter burst from Nana’s phone, sharp as a dropped goblet.

Patriarch Feng froze, surprise paling him like frost. “……”

“What the—” His thoughts stumbled like a cart in mud. Someone was gaming? Was this a meeting or a tournament?

“Don’t mind me. Sit. We’ve already burned an hour.” Nana slid her phone away, smooth as silk, unruffled under every eye like a stone in a stream.

“Ahem. I’ll open the joint session.” Aitixi’s words unfurled like a scroll. “On trade over the next year, military vigilance, and tech development, I have several points…”

His speech droned like steady rain on tin. Nana’s sleepiness rose like mist. These cross-nation squabbles were old grooves, a song worn to husk. Her ears felt callused, like bark.

“On trade and defense,” someone cut in, voice tense as wire, “hasn’t the continent seen a surge of outlanders?”

“What? They appeared in your Holy Sun Kingdom too?” The question leaped like a spark.

“Huh? ‘Too’? Patriarch Feng, are they showing up in Cangwind Sacred Land?” The query fluttered like a startled bird.

“Yes.” Patriarch Feng’s expression cooled like iron. “They appeared in Cangwind Sacred Land almost at once. If they hadn’t been powerless, without Spirit Energy, I’d have already driven them out like debris on a tide.”

“Powerless?” The Profound Sun Ancient Pool’s ruler frowned, a crease like a blade mark. “Strange. In my domain, outlanders from Holy Sun Kingdom and Cangwind appeared. They could wield Spirit Energy like stormfire.”

“What?!” Patriarch Feng and the Holy Sun King both blanched, faces stiff as frost. “Pool Lord, are you certain?”

“Beyond doubt.” His gaze was weighty as stone. “It blew up big. There were only a few of them, yet we sent three thousand-strong units to force them down, like nets on whales.”

“That’s… alarming.” Many rulers wore solemn looks, heavy as cloud.

Profound Sun Ancient Pool was an elder power, old tree among six giants. In military tech and Spirit Energy, they ranked top three, like stars near the moon. Even so, it took three full thousand-strong units to suppress a handful of unknowns.

“Your Majesty Nana, what’s your situation?” The question turned toward her like wind to a flame.

“Huh? My situation?” Her mind had drifted like a kite. Confusion pricked, then her eyes cleared like water. “What situation?”

“……” The room’s patience thinned like ice.

“Outlanders,” someone clarified, voice level as flat ground. “Did any show up in your Chronos City?”

“Definitely not.” Nana’s answer came smooth as glass. She’d heard nothing like that in Chronos City days ago.

“I’m the same as that woman. No such reports.” Qi Luo of the Pan Mountain Empire spoke, words crisp as frost.

“That’s odd.” The Holy Sun King, Patriarch Feng, and the Pool Lord shared a look, a knot like twisted roots. “Why are they targeting just us three?”

Being watched by unknown, powerful outlanders felt like a black wind on the neck, especially now, in this knife’s-edge season.

Crack.

The conference door shuddered open again, the sound splintering like a winter branch. Before anyone could react, a polar chill surged through the gap, whooshing like knives of air.

A domineering wave of Spirit Energy rolled in, a blizzard of cold mist. Rulers’ hearts jolted like drums. Frost raced across the door, spreading to the walls and table, white lace crawling over iron.

“Tsk… that familiar Spirit Energy.” Nana’s gaze narrowed, an eagle’s eye. “Don’t tell me that one came this year too?”

As if to seal her thought, a girl stepped through, ease like moonlight on snow.

She looked seventeen or eighteen, a cut of youth like fresh bamboo. Her figure was graceful, making peers falter like petals in shade. She wore a thick pure-white coat, winter draped in cloth. Her long golden hair fell like a waterfall, spilling down her back. Her waist was slender, a willow you could ring with fingers. Her face was cool as ice, and an eerie cold radiated from her, stopping onlookers like hoarfrost on steps.

“The… Ice Emperor… Bi Yanhan…” Someone whispered, the name drifting like white smoke.

Rulers snapped to, rising with instinct like tides under the moon.

Two great absentees, worst offenders every year, stood here together, like twin comets in one sky. It felt like the continent was turning a page, the wind shifting its color.

Nana stayed the calmest, head tilted like a raven’s curiosity. She didn’t rise; she sat, stone in a river.

“Everyone rises for me,” the Ice Emperor’s voice curled through minds like wind through pines, “why don’t you?”

Her power felt even more overbearing than last time, a mountain pressing from every side. She hadn’t moved her lips; through pure Spirit Energy, her voice slipped straight into their heads, a bell with no clapper.

Such mastery was a glacier of awe.

Only—

“I don’t intend to curry favor with you,” Nana said, voice even as shade. “So I don’t need to fawn like they do.”

“Your Majesty, how can you say that?” Someone protested, a flare like tinder. “I stood out of respect for the Ice Emperor. Calling it flattery is pure fabrication!”

“Yeah!” Another snapped, a hiss like steam. “Play noble if you want, but don’t smear us in the process!”

A single line from Nana had soured the room like vinegar in milk.

“Heh.” The Ice Emperor’s lips tilted, a crescent like a thin blade. “You haven’t changed in years.”

“But I didn’t come to chat.” Her tone cooled the air like falling snow.

“Thousandwise.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The reply was crisp as a chime.

“Bring that one up.”

The girl at the door—Thousandwise—pushed in a small cart. A massive block of ice sat on it, cold fog curling like pale snakes.

“This is an outlander assassin I met in my palace,” the Ice Emperor said, words simple as cut stone. “They don’t look like anyone’s from the mainland. I brought them so you could take a look. See if any face rings bells.”