"So where’s that treasure?" Augustine hadn’t let it go, like a knot in twine. Fia’s first goal had been the Endless Plateau, to dig up a hidden hoard.

Lain eyed the far crater, voice low as wind across stone. "The master of the Endless Plateau’s done for, right? If he’s dead, then his vault would be..."

In a breath, every gaze snapped to the pit, sly as foxfire. The master should be dead, right? Definitely dead, right? Fia alone wore a storm-dark face. Their eyes chased gold, yet hers chased time.

"I’m saying our priority is getting back to our own time node." Her voice struck like a bell. "I have urgent news for my father. The Divine Realm has joined several high worlds. They plan to strike at my father’s side. First we return, then I report."

Fia huffed, heat rising like steam off snow. She’d played mole for years, sifting shadows. She finally got crumbs of truth, and a casual treasure trip trapped her in amber.

"Fia, we get your worry for your father, but right now, we..." Lain’s words snagged like cloth on thorns.

"Worry? I’m not worried about that idiot of a father!" Her denial cracked like ice. "What’s that got to do with that idiot?"

Lain’s daily urge to poke the tiger did its work, like a joke tossed into a battlefield. Shoulders unknotted a little. They drifted toward the crater, light as seeds. As gods, their senses fanned out like tides. In that dark bowl, no pulse of life stirred, not even a moth’s wing.

"Great. Then the treasure here is ours!" Joy burst like sparks from dry straw. Even Irina, saintly to a fault, showed a grin sharp as a crescent.

"Move. Treasure-hunting!" Puris swung a banner like a slice of sky. He sprinted in front, legs drumming like hooves. The old flag had broken long ago. The one he carried now was divine power woven into silk-light.

Fia sighed, a wind across reeds. No way back yet. Tagging along to "hunt" might spring a miracle from stone. The group shot across the plateau like arrows smeared with fire. The plateau was vast as sea. But they were gods; turning it upside down would take no more than a storm’s breath.

In the end, the key lay in the crater, like a pearl in a shell. At the far end, something bled gold light.

"That’s the legendary vault, right? Brothers, go!" Puris howled like a wolf. "Ooo-ooo!" Lain tried to shout, but only muffled wind slipped out.

They reached the end and saw it plain. A huge vault ribbed the plateau’s heart, a honeycomb hidden in stone. Without the crater, they’d have missed it forever.

Smiles bloomed like wildflowers. Then, a bizarre pair stepped out and cut the field like a thunderhead.

"Huh. A bunch of brats. This weak, and you dare snatch from your Lord Dragon?" A downsized dragon, adult-tall, leaned on the wall like a lazy cat. Hind legs on stone, foreclaws crossed, he stood upright like a man.

Beside that miniature dragon squatted a crow as big as he was, night folded into feathers. A giant dragon shrunk to toy-size, and a palm-sized crow grown to man-height. The pairing bent the eye like a funhouse mirror.

"Magji, your Lord Crow hasn’t even spoken." The crow’s eyes burned dark red, cold as embers in ash. Fia went pale as paper. With her Realm God strength, she sensed nothing from them, a void like deep sea. That only happens when the gap is a canyon.

Thump! The little dragon’s tail smashed a crater in the vault floor, dust leaping like startled fish. He pointed a cute claw at them. "Perfect. You servants, tidy up for your Lord Dragon. If I’m pleased, I’ll toss you some trash."

"Trash, my tail. They’re Lord Crow’s servants, got it? Buzz off, you fat lizard." The giant crow flicked a wing, disdain sharp as a knife.

"Dead crow, you asking for it? Don’t think I fear you." The mini-dragon’s voice rumbled like a kettle. "If you hadn’t made that weird trade with Litian last time—if you hadn’t grabbed the Heaven Departing Divine Sword to fight me—would I have lost bare-handed?"

He clenched those cute foreclaws, knuckles popping like corn. A fight hung in the air like ozone. The name they dropped—Litian—rang familiar, a pebble in the heart.

"Come on then. Your Lord Crow’s roamed the Divine Continent for a million years. You think I fear a fat lizard? Come, come, mutual harm!" The crow’s laugh scratched like flint.

The pudgy mini-dragon lunged, a boulder in a stream, and clamped the crow’s neck. The scuffle looked like grade-schoolers tussling behind a fence. The watching group traded looks, speechless as stone. A million-year terror, and this was playground wrestling.

"I’ll choke you dead, you rotten crow." The dragon snarled, breath hot as forge wind. "Every time I find something good, your crow mouth jinxes it and the treasure flies off. If I don’t end you, where’s the face of the Kongzhou Tianlong?"

"Fat lizard... last warning from Lord Crow." The crow’s voice went flat as a blade. "Keep choking me, and I’ll use my finisher."

"Scared of you? Come on. Lord Dragon’s right here. Let’s hurt each other!" Power prickled like nettles. Everyone stepped back fast, feet skimming gravel. Nobody wanted to die to a stray sneeze from gods.

"Watch me crush your little ding-ding!" The crow’s talons darted for the dragon’s lower belly, two knives for tender fruit. The dragon’s scream tore out, high as a kettle’s whistle.

"Magji! Dead crow, you shameless—!" They rolled across the floor like tangled beasts, you choke me, I claw you. It was bluster more than blood, daily bickering dressed as war. Grade-school slapfight, divine edition.

At last, the two oddities had their fill of noise. Their gazes slid to Fia and the others, heavy as anvils. "Servants, clean the place. The master’s too busy to care, and I snuck out to treasure-hunt. Easy, is it?" The crow jabbed a wingtip at them, ordering like a petty king.

No one dared refuse. Heads bowed like reeds, they gathered the scattered hoard. The fat dragon and the crow produced chairs from nowhere, then sprawled like sunning cats. A small table sat between, with juice shining like amber.

Even Caro, gentlest of them, almost exploded, anger fizzing like boiling sugar.

"Hm? Little girl, you got an opinion?" The fat dragon’s golden eyes cut to Caro, bright as coins. She flinched and turned away, a petal in wind. Under another’s eaves, even fire had to hide. The gulf in power yawned like a canyon.

The vault brimmed with treasure, a river of metal and light. Thirteen of them worked as one. Soon, the floor lay bare as bone.

"Not bad. You’ve got a future." The fat dragon’s tone lounged like a cat. "Follow Lord Dragon, and with my cover you can walk the Myriad Worlds." He didn’t ask them to hand over anything. He just flicked a chubby paw, and every stored treasure flew out like birds and landed in his palm.

Then his “teammate” kicked him square in the back, a boot of thunder. "Haha, little fat dragon, your Lord Crow will accept the loot." In a blink, the crow vanished, a shadow swallowed by shadow.

The dragon snarled and tore space like cloth, claws carving a door. "You wait. If I don’t chase you to the end of the stars, what’s the name of the Kongzhou Tianlong worth?" He plunged through. Both terrifying beasts were gone like storms rolling off a ridge.

"The treasure... where’s our promised treasure?" Lain stared after the thieves, longing hanging like a hungry dog’s drool. The prize had been within arm’s reach. Then two clown-bandits swooped in.

Fia rubbed her temples, headache like iron bands. "Let it go. Walking away alive from those two is luck enough. You still want to rob them? Tired of living?"

Scolded, Lain shut his mouth, lips tight as a seam. With no treasure left, they scoured the Endless Plateau, eyes combing rock like rakes. They hunted for a way to leave this time node.

They searched every place they could reach, yet found nothing, just wind and dust. Yaoxue had sent them near the Endless Plateau. That meant a way back should be here, hidden like a needle in hay. But where?

After a long stay, the crow returned, dark as a raincloud on white stone. With it came a figure in a black cloak, the fabric painted with broken stars and a shattered moon.