After Youdie was knocked from the sky, the cultists closed in like carrion crows circling fresh prey.

Youdie, seeing escape was a broken bridge, coughed a thread of blood. Her gaze pinned him like a nail. "Fan Chen! You disgrace. You're the lord of Starfate City, yet you lure wolves into our home. Aren't you afraid of Heaven's wrath?"

"…Heaven's wrath?" Fan Chen let out a strangled laugh, a cracked bell in a storm. "If that thing existed, would I need to do this?"

"When hundreds of thousands were driven adrift like leaves on a flood, Heaven played blind, didn't it?" Fan Chen fisted Youdie’s collar, eyes blazing like coals. "What use is a thing that doesn't exist?"

Youdie ignored his grip, her eyes winter-cold. The dagger in her hand darted for his heart like a swift hawk. "Whether Heaven punishes, I don't know. I do know you betrayed the hope of this city."

"Heh…" Fan Chen stepped back, a man walking off a cliff on purpose, and pulled the deadly blade free. He had noticed her move long ago, yet he leaned into it.

After all, I never planned to live. The thought fell like ash in his chest.

"You…" Youdie’s pupils shrank, a shutter closing.

"Aiya, since you two have said your pieces, may I dig in now? Hee-hee…" A strange black-robed figure breathed up behind Youdie like nightfall. Her crooked right claw clamped Youdie’s neck.

The speaker was Elder Guishi of the Flower of the Other Shore. Her power was a crooked path; even fellow elders avoided her shadow.

With Guishi’s hand on her throat, Youdie slowed as if caught in thick amber. Confusion flickered in her eyes, and stone bloomed from her neck like frost, creeping across her body.

The sight made spines run with ice. A ninth-tier sovereign was bound like a puppet—by someone of the same tier, at that.

When Youdie was fully a statue, Elder Guishi withdrew her hand. A pale tongue flicked like a snake. "As expected, a young, lovely ninth-tier tastes far better than those stinking men. Even her lifeless stone is easier on the eyes. Ahh, I’ll take this statue home for my collection. Lucky the old geezer who loves gulping souls isn't here. I can keep a statue with a soul fused inside. Hee-hee…"

Elder Guishi fattened herself on life force, feeding like a leech beneath silk. When a target’s life ran dry, they hardened into a lifeless statue. It was the backlash of her cultivation. If a statue held the soul fully, she could wield it like a puppet with her own power.

"Your tastes are filth in silk." Yu Qiu’s voice was winter rain, cold and light. "I hope you won't end up in the same ash."

"Ah-reh? And a parasite like you, Queen of the Blood, who feeds on others’ blood, has the right to lecture me?" Elder Guishi’s smile was painted on like a mask. "How many died in your hands? Am I right, Lady Scarlet Reaper?"

"…" Yu Qiu’s silhouette trembled, a shadow rippling over water.

"I suppose no one has called you that in a long time, hmm? Those who knew you back then are all dust. But you, old bat, still cling to the night. You even have leisure to play dean here."

"Retired people need hobbies." Yu Qiu’s tone turned airy, like a breeze over sugar. "I’m just one of the deans, really only a name on a plaque. My real job? Running a dessert shop. Ha."

"…" Elder Guishi’s eyes cooled like slate; she held her tongue.

"Those who play with fire burn with it in the end." Yu Qiu’s face was composed, words dropping like sparks. "I hope you still look this proud when it comes."

"Old thing, you think you can walk away after crossing me?"

"Don’t chase." A voice cut like a knife across cloth. "Her true body isn't here. This figure is her projection. Even if you smash it, she won't be harmed."

"…" Teeth ground in the air behind Yu Qiu like grit under a wheel.

"Let her go. She isn't our quarry anyway. I wonder what her face will be like when her niece dies before her eyes. Ah, I can't wait. Heh-heh…"

Yu Qiu paused, frost pausing on a leaf. "Then you'll be disappointed. You may not live to see that day."

She ignored their boiling glare and walked out, her shadow long as dusk.

"Calm down. Don't forget your goal, Edgar."

"Hmph! Just a lowly half-blood, acting high and mighty."

"Forget it. Continue the plan."

They returned to the heart of the central square, where the Flower of the Other Shore had set up a vast transparent pool, clear as glass.

Before everyone, Fan Chen hauled out a white cage and addressed them, voice flat as steel. "You all know who I am. No need for speeches."

Under the dais, the residents were a tide of anger held by stone. Some burned with hate, some sank in disappointment, some wore tangled storms. None had imagined the beloved lord would sell them out like a traitor at the gate.

"This one—you all know her." Fan Chen’s eyes were cold moons. "The hero who saved Starfate City last time. Also the sirens’ plant on land. The daughter of the culprit who raised the waters a century ago. I’m doing this for personal reasons. As long as you don’t stir trouble, I guarantee your lives. I brought you here to watch the truth under the cute mask of this little girl."

He kicked the cage into the pool. The white bars dropped like a coffin through a lake, and the small girl inside, still asleep, sank with it, drifting down into blue.

Not long before.

Mm… Where am I? Tangxue stood in a sea of blue, the world swaying like a boat; her head spun.

So alike… No wonder that girl used a miracle on you. A thought drifted by like a whisper in surf.

Awake? A blue-haired woman with dead-fish eyes stepped into the space, her presence cold as a tide pool. She spoke to Tangxue.

You… I remember you! You’re the jerk who knocked me out! Damn it!

Don’t rush to swing. This is only a dream. You can’t hurt me here.

A dream…?

Yes, a dream. More precisely, your mindspace, a quiet lake under your ribs. Right now, you’re locked in a cage. You can’t draw magic at all.

Ha?!

Wait—if this is my mindspace, how did you get in?

By seniority, I’m your mother Dreamsound’s younger aunt. I came to chat mainly to—

Answer my question first! Even if you’re Dreamsound’s aunt, I won’t forgive you. Hah—I'm fuming!

"…"

I’m at the level of divine sense. Entering your mindspace is easy. I was afraid you might snap, so I came to talk you down…

…?

As Tangxue formed the question, her vision blurred like ink in water. The blue-haired woman and the space itself began to dissolve, peeling away like mist at dawn.

Shame. You’re waking already. I wanted to talk with you alone a bit longer.