"Where is this?" Unease pricked first. Tangxue rubbed her eyes, and a familiar feeling drifted through her—like a cool breeze crossing dunes she knew by heart.
She opened them. Below, a tide of faces stared up, surprise frosting each expression. Their gaze felt like needles. She shrank inside.
Instinct pulled her back. Her shoulder hit something. "Mm—"
'A cage…?' Her thoughts rang like iron. 'I’m… locked in a cage? Glass outside, water all around… What happened while I was out?'
A dull ache bloomed behind her temples. She didn’t need a mirror; those looks said she’d reverted. Her shoes and everything had fallen off inside the cage. When you’re unconscious, you can’t steer—like when a stuffed nose forces the mouth to breathe. Without awareness, the body drifts on bare instinct.
If she guessed right, they planned to expose her?
What a pity.
"Does someone really think a flimsy cage can hold me?" she muttered, dry as sand.
"Uh-oh. My magic’s dead? That’s impossible..." Calm cracked; just a hairline.
Then a familiar voice brushed her ear like cold silk.
'Don’t waste it. With what you’ve got now, you can’t break this cage. Because… I built it for you. Tailored.'
"..." Thanks a lot, huh.
Tangxue let her hands fall. If that woman chose to pin her, breaking bars was useless. While she watched, escape was a mirage on hot stone.
Why wrestle iron, when words could draw blood?
"So you boxed me up for what? You even teamed with that annoying Vampire to show me off… like I’m some rare animal," Tangxue frowned.
'...'
She drew breath to push again when a familiar middle-aged voice boomed over the pool like a drum over stormwater.
"Did you all see it? This is the true face of Starfate City’s so-called hero! She’s the daughter of the culprit who nearly drowned the continent!
"Why is she here? Out of kindness? More likely she’s preparing to swallow the continent whole!"
Fan Chen stood on the rostrum, fire in his veins, publicly denouncing Qingsheng Tangxue. He’d given a thousand speeches on a hundred stages, yet never with this entranced fury. He painted the one below as a butcher fit for the gallows, a demon loose from hell. He spent every word he knew like arrows, to curse and to spit.
Even the crowd caught his anger like dry grass catches flame. Some joined in, and for a heartbeat, the little girl in the pool looked damned.
If not for her, would Starfate City—peaceful for centuries—have faced two city-killing crises in a row? Grievance needs a target, and people pour it where they can.
"So… that’s it?" Tangxue blinked, bemused, like watching a puppet show.
"I thought you’d try something creative to torture me. Turns out you hired a clown to throw voice-lines at me… tch.
"Don’t tell me you want me to feel that those who once treated you well were just chasing power. That a few words could turn them, because of your identity, into strangers—enemies. Then I’d decide I’m not wrong. The world is."
'...'
"..." The crowd.
"You’ve read too many novels, haven’t you?" Tangxue’s brow pinched. "What, you think I’ll be heartbroken, flee, and never come back?"
'...'
Truth be told, that was exactly what Qing Feng Yuelian had in mind.
"You’re… adorable," Tangxue couldn’t help it. She clapped a hand over her mouth and laughed. At the edge of her eyes, clear tears trembled like dew.
If you want to live happy under this sky, make your heart light—so an old friend once taught her.
But if the heart is light, what keeps beating inside?
She couldn’t be heartless. But pressure? This kiddie kind? She could bear it.
Her words to Qing Feng Yuelian reached Fan Chen, and rage shook him like wind shakes a banner.
"Good. Very good! Since you’re so eager to die, I’ll oblige!"
Veins roped his snarling face. Purple lightning gathered in his palm, coiling like vipers.
When Tangxue saw that violet arc, gravity darkened her gaze.
The next instant, the purple bolt leapt into the pool with his will. Light ripped through the water like a net of thorns.
Tangxue snapped a defensive weave by reflex. The jolt never came… Wait—she didn’t even know what getting shocked felt like.
Gold irises widened, puzzled.
"So this is being shocked in water? Feels the same as always," she pouted.
'...'
"..." Fan Chen.
On instinct, Fan Chen poured in more power. Thunder raked the pool walls, wild and barely leashed, nearly licking the crowd.
Even so, Tangxue floated like nothing touched her.
Lightning-immune.
Maybe that was the only phrase for it. Yet even she didn’t know why. Her third elemental affinity? She knew it; it wasn’t lightning. She wore no anti-thunder charm. So where did this immunity come from?
While she puzzled, Fan Chen kicked the pool. The blow boomed. The whole tank shuddered like a struck gong. Without wards pinning it, it would’ve launched.
"What is wrong with you!" Tangxue yelped as her head kissed glass again.
"Don’t get cocky! Don’t think I can’t deal with you!" Fan Chen glared daggers, hatred bristling like quills.
'Ahem…!'
Suddenly, something ripped through Qing Feng Yuelian. Her spiritual sense plunged as if struck. The barrier trembled, threads going loose.
"...Hey, what happened to you?" Tangxue asked lightly, but worry flickered behind her eyes.
'It’s nothing. Just a small accident.'
"...?" No way. Who could make that old witch stumble?!
