To be honest, Qingyu Mengyin never imagined the gray mist that made her heart quiver like a plucked string came from the familiar woman before her.

The ash-colored veil drowned the scene, so Dreamsound only glimpsed a silhouette, yet certainty settled like frost in her chest.

Kerlinveil Xuewei.

After her first strike failed, Xuewei’s unfocused eyes drifted to her right hand, cocooned in gray haze, then she turned like a clockwork doll.

“…I’ll kill you.”

“After more than ten years, that’s all you’ve got for me?” Dreamsound tilted her head like a curious bird.

“Forget it… you probably can’t hear me now. Let’s speak with our fists.”

If anyone tried to block her from bringing Shengsheng home, she’d knock them down like reeds before a storm.

Xuewei seemed to think the same. She watched in silence, a leopard coiled in shadow, breath low, tendons taut.

“Xuewei…! Stop, breathe, calm down! Don’t keep burning that power, or your body will break first!” Linyue Yao’s voice rose from below like a taut bowstring.

At first, Linyue Yao and the Snow Wolf King had planned to leave through the north gate, road unspooling like a cold ribbon, to find Xuewei. The child was still in the dark, but the moment they stepped out, the berserk Xuewei charged straight at Qingyu Mengyin.

The familiar voice of her foster mother pulled a sliver of reason back like a hook through fog. Xuewei pressed her left hand to her brow; gray light flickered in her eyes like embers.

“Linyue Yao… Mom? Is that you? Why are you here…”

Sigh… she’d known this tide would come ever since Xuewei ran off to make trouble for the sea-dwelling Qingyu Mengyin. Fine. This time, she’d tell Xuewei everything.

“Xuewei… breathe. Don’t let that power steer your mood like a wild horse.”

Bai Zhi arrived in a rush, voice steady as cool rain, trying to soothe Xuewei back from the edge.

“Xuewei, listen. Things aren’t what you think… Yes, calm down. Rein in the force inside you.”

“I… Royal Sister, why are you all here…”

“Xuewei, about your brother and Qingyu Mengyin, the truth is—”

“Kh!” Xuewei coughed blood; crimson bloomed on her lip like a cut camellia.

“I… killed… I’ll kill you…!”

Her movements went stiff, a puppet struggling against its strings, breath jerking like a snagged kite.

Bai Zhi’s face changed, thunder under ice. She shot to Xuewei’s side and chopped the back of her neck, swift as a falcon’s strike.

Bai Zhi cradled the limp Xuewei, a soft sigh floating like mist. “Poor child…”

“Her condition mirrors her brother’s—no, her sister’s—almost the same. But Xuewei’s fate isn’t as kind. Once she slips the reins, death waits. Sometimes death is the easiest end.”

Linyue Yao kept quiet, worry pooling in her eyes like winter water.

“She…” Dreamsound’s lips parted, then sealed. Curiosity stirred like a moth, but she held it still.

“Miss Qingyu Mengyin, please leave for now,” Bai Zhi said, voice low as steady flame. “We’ll handle the rest. If you stay, trouble will only snowball.”

“Mm.” Dreamsound nodded, heavy as stone. She hesitated, then spoke, voice even. “When she wakes, if she wants the whole story, send her to me. If she was Shengsheng’s sister once, I won’t hide anything about Shengsheng.”

“Thank you, Miss Qingyu Mengyin.” Linyue Yao forced a smile, thin as paper.

“Your Majesty Bai Zhi, let’s go. Xuewei’s condition isn’t stable. We need to neutralize that gray breath in her fast.”

“Mm.”

“Then, farewell…” Bai Zhi turned and watched Dreamsound’s group fade into the dim like boats into morning fog. A sigh slipped from her like falling petals.

“My Blazing Sun qi can ease Xuewei’s pain, but it only soothes. It can’t cure… Why won’t this child ever listen?”

Linyue Yao glanced at her, emotions tangled like willow branches. “Your Majesty Bai Zhi… is there truly no other way to fix Xuewei’s body?”

Linyue Yao belonged to the Radiant Empire. When she was born, the nation was just reborn, sunrise cresting new hills. From her earliest memory, Bai Zhi had been the queen.

“I’ve searched for a way to save Xuewei for years,” Bai Zhi said, gaze steady as a mountain. “There’s always something missing in her. She was frail from birth. You know her achievements owe a great deal to that child’s blood.”

“I know…” Linyue Yao sighed, old shock fluttering up like startled birds. “Back then, what they did stunned me too… Eh? Your Highness, you—”

“Miss Linyue Yao, please watch over Xuewei. I’m going to wake a certain slacker.”

Bai Zhi handed Xuewei over, face set like iron, then shot toward a stone statue, swift as a streak of light.

She brushed the lifelike features—familiar as a face in a mirror—and quiet words fell like dew. “Looks like the elder from the Flower of the Other Shore did this.”

“Good thing the petrification was brief. The soul didn’t fix solid. There’s hope.”

Bai Zhi flicked her small hand. The statue Youdie had formed unraveled into ash, a gray snowfall in still air.

At the same time, a transparent figure yawned and blinked into being before them, a ghostly ripple on clear water.

“Ah… Is it morning already? Your Majesty the Empress, you’re here too…”

“Time to get up, Youdie.” Bai Zhi’s rare smile curved like a crescent moon. “You did well. Thank you for protecting Heavenly Melody Academy.”

“Ehehe~” There was no touch, but Youdie still drank in the moment like warm tea. “Teacher, it’s been a while since you patted my head…”

Youdie’s teacher was Bai Zhi, though few knew it. Back then, Bai Zhi worked round the clock for the newborn empire, handling affairs by day and teaching at the Royal Academy by night. Youdie had been one of her students.

“You’re a soul-body now. Your vessel’s unusable, so I had to break it.” Bai Zhi’s voice was soft, steady. “Take this command sigil to the Holy Maiden of the Dawnlight Church. She can solve your problem.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty! But… could you pat my head once more?”

“Mm-hmm…”

“…” Linyue Yao watched, the scene awkward as two actors missing their props—one patting air, one feeling a headpat in the void. She wiped a bead of sweat in her heart.