Figures—the universe tossed me across, straight into the sky like a kite cut loose.

Smiling, Tangxue swiped at her tears in silence, like wiping dew from a leaf.

Then it hit her: she couldn’t fly; a fall wouldn’t kill her, but pain would hammer down like hail.

“Aaaah! He—help—” Her cry tore away like paper in the wind.

In a flurry, Qianyue caught her and hauled them aloft, two shadows riding a gust.

Qianyue’s strain pinched Tangxue’s heart like a tight band.

But that sudden burst of strength let her breathe, like surf easing off the rocks.

“Saved,” she whispered, a candle catching again.

“So heavy,” Qianyue murmured, her voice a wilting reed.

Huh? The word dropped in Tangxue’s gut like a pebble.

She felt Qianyue wobble like a bird with wet wings; dread pooled, dark as ink.

Wait—doesn’t Solitary Shadow City have a no‑fly edict, heavy as a mountain on the air?

So the “heavy” wasn’t her; it was the city’s hand pressing down like iron.

Relief spread through Tangxue like warm tea in winter.

And then they dropped, clean and sudden, like stones loosed from a sling.

They weren’t ordinary; a fall like this wouldn’t kill them, but pain would bite like a pack of dogs.

Impact shattered through her bones like cracking ice; a rib’s stab in her lung drowned Tangxue in a black wave.

Qianyue fared better; on the way down, Tangxue cradled her on top like a shield.

“If not for that trunk breaking the fall, it would’ve hurt worse,” Tangxue muttered, rubbing her back like smoothing a bruise; the worst of it had already knitted, frost melting to water.

Honestly, compared to her old body, this shell’s defense had dropped tiers; so this is the price of high regeneration—silk where she wanted steel.

“Sis, are you okay?” Qianyue’s eyes flitted to Tangxue like anxious sparrows.

“I’m fine… just sore,” Tangxue said, brows knitting like storm clouds. “Looks like we’re in the city. Around the City of Woe, there’s only Solitary Shadow City. We hit the mark.”

“Mm.” Qianyue nodded, gravity settling on her face like dusk.

From here on, they’d stepped onto enemy soil, a field of thorns—especially for Qianyue.

“Qianyue, don’t tense up so hard,” Tangxue soothed, fingers combing her long hair like wind through reeds. “Trust me. No one here will hurt you. I promise.”

“Qianyue believes Sis.” She leaned into Tangxue, reliant as a vine to a tree, joy blooming across her face like morning light.

Being beside family was happiness, simple as warm rice.

Beyond the mother who gave her life, Tangxue was dearest—she gave her a name, she hauled her from the abyss like a hand out of dark water.

So, when choices sharpened like knives in the future, she’d stay with Tangxue, wherever the road curled.

“Alright, let’s move,” Tangxue said, breath steadying like a lantern’s glow. “I’ve only been to the Duskmoon Empire’s capital once. Honestly, I know it less than the City of Woe.”

“So if we get lost, it’s kind of expected…” Her mouth twitched like a snagged thread.

Word was, Solitary Shadow City was even bigger than the City of Woe; she braced to wander it for days like a boat in fog.

“Sis, is that the imperial palace we want?” Qianyue pointed past Tangxue at the colossal castle, her face a tangle like crossed lines.

“Ahem. Looks like my spatial teleportation’s getting pretty polished,” Tangxue said, smoothing over the awkwardness like a cat its fur. “Qianyue, let’s go.”

She grabbed Qianyue’s right hand and strode for the palace, blithe as a breeze, forgetting the patrols circling like hawks.

“Stop! What are you doing here? State your purpose!” Two guards at the palace gate leveled their spears, wary as wolves with bristling hackles.

“Strange… why are only two soldiers posted here?” Tangxue asked, doubt curling like smoke.

“Hey! We asked you a question! Who are you?” Their voices rang like iron on iron.

Snapping back, Tangxue answered lightly, “Uh… we want to go in. Could you step aside?” Her tone was casual as a hand flicking dust.

They stared for a few golden seconds, then snapped into battle stances like drawn bows.

One began chanting on the spot, words rising like embers; the other charged, black spear wreathed in fire like a burning brand.

“Can’t we talk?” Tangxue sighed, exasperation flat as rain.

She twitched two fingers; a heartbeat later they froze in place, ice climbing them like creeping vines.

“At least report before you swing,” she mused, smile thin as a blade. “Or is your leader not here?”

Helmets hid their faces, but she pictured terror etched there like frost patterns.

“In that case, I’m going right in. Bye now. Qianyue, let’s go.” Her cheer trailed like bells.

Qianyue trotted to her side, glancing at the two ice statues as she passed. “Sis… are they dead?” Her words fluttered like a moth at a lamp.

“Uh… no. The Blood Clan’s vitality is stubborn as weeds. This level won’t kill them.”

“But for a few days, they won’t be moving, stiff as winter branches.”

“But… but if we don’t kill them, won’t our trail be exposed?” Qianyue fretted, worry rippling like rings on water.

“Then let it be exposed,” Tangxue said softly, voice calm as falling snow. “Killing sours my mood. Unless it’s desperate, I won’t do that.”

“Sis…” Qianyue looked at her, expression braided with knots like twisted willow.

“Is my sister a butcher who scorns life, or a soft‑hearted saint who can’t kill? If I can’t figure it out, how do I walk beside her?” She couldn’t just ask—those words would fall like stones.

Tangxue strode the palace avenue brazenly, sunlight‑in‑the‑open bold, not caring who saw.

She’d confirmed the Vampire called Crimson Goose wasn’t here; without her, the palace held only small fry, minnows she could net with one hand.

Still, if they didn’t stir her pond, she had no interest in hunting them one by one.

Better to head for the inner palace.

With that resolve, she beckoned Qianyue, and the two slipped deeper, like shadows into a grove.

Beyond the resplendent gates rose a palace vast enough to blot the sky, halls layered like a maze.

It was more complex than the streets outside Solitary Shadow City; Tangxue had underestimated the opulence, gold upon gold like stacked leaves.

She’d half expected a neat sign pointing to the underground palace.

No such luck—curse it, like a fishhook in the lip.

The sky here stayed black as ink, so time slipped by like water in a dark gutter.

“Sis… are we lost again?” Qianyue asked, curiosity tilting like a sparrow’s head.

“Sis doesn’t know. Don’t ask Sis.” Her reply landed like a flat stone.

The palace of Solitary Shadow City sits halfway up the mountain, sprawling like a stone forest.

Buildings tower everywhere, palaces brushing thirty meters, their ridges clawing for advantage like talons on a cliff.

Walking here made Tangxue dizzy, the world spinning like a lantern wheel.

No wonder those two didn’t report right away—in a maze this vast, an intruder slips like rain through bamboo.

“If only someone would lead us straight to the underground palace…” Her wish drifted like a paper boat.