"So... Qianya, are you saying Xuewei’s mother might use Xuewei to climb out of Hell?" Her voice thinned like frost on glass.

"Impossible." Qianya cut it off like a blade through ice. "Even top-tier Demon Gods can’t crack the seal. Otherwise Vecna wouldn’t lower its crown to bait mortals for help."

"I’m worried about something else." Her calm was a winter pond. "Once I undo the seal, Xuewei’s mother might use her like a key at the door."

"Qianya, what did you just say...?" Her heart fluttered like a startled sparrow.

"I’ll undo the seal again soon." Qianya’s tone lay flat as still water.

"Why...?" Her breath misted like a small cloud.

"I said it before. I’m leaving this world, and to step out, I must lift the Absolute Zero restriction like a lid of ice." Qianya’s gaze was steady as the moon. "Once that’s released, the seal here goes too. Vecna will pounce like a starving wolf on snow."

"So you came with me to meet Hualuo Jingqing to discuss this?" Her thoughts flickered like lantern light.

"More or less. I started planning long ago," Qianya said softly, like weaving a net before a storm. "The seal on the Duskmoon Empire’s border with the Demon Clan relies on the Law of Time."

"It’s the loosest one, with the timeline fraying like worn threads. You might meet people from other lines, like mirrors in fog."

Tangxue suddenly remembered the look-alike she’d met near the Demon lands, a reflection rippling on dark water.

"Not long ago, I went to see Jiuqi," Qianya said, voice like a quiet bell. "I taught her how to draw on the seal’s power. I’ll send my people to suppress that site alongside the Demon Clan, like driving stakes into shifting sand."

"Under our feet, the Forest Capital’s seal holds the Law of Space," she went on, as the World Tree’s veins hummed like green thunder. "It links the whole world because of that power. With that old fossil Hualuo Jingqing, I’m not worried."

"The tricky one is the Law of Force beneath the Radiant Empire’s imperial capital," she added, words falling like pebbles into a deep well. "The three seals work as one body; each is vital."

"The Law of Force is easiest to grasp yet hardest to wield," she said, palm turning like a wheel. "It can be mana, brute strength, even willpower or telekinesis. The world turns on force like a millstone, but few touch its core."

"Bai Zhi may not be able to draw much from that seal," she said, like a cloud dimming the sun. "Once it’s undone, the Radiant Empire stands in the fiercest wind."

"Should we send the Ice Dragons to hold it?" The thought rose like a wall of blizzard.

"It’s a good choice, but not enough," Qianya sighed, a candle against a wildfire.

"Qianya... do you already have a plan?" Her eyes searched like lanterns on a river.

"No." Qianya rolled her eyes, a flick of breeze through bamboo. "That’s why I came to you, to toss a pebble into your pond."

"But I don’t know much about the Hell Abyss’s strength..." Her doubt felt like a fogbank over the sea.

"Ah, I’m not exactly sure either," Qianya muttered, rubbing her brow like easing a knot in wood. "But there’s a range."

"Using Bai Zhi as a yardstick, under the seal’s pressure they can muster power equal to ten thousand Bai Zhi," she said, a mountain of torches in her words.

"...?" Tangxue froze, then jolted like thunder under her ribs. "Are you serious!"

"One Bai Zhi could burn the world flat like a prairie fire. What can ten thousand do...?" Ash drifted in her mind like snow.

"Conservative," Qianya said, calm as a winter lake. "It’s probably worse."

"Even if we gathered every top expert, we might not get the strength of ten thousand Bai Zhi," Tangxue murmured, like counting stars in a jar.

"No. Back then, the God of Heart Realm drove more than nine thousand at Bai Zhi’s level into the sea to shield herself," Qianya said lightly, a tide of fire herded into the deep.

"..."

"Sorry. I spoke out of turn." Qianya’s gaze slid aside; she shrank a little like a cat in rain.

"It’s okay." Tangxue shook her head, a reed in a breeze. "I think I get their scale now. But Qianya, are you sure that’s all they’ve got?"

"Of course. The seal isn’t made of tofu," Qianya smiled, a sliver of sun through cloud. "Under threefold suppression, they can only use flesh-and-blood power."

"Remember the God of Heart Realm you crossed blades with?" Her eyes flashed like steel. "She’s top-tier among gods, though not me or Yueyu."

"But during your fight, she couldn’t even bring out a thousandth of her strength," Qianya said, like a bell muffled in snow.

"Alright, alright! I know I’m weak..." Tangxue lowered her head, wilted grass after frost.

"No, you’re strong, Tangxue..." Qianya hurried to comfort her, like a warm hand around cold fingers. "You’ve earned the Sea God’s Trident’s recognition."

"That old thing herself took ages to awaken her Divine Artifact," Qianya added, like tides carving rock.

"??"

"I mean the Sea God, Yueyu’s older sister," Qianya clarified, a moonbeam through cloud.

"I think... I met her once," Tangxue murmured, like dreaming of waves.

"Maybe. Her blood runs in you now," Qianya smiled, a warm current beneath ice.

Qianya and Tangxue weren’t the same. Qianya had inherited Yueyu’s power, but not her blood; Yueyu’s mortal vessel had long scattered like smoke. The Qianya now was a new star in the night.

Tangxue’s body hadn’t changed. She bore the Merfolk royal blood, and thus bore Dawn Sugar Snow’s line like a river carrying its source.

"The Sea God’s Trident holds at least a third of Dawn Sugar Snow’s power," Qianya said, a key heavy as the sea. "If you wield it perfectly, you might touch the threshold of top gods."

"Hehe. We can’t face the Demon God Vecna with one blade alone," she teased, eyes laughing like ripples. "You’ve been my pick from the start."

"Eh? I don’t need to guard the seals?" Tangxue blinked, like a sentry at a gatehouse.

"Of course not. To undo the seals, we must pin down Vecna, the head serpent," Qianya said, face firm as stone. "If we don’t crush it, it’ll surge back like a storm."

"I see..." Her mood sank like clouds before rain.

"Then our usable forces are few," Tangxue counted softly, beads on a string. "Elf Clan, Demon Clan, Radiant Empire, Beastkin, the Ice Dragons, Dreamsound and Yaya should count too..."

"And the Blood Clan," Qianya added with a bitter smile, a cracked mirror. "I’ve got a few capable generals, though they won’t move the mountain."

"Looks like I’m a failed emperor. Outside of me, my nation has few sharp blades," she said, like a crestfallen banner.

"But I’ve heard the Blood Clan’s people live well," Tangxue said, lamps warm in her eyes. "That’s thanks to you."

"Oh? They live well?" Qianya’s gaze turned complicated, like wind over reeds. She blinked, then shifted the topic with a smile bright as dawn. "Tangxue, I’ll leave the allocations to you."

"Rest for a few days. I’ve got to speak with those who might become our allies, like stringing kites for wind."

"Remember to save me a breakfast in the morning!"

"Mm... Qianya."

Tangxue smiled her farewell, and Qianya’s figure dissolved into motes of light in midair, a whoosh like fireflies scattering.

Space no longer chained Qianya. If she wished, she could step to any corner of the world like wind through reeds.

"I’ve been out long enough. Time to rest," Tangxue sighed, a leaf settling.

She patted her back, stretched with a soft hum like a cat, then flipped backward and dropped into her room like a swallow under the eaves.

"It’s midnight already."