The next morning came like thin light over frost.

Xuewei, still drowsy, drifted after Tangxue toward the table; the headcount hit her like a ripple on a still pond.

“Qianya didn’t come? She’s usually the dawn bird.”

“You know her well, Xuewei~” Tangxue grinned like a sliver of sun. “She said she had something important and asked me to keep her breakfast warm.”

“Oh.” Xuewei clicked her tongue, a spark like flint. “If she says that, storm clouds are brewing.”

“Huh??” Tangxue blinked, eyes popping like startled sparrows.

The others asked why Qianya left, then loosened their breath like bellows when told she’d be back soon.

Looked like mere ripples, not a tide.

When Qianya returned, it was past nine; her face was calm as a quiet lake, nothing disturbed. She sat, smiling like soft dawn, and ate the breakfast Tangxue saved.

Everyone had heard whispers clinging like mist about Qianya; her place among them was fogged, but her bond with Tangxue ran close like twin vines.

“Qianya, what’d you do this morning?” Xuewei slid closer, voice soft as a cat’s pad.

“You’re really curious, Xuewei~? Listen, and the net will pull you in.” Qianya’s grin flashed like a fox in reeds.

“You’d pull me in even if I don’t listen.” Xuewei’s look cooled like a shaded moon.

“You do get it~ You can’t dodge this.” Qianya nodded, a pebble dropping in water. “Tangxue, call everyone. I’ve got heavy news.”

“Mm.” Tangxue’s nod was light as snow. Minutes later, they gathered in the hall like birds to a branch.

Qianya looked around, cleared her throat like a bell, and laid out last night’s tale with Tangxue like cards on a table.

“That’s it. I need your help—ropes around a storm.”

“Uh?” Yaya scratched her head, fingers combing through grass. “You mean you’ll remove the ice-layer restriction?”

“Mm.” Qianya nodded, steady as stone. “Absolute zero, before it fully forms, is something I can undo. Even fully formed, if I’m untouched, I can unseal it.”

“The core is energy plunder. I can pour back what I took, like returning a stolen tide, and break the seal.”

“But I can’t wield this Authority like Yueyu. Once I undo it, the frost locking the Hell Abyss melts too. So I’ll need your hands at the gate.”

“And then, you and Tangxue will fight the demon god Vecna?” someone asked, a voice like wind over iron.

“Yes. It’s part of the plan.” Qianya’s nod was an anchor. “Tangxue must go; Vecna planted a seed in her body, a thorn buried deep.”

Dreamsound: “…”

“Right, I forgot to say it clear: gods don’t die. The evil ones suppressed in the Hell Abyss are mostly without bodies. Because Vecna seeded Tangxue, it can’t ride anyone else.”

“I’ll enter Tangxue’s mindscape, dive like a moon into black water, and together we’ll pin Vecna under chains.”

By the end, heat flared under Qianya’s calm, anger like iron from the forge.

A coward who plays in shadows dares call himself a god?

“Vecna… Vecna!?” Hualuo Jingqing’s face paled like petals in frost. “Qianya, are you sure it’s the one that sparked the War of the Gods?”

“Yes. Any problem?” Qianya’s gaze was winter-clear.

“That demon… do you truly have the measure to win?” Hualuo Jingqing’s eyes held her like a drawn bow.

“If you mean annihilate it, I don’t.” Qianya’s eyes narrowed, blades of night. “I get your worry, Hualuo Jingqing.”

“Vecna takes at least three God-King-tier powers to beat. With Tangxue’s home ground and me, we count as two.”

“But it can’t beat us. God-King battles are storms of will, not quick kills. With Tangxue beside me, I won’t lose.”

“…I’m going too.” Xuewei stood, calm as a blade catching dawn.

“Xuewei…?”

“The battlefield is Tangxue’s mindscape, right? In a mindscape, I can help—like a sailor in dream-tides.”

Qianya drew a deep breath, gravity settling like dusk. “Are you sure? Shadows born in the mind can fall across daylight.”

“Of course.” Xuewei nodded, snow-quiet.

“Alright.”

“I’ll go too!” Dreamsound stood, her gaze two bright stars.

“Miss Dreamsound… Xuewei can grow without limit in dreams because of her nature, and Tangxue can too in her own mind.”

“God-King power breaks beyond bounds; only infinity can meet it. Do you know why we need three God-Kings to pin Vecna?”

“One only deadlocks it, two gain the wind, three free a hand to seal.”

“Ordinary folk aside, even gods below God-King fall like reeds before Vecna. And beyond Vecna, we must guard the seals.”

“You are vital at the gate. If you move with us, the lock will fail.”

“I see…” Dreamsound didn’t push; she sat, disappointment dimming like a waning moon.

“I meant to tell you in a few days… but earlier is cleaner. Hell’s ghouls gnaw at their cage like rats; leave them, and the black tide will rise again.”

“So I’m asking—hold the seals for us, keep the dam until we finish with Vecna.”

“Whew, we’ll borrow the seal’s power to fight? Wow! That means I get to try a god’s mantle!”

“…Haven’t you been borrowing the World Tree’s power already?” Qianya glanced at Hualuo Jingqing, a touch of disdain like cold rain.

“That’s different!” Hualuo Jingqing protested, earnest as a straight trunk. “I’ve never used the World Tree’s power in battle, and what it grants can’t be swung like a sword!”

“It’s because you don’t know how, isn’t it?” Qianya sighed, wind through reeds. “With what we have, we can’t beat Hell’s fiends.”

“So everyone who joins must learn to use the divine mana within the seal. I’ll teach you one by one, light to light.”

“Relax. If we can end those monsters for good, I’m all in!” someone said, sparks in eyes.

“I’ll help,” another added, steady as a river stone.

“Hmph. If this touches Tangxue’s safety, I have to step in,” someone else cut in, a flare like a torch.

Even Yaya, usually loose as a lazy cloud, burned with vigor like a freshly stoked fire.

After the meeting, Qianya moved fast, a swift wind over hills. Hualuo Jingqing and Flora Eina rallied elves who could fight, roots of a host spreading.

They started building defenses around the seals, ramparts like woven branches.

All three seals were vital—three locks on one gate. Only together could they shear the dead’s strength.

So Qianya still had to fly to the other two sites and teach more hands to draw the seal’s power, like passing flame from torch to torch.