"There's someone actually here…"

Li Mei almost whispered the words aloud, her breath catching in genuine disbelief. Her All-Seeing Eyes—the very same eyes that could pierce illusions, see fate threads, and even detect hidden entities—had not noticed the girl until she stepped out into the open.

No creature.

No demon.

Not even a cultivator.

Nothing should have been able to hide from her.

Yet this blindfolded girl… to Li Mei's senses, she simply did not exist.

Her heart tightened. How is this possible?

Before she could make sense of it, the girl's expression shifted. Her delicate brows—thin and sharp like carved jade—drew together into the smallest frown.

"Wait…" she whispered, confusion trembling in her voice. "You're not my brother… but you… you feel like him. Why do you feel like him?"

Her pale lips quivered as she took several slow steps back, retreating as unease spread across her face.

She can't see us. Her eyes are covered… and yet she knows we're not who she expected.

The thought unsettled both disciples of the Phoenix and Dragon Dojo.

Perhaps it was her fragile beauty—or perhaps something instinctive stirred inside him—but Lin Huang stepped forward half a pace and spoke gently, voice low and calming:

"Young lady, we mean you no harm. There is no need to be afraid."

The effect was immediate.

The tension in her shoulders loosened. Her trembling stopped. The air around her—subtle and hard to perceive—settled.

Li Mei blinked, stunned.

Her senior brother, who was usually colder than winter steel, calming someone down?

No… comforting someone? With actual warmth?

She stared at Lin Huang as if he had grown a second head.

Meanwhile, the girl—Zhao Yunfei—hesitated before asking again, more urgently this time:

"Then who are you? And where is my brother?"

Her voice cracked on the last word.

Her anxiety felt real, raw, and painfully human.

Lin Huang glanced briefly at Li Mei, organizing his thoughts, then straightened and clasped his hands in a polite bow—even though Zhao Yunfei's eyes were covered.

Respect mattered, especially to those who carried sorrow in their voice.

"You may call me Lin Huang," he said calmly. "And this cheerful girl beside me is my junior sister, Li Mei. We are disciples of the Phoenix and Dragon Dojo."

A faint breeze passed between them, sweeping dust off the abandoned village path.

Zhao Yunfei's lips parted slightly. The name meant nothing to her, but Lin Huang's tone—firm, respectful, and steady—pulled her nerves back from the edge.

After a brief pause, Lin Huang added softly:

"As for your brother… we have no idea where he is."

"Disciples of the Phoenix and Dragon Dojo…"

Zhao Yunfei's soft voice trembled as she repeated Lin Huang's words, her brows knitting beneath the blindfold. The confusion on her face was delicate—almost childlike. But the next moment, her expression shifted, her attention snapping back to the thought that plagued her most.

"My brother should already be home by now…" she whispered, fingers unconsciously tightening around the fabric of her robe. "My heart is starting to feel restless. I—I hope he's okay…"

Her trembling tone lingered in the air like a cold breeze.

Li Mei quietly followed Zhao Yunfei's gaze toward the empty village—dropped baskets, overturned stools, shoes scattered in the mud, half-finished meals rotting in doorways. A village evacuated in panic… and a blindfolded girl standing alone in the middle of it all.

A suspicion crept into Li Mei's mind.

Could it be…?

Maybe Zhao Yunfei truly had no sense of the demonic aura looming in the distance.

Maybe, in the chaos, her brother had fled for his life—

and abandoned her.

Lin Huang's expression subtly shifted. He didn't need divine sense to guess what Li Mei was thinking. The same conclusion had already lodged itself uncomfortably in his chest.

He looked at the girl—at her fragile posture, at the way she clung to hope like it was the only thing keeping her standing—and felt the words rise to his throat:

Your brother might never return.

But when he glanced at her blindfolded face—pale, nervous, and trembling—he swallowed the words back down.

Instead, he exhaled a long sigh and spoke softly:

"Young lady… you might already know this, but demons are running rampant in this area. It's possible your brother was taken. Kidnapped by them."

Zhao Yunfei stiffened. Her face went ghost-white beneath the blindfold, and she swayed slightly as if the world tilted beneath her feet.

"Demon attack…" she murmured.

"I heard the rumors… but I didn't think it would reach here so fast."

Then something inside her shifted.

Her pale throat bobbed.

Her fists tightly clenched.

And an almost fierce determination ignited beneath her fragile exterior.

"No. I can't just stand here."

Her voice strengthened, trembling yet resolute.

"I have to find my brother. No matter what."

Before either of them could react, Zhao Yunfei turned and dashed toward the lakeside path, her slender figure disappearing rapidly between the abandoned huts.

"Wait—!" Li Mei instinctively called out, but the girl was already gone, swallowed by the shadows of the forest trail.

Lin Huang's jaw tensed. He wanted to tell her it was pointless, that it as no simple demons kidnapping… but the words felt too cruel to speak aloud, especially to someone who clung so desperately to hope.

So he simply exhaled and muttered under his breath:

"She won't believe it. Not until she sees the truth herself."

His gaze remained fixed on the direction Zhao Yunfei had run—the path leading straight toward the lake.

Toward the place where her brother might have worked.

Li Mei and Lin Huang exchanged a brief glance—one filled with shared tension, urgency, and unspoken understanding. After a moment, Lin Huang exhaled, the sound carrying a hint of helplessness.

"Alright, junior sister…" he said quietly. "Tell me more about this flame. The more we know, the faster we can find it—and the sooner we can leave before the demons arrive."

His voice was calm, but the underlying urgency was clear.

He wanted to believe they could be quick, efficient, and lucky.

But deep inside he knew the truth—

Nothing involving a Heaven-and-Earth treasure ever went smoothly.

Still, they had to try.

Li Mei nodded gently and began walking toward the lake. Step by step, the crystal-blue surface reflected in her pupils until it seemed—just for a moment—as if she held the sky inside her gaze.

"You've probably heard of the alchemical saint… Nine-Petaled Lotus," she began softly.

Lin Huang nodded immediately.

Who hadn't heard that name?

When he was a child, his mother used to tell him tales of that mysterious alchemist—how he traveled the world curing plagues, refining miracles, and challenging the heavens with nothing but a cauldron and a flame. He was practically a myth, a household legend.

Li Mei continued, her tone hushed with reverence.

"According to ancient records, to repay the Seven Cloud Convergence World for nurturing him, the alchemical saint left behind several of his most valuable creations. He scattered them across all seven continents."

Her eyes lifted toward the shimmering lake surface, the faintest tremble running through her fingers.

"And one of those treasures—a world-famous gem of the alchemical path—the Nine-Petaled Soul Calming Divine Flame… is rumored to slumber beneath this lake."

Lin Huang's breath hitched ever so slightly.

A legendary flame… beneath their feet.

Badum. Badum. Badum.

Li Mei's heartbeat quickened in her chest.

She couldn't help it.

Even her breathing felt different—sharper, deeper, heavier.

In her past life, she had learned of this flame too late—far too late.

By the time she reached this lake, someone else had already taken it.

Her destiny had shifted irreversibly, and she had carried that regret for centuries.

But now?

Now she was here early.

Prepared.

Determined.

This time…

this time she would not miss it.

With this flame, her Foundation would not just be solid—it would be unshakeable.

Her future path would blaze like a divine inferno, and no one—not fate, not demons, not even the heavens themselves—would stop her.

Li Mei's eyes sharpened with fierce resolve.

"This time," she whispered, half to herself, half to the world,

"I will obtain it. No matter what."

..

"In this lake!"

Lin Huang's eyes widened instinctively, his body tensing as if struck by lightning.

He didn't question Li Mei's words.

He didn't ask how she knew, neither did He ask why she knew of such precious treasure location.

He didn't even ask if she was certain.

Because ever since he had become her senior brother, he had felt something uncanny about her—a depth, an ancient heaviness.

Sometimes, speaking to Li Mei felt as if he were conversing not with a young girl… but with an old monster who had lived far too long.

Her gaze was young, but her soul felt ancient.

Those two contradictions inside her made him uneasy—yet strangely reassured.

So he simply nodded and followed.

While his thoughts churned, Li Mei had already stepped ahead, her figure moving toward the same direction Zhao Yunfei had disappeared moments ago.

Her slender silhouette grew smaller, framed against the eerie stillness of the abandoned village and the shimmering lake beyond. Without turning back, she walked as though drawn by an invisible thread.

Lin Huang clenched his jaw and followed her without hesitation.

…

High in the shadows of the ancient forest canopy, Wang Chen watched the scene unfold, hidden beneath layers of concealment formations and the darkness of swaying branches.

He watched his disciples walk side-by-side—Lin Huang instinctively shielding Li Mei from danger, and Li Mei leading the way with quiet certainty.

A strange, complicated emotion welled in Wang Chen's chest.

Pride.

Warmth.

…and perhaps a touch of something else.

Especially when he saw how gently Lin Huang had treated that blind girl earlier. As if she were a fragile porcelain doll he felt compelled to protect.

A small smile tugged at Wang Chen's lips.

"They're growing well…"

But the warm feeling didn't linger.

His expression hardened, shifting from soft contemplation to sharpened vigilance as he lifted his gaze upward.

His senses reached into the air above—but he couldn't pinpoint Rong Lua's exact location. The only reason he knew the Nascent Soul expert was still around was because Doomclock's faint aura tugged at the edge of his awareness like a distant ticking heartbeat.

"He's somewhere above…" Wang Chen muttered, eyes narrowing.

Even so, he couldn't relax.

Just as he was about to shift position, the wind changed.

A suffocating pulse spread across the lake—like the very air had suddenly frozen.

The sunlight dimmed.

The sky, moments ago a serene blue, turned a sickly dark grey.

A violent ripple of qi tore across the treetops.

Wang Chen's pupils shrank.

"This…" he whispered.

Then the aura arrived.

Frighteningly Fast.

Chillingly Cold.

Inhumanley Vicious.

A pressure that felt like death itself tearing through the heavens.

His heart clenched as the realization hit him—

"A demon."

A genuine one.

Not the Abyssal illusions from the tower.

Not the lesser creatures stalking the continent.

A real demon from the Abyssal race.

Approaching the lake.

Approaching his disciples.

The wind screamed through the forest as Wang Chen straightened, the full weight of the situation crashing down on him.

"This is bad…"

Because the thing flying toward the lake—was far stronger than it should be.

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