Hun Yao woke up when the sky was still dark, with only the sound of night birds and distant rumbling coming from outside. Cold sweat clung to his neck even though his body was warm under the blanket. He sat up slowly, then crossed his legs on the wooden floor. His eyes closed.
With steady breaths, he began meditating.
The Qi inside his body moved slowly, following the rhythm of his heartbeat. He guided its flow through the meridians damaged from the previous battle. The injury on his shoulder began to feel lighter, and his mind calmed.
After an hour, he opened his eyes.
The sky had turned pale blue.
Without bringing much, he left the inn. The morning air of Xiao City was still cold and fresh. The streets weren't crowded yet, but small food stalls were opening. Lanterns were being replaced, and the smell of hot porridge drifted from the narrow alleys.
Hun Yao walked through the city streets, passing cramped lanes, herbal shops, an old talisman seller, and a tea stall just lighting its charcoal. He searched for fresh air, calmness… or perhaps answers.
But his steps halted when he saw a small child sitting by the roadside, wearing ragged clothes. His tiny hands held a cracked bowl, stretched out to passing pedestrians.
His face… familiar.
"…You?" Hun Yao approached. "The child from before, the one I helped in the alley?"
The boy turned quickly, his eyes widening. "Big brother! Big brother savior!"
Hun Yao knelt down. "What are you doing here? Didn't I give you silver? Why are you still begging?"
The child nodded weakly. "But the silver was taken by the alley guards… I don't know where my home is… and I'm hungry."
Hun Yao's eyes sharpened, though he restrained his emotion. He touched the boy's head. "What's your name?"
"Xiao Cao," he answered softly. "My name used to just be Cao, but my master gave me the surname Xiao because I was found in this country."
"Xiao…" Hun Yao paused.
The surname of this nation's royal bloodline. Coincidence?
"…Alright. Come with me."
Hun Yao took Xiao Cao's small hand and led him along the main streets. As morning grew brighter, Xiao City became livelier. They reached the city center… and from afar, the majestic Tian Xiao Palace rose like a mountain.
Its white towers gleamed, crowned with triple-layered roofs of pure gold curving like the heavens. Tall pillars at the palace gate were carved with dragons and phoenixes, and the white jade walls reflected sunlight like living glass.
A fountain sprayed softly, guarded by four giant black stone lions as tall as two grown men. Palace guards stood firm, wearing silver-blue armor that shimmered like the sky.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Hun Yao murmured.
Xiao Cao could only nod in awe, eyes wide.
They walked through the marketplace outside the palace courtyard. Hun Yao bought warm sesame cakes, two sticks of honeyed chicken, and a bowl of fragrant red-fish soup. He handed them to Xiao Cao.
"Eat as much as you can," Hun Yao said, watching the boy devour the food hungrily yet politely.
But when Xiao Cao lifted his head and smiled, Hun Yao saw it clearly—just for a moment… a tiny lotus-shaped mark beneath his left ear.
Hun Yao froze. He whispered, "Lotus Xiao… a royal bloodline emblem."
After they finished eating, they headed back. Rain suddenly poured down—heavy, fierce, carrying the scent of earth and dust.
As they passed a narrow alley near the night market, now nearly empty, Hun Yao felt an unusual chill. He turned.
The alley, usually quiet, was now swallowed in unnatural darkness. From within that darkness, something emerged.
The creature stood two meters tall. Its body still resembled a human, but its grayish skin was blistered in places. Its eyes bulged, glowing red, and its mouth split to the ears, filled with long fangs and a black tongue. Veins like parasitic roots pulsed beneath its skin.
"A parasite monster…" Hun Yao muttered.
The creature roared—neither beast nor human, but a metallic scraping sound that sliced the air.
Xiao Cao shrieked softly, and Hun Yao immediately pulled him back.
"I don't have the jade with me… damn it." Hun Yao clenched his teeth.
The monster lunged.
Hun Yao grabbed Xiao Cao and leapt aside, dodging the claws that smashed through a wooden cart. He released two Qi strikes toward its neck… but they did nothing. The parasite moved too fast, its strength beyond an ordinary human.
Hun Yao fought while keeping Xiao Cao behind him. He kicked hard, snapping the monster's arm, but the limb regenerated instantly… sprouting new vein-like tendrils that wriggled like insect legs.
"Deep breaths… stay calm…"
But blood trickled down his temple. His breath was heavy. He couldn't hold much longer.
The monster swung, slamming into the wall. Cracks spread.
Xiao Cao grabbed Hun Yao's back, trembling. "Big brother… don't die…"
"I won't." Hun Yao shielded the boy and ran.
With what strength he had left, he dashed through the narrow alley, the rain covering the trail of blood and tears. Behind him, the clawing sounds and monstrous screeches echoed through the night.
Hun Yao pushed open a rotting wooden door with his injured shoulder. The narrow alley behind the charcoal shop was always deserted, and beyond this old door lay his secret hideout… a place only he knew. The sky outside was still gray. The rain didn't stop; it grew heavier, drumming against the tiles like war drums.
He lay down on the bamboo mat, cold and half-soaked. Xiao Cao slept in the corner, wrapped in an old blanket. His breathing was steady, but his hands still trembled even in sleep. Hun Yao watched him briefly, then sat cross-legged, tension filling his body.
The pain hadn't subsided. His Qi was torn, obstructed.
But worse… was his mind.
"That monster… how could it appear inside Xiao Country?"
His thoughts swirled like a whirlpool.
"Xiao Country has spiritual defense systems. Jade wardens, Qi radars, micro-dimension detectors… maintained since the Fourth Sky Emperor's era. Something like that shouldn't get through."
He lowered his head, eyes empty yet mind sharp. Information flashed:
– The monster's skin was blackened and cracked, showing contaminated Qi residue.
– Its fast regeneration wasn't magic but biological—like a creature engineered through Qi manipulation.
– It didn't react to normal spells. It tracked… as if with a singular mission.
– And the sigil on its shoulder bone resembled that of a forbidden sect from the Lower Realm.
"Could this be… an experiment from a foreign nation?" he whispered. "Or worse… an experiment from inside the palace?"
He rubbed his face, staring at the wall. The cold seeped into his skin.
If that were true… if the supposedly safest nation had been infiltrated by such things, then something far greater was moving in the shadows.
That monster wasn't just an attack. It was a message.
A warning that the fortress had already cracked.
And what unsettled him more—
"Why did it appear the moment I didn't carry the jade?"
Was the monster after him?
Or… was the jade suppressing something far darker?
"If the monster appeared when the jade wasn't with me… then could the jade be a neutralizer? A seal?"
He gritted his teeth. Anger and suspicion tangled in his mind.
"I've gone too long without understanding that artifact… But if they're chasing it, this isn't coincidence. This might've begun the moment I touched that jade three years ago."
The rain raged outside. Thunder rolled from the eastern mountains.
Xiao Cao stirred. Hun Yao turned. The boy curled up, his face still pale.
"And that child… the lotus mark."
He stroked his chin.
"If he's truly of royal blood, and the monster appeared right after I helped him… could they be hunting him too?"
Or worse…
could the child be the key?
Hun Yao exhaled slowly, leaning back against the cold wall. His shoulder throbbed, but the pain wasn't only physical.
His trust… was beginning to crack.
Xiao Country—the safest, strongest, cleanest—was hiding corpses behind its palace walls.
"I have to go back to the palace."
Whether as enemy, observer, or infiltrator.
But before that, he had to return to the inn. Retrieve the jade.
And question that drunken old man… who somehow replaced the receptionist without a trace.
Because in the middle of this rising storm, every clue might not just be a guide—
but a warning.