Mei Qingxue pressed her lips together.
Shen Lanyue's gaze moved toward the repaired stones.
"That means the Qin Family will escalate."
Long Shenyu's smile did not change.
"As expected."
Ning Huang stepped forward slightly.
Her eyes were on Long Shenyin, and for a moment it seemed she intended to speak directly to her.
Long Shenyu saw Long Shenyin's brow tighten.
It was a small movement. Almost nothing. But he knew his sister too well. If Ning Huang approached this like a sect disciple questioning a killer, Long Shenyin would either ignore her completely or say something sharp enough to start an argument.
Long Shenyu spoke first.
"They sent a half-step Sky Lord, right?"
Long Shenyin gave a faint scoff.
"He called himself that."
Ning Huang's brows drew together.
"You really let her handle it?"
Long Shenyu looked at her with an innocent expression that fooled no one.
"She was bored. And she gets too annoying if I don't let her out sometimes."
Long Shenyin's hand paused on the spear shaft.
Her eyes narrowed.
"That is better than standing around like a dead-weight dual cultivator."
The courtyard went silent for half a breath.
Mei Qingxue looked down.
Shen Lanyue closed her eyes briefly.
Ning Huang's lips pressed into a line.
Long Shenyu, however, laughed.
It was not offended laughter. It was bright, shameless, and almost pleased.
"Dead weight?" He tilted his head. "Little sister, between the two of us, which one is stronger right now?"
The air changed.
Long Shenyin's eyes sharpened. Her fingers tightened around the spear. A faint pressure leaked from her body, heavy and violent, like a battlefield furnace beginning to roar.
Several miads at the far end of the courtyard went pale and nearly dropped the trays in their hands.
Mei Qingxue took one small step forward, then stopped herself.
Shen Lanyue's aura stirred.
Ning Huang's gaze sharpened.
Long Shenyu did not move.
He only smiled at Long Shenyin as though he had just asked whether she wanted tea.
For a moment, it seemed Long Shenyin might actually attack.
Then she gave a cold laugh and lifted the spear back onto her shoulder.
"Crippling you while you are still an Origin Core would be too boring."
Long Shenyu scoffed at her.
"What a thoughtful sister. I'm moved."
"Be moved farther away from me."
"You wound me."
"Not yet."
Mei Qingxue sighed softly.
Ning Huang looked between the siblings with a strange expression.
The two of them sounded as if they might tear open the courtyard at any moment, yet beneath the edge was a familiarity too deep to fake.
Shen Lanyue was already used to it.
She said calmly, "If you two destroy the inn, the Qin Family will not need to investigate us. The entire city will come here."
Long Shenyu smiled.
"Then I'll buy another inn."
Long Shenyin stood.
"Buy a graveyard. More useful."
With that, she turned and walked away, spear on her shoulder, not bothering to look back.
The maids along her path scattered like frightened birds.
Ning Huang watched her leave.
Only after Long Shenyin disappeared beyond the courtyard gate did Ning Huang's expression turn serious.
"Days have passed," she said. "The Qin Family has most likely identified me by now."
Long Shenyu looked at her.
"And?"
Her eyes narrowed faintly.
"And they may contact Heaven's Edict."
The words settled over the courtyard.
Mei Qingxue's expression changed first. She knew less about Heaven's Edict Thunder Palace than the others, but even in the Lower Domains, that name carried weight. It was not a force one mentioned casually.
Shen Lanyue's face remained calm, but her gaze grew more focused.
Long Shenyu alone looked completely relaxed.
"Would that trouble you?"
Ning Huang paused.
The answer should have been simple.
Heaven's Edict Thunder Palace was her sect. Her status there was extraordinary. If they learned she was in a Lower Domain city with a group that had offended Verdant Edge, humiliated the Qin Family, and slaughtered multiple waves of Qin experts, they would come.
Not might.
Would.
A Heaven's Edict war-heiress was not allowed to vanish into another faction's conflict without explanation. She had freedom, but that freedom existed beneath the shadow of her identity. Her name carried doctrine. Her actions could be interpreted as the movement of Heaven's Edict itself.
If the Qin Family's message reached the wrong elder, a protector might come.
If it reached the Judgment Hall, matters could become even more troublesome.
And if Heaven's Edict believed she had been coerced, insulted, or endangered, River Ridge would learn what heavenly verdict meant.
Ning Huang understood all of this.
That was why her answer did not come quickly.
"It complicates matters," she said at last.
Long Shenyu stepped closer.
The lazy smile faded slightly. Not completely, but enough that his tone softened. It became the voice he rarely used except with the women close to him, or the women he had already decided he would not allow to remain distant for long.
"Then answer honestly."
Ning Huang looked at him.
He stopped in front of her, close enough that she had to raise her eyes slightly.
"Do you want to leave before they arrive?"
Mei Qingxue and Shen Lanyue both fell silent.
Neither interrupted.
Ning Huang's fingers tightened slightly around her sleeve.
"If I leave," she said, "Heaven's Edict will ask why I stayed this long."
Long Shenyu's gaze did not shift.
"That is not what I asked."
Her expression stiffened.
He continued, voice calm.
"I did not ask what explanation would be convenient. I did not ask what your sect would think. I did not ask what the Qin Family might report." His smile returned, faint but warm. "I asked whether you want to leave."
Ning Huang looked away first.
That alone would have stunned anyone who knew her.
Ning Huang did not avoid people's eyes. She met pressure with pressure. She did not lower her gaze before elders, rivals, or enemies. Her pride was not loud, but it was deeply rooted.
Yet now, facing Long Shenyu's directness, she looked toward the courtyard wall.
For a while, she said nothing.
The morning wind moved through the tree branches. Somewhere beyond the inn, River Ridge had begun to wake. Wheels rolled along stone roads. Merchants called to early customers. A distant bell rang from the inner district.
Ning Huang heard all of it and none of it.
If she left, matters would become simpler.
Heaven's Edict would receive her report directly. The Qin Family would lose its excuse to use her name. Verdant Edge and Long Shenyu could clash without dragging her sect into it.
That was the rational answer.
But when she imagined leaving, something in her chest tightened.
It was not fear.
It was not obligation.
It was irritation at herself.
Because the reason she did not want to leave was standing in front of her with that calm, infuriating smile.
"No," she said.
The word was quiet.
Clear.
Long Shenyu's smile deepened.
Not mocking this time.
"Then stay."
Ning Huang immediately turned back.
"I did not say I was staying because of you."
"I did not say you did."
"You were thinking it."
"I was enjoying it."
Her cold expression remained in place.
Barely.
A faint color touched the tips of her ears.
Mei Qingxue lowered her head, but her lips curved.
Shen Lanyue looked away with the composure of someone pretending she had not noticed.
Ning Huang's eyes sharpened.
"You are impossible."
Long Shenyu nodded agreeably.
"I've heard that from reliable sources."
"To their credit."
"That part is new."
Before Ning Huang could respond, Shen Lanyue spoke, smoothly redirecting the moment.
"If Heaven's Edict comes, they will not be like the Qin Family. They will not send disposable probes. They will come with authority."
Ning Huang's expression steadied.
She accepted the change in topic, though the faint color at her ears did not vanish immediately.
"They will likely send a protector elder," she said. "If the message makes them believe I am in danger, someone from the Judgment Hall may come instead."
Mei Qingxue asked softly, "Is the Judgment Hall dangerous?"
Ning Huang glanced at her.
"Yes."
"The Judgment Hall handles internal discipline, external punishment, and matters involving Heaven's Edict's dignity. They do not move easily. When they do, they do not care about local explanations unless those explanations are useful."
Shen Lanyue nodded.
"A sect that calls its lightning judgment cannot afford to appear uncertain."
Ning Huang looked at her.
"Exactly."
The two women exchanged a brief look.
There was an understanding there, cool and quiet. Shen Lanyue had not grown up in Heaven's Edict, but she understood power structures
Long Shenyu stretched lazily.
"Then I'll speak with them."
Ning Huang turned sharply.
"You cannot speak to Heaven's Edict elders the way you speak to other elders."
Long Shenyu tilted his head.
"Why not?"
"Because they are Heaven's Edict elders."
"And?"
Ning Huang stared at him.
For a moment, she truly seemed unable to decide whether he was joking.
He was not.
That was the problem.
Long Shenyu's lack of fear was not the reckless bravado of a Lower Domain genius who did not know the size of the world. If it were, Ning Huang could have dismissed it. She had seen plenty of young men mistake a city's applause for heaven's recognition.
Long Shenyu was different.
When he dismissed a Sage Ruler, when he mocked a sect elder, when he spoke of Heaven's Edict as if it were merely another force on the road ahead, there was no strain in his voice. No need to convince himself. No hidden tremor.
It sounded natural.
As natural as breathing.
That made it difficult to rebuke him.
She said, more quietly, "You do not understand what Heaven's Edict represents."
Long Shenyu's smile thinned, and he stepped closer again.
"I understand all these sects that believe their greatest in the heavens."
His voice remained calm.
"But that is not the important part."
Ning Huang's throat moved slightly.
"What is?"
Long Shenyu looked directly into her eyes.
"Since you don't want to leave, none of them can force you when you're with me."
The courtyard went still.
He said it casually. Almost gently.
Then he added, even more carelessly, "Not even a mere Sage Ruler can stop me."
Mei Qingxue's eyes widened.
Shen Lanyue exhaled softly.
Ning Huang, however, did not react much to the Sage Ruler comment.
Perhaps she should have.
A normal Origin Core cultivator calling a Sage Ruler "mere" would sound insane. Even a Sky Lord would be laughed at for such arrogance. A Sage Ruler was not just a stronger cultivator. It was a being who had begun to shape power with mature law, whose aura could suppress weaker cultivators before battle even began.
But from Long Shenyu's mouth, the words did not sound forced.
Then he smiled.
"And I'll miss you too much to let you go."
That sentence struck harder than the Sage Ruler one.
Ning Huang's expression changed.
Something in her eyes softened and sharpened at the same time. The war-heiress in her recognized danger. The woman beneath that title heard sincerity.
It was absurd.
Too direct.
Too shameless.
Too much like him.
She looked away, but not fast enough.
"You are too direct."
Long Shenyu chuckled.
"With you? Always."
Before she could step back, he reached out and pulled her into his arms.
Ning Huang stiffened.
Mei Qingxue's eyes brightened.
Shen Lanyue pressed two fingers to her brow.
For a short moment, Ning Huang did not raise a fuss.
She stood there in his embrace, shoulders tense at first, then slightly less so. Her hands hovered uselessly at her sides, as though she had forgotten whether she was supposed to push him away, strike him, or pretend none of this was happening.
Long Shenyu held her with a confidence that made resistance feel strangely late.
He then lowered his head slightly and spoke near her ear.
"You know, for someone who insists she is not staying because of me, you are standing very obediently in my arms."
The moment shattered.
Ning Huang's face flushed.
"Long Shenyu."
His smile turned wicked.
"Yes?"
"Release me."
"You didn't say you disliked it."
"I said release me."
"That is different."
Her lightning aura flickered.
Not enough to hurt him.
Enough to threaten the courtyard tiles.
Mei Qingxue finally failed to hold back a small giggle.
Ning Huang's gaze snapped toward her.
Mei Qingxue immediately looked away, pretending great interest in the morning flowers.
Shen Lanyue sighed.
"You provoke her on purpose."
Long Shenyu released Ning Huang with visible reluctance.
"Of course."
Ning Huang stepped back at once, smoothing her sleeve with more force than necessary.
"You are courting death."
Long Shenyu looked delighted.
"I thought I was courting you."
Her face burned brighter.
For one full breath, even her lightning marks seemed to glow.
Then she turned sharply and walked toward the far side of the courtyard.
"Shameless."
Long Shenyu watched her go with a satisfied smile.
Mei Qingxue covered her mouth, shoulders trembling with quiet laughter.
Shen Lanyue looked at him and shook her head.
"One day, your mouth will bring down a sect before your sword does."
Long Shenyu's smile did not fade.
"Then I'll conquer that sect too."