"Why... are you laughing?"
Ning Xue’s smile died mid-smirk, stiffening into a twitch.
Yue snorted beside her, lips hiding a grin like a noble hiding a hickey. She whispered as she walked past, voice soft as silk but soaked in shade:
"You’re the first to want him dead. You’re just the cutest."
Gone... Like a ghost in high heels.
Wang Xiao cracked a grin too.
Of course.
He had daughters who lit cities on fire, daughters who poisoned soup out of boredom, daughters who’d stabbed each other over him.
But one trying to murder him?
Now that was new.
"Wipe that smile," Ning Xue snapped, cheeks puffed like dumplings monts from explosion. "Or I’ll carve it into your skull."
She rose, goddess posture, murder in her pupils.
Wang Xiao didn’t leave.
"Go ahead. Carve away." He tapped his forehead. "Plenty of space, be artistic."
No answer, just glare.
So he grabbed her hand, soft, hesitant, resisting.
Slap!
He patted her palm like a bored teacher dealing with a failing student.
She flinched.
"Kill--now zone. Limited-ti offer. Co on, Chop-chop."
He flicked his watch.
"Five minutes—only. My schedule’s tight, I can’t sit here waiting all day for your first murder attempt."
Ning Xue blinked.
Then scowled.
Is this man serious?!
Her eyes darted. Corners, floor, ceiling, trap glyphs? No.... Needles? No, Snipers? Sadly no.
Just him.
Sitting there like a devil waiting for a hell appointnt.
She hated this.
This... non-antagonistic victim.
Where’s the screaming? The begging? At least so groveling, dammit!
Her monologue went crazy:
Do I stab him in the neck? Push him out the aircraft? Pull a distraction then gouge his eyes...?
She sighed.
"Can you stop looking at like I’m... failing a test?"
Wang Xiao tilted his head.
"Well, you’re failing. And you’re cute. So, yes."
Thud.
Her pride hit the floor harder than her feets.
She straightened, shoulders tense, trying to channel "goddess" instead of "confused duck in a cockpit."
Five silent minutes.
She turned around, unlatching the door with an irritated clack, and whoosh—she was gone.
Floating through clouds like an exorcised pale doll.
Wind licked her feets, dress fluttering. Sowhere over Oceania, she looked down.
In her hand?
A phone.
"..."
mory flickered.
"When you’re serious about killing , use that to find ."
His voice.
His face.
His goddamn casual delivery, like handing her a loyalty card for revenge.
She hadn’t even noticed. Just took it.
Now here she was.
Clutching the murder hotline like it was her boyfriend’s hoodie post-breakup.
Her dress fluttered again. Her eyes were cold. Her dignity?
Back in the aircraft, curled up under Wang Xiao’s feets.
"I’m not running," she muttered.
"I’m just... Reconsidering. Temporarily."
Totally not crying.
"Screee! Screee!"
The skies above the Pacific roared with wind and suppressed sobbing. Ning Xue zood forward like a runaway soul, cloak fluttering behind her like dignity mid-divorce.
Below, southern Australia, or what the world now called the Xuan Dynasty’s core land, ca into view.
But it wasn’t red dirt and kangaroo anymore.
It was Amazon’s seductive cousin, lush and steamy.
Erald forests covered with vines, trees tall enough to sha skyscrapers, air humid enough to curl straight hair and unseal trauma.
She slowed.
Just as a three-ter-long crow blasted into her periphery, black feathers glinting sharp, wings loud like thunder mixed with cursing.
"Screeeee!"
The beast’s eyes locked onto hers.
"Lady Vel—"
It didn’t finish, just shot past her with a dramatic screech, flapping wildly as if yelling ’Get your sorry ass over here!’
Ning Xue blinked, face like soone who hadn’t won a single argunt in five days.
"...Again?" she muttered.
Still, she followed.
They landed in a garden of crimson and ghosts. Bottlebrush blooms painted the path red like dripping brushes mid-war.
Tiny nectar birds fluttered around them, pecking and judging.
The air slled of damp earth and old rituals.
Massive Blue Quandong trees arched overhead, like ancient giants watching silently.
In the center stood a Paifang, red, ornate, regal, marking the threshold of a temple shrine. Beyond it, an aged three-story pagoda, quiet and proud, like an old noblewoman sipping tea after a massacre.
This was it.
The rumored heart of the Xuan Dynasty.
The throne of the Human Empress.
No guards.
No banners.
Just forest for miles, as if civilization respected this place too much to breathe near it.
The crow perched atop the Paifang, silent now, wings folded like it had just filed a report.
Ning Xue landed softly, bare feet kissing cold stone, damp moss, and grounding.
From flying through stormclouds to walking barefoot into haunted temples...
What’s next? A penguin in a tuxedo returning my self-respect with interest?
Ning Xue narrowed her eyes.
Perched above the crimson Paifang, the giant crow had shrunk, not much, just enough to now fit like an arrogant shoulder ornant atop a woman sitting lotus-style on a crumbling stone ledge.
She wore a single strip of black cloth.
Calling it an outfit was optimistic. It covered her like sha on a drunk god, barely covering what needed covering, and doing it with visible regret.
Intricate sigils that spiraled from slender fingertips to milky white skin of her collarbone, disappearing beneath the folds of her cloth and reerging across her legs, thighs, and waist.
Her skin was moon-pale, kissed by neither ti nor sun. Hair, long and ash-white, spilled down her back like misty smoke.
She sat unmoving, eyes cast skyward, not with longing, but with the stillness of soone who had watched ten thousand storms co and go... and grown indifferent to them all.
This was Velkhara Umbra, Guardian of Vaedros, known to mortals as Oceania, now the sacred heart of the Xuan Dynasty.
While Ning Xue bore the title of her guest and disciple, Velkhara ruled this land from the shadows, unchallenged, unbothered, and borderline antisocial.
The last of the Shadowborn, she wasn’t alive the way others were.
She simply continued.
"High Priestess of Apathy." That was Ning Xue’s private nickna for her.
The walking embodint of ’Don’t ask for anything, ever.’
Unfortunately, she was also her reluctant ntor.
Couple of months ago, Athene had dumped Ning Xue into Velkhara’s hands like an unwanted delivery box labeled ’Cursed Contents Inside.’ The result? The mysterious monarch of the Xuan Dynasty, an entity whispered about but never seen, was suddenly forced to make contact with a living human.
A violation of every ancient boundary she held dear.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, when Ning Xue stepped outside the forest, people mistook her for the mysterious ruler of the Xuan lands. No one had ever truly seen Velkhara, and Ning Xue, radiant with accidental presence and half-trained power, beca an overnight myth.
Thus, the world nad her the Destined Human Empress.
Most of her monster-slaying had just been glorified training exercises... but the world mistook them for divine rcy.
Athene was thrilled.
Velkhara?
Velkhara was one whispered prayer away from a murderous breakdown.
Her sanctuary, once sealed in silence, was slowly being surrounded. Pilgrims, nobles, cults. Even influencers. Civilization was encroaching. Her forest was becoming crowded.
The crow perched on her shoulder gave a dismissive flutter, as if reading her thoughts and agreeing with a sarcastic eye-roll.
Velkhara didn’t move. For a mont, she resembled an ancient statue, one that had decided death was boring and took up sulking instead.
Then her gaze dropped.
Her eyes locked with Ning Xue’s.
Awkward, guilty, and busted.
Velkhara’s brows arched slightly. What did this girl do now?
Without a sound, she rose.
And leapt.
Her bare feet hovered for a breath before kissing the moss-covered stone. The sigils tattooed along her skin pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat that regretted showing up.
Her voice followed, lazy and mocking:
"Where’ve you been, little cloud? Did your legs forget the way ho?
... Or were they busy... wrapped around sothing useful for once?"
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