Han Yu's heart pounded, but his mind was clear.
Then ca the wisps.
They drifted toward him, invisible to anyone else, but unmistakable to his Eight Emotions perception.
An orange wisp brushed past his senses first. Anticipation. Controlled, restrained, but unmistakably present.
Next ca several grey wisps, tangled and faintly unstable. Surprise mixed with apprehension.
And finally, trailing behind them all like the final note of a chord, a single yellow wisp floated forward.
Joy.
Not mockery. Not cruelty.
Interest.
Han Yu's tension eased, just a fraction.
There was no mistaking it now.
He lowered himself fully, his knee touching the frost-coated stone, his hands cupped above his head in a formal salute.
"This disciple greets the Second Kidney Peak's Head," Han Yu said clearly, his voice steady despite the cold biting at his lips.
For a few heartbeats, there was silence.
Then, a low sound escaped the man's throat.
"Hm."
The sound was quiet, almost casual, yet it echoed through the warehouse as if the walls themselves were listening.
Han Yu did not move.
He knew better.
The man remained facing the frozen conveyor belt, his hands clasped behind his back. He spoke without turning around.
"I have been watching you for a while now, Ju Fan," the Peak Head said. His voice was deep, calm, and strangely unhurried. "This past week, in particular, has been… interesting."
Han Yu inclined his head slightly. "This disciple is honored to have drawn the Peak Head's attention."
The Peak Head let out a soft chuckle. It was not amused, but thoughtful.
"Honored?" he repeated. "That depends on how this conversation ends."
Han Yu remained silent.
The Peak Head continued. "You have been playing a dangerous ga. A very dangerous ga. One that could have ended with your body sinking to the bottom of the Blood River, never to be found."
Han Yu's fingers tightened imperceptibly against one another.
"But," the Peak Head added, "it was also an interesting ga."
He turned then, slowly, finally facing Han Yu.
Han Yu raised his eyes just enough to see him.
The man's face was surprisingly ordinary. Sharp features, pale skin, eyes the color of frozen steel. There was no rage there. No killing intent. Only a calm, piercing scrutiny that made Han Yu feel as though every layer of his being was being examined.
The Peak Head lifted his hand.
In it were two things.
A Spirit Wood Pulp envelope.
And a small piece of spirit jade.
The jade was dull now, its once-sealed aura completely gone. It looked like nothing more than an ordinary trinket.
Yet Han Yu knew better.
Seeing them together erased the last shred of doubt from his mind.
The letter had been found.
It had been read.
And this eting was the result.
"You were careful," the Peak Head said, his gaze never leaving Han Yu. "No nas. No direct statents. Only implications. Enough to intrigue, not enough to convict."
He closed his fingers around the jade. "This, however, was the real hook."
Han Yu bowed his head again. "This disciple would not dare deceive the Peak Head."
The Peak Head studied him for a long mont.
Then, to Han Yu's surprise, he laughed.
A low, genuine laugh that sent ripples through the frost coating the walls.
"Deceive ?" he said. "If you were deceiving , you would already be dead. One of the many corpses that feed the beasts in the Blood River."
The laughter faded, replaced by a sharp, assessing stare.
"You knew I would recognize the aura. Even diluted, even sealed, even lost. That jade carried the echo of sothing I have sought for centuries."
Han Yu felt the pressure in the warehouse subtly shift.
"You also knew," the Peak Head continued, "that I could not act openly. That I could not send disciples, nor issue orders, nor even inquire through official channels without drawing attention."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"So you forced my hand."
Han Yu inhaled slowly.
This was the mont.
He could not hesitate now.
With a smooth, deliberate motion, he reached into his spatial pouch.
The temperature in the warehouse dropped another degree as the Peak Head's gaze sharpened.
Han Yu withdrew a rectangular box, its surface covered in dense layers of sealing talismans. Even through them, the cold aura within pressed outward, making the frost on the floor crack and reform.
He placed the box gently on the frozen stone before him.
"This disciple would not dare force the Peak Head's hand without certainty," Han Yu said. "Nor would I gamble with sothing I did not possess."
His fingers moved with practiced precision.
One talisman peeled away.
Then another.
The air scread.
Bone-chilling cold exploded outward, far more intense than before. The warehouse groaned as frost thickened, ice crystals forming in the air itself.
Han Yu imdiately activated the Dancing Fla Art, crimson heat surging beneath his skin to counter the cold. Even so, his breath ca out in sharp, white plus.
The Peak Head's eyes widened, just slightly.
Han Yu opened the box.
Inside, nestled within layers of spirit silk sheets and containnt formations, was the Cold Silk Orchid.
Its petals glowed faintly blue-white, translucent as ice spun from moonlight. Cold Qi rolled off it in waves so dense they were nearly tangible, carrying with them an ancient, pristine chill that seed untouched by ti.
For the first ti since entering the warehouse, the Second Kidney Peak Head moved.
He took a single step forward.
The frost around him parted as if bowing.
Han Yu felt it then.
The flood.
Pure, unrestrained emotion.
Anticipation surged, no longer restrained. Surprise spiked, sharp and undeniable. And beneath it all, a deep, profound joy that burned brighter than anything Han Yu had felt from him before.
The Peak Head stared at the orchid, his composure finally cracking.
"So," he said quietly, reverently. "It truly exists."
Han Yu closed the box again, sealing it swiftly before the aura could run rampant.
Then he lowered his head.
"This disciple offers it to the Peak Head," Han Yu said. "In exchange for a conversation."
The warehouse fell silent.
Frost creaked.
Ice settled.
And for a long mont, the Second Kidney Peak Head said nothing at all.
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