Soft footsteps echoed over the cracked earth.
As Bai Wangyan stood still amidst the swirling petals, a shadow pierced through the mist at a speed beyond the naked eye.
The sound of a flute rang out elegant and delicate like the first morning breeze. In the same instant, an invisible wave of energy spread across the battlefield, as if the sound concealed a binding spell!
Thud!
Bai Wangyan turned his face slightly, just enough to meet the eyes of the newcomer a young man dressed entirely in white, his long hair tied high with a silver thread. A white jade flute was raised to his lips lips that, though silent, radiated with simmering emotion.
Han Xiyao the twin brother of Han Xifeng had arrived, his presence filled with murderous intent.
Though he had seen Bai Wangyan once before on the ship's deck, it was fleeting like a gust of wind. He failed to recognize Bai Wangyan as the friend of the princess he revered.
"Today, an intruder like you shall not escape!" His voice was calm, yet saturated with malice. "No matter who you are!"
Bai Wangyan gave no reply.
But in that very moment
Vwing!
The white flute shrieked again. Beams of translucent light erupted, rushing toward him like ropes of sound energy, twisting to bind him. At the same time, Han Xifeng leapt into the sky, synchronizing their attacks as if they had practiced together a thousand times.
"Mountain-Cleaving Fan!"
The glowing fan slashed down from above, creating a direct blast of energy that scorched all in its path. A two-pronged assault sound-bound paralysis and sheer destructive force converged with no opening to escape.
But Bai Wangyan...
He shifted the tip of his toe.
With a graceful twist, as if merely shifting the placement of a flower, he evaded the sound beams without so much as brushing a grain of dust. And just as the fan was about to strike
His right hand extended!
Bang!
The fan was halted mid-air caught between just three fingertips!
The force rebounded, sending Han Xifeng flying back. But his fan remained intact, for Bai Wangyan's power was controlled with surgical precision, like sheathing a blade without a scratch.
Han Xiyao changed his tune.
The flute's melody turned wild frenzied. Sonic energy spiraled into a storm of blue, and he lunged forward. The white jade flute transformed into a sharp blade.
Slice!
The flute slashed toward Bai Wangyan's throat, missing by a mere breath but the young man in white leaned slightly, dodging with the grace of a dancer in the wind.
Then
Thud!
His left elbow struck Han Xiyao squarely in the chest not to kill, but to halt him.
Han Xiyao coughed up blood but twisted mid-air, recovering swiftly like a seasoned predator.
"Brother!" he shouted.
"Form the formation!"
Han Xifeng nodded. The twins split to opposite sides, circling like mirrored reflections. Fan and flute spun in unison, forging a seamless energy field.
Rotating rings of power wove into an intricate trap the Bloodbound Wind-Sealing Domain.
The flute's pitch intensified, invoking divine-level pressure within the realm, encasing Bai Wangyan at its center.
But he did not move.
He simply… tilted his head upward.
Silence.
Then his eyes slowly closed for but a single second.
Crack!
A rupturing sound echoed. A light-blue glow expanded from his body.
It was a shockwave not from an explosion, but from a sigh.
The energy struck the twins' formation.
Boom!!
The ground split once again. Their domain shattered, scattered over miles.
Han Xiyao and Han Xifeng were flung in opposite directions, struggling to regain balance mid-air.
"He… just sighed?" Han Xifeng rasped, disbelieving.
Bai Wangyan stood at the center of a newly formed crater. His robes remained pristine untouched. The wind carried lingering petals and dust around him, yet he stood unscathed amidst the ruins of the battlefield.
In the stillness that followed
Bai Wangyan slowly raised his right hand.
As his palm glided through the air…
A faint circle of blue light appeared before him like a spiritual mirror being painted by an ethereal brush. In a blink, the circle expanded into an ancient symbol one beyond translation.
"He's… incredibly powerful," Han Xiyao whispered, eyes wide, lips pale. "His power is so strange… and terrifying."
The flute in his hand faltered. Even as he played, the sound wavered, as if being consumed by the very air.
"It's absorbing the sound!" Han Xifeng roared, charging in without hesitation.
The fan sliced through the air in a blinding arc like lightning but it couldn't even touch the hem of Bai Wangyan's sleeve.
At that moment Bai Wangyan's fingertip pressed against the center of the sigil!
Boom!
Blue energy surged skyward then cascaded downward like a reversed waterfall, pounding the ground and everything around it.
Han Xifeng was slammed into the dirt once again. His glowing fan trembled violently. Gritting his teeth, he resisted the pressure, his knees sinking into the earth.
Han Xiyao leapt back into the fray not with his flute or technique, but with a clenched fist.
"Aaaaahh!!"
He poured all his life force into the punch not to win, but to stop the unstoppable.
But
Snap!
His wrist was caught mid-air.
Bai Wangyan reached out with his left hand and seized Han Xiyao's arm before the punch even grazed him.
Their eyes met his gaze calm, unchanging.
"You two… are not my enemies."
His voice was ice its weight sinking into their hearts.
With a gentle push, Bai Wangyan sent Han Xiyao stumbling back several paces unharmed.
He had not attacked.
He had only stopped them.
The flute and fan fell completely silent. Petals began to fall once again, as if everything had returned to its beginning.
Soft footsteps touched the still-warm earth scorched by the battle.
Bai Wangyan gently descended from the sky. His feet touched the ground like a feather, yet stirred the dust into the air. All eyes locked on him the flawless youth unmarked by even a scratch.
And in that very moment
"Bai Wangyan!!"
A sweet, urgent voice sliced through the battlefield like a breeze.
A figure in pale cotton robes adorned with flower patterns rushed in with rapid steps. Petals scattered in her wake, as if the world parted just for her.
Xin Tingting appeared wearing a new outfit, aglow in the golden light of evening. Her beautiful face flushed from running, tears shimmering with worry. Her heart nearly burst when she saw him standing within a collapsed battlefield crater.
"Are you hurt anywhere?! ...I heard the fighting it was so loud!"
She rushed to him, ignoring everyone else. Her wide, beautiful eyes scanned him inch by inch every finger, every strand of hair.
Before he could answer
Xin Tingting spun around and shielded him with her body as if to be a living shield, boldly declaring: no one shall touch him!
"How dare you two…!?"
Her shrill voice rang above the flower fields and rising smoke.
She clearly remembered the names of her royal guards.
"Han Xiyao! How dare you try to harm him!! And your companion too!"
She pointed at Han Xifeng, who now stood frozen as if enchanted.
The handsome young man holding the glowing fan widened his eyes, staring at Xin Tingting as if unsure whether she was real. Her hair danced gently in the breeze, her large eyes sparkled like stars in the sky, her lips moved in anger but to him, she was simply... mesmerizing.
"She's… so beautiful…" Han Xifeng murmured, dazed, nearly forgetting all his training as he twirled his fan.
Before he could drift further
Smack!
The jade flute struck his head with a loud crack!
"Ouch! What was that for, brother?!" Han Xifeng yelped, clutching his head from the blow.
Han Xiyao, hands on hips, struck him again with the flute.
"What are you gawking at!? She is not some ordinary girl you can stare at like that!"
He pointed at Xin Tingting, still standing protectively in front of Bai Wangyan.
"She is Princess Xin Tingting! The only daughter of the Empress who rules this enchanted realm! How dare you look at her like that!? I don't care how beautiful she is you must control yourself! Understand!?"
Han Xifeng rolled his eyes and sighed. "It was just… one second, brother..."
"No seconds allowed! Not even one!" his older brother snapped seriously.