The following day, Qingsai knelt before the king in the Thronelight Chamber.
"By royal decree," King Zhuanyi Daoren declared, "you are granted the noble name Yuncao—'Cloud Grass,' the root that bends but never breaks."
The courtiers murmured. The name was old, tied to a vanished house from the Emel frontier. A name that once belonged to a line of spirit weavers and veil-born hunters.
"We bestow upon you lands in the Forest of Emel," the king continued. "And a castle long abandoned—Whispering Hollow Keep, seated at the border between this world and the Veil."
The Spirit Mage Lu Yanshou stepped forward. "We also assign you a guide in your path of mastery. The teacher's name is Lucen Arkai, an adept of the element of Lucentia—light. He once served under the previous High Soulkindled."
Wealth, power, titles—all laid before him.
Qingsai said nothing.
Inside, the flame curled tighter around his soul.