"Yun Kai."
Yun Jie's voice came out like a curse and a prayer at once.
The blindfolded figure hopped down from a low branch with the grace of a cat, landing without a sound. His bare feet didn't so much as stir the leaves on the forest floor.
He walked slowly, and oddly enough, despite his condition, there was no cane or guiding tool to aid him. Yet every step was confident and deliberate.
Not even the Wild Ash Rat, now long gone, had sensed him.
Yun Yue's teary eyes flared with sudden fury. "You! You're the reason we're even here!"
She leapt up and stormed toward him, fists balled, tears still streaking down her dust-smeared cheeks. "We nearly died, Kai-ge! Jie-ge almost got eaten! That thing was a ranked demonic beast!"
Yun Kai tilted his head slightly. "Oh?" His voice was calm, infuriatingly serene. "Mortal rank? Tsk. That must've been rough."
Yun Jie groaned from where he sat slumped against a tree. He was clutching his bleeding chest, pale as moonlight, looking like death warmed over. "I swear… if I don't bleed to death tonight, I'm throwing you into the moat when we get back."
Yun Kai stopped a few feet away, arms folded into his loose sleeves. The black blindfold hid his eyes, but somehow, you could feel his gaze settle on you. It was piercing, heavy, and strangely unnerving.
Then he sighed. "I warned you two to stay behind. I said I was just scouting. You followed me."
"We followed you?" Yun Yue shrieked, voice cracking with disbelief. "You invited us!"
"No," Yun Kai corrected, tone flat and matter-of-fact. "I mentioned my plans. You two followed me like ducklings chasing breadcrumbs. Not my fault."
Yun Jie coughed, wincing as pain shot through his chest. "I'm dying. Can we save the family drama until after I'm not actively losing blood?"
Yun Kai stepped forward without hesitation and knelt beside his brother. His movements were smooth and practiced, like he'd done this a hundred times before.
"Hold still."
"Wait, what are you—"
A faint warmth pulsed from Yun Kai's palm, spreading across Yun Jie's chest. The words caught in Yun Jie's throat. His muscles tensed, then slowly loosened. The pain dulled, as though water had been poured on a fire inside him.
Healing energy.
Yun Yue blinked, eyes wide with shock. "You… you've advanced in your practice?"
Yun Kai didn't respond right away. His jaw was set, his brow slightly furrowed. It was a rare emotion for someone usually so carefree and blasé.
The warmth faded after a few moments. Yun Jie gasped as the pain returned in a dull throb, but it was manageable now. The bleeding had stopped, at least.
"There," Yun Kai said, rising to his feet and dusting off his robes. "That'll hold you together. For a while."
Yun Jie pushed himself up with a groan, testing his chest with careful fingers. "Since when do you know healing techniques?"
Yun Kai shrugged, turning away. "Since I realized I'd probably have to babysit my elder siblings through a demon-infested forest."
Yun Yue's fists were still clenched, but now she looked more confused than angry. Her voice came out small, hesitant even. "But you're… you're blind."
Yun Kai smiled faintly, just a ghost of amusement on his lips. He gave her a few pats on her head. "Blind doesn't mean helpless, Yue'er."
That stopped her guilty thoughts as she smiled foolishly.
He turned and walked past them both, heading toward where the Wild Ash Rat had vanished into the trees. He crouched beside the tree it had crashed into, running his fingers along the bark, feeling the deep cracks and splintered wood.
"Hunting patterns," he murmured, more to himself than to them. "Too close to the outer rim. If this thing was wandering this far out, the forest's balance is off."
"Wait," Yun Jie said, trying to follow but stumbling on his first step. "Are you saying this isn't normal?"
"No," Yun Kai replied, standing again and brushing bark fragments from his fingertips. "It's not. That wasn't just a hungry rat. It was running. Something bigger must've scared it this way."
The wind stirred the trees, making the branches creak overhead. The forest that was once loud with birds and insects now felt eerily still. Too still.
A shiver ran through Yun Yue's spine as she trembled. "Something… bigger?"
Yun Kai showed a strange smile that spiked their anxiety and nodded slowly. "And ferociously stronger."
Yun Jie's face turned pale again, all color draining from his cheeks. "You mean ranked higher than Mortal?"
"Possibly." Yun Kai turned toward them, expression unreadable beneath the blindfold. "That's why I came. I can sense something's wrong in the Black Stone Forest. Something huge is… stirring."
"But why not tell the palace?" Yun Yue asked, voice barely above a whisper. "Why come alone?"
Yun Kai didn't answer immediately. His face tilted slightly to the side, as if listening to something the others couldn't hear. The wind carried distant sounds, rustling leaves, the creak of dying wood.
"It's only a mindless ramble from a blind, talentless child." He paused, letting the words hang in the air. "That would be their response."
Then, softer, he added, "Also, because I don't trust the palace anymore. There are too many schemes and plots going on. It's turned sickening."
Silence fell over the clearing.
Yun Jie and Yun Yue exchanged puzzled looks, not quite understanding what he meant. The palace had always been their home, their sanctuary. What schemes? What plots?
"Kai-ge…" Yun Yue said quietly, taking a hesitant step forward. "What did you find?"
Yun Kai lifted a hand and pointed toward the deeper parts of the forest. Toward the area where the Black Stone Forest's forbidden center merged with the massive Kunlun Mountains, where the trees grew too thick for light to pass and legends spoke of ancient, buried things from past eras of ancient battles.
His voice dropped, calm and quiet as ever, but heavy with meaning. "Something's coming. And we're already too late to stop it."
The words hung in the air like frost, cold and suffocating.
Yun Jie stiffened, hand instinctively moving to where his sword should've been. Yun Yue's breath caught in her throat, eyes wide.
Then, without warning, Yun Kai burst out laughing.
"MUAHAHAHAHA!"
This was not a dry chuckle, but a full, bright, belly-deep laugh that echoed across the clearing like a thunderclap.
The tension shattered like glass underfoot.
"What the hell?" Yun Jie muttered, completely stunned.
Yun Kai clutched his sides, trying to catch his breath between fits of laughter. "Ahaha, your faces! Gods, you looked like you'd just seen the King's ghost!"
Yun Yue's eyes widened, confusion mixing with dawning realization. "You… you're joking?"
"Of course I'm joking," Yun Kai said, finally calming down and wiping a tear from the corner of his blindfold. "Something stirring? Please. You think I've got divine insight now? I'm blind, not omniscient."
He waved a hand dismissively, though the smirk lingered on his lips. "I don't have such an ability. Don't take everything I say so seriously."
Yun Jie looked halfway between relieved and absolutely furious. "You, you bastard!"
Yun Yue stamped her foot hard enough to make leaves jump. "That wasn't funny!"
"I thought it was," Yun Kai said lightly, still grinning. "Ten out of ten in dramatic timing, if I do say so myself."
But even as he grinned, there was a flicker of something else behind the blindfold. Something subtle but sharp. A thread of tension that hadn't fully faded. He might've said it was a joke, but his body hadn't relaxed one bit.
And the siblings, though annoyed, didn't notice that he was 'lying'. Just not about everything.
Yun Kai straightened, brushing dirt from his robe with exaggerated casualness. "Alright, fun's over. You two should head back."
Yun Jie blinked. "What? Why?"
"You're injured," Yun Kai said simply, stepping past them again. "And you," he pointed at Yun Yue without looking, "nearly got turned into minced rabbit. You've proven your courage, I'll give you that. But this forest isn't the place to win pride points."
Yun Yue frowned, crossing her arms. "But you—"
"I'll stay," Yun Kai interrupted, voice firm. "I came to confirm a hunch, and I have what I need."
Yun Jie narrowed his eyes, studying his brother's face. "You just said it was a joke."
"It was," Yun Kai said smoothly, too smoothly. "But jokes can carry a grain of truth, can't they?"
He stopped beside a stone half-buried in moss and crouched again, pressing a hand to the ground as if feeling for something. The wind ruffled his dark hair, and for a moment, he was completely still. Then he stood.
"I need to look deeper. But alone. You two would only slow me down."
That earned him a solid glare from both siblings, but Yun Kai ignored it completely.
"You can argue with me later. Right now, go back. Yun Jie, your wound's clotted, but it won't hold forever. You need a real physician to check it out."
He turned toward the trail leading back to the palace, gesturing with his chin. "There's a talisman hidden under a tree root about fifty steps east of here. Break it, and it'll signal the outer guards. They'll escort you the rest of the way."
Yun Yue hesitated, biting her lip. "But Kai-ge…"
He turned toward her finally. A smile played on his lips, but it didn't reach his voice. "I'll be fine, Yue'er. This forest and I… we're like tight friends. I won't get hurt."
Yun Jie stared at him, searching for something in that blindfolded face. "You're not telling us something."
"Probably," Yun Kai said with maddening calm. "But you're not emotionally strong enough to know it yet."
The silence that followed wasn't tense this time. Just hollow. Like something had shifted between them, some invisible line crossed.
"Go," Yun Kai said again, softly but firmly. "Trust me."
And somehow, despite everything, they did.
Yun Jie groaned and stood, swaying slightly on his feet. Yun Yue caught him under the arm, steadying him. Together, the two of them limped toward the path, casting worried glances back at their blind brother.
Yun Kai waited, standing perfectly still, until their presence faded behind the trees. Until even their footsteps could no longer be heard. The wind returned, brushing softly through the leaves.
His face hardened.
The smile vanished like it had never existed in the first place. He knelt once more, fingers brushing along the cracked bark of the tree, feeling the texture, the depth of the damage that the beast had caused. The scent of its demon blood still lingered in the air, thick and metallic.
A chill ran up his spine. Not from fear, but from recognition of something in his memories.
"It's really happening," he whispered to no one in particular, voice barely audible. "Just like in the dreams…"
He pulled something from his sleeve. A talisman that looked simple and unmarked, except for a single drop of dried blood at its center. He clenched it in his fist, feeling the paper crinkle under his grip.
"I hope I'm wrong."
But deep down, in the quiet place where instinct lived, he knew he wasn't.