Xue Kui jolted awake, sitting upright.
For a moment, his mind was blank—
then memories of collapsing mid-battle flooded back.
Ah.
So he still lost.
Not surprising—he was just a newly awakened yaksha who had only brushed the edge of "Law," while Morax was a creature who had lived through eras he couldn't even imagine. Matching him? Impossible.
…What was surprising, was that the old dragon didn't kill him.
Scratching his head in confusion, Xue Kui finally noticed—
Someone was sitting beside his bed.
He lifted his eyes.
Guizhong sat there with a gentle smile, face half-lit by sunlight.
"You're awake?"
Xue Kui blinked.
Wasn't that obvious?
"…Why am I here?"
He looked around—the familiar room meant they were back in Guizhong's settlement.
"Yesterday," Guizhong said lightly, "a girl carried you back. Covered in wounds."
She shifted slightly, then suddenly swept Xue Kui into her arms. One hand slid to the back of his head and began gently patting his snowy hair.
"You're back. That's enough."
Xue Kui stiffened.
Her warmth…it felt like the same comforting embrace as sinking into the ley line.
Strange.
Oddly reassuring.
He didn't resist.
To Guizhong, that quiet moment was precious.
Unlike mortals—whose fleeting lives came and went too quickly for her to love any one person deeply—Xue Kui was different.
He would stay.
He was someone she had personally raised and watched grow.
Something soft had rooted in her heart because of him.
She held him for a while.
Finally, she let him go and stood.
"There are a few people who want to meet you later," she said. "Treat them kindly."
"…Why are there always people wanting to see me?"
Guizhong only smiled mysteriously and walked toward the door. Before leaving, she paused, looking back at him.
"Xue Kui… the sorrow brought by mortality can never be reversed. Don't let it consume you. Learn to accept that kind of pain."
The door closed.
Xue Kui frowned.
What kind of cryptic nonsense was that supposed to mean?
Before he could ponder it, the door burst open again—
WHOOOSH!!
A blur of red—hair blazing, eyes full of excitement—charged straight at him like a tiny tornado.
Xue Kui froze.
In the next heartbeat, his hands were seized, and a face appeared right in front of his own.
"Hi! You're Xiao Xue Kui, right? I'm Yingda! You can call me Sister Yingda!"
…What a noisy creature.
His eye twitched.
Guizhong said to be polite, so he forced himself to respond.
"…Hello, Sister Yingda."
"Kyaaa! He's so obedient and cute!"
Xue Kui found himself pinned to the bed while Yingda enthusiastically rubbed her cheek against his.
Obedient? Cute?
Those were…not words he would ever apply to himself.
Before he could shove her off, another figure appeared.
"Enough. Don't crowd him. You'll scare him."
A tall girl with long blue hair, sleeves so oversized they hid her hands, gently pulled Yingda off. She sat beside Xue Kui and—still using those sleeve-covered hands—began squeezing his cheeks.
Up close, he felt the hardness of horn-like ridges beneath her sleeves.
"You don't look like the one who challenged the Lord of Geo at all," she teased. "Hello, little one. I am Fan'nan."
Xue Kui's eye twitched again.
If these two weren't radiating yaksha-familiarity, he would've launched them through the window already.
"Hey! Stop crowding him. That's rude."
A hand grabbed both girls by their collars and lifted them like misbehaving cats.
Xue Kui slipped free of the blankets and hopped off the bed—
—only to stare up… and up… and up.
A gigantic figure stood before him.
Four arms.
A muscular torso covered in violet thunder-pattern tattoos.
Sharp jawline. Fierce scar across his left eye.
And towering tall.
Xue Kui quickly compared their heights.
He was shorter by a full head compared to the girls—
this guy? A mountain.
His face darkened.
Right. I used to be a chrysanthemum-sized ice butterfly. Being tiny… makes sense.
The giant inclined his head politely.
"Hello, little one. Don't mind those two—they're just excited to see a new member of our kind. I am Fushe, the eldest among us. If you like, call me big brother."
Another hand landed on Xue Kui's head, ruffling his hair.
Xue Kui's expression collapsed.
Why does everyone think they can touch my head!?
He never even considered that when Guizhong did it, he was perfectly content.
"I am Mi Nu," said a man with serene eyes as he leaned down and ruffled Xue Kui's hair again. "Pleased to work with you, Xue Kui."
Xue Kui's brain buzzed.
Something feels…missing.
Then it hit him.
"My bird!?"
All four yaksha paused.
"…What bird?"
Xue Kui frantically gestured with both hands.
"The bird that's this big, white with a little blue—my bird!"
The yaksha exchanged knowing looks.
"You mean the crane? The one you brought to your fight with the Emperor?"
"Emperor? Who?"
"…The one you fought. Lord Morax."
Xue Kui froze.
Then—
"…That damn old lizard…"
Through clenched teeth.
"What did you call me?"
Every yaksha in the room exploded into motion, scrambling to the doorway to bow.
Morax hovered outside the window, expression unreadable.
Meanwhile—
Xue Kui sprinted straight toward him and began jumping angrily beneath the dragon.
"DAMN OLD DRAGON! GIVE MY JUNIOR BACK!!"
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