The sun had barely crested the horizon when the first explosion rocked the Twilight Stable. It wasn't an explosion of fire, but of sound—a singular, concussive THRUM that rattled the tiles off the roof of the main barn and caused the Obsidian Tortoise to pull its head into its shell with a speed that defied biology.
Su Ye, who had been attempting to enjoy a peaceful morning bun, sighed and set his tea down before the vibrations could spill it. He walked into the courtyard to find his disciples in various states of disastrous experimentation with their new loot from the Forbidden Vault.
Lin Fan was lying on his back in a pile of hay, looking dazed. His bronze gauntlets were smoking. The Echo Bone of the Thunder-Wyrm was clamped in his hand, vibrating with a low, menacing hum. Every time Lin Fan's heart beat, the bone amplified the sound into an audible thump-thump that sounded like a giant walking.
"I... I barely touched it," Lin Fan wheezed, sitting up. "I tried to channel a simple sonar pulse. It felt like I shouted into a canyon and the canyon shouted back with a megaphone."
"That's because you're treating it like a trumpet," Su Ye said, crouching down to inspect the twisted grey bone. "The Thunder-Wyrm didn't use its ribs to make noise; it used them to feel the earth. It's an amplifier, Lin Fan, not a speaker. If you feed it raw, chaotic noise, it will blast you backward. You need to feed it a pure frequency."
Across the yard, a disembodied voice wailed. "Master! Help! I'm fading!"
Su Ye looked toward the voice. He saw nothing but empty air near the fence. Then, a pair of legs flickered into existence, followed by a torso, and finally the panicked face of Gao Ming. He was wrapped in the Shroud of the Phantom Stag, but the cloak was glitching, flashing on and off like a broken neon sign.
"It won't stay on!" Gao Ming cried, striking a dramatic pose as he reappeared. "I command the shadows to embrace me, but they reject my brilliance!"
"They reject your noise," Su Ye picked up a pebble and tossed it. The pebble hit Gao Ming right in the forehead. "Ow!"
"The Phantom Stag was a creature of absolute silence," Su Ye explained. "The cloak responds to stillness. Every time you shout, or pose, or gasp dramatically, the cloak deactivates because you are drawing attention to yourself. To be invisible, Gao Ming, you have to do the one thing you hate most."
Gao Ming looked horrified. "You mean..."
"Shut up," Su Ye nodded. "Completely. No monologues. No heavy breathing. You must become a boring, silent void."
Gao Ming looked at the cloak with betrayal. "But how will they know I am winning if I cannot announce it?"
"They'll know when you stab them and they didn't see it coming," Su Ye said. "Now, zip it. Practice standing still for ten minutes. If you make a sound, I'm feeding your dinner to the pig."
Finally, there was Princess Luo Bing. She was sitting by the water trough, shivering violently. Her lips were blue. The Heart of the Frozen North—the blue box from the vault—was sitting in her lap, open. It wasn't doing anything flashy, but the water in the trough next to her had frozen solid. Even the air around her was condensing into snow.
Her Ice Phoenix was perched on the edge of the box, looking entranced but terrified.
"It's too cold," Luo Bing chatted, her teeth clacking. "My Qi... it feels like sludge. I can't... command the Phoenix... to attack."
Su Ye walked over, the chill biting through his robes. He placed a hand on the Phoenix's frozen feathers.
Zzzzt.
"FEED ME!" The Ice Phoenix Matriarch screamed in his head. "The box is pure essence! Why is the girl just sitting there freezing? Tell the bird to swallow the mist! Don't channel it! EAT IT!"
"Close the box, Bing," Su Ye commanded gently, kicking the lid shut. The temperature instantly rose ten degrees. "You aren't supposed to use the box as a weapon. It's a battery. Your Phoenix is Molting. It needs massive energy to regrow its battle feathers. Have the bird inhale the mist from the box for one hour a day. Do not open it in combat, or you'll freeze your own blood."
Su Ye looked at his ragtag team. They held artifacts capable of toppling kingdoms, yet they looked like children playing with loaded crossbows.
"We have twenty-four hours," Su Ye said, his voice grim but confident. "Lin Fan, you need to find the Brown Note without knocking yourself out. Gao Ming, you need to learn the art of silence. Luo Bing, you need to turn that chicken into a blizzard."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Concentration Stone—the heavy granite sphere he had taken from the Badger spirit.
"And I," Su Ye grinned, tossing the ball to the Crimson Maw Basilisk, who caught it in its jaws like a dog, "am going to make sure our mascot doesn't eat the referee."
By mid-afternoon, the team took a break from the grueling training to register for the finals at the Central Administration Hall. The atmosphere in the main academy was electric. Banners of gold and red hung from every balcony. The betting parlors were overflowing, though the odds had shifted slightly—the "Roach King" phenomenon had made people hesitant to bet against Su Ye.
As they walked through the grand foyer, a hush fell over the crowd.
It wasn't for them.
Walking toward them was a phalanx of golden-armored guards. In the center walked a young man who radiated effortless perfection. He wore robes of white silk embroidered with golden thread. His hair was bound in a jade crown. He walked not with arrogance, but with the terrifying, casual confidence of someone who has never lost a single thing in his life.
Prince Zhao of the Royal Academy.
Perched on his shoulder was the Golden Roc. It was small—shrunken down by magic—but its eyes were piercing, intelligent, and filled with a predator's disdain.
Luo Bing froze. She instinctively pulled her hood lower, but it was too late.
"Cousin," Prince Zhao's voice was melodic, warm, and utterly terrifying to the girl who had fled the palace in disgrace. He stopped, the guards parting around him.
Luo Bing stopped. She slowly lowered her hood. "Your Highness."
"Please," Zhao smiled, stepping closer. "We are family. No titles. I was surprised to see you here, Bing'er. Father told me you had gone to the countryside to reflect on your failures. I didn't realize 'reflection' involved joining a circus."
He glanced at Su Ye, Lin Fan, and Gao Ming. His gaze lingered on Gao Ming's swimming goggles (which he was still wearing) and Lin Fan's oversized earmuffs.
"Quite the troupe," Zhao noted. "And this must be the famous Master Su Ye. The man who defeats dragons with insects."
Su Ye stepped forward, placing himself between the Prince and Luo Bing. He crunched loudly on a carrot he had brought as a snack.
"And you must be Prince Zhao," Su Ye said, mouth full. "Nice bird. Is it house-trained? It's eyeing my pig like a snack. I should warn you, my pig bites back."
Zhu Zhu, currently in Su Ye's arms, let out a threatening burp at the Golden Roc.
Prince Zhao's smile didn't waver, but the temperature in the room dropped. "Master Su Ye, you are amusing. But do not mistake luck for power. You defeated the Liu family because their beasts were cowardly. My Roc has the blood of the Sky Sovereigns. It fears nothing."
He turned back to Luo Bing. "Come home, cousin. Withdraw from the match. If you fight tomorrow, I will have to destroy that pathetic Phoenix of yours. It would be a mercy killing. Spare the family the embarrassment."
Luo Bing trembled. The weight of her past, her failure, and the terrifying perfection of her cousin pressed down on her.
Then, she felt a warm, heavy hand on her shoulder.
"She's not withdrawing," Su Ye said calmly. "And she's not coming home. She's busy."
"Busy?" Zhao raised an eyebrow.
"Busy winning," Su Ye said. "Tell you what, Your Highness. Since you're so confident, let's make a bet."
"I do not bet with commoners," Zhao scoffed. "You have nothing I want."
"I have the Concentration Stone of the First Sect Leader," Su Ye lied effortlessly (well, partially lied; he did have it). "A priceless artifact. If you win, it's yours."
Zhao's eyes narrowed. He sensed the faint earth magic clinging to Su Ye. He was intrigued. "And if you win?"
"If we win," Su Ye pointed at the golden saddle on the Roc's back. "You apologize. To her. Publicly. In front of the entire arena. You admit that the Twilight Stable produces better Tamers than the Royal Palace."
The guards bristled. This was lèse-majesté.
But Prince Zhao laughed. "An apology? Very well. I accept. I look forward to taking your stone, stable boy."
He walked past them, his golden robes brushing against the dirt of Su Ye's boots. As he passed, the Golden Roc shrieked—a piercing sound that made Lin Fan's Echo Bone vibrate painfully.
"He's strong," Lin Fan whispered, clutching his chest. "His Qi... it's like a sun. We can't beat him in a straight fight."
"Good thing we aren't fighting straight," Su Ye said, watching the Prince leave. "Luo Bing, stop shaking."
Luo Bing looked up, her eyes wet. "He's never lost, Master. He's a 3-Star Tamer in all but name."
"He has one weakness," Su Ye said, finishing his carrot.
"What?"
"He thinks he's the main character," Su Ye grinned. "And main characters hate it when the plot gets weird. Let's go home. We have a Roc to trap."
The night before the finals, the Twilight Stable was silent. The training was done.
Su Ye sat by the tortoise pit, polishing the Concentration Stone. He had given it to the Basilisk earlier to chew on, which had surprisingly calmed the beast's erratic spiritual waves. Now, the Basilisk was sleeping soundly for the first time in years.
Zzzzt.
"The boy is coming," the Tortoise Ancestor murmured in the cool night air. "The one with the Golden Bird."
"I know," Su Ye thought back.
"The Golden Roc is fast," the Tortoise warned. "Faster than thought. Faster than ice. If the girl tries to hit it, she will miss. The only way to hit a Roc is to make it stop."
"And how do we make a Roc stop?"
"Greed," the Tortoise chuckled slowly. "Rocs are magpies of the gods. They love shiny things. If you want to ground the sky, you don't use a net. You use a lure."
Su Ye looked at the sleeping Zhu Zhu. The pig was currently glowing faintly pink, its belly full of barrier energy and toxic pills.
"Greed," Su Ye whispered. "We can work with greed."
He stood up and gathered his disciples. They looked grim, like soldiers preparing for a suicide mission.
"Listen up," Su Ye said, his voice low. "Tomorrow isn't about Taming. It's about acting. Gao Ming, this is your moment. I need you to give the performance of your life."
Gao Ming looked up, his eyes shining beneath the swimming goggles. "A tragedy, Master? Or a comedy?"
"A distraction," Su Ye said. "A distraction so loud, so confusing, and so shiny that the Golden Roc forgets it's supposed to kill us."
Su Ye laid out the plan. It was insane. It involved invisible shouting, a frozen pig, and a sonic boom.
"If this works," Lin Fan said, adjusting his gauntlets, "we'll be legends."
"If it fails," Luo Bing added, stroking her Phoenix, "we'll be bird food."
"Then don't fail," Su Ye clapped his hands. "Sleep. Tomorrow, we steal the sky."
The disciples retreated to their quarters, but Su Ye remained in the courtyard. He looked at the moon, feeling the weight of the coming day. It wasn't just a tournament; it was the moment the Twilight Stable proved that "trash" had teeth.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Egg of the Dawn Crow he had received as a reward earlier. It was warm, pulsing with a faint, rhythmic heat.
"Soon," Su Ye whispered to the egg. "But first, we have a Prince to dethrone."
He closed his eyes, listening to the ancestors bickering in his head, and waited for the dawn.