Ace eyed him. "I heard you haven't visited Aunt Hong since you got back from the Abyss. Is that true?"
Shan Yifeng nodded slowly. "Yes, Master."
"Why?"
The boy took a deep breath, bracing himself like a criminal awaiting judgnt.
"I brought Senior Sister into the Abyss," he said gravely.
"If I had destroyed the teleportation formation in the Northern Ice Forest, she wouldn't have been able to reach … Then we wouldn't have been chased by the White Ice Sect mbers… and we wouldn't have run blindly into that cursed cave…"
Ace raised an eyebrow.
Liu i blinked, guilt flickering across her face.
White Ice Sect mbers... She coughed awkwardly. They had technically chased her because she'd repeatedly humiliated the patriarch's son… not once… not twice… but repeatedly. Like, a lot. And she hadn't exactly made peace with that arrogant fool's sect…
Shan Yifeng bowed his head deeper.
"I promised Aunt I would protect Liu i as the older one between us… But I was careless. Because of , she nearly died."
Silence hung in the air.
Then—
SMACK!
Liu i marched over and slapped Shan Yifeng on the back so hard he stumbled forward.
"Stop spouting nonsense!" she barked, sounding much older than her usual bubbly self.
"Master, I am the stronger one, was the one who brought Junior Brother into that cave, against his will, mind you! His leg was already injured… an injury I caused myself in a duel that I forced on him!"
Ace blinked as Liu i dropped to her knees, head pressed to the ground.
"Master, please punish ! It's my fault—I disappeared without notice! I didn't inform anyone! I—" Shan Yifeng dropped to his knees beside her.
"No, punish ! I broke his leg!"
"No, punish ! I led us into danger!"
"You were limping! I carried you out!"
"With one leg! I should've crawled if I had to!"
"You're so dumb!"
"You're dumber!"
"You're more dumber—wait, that's not a word!"
Ace stared at the two groveling disciples, now half-wrestling each other in kneeling position.
He casually reached into his robe and began cleaning his ear with a twig. Then finally, with the patience of a monk and the tone of an exasperated father:
"You two do realize… you're both guilty of different cris, right?"
Silence.
They froze mid-argunt. Liu i's hand was halfway to flicking Shan Yifeng's forehead. Shan Yifeng's mouth was open mid-insult.
"…Oh," they said in unison.
Ace sighed and dusted his sleeves. "Honestly. You two are like a pair of squirrels fighting over who crashed the cart, when one chewed through the reins and the other set the wheels on fire."
Liu i tilted her head, eyes wide and curious. "Master… what's a squirrel?"
Shan Yifeng didn't ask, but the way he looked at Ace, quiet, hopeful, blinking twice, it made it clear he wanted to also know too.
Ace blinked, then shrugged lazily. "It's just a magical beast. Harmless. I suppose."
"We're harmless?" Liu i asked, thoroughly confused.
"Well… harmless, but always up to mischief," Ace anded. "Oh, what do I know? I'm not so kind of animal scholar."
Liu i suddenly perked up, hopping in place like an actual squirrel. "Master! Master! Tell more! You always say you're from another world, but you never tell us anything fun!"
Shan Yifeng stayed silent, but his eyes were practically begging.
Ace looked at the two of them, wide-eyed, expectant, full of wonder, and sighed.
"Oh, please,I've already shared plenty. I'm not an encyclopedia, go see your mother, both of you. I've got work to do."
Before they could protest, he vanished, slipping out of the system space like mist in the wind.
When he reappeared, there was no one waiting.
He smiled faintly and turned to move along.
But he only took three steps—just three—when the world shook.
BOOM!
A thunderous explosion roared through the air.
Ace turned sharply, just in ti to see the top floor of a massive seven-story pagoda detonate in a cloud of blue smoke and fire.
He stared.
"…Blue Sea Restaurant," he muttered, squinting at the collapsing sign as debris rained down. "Again?"
The pagoda groaned, tilted dramatically and then collapsed in on itself in spectacular, theatrical ruin.
Typical.
"Hey! What are you doing here?" a voice shouted behind him.
Ace turned around slowly.
And then when he finished,he recognized her. It was her, the sa woman who had chased him earlier without a word.
No na, just her and one tall man, disturbing his plan on having a drink.
She looked far worse now. Her robes were torn, her arm hung limp at her side, and a deep gash ran down her thigh, staining her steps with blood.
Every movent was a struggle, but her eyes still burned with the sa fire.
She froze when she saw him.
"…You," she said, her voice low and icy, laced with disbelief and fury.
Even injured, she managed to make the word feel like a blade drawn across skin.
Ace blinked once, then offered a faint smile.
"Well, fancy seeing you again. What about that man who was with you earlier?" Ace asked, his voice calm. "Dead?"
The girl didn't answer.
Instead, she drew her sword in silence and in the next heartbeat, she lunged forward, aiming straight for his heart.
Soul energy surged through her blade, crackling with lethal force. It was enough to kill even a seasoned cultivator.
Ace sidestepped with ease, his gaze almost bored as she swung again, switching to a dagger.
"Your soul force is already depleted," he said casually, ducking another strike. "Are you really going to waste what little you have left on ?"
The girl grit her teeth, furious. She tried to summon her soul beast, but instead coughed violently, dark blood splattering onto her lips.
She dropped to one knee, the dagger clattering from her hand as her other arm clutched her side, trying in vain to stop the wracking coughs.
Ace watched her with a slight frown. "Are you… alright?"
"Oh yes, my boy. Look at her, she's all-right," a voice chid in sweetly from above.
Ace looked up and froze.
Descending gracefully through the air was Xiao Ziyun.
His mother.
She landed gently, her robes unruffled, her expression serene.
And as her feet touched the ground, the girl's head slipped cleanly from her shoulders and hit the dirt with a dull thud.
Ace's eyes narrowed.
Xiao Ziyun strolled over, her delicate hand dripping blood. "Oh my, Xiao Zhi… you've grown so much. Mother is delighted."
Ace didn't move. Every instinct in his body scread danger.
Without looking at him, Ziyun turned her back and knelt beside the girl's corpse. Her fingers plunged into the chest cavity and erged holding a glowing orb.
"Her soul beast," she said cheerfully, giggling like she'd found a toy. "Here, you can have it."
She tossed the orb toward Ace.
He didn't raise a hand to catch it.
But in the split second his eyes followed its arc, she vanished.
Ace spun in a full circle, nothing. No sound, no trace, not even lingering spiritual pressure.
She was gone.
And now the soul orb, still glowing faintly, rolled to a stop at his feet.
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