Kai sprinted toward Lu Bu’s voice, his pulse quickening with concern. Gin was right behind him, his usual lazy demeanor replaced by sharp alertness. They found the boy standing near a weathered supply crate—and beside him, bound in heavy chains, was a man in his early twenties.

  The prisoner’s black and blue robes marked him as a magistrate, a government official of some kind. His face was bruised, his clothes torn, but his eyes burned with desperate hope as they locked onto Kai.

  "Thank the heavens," the man gasped, his voice raw with relief. "Is this your uncle Kai? The cultivator you mentioned?"

  Kai froze. His fingers instinctively rose to pinch the bridge of his nose, his jaw tightening.

  "Lu Bu," he said, his voice dangerously calm. "You were not supposed to reveal that we were cultivators to anyone."

  Lu Bu’s eyes widened. For a moment, he looked genuinely startled—then his face flushed with realization. "Oh. Right." His shoulders slumped in embarrassment. "I... forgot."

  Kai exhaled deeply, forcing down his frustration. There was no undoing it now.

  "Never mind," he muttered before turning back to the stranger. "Who are you, exactly?"

  The magistrate straightened as much as his restraints allowed, wincing as the chains dug into his bruised wrists. His voice was hoarse but carried an undercurrent of weary dignity.

  "I’m a magistrate," he began, "formerly of Wuyuan City, serving under the honorable Jin-Soo before... circumstances forced my departure." His jaw tightened briefly before he continued. "The city lord’s corruption had grown unbearable—embezzlement, bribery, turning a blind eye to slavers preying on the outskirts. When I could no longer stomach it, I fled north, hoping to find a lord or magistrate still willing to uphold true justice."

  A dry, humorless laugh escaped him. "Foolishly, I thought the bandits plaguing these roads would at least hesitate before attacking a magistrate’s caravan. I was wrong." His fingers flexed against the chains. "They slaughtered my escorts without hesitation. The only reason I still draw breath is that their leader recognized my robes and thought to ransom me back to Wuyuan."

  His mouth twisted into a bitter smile. "A miscalculation on their part. The city lord would sooner pay to have me silenced than returned. I’d already resigned myself to a noose or a slit throat when—" He gestured vaguely at the unconscious bandits strewn about. "—suddenly, these brigands started dropping like flies. No arrows, no battle cries—just men collapsing mid-step. I thought perhaps the heavens had sent divine retribution... until Lu Bu appeared."

  The man’s gaze flicked to Lu Bu, who stood nearby with poorly concealed pride. "The boy assured me his ‘uncle Kai’—an unparalleled cultivator, a peerless warrior, a man who could ‘punch mountains into dust’—was coming to save me." His voice grew increasingly animated. "He described you with such conviction that I half-expected a celestial being to descend from the—"

  "Hold on!" Kai interrupted, rubbing his temples. "I was just asking for your name."

  The man blinked. "Oh." He cleared his throat, suddenly sheepish. "Apologies. It’s been... an eventful few days."

  Gin snorted. "Understatement."

  “My name is Chen Gong.” The government official said.

  "Chen... Gong?"

  The name rolled off Kai's tongue like an echo from another lifetime. Just as when he'd first heard Lu Bu’s name, a strange, overwhelming sensation washed over him—an inexplicable certainty that this name carried weight far beyond its syllables.

  His mind conjured the image of a peerless strategist, a man whose brilliance could turn the tide of entire wars with nothing but ink and wit. But why? He'd never met this man before today. There was no reason for the prickling sense of destiny crawling up his spine.

  "Lu Bu... and Chen Gong..." Kai murmured under his breath, the names tasting strangely familiar on his tongue.

  As the syllables connected in his mind, the air around him seemed to shift. A sudden pressure built behind his eyes, like distant thunder rumbling at the edge of consciousness. The names resonated together with unnatural harmony, creating a dissonance within his soul.

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  It felt like the universe itself was laughing at him - some cosmic joke he didn’t understand. Why did these names, these strangers, invoke such strange feelings within him?

  "Um, yup. That's our names... is something wrong?" Chen Gong asked, his sharp eyes studying Kai's troubled expression with growing curiosity.

  Kai shook his head slightly, as if trying to dislodge the lingering sense of deja vu. "Sorry, your name just... reminded me of something." He quickly changed the subject. "So you were their captive, as I understand. If you'd like, we can take you to Biragawa after we finish securing these bandits - on the condition of absolute secrecy about what you've seen here."

  Chen Gong's entire face lit up with sudden excitement. "Oh, yes! Thank you! Of course I'll keep your identity secret!" He leaned forward conspiratorially, chains clinking. "I'm sure you're on some sort of grand mission of vengeance or divine retribution against evildoers!"

  "What?" Kai blinked in genuine confusion.

  "Oh my!" Chen Gong continued, his voice rising with theatrical wonder. "It's just like in the wandering cultivator epics! The mysterious hero who helps the poor and vanquishes evil!" His eyes took on a dreamy quality as he spun his fantasy. "Sent on an epic quest after your beloved was murdered... No, wait - you said my name reminded you of something!" He gasped dramatically. "Perhaps I share a name with your fallen sworn brother, and seeing me rekindled your burning oath of vengeance!"

  Kai rubbed his temples again. "Um, I think you're misunderstanding—"

  "AYEEEE!" Chen Gong suddenly screamed, his face draining of all color as he pointed a trembling finger past Kai's group.

  The entire party whirled around to see Igni, the flame-striped tiger spirit beast, casually licking his paw about twenty feet away. The massive feline paused mid-lick, his golden eyes blinking in confusion at the sudden attention. He glanced behind himself, then back at the humans, as if wondering what all the commotion was about.

  When Kai turned back to Chen Gong, he found the young magistrate lying in the dirt, foam bubbling at the corners of his mouth, his eyes rolled back in his head. The chains around his wrists jingled faintly as his fingers twitched in unconscious terror.

  "Oh... right," Kai mumbled sheepishly. "I guess Igni is terrifying to most people."

  Even an ordinary tiger would be enough to strike fear into the bravest mortal's heart, but Igni was no ordinary predator. As a fully grown spirit beast, his shoulders stood taller than most men, his flame-patterned fur shimmering with barely contained energy. Though currently displaying all the menace of an oversized housecat, his sheer presence was enough to overwhelm unprepared observers.

  Hearing Kai's remark and realizing he'd caused the fainting, Igni's massive head drooped. His ears flattened against his skull, and he let out a soft, mournful chuff that sounded suspiciously like a whimper. The mighty spirit beast suddenly looked like a scolded kitten, his tail curling around his paws dejectedly.

  Lu Bu immediately rushed to comfort his feline friend. "It's okay, big brother Igni!" the boy declared, throwing his arms around the tiger's massive neck with complete disregard for the deadly claws nearby. "I don't think you're scary at all! That man just has weak nerves!"

  Igni responded with a soft "mrrp" of gratitude, nuzzling the boy gently with his enormous head. The sight would have been heartwarming if not for the fact that the "gentle nudge" nearly knocked Lu Bu off his feet.

  Kai sighed as he knelt to check on Chen Gong. "Well... this complicates things." He glanced at the unconscious magistrate, then at the remorseful tiger, then back at Gin. "Think we should tell him about the rest of the spirit beasts now... or wait until after he wakes up?"

  Gin crouched beside the unconscious magistrate, prodding Chen Gong’s cheek with idle curiosity. The young man remained utterly unresponsive, his breath shallow, a thin line of drool trailing from his slack mouth.

  "Yeah, he’s out cold," Gin declared, flicking Chen Gong’s forehead for good measure. "Unless we’ve got a spirit beast in the group that specializes in waking people up—preferably without giving him another heart attack—I don’t see him stirring anytime soon."

  Kai rubbed his temples. "There is one… but it’s… not pleasant." He grimaced at the memory of a poor soul who had woken up screaming, convinced he’d been mauled by demons. "Let’s just finish securing the bandits and head to Biragawa. We’ll take Chen Gong with us and hope he wakes up on the way."

  The group worked quickly, dragging the last of the groaning bandits into cages and ensuring the camp was thoroughly neutralized. Kai carefully removed Chen Gong’s restraints, noting the raw marks around his wrists where the chains had bitten into his skin. The magistrate murmured something incoherent but didn’t wake, his body limp as Kai hoisted him over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

  "You sure you don’t want one of the spirit beasts to help?" Gin asked, grinning as he gestured toward Igni, who was still looking dejected. "I’m sure the big guy would love to make up for scaring him."

  Igni perked up hopefully, his massive tail giving a tentative swish.

  "Absolutely not," Kai said flatly. "If he wakes up mid-journey and finds himself being carried by a giant tiger, he’ll either faint again or die of fright. And I’d rather not explain to the Biragawa authorities why we’re delivering a corpse."

  Lu Bu, ever the optimist, piped up. "Maybe when he wakes up, we can introduce them properly! I bet they’ll be best friends!"

  Kai shot him a dubious look but didn’t argue. Instead, he adjusted Chen Gong’s limp form and sighed. "Alright, let’s move out. With any luck, he’ll wake up before we reach town and we can figure out what to do with him then."

  As they set off toward Biragawa, Kai couldn’t shake the feeling that this was only the beginning of their troubles. A fainting magistrate, a remorseful tiger, and the unsettling weight of those names—Lu Bu and Chen Gong—still lingering in his mind like an unfinished verse.

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