“Uncle Yi would lose his mind,” Lulu whispered, her voice almost swallowed by the skimmer’s roar. “The whole legion idolizes Feng Yi…”

  Timo had only seen Feng Yi a few times, but the man’s reputation was impossible to ignore: mid-tier elemental mastery at twenty, the Watchers’ chosen future commander, fed the rarest spirit-vein resources like he was their only hope.

  Now all Timo could see were swaying iron chains and charred skulls. The proud figure from his memory felt impossibly distant.

  Lulu glanced at him, worry tightening her chest. He was too pale. She hadn’t forgotten what the black-robed hag had done to him.

  “I thought Feng Yi used lightning,” she said quietly. “What if… he isn’t really dead? What if he turned on the legion?”

  Timo turned sharply. “Lightning? No—he was fire and earth. Kai Yi’s the one with lightning. He told me himself.”

  Lulu nodded, keeping her expression neutral, but she caught the brief flicker of confusion in his eyes.

  “You sure that Frost-Evil Cultivator didn’t mess with your head?” she asked, half-teasing. “Brother Fei always swore he’d beat Feng Yi one day. Lost every time.”

  “I’m fine,” Timo said quickly. “I’m more worried about you. I woke up first, cut the sack open… I saw her force that stuff down your throat.”

  “It wasn’t my fault,” Lulu muttered. “I still don’t know what it was. Makes my skin crawl. And don’t mention the Thunder Eagle armband to anyone—my sister says they’re hunting someone in secret.”

  Outwardly she agreed, but inside she reassessed Timo. Quiet, spirit root still dormant, yet he noticed things no one else did.

  “Ti… Mo…”

  Yue Yang’s hoarse whisper made Timo turn. She held two cups of purifying spirit elixir, exhaustion etched into her face.

  Lulu drank hers without hesitation—Blackwood Forest curses were no joke.

  “What you were talking about…” Yue Yang signed, fingers tense. “Is it true?”

  Timo took his cup and nodded once.

  Yue Yang’s breath caught. Her shoulders sagged almost imperceptibly. If an entire Thunder Eagle team had been wiped out, the person who killed her parents was still out there—still free.

  “Sister Yue!”

  Lulu’s call pulled her back. Yue Yang collected the empty cups.

  “Drink,” she signed firmly to Timo. “The forest doesn’t forgive hesitation.”

  Timo stared at the black liquid. The smell hit him like the crone’s brew. He took one sip—then doubled over, vomiting a thick stream of dark fluid that reeked of rot.

  Yue Yang reached for him, alarm flashing across her face, but froze at Elder Bai’s expression.

  The elder looked stunned. She knelt, dipped a finger into the vomit, smelled it, touched it to her tongue.

  Fifty years ago, treating the poisoned Holy Lord, she had done the same. Even Lulu recoiled.

  “Elder Bai—that’s disgusting,” she blurted. “That’s what the hag forced into TiMo. Said something about ‘changing vessels.’”

  “That’s it…” Elder Bai whispered, voice trembling. She checked Timo’s eyes, his mouth.

  Nothing obvious. She exhaled, tension leaving her shoulders.

  “Yue—another infection!”

  Before Yue Yang could react, a medic pulled her aside. A small girl was convulsing, clutching a rag doll. Yue Yang rolled up the sleeve—black tendrils crawled beneath the skin.

  Yue Yang activated her Purifying Spirit Eye without hesitation, drawing out the poison with the scant spiritual energy her damaged root allowed. Sweat soaked her clothes; every pulse cost her.

  The black puddle at Timo’s feet dried unnaturally fast, then released thin green smoke in the fading light.

  Elder Bai hastily gathered the remnants on a handkerchief and hurried to examine it.

  “We’ve studied with her since we were little,” Lulu whispered. “I’ve never seen her like this.”

  Timo shook his head. The humiliation stung, but relief flooded through him. The fog in his mind was gone; his thoughts felt sharp again.

  “It was… wrong,” he said softly. “Like a dream I couldn’t wake from. I thought I left the dungeon—saw spirit beasts in the trees, watching me.”

  “She mentioned the Windrider Clan,” Lulu said. “Old eastern tribe, three hundred years gone. I read it in the legion archives through Uncle Yi’s arcane eyes.”

  “She said I’m Windrider blood. That she wanted my body… that something had awakened in me.”

  “You got lucky,” Lulu replied. “If you’d had a useful root, she’d have taken it long ago.”

  Timo looked at the girl. The tendrils were retreating, but Yue Yang was trembling now, Wanwan supporting her.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Seeing his sister burn herself out like this twisted something deep in Timo’s chest. Tomorrow he turned twelve. After that, his spirit root would seal forever. He would never awaken. He would remain powerless—always the one protected, never the protector.

  The Windspirit Hare he had searched three years for, stolen by the fire evil cultivator. The loss still burned.

  “Timo… you’re okay…”

  Fei’s weak voice made Timo spin around. Bandages thick around his abdomen, face pale, but awake.

  “Brother Fei!”

  Timo hugged his leg tightly, relief threatening to spill over.

  Fei rested a shaky hand on the boy’s head. Timo had always felt more like his own little brother. Seeing him safe loosened something tight in Fei’s chest.

  “Sis—Brother-in-law’s awake!” Timo said, grinning through sudden tears.

  Yue Yang flushed, looking away sharply. Their feelings were real, but unspoken—unallowed, while her mission remained unfinished.

  “You little brat,” Fei muttered, voice fond despite the scolding. On the edge of death, only her face had kept him anchored.

  Yue Yang kept her heart locked. Protect Timo. Find the killer. Until her brother was safe, she would not lean on anyone.

  But Timo saw the loneliness she tried to hide, and it hurt more than anything else.

  The Vial That Could End a Legion

  Yue Yang tried hard to hide her feelings, but the moment Fei opened his eyes, joy rose in her chest so plainly that anyone could see it.

  Wanwan leaned close and whispered in her ear, “Come on, Sister Yue, just say yes to Fei. Besides Feng Yi, who else could even compare?”

  “Focus,” Yue Yang murmured. “We’re still treating him.”

  At the mention of Feng Yi’s name, Fei perked up. “Let me help too!”

  He started to stand, but his legs buckled and he dropped to one knee. He covered it quickly. “Just stiff from lying down. Need to move a bit.”

  He forced out a few push-ups. The solid muscles of his chest drew sidelong glances from several of the female healers.

  “Captain, report on the missing children case—complete!” Lulu announced with mock formality.

  Fei eased himself down to sit on the floor. “What do you mean?”

  Lulu lowered her voice and leaned in. “Those kids in there? They’re the same ones who vanished a month ago. The Evil Cultivators dragged them to the underground palace in the Black Forest and stripped every last spiritual root.”

  Her voice dropped to almost nothing on the final words.

  Fei’s mind flashed to the ice evil cultivator and fire evil cultivator he had fought. The suspicion hit him like a blow. He stared, stunned, at the children inside.

  “Wait… how do you know all this? I sent you to Salt River Valley.”

  Lulu’s big eyes darted away, embarrassment written all over her face.

  “I… ran into a villager on the road. She said she’d been attacked by magical beasts and got lost. I let my guard down, and next thing I knew, they’d taken me to the palace.”

  That was exactly why Elder Gan had insisted Fei take her along—the girl was wild and impulsive, and her training was always the harshest. Yet she still went off script whenever she pleased. Fei felt the urge to throttle her.

  “Good thing Aunt Guo showed up in time,” Timo Yang added quickly. “Otherwise we’d all be dead.”

  “Not necessarily,” Lulu said. “I already had a plan. Wait for the right moment, then poison every last evil cultivator.”

  She patted her chest confidently and pulled a small brown vial from an inner pocket of her leather armor.

  Timo’s jaw dropped when he saw the label. “That medicine… it’s in your hands?”

  “Shh!” Lulu hissed, motioning frantically for silence.

  “You’re hopeless,” Fei said, a mix of relief, exhaustion, and disbelief washing over him. If he weren’t injured, he’d have kicked her off the airship himself. “That’s the magic poison powder Elder Bai has been searching for. Put it back—now.”

  “No way!” Lulu clutched it tighter. “You think this kind of genius comes naturally? I’ve been fighting for my life since the day I was born. Good things are only useful when they’re in my hands. Hmph!”

  Fei lifted a weak thumb in surrender. “Fine. You win. You’re the boss. But I’m telling you—that one vial could wipe out an entire legion.”

  Lulu’s grin widened as she glanced around the treatment chamber. Elder Bai was completely absorbed in another world of her own.

  “That’s why I say destiny belongs to us,” she whispered. “All that nonsense about prophecies—if something really goes wrong, we end up with our spiritual roots ripped out, spending the rest of our lives as someone else’s slaves.”

  Fei couldn’t argue. For once, she was right. Without a spiritual root, you were meat on a butcher’s block.

  His gaze drifted to Yue Yang nearby, then to Timo sitting beside him.

  “Timo, little brother, you could learn a thing or two from Lulu here. Small as she is, she’s cunning as a devil—shameless when she needs to be, flexible when it counts.” He paused, frowning. “Why does it feel like those are all qualities adults are supposed to have?”

  “We’re home!” Lulu suddenly shouted, pulling a face at the window.

  Outside, the banners of the Watch Legion fluttered into view. The two uninjured children pressed their faces to the glass, eyes wide with excitement at the ancient stone buildings of the camp.

  Those same children had been captured with Lulu; Rui Guo had stormed the palace before their roots could be taken.

  The airship slowed, following the signal flags, and settled gently outside the main encampment.

  The children whose roots had been stolen were not excited. For a child born with a spiritual root, losing it felt like dying once and still having to breathe afterward. Everything became gray, distant, untouchable. Interest in the world simply evaporated.

  Once the medical team landed, healers hurried the children into the legion’s infirmary.

  Elder Bai vanished the instant his feet touched ground, disappearing into the crowd and diving straight into her laboratory to study the black water samples.

  The camp’s ancient stone structures mirrored the style of the underground palace, but here people lived year-round. The buildings were well-maintained, strategically placed, alive with daily activity. The terrain was naturally defensible—ringed by sheer cliffs, with ferocious beasts prowling below.

  The medical wing sat at the outermost edge. Beyond it, no outsider was permitted.

  The moment Timo stepped off the ship, Yue Yang dragged him straight into an examination room. Tests, blood samples, scans—only after everything came back clean did she finally let him rest.

  Timo and Lulu ate a nutrient-rich meal in the infirmary. Elder Bai’s orders were clear: neither was allowed into the inner camp for three days.

  Settled in the healers’ dormitory, Lulu fell asleep almost instantly, recovering her strength.

  Timo couldn’t settle. The wind spirit rabbit he had chased for three years—gone. The thought gnawed at him.

  He leaned against the headboard, idly turning a red gemstone between his fingers. The stones were common in Watch territory and worth little here, but he’d heard merchants in Heping Town would pay good money. He planned to trade it for something nice for his sister.

  A sudden buzzing broke the quiet.

  A bloodsucking gnat the size of a fingernail landed on Lulu’s arm.

  Timo blew gently. The insect ignored him, rubbing its slender proboscis in challenge.

  Just as it prepared to bite, a faint spark of electricity crackled across Lulu’s skin. The gnat froze, then dropped limp.

  Lulu’s eyes snapped open. She smirked and slapped it dead with one swift palm.

  “Little pest. Thought you’d drink from me?”

  Wide awake now, frustration set in. She couldn’t go here, couldn’t go there—she paced like a caged animal.

  “This dormitory is so boring. There’s nothing!”

  Timo hurriedly slipped the gem back into his pouch before she noticed and tried to claim it.

  “We did go into the Black Forest,” he said. “If some curse flares up, they’ll probably kick us both out of camp.”

  Lulu snorted. “By that logic, the commander and everyone else who went would be thrown out too.”

  Timo had to admit she had a point. He was overthinking it.

  “Shh!”

  Lulu threw up a hand signal, leapt silently from her bed, and pressed her ear to the door. Footsteps outside—she recognized one set immediately.

  Her father was among them.

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