Zora was sprawled on the couch, grumbling between bites of roasted nuts, her lips smeared slightly with oil. The crunching was deliberate—loud and irritating—every single bite an act of rebellion against the man who’d ticked her off hours ago. Kai hadn’t apologized, and she knew he never would. That annoying confidence of his came with a curse—he never saw himself as wrong. So, she sulked, letting her silent fury simmer over her food. “I should poison him,” she muttered under her breath, popping another nut into her mouth. “Just a little... something mild. Maybe a rash. Or hiccups that last three days straight.”Kai, seated on the bed with one leg resting on the other, didn’t even look up. His focus was razor-sharp, eyes locked onto the map stretched before him like it was an ancient puzzle only he could solve. His finger traced the lines with slow precision, lips pressed into a thin, unreadable line. Something felt off. He didn’t like it. Was the map changing or what?His gut chur

Zora’s stomach growled, loud enough to make a few heads nearby turn. She rubbed it absently, frowning, her mind drifting as Kai continued brooding in silence beside her.She hated to admit it, but his logic made sense—annoyingly so. But that didn’t make it any less exhausting. Just thinking of going all the way back to the sect, digging through scrolls, dodging whatever nonsense might be waiting for them... it made her tired already.Still, she huffed and mumbled, “Even if you’re right, Kai... weren’t you using your Heavenly Eye when the disciples handed you the scrolls? Shouldn’t you have sensed something off then? I mean, if someone had malicious intent, you would've seen it, right?”Kai didn’t even flinch at her question. He answered calmly, eyes still narrowed with thought.“That’s the thing. If the disciple who handed it to me didn’t know one of the scrolls was fake... then there wouldn’t have been any negative energy to pick up. No intention to deceive. He was probably just pass

Kai found himself frozen as he came face to face with Abigail.She hadn’t changed much. If anything, she’d only gotten more beautiful. Her formal beige blazer and sleek skirt screamed elegance—probably on her way to a corporate pitch or high-level board meeting. Her heels clicked with purpose, her ponytail bounced with class, and her smile… damn. That radiant, toothy grin could shut down an entire city's electricity.And for some unknown reason, his heart betrayed him with a loud thump.“Kai!” she gasped with delight, already stepping forward with arms open, clearly about to wrap him in one of those warm, overly familiar hugs.But she didn’t get far.Zora moved faster than lightning, sliding between them like a human blockade. She thrust a finger at Kai like he was a demon just summoned from hell.“Don’t touch him!” she declared. “He’s infected!”Abigail blinked. “Infected?”“With perversion,” Zora spat, eyes wide, voice loud enough to draw attention from nearby vendors.“Chronic, unt

Hours later, Kai and Zora stepped into a luxurious restaurant with glowing lanterns, jade-inlaid pillars, and a menu that made most commoners weep. Zora, of course, didn’t bat an eye.She flipped through the menu like a spoiled princess on a mission, ordering everything with the highest price tag—twice.Kai leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. “You do know this isn’t a buffet war, right?”Zora didn’t even glance at him. “You said I could buy everything my little stomach could carry. Don’t back out now, rich boy.”Kai raised a brow, eyeing the mountain of plates arriving one after another. “Yeah, well, turns out your ‘little stomach’ is a spatial ring of its own.”Zora gave him a smug smile, then picked up a glazed meat skewer and bit into it with exaggerated grace. “I’m a cultivator. You should’ve known my appetite is as strong as my spiritual core.”“Spiritual core?” Kai scoffed. “Looks more like you’re cultivating a second belly.”She stabbed at him with a chopstick. “Say that ag

At first, Zora just stood there watching Kai like he’d lost a piece of his sanity. She’d seen him stare at things before—rocks, runes, a random vendor’s soup like it was suspicious—but this time was different.His eyes weren’t just focused… they were locked. Like the world around him had dulled, narrowed down to the single dusty relic on top of a box inside that unimpressive glass box.Zora raised a brow. “Hey, why’s the scroll in your hand glowing faintly?”Kai didn’t answer. His brows were furrowed deep, lips pressed tight in that dangerous way she’d come to recognize—whenever his mind was piecing together something the rest of the world was too dumb to see.But then… Zora blinked.Her gaze slowly shifted toward the object in the glass case again.That torn, bronze-colored sheet… It didn’t look like much. In fact, it had looked completely forgettable when they first walked by. Just another broken thing in a hall full of ancient junk nobody understood.Until now.It was faint—barely