Kai's heart stopped the moment he saw the black veins racing through Zora’s skin. The poison was moving fast—too fast.“Shit!” he hissed, dropping to his knees beside her. With trembling hands, he pressed his palm against her wound, his energy flaring as he activated a basic suppression technique. It wouldn't cure her, but it would buy time—if only a little.Her breath hitched. Her body jerked.Kai's breath turned ragged.“Stay with me,” he growled, his voice shaking more than he wanted to admit. “Don’t you fucking dare close your eyes.”He scooped her into his arms and stumbled forward, his mind racing. They were in the middle of the damn street so late at night —no car in sight. He turned, eyes wild, and that’s when he spotted it—an old taxi turning the corner, slow like it had all the time in the world.Kai didn’t wait.He ran straight at it, nearly throwing himself in front of the vehicle. The driver cursed, slamming on the brakes.The driver rolled down his window. "You—""City G

The sharp sound of something being chomped... loud, slow, and unapologetically obnoxious snapped Kai out of his sleep. His eyes fluttered open, heavy from the weight of exhaustion, and for a second, he had no idea where he was.Then he turned his head.And there she was.Sitting up in bed like she hadn’t just cheated death, hair a mess, cheeks puffed with fruit, eyes bright with mischief, and crunching into an apple like the most dramatic patient the hospital had ever seen.Kai blinked. “What… the hell?”Zora grinned mid-chew. “Morning, sunshine.”He let out a low exhale, long and heavy, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You’re alive.”“Very,” she replied, raising the apple like it was a trophy. “And starving. Got a fruit basket delivery from someone. Could be from your rich lapdog Thane. Not sure. But damn, I needed this.”He studied her for a moment, really studied her. Her color had returned. Her breathing was steady. No signs of the poison flaring up again. The cocktail of antidot

Kai's fingers tapped restlessly against the steering wheel as he drove through the city’s quieter back roads, his mind a storm of silence and fire but he didn’t see anything beyond the thoughts stabbing at his brain.Caleb. The riot. Lies buried years deep.He clenched his jaw, eyes darkening with each turn he made.He said he knew his mother. Said he was family. Helped him with cultivation, protected him more than once…Then why does it feel like every move he made was part of a setup?Was he just a pawn? A name to shadow?Was any of it real?Caleb stepped in like some long-lost guardian..and Kai welcomed him in.But now…Now the cracks were splintering open, and Kai didn’t know if he was uncovering the truth or stepping into someone else's trap. Zora watched the man in conflict with himself and she kept quiet despite wanting to question him but it was best to keep it shut, he doesn't want to provoke kai now.Ella’s voice broke through the silence on the call, cautious but sharp. “Ka

Kai’s eyes lit up as Zora’s serious tone faded into one of scholarly authority. Her explanation had stirred something, something he needed. Answers. Clarity. A direction. He leaned forward, nodding eagerly.“Tell me more,” he said quickly. “Zora, don’t stop now, what else can cause this kind of energy rupture? What else could be behind those deaths?”But instead of answering, Zora leaned back with a smug smile and rubbed her stomach. “Tch. You think I run on air?” she said, yawning dramatically. “If you want a lecture, you better feed your tutor. I need energy, physical energy to break down spiritual science, okay?”Kai didn’t waste time. With a sharp sigh, he pulled out his phone and placed an order, two full-course meals, extra meat, fried dumplings, glazed ribs, noodles, and juice. A lot. Enough to feed three people. He tossed the phone aside and narrowed his eyes at her.“There. Happy now?”Zora grinned. “Now that’s the kind of obedience I like. You’re going to make a very fine si

The moment Kai unrolled the scroll, his eyes scanned the pages slowly, confusion painting every inch of his expression. Symbols, ancient calligraphy, strange diagrams of energy flows and spiritual nodes, it looked more like a chaotic artist’s sketchpad than anything remotely understandable.He blinked. Turned the scroll upside down.Nope. Still nonsense.Turning it sideways didn’t help either.Eventually, he looked up, brows drawn tight, and stared at Zora like she had just handed him a cursed grocery list.Zora, lounging on the couch and rubbing her stomach with all the satisfaction of someone who’d eaten their way through a feast, caught his expression and scoffed. “Tch. Village boy.”Kai didn’t even respond to the insult. “What is this?” he asked, dead serious.She sat up and grinned. “That, oh clueless one, is a top-level cultivation technique. One of the rarest. One of the most guarded. One of the most absolutely illegal-to-even-breathe-near ones.”Kai's frown deepened.Zora, cle