But Emily froze for barely a second before the exhaustion on her face disappeared and a wide smile broke through seeing who it was.Kai and Abigail were standing right there in front of her, alive, looking different somehow, stronger and more settled than when they had left, but still unmistakably themselves.She did not even bother pretending to be composed.Emily rushed toward them and hugged them both tightly.“How have you two been?”Kai let out a long sigh the moment she released him, his face carrying the tired expression of someone remembering far too many unpleasant things at once.“Horror,” he said simply.Emily blinked.Kai shook his head. “Pure horror. I don’t even remember how many times I died.”Emily stared at him for a moment before rolling her eyes.Of course.They had only just returned and Kai was already starting.She had missed him, but she had definitely not missed the way he could turn every experience into something ridiculous within seconds.“You just came back

Kai then asked when they planned to unseal it.Emily had just finished explaining what had happened while they were gone, including the temporary peace Zora had somehow given them by sealing the portal. For the first time in years, there were no alarms ringing every few days, no injured disciples being carried through the settlement, and no exhausted elders waiting for the next wave before they had even recovered from the previous one. The difference was almost uncomfortable. Everyone had grown so used to living with the portal hanging over their heads that its silence felt suspicious.“A week,” Emily replied. “That was the plan. Zora said everyone needed time to recover, train, and prepare before she removed whatever she did.”Kai glanced in the direction of the portal. Even from where they were, he could sense the barrier covering it. He could not tell exactly what Zora had done, but that did not surprise him anymore. Trying to understand everything that woman could do was a good wa

Abigail and Kai spent some time playing with Trouble.The little beast had clearly missed Kai. It had barely left his side since finding him again, and now it was running circles around him, jumping onto his shoulder, then down to the floor before climbing onto Abigail as though it had already decided she belonged to its family too. Abigail had tried to remain serious at first, but after Trouble climbed onto her lap and refused to move, even she gave up and started rubbing the creature behind its ears.Kai, meanwhile, was doing something Abigail strongly suspected he should not be doing.He had opened one of his storage rings and was feeding Trouble.Not normal food either.Years ago, that might have meant spirit fruits or low-level beast meat. But Kai had spent more than a thousand years inside Zora’s training realm, and despite dying more times than he cared to remember, he had also collected an unreasonable amount of useful things. Spirit herbs that were almost extinct outside, str

Kai, on the other hand, walked around the place casually.The wasteland had changed a lot since the first time he had seen it. Back then, most people had been worried about surviving the violent storms and the moulded Qi drifting through the area. Now, every sect or group had established its own territory, with barriers standing firmly around their camps to keep the dangerous energy outside. Some barriers were simple and rough, while the richer sects had built proper defensive formations with several layers.Inside the protected areas were tents, small houses, storage buildings, training grounds, and even stalls where people exchanged pills, weapons, food, and other resources. Paths had formed between the different camps, and cultivators moved around constantly. From a distance, the whole place looked less like a wasteland and more like a small village that had somehow grown in the middle of a dangerous forbidden land.Kai looked around with mild interest.People adapted quickly when

Seeing the men surrounding him, Kai quickly slipped the small container inside his robe. His movement was fast, almost instinctive, and when he raised his head again, his expression had already changed.“What do you want?”His voice was guarded, and his eyes moved across the group carefully.The men noticed how quickly he had hidden the liquid, but none of them tried to take it. Instead, several exchanged knowing looks before the man standing closest to him grinned.“Relax. We’re not here to cause trouble.”Kai looked around at the men blocking every direction.“You have an interesting way of showing it.”The man laughed. “There’s no need to be nervous. We only want to discuss a collaboration.”Kai frowned.“Collaboration?”“Yes.”“What collaboration?”The men glanced at one another again.This time, the smile on their faces carried more meaning.One of them stepped forward slightly. “There’s no point pretending. We’ve been watching you for some time.”Kai’s expression tightened.The