Unlike his usual grand entrance, the king came without a single guard—just a massive hawk perched at the edge of the courtyard, its wings neatly folded.Mei Lin and Li Wei, standing near the pavilion door, couldn’t hide their shock. It was the first time they’d ever seen a spiritual beast.Kael slowly rose to his feet, brushing the dust off his pants. His gaze met the king’s—eyes that were normally sharp and commanding now carried a rare, almost desperate sorrow.King Tianlong stopped a few steps away from Kael. His broad shoulders seemed to sag, his breathing heavy, as though he had just traveled a long distance without rest.“Li Xin…” the king’s voice was low and hoarse, nothing like the commanding tone that usually followed him. “I’m not here as a king… but as a father who’s lost his daughter.”Kael raised an eyebrow, meeting his gaze calmly. “What happened?”The king swallowed hard, as if forcing the words out. “My second daughter… Yue Lian… she was kidnapped last night.” His fing

That afternoon, the sun dipped slowly toward the west, its light slipping through the gaps of the peony leaves that swayed gently in the breeze.Kael stood quietly at the edge of the garden, both hands tucked into his pockets, staring at the wilting flowers as if he were speaking to them. But his ears didn’t miss the sound of approaching footsteps behind him.A deep, steady voice came first. “Li Xin.”Kael turned his head lazily. King Tianlong approached with two people: Zhao Qian, the Prime Minister of the kingdom—and a young woman with a pale face and eyes still red from crying. The woman’s lips trembled as she saw Kael. She was Yue Ling, Yue Lian’s older sister.“Your Majesty,” Kael greeted, dipping his head slightly.King Tianlong’s sharp gaze stayed fixed on Kael. “You’ve been inspecting Lian’er’s room and the surrounding area all morning. Did you find anything—any clue that could lead us to my daughter?”His voice remained calm, but there was an edge of unease in his eyes that c

Their journey through the forest was silent and swift. The night air was damp and cold, the branches whispering faintly as the kidnappers slipped past like shadows. About fifty miles from the palace, they stopped at a moss-covered rocky cliff. Hidden behind a thick cluster of shrubs was a dark wooden door built into the rock wall—nearly invisible unless you knew where to look.The broad-shouldered man knocked three times in a short-long-short pattern. A moment later came the click of metal locks turning from inside. Two guards emerged from the darkness of the tunnel, carrying small copper lanterns whose yellowish glow danced on the rough stone walls.“Come in, gentlemen,” one of the guards rumbled in a deep voice.Without a word, the three kidnappers stepped through the long tunnel and descended a narrow stone staircase slick with moisture, the smell of damp earth and rusty iron thick in the air. The staircase ended in a wide underground chamber lit only by a handful of torches fixed

The night grew deeper, the damp forest air carrying the scent of wet earth and fallen leaves. On a small hill not far from the ruins of the underground cave, Kael and Yue Lian stopped beneath an old banyan tree whose roots jutted out above the soil. Its thick foliage offered enough shelter from the fine drizzle that had begun to fall.Yue Lian sat leaning against the cold trunk, biting her lip to hold back the irritation she’d been feeling for a while. Her eyes still reflected anger and a touch of fatigue. In a low but urgent voice, she finally asked, “What are we doing here? Why don’t we just go back to the palace and tell my father about that underground hideout?!”Kael, who was sitting cross-legged on one of the thick roots, glanced at her casually, a crooked smile tugging at his lips. “That’s a bad idea,” he replied flatly. “Let them panic. Let them hunt for us. That way, we’ll know who’s really behind all of this.”“But—” Yue Lian started to argue, but Kael plucked a damp clump o

Qiu Shan’s four companions, who had split up to search the forest earlier, froze in their tracks the moment a gut-wrenching scream echoed from the eastern hill. The scream was short—cut off as suddenly as it began.“That voice… Qiu Shan!” hissed the broad-shouldered man.Though scattered in different spots, all four shared the same thought—rush toward the source of the sound.The drizzle had turned the ground slick and muddy; branches snapped under their boots as they pushed through the wet undergrowth, weapons drawn and expressions tight with tension.They finally converged at a small clearing beneath the shadow of a tall pine. Their eyes immediately locked on the figure sprawled on the ground—Qiu Shan.He lay on his side, half his face caked in wet mud. His eyes stared blankly at the dark sky, his neck twisted at an unnatural angle, his chest and ribs crushed as if struck by something heavy. Dark bruises shaped like a handprint marred his throat, and the soil around him was damp wit