My eyes widened. Three months could be both a short and a long time. I forced my breath steady and let my senses settle. As I looked at all four of them with a renewed gaze, no longer overwhelmed by first shock and able to really see them safe, I noticed many small differences.Flee had grown taller and a lot scruffier. Considering that she was a rat that had transformed into human, she was already naturally scruffy, but now it looked more like the scruffiness that came with exhaustion, with tiredness that nourished itself day after day. She wore a short blade at the hip—new habit. I noted the callus at her thumb and forefinger from repeatedly loading and firing the weapons we’d given mortals; even Flee had picked up drills.I looked at all their robes. With how strong their Chi was, Liuxiang, Yan Yun, or Zhang should not look tired, nor should their robes look anything but pristine. But right now their robes looked worn. Their skin looked parched. A faint gray along the knuckles. It

We began to walk toward my master’s house. Villagers kept watching as I moved, hands clasped or held to chests, eyes overawed or brimming with hopeful tears, basking in my presence.I wondered if it would dispel some of that worship and tension if Ash knocked me to the ground like Flee had and started licking my face in front of everyone.Probably not something Ash would agree to do, being the majestic wolf he was. Still, the thought made me laugh and that alone took the edge off their expectations.Even outside the door, my sharp hearing caught the whispers within. Granny Lang and my master seemed deeply immersed in a conversation.“Maybe add more flame-spirit herbs—no, we might need a few leaves from the Divine Tree,” Granny said. “Only then can we really make the fertilizer stronger. But getting those leaves will be risky. Who do we send?”“Zhang might be a good choice,” my master replied. “But then Flee too, with her swift form, she should be able to dodge demons and get there. Bu

I flew out of the house, eyes widening slightly at what was happening beyond the walls.One breath, there was clear air and the thin winter sun. The next, the light dimmed. A smear of black rolled across the clouds and spread outward, not fog, not smoke—Gu. The same greasy stain I’d smelled on battlefields since Azure City, but thicker, threaded with ash-grey motes that drifted down and hissed where they touched the wards.Sirens wailed from three towers. A drumline answered from the east wall—short, clipped signals. Gates slammed. Plates slid into sockets. The whole settlement changed posture in a breath.“Wave!” someone shouted from the south tower. “Wave rolling in!”Yards away, Zhang’s feet hit the ground with a soft thud that still cracked the stone under his boots. He looked up once, then at me. Purple motes flickered along his shoulders. “It’s a big one,” he said, calm like always.Yan Yun appeared next to him, lightning inscriptions flaring. “Third this month,” she muttered. “

The captain slapped the plate. The charge buried inches inside the gate’s core went thump and threw the ox-thing backward, spine shattered. The smaller beasts rolled and kept crawling. One made it to the inner lip.I moved then, not because they couldn’t handle it, but because the risk curve crossed the line I’d drawn in my head. A child runner would be in the path if the thing cleared the lip. I dropped, grabbed a horn, and levered its head around with more force than a normal human could bring. Bone snapped. I pushed it back over the edge and flicked a quiet burst of heat into the carcass to cauterize the Gu before it could splash. Then I moved back.“Thank you, Your Highness!,” the gate captain said reverentially, without looking up.“Don’t thank me,” I said. “Shoot.”She shot.The sky pulsed. The Gu above thickened and then thinned. The second wave crashed and flattened; the third paused and then spread, testing for angles. They’d find none. Not with how good his friends were at t

Those words struck Zhou Fang in a way he’d not expected, as he stared at me blankly—just as he had when he’d first seen me appear. And then slowly he began laughing, laughter that evolved into full-blown cackles. “Hah. You always know just what to say, in the strangest of ways, don’t you? Rather, Yuan, or perhaps I should call you Emperor?”I rolled my eyes. “The empire has collapsed, Zhou Fang. I am an emperor, but you don’t need to show me any formality anymore.”Zhou Fang chuckled good-naturedly. “Now that you’re here, actually, I might need your help.”“My help?” I asked.“The spirits. It’s better if you hear it from them.”Before we returned, Ren cleared his throat. “Two items. First, the ward ring will hold for four hours if I divert the south line. After that, we’ll need a relayer at the sea plate. I can send a runner, but if this meeting runs long—”“Go if you need to,” I told him. “Flee and Ash will stay with me.”Ash nodded once. Flee squeezed my hand and then marched at my