Chapter 34 – From the Valley of Wind

The Wind Mage suddenly leaned back, a cold glint narrowly brushing past the tip of her nose. Her flexible and powerful waist bent into an unbelievable arc in the air, and she used the momentum to flip backward, landing with one hand on the ground.

She abruptly raised her head, her pale green eyes lighting up like two flames, startlingly bright as she stared straight at the mage across from her.

The mage opposite her had dark golden eyes, but she could sense no focus in them—he was indeed looking in her direction, but it was merely that direction, not a gaze. This calmness, almost indifferent, matched his cold and aloof demeanor. This expression and temperament made her feel that no matter what attack she launched, it would pose no threat to him!

And after forcing her back, he showed no intention of attacking—meaning he was letting her off.

The female mage pursed her lips and leaped up from the ground again, stirring up a violent whirlwind. The whirlwind took her body as its eye, gradually condensing and solidifying into a pale green disc around her, formed by countless tiny wind blades spinning rapidly, almost comparable to sharp blades.

This spell widened the eyes of the spectators—the previous gales and wind blades were one thing, as they could be attributed to the female mage’s proficiency in instant spellcasting. But now, a spell that clearly fell outside the realm of low-level magic had been cast without any audible incantation.

In his seat, Lin Wei slightly furrowed his brows.

The reason was simple—this battle style, which almost never involved incantations, was strikingly similar to Duan Yu’s!

In a moment of distraction, the female mage had already leaped high into the air, diving down with the massive wind disc around her, pressing straight toward Duan Yu. Compared to the wind disc, the human figure appeared tiny, creating a stark visual contrast between the two.

Yet Duan Yu simply stood in place, showing no movement even as the wind disc approached.

Haitie, watching the scene, clenched her right hand on the armrest, clearly tense. Lin Wei, on the other hand, appeared much more relaxed, watching Duan Yu with interest, even harboring some anticipation and speculation about what he would do next.

When the wind ring was just a short distance away from Duan Yu, he finally moved.

He slowly raised his right hand—the tip of his finger, shimmering with a faint golden light, just touched the violent green wind disc.

Silence.

The sound of the wind ceased completely in that instant, as if the scene had frozen.

A mage in the stands couldn’t help but whisper in confusion, “What is he doing…”

“Idiot!” his companion slapped the back of his head, though his body remained leaning forward, facing the arena, afraid to miss a single moment. “Release your spiritual energy!”

Many mages in the audience closed their eyes, as their strength wasn’t enough to simultaneously use their vision and observe with spiritual energy.

When spiritual energy extended, the world it revealed was completely different from what the eyes could see.

The ring, which appeared as a pale green storm in the visual world, was shown in the spiritual realm as rapidly swirling green magic elements. It was still massive and imposing, but at its edge was a dazzling golden light point. From this point, golden elements spread like lightning tearing through the sky on a stormy night!

The wind elements in the green disc condensed into countless spinning wind blades, which were now clashing with the newly formed golden blades—they collided densely, and the mages watching intently even experienced auditory hallucinations, as if the crisp sound of blades clashing was ringing in their ears.

Many of the blades shattered in these collisions, unable to maintain their form, dissipating back into faint mist-like magic elements. Among the disappearing blades, the green ones were clearly more numerous, as could be seen from the gradually changing color of the ring.

The female mage had already used most of her spiritual energy to control the wind blades, which made her face slightly pale, but her eyes remained sharp, her fighting spirit undiminished.

From the beginning, apart from the sound of the wind, the arena had been silent. Now, the first incantation finally appeared. The incantation was extremely brief, with only about a dozen syllables. As the words “Agathas” fell, the green light suddenly intensified, and the wind blades began spinning rapidly again.

But the female mage’s advantage didn’t last long. A moment later, the dazzling golden light point, under its master’s control, suddenly dispersed. Golden ripples spread layer by layer from the point of contact, covering the green disc and transforming into countless fine streams of light, overlapping with the wind blades. Wherever they passed, the flow of wind elements was completely blocked, ceasing and then quietly dissipating shortly after.

The female mage slowly landed, giving Duan Yu a deep look. “Your elemental control is stronger than mine. I admit defeat.”

With that, she turned and left the arena decisively.

Ignoring the murmurs in the stands, the two black-robed “Law Enforcers” in the front row exchanged glances. One of them spoke, “These two children are both extraordinary.”

The other nodded. “Especially the one with the metal attribute… It seems he’s already capable of directly controlling elements without materializing them.”

The first speaker added, “Children from those families always have such enviable talent and temperament.”

“Unfortunately…” the other slowly shook his head and said no more.

After the brief conversation, the two returned to their stern and silent demeanor as Law Enforcers.

With the Wind Mage stepping down, and after witnessing such a battle, no one stepped forward to challenge for the moment. The arena was left with only Duan Yu, whose striking appearance and upright posture now had the female mages in the audience beaming with joy.

Lin Wei, looking at Duan Yu’s figure, smiled and stood up, saying to Haitie, “I’ll go have some fun.”

Watching Lin Wei’s leisurely descent, Haitie sighed helplessly and rested her forehead in her hand.

She had seen Lin Wei and Duan Yu spar many times at the academy—the scenes were somewhat indescribable.

Battles involving summoners were always lively, as even in one-on-one challenges, summoners had a way of making them grand and spectacular.

Especially knowing the summoning spells Lin Wei was most proficient in now… The mage lady glanced around at the packed audience, feeling that this was going to be an embarrassment on a massive scale.

When the morning ended, a mage among the spectators returned home and said to his wife, “My dear Kalina, when I left for the sparring arena this morning, I saw you were still asleep and didn’t want to disturb you. But now I deeply regret it—you missed a precious morning! I swear by the Goddess of Light, this was the most exciting duel I’ve ever seen in my life!”

His wife asked curiously, “What happened?”

The mage’s expression was one of rapture. “First, there was a beautiful Fire Mage lady and a Wind Mage lady, both of them were very… no, no, dear, put down your staff, I didn’t mean it like that!”

After some commotion, the mage continued, “They both had extraordinary strength! The Fire Mage lady cast a powerful spell and defeated an adult mage of the same rank—mind you, judging by her age, she’s still just a magic apprentice! But the Wind Mage lady was even more terrifying. She didn’t use a single incantation but conjured a whirlwind, leaving the Fire Mage no chance to chant, and won the duel!”

His wife said, “Well, that does sound impressive… but it probably doesn’t quite live up to the oath you just made.”

“Of course, the most exciting part came later. That was a battle that could only be fully appreciated with spiritual energy—it was a pure contest of elemental control! I had no idea such a magical way of fighting existed. I remember every detail and will have to ask my teacher how they did it…”

His wife nodded thoughtfully. “So, you saw a mage who could directly control elements without materializing them for attacks?”

“Exactly, my dear, you’re always so sharp. But there was one more duel after that.” The mage’s expression turned complicated. “I have to admit, this duel was also extremely exciting, but…”

“But what?”

“But,” the mage said, “for a magical duel, it was just too intense and chaotic…”

——The young mage in the black robe didn’t land directly in the arena like the previous challengers. He walked down step by step, standing still with a smile on his face, addressing his opponent, “Let’s stick to the old rules.”

“Alright,” Duan Yu agreed.

The spectators, of course, didn’t know what their “old rules” were, but they felt that the atmosphere between these two wasn’t as tense as in the previous duels.

Lin Wei began chanting—the first rule of the old rules was that the summoner goes first.

The first summoning spell was naturally the most powerful, the Gate of Contracts. Once this gate was established, as long as the summoner had enough spiritual energy, a continuous stream of magical beasts, matching the gate’s level, would emerge. Although the specific types couldn’t be controlled, their numbers were reliably guaranteed.

The faint white shadow of the gate slowly materialized, woven from countless intricate magic arrays. A gray soul passageway swirled—if the summoned beasts were from this continent, their physical forms would emerge. If they were from distant, unreachable spaces, their soul projections would appear.

The old man was right. Even though the annotations in the Mage’s Thirty Iron Laws stated that attempting spatial transfer of living beings was a dead end, when they emerged from the gate, they were indeed unharmed—was this the power of the contract?

Lin Wei first controlled a few thick-skinned Earth Elemental beasts to stand near him, providing reliable defense, and then launched an attack.

Different beasts had different attack methods. In an instant, ice spikes, storms, flames, and light spheres all hurtled toward Duan Yu.

Summoners were extremely rare due to the need for a special soul talent. The mages who had never seen a summoner in action were startled by the barrage of colorful attacks.

After all, each type of magic element had its own characteristics and required different methods to counter. Dealing with so many different types of magic simultaneously demanded not only extremely high control over one’s own magic but also the ability to multitask extensively!

After doing this, Lin Wei didn’t stop. Once the Gate of Contracts was completed, other summoning spells no longer required lengthy incantations. He still had plenty to do—though the beasts were formidable, they were still no match for Duan Yu.

Golden streams of light split into lines of varying thickness, meeting the different magical attacks and erupting into bright, dazzling light—and a few extra strands shot straight toward Lin Wei, splitting above his head and reforming into numerous blades, flying downward.

Lin Wei activated the contract, and several Earth Elemental beasts opened their mouths, spitting out light spheres that formed defensive spells around him—the blades struck the stone shields, sending shards of rock flying in all directions.

The defensive spells continued to strengthen. Lin Wei finished a short incantation, and with a light stomp of his right foot, a dark-colored magic circle appeared on the ground and quickly vanished, only to reappear a moment later beneath Duan Yu!

A thicket of dark, sharp magical thorns sprang up from the magic circle. Duan Yu, sensing it, leaped up a moment before, but instead of floating in the air, he landed on another patch of ground.

The second rule of the old rules: when the summoner can’t fly, the mage can’t fly either.

The beasts, guided by the contract, launched a second wave of magical attacks, the scale even larger than the first.

The stone shields were finally pierced, and a green light sphere flew out from among the beasts, casting a wind-element agility spell on Lin Wei, helping him dodge the dense golden blades with swift movements.

While dodging, Lin Wei’s incantations didn’t stop. One after another, support spells like “Mirror Image” were cast. Every time Duan Yu landed, a thicket of thorns would sprout beneath him moments later. These were metal-element magical plants, their spikes glinting with a cold, dark light.

The spectators, already shocked by the sudden appearance of numerous beasts turning the duel into a group battle, and the massive arena being filled for the first time in history with a frenzy of colorful magic, were now witnessing the once-pristine arena being overrun with menacing thorns in mere moments. Some mages were already dumbfounded.

Looking at the two mages darting rapidly through the thorn thicket and golden rain of blades, an elderly mage muttered, “Is this a joke? This doesn’t look like a duel between two mages at all! Where’s the dignity of mages—the one in the thorn thicket still moves with some grace, but that black-robed kid on the other side is just jumping around like a monkey!”

A few mages echoed his sentiment, but most were watching the unusual duel with great interest—the pace was simply too fast, far more engaging than the usual scene in the sparring arena where two mages stood on opposite sides chanting incantations, with the winner being whoever finished first!

The old mage happened to be sitting near Lin Wei, who couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he continued “jumping around” with the wind magic’s enhancement. For the attacks that were too tricky to dodge, he had the Earth Elemental beasts quickly cast defensive spells to block them. Thankfully, Duan Yu was preoccupied with the beasts’ attacks and couldn’t focus entirely on Lin Wei, allowing him to dodge and block all the dense assaults.

Though his movements weren’t as graceful as those of an elemental mage who could naturally fly, at least he didn’t get hurt—this was a skill he’d honed over years on the battlefield!

When Lin Wei had used thorns to deal with the demon wolves before, it had yielded unexpected results. So this time, he also primarily used these thorns to try and push Duan Yu back—magical attacks, after all, had a range limit. However, just as he was feeling quite pleased with himself, he noticed the metallic glint on the thorns’ spikes and silently cursed himself for forgetting the most important point—he had actually used metal-element magical plants to deal with a metal proficiency mage!

Lin Wei immediately stopped chanting the Mirror Image spell, and the thorns ceased to grow. He began another incantation—a small summoning gate opened in midair, and faint chattering sounds could be heard from within.

Haitie, sitting in the stands, covered her face upon hearing the noise—Lin Wei had indeed used this trick.

Duan Yu, maneuvering through the thicket of thorns, quickly noticed the nature of these magical plants after dodging a few times—with a casual swipe of his left hand over the thorns, a faint golden light spread out, and wherever it passed, large swathes of thorns were instantly severed at the waist, their forms dissipating.

——When elements of the same attribute clashed, it was a matter of purity. The higher level had absolute dominance over the lower!

At that moment, the summoning gate opened, and the chattering sounds grew louder. Duan Yu clearly recognized this spell, his brows furrowing as golden streams of light shot toward the small summoning gate, attempting to deal with whatever was inside before it could emerge.

Sharp screams erupted from within the gate—clearly, something had been hit. The long, piercing sound burst forth, and the mages in the arena instinctively covered their ears, but it was no use. The sound continued to echo in their minds, making their scalps tingle.

The screams came one after another, but some survivors managed to fly out—they were a small group of black, bat-like creatures.

A well-informed mage recognized them and exclaimed, “Arcane Bats!”

Entry 2,301 of the Bestiary of Magical Beasts: Arcane Bats, group-dwelling in swamp regions and forest caves, possess a rare talent for mental magic.

The mages immediately recalled their studies of the Bestiary of Magical Beasts from their academy days, wailing as they covered their ears even tighter: these little creatures could scream, and their cries contained mental magic, causing extreme disruption and discomfort!

Only Haitie seemed unaffected. She lowered her hands from her ears in confusion, looking at the pendant on her chest that was emitting a soothing coolness—the “Elf’s Tears” given to her by the old man.

Could it defend against mental magic?

The person who heard the loudest screams was undoubtedly Duan Yu, but unlike the mages in the stands who were suffering from headaches and dizziness, he only slowed down his spellcasting slightly.

Lin Wei urged the Arcane Bats through the contract: My little darlings, scream, scream loudly, right at that guy across the way—

The stands were a chaotic mess of miserable expressions, but even so, the mages persisted in watching the arena.

“Stop!” A deep, resonant voice rang out from the front row, imbued with immense magical power. The two on the stage, the group of oddly shaped, roaring magical beasts, the fluttering and screeching Arcane Bats, and the green vine that had sneaked up behind Duan Yu—all froze in place. The dozen or so little bats hovered in the air for a moment, their bright black eyes wide open, before plummeting to the ground—this was the suppression magic of a high-level mage.

One of the Law Enforcers stood up: “The use of spells that cause indiscriminate harm to the mages present is prohibited in the sparring arena! The two of you, leave the stage! The summoner is fined ten high-level magic crystals!”

Lin Wei blinked—there was actually such a rule? He should have summoned Blood Bats that only targeted a single enemy instead.

Lin Wei sighed helplessly, recalling his summoned beasts, and walked side by side with Duan Yu back to their seats. Of course, he received quite a few angry glares along the way.

However, most people were still a bit regretful. If the duel had continued, who knows what kind of spectacular scenes would have unfolded? Enduring a bit of mental attack would have been worth it, but unfortunately, it was interrupted.

As noon approached, the sparring arena temporarily halted any further duels. The spectators, having spent the entire morning watching, began to leave—carefully observing one magical battle after another was a draining experience for their spiritual energy. They needed to return home to rest or meditate, perhaps gaining some insights useful to their own strength from today’s duels.

Haitie had taken the stage quite a few times today, facing opponents whose strength was mostly on par with hers. However, no challengers capable of matching Duan Yu had appeared.

“It’s said that news from the sparring arena spreads quickly. Starting tomorrow, more powerful mages will hear about today’s events and come here to challenge!” Haitie said.

Mages loved to compete with strong opponents. Even if they couldn’t win, it would hone their skills. The duel between Duan Yu and the female mage had already surpassed the level of the ordinary mages present, so once the news spread, mages who believed they could match that strength would come.

Lin Wei wasn’t particularly interested in dueling others. He had taken the stage today on a whim—he hadn’t sparred with Duan Yu since leaving the academy, and the itch had gotten to him. However, he was well aware that his current strength couldn’t compare to Duan Yu’s without restrictions. At the very least, he needed to summon flying beasts and increase the number of his contracted beasts first.

Over the next few days, the three of them would spend time here. Lin Wei didn’t plan to take the stage again. On one hand, summoners were more suited to fighting in teams, and one-on-one duels weren’t particularly useful for them. On the other hand, the purpose of coming to the sparring arena was to accumulate combat experience, which wasn’t as important for him.

Summoners lacked the ability to communicate with magical elements. Their combat style relied entirely on summoned beasts. What they needed to do was accurately judge their opponent’s strength and fighting style, summon the most suitable beasts or magical plants, and, like commanding an army, control them to coordinate perfectly and deliver the most effective attacks while ensuring their own safety.

This combat style, built on overall control and coordination between summoned beasts, couldn’t be honed most effectively in one-on-one duels—the place where a summoner grew the fastest was the battlefield!

For Lin Wei, his combat instincts and experience had already been honed during his long battlefield career in his previous life. To increase his strength, he could only work on his soul power and spiritual energy. Therefore, all he needed was time!

The three of them stood up from their seats and left the arena. At the entrance, they once again encountered the impressive Wind Mage.

On stage, she had only seemed tall, but up close, as a woman, she was almost a head taller than Haitie!

The female mage had been standing at the entrance, but when she saw the three of them coming out, she turned and approached. Her lips were slightly pursed, her expression unreadable—it seemed she rarely interacted with others.

“I’d like to get to know you,” she said, her pale green eyes fixed on Duan Yu. “My name is Lan, from the Valley of Wind.”

——The Valley of Wind.

Of course.

This might explain why their fighting styles were so similar. It seemed that the families from the Elemental Valleys all possessed exceptional talent and an extraordinary affinity with magical elements, allowing them to manipulate them without chanting incantations.

However… Lin Wei thought to himself, although this Wind Mage’s strength was impressive in the eyes of others, it was clearly no match for Duan Yu. This showed that while the bloodlines of these families might give rise to special talents, there were still differences between individuals—if they were all as strong as Duan Yu, wouldn’t that be something? In that case, the war in his previous life might as well not have happened. With five Archmages of Duan Yu’s strength standing at the front, Lin Wei and his Sandra might as well have just ended it there and then.

But this made Lin Wei think of another issue.

The war had lasted a long time, and given the sparse population of the magical world, Lin Wei’s memory wasn’t bad. By the end, he had a general impression of all the mages who had fought, and could even tell which ones were newcomers.

However, among the mages he was familiar with, only about a dozen were people he had encountered at the academy.

Mages like Haitie, Xipo, and even Lan, whom he had just met today, all had outstanding strength in the magical world, yet they had never appeared on the battlefield!

If they had perished during the fall of the Floating Sky Capital, it didn’t make sense.

When the Forbidden Spell “Sunfall” was triggered, the first to notice was the White-Robed Archmage, the current president of the Magic Association, Arkadus. With his strength, he could have escaped, but this honorable Archmage chose not to. He burned his life force to resist the power of the Forbidden Spell, and although he ultimately failed, he successfully gave the mages on the Floating Sky Capital a brief opportunity to escape!

In the end, the Floating Sky Capital inevitably fell along with the Archmage’s life, but many mages managed to escape, preventing the casualties in the magical world from being as severe as the Empire had anticipated.

Given the current strength and growth rate of these people, by the time the war broke out, they would likely have become high-level mages. Even if they happened to be on the Floating Sky Capital at the time, they should have had the ability to escape.

This made Lin Wei think more deeply, because in the Magic Academy, there were indeed many apprentices and teachers whose faces he only recognized in this life, yet he had never seen them on the battlefield…

In a war sparked by the Empire’s schemes and retaliated against by the magical world, which had few twists and turns, the magical world had been generous with its forces. Even alchemists had voluntarily appeared on the battlefield—they had no reason to hide their strength.

Following the normal course of events, there shouldn’t have been so many mages disappearing without a trace. The only possible explanation Lin Wei could think of was that during the time between his fifteenth year and the official outbreak of the war, something unknown had happened in the magical world, resulting in the sacrifice of a portion of its mages…

And also, the Astrology Tower, which had also never appeared in the war!

Lin Wei looked up at the swirling white clouds above the floating city. In his eyes at that moment, the clouds seemed like a misty veil over an unknown path, giving off an eerie and unsettling feeling.

If his guess was correct, then now, as part of the magical world, he would inevitably encounter this event.

The corner of Lin Wei’s mouth curled into a mischievous, almost sinister smile.

After living for so many years, aside from always being beaten by Duan Yu, Young Duke Lin Wei had never encountered anything that felt dangerous or difficult to resolve. Therefore, this speculation gave him the sensation of running a finger along the edge of a sharp blade—both thrilling and slightly fearful, yet irresistible. It was similar to the trembling yet eager feeling he had when Duan Yu’s figure overlapped with that of his past life.

He let out a soft breath, feeling a mix of suppressed excitement.

In this brief moment of distraction, Haitie had already greeted the female mage. She was quite curious about this mage who had defeated her and didn’t hesitate to give her sincere praise for her strength.

“My name is Haitie… Lan, are you also a magic apprentice? You’re really amazing!”

The mage named “Lan” was a bit more approachable in conversation than she had been during the duel, even showing a hint of endearing awkwardness.

“Yes, I’m a second-year magic apprentice. My name only has one syllable, so it might feel a bit off when spoken… My peers call me Ah Lan.”

Lan—this name did feel a bit awkward in the common language of the continent.

Damn it, Lin Wei recalled the first time he heard Duan Yu’s name in his past life—he had also found the two syllables quite strange. But he had gotten used to it over time and hadn’t paid much attention to it.

Was it that damned common language again? Such syllables did bear some resemblance to it.

Lin Wei began to feel that the magical world was special to the continent, and these elemental families were special to the magical world! Not only did they not settle in the Floating Sky Capital, but judging by their naming conventions, they probably used the common language more often, completely disregarding the customs of the Floating Sky Capital and the Magic Academy.

“Ah Lan,” Haitie said with a smile, “I haven’t seen you at the academy.”

“I rarely go out,” Ah Lan replied. “My teacher lives on the Second Floating Island, and I stay there with him.”

“I see… I’ve never been to the Second Floating Island!” Haitie said.

“It’s where the teachers who research magic live. Your teacher will take you there someday.”

At this, Ah Lan turned her gaze back to Duan Yu: “You must be from the Valley of Metal, right?”

Duan Yu nodded in acknowledgment.

“Huh,” Ah Lan scrutinized him. “Your eyes?”

“I can’t see,” Duan Yu replied curtly.

“I see…” Ah Lan nodded thoughtfully. “I had a similar issue with my hearing, so I couldn’t speak either. But my elemental turbulence was very weak, and it resolved when I became an intermediate mage.”

Lin Wei and Haitie exchanged a glance, finding the same thought in each other’s eyes.

Now we’re one race, and those two are another. In that race, elements running amok in their bodies and losing a sense seems as easy as drinking water!

“My mother said that this generation has all had this issue. I’m probably the only one who’s recovered so far,” Ah Lan said, looking at Duan Yu. “In that case, there’s a piece of advice I must give you—when you’re about to completely suppress the turbulence, make sure someone is with you.”

“Why?” Haitie asked this time.

“Because,” Ah Lan said with utmost seriousness, “after it’s completely suppressed, there might be a period—maybe half a day or a full day—where you lose all your senses, and then they’ll slowly return.”

“So, you must have someone with you. That feeling is truly unbearable. If my brother hadn’t been there at the time, I…”

This strong and beautiful girl closed her eyes heavily, clearly recalling a painful memory.

“I’ll be with him,” Lin Wei said coolly to her.

He wasn’t in a good mood.

The family’s efforts to maintain their pure bloodline had indeed brought talent and strength, but it seemed there was a price to pay.

If elemental turbulence was the price, then it certainly wasn’t a light one—especially when it happened to Duan Yu.

Those missed sights, even if they were to reappear later, couldn’t make up for the void in the world during the time spent in darkness. It seemed to have also brought about the varying degrees of aloofness evident in Duan Yu and Ah Lan.

He thought that on the faces of these two, it was probably impossible to see the kind of pure, joyful smile that Haitie had—one that could only be nurtured in the cleanest and most beautiful environment. Even with exceptional talent and immense strength, their early lives had always been marked by a sense of loss.

Ah Lan glanced at Lin Wei and said plainly, “That’s good.”

She then turned back to Duan Yu: “Then I’ll be going—I’ll challenge you again in the future.”

“Ah Lan, wait…” Haitie spoke up. “Are you staying at the inn? We can head back together.”

Ah Lan nodded. “Alright.”

The four of them walked back to the inn together, attracting quite a few glances. Some recognized them from the sparring arena, while others were simply drawn by their appearances—people always liked beautiful things, and this was no exception in the magical world.

The wind in the Floating Sky Capital had picked up at some point, lifting the edges of people’s clothes.

Haitie noticed Ah Lan slightly squinting her eyes, a look of contentment on her face.

“Do you like the wind?”

“Not really,” Ah Lan replied. “It’s a bit like my hometown, where strong winds blow all year round.”

“Are you homesick?” Haitie asked with a smile in her eyes.

“No,” Ah Lan said, her gaze drifting to a young mage on the street who was holding a beautiful moonflower and knocking on the wooden door of a house, her expression slightly distant. “I don’t want to go back.”

Pressing further seemed to touch on Ah Lan’s personal matters, so Haitie politely didn’t bring it up again.

When they reached the huge green tree, the two girls each returned to their rooms.

Lin Wei took a step closer to Duan Yu so he could take them up.

However, Duan Yu didn’t move immediately. Lin Wei turned to look at him, and at almost the same time, Duan Yu turned toward him.

“Thank you,” Duan Yu said.

He was thanking Lin Wei for telling Ah Lan that he would stay with him.

Having lived two lives, Lin Wei had grown up in the bustling heart of the Imperial Capital, where his father had taught him to be slippery with words and always leave room for retreat. He had never been close to anyone, and that line, though not formally spoken, was probably his first promise to someone.

“You…” His heart ached, and for a moment, he didn’t know what to say.

The mage’s expression was as calm as ever, but Lin Wei, who had spent so much time with him, could tell that this wasn’t the same calmness he showed to others.

Only when his beautiful eyes closed did one see the softness and beauty in his features, as if blessed by the Goddess of Fate.

Lin Wei couldn’t help but reach up and touch the corner of his eye.

The dark golden pupils closed gently—a submissive gesture, like a cat in the arms of a noble lady in the Imperial Capital.

Well, a big cat.

His heart softened, and he sighed. “I feel for you…”

The corner of Duan Yu’s eye curved slightly, carrying a hint of a smile, and he reached up to ruffle Lin Wei’s black hair.

Lin Wei looked at Duan Yu’s faint smile, feeling a bit unable to look away.

Just as he wasn’t sure what to do, a scream suddenly came from the tree canopy.

“Ahhhhhh—”

Both of them turned toward the source of the sound.

Daniel’s voice? He had indeed been staying at the inn, tinkering with alchemical materials.

——What had happened?