"Are you certain about this?" Liu Ruobing asked softly as she walked beside Jun Haoxuan through the long palace corridor, the lantern flames reflecting gently against the polished jade walls. "An alliance with the wolf beast clan would strengthen us greatly, but they still resent the Azure Dragon Clan despite Shenzhen’s marriage to their prince."

Jun Haoxuan walked with his hands clasped behind his back, his golden reptilian eyes calm yet thoughtful.

"I know," he replied. "But it is still necessary."

His voice remained steady as the flowing sleeves of his pale robes brushed against the marble floor.

"The divine beast clans have stood divided for too long. If prosperity is to continue, then broader alliances must exist beyond the Divine Heart Clans." His gaze lowered slightly. "And more than that... I want stability for the children."

Liu Ruobing smiled faintly at those words, pride softening her elegant features. "You truly have become a good ruler, A-Xuan."

Jun Haoxuan chuckled quietly. "You support me too much, Mother."

"You deserve it." She paused before adding gently, "Perhaps you should visit Ningyan afterward. You have been buried in political affairs for days."

Jun Haoxuan parted his lips to answer but suddenly froze.

A violent pain pierced straight through his chest.

His breath caught sharply. "Ngh—!"

He pressed a hand against his chest as his golden eyes widened. The calm blue glow surrounding his body suddenly flickered and shifted into ominous purple.

The pain intensified instantly.

Jun Haoxuan dropped to one knee. "Ningyan..."

The name escaped his lips breathlessly.

He could feel it. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

It felt as though Ningyan’s pain was surging directly into his own body through their bond.

Around him, the corridor fell into panic.

"A-Xuan!" Liu Ruobing hurried toward him in alarm, but her voice sounded distant, muffled beneath the pounding in his ears.

Another presence approached rapidly.

Jun Shanyuan appeared at the far end of the corridor, hurrying toward them with Su Ruo in her arms while her husband, An Moshang, carried an unconscious Su Mian against his chest.

Behind them, Su Miao followed closely, his face pale with fear.

Jun Haoxuan’s pupils narrowed.

The pain in his chest vanished beneath immediate panic.

He rose to his feet at once and hurried toward them. "What happened?"

Jun Shanyuan looked deeply disturbed.

"They appeared through a portal in the garden," she said quickly. "It’s fortunate Moshang and I were nearby."

Jun Haoxuan’s gaze fell upon Su Mian’s unconscious form.

His heart sank.

Then he lowered himself before Su Miao, placing both hands gently on the child’s shoulders.

"Miao," he asked carefully, "did your father send you here?"

Su Miao nodded quickly. "Father said he needs to take care of something important."

"Dad Wuhen was there too," Su Ruo added anxiously from Jun Shanyuan’s arms.

Both children looked frightened.

Jun Haoxuan slowly rose to his feet again, his eyes fixed on the unconscious Su Mian.

Every instinct within him screamed that something catastrophic had happened.

"Take them to rest," he said to Jun Shanyuan and An Moshang. "I am going to the Abyss Serpent Clan."

Liu Ruobing frowned deeply. "What do you think happened?"

Jun Haoxuan’s expression darkened. "With Mian unconscious..."

He paused briefly.

"...nothing good."

He strode out of the palace without another word.

The instant he stepped into the open night air, blue lightning exploded around his body with a deafening crack.

The pressure of dragon qi shook the heavens.

In the next moment, Jun Haoxuan shifted into his immense dragon beast form, scales glowing beneath the fading light of the blue moon as he shot upward into the sky.

Like a streak of divine lightning, he disappeared beyond the clouds.

~°~

Within the White Tiger Clan, snow blanketed the entire realm.

The rooftops, the stone pathways, the towering palace walls, everything lay buried beneath layers of white while the fading blue moonlight stretched across the heavens above.

Though clouds drifted through the night sky, fragments of the moon’s eerie glow still slipped through, painting the falling snowflakes in shimmering silver-blue light and giving the entire clan an almost otherworldly beauty.

Lanterns swayed gently beneath the cold wind.

The clan banners fluttered sharply in the icy air all the way toward the imperial palace at the heart of the White Tiger territory.

Inside the palace, Rong Yue sat quietly within his sleeping chamber.

A silver aura flowed slowly around his body as he cultivated in silence, his expression calm and composed. One hand rested neatly upon his lap while his tiger ears twitched faintly atop his head, his tail swaying lazily beside him.

Suddenly, he felt it. A familiar pressure entered the palace grounds.

Rong Yue’s blue feline eyes snapped open instantly. Sharp and alert.

Without hesitation, he rose to his feet and strode out of the chamber, silver robes trailing behind him as he moved swiftly through the corridor before stepping onto the balcony overlooking the palace grounds below.

And there, standing beneath the falling snow was Lan Meishan.

The serpent beast king’s expression was unusually severe. Gone was the impassive calm he normally carried.

Beside him stood Yan Wuhen.

But something was terribly wrong.

The red-gold glow that usually surrounded the nine tailed fox had vanished completely. His tails hung low behind him. Even his fox ears had fallen lifelessly against his hair.

And beside them stood a woman with long white hair cascading over her shoulders, her head lowered as glowing emerald chains wrapped tightly around her body, restraining her in place.

Rong Yue felt it. Something had happened.

Something had happened to Ningyan.

His pupils constricted.

Without another thought, he leapt from the balcony, robes snapping in the freezing wind before landing soundlessly before them.

His sharp gaze immediately swept over their expressions.

"What happened?"

"Ningyan is dead." Yan Wuhen’s voice was quiet. Too quiet.

Lan Meishan’s hands clenched tightly into fists. "He is not."

The response came sharply as though Meishan refused to even allow the possibility to exist.

Rong Yue felt his heart skip painfully.

His gaze darkened.

"What happened?" he asked again.

Lan Meishan exhaled slowly before gesturing toward the phoenix beastwoman. "We need to lock her away first."

At those words, the woman slowly lifted her head.

Her vivid purple eyes burned with fury as they landed upon Rong Yue, and for a brief moment even he could not deny the resemblance she bore to Ningyan.

But he ignored it completely.

Without another word, he led them through the palace and down into the underground prison hidden beneath the White Tiger Clan.

The cold there was heavier. Darker. Ancient sealing formations glowed faintly along the walls.

Lan Meishan threw the phoenix beastwoman directly into one of the prison cells before immediately casting several sealing spells around her body. Emerald restraints wrapped tightly around her throat, wrists, and ankles, suppressing her movements completely.

Only after the prison doors sealed shut did the three of them finally turn to leave.

But Yan Wuhen did not move. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

He simply stood there before the prison cell. Silent. Still.

Xie Menghua now knelt upon the cold ground within the cell, glaring viciously upward at him through strands of white hair.

Wuhen stared back at her.

His tails remained lowered. His ears still drooped lifelessly against his head.

Even his breathing had become eerily calm, as though his mind had gone completely blank.

But his eyes.... his eyes were terrifying. Because beneath that emptiness was overwhelming wrath.

Neither Rong Yue nor Lan Meishan attempted to call for him.

Instead, they quietly walked away from the prison together.

Only once they were out of earshot did Lan Meishan finally let out a heavy breath.

"The phoenixes came," he said quietly. "The ones who escaped the dungeon back then."

His expression darkened further.

"This woman is one of them. I believe she and the other phoenix are siblings."

He paused briefly. His face tightened painfully. "She killed—"

The words abruptly stopped in his throat as though even saying them aloud felt fundamentally wrong.

Lan Meishan swallowed hard before correcting himself. "She hurt Ningyan."

His emerald eyes sharpened with certainty. "And then they took him."

Rong Yue’s fists clenched tightly at his sides.

From the moment Lan Meishan and Yan Wuhen appeared at the White Tiger Palace, he had already sensed it, something catastrophic had happened. Something neither of them wished to say aloud because even they could not accept it.

His breathing turned uneven.

"No... no..." Rong Yue pressed two fingers against his forehead, forcing himself to stay calm. "We have to find him."

His sharp blue eyes lifted immediately toward Lan Meishan.

"What about the children?"

"They are safe," Lan Meishan replied at once.

Yet the instant those words left his lips, a sharp agonized scream echoed from behind the prison doors.