The stunned silence of the auction hall broke into a roaring buzz of speculation. Elara, recovering, announced a short recess.

Mei stood, smoothing her qipao.

"Come along, boys. Time to collect our prizes."

The collection area was a guarded chamber behind the stage. A stern-faced attendant presented Mei with a lacquered case holding the Twin Soul-Dark Pearls.

She opened it without fanfare, the two orbs pulsing with a light-eating darkness, then snapped it shut and handed over a storage pouch.

Damon didn’t see the spirit stones change hands, just a flicker of spatial energy. The attendant’s eyes widened slightly, then he bowed deeply.

"A pleasure, honored guest."

Damon received his broken sword fragment, wrapped in plain silk. It felt unnaturally cold, even through the cloth.

He paid his thirty-five stones from the sect’s advance, the transaction feeling absurdly small next to Mei’s.

Lumina collected nothing, hovering silently, her gaze darting between Mei and the exit.

Outside, under the bright solar lamps of the Capital’s evening, Damon tapped his communication ring.

’Ariel?’

’Damon!’ Her voice flooded his mind, warm and relieved.

’We’re at the central plaza fountain. The hunt was successful, but we have so much to tell you.’

’Stay there. We’re coming.’

He guided Mei and a tense Lumina through the gleaming streets. The plaza was a vast expanse of white stone, the central fountain casting rainbows in the light of floating orbs.

He saw them immediately.

Ariel stood by the water’s edge, her dark blue hair catching the light.

Mio and Mia flanked her, their core disciple robes making them stand out in the civilian crowd.

And perched on the fountain’s rim, tail swishing, was Neko in her small white tiger form.

Ariel’s face lit up. She rushed forward and threw her arms around Damon’s neck, burying her face in his chest.

"Damon!"

He held her for a moment, breathing in her scent of sea salt and jasmine.

"Missed me that much?"

"Always," she murmured, then pulled back, her cheeks pink.

Mio bounded over to Mei.

"Mother! You’ll never believe what we found in the Silver-fang Woods! A whole grove of Shadow-bloom fungi, and Mia managed to track a Ghost-Stalker panther to its den!"

Mei’s smile softened into something genuine.

She reached out and tweaked Mio’s ponytail.

"My little hunter. And you, Mia? Did you keep your sister from charging headfirst into a beast king’s territory?"

Mia, standing shyly a step behind, gave a small nod.

"I calculated the risks. We harvested seventeen high-grade cores."

Neko, seeing Damon, gave a happy chirp and launched herself through the air.

She landed on his shoulder, then slithered down to curl in the crook of his arm, purring like a thunderstorm.

As the twins chattered excitedly to their mother, Damon turned to Ariel.

"The hunt went well? No injuries?"

"Nothing serious," Ariel said, her vivid blue eyes shining.

"Elder Selene was... giving me an intense training back at sect. So the hunt went easier that I expected

"And Neko, she scared off a pack of Heavenly Spirit Realm beast just by yawning at them." she smiled at the cat,

Damon nodded, his hand coming up to stroke Neko’s head.

He then glanced at Lumina, who stood a few feet apart, watching the reunion with an unreadable expression.

"Ariel, this is Lark. He’s a... the sect leader’s direct disciple, who come with us. Lark, this is Ariel Aquaria."

Ariel offered a graceful, noble-born smile. "A pleasure to meet you, Lark."

Lumina gave a stiff, short bow, the motion masculine in its abruptness.

"Likewise."

The group began the walk back to the Golden Sun Pavilion, the wide boulevard stretching ahead of them like a pale ribbon of stone in the evening quiet.

At this late hour the market stalls had shuttered their awnings and the lanterns burned low, their amber light pooling softly on the cobblestones.

Save for the distant murmur of a closing teahouse, the street was nearly empty.

Mei walked ahead with her daughters, the three of them falling naturally into the easy rhythm of family, their voices a low, warm hum punctuated occasionally by Mio’s bright laughter.

Damon kept Ariel close at his side, her dark blue hair catching the lantern-glow like the surface of still water.

Neko was a warm, contented weight curled in the crook of his arm, her soft purring carrying that faint electric tremor unique to a Heavenly White Tiger at rest.

They were two blocks from the Pavilion’s entrance when the feeling crept up his spine.

A pressure. A focused, hostile attention, precise and cold, like a needle-point of ice being pressed deliberately between his shoulder blades.

He didn’t stiffen, didn’t break stride, didn’t let his expression shift by a single degree.

But his Incubus Celestial Eyes flared to life instinctively behind his calm golden gaze, the world sharpening and peeling away into layered rivers of spiritual energy and concealed intent.

There. A shadow pooled unnaturally deep within the high archway of a closed silversmith’s shop, far too still for a shadow at this hour.

Another figure crouched on a rooftop directly across the street, their aura suppressed almost to nothing — almost, but not perfectly.

To ordinary senses, both would have been invisible. To his eyes, they blazed like embers in a dark room.

Mei, laughing warmly at something Mio had said, stopped mid-step.

The laughter did not quite die — it simply faded, trailing off half a breath too early.

Her head tilted, just a fraction, the movement so slight it might have been nothing more than a woman admiring the ornate cornices of the buildings ahead.

But her deep purple eyes had already narrowed scanning the rooflines and archways with the precision of a Saint Spirit Realm master who had lived long enough to trust the oldest of instincts.

"Oh, darling." she sighed, turning back to the group with a pout.

"I’ve just remembered. I left my favorite hairpin at the auction house. A sentimental trifle. You all go on ahead, I’ll catch up."

Before anyone could respond, she took a single, graceful step sideways into the deep shadow of a pillar.

And vanished.