Kage pointed tiredly at the corpses.

"Gather them all. Burn them."

He walked with a staggered gait and arrived beneath the tree where Bei sat obediently, looking around in muted fear. When the little cub spotted Kage below, his eyes blazed with joy for a fleeting heartbeat.

Kage spread his arms and called out.

"Bei..."

The little cub released its clawed grip on the tree branch and plummeted straight into Kage's cradled arms. He dropped it and trudged back to the stone circle.

When he arrived, he was surprised to find Lian Feng still standing, staring at him with naked disbelief.

Kage frowned.

"What?"

Lian Feng remained silent for another beat. Then he jolted from his stunned state.

"I'm certain you can't be any older than thirteen. With your frail body and short stature, I give it thirteen maximum. I'm fourteen. I'm taller than you and far more resplendent, which gives me the older-brother edge. What do you think you're doing, commanding me like that?"

After a breath, he added.

"I'm just curious."

Kage gave him an expressionless stare and simply sat down beside one of the stones.

"Don't burn them, then. It's only a matter of time before other beasts trace the sharp stench of blood. And what was the academy test again?... Whatever it is, I'm sure it doesn't permit you to abandon someone weakened and exhausted to save your own hide. You want to pass the exam, so you'll have to do what you can..."

Kage pointed at the corpses.

"Starting with burning those."

Lian Feng studied him for several seconds. Then he smiled, scratching his head.

"Damn, now that I think about it, you speak like someone far older than me. Your voice carries the stillness before a storm breaks—like thunder sleeping in stone. Wait—are you perhaps a scion of the Ironstorm clan? Couldn't be, couldn't be. The last of them gained admission into the academy last year."

Kage observed the boy with cold indifference before resting his head against the stone and closing his eyes.

Meanwhile, Lian Feng glanced down at the white-furred cub with black stripes, watching as it struck its paws at the limbs of a dead White Ape, snarling with rough-edged ferocity—a sound like tearing silk.

Lian Feng was puzzled.

'He even has a tamed beast. Could he be from the South?'

After several minutes, he gathered the corpses and burned them as Kage had instructed. Afterward, he sat in a lotus position at the corner of another stone and meditated for a while.

The sun climbed higher, sharpening its edge, and the wind rose with it, whipping against his cloak and sending his short yellow hair streaming like torn banners in a gale.

After a while, Kage opened his eyes. The first thing that greeted him was the crisp, charred smell of meat and smoke rolling into the sky like a summons written in ash. He surveyed the area and found Lian Feng standing atop one of the stone pillars, hands clasped behind his back, gazing into the forest with the stillness of someone waiting for fate to arrive.

Kage studied the boy for a moment, then stifled a bitter chuckle.

Lian Feng was exactly as he'd been in his past life—a friend and a foe woven together like light and shadow in a single flame. A stark opposite of everything Kage was. He came from a minor clan but burned with the talent of legends.

He was a good person too, or at least tried to be until the very end. Kage had watched him die in an Impure outbreak that became the kindling for the Black Lotus War—a death that felt like watching the sun swallowed by the earth.

For a time, Lian Feng had been a true friend, the living embodiment of all Kage could never be. But that bond, warm as dragonfire, came to a shattering end when Lian Feng began connecting too many fragments of truth.

Kage had been left with a choice that was no choice at all: risk exposure or drag the young man into a battle he could never survive.

His decision had come rather easily.

Lian Feng leaped off the stone pillar and landed in the middle of the circle, striding over to Kage with the easy confidence of someone unburdened by ghosts.

"So, Kage, what's your plan from here? Have you secured your two Harmony markers?"

Kage leaned away from the stone and crossed his legs.

"I'm expecting people."

Lian Feng observed him quietly.

"People?"

Kage glanced toward the smoke.

"That was meant to draw them here."

Lian Feng's eyes widened in realization.

"Ohhh! Brilliant! I never thought of that. You're a sharp one, Kage. You have the makings of a wise dragon!"

Kage sighed.

'What is his obsession with dragons?'

In his past life, Lian Feng had worn robes embroidered with dragon motifs and collected dragon ornaments with the fervor of a priest hoarding relics. When thieves raided his collection, his wrath had descended like a dragon's breath made flesh.

"Who are the people you're expecting? Companions?"

Kage looked at him with a small, knowing smirk.

"Everyone."

Lian Feng blinked, confused.

"Everyone?"

"I have no companions. Whoever sees this smoke will come here, and we can locate the next Harmony marker together. Besides, if you've seen your second Harmony marker, you should know about that place."

Lian Feng's expression darkened.

"Yes. You're right. It was a warning that appeared twice."

Kage nodded.

"And the best way forward is straight through. I suspect there'll be extra credit for those who dare that route."

Lian Feng folded his arms, his face settling into thoughtful agreement.

"That's a shrewd observation. The academy expects us to choose the easier path because of the warning, but true courage is tested in fire. I believe the Silent Grove is a core part of our examination—anyone who avoids it might fail outright."

Naturally, he thought like that. Lian Feng was the sort who never shied from responsibility, no matter how crushing its weight, and never turned his back on a challenge if it promised growth worth the scars.

Kage was amazed he possessed these qualities even at this age.

"They might not fail... if they excel exceptionally in other areas."

Lian Feng considered Kage's words, then laughed softly, scratching his head with a sheepish grin.

"Right, right. I failed to account for that part."

Just at that moment, Bei swung his head back, snarling toward the forest with a sound like gravel scraping against iron. Barely a heartbeat later, rustling erupted from the treeline.

Lian Feng pivoted his entire body toward the disturbance while Kage merely turned his head, his expression carved from stone.

Then three figures emerged from the forest's mouth.

The first was a chubby girl with broad shoulders and forge-scarred hands marking her as someone who shaped metal rather than merely inherited it.

Then a boy with dark-purple hair and sharp violet half-lidded eyes and another boy with windswept white-blonde hair and bright teal eyes followed.

The girl's gaze landed on Kage first, recognition sparking in her amber eyes. But almost immediately, her attention snapped down to the snarling cub on the ground.

Her entire face flushed, her eyes going wide and glistening like molten copper catching firelight. A sound—half squeal, half gasp—escaped her throat before she lunged forward with the single-minded intensity of a smith spotting the perfect raw material.

"Oh my—IT'S SO CUTE!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.