Morning broke over Floating Mountain with the soft grace of a piano being hurled down a cliff.
Lin Yue awoke face-first in a lotus pond, dress soaked, hair like a murder of crows had moved in, and a frog clinging to her cheek like it had found its soulmate.
"Ugh," she croaked. "I taste regret. And sake."
Su Ya floated by on a giant leaf, unbothered and completely dry.
"Rough night?" she asked, sipping herbal tea and somehow managing to look like a porcelain painting.
Lin Yue spat a lily. "What the hell was in that celestial wine?"
"You mean the 'Blessed Spirit Infusion of Clarity and Eternal Radiance'?"
"I mean the juice that made me try to duel a statue with a baguette."
Su Ya raised a brow. "You won, though."
A shadow loomed. Prince Li Xian appeared, disheveled but still somehow majestic, like a hungover god who accidentally stumbled into a shampoo commercial.
"Everyone up," he ordered, voice hoarse. "Trial resumes in one hour."
Lin Yue raised a soggy finger. "Respectfully, go fall off a cloud."
"Respectfully, no."
Yun the Beast Whisperer emerged riding a flaming squirrel.
"Why is it on fire?!" someone screamed.
Yun blinked. "It likes warmth."
---
After breakfast—which consisted of magical rice that tried to run off the plate—Lin Yue found herself summoned to the royal pagoda.
An old sage awaited her, beard so long it had its own cane.
"Lin Yue," he wheezed. "Your aura is… tangled."
"Yeah, well, my chakras are currently playing Twister."
He sniffed. "You have broken through the drunkenness threshold. You have unlocked… the Affinity of Chaos Magic."
She blinked. "Is that a good thing?"
"It's a… thing."
Back at camp, Su Ya was reading a scroll on magical etiquette.
"Rule #17: Do not enchant your undergarments to fly unless absolutely necessary."
Lin Yue took notes. "Define necessary."
Meanwhile, Prince Li Xian and General Zhihao were arguing about their next strategy.
"She's reckless," Zhihao barked. "She conjured a karaoke duel last night."
"She won," Xian muttered.
"She summoned a spectral boy band."
"They harmonized."
"Your Highness!" Zhihao snapped. "She turned the trial guardian into a backup dancer!"
Xian rubbed his temples. "I'm aware."
---
Later, during Team Bonding Exercise #42 (trust falls from magical cliffs), Lin Yue was pushed by Ruoyan "accidentally."
Lin Yue screamed the whole way down, landed in a tree, and yelled, "I AM REBORN AS LEAF WOMAN!"
The tree responded by blooming all at once, and her robes changed color.
Su Ya squinted. "That's… concerning."
Yun whispered, "She's becoming more powerful."
Zhihao: "She's becoming more unstable."
Lin Yue: "I demand a throne made of croissants."
---
As night fell, Lin Yue sat by a fire conjured from moonlight (and accidental flatulence).
Li Xian joined her, silent.
She looked at him. "So, how long before they exile me?"
He stared into the flames. "Depends. Can you control your chaos?"
"I can channel it. Into sarcasm."
He smirked. "That's not control."
"It's a survival tactic."
He looked at her. "You're not what I expected."
"You expected demure and obedient?"
"I expected not to like you."
She paused, then leaned in. "Do you?"
He stood up abruptly. "I need sleep."
She laughed. "You're terrible at flirting."
"I wasn't flirting."
"You keep saying that."
He disappeared into the shadows.
She whispered to the fire, "That man is one smirk away from spontaneous combustion."
The next day began with a celestial-level mess.
Lin Yue woke to find a floating scroll outside her window. It sang.
Yes. Sang.
♪ "Arise, oh chosen one, and come forth!" ♪
She threw a shoe at it. It harmonized in pain.
"Too early for musical quests," she muttered.
But alas, it was an official summons from the Council of Arcane Affairs, which sounded both important and migraine-inducing.
She was to report to the Hall of the Eternal Bureaucrat.
Inside, a dozen robe-wearing elders blinked at her as though she were an unexpected fart.
"Lin Yue," croaked the Head Archivist. "We have analyzed your aura. Again."
"Oh no."
"Your Chaos Affinity is… mutating."
"Can I mutate into someone with better hair?"
They were not amused.
"You must undergo the Ceremony of Stabilization."
"Is there wine?"
"No."
"Then I reject your ceremony."
"You will die."
"I will die with dramatic flair."
---
Back at training camp, chaos had also taken a holiday.
Yun was hosting an Emotional Support Beast Workshop. Everyone got a baby griffin to cuddle.
Lin Yue's griffin bit her.
"I named him Hopes. Because he's dashed."
Meanwhile, Su Ya and Ruoyan were in the middle of a meditation duel.
"I have cleared more chakras than you," Ruoyan sneered.
"I vibrate at higher frequencies," Su Ya replied.
Lin Yue threw a mango between them. "Behold! The fruit of inner peace."
It exploded.
---
Later, Lin Yue found Li Xian alone in the training arena, sword dancing like his problems didn't exist.
She sat on a rock and watched.
"You're dramatic," she said.
"You're disruptive," he replied, without looking.
"You're into me."
He faltered. Just a beat. Then: "No."
"I saw that pause."
"I tripped."
"You tripped on emotion."
He turned. "Why do you push everyone?"
She stood. "Because I have to. Or I drown."
A beat of silence.
Then he said, "You're stronger than you think."
"And you're hotter than you admit."
"I'm leaving."
"You always do."
But this time, he didn't.
---
That evening, she sat by the lake again.
Hopes the griffin sat in her lap, quietly gnawing her robe.
Su Ya joined her. "You okay?"
Lin Yue shrugged. "I've got a trial, a ceremony, a chaos mutation, and a royal pain staring at me like I'm the moon."
Su Ya smiled. "That means you're living."
The wind shifted.
In the distance, the Bell of Emergent Doom tolled.
Lin Yue sighed. "What fresh hell is that?"
Su Ya checked the sky. "Oh no."
"What?"
"The Ghost Court is opening."
"I beg your what?"
"The dead want a conference."
"Oh HELL no."
"The Ghost Court is opening."
"I beg your what?"
"The dead want a conference."
"Oh HELL no."
---
The Ghost Court was held once every century. Invitations were non-negotiable. RSVP by dying. Formal attire mandatory. Hauntings optional.
Lin Yue stood before the spectral gate with Li Xian, Su Ya, Yun, and an extremely nervous meatball pig.
A guard spirit appeared: translucent, six arms, too many eyes.
"Name?" it rasped.
"Lin Yue. Time-traveler. Chaos conduit. Professional disaster."
The spirit consulted a glowing scroll. "Ah yes. You owe the underworld three apologies, one unpaid debt, and a karaoke duel."
"I stand by my performance of 'Toxic.'"
The gate opened.
---
Inside, the court was absurd: glowing thrones, floating jury ghosts, and a snack table that offered spiritual tofu.
The head judge floated forward, hair made of smoke.
"You have disturbed the realms of fate," it intoned.
Lin Yue curtsied. "Oops."
"You channeled chaos without license."
"Blame your paperwork."
"You summoned the soul of a 9th-century warlord for a drinking contest."
"He cheated."
"You defiled sacred burial grounds."
"It was a picnic."
"You called Lady Meng 'a crusty prune with a wig.'"
"Because she is."
Su Ya whispered, "We're so dead. Again."
---
Just when the sentence was about to be passed (probably eternal embarrassment), Li Xian stepped forward.
"As prince of this realm, I invoke Right of Tangled Fate."
Everyone gasped. Including Lin Yue.
"That's not a thing!" she hissed.
He whispered, "It is now. Shut up."
The judge stared. "You would bind your destiny to this walking catastrophe?"
Li Xian nodded. "I would."
Lin Yue's heart did something stupid. Like flutter.
Su Ya whispered, "Girl. Say something romantic."
Lin Yue blinked. "I have foot fungus?"
Li Xian covered his face.
The ghosts laughed. A lot. Then cleared her charges.
Because laughter? Stronger than chaos.
---
Later, back at camp, under a sky full of lazy stars, Lin Yue sat beside Li Xian.
"You really invoked fate for me?" she asked.
He shrugged. "They were going to turn you into a haunted kazoo."
"I would've made a great kazoo."
"You're already loud."
They laughed.
Then silence.
He looked at her. "I meant what I said."
She grinned. "I know. That's what makes it terrifying."
He leaned in. "Do you always joke when things get serious?"
She leaned closer. "Do you always fall for disasters?"
He kissed her. Finally.
Her chaos spark flared. Trees bloomed. Stars winked. A pig levitated.
Su Ya, from a distance: "OH MY GOD. I leave them alone for ONE night—"