Xuekui jolted awake and sat up, dazed. Then memory flooded back.
Right. He'd lost.
Not surprising. He'd only just touched the edge of "principle," still an infant yaksha. Facing Morax—an old monster who'd lived who knew how long—there was no chance of victory.
Yet Morax hadn't killed him?
Unaware of how seriously Morax regarded him, Xuekui scratched his head and noticed someone sitting beside the bed.
He looked up.
Guizhong was there, smiling gently. "Awake?"
"?"
Wasn't it obvious? "Why am I here?"
Xuekui looked around, confused. Why was he back in Guizhong's territory? "Yesterday, a young girl carried you back—covered in wounds."
Guizhong scooted closer, pulled him into her arms, and stroked his white hair with slow, steady warmth.
"Just… come back safely. That's enough."
Xuekui leaned his chin on her shoulder, glancing at her hair with puzzled eyes. Why did this feel like returning to the warmth of the leylines?
But it was comfortable. He didn't need to refuse.
For Guizhong, this quiet moment soothed the anxiety she'd carried for days.
No matter how much she loved humans, she could only treat them as a group. Their fleeting lifespans meant she couldn't focus entirely on any one individual.
But Xuekui was different.
He was long-lived. He would stay with her for a long time.
This little one—practically raised by her own hands—made her feel a special bond she'd never known.
How could she not worry over his disappearance for three months? After a time, Guizhong finally released him.
"Someone else wants to meet you later. Be sure to get along with them." "Why does everyone want to see me?"
Xuekui answered drowsily as Guizhong rose to leave.
At the door, she paused, turned back, and said something he didn't understand.
"Xuekui… separation brought by lifespan is an irreversible natural law. Don't let the sorrow of parting stain you too deeply. And learn to get used to it… as early as you can."
Xuekui was still thinking about her words when the door opened.
A fiery figure spun in like a gust. Xuekui shrank back, startled despite sensing no hostility.
A red-haired girl with pale violet eyes seized his hands and leaned in close. Xuekui instinctively leaned away.
"Hi! You're Xuekui, right? I'm Indarias—call me Indarias-jie!" So loud.
Faced with a girl who looked ready to pour every thought in her head out at once, Xuekui's eye twitched. Remembering Guizhong's "get along," he forced out a reply.
"Hello, Indarias-jie."
"Aaaah! So good! So polite!"
With no way to escape, Xuekui was pinned down as Indarias rubbed her cheek against his, squealing with joy.
So polite…?
Was that really a word for him?
Then another girl with horns and blue hair sat beside the bed, using her wide sleeves to press and knead Xuekui's cheeks.
Even through fabric, Xuekui could feel the hardness of something like horn.
"You look nothing like the one who fought the Lord that day," she said, giggling. "Hi, little one. My name's Menogias."
Xuekui's eyelids twitched.
If not for the familiar closeness he felt from them, he would've thrown them out the window already.
"Hey! Don't crowd his bed! That's rude."
Two hands grabbed both girls by their collars and lifted them.
Xuekui immediately threw off the blanket and hopped down, escaping the bed trap. Then he looked up—
And froze.
The man lifting them was enormous. Purple hair spiked skyward. Four arms split from his shoulders. His bare upper body was thick with muscle, marked by purple storm patterns. A scar ran across his nose and down his left eye, giving him a feral edge.
And most of all—
He was absurdly tall.
Xuekui compared his height to the girls and found, standing on the ground, he was still a head shorter than both.
His face darkened.
His true form was just a crystalfly. Being small made sense. He repeated that to himself, like a prayer.
The tall man set the girls down and looked at Xuekui with a steady gaze.
"Hello, little one. Forgive those two—they're just excited to see a new member of our kind. My name is Bosacius. I'm the oldest here. If you like, you can call me big brother."
So that's why he felt familiar.
From behind Bosacius, a gentle-looking man stepped forward, smiling as he ruffled Xuekui's hair.
Why was everyone obsessed with his head?
"My name is Mernu. Xuekui—please take care of us in the future." Xuekui rubbed his chin, thinking.
Something felt missing. Right—
"My bird! Where's my bird?!" The four yaksha blinked. "What bird?"
Xuekui gestured wildly.
"About this big! White, with some blue! A bird!" They understood instantly.
The crane he'd brought to the battle. "It… seems the Lord kept it with him." "The Lord?" Xuekui blinked. "Who?" "Uh…"
Well. A child from another faction not knowing the honorific was understandable. "The one who fought you," Bosacius clarified.
"That old bastard…"
Xuekui ground the words out through his teeth. A voice drifted in from outside.
"Oh? What did you say?"
The yaksha hurriedly filed out and bowed to the dragon-beast floating beyond.
Xuekui, meanwhile, dashed beneath the dragon and began jumping and pointing up at him.
"That cursed old dragon! Give my junior back!"