Jin Shu, holding two freshly written scrolls in one hand and a tiny, sleeping bird in the other, crossed the empty fourth floor toward the spot where Feng Lian's desk had once been—before she'd obliterated it in a fit of rage.

Rounding the corner that hid her personal reading nook, he froze at the scene before him.

His mother stood behind Feng Lian, giving her a shoulder massage. But that wasn't the shocking part. What made him stop mid-step were the two black-and-blue circles under his mother's eyes. For the first time in his life, she was injured. Stranger still, Feng Lian's ever-present dark circles were gone.

She hadn't had them earlier either, but he hadn't noticed then. Now that he had, the reversal struck him as oddly funny—like they'd swapped faces.

The only unsurprising change was the addition of a new desk. Almost every high-level cultivator owned spatial artifacts, and Feng Lian clearly wasn't the type to go without. Jin Shu himself had plans to craft specialized ones someday—once his cultivation reached the level needed to inscribe the runes.

As he stepped closer, his mother's voice carried over, dripping with exaggerated admiration—no doubt an attempt to butter Feng Lian up and wriggle out of punishment.

"What do you do for your skincare routine? It's sooo silky smooth," Sun Mei'er cooed. "And your hair—smells like fresh rain. How do you do it?"

"That's the fourth time you've said that exact line. If you've run out of praises, then please shut up. I'm trying to read," Feng Lian said flatly. "Actually, just shut up, period. Or I'll add a year to your punishment."

"Hic!" Sun Mei'er gasped. "An entire year in seclusion? Never!"

"Then be quiet."

Sun Mei'er mimed zipping her lips.

"Ahem…" Jin Shu coughed into his hand, announcing himself.

Feng Lian glanced up. "Finished everything you came for?"

"Yes. I have two new techniques I'd like both of you to look over—if that's alright?"

"You created them?" she asked, arching a brow.

"Uh, no. The little creature that used to live in my core did. He's… kind of fused with my blood now. Part of my body, I guess."

Feng Lian blinked, then turned to Sun Mei'er. "Is your son alright in the head after his rebirth?"

Sun Mei'er only shrugged.

"I'm not crazy," Jin Shu said.

"Sure…" she replied, nodding slowly in a way that said she clearly didn't believe him. "Anyway, let me see what you have."

He handed over the scrolls, waiting with a touch of nervousness.

She started with the improvised Fire Spiritization Method. Her expression shifted rapidly—indifference, surprise, shock, excitement, disappointment—before her gaze sharpened.

"Let me talk to the creature."

"Uh, sure. Ask anything you want, and I'll relay his answers."

"What is its name?"

"His name is Nano."

"Alright, Nano—why did you change the fourth paragraph, second line?"

"He says he didn't. And that there's no need to test him."

"Oh, cocky, isn't he?" Her brow arched.

"No. He says it's illogical and serves no purpose when you could confirm his existence simply by asking real questions instead of playing tricks." Jin Shu shrugged.

"Interesting." She smiled faintly and moved on without pause. "Then the real question—why would you include only three major elements and a single minor element?"

"Because I—Jin Shu—only have access to those elements and have only briefly touched the other three major ones."

"Three major elements?"

"Wood, earth, and metal."

"Metal is not a major element."

"It is."

"It's an offshoot of earth. Why say otherwise?"

"It's born from the earth, yes, but it's earned its place among the five major elements through its sheer range of applications."

"Is that Nano's insight or yours?"

"I agree with him, but… that was the first I'd heard it."

"Good. So he can think for himself—but also bad." Her tone cooled. "This question is for you, Jin Shu. Do you have restrictions on him?"

"Restrictions?"

"Yes. Ways to bind his actions so he can't harm you."

"He won't harm me."

She studied him for a long moment.

"How can you be sure?"

"I… I just am."

"Not good enough. You'll restrict his actions—or I will."

"He says he won't resist. However, I will. Nano saved my life. I trust him."

"You'll thank me later," she said, reaching out.

Pressure crashed down on him like a small mountain. His body froze; even sound was strangled in his throat. He still managed to glare at her—what little good that did.

"This is for your own good."

He shot his mother a pleading look, but she only shook her head.

A strange, invasive sensation wormed its way through him—her qi, threading silently through his veins like a patient serpent.

Her brow rose. "You didn't mention it melded with not only your blood, but your qi as well." Disappointment crept into her voice. "Looks like you're in luck—or out of luck—depending on its future actions."

The pressure vanished.

"What does that mean?"

"I wanted to lock the creature within your blood vessels. But if I did, your qi would be sealed with it—crippling your cultivation."

She sliced a small cut into her palm with a fingernail, then appeared in front of him, pressing the bleeding hand to his forehead.

"This will have to do."

"What did you do?"

"If Nano is harmless, then nothing. If not…" She smirked. "He'll have a surprise waiting for him." She was back in her seat before he could reply.

Jin Shu rubbed his forehead. No blood, no mark—but he didn't like it. And there was nothing he could do.

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She resumed reading as if nothing had happened, tapping the first scroll.

"Will you give me this to improve and add to the sect's collection?"

He opened his mouth to refuse, but his mother's voice whispered in his ear.

"Don't. I know you're upset, but she truly means no harm. She only wants what's best for you."

He was tired of everyone doing whatever they pleased with him. Even knowing she didn't wish him harm, part of him wanted to rage against it. Ever since the heavenly punishment, those thoughts had been harder to bury—but he forced them down.

He needed to be logical. The method was useless to him now, but he could trade it.

"I'll trade it."

"What for?"

"Tell me where the Jade Rabbit Clan is."

"Gone. Ask for something else."

"Gone? What do you mean?"

"You read my mother's records. The Phoenix Clan was forced to ascend to the Immortal Realm—so were all other spirit beast clans."

He'd feared that answer. Still, the records also mentioned divine beast clans and their descendants.

"What about the Azure Dragon Clan?"

"Even them."

"What?! Who could possibly force the great Azure Dragon Clan to do anything?" His voice rose into a growl.

"I don't know," she said evenly, ignoring his tone. "But there are rumors some still remain in this world—remnants like myself."

His brow furrowed. She'd been left behind because she hadn't hatched yet. It was possible other unhatched dragons existed. That might also explain why he'd only met bird-type spirit beasts—mammals could ascend with their unborn children safe in the womb.

That left the reptile and avian beasts—and probably aquatic as well. Really, any beast that laid eggs would have had their unborn left behind.

Which made him think.

Was that why he'd found Yin'er alone in that cave? He'd always thought it strange that a normal winged tiger could birth a spirit beast, but it made sense if she'd been left behind when her clan was forced to ascend. And since spirit beasts required their mother's—or someone's—qi to hatch, it was no wonder her egg had lain dormant until he poured his own qi into it.

A small yawn from his palm pulled him from his thoughts. Ji Ji had woken again, stretching her tiny wings and fluffing her feathers.

Jin Shu looked down at her, wondering if her clan had suffered the same fate.

What clan is she from anyway? She called herself a… Golden Sparrow? I'd assume her clan was the Golden Sp—wait!

His eyes widened. He looked back at Feng Lian.

"Give me her!" he blurted, lifting Ji Ji up.

Feng Lian's brow twitched. "She is not a thing you can claim," she said sternly, clearly unhappy with his choice of words.

Ji Ji continued preening, oblivious to the conversation around her.

"No—sorry, that came out wrong." He corrected himself quickly. "I mean, I want to help her awaken her bloodline."

Both Feng Lian and Sun Mei'er glanced at him curiously.

"What bloodline?" Feng Lian asked. "She already has the bloodline of a golden sparrow."

"Right, but I mean her ancestral bloodline."

Feng Lian's eyes narrowed. "And that would be…?"

"The extinct Golden Roc bloodline."

She arched a brow. "It's true their ancestors were golden rocs. But how would you—a nineteen-year-old human—possibly know how to awaken an apex bloodline on par with the five divine bloodlines?"

"Because I was the one who drove them to extinction," he said flatly.

Feng Lian laughed.

"It's true."

"Sure, sure." She waved dismissively. "If you can't think of something for the trade now, we can bank this discussion for later."

"The dragon," he said.

"Yes?" She tilted her head. "What dragon?"

"When I died—you all met a dragon-man. He called himself Long Jinshu, prince of the Azure Dragon Clan."

"We did," she nodded. "Are you saying he can awaken her bloodline? I recall he promised to awaken Bing Hou's dragon bloodline."

Jin Shu blinked. He hadn't been awake for that encounter and had never heard about it.

"No. What I'm saying is that he, who is me—we—were the ones who drove the golden rocs to extinction."

He took a breath and continued. "Several hundred years ago, the Golden Roc Clan attacked the Azure Dragon Clan. We were there—defending. Our mother, wife of the then-patriarch, died in the battle."

His voice slowed, weighed by memory.

"In our grief, we sought a way to undo her death. We found a crude technique—runes and a soul-carved formation—that let us manipulate time. We went back, bringing with us the power of hundreds of years of cultivation, never once falling to the curse hidden in beast blood."

He could see it again, clear as day.

"We stopped the attack, saved our mother—but doomed ourselves in the process. And we weren't satisfied with just stopping it. We pulled the weeds out by the roots. Annihilated the main clan, left only the smaller branch clans untouched."

His gaze dropped to Ji Ji, now staring up at him, enraptured by the story.

"The Golden Sparrow Clan was one of those branches."

Feng Lian slowly turned to Sun Mei'er. "You're absolutely positive nothing is wrong with his brain?"

Sun Mei'er shook her head. "There's a few things wrong with his brain, I'm sure."

"Hey—" Jin Shu began.

"But," Sun Mei'er continued, "he's probably telling the truth. He's said as much before, and the dragon-man's severed soul supports his claims."

"Fine. Let's say it's true—you, or that dragon, killed the golden rocs. Why help someone awaken your sworn enemy's bloodline?"

"Long Jinshu—that bastard," Jin Shu growled, jaw tight. "He manipulated me. Claimed it was to fix a future he foresaw, but that doesn't excuse him for screwing with me. I'm going to revive the clan he hated most—as revenge. Though honestly, I think he went too far killing them down to the women and children. This'll be… a kind of atonement, as well."

Feng Lian tapped her newly installed desk, her gaze distant as she weighed his words.

"Let's say, for the moment, that I believe you. That still doesn't answer the question of how."

"When we destroyed the rocs," he began, "we didn't just kill them—we took their heritage. A technique and a method to draw out the dormant golden roc bloodline in their branch clans. The technique was the secret behind their speed, designed to work in tandem with the bloodline. I'll give it to her, along with the method, so she can return to her people with both."

"You will first show me this method," Feng Lian said, voice firm. "If I can confirm its validity—then, and only then, if you get Ji Ji's permission—I will allow the trade."

"That's fine," he agreed. "But I'll give it to you later. I need time to recall the memories. He's dormant right now, so I can't just pull them out whenever I want."

"Take your time," she said with a small nod. "For now, let's get back to the task at hand."

She unfurled the second scroll—the cultivation method he had chosen. Jin Shu leaned forward, nervous to see what she would think.