The sensation of teleportation lasted only a few breaths.
When the white light faded from his vision, a gust of wind carrying the scent of dry earth and stone dust swept across Ethan’s face. He stood still for a moment, letting his body adjust to the sudden shift in space, then slowly took in his surroundings.
Cracked roads stretched between buildings that had collapsed past the halfway point. Weeds pushed through layers of concrete, vines smothered rusted steel frames, and overhead stretched a vast sky he hadn’t seen in a long time. The suffocating feeling of the challenge world was finally gone.
Ethan recognized this place.
This was the ancient city he, Laira, and Ruo Yan had passed through before stepping into the column of light.
After a journey so long it nearly made a person forget where it began, they had finally returned to the wastelands outside the Safe Zones.
Laira appeared beside him almost simultaneously. A few steps behind, the second flash of teleportation light faded, revealing Ruo Yan and the Necromancer.
Ruo Yan swept her gaze across the surrounding ruins. When she recognized a few familiar landmarks, the tension on her face finally softened somewhat.
"We’re really back."
Her voice was quite soft. After everything that had happened in Owin’s ruin, simply seeing a familiar place was enough to make a person let their guard down.
Ethan gave a slight nod, but his gaze didn’t linger on the city for long.
The warning that had appeared just before the teleportation still lingered in his mind.
He closed his eyes briefly, then opened the Eye of Truth at its lowest setting. A faint light passed deep within his pupils, and the energy streams that were normally invisible materialized across the dead city.
Residual spatial distortion that hadn’t fully dissipated.
Scattered teleportation signatures around the area.
And very far to the west, woven among the chaotic fluctuations, a streak of dark purple energy so faint it was nearly imperceptible.
Void.
Ethan looked for only one more beat, then immediately pulled back his ability. The dull ache behind his eye sockets made him frown slightly.
Laira noticed the tiny change. She stepped closer, her hand resting gently on his arm, the relaxation that had just appeared in her orange-red eyes already fading.
"Same thing as before?"
"Yeah."
Ethan looked toward the western horizon. "The trace is still there. It’s quite far, but it’s moving."
Ruo Yan had been checking the Necromancer’s condition and immediately turned around. The weariness in her eyes was replaced by alertness.
"Void?"
"Very likely."
"Heading toward us?"
Ethan was quiet for a moment, then nodded.
"At least for now."
Ruo Yan didn’t press further. She only gave the Soul Thread a light tug, shifting the Necromancer to a position better suited to protect the group.
While they were talking, other flashes of teleportation light began appearing sporadically across the city.
The system hadn’t sent all the survivors back to the same spot. The coordinates were spaced anywhere from a few hundred meters to several kilometers apart, just enough to keep the races that had clashed inside the challenge space from tearing into each other the moment they returned.
On the remaining rooftop of a building to the east, a group of Elves appeared first. They quickly took stock of their numbers and tended to their wounded, then several pairs of eyes simultaneously turned toward Ethan.
The distance between the two sides wasn’t close, but the atmosphere shifted at once.
One Elf tightened his grip on his bow.
Laira tilted her head slightly, and razor-thin lines of lightning flickered across the Thunder-Iron wing.
The Elf saw the reaction, and the hand holding the bow slowly lowered. After a few seconds, he turned and led the rest of his group out of the city at a quick pace.
To the south, a group of Red Fang Beastkin had also just been returned.
One of them spotted Laira and his expression immediately turned vicious. He had just placed his hand on his war axe when the person beside him gripped his shoulder and said a few cold words. In the end, the Beastkin only stared at Ethan’s group for a long while, spat on the ground, then turned and left.
Ruo Yan watched them go, the corner of her mouth curving faintly.
"Looks like they still remember the Cataclysmic Thunder Gate."
Laira gave a soft huff. "Good that they remember."
Ethan said nothing.
After leaving the challenge space, the reasons for either side to immediately risk their lives had diminished greatly. The Elves wanted to return to their clan. The Red Fang needed to report Brakk’s death. The others also had to bring back their spoils and intelligence.
They wouldn’t forget what happened at Owin’s ruin.
Neither would Ethan.
It just wasn’t the day to settle that debt.
The heavy sound of engines suddenly drifted down from the sky.
The shadow of an enormous ship glided across the broken streets. Ethan looked up and saw Xue Ji’s black wooden vessel cutting through the low cloud layer, gradually descending.
The hull still bore many signs of repair, but at least it was fully operational again.
Xue Ji stood at the bow.
The moment she spotted Ethan, she scanned the surrounding area once, then signaled the pilot to set down on a relatively flat stretch of ground.
She stepped off first.
The five surviving teenagers followed behind, but this time none of them approached casually. After what had happened on the ship before, they had at least learned that certain people didn’t appreciate being crowded with pointless questions.
Xue Ji stopped a few paces from Ethan.
Her gaze first swept toward the Elf group that had just departed, then returned.
"They don’t seem to like you."
Her tone was fairly even, but the slight narrowing of her eyes showed she had already noticed the tension between the two sides was more than simple dislike.
Ethan had no intention of explaining the details.
"A few things happened during the challenge."
Xue Ji raised an eyebrow slightly.
She looked at Laira.
The wing that had once been badly wounded was now restructured with Thunder-Iron into something nearly complete. The purple-silver metal feathers sat tightly layered, with the occasional tiny spark of electricity running across them before vanishing.
Her gaze continued to Ruo Yan and the Necromancer standing behind her.
A trip lasting only a few days.
Ethan had gone from Bronze to Silver-rank.
Laira had also completed a breakthrough, plus had an entirely different wing.
And beside the two of them had appeared a Puppeteer and an existence that radiated pressure just by standing still.
Xue Ji looked back at Ethan. The corner of her mouth curved, but her curiosity stayed measured.
"It seems your ’few things’ weren’t small."
Ethan gave a slight shrug.
"At least we’re still alive."
Xue Ji heard that, and her gaze drifted over the bloodstains still drying on his clothes. The faint smile dimmed a touch.
"I can see that."
She didn’t dig further.
Between the two of them there had only been a brief stretch of traveling together. Some things could be asked; others clearly shouldn’t be touched carelessly.
Xue Ji’s gaze shifted to Ruo Yan.
Xue Ji glanced at the Necromancer, her gaze pausing briefly.
"And this one?"
"My puppet."
This time Ruo Yan answered for herself.
Her hand unconsciously rested on the cracked arm of the Necromancer, a trace of barely noticeable fatigue in her voice.
Xue Ji noticed the gesture, understood the other party didn’t want to elaborate, and naturally shifted the subject.
"Do you have a plan for what’s next?"
Ethan looked toward a direction beyond the city.
"Yes."
The answer was short enough that Xue Ji understood he wasn’t going to share the destination.
She didn’t seem bothered. On the contrary, she simply gave a small nod.
"Good, then."
A brief silence followed.
Xue Ji looked over the three of them one more time. Ethan could still stand straight, but his complexion wasn’t good. Ruo Yan was clearly running on willpower alone to stay conscious, and Laira, though maintaining her usual strong front, had tucked her wings very close to her back, a sign she didn’t want to expend anything more either.
She thought for a moment, then pointed toward the ship.
"If you need to leave the city, I can take you part of the way."
Ethan looked at her.
Xue Ji added immediately, her tone still even.
"Just in whatever direction you want. I don’t need to know the destination."
That line made Ruo Yan’s expression shift slightly.
Ethan also studied Xue Ji for another second.
She had clearly noticed that he was deliberately withholding the specific location, and had proactively kept her distance.
"Southeast."
Ethan finally spoke.
"Take us about thirty kilometers outside the city. That’s enough."
Xue Ji didn’t ask why.
"All right."
She turned and walked toward the ship.
Laira stepped to Ethan’s side and lowered her voice.
"She’s quite considerate."
"Yeah."
Ruo Yan overheard and said flatly,
"At least better than certain people who like to barge into other people’s rooms with puppets."
Laira immediately turned.
"You’re still holding onto that?"
"I’ll remember it for a very long time."
"So will I."
Seeing the two of them showing signs of another argument, Ethan raised a hand and rubbed his temple.
"Get on the ship first."
Both of them went quiet.
Xue Ji, walking ahead, caught a few words but didn’t turn around. Only the corner of her mouth curved up slightly.
After boarding, the Necromancer stood at the stern because its body was too large. Ruo Yan sat right beside it, taking the opportunity to inspect the remaining cracks across the puppet’s frame.
Ethan was about to stand near the railing to watch their heading when Laira’s hand pulled his wrist back.
She pointed at a long bench.
"Sit down."
Ethan looked at her.
"I was just going to check the route."
"You can check while sitting."
Laira didn’t wait for him to object. She pulled him down onto the bench and sat beside him. Only now did the exhaustion she had been hiding truly show on her face.
Ethan looked at her for a moment. In the end, he stopped arguing.
The ship began to rise.
Following Ethan’s directions, Xue Ji took the ship southeast. She didn’t ask a single additional question about their purpose. After about twenty kilometers, Ethan adjusted the heading slightly eastward, deliberately avoiding a straight flight path to where he actually wanted to return.
Spring Village had helped him when he and Laira were nearly drained of everything.
Vesna had given him a place to stay.
Now Ethan was carrying far too much trouble.
The Elves.
The Red Fang.
Ryan.
And things connected to the Void that even he didn’t fully understand yet.
He would go back to bring Ruo Yan there, but he had no intention of letting any outsider know the village’s location.
Laira rested her head on his shoulder.
"You’re thinking about the people there?"
Ethan paused slightly.
"Yeah."
"Worried they’ll get dragged in?"
"I just made two factions want me dead."
Ethan looked at the wasteland below, his voice calm but carrying a little more weight than before.
"If I led strangers straight to them on top of that, I’d be too irresponsible."
Laira didn’t answer right away.
After a while, she gently squeezed Ethan’s arm.
"Then we get off the ship a bit early."
Ethan nodded.
"That’s what I was thinking."
The ship continued its flight.
The silence hadn’t lasted long before a very faint stab of pain suddenly pierced through both of Ethan’s eyes.
He opened them.
The Eye of Truth activated on its own.
[Void Flame source detected.]
[Distance: Far.]
[Energy source is approaching.]
[Previously recorded frequency detected.]
Ethan sat up straight.
Laira sensed the change almost instantly. She lifted her head from his shoulder, her gaze sharpening.
"It appeared again?"
Ethan gave a slight nod.
One final line of information slowly materialized.
[Blood relation detected.]
His gaze darkened.
This time, no guessing was needed.
"Ryan."
Laira narrowed her eyes.
The name was not unfamiliar to her.
Ruo Yan at the stern also heard, but only turned her head slightly. She didn’t know who Ryan was, and she wasn’t about to ask casually after seeing Ethan’s expression.
Xue Ji, standing near the helm, glanced over once, then continued steering the ship.
Ethan had no intention of explaining family matters to her.
Laira lowered her voice, just enough for him to hear.
"He’s chasing us?"
"Seems like it."
"Turn back?"
Ethan turned to her.
In Laira’s orange-red eyes, a very clear streak of cold had already appeared.
"Kill him."
Ethan shook his head slightly.
"Not right now."
Laira frowned.
"You still want to let him go?"
"It’s not about letting him go or not."
Ethan’s gaze moved over the wounds on her body that still hadn’t fully closed.
"We just came out of a long battle. Ruo Yan needs rest too. If Ryan can already trigger the Eye of Truth’s warning from this distance, he’s definitely not the same as before."
His voice was very calm.
"If we’re going to kill him, we pick the right moment."
Laira studied him for a few seconds. The irritation in her eyes gradually eased.
"So we let him come?"
"Yeah."
Ethan looked toward the back of the ship.
"He’s looking for me anyway."
The corner of his mouth curved, but there was no trace of amusement in his eyes.
"I also want to see what he’s turned himself into."