The kirin panicked the moment Yan Xiaoluo vanished.
It spun frantically in the air where the spirit had been only a second ago.
"Xiaoluo?! Xiaoluo!!"
Its tiny hooves pawed uselessly at empty space.
The room fell into uneasy silence.
"Um… Senior Yang Luo…" Xu Yanran spoke carefully, her voice soft against the quiet of the chamber. "Is that… normal?"
Yang Luoya slowly turned his head toward them.
His expression was unusually grave.
"No."
He glanced back at the spot where the spirit had disappeared.
"That has never happened before."
Yang Wei's brows furrowed slightly.
Three years ago… he remembered something.
He had once overheard Yang Luoya speaking inside this very room. At the time, he thought his brother had been talking to himself.
Now it was clear.
The person Yang Luoya had spoken with back then must have been Elder Yan Xiaoluo.
Wu Zhen folded his arms.
"So… what now?"
Before anyone could answer—
A furious shout exploded behind them.
"HEY!"
All of them turned at once.
The old librarian stood in the doorway, his face red with anger, deep wrinkles forming on his forehead.
"You brats dare sneak into the library?!" he roared. "Do you have any idea that the library is strictly forbidden right now?!"
Yang Wei's expression darkened instantly.
His jaw tightened, and his fist slowly clenched.
The librarian, unfortunately, did not notice.
He continued scolding loudly.
"You disciples have no discipline! I will report this immediately—"
Before Yang Wei could step forward—
Wu Zhen grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"Hey, hey, relax," Wu Zhen whispered near his ear. "Even if he's just an ordinary person without cultivation, his position in the sect is still important."
Yang Wei clicked his tongue irritably but stopped.
Meanwhile, Jing Lei stepped forward politely and bowed.
"Sir, please forgive us. We came here because we had an urgent matter."
Xu Yanran followed with a respectful nod.
"We meant no disrespect."
But the librarian was unmoved.
"No excuses!" he barked.
"You will all be punished!"
And punished they were.
Their sentence was simple.
They were ordered to run around the entire Four Peak Sect.
Without using any spiritual power.
Three hours had passed.
Wu Zhen and Jing Lei ran at the front.
Surprisingly, both of them still looked relatively composed despite the long run.
Wu Zhen glanced sideways.
"You're tougher than you look," he said with a grin. "Running for hours and still keeping up."
Jing Lei smiled faintly.
"I come from a merchant family. I grew up surrounded by pills and medicine."
"That explains a lot."
A short distance behind them—
Yang Luoya and Yang Wei ran side by side.
Yang Wei constantly glanced at him.
"Brother… are you tired?" he asked quietly. "Do you want me to carry you?"
Now that he knew Yang Luoya was an omega, his concern had multiplied.
Truthfully, Yang Wei could have easily run ahead and caught up with Wu Zhen.
But instead he slowed down.
Matching Yang Luoya's pace.
Yang Luoya exhaled slowly.
"I'm fine."
Even so, faint exhaustion showed on his face. "You dont look fine, you look terrible", Kirin Fly beside him, matching his pace.
"It's almost over anyway."
Yang Wei frowned slightly but said nothing more.
Farther behind them—
Xu Yanran and Bai Zhi struggled.
Xu Yanran still managed to maintain a certain elegance despite the fatigue.
Bai Zhi, on the other hand, looked like he was about to collapse at any moment.
"I'm… dying…" he groaned dramatically.
"I'm going to die…"
Xu Yanran sighed softly.
"Just a little more. We're almost there."
Eventually—
Wu Zhen and Jing Lei reached the sect entrance where they had started.
Both of them slowed to a stop, catching their breath.
Not long after, Yang Luoya and Yang Wei arrived.
The moment they stopped running—
Yang Luoya immediately sat down on the ground.
Yang Wei crouched beside him, worry obvious in his eyes.
Meanwhile, he himself barely looked tired.
After a while, Bai Zhi and Xu Yanran finally staggered in.
Both of them collapsed onto the ground.
"I'm going to die…" Bai Zhi wheezed dramatically.
Wu Zhen laughed.
"Hahaha… you all look like a disaster."
He wiped sweat from his forehead.
"But honestly? That was pretty fun."
"I will never break the rules again," Bai Zhi groaned. "I refuse to run like that ever again."
Yang Luoya glanced at him.
"I told you not to follow us."
Suddenly—
Bai Zhi jumped to his feet.
"I can't let Senior Yang Luo get punished alone!"
He puffed out his chest with determination.
"If Senior Yang Luo is going to do something mischievous again, I'll help you next time!"
Yang Luoya stared at him for a moment.
"…I'm not breaking the rules again."
They eventually stood up and dusted off their robes.
Wu Zhen stretched lazily.
"Oh right. Speaking of mischievous things…"
He grinned.
"Did you know there's a hidden shrine near here?"
Yang Luoya immediately looked suspicious.
"I don't want to know. Any place you discover usually isn't safe."
"Hey, hey!" Wu Zhen protested. "This place is safe."
He crossed his arms smugly.
"My master and I found it together."
"Inside a cave," he added.
"The shrine itself is empty… except for a giant crystal in the center. No spiritual artifact can move it."
"A crystal?" Yang Wei raised an eyebrow. "That sounds valuable."
"It is," Wu Zhen admitted.
"But since it can't be moved, my master reported it to Liu Yong and then forgot about it."
Xu Yanran frowned slightly.
"It sounds interesting, but the sect is still on high alert. We still don't know if there really is a Level 5 monster nearby."
Wu Zhen shrugged.
"It's only a thirty-minute walk from here. Still within sect territory."
They all exchanged glances.
Yang Luoya remained silent for a moment.
Something about it felt… connected.
Yan Xiaoluo's spirit had suddenly lost its connection.
What if the answer lay somewhere nearby?
He made his decision.
"Let's go."
Yang Wei frowned immediately. "you crazy, human. Its not safe to leave this place and yet you walk outside the sect like nothing happened", Kirin Scold him. Yang Luoya just glanced at kirin for a second and look ahead.
"Brother… it might be dangerous. We should return—"
"There's something I need to confirm," Yang Luoya said calmly.
Yang Wei fell silent.
Whenever his brother spoke like that—
There was no persuading him otherwise.
Wu Zhen clapped his hands.
"Hehe. We're just taking a short walk."
And so—
They left the sect gate and followed Wu Zhen into the forest.
None of them noticed—
A pair of eyes watching them from the shadows.
Nearly an hour passed.
Jing Lei frowned.
"Senior… you said it was thirty minutes."
Wu Zhen scratched his head awkwardly.
"Quiet. I'm trying to remember."
Bai Zhi blinked.
"…You forgot where it is?"
"I remember!"
Wu Zhen suddenly pointed ahead.
"Ah. There it is."
Before them was a cave entrance partially buried beneath earth and stone.
A narrow stone path led downward into darkness.
They descended carefully.
The cave was completely dark.
Yang Luoya raised a hand and summoned a small flame using his spiritual energy. With it, he lit an old torch mounted on the cave wall.
The flickering light cast long shadows along the stone corridor.
Yang Luoya walked at the front with the torch. Kirin put his small feet on Yang Luoya shoulder because its too dark and he cant look ahead whats in front of them.
Yang Wei stayed beside him.
Behind them were Wu Zhen and Jing Lei.
Xu Yanran and Bai Zhi walked last.
Xu Yanran glanced around cautiously.
"There aren't any traps here… right?"
"None."
The answer came from Bai Zhi.
Wu Zhen raised an eyebrow.
"How do you know? It's completely dark back there."
Bai Zhi replied calmly.
"I'm used to seeing in the dark."
After some time, Bai Zhi suddenly spoke again.
"There's something ahead."
"What?"
"There's light."
Soon—
The narrow tunnel opened into a massive underground chamber.
In the center of the room stood a gigantic blue crystal.
It rose from the stone floor like a frozen pillar of light.
The crystal glowed faintly, illuminating the entire cavern with an eerie blue glow.
There was nothing else in the chamber.
Just as Wu Zhen had said, Empty.
"See?" Wu Zhen said proudly. "Nothing dangerous."
The group slowly spread out, examining the chamber.
But Yang Luoya did not move with them.
He walked directly toward the crystal.
Then stopped.
His eyes locked onto it.
He couldn't look away.
To everyone else—
The crystal was empty, Cold and Silent.
But to Yang Luoya—
It wasn't empty.
Something was looking back at him.