Firewing's words gave Skyler Quinn pause. He turned it over in his head and had to admit — she wasn't wrong.
"Enough overthinking," Ethan Yates said, tone even. "Right now, our priority is gathering all those Clow Cards scattered across Dragon Kingdom."
The others nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile, in a mountain range near Vantora City.
*BOOM.*
A violent explosion, twin silhouettes emerging from the smoke.
"Phoenix flame." Zhao Feng looked at the fire still burning on his left hand, voice flat. "Strong."
He summoned a stone sword from the earth.
*Crack.*
Without hesitation, he severed his own burning arm at the wrist. The severed limb, stripped of his spiritual energy, was consumed by the sacred flame in an instant.
"Your ability is impressive as well," said the massive crimson tiger, padding slowly forward.
A powerful constitution. Petrification with no clear counter. If not for his sacred flame blocking every status effect that targeted himself, the outcome of this fight might have been harder to predict.
"Also," the tiger added, "I can dispel any residual sacred flame for you directly. No need to cut the arm off."
It turned toward the violet mutant flower nearby.
"Ziling. Heal him."
"Such a bother," Ziling muttered. "Every single time."
Complaints aside, the flower set to work without further protest. Green light pulsed and shimmered, and Zhao Feng's severed limb rebuilt itself at visible speed — whole again within seconds.
"Pain is useful to me," Zhao Feng said.
He was a civil-track fighter. Even since the spiritual revival, he'd taken few serious injuries. The worst had been his battle with Firewing — if not for Jinhong's group pulling him out, he'd have been killed or captured.
But a single near-death experience wasn't enough to grow comfortable with pain. To truly ignore it, he needed more exposure. So in every sparring session with Tigerflame and the others, he fought by deliberately taking damage.
He was weaker than Tigerflame. Tigerflame's natural talent was no lesser than his own. They improved at the same rate — and the only way he could stay in the fight for more than a few minutes was to throw himself in recklessly while Tigerflame held back.
The sacrifice was paying off. Now, losing an arm barely registered as a sensation.
No matter how much his body screamed, his mind stayed clear.
"And besides," he added, "Ziling is here. The finest healer I've ever seen — aside from Ethan Yates, I can't imagine anyone stronger."
Limb regeneration was the least of it. What mattered was her ability to purge negative energies. Zhao Feng's petrification, Tigerflame's sacred flame — she could strip it all clean. It took time, but it worked. Among everyone he'd encountered, only Ethan Yates surpassed Ziling. If Ziling were human, she'd be evaluated as First Sequence without question.
"Oh, I'm really not that impressive..." Ziling went bashful at the words, the leaves below her blossoms curling upward as if to hide her embarrassment.
She was a flower. But in that moment, Zhao Feng could almost see a young girl ducking her head after receiving a compliment.
*Getting more human every day*, he thought. The way she spoke, the way she moved — closer to human by the week. If you closed your eyes and only listened, you'd never guess she wasn't.
But what weighed on his mind was something else.
His gaze shifted to the crimson tiger beside him. The look in his eyes was complicated — disbelief layered over disbelief.
Even after confirming it multiple times, he still struggled to accept that this creature of overwhelming power carried a human soul. A transmigrator who had arrived before the spiritual energy revival even began.
Sacred flame. Phoenix fire. Was the connection truly that simple?
What he couldn't understand was why Tigerflame had chosen to reveal this at all.
If it was once human, it should know better than anyone — the human heart is something even sunlight cannot fully illuminate.
"Don't misread this," Tigerflame said, seeming to read his thoughts. "My soul may be human. But I am no longer human. And I see no reason to hide it."
Since crossing over, the question of human or beast had ceased to matter.
Human? Tiger? In this world, the only thing that counted was strength.
And besides — what harm was there in saying it aloud?
Would knowing this suddenly allow Zhao Feng to kill him? Would the humans, upon learning his soul had once been one of them, suddenly take an interest — or decide he was a threat worth eliminating?
Impossible. If any such future existed, Jinhong would have seen it already.
"The future has changed."
Jinhong's voice came from above — sudden, unhurried. Both Zhao Feng and Tigerflame looked up.
"This spiritual energy fluctuation has produced a different outcome."
"Because of the Dao — because of the Dao's presence in this world — Dragon Kingdom is transforming. The threshold for cultivation has been adjusted. The future in which every person could practice any technique without condition has vanished. In its place, something new has taken root."
"This is not only the Dao's choice. It is Dragon Kingdom's choice."
The eye between Jinhong's brows glowed with a faint, warm light. Quiet joy spread across its face.
"The odds of peaceful coexistence between us and humanity grow higher with every passing day."
The future had shifted — but the shift only made humanity stronger, made human civilization more capable. It didn't crack open a path for other species to displace mankind.
Humans would still be the final victors. Dragon Kingdom would still prevail.
So Jinhong had never wanted to stand against them. From the moment its ability awakened and showed it the future, that impulse had never returned.
All it had ever wanted was a sanctuary — a place that could shelter any creature unwilling to be drawn into war.
Tigerflame's soul was human. Yes, it had died at the Dao's hand — but the killing had come from unnatural emotions that twisted its judgment, not from any true human malice. Tigerflame bore no hatred for humans.
Even if its identity made returning to human society impossible, that didn't mean it wanted them as enemies.
Ziling was an unclassified mutant flower with extraordinary healing power. Perhaps because of her ability, she had been born with a revulsion for violence and death. She wanted no part in any war between humans and awakened creatures.
Kong was the same. A fox by nature — injured during a wolf pack's hunt, collapsing from blood loss mid-escape—
*(Chapter End)*