Hearing Faen's words, the crowd glanced sideways, turning their gazes toward Akali. Upon hearing his words and feeling everyone's eyes on her, Akali scratched her head and looked at Faen with a face full of suspicion. "Uh... why are you telling me this?"
"This is indeed a serious problem..." Without Faen having to say a word, Shen beside him couldn't help but rub his temples.
As the daughter of the current Fist of Shadow, Akali herself possessed no magical talent. Despite this, she was still the universally recognized next Fist of Shadow, primarily because her martial talent was extraordinary. Though still just a young girl, her mastery of the single-handed chain-kama allowed her to go toe-to-toe with established martial masters. The shuriken techniques she learned from Kennen were equally startling, never missing their mark.
The only issue was that Akali's personality was too independent, clashing with the mainstream ideology of the Kinkou Order and Ionia as a whole.
The Fist of Shadow, the Eye of Twilight, and the Heart of the Tempest were the titles the three core leaders used for the outside world; internally, the Heart of the Tempest was known as "The Sun-Chaser," the Eye of Twilight as "The Stargazer," and the Fist of Shadow as "The Pruner."
From these titles, one could see that Kennen's extreme speed linked all Kinkou activities in Ionia, including transmitting orders and balancing the conflicts between the "Fist" and the "Eye." The Eye of Twilight observed with restraint, never acting unless necessary and never killing. The Fist of Shadow was different; they focused on preventing trouble before it happened and pulling out evil by the roots.
Though it sounded aggressive, they were still Ionian. Influenced by tradition, they were still restricted by the "Eye" to prevent them from overstepping the boundaries of Balance.
On this basis, whether it was Shen, Kennen, Great Master Kusho, or Akali's parents... they all knew that while Akali sometimes appeared to handle matters calmly, it was often just a surface-level composure. In reality, within her reflection in the spirit realm, Akali had never truly immersed herself in peace.
Seeing her nominal teacher react this way, Akali let out a few disgruntled snorts, crossed her arms, and said defiantly, "The duty of the Fist of Shadow style is 'Pruning.' I just need to fight; at worst, I'll just listen to orders more often."
Hearing Akali's words, the Kinkou ninjas wore bitter smiles, Shen felt a deep sense of helplessness, and even Kennen couldn't help but sigh. In contrast, Faen looked on with great interest, saying nothing more before adding, "It was just a casual remark, no need to take it to heart. Come, let's set out immediately."
As he spoke, Faen vaulted onto his horse.
While it might look strange, using cattle, horses, donkeys, and mules for transport was perfectly normal in Ionia. Even in the records, Shen, Jhin, Zed, and Kayn were all skilled riders. After all, while short-distance high-speed movement was fine, using skills for long-distance travel in reality drained one's stamina far too quickly. Especially in the event of an ambush, one would rather move slower than be exhausted when forced to face an enemy.
But just as the group prepared to depart, a lively voice rang out from behind Faen.
"Senior Brother! Senior Brother! Are you leaving again?!"
Hearing this, Faen looked back. In his line of sight, Irelia, who was roughly the same age as Akali, came running over with an urgent expression. She wasn't yet the cold, sharp warrior of the future; current Irelia's temperament was even more immature than Akali's by three or four years. After all, Akali already struck out at evil spirits, while the current Irelia had truly never even killed a chicken, focusing entirely on learning the silk dance—the Blade Dance was a power that only awakened after the full-scale outbreak of the Ionian War.
Seeing Irelia, Faen smiled slightly, reining in his horse and waiting for the girl to reach him. "What's wrong? Is something the matter?"
Running to Faen's side, Irelia didn't speak at first, leaning against the horse and panting for a while. Then she raised her head, stood up straight with her hands on her hips, and looked at Faen with a pouting face. "Senior Brother, really! You just got back, and I wanted to play with you! You were nowhere to be found all day yesterday, and I just woke up today only for Teacher to tell me you're leaving. We haven't even had a proper chat!!"
Hearing Irelia's words, a smile formed on Faen's face.
During his years of cultivation in Ionia, Faen had always been quite solitary and cold, constantly on edge due to his knowledge of the future. But even then, he wasn't completely living in his own world. He had been trying every means to make himself stronger—and Irelia's Blade Dance was one of the goals he had tried to learn from.
To this end, when Irelia first became Master Xynia's disciple, Faen proactively approached and welcomed her. While sharing his own insights, he was also learning the dance techniques of the "Xan" house, the famous silk-dance clan Irelia hailed from. This was one of the key reasons why Faen was able to unleash such powerful combat strength when he first landed in Zaun, even though his mastery of Ashlesh's power was still unrefined.
Though they all looked like forms of dance, just different styles, the Xan family's techniques were smoother in the flow of power and emphasized the coordination between strength and the self. Though Faen had approached Irelia with an ulterior motive, she knew nothing of it, only that this "Senior Brother" who always seemed silent and gloomy—and didn't have the best reputation—was actually very easy to talk to and often guided her during their leisure time.
In fact, it wasn't just Irelia; Faen taught as many of Xynia's disciples as he could, just to accumulate more strength for the coming chaotic times. Among them, Irelia was one of the people closest to him.
Looking at Faen, Irelia said excitedly, "But it's okay! I happen to be going home to visit my family! If Senior Brother is heading west, we can go together. That way, you can tell me all about what you saw outside!!"