With a flick of his hand, the bck-robed man reached out as if grasping the air. Instantly, the Winged Folk felt an invisible hand cmp around its throat, thrashing wildly in midair. No matter how fiercely it fpped its wings, it couldn’t break free from his grip.

  Before long, it clutched its neck, tongue lolling out, wings drooping limp. Like a bled-out duck, it hung motionless—strangled remotely by the bck-robed man from below.

  The other Winged Folk let out a sharp whistle, fleeiward and vanishing at the horizon’s edge in moments. Only when they were gone did the bck-robed man exhale softly, the faint blue glow at his fiips fading away.

  He cast an indifferent gnce over the blood-soaked, corpse-strewern Market Square, tugged his robe, and he Mao horse’s fnk. With a burst of unimaginable speed, the steed carried the dark mage—cloaked ihly bck—silently dowreet’s end.

  Eastern Market fared worse thaern. When the Winged Folk swooped down, almost no one could resist.

  Only Axel and Ji Xuanxuan posed any threat, but without powerful bows or crossbows, they didn’t nd a si. Still, their ferocity gave the Winged Folk pause, and with Western Market ripe for plundering, the attackers didn’t lio tah them, leaving little ce for the pair to shine.

  ed to his post, Xia Feng gaped at the Winged Folk’s raid—like a se ripped from a fantasy blockbuster!

  After the whirlwind assault, the square y deserted and ravaged, save for the wouhe dead, and a few unscathed sves still bound to their posts. Miraculously, they’d escaped the disaster untouched.

  Perhaps the Winged Folk knew sves carried no , or their bindings made them no threat—either way, not one arrow had targeted them.

  Xia Feng khe Winged Folk were a special feature of this virtual world, designed for those craving flight, accessible only with hefty funds. Watg their agile aerial dance, he mused: If I’d picked Winged Folk this time, finding Dumas would’ve been a breeze.

  As the Winged Folk screeched triumphantly toward Western Market, people crept out from hiding, dazed, beginning to tend the injured.

  Axel, busy direg aid, paid Xia Feng no mind.

  Only Ji Xuanxuan approached her “goods,” hesitating before untying Xia Feng’s from the post. Dragging him to Axel, she flung the down sulkily. “Here! Take him to impress your precious Yaoji!”

  The Winged Folk’s attack threw Eastern Ling City into panic. Though they’d only hit the two markets, the chaos rippled outward like a stone dropped in a ke, even reag the heavily guarded city lord’s mansion.

  “Heard the Winged Folk raided both markets today?” Yaoji leaned against the rosewood railing of Bixia Tower’s window, staring bnkly at the twilight sky. Her question sounded absent, her mind elsewhere.

  A tea-serving maid stepped forward, exg, “Yes! Tons of them—stole a fortune, killed plenty too. Young Master Axel was at Eastern Market, I hear.”

  “What… was he doing there?” Yaoji’s voice faltered at Axel’s he maid smirked, then sighed with pity. “Dunno—seemed he was with Miss Ji.”

  “Oh.” Yaoji’s gaze drifted into the void, her spirit wandering again. A servant’s voice called from below: “Lady Yaoji, Young Master Axel requests an audience!”

  A spark of joy fshed in her vat eyes, quickly dimming as she muttered, “Why’s he here now?”

  “Yaoji!” A familiar voice rose from below, stirring her. Before she could reply, Axel, in military garb, strode through the moon gate—only to be stopped by two guards outside.

  Standing below, he looked up, eyes brimming with hope and resignation. Seeing him, Yaoji’s heart softened. She waved down. “Let him in.”

  He bounded upstairs, and they faced each other in silence. After a moment, Axel csped his fists in salute. “Axel greets the High Princess.”

  “Princess?” Yaoji paused, then smiled bitterly. “Over a decade ago, if Lord Aberd hadn’t risked sheltering baby Yaoji, I’d have been killed by rebels. And if my brother, King Yu, hadn’t recimed our father’s throne, I’d still be a fugitive hiding in shadows.”

  “Your restored title is something to celebrate!” Axel said, his words hollow.

  “This title’s a burden. If I could choose, I’d rather not have it.”

  “…”

  Silence fell again. Finally, Yaoji asked faintly, “Why’d you e again?”

  “Right—I got you a gift you’ll love!” Axel cpped toward the stairs. Two guards escorted a peculiar-looking young man up.

  Xia Feng gnced around curiously. The lord’s rear garden—its pavilions, arches, and upturned eaves—felt oddly familiar, like an a Easter. He muttered inwardly: Why’s this feel like filming a ese period drama?

  His shackles were off—he could’ve escaped with the Cloak of Invisibility. But hearing Yaoji was Eastern Xuan Kingdom’s famed beauty, curiosity won out. He wao see how this world’s beauties stacked up against reality.

  Following the maid upstairs, Xia Feng’s eyes lit up, his zy grin fading. A white-cd girl lounged by the window, her ethereal grace like a celestial nymph untouched by mortal dust.

  Stunned, he thought: Lin Daiyu from Dream of the Red Chamber—this must be her vibe.

  With one gnce, Yaoji frow Axel. “Who’s he?”

  “Oh, a poetry-reg sve—no worse than those bards,” Axel expined eagerly. “I know you love poems, so I bought him to cheer you up.”

  “A sve who recites poetry?” Yaoji raised an eyebrow, then pursed her lips. “Probably some crude doggerel, right?”

  Axel flushed. Poetry wasn’t his forte—he’d just found Xia Feng’s Boundless Os, Vast Skies impressive and impulsively bought him. Her dismissal made him sheepish. He Xia Feng. “Recite that poem from this afternoon for the princess.”

  Xia Feng balked, but her slight sparked his petitive streak. If I ’t move you with a love song, I’ve wasted my 21st-tury youth and decades of pop music.

  Sing for props, he spotted a ceramic vase with flowers and a jade scepter oable. He grabbed both, removed the flowers, and tapped the vase with the scepter. Water inside made the sound rid melodious.

  Nodding satisfied, he smiled at them. “That earlier poem doesn’t suit the princess’s mood now—I’ll make a new one.”

  His boldness piqued Yaoji’s curiosity—no sve had ever acted so poised. Her focus shifted eo him.

  Notig a lingering mencholy in her eyes that tugged at the heart, Xia Feng struck the vase rhythmically, ing in a tender, wistful tone: “Frosted leaves fall before the yard, lighting whose sleepless night? A brush stirs the dle, memories too hard to write. All mortal tales end in parting—tless shifts of sun and moon. Half a life of wind and snow ’t blow away tears at flower-fall; ’t call back the lone goose flying south. Who knows my heart? Only the moon keeps me pany, adding weary lio my brow…”

  As the mournful melody of Snow of Half a Life flowed, Yaoji’s gaze grew misty. Even after Xia Feng finished, she lingered in its lyrid tune.

  “Half a life of wind and snow, blowing not away tears at flower-fall; calling not back the lone goose south…” Tears streamed down as she whispered, “Was this poem for me? It’s carved into my soul.”

  Xia Feng hadn’t expected a random song to make her cry, leaving him flustered.

  Axel shot him a gre, as if bming him for the somber choice.

  But Yaoji shook her head, brushing off the gloom, and studied Xia Feng. “As a child, Lord Aberd took me to hear bards—they weren’t this good. Did you write it?”

  Xia Feated briefly before nodding shamelessly. “Of course!”

  “Got more?”

  “As long as you want to hear, I whip one up anytime!” he boasted, brimming with fidence. I’ve got hundreds of pop songs memorized—maybe a thousand. Even a genius poet writes that mu a lifetime, right?

  “Great! Give me another!” Yaoji’s eyes sparkled with i, sidelining Axel. Just then, a guard shouted from below: “Young Master Axel, the city lord summons you immediately!”

  Seeing his father’s personal aide, Axel bid Yaoji a relut farewell, leaving the two poetry enthusiasts behind.

  He hurried to his father’s study, where the stern, imposing Lord Aberd awaited.