The elder hesitated. “I can’t read him—martial prowess like a warrior, aura like a mage. He’s the strangest soul I’ve ever met. If Your Highness could harness him, he’d be a once-in-a-century talent.”

  His tone shifted. “How do we retrieve Princess Yaoji—any clever pns?”

  Lin Xiaoyu pondered, a sly grin curling his lips. “Beyond alerting scouts everywhere, it seems we’ll need the Winged Folk’s help.”

  Strolling Jin City’s quaint, fragrant streets, Xia Feng marveled at its bustle. “I never imagined ancient cities could be so thriving and rich. But doesn’t such wealth tempt Winged Folk raids?”

  “No fear—they ck stamina for deep innd flights,” Axel said, pointing to the towering walls. “Plus, Jin City’s ramparts and key spots house the Capital Artillery Corps, armed with tracer arrows—their bane.”

  “Tracer arrows?”

  “Right—gunpowder rockets,” Axel expined, gesturing. “Lit, they bze skyward like kids’ firecrackers, exploding midair to scatter iron shards in all directions. Lethal up to dozens of feet—Winged Folk dread them most aloft.”

  “Oh, got it,” Xia Feng nodded. “Like a high-altitude bomb!”

  Seeing Axel’s bnk look, Xia Feng skipped expining bombs, switching topics. “Where’re we headed now?”

  “There’s a famed diviner in Jin City,” Axel said. “We’re off to see him—get a clear path to Yaoji.”

  In a dim, dank prison, heavy doors creaked open. Lin Xiaoyu, led by a ntern-bearing guard, traversed a long corridor to a near-sealed cell. Peering through its window, he saw a pale, slight, naked boy huddled in a corner, oblivious to the noise outside.

  Lin Xiaoyu nodded approvingly, signaling the guard, who hastily unlocked the door.

  Ducking inside, he scanned the room, then barked at the guard, “I ordered you to treat Prince Alette well—how dare you keep him here?”

  The cell was pristine for a jail—carpeted, with a bed, bnkets, pillows, a teapot, wine cups on a table, even crude calligraphy scrolls on the walls. Common homes weren’t this tidy.

  After scolding, he turned to the boy with a smile. “Prince Alette, my oversight let you suffer in this crude, filthy hole—I’m uneasy. Forgive me. I’ll have you moved somewhere better to heal.”

  Prince Alette turned slowly. His skin was eerily smooth and white, his face more delicate than the loveliest girl’s, with tousled golden curls and sea-blue eyes—deeper than a Great Westerner’s. His frame was wiry—broad chest, slender legs—an unnatural physique.

  “Your Highness, I’m your prisoner—speak pinly; don’t make me guess,” he said coolly, his voice tinged with a foreign lilt.

  “Prince, I need your help,” Lin Xiaoyu sighed. “I want your kin to search west of Jin City for someone—your forte.”

  Alette replied ftly, “Locked in this dungeon, how can I reach my people?”

  Lin Xiaoyu smiled leisurely. “I know you emit sounds we can’t hear, traveling far through the air for simple messages. I’ll move you to a high tower—call out to the sky. Hope your kin hear, rey my request. I’ll set up food and rest stops along the way so they can penetrate Eastern Xuan’s heart. Find who I seek, and I’ll free you at once.”

  At that st promise, Alette’s eyes sparked. He rose, revealing flesh wings folded tight against his back. Nervously eyeing the towering king, he asked, “You mean it?”

  “My word is w!”

  “Fine—I’ll try!”

  Tap, tap, tap! After three reverent knocks on the divine drum, the solemn diviner murmured to Axel, kneeling before the altar, “You may ask.”

  Axel knelt respectfully, while Xia Feng loitered a yard behind, nibbling his fingers—gumless, they’d do.

  He’d always loathed such hocus-pocus, but in this game, any setup was fair. Maybe these real-world cons worked here. So, he waited patiently.

  “I seek a friend’s whereabouts—where can I find her? Who’s the bck-robed man who took her? Why?” Axel bowed deeply. The sixtyish diviner stroked his sparse white beard, eyes lowering impassively. “Write her name on the sand tray.”Muttering chants, he trembled, escating to near-frenzy.

  Symbols and scrawled glyphs emerged on the sand, as if an invisible pen danced across it, filling the tray.

  Axel peered curiously—they weren’t familiar Eastern Xuan script, nor the faintly known Great Western or Semu tongues. Utterly foreign.

  The diviner exhaled heavily, opening weary eyes, drained as if from exertion.

  Seeing the sand’s markings, his face bnched, eyes widening in terror. His lips quivered, speechless for ages.

  “Master, what’s the reading?” Axel asked cautiously, unnerved by the diviner’s dread—fearing the worst for Yaoji.

  “Don’t… don’t ask!” The diviner swiped the glyphs away. “I know nothing—pretend you never came, I never saw you, never cast this!”

  “No way!” Axel snapped. “You said you could divine anything—and took my fee!”“I’ll double your money back!” the diviner pleaded. “But I know nothing—asking’s pointless!”

  “Scoundrel!” Axel’s temper fred. Spping the tray off the table, he gred. “You saw something—why hide it? What scares you?”

  “I… I can’t say!” The diviner nearly sobbed. “Your friend’s in the clutches of the most terrifying, evil Star of Death. Knowing where she is won’t help—I dare not reveal its path!”

  “Star of Death?” Axel frowned. “What’s that?”

  After a long pause, the diviner whispered, “Rumors tely cim the four stars—Disaster, Chaos, Sughter, Death—have descended on Atntis, heralding unprecedented ruin. I scoffed at such tales, but this reading proves them true. No one dares defy the Star of Death!”

  “What happens if you do?” Before Axel spoke, Xia Feng sauntered over, still gnawing his fingers. The diviner froze, shaking his head dumbly. “Don’t know.”

  “What about defying me?” Xia Feng fshed a sinister, Stephen Chow-esque grin, hand drifting to his hilt.

  “W-what do you want?” As the diviner stammered, a white fsh streaked past his chest, slicing his robe and grazing his skin—blood beading out.

  Thinking himself struck, he wailed, colpsing.

  “Oh, I’m sorry!” Xia Feng casually wiped blood from the bde’s tip. “That first cut was just to spook you—my bad aim nicked you. Meant to take an ear next, but since I’ve hurt you, I’ll settle for a lock of hair. Don’t squirm—I’ll miss.”

  “No! No! I’ll talk!” The diviner dropped to his knees, rasping to Axel, “Your friend’s been taken to the Copper Ridge Mountains—they’re… they’re crossing Copper Peak.”

  Now Axel paled, eyes gzing, fear outstripping the diviner’s. Xia Feng waved a hand before him. “Hey! What’s up?”

  Axel gulped, voice hoarse. “Copper Peak—also called Death Peak—is Atntis’s highest mountain.”