Teacher by day, Farmer by passion

The room felt dead.

No one dared to breathe too loudly. Lily's declaration still hung in the air like a guillotine.

She didn't wait for it to settle.

"But relax," she said, her tone swinging back to casual. "But for the Tharz Kingdom's army, fret not for we can wipe them out before they even reach the city gates. No sweat."

A collective exhale rippled through the hall. A few shoulders dropped. A few hands unclenched from their robes.

Elder Shane rose to his feet and cleared his throat delicately.

"Grand Elder," he asked, voice tight with hope, "are you… certain of that?"

Lily turned, grinning wide. "What, you think I'm lying?"

Shane went pale.

He sat down without another word and began silently counting the stars in the sky.

Counting stars? In a sealed meeting hall? With a roof overhead? What? Unless that's just his imaginatio—

"Hello there, Xiao Zhi," a voice drawled from above.

Ace's eyes snapped upward.

So did everyone else's.

And to everyone's surprise, the roof wasn't there.

How?? They heard no explosions…. Nor a creak.

It was simply… gone.

One moment it was there. The next, the sky stared back.

And in that sky, two figures floated.

Giyo. The Ex-Crown Prince of the Tharz Kingdom. The very same person who Ace and his two disciples joined hands to defeat.

The crown prince who got abducted at the last moment before Ace could close the chapter to his life.

And floating beside him was Yu Zhong.

The one responsible for that abduction.

"Fancy meeting you here," Ace called up, his voice calm as ever, hands clasped behind his back.

Yu Zhong didn't answer right away. He began descending slowly, each step a silent ripple across the sky. His eyes never left Ace.

"Indeed, what a coincidence," he muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. "Care to explain why you promised your soul bond to Sarah?"

Before Ace could answer, Yu Zhong tilted his head slightly, gaze distant.

"…Is it another arrangement from fate?" he mused inside his head. "But that wouldn't make sense. He's not strengthening himself. He's—wait. He's weakening himself. Unless…"

His voice trailed off into whispers, his lips still moving.

"…unless he's preparing a trap strong enough to hold down a Divine Step cultivator. But that's absurd. I wouldn't even trust myself to build something like that. And I'm me. Let alone this fool over here…"

Giyo, floating quietly beside him, gave a small shrug and said nothing.

Below, the entire Sky High Sect watched the floating man muttering furiously to no one in particular.

Ace sighed. "There's no explanation. I'm just doing what I need to… to live."

Yu Zhong stopped mid-step, blinking once as if Ace had just declared war on common sense.

"Live? You?" he said, tone pitching up. "Are you insane?"

He pointed at Ace with both hands. "You promised your soul bond to Sarah—Sarah!—and you think that's how you survive? I'm sure she told you she needs the beast core!"

He whirled around dramatically, addressing the sky. "This man is urning his house so that no one else would be able to harm his house!"

Then he turned back, fuming.

"You definitely must not hand her the soul bond," Yu Zhong snapped, his tone sharper now—less manic, more urgent.

Ace didn't flinch. He met Yu Zhong's gaze with calm defiance.

"And why," he said slowly, "should I listen to you?"

A ripple passed through the gathered elders. The silence was thick enough to weigh on the bones.

Up above, Yu Zhong narrowed his eyes.

Ace continued, voice steady, almost too casual.

"As far as I remember, you're the same lunatic who's tried to kill me half a dozen times. You show up out of nowhere, say you're from 'the future,' and keep accusing me of betraying you in some timeline that hasn't even happened yet."

He took a step forward, eyes like steel under frost.

"Tell me, Yu Zhong. If I'm really the traitor—your traitor—then why do I keep being the one trying to survive while you hunt me like I already pulled the trigger?"

Yu Zhong said nothing at first.

But something flickered in his expression. A twitch. A break.

The future… wasn't going the way it was supposed to.

Ace could tell.

He pressed on, voice quieter now, like a knife turned inward.

"Is that why you're panicking? Because I just did something you didn't see coming?"

Yu Zhong's jaw tightened. His gaze flicked to the side. The muttering was gone now, replaced by a rare, dangerous silence.

Suddenly, Yu Zhong's voice cut through the air, sharper than steel.

"Did you know… when a soul bond dies, so does its master?"

A ripple of unease passed through the gathered elders.

At the side, Giyo blinked, visibly confused.

"Wait a second…" he muttered under his breath. "My soul bond already died yet I'm still here, aren't I?"

Yu Zhong didn't even glance at him.

"That only applies," he continued, eyes locked on Ace, "to those soul bonds you've formed a talking relationship with. Ones that speak to your mind—where your souls begin to overlap. If one dies, the other follows."

The implications hung heavy in the air.

Lily stepped closer to Ace, frowning.

"Why's he saying all this, Master?"

Ace didn't look at her. His eyes never left Yu Zhong's.

"No clue," he muttered, "but best we start preparing for a fight."

There was no flinch, no panic in his voice.

Yu Zhong stepped forward in the sky, the faint ripple of his soul force crackling like static around him.

"Xiao Zhi…" His voice dropped, low and urgent. "Did you not understand?"

He raised a hand, fingers curling as if grasping something fragile.

"She wants the soul beast core."

The words hit like stone against still water.

"The core is the life of a soul beast. Once it's taken out…" He paused, gaze narrowing. "The beast dies."

A hush fell.

But then Yu Zhong added, voice quiet… almost pained:

"And so would you."

Gasps spread across the elders like a wildfire. Even Lily flinched.

Ace remained still, jaw tight.

Across from him, Yu Zhong's gaze darkened.

"I don't know what game Sarah's playing," he said, "but if she takes that core… you're gone, Xiao Zhi. Gone. No reincarnation. No loophole. No body for your precious divine garden to cling to. Just nothing. The kind of nothing the universe itself forgets."