Chapter 79
The inner hall came alive the moment they entered, lanterns brightening, mats unfurled, healers rushing forward. Poppy was guided onto a soft bed, Mingxi hovering so close the healers had to work around his tails.
“Mingxi,” Xu Yunlian murmured gently, “we’re here to help.”
He didn’t relax, but he let them work.
A healer placed warm palms over Poppy’s ribs. “Your qi is frayed,” she murmured. “How long were you exposed to the moonwell?”
“Long enough,” Poppy whispered.
Minghua plopped beside her, grabbing her hand. “You look like someone dropped you off a cliff. Twice.”
Poppy gave a weak smile. “Feels like it.”
Caelan lowered Lysandra onto the bed beside Poppy’s.
The healers hesitated.
“Careful,” Caelan said. “She’s unstable.”
“Bro, same,” Lysandra croaked.
Everyone froze. Then she jolted upright like a corpse in an amateur horror play.
“Oh, my gods,” Minghua whispered. “She’s terrifying. I love her.”
Lysandra squinted at the hall’s decor. “This place looks like Pinterest had a mystical cottagecore phase.”
Mingjun winced. “Did she injure her head?”
“No,” Caelan said. “Prophetic.”
“I’m not prophetic,” Lysandra sniffed. “I’m just built different.” Then she doubled over, clutching her stomach. “Oh no. Something’s coming. Big. Bad. Final boss vibes. Absolutely atrocious energy.”
Xu Yunlian shot Caelan a worried look. “This girl… her magic shattered?”
“Yes,” Caelan said.
“Bro, I didn’t shatter,” Lysandra said. “I exploded. With purpose.”
She pointed directly at Poppy.
“Something’s following her. Again. Smaller. Mini boss. A DLC pack. Y’all should patch that.”
Poppy covered her face. “Please stop.”
Two healers approached Mingxi next.
“Sit,” one said sternly. “Six tails outside ritual conditions are dangerous. We need to check your channels.”
“I’m fine,” Mingxi insisted.
He clearly wasn’t.
Poppy reached for his wrist. “Please.”
He sat immediately.
The healers examined him.
“Pulse too fast.”
“Qi channels overexpanded.”
“Emotional catalyst.”
“Moonwell residue.”
Shen Mingzhao’s eyes moved from speaker to speaker, his expression unreadable. When the examination finished, the healers bowed.
“Clan Leader… your son is stable, but only barely.”
“I said I’m fine,” Mingxi repeated.
Poppy brushed his hand. “You’re not.”
He softened instantly and then groaned. “Ugh. Disgustingly cute.”
Shen Mingzhao stepped forward. “Now,” he said, voice low, “you will tell me everything.”
Mingxi stood—unsteady but determined—and instinctively positioned himself in front of Poppy.
“It began at the moonwell,” he said. “The entity’s revenants—”
Lysandra waved dramatically. “Dude had dead-by-daylight vibes.”
Everyone ignored her, and Mingxi continued. “The entity tried to force its way through her. Poppy performed the binding ritual. The Grimoire shattered.”
Xu Yunlian covered her mouth. “The Grimoire… is gone?”
Lysandra giggled. “Not gone. Glitterfied. Evil glitter. Everywhere.”
Minghua whispered, awe-struck, “She is delightfully mad.”
Caelan sighed. “You have no idea.”
Mingzhao pinched the bridge of his nose.
“So,” he summarized, “a shadow creature formed from the shattering, followed you into the gorge, attacked, and nearly killed Poppy.”
“Yes,” Mingxi said.
“And you gained two tails?”
Mingxi hesitated and then nodded.
Minghua shrieked. “Tell us how!”
Mingjun groaned. “Ancestor, help us.”
Lysandra stuck both hands in the air. “I knew it. Big fox-simp energy.”
“Lysandra,” Poppy begged, “stop.”
“Nope,” she cheerfully declared. “I’m in my prophetic delusional era.” She flopped back onto her bed. “Also, the next threat arrives before sundown, FYI.”
Silence.
Mingxi grabbed Poppy’s hand and then said, “We’re not leaving Huǒyáo Jìng. Not until you’re safe.”
Poppy squeezed back.
Lysandra whispered, “Oh, you’ll need to stay. Because the thing coming next? It’s not here for her.”
Her eyes rolled back, her voice hollow. “It’s here for you.”
Then, Lysandra snapped upright so violently that the healers startled. Her pupils blew wide—one bright blue, one ink-dark—her voice splitting into two voices that scraped the air.
“Oh no,” she whispered. “It found him.”
Caelan gripped her shoulder. “Found who?”
The floor vibrated.
Once.
Twice.
A deep, bone-heavy thrumming rolled through the hall like a heartbeat made of thunder. Mingxi went rigid. His tails flared, trembling at the tips. Then, a long, ripping, throat-torn shriek—not wolf, not spirit, not beast—ripped through the ancestral wards.
Poppy’s hand shot into Mingxi’s sleeve. “What is that?”
Mingxi’s breath hitched. “Yaoguai-Lang.”
Everything in the hall froze.
Outside, fox warriors shouted warnings. Bells clanged. The air warped as ancient wards trembled under the force of the creature approaching the clan grounds.
Lysandra cackled, unhinged. “Bro, you are so screwed.”
Mingxi surged to his feet, but a firm hand seized his arm.
“Stay behind me,” Shen Mingzhao commanded.
Mingxi snarled. “I can fight—”
“You have unstable qi,” his father snapped. “It will target you first.”
The doors of the inner hall exploded inward. A gale tore through the room—wind, dust, the stench of moon-scorched rot.
And then the creature stepped in.