Morning light had just spilled over the courtyard wall. Chen Wuya crouched before the ring-shaped markings outside the door, his fingertips lightly tracing the indentations in the dirt. Mo Feng stood behind him, brows tightly furrowed, his folded fan spread open in his hand. One corner of the mechanism diagram painted on its surface was aligned with the marks for comparison.
"It wasn't made by footsteps, and it wasn't carved with a blade," Mo Feng said in a low voice. "It's like something underground absorbed the force, then withdrew again."
Chen Wuya said nothing. He merely turned over the web between his right thumb and forefinger. The thin red mark gleamed faintly dark in the sunlight. It did not look like broken skin, but rather like a thread of bruising seeping out from within his veins. The system had been silent last night, yet now his brow gave a slight throb as an exceedingly faint prompt surfaced—
[Abnormal energy residue detected. Source unknown. Establishing a continuous monitoring mechanism is recommended.]
He rose, dusted off his hands, and turned toward the center of the courtyard. Bai Zhi was already waiting there. Her flexible sword remained sheathed, but her posture was straight and her gaze cool. The children had arrived as well. Chen Xuan clutched a crumpled sheet of paper, while Chen Yao's sleeves bulged conspicuously, clearly concealing some new contraption.
"Someone came last night." Chen Wuya spoke evenly, neither lowering his voice nor showing alarm. "He didn't make a move, and he didn't leave a name. But he knows about the Misaligned Principle, and he knows this place is the starting point."
Bai Zhi's eyes shifted slightly, but she did not press for details. She knew that anything he chose not to say was something for which there was