The next day, deep within the Inner Academy, inside a secluded loft.
Great Elder Su Qian was bent over a pile of dossiers, his brows tightly furrowed.
The dossiers recorded data on the recent energy fluctuations of the Heavenly Flame Refining Qi Tower.
The increasingly frequent and violent tremors made it feel as though a giant stone were weighing on his heart.
The seal's power was continuously weakening. If this continued, then in half a year at most, perhaps...
Just then, a clear but somewhat urgent girl's voice came from outside the loft.
"Old Su Qian! Old Su Qian! Are you in there? Open up, quick! I have something for you!"
Su Qian's brow furrowed even deeper. He knew that voice all too well. Other than Zi Yan, the Brute Force King who gave him nothing but headaches and left him helpless, it could be no one else.
He rubbed his brow and called out, "The door isn't locked. Come in. How many times have I told you? Call me Great Elder."
With a creak, the door was pushed open, and Zi Yan rushed in like a gust of wind, holding a letter high in her hand.
"Here! Someone asked me to give this to you!" Zi Yan slapped the letter onto the table before Su Qian, her little face wearing the smug pride of someone who had completed a mission. "He said it had to be delivered into your hands personally."
Su Qian's gaze fell upon the letter. At first, he merely gave it a casual glance, but the next moment, his eyes froze.
The material of the letter looked ordinary, yet a faint sheen seemed to flow over its surface. It was slightly cool to the touch and clearly not ordinary paper.
And in the center of the