The Ambitious Hero

The morning light was dim, heralding another cold, dreary day. Inside the tent, Qi Zhengyan's hands shifted through one exquisite, profound Mudrā after another, their movements flowing like water and blooming as naturally as flowers.

A gloomy wind began to rise, sweeping through the tent and chilling them to the bone as it curled into a vortex at its center.

Jiang Zhiwei, Ruan Yushu, and Zhao Heng watched in silence, thinking back on Qi Zhengyan's behavior over the past half day. Their hearts were full of questions, and the whole thing felt absurd. Why had his temperament changed so suddenly? He was now so meticulous that not a drop could leak through, a stark contrast to the way he had been before.

The only thing that hadn't changed was his expression. He still kept his emotions hidden and said as little as possible.

What had happened to him this past year?

They all looked toward Meng Qi, signaling for him to find a chance to ask. Though he hated to admit it, Meng Qi couldn't deny that he was the team's link and lubricant, its confidante, its neighborhood busybody...

He really did need to find a chance to have a serious talk with Senior Brother Qi! Meng Qi had been thinking the same thing for a while.

The wind darkened, and the vortex twisted into a human shape. In a voice filled with shock, fear, fury, and disbelief, it cried:

"My lord!"

A lingering obsession wasn't a soul's thoughts; it had no definite content, preserving only the thought that had haunted someone most at the moment of death. The voice echoed through the tent, but Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei sealed it inside, preventing even a trace from escaping.

"My lord?" Zhao Heng was especially sensitive to that sort of