The first rays of morning sunlight streamed through the inn's carved lattice windows, spilling across the gleaming mahogany tables.
Mornings in Blackstone City always carried a faint scent of daily life. Vendors had already begun calling out on the street below, while steamed buns sent curling wisps of heat into the air, their aroma drifting into the hall through the doorway.
Li Pu held a meat bun in his left hand and a shumai in his right, his cheeks stuffed full as he mumbled indistinctly, "Buns from outside really do taste better. They're way more fragrant than the ones I make myself. If I'd known, I would've left Slaughter City sooner."
Bai Ci sat opposite him, leisurely stirring the lotus seed soup in his bowl with a silver spoon. Every so often, an extremely faint thread of blood flickered across his fingertips before swiftly vanishing. He glanced at Li Pu and chuckled. "Only you could eat buns you made yourself for two years without getting sick of them. I'd have thrown up long ago."
Lin Yue leaned against the back of her chair, slowly nibbling on a scallion pancake. Her gaze swept over the pedestrians passing along the street from time to time, her eyes alert.
Her spear rested against the table, its tip wrapped in black cloth, yet it still emitted a barely perceptible chill.
Only Xiao Chengu said nothing. He had taken only a few bites of the plain congee before him, with the Bone Dragon Sword laid across his lap as his fingers unconsciously traced the dragon pattern on it.
His gaze rested outside the window, and no one knew what he was thinking. The cold aura around him was heavier than usual, as though even the surrounding air had dropped several degrees.
The other guests in