Little Purple cautiously surveyed everything around him.
His spiritual power poured out from between his brows, spreading along the floor like an exceedingly thin mist. The work-study students' dormitory was dark, with only moonlight squeezing through a gap in the curtains to lay a narrow silver-white strip across the floor. There were two iron-framed beds, one piled with bedding, the other reasonably tidy. The gray cloth between them hung quietly, its surface lightly creased.
He saw Xie Xie first. The boy with short brown hair lay curled beneath his blanket, showing only the back of his head. His breathing was even; he was sound asleep. He still clutched his bow tie, which rested crookedly against the edge of his pillow. An empty silver platter sat at the foot of the bed, a few unmelted fragments of ice crystal glimmering faintly blue-white in the moonlight.
Then he saw Tang Wulin. A navy-blue formal suit lay neatly folded at the foot of his bed. The boy lay on his side with his back to Xiao Zi, his shoulders slightly slumped, his breathing shallow and steady. His black hair spread across the pillow, and the moonlight edged the loose strands over his forehead in the faintest silver.
Xie Xie, Tang Wulin...
"Why are they all kids? Did someone dump me in a kindergarten?"
He extended his spiritual power, and only then did he notice something amiss.
That thin mist slipped through the gap in the dormitory window, swept over the crown of a Chinese parasol tree, past the lights along the floating bridge, and across the lake. Then he felt them.
The Golden Dragon King's aura.
The Silver Dragon King's aura.
The two auras lay to either side, like subterranean rivers buried deep underground. Layers of seals and disguises covered their surfaces, but