After Nie Li finished speaking, the room fell silent for several breaths.
Mingyu hovered above the table, its ink-black body still, the sheen along its edges shifting slowly. It did not ask further about Shen Fei's cultivation or offer any more comments. It merely tilted its head slightly, as though digesting what Nie Li had just said.
Nie Li leaned back in his chair, tapped the tabletop twice with his fingers, then stopped. He glanced at Mingyu and said, "Senior Mingyu, there's someone here you might know."
Mingyu raised its head slightly. Its face had no distinct expression, yet that movement made everyone in the room sense a change. Its attention had suddenly sharpened, more focused than at any point before.
Nie Li did not keep them guessing. He turned toward the inner room and said, "Yu Yan, come out."
Shen Fei followed Nie Li's gaze. A wooden screen separated the inner room from the main room, its plain silk covering embroidered with a few simple sprigs of orchids.
It was quiet behind the screen. Until then, Shen Fei had not sensed anyone there at all. Instinctively, he spread out the Shadow Mantis's perception, covering the entire room, including the space behind the screen.
Nothing. The space behind the screen was empty-or at least, that was what the Shadow Mantis's perception told him.
Then he heard a very faint sound. It resembled the tiny crackles of a flame swaying in the wind, so soft and gentle that it was almost imperceptible unless he listened closely.
An exceedingly faint golden pattern of light appeared along the side of the screen, spreading from its edge toward the center. Then a fissure opened beside the screen, and a petite figure slowly floated out of it.
It was a woman.
She was very small,