Deep within the Silent Forest.
One in the morning.
A Blue Moon Stone had somehow sprouted from the cracks of a fallen, rotten tree, its brilliant flowers already in bloom. As a somewhat rare rose on Puji Island, this Blue Moon Stone grew alone in this decayed, shadowy corner, looking particularly out of place.
It was already past midnight, when the moonlight should have been at its strongest.
Yet tonight's moonlight was exceptionally sparse.
The Blue Moon Stone spread its petals as wide as possible, trying to catch as much of the scattered moonlight falling through the gaps in the canopy as it could. And so, when a gust swept past, her petals were carried away without the slightest resistance.
All that remained was a bare flower stem, swaying forlornly in the lingering wind.
The next second.
A massive shadow descended from above, bringing with it an even fiercer gale. It crushed the rotten tree beneath her and ground the remains of the Blue Moon Stone into the forest's humus.
Crack.
Zheng Qing felt something catch beneath Edge Seven's foot. He instinctively looked down, but saw only a piece of rotten wood it had crushed.
"—Did you find anything?"
Colmar's voice came from somewhere impossibly far away.
Zheng Qing looked around. Edge Seven's towering frame placed him above most of the trees in the forest, giving him an exceptionally broad view. Beneath the faint moonlight, the Silent Forest resembled a rolling sea of dark green, exuding wisps of hazy mist.
The two hunting teams had formed battle formations, clustering along both sides of his route.
The black-robed wizards, usually about Zheng Qing's size, had become little black snakes in its eyes—magical afterimages trailing behind the hunters as they moved swiftly. Watching them weave through the green sea, Zheng Qing was