"Not giving it back! Catch me if you can!"
"You little brat—!"
Master Ban and Tianming tore around the courtyard, one chasing, one cackling, the Mo Cube flashing in Tianming's hands.
Inside a room, Duanmu Rong studied Gai Nie. "Such severe internal injuries… and not a mark on the surface. Rare."
"I owe that to Sir Goku's treatment," Gai Nie replied, offering Goku a grateful bow. "Without him, I wouldn't have made it here."
"Is that so?" Duanmu Rong turned to Goku, her tone cool. "Then why not heal him completely? With your ability, it should be effortless."
"Heehee. Big Brother Goku doesn't casually treat men," Yue'er chimed in, grinning. "Fixing his external wounds was already an exception."
Duanmu Rong paused, eyes drifting back to Goku.
"What?" Goku met her gaze, unruffled. "You're allowed your Three No-Saves; I'm not allowed one Don't-Save? I save people by principle too."
"Goku," Xue Nu sighed, exasperated, "must you say such shameless things out loud?"
Duanmu Rong handed a wrapped packet of herbs to Gai Nie. "Your medicine. Boil three bowls down to one. In a few days, the internal injuries will ease."
"Many thanks." The atmosphere had grown stifling even for Gai Nie; with another respectful bow, he excused himself from the room of overwhelming auras.
Days of quiet passed—peaceful on the surface.
Within a sealed chamber, multicolored halos shimmered; auspicious clouds coiled; a vast pressure hummed like the Dao itself, unfolding supreme mysteries. None outside sensed it—the barrier here was absolute.
From the Dimensional Divine Pearl above Goku's head, runic strands of rule-power unfurled and sank between his brows.
"…Hnh? Someone intends harm to Yue'er?"
Goku's eyes snapped open. The pearl flashed and vanished into his sea of consciousness; the visions winked out as if they had never been.
He glanced at the shuttered window, a faint smile tugging his lips. "So it begins. Didn't expect you two to be the ones to show up."
He exhaled. "Still, these supreme laws are annoyingly hard to grasp. Over a decade, and I've barely touched one percent. Good thing time flows differently in each world—or I'd never have enough to study. My Sovereign power is near its limit… any more channeling and I'll nick the source. Two or three years left at most."
Murmuring to himself, Goku's figure simply vanished from the room.
Deep in a verdant grove, two stunning women faced down a single girl. Mist coiled between the trees, lending the place a dreamlike hush.
One woman was sultry and strange; the other, pristine and ethereal. A demoness' allure beside a celestial maiden's grace—two utterly different temperaments, standing shoulder to shoulder.
Da Siming stared at the girl opposite—Yue'er—scarlet radiance wreathing her fingers like blood-mist. The points of soft white starlight at Yue'er's fingertips made her frown. "That's… Yin–Yang arts? I don't recall a little girl like you among our Yin–Yang clan. Who taught you?"
"Want to know?" Yue'er's eyes curved, unafraid before the clan's two elites. "Beat me first."
Hand seals bloomed. Starry motes rose around her, weaving into a river of light that circled in the air. Power pulsed; radiance wrapped her like a falling immortal.
"Ready? I'm going to start now!"
"This is Yin–Yang arts… but why have I never seen it before?" Da Siming said, gaze tightening. The technique felt like Yin–Yang—yet far beyond it.
"Have you seen anything like this?" she asked softly.
Shao Siming's face remained placid. She shook her head.
"As expected of someone tied to that man—even the little girl is troublesome," Da Siming murmured, crimson light thickening at her hands. "We go together. Quick and clean. If we draw his attention, our plan is ruined."
Shao Siming nodded. Pale glow gathered on her fingertips; leaves lifted on an unseen current, tracing a Taiji curve before her.
"Heehee. How could your Yin–Yang arts compare with what Big Brother Goku taught me?" Yue'er smiled. "I might be the weakest at home for now… but dealing with you two is fine."
Her finger flicked. Stars blossomed—dense, ethereal, threaded with the breath of the Way—then fell like a shower of meteors.
Da Siming's expression changed; scarlet beams lanced up to strike the falling lights—and vanished without a ripple, scattered to smoke in an eye-blink.
Shao Siming's leaf-blades whirled up to meet the glow—only to be punched through as if they were paper, the green motes dissolving to dust.
"She's… strong!" Da Siming felt a cold prickle at the nape of her neck as the "stars" dropped toward her.
At the last instant, a supple leaf-whip cinched her waist. Shao Siming's toe kissed the earth; the world blurred—she and Da Siming slipped outside the kill-zone in a single airy bound.
"Careful. This girl's Yin–Yang power hits hard," Da Siming warned.
Shao Siming gave a slight nod.
"Heehee. You dodged. Not bad," Yue'er said, lifting her hand. Light lines braided together overhead, condensing into a blazing lance that speared toward them.
Even the ever-calm Shao Siming's brows twitched. That blow carried a frightening weight.
They retreated in twin arcs, seals flying in their hands.
"Your footwork is pretty," Yue'er teased. Her wrist turned.
The star-lance snapped downward.
Boom—!
A towering tree split in two with a single stab; leaves erupted like rain. The beam kept burrowing, gouging the earth and webbing it with cracks.
The two priestesses narrowly escaped. Faces pale, they stared at the ragged trench the light had carved.
"H-How… She's just a child." A foreboding crept into Da Siming's chest. Luring Goku away by kidnapping this girl would not be easy—not when the "bait" had fangs.
Shao Siming said nothing. Calm as still water, she drove her Yin–Yang force to its peak. Leaves lifted and spiraled, gathering above her in a storm.
Her Taiji sigil spun faster, blazing. The suspended leaves quivered like a sea whipped by typhoon.
"Ten-Thousand-Leaf Flower Gale!"
The sky became knives—sheets of leaves shrieking toward Yue'er. Trunks they struck were riddled with holes; ancient trees were diced to shreds in an instant. The power was terrifying.
Above Yue'er, blood-light swelled—the crimson palm Da Siming conjured slammed down and seized the girl in its grip.
"Ah—let me go!" Yue'er cried, a flash of panic on her face as the green storm closed in.
"Hmph. However strong your 'Yin–Yang' is, you're still just a child," Da Siming said, smoothing a stray lock with languid fingers, smiling up at the dangling girl.
The leaves were a breath away when Yue'er suddenly giggled. "Fooled you."
Her small hands caught the blood-red palm—rip. The construct tore neatly in two. She drew back a tiny fist and punched straight into the onrushing storm of blades.
_____
T/N:
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