In the City of Divine Grace, Noah and Leah continued their investigation for several more days.
The results could be summarized in a single sentence: a man named Li Yuan had indeed existed, but beyond that, they found nothing.
There was no origin, no destination, and nothing to prove his true identity.
They did find an entry for an itinerant tea merchant named Li Yuan in the city’s entry logs from that day.
The problem was that while the name was in the ledger and the gate guards remembered such a person entering the city, when Noah and Leah retrospectively viewed the footage of that day at the city gates, they still only saw the guards registering thin air.
That evening, they sat in their temporarily rented inn room, a pile of records spread across the table.
Leah rubbed the corners of her eyes, her voice carrying a rare trace of exhaustion.
“It’s still the same.”
Noah nodded and closed the records he had just finished organizing.
“The number of people who can prove he existed is growing, yet he remains absent from time itself.”
“What exactly does this mean?” Leah whispered. “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it.”
Noah leaned back against his chair and didn’t respond—mostly because he didn’t know how to explain it either.
The situation they faced was like... an invisible ghost leaving traces behind through real-world objects while hiding outside of time itself.
Leah looked at the records on the table and asked softly,
“Should we return to report?”
Noah thought for a moment before nodding.
“We’ve investigated everything we can. Staying longer won’t necessarily yield new results. Let’s head back first and hand all the records to His Majesty for him to decide.”
At that moment, a knock came from outside the door.
“My lords, an urgent message from the royal capital.”
Noah stood up to open the door and took a sealed letter from the attendant.
The seal bore the silver crest of the Allen family. The siblings exchanged a look; this was a letter from their grandfather.
Noah tore open the envelope and unfolded the parchment inside. It contained only one short line of text.
【Continue to stand by in the City of Divine Grace. You are not permitted to return without authorization. I will come in person with reinforcements.】
Noah’s expression changed after reading it. Leah leaned in to take a look, her face filling with confusion.
“Grandfather is coming in person?”
This was no small matter.
Oslama was advanced in age and almost never left the Allen family estate. Unless the situation was extremely grave, he would never travel in person.
Noah refolded the letter, his voice low.
“It seems Grandfather must have discovered something.”
Noah tucked the letter away and sat back down at the table.
“Then we continue to stand by.”
“Understood.”
Leah nodded slightly. The siblings no longer discussed the return trip. Instead, they spread the records back out on the table.
Since their grandfather was coming, what they needed to do was re-examine every lead they could organize before the old man arrived... at the very least, they couldn't let these past few days go to waste, if only to avoid a few rebukes in his presence.
...
In Kajinson, at Li Yuan’s Midnight Teahouse.
The night was late. Perhaps because the temperature had dropped recently, there were fewer pedestrians on the streets, but the teahouse was much warmer than the outside.
The water in the kettle had just come to a boil, and a faint tea fragrance permeated the room.
Tonight’s only customer was Setis. She sat by the window with a cup of black tea by her hand, cradling the book 《Wind and Clouds of the Dao Sect》.
Unlike the unofficial histories like 《Chronicles of Kyushu》, 《Wind and Clouds of the Dao Sect》 was an official record of the history of the Dao Sect on the Kyushu Continent. By the time Li Yuan copied it, the Dao Sect already had a history of one hundred and thirty thousand years, and this was just one volume of its annals.
At first, Setis thought it was just another story, but the more she read, the more she felt something was off.
Certain things written in the book were too detailed—so detailed they didn't seem fabricated.
For instance, it described how a disciple practicing the Thunder-Calling Art would sense the lightning intent between heaven and earth, how they would draw lightning qi into a talisman, and how they would circulate it through their meridians.
These descriptions were foreign to her, yet they possessed a strange sense of rigor.
She flipped to a certain page and stared at it for a long while before finally being unable to resist speaking.
“Li Yuan.”
Behind the bar, Li Yuan was looking down as he organized newly purchased tea canisters. He looked up at the sound of her voice.
“Yes?”
Setis spread the book open and pointed to a passage of text.
“Are the people of this Dao Sect all this strong?”
“What makes you ask that all of a sudden?”
“It says here that an ordinary disciple on a journey of experiential training casually used a lightning art to blast a demon beast to pieces.” Setis frowned. “Even an ordinary disciple can control the power of lightning?”
On the Ogu Continent, lightning mages were quite rare.
Lightning magic was powerful, fast, and highly taxing, with very strict requirements for talent. A mage who could stably cast lightning magic, even if their rank wasn't high, would be prioritized for cultivation by the academies.
So, seeing it written that an ordinary disciple could casually use lightning arts was truly difficult for her to imagine.
Li Yuan nodded.
“That was just an ordinary lightning art. It’s considered entry-level; nothing to boast about.”
Setis’s finger froze on the page, her eyes wide with utter disbelief.
“Entry-level? That’s just entry-level?!”
“Yes... it is entry-level.”
The Thunder-Calling Art was indeed a spell from the Qi Refinement stage. Although it could still be used at the Nascent Soul stage, it would ultimately lack the necessary refinement.
“Does lightning have grades too?”
She closed the book and leaned forward, clearly intrigued.
“Then what counts as the powerful kind?”
This question actually stumped Li Yuan. He rested his chin on one hand and thought for a moment, feeling that a verbal explanation alone would likely be insufficient.
After all, the lightning magic of the Ogu Continent and the lightning arts of the Kyushu Continent were not the same thing. The former leaned more toward the manipulation and processing of so-called mana, while the latter emphasized the lightning intent of heaven and earth, the source of Daoist arts, and the compatibility with the cultivator’s own spiritual energy.
If he tried to explain it directly, Setis would probably only get more confused the more she heard.
So, he held up his right index finger.
“It might be more intuitive to see it this way.”
Setis was puzzled, watching Li Yuan’s movements with uncertainty.
Then, his fingertip lit up slightly, and a thin wisp of lightning immediately appeared, dancing upon his finger.
The lightning was white with a faint blue glow, emitting a soft crackling sound in the air.
“This is the kind of ordinary lightning power mentioned in the book.”
Setis stared at that wisp of lightning, her gaze becoming a bit vacant.
She could feel the sharpness and explosive quality unique to lightning within it, but the fluctuations were stable, without any sign of losing control.
This part was quite absurd—the most difficult part of lightning magic was its stability.
Yet the wisp of lightning on Li Yuan’s fingertip was incredibly steady... as if it were a pet raised by hand, perfectly docile.
Next, Li Yuan extended his other hand and opened his palm.
A second later, a wisp of purple lightning slowly emerged in his palm.
It was entirely different from the lightning on his other hand—its color was deep, with an extremely faint golden edge. It didn't jump violently like ordinary lightning but instead slowly coiled above Li Yuan’s palm like a tiny purple dragon.
The moment it appeared, the air in the teahouse seemed to grow several degrees heavier.
Setis instinctively held her breath. Even though she couldn't perceive any mana fluctuations, she instinctively realized the danger of that thing.
It wasn't a crushing pressure brought by lightning, but a biological instinct.
“This is another, more advanced type of lightning power.”
Li Yuan explained it like he was giving a lecture.
“It’s called Purple Heaven Divine Thunder. Even among all lightning arts, it’s considered to be in the upper-middle tier.”
Setis suddenly stood up and rushed to the bar, looking at the lightning dancing on both of Li Yuan’s hands in shock.
“This is also lightning?”
“Yes.”
“But it’s completely different from this one?”
“Because their essence is different.”
Setis stared at that wisp of purple lightning, her eyes full of curiosity.
After a moment’s hesitation, she reached out, wanting to touch it.
Li Yuan was quick, immediately withdrawing both types of lightning. The light on his fingertip and palm extinguished simultaneously.
Setis’s hand stopped in mid-air. She looked up at him, her face filled with confusion.
“No touching!”
Li Yuan wore a rare, serious expression.
“This isn't a toy. Touching it carelessly could lead to injury at best, or being reduced to ashes at worst.”
Setis pursed her lips, clearly not believing him. At the very least, she didn't think Li Yuan would actually let anything happen to her.
But seeing his serious expression, Setis eventually didn't insist. However, she still wouldn't admit defeat verbally.
“Is it really that exaggerated?”
“It would only be more severe than what I’ve said.”
Setis stared at him for a few seconds before giving a light huff and turning back to sit in her seat.
She picked up 《Wind and Clouds of the Dao Sect》 again, her movements flipping through the pages much faster than before.
After a few pages, she suddenly stopped and asked curiously, as if she had discovered something.
“Then are the spells mentioned in this book all real?”
Li Yuan nodded.
“Basically, they all exist.”
Setis froze, not expecting Li Yuan to admit it so easily.
“They all exist?”
“Yes. Most of them are Daoist arts. Aside from a few lost techniques, the rest all exist.”
She looked down at the page, then up at Li Yuan. After several repetitions, the expression on her face changed from shock to a certain indescribable excitement.
“Then I want to learn!”
Li Yuan was taken aback. Setis closed the book, her tone serious and excited.
“You teach me.”
Li Yuan fell silent for a moment, feeling a bit of a headache. This question was much more troublesome than explaining lightning arts just now.
She was a magic warrior of the Ogu Continent. What circulated in her body was mana, not spiritual energy. She had no spiritual root, no methods for circulating energy through meridians, and lacked the cultivation foundation of a Kyushu cultivator.
Cultivation techniques weren't something one could learn just by looking at them.
Even if he wanted to teach her, it wasn't as simple as teaching a few incantations.
Furthermore, if Setis truly embarked on the path of cultivation, the complications involved later would be even greater. Spiritual roots, cultivation methods, physiques, and heavenly tribulations—none of these were minor matters.
Just as Li Yuan was about to explain, the copper bell at the door suddenly rang.
“Ding-ling-ling—”
Hogg walked in, dressed in plain clothes.
Today, he wasn't wearing his signature robe but common clothes, with his long hair tied back. He looked a bit less like the majestic Royal Preceptor and more like an ordinary visitor.
After entering, his gaze swept over the still-excited Setis before looking at Li Yuan behind the bar.
“It seems I’ve arrived at just the right time.”
Setis instinctively hugged the book a little tighter, the excitement on her face not yet fully receded.
Li Yuan, meanwhile, wore his usual professional smile.
“Welcome, Lord Preceptor. What would you like to drink tonight?”
Hogg glanced at Setis, then back at Li Yuan.
“I’ll start with a cup of Oolong tea.”
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