hotmtlnovel Chapter 72 SEEN THROUGH
Chapter 72 SEEN THROUGH
He tilted his head, studying her with unnerving intensity. "I'm curious," he mused, his fingers drumming against the stone armrest. "Why does a cultivator with the golden core and white dragon bloodline live here amongst those beneath your status?"
Li Hua's grip tightened on her daggers as shock rippled through her. Only her family and Grandmaster Yu knew about her golden core—this stranger shouldn't have been able to detect it. "And you seem far too interested in things that don't concern you," she shot back, but her voice wavered slightly. She watched as he tilted his head back and sniffed the air like a predatory beast catching the scent of its prey, his eyes glowing for a brief moment.
"You're quite mysterious," he said, his voice carrying an undercurrent of fascination. "Your soul doesn't seem to belong in this world, does it?"
Ice shot through her veins at his words. Without Little Firefly's warm presence to steady her, panic began to creep in. Her first instinct was to retreat into her inner space—surely she could still do that, right? But before she could even attempt it, he vanished from the throne.
Her breath caught as he materialized directly in front of her, close enough that she could feel the raw power emanating from him. Her daggers suddenly pulsed with his essence—dark and overwhelming—before transforming into midnight-colored butterflies. They danced through the air between them, their wings catching the dim light like shards of starlit obsidian, before settling back at her waist as daggers once more.
The casual display of power made her stomach drop. In her past life, no one had ever managed to disarm her—she had been death incarnate, unstoppable and feared. But he hadn't just disarmed her—he'd done it with such effortless grace that it felt like a reminder of just how outmatched she truly was.
His scent enveloped her then, an intoxicating mixture of mountain rain and night-blooming flowers with an undertone of something ancient and powerful that made her core flutter. It reminded her of lightning before a storm, of power barely contained, and somehow of home all at once.
Her mouth went dry as the full impact of his presence washed over her. "Who are you?" The question escaped her lips in a whisper that betrayed more breathlessness than she'd intended.
"To fatten you up, my little tempest," he called after her, his voice a seductive growl that seemed to caress her skin even from a distance. "When I see you again, I want something I can really sink my teeth into." The words dripped with dangerous intent, leaving little doubt he meant far more than just cultivation resources.
Her face flaming, Li Hua dropped to her hands and knees, crawling through the narrow cave entrance as quickly as she could. The rough stone scraped against her shoulders, but she barely noticed, too eager to put distance between herself and that maddening honey-brown gaze. His rich laughter followed her through the tunnel, echoing off the stone walls like distant thunder.
She emerged into the late afternoon sunlight to find her brothers exactly where she'd left them, their faces tight with worry. Li Wei immediately reached down to help her up, while Li Hao hovered anxiously nearby.
"Well?" Li Wei asked, brushing dust from her training clothes. "What did you find in there?"
Li Hua hesitated for a fraction of a second. "Nothing," she lied, forcing disappointment into her voice. "Just an empty cave. The formation must have been protecting something long ago, but whatever it was is gone now."
Her brothers' shoulders slumped in obvious disappointment. Li Hao kicked a loose stone, sending it skittering across the ground. "All that work decoding the formation for nothing?"
"We should head back," Li Wei said, glancing at the setting sun. "The festival will start soon, and Māmā will worry if we're late."
As they started down the mountain path, Li Hua couldn't resist throwing one last glance at the cave entrance. A whisper carried on the wind, so soft she almost thought she'd imagined it:
"You can call me Mo Xing, my little tempest."