"You're awake."
Evan Lin looked at Lily Zhao lying on the bed; Lily's complexion was still a bit weak.
She opened her eyes, and when she saw Evan Lin sitting by the bed, her expression was slightly stunned.
"I'm awake?"
Lily Zhao was dazed for a moment. She sat up from the bed and glanced around.
The room was simply furnished, and a glass of water Evan Lin had just poured sat on the table.
"I..."
Lily Zhao frowned, her expression shifting as she looked at Evan Lin. "The spiritual qi in my body should have been nearly exhausted, so why did I wake up at this moment?"
"A few days ago, I found a pocket world. Inside, I met Immortal Lord Everlost. He granted you a strand of spiritual qi to awaken you, but the qi is thin—at most, it can only support you casting one spell."
Evan Lin briefly told Lily Zhao what had happened in the past few days.
After listening, Evan Lin noticed Lily Zhao was momentarily stunned, her brows tightly furrowed as if she were pondering something.
"Is there something wrong?"
Seeing her troubled expression, Evan Lin asked. Lily Zhao just shook her head. "I'm only a soul-body right now. A single breath of spiritual qi can only help me maintain my current state."
"About what happened that day—thank you."
Thinking back to the day Evan Lin stood against Heavenly Tribulation for her, Lily Zhao's gaze grew complicated.
"For now, just rest inside the Soul-Sacrifice Beauty Scroll. I'll handle everything else."
Hearing Evan Lin's words, Lily Zhao nodded and didn't say anything more.
Leaving the room, Evan Lin found Yvette Ye standing outside the door, looking as if she'd been waiting for quite a while.
"Something up?"
Evan Lin looked at her; Yvette Ye's expression showed a hint of worry.
"Vermilion Bird won't let this go so easily. Even though the woman you brought out might not actually be someone from inside the Mysterious Ruins, that final burst of light from Everlost was clearly absorbed by her."
"You might not understand the true significance of the Mysterious Ruins."
Yvette Ye was still thinking about how to explain this to Evan Lin.
The Mysterious Ruins have always been a major secret shared between Moonshade and Hidden Dragon.
Everything about the Mysterious Ruins is classified at the highest level.
That Everlost—just a single glance was enough to send Kevin Qin flying. Power like that can only be described as terrifying; someone like him is far beyond Yvette Ye's understanding.
"Are you here to act as a mediator?"
Evan Lin frowned. "If that's the case, there's no need to say more."
"I'm not handing her over. Even if Azure Dragon himself came, that wouldn't change."
Hearing Evan Lin's words, Yvette Ye hesitated, as if wanting to say something but holding back.
She glanced at the closed bedroom door. "Who is that person?"
"You look like you really care about her—even willing to offend Hidden Dragon for her?"
For the past two days, Evan Lin had stayed by her bedside, watching Lily Zhao’s condition every second.
Yvette Ye had once caught a glimpse of Lily Zhao lying on the bed through the window.
Back at the Mysterious Ruins, she hadn’t gotten a good look. But this time, Yvette finally saw Lily’s face clearly.
She was absolutely stunning.
But the most striking thing was the aura around Lily Zhao—something hard to describe, but just looking at her made you feel calm inside.
There was no way she was just an ordinary person.
Yvette even wondered if Lily Zhao was really human at all.
"If there are two people in this world I have to protect, she’s one of them."
Evan Lin’s expression was serious. "So if Hidden Dragon wants her, they’ll have to step over my corpse."
"But Hidden Dragon might not mean any harm. They just want to understand, since she could be connected to that person in the Ruins," Yvette said, taking a deep breath, about to say more.
But seeing Evan Lin so stubborn, she could only shake her head helplessly.
"Alright, let’s put that aside for now."
She stepped closer, lowered her voice, and said, "Vermilion Bird has already left. Before she went, she asked me to tell you to be careful."
"A threat?" Evan Lin narrowed his eyes. Vermilion Bird’s strength had surprised him, but neither of them had gone all out that day.
No matter what, Evan Lin wasn’t going to be intimidated by Vermilion Bird.
"It’s not a threat," Yvette said, then glanced at the closed door, her eyes drifting down to the gap beneath it.
There was a faint shadow hiding on the floor behind the door.
And she could just barely make out a pair of feet.
Someone was behind the door.
She stopped talking, pulled out her phone, typed a few words, and showed the screen to Evan Lin.
Evan glanced at the phone and frowned slightly.
The message read: Vermilion Bird told you to be careful of the woman in your room.
"Mysterious Ruins No. 3 has disappeared, so there’s nothing left for you to do right now. If you want to leave, you can go anytime."
Yvette put away her phone, deleted the message, and kept talking. "If you need anything, just come to me."
"Oh, and one more thing—Blake Lin has gone home, so he won’t be showing up for a while. Now that you’re officially part of Moonshade, the Upper-Grade Lin Clan shouldn’t bother you, as long as you don’t make too much noise."
From what I hear, lots of things are piling up lately, and the world isn’t exactly peaceful. But don’t worry—you’re my recruit in Moonshade, so it’s my job to have your back."
After Yvette finished, she glanced at the bedroom door again out of the corner of her eye.
The door was quietly pulled open a crack.
Inside that narrow gap, a pair of beautiful but icy cold eyes stared straight at Yvette.
Yvette felt a chill run through her heart. She didn’t say anything more—just said goodbye to Evan Lin and left.
Evan watched her leave, still thinking about the message on her phone.
Vermilion Bird had tried to get him to hand over Lily Zhao, saying she’d been brought out from the Ruins.
But in reality, Lily Zhao wasn’t someone who came out of Mysterious Ruins No. 3.
So naturally, Evan Lin had no reason—and no way—to hand her over.
The day he and Vermilion Bird clashed, both got a little heated, but still held back.
But why did Vermilion Bird warn him about Lily Zhao before leaving?
Evan’s mind was a mess—he still hadn’t figured it out.
If Vermilion Bird wanted to threaten someone, shouldn’t she threaten him, Evan Lin?
Maybe everything about the Ruins is way more complicated than it looks?
Yvette left Evan’s place, walked along the concrete path, entered the woods, and turned a few corners.
"Back already? Did you deliver the message?"
Vermilion Bird stood there, watching Yvette, her expression calm.
"Yeah, I did. But honestly, I don’t think he’ll take it seriously."
Yvette nodded, sighed as she spoke about it.