Chapter 66

  When Adam and Lyne opened their eyes, they were lying on damp grass at the edge of a forest.

  The air was fresh, still carrying the faint scent of wildflowers. For a moment, neither of them moved — still dazed from the sudden transition.

  Then Adam’s expression twisted into pure rage.

  “THAT FUCK! What do you mean ‘no cost too great’? You sacrificed us! Where’s YOUR damn cost in that!?”

  His voice echoed through the trees, startling a few birds into flight.

  His fists clenched, trembling with restrained fury.

  He looked around — at the trees, the moss, the innocent chirping life — and gritted his teeth.

  [Can’t punch the trees… might hit a bird.

  Can’t stomp the ground… might crush a mole.

  Can’t destroy the mountain… that’s overkill]

  Frustration built in his chest until there was only one thing left to do.

  “AAARGH!”

  The scream tore through the clearing, scattering the silence like shrapnel. Even the wind seemed to pause in sympathy.

  Lyne just watched quietly — the faintest wry smile on her lips, though her eyes betrayed exhaustion.

  “You done?”

  “Not completely.”

  Lyne let out a long sigh and slowly lowered herself onto the grass. She lay flat, arms spread, staring up at the sky where sunlight and starlight oddly coexisted — a horizon split between day and night.

  “Uh… what are you doing?”

  She wordlessly gestured beside her.

  He hesitated… then joined her, lying shoulder to shoulder on the cool grass.

  For a long moment, they said nothing — just watching the drifting clouds and distant moons above.

  “I’m sorry. This was my fault. Who plans a date inside a secret realm? I dragged you into this mess.”

  Adam turned his head slightly, looking at her.

  “Yeah, it was a bad idea… but don’t worry about it. The whole thing was rigged from the start. Nothing we could’ve done.”

  The wind whispered through the trees. The anger and guilt between them slowly faded, replaced by something quieter — an uneasy peace.

  Both of them stared into the split sky, letting their thoughts drift wherever they pleased.

  For now, there was nothing to do but breathe.

  “Thank you… for not blaming it all on me.”

  Adam chuckled softly, still lying on the grass beside her.

  “Why would I? We agreed to this date together, so we’re in this mess together.”

  She turned her head slightly toward him, smiling faintly.

  “Sometimes your blunt honesty is… oddly attractive.”

  “That’s because you’re used to dealing with scheming ministers and backstabbing courtiers.”

  Lyne laughed quietly — the sound light, genuine.

  “Ha. You get it.”

  For a few moments, silence returned — just the hum of the wind, the faint shimmer of starlight. It wasn’t awkward, just calm.

  Eventually, Adam pushed himself up, brushing the dirt off his clothes.

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  “All right… where are we, anyway?”

  Lyne followed, patting grass from her sleeves. Together, they turned — and froze.

  Behind them wasn’t more forest, or mountains, or even sky.

  It was nothing.

  Stretching endlessly beyond the grassy edge was a vast, shimmering void — an ocean of stars, nebulae, and black emptiness. The literal end of the world.

  They approached slowly, their reflections glimmering faintly on the invisible barrier between earth and the infinite.

  Adam was awe-struck

  “The edge of this world… Makes you wonder what’s beyond it.”

  Lyne stepped closer, her eyes tracing the horizon where ground met nothingness.

  “What do you think would happen if I jumped off from here?”

  “hmmmm ... .You'd suffocate… and die slowly.”

  Lyne blinked, surprised at how quickly he answered.

  “You say that so certainly. How do you know that?”

  “Because that’s what happens beyond an atmosphere. There’s no air out there. My—”

  He paused, realizing what he’d just implied.

  “—my home world’s knowledge.”

  A slow, knowing smile spread across Lyne’s lips.

  “So it’s true, then. You really aren’t from this world.”

  Adam stared at her, half-suprised, half-impressed.

  “Wait—you already knew?”

  “Adam, your name alone is enough to raise suspicion.”

  Her teasing tone was soft, but her eyes gleamed with curiosity — and something deeper, warmer.

  Lyne’s gaze lingered on Adam, the starlight painting faint silver across her features.

  “Tell me about your world.”

  Adam studied her for a moment — the curiosity in her tone wasn’t born of politics or power. It was genuine.

  He extended his hand to her, palm open.

  “Do you want to? Are you that curious… that you’re willing to be vulnerable toward me?”

  Lyne raised an eyebrow.

  “What, are you going to send the information directly into my mind or something?”

  Adam said nothing — his silence was the answer.

  Lyne’s eyes widened slightly.

  “Wait… you actually can?”

  “Memory manipulation. To be exact.”

  A flicker of awe — and a bit of intrigue — crossed her face.

  “That’s… incredible.”

  She reached for his hand without hesitation.

  Adam stopped her halfway.

  “Wait.”

  His voice dropped, calm but serious.

  “Aren’t you scared? That I could alter something in your mind — or make you forget who you are?”

  Lyne smiled softly, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

  “Oh, please. I know you won’t. You’re… chaotic but a moral person, stubbornly so. You’d never break your own rule — not even for convenience.”

  "Adam couldn’t help but laugh at that, shaking his head.

  “Ha… not the first time I’ve heard that.”

  Lyne’s fingers found his hand, their palms meeting gently.

  A faint glow pulsed from Adam’s eyes — a golden shimmer that spread between them, threading through the space like fine strands of light.

  In an instant, Lyne’s mind flooded with sensations — wind through steel towers, lights brighter than any flame, vast oceans of glass and stone, cities humming with machines instead of Qi. The rush of sound — languages she didn’t know, birds of metal that flew without wings, and people… countless people.

  She gasped softly as images unfolded one after another — Earth, in all its chaotic, beautiful imperfection.

  When the connection faded, Lyne stood motionless for a long moment, breathing slowly, eyes shimmering with wonder.

  “Your world… it’s loud… and alive. So different — yet so much like ours.”

  Adam smiled faintly.

  “Yeah. That’s Earth for you.”

  They stood there, hand in hand, the edge of the world behind them and the stars stretching endlessly ahead.

  The air between them was still, serene — the kind of silence that felt sacred.

  Then—

  Han Wuqing’s voice came through Adam’s sect emblem

  “Sorry to interrupt you lovebirds, but Adam, you do remember we’re all watching you two, right?”

  Both of them froze instantly.

  Adam blinked once, twice — then slowly turned toward the source of the voice, his face unreadable but his soul visibly dying inside.

  “...i forgot about this.”

  Lyne’s face flushed bright pink as her jaw dropped slightly.

  “Did you hear a lot?”

  “Relax, Princess. It’s part of the recording system I asked Jalen to make, remember? You two are being monitored for safety — safety.”

  A beat of amused silence.

  “Though I admit… I didn’t expect a full-on romantic revelation session.

  And do I have your word we that this stays between us”

  Adam facepalmed.

  “I knew that camera necklace was going to haunt me.”

  Then another voice chimed in — soft, mature, and teasing — from Lyne’s own emblem.

  Zhou Yanyue “Of course, Sect Leader. You have my word — this ability of his stays between us.”

  A light chuckle followed.

  “And, well… I must say, seeing this side of my niece — I didn’t think she had it in her. I’ll have to thank Adam for bringing it out.”

  Lyne groaned audibly and buried her face in her hands.

  “Auntie… please stop talking.”

  “No, no — don’t stop. I’m enjoying this.”

  Lyne shot him a glare that could kill lesser men.

  “You are not surviving the night, husband.”

  Han Wuqing amused “Careful, Princess — we’ll still be watching.”

  Both of them sighed heavily at the same time, their cheeks still faintly red.

  “Hey, so… are you going to come and get us?”

  “Oh, no. I don’t think so.”

  The unknown voice came interrupting them.

  The voice came from somewhere close — from the direction of the trees.

  Both Adam and Lyne turned sharply, Qi flaring on instinct—

  —and froze.

  Perched on a branch was… a toucan.

  A toucan, of all things.

  The bird tilted its colorful beak, then somehow produced a cowboy hat and a half-lit cigar from absolutely nowhere.

  “You see us saints,” it said, puffing smoke with lazy dignity, “are very protective of our domains, you see.”

  Adam blinked twice, trying to comprehend the words that just came from a tropical bird.

  Before he could say anything, Zhou Yanyue’s voice echoed faintly from Lyne’s emblem.

  “Sir Saint, you agreed to that clause too.”

  The toucan chuckled — a low, unsettling sound coming from a beak that shouldn’t be able to sound that amused.

  “It doesn’t matter. I’m a demonic saint. I don’t have to follow any clause.”

  “...What clause?”

  The toucan exhaled another puff of smoke.

  “I’ll let them explain.”

  Han Wuqing replied

  “Saints don’t usually allow anyone into their domains. It’s a security matter — spies from rival saints, you understand.

  But since sometimes cultivators accidentally end up inside, all saints agreed to a clause: they shall not harm anyone as long as those intruders are not spies.”

  The toucan smirked — or at least, somehow gave the impression of smirking.

  “But in your case, you can be considered spies. Recording devices, live communication from rival saints’ territory…”

  Puff. “Looks pretty incriminating to me.”

  Zhou Yanyue spoke “But we assure you—”

  “Your assurance means nothing.”

  Han Wuqing’s tone sharpened.

  “We don’t want to deal with this any more than you do. Just let us retrieve them.”

  “Don’t want to.”

  The bird tilted its hat back, cigar glowing faintly.

  “It’s their unfortunate fate that they appeared in my domain."

  The toucan then extended one wing to the side — like it was winding up for an attack.

  The air thickened instantly, pressure crushing against their chest.

  But then—

  The saint froze.

  Its eyes darted toward the far edge of the world — to something unseen.

  For a brief instant, Adam and Lyne felt it too.

  A strange, powerful presence watching from beyond the horizon — calm, ancient, and unfathomable.

  Then from both their bodies, faint wisps of Qi drifted into the air, swirling toward the toucan.

  The saint stared at them… then groaned.

  “That damn turtle... and a higher being too, huh.”

  It muttered, clearly reconsidering.

  Then, exhaling a long cloud of smoke, the toucan adjusted its hat again.

  “I change my mind. I’ll allow you two to return — but only on your own power.”

  Its gaze flicked toward the emblems.

  “Did you hear that”

  Zhou Yanyue & Han Wuqing simultaneously “We understand.”

  “Whether they live or die out there… that’s up to their ability and their fate.”

  With that, the demonic saint’s aura receded, as the toucan disappeared and the forest fell silent once again — save for the faint rustle of wind and the scent of cigar smoke fading into the air.