The air was too still.
Chen stood atop the balcony of his sanctuary, overlooking the violet-hued skies of the divine realm. The battlefield had calmed—for now. Yet the silence it left behind grated against his instincts like a blade unsheathed in the dark. Even as wind curled through his hair and the bond-flames flickered gently between him and his lovers inside, a pressure lingered. One he couldn't shake.
Something—no, someone—was watching him.
He turned slightly, not enough to reveal suspicion, but just enough to catch the barest flicker of presence. It vanished instantly, like a divine ghost tugging at the edge of perception. His Soulflame pulsed in warning deep within his core.
Not an attack. A shadow. A betrayal.
He took a breath and stepped back inside, letting the divine doors of the sanctuary seal behind him.
Ye Yue looked up from the low couch where she was seated with Lanmei. Their presence grounded him, their worry written across their eyes. "You felt it too," Ye Yue murmured.
Chen nodded slowly. "There's a spy here. Close. Too close."
Lanmei stiffened. "Are you sure?"
"I don't doubt it anymore." His voice dropped to a low growl. "The divine courts won't wait for us to make the next move. They're trying to sabotage us before we even draw our blades."
A sudden pang echoed through his heart—not fear, not rage, but something colder. Someone had crossed the threshold of their sacred bond-circle. Someone who knew enough to hide in plain sight.
He closed his eyes.
Through the bond network, he traced each link: Mei's bright, fluttering warmth; Lanmei's fierce fire; Ye Yue's radiant stillness… and then—there it was. A sliver of power that didn't belong. Faint, wrapped in illusion, and cleverly woven into the aura of the court itself.
"Whoever it is, they're divine-born. Masked. And they've been feeding information to the other courts," Chen said quietly. "But they don't know I've changed. That I can feel deeper now."
Ye Yue stood, her hand brushing against his cheek. "Then we lure them out. Together."
"No." Chen's eyes flashed. "We're done reacting. It's time I set the stage."
Outside the sanctuary, the wind stirred violently as Chen released the first wave of a new technique—Soulflame Tracing—his aura fusing with Ye Yue's and Lanmei's as glowing sigils spiraled in the air, forming a net of divine perception.
Within moments, a faint silhouette flickered inside the lower courtyard—masked, cloaked in neutral robes, pretending to be a humble divine attendant. But the mask couldn't hide its true identity anymore.
Chen stepped forward, voice cold as steel. "I know who you are."
The figure froze.
Behind him, Lanmei summoned her spear. Ye Yue's aura shimmered with lunar power.
"No more hiding," Chen said. "You stepped into my sanctuary. Now you answer to me."
And as the air cracked with tension, the spy finally lifted their head… revealing a face Chen hadn't expected. One that made his heart stutter, not with fear—but familiarity.
"You?" he whispered.
The real game had just begun.