Breakfast in the Twilight Stable had always been a chaotic affair, usually involving a fight over the last strip of bacon or the chicken trying to eat the silverware. But this morning, the atmosphere was different. It was sophisticated. It was tense. It was being judged.
Zhu Zhu sat at the head of the wooden table, floating slightly in his Void Belt. He wore a napkin tucked into his collar. He held a fork with his hoof (held in place by telekinesis). He cut a small piece of pancake, chewed it thoughtfully, and swallowed.
The entire team leaned in, holding their breath.
"The texture is... adequate," Zhu Zhu announced, his voice sounding like a tiny, posh nobleman. "However, the syrup lacks complexity. It tastes of cheap cane sugar. I detect notes of... poverty."
"It is poverty," Su Ye snapped, flipping another pancake on the griddle. "We are fugitives living on a giant turtle inside a dead whale skull. We don't have maple trees."
"A shame," Zhu Zhu wiped his mouth. "I require more. And perhaps a side of glazed meteor rock. The crunch is good for my digestion."
"He's unbearable," Luo Bing whispered, watching the pig levitate the syrup bottle. "He was cuter when he just squealed and ate trash."
"He's powerful," Lin Fan countered, looking at his scanner. "His resting energy output is higher than a Tier-4 reactor. If he wants fancy syrup, we get him fancy syrup."
"We have work to do," Su Ye plated the last pancake. "Eat up. We're going shopping."
"Shopping?" Gao Ming looked around the gloomy, bone-filled cavern of the Behemoth Graveyard. "Master, the only shops here sell death and depression."
"Exactly," Su Ye grinned. "The best prices."
The Behemoth Graveyard was a scavenger's paradise, provided the scavenger didn't mind the haunting moans of the wind whistling through ribcages the size of skyscrapers. The mist was thick, glowing with a faint, necrotic green light.
Su Ye led the team out of the wind-serpent skull and onto a ridge made of fossilized vertebrae.
"Listen up," Su Ye instructed. "The Sky-Eater is damaged. The pirates mined out three of its dorsal ribs, and the fight with the dragon cracked its hull. We need replacement parts."
"Parts?" Lin Fan kicked a massive femur. "Master, these are bones. We need stone and iron."
"Bones are just biological stone," Su Ye tapped the femur.
Zzzzt.
[System Scan]
[Object: Femur of an Iron-Hide Behemoth.]
[Grade: Tier-5 Material.]
[Properties: High density, kinetic absorption.]
[Ancestor Status: Absent (Soul departed long ago).]
"This will do for patching the outer shell," Su Ye nodded. "Lin Fan, get the baboons. Tell them to start sawing."
"And us?" Luo Bing asked.
"We are looking for something specific," Su Ye walked deeper into the boneyard. "The Sky-Eater complained about its digestion. It needs a new Core Filter. Something to process the raw Qi of the atmosphere."
They trekked past hills of teeth and valleys of dust. Moonbell walked beside Su Ye, her nine tails keeping the mist at bay. She looked disgusted.
"This place reeks of stagnation," she sniffed. "Why do we scavenge like rats? I could hunt a fresh beast for you."
"We are low profile right now, Your Highness," Su Ye said. "Hunting attracts attention. Grave-robbing is quiet."
They reached the center of the graveyard. Here, the bones were different. They weren't white; they were crystalline. A massive skeleton of a Crystal-Spine Drake lay curled in a crater. Its ribs were translucent, humming with faint energy.
"Jackpot," Su Ye whispered. "Crystal bone. Perfect for a mana filter."
He stepped forward.
CLICK.
Su Ye stepped on something. It wasn't a bone. It was a metal plate.
WHIRRRRR.
Suddenly, the pile of bones in front of them shifted. A skull rolled away. Rising from the debris was a machine.
It looked like a spider, but made of rusted gears, scavenged bones, and green glass eyes. A Necro-Construct.
"Intruders," the spider hissed, its voice a grinding of gears. "This claim belongs to the Bone-Picker Clan. Pay the toll or become spare parts."
"Another clan?" Gao Ming threw his hands up. "Is there any square inch of the sky that isn't owned by a gang?"
"The Bone-Pickers are hermits," Su Ye noted. "They build bots to guard their stash."
He looked at the spider.
"I don't have money," Su Ye said. "But I have a trade."
"Trade?" The spider paused. "Flesh? We need ligaments. Elasticity is hard to find."
"Better," Su Ye reached into his bag. He pulled out the broken Dragon-Bone Cannons they had looted from the pirate ship.
"Dragon bone," Su Ye said. "Processed. Rifled. High-grade ignition chambers."
The spider's green eyes zoomed in.
"Dragon... tech..." the spider drooled oil. "Acceptable. You may take three ribs of the Drake. No more."
"Deal," Su Ye kicked the heavy cannons over.
The spider scurried forward, grabbing the loot. Su Ye signaled Lin Fan.
"Take the ribs. Carefully. Don't wake the ghost if there is one."
As Lin Fan and the monkeys worked to extract the crystal ribs, Su Ye sat on a skull and pulled out the Black Ring
.
"Now for the errand," Su Ye muttered.
"The mail?" Moonbell asked, sitting elegantly on a tail.
"Yes. We need to send this ring to the Heavenly Sword Sect. But we need to make sure they know exactly who 'sent' it."
Su Ye pulled out a small wooden box. He lined it with velvet. He placed the ring inside.
Then, he pulled out a piece of parchment and a brush.
"What are you writing?" Gao Ming peeked over his shoulder.
"A love letter," Su Ye grinned.
He wrote:
To the Esteemed Sword Elders,
We, the Dark Beast Sect, have cleansed the Shattered Peaks of your spies. We found this ring on one of your pathetic agents. We are returning it as a warning. The Shadow rises, and your blades will rust. Come and get it if you dare.
Sincerely,
Patriarch Wraith (The one who is definitely not dead and is totally mocking you).
"You are forging a declaration of war," Moonbell noted, impressed. "But why would they believe it?"
"Because the ring is real," Su Ye sealed the letter. "And the signal is active. The Empire is tracking the ring. If the ring moves to the Heavenly Sword Sect's territory, the Empire will think the Sword Sect stole it. And the Sword Sect will think the Dark Beast Sect is mocking them. It's a triangle of hate."
"But how do we get it there?" Luo Bing asked. "The Sword Sect is a thousand miles east."
Su Ye looked at the Bone-Spider happily dismantling the cannons.
"Hey, Spider-Guy!" Su Ye called out.
The construct looked up. "Transaction complete. Leave."
"One more transaction," Su Ye held up the box. "Do you guys do delivery?"
"We are scavengers, not couriers."
"I'll give you the Admiral's Spatial Ring," Su Ye offered. (He had already emptied the loot). "It has a spatial capacity of fifty cubic meters."
The spider froze. A spatial ring was a treasure beyond price for a scavenger.
"Destination?" the spider asked instantly.
"The Eastern Border Patrol of the Heavenly Sword Sect. Just drop it on their deck and run. You're fast, right?"
"I have eight legs and a nitro-booster," the spider boasted. "I am the wind."
Su Ye tossed the Spatial Ring and the box.
The spider caught them. It inspected the ring. It beeped happily.
"Accepted. Delivery in 12 hours."
The spider turned and bolted. It didn't run; it blurred. It vanished into the mist, heading east.
"And now," Su Ye dusted his hands. "We wait for the fireworks."
The Repair Montage
The next two days in the Graveyard were a flurry of activity.
With the crystal ribs secured, Lin Fan led the repair efforts. They fused the crystal bone into the Sky-Eater's hull using Little Sun's solar fire as a welding torch.
Zhu Zhu, meanwhile, was put to work.
"I refuse," Zhu Zhu stated, hovering over the damaged dorsal ridge. "Manual labor is beneath my station."
"It's not labor," Su Ye said. "It's a buffet. See that crack in the hull? It's leaking corruption energy from the fight with the pirates. Eat it."
"Oh," Zhu Zhu floated down. "Why didn't you say so? Slurp."
He patched the leaks by eating the damage.
Su Ye spent his time with Moonbell. The Divine Fox was recovering, but her spiritual core was still unstable.
"You are relying too much on the moonlight," Su Ye lectured, watching her meditate. "You are a Moon Fox, yes, but the moon reflects the sun. You need balance."
"I do not need lectures from a zookeeper," Moonbell snapped, though her tails were twitching with frustration. She couldn't circulate her Qi properly.
"Just try it," Su Ye said. "Little Sun! Come here!"
The golden chicken hopped over.
"Moonbell, channel your yin energy. Little Sun, channel yang. Hold hands. Or... paws and wings."
The two beasts touched.
FLASH.
A circuit formed. The cold, silver energy of the Fox mixed with the hot, golden energy of the Chicken.
For a moment, they glowed in perfect harmony—a twilight swirling of gold and silver.
Moonbell gasped. Her blockage cleared. Her Qi flowed like a river.
"It... works," she whispered, looking at the chicken with new respect. "The bird is a catalyst."
Moooo, Little Sun agreed, puffing its chest.
By the third day, the Sky-Eater was healed. The crystal ribs hummed with power. The hull was patched. The weapons were calibrated.
And Su Ye received a notification from the System.
[Global Event Triggered.]
[The Heavenly Sword Sect has engaged the Dark Beast Sect.]
[The Imperial Army has mobilized the Cloud Fleet.]
[Chaos Level: High.]
"They got the package," Su Ye grinned, looking at the map. "The fleets are moving."
"They are fighting each other," Luo Bing realized. "The Shattered Peaks are about to become a war zone."
"Which means no one is looking at us," Su Ye jumped onto the helm. "Senior Tortoise! Wake up! Vacation is over."
"I liked the graveyard," the Tortoise rumbled. "It was quiet. And the bones were chewy."
"We're going somewhere louder," Su Ye turned the key.
The Sky-Eater roared to life. The crystal ribs glowed blue. The anti-gravity engine purred (thanks to the whale oil).
"Where to?" Gao Ming asked, adjusting his new cape made of ghost-moth silk.
Su Ye pointed to the map. To a location marked in red, deep in the Wildlands.
"The Beast King's Tournament," Su Ye said. "It starts in three days."
"A tournament?" Lin Fan blinked. "Master, we are fugitives. We can't enter a tournament."
"We aren't entering as humans," Su Ye smiled. "We're entering as a wandering circus."
"A circus?"
"The prize for the winner is a Shard of the World Tree," Su Ye said. "And the Sky-Eater needs a new spine. That tree shard is the only thing strong enough."
He pushed the throttle.
"Get the costumes ready, kids. We're going to put on a show."