Arrival, Queen of the Blazing Plains (Part Two)

**Lohas Town, Yulin Estate**

The outdoor swimming pool glittered beneath the LED lights, its water divided into shifting bands of color — exceptionally clear, and under that ambient glow it took on a quality both luxurious and serene.

Beside the pool stood an elegant side table heaped with snacks and fruit.

Lingling, Zhang Xiaohou, Zhao Manyan, Chenying, and Xinxia sat clustered around it. The evening air had grown cool and nobody felt like swimming; instead they passed the time playing cards, boredom carved plainly into their expressions.

"I quit. Xinxia wins every single time." Zhang Xiaohou flung his cards down in disgust. He'd lost a generous pile of pocket money and looked altogether miserable.

"I know, right? Xinxia, you can't just use cheat codes — the whole point of cards is reading what the other person is thinking..." Chenying piled on.

Xinxia flushed with embarrassment and pushed her winnings back toward everyone. "I really wasn't trying to."

She genuinely didn't understand it herself. Even without using Mind Element magic, she could somehow intuit what the others were planning. It wasn't like she could play with her eyes closed.

"Now I understand why the casinos in Macau put 'Mind Element Mages Not Welcome' on a sign positioned above the one banning minors," Zhao Manyan said, spreading his hands in helpless resignation.

While the group chatted, several people suddenly hauled themselves out of the pool — all young-looking, though for reasons none of the observers could immediately explain, wisps of cold air were trailing across the surface where they'd been swimming, small patches beginning to crystallize into ice.

"Some abilities become second nature. You can't just switch them off consciously — which is exactly why nobody ever wants to share a pool with us, no matter how hot the day." A strikingly handsome young man in swim trunks, his abdomen sculpted into a clean eight-pack, strolled over and casually drained a cocktail from a long-stemmed glass in one pull.

"Mu Xiu, nobody was speaking to you." Zhao Manyan fixed the man with a look of distinct displeasure. "You don't need to announce yourself like that. I hired you to guard my uncle's estate, not to go on holiday. The fee has already been paid!"

At this, another figure climbed out of the pool — a woman with a reasonably attractive figure who tossed her dripping hair in a manner she evidently considered alluring, then laughed in a way that sounded uncomfortably like a fox's shriek. "This is Shanghai, darling. You really think the Safe Zone is just scenery? I don't believe for a moment that any creature could break through into this city. And even if something tried — the Mu Household specializes in fire-attribute creatures. One Ice-Snow Demon-Sealing Formation handles the whole problem. No need for us to lift a finger ourselves. Heh heh heh~"

Nobody paid the uninvited pair — Mu Xiu and Mu Ting Le — any particular attention. The group returned to their own conversation.

"Speaking of which, Xinxia," Zhang Xiaohou said, the memory surfacing suddenly. "Why did the Shamang River go berserk all of a sudden? Was it because of the Fire Calamity?"

Xinxia shook her head. "They're unconnected. The Fire Calamity doesn't disturb the Shamang River's equilibrium. Whatever is unsettling it is coming from the east — I sense that something significant is about to happen in that direction."

"Our luck really cannot get worse," Zhao Manyan muttered. "First the Fire Calamity, and now the Shamang River loses its mind..."

"There's one thing I keep turning over," Lingling said, looking at Chenying. "Do you know why your mother asked you to be the one to strike at the Flame Enchantress? By rights, she has an extraordinary bond with that creature — it would have made far more sense for her to launch the ambush herself."

"I honestly don't know. She put the Cold Iron Phantom Blade in my hands, told me when to act, and I followed her instructions." Chenying shook her head, her mind drifting back to that moment — the ambush against the Flame Enchantress. "I did think it all went a little too smoothly."

"Chenying, you've done something you might regret..."

They were mid-conversation when a familiar voice broke through from behind them. For a moment no one registered who it was — instinct nearly carried them into automatic replies — but the instant recognition clicked, every one of them spun around with wide eyes and startled grins.

"Mo Fan!!"

"What the — when did you get here? That was fast!!"

Zhang Xiaohou and Zhao Manyan surged forward, crashing into him all at once — bear hugs, enthusiastic punches to the shoulder, the whole spectacle.

Mo Fan shoved the two of them aside and walked straight to Xinxia.

He was certain that if she could have jogged over, she would have been the first to throw herself into his arms. So he wasn't going to waste any sentiment on those two.

He pulled her against him without ceremony. Xinxia's cheeks went pink, but she made no move to resist — she leaned against his shoulder and stayed there.

"Um — and who is this?"

"Mo Fan, that's genuinely not cool. The lava sweeps you away, and you come back with a woman this stunning..."

"Get lost."

He'd barely had a moment to enjoy it before those two made it impossible. Xinxia shot him a reproachful look — not another second of this until he explained himself.

"Her name is Nan Jue. She's with the military," Mo Fan said. "She believes she may have found a lead that's been missing for a long time, so she came along."

Nan Jue didn't elaborate. She found herself a seat and settled in quietly. Zhang Xiaohou — also military — made a point of initiating conversation with her. She gave him nothing.

"What did you mean, that Chenying did something she might regret?" Lingling was more interested in that thread and turned to Mo Fan directly.

"When the lava swept me away, it was the Flame Enchantress who saved me. She has absolutely no hostility toward humans." Mo Fan gave a rough account of what had passed between him and the Flame Enchantress.

This, at least, was something the others could partly corroborate. The Flame Enchantress had flown out to greet them herself — she had gifted them Fire Cloud Fruit to shield them from the burning heat, then guided them out through the labyrinthine depths of the Fire Cloud Forest.

What none of them had anticipated was everything that followed. Least of all that she would save Mo Fan's life.

"And now that she's been provoked... there's no telling what she might do."

"She's so far away, though. Surely she can't reach us here. And Shanghai's Safe Zone isn't something any creature just wanders through — an entire Demon-Beast horde would be ground to nothing by the city's Safe Zone fortifications."

"If that were really true, Zhao Yulin and his wife wouldn't have posted this many guards — wouldn't have put the whole mountain on lockdown." Lingling gave a cold snort, her gaze sweeping across the sentries still patrolling through the depths of the night.

That landed like a stone. The mood at the table grew heavy.

In a park at the foot of the Nanshan Mountains within Lohas Town, an open stretch of grass offered an unobstructed view of the sky. A young couple lay nestled against each other, gazing up at the dark heavens and at the town below, which blazed with lights even at this late hour.

"I don't care. If you truly like me, is it really so much to arrange a hundred thousand yuan in betrothal gifts? Give my parents some peace of mind." The girl — oval-faced, her bangs swept low — spoke in a tone of practiced sweetness.

"I'm already in my twenties. Going to my family for that kind of money... I genuinely can't bring myself to ask. You've got to see it from my side — I already hand over my entire paycheck to you every month." The boy wore factory clothes, clearly one of the young workers in the town's industrial district, fresh off a shift and rushing to meet her.

The oval-faced girl was thoroughly unmoved. She tilted her chin upward in an impressive display of haughty indifference.

But at that precise moment, a vivid streak of light slashed across the dark sky, trailing a long luminous tail — burning away the industrial haze that perpetually smothered the stars, lighting up even the grey clouds of factory dust. Mysterious. Breathtaking.

"A shooting star!" The girl cried out in delight, practically radiant with excitement.

"It is! Quick, make a wish — make a wish!"

They both squeezed their eyes shut at once, pressed their clasped hands beneath their chins, and made their wishes with total sincerity.

In a city of this scale, light pollution and smog devoured the sky whole — you couldn't spot a shooting star, let alone a meteor shower, on the best of nights. Catching one now felt, to both of them, like proof that what they had was real.

But when they opened their eyes to share their wishes, they both went utterly still.

Their eyes stretched wide, filled with a bewilderment that their ordinary minds had no framework to process.

The sky ahead was a wall of burning crimson.

In a matter of seconds, that brilliant "shooting star" had plummeted all the way to the edge of Lohas Town — and transformed into something so immense it lit the entire town as bright as noon.

A **flame meteorite**.

Scorching. Blinding. An apocalyptic fireball descending from the heavens, burning the very air in its wake —

It howled across the sky, trailing a river of raging fire.

And by its trajectory — it was headed straight for the hill at the center of Lohas Town.

Straight for the estate that stood there like a European castle.