“We’re done,” Wayne said cheerfully.

  “Anything else?” Lauren asked.

  “No. We can go back to the mountain.”

  Halfway up the mountain path, Briar simply scooped Wayne up in its arms and took off.

  So that’s how he’d been getting down here.

  Back at the mountain, Lauren rummaged through her storage and pulled out the battered piece of tough leather she’d never found a use for. She cut out two decent sections and had new little shoes made for Briar.

  “This stuff is the toughest material I have right now,” she said. “If you rip through this, I swear…”

  Briar nodded vigorously.

  After spending a few more days lounging around and pying with Wayne, Lauren finally made up her mind.

  The weather was unusually clear. Timothy was being watched closely by her master. Indiana had been locked up again by Herbert.

  It was as good a time as any.

  She pnned to visit the Calcution Sect first. She had promised Xavi, and she intended to keep that promise.

  Considering what might happen there, she went to inform her master.

  After listening, Drake nodded slightly. “The Calcution Sect has easier access to celestial secrets than we do. It will benefit you to go.”

  “Then I’ll tell Wayne.”

  Lauren headed to the hill where the chickens were raised.

  “Wayne, I’m going on a long trip,” she said. “Stay on the mountain and py with Briar. If anything happens, go find Master, all right?”

  Before Wayne could answer, Briar blurted out, “No. I’m going too.”

  Lauren’s expression changed instantly. “What are you going for?”

  “My flower root is attached to you,” Briar said nervously. “I can’t be too far away.”

  Lauren frowned and looked at Edmund. “Is that true?”

  “There is a range limit,” Edmund admitted. “It can’t stray too far from you.”

  Great.

  That complicated things.

  She briefly considered dumping Wayne with her master. When her senior brother had entered the mountain at six, hadn’t Master raised him? Surely he had some experience with children.

  Just as she was weighing the idea, Drake’s calm voice drifted through the air.

  “Take them with you.”

  One sentence.

  Pn destroyed.

  Lauren sighed. Fine. She was going to the Calcution Sect, not diving into some lethal secret realm.

  “Wayne,” she said, turning back to him, “I’ll take you to the Calcution Sect.”

  Wayne’s eyes lit up. “Okay! Thank you!”

  .......

  The next morning, the three of them packed up and set off.

  On the flying boat, Briar carefully put on its little flowered hat and matching dress again.

  From the back—aside from its slightly stiff, branch-like gait—it looked perfectly normal.

  From the front, though…

  Lauren stared at the thick yer of powder Edmund had spped onto its face and felt her scalp prickle.

  It was creepy as hell.

  After studying it from every angle, she finally couldn’t take it anymore. She dug out the Magical Pearl and handed it over.

  “Use this. Conjure a normal face so you don’t scare people.”

  Briar held the pearl reverently. “Can I look like anything?”

  Lauren narrowed her eyes. “Human. It has to look human. And not too ugly.”

  Briar turned the pearl over in its hands, hesitating. It gnced at Lauren’s expectant expression, then at Wayne.

  After a long pause, light shimmered around its face.

  When the glow faded—

  Lauren blinked.

  “…Why do you look exactly like Wayne?”

  Standing in front of her were two identical children.

  “No, no, no. This is way too fake,” she groaned. “Give me a cute little girl’s face.”

  Briar blinked at her. “What is ‘cute’?”

  Lauren opened her mouth.

  Nothing came out.

  Edmund snorted softly. “It doesn’t understand human standards of beauty. I think this is fine. Look at them—same age, same face. They look like siblings.”

  Lauren hesitated.

  …That actually works.

  “Fine,” she said at st. “Then we’ll just say you’re twins.”

  She turned to Briar. “From now on, Wayne is the older brother, and you’re the—”

  She stopped mid-sentence.

  “Wait. Briar… are you male or female?”

  Briar stared bnkly.

  Lauren tried again. “Are you a male flower or a female flower?”

  Still no reaction.

  She pinched the bridge of her nose. “How do you pollinate? How do you reproduce?”

  Briar’s newly conjured face flushed bright red. It shook its head.

  Lauren squinted. “Don’t tell me… you’re hermaphroditic?”

  Another violent head shake. “No. I don’t pollinate. I grow naturally. I don’t reproduce. There is only one of my kind in this world.”

  Lauren blinked.

  “…So you’re basically a one-of-a-kind, self-growing miracle pnt.”

  Briar nodded seriously.

  “Fine,” she muttered. “Out there, you’re the younger sister. Wayne’s the older brother. Got it?”

  Briar nodded eagerly again.

  “And hide your demonic aura properly. We’re nding soon.”

  It puffed up with confidence. “Don’t worry. I’ll suppress it perfectly. No cultivator will notice.”

  Lauren hoped to hell that was true.

  Instead of heading straight to the Calcution Sect, she made a stop at Sunspire. She wanted to check on her grandfather Preston and ask about White before using the city’s teleportation array.

  The Evercrest family estate was bustling.

  Everyone was working nervously, meticulously managing the family business. Whatever the future held, at least the current generation was doing their absolute best.

  “Lauren,” Preston greeted her warmly, though with a hint of regret. “You’ve come at a bad time. Your parents are both in seclusion. You probably won’t see them.”

  “That’s fine,” she replied with a smile. “I was just passing through. I wanted to see you, Grandpa.”

  She lowered her voice slightly. “By the way, did a girl named White come looking for you? About half a year ago?”

  Preston shook his head. “Not half a year ago. She came three months ago. She brought a jade slip you wrote and said she wanted to sell something.”

  Lauren frowned.

  Half a year ago was when she’d sent White off.

  Did that silly girl get lost for three whole months? Or did something dey her?

  “She’s alright?” Lauren asked.

  “She’s fine,” Preston assured her. “Naive child. From what she said, she wandered around for quite some time before finally finding the Evercrest family.”

  Lauren resisted the urge to curse. That damn old dragon really had the nerve to let her wander human territory alone for the first time.

  “I just asked because I was worried she’d get scammed,” Lauren said lightly. “Since she had my jade slip, I told her to look for you.”

  Preston smiled, then gnced at the two children beside her.

  “You brought youngsters with you?”

  Lauren nodded smoothly. “They’re my senior brother’s disciples. He’s away, so I’m taking care of them for now. Master told me to bring them out to broaden their horizons.”

  Preston studied them with interest. “They carry themselves well. What family are they from?”

  Wayne answered calmly, “The Sharpe family.”

  “The Sharpe family?” Preston’s brows lifted.

  “Yes.”

  Preston sighed inwardly. So young, yet already this composed. His own cn’s juniors couldn’t compare.

  They chatted a while longer before Lauren excused herself and left with the two “twins.”

  Preston hadn’t noticed anything strange about Briar.

  That alone made Lauren breathe easier.

  Once they were out of the estate grounds, she grinned at Briar.

  “You did great. You didn’t even punch through the floor from nervousness.”

  Briar gave a shy smile. “I was nervous. But the shoes are sturdy.”

  Lauren gnced down at the reinforced leather.

  The tattered hide of that seventh-tier desert demon had finally found a proper use.