Re-birth: The Beginning after the End - Chapter 71

Chapter 71: IT’S MINE

She collected herself and said, “I don’t give a shit who you are but that-” she pointed to the glowing bead, “is mine.”

The man laughed, a rich sound that echoed off the cave walls. “To be quite honest, I’m a little jealous,” he said, his honey-brown eyes twinkling with amusement above his mask. “All that skill and intensity, yet you’re only interested in the bead.”

Li Hua’s combat stance faltered for a moment, confusion replacing her defensive anger as the implication of his words sank in. A traitorous blush crept onto her cheeks despite herself.

She tightened her grip on her daggers, trying to regain her composure. “So, you won’t fight me for it?”

Before he could answer, a voice interrupted. The shadows in the chamber seemed to coalesce, forming into an ethereal bird whose feathers shifted like ink in water. Mian Mian materialized between them, her smoky form drifting through the air with otherworldly grace.

“Master! It’s what we’ve been looking for!” Her voice carried both excitement and authority, the shadows around her deepening with emotion.

“Hush, Mian Mian,” the masked man chided, though his honey-brown eyes crinkled with affection. “Who said I was going to give it up?”

The spiritual bird’s form puffed up indignantly, her ethereal feathers rippling like silk in a breeze. “Hmph!”

He turned to Li Hua, “You heard her. We’ve been looking for this for a long time. Even traversing from the realms above.”

Li Hua kept her daggers raised but began to slowly edge backward, each step carefully calculated to bring her closer to the bead without appearing obvious. Her training took over—keeping her movements subtle, using the shadows cast by her light essence to mask her true intentions. The masked man’s honey-brown eyes followed her movement, a knowing glint suggesting he saw right through her strategy.

As if sensing Little Firefly’s presence, the bead suddenly pulsed with an intense light. Before anyone could move or speak, it shot forward like a star breaking free of the night sky, trailing golden radiance through the chamber. Li Hua felt a moment of searing heat as it struck her chest, then—nothing. The bead had vanished, leaving only a lingering warmth where it had merged with her body.

Little Firefly’s presence in her consciousness flared with joy and completion, like two halves of a whole finally reuniting.

“Master!” Little Firefly’s shouted in her thoughts. “It’s here! In our inner space!” His presence flickered with intense emotion. “I… I need to absorb this. It’s what I’ve been searching for, what I’ve been missing all this time.” His warm glow began to fade slightly. “But Master… I think I’ll need to sleep. A deep sleep, while I integrate this power.”

“Then sleep, Little Firefly,” Li Hua replied back in her thoughts, a victory smirk creeping onto her face as she stared up at the masked man.

“MASTER!” Mian Mian’s shadows writhed with agitation, her ethereal form flickering like a disturbed flame. The man’s honey-brown eyes widened slightly—the only indication of his surprise.

“Mian Mian, it looks like you weren’t the rightful owner,” he said, his voice carrying a hint of amusement despite the situation.

“Of course not, Master!” The shadow bird’s form puffed up indignantly, her ethereal feathers rippling with emotion. “But I needed it to grow stronger!”

“Don’t worry, Mian Mian,” he murmured, his eyes still fixed on Li Hua. “I’ll find you something far more extraordinary later.”

Mian Mian pouted, her smoky feathers ruffling with displeasure. “Fine. But you’ll owe me more than just one treasure to make up for this—at least five. No, make that ten!”

“Sure,” he replied, amusement coloring his voice. With another huff, Mian Mian’s shadowy form dissolved into the darkness.

Li Hua maintained her defensive stance, daggers still held at the ready. Her light essence flickered around the blades like captured starlight as she kept her eyes locked on his honey-brown gaze, waiting to see what he would do next.

The man pulled off his mask and slowly raised his hands in defeat.

Li Hua stood stunned, this man was handsome beyond measure. Not the pretty boys she saw in her past life, nor the ordinary face he’d worn at the festival—this must be his true appearance, and the sight of him stole her breath away. High cheekbones carved with elegant severity beneath honey-brown eyes that seemed to glow with immense power. His face held a dangerous beauty that made her heart skip—not the delicate features of the cultivation world’s young men, but something wilder, more compelling. His proud jaw spoke of noble heritage, yet when his lips curved into a devastating smile as their eyes met, there was nothing noble about the way her pulse quickened in response.

He didn’t conform to this era’s standards of beauty—no long, flowing hair bound by jade ornaments. Instead, his dark hair fell in short, wavy perfect disorder, as if even his appearance defied traditional standards. It was a face that would have made immortals pause in envy, yet there was something untamed about his features that suggested he cared little for their opinions.

Even his aura felt different—raw and powerful, like lightning barely contained beneath a veneer of casual grace, breaking every rule without a care in the world.

“Do you like what you see, my little tempest?” His voice carried the richness of aged honey, but beneath its warmth lurked something dangerous. With a casual wave of his hand, stone ground against stone as an ornate throne emerged from the cave wall. He settled into it with elegant ease, as if holding court in this makeshift chamber was perfectly natural.

The cave entrances sealed themselves with a resonating boom. The chamber was cast in an otherworldly glow—a combination of Li Hua’s fierce light essence-imbued daggers and the soft, phosphorescent blue of the cave moss. The competing light sources created strange shadows that danced across his features, making his honey-brown eyes seem to glow with predatory interest in the shifting darkness.

“What do you want?” Li Hua demanded, her daggers still held at the ready.