Chapter 115: Shift in Roles

Unlike the casual approach he’d taken against Liu Ma earlier, facing the mysterious masked woman known as Xian Nv Zuo now was no game — this was real.

Clang—!

A crisp, ringing chord echoed through the air once more, and instantly, a translucent silhouette of a pipa materialized within the swirling Kong energy around her, hovering at her side. Though no hand touched it, the instrument began to play on its own — unnaturally, hauntingly.

From its strings, invisible crescent-shaped blades of sound erupted, slicing through the air with deadly precision, rushing toward Tian Dao and Chen Kong.

At the last possible moment, Tian Dao grabbed Chen Kong by the collar with one hand and leapt effortlessly onto a nearby abandoned concrete pipe. The sound blades swept beneath them, severing the pipe cleanly — like a knife through cake — and left a deep, jagged gash on the wall behind.

Tian Dao landed just as the severed pipe collapsed, barely avoiding a mess of rubble.

“Not bad for a Hidden Star Society cadre,” he said, glancing down at the cleanly cut pipe. “You really don’t hold back, do you? Going straight for the kill.”

He paused, then smirked, shaking his head as if remembering something.

“Wait… actually, you’re not afraid of being discovered, are you? You’re not scared of people knowing you exist.”

He turned his gaze toward Xian Nv Zuo, eyes sharp.

“You’re scared of him — the old monster who’s been locked away in his own cage all these years.”

Tian Dao didn’t say the name outright.

But Xian Nv Zuo knew.

He wasn’t talking about just anyone.

He was referring to the legendary figure known as the greatest Stellar Envoy of the age — the Chairman of the Stellar Envoy Association’s Central Council, Aenit.

Aenit had never lost a battle since stepping onto the battlefield. Countless Stellar Envoys and Stellar Beasts had fallen under his blade. The Association’s authority over the majority of Stellar Envoys wasn’t due to organization or structure — it was because Aenit was simply too powerful.

Even if others disliked him, no one dared defy him.

That was Aenit — a living legend, an old man whose frail frame bore the weight of not just the Stellar Envoy Association, but also the entire New Federation.

As Xian Nv Zuo’s expression turned icy, her mind racing, trying to read Tian Dao’s intentions — Chen Kong suddenly froze.

A strange, nagging feeling gripped him.

He knew that voice.

He’d heard it before.

But his memory was hazy, blurred as if seen through frosted glass. The harder he tried to recall, the more the image slipped away.

Just as he was drowning in that fog, the Hidden Star Society’s cadre — Xian Nv Zuo — was already preparing to strike.

The puddles at her feet trembled with high-frequency sound waves, sending up tiny, rippling splashes. An invisible aura of lethal intent spread outward, wrapping around Tian Dao like a noose.

But before she could move, Tian Dao suddenly looked up — and exclaimed in surprise:

“Wait—my little ancestor, what on earth are you doing up there?!”

In an instant, his figure vanished, reappearing beside the rooftop of the abandoned factory.

Xian Nv Zuo stood stunned, utterly confused.

Then she saw it.

There, dangling from the edge of the roof, was a plump, green-haired little ball of a child — somehow managing to cling to the beam with her tiny hands, legs kicking wildly in the air. Her eyes were red and puffy, tears streaming down her face like a flooded pond.

When she spotted Tian Dao, she burst into sobs.

“W-w-wait! M-mister… Dannika’s gonna fall!”

Tian Dao groaned, pressing his palm to his forehead.

He grabbed the little one by the back of her shirt and hoisted her back onto the rooftop.

Then, like a parent scolding a mischievous kitten, he scolded her fiercely.

“Seriously, Dannika! You think you’re a ninja? You can’t just climb down from a rooftop like that — what if you fall?”

Dannika sniffled, her face a mess of snot and tears. “I-I was afraid… you’d… leave me behind…”

Tian Dao froze.

The anger in his chest vanished instantly.

After a long silence, he sighed.

Then, with a soft, affectionate flick of his finger, he tapped her forehead.

“Who said I was leaving you? I just told you to wait a minute — I’d come back for you.”

“B-but…”

“Fine, fine. Just hold onto my pants leg, okay? Don’t let go. Don’t run off. Got it?”

Dannika instantly wrapped her arms around his leg like a koala, nodding frantically.

Tian Dao stared at her.

…Well, technically, he said “pants leg.” Not thigh.

But he didn’t pull her off.

After everything that had happened, he wasn’t about to let that clueless little disaster wander out of sight again.

Because if she did, something would definitely go wrong.

Meanwhile, on Station 13, the Dimensional Audience were in stitches.

> “Kid, clinging to this leg is the smartest move you’ve ever made.”

> “Dannika: As long as I’m with Tian Dao-sama, we’re invincible!”

> “Don’t worry, kid — Tian Dao-sama’s got years of experience dragging around baggage. If you’re the only one, it’s basically a legendary power-up.”

> “Oh? Are you implying someone specific? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Amid the laughter and playful memes, Tian Dao — now with a green-haired drag weight clinging to his leg — stepped lightly onto the Kong-covered ground outside the abandoned factory.

Xian Nv Zuo watched him return — with the little girl still hanging from his leg — and her cold, composed expression cracked.

A flicker of something dangerous stirred in her eyes.

Anger.

“You… were treating me like Kong energy?”

Tian Dao glanced down at the clinging child, then smiled.

“Dannika,” he said, “did you hear anything just now?”

Dannika, though often slow, was surprisingly sharp when it mattered. She understood immediately.

She shook her head frantically, tears still streaming — no, I didn’t hear anything!

Tian Dao burst out laughing.

Inside, he gave her a mental thumbs-up.

Because her reaction was perfect.

It was the same as saying: Yes, we’re treating you like Kong energy. Otherwise, why wouldn’t we have heard anything?

That was the final straw.

Clang—!

A sharp, piercing string snapped through the air.

Behind Xian Nv Zuo, a monstrous, spider-like Stellar Beast phantom materialized — jagged, terrifying, its many limbs twitching.

And on her right forearm, a dark, jagged mark — identical to the scar on Liu Ma’s forehead — flared to life.

The Stellar Mark.

It meant one thing.

Xian Nv Zuo, too, possessed a Stellar Core.

She rose slowly, her form stretching upward — not by force, but by the sudden emergence of eight silver-white, spider-like limbs from her back.

She now loomed over Tian Dao, her voice icy.

“You don’t know who I am. But since you’ve taken the key… I will take it back — no matter what.”

Her gaze narrowed.

“And now…”

Her voice dropped to a whisper.

“I really want to eat you.”

Tian Dao didn’t flinch.

He just smiled.

“Eat me?”

He tilted his head, amused.

“Then you’d better check your teeth first.”

He glanced at her, casual as ever.

“Because plenty of people have said the same thing before. And their endings? Not pretty.”

His tone was light — almost playful.

But Chen Kong, watching from the side, and Xian Nv Zuo, facing him, both heard the cold edge beneath it.

It was contempt.

As if Tian Dao didn’t see her — a cadre of the Hidden Star Society — as anything more than a nuisance.

Exactly the same way she’d once looked down on others.

Now, the roles had reversed.

And that was something Xian Nv Zuo could not accept.

Because she was the one who’d always been the one to speak that way — to look down.

Not the other way around.

PS: Two more chapters coming later — expect them around midnight, at the latest.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end