The morning of Xue An's tenth birthday dawned bright and clear, the magical sun of Luyan casting a warm, golden glow into their inn room. Xue Lian presented her daughter with a small, wrapped gift. It was the carved wooden figure of the six horned Netherworld cow from the market the day before. Xue An's face lit up with a joy so pure and absolute it made Xue Lian's heart ache.
"Today is your day, my love," Xue Lian said, stroking her daughter's white hair. "Anything you wish to see, we shall see."
Their wish was for more of the vibrant, chaotic life of the city. They returned to the grand market plaza, a place teeming with even more people than the day before. Xue An, emboldened by her previous experiences, was a whirlwind of joyous curiosity, sampling sweet pastries and asking a thousand questions about the strange mortal customs she observed. Xue Lian, flanked by her two discreet commanders, allowed herself to be swept up in her daughter's happiness, her own vigilance a quiet hum beneath the surface of the perfect day.
They were admiring a display of colorful, hand painted kites when the first scream tore through the festive air.
It was followed by a roar a guttural, inhuman sound that sent a wave of panic through the crowd. From the alleyways flanking the plaza, figures erupted. They were demonic cultivators, their features twisted with a chaotic energy, their eyes burning with a malevolent glee as they began to smash stalls and attack the city guards.
Chaos exploded. The crowd, a moment ago a bustling river of commerce, became a stampeding herd of terrified mortals.
"To me!" Xue Lian commanded, grabbing for her daughter. Jax and Ren immediately formed a protective triangle around them, their hands flying to the hidden hilts of their swords.
But the sheer force of the panicking mob was a physical thing, a tidal wave of bodies. A large, fleeing merchant stumbled, crashing into Xue Lian and tearing Xue An's small hand from her grasp.
"An!" Xue Lian cried out, but she was swept backward by the human tide. Xue An, small and light, was pushed in the opposite direction, a tiny boat lost in a raging sea.
"Protect the Empress!" Jax bellowed, using his sheer size to shield Xue Lian from being trampled.
"I have to get to her!" Xue Lian screamed, a mother's primal terror eclipsing the Empress's composure. She wanted to unleash her power, to freeze every person in this square and find her daughter. But she couldn't. She was a mortal noblewoman. To reveal herself now would be to paint a target on her daughter's back for the entire righteous world to see.
Forced to rely on the physical strength of a mortal, she fought against the current of the crowd, her heart a frantic, panicked drum, her commanders struggling to keep pace beside her. Every direction she looked, she saw only the terrified faces of strangers. Her daughter was gone.
Lan Yue and Wei Chen were two streets away when they felt the surge of demonic energy.
"There!" Wei Chen said, his expression grimly triumphant. "The demonic sect shows its hand. Let us go, Yue. We will purge this evil."
He drew his sword and rushed toward the sound of the conflict. Lan Yue followed, but her focus was different. As they reached the edge of the plaza, she saw not just the marauding demons, but the terrified mortals caught in the crossfire. While Wei Chen immediately engaged a demonic cultivator in a clash of flashing steel, Lan Yue's gaze swept the area, looking for those in the most immediate danger.
That's when she saw her.
A small child with a shock of pure white hair had been separated from the main stampede, stumbling alone into a side street. She was crying, her small face streaked with tears and dirt. At that moment, a heavy merchant's carriage, its horses spooked and its driver thrown, came careening around the corner, its iron shod wheels thundering directly toward the frozen child.
Lan Yue didn't think. She moved.
She was a grey blur, a streak of silent, focused grace. She crossed the distance in a single heartbeat, her arms scooping the child from the path of the carriage just as its heavy wheels splintered the cobblestones where she had been standing.
She landed softly on the other side of the street, the trembling, sobbing child held tight against her chest. "It's alright," Lan Yue said, her voice a low, calming murmur. "You are safe now."
As she held the child, a strange, powerful sensation washed over her. It was a resonance deep in her soul, a sense of profound, instinctual familiarity, as if she were holding a missing piece of herself. She looked down at the girl. The white hair was striking, but it was the shape of her face, the curve of her ear… it was an echo. A ghost. She couldn't comprehend it, but the connection was undeniable and overwhelming.
The child looked up at her, her face a mess of terror and tears, her small hands clutching the front of Lan Yue's robes.
"Mother!" she wailed, her voice breaking with despair. "Mother! Where are you? I want my mother!"
Lan Yue's heart, which she had thought was a ruin of ash and broken promises, clenched with a sudden, fierce, and utterly bewildering pang of protective love. She held the small, trembling body closer, stroking the soft, white hair.
"Shh, little one," she whispered, her own voice thick with an emotion she didn't understand. "It's alright. We will find her. I promise."
And in the midst of the chaos and the fighting, the Saint of the Azure Cloud Sect stood in a quiet alley, comforting her own lost, crying daughter, and had no idea.