Jin Yu opened his eyes, the sting of grief still behind them.

  “Young master…” Haozi’s voice brought him out of the silence.

  He turned sharply. “Why are you walking? Your leg’s not healed.”

  Haozi didn’t answer immediately. His eyes were fixed on the bloodied girl lying motionless on the carriage floor. When he finally spoke, his voice was low.

  “…It’s not as painful anymore.”

  Min Li appeared quietly from behind, his gaze falling on the girl as well. None of them spoke for a while.

  The silence felt heavy.

  Min Li’s lips pressed together. He didn’t look away, but his fists trembled faintly.

  Haozi’s jaw clenched. Neither cried, but their eyes spoke of a deep, gnawing discomfort. This wasn’t something training prepared them for.

  “Damn it…” Jin Yu muttered, rubbing his face. “Why did I leave in the first place?”

  He tugged his hair in frustration.

  I should’ve broken through here. Should’ve stayed. Maybe she’d still be breathing.

  Jin Yu rubbed his face and sighed. The guilt sat heavy on his chest like a slab of iron.

  “What about the two slavers?” he asked finally.

  “Dead,” Min Li said.

  Jin Yu frowned. “I knocked one unconscious before leaving. He was injured but alive.”

  “They were both still here when the beasts arrived.” Min Li explained. “The injured one screamed. The other woke up and ran. But neither made it far.”

  “Oh…” Jin Yu looked away. His eyes returned to the unconscious children sprawled across the carriage floor, bruised, cut, drugged into stillness.

  He exhaled again. “What do we do now?”

  Haozi hesitated. “We follow the trail, right? We can’t go back. There might be more kids ahead.”

  “Right,” Jin Yu nodded. “But my concern is… how do we carry them?” He glanced at the carriage. It groaned with every breeze. “It’s barely standing.”

  The others went quiet, until Min Li snapped his fingers.

  “Wait! Young Master, didn’t you buy a floating mansion?”

  “Huh?” Jin Yu blinked.

  Min Li bobbed his head eagerly. “The transcendent-tier orb with a mansion, garden, and courtyard. From the auction.”

  “Oh right!” Jin Yu’s eyes lit up. He reached into his spatial ring and swept his sense across it.

  In one corner, nestled among oddities, a giant egg he gambled on, two he’d jokingly planned to name “Nuggets,” and a pair of unidentified artifacts, three crystal-clear orbs lay tucked away.

  “There you are,” he murmured.

  With a thought, one of the orbs appeared in his palm.

  The three stared at it.

  “…It shrank.” Haozi observed.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “Can someone really enter that?” Jin Yu raised a brow. “I feel like I’ll turn into a dwarf…”

  “It’s the Dao of Space,” Min Li muttered. “It must be big on the inside.”

  “Hm… okay. So… who wants to be the lab rat?”

  “Lab rat?” Haozi blinked. “What’s that?”

  “Experimento,” Jin Yu said in a fake Russian accent.

  “…Huh?”

  Sigh.

  “ I mean, who wants to go in first?”

  “Ah.”

  “Ohh.”

  “Well…” Haozi looked around and picked up the pill vials Jin Yu left earlier. “Why not test it with these?”

  Jin Yu nodded with approval. “Smart. No one wants to get stuck.”

  Haozi smiled sheepishly.

  Jin Yu brought the orb and vials close, then willed them to merge. The moment his Qi touched the orb, his soul brushed against it, and something changed.

  In an instant, his senses were pulled inward, and what he saw made him gasp softly.

  Floating amidst a sea of mist was a towering mansion sculpted from jade-white stone and dark starwood.

  Its spires reached into a sky that didn’t exist, flickering faintly with runes of space and time.

  The tiled roof shimmered like moonlight on water, subtly shifting with each breath of Qi.

  At the front yard, a crystal-clear pool stretched across polished marble, its surface dotted with glowing lotus blossoms that never withered.

  Around it, spirit flowers bloomed in impossible colors, some transparent, others softly humming with life. The air was rich with the scent of blooming herbs and quiet power.

  Beyond, a courtyard of flowing water paths connected elegant gazebos and meditation platforms.

  At the far back, a secluded garden pulsed with raw vitality, each plant thriving as if fed by an ancient formation.

  Above it all, the sky shimmered. There were no walls here, just a veil of protective mist that isolated this mansion from the rest of the world, yet made it feel boundless.

  It was less a house and more… a domain.

  No wonder it’s transcendent-tier… This isn’t just a house. It’s a pocket world.

  Jin Yu snapped back into reality with awe still lingering in his eyes. “Wow…”

  The orb pulsed faintly in his palm, now marked by his soul.

  “…So?” Haozi asked.

  “It’s legit,” Jin Yu grinned. “Min Li, Haozi, you two go first. Check the place out.”

  “Alright.” Min Li nodded and touched the Otb.

  With a flash of white light, his figure vanished.

  Haozi hesitated a bit longer. “Master, are you sure it’s safe?”

  Jin Yu smirked. “Go on. If anything happens, I’ll…uh…remember you fondly.”

  “Not funny.” Haozi rolled his eyes and disappeared into the orb with a reluctant grunt.

  Jin Yu waited a moment, and just as he was about to check, he felt the faint pulse of their soulprints inside. Both alive. Both moving.

  “Alive.” he muttered in relief.

  Next were the kids.

  Jin Yu knelt beside the unconscious children scattered around the battered carriage.

  Cuts, bruises, dried blood, none too deep, but disturbing all the same. He carried them gently, one by one, transferring them into the mansion with a careful thought.

  Each child vanished into the orb with a faint shimmer. Until the last one, the girl

  Jin Yu stood in silence, the orb glowing faintly in his hand.

  He looked at her Intently

  The cuts on her head had dried, but her skin had already started to lose its color. She looked so small now. So fragile.

  He knelt beside her and hesitated, then reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from her bloodied face.

  “You don’t belong here.” he murmured.

  His fingers tightened on the orb. With delicate precision, he sent her into it, but not to the mansion. No.

  He willed her into the garden, a secluded grove tucked behind the courtyard.

  The moment she appeared, soft vines twisted up from the ground, curling gently around her limbs. At Jin Yu’s subtle command, leaves drifted from the spirit trees and blanketed her like a shroud, warm and green.

  A small breeze passed through the garden, as if the space itself accepted her presence.

  Jin Yu closed his eyes.

  “I’ll send you back home…” he whispered, voice hoarse. “But not now.”

  Back to reality, he looked down at Rainbow, curled on his neck. Her petals barely stirred.

  “You too.” he whispered.

  He took her gently and placed her beside the orb. The moment she touched the surface, a connection formed, and she vanished.

  Inside the mansion, Rainbow emerged beside the lotus pond at the center of the courtyard. Her roots brushed against spirit-rich soil. Almost instantly, her petals trembled, and her entire form seemed to inhale. Qi gathered around her like dew to a leaf. A quiet glow returned to her stem, faint but persistent.

  She pulsed once with energy, then went still again.

  Asleep.

  But no longer sluggish.

  Outside, Jin Yu’s brows furrowed.

  Damn... I’ve been carrying her around like a trinket. She's a plant. She needs soil, Qi, nourishment... Not just sunlight and my wrist.

  He felt a mix of guilt and relief. At least now, she is in a better place.

  “Alright…” He turned to the horses.

  First, the two stallions ridden by Haozi and Min Li. They neighed softly, visibly spooked by the battlefield’s lingering blood scent.

  With a firm pat and calming Qi, Jin Yu touched their reins and sent them into the orb, they reappeared in the orb’s stable pavilion, near a small paddock behind the garden.

  Next, the two horses from the slavers. Still jittery, but manageable. They vanished into the orb with the same flicker.

  ---

  Inside the Mansion

  Haozi and Min Li stood at the entry pavilion in stunned silence.

  “Holy…” Haozi muttered.

  “Indeed a Transcendent-tier.” Min Li’s voice was hushed, reverent.

  The Mansion stretched far and wide. Dozens of elegant rooms lined the jade pathways, each carved with spirit-conducting patterns. The bedrooms were fully furnished, simple but refined with warm beds, soft rugs, and shelves etched with inscriptions. Windows opened to views of floating spirit lanterns dancing in mid-air.

  The kitchen was vast, stocked with immaculate utensils of gold, jade, and steel, but no food in sight.

  “Guess it’s BYOF, Bring Your Own Food." Haozi quipped.

  They kept moving.

  In a secluded wing of the mansion, they found a door marked with glowing runes. When they pushed it open, they found the formation room.

  At the center, an array pulsed with life, spirit stones embedded in precise slots, cycling energy throughout the mansion. It was a living system, breathing and adapting.

  “Look,” Min Li pointed. “This must be how it’s still stable after all this time.”

  They didn’t linger. Returning to the main quarters, they found a wide sleeping hall. With Jin Yu’s help from the outside, the unconscious children were gently arranged across the beds. Fresh linens formed around their bodies like the mansion responded to their needs.

  A soft light glowed above each child. Peaceful. Protected.

  ---

  Back Outside

  Now, Jin Yu was alone under the stars.

  He sighed as looked up at the bright moon.

  The orb sat on his palm silently. He peered into it one last time to check on everyone.

  The children were laid out in the sleeping chamber, Min Li and Haozi checking on them. The Mansion’s quiet hum calmed the chaos of the day.

  The garden remained undisturbed. Rainbow glowed faintly beside the pool. And in one corner, the leaves continued to shield the sleeping girl who would never wake.

  Jin Yu whispered into the night.

  “More to save. No more screw-ups.”

  He sent the orb into the spatial ring and went towards his horse .

  He patted it slightly as he mounted it "This place reeks, let's leave before scavengers arrive."

  And just like that, he ventured into the forest, leaving piles of dead beasts behind.