Chapter 109 – Behind a Woman’s Skirt

The pressure unleashed by Léi Hǔ crashed down onto the walkway.

The hot wind whipped the raw-cotton tunic against Zhì Yuǎn’s chest and lifted dust from the cracks. Beneath the soles of his boots, the living wood let out a deep groan, sinking a fingernail's depth as it took the load transferred through his body.

Zhì Yuǎn neither bent his knees nor stepped back.

Five paces away, the ugly smile on Léi Hǔ’s lips froze. The tiger furrowed his brow and puffed out his broad chest, throwing even more weight onto the human’s shoulders.

The floor beneath Zhì Yuǎn sank further, yet he remained in the same place.

The tiger’s gaze met his through the two slits of the mask.

Zhì Yuǎn released no Qi, nor did he project any intent. He only looked.

The rumble of thunder under the floor faltered. Léi Hǔ’s golden pupils, which had swept the plaza with fury a moment before, contracted all at once into two thin lines. A drop of sweat ran down the giant’s broad nape. The heavy hand pointing at the mask lowered a palm’s width in the air—as if he had forgotten what he was doing there—and one of the warriors in his escort took half a step back without realizing it.

Two breaths passed in silence.

Then Zhì Yuǎn blinked, cutting the contact.

Instead of advancing, he took a calm step backward, pulled Lī'ya back in front of him, and kept his hands resting on her shoulders as he faced Léi Hǔ once more.

The pressure in the air ceased in an instant so it would not strike Lī'ya, but the tiger’s jaw clenched when he saw the human’s hands resting on her shoulders.

“You said Elder Vhōl does not like delays,” Zhì Yuǎn said, calm and dry, speaking only to the back of Lī'ya’s neck.

Near the columns of the inns, a warrior from another retinue let out a short laugh through his nose. On the other side of the plaza, where the youths of the human families stood, the whispers began again, accompanied by looks of pure contempt for the man who had just hidden behind a woman.

Zhì Yuǎn did not move a muscle at the laughter.

The noise around him pulled Léi Hǔ from his daze. The tiger shook his broad head, his square face shifting from pale to a dark red of shame as he realized he had retreated before a mortal with no aura.

“Cheap illusion trick…” Léi Hǔ growled, voice hoarse and loud to cover the murmurs of the plaza. He clenched his enormous fists, making the joints crack. “You carved a formation into that mask just to protect this coward, Lī'ya?!”

Lī'ya, who was still looking back without understanding how Zhì Yuǎn remained standing after that wave of pressure, turned toward the tiger. Her ears rose and she puffed out her short chest.

“Thanks for the compliment!” she shot back, lifting her chin with a sharp smile. “It turned out great, didn’t it? Made for people with no manners who try to peek at what they shouldn’t!”

Veins jumped in Léi Hǔ’s neck. He ignored the fox and drove his bloodshot eyes into the slits of the mask behind her, pointing his chin at his own open chest.

“Come out from behind her and hit me, human, if you’ve got the guts!” the tiger provoked, feet planted on the wood, waiting only for the first movement so he would have the excuse of a duel. “Or are you too soft even to raise a hand, and you’re going to let a female speak for you your whole life?!”

Zhì Yuǎn merely crossed his arms, staring at the giant with the same mute boredom as before.

Lī'ya took a step forward, stamping her small foot on the walkway with hands on her hips.

“No one here is stupid enough to fall for that cheap talk of yours, Léi Hǔ!” she snapped, pointing a finger straight at the brute’s nose. “You know very well that whoever raises a hand first inside the Sky-Tree without permission from the dome gets thrown off the top by my father’s guards! You tried to make my man kneel with a shout and couldn’t even move him from the spot!”

Léi Hǔ’s face twisted with hatred. Around the plaza, several local Red Leaf guards had already come down the steps of the arrival arch, hands resting on the shafts of their spears as they watched the heir of the tigers.

Unable to attack first and unable to draw a single word from the masked human, Léi Hǔ ground his teeth until his jaw creaked.

“Enjoy the hem of that skirt while you’re under this shell, sack of meat,” Léi Hǔ hissed, taking a heavy step backward. “The day you set foot outside the branches of this tree, I’ll turn that hollow body of yours into fried meat in the blink of an eye.”

He spun on his heels with a sharp jerk, shoved one of his own followers by the shoulder, and marched back across the northern bridge, smoke leaving his nostrils.

Lī'ya waited until the tiger’s broad back disappeared around the curve of the gallery before releasing the breath she had been holding.

She seized Zhì Yuǎn’s wrist and pulled him quickly out of the plaza, entering the smaller corridor that led to the eastern sector. As soon as they were alone between the curved walls of living wood, she stopped, turned, and drove a punch straight into his arm.

Thock.

The sound was dry, like a wooden knot striking iron.

“Ow!” Lī'ya pulled her hand back, clutching her own fingers and shaking the fist in the air with watery eyes. “What are you made of?!”

“You dragged me here just to break your own hand?” Zhì Yuǎn asked, looking down at her.

“I dragged you here because you went crazy!” she hissed, rubbing the reddened knuckles against her skirt. “What got into your head to take a step forward when Léi Hǔ released that pressure?! With no cultivation at all, if he had thrown his full weight at once, your bones would have turned to flour!”

She stopped rubbing her hand and narrowed her emerald eyes, measuring his chest and shoulders from below with a hint of suspicion.

“By the way… how is it you didn’t drop to your knees back there?”

“I’m heavy,” Zhì Yuǎn answered in the same flat tone as always. “You yourself complained about that when you dragged me into the cabin. And the formation on your mask did the rest when he tried to probe me.”

Lī'ya’s ears gave a small jump atop her head. The suspicion melted, replaced by a vain smile she tried, without success, to hide behind a short cough. The fluffy tail began to sway again in a light, satisfied rhythm.

“Well… of course my formation held,” she said, tilting her nose as she started walking down the corridor once more. “I told you even the Elders can’t find fault with what I draw. Did you see the dumbstruck look on that mountain of muscle's face when he looked at you? He went white as a dry leaf! And when you put me in front and made him shut his mouth using the Elder’s name… it’s been years since I saw Léi Hǔ run off like that!”

She took a longer step, walking almost skipping beside him while her tail swept the air.

“But don’t go getting used to using me as a shield, you hear?” she added, glancing sideways at the mask. “In the plaza I allowed it because clan rules forbid guests from starting fights, so he could only bark. If he hadn’t backed off, I would have given him a beating myself.”

“I saw,” Zhì Yuǎn said. “You were very frightening.”

Lī'ya opened her mouth to retort whether that was praise or mockery, but the corridor ended in a high arch of braided roots. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The smell of fresh sap gave way to a dry aroma of burned resin and cold stone. Beyond the arch, the interior of the branch opened into a circular hall lit by glowing grooves carved directly into the floor and walls. Dozens of lines of light ran along the veins of the living wood, converging on three low pillars in the center of the room.

Standing before the main pillar, an old man with a bent back, entirely white fox ears, and a sparse beard stained with ink held a bone compass over a plaque of dry bark.

“I was about to go inform the Patriarch,” Elder Vhōl said without turning, his rough voice scraping the silence of the chamber.

Lī'ya hunched her shoulders at once, tail wilting behind her legs as she took two hurried steps into the hall.

“I had an unexpected matter these last few days, Master Vhōl! But I’m here now, and I’ve already brought the containment calculations you asked for—”

Vhōl turned his body slowly. He ignored the sheets of bark Lī'ya was pulling from her sleeve; his small, worn eyes passed straight over her and fixed onto the man in the raw tunic standing beneath the entrance arch.

The old man took two short steps forward, squinting his wrinkled eyelids. He did not look at Zhì Yuǎn’s posture, nor at the lack of aura on his body. The Elder’s entire focus fixed on the subtle creases where the light of the hall bent around the wild-maple mask.

The bone compass lowered slowly in the old man’s hand.

“Forget the calculations,” Vhōl murmured, taking another step toward Zhì Yuǎn without taking his eyes from the dark wood. “Who folded the third concealment weave into the edge of that mask?”