"Lady Guizhong."
A broad-shouldered man bowed respectfully to the god who sheltered them. He wore only a sleeveless gray tunic, his exposed skin a healthy bronze, muscle lines clear along his arms.
"Oh?" Guizhong, perched on the fence as she watched people dismantle part of it and stack stones in neat order, brightened when she saw him. "Little Shi Chen is back!"
The man's expression twitched with awkwardness.
He was well into adulthood. Being called "Little" before his name always felt… strange. But before the woman floating above him, most living things probably counted as children.
"Rest assured, Lady Guizhong," Shi Chen said. "It's enough to last until the first round of crops matures."
He stepped aside, showing the hunting party filing through the gate—simple wooden carts piled with wild boar and other game, heading for the granary.
Guizhong clasped her hands and clapped lightly. "Wonderful! So? My tools helped, didn't they?"
"They did," Shi Chen said sincerely. "Thanks to your generous teaching, we can even contend with stronger beasts now—and hunt in places we once didn't dare approach."
He unhooked a crossbow from his back and ran his fingers across it. Guizhong's craftsmanship had replaced their crude bows.
"Heehee, of course!" Guizhong spread her hands wide. "This is only the simplified version. The one I'm planning will be *much* bigger."
"And stronger," she added. "Someday, with its power, you might even protect your home with your own hands."
Longing flared in Shi Chen's eyes.
For humans who couldn't wield elemental power and whose bodies were fragile, a stable home was already a miracle.
To defend it without relying on a god?
That would be a leap beyond imagination. "That's something to look forward to."
"Right!" Guizhong's eyes gleamed. "Oh—there's a surprise for you."
Her finger traced the air, and a thread of fine sand drifted into the distance. She swung her legs lightly, smiling.
"That white-haired yaksha you've been talking about? He came to our land a few days ago. I just called him over."
Shi Chen's face lit up.
"Then I can thank my lifesaver in person?" Then his expression tightened.
"But I just returned… I don't have any gift to offer him."
"Him…" Guizhong's face turned strange. "I think you just need to feed him." "And—there he is."
Shi Chen turned toward where she pointed—
And a gust of wind hit. A small figure dropped from above, landing on one knee beside them.
Shi Chen recognized the white hair at once. As he examined him closely, the yaksha raised his head.
Yes. That slightly chubby, boyish face—he was the one who had saved Shi Chen's life. Only…
Why was he holding a fish in his mouth? Guizhong sighed.
"Why are you carrying a fish like a bird?" "It'll taste worse if it gets cold."
Xue Kui had been about to bite into the grilled fish when a summons—letters formed of sand in midair—interrupted him. Unable to bear leaving good food behind, and tempted by the smell all the way here, he'd clamped it between his teeth, eating as he traveled to soothe himself.
"Did you steal someone else's food again?" Guizhong asked, rubbing her forehead. Remembering his earlier antics, she regretted ever introducing him to human cuisine.
"Nonsense!"
Xue Kui tore off a piece of fish, mouth full, words slightly muffled but still understandable. "I helped someone hoe the fields properly today. This was my pay."
"I never imagined you'd learn mortal life for *that* reason," Guizhong muttered, "and learn it so fast."
"Then you can't defend what you did the other day," she continued. "…That was pay too!"
"For what?"
"That woman pinched my cheeks!"
"So you clung to her until she bought you food?" "She offered on her own!"
Guizhong waved it off, too exhausted to argue further. Back when he didn't understand, it was one thing. Now that he knew the rules—and was willing to follow them—there was no point hounding him.
"Fine. I'm not arguing. I called you because someone wants to see you."
"Fight me?" Xue Kui's eyes lit up. These days had shown him new pleasures, but without a worthy opponent, his hands itched.
Guizhong flicked his forehead.
"Stop thinking about fighting. He wants to thank you."
"Thank me?" Xue Kui blinked. "I don't remember giving him food." "Talk to him yourself."
Guizhong turned to Shi Chen, clearly done dealing with the yaksha for the moment.
In Shi Chen's eyes, the white-haired yaksha was like a neighbor's child—mischievous, stubborn, infuriating in a way that made you laugh despite yourself.
Yet Shi Chen remembered the day he was saved: a Cryo spear through a beast's skull, clean and effortless.
The contrast was surreal.
So these powerful beings… were they not so different from humans, beyond their strength?
Shi Chen glanced at Guizhong—arms folded, as if sulking—and then at Xue Kui gnawing on fish.
His gratitude was still there, but curiosity rose alongside it.
Lady Guizhong was warm… yet that gentleness felt like a thin veil separating god and mortal. This yaksha, though—childish as he was—could stir emotions from her with ease.
And in a god's eyes, yaksha and humans were not so different, really. Yaksha were stronger, yes—but to a god, that difference was close to meaningless.
"Hello," Shi Chen said, stepping forward. "My name is Shi Chen. I wonder… do you remember me?"
Xue Kui looked him over while chewing. His eyes rolled upward in thought. Then his face cleared, and he pointed at Shi Chen with one finger.
"Oh! You're the one with the broken leg!" Shi Chen's face stiffened.
Guizhong, who'd been brooding, instantly broke into laughter. Yes, it was true—
But did he really have to say it like that?