"I’ll be damned..." Daoist Chu murmured. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Meng Bai took a step forward, his voice hushed. "They’re not human..."

Lin Mu remained silent, his Sword Heart gauging every flicker of their emotional state.

The wolf beastkin glared up from their kneeling position, baring faint fangs.

"Tch... damn you..." the wolfkin growled.

Lin Mu tilted his head slightly. "You can stop resisting. I didn’t come here to fight. I came to ask you questions. You’re tracking our elders. Why?"

The wolfkin snarled but didn’t move, unable to fight against the immense gravitational pressure. But the fear was gone from their eyes. There was only pride—and something else.

Conflict.

Lin Mu took a few steps closer.

"You’re not just any bounty hunter. You knew we were coming, didn’t you? That’s why you were hiding."

The wolfkin looked away, biting their lip.

Daoist Chu knelt down beside them, scanning their body. "From the depth of your control... your senses... You’re not ordinary at all."

Meng Bai, still trying to process it, murmured, "A beastkin bounty hunter... one who’s hiding something..."

Ashy fluttered down beside Lin Mu while Little Shrubby spoke, "he smells conflicted."

Lin Mu sighed, dispersing the gravity around them.

The wolfkin gasped as the pressure vanished, hands pressing into the ground. He didn’t move to run.

Instead, he sat there, panting. Watching. Silent.

"I’m Lin Mu," he said, crouching down to their level. "You’re tracking our elders. I want to know why. And... I want to know what you know."

The wolfkin’s eyes met his.

And finally... he spoke.

"...Then I hope you’re ready to pay." Making them confused.

The wolfkin sat there in silence for a moment longer, breathing heavily. The swirling haze of darkness that had once cloaked him was gone, dispersed by Lin Mu’s overpowering presence and the weight of the truth pressing in on all sides.

Lin Mu observed him carefully, his expression calm, yet curious. "You were going to attack us again. Even after we said we were from the Xian Sword Sect. Why?"

The wolfkin looked up at him, his amber eyes fierce, yet carrying something more... old pain. His words came with a growl laced in bitterness. "You think I’d fall for that so easily? After I’ve already been tricked several times before?"

Meng Bai looked to Daoist Chu in confusion, and Lin Mu’s brows furrowed. "Tricked?" he repeated.

The wolfkin’s jaw clenched before he finally stood up, brushing ash and dust from his robes. "I wasn’t hired by anyone to track your elders," he said. "I was hired by your elders."

That made Lin Mu blink in surprise. Even Daoist Chu turned toward the wolfkin with a new sense of seriousness.

"I don’t understand," Lin Mu said. "Why would our elders hire a bounty hunter—especially one of your level?"

The wolfkin gave a sardonic chuckle, the faintest edge of pride touching his voice. "Because they wanted someone discreet. Someone with a nose sharp enough to track shadows. They sought information on the Ephemera Sect."

"The Ephemera Sect," Lin Mu echoed under his breath, his expression darkening.

The wolfkin nodded, ears flicking subtly. "They gave me a task. To search for any traces of the Ephemera Sect’s movement, especially outside their normal domains. I scoured three regions over the span of a year and delivered a lead—there were signs of something strange happening in the north."

Lin Mu remained silent, listening closely.

"I met them and passed on what I found," the wolfkin continued. "But... when they followed up on it, they came out empty. Not a single trace left behind. They came back to me, asked for another lead, and I told them what I’d found here, in the Verdant Ash Basin. They agreed to meet me in Ash Crown City after investigating it themselves."

"But they never returned," Daoist Chu finished the sentence grimly.

The wolfkin nodded. "The time of meeting passed, and I waited... and waited. But instead of the elders, what I got were ambushes. Strange cultivators—some wearing robes similar to those your sect wears. They tried to grab me. I killed a few. The rest scattered. Since then, I’ve been hiding, waiting, and hoping the real elders would return so I could get my payment—and maybe a few answers."

Meng Bai clenched his fists. "They impersonated the Xian Sword Sect..."

Lin Mu muttered coldly, "Ephemera Sect..."

The wolfkin gave a grim look. "Who else could it be? They must’ve gotten wind that your elders were digging too deep. So they acted first."

Daoist Chu folded his arms, piecing it all together. "Which explains why you ran from us. You thought we might be fakes too. More imposters."

The wolfkin inclined his head. "You get it now."

There was a long silence between them, filled only by the distant sound of wind rustling ash-stained shrubs and the quiet crackle of elemental energy lingering in the air.

Then Lin Mu took a breath, slow and measured. "Then allow me to properly introduce myself this time," he said, voice steady. "I am Lin Mu a guest of the Xian Sword Sect and the Bearer of the Silent Loutus Temple. This is Daoist Chu of the Zenith Dao Sect, serving as guest at the sect well, and this is Meng Bai, my personal disciple."

Daoist Chu stepped forward, producing a pair of shimmering jade tokens. He held them out, letting the wolfkin see them clearly.

One was the official token of the Immortal Court.

The other bore the sigil of the Zenith Dao Sect—an emblem recognized across multiple worlds, representing one of the most ancient cultivator legacies.

The wolfkin’s posture relaxed slightly. His sharp gaze lost its edge. "You’re real..." he whispered. "Thank the stars. I was beginning to think I’d been used and left behind."

"Trust isn’t easy when blades can wear friendly smiles," Daoist Chu said, his tone softer now.

The wolfkin gave a short laugh. "That’s one way to put it."

Daoist Chu gave him a thoughtful look. "I didn’t expect the legendary Hooded Tracker to be a beastkin—though now it makes sense how they say you can sniff out your targets from a continent away."

The wolfkin gave a smirk, his ears twitching with pride. "It’s not just a saying."

"Then," Lin Mu asked, "who are you, really?"