122 The Return Journey

"What happened to Canis?" Theresa exclaimed. Before she could even finish, Pedia had already rushed forward with a stern expression. He carefully took Canis from Lambert’s hands and began a meticulous examination, his face dark with concern.

"It has been summoned," Lambert said, unbothered by Pedia’s extremely rude behavior, and explained directly to Theresa.

"Summoned? Who summoned it?" Theresa asked, puzzled.

"Whoever its leader is, that is who summoned it," Lambert replied with ease.

Theresa’s thoughts circled around the answer before she realized he was referring to the Snow Wolf God. Surprised, she asked, "The Snow Wolf God? How is that possible? How could it have come here with Uncle Baman?"

"The Snow Wolf God didn't come," Lambert continued to answer patiently. "Someone borrowed the energy of the Snow Wolf God to summon it—I suspect the people looking for Pedia have arrived."

"Oh? Really? That’s quite efficient," Theresa remarked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

During their back-and-forth, Pedia had finished a full-body check on Canis. Satisfied that it had suffered no injuries other than temporary unconsciousness, he settled the creature down. However, he still looked at Lambert with a sour expression; to him, Canis was half-partner and half-brother. No matter how justified the reason, no one likes to see their kin harmed.

Pedia didn't give Lambert a pleasant look, and Lambert naturally ignored him, turning instead to Theresa. "What do you plan to do next? Are you still going to try to resolve this spatial rift?"

"I must!" Theresa nodded heavily. "Even if we can only close it temporarily for a few days—every extra day it’s closed, the Empire is a little safer."

"Alright then. I happen to have a method, if you’re willing to try it. As for what you two were discussing earlier, let’s forget it. You don’t want to fail the seal and end up triggering spatial turbulence instead."

At these words, the expressions of both Theresa and Pedia shifted—Pedia’s was one of oddity, while Theresa’s was tinged with embarrassment. They had been discussing their own ideas so enthusiastically partly to invite better suggestions, and having their intentions so clearly pointed out was naturally uncomfortable.

However, their petty emotions were quickly set aside, as Lambert began to explain his idea...

...

A small boat suddenly shot out from the black, suffocating void, darting forward as if pursued by some monster. Its speed was clearly beyond its maximum capacity, causing the hull to tremble violently as if it were about to fall apart.

Just as the boat flew about two hundred meters away from the void, a blazing fire erupted deep within the darkness. A powerful thrust expanded the void in all directions, and once it reached its limit, a suction force even more brutal than the initial blast swept out from the center of the flames, swallowing the darkness whole like autumn leaves in a gale.

After flying a thousand meters away, the boat looked back. From a distance, thousands of blood-red flames burned wildly in the void, using the black energy escaping from the rift as fuel. The fire soared to the sky, bathing most of the horizon in a deep, crimson glow.

This was the Lotus Flame. Despite its pleasant name, it was an incredibly wicked fire. It did not feed on known physical substances, but on energy—all energy—including soul power, or spiritual power.

In human history, there had once been a brutal battle where one side deployed the Lotus Flame. The entire battlefield was covered in that crimson hue, burning on everyone’s bodies without harming their flesh, but devouring all their energy—whether it was magic, battle aura, or spiritual strength.

Since then, humanity had reached a unanimous ban: the Lotus Flame was to be sealed forever, never to reappear in the world.

Theresa and Pedia stood at the bow of the boat, gazing into the distance, each lost in thought. After a long while, Pedia said, "Let’s go. At least for now, it’s safe here."

Theresa nodded heavily. Regardless of the sins the Lotus Flame had committed in the past, it was, for now, the only way to quickly purge the darkness and seal the spatial rift.

The boat continued on, but this time, it followed behind Canis. Having survived a forced summoning, Canis seemed capable of resisting the call from its superior. Through Pedia’s "translation," the group finally understood the reasons: first, Canis had absorbed too much energy in the Void Realm and was on the verge of evolution, significantly weakening the natural pressure of the superior Snow Wolf God; second, it was not the Snow Wolf God itself that had come to the Void Realm, so its power was naturally limited.

The boat traveled for three more days. On this day, Canis, leading the way, suddenly stopped and let out a long howl, the sound carrying far under the dark, gray clouds.

Seeing this, the group stepped out of the boat and stood beside Canis, waiting silently.

About twenty minutes later, a figure slowly approached through the desert, dressed in flowing white robes.

"Huh?" Lambert let out a soft sound of surprise. In the next second, he appeared before the person, asking, "Antony, why are you the one who came?"

The newcomer was equally surprised to see Lambert. He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Lambert, why are you here?"

"What’s so strange about me being here?" Lambert replied. "I’m just surprised that the House of Questa has enough influence to get you to come looking for someone."

"The Duke of Questa asked personally; how could I refuse?" Antony raised a hand and punched Lambert lightly. "He’s an elder, after all. I don’t have your foul temper—without something worth my while, I wouldn't move even if the Grand Elder asked personally. By the way, why are you here? Word from the South Sea is that you’ve gone missing, and Rebecca even canceled a commission to rush over and look for you."

At this point, Antony laughed gleefully. "Originally, she was supposed to be the one here today, but because she went to the South Sea, she dumped the task on me. In the end, it was a waste of time for everyone—hey, Lambert, you really should give her a clear answer. Don't let her keep chasing after you."

Hearing this topic, the smile that usually hung on Lambert’s face vanished. He suddenly became cold and serious. "Don’t get involved in this. I made things clear to her long ago. Everything she does is her own choice and has nothing to do with me."

This was the first time Theresa and Pedia had seen Lambert without a smile. At that moment, the siblings felt much the same, silently lamenting that this demeanor was the only one that matched his true strength—the perpetually grinning Lambert always felt untrustworthy.

Just as they were thinking this, Lambert’s coldness did not last long. His signature lazy smile quickly returned. "If you guys keep running your mouths and it affects me finding a wife, watch out—my fierce mother might just storm over to Aunt Kina’s and have a row with her."

This half-joking threat was enough to make Antony shudder and immediately fall silent, showing the true power of those words.

Lambert nodded in satisfaction, reached out, and draped an arm over Antony’s shoulder. "Come on, let’s each take one and bring them back. No need to walk slowly here."

Before the siblings could react, they were each grabbed—one by the collar, the other wrapped in a cloth strip—and whisked away at lightning speed.

***

The scale of the Imperial Capital, with its majestic atmosphere, is beyond the imagination of most people. Someone once conducted a small survey and found that some lifelong residents of the capital had never managed to visit the entire city before they died. While poverty was a factor, the sheer size of the capital was a primary reason.

Just how big was the capital?

It was so large that it actually had internal magical transit routes!

Spatial magic is the most energy-intensive of all magic; for the same distance, traveling by the fastest flying transport would cost only a tenth of the energy required for spatial magic.

Of course, the irreplaceable advantage of spatial magic is speed! As long as the precise coordinates are known, arrival is almost instantaneous, and the probability of accidents is negligible—though encountering a "Magic Devourer," as Theresa once did, is a once-in-a-millennium event.

Spatial magic is so expensive that for the nobles of the capital, using magical transit routes is the ultimate display of status and wealth. It satisfies their sense of superiority over the common folk—especially for the playboys. Thus, the areas around the eighteen spatial teleportation arrays in the city were always filled with silks, satins, and fine horses.

However, today, those wishing to use the teleportation array in the Canglan District encountered a rare situation: the array had been temporarily requisitioned!

"What’s going on? Move, move, get out of the way!" The crowd gathered outside the array was forcibly pushed aside by a group of youths dressed in finery, riding powerful steeds. None of them appeared to be over twenty years old. The people and carriages that had been waiting immediately retreated, looking fearful—the first survival skill one must learn in the capital is to recognize the heraldry of the great houses, and the horses of this group bore the mark of the House of Gades!

As one of the three great ducal houses of the Empire, who dared to provoke them?