Damon pushed through the mansion door and the questions hit him before he even cleared the threshold.

"What did the sect leader said?" Ariel was already on her feet, her blue eyes sharp.

Mio leaned forward from the couch, arms crossed. "Was it about the tournament?"

Mia was quieter but she watched him from the corner of the room with the same focused attention, her violet eyes tracking every shift in his expression.

Neko dropped from the windowsill and padded over, ears perked.

Damon closed the door behind him and moved to the center of the room.

He looked at each of them once, then sat down on the arm of the nearest chair.

"It’s about a rule change," he said.

"The Eastern Continent Tournament raised the age limit to thirty and the representative count to seven. Sect Leader Hector is holding a sect tournament in three weeks to pick who goes."

Ariel’s brow pulled together.

"They changed the rules? Why?"

"Tournaments change their format sometimes," Damon said.

"It happens."

"Where is Selene?"

"Sister Selene on the training area, she said she want to train a little since you are back."

’She really want me to praise her for successfully use Sword aura, huh...’

That was all he gave them.

He was not going to tell them about Kai.

Not yet.

Not when they were still building their foundations and had three weeks left before everything moved into a different gear entirely.

Worrying them with Kai’s name right now would cost more than it gained.

Mio narrowed her eyes slightly, reading his face the way she always did.

"You don’t seem surprised," she said.

"I’m never surprised," Damon said.

Mia made a small sound from the corner that might have been a laugh.

Ariel looked at him for another second, then let it go.

She trusted him enough not to push when he closed a door.

Damon stood up from the chair arm and rolled his neck once, the joints cracking softly in the quiet room.

"Three weeks," he said. "That means we use every day we have."

He looked at Ariel first.

Earth Spirit Realm First Level.

She had pushed hard over the past three months and it showed, but there was still a wide gap between where she stood and where she needed to be before she stepped onto any tournament stage.

Then the twins. Ninth Level Earth Spirit Realm, both of them sitting right at the edge of a breakthrough.

One good push and they would cross into True Spirit Realm.

Selene was already at King Spirit Realm Second Level and climbing.

She was not in a rush right now.

Neko sat at his feet, looking up at him with wide gold eyes.

"What kind of stronger?" Neko asked.

"All kinds," Damon said.

He let his gaze move across the room slowly, landing on each of them in turn, and something in his expression shifted, just slightly, the way it did when he had already decided something and was simply letting the others catch up.

"We start tonight," he said.

"Let’s fill you all up."

The room went quiet for exactly one beat.

Then Ariel’s cheeks went pink, the color rising fast from her collarbone to her face.

She pressed her lips together like she was trying to hold something back and failing completely.

Mio looked away toward the wall, but her ears were red.

Mia did not look away.

She held his gaze with those calm violet eyes and the faintest curve touched the corner of her mouth, the kind of expression that said she had been waiting for exactly this and was not going to pretend otherwise.

Neko tilted her head. "Fill up with what?"

"My Yang qi." Damon said simply.

Neko’s ears flicked.

"Oh."

She paused.

"Oh."

Her tail curled.

Ariel cleared her throat and tucked a strand of silver-blue hair behind her ear, her eyes dropping to the floor for a moment before coming back up to find his.

There it was.

Underneath the blush, underneath the slightly too-careful posture, the eagerness was right there on all of their faces, plain as anything.

Three months of closed-door cultivation.

Three months of sleeping in the same mansion, training in the same arena, eating at the same table, and keeping their hands to themselves because there had been work to do.

Three months was a long time.

Damon could see it in the way Ariel was already standing a little straighter, her weight shifting forward without her realizing it.

In the way Mio had gone very still, which with Mio meant the opposite of calm.

In the way Mia’s fingers had loosened at her sides, the careful composure she usually wore going soft at the edges.

He did not say anything else.

He just turned and walked toward the hallway that led to the bedrooms.

The sound of footsteps followed immediately.

Ariel fell into step behind him first, close enough that he could feel the warmth radiating off her.

Then Mio, her bare feet quiet on the stone floor. Then Mia, unhurried but not slow. Neko trotted at the back, her tail swaying.

Damon pushed open the bedroom door and stepped inside.

The room was large, the bed wide, the late afternoon light coming through the curtains in long amber strips that cut across the floor and the sheets.

He turned around.

All four of them stood in the doorway, looking at him.

Ariel’s blush had not faded.

Mio had her arms loosely at her sides now, her dark eyes steady on his face.

Mia stood slightly behind her twin, one shoulder against the doorframe, watching him with that quiet, patient attention that always meant she was thinking about exactly what he was thinking about.

Neko’s ears were flat against her head in the way they went when she was excited and trying not to show it.

Damon reached up and pulled the outer robe from his shoulders, dropping it over the back of the chair beside the bed.

"Close the door," he said.

Mia reached back without looking and pulled it shut.