In the late afternoon light, the laurel gleamed like a pillar of ice. I ran my fingers down the bark, as smooth as marble—as though it had never been ravaged by the axe, as though I had imagined it all.

“Is this where you spend all your time?” Liwei asked as he approached.

I grimaced. “It was where I spent last night. Unplanned.” Without delay, I told of Master Gang’s attack.

His face darkened. “Did he hurt you?”

I shook my head, holding the seed out to him—smaller than my thumbnail, something opaque swirling within like a wisp of cloud. “This fell from the laurel. There is some magic here that I cannot identify.”

He lifted it up, examining it intently. “Cold. Its energy is strong but unfamiliar. Let’s test it.”

As he raised his other palm, the seed floated into the air. Crimson flames engulfed it with a crackle, leaping high then dying out abruptly, leaving the seed charred like a fragment of coal. Relief swept through me that this was no great treasure after all, no mysterious power. Certainly not worth the efforts Master Gang had taken.

“Xingyin, look.”

The urgency in Liwei’s tone startled me. The seed was shining once more like it had shed its outer skin, just a trace dimmer than before. For it to have survived Liwei’s fire intact meant its power was strong.

My magic flowed in a shimmering stream, binding the seed in layers of air, clenching harder until thin fractures webbed the surface. I tensed, channeling more of my energy, intent on crushing it to prove it was of no consequence—but a brightness flared from the seed’s depths, sealing the cracks.

Liwei’s eyes narrowed as he raised a hand to the tree, more flames erupting in thick waves to consume it. As they swept over the silvery leaves and bark, I recoiled, biting back my instinctive protest—I had loved the laurel since my childhood, playing in its shade, entranced by its beauty. As Liwei’s fingers closed into a fist, the fire surged hotter, the bark darkening in patches … yet the flames shuddered and stilled before going out in a hiss of smoke. The gleaming sap spilled forth once again, sliding down the bark in rivulets. A luminous radiance suffused the laurel, the scorch marks fading, leaving the wood unblemished.

“Regeneration. Except I have never encountered anything as powerful,” Liwei remarked, staring at the tree.

I recalled the ease with which my magic had flowed, a far cry from when I had sacrificed my lifeforce to free the dragons. I had recovered here quicker than anyone believed possible. And now I knew why.

“It healed me too. When I first returned I could barely manage the wards, and now … I am almost as strong as before.” Tangled with my relief was a sinking dread.