Jin Shu was the first to step into the portal, instantly teleporting into the hidden realm. He froze, stunned speechless by what he saw.

Li Xue and Sun Mei'er stepped in right behind him, bumping into his back before they could even speak. Two little girls shot over their heads, giggling as they flapped their wings—darting away without a care in the world.

The others entered one by one, taking in the scenery with wide, curious eyes.

"This… is very different…" Tian Li murmured.

"How so?" Biyu asked as she stepped out behind her.

"There used to be a small grassy field. A dozen trees on a hill. A pond. And a small sun." Tian Li frowned.

"But…" Biyu blinked, pointing toward the forest stretching out before them, filled with hundreds of thick and wild trees.

"Is that the pond?" Zhu Ren asked.

Everyone near the portal turned around. Behind them stretched a mile-wide beach, crystal-clear waves rolling gently across the sand.

"A small sun… or a collection of them?" Bing Hou asked, staring up at the three miniature suns drifting slowly in orbit above.

"Waaah!" Ji Ji's screech cut through the moment as she was suddenly swept out of the sky by a powerful gust.

"Yin—" Jin Shu began, intending to warn Yin'er, when—

"Ahh!" Yin'er tumbled back next, carried by the same wind. "The wind is really strong here!"

She beat her tiny wings furiously, summoning her own gust to push back. The two winds collided, spiraling into a rapidly forming tornado—much like the one she'd created earlier that had tossed them all out of the slipspace. Only this one was even stronger. It ripped trees straight out of the forest and hurled them into the ocean.

"Stop!" Jin Shu shouted, bracing himself as he pushed back with his own wind element, forming a wind shield around himself and everyone behind him.

"Just a second!" Yin'er yelled, pouring more power into her tiny wings to summon even stronger winds.

Boom!

A sonic-crack thundered above them as the tornado burst, releasing a storm of razor-sharp winds. A wide swath of trees lost their tops in an instant, stripped bare of leaves. When the wind blades slammed against Jin Shu's barrier, they softened just enough to avoid bisecting everyone—though their clothing and hair weren't as fortunate.

Those above the Spirit Realm were perfectly fine. For everyone else… not so much.

Jin Shu lost both sleeves and several inches of hair along his right temple.

Biyu's robes gained a neat diagonal slash across her knees, and the same angle claimed an inch of her bangs.

Tian Li's robes were shredded into ribbons at the mid-section, though somehow her hair remained untouched.

Li Xue now had a clean strip shaved just above her left ear, plus a shallow cut along her shoulder.

Bing Hou blocked the blast entirely with a shield of ice and suffered no damage.

Zhu Ren, standing behind her, was saved by pure luck.

Liu Hua remained unharmed simply by virtue of being far too strong.

And finally, Ling Shi… somehow took the worst of it—as if every stray wind blade had gone out of its way to target her. Her robes were sliced clean above the knees, both sleeves vanished, and her hair was shaved across both temples.

They exchanged glances, various degrees of amusement crossing their faces as they took in one another's ridiculous appearances.

Li Xue funneled qi into her robes, activating the runes Tian Li had sewn into them. The small tear on her shoulder knitted itself closed. Unfortunately, the others had taken far too much damage for similar repairs to work.

Tian Li produced a sewing needle and started tightening the stitching along her waist, converting the lower half of her shredded robes into a long skirt. Then she adjusted the upper half into something resembling a long-sleeved crop top. She turned to help Ling Shi, but—

"Leave it," Ling Shi said sharply, brushing Tian Li's hands away.

The needle slipped from Tian Li's fingers, landing on a stone with a soft ding. Ling Shi opened her mouth as if to apologize, then closed it just as quickly. She turned away, her expression caught somewhere between embarrassment and anger—no one was sure which.

Tian Li retrieved the needle, said nothing, and stepped beside Jin Shu.

"Would you like me to reattach your sleeves?"

"No, it's fine. Thanks." He hesitated. "Though… you wouldn't happen to be able to cut hair, would you?"

"Of course I can." She pulled out a comb and scissors. "What style?"

"Hm… surprise me?"

"Alright." She glanced around. "Anyone else?"

Biyu examined herself in a mirror. "I… don't actually mind this." She adjusted a few stray strands and left it at that.

Li Xue leaned over her shoulder to borrow the mirror. "Ugh… my beautiful hair!" she cried, touching the shaved patch near her temple.

She grabbed Tian Li's hands. "Sister Li, please fix this. I beg you!"

Tian Li laughed softly. "Alright, alright. I've got you. Anyone else?"

The rest shook their heads and separated to explore the hidden realm.

Starting with Li Xue, Tian Li circled around her, combing out the tangles left behind by the wind blades. Once everything lay smooth, she infused the scissors with a sharp thread of qi.

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Li Xue gulped. "Uh… did I make you mad?"

Tian Li blinked. "No? Why would you think that?"

"Well… you look like you're about to kill me with those things," Li Xue muttered, eyeing the glowing scissors.

"You don't actually believe normal steel scissors could cut a cultivator's hair… do you?"

"They… can't?"

"They can't," Tian Li repeated, sighing.

"Oh."

With a small shake of her head, Tian Li set to work, snipping and combing in steady, precise motions.

"Anything special you want?" she asked.

Li Xue tilted her head. "Hmm… could you, like, make my hair yellow?"

"You know… I would've said no before." Tian Li paused thoughtfully. "But I recently picked up a technique that can do exactly that."

She injected qi into her fingers and brushed her hand through Li Xue's hair. Wherever it passed, the brown shifted to a lustrous gold. She didn't dye it all—only select strands—adding soft blonde highlights that framed Li Xue's face.

Stepping back, Tian Li nodded to herself. "Looks good, if I do say so myself."

"Let me see!" Li Xue said eagerly.

Jin Shu conjured a full-length water mirror in front of her.

She spun in front of the mirror, checking her new haircut from every angle. Tian Li had trimmed her long hair—once falling past her shoulders—to just above shoulder length, leaving a subtle undercut along her left temple and adding thin blonde highlights.

"Wow! Is this that modern style you talk about?" Li Xue asked Jin Shu.

He nodded. "Yeah. I'd call that modern. It looks good, too."

She beamed before returning to admire herself in the mirror.

Tian Li stepped in front of Jin Shu, gazing up at him. "Did you get taller?"

"Uh… maybe? I hadn't noticed."

She was fairly tall, but he still stood more than a full head above her—making it awkward for her to cut his hair while he stood. Jin Shu pulled a chair from his spatial storage and set it behind himself before sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"Thanks," she said, taking the seat. "Any special requests?"

"Just… nothing too crazy."

"The word crazy doesn't exist in fashion," she replied. "But fine—I'll keep it tame."

"Please do."

"Close your eyes."

He glanced back, confused.

"It's for the surprise."

"…Right. Okay." He shut his eyes.

Without sight, his awareness sharpened—every brush of her fingers through his hair, the quiet rasp of her breathing against his neck, stray strands tickling his back as the comb passed through them. His heightened senses, normally a gift, felt more like a curse right now.

Snip. Snip.

The familiar sound of scissors, usually soothing, instead made his heartbeat quicken. Her scent lingered in every breath, and her close proximity only intensified the feeling—especially when her chest brushed lightly against his back as she leaned forward to reach the hair near his forehead.

"Turn around," she said.

He cracked one eye open—and found his reflection staring back at him from her turquoise iris.

"No peeking," she chided.

"Sorry… nervous."

He closed his eyes and turned his head to the side.

A moment of silence stretched between them before she spoke quietly near his ear.

"Why me?"

"Why you… what?"

"Why did you choose to love me?"

He resisted the urge to turn back to look at her.

"Haven't I already told you?"

"Yeah… but…" she hesitated. "I'm still confused about my own feelings. I think it would help to hear yours again."

"Sure… I—"

"Actually," she interrupted softly, "tell me about all of them."

"All?"

"Yes. All your feelings. For everyone."

He furrowed his brow but kept his eyes firmly shut. "Alright…"

He breathed in slowly, gathering his thoughts before answering.

***

Biyu's Haircut Reference: Messy diagonal cut (It's only the bangs, Biyu has long dark evergreen hair)

AI recreation:

Li Xue Haircut Reference: Medium-short, shaved undercut. Plus blonde highlights.

AI recreation:

Ling Shi Reference: Shaved temples (AI recreation)