When Viktor and Mai could see again, they found themselves in a forest. It wasn’t the same forest they had just been in but it was a forest. The type of trees and wildlife were different and the bodies of the werewolves they had killed were nowhere to be seen.

“Where are we..?” Viktor murmured, looking around. It was brighter out now, and the sun had yet to set.

“I have no clue…” Mai murmured, looking at the plants in the area.

“Bamboo doesn’t grow naturally in Europe though…” Mai murmured as she looked at the large bamboo plants near them.

“Should we try going in the direction where the town was?” Mai asked, looking in that direction. Viktor hesitated a bit but he nodded.

They walked for a while and reached an area that was a bit more clear but had extremely tall trees all around it. Mai noticed a small yellow paper attached to a leaf on the ground near one of the trees and went to take a closer look, Viktor was following behind her.

“A talisma—Uwah?!” Mai cried out as suddenly she and Viktor were trapped by what seemed to be a cage and suddenly the whole cage flew into the air with them. 

“W-What is this?!” Viktor exclaimed, immediately trying to cut the trap. He failed and looked confused, he tried again after embedding magic into his sword but still failed. He also couldn’t stick his hand or sword through the spaces between the bars of the cage.

“I think this is a spirit trap… These aren’t supposed to be able to trap humans though..” Mai murmured and looked at the talisman on the cage. She said the name of the cage in Vietnamese.

“If you can’t break it then someone who is stronger than you must’ve made it… not like core type strong but actual magic ability strong… it might be someone who’s reached their peak..” Mai murmured, she didn’t even try to break it, she was certain that if Viktor couldn’t do it then she definitely couldn’t do it.

“Eh? Eeeeeh? Humans?! How could you waste master’s spirit trap like this!” A voice said in Chinese as someone appeared below the spirit trap. Viktor and Mai were confused, they couldn’t speak Chinese so they could only interpret the person’s whines as them being unhappy.

They looked down and saw what they figured was a young boy in simple blue Daoist robes and a round straw hat that covered half his face. He had a white and silver Jian sword at his side and had a pout on his face. The boy then started to laugh a bit and cut the trap down with his sword. He moved out of the way as the cage fell and then walked over to it and squatted down to it.

“How could you get caught in a spirit trap while being human? Are you shapeshifters?” The boy said with an amused look on his face.

"Can you get us out of here?" Mai asked in English. The boy didn't answer and just tilted his head a little.

“You don't  happen to speak Chinese, do you?” Mai asked Viktor quietly after noticing that the boy didn't understand.

“Other than a few words no, you?” 

Mai shook her head and tried to figure out what to do or say. The boy was clearly analyzing everything about them and their clothes.

“Can you not understand human language? I guess I should probably get rid of you then, shapeshifters aren’t really what I’m looking for..”  The boy said and raised his sword aiming to kill them once he swung.

“W-Wait! Don’t kill us!” Mai said in Vietnamese hoping that maybe the boy would know that or at least recognize it.

The boy actually did recognize it and put his sword down, confused. “Vietnamese..?” The boy said in Vietnamese with a curious look as he looked at Mai and noticed her sword. The boy seemed to be considering something before he suddenly put his hand in the cage, holding his pinky out toward Mai.

“Promise not to run away and I’ll take you to my master.” The boy said in slightly accented Vietnamese. Mai hooked her pinky with the boy, thinking that he was actually rather childish for someone who had almost tried to kill them. She also found something familiar about his voice when he spoke Vietnamese.

Viktor was more focused on the fact that the boy could easily go through the cage. He wondered if he was the one who created the spirit trap until Mai translated for Viktor. The boy also held his pinky out to Viktor as well, very insistent on making a pinky promise. Viktor hesitates and hooked his pinky with the boy's.

The boy smiled and put his hand on the cage and let a pulse of electricity go through it making it fall open. He moved out of the way a bit so it wouldn’t hit him. 

“Follow me!” The boy said and started to walk forward away from where Viktor and Mai had come. He clearly told them where not to step as there were spirit traps all around the area.

“Master! I met some weird people near the spirit traps!” The boy called in Chinese as they got to a small area where a camp had been set up. A woman in a hanfu was making food in a pot over a fire while an older man sat on a tree stump and read a book. 

“Was that why you broke one of the spirit traps?” The older man asked, not looking up from his book.

“Yes, master.” The boy said and bowed fully.

The older man looked up at Viktor and Mai, specifically looking at their clothes and nodded a bit.

“The Academy of Magic arts? What are students doing here..?” The man asked in English, surprising Mai and Viktor.

At this point, the boy had gone to talk with the woman who was cooking and wasn’t listening to the conversation. 

“Huh? Oh, we don’t know where we are...we were sent here by a glowing red orb someone threw at us!” Viktor explained, relaxing a bit more now that he found someone who speaks English.

“You’re in Guilin, China. Right now my students and I are participating in a night hunt here.”  The man explained, putting his book down.

“How did we get from Germany to China…” Mai murmured, becoming more and more confused.

“Either you were hit by a teleportation item or you are currently intervening in someone’s memories… Since you got caught in a spirit trap there’s a good chance that it’s the latter.” The man said and looked at both Mai and Viktor intently once again.

“Someone’s memories? Could it be..?” Mai murmured, turning and looking at the boy with the straw hat. She was certain that they were male so she figured that it couldn’t be who she thought it was. Viktor seemed to be having a similar thought.

“Yue. Come here.” The man called, shocking both Viktor and Mai. The boy turned around and ran over to them. Before he reached them, the man used two fingers and pointed at him making a gust of wind go to the boy and hit him right in the face, making his hat fall down. 

“Eh, what was that for?” The boy asked, opening his eyes after the wind stopped. It was definitely Yue. His face seemed younger than the Yue they knew but his eyes were the clear giveaway. Yue walked over to the man after getting his hat. Mai looked much more surprised than Viktor did.

“I guess you’re probably in this kid’s memories...You must be close.” The man said and patted Yue’s head. “I am Fei Xiang, I’m Yue’s teacher. Over there is Lian Bai, She is another one of my students, another one of my students is currently resting.” 

The woman who was cooking smiled as she heard her name and bowed to them politely.

Yue seemed to be self-conscious because of how he was being stared at. He moved away a bit and put his hat back on with red cheeks.

“Oh..I’m Mai and this is Viktor..” Mai murmured, still looking at Yue with a shocked look.

“Do you know how to get out of here? We were kind of in the middle of a fight..” Viktor murmured, looking at Fei Xiang rather than at Yue.

“If the person who used it on you is pretty weak, it won’t last much longer, but it will also be dispelled if Yue realizes that you’re in his memories.” Fei Xiang explained and looked at Viktor carefully.

“You look like you have a burning question.” Fei Xiang said after a second of watching Viktor’s expression.

“Does Yue have insightful eyes?” Viktor asked suddenly, he couldn’t contain his curiosity.

“He does not. You probably think that because of the spell I made that mimics insightful eyes, unlike insightful eyes, it’s 100% manual and doesn’t activate on its own.” Fei Xiang explained, he thought Viktor would have a more personal question to ask.

Yue and Mai were now staring at each other intently. They had somehow ended up in a staring contest and Yue was definitely about to lose because he was embarrassed. He looked away a bit but Mai just moved her head so she was in his line of sight again.

“...Little Yue is cute..” Mai murmured, smiling a bit. She had been thinking for a while and she knew that Yue probably didn’t lie to try and hurt her or others.

“If he knew English he would be deeply offended by you calling him little and cute.” Fei Xiang chuckled.  Mai silently agreed, the older Yue would definitely be embarrassed by that as well. Fei Xiang invited Mai and Viktor to eat since they might be there for a while. He paid a lot of attention to Viktor’s expression and how he looked at Yue whilst they ate.

After they ate, he pulled Viktor aside and looked at him seriously.

“Young man, you seem like you still have a lot of questions and I can guarantee that I know what they are. I can’t answer them, only Yue can. If he’s lying to you, it’s for your own good, He has a lot of targets on his back.”  Fei Xiang said and sighed.

Viktor tried his best to keep that in mind, he felt bad for how bothered he was by simple lies that were probably for his own good anyway. He also had come to most of the conclusions that Yue was trying to hide just by meeting the younger him. He had almost not slept after he asked Yue about his eyes, he wouldn’t have asked if he knew Yue was going to lie. He felt a bit better now that he entered Yue’s memories although it did feel a bit wrong since Yue wasn’t aware of it.

 Meanwhile, Yue stood up after a bit and walked over to Lian Bai who had told him to do something. Mai looked confused but followed him as they reached a tent. Yue noticed her presence and decided to explain what he was doing.

“My senior brother is injured so he’s resting in here. His name is Xia Guiren, he’s strong but I’m stronger!” Yue said in Vietnamese and giggled a bit.

Mai laughed a bit as well, Little Yue did seem strong but the aura that she could feel from the tent was stronger. She was curious about what kind of person Yue considered his brother. She also noted that Yue’s last name was probably based on his brother’s.

“You should man up Shixiong, it’s been 10 days and you’re still whining about a single rib,” Yue said in Chinese as he brought a small bottle of medicine into the tent.

Inside the tent was a young man who seemed to be in his late teens, he wore white robes and had bandages over his chest. He looked like he was still in pain.

“ I was back up and running after 5 days!” Yue said and prepared the medicine in the bottle and had the young man drink it.

After drinking, the young man opened his eyes and glared at Yue a bit.

“That’s because your Shijie and I snuck pain killers into your food, you brat.” He said and flicked Yue’s forehead a bit.

Yue looked completely shocked while Mai was just curious about the young man’s injury. She was also curious about his relationship with Yue. She was a bit confused when Yue rushed past her and went to Lian Bai and she did glance at Guiren for a bit, wondering why he didn’t notice her.

“Did you seriously slip PainKillers into my food?!” Yue whined to Lian Bai as Mai followed him out of the tent.

Viktor was curious about what was happening so he started walking over to them. He also wanted to try and interact with the younger Yue in some way but a sudden flash of light appeared and he and Mai ended up in the forest again.

“Ah...We’re back..” Mai murmured, depressed that she didn’t get to squeeze little Yue’s cheeks. She turned to look at Viktor for a second she didn’t like the vibe she got from him before when they had just found out about Yue’s true gender but looking at him now she felt a bit less worried about it. She still felt like giving him a warning.

“Don’t mention anything to Yue or anyone else, that wasn’t something we were probably meant to find out anyway. And don’t treat my Yue differently because of it!” She warned him. She was planning on not pushing the idea of them having a relationship anymore, she didn't want Yue to get hurt if Viktor didn't feel the same way just because he was a boy.

“I already knew that Yue was a boy though…” Viktor murmured, he didn’t know if he should be relieved or worried that Mai was so cautious of him.