Every journey begins with a trick… or a trickster.
Setting: Cloudlight Market
A bazaar that floats between mountains, visible only during sunset hours. The gang arrives cloaked—Yooha leading, Jin bouncing like a kid, Xie brooding behind.
> Jin (grinning): "I love shady places. Feels like home!"
> Yooha (flatly): "I hate shady places. Feels like you."
Bo Lang leads them to a lantern-lit tent wrapped in fortune charms and illusion spells.
Inside waits a sparkling, sly-eyed trader with nine rings on each hand, a fan covering half his face. His name? Mister Ink.
> Mister Ink: "Ah, the divine blade team… or shall I say, 'The Moon-Scarred'?"
Everyone freezes.
Mister Ink knows too much.
He offers a map to the Laughing Shrine, Jin's supposed birthright, sealed since his father vanished.
> Mister Ink: "Buttt… it comes at a price. I need something in return."
> Jin: "Money? Bo's cooking? A lock of Xie's silky hair?"
> Mister Ink (smiling): "I want… a memory. Just one."
They hesitate.
A memory could be anything—
—a mother's face, a sword technique, a painful scar.
Jin steps forward.
> "Take mine. But I choose the memory."
Ink nods. The deal is made.
The map appears—faintly glowing.
> Ink: "Good luck. The shrine laughs at cowards… and cries for kings."
After they leave, Bo looks at Jin.
> "What did you give him?"
> Jin (quietly): "The memory of my 5th birthday. The last time I saw my father laugh."
The others fall silent. Even Xie.
End of Episode 20( continue)