Su Yan rose to his feet. "Vitality," he said, his voice quiet but his chest swelling with resolve. "There's only one source. Find them. Kill them."
Elder Guo laughed bitterly. "Easier said than done."
Su Yan's eyes gleamed. "Elder Guo, when you opened the nine grotto-heavens of your Crimson Palace, did you see the other shore?"
"The other shore?"
Su Yan described what he'd glimpsed when opening his Jade Pool secret — a jade-like world beyond the ninth heaven, a bridge he couldn't cross. "I believe each of the Six Secrets connects to a different other shore. We can't enter, only steal their power."
Elder Guo paced, thinking. "If you were some minor nuo master, I'd slap you for questioning our ancestors. But you're older than I am. So I have to take you seriously." He stopped abruptly. "When I opened my ninth heaven, I saw a palace in flames. There were characters on it. I couldn't read them."
Su Yan's heart leaped. "If there's a palace, there's an other shore! Maybe we can reach it and escape the masters of the Six Secrets!"
"I only saw it once. Probably imagined it."
At that moment, Pei Du's voice rang out. "Did I imagine it too?" He strode toward them. "When I opened the ninth heaven of my Jade Pool, I also saw a palace. Unlike you, Elder Guo, I memorized the inscription."
He wrote the characters on stone with his finger — bird-worm script, long lost to the world.
"The Jade Void Palace!" Su Yan whispered.
Pei Du's eyes widened. "You can read this?"
Elder Guo coughed. "Address him as Elder Xu. Don't try to claim seniority."
Su Yan studied the characters. "I recognize them. It's the Jade Void Palace. I don't know where I learned it."
Elder Guo and Pei Du exchanged glances. "Old Pei, if there really is an other shore, maybe we can escape the nuo master's curse. Shall we try?"
"How?"
"Break through!"
Elder Guo summoned his green-dragon halberd. "Open your grotto-heaven. I'll fight my way to the other shore. Then you do the same for me!"
Pei Du shook his head. "You're reckless. You'll probably destroy me instead. I'll go first. Open your Crimson Palace."
Elder Guo unleashed his Xiyi Domain. Nine crescent-moon grotto-heavens blazed into view, plunging into an ocean of fire. The flames roared, yet strangely, they felt no heat.
Pei Du transformed into a streak of light and shot into the first heaven, pressing deeper through the inferno. Su Yan watched through his Heavenly Eye as Pei Du blasted through all nine heavens and reached the end.
Su Yan and the bell followed, the bell shielding them from the increasingly vicious flames. When they reached Pei Du, the bell inverted itself, covering them both.
A blinding light struck the bell, cracking its surface.
"Elder Pei, something's in the fire!" the bell cried.
Pei Du pressed on. Su Yan activated his Heavenly Eye and froze. In the flames, a immortal palace flickered. Before it stood motionless figures, bathing in divine fire.
Pei Du reached out of the bell's protection. His arm ignited instantly, charring to blackened bone. He pulled back, clutching something tight against his chest.
Another light slammed into the bell. It spun out of control, tumbling through Elder Guo's domain with Su Yan and Pei Du clinging to its underside. They crashed to the ground.
The bell glowed red-hot, gasping. "Sixty percent of your qi and blood, kid. Minimum."
Pei Du's charred arm crumbled to ash. He laughed, wild with joy. "Seventy, eighty percent — whatever you need!"
Elder Guo rushed over. "Old Pei —"
"Immortals in the fire!" Pei Du shouted. "I caught one!"
In his arms lay a girl, no older than eight or nine. She wasn't breathing. Her heart was still. Yet her face was flushed with life, and immortal flames flickered at her nostrils.
Su Yan stepped closer. "There were many of them before the palace. Are they truly immortals?"
The girl's chest suddenly rose. She sat up, looked around, and spoke.
An ancient tongue. Pei Du and Elder Guo understood nothing. But Su Yan — Su Yan answered her in kind.
The girl's expression turned grave. She shot into the sky and vanished.
Elder Guo and Pei Du stood stunned. "What did she say?" the bell demanded.
Su Yan said carefully, "She asked if this was the immortal realm. If she had ascended. I told her it was still the mortal world."
"And then?"
"That was all."
The two elders realized what had happened and raced off to search for the girl-immortal.
Elder Guo paused, pulled a manual from his robes, and tossed it to Su Yan. "Years ago, I stumbled into an immortal's cave and inherited the Crimson Palace Crescent Moon Furnace Art. It lets you sense those eyes." He walked away. "I stopped teaching it to anyone — not even my sons. Read it, then destroy it."
His voice drifted back. "I'll fight to the end. Even if I die, I won't surrender. But I need someone to carry on."
Su Yan opened the manual. He didn't need the later sections about refining the body and soul — he needed the method for cultivating the crescent-moon grotto-heavens.
When he activated the art, the sensation returned. Darkness. Eyes opening behind him.
The master of the Crimson Palace had noticed him.
Su Yan memorized that presence. Then he channeled the Grand Unity Daoyin Art, drawing power from both Mud Pill and Crimson Palace. His body surged with vitality he'd never known.
"This is the true blessed land!" he exclaimed. "This is true cultivation!"
The bell hummed approvingly. "Kid, you've trained in the Mud Pill master's art and now the Crimson Palace master's art. When both reach the ninth heaven, which one gets to eat you?"
Yuan Qi yawned. "Maybe they'll fight over you and destroy each other."
The bell snorted. "More likely they'll sit down politely. 'I'll take the Mud Pill, you take the Crimson Palace.' Maybe even invite each other to dinner."
Yuan Qi blinked. "What if he opens all Six Secrets?"
"Six of them, one table. That's called a feast."
Su Yan shuddered. "If I open all Six Secrets, won't I be powerful enough to beat them?"
"Six against one?" The bell paused. "Good luck with that."
A fruit pit bounced at Su Yan's feet. He looked up. A girl sat on the Guo estate wall, cherry-stained fingers gripping another handful.
She dropped down and appeared beside him. "What art do you cultivate?"
The same ancient language. Su Yan answered in kind. "Nuo arts."
"Never heard of them." She looked like a child but carried herself like an elder. "Write the character."
Su Yan wrote it in the dirt.
She studied it. "This character means 'lying down.' You practice the art of lying flat?"
"It's pronounced nuo."
"Or maybe nan." She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. It means lying down. From today, you follow me. Protect me! When I recover my cultivation, I'll reward you. No more lying flat for you!"