The sorrowful elder read the imperial decree. "I'll fetch the seal talismans from the Heavenly God Hall. You two stay and watch him."
The lady in red stood. "The talismans are vital. In these chaotic times, the journey is dangerous. I'll accompany you."
The white-robed elder agreed. "Hurry. And keep him in your sights, Brother Beichen."
Beichenzi watched from the city walls as Su Yan swung the bell and slaughtered his way through the Shi estate. Bodies piled. Blood flowed like rivers.
"If this continues," Beichenzi muttered, "his memories will awaken before the talismans arrive."
From the estate's depths came a terrible pulse. Shi Molei burst from seclusion.
Even burned by Pure Yang Fire, his soul wounded, he remained a nuo master who had opened nine grotto-heavens.
The moment he emerged, the bell inverted and slammed down, trapping him and his chamber beneath it.
Pure Yang Fire blazed inside. Shi Molei screamed, pounding the bell's light-walls.
Su Yan circled the bell, palm after palm striking its surface. Each impact amplified the fire.
Zhu Hongyi floated overhead, pipa playing wildly, her red dress whipping around the bell.
Elders across the Divine Capital watched, hearts trembling.
Shi Molei activated his Inner-Realm Subtle Transformation, hiding within his inner realm to escape the flames.
Su Yan's qi was nearly spent. The fire contracted to a single spark.
The bell's light-wall flickered. Su Yan stopped, preserving his last dregs of power.
"Kid," the bell asked, "do you still recognize me?"
Su Yan looked at it strangely. "Why would you ask that?"
"You changed. You wielded the stone axe perfectly. You unleashed the fire completely. You even summoned me at maximum power. It was like you became someone else."
Su Yan laughed. "There's no one else. It just felt... right."
The bell relaxed. "Good. I was worried."
Su Yan felt something else. "Did you sense something pass through your light-wall into the bell?"
"Impossible. My walls are my dao manifestation. Nothing passes without my knowledge."
"I felt it clearly."
Zhu Chanchan praised him. "My chosen guardian. Excellent nuo skills."
Yuan Qi asked, "What about me?"
She glanced at him and said nothing.
Su Yan questioned Zhu Chanchan and Yuan Qi. Neither had seen anything.
"Let's enter his inner realm," Su Yan said. "I have a bad feeling."
The bell protested, but relented. "Stay under me. If you wander, I can't protect you."
It dispersed its walls. Shi Molei's Xiyi Domain erupted — a charred, ruined realm, space shattered, five burning immortal mountains, rivers boiled dry.
They descended through a withered Yellow Spring into the depths. At the bottom stood a dark sea, lotus leaves floating, a white lotus blooming at the center. Shi Molei sat upon it, dignified and serene.
Zhu Chanchan stepped closer. Shi Molei was only a skin-suit, perfectly preserved. His back had been sliced open from skull to tailbone. His flesh had simply walked out and left the skin behind.
She hid behind Su Yan.
The dark sea was mirror-calm. Then Su Yan looked down from high above.
A smiling face floated beneath the surface. It filled the entire sea, gazing up at him.
Su Yan's blood ran cold. The face sank slowly into the darkness and vanished.
They fled. Outside, Su Yan grabbed a wounded Shi cultivator. "Where's Shi Jingtang?"
"The young master escaped."
Su Yan released him. "If he lives, he'll practice Shi Molei's wicked art. Countless will suffer."
Yuan Qi said, "The Shi family is finished. The vultures will pick their bones clean. Shi Jingtang won't survive the night if he stays."
Outside the city, Beichenzi watched Shi Jingtang flee and smiled. "The emperor star rises. He'll reach the frontier, build his power, carve out his own kingdom."
Then a sword-light rose from the Divine Capital, paused, and shot toward Shi Jingtang.
It struck. Sword-qi erupted, shredding the forest to powder.
Beichenzi's chess piece shattered in his fingers. "Heaven protects its own..."
More sword-lights followed, house-sized blades raining from the sky, obliterating the ground.
This time, Shi Jingtang didn't walk out.
Beichenzi clutched his chest. "He violated heaven's will! Where is the tribulation? Where's the lightning?"
The sky drifted with clouds. Nothing.
"No tribulation? No one cares? Fine. I don't care either!" He still watched Su Yan like a hawk.
Su Yan had spent his last qi to kill a man a hundred li away. "Still can't kill from a thousand li. A hundred will do. Root and branch — now I can sleep."
They left the city. Yuan Qi expanded to twenty zhang. Zhu Chanchan sat on his head, cultivating, refining the medicine within her.
Her fragrance drifted. Even Su Yan wanted to take a bite.
"Kid, this girl really will attract Heavenly Demons. Even I want to refine her into my body."
Su Yan channeled the Heart-Setting Seals Pei Du had taught him. "If the demons don't come, we'll become demons ourselves. I wonder where Little Phoenix went."
He'd left the capital so quickly because Zhu Chanchan's fragrance was too dangerous. Only Avia — a phoenix, natural enemy of Heavenly Demons — could protect her.
"Brother Su!"
Veyon and Elder Xiao appeared, having slipped out of the city to see them off.
Su Yan stopped the serpent. "Brother Yuan, you dare see me off with enemies everywhere?"
"You came to see me and suffered so many attacks. If I don't see you off, what kind of host am I?"
Su Yan thought of someone else. "How is Miss Rusi?"
Veyon's face softened. Elder Xiao coughed. Veyon's expression went flat. "My sister is confined at home, doing needlework. Brother Su, asking after her the moment we meet is somewhat improper."
Elder Xiao nodded approvingly.
"I keep thinking of her," Su Yan admitted.
"She's unwed. Don't have improper thoughts."
Su Yan's improper thoughts intensified.
He gave Veyon the revised Crimson Palace method — enough to help the Yuan family extend their elder's life without revealing the core secrets.
Veyon offered two golden pages in return. "My mother would never approve, but as future Yuan family head, I'm giving you the first half of Primordial Dao Heavenly Sensing."
Elder Xiao paled but didn't stop him.
"Let's wager," Veyon said. "Whoever first comprehends the Yellow Court's medicine-refining method wins. My stake — my sister."
Elder Xiao stomped his feet on Yuan Qi's head. "Sir, please step lighter! My brain's leaking!"
Su Yan laughed. "If I lose, I have no sister to give. How about..."
He glanced at Zhu Chanchan.
Veyon shook his head. "If I win, I want one favor. I'll think of it later."
"I won't lose."
"Neither will I."
Veyon leaped down and waved goodbye. Elder Xiao followed, sighing all the way.
"Sir, paper can't wrap fire."
"You're right." Veyon smiled. "I'll choose the right moment to tell her. Yuan Rusi means 'I was originally a daughter.'"
Elder Xiao's jaw dropped.
* * *
The land shook. New mountains rose from chasms. They traveled toward Mount Song.
A beast's roar shook the wilderness. A massive creature crouched beneath a waterfall, black flames flickering around it like patterns. Lesser beasts knelt before it in worship.
"An immature primordial beast-king god," the bell whispered. "In my master's era, these were rare."
The beast-king roared. Its subjects charged toward Zhu Chanchan's scent.
Yuan Qi expanded to a hundred zhang and swallowed one whole. But the beast-king leaped — Yuan Qi was outmatched.
Su Yan raised the stone axe. Blood-colored light erupted. The axe fell. The beast-king's head rolled.
They dragged the corpse toward a stone city in the canyon.
Two ancient characters adorned the gates.
Diqiu.
"Strange name."
Inside, steam rose from bun shops. Wine still wafted from taverns. Tea in teahouses was still warm.
No people. No rats. The city was frozen in time.
Su Yan lifted a bun. Hot. Soft. Fragrant.
He set it down.
A rumble echoed through the city. The other half of Diqiu emerged from mist, buildings intact.
But still — no people.
Zhu Chanchan woke, now looking ten years old. She changed into Guo Xiaodie's clothes, loose and baggy.
A voice spoke. "This place is Diqiu."
A white-robed elder strode into view. Su Yan recognized him — from Mount Wuwang, and from the Second Capital.
Beichenzi smiled. "Diqiu vanished during the Great Han dynasty. A mystery. And now, here we are. What a fortunate meeting."
He thought to himself: *This rabbit won't sit still. Better I join him — then he can't escape my sight.*