Xu Fu turned. His gaze swept across the Fusang tree, the falling rain of divine blood, the unconscious boy in Jiang Qi's arms. He said nothing. He merely adjusted the golden scroll in his hands and let his stone carry him past, disappearing into the starfield.
Jiang Qi stared after him, then shook himself. "Inside. Get inside the tree's wards. We're not safe yet."
They flew for what felt like days. Su Yan did not wake. When he finally stirred, his eyes held their familiar warmth — the boy returned, not the monster.
"Did we make it?" he asked.
"Your other self made it," the bell said. "Then he left us the cleanup."
Su Yan sat up and stretched. "What did I miss?"
"You carved wards into my sacred bronze," the bell said, still sulking. "I am forever tarnished. Li Xiaoke will weep when he sees me."
"I'll apologize when we meet him."
"You'll apologize now."
"I don't remember doing it."
"Convenient."
They entered Yuan Shou's atmosphere as a shooting star, the Fusang tree blazing through the sky. Jiang Qi guided them toward familiar territory — the mountains near Yongzhou, where the world had first begun to change.
The tree set down in a valley. The refugees climbed down, weeping, kneeling, thanking gods they did not understand. Jiang Qi stood apart, watching them.
Su Yan walked over. "You could have left them."
"I know."
"Why didn't you?"
Jiang Qi was quiet for a long moment. "Because you were right. The light matters."
He turned and walked toward the horizon, his violet robes tattered, his bronze sword loose at his hip. "The Zhou court will want Heaven's Punishment back. I will delay them as long as I can. Use that time wisely, Undying Immortal. Find out who made the gods. Find out why."
"And you?"
"I serve my emperor." Jiang Qi smiled, tired and old. "But perhaps I will serve something else as well."
He vanished into the trees.
Yuan Qi slithered over, stretched, and yawned. "So. Food?"
Su Yan laughed. "Food."
They walked down the mountain road together, the bell floating sullenly behind them, complaining about its lost purity. The sun rose over Yongzhou. Another day. Another step toward answers that waited in shadow.
Su Yan touched his chest, feeling the rhythm of a heart that had carried light through darkness older than memory. Whatever he had been, whatever he would become — he chose this path. Step by step. Sword in hand.
The road ahead waited.