Su Yan caught Avia before she hit the ground. He burned qi to summon the Cloud-Ladder Ascension technique, then shifted mid-air into the Sword Control Art. A blade of light carried them both back to the Phoenix Palace.
She woke under a quilt, her breathing steady. Su Yan had used his Mud Pill vitality to heal her.
"Your seal is nothing like mine," she said, sitting up. "I shouldn't have tried. The one who placed it will sense the disturbance. I must go."
She packed quickly. "I saw you three thousand years ago, on this same mountain. You looked the same, only younger."
Su Yan stared. Three thousand years? Impossible.
"I was newly hatched then," she said. "The world twisted. Darkness swallowed everything. When I woke, three thousand years had passed."
She flew from the window in a streak of rainbow light.
An invisible wall blocked her path—a chessboard of cyan light spanning the sky. Massive fingers descended, each holding a stone the size of a mountain. She dodged left, right, up, down. The pieces fell faster, penning her in.
Then a voice called out: "This game is finished."
The board vanished. Below, an old man in white and a woman in black sat at a stone table. Avia landed, bowed low, and fled.
"Don't meddle again," the old man said without looking up.
Back at the palace, Su Yan waited. The seal-master would come. He was sure of it.
A knock sounded at the gate.
Outside stood the same sorrow-faced elder from before, reeking of incense.
"Tea?" Su Yan asked dryly.
"I'm afraid so."
Su Yan stepped aside. "I can't fight you. Might as well drink."
The elder heated water with a flame that made Su Yan's blood run cold—Pure Yang Fire. The same fire Su Yan wielded. Resistance was pointless.
He drank ten bowls.
The elder smiled, wrinkles smoothing. "Last time I told you a story about Chen Mianzhu, the White-Clad Nuo Immortal, devoured by his own patrons. This time, something funnier."
He laughed, showing too many teeth. "This cave heaven? Everyone thought the ascension light was a path to immortality. They all died. Every single one. A man with immortal eyes looked closer and saw the truth—that light is the remains of the first poor fool who got smited. His body and soul, shattered into pretty colors."
Su Yan slumped forward, snoring like a child.
"Funny, isn't it?" The elder gathered his things and left.
A great bell crashed through the window. "A-Yan! Are you alright?"
Su Yan yawned and sat up. "Bell? Why am I asleep?"
The elder froze on the branch outside. His smile curdled.
Something had gone terribly wrong.