The old man with the walking staff heard them coming from far off. Laughter. A girl's voice. The faint clang of a bell. And somewhere in it, the dry hiss of a serpent's amusement.
He smiled a cold smile. "Laugh while you can, little fools. Soon you'll scream."
Su Yan pushed through the doors of the Demon Suppression Hall first. Guo Xiaodie said something behind him, and he turned, grinning. "Who'd step on your chest in the middle of the night? A ghost?"
The great bell exploded into view behind him.
Its power surged. The ancient surface blazed with patterns of mountains and rivers, beasts and trees, all spinning, all alive. The clang shook the hall like thunder.
Su Yan staggered. "Lord Bell, that old gentleman isn't an enemy!"
The bell cut its power short, humming with embarrassment. "I sensed yin energy rushing at you. And I smelled tribulation lightning, scorched and bitter. I panicked. I thought a vengeful spirit meant to harm you."
The old man peeled off the wall, trembling. "I am a ghost. Of course I carry yin energy. My primordial spirit was shattered by heavenly tribulation long ago. That's the scorched smell. Now get me down!"
Su Yan leaped up and pried him free.
The old man's claws shot out. He plunged them into Su Yan's chest, grasping for his soul.
His fingers closed on something solid. Unbreakable.
Su Yan glanced back, confused, then turned away to keep talking with Guo Xiaodie.
The old man stared at his broken fingers. "Impossible. Even a ghost king would have crumbled. This boy's soul is forged from stone."
Su Yan had stepped on Guo Xiaodie's chest that night at the phoenix tree. He changed the subject fast. "How goes your Sword Control Art? Ask me anything. I promise results."
Guo Xiaodie brightened.
Veyon looked up at the darkening sky. "We need to leave. When night falls, this place becomes something else entirely."
Su Yan bowed to the old man. "Thank you for your guidance, elder. We'll return tomorrow."
They vanished into the vat one by one.
The old man's eyes fixed on Yuan Qi. The serpent's tail was the last thing visible, fat and sluggish, perfect prey.
He lunged.
Yuan Qi's tail flicked. A green paper umbrella snapped open. Sunlight erupted from its folds—blinding, searing, absolute.
The old man shrieked as the umbrella sucked him in. "The Azure Sun Umbrella! All methods retreat! All evil flees!"
In moments, he dissolved. His indestructible spirit essence flowed into Yuan Qi, strengthening his own.
The umbrella folded shut.
Yuan Qi pulled his head from the vat and looked around. "That elder ran fast. How considerate."
He slipped into the water.
* * *
Su Yan moved into the Phoenix Palace. With Avia gone, the place sat empty. The great bell and Yuan Qi immediately began fighting over rooms.
A knock came. Guo Xiaodie stood outside, fidgeting.
She pulled out a thin scroll and pressed it into his hands. "You're teaching me the Sword Control Art. I can't take without giving back. Every Guo daughter gets one exception to the rules. One secret she can share with her husband."
Su Yan blinked. "I'm not your husband."
"You will be." She flushed. "Or you won't. Either way, this is my dowry. Now you have it, so I haven't broken clan rules."
He laughed. "You're bolder than most men."
He accepted the scroll—the Guo family's Dragon-Seeking Positioning Art, which located the Crimson Palace secret vault.
That night, Su Yan sat in meditation. He'd opened the Mud Pill vault alone, turning chaos into a cave heaven. The Crimson Palace would be no different.
His awareness sank into the Xiyi Domain, into the mountain of the heart. There, hidden in a flame-eyed acupoint, he found the furnace.
He struck.
Fire roared. A crescent-moon-shaped cave heaven formed within the inferno, drawing power from his very heartbeat.
Strength flooded his limbs. He leaped from the palace roof, stepped on clouds, and soared across the sky faster than any sword could carry him.
* * *
Far below, someone watched his flight with cold eyes.
"He masters both nuo arts and qi cultivation," the Emperor murmured. "More talented than Zhou Qiyun ever was."
He coughed, blood staining his sleeve. "Bring him to me. Politely."
The eunuch Chen bowed. "And if Lord Zhou interferes?"
"I am still the Emperor."
* * *
That evening, another visitor came to the Phoenix Palace. Li Yingzhu stood in the moonlight, wrapped in red robes and white fur, every curve calculated, every glance a weapon.
She leaned toward Su Yan. "I am Xiaodie's second aunt. May I come in?"
Su Yan sidestepped. The great bell had trapped him the same way. He wouldn't fall twice.
Before she could press further, a voice cut through the night. "Master Su. His Majesty summons you."
Li Yingzhu fled.
Su Yan followed Eunuch Chen down the mountain to the great hall. Furnaces burned everywhere, baking the air dry. The most precious ingredient in those furnaces was human yang energy.
The Emperor emerged from behind a furnace. "I too cultivate the arts of your kind."
Su Yan studied his face. "You've opened two of the Six Secrets. Crimson Palace and Jade Capital. And you don't know how to harmonize them."
The Emperor's eyes flared. Twin beams of light shot past Su Yan's head, slicing a bronze pillar into three pieces.
Su Yan didn't flinch. "You've also misunderstood 'pure yang' as mere 'yang energy.' You're consuming people's lives to fuel your cultivation."
The Emperor's voice turned hoarse. "Can you fix it?"
"I can translate the Nine Heavens Yang Spirit Scripture properly. In exchange, give me the Jade Capital positioning art. And let me and Veyon leave freely."
The Emperor smiled. "Done."
On the path back, Su Yan plucked a peach from a tree. He cracked it open, then tossed it aside.
"Rotten to the core," he said.
Eunuch Chen's hands shook.
Su Yan walked on, speaking to himself. "He's already devouring yang energy. Soon he'll devour people. There's no saving him."