Veyon understood immediately. She turned to Elder Xiao. "Prepare for departure. Mount Jiuyi is about to change hands."
Elder Xiao nodded, grim.
For days, Su Yan maintained his routine. Mornings in the True Void Cave Heaven. Evenings in the Phoenix Palace. Stolen hours translating the Nine Heavens Yang Spirit Scripture.
The Emperor made no move. No yang harvesters descended to the underworld. The great hall stayed quiet.
Su Yan finished the translation. He handed the first half to Eunuch Chen. "Tell His Majesty the second half stays with me until I receive the Jade Capital positioning art."
Chen hurried away.
Su Yan signaled Veyon. Within the hour, she and Elder Xiao arrived, packs ready. Yuan Qi shrank to noodle-size and coiled into Su Yan's collar. The great bell settled into his mind.
Su Yan thought of Guo Xiaodie. "She's Guo family. By now she knows. Friend or foe?"
Chen returned, smiling. "His Majesty sends the Jade Capital art. And he wishes to reward you personally."
Su Yan accepted the booklet. "Lead on."
As they descended, Su Yan noticed more Golden Guards than before. Dozens of nuo masters marched uphill under armed escort. The guards forced them to kneel in rows.
A guard tapped his sword case. Blade-light flashed. Heads rolled.
Three nuo masters broke and ran. One transformed his qi into a white crane, wings spanning yards, soaring upward.
More blade-lights converged from every pass. The crane shattered. The body fell.
"Think of your families!" a guard shouted. "Die alone, or we'll exterminate your bloodlines!"
Yuan Qi trembled in Su Yan's collar. "A-Ying..."
The great bell rang once, low and mournful.
They walked ten miles and watched a thousand executions. These nuo masters had mined yang energy for the Emperor's pills. Now they were liabilities.
Eunuch Chen sighed. "The booklet is blank, young master. Can't you see? Run."
Elder Xiao struck Chen's shoulder. The eunuch sprayed blood and tumbled down the cliff, screaming, "Traitors!"
"Go!" Su Yan shouted.
Sword qi erupted around him. He shot forward as a streak of light, hugging the ground. Veyon matched him, blade for blade.
Golden Guards opened their cases. A dozen sword qi streams chased them.
Su Yan's sword light vanished. He leaped, a cloud-ladder forming beneath his feet. His own sword case snapped open—seven beams of ancient light, cultivated for a thousand years by Yuan Tiangang, cut through the pursuit.
Elder Xiao tore through the forest like a tiger, killing or hurling guards from the cliffs.
They reached the Abyss of Cangwu. Guo Yue and Li Yingzhu waited with Guo Xiaodie, arrayed for battle.
"Lord Bell!" Su Yan called.
The great bell flew from his mind, spinning, expanding. Its outer wall blazed with living patterns—mountains, rivers, beasts, all pouring destruction into sound.
"Clang—"
The Guo formation staggered.
"Clang!"
Walls of qi shattered. Experts spat blood.
"Clang!"
The array broke. Bodies flew in every direction.
"I'm empty!" the bell cried, shrinking back into Su Yan's mind.
Su Yan and Veyon reached the cliff edge. Below lay the jade lake, the underworld passage.
A cloud of imperial fortune drifted toward them—the Emperor's power made manifest. prayers of millions dizzied their senses.
The cloud struck an invisible wall. A white-browed youth stood beneath it, calmly facing the great hall, calculating whether Su Yan was worth open war.
"Lord Zhou!" Su Yan shouted. "I left the Nine Heavens Scripture in the Phoenix Palace! It fixes the flaws in Tuo's Immortal Scripture!"
Zhou Qiyun's eyes widened. He turned.
"This is your second escape attempt, Su Yan." He faced the hall again. "Run. Don't let me catch you."
Su Yan leaped. Golden Guards and Guo experts plunged after them.
Elder Xiao rode a guard's back down, crushing him, seizing his sword case and detonating it. Blade-light sprayed in all directions.
Guo Yue intercepted Elder Xiao. Five cave heavens flared behind the old man, but Guo Yue's palm still drove him spitting blood toward the abyss.
Su Yan caught him. "Lord Bell!"
The bell flew out, weak. Su Yan swung it into Guo Yue's chest.
Guo Yue caught the blow one-handed. His other hand closed on Su Yan's throat.
A serpent bit his wrist. Black numbness spread up Guo Yue's arm.
"Yingzhu! Save me!"
Li Yingzhu slashed her husband's arm off at the shoulder to stop the venom.
Su Yan plunged into the jade lake with Elder Xiao. Behind them, chaos reigned.
In the underworld, they dodged pursuers until the terrain swallowed their trail. Then Su Yan looked up and saw it—a colossal idol towering above the mountains, wreathed in incense.
The阴庭 lay ahead. Beyond it, the Heavenly God Hall.
They passed through safely. No one stopped them.
At Ghost Child Ridge, Veyon stopped. She smiled, bright and sad. "This is where we part. I must report to my mother."
"I go to find my past," Su Yan said. "Who knows when we'll meet again."
Veyon hesitated. "I enjoyed our time together. If you ever come to the capital, I'll introduce you to my sister."
Elder Xiao blinked. "Young master, aren't you your parents' only child?"