“Holy hell, that guy got cut in half!” Yung looked away in horror.

“Kii, kii kyu!” Silky chirped.

“Stop! Stop, don’t explain it all in grim detail.”

“Kyu.”

“No, I don’t think those voidfiend-like foxmoths are the ones you are looking for. Do you recognize any of them being part of your flock?”

“Kyi.” Silky replied dejectedly.

“Arf.” Su Xiya cheered him up.

“It’s going to be fine. Nanya is all-powerful, remember?” Yung said; talking with Silky calmed his mind, and Floofy was incredibly soft to hug, like a stress plushie but fluffier.

Yung turned his eyes back towards the fight. Ziyou Ling and Youjin Chun had both stood up.

“Wasn’t cultivation here only supposed to be limited to the 1st realm?” Youjin Chun asked Yung.

The heiress was biting her finger with an anxious expression. One moment, she was about to walk out of the range of the green halo coming from the crown atop Vixen Nanya’s head; the next, she came back.

“We only assumed that. But didn’t you hear what Youjin Fuqiang said? Apparently, this cavern is under the influence of a Lost Plane. It’s not a Planar Fragment like we had guessed.”

Youjin Chun’s panic seemed to rise two-fold at that. Yung could only sigh.

He asked his girlfriend. She remained silent.

Ziyou Ling, on the other hand, was much more straightforward. She wiped the grime off her face and readied her origin qi, preparing to jump out and join the fray.

“What are you doing?” Youjin Chun said. “Don’t you understand why leader Free Sparrow threw you here? Are you trying to ruin his efforts?”

“Is that the excuse you came up with to justify your cowardice?” Ziyou Ling retorted, sending the Youjin heiress a death glare. “Why do you even care?”

“I don’t. Truly, I do not, whether you live or die. But look at the situation and think calmly,” Youjin Chun said. The way she was biting her fingernails and how harried her breath was, she definitely was not calm herself. “There’s no guarantee that they can win, that they can survive! This was a trap all along. Youjin Fuqiang wants to bury us here and continue his schemes to usurp the clan, the slums, and perhaps the whole city for his nefarious plans. We have to get out of here and warn the others!”

“You want me to run?” Ziyou Ling spat. “You can do that. But I am not going to stand by as my brothers and sisters fight. I am—”

A hooded figure had gotten too close. He jumped out from behind a boulder, cackling like a maniac. In his right hand was a dagger, in his left a spear.

He roared, “Give me your heads!” And fell into the range of Nanya’s halo.

“It huuuuurts!” And the next moment, with an anguished scream, he burst into a conflagration of blaze and ashes.

“That cultist, judging by the aura he gave off, was in the Imperfect Heaven 1st Realm peak stages! Even if you burnt all your true qi, do you think you could beat him?” Youjin Chun said, giving Ziyou Ling a stern glare.

“I—”

“You can’t! I can’t. Only Her Highness Fairy Su can, without even trying. Fighting here is not our job. We must live, and escape. That’s the only thing that matters! And we can only do so as long as Fairy Su is with us. Do you want your father’s efforts to go to waste?”

Before Ziyou Ling could answer, another hooded figure tried to rush towards them, this time falling from a stalactite overhead. He too was burnt to cinders.

“Why does it have to be only us? Couldn't Pa and the others also come here and... and...”

“How dare you!” Youjin Chun said after exhaling an uncertain breath. “It is not for us to make unreasonable demands of Fairy Su! We are here of our own volition, to unearth Youjin Fuqiang’s conspiracy. You should be thankful that she would even deign to spare a morsel of her qi for our sake. Because we are the most important. If we are alive, we can keep working hand in hand to rebuild my Dim Gold City in Fairy Su’s image. If we are to die, that would ruin Fairy Su’s plan, which is unacceptable!”

Ziyou Ling’s eyes were bloodshot. She couldn’t accept such reasoning. She couldn’t accept that Su Nanya would not lift even a finger to protect her friends and family, even though she obviously could.

That's what Yung read from both Youjin Chun and Ziyou Ling's Empathic Links; the turmoil of emotions sent Yung's way.

But then, was it really obvious? That she could actually protect everyone there with her awesome powers.

Yung certainly hoped so.

He hoped that Nanya would make her move before someone he knew lost their life here. That was his implicit wish. If he didn't believe Nanya could keep everyone safe, he wouldn't have spoken on behalf of Ziyou Maque.

And he knew Nanya knew that. And that Nanya agreed to his selfish wishes.

But Nanya had her own goals. She needed Yung to be mentally strong, to figure out her secrets, and to become worthy enough that her mother would approve of him as her boyfriend.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

It took three more deaths for the hooded cultists to learn their lesson and stop rushing headfirst into the range of the golden halo.

“Nanya! You're awesome!” Yung praised.

Under normal circumstances, the vixen would have preened like the overconfident brat she was. But this time, she just looked at Yung, then at Youjin Fuqiang standing near the white pillar with a disdainful look on his face.

“Nanya?” Yung tilted his head.

More and more robed figures appeared, holding menacing weapons and giving off a stench of void qi. A few of them went in and out of invisibility with sinister daggers grasped, their aura definitely not limited to the Imperfect Heaven 1st Realms.

They took careful steps towards the protected area.

Yung took out his Heart Qi Crossbow artefact and the pellets he had purchased from the night bazaar.

With trembling fingers, he loaded the ammunition according to the instructions, dropping a few in the process.

He was afraid that the clanking sound would alert the cultists, but as with everything, it went unnoticed. He didn’t have much time remaining for his Empathic Isolation, though, so he wanted to do at least something while he still could.

The robed figures inched closer.

Yung aimed, dead centre at one’s body. And pulled the trigger.

A heart qi pellet, the colour of Yung's qi, shot out, dim gold like a tiny meteor.

It hit the first robed figure on his shoulder.

“Beware. Invisible foes,” the figure cried. He jumped away with a limp hand, and the other robed figures scurried into defensive postures.

Under their large hoods, only their gleaming eyes could be seen. Yung's attack seemed to have done some damage, but it was nowhere near enough to kill one.

He was merely in the Median stages of the Faith Refining realm after all. No matter how unique his brand of qi was, unless he got a lucky strike straight at their vitals, Yung couldn’t one-shot them like he could a normal Wretched Hornbeast.

That didn’t deter Yung. He aimed at the clumped-together cultists and kept firing pellet after pellet, mixing in a pink heart beam here and there.

Youjin Chun had calmed down in the meanwhile, “See how they cower? We are safe here, madlander. Her Highness Fairy Su will protect us. These monsters, they do not even dare get close to us. Think this through, Ziyou Ling. We are more useful here than we would be if we rushed into the fray. You would merely be a burden, now that we know Imperfect Heaven 2nd Realmers can use their full powers.” The heiress said, her voice forcefully hopeful that Su Nanya would indeed not abandon them. She looked at Yung, who could only look at Nanya.

Ziyou Ling, on the other hand, closed her eyes in anguish. She wasn’t a dumb person, merely emotional. “Damnit all!” She had still been feeding origin qi to her spear.

She aimed at one of the cultists outside the circle, screaming, “Meteor Spear!” and threw her weapon.

The cultist raised his daggers and deflected the projectile like it was nothing. He seemed to be the leader of this group, one of the ones toggling between invisibility.

“Soon. You fake immortal; you do not have unlimited qi. Soon, your heads will go to the lords.” the figure said, then laughed with abandon, only to be hit by Yung's pellet on his left shin.

“Nice,” Yung cheered. But there was dread in his heart. “That cultist is delusional. Even if your qi runs out, you have all these awesome artefacts. There’s no way that—”

“Won't you trust me?” Nanya suddenly said, her eyes both kind and grim.

“What do you mean?” Yung felt his legs go weak.

He read Nanya's Empathic Link.

She was still confident. Absolutely. In whatever it was that she plotted.

But she was fearful too.

Why?

The answer was obvious when Yung thought about it. Because she could see his own daydreams. Yung still did not know what exactly that entailed. But one thing was for sure. Whenever Yung had unfounded thoughts, Nanya would react to them with fear and self-deprecation.

Because she cared. About Yung’s own feelings.

Even now, Yung was uncertain about Nanya’s words, although Nanya already said she had absolute confidence in keeping him alive.

Yung didn’t trust her. Would that make her lose trust in herself too?

“No matter what is to occur, won’t you trust me with all your faith?” His girlfriend asked again. Her gaze turned downwards, and she lightly nudged Yung with her snout.

“I trust you,” Yung said. Sometimes, feelings need to be forced to submit. Not all gut feelings were right. His sixth sense told him that he was now in the most dangerous situation, ever since he regained memories as Jung.

But he wanted to believe that whatever Nanya had up her foxy sleeves, they would make it out alive. Not only him, but everyone present.

Even though Yung could see the fight and hear the screams, the Youjin and Madlanders losing to the hundreds of cultists, even though it should be obvious that the situation was totally in Youjin Fuqiang’s control, Yung chose to believe.

In a miracle? In his implicit promise to Ziyou Maque, and thus, with Nanya? In her integrity?

“I trust you!” He repeated. He wished he could be stronger. He was a naive fool! This was the cruel world of cultivation. There was no absolute certainty. He should have stayed in the Dim Gold Hotel and never given in to Nanya’s strange coys.

But it was too late. He didn’t have a choice but to trust Nanya. Yung hated himself for even thinking like that, for not having unconditional trust in his girlfriend.

Su Nanya smiled. There was something in it that Yung did not like. He wanted to look away in shame, but forced himself to keep his gaze steady.

“If you were to run away, oh boy who has my heart, we would not hate you,” she said.

“What do you mean?” Yung was taken aback.

“No matter what is to occur, you shall keep your Empathic Isolation steady after you can use it again. No matter what you see, you shall keep hidden, and you shall observe. See the true maxim of this cruel world of ours, and the true meaning of absolute power. And if, by the end of it, if you choose to turn a blind eye and escape, we shall not detest you. Our fondness for you shall never go away. For we are yours forever, marked by your Yang, and it is too late to remove your stain from our Yin. Ziyou Yung, scry our secrets.”

“I don’t understand,” Yung said. Her speech was suspiciously like a martyr’s last confession.

“You will. Now go!” She said, and opened her mouth.

“Kyu!” Silky cried.

“Arf.” Floofy yipped.

Yung felt the little critter nest on top of his head, and the fluffy fox jump on his shoulder.

A bright light coming from the crown atop Nanya’s head coalesced into a cage of gold and green around Yung just as his Empathic Isolation was about to run out.

“What are you doing?” Yung asked, panicked.

From behind him, he heard Ziyou Ling say, “Pa–!”

Nanya smiled. She blew gently on the cage. The light brightened so much that it was impossible to see what was happening.

There was a loud noise, and a blinding flash.

Followed by Ziyou Ling’s scream of despair, “Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

And Yung appeared on the other side of the cavern, right in front of an exit that must have been hidden by the nets and webs. Silky and Floofy were with him, and he had a direct line of sight towards the battle. His heart was beating by the thousands; his stealth was now gone and would not be up again for a while.

Down below, Ziyou Ling had run straight towards the cultists with a spear in her hand, her face the image of anguish as tears and snot ran down. Youjin Chun was terrified too, trying her best to fend off attacks sent her way by the cultists that surrounded her.

Because Nanya wasn’t there anymore, no golden halo to protect them.

Because Nanya was cruel, she couldn't care less about the life and death of the Madlanders and the Youjin. The giant vixen had her priorities, and they were not the same as Yung’s.

She rushed straight towards Youjin Fuqiang, having shapeshifted again into a humanoid fox, claws and fangs bared and golden green light coating every part of her exposed, furry body.

Akin to a werewolf, she was out for prey. And Youjin Fuqiang, a menacing grin on his face, did not look ready to die!