“What’s the plan for tomorrow?” Shao asked.

“There’s no plan, per se. We don’t know what the extra challenge will be, so there’s no way for us to prepare. Once we know what to expect, we can formulate a plan. For now, we should have a strategy meeting to go over what we can do when the time comes.”

Shao frowned. “Strategy meeting? I don’t think there’s anything I could really contribute there. I’m sure you all have access to plenty of secret cultivator techniques, but I’m nothing special. Just assume I have the power of a seven-star. When the time comes to fight, just tell me what to do.”

Ren shrugged. “That’s probably for the best. There’s probably not enough time for you to learn any of the Franconian techniques. Louis can show you to your room while I speak with Liu Mei about possible scenarios for tomorrow.”

Alongside the man from the Silver Hawk continent, Shao walked up the stairs to the small structure’s second floor. As they walked, Shao stared at Louis the whole way. There were many small differences that marked Louis as different from every other person Shao had met in his life.

Beyond just the lighter skin, eyes, and hair, Louis’s facial structure was different. Shao wondered if the rest of the foreigner’s body was different. Perhaps the man experienced cultivation differently to people like him or Xiahou Ren. Was there a word for “person from the Silver Hawk continent?” Were there other types of people from other continents? Shao decided that he would ask Ren these questions in the future.

“Hey, Straw. Can you really understand what I’m saying?” Shao asked as they reached the second floor.

“Yes,” Louis said. Though the word was easily understood, Louis’s pronunciation was strange, as if the letters of his language were enunciated slightly differently to Sino-Altaic.

“All right, then.” Shao smiled. “I’ll be relying on you at the Rite tomorrow.”

Louis responded with a thumbs-up in the universal sign of acceptance. A moment later, he pointed at one of the doors on the side of the hallway on the second floor. Shao took the gesture to mean that it was his room. He waved to Louis as he entered the bedroom.

The door closed behind Shao, and he found himself alone in a room for the first time in several days. He sighed in relief now that he had some privacy. Sleeping under the stars was nice, but Shao always felt that he was being watched out in nature. His enhanced hearing ensured that he could always hear the flap of wings or the skittering of some small creature while he was out in nature.

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The bedroom was bigger than his room back in Bluecrest, but it certainly wasn’t large. There was an old bed pushed up against a wall, and a small drawer for clothes stood beside it. Far across from the door was a shattered window that once held glass that was tinted green. The window looked out on the road that Xiahou Ren and he had taken to reach the building. Next to this window was a small scribe’s desk that held several thick books and writing material. The text on the books was not written in Shao’s language, and glass shards covered the table. At least the shattered glass was localized around the window and table.

Shao unslung his bag and placed it on the bed. A moment later, Zero jumped out and began curiously pressing his paws into the mattress. Finding it sufficient, the black cat immediately laid down and curled up into a ball. Within moments, rhythmic purring began to emanate from the cat’s body, which more closely resembled a perfectly circular ink stain than a living creature.

“Must be comfortable,” Shao said with a smile as he stroked Zero’s back.

He considered laying down on the bed and going to sleep immediately. Even with his strong body, Shao felt tired after walking for twelve hours every day for the past three days. He briefly wondered if it was irregular for mortals to walk without stopping from dawn to dusk. This thought was interrupted by the unmistakable sound of footsteps approaching the building’s front door. The footsteps were light and unsure, making Shao doubt that they belonged to a cultivator.

Shao sighed, realizing he would have to interact with this interlocutor before he could sleep. With a single motion, he pushed the table away from the window. The table was much lighter than Shao expected. It flew into the air and crashed into a nearby wall at high speed, causing a loud crash to echo through the building. He cringed at the unintended sound, realizing that the new arrival would be alerted by it.

“Sorry!” Shao shouted back at the door more to make it clear that he was the source of the sound than to actually apologize. This was an abandoned building. No one would care if he broke anything.

Shaking his head, Shao got back to his earlier task. He stuck his head out the window and looked down at the person standing at the building’s front door. He was half expecting the crash and sound of splintering wood to have scared off the new arrival, but the new arrival was still there.

Standing in front of the building’s front door was a beautiful young woman whose cheeks were marked with dried blood. She was slightly older than Yang Shao or Xiahou Ren. It was hard for Shao to tell how old Louis was, but he would say that she was about as old as the foreigner.

The woman’s beauty was undeniable. Her facial features were so perfect that Shao would have more expected to find her in an Emperor’s palace than the back streets of Zhoushan. Though her hair was strangely short for a woman, it perfectly framed her face. Her clothes were modest and loose, which only added to her allure. He wanted to see what those clothes concealed.

Shao gripped his fist tight enough that he felt pain. It was as if some outside force was trying to worm its way into his mind. He resisted the strange stirring in his heart and finally began to focus once more.

With his wits once more returned, Shao realized that she was the woman who was attacked by Gao Tan Linyu. Considering his response from a moment ago, a large part of Shao wanted to let the other three speak to her on his behalf.

After a moment of thought, Shao realized that Ren wouldn’t fare any better. The scholar seemed to lose all rationality when he talked about the woman. Deciding to just rip off the band-aid, Shao jumped out the window and landed easily on the cobbled street below.