“Da Ning!” Li Heng bellowed. “Come and face me!”

He Yu sat atop a fallen log, cycling the medicine from the pill he’d just eaten. His guandao was tucked away inside his new storage treasure. It was a massive quality of life improvement, not having to carry the heavy thing around with him everywhere.

Zhang Lifen’s suggestion to focus on cultivating the White Mountain Body Art had already paid dividends. The boost in strength, speed, and vitality he’d experienced from advancing to Foundation had only been bolstered in the days since. The Eternal Mountain Root technique made wielding his guandao practically effortless. He’d easily won all of his duels and had even allowed himself to collect a small amount of spirit stones from his opponents. It was only a fraction of what he could have taken, he told himself, so it was hardly the same thing as robbery.

While he waited for Li Heng’s opponent to show himself, He Yu tried to cultivate according to the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment, the foundational technique of the Hidden Palace art. The cultivation technique would grant insight both into oneself, and the world around him. The jade slip containing the Hidden Palace art extolled the virtues of the technique. All fine and good, except that it was monstrously difficult. Since his first stumbling attempts at cultivating the technique in the days since his breakthrough, He Yu had come to at least try it in every spare moment he had.

“What do you want, miscreant?” came a male voice, no less refined and imperious than Li Heng’s.

He Yu opened his eyes and observed the newcomer with what he hoped was the sage-like appraisal of the Cloud Emperor himself.

Da Ning was perhaps a year older than He Yu and carried himself much the same way as Li Heng did. It made sense. The Da were a vassal clan of the ducal house given authority over the vast southern forests of the Dragon Empire.

The Da scion was dressed in a finely made version of the sect uniform, much like all the other wealthy disciples tended towards. Meaning to answer the challenge, he carried a jian. He Yu almost pitied him. Up until the last few days, he’d only ever seen Li Heng fight against Tan Xiaoling and himself. Since He Yu had been a mere First Realm until only recently, Li Heng had needed to hold back considerably.

Against Tan Xiaoling, appraising Li Heng’s talent had the opposite problem. The Jade Princess, as the other disciples had taken to calling her since the end of grace, overmatched him by such a measure that his skills were unable to shine through. Against anyone at or near his own level, Li Heng was peerless. It was, perhaps, the only reason he could stand as well as he managed against Tan Xiaoling.

“You heard me,” Li Heng said, his jian falling into his hand.

“Kowtow and beg forgiveness, and I will let you go,” Da Ning answered.

The two disciples clashed, jian sparking and ringing into the morning mists. It was clear from the first exchange that Li Heng was the superior swordsman, so He Yu ceased paying attention to the fight. Instead, he chose to turn his attention toward unraveling the secrets of the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment. They would fight, Da Ning would wear himself down, and Li Heng would move in to finish him.

Chen Fei’s voice called his name, breaking into his meditations. Opening his eyes, he saw her rushing towards him from out of the mists. Her hair was out of place, which wasn’t entirely unusual for her after training, but a bloody gash ran up her arm. It was already stitching itself back together, so she must have taken a pill for it, but it gave him pause regardless.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as she drew near.

She was breathing heavily. Another sign that something was amiss. She could run to the base of the mountain and back without growing short of breath. After a moment, she managed to gasp, “Xiaoling. She needs help.”

He Yu hesitated. Tan Xiaoling needed help? What could he do to help her? He looked to Li Heng, still locked in combat with Da Ning. It would be a while yet before their duel was finished. Maybe if he could convince Chen Fei to wait for a moment. Surely nothing could threaten Tan Xiaoling so much that he couldn’t wait a few more minutes. He tried not to think about the obvious question—if Tan Xiaoling was under threat, how could he, of all people, be expected to come to her aid?

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“What’s wrong?” he asked. At least her answer would give him a few moments to think.

“Sha Xiang and the others. Xiao Jun, too.”

His blood ran cold. Sha Xiang and her coterie had been noticeably absent since the end of the grace. That she’d resurfaced now—and challenged Tan Xiaoling of all people—did not bode well. He Yu hadn’t closed the gap near enough to help against her. With the addition of Xiao Jun, a fully Third Realm cultivator, he’d be worse than useless.

“Please,” Chen Fei said, worry clear in her words. “Come help.” She grabbed He Yu by the hand and pulled him off the log he’d been sitting on.

He Yu looked to Li Heng’s duel. Maybe, if they waited and brought Li Heng along, the four of them would be enough. Tan Xiaoling was strong and might be able to hold off Xiao Jun on her own long enough for the others to deal with Sha Xiang and her followers. Once they’d been defeated, the four of them could surely take Xiao Jun together.

Chen Fei followed his gaze. “There’s no time,” she pleaded, giving him another tug in the direction of the path she’d come from.

He Yu cursed his ill fortune and then followed her. Not before calling over his shoulder, “Princess Tan needs us!” Much to his relief, he saw the brief nod Li Heng gave in his direction, just before the silver shimmer around his jian flared. Li Heng wouldn’t be far behind.

As they rushed along the path carrying them away from the outer sect and higher up the mountain, He Yu tried to shake off the growing anxious anticipation. Maybe there was a way he could single out Cui Bao or Qiao Xia. He didn’t think Cui Bao had been close enough to advance when they last fought, so surely He Yu would be able to beat him now—especially with how well he’d stood against him despite his disadvantage last time.

Qiao Xia probably wasn’t much stronger than Cui Bao, either. At least he hoped. A parasol certainly wasn’t the sort of weapon he’d want against something as heavy and deadly as a guandao. Sha Xiang was a serious worry though. Li Heng could surely deal with her once he arrived. Besides, Chen Fei was along, too. They could deal with this.

When they arrived at the site where Tan Xiaoling was holding against the four other disciples, He Yu’s heart plunged into his gut. The glade they’d been fighting in—or what was left of it—was wrecked. What red pines were left standing were stripped of bark and scoured down to living wood bleeding sap. The ground was cracked and scorched, and a few small flames licked at the remaining undergrowth at the edges of the battle.

Tan Xiaoling stood at the end opposite the path, her back against the stone of the mountain itself. She held a dao in each hand, and her expression mirrored the anger carved into the tiger decorations of her sabers. Her uniform was torn in several places and stained red-brown with dried blood. Her chest heaved with each breath, but her stance remained strong, and her expression showed equal parts rage and defiance.

Arrayed before her were Sha Xiang, Cui Bao, and Qiao Xia. The three of them stayed well out of her reach, and it was easy to see why. All three looked about as haggard as Tan Xiaoling, with torn uniforms and obvious wounds. The Jade Princess had apparently given as good as she’d received.

The only person in the clearing who didn’t look the least bit concerned was Xiao Jun. The Third Realm disciple lounged on a sturdy tree branch that had escaped most of the fight’s fallout. He toyed absently with his meteor hammer, swinging it in lazy loops as he looked on with a bored expression.

Tan Xiaoling’s gaze flicked to where He Yu and Chen Fei emerged from the mists. A cyclone of dust and grit kicked up around her, and she rushed the three disciples before her. The confidence He Yu had seen the three of them display just days earlier was entirely absent from their response. Cui Bao and Qiao Xia both backed off, adopting strong defensive stances. Sha Xiang was the only one who seemed able to stand her ground against Tan Xiaoling. Even so, the Jade Princess had her on the back foot after only a brief flurry of strikes.

Then, Xiao Jun acted. His meteor hammer flew at the princess and struck her square in the chest. Whatever technique he’d put into it not only knocked her off her feet but also disrupted her sandstorm. She was back on her feet in an instant, but that instant was enough. Sha Xiang and her followers moved in, and Tan Xiaoling was fighting three-on-one, still clearly under the effects of Xiao Jun’s technique. Without thinking, He Yu rushed forward.

Xiao Jun appeared in front of him in a burst of shadowy qi. The Third Realm reached out and shoved He Yu back. It was such a lazy and effortless motion, but it sent him sprawling back more than a dozen feet. The sheer difference in strength was almost beyond what he could grasp. As Chen Fei helped him up, he withdrew his guandao from his storage space.

“Oh?” Xiao Jun drawled. “Either you’re incredibly brave, or monumentally stupid. I think it’s the latter.”

“I can’t do this on my own,” He Yu said to Chen Fei. How she would be able to help, he couldn’t say. But it was true—he needed her.

She visibly steeled herself and nodded.

Xiao Jun laughed. “Beg for your lives and—”

A sudden spiritual weight bore down on the clearing. Even as He Yu struggled against it, managing to suck in one last lungful of air before he was dragged down, he allowed himself to feel profound relief like he’d never felt before.

Zhang Lifen appeared in the middle of the clearing, the presence of her qi forcing everyone else to their hands and knees. The sense of dark, crushing depths remained for a moment, then relented. Even though she’d withdrawn her presence, her qi lingered as she regarded the scene with her swirling cerulean eyes.

“How fortunate,” she said. “I couldn’t have arranged things better myself.”