Tan Xiaoling’s account of the attack was much the same as Yan Shirong’s, although she was able to fill in some details that Yan Shirong hadn’t. Sha Xiang and her goons had attacked, staging ambushes and aiming to pick them off one by one. The plan had mostly worked.

“I don’t blame you, by the way,” Tan Xiaoling said once she’d finished recounting her memory of the attacks. “It was difficult not to, but whether they attacked while you were in seclusion by coincidence or design, I’m sure had you known, you would have helped.”

“Of course I would have. But the only thing that matters now is that I pay them back. I’m going after her.”

“I don’t know that you could beat her right now,” Tan Xiaoling said.

“I’m not as weak as I was in the outer sect,” he countered.

“I don’t know that I could beat her right now.”

That made him stop and look to her. They were seated on a bench in the medicine hall, outside the room where Li Heng was recovering. A still-healing wound began on her neck and disappeared into her gown. It was halfway a cut, halfway a burn. Not Sha Xiang’s doing, but that she’d taken an injury like that told him just how hard she’d been pushed.

The scent of herbs, medicines, and potent restorative draughts filled the hall. Now that they’d both fallen silent, the only sound was the disciples who staffed the medicine hall quietly and efficiently going about their duties. It was difficult to admit, but given what Yan Shirong and Tan Xiaoling had told him, He Yu would have likely been in just as bad shape as Li Heng—or worse—had he not been secluded when the attacks happened.

“Has she truly advanced that much?” he asked at length.

For a moment, Tan Xiaoling was silent. When she spoke, her words were measured. “She has reached peak Body Refining, but it’s not a matter of advancement, I think. In battle, there’s a certain advantage in aggression, and Sha Xiang fights like a woman possessed. That technique or art of hers, the Four Demon Fists, has grown in power considerably. Her other arts are well suited to her. Whatever guidance she had in selecting them, it’s served her well.

“As much as I hate to admit it, she’s a competent fighter, if a bit reckless. I was able to determine that as a fight wears on, she gains in strength and ferocity. Which means she needs to be dealt with quickly. Seeing as she’s typically accompanied by either Cui Bao or Da Ning, often both at once, a quick fight is easier said than done.”

“I could simply issue a challenge,” He Yu said. The ember of outrage still rested within his belly, but Yan Shirong’s insistence that he speak with Tan Xiaoling before taking action had done its job and forced him to think about things practically, rather than rushing in headlong.

“She wouldn’t likely accept. You’re ranked higher than she is, still. She hasn’t issued any formal challenges for rank, so she’s still in position six hundred fifteen.”

Which meant she could refuse any challenge he issued without losing face. Should he simply attack her without first issuing a challenge, any and all of her allies would then be free to come to her aid. Despite his anger, he still had enough of a head to realize he couldn’t deal with all of them at once.

“What do I do then?” he asked, mostly to himself.

“I fully expect you to take revenge,” Tan Xiaoling said. “As much as I want to repay her for what she’s done, I recognize that this is simply another exchange in whatever bad blood the two of you brought to the sect. You have your pride, and I’ll allow you to have your satisfaction. Just know, that if you leave her to her devices long enough, I’ll take that to mean that you either won’t or can’t repay this debt. Then, I’ll take matters into my own hands.”

He Yu stood and gave her a salute over a bow. “I thank you for taking my pride into account,” he said. She had to be as angry about what had happened as he was, but she’d at least had time to cool off. Allowing him the chance to settle things on his own wasn’t something he imagined she would afford many others. He wasn’t going to waste the opportunity.

As he turned to leave, he had one last thing to say to Tan Xiaoling. “I guess it doesn’t need saying, but thank you for watching over Li Heng. Give him my regards, and apologies, when he’s recovered.”

As he left the medicine hall, he tamped down the last remnants of his anger. Tan Xiaoling was right. He couldn’t do anything about this right now, so there was only one thing he could do. He needed to advance.

Of course, he’d tried that. If the threat of an ancient cultivator breaking out from her prison and laying waste to everything he knew hadn’t been enough, it was likely that this wouldn’t be either. Which meant he needed something more. Power wasn’t the issue, he was certain of that. The aspects of his cultivation base were as balanced as they’d ever been. He didn’t consider himself to have mastered the Spring Rain Mirror yet, but it was now something he could use regularly.

He needed guidance.

When he arrived at Zhang Lifen’s home, it seemed she was expecting him. The door to the outer courtyard swung open, and when he stepped inside, she already had tea set out for them.

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“Sit,” she said. “I suppose it’s a good thing you stopped by the medicine hall first. Had you gone off all burning with a desire for vengeance, I may have been forced to step in.”

Something about her attitude reignited a whole host of feelings he’d thought buried. “This is your fault,” he snapped before he could stop himself.

She arched an eyebrow. “Bold move, starting with accusations,” she said. Setting down her teacup, she looked him in the eye. “You aren’t completely wrong, however.”

“Why?” he demanded. “I mean the tournament. In Shulin.”

“Why? To push you, of course. I saw what lay between the two of you. I don’t know what the history was, but I knew the moment she beat you that she would be a driving force. I had hoped that the two of you would eventually bury that, and come to work together,” she shrugged then. “But you didn’t. It doesn’t matter. We have more important things to talk about now, don’t we?”

“Like what? The first real friend I’ve ever had is in the medicine hall because of her. Because I wasn’t there for him when he needed me. Because I wasn’t strong enough to keep her away.”

“That is what we need to talk about, isn’t it? The fact that you failed to break through, I mean.”

He Yu sighed, deflating. He sat down and took the tea Zhang Lifen poured for him. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised,” he said.

“Just because I’m not constantly hovering over your shoulder doesn’t mean I’m not paying attention. First, answer a question. Why did you seek to break through in the first place? What made you think you were ready?”

“It was the wilds,” he said. “And my conversation with Elder Cai after. Once I’d learned about the Sunset Court, I didn’t want to simply stand by. I want to do something. I can’t be a hero if I don’t.”

“This is precisely why I tried to keep you ignorant,” Zhang Lifen said. “But Elder Cai has other plans, it seems.”

“What do you mean by that?”

She pinned him with an unusually intense look then, her normally cerulean eyes darkening to near-black. “There’s something you aren’t telling me. Something that drove you to seek a breakthrough now.”

He Yu told her of the visions. He told her of seeing the battle where Elder Cai sealed Jin Xifeng within the Dawn Palace formation. Then, he worked backward. He told her of all the times he could think of since beginning to cultivate the Cloud Emperor’s Heavenly Palace that he’d had some sort of insight or premonition related to the Sunset Empress.

Zhang Lifen’s frown deepened as he spoke. “I can’t tell you anything about what you’ve seen. Particularly the why of it. Why have you been granted sight of events a thousand years past? Events far beyond your ability to deal with? Maybe Elder Cai could answer, but I suspect that if he could, he wouldn’t. The best I can say is this—for now, you were correct to focus on advancement.”

“If I was ready, then why did I fail?”

“Whatever gave you the idea that you get to advance simply because you think you’re ready?” she asked. The question carried the sense of a deeper meaning.

He thought about it for a moment but kept drawing blanks. “All my previous advancements happened that way,” he said.

“Didn’t I tell you Golden Core was different? Regardless, it was bound to happen eventually. Better now than later, if you ask me.”

He remained silent, but his question hung between them regardless.

“I also told you the easy part was over,” she said. “Every cultivator fails to break through at some point. Usually, they fail many times. The reasons are many. They attempt a breakthrough before they achieve the appropriate insights into their Way. They go about the breakthrough in the wrong manner. They simply haven’t raised their cultivation base to sustain the qi necessary for the new stage. Whatever your reason, it’s good that you experienced this now. You’ve been going far more quickly than I ever thought you would. That means you’re not facing obstacles other cultivators are forced to confront.”

“How am I going quickly?” he asked, but immediately realized how stupid that sounded. He had advanced quickly. He’d surpassed everyone who joined the sect with him except Tan Xiaoling—and he was more or less even with her now.

“You’re not even twenty years old yet. Even I wasn’t attempting core formation at your age. My position was more akin to Tan Xiaoling’s than it was yours. If you weren’t already aware, I advanced to Body Refining at seventeen. The same age you entered the sect. It took me another five years to break through to Golden Core. And I cannot stress this enough, I did it in an astonishing amount of time. Most cultivators never pass beyond the Third Realm and those who do usually take decades. The fact that you’re in a position to even consider attempting this breakthrough at your age is, frankly, insane.”

He Yu blinked, and then simply sat there for a moment in stunned silence. Not only was this the closest thing he’d ever received akin to real praise from her, but he’d never actually stopped to consider his rate of advancement thus far. When she put it that way, he supposed it really was rather astonishing how quickly he’d managed to come this far.

“Okay,” he said. “What’s next, then? How did you do it?”

She arched an eyebrow. “Have you been listening to anything I’ve told you when we train? Each cultivator does it differently. It depends on their arts, on their Way, on their own need. How I formed my core will be of no use to you.”

“So basically what you’re saying is that you can't help me.” His shoulders slumped as he stared into the bottom of his now-empty teacup.

“Not in the slightest. My experience and insights are more valuable than you realize,” she said. “The Cloud Emperor’s Hidden Palace was already an ancient art when Elder Cai inherited it. Your arts influence the balance and composition of your cultivation base—the aspects your qi takes on. This influences, and is influenced by, your own nature.

“Your nature influences and is influenced by your Way, in turn. The arts you cultivate, your Way, your own ideas about it all—they’re all connected and those connections matter. The fact that your principle art stretches back to the earliest cultivators will likely have a profound effect on what you need to do to advance. Such primordial arts often come with steep requirements. Should you manage to fulfill them, you’ll be handsomely rewarded.”

“Should I ask Elder Cai, then? If he cultivates it, surely he can help me.”

“He won’t,” she said with a sympathetic grin. “Trust me on this, I’ve known him for over thirty years now. Asking him for advice will be tremendously useful, but not in the way you’re hoping.”

“What should I do then?” He needed to advance. The events that had passed while he was dealing with his failure only made that desire more immediate than it already had been.

“You should come with me,” she said. “The thing you need most right now is a field trip. Consider it a training opportunity.”

As her grin turned wicked, He Yu couldn’t decide if he ought to feel excitement, or dread.