Anger, white and hot, consumed him. He Yu slammed into the overseer. The sickle trembled under his guandao and he locked eyes with the manic creature before him. The overseer simply laughed.

“Is the price of failure too high?” he asked with a manic giggle.

“I won’t be the one paying it.” Again, his words came from a place he couldn’t quite lay claim to. The gates of the Cloud Emperor’s Hidden Palace opened. His Wayborn Seed thrummed. He saw the visage of the God of Thunder. With his mallet, he beat his drum, his face a mask of fury. He sent forth punishment for the unjust.

The flimsy huts blasted away from He Yu in an explosion of wind and heaven. His qi moved more easily than it ever had. He grabbed the overseer by the throat. Yes, he had failed. Failed to protect one mortal. But that only meant that paths once open to him had now closed. No longer was he a shield. With the death of an innocent, he became an executioner’s blade.

While an emperor must safeguard his subjects, he must also not hesitate to dispense justice when justice is demanded.

The truth of it came not so much in words or impressions, but in something beyond both. The overseer slashed at He Yu with his sickle, opening wounds that oozed blood even as poison pumped into his veins. He Yu pivoted and threw the overseer with all his might—right at Tan Xiaoling.

“Take shelter in the mine, all of you!” He Yu shouted. “I can’t protect you if you stay here!”

That would have to be enough. He sensed the Wayborn Seed’s acknowledgment of his choice. A part of him knew that deep insights lay here—he would have to cultivate when this was over if he wanted to sort through them all.

Righting himself in mid-air, the overseer slammed into Tan Xiaoling with a flying kick. She endured. The strength of her Golden Tiger Cultivation Law allowed her to remain firm even before an opponent with a full stage advancement. The overseer landed in a crouch and lashed out with his sickle. Tan Xiaoling stomped down on his wrist. She scored two bloody lines across his back.

He Yu landed behind him and brought down the fury of heaven. Heaven’s Descending Blade fell upon the overseer along with a powerful overhand strike bearing the Crashing Wind. He Yu imbued the attack with the full weight of his killing intent. A column crackling with golden light split earth and sky alike. A shining razor sharpness pressed itself upon the world.

Another toxic cloud billowed out from the overseer, forcing He Yu and Tan Xiaoling back. As their presences reasserted themselves and the wind whipped the cloud away, the overseer stood in a newly formed crater. A gaping wound ran down his chest. Blood and bone and exposed inner tissue pulsed as he wheezed.

“Sect dogs!” he spat. “I will rip out your Wayborn Seed. I will shatter your Daoist Mind. I will rend you. I will consume you—”

Tan Xiaoling struck. Her presence flared. A golden tiger leaped on the overseer’s back, its claws and teeth digging into his flesh. The merciless dark sun beat down, and the desert swallowed the overseer’s poison—for what effect could such toxin have on a land already devoid of the living? The overseer stumbled forward, two more red scores opened on his back.

With a feral hiss, the overseer righted himself. He held up a hand. “Sacrifice,” he said as he pressed the edge of his sickle to his wrist.

He Yu plunged his guandao into the overseer’s chest. Lightning surged, a thousand splintered fingers of heaven crawling and grasping at the overseer. He tried to scream, but it was just an empty sucking sound. He dropped the sickle and reached for He Yu, poison qi surging as another cloud of disease expanded from him.

It was only the enhanced perception of the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment and the reflexes of the Empyrean Ninefold Body Tempering that allowed He Yu to get out of the way in time. A second black spear, gleaming with killing intent and radiating black flame, slammed into the overseer from behind.

The overseer reached forward with sickle and fist, a half-formed technique dripping poison qi from both. He Yu opened him up from navel to neck.

Finally, the overseer pitched forward. He hit the ground and lay motionless. His presence rapidly faded, the poison miasma quickly dispersed by the combined pressure of both He Yu and Tan Xiaoling’s winds.

“Could have used that earlier,” Tan Xiaoling said. Despite the half-smirk she often wore, there was an unmistakable note of relief in her words.

“I’m not entirely sure what happened,” He Yu admitted. Then, something the overseer had said returned to him. “What did he mean by Daoist Mind?”

“He must have been mistaken,” Tan Xiaoling said. “The Daoist Mind is formed when a cultivator fully connects with their Way. As unusual as you and I both are for having formed Wayborn Seeds before reaching Golden Core, the idea that either of us would have a Daoist Mind is absurd. My father hasn’t even managed to attain his, and he’s in the Seventh Realm.

“Still,” she added, giving him an appraising eye. “Something happened to you. Anyone with eyes could see that.” She hesitated then, something that He Yu wasn’t entirely sure what to make of. Eventually she asked, “May I ask what it was?”

He was taken aback at first. It was oddly deferential, coming from her. She was a princess. She had always been the one he’d regarded as the expert. But now she sounded almost unsure of herself.

“I’m not sure, exactly,” he began. “When I saw that mortal die, I just sort of knew. I needed to deliver justice. A life for a life.”

She seemed to be searching for something in his features for a long time. Long enough that he was growing rather uncomfortable. When she finally spoke, her words were careful, measured. “I would spend a long time examining whatever insights I gained, were I you. If Senior Sister Yi is sincere in her desire to guide our development, take this opportunity to seek her guidance on the matter. She has achieved Soul Refining, after all. She will have insights beyond even Zhang Lifen’s expertise. No disrespect to your shifu, of course.”

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He understood the thrust of her comments and nodded, indicating that no disrespect had been taken. Whatever had happened was beyond either of them at this point. As far as they’d come, they had so much further yet to go.

A quick check of the overseer’s body turned up his storage treasure. They decided to wait until they were away from the mining camp to open it and examine its contents. As a middle stage Golden Core, he no doubt had a fair amount of wealth within, and it would take time to sort through it all. They would likely need to have much of it appraised. Tan Xiaoling also pointed out that, given his cultivation base, any elixirs he had would be unsuitable for them. Better to sell than risk poisoning themselves.

The sickle, on the other hand, was a fairly high quality treasure despite its simple appearance. The handle was of rough wood, and the blade appeared nicked and worn on first appearance. However, it was carved with complicated formation characters, and radiated an undeniable power.

“It seems like it could gain its own spirit within a couple of decades,” Tan Xiaoling remarked.

He Yu knew from the stories that powerful treasures could gain spirits, and essentially become “alive,” so to speak. This was the first he’d ever seen of such a thing up close.

“That would make it valuable, I would think.”

Tan Xiaoling nodded. “Just be grateful Sect Brother Yan isn’t here to see it,” she said.

There was nothing that seemed like evidence of the Sunset Court on the overseer’s body. It could be inside his storage treasure. Or it could be elsewhere. That left the overseer’s hut, and the mine itself. Tan Xiaoling turned to the hut, and He Yu the mine.

When he didn’t follow her as she took a step toward the hut, she glanced over her shoulder at him. “See to your mortals,” she said.

Something about the way she spoke rubbed him the wrong way. As if they were so far beneath her that their well-being wasn’t even worth considering. Just like during the fight when she’d said they weren’t her responsibility.

As far as He Yu was concerned, they were at least his.

Heading into the mine, he had to duck his head under the bracing at the entrance. Once inside, it opened up enough that he could stand, but more because of the steep downward slope. It was still cramped, and if he weren’t so short, he’d have to stoop. For perhaps the first time in his entire life, he was glad that he wasn’t any taller.

It didn’t take him long to find the miners. There were only about ten of them. They were all emaciated like the one the overseer had killed, with sunken cheeks and hollows around their eyes. To He Yu, they looked even more frail than most mortals did. They huddled against the far wall of the chamber he found them in, among piles of softly glowing spirit stones.

As he approached, they threw themselves to the ground in kowtow, each of them trembling. None spoke.

He Yu wrestled down his discomfort at the display. “Stand,” he said. He tried his best to sound like he was in control. Strong. Like his presence could protect them. When they all leaped to their feet but kept their eyes on the dirt, he realized that he’d missed the mark.

“You’re free,” he said. That seemed like the right thing to say, but he still hated the hitch of hesitation that had crept into his voice. He was so far out of his depth.

The miners glanced among one another, still not speaking.

Despite his patience starting to wear thin and his frustration mounting, He Yu was careful to keep his words even and calm. “What’s wrong?” he asked. They were clearly terrified. That much was obvious. He didn’t know how to mitigate that. It wasn’t his fault that he had no idea how to deal with a situation like this.

Eventually, one miner stepped forward and spoke. “Where should we go?” he asked hesitantly. When there was no response forthcoming—probably the slap or the beating he’d expected—he seemed to gain a bit of confidence. “Where can we go? The lands here are filled with monsters. We’d die before sundown. There’s no food other than what gets delivered. If we stay here, there’s no doubt they’d just send someone else.” Then his face twisted, and his voice turned bitter. “Just as likely, they’d kill us all in retribution for the overseer’s death.”

He Yu wanted to kick himself. All of that should have been obvious. If people like Sha Xiang were the sort that the Sunset Court actively sought to fill their ranks, then he shouldn’t be surprised that cultivators like her and the overseer would be the norm. And he’d seen what the surrounding lands were like on the way here. The miner was right. Leaving them to fend for themselves was a death sentence in all but name.

“You’ll come with me. I’ll see you all safely to a settlement.” It was clear they didn’t believe him, so he said, “I am an inner disciple of the Shrouded Peaks Sect. This land may not be under our administration, but we serve the Dragon Emperor. This mine is clearly in violation of imperial law. It is my duty as a servant of the empire to see you to safety.”

That seemed to finally break through the last of their resistance. All the miners cupped their fists and practically fell over one another to thank him. Once again, his discomfort spiked. He was just some peasant boy. Well, a man now, he supposed. He was nearly twenty-one years old now. But still just a peasant. The son of a blacksmith from some backwater. Not some noble.

“He Yu!” Tan Xiaoling called from the entrance. “Are you down there or have earth spirits devoured you?”

“I’m here,” he called.

Upon finally being able to place a name to their benefactor, a renewed chorus of thanks spilled forth from the miners. “Lord He is most gracious, Lord He is most merciful.”

He Yu hated it.

A moment later, Tan Xiaoling appeared. Although He Yu was wearing the treasured robe he’d received from Yongnian, it was immediately obvious which of them was of higher status. The miners again kowtowed to murmurs of “Lady Immortal.” Tan Xiaoling simply gave them a dismissive wave, then proceeded to ignore them.

Instead, she arched an eyebrow at the piles of spirit stones lying around the chamber they stood in. The ceiling was only about a foot or so higher than both their heads, but it was clearly a storage chamber. A tunnel went deeper into the mines, promising the source of the stones softly shining all around.

“This is quite the find,” Tan Xiaoling remarked.

“What should we do with it?” He Yu asked.

“What do you think? We take it.”

“Is that allowed?” he asked.

Tan Xiaoling shook her head, a smirk crossing her lips. “You’re something of an idiot sometimes. Nobody said it wasn’t, did they? If Senior Sister Yi gave even the slightest care to what we did with our spoils, you think she’d have not said something? She cares only about—” Tan Xiaoling cut herself off as she glanced at the miners. “What we came for. The rest? We can do what we please.”

He Yu nodded. Given how secretive the sect was regarding the Court, was probably best not to mention it unless they were certain anyone within earshot was already privy to the information.

“Speaking of,” he said. “Did you find anything in the hut?”

“There’s quite a bit worth discussing in the hut,” she said. Whatever it was, it was clearly going to wait. She glanced between the miners and He Yu. “If I were to venture a guess, we’re taking them somewhere safe?”

“I can’t simply leave them here.”

“Right,” she said. “Well, let’s put these stones away. I’d rather not linger.”