Summer was in full swing, and He Yu once more found himself on the outer sect mountain. He’d long since stopped being picky about the jobs he accepted, taking anything he could get his hands on. The one bright spot in all his troubles so far had been the windfall he’d gained from the assault on the Sunset Court’s spirit stone mine. But those resources were as finite as any other and had now just about run their course.

He walked along a once-familiar trail, and even now he could sense the qi radiating from the waterfall, the cave, and the very earth below. Rounding the last bend, the spot Tan Xiaoling had found what seemed like an eternity ago came into view, and with it a cluster of those insect-like spirit beasts they’d encountered when exploring the cave.

The others had been right about how the sect would deal with them. They were allowed to venture out into the mountain, and so long as they weren’t too advanced, they served as potential resources for the outer disciples. The trio that He Yu now hunted had advanced further than the sect deemed appropriate—all of them were equivalent to the peak Third Realm, and one looked like it was on the cusp of advancing to the Fourth.

Maybe if there had just been one, the sect would have given this to outer disciples. Not so for three of them. When He Yu caught sight of the job—likely still available because many of the inner disciples considered janitorial work in the outer sect beneath them—he felt a pang of guilt. It was, partially at least, his fault these creatures ventured to the surface. So it was only right that he help deal with them.

Calling forth his guandao, He Yu allowed his presence to billow out. He was closer to the middle stage of Golden Core than ever, mostly thanks to the pile of resources he and Tan Xiaoling had looted from the Court. Wind and heaven and water surged and swirled around him. The sky darkened, and thunder pealed in the distance. Rain fell. He Yu activated the Empyrean Ninefold Body Tempering and called the Five Crescent Winds.

As one, the cave creatures turned to him, their chitinous claws clacking a wordless threat. Although they were likely advanced enough—and thus intelligent enough—to know they stood no chance against him, he’d found them to be incredibly aggressive. Especially as their numbers increased. Had there only been one, it likely would have retreated into the cave.

Then again, had there only been one, the sect wouldn’t have sent an inner disciple.

He Yu rushed the creatures. He called forth the heavens and the winds. The first of them fell to a wide sweeping strike and an explosion of light and sound.

Although not of the five phases, He Yu had learned from his time training in the wastelands with Zhang Lifen that heaven dealt fairly well with earth and mountain aspects. Now that he was fully comfortable with his advancement to Golden Core, creatures like these were nothing before him.

As his understanding of both the Five Crescent Winds and the Heaven’s Descending Blade deepened, he’d begun to learn what Elder Cai had truly meant back in the outer sect manual pavilion. The Five Crescent Winds was an art that truly excelled when it could act as a support for other arts. When He Yu had finally reached Golden Core and begun to cultivate the principle combat technique of the Cloud Emperor’s Hidden Palace, the Five Crescent Winds had quickly come into its own.

Heaven’s Descending Blade was—like the rest of his techniques—monstrously difficult to cultivate, and just as hard to control. When he’d first begun using it, he always felt like it was on the verge of rampaging away from him. The first real time he’d used it, it more or less had. Mo Zhiqiang had lost an arm. At least the noble had finally gotten an elixir from his family that had allowed him to regrow it.

Now? Now when He Yu called the wind and the storm, heaven’s fury came with it. Lightning crashed down from the sky. It coursed along the length of his guandao. He could activate one of the four techniques of the Five Crescent Winds that he’d mastered along with Heaven’s Descending Blade, and the results were the most powerful technique He Yu had ever used.

Combining the Crashing Wind with Heaven’s Descending Blade, He Yu split the second of the cave beasts down the middle. A jagged spike of lightning reached down from heaven, striking at the same instant as his weapon. The Third Realm spirit beast fell into two halves, each half chitinous outer shell charred and melted.

The final remaining beast charged at him, its claws raised for what would have been a death blow just a year ago. He Yu activated the Spring Rain Mirror twice in rapid succession. First one claw, then the second. In the space between heartbeats that the beast needed to recover, He Yu activated the Bracing Wind.

What had once been simply a blast of wind, now also called a shell of lightning that burst out from him in a sphere. The beast fared about as well from this technique as its fellows had from He Yu’s previous attacks. A follow-up strike ended things, and He Yu set about to harvesting their cores.

The only thought going through his mind at his victory was relief at completing a sect job for the first time in almost half a year. The cores of the cave beasts wouldn’t be worth much to him now, but they were better than nothing. Between what was left of his loot from the raid against the Court, his regular stipend from the sect, and this one job, he might even advance to the middle Fourth Realm someday.

It was only when he’d returned to the inner sect assignment hall that he realized how stupid that was. He turned in the job, got his payment, and left. Once outside, he sent a trickle of qi into the jade stamp that served as a record and repository for his sect contribution, and shook his head.

Finally, he broke down and went to find Yan Shirong.

Whoever had been sniping jobs from him had kept it up for well over half a year at this point. Sure, he’d completed a few here or there, but they’d all been like the one he’d just finished. Poorly paying, and that was being generous. If it weren’t for the resources he’d gotten from the overseer, he likely would have broken down sooner.

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He should be able to handle something like this on his own. But now he had to admit that he couldn’t, and he really only had two options in front of him. One, he could keep trying to handle things himself and watch his advancement grind to a halt. Two, he could swallow his pride and ask someone for help. He supposed, upon reflection, that he should have realized months ago that he was heading this direction.

He finally found Yan Shirong sitting in a shaded grove of peach trees. It was one of the many gardens on the terraces of the inner sect mountains, and this one was cut into the living rock itself. Yan Shirong had tucked himself into an alcove with a jar of wine next to him and a string bound book in his lap. A quick check with the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment told He Yu it was a perfectly mundane script, so he ignored it.

As he approached, Yan Shirong said, “Welcome, Sect Brother He. It’s been a while.”

“Stop it,” He Yu said, taking a seat nearby and pulling his own jar of wine from his storage treasure. “You’ve been busy as well. And it’s not like you’re easy to find.”

Yan Shirong closed his book and leaned back. “Well, I take it this about that trouble you’ve been having that Chen Fei told me about?”

“She talked to you?”

“Months ago,” Yan Shirong said. “I told her I’d be more than happy to help, but that you’d have to ask me yourself. She said that you wouldn’t. I told her that was your problem, rather than mine.”

He Yu sighed. Was he really that predictable? She hadn’t mentioned anything about Yan Shirong since they’d gone on that failed job together, and he’d gone hunting for cores with her more than a few times since. Although, when they were out together, neither of them seemed to be too keen on broaching topics than even bordered on serious.

“Anyway,” Yan Shirong continued. “As I said, I’d be more than happy to help.”

He Yu eyed him. Although he’d not yet achieved the Fourth Realm, he’d been steadily increasing his cultivation as a peak Third Realm. It seemed that he’d not wasted the opportunity of Yi Xiurong’s attention in Zhang Lifen’s absence. Even now, the space around him seemed just a shade darker than it should have. The shadows of the alcove he sat in seemed to reach for him. They seemed to wrap themselves around him in a sort of embrace. His normal attire of black and plum colored robes seemed to reflect less light than silk of that quality should have. It was a testament to how developed his presence was becoming, even though he still remained in the Third Realm.

“And the cost?” He Yu asked.

“Acute,” Yan Shirong said. “As I understand you’ve been having difficulty, I suppose I could offer a discount. We are on rather good terms, after all.”

As frustrating as having to haggle with someone he considered a friend was, He Yu couldn’t deny that there was something refreshing in dealing with Yan Shirong. There was the distinct lack of any sense of obligation towards him. The scales were always balanced, after all. Sure, He Yu personally found Yan Shirong’s naked avarice a touch distasteful, but again, there was a refreshing sort of honesty in it.

This was simply who Yan Shirong was, and he made no attempts to hide that. As much as the Yan family had a reputation for deceit owing to their work with the Ministry of Informations, He Yu always felt as though he could count on Yan Shirong to be rather upfront about his intentions. Unlike most of the cultivators He Yu interacted with outside his immediate circle.

Even Zhang Lifen clearly had intentions and plans for He Yu that he wasn’t at all privy to.

When they eventually settled on the price of his assistance, it caught He Yu a bit by surprise.

“How did I advance to Golden Core?” he asked. “I mean, I told you what happened up on the mountain with the heavenly tribulation.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Yan Shirong said. “The knowledge. The insights. How did you know it was time? Especially after your failed attempt that left you—well, you know.”

He Yu didn’t need to be reminded. Much of the reason he’d undertaken the tribulation in the first place was because of that failure, and what it had done to his friends.

“Have you attempted?” he asked.

“Of course not,” Yan Shirong said with a scoff. “I’m not as headstrong or foolish as you are. I’d likely kill myself, or worse, cripple my future, should I attempt a breakthrough now.”

“I don’t know about that. You seem half a step into the Fourth Realm already.”

“I can assure you that is not the case. I am utterly convinced that I lack key insights, and I’ve come to the realization that I’ll likely not achieve them without assistance.”

“Well, I guess I could try and explain some things. I think a lot of what I went through is a consequence of my primary cultivation art.”

Zhang Lifen had stressed that the Cloud Emperor’s Hidden Palace was what she called a primordial art—old even when Elder Cai had begun cultivating it in his youth more than a thousand years ago. Such arts, she’d said, demanded much of their practitioners. While the Yan family arts had a long history, they were relatively young by comparison.

Still, He Yu shared some of what Zhang Lifen had told him about the Dao. Looking back, he thought those insights had played a key role in achieving Golden Core at such a young age. Youngest to do so in generations, were the rumors to be believed. She had mentioned that forming a Wayborn Seed as early as he had would ease his future advancement, so if Yan Shirong was having trouble, that seemed like it was as good a place to start as any.

After several hours’ worth of back and forth, Yan Shirong said, “Thank you. I think this will do.”

“Glad I could help,” He Yu said, desperately wanting to ask if Yan Shirong knew what his Way might entail. That wasn’t something one simply asked, however. Much in the same way that speaking of arts and techniques was something typically only volunteered, and was often seen as a sign of trust.

“I know you’re curious,” Yan Shirong said as he packed up his things. “But the answer is no, I’ve not had any heaven shattering insights from our discussion. I do have a few new threads to follow, however. Even should they not bear out, the elimination of possibility is still a step closer to an answer.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” He Yu admitted as they made their way back to the inner sect proper. “I hate to ask, but do you have any idea how long things will take? Regarding our agreement, that is.”

“Patience, Lord He,” Yan Shirong said. “These things will take time. Worry not, I shall keep you informed of any new developments as they come.”

“Lord He?” he asked with a chuckle.

Yan Shirong eyed him for a moment in the lengthening shadows of the mountain path. “Do you truly not know? You’re Golden Core now. You can, should you so desire, found your own clan. Apply for a writ of title from the Dragon Emperor. You’d be a baron.”

He vaguely recalled Li Heng saying something about that when they were still in the outer sect. He’d not given it any thought since. “Huh,” was all he said.

“That’s all?” Yan Shirong said, one eyebrow creeping up.

“I just assumed I’d be sticking with the sect. Seems like being a lord is a distraction more than anything else.”

Shaking his head, Yan Shirong muttered mostly to himself, “He forsakes wealth and status, and has a mind only for cultivation.” Turning back to He Yu, he said, “It’s no wonder you’ve become such a monster already. Is there nothing you care for but advancement?”

He Yu laughed as they started back down the path. “I’ve already told you I want to forge a legend. Can’t really do that if I’m stuck administering some backwater commandery, can I?”

“No, I don’t suppose you can. Sect life it is, then?”

“For the time being, I think. At the very least, once this mess is sorted, it’s the best path to advancement.”

And he intended to advance—as far as he could go.