Shortly after leaving the meeting with Yi Xiurong, He Yu made his way through the upper reaches of the inner sect mountain. The second highest of the peaks that dominated the inner sect were given over to the core disciples—all six of them. He Yu wended his way through the paths and gardens separating the palatial homes. When he arrived at the smallest of them, it was no surprise that Zhang Lifen had arrived first.

“You did well,” she said as she ushered him through the gate in the outer wall. “Cui Bao served as a courier of sorts for the Sunset Court. As a Golden Core, he could move rather freely between their various operations, delivering supplies and messages. He was strong enough to easily pass between settlements, but not so strong that his passing would be unmistakable. You’ve struck the court a greater blow than you realize.”

They took a seat in the central courtyard of Zhang Lifen’s home. It seemed she could tell that he had more on his mind than usual. She didn’t bother setting out tea, or producing one of her paintings from her storage treasure. She simply sat with her hands folded inside the sleeves of her blue and black gown and waited for him to speak.

He supposed he appreciated the mention that Cui Bao’s death had some value. He didn’t particularly care. Cui Bao was almost as bad as Sha Xiang was—wherever she had gotten off to. He’d also been complicit in whatever had been going on in the alchemy workshop. He was, for all the world, the sort of person He Yu had always imagined himself struggling against when he’d dreamed of becoming a cultivator of legend. Even if he’d only been little more than a footnote in the end.

“What about Zhu Fang?” he asked. That was the single thing that had been bothering him the most. Of course, he’d spoken with both Chen Fei and Yan Shirong about it on the way back to the sect.

Chen Fei had, of course, been far more distraught than Yan Shirong had. Yan Shirong wasn’t wholly callous—not in the way Yi Xiurong had been. He’d lamented the fact that Zhu Fang had died, but He Yu got the impression this was only because he’d taken a liking to the Third Realm alchemist while they’d been traveling together.

It was a different story altogether for Chen Fei. She had promised He Yu that she would protect Zhu Fang, and in her eyes she had failed. Although He Yu insisted it wasn’t quite that serious, or even really her fault, she disagreed. It was only during one of their rest stops on the way back that she eventually told him that a large part of her Way was protecting others—specifically those she cared about or counted as companions.

“You recall what I told you about the life of immortals?” Zhang Lifen asked. “Just before the tournament.”

“That it would be one of struggle,” he answered. He remembered it well. At the time, he hadn’t given it much thought. It was a fact that had just seemed a given. The way she’d said it—offering him an out of sorts—wasn’t something he was ever going to accept. Now it had taken on a different meaning.

“Death stalks the world of cultivation. It often comes first for the weakest. Whether they deserve it or not. Had Zhu Fang been stronger, he would have lived.” Although Zhang Lifen’s features were softer than Yi Xiurong’s had been, it was still obvious she cared little for the death of one Third Realm alchemist—inner disciple or no.

“Is that all?” He Yu asked. “Is that why Yi Xiurong didn’t seem to care?”

“Yi Xiurong understands such losses are to be expected. Had all of you died on this mission, she would have reacted much the same way. Although I expect she would be a bit more upset, seeing as if that were the case, we wouldn’t have recovered an intact demon core.”

He Yu hung his head. Was it the callous disregard for the life of someone weaker, or the ruthless pragmatism that bothered him more? He couldn’t say. Neither could he deny the merit in Zhang Lifen’s words. As the sect’s First Disciple, Yi Xiurong likely sent lower-ranked sect members to their deaths all the time. How else would someone like her respond to these sorts of things?

Then there was Zhang Lifen, of course. Although she at least seemed sympathetic towards He Yu, he wasn’t under any illusions that she hardly gave Zhu Fang a second thought, either.

“Have you lost anyone on sect missions?” he asked.

Her answer came without hesitation. “Of course—dozens. Like I said, death stalks the life of immortals. There was a reason I told you that you could stay in the outer sect before the tournament, you know.”

“I know,” he said. Then, he asked, “does it get easier?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“How can mortals even survive?” The question came out before he even realized what he was asking. Before he even realized that he’d been thinking about it.

“By and large, they don’t. At least not without someone else to protect them.” It was the bluntness that surprised him more than the answer. “Outside towns with a force of cultivators to serve as guards, a local expert, or formation scripted walls? Mortals die by the hundreds every day across the whole of the Dragon Empire.”

“But in Shulin,” he began. Of course, he knew it wasn’t really an objection. He’d been away from that isolated little town on the edge of the southern forest long enough. Shulin, and by extension the southern forest was the exception. Weak and diffuse natural qi meant there was a practical limit to how powerful spirits or awakened beasts could ever grow. For a First Realm cultivator, or even a mortal, a brief excursion into the surrounding woods was unlikely to result in getting taken by spirits, or killed by beasts. Even someone of low talent like Dong Wei could easily maintain the barrier stones that kept Shulin safe.

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“I understand your concern, at least to the extent that anyone can understand another’s Way, but it would be best not to concern yourself too much with the fate of mortals,” she said.

Although he disagreed, he said nothing. If there was one thing that had become abundantly clear since reaching Golden Core and climbing the ranks of the inner sect, it was that the best one could expect from higher realm cultivators was simply indifference. Tan Xiaoling may have spoken about the duty she had to her people, but by now He Yu was under no illusions. If a handful of mortals died when a settlement was attacked, neither Princess Tan nor her father, King Tan Zihao, would bat an eye.

Yi Xiurong would likely feel nothing at the death of an entire town. Maybe if it were part of sect administered territory, she would see fit to dispatch a team of disciples to avert the worst destruction. Maybe if it were an attack by someone like the court’s Emissary, Kong Huizhong, she might even send a core disciple. But only because it would be a chance to strike at the court, not out of concern for the town itself. He didn’t let himself think about how Zhang Lifen would respond to a similar situation.

In an effort to change the subject, he asked, “Will the demon core we recovered truly be that great a help?”

Zhang Lifen’s smile grew a bit strained at the question. It passed quickly, and had He Yu not spent so long cultivating the Peerless Judgment, he likely would have missed it.

“Hopefully,” she began. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you. The whole reason Sha Xiang was allowed to stay at the sect, even become an inner disciple, was because of her demon core. The cores are thought to be a creation of the Sunset Empress herself. Some means by which she can form pacts with her strongest followers despite her imprisonment in the Dawn Palace.

“We have known for some time that one of the court’s Emissaries operates in the southwest of the empire. Whether the court has discovered the actual location of the formation itself is still a mystery. That was one thing we wanted to determine. Once the sect elders discovered Sha Xiang had bonded with a core, they decided to gamble on her.

“If the suspicion that the cores are created by the empress was correct, we should be able to use the traces of her qi that they contain to divine the locations of other cores. All members of the court who are granted the rank of Emissary have one.”

It didn’t take him long to pick up on what she’d not said. “With Sha Xiang being expelled from the sect?” he asked.

“That was an oversight on my part. One for which I’ve been sufficiently chastised for. It was why I’ve been absent from the sect for so long. Yi Xiurong sent me to follow Cui Bao and learn anything I could about the court’s activities through him.”

“So, the alchemy workshop?” He let the question suggest itself.

“Cui Bao deserved the death you gave him.”

He Yu turned that over for a moment and decided that he’d rather not know more. He’d seen enough to easily take Zhang Lifen at her word. Instead he asked, “Why didn’t you step in?”

“I was expressly forbidden to. After Yi Xiurong expelled Sha Xiang from the sect—not anything that’s a fault of yours, I assure you—I was sent to gather information. Yi Xiurong specifically told me not to engage Cui Bao in combat. Despite appearances, I do know which lines ought not to be crossed.”

“I take it you and Senior Sister Yi have some history?”

Zhang Lifen gave a dismissive wave. “Its nothing more serious than a mutual dislike for one another. Our personalities aren’t exactly compatible, and our relationship is strained more by our natures than anything else. Have no fear, though. She considers me beneath her, and not without reason. She also considers her duty to the sect to be of the highest importance, and won’t do anything as ill-advised as choking you of resources. Like a certain pair of Fourth Realm misfits have.”

“You knew all along,” he said. Although, upon reflection, he shouldn’t have been surprised. She always seemed to know, and she never seemed to act.

“Of course I did. It was a clever plan. I’ll give them that. Ultimately futile. Especially now that Yi Xiurong has given you that elixir. I told you things would be easier after this move against the court. Once you and your companions sell off your spoils, you’ll be in a good enough position.”

The elixir. Yi Xiurong had said it was created specifically for him. “Will the elixir help that much?” he asked.

“Not in the way you might think,” she said. “You’re incredibly close as it is. Even deprived of the resources provided by sect assignments, the middle Fourth Realm is well within your grasp. Judging by your presence, I’d say the spirit stones Yi Xiurong credited to you would have been enough by themselves.”

He produced the elixir from within his storage treasure. The pill box was heavily scripted, but it still emanated potent energy. “What is it?” he asked.

“How should I know? I didn’t create it. Senior Sister Yi is one of the most talented alchemists seen across the whole of the Dragon Empire in ten generations. Whatever it was she put in that elixir for you, it’s going to be potent. For reasons I won’t speculate on, Master Cai has determined that you are to play some role in all this. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have let you and your friends go out into the western wilds in the first place.

“Yi Xiurong is pragmatic, if nothing else. Since you’re involved by Master Cai’s hand, she’s going to make use of you. In order to do so, she needs you to be as strong as possible. This, by the way, is another reason she split you off from Li Heng and Tan Xiaoling. They each had their own assignments and will receive their own rewards. Likely just as potent as yours.

“The sect rewards talent. The three of you already represent some of the most talented young cultivators seen in generations. Seeing as it’s practically an inevitability that both Chen Fei and Yan Shirong will join you in the Fourth Realm soon, the five of you together will represent a significant locus of power within the sect. It would be foolish to squander you.”

For the first time since he’d joined the sect, He Yu hadn’t felt this level of excitement. Cultivation had become routine. Advancement mundane, and an increasingly difficult thing to reach for. But now? Not only was he so close he could feel his fingers brush against the middle stage, he was going to break through with the aid of a powerful elixir made specifically for him.

Zhang Lifen laughed. “Go,” she said. “I shall eagerly await what emerges once you step into the middle Fourth Realm.”