"Get up, Sister Shen!" Li Ling's enthusiastic screech reached the inner rooms of the villa, and echoed off the walls as if to emphasize her excitement.

In the midst of wonderful sleep, Qing Shen woke with a start, her hair disheveled from tossing and turning in the night. She paused to stare at the door before an exhausted sigh shook her body. Sleep still clung to her features, but she didn't need her Essence Vision to see the coming storm that was Li Ling.

True to her predictions, Li Ling burst into the room with a truly inordinate amount of energy. It always served to unnerve Qing Shen how easily the girl bounced back to her happy demeanor, and it was almost like the black-haired girl didn't break down in front of her a few days ago. Almost.

Qing Shen could still see the growing strain that was being put on their relationship every time she went out to train or so anything that involved cultivation. However, it wasn't like Li Ling showed her inner turmoil. At most, Qing Shen could just glimpses of her friend grimacing or wincing whenever the topic of Corrupted Beasts was brought up. Still, those glimpses were enough to see behind a bit of the mask her friend wore.

Yet, Qing Shen refrained from bringing that up. Partially out of fear for ruining her friendship, and partially out of fear for seeing just what Li Ling hid behind her smile. Zhang Yong hid the fact that he only had enemies aiming for his neck behind his smile, so that just brought to question what exactly Li Ling hid. Though, Qing Shen selfishly thought that maybe she could pretend the issue didn't exist.

After all, that's what Li Ling did.

"Come on, sleepy-head! Little Yong and I have been waiting for you to wake up for the past…" She paused, looking out the window to see the barest traces of light filtering in. Her tone was devoid of anything but excitement. "Ten minutes!"

Qing Shen groaned within her blanket, shifting enough to eye her friend. She froze a bit when her brain finally told her what Li Ling was wearing. The girl was dressed in the usual tight, black dress that everyone wore, but this time the girl had a light dusting of powder on her face with painted red lips. Qing Shen blinked back her exhaustion as much as she could to try and get a grasp on why Li Ling looked so much more like a innocent palace girl instead of a pyromaniac with a penchant for explosions.

Li Ling just didn't seem like the girl who would spend the time to learn how to apply the makeup.

Such a simple thing really made the girl think over everything she never paid attention to until now. Zhang Yong's rumors going around the towns and cities, Li Ling's internal strife and even Head Maid Li's background. All of it added together into a bunch of pieces that she didn't have a clue where to start on.

And like always, Qing Shen sought strength to gain knowledge. Even if it strained her relationship with her friend, she continued to do so, beacuse the alternative was being in the dark. It was not being able to do anything while she watched her friends fight battles Qing Shen felt they'd lose.

Really, Qing Shen just wanted to know enough for them to rely on her too.

Now, a few days of constant training later, she had finally gotten to the point where she wasn't being completely dismantled by Zhang Yong, and actually had a few times where she had come out on top through sheer ability to take punishment and dish it out at the same time. Her instincts also helped in the process, though she would never tell that to the smug face of Zhang Yong everytime he repeated it.

Along with her increased aptitude for wielding her weapon of choice, Zhang Yong had finally lived up to her words of taking to a nearby city to get one that suited her. Of course, when Li Ling heard that they were going to the city, she had all but threatened Zhang Yong into taking her along as well.

This brought her back to the process of slipping on a pair of loose fitting brown pants, a white shirt and a long fitting, azure dress that wrapped around her in thin embroidered cloth. Qing Shen angrily fiddled with the fancy clothes as she wondered why exactly she had to wear it in the first place. If she hadn't had to choose between such a fancy dress and the frilly maid outfit, then Qing Shen would have had a much better time. It was one of those seldom moments where Zhang Yong forced her against her will.

"Do you need help?" Li Ling chimed in from beside her, no doubt taking a small pleasure in seeing her friend fumble around. It was one of the moments that made Qing Shen question whether what she saw was really reality.

Qing Shen huffed and spread her arms, giving Li Ling the ability to fix the large strip of white cloth that wrapped around her waist. Like an expert, the black-haired servant deftly fixed the robe-like dress before the blonde even knew what was going on. Qing Shen smiled, internally wincing at the thought that maybe that smile might not be enough.

That thought was put on hold as she looked down at the billowing sleeves around her wrists. In one motion, she rotated her arms till the large sleeves on the dress were wrapped around her arms like medicine wraps. Li Ling frowned at the action, but chose to say nothing about it.

"I don't want any makeup." Qing Shen announced as she saw Li Ling getting a brush and something she had never seen before.

Li Ling visibly deflated. "Fine, you're pretty enough without it…"

"Does that really matter?" Qing Shen asked as she stood to leave.

"Of course it does! When I take you out and show you off at Feilong city I want everyone to swoon, and kiss the ground you walk on." Li Ling shamelessly announced as she hurriedly stepped into the hallway to lead the way.

Qing Shen really didn't know how to respond. It was best if she let Li Ling do what she wanted most of the time, but Qing Shen honestly didn't know if she wanted to see people kissing the ground she trod on. Luckily, she was saved by an approaching Zhang Yong who was proceeded to be tackled by a happy Li Ling.

She saw that he too was dressed up for the momentous occasion of travelling to society. While it wasn't different from the casual robes he wore, the ones he currently donned seemed to be a dark blue to slightly match her brighter azure. They were also embroidered with similar depictions as hers, and Qing Shen began to sense a pattern of why he had specifically given her some clothes.

"I see you're ready." Qing Shen wasn't sure how he got so good at responding with someone hanging off of him, but she was determined to find out how to replicate that someday. "Should we get going, or are you going to be wearing makeup?"

"I don't like it." Qing Shen replied getting a serious nod from Zhang Yong. He seemed different. More reserved and focused like a coiled spring ready to burst.

"Very well," he replied simply as the trio made their way through the villa. "I'll explain more on our way, but from now on please refer to me as 'Young Master Yong'."

Qing Shen nearly tripped at the suddenly cold Zhang Yong. "Is there something wrong, Zhan- I mean, Young Master Yong?"

Without missing a beat, the serious expression of her friend shifted to that of an embarrassed smile. "It's nothing to really worry about. I just like to start a persona long before I arrive somewhere, and you've probably heard the plentiful rumors cycling around, right?"

"Yes, they're baseless from what I've seen." Qing Shen nodded, hiding a blush as those 'baseless' rumors had tricked her from the start.

"Well, let's just say I'm not the most well liked around here. If you pretend to be forced under my rule, you will definitely get better service. It helps if I show what they expect, as well. No one likes being wrong." Zhang Yong answered happily before his face fell into one of stern contemplation. He looked like a general who was just asked to go to war. Qing Shen shivered at how easily he seemed to switch between personas, and with a hint of meloncholy, felt that his current face fit him far more than his previous smile.

Keeping her thoughts to herself, Qing Shen tried to think of a reason why he had to hide behind so many facades. She couldn't help but blurt out her thoughts when they came to mind, "Is this because of your family wanting to kill you?"

Zhang Yong tensed for a brief second, but forced himself to relax. It would've fooled anyone who wasn't looking for some tell. Sadly for him, Qing Shen was looking. "Don't worry about it. Besides, you have to get a guandao that's good enough to satisfy your tastes, and can last whatever crazy stunts you pull with it… Who would've thought to even use explosive talismans as a propulsion device. Though that reminds me to check if a combustion reaction would have any effect on…"

Qing Shen quickly zoned him out before her mind shut down due to listening to Zhang Yong babble endlessly with words she couldn't even comprehend. Li Ling didn't seem to mind as she happily skipped nearby, completely used to how Zhang Yong had driven attention away from what was asked. Qing Shen still wanted to know, even more so now that he had nearly outright refused to give her anything, but she respected that he wanted to keep her separated from whatever he had planned. A notion that she was determined to undermine whenever she had time and enough strength.

The three quickly made their way through the villa with record time as even Li Ling has stayed silent, though she did hum a tune as they went. Outside the entrance was, once again, something that Qing Shen was most certainly not expecting. Their ride to the city wasn't a pair of horses like she though, nor was it maybe a fancy rickshaw that she was hoping for. Instead, it was a large, ornate carriage with two sets of spoked wheels.

The carriage itself was only a large, red box built from lacquered wood, and fit with four separate doors and their respective glass windows. Gold, molded into the shapes of wingless dragons, surrounded each corner of the carriage, reaching up to the rooftop that looked like a villa's rooftop. However, the most staggering thing about it was the lack of horses, and reigns that floated out in front of the carriage as if the horses that held them were invisible.

"Wait for it." Li Ling mumbled beside her, and Qing Shen watched as Zhang Yong brought out a black metal key from within his robes.

Qing Shen understood what was going on as she watched the front end of the key disappear into the air with audible hum and a ripple only visible within her Essence Vision. Zhang Yong didn't seem to notice that spectacle as he twisted the key, and numerous symbols that formed very thin lines shot out from where the key was, engulfing the carriage in the squirming black bands till the wood looked like it had a solid coat of ink applied to it. Qing Shen could only sigh, and wonder why everyone couldn't just tell her that Zhang Yong made everything a talisman.

Still, she enjoyed the spectacle regardless.

"Miss Ling, can you take the reigns for us?" Zhang Yong suggested as he pulled open one of the doors before entering inside the cabin. Qing shen felt that it wasn't so much a suggestion as Li Ling just hopped up onto a small wooden platform at the front of the carriage.

Qing Shen paused in her steps when she saw something begin to form at the end of the reigns, and a brief flash of Essence Vision showed her something she really should've expected. The surrounding grains of Spiritual Essence cycled through in pseudo-veins of blue in front of the carriage to form the complex forms of two ethereal horses. Internally, Qing Shen felt that a day she wasn't surprised by Zhang Yong was a day that the world ended.

"Come and join me, Miss Qing." Zhang Yong's voice filtered through her thoughts, and Qing Shen followed the orders to the still open door by his side. Her rodes lazily trailed behind her as she jumped up into the carriage, sparing a glance back to the villa she had called home for the past month and a half.

Li Ling did something from up front, and the carriage was off with a staggered start. Qing Shen's gaze passed to the windows that showed the passing trees from the forest that surrounded them. So far she was a little apprehensive at going out. Zhang Yong had become a completely different person than normal, Li Ling's tearful face kept flashing at the back of her head and then there was the Corrupted Beast attack that could happened at any time. All of these facts together made the girl be a bit on edge about the entire thing.

"Do you make every item a talisman?" Qing Shen joked, trying to get her mind off of all the problems piling up.

"I fill my time with making them, yes." Zhang Yong answered. "Though, if you must ask, then everything you see in the villa is most likely a talisman."

Qing Shen felt her throat go dry at that comment. "Would… Wouldn't that take a long time?"

"A fair bit." Zhang Yong simply replied, hints of melancholy leaking through his facade of chilliness. Qing Shen chose not to press that point any further.

"Don't worry about, little Yong! He likes to put on funny faces for everyone, so just play along!" Li Ling yelled from up front. There was a small sliding divider made of wood that she had shoved aside in lieu of talking to the two of them.

"Right… I guess I'm a bit nervous." Qing Shen admitted.

Li Ling turned around from her position at the reigns, taking her eyes off the path and hands off the reigns. "Don't worry about it. I'll make sure everyone there understands that my Sister Shen is the best!"

"Thanks, that… helps." Qing Shen laughed, taking a moment to marvel at her friend's ability to cheer her up with the most ridiculous of conclusions.

After finally being cheered up, a bit of her nervousness left her, and she began to marvel at everything in the cabin. Still, that only had so much to entertain her, and when the interior finally wore off of its novelty, Qing Shen turned her attention to the quiet Zhang Yong. She hadn't got a clear answer from Li Ling or Chen Hua whenever they had stopped by her room, and was hoping for some answers. "So… What is a fused element?"

Zhang Yong didn't reply to her at first, just turned his head to the suddenly still Li Ling, then sighed. "I assume that Li Ling couldn't help herself from blurting that out?"

Qing Shen nodded while Zhang Yong hung his head slightly, he deep eyes boring into her. "And I'm also assuming that you won't accept anything but the answer?"

Qing Shen smiled happily while Zhang Yong lightly chuckled. "It's a bit more complicated when you get into what a fused element is, and all the details that causes a Corrupted beast to actually wield one. Normally they just use one of the five primary elements inherent in nature: fire, water, earth, wood and metal. Typically, a fused element is exactly what is says it is, a mixture of two or more elements to create something else."

"So," Qing Shen began once she noticed that Zhang Yong had stopped his explanation. "It's really strong?"

Zhang Yong snorted, his cold facade breaking once again, and Qing Shen briefly wondered why he even bothered with it. "Have you ever heard of magma?"

"Um, it burns. I think it's a mixture of earth and fire, but I'm not too sure. My previous teacher never really went into the elements."

"Well, you're pretty spot on for your guess. It's when both the fire and earth elements exists together in a cohesive environment, normally in a mutually escalating fashion, and it is quite a rare fused element, too. Quite deadly when even Spiritual Warriors cannot withstand the sheer temperature." Zhang Yong clarified while turning his gaze far off into the horizon, seeing something she didn't. "It's partially why we're going to Feilong city, and why you need to pretend to be someone against my will. The help we're going to be getting is not the most savory of people."

"If they're not good people, then why are we asking for their help?" Qing Shen frowned at the words she had heard. She didn't like how Zhang Yong was skirting around telling her his master plan, but she didn't want to be working with criminals if that's what he was implying.

Seeing her rising aggression, Zhang Yong smiled, placatingly. "Don't worry, they're not really evil people per se, but they are involved in one of those plots I'm keeping you out of. It's for your own good to not know what exactly I'm doing."

"Yeah, don't worry about Zhang Yong! He likes to sound all mysterious all the time, but he just worries all the time!" Li Ling chimed in from the front.

Qing Shen normally liked having Li Ling butt into every conversation with a cheerful piece of reassuring information. Now, however, she wanted more information that was being hidden from her. The newest servant knew enough to guess that something else was going on behind the scenes, but she didn't have the strength, or perceived commitments, to help. It was getting rather annoying, at this point.

"Hey look!" However, Qing Shen never got the chance to say a thing as Li Ling had cut into her ensuing rant. "We're coming up on the city!"

Deciding to put the matter for later, Qing Shen relished in the distraction.

They were currently riding atop one side of some type of ridge that sloped downwards into a ravine that looked to be thousands of Li across and countless more long. Its sides were steeper than anything the girl had ever seen, and rocks constantly seemed to be tricking down the sheer edge of each side. Off in the distance, the ravine split the landscape to where it fell between a pair of mountains that stretched up into the skies and further into the horizon.

Qing Shen peered out of the window, squiting her eyes to see further as the dominantly rocky ground of the ravine came into view. There were dots of green that broke apart the grey and brown ground, but it was hard to tell from the distance. It was then that she saw what Li Ling and Zhang Yong had called a city.

It was massive to her who had only lived in a small village. The city itself sat like a massive barricade in the middle of the ravine. Built as if to defend from an encroaching army that descended from the cloudy mountaintops. Ramparts of solid stone stood erect around the rectangular city, and Qing Shen could barely make out the large wooden ballistae that dotted the tops of its stalwart defense.

Slowly, she could make out small lines of grey walkways that separated the city from the pockets of red and green that were most likely buildings and vegetation. Further into the city was a another, higher wall that looked twice as thick as the outer wall. Its defenses seemed to equal its increase in size, and the buildings also increased in girth as they slowly built up to the center. Qing Shen would bet her life that that was where nobles and their ilk would be.

And, subsequently, that was definitely where they were headed.