The fireplace burned as Li of Thousand Books sat before it. On his lap was an opened book. He put the book down just a moment ago and was waiting.

A shadow emerged from behind him.

Li smiled, “Irpin it is nice of you to come and visit me. Please find a chair and sit down.”

The young man emerged from the shadows and with the flicker of his hand called a chair from the back of the room next to the fireplace.

“How did you figure I was there? I was trying to be stealthy,” Irpin wondered as he sat down.

“I heard the door opening, senior brother,” cultivator Li smiled as he pulled a bottle of wine and two glasses from the ground.

Irpin nodded, ”I cannot help you keep your doors in such a shabby state,” Irpin told Li.

“I do not have an obligation to fix the door for the sake of your surprises,” Li offered a glass to his senior brother, ”Will you partake in quality wine with me?”

Irpin smiled, ”You know I never resist a glass of an excellent wine.” He took the glass and accepted the pour.

For a time, both men drank in silence experiencing the flavor of the wine. It was Li who first broke the silence.

“So what brought you into my humble abode?” he asked.

“ It is the usual stuff the old men in the sect found another young genius, who is as skilled as he is full of himself and so they asked me to knock some sense into him, before he brings a catastrophe to anyone. It has been the same story for the last few decades. And you are always a great help.” Irpin answered the question with a sardonic smile.

“Well, the boy is not that bad. I do not think you will have much work with him, As far as peerless geniuses go he did not start a massacre after your servants informed him he would have to wait, which is a great plus. He also seems to have a good head on his shoulders and at least half formed a sense of empathy. ” Li offered his opinion about Haoyu Yi.

“Well, I have been working on him for some time, but you are correct there are worse ones, which brings me to the question about that young patient of yours. Have you by any chance gotten her story?” Irpin asked.

“She is skittish and I do not want to push too much, but my guess would be she is most likely from one sect in the area. She is too educated to be a disciple of a wandering cultivator and she has family in Jiaomay city.”

“Well, it would be nice to narrow it down. My disciple expressed a desire to figure out who did this to her, which I think is a success and I scouted her wounds. What happened to her was specifically designed to cause a slow death by self-devourment. They bursted her meridians in a deliberate pattern, that cannot be a coincidence.”

Li nodded, his smile vanishing, “I concur, but speaking about her wounds, you are a more skilled cultivator than me, so can I hear your diagnosis?” he looked at Irpin slyly.

Irpin rolled his eyes, ”I moved further on the path, but that does not mean I am a better healer, should I remind you why you picked your healing knowledge in the first place?”

“Well, someone had to patch you up after you protected us from the latest Beast. Nevertheless, I would still like to hear your opinion.” Li smiled at the memory of their youth.

“Her condition is beyond my power. Wounds on her dantian and meridians closed already. I could have fixed them when they were still new and opened. I think it would be possible for any healer skilled in the art, if they will spend the resources to reconstruct the dantian, but I digress. Now it would mean shattering the remains of her dantian once more. In my opinion, she will not survive such damage, again. Her body is too weak. One of the Greats could probably do it, but getting them to help is beyond either of us.” Irpin said.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

“I thought so, still I had to ask. It would be discourteous to my patient to not do so.” Li nodded confirming the bad news.

“If you wish I will tell her the bad news myself,” Irpin said looking into the fire.

“There is no need. I did not mention this possibility to her. She picked one of my manuals which might help her and if it does not there are many more manuals to try.” Li said, looking into the fire.

“I hope you gave her the good stuff. I am afraid she will need it,” Irpin noted.

“Why do you think so? This is a rather peaceful era.” Li asked, puzzled.

“You have not heard. Few of the second order sects were blessed with great fortunes in the recent years. Not to mention the third order sects who had the great fortunes far beyond their capability to protect from the second order sects,” Irpin said, irony sneaking into his voice.

LI frowned at this news, ”Great the old gold hoarder is pulling the strings again. You know it would be nice to enjoy my twilight years in peace,” his face lit with optimism for a moment,” Hopefully, will die before it gets going. I wish to experience another round of that and these things take time to get going.” he added.

Irpin chuckled, ”That is one way to look at it old friends, sadly I think you will not be so lucky. Second order sects wasted no time and are already forming secret alliances among themselves. It will take less than fifty years for the first order sect to strike and the entire business of sect war will begin crushing and killing once more,” his expression darkened.

Both of them remembered the last time when the sects went to war across the whole Empire. Entire continent was ravaged and hundreds of thousands died as second order sects strived to cast down the first order sect. Alliances were formed and the killing spread across the whole Empire crushing many cultivators on both sides and devastating any mortal caught between the greed as the Emperor watched wisely staying out of such conflict. In the end, the first order sects wiped each other out or were cast from their position and the remaining second order sect rose to replace them in the hierarchy of the Empire. The cycle would now repeat and both men knew, that it would not be the first time.

They sat in silence for a long time reflecting on their choices and might have been. Until finally the silence was broken.

Li looked at his companion and the unusual silence, “What is bothering you?”

“Why do you think I am bothered?” Irpin asked, looking sharply at his old friend.

“You have not pestered me for a refill of your empty glass yet, you are bothering me about my age once more, although I forbid you to do so and well you visited too early. Normally you visit roughly every ten years. You visited me four years ago. New student or no, you are too early.” Li explained.

“You were always the smart one,” Irpin smiled for a moment before sorrow showed on his face , ”It is Mia, she tried to go for it and failed her breakthrough.”

Li refilled both glasses, ”Then to our departed friend, may she find more success in her next life,” Li said and both drank in honor of the dead.

“I expected you would be more surprised by this,” Irpin said after a long moment of contemplation as both men remembered their dear friend.

“Mia visited me shortly after you left last time. She spoke to me at length about how this world held so little for her and the wonders of the future. It was clear she wished to journey forward as swiftly as possible. I am surprised she did not visit you.”

“She evaded me ever since I helped her get vengeance for her descendants. I hoped it would bring her peace, but she was not the same after her whole clan got slaughtered.” Irpin answered the question and gestured to the now empty glass.

Li refilled the empty glass, “I tried to talk her out of it. I warned her she was in a bad mental shape to go for the next step, but she did not heed my warnings and pleas.” Li closed his eyes and a few strains of tears could be seen on his face running down.

“You should have sent me a letter,” Irpin said, draining the glass with one gulp.

“How many times have you failed to persuade her about anything? I knew our little fairy was decided, and she asked me to keep our conversation to myself. I could never refuse her.” Li explained himself.

Irpin nodded. “You have to admit our bunch of idiots had a good run. How many made it in the end?” He forced a smile on his face.

“Four out of twenty made it to the top, which if you think about it is a miracle,” Li said, letting his frown vanish for a moment remembering the old times.

“Do not count me in, junior brother. I am not on that level and breakthroughs are always tricky.” Irpin said with more life in his smile.

“Tell yourself that and maybe one day you will actually believe it.” Irpin said.

“But now is not the time to speak about the future. Now is the time to celebrate our friends. There is more than enough wine in this estate to get you at least tipsy and I have a full intention of doing so.” Li said and rang for a servant.