"Sure," Jie said, "allow me to help you to the healers. I'm sorry for hurting you so much."

Pan Tian frowned and stared into Jie's eyes like she was trying to decode the secrets of the universe.

"You really are sorry, aren't you? Why?" Pan Tian asked.

Jie walked with the older girl, letting herself be used for support as Pan Tian hobbled along.

"Well... I hurt you?" Jie said, unsure of what else to say.

Pan Tian laughed. "So? That's what happens. It's not like I'm dead. You're so weird," she said.

Jie pouted slightly. "How am I weird?" she said.

Pan Tian chuckled again though it looked like it hurt. Jie helped her out of the arena and onto the training room floor and the two began their way down the stairs to the floors below.

"You're so domineering... your aura is like a frozen sword. Cold and sharp. Your power is... ridiculous. I normally spar on the higher floors. I can't believe how strong you are.

"You're like a monster pretending to be a sweet little girl... but then you act like you really are sweet and gentle. I don't think I've ever had anyone apologize for hurting me in a sparring session before. That's just what happens," Pan Tian said.

The two girls left the training hall and started on the way to the Shrine of Healing.

"Pan Tian... could I ask you a bit of an awkward question?" Jie asked.

The older girl raised an eyebrow. "Is that the awkward question?" she teased.

"No," Jie said suddenly feeling embarrassed, "It's just... I've never met anyone who looks like you. Are you a satyr? Where are you from?"

Jie was certain that the question came out strangely, but meeting someone straight out of Greek mythology on an alien world had her feeling more than a little curious.

"I'm a member of the illustrious Pan family of course," Pan Tian said with false arrogance that gave way to a brilliant smile, "we have several holdings in this region. And it's not that strange a question. Satyrs are quite rare on Xiannu. The story goes that our ancestor was a god-ranked cultivator that traveled to Xiannu from a distant world and lived here for a while. He founded our clan and started our family... but then he left. The family elders have different theories about where he went... I don't think anybody really knows."

Jie hadn't thought much of Pan Tian's family name at first but now... she found herself wondering if Pan Tian's ancestor had made his way to Earth. Perhaps others had done so too...

Are the mythologies back on Earth... real? Or at least based in reality? Jie thought. It seemed insane, but then Ming had arrived on her world and he was a god... so was it really all that crazy?

Jie shook those thoughts aside and tried to refocus her attention on her conversation with the older girl.

"So, you have a divine bloodline?" Jie asked.

"I guess so. Doesn't stop me from getting my butt kicked by upstart brats at a lower cultivation though," Pan Tian said with a pointed look at Jie, "So where are you from?"

"Why do you ask?" Jie said.

"Oh, come on. I answered your question. And you're clearly not from around here. You speak and act so differently... even your accent is odd, and I've never heard of the Liu family. So, tell me, where are you from?" she asked.

Jie hesitated for a moment. Ming had stressed before that she shouldn't tell people she was from another world. But, if she denied it altogether it would be laughably easy to prove she was lying, and then the question would be what she had to hide.

"I come from a place to the north," Jie said thinking of the temple she'd come from when she'd set out with Ming to find a school.

"And? How far north? Are you from the Frozen Wastes? What's it like where you're from? You mentioned a master?" Pan Tian pressed.

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"Well, I don't have much to tell you. I never got around much. You could say I was trapped in a life I didn't want. My master offered me a different life and I accepted right away," Jie said, doing her best to avoid giving a concrete location as part of her regretted giving even the vague direction she had.

"Oh my gosh! What life were you trapped in?" Pan Tian asked, "Was it a marriage? Did your family marry you off?"

"What? No! I was too young for that... I'm still too young for that!" Jie said.

"You are? Do they only marry when they're much older where you're from? Why?" Pan Tian asked.

Jie suppressed a sigh. Since when were people so hard to deal with? Who the hell gets married so early? Sheesh! This whole place was messed up.

"Uh... it's complicated. Mostly they don't marry so young," Jie said.

"But why not? I nearly got married off and so did my brother. But we both had such good cultivation talent that our family decided against it and rather had us focus on getting stronger," Pan Tian said.

"Your brother? They marry off guys here too?" Jie said.

"Of course! Why wouldn't they?" Pan Tian asked, her eyebrows scrunched up into a parody of confusion.

"Uh... I think I'm just not used to the culture of this place yet. Where I'm from they don't really marry off children like that... it's weird and outdated," Jie said.

"They don't? But how do you get strong alliances then?" Pan Tian asked.

"Uh... I don't think most people care much about that," Jie said. She wished she could end this conversation right now. She was giving away far more than she wanted to, but wouldn't it be more suspicious if she acted mysterious? And the culture of this place was so... alien that coming up with a convincing lie would be difficult.

"Don't care about alliances? Oh! Of course! No wonder you're so strong! You're part of some kind of ancient bloodline or something! No wonder you were curious about my heritage... and that's why you don't need allies right? You're all just so strong that nobody would be stupid enough to attack you!" Pan Tian said.

Jie rubbed her temples. "Uh... yeah," she said.

Pan Tian kept on talking like a little schoolgirl... which Jie realized she kind of was. Maybe these people weren't so different after all... maybe they even had a few good points.

She thought back to the men who'd killed her parents...

Maybe powerful allies would've been useful after all. Then her thoughts turned to Ming killing them all for her and she smiled.

She didn't have to marry anyone to get a very powerful ally.

Pan Tian froze and Jie snapped out of her thoughts, following the girl's gaze to a group of ten people standing on the road ahead. One of them was familiar and Jie easily recognized him as the boy she'd sparred with before but that was too weak to give her a challenge.

What was his name? Chen Wei? Yes, that was it.

"That's the one big sis! We can't let her get away with it," Chen Wei said to a girl about the same age as Pan Tian as he pointed at Jie.

Chen Wei's big sister raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And she's friends with Pan Tian? The heavens are kind to me today," she said with a cruel smile.

"Is this what you do now, Chen Ai? Gang up on an injured cultivator and one so many stars below you? I shouldn't be surprised. Your whole family is nothing but shameless bullies. You sicken me," Pan Tian said.

Chen Ai arched one perfectly plucked eyebrow. "I have no shame? I'm not the one who got beaten by such a weak little brat. That's right. I've already heard how you lost a fight to this little weakling. Everyone has," she said with a nod to Jie. Those around her laughed.

Pan Tian gritted her teeth.

"I'm sorry for causing you trouble," Jie said to Pan Tian before turning to Chen Ai, "If I'm so weak then why don't you fight me one on one? Or are you afraid?"

Chen Ai laughed. "Aww! She's sticking up for you Pan Tian! Isn't that just sooooo sweet," she said with a mocking smile.

Jie fixed her with a cold stare and eased herself out from bracing Pan Tian, getting ready to fight if necessary while Pan Tian balanced on one leg.

"You didn't answer my question. Fight me one on one. As you said, I'm a weak little brat. So fight me. You wouldn't want your pack of rabid dogs to see you cower before someone weaker than you, would you?" Jie asked.

"How dare you call us dogs you blue-haired freak!" Chen Wei yelled.

Jie looked at him as if only now noticing he was there.

"And I think this one has mange," Jie said.

"You..." Chen Wei growled.

"I what? You can't do anything but hide behind your sister. So, what'll it be? Are you going to fight me or are you too much of a coward?" Jie said.

Chen Ai snorted. "Please. I'm not Pan Tian. You can't goad me into a fight so easily. We'll see how you talk after we cripple you," she said.

Jie smiled a cold, deadly smile that didn't reach her eyes. "You'd be surprised," she said.

As they spoke, Chen Ai's pack of minions fanned out and surrounded Jie and Pan Tian from all sides. From there they cycled their martial skills, covering their hands in glowing qi, summoning qi weapons, with one drawing an actual metal sword that he'd carried sheathed at their hip.

Jie started cycling her qi and flowing it through her meridians as she activated her lightning step technique and the movements of the youths around them seemed to slow to a crawl.

She'd been cycling calmly and replenishing her qi while walking along as Pan Tian's crutch and while she wasn't back up to full just yet... she was almost there.

Not that it'd have mattered. She was done with backing down from anyone. Ever. She'd fight them even if she didn't have a drop of qi in her whole body.

Pan Tian's nails glowed silver-white and grew out into the long talons that'd given Jie so much trouble so recently. But, Jie knew the older girl was in no fit state to fight. Still, her help could prove invaluable, Jie thought.

Crackling blue electricity arced over Jie's fists as she cycled twin dragonfists, readying herself for their inevitable attack.