Neutral Ground, Temporary Spirit Realm Village, Gui Assembly Area:

“Are you saying they’re going to search through all my stuff? Publicly?!”

“If by publicly, you mean in front of your fellow clansman and the other supervising elders, then yes,” said the Gui official managing their entry into the spirit realm.

From what Yu had been told, he was some royal who had no claim to the throne himself, but he was strong enough to serve as an enforcer for the royal family. Her master had claimed he was at the peak of the fifth stage, which obviously made him very strong, but could advance no further in this life. Either way, it was sufficient for him to be in charge of this endeavor.

His presence was part of the agreement between the empires. They would each have a single person acting as a senior at the Qi Shaping Stage, which was the fifth stage. After that, each empire could then bring five more supervisors in the fourth stage or Qi Manifestation Stage.

There was not supposed to be anyone higher than fifth stage present, but her master was sort of a rule unto himself. And nobody could do beast poop about him anyway, so objecting was pointless. Well, that, and it was not like he got involved in anything. He was just there for her, likely to make sure someone didn’t try to kill or abduct her before they went through the spirit realm aperture.

Shaking her thoughts loose, Yu focused back on the present as the young Shen clan cultivator continued to complain about being publicly searched.

“They can’t just do that! That shows everyone everything we’re bringing,” the young woman whined.

“It does,” the Gui man said without a drop of sympathy.

“Shut your mouth, Shen Wei Ling! Grow up. You’re such a child,” a young woman in the Ling clan group spat.

At that point, numerous individuals from the Shen group stood, which caused the Ling to stand, and at that point it turned into a massive shouting match.

Yu sighed, leaning back onto her arms from her seat on the ground.

Why do the rest of us have to put up with them? Even the tournament winners are better behaved than these supposed nobles.

She looked over at the tournament winner group and found Bao Qing, now just Qing, who was keeping to himself. He was very introspective, which Yu thought made sense given everything that had happened to him.

“Enough!” bellowed out from in front of them.

It was then that a wave of Qi flowed out, pressing all of them down. Those standing were forced onto the ground, those on the ground, Yu included, were trying not have their faces pushed into the dirt.

She was used to this sort of thing with all the gravity training her master had put her through, but Qi pressure and gravity pressure were different. This man’s efforts were, from Yu’s perspective, less… refined perhaps. That did not mean she wasn’t shoved down, she was. But it was just force and no finesse. Her master could push a nail into a piece of wood while simultaneously pulling another out, all just using gravity – something her master said would take her great efforts to accomplish thanks to her low attunement.

This fifth stage Gui cultivator in front of her was using Qi itself to create force over a large area, effecting everything equally, from the dirt up. Still, it was impressive being able to use his Qi to pressure almost one hundred fifty cultivators, even if none had reached the third stage.

The pressure lifted a moment later after one final push and they all sat up.

“I will be going through this information with no further interruptions,” he growled. “Questions will be permitted at the end, but if arguments begin, I will not be so tolerant next time. Now, I will start again. My role is not to discuss the actual entry, that will be addressed after groups are assembled and done individually by an expert on spirit realms.

“My job is to prepare you for the pre-entry procedures. The order of entry was agreed to by each empire, so complaints are irrelevant. We will be second, with the Dominion going first. Your clans will be assigned numbers for entry when it is your turn. Entry will be done in intervals of twelve cultivators at the most. Why twelve is not something you are qualified to ask, even if you could understand it, which I doubt as even I don’t understand it. However, for those of you being accompanied by your beast bonds, it is important to note that they count towards the twelve. So if two people have a bond each, only ten humans can join in that group.

“For our empire, the first to enter will be the Gui, as deference to the royal imperial family. The negotiations between the other four clans state that the order entry will be a rotation of Bao, Ran, Shen, and Ling. After each major clan has sent in their first twelve, the apprentice of the sect leader of the Black Dragon Sect will enter. How that will be done is up to him.” Obviously, most faces turned toward Yu. She ignored them. “Following that, there will be an outside group of four that will enter. They have not arrived yet but are due shortly.”

Yu could have sworn he looked a little uncomfortable when he mentioned the mysterious four entrants, and he quickly moved on.

“The tournament winners will be permitted entry next, again in no greater number than twelve. You all will work that out yourselves; you are not children and I am not your father.”

Yu noticed that the twenty tournament winners, who were sitting together, looked at each other and then started making hand gestures and whispering. Qing did nothing, still quiet and pensive.

“Attention!” The Gui leader barked. After all eyes returned to him, he continued. “Each group of twelve will be brought to an isolated space where, yes, you and your belongings will be searched. Again, only in front of your group, not all four hundred and fifty others.

“The purpose of this is to verify that nothing with spatial compression enters, or attempts to enter, the spirit realm. In addition to your group, the supervising elders from each empire will also be watching. This means there is no advantage or disadvantage for any empire, because all can see everything. We do this publicly to avoid challenges to the veracity of the search, nor can there be any nefarious attempts at skirting the requirement.”

Then he leaned forward with his hands on his knees and gave them all a slightly vicious face. “In case you are thinking of trying to skirt the rules, I will tell you that the last person who tried to enter the spirit realm with a spatially compressed tool… exploded at the aperture. All that was left was a bloody mist.”

After all she had learned over the years about creating and maintaining voids, Yu was not surprised at the repulsion of the aperture. However, she was surprised at how violent the reaction was.

Apparently satisfied with that single warning, the supervisor continued. “Once the searches are complete, you will wait in your isolated space until called upon by that expert on spirit realms I mentioned. At which point he will tell you all about the actual entry and what they have discovered about the spirit realm to date.

“I remind you that we have four hundred and fifty people to get through, so please do not cause delays. Doing so will risk your spot being forfeited. The three empires are taking this very seriously, and have no interest in acquiescing to childish games. Do not try to order or intimidate the individual responsible for the searches. In short, you are all adults, act like it.”

“That is all on that topic. Questions about pre-entry procedures? A question on any other topic will be unpleasant for you.”

Yu was relieved that there were no questions. She did find it interesting that her master had chosen not to force her in first, not that she particularly cared. As long as she got in today, it did not matter to her what the order was. She did want to ask him about going with others, though. She had hoped to be able to enter with Fan Ran at least, and perhaps even his sister and maybe one or two others.

“Good,” the man continued. “Now, I have a few statements on behalf of the Gui Empire.” He cleared his throat. “Ahem. Everyone who exists will receive a debrief on their experiences inside the realm. Before you of the great clans argue, your elders have agreed to this as well. It will be a joint discussion where each clan will have the opportunity to ask questions.

“There will be many opportunities and perils inside. The imperial family reminds you that you are members of the Gui Empire first, and that your personal matters should come after the good of all. To emphasize this, I am, on behalf of the Sun of the Empire, his Imperial Majesty, making the following offers.

“Anyone who brings back objects of value from the spirit realm will be presented commensurate rewards based on their grades. I can assure you that anything of grade 3 or above will result in opportunities to, at a minimum, choose certain items from the Imperial Vault, the value of which will be determined by the value of the goods presented. Other rewards can include land, silver, and even a noble ranking for items of particular quality. The greater the item, the more receptive we will be to your requests.”

Based on the responses, Yu thought the vault offer seemed to garner the most interest, from her included. Who didn’t want to ransack an imperial vault?

The nineteen tournament winners, however, were most excited about the potential to become nobles and gain land. On the other hand, the last line about requests being granted based on the quality of the item brought Qing’s face up, and for the first time that afternoon, she saw some interest in his face.

“A member of the Imperial family will be permanently stationed here, along with appraisers from both the Alchemists’ and Enchanters’ Associations. We ask that you allow us the opportunity to make offers. I assume the other great clans will do the same, but that is up to them. Now, you should prepare yourselves. Dismissed.”

Thankful that was over, Yu got up and wandered to her master’s temporary “home.” It was a tea table and two cushions on the ground in the middle of a dirt clearing. All the other nobles from each empire had elaborate, if temporary, buildings to house a small semi-permanent contingent of individuals who would stay or rotate out. This is so they can support anyone who comes out earlier than planned for whatever reason.

Her master, of course, could just step directly here in an instant and had no need for housing. Hence, the table Yu was sitting at, and the tea set Yu was drinking from. To the right of the table lay Bai. He had been interested at first in all the new things and people, but then had decided he was bored and took a nap. He took a lot of naps. Yu hoped he would be willing to be flexible on this point once inside the spirit realm.

“I know what you are going to ask, and I have been thinking on this topic quite deeply,” her master said, drawing her attention. “Unfortunately, for reasons you will discover eventually, you must go in alone. Or it is more correct to say you and your bond will, I suppose.”

“You can’t say why?” Yu asked, frustrated. She had been hoping she was wrong, but it seemed her premonition of disappointment was to be fulfilled.

“No, though I understand your frustration. All I can tell you is that this is simply an unfortunate symptom of being who you are.”

Yu sighed. “What difference does it make? Can’t we just meet up inside?”

“Matters are not that straight forward I am afraid. You will find out the details after you are searched in approximately two hours.”

“Two hours,” Yu whispered. “After all this waiting… it feels so sudden.”

“I imagine so. Now, we have a few things to discuss.” A that, a bubble of silver appeared around the small clearing.

Yu glanced around at it. “A translucent isolation barrier?” It was the first time she had seen an isolation barrier, as in with her eyes. All the other times they were just felt.

He nodded. “I have news from the sect.”

Yu leaned forward, desperate for anything about Li.

“Your friend should be coming out of the coma in a few days. The internal bleeding has stopped. She will live. Beyond that, there is still too much inflammation to know more.”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

That was at least good news. It wasn’t great news, but it was good news.

“With the care she is receiving, I have little doubt she will be waiting for you when you return. Your friend’s sister, after an initial difficulty overcoming the emotional trauma, is recovering well. Your brother is also doing better. He still spends most of his time in the healing center, but he has at least returned to his classes. The fourth princess is, however, still struggling. I cannot say more as she has mostly isolated herself, outside of her closest confidants.”

“Thank you master,” Yu said while holding back tears. “I can’t express how much appreciate everything you’ve done for Li… for all of us.”

“Again, it was a small task.”

Yu felt lighter, just knowing Li would be fine, and that Lu and her brother was at last partially back to normal. Ai was going to struggle. That was an inevitability. But with Li getting better, she would hopefully be okay. Yu believed her letter would help, however with Ai, it was difficult to say.

“There is nothing more you can do for them that you have not already done. I do not know them, but I do know you and who you would choose as close friends. I am confident that they would be displeased with you if you allowed your friend’s condition to distract you at the worst time, just on the cusp of accomplishing what you have spent the last years working so hard towards.

Yu though about that for a moment and then nodded. Li at least would absolutely be furious with her. In fact, she’d yell at Yu to get herself together, or threaten Yu with getting to punched in the head. Yu let out a little laugh and a big breath.

“You’re right,” Yu said while wiping at her eyes.

“Good. Now, time is short. Bring out your armor, weapons, saddle, and bag please.”

She did as instructed and called all of the requested items out onto the ground to the left of the table.

He held out his hand. “Your ring.”

Yu looked down at her hand. It was funny to her how an object could cause such attachment from her. Maybe it was because her emotions were already a bit heightened from the news about Li, but it felt like her master was asking her to hand over an old friend. They’d only just found each other, now they would be separated again.

Moreover, doing so made it all real.

“Two hours,” she whispered.

She was just two hours from stepping into a new realm. Nobody to guide her or protect her. Nobody to depend on but herself, her bond, and eventually a friend or two; although that was sounding more difficult than she had originally hoped.

Exhaling, Yu reached up and shakily twisted the ring and slid it off her finger. She let the intricate silver circlet sit on the palm of her hand, reflecting on what it meant to her, and what handing it over meant.

Closing her fingers, she reached up and placed her fist against her forehead. She spent a little time flipping through her memories. Of her family at home. Of her friends at the sect. Of the others she had met throughout her life. She even thought of the few beast friends she had made. Her experiences, her time under Grandma Huan, her years at the sect. She had recalled her entire life in moments.

The ring felt like a symbol of all that time. Of everything that made her who and what she was.

Maybe it’s fitting then, that I enter a new land without it. When I come out, if I come out, I won’t need it anymore. It will be like a different life. I wonder who I’ll be. Stronger, more experienced, surely, but what else? Then she grinned to herself. Well, whoever I become, I will have had an adventure, and, most importantly, it will have been of my choosing.

With the resolve from that final thought, Yu took in a huge slow breath and, letting it out, she reached forward and placed the ring on her master’s palm.

He nodded once to her, a small smile showing. “Well done.” She gave a weak smile back. “I will step out so you can change. The barrier will fall when you touch it and I expect you to be fully geared when you do.”

The table and chairs vanished as he stood and walked out of the dome without looking back.

“Ready, Bai?” she asked the tiger. He lifted his head at her, his mouth open, tongue out, teeth showing. She couldn’t have read that more clearly if he had spoken it.

***

Yu touched the swords behind her back, her unstrung replacement bow between them (the auction-won bow was in the bag), her whip at her left hip and the water skin over it, her thigh quiver and the arrows in it, her two belt pouches, and finally she leaned down and checked the lightly enchanted knives in each boot sheath.

The only thing she did not have that she had hoped to was a helmet. She had been unsuccessful finding one that met her criteria. It had to fit and she had to be able to afford it, obviously. Moreover, it had to offer better protection than her enhanced body, it had to be usable at her cultivation level, and it could not materially impede her vision. Nothing at the sect had met all those criteria, or even close really, so she would have to be without.

Lastly, she put her hair into her battle braid and then turned to a saddled Bai, who looked back at her and nodded.

A fully armed and armored Yu touched the isolation barrier and it fell, as her master had said it would. She looked around, finding him staring off toward the northeast. She and Bai walked up to him, looking the same direction he was.

“How do you feel?” he asked her.

“Nervous about everything being a mystery. Sad about leaving everyone behind. Excited about exploring a whole new place. And anxious for my and Bai’s breakthroughs.”

He glanced over at her. “That’s all?”

Yu looked down for a second, but forced herself to look up. “Looking forward to being on my own, but also scared about it.”

“Good. You should feel all those things. But, if I am any judge, there is another you have missed, although you do not know it yet.”

“There is?”

“Indeed. Remember when we discussed the four slots that had been taken?”

Yu nodded, wondering if that mystery was about to be solved. Then she felt a normal privacy barrier be put in place around them.

“Well, you are about to meet them.”

As if his words were the catalyst, Yu’s head exploded in pain. Images flashed in her mind. Visuals of destruction on a colossal scale clawed at her brain. Burning fire pouring from the sky, sandstorms the size of the capital, waves as tall as mountains, a funnel of wind and clouds large enough to engulf her home city.

Then she felt a hand on her shoulder and the images vanished. Yu fell to the ground gasping, her Qi churning and roiling, but also slowly calming.

“What,” was all Yu could get out before having to pull in air again. A few breaths later, she was barely able to say, “What was that?”

“Congratulations,” her master said with a smile. “You have just had your first conscious foretelling.”

“What?!”

“Tell me, what did you see?”

“The damn end of the world!” she yelled.

“Do not be dramatic. What did you see?”

“Dramatic? Are you serious?” Yu described the images, trying to emphasize how horrible everything was.

“And yet when I touched you, they ceased, did they not? That means—”

He stopped mid-sentence to look from her back to the northeast, where he had been staring towards before. Yu shakily got back to her feet and looked as well.

“It means wha—"

Yu stopped speaking as she finally saw what he did. Something was approaching in the sky. Four somethings, specifically.

They were streaks of light. One was red, one brown, one blue, and one yellow. At the head of each streak was a bright light of that color. They were approaching quickly and getting brighter with each moment.

Yu squinted, trying to make out details, loosening control on her senses. Yu could barely make out blurry shapes, but as they approached, they became more detailed.

“Wait,” Yu said to herself. “Wait.” A few breaths later, “Is that?” Then she gasped. “It is! Are you telling me that the four slots went to…to…” She couldn’t even say it.

Her master laughed again. “Oh, your face was worth the wait.”

She stomped her foot and glared at him, hands on hips. “This isn’t funny!”

“Oh, I assure you, it is,” he said, still laughing.

Yu turned from him in huff, but she felt her hand on his shoulder.

“Your bond must wait here.” Then they disappeared from their spot, appearing again on the northeast corner of the camp. All the other supervising cultivators were there as well, slightly behind.

“This will be interesting,” he said quietly.

Yu watched as eight demonic beasts approached. Two each of Vermillion Bird, Gusting Desert Mantis, Flood Dragon, and the Storming Cloud Serpent. There was a massive version of each, followed closely behind by a smaller.

“Master, is that Shao?” Yu asked, referencing the mantis she had “met” on her way to the sect for the first time. He had demanded that Yu be handed over to him for an unclear purpose that her master convinced him forgo, making an unclear promise about some unclear future date. It was not comforting.

“Is this what you agreed to?” she asked him.

“Oh, no. That we are still working through. You do not have to worry about it for a while yet.”

Relief flooded her. She did not want to be given to a building-sized praying mantis.

All eight demonic beasts landed. Of course, the four pairs were so large, there had to be a bit of distance from each other and from the humans.

There were flashes of light from each of them and columns of fire, water, sand and clouds shot skyward. When they died down, it became clear that all eight beasts had taken human form.

Shockingly, Yu recognized two.

“Jiang?” Yu yelled in surprise.

The man with red hair and a feather cloak looked over. From behind him, stepped the other familiar face.

“Zhu!” she said.

The unbelievably handsome redheaded boy dressed in nothing but feather pants grinned hugely. “Jade!” he yelled back as he ran toward her.

Yu did the same. She heard exclamations from behind her but ignored them. As Zhu approached, Yu slowed and waved.

“Jade, your master told us there was a chance we would see you, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up.”

“Well, this is a complete surprise to me. It’s good to see you, though. I tried stopping by a few times, but you and your father were never there. How’s Xiu?”

“Pining after you,” came the deep voice of Jiang from behind his son.

Yu smiled, but she bowed to him. “It is a pleasure, Jiang. Please tell her I said hello.”

He waved it off, but his motion was a bit strange, like he expected his arm to be a wing rather than have that sort of bend in the middle.

She turned back to Zhu. “You’re coming in the spirit realm?”

He nodded. “Yes! I have even been practicing my human customs.” Then he gave her a proper martial bow.

She laughed and gave him a matching one back. “Well done.”

Then something occurred to her. “Wait, aren’t you too strong to enter?”

Jiang answered that one, but he did so in the ancient tongue, or elder tongue as the beasts called it. “No. The offspring of ancients such as us are different and follow different rules. It balances out, as all things must under the dictates of the world, but they will be permitted entry.”

“Oh, good,” and she smiled again at Zhu. “Glad to hear it.”

“It is good to see you again, little human,” said a higher pitched and somewhat clicky voice. The dark-skinned man who walked up was in a brown cloak that constantly shed sand. He stood apart from Jiang, who gave him a sidelong look that clearly said, “Don’t get too close, I eat bugs.”

Yu bowed to him nervously. “Shao, I presume?”

“Yes, indeed. I apologize for our previous meeting. The world is getting… complicated, and I sometimes forget that you humans do things differently.”

“Uhhh, sure? No problem.”

“Ah!” said an excited high-pitched voice that whistled. “So this is the famous jade phoenix. What a pleasure, what a pleasure.” The woman who walked up was pale, with blue eyes and clouds for hair. Then she proceeded to bow three times. “Did I do that right? Your human customs are so bizarre. Interesting, but bizarre.”

Jiang sighed and turned his head in a way that made Yu think he wanted to preen his feathers. Instead, he said in an exasperated tone, “That is Yun.”

Two younger versions of Shao and Yun stepped up then. The first looked at her with his head tilted to the side, like a mantis might to get a better angle. The girl waved shyly. Yu smiled and waved back.

“Jade,” Zhu, said, “This is Sha,” he gestured to the boy, “and Feng’er,” to the girl.

Yu bowed to each. “It is a pleasure to meet you both.”

Finally, the last of the four adult demonic beasts walked up. He was the least human-looking of them all with patches of azure scales over his skin and slit-pupiled eyes. He looked at Yu like Jiang had looked at Shao.

Yu bowed to him. “Fenghuang Yu. Or Jade if you prefer.”

“I would prefer,” he said in a snide tone, “not to speak to a human at all.”

“Shuishe, I used to think like you,” Jiang said to the water serpent. “But times are changing. Will change.”

“So I should just forget all the humans that build dams, pollute my waters, shift my rivers? I should just go along with this madness and forgive them?”

“Forgiveness is not necessary,” Shao said. “But as much as I hate to admit it, Jiang is right. Our time is running short.” He looked directly at Yu then, which made her step back and bump into Zhu’s broad chest. He gently wrapped an arm around her waist, which she found strangely comforting.

Even so, she stepped away quickly and was going to apologize but before she could speak, the mantis in human skin turned to Yu’s right and said respectfully, “Timekeeper.” That encouraged all the others to turn to her master and do the same, using the same moniker.

“Good afternoon, all,” her master said from over her shoulder. “I see you have met my disciple.”

“This is your offspring? She looks nothing like you.”

Yu snorted, but covered her mouth with her hand. Zhu grinned at her.

“No. She is a trainee of sorts. I am her caretaker, though she is not my get.”

“Human customs are so strange,” Yun said in her whistly voice, clearly baffled by the concept.

“Well, we have some people to put at ease,” her master said as he pointed over his shoulder. “Those human ladies and gentlemen back there need reassurance. Not that I particularly care, but it would be kind to ensure them that you will follow the rules agreed to and not wipe out all human life.”

His eyes quickly flashed to Yu, but it was for less than a blink of time.

Shuishe hmphed, spraying a watery mist around himself.

“You fledglings enjoy yourselves,” Jiang said. “We must remind the humans of their place.”

Then they vanished in various flashes of color, appearing in an identical way in front of the group of clearly uncomfortable cultivators.

“That’s going to go well,” Yu said in a low voice.

Zhu laughed and sidled up to her and put his arm around her shoulder. She jumped slightly, looking up at him in surprise.

He leapt back. “Sorry, I forgot I’m not wearing my wings.”

That made sense to Yu, who relaxed. Birds cuddled with their wings around each other. She actually hadn’t minded, it was just unexpected. That, plus the fact that his skin was really, really warm, had caught her by surprise.

“Is touching not done by humansss, Jade?” the unnamed young flood dragon asked with a slight hiss. Flood dragons were actually snakes and not dragons, so if he was unaccustomed to his form, the hiss made sense.

“It is,” Yu assured him. “Family and close friends can touch each other; I was just surprised.” She then stepped toward Zhu and leaned against him. He gave a huge grin and put his arm back around her, instantly heating the back of her head and upper neck, the only part her heat-proof armor did not cover.

“So, what do we do now that we’re free from those stuffy ancients?” Sha asked. His voice had that slight clicking like his father’s.

“You shouldn’t speak poorly of the ancients, you know,” Feng’er said softly. “Their blood sings.”

Zhu waves his free arm in a strange flapping motion, like his father, forgetting it was not a wing. “Never mind them.” Then to the young flood dragon, he said, “Since, you’re here, Hong’er, let’s see who can win.”

The flood dragon, Hong’er she supposed, narrowed his slitted eyes. “I’ll beat you thisss time.”

“We’ll see,” Zhu said back in a challenging tone.

Yu blinked at them. “What game is this?”

“I find something to set on fire and to keep it lit while he tries to put it out before it burns to ash,” Zhu explained offhandedly while scanning the area.

Yu’s eyes widen in alarm. “Umm. I don’t think—”

They both ran off and Yu heard, “Oh, this building is perfect!”

Sha ran after them, yelling, “One beast core on Zhu!”

Feng’er glanced at Yu shyly, then followed.

There was a bright flash and some yelling, followed closely by a splashing sound. Yu stood there, staring. Then she blinked, shrugged, and ran after. “One beast core on Hong’er!” she hollered.

“Jade, you traitor!”

Laughter rang through the area. At least until a ground shaking roar dropped them all to their knees.

Sha got to his feet, half laughing, half yelling. “Run!”