The Mourner’s Legacy

The Clanless Cultivator Book 2

Kenneth Arant

Contents

Summary

Shadow Alley Press Mailing List

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

More Cultivation Adventures…

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About the Author

Summary

Knowledge is power, knowledge is safety, knowledge is happiness... But sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

Taryn and his closest allies safely acquired the dragon core and left Haven City behind, departing for lands unknown. They were content with the knowledge that life would go on without them, and few, if any, would miss the itinerant cultivators.

Without the pressure of the clans weighing on them night and day, Taryn, the Xia twins, and Fan Shun are finally free to find their own places in the world... But the Mourner lied, and that lie is quickly coming back to haunt Taryn.

Taryn didn't save Haven City by taking the dragon core with him, nor did he delay the inevitable. The city was attacked mere days after the group’s departure, and its infallible wall was shattered, leaving the clans at the mercy of a cultivator of unimaginable power.

To save themselves and their city, the residents of Haven have sworn an oath to their conqueror. They must find the one responsible for Gu Qigang's death and return the treasure Taryn "stole" if they want to survive.

Will Taryn's journey to a better future be stopped by the shackles of his past? Should he sacrifice himself for the only home he's ever known, flawed as it was... or will he fight toward a brighter future, consequences be damned?

From Kenneth Arant, bestselling author of the Snake’s Life Series, comes a brand-new cultivation adventure perfect for fans of xanxia, demon beasts, and mystic martial arts of all types.

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Chapter One

The following is an excerpt from the Mourner’s journal.

* * *

Aurelia is a harsh world.

To survive, its inhabitants had to become more dangerous than the world around them or risk extinction. They needed power, they needed resources, they needed hope…

And thus, the first cultivators were born.

To battle the harsh climates and ever-changing weather, they learned to turn the tides and sweep away the wind.

When monstrous beasts invaded their lands, threatening their homes and families, they became beasts themselves to drive them away.

When resources grew scarce, they learned to create necessities out of the abundance of Eco around them. Fashioning wonderous monuments of human ingenuity from the barest of essentials.

And, when other humans desired to take resources from their kin, cultivators learned to hone their bloodlust and desire for battle into an edge sharper than any blade, more durable than steel, and more deadly than even the wildest of beasts.

It didn’t take ancient cultivators long to learn the truth.

Storms will pass and a beast’s hunger will wane… But a cultivator’s wrath can last for an eternity and transcend mortality… It can make the impossible possible.

And on the battlefield of a thousand-thousand deaths, the first ascended cultivator was born.

* * *

Bound at the ankles and wrists alongside his fellow Ukata clan members, Gao Feng trembled with extreme fear at the sounds flowing around him. The orange light of Rala may have been just coming over the horizon, but Haven City was already alit with the fires of ruined buildings.

Screams filled the air as people were butchered by the crimson-clothed invaders who came in the night wearing masks that resembled angry demons, stealing away the last hope Gao Feng had of one day ruling over the Ukata clan.

From the top of the five-hundred-foot-tall perimeter wall surrounding Haven City, Gao Feng had a perfect view of fires destroying the agricultural district, the training fields, and over a third of the first residential district.

How did everything go so wrong?

He looked up. A gargantuan bird construct of finely polished stone stood beside the wall, its head towering over the city. Gao Feng couldn’t believe how lifelike it looked, even from this close distance. But it was not a beast. He’d seen its mouth open spewing out hundreds of people who rushed over the wall and began attacking the city.

“Why are you doing this?” Ukata Teng De shouted to the ten cultivators standing apart from them. “Why gather us here, if you’re just going to kill us all anyway?”

“Teng De, enough. You’re wasting your breath,” Ukata Hao Li, the Ukata patriarch, reprimanded.

The patriarch was made of sheer will and determination, always fighting for the Ukata’s place in the world, always willing to do whatever it took to ensure they would survive whatever came their way. But now, his gray eyes held only defeat and exhaustion within them.

Gao Feng had never seen his patriarch look as old as he did right now. His silver hair was drenched in sweat and dried blood, causing it to stick to his face and upper body.

The patriarch groaned and began to fall forwards, his old body finally giving in to the exhaustion he felt—and he collapsed into a heap, accompanied by the worried shouts of three remaining Ukata elders.

But nine of the ten cultivators ignored their shouts. The only one who even glanced their way was also one of the only two not wearing a mask.

The Cai pretender—Duan. He turned his head slightly to regard them. But he may as well have been looking at a group of struggling ants trapped in a bucket of water. His impassive expression never wavered.

Bastard’s probably enjoying this.

Gao Feng had a chill of such intensity pass over him that his body shivered uncontrollably. He looked up and found himself looking into the eyes of an attractive twenty-something woman. Her long black hair seemed to shimmer beneath the fire’s light, and every glimpse Gao Feng stole revealed skin that glowed with a radiance he could scarcely describe.

She was simultaneously the most alluring woman Gao Feng had ever laid eyes on—and the most terrifying.

Her crimson eyes were filled with nothing, because there was nothing for her to look at, and she carried herself suggesting she thought nothing of them—they weren’t even ants to be crushed beneath her boot.

The woman broke off from the other nine cultivators and made her way over to stand before the fallen patriarch.

“Get him up,” she commanded in a voice that reverberated down to Gao Feng’s bones. The other cultivators were quick to obey, lifting Hao Li onto his knees in only a few seconds.

Once he was somewhat vertical again, the woman began to speak. “I will offer you the same.” Each word out of her mouth smashed into Gao Feng like a physical blow to the gut. Blood seeped through his lips and he began to feel like he would faint.

The woman rolled her eyes and motioned for one of the masked cultivators to step forward. “Yes, boss.” A masculine sounding cultivator stepped in front of the woman he’d called boss and knelt down to our level. “You’re all too weak to hear our boss’s voice. Be grateful she is having me translate, else your organs would burst, and your bones would shatter. Nod your heads if you understand.”

They collectively nodded their heads without hesitation.

The woman patted the masked cultivator on the shoulder, then turned and walked a short distance away.

“I’ve already heard this conversation twice today, so forgive me if I’m a bit short. The boss is willing to offer you the same deal she offered the other, so called, clans occupying the city. Hand over all your valuables, martial techniques, and artifacts. And reveal the one who killed Gu Qigang. Do this, and your clan will not be erased this day.”

Gao Feng’s eyes widened at the name.

“Fine, I would rather sacrifice my forebearer's legacy than lose our future. But I do not know this ‘Gu Qigang’ that you speak of.”

“I do!” Gao Feng interjected. “I know who he is—fat man, has two axes, right?”

“That does sound like him. Do you know who killed him?”

Gao Feng opened his mouth to respond, but something stopped him. He knew Taryn was one of the last people to see the fat man alive. He’d helped Fan Shun, Xia Yawen, and Xia Wei pull his body from the rubble of the tower that killed Gu Qigang.

But if he told them what he knew, he would be condemning Yawen and Wei as well. Taryn’s defiant eyes flashed through Gao Feng’s mind and his bitterness began to grow stronger. Why is this happening to me? Why does he get to run free with Yawen, while I’m forced to endure this humiliation? Why is the Clanless getting everything he’s ever wanted handed to him on a silver platter, while I had to fight day and night to get what meager power I could—and for what—so some monstrous woman could come and erase us for something that outsider did? No. no way. I can’t let that happen.

“… I do,” Gao Feng muttered after a moment. “His name is Taryn.”

“The Clanless boy?” the patriarch mumbled.

“Yes, Patriarch. He killed Gu Qigang and fled the city with a woman, kidnapping two others in the process. One was my fiancé; the other was her brother.” He mustered his courage and looked the masked cultivator in the eye. “I beg of you, please rescue them from him,” Gao Feng pleaded, dropping his head to his chest in an attempt to show his sincerity.

The masked cultivator was quiet for a moment, then he began to chuckle. “Sure, kid. I’ll ask the boss to ‘save’ your girl.” He stood up and rejoined the other cultivators. Gao Feng found himself glaring at the group when a few of them glanced his way and started laughing.

“Bear with it, Gao Feng,” Teng De whispered. “You might’ve saved us with that lie. Sending them after the Clanless boy might just give us enough time to figure out a way to turn the tables on them—but offending them only brings their wrath down upon us again.”

“It wasn’t a lie,” Gao Feng whispered back. “I saw with my own eyes.”

“That’s not possible. The boy can’t cultivate, we made sure of that—”

“He’s figured out a way,” Gao Feng said. “I don’t know how, but he’s figured out a way. He’s a wild Eco cultivator.”

Teng De was silent for a moment. “Fan Shun…” he growled. “That traitor. I knew I shouldn’t have been so lenient with her.”

“Silence,” the patriarch said, motioning to the group of masked cultivators. “Fan Shun is a lot of things. But a traitor is not one of them. If the boy learned to cultivate, he learned it from another source. I would bet my life that Fan Shun did not break her promise… Unless we gave her reason to.” His gaze narrowed at Teng De.

“I did nothing of the sort,” Teng De gasped, clearly offended by the patriarch’s assumption.

A flash of bright red light erupted in the sky over their heads, causing Gao Feng’s body to shake once more. The dread was starting to overwhelm him. He could feel a river of cold sweat running down his spine without end. But after several seconds of nothing happening, he finally found the courage to look up.

Two more colorful balls of Eco joined the first, the blue and purple lights were absorbed by the larger red, which created a tri-color tail as it moved across the sky. The sight pleased the woman greatly, and a slight smile found its way onto her cold face. She walked to the edge of the wall closest to the forest and peered at something out of sight.

“About time,” the woman muttered, her voice barely above a whisper. But even that was enough to make Gao Feng’s nose bleed.

The masked cultivators and Duan He formed a circle around the Ukatas while the woman walked along the wall Then she stopped, and lifted a hand high into the air, a blade forming itself in a swirling burst of Eco. The blade was a foot across and as long as the woman was tall. In spite of this, she held it above her head with one hand.

In a single smooth motion, she slowly rotated the blade down until it pointed toward the wall beneath her feet—and though she appeared to apply no pressure to the blade, it cut into the wall as easily as a dirt mound.

Gao Feng caught the corners of her mouth turned downward a fraction of a second before she twisted the entire blade ninety degrees. He watched as crimson Eco flowed in serpentine waves from her hand, down the length of the blade, and into the wall. A sound unlike anything he’d ever heard tore through the air, then—Kaboom! The entire wall shook.

Gao Feng, Hao Li, Teng De, and the other elders were all suddenly grabbed after the explosion and were dragged through the air as the masked cultivators leapt from the top of the wall.

Gao Feng was slammed onto his back the moment they touched down on the roof of a nearby building. He groaned in pain from a bump on his head, but quickly forgot about the pain due to the insane sight before him.

A single line ran down the side of the otherwise unmarred wall. The sight of that line, more than anything, revealed the true power of the woman the invaders called “boss.”

Properly trained battle Eco cultivators could slice apart a tree from a dozen paces. Someone on the level of Fan Shun, in her prime, could slice through a stone wall from that same distance… But this was something Gao Feng had never imagined possible.

He was shocked once again, when the woman did it a second time. Twenty feet away from her first cut, a second one appeared. This time, Gao Feng got a front row view of the crimson wave as it traveled from the top of the wall to the base in the blink of an eye. Kaboom! The ground shook a second time as the light hit the ground and stopped dead.

While he was captivated by the sight of Haven City’s stalwart protector being dismantled before his eyes, Gao Feng became aware of movement around him.

To his left the matriarch of the Qiao clan was brought to her knees, her unmatched beauty marred with soot and drying blood. Her robe had been torn in multiple places, revealing a dangerous amount of creamy skin beneath.

To his right the Cai patriarch—or what was left of him—was dropped onto the roof. He had been a bear of a man. Taller than most by half a head, the Cai clan’s patriarch was said to be the physically strongest of the three clan leaders… And yet, the thing dropped next to Gao Feng was little more than a sack of tenderized meat.

I guess this is what that man meant about your organs bursting and your bones shattering… She did that with her voice?

Gao Feng turned back to the wall in time to see the section she’d cut off begin to tip over.

The piece of wall hit with enough force to shake the slum district so hard the buildings could no longer support their own weight, and the entire district collapsed in a giant heap of wood and stone.

A tense silence pervaded Haven City after the collapse. The silence continued to grow as the dust began to settle. The living couldn’t comprehend what’d just happened right in front of them, and the dead didn’t have time to care.

Large, lizard-like constructs of stone and wood climbed over the fallen piece of wall and entered the city by the dozens. The entire situation had been pulled straight from Gao Feng’s worst nightmare. What has been unleashed upon us?

Chapter Two

Taryn’s nostrils filled with the suffocating humidity of the forest as Rala rose on another wonderful day outside of Haven City. He groaned as he stretched his legs and back, preparing to go through with the arduous task of crawling out of his comfy bed of moss. Though his body had mostly healed from having a tower dropped on him, he was still filled with aches and pains that made moving difficult.

He sat up, stretched his arms high above his head, and let out a quiet yawn. He held the stretch until he could feel several vertebrae pop. He sighed as the tension left his upper back and shoulders.

“Morning. You’re the second one awake,” a woman said from a few paces to his left.

Turning his head in that direction, Taryn found himself looking at Fan Shun, the woman who found and adopted him as her grandson. Though she was in her eighties, eighty-seven if you wanted to be specific, Fan Shun appeared to be in her twenties, with vibrant blue eyes and short black hair.

She appeared weary, but there was a life in her eyes that Taryn realized he wasn’t used to seeing. Back when they were living in Haven City, Fan Shun did everything in her power to make sure Taryn had had a good life. And now, seeing her free from her responsibility, he saw a happiness in her that made him sad—sad because she’d had to give up her life in order to raise him, and sad that she’d suffered as much as he did, though in a different way.

Taryn reiterated to himself, for probably the dozenth time, that he would never allow himself to put her in that position again.

“Really?” he asked. Looking around, he spotted the unmoving forms of two others sleeping off to the side of the small campfire Fan Shun set up the night before.

Qiao Xia Yawen and her younger twin brother, Qiao Xia Wei were their traveling companions and fellow Haven City refugees. The two former nobles seemed in low spirits as of late, though Taryn didn’t know why.

He’d thought about asking them, and trying to be a good friend… But then he remembered that they weren’t friends, not really. And he didn’t want to mess up their tenuous relationship by prying into something that wasn’t his business.

He would be there if they wanted to talk about what was on their mind. Otherwise—

“Hey, Taryn. Did you fall asleep sitting up?” Fan Shun asked with a note of humor in her voice.

“No, I was just thinking about something.”

“Try not to do too much of that. You tend to make bad decisions when you’ve been thinking.”

“Funny. Hang on a minute while I go find my sense of humor. I’d hate to miss you in such rare form.” Taryn stood up from his makeshift bed and trudged away from the campsite. His body was drawing attention to a particular need, and he knew that if he didn’t answer nature’s summons now, he’d be changing his pants after Fan Shun hit him a few times.

* * *

Taryn desperately tried to get out of the way, but he was too slow. The fist that landed in his gut struck with enough force to lift his feet off the ground and launch him back several feet.

Though he tried to maintain his footing, the added pressure of Fan Shun’s unrelenting fists bearing down on him was enough to make him stumble backwards in a desperate attempt to buy time.

Fan Shun threw a flurry of quick punches that Taryn barely managed to dodge. Each blow passed within two centimeters of his body.

Those he couldn’t dodge, he attempted to parry. But Fan Shun was much stronger than he was, and every parry required all of his strength and focus to complete. Any less and Fan Shun would knock him senseless.

Taryn back flipped over a kick aimed at his legs, and immediately attempted to counterattack. He leapt forward with his leading knee aimed at Fan Shun’s face… It was only after seeing her smirk that Taryn realized his mistake.

Fan Shun dipped beneath his knee and lifted her shoulder directly into his pelvis. Taryn shouted in pain as his body came to an immediate stop on the wall that was his grandmother. He attempted to curl into a ball, like a turtle retreating into its shell, but Fan Shun wasn’t done with him.

With a few tilting movements of her head and shoulders, Taryn headed straight for the ground—only to be surprised when his head landed on something soft. Fan Shun had “gently” rolled him onto her leg and used her foot to push him into a seated position.

“Thanks—ouch!” Taryn shouted as Fan Shun’s palm made contact with the back of his head as he stood up.

“What did I tell you about trying the fancy stuff?” she asked him.

“Not to?” he replied while rubbing the back of his head.

“And… why did I tell you that?”

“Because you’re mean—” Taryn flinched as Fan Shun raised her hand. “I—I mean—what I meant to say was… because you’re concerned about me.”

“Taryn,” she sighed. “That flying stuff might look fun, but you’re not at that level yet. You can barely lay a hand on me when I’m not using Eco. How are you going to deal with someone trying to kill you?”

“Ask them really nicely not to.”

“You’re not funny.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” Taryn muttered, growing frustrated with the conversation. “Why don’t you give me an example? Tell me what’s happening, and I’ll tell you what I’d do in that situation. Sound fair?”

Fan Shun shrugged her shoulders. “Someone’s attacking your left leg with a kick.”

Taryn took the image of someone kicking at him and used it to run a search through the Mourner’s memories for possible counters. Thirty-seven martial techniques returned almost instantly, with more coming the longer he thought about it. He then took those that fit the qualifications—low Eco use, relatively quick setup time, and possessing enough power to—Fan Shun kicked the side of Taryn’s leg and swept his feet out from under him.

Taryn’s body spun through the air for a moment before he crashed onto his right side. He groaned as he pushed himself into a kneeling position. “I wasn’t ready,” he muttered.

“That’s exactly my point.” She sighed as she took him by the arm and helped him to his feet. “I understand, believe me. You have all this knowledge in your head, and no idea what to do with it… Which is exactly why you need to stick to the basics first. Understand?”

Taryn nodded. “Yeah.”

“Good. Then let’s do this one more time, from the top.”

Taryn groaned again, though for a completely different reason. He supposed it was almost entirely his fault. He begged and pleaded for training for years. Now that she was able to train him without the looming threat of the clan finding out, Fan Shun was eager to make up for lost time.

Perhaps a bit too eager…The worst part—at least in Taryn’s opinion—was the fact that she wanted to train him without allowing him to use Eco.

As a shifter cultivator—someone capable of using wild Eco to transform their bodies into more bestial forms—Taryn couldn’t use the full power of his wild Eco without shifting… Which is a problem I'll need to fix, he realized. If wild Eco cultivators could figure out a way to manifest their bestial strength at all times, couldn’t they match the strength of a battle Eco warrior?

“There you are,” Wei said as he meandered into the small clearing between the seemingly unending line of Mokan trees. Fan Shun and Taryn had claimed it for their training sessions almost immediately.

Not that you would find Wei complaining. Since leaving the city, he’d seemed happy to lounge by the campfire and sleep the days away. Meanwhile his sister Yawen had spent the last few weeks training in the ancient art of disappearing for ten hours a day.

She would sit by the campfire for a few hours in the morning, disappear around midday, and return after nightfall. Fan Shun said she was likely off training, but Taryn didn’t think that was quite right. Yawen didn’t seem tired when she returned. At least not physically. Instead, she seemed… downtrodden. He would even go as far as saying she seemed sad. She probably misses Gao Feng.

“Elder Fan Shun,” Wei said after approaching them. “Sorry to bother you during your daily Taryn thrashing session. Though I am slightly upset that you didn’t tell me before you started. You know how I like to watch—”

“Get to the point. Please.” Fan Shun chuckled.

“My sister and I were just wondering if the two of you would like to get moving. After breakfast, of course.”

Instead of answering immediately, Fan Shun turned her head to Taryn and regarded him for a moment. “Aside from the bruises I just gave you, how are you feeling?”

“Sore,” Taryn admitted. “But well enough to get moving. We’ve wasted enough time because of me. I’d rather not be the reason we wasted anymore.”

“Wonderful.” Wei smiled and clapped his hands together. “We’ll begin moving after another bowl of my delicious mushroom surprise,” he said before leaving with a wide smile on his face.

“The surprise is that it leaves your body faster than it enters,” Taryn muttered with a disgusted look on his face.

“I think I’m going to go hungry today.” Fan Shun shrugged her shoulders. “Oh well. Might as well go back to training while we wait on the two of them to eat… Unless you wanted to join them?”

Without even thinking. Taryn threw a back fist at her face—which she blocked—and followed it with a kick aimed at her hip. She casually knocked his leg aside at the last possible moment and stepped into his body. Then she lightly thrust her palm into his side, just above his fourth rib. He felt something pass through his skin and directly attack his organs.

The blow sent him reeling for the few seconds it took her to bring her hand down on the back of his neck and knock him into the dirt. “A bit simple. But not bad. Again.” She said with a grin on her face.

Taryn coughed out a mouthful of spit and glared up at her. “I’m going to hit you eventually, and when I do…”

“Bring it on, brat. I’ve got nothing but time to kick your butt into the dirt.”

Taryn pushed off the ground and immediately rushed her. So what if he had yet to last ten seconds in a spar. Like she said, they had nothing but time. And truth be told, Taryn would gladly take a few more bruises if it meant he didn’t have to suffer through Wei’s “surprise” again.

* * *

Qiao Xia Yawen pinched her nose at the smell wafting from the campfire. Her brother had returned in a surprisingly good mood and immediately set to cooking that abomination he called “mushroom surprise.”

She let out a sigh and leaned back against a tree. She was nervous, though she didn’t know why. No one from Haven City knew where they were. And while she had no doubt that they would send someone to look for her, she was confident that they were far enough away from Haven City to avoid any patrols they might send.

So, why can’t I shake this uneasiness? Yawen knew she should be happy. She’d gotten what she always wanted—freedom—from her overbearing mother, and from the clan who only wanted a puppet to control.

Had she stayed in Haven City, she never would’ve found peace. But then again, she wasn’t at peace now. Throughout all of her planning and dreams of this moment, she never would’ve thought that she would be alone.

Gao Feng, you idiot. Why did you have to leave? She knew she should still be furious with him. And on some level, she was. He’d betrayed her trust and chosen a life in the Ukata clan over a life with her.

Regardless, she could not stay in Haven City. There was no way her clan would have ever allowed her to give up her name and marry him. They would see her dead before they allowed their precious techniques to fall into the hands of the Ukata.

She sighed and stood up. She was preparing to walk into the forest, as she had done every day for the last few weeks.

“Don’t disappear on us. I already asked Elder Shun and Taryn if we would be moving out today. Elder Shun has declared that we will move out after breakfast. Mushroom surprise?” he asked while holding out a makeshift wooden bowl full of a mysterious purple liquid.

Yawen paused in her tracks and looked back over her shoulder at him. “What kind of mushrooms did you say you used?”

“No idea. But they didn’t kill any of the animals I watched eat them. And they taste all right. Could use a little bit of salt, though…” He trailed off while staring intently at his bowl of purple yuck.

Yawen shook her head and quietly made her way back over to the tree. If they were moving out soon, she may as well sit down and wait since there was nothing else for her to do.

A little voice inside her told her that she needed to train, to grow stronger. She quashed that voice and shoved it to the back of her mind. She was finally free of her family. Her martial arts were the only thing still connecting her to the Qiao clan… And she would die before she let them have any more power over her.

Whether it was their martial techniques, their equipment, or their name, Yawen wanted nothing to do with any of it.

Thankfully, the hours pass quickly when you're absorbed in thoughts of making your ex-clan unhappy. Before Yawen knew it, it was time to go.

It was much to Yawen’s relief that the four cultivators began moving shortly after midday. The sweltering heat was making their clothes stick to their bodies, and their mouths grew dryer by the second. But they didn’t have the luxury of waiting for the weather to suit them.

They were at the peak of summer. It would be months before the temperature dropped below ninety degrees. And none of them wanted to rough it in the forest until then.

They’d been lucky so far. The Eco beasts that called the forest home had mostly left them alone—

“Here you go little Yi. Say Ah,” Wei muttered while moving a purple mushroom towards the small rodent riding on his shoulder. The floppy-eared creature shook his head and dashed away from Wei’s hand, choosing to hide within the collar of his robe.

“What’s the matter little guy; aren’t you hungry?”

“I don’t think he’ll eat those mushrooms,” Taryn said while staring pointedly at the mushroom. “He’s a carnivore. Maybe you should try giving him some jerky?”

“Nonsense.” Wei shook his head. “You like mushrooms, don’t you little Yi?”

“No, I think Taryn is correct,” Fan Shun said. “I think your little friend will have stomach issues if you force it to eat that.”

“Why?” Wei asked.

Yawen could tell by the look on his face that he was genuinely confused. And more to the point, she was embarrassed by his questions. “Honestly. I knew you slept through most of our classes but come on Wei. Even you have to know the answer to that one,” she said in a tone more forceful than she’d intended.

“I’m not stupid,” Wei huffed. “Just confused because I thought rats were omnivores. So, why wouldn’t he eat it?”

“Because it’s poisonous,” Taryn sighed.

Wei tossed the mushroom aside as if it bit him. “Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?” he shouted. What if I had eaten that? I could’ve died.”

“Please.” Taryn snorted. “After seeing you eat that thing you called ‘mushroom surprise,’ I’m not sure if you can be poisoned.”

As Taryn and Wei began to bicker back and forth. Yawen caught herself staring at Taryn’s uncovered face—something she’d never seen back in Haven City. The horrible burns across the top half of his face should’ve made her sick to her stomach. But they didn’t. They were just another part of Taryn, one she found that she didn’t mind.

Come to think of it, I don’t know how he got those scars. Did he always have them, or did he get them in Haven City? Yawen blinked as something occurred to her. What do I actually know about him? She tried to remember any of the conversations the two of them had during their brief friendship. But none stood out to her.

Thinking on it a bit further, Yawen realized that she couldn’t remember a single thing they’d done together. She was so caught up in her home life—and her relationship with Gao Feng—that Taryn became an afterthought. An uncomfortable weight settled into the pit of her stomach as she recalled how she’d treated him.

How she’d abandoned him to his fate, without so much as a warning of the destiny the clans had planned for him.

The weight of her guilt tripled in intensity, and she began to feel slightly nauseous. She’d spent so long hating the Qiao clan for the way they treated people. But was she really any better? Well, she might not have been directly responsible for their crimes against Taryn, but she had done nothing to prevent any of it.

The idea that she was becoming anything like her mother made her grit her teeth and tighten her fists until her knuckles went white.

I am nothing like her… I’m not.

* * *

Wei discreetly glanced between Taryn and Yawen. He couldn’t help but sigh at the way they were acting.

While he was by no means an expert on all things Taryn, he could read the expressions on Yawen’s face as easily as turning the pages of a book. He could see the guilt eating her from the inside. Could see the self-pity and hatred festering, bubbling to the surface like a pot of boiling water.

He could practically hear the voices inside her head besmirching their mother. And that brought a sympathetic smile to his face.

He hated the ice queen too, but not for the same reason as Yawen.

He hated her, because she’d hated him. The men of the Qiao clan were only good for one thing—bringing daughters into the world to lead the future generations. But with Wei’s preferences being what they were, he was worthless in the eyes of the clan.

Wei agonized over that for years. At one point, he even debated forcing himself to marry some woman just to make his mother look his way. He’d often wondered if that would make her proud of him.

But the truth was nothing he could do would ever be good enough for her. He would never be strong enough, or talented enough for his witch of a mother. So why bother trying?

He only wished his sisters had come to the same conclusion.

His younger sister, Xia Yazhu, was a lost cause. She was a carbon copy of their mother. But he’d always held out hope for his twin, Yawen. She was the smart one of the siblings. If anyone could break the tradition and bring hope to the Qiao, Wei wholeheartedly believed it would be her. Now, if only she would learn to apologize.

The one thing Wei knew she’d inherited from their mother was pride and stubbornness. Wei had no doubt that Taryn would forgive her, and they could move past whatever issues they had.

Wei only hoped being out of the city would help them overcome their problems. He wasn’t sure how long he could watch the two of them steal glances back and forth. It was enough to drive a guy crazy.

He reached up to pat little Yi’s head and let out another sigh. “They’re just being silly, aren’t they little Yi? If they’d just get over themselves and say what is on their minds, maybe things wouldn’t be so awkward around here,” he whispered into the tiny rodent’s ear. Little Yi responded by rubbing its head against the back of Wei’s neck and snuggled into the collar of Wei’s robe to sleep.

* * *

Fan Shun watched the teenagers from behind with a smile on her face. Now that they had a moment’s peace, she was hopeful that, with her newfound freedom, she could make up for the years Taryn was forced to suffer. But something had been weighing on her lately.

She glanced down at her left hand and grimaced at the bandage wrapped around her knuckles and palm.

Fan Shun gingerly, as if it were a tube of delicate glass, sent a bit of Eco through the channels inside her hand. Blood began to soak through from beneath the bandages, causing her grimace to deepen.

Fan Shun knew what was wrong. She just wasn’t sure how to fix it.

She’d been a cultivator on the spirit rising level before she adopted Taryn, and subsequently had her Eco sealed. But now, with the seal removed, the Eco inside her body was too much for her atrophied channels to handle.

Fan Shun wasn’t sure what would happen if she continued using Eco techniques, which was why she was so hellbent on making sure Taryn could survive on his own. Because Fan Shun wasn’t sure how much longer her body would let her travel with them.

Chapter Three

A recovery team of over fifty cultivators marched through the Mokan Forest. The long, spindly tree limbs gave the illusion the cultivators were walking through a forest of giant spiders.

The team had left behind what remained of Haven City’s outer wall in their search for the Clanless trash and the Ukata and Qiao traitors. From above it appeared as if the group had been divided according to the color of their robes. Though the truth was slightly different.

Blue clad Ukata were the tenuously elected leaders of the group, in part due to the fact that the venerable Elder Teng De was the one leading the expedition.

The Ukata clan members accompanying him were his four advisors, otherwise known as elders—Ukata Song Ming, Ukata Xiao Shui, Ukata Liang Zan, and Ukata Gao Mei—along with ten cultivators in the body refining realm and Gao Feng.

Green clad Qiao clan contributed an additional ten members to the recovery effort, led by the Qiao’s sixth elder: Qiao Xuan Delan, while the red clad Cai clan sent eight warriors of the Channel Building stage and two cultivators of the body refining realm.

The remaining twenty men, clad largely in black with red accents, were led by Duan He. His group was only supposed to monitor the clan members and ensure they fulfilled their end of the bargain they’d struck with the boss… and in the event they failed to do so, eliminate them.

Together, this was the group assigned to track down—and retrieve—Taryn, Fan Shun, Yawen, and Wei. However, due to their inexperience forgoing the comforts of home, many of the clan members were ill-suited for the job. For one thing, they were not prepared for the stifling humidity they felt beneath the spindly branches of the Mokan trees. Even worse, Mokan tree limbs resembled the legs of a large arachnid, which made the younger members intensely uneasy—a sight that left Gao Feng feeling slightly proud of himself.

He found the trees disturbing to be sure. But after being chased by a literal horde of the dead… the trees seemed rather tame by comparison.

“Gao Feng.”

He looked up when he heard his name. In his lap was a hand-drawn map showing the last spot he’d seen Yawen, but it was forgotten for the moment. Around him men and women as young as twenty on up to the older generation were gathered around the eight campfires they’d constructed before Rala’s light disappeared. A meager dinner of dried rations was all they had to sustain them for another day of marching.

The man who’d spoken his name approached confidently, his head held high and his back straight as an arrow. He was tall with black hair that was graying at the temples. His name was Ukata Teng De, and though young for an elder, he had successfully guided the Ukata clan for thirty years. His calm temperament and vast knowledge of Eco meant he was widely respected both inside and outside of the clan.

“Yes, Elder De?” Gao Feng asked. He quickly stood to greet him, shoving the map into his back pocket as he did.

Teng De noticed this action but said nothing.

“Haven’t I asked you a hundred times not to call me that?” Teng De asked tiredly. He, like the rest of them, had not gotten much sleep since leaving the city.

“Sorry, Uncle De.”

“It’s fine, Gao. But listen, I didn’t walk all the way over here just to speak with my favorite nephew. There’s something I need you to do.”

“I’ll do whatever you need me to do.” Gao Feng said immediately.

“I need you by my side, leading our group from the front. As much as I hate to admit it, you’re the only person here who’s been out of the city.”

“Of course, Uncle De.” Gao Feng grabbed the brown rucksack at his feet and slipped it over his shoulders. He also picked up the black scabbard resting by his foot and slipped it into a metal ring attached to the side of his belt.

“I won’t let you down, Elder De.”

“For the love of all that is holy,- stop calling me that,” Teng De grumbled as he walked away to allow Gao Feng to settle in for the night.

They both knew they were going to need all the energy they could get to catch up to a group led by an unsealed Fan Shun.

* * *

Nearly a hundred miles away, Dawen’s silver light filtered through the branches of the Mokan trees and pine trees overhead. Taryn was excited to see new life after seeing nothing but Mokan trees for the last few weeks.

The new plants brought with them new and intriguing smells, most of which Taryn had never experienced before.

With the plants came animals, though they were not the large Eco beasts Taryn had become used to avoiding every day. These creatures were small and seemed to possess very little Eco on their own.

Little Yi seemed especially thrilled to witness small, brown, furred rodents chasing each other through the branches and along the forest floor. On numerous occasions, Wei had to chase little Yi into the bushes or risk losing sight of him in the increasingly darkening shade cast by the trees.

As night would shortly be upon them, it wouldn’t be wise for the little rodent to run off on his own. At least, not until they knew what predators might lurk within the shadows.

“We’ll set up camp up ahead.” Fan Shun announced, motioning towards the shore of a lake peeking through the trees.

Taryn quickened his steps and broke through the tree line within a few minutes. He immediately tossed his bag aside and dropped to his knees in the loose sand of the shallow beach surrounding the lake.

Gentle waves lapped at Taryn’s legs, soaking his clothes, and cleansing him of most of the day’s buildup of sweat and dirt.

For good measure, he took a deep breath and dunked his head in the water. He scrubbed at his scalp with his fingers until he could hold his breath no longer.

Taryn breached the surface of the water, sucking in a lungful of air and climbing to his feet. He plodded out of the lake to rejoin the others onshore.

“Sorry,” he said while wringing out his hair. “I’ve been wanting to do that for ages.”

“I can tell,” Fan Shun laughed. “But since you jumped in ahead of the rest of us, you get to set up camp while we go play in the water.” She dropped her bag at Taryn’s feet, kicked her shoes off, and waded in without giving him the opportunity to object.

She walked until the water was slightly beyond her waist. Then she dove under the water, leaving the three teenagers standing confused on the shore.

“Come on, little Yi.” Wei chuckled at the rodent’s excited squeaking, as he also dumped his bag at Taryn’s feet. Little Yi dove off Wei’s shoulder the moment the water was deep enough and disappeared beneath the waves, prompting Wei to dive in after him.

Which left only Yawen, Taryn, and the awkward silence between them.

“I—”

“You know—” They both began to speak, only to be interrupted by the other. Taryn laughed nervously at the accident, while Yawen seemed to grow frustrated.

Taryn gazed down at Yawen’s eyes, which were barely even with his chest, a halfhearted smile plastered across his face. “Why don’t you leave your stuff with me and go join the others?” he offered.

“I will, later, when I have time to properly relax. For now, we need to get camp set up before Rala drops below the tree line. Would you mind collecting firewood?” she asked, dropping her bag on the ground.

“Sure. I can do that,” Taryn said, nodding. He jogged off into the forest and searched around the bases of the towering Mokans for fallen leaves and small branches.

Though the branches were light, and mostly hollow, causing their spindly nature, Mokan leaves were full of flammable sap that made them the perfect tinder for getting a fire going.

After collecting several arms full of sticks and sap laden leaves, Taryn returned to the group and deposited his finds beside Yawen, who was sitting with her legs folded beneath her.

“Thanks,” she said without looking at him, instead choosing to keep her eyes closed and her attention directed inwards.

Taryn knew what she was doing. He’d grown used to the routine during the weeks they’d traveled together. Rather than sitting by and waiting, Taryn began constructing a small fire pit in front of her.

As Yawen’s eyes snapped open, Taryn couldn’t hold back a small smile.

It’d taken her a few minutes to gather the power within her. But now that she had, Yawen parted her lips and exhaled. A gaseous yellow Eco flowed from her mouth and gathered around the fire pit.

Taryn’s eyes began to itch as the temperature of the surrounding air rose sharply. He looked away from the pit a second before the temperature spiked and the kindling combusted into a brilliant orange flame that flickered in the dim light.

Yawen smiled proudly at the fire and glanced at Taryn. Likewise, Taryn was excited to get a firsthand look at fire elemental Eco in action.

Fire Eco was one of the more common varieties in Haven City. Most—if not all—fire Eco users were forbidden from practicing their art at the training grounds for fear of burning them down... again.

“That’s amazing,” Taryn whispered while staring at the blaze. His inner Eco-fanatic reared its head for the first time in weeks and dragged him down a rabbit hole of possible applications for fire Eco, made only more severe by the addition of the Mourner’s practical knowledge on the subject.

However, even with an immortal’s knowledge at his fingertips, he was still oblivious to something that was patently obvious to the two people watching them from the water. Taryn was completely unaware of the effect his casual praise had on Yawen, a girl who’d been so starved of affection that even a casual compliment caused her cheeks to flush and her pulse to quicken.

She quickly stood and went to join Fan Shun and Wei in the water, leaving Taryn to think by himself.

* * *

As Dawen made its appearance later that night, it brought with it the music of the forest: The cicadas screamed for love, the lowly forest mouse leapt through the trees in search of its favorite food (a special fruit that only grew in the Mokan Forest), and the horned owl’s wings beat in time with the wind passing through the leaves as it chased its favorite meal.

But while the forest had come alive with the disappearance of Rala, Taryn and the others had finally grown tired enough to fall into a tenuous slumber, their minds filling with peaceful dreams that lulled them even deeper into their sleep—yet Taryn’s dreams were not so peaceful… nor was he even sure he was dreaming.

He found himself standing in a dark cave with only a single source of light to guide him, which was much farther away than he was comfortable with. The pinprick of light did little to guide his feet, but it was enough to serve as his goal.

Because if he could see it, then somehow, someway, he could get to it.

The sound of dripping water echoed through the darkness engulfing Taryn. It tapped in time with his heartbeat, pounding in his chest. In spite of this, Taryn kept pushing forward.

Every step brought him closer to his goal, towards the light coming from the end of the tunnel. Taryn paid little mind to the wet, sinking feeling he was experiencing through his shoes. That didn’t matter, the darkness behind him didn’t matter.

Taryn’s sole focus was on the light in front of him.

But every step that brought him closer to the light weighed on him. It was growing more difficult to move his legs. And he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was pulling on his shirt, trying to haul him backwards into the darkness.

Still, the light was getting bigger. Taryn’s perseverance was paying off. Soon, he would not have to concern himself with the darkness anymore. Soon, he would find what he’d been seeking for so many years… Taryn’s body came to a complete and sudden stop.

What am I doing? Taryn tried for a moment to recall where he was. But no matter how he thought about it, none of this was making sense.

Where was he?

Taryn finally looked down and found himself standing in a knee-high pool of crystal-clear water. He could see the bones of the fallen floating past his ankles.

Taryn couldn’t keep from staring at them. As he watched a skull drift by on the undercurrent, he glimpsed something out of the corner of his eye. He looked behind him.

Though the dim light made it difficult to see, Taryn’s vision quickly adjusted to the darkness. Just ten feet behind where he was standing, the water flowed upwards, forming a wall of liquid and bone that was slowly moving towards Taryn. And at the center of the water wall was a skeleton with a single arm reaching outwards… towards Taryn.

It didn’t take Taryn long to realize that this skeleton was the origin of the sound of dripping water, as droplets fell from its boney fingers in a consistent rhythm. Ta-tap, ta-tap, ta-tap.

Taryn began to backpedal. But his foot landed on a slick spot and came out from under him. He had to fight to keep his head above water as he sank to his shoulders and scrambled back to his feet.

The wall of water never stopped moving. Now it was five feet away and seemed to be gaining speed since Taryn slipped.

Taryn pushed off the floor with both feet and used his arms to move the water out of his way. He drove forward, desperate to get away from the strange thing following him.

With renewed vigor he struggled towards the light.

Fear and resolve. The two emotions went to war inside Taryn’s mind, each one wanting to gain a foothold over the other.

In spite of this internal struggle, Taryn was making progress. The pinprick of light Taryn had first seen had grown to the size of a door.

When Taryn was a dozen feet from the portal of light, he took a chance and glanced behind him. The skeleton’s hand was almost close enough to grab him now.

Taryn’s heart pounded in his chest as he poured every last ounce of effort he had into getting away.

He pushed and pushed. Just when he thought he’d do it, and he’d get away, he felt two drops of water land inside the collar of his robe.

Taryn didn’t hesitate.

He threw himself forward and ducked beneath the surface of the water while he scrambled those last few feet towards freedom.

His hand was the first thing to pierce the portal's veil. Almost instantly he noticed something he hadn’t been expecting: a drastic change in temperature. Enough to make Taryn’s hand shake down to the very bone. But Taryn believed anything was preferable to whatever that thing would do to him if it caught him.

Taryn scrambled to the portal as fast as he could. He reached it with time to spare, but discovered a problem almost immediately—the water churned quickly above the portal and actively fought against Taryn by pushing him towards the surface, preventing him from simply swimming through the portal.

The floor around the portal was covered in slick algae that stopped him from clinging to it. Taryn knew he didn’t have time to play around. Not only was he running out of air, causing his lungs to burn like he’d swallowed a torch, but he knew the skeleton was rapidly drawing closer.

Desperate for salvation, Taryn kicked off the ground and threw himself at the portal. He immediately got caught in the current and had to fight not to be pulled away. Before getting flung away, he just managed to get his fingers through the portal. They latched onto something that was slick but possessed enough of an edge for him to grab onto. Unfortunately, the moment his fingers touched the inner wall of the portal, the current doubled in intensity.

With a literal fingerhold keeping him from a potentially grisly death, Taryn fought against the current until he could get his other hand through the portal. He had to keep scrambling on the algae covered floor to maintain his grip. His feet were slipping so much, he almost wished he was running across a frozen lake instead.

When he finally managed to get a good hold on the edge of the portal, he shoved a single arm through and felt around for something to pull against. Finally! His hand landed on something solid. It was icy to the touch, and slender enough for Taryn to wrap his fingers all the way around it.

The first good yank enabled him to get his other arm through the portal, allowing him to grab whatever it was with both hands. Taryn pulled hard on the object and used it to climb into the light mere moments before the skeletal hand sank into the water after him.

Taryn’s head burst through a ring of ice, and he immediately felt his lungs seize up as the freezing temperature caught up with him. Without thinking, he pulled on the thing he was still holding onto and pulled himself out of the freezing water and onto a glacier.

Taryn sucked in ragged breaths as his body shivered in an effort to stave off hypothermia.

“You should not be here,” a voice said from above Taryn’s head.

Panting, Taryn arched his back and looked into the masked face of a hooded man. A dark ceramic mask obscured his face, leaving only a pair of crimson eyes visible.

“What are you doing here, Taryn?”

“Who—”

“You know who I am,” the masked man said.

Taryn stared up at the man. His mind was too stunned by recent events to truly process what was going on.

Only one person came to mind.

“You’re the… the Mourner?”

The masked man made a noise of agreement and sat down on the ice beside Taryn’s head. Taryn noticed the man struggling to bend his left leg. Rather than sitting down, it would be more accurate to say he fell backwards.

“Now tell me, why have you come here?” the Mourner asked.

“I’m not really sure where ‘here’ is. But since you’re here, I guess that means I’m dreaming.” Taryn sighed.

“Dreaming?” the Mourner scoffed, motioning to the glacier that stretched on for miles in every direction. “If this is what you’d consider a dream, I’d hate to see what you consider a nightmare.”

Taryn shivered and sat up. “Can’t argue with you there. You wouldn’t happen to have any idea what that skeleton was, would you?” Taryn asked, gazing around at the glacier. “While I’d love to chalk it up to a side effects of eating Wei’s cooking, something tells me food poisoning doesn’t usually cause that.”

“That was your first tribulation. Every cultivator has to go through it, though each Eco type has a different trial to overcome. If I recall correctly, the first wild Eco tribulation is the trial of perseverance.”

“Sorry, but—what’s a tribulation?”

“Easiest way to explain it is as a test from the universe. See, Eco has sentience. It may not be on the same level as you or me, but it does. And it doesn’t like to give out its power easily. So, it tests us to see if we’re worthy of the privilege of cultivating.”

“And… if we fail?”

“Then you’ll no longer be a cultivator.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense—”

“You’ll also be dead.”

Taryn’s brain froze for a moment. Eventually he sighed and began to look around.

“So, what happens now? Do I just pick a direction and start walking?”

“Trying to ditch me so soon?” The mourner chuckled. “Well, don’t worry. When you wake up, you’ll be back at the lake. All warm and cozy beside the fire.”

“How do you—”

“I know a lot more than I should, but not as much as I’d like… But you should already know that. After all, you’ve read my journal, haven’t you?”

“Er—well—I’ve skimmed it. Been a bit too preoccupied with trying to stay alive to read the rest of it.”

The mourner sighed. “Do us both a favor and read the journal. Memorize it if you can.”

“I will. I’ll—I’ll read the whole thing. Mind if I ask you something, sir?”

“What?”

“Why’re you helping me? First you gave me the prophesy, and now this. Why?”

The Mourner didn’t say anything at first. He just stared off into the distance, eyes locked onto something Taryn couldn’t see. “Let’s just say I have a vested interest in you staying alive and leave it at that.”

“I think I deserve to know the truth, er, sir.”

“You will. In time. But right now, you wouldn’t understand even if I told you.”

A flash of light stretched across the sky, illuminating the glacier with a pale blue shimmer. The crashing of thunder followed the light and drew Taryn’s attention skyward.

“What’s that?” Taryn asked.

“Not sure. We’re inside your head. Either you’ve got a monster living between your ears, or—” Another crash of thunder slammed into Taryn’s ears, causing them to vibrate erratically. “Or you’re waking up.” The Mourner sighed. “Listen, before you go. Take care of Iddrai. He can be a bit of an annoying ass, but he means well.”

Startled, Taryn turned his head to look at the Mourner, but instead of a glacier he found himself sitting beside the lake. The humidity in the air was causing his robe to stick to his body and sweat to drip from his brow.

“Snoooore…”

Taryn’s eye twitched out of annoyance, and he glared at the person on his left.

“Snoooore,” Wei snored.

Well, that explains the thunder. Taryn sighed. He rolled away from Wei’s aggressive snoring and tried his best to go back to sleep. But Taryn would not find any more sleep on this night.

Chapter Four

The heavy, leather-bound book felt comfortable in Taryn’s hands. A cool summer breeze floated through his hair, carrying with it the smell of pine needles and soil. The two smells filled his nostrils as he opened the Mourner’s journal to the first page.

He’d tried for hours to fall asleep. But every time he closed his eyes, he was back inside that tunnel, the dreaded wall of water and bones hot on his tail.

Eventually Taryn decided that if he wasn’t going to sleep, at least he could do as the Mourner suggested and read the journal. Which was made easy by the flickering firelight at his side, and the dazzling silver light of Dawen shining from above.

Taryn observed the words for a moment. A part of him wondered if they’d jump off the page at him. But the more logical side, the one responsible for the burning curiosity in his gut, only made him eager to begin.

So, he did. He took a shallow breath and began reading.

* * *

Hello, successor. If you’re reading this, then one of my wishes was finally granted. By now you should have realized that things are changing. You now know things you shouldn’t and are dreaming of places you’ve never been. I would just like to assure you that this is nothing to be afraid of. I would never harm you. However, to prevent history from repeating itself, I have taken steps to ensure that you do not make the same mistakes that I have.

Within these pages are my observations of the various worlds I’ve been to. Some of them may even relate to yours. But within the journal, the very binding that you now hold, are my memories. And even now, you are absorbing them.

In a few days, you will have taken in every bit of experience I acquired over my long life. What you do with it is entirely up to you. When I did things my way, I failed, so I’m not going to tell you how to live your life. I don’t have that right. However, I would ask only one thing.

Live with no regrets.

—The Mourner

* * *

Taryn traced his fingers over the raised letters on the page. This is what started it all. He looked at the page for a moment longer before flipping to the next one.

* * *

1/13/759267

As I return to the early pages of my journal and read the ramblings of my younger self, I cannot help but reminisce over how simple everything was back then.

I was naïve to the ways of the world—a fact that was used to take advantage of me on more than one occasion. But if I were given the opportunity to go back and change my past… I don’t think I would.

The past I’ve recorded in these pages. They’re what makes me, me. And I like who I am. But I am not what is needed. I am the product of a failed cultivation method, and my soul is too far gone to cross the threshold to the higher realms.

I’ve failed, as a husband, as a father, and now, as a cultivator. But as I sit here contemplating ending it all, I cannot help but wonder: what if I used my knowledge of Eco to change things?

I know I possess the ability. Small scale testing has proved it. Of course, I’ve done nothing on the scale this would take. But the possibility is there.

If I decide to do this, the calculations alone will take decades, maybe longer… Which leaves me with a single question.

Would the world be better or worse off if I’d never existed?

I don’t know the answer.

I’ll start working on the calculations soon. Hopefully, by the time I’m done, I’ll at least have made up my mind. I’d hate to think I wasted all that time for nothing. Then again, it’s not like I have anything else to do these days.

Who knows; maybe focusing on a new project will be enough to keep my mind from wandering off again. I lost twenty years last time.

* * *

Taryn frowned at the page. It was smudged in several places, almost like someone had soaked it with water. Taryn forced himself to take a second look. Individual splash marks littered the page from top to bottom. But the droplet groupings grew closer together near the middle and bottom of the page.

It has been soaked with water. Just not intentionally…

Taryn sighed and flipped to the next page—and he froze at the sight of smudged ink on the reverse side of the page.

* * *

4/63/770425

It’s been a while since my last entry. And I really struggled with whether I should even bother writing this or not. But in the end, I couldn’t help myself.

Avarice and pride always were my greatest weaknesses. And the thought of not saying something—anything—before I activated the script was… terrifying. If this works, then I’ll be erased, body and soul. At least, that’s the theory.

I’d once heard legends of cultivators who could transmigrate their souls into the body of their descendants. Such an idea was tempting… Far more than I’d like to admit.

Which ultimately brought me back to a question I’d asked in my last entry.

Will the world be better off without me in it?

Well, I have my answer.

Yes. It would.

It pains me to admit it. But in order to build a future I can be proud of, I can’t be a part of it. My presence is like a virus, slowly infecting those around me and pulling them closer to their deaths.

I am a curse upon my family and friends.

Not even Iddrai was spared.

So, no, I can’t be the one to change the future. I’ll have to take a leap of faith and leave that to my successor.

I don’t—if it’ll work. But I plan to——ensure my successor will not repeat my failings—I will not interfere. Th—are free to make their own choices——own mistakes.

What remains of my legacy is now in their hands.

* * *

Taryn scowled at the barely legible text in the last paragraph. He knew he couldn’t really get mad at the Mourner. The man was clearly distressed. But possibly the most important paragraph was all but ruined by the wet paper.

Before meeting the Mourner in his dreams, Taryn wouldn’t have known whether it was coincidence or not. But now, he knew that they knew each other.

But why didn’t the Mourner mention that he knew the dragon, when he sent me to get the core? Taryn seriously doubted it’d merely slipped his mind. The Mourner was an unfathomable existence. There was no way he just forgot. Suppose I could always ask Iddrai. He’d probably appreciate the company anyway.

Taryn gently closed the journal and returned it to its place in his rucksack. He carefully wrapped the book in a length of linen cloth to keep the elements at bay, then placed it at the bottom of his rucksack and tied the bag up tightly.

With that done, he folded his legs in front of him and turned his attention inwards, focusing all that he was on the energy inside him.

Iddrai lived within Taryn’s mind, in a place he called the “soul space.” The only way Taryn knew to open the path to get there was to cultivate.

So, that’s what he did.

With every inhale, Taryn pulled ambient Eco into his nostrils. The energy traveled into his lungs, and from there was pushed outwards, into Taryn’s muscles, vessels, and organs. Every new intake of Eco reinforced Taryn’s body, making it healthier and more resistant to sickness and injury.

With every exhale, he expelled a dark mist composed of the impurities within his body—toxins, harmful bacteria, and any parasites he’d picked up from swimming in a strange lake. All was turned to dust under the onslaught of Eco flowing through his body.

This was the first step towards the body refining process. Normally, Taryn’s only concern would be to push the Eco through already established channels, where it would take care of the body purification process on its own. The channels were also used to quickly guide Eco to its proper destination and aid in the use of the powerful energy.

However, due to the method he’d used in the core construction phase, Taryn didn’t have Eco channels. Instead, a protective layer of Eco located just beneath his skin served as his core, containing his energy and allowing him to use it without channels. But therein lay his problem.

Without the channels to guide him and his Eco, he was forced to do everything manually. And that was taking far longer than he would’ve liked. The technique he’d used to construct his core reappeared in his mind as a three-dimensional image of himself performing the technique.

There has to be a way to improve efficiency. Except I don’t know how I’m supposed to fix something I’ve already created. Eco cores aren’t like walls. You can’t just tear it down and start over if something happens that you don’t like… Wait a minute. Maybe there is a way to fix that. I can’t change an already established core, sure. But there should be nothing stopping me from building a secondary core and using it to construct channels that could serve as the bridge between the two cores, right? One core for drawing in Eco, and a secondary core for refinement and control. The more he thought about the idea, the more sense it made—to him, at least.

Minutes turned into hours as Taryn remained motionless and focused his all on cultivating. He’d been focused for so long that he actually forgot the reason he’d started cultivating, instead of doing something else… like sleeping. So, it surprised Taryn to hear a voice reach out to him from the depths of his subconscious mind.

“While I congratulate you on possessing such a… unique core, you’ve only made it more difficult on yourself. How do you plan to focus your energy without channels?”

I was actually just thinking about that, Taryn admitted. But that can wait for now. I didn’t come to visit you to talk about my core, Iddrai. At the mention of the voice’s name, a vision appeared in Taryn’s mind.

He was suddenly standing on a mountain’s peak, surrounded by clouds the color of liquid fire. Despite the fact that he knew this place didn’t exist, Taryn was once again mesmerized by the color of the clouds and the warmth that permeated his bones.

Taryn cautiously looked down at the cloud layer and inhaled a nervous breath as he awaited the arrival of his “passenger,” who appeared moments later.

A giant five-fingered hand erupted from the clouds. Its size was such that it easily wrapped its fingers around the mountain’s peak. Silver scaled digits ending in wickedly sharp talons flexed as Iddrai, the last light bringer of Otholla, pulled himself into view.

A pair of long, slender horns emerged first, so dark they seemed to suck in the light around them. It took several seconds for Iddrai’s head to break the cloud layer, but the moment it did, Taryn’s eyes locked onto a pair of crimson orbs and refused to look away.

The thing rose through the clouds and continued to rise until it dwarfed Taryn’s mountain.

Iddrai lifted a scaled brow and openly appraised Taryn. “No? Then is this about your other passenger—the man in the porcelain mask?”

Suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you saw that. Taryn sighed as he realized just how little privacy he actually had. But I guess that saves me some time. If you could see him, could you hear him as well?

“No,” Iddrai replied with a shake of his massive head. “The most I can do is see what you see, and with the meager supply of Eco I draw from you to maintain this space, even that requires more effort than I care to expend. So, fear not, human. I will not intrude on your private dreams of the silver-haired female.”

Taryn’s face flushed scarlet, and he thought about blustering his way through a response, but gave up almost immediately. He knew denying it would do him no good, not if Iddrai could see his dreams basically whenever he wanted. Instead, he relayed the Mourner’s words to Iddrai and asked if they meant anything to the ancient dragon.

But Iddrai merely shook his head. “I don’t know how we’re connected either. We dragons inherit our ancestors’ memories at creation, and they mix almost perfectly with ours as we age. It’s possible he knew one of them and has mistaken me for the dragon he knew.”

But he knew your name—

“And I’ve said I don’t know how,” Iddrai said. “He also knew where to find me, correct?” At Taryn’s nod of affirmation, Iddrai continued. “Then it’s possible that he was someone from the old city—maybe even the one responsible for sealing me.”

I don’t think he would’ve done that. He seemed, I don’t know, protective, I guess.

“Then your guess is as good as mine.”

Taryn sighed as he realized that the conversation was going nowhere. Furthermore, he had a feeling that his time was running out. Soon the others would wake, and they’d begin moving once again.

Taryn gave a slight shrug.

You won’t mind if I ask you another question, will you? It’s related to my cultivation.

Iddrai revealed a toothy grin and shook his massive head. “I thought you weren’t here to talk about your cultivation?”

Changed my mind.

“I see… Very well, you may ask. But I reserve the right to not answer any question I choose; deal?”

Taryn nodded his head, took a steadying breath, and just asked the question. I think I’ve come up with a way to fix my control problem. But it would require me to create a second Eco core, one that’s within the bounds of my first core, for it to work. Have you ever heard of something like that?

“No. But that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t work—only that you’d be the first mad man to try it. I’m curious how the addition of a second core will affect your cultivation—or if you’ll even survive the experiment.”

Oh, right. This could probably kill me…

“Has that changed your mind?”

No, I’m almost positive the idea will work. But I don’t want to go into this blind. I need to be extremely careful, and thoroughly prepared before I try so I don’t screw it up. Any idea how I can improve my chances?

“Possibly,” Iddrai muttered. “But first, let me ask you this: Why risk it? You have your entire life ahead of you. Why risk it all for the chance that this works?”

Taryn opened his mouth to respond, but realized that he didn’t know. Why was he willing to risk his life for something that was, ultimately, unnecessary? He could use Eco without the second core, it just required a bit more effort. So, why?

I guess… I don’t really have an answer to that question.

“I think you should meditate on your answer before moving forward. If you go into this with any doubts, or if you get distracted during the process, there’s a high chance that you’ll only end up killing yourself—and me by proxy. Definitely keep that part in mind.”

I will. Thanks, Iddrai, you’ve really given me something to consider… and probably saved my life.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m hoping you’ll go through with it, for the sake of my own curiosity if nothing else. But if you die, I die. And I didn’t spend the last thousand years trapped in a dark hole just to be killed by a teenager’s stupidity.”

* * *

Taryn sighed as he opened his eyes. His shoulders sagged as mental and physical exhaustion hit him like his grandmother at sparring time.

“Taryn, are you okay?” Wei asked from behind him. He came over and crouched down beside Taryn. Wei reached out and gently patted Taryn on the back while he watched him through concerned eyes.

Taryn didn’t trust himself to speak just now, so he settled for nodding his head and offering Wei a weak smile.

“You sure? Should I get you a bowl of mushroom soup, or—”

“Divines no—Er, I mean, I couldn’t rob grandma of the opportunity to eat your soup again.” Taryn groaned as his stomach ached for a reason not tied to his Eco. “How about some water?”

“Sure. I’ll go grab your waterskin.” Wei enthusiastically slapped Taryn’s back and moved to grab the waterskin near Taryn’s bag.

“Is it really that bad?” Iddrai chuckled.

Taryn gagged at the memory of the taste and thick, pudding-like consistency Wei had somehow created out of mushrooms, water, and a bit of salt.

I’ll put it this way. Either those mushrooms mess up everything, or Wei’s cooking is alchemy.

Iddrai let out an amused snort and spoke. “As amusing as this conversation has been, you need to get ready for the day. I eagerly await your answer. Come see me at midnight, tonight. Whatever you decide, I’ll try to help you find an answer to your problem.”

Thanks.

Taryn felt the dragon’s presence retreat from his mind, and his body sagged as whatever energy was keeping him upright vanished. He collapsed onto his back with his eyes closed. It was finally time to get some much-needed sleep—

“Here’s your water,” Wei said before tossing a full waterskin onto Taryn’s chest. The breath was knocked from Taryn’s lungs, causing him to explode into a coughing fit.

“Sorry,” Wei muttered. “Oh! Elder Shun asked me to remind you about your training session with her in fifteen minutes. You probably don’t want to be late. Elder Shun looked annoyed about something.”

Taryn didn’t bother to respond. He just curled his body into a fetal position and let out a loud sigh.

So much for getting back to sleep…

* * *

Taryn took a long pull of water from the water skin hanging off of his belt and groaned in relief as the cool, refreshing water moved down his throat. Fan Shun, who was sitting beside him at the lake’s edge, gave him a look of exasperation as she watched him guzzle the last of his water.

“You know—” Taryn burped. “This was not what I was expecting when we first left Haven City.”

“What were you expecting?”

“I don’t know. Something else… I guess I thought things would be more exciting after we left the city. But we’ve barely come across any Eco beasts over the last few weeks, and not a single one of them could be compared to the Mokan spider or the dire wolves we met on our way to Old Haven.”

“You should be grateful that’s the case. Those dire wolves almost killed us and were it not for the Mokan spider making a meal of one of them, that wolf likely would’ve finished the job.”

“I know, but—”

“Do not be so quick to equate ‘exciting’ with better. Trust me when I say that when you get older, you will long for days like this.”

Taryn sighed and nodded his head. “You’re probably right.”

“There’s no ‘probably’ to it; I am right,” Fan Shun said with a slight smirk on her face. “Haven’t you learned it already? I’m always right.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Taryn allowed, playing along. “You haven’t steered me wrong yet.”

“Enough with the jokes,” Fan Shun said while clapping Taryn on the back. She climbed to her feet and brushed the sand from her pants. “Come on, we were supposed to have started training an hour ago.”

“All right. Suppose I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” Taryn muttered as he climbed to his feet.

“Do you remember what we talked about last time?”

“Don’t think so much?” Taryn responded, though he sounded unsure even to his own ears.

“Exactly. With that in mind—” Fan Shun had barely begun the sentence when her right leg whipped through the air on a collision course with Taryn’s face.

Taryn reacted instantly, throwing his hand up and slamming his palm directly into Fan Shun’s shin. Her kick hit his palm with enough force to throw him off balance and force him backwards.

Taryn’s palm stung, the nerves in his fingers tingled like there were a thousand ants crawling around just beneath the skin. Before he’d even gotten the feeling back in his hand, Fan Shun sent another kick, this one a spinning axe kick, aimed at Taryn’s collarbone.

He crossed his arms above his head and stepped into the kick. He planned to stop it before she could build momentum. Unfortunately, he stepped too close and blocked her knee instead. Her leg bent at the knee, and her heel slammed into the back of his head.

There was a dull thump as her heel made contact and stars burst in Taryn’s eyes. But he managed to go with the blow and shove Fan Shun’s leg up. He followed up by bringing his lead leg forward and sweeping her posted leg out from under her.

Taryn took the second she was in freefall to move her raised leg aside and thrust his hand forward to wrap his fingers around her neck. Something at the back of his mind warned him that this was a bad idea, but this was the closest he’d ever come to taking her down. He couldn’t back away now.

He grabbed the collar of her robe and shoved her onto the ground back first. Fan Shun’s mouth opened, and a bit of breath escaped from the impact. The sight of her taking damage brought a grin to Taryn’s face; he was improving. If he could take her down, then—a similar grin appeared on Fan Shun’s face, and a wicked chill raced down Taryn’s spine.

He tried to move away and escape from whatever she had planned. But before he could even straighten his spine, Fan Shun’s leg fell across the back of his neck. Taryn was pulled off balance while Fan Shun hooked her other leg around the one holding him in place.

Fan Shun trapped Taryn in a triangle lock and sucked in a breath. In a single quick motion, she slapped her palms against the ground and rolled backwards. Taryn was dragged along for the ride, and without understanding what happened, Taryn found himself pinned beneath Fan Shun with a fist stopped just centimeters from his nose.

“You’ve gotten better,” she said while releasing him and stepping aside so he could stand up. “You reacted much quicker that time. Good. It means something of what I’ve taught you has managed to worm its way through that thick skull of yours.”

Taryn slowly climbed to his feet while maintaining eye contact with Fan Shun. The lesson wasn’t over until she said stop, so—Taryn twisted around a straight punch, sidestepped the knee, and ducked beneath a hook that made a whoosh sound as it passed over his head.

He threw two quick jabs at her midsection, wincing as her iron grip caught hold of his hand and pulled him into an elbow that threw his head to the side. His body twisted as he fell, and he had to roll with the momentum of the blow or fall face first into the dirt. He rolled over his shoulder and bounced back to his feet, his arms raised to protect his head in time to shield him from the brunt of a sidekick that forced him back several steps.

Alright, enough games, Taryn growled. He unsheathed his dagger in one smooth motion and immediately pressed the button on the hilt. The meteor hammer disguised as a simple metal ball on the pommel of his dagger popped off with an audible click. Taryn slapped it the moment it was clear of the hilt. The metal ball zipped through the air faster than the eye could see—but Fan Shun sidestepped it casually and sprang towards Taryn.

The Arachne silk string connecting the meteor to the end of the dagger went taut as the ball hit the limits of its range. Taryn dodged a two-punch combo, wrapped the string around his right wrist, then yanked it back to his hand as he leapt over a kick that would’ve snapped his leg like a twig.

The moment he put some distance between them, Taryn quickly unwound it from his wrist and released the meteor. The meteor flowed like water around Taryn’s body, lashing out with unpredictable angles and timing that constantly threw Fan Shun off pace. She dipped and dodged around the meteor as best she could, but it was growing closer with each pass.

Soon, Taryn would get a clean hit. He knew he needed to control the flow of this battle or it would end like all the others—with him knocked on his ass.

As if she’d heard his thoughts and wanted to prove him correct, Fan Shun’s battle pace quickly shot up. She advanced through his attacks, sometimes allowing the flying metal ball to pass mere centimeters from her body in order to get close to Taryn.

Realizing what she was aiming for, Taryn backpedaled. His footwork was hindered in the loose sand surrounding the lake, but so was Fan Shun’s. Unfortunately, if it came down to who was the most inconvenienced, it would undoubtedly be Taryn.

Taryn’s back foot hit a patch of densely packed sand and slipped, causing the meteor to go wide; the metal ball whipped past Fan Shun’s head without her even needing to dodge. She seized the opportunity and grabbed the string, effectively removing the meteor from the equation. Without Taryn to pull it back, the metal ball dropped like… well, like a metal ball… and bounced along the ground.

Fan Shun tightened her grip on the string and twisted it around her elbow like she’d seen Taryn do when he wanted to pull it back to him. Except this time, it wasn’t the meteor that was pulled back.

Taryn’s eyes widened as the string coiled around his wrist and he was yanked bodily through the air.

Fan Shun smiled as she drew back her arm and prepared to end the fight.

By sheer panic fueled instinct, Taryn gathered all of his focus on a single point and ignited his core. Liquid fire raged inside his body, as Eco flowed over his skin, changing it into something that no longer resembled a human’s.

His skin paled an instant before translucent scales grew from it, and dark fur erupted from the gaps between each scale until it covered his entire body from head to toe. His head took on the lupine features of a dire wolf, while twin ebony horns sprouted from just above his eyebrows and curled backwards over his head. His arms and legs grew longer and more beastlike as claws grew from the tips of his fingers and toes. An extra claw sprouted from his heel as his body gained thirty pounds of muscle in an instant. An almost six-foot-long lizard tail emerged from his tailbone. Thick plates of dense, keratin covered bone appeared on top of his tail and grew until they formed a layer of armor across the length of it.

All of this happened in midair, and Taryn was ready for the blow in two breaths. By the time his transformation was over, Fan Shun was already mid-swing. His body bent around her fist as she planted it into his stomach.

His wolfish face twisted in pain, but thanks to her punch, he was no longer flying through the air and could get his feet back under him. With his forward momentum brought to a halt, Fan Shun’s rear leg blurred, and she was suddenly at his side with an axe kick coming directly for his head.

Taryn snorted and lifted a single hand to intercept it. His hand wrapped around her ankle and stopped her kick cold.

“Finally decided to take your training seriously?” Fan Shun asked with a smirk on her face. She didn’t wait for him to respond. Her body twisted and the leg that should’ve been holding her upright came off the ground and flew towards Taryn’s face.

He caught her second kick with his other palm and threw a kick of his own. The blow knocked Fan Shun high above Taryn’s head. He stepped forward and twisted his body, pulling her towards the ground as hard as he could.

Fan Shun spread her arms out wide and caught herself in a push-up position, her nose mere inches from the ground.

Rather than holding on and giving her the opportunity to retaliate, Taryn released her legs and leapt backwards, landing in a crouch almost twenty feet away.

He found himself staring in confusion at Fan Shun’s body. She hadn’t so much as twitched since he let her go. She maintained her balance on her two hands while the rest of her body was parallel to the ground. With a light push of her hands, Fan Shun left the ground and landed gracefully on her feet. She turned and regarded Taryn with not a scratch on her, while his breathing was ragged, and his bones were aching.

“Shift back,” she commanded, moving towards him with her hands raised in a placating gesture.

Taryn narrowed his eyes but did as she commanded, releasing his hold on his transformation. Taryn’s core grew cold while his beastlike form fell away as dust.

And if he thought his body was hurting before…

His right arm felt broken, his sternum felt cracked, and his left ankle felt sprained. And those were just the pains he could immediately identify. His entire body was aching like someone had thrown him down a mountain.

“Good. I think you should be able to beat someone of the body refining stage, given the right circumstances,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Really?”

“I’m serious. If I were to compare you to someone your age—say, Gao Feng—you could probably beat him three times out of five.”

“Only that much?” Taryn blurted.

“Taryn, not many people can say they climbed three steps in two weeks. You went from someone who had no Eco, to someone capable of matching a body refiner in what is the equivalent to the blink of an eye for a cultivator. You should be proud of what you’ve accomplished, rather than getting frustrated. Okay?”

Taryn sighed and nodded his head. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Thanks, Grandma—”

Boom!

The ground began to shake violently as an ear-piercing screech ripped through the air. Taryn and Fan Shun reacted immediately. Fan Shun retrieved her sword from the ground and unsheathed it, while Taryn ignited his core and shifted.

“Elder Shun, Taryn, what’s going on?” Yawen hollered as she and Wei came running out of the forest. They arrived at Taryn’s side in moments and readied themselves for battle without waiting for an explanation.

The ground continued to shake, vibrations eventually growing so powerful that trees were felled, and ten-foot waves crashed against the shore.

The vibrations soon became too strong to resist and Taryn and Wei were forced to their knees in order to maintain balance. Fan Shun and Yawen seemed mostly unaffected, though cold sweat had appeared on Yawen’s forehead.

Suddenly, something big and gray burst from the tree line on the eastern edge of the lake, on a direct collision course with the water. A pair of twenty-foot-long antennae shot smoke into the air with every breath the gargantuan creature took. Its gray exoskeleton reflected light like a polished piece of steel. The sight distracted Taryn to the point he almost missed the thirty pairs of legs that skittered across the ground, and as he watched the head of the creature crash into the water, he saw another two hundred feet of creature fly out of the forest.

The creature’s bulk caused an explosion of water that seemingly cast water to all four corners of the lake. With a final puff of smoke from its antennae, the creature fell dormant, floating near the center of the lake.

Taryn and Fan Shun glanced at one another, neither quite sure what to make of the situation. But before either of them could speak, something happened with the creature. Its head split down the middle, each piece moving aside to reveal a cylindrical tube at the center of its body.

“What in the world is that thing?” Wei asked with a touch more fascination in his voice than Taryn was expecting.

“I don’t know. But be ready for anything,” Yawen muttered while drawing her own single-edged sword.

The cylindrical tube released a gust of air that pushed water aside, and shortly thereafter the front of the tube began to slowly lift into the air, revealing—

Taryn’s eyes bulged as he spotted a short man in what appeared to be sleeping garments step out of the tube. The man’s head gradually turned in their direction. Taryn wondered if he could see them from that distance. He got his answer when the old man smiled and lifted a small white cup in their direction, before putting it to his lips and tilting his head back.

Chapter Five

Taryn and the others patiently observed the old man, waiting for any sign of danger or trickery. None of them had ever heard of a creature the size of the one he’d appeared with. To make matters worse, Eco beasts were creatures with strange talents and abilities. For all they knew, the man could’ve been some kind of lure the creature used to draw in unwary prey.

This fear grew stronger as the old man disappeared inside the belly of the beast, and the smoke stopped flowing from its antennae. After approximately half an hour of waiting for the man to return or the creature to make a move, the group’s patience was rewarded when the old man reemerged onto the creature’s head in a sleeveless, fitted gray robe on top of a long-sleeved white shirt and baggy white pants. The man’s outfit was completed by a fur-lined leather cloak, bracers, and boots with white fur poking out of the top.

Without hesitation, the man stepped off the creature’s head and fell the forty or so feet to the water below. To their surprise, he did not sink, instead he landed atop the water as if it were solid ground and began making his way towards Taryn.

Behind him, the creature’s body began to emit steam from seemingly everywhere. There was a loud cracking sound as the creature’s hardened carapace fractured and hexagonal pieces began to slide away, some sinking into the depths of the lake, while others were lifted into the air by thin black beams and held in place. The odd-looking hexagons formed what Taryn could only assume was meant to be a pathway of some kind.

Taryn took an involuntary step back as he watched dozens of people emerge from the holes across the creature’s back. He immediately noticed several strong looking warriors trailing along after the old man. Others carried boxes of unseen materials in and out of various holes, as children eagerly leapt into the water and began playing. A number of people merely stood on the upper pathway and watched Taryn’s group with suspicious eyes.

Taryn fought the urge to draw his dagger and prepare to fight, but the feeling he’d come to think of as the Mourner’s instincts was screaming at him not to. It was telling him that if any of his group caused trouble, they would all be killed.

He sucked his lower lip into his mouth and bit down. A trickle of blood landed on his tongue.

The pain was a decent distraction, and it helped his hands stop shaking… for the moment.

Taryn used his brief moment of clarity to do two things; reverse his transformation so they wouldn’t think he was threatening them, and assess each warrior in turn, hoping to glean some meager information that could help them if things got out of control.

There were four warriors following along behind the old man, each wearing the same color robe as he did, but lacking the cloak and fur-lined boots.

Taryn guessed this was something of a status symbol between the old man and the others—much like how the Ukata, Qiao, and Cai clans each had personalized robes that only direct members of their families could wear.

Of the five people approaching, the old man, with his shaved head, short beard, and dark brown eyes, seemed the exception and not the rule. The four following him all looked much younger, with the oldest appearing to be in his early thirties. They all had long hair that reached their waists, handsome faces, and well-toned bodies. Their appearance screamed “cultivator,” which raised a ton of other questions that Taryn needed answers for.

Taryn made note of three swords, still in their sheaths, each one being carried by a different warrior, while the fourth warrior balanced a vicious looking pickaxe on his left shoulder as he walked. However, those weapons were not what was making Taryn nervous. They were visible, and so could be planned around if the need arose.

No, it was the seemingly unconcerned, and unarmed, old man who was now only thirty feet from shore that was setting off every warning siren in Taryn’s head.

“That’s close enough,” Fan Shun said as she stepped in front of her group, placing herself directly in front of the threat should something happen. Taryn knew it was also her subtle way of saying that she would handle the talking.

To Taryn’s surprise, the old man stopped walking when he was ten feet away.

Taryn made note of another difference between the old man and his four followers—the old man didn’t move, even when waves passed under his feet. He did not rise or fall. Instead he remained steady as if he were standing on rock instead of flowing water. But his four followers did not have such control. Each time a wave passed beneath their feet, their bodies would move up and down in time with the waves.

The smile on the old man’s face was pleasant and seemed to reach his eyes. He held his hands up in a placating gesture and motioned for the men behind him not to advance. “We don’t want any trouble. Our construct—the Diplopoda floating in the lake—just needed to be refilled with water before we continue on our journey. I swear on my father’s name, no harm will come to any of you, from any of my people,” he said in a soothing voice.

Taryn noticed Fan Shun’s spine straighten a fraction of a second before she moved. She stepped forward, drawing the eyes of almost everyone towards her. She held out her sword hand for the man to take and slightly lowered her head.

“I am U—” She stopped midsentence and shook her head. “Sorry, I am Fan Shun. Behind me is my grandson Taryn, and the twins Xia Wei and Xia Yawen.”

The old man’s smile grew wider, and he accepted her proffered hand with a gracious bow of his own. “This one’s name is Shen Tao, eleventh elder of the Silver Crown Sect. Behind me are first class disciples of the Silver Crown Sect: Yu Yuhan, Liao Yan, Mao Wen, and Zi Chun,” he said, pointing to each warrior in turn.

“Your disciples?” Fan Shun asked with a note of skepticism in her voice.

“Heavens no,” Shen Tao guffawed. “My disciples are not at the level where they can travel around with me yet. No, these impressive young men are the disciples of the eighth, sixth, and third elders, respectively. They graciously agreed to accompany me while I went to retrieve these refugees behind me.” He pointed over his shoulder at the Diplopoda, or more specifically, at the men, women, and children moving around inside it. “This war between the Mubang and the Huolijiao is really getting out of hand,” he finished with a sigh.

“I’m not familiar. Are they sects, like yours?”

“Not quite. Though I’m curious where you’re from, if you’ve not heard of the war…” he said, his smile falling away to be replaced by a predatory look that made Taryn’s blood run cold. Shen Tao shook his head and a smile returned to his face. “Apologies. Sometimes this old man’s paranoia gets the best of him. Your past is your business, and you need not explain it to me.”

Shen Tao moved to one side and beckoned the group towards the Diplopoda. “To apologize for my behavior, will the four of you care to join us for lunch? I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have—even the ones you haven’t thought of yet,” he added almost as an afterthought.

Fan Shun looked over her shoulder at Taryn and the Xia twins with a questioning look on her face.

“I say we go,” Taryn muttered without taking his eyes off Shen Tao. “If he wanted to kill us, luring us back to his creature would be a waste of time. None of us would be able to resist, anyway.”

“You don’t know that,” Yawen whispered in a voice that was so low even Taryn could barely hear her. “There’s five of them, and four of us. But I’m sure Elder Shun could take two, easily—”

“No chance,” Taryn said confidently.

“Taryn’s right,” Fan Shun said in a normal volume. She clearly wasn’t concerned that the five strangers could hear her. “I might have a chance at slowing down one or maybe two of the disciples. But Shen Tao…”

Her words shocked both of the Xia twins, although to different effects. Yawen’s hand landed on her sword hilt and her eyes locked onto Shen Tao’s in challenge. In stark contrast to his sister, Wei took an involuntary step back and his Eco swelled within him.

Both twins were getting ready to attack—but not Taryn.

“You are very perceptive for someone of your age,” Shen Tao said in a mystified voice, his eyes moving up and down Taryn’s body. “I must be honest, when I first sensed your cultivation levels, I figured you for a group of pacifists. Clearly that is not the case. Yet you have somehow managed to survive out here in the wild with a half-constructed soul pane and three paneless cores. Either you four are the luckiest people alive… Or you have an incredible story to tell. Please, join me for lunch. I promise you will not regret it.”

“Okay,” Taryn immediately replied. He stepped to Fan Shun and bumped her with his elbow. “It’s Wei’s turn to cook anyway.”

Fan Shun chuckled and nodded her head. “True enough. All right, we’ll join you for lunch. But nothing more; we’ve wasted enough time here as it is.”

“Completely understandable. I will endeavor not to waste any of your time. Shall we?” Shen Tao said as he offered his elbow to Fan Shun—who accepted the gesture with a thin smile.

“Not to be a mood killer,” Yawen called out. “I’d like the chance to eat some real food just as much as the rest of you—but I’m fairly certain none of us can walk on water.”

“Not a problem,” Shen Tao said, laughing. At the snap of his fingers, three of the Silver Crown disciples shot forward and wrapped an arm around their waists. Taryn, Yawen, and Wei made similar yelping noises as they were pulled off their feet in the blink of an eye and hauled towards the lake.

Yawen and Wei both fought against their “transporters,” but Taryn merely shrugged his shoulders and used the opportunity to observe what the cultivator did to walk on water.

At first, he didn’t see anything. The water ebbed and flowed as normal. But Taryn was not dissuaded. He focused his eyes on the man’s shoes and watched for any sign of change.

There. Taryn smiled as his eyes picked up on a micro movement of the water. Water that should have splashed over the man’s shoe was instead immediately redirected outwards. It was just a single drop, so maybe Taryn’s eyes were playing tricks on him… But he didn’t think so.

There was a new Eco technique being used right before his very eyes, and it took every ounce of restraint Taryn possessed to keep from asking the man to put him down so he could try to replicate it.

There would be time for that later, after he made careful notes of what he saw. For now, Taryn was more interested in seeing what other techniques they were willing to use in front of him.

* * *

“Your boy, he always that curious?” Shen Tao whispered to Fan Shun as he carried her across the water.

Without needing to ask for clarification, Fan Shun sighed and nodded her head. “He’s actually holding himself back right now. Your man is lucky Taryn hasn’t asked him to show him how it’s done yet.”

“Ah…” Shen Tao trailed off with humor in his voice. “Pardon me for saying so, but your group fascinates me. Apologies, I didn’t realize how that would sound until I said it.”

“No, no, it’s fine. I realize that we must appear strange to outsiders.”

“Outsiders?” Shen Tao mumbled. “I’m curious; was that a slip of the tongue or are you attempting to bait me?”

“Who knows. Maybe if you make this lunch interesting enough, I’ll tell you,” Fan Shun said, as a coy smile appeared on her face. Internally, however, she was blanching at her own actions. It’s like Taryn said. I’d have no chance of beating him in a straight fight. Especially not while I was protecting the kids. So, if I can’t beat him, I’ll have to ensure he’s favorable towards us. That way, if something does happen, there’s a greater chance he’ll let us leave in peace.

Shen Tao adopted a matching smile and shrugged his shoulders. “I can handle interesting.”

Chapter Six

As the group approached the Diplopoda, Taryn realized that his first estimates of the creature’s size were… not ambitious enough. The Diplopoda was over sixty feet tall, not counting the twenty-foot antennae on its head, and was louder than anything Taryn had ever experienced.

The sounds emanating from the holes dotting the creature’s back were deafening: metal clanking against metal, uncountable voices, and what Taryn could only describe as the shriek of the damned, mixed together to form a veritable wall of sound that caused his eardrums to shake. Taryn clapped his hands over his ears and scrunched his eyes closed, but even that didn’t completely drown out the sound.

A few seconds passed before Taryn felt someone lightly tugging on his arm. He cautiously opened one eye and peaked at the warrior carrying him. The warrior was pantomiming something, but Taryn couldn’t understand. His senses were too overwhelmed.

The warrior appeared to sigh, then he yanked Taryn’s hands away from his ears. There was a brief moment where a brain-achingly loud wall of sound hit him before everything went quiet.

At first, Taryn believed his eardrums had burst and he was now deaf. But he quickly realized that was not the case. The warrior carrying Taryn held his head in between his palms, and Taryn could see a bluish green film of energy flowing around the man’s hands.

Taryn fully opened his eyes and looked up at the warrior, whose lips were moving, but no sound was coming out. Realizing that this was most likely on purpose, Taryn focused on the man’s lips and attempted to read the words he couldn’t hear.

To the warrior’s credit, he didn’t seem to grow angry when Taryn didn’t immediately understand him. Instead, he repeated his sentence over and over again until Taryn comprehended him. “Focus your Eco and move it to your ears.”

Taryn blinked in surprise and felt his jaw drop slightly. Of course, just like the Ukata could use Eco to enhance their eyesight, the same could be done for hearing. But instead of enhancing my hearing, I dampen it? He wasn’t entirely sure that was what the warrior was getting at, but it was worth a try.

Taryn held up a finger towards the warrior to ask him to wait and closed his eyes. He turned his attention inwards and found his Eco pulsing in an odd rhythm. Taryn had never seen it do that before… Is it in time with the noise coming from the Diplopoda? Why would it do that? What is on board that could cause such a reaction? Taryn shook his head and forced himself to focus on the matter at hand.

He tugged on the Eco thrumming just beneath his skin and moved it to just behind his ears. Then, with one quick shove, he pushed the Eco into his eardrums—and immediately regretted it as the sound tripled in intensity.

Taryn reflexively yanked the Eco away from his ears and opened his eyes.

He found the warrior looking at him with an amused smirk on his face, and humor in his eyes. After a second, the warrior nodded his head and mouthed, “Try again.”

Taryn growled under his breath but did as the warrior asked. He closed his eyes and resolved himself. But instead of trying to push Eco into his ears again, Taryn decided to try and imitate what he’d seen the man do earlier. He pushed it out of his skin and directed it to his outer ear. From there, he imagined the Eco growing thinner and more elastic as it stretched over his ears.

Taryn opened his eyes and saw the warrior still smirking at him, but his hands were now by his side.

“I did it?” Taryn asked, marveling at how quiet the world had become.

The noise had been reduced to little more than a dull roar that Taryn could easily ignore. Even his own voice sounded muffled and distant.

“Grandma, did you see—Grandma?” Taryn’s eyes widened as he saw his grandmother still holding her hands over her ears. There was pain in her eyes, and she was refusing to look directly at anyone, not even Shen Tao who held a bit of sadness in his own eyes.

To Taryn, it looked as if the old man was feeling… regret? But he wasn’t sure, and that annoyed him. Had Taryn more experience dealing with people, he might’ve found it easier to read people, as Fan Shun did.

Glancing over at the Xia twins, Taryn noticed that they were in a similar state with their hands over their ears and their eyes tightly closed. The sight of Yawen, with her eyes closed and pain written in the lines of her face, brought an unwelcome feeling of joy to Taryn’s heart. Though that joy was quickly overwhelmed by a deep-seated feeling of self-loathing.

What is wrong with me? She’s in agony and I’m… happy about it? Taryn shook his head as if he could physically throw the thought from his mind. He motioned with his left hand towards Yawen. “Take me over to her, please.”

The warrior said nothing, but a wide smile appeared on his face as he loosened his grip on Taryn’s waist, and Taryn dropped into the water.

Taryn gasped as the cold liquid sent a shock into his lungs. He immediately began to kick his legs to keep from sinking and glared at the warrior.

“I’m no horse,” the warrior said without any real force behind his words. “You want to go to her, make your own way.”

“Fine. But you didn’t have to be an ass about it!” Taryn grumbled as he swam to the feet of the man holding Yawen. But before he could say anything, the other warrior released his grip on Yawen’s waist and allowed her to drop into the water.

Yawen sputtered and coughed as water flowed into her mouth and down her throat. Taryn quickly grabbed her and pulled her against him. He knew he wasn’t the strongest of swimmers, but he hoped he could keep them afloat long enough to help Yawen create her own sound dampeners.

Mimicking what the warrior had done for him earlier, Taryn placed a hand on either side of Yawen’s head and created a wobbly sound dampener that collapsed almost immediately. Taryn cursed under his breath and created a second one that held up only slightly better than the first one did.

Finally, after four tries, Taryn managed to create a sound dampener similar to the one the warrior had formed around his head earlier. With her brain no longer aching from the sound, and her breath slowly returning to her after swallowing more than one mouthful of water, Yawen opened her eyes and looked at him… and what Taryn saw within them, baffled him.

At first they were filled with confusion, which was understandable, but that was quickly replaced by something Taryn couldn’t recognize. Her eyes grew gentle, almost sad even, and she looked like she was going to cry.

“Do what I did.” Taryn used exaggerated lip motions to mouth what he wanted her to do, then turned his head so she could see his ears. Unlike Taryn, Yawen understood immediately and forty-five seconds later had a wobbly sound dampener of her own.

“Thanks,” she said. Her voice sounded strained, likely due to the coughing fit caused by swallowing all that water.

“Of course,” Taryn said before moving away and allowing her to swim under her own power. He knew it wasn’t right, but at the moment, he wanted to look at anything but Yawen. So, he turned his attention to the others.

Wei appeared to be struggling, but his eyes were open, and staring directly at Yawen. Seeing Taryn help Yawen had apparently given Wei some idea of what to do, as he’d almost created his own ear protection by the time Taryn noticed.

And as Taryn had predicted, Fan Shun had figured it out on her own. His eyes locked onto a trickle of red liquid flowing from Fan Shun’s left ear. A thousand things raced through his mind in an instant, most involving what he would do if Shen Tao or anyone else had hurt her.

“What did you do!” Taryn yelled. He rapidly kicked his feet and swung his arms in a desperate attempt to get to her. But that effort was thrown out the window when one of the warriors grabbed him by the back of his robe and pulled him from the water like a sack of sentient grains.

“Her core has destabilized. We need to get her to the physician’s tube. Grab those two and let’s go,” Shen Tao commanded. The calm voice Taryn had been hearing until this point was gone. In fact, Shen Tao’s entire demeanor had changed in a blink. Gone was the old man. A powerful cultivator had taken his place, one who wouldn’t take “no” for an answer,

“Yes, sir!” The four warriors shouted in unison. Yawen was snatched out of the water faster than she could react, and the warriors, led by Shen Tao, just suddenly moved. The space separating them from the Diplopoda melted and they appeared inside one of the hexagonal doorways.

Gray metal pipes, each one about the size of Taryn’s forearm, lined the walls and ceiling. Black and gray hexagonal plates, laid out one after the other, comprised the floor, walls, and ceiling of the cylindrical tube Taryn found himself in.

Men, women, and children from younger than ten up to thirty—maybe forty years—began to move almost immediately after Taryn and the others came through the door, pressing themselves against the walls in an effort to get as far away from their group as physically possible.

Taryn winced as his brain throbbed. The inside of the Diplopoda was loud, even through the sound dampeners. As Taryn’s head once again began to painfully thud, a part of him wondered how anyone managed to ride in this thing without their head exploding. He could barely hear himself think, never mind trying to hear the conversation Shen Tao was having with the four warriors. Or maybe Taryn was just hallucinating their lips moving?

He was having trouble telling the difference.

He got his answer a moment later. The four warriors, with Taryn, Yawen, and Wei in tow, turned away from Shen Tao and began walking in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, with Fan Shun still in his arms, Shen Tao started walking towards the rear of the Diplopoda.

“No! No—” Taryn’s vision swam as something slammed against the back of his head. He fought to keep his eyes open, but they quickly grew too heavy, and Taryn passed out after one final look at Shen Tao’s retreating back.

* * *

Taryn came to with a start. The ceiling above him consisted of solid gray hexagonal plates, and each plate had a fist sized hole in the center that periodically sent puffs of hot air directly into Taryn’s face.

The first thing he knew he needed to do was get his bearings, so he began to look around. He was lying on a stone bench in the middle of a long, but narrow room. Gray lockers lined the walls, shortening what little range of motion the small room allowed him by a foot.

He spotted Yawen and Wei sitting on an identical bench a dozen feet away, whispering between themselves and casting furtive glances in his direction. Wei’s eyes widened as he realized Taryn was awake and he quickly moved to Taryn’s side. Yawen followed him, though at a subdued pace.

“You okay?” Wei asked.

“I feel like I just got run over by an Eco beast.”

“Thank the divines. He’s fine.” Wei sighed and clapped his sister's shoulder. “See, I told you he would be okay. Taryn’s too stubborn to die. He’s like a roach—and I mean that in the most endearing way possible.”

“Uh huh,” Taryn snorted as he sat up and stretched out his neck. “What happened?”

“Well, you transformed while he was carrying you, and he knocked you out after one of your claws ripped a giant hole in his pants.”

“Seriously?” Taryn asked, astounded by what he was hearing. He didn’t remember transforming, nor did he remember ripping the warrior’s clothing. Then again, I was struggling to get Grandma. I should probably apologize, just in case.

“Oh yeah, the guy was pissed. Luckily, the warrior with the pickaxe managed to talk him down and convince him that squashing you was probably a bad idea. The one warrior left to go change his clothes while the pickaxe warrior carried you the rest of the way here.” He finished in a tone that suggested he didn’t like wherever “here” was.

“What about Grandma?”

“Well—”

“I think I can answer that,” Shen Tao said as he entered the room through an unseen metal door to Taryn’s left. The old man looked as if he’d aged a decade since Taryn last saw him. He had dark bags beneath his eyes and his skin seemed a shade paler than before.

Taryn wanted to blurt out the thoughts that began racing through his mind the moment he heard Shen Tao’s voice—but his voice was nowhere to be found. Panic and anger had flooded his system, paralyzing his vocal cords and forcing him into a state of hypervigilance.

If Shen Tao noticed this, he didn’t mention it. Instead, he chose to focus on what he’d already started. “Lady Shun is suffering from what we call ‘Eco ataxia.’ Basically, what that means is the Eco channels spread throughout her body have atrophied to the point where most are unable to support Eco passing through them, so they collapse. This causes the Eco to seek out alternative means of escape, usually in the form of rupturing skin, though in rare cases, it can also cause damage to the interior of the body.”

“But… I don’t understand. She was fine yesterday.”

“Yeah, we’ve been watching her knock Taryn into the dirt every day for the last few weeks. If she was really suffering from this ‘ataxia’ thing, would she be able to do that?”

“You’ve seen Taryn fight,” Yawen scoffed under her breath. “Elder Shun hasn’t used Eco once, in any of their fights. Until now. I thought that was by choice. Maybe it was by necessity.”

“You’re saying she knew about this problem, but didn’t tell us? I don’t think Elder Shun is the type to keep something like that a secret—”

“She would,” Taryn interrupted. “Grandma’s always been the type of person to shoulder everything by herself… Probably how she ended up like this.”

“I’m not sure I understand. Eco ataxia, while rare, is not unheard of in new cultivators. Some children are even born with it,” Shen Tao said.

“No, I know how she ended up like this and it wasn’t because she was born with this condition,” Taryn stubbornly replied. “It’s because those entitled idiots sealed her core for sixteen years.”

“I’m sorry—sealed her core?”

“It’s a long story, one I really don’t feel like getting into right now. The important part is that until very recently, her core was sealed.”

“You mean blocked?” Shen Tao asked in a baffled tone.

“No, I mean sealed. They barely left her enough Eco to live.”

“What kind of sadistic… No, that doesn’t matter,” Shen Tao said. “Thank you for telling me this. I’m glad I came and spoke to you before I gave the physician permission to treat her. We’ll have to go about this a different way.”

“Wait, it’s treatable?” Taryn asked, surprised at the idea that this might only be temporary.

“Normally, Eco ataxia isn’t a treatable disease. It’s a genetic condition—and at the stage she’s in, the body is usually deteriorating faster than we can fix the damage. But if her symptoms are merely mimicking Eco ataxia, then we have a chance to fix the damage before it gets too severe.”

“That’s great!” Taryn exclaimed. “Let’s do that. I’ll pay whatever I have to. I’ll do whatever I have to. Just please, fix her.”

“Well, it’s not that simple. And she’s definitely not going to like the treatment.”

“But it will fix her, right? She’ll be back to normal after the treatment is over.”

“Sure, it’s possible… But she will not be allowed to cultivate until the treatment is complete. Any use of Eco, no matter how small, will delay her recovery. And if she overuses her core, it could fracture, crippling her for life, and possibly even killing her.”

“She’ll do it. I’ll make sure of it,” Taryn said without hesitation.

Shen Tao eyed Taryn seriously for a moment, before his eyes moved to the Xia twins. “And the two of you, will you also ensure that Lady Shun follows the rules?”

“She saved my life more than once. The least I can do is make sure she takes it easy,” Wei said with a sad smile on his face.

“Sure, I’ll do it.” Yawen nodded her head. “But I’m either going to need some chains, or a really thick rope.”

“Why?” Shen Tao asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

“Because I like Elder Shun, and I respect her more than I do my own mother… But that woman scares me. I’d like to ensure she can’t reach us when we tell her that she’s going to have to live without Eco for an undetermined amount of time.”

“Actually, I was going to have her grandson tell her,” Shen Tao said, motioning to Taryn with a finger.

“Oh, never mind then. Taryn is used to getting smacked around. He’ll be fine,” Yawen said, smiling at Taryn’s back.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Yawen. But I don’t think I could beat Grandma, even in her current condition.”

“I never said you could beat her. I’m only thinking that her reaction won’t be quite so… aggravated, if you are the one to tell her.” Yawen said in a faux cheerful voice that made Taryn want to pinch her.

“Think of it this way, Taryn,” Wei said. “You survived getting knocked through a tree last week. I’m sure she couldn’t replicate that now.”

Taryn’s body tensed at the reminder, and he suddenly had the feeling that he was the fawn being tossed into the wolves’ den. But a part of him, the logical side, reminded him that Fan Shun lived with her core sealed for sixteen years, and she did it with a smile on her face. Surely, if she could survive that, she could survive this too. And once it was over, Fan Shun would never have to feel this pain again.

Chapter Seven

Once the conversation was over, Shen Tao led Taryn through a metal door near the rear of the thin room. They emerged into a narrow hallway with a line of doors on one side and the hexagonal exit ports on the other. They quickly found themselves in the path of a dozen or so men and women on their way to various parts of the Diplopoda.

The hallway was barely wide enough for three men to walk abreast, yet everyone was attempting to shove their way through. A few people got pushed, some got elbowed, and Taryn winced as someone stomped on his big toe, though he wasn’t quite sure who had done it. Just from the people walking by at that moment, he was looking at five possible perpetrators.

Not like it matters anyway. Taryn sighed. He’d been dealing with bullying his entire life and compared to those abuses, these minor injuries were nothing.

Shen Tao waited for a break in the foot traffic before motioning for Taryn to follow him. Taryn couldn’t help but gawk at the pipes and doorways he passed; most of the doors were shut, but the few that allowed him a glimpse inside revealed cozy looking rooms not much smaller than his old bedroom back in Haven City.

“Probably a dumb question, but people actually live in here?”

“Not dumb at all. In fact, you’d be surprised how often I get that question. And the short answer to your question is yes, people live here,” Shen Tao replied in a muffled voice.

Taryn once again found himself frowning at the noise and wondering how anyone managed to hold a conversation in this strange place.

“What’s the long answer?”

“Part of my job is rescuing refugees fleeing the war-torn lands surrounding the Silver Crown Sect and offering them sanctuary within our walls. To accomplish that goal, the Diplopoda is staffed by a handpicked crew who live within the vessel. However, we also have temporary residential compartments for the refugees near the rear of the construct.”

Taryn paused to stare at the raised doorway ahead of him before asking his next question. It was constructed out of heavy metal plates, the bottom of which was elevated six inches off the ground by a thick metal beam Taryn almost kicked accidentally. He cautiously stepped over the beam and hurried to catch up with Shen Tao.

“Wouldn’t the middle of the construct be safer?”

“Theoretically. But most of the internal workings of the Diplopoda are located in the middle, and forward compartments. Right now, we are within the eighteenth segment—" he paused in his explanation to point at an engraving on the wall… an engraving, Taryn realized, he couldn’t read.

“What language is that?” Taryn had to hold back his yelp as he walked into Shen Tao’s back. At the questioning look on Shen Tao’s face, Taryn pointed to the engraving. “It looks similar to what I learned, but not quite.”

Shen Tao mumbled something Taryn couldn’t hear, then shook his head. “Sorry. It’s Imidian, the dominant language of the Imidia Dynasty. If you don’t mind my asking, what territory do you hail from, Taryn? You speak with an Imidian accent, but I’ve noticed certain… anachronisms in the words you use. Of course, it’s not just you. Lady Shun, and the siblings speak similarly.”

“We’re from a place called Haven City. I’m not sure what territory it’s in.”

“Did your leaders not pay tribute to the monarch of your territory?”

“If they did, they never told any of us about it. Haven City is ruled by three clans, and if memory serves, we’ve been isolated from the rest of the world for the better part of a thousand years.”

“That would certainly explain the differences in language, and why you don’t recognize Imidian. Language is constantly evolving; I’ve witnessed firsthand what happens when two countries do not interact for a couple of centuries. What’s most surprising is that we can still understand each other.”

In spite of himself, Taryn began chuckling. “Haven City wasn’t big on change, of any variety.”

“Did they welcome outsiders?” Shen Tao casually asked while he and Taryn had to step aside to allow a group of warriors to pass by.

The punishment Taryn experienced at the hands of the citizens of Haven City flashed through his mind. Whatever humor he’d found in the conversation drained out of him and he shook his head. “No.”

Shen Tao hesitated for a moment, then nodded. He didn’t push the issue any further, nor did he ask any follow-up questions. He let the issue drop then and there, which Taryn was grateful for.

Taryn found himself growing angry at his own weakness. He knew it wasn’t his fault, wasn’t even Fan Shun’s fault. It was the leaders of Haven City that were responsible for what he was feeling now. He may have been free of Haven City’s grip, but a part of him wondered if he would ever be able to forgive what they’d done to protect their precious techniques.

If we hadn’t met Shen Tao… Taryn shook his head and tried to toss away the thought of what could’ve happened to Fan Shun, if her condition went untreated.

Would she have died?

Taryn recalled the vision the Mourner had shown him; Haven City destroyed, its people being butchered by mysterious invaders… Fan Shun crushed beneath the rubble of a destroyed building, her hand reaching towards him, a sad smile on her face.

“Are you okay?” Shen Tao’s voice shattered the memory and brought Taryn back to the present. Taryn glanced around and realized they were still pressed against the wall, despite the walkway being cleared of people.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

Shen Tao observed him for a moment but didn’t question his answer. He pushed off the wall without a word and motioned for Taryn to follow him.

Once they began moving again, a palpable silence stretched between them. Shen Tao neither spoke nor looked in Taryn’s direction until they reached their destination. The physician’s tube was nearly identical to every other compartment they’d passed through. The only difference Taryn could see from the walkway was that there was only a single door leading off the hallway, next to which was a six-foot by four-foot wooden notice board pinned to the wall.

There was no handle on the door. Instead, there was a metal crank where the handle would’ve been. Shen Tao took hold of the crank and turned it clockwise. The metal groaned with each crank. After three revolutions the crank abruptly stopped, and the door made a loud *Clang* sound.

Shen Tao pushed the heavy looking door open without any visible strain and stepped through the raised door into a brightly lit room with a massive white curtain hanging from the ceiling.

Two masked individuals—one clearly a male, and the other clearly a female—were sitting at the only two desks in the room, a disorganized mess of papers laid out before them. They both turned to face Taryn and Elder Tao as soon as they entered, but only the female moved away from the desk to greet them.

Taryn caught himself staring at the cloth mask wrapped around her face, hiding her mouth and nose from view.

The woman’s brown eyes locked onto Taryn’s for a moment before swiveling to Shen Tao. “Elder Shen, you sent me an unusual one today.”

“I apologize, Doctor—”

The doctor waved his words away. “I’m only kidding, Elder. She’s actually quite fascinating. Did you know her core was only half formed?”

“I suspected as much. And if what young Taryn has told me is true, I can guess why.”

“Oh?” the doctor said, turning to look at Taryn once again.

“I’ll fill you in later,” Shen Tao said. “For now, I think it would be best if the boy could see his grandmother.”

“Of course.” She motioned at the curtain. “She’s right behind there, leftmost bed. The two of you can go see her. I’ll be right here if you need me.”

Taryn nodded his head and moved past the doctor. He threw the curtain aside and stepped through. He spotted Fan Shun sitting on the leftmost bed, as the doctor had said, and quickly went to her side. He threw his arms around her shoulders and pulled her against his chest hard enough to elicit a muffled “Ow!”

“Sorry!” he exclaimed, releasing her. “Are you okay?”

“No, but I will be,” she said. “How about you; is anyone hurt?”

“No, we’re all fine.”

“Where are the Xia twins? Did they not come with you?”

Taryn opened his mouth to respond, but Shen Tao spoke first. “Actually, I was going to ask you about that. Should I prepare a room for the four of you? We can take you wherever you’d like to go, so long as you don’t mind waiting for us to drop off the refugees first.”

“We don’t really… We didn’t exactly plan where we were going to go after we left.”

“That’s perfect. You could come to the Silver Crown Sect with us.”

“We don’t need charity—”

Shen Tao shook his head at Fan Shun’s words. “It’s not charity. It’s our job to ferry refugees away from the war. I don’t know what you’re fleeing, but you certainly seem like refugees to me. If nothing else, the safe zone outside the Silver Crown Sect will give you a good starting point for whatever adventure you’re on.”

“It sounds like a good idea to me, Grandma,” Taryn said. “But I’ll go along with whatever you decide.”

“I’m not going to make a decision without consulting the twins first. They have just as much right to voice their opinion as we do.”

“Shall I go collect them?” Shen Tao asked, motioning back the way they’d come.

Taryn and Fan Shun glanced at each other. An entire conversation passed between them in that glance, one that ended with Fan Shun sighing. “If you wouldn’t mind.”

“It’s no trouble. I’ll return shortly, I’m sure the two of you have a lot to talk about anyway.” He offered them a polite smile before excusing himself, leaving them with all the privacy the white curtain could afford them.

“Something’s wrong,” Fan Shun said quietly. At Taryn’s questioning look, Fan Shun said, “I haven’t heard you make a single joke yet. And it’s not just that; the moment you saw me, you acted like I was this fragile thing you could break. Did you forget that I kicked your ass this morning?” She laughed, though Taryn could tell she didn’t really mean it.

“It’s something Shen Tao said.”

“How mysterious,” she muttered sarcastically. “Can we please skip whatever comforting speech you’re planning to give me and get to the part where you tell me what’s wrong?”

Taryn sucked his teeth and nodded his head, albeit begrudgingly. “Shen Tao originally believed you had something he called “Eco ataxia,” and said it was a degenerative disorder where your channels grew too weak to carry Eco. But after I told him what your family did, how they sealed your core for sixteen years, he thinks there is a way we can fix your channels.”

“That’s great. So, why do you look like someone stomped on your journal?”

“Part of the treatment involves you not using Eco for the foreseeable future. They even emphasized that any usage, no matter how minor, could delay your treatment. And if you aren’t treated—”

“My Eco will burst through my skin, rupture my organs, and kill me in a very gruesome manner.”

“Basically. You already knew?”

“I knew there was a problem but wasn’t sure what the problem was or how to fix it,” Fan Shun said flatly.

Her lack of emotion struck a chord with Taryn, and he narrowed his eyes at her. “When were you planning on telling me?”

“I wasn’t. If things went to plan, I would train you—make sure you could survive in this world on your own. I still haven’t made up my mind on what I would do afterwards.” She shrugged her shoulders and looked down at the floor.

Several emotions went on a rampage inside Taryn’s chest. He was angry that she’d had no intention of telling him. He felt remorse over the fact that she was in this position because she had taken him in. The emotion that finally won out in the end was a deep-seated sense of protectiveness towards the woman who had raised him.

He took her hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze, then smacked her in the back of the head with his free hand.

“Don’t you ever do that again,” he said to her shocked face. “I am not a child anymore, Grandma. If there’s a problem, then we’ll deal with it together.” He leaned in until his lips were right beside her ear. “Besides, maybe there was something in the journal that could’ve fixed your channels. Did you ever think about that?”

“I… No. But you’re right. I should’ve mentioned it. I was just so caught up in protecting you, that I blinded myself to the alternative.”

“Good,” Taryn said, a smile blooming on his face. “You realize this is getting its own page in the journal, right? I think I’m going to title it “The day I was right, and Grandma was wrong.”

Fan Shun smacked his arm and shook her head, but she couldn’t quite hide the smile on her face. “You’re a brat, you know that? I don’t know who you take after.”

“Oh, definitely you. There’s no doubt about that,” he said, grinning.

“Should we come back later?” Wei’s voice interrupted.

Taryn and Fan Shun turned towards his voice and found Wei and Yawen standing just beyond the threshold of the privacy curtain.

“No, come here, both of you,” Fan Shun said, motioning for them to come closer. “This involves the two of you as well.”

“Shen Tao already told us about the offer,” Yawen said. “The two of you are the only reason I survived Old Haven. You’re also the only reason I’m not being turned into breeding stock for the next generation of Qiao leaders. If—” Her eyes darted over to Taryn for a moment. “If the two of you will have me, I would like to keep traveling with you. At least until I figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

“If Yawen is going, so am I,” Wei said. “Someone needs to make sure that stick up her butt doesn’t keep growing until it plants itself in the ground. Ouch!” Wei rubbed at the part of his arm Yawen had flicked and stuck his tongue out at her.

“Have we decided?” Shen Tao asked as he stepped through the curtain.

“It seems like we're going with you,” Taryn told him.

“Terrific. I’ll have a room prepared for you near the crew’s quarters by nightfall. Now, I wish I could stay and speak with you all, but I’ve put off my duties for long enough. I’ll have someone escort the four of you to your room as soon as it’s ready. With any luck, the Diplopoda will have taken in enough water by morning, and we’ll begin moving again.”

“Excuse me, Elder,” the female doctor said as she moved past him into the room. She approached Fan Shun’s bed with a small cup of steaming liquid that smelled like rancid death. “I’m sorry, but would you all mind stepping out of the room for a while? I’d like to get a jump on her treatment before we start moving and none of us is going to like what’s about to happen.”

“Sounds ominous,” Taryn said before clapping Fan Shun on the shoulder. “Remember Grandma, just ignore the smell and focus on the good it’s going to do you.”

“This is payback for making you drink expired poultices, isn’t it?”

“Oh, I had nothing to do with this. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying it,” Taryn replied before ushering Yawen and Wei out of the room.

After leaving the physician's tube, Taryn and the twins quickly found themselves lost inside the Diplopoda. With all the people moving around, and the nearly identical looking compartments, it was too much for the three of them.

Despite the fact that they would have to go for a swim, they eventually wandered outside the construct and ventured back to the campsite to collect their belongings. But that was not all they found at the campsite. Little Yi came bounding out of the forest. The small creature’s fur was standing on end as it ran, and the moment he reached them, he began chittering angrily at the three of them.

Little Yi made a beeline for Wei and climbed up his soaked robe in a matter of seconds. He reached his shoulder and stared at him with large, adorably angry eyes. “I’m sorry, little Yi. I forgot you were out here—ouch!” Wei shouted as little Yi chomped Wei’s earlobe.

“I think that’s his way of saying it’s going to take more than an apology to earn my forgiveness!” Yawen giggled. “You should probably prepare a bribe or two… or three,” she finished, prompting Wei to stick his tongue out at her.

Taryn shook his head and sighed good-naturedly while grabbing his bag from the ground.. He took an extra moment to ensure his dagger and journal were still accounted for, relieved when he saw them both still nestled exactly where he’d left them.

He looked up and saw the twins embroiled in an argument over who had to carry little Yi back to the Diplopoda. He idly wondered if he had any siblings out there. If he did, he was really hoping they were nicer than that.

He’d often fantasized when he was younger about having an older brother, someone who would protect and guide him. Or maybe a younger brother or sister who would look up to him and come to him whenever they had a problem.

Within the confines of Haven City, they were always just that—fantasies—something he thought about when he was especially bored and lonely. He knew there was no way his daydreams would ever come true… Except Taryn was no longer confined to Haven City.

However, there was one question Taryn couldn't quite understand. If he did have family out there, why didn't they ever come looking for him?

Taryn gave a slight shake of his head and discarded the thought. He had family. He needed to focus on that instead of longing for someone he'd never met, and who probably didn’t want him anyway. “Are we ready to head back?” he quietly asked.

“I think so.” Yawen replied while lifting her bag off the ground- leaving Taryn to wonder at how easily she’d done so.

Oh, he’d seen her do it many times. But between camping gear, changes of clothes, and her own rations, Taryn estimated that Yawen’s bag likely weighed between thirty and fifty pounds. Yet the girl who was barely eye level with his chest, lifted it off the ground without so much as a change in expression.

That was the biggest difference between someone who’s completed the body refining stage and someone who hasn’t. Once your body has been refined by Eco, you could no longer be compared to a normal human. You were effortlessly stronger, faster, and more durable than anyone below you in rank.

The disparity between ranks only grew as you climbed higher—and this difference was never more apparent than during the few instances Fan Shun had managed to convince Yawen to spar.

Both women were prodigies of their generations, yet even without using her Eco, Fan Shun could take a clean blow from Yawen without flinching. Yawen couldn’t say the same—and for that matter, neither could Taryn or Wei.

Taryn wished that he could be there when Yawen finally reached the spirit rising stage. He absently shook his head and shoved his tumultuous feelings into the pit of his gut. He reached down to pick up Fan Shun’s discarded bag before motioning for the twins to lead the way.

Wei grumbled a bit about having to jump back into the lake, but he was placated by the knowledge that a warm bed was waiting for him on the other side.

Chapter Eight

True to his word, Shen Tao had a small compartment waiting for them by the time Dawen rose above the horizon.

The compartment was approximately eight feet long and seven feet wide. Aside from a long, narrow mattress crammed against the far wall, the only other piece of furniture was a single metal box to the left of the door.

“That’s what we’re going to be sleeping on?” Yawen muttered incredulously.

While Yawen and Wei were transfixed on the mattress, Taryn’s first instinct was to open the box and see what was inside. He stepped in front of the box and fiddled with the heavy latch connecting the lid to the base.

It has space for a lock of some kind. Maybe I could ask Elder Tao if we could have one to secure our belongings. Taryn lifted the lid, revealing a surprisingly large compartment of three and a half feet long, two feet deep, and two and a half feet wide.

They should have little trouble securing Yawen’s sword, Taryn’s dagger, and Wei’s… What kind of weapon does Wei use? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him fight. Taryn shook his head at the ridiculous notion. But thinking back over the last few weeks, he realized that no, he hadn’t seen Wei fight once. I’ll have to ask him about it later.

Taryn hummed while peering inside the box. Aside from the main compartment, there were also fist sized, square compartments at each of the four corners that stretched the distance between the lid and the bottom of the box.

Each corner compartment had its own lid, which came off with a slight tug. Taryn looked inside each compartment and was slightly disappointed to discover they were all empty.

With the disappointment of an empty box fresh in his mind, Taryn turned to look at the mattress. It was wide enough to touch both sides of the compartment, but Taryn just knew his feet would hang off the end.

Yawen and Wei were clearly uncomfortable with the sleeping arrangements, and Taryn wasn’t exactly comfortable with the situation either. There was a difference between sleeping near each other while you were camping and sharing a bed.

At least, that’s what Taryn believed. He didn’t have much experience sleeping near anyone other than his grandmother; now he was supposed to share a bed with Wei and… Yawen, the girl he’d harbored feelings for until recently.

“How should we do this?” Taryn asked conversationally. “Probably the easiest arrangement is Wei in the middle, and Yawen and I will take either side.”

“That’s fine with me. But I should warn you—I’m a hugger,” Wei snickered while playfully poking at Taryn’s arm.

“And I’m a kicker. We’ll see who wakes up first,” Taryn said, smiling.

“Actually, I think I’ll be more comfortable on the floor,” Yawen said. “No offense meant, Taryn. While I could probably tolerate Wei—”

“No offense taken. But I’d rather you take the bed and let me sleep on the floor.”

“Nonsense, I’m the one with the problem. It isn’t fair to make you sleep on the floor just because I’m uncomfortable. That’s why you should take the bed,” Yawen countered.

Taryn snorted. “Relax. I need to cultivate tonight anyway. I doubt I’ll be doing much sleeping.”

“But—”

“Look, as amusing as this conversation has been, it’s late,” Wei said. “I am going to bed, with or without the two of you. You can both sleep on the floor for all I care.” He trudged over to the mattress and collapsed on top of it without even bothering to remove his shoes.

Taryn and Yawen stood in uncomfortable silence for a full minute before Taryn sighed and began scratching at the back of his head. He deposited his bag into the metal box by the door, then sat with his back against a wall.

Taryn watched Yawen hesitate for only a moment before she sat against the wall opposite him. She crossed her legs in front of her body and leaned her head back. She sighed quietly and closed her eyes. “Sorry…”

“What for?” Taryn said, not understanding what she could be apologizing for. To his knowledge, she hadn’t done anything to him—well, nothing that she could truly control.

She’d broken his heart when she chose to be with Gao Feng, but Taryn couldn’t blame her for that. The two of them where in vastly different worlds; he was the Clanless orphan, she was the Qiao heiress. They would’ve never worked out. Gao Feng was a pretentious jerk, true. And Taryn didn’t know what she’d ever seen in him… But he couldn’t blame her for his own failure to accept reality.

Truth be told, Taryn knew nothing of their relationship—nor did he wish to. She’d made her decision, and Taryn would respect it.

“… Never mind. Forget I said anything,” Yawen said before withdrawing into herself.

It took Taryn a few minutes to calm his mind and body enough to begin cultivating. In that time, Yawen didn’t make a sound. Neither did Wei. Whether through conscious effort or not, the twins’ breathing synchronized to the point Taryn could no longer differentiate between the two.

It has to be because of their upbringing and training, right? They don’t actually share a psychic link between them… Do they? A few weeks ago, I would’ve said that was impossible. But Iddrai mentioned that dragons inherited memories from their ancestors. And I somehow managed to absorb the knowledge and experience of the Mourner, so… Is it really that far-fetched to think that twins could have some kind of intrinsic link between them?

Taryn thought about it for a moment longer then scoffed quietly. Just because there is a more complicated answer, doesn’t mean it’s the correct one. Not only were they raised together. But it’s highly likely they trained under the same master. That’s bound to give them both habits. An idea flashed through Taryn’s mind. Would it be possible for me to learn the strengths and weaknesses of one by observing the other?

“It’s time, mortal. Get in here.”

Taryn was startled by Iddrai’s voice. Looking around the room, Taryn realized that the twin’s breathing had become slow and steady. They’d fallen asleep, Yawen with her head against the wall and her legs stretched out in front of her, and Wei in a heap on the mattress.

Can I have one more minute?

“Fine, but hurry.”

Thanks. Taryn climbed to his feet, and silently walked over to Yawen. He gingerly wrapped one arm around her back and the other beneath her knees. Yawen grumbled about being disturbed but didn’t fully come to. She opened bleary eyes and looked up at him.

“Feng—what are you doing?”

Taryn’s body froze and his mind went numb. It was all he could do to keep his strength in check and not squeeze her.

He somehow managed to show her a tight smile while moving towards the mattress. “You’ll be more comfortable over here,” Taryn quietly replied.

Yawen didn’t respond. Her breath had evened out once again, and her eyes were closed.

She’s asleep again. Taryn gently laid her down beside Wei, and slowly retracted his arms. He took a few steps back and looked at the twins. Yawen’s breathing gradually returned to the same steady rhythm it’d been following before he moved her..

Wei’s breathing was also steady, though Taryn noticed that it was no longer synchronized with Yawen’s.

“Are you done yet, boy?”

Yeah, I’m done. He backed away from the mattress and sat down against the wall. I’m coming in. Taryn sighed, then closed his eyes and reached inwards in search of Iddrai’s mountain.

* * *

Taryn opened his eyes to the same golden clouds he’d witnessed earlier. The grass-covered mountain’s peak beneath him was the only solid ground in sight.

Iddrai was already waiting for him, hanging onto the peak with one gargantuan hand. Each of Iddrai’s five fingers sported claws as long as Taryn was tall.

Taryn’s eyes quickly found Iddrai’s. Rather than impatience, Taryn thought he saw a shred of sympathy behind Iddrai’s slitted crimson eyes.

I thought about what you asked me—about why I’m doing this. Truth is, I’m still not sure if it’s the right thing to do.

“You’re going to attempt it anyway,” Iddrai said.

Taryn knew it wasn’t a question, but he nodded his head anyway.

“Very well. As promised, I will help you any way I can. But get any thought of the silver-haired female out of your head. You can’t do this with a troubled mind. The slightest mistake—”

Could get me killed. I remember. Taryn left the vision and returned to the compartment.

He imagined his core. The thin shell of blue glass just beneath his skin shined like a crystal within his mind’s eye. A vibrant blue gas that sparkled with hidden power and life filled his core to capacity. He watched the gas lazily spiral inside his body for a few moments before he was ready to begin.

“Do you already know what you’re going to do?”

No… But I will. Taryn pushed his conscious mind deeper into his subconscious. He’d only done this once before, when he fought against Gu Qigang inside the tower, and he wasn’t sure if he could do it again.

If this failed, then Taryn would likely spend the rest of the night scouring the Mourner’s memories for the right technique to use.

A thousand core construction methods floated through his mind at the speed of thought. Taryn assessed each one as they came. Surprisingly, though there seemed to be many ways to create a core—and even more places to put them—most techniques arrived at one of three places: a core that was small, but highly efficient at transforming gas Eco into liquid Eco, a large but highly inefficient core, or something in between these two extremes.

Taryn’s first core fell into the second category—he turned his entire body into an Eco core. In doing so, he made the rate of transformation extremely slow. With nothing to contain it, any liquid Eco he managed to create would pool in his feet.

While that was extremely useful for kicking techniques, it was pretty much useless for everything else. No, he would need to keep it near the center of his body for ease-of-use.

Central location… Maybe something near my stomach, then. The number of techniques floating through his mind vanished, leaving only a hundred or so core construction methods, all of which were techniques that focused on creating a core near the stomach.

Or the heart… Could I turn my heart into a core? Is that possible? The number of techniques changed again, except this time the number fell to merely a handful of potential techniques.

The names of the techniques lined up next to each other in his mind’s eye: Devourer’s Core, The Swallowed Star Core, Core of a Thousand Hearts, Coiling Serpent’s Core, Core of the Deathless King, Thunderous Core, Abyssal Core—Taryn stopped on the Core of the Deathless King technique.

It sounds like a name I would’ve come up with when I was twelve. Taryn laughed, but his laughter trailed off as a memory flashed through his mind.

Lightning lit up the sky, yet no rain would fall to put out the fires. A hooded man knelt on the ground beside the body of a gray skinned young woman, her raven locks and purple robes stained red from the pool of blood beneath her. But the blood was not hers. It belonged to the hooded man, whose robe was tattered from the many open wounds covering his torso. A short spear was lodged deep within the man’s back, the broken blade of the sword was stuck in his shoulder, and half a dozen arrows perforated his body.

The hooded man’s body shook as he sobbed, his tears falling on the woman’s face. Despite not having a visible wound on her, it was clear that she was dead, and had been for quite some time…

Taryn returned to his senses the instant the memory ended. He was still inside the compartment, none of it was real. A drop of water landed on his hand, startling him. He slowly moved his hand to his face. He felt wetness on his cheek, and tasted salt on his lips.

What happened? Taryn asked, confused about what he’d just seen and why it’d felt so real. I could smell the fires. Felt her robe beneath my fingers… Was that—could that have been one of the Mourner’s memories?

“What did you see?”

Taryn briefly explained what he’d seen in the vision.

“And this happened right after you saw the core technique?”

Taryn nodded his head; he didn’t trust his ability to speak just then.

“If there was a memory associated with that technique, you should use it.”

Why? Aren’t you generally supposed to avoid things that cause traumatic flashbacks?

“The memory means that technique is closely tied to the Mourner. It may have even been one he created. But listen to your instincts. If you don’t think it’s the perfect choice, don’t use it. I’m sure you’ll find another one if you look hard enough.”

Taryn slightly nodded his head and turned his attention back to the technique.

It was far more complex than the other core building technique Taryn used. That one only required him to mold his Eco to the underside of his skin, which sounded difficult, but ultimately only required patience and focus. The method to create the Core of the Deathless King required Taryn turn his heart into a core.

Not modify it—not coat the inside of it—he had to completely transform his heart into an Eco core. The idea was that, as his transformed heart pumped, it would gradually turn his own blood into liquid Eco.

There was a noticeable problem with the technique—namely, that it would effectively turn his blood into the source of his power—a power that was burned away as he used techniques.

I’ll die. I’ll be basically bleeding myself dry every time I use a technique. Why would the Mourner create such a thing? Taryn asked incredulously.

“It’s genius…”

Which part of my dying from blood loss sounds like a good idea to you?

“You’re thinking like a mortal. Mortals innately desire to cultivate, to transcend their mortality. To become immortal. But the main problem all cultivators—including myself—faced, was the length of time it took to create liquid Eco. A fist sized core could take a decade or longer to fill, and that’s a decade of conscious effort and struggle. But with this technique… By transforming your heart into a core, the process becomes somewhat automatic. As long as you sufficiently absorb Eco in its gaseous state, the beating of your heart will create liquid Eco for you.”

Are you just ignoring the part where I will die from a lack of blood if I use too many techniques? That isn’t something I can just ignore.

“There are risks to every technique. Ask the silver-haired girl, ask your grandmother, by Otholla, ask anyone. Cultivators the world over would wage wars over this technique. It’s dangerous, yes, but in my opinion, it’s well worth the risk. Even if it only increases your ability to create liquid Eco by ten percent, I will still say it’s worth it.”

Taryn was brought up short by the passion in Iddrai’s voice. Originally, he’d thought the dragon would agree with him. Taryn wouldn’t be risking only his own life if he used this technique, he would be risking Iddrai’s too.

Yet here he was, willing to risk it all for a meager ten percent increase in cultivation speed?

Is it really so serious?

“Taryn, you’re young. Perhaps too young to understand how monumental this is. How many ancient monsters would still be alive if this technique existed a thousand years ago… But you don’t know about that, do you? None of you really knows what comes after your grandmother’s level.”

The level beyond spirit rising? I mean, I’d always suspected that there was something beyond that point. But I couldn’t find any information on it in the city—and believe me, I looked.

Iddrai growled under his breath. “The short version, then. We’ve already wasted enough time as it is. If you want to know any more, maybe try asking the old man. He seems like he enjoys the sound of his own voice.” Taryn sunk his conscious mind into Iddrai’s “home” in time to watch the dragon’s other foreleg rise through the clouds. It brought with it a trail of golden fog that followed the path of the claw on his index finger.

Using the clouds as “ink,” Iddrai drew a stick figure human in the air above Taryn’s head. “What you know of as cultivation—isn’t. It’s what parents teach their children as a prelude to their first step on the path. From what little I could feel from your senses, the area around Haven City had little in the way of ambient Eco. This was likely on purpose—less ambient Eco means Eco beasts have little incentive to travel near the city.”

There are scripts carved into the wall, powerful ones. Is it possible one of those was an Eco dispersal script?

“Unlikely,” Iddrai said immediately. “You said the Mourner told you there were scripts designed to conceal me from the rest of the world. A script powerful enough to suppress me would require no small amount of Eco. So, the more likely explanation is that the scripts absorbed Eco almost as fast as Aurelia could produce it— leaving very little for the citizens of Haven city to cultivate with. That’s why you are all so weak. But in the outside world, most people reach your grandmother’s level of cultivation by the time they can walk.”

That’s a scary thought… Taryn shivered at the thought of toddlers destroying buildings and facing down giant monsters—and winning.

“Let me finish. Although they reach her level of cultivation, it’s been my experience that most are noncombatants. They may be stronger and more durable than the people from your city, but most are no different from your farmers and merchants. It’s the ones training to grow beyond that level that you need to be concerned with.”

After his ominous warning, Iddrai drew three more stick figures in the air:

Above the first, he wrote Fan Shun: red Jade.

Above the second, he wrote Duan He: two-tone Jade.

And above the third, he wrote Shen Tao: three-tone Jade.

Taryn stared at the three stick figures for a moment before directing his attention back at Iddrai. Duan He was stronger than grandmother?

“If your description of him is accurate, I judged his level to be around the second tone, possibly approaching the third tone. In the world of cultivators, this means that he has mastered his base Eco and has begun training to incorporate a second into his body.”

You can learn to use more than one type of Eco? So… You’re saying there’s a chance I could learn to throw fireballs!?

“That wasn’t what I had hoped you would take away from my explanation, but at least you’re paying attention.” Iddrai sighed. “Yes, if you have an affinity for fire, you could learn to throw fireballs one day. But that’s not all. Incorporating a second type of Eco into your body means that you are slowly transitioning away from being human. You would need to eat, sleep, and drink less to survive. Your aging would begin to slow. Your grandmother could likely remain in her prime until she’s a hundred and fifty years old, if she continued training. And her lifespan would only increase once she started taking in other Eco types.”

That’s… amazing! Taryn exclaimed. So—

“Enough!” Iddrai yelled. The dragon slammed a foreleg into the side of Taryn’s mountain. “Do you realize just how much time we’ve wasted? Rala rises soon, which means we’ll have to wait until tomorrow night to finish—unless you don’t mind the silver-haired girl and the rat catcher finding out what you’re doing.”

Taryn thought about that for a minute. Then he shrugged his shoulders. If I can’t trust them and my grandmother, I’m not sure who I can trust. So, I don’t mind them knowing.”

“Even if they try to stop you?”

Taryn snorted. Only way to do that is to kill me.

Iddrai watched Taryn for a moment, likely wondering if he was serious. But Taryn meant every word. His personal feelings for Yawen aside, he was already trusting them with the lives of both him and his grandmother.

“Very well, then the talking ends here. Begin whenever you’re ready. I’ll only intervene if it’s absolutely necessary. Otherwise, the outcome rests entirely on your shoulders.”

No pressure. Taryn let out a hollow chuckle and left the soulspace behind.

He directed all of his focus inwards, took a deep breath to relax his body, then went to work. He concentrated on drawing every bit of Eco within his core and directing it towards his heart. At first, the gaseous Eco merely passed through the space as if his most vital organ wasn’t there.

Taryn grimaced at the initial failed attempt. He needed the Eco to stay inside his heart until the transformation was complete.

He resolved himself to try again. This time he imagined a vacuum forming within his heart, constantly drawing the Eco towards itself.

It worked… Kinda. Eco was certainly being drawn towards Taryn’s heart, except now he’d inadvertently created a small vortex within his chest that constantly pulled ambient Eco in from one side and flung it out the other.

Taryn growled low in his chest and tried again… And again… And again.

Nothing seemed to be working.

This is really starting to irritate me.

“Deal with it.”

“Deal with it,” Taryn mocked. I haven’t quit yet, have I?

Taryn tried over and over again for hours. At some point he knew the twins had awoken, but he was so close he could feel it in his bones.

By now, Taryn had imagined up countless smaller vacuums around his heart. Each vortex worked in conjunction with the ones around it to form an impenetrable wall of wind around his heart. They simultaneously worked to draw even more Eco into his heart, while keeping what was already there from escaping.

Unable to escape, Eco did the only thing it could and melded into Taryn’s beating heart. The moment he sensed Eco permeating every cell of his heart, Taryn moved to the next step.

Just like he had when he created his first core, Taryn focused on solidifying the Eco. But instead of forcing it to cling to the organ until it hardened, Taryn instead imagined it filling his heart muscles, strengthening them… before finally becoming them.

He quickly realized that he had to work in between the beats of his heart, during those brief moments when his heart was not moving. He’d accidentally caused a few minor bleeds by trying to transform it while it was moving and had to spend precious time and Eco to stop them.

Cell by cell, Taryn slowly—and very cautiously—transformed the flesh and blood of his heart into one that pulsed with Eco.

The first heartbeat after his work was done caused every drop of blood in his body to flash blue for one second… Then it was gone. The only outward sign that he had done anything was the faint glowing of the tattoo covering most of his chest and stomach.

But inside, his body had come alive with vibrant color. Eco was compressed with every pulse of his heart, and that compression caused it to glow in Taryn’s mind’s eye. His attention was grabbed by the feeling of weakness that ran throughout his body.

His heart may have been beating strongly in his chest, but something was wrong with the rest of his body.

Taryn opened his eyes—and was forced to instantly close them again under the onslaught of bright light.

I know I’ve been cultivating for a while, but this is way too bright.

“What time is it?” Taryn asked. His throat felt dry, and his voice rusty from disuse.

“Divines… Yawen, Xia Yawen, he’s awake!” Wei shouted moments before he arrived at Taryn’s side, cup of water in hand. “What have you been doing?” Wei asked. The worry in his voice was apparent to even the disoriented Taryn.

After a few minutes, Taryn managed to get a single eye open in order to look around.

He was still sitting on the floor, which was the most likely explanation for why his butt and legs were completely numb, but the room seemed different. Empty plates and cups formed a semicircle around him and several outfits’ worth of dirty clothes lay discarded in a pile beside the metal box.

“You had a party and you didn’t invite me? Rude,” Taryn said in a light tone.

His eyes finally landed on Yawen and Wei. He frowned at how exhausted they both looked. “Are you guys okay? What happened? Is Grandma okay?”

Yawen let out a deep sigh as Taryn found his voice. She stood up from where she’d been seated in front of him, walked over to the mattress, and immediately collapsed on top of it.

“What my sleep deprived sister meant to say was yes, we’re okay. Nothing happened. And Elder Shun is fine.”

“Then why does it look like someone ransacked the place?” Taryn asked while glancing about the room. Did little Yi go on a rampage or something?

“Well… My sister and I aren’t used to picking up after ourselves. That’s our fault. We’ll have everything cleaned up soon.”

“You two did all of this?” Taryn exclaimed. “How in the world did you create this—” Taryn motioned to the room around them—“in the short time I was focused on cultivating?”

Wei shrugged and smiled sleepily at Taryn. “A lot can happen in four days.”

Taryn, who was mid-sip at the time, choked after hearing how long he’d been sitting there. “I was out for four days?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh. Guess that explains why I’m so hungry. But wait, I can’t survive for four days without water. My cultivation isn’t that high yet.”

“Oh—You were given water.” Wei grinned like that cat who ate the canary. A sight that sent chills racing down Taryn’s spine.

“I’m afraid to ask how,” Taryn admitted.

“It was easy, really. You just had to be given multiple mouth-to-mouth water exchanges a day,” Wei said before climbing to his feet and hobbling towards the mattress. “Nice tattoo, by the way. That’s a story I need to hear later…”

“Mouth-to-mouth?” Taryn asked before he could stop himself. The image of Wei kissing him flashed through his mind, followed immediately by the much more pleasant image of Yawen kissing him.

“Who gave me mouth-to-mouth?” Taryn asked as nonchalantly as he could manage.

No one answered him the first time he asked… Or the second… Or the third.

Chapter Nine

The morning after Taryn had begun building his second core, Yawen awoke in an unfamiliar place. She’d remembered falling asleep on the floor, her head against the wall. How then, did she end up asleep on the mattress?

Though her eyes were blurry, Yawen sat up and looked around the room.

She was unsurprised to see Taryn still sitting in the same place he’d been the night before. She was also unsurprised to find her brother sitting in front of him, a look of intense fascination on his face. “What’s going on?” she asked in a tired voice.

“Hmm?” Wei responded without taking his eyes off Taryn. “What’s that?”

“Why are you staring at Taryn?” she replied while rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“He’s cultivating,” Wei muttered, as if that explained everything.

“Okay—he’s cultivating. You’ve seen ten thousand people cultivate.”

“Yeah, but they didn’t glow while they were meditating.”

That brought Yawen up short. She stopped rubbing at her eyes and spent a few seconds attempting to focus them on whatever Wei was talking about. Then she saw it. Even through his robes, she could see it—a large circular tattoo shining brightly through the thin fabric of his robes.

She couldn’t get a good look at it through his clothes. But from what she could see, the circular tattoo had spiked ridges along the left and right quadrants, what she could only describe as four spiked ”pillars,” two extending from the top and two from the bottom, and a smaller object extending from between the two top pillars.

He never told me he had a tattoo. Yawen found her curiosity stirred. A disturbingly large part of her wanted to pull his robes aside and see what the tattoo was supposed to be. She expelled the thought from her mind and clambered off the mattress.

“How long has he been meditating?” she asked while she set about fixing her appearance. Her hair needed to be brushed, her robes needed to be changed, her—

“No idea. He’d already started by the time I woke up,” Wei replied, shrugging.

“Guess he was serious, then,” Yawen said.

“What do you mean?” Wei asked, still without looking at her.

“Don’t you remember? He said last night that he wouldn’t get much sleep. Looks like he was right.”

“I was asleep almost as soon as my head touched the mattress. I remember nothing.” He chuckled.

“It always annoys me how you can do that.”

“What—fall asleep?”

“How you can fall asleep in two seconds. I’ve never understood it.”

“It’s the one thing I can beat you at.” Wei laughed quietly, finally turning to look at her. “Well, that, and sneaking out of the main house without being detected. Seeing as I never got caught, I guess that’s two things I’m better at than you.”

“There had to be something,” Yawen said, a sly grin spreading across her face.

Wei shrugged playfully and turned back to Taryn, leaving Yawen to finish getting ready. Which she did, after moving back to the mattress and positioning her body so she was out of Taryn’s direct line of sight.

There was no telling when he would open his eyes, and the last thing she wanted was her half naked body being the first thing he saw.

She wasn’t exactly happy about Wei being there either, and normally she would’ve asked her brother to step outside while she changed, but she didn’t this time for two reasons: he was her twin, and from where he was sitting, he could warn her when Taryn opened his eyes.

As Yawen cinched the belt of her robe in place, she happened to glance down at the floor where she’d been sitting the night before. “You know you didn’t have to move me, right? I was sleeping fine on the floor.”

“I didn’t move you,” Wei scoffed. “I know how violent you can be when you sleep. No way would I risk my life.”

Wei’s denial momentarily stumped her. She thought back to the night before, to her conversation with Taryn. Did he move me?

“Feng—what are you doing?”

The memory was foggy, but she definitely remembered waking up not long after she’d fallen asleep. She remembered something uncomfortably warm pressing against her body. In her sleep deprived state, she’d thought it was Gao Feng. That was Taryn? Her eyes landed on his unmoving form, and she wondered if the look of pain on his face was truly another facet of her blurred memory.

*Knock Knock!* “It’s Shen Tao, may I come in?”

The siblings turned their heads towards the door. Neither one wished to be the one who spoke up first.

A battle of wills ensued over the span of a few breaths, a battle that ended with Wei smiling, and Yawen rolling her eyes in annoyance. While internally cursing her brother, she trudged over to the door and opened it for the elder.

“I didn’t wake you, did I?” he asked as he stepped through the door.

“No, we were already awake. We just weren’t expecting visitors,” Yawen said in a clipped tone.

“Understandable, and I’ll try not to take up too much of your time,” Elder Tao said, either missing the annoyance in her tone or ignoring it. “I wanted to come by personally and explain a few things.”

“All right. Let’s hear it.” Yawen sighed. She really wasn’t in the mood to interact with strangers right now.

“Yawen…” Wei said in a low tone, warning Yawen to be careful of how she spoke to the elder.

“As I said, I’ll try not to take up too much of your time.” Elder Tao repeated. “The Diplopoda will begin moving shortly. Until now, we’ve had the script output set to a minimum to give the three of you and Lady Shun a chance to acclimate. Unfortunately, in order to move, we will have to make the four of you uncomfortable.”

“The resonance,” Yawen said, understanding what elder Tao was trying to say. “We’re going to feel that pressure on our cores again.”

“I’m afraid so. The ‘resonance,’ as you correctly put it, is your cores attempting to withstand the condensed Eco released by the scripts that give life to the Diplopoda. We don’t notice it, because our cores are complete. While your half-completed cores are still in their infancy, they haven’t developed the rigid structure necessary to withstand the fluctuations yet.”

“You’re saying we’re going to have to suffer for a while,” Yawen said, her tone indicating that it wasn’t a question.

“Not at all. That’s actually why I came to tell you this personally.” Shen Tao reached into a pocket of his pants and pulled out three bracelets. Each one was dyed red and woven together out of coarse string.

A small metal talisman dangled from each bracelet. Periodically, the odd-looking letters engraved on the front of each talisman would pulse with a dim light.

“Normally, we give these to newborns to protect them while they’re on board. But they should work just as well on you,” Elder Tao said.

Yawen’s first thought was that he was mocking them. But the gentle smile on his face and honest light in his eyes said otherwise. Either he was an amazing actor, or he didn’t have an ulterior motive.

Yawen was forced by her own pride to accept the bracelets with a forced smile. “Thank you for your consideration.”

“Think nothing of it,” he said, moving towards the door. “I’ve taken up enough of your time, and I still have one more bracelet to deliver before we can depart,” Elder Tao lightly dipped his head towards them before opening the door and leaving.

Yawen and Wei looked at each other, then at the three bracelets in her hand.

Neither one of them really wanted to wear the talismans. They weren’t children, and they certainly weren’t newborns.

The sound of steady breathing brought their eyes to Taryn.

Yawen sighed and passed a bracelet to her brother. She slipped a second over Taryn’s left hand, and the third over her own right hand.

A cultivator was most vulnerable when meditating. And Yawen didn’t want to make Taryn suffer just because she wanted to be stubborn.

* * *

Yawen and Wei wandered around the rear of the Diplopoda. Originally they planned to find where the passengers acquired food. Then the Diplopoda shook violently for three seconds before settling down, but that plan fell apart around the same time they started to feel like they would puke. As long as the vessel continued to periodically shake, Yawen was afraid their stomachs would continue to protest.

They’d also thought returning to their shared compartment to wait out the shaking would ease the queasiness in their stomachs, but they were sadly mistaken. The nausea continued whether they were standing, sitting, or screaming into the abyss. So, they decided to have a lie down, since that seemed like a good way to suffer through a few hours… or until they got bored and wandered outside the compartment again.

Which happened sooner rather than later. Because with nothing to do but wait- Yawen found herself unable to do anything but think—and none of the topics her brain was suggesting were things she was prepared to deal with.

First, she was worried this was all a big mistake. That it was impossible for her to have a life outside the clan, and by leaving it, she’d given up all she’d ever known… for nothing.

Then she wondered if Gao Feng was okay after returning to the city. It’d been a few weeks since he left them. She’d expected to at least get a messenger script telling her he’d made it back safely.

But she’d gotten nothing.

Was he being punished? Were they keeping him locked away in an isolated cultivation room because he returned empty-handed?

She’d always heard the Ukata clan were more “forgiving” than either the Qiao or Cai clans. But from the few meetings she had with other Ukata, she didn’t think that was correct. It was more accurate to say they pretended to forgive, while keeping the memory of any transgressions close to their heart.

The last concern plaguing her thoughts revolved around Taryn, and her guilt over how their friendship ended back in the city. Should she apologize to him and explain the real reason she stopped meeting him?

While it was true that her mother ordered her not to associate with him, that wasn’t the reason she stopped. No, she stopped in order to conceal her relationship with Gao Feng from the prying eyes of the clan.

She’d gotten lucky. The only person they caught her sneaking out to see was Taryn. Had they found out about her clandestine meetings with Gao Feng, he never would’ve had time to convince his uncle to go along with their scheme.

All it took was his orders—and Yawen forging a letter in her mother’s name—and the two of them were ready to leave the city behind… Or so she believed.

Suppose I shouldn’t be surprised they had ulterior motives. The clans had been at odds for a thousand years; I wanted to ignore that history and only focus on the present. But I guess I was the only one willing to do so. Yawen discreetly wiped away her tears and did her best to focus on the here and now. She could deal with the annoying, emotional things when she no longer felt like she needed to vomit every five seconds.

With Wei walking directly behind her, she passed through hallways so crowded it was difficult to take a step forward without bumping into someone. Though this did give Yawen the perfect opportunity to inspect the people around her.

It wasn’t difficult to differentiate between those who worked aboard the Diplopoda and the refugees. The workers wore a standardized uniform consisting of baggy gray breeches, skintight black tunics that left their arms exposed, and simple leather boots that went halfway up their legs.

Meanwhile, the outfits worn by the refugees were at the same time simpler and more diverse than those of the workers. She noticed most of them wore monochrome robes of primary colors: yellow, red, and blue. She also spotted a few white and black robes mixed in with the rest. But even then, the styles of their robes made up for any lack of color.

Most refugees wore plain looking robes of varying sizes. Yawen noticed that these refugees had robes that were either too big and hung off their body, or too small and made it difficult for them to move. Though a few robes seemed tailored to fit their wearers, fewer still looked to be newer than three to four years old.

A scant number of refugees wore outfits that managed to meet both criteria she’d come to expect from growing up in the Qiao clan: looking relatively new and having a comfortable fit.

Yawen noticed an odd pattern. The men and women who wore clothes that met the criteria, also wore the most vibrant colors. Green, purple, orange, and every color in between. Some even wore robes sporting several different colors at once.

Yawen didn’t think it a coincidence that each of those refugees also had some kind of insignia on their robes.

Guess not everything is different. Clans still look out for themselves first. The Diplopoda made a sharp turn that almost threw Yawen through the air—and likely would have, had her brother not steadied her at the last second.

Yawen knew the construct moved fast. She’d seen it crashing into the lake firsthand. But there was a difference between knowing something can move, and actually feeling it move beneath your feet.

It was a constant struggle to keep her footing. Every step threatened to throw her to the ground due to the intense swaying of the floor. However, that wasn’t the reason for her growing irritation.

She was irritated over the fact that Wei didn’t seem to be struggling at all.

Her brother happily waved and spoke to everyone they passed. Most didn’t give him the time of day, but she noticed a few of the children—the ones less than ten years of age—would occasionally wave back to him.

The refugee children’s laughter brought back memories of her own childhood before she had her innocence buried beneath the weight of the clan’s expectations—before her friends abandoned her. She’d never forgiven her mother for scaring them away.

She could still see the look of disapproval on her mother’s face after she found out she had “normal” friends. “You’re the next matriarch of the Qiao clan. You are their leader, their Queen. And a Queen does not sully her reputation by allowing leeches to cling to her. If they do not improve your power, your standing, or give you access to something that will, they are useless. Remember that Qiao Xia Yawen, and maybe you’ll be a better matriarch than I think you will,” the echo told her in a perfect mirror of her mother’s voice.

Yawen grimaced at the memory. She kept her head down, allowing her long silver hair to spill over her shoulders and hide her face from her annoyingly perceptive younger brother. She knew if he saw her expression, he would begin to worry. And she just didn’t have the mental energy to deal with her brother’s nagging right now.

After wandering for half an hour, Yawen was astounded by the fact that they still hadn’t arrived in the rear segment.

Taking a glance at a symbol on the wall, Yawen frowned about her inability to read the text. She’d always prided herself on her knowledge, and the fact that out of the thousands of cultivators in the city that were her age, she was one of—if not the most—capable. So, the discovery that she was lacking in something as basic as written language was a source of great annoyance for her.

Give me two weeks—no—one week, and I’ll have those symbols memorized.

“Wondering which segment we’re standing in?” Wei asked after following Yawen’s gaze towards the wall.

“No, I’m just annoyed that I can't read their language.”

“Understandable, I suppose. We were raised to think everyone outside the walls were savages who could barely speak. Yet now we know the truth. Not only can they speak, but in many ways they’re more advanced than Haven City. But I think getting annoyed over it is a waste of time and energy,” he said, shrugging.

Yawen coldly snorted and shook her head. “Mother’s heart would give out if she saw how these ‘savages’ truly lived,” she said in a voice full of derision.

The Qiao clan had the most prominent inventors in Haven City. Their technology could be seen everywhere, from the locks on your doors to the stove used to cook your food—and the Diplopoda put all of it to shame.

Mother would spit blood from envy if she so much as glanced in this construct’s direction. Yawen smirked, but the smirk fell away as she felt someone glare in her direction. It only took a brief moment of looking around to spot the offender—or rather, the offenders.

Three boys who looked between the ages of seventeen and twenty had stopped walking in the middle of the corridor. They were clearly children from some clan. The insignia on their belts and clean outfits said as much—which meant they were probably related in one way or another.

Most clans were really just giant families. Usually, the only way to join one was to be born into it, or marry into it.

The three “brothers” were of varying heights: The two staring daggers at Yawen were the shortest and the slightly taller “middle brother.” The third and tallest boy had locked eyes with Wei.

“Can I help you gentlemen?” Yawen asked in what she hoped was a neutral tone.

An unspoken call went out amongst the other people in the segment. The foot traffic stopped in an instant. No one dared pass between the three boys and the twins.

Like a pack of wolves, they encircled the Xia twins. Pushing into their personal space and directly challenging them, daring either Yawen or Wei to make a move.

“You think we’re savages?” the middle brother asked in a low tone.

Yawen guessed he was the leader of this “pack” because the other two only moved when he did.

“No,” Yawen replied, her eyes darting rapidly from one boy to the next. She had a feeling that if she wasn’t careful with her words, a fight would be unavoidable. She reached for the hilt of her sword for comfort. It took a conscious effort not to frown when all she found was empty space.

She’d left her sword in the compartment with Taryn.

“Really? That’s not what I heard.” The boy laughed. “You might talk funny, but I can tell when someone’s insulting us.”

“Obviously not.” Wei snorted.

“What did you just say?” the big brother challenged as he stepped up to face Wei. Yawen noticed a bit of trepidation in his eyes as he realized that Wei was taller than him and showed no signs of backing down.

“I said obviously not,” Wei replied, making sure to enunciate each word clearly so the boy couldn’t misunderstand him again.

Big brother’s face turned purple from anger. It was easy to tell that he wanted to plant his fist in Wei’s face. Yawen guessed that the only reason he hadn’t was that his “father”—the middle brother—hadn’t given him permission yet.

“I apologize if I offended you. It wasn’t my intention; I was merely in discussion with my brother.”

“I don’t care what you were discussing. You said we’re savages. My younger brother heard you very clearly,” The middle brother said, motioning to the boy on his left—who was ironically the tallest of the three and the one Yawen dubbed “big brother.”

“Are you calling him a liar?” The middle brother took a half step closer to Yawen. She could feel his breath on her face.

Her temper flared and any thoughts of getting out of this without a fight disappeared. She’d dealt with plenty of “young masters” who were just like him—always looking for a fight and willing to use any excuse to start one. “No, I’m not calling your brother a liar.—Eavesdropping idiot is more appropriate.”

The middle brother gnashed his teeth and narrowed his dark eyes in challenge. Yawen understood what he meant. “Say that again. I dare you.”

Yawen discreetly tapped the back of Wei’s leg twice. A pretty smile appeared on her face, even though the knuckles on her fists turned white. “You know what annoys me about guys like you?” Yawen said, staring at the middle brother through hooded eyes.

“Oh, babe. There are no guys like me.” He grinned.

“Trust me, there’s three thousand guys just like you back home. You’re nothing special.” A sly grin appeared on Yawen’s face, and she took a half-step forward, moving so close their chests would touch if either of them swayed an inch.

The middle brother growled low in his chest, and Wei lashed out with his right hand and hit him with a back fist that turned his legs to jelly. At the same time, Yawen ducked under Wei’s fist and came up with the rising palm smash that hit the big brother beneath his chin. The boy’s head was thrown back, causing him to stumble.

Wei threw a snap kick into the little brother’s chest while Yawen dashed towards the big one.

The little brother casually pushed Wei’s kick aside and stepped into his chest. His shoulder connected with Wei’s sternum hard enough to knock the breath from his lungs. Wei was roughly shoved into the wall. He yelped and stepped aside just before the boy’s foot could connect. The metal wall behind Wei clanged loudly from the impact.

Yawen threw several palm strikes at the big brother, each one fueled by Eco to inflict the most damage possible. To her surprise, the big brother raised his arms in a defensive posture and absorbed the blows without a sound.

Yawen was startled by how easily he withstood her attacks. The boy was large, but no more than her brother, or Taryn. And he didn’t possess the well-defined muscles of someone who regularly trained to withstand such blows.

The big brother threw a series of clumsy punches at Yawen’s face and chest, growing more and more frustrated every time she weaved around him or stepped back out of his reach.

Wei chanced a glance at the leader and was relieved to find him still sitting on the ground with his head held between his hands.

Wei had infused his punch with Eco—enough that it should’ve knocked him unconscious. That he was merely nursing a headache caused an uncomfortable feeling to settle in Wei’s gut.

But Wei didn’t have time to think of this too deeply as the little brother hadn’t given up yet. He stayed within Wei’s personal space, dodging anything he could, blocking only what he had to, and retaliating with blows that sent waves of fear down Wei’s spine.

Yawen kicked at the big brother’s left leg, prompting him to slightly raise it off the ground in order to block. Yawen’s kick turned out to be a feint, and she kept her first leg tucked in and used the momentum to build up strength in a second kick—a sidekick that struck the boy’s guard.

Thanks to his weak foundation, Yawen managed to knock him off balance.

His back smacked against the wall behind him with a loud clang, but he seemed no worse for wear.

He’d taken a full force kick from her without a scratch.

Wei moved aside to allow a punch to fly past his chest. The little brother overextended and gave Wei the chance to capitalize on his mistake.

Wei dropped an elbow on the little brother’s arm, grabbed his wrist with his left hand, and pulled him into an Eco fueled back fist to the nose. His head was thrown back violently, and blood began to pour from his nostrils.

In a show of surprising strength, the boy yanked his hand from Wei’s grip and drew his arm back for a wild haymaker. There was a crash as something slammed into the little brother’s side and pulled him to the ground.

Wei immediately recognized one of the four warriors he’d met the day before. But before he could sigh in relief, something appeared in front of him and restrained him against the wall.

Yawen was also confused. The big brother was pinned to the wall by a warrior in the blink of an eye. It happened so quickly that he couldn’t have had the chance to think of surrendering peacefully.

“Xiao Bei, why am I not surprised to see you causing trouble again?”

Yawen spun to look at the owner of the voice. She saw the fourth warrior standing next to the middle brother, an uncaring expression on his face. He gave the impression that he saw neither the leader nor the unrestrained Yawen as a threat—which, Yawen realized, was likely the truth.

Because she recognized it as the truth, Yawen couldn’t help but feel agitated by it.

“They started it. She called us savages—”

“So, to prove her wrong, you acted like one?” the warrior scoffed.

“That’s not true,” Yawen interjected, drawing the eyes of everyone to her. She realized then that their fight had an audience. Twenty or so people stood on either end of the corridor, their eyes filled with excitement over what they had just seen. “I didn’t call him a savage.”

“That’s a lie! Yan Fe swore he heard her call us savages. Said she was looking down on us.”

“I don’t care. My job isn’t to find out the truth, it’s to prevent troublemakers from causing problems,” the warrior snapped. His eyes shifted from the leader to Yawen. “I’m letting the two of you go with a warning. You’re new here, and you haven’t had the rules explained to you yet. That will no longer be true after we’re done here.”

He grabbed the now named “Xiao Bei” by the arm and hauled him to his feet. “As for the three of you—this is the third time since we left Little River that I’ve caught you fighting with someone. I’m ordering you to be confined to your compartment for five days. If I see you before five days are up, I’ll add ten lashes onto that.”

“That’s not fair!” Xiao Bei’s voice faltered under the oppressive weight of the warrior’s stare.

“Escort young Lord Xiao Bei and his friends back to the Xiao clan’s compartment. Make sure you tell them exactly what he’s done, and what his punishment is,” the lead warrior said.

The other Silver Crown disciples accepted their order and quickly moved to follow it. All three brothers were gathered up by the warriors and escorted towards the rear of the Diplopoda.

Once they were gone, the corridor returned to normal. The onlookers busied themselves and quickly left the scene, lest they be reprimanded by the warrior too.

The head warrior’s eyes flipped between the twins for a moment, before he motioned for them to follow him back the way they’d come. “I will explain the rules when we get back to your compartment. Until then, keep your heads down and follow me.”

* * *

Gao Feng sighed in relief the moment his eyes landed on the cool waters of the lake. Though he wanted nothing more than to dive in and remove the weeks’ worth of sweat clinging to his body and tarnishing his clothes, he knew he could not.

As the nephew of the first elder, Gao Feng had to hold himself to a higher standard of nobility. So, while the majority of the Ukata, Qiao, and Cai clan members rushed towards the refreshing water, Gao Feng held back and remained by the elder’s side.

“Are you sure they stopped here?” Duan He said, stepping to Gao Feng’s right elbow. The taller man was scowling at the lake, or more precisely, he was scowling at the clan members cooling off.

“The tracks we found stopped here.” Teng De answered for Gao Feng. “They most likely camped here overnight before moving on. I’m sure we’ll pick up their tracks if we search the shoreline.”

“Then I would suggest you get started. Every day we waste looking for them is another day your clan members remain under the boss’s thumb… And trust me, that’s not a good place to be,” Duan He said, his voice dropping to a whisper near the end.

Teng De frowned at the reminder, but they all knew he couldn’t refute Duan He’s words. Gao Feng had seen what the “boss” was capable of with his own two eyes. If anything, Duan He was downplaying the cruel fate befalling their clan.

“Enough playing around! We’ve got work to do,” Teng De shouted while walking towards the lake.

Gao Feng watched him bark orders to members of all three clans. It still surprised him when neither the Qiao nor the Cai muttered a word of protest to Teng De’s orders.

From the way they followed orders, he seriously doubted an outsider would ever guess that their clans had been at odds for over a thousand years.

In a way, Gao Feng got what he always wanted. The clans were at peace now—something like forty percent of them were dead and the rest were enslaved—but over the last few weeks, he’d seen the line between the clans begin to blur.

And all it took was a monster knocking down our door. He grimaced.

“Careful Gao Feng. Keep frowning like that your face is going to get stuck,” Duan He said in his usual monotone voice.

“Bite me,” Gao Feng snapped.

“Come now, little Feng. Where is all this hostility coming from?” Duan He chuckled humorlessly.

Out of everything that could have scared Gao Feng, it was Duan He’s voice—so dull, so… void of emotion—that terrified him most of all.

He knew he wasn’t the only one that found Duan He unsettling; Duan He’s own men gave the imposing cultivator a wide berth and avoided speaking to him unless absolutely necessary. Which proved one theory that Gao Feng had long suspected—it wasn’t the case that cultivators outside the city were extremely powerful… Duan He was just a freak.

A vision flitted through his mind so fast he almost missed it. A beautiful woman standing atop a pile of rubble, the wall that had protected Haven City for a thousand years collapsing around her.

And yet there’s someone even more freakish than Duan He. The thought sent a chill racing down Gao Feng’s spine, but he knew it wasn’t caused by fear.

Gao Feng was terrified of Duan He. He hated to admit it, but it was true. He knew that no matter how hard he fought, Duan He would slaughter him every time.

But he felt no fear towards the woman in charge. He knew that he was so far beneath her gaze, she wouldn’t even bother trying to kill him. She was more likely to kill him by complete accident, like she did to the Cai patriarch.

Gao Feng could still remember the sight of blood spewing from his mouth as his organs burst inside his body—and all it had taken was a word.

So no, Gao Feng felt no fear towards the “boss,” in the same way he felt no fear towards a thunderstorm. If he was destined to die from it, then nothing he could do or say would change it.

You can’t persuade a force of nature.

“Apologies, senior. I suppose the thought of my friends and family being slaughtered has me on edge,” Gao Feng said through gritted teeth. His nails were digging into his palms hard enough to draw blood.

“Lord He,” Teng De called from somewhere near the other side of the lake. Gao Feng was momentarily startled by how clear Teng De’s voice sounded despite being so far away. But he quickly surmised the first elder had simply used Eco to amplify his voice.

“Did you find any tracks?” Duan He asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Is he incapable of amplifying his voice—

“Well, we certainly found some tracks,” Teng De replied after a brief hesitation.

Gao Feng couldn’t help but be impressed at the ease with which Duan He used such a complicated technique.

Teng De was one of the few cultivators Gao Feng knew were capable of using the voice amplification technique. Out of curiosity, he’d once asked the first elder to show him how it was done, and the explanation had his brain aching for the rest of the day.

Even so, Teng De still needed to shout to be heard. The amplification technique merely extended the range of his shout. Yet Duan He was able to achieve the same range by whispering. Such monstrous control over his Eco. Gao Feng’s body shivered uncomfortably.

“Speak plainly. Is it their tracks or not?” Duan He folded his arms across his chest.

“I’m honestly not sure. The tracks they—they’re not human.”

“What are they, then?”

“They look like a giant centipede’s.” A wave of condensed Eco washed over the lake and cut off Teng De’s amplified voice. A visible aura of crimson Eco manifested around Duan He’s body. Gao Feng’s stomach wavered, and his legs collapsed under the pressure of Duan He’s anger.

“Someone send the boss a messenger script. Ask her to send a pair of avian transports capable of high-speed pursuit.”

“As for the reason?” one of the masked cultivators asked.

“The Silver Crown sect is interfering with our affairs again. She’ll know what that means.”

“Sir!” Gao Feng watched the masked man pull a small sheet of parchment and a piece of charcoal out of his bag and began furiously writing.

“Silver Crown?” Gao Feng managed to ask over the sound of his knees shaking. “What does that mean?”

“It means your friends are traveling with a really irritating bastard.”

Chapter Ten

Taryn nodded along as Yawen and Wei explained everything he’d missed while he was stuck in meditation.

Aside from the events of the first day, the subsequent days had been rather uneventful. Whether that was because they had rarely left the compartment or not was a matter of debate between the twins.

Yawen believed that the brothers—or someone related to them—would be looking for revenge in the coming days. On the other hand, Wei believed no one would risk stepping on the warriors’ toes just to soothe some jerk’s wounded pride.

Taryn was more inclined to believe Yawen’s point of view. He’d seen the lengths people would go to heal their wounded pride—and in the event they failed, it wasn’t uncommon to get someone else to do it for them.

Regardless of who was right and who was wrong, they chose to leave the compartment in only three circumstances: to go get food from the cafeteria six sections over, to visit the toilet at the end of the corridor, and to visit Fan Shun in the physician’s tube.

Yawen also made sure to emphasize the importance of the rules, as explained to her by the warrior:

Don’t cause trouble for others.

Stay out of forbidden areas.

Follow the warriors’ instructions to the letter.

Taryn thought these were fairly simple rules. He had no intention of following any of them, but he could at least pretend.

“How’s Grandma?” Taryn asked nervously.

It wasn’t difficult for Yawen to discern he wasn’t just asking about her health. He was concerned that she was angry with him.

“Elder Shun is fine. A little ornery, perhaps, but I think that’s because the physician is keeping her on bed rest for another two days.”

“What—why? I thought she would’ve been let go by now,” Taryn exclaimed.

“She would’ve been—if she hadn’t been caught cultivating yesterday. The physician says she’s not allowed to use Eco at all, not even simple circulation exercises,” Wei explained with an amused grin on his face.

Taryn sighed and shook his head. He would need to go see her soon.

“What are you going to do now that you’ve finished your meditation? Wait—don’t tell me… You’re going to reclaim my honor by going on a justice fueled journey of revenge and hunt down the three brats who accosted us the other day!” Wei laughed triumphantly, certain that he’d deduced Taryn’s plan.

Taryn blankly stared at Wei for a moment, then shifted his eyes to Yawen, who scoffed as if to say, “Don’t ask me,” and looked away.

Taryn sighed. A smack echoed throughout the small compartment, leaving Wei with a scarlet handprint across his cheek and a look of utter exasperation on Taryn’s face.

“What was that for?” Wei shouted, rubbing his stinging cheek with one hand while pointing at Taryn with the other. He was incensed that Taryn had the gall to actually slap him.

"For being stupid. You literally just told me that if we cause trouble, we’ll get kicked off the Diplopoda. So why would I go and hunt down these guys where someone could see me?”

“Yeah,” Wei sighed. “You’re right—” Taryn’s words registered in his mind while he was still talking, and he snapped his mouth shut. He stared at Taryn with a look of wonder on his face. “You’re going to get back at them?”

“Of course,” Taryn scoffed, as if it should’ve been obvious. “They dared to mess with my friends. Of course, I’m going to get back at them. If living in Haven City taught me anything, it’s that you can’t let people get away with mocking you to your face—but neither can you get caught taking your revenge. The best thing to do is take revenge in such a way that the only person who knows you did something can’t prove it. And the rest wouldn’t believe him if he could.”

Wei’s and Yawen’s expression grew more amazed with every word Taryn spoke. By the end, they were looking at him through completely different eyes; Yawen developed a new fear of pissing him off. She began to wonder how many of the “accidents” that befell her clan members over the years were really accidents—and how many were Taryn acting against the people who annoyed him.

And Wei was more like “I think I’m in love,” staring intently at Taryn’s face with a look of utter admiration on his face. “Would you make me the happiest girl on Aurelia and—”

“No,” Taryn said coldly. His face showed no signs of anger while he spoke—just a look of complete apathy towards what he knew to be a joke.

“You’re no fun,” Wei pouted. “Well, fine. Since you’re not going on a journey of revenge, what are you going to do with all the free time you’re going to have?” Wei asked.

“I’m—not sure,” Taryn admitted.

“Good, then I’m sure you won’t mind answering a few questions I’ve been just dying to ask.” Wei smiled, and Taryn’s eye twitched at Wei’s boldness. He considered refusing and leaving it at that but faltered when he noticed a similar look on Yawen’s face.

Outwardly, she projected an aura of indifference and appeared to merely be sorting through her clothes. But Taryn caught her eyes darting in his direction more than once. Either she’d developed a sudden appreciation for burn scars… or she was interested in Taryn’s answers.

Taryn wiped his face and muttered a curse under his breath. “Fine. What do you want to know?”

A dozen questions floated through his mind—he’d been asked them all a thousand times.

How did you get the scar?

Where are your parents?

Why do you have eyebrows if the skin around your eyes is burned. Okay, Taryn had to admit that last one was a good question.

“Did Elder Shun really not teach you anything?” Wei asked, surprising him. “I heard a rumor that one of the conditions for adopting you was that she couldn’t teach you any techniques or exercises.”

Out of all the questions he’d expected to hear, that wasn’t one of them.

“No, she—uh—she didn’t teach me anything. At least, not until we signed up with you two. She kept her vow.”

“Really?” Wei exclaimed. “So, you had no cultivation knowledge prior to a few weeks ago?”

“Pretty much.” Taryn shrugged. “I mean, I had been studying cultivators from afar for a few years. I even had a journal I kept my observations in.”

“Is that the one you carry around with you?”

Taryn briefly hesitated before shaking his head. “No, that’s a different journal. My journal was—uh—destroyed by Ukata Teng De, after he caught me watching an awakening ceremony.”

“And by watching, you mean…” Wei hedged.

“Spying; I was spying on them,” Taryn replied in a dull tone.

“Ah…” Wei trailed off while smiling uncomfortably. “I always knew the Ukata were stuck up, but—” His body tensed at his slip of the tongue. He cautiously turned to gauge Yawen’s reaction.

“It’s fine,” Yawen said without looking at him. “The Ukata are a bunch of self-absorbed jerks. Nothing wrong with saying so.”

Wei slightly nodded his head and showed Taryn a relieved expression as soon as his back was to Yawen, to which Taryn responded with a halfhearted smile of his own. Taryn thought Yawen was being remarkably kind with her words. He had two dozen ways to describe the various members of the Ukata clan, and self-absorbed was one of the polite ones.

Before Wei could ask his second question he was interrupted by an insistent knocking on the door.

The twins' bodies immediately tensed, and out of the corner of his eye Taryn caught Yawen reaching for her sword.

Taryn sighed quietly and stood up, wincing at the sounds his knees made as soon as his legs were extended. But after an initial feeling of discomfort, the joints felt remarkably warm and flexible.

He wondered at the change while making his way to the door.

An aspect of the new core, or something else? As he opened the door, he tried to discreetly shake his legs as a test. They felt fantastic. Taryn had never realized how much his legs actually hurt until now.

Injuries from a misspent youth, and more than one scuffle with the children of the clans, had left their mark on Taryn’s bones. He could feel those marks fading with every second that passed.

“Someone’s in a good mood,” Shen Tao said upon seeing Taryn’s smiling face.

Taryn reflexively schooled his features and stepped back from the door. I didn’t even realize I was smiling. He motioned for Shen Tao to enter, but the elder shook his head and remained in the doorway.

“Actually, I was hoping the three of you would come with me—at the request of Lady Shun.”

“My grandma?” Taryn asked while grabbing his dagger out of the metal box and fastening it to his belt.

Yawen and Wei shared an exasperated look at Taryn’s back and moved to grab their own gear. It was obvious to the both of them, Taryn had decided to go as soon as his grandmother was mentioned. And judging by the look on elder Tao’s face, he’d come to the same conclusion they had.

“The two of us have been talking, your grandmother and me. She mentioned something last night and I’m inclined to agree with her. The four of you are fascinating, truly, you are. You can use Eco techniques despite your weak cultivation base. That’s something none of us thought possible.”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ in there somewhere,” Taryn said, returning to his place in front of the door. He’d slipped on his shoes, readied his weapon, and straightened up his robe while Elder Tao was speaking.

“You could say that.” he said, motioning for them to follow. “As an elder of the Silver Crown Sect, I am under certain restrictions regarding what I can and what I cannot teach outsiders. However, the Silver Crown Sect is a member of the Righteous Faction, and all members of the Righteous Faction are sworn to protect the innocent whenever possible. I would be breaking my oath if I let you venture off into the world lame and dumb.”

“You’re going to teach us to survive?” Taryn asked while following only a step behind him. Yawen and Wei were a step behind Taryn. At the mention of being personally trained by the elder, wildly different emotions passed through each of them, ranging from excitement to trepidation.

All three had grown up with the knowledge that nothing is free in this world. The question was, what would the elder want in return?

“We can’t pay you,” Taryn said. “So, what would you want in return for your instruction?”

“In return?” Elder Tao murmured just loud enough for them to hear. “What I want, you cannot give me, and what I need cannot be given by anyone. Since that is the case, I suppose I’ll have to train you for nothing other than the satisfaction.”

“You must want something.” Taryn persisted.

“I’m not sure what it was like where you grew up. But this continent is divided between three factions—the Righteous Faction, who follow the four virtues of charity, mercy, honesty, and justice; the Evil Faction, who follows their desires and impulses, no matter the cost; and the Demon Faction, who crave power above all others.”

“So… You’re saying that, as a member of the ‘Righteous Faction,’ as you have called it, it would go against your oaths to receive payment for teaching us?” Yawen said.

“In a manner of speaking.”

“Sorry, I’m afraid I don’t understand the three factions thing. You’re saying everyone joins these factions—why? Furthermore, how can you be sure if that’s actually true. Do people register with a particular faction? What’s to stop them from switching to another faction?” Taryn asked. The idea that everyone was forced to join these “factions” left a sour taste in his mouth.

“All excellent questions.” Elder Tao showed his approval with a nod. “No, not everyone joins a faction. Only those seeking enlightenment on the road to immortality join one of the triads. Though I’m sure there are people out there who do not join any faction and choose to remain independent. However, cultivating is undoubtedly more difficult for independent cultivators. They do not have the resources or the information network the factions have. It is also more dangerous for independent cultivators because they do not have anyone backing them.”

“That sounds familiar,” Taryn snorted derisively.

“And yes, there is a registration, though it varies between each faction,” Elder Tao said, clearly choosing to ignore Taryn’s comment. “I’ve heard rumors about the registration process for both of the Demon and Evil factions, but I only know for certain about the Righteous Faction’s process.” He reached into his robe for a moment before blindly passing something over his shoulder.

Taryn reflexively snatched it out of the air. The item was a golden badge, shaped like a coin and proudly displayed inside a leather flap. Two overlapping lines divided the coin into four sections, with each section engraved with a symbol representing one of the four virtues Shen Tao mentioned earlier.

The badge shined with an ethereal purple light. The vision was only enhanced by the sight of twinkling white stars that periodically appeared and disappeared within the purple light, giving it the appearance of a star-filled sky.

After inspecting it for a moment, Taryn handed the badge to the Xia twins so they could examine it.

“I apologize for our ignorance; we didn’t have any of this in Haven City. The clans hated sharing power to the point they shut down any organization with more than a hundred members. So, I’m afraid I don’t know what any of this means: sects, factions, what’s the difference between them?” Wei asked as he passed the badge to Yawen.

“Never apologize for seeking knowledge, Xia Wei. As cultivators, all we really have in this world is that thirst for improvement. Having that desire proves you have the right mentality—you just need to ensure it doesn’t get out of hand. And don’t break into people’s houses to study their techniques. That’s just rude,” the elder said, smirking at Taryn.

To his credit, Taryn had the self-awareness to blush and scratch at the back of his head, rather than denying it.

“Grandma has been telling stories, hasn’t she?” Taryn asked. What’s a proper way to get back at her for ratting out her “precious” grandson… Would it be too cruel to make her eat Wei’s cooking again?

“As I said, Lady Shun and I have talked quite a bit over the last few days—though I seem to recall her asking me not to mention that to you. So, how’s about you keep that little slip between us?” Shen Tao winked at Taryn, who didn’t miss the nervous smile on his face.

Apparently, he wants to maintain a good impression on Grandma… I can use that. “Sure, I won’t mention it,” Taryn replied. He had what could be called an “innocent” smile, but it was partly ruined by the scar across his face—and completely ruined in the eyes of Yawen and Wei, since they now knew what kind of person Taryn was.

He was a good guy—neither would deny that. But he was no saint. It would be naïve to think he wouldn’t do something with that information.

“You’re a good man, Taryn. Keep that attitude and you’ll find yourself in the Righteous Faction before you know it,” Shen Tao said with a pleased grin on his face. He patted Taryn on the shoulder in thanks.

“Oh! I apologize, Xia Wei. You asked a question and I completely ignored you. The primary difference between a clan, a sect, and a faction is the scale at which they operate. More differences exist, of course, but that’s the main one.” he said- rolling into an explanation before Wei could accept—or decline—his apology.

Wei wasn’t quite sure how to handle that, but he shrugged helplessly and chose not to mention it. His question was being answered, even if it was a bit late.

“Clans usually comprise families and their various branches, though a few exceptions do exist; they’re usually private and don’t allow just anyone to join their ranks. Many of them are also noble houses. For example: the Xiao clan—the clan those three boys from the other day are a part of—are considered a lesser noble house… Which is just a fancy way of saying they’re part of the capital’s nobility, but they’re a relatively new clan and haven’t made enough contributions to the country to earn a seat at the king’s table,” he explained, making sure the twins understood before moving on.

“Sects are much less strict in the way they’re managed than either clans or factions. They also openly recruit disciples to carry on their traditions and train their techniques, provided the person can prove their skill and determination would benefit the sect. Rather than families, sects are more like military institutions. Clans often send their heirs to the sects they wish to curry favor with, in the hopes their children will bring honor and renown back to the clan. Since sects are also neutral grounds, they often serve as mediators between the various clans. Some even send their children to a sect to find a marriage partner among the other clan heirs.”

“That’s…” Yawen trailed off. The idea of being forced to join a sect just to find a marriage partner reminded her far too much of the way the Qiao clan treated its children.

“Disturbing?” Taryn said, finishing Yawen’s sentiment with a disgusted look on his face. He wasn’t sure why, but the idea of being forced to marry someone just because your clan told you to really upset Taryn.

“I agree. But it isn’t our duty to question why someone joins the sect. Everyone has their own circumstances. It would be hypocritical to find fault in their motives, but not in the ones joining to grow stronger or learn our techniques. All three wish to use the sect for their own purposes, and the sect will ensure their usefulness outweighs whatever benefit they gain. It’s just the way things are.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s right,” Wei grumbled under his breath. Shen Tao shot him a helpless smile and quickly moved on.

“If clans are families, and sects are the military, then factions serve as a form of government. The leaders of each faction are the highest-ranking nobles, the strongest cultivators, and the patriarchs of the most dominant sects. Regardless of which country they’re in, they cooperate with one another for the betterment of the continent as a whole. They also put forward laws in the countries where they have the most influence. Something of a popularity contest has been ongoing between the three factions for the last… four thousand years? Yeah, that sounds right.”

He pointed at the badge Yawen was holding. “That badge represents the Righteous Faction. When the Silver Crown Sect joined their ranks fifteen hundred years ago, twelve of those badges were made. A few have been lost to the ravages of time, but nine still remain within the sect. When a disciple rises to the rank of elder, they are given one of those badges to remind them of the oaths they’ve sworn to uphold.”

“Why doesn’t everyone get one?” Taryn asked, taking the badge from Wei’s outstretched hand, and passing it back to Elder Tao.

“It costs a little over one million two-toned coins to make each one. For comparison, the Diplopoda only cost one hundred thousand two-toned coins to build,” Elder Tao casually explained.

“What’s a two-toned coin?” Taryn asked

“I’ll answer that, but in a moment. We are here,” he said, guiding their eyes towards an open door. Inside was a fairly large room with various weapon racks lining the walls. The floor and ceiling were covered by a dark sponge mat.

Currently, the only occupant in the room was sitting in the middle of the floor with her back to them.

Fan Shun looked over her shoulder and smiled when her eyes landed on Taryn. “Look who’s finally decided to come visit their grandmother. For a minute there, I thought you forgot about me.”

“I’m sure if I did, you wouldn’t let me forget for long,” Taryn said with a big smile on his face.

Fan Shun looked good—much better than she had the last time he saw her. Under the watchful eye of Dr. Yin, the masked woman Taryn had met a few days prior, Fan Shun’s muscles had begun to fill out and her skin regained a healthy glow.

Once everyone was inside, Elder Tao closed the door behind them and made his way to the front of the room. “Over the next two weeks I will be giving you daily lessons in the morning and in the afternoon. My goal is to bring you up to speed on the fundamentals—our history, currency, and the big-name cultivators in our morning lessons, and in the afternoon I will help you stabilize your cores. Any questions before we begin?” He paused, giving everyone ample time to think. When it seemed no one would speak up, he nodded his head and raised his left hand in front of his face, palm facing them.

“This is a Jade coin.” He closed his hand and rotated his wrist in a grand gesture. As if by magic, a purple coin appeared between his index and middle fingers. The coin was fairly small—no bigger than his thumb—and paper thin.

Elder Tao flicked the coin in Taryn’s direction. Before the coin had traveled a few feet, Elder Tao flicked two more times.

Taryn snatched the purple coin out of the air, Wei casually caught a blue coin, and Fan Shun grabbed a red coin. All three were identical in size and shape, and none held any engravings or markings. They were perfectly smooth; only the color differentiated them.

“Jade is a stone made from the compression of natural Eco over thousands of years. However, cultivators can also produce Jade. In fact, the process is fairly simple. Similar to the way you would use an Eco technique, you expend your liquid Eco and push it outside your body. From there, you force it to harden while shaping it with your thumb against your palm.” He demonstrated by making a fourth coin appear in a flash of blue light.

“These are Jade coins—or more accurately called one-toned coins. While each territory has its own standardized currency, you can use Jade coins everywhere. Most people prefer Jade coins because they can be absorbed just like natural Jade, which will reinforce the cultivator’s supply of liquid Eco.”

“Doesn’t that mean wealthy families and groups will always cultivate faster than individuals?” Taryn asked, staring at his coin.

Shen Tao grinned and nodded his head. “Now you see why so many choose to join the factions.” He laughed. “Sects who joined the factions are given an annual stipend to distribute amongst their disciples as they see fit. The Silver Crown Sect uses its stipend to give every disciple a monthly allowance, which is further supplemented by any work the disciple does on the sect’s behalf. We pay our disciples seventy-five percent of any income they bring into the sect,” Elder Tao proudly said.

“That is generous. But how do you continue to do so month after month if you give all your money away?” Fan Shun asked curiously. She’d worked for similar wages back in her youth. The Ukata were a proud clan, and they’d lose face if they paid any less than fifty percent. But they made up for it through taxes and the various restaurants, stalls, and shops owned by the clan.

Shen Tao brought both arms behind his back and stood in a relaxed pose. “Because the Silver Crown Sect has one hundred and seventy thousand members. It’s not an embellishment to say that we are one of the largest gatherings of cultivators on the eastern continent, and the second largest in the Righteous Faction. And thanks to our mineral and alchemical rich territories, we make coins faster than we can give them away.” He paused with an uncomfortable expression on his face.

“In spite of that we lack strong cultivators who can continue to lead the sect when the current elders have passed on…” He shook his head. “Apologies, I’ve said too much.” He left the front of the room and walked to a pair of bookshelves Taryn hadn’t paid much attention to—a mistake he would have to rectify later.

When Elder Tao returned, he was carrying four identical books, each one appearing to hold over a thousand pages.

Elder Tao dropped a book in front of each of them and returned to the front of the room.

“This is what we’re going to be learning over the next two weeks?” Taryn muttered aloud. He supposed it was doable. He was a fast reader, but he wasn’t sure about the others. He’d never known his grandmother to have the patience, and the Xia twins were just a mystery.

“Oh, divines no,” Elder Tao said and shook his head for emphasis. He pointed at the book sitting in front of Taryn. “That’s just for the language; the rest is over there.” He pointed towards four identical stacks of eight books sitting behind the door.

Elder Tao patted Taryn on the shoulder as he passed, making his way towards the door. “Do your best to not damage any of the books. They were expensive to print, especially on board the Diplopoda. I’ll see the four of you—sorry, three of you this evening to begin stabilizing your cores.”

After Elder Tao shut the door behind him on his way out, Taryn heard three identical groans coming from the twins and Fan Shun. He saw similar looks of astonishment and worry cross their faces as they each realized how much work was ahead of them.

Taryn just grinned and opened his book. They might hate it, but Taryn actually looked forward to it. When he was a bit younger, he’d read nearly every book in his residential district’s library in a little over a month, averaging around twelve books and seven scrolls a week.

With that achievement under his belt, honestly, how hard could learning this new language be?

Chapter Eleven

Dawen’s gentle light caressed the dark forest around Taryn. The almost imperceptible sound of the nearby babbling brook served as a backdrop for the half dozen different insect species adding their songs to the forest orchestra that filled Taryn’s ears, and gently nudged Taryn’s body towards much-needed sleep.

But Taryn could not fall asleep, not now, not when he still had books to study and concepts to understand.

He lightly smacked the left side of his face to drive away the darkness at the edge of his vision. The blow did little to get his adrenaline up, but it served its purpose. Taryn’s body jolted awake at the pain, and his mind temporarily cleared.

He shifted into a slightly more comfortable sitting position and dove back into the geographical textbook he’d been studying.

After days of traveling north by northeast, the Diplopoda had finally reached the end of its stored water supply and needed to be refilled.

Taryn was astounded by the distance the construct could travel in a single filling. Hundreds of miles passed by the wayside without need for rest. It was only after leaving the oppressive humidity of the Mokan Forest and reaching a more comfortable, dryer land that the Diplopoda needed to stop.

Which presented Taryn with the perfect opportunity to soak in the sights and get some fresh air. He still had a few days before his “classes” with Elder Tao were complete, and he’d been working day and night to memorize everything he could.

He was of the opinion that he’d earned himself a short breather… Even if he did take a book with him.

No one said he couldn’t relax and study.

So, he’d ventured outside, climbed onto the construct’s back, and found himself a comfortable—well, mostly comfortable spot on top of the twelfth segment.

The trees here were nothing Taryn had ever seen before. They had impossibly tall and thin trunks, fat branches covered in red, needlelike fibers, and leaves dripping with a golden sap that drove the insects mad with hunger.

From below, the branches almost looked like they were shifting and wriggling on their own. But Taryn knew it was actually because they were absolutely covered by thousands of insects feasting on the leaves.

He felt he should probably be unsettled by the insects above him. He didn’t know how many of the nasty looking creatures could send him to an early grave if he agitated them, but he guessed it was more than a few.

Probably as many as half the insects had stingers somewhere on their body, and another third had wicked looking pincers that he had zero desire to get close to.

The most likely reason for why he wasn’t afraid was simply due to the insects’ song permeating the air. It was soothing, both mentally and physically, and somewhat hypnotic.

There was one species Taryn was particularly interested in. Unlike many of its cousins, which were covered by a dark carapace, this one was translucent. Gaseous Eco illuminated its body from the inside out, causing it to periodically shine like a small bonfire in the darkened forest.

“I thought I might find you here,” Fan Shun said from somewhere nearby. Her voice startled Taryn, causing him to accidentally toss his book over the edge.

Taryn exhaled quietly and looked for her, eventually spotting her climbing onto the construct’s back from two segments over.

“Why do you say that?” Taryn asked, barely managing to suppress the annoyance in his voice.

“It was just something my mother used to say,” Fan Shun replied as she made her way over to him.

“Elder Fan Mei did?” Taryn asked, surprised at her casual mention of her mother—Taryn’s adoptive second grandmother. He’d only ever met the woman once, shortly after Fan Shun took him in.

After Fan Shun took her vow and had her core sealed, Fan Mei had never wanted to see them again.

She passed not long after Taryn’s seventh birthday.

Since then, Taryn couldn’t remember Fan Shun ever mentioning her without Taryn asking first. Even then, Fan Shun didn’t like it when he called Fan Mei by her familial title, so he called her Elder Fan Mei instead.

Fan Shun hummed in agreement and nodded. “She used to say that if you ever lost your husband or your son, look for the highest ground in the area. They are probably asleep up there,” she said while playing with her fingers.

“What?” Taryn laughed out of surprise. “Why?”

“Because only men and idiots willingly choose to sit where they can look down on the world, when a comfy patch of grass will work just fine. And since you are both of those things—” She laughed when Taryn reached over and smacked her arm for the insult.

“And here I thought you were going to say something meaningful,” Taryn said, a sly grin appearing on his face.

“I’m assuming, since you’re capable of climbing up here and insulting me again, that the good doctor has finally agreed to let you move freely?” he asked as he hopped down to retrieve his book. The long fall caused his knees to tingle like mad after landing, but that passed almost immediately after he started moving towards the book.

He took a brief moment to look up at the Diplopoda’s back and couldn’t help but smile at how far he’d come.

It required a bit of effort, but after finding his textbook lying in a bush, Taryn ignited his core and shifted.

He shoved the book into his belt to free up his hands and quickly scaled one of the nearby trees. He found himself a sturdy looking branch hanging above the Diplopoda’s back and shimmied across it until he was directly over Fan Shun’s head. He let go, shifting again as he fell, and landed in a crouch beside her.

As if he’d never moved, Fan Shun resumed their conversation in the same place. “Yes. I’ve finally been released from prison.” She sighed dramatically. “I was starting to think I’d be old and gray again before they let me go.”

“Sorry—” Taryn said, “but who was the one ignoring the doctor’s orders and cultivating when they weren’t supposed to? The answer’s right on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t seem to recall…” He trailed off and turned to look at her.

Fan Shun wasn’t looking at him, but Taryn noticed a slight reddening of her ears. She coughed and hurried to change the subject. “Learn anything interesting?”

Taryn caught on to what she was trying to do but decided to play along instead of badgering her about it. “Actually, I have.” He rotated the book until it was visible to her—the four hundred and seventy-second and seventy-third pages consisted of a large map, which took up the entirety of the two pages.

The words “The Eastern Continent” were written in fine script near the top left of the map, and a visual key near the bottom-right corner contained a small listing for what the various icons represented—a helpful tool, considering most of the symbols were completely unknown to him.

The most numerous symbol was a red dot. There were thousands of them. Some were seemingly in the middle of nowhere, while others were stacked on top of each other in large groupings. Each red dot represented a city with a population greater than ten thousand people.

This astounded Taryn because he had no idea there were so many people. Haven City was estimated to have a population slightly north of twenty thousand, and if this map was to be believed, that meant it was merely one of the countless red dots.

The second symbol was an odd shape Taryn vaguely recognized from his language studies. The actual translation was something like “one who walks the path of Eco.” But the map simply used it to represent cultivator populations greater than a thousand.

Though not to the extent of the red dots, the blue cultivator’s symbol appeared no less than two hundred times. Compared to the dots, a greater number of these symbols were isolated, but there were still numerous points of overlap. This was especially the case around places of dense population.

The third symbol looked like the head of an angry, snarling beast. This green symbol was combined with green lines representing dangerous Eco beasts and their territories. Strangely enough, one of the first things Taryn attempted after finding the map was to locate Haven City. While he couldn’t spot the city itself, he did spot the Mokan Forest. The green symbol was used to mark that area as the territory of a fearsome beast.

The cry of the Mokan spider echoed in Taryn’s mind and goosebumps showed on his arms. Taryn assumed whatever “owned” that territory, and the hugeness of the world, explained why Haven City was so withdrawn.

Taryn held no doubts about which beast the map was referring to, though a rather stupid part of his brain wondered how large the spider had to be to effectively get a warning notice put on every map. Taryn immediately regretted that thought and wanted to punch whichever jerk approved that thought in the first place.

As if I needed any more reasons to be terrified of those eight-legged monstrosities. His body shivered involuntarily.

The fourth symbol was a purple dot that was twice the size of the red dot. It was used to represent populations greater than a hundred thousand,- and there were at least a few hundred of these dots scattered across the map.

Taryn was interested to note that while no two purple dots came into contact with one another, they were almost always surrounded by overlapping red dots and cultivator symbols.

This led him to the conclusion that perhaps the map wasn’t quite as simple as he’d first believed.

While he had few doubts about its accuracy, he understood there was a possibility that the visual key only contained what the writer considered the most “useful” information, leaving more complex explanations unsaid.

The fifth symbol was an orange dot that was even larger than the purple one. The visual key claimed these dots represented populations greater than one million. Due to the sheer number of people represented by the orange dot, Taryn took careful steps to count each and every one. He discovered there were eighty-six orange dots represented on the map. And all of them were surrounded by large groupings of the other symbols, almost like they were all inexplicably drawn towards the orange dots.

Taryn wondered what drew so many people to those locations.

The final symbol was a series of broken lines. They were used to separate the territories of the various kingdoms of the Eastern continent. Taryn counted twelve territories surrounded by these lines, with several of them butting up against one another.

Thankfully, the cartographer had seen fit to put a name with each kingdom, which was the only reason that Taryn had been able to locate the Mokan Forest. He recalled Elder Tao mentioning an “Imidia Dynasty” during one of their earlier conversations and located it on the map.

From there, it was a simple matter of using the geographical depictions of various biomes to determine where in the Imidia Dynasty Haven City could be found.

To the north was a massive mountain range that extended far beyond the northern border of Imidia, and most of the Midland was a somehow perfect mix of dry deserts and vibrant forests—much like the one they were in right now.

Only the southern tip of the territory was different. It was depicted as being covered by dark trees… the kind that might be found in the Mokan Forest.

Of course, all of this was pure guesswork and Taryn could be entirely wrong. But he didn’t think he was.

“I haven’t gotten to this point in the textbook. What’s that symbol down there?” Fan Shun asked and pointed towards a short line at the bottom-left corner of the map.

Taryn frowned and rotated the book towards himself. Eighteen-point-five M/Sqm. He mouthed the words to himself as he read. It was only after reading it two more times that the answer clicked into place. “It’s saying this map represents eighteen and a half million square miles of territory. And this symbol—” he directed her attention to a small guide across the bottom of the map—“is what we can use to measure the size of the territories. I think the Imidia Dynasty is about two or three million square miles.”

“Is that a lot?” Fan Shun asked, her eyes locked onto the same place Taryn had determined Haven City to be located.

“Yes, that’s a lot. It took us a couple of weeks to make it out of the Mokan Forest—but if we were attempting to walk across the entire territory, we’d probably be walking until Leafwake—”

“That’s over two hundred days away!” Fan Shun exclaimed.

Taryn shrugged for lack of anything else to say. He thought it was outrageous too, but that’s what the map claimed, and he had no evidence to refute it.

“We could likely shorten the time by a hundred days if we ran instead of walked. My estimate was based on an average walking speed between the four of us, the time it takes to gather supplies and take care of our basic needs, and sleeping a minimum of eight hours a day to maintain our peak performance. We would be tired and miserable at the end of our journey, but we could probably do it if we had to.”

Fan Shun was silent for a moment as she thought over his words. “You said walking—that doesn’t include us using Eco to enhance our speed, does it?”

“No, I… Hrm… That would drastically shorten travel time, wouldn’t it?” he said, trailing off as he solved the problem in his head. “Assuming we could maintain it the entire journey, something like ten days wouldn’t be impossible.”

“It’s not just possible; that happens every day,” Elder Tao said as he approached them from behind.

Taryn and Fan Shun quickly climbed to their feet and greeted the elder with a slight bow.

The elder returned their greeting with a smile. “I’m surprised you were able to do all of that in your head. Unless they were a member of a prominent sect, or, I suppose, the child of the noble, most children don’t learn arithmetic to that degree. Your instructors must have been proud.”

Taryn blankly stared ahead while Fan Shun showed a rueful smile and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “That was self-taught,” she said with a note of pride in her voice.

“Even more impressive,” Elder Tao said in a surprised voice. “But yes, you are correct that it should take approximately ten days for a decent cultivator to travel across the Imidia Dynasty… But that’s only if they can maintain their movement technique for the entire journey. Otherwise, the trip should take between twenty and thirty days to complete. It was actually this very problem that resulted in the Diplopoda’s construction, as it’s capable of maintaining a constant speed as long as it has access to steam.”

“That’s incredible! Could I see how it all works? I’ve always been fascinated by constructs like this, and the idea that it all runs off of water is mind-boggling to me,” Taryn said in a too loud voice. His current appearance reminded Fan Shun and Elder Tao that even though he acted mature for his age, deep down he was still just a teenager.

This knowledge brought similar smiles to both adults’ faces.

“I don’t see why not—” *Boom* The ground beneath the Diplopoda shook violently and a powerful shockwave slammed into the three of them, knocking Taryn and Fan Shun off their feet.

Elder Tao slowly turned to look towards the rear of the construct. He saw the remnants of a massive fireball had ignited nearby trees and four segments of the Diplopoda were engulfed in flames.

His eyes darted towards the sky. High above the treetops, a pair of gigantic avian transports circled them like vultures. “It seems we’re going to have to put this conversation on hold for the time being.” He growled low in his chest. “The two of you should get inside and return to your room. Don’t leave until I or one of my men come to get you.”

“We can help—” Taryn’s words were cut off as Fan Shun clapped a hand over his mouth and pulled him towards her.

“Whatever that is, we want no part of it,” she whispered. “Besides, he gave us a direct order. We need to listen to him for the time being. Understand?”

Taryn’s body was tense for three breaths, then he started to relax as his body slumped against her.

Taryn nodded.

* * *

The insides of the avian transports were not dissimilar to that of the Diplopoda. Long hallways of metal ran the lengths of the hundred-foot-long birds’ bodies. However, there was one key advantage the birds held over the centipede.

At the center of each was a large, open room with eight black squares painted on the floor. Each square was capable of splitting apart and opening a pathway to the outside world. It was standing beside one of these open squares that Gao Feng found himself.

As powerful gusts of wind came through the openings in the bird’s stomach, terror gripped Gao Feng and made him feel like he would vomit with every breath.

The behemoth construct beneath him was burning, and that smell—that inexplicable smell of burning flesh—penetrated his nostrils. Flashes of Haven City appeared in his mind’s eye, brought upon by that unmistakable stench.

“What’s wrong, little Feng?” Duan He sneered from behind him. “Is something bothering you?”

“People are dying,” Gao Feng whispered, not out of a desire to remain quiet, but simply because his voice refused to cooperate.

“They are. And if you don’t get moving, you’ll join them.” Duan He placed a hand atop Gao Feng’s head and roughly twisted it to the side.

Gao Feng saw his clan members descending towards the centipede via long ropes tied to a floor anchor a few feet away from each hole. The wind buffeted them as they descended. Each flap of the bird’s wings caused the ropes to sway wildly, throwing their bodies from side to side.

“Get moving before I shove you out,” Duan He said while releasing his grip. He took a single step backwards and folded his arms across his chest.

Gao Feng looked through the opening at his feet and spotted the rope he was meant to use. It was a fragile looking thing, no more than two fingers thick and the color of mud.

He took a deep breath and gradually knelt down until he could take hold of the rope. He allowed his arms to take his weight while he lowered himself through the opening just as a heavy gust of wind assaulted him. His sole lifeline swung until his body was almost horizontal to the ground, and Gao Feng couldn’t help but shout and cling even harder to the rope.

His first instinct was to scramble back inside the bird’s stomach. But a brief glance upwards revealed the frowning face of Duan He staring back at him.

If he had to choose between falling to his death and facing Duan He’s anger, Gao Feng would rather risk falling. At least that death would be quick, perhaps even painless.

He began to lower himself towards the ground in spite of the constant winds. He used the knowledge that Yawen was inside that construct as motivation to suppress his fears and increase the speed of his descent.

He didn’t care about Taryn, Fan Shun, or even Wei. But the thought of Yawen at the mercy of those monsters was enough motivation to allow him to let go when he was still thirty feet above the ground.

He landed with a heavy crash. Both knees were driven into the dirt after his feet failed to support him.

Unwilling to waste a single second more, Gao Feng forced his way through the pain in his legs and lower back and climbed to his feet.

He stumbled towards a part of the centipede that looked like it had been pried open by the hands of a fire giant and climbed inside.

* * *

Yawen was scared.

One minute everything was fine. She and Wei were returning from a brief expedition into the forest when the explosion happened. A flash of light hit her eyes, temporarily casting her into darkness, while a shockwave left her with an obnoxious ringing in both ears.

Had the two of them not been inside the Diplopoda at the time, she feared they would’ve died without knowing the cause.

As it was, she and Wei had been momentarily knocked unconscious by the shockwave. It was only after a wisp of flame singed her foot that Yawen awoke.

She scrambled to her feet, taking extra care to keep the fire as far from her robe as possible, and hefted her brother over her shoulder.

She was worried about him, and she wanted to take the time to examine him for wounds, but the fire nipping at her back said that wasn’t possible. The flames would swallow them if she moved too slowly.

The only thing she could do for now was get him to safety. The segment number on the wall caught her eye and she hastened her steps.

Refugees and workers flowed around her like a raging current, jostling and shoving her this way and that as they raced past. No one bothered to help her, and Yawen didn’t expect them to.

They had their own families to protect, many of whom were injured even worse than her brother, since the explosion had ripped apart one of the refugee segments.

She glanced at another symbol on the wall as she passed from segment to segment.

She knew the infirmary was near the center of the centipede. They’d entered from either the eighty-second or the eighty-first segment and were steadily moving towards the head.

She continued moving forward while being shoved every which way. Then a symbol on the wall caught her eye for the second time.

Thirty-seven. How did I get here? Yawen stared at the symbol for what felt like only a few seconds; in reality, she had stood there for more than two minutes before she began moving again.

Yawen wasn’t aware of it, but her body was in a state of severe shock, and it was affecting her memory.

In the blink of an eye, Yawen was standing inside their compartment with no recollection of how she had gotten there.

She stood lamely in the doorway, with her unconscious brother still slung over her shoulder like an oversized bag of rice, until someone called out to her.

The voice eased her mind and relaxed her body. Without meaning to, she allowed Wei to slide off her shoulder into a sitting position, his back against the wall for support.

A pair of arms wrapped around her waist, and she heard the voice say her name once again.

She relaxed against those arms and allowed her eyes to close, content with the knowledge that they would protect her while she rested her eyes for a few minutes.

* * *

Gao Feng lifted her into his arms and fled through an open doorway. He needed to get her somewhere safe, somewhere they could talk. He knew he could convince her to return with them willingly. If she only knew what Taryn had caused, there was no doubt in his mind that she would help him save their city and return to the place she belonged.

By his side, as his wife.

Together they would rebuild Haven City—no, they would build a new city, a better city, one without the strife between the clans. The Cai clan were all but gone, and the Qiao weakened by the deaths of several elders and numerous warriors.

With most of its leadership still intact, that left the Ukata clan head and shoulders above the others. It wouldn’t take long to annex the other clan buildings and turn the clan members against themselves.

He glanced down at Yawen’s sleeping face. If Gao Feng could see himself, he would see the gleam of ambition in his eyes, and a cruel smile on his lips. But both were knocked away by something slamming into the side of his head.

* * *

Yawen’s body twisted free from his grip and her knee struck him hard enough to make his brain bounce around violently inside his skull.

She landed in a crouch while he tripped over his feet and crashed into the dirt.

She had no memory of anything that had happened. The last thing she could recall was standing in the doorway holding her brother… Then nothing.

A quick glance around showed her where she was; the Diplopoda sat a few hundred feet behind her. The fire she’d been fleeing had been extinguished at some point, and she could see a large group of invaders being pushed back by Elder Tao and the crew.

To her surprise, she recognized many of the invaders as members of her own clan. And upon further inspection, she realized that she recognized many more of the invaders as people she’d seen back in Haven City—including the venerable Ukata Teng De.

“Yawen… Why did you hit me? I was saving you.” Gao Feng muttered in a grief-stricken voice.

“Saving me?” Yawen gritted her teeth and shifted her eyes to look at him. “From here, it looks like you’re attacking innocent people and kidnapping me.”

“No—no!” he shouted. “I wanted nothing to do with that. This is all because of Taryn. If he hadn’t been here, none of this would’ve happened. Those people are dead because of him.”

“You’re blaming this on Taryn!?” Yawen yelled back. “Why do you people constantly blame him for everything? Even when he’s hundreds of miles away, you can’t help but blame him for your problems, can you?”

“You people…” Gao Feng muttered in a disbelieving voice. “You act like you’re not one of us. Regardless, you don’t understand. Our people are either dead or enslaved by a tyrant because of that Clanless nobody. This is the only way we can save them—” he said, reaching for her.

“What are you talking about?” She moved out of his range and began circulating her Eco through her channels. She didn’t want to, a part of her was happy to see him… But she would fight if she had to.

Gao Feng laughed humorlessly at Yawen and dropped his hand to his side. “After you left, Haven City was attacked by Duan He and Gu Qigang’s master. She was enraged because Taryn killed Qigang and said the only way any of us would get to keep our lives was if we captured Taryn and brought him to face justice.”

Yawen’s mind went blank; the knowledge of Haven City’s fate was inconceivable. Haven City is… Gone?

Yawen couldn’t believe it. She’d spent most of her life wishing for freedom from that horrible place. She’d envisioned dozens of scenarios that ended with her leaving the city behind.

So, to hear that it was suddenly gone was—she didn’t know how to feel.

Should she be happy? Could she be happy? She may have hated the city, but she didn’t wish destruction upon them. She’d always wanted to leave them to live their twisted lives in peace, not be destroyed by some tyrant with a grudge.

Memories of the torture Gu Qigang had inflicted upon them swam through her mind. She turned her back to Gao Feng and started running towards the Diplopoda.

As far as she was concerned, Taryn had done the world a service by eliminating one of its monsters… But there were a lot of innocent people in Haven City. The thought of leaving them to the mercy of the likes of Duan He and his ilk soured her stomach.

“Where are you going?” Gao Feng shouted. “You’re supposed to be with me, not him.”

Yawen felt someone grab her arm and roughly twist it behind her back.

She reacted by instinct and blindly threw an elbow. Gao Feng blocked it with his hand, twisted his body, and threw her away from the Diplopoda.

Yawen lightly landed on her feet and sprang towards Gao Feng with a powerful kick aimed at his chest.

He parried the kick and countered with an openhanded strike across her face. The blow turned her head aside and split her lip.

Yawen was surprised by the skill Feng displayed. She was more powerful than him, of that she was certain. But somehow he’d narrowed the gap by an unbelievable margin.

She wiped the blood from her lip and was prepared to compliment him on his growth. She’d always wished he’d taken his training more seriously. It seemed he finally had.

But her words died in her throat when she finally looked at him. His body was shaking, his dark hair covered his eyes, and he was grinding his teeth.

“You… You attacked me—for him?” he asked quietly, disbelief clear in his voice. He started laughing, but there was no humor in it. Only derision and anger. “Suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised. You always did have a soft spot for the Clanless bastard… Are you with him now?”

Yawen hesitated in disgust for a moment before shaking her head. “No. I’m not with him.”

“But he’s wormed his way into your heart, hasn’t he?” A visible aura of pale blue Eco floated around his body, and a circle of ice appeared on the ground beneath his feet. It began to crawl across the ground, slowly inching towards Yawen with every breath.

“You’ve already decided the answer to that question,” she said. “Nothing I say now will change your mind…” She trailed off as an aura of orange Eco appeared around her body. The leaves beneath her feet rapidly dried out, turning from a vibrant green to a dull brown.

“Why is it so hard to believe I just wanted to leave and be free of that place?”

The aura continued to grow until wisps of smoke appeared, caused by small embers eating away at the leaves.

Gao Feng’s eyes flashed with unsuppressed energy. Crimson veins appeared around his eyes, and soon began to drip blood down his cheeks. He didn’t even acknowledge her, rage filling him.

“I won’t let him have you,” Gao Feng growled.

“What I do and who I choose to do it with are choices that only I can make. That was the promise I made on the day I decided to leave Haven City behind. I am no one’s possession, Feng… Not even yours.”

Gao Feng slung his arm in front of him, releasing a wave of frozen air in the shape of a crescent blade that ripped through the air on a direct course for Yawen’s chest.

Yawen sucked in a breath—and exhaled a cone of fire that turned the surrounding leaves to ash and collided with the ice blade in midair.

Chapter Twelve

Terror-filled screams rang in Taryn’s ears as he and Fan Shun struggled their way back to the compartment they shared with the Xia twins; the fleeing refugees were making it almost as dangerous inside the halls as it was outside.

It irritated him that only five of the Diplopoda’s one hundred segments had their platforms opened for entry. It made moving around the vessel, especially in times of crisis, a serious pain in Taryn’s rear end.

They stopped moving as a loud hissing sound penetrated Taryn’s ears seconds before pieces of the outer wall began to fall away. Someone had released the locks keeping the hexagon platforms in place, allowing them to fall off the main body, and giving those trapped inside the chance at freedom.

This brought Taryn and Fan Shun to a halt. If the Silver Crown were encouraging people to escape, then heading back to the compartment wasn’t wise. They would be trapping themselves in a small box to await their inevitable death.

Taryn grabbed Fan Shun’s wrist and darted towards one of the openings—and right into an ambush.

The uniformed invaders wearing black and red robes gave Taryn pause… But what truly made him hesitate was the sight of the pompous Ukata Teng De wearing them.

Taryn’s eyes darted around, taking in the faces and appearance of the other ten invaders surrounding them.

He recognized all of them as citizens of Haven City.

Fan Shun placed a hand on Taryn’s chest and pushed him behind her as she stepped forward to greet their attackers.

“What are you doing here?” Fan Shun said while staring down Teng De. The first elder of the Ukata clan may have been bigger than her, but everyone knew who would win if they fought.

Teng De was a genius maker—the nickname given to cultivators adept in elemental Eco. And with his rare lightning element, it was no surprise that he quickly rose through the ranks and became one of the youngest elders in clan history. But that was before Fan Shun made a name for herself with her blistering cultivation speed.

She’d reached elder by the age of twenty, beating his record by more than a decade.

Taryn and Fan Shun hoped the invading Haven City “survivors” would remember her past strength and decide to turn back—but Teng De didn’t even greet them before unsheathing his curved sword in a single fluid motion and slashing at Fan Shun’s neck.

Fan Shun fell backwards, barely dodging the blade and shoving Taryn back in the process.

Teng De refused to relent. He pressed the attack like a man possessed, slashing and stabbing with horrifying speed.

His “bravery” against the fabled Fan Shun, and his ability to immediately put her on the defensive, bolstered the attackers’ morale. They unsheathed their weapons and rushed to join in Teng De’s attack.

Fan Shun protected Taryn as much as she could; parrying eleven separate incoming weapons with Eco infused palms while shoving Taryn back inside the Diplopoda with her elbows. Bloody gashes appeared on her arms and her palms. The Eco she was forbidden to use ripped through her channels, causing intense damage.

Rather than stopping the attackers, the sight of Fan Shun bleeding only increased their confidence, blades, maces, spears, and axes swinging faster with every breath. They knew they were breaking her down, and once she was out of the way they could get to their real target.

Fan Shun went to elbow Taryn again but hit an iron wall. A vicious snarl came from somewhere above her head in an instant before she was shoved out of the way by the bipedal Wolf Dragon.

Taryn’s scales were from Iddrai—the last light bringer of Otholla. They were resistant to fire, and harder than stone. No spear would pierce his scales. While his fur came from a dire wolf, a monstrous wolf from the Mokan Forest whose fur and claws were akin to iron. No blade could cut them.

Whether through accident or destiny, Taryn had somehow managed to turn his body into the ultimate shield.

He didn’t bother to block as the attackers lashed out at him instinctively. It was to Teng De’s regret that none of the blades or axes could cut him, none of the spears could pierce him, and he caught a mace in each monstrous hand.

Taryn growled low in his chest and lashed out with a front kick. His foot planted in a male cultivator’s gut and disemboweled him with his iron claws.

Any morale Teng De managed to build in his people vanished the moment they comprehended what just happened.

Taryn—the Clanless orphan who couldn’t cultivate—had just turned into a monster and killed one of them. A friend, a loved one, someone’s dad.

They’d been okay with the idea of capturing the Clanless orphan. No one but Fan Shun would’ve missed him, and she was effectively an exile who would be lucky if she was just put to death alongside him. None of them signed up to face a monster.

Taryn sucked in a breath, and a visible aura of blue Eco wrapped around his body a split second before he released an eardrum breaking roar that momentarily silenced the world.

Several of the cultivators started bleeding from each ear; two even fainted under the pressure of Taryn’s rage bearing down on them.

In truth, Taryn hadn’t done anything impressive. It only looked impressive because he forced his aura to manifest. The actual technique was a simple voice amplification technique he’d witnessed Teng De use once upon a time, although he’d cranked the volume as high as he possibly could and used his larger lungs to further increase the volume of his roar.

Nothing more than a simple trick, but it was an effective one.

While the attackers were momentarily stunned, Taryn lightly shoved Fan Shun and urged her to run with a growl. Her sword was still locked away in their compartment. He internally winced at his screwup. If they had only kept running towards the compartment, they could’ve already retrieved their weapons and alerted the Xia twins. Panic had driven him to make a stupid decision. He only hoped he would live to regret it.

Fan Shun didn’t try to argue with him. She knew as well as he that unless she retrieved her weapon, she would be nothing more than a hindrance without using her Eco. So, the moment the opportunity presented itself, she tapped Taryn twice on the back for good luck and dashed away.

The sight of the pissed off, seven-foot-tall Wolf Dragon hybrid standing in front of them prevented any of the attackers from giving chase—not because they feared he would run them down, but because they knew they would be sentencing even more of their friends and allies to a painful death.

“I always knew you were a monster,” Teng De said while directing lightning Eco into his sword. Green and gold arcs of electricity flashed around the hilt before climbing up the blade like twisting vines. “I only wish I’d thrown you back into the forest, the same way your parents threw you away.”

Teng De’s words struck a chord Taryn had long ago buried deep within himself. His glowing crimson eyes focused directly on Teng De, and his lips pulled back, revealing dagger-like teeth and a forked tongue. His thick, armor-plated tail slammed into the ground in a show of anger. Taryn lashed out with his left hand, his strong claws easily slashing through a female cultivator’s chest.

Blood sprayed onto Taryn’s face and the twenty-something cultivator dropped like a puppet whose strings had been clipped.

“I’m not the same boy you tormented all those years,” Taryn muttered, his voice barely loud enough to be heard over the battle.

Taryn glanced at the bodies of the two people he’d killed. Nausea grew from the depths of his stomach, and he could feel his hands shaking.

Can’t believe I’m going into shock. Taryn chuckled internally, but it wasn’t out of amusement. He had never killed anyone before—at least, he had never intended to kill a human before—and knowing that he was the one responsible for these deaths… Well, that knowledge wasn’t agreeing with him.

He was sick for days after his fight with Gu Qigang, even though he wasn’t directly responsible. Qigang had brought the tower down on their heads, almost killing Taryn and almost certainly killing himself.

Taryn didn’t want to think about how he would feel after this day was over.

“Yes, you are,” Teng De said, baring his teeth and attacking with his lightning infused sword.

Taryn brought up his arm to block, grunting as the blade bit into his flesh. He felt fresh blood flow down his arm and was only slightly surprised to see it glowing blue.

Teng De either didn’t notice or didn’t care about Taryn’s unusual blood. He followed through with his first slash and brought the blade around for another strike.

Seeing Teng De face down the “Eco beast” standing in front of them, a few of his followers threw their weapons aside to free up their hands, and rushed Taryn. It’d already been proven that only the “hero” Teng De could defeat the monster, so they would ensure he got the chance.

Taryn lashed out with his claws, raking across a man’s face. The followers moved even faster. They shoved the dead cultivator out of the way and grappled Taryn’s arms and legs.

Teng De thrust his sword at Taryn’s heart—only to freeze when Taryn lifted a young man clinging to his arm to block the blade. The blade sunk deep into the cultivator’s back and exploded out of his chest- stopping an inch from Taryn’s body.

Taryn used his strong body to explode into a flurry of motion. He twisted the blade from Teng De’s grip, used the cultivator’s legs to smack three of the attackers aside, then used the corpse as a bludgeon to crush a fourth cultivator.

Tossing the corpse away, Taryn sprang forward and lashed out at Teng De with a series of rapid claw strikes and heavy punches. But Teng De wasn’t like his inexperienced allies, who’d never before been in a fight to the death. He was old, a veteran, and determined to stop Taryn before he killed any more of his people.

The youngest elder clashed with the burgeoning monster in a fight that left onlookers paralyzed in fear.

* * *

Yawen and Gao Feng circled each other in a deadly dance. Her punches scorched the air and turned grass to ash, his kicks caused blades of ice to fell trees.

Sap laden leaves drifted from high above like endless rain. Most never reached the ground.

Yawen breathed a plume of fire that raced towards Gao Feng, heedless of anything in its way.

Gao Feng countered with twin crescent ice blades that detonated the fire plume before it could close half the distance. Yawen pressed the attack, diving through the explosion-caused smoke and planted a kick firmly in Gao Feng’s chest.

The blow caused him to stumble backwards, but he quickly found his footing and dove back into the fray. He threw sharp jabs and powerful kicks quick as he could, forcing Yawen to go on the defensive.

Between the two of them, Yawen held the higher cultivation base. But she’d forgotten one key detail about the pesky Ukatas. They were all born with insanely strong bodies and incredible vitality. Add to that the vision technique only they could use, which made Gao Feng’s eyes capable of vastly improved reaction speed and ability to perceive threats.

So, while she was theoretically stronger than he was, he made up for it with the innate strength of his bloodline. And in a battle of attrition, the Ukatas’ vitality made them unbeatable in Haven City.

Yawen knew she’d need to end this fight quickly or risk losing the moment her liquid Eco ran dry.

Gao Feng slashed his hand across his body, and a large crescent blade formed in the air and rocketed towards Yawen.

She opened her mouth to respond with a fire technique of her own, but something screamed at her to duck. Obeying her instincts, Yawen dipped backwards until her spine was parallel to the ground.

The crescent blade sailed mere inches over her nose and sliced through a grouping of trees like they were made of paper.

If I’d tried to block that… A vision of getting sliced in half shot through her mind, and a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature raced down her spine. He’s really trying to kill me.

That realization scared her more than she thought it would.

She recalled the dates they went on months ago, all of the whispered promises they’d made to one another, and all of the plans they’d made… The charming image of Gao Feng she’d desperately clung to in her mind shattered like stained glass.

She slowly straightened her back and looked at him.

His eyes were full of rage and fear, his body shook almost constantly, and every breath was labored and unsteady.

Is this really the man I was falling in love with? It was painful to see him that way, more so even than the day he chose to return to Haven City.

Back then, she’d thought it was a temporary thing. He would realize after a few days that he made a mistake, and they were both better off without the shadow of that wall looming over them.

But presented with a chance to do it all over… Gao Feng would still rather stay in Haven City—and he’d rather see her dead than with Taryn.

I feel like such a fool. There she was, pining over someone who’d happily kill her if it meant she could never leave. Don’t know why I’m surprised. My mother and sister are the same… Yawen grit her teeth and inhaled deeply through her nose.

She couldn’t afford to get angry. An angry mind was not a clear mind, and fire Eco was dangerous enough on its own without giving it anything else to feed off.

Gao Feng dashed towards her; each step accompanied by an ice blade flung at Yawen. Time seemed to grind to a halt on his fifth step, his arm outstretched with an ice blade forming on the tips of his fingers.

Then the world lost its color, and everything shifted into shades of gray.

A spark of orange light flashed in her peripheral vision so quickly, she wondered if she’d imagined it. But then even more flashes appeared; micro explosions that lit up the world in a dazzling show of vibrant color. Flashes of red, orange, and gold joined together to set the world ablaze… Yet somehow, nothing was burned.

The fire was gentle and warmed her from the very depths of her soul.

It gave color to a colorless world.

Fire is all-consuming… not only capable of wanton destruction but also giving life. None of us could live without it but indulging in its beauty is dangerous. When smothered, fire will eventually wither and die. Only when it’s freed can it truly shine and chase away the darkness.

Something clicked in Yawen’s mind. A missing piece to a puzzle all cultivators must complete before they can take the first step on the path of Eco. A glimpse of enlightenment, Teng De achieved his first glimpse in his thirties. Fan Shun found it in her twenties. And now, Yawen had discovered it at only sixteen years of age.

Yawen released the breath she’d forgotten she was holding, and time resumed.

The ice blades flew towards her faster than her eyes could track, but Yawen remained calm because she knew they would never reach her.

She drew back her right arm while taking in a deep breath, then thrust her fist forward while simultaneously blowing the air back out.

To Gao Feng, this looked like a wasted effort. Nothing had changed in the air, and he knew she needed to hold her breath for several seconds in order to charge it with Eco. This punch of hers was a waste of time… But to Yawen it was different.

Her breath left her lips in a rush. She watched as if in slow motion, as the glowing orange gas spiraled around her arm before gathering at a point just in front of her fist. The moment her arm extended, a white-hot wave of fire—incomparable to any she’d created before—launched at Gao Feng.

The ice blades were the first to be hit, and they melted without resistance.

The hundreds of sap heavy leaves drifting listlessly around her turned to ash in less than the blink of an eye—even leaves and plants that weren’t in the fire’s path were incinerated in a flash.

Everything within twelve feet of Yawen or her flame disintegrated.

When the dust settled, and Yawen was no longer blinded by the spontaneous combustion she’d accidentally created, a heavy feeling of exhaustion washed over her body. She collapsed onto her knees and had to catch herself before she ended up face down in the dirt.

She’d never felt this weak before. It was as if she’d burned away every scrap of Eco she had, and then some. She coughed due to a burning sensation at the back of her throat and grimaced at the sight of blood flying from her mouth.

She had a strong feeling that she should panic. After all, normally coughing up blood meant you had some type of internal injury. But she was too tired. She barely had enough energy to remain conscious, never mind working up the energy to panic.

Her eyes were blurry, but she forced them to focus on the spot in front of her.

Gao Feng’s body lay only five feet away. Most of his robes were burnt away, leaving him in only a torn short-sleeved tunic and heavily burned pants. A thick layer of mist drifted off him as the even thicker layer of ice he’d formed around his body at the last second finished melting.

Yawen couldn’t help but sigh when she saw his chest rise and fall.

His breathing is unstable, but he’ll live… the lucky prick. Her arms finally lost what little strength remained and she fell onto her stomach with her eyes facing the Diplopoda.

She wasn’t surprised to see the attackers falling back to their transports. Elder Tao and his warriors were truly a force to be reckoned with. Though Yawen could see many bodies of fallen refugees, she saw just as many of the attackers lying strewn across the ground.

The sound of ongoing battle played at the fringes of her hearing.

She used what little strength she had to move her head enough to see where the sounds were coming from, and she saw a transformed Taryn fiercely battling Elder Teng De. Though from what she could see, Teng De currently held the upper hand.

Taryn could not approach because of the electrified blade in Teng De’s right hand, yet retreating would place him firmly in Teng De’s area of power.

Makers excelled at ranged combat. Whereas, Taryn, who used wild Eco, was more suited to close range battles.

It was a lose-lose situation for Taryn.

Yawen dug deep inside for the energy to push herself onto her knees.

She cared not for her pride or what others would think of her—she began crawling towards the battle like a newborn babe.

She didn’t need to fight, couldn’t even if she wanted to. But if she could just distract Elder Teng De for—her thoughts ground to a halt.

Taryn attempted to dodge a wild vertical slash by moving backwards. Then he tripped over the corpse of an attacker and lost his footing.

He tried to catch his balance, but it was too late. He’d already begun falling by the time he reacted.

In a last desperate attempt to avoid ending up on his back, Taryn pushed off the ground and forced himself into a flip that carried him over a dozen feet away.

He landed unsteadily on his feet and had barely regained his balance when a bolt of lightning passed through his chest.

Taryn gaped and slowly moved his hands towards his chest—and a second, even larger bolt passed through his body. This one knocked him off his feet to land on some bodies a few feet behind him. They were the bodies of three cultivators he’d “murdered,” in the eyes of Teng De and the other Haven City survivors.

Yawen noticed Elder Tao and his warriors approaching Teng De from behind. “Taryn!!” Fan Shun’s cries echoed in the silence. Yawen spotted her standing on top of the Diplopoda with a slightly wounded Wei standing behind her.

“I did it… I did it!” Teng De said in a disbelieving voice. “Ukata Teng De has slain the monster!” He cheered to the otherwise silent world.

Fan Shun was gripping her blade tightly in her right hand and her eyes were boring holes through Teng De. Faster than Yawen had ever seen the woman move, Fan Shun appeared above Teng De’s head with her sword already arcing down to cleave him in two.

Teng De only just managed to get his sword up in time to block, but the moment the blades touched it was clear that he’d wasted the effort.

A crimson aura exploded out of Fan Shun’s body the instant before impact. Teng De buckled like a mountain had been dropped on top of him. His sword didn’t so much break as explode into fragments. However, just before her blade pierced his flesh, Teng De’s body was enveloped in a silver light and vanished, thanks to some lifesaving script he had on him.

Fan Shun’s blade passed through nothing but air before slamming into the ground with the force of a two-ton hammer, which sent dirt and debris flying everywhere.

And Taryn… He reacted to none of it.

Chapter Thirteen

A subtle warmth permeated Taryn’s skin, relaxing his body and gradually pulling his consciousness towards the surface. The sound of a crackling fire tickled at his thoughts and served as a beacon, giving his mind something to focus on while he awoke.

As his senses slowly returned to him, Taryn opened his eyes. The shadow-covered wooden ceiling above his head confused him, as did the soft mat he could feel beneath him.

The Diplopoda didn’t have wooden fixtures, and he certainly didn’t remember building anything, so how could he… He tore his eyes away from the dancing shadows and took a moment to take in his surroundings.

He was inside a small cabin; his mat was lying in a corner of the room. From where he was lying, he couldn’t see any doorways leading to adjacent rooms. The only door was on the far side of the room, and since there were windows on either side of it, Taryn assumed it led outside.

Aside from the mat, a small fireplace, and the single door, the cabin was beyond sparsely furnished. It lacked any of the creature comforts Taryn took for granted in his old home and only contained one wooden chair placed directly in front of the fireplace.

Pushing the strange decorating choices aside, Taryn sat up and tried looking out the windows. Nigh unbearable pain ripped through Taryn’s mind and chest at the same time, forcing him to cry out.

The pain continued for a dozen or so breaths before his body started to go numb.

Taking whatever chance he could get, Taryn forced himself onto his knees and looked through the windows.

But there was nothing there.

The windows showed nothing but darkness. And not just any darkness. This wasn’t the soothing darkness of a calm night, but a primal darkness, the kind humans have feared for as long as they have existed.

“Don’t get too caught up in it,” a quiet voice cautioned from Taryn’s left. “None of it’s real.”

Taryn startled at the voice and whipped his head around. A hooded figure wearing a dark ceramic mask was sitting next to him; a pair of bright crimson eyes stared back at him.

“What happened?” Taryn asked while his brain struggled to process everything. But his question was answered before the Mourner could speak. He vividly remembered the feeling of electricity coursing through his body… And that wasn’t all.

“Remember now?” the Mourner asked, not even bothering to raise his voice above a whisper.

“The Diplopoda was attacked. I fought Ukata Teng De to a standstill—”

“I wouldn’t go that far. He almost killed you.”

Taryn ignored the comment as white hot rage invaded his mind. The words Teng De had said to him were running rampant inside his mind, practically screaming at him.

Haven City fell because of you.

“Judging by the look on your face, I’m guessing you learned something you aren’t quite sure how to process.”

“You told me Haven City wouldn’t be attacked if I left with the dragon core,” Taryn replied, his voice coming out strained and uncertain. “You said if I did what you told me to do, Haven City would live on as it always had.”

The Mourner fell into a long silence. He kept his eyes locked on Taryn’s, an unspoken battle of wills that continued for more than forty seconds. It was Taryn who looked away first. “Did you lie to me?” he asked with a heavy voice.

Please say no.

“Yes,” the Mourner said after a moment’s hesitation.

“Why—why are you lying to me?” Taryn’s voice broke as emotion weighed down on his throat.

People had been lying to him his entire life, using subtle manipulations to toy with him and push him around. Every time he’d placed his trust in someone other than his grandmother, they let him down. And while it was true that Yawen and Wei were beginning to earn his trust, he still couldn’t forget the day Yawen broke his heart. But he’d trusted the Mourner.

He trusted him, because for the first time in his life, Taryn felt special. The Mourner gave him the opportunity to study Eco and gave him the confidence to finally leave Haven City behind… And it was all based on a lie?

The Mourner didn’t tell him the city would be attacked anyway. What would’ve happened if he’d actually left on his own? Would his grandmother have died? What about Yawen and Wei, would they have died too?

“I lied to protect you,” the Mourner snapped. “I had to ensure you would leave the city as soon as possible. The quickest way to do that was to play up your hero complex.”

“I don’t have a hero complex—”

“You can’t lie to me, Taryn. You can lie to yourself, but you can never lie to me. I know about all those nights you laid awake and wished the people loved you. I know about all of your plans to make people want you around... I know the real reason you stopped looking for Yawen. That’s why it was so easy to get you to drop everything and go after the dragon core.”

Taryn said nothing, though his body shook—whether from fear or anger, not even he knew. “You’re lying. That’s all this is, you’re just lying to me again—”

“You only wish I was lying.”

“I never stopped looking for Yawen.”

“You stopped looking almost immediately,” the Mourner said derisively. “You knew she was from one of the clans—even suspected that she was from the Qiao clan. But you never tried to go to their compound. Why?”

“Because I couldn’t get in—”

“Lies! You never went because you thought you were saving her, that by not being around, you were making her life better. So, when she stopped coming, you stopped looking.”

“That’s a lie. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Taryn fell backwards as the strength in his legs left him. He landed on his backside and briefly struggled to get comfortable.

“I know exactly what I’m talking about. I have thought about those days for eons. No matter how hard I tried or how far I traveled, those pesky memories kept coming back.” The Mourner chuckled mirthlessly and began to reach towards his mask.

The mask came free with a wet pop and the Mourner threw it across the room, where it shattered against the wall.

The Mourner was old, with porcelain white skin. A terrible burn marred the top half of the Mourner’s face, three deep scratches ran from his bottom lip to the side of his neck, and most of his right cheek was missing… But the face staring back at Taryn was unmistakable.

He’d seen it every time he looked in a mirror.

“You’re—” Taryn began, but his voice died before he could find the words.

“Yeah.”

“But how?”

“That explanation is far too complex for you to understand right now. But do you see—I was only doing it to protect us,” the Mourner said in a pleading voice.

“Do I see—No, I don’t. You lied to me, manipulated me. Thousands of people are dead because of us.”

“That’s a load of crap and you know it. Nothing we could’ve done would’ve prevented it—”

“We could’ve told someone! Grandma had the elder’s ear. If she had warned them of what was coming, they would’ve listened.”

“You don’t know that.”

“And you don’t know that they wouldn’t. You took away any chance that it could work before I even knew it was an option.”

The Mourner went silent and rested his head against the wall behind him.

“Why did you come back?” Taryn asked in a quieter voice.

“Because I wanted to help you.”

“Stop lying. If you wanted to help me, just sending the journal back would’ve been enough. You didn’t need to come along personally.”

“I… I didn’t want you to make the same mistakes I did.”

“Why? What could be so bad that you thought this was your only option—” Taryn’s voice died in his throat when the Mourner looked at him. His eyes were haunted by whatever he was thinking about, and Taryn suddenly realized that maybe he didn’t want to know.

“The easy answer is that I hit a wall in my cultivation,” the mourner said after almost a full minute of silence. “It hasn’t been discovered by others yet, but there are four avenues of cultivation one must follow before they can truly become an immortal.

“You have to cultivate your core, which is what you’re doing now. The people of Haven City believed that was enough. Ask anyone outside those walls, and you’ll learn that you have to cultivate your body and mind as well. But there’s one other avenue: You also have to cultivate your soul.”

“I’ve never heard of any of this.”

“Of course not,” the Mourner snorted. “Haven City is both blind and backwards. They’re lucky they remembered they needed to cultivate their cores. But ask any cultivator outside the city about the avenues of cultivation, and they’ll at least be able to tell you about the body and mind.”

“Since it’s so common to cultivate body and mind, I’m assuming your issue is with the soul?” Taryn asked.

He couldn’t get over the many scars on the Mourner’s face and he couldn’t help but wonder what caused them.

“I didn’t discover the path of soul cultivation until much, much later. By then, it was too late. The soul must be untainted in order to take that first step. Things like regrets and hatred color your soul the longer you hold onto them, and I held onto mine for a long time.”

“So… You came back to save me from regret?”

“I came back to try, and I know we haven’t gotten off on the right foot. But I swear, I only want what’s best for you.”

Taryn stared at the Mourner’s face. Most of it was currently hidden in shadow by his hood, though his eyes still contained their ethereal glow. Taryn saw sincerity in those eyes.

Which somehow, made Taryn even angrier. “You said you want what’s best for me. Does that mean you’ll lie to me again?”

“I don’t want to,” the Mourner said after a brief pause.

“But you will if you think it’s necessary,” Taryn said. “I can’t trust you. I know you want me to, but I just can’t. But lying to me isn't helping me. It’s controlling me. You want a puppet.”

“No!” the Mourner shouted before forcing himself to calm down. “I don’t want a puppet. I just want to help you. Why can’t you see that?”

“Because I did what you told me to do. I read your journal, and I’ve been reading more of it each night. You said numerous times you doubted your own judgment, that you were too jaded by the past and couldn’t trust yourself not to make the same mistakes again. And now, you’re lying to me to get your way. I guess I’m confused because you don’t trust yourself, but you don’t trust me either.”

The Mourner’s body stiffened in response to Taryn’s accusation. After Taryn finished speaking, the ancient cultivator sagged against the wall and stared down at the floor.

For the first time since they’d met, Taryn saw the Mourner for what he really was: a tired old man.

“Am I the problem?” the Mourner whispered, more to himself than anything else. “When I first saw you, after you picked up the journal, I thought you were pitiable. And I convinced myself that you needed my help. It’s the only reason I left my ego in the journal.”

The mourner kept his eyes on the floor in front of him. “I guess the truth was, I wasn’t ready to die yet,” he said.

“You’re dying?” Taryn asked.

“I’m already dead; my body died in the ritual that sent the journal to you. All that remains now are a few fragments of my soul,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Oh, I didn’t know. I’m sorry—”

The Mourner shot Taryn a glance and shook his head. “Don’t be. I did it because I wanted to. And now, I think it’s time I do something else that I want to do.”

“Do you need my help?”

The Mourner laughed quietly at the worried look on Taryn’s face. “And you said you didn’t have a hero complex. You’re such a liar.”

“It takes one to know one,” Taryn said, grinning.

“True enough. But no, this is something I have to do on my own. And in the spirit of not lying to myself, I’m going to do something I rarely do and tell you the truth. So, listen carefully, I’m only going to say this once.”

Taryn nodded after failing to find the words he wanted to say.

“We will not meet again—” He lifted a hand to prevent Taryn from interrupting and shook his head. “You were right when you said I didn’t trust you. I don’t trust anyone anymore, especially myself. But I meant what I said in the journal. I am a hindrance to the progression of this world. My choices and actions have had and will have far-reaching consequences and affect the lives of thousands of people. I can’t be the one responsible for those choices.”

“What are you saying? That I’ll be a king or something?” Taryn asked in a joking manner, though his voice trailed off when he realized the Mourner wasn’t laughing with him.

“Or something. That’s why it’s time for me to go, and leave you to make your own choices, and mistakes.”

“What’s going to happen to you? Are you going to die? Are you—” Taryn stammered and stopped midsentence. All traces of his earlier anger had vanished in the wake of the Mourner’s admission. Now, it was beginning to sink in what the future might hold… And it scared Taryn.

“I told you, I’m already dead. My soul will fade, and what impressions I left in the journal will follow soon after.”

“What if I can’t handle this on my own? You couldn’t, so why do you think I could?”

The Mourner’s head slowly turned to look at him. His crimson eyes locked onto Taryn’s, and his lips set into a hard line. “I can’t be the one responsible for them.”

“What if we did it together?” Taryn asked.

“We’ve already tried that; it didn’t work out so well the first time.”

“No,” Taryn shook his head. “As equals. Is there any way we can make it so there are no lies between us?”

The Mourner remained silent for a few seconds before nodding once. “In my research, I did discover a way to merge our souls together. It was actually one of the first plans I’d thought of—but I’d ruled it out because we would no longer be individuals; my regrets would become your regrets and my hatred, your hatred. That would prevent us from cultivating our soul, which would ultimately defeat the purpose.”

Taryn shook his head. “I don’t think it would. Your regrets haven’t happened yet, your enemies haven’t even been born yet. There is time to change the outcome, but only if we can truly work together.”

A smile slowly spread across the Mourner’s scarred face. “You might have a point… Regardless, I didn’t want to just take over the body of a prepubescent brat.”

“You won’t be. We’ll be working together, right?” Taryn extended his hand to the Mourner, a matching smile on his face.

“Together.” The Mourner nodded and accepted Taryn’s hand.

“It’s decided then. Just tell me what we need to do.”

“What you need to do is wake up. I’ll take care of the rest.” The Mourner released Taryn’s hand and stood up.

“Will I ever see you again?” Taryn asked.

“Every time you look in the mirror,” the Mourner replied, a genuine smile on his face.

* * *

Taryn came to with a gasp. The hot smell of smoke and burning flesh seared the inside of his nose, his head ached like nothing he’d ever felt, his chest muscles burned like someone had branded him with an iron, and he had a sneaking suspicion that his pants needed to be changed.

Otherwise, Taryn felt surprisingly okay, considering he was pretty sure he died for a moment there. A heavy weight slammed into his side and carried onto the ground.

Taryn instantly prepared himself for battle and shoved his Eco towards his fist… But the sound of sobbing gave him pause.

The fog of confusion left his mind a moment later, and he recognized his grandmother practically lying on top of him.

“Are you… crying?” Taryn asked out of confusion.

Fan Shun knelt beside him, tears in her eyes, and punched him in his ribs hard enough to nearly make his body fold. “You little brat, who told you to go off and play the hero, huh?” She shouted, equal parts anger and worry coloring her voice.

“I just discovered I have a complex about that,” Taryn said, laughing and rubbing his side. The punch had certainly hurt, but he guessed she had taken it easy on him because it was much lighter than he expected it to be.

“I could’ve told you that,” Fan Shun snorted.

“That obvious, huh?” Taryn asked, embarrassed by the attention they were getting from onlookers.

“Only to the people who know you.” She shrugged before putting an arm around his waist and helping him stand.

“Good, good. The fewer people who know about that particular problem, the better.” He looked around at the bodies strewn across the ground and the heavily damaged tail of the Diplopoda. “Who did we lose?” he asked after a moment.

“No one we know. They’re still sorting through the wreckage; a dozen or so refugees died, but the attackers lost about sixty percent of their number. The rest fled after Shen Tao took down a few of their leaders. It’s unconfirmed, but I’ve heard that Duan He was the commander. If so, he escaped.”

“Divines, I thought you were dead!” Wei cheered a second before he greeted Taryn with a slap on the back. The moment his hand came into contact, Taryn’s headache spiked higher than he ever imagined possible.

Hundreds—no, thousands of years of memories slammed into his mind all at once.

Taryn’s legs gave out and he slid to the ground, unable to put up enough resistance to catch himself before his face landed in the dirt.

“Okay, I did not do that!” Wei shouted a second before Taryn fell unconscious for the second time in a day.

Chapter Fourteen

Yawen grumbled inaudible words of protest as she walked through the narrow corridors of the Diplopoda, arms laden with heavy textbooks.

It had taken several days, and many hours of work, for Elder Tao and the Silver Crown workers to get the construct moving again.

Yawen was fascinated to observe the mastery of shaper Eco the workers displayed; hundreds of tons of steel plates, copper wires, and various other materials were formed from nothing but shaper Eco. Though the work was extremely impressive, Yawen was amused to note the replacement parts all possessed a slight purple tint to them.

The reason was obvious: Shaper Eco wielders, more commonly referred to as “forgers,” created masterworks from the naturally purple shaper Eco. It was often seen as a show of skill to reduce the amount of purple as much as possible, with entire competitions based around it. Yawen had seen her fair share of master forgers over the years.

In terms of skill, she would say a number of people in Haven City held more control over their Eco than these workers. However, almost no one in Haven City was capable of creating even a stone out of nothing but Eco.

Everyone in Haven City required a base, which changed depending on the desired result; in order to create a sword, they would need an already ruined blade or a substantial amount of iron powder. To create wooden fixtures they needed logs or, in some cases, entire trees.

This made shaper Eco highly inefficient and was ultimately the reason so few people made a career of it. But these workers acted on an entirely different scale, and in a direct competition, Yawen didn’t think any of them would lose to the “masters” of Haven City.

Despite enjoying watching them work, Yawen hadn’t smiled since the battle. Too many had lost their lives, and even more were wounded, which meant entire segments of the Diplopoda had to be turned into medical wards to support the sudden spike in injuries.

She was thankful her brother had only suffered minor internal damage. Even Elder Shun only required a day of rest before she was back to normal. However, Taryn hadn't recovered as quickly as they had; he remained in an isolated medical ward a few segments down from their shared compartment.

After a thorough examination of him after the battle, the physicians were confident all he needed was some rest. They said he would wake up sore, but he’d taken surprisingly little damage considering the circumstances.

They said he would wake up sore, but healthy.

But he didn’t wake up. And though she didn’t understand why, it hurt Yawen to see him that way. Which is why she was secretly grateful the physicians ordered them to allow him to rest and asked that only Elder Shun visit his room for the time being.

That request gave Yawen an excuse to stay away until she could get her mind sorted.

Her battle with Gao Feng had taken a surprising amount out of her. Though her body had physically recovered, her mind was fraught with pain—most of which, not even Yawen was fully aware of.

Her body felt heavy, and she found it difficult to breathe at times. Her thoughts were sluggish, and often caused her to fall back into old memories. Worst of all were the nightmares responsible for keeping her awake at night—or rather, it was the same nightmare she’d had every night since the battle that kept her awake.

Gao Feng had firmly cemented himself in her thoughts with that last attack. And now, every time she closed her eyes, she saw him trying to kill her while Taryn fought for his life in the background.

If I’d only beaten Gao Feng sooner, I could have been there to help Taryn. I am stronger than Gao Feng, and my cultivation is deeper. There is no way it should have taken that long to subdue him… And I couldn’t even do that properly. She slammed her fist into the wall next to her, but the reinforced metal plating of the Diplopoda did not give and the skin on Yawen’s knuckles split on impact.

Yawen hated the fact that Gao Feng had escaped along with the other survivors of the attacking force. They’d all disappeared around the same time as Teng De. Their bodies vanished into thin air.

She blinked in surprise and looked around at where her feet had unconsciously carried her—the door to Taryn’s medical ward sat just a few feet in front of her. Judging by the lack of noise coming from inside, Yawen assumed Elder Shun was not within.

The older woman had taken to reading to Taryn whenever she was inside. The textbooks Elder Tao had given them often served as the bridge through which she could communicate with him.

Yawen would never admit it, but she often found herself sitting outside the door while listening to Fan Shun’s voice and following along in her own textbook.

Yawen’s eyes dropped from the door, and she turned away. An inexplicable feeling of uneasiness settled in her stomach before she could fully turn. The feeling of an unseen knife pressing against her throat robbed the breath from her lungs and sent chills down her spine that caused her to tremble… And then it was gone.

The feeling of imminent death passed without so much as a trickle of fear remaining. This left Yawen more confused than anything.

Had it all been in her head?

She’d felt bloodlust before. Back in the ruins of Old Haven City, she’d had the wild bloodlust of Gu Qigang directed at her more than once, and she’d felt the suffocating effects of Duan He’s bloodlust focused on Gu Qigang. Both terrified her to her core. But what she had just felt was incomparable to either of them.

She rubbed at a spot on her neck and was surprised to see a clean hand when she pulled it away. The bloodlust had been so vivid, Yawen had truly believed a blade had been pressed against her throat. But the absence of blood, and the way the feeling vanished suddenly, both led her to the conclusion that it could’ve only been the bloodlust of a terrifying master.

But who would point their bloodlust at me… Or was I not the target?

“Yawen!” Fan Shun called in a frantic voice as she entered the segment at a full sprint. “What’s going on?”

“You felt it too?” Elder Tao asked from a few paces behind Yawen. His voice, and sudden proximity, startled her.

I didn’t even realize he was there. Yawen shook her head and forced herself to calm down. If Elders Shun and Tao had both felt the same thing she did, then that only cemented the fact that what she had felt wasn’t real—at least, not in the physical sense.

Yawen stood back and listened for several moments as Fan Shun and Elder Tao quietly bickered about what they should do with Taryn. But she found herself unable to focus on their conversation as her eyes kept drifting towards the door to Taryn’s room.

“As I said, Lady Shun; if we are really under attack again, then moving him isn’t safe. I’ve already dispatched my men to search every segment. If there is an intruder aboard, we will find him,” Elder Tao said in a placating tone.

“And I’m telling you, Taryn will be safer if we’re there to protect him. I’m going to move him back to our compartment, with or without your permission,” Fan Shun shot back, her voice rising in response to her worry over Taryn’s safety.

Yawen listened to them argue for only a few moments more before she moved to the door and quietly slid it open. A pair of gleaming crimson eyes found hers in the darkness. The malice she saw within them caused her body to freeze like a baby rabbit caught in the eyes of a snake.

Before she could react, the door she had been peeking through was forced open with a loud *bang!* A sleepy looking Taryn stood in the doorway. His hair was a disheveled mess, the lightning having caused it to go stiff and stick up in places, and since his robe had been irreparably damaged by the bolts, he was currently in nothing more than a pair of loose pants.

“Oh, hey Yawen,” he said around a yawn. His casual greeting silenced Fan Shun and Elder Tao’s bickering instantly as both were momentarily stunned by his sudden appearance.

“Is… Is everybody okay? You all look like you saw a ghost. Is there something wrong with my hair—Oof!” Taryn grunted as Fan Shun wrapped her arms around his waist and lifted him off the ground in an exuberant hug.

Yawen smiled slightly at the scene before her and some of her worries began to fade.

For a moment there, she’d mistaken Taryn for the one who released that awful bloodlust. But the sight of him being so easily handled put her fears at ease.

And after thinking about it for a moment more, she realized how foolish her thoughts had been. Taryn had not even cultivated for a year yet. The only way he could have been responsible was if he was some kind of monster.

* * *

Taryn rolled his eyes at the bickering he could hear coming from the hallway outside the compartment he shared with his grandmother and the Xia twins.

He was thankful they’d agreed to allow him to return to the compartment under his own power. Of course, that was only after the physician in charge gave him a clean bill of health.

However, he wasn’t out of the woods yet. The reason his grandmother and Elder Tao were arguing was that both of them had opinions on what he should do now that he was awake.

Elder Tao wished that he would remain in the compartment for one more day and rest until they arrived at the village of Notch Canyon, a simple mining village near the mouth of the nearly six-thousand-mile-long canyon of the Lost Giants.

On the other hand, Fan Shun knew what kind of person Taryn was and wasn’t blinded by something inconsequential, like his age or any outward signs of intelligence. She knew that if he was left alone without something to occupy him, he would undoubtably do something stupid without telling her about it first. If she’d only known that he’d already done so, she might not have bothered.

Taryn wasn’t sure what he thought would happen when he agreed to merge with the Mourner. Actually, now that I think about it, I’m not sure I was thinking at all at the time. But now—he grimaced as he remembered something unpleasant.

He’d been told that only a few days had passed since the battle. And while he was extremely grateful he didn’t lose too much time while he was unconscious, his body ached enough that he could barely muster the motivation to do anything, least of all train.

Which was precisely why he was going to put in twice as much effort as he used to. With the memories of the Mourner fresh in his mind, he knew exactly what he needed to do to ensure he never hit the same wall again.

While in the outside world only a few days passed, inside his mind Taryn had been forced to experience everything the Mourner had to offer before he could wake up—thousands, possibly tens of thousands of years of life crammed into only a few days.

It was enough to give a guy a headache.

The question Taryn now found himself asking was… Should he tell anyone about the merger?

His grandmother already knew about the journal and everything that came with it. But that was almost nothing compared to the Mourner willingly fusing his soul with Taryn’s. Come to think of it, am I Taryn or the Mourner—or am I a completely different person?

A personality is formed by the memories and experiences that shape it. Taryn supposed, by that measure, the Mourner’s centuries of experience should overwrite Taryn’s.

But Taryn felt no connection to the Mourner’s memories, unlike his own memories. The Mourner’s memories lacked the emotion that should’ve come with them. He felt no happiness at the Mourner’s triumphs, no rage at his defeats, and no sadness at his loss.

Instead of true memories, what Taryn felt was more like he’d read a very detailed version of the Mourner’s diary.

So, where did that leave him?

I don’t suppose it really matters. Since we are both Taryn, I fail to see the point of digging any deeper than that. He sighed.

Since his previous outfit was… well, “ripe” was probably the polite word, Taryn had little interest in trying to save it. Rather than trying to tuck it away to be washed later, Taryn tossed his pants and underclothes aside and pulled fresh ones out of his bag.

His new outfit consisted of a sleeveless black tunic, over which he wore a sleeveless dark gray robe that hung down to his knees and a pair of loose pants the same color as his robe.

After moving around for a few seconds, Taryn realized that he didn’t like the way the robe hung off his body. It was extremely loose, and the fabric swayed wildly with even the smallest movements.

Hold on a minute. Don’t I still have—I do. Taryn laughed quietly to himself as he pulled a worn-out piece of red linen from his bag. He had been using it to protect his lantern, but after a few falls too many, that ship had sailed.

He wrapped the red linen around his waist and tied it securely. The eye-catching piece of fabric proved to be a rather comfy belt and seemed to do a decent job of keeping his robe movement to a minimum. With that done, it was a quick matter to wrap his arms and legs in protective gauze and slip on his shoes.

Just in time too. I think the argument has finally come to an end. Taryn smiled as he slid open the door and stepped out.

He spotted the Xia twins sitting on the floor opposite the door and his grandmother speaking quietly with Elder Tao a few feet down the hall.

Elder Tao and his grandmother turned to look at him almost simultaneously. Before either could speak, Taryn held up his hand and gave Elder Tao a pointed look. “You said we will arrive at the village tomorrow, yes?”

“Yes. That is the case.” Elder Tao nodded, unsure of where Taryn was going with this line of questioning.

“Good. I would really appreciate it if my grandmother, the twins, and I could have some privacy until then. Is that acceptable?”

Elder Tao shot Fan Shun a confused look—which was returned; She didn’t know what Taryn was thinking either.

“I suppose that could be arranged,” Elder Tao said after a moment. He was still confused, but it wasn’t like he had a reason to refuse either. Truth be told, he was already receiving complaints from the other refugees about how much attention he showed this group.

After another moment of thought, Elder Tao nodded once again. “Yes, I’ll let my men know not to disturb you until we arrive.”

“Perfect,” Taryn said easily. “I appreciate the Elder’s consideration in this matter,” he finished, bowing his head in a show of appreciation.

A thoroughly confused Elder Tao watched Taryn for a moment longer then slowly turned to leave, shooting Fan Shun a questioning glance as he did. But Fan Shun said nothing until the elder had left the segment entirely.

“What did you do?” Fan Shun asked while narrowing her eyes at him.

“I don’t—” Taryn tried, but his denial was cut off by Fan Shun grabbing him under the jaw and pulling him down to her eye level.

“Brat, I swear to the divines, if you don’t start talking, I’m going to make you wish that lightning really did kill you,” She growled.

Taryn glanced away from her ferocious gaze and looked to the Xia twins for help. Equally suspicious glares were all that awaited him, with no sympathy to be found.

“Was I really that obvious?” Taryn sighed. It was slightly difficult for him to talk with Fan Shun still holding his jaw, but he was pretty sure they understood what he meant.

“Yes,” the three of them replied simultaneously.

“How could you tell?” Taryn asked, exasperated.

“You were eloquent and made eye contact,” Yawen said.

“I’ve never seen you be so polite to anyone, not even to Lady Shun,” Wei said, smirking.

“Your mouth was moving,” his one and only grandmother said in a deadpan voice. “Now, spill it; what did you do?”

Taryn sighed and begrudgingly spent the next two and a half hours “explaining” what happened after he passed out.

He told them the reason he’d fallen unconscious was that Iddrai had grown angry at him for almost dying and decided to reveal some fundamental truths of cultivation to prevent such an incident from repeating in the future.

Taryn felt slightly guilty for laying the blame at Iddrai’s feet, but it was the easiest explanation he could give without having to explain himself fully to the twins. Neither of them knew the truth of the journal, and he’d prefer to keep it that way for as long as possible.

Though it no longer contained the essence of an immortal, the information within its pages was dangerous. He had no doubt that if word got out about its existence, he would likely be hunted down and killed. The idea of his grandmother or the twins being tortured to gain leverage over him made his stomach go sour.

Is it even worth keeping around? The chance of it falling into the wrong hands grows higher the more I interact with people. Maybe it would be safer to destroy it now, before it causes any more trouble?

“You okay?” Wei asked, reminding Taryn that he wasn’t alone.

Taryn looked up into the expectant eyes of his three companions, who were all sitting on the floor opposite him.

“Sorry, I—what was I talking about?” Taryn asked in an embarrassed tone. He had been so caught up in his thoughts and plans for the future, he had truly forgotten they were there.

“You said Iddrai mentioned a way for us to quickly stabilize our cores,” Fan Shun reminded him. Her voice was filled with suspicion, and she was barely hiding the annoyance within her eyes.

It didn’t take a genius to deduce she’d seen through his lie and was just waiting for them to be alone before she squeezed the truth out of him.

“Right.” Taryn nervously chuckled and scratched at the back of his head. “So… Who’s first?”

Chapter Fifteen

The following is an excerpt from the Mourner’s journal.

* * *

Aurelia is a vast world, filled with all manner of animal and plant life that populate its five continents. However, most cultivators never venture more than a thousand miles from their home. Because of this, most will spend their entire lives thinking only humans exist.

This is patently false.

While it is certainly true that humans are the most populous race, especially on the Eastern continent, they are far from the only one.

There are the elves of the Center continent, a race of tall, fair skinned, and ethereally beautiful people whose mastery over elemental Eco allowed them to forge their own brand of Eco manipulation, which they called “magic.”

The elves’ magic allows them to weave scripts into the very air around them to bring about both miraculous and terrible effects.

The Anima of the Southern continent is a collection of beast-like humanoid races who are said to be the descendants of Eco beasts. This has led to something of a religion forming around powerful Eco beasts from the ancient eras.

The Anima believe their ability to transform is directly related to how much of the ancient beasts’ bloodline they have inherited—and due to the already bestial nature of the Anima, transforming for them is the equivalent of surrendering their conscious mind to their instincts. They become berserkers who are rightfully feared throughout the other continents.

The demi-humans of the Western continent—the ever-hungry orcs, the cunning goblins, the reclusive kobolds, the territorial ogres, and the merciless demon-kin—have been at constant war with one another since before recorded history.

This constant war has turned their once beautiful continent into a barren wasteland that barely supports life. It’s a land full of wide deserts, endless salt flats, perilous mountains, and the largest inland lake in the world, though the water has become so polluted that a single spoonful could kill a human.

Such a place is a nightmare for the other races… But it’s forced the demi-humans to harness a new way of using Eco. Aura is the demi-humans’ version of battle Eco, and it’s almost three times as potent as the kind used by human cultivators.

The Northern continent is coincidentally shared by the imposing Goliaths, a race of humanoids with skin like rocks and eyes like diamonds, and the industrious Jötunn, a race of blue skinned humans responsible for the under cities that span the continent.

The Jötunn practically worship craft trades, and their king’s mastery of shaper Eco has allowed him to become the best forger Aurelia has ever seen. Some would even say that if he claimed to be the second best in the world, no one would ever claim to be first.

Meanwhile, the Goliaths are said to be unable to use Eco at all. Yet, it is a fact that there have been Goliaths born with the ability to see the future, and artwork has been found in Goliath cities that are claimed to be scenes from the heavens.

* * *

The following morning saw Taryn, Fan Shun, Yawen, and Wei standing in a line outside their compartment.

They had been informed an hour prior that the village was fast approaching, and they should get ready to depart. So, after gathering their belongings, the four travelers were ready to begin the next phase of their journey.

They didn’t know where said journey would take them, but they were eager. And for Taryn, who’d recalled something from the Mourner’s memories about the Valley of Lost Giants, he was doubly so.

The Diplopoda came to a gradual stop when it was still a few thousand yards from the village walls. The sound of steam being vented into the air echoed throughout the vessel, which was immediately followed by the outer plates lowering.

Taryn stepped through the opening with a smile on his face.

A large clearing had been made in front of the Diplopoda, whether by the village or by the Diplopoda itself, Taryn didn’t know. But the clearing served as a funnel to point one’s eyes directly at the village walls.

A seventy-foot wall of solid stone had been erected to protect the village from the random Eco beasts who called the forests home.

Taryn was annoyed by the wall's presence, as it prevented him getting a good look at the village. But the sight of the thing beyond the wall kept the smile on his face. Notch Canyon was fairly famous throughout the Eastern continent.

As a frontier town, which was a fancy way of saying it was the closest village to the Mokan Forest, it got a surprising amount of tourism. Young lords and ladies from all over the continent flocked to Notch Canyon to see its famous Jade Mountain.

And that wasn’t merely a nickname.

Sometime in the ancient era, an Eco beast of gargantuan proportions died in what became known as Notch Canyon. Now, long after its body and bones had turned to dust, only its petrified Eco core remained.

The four-hundred-foot-tall Eco core still shined with power even after all these years. Notch Canyon used the massive core as both a source of ambient light and as fuel to power its homes and businesses.

Taryn counted no fewer than a dozen scaffolds and half as many lifts around the front of the core, and he imagined many more on the sides he couldn’t see. Since Jade was one of the most valuable objects on the continent, it was no surprise to see hundreds of villagers at work, chipping away at the core bit by bit.

About the only thing I remember about this place is that core. The Mourner had once spent the night in Notch Canyon, while on his way north. But by then, the core was much shorter than it is now. Interesting, apparently we got here months—possibly years—before he did.

“What is that thing?” Yawen gasped. “The way it's shining—I think it’s full of Eco.”

“Maybe there’s an Eco vent beneath it? That’s a thing, right?” Wei asked while staring wide-eyed at the Jade Mountain.

“I think that’s an Eco core.” Fan Shun folded her arms under her chest and couldn’t help but grin at the sight.

Figures she would be the one to get it right. Taryn nodded. He shoved his hands into his pockets and began walking. He didn’t bother turning to see if the others would follow, because he knew they would.

He was confident that even if they didn’t follow him they could make it into the village without issue. And since Notch Canyon wasn't a very large village, once they were inside, it wouldn’t take much effort to find each other again.

When the Mourner had been here previously, it’d taken him nearly sixteen hours to make it through the front gate because of the line to get inside. Now, Taryn saw fewer than thirty people waiting to get in. But that was changing rapidly. Refugees had already finished pouring out of the Diplopoda. If Taryn’s group didn’t hurry up and start moving, they would be stuck waiting in line overnight just to get into the village.

Taryn could hear Yawen and Wei talking back and forth with his grandmother, questions spilling from their lips faster than she could keep up. An agitating memory came unbidden to Taryn’s mind, but he was able to discard it almost immediately.

That was a recurring problem he’d had after waking up: since fusing with the Mourner, flashes of the Mourner’s regrets kept coming to the forefront of his mind, agitating him no end.

He knew the Mourner treasured those memories. And in some ways, they had saved his life. But to Taryn, who felt nothing upon seeing them, those memories were merely an anchor trying to weigh him down.

Yet that was the price of knowledge. Those regrets were the Mourner’s legacy, and the thing Taryn agreed to carry for the rest of his life. It didn’t matter if they were an anchor—it wouldn’t matter if they weighed more than the sky itself—Taryn would gladly carry them.

The Mourner had always been an impossible figure, someone who represented everything Taryn was not. But the truth was just the opposite. From the moment the Mourner showed Taryn that first vision, he had wished to take his place.

The Mourner envied Taryn for his innocence, and his desire to improve himself. Both were things the Mourner had lost centuries ago.

Taryn also had his grandmother by his side; losing her to the attack on Haven City was the first regret the Mourner had ever taken on, while the second regret was taking ten years to find out who was responsible. Because by then, it was too late to take his revenge; someone beat him to it.

The woman responsible for leading the assault on Haven City was Tian Dashen Jia, a member of the five hundred and eighty-second generation of the Heavenly Cult.

Right now, Taryn figured she should be a four-tone cultivator, which meant she was a peak level core cultivator, and one step from entering the physique cultivation realm.

Considering Taryn had yet to achieve one-tone status, it was safe to say he had some catching up to do if he wanted to solve the Mourner’s third regret: He wanted to kill her with his own hands.

Sadly, by the time he discovered her identity, she had already perished at the hands of someone else. The Mourner had never discovered Jia’s killer’s identity, which left him feeling… empty.

His desire for revenge was the only thing keeping him going during the darkest years of his life. And when that was ripped out from under him, the Mourner ended up wandering aimlessly from continent to continent. He grew stronger—he had also absorbed Iddrai’s core, so that was a given—but he had lost his drive, and he wouldn’t get that back until his fourth regret was created after the deaths of his wife and children.

Had he kept training like he had whilst he was pursuing Tian Jia, his family might not have been killed.

Taryn and the others joined the line of refugees waiting to get in a few minutes later. The wall was tiny compared to Haven City’s wall, but Taryn didn’t think that was a bad thing.

For one, a wall this size was much easier to maintain. And for two, you didn’t need any scripts or elaborate machinery to open the door, since a simple wooden portcullis would do.

Taryn peaked over the heads of the people in front of him and observed the quartet of armored soldiers manning the entrance.

Their ages varied. The youngest was probably around Taryn’s age, while the oldest looked to be in his fifties. All of them wore patchwork pieces of armor of leather and chainmail over durable looking brown robes.

Like their armor, the weapons they wielded seemed to have been picked at random: a short sword paired with a heavy shield, a spear with a broken shaft, a pair of identical curved swords, a crossbow that looked like it had been left in the rain for weeks, and the youngest soldier held onto the shaft of a massive, transparent hammer.

The sight of the transparent material caused Taryn to look at the hammer twice. Is that Jade? Someone here has a Jade weapon?

Jade weapons were usually only wielded by clan heirs: Jade was an excellent conductor for Eco, and when fashioned into a focus or a weapon, the Eco is amplified many times.

Low-quality Jade—which is on par with the Jade coins Shen Tao had shown them before—was capable of amplifying Eco two times. And while that might not seem like much when compared to the absurd ten times amplification of high-quality Jade, it was enough to turn the tide of many a battle.

However, high-quality Jade was nigh impossible to make. And as far as Taryn was aware, only a hundred pounds of the stuff had ever been found. This was the main reason most weapons and armor were created from low-quality Jade, though a few young masters were known to carry around a medium-quality Jade weapon or two if they were exceedingly wealthy or the heirs to a prominent clan or sect.

Though I suppose saying so is redundant. After all, if they are the heir of a prominent clan or sect, they are obviously wealthy.

It was a well-known secret that the more famous your sect or clan was, the more treasure it had stashed away for its members.

Take the clan Dashen Jia was from, for example. The Tian clan was one of the most prominent clans on the Eastern continent. They controlled Jade mines and large elixir factories, and their mercenary groups were among the best in the world. But somehow, a member of such a prominent clan had been reduced to banditry.

It doesn’t make any sense. Why go through so much trouble for Iddrai’s core, when they have enough money to buy all of the pills and elixirs they could ever want? Pills that improve absorption, circulation, and conversion speed are far more useful to the general public than an Eco core. And elixir baths to improve skin and bone durability would be more useful to their warriors. So…

“They don’t desire me because of what I am,” Iddrai suddenly said, speaking up for the first time in days. “Sorry I haven’t been around. The Mourner’s true identity was… shocking, to say the least. I’ve been meditating to sort out my thoughts on the matter,” he explained in a perturbed voice.

Don’t apologize, Iddrai. You’ve done nothing that warrants an apology. But I am curious; what did you mean when you said they don’t desire you because of what you are?

“Exactly as I said. They didn’t want my core because of what I am, they wanted my core because of who I am. I am the last light bringer of Otholla. That means I am a special existence, even amongst dragons. The Tian clan has always had a vested interest in my master, so it’s not surprising they would do almost anything to collect me.”

Taryn frowned at that piece of information. The Mourner had either forgotten it, or he’d never learned of it either. The true identity of Iddrai’s master Otholla was one of the biggest mysteries the Mourner had ever stumbled upon.

Records of “Otholla’s” existence were few and far between, and the few mentions the Mourner could find were in an old storybook he’d discovered in the Southern continent.

It recounted the tale of “Otholla: The Shadow’s Scourge” and its battle against the Dragon King.

Taryn couldn’t remember the story exactly, but it had something to do with Otholla’s desire to stop the Tyrannical rule the Dragon King had over the five continents. Taryn was really annoyed that the Mourner never finished reading beyond that point.

So what if it was his wedding day and he was running a bit late? That’s no excuse for improper book care. Still can’t believe the careless jerk left it behind—and in a bar of all places. It’s no wonder someone stole it.

“From what I can tell, the Mourner and… the other me didn’t talk more than necessary. If I never told him at least that much, then it’s because he did little to earn my trust.”

But you trust me?

“I trust your character, but I wouldn’t trust you with a wooden sword. Otholla knows what kind of trouble you’ll get into with a real one.”

You’re hilarious.

“I wasn’t joking,” Iddrai said in a deadpan voice. “Your grandmother was right: Leave you unattended for five minutes and you’ll do something stupid.”

Taryn couldn’t help but sigh at that. He wondered how long it would take the mighty dragon to forgive him for merging with the Mourner without talking it over with him first.

“My master co-founded the Tian clan ten thousand years ago with the first Tian, Jin Bei. When my master was ready to leave this world, the other light bringers and I were brought together one last time to say goodbye. And on that day, we swore to protect the clan our master created for as long as we were able.”

Let me guess; someone got greedy and wanted more than just your protection?

“Yes… Tian Hiei was as ambitious as he was mad—and that came to a head thirteen hundred years ago when he sought to take our cores for himself. He led the clan to destroy our bodies and seal our cores until he could absorb us.”

Not a bad idea. With as much Eco as you likely possessed in your prime, I imagine it would take a few days to absorb you completely. But you were under Haven City for a thousand years. Why would he leave you there, if he planned to absorb you?

“That, I don’t know.”

Taryn peered over the crowd's heads again and saw that they were getting closer to the gate. The line is moving much faster than the Mourner remembered. Hey, maybe that Hiei guy died. That could be why he never came back for you.

“Possible, but unlikely. Tian Hiei was a monster of a man and was a peak physique realm cultivator before he started to hunt us down. At that level, living for a thousand years is nothing. No, my guess is he’s still alive.”

Then where is he?

“I think you know.”

You think he climbed to the upper realms?

“That’s more likely than him dying.” Iddrai trailed off, his voice full of some emotion Taryn couldn’t identify.

He could understand why Iddrai was so upset; the upper realms were little more than a myth to the people of Aurelia. Though many cultivators made it their ultimate goal to one day set foot in the upper realms, most eventually gave up and returned home… Or they vanished, never to be seen again.

Taryn knew the upper realms existed because the Mourner had spent most of his life there.

Of course, he wasn’t the only one. Many cultivators who “vanished” had actually found the passageway between the realms and ended up stuck on the other side.

Sadly, the ones who didn’t know any better would move forward, oblivious to danger that awaited them on the other side and end up dead within hours of achieving their goal.

Taryn wondered if he should tell Iddrai that Tian Hiei had likely become prey to some tyrannical Eco beast centuries ago, but ultimately decided to hold his tongue for now.

It was better to pretend he was alive and be disappointed, than celebrate his death and be surprised.

Do you want revenge? Taryn asked. Instead of a response, a feeling of quiet anger came through their connection. Taryn could feel Iddrai’s resolve as plainly as he could feel his own.

Understood. If we ever run into him in the upper realms, I’ll be sure to greet him for you.

“You speak as if it’s a certainty we’ll reach there in one piece,” Iddrai chuckled. “But on the off chance you don’t get us killed beforehand, I’d rather you tear his head off and defecate down his throat.”

Taryn cracked a smile at that and slightly shook his head. A moment later, he became aware that he was being stared at. The line had continued to move without him realizing it, and now he was holding it up.

His smile dropped a bit and he looked over his shoulder at his companions: Fan Shun looked amused, no doubt because she’d been fully aware of his mind being elsewhere. Yawen looked annoyed, most likely because now people were staring at her as well as him. And Wei… Wei was too busy chatting up some androgynous young lord in a purple robe to notice.

Taryn made sure his hood was in place then stepped forward to speak with the guards. He didn’t bother with the mask anymore, which was good, since he had no idea where it was.

“Tell me your name, clan, sect, and cultivation level,” the soldier said unenthusiastically, not even bothering to look up from the clipboard he was writing on.

“All right. My name is Taryn and I’m a one-tone cultivator,” Taryn replied.

“Did you not hear me? I said name, clan, sect, then cultivation level. In that order.” The guard said, finally looking up from his clipboard with irritation in his eyes.

“As I said, my name is Taryn and I’m a one-tone cultivator. I have no clan, and I’m not a member of any sect.” Taryn slowed down his words to make sure the soldier understood.

The man narrowed his eyes at the casual tone of Taryn’s voice, wrote something down on his clipboard, then directed Taryn to move on with a wide motion of his hand. “Get out of here,” the soldier said in an agitated voice. His attitude drew the attention of the other soldiers, who looked at Taryn through suspicious glares.

Taryn bowed slightly to the soldier in thanks and moved on.

He passed through the portcullis without issue and found himself in a bustling market square. Hundreds of people moved about their days. Hawkers shouting about their goods, the clanging of a blacksmith at work, and the savory smell of roasting meat assaulted Taryn’s senses at once.

He made his way to a building within sight of the portcullis and leaned against it to wait for his grandmother and the twins.

“I’ve been thinking. The Mourner told you Haven City was destroyed by the greed of a single man, right?”

Yeah.

“But the person who attacked it was a woman.”

What are you getting at?

“Why did the Mourner refer to her as a man?”

He didn’t; he wasn’t talking about her.

“If not her, who?”

Another memory came unbidden to Taryn’s mind: Taryn standing on top of Haven City’s security wall as the city burned in front of him. He could see the avian airships of the Tian clan circling high overhead as cultivators descended on the city.

Taryn looked down, seeing a faintly shining talisman in his left hand, pulsing with a red light. Taryn’s eyes moved further down, and he saw Gao Feng with a blade through his heart, his face forever locked in an expression of shock.

The memory faded as Taryn noticed his grandmother approaching.

He smiled at her.

He was referring to himself.

Chapter Sixteen

“Yawen, please come with me. I promise I can protect you,” Gao Feng cried over the sound of wind howling through the trees.

The infinite branches surrounding them scraped together in a pattern sounded like laughter—they were laughing at him. And Yawen, his beautiful Yawen… She was laughing too.

“I’m with Taryn now. I don’t need you anymore, Feng,” she sneered. Suddenly, Taryn appeared out of nowhere and wrapped her in his arms.

The love and tenderness in his eyes as he looked down at Yawen drove Gao Feng crazy. And Gao Feng tried to fight it: He screamed for her, but his voice wouldn’t come out. He tried to run to her, but every step saw them getting further and further away.

Finally, after a short eternity, he reached them.

He could save her.

Gao Feng grabbed Yawen’s wrist and tried to tear her from Taryn’s grasp. But the moment he pulled on her, she turned into a plume of mist. Yawen’s hand slipped through Gao Feng’s fingers, and he was impotent to stop her.

“No—no no no no no no no no no!” Gao Feng screamed. In a rage, he turned on Taryn and beat on him.

And Taryn smiled.

Gao Feng hit Taryn’s face until his knuckles bled, and his fist bones broke. Even after suffering such damage, he continued to hit the Clanless loser until his face had turned to mush. When Gao Feng finally stopped and sat back to look at what he’d done, he saw that same, irritating smile on Taryn’s face.

“I won.” Taryn laughed, his voice coming from all around them. “I won.”

Gao Feng’s eyes shot open, he sucked in a breath—and water flowed into his open mouth and down his throat, causing him to choke.

He desperately slammed his mouth shut and tried to hold on until he could find a way out. The surrounding water glowed faintly purple, but it was cloudy enough that he couldn’t see more than a few inches in front of his face.

To make matters worse, he couldn’t tell which way was up and which way was down. He knew that if he picked the wrong direction, he would only drive himself to his death… But he was out of air and out of options.

In a blind panic, he tried to shove his way to the surface but found his arms bound to his sides by heavy chains. His lungs burned hotter with every passing second and he could feel himself losing hold on whatever air he had left.

He grit his teeth and forced his mouth to remain closed while he prayed that someone, anyone, would come to save him.

Darkness crept into the corner of his vision and Gao Feng lost his tenuous grasp on consciousness.

No—don’t… pass out. Don’t… Don’t. Something latched onto the back of Gao Feng’s neck, startling him. He tried to struggle free of the stone-like grip, but he knew it was no use. He didn’t have any energy left to fight it.

Gao Feng was quickly pulled through the water, and in only a second, his head broke the surface. A coughing fit overtook him as he struggled to suck in air.

Whatever had been holding him chose that moment to let go, causing Gao Feng to freefall for a moment before landing chest first on an unforgiving metal floor.

It took nearly a full minute before Gao Feng had finished coughing up the water in his lungs, and another three before he was calm enough to make sense of his surroundings.

He found himself in a large, but relatively empty, metal room. There was no furniture, no fixtures, and only a single doorway that Gao Feng could see… but he saw one thing that sent his mind reeling.

He saw dozens of human sized box outlines across the room in uniform rows of six.

Still panting from the shock of what he’d just experienced, Gao Feng looked towards his feet; he saw a similar outline near him, though this one was surrounding an opening through which he could see the purple water.

“Have you come back to your senses yet?” A dull, humorless voice asked from Gao Feng’s blind spot.

Gao Feng recognized the voice instantly, but it took several moments for his brain to process what it meant.

He slowly turned his head to regard the speaker—

He found Duan He crouching in front of him. “Hello, little Feng,” Duan He said, a cruel smile on his otherwise expressionless face. “Welcome back to the land of the living.”

“I—I died?” Gao Feng stammered.

“Not quite. Almost, but you were too slow to make it across the finish line. They dropped you and the other survivors into these elixir baths to save your lives... Unfortunately, they worked,” Duan He said, all traces of amusement vanishing from his face.

“Unfortunately? Shouldn’t I be happy to be alive?”

“Normally. But did you really think the Heavenly Cult would use these expensive elixir baths out of the kindness of their hearts?” Duan He asked, as something akin to pity entered his eyes. “No, that’s not how it works. The Heavenly Cult and the Tian clan do nothing for free. They saved your life, now you owe them… And since you already owed them, I’m afraid money will not cut it. But don’t worry, I’m sure once you capture your girlfriend’s group, they’ll let you work it off.” Duan He finished by standing up and walking towards the door.

“Why?” Gao Feng’s voice came out as little more than a harsh whisper. “Why didn’t you just let me die!?” he cried and slammed his fist into the metal floor. He heard the bones in his fist break on impact, but he didn’t feel any pain.

He felt nothing.

“If it were up to me, I would have. But that wasn’t my decision to make,” Duan He said before leaving Gao Feng completely alone in a room filled with the bodies of his kin.

Gao Feng remained in his shocked state for many minutes, but then something clicked in his mind. He crawled over to one of the other outlines and inspected it. He found a small, triangular hole in the floor inside the outline.

He stuck his fingers inside the hole and tugged upwards. The floor came loose with an audible hiss, and after several more tugs, Gao Feng got it to slide onto the floor beneath him. He almost screamed as his eyes landed on a body lying face up in the water.

To his surprise, the man lying before him was Elder Teng De But there was a massive hole in the center of his chest that shined faintly. Which was the only evidence Gao Feng had that told him the elder was still alive, as he wasn’t breathing.

How did this happen to you? Gao Feng sat back on his heels and stared at the unconscious elder. Vague memories of the monstrous wolf Taryn could turn into appeared in his mind, and he wondered… Did Taryn do this?

Cautiously, Gao Feng leaned forward and slowly lined his fist up with the hole in Teng De’s chest. Though it was much bigger than his own fist, it should have been about the right size for a monstrous wolf fist.

Gao Feng tightened his fists until his knuckles went white. His broken hand protested the motion by sending waves of pain through Gao Feng’s arm to his brain, but those pain signals were ignored.

First you steal my woman and cause the destruction of my city, and now you try to kill my uncle… Is there nothing you won’t take from me, no line you won’t cross?

I don’t care if it kills me. Dead or alive, I’m bringing you back. Maybe then, you’ll get to feel even a tenth of the pain and humiliation you’ve put me through.

* * *

The village of Notch Canyon was small compared to Haven City; if viewed from above, the large rectangle formed by the outer wall was around two miles wide and four miles long.

The architects left a four-hundred-foot gap between the wall and the closest buildings, no doubt in case the wall was compromised in one way or another. Such a wide gap gave the defending soldiers plenty of time to react to any attack. And the distance ensured that rubble would not damage village property.

Beyond that four-hundred-foot boundary, the buildings were packed tightly together; whether they were private residences, commercial or industrial buildings, or clan buildings, none was given more space than it really needed.

The sight left Taryn feeling quite refreshed. The way it was in Haven City, clan buildings and certain other “priority” constructions were built with an invisible wall of privilege around them, where no other buildings could exist.

But Notch Canyon did not follow this rule. Here, whether you were a rich master or a pitiable beggar, you were treated the same as everyone else.

So, when Taryn, Fan Shun, and the twins entered the city, they were met with friendly smiles and pleasant greetings from the villagers they passed on their hunt for a place to stay.

They didn’t know how long they would stick around, but none would deny they were looking forward to some peace for a few days.

“Everyone’s so… friendly,” Yawen noted with a complex expression on her face. She was obviously happy the village welcomed outsiders. But it was such a great shift from what she’d experienced growing up in Haven City, that it was making her anxious.

“I think that’s just the sort of place this is,” Fan Shun said in a quiet voice. “I think this whole village is one big trading center, like the market district back in Haven. They likely get hundreds of visitors looking for Jade a week, and to them, more visitors mean more coins for their village.”

“You’re saying it isn’t out of kindness. They’re only showing us these smiles to get us to buy something,” Wei muttered. His words were in stark contrast to the light smile on his face and the casual way he greeted everyone who spoke to him.

“Not necessarily. Just because they have an ulterior motive, doesn’t mean they aren’t being sincere. In fact, one could even say they are more sincere since they know their first impressions will determine the future prosperity of their village. They wouldn’t want us to leave with a sour taste in our mouths or it could hurt their reputation,” Fan Shun countered.

“How could we hurt their reputation? We’re nobody important. Who would listen to us?” Yawen wondered.

“Because they don’t know that,” Taryn said, answering for his grandmother. “The only information they have on us is what we gave the soldier at the gate and the fact that we arrived on the Diplopoda. And they can take only one of those as fact. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that many people lie about their identities to avoid trouble or simply maintain their anonymity,” Taryn explained in a half-distracted voice.

He’d been busy memorizing the locations of a few places he wanted to return to later, after they secured a bed for the night, and had paid little attention to the conversation.

And he wasn’t the only one.

Noticing that her brother was looking everywhere except where he was going, Yawen elbowed him lightly in the ribs to get his attention. Unfortunately, “light” for Yawen was still enough to snap two by fours.

Wei nearly doubled over from the blow and would’ve lost his footing had Taryn not grabbed him by the collar of his robe and helped him steady himself.

Wei chuckled nervously and dipped his head slightly in gratitude, an act that immediately preceded him shooting Yawen a venomous glare, which was returned with equal enthusiasm.

For a moment, Taryn imagined the twins had transparent animals standing behind them, each one domineering in its size: a weasel bared its teeth over Wei’s shoulder, while a beautiful silver bird cried over Yawen’s head.

The sight caused Taryn to loudly snort, which had the unfortunate effect of distracting the twins from their dispute. They locked eyes for only a few moments more, before simultaneously looking away in a huff, much to the continued amusement of the surrounding people.

“As entertaining as that was,” Taryn chuckled, “I think we’re here.” He finished while pointing at a building forty feet in front of them.

Much like the surrounding buildings, the Giant’s Rest inn was built with wood taken from the nearby forests. It was simple in construction; the main portion of the building went straight back for two hundred feet then made a ninety-degree turn to the right, forming a large L-shape.

However, the inn made sure to properly use the space it was given: A fenced-in courtyard filled out the last fourth of the square plot. A few trees, a small pond filled with vibrant fish, and some light music created the ambience for their outdoor dining area, which was currently filled with happy looking diners.

The smell of perfectly roasted meat tickled Taryn’s nose and gave him the urge to salivate; a quick glance over his shoulder showed Taryn that he wasn’t the only one salivating at the thought of eating such delicious food.

His grandmother was openly salivating at a juicy steak a portly man was eating not ten feet from her. And though the twins had a strict upbringing that prevented them from showing their desires so openly, Taryn caught both of them staring at the dishes on display.

“They would do well to learn from your grandmother. Someone who wastes energy worrying over the opinions of others will never master their Eco,” Iddrai piped up.

I will tell them you said so. Taryn quietly chuckled as he pushed open the inn’s front door and stepped inside.

The sound of music was louder inside the building than it was outside. The main lobby was decorated tastefully, using nothing you couldn’t also find inside any citizen’s house.

An open door to the right of the lobby showed a dining room with a stage near the back wall. It was this room that the music was coming from, and Taryn could see the four men responsible skillfully playing their instruments while sitting on identical wooden stools.

Like the outside dining area, the dining room seemed to be packed with happy customers.

Taryn followed sedately behind the others as they made their way to a large wooden desk near the center of the lobby.

The pretty woman behind the counter smiled at them as they approached. “Hello, travelers. Welcome to the Giant’s Rest; are you here to book a room for the night?” As she spoke, she busied herself by retrieving some papers from beneath the desk.

“Yes, two rooms please.” Fan Shun replied.

“Two rooms would be… Ten Jade coins for one night.” The woman pulled a strange-looking device from somewhere beneath the desk and sat it in front of Fan Shun. “Have you ever used one of these before?” the woman asked, gesturing to the machine.

The machine was black, shaped like a bowl, and about the size of a teapot. A transparent ball of glass was inset into the bowl. Looking closely, Taryn noticed that a vague outline of a handprint could be seen on top of the glass ball.

“No, what is it?”

“It’s a coin maker. It’s the newest thing out of the capital; all you have to do is place your hand on top of the glass and focus on moving your Eco into it. Once Eco has been supplied, the machine shapes it into coins and spits them out of this opening.” She turned the machine around, so its back was visible; there was an outlet extending from the bowl with a decently large hole at the end.

Fearing they wouldn’t understand, the woman calmly turned the bowl until the outlet was facing Fan Shun.

She placed her hand on top of the machine and focused for a moment. A purple coin fell from the outlet a few seconds later and bounced across the desk. It came to a stop just before it could fall over the edge.

“See. Nothing to worry about,” the woman said patiently. She turned the coin maker towards Fan Shun and beckoned her to try it. But when it came time for Fan Shun to step forward, Wei interjected himself.

He placed his hand on the coin maker before anyone could stop him and made ten Jade coins in a little under a minute. Each coin emerged light green, proof he was a cultivator of elemental Eco.

Taryn stared at the coins. The color of one’s Eco was as unique as the person themselves. However, that only applied to processed Eco. The four states of Eco tended towards distinctive colors: green for elemental, red for battle, purple for shaper, and blue for wild.

Once processed through one’s core, Eco is forever stained and its color shifts to match that of its wielder… Or that’s how it should have been.

Wei was a wielder of wind Eco, so his Eco should have been closer to yellow than green. But somehow, the coin maker produced true elemental Jade coins.

“Fascinating,” Taryn muttered. “How does it work? Is there some type of purifying script written into the glass? Or maybe it transmutes instead of purifies. That would certainly be easier than purifying Eco at such a terrifying speed, but how is the inference of other Eco stopped? Surely some of the Eco is lost during the coin’s creation; otherwise, I don’t see how it’s possible to remove the additional color. I would love to meet the master who created such a device. Say, you wouldn’t happen to—” Taryn rambled, utterly oblivious to the woman’s chafed reaction to his exuberance.

He knew he shouldn’t react this way. It was unbecoming to show such a reaction in public. But this was new technology, something even the Mourner had never seen before. How could he not get excited over that? Though to be honest, excitement wasn’t the only force driving his curiosity. There was also a fair helping of confusion and concern mixed in.

The Mourner had considered himself something of an expert in the fields of script writing and Eco powered machinery. He’d both designed and performed maintenance on dozens of Diplopoda class vessels, island class floating fortresses, and his own unique twist of a tea maker. So, he knew how complex the script needed to be to not only draw Eco out of a cultivator, which was already complicated enough and required hundreds of additional lines for each Eco type, but also to mold that Eco into a designated shape in only a few seconds.

There was absolutely no way the Eco obsessed Mourner would’ve missed such a feat of Eco-engineering. It was inconceivable. Which is what concerned him.

If he’d never seen this device in his lifetime, why was Taryn seeing it in his? He’d been studying Eco for as long as he could remember. Not asking questions went against his basic instincts, especially when such an obvious problem was just dumped into his lap.

Gratefully accepting a pair of keys from the obviously tense woman, Fan Shun reminded Taryn the nice woman was trying to work, and he shouldn’t bother her, but the woman waved off her concern with a professional smile and started answering Taryn’s questions.

Shrugging, Fan Shun said they would wait for him by the stairs to the second floor and she led the twins away.

Forget Jade Mountains, and dangerous beasts. This excited Taryn; studying Eco, creating scripts, and cultivating had been Taryn’s passion for literally two lifetimes—more if you considered the sheer time the Mourner had been alive.

Unfortunately, not everyone shared in Taryn’s excitement.

Taryn’s group had not been the only people entering the village that day, many of whom were also looking for a place to rest after a long journey. And for the group of disgruntled cultivators who entered after them, Taryn’s questions were holding up the line.

For her part, the woman had done a fantastic job of answering Taryn’s barrage of questions. But she stopped speaking when a large shadow appeared behind Taryn’s shoulder.

Taryn reacted to the new presence immediately. His childlike wonder withdrew within himself, even as he stepped aside to allow the newcomers to approach the desk. The four men wore similar contemptuous looks as they shouldered past Taryn, intentionally bumping into him as they fanned out in front of the woman.

Did I do something to offend them? He’d never seen the four before, so the only thing he could think of was they’d somehow taken offense at him holding the woman’s attention. I suppose that was a bit rude. Taryn scratched at the back of his head and took an additional step away from them.

The leader, or at least the one who acted like he was, was a bear of a man standing a head taller than Taryn. His broad shoulders, thick arms, and veiny neck gave Taryn the impression that he was someone who valued the physical side of cultivation a little too much.

Taryn remembered the Ukata eye technique ability to see Eco and wondered if he could replicate it. He knew his body wasn’t as durable as a true Ukata, but he should be able to survive a simple eye technique… Right?

The Mourner never had the chance to study the Ukata’s specific technique, but he’d seen plenty that serve a similar purpose. Maybe if I can figure out a way to reduce the strain on the body, I could use it too?

He narrowed his eyes at the four men’s backs and subtly moved some Eco into his pupils; first he would try to replicate the Ukata technique on its own as a baseline. Provided the results weren’t catastrophic, he planned to gradually alter the technique until the strain reached a level he could tolerate.

The veins around his eyes grew fat with excess blood, his face turned red, and his eyes flashed blue for only a fraction of a second—and even that was enough to send crimson tears cascading down his cheeks.

He wiped away the blood as he made his way back to the group. Fan Shun and Yawen both wore expressions of concern as they watched him, and to his surprise, Wei looked positively irate.

His normally carefree companion wore an expression of anger as he watched the men each take a key from the receptionist, then stalk down a hallway beneath the stairs, passing their group without bothering to look in their direction.

The men’s casual disregard for Wei’s presence was upsetting to him, but Taryn understood it wasn’t meant to be a slight to Wei, personally. The men were obviously tired, and as he hadn’t seen them aboard the Diplopoda, they had likely arrived on foot.

Taryn felt guilt over his behavior earlier. He would need to apologize to the men tomorrow. “Would the three of you mind going to the rooms without me? I’ll come find you in a bit; there’s something I want to do before I come up.”

Fan Shun sighed. “I suppose you are an adult now. I don’t need to watch over you all hours of the day. But do me a favor; stay out of trouble—that means no fighting.”

“No fighting.” Taryn nodded and gave her a thumbs up.

Fan Shun looked at his hand, then slowly, as if she were trying to tell him just how unbelievable he sounded, her gaze slid back to his eyes.

“All right. We’ll see you upstairs,” she said, casting one final glance around the lobby before motioning for the twins to follow her upstairs.

Yawen lifted a perfect eyebrow in consternation. After a moment of observing Taryn, who still had his thumb up like an idiot, she shook her head and dragged her brother after Fan Shun.

Wei looked like he had something to say but Yawen never gave him the chance. He watched Taryn for a moment longer, then gave up and dutifully followed his sister.

I’ll ask him about it later. Taryn scratched at the back of his head and sighed. With his determination set, Taryn made his way back to the receptionist to apologize.

“It’s really nothing worth apologizing over,” the woman said quickly. “Truthfully, I found your excitement rather amusing. It reminded me of my younger brother.”

“Oh? I didn’t realize you were an older sister. How old is he?” Taryn asked while leaning against her desk.

Now that he got a good look at her, he realized she was quite pretty. She was perhaps a few years older than him, but no more than five. Glossy black hair held in a ponytail that spilled over one shoulder, dark eyes framed by long eyelashes, and clear skin all showed she took pride in her appearance.

I think Yawen might be prettier though. Taryn’s eyes bulged at the unwelcome thought. He visualized the thought as a large rock in his mind… and subsequently, pushed it into a volcano. Why am I comparing the two of them, anyway? Yawen would probably kill me if she found out I’d had such a thought. No, I’d be better off focusing my attention on someone else —

“My little brother just turned six,” she said with a smile.

Just not her. Taryn scratched at the back of his head, an uncomfortable smile on his face. How am I supposed to bounce back from being compared with the six-year-old?

“Watching you gush over the coin maker reminded me of how excited he was after our father gave him his first sword,” she explained. Remembering her brother brought a gentle smile to her face, one that looked so different from any she showed before that Taryn could scarcely believe they’d come from the same woman.

At that moment, Taryn thought he might have to rethink his earlier assessment. She didn’t lose out to Yawen in terms of beauty. She merely possessed a different kind. If Yawen could be compared to an elegant fairy, this woman was a beautiful flower.

“Sorry, I just realized I never gave you my name. Taryn,” he said while extending his hand to her.

The corner of her mouth twitched upwards. She took his hand in hers and shook it once. “Wu Sohyon, pleasure to meet you. But I really do have to get back to work, so…” She trailed off while casting meaningful glances to the growing line in front of her.

“And I am distracting you—sorry again.” Taryn awkwardly laughed while backing away. He took a few steps before quickly turning on his heel and fast walking upstairs. As soon as he was out of sight of the lobby, Taryn let out a shaky breath and scratched at the back of his head. “And I am distracting you—sorry again,” Taryn mocked himself. And then you run away like a coward- what the hell is wrong with you? he grumbled while stalking towards the room. He'd known he was—uncomfortable would be the polite word. But Taryn had no intention of being “polite.” He was awkward, plain and simple. And yes, a lot of that could be blamed on the Mourner’s isolationist nature; the man barely spoke to anyone before he climbed to the upper realms. And after his wife died, he stopped talking to other people completely.

But Taryn knew that wasn’t the only problem. He was awkward even before merging with the Mourner. The merger merely exacerbated the condition, making his introverted nature even stronger than it already was.

Well, no more, he declared. From now on, I'll train myself to talk to people. Maybe I’ll even go to Wei for advice. He seems pretty outgoing. Taryn heard Wei’s voice inside his head as he walked. He was laughing, saying something like, “Poor Taryn” before laughing again. Taryn stopped walking in the middle of the hallway. The laughter stopped at the same time, causing Taryn to sigh and shake his head. No, I can’t ask him. I’d never hear the end of the teasing if he found out. I just need to do it on my own—that’s all there is to it.

* * *

As Taryn continued down the hallway, he remained completely oblivious to the fact that the laughter he heard wasn’t in his head. He was merely too deep in thought to notice Wei leaning against the wall near the stairs. He’d returned to see if those donkey-faced guys came back to start trouble with Taryn—and accidently caught the tail end of his friend’s conversation with the pretty receptionist.

After he’d finished laughing at his friend’s hurried retreat, Wei had attempted to reach out to speak to him, but the younger man kept his head down and passed as if he hadn’t seen him. Taryn, you have my sympathies. I promise I’ll apologize to you later. But for now… There was just something hilarious about seeing the normally calm Taryn panicking.

Chapter Seventeen

Taryn yawned as he descended the stairs into the lobby. The early morning light filtered through the windows, illuminating the sleepy lobby and driving away the chill of the previous night.

I know it’s early, but I expected someone to be down here. The lobby was mostly abandoned; Taryn only saw a few people loitering around, though he could hear muffled noises coming from the dining room.

He briefly allowed curiosity to get the better of him and peeked through the doorway. Inside, he saw Wu Sohyon standing in a group of about forty people. At the front of the group was a short man with graying black hair and an unkempt beard long enough to reach the floor.

He must be the owner. Taryn memorized the man’s face in case he needed to know it later, but didn’t interact with anyone. As far as he was concerned, there were too many preparations he needed to make and nowhere near enough hours in the day.

Taryn, his grandmother, and the twins spent most of the previous day cooped up in one of the two rooms they’d booked. And though he knew it needed to be done, Taryn was still put out by how long it’d taken to get Yawen and Wei’s cores stabilized—which meant they were both “officially” one-tone cultivators.

That would’ve made them undefeatable in Haven City, but to the outside world they were merely at the starting line. From this moment on is when things would start to get difficult. The amount of Eco needed to cultivate to the second tone was double the first tone. And that trend of needing twice as much with each successive increase would continue throughout the Core realm.

The next realm—the physique realm—required an entirely new method of cultivation to rise through its eight layers. And Eco was only one part of it.

His own core—or rather, his cores—had both stabilized while he was unconscious and were now producing liquid Eco at a terrifying rate. The symbiotic nature of his two cores meant they constantly replenished his supply, so long as he didn’t go overboard and die of blood loss first. That would certainly put a damper on his cultivation.

Unfortunately, his grandmother was still left with nothing to do until her channels healed. Taryn wished he could do something for her. But even with all his knowledge, he wasn’t at the level where he could heal her channels for her. The only thing that could do that was time and patience—and elixirs, which Taryn planned to look for today.

So, the two of them had played cards, of all things, until well after nightfall. His grandmother had tried to teach him the rules of a game called “five beasts.” The game required the use of a deck of numbered cards, lowest number being one and the highest number being thirteen.

The cards they’d chosen to use had four suits: a battle suit, a wild suit, a shaper suit, and an elemental suit, with each one containing thirteen cards apiece. The suits were colored to match the Eco type they represented.

There were supposedly five other card decks circulating throughout the continent, each one following a certain theme. This one was obviously the Eco theme, though Taryn had also heard of a monster deck, complete with sketches of various monsters. And there was a deck unique to each country; the noble deck had actual portraits of the reigning lord’s family instead of numbers.

There was supposedly a push to make drawing the “king” card- in those decks mean you automatically won the game. But that ruleset was deemed invalid and the one who suggested it was slapped and forced to pay off his debt anyway.

Each player was dealt five cards, called “beasts,” and they could either choose to keep those cards or discard up to five cards and replace them with new ones. Someone then added together the numbers on the cards to determine how many beasts the player had, and the winner was the player with the highest number of beasts on the field.

After finally stabilizing their cores, the twins barely had the energy to move and ended up falling asleep where they sat. Since they were in no shape to explore the city in their condition, Taryn—encouraged by his grandmother’s arm twisting—agreed to hold off until the next morning. But not before he wrote a list of tasks he needed the three of them to do before they could leave the village.

“I’ll make sure it’s done,” she’d told him.

If he were being honest with himself, Taryn was more upset over how quickly they’d done it, than he was about losing a day. They’re both terrifying geniuses. Taryn grimaced at what he perceived to be his own lack of talent and left the inn.

The Mourner was entirely self-taught; everything he knew he’d either stolen from rival cultivators in the heat of battle or discovered on his own. Despite this, he created a core of his very own when he was twenty-three years old.

In contrast with the Mourner’s isolated struggle for knowledge, Taryn had a relatively easy time with his training. First his grandmother had taken it upon herself, then Iddrai stepped up to help, and with the help of the Mourner’s knowledge, Taryn could sprint before he’d even crawled.

A part of him felt guilty. Everyone else struggled their entire lives, yet most would never have a fraction of the knowledge he had at his fingertips. Deep down, Taryn knew that without their help, he would still be as powerless as he ever was. However, he certainly had no intention of giving up his advantage.

They said being lucky was also a skill. After all, you needed to know when and how to act in order to devour the opportunities presented to you or you’d never get anything, no matter how lucky you were. If that were really the case, then Taryn would make sure he did everything in his power to reach heights the Mourner had only brushed against. With all of these advantages, he would truly be a failure as a cultivator if he couldn’t do at least that much.

Unlike the inn, the village was already in full motion. Thousands crowded the streets, sidewalks, and back alleys as they went about their day. And not a single one of them insulted Taryn or called him Clanless.

He had been there only a day, but Notch Canyon was already leagues above Haven City in his—admittedly biased—estimation.

Unable to keep the smile off his face, Taryn wandered the village for an additional hour before finally locating the building he had been looking for. He scratched at the back of his head and sighed before walking through the front door of the largest smithy in the village.

Truthfully, it shouldn’t have taken him as long as it did to find the place. But Taryn could barely contain his curiosity; he’d never seen a village other than Haven City, let alone go inside one.

Yes, he had the Mourner’s memories of places like this, and grander still, but those experiences weren’t his. It was like being told what a place looked like as opposed to seeing it for yourself or hearing someone describe a meal they’d had. The knowledge of what it’s like to eat that meal might be there, but you haven’t actually tasted it for yourself.

As far as he was concerned, this was his first time in a foreign village. And he planned to see everything he could before they left.

There was also the slight problem of getting lost and ending up back at the inn—twice. But Taryn didn’t want to think about that, not while he was in the presence of enough pointy objects to pop even the Ukata’s overinflated ego.

When his grandmother heard Taryn was going to a smithy first thing in the morning, she was confused. Taryn had his dagger for close range, and, in a pinch, he could use the meteor hammer on the hilt. So, he should be set on weapons, right?

Taryn didn’t think so.

He loved his dagger, and he had no intention of getting rid of it. But Taryn’s “other form” was equipped with incredible natural weapons. His claws could tear through stone as easily as paper, and he was strong enough to throw a grown man fifty feet… However, there was one critical deficiency Taryn needed to fix.

In his battle with Gu Qigang, Taryn learned firsthand what it meant to be powerless. His dagger, claws, and fangs had all proven useless in penetrating Gu Qigang’s skin. It was only by turning the dagger on its head and using the meteor hammer as a cudgel that Taryn could deal any damage.

So, while he absolutely loved his dagger, sometimes cutting and stabbing simply weren’t effective. In those situations, the only thing left to do was to crush the enemy and leave nothing, not even their spirits, unbroken.

With that in mind, Taryn approached the attractive woman standing behind the counter, which he noticed also possessed a coin maker, with a giddy smile on his face. “I’m looking for a large mace, or perhaps a hammer,” he said without preamble.

“We carry weapons of excellent quality, sure to match any budget, no matter how small. I’m sure we can find something to suit your needs,” the woman said with a professional smile. “Please, look around at your leisure, and feel free to ask any questions you might have. My suggestion would be to start with the barrels over there.” She gestured towards the trio of barrels just behind the front door. Taryn hadn’t paid them any attention until the woman pointed them out. The word “bargains” was painted across the front of each barrel.

Taryn’s eye twitched at the not-so-subtle meaning of the woman’s words. She thinks I’m poor… Taryn feigned nervousness and meandered away from the counter. He didn’t fail to notice the suspicious looks the woman sent his way even as she turned her attention to the next customer.

Every weapon on display in the smithy had a small placard nearby with its name and price. Most of the weapons were between fifty and one hundred Jade coins apiece. It required roughly one drop of liquid Eco to make one Jade coin. Taryn’s Eco heart was transforming every drop of blood in his body into liquid Eco. He could purchase ten of these weapons before he’d even notice a difference.

That being the case, Taryn had no intention of throwing money to someone who’d insulted him. Why would he? Selling subpar weapons would only hurt their reputation, so Taryn didn’t doubt the weapons in the barrels were usable. And if he could get away with spending even less of his literal “blood” money, all the better.

“The bargain barrels it is,” Taryn muttered. As he made his way over to the dust covered collection of death inducers he couldn’t help but wonder how the others were faring.

Knowing them, Grandma is probably doing her job, Yawen is likely being hit on, and Wei is probably hitting on someone.

* * *

Wei ducked the punch and sent one of his own flying into his attacker’s liver. The larger man grunted at the blow, but it was clear he had taken zero damage from the exchange.

A low growl rumbled within Wei’s chest as he dodged backwards a second before the man’s meaty fist could make contact, and he didn’t bother stopping his punch before his fist hit the ground. The blow smashed the stone walkway, sending sharp stones flying in every direction.

Wei realized he had little time, so he took a moment and quickly observed his surroundings. He knew there were four of them. Two were brawling with his sister at the other end of the alley, the biggest had just tried to flatten him—and an almost imperceptible sound reached Wei’s ears, barely giving him enough time to throw himself out of the way before a spear could pierce his back.

Twisting his body through the air, Wei somersaulted and landed with his feet against the wall. He followed through with the motion by coiling his body like a spring, then launching himself at the spear holder.

Attacker number four raised his weapon to intercept—and in a show of mind-blowing acrobatics skill, Wei twisted his body in midair, dodging the tip of the spear, and tackled the man to the ground. They slid a few feet, stopping only when the spear wielder’s head hit one of the alley walls.

Wei balled his hands into fists and rained them down on his opponent’s face and upper body. He was forced to abandon his assault when the largest member of the group appeared at his side with his leg extended in a kick that would’ve snapped Wei in half, had it connected.

The largest man helped the spear wielder to his feet without a word, and locked Wei in place with his glare.

How did this happen? How had a simple supply run ended with Yawen and Wei fighting for their lives in a back alley, far from any patrol or ally who could’ve saved them?

Thirty minutes after Taryn left the inn, Fan Shun led the twins out for an adventure of their own.

The trio wandered over to the big market they’d passed through the day before. Every store—from the simplest of food vendors to the most well-established boutiques—were using the coin makers Taryn found so fascinating.

They spent sixteen Jade coins on provisions. They wouldn’t be eating like royalty, but they could secure enough variety to at least make their meals interesting. They also spent thirty-eight coins on survival gear: new tents, utensils, a pair of cast-iron pots, one small and one large, and a talisman engraved with a ward script.

The talisman looked like a simple piece of petrified wood, measuring about eleven inches. A thin layer of bronze covered both ends and was the receptacle for the engraving. The script glowed faintly, and if waved, left trails of light in its wake.

The last item on Taryn’s list required them to head away from the market, towards the Jade Mountain. He’d asked them to buy a few defensive scripts for the journey. Unfortunately, the man who made the talisman specialized in survival scripts. So, while he could make alarm wards, heating scripts, and even bug repellent scripts, he lacked the ability to make true defensive scripts. But all was not lost. As thanks for purchasing the talisman, he was kind enough to point them toward someone who could.

The script maker in question turned out to be an old woman living in a modest, single-story home. Her home was also her business, and the trio quickly learned they weren’t the only customers waiting to see the owner.

Wei’s eyes narrowed as he recognized the four men from the inn the night before. They looked less haggard now, sure. But clean clothes or not, Wei still found the contempt in their eyes ugly.

They were the eyes of someone who thought they were better than everyone around them and believed no one could enter their eyes.

Oh, how Wei hated those eyes. They reminded him of the glares his family gave him when they thought he wasn’t looking. He couldn’t stand up for himself in the clan; his mother wouldn’t allow it. And he was certain that if he'd caused an incident by telling off one of his family members, his mother would boot him from the clan for being more trouble than he was worth.

But here, outside of the city and thousands of miles from his clan, Wei didn’t have that cloud hanging over his head. Which meant he didn’t need to grin and bear it for the sake of peace.

And he refused to be looked down on again.

He didn’t want to cause trouble for his sister and Elder Shun by provoking the men first. But he knew the type, knew they couldn’t help themselves; if someone didn’t immediately defer to their whims, it would compel them to force the person to submit.

And just like he predicted, one of them—a man with a spear on his back—purposely bumped into Wei’s shoulder on his way out of the building. His progress stopped when Wei pinched the edge of the man’s sleeve between his fingers.

“You should apologize for bumping into someone,” Wei said while smiling at them.

The man looked pointedly at Wei’s hand, then attempted to intimidate by taking a step closer. “Don’t touch me.” The man jerked his hand away. Rather than stepping back, or otherwise trying to de-escalate, the man took another step forward, which put him nose to nose with Wei.

“Putting your hands on a stranger like that; you must be brave or ignorant,” the man said in a low voice.

By now his friends had noticed he was missing and reentered the building to look for him. When they found him standing inches from Wei, they closed in like a pack of wolves.

“If you’re going to fight, take it outside. I will not be cleaning blood off my floor again,.” the old woman said in a raspy voice.

It was then that Wei noticed his sister standing only a foot behind him. Her eyes were focused on the men surrounding him, and it didn’t take a genius like Taryn to figure out she would attack the moment they gave her a reason to.

Seeing his sister being so protective of him left Wei with a fuzzy feeling in his gut. He knew she cared for him, even if she didn’t show it that often. But knowing that she would be there, that she would have his back in a fight… He only wished he could see the look on his mother’s face if she saw them now.

“Bow your head, apologize, and then leave the village. If you’re gone by tomorrow, nothing will happen,” the spear wielder said quietly.

“Why should I? What right do you have to tell me to leave? You didn’t care about throwing your weight around and purposefully knocking into people, but suddenly, because I asked you to apologize, you’re going to run me out of the village? Does that seem fair to you?” Wei asked in an equally quiet voice. Despite his anger, Wei never once lost the smile on his face.

The man smiled back, revealing blackened and missing teeth. He placed a hand on Wei’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze that made him want to wince. “Kid, let this senior give you some advice: The world isn’t fair. As for what right do I have to tell you to leave—” the man’s grip tightened until Wei heard the bones in his shoulder creaking.

“I have both the strength to make you leave, and the funds to make the soldiers look the other way while I do it. So, do us both a favor—” The man’s free hand snapped out and tangled in Wei’s hair. He wrenched Wei’s head down until it was nearly touching his chest. “—and apologize properly.”

“Oh, boy,” Fan Shun sighed and shook her head out of exasperation. “Just try not to kill them; you don’t want the soldiers coming down on you.”

The four men couldn’t believe their ears and laughed. “Didn’t you hear what I just said? I’m not worried about the—” the man choked on his words as Fan Shun met his gaze.

“I don’t believe I was talking to you,” Fan Shun said before turning to the old woman. “My apologies; I’m not sure why they have to be so hot headed.”

“No need to apologize. I have five sons of my own. I know how children can be,” the old woman said, a smile gracing her ancient face. “I meant what I said though; if you’re going to fight, take it outside. I’m not cleaning up blood again.”

“You got that?” Fan Shun asked the room.

“Yeah, I got it,” Yawen said through gritted teeth. In a flash of motion, Yawen kicked one man square in the chest, knocking him out a window, before grabbing the second man’s throat and pushing him towards the window.

Wei reacted immediately after his sister moved; he headbutted the spear wielder and backhanded the burly boss. But unlike Yawen’s domination of her opponents, the burly boss grabbed Wei around the throat and tossed him bodily out the same window his men had gone through seconds before.

“Wait here and clean your neck, we’re coming for you next,” the spear wielder shouted at Fan Shun, who looked remarkably unimpressed by his posturing.

“Oh no, I’m shaking,” she replied in a droning voice.

“At least one of you has the sense to be afraid.” The spear wielder laughed, completely missing the sarcastic tone in Fan Shun’s voice. The boss and the spear wielder charged out the door a moment later, leaving the two older women alone.

* * *

“I must be getting soft. Back in my younger years, I would’ve decapitated him for starting trouble in my home,” the old woman said wistfully. “That boy of yours is no better. I saw the way he looked at them, as if he was spoiling for a fight. And don’t even get me started on my window! I’m adding that to the bill too,” the old woman grumbled before turning around and opening one of the many cabinets behind her.

Fan Shun shrugged helplessly. “I’m not sure what came over him… He’s usually the calm one.”

The old woman paused in her rummaging to look over her shoulder at Fan Shun. “If that’s what you call calm, how bad are the others?”

Fan Shun hummed at that, not sure how to respond. After a few moments of deliberation, she shrugged again. “Yawen is… unwieldy. She’s been quick to anger for as long as I’ve known her, but she’s very protective of her brother. And Taryn—well, if he were here, I don’t think a fight would’ve started.”

“You made it sound like pretty boy out there was the calm one.” The old woman chuckled, which made her voice even more unpleasant on the ears. “If he wouldn’t have started a fight, it sounds like he’s the calm one to me.”

“You’d think that, wouldn’t you?” Fan Shun laughed. “But no, Taryn may not have started a fight, but knowing my grandson, he would’ve found another way to get back at them.”

“Ah, a sly one, is he? I can respect that. Hang on a minute while I check the back. You said you were looking for defensive scripts, right?” The old woman asked while walking through a door near the back of the room.

Sly is one way to describe him, I suppose… Fan Shun looked towards the window and wondered if she should go help the twins.

None of the men had strong cultivation bases; the strongest being slightly weaker than herself. Even so, she was confident the twins could’ve beaten them even before they had stabilized their cores. But nothing was certain in the heat of battle, and while strong the twins may be, the gang outside had the advantage of numbers.

“I’m going to step outside for a few minutes. Could you hold my purchase until I get back?” Fan Shun hollered to the old woman while making her way towards the door.

“Oh sure. I’m not going anywhere!” the woman shouted from the back room.

“Thank you!” Fan Shun shouted back as she ran out the door and rounded the corner to the alley… which was empty.

A loud noise attracted Fan Shun’s attention; it was coming from a few buildings over and from the grunts, shouts, and loud thuds, Fan Shun determined it was probably the sound of the twins fighting.

“For someone who’s not supposed to use Eco, I keep getting involved in some pretty annoying messes.” She shook her head and took off after them.

* * *

Wei leaped over the spear and brought his heel down on the wielder’s head. The man’s eyes crossed as the blow caused his brain to bounce around inside his skull, concussing him and knocking him unconscious—if only briefly.

Wei looked towards his sister, finding that she had already pacified the two men she’d been fighting, and quietly grumbled to himself. They hadn’t planned it, but an unspoken agreement had passed between him and his sister. Each one wanted to be the first to take down their two targets.

Wei was forced to dodge as the beefy boss charged past him. The large man moved with surprising speed, covering a distance of nearly a hundred feet in approximately six seconds. He arrived in front of Yawen and attacked without hesitation, no doubt trying to increase his chances by going after what he perceived to be the weaker threat.

An easy mistake to make… if you’d never actually fought Yawen before.

Yawen’s face was only level with the beefy boss's waist, but when he brought his fist down on her, Yawen didn’t dodge. She took the blow head on, blocking the fist larger than her head with her crossed arms.

Normally, she wouldn’t have been able to do this. Simple physics should’ve seen her smashed into the pavement by something so much larger than her. But by building Eco in her stomach and then quickly shoving it into the ground at the moment of impact, Yawen could temporarily dampen the force of a vertical blow by creating an opposing force coming from the opposite direction.

This was something Wei was incapable of. While his control of Eco was certainly above average, Yawen’s control was miles ahead—proving that she wasn’t hailed as a once-in-a-generation prodigy for no reason.

After the blow failed to affect the woman less than half his size, the beefy boss reacted immediately and slammed his other palm into her side. This blow did affect Yawen; without a surface to bounce her Eco off of, she could not dampen this blow as she had the first, and it knocked her into the air.

The force carried her some fifty feet before Wei could grab her. Yawen coughed violently—the blow had knocked the breath from her lungs—and Wei’s hurried catch had jostled her brain, making her lightheaded and nauseous.

Wei only had his eyes on Yawen for a few moments, but when he looked up, the four men were gone.

“Is she going to be okay?” Fan Shun asked as she crouched down beside him.

“I’ll—I’ll be fine. The oversized ass just—knocked the breath out of me,” Yawen panted.

“Were you here the entire time?” Wei asked.

“Not the entire time. But long enough to see the two of you have gotten strong. Were you back in Haven City, I don’t think any of the clans could stand against you,” Fan Shun said while looking proudly on the twins. Her gaze made them both nervous, not out of fear, but because neither of them was truly used to receiving praise.

“Are you saying the clans couldn’t stand against you?” Yawen asked..

“Are you kidding?” Fan Shun scoffed. “They couldn’t stand against me with my Eco sealed.” Though she said this in a tone that conveyed she was joking, neither twin believed she was. They’d seen the sheer power Fan Shun could bring to bear when she wanted to. The thought of how powerful she would be after her channels healed sent chills down Wei’s back.

Thank the divines she’s on our side. It’s terrifying to think what could have happened if they had sent her to retrieve us. Fan Shun clapped Wei on the back and dipped her head back toward the way they’d come.

“Ready to get a move on? I’m sure the old woman has our order ready by now, and one of you needs to pay her,” she said with a smile.

Wei glanced at his sister, then at Fan Shun’s retreating back. “Be honest; the only reason you came to check on us was to make sure we could still pay the bill, right?”

“What?” Fan Shun laughed. “Whatever gave you that idea? You still have to carry the bags back to the inn—that is, unless you plan to make an old woman carry them by herself?”

What Wei wanted to say was: what part of you is an old woman? But what he actually said was: “Of course, Elder Shun. My mistake.” Wei held his hand out for his sister to take and helped her to her feet. “Think she’d believe me if I pretend my arm is broken?” He asked, only half joking.

“I think she’d probably confirm it first.” Yawen chuckled and lightly pushed her brother’s shoulder. “Come on, fellow pack mule. Let’s not keep the elder waiting. Wouldn’t want her to break a hip or anything—”

“I heard that!” The twins jumped at Fan Shun’s voice and hurried after her.

After everything that happened that day, Wei wondered what kind of trouble Taryn had gotten up to. After all, even if they had gotten into a fight, the walking trouble magnet should’ve had an even more exciting day… Right?

Chapter Eighteen

A small outdoor restaurant was abuzz with people. Beautiful women in expensive looking robes scurried around, taking orders, and chatted amiably with the guests.

Seated at a small table near the back of the restaurant’s dining area, Taryn and Elder Shen Tao smiled at the woman who sat a wooden tray, laden with a pricey-looking tea set, between them.

Shen Tao pulled back the sleeve of his robe and graciously filled each of their cups to the brim, before returning the teapot to its place at the center of the table.

Taryn brought the steaming cup to his lips and inhaled the delicious aroma. An amber liquid slowly spiraled inside the cup. Small specks of green leaves were sitting at the bottom; it was these leaves that supposedly made the best flavor of tea in the village.

Of course, Taryn didn’t know that for certain. But the older man sitting across from him had been adamant he at least try a cup. Compared to the last time Taryn saw him, the Silver Crown elder was wearing much finer clothes: a white and blue robe that exposed some of his chest and a gray cloak long enough to drag the ground as he walked.

Shen Tao grinned at Taryn and lifted his cup in thanks before bringing the steaming beverage to his lips. Unable to deny the elder’s request, Taryn copied his motions and took a sip. The flavor caused Taryn’s eyes to go wide. A hint of citrus was followed by something sweet, yet bitter at the same time.

The taste made Taryn’s mind buzz with renewed energy. He moved the cup away in surprise and stared at it, unsure whether he should continue drinking it or get it back to the inn for testing.

“It’s good, right?” Shen Tao laughed. “I heard it’s made from the tree leaves of the forest we passed through on the way here. I’m no expert, but something about the way they’re prepared releases this dark syrup that hardens when exposed to heat. I’ve been told that kids love it, though it’s dangerous to consume too much of it at once.”

Taryn had been mid-sip when Shen Tao spoke; he was so surprised by the elder’s words that he almost choked. He wiped the drink running from his lips and asked, “Is it poisonous?”

“No, it’s beneficial to your body, though it is slightly addictive. The feeling it gives you is supposed to be like that of a lover’s kiss,” he said through pursed lips. The sight of the elder making kissy faces while he spoke caused Taryn to snort with laughter.

While most elders would’ve taken offense if a junior laughed at them, Shen Tao smiled back, clearly pleased with himself.

Sitting there, laughing while drinking some amazing tea, Taryn realized how lucky he was to run into the elder when he did. The older man had waltzed into the smithy right as Taryn was leaving and asked if he would wait for him. With a bundle of weapons secured in a large blue cloth, and his new personal weapon attached to his back by a leather harness—which he also purchased at the smithy—Taryn had no reason to refuse.

After all, his grandmother and the twins were taking care of supplies and he’d already completed his purchases for the day. The only thing left now was to wait for the others to return so they could plan their next move.

Taryn wanted to leave as soon as possible, but he was also aware of how tired the others were. Maybe not physically, they were cultivators after all, but mentally they could all use a break. Since leaving Haven City, none of them had truly relaxed. The journey had entailed hiking through the Mokan Forest to the ruins, fighting the undead across Old Haven City, then several weeks walking towards the lake where they met up with the elder.

Even aboard the Diplopoda, they filled their days with training and studying all that they could to prepare themselves for the journey ahead. So despite Taryn’s impatience, he would force himself to tolerate this enjoyable respite.

I still have some time, anyway. They deserve this break. And tonight, I’ll tell them the secret of the Canyon of Lost Giants. They can decide from there what they want to do; whether they want to continue traveling with me... Or if this is where we part ways.

The “secret” Taryn would share was learned when the Mourner passed through this area during his life. The story went that, while fleeing the canyon guardian some six hundred miles into the Canyon of Lost Giants, a man discovered a cave along the canyon wall and ducked inside to hide from the beast.

The cave was said to be massive: Its tunnels easily reached several miles into Aurelia’s depths. Wounded and out of rations, the man gave up on exploring the tunnels until after he’d returned to the village for treatment.

Word of the cave spread by word-of-mouth. And in only a couple of months, it spread to other cities and villages in the area. Eventually, someone reached the end of the cave and found the sacred realm waiting for them.

Sacred realms were subspace areas created by powerful cultivators. Each one was as unique as the cultivator who made it, though they all had one thing in common. Each one possessed a heart, an Eco core inscribed with the script responsible for maintaining the stability of the realm. The script fed off the Eco core, from which it drew its power. Removing that core would upset the stability of the sacred realm, causing it to collapse.

There was a nigh infinite number of reasons to create a sacred realm. In Taryn’s experience, or rather in the Mourner’s experience, the most common reason was for isolated cultivation or imprisonment.

If they created the realm for isolated cultivation, there was a high chance the cultivator took their fortunes with them. After all, they would usually be gone for years at a time—perhaps even centuries. And Taryn didn’t know any cultivator who would risk their treasure falling into someone else’s hands while they were away. So, discovering a sacred realm was akin to finding a treasure trove.

Unfortunately, Taryn didn’t have any information on this sacred realm. Whether it was a treasure, or a prison, was unclear from the rumors. And the cultivator clearing it in the Mourner’s memories was wise enough to keep their mouth shut after removing the sacred realm’s heart, so he didn’t even know who cleared it.

Luckily, the cave would not be discovered for another eight years, and the realm would not be cleared until two years after that. Taryn had ample time to reach his destination; even walking would only take a few weeks. And while there would certainly be dangers along the way—the canyon was known to house some fifty species of Eco beast—Taryn was confident they could survive.

Taryn’s current plan was to allow them to rest for a full week before they began moving towards the cave. But he was impatient, and the waiting was fraying his nerves. He knew he had time—almost a full decade to search for the sacred realm… But what if he was wrong? What if someone got there before they did?

Such thoughts plagued Taryn’s waking mind.

“Are you okay? You look troubled,” Elder Tao asked while setting down his now empty cup. Worry lines were etched into his forehead and Taryn saw empathy in the older man’s eyes.

Taryn took a sip of his drink to give him time to contemplate his next words. Once he set the cup down, Taryn did his best to school his features. But nonverbal cues were difficult to hide, especially when you’d been conned into drinking a mental stimulant.

“I’m fine,” Taryn said after a brief pause. “There is a place I need to go. But I’m not sure if my grandmother and the twins will go with me. It’s dangerous, and I don’t have any proof that what I’m going there for is real.” He tried to mask his agitation as concern. This is the problem with knowing where the treasure is yet being unable to reach it. You worry over whether someone will steal it from you.

“I see. Yes, I suppose I can see why that would worry you. Have you asked them their opinions?” Elder Tao asked while drumming his fingers on the table between them. The lines in the older man’s forehand somehow grew even more pronounced as he contemplated Taryn’s situation. Taryn was reminded of the hairless cat one of his ex-neighbors used to own, and had to hold back a chuckle.

“No, I was going to ask them tonight,” Taryn replied. He sat back in his chair with his eyes locked on a spot on the table. The Mourner never had to deal with this problem. He could go wherever he wanted whenever he wanted without fear of something happening to his loved ones… A wave of self-loathing came over him and Taryn immediately regretted thinking such things.

Yes, the Mourner could leave at a moment’s notice and go wherever he wanted. But that was only true because everyone he’d ever known and cared about was already dead. Taryn was lucky by comparison. His grandmother was alive, Yawen and Wei were alive. And if he had to choose between moving a little slower or losing them—the choice was clear.

“I wish I could do more to help you,” Shen Tao said. His face had grown tight and his lips were pressed into a hard line. “Listen, I can’t tell you what your companions will think. But I will extend this offer to you. You all fought to defend my vessel, and the lives of my men and the refugees. I would be honored if you would accept my offer and continue traveling with us. There is still so much I could teach you about the world. And we would, of course, continue treating Lady Shun. Also, I must admit to enjoying your presence on the ship. Talking with the four of you is like peering into the distant past, it’s quite amusing.”

“It’s a very gracious offer,” Taryn said earnestly, not quite able to meet the older man’s eyes. He wasn’t used to someone showing him such sincerity—not unless they were insulting him. He honestly didn’t know what to say. “I really appreciate the offer. But I can’t decide on my own. I’ll add it to the list of questions I need to ask tonight. Though I must warn you, we aren’t planning to leave for a few days.”

“That could be an issue,” Elder Tao admitted. His face took on a complicated expression while he poured himself another cup. “This was only a stopover point for us. We’re continuing north in the morning; our destination lies on the other side of the canyon.”

“You’re heading through the Canyon of Lost Giants?”

“Yes. The Silver Crown Sect is in the mountains beyond the canyon. We will escort the refugees to the town of Silverpost, which is about thirty miles from the sect, then we’ll head home for repairs and to resupply.” Elder Tao brought the drink to his lips and for a moment, the lines in his forehead relaxed. “After we return, another vessel will depart on a journey to help more refugees escape the war. And I’ll get to relax and see my cute disciples for the first time in… two years?” he said, though he didn’t sound sure of himself.

“You’ve been away from the sect for two years?” Taryn asked, surprise coloring his tone. He didn’t realize that these “excursions” the elder took lasted so long. At the rate the Diplopoda traveled, he figured they would only be gone a few months at most. But two years?

“Not entirely,” Elder Tao said, his cheeks turning slightly pink. “Sorry, I misspoke. Yes, this will be the first time I’ve seen my disciples in two years—that much is true. But even though the Diplopoda regularly returns every six months to resupply and make repairs, my disciples are quite busy. As direct disciples of a Silver Crown elder, they have certain duties they must fulfill in my absence. This often takes them away from the sect for weeks at a time. It’s no one’s fault I haven’t been able to meet with them. Merely bad luck.”

“Oh…” Taryn trailed off. He downed the last of his tea and poured himself another cup. Then, seeing Elder Tao had already finished his second cup, Taryn poured the last of the tea for the elder. “How many disciples do you have?”

“Two direct disciples. The other disciples are sect disciples, rather than my personal disciples.” Shen Tao smacked his lips before taking a drink. The taste brought yet another smile to his face.

He really does like this tea, Taryn noted with amusement.

“Would you tell me about them?” Taryn asked. He was curious what Elder Tao’s disciples were like. It was said that, like children mimicking a parent, disciples often become mirrors of their master.

The corners of Shen Tao’s lips curled upwards, but he shook his head and set the cup down after downing the tea in a single gulp. “As much as I want to brag on my disciples, we’ll have to save that conversation for another day. Your companions are here.” His smile suddenly dropped and his eyes took on a fierce light.

“What’s wrong?” Taryn turned and saw his grandmother and the twins being accosted by four men, while another dozen men surrounded them. The presence of the twelve men removed every avenue of escape they could’ve taken. The situation continued to escalate as the men drew weapons.

Taryn jolted to his feet and stormed towards his companions, his chair clattering to the ground. He heard Elder Tao’s chair slide carefully across the floor, which was followed by the sound of footsteps as the older man followed closely behind.

By the time Taryn and Shen Tao arrived, the incident had evolved into a full-blown spectacle. Villagers were gawking at the men shouting down his grandmother and the twins, who were shouting back just as loudly. But soon, the other men joined in. When they did, they drowned the voices of his companions in an onslaught of vitriol and threats.

Taryn couldn’t understand what had gone wrong. How had things escalated to the point of weapons being drawn? But as he drew closer, and the sound of his grandmother’s voice became clearer, he understood more of what caused things to get so out of hand.

An incident occurred between Wei, Yawen, and the four original men. Taryn recognized them as guests of the same inn they’d stayed in the night before. This realization brought back the memory of Wei angrily staring at the four men.

Wei is the most likely instigator. That makes this difficult; if it’d been Yawen, or Grandma, I could have relied on Wei to keep them calm while I sorted this mess out. But if he’s the one who’s pissed off, then a fight seems inevitable. And the hot-blooded women by his side will almost certainly act to protect him... If we aren’t lucky, someone could die today.

Taryn began circulating his Eco a few seconds before he reached the group. With his strength amplified by the Eco coursing through his muscles, Taryn broke through the line of men encircling his companions by shoving past them. He arrived at his grandmother’s side only a moment later but found her standing eye to eye with an androgynous young person in a purple robe.

Their shiny black hair was incredibly long, almost reaching their lower back. Two equally long braids framed their face. Golden weights hung from the end of the braids and released gentle chimes every time the person moved. They had a strong chin, but a petite nose and large yellow eyes that lacked any discernible pupil made them look somewhat elflike. And were they not a head shorter than Taryn, he may have even guessed they had some elf blood in them.

Taryn ignored the insults hurled at him by the surrounding men in favor of holding his ground against the cultivator standing before him. They were strong, a two-tone cultivator if Taryn had ever seen one.

And the elfin cultivator knew they were strong. Even when Taryn shoved his way through their formation, the purple robe cultivator didn’t flinch, only shifted their eyes to appraise him. They glanced away after a moment, their face practically shouting how boring they found the whole situation.

“Is everyone okay?” Taryn asked his companions.

“We’re fine. It’s these idiots that have the problem.” His grandmother snorted in derision, not bothering to unfold her arms from beneath her chest. “So, they had a little scrap with the twins. Who cares? They were the ones throwing their weight around, being rude to everyone they came across.”

“Be that as it may, I’m afraid it’s a matter of pride. Your people harmed some of mine; I would like compensation. Ten Jade coins to purchase medicinal herbs for their bruises, and we will be on our way,” the purple-robed cultivator said, their voice low but definitely feminine. “I will also endeavor to instruct my men on the do’s and don’ts of polite society. But I ask you to forgive them this once. Many of them were raised in the mountains and do not know any better.”

The four men from the inn quieted down at the declaration that they too would be punished for their participation in the incident. The men surrounding them also stopped shouting and lowered their heads submissively. It was obvious none of them wanted to contradict her—which was further evidence that even though the muscle-bound man at the back looked to be the leader, she was the one who was actually in charge.

“You’ll really let us go for ten coins?” Taryn bluntly asked. He didn’t believe for a second that it would be that simple. Throughout the Mourner’s life, he had seen countless situations just like this. And few of them ended with both sides satisfied; it was inevitable someone would throw a punch. The question became, who would throw the first punch?

“I have no desire to swear on my ancestor’s name for such a paltry reason. But on my name as Wanijima Rei, I give you my word,” the woman said immediately.

Despite being openly questioned, she showed no signs of hostility. In fact, she barely showed any emotion at all. Her eyes maintained the same aloof stare she’d had when Taryn first arrived on the scene, and he hadn’t seen so much as a flicker of anything resembling interest enter her eyes.

Taryn stared at her a moment longer, then slowly slid his eyes to the side. He caught his grandmother’s eye and nodded his head. Fan Shun’s face fell and she grumbled under her breath. She reached into a pouch tied to her belt and pulled out an assortment of different colored Jade coins to give the woman.

“Thank you for giving me some face,” the woman replied while accepting the coins Fan Shun was dumping into her hand. Her face gave the impression she was anything but thankful, but Taryn thought that may have been just the way she was.

She still hadn’t lost her aloof expression, though Taryn thought he noticed a twinge of gratitude in her voice. Admittedly, that may have just been his imagination.

The woman calmly turned and began walking towards the wall of men surrounding them. As if they were afraid to touch her, the men scrambled to get out of her way before she reached them. And only after she was some fifteen feet past them, did the group move. Almost as one, the men formed a pair of single file lines and trailed after Wanijima Rei.

The four men from the inn cast dirty looks their way, lingering especially on Wei, but even they got moving before the group could get more than a dozen feet away. Three of them joined the end of the lines, while the largest man in the group made his way to the front and began walking alongside the woman.

Once they were gone, a collective sigh passed through Taryn’s group. Wei and Yawen tried to hide it, but their pale faces gave away how shaken they were. Not that Taryn could blame them; even Fan Shun looked slightly pale after that. It would be more surprising if they were perfectly fine.

The villagers, who’d been standing around and gawking until now, chose that moment to leave. Taryn could hear some of them grumbling about wishing the whole thing had erupted into one big fight—to which Taryn could only shake his head and thank the divines that wasn’t what happened.

“You lot sure have some bad luck. Which divine did you piss off in a past life?” Elder Tao chuckled as he joined Taryn and the others. Despite the gravity of what they had just gone through, the elder looked blasé about the whole experience.

“You know them?” Taryn quietly asked. He took another glance in the woman’s direction, but she had already turned the corner at the end of the road. Only the tail end of her entourage remained in sight, and even they would soon disappear from view.

“Wanijima Rei? Yeah, I know her. They aren’t directly in the line of succession, but she’s a member of the royal family. And her uncle, Wanijima Shihi, is a fellow elder of the Silver Crown Sect. It’s odd to see her around here. I didn’t think she came this far south,” he added as an afterthought.

“She always so—”

“Aloof?” Elder Tao nodded, already knowing what Taryn was going to ask. “Yes, it’s a shame, really. She used to be such a cheerful girl…” He trailed off, not willing to say any more. He turned to them with a slight smile on his face and bowed politely. “I’ll be taking my leave of you now. Taryn, if you change your mind or just want to talk, I’ll be at that restaurant tomorrow morning from the eighth hour to the ninth hour. The Diplopoda will depart at the thirteenth hour. Have a pleasant night, Lady Shun, and you two as well,” he finished with a dip of his head.

The three of them said their own goodbyes to Elder Tao. Their voices were full of gratitude and happiness—but that vanished almost immediately after he was out of earshot. The three of them rounded on Taryn with suspicious glares, and questions at the ready.

Taryn laughed nervously and scratched at the back of his head. He was positive this night was going to feel like it lasted an eternity.

Chapter Nineteen

Taryn sat on his bed. The mattress was thin, and he could feel the wooden frame beneath it. But it was better than the mat he slept on growing up.

The rooms they rented at the Giant’s Rest inn were just large enough for two beds, two nightstands, and an armoire beside the door. Aside from the places covered by furniture, there was a six-foot by three-foot rectangle of open space in the center of the room.

Sitting across from him on the opposite bed were Fan Shun, Yawen, and Wei. The three were anxiously awaiting his promised explanation. Though Yawen and Wei tried to feign disinterest, they were both horrible actors.

Fan Shun didn’t pretend. In fact, Taryn had the distinct impression that if his answer didn’t satisfy her, she was likely to smack him into the next season. And Eco or no Eco, his grandmother could knock him through the wall without effort.

The silence spread throughout the room and was quickly becoming uncomfortable; Taryn wasn’t sure what to say. Nor did he know what they would accept.

Should he tell them the truth?

Or should he lie?

There wasn’t a right answer to his dilemma. And the Mourner’s experience was of no use in this situation.

Honestly, for someone who was supposed to have known everything about what Taryn shouldn’t do, the Mourner knew very little about people and how to interact with them. Since he was one of the few true isolationist cultivators.

In the end, Taryn decided that if he were going to continue traveling with them, the best thing he could do was tell them the truth and let them decide what they wanted to do from there.

“Eight years from now, someone is going to find a cave inside the Canyon of Lost Giants. At the end of this cave is a portal to a sacred realm, supposedly home to a treasure once owned by an ancient cultivator,” Taryn explained slowly, carefully considering each word he said.

“How do you know?” his grandmother asked. “Did… Did Iddrai tell you?” Though she had mentioned Iddrai, Taryn was sure that was only for the twins’ benefit. She was well aware of the Mourner’s existence and knew Taryn often got information directly from him.

Taryn opened his mouth to agree… but he couldn’t get the words out. The twins may have not been there for him growing up, but since leaving Haven City, they had proven to be reliable companions.

Taryn trusted them with his life, and, if he were being honest with himself, he considered them friends. They had earned his trust. Wasn’t it time he told them the truth?

“No,” he said, steeling himself for the conversation that was to follow. “This information comes from the Mourner.”

“Who?” Wei asked. He was smiling at the name, almost like he thought Taryn was joking. “Sounds like a name a twelve-year-old came up with. Are you sure they can be trusted?”

“His naming sense aside, yes, the Mourner can be trusted. As for who he is, that’s complicated. I guess you could say he was my master.”

“He’s from Haven City?” Yawen asked. She had never heard of this “Mourner” character. And as the former Princess of the Qiao clan, she was aware of every cultivator above the body refining stage.

“Yes. I met him—well, let’s just say I’ve known him my whole life. It’s thanks to him that I have knowledge of the future,” Taryn explained in a quiet voice. “Before he… died, the Mourner used a technique to impart all of his knowledge on me.”

“How come I’ve never heard of him?” Yawen asked, her voice closer than he was expecting. When he looked up, he saw she’d moved to sit beside Fan Shun—which meant she was now directly in front of Taryn.

“The Mourner didn’t like people knowing about him,” Taryn said. He couldn’t help the slight curving of his lips as he thought back to his own childhood in Haven City, and how he desperately tried to remain unnoticed. “The Mourner was a man of many regrets. He once told me he didn’t want me to feel the same things he felt, to know what it was like to lose everything you’d ever cared about. So before he died, he made sure that I would have the knowledge to prepare for the future.”

“He taught you to look into the future? I’m sorry, Taryn. I find that very hard to believe.” Yawen shook her head and let out a sigh. Wei piped up from behind her, announcing that he also found the claim dubious.

Taryn started explaining everything he knew about the cave, the people involved, and how long they had until someone else found it. The entire explanation took about thirty minutes, and when he was done, Fan Shun, Yawen, and Wei all seemed to be in deep contemplation.

Time for the final push. “I don’t have any way to prove what I say. And no, I don’t possess the ability to see the future. What he saw is only one possibility, and as things change, his knowledge will become less useful. All I know are the things he showed me.” Taryn paused, realizing that maybe there was a way to prove what he knew.

He reached into his bag and withdrew the journal. He opened it to the first passage he’d ever read from the Mourner’s journal and turned it to face them. A minute went by as everyone, even Fan Shun, read to themselves. Once they were done, Taryn snapped the journal shut and placed it on the bed next to him.

“As you can probably tell, this journal belonged to the Mourner. He gave it to me to prepare for the future. But I don’t need it.” He grabbed the journal and held it out to Yawen, who looked at it as if she thought it would bite her. “Take it, please.”

She hesitated for a moment before slowly reaching out and taking the book from his hand. “What am I supposed to do with it?” she asked while staring down at the hole in the cover. Taryn had once guessed a knife made that hole. He was half right, The truth was, the journal once saved the Mourner from being impaled by a falling stalactite.

The stalactite in question was actually the spear of a Goliath: a race of stone humanoids from the Northern continent. Had the Mourner not kept his journal inside a breast pocket, his heart would’ve been ripped out that day.

Taryn looked down at his feet. “I want you to burn it,” he muttered. “I’ve been pondering this for a while, so don’t think I haven’t considered what I’m saying. That journal is dangerous, if it falls into the wrong hands…” He left his words hanging, certain they would understand.

“But—don’t you need it?” she stammered. “If this was something your master left for you, shouldn’t you keep it?”

“I’m sure he’d understand my reasoning,” Taryn replied, shaking his head. “Besides, he used a technique to make me absorb his knowledge. Everything important I should know is already inside my head. The journal contains the results of his research. I can’t rely on it forever. If I truly want to understand Eco, the only way is for me to create a journal of my own. One filled with my own findings and research, not borrowed from my master,” Taryn said, his voice somber.

Yawen stared down at the book in her hands, then shifted her gaze to Fan Shun. She was hoping the older woman would help her, tell her she didn’t need to do it. But Fan Shun merely grunted her acceptance and motioned for her to get on with it.

Yawen glanced back at her brother as if to say, “Help me out here,” but Wei wasn’t even paying attention to the conversation. He was too busy playing with the new weapon Taryn bought him. Though it appeared to be a metal rod approximately a foot in length, with the push of a button, the rod opened into a large fan with the symbol for wind engraved on the outside.

Wei was giddy with excitement as he repeatedly opened and closed the fan. He even attempted to throw it into the air and catch it with a flourish, but that ended with the fan bouncing off his finger and ricocheting off the wall.

The crash it made when it hit the floor caused everyone to flinch. They slowly turned their heads to find Wei nonchalantly picking the fan up and tucking it away inside his robe. “Sorry. It slipped,” he said, chuckling nervously.

Yawen rolled her eyes and looked down at the book. She hated to admit it, but her brother’s frivolity had lightened the mood significantly. Everyone was either too exasperated or amused with his antics to bother feeling bad about the journal.

Yawen sighed deeply. The Eco gathered in her hand began clinging to the journal. Over the following seconds, more and more Eco clung to the leather cover until—*whoosh*—the paper inside ignited. The fire created pitch black smoke that billowed upwards to the ceiling.

Yawen figured it would take a few minutes for the journal to burn completely. But to her—and everyone else’s—surprise, the journal turned to ash in only thirty seconds.

The ashes fell to the floor without a sound, which seemed somehow wrong; Taryn thought it’d make at least some noise when it vanished. After all, the journal was the most heavily scripted item he’d ever laid eyes on. Didn’t that give it cause to fizzle, at least?

“Taryn, why are you telling us this now?” Yawen asked. It was a good question, one Taryn had been expecting.

“I’m tired of hiding secrets. Everyone in this room has risked their life for me at some point. It’s only fair that I tell you the truth of what you’re signing up for by going after the sacred realm with me. I’ll understand if any of you don’t want to travel with me anymore. And I’ve already spoken to Elder Tao; he’s said we could ride north on the Diplopoda with him if we want, so…”

“Stop acting so pitiful. You’re not fooling anyone, brat,” Fan Shun snorted. “You just want to keep the treasure for yourself. Honestly, how could you even think you could get rid of me so easily?” she said in a light tone. She was joking, that much was obvious, but her words still brought a smile to Taryn’s face.

“Well, I certainly have no desire to ditch you after everything we’ve been through,” Wei said. “Whether you meant to or not, Taryn, you gave me a second chance to live my life. Were it not for you and Elder Shun, I probably would’ve died in those ruins. And if not there, certainly when Haven City was attacked. The way I see it, the universe wanted me dead, and you saved me. Now you’re stuck with me,” Wei finished with a mischievous grin on his face—a grin that was wiped away when little Yi leaped out of nowhere and landed on Wei’s head.

Not even bothered by the sudden assault on his head, Wei reached into his bag and pulled out a handful of purple berries, each one about the size of a fingertip. Little Yi jumped at the treats and began eating them right there on the bed.

Taryn stared at the little rodent with a mix of confusion and wonderment on his face. He’d forgotten all about the creature since he hadn’t seen it in a few weeks. “Where did he come from?” Taryn unknowingly asked what was also on Fan Shun’s and Yawen’s minds.

“Hmm? Oh, little Yi? He comes and goes whenever he feels like it. I think most of the time he hangs out nearby, but mostly he keeps to himself. He also really enjoys sleeping in my robe, so if he’s not out wandering around, he’s probably asleep in my pocket,” Wei explained. He was giving the others a look that said he thought it was obvious. but Wei’s explanation only confused Taryn more.

“It’s just… I haven’t noticed him. No offense, little Yi—I thought you had stayed behind in the forest.”

“Well, that’s no surprise,” Wei laughed. “Show them what you can do, little Yi” He urged the little rodent away from the handful of fruits he hadn’t eaten yet. Little Yi gazed longingly at the fruit, but at Wei's insistence, little Yi’s shoulders sagged, and he took a few steps forward.

When he reached the center of the bed, he gazed back at the fruit with the saddest eyes Taryn had ever seen—then it vanished.

Taryn had been watching the entire thing. Even so, he barely understood what happened. Little Yi’s body sparkled with a golden light that started from a speck at the center of his chest, then the light exploded outwards and consumed little Yi’s body.

After about twenty seconds, during which only Wei wasn’t terribly confused, one of the fruits levitated. It lifted about seven inches off the bed, and piece by piece it vanished into oblivion.

Wei found the entire situation amusing. It wasn’t often that he knew something that his genius sister, the prodigious Elder Shun, and the terrifyingly smart Taryn didn’t know first.

“I found a bestiary in one bookshelf aboard the Diplopoda. It contained a passage on little Yi’s race: He’s a starlight mouse. His kind specializes in using Eco to warp light around themselves, rendering them invisible to the naked eye. I’m not sure how he ended up in the ruins. The book said his kind lives in plains and dry forests, neither of which can be found around Haven City.”

“It’s possible they were migrating back north after the winter and little Yi and his parents fell in,” Taryn guessed. The Mourner knew of starlight mice. They got their name due to the way their coat sparkled like stars in the night sky before they used their ability. The problem was, the Mourner had never seen one in person, nor were pictures of them widely available. Some collectors may have a sketch or two, but he guessed most people wouldn’t know what they looked like either.

With little Yi’s presence explained somewhat—it was nowhere near to Taryn’s satisfaction, and he fully planned to research it as much as he could the next time he had access to the Diplopoda—everyone turned their attention to Yawen.

She was sitting quietly, with her eyes fixed on the floor. Taryn was curious what her answer would be, but he didn’t want to rush her. It was up to her whether to go with them, or to make her own way… Or so it should have been. But with her brother and Fan Shun both agreeing to continue traveling with Taryn, Yawen would be alone if she stayed.

Part of Taryn felt guilty. Because he’d gotten the others’ answers first, he was basically forcing Yawen to continue journeying with him or be abandoned. And none of them wanted to leave her behind, so even if she said no, Wei would eventually convince her to come with them.

Was it manipulative? Yes. But Taryn didn’t care. He wanted Yawen to come—possibly even more now than when they first left Haven City. Since fusing with the Mourner, he now knew what true heartbreak felt like. And what he’d experienced after discovering her relationship with Gao Feng—it seemed like nothing in comparison.

Horrible taste in men aside, Taryn considered her a friend; the sacred realm could help all of them take several huge steps in the right direction. And with her talent, that’s all she would need to find her way forward.

“Doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice,” Yawen grumbled. Though she was grumbling, Taryn was pleased to note that she had a slight smile on her face.

We’re going to keep traveling together—all of us. Good.

“I promise, you will not regret this,” Taryn said excitedly. “I’ll use everything I know to make you strong. We’ll take every treasure the Mourner knew about, capture every opportunity the divines throw our way. And I won’t stop until the four of us are the most powerful cultivators this world has ever known.”

Taryn looked at the others’ faces. He saw excitement, fear, but above all, he saw the same thing that drove every cultivator: a desire to stand at the top of the world and earn the right to be called an immortal.

Chapter Twenty

When Taryn and the others awoke the next morning, Rala’s light had yet to color the morning sky. However, they hadn’t planned to wake up this early, instead; an insistent pounding on their doors awoke them from their peaceful dreams.

Emerging from the first room was a sleepy-looking Taryn, while an irritable Fan Shun emerged from the second. As the rooms were across from each other, when the two emerged they found themselves face-to-face with eight armed soldiers. They were wearing mismatched armor, but it was clear from their appearance and general demeanor that they were guards of the village.

“Yes?” Taryn asked, speaking up for the both of them. He wasn’t sure what was going on. Nothing they’d done should’ve warranted a visit from the village guard.

“We’ve been asked to deliver these to you.” The oldest looking soldier of the bunch was the one who’d spoken. At his prompting, another soldier stepped forward and passed a small scroll into Taryn’s waiting hand.

The parchment was yellowed, but it didn’t seem to be old. Rather, it looked like the color resulted from the manufacturing process. The entire scroll was only five inches wide, and when unfurled it was slightly over a foot long.

“Due to general misconduct the following persons are required to leave the city by no later than the sixteenth hour of the day this notice was issued. Reentry will not be granted until the first day of the following season: Greenwilt.

Failure to comply will result in a fine of no less than ten thousand Jade coins and one year of forced labor in the Jade mines.

So says the three hundred and eighty-second Mayor of Notch Canyon: Tokko Sang-Chul.”

Taryn stared at the scroll. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing; they were being kicked out for general misconduct? Granted, the punishment wasn’t severe. They were planning on leaving in a few hours anyway, and they could return at the beginning of next season. But why were they issued a notice in the first place?

“I know what you’re thinking, but this happens more frequently than I would like to admit,” the oldest soldier began. He seemed apologetic, but Taryn didn’t know him well enough to know if it was sincere. “What you’ve been issued is a simple warning, nothing more. Notch Canyon does not tolerate troublemakers of any kind. And as we speak, the same warning is being given to the four men involved in this conflict. They were given the same restrictions as you, so please, do not think we are being unfair.”

“This is because of the fight?” Fan Shun asked. Most of her irritation had faded away after the explanation, though she still seemed tense. Not that Taryn could blame her. He was also cautious of the weapons the soldiers carried on them, and their sheer numbers meant they would have the advantage if they wanted to cause trouble.

“Yes, ma’am. As I said, Notch Canyon does not tolerate troublemakers of any kind. Therefore, we collect your identity at the gate, and all inns and businesses are required by village law to keep a log of everyone who uses their services. You all had to sign your names at every store you went to, yes?” he asked and waited for their answers. By now, Taryn, Fan Shun, Yawen, and Wei had all stepped into the hallway. So when he asked for a yes or no, he received four simultaneous nods in return.

“Villagers are also strongly encouraged to report any misconduct to a soldier, and provide proof with the log. This incident was reported by a certain individual yesterday afternoon, and the mayor signed your eviction notice before the twenty-second hour, to be delivered as soon as possible. Please do not think low of us, but this is how we keep the peace in our small village. We ask that you follow our laws and leave as soon as you can. I would prefer if I didn’t have to see the four of you again until next season.” The moment he finished speaking, the soldiers all bowed courteously to the group, then quietly filed out of the hallway to avoid disturbing the other guests.

“I think that was the most polite ‘get the hell out’ I’ve ever heard,” Taryn said, still utterly confused by the situation. They were soldiers, honest to the divines trained cultivators. Such guards weren’t supposed to be polite. The guards back in Haven City would sometimes beat people more severely than the criminals would.

“I don’t have to think. I know it was. And I’m assuming since they didn’t say the old woman’s name, they also care about the anonymity of their witnesses,” Fan Shun said. The whole experience also left her flabbergasted. Back in her younger years, she had more than her fair share of run-ins with Haven City guards. She knew for a fact, they had never been that nice.

“So what do we do now?” Yawen asked around a yawn. Her eyes were puffy and slightly red from rubbing them, and her hair looked like a bird’s nest. She was clearly exhausted, but even she looked better than Wei, who snored while leaning against the wall. He’d fallen asleep almost as soon as the guards began walking away.

Taryn smiled as he saw little Yi poke his fuzzy head out of the collar of Wei’s robe. Wei was right, the little rodent loved sleeping there. It was no wonder he never saw the thing.

“We were planning on leaving today anyway. I don’t think we should change our plans; we’ll rendezvous with Shen Tao at the restaurant Taryn was at yesterday, and we’ll travel with him afterwards.” Fan Shun said. She reached above her head and stretched until Taryn and the twins heard her spine pop. Fan Shun sighed at the relief and yawned.

“I vote for a few more hours of sleep,” Yawen said while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “Rala hasn’t entered the sky yet, so we still have several hours before Elder Tao will arrive at the restaurant.” Taryn and Fan Shun muttered their agreements before turning to head back into their rooms.

On the way, Taryn took the sleeping Wei’s arm and escorted him back to bed. The taller man collapsed into a kneeling position almost as soon as he was next to it, his head landing on the mattress. Taryn grabbed him by the belt of his robe and lifted his butt onto the bed.

Wei curled into a fetal position while he slept. Taryn watched with amusement as little Yi crawled out of Wei’s collar and snuggled against his chin.

Taryn smiled while dropping onto his own bed and folding his legs in front of him. Despite saying he wanted to get more sleep, Taryn wasn’t actually sleepy. The Mourner had adjusted to only three hours of sleep a night when he was Taryn’s age, and Taryn was attempting to adopt the same sleep pattern.

More hours awake meant more hours he could spend cultivating. And as his core grew stronger, Taryn would need less sleep, anyway. The energy would rejuvenate his body far more efficiently than sleep; he just needed to increase his Eco intake by one point five times to take advantage of it. From the fourth tone onward,- cultivating for one hour at such a rate would be the equivalent of two hours of sleep. And one day, he could theoretically stop sleeping altogether. Though, as the Mourner learned, that also came with its own problems. Namely the pure, unadulterated, boredom that comes from being awake twenty-eight hours a day. You wouldn’t think much of it at first, the novelty of cultivating around-the-clock could keep you focused. But gradually, it would become less satisfying. Eventually, sleeping would become a novelty. That’s why a lot of the old monsters the Mourner knew about put themselves in a state of suspended animation while cultivating for long periods of time.

Of course, by the time a cultivator reached that point, they could no longer be called human. Their bodies didn’t require food or water; Eco sustained them completely. So they could afford to lock themselves in a cave or coffin for hundreds, even thousands of years without worry.

For such cultivators, sleep was often the only thing keeping them sane.

I remember there was an old monster that was supposed to leave isolated cultivation around this time. I wonder if he’s woken up yet? Taryn was reminded of an imposing man with a flair for the dramatic, and an obsessive love for animal fur.

The man’s name was Jin Natsu, though he was more widely known as the “Wise Jackal.” The man had made something of a name for himself a few thousand years ago for traveling around the globe skinning mythical beasts for their furs and leather, which he supposedly turned into armor.

In the Mourner’s life, Jin Natsu woke up when Taryn was eighteen. Seeing how much the world had changed, Jin went on a rampage around the capital and drove many clans and noble families to extinction for offending him.

Taryn never learned exactly how they offended him, and the Jackal had never mentioned it the few times they met. But Taryn was sure of one thing: When the Jackal woke up, a massive change would occur in the Eastern continent.

Taryn sucked in a breath and began cultivating. He could see his channels and cores clearly in his mind’s eye. They were pulsing in time with his heart, and the dark blue light shone from within, its rays interwoven with strands of gold.

Though his cores were both stable, he hadn’t quite made it to the spirit rising stage yet. His body still needed refining, to cleanse his bones, enhance his muscles, and remove any impurities within his body. Only once that was done, would Taryn move on to the spirit rising stage. Though most didn’t know it, the point of the spirit rising stage was to obtain some level of “enlightenment” in the way of Eco.

After obtaining that enlightenment, your body could truly accept Eco as not just an outside force, but an integral part of yourself. The Mourner had already achieved that enlightenment in his life, so Taryn wondered if he would have to obtain his own form of enlightenment or if he would skip the spirit rising stage altogether.

* * *

The group met up with Shen Tao at the eighth hour as planned. The elder was back to wearing the fur-lined robe they were used to, which made Taryn wonder why he’d been wearing such fancy attire the day before.

The elder was openly pleased to see them and attempted to buy a round of tea for everyone. His face fell when Fan Shun explained the notice they received that morning. He was disappointed they couldn’t join him, but offered to guide them to the Diplopoda, anyway.

“No, stay and enjoy your tea. We’ll board the Diplopoda on our own and see you aboard later this afternoon.” Taryn waved him off. He was almost positive the elder was only putting on a show of looking disappointed—which was made even harder to believe after Taryn noticed a slight curving of his lips at the mention of tea.

He may be disappointed we won’t join him, but he’s certainly happy we declined his offer to lead us. Now he gets to stay behind and enjoy his drink in peace, while we have to load everything on board. Taryn smirked as they walked away. He cast one final glance over his shoulder at the elder. Shen Tao hadn’t even looked their way. His attention was focused solely on the steaming cup in front of him.

“Was he always such a tea fanatic?” Taryn wondered aloud. He received a confused look from the others, which prompted him to explain his interactions with Shen Tao over the last two days.

“Now that you mention it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him drink anything but tea…” Fan Shun trailed off as she considered her opinion of the Silver Crown elder. “I think he is a fanatic. I distinctly remember him going on a rant after the physician brought me a cup of tea with breakfast. He was angry that the leaves were ‘subpar’ and had her make the entire pot again. Personally, I thought the tea was delicious. He didn’t seem to agree.”

Taryn and the twins grew thoughtful at the idea of the kind Elder Tao yelling at someone over tea, of all things. They had known him as a powerful cultivator, a wise leader, and a good man besides. It was actually comforting to know that even someone of his stature had something odd about them.

As the four made their way towards the village gate, Taryn observed the villagers more than he had when they first arrived. He saw several women with massive vases filled with water strapped to their backs. Each vase had to weigh several hundred pounds, yet the women walked without a sign of strain and chatted amiably among themselves.

He saw heavily muscled men carrying pickaxes and other heavy-looking tools both towards and away from the mines. These men were no doubt laborers, and they had trained their bodies to the point they could swing those tools all day without stopping to rest.

Of course, there were also male and female couriers running to and fro. Thanks to long hours of running, they developed lean muscles that seemed small when compared to laborers but were no less defined. And none of them seemed confined to the roads; in fact, many of them were running across rooftops as if they were personal roads designed only for couriers.

One such man sprinted past their group at speeds Taryn would struggle to match even if he shifted beforehand. The courier spun around a woman carrying a vase and dashed between two large laborers before finally giving up and jumping at the side of the building. His fingers latched onto a window frame and from there he muscled his way to the top of the building, before finally disappearing from Taryn’s sight.

You couldn’t see sights like that back in Haven City. Taryn chuckled. Many in Haven City subscribed to the belief that they didn’t need to cultivate beyond the core forming stage. Many of these people were the same; it was only the finish line that had changed.

As the Mourner, Taryn knew the number of people who actually trained beyond the first tone were few.

That’s not to say there were no cultivators. The Eastern continent alone likely possessed tens of millions of actively training cultivators. But Aurelia had a population numbering in the billions. When compared to such an overwhelming number, what is a few tens of millions?

Many of the villagers Taryn saw going about their day were fit, but it was the muscle structure one got from physical labor, rather than conscious training. There were a surprising number of villagers who were overweight, and this distinction didn’t apply to solely men or women. The number seemed about sixty/forty in the men’s favor.

Even if they began training now, many of them would never have the Eco capacity to reach the top echelons. The amount of Eco the body contained was a direct correlation to the physical condition of the body. The healthier someone was, the more channels their body could hold and the more Eco they could contain.

And as Fan Shun learned, both the Eco channels and the core need constant maintenance. Neglecting cultivation for long periods of time would eventually cause the channels to waste away, and if too much time passed, the cultivator would lose the ability to cultivate forever—or if they were really unlucky, they would die.

Taryn imagined the villagers knew this. How could they not? Their answer to the problem was most likely setting aside time to perform Eco circulation on a weekly basis. This would allow them to maintain the benefits of having Eco in their bodies, while avoiding the risks of a neglected Eco core.

A pair of soldiers stopped the group at the gate. Just like when they’d first entered, the soldier asked them their name, clan, and what sect they were a part of. This information was used to match their names to those recorded entering. After confirming that the four had entered the city through official channels, the soldiers stepped aside and bid them goodbye with pleasant smiles on their faces.

Taryn led his grandmother and the twins through the large portcullis without issue. The four saw the Diplopoda waiting for them in the distance and picked up the pace. As they walked, Wei and Yawen brought up the idea of beast hunting in the forest while they waited for Elder Tao to return. Taryn and Fan Shun glanced at each other and an unspoken conversation passed between them.

“Are you interested?” Taryn asked with his eyes.

“Am I interested in standing around watching while you three hunt? No thanks,” she replied with an exasperated look. She hiked her bag higher onto her shoulder, then silently held out her hand towards Taryn, who promptly handed her his bag and turned towards the forest.

There was some commotion behind him as the twins handed over their bags to his grumbling grandmother. Taryn heard a pair of footsteps approaching from behind a moment later, and a glance back confirmed that it was Yawen and Wei. They wore matching looks of excitement while tightly holding their new weapons.

Wei casually used his fan to cool himself while he walked. Yawen held her sword at her side, her thumb resting against the circular guard.

Yawen’s sword was the only weapon Taryn didn’t grab out of the bargain barrel. He’d seen it on the wall behind the counter and immediately pictured Yawen using it. While he had bought it on a whim, the blade fit her very well.

The curved sword was three feet long, but weighed only two and a half pounds. This was because they did not make the blade of steel. Rather, it was made from the claw of a dire wolf—the same creature whose core formed the base of Taryn’s shifting ability.

Sadly, the blade was the only exceptional thing about the sword. The hilt was carved from one of the trees surrounding the city, and the scabbard was extremely simple, with no extra scripts or designs to be found.

Even so, Yawen had accepted the gift for what it was—an apology for how he’d been acting since they’d left Haven City. Taryn was worried she wouldn’t accept it because of how awkward things were between them, but it proved to be a false concern. She’d accepted it with a smile and murmured, “Thank you.”

She looked so sincere when she accepted it, she even made me nervous. Taryn scratched at the back of his head and sighed to himself.

They had almost reached the forest now, and Taryn knew he could no longer allow himself to get distracted. The forest was the territory of Eco beasts, and though they may have been smaller than the creatures Taryn saw in the Mokan Forest, one misstep would still end with their death.

Taryn unfastened his new weapon from his back but didn’t remove the cloth covering it. The nearly five-foot-long weapon had a circumference of twenty-five inches at one end, while the other end was much thinner at only five inches. It weighed nearly thirty pounds, but thanks to the Eco coursing throughout his body, it felt light as a feather.

Taryn gave it a few practice swings. Moving it in a constant circular motion to maintain momentum, Taryn swung it three times to get a feel for the weight. Satisfied with how it felt in his hands, Taryn nodded and reattached it to his back.

“New toy or are you just overcompensating for something?” Wei laughed. Taryn narrowed his eyes but maintained the grin on his face. He was eager to try out his weapon, and he would not let Wei’s sense of humor ruin it for him.

“Please. Do I look like someone who needs to overcompensate for anything? Besides, with my looks, who could resist?” Taryn replied, his tone light and his eyes full of amusement.

“Is that why that receptionist said you reminded her of her six-year-old brother?” Wei shot back. Taryn’s eyes went wide, and he stumbled on a root in surprise. He hadn’t realized Wei had been listening to his conversation with Wu Sohyon.

“Hey, Wu Sohyon said my excitement reminded her of her younger brother, not my appearance,” Taryn replied. He hadn’t actually cared what Sohyon thought of him, but it was the principle of the matter. He did not look like a six-year-old.

The banter between Taryn and Wei continued for several minutes. Unbeknownst to Taryn, when he’d said Sohyon’s name, Yawen had glanced back at him with a strange light in her eyes.

Chapter Twenty-One

The following is an excerpt from the Mourner’s journal.

* * *

What is a guardian?

Legends say a guardian is a holy beast. One chosen by Eco itself, to safeguard Aurelia from those who would do it harm. The truth of where these “guardians” come from is a mystery many cultivators long to unravel.

As a general rule, guardians are not aggressive creatures by nature. Most of them simply long to eke out their existences in isolation. Though this isn’t always the case. The monkey guardian is a well-known trickster and is often found near the capital city. It loves playing pranks on the cultivators living in and around its mountain home.

The Eastern continent is also home to twelve other guardians. And all thirteen of them are tyrannical existences in their territories. Such territories can often stretch for thousands of miles. The Eco beasts living within those territories obey the guardian without question, and many will proactively attack anything that comes close to the guardian’s home.

The known guardians for the Eastern continent are the tyrant hound, playful monkey, hungry serpent, invincible Ox, lazy rooster, monarch spider, benevolent dragon, vitality ant, noble cat, gentle turtle, wise squid, blood-soaked fish, and the enduring tree.

But the Eastern continent is not unique in possessing guardians. The Central continent has eight guardians, the Northern continent has four guardians, the Southern continent has twenty-six guardians, and the Western continent has ten guardians.

So, what is a guardian? Is it a divine beast, chosen by Eco to protect Aurelia?

If so, that leads to a much more serious question: If these tyrannical existences were necessary for the continued survival of Aurelia—what are they protecting it from?

* * *

Taryn and the twins returned to the Diplopoda with nothing but disappointment. The resident beasts had practically abandoned the nearby forest; aside from a few birds, and thriving ant mounds, they didn’t glimpse another creature.

They climbed through one of the open segments near the head of the Diplopoda and began making their way to their old compartment. They passed many workers and refugees along the way, and though they received a few strange looks from the refugees, none of the workers seemed surprised to see them—which was no doubt thanks to Elder Tao telling them they were coming beforehand.

And because he had warned the crew they were coming, when Taryn and the twins arrived at their compartment door, they found it already prepared for them. The workers had placed new blankets on the mattress and swept the floor clean, and a subtle citrusy scent permeated the air.

Fan Shun was waiting for them inside the compartment. She’d already unpacked her bag and stored her new sword beside the metal box. By the time Taryn and the twins arrived, Fan Shun was in the middle of reading a borrowed textbook. “Find anything?” she asked without looking up.

“Not a thing,” Wei glumly muttered. He explained how boring their trip had been while Taryn and Yawen put away their weapons and unpacked the bags Fan Shun carried with her.

In response to Wei’s in-depth breakdown of their boring hunting trip, Fan Shun made noises when appropriate and nodded her head sympathetically—but she never once looked up from her book.

“What are you reading?” Taryn asked as he sat down beside her. She was making no effort to hide the book from his sight, so he helped himself and started reading. “You’re… reading a geography book?” Taryn asked, amazed that she was willingly reading what she normally referred to as a “mind-numbing waste of a tree.”

“Not the whole book. Just the chapter dedicated to the Canyon of lost giants. I figured since we were going inside, it would be a good idea to know what we were getting into.”

“That’s a good idea, Grandma. Just be careful you don’t overwork that old brain of yours. Remember, if you smell smoke—” he ducked as she swatted at him and quickly moved out of arm’s reach.

“My brain is in much better shape than yours. At least people don’t confuse me for a six-year-old,” Fan Shun said, still not looking away from her textbook. Her words caused Taryn’s eyes to widen reflexively. He quickly grabbed at his heart and made a pain sound, like someone had shot an arrow through his chest.

How many people knew about that!? “You told her too?” Taryn shouted at Wei. He quickly deposited his dagger in the metal box then chased after Wei, who raced out of the room while Taryn was putting away his dagger.

To avoid running into the workers and refugees, Wei made a beeline for an opening and dashed outside. Taryn was only a few steps behind him. He chased Wei through the field the Diplopoda was sitting in. Wei used his superior flexibility to dodge any swipe Taryn made, while running backwards the entire time.

Because Wei was able to make instantaneous turns and use wind Eco to enhance his jumps, Taryn quickly found himself at a disadvantage. But he wasn’t making it easy on the other man. Taryn was aggressive and refused to give Wei any room to breathe.

* * *

Yawen’s eyes twitched as she watched the boys run out of the room. She sighed quietly while glancing over at Taryn’s bag, which he hadn’t finished unpacking. His clothes were put away, but everything else was on the mattress. And her brother hadn’t even started unpacking his bag.

Honestly, it’s like they’re both children. She was exasperated. She finished unpacking her bag, then started putting away what was left of Taryn’s.

She looked at his lantern with confusion, wondering about the blank journal sitting at the bottom of the pile… and stared at a red pendant haphazardly wrapped in a square of silk. It must’ve been ancient since whatever symbol had been engraved onto the face had faded over time, or someone had scratched off. In its current state, the symbol was little more than a few raised edges.

“I’ve never seen this kind of pendant before,” Yawen said to herself. Her voice was loud enough to attract Fan Shun’s attention, and the older woman turned to see what she was muttering about. Upon seeing the pendant in Yawen’s hand, Fan Shun let out a quiet sigh of her own.

“That’s Taryn’s. I don’t think you should touch it without his permission,” she said, her voice surprising Yawen, who almost dropped the pendant by accident. Luckily, she closed her hand, snatching it before it fell. She was careful to put it back in the silk square before she returned it to where it had been.

“Where did he get it?” Yawen asked. She saw this as her chance to find out more about Taryn. The two of them had been gradually losing the awkwardness between them since leaving Haven City. But she couldn’t forget about how she’d treated him, how she’d abandoned him to hide her relationship with Gao Feng, and how—even though she knew the clans were planning to get rid of him—she didn’t warn him.

If she could go back and change things, she would smack her younger self for acting the way she did. Taryn was a good guy. A bit weird, sure. But he was kind and loyal. And he didn’t deserve the way she’d treated him. She couldn’t even blame him for being upset with her; he’d once considered her a friend, and she turned her back on him.

A fact that hurt all the more after he’d gifted her the sword.

“He was wearing that pendant the day I found him. I assumed it belonged to his parents, so I kept it for him. I gave it back to him not long before your coming-of-age quest began,” Fan Shun explained.

“The day you found him?” Yawen asked, confused. She had known Taryn was an orphan, and there were rumors that he was from outside the village. But she’d never known the truth behind why he was called Clanless, and none of the adults would tell her. They basically forbid the children from speaking on the matter.

Fan Shun sighed and closed her book. She sat on the bed beside her and turned to face Yawen. “Look, Yawen; I like you; I do. But if you want to hear this story, you’re going to hear it from Taryn.”

“But—” Fan Shun shook her head, interrupting Yawen midsentence. The younger girl started to sulk. It wouldn’t hurt anything for Fan Shun to tell the story. But she was torn, because it was Taryn’s story to tell. “All right, fine. If I want to know, I’ll go ask him.”

“Thank you.” Fan Shun nodded. She picked up her geography book and flipped through the pages until she found the canyon descriptions again. “For what it’s worth, if you just tell Taryn you want to know more about him, I think there’s a good chance he’ll tell you. Just be sure that you actually want to know before you ask. You might learn something that you’re better off not knowing.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

An unseen pressure enveloped the room. Though Fan Shun didn’t look up from her book, Yawen knew she was the cause—that it was Fan Shun’s anger she was feeling. “The clans are more pitiful than you know. Let’s leave it at that.” There was no answer no matter how many times Yawen asked. Eventually, she gave up and went back to silently unpacking.

Taryn’s bag was done. Aside from the pendant, and the blank journal, everything else was mundane—and yes, the journal was blank. Yawen couldn’t help herself and checked. But no matter which direction she flipped the pages, they were all empty. She assumed that meant Taryn did what he said he was going to and bought it to replace the journal she’d burned. Taryn said he wanted to study Eco on his own, and this journal was the first step towards that goal.

Yawen stared at the journal in her hand for a moment longer, an idea forming at the back of her mind. She glanced over at Fan Shun and found her still nose deep in the textbook, not paying her any attention at all.

Yawen turned the journal to the first page, grabbed a pencil Taryn had in his bag, and wrote a little message for him on the first page.

She closed the journal immediately after, and quickly shoved it and the pencil back into the bag. Yawen glanced up to see if Fan Shun had seen what she’d done, but the older woman was still engrossed in her textbook.

Yawen was thankful Fan Shun hadn’t been paying attention. While she had done nothing wrong, it was slightly embarrassing to get caught being nosy. And she just knew her brother would tease her about it if he ever found out.

Okay, I’ll do it. The next time I see Taryn I’ll ask him to tell me about his past. There’s nothing weird about that, right? It’s just one friend wanting to get to know another friend—

“Nooo! Not the face, please, anything but the face! That’s how I get dates!” Yawen’s eyes twitched at the sound of her brother’s voice echoing throughout the Diplopoda. Any embarrassment she was feeling from reading Taryn’s journal proved insignificant when faced with the embarrassment of having her “dear” brother’s cries reach her ears.

“What are those idiots doing!?” Yawen shouted. She raced out of the room a moment later, intent on hunting Wei and Taryn down.

Fan Shun, who was now left alone in the room, shook her head and grinned slightly. “Teenagers,” she scoffed. “It’s terrifying to think how advanced they’d be if they devoted half that energy to training.”

* * *

Gao Feng stared blankly ahead. They were once again standing in the room with the openings in the floor, and people from Haven City all wore blank expressions. They were all given the news Gao Feng had been so “kindly” given by Duan He.

The elixir baths weren’t cheap; each one cost upwards of ten four-tone Jade coins to prepare. Duan He explained that as the tone went up, it multiplied the value of the coin by ten. So, a single elixir bath cost upwards of a thousand single-tone Jade coins to produce.

Gao Feng had attempted to make as many as he could since discovering his fate. As he was right now, having used most of his liquid Eco during his fight with Yawen, Gao Feng had only made three since the battle.

If he did nothing but cultivate, forgoing sleep and other forms of training, Gao Feng could create a single drop of liquid Eco a day. I’ll die before I ever pay it back. That was what everyone in the room was thinking.

And they had to pay them back. Before putting them in the Eco baths, Duan He had ensured that all of them “signed” a contract, which said something to the effect of “If we don’t get our money back, we’ll carve out your core and sell it to recoup whatever value we can.”

But since everyone had been unconscious before being loaded into the baths, Gao Feng wondered how they could’ve signed a contract. Turns out, a drop of blood on a thumbprint also counted as a signature as far as the contract was concerned. Which was collected before they were dumped into the baths.

Duan He warned him not to try escaping. Breaking the contract might not affect him, but only because the people in Haven City would suffer in his stead. Men, women, children, young, old, it didn’t matter to them. If anyone in the room broke the contract, their family would be put to death.

And now, as proof of the contract, Gao Feng had a nice new tattoo to commemorate the occasion. The Tian clan’s symbol was even now glowing red on the back of his neck. The brighter it glowed, the more heat it exuded, which meant Gao Feng’s skin constantly ached.

He’d only had the tattoo for several days, but he was already suffering from the side effects: insomnia, overstimulation, paranoia. The tattoo was driving him mad and increasing his desire to kill Taryn.

This was his fault. All of it. And Gao Feng wasn’t the only one who thought so. Even the venerable Teng De, a man known for his kindness and generosity, wanted nothing more than to see Taryn’s head on a platter.

He’d somewhat recovered from the hole in his chest. Though a scar would always remain, he’d recovered enough muscle mass to move. However, he would always feel pain. And any attempts to speak of what happened to him were met with horrified screams and haunted eyes. The man Gao Feng had grown up respecting more than any other was now a shadow of his former self.

Teng De’s days as a cultivator were numbered now. There was no way he would ever fully recover from what Taryn did to him… which was another nail in Taryn’s coffin.

Taryn had ruined a promising cultivator’s chance at a normal life. Even if the Ukata weren’t already dead set on killing him, seeing the aftermath of what he had done to Teng De would’ve forced them to kill him. It was a matter of Teng De’s honor. They couldn’t allow some Clanless trash to get away with hurting one of their own; it would tarnish the Ukata clan’s name if they did nothing.

Gao Feng thought it odd that Duan He had been absent of late. Even now, when they were getting ready to once again assault the centipede, Duan He was nowhere to be found. Gao Feng had heard rumors that Duan He was recalled to Haven City, but he didn’t know when or why he left.

There was a new person in charge now. Gao Feng glanced over at the new “boss,” Cao Lan. The man was tall, and so thin he looked like a skeleton. Gao Feng wondered what his face looked like, but he never took off that damn cloth mask all the “elites” of the Tian clan wore.

“We are approaching now. Everyone get ready.” Cao Lan hollered to be heard over the sound of rushing wind. As always, his voice sounded like he gargled with sand. Gao Feng had to hold himself back from begging the man to drink something. His voice alone was enough to upset Gao Feng’s stomach.

Gao Feng looked down through the hole in the floor. He saw the centipede zigzagging its way through the forest at high speeds. The detail on the creature was as unreal as it had been the first time he’d seen it, and he wondered if it truly was merely a construct. Then an ear-piercing screech shook Gao Feng’s eardrums.

They dropped large, white-painted metal cylinders from somewhere in the avian transports. The oddly shaped holes that dotted each cylinder caused the screeching. Gao Feng didn’t know what the purpose of it was, maybe some kind of intimidation tactic?

When the cylinders impacted the ground they exploded. Large plumes of smoke and fire reached towards the sky, made even more impressive by the updrafts caused by the avian constructs.

The centipede was lucky; the first volley had missed it entirely, but Gao Feng knew they were preparing to launch more of the white bombs. They would continue to drop the explosive devices until they ran out, or they stopped the transport’s movement. But after two, then three more drops, the centipede still moved.

In fact, the construct seemed to be moving faster now than it had been before they dropped the first volley. The avian transports could barely keep up and the centipede was pulling away from them.

“We can’t wait anymore. Release the ropes!” the boss croaked. The other members of the Tian clan hurried to obey, fastening thick corded ropes to the floor and throwing the ends through the openings.

The last time they had done this, the transports had been merely circling above the centipede. Yet even that could cause the ropes to swing so violently, Gao Feng had almost lost his life before he even reached the ground. At this speed, Gao Feng couldn’t see the end of the rope he was supposed to hang from. It had been pushed against the underside of the transport almost immediately after they dropped it.

They don’t care if we die. They’ll just use it as an excuse to punish our families, Gao Feng scoffed. He bent down and grabbed the rope. He hadn’t even placed his weight onto it and the wind was already fighting him. It was trying to drag him into open air, where he would no doubt fall to his death.

Gao Feng swallowed his fear, choosing instead to focus on his hatred for Taryn. With the image of Taryn dead at his feet, Gao Feng dropped through the hole and began falling at breakneck speeds towards the centipede.

* * *

Taryn sprinted through the hallways of the Diplopoda. He dodged around refugees when he could. Sometimes he was even forced to leap over them when they blocked a doorway. All of this was so he could reach his compartment and retrieve his weapons.

The ground shook as heavy explosions went off to either side of the Diplopoda. Thanks to its unpredictable movement patterns, they had so far avoided the worst of the attack. But Taryn knew it was just a matter of time before they were hit by a lucky strike. After all, while the Diplopoda needed to dodge everything thrown at it, the enemies only needed to hit once.

A single one of those bombs would deal so much damage to the Diplopoda it would cripple the vessel. Once crippled, they would all be at the mercy of their attackers.

Taryn reached his compartment a few minutes after holding on through the first few explosions. Yet he was seemingly the last one to arrive; Fan Shun and the twins were already inside, strapping on their weapons and preparing for battle.

“Is everyone okay?” Taryn asked while he shoved his dagger into a sheath on his belt and strapped his new weapon to his back.

“We’re fi —” Fan Shun’s voice was cut off as a loud *boom* exploded right outside their compartment. The shock wave knocked the four of them off their feet as it tore off the compartment’s roof. Before they could regain their footing, high-speed winds and the smell of smoke buffeted their bodies, throwing them about and making it difficult to stand.

Fan Shun got her feet under her first. Taryn immediately followed her, with the twins finding their footing shortly after, the two of them standing at almost the same time.

The shrieking wind and explosions made it difficult to hear each other's voices, but after that first deafening week aboard the Diplopoda, they’d started teaching themselves to read lips. The four of them enveloped their ears with Eco muting the sound of wind—along with everything else—and spoke while enunciating each word as clearly as possible.

“I’m going to find Shen Tao! We need to find out his plans so we can help!” Fan Shun hollered, stumbling through the door. Taryn and the twins watched her go; all worried for her safety, but they couldn’t afford to stop her. Not when a single wasted second could mean the deaths of everyone aboard.

“I’m going with her! Don’t worry! I’ll make sure nothing happens!” Wei yelled.

“You better! Something happens to her, I don’t care if we’re all dead—I’m coming to haunt you!” Taryn yelled back. Wei clapped him on the shoulder as he passed, stepping into the hallway a moment later.

“I guess you’re with me?” Taryn asked Yawen. Her long silver hair whipped wildly in the wind. Her robe wasn’t much better, as it flapped violently against the wall behind her. Even so, Yawen was grinning.

“Looks that way!” Yawen yelled back. “You know, for a minute there, I thought we were going to reach the cave with no trouble. I kinda feel like I jinxed us!” she said, still smiling.

Taryn grinned back. The beast blood within was boiling, and he was itching to transform and go on a rampage. But he knew that doing so would only get him in trouble. What he needed now was not wild instinct, but careful planning.

He knew the first thing they needed to do was bring down those transports. Only then could they be sure the bombs would stop dropping.

“Taryn, look out!” Iddrai yelled. The volume and suddenness of his voice hit Taryn hard enough to disorient him. It was only a second, but when he could think again, he realized even that had been too long.

Taryn heard that awful screeching again. He hoped it would miss, but Iddrai’s worry had seeped into his mind and he began coming up with ways to protect himself and Yawen. His mind raced through ten thousand possibilities in a fraction of a second. An idea sprung to mind, and he glanced over at the metal box, still open from when they retrieved their weapons, while the screeching grew louder. Taryn looked at Yawen, only to realize that she was staring towards the sky.

He followed her eyes and saw a bomb on a direct course towards them.

At that very moment, everything seemed to slow to a crawl. Color faded from the world until only shades of gray remained.

A sudden flash of blue Eco streaked across the sky, followed seconds later by an equally brilliant streak of gold. The golden light caught up to the blue and only for a moment, the two flew parallel to one another.

As if drawn in by each other’s gravity, the Eco spiraled through the sky. Once they reached a certain distance away, the two lights turned back on themselves and headed straight for Taryn.

The Eco continued to spiral closer and closer together until they finally merged into one. The blue and gold light crashed into Taryn’s chest hard enough to knock the breath from his lungs, but he couldn’t move.

The bomb continued to draw closer with each passing second, yet Taryn’s body still refused to move. His eyes remained transfixed on the slowly descending bomb until it was less than fifty feet above them.

Taryn forced his head to turn to look at Yawen. She was staring at the sky, frozen, just as he was.

Move damn you, Taryn shouted in his mind. He could feel his fingers twitching, but his body would not move. I said move. He could feel his toes wiggle in his shoes, but he still hadn’t moved. This is my body—mine! And I say you will move, he roared inside his very soul.

His cores burned white-hot in his chest. He felt his Eco ignite. Inch by agonizing inch, he felt the fires within slowly consume his body.

Move!

Chapter Twenty-Two

Gao Feng landed on the Diplopoda’s back with a grunt of effort. The massive construct was still moving as fast as it could, constantly shifting from side to side as it dodged the explosives dropped from above.

Pushing Eco into his feet, Gao Feng created a magnetizing effect using the giant traveling construct back as a base. He tentatively lifted one foot, then the other. Seeing that his footing remained steady even with only a single shoe touching the ground, Gao Feng nodded and began walking towards the head of the machine.

The Diplopoda back was already crawling with members of Haven City’s elite. One step after another, the forty elite cultivators marched onwards. On this day, they would finally take their revenge on the Clanless, or they would spit blood from regret.

A terrible screech reached Gao Feng’s ears. Glancing towards the sky, he smiled as his eyes landed on a falling Eco bomb. The transport had finally managed a good drop; the bomb was heading directly for a compartment further towards the head.

Movement out of the corner of his eye caused him to glance away. Large holes had opened up and down the Diplopoda’s sides and back, the metal blown away from the shock waves that followed the explosion. Gao Feng wasn’t sure how the vessel was still moving with such extensive damage, but he could figure that out when he was inside.

He saw a group of five cultivators dropping over the edge and swinging their bodies through a hole on the side—then the explosive he’d been watching detonated, and the shockwave pummeled him and knocked him off his feet.

His back hit the Diplopoda, and it flung him into the air as the centipede continued charging forward. He tried several times to find a handhold, but spikes of pain pierced his body as he repeatedly bounced off the construct’s back.

The rear of the vessel was approaching fast, and Gao Feng knew that if he didn’t find something to hold on to, he would be flung off entirely and left to fend for himself in the forest.

Assuming he didn’t die on impact.

No, I won’t die. I’ll live—I WILL GO HOME! Gao Feng screamed as he flew through the air. He pumped Eco into his hands, hoping to replicate the magnetizing effect he’d used earlier. As his body touched the centipede’s back, he drove one hand down. “Ahh!” he screamed. His hand successfully stuck to the centipede, but his momentum carried on. The moment his full weight hit his arm; his shoulder was forcibly dislocated.

He fought through the pain and brought his other arm forward, finally securing himself in place. The pain was like nothing he’d ever felt before; it drove away any conscious thought and wasn’t allowing him to move.

His body curled into a ball to withstand the winds beating against his body. His eardrums were shaking from the sound of constant explosions. Gao Feng’s mind fell into a state of panic. He was in pain, he was scared, and he didn’t know what to do.

Salvation came as someone tapped on his back.

Gao Feng shifted his head to the side and glanced up at the person standing over him. He found Teng De looking at him through concerned eyes. The haggard older man suffered against the wind and bombardment and shock waves. Even so, he’d come to save his nephew. “Get up, Feng. You want to go home don’t you? You want to see your father and mother again?” he whispered in Gao Feng’s ear.

Gao Feng shakily nodded.

“Then get up.”

He sobbed at the pain in his arm, but he forced himself to his feet. His arm hung uselessly at his side; he couldn’t shake the feeling of a million tiny insects swarming around his shoulder, trying to consume him from the inside out.

Teng De frowned as he saw Gao Feng’s arm. He stepped around to his injured side and gently placed a hand on the wounded shoulder. “Sorry in advance,” Teng De muttered in Gao Feng’s ear.

Gao Feng didn’t have a chance to question what Teng De was apologizing for. Teng De locked Gao Feng’s arm in place with a single move, then forcibly yanked it back into the properly aligned shoulder socket.

Gao Feng screamed as the move arranged his shoulder, the bones sliding neatly back into place. He winced as he tentatively rotated his arm; he could move it, but the pain persisted. After a few moments of getting used to his shoulder and the pain, Gao Feng nodded to Teng De.

Together, the two Ukata clansmen began walking towards the head of the construct. But after only a moment, Gao Feng realized something was amiss. The bombs should’ve hit the centipede directly… Why are we still moving?

He hadn’t thought of it before because of the pain, but now that his mind was somewhat clear, he realized they should’ve stopped moving already. That they were still moving at the same speed as before meant something unexpected had happened.

Gao Feng closed his eyes and strained his hearing by flooding his ears with Eco. He could hear the sounds of battle coming from inside the vessel. He was angry that he couldn’t use his beloved eye technique, but it required liquid Eco, of which he had none. He was lucky the technique he was using to stick to the centipede could be done with only gas Eco. Otherwise…

He knew they would not have let him refuse to take part in the battle. And if he had told them he couldn’t do what they asked, they would’ve thrown him out of the avian construct without the aid of a rope.

He glanced over at Teng De and saw him using the Ukata eye technique, his eyes fixed on a point just in front of them.

Teng De couldn’t see through the metal roof, but he could perceive Eco, even inside someone’s body. With it, Teng De could see the cultivators inside by tracking the Eco circulating through their bodies.

Gao Feng wanted to ask what he was seeing. Teng De’s eyes widened perceptibly, and a tremor ran through his body. He grabbed Gao Feng by the arm and dragged him onwards. He paid no attention to the many holes they passed.

They kept walking until they arrived at the opened compartment the bomb should’ve blown to pieces. “We’ll go in through here—” Teng De froze. A smile slowly crept onto his face as he stared into the compartment.

Gao Feng took a step forward and looked in for himself; there was a man lying atop a metal box. His robes had been scorched beyond recognition, an arm hung oddly off the side of the box, and blood was pooling beneath his head.

Gao Feng first felt pity for the poor man, getting caught up in their pursuit of Taryn was a horrible fate. But the more he looked, the more familiar the man seemed. Gao Feng’s eyes registered a horrible scar across the man’s face. He’d thought it was blood at first, but no, that wasn’t blood covering the top of the man’s face. It was a burn scar.

They’d found Taryn.

* * *

Yawen came to in complete darkness. Her body was pinned in place, and no matter which way she tried to move, her body smacked into something unyielding. She panicked; her head was still swimming from the blow that knocked her unconscious. And she was finding it difficult to breathe normally, almost as if she was in a place with very little oxygen.

She forced herself to calm down and circulate Eco. The act of circulation would stimulate her natural healing ability, and close minor cuts instantly. A gentle warmth washed over her body. It felt like a warm bath after a long day of training. She began to relax. “The divines are truly smiling down on us,” she heard a cruel voice say.

It was too muted to recognize, but Yawen detected a large amount of malice. Whoever it was, they weren’t friendly.

“I was expecting a fight. Never thought we’d be getting our revenge like this.” Another voice reached her ears; this one differed from the first voice. It was younger, but equally full of hate... This one she recognized. And how couldn’t she? She’d been listening to his whispered voice for months. They could never speak normally for fear their families would find out, so she’d memorized the sound of his hushed voice.

Gao Feng—he’s here? Everything came back to her in a rush—the attack, the explosions, the bomb heading straight for them. She’d frozen at the sight of the white cylinder heading directly for them. Instinctively, she’d incinerated her own Eco and shoved as much fire towards it as she could.

The moment the fire left her hands, Taryn had wrapped his arm around her waist and yanked her off her feet. She remembered him throwing her in the box, which is when she hit her head. “Sorry,” he’d said before slamming the lid shut. She’d passed out after that, for how long she didn’t know, but it couldn’t have been for long if the attack was still underway.

The weight pressing down on her suddenly eased, and she heard something land on the floor. Her mind quickly ran through the possibilities and came up with a few conclusions, the most obvious one being that Taryn had thrown himself on top of the box to protect her. The weight moving meant either Taryn was awake, or Gao Feng moved him.

Yawen grit her teeth. Now I owe him even more. She growled low in her chest as her anger at everything boiled over.

She shoved the lid of the metal box upwards. The adrenaline coursing through her body caused her to instinctively push Eco into every action. Shoving against the lid didn’t just open the box, it tore the lid free of the hinges and sent it sailing over the broken and burnt walls of the compartment.

She kicked off the bottom of the box and spun into the air like a demon, fire spewing from her lips the moment she laid eyes on Teng De and Gao Feng. Both men’s faces went pale at the sight of her. They quickly dodged out of the way, throwing themselves to the far sides of the room to avoid her desperate attack.

Yawen landed in a crouch over Taryn’s body. She took a moment to glance down and check his condition. Taryn was badly burned, his skin blackened in places, and angry red in others. Despite that, a slight smile crossed Yawen’s face when she saw his chest rise and fall.

Once she’d confirmed Taryn was still alive, Yawen turned her attention back to the Ukata men. Both had calmed down enough to approach her. Yawen savagely bared her teeth at them in response, with her eyes shining like a bonfire had been lit inside her body, and an aura of flame manifested around her. “You’re going to regret that,” she told them.

Her sword lay on the ground next to the metal box, no doubt dropped there when Taryn tossed her inside. She hooked her foot under the scabbard and flung it into the air. The moment it was level with her arm, Yawen took hold of the hilt and drew her sword in one smooth motion.

As gravity reclaimed its grip on the scabbard and pulled it towards the ground, Yawen shoved Eco into her foot and kicked it. When her foot contacted the scabbard, she transferred all the Eco within her leg into the scabbard, which transformed hard as steel as it flew at Teng De’s head.

Teng De dodged instantly, shifting his body so the scabbard would safely pass. His eyes bulged as the scabbard pierced the metal wall of the Diplopoda, only stopping when the leather belt strap snagged on a sharp piece of the wall.

By the time he turned his head back, Yawen had already begun her attack. Flashes of steel and flame lit the compartment as Yawen fought to protect her fallen friend.

Gao Feng and Teng De each drew their own blades and rushed toward her. Any sympathy or nostalgia they’d felt towards someone from Haven City was long gone. Yawen was now an enemy, one standing between them and their revenge.

A deadly dance began as three blades *twanged* against one another, sending sparks and curses flying. The two sides clashed in a flurry of steel and elemental Eco; in the riposte, Yawen slashed in a zigzag at Teng De’s feet, which he dodged. A final third slash, which appeared to be a feint toward Teng De’s legs, changed course at the last second and swiped across Gao Feng’s face, passing just centimeters in front of his eyes.

In reply, Teng De charged his sword with lightning Eco. His attacks were fast, immediately putting Yawen on the defensive. She dodged what she could and parried what she couldn’t. But each attack carried with it an electric shock that caused her muscles to spasm in agony.

Just blocking one of his attacks made her arms tingle painfully. And when his sword came close, lightning jumped from his blade to her skin. There wasn’t a way to avoid pain when dealing with his sword. She grit her teeth and counterattacked.

Yawen kept dodging Gao Feng’s attacks, and although he wasn’t using any techniques, he was no less annoying. His sword was much heavier than his uncle’s, and his attacks hit harder. She couldn’t block any of his strikes—doing so would only put her own weapon at risk. So it forced her to parry or dodge everything he threw at her.

She jumped over a swipe from Teng De at her legs, winced as lightning leapt from the blade to her skin, and changed targets by slamming the heel of her foot into Gao Feng’s face. The younger fighter was knocked off his feet, his back slamming against the far wall. The moment she landed, she pumped Eco into the hilt of her sword. Fire Eco swirled around the guard for a split second, before expanding to cover the entire blade she brought up to block Teng De’s sword.

Fire clashed against lightning as the two swords locked together, a sizzling cacophony filling the broken compartment. Teng De’s lightning made her muscles spasm, and her bones ache, while her fire singed his skin, burned his hair, and made his sword glow slightly.

Realizing what she was going for, Teng De kicked her feet out from under her and leapt backwards. Yawen hit the ground painfully but was back on her feet in the next moment. Rather than attacking Teng De again, Yawen dashed towards the dazed Gao Feng and jabbed her sword through his shoulder.

Gao Feng cried out as the sword melted through not only flesh and bone, but pierced through the wall behind him as well. The flame went out from the blade as it pinned him to the wall, removing him from the fight until he could free himself.

Teng De snarled and dove at her with newfound ferocity.

She’d given up her weapon to remove Gao Feng from the fight, so now Teng De had become even more dangerous. She knew she had shorter range than he; not only was he taller than her, but his blade gave him an extra three feet of reach.

At a distance, Yawen couldn’t compete. And she couldn’t use her more powerful fire techniques in the confines of the compartment, lest she accidentally harm Taryn. So the normally careful Yawen did something dangerous, and dove headfirst into Teng De’s attacks.

She quickly jumped over his first attack and planted both of her feet against his chest, flexing her leg muscles to the point of tearing the seams of her pants. When she jumped away from him, Teng De was hit by the force of a cannonball.

His body was thrown against the compartment wall so violently, multiple ribs shattered instantly.

Yawen’s flip landed in a crouch, and she locked her eyes on Teng De. She didn’t want to kill him. She didn’t want to kill him or Gao Feng. But if they pressed her… she would do what she had to.

While keeping her eyes on Teng De, she slowly made her way over to Gao Feng.

“Why?” Gao Feng gasped. “Why are you defending him, after everything he’s done?” he cried. Tears of anger and regret streamed down his face.

“He’s done nothing to you!” she shouted back, getting in Gao Feng’s face. “It’s not his fault Haven City was attacked. And after everything that city put him through…” She ripped the blade from his shoulder and stepped back, ignoring Gao Feng’s pitiable whimpers. “He shouldn’t have to sacrifice himself. Not that she would give up after he was dead. You’re in their clutches now. You really think they’ll just let you go when this is over—”

“You think we don’t know that!?” Teng De growled. He used the wall behind him to climb to his feet. He picked up his sword from where he’d dropped it and began circulating Eco to repair as much damage as he could. “Haven City is done—it’s dead. But the people are alive, and every day we waste hunting down this human filth is another day she kills one of us for our failure. So, I can respect that you’re trying to protect your friend. I don’t understand how someone of your status could stomach being next to him, but I respect your resolve. Either he dies, or someone from my family, or possibly yours, dies in his place. And I would rather he be the one to die. Wouldn’t you?”

Yawen’s stance faltered at his words. No, she didn’t want anyone to die. It was horrible what was happening to the people of Haven City, that they were being sacrificed on the whim of some tyrannical bitch…

“I remember being told how great Haven City was—it was all the elders of the Qiao clan ever talked about while I was growing up. The elders all preached how they would never allow an outsider to train for fear of their techniques being stolen. I remember being told that Haven City would never rely on an outsider’s help… Where is that pride now?” she asked, clenching her fists until they shook. “All I ever heard was how Taryn would never be a member of Haven City. So, tell me, ‘Elder’ Ukata Teng De, why are you expecting him to save you now?”

Teng De was spitting mad now. Yawen had thrown their words back in his face, and such a sign of disrespect could not be allowed. Teng De may not have had the power to fight the Tian clan, but he could certainly put some Qiao whelp in her place.

He’d been trying not to kill her as a favor to his nephew. After all, the only one who needed to die here today was Taryn. He’d been hoping the two could overwhelm her and make her see sense. He now realized that was impossible.

“You’re going to regret siding against us, Qiao Xia Yawen,” Teng De said.

“My name is Xia Yawen. From the day I left Haven City and onwards, I have had nothing to do with the Qiao clan—and they will have nothing to do with me,” she coldly replied. She lifted her sword, reignited it with fire Eco and prepared to strike.

Teng De grabbed his sword and forced so much lightning Eco through it, the blade grew red hot. Even then, he did not stop. He poured more and more Eco into the blade until it filled the entire compartment with blue light. A terrifying roar ripped through the compartment, driving everyone to their knees.

As one, Yawen, Teng De, and Gao Feng looked at Taryn’s body—or rather, where his body had been.

Taryn was awake. His crimson eyes were shining brightly, the pupils of which had thinned, almost like that of a lizard. Dark fur rapidly covered his body, each strand metallic and reflecting Rala’s light like a finely sharpened sword. Thick horns curled back over his head, and a long, armor-plated tail exploded out of his back, denting the compartment wall.

Taryn stood to his full height… and everyone took a step back. Taryn was even larger than he had been the last time he’d shifted. His body took up much of the compartment, and his head reached above the compartment walls.

Teng De laughed at the sight, though it was apparent to everyone that it was a nervous laugh. “You should’ve played dead, dog. I’ve already killed you once.”

Taryn flexed his fingers and bared his teeth at Teng De and Gao Feng. “Which was a good first step. But you should’ve known that simply killing me wouldn’t be enough to stop me, you should’ve followed through and cut off my head.” Taryn growled. His voice sounded like two people speaking simultaneously. The first sounded the way Taryn should sound, but the other voice was much lower, and far more menacing. Yawen thought it sounded like the voice of a demon, or some kind of monster.

Quicker than even Yawen could react, Taryn’s monstrous arm lashed out. His open palm slammed Teng De into the wall. Taryn’s hand was double its normal size, and each finger was the length of Teng De’s head.

With the elder pinned against the wall, Taryn dug his claws into the elder’s flesh through his robe and tossed him up and over the burnt and broken compartment walls.

He glanced down at Yawen, who gave him a calm smile and nodded. She would be all right. Gao Feng was hers to deal with; she didn’t need his help.

Taryn’s bestial eyes swiveled to Gao Feng’s panicked face. They held no malice within them, only pity.

Without another word, Taryn leapt over the walls and out of the compartment.

* * *

Taryn landed with a heavy crash that dented the Diplopoda’s back. He looked towards the rear of the Diplopoda, where dozens of cultivators awaited him, with Teng De sprawled out a few segments back.

Taryn was disappointed. He was hoping the old man would’ve broken his neck on impact, leaving Taryn to focus on the other attackers. Unfortunately, it seemed like Taryn would have to focus on Teng De first.

The elder climbed to his feet; his robes whipping violently with the turbulent wind, and he lifted a shaky sword in front of him. Lightning Eco swarmed around the blade as Teng De prepared to attack.

And he wasn’t the only one. With the sudden appearance of Taryn’s monstrous visage, the other cultivators had stopped breaking into the Diplopoda and focused their attention on him. Each of them drew their weapons to prepare for the battle ahead.

Taryn held up a single finger, a wolfish grin on his face. He casually backed up to the hole in the compartment roof. While keeping his eyes on the cultivators, Taryn slowly crouched down and reached his arm into the compartment, coming up a second later with a large weapon wrapped in a cloth.

Before, this weapon had seemed almost comically large. It was only a foot shorter than he was tall, and ridiculously heavy for a weapon. That was the reason it’d been in the bargain barrel to begin with. The shopkeeper said someone had commissioned it for a statue, and then never returned to claim it.

Taryn ripped the cloth off and discarded it over the side of the vessel. He spun the massive weapon around and slammed the head into the Diplopoda’s back. The weapon was nearly five feet long and weighed thirty pounds. The large club was solid iron with thumb sized steel rivets surrounding the weapon from the very tip to where the handle began.

The kanabō was becoming popular in the Toshyae Empire as an anti-armor weapon, and the orcs from the Western continent often used them in normal combat.

Because it required such incredible strength to wield, most cultivators shied away from it. But it solved one of Taryn’s inherent flaws; until now, he had no way to get around skin or muscle he could not cut or pierce… Let’s see them try to stop this. He playfully swung the club in a figure-eight pattern to readjust to the weight.

In his current form, the metal club barely weighed anything. Taryn could swing it to his heart’s content, without worrying about the momentum carrying him farther than he wanted to go.

I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. Taryn bared his teeth and charged forward.

* * *

Unbeknownst to those aboard the Diplopoda, and those in the sky, the tremors caused by the bombs dropped by the Tian clan were having a negative effect on the surrounding area.

Certain caves shook until their tunnels collapsed. Many prey animals fled from the terrible noise caused by the odd shapes falling from the sky—which meant the predators were growing irritated. They could no longer hunt peacefully, and many of them were already struggling to find enough food to fill their bellies.

One such creature even felt the tremors hundreds of miles away thanks to its sensitive antennae. It lifted its head towards the sky; its azure carapace shined like freshly polished metal beneath Rala’s light. Its spindly antennae twitched seconds after each explosion, the shockwaves irritating its senses.

It lifted its heavy body off the ground with its six strong legs and began casually walking towards the sounds. It was still a ways off from the Diplopoda, but it could shorten the distance in an instant, if it wanted. But why should it hurry? It was the queen of this territory; prey should just patiently wait to be eaten. If the beast pursued, nothing could escape it. If it fought, nothing could conquer it. And when it hunted… all were consumed.

Followed by its hundreds of thousands of children, the behemoth creature marched after the sounds that’d so rudely disturbed its slumber.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Taryn reached the first cultivator in a moment, showing a surprising level of speed in a body of his size. His metal club viciously smashed into the man’s side and was hard enough to tear his body in two.

The other cultivators launched forward with an attempted counterattack. Few had any experience fighting in a group, because most cultivators acted independently, and honor often dictated they fight opponents one on one. But against such a monster, all thoughts of honor fled the cultivators’ minds.

They would need to survive before they could concern themselves with honor.

But their inexperience in fighting as a group proved to be a boon for Taryn. While the cultivators were worried about striking their allies, Taryn was alone. Everyone was a target for his mace, his claws, his fangs.

The Diplopoda’s back quickly became the site of a massacre. Taryn’s mace smashed through any attempted defense. Even the battle Eco cultivators, who prided themselves on their strength in combat, found themselves unable to block Taryn’s attacks.

After three of their number were crushed in a single swing, the cultivators changed tactics. The battle Eco wielders fell back, while volleys of elemental Eco rained down on Taryn. Spears of ice, balls of fire, streaks of lightning, blades of wind, and torrents of water flew at Taryn with surprising speed.

Taryn had been too focused on crushing a warrior with a large hammer to notice the attack until the last minute. His eyes darted left and right as he looked for a way out. It didn’t matter where he looked, they’d spread the attacks wide enough to hit him no matter which way he dodged.

When the synchronized attack nearly reached him, Taryn realized what he had to do. He planted the kanabō against the Diplopoda’s roof and used it to pole vault over the elemental volley. That one jump carried him a little over twenty feet into the air, and when he reached the apex of his jump, he brought the kanabō down along with him.

The club carried with it weight and momentum that spun Taryn through the air. And as he was no longer using Eco to cling to the Diplopoda’s back, the segment he was previously standing on quickly left Taryn behind while he was in the air.

The synchronized attack passed mere inches under Taryn’s back. But he’d done it, he’d dodged the attack—and now it was time to reply in kind.

Dozens of segments surged past him during the few seconds he was in the air. When he finally came down, he was only a few feet from where the elemental wielders had launched their attack. With a snarl, Taryn filled his club to the brim with Eco, and swung the moment he came in range.

The cultivators dodged the initial attack but didn’t expect the shock wave that followed. The club rang like a bell when it slammed into the roof of the Diplopoda. The moment the club made contact; every drop of Eco Taryn pumped into it exploded outwards in a shock wave that threw eight of the twelve remaining elemental wielders over the sides.

Most of them crashed into the dirt, and these cultivators would survive and walk it off. But an unlucky few struck trees or boulders that were just as stubborn as they were. Those cultivators would not be walking it off.

Taryn knew he couldn’t give any quarter, so he pressed the attack the moment he’d secured his feet. The makers dashed away as quickly as they could, but Taryn’s transformed body was enhanced to the level of a battle Eco user.

He quickly caught up to two of them, crushing one cultivator before he could beg for mercy. The other, Taryn lifted into the air with his free hand, only to slam him back down a second later. Taryn felt a sickening *pop* in his hand as some of the cultivator’s organs burst on impact.

He kicked the man off the roof and turned to see twelve cultivators remaining. He grimaced at the number and tightened his grip on the metal club. This form is powerful, but it’s eating through my Eco too quickly. Taryn was beginning to feel lightheaded from his Eco being burned away at such a rapid rate.

Taryn’s Eco was his blood. He couldn’t afford to run out. So he begrudgingly extinguished his core, ending his transformation.

At the sight of him returning to the same Clanless brat they’d always ignored, the cultivators' rock-bottom morale shot up. Many of them thought the same thing: “If he’s ending the transformation, then this battle is as good as ours. We’ve won!”

With renewed vigor, the remaining cultivators and Teng De charged him. Now that they were no longer afraid of getting close to Taryn’s monstrous form, the cultivators specializing in wild Eco shifted into their own animalistic forms. One man’s body doubled in size as he took on the characteristics of an ox, while another cultivator grew a fluffy tail and claws. Taryn wasn’t sure which animal her transformation was based on since she’d gained so few characteristics, but his first guess was something in the rabbit family.

Alongside them, warriors using battle Eco rushed forward with their weapons at the ready while Teng De hung back. Lightning Eco flowed through the air, pulled towards Teng De’s waiting hand.

Taryn had a flashback to the last awakening ceremony he’d observed. Teng De had shown elemental Eco by sending a large bolt of lightning into the ground. The bolt was powerful enough to tear the ground asunder.

Is he planning to take out his people along with me? Taryn brought his kanabō to rest on his shoulder. It was in his best interest to keep the other cultivators in between him and Teng De, so he didn’t mind waiting for them to come to him.

He watched as Teng De danced across the Diplopoda’s back. Teng De’s body was flowing with the current, each revolution drawing more and more lightning Eco to him. Then the first cultivator finally reached Taryn, and he could no longer afford to watch Teng De.

He sidestepped a spear thrust and brought his club down on the weapon. The wooden shaft snapped cleanly beneath the weight of the club, the force causing the front of the spear to flip upwards.

Taryn snatched the spearhead out of the air and slammed it into the surprised face of the unfortunate spearman. Since the man was sprinting when the spearhead sank into his skull, his legs kept moving while his head remained in place.

The man’s legs went up and over, as Taryn drove his head into the Diplopoda’s back, inadvertently snapping the spearhead against the durable metal.

Unperturbed by the death of their comrade, the remaining cultivators attacked without pause.

Taryn ducked a sword slash attempt at taking his head off and slammed his palm into the woman’s throat. He let go of his weapon with his other hand and drove his fist into her chest, his extended knuckle hitting the bones protecting the heart.

The blow forced her rib cage inwards and connected with her heart. The woman was dead before Taryn’s next strike—an elbow and at her opposite temple—landed. Her head twisted to the side rapidly as she was flung off the Diplopoda.

Taryn caught two axes as they came down on his shoulders. Taryn snarled as the blades sunk into his skin, drawing his precious blood. He forced the axes out, then lifted the axe wielder off the ground by his arms and spun around so he was between Taryn and Teng De.

Taryn threw a flurry of punches into the man’s abdomen and chest. Each blow released disruptive Eco into the man’s body, ravaging his organs and cracking his bones. The final hit came as Taryn boldly slapped him across the face. The cultivator dropped to his knees after his brain stopped trying to find a way out of his skull.

Until this point, Taryn had been content with dodging the shifters’ attacks by keeping other cultivators between them. But after being wounded, he knew he could not continue letting the cultivators pile on top of him or he really would die.

He dodged a few swords intent on removing his head from his shoulders and sprang towards the ox shifter.

The man was huge, almost as large as Taryn’s shifted form. It was only because the dire wolf was so much stronger than his ox, that the man had avoided tangling with Taryn from the beginning. But, thinking his victory assured, the ox shifter brought his massive hands down in a double hammer fist.

Taryn dodged out of the way, grabbed his kanabō from where he’d dropped it, returned before the ox shifter could reset his position, and attacked—but the rabbit-like shifter interrupted.

She came in with claws extended, fully intent on ripping Taryn’s throat out. The suddenness of her attack threw him off balance and forced him to go on the defensive. Her attacks were quick and accurate, each one aiming to kill Taryn in a single hit.

Taryn retreated from her waterfall of attacks. He kept trying to find the perfect moment to counter, but she was attacking so rapidly that he was having trouble predicting her timing—and then he felt something bite into his back and screamed as battle Eco entered his body. One of the battle Eco cultivators had managed to hit him.

Thanks to the Mourner’s knowledge, Taryn knew that the only way to counter this technique was to have his own Eco attack the foreign Eco. So he blindly lashed out at the unknown shifter with his club, then directed his attention inwards.

He drove his Eco to fight off the intruding battle Eco. The blue and gold Eco of his cores swarmed the red bundle of Eco attacking his organs, and battle ensued inside his body.

While a part of his mind focused on removing the foreign Eco, the rest of his attention was devoted to attacking. He spun like a tornado, ripping the sword from the surprised cultivator’s hands, and smacking him across the face with the metal club.

The cultivator's head exploded in a shower of red, which stunned the two cultivators behind him, their minds unable to deal with their friend’s brain staining their robes.

Taryn lifted his metal club and thrust it forward, but the ox shifter slammed into him from behind before his club could connect. He knocked Taryn to the ground, but then the ox shifter wrapped one massive hand around Taryn’s leg and yanked him into the air. Taryn was flung across the roof and bounced several times before he could stop himself.

Taryn spewed a mouthful of blood as he forced himself to his knees. He watched helplessly as his beloved club fell through a hole in the roof, landing somewhere inside the Diplopoda. Then the hairs on Taryn’s neck suddenly stood on end. He heard something that reminded him of birds chirping, coming from directly behind him.

Taryn glanced over his shoulder and saw Teng De, who was positively glowing with lightning Eco. It flowed around his body in a near constant current. A few times it lanced out to strike the roof, but Teng De was keeping most of the lightning under his control.

The malice in his eyes sent a chill down Taryn’s spine.

Taryn moved even before Teng De could twitch his arm. He knew that in order to direct the lightning to a target, Teng De needed to point to them first. As long as he could reach Teng De first, Taryn could avoid most of the attack.

Teng De’s right arm lifted slowly, as if in slow motion. His index and middle fingers pressed together, while his other three fingers were curled towards his palm.

Taryn reached him before he could fully raise his arm. He grabbed Teng De’s wrist—and cried out as the lightning coursing throughout Teng De’s body surged into his hand. Blisters rippled across his knuckles, but he knew if he let go, Teng De would be free to use the full force of his Eco against him.

As Teng De tried to turn his body, Taryn locked his arm in place and slammed his own elbow into Teng De’s shoulder. The elder grunted as his shoulder was dislocated, but he didn’t lose control of his Eco.

Teng De fought through the pain and began forcing his arm toward Taryn—so Taryn thrust a palm into Teng De’s elbow, snapping it at the joint. But despite that, the stubborn old man didn’t lose control of his Eco.

As a last-ditch attempt, Teng De threw his head into Taryn’s nose, bursting the cartilage and causing blood to erupt into Taryn’s eyes. Taryn growled and blinked away the blood before he kicked Teng De’s legs out from under him—and as Teng De fell, Taryn used a joint lock to turn Teng De’s fingers towards his own chest.

With his hand still holding Teng De’s broken arm in place, Taryn lifted his other arm and punched Teng De across the face. The elder’s face went blank after the first hit, and every hit that followed only sent him deeper into his dazed state.

Taryn’s ears twitched as a shadow fell over him. Without looking, Taryn jumped away from Teng De’s body, rolling to a stop a few feet away. He slowly stood and took a step back, only to almost lose his balance and fall off the rear end of the Diplopoda.

He dropped into a crouch to keep his balance and tried to think through his next move. He was approximately twenty feet from the remaining cultivators. Teng De was being helped to his feet by the ox shifter and was still overflowing with lightning Eco.

Taryn dropped to all fours and ignited his core. I’ll attack them all at once. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to get past them and get inside before I run out of Eco.

He dug his nails into the Diplopoda’s back and launched himself forward. He covered the twenty-foot distance in the blink of an eye, arriving with his claws outstretched as Teng De leveled his fingers with Taryn’s face. A flash of light split the space between them, blowing Taryn backwards.

This time, whatever sent him flying hadn’t hurt—at least, not compared to holding onto Teng De’s wrist, getting stabbed, or cut with axes. The light disoriented him though, and the only reason he hadn’t gone flying off the roof completely was that something had grabbed hold of his leg as he started to slide off the side of the Diplopoda.

Taryn pulled himself up to avoid plummeting to his death and prepared to attack, only to hesitate when he saw who was holding his leg.

Yawen smiled down at him. Her robe was stained with blood, and her hair was a mess, but she didn’t have any open wounds that Taryn could see.

Worried that the light had been an enemy attack, Taryn stood up and stepped past Yawen. He figured if there were more attacks, he was more durable than her. He could focus on defense while she attacked. But instead of enemies, he found Wei and Shen Tao standing between them and the attackers.

Wei looked as put together as ever—not a speck of dust on his robe, not a strand of hair out of place—and even with the wind buffeting them, he looked entirely unruffled. Which was definitely a perk of controlling wind Eco.

Shen Tao, on the other hand, was swimming in blood. It looked like he had dived into a lake of the stuff and came out the other side pissed off and ready to fight the divines or die trying.

His silver hair had turned black from all the gore covering it. His fur-lined robes were dripping ichor onto the Diplopoda’s back. In his hands were a pair of axes Taryn had never seen before, both possessing wide blades on one side and short picks on the other. The most striking feature of both was the fact that they were solid purple—a clear sign that he’d constructed them completely out of shaper Eco.

Though momentarily frozen in surprise, Teng De and the other attackers quickly regained their wits and jumped to attack. The shifters led the charge, with the battle Eco warriors following close behind.

Teng De pointed his fingers at Taryn and the lightning he’d been withholding all this time finally released. Taryn saw a flash of blue… but nothing happened. The lightning Eco had vanished as soon as it appeared.

“Surrender,” Elder Tao’s voice boomed. His words shook Taryn to his very bones and made his organs feel like something heavy was pressing down on them—but he was one of the lucky ones.

The rabbity shifter and two of the warriors coughed blood the moment Shen Tao’s voice hit them. They dropped to the roof a moment later, unmoving, and unbreathing. Shen Tao appeared irritated when he gazed at the three who had died. His head swiveled to look at them, before returning to stare at Teng De.

Teng De’s lips started moving but Taryn was too far away to hear what he was saying. He was clearly agitated though, motioning towards Taryn with sweeping gestures and going red in the face as he said something to Elder Tao.

Taryn saw Shen Tao’s arm blur, and the other cultivators were knocked out in an instant. Their bodies collapsed in a heap in front of Shen Tao, who abruptly turned and looked towards the sky.

“You dare bring these people to my door, and force me to kill? Do you know the price of me drawing my ax?” Elder Tao’s voice boomed again, his eyes locked on the two avian transports flying high overhead.

Taryn couldn’t believe the change that had overcome the elder. Where was the kind, tea loving master he’d come to know over the last few weeks? The blood-soaked cultivator standing before him was on a completely different level than he’d previously thought.

Iddrai had once proclaimed Shen Tao was a three-tone cultivator, during one of their conversations, but Taryn no longer believed that to be the case. He was at least a fourth tone, possibly on the cusp of breaking through to the physical realm.

Shen Tao stepped towards the transports—who seemed to think it was a bad idea to hang around any longer and were turning to flee—Both arms blurred, and the elder’s axes disappeared from his hands.

Taryn, Yawen, and Wei spun to look at the two avian transports and watched as one of them had its left wing severed. The other transport barely evaded the attack, which was likely the only reason it didn’t join the other transport in freefall.

The wounded transport crashed into the forest. The sound reached the Diplopoda, even though it was already miles away from the crash site. Taryn turned to Shen Tao with a look of utter bemusement on his face. “Why didn’t you do that to begin with?” Taryn asked the blood-soaked elder.

Everyone seemed uneasy at Taryn’s utter lack of tact—at least until they saw the elder huff and fold his arms across his chest.

“I’m a Silver Crown Elder on a refugee aid mission. The only reason I’m allowed to enter and leave the kingdoms as we have been, is that I’m under oath to use my Eco so long as we’re within the nation’s borders. I’ve just broken that oath.”

“What does that mean?” Wei asked, concerned about what kind of trouble they’d gotten into.

“It means nothing to you. But my oath carries with it the honor of the Silver Crown Sect. If I cannot keep my oath, it is as good as rubbing mud on the Silver Crown name. The only way the sect can avoid the backlash is if I’m punished. Because I used my Eco today, they will most likely forbid me from going on anymore refugee aid missions.”

Everyone protested, but Shen Tao simply raised a hand and asked them to quiet down. “I appreciate your concern, but I used my Eco of my free will. I could’ve chosen to sit by and watch as all the refugees, my crew, and the four of you were slaughtered. But that would go against my personal oath to the Righteous Faction and go against my own moral compass. If I have any regrets, it’s that I didn’t take down the second transport while I had the chance,” Shen Tao said with a snort.

He motioned for everyone to follow him, then he dropped through the hole in the Diplopoda’s back and out of sight. Taryn, Yawen, and Wei glanced at each other with equal looks of worry—for each other, and for the fate of the rest of the trip.

How was the Diplopoda supposed to continue with so many holes blown in it?

Chapter Twenty-Four

The Diplopoda continued to run for another hour before it finally started to slow. As if it’d only been hanging on to get them away from their attackers, its overstressed legs and body began to collapse mere minutes after it came to a complete stop.

The refugees, the workers, Elder Tao, and Taryn’s group gathered outside the vessel shortly after it stopped, meaning they all had front row seats to watch their transportation fall to pieces. “My precious Diplopoda!” Elder Tao cried. The older man dropped to his knees, and fat tears ran from his eyes as he watched his beloved vessel “die.”

Taryn awkwardly patted the elder on the back and muttered his condolences. He may have been more understanding of Elder Tao’s feelings if the elder weren’t still dripping with the blood of vanquished enemies.

“Thank you,” Elder Tao sniffed. Taryn nodded his head and pulled away a hand sticky with half-dried blood. He turned to look at his companions and frowned as they each took a step away while staring at his hand.

“Hey, Wei?” Taryn said, holding his arms out wide. “You want a hug, buddy? Come on, bring it in.” Taryn slowly moved towards them while beckoning him in.

Wei actually looked conflicted about it… for a moment. Just before Taryn could wrap his arms around him, Wei dashed out of Taryn’s reach. “I’m sorry!” Wei cried while dodging Taryn’s attempts to grab him.

“Come back you slippery jerk!” Taryn shouted as he raced after Wei. The two sprinted off into the forest, much to the amusement and derision of the refugees—and the annoyance of Yawen.

“Honestly, can’t those two take anything seriously?” She sighed. Here they were, basically stranded in the middle of nowhere, and her brother and Taryn had the energy to play around. They didn’t even consider Elder Tao’s feelings when they started. The man was so clearly distressed that he’d broken down crying. When her eyes landed back on Elder Tao, she expected to see him crying still. Instead, the elder was using a dark cloth to wipe his face and hands clean while chatting amiably with the Silver Crown disciples.

Yawen didn’t fail to notice one of them holding a steaming white cup loosely in one hand and the faint smell of tea in the air.

Yawen blinked… Then she blinked again. But no matter how many times she blinked; she couldn’t see a trace of the crying man who’d been kneeling in front of her mere moments before. What was in that tea? She stared at the cup with more than a little apprehension.

Fan Shun gave her a sympathetic squeeze on the shoulder and shook her head. “Let this elder pass on some information to you: Men are weird. Don’t try to understand them. You’ll be a lot happier if you just accept their oddities as part of their personalities and roll with it,” she whispered, grinning.

“Was your husband like this?” Yawen asked without thinking. Her eyes widened as she realized what she’d said and quickly apologized; it was a well-known fact that Fan Shun’s husband had been dead for years.

Fan Shun waved away her apology. Her smile had faded slightly, but she still looked amused. “No need to apologize. I’ve long since made peace with his death. To answer your question, yes, he was exceptionally weird. And after I realized the advice I just gave you, I found I didn’t mind his eccentricities as much as I thought I would… Maybe one day you’ll find you don’t mind them either.”

“We’re still talking about your husband- right?” Yawen asked, narrowing her eyes at the older woman.

“Of course!” Fan Shun replied, slightly too quickly to be believable. But Yawen’s exhausted brain couldn’t think of any underlying meaning to her words, so she let it go with a tired sigh and a nod.

“Sorry about that,” Taryn said cheerfully as he approached from behind them, wearing a pleased smile. His hand was noticeably absent of blood. Wei appeared with a disgusted frown on his face a few moments later. A large crimson line ran down the side of his white robe.

Yawen looked between the two boys and could think of nothing else to do other than shake her head. A part of her wanted to scold Taryn for what he’d done. It was mean and childish… But she knew her brother deserved it. That was definitely because Wei blabbed about what the receptionist said.

The two boys bickered while they made their way over to Elder Tao’s group. The Silver Crown elder welcomed them with a wide smile, which only grew wider after he noticed the crimson streak down Wei’s side. The elder suddenly threw his arms wide and stepped towards Wei—who immediately turned and ran back into the forest.

Taryn was laughing with Shen Tao and the disciples at Wei’s fleeing back. Had he stopped for a moment, Wei would’ve noticed that the elder wasn’t pursuing him and had only mimicked Taryn to tease him.

It surprised Yawen to note that when Taryn laughed, his scar didn’t look so severe. In fact, she could see traces of the attractive man he could’ve been without it. While Taryn was not ugly, she knew many women wouldn’t be able to see past it.

“You’ve got it rough,” Fan Shun whispered to her.

“He’s your grandson,” Yawen whispered back, only half paying attention. After a few seconds passed without another word from Fan Shun, Yawen turned to look at her. She found the older woman watching her with a knowing grin on her face. “What?” Yawen snapped.

“I’ve been talking about your brother for the last few minutes. Why did you bring up Taryn?”

Yawen’s first response was surprise. Her eyes bulged, and her mouth opened slightly—then her face flushed as she realized she had heard her talking about Wei. But she’d been too distracted to realize it.

Yawen stammered her way through an explanation that convinced Fan Shun, more out of pity than any logical sense.

Fan Shun smiled at the younger woman and placed a comforting hand on her head. “I’m sorry for teasing you, Yawen,” she said. Yawen’s face remained red for a while longer, but she gradually relaxed and let Fan Shun calm her down. A small part of Yawen was jealous of Taryn.

She couldn’t remember a single time her mother had ever tried to comfort her, yet Fan Shun was doing it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

* * *

Repairs on the Diplopoda began shortly before Rala’s light disappeared over the horizon. The crew decided to work through the night to get the vessel moving as soon as possible.

In the meantime, the refugees had moved away from the Diplopoda to rest while the crew worked. However, there was another group among the refugees, and something isolated this group from the others. They differed not only in appearance, but in the way they were being treated by the surrounding people.

These men and women were bound in heavy chains forged from shaper Eco. Their dark robes were tattered, and their bodies covered in bruises and freely bleeding wounds. Although there were multiple physicians on board the Diplopoda, none came forward to treat their injuries… And why should they? They were injured while attacking innocent people.

Shen Tao and the Silver Crown disciples forced the captured Haven City cultivators to sit in equal rows of six, with several feet between each person so they could not easily communicate or try to facilitate an escape.

Not that they could; the only ones capable of breaking out of the forged chains were the members of the Tian clan, but Shen Tao and the disciples had been quite judicious in their extermination of those cultivators, leaving only those from Haven City alive among the attacking force.

It was quite simple for Shen Tao to determine who was and was not a member of the Tian clan, since all he had to do was check who had a slave seal on the back of their neck. That vicious little script was easily identifiable by design. After all, they didn’t want anyone mistaking who owned them.

He’d had many run-ins with the descendants of the dragon-slayer since becoming a Silver Crown elder. While many of them were decent, honorable people, it was a well-known “secret” that the current patriarch’s third, fourth, and eighth child had founded the “heavenly cult” for their own personal amusement. The “divine control script” was its proper name, but Shen Tao wouldn’t give it the honor of being called anything more than it was: a slave seal.

Shen Tao was regretful that he had let his control slip and accidentally killed the man in charge. He would’ve loved to know which child could be held accountable for this attack. The Silver Crown Sect had many ongoing deals with the Tian clan, and if Shen Tao had solid evidence that a member of the clan had attacked him, their patriarch wouldn’t sit still. At the same time, he wouldn’t entertain an accusation against his own children without something irrefutable. And the words of a slave were hardly proof in his eyes, since they could be forced to say and do pretty much anything by the one holding the ownership talisman.

If Shen Tao had to place money on who was responsible,- he would bet it was the fourth son or eighth daughter responsible. The two were similar in many ways and it was an open secret they both used the seal on their enemies.

Shen Tao spotted Lady Shun making her way over to the prisoners—specifically towards two prisoners who grew increasingly nervous as she approached.

The moment she reached them, her arm blurred, and she hauled the one known as Teng De to his feet, only to knock him down by a vicious blow across the face. With his arms stuck behind his back, Teng De could not prevent his head from hitting the ground.

“Stop it!” Gao Feng yelled. He’d been placed directly behind Teng De and now was trying to crawl over to the older man. Fan Shun ignored Gao Feng’s protests and pulled the elder to his feet—then she immediately knocked him down again.

By now, all the prisoners were protesting against the cruel treatment she was showing the Ukata elder, but she didn’t care. She knew well that if Yawen hadn’t intervened, Teng De and Gao Feng would’ve executed Taryn. What she was doing now was simple revenge for daring to touch her only family.

A small part of Shen Tao—the side that loved war and bloodshed almost as much as he loved tea—found the scene incredibly amusing. But he knew he needed to stop her before she went too far.

Knocking him around a bit was fine but killing him would only lead to the prisoners fighting back. And Shen Tao had had enough blood on his hands for one day.

He made his way to her side and caught her fist before she could knock the elder down a sixth time. Fan Shun’s head whipped around and even Shen Tao wanted to wilt under her gaze. But he resisted the urge and shook his head. “Enough people have died today. I promise, they will see justice for what they’ve done. But not until we’ve interviewed them—” he leaned in to whisper in her ear. “They have slave seals on the back of their necks. If it forced them to do this, could you handle the guilt you’d feel after killing an innocent man?”

Fan Shun yanked her arm free, still glaring. “Believe it or not, I know these men. I’m… their kin. Slave seal or not, Teng De has always disliked Taryn for what he represents—a world beyond their walls, a world where the Ukata are insignificant. If we hadn’t left the city when we did, he—and others like him—would’ve driven Taryn out on his own in two years. With no cultivation to protect himself…” Fan Shun trailed off. Anger was coming off of her in palpable waves as her Eco responded to her emotions.

“Calm down,” Shen Tao said. He was prepared to force the issue if necessary, but after a moment of uncertainty, Fan Shun closed her eyes and withdrew her Eco back into her body. She sighed heavily once she was done, no doubt from the pain caused by Eco traveling through her channels. She suddenly coughed and Shen Tao noticed red on her hand before she quickly hid it. Her eyes were still full of anger and pain when she opened them, but the danger had seemed to pass, and Shen Tao no longer feared she’d rip the Ukata elder’s head from his shoulders.

The Righteous Faction had rules they were all forced to follow. Prisoners of war had to be interviewed by a neutral third party to determine their guilt. Only following the interview could they be punished for the crimes they committed against innocent people. But separate rules applied for cultivators above the second tone.

It required conscious effort to rise above the first tone, so once someone achieved the second tone, they were no longer considered civilians. Many laws meant to protect civilians no longer applied beyond that point. This was the reason they had killed instead of captured the members of the heavenly cult that attacked the Diplopoda. Had the attackers been of the second tone or higher, I could let her take her grievances out without issue. But as it stands, they’ll have to be interviewed before these people see justice.

Shen Tao loved his sect. He loved the Righteous Faction… But sometimes, he wished such laws didn’t exist. They enabled cruel-minded people to do as they wished, so long as they kept their cultivation below the second tone. That was how many criminals escaped justice and committed further crimes in the future.

Shen Tao had seen it happen more times than he cared to mention. And if those laws hadn’t existed, the heavenly cult would’ve been wiped out over a decade ago.

* * *

In a dark, smelly cell aboard Tian Dashen Jia’s largest avian transport, Duan He’s body ached all over. Blood trickled down his wrists, caused by the shackles keeping him off the ground; the six-foot chains connecting them passed through an iron loop attached to the bottom of a thick wooden beam near the ceiling.

All he wanted to do was curl into a ball and go to sleep. The door to his cell opened silently and Tian Jia entered with her hands hidden behind her back. Though she was smiling, Duan He knew he was not safe yet. If he was going to be let go, she would’ve sent some lackey to retrieve him instead of coming herself.

No, she still had questions. And Duan He was going nowhere unless she was completely satisfied.

“Hello, Duan He,” she muttered. Her voice was tender—some might even call it intimate. But where most men would’ve found such a voice attractive, Duan He grew irritated. Tian Jia had gained her power through taking elixirs and pills. Basically, she’d earned none of her strength herself. Instead, she was given it by wealthy men and women eager to ally themselves with the Tian clan. And that voice was how she kept them from growing wise to her schemes.

It was easy to overlook someone’s strength when you only saw their weak side.

“Isn’t it time to let me go?” Duan He asked, not bothering with pleasantries. They both knew he despised her. And if the slave seal wasn’t stopping him, he would’ve tried to kill her.

“Not yet,” she replied. She reached up and placed her hand against his chest. Her fingers dug into his skin deep enough to reach muscle, then she casually walked around him while dragging her nails across his body. When she reached his back, she yanked her nails free, eliciting a quiet gasp from Duan He.

“You used to be so much fun,” she said while cleaning her nails on a nearby cloth.

“And you weren’t always an evil bitch. Guess we’re both disappointed,” he drawled. He was giving a rare performance today; his usual monotone voice was infused with rage and self-loathing.

They were the same emotions he felt every time he was alone with her. The crimson seal on the back of his neck shined brightly as the punishment script activated. Duan He’s blood boiled and his muscles spasmed with unseen electricity. His body went stiff as the electricity savaged his insides and he couldn’t help but scream at the pain.

The pain continued unabated for thirty seconds, then vanished as suddenly as it appeared. His body immediately went limp, and he had to take gasping breaths to replace the oxygen he lost from screaming.

“You’re boring me, Duan He. This is the same game we always play. You do your best to make sure I don’t get what I want, and I punish you for it. Were you anyone else—” she grabbed his face and turned it toward her—“I would’ve had you executed long ago.” She gave him a sultry smile before pushing his face away.

“But that would mean my brother won. And we can’t have that, can we? Let me answer that for you. No, we can’t. So why don’t you do yourself a favor for once, and tell me why you didn’t immediately ask for transport ships when you left Haven City? Why you didn’t immediately attack the Diplopoda when you found it, instead of waiting in the transports while my men and those slaves attacked on their own? If you had participated in that attack, I would’ve had my prize by now and that bothersome Shen Tao would be dead. Instead, he destroyed one of my vessels and managed to escape.”

Duan He grinned at that. “I’m not sure what you mean. I didn’t request transport because I thought we could catch up to them, and I didn’t join the battle because Shen Tao would’ve retaliated. You know that. Isn’t that why my replacement was killed?”

“How did you know he was killed?” she asked curiously.

“Because you wouldn’t be so angry otherwise,” he sneered. “Those transports mean nothing to you. You can buy hundreds of them with your wealth. But your lieutenants…” Duan He made a tsking sound. “They are far more valuable. Especially since most of them belong to your brother.” Something violently knocked aside his head, and it took him a second to realize she had punched him. “Guess I hit a sore spot.” He chuckled and spat out blood.

Tian Jia stepped forward and got in his face. “I don’t know what it is about that group that you don’t want me to know… but I will find out. And when I do, I’ll make sure that you’re the one who has to execute them. I’ll make you strangle the life out of them, and you’ll have to look them in the eyes while you do it, just like you did my brother. That’s my promise to you,” she whispered into his ear. He winced at the feel of her breath on his neck, which only made her smile bigger.

When she finally got bored with tormenting him, Tian Jia left Duan He hanging in his cell. Fresh wounds covered his body, and he could feel many broken bones that would take weeks to heal, even with Eco.

Despite the obvious pain he was in, when an image of Taryn sitting beside a campfire flashed through his mind, Duan He smiled. Live and grow stronger, brat. And surpass me as quickly as you can. Maybe one day you’ll be able to return the favor I’ve given you by finally freeing me from this torment.

* * *

THE END

The Mourner’s Legacy

Clanless Cultivator Book 2

More Cultivation Adventures…

Looking for more exciting cultivation adventures, and need them right this minute? Check out Hollow Core (School of Swords and Serpents Book 1).

Jace Warin never wanted anything more than to attend the School of Swords and Serpents to escape the labor camps and restore his family's stained honor.

But the determined young martial artist soon discovers the school he's always dreamed about is teeming with secret plots and sinister designs. To survive, he will have to master long-lost jinsei techniques, repair his wounded soul, and face down a most unexpected enemy: The Academy's ruthless headmaster and cunning professors.

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The Mourner’s Legacy is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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About the Author

Hello, everyone. My name is Kenneth Arant and I like to pretend I’m a writer in my spare time. A bit about myself: I’m a retired martial artist with fourteen-years experience, six of which I used to teach others how to avoid knocking themselves out with a pair of nunchucks.

Currently, I’m a full-time night-owl with a minor caffeine addiction and a penchant for letting my imagination run wild. My dream is to write awesome books that people will enjoy for years to come.