A storage pouch was offered to Yu Zhao. She looked toward Respected Senior Bookworm. In his eyes were encouragement and urging, and a thick apology. After a brief silence, she took the pouch with her small hand and said solemnly: “Many thanks, respected senior.”

Relief blossomed across Bookworm’s face: “I should be thanking you. You came alone to the Middle Thousand World and must have suffered greatly. Now I am placing such a heavy burden on your shoulders. I am… sorry.”

Here his voice caught. In his eyes, Yu Zhao was still a junior who needed others’ care, yet he selfishly set upon her the responsibility he should have borne. With head lowered and shoulders stooped, he seemed to have aged a dozen years in an instant.

Yu Zhao smiled: “Respected senior, reopening the Heavenly Ladder is not your wish alone, it is mine as well. In the past you labored for it. Now it is my turn.”

Bookworm lifted his head, a glimmer in his eyes. He seemed about to say more when a hearty laugh cut him off. The Old Black Daoist strode over, handfuls of oil-glossed meat skewers in his grip. He thrust them into Yu Zhao’s hands: “Here, little Yu Zhao, try the meat skewers grilled by this old Daoist. Bookworm, stop wearing that long face and come drink with me.”

Half dragging, half pulling, the Old Black Daoist took Bookworm away. Yu Zhao shook her head with a smile, picked up a skewer, and took a bite. The meat was fragrant, the doneness perfect. She had just finished one giant skewer when the little Beastkin, Little Stone, came running from the crowd. His cheeks were flushed red, and in his hand he clutched a bunch of freshly picked wildflowers that now drooped from his grip. Blushing, he shoved the flowers at Yu Zhao: “F-for you.”

Before she could respond, he bolted away, leaving Yu Zhao staring, slightly dazed. Looking down at the flowers in her hand, the corners of her lips lifted.

The next day, they bid farewell to the Giant Spirit Bear Beastkin and boarded the starship bound for the Seven Mists Realm. Aboard the ship, Yu Zhao opened the storage pouch Respected Senior Bookworm had given her. Inside were many jade slips and texts, most of them on Formation Arts and Spatial Teleportation Arrays. Judging from their contents, these were not common wares circulating on the market; Bookworm must have spent no small effort collecting them. When Yu Zhao told Ancestor Sui Bian and the Old Black Daoist what she had found, the two could not help but sigh.

For the rest of the journey, Yu Zhao immersed herself in the jade slips, losing all sense of time. A few days later, less than three days from the Seven Mists Realm, Ancestor Sui Bian’s Voice Transmission charm lit up. He glanced at it, muttered under his breath, and tapped it. His face changed in an instant.

“What happened?” asked the Old Black Daoist.

Ancestor Sui Bian’s expression turned grim: “Something has happened in the Seven Mists Realm. Huang Zhong says people are scouring the realm for anyone connected to us. It looks like Yan Yi and the others have been taken. He says we must not come back and should lie low for a while.”

“What!” The Old Black Daoist exploded. “It is one thing to come for us, but they dare lay hands on them!”

Redtail, who had finally regrown six tails and was meditating with eyes closed, snapped her eyes open, her face changing: “Intolerable.”

“We cannot hide. If we do not show ourselves, they will be in real danger.”

Yu Zhao put down the jade slip, her gaze turning deep. [Which faction did this? The Earth Clan, the underground black market, or the Auspicious Palace? Or all three together? If it is the last, that will be troublesome.]

Worried, Xiu Yu looked at Ancestor Sui Bian, then turned pleading eyes to her big sister, Ling Long. Ling Long asked in a low voice: “What do you want to do?”

Ancestor Sui Bian gave a cold laugh: “They have come beating on our door. How could I swallow this? Are they leaning on numbers and thinking we are easy to bully? Then this old Daoist will show them that ascenders from the cultivation world are never easy prey. Call reinforcements. Anyone who can still move, get them back.”

Though still furious, the Old Black Daoist could not hide his excitement: “Good.”

Madam slid from her sheath into his hand. Gripping the blade, the Old Black Daoist drew it across his palm; with a fingertip of blood he swiftly wrote a line of tiny characters. “Go.” The sword tip split open space. The wriggling blood characters broke into dozens of motes of spiritual light and vanished into the Spatial Passage.

Ancestor Sui Bian pulled Voice Transmission talisman after talisman from his sleeve and sent message after message. Xiu Yu and Ling Long, too, each contacted those they trusted. Yu Zhao looked from one to the other and, feeling there was nothing useful she could do, let out a quiet sigh. Ancestor Sui Bian, who somehow was still paying attention to her, rubbed the little topknot on her head: “Little Yu Zhao, this time let me show you what your ancestor can do.”

Yu Zhao glanced at a particularly special jade talisman in his hand: “Ancestor, is that from the Land of Divine Remains?”

He lowered his head for a look and said offhandedly: “Yes. The people we saved back then left their family tokens. I sent messages to them as well. If they do not come, so be it. If they do, it is another force for us.”

Yu Zhao looked at him with admiration. Ancestor Sui Bian waved a hand, looking smug, as if it were nothing.

She did not yet know how far the ripples from Ancestor Sui Bian and the Old Black Daoist’s actions would spread. Cultivators scattered across the Middle Thousand World who received their messages were already on the move.

Cloud Marsh Secret Realm, a training ground that opens once in a century. Its greatest fame comes from the Xuanhuang Earth Lotus that grows only in the depths of the marsh. It is said that one who consumes the lotus may keep the flesh from decay and the soul from dispersing. But a Xuanhuang Earth Lotus may not open even in a thousand years, and to see it requires luck. This time, those who entered the secret realm were fortunate; they had encountered a lotus on the verge of blooming.

Now everyone had gathered by the marsh, eyes fixed like tigers on the Xuanhuang Earth Lotus at the center. Among them were two women, one fat and one thin: one carried on her back a gigantic axe as broad as a door, the other wore clothes in riotous colors. Their exaggerated garb made them stand out even in the crowd. From the wary looks around them, one could tell the others had already experienced the pair’s strength and were wary.

The two ignored the looks, eyes locked on the lotus about to open. In that instant, a red streak pierced the air before them and swiftly formed a line of tiny characters. The two glanced at it, and their auras surged. They looked at each other, then wheeled and sprinted straight for the exit of the Cloud Marsh Secret Realm without a backward glance.

Nearby cultivators stared, dumbfounded. What was that about? Those two were strong contenders for the lotus. Why leave at the crucial moment? Did they receive news of a treasure even more important than the Xuanhuang Earth Lotus?