“It’s… beautiful.” It would have been more beautiful if the air hadn’t been stiflingly hot, but she guessed she could only win so much. “Is this a hidden realm?”

Ruqian snorted, the sound gratingly out of place amongst the lyrical rhythms of splashing water, cascading qi, golden light. “Not at all. Hidden realms… this is, I guess, a realm that is hidden, but it’s not a hidden realm. A hidden realm is… it is so much more than this ever could be. A whole world divorced from our own, filled with treasures so fantastical that even Sundering stage elders lust after their fruit. I’ve heard the truly great ones are so profound that even an Immortal would be delighted at the sort of treasures found within them.”

“Really? I always thought that was exaggeration.”

“Well… let me pose this to you, then— what caused the Bloody Saffron Sect to be the premiere sect in Ca Cao, and one of the greatest sects in the entirety of the Aurelian Sect Alliance?” She didn’t answer— it was obvious, after all. “Their hidden realm. I won’t tell you what’s true and what’s not, but it is said that until the Sea Splitting Immortal raised the islands that became the Bloody Saffron Sect, the entirety of Saffron Lake was undrinkable, such was the amount of blood that spilled out of their hidden realm.” True or not, she did not know… but it did certainly sound impressive. “We’re almost there.”

“Where?”

“The source of the qi.” The heat redoubled again, enough that she didn’t doubt it would’ve been able to kill her had it not been for Ruqian’s cooling technique. There was something disconcerting, a little, at being placed at his mercy, even if he’d shown himself to be apologetic… “are you sure you want to keep wearing that jacket?”

“How else am I going to carry my stuff? You blew up my bag!”

Ruqian winced. “Fair enough, I guess.” Whatever technique he was using intensified, but even in spite of that, she could still feel the heat as they approached a wall of billowing, immense steam—

Just a few steps further.

Into the clouds, and further—

They paused on a lip of stone, above a massive pit, a hundred feet across and at least fifty deep. The heat was hellish— as was the sight, a pool of magma slowly seething and shifting beneath them. An incredible profusion of plant life burst forth from where the magma touched the cascading water, touched the stone— but it was no normal plant life. Every leaf, every fine and stem and curling flower, and branch and bough and fruit were made of golden light, gently waving in the rising steam.

It was a breathtaking sight… and in the center of it all, half sunk into the magma, lay an egg. “Is that what we’re taking?”

“Not a chance in all the hells. Let this senior impart a word of advice onto you— one of the most important things for any cultivator is to know their limits. For example, imagine if you tried to take that thing out of the mountain without proper preparation— you’re more likely to blow yourself up than achieve anything. No, we best keep to something doable. One of the fruits— they would make a great cultivation aid, given that they’re practically pure yang qi, but… hm. They probably have a lot of impurities, given that they’re growing right next to… whatever this thing is. I don’t suppose you have any alchemy skills?”

She shook her head. “None at all.”

“Hm. You’d have to take it back to the Association, or more likely, East Saffron if you wanted anything done…” he frowned. “You’d need something to keep it contained. Too much qi fluctuations and it’d rapidly degrade…”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Wait!” A grin split her face as she reached into her jacket and pulled out a dark-lacquered box, the little golden engravings on it shimmering against the light of the magma. “Would this work?”

“How the…” Ruqian knelt down beside her, staring intently at the box. “This is a natural treasure in and of itself. It’s a box that’s… naturally reinforced to be a box? That’s absurd.”

Lily gave him an odd look. “The Association thought so too. Is it really that strange?”

“Do you make chairs out of chair?” The man shook his head. “This is, in essence, a box made out of box. A box made out of refined wood would be… rare, if not incredibly unusual, but this?” He shook his head. “I swear, you’re one of the strangest people I’ve ever met, and I’ve met Sect Elders before. Yes. Yes, this will work. You’re going to want to get the fruit in the box as soon as I cut it free.”

“Wait one second.” She pulled out the stylus, then slowly cut away the cloth around it. Using such a big box for the stylus on its own had always felt— six glittering rectangles fell out, clinking against the stone, and this time she knew exactly what they were. “I… see.” She sighed. “You don’t even have to ask. I didn’t know they were there, either— my master earned them for impressing an outer disciple of the Bloody Saffron Sect. I have no clue why he gave them to me.” It was… too much. Far, far too much. She didn’t deserve qi stones, didn’t even deserve strange, impossible boxes—

She would though, one day. That she promised herself.

Ruqian leant up, drawing his blade and holding it against the stem of a plump-looking fruit of light, golden radiance and—

Cutting—

It fell into the box, and she snapped the lid shut mere seconds later, so fast that a few drops of sap from the stem splattered onto the wood and sizzled away with an acrid scent. One heavenly secret treasure, acquired… and, despite the emotional rollercoaster the past day had been, she managed nonetheless, somehow, to smile.

Perhaps things would turn out fine in the end.

………

Avyr was still cultivating as they exited the cave, deeply focused on… whatever he was doing. If she had to guess, he looked even more deeply focused than he did for most of the month prior, but… that was hard to tell with humans, much less his kind. It didn’t really matter, anyways. They didn’t have much time left in the Dragonspine range.

“Impressive.” Ruqian stepped up beside him, gaze fixed intently on Avyr’s still form. “How is he doing that? No… maybe it’s because he’s advancing from Shedding to Opening? It just seems… unfairly fast.”

“Fast?”

“A month isn’t enough time to advance a whole stage.”

“He said that he was close, though.”

Ruqian snorted. “Yeah, I can see that. It’s absurd. His every breath is full of impurities, but his cultivation base is pristine.” He was silent for a long moment, and when Lily looked his way, she saw a soft smile had bloomed on his face. “I forgot what it was like, watching a genius advance. You two will go much further than I ever could.”

“Cool.” She stood there a bit awkwardly, not quite sure what to do… “do you have a blanket or something, by any chance? You kinda… blew mine up.” Ruqian just laughed.

He did lend her his camping gear, though, which… good enough.

Not long left, until they had to make their way back…

It had been good. A difficult trip— especially recently— but the gains had been well enough worth it that she could maybe, just maybe, dredge up from within herself a bit of forgiveness for Ruqian. He wasn’t all that bad after all.

So she let the conversation fade off into nothing, more, quiet, atop the world as Avyr cultivated as much energy as he could grasp, and…

Serene.

Peaceful.