The trip to the waterfall cave was a short one. The fighting in the outer sect had mostly died down, and the oncoming wave of the empress’s reinforcements hadn’t yet arrived. He Yu and the others moved as quickly as they could, given their exhausted state and desire not to draw any more attention than necessary. Soon they arrived at the now-ruined formation gate that marked the path leading to the cultivation spot Tan Xiaoling had found that first year.

  Setting their feet upon the deserted path, they began the ascent. Here they could be a bit more free with their movement techniques, but through an unspoken agreement, they conserved their qi and mostly ran. A trip that had once taken them the better part of an entire morning passed in the time it took to burn a stick of incense.

  The waterfall and pond had escaped the devastation of the rest of the sect. Were it not for the bloody sunset that had hung in the sky for three whole days, it would have been easy to forget all else that had happened. The waterfall still cascaded into the pond near the cave entrance, kicking up a refreshing mist filled with revitalizing qi. The cave itself appeared undisturbed—if the creatures inside had frenzied like everything else, they’d either ventured away from the entrance or retreated deeper within. The red pines at the edge of the pond were still, and the mists of the Shrouded Peaks wended through their trunks. A deceptively peaceful scene, considering their circumstances.

  Pausing at the entrance to the cave, He Yu looked to his companions. “Any last thoughts or objections?” he asked.

  He couldn’t have said why, really. Since they’d decided to abandon the remains of the sect to its fate, the others had looked to him. Asking for their input just felt like the right thing to do in that moment. They were, after all, abandoning the rest of their martial family—or what was left of it. They should all be in agreement before moving forward.

  Nobody said anything. They all looked as exhausted as he felt, their presences flickering and faint. They’d all agreed to this course of action already. The time for reconsideration had passed.

  He Yu stepped into the entrance. The crushing weight of the mountain pressed down on him from all around. It was far less oppressive than the first time he’d entered, and he barely had to push more of his cultivation base through his meridians to counteract the effects of the natural qi so inimical to his own. The others followed in short order, with Chen Fei moving into the lead as she activated a light-casting formation character.

  In one corner of the cave, near where they’d passed into the deeper portions previously, lay the unmoving form of one of the cave creatures. One of its arms lay a few feet away, completely ripped from its exoskeleton. A pool of ichor lay beneath it. The stone on the cave floor and walls nearby showed scores of gouges—left by the claws of other cave mantises, no doubt.

  “Frenzy?” Li Heng asked.

  Although the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment could have shown him, He Yu declined to activate it. He needed to preserve what little qi he had left. “Most likely,” he said. “Couldn’t say if that’s a good or a bad sign, though.”

  “I’ll take it,” Yan Shirong said with a sniff. At least some of his typical dismissiveness had returned now that they weren’t in any immediate danger. It was, oddly enough, a bit comforting.

  The once-narrow passage that had led deeper into the cavern network had long since been gouged open. Given the evidence of great chitinous claws, it was easy to see by whom. The cave mantises would have needed some method of reaching the surface in order to roam out of the cave, and it looked like this was the one they’d chosen. He Yu and Chen Fei could walk side-by-side as they made their way towards the spirit stone chamber. He glanced to one side and gave her a smile that was only halfway forced.

  “What are we going to do when we make it out?” she asked, returning a similar expression.

  He didn’t have an answer. What could they do? They were ants to someone like Jin Xifeng. Less than that, even. Chen Fei had seen the battle between the Sunset Empress and the two greatest experts of the Shrouded Peaks Sect. None of them could stand against that.

  Given what he’d seen from the visions the Peerless Judgment had granted him, He Yu had no illusions about what happened next. Jin Xifeng would move against the rest of the Dragon Empire. The only question that remained was how far would she go? She wanted it all—the feeling of endless covetous want in her presence was all He Yu needed to be certain of that fact. Were there any experts among the great clans who could stand against her? Perhaps in the east, he thought. Among the great clans of the west, the most advanced cultivator was the hidden patriarch of the Li. Compared to Jin Xifeng’s cultivation, Li Renshu was only in the middle stage of the Seventh Realm—Divine Body Attainment.

  The only other western expert who approached the Sunset Empress in cultivation was the indomitable Tan Zihao—in the early stage of the Eighth Realm. But the Jade Kingdom was a vassal state of the Dragon Empire. Could he be counted on to come to the aid of the empire that had subjugated his realm? Perhaps Tan Xiaoling would know her father’s mind. For the time being, He Yu had more pressing concerns.

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  “We’ll figure it out,” he said to Chen Fei after some time.

  If there was anything he could be certain of, it was that he wasn’t simply going to lay down and accept everything that had just happened. Just changed. There was no world in which the Sunset Empress wouldn’t bring devastation to the whole of the empire. Devastation, suffering, and injustice. He Yu’s Way was not to sit idly by and give up in the face of a monster like Jin Xifeng simply because she was an entire four realms higher than him. It was not his Way to give up, to give in.

  The five cultivators emerged into the chamber they’d been pushed out from the last time they came to this place. Spirit stone veins glowed dimly, and fluorescent moss added to the illumination from Chen Fei’s formation. The gouges in the cave floor that had clued them into the presence of the mantises had only increased in number since their last visit. Several of the beasts lay scattered among the spirit stone pillars in a similar state to the one they’d seen at the entrance.

  “Did they truly do this to one another?” Tan Xiaoling asked.

  He Yu knelt down next to the nearest of the remains. This time, he did activate the Peerless Judgment. Traces of earth qi that were subtly different from that of the mantises themselves lingered. Alongside it, he also picked up the telltale wrongness emanated by a demon core.

  “I don’t think so,” he said. “Someone with a demon core came through. And they ripped through these beasts while they were here.”

  “Anybody we know?” Li Heng asked grimly.

  It wasn’t something that had occurred to He Yu, but now that Li Heng mentioned it, he couldn’t fully rule out the possibility. “I hope not,” he said. “If I never have to see or hear of her again, I can live out the fullness of my immortal lifespan happily enough.”

  “Either way,” Yan Shirong said, “are we still going to proceed? We can’t be certain of the advancement of whoever did this. They’re clearly strong enough to handle a half dozen cave mantises at once, so that’s not a good sign if you ask me.”

  “Yan Shirong is right,” Chen Fei said. “We might be throwing ourselves into an unwinnable battle.”

  He Yu glanced up at her. So far as he could tell, the concern she displayed was more for the sorry state they were all in, rather than any reluctance to conflict. She wasn’t wrong to worry. They were, after all, at the edge. They’d been at the edge for some time now—a fight with a powerful foe could easily be too much for them.

  “Alright. What do we all think?” He Yu asked as he stood, turning to face the rest. “I think we should stick together, regardless. If everyone else agrees, we’ve got two options. First, we keep heading deeper and risk whatever’s ahead. Second, we return to the surface and figure out another plan.”

  “We can’t just wait things out here?” Yan Shirong asked.

  “I’m not simply waiting around anywhere,” Tan Xiaoling said, crossing her arms over her chest. Although there was no shift in her spirit, her words were sharp.

  “Neither am I,” He Yu agreed. “As much as I don’t like either option, I like waiting even less. If someone with a core has come down here, I’d say it’s only a matter of time before someone else wanders in. At least if we keep moving, we’ll be walking into our fate and taking it with our own hands rather than letting heaven dispense it to us.”

  Both Li Heng and Chen Fei expressed similar sentiments. Yan Shirong muttered something about it simply being a suggestion and didn’t press the idea further. Although He Yu could tell that the younger cultivator didn’t like the decision, he certainly wouldn’t abandon the group—or let them abandon him.

  “So, up or down?” Li Heng asked.

  “I like our odds with down,” Tan Xiaoling said, eying a roughly circular opening in one wall with a tunnel sloping sharply down. An additional pair of dead cave mantises lay near the entrance.

  “We know what awaits us above,” He Yu said. “And what awaits us is a horde of crazed beasts, spirits, and cultivators. Along with a peak Eighth Realm ancient expert with a will to dominate or destroy everything she lays eyes upon. I don’t really like our chances going up.”

  Judging by the grim expressions of the remaining three, they didn’t either.

  “So we’re settled then?” Chen Fei asked.

  Wordlessly, they all moved to the tunnel. It wasn’t really a choice, were He Yu honest with his assessment. Their chance of survival was basically zero if they tried to fight through what lay on the surface. Sure, they could be walking into a Fifth of Sixth Realm member of the Sunset Court with a demon core by going down. But unlike above, their death wasn’t a certainty. A faint hope was infinitely better than none.

  Besides, if the one who’d ripped through the dead cave mantises littering the chamber was only of a Golden Core, it would be four of equal advancement on one. Even at the peak of the Third Realm, Yan Shirong had proved himself valuable support against Golden Cores—his poison alone slowed them down and made it easier for He Yu and the others to deal with them. His arts were similarly suited to keeping him out of harm’s way, so they didn’t need to focus too much attention on protecting him.

  Then there was the fact that whoever had come through here had been fighting the whole way. While they likely weren’t as spent as He Yu and the others, they wouldn’t be at full strength either. All things considered, it was the clearly superior option.

  “Take whatever medicines you can,” Li Heng said. “We may not get a chance for some time.”

  He Yu pulled a fairly low grade restorative pill from his storage treasure. The others did similar, and a faint medicinal scent filled the air. Nobody wanted to risk a backlash, it seemed, and they may need more potent medicines later. He Yu allowed himself to feel a small measure or relief as his core filled incrementally, and medicinal qi flowed through his meridians. It was a small boost to be certain, but a small benefit was still a benefit.

  Around him, the others noticeably perked up. They were all still ragged—with torn clothes, countless little injuries, and faint spirits. But they were alive, and they were together. For the time being, that was all that really mattered to He Yu. He’d told Zhang Lifen he needed to find his friends, to make sure they were safe. He’s said that when she told him to run rather than return to the sect, and he’d said the same when she told him to flee from Jin Xifeng after Leader Zhou’s death.

  He’d done what he said—he’d found his friends and gotten them out of immediate danger. That he was currently leading them into a different, unknown danger wasn’t important. The important part was that they went together.

  He remembered the earliest visions from his time at the sect. Two competing futures, one where he stood alone at the peak, and one where he stood with the others. He knew which one he’d have chosen every time. Whatever awaited them, they’d face it together.