Yan Shirong sat down at the table in the downstairs room of their inn. “I think I may have found her,” was all the announcement he made.

  When He Yu had emerged from his cultivation after their first day of combing Jade Mountain Citadel for rumors and clues, Yan Shirong was already gone. At least he’d the courtesy to leave a note, even if it had only said to wait for him to return. They’d done as he bid, and had spent the morning and the early afternoon sitting in the main room and drinking wine while He Yu and Chen Fei took turns distracting Li Heng for long enough that he didn’t head out into the city on his own.

  During their time at the sect, He Yu learned well enough to trust Yan Shirong’s ability to tease out information based on very little. He’d apparently thought the morsels He Yu and Chen Fei discovered were enough, and set about to doing what he was best at. Li Heng knew better, too, but He Yu understood his frustration. It had been fifteen years, after all.

  “Where is she?” Li Heng asked, immediately perking up as Yan Shirong joined them once more.

  Skipping any preamble, Yan Shirong shared what he’d learned. “A traveling merchant from one of the higher valleys spoke of a female cultivator living in seclusion in the reaches even higher than where he comes from. He couldn’t provide too many details, but what I learned is promising.”

  “Tell me.” Li Heng leaned forward, intent on whatever it was Yan Shirong was about to share.

  “Don’t get your hopes up just yet,” Yan Shirong said with a frown. “I told you I don’t have many details. A promising lead, but still merely a lead.”

  “Right,” He Yu said. “Just tell us what you’ve heard. We’ll figure out what to do next.”

  As Yan Shirong shared what he learned, wine jars stayed on the table and the soup they’d ordered steamed before growing cool. All their attention was focused on him as he spoke, and the more He Yu learned, the harder it became to deny that this was more than a “mere lead.”

  The expert living in seclusion was, judging from what the traveling merchant said, either peak Golden Core or maybe even early Nascent Soul. The trader’s advancement was merely that of late Body Refining. Between his lower advancement and the distance at which he sensed the expert’s presence, the distinction was beyond him.

  Although he admitted he’d never seen her himself, others on his route had. They spoke of her in fairly uniform terms. She was young, appearing to be maybe in her early twenties. Of course, that meant little in the world of cultivators. Zhang Lifen was old enough to be He Yu’s grandmother, and last he’d seen her one could easily be forgiven for guessing they were of similar age. Jin Xifeng was over a thousand years old and she appeared to be in her mid-to-late twenties, too.

  The importance of age—at least in appearance—was relative to when they’d last seen Tan Xiaoling. She had been in her early twenties then, just like the rest of them. As a mid stage Golden Core, she wouldn’t have appeared to have aged a day in the intervening decade and a half. Just like the rest of them still appeared young, but with that distinct sense of gravitas that was common among more advanced cultivators. Although it wasn’t much to go on, it matched how Princess Tan would appear.

  Everyone who had encountered her also described her otherworldly beauty. Not surprising, either. Anyone who achieved Golden Core would have nearly perfected their physical form. Handsome, beautiful, or whatever other way one could describe an attractive person was almost not worth mentioning with cultivators. Her description also mentioned her unnerving golden eyes. Not something that would have described Tan Xiaoling previously, but both Li Heng and He Yu had begun showing more of their cultivation in little physical tells with their advancement to Nascent Soul.

  If this mysterious expert was Tan Xiaoling, and she’d achieved the Fifth Realm in the past fifteen years—something He Yu felt was almost a guarantee, given what he knew of her—it was entirely possible her eyes would change color. He distinctly remembered staring down the golden tiger Tan Xiaoling’s arts were named for, and those two pairs of eyes were like molten pools of gold.

  Then there were the descriptions of being near her. The trader said people spoke of a distinct sense of danger that seemed to cling to her, and follow her wherever she went. It was perhaps the strongest evidence they’d heard so far.

  “There’s one last thing,” Yan Shirong said, making Li Heng pause even as he stood from his seat. “They say her arts call forth a storm of metal blades or manifest a spear of dark flame.”

  “That’s her,” Li Heng said.

  He Yu couldn’t blame him. Although a storm of metal blades wasn’t exactly the same as the sandstorm he was used to, there was no reason she couldn’t adjust her techniques. Aligning the technique more closely with metal would simplify the aspects she needed to cultivate.

  “I’m going,” he announced. He was already halfway to the door when He Yu caught up with him.

  “Wait,” He Yu said. “We don’t want to go rushing off.”

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  “Easy for you to say,” Li Heng snapped, shooting a glance at Chen Fei. “I’ve waited for long enough.”

  “I want to see her too,” Chen Fei said, coming over to join them and very pointedly ignoring Li Heng’s look. “He Yu is right, though. The Jade Mountains are going to be more dangerous than the White Desert. We don’t want to head out without preparing first. Besides, if it is her, we likely won’t be coming back to the city any time soon. It would be best if we plan for an extended stay in the mountains.”

  It took another few back-and-forth exchanges, but after Yan Shirong joined He Yu and Chen Fei, the three of them finally managed to convince Li Heng. He Yu didn’t blame him, though. He knew exactly what Li Heng had been getting at, and he’d have done the same if their positions were reversed.

  Once they’d gotten him to calm down, figuring out what they needed was a task he set himself to with vigor. The spirit stones they’d earned from their encounter in the desert would serve them well here. They had more than enough funds to purchase the list of supplies they drew up and still have plenty of stones left.

  By the time night fell, they were loaded with elixirs and medicines enough for the foreseeable future. Yan Shirong had even acquired a pill furnace and some refining manuals, claiming it was about time he finally learned how to make his own pills. Finally, Chen Fei had found a mountain guide, and spent several hours conferring with him. Her knowledge of mountain living meant the guide could catch her up quickly, and she soon had as good a sense of the land as she could get without seeing it for herself.

  It took a little convincing for the guards to let them through the gate, as they’d been shut for the night, but a few spirit stones across a pair of palms and they were on their way. The gates thumped shut behind them, and they set off on the road by foot. At least until they’d gotten a polite distance from Jade Mountain City.

  The mountains themselves rose as a black mass against the star-lit sky as their presences expanded outward. Li Heng vanished in a flash of moonlight and a dusting of snow, appearing several hundred feet ahead of the rest. Shadows rose around Yan Shirong, lifting him into the air as he leaned back like he was lounging on a pile of cushions, allowing his technique to do the work for him. Chen Fei simply ran, her powerful strides carrying her further than any mortal could have dreamed of. He Yu knew full well her endurance was more than enough to let her keep pace with the rest.

  He Yu flew. The wind curled around him, buoyed him, and lifted him into the sky. With his advancement to Nascent Soul, the Sky Dragons Flight had, at last, come into its name. He soared above the other three, ignoring their envious looks as he looped through the sky without need for a flying treasure.

  The land rose before them. As rugged and wild He Yu had always considered the land around the Shrouded Peaks, the Jade Mountains themselves were a whole other kind of wild altogether. Even the closest—and lowest—of the Jade Mountains rose higher than the tallest of the summits down south. The slopes were densely wooded, covered in hardy evergreens. The well-maintained road had become little more than a dirt track by the time the sun showed itself in the east.

  It only took until midmorning before they encountered the first glimpse of what the higher peaks had in store for them. An overturned cart, coated in frost and rime, glittered in the early morning sun. The cart’s driver was nowhere to be seen, but the snow leopard tracks leading toward the tree line and up the slope were evidence enough of their fate. The tracks themselves were twice again as large as He Yu’s hand. Judging by the strength and density of the lingering qi, the attacking leopard would have been in the Fourth Realm.

  He Yu shook his head as they passed the wreckage. Around the Shrouded Peaks, a beast of that stage would have been hunted down by the sect. Especially this close to a settlement. A few would be kept around and herded into designated areas for training, or for stronger disciples to hunt for resources. They’d have been managed. Not let to simply grow stronger and attack as they pleased.

  Then he noticed the carrion birds. A flock of them lurked on the branches in the tree line. Silently, they watched the four cultivators pass or peered at the wreckage with eyes that held far too much intelligence. He Yu opened his sight to the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment. Of the two dozen birds, the weakest was at the middle Fourth Realm. He shut his sight and thanked their fortune that the birds weren’t aggressive. Even with Li Heng and himself along, it would have been a tough fight.

  From that point on, he kept an eye out for beasts and spirits. Once he started looking, he found them.

  Although there were a good number of Third Realm creatures around, it seemed the most common were all at the Golden Core stage. It likely explained why so many of the cultivators they’d run across reached Golden Core. While the natural qi of the mountains was both abundant and dense, that wouldn’t be enough to explain their advancement alone. But with such access to materials and components from beasts this strong? Elixirs that He Yu likely could have only afforded in his dreams back at the sect must be fairly common here.

  The constant struggle against the powerful beasts of the land would push cultivators in ways life at the sect had never pushed him. And the more he saw, the more obvious it became that the reason the inhabitants of the Jade Mountains didn’t claim more of the land was simply because they couldn’t. Everywhere he turned his sight, He Yu found more beasts.

  Until he didn’t. The first indication that something was amiss came from the sudden disappearance of the mountain’s inhabitants. He Yu wasn’t the only one to notice. After a shout and a wave from Li Heng, He Yu landed amidst the rest of his companions.

  “Something is close by,” Li Heng said. “Did you catch anything?”

  “There’s a ravine up ahead,” he answered. “Now that I think about it, there is an awful lot of earth qi that way.

  They advanced cautiously. The utter absence of spirits and beasts was a tell enough. Just as the ravine came and the rope bridge spanning it came into view, they also found the source of the earth qi.

  A massive awakened beast sat in the road. It had the head of a boar, with two wicked-looking tusks jutting out from its mouth. Although its legs ended in trotters, it stood upright like a man as it rose to its feet. Its bulk came from what could only be muscle covered by a thick layer of fat. He Yu had been in more than enough fights to recognize strength when he saw it. As it took a step forward, the boar-creature-man thing produced a fittingly massive cleaver that it rested on one shoulder. Beady, burning eyes flicked between the four of them.

  Then it spoke. “A toll for crossing my bridge. A toll of flesh and a feast to fill my belly. Which one of you will feed me? And which of you will continue on your way? Make your choice before I make it for you, man-things.”