For a moment, the only sound came from the thunder of drums on the street outside. When Li Bao started off to the main house gate, the silence broke.

  Chen Fei grabbed He Yu’s arm. “We need to go,” she whispered harshly in his ear.

  “General Bao,” Yan Shirong called. “I represent the Ministry of Information. If I may, allow me to speak with Wang Xiaobo. There’s a chance I could dissuade him.”

  “Father, wait!” Li Heng called.

  “All of you, silence!” Li Bao spun and faced the group. “This has gone far enough. I will not shelter you, but neither will I suffer the indignity of a Fifth Realm ransacking my home. I will speak with him.”

  Did that mean they should run? No doubt that as soon as the time for words had ended, Wang Xiaobo come for He Yu and Li Heng both. There was little point in staying. He Yu searched the eaves running along the outer edge of the courtyard for a likely path of escape.

  Li Heng appeared at his side. “Come with me,” he said, his voice low.

  “Chen Fei’s right. We can’t stay here,” He Yu said.

  “Come on, I’m going to get my grandfather. He’ll deal with this.”

  Yan Shirong stepped from a mass of shadow, planting himself in front of Li Heng and He Yu. “You can’t be serious. Unless I’ve missed the news that the Li clan’s hidden patriarch has come out of seclusion in the last, I don’t know, several hours.”

  “Out of my way,” Li Heng said. “My grandfather will sort things out. And talk some sense into my father.”

  “Assuming he doesn’t obliterate us all for disturbing his seclusion,” Yan Shirong said. “I know full well you understand what you’re suggesting. Which is why it’s absolutely beyond my ability to comprehend why you’re doing it.”

  “I think Yan Shirong is right,” Chen Fei said, although she didn’t sound as certain as Yan Shirong did.

  He Yu turned to Li Heng and looked him square in the eye. “Do you think it will make a difference?” he asked.

  Although he also knew that disturbing the cultivation of a secluded expert was dangerous, He Yu trusted Li Heng’s judgment. They’d been through enough together. If Li Heng thought this was the best course of action, then He Yu would throw his weight behind him. Of course, Li Heng could always have grossly misjudged how Li Renshu would react to being disturbed, but He Yu saw little difference in the outcomes at this point. Either die to Wang Xiaobo and Xin Lu, or be obliterated by an old and angry Seventh Realm monster awakened from seclusion.

  “I’ll be here. Awaiting your inevitable deaths,” Yan Shirong scoffed as He Yu and Li Heng hurried up the steps to the main house.

  “Um, I’ll keep Yan Shirong company,” Chen Fei said. “Maybe if there’s fewer people, he’ll be more forgiving.”

  He Yu didn’t blame them. Staying behind was the smart thing to do, anyway. Wang Xiaobo and Xin Lu had no cause to dislike either of them, so bothering the ancient was just an unnecessary risk. At the very least, Chen Fei would likely be spared whatever consequence Li Heng brought upon them all. That was enough for He Yu.

  Once inside the house, they quickly arrived at the formation-sealed door that could only be the entrance to Li Renshu’s cultivation chamber. Even out here, He Yu could sense the powerful lunar and ice qi within. Frost lined the edges of the door itself, and the air here was noticeably cooler. He Yu’s breath steamed in front of him, and the feeling of a humid summer afternoon that followed him gave way to a deep wintry chill.

  Without ceremony, Li Heng unsealed the chamber. He placed a hand on the door and sent a flood of qi into the formation script. The sound of cracking ice filled the air, and the chill deepened. The seal on the door broke, and a furious, wintry presence rolled forth from within.

  The door flew open to reveal a furious Li Renshu. If Li Bao was an older version of Li Heng, then Li Renshu was an older Li Bao. His hair and beard were the same silver as Li Heng’s twin sidelocks. Aged lines creased is features in a way that made him look dignified and venerable. His movements held all the strength of a man in his prime, despite his age of hundreds of years.

  Although his presence was restrained, it still pressed down on He Yu nearly as much as Li Bao’s had when he’d unleashed it. The cold wintry moon of the Li was there to be sure, but the cold of Li Renshu’s spirit was deeper. More like the cold of a frostbitten death than simple winter. It took him a moment to realize, but it was Li Renshu’s killing intent. The ancient cultivator had claimed so many lives in his day, that his killing intent had become an indelible part of his spirit. He Yu wondered if some of what he’d felt from Jin Xifeng was from her killing intent, too.

  “You dare?” Li Renshu demanded, fixing his unwavering gaze on Li Heng. “I may have been withdrawn from the world, but do you think I am not aware of the state of my descendants? You awaken me for what, a spat among children? A mere Fifth Realm arrives in the night seeking violence, and you see fit to rouse me for this?”

  “This one offers his deepest apologies, patriarch,” Li Heng said as he fell to his knees in kowtow. “We ask for your aid, not in dealing with Wang Xiaobo, but in dealing with a greater threat still.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “There is no threat here. The walls of Iron Gate City stand. All that falls within my qi sense are children who bicker amongst themselves and have forgotten their place.”

  “To the east, the Dragon Empire has fallen. An ancient cultivator called Jin Xifeng has taken the throne. My friend, He Yu, has come to us seeking aid in dealing with her. Father would turn him over to his enemies.”

  Silence hung over the hallway. Li Renshu’s gaze slowly shifted from his kowtowing grandson to He Yu. Uncertain as to what else he should do, He Yu followed his friend’s example, and dropped to his knees in kowtow, saying nothing. Even with his eyes averted and his forehead on the floor, he could still feel Li Renshu’s attention upon him.

  After what seemed like an eternity, Li Renshu spoke again. “I was young and weak when Cai Weizhe, the Dragon Emperor, and their companions sealed Jin Xifeng in her prison. Do you mean to tell me she has broken out of her cage?”

  “She has, patriarch,” Li Heng said.

  “Both of you, stand.”

  With tremendous relief, He Yu got back to his feet. Li Renshu’s attention was still squarely on him, so he dared not speak.

  “Heng, go fetch the others waiting in the courtyard. You, inheritor of Cai Weizhe’s arts, stay.”

  As Li Heng left, he shot a nervous glance at He Yu. It summed up about how He Yu felt at the moment. What would an old monster like Li Renshu want with him? And how did Li Renshu know about He Yu’s cultivation?

  “What do you know of the art you cultivate?” Li Renshu asked once Li Heng had vanished down the hall leading to the courtyard.

  “Only that it was gifted to me by my martial grandfather, Cai Weizhe. That it is an ancient art, from a time before even Jin Xifeng’s imprisonment.”

  “Indeed. Ancient like the arts Jin Xifeng herself cultivates. Arts that have opposed one another for countless thousands of years. Such a conflict drawn out over so long a time creates a thread. One that stretches back to before even the empire was born. To the days of when the first cultivators walked the earth, and first gave challenge to the heavens.”

  “I saw her suppression,” He Yu said without thinking. His excitement was getting the better of him, but there were so many strange, unanswered things about his cultivation. Things that it seemed Li Renshu knew. “Ever since I started cultivating the Cloud Emperor’s Heavenly Palace I’ve been seeing visions, or memories. Do you know what they are?”

  Li Renshu shook his head. “I am only newly awakened to my Daoist Mind. If I’d had another hundred years to contemplate it, there is more I’m certain I could tell you. What I can tell you is this—there is nowhere within her realm that is far enough from Jin Xifeng. She will know of your strength. Should you advance and grow strong enough to threaten her, she will come for you.”

  “Elder Cai said no one cultivator can defeat her.”

  “I would trust Cai Weizhe’s judgment over my own, where Jin Xifeng is concerned,” Li Renshu admitted. “But if there is one who could lead others to her defeat, it is the bearer of the Heavenly Palace.”

  Something Yongnian had said returned to him for the first time, then. The epithet. Upon his advancement to Nascent Soul, the spirit had changed how he referred to him. Calling him “Regent of the Heavenly Palace.” Although he’d thought little of it then, He Yu couldn’t help but wonder now.

  “The others come,” Li Renshu said. “It’s best that my gift stay our secret for now.”

  Before He Yu could react, Li Renshu tapped the center of He Yu’s forehead with two fingers. A pulse of qi spiked into his head and surged through his upper dantian. For the briefest of moments, He Yu once again glimpsed the Eternal Dao.

  But this time, he glimpsed something more. His own Way, his own connection. His Dao—the Dao of Heroism.

  Defined through countless choices, it was just as Zhang Lifen had always said. His Dao of Heroism was the endless turning of a great wheel, set into motion by his very nature, sustained by a chain of choices that began well before he’d set off into the forest in search of herbs, and accelerated by the Way he’d defined for himself over the past twenty years.

  Before he could lose himself in the full weight of what Li Renshu had just given him, the sounds of his approaching friends shook him back to the present.

  “That should remain between us,” Li Renshu said.

  He Yu only had time for a brief nod before the others arrived.

  “You won’t defeat Jin Xifeng if you stay in the empire,” Li Renshu said, returning to what he’d been saying before—before whatever that had been. “Should you grow too powerful, she will hunt you down. There is, however, a convenient place where you can grow.” Li Renshu turned to the west. “The White Desert is a harsh land. Many who seek to cross it succumb to its endless sands. The land beyond, the Jade Kingdom, is an even harsher realm. But there is a reason the greatest cultivators often come from the Jade Kingdom.”

  Li Renshu turned back to the four of them. “You won’t survive as you are now. Heng, step forward.

  Li Heng did as he’d been bid, saluting his grandfather as he did so.

  “Give me the manual for your cultivation art.” Once Li Heng handed the jade slip over, Li Renshu sent a pulse of qi into it. “I have added all the knowledge I’ve gained pertaining to the Lunar Mirror Sword Art to your copy of the manual. I’ve also added the insights to lunar and ice qi taken from my seclusion. The adjustments to the art will make you a formidable foe on their own. The insights, on the other had, will allow you to tailor the whole of the art to your own Way. In time, you will easily surpass your father. Perhaps even myself.”

  Li Heng’s mouth worked in speechless shock for a moment. Finally, he settled on another salute.

  “Shadow,” Li Renshu said, turning to Yan Shirong. “I have little of use for you. Except these.” Li Renshu produced an ornate box, scripted with formation characters. “I see you’ve already formed a Wayborn Seed. Nascent Soul is only a matter of time. You are close to the peak. Take half a step into the Fifth Realm, then take these elixirs. The Nascent Soul you form will be of superior quality, and allow you to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with your comrades.”

  Then he turned to Chen Fei. “Your arts are foreign to me, but heaven brings fortune to you regardless.” Li Renshu produced a set of armored bracers and anklets. “These treasures will reinforce your strikes. Your mastery over formations will give you the necessary skills to modify them to your White Mountain Arts. Metal and earth will be your guide. May you stand atop the mountain eternal.”

  Finally, he turned to He Yu once again. “I have little for you but this. Explore your Way. Follow the insights it holds and stay true to the path you’ve laid out for yourself.”

  All four of them bowed, thanking Li Renshu for his gifts.

  “Once you arrive in the Jade Kingdom, seek hardship. Overcome death. Forge yourselves in the crucible of battle. Perhaps you will succeed where so many others have failed. Now, go. I will delay these upstart servants of Jin Xifeng for as long as I can. They will realize you’ve gone before long, so make haste.”

  Li Renshu showed them a secret exit to the rear of the house. Keeping their spirits restrained, they made for the west gate of the city, with Li Heng leading the way. The guards, only having orders to prevent anyone from entering, let them through without argument. The four of them released their spirits once they were clear of the walls and went west.

  With dawn, the empire fell away behind them. They crossed into the White Desert.