Chapter 1 – Pocket World

  Proper etiquette said you shouldn’t try to kill someone more than once.

  Yuhan Diyuan followed behind Yunya as she chased after the others, not wanting to miss out on any treasure. The two of them were lagging behind quite a bit, as Yunya cleaned up the leftover jewels from the last room, stuffing them into her storage ring. Diyuan knew it was a mistake, but he was willing to let her make it as this was her first trip into any pocket world.

  They turned the corner, where they saw the room the others had entered. It was the perfect place for someone to throw a dagger. It was simple enough that even Yunya should know that much. As he walked the hallway behind her, Diyuan committed the new turn to memory; this pocket world appeared to be an underground labyrinth.

  “Let’s go!” She shouted down the hallway. “We can’t let them get the good stuff first.”

  Too late for that, Diyuan thought. But Yunya was approaching the room and did not slow down. She knows a dagger is going to fly from there, right?

  Diyuan sprinted with as much haste as he could in order to catch up to her. Just as she turned the corner to enter the room, Diyuan took her by the shoulder and pulled her back with force.

  “Eep!” Yunya stumbled and fell backwards onto her bottom. A flash of steel flickered and struck the wall opposite of the open room. With a thunk, the throwing dagger wedged into the wall.

  Yunya looked up with annoyance. “Why did you pull me? What’s your problem...is that a dagger in the wall? Did someone just attack us?”

  Diyuan sighed. He was half a mind to go to Yunya’s father and scold him, or maybe he should just complain to Old Man Yifan.

  Old Man Yifan had specifically asked Diyuan to babysit her, as Yunya’s family requested someone special to be her protector. He had a hard time believing that the elder took their request seriously—evident by Diyuan being the hired guard. He was the same age as Yunya, hardly someone worth the stones that they were paying.

  For now, he soothed his voice and put on airs. “‘Ah, apologies, in my infinite grace and bloated ego, I had thought you were a demonic beast.’” He nodded. That sounded about right.

  “What?” Yunya looked baffled as she stood.

  Diyuan didn’t respond and instead he turned the corner and entered the room. He was quite certain that another throwing dagger wouldn’t be unleashed. Proper etiquette, and all that.

  “Ah, our dear Fel has come. Welcome, Yuhan Diyuan!” Gu Mugong, the strongest and most annoying person of the group inside the room, spoke with his silky-smooth tone as soon as Diyuan was visible. “You must take my apologies. You see, a barrier was just broken down here and I was certain a demonic beast was being released as a result. Surely you’ll forgive the mishap with my weapon?” He flapped the fan in his hand and gave a dramatic fake bow.

  “Mugong, you liar!” Yunya shouted as soon as she entered the room. “You attacked us on purpose!”

  “That’s Gu Mugong to you. Unless you’re willing to propose to me.” Mugong hid his smile behind his fan and gave Diyuan a look that said this round is mine.

  Diyuan raised his hand casually to stop Yunya from shouting further. It was a little embarrassing. “It’s fine Yunya, Mugong’s been trying to kill someone for months now. I’m starting to feel bad.”

  Mugong snapped his fan shut, his grin widening. He didn’t correct Diyuan for not adding his surname. The rivals were close enough despite their murder attempts. “Oh, dearest Fel Diyuan, your wit would wound if it wasn’t dulled by your tardiness. However, in my infinite grace, I will let your eyes feast upon my treasures.”

  Diyuan didn’t need Mugong’s permission to examine the room.

  The room they were in was a large expanse that seemed to be bigger than some treasure vaults. Against the walls stood towering stacks of metal boxes, their surfaces gleaming with a dull, steely sheen. Each was roughly rectangular, their edges worn from age. Handles protruded from their fronts, asking to be opened.

  Someone had done just that, where spirit stones flooded out of the box, spilling over with more stones than what the box could physically hold. It was like the box was its own storage ring, now finally free. Spirit stones piled on the floor. Their faint glow pulsing softly, each one having a subtle energy that would give a boost to a practitioner’s cultivation, but more commonly used as simple currency.

  But if there were that many stones in just one box, then by counting all the stacks of boxes that lined down the entire room… If every box held a similar haul, this chamber had riches that people would talk about for years to come, greater than any pocket world Diyuan had ever visited. Yunya’s face was lit up like a child who had just received her birthday gifts.

  Diyuan had a guess as to what was about to happen.

  “We’re rich!” Yunya said with glee.

  Mugong held up a finger. “A correction, if I may,” he said. “It is we who stand enriched. You see, moments before your tardy arrival, we dismantled a rather intricate formation—one that demanded the precise union of eight souls to unravel its wards. A convenient puzzle, in truth, yet one you were strangely absent for.”

  In short, Mugong was saying that out of the 10 people that were now in the room, only 8 were needed to break the non-existent formation.

  The 10 people in the room represented the final 5 clans in the world. For this pocket world, each clan had an allocation of 2 people, with Diyuan and Yunya representing the Zhengyi clan. While all 5 clans were semi-enemies with each other, that didn’t stop temporary alliances from taking place when it was convenient and profitable. There wouldn’t be a way for Diyuan to get even a single spirit stone.

  “That’s not true, Gu Mugong,” Yunya said. “How could you guys break a formation when I saw someone walk in here right before us. We would have heard something.”

  She placed her hands on her hips as lifted her nose into the air. That was probably the level of logic she used to get her way of things. But it wasn’t going to work in a pocket world.

  Mugong shook his head and clicked his tongue softly and gave Diyuan a look that said really? as he turned to the assembled representatives of the clans. He held out his arms. “My esteemed companions, pray tell, what say you? Do I spout nonsense when I assert that we, and we alone, dispelled the barrier within this chamber? Surely the Zhengyi clan would not presume to claim a feast they did not labor to prepare?”

  They originally had a confused look between each other, which gave way to comprehension once they understood his intent. One by one, they stepped forward, each offering a fist-in-palm salute.

  “There was indeed a formation.”

  “We worked really hard to break it!”

  Their agreement wasn’t hard to understand. After all, their share had just gotten bigger.

  Mugong’s gaze shifted to Diyuan, a knowing look in his eyes. “Any objections, Fel Diyuan?” He asked. No doubt they were both thinking about a similar situation, one that had happened in another pocket world. Much like how Mugong had thrown that dagger at Yunya, Diyuan had also thrown a dagger at a Gu clan member—but his didn’t miss. That poor fellow.

  Had Diyuan not been babysitting Yunya, he wouldn’t have lost this round so badly. Not to mention the gains that Mugong received with this victory was greater. Well, at least none of my clan members died.

  Diyuan put his fist-in-palm salute in response. “No complaints. This follows the rules of the treaty. Though…since all of you were needed to break this ‘formation,’ I’m sure you’ll all share the wealth with equal fairness, since no one here can be forced to gamble or give up their equal share. It wouldn’t be right if one party tried to hoard beyond their due, after all.”

  Mugong composed himself, but he couldn’t let slip that bit of excess joy. “Naturally,” he said, though his tone was suspicious. He had no intention of sharing the spirit stones equally, but Diyuan couldn’t figure out how he would convince anyone to part with what was already theirs.

  “Are you kidding me!?” Yunya stepped in front of Diyuan and glared. “You’re telling me that not only are we freely giving them something they didn’t work for, but you’re also not going to do anything about Gu Mugong trying to kill me a second ago?”

  Diyuan held back a sigh, swallowing the frustration creeping up. This is what happens when you waste time trying to collect leftover jewels. Though, admittedly, he was not expecting this amount of spirit stones.

  “What is this?” Mugong mused. “Do tell, Fel Diyuan, I had wondered why the Administrator’s Archive had yet to claim a single soul after all this time. But now it dawns on me…you’re burdened with the role of nursemaid, are you not? Is she perchance a cherished princess of your Zhengyi clan?”

  Yunya’s face went red, but otherwise said nothing. The other clan people started speaking amongst themselves.

  “Is he really that dangerous?” One asked, his tone curious. “You know, because of the Fel title?”

  Someone replied in a whisper. “Hard to say, but people warn you’d best steer clear of the Fel holder. Yuhan Diyuan felled eight in the last two years alone, all ‘accidental’ kills. Always been ruthless after his brother died.”

  Diyuan turned to leave. Nothing left to do here. “Yunya. Let’s go.”

  Mugong’s voice rose, full of sarcasm. “Oh, do tread lightly on the matter of his brother,” he called. “It’s a tender wound, you see—a subject most touching for our dear Fel Diyuan.”

  He entered the hallway that they came from. It was lit up by bright stones etched into the walls, but was otherwise void of any marker to help them remember where they were. It was simply stone hallway to stone hallway, which continued on until it led from one room to another. Diyuan recalled the map he was creating in his mind in order to not get lost in this labyrinth.

  Yunya stomped her feet after him, mumbling things like “ridiculous” and “I’ll get my revenge.” Diyuan couldn’t take it any longer—he had to correct her mindset.

  “Yunya, are you suicidal?”

  “What? No, obviously not.”

  “Are you an illegitimate child?”

  “Huh? No?”

  “Do you think someone in your family is trying to secretly assassinate you? Maybe to take over the family business?”

  Yunya came to a halt. “What’s with these questions?”

  He could see that her face was reddening. “You obviously weren’t prepped to be in here. We’re at war with the other clans, so of course they’ll try to kill you. Yet you’re walking around as if we’re on a treasure hunt.”

  “But we’re not at war?” Yunya looked genuinely confused. “A treaty was signed long ago so we can’t be at war.”

  Diyuan knew about her family’s life situation somewhat, since he wanted to know what kind of person he was assigned to protect. Her family were merchants rather than cultivators, so anytime they did business in these types of pocket worlds it would normally be ones that weren’t shared with the enemy clans, but that shouldn’t mean they lacked all knowledge.

  “I guess it’s my duty to educate you.” He started to walk off and began his lesson. “First, the war didn’t end between the final 5 clans—it was transferred to take place between the younger generations inside pocket worlds. A large part to protect non-cultivators and to stop the Tribulation Shroud from shrinking.”

  Yunya walked up to his side. “I get that people can die inside here, but that usually happens when people fight over treasure, right? If I don’t fight over treasure, I shouldn’t be in danger. I mean, the treaty says we can’t kill each other.”

  “No, it says we can’t deliberately kill each other. Notice how Mugong gave an excuse after throwing a weapon at you? If there was any deliberate killing, or some sort of claim that the excuse was too flimsy, then the punishment is simply to take away your storage rings after you leave the pocket world. Meaning, you lose all the loot you collected for getting caught.” He held up a finger. “Do you see? The punishment for getting caught for killing someone is losing your loot, not your life. And in most cases, the dead party is the one who gets the confiscated loot.”

  “So…you’re saying that the goal of the treaty is to legally allow people to kill each other in here? In all pocket worlds?”

  Diyuan nodded.

  Her face lit up once more. “Then can’t you just kill everyone and take all the spirit stones that they’ve got now?”

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  That got a chuckle out of Diyuan. “Congratulations, you’re starting to think like a cultivator. However, a full group death is automatically assumed as a deliberate plot to kill, regardless if it was or wasn’t. All loot will be taken from the survivors and split between the deceased clans. So if everyone in the previous room died, we’d lose our rings regardless.” He thought to himself for a moment. “That being said, I’m pretty confident I can take on anyone here, with the exception of Mugong.”

  “Really? Not against him? But aren’t you a genius? Even I’ve heard of you and we don’t even live in the same city.”

  Diyuan was certain that his fame didn’t exist solely for his “genius” cultivation, considering what had happened when his brother died.

  But the genius title wasn’t unwarranted. While both Diyuan and Yunya were 16 years old, their cultivation levels were different. Normally, at the age of 16, that would be when a cultivator’s Foundation core first forms—which happens at level 3 Foundation. And only after the core formed could a cultivator go out into pocket worlds for “opportunities.” That’s why Yunya was here now as she had finished forming her core.

  Diyuan was a level 5 Foundation cultivator, an entire 2 levels higher despite being the same age. Under normal circumstances, a talented person wouldn’t reach level 5 Foundation until they were 20 years old. Otherwise, if they weren’t talented and was instead just an average person—Yunya, for example—they would need until the age of 26 to reach level 5 Foundation. A difference of a decade compared to Diyuan now. Hence, genius.

  There were three great cultivation realms: Foundation, Spiritweave, and Dharma. And each of those great realms were broken down into 5 levels. So Diyuan’s next level would be level 1 Spiritweave after he broke through.

  “It would be an even match if we fought,” Diyuan said. “In this pocket world, there’s a prohibition that lowers everyone’s cultivation level to the Foundation realm. Both Mugong and I are considered level 5 Foundation while in here, even though he’s level 1 Spiritweave outside.”

  The conversation made Diyuan think about her family hiring a guard for Yunya. Normally one might consider hiring a Dharma cultivator, but that would have the opposite intended effect—causing the other clans to purposely target them in an attempt to kill the higher-level cultivator, weakened due to a pocket world’s prohibition. Losing treasure for killing a Dharma cultivator would be worth it.

  As they walked and turned corners, Diyuan continued to teach Yunya as he saw fit. The first thing he did was criticize her lack of awareness when she admitted she wasn’t paying attention on how to get back to the exit. There were other things he taught her. Since pocket worlds could vary widely, from poisonous forests to erupting volcanos, knowing some how-to’s would be useful. He left out the fact that some of these worlds also contained demonic beasts, which were extinct in the outside world, but figured she wouldn’t deal with those anytime soon.

  They finally found another room to loot, but Yunya expressed her disappointment immediately.

  “And here I thought we’d get lucky and find some goodies by ourselves while everyone else was distracted by the spirit stones,” Yunya said.

  The room they stepped into was a mess. Scattered haphazardly across the room were pots, vases, and bowls, some upright on tables, others overturned or toppled onto the floor. At first glance, these objects appear mundane, lacking the obvious value of jewels or spirit stones found elsewhere. To an untrained eye, this could be considered junk.

  “This is all junk,” Yunya complained.

  Diyuan, who had untrained eyes, agreed.

  But there was a subtle dissonance in the room that Diyuan picked up on. The Administrator’s Archive was an orderly pocket world. Everything lined up in a neat fashion. Even the bright stones out in the hallways were set perfectly. Yet this room was different. The bright stones were now attached at random rather than in a neat row, causing a mismatch of shadows across the room.

  “How odd…” Diyuan said.

  “No kidding, this place is a dump compared to everything else. Can these even be sold? The merchants in our guild sell ones better than these.” She picked up a vase and shook it, as if demanding an answer from the object.

  It was indeed odd. Something about this room didn’t add up. Every room they had entered prior to now was organized neatly and arranged in a way that made it seem like an administrator was handling the affairs, which was why it was given the Administrator’s Archive name.

  Each pocket world had their own personality. It was thought that in days long past, these worlds had an owner much like how someone would own a storage ring. But with that neatly organized personality in mind, this time the room was more akin to a mix of an art exhibit or a museum collection, though just recently robbed. Nothing was protected behind a special formation or anything.

  “Pocket worlds automatically reorganize to the owner’s personality after they close,” Diyuan said, “These should be neatly organized, yet this place looks like someone’s been here before.”

  “So no goodies? But how could someone be here if we’ve been with the group for almost the entire time?” Yunya asked.

  Diyuan confirmed that the dust of ages rested in the room. The air was still. So if it wasn’t someone who’s been here before…

  “This room was purposefully designed to look like a dumping ground,” Diyuan realized. “It’s made to look disorganized. Look through the stuff and inside the vases. There might be hidden treasure here.”

  Yunya walked with a bounce to her step as she began searching. The room itself extended to different wings, but they weren’t all that large. To examine everything should take less than an hour. Diyuan thought about other locations this pocket world could have opened to. Pocket worlds opened and closed on their own regular schedule. The Administrator’s Archive had a cycle of opening every 8 years, but the location would change each time. For example, when it opened 8 years prior, it was to a library, which always refreshed its shelves even after being looted in a prior cycle.

  Yunya went back to complaining about the room being full of junk when she found nothing after twenty minutes.

  Diyuan heard a noise inside a vase he shook, so he turned it upside down and saw a dagger drop out. After taking it and pulsing some of his energy into it, he identified that it was a spirit artifact. With a drop of his blood, he attuned the dagger to his being.

  He smirked faintly, flipping the dagger between his fingers. “Yunya. Here’s some motivation.” He flung the dagger mid-spin, its arc a blur toward her chest. She yelped, hands flailing—then froze as it halted an inch from stabbing her; it snapped back to his open palm with a soft thwick. He caught it without looking. “Returns on command. Neat, isn’t it? Who knows, there could be more.”

  “Ha. Ha. Very funny.” Though she was sarcastic and annoyed, there was another fresh bounce to her step as she examined inside the pottery with a new optimism.

  Diyuan tossed and recaught the dagger a few more times. There were things he knew about it instinctively after his blood attuned to it. First, the weapon had a name: Wind’s Edge. The weapon could only return back to his hand once after it left him, so he couldn’t control it freely in midair. And if he called for it and something got in the way for its return, then it would simply fall like a regular weapon and would need to be picked up physically.

  It was a decent enough weapon that had its uses; and since it was a spirit artifact, depending on its strength, it had the ability to pierce the skin of those that had a higher cultivation level. That meant in the event Diyuan had to fight Mugong before reaching level 1 Spiritweave himself, he had an easier chance of killing his enemy.

  Diyuan made Wind’s Edge disappear into his storage ring and continued searching. A half hour passed with nothing new found, which led to Yunya resume her lazy posture as she moved from one item to the next. She must have been on autopilot since she kept moving despite the clinking noise that was heard after she practically dropped a bowl. Diyuan noticed that the sound came from the small green rectangular object that the bowl hit.

  “A jade tablet!” Diyuan said and pointed. “Are you even paying attention? You just skipped over it.”

  “Huh? Where?” Yunya went back and searched over the spots she had passed, seemingly ignoring the obvious rectangle on the table. She turned and looked at Diyuan in confusion.

  “If you’re going to be so blind, then this counts as my find,” he said as he walked over and grabbed the jade tablet.

  Yunya’s eyes went wide as he picked it up. “I swear, that wasn’t there when I looked!”

  “Mine now,” Diyuan said and pulsed his energy into the jade tablet to get a sense for it.

  Jade tablets were objects that could hold information, from mundane things like building schematics or maps, to combat artes that cultivators would use. When someone hoped to get lucky and win the lottery inside a pocket world, they usually meant in regards to spirit stones or with artes.

  “I’m telling you I didn’t even see it…it’s like I’m being punished for wanting to get rich without relying on my papa.” Yunya complained. “The next five items are mine, then.”

  After Diyuan poured his energy into the jade tablet, two things came to mind immediately. The first was that the tablet was a double arte, meaning that it contained two artes rather than the normal one. A two-for-one deal. This was rare and valuable enough already since each cultivator could only hold one arte per cultivation level after the core formed. Since Diyuan was at level 5 Foundation, he could have a total of three artes, and as of right now, his level 5 slot was empty. But adding a double arte meant that this slot got two artes.

  The second thing he noticed was that the two artes inside did not seem to mesh together. Typically, if there was a double arte it was because the two skills could somehow complement each other. But in this case, one was a mobility arte and the other was a…predictive ability arte?

  The mobility arte was amazing. Emperor’s Rule was the name of this skill. Based on what he could sense, the arte would allow him to “carve” out a path and then move through it with great swiftness. If he understood it correctly, it seemed like it would be an almost instantaneous teleport. That was something that interested Diyuan greatly.

  The second arte, the predictive one named Mesmer’s Echo, was less stellar. It sounded like it was an ability that taught him how to dodge when he knew how the enemy was going to attack. It wasn’t that it would teach him how to predict the enemies attack, but rather, it was teaching him how to dodge when he already predicted their attack.

  …Which is useless, Diyuan thought, because if I already know how the enemy is going to attack, I can dodge it on my own without an arte.

  Admittedly, Diyuan could be interpreting the skill incorrectly.

  “I’m going to absorb this arte now,” Diyuan said. “If someone comes into the room, try not to let them kill me.”

  Diyuan didn’t wait for Yunya’s response and sat in a lotus position on the ground. The jade tablet floated in the air in front of him and began to softly glow as he absorbed it. The information from the tablet was being poured into his Foundation core, which would allow him to instinctively use the newly acquired skills like breathing. He would still need to learn the limits of the artes, but that would come later.

  In a few minutes time Diyuan finished and stood up. The jade tablet disappeared into motes of light, revealing it was a one-use tablet. He was eager to test out his skill when Yunya shouted in glee.

  “Finally!” She held up her own jade tablet, though this one was uniquely pink. “I finally got something! Let’s see what this one is…” She held up the tablet to her forehead and closed her eyes. It began to glow softly as she poured her energy into it to comprehend the surface level information of the tablet.

  “Oh, it has a pretty grandiose name,” Yunya said. “I bet your arte doesn’t have a name as good as this one.”

  “I doubt it,” Diyuan said. His arte had the word emperor in it. That was victory enough for him. “What does it do?”

  “Uhh, let’s see,” she closed her eyes again. “It says something like it allowing me to use multiple internal artes at the same time. An unlimited amount, actually?”

  Diyuan felt the air get sucked out of his lungs. Surely, the arte didn’t actually do what she claimed. That in itself would break the many known rules of cultivation.

  Yunya didn’t seem to notice. “But who cares about that. This name is pretty amazing. It’s called Heavenly Fairy Stance!”

  Diyuan immediately shifted to predatory mode. He closed his eyes and focused his hearing senses to reach as far out as he could. In the split moment that he did so, a faint footstep was heard fleeing in the distance.

  “Idiot!” Diyuan shouted. “You don’t know what you’ve done with that big mouth of yours!”

  Diyuan sprinted out as fast as he could, leaving a dumbfounded Yunya behind. The footsteps ahead no longer tried to remain stealthy. After turning a corner Diyuan saw the back of someone from the Gu clan, Mugong’s partner. He had been trailing them this entire time! Diyuan beat himself internally for his lack of awareness.

  The Gu clan person had a bulky back and wasn’t as fast as Diyuan, but he was still far enough ahead that he was always twisting and turning with the corridors so that Diyuan couldn’t find a clean shot to throw any of his weapons.

  “Mugong! They found a heavenly jade tablet! A heavenly jade tablet!” The Gu clan member shouted, his voice echoing down the stone corridors as he fled.

  A long hallway finally appeared. Diyuan threw his spirit artifact forward, which the Gu clan member eyed easily and sidestepped. Wind’s Edge wedged into the wall at the end of the hallway. A smirk appeared on the Gu’s guy face. Diyuan realized his error a moment too slow—on the wall to the side he glimpsed a paper talisman, planted earlier by the Gu clan member as a backup, glow and then detonate.

  It wasn’t an explosion of fire, but of waves, similar to throwing a rock into water. Diyuan’s senses were disorientated and he wasn’t able to see or hear properly. In that same moment, several things came to mind instinctively—without active thought.

  First, he could keep running forward. Having his senses shot would not hinder his balance as a cultivator. However, he wouldn’t have awareness on what his opponent was doing. The Gu clan member could turn around and strike at him, killing him. That would be what Diyuan would do if their roles were swapped.

  Second, he could stay still and wait until his senses recovered. Unless his opponent ran straight at him with the expectation to kill him, his senses would recover fast enough to continue the chase, though he would be far enough behind that he might not catch the Gu clan member.

  But a third thought came. Only Diyuan himself and Mugong would think to set up the paper talisman trap. Therefore, Mugong would have given instructions on what to do next.

  Diyuan jumped back in time to feel a sharp blade cut at the empty air where his neck had just been. His senses started to recover.

  “A-already!?” The Gu clan member said, though his voice felt muffled, like hearing through water.

  Diyuan’s recovering vision revealed a blob of a person holding what might be a sword. His vision swirled about, and he made his own sword appear to block the incoming blur of a swing. That must have frightened the guy, since he turned and fled down the hallway.

  Diyuan didn’t give chase. Instead, he held up his hand. His Wind’s Edge was still wedged into the wall down the hall. Diyuan recalled it. It pulled out and flipped in the air, flying back towards him. Unfortunately for the Gu guy, he was in its way. Diyuan heard a thud as his senses finally returned.

  Now lying faceup on the ground, lifeless, was the Gu clan member. His eyes were widened in shock, now to never change again. The Wind’s Edge had struck him in the skull.

  Diyuan walked up to the body before heightening his hearing senses once more. From one side came Yunya’s hurried footsteps, racing to catch up. From the other, faint voices drifted from the spirit stone room, still distant but audible through the labyrinth’s stillness.

  “Did you hear something, Mugong?” Someone asked.

  A brief silence.

  The brief silence lingered, then Mugong’s voice responded. “I hear nothing. Though I confess my attention was elsewhere,” he admitted. “Even Fel Diyuan, for all his reputation, would think twice before killing my Gu clan brethren without witnesses. The cost would be dear—he would lose face, and both his and that princess’ storage rings forfeit. No, let’s not be distracted. The battle tournament remains; we’ve yet to determine the lion’s share of these spirit stones.”

  Diyuan returned his senses back to normal when Yunya finally reached him. Her eyes went wide when she saw him wrench Wind’s Edge out of the dead body’s skull with a wet grating sound, blood slicking the blade.

  “Y-you killed—”

  Diyuan quickly clasped his hand over her mouth. He held up a finger to his mouth, requesting silence.

  Let’s go back, he mouthed. He took the body and dragged it with him, leaving a bloody trail that would need to be cleaned later. It would have been nice if bodies could be put inside storage rings. His mind raced for a solution to their new problem.

  Based on Mugong’s brief conversation, he didn’t care about any conflict away from the spirit stone room because he thought that Diyuan wouldn’t dare to do an illegal kill. But now that a heavenly jade tablet was in play, things were significantly more complicated.

  If nothing was done, their storage rings would be taken, which would include the heavenly arte. And not just any arte—one that could harmonize all internal artes? Yunya obviously didn’t know the importance of that discovery.

  Yunya looked back with concern and guilt. She must have gleaned that what she did was somehow wrong, but she wouldn’t know why. Someone who didn’t know the basics of the pocket worlds or the treaty wouldn’t know the implication of that heavenly jade tablet. Whoever absorbed that arte would allow their clan to break the treaty and declare war on all remaining clans. The stalemate would come to an end and the final war would begin.

  It was then that the idea on how to solve this situation came to Diyuan. He knew that as it stood, they would lose their storage rings due to an illegal kill on the Gu clan member. But what if he could make it legal if the narrative changed?

  The illegal kill could be made legal. One more death would be needed and the blame could be shifted. Diyuan would need to kill Yunya and claim that the Gu clan was responsible.