Jian clicked his tongue and pulled at the reins. His mule's eye had been wandering towards the foliage at the side of the road. He could sympathize. He was hungry, too. But straying from the road in search of a meal was a bad idea in these untamed wilds, no matter how close they were to the safety of the Empire.

He and his friend, Shan, were journeying together back to civilization. They had spent the last few months in Linshi Town, an outpost in the wilderness that served as a forward base for hunters who made their living out of the treasures to be found in the surrounding mountains. It had been a novel experience for the two of them as they were forced to fend for themselves without relying on the protective umbrella of the Guo family.

It had almost ended in tragedy. Jian's whole reason for taking the trip had been to slip beneath the notice of the Heavenly Sword Sect. His fiancee Meirong was the treasured jewel of the sect. When she had visited his family to annul their engagement, he had managed to bargain her down to an agreement: two years from the date of their arrangement, they would meet in a duel. The winner would dictate to the loser their treatment of the engagement, with the loss of face falling squarely on the loser.

Jian was almost certain to lose. He had been stuck at the peak of Essence Gathering for years, while Meirong had raced along the daunting path of cultivation as though it were a broad and open road. However, not everybody within the Heavenly Sword Sect had been willing to wait for years to pass before their pearl would be free of him.

A team from the sect had visited Linshi Town to lead an expedition and clear out the demonic beasts that infested the nearby wilderness. After the team had left, one of their disciples, Tingfeng, had stayed behind. Jian had believed that he and Tingfeng had reached an accord right up until the moment that Tingfeng tried to poison him to death.

Fortunately, the poison he had used did its deadly work by stopping the heart from beating. Jian had been training to survive such a situation for years, ever since he began work on an artificial heart and started researching what he would need to do to survive a heart replacement operation. He had managed to get both himself and his prototype to a doctor's office in time.

Now he was being kept alive by his creation. The artificial heart had also done what his body could not, condensing his spiritual energy from gas to liquid, vaulting Jian into the lowest level of the Body Refining stage. Unfortunately, his heart was less successful as a heart. If he put himself through any kind of exercise, he would receive scant few warning signs from his body before he unceremoniously passed out.

That hadn't stopped him from taking his revenge on Tingfeng. He had managed to coordinate with Shan in secret to slip a paralyzing poison into Tingfeng's meal. Jian had timed his own arrival to coincide with the onset of the symptoms, pretending that he had disabled Tingfeng with a newly crafted device. He had taken the money that Tingfeng owed him and given him a letter to deliver to the Heavenly Sword Sect admitting his guilt in the attempted murder.

Tingfeng's reaction to his comeuppance would be revealing. The sect's reaction to their disciple's attempted murder, even more so.

Jian and Shan had been worried that Tingfeng would chase them down and kill them out in the open. They had disguised and hidden themselves as best they could, but they still tensed up every time they met somebody else on the road. There wasn't much they could do if it came to open battle. Shan was a talented cultivator at the peak of Body Refining, but he was no match for someone who was well into the Core Formation realm. Jian, of course, would be lucky just to stand on the sidelines of a fight without passing out.

Fortunately, their fears had never come to pass. Whether Tingfeng was shamed by his own behavior, nervous at facing down Jian's next crafted weapon, or simply unlucky in his search, several days had passed without any sight of him. They had almost reached the wall separating the wilds from the Empire. Once past that, they would disappear into the vast masses of traffic moving back and forth on civilized roads.

They were approaching the wall now. Jian gave Dusty an encouraging flick of the reins. Once they were safely behind the wall, he'd let the hardy mule graze to his heart's content. He would have done so already if not for his fear that she would become the meal instead of the diner.

The soldier guarding the wall studied them for only a moment before he waved them through. Jian gave him a friendly nod before snapping the reins to set Dusty moving.

"They interrogated us on the way out," Shan said, "and now they just wave us back in."

Jian chuckled. "They didn't want to let two kids rush into danger. Obviously, I'm wise enough in the ways of the world to keep you out of trouble."

Jian had disguised himself as an old man. A specially formulated adhesive had caused his youthful face to wrinkle up like a prune, while another alchemical formulation had bleached his hair snow white and leeched it of its youthful vitality. He wouldn't blame anybody who thought he was Shan's grandfather.

Shan's own disguise was less elaborate. He'd had to use a dye to color his blonde hair a dark brown. He'd also had to change out the expensive fighting garb of a proud cultivator for simple peasant's wear. Considered as a whole, there really was no reason for anybody to take a second look at the two of them.

"Keep me out of trouble?" Shan asked. "You're the one that trouble always finds."

Jian nodded. It was a fair point. His trouble with Meirong had sent them running out to Linshi Town. It had even followed them beyond the borders of the Empire and put their lives in danger in the wilderness. He was grateful that Shan had stuck by him through thick and thin. Of course, there was no need to say so out loud.

"Nature finds trouble for geniuses," Jian said, "otherwise we'd have it too easy."

Shan laughed, shaking his head. To be fair, he hadn't come out of the trip empty-handed. He'd earned a healthy haul of spirit stones during his time as a member of a hunting team. He'd also picked up a foundation repair elixir as a result of one of their more daring escapades.

Once he could find a safe place to take the potion and absorb its medicinal effects, it would fill in any lacunae in his cultivation. It should make for a smooth and easy path to the Core Formation realm, which would be quite an accomplishment for a boy who still hadn't turned seventeen.

Jian himself had finally begun cultivating once more. Since his body condition had prevented him from advancing, over the last few years he had devoted more of his attention to physical exercise and martial techniques. It was taking some time to get used to the idea that he could cultivate, but it was time he was happy to spend.

"Will we be heading home?" Shan asked.

"No," Jian said. "We've just gotten out of sight of the Heavenly Sword Sect."

The whole reason that they had traveled out to Linshi town originally was to venture beyond the gaze of the sect. It hadn't quite worked out as planned, but in the end they had managed to get themselves on the road and free from the sect's prying eyes.

Visiting home was tempting. He could deliver the news of Tingfeng's perfidy in person and see how his cousins were progressing in their own cultivation. For that matter, it would be nice to sleep in his own bed. However, the moment they stepped foot on the Guo family's property they would be back to the beginning, stuck in place with any travel falling under the sect's observation.

Instead, Jian planned to skirt the edges of Bianjing Town and continue south, towards the capital. As one anonymous cart among thousands, it would be impossible for even the most devoted spy of the Heavenly Sword Sect to pick them out from the crowd.

Once they arrived in the capital, he planned to seek out a meeting with Meirong's grandfather. The old man and his father had agreed to their betrothal in the first place. If they agreed to dissolve it, then the engagement would simply disappear without any dishonor falling on either side. It was Jian's best hope for getting out of his predicament with his honor intact.

Faced with an impossible fight, Jian was intent on doing the reasonable thing. Backing out of the fight without leaving an excuse for the other side to come after him again. He had been excited to exact revenge against Tingfeng, but he wasn't letting the excitement of the victory cause him to lose his sense of perspective: the best he could hope for with regard to Meirong was to never see her again.