Hao Chan gazed about in breathless awe at the magnificent display of leatherbound tomes, thick plush rugs, and brass and hardwood décor in a chamber that reminded Alex far too much of the libraries in some of his favorite childhood movies, all of it accented by warm lighting from candelabra overhead that nonetheless gave just enough of a golden glow to make reading a pleasure, along with wide magnificent windows of both stained and clear glass with plenty of stuffed leather chairs about for those who preferred natural lighting. Alex couldn’t help feeling moved. It was clear to him that this was a very, very special place.

And the way Yinzi was gazing wide-eyed at her surroundings before turning back to Alex only emphasized what a striking contrast this was to the décor standards of their culture, even compared to the rest of the castle which was more an East-West fusion than a mirror-like glimpse of an ancient Han Dynasty.

Then Yinzi smiled. “Somehow this totally suits you, Alex.”

He grimaced and shrugged, but couldn’t deny that the library was the most wizard-like building in a palace full of exotic wonders, despite the striking contrast of the dozen cultivators he caught sight of in the central reading area. Most possessed exceedingly chiseled bodies underneath their changshan tunics or cultivator’s robes, save for the trio of striking beauties wearing cheongsams, their hair done up with jade pins or ringlets, graceful Han features accented by crushed rose petals and kohl, rice powder giving their skin a pale, almost luminescent glow. Two even had pink flowers painted upon their brow. It was almost as if honoring they were honoring the very special occasion of attending Alex’s library.

And certainly they, along with the handful of body cultivators seated beside them at the most prominent table near the library entrance, were paying rapt attention to the ageless silver-haired beauty whispering her words of counsel.

Before their gazes snapped up to meet Alex’s own, no glare so potent as those of the three dolled up girls.

Silver Wujen, he had no doubt, who looked less than pleased to see the unexpected presence of a Ruidian dare these hallowed halls, for all that their gazes turned measuring upon catching sight of a beaming Yinzi and a suddenly nervous Hao Chan.

“Um, Alex, are you sure it’s alright that we’re here?”

Strangely enough, the powerfully built body cultivators seemed a lot less intimidating than the trio of deadly Silvers glaring Alex’s way still, considering looks turning to furrowed brows when first one, then a second one of the well-chiseled body cultivators flashed brilliant white smiles Hao Chan’s way, one going so far as to rise from his seat and bow, as if gesturing her forward, the other pair at that table clenching their jaws but deferring to the power of the largest among the trio. Silver, Alex was sure of it, just like the trio of wujen women now peering at the pair of beauties at Alex’s side with even more unwelcome disdain than they had Alex, just an instant before.

Yinzi chuckled throatily. “Ooh… a trio of deadly silver queens. And how rare is that? I’ll bet you wouldn’t find three girls out of a million worthy of such a feat, and all three of them glaring such ire our way?”

She positively beamed at a blushing Hao Chan. “So that must make us more valuable than a million competitors, if those three ladies are trying to murder us with their eyes. Wouldn’t you agree, Chan?”

Chan winced, flowing into an exquisitely deferential bow in their direction before giving a quick apologetic smile to the hulking Silver Giant who clearly wanted to greet her, before quickly moving to the one female in the entire room giving them anything like welcoming gaze, squeezing Yinzi’s hand to follow along.

The kitsune rolled her eyes but played along as Lady Chun An approached after a few whispered words to the trio of ladies and a glare at the men, her strained smile as she approached Alex turning genuinely curious.

“Alex, it is good to see you! We have much to discuss, but perhaps that would be best concluded at another time. And who might these two lovely ladies be?”

“Hi, I’m Yinzi!” Yinzi gushed. “Alex just pulled me and my kung fu sister free of our captors, so now we’re going to live with him and let him win our hearts, once we reach Silver, right, Hao Chan?”

Hao Chan blinked, looking momentarily nonplussed as Yinzi continued to talk right over her. “But right now we’re walking the Pearlescent Path, which is pure madness in my mothers’ opinion, because we have no way of knowing when we’ve even reached Silver, but I absolutely can’t stand them at this point, so who cares if a thousand years of tradition says what we’re doing is the height of folly? What Kitsune wouldn’t embrace a bit of madness? And best of all, look at my shadow!”

Chun An blinked, giving Alex a pointed look before humoring Yinzi. Before her eyebrows furrowed then widened with alarm, noting the faint but definitely visible shadows she, Alex, and Hao Chan had. And Yinzi’s absolute lack of one.

“Child…”

“I know! Alex’s art destroyed my shadow! Isn’t that incredible?”

Chun An hissed and glared at Alex. “What did you do to this child?”

Alex swallowed. “Well, you see, actually that’s what I wanted to talk to you about—”

“Alex, do you have any idea what you did? For I have none! To the best of my knowledge, it’s impossible.” Chun An looked as awestruck as she did horrified. “I doubt anyone save Kitsune steeped in the deepest aspects of their craft would know a way to—”

“No luck there!” Yinzi positively beamed. “Because if you’re looking for mistresses of Shadow Qi, you can’t beat my mother. And all of her tricks could do anything! Not even a her pet Wujen’s arts could reverse the process! Though they did almost kill me.”

Chun An blinked. “Just who is your mother, child?”

“Can you keep a secret?” And before the powerful Silver could blink, Yinzi was right beside her, whispering in her ear so loud Alex suspected half the library could here. “Lady Jidihu. Black Death. The secret head of the Yidushian JiangHu sect.”

And it said something, Alex thought, that both wujen sorceresses and body cultivators seated at the nearby table actually flinched and paled at those words. It seemed that Jidihu’s reputation was alive and well, even in Baidushi, no matter the manic countenance of the pale faced, silver-haired message bearer, with her fox ears and tale of liquid darkness, winking at them all with her crimson gaze.

“But you can’t tell anyone, okay? It’s a secret!”

“Um… not really. Not any more, Yinzi,” said Hao Chan, as several genuflecting cultivators all but fled the library.

Yinzi furrowed her brow. Then she laughed. “Oh, I can’t hide my words in Shadow anymore, since we turned it to pristine liquid Qi!” Then she winked. “Good thing we’re on Alex’s world, so Mother will never find out that it was me who gave all her secrets away. Right, Alex?”

Alex pointedly looked in any direction save hers as Chun An took charge of the situation, her steely grip soon leading Alex and his disciples away from the library and down several corridors until they were before her personal quarters. And somehow her sharp glare kept even a bubbly Yinzi in line when her eyes began wandering over the murals Alex was glad most people passing by seemed to take as no more than artwork to be appreciated by souls more idle than they, busy as they were with their own pursuits. Or so Alex inferred from a few self-important smug expressions Alex chose to smile at, wondering if perhaps he sometimes had a similar arrogant cast to his features when he was caught up in his own revelations.

But of course, despite her bubbly exterior, Yinzi was the farthest thing from a fool. “Alex?”

“Shhh.”

“Alex!”

“Don’t say it!”

“Is that you in the paintings lining all the hallways?”

Of course this caught the ear of one cultivator making his way down the corridor who immediately frowned, glaring at Alex before turning to eye the nearest mural with particular intensity.

“Yinzi, come on!” Urged Hao Chan, though her eyes were also gazing searchingly into Alex’s own as they were all ushered into Lady Chun An’s impressive bedroom suite.

And the first thing to catch Alex’s gaze that both warmed his soul and broke his heart, was the pair of light bamboo doors on the far wall, presently open to allow for easy access to the private garden Alex knew he could make use of within his own suite if he chose… blinking back the sting of his eyes as he gazed upon the serenely peaceful features of Elder Ru himself, lying upon the full wicker couch-like affair cushioned by what Alex just knew were pillows filled with goose down, gentle rays of golden light slipping free of the cool foliage gently rustling over the ancient man’s wizened features.

Features still as death, save for the peaceful smile, and a wheezing breath that seemed to take ever longer with each breath he took.

Alex swallowed, trying to think past the pounding of his heart. “Lady Chun An?”

Only then did he see the desperate sorrow beneath her smile. “My grandfather is over a thousand years old. Born just a century after Silver Fox left his mortal form behind and returned to the heavens. He has seen countless wars and an entire empire forge itself from disparate city states to warring nations to a unified whole.” She closed eyes filled with tears, and her silent smile, free of any sob, was the most painful sight of all.

“He has seen so much, experienced so much. But now, I fear, his time is coming to an end.”

“Not quite yet, my granddaughter,” whispered the old man, blinking reumy eyes that had been bright and clear, just a few days ago, to Alex’s recollection, though his fierce Silver Aura was brighter than ever. Almost as if it were preparing to leave the mortal coil on its own terms, without needing vulgar death to open the door between realms.

His eyes widened and he smiled at the sight of Yinzi and Hao Chan both. “Ah. A pair of striking beauties now walk beside WiFu’s favorite disciple. Truly, you are a fortunate man, Alex Hammer, though I don’t envy you what will be a very, very busy family life before too much longer.”

He flashed his bemused granddaughter a teasing smile. “In my time it was common for the strongest cultivators to take the wives of the men they killed, jockeying for rank. And I considered myself a just man.” He chuckled softly. “Believe me, after claiming my third wife, who never quite forgave me for killing her first husband, although she did grow to love me in time, I quickly grew out of meaningless deathmatches, and strove for a gentler way forward. Not necessarily out of love for my fellow man, at that point, mind you. But rather because it was hard enough to sleep with so many newborns in my manor, and three wives all demanding my time!”

His laughter turned to a wheezing cough before Chun An gave him a sharp citrusy tea to sip.

He cleared his throat, giving a stunned Alex a nod of bemused approval. “They are both strikingly beautiful, and the Kitsune bears the stamp of her ultimate sire stronger than most I have seen, though she hardly seems to fade into the shadows at all! Still, I would counsel you, all three of you, to stabilize your foundations first, before founding your dynasty. It is much easier to balance exhaustion and babies when you finally break through to Silver. Frankly, I’m amazed so many mortals manage to survive childbirth and parenting at all!”

Alex felt his cheeks blaze at this pronouncement.

“Oh we’re not his wives, not yet,” Yinzi clarified. “We’re his disciples! But you’re right about no naughtiness until we breakthrough to Silver, lest our foundations crumble to dust. And since Alex has forged his own path of compression for us, using forbidden techniques, I wouldn’t be surprised if any cheating outright kills us! Right, Hao Chan?”

Hao Chan’s cheeks blazed under the suddenly too intense glares of the pair of ancient Silvers before him. “Well, it’s… complicated.”

But Elder Ru’s demeanor of ancient family patron enjoying his final days in gentlest repose was replaced by the fearsome aura of an ancient Silver who had once claimed entire battlefields, many mortal lifetimes ago. “Explain to me what you mean by forbidden techniques and a… path of compression?”

Yinzi beamed and nodded. “We call it the Pearlescent Path. Which I guess is an okay name. We haven’t had the chance to think up anything more astounding, since we’re sort of making it all up as we go along.”

Cold hard eyes pinned Alex’s own. “Is that so?”

Yinzi nodded animatedly. “Yes. We forged most of it in our dreams!” She then proceeded to explain the entirety of their training regimen in exquisite detail, showing just how sharp her memory and mind truly were, to the increasing horror of the pair of Silver sages before them.

“Alex Hammer, did you truly gamble with the lives of women you claim to love, embracing unheard of techniques in a mad gamble for power? Do you have any idea just how perilous a path you now walk?”

“Oh, he does!” Yinzi enthused. “I saw Alex placing cards covered in his own blood upon the Board of Fate, my father gripping his bloody hands while he did so, and how those monstrous gods who hate us howled when we dared to break the rules, forging new ones of our own!”

Even Alex was taken aback by the flash of madness he saw flickering in Yinzi’s eyes, seeing so much, knowing awful truths he had thought kept hidden in his darkest dreams. “Yinzi…”

“Oh, it’s okay, Alex. I can still hide in my father’s shadow. In fact, I can slide into shadows almost as fast as you can blink across the battlefield!”

Alex blinked, stunned to hear this revelation. “Really?”

“That’s hardly the point!” Snapped Chun An. “It’s impossible to forge a core without a web of Silver Cables squeezing tight a lifetime’s worth of spiritual energy. You have in all likelihood doomed both these girls to twisted paths that will surely destroy them!”

And now it was Hao Chan who spoke, spine stiffened, meeting Chun An’s gaze with her own.

And how surprising it was, Alex thought, to see the lady pale before the love of his heart said a word.

“That’s not true, Lady Chun An. My Alex isn’t dooming us at all. He is saving us. Saving us both. My kung fu sister is doomed by a set of arts that are otherwise completely incompatible, for all that they promise so much power. And I, despite the supposed promise of my Meridian Gateways matching my grandfather’s in size when he was my age, despite the torrential flow of Water and Steel roaring through my frame, am doomed by a stiffness, a fragility in my soul, that can endure no tense cords straining and constraining the flow of my dance, my movements.”

She blinked back bitter tears. “It is a flaw that shamed me in front of people I once thought loved me. A confused girl once cherished, then discarded as if she were less than nothing, memories tightly bound by Wujen arts such that only in my dreams, embraced by people who love me, am I able to recall anything at all.”

She swallowed, clenching her jaw, holding her head up high. “It is only by my future husband’s side that I was able to clear my seventh meridian.”

Elder Ru sighed. “Your seventh is cleared. Good. Then perhaps it’s not too late, so long as you haven’t—”

“Then my eighth.” Hao Chan said, locking eyes with the suddenly silent elder. “And my ninth. And my tenth.” She flashed a hard smile. “As my body blossoms into the courtesan’s ideal my enemies had hoped could be used to entice their most bitter obstacles and destroy me at the same time. Yet our efforts to fuse Silver Swan and White Crane is also forging me into a warrior even the bastard who tried to break me will have cause to fear. Because my husband’s dreams are my own. I know the taste of his screams, even if he has forgotten, and our deadliest foe lives still.”

Alex froze, gazing at the girl of his heart in stunned surprise, having had absolutely no idea her soul had become so attuned to his own.

Chun An’s gaze was one of horrified wonder. “Child! Do you have any idea of the significance of your words? If what you’re saying is correct, if no grand house has claimed you…”

“It is best your confession never escape these rooms,” said Elder Ru, with a phlegmy cough, before gazing intently at Yinzi. “Because words impulsively spoken could light fires of intrigue that might set this entire province ablaze.”

Yinzi grinned. “But were not in CuiJing Principality, are we? We’re not even in ZhengTu nation at all! We’re in an entirely different world, a realm forged by Alex himself!” Her gaze hardened. “And I don’t see either of you in any hurried panic to leave my future husband’s realm. So, if you trust him enough to forge a world like a god, why can’t you trust him to forge a cultivation path that is actually perfectly suited for two broken girls who will still make him the best wives he could hope for, and who will absolutely kill any other girl who catches his eyes?”

She beamed at a nonplussed looking Hao Chan. “Right, Hao?”

A sudden tense silence hung over the group as Alex locked gazes with a troubled-looking Chun An.

“How long does he have?”

“I’m right here, you know!” grumped an irascible Elder Ru, deadly killing aura fading, now just seeming a tired old man with a fond smile for the trio of youths before him. “And I can only wish you delightful children the best of luck on your perilous journey. For I have a feeling you’ll need all the luck you can get.” And with those words he sighed, leaned back and closed his eyes, seeming to instantly slip into the depths of slumber, breath wheezing from his lungs once more.

“This morning I had thought, had hoped, it was months,” Chun An whispered, her features filled with love and grief in equal measure. “But now I suspect my grandfather’s glorious life can be measured in weeks before his final chapter draws to a close.”

Alex nodded. “I’m grateful to have had an opportunity to benefit from his counsel, and his care.” He said, bowing at deeply as his seneschal would allow him, holding it for long moments before rising once more. Strangely, Chun An seemed touched by the gesture.

“Thank you, Alex. I appreciate your words.” She looked strangely torn, before at last nodding to herself, as if coming to a decision. “Alex, have you by any chance uncovered a body strengthening technique compatible with your path?”

Hao Chan and Yinzi exchanged a look. “Ooh, that’s a good point, Chan. Alex can’t infuse the essence of his core within his bones like we’re learning to, compressing it to titanic strength. Or at least, I hope we’ll be able to. One day. And since it’s our own essence, it’s fully compatible with Eternal Fox!”

Hao Chan flashed a wry smile. “I haven’t gotten that far at all, sister. I’m still clearing my meridians, and my ankle did pop with that spinning back kick.”

“Yes, but we totally smashed that granite to splinters! And Eternal Fox had you pop your bones back into place in a handful of seconds.”

Hao Chan gave a pleased smile, before glancing with some concern Alex’s way. “But Alex isn’t walking our path, is he?”

“Oh no,” enthused an excited Yinzi. “My father’s helping him forge a path fit to challenge the gods! Even though they could crush him in an eyeblink, if they weren’t all constrained to the rules of the game they’re playing.”

Alex was grateful that Lady Chun An had bowed and excused herself the moment it became clear Alex had neither body toughening or bone hardening technique at all. “Yinzi?”

“Yes, future husband?”

Alex blinked, before focusing on what mattered. “How much do you know?”

“About all the times you and my father laughed in the other gods’ faces, and how utterly awful General Shalu looks with his neck and face covered in ugly festering wounds? Absolutely everything!”

“And yet you never saw fit to share this before because…”

“Because we were on their world. You might be protected by cards of fate that hide you from the gods and let you commit acts so horrific they should damn you instantly, yet karma washes right over you, but if I spoke a single peep about Shalu, I’d probably be struck dead on the spot!”

She flashed a cheeky grin. “Of course I didn’t say a word while we were there. Not even in our dreams. Because I’m not stupid! Even when Father sometimes smiles at me and says he’s proud of his little fox cub when he thinks I’m sleeping, I know better than to give the game away, and he knows that I know, which is the only reason why he ever dared show me any affection at all.”

And before Alex could even think of a reply to give, Chun An was before them once more, with not one but three cultivation tomes carefully wrapped in linen.

Tomes of Dark Qi Alex could sense radiating a potent miasma tasting of both sweetest power and deadly decay to Alex’s Qi Perception. Tomes Chun An clearly hesitated even to touch.

Hao Chan blanched, stumbling back, and even Yinzi gazed at the package with solemn concern.

“What the hell is that?”

Chun An favored Hao Chan with a sympathetic smile. “These are the tomes your future husband risked life and limb to appropriate from our former academy. Tomes he ultimately failed to accrue. Tomes which, arguably, he would be better off never daring to use at all.”

Heart-shaped features turned to gaze into Alex’s own, a powerful, supple hand gripping his tightly. “Alex? Those, um… those don’t feel right to me. Are you sure there isn’t a better way?”

Alex grinned at those words. “It sounds to me like maybe you just might be learning a Qi Perception skill.” He turned to gaze at a frowning Yinzi. “Both of you. I was hoping perception type skills would be free of the limited number of abilities you’ll be able to fuse to your compressed cores. And now I’m more certain of it than ever.”

Hao Chan nodded. “Sometimes I can sort of smell or taste the Qi in the air when Jidihu’s Wujen was casting enchantments at us. Sometimes, when a cultivator is strong, I can even smell the different elements. The Wujen that ensorcelled us reeked of Earth, Metal, and Water. But from those tomes, I just smell the waste Qi… or the Dark Qi we are learning to harvest for our own ends.”

Lady Chun An’s eyes widened at those words as Hao Chan spoke on, her solemn gaze locking onto Alex’s own, and there was nothing he wanted to do so much as wrap her in his arms and kiss her long and fierce, right there.

She blushed and smiled, lowering her head. But not before Alex darted in for the softest of kisses.

“Anyway, Alex, from those tomes I sense both sweet sweet power I know would hit me like poppy infused wine if I surrendered to its call… and a twisted corruption.” She swallowed. “I don’t know why, but I just… I just don’t entirely trust those tomes.”

Alex frowned at this. “Trust?”

She shook her head.

Alex turned to Lady Chun An, who gently placed the linen wrapped packages in a satchel very like a single strapped back pack, now shutting the flap closed. “This is what grandfather was trying to tell you. They’re not harmful to touch, I don’t think, in and of themselves… but daring to lose yourself in those pages?” She shuddered. “Please remember, all three of those would-be masters daring those arts fell to folly. From the vellum notes I dared to read folded into the largest tome, the practitioner actually had some success, strengthening his bones. But it came at a serious cost.”

Alex blinked. “Really.”

She solemnly nodded. “But he began to weaken. To sicken, the more bones he infused. For some reason, he didn’t stop. Not until it was too late. And whatever revelation or breakthrough he might have been looking for…”

“He died,” wheezed the tired voice of Elder Ru. “As do all fools who actually dare to manipulate waste Qi as if it were an element in and of itself.”

Alex exchanged a knowing glance with Yinzi. “That’s not entirely true, you know.”

Elder Ru popped one rheumy eye open, taking a wheezy breath, forcing himself to sit up in a stoop, no longer hiding his frailty. “I obtained those three books for you, against my better judgment, because of how determined you were. So focused, so certain you were on a path of revelation. But when I actually dared to glimpse those tomes…” he sighed. “Even I had to fight not to get pulled in. And I cultivated the entire night, feeling distinctly unclean.”

Alex winced. “Please don’t tell me—”

He adamantly shook his head. “No, child. My being foolish enough to obtain these tomes for you, tomes clearly marked as forbidden that only the wisest sages dare use as an adjunct to their own research, never to be studied or channeled directly, was my own choice. The payment of a debt owed to one who actually dared the impossible, bringing shelter and sanctuary to hundreds, with more lost souls still managing to slip through, at least one every couple days.”

He gave an exhausted sigh. “Be careful, my young friend. Very, very careful. I think your path is filled with folly. And I fear, even if by some miracle you might glean useful insights, such as how best to cleanse waste Qi from your system if nothing else, there may be additional peril as well.”

Alex felt a cold chill in his gut, afraid he knew exactly what the old sage meant. Yet still, he had to know. “Can you please elaborate, Elder Ru?”

“He means he fears there may be traps within the work,” Chun An said, voice harsh with disapproval. “Even I could taste the malevolence tainting one tome, and the other two written by fools. The first chapters of each might now be safe to read. But if you were to ask me which one embraced diabolical peril…”

Alex clenched his jaw, his worst fears confirmed. “I think I understand.” He locked gazes with Chun An. “How many tomes throughout the library are tainted by the malice of bitter cultivators looking to destroy their competition, as opposed to bringing enlightenment to future generations?”

She flashed a bitter smile. “At last you come to the heart of it. Why librarians were so valued at Risen Phoenix academy, and why Dongfang Hong did his best to entice or compromise so many of us, so early in the game. Truths I found out only after I discovered, scanning the records, that several of my underlings had specifically transcribed copies of the tainted sections of several tomes reserved for scholars alone, to men clearly opposed to the Red Prince, months before he was ready to make his move.”

Alex glared in the direction of the library. “How many?”

“There is a reason why no cultivation academy dares call itself such without mastery of its favored tomes and at least two librarians on staff, we alone skilled on how to detect twisted paths and traps and, if not circumvent it, at least pull those volumes from the common shelves for masters alone to glean whatever secrets are so valuable that men or worse would feel the need to entrap it so utterly.”

Alex clenched his jaw, glaring down at the trio of tomes by his feet. “So, not only is the path they dared to explore both perilous to such a degree none survived their folly unscathed, but they entrapped whatever sections were almost worth knowing to, what, stop anyone but themselves and their chosen disciples who knew of their work from even studying the tomes?”

“Of course. Until very, very recently, tomes were transcribed for the benefit of one’s descendants or favored disciples alone, with a riddle or family secret that would make it utterly clear which sections were to be avoided and left for ones enemies alone to dare embrace.”

Alex closed his eyes and sighed. “I swear, your entire realm would cut its nose off just to spite it’s face.”

This earned a wheezing chuckle from Elder Ru. “Certainly that is true of a good number of fools, but the world’s made up of far more than that. People filled with honor and virtue, who know that the path of transcendence and immortality can just as easily be found through one’s students as oneself. The Path of the Scholar, for example, is all about increasing the illumination of the world as a whole, so that all of society, not just a select few, might better understand The Way.

“And of course, being honored in the family shrines of one’s disciples is a tiny bit of divinity all on its own… as you should know yourself, Alex Hammer. For how many Kitsune clans have miniature shrines dedicated to you and your master both?”

Alex blinked at this, stunned by the very idea of it. “Honestly, that never even occurred to me. WiFu, maybe. Certainly. But why me?”

He chuckled softly. “Why indeed?” Ru said, before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep once more.

Chun An’s tired gaze lifted up to meet Alex’s own. “I did you a greater service than you will ever know, daring to examine even the first sections of all three. I left some notes, only a single section was twisted in the thinnest tome, though I suspect that was more foolishness than malice. Nonetheless, it is noted.” Her gaze turned strangely intent. “And I know as well as anyone the rumors of how quickly you came to master the most basic aspects of elemental attacks and wards. Skills you could only have gained by daring to immerse yourself in the memories of those who had come before. By daring to become one with the authors of those tomes.”

She flashed a humorless smile when Alex paled, humbled to realize how deeply and utterly she understood him, understood abilities that had awed him when lost in their thrall. “That ability is both a blessing and a curse, should you be completely in thrall to the author’s tale. If the author has embraced a lie, or worse, a trap to destroy your psyche, you who would dare infuse your mind with the malice of another.”

Alex winced, pulling his gaze away from strangely intent orbs. “First chapter alone is safe, don’t dare lose myself in the tomes. Got it,” he said, claiming the satchel, relieved to feel no undue pressure from the Dark Qi miasma. And, save for the faint odor of malice trapped somewhere in one of them, it was only the tiniest fraction of what he could manipulate without any problem at all.

He gazed at Elder Ru, chest filled with a painful ache. “Is there anything I can do?”

Chun An smiled sadly. “Unless you can turn back the hands of time, an element even the gods dare not touch, I fear that the answer is no.” She turned to the pair of girls now gazing so solemnly back at her. “But none of that’s the real reason why you came by to see us, is it, Alex hammer?”

Alex shook his head. “But I’m guessing you already know what I need.”

“You wish to secure two additional suits for your disciples?” She arched her brow. “Future wives?”

“Both!” Yinzi happily confirmed, gently squeezing an exasperated looking Hao Chan’s hand. “My battle-sister isn’t sure if she’s in love with me yet, but once I win her over, our passion will set the world ablaze!”

“I certainly hope not,” Chun An chided. “Burning passions are fine in the storybooks, but one really is better off not igniting wars and setting entire cities ablaze. Now as for securing extra quarters…” She flashed a sad smile. “I’m afraid they are all spoken for. Though today alone you may challenge your fellows for their quarters for the next week, it will still cost you one hundred credits, after I refund theirs.”

Yinzi frowned. “Ooh. We have to earn credits?” She furrowed her brow. “But isn’t this entire palace Alex’s?”

“Yes. And just how well do you think the peace and cooperative harmony will hold if Alex is seen acting like a tyrant, without embracing the same rules as everyone else? So too, Alex has made it clear that he wishes to be as anonymous as possible, so no one is fawning before him, so opponents take him seriously, and so he’s less likely to be assassinated by fools so eager for the magnificent bounty on a certain Ruidian’s head that they would gladly destroy sanctuary for all of us to achieve it.”

Alex blinked, flowing into a respectful bow. “Your perception is remarkable.”

“I but state the obvious for anyone with a certain degree of wisdom, or who measures their lives in centuries. Fortunately, I had thought to bring with me the very artifact we use to keep track of earned credits at the library.”

Alex blinked. “You mean all my library credits…”

“Correct! And that is how we can slide past certain obstacles, while still playing fairly within the rules. For your 17,000+ credit balance is exactly what you need to secure many weeks of elite privileges without having to suffer the distractions of manual labor, teaching, harvesting, dueling, or mastering a craft. Lest you choose to.”

Her gaze hardened. “And best you invest those credits and secure quarters for both of them, far from yourself, Alex. For their beauty is beyond striking, and if your would-be wife wasn’t indoctrinated into the path of the seductress as much as the warrior, than my eyes are those of a blind fool.”

Hao Chan’s cheeks blazed fiercely at this. “I… I never gave into my hungers. No matter how much they call out to me. All my passion, all my desire, the flow of my body and soul, is reserved for the dance alone. For the struggle of mastering my arts alone.” She gazed at Alex, cheeks blazing. “For Alex alone.”

Chun An nodded. “I know. And the legs of the most athletic seductress, the most accomplished dancer, can kick as fiercely as the deadliest warrior. For in the right circumstances, they are the deadliest of warriors. The elite killing assassins your ancestors would eventually claim as their favored concubines. And how ironic it is that you now dare to master their forbidden art.”

It was then that she pulled out an additional tome, placing it into Hao Chan’s trembling hands. “A complete compilation of the deadliest of all the concubine’s arts. Silver Swan in all its variations and forms. Put together by a sage over a handful of years who sought only to resurrect that lost art for his king. Ultimately, he was put to death, but it is a complete work utterly free of traps or folly.”

She smiled fondly when all three youths bowed before her, Hao Chan and Yinzi flowing into Dogeza as Alex completed his half-bow. “This was the other tome Alex was denied by his enemies. It would have been foolish for grandfather to attempt to acquire this as well as the others, and far more fitting for me to claim this near forgotten tome involving a woman’s art, and one requiring absolute chastity till Silver is reached, no less.”

Eyes wizened by countless years and experience gazed thoughtfully at all three of them. She quirked a cynical smile. “Yes, I would advise separate quarters for all three of you as soon as possible. All of your Dantians have been shifted into a killer’s alignment, and you all stare at each other far too intently, all three of you following unorthodox paths, and none of you anywhere near reaching Silver.” She squinted. “Save maybe you, Alex. But somehow I sense you breakthrough will be the most challenging hurdle of all.”

Alex flashed an awkward smile. “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you’re right. And I don’t suppose you can recommend a couple suite holders in particular that I can challenge?”

This earned him a hard frown. “You would tear free that which they worked so hard to achieve?”

Alex winced, lowering his gaze. “Weren’t you the one who just told me that the girls were in peril if they didn’t secure private quarters, away from hungry men and, well… me?”

“I did.”

“Then why…”

“Because there is no clever way of avoiding the cost to what you seek, Alex. Not in this. Even if the fox slips free, another will pay in his steed.”

Alex frowned. “Please explain.”

“You would be choosing the easiest path to assure your disciples’ sanctuary, but at the price of tearing free long dreamed of treasures from cultivators who worked bitter hard to earn even a week’s worth of rights to your mystical chambers with all the food rich with spiritual energy they could want, priority access to select cultivation tomes, and cultivation-rich sleep, all their cares melting away as they embrace whatever wonders they choose to dream.”

“But they will get their credits back, won’t they?”

Chun An nodded.

Alex clenched his jaw, ignoring the unspoken reproof in her gaze. “Then please be so good as to give me the names and strengths of the ten weakest. I’m sure my seneschal can arrange things from there.”

She flashed a hard smile. “And is that your order as the lord of this realm, Child of the Heavens?”

Alex’s gaze hardened. “You know what? Let’s just say it is. I’m not exiling anyone back into the Red Prince’s clutches like a power-mad asshole. I’m offering a fair fight, with credits paid.”

“You’re going to be forcing fights against opponents you judge to be weaker than yourself.”

“You’re bloody right I am. This isn’t a game. This is about securing safety and a solid foundation for people I would die to protect.”

He did his best to tune out the unexpected hitch in Hao Chan’s voice, the delighted squeal in Yinzi’s, refusing to let Chun An’s gaze go until she at last nodded in assent.

“It will be as you say… Child of the Heavens. I will have a sheet of vellum sent to your room in less than half a glass. You can choose your victims from there.”

“Good.” Wasting no more time, Alex headed back to his quarters to prepare.