Alex took a deep breath of soothing forest air, perfumed with the fresh scents of evergreens, honeysuckle, and countless spirit-blossoms and wildflowers. A delightful boquette that helped sooth the pounding of his heart as he approached the scene of so much woodland devastation.

What had been so close to becoming his grave.

He did his to ignore the rough cries for help, cries that turned to desperate screams abruptly cut off, then no sound at all.

Forest Sense had made it exquisitely clear, where all the reds on the board were located, every soldier that had been responsible for daring to invade his domain and terrorize his people. And when the discontented rustles of the nearby leaves made it clear that the forest hungered for retribution of it’s own, Alex wisely deferred his own simmering anger, if anything giving thanks that the forest had waited so long before passing judgement upon the intruders of both their worlds.

Such that impenetrable forest that led exhausted men in circles for hours suddenly became roping vines, and strangling roots passing judgment on each of the desperately fleeing soldiers, horrified to find their stumbles upon ever-present roots somehow ended up with them tangled in thorny vines drinking deep of their flesh, cries of dismay becoming laced with disbelief soon turning into panic when they found they couldn’t break free.

All this Alex could sense as if he were there, so deep was his communion with the forest, even as he calmed the growing sense of dread in his own heart, knowing he too had a debt to pay.

Spirit pearl clenched in one hand as he allowed his blood to drip freely into his other, Alex forced himself to behold the scene of devastation awaiting him.

He squinted his eyes against the harsh light spearing into them as the soothing cathedral of overhead branches muting the light to a soothing emerald hue was replaced by a brilliant noonday sun beating down on the massive forest that stunk of burnt wood, charred sap, and once lush loamy soil burnt to lifeless clay.

Alex clenched his jaw, telling himself his heart wasn’t pounding with terror at the memory of the deadly beam of Fire Qi so concentrated it might as well be a plasma cannon, cleaving free the legs of a newly risen Silver who had been so arrogant as to think he was somehow destined, a chosen one, daring to yank the beard of a Gold tier Wujen forged in killingfields Alex couldn’t even fathom.

Somehow, his madness had worked. He had driven a calculating cold-eyed general to such insensate fury he had abandoned his post and chased after Alex with unquestioned homicidal fury.

A fury that had turned Alex’s mocking laughter to choked off screams.

The lower half of his body seared off in the blink of an eye.

And if he hadn’t been so lost in his own mad flight, so in tune with skills that now transcended the physical that he actually managed to Bullrush without his legs… he’d be a limbless husk shrieking eternally in the River of Souls even now.

You have failed to save versus dizzying nausea!

You have lost your lunch!

A shaking Alex ignored the gentle mockery of his interface. He didn’t need WiFu’s gentle, reproving smile to know he had played the fool to a degree that even his master might think twice about.

Then again, maybe not, he thought with a choked off chuckle, drinking deep from his waterskin . A waterskin he was now holding with an arm that had been seared to a stump by that same General Li Jaw-Long.

Alex shuddered, guts clamping once more, as his now exquisitely clear memory forced him to relive every second of that desperate dash for survival, when his mind wasn’t clouded by terror, adrenaline, and a fierce desire to forever laugh in the face of death, his very madness perhaps all that had facilitated his survival in the first place.

But all he felt now was a terrified fool.

And one who had been incredibly, inconcievably lucky.

The Fox’s own luck.

And what a price he had paid in terror, pain, and what he knew would be nightmares without end, did he dare sleep in any bed not pulled straight out of a fantasy castle that had no right to exist in any sane world yet somehow was the cornerstone of his own. Palatial suites containing whatever food he could possibly desire and golden fruit that would extend anyone’s life,no matter their cultivation base for so long as they ate them. And beds that would allow anyone to dream impossibly grand adventures, even lose themselves in imaginary self-regulating worlds every bit as good as being jacked into any fantasy matrix, and whatever isekai or RPG adventure they could desire would be theirs.

For eternity, if they wished.

Alex took a deep, shuddering breath, getting to his feet once more.

It had been for that impossible dream of a castle, now home to countless cultivators sheltering from a world gone mad, that he had dared to spit in the face of a wujen who had come so close to destroying Alex utterly, and turning all his dreams to ash.

“Just like he did this forest, bastard,” Alex muttered under his breath as he nicked his wrist and allowed his blood to flow upon the scarred earth that had been lush fecund forest, just days ago.

He couldn’t help smiling as he sensed the forest’s brooding weight of judgement withheld mellowing to the feel of a gently reproving but ultimately forgiving uncle once more as the ground was soaked with his crimson sacrifice. And were it anyone else, Alex would be alarmed at the flow of life raining down upon the charred soil. But with Rank 13 Eternal Fox and a tightly squeezed beast core claimed from his foes facilitating power healing… he was able to drench the soil with nearly a hundred pounds of his blood before he paused for rest. Meditating upon that terrible fight endlessly as he sat upon soil already awakening with new life, smiling to see the soil revitalize before his very eyes, fresh green shoots promising fecund life and the promise of lush vibrant woodlands in just season’s time.

Alex gave a nod of satisfaction, and followed the rustles of branches and the susurrations of countless leaves as he made his way to the next sight of devastation, one after another, before catching sight of something that sent him wheezing to the ground.

In the middle of a charred patch of stumps and blackened soil were his own perfectly preserved legs. Somehow pristinely preserved. Atop them was a beltpouch that had somehow survived the beam of hideous light that had sawed Alex completely in half.

He wasn’t quite sure if it was a lesson or a gift. Either way, Alex found himself crumpling to the ground, emitting harsh ragged sobs at seeing his own maimed body, trembling arms quickly clenching his own legs, making sure they were still attached. That he wasn’t crippled, or dead, and this all just a hideous dream before he woke up with Shi Jun gazing down upon him in the endless syxtian river below.

A part of him was surprised by how utterly he broke down at that moment, shaking and sobbing like a child. Like someone who had been broken by all he had been forced to see and endure. Eventually, however, after far longer a time than he would ever care to admit, the sobs eased to ragged gulps for air and his fetal position became that of a basic supplicant, meditating on greivous flaws, and what he could do, what he must do, to prevent folly from devastating him again in the future.

“I must get stronger. At all costs, I must get stronger,” he said to himself with fierce resolution, wiping the sting from his eye with a rueful chuckle. “And maybe embrace the unorthodox without always simultaneously playing the fool.”

And one of the hardest things he ever did, he found, was to claim the bag full of coins, beast cores, and spirit pearls the forest had clearly preserved for him, before burying that lost part of himself deep in the hardbaked ground.

He was surprised to see how badly his hands were still trembling after making piece with himself, nonetheless, he found a sort of meditative peace with his woodland communion while gifting his lifeblood to every stretch of forest that had been ravished and burnt by their mutual foe.

Until at last, Alex stood at the outskirts of the clearing where so much bloodshed had occurred, the trees rustling their soothing reassurance as he prepared himself to face to ice-cold glare of what was now his inner demon, the monster who had come so close to killing him, forcing Alex to accept how utterly insignificant all his struggles and might were to a Gold who he didn’t somehow manage to trick or goad in extremely unique circumstances that would never exist in a real fight where his foes took him seriously and immediately sought his death.

Alex swallowed, clenching fists, forcing himself to look up, even as the leaves rustled their caution.

Their warning.

A warning that filled him with dread.

Because he already knew.

Knew that when he looked up into the massive cube of force and the pyramid above it, still filled with the hazy smoke of 500 incinerated men, that he would gaze upon that which would fill him absolute dread.

Because he was no longer riding high on the exhilarating terror of battle.

Because he had been forced to bury his own body parts, lost to his folly.

Because the killing glare of the Gold who had so utterly put a foolish Silver in his place he had braced himself for… was no where to be found.

His trap was empty.

General Li Jaw-Long, the man who had come so close to killing him, was gone.

Alex froze for only a heartbeat, his mind screaming with sudden panic. He could all but taste his enemy’s malicious grin, knowing what a fool he truly was, how if the roles were reversed, he’d be sending a beam of superheated death right into...

Bullrush! Bullrush! Bullrush!

A suddenly terrified Alex flittered through the forest at inconcievable speeds, Forest Sense and his recent communion truly letting him sense all the pieces on the board, ever spirit beast who had paid Alex an odd sort of deferential respect while he had gone on his mission of mercy, healing the woodlands as best he could, as well as every trunk, every obstacle, such that he didn’t even need to spent a split second observing his environment as he flittered from one point to another, flittering through the forest so fast his Qi pool was about to crash down to zero before he finally sprung for the trees, now swinging from branch to branch for all he was worth, hearing nothing over the panicked roar of his own heart, amazed he was even alive.

He did not stop or slow down as midday turned to dusk, then nightfall once more, infected by a terror that had left him not mindless so much as in a primal state of survival, not daring to slow down even long enough to generate a single portal.

Not until darkness had well and truly taken hold.

Only then did Alex finally summon forth a tiny shelter of tetrahedral pyramid he darted within, sharktooth dao held in a fiercely tight grip, so that if any hideous nightmare foe actually could slide past Alex’s gates…

But there was nothing.

Absolutely nothing save the soothing rustle of the branches overhead and the occasional cry of the woodland spirit beast, perhaps many miles away.

And when Alex finally reigned in his animal-like terror and truly listened to what the forest was telling him… General Li Jaw-Long, persona-non-grate within these woods, was nowhere to be found.

Alex took a deep, shuddering breath, somehow certain that, skill restrictions aside, if that man were anywhere within the deepwoods, the forest would let him know. No matter how many hundreds of miles away he might be.

But there was nothing at all.

His enemy was gone.

And the man who now knew of the existence of Alex’s secret domain and the trump card he used to secure it, the man Alex was most terrified of, and most needed to kill, was now utterly beyond his reach.

Alex’s guts twisted with foreboding, knowing all too well the added peril he and his realm now faced. Because the General’s escape meant that Prince Dongfang Hong, the mad tyrant eager to claim all of Irdushi Province as his own, who would stop at nothing to seize whatever prize he sought, would know his secrets as well.

And the most terrifying revelation of all was that his enemy had somehow managed to slip free of his trap.

And he hadn’t sensed a thing. No pressure against his gates at all.

“Seneschal Dong Xiao! Is everything alright?” Alex said, communing with his seneschal who could understand and follow his directives, even a world away.”

“All is as it should be, Child of the Heavens. Though your favored disciples seem less than pleased that you left without them.”

Alex chuckled softly. “Things just got a lot more dangerous, my friend.” Alex then quickly described what had happened so far, and the threat he feared the general represented.

“I understand, My Lord. I shall have a full squad of sentinels guarding the gates, day and night.”

Alex sighed. “I wouldn’t have my men die for good reason, Dong Xiao. This monster is a Gold, with a fearsome mastery over flame!”

Surprisingly, this was meant with a quiet chuckle. “Well then, it’s a good thing you awakened so many of us to true awareness once more, Child of the Heavens.”

Alex blinked at that. “Wait, you mean...”

“You have a full company Gold tier cultivators who count protecting this realm as their highest calling and duty.”

Alex nodded with relief, then smiled, enacting a slight improvement with an additional act of will.

“My lord!”

Alex grinned. “An extra set of gates, just in case. Anyone crossing the first gate should have no problem repeating that oath before crossing the 3-sided pyramid that will be before them. Of course we can have a servant there to greet and explain things, with refreshments made available to them. But should reds have somehow burst the gate and slipped through...”

“I understand, my lord. Even a Gold Wujen would have to pause before repeating the feat a second time, and with us able to pass through freely...”

“Exactly. Keep him contained, and obliterate him using whatever tactics work best.”

“Very good, my lord!”

Alex gave a rueful chuckle. “I don’t suppose any of our newly awakened guardians...”

“I’m afraid not, my lord. Your world is the only world of significance as far as any of us are concerned.”

Alex blinked. “Then what about all the guests I bought from the school?”

“Fresh souls you gave new life to, gifted with the memories of youths and adults eager to begin life anew, until a fresh, truly innocent souls free to make their own memories can be born upon our world.”

Alex frowned. “Then what about...”

“Demons sent to test us, my lord.”

Alex blinked, then shook his head. There was so much he could say to that, but perhaps along with full Gold tier awareness came the need to differentiate themselves as separate from whatever had come before. What they had once accepted while lost in a semi-dreaming state was now seen itself as a foggy dream or mythos they had now all woken up from, into the only ‘real’ world that mattered. Alex decided he wouldn’t bring up the supply trip, as that had occurred while his servants were all still lost in dream, as much constructs of his palace as sentient beings.

But still, Alex couldn’t help but smile. “So what am I up to, in this world that isn’t a world, my dear seneschal?” Alex teased.

“I assume you are embracing whatever divine trials or Path of Conflict you must in order to refine your own divinity and empower yourself to add new blessings to our world? Of course that is merely conjecture. It is not my place to question the edicts or actions of The Child of the Heavens.”

Alex smirked, before his expression grew grave once more. “How is Zhu Bi?”

Alex’s heart broke at the odd mixture of regret and pride he heard in his Seneschal’s voice. “She is a strong girl, my lord. She will pull through, despite her scars, and her husband is steadfastly by her side. Sadly, however, she lost her kits.”

Alex swallowed. “Thank you, Seneschal. That will be all.” He immediately broke off the connection, now trembling with both terror and wrath. Still feeling the terror of how close laughing death had come to claiming him, and absolute blinding fury that that smug mocking bastard of a bloated god Shalu had once more torn free Alex’s precious descendants from the tree of life.

Just the thought of how pleased that monster would be, did he know that he had successfully killed two more of Alex’s descendants was enough to wipe away the last vestiges of fear, replacing it with white-hot killing rage.

Never had Alex felt weaker or more powerless than he did now, against the true forces of this incredibly vast world, filled with empires spanning a dozen Earths, and hideously powerful cultivators that could destroy entire cities at a whim.

But as humbled as he had been, impossibly tiny compared to a god’s power or will, it still filled him with fierce, unholy glee, to think that he could cause a god pain. To realize that, in some tiny way, he could begin to make a certain bloated monster pay for his crimes.

And with that thought firmly in mind, Alex gave one final bow to the forest he revered before shifting one of his gates to reveal the choppy waves of the Sea of Souls and leaping on through.

An instant later all 3 gates closed, and all that could be heard were the sleepy hoots and cries of woodland inhabitants, the soft rustle of the leaves overhead, and the distant shrieks of Dongfang Hong’s men.