Cold biting water was what greeted Fan Zhong as he awoke staring into a star-filled sky. Howling winds could be heard scything across the prairie as the tall grass that ran alongside the road swayed to the rhythm of the heavens. Like a jewel in the sky, the moon partially shone behind a cover of wispy clouds that made it look all the more mysterious and profound.

As a backdrop to this, the imposing Yellow Dragon Mountains loomed in the distance, a vague silhouette that seemed to tower over everything in existence. The scenery was truly quite gorgeous. However, Fan Zhong was having trouble appreciating the beautiful twilight-bathed landscape as he was currently spluttering from pain as well as the sudden bucket of cold water that had been hurled at his face. After many long minutes, that felt like hours, he was finally able to regain his bearings and with a groan of pain turned his head to look up at the perpetrator of his sudden awakening.

“Good that you're back in the land of the living junior warrior Zhong.” Fan Shun said to him with a predatory smile “the salves and potions Warrior Fen used on you should have taken effect by now. Can you move?”

With a grunt Fan Zhong struggled to sit up and with a helping hand from the older warrior he was able to do so in only five minutes! Upon doing so he was almost immediately pushed over as the snout of a very worried, and now incredibly strong, Little White nudged his forehead before a long tongue started giving his face a bathe.

“Peace, peace little brother! It's ok, I’m alive, at least for now. Thank you for the assistance senior, this junior apologizes for lacking so much during the battle. It seems if not for you and senior Su Fen only a handful of the villains would have met their end before overcoming us” Fan Zhong said, dipping his head as low as he could to bow to his team leader and savior.

Fan Shun looked at him with an unreadable expression, the eyes of someone calculating and analyzing. After a brief moment though the older man let out a sigh and chuckled slightly before speaking.

“No warrior Fan Zhong you fought as bravely as any clan warrior has ever fought. Make no mistake, that was an armed band of 20 men that engaged us, and not for a moment did you or warrior Zi Bao hesitate.” Saying these words Fan Shun kneeled and bowed his head to the floor “Forgive this foolish old warrior for not leading you better. Both you and junior brother Bao suffered heavy injuries, had I been more competent this all could have been averted. Please, accept my sincerest apologies.”

Fan Zhong stared at the man with an open mouth unsure of what to say. What could Fan Shun have done differently? If anything, he felt quite ashamed that he and Zi Bao had allowed one of Sir Teng’s crew to die during the melee. That thought sat heavily upon Fan Zhong’s consciousness and he swore internally, another person lost because he was simply too weak.

“None of that honored Warrior Shun. The young warriors were valiant as they were fierce and my men showed those scoundrels what for. Don’t you be getting sappy at old Hao Yu meeting his end. All of us, myself included, fought bravely today and we did so under no duress save the want to save our own hides and those brothers beside us. To wallow in misery does a disservice to Hao Yu’s valor and gives praise to the injuries these bastards inflicted in life, something I think all of us would rather not do.” Sir Teng’s voice fell over Fan Zhong’s contemplations like a huge wave crashing over a small fishing boat.

Raising a hand to calmly pet Little White, who barked excitedly at the attention, he turned his head to see the old merchant walking over to them. The rest of his crew were gathered around a small pyre of branches and kindling that burned softly in the dim twilight. Soft murmurs of prayers and wishes carried on the air as the men wished their fellow a swift and happy rebirth along with assurances that his last stand had made his ancestors proud of him.

It was a touching sentiment and Fan Zhong quickly said a prayer for the fallen man. Nodding Sir Teng turned around to return to his men and participate in the send-off. Fan Shun similarly nodded and motioned for Fan Zhong to follow him. Limping with the support of Little White he managed to get to his feet and started after the older warrior.

It seemed his team had been busy during the hours he was unconscious and Su Fen now sat down next to a makeshift fire ring that held a blazing campfire. Around the campsite, tents were pitched and Fan Shun was now sitting down next to the other senior warrior. Laying next to the fire was a set of blankets atop which was the unconscious Zi Bao.

Fan Zhong’s former bully turned warrior companion had seen better days and he was covered head to toe in small cuts, gashes, and bruises. Thankfully it looked like his condition had stabilized and multiple bandages covered most of the serious wounds. Gratefully he sat down on a small wooden seat that looked like it had been cobbled together with hopes and dreams.

Fan Zhong surveyed his own wounds. He found that although salve had been applied to them only the spear wound to his shoulder was bandaged.

“Senior Su Fen, respectfully, why was Warrior Zi Bao afforded soft blankets and multiple bandages when I was left to lay on the cold ground. Even more, only my shoulder is bandaged and I was woken up with cold water!” Fan Zhong asked while bowing, being respectful while taking on the incredulous tone of someone who had been wronged.

“Hmph, well junior warrior Fan Zhong,” Su Fen Said with a grunt of irritation, playful lights seeming to dance behind his eyes “junior warrior Zi Bao doesn't kick people in his sleep yelling ‘AH! It’ll eat me, the demon will eat me! No, it isn’t real. This place doesn't exist!’. In fact, I too was wounded so you should consider yourself lucky that this senior was diligent enough to endure three kicks to the chest to save your life!”

Fan Zhong’s expression went from irritation to embarrassment to finally draining all color from shame. After a few moments of what seemed like tense silence, he started to reply.

“ Senior… this jun…” Fan Zhong began before the senior warriors couldn't contain themselves any longer and burst out laughing. “Seniors, this isn’t funny. I'm truly ashamed of causing so much trouble.

Fan Zhong’s ears reddened once again as his confusion grew, if they were mad why did Fan Shun and Su Fen laugh at him?

“Nephew Zhong apologies, it's just that the look on your face was truly a sight to behold. Warrior Fen is simply teasing you, in your times as a warrior you’ll eventually end up applying healing salves to men who are flailing in agony from lost limbs or worse. Compared to that, your nighttime struggles were only mildly inconvenient. Honestly, if Warrior Fen weren’t injured I’d have made him carry you back here. However, you did kick him in the face once. So, it only seemed fit that you suffered a bit for it.” Fan Shun said with a jovial expression on his face.

Fan Zhong was once again taken aback; it seemed that the life of a warrior was truly as perilous as Zi Bao had made it out to be. Even the illustrious Fan Clan warriors faced so much hardship throughout their lives! Eventually, Sir Teng and his crew concluded their farewell ceremony.

After everyone was gathered around the now dimming campfire Fan Shun decided that the party should rest for the night and set out in the morning. When watch shifts were brought up he simply stated that he would watch the entire night and wouldn't sleep until they reached Flowing Arrow City. Many thought this was unnecessary but the older warrior shut them down with his commanding presence and a simple glare filled with steel.

So it went that Fan Zhong found himself lying on a pile of blankets with Little White pressed tightly against him, the two soon found the solace of sleep. In his dreams, Fan Zhong saw the crumpling body of the man he killed. The moment played back over and over in his mind in meticulous detail showing him the impact and pulping of the man's skin, shattering bones and sending fragments into red sloughing flesh.

Although he had no trouble killing the man, as the bandit was trying to take his life, the dream was unnerving. What unnerved him the most was his vision pulling back to a position as if he was standing behind the dying bandit. There he could see his own face clearly plastered with a mad bloodthirsty smile.

At that moment Fan Zhong awoke from what he realized was Little White nudging his forehead forcefully, but with care. Shivering in terror he quickly wrapped his faithful companion in a forceful embrace, clinging to Little White as a drowning man hung to land. Under his breath he repeatedly said “That's not me. That wasn’t me. I didn’t smile there. That’s not me…” it took him some time to compose himself.

Thankfully, it was still slightly dark out when this happened and by the time everyone was up Fan Zhong had gotten ahold of himself. He was feeling much better physically compared to the previous day and with the aid of his staff walking wasn’t an issue. After a quick breakfast, the party gathered and continued on their way to Flowing Arrow City.

This time Su Fen stayed with the party as Fan Shun reasoned that having both senior warriors together to fend off further bandit attacks was worth the reduced information. While traveling Su Fen relayed how the bandits trapped him behind a low ridge inside of a mostly flat clearing with arrow fire. Three of them kept him pinned down and although he was a second-grade martial artist he still lacked the explosive power of Fan Shun.

Without a cover or large shield like the crewmen had Su Fen was forced to wait the bandits out. Lucky one of them had grown sloppy and let go of his notched arrow for a moment to take a drink. At that moment Su Fen had rushed them with all of his might taking an arrow to the shoulder but closing the distance.

From there the skilled warrior made short work of the three and with just a few minor injuries he was able to subdue them in a few minutes. After that Su Fen had run towards the wagons as quickly as his injured body would carry him; however, he still only arrived after the fight concluded. For his part, Fan Shun had dispatched the bandit archers without receiving so much as a scratch with his only regret being that they all fled in different directions after half of them were slain.

At that point, the older warrior was able to pursue one and kill him but then he heard the battle cry coming from the melee. Making a decisive choice, Fan Shun let the remaining bandit archers live and rushed to the aid of his junior warriors. Like this, the group continued conversing about the events of the battle and soon the hours started passing by in a blur.

For his part Zi Bao was even slightly more talkative than normal, making small remarks here and there while others were bantering. Little White grew restless after the battle and Fan Zhong eventually let him roam free during the day to hunt. Thankfully the water wolf always returned to the party before sundown, full and happy.

Days passed quickly and with it, the bags under Fan Shun’s eyes also increased. Each one of the bodyguard team offered to take watch shifts to give their leader some time to sleep however he stoically refused, adamant that he would sleep once they safely made it to the city. On the second to last night of their travels Fan Zhong was having a hard time sleeping so he thought to give the older warrior company to pass the time.

He found the older warrior standing at the edge of their camp some ways past the tents, sword drawn and moving slowly through a basic drill form. Watching the graceful movements of Fan Shun was mesmerizing and captivated his mind. The sword became a silver flame that danced among the twilight, an ethereal being that seemed to cut through the very fabric of night itself as the moonlight played across the blade.

Without warning, gold light flickered in Fan Shun’s eyes and his sword shone with brilliant brown-colored flames. At the last swing of his sword, a phantom crescent arced out in a semicircle cutting down everything in its path and suppressing everything, even the smallest sound, in its majesty. In the center of a cleared semi-circle of tall grass 100 meters in diameter, the older warrior stood, the spitting image of an aloof sword immortal sheathing his sword after cutting down all that stood in his path.

Then with a slight groan from Fan Shun, the air of awe and command disappeared as the older man crumpled into a heap on the ground. Fan Zhong’s eyes widened and he prepared to rush forward when a voice spoke from beside him.

“Hmph, the old man pushed himself so hard he got to the edge. I suppose it was either breakthrough or break, man is made of durable stock I’ll give him that” Su fen, who Fan Zhong realized had at some point walked right next to him in complete silence, intoned with a whistle.

“Senior, what do you mean? Also, should you refer to senior Fan Shun in such a... Way?” Fan Zhong asked awkwardly with a mix of anxiety and confusion.

However, he stuck out his chest refusing to let the man who had saved his life be disrespected even by a comrade. Looking at the smiling Su Fen, who seemed much more laid back than usual, Fan Zhong felt he was seeing the man for the first time. It was almost as if he wore a social mask at all times, akin to Sir Teng’s air of jovialness but somehow thicker, and only in moments like this could someone see his true self.

In front of him stood a man that Fan Zhong would more describe as one of his rowdy and informal drinking buddies that frequent the soft moonlight hall. This hardly fit the image of the relaxed, composed soft-spoken senior warrior Fan Zhong had come to think of the older man as. Su Fen’s face was currently split in the kind of predatory grin that one would give a partner in crime.

The kind of laughing smile that makes someone think the other party is in on a joke that they are being kept in the dark about.

“Don’t worry, junior brother Zhong, the old man is kind of a hardass sometimes but he’s good-natured. What you just witnessed was a breakthrough to the master realm, he’ll be out for a few days if what the elders have told me is true. Best get him to a bed roll, I’ll take watch. Also… best if we keep the old man business between us, right brother Zhong?” The way Su Fen said brother conveyed emotions that Fan Zhong didn’t particularly associate with the word but his meaning was understood.

With a nod of his head, Fan Zhong began walking over to Fan Shun with the other senior warrior and they began the arduous task of carrying the man gently back to camp. Thankfully, the wagons had just enough room to allow Fan Shun to lay in them, if not comfortably. However, he wasn’t able to raise much of a fuss as the older warrior was out cold. He would be like this until at least their arrival in Flowing Arrow City according to Su Fen, something about his body acclimating to the Qi.

Like this, the group made their way the last two days to the city and arrived without incident. Upon arrival, they found a bustling city whose population dwarfed Butont in the sheer amount of people and buildings. It spanned dozens of kilometers and the streets were packed with row upon row of buildings.

With the dwindling amount of space present, Fan Zhong expected Sir Teng’s space to be limited, however, he was surprisingly happy to find that the merchant owned his own home near the port. The merchant's home was a traditional-looking two-story pagoda building with jade and crimson red trimmings alternating along with the various windows and doorways. Surrounding the building was a low three-meter wall that had a gate wide enough to accommodate ten men walking side by side.

Regarding the building itself, it had two floors with each floor covering 1000 square meters. Behind this, there was open space with a few storage shacks and training areas that measured around 1500 square meters of space. All said and done, Sir Teng’s estates, although not the opulent palace of an immortal, were cozy, nice, and practical.

Quickly the bodyguards were shown their rooms inside the second story of the pagoda and what followed were a few days of well-needed rest. Within the compound, Sir Teng had little need of bodyguards as the entire grounds were guarded by formations as well as the watchful eyes of the city guard. The guard had proved a slight problem with entering the city as the Deng clan observer stationed here had wanted to know why a master realm martial artist was entering the city without announcing their presence.

At the time, Fan Shun had been unconscious and as such unable to openly display himself leading to the observer suspecting foul play. However, Sir Teng had assured her that the older warrior only recently broke through, and after showing paperwork for the contract the observer had relented. After that, it had still taken time to convince the guards why Teng Liang, a rich merchant who owned a ship, was arriving in the city by land.

Only after another hour, within which the guards had been thoroughly convinced of their claims, had the party been let into the city. However, this did show that the city guards were competent and sufficiently wary of strange coincidences. As such, Sir Teng would only need their services within the city during outings.

For the rest of the time, they were free to live in the estate and train or whatever took their fancy to pass the time. Since Sir Teng had months' worth of catching up with his family and paperwork to attend to it didn’t seem like they would be going on an outing soon. So it came that three days later Fan Shun was finally feeling up to continuing his instruction for Fan Zhong.

With this, his basic self-imposed training of physical workouts with forms shifted to the more taxing drills and lessons Fan shun had planned. On this day, Fan Zhong was practicing a drill for momentum of shifting earth where he switched between using his saved momentum to move in short bursts and then storing it in his staff in the form of contact juggling it into motion. Then he would move the momentum back into movement trying to make the transitions as seamless as possible.

“Good work, keep your mental technique focused on noticing the small changes in the momentum of the staff and your body. This will train Observing the Roaming Earth as well allowing you to strengthen your mental technique and movement technique in tandem. Keep this up and you might even reach the first step of Moment of Shifting Earth.” Fan Shun’s voice rang out behind him sagely from outside the small cordoned-off training area.

“Senior, a question for a moment if I may” Fan Zhong slowed himself to a stop and bowed facing the older warrior.

“Go ahead ask” Fan Shun nodded his approval.

“You said I would reach the first step of the technique, do you mean to say I’ll reach the expert attainment level? Elder brother Cheng spoke of attainment levels however although I’ve heard of steps for techniques I don’t seem to recall how they relate” Fan Zhong asked respectfully.

“Hmmm, that is a good question. Let me ask you one first before I answer. How are techniques made, junior warrior Zhong?” Fan Shun asked back

Fan Zhong pondered the idea, honestly, he had never questioned how techniques were made but it seemed obvious now that he thought about it that they should come from somewhere.

“Senior, this junior could guess however the truthful answer is my education seems lacking in this area” Fan Zhong admitted.

“Ahh then it's good you asked, I’ll start from that then and move on to what steps represent. For a technique to be made one only needs to start practicing to do a thing in a certain way. Anyone can do this and they’ll eventually find methods that suit the needs and ideas they had when setting out to create such a method to accomplish a task.

Let’s pretend we are going to make a sword technique called ‘three water slashes’. The idea is to form a sword technique around the idea of water. In swordsmanship, one can imitate water by giving way and flowing around the opponent's blows. Instead of meeting them head-on engage in binds and allow the opponent to move forward while you move to the side and angle your blade to flow past their block.

In our example you practice this hypothetical technique however, it isn’t a formal technique yet. Surely you can try telling someone your experiences but you lack the experience to impart a true system to them and as such that person will simply start forming their own unfinished technique. Now, let's say you practice this technique to the supreme grandmaster attainment realm.

At this point, the technique is mastered and is perfected for your style of fighting and body. To formalize the technique you must generalize it, taking what you know and making a parallel technique that removes all the aspects specific to you allowing anyone to use this technique. Now comes the crucial part, as you’ve made a technique that although parallel to the old one is completely different.

As such you’ll have to master this new generalized technique to the supreme grandmaster realm again to finalize your understanding. The second road of mastery should be much easier than the first as it's a generalization of a technique you understand to a high degree, but the process still takes some time. After all this, you’ve finally made a generalized usable, and profound technique that others can replicate.

This keeps going as well, as you have supreme grandmaster attainment in the new technique you now have a personalized version of the general version. Now you have a unique version of the technique, something like your ‘three water slashes’ is now ‘Zhong’s three water dragon slashes’. However, this new technique with a dragon element is a technique unique to your body and fighting style so rather than keep improving it you can generalize it and then achieve supreme grandmaster attainment in that as well.

In this way now everyone can learn the variation and it becomes ‘Three water dragon slashes’ as a general technique. Now, this process can keep repeating becoming ‘Zhong’s Three Lighting Dragon Water Slashes’ and then ‘Zhong’s Three Heavenly Lighting Dragon Water Slashes’ however the process of generalization to make a new variant gets much harder each time. This is where the topic of steps comes into play.

Every variation of a basic technique causes it to become more complex and as such if someone never mastered the basic technique before trying to learn a variation they lack the foundation. So when learning a variation technique you learn the foundation alongside changes made by the variation, each step represents enough attainment to master that level of the technique's variation. For example, our previous water slashes technique by the end had four levels so step one of learning ‘Zhong’s Three Heavenly Lightning Dragon Water Slashes’ would represent enough attainment to have the power of the base technique ‘Three Water Slashes’ at the familiar level.

Every subsequent step would be mastering the technique parentage up to the latest step of the technique. Usually, when this is only one or two steps they call them success steps. For a technique with two steps, they call the first step minor success then the second is just reaching the familiar realm.

In the case of three-step techniques, they have small and major success steps before achieving the familiar realm attainment. Finally, for four-step techniques, they have small, large, and peak success attainment steps. I suppose that makes the example wrong as that naming scheme should’ve been used for a four-step technique. Bah! Whatever people call it they all represent steps in the end. Now enough talk back to drilling!” Fan Shun finished in a huff, a good-natured smile playing across his lips.

“But senior wait, how many steps does the momentum of shifting earth technique have then?” Fan Zhong asked, trying to get back to the original topic

“According to the clan ancestral record it has nine, however, no one has ever achieved that level in our history. Don’t you think it's odd that even without Qi you can do such miraculous things with this technique? Tell me, do you remember learning the momentum of shifting earth technique?” Fan Shun asked

Thinking back on it he didn’t, his brother had pushed and prodded him until his body just knew how to move. He couldn’t physically describe how someone moved to use the technique; it just felt right. It was as if his mind was trying to grasp sand when he thought about it, the concepts falling out of his mind with each moment

“No senior I don’t” He replied honestly with a perplexed look on his face.

“Indeed, the impartment method is one of the most closely guarded secrets of the clan. Legends of our clan's founding say it was the gift of an immortal who had created a technique that incorporated the laws of the Grand Dao into it. That’s how it’s so powerful even without Qi behind it. Although that's only if you believe the legends. Now you’ve stolen enough of a break, back at it junior warrior Zhong!” Fan Zhong said with a good-natured smile on his face, emphasizing his words by throwing a pebble directly at the young warrior's forehead eliciting a wince of pain.

Fan Zhong’s mind swam with possibilities at the idea of creating techniques and implications about his clan’s history. However, he suppressed the thought, determined to focus on his training. There would come a time when he could experiment with such things, now he needed to get stronger. Months passed like this and before Fan Zhong knew it the party was ready to depart.

His time in Flowing Arrow City had been uneventful however the reprieve had done him much good. Now refreshed and eager to test the fruits of his training Fan Zhong readied himself to return home

While the party prepared to depart far to the west inside Wei City the lord of the clan Wei Hua stood at his palace steps. Surrounding him in resplendent emerald armor with spirit magical treasure swords and shields stood his troop of 50 master-level fighters. The normally arrogant lord was looking incredibly anxious even amidst his plethora of expert fighters, today he would test the viability of his plan.

For today the only one both who lived inside the valley and could stop his plans was coming here. Within the ranks of fighters, lined in two columns astride either side of the steps, were master realm observers from various outlying city-states. The entire display and army had cost a fortune but Wei Hua had gladly paid every spirit stone to have a chance to defeat him, that accursed Fan Long.

Like an immortal out of some childish legend, Fan Long ascended the long stairway leading to the Wei palace. Behind him his wife Fan Yuhei was followed by the leader of the Wang clan and several master-level fan observers and warriors. With them as well were ten master realm experts who represented the council clans of Butont.

The normally picturesque handsomeness of Wei Hua seemed to falter under the gaze of Fan Long and his lips threatened to curl into an angry snarl.

“What have you dogs come to my doorstep for today. Speak now while this benevolent lor..” Wei Hua started, hoping to regain his footing with a normal display of arrogant haughtiness.

“Boy,” Fan Long’s voice rang out across the palace stairs like a mountain descending from heaven causing the stones to rattle as the armor of the Wei troops creaked. “I respected your father. So I’ve come here to talk this through peacefully. Don’t take that to mean I’ll listen to you prattle on with your veneer of bluster. Out with it, what the hell is going on? Good people are starving in this valley and every second we waste costs more lives.”

Wei Hua’s eyes widened at the feeling of that pressure, it had been quite some time since he felt the pressure of someone truly threatening. Biting down the maddening rage that screamed in his mind the arrogant young lord got composed himself against the tide of emotions. He pressed a small amount of Qi outward while puffing out his chest, both to lessen the pressure and keep up his outward appearance.

“Peasants problems aren’t are not my concern bodyguard. If I require your services I’ll send a messenger. If there's nothing else, vacate my property. Your stench is reducing the property value by the moment.” Wei Hua kept his composure and turned his nose up, conjuring the best tone of haughty aristocracy he could manage.

Inside him, rage seethed, it wanted to give the order. To tear all of these worms limb from limb for daring to question his birthright. Like an iron lid Wei Hua’s conviction and Dao Heart kept those emotions held down, now was not the time. Originally he had thought of cutting the head from the snake and killing Fan Long here, the gathering of troops here today was for that very purpose.

Something felt off though, his hidden observers hadn’t given him a sign. They were supposed to signal him once they had taken the measure of the other party's strength, giving him a yes or no as to whether this was a winning exchange. Instead, they were silent, were the cowards afraid of the bloody battle that would follow?

Curious Wei Hua pulled in a moderate amount of Qi with his mental energy and let it press down on the other party as he finished his words, probing them. Although the rest of the party seemed to almost buckle under the pressure Fan Long’s eyes simply narrowed and the mountain that was weighing down on the Wei clan warriors and their lord seemed to double.

“I’ll give you one final chance, Lord Wei. Tell me how we can resolve this peacefully and let's negotiate. This doesn’t have to end in violence” Fan Long replied in that annoyingly stoic way his voice always seemed to carry, like some hero out of a child's tale whose will was unshakeable.

“The Wei no longer negotiate with peasants… Especially with whoresons like you” Wei Hua spat the words with difficulty and turned on his heels to dismiss the man.

As he did he could barely keep the shaking away from his hands as he pulled them in front of him. The emotions were raging fiercer now, they wanted this fight but Wei Hua now knew he currently stood no chance. He would wait, once war broke out and his feast began… then he would crush this filthy peasant-like an ant.

With a sigh, Fan Long shook his head and looked around. His eyes took on the cold demeanor of a warrior in battle for just a moment. It was so slight everyone present thought it was merely their imagination. However, every single Wei warrior present felt the cold embrace of death looming over them at that moment.

“You’ll regret this, Lordling,” Fan Long said with pity as if speaking to a small child.

After these words, the negotiating leaders left and Wei Hua signaled with his now calming hands for the observers to come forth.

“So? Did you get a good read on them” Wei Hua asked

“We… didn’t my lord” The head of the hired observers stepped forward and replied “They appeared just as you said, a strong grandmaster with a second layer composite earth Qi and a peak master realm with a third layer composite mind Qi. However, observing them felt like… Trying to hold water in your hands, observable yet it felt like they were slipping away at the same time”

At this Wei Hua snapped and drew his sword, slashing at the empty stairs. A crescent arc'd through the air splitting the stone stairs like a hot knife through butter.

“What good are you then, if you can’t even evaluate the targets. Useless” Wei Hua muttered under his breath before composing himself and continuing in a level tone “Go then, observe their movements and see if any further information can be gleaned.

“As you wish my lord” The observers replied in unison before quickly departing.

Meanwhile a while later on the outskirts of Wei City Fan Yuhei was walking beside her husband enjoying the cool evening air.

“So could they tell?” Fan Long asked her, quirking an eyebrow in mock curiosity.

Fan Yuhei shot him a skeptical look before replying

“Of course not, do you question your beautiful fairy queen?” She preened, turning her nose up in mock offense

“Question you? Never my love, however, this regards the fate of many people, not just our own. In matters such as this, I must act as a leader first and a husband second.” Fan Long replied solemnly.

“Hmph, no fun, all work. No, they saw nothing. Those third-rate hacks couldn’t have seen through me when I was Little Cheng’s age let alone now. Honestly, I wonder why you want to go to such lengths, why not just end it right there?” it was Fan Yuhei’s turn to level a curious gaze at her partner

“You think rather highly of me, the Wei lordling had fifty masters prepared for us. With spirit-level magical treasures” Fan Long replied in mock humility.

Fan Yuhei leveled a flat stare at her husband in response and he threw up his hands in surrender

“Alright alright, look there's no reason for unnecessary bloodshed if possible. Honestly, I still hope to solve this in some sort of duel or another far less bloody way. Open warfare in the valley leads to more than just dying soldiers, you and I both know that.” Fan Long’s gaze became forlorn as he intoned the last words, staring off into the stars

Worried Fan Yuhei kept walking with her husband down the path, she could only hope that he was right.