Xie’e opened his eyes inside a moist space; one he identified with the slightly wet surface he laid. Inside was dark, His feet were cold. And they were also in a calm body of water that kept receding and advancing- caused by his own motion rather than a natural tide or the moon’s gravitational force.

The blue of his own eyes reflected his dark brown torso, barren of cloth and bereft of blood, but with wounds of cuts and bruises all over its skin. He wondered for a second who he was, where he was, what happened to him, and why he was like this. He moved to stand up, the faint trembling of his calves and the not-so-staunch back signaled the start of his rise.

Then he fell back with a groan to the ground. His back smashed with a force not so significant and a small patch of dust rose into the air. The pain of a stiff back wasn't a stranger to him, now that he remembered who he was, what happened, and why he was like this, but it being this severe in magnitude proved a new shock.

Gritting his teeth, Xie’e took a series of deep breaths and pushed himself up again- this time with the support of his still functioning arms. The sting of his back appeared out of nowhere again; a sharp hiss escaped from his mouth and he managed to sit straight. Xie’e exhaled through both his mouth and nostrils a foul breath and thought of the last image he saw.

A sea of milky stars above, a forest of majestic trees and green at front, a house at the back, a father at the side; in his embrace.

His heart trembled at the last memory. Between the warmth of the arms and the calm breathing above his head, the last words of that moment echoed in Xie’e’s ears.

‘’It is you...father?’’

Xie’e shook his head, and suffered from it as the pain lingered still behind his nape. But it reminded him: he was calm, perhaps too calm at his situation. Was it a magic of the Huiqing, or his talk with his father? Or neither?

If it was the past, he would have let this thought, this question go. He didn’t need to ponder on things he didn’t have control of, or things that happened before- that was what he always felt. As far as he remembered, most of the time, he acted the same as his father exposed; passive in action. The decisions he took were, for the most part, forced by the situation, rather than him forcing the situation. He had a will, and he acted on his will, but if it wasn’t for the immediate need of the events he took part, this will of his had no use.

Still, bad habits were bad habits, even if they were caused by a seal the size of a pebble stone.

Xie’e reached to touch the rope on his neck- his hand contacted bare skin.

‘’...what?’’

His head gazed down and Xie’e found nothing but a bare chest riddled with wounds. Around his right chest was a patch of light brown skin, standing as an evident contrast to the rest of his body, and below it were the half-a-robe covering his waist, bottom, and legs.

Where is it?

Xie’e pushed himself up to inspect his immediate surroundings; patches of dark gray cavestone drooled with droplets of water extended far into a winding hole at his back, and pressing on this road between it was a pond shaped like a coiled snake, reaching for its own tail. The intriguing layout wasn’t the thing in Xie’e’s mind, though, but it awakened a scene from his talk with his father.

He ripped off the ropes...did it fall then?

Likely not- as the wounds he bore at the moment weren’t present in that memory-like state. So it should have been around his neck; as it always were.

As he pondered on it, Xie’e gained his balance on his wobbling legs. It was tough to stand, for his ankles made it as sufferable as possible, and he couldn’t get his back straight no matter how hard he tried; he could only keep himself on his feet with a hunched rear. And he realized, as his eyes focused on the droplets of water falling from the ceiling, his ears couldn’t hear very well. Too much aftereffect...

He took a step forward; his feet descended without much problem. Xie’e sighed in relief and turned to look at the place he was in more carefully- to both learn where he was and to see if he could find the seal.

The dark gray cavestone on the ground spread even into the ceiling, turning into a lighter shade as it approached the miniscule cracks covering its entirety. It was from these cracks that let go of water droplets and moisturized the land he stood upon, and probably created the pond around him. From how the walls curved into a half-sphere, it wasn’t hard to guess that the elevation of the sides were much lower.

Could it be in there? Xie’e cast his eyes over his wet feet.

...I don’t know how to swim...

That was a fatal flaw in this case.

Perhaps...He thought, and waved his arms in front of him. He felt the surrounding Qi flow towards him, yet it was slow. Too slow, and lacking in magnitude. After all gathered in front of his palms, it could only condense into a ball of Qi smaller than his fist.

This can’t even activate the pictogram spells...and the books.

Xie’e cast a desolate glance at the ball of Qi and he remembered his master’s books, now-quite possibly- destroyed or left to float in the sea. And his father’s grave, his house...

‘’Erhuli!’’ He suddenly shouted and looked around. Of course, the scenery didn’t change. The cold and moist air was still there, as well as the unmoving pond.

All left was the winding road leading to that dark hole.

Xie’e walked towards the road sloping up to the hole, he would have run if he could right now. Climbing the path became a bit arduous from the constant ache of his back, but without lasting long he reached in front of the gap.

He snuck a peek inside and saw faint rays of light at the end. The end of the hole wasn’t even that far, it would only take a few steps to get through; yet it didn’t seem so from the bottom of the road. Xie’e stepped inside and passed through the cramped walls, rubbing his half-healed wounds onto the wet surface a few times, and emerged into a magnificent cave with a spiraling opening.

The ceiling had an artificial sun in the shape of a Versatile Barrier hundreds of meters diameter in width; it gave off a warm, golden glow that lighted up the humongous cave Xie’e stepped in. The walls were unpolished and there were no traces of water. Though the distance was mere meters, the dispositional difference between the past room and here was a matter admirable on its own.

But his eyes didn’t widen for this sight; he had seen more formidable, more enticing, more amazing, more diverse sceneries than this- even if this was the first of its kind. His mouth gaped open and shouted ‘’Erhuli!’’ because this was the same Versatile Barrier he launched, and was sent back by Huiqing after a moment of enhancement.

The beams of light weren’t from the barrier itself, however, but from a cocoon at its center. The cocoon itself had a crunchy-looking texture, slightly transparent, and inside could be seen the shadow of a fox- with two tails, one of them at most twentieth of the other.

Is she...evolving? It seemed so.

Yet, from what Xie’e knew only beasts at the three tribulations of the path establishing could go through an evolution- to increase their lifespan and prowess. He knew the wily fox was strong, and his wife stronger, but he also knew that their four children all had no cultivation- just a resilient body from birth. So resilient that their teeth could pierce through his skin impenetrable by pig iron swords.

Constitution shouldn’t affect it, though. That, however, he wasn’t sure.

Not many immortals involved themselves in the biology and anatomy of beasts, while those with medical expertise preferred to work on theory and practice on humans. Beasts’ only value came from their body- the heart- and most of the time only those above the realm of Path Finding had any value. So it was no coincidence that a lack of knowledge existed in the immortal community about the out of norm reactions in the beasts to evolution, excluding those of higher realms of course.

Quan was an Herb Sage, a medical profession out of practice for some decades but still respected, so he also had quite the knowledge about the subject. He, however, didn’t include much in his notes other than the few known materials to make healing pills or semi-precious herbs. Xie’e, as a result, also didn’t know the reason behind the happening right now. Yet it didn’t bother him; no matter what, an evolution was a good fortune in and out. Even if it came abruptly or without reason, it brought nothing but benefits to the beast itself.

So he gazed inside the cocoon, to see two paws holding together a pebble stone. The color couldn’t be distinguished, nor any characters on it, though a snapped rope was still dangling before the stone. Xie’e sighed in relief and sat down right where he was. He leaned towards the mouth overlooking to the whole cave. The bright gold of the Versatile Barrier gleamed through his eyes and gave his pale face a new complexion.

‘’Now,’’ Xie’e looked at his hands, then to the other opening at the end of the cave; Shaped like a gaping maw of a beast, the upper half of the jaw bared its green-ish stalactite towards him.

‘’What do I do?’’

*********

Haishen Haiyang stood upon the deck of a treasure ship- named Baochuan- and his gaze was upon the huge corpse twice the size of his ship floating in the now empty basin of Orabura.

What a mess...

Rather than a basin, he thought, it should be called an inland sea now; the water had flooded not only the old lands of the Orabura and the shattered Pierced Mountains, but also leaked through the Road Boty and created a stream of rivers going around Ushtepe- to the east of Okyanung and the South of Kıykan.

There were many problems prodding from that; for first, there were severe financial losses throughout the Koyh, Kasbah, Denizage- and farming households across the Capital Road-, Rivrit, Kıykan, Ushtepe, and Pierslih. These places had a majority of the farmers, fishers- if there were any lake or river- laborers, miners, woodcutters, lumbers, hunters, and herbalists of the empire. The loss of a financial income, namely the trees and animals of the Orabura forest and the Blazing Diamonds at the foothills of the Pierced Mountains; as well as a large number of Salt, Iron, Coal, Yellow Powder Stone, White Powder, and Marble quarries and mines, would incur a huge ripple of unemployment throughout the Haishen and war ravaged Han Dynasty.

For second: The extreme change of landscape would, unlike the magical desert of Shamo Khanates that wouldn’t even be affected by the loss of a continent, have a huge impact on the climate itself. Whether it would boost the fish population or preclude a new habitat to form for the marine life wasn’t clear for now. If it was the former, the severe loss of funds could be soothed a little, but if it was the latter then Haishen was bound to find itself in a weak position for a few years in the future.

For third: The loss of the quarries and mines around the Pierced Mountains not only cut the available jobs for hundreds of thousands of people, it also severed the majority of the supply of Blazing Diamonds to the new-forged Steels Fleet. This obstructed the conquest of the western ocean and the Third Chain Islands belonging to the Third Sea Emperor. Though largely successful until today, now it remains a mystery whether they could take down the final defences of the Third Emperor and acquire the last four islands to complete the landbridge between the twenty-three islands.

Perhaps, Haiyang thought, the only good thing was the opening of a possible trade route through the inland sea. By the momentum of the waves, it would take a few more weeks for the flooding to stop and recede.Thus, by the time it stopped, a huge sea covering the border of Shuangguang, Han, and Haishen was bound to appear. As the empire with marine superiority, no doubt they could gain a huge profit from the trade of Oceanic Goods.

It is too little, thus the conquest must go on.

Haiyang swept his long hair behind his ears and looked at the rest of the Baochuans encircling the large corpse. The decks of the twenty three ships overall had nine thousand sixty men- including the slaves, workers, soldiers, and sailors; and it equaled around four hundred men on each vessel.

As the four of the ships remained behind to scout, the other nineteen readied their harpoon cannons to aim at the corpse. To carry the corpse back to Okyanung, they would have to tie it to the ships and pull through the Denizage’s port and swim across Lont Sea for three weeks. Baochuans carried enough supply to preserve the men and Capital Steels were on their way to escort them throughout the journey, so it wouldn’t take much trouble in the end.

But a problem popped up right now.

The harpoons couldn’t pierce through the skin of the corpse.

Haiyang narrowed his eyes and took a step in the air, appearing right above the hundreds of meters large body. The jewelled bracelets and piles of golden pendants tied to his neck clattered in the wind as he grasped one end of a harpoon and stabbed it through the feet of the corpse.

The harpoon went in a few dozen centimeters with his power but suddenly, the sea trembled all around him. Haiyang took three steps in the air and disappeared, now reappearing in the sky to take a look at the corpse.

The rainbow phantom’s body rumbled, a streak of nine colored rainbow shot out of its mouth.

Then its vertical eyes opened.

*********

Xie’e stood before the crack presumably leading outside; there was a gust of hot current rushing towards him from the unseen exit. The golden glow at his back and the clattering debris of the gap in front, he took a step towards the darkness.

‘’Big brother, wait a minute!’’

Xie’e’s foot froze in mid-air. His head tilted to the side, and eyes wide in surprise, he turned back to look at the Versatile Barrier.

‘’Erhuli?’’ He muttered.

‘’It is me, big brother! Don’t you recognize me?’’

How can I? Xie’e shook his head and approached the center of the cave. ‘’Since when can you speak?’’

‘’From birth? Are you not intelligent big brother?’’

‘’I mean,’’ Xie’e said, ‘’Like this, into my head, and with me understanding you.’’

‘’WAIT! You weren’t understanding us!? My precious ancestors, big brother! But stop! This isn’t the time!’’ Her voice gave clues about how she would very much like to berate him, however, the trace of weariness under that cuddly child’s speech proved she couldn’t keep on longer.

‘’I’m going into sleep soon- I feel like it will take a very, very, very, very, very long time to wake up again! And I’ll be stronger, too! I can feel we are very near to our homeland as well!’’

‘’...but which home?’’

Erhuli yelped, then ceased speaking. Xie’e felt like she was looking at him like he was dumb.

‘’The desert, of course!’’

Desert?

‘’Then it is Shamo?’’

‘’Yes! I heard mother’s voice- she told me that you can’t wander around without this,’’ From the cocoon, a beam of light descended in a flash and struck upon Xie’e’s hunched back. Xie’e let out a grunt; his back was searing and burning from whatever it was, yet it didn’t last longer than an instant. His back now throbbed far fiercer, and though he felt it would go away soon, his hunched back would become a little bit worse.

‘’What was that for!?’’ Xie’e raised his brows.

‘’Prote...protete...proteciton?’’

‘’Protection?’’

‘’Procection, yes! Laws and customs!...at least that’s what mother said, but I don’t remember well. It was all fuzzy and warm and trembling...I feel drowsy now...’’ Erhuli’s voice turned fainer with each word spoken.

‘’Erhuli?’’ Xie’e called out to her; she didn’t respond for a while.

‘’Its blurry a bit, big brother...I’m going to nap a bit...don’t forget- the tattoo mustn’t be shown to...everyone...’’ And off she went, no longer her voice echoed in Xie’e’s ears- or mind.

‘’Erhuli?’’ Xie’e attempted once more but the result was the same.

What even was that? A tattoo?

Xie’e turned back to the first cave; he passed through the moist gap and reached to the edge of the winding road, and he kneeled in front of the pond to look at his reflection. He first twisted his body to the left and glimpsed upon the so-called tattoo: a dark black fox's head, as big as his shoulder, and from what he could assume it was probably the whole body of a fox. Is she one of those narcissists? He let out a laugh and sat again- with a hunched back, of course- to look at the reflection.

‘’My face is also bloody...hell,’’ His face was cut in the cheeks and above the right brow- though lighter than the others, the scars were easily spotted and didn’t seem the kind to go away in a few months. His chest was the same, barren and worn out with wounds almost healed, and his arms stood out as the least affected.

I wonder how they weren’t hurt. Xie’e shook his head. The most severe was probably his feet, perhaps the bones were skirting near cracking. It didn’t seem the right choice to get out to explore his surroundings now but he was determined. I’ll make my own decisions from now on...should I clean my body, then? And water to drink, It won’t do without water in the desert.

Immortal constitution off his was still there, with the lack of a natural Qi barrier of course, and indeed it brought him a much better insulation against both cold and heat. However, insulation was still limited- he wasn’t immune to it, and even Path Openers weren’t. If he felt ten percent less, then a Path Opener would feel fifty percent lesser.

Do the sect elders feel the cold, though?

While pondering upon that, Xie’e fetched a handful of water and brought near to his nose; he sniffed. Isn’t weird, He concluded and took a small sip. It had a earth-like taste, but it didn’t bother him at all. Their drinking water at home also came from a small stream budding off of a river, so it was inevitable for it to carry a little bit of nature’s taste.

His fingers stretched out and the remaining water spilled through the gaps between them; they dripped down in a line of drops until nothing but a soggy palm remained.

The link is gone...I should call Embodiment if I have the chance, too...

He sat in silence for a long time looking at his face. His eyes were bordering on the edge of crying, or letting out a deep sigh.

He chose both; teardrops floated down his cheeks, and a tired sigh escaped from his mouth.

Xie’e scooped up another handful of water and splashed his face.

‘’I’m not afraid of the future...’’ He muttered.

‘’I’m not afraid...’’