In front of a room situated on one side of a large corridor, two figures were talking. Apparently, one was about to send the other off as his hand was on the door’s knob while the other was uncomfortably shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

Finally, the voice of a middle aged man sounded out:

“Then, go rest young man. You are going to need it.” Aster waved his hand. The Ancient then smiled and winked to the youth in front of him:

“I will be going in seclusion then. Once I come out, I will be needing to hear some good news, so work hard!”

Fang Lu smiled and nodded back:

“Uh… sure. See you.”

“Oh, and you should practice those fake smiles of yours. This one was especially bad…”

“Mm, alright. Sorry you had to see that. I’m quite annoyed at the current situation…”

“Ahah, no problem, all’s good. Fu Yin’s room is by the end of this corridor. It looks like you two have something important to talk about, so you should hurry.”

With that, the white haired man closed the door.

Fang Lu looked around and, seeing that no one was around, showed the middle finger to the door. Satisfied, he nodded to himelf before stepping into the corridor and walking away. He had spent the last few hours talking with Blindlight, Aster and Blacky. The topic of their conversation had been none other than laying out the plan for him to see.

To sum it up, they would leave the plane of existence, a third-rate plane as it only allowed life forms to reach the peak of the Mortal Realm, and move into another plane. Once there, they would establish themselves in a local Sect or join a Clan of cultivators, laying low for the time being.

The exact date would be exactly one day before the arrival of the Nine Heavens’ ambassador. Why was that?

In the first place, travelling to other planes was incredibly difficult. Most would not attempt it unless their cultivation was incredibly high or had treasure to grant them a safe passage. However, there would be a special situation when people would be able to travel between planes:

When a Primordial Beast stepped into the Ageless Realm.

This had been such a rare situation and the last time it had happened had been so long ago, that few would still remember this. However, how could Goldy, one of the strongest beings back in his prime, possibly forget that?

Due to him going through Re-life and thus having his cultivation reset, he now once again had the chance to step into the Ageless realm, triggering the activation of this, mostly unknown, perk of the beasts of the Heavens.

This begged the question: how could they say that it would take only up until a single day from the ambassador’s arrival and not, for example, two or three?

Could, Goldy possibly know how much he would take to break through? And, even if that was so, wasn’t that too lucky? After all, had it been a single day after, everything would have been for naught!

The answer was simple: Goldy had already stepped into the peak of the Mortal Realm. At the moment, his strength was unrivalled in this plane, excluding the true power of the Hellish Nightmare Dragon.

He would only need a small push. In fact, he would even be able to breakthrough at that exact moment! However, he held back because… well, the strength of the young ones, in particular that of Te Rin and Xiao Wu was not on par with that of those cultivators from the other planes.

Especially in higher grade planes, were the density and quality of the Qi allowed people to not only cultivate faster, but also wield much stronger techniques. Of course, the talent of the four youths was mostly unparalleled even amongst the greatest geniuses. However, what about the older generation?

In a higher quality plane, it wouldn’t be strange at all to find people in their late eighties already in the early or even middle stages of the Ageless Realm. All that without talking about those monsters that have lived for centuries, thanks to the blessing of their cultivations which allowed them to lengthen their lifespan.

Then again, the reason for such a long delay might just be because the golden dragon still couldn’t help but hope, in his heart, that a certain person would come back. For that reason, he would wait until the latest possible time.

Fang Lu scanned the corridor and his eyes finally landed upon a certain door. As soon as he saw it, he knew it was the one he was searching for. Who else would hang the sign “Waiting for the fatty” on his doorknob?

After turning the sign into powder and regaining his composure, Fang Lu stepped forward. He did not knock. Like he would need to, with that monster on the other side.

Creak! Without anybody touching it, the door slowly slid open, allowing the youth to walk in unhindered

Slam! Just as Fang Lu entered the small room, the door slammed close. A faint symbol glowed on the doorknob, probably some sort of technique to stop the sound from within the room to leak out.

Within, a figure was sitting cross-legged on a mat laid on the ground. In front of him him, a fuming kettle and a few cups were aligned with expertize. Beside him, on the right, were carving tools, while on his left were a few piece of paper, a brush and a bottle of ink.

On those pieces were many odd words, in a strange language. Fortunately, above each and every word, was the translation… however, it was weird, to say the least. Why? Because, even in another language, the peculiar text would still hold some of its perks!

Fang Lu sent it a sideway glance. Reading it, he felt amused.

Not Free(W):

We walk while we wish.

We wish while wanting.

We, when weaving wondrous worlds, will NOT wither without words.

We want FREE will.

Without will, we wither, waiting... wanting.

Wishing.

The only two words not starting with the letter ‘W’ made up the title of this short… Poem? Hymn? How should one call it? Without minding that, it almost felt as if it carried a great truth within, but Fang Lu discarded that thought, concentrating on Fu Yin himself.

In the boy’s hands was an odd ball: it was made with metallic strings, making out the outline and skeleton of the sphere. The youth would bend these strings and the sphere would change its shape: from a ball it would become a cone, a cylinder, even going as far as straying from simple geometrical shapes and turning into full-fledged objects…

As the boy played with the strange ball, it was almost as if he was holding a whole universe in his palms, bending and shaping it at his will. Lifting his gaze, the boy noticed the other party and put down the metallic ball in his hands, laying it on a desk beside a few pieces of metal and a bunch of bronze-colored strings, similar to those that made up the ball itself.

Fang Lu said nothing as he noticed that the design for that very ball was on top of the desk. There were countless variations, some simpler, some more complex, but they all had one thing in common: they had all been written by the very same hand. Judging from the state of the paper, it had been not more than a few hours ago.

The chubby youth’s eyes widen slightly.

He… designed and built that thing himself? Wait… was that text also?

“Oh, you found me! I wasn’t sure you would, so I hang that message. Hope you will excuse my rude self…”

Hearing the other young man’s words, Fang Lu almost exclaimed from the shock: Fu Yin’s voice was weak, nothing at all like the vibrant and energetic youth’s tone that Fang Lu had grown accustomed to. It was as if he was talking to someone on the verge of death.

Fu Yin bent forward . He grabbed the fuming kettle and one of the wooden cups in front of him. Judging by their state, they had also been recently carved, and quite well too. They were coated with a glossy substance, probably so as to prevent one from tasting the unpleasant taste of the wood from which the cups were made out of.

Fu Yin poured himself a cup of hot, tea. The bittersweet, nauseating yet at the same time refreshing and captivating fragrance of medicinal herbs spread all around the room, making even Fang Lu gulp down the saliva.

He was no expert in the field of herbs, nor had he even considered focusing on that field. To him, tea was just another drink, nothing more, nothing less. However, he had to admit that the fragrance was making him drool as he did his best to keep his gaze from landing on the cup of the hot beverage.

Noticing the other’s eyes, the white haired boy smiled tiredly, almost as if he was sick. His lifeless eyes showed a hint of warmth as he offered the cup in his hand to the older youth:

“Want a cup? I have plenty…”

Fang Lu hesitated:

What? No joke? No insults? No sarcasm? Who is this person? Give me back the bastard who stole my scroll!

“…” He warily grabbed the cup and slowly drank the tea… not. As soon as the liquid entered his mouth, before he could notice, it had already long since gone down his throat! It was just that good! He lifted his gaze, amazed: such a good tea, this was a beverage of the gods! He would dare say he had never drank anything this good before!

Fu Yin chuckled, his laughter barely audible, and waved his sleeve: a kettle appeared and he refilled Fang Lu’s cup before pouring a cup for himself as well. He looked around and grabbed a chair, pointing as he sat on a stool himself.

“Don’t just stand there. Come, sit over here.” He spoke tiredly.

Fang Lu obeyed: something was indeed not normal. He was not close to Fu Yin. Had it not been for the fact that they were in the same circumstances, he would have treated him as his most deadly enemy. In fact, even then he thought of him as a rival, not a friend.

However, he had noticed something abnormal in the youth’s attitude ever since a while ago. He had also gotten the proof that something was… weird during their ‘duel’, even though back then more questions had arisen than they had been answered.

At that time, even he had been scared witless from the deathly aura that Fu Yin had been giving off, almost mistaking him for some kind of god of death.

Thus, he obeyed and prepared to listen to Fu Yin’s words. He trusted his instincts, and felt that what Fu Yin needed right now… was help.

And he, as a rival, also couldn’t help but feel at least a slight sense of curiosity to know exactly what would afflict his strongest opponent. Of course, he also had a tinge of worry in his heart, however he would never admit that to either others or even himself.

Thus, he sat on the chair and studied his surroundings, especially putting great care into examining the objects littered all around the room. There were countless of them, ranging from the simple tea set to mysterious articles such as the metallic ball.

Fu Yin did not interrupt. In fact, he even seemed to give tacit consent, almost like a teacher waiting for his student to ask the question he was looking for. That was why, when Fang Lu did just that, he couldn’t help but smile warmly:

“I once said you were not human. I was not serious at the time, simply speaking basing it off the deathly aura that had chilled me to the bones. Now, however, I can see that maybe, at that time I had not been too far off...” Fang Lu nervously bit his nails as he looked at the white haired youth.

“I can see… that all these things are yours. You made, crafted, wrote them. However, mortal or cultivator, at your age, you should not be able to hold such experience and knowledge, even if these are but mundane matters…”

“However, it can be seen that you truly are the age you claim to be, as few would be able to fool even an Ancient’s detecting skills, let alone a Primordial Beast such as Blindlight. Such experience, such knowledge… are the memories from which you extracted them…” Fang Lu lifted his eyes, gazing into Fu Yin’s own lifeless pair.

“Truly yours?”

Fang Lu’s question was met with an enigmatic smile as Fu Yin sighed.

“That… is what I would like to find out myself… and the reason I seeked you out is because I wish for help… no, actually, scratch that. Let me rephrase this…” Fu Yin was smiling, however great pain could be seen lingering, pushed back but still visible in his eyes:

“I do not want nor wish for help. I need help.”