Hou Jingshu floated in a dark expanse of space. No matter which direction she turned, all she could see was an inky blackness so vast this place seemed both infinite and infinitesimally small.

I see. It’s the dream again.

She already knew she was dreaming. She’d had this dream many times in the past. In fact, she already knew what was going to happen.

“Why…?” a weak voice said behind her.

Hou Jingshu closed her eyes for a brief moment, as if that would banish the voice. She wanted to shut her ears too, but that was impossible. She tried that when the dream first began occurring. It was like the voice spoke directly into her brain, however, and so even if she covered her ears with her hands, she would still hear him.

“Why did you leave me? Why did you abandon me?” the voice continued.

I should just… get this over with.

With a deep breath, Hou Jingshu turned around and looked at the young boy. He had dark hair, dark eyes, fair skin, and soft features. If she had to judge his age, she would have said he was around twelve or thirteen. The black training gi he wore featured a golden dragon traveling up one side.

“Wu Jian,” she mouthed the name but no words actually emerged. She couldn’t speak in these dreams. That was the first thing she had learned about these dreams. The first time she’d had it, she had cried and screamed that she was sorry, but her voice would never come out. No matter how much crying, screaming, and yelling she did, it never amounted to anything.

“Why did you leave? If you had stayed, we would still be together,” Wu Jian accused her.

“I’m… sorry…” Hou Jingshu bit her lip and spoke even though no words emerged. “I’m so sorry.”

“You abandoned me,” Wu Jian accused.

“I’m so sorry, Wu Jian.”

Hou Jingshu sucked in a deep breath as she awoke. She sat up in bed, wiped the tears from her eyes, and looked around. She was in a tent. The only person present was Zheng Yawen.

Hou Jingshu sighed in relief when she saw her bodyguard was still sleeping. During the first few nights when she’d had this dream, Hou Jingshu had woken up screaming and crying. She remembered how frightened her maids had been when they burst into the room and found her inconsolable.

She didn’t know what time it was, but her biological clock told her she couldn’t have gotten more than one or two hours of sleep. The idea to try and go back to sleep occurred to her but only briefly. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Wu Jian’s face in her vision. She wouldn’t be able to sleep like this.

Since I can’t sleep, I might as well train.

That was what she always did whenever sleep eluded her. Training her body was something she had begun doing ever since she returned to the Imperial Capital, and it was the only thing she could do that calmed her down. It reminded her of the simpler days when she spent enjoyable times with Wu Jian and Wu Meiying.

I miss them.

She missed them so much, but there was nothing she could do about that. Nothing she did would bring them back.

She sighed and stood up.

A strange sky made of swirling colors greeted her as she exited the tent. She and the others had become trapped within a sealing array when Yin Wuhan tried to check for traps. They had yet to find a way out, but they had been searching for the past several days. At least, she thought several days had passed. The sky never changed, so it was hard to judge time.

According to Yin Wuhan, the place they found themselves in was called a Sealed Space. It was a space within a seal array that trapped people inside. There should have been some manner of escaping, but they had yet to find the method to break out.

There was another tent sitting not far away. It belonged to the boys. She couldn’t see past the flaps, but she assumed they were all asleep. Even Jian Wu.

She furrowed her brow as she walked further into this sealed space. It looked just like a grassy plane with several trees, shrubs, and rocks. They reminded her of a zen garden. The formation and shapes they were placed in formed patterns, though she didn’t recognize them. Something about them seemed odd to her. However, she couldn’t figure out what.

Hou Jingshu summoned her spear and walked further away. She had a habit of yelling while she trained. Her goal was to find a quiet place away from the others so she could train without disturbing anyone’s sleep. Just because she couldn’t get any rest didn’t mean she had to disturb the others of theirs.

Yet as she moved past several trees, she stopped upon seeing that she was not, in fact, the first one up.

That’s… Jian Wu…

He wore the mask like always, which was how she recognized him, but he wasn’t wearing a shirt. She found that odd. However, any thoughts fled when she saw his body. It was hard and masculine, covered in muscles and several scars. She could tell how hard he worked to get as strong as he was.

It made her mouth go dry.

Ever since she began training with Wu Jian and Wu Meiying, she had picked up a fascination for muscles. Muscles were the result of a person’s effort and hard work. You could tell what kind of cultivator a person was by looking at how sturdy their muscles were. A person with powerful muscles was a hard worker, and Hou Jingshu found that attractive.

Jian Wu had muscles.

Really nice muscles.

He was currently standing in a horse stance, feet spread apart, knees bent as he practiced his punches. Hou Jingshu pressed a hand to her chest as she saw the way his abdominals, chest, shoulders, and arms flexed with every punch he threw.

Oh, my. He’s… so manly…

How much effort must he have put in to get muscles like that? How hard had he worked? She could already tell at just a glance that he trained almost every day. Jian Wu already reminded her of Wu Jian. From the way he talked to the way he walked to how comfortable she felt in his presence, and this was just another facet that reminded her of the person she had loved and lost.

The pounding of her heart and the blood rushing to her cheeks caused her to almost miss the voice that echoed somewhere behind and to her left.

“Jian Wu? Is that you?”

Hou Jingshu almost squeaked as she hid herself within a group of shrubs. Wu Jian stopped practicing his punches and turned to face the person who had spoke, all the while unaware of the young princess gripping her chest, her heart pounding in her ears, as she spied on him.

***

Wu Jian stood fully upright as he looked at Wu Yong. He was so glad that he had opted to wear his mask. Not only had this precaution protected his identity, but Wu Yong wouldn’t see the conflicted expression he had.

“Wu Yong…”

“Couldn’t sleep either?” asked Wu Yong.

Wu Jian smiled even though he knew the other man couldn’t see it. “Just some nightmares.”

It was the same nightmare as always. His family accusing him of abandoning them, of being weak. He had more or less gotten used to it, but they still caused him to wake up in a cold sweat. He had merely adapted to getting up earlier.

Wu Yong’s smile turned bitter. “Ah, so you get those too.”

“You too?”

What could Wu Yong have nightmares about? The person he had known back when they were still kids would never get nightmares about anything. He had been supremely confident in himself and possessed the arrogance of a young master who had eyes but couldn’t see the sky. Of course, Wu Jian blamed most of that on Wu Wei’s machinations, but that was neither here nor there.

Wu Yong gestured for Wu Jian to sit with him, so they found a spot beside a tree and sat down. His older half-brother spread out his legs, placed his hands behind his back for support, and looked up at the strange sky.

“I… had a younger brother. We used to be close. Me, my brother, and a young girl called Wu Meiying would always play together. I don’t remember when it happened, exactly, but I began to resent him at some point. I started bullying him whenever I had the chance. I was a terrible older brother.”

Wu Jian said nothing as Wu Yong confessed his sins, but he was surprised by the guilt in Wu Yong’s voice. The man seemed to truly regret what he had done when they were children. It made listening to him harder. Yet he retained his silence, allowing the other man to speak.

“I eventually went too far and did something I never should have. It ended with me injuring myself. I was almost crippled because of it, but Father spent a lot of money to have the Zhou Clan get me a cure. He then sent me to live in the Imperial Capital, where I studied until I was able to break through and enter the Imperial Academy.”

“It must have been hard… being so far from home,” Wu Jian said.

Wu Yong shook his head. “It was a little tough, but it was more than I deserved. I should have been expelled from the clan, but Father gave me a chance to redeem myself instead. I worked very hard to get where I am now… it’s just too bad Father, Mother, and my brother are no longer here to see what I’ve accomplished.”

“… They’re gone?”

“Yeah. We learned about the news a few months after it happened, but the Wu Clan was attacked one night and everyone was killed. The Zhou Clan has a branch in the city they lived in. Someone from their clan came over when they didn’t receive any news and found everyone’s corpses. They said it was the most horrific thing they had ever seen.”

Wu Yong’s hands began trembling. He leaned back up and brought his hands to the front, eying them as they shook. The expression on his face made Wu Jian feel guilty. Here was his older brother spilling his heart out, but he couldn’t tell the man that he was alive. Once more, he cursed the fact that he needed to keep his survival a secret.

“I… never got the chance to apologize to my younger brother. It’s something I’ve felt guilty about all this time. Sometimes, when I go to bed, I have nightmares about him and the rest of my family. A part of me would have rather died alongside them than live without them.”

Would it really be so bad if I let Wu Yong know I’m alive?

This was not the first time he’d had such thoughts. He’d been wondering about this ever since he met Hou Jingshu. Being in her presence wore down his mental defenses and resistance to the idea. It was clear that she was suffering because of his death. He could ease her heart if he just revealed himself.

But what then? What if Wu Meiying’s enemies find me?

He still knew nothing about the forces that had attacked him, but Wu Meiying had warned him that they could find him if people learned that he had survived.

“Do you think your family would resent you for surviving?” asked Wu Jian.

Wu Yong furrowed his brow, then shook his head. “No. I know they wouldn’t. I know they would be happy I was alive… but that just makes me feel worse. There were so many other people in my clan who deserved to survive more than me. Wu Jian, Wu Meiying, Mother, Father… they all deserved to live. Why am I the one who survived when I never did anything worthwhile for the clan?”

“I understand. My clan is gone too,” Wu Jian confessed.

Wu Yong looked surprised. “Yours too?”

Wu Jian nodded. “I’m the only survivor. I often feel guilty that I survived and they didn’t. I don’t feel like I was worthy.”

“How do you cope?” asked Wu Yong.

Wu Jian wondered what he should say here. He couldn’t quite tell this man that at least one other person had survived. Wu Meiying was alive and well. He was sure of it. However, he didn’t want to run the risk of her enemies somehow discovering her.

“Revenge, mostly,” Wu Jian said at last. It was true, but only half-true. “I want to find the people who destroyed my clan and make them suffer. I want retribution. I cannot allow myself to die until I’ve at least paid back the people who killed them.”

“I see. Revenge.” Wu Yong cupped his chin. “I would like to get revenge on the people who killed my family… but I wouldn’t even know where to look.”

Wu Jian shrugged. “I don’t know where to look either. But I figured if I live long enough, I’ll eventually find them.”

“Hmmm. Maybe I should do that.”

Silence descended upon the clearing. It wasn’t uncomfortable. Wu Yong seemed to have a lot he wanted to think about, and Wu Jian was loath to interrupt.

A rustling sound caught his attention, and he turned his head to seek out the source, but there was nothing around except a bunch of shrubs rustling in the breeze.