Wu Jian returned to his room after talking to Hou Jingshu for several hours. They had discussed the upcoming auction, her plans for the national tournament, and what she wanted him to do.

His task right now was increasing his cultivation and joining the Core Disciples as soon as possible. There would be a test hosted about two weeks after the auction. The test was for Outer Court Disciples to join the Inner Court Disciples. Anyone could participate regardless of when they joined, so Wu Jian was allowed to enter even though he had just joined recently. Once he became an Inner Court Disciple, he would look to becoming a Core Disciple.

But first things first, he needed to cultivate.

The bed Wu Jian slept in that night was nowhere near as soft as the one in the royal palace’s guestroom, but it was nice and soft. He woke up refreshed.

After grabbing a chance of clothes and a towel, Wu Jian headed down for the bathing room. Men and women bathed separately. The one for men was located in a building on the eastern side. Women’s bathing was on the west. Each building was surrounded by a fence, and there were several baths, including an indoor bath, an outdoor bath, and a sauna.

“Morning, Wu!”

Ding Hong was already bathing when Wu Jian entered. He was surprised to see the man up. Perhaps it was wrong to judge someone based on their personality, but he assumed this man to be the frivolous sort.

“Morning. You’re up early,” Wu Jian said as he sat down on a stool next to the man. He grabbed some soap and began scrubbing himself.

“Of course. I want to get an early start on my cultivation. I’ll need to work hard if I want to catch up with the powerhouses like yourself.”

Ding Hong seemed fairly chipper that morning. It was like seeing how strong other people were had motivated him to get strong as well. Whether he would be able to retain that determination for an extended period of time was another matter entirely.

“I’m glad you plan on working hard. You already have a cultivation method, right?”

“Yeah. It’s one of the cultivation methods that have been passed down for generations in my family. It’s called Body Enhancement Cultivation Method. Unlike a lot of other cultivation methods that externalize chi to create techniques, this one internalizes chi to enhance a cultivator’s physical attributes. It has eight stages. I’m only at the first stage, but I’ll reach the second stage once I break through to the Anima Realm.”

They talked some more as the scent of cedar surrounded them. The floor, walls, ceiling, and baths were made of cedar. Humidity hung in the air. Droplets of water formed along the ceiling and splashed against the wood panels.

Wu Jian dumped some water over his head to rinse of the soap and shampoo, then waded into the bath. Ding Hong joined him as they continued discussing their plans for the day.

Ding Hong planned on heading to a training hall to find a sparring partner. Wu Jian wanted to contemplate the Dao of Space, so he’d find a secluded garden or something.

They parted ways not long after getting dressed. Yai Bazhu met up with them and dragged Ding Hong away. Wu Jian wandered for a bit, traveling down meandering cobblestone paths, until he found a park with a lot of cherry blossoms. He waded into the sea of trees and eventually found a small pond. The clear and still waters showed a perfect reflection of the cherry blossoms.

Wu Jian sat down, crossed his legs, and shifted his hands into a seal as he began meditating.

His goal was to increase his understanding of the Dao of Space. To that end, he began manipulating the space in front of him. Several swirling eddies appeared around him. They were black and looked like they could suck up everything in the vicinity if he let them rampage. He controlled the eddies, which were distortions in space, then carefully reached his hand inside one of them.

His hand went through one and came out of another. He narrowed his eyes in concentration, pulled his hand back, then pushed it back inside. His hand emerged through another eddy.

If I had more chi to use, I could create a larger distortion, which would let me fit more of my body through this. I should be able to transport myself from one place to another if I can do that. Right now, an arm or a leg is the extent of what I can fit through. I wonder if I can fit my head through one.

Now that the idea had taken hold, Wu Jian created another distortion. He tried to make it larger than the other ones. He was afraid of what would happen if it wasn’t big enough to fit his head. After taking a deep breath to calm himself, he leaned forward and stuck his head through the distortion.

It felt weird to stick his head through the spatial distortion. It was sort of ticklish, like someone was taking a feather and caressing the inside of his brain.

The area around him shifted. He still recognized everything, but it was clear that his head was no longer in the same place it had been. He tried to turn it. He couldn’t. His neck was still connected to his body and head, but it was located inside of the spatial distortion.

Wu Jian was just about to remove his head from the distortion when the trees before him rustled. A young woman who looked somewhat familiar entered the clearing. She stopped the moment Wu Jian’s head came into her line of sight. She gawked at his head, then behind him, presumably where his body was located. The blood drained from her face.

“Uh… I know this looks kinda bad, but I promise you--”

Wu Jian wasn’t even able to finish his sentence. He stopped talking when the woman’s eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell backward in a dead faint.

“Well… at least she didn’t scream.”

With a sigh, Wu Jian retracted his head from the spatial distortion, then stood up. He walked over to the young woman. She was dressed in the robes of an Outer Court Disciple. She was of average height and had pale skin like white chocolate. A single beauty mark drew attention to her left eye. She had long eyelashes, rosy lips, and the features of a noble. Wu Jian remembered she was one of the few who had been at the Asura Realm during the admittance test.

He couldn’t just leave her on the ground. Wu Jian gently lifted the woman into his arms and began making his way toward the hospital wing.

***

Luo Dong sat at the head of a long table with the elders of his sect. Quite a long time had passed since his disciple was killed. While he longed to slaughter Yin Xuefeng’s killer, he had many duties to attend to and could not go on a search for him.

Mo Zhi had several missives in front of him. “We have received a missive from the other three pavilions. The Martial God and Burning Flame Pavilions have agreed to join forces with us, but the Water-Moon Pavilion has remained silent.”

“Hmph. I expected as much. The pavilion is filled with women. They all lack ambition. Were it not for the beauty of their members, they would have long since been taken over,” said one of the elders.

Another nodded. “They have used their beauty to gain a great advantage over the other pavilions.”

The Water-Moon Pavilion practiced water techniques, most of which had a heavy emphasis on healing, support, and illusions. They also practiced sword techniques, but they were mainly made for protection instead of killing. This technically made them the weakest among the Four Great Pavilions. However, the beauty of their members prevented the other three from attempting anything. The Water-Moon Pavilion Sect Master was a shrewd woman who had managed to ingratiate herself to the other three sects. Everyone wanted to subsume their sect, but doing so would bring the wrath of the other two sects down upon them.

“What of the Zhou Kingdom?” asked Duo Long.

Mo Zhi stroked his long beard. “They are still preparing. Invading the Shang Kingdom will take time. We cannot do so without a lot of advanced preparation.”

“It would be easy if we only needed to fight the Shang Kingdom,” said a young-looking man with dark hair and eyes like swords.

Another sighed. “But we will have to contend with the Heavenly Sword Sect if we attack now. Even if all four great pavilions joined forces, we would be crushed.”

There were three sects that ranked highest within the Xaio Continent: Supreme Ocean Palace, Divine Moon Hall, and Heavenly Sword Sect. They were the Three Celestial Sects. Each one had enough power to crush an entire nation if they so chose. Only the non-aggression pact they had signed prevented this.

Among those three, the Heavenly Sword Sect was the strongest. They had more cultivators than the others, and their cultivators were all at a higher cultivation. Not only did they outnumber the other two sects, but their members were generally more powerful. It didn’t matter if the other two sects joined up with them. Supreme Ocean Palace and Divine Moon Hall would surely lose if they fought against the Heavenly Sword Sect.

However, that didn’t mean the Heavenly Sword Sect could act discourteously.

“They are still negotiating with the other two Celestial Sects?” asked Duo Long.

“It seems that way. Divine Moon Hall is prepared to lend their aid, but Supreme Ocean Palace is reluctant to get involved,” said Mo Zhi.

“Hmm…”

It would likely take several years before they moved from conversation to action. Fortunately, they already had a plan in place.

The Shang Kingdom was known as the weakest kingdom, but that didn’t mean it had nothing to offer. They lacked the resources to raise the strength of their cultivators above the Asura Realm. In return, however, they had more than enough resources to raise most of their cultivators to the Asura Realm.

The Ming Province and Zhou Kingdom wanted those resources.

There was a large disparity in power between the thirteen nations. The Xia Dynasty stood at the top of the food chain, a nation so powerful they could compete with the Three Celestial Sects on an even playing field. After them came the Ten Kingdoms Alliance and Southern Tang Dynasty, where Divine Moon Hall and Supreme Ocean Palace were located respectively. The rest were constantly in a state of cold war, fighting for the meager resources they could.

Duo Long was sick of it.

He was sick of the Xia Dynasty looking down on them.

He was sick of the Three Celestial Sects overinflated egos.

He wanted to raise the Ming Province into a power house that stood above these dragons and phoenixes.

Duo Long had originally placed his hope on Yin Xuefeng. That young man had been his pride and joy, a genius that only appeared once in a century. He had done his best to cultivate his disciple. Now that his disciple was dead, he had no choice but to resort to other means to accomplish his goals.

Such as allying with the other pavilions and the Zhou Kingdom.

So long as I can get my hands on the resources of the Shang Kingdom, I’ll be able to bolster my forces. I can bring all my members to the Asura Realm, then make them ascend to the Human Limit Realm. Once we have more Human Limit Realm cultivators, we can work toward pushing them even further.

The core of the Xia Dynasty’s cultivator forces was made up of Human Limit Realm Cultivators. After that came their elites and elders, which were Deva and Seeker Realm cultivators. Beyond that was their head elder at the Realization Realm. Rumor even had it the Phoenix Sect’s sect master and ancestor was at the Perfection Realm, though they were unsubstantiated rumors.

Of course, the reason they could stand on an even playing field with the Three Celestial Sects was not because of their cultivators. It was because of the god who protected them. The Great Phoenix nestled deep within the Phoenix Sect was not only their guardian deity, but also their protector in times of crisis. It was so powerful that even Perfection Realm cultivators could not stand up to it. Whether that meant it was above even the supposed highest realm or merely at the peak of the Perfection Realm was something no one knew.

“What of our spies? Have they located my disciple’s killer?” asked Duo Long.

It was not Mo Zhi who answered, but another elder. This one had short brown hair flecked with silver and several wrinkles lining his face.

“We have received a message not long ago from Shao Yimu. He said they found our target. His name is Jian Wu, and he is apparently traveling with the Shang Kingdom’s Imperial Princess.”

“The Shang Kingdom’s princess. I see. Could she have discovered our plans?”

“Doubtful. I believe their meeting was a simple coincidence. It seems they met in the White Tiger Sect Ruins.”

Duo Long closed his eyes. He felt rage quietly burning in his gut.

“Tell our spies to keep a close eye on him. If they see an opportunity to kill him, they may do so. However, they can only do it if they can avoid being seen. We cannot afford to arouse suspicion right now.”

“I shall inform them at once, Sect Master.”

I finally found you. You shall pay for killing my disciple, Jian Wu. It might not be right now, but eventually, I will make you suffer such unspeakable tortures that you will be begging for death.