Wu Jian opened his eyes and saw only darkness. It stretched out forever, but was it really forever, or was the darkness just so all-encompassing that he couldn’t figure out distance? He felt like this space was vast, but perhaps, if he reached out his hand, he would feel a wall right in front of him.

Too bad he couldn’t move.

All he could do was float there.

Just as he was beginning to wonder about what was going to happen, a pair of massive eyes appeared in front of him. He recognized those bright yellow eyes that resembled two moons. They belonged to Byakko. Ugh, why were they here?

“It seems you have exhausted yourself.”

Hmmm… yeah. I used up everything I had and then some.

“Are you sure that’s wise?”

It couldn’t be helped. Mei Xilan was too strong.

That was the last thing he remembered before darkness encompassed him. His battle with Mei Xilan had forced him to expend all of his strength. Fighting her had been even harder than fighting against the Hell Ape. Then again, he also had help during his battle against the Hell Ape. What was Yōuměi doing anyway? She was still inside of his shadow and hadn’t emerged. How long was she going to stay in there?

Wu Jian felt something tug at his mind. It felt like something had grabbed his head and was pulling him along. The giant pair of eyes got smaller and smaller.

“It seems you are waking up.”

Seems so. Tell me something before I go. Are you Byakko?

“Nay. I am…”

Whatever the eyes had been about to say was lost as Wu Jian suddenly regained consciousness.

The first thing he felt was a heavy weight on his chest. It felt like his chest was being crushed. He first thought it was because of his injuries, but then he realized that all of his injuries had been healed. He felt just fine. It was only the weight pushing against him that caused him issues.

He opened his heavy-lidded eyes, which took more effort than normal. He was so tired. Part of him wanted to go back to sleep. Blinking as he stared at the now somewhat familiar ceiling, Wu Jian took a moment to clear the brain fog, then looked down.

There was one person and one giant cat inside of the room with him. The reason his chest felt so heavy was because of giant black panther with its paws on his chest. Unlike Hou Jingshu, who slept with her head on the bed, the cat was wide awake and staring at him with intelligent amber eyes.

The panther opened its mouth, and a young voice emerged from it. “Master! You’re finally awake!”

“Master--ack! S-stop. Don’t lick me.”

Wu Jian would have pushed Yōuměi away when she began licking his face, but his body still felt heavy. And wait. Did she just talk? She did, didn’t she? She spoke!

“Yōuměi?” he asked tentatively.

“Yes, Master?” asked Yōuměi. She did not stop licking his face. Her tongue was rough like any other cat’s. He’d heard that cat tongues were covered in little spines called papillae, which was why they felt so rough.

“You can talk?”

“I can now.”

“How… is this possible?” asked Wu Jian.

“I don’t know. I went to sleep in your shadow for a very long time, and when I woke up, I could talk. But nevermind that! Are you okay, Master? I woke up just as you fell unconscious! What’s been going on? Why were you fighting that strange ice lady?”

Wu Jian was shocked to discover that Yōuměi could talk, but that meant she must have reached the Human Limit Realm. That appeared to be the stage magical beasts needed to reach before they gained the ability to speak. The fact that he could no longer sense her cultivation was another indicator.

She sounds so young…

The youthful sound of her voice was incongruous with her massive body. He couldn’t figure out how young she sounded, but she definitely had the voice of a kid. Come to think of it, he and Wu Meiying had found Yōuměi when she was just a kitten. She couldn’t have been that old back then. Didn’t that mean she was only a few years old? Maybe this was about right for her, though such a childish voice still sounded strange coming from that big body.

Their conversation caused Hou Jingshu to stir. She lifted her head and opened her eyes, blinking several times. Wu Jian turned his head as his giant panther continued to lick him.

“Morning, Jingshu,” he said.

“Morning, Jia…n… Wu Jian?!”

“Ack!”

“Mreeeoooowww!”

Yōuměi leapt out of the way as Hou Jingshu lunged forward, pushing Wu Jian back onto the bed as she wrapped her arms around him. While his panther looked upset, Wu Jian could only give her an aggrieved smile as he stroked Hou Jingshu’s head.

“Did I worry you?” he asked.

Hou Jingshu shook her head but refused to unwrap her arms around him, so her nose rubbed against his bare chest. “No. I wasn’t worried. The healers just said you had exhausted your chi and would need time to recover… but you have been asleep for the entire day.”

“I can’t believe I slept for so long,” he muttered.

“What did you expect? You exhausted every drop of chi you’ve got. You’re lucky that your recklessness didn’t leave a permanent injury.”

“Well, when you put it like that…”

Wu Jian and Hou Jingshu remained like that for a while, but Yōuměi suddenly made the bed shake when she jumped onto it.

“Master! Stop ignoring me! I wanna play too! If you keep ignoring me, I won’t listen to you anymore!”

Wu Jian got ready to placate Yōuměi, but Hou Jingshu froze. The young princess sat up and twisted around to look at the giant blob of black fur. She stared, stared, and stared some more, then turned back to look at Wu Jian.

“Did your panther just talk?” she asked.

“Don’t ask me when this happened. I don’t know any more than you do, but yeah, it seems she reached the Human Limit Realm just recently.”

“Is that why she was hiding in your shadow? Because she was breaking through?”

“Honestly? Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Master! Pay attention to me! I’ll claw your face off if you don’t pay attention to me!”

“Since when did you get so violent?!”

***

Once everyone in the room had settled down, Hou Jingshu shared what happened with Wu Jian after he passed out. He had been declared the victor. Wu Jian had fallen unconscious before the declaration was made, so he hadn’t heard it. He was happy he won though. That was the important takeaway from all this.

“Yōuměi appeared after you fell unconscious,” Hou Jingshu said. “Several people came to take you and Mei Xilan out of the ring when she emerged from your shadow and snarled at everyone who tried to get too close. She only calmed down when I called out to her.”

Wu Jian looked at Yōuměi, who rested her head on his lap.

“Is this true?” he asked.

“Hmph. I didn’t know what those people wanted. For all I knew, they were coming to hurt you because you beat that ice lady. I had to protect you.”

“Good girl,” Wu Jian said, rubbing Yōuměi behind the ears like he always did.

“Eh heh heh…”

It seemed like nothing had changed about the panther even after she reached the Human Limit Realm. She was still puddy in his hands whenever he pet her like this.

“Anyway, what happened to my mask?”

Wu Jian had noticed this for a while now, but the mask he always wore was no longer on his face. He felt oddly naked without it.

“It broke,” said Hou Jingshu. When he turned a horrified stare in her direction, she panicked and continued. “D-don’t worry! Nobody saw your face! Your mask had a huge crack in it, but we managed to get you inside of this room before it broke, so nobody saw your face!”

“Well, I suppose that’s good.” Wu Jian held up his hand and saw that his storage ring was still on, so he summoned another identical mask, though he didn’t put it on right away. “Good thing I bought plenty of spare masks.” He placed the mask back inside of his ring as he turned to Hou Jingshu. “What’s going to happen now?”

“After you recover, the five top contenders in the tournament are going to Sacred Grounds. While there, we will have an entire week to cultivate. I heard time flows differently in the Sacred Ground, so one week inside will only be an hour in the outside world.”

Right. He had almost forgotten about the Sacred Grounds, but now that she had brought it up, he was excited. Perhaps he would be able to break through to the Human Limit Realm during his time in the Sacred Grounds.

Hou Jingshu suddenly stood up. “Anyway, I am going to let Lihua know that you’ve recovered. She wasn’t allowed to visit you because of her family.”

“Sounds like her family is keeping her busy,” Wu Jian said with a frown.

“Yeah. Anyway, I’ll be right back. Be sure to get some more rest.”

After giving him a kiss on the cheek, Hou Jingshu left the room. Wu Jian leaned back as the door closed behind her. The room soon became silent, with only Yōuměi’s soft purring as he stroked her fur to break it.

Staying inside of this room was boring. He would have liked to get up and move, but his body still felt heavy. This was what happened when a cultivator overdrafted their strength. He was paying the price for pushing himself too far. Wu Jian tried to meditate to pass the time, but that was no good either. He just couldn’t get in the proper mood.

Someone knocked on the door. Yōuměi looked up as Wu Jian placed a hand on his mask.

“Who is it?”

“It is Mei Xilan. I heard from Her Highness that you were up. Is now a good time?”

Wu Jian put his mask on. “Now is fine. Please, come in.”

Mei Xilan entered the room, graceful as always, and seemed to dance forward with short steps that caused her hair and hips to sway. There was something different about her. He couldn’t quite place his finger on what though.

“I am happy to see you’re awake,” Mei Xilan said as she sat down, then glanced at Yōuměi. “Though your magical beast companion doesn’t seem to like me.”

“That’s because you hurt Master,” Yōuměi growled.

Wu Jian almost laughed when Mei Xilan’s near perfect calm slipped. The shocked expression on her face made him want to cackle. He resisted. He needed to. He couldn’t laugh right now.

“You look like a swan that just tasted frog meat for the first time,” he said with a grin.

Mei Xilan coughed into her hand. “I was just shocked. I had not realized your magical beast companion was at the Human Limit Realm.”

To be fair, he hadn’t known that either, until he woke up.

“Anyway, the reason I am here was because you once said you wanted to know how I can use a domain even though I’m not at the Deva Realm,” Mei Xilan tried to get back on track.

“I did,” Wu Jian confessed.

“Do you still wish to know?”

“Of course.”

“Hmmm…” Mei Xilan pressed her index and middle finger against her pursed lips. “I suppose I did promise to tell you, so I will… but only if you take off your mask.”

“Then nevermind. I don’t need to know.”

“You would claim you do not wish to know after expending so much energy during our battle just because I want to see your face?”

“That’s right. You got a problem with that?”

“No, but it is amusing.”

“The way you say that with a straight face makes it hard to know when you’re amused.”

“Blame my cultivation.”

Mei Xilan shrugged, then placed her hands in her lap, and looked thoughtfully at him. A minute passed by in silence. The only sound was Yōuměi’s purring. Wu Jian was stroking her fur to keep her calm.

Wu Jian of course wanted to know how someone could have a domain even though they didn’t have the necessary cultivation, but he wasn’t about to reveal his secrets to someone he didn’t trust. Mei Xilan seemed like a nice lady. However, he hadn’t interacted with her long enough to trust her.

“Haaaaaaah.” Mei Xilan finally sighed. “The truth is I don’t actually know why I have a domain when I’m only at the Human Limit Realm. Master thinks I have a unique constitution, but we have tested for one and found nothing.”

“… I think I liked not knowing better.”

“It does remove the air of mystery, does it not? Anyway, that is what I came to tell you. However, I also thought you might be hungry.”

“Huh?”

Before Wu Jian could say anything, Mei Xilan summoned a fruit basket, which she set on the nightstand. She made a knife out of ice, picked up an apple, and began slowly cutting it into shapes. Wu Jian had once heard that people would cut apples into little bunny shapes for the injured. Mei Xilan did not do that. She carved them into intricate lotus flowers.

“Aren’t you putting in a little too much effort for something that’s going in my mouth?” asked Wu Jian.

“Not at all. I enjoyed carving like this. Back home, I always spend my free time carving ice sculptures.”

“Uh-huh…”

“Now, say ‘aaah.’”

“Aaah--wait. Why are you trying to feed me?”

Wu Jian had almost gotten caught up in this woman’s pace, but now that his senses had come back, he realized he’d been seconds away from taking off his mask so she could feed him.

“Tch.”

“Did you just click your tongue at me?”

“You’re hearing things, I’m sure.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m not.”

Mei Xilan continued trying to feed Wu Jian, which he was now sure was an excuse to make him take his mask off. He clammed up after that. He thought she would give up, but Mei Xilan redoubled her efforts. This would have continued had Hou Jingshu not entered when she did.

“What is going on here?” asked the Shang Kingdom princess with a cold look in her eyes.

“Your Highness, I was merely trying to get Jian Wu to eat. He must be hungry.”

As if to back up her words, Wu Jian’s stomach chose that moment to rumble. The two women looked at him. He was so glad that his mask concealed his blush, though it couldn’t hide the redness on his ears and neck.

“Thank you for offering to feed him, but I don’t think that’s your job. Please, head on back to your master and leave him to me.”

“It’s no trouble. I don’t mind feeding him. Consider this a token of my respect for him. After all, he’s the only person my age to have defeated me. This is the least I could do.”

“Either way, I’m gonna have to ask you to leave. Feeding Wu… Jian Wu is my responsibility. He’s my man, so I’ll feed him.”

Oh, boy…

Wu Jian gawked at the two women. Hou Jingshu looked frighteningly reptilian. An aura like that of a dragon surrounded her and her pupils had grown sharp. Meanwhile, a blizzard seemed to be spreading out from Mei Xilan as she stared at the princess with her expressionless face.

Should I… say something?

He wanted to speak out, but the tension kept his mouth shut. It felt like saying something right now would only draw the ire of rabid beasts onto him. Now huddling down with her paws on her head, Yōuměi let out a muffled whimper.