The Heavenly Sword Sect had never felt so empty before. Many of their strongest cultivators, including their elders, were out dealing with the magical beasts rampaging across the south eastern hemisphere. Even the head elder had been forced to head out.

It wasn’t just the Yuan Peninsula that got hit by this catastrophe. Magical beasts had been summoned in several other locations, and though smaller in scale, there had been so many that the Heavenly Sword Sect had been forced to divide its forces to deal with this unprecedented situation.

Meanwhile, both the Supreme Ocean Palice and Divine Moon Hall were keeping silent. It was like they were saying, “This is your mess. You fix it.”

Wu Meiying spent most of her time traversing the timelines to seek out magical beasts before they could attack cities. She would then direct the Heavenly Sword Sect’s forces to intercept those magical beasts. Thanks to her, only a handful of cities had been destroyed, and the Heavenly Sword Sect’s reputation had improved once again.

She had also quietly begun a campaign to discredit both Supreme Ocean Palace and Divine Moon Hall, having determined that her enemy must have been located in one of those two sects. Only one of the Three Celestial Sects had the power to enact such a wide scale plan like this. The problem was that she didn’t know which one was her enemy. If only they didn’t have the ability to hide from her.

This situation has gotten so far out of hand… but none of that matters anymore. I just need to keep Wu Jian safe. I’m almost done.

Wu Meiying sat at her desk, several different items strewn before her. Jarks of ink and pestles filled with various magical beast parts lay haphazardly in front of her. In the center of a desk sat a jade amulet. Several black symbols were painted on its surface, an ancient script no one in this world would be able to read.

While she wouldn’t call herself a seal master, Wu Meiying was quite talented at creating sealing arrays.

There were many different ways to create a sealing array. The most common was called etching. Cultivators carved seals into objects and infused them with chi. Etching ensured they remained on an object permanently, but they weren’t very stable. The most stable method of creating a sealing array was with ink made from powerful ingredients. It was common to combine various plants with magical beast blood and parts to create the ink.

She was using a homemade ink made from the blood of a land dragon, flame salamander tail, and ten thousand year old ginseng root. She would have liked more powerful ingredients, but this would work for what she wanted--and the ingredients she normally used didn’t exist on this small world. Wu Meiying longed for the Nine Heavens sometimes.

“It’s dry now… time for another coat,” Wu Meiying murmured as she picked up the amulet, dipped her brush into the jar of ink, and began once more going over the sealing array. The ink was a thick red, but it turned silver as she channeled chi into it. She carefully painted to ensure the ink was spread evenly across the surface. Then she did it again. Three more times. It took a lot of time and concentration, but she eventually finished.

“Seal!”

After setting the amulet on the desk, Wu Meiying clapped her hands together twice, then pressed her glowing hands against the amulet. The silver ink soon disappeared into the amulet Wu Meiying grabbed a chain made from moon steel and used it to create a necklace for the amulet.

“Done! Now I need to get this to Hou Jingshu.”

The amulet was actually for Wu Jian, but she didn’t know where he was right now. That was good since it meant the amulet he wore was still working. However, it would no doubt be close to breaking soon. Hou Jingshu would know where he was, so she’d make sure this got to her friend, who would know what to do with it.

Wu Meiying looked out the window and saw the setting sun.

“I don’t have much time. Zhe Fēnglì will be leaving soon.”

Wu Meying placed the amulet inside of a box, then raced outside of her abode. She took off into the sky and flew toward the Heavenly Sword Sect’s entrance.

There were only a few ways to reach the Heavenly Sword Sect. The standard entrance was a large gateway with a portal leading to the outside world. It looked like an ancient stone archway with a swirling nebula inside of it. To get there, one had to climb down a flight of stairs all the way to the base of the mountain. The other way to get inside was with the help of the elders, who could activate portals leading into the Heavenly Sword Sect.

Just as she expected, Zhe Fēnglì was there alongside two Human Limit Realm experts. One of those people was Húndàn Wang. It looked like he had reached the Human Limit Realm already, which was an impressive feat to be sure. The other person was a young man with slicked back hair, dark eyes, and an arrogant smirk.

The group turned as one when she set down before them. While Húndàn Wang and Zhe Fēnglì gazed at her with reverent awe, the arrogant-looking man merely eyed her like she was a piece of prime beef.

“Wu Meiying… what are you doing here?” asked Zhe Fēnglì.

“You are heading to the Shang Kingdom now, yes? There is something I’d like you to give the princess there,” Wu Meiying confessed. She held out the gold box. “Make sure Hou Jingshu gets this.”

Zhe Fēnglì took the box and stared at it like he didn’t know what to do, but then he stored it inside of his ring and nodded. “Do not worry. I’ll make sure it gets to her.”

“Um… may I ask something?” asked Húndàn Wang.

“You just did,” said the arrogant man. What was his name? It didn’t matter. Wu Meiying had no interest in arrogant young masters with a chip on their shoulder.

“Go ahead,” said Wu Meiying.

“Do you know Her Highness?” asked Húndàn Wang.

“Yes.” Wu Meiying admitted with a smile. “She and I are very good friends.”

***

Wu Jian sat on the den floor without a shirt, moving his now reattached limb to make sure it was working. The area where it had been cut retained a thin scar that went around his entire arm. There were pills that could regrow limbs so not even a scar remained, but the pill Zhou Lihua had created only reattached the arm. Well, it wasn’t like one more scar mattered. He already had dozens by this point.

“How does it feel? Any pain?” asked Zhou Lihua.

“No. It feels fine. You’d never know it had been cut off,” Wu Jian said. He clenched his hand into a fist and watched as the veins popped out on his skin. Everything had been reattached perfectly.

Zhou Lihua placed a hand on her chest and sighed in relief. “That’s good. I was really worried the pill wouldn’t work properly.”

“I wasn’t worried at all. I had complete faith in you.”

“Thank you.”

As Wu Jian and Zhou Lihua gazed at each other, the rest of the world seemed to vanish. What he wouldn’t give to remove this mask and kiss her. That sounded like a great idea. It probably wouldn’t have been a bad one, all things considered, but there was one problem that prevented him from acting on this impulse.

“Ahem.” Master Wong Jiu coughed into his hand to grab their attention. “I’m glad your arm has been properly reattached, but we still have a lot to deal with.”

“You’re right,” Wu Jian agreed with a nod. “I don’t doubt those two women will be coming for us again. We need to figure out how to deal with them. It would also be nice if we could figure out who they are. I’m pretty sure they’re acting on someone’s orders.”

“Hmm,” Zhou Lihua cupped her chin.

“Do you know something?” asked Wu Jian.

“Maybe…” Zhou Lihua furrowed her brow in thought. Silence reigned for several seconds before the woman finally spoke again. “I once heard a rumor that Cì Chuān keeps a pair of slaves close by at all times. It’s just a rumor and was never substantiated, but several people have insistent they saw two women wandering his residence.”

Wu Jian crossed his arms. “Well… he is the only one with the motivation to do this right now. And we are in his nation. The Zhou Kingdom has very strict border policies, so I doubt the bandits he mentioned actually exist. More than likely, he was saying all that because he planned on attacking us and wanted plausible deniability. We have no proof that he’s the one behind the attack, so we can’t accuse him.”

Even if they did find proof that Cì Chuān had ordered those two to attack them, there wasn’t much they could do about it. He could sweep the matter under the rug with his power and influence. The Shang Kingdom lacked the power necessary to persecute the prince of another nation, and Wu Jian wasn’t strong enough that he could simply squash Cì Chuān himself. To fight a prince was to fight a nation. If he wanted to teach that arrogant brat a lesson, he would need to have enough power to wipe the Zhou Kingdom off the map.

“For now, let’s focus on figuring out what to do about those two women. We can deal with Cì Chuān later,” Zhou Lihua said.

Since he didn’t have much to do with this conversation, Master Wong Jiu made them all something to eat. It was just simple stew. He took some water from a stream, boiled it, then added root vegetables they found foraging and some rabbit meat. The food would have tasted much better with milk, but that was not something they had. Most of their provisions had been destroyed during the attack anyway.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to defeat them on my own,” Wu Jian confessed. “In a one on one fight, I wouldn’t have a problem, but they seem well-versed in fighting together. Even though they are only at the peak of the Human Limit Realm, I imagine they can easily defeat a Deva Realm cultivator if they fought one.”

“I’ll help you, though I don’t know how much help I’ll be,” Zhou Lihua confessed with a self-deprecating smile. “Since my focus has been alchemy, my strength has not risen much in the years I’ve lived in the Shang Kingdom’s capital.”

“Could you use alchemy to temporarily increase your power?” asked Wu Jian.

Zhou Lihua went silent. She bit her lower lip. Wu Jian didn’t interrupt her.

He didn’t know much about alchemy, but he knew there were pills that could boost a person’s strength. They usually came with harmful side effects. Under normal circumstances, he would have never suggested doing something like this. Their situation was anything but normal, however, and if they wanted to survive, they had to make some sacrifices.

“I might be able to. I do know how to refine several pills that can increase a person’s strength exponentially. However…”

“You’ll be weakened after taking them,” Wu Jian guessed.

Zhou Lihua nodded. “Yes. The pills I’m thinking of are the Mind Awakening Pill, Strength Enhancing Pill, and Profound Chi Strengthening Pill. They’re known by alchemists as the Ehancement Trifecta. Each one does something different. They strengthen the mind, body, and chi. However, using them drains cultivators. Once the effects wear off, the cultivator won’t be able to use any chi and their bodies will be weakened for several days. I’ll be practically useless if I use them.”

“I don’t like the idea of you taking something like that… but we might not have much choice. We’ll have them on hand just in case. However, I’d like to see if we can take those two on without them,” Wu Jian said at last. “Do we have the ingredients for them?”

“Master?” Zhou Lihua looked at her master.

Master Wong Jiu sighed. “I have the ingredients. We can refine them tonight.”

“Very well. In that case, let’s come up with a basic plan to deal with those two women,” said Zhou Lihua.