In the small secret realm, the enormous, ferocious Dharma Manifestation of the Xuanshuang City Lord filled the entire sky. Xia Yunzhao pointed straight upward, his ringing challenge seeming to contend with the heavens themselves.
The Xuanshuang City Lord burst into laughter. His immense spiritual energy shook the entire secret realm. “Young Friend Xia truly is extraordinarily clever, but there is one thing you got wrong. I did not move this Blood-Infant Demon Ginseng here. It was already in this small secret realm to begin with.”
The Dharma Manifestation extended a gigantic hand, stirring a violent gale as it reached toward them. “Thank you, young friend, for harvesting this Blood-Infant Demon Ginseng for me. All of you may rest easy now…”
Bang!
A streak of golden-red light shot into the sky and slammed directly into the enormous palm, erupting in a blinding flare. Everyone instinctively closed their eyes, and when they opened them again, a small hole had been punched straight through the giant hand. Pei Guansheng stood holding a black-and-red spear, and above its tip, blazing golden-red light surged more than ten zhang into the air.
He panted heavily, glaring at the Dharma Manifestation overhead like a vicious wolf without retreating so much as half a step. “You want my life? You think you’re worthy?!”
Jing Ruyun sucked in a quiet breath. “S-Scarlet-Fire Heart-Burning Art?!”
Xia Yunzhao called softly to her, “Fellow Daoist, don’t just stand there. Come help us!”
Jing Ruyun turned and saw Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze working to break the innate formation. Gritting her teeth, she bent low and ran over, lowering her voice. “Didn’t you say that Nine-Heart Snow-Soul Lotus was fake?”
“It is fake.” Xia Yunzhao beckoned to her junior sisters as well, clearly meaning that more hands meant more strength, so they might as well all give it a try.
“The lotus may be fake, but the aura of an ice-attribute spirit treasure can’t be faked. He must have used something else to imitate it!”
Golden-red light sprayed across the mountaintop as Pei Guansheng fought the Dharma Manifestation with tremendous vigor, while Xia Yunzhao and the others hid behind them and quietly worked their own scheme.
Suddenly, the small secret realm shook violently again. Jing Ruyun’s expression changed. “This is bad! The secret realm is collapsing!”
Xia Yunzhao was startled. “Already?!”
Jing Ruyun said rapidly, “The spiritual power of a Nascent Soul cultivator is too strong. It’s exceeding the small secret realm’s capacity!”
Fortunately, by then Shang Shuangze had already broken the innate formation with a single sword strike. The treasure light shattered, and the illusory Nine-Heart Snow-Soul Lotus revealed its true form: a pile of Snow-Soul Crystals, with a single piece of Innate Snow Essence resting on top!
The Xuanshuang City Lord had used these things to counterfeit the aura of a Nine-Heart Snow-Soul Lotus!
Xia Yunzhao was overjoyed. “Found it!”
Shang Shuangze’s expression changed. “Careful!”
The violent shaking hurled snow from the ground as fierce winds rose and heavy snow whirled through the air. Golden-red light erupted amid the endless white, like a Golden Crow crashing to earth. Sensing that the secret realm was becoming unstable, the enormous Dharma Manifestation tore directly through the realm barrier and tried to force its way inside!
Elio’s Notes: The Golden Crow is a mythological sun bird in Chinese tradition, so the image here evokes something as brilliant and violent as the sun itself falling from the sky.
The snow mountain snapped across the middle, and half of it began to topple. Spiritual power and pressure raged in every direction. Amid the chaos, Xia Yunzhao kept his eyes locked on the Innate Snow Essence that had been flung away. As the ground tilted and collapsed beneath him, he ignored his own safety, lunged, and snatched up the tiny piece. “Got it! Hiss…”
Inside the snow mountain, something shot up from underground as if fleeing for its life. It rushed toward the Snow-Soul Crystals, then toward the Innate Snow Essence, and finally, by sheer accident, plunged into Xia Yunzhao’s fingertip.
Xia Yunzhao felt a boundless chill flood from his fingertip into his heart. Agony seized his chest, his thoughts seemed to freeze to a halt, and every meridian in his body felt as though it had turned into an ice sculpture.
Someone caught him, stripped off an outer garment, and wrapped it around him. Voices seemed to sound beside his ear, but he could not make them out. A Cold-Dispelling Origin-Transforming Pill was pushed into his mouth.
It seemed as though a very long time had passed, yet also only a single instant, when a trace of warmth rose from somewhere deep within his heart, as though traveling from a distant place. The warmth grew stronger and stronger, erupting like a volcano and melting away all the cold until heat finally returned to his chest.
Those fierce emotions, no longer restrained, surrounded his entire being like molten lava.
Xia Yunzhao came awake with a gasp and tried to roll over… then tried again. Wearing two layers of Fire-Rat spirit garments, he was like a little turtle stuck helplessly on its back.
He could not care about anything else. He scrambled upright on all fours and shoved the Innate Snow Essence in his hand into Shang Shuangze’s mouth. “Quick! Eat it!”
Shang Shuangze’s eyes were blood-red. One hand cupped Xia Yunzhao’s pale, bluish cheek, his fingers trembling faintly. “Are you all right?”
Moments earlier, frost had covered Xia Yunzhao’s brows and lashes, and even his eyes had frozen over. He had looked as though he had turned into a man of ice.
Xia Yunzhao shook his head. “I’m fine right now, but I’m guessing we’re about to have a problem…” Above them, the secret-realm barrier had been torn open, revealing the sky of Xuanshuang City outside. The enormous Dharma Manifestation was only one step from entering. Pei Guansheng’s spiritual power was already exhausted, his protective magical treasure had shattered, and blood dripped steadily from some wound on his body.
The golden-red light around Pei Guansheng grew brighter and brighter, carrying the crazed resolve of someone ready to perish together with his enemy. “Come on! Get down here!”
Nascent Soul, a realm they had never witnessed before, was actually this powerful. The Dharma Manifestation towering level with the heavens looked almost like a god or Buddha.
If the secret-realm barrier had not stood between them, they would probably have already been reduced to a smear of flesh beneath that enormous palm.
Seeing Xia Yunzhao alive and moving, Shang Shuangze finally swallowed the Innate Snow Essence.
Its cold medicinal power and spiritual power melted instantly. The Biluo Nine-Turn Art began circulating rapidly, and the backlash from the Fuli Annihilation Sword swiftly receded. His suppressed hearing returned all at once, and after so long in silence, his ears were unused to sound, producing a piercing ring.
Shang Shuangze closed his eyes slightly.
Mingyun hummed, not in fear but excitement. Razor-sharp sword intent appeared and swept through the surroundings as Shang Shuangze’s cultivation began to rise: late Foundation Establishment, peak Foundation Establishment… Golden Core!
He was about to be in trouble… How could Shang Shuangze possibly let anything happen to him?
Shang Shuangze opened his eyes, raised his hand, and drew his sword.
It was a sword light that had not appeared in the cultivation world for a very long time, one capable of sweeping away every evil and deviant thing!
Fuli Annihilation Sword:
One! Sword! Sunders! The! Heavens!
＊
Xuanshuang City.
Nearly every cultivator in the north had gathered there to watch the upheaval in the small secret realm.
Someone whispered, “I never expected the Xuanshuang City Lord to break through to Nascent Soul. After this, who knows which city will truly rank first on the icefield…”
“He’s only at early Nascent Soul. Xuexiao City has two Nascent Soul cultivators, and one of their ancestors is even at mid Nascent Soul.”
“Did you hear the transmission from the secret realm just now? Has the city lord really fallen to the demonic path?”
“Do you have a death wish? You dare say something like that out loud?!”
As they spoke, someone suddenly shouted from outside, “Look! What is that?!”
Everyone hurriedly leaned out to look. In the small secret realm suspended high in the air, which had been torn open by the Xuanshuang City Lord’s Dharma Manifestation, a streak of sword light suddenly erupted and shot straight into the clouds!
Vast sword qi transformed into countless streaks of radiance. Wherever it passed, myriad arts returned to emptiness, while Fuli remained undying.
This was what it meant for one sword to astonish the world. Every cultivator who witnessed the scene felt a faint flash of insight, and those who used spirit swords found the swords inside their sheaths trembling on their own, as though awakened.
A thunderous roar suddenly exploded in midair. “Impossible!!!”
Countless hairline cracks had appeared across the Xuanshuang City Lord’s Dharma Manifestation. Its godlike features twisted ferociously. “I am at Nascent Soul! You are only Golden Core! How could you injure me?! No! Give me the Blood-Infant Demon Ginseng! Give it to me now!”
Black smoke poured from the cracks in the Dharma Manifestation. He truly had been tempted by demonic qi and fallen.
Another sword strike swept out from the small secret realm. The black smoke vanished completely, and amid a miserable scream, the Nascent Soul Dharma Manifestation exploded in an instant!
The explosion was tremendous. The already battered small secret realm blew apart along with it, and the resulting shock wave spread several hundred li!
The thick, towering walls of Xuanshuang City were instantly smashed through by fragments of the secret realm, throwing the city into chaos.
Amid the disorder, a round-faced female cultivator struggled through the crowd. “Master! Senior Sister! Where are you? What do we do now?”
Looking closely, it was actually Chang Sanbao!
Hearing her call, Lu Shi raised a hand. “Good disciple, I’m over here!”
His disciples hurriedly squeezed over to him, anxious. “Even Xuanshuang City has been smashed open! What do we do, Master?”
Lu Shi chuckled. “I didn’t expect those two young fellow Daoists to be so formidable. But don’t worry. Your master knows a little path. We’re going to rescue them now.”
＊
Xia Yunzhao dreamed that he was walking across an icy lake riddled with holes. He accidentally fell through one and froze to the bone, struggled back out, walked a few steps, then fell in again and froze all over once more.
A white figure walked quickly ahead, leaving only a distant back. Somehow Xia Yunzhao recognized him immediately and shouted, “Shang Shuangze! Wait for me! I’m freezing to death!”
The figure turned around. Pieces of flesh sloughed from his face, revealing white bone underneath, and his voice was hoarse and grating. “Were you calling me?”
Xia Yunzhao jolted awake, drenched in cold sweat.
When he opened his eyes, the ceiling looked strangely familiar… and voices were sounding beside him, voices he recognized too.
“You old bastard, I already told you I’m a garment cultivator, not a medical cultivator. What the hell is the point of dragging me here?!”
“Didn’t you enter a secret realm on the icefield once? Stop talking nonsense and take a look!”
“The secret realm I entered wasn’t even the same one…”
“Same thing, same thing.”
Xia Yunzhao laboriously turned his head. Sure enough, it was Lu Shi, tugging at a skinny little old man. Xia Yunzhao had seen the man before. He was the master of the young garment cultivators in the tailor shop across the street, named Huang Zhi. Perhaps because his name sounded awkward, the old man preferred people to call him Tailor Huang.
Xia Yunzhao opened his mouth to speak, but his throat was too dry for any sound to come out.
A spoonful of warm, sweet water was immediately fed into his mouth. He turned his head again and saw Shang Shuangze.
Maybe it was only an illusion, but Shang Shuangze seemed thinner and more weathered. Even though the time formation had broken and returned all the time it had taken from him, the impression remained.
After finishing a bowl of the sweet soup, Xia Yunzhao smacked his lips. “This tastes pretty good. What is it?”
Shang Shuangze stared at him without blinking and said softly, “Origin-Replenishing Snow-Ginseng Honey-Date Soup. It has spirit honey in it.”
“I knew I tasted red dates.” Xia Yunzhao looked back at him. “You can hear me now, can’t you?”
Shang Shuangze smiled faintly. “Mm. I can hear you.”
Xia Yunzhao continued, “Then you…”
Before he could finish, Tailor Huang was finally dragged over by Lu Shi. “Fine, fine. I’ll take a look. If I can’t figure it out, don’t start running your damn mouth.”
Lu Shi curled his lip. “You think I’ll stop just because you tell me to? I’m going to run my mouth. I’ll come run my mouth at you every single day!”
Xia Yunzhao felt that Tailor Huang really did have a difficult life.
Tailor Huang checked his pulse for a while. The look he gave Xia Yunzhao slowly changed from sympathy to envy. “Damn!”
He turned and walked away.
Lu Shi was baffled and grabbed him. “Wait, that’s it?!”
Tailor Huang flung his sleeve. “That brat’s luck is already through the heavens! Why did you call me? Go find his father!”
Lu Shi looked blank. “Who’s his father?”
“Heaven itself!” Tailor Huang glared. “Why do you think he’s so cold? That brat swallowed the secret-realm core! It’s inside his meridians right now, diligently widening them for him. Once all the spiritual power in the secret-realm core is exhausted, he’ll be an innate spirit body at the very least! Hah, cold? Let him freeze!”
Lu Shi: …
Xia Yunzhao: …
Tailor Huang swept out with a flick of his sleeves. Lu Shi silently walked back, snatched away the bowl, and headed out too, muttering, “What a waste of a perfectly good bowl of soup…”
Once they were gone, only Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze remained in the room.
Xia Yunzhao looked at Shang Shuangze. “You don’t seem very surprised.”
Shang Shuangze said, “I examined you earlier. I had already guessed part of it.”
Xia Yunzhao smiled. “Then it’s a good thing. Don’t be unhappy. Other people could beg for something like this and still never get it.”
Shang Shuangze bent down and stroked the side of his face. Only after a long while did he say quietly, “You don’t need this. You were already very talented. And widening the meridians hurts.”
Xia Yunzhao hurriedly waved a hand. “Shh, keep your voice down. Don’t say things like that carelessly. If someone hears you, we’ll get beaten up.”
He hooked one finger around Shang Shuangze’s and, finding his hand cool as well, pulled it under the blankets. “Right, I still don’t know what happened to the other fellow Daoists in the secret realm.”
Shang Shuangze summarized briefly, “The fellow Daoists from the Puppet Sect were uninjured and left on their own. I did not see Fellow Daoist Pei.”
Xia Yunzhao thought about it. Pei Guansheng did not look like an ordinary person, and even if he had been injured, it probably would not prevent him from protecting himself. He should be fine.
As for the other cultivators who had escaped the secret realm, Xia Yunzhao did not know them, so there was no need to worry about every last one.
The two remained at Yanhuo Studio for two days to recover.
On the third day, Lu Shi returned from outside with news.
There were few people in the shop at the time. Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze sat in the hall, one drinking restorative soup and the other drinking tea.
Lu Shi said as soon as he entered, “People from Xuexiao City have arrived. They say a direct descendant of the Yan family died in the secret realm. The boy was deeply favored by one of their ancestors, so they’re conducting a thorough investigation. Every cultivator who entered the secret realm is being taken away for questioning.”
“Huh?” Chang Sanbao quickly put down her rag. “That’s so many people. Can they really investigate them all?”
Xia Yunzhao set down his soup bowl and shook his head. “Sanbao, you’re too innocent. You don’t really think they came here to investigate a death, do you? Don’t forget that Xuanshuang City no longer has a city lord.”
Chang Sanbao thought for a moment. “Oh! I get it. Xuexiao City wants Xuanshuang City, so they’re using the death of that direct descendant as an excuse to investigate, right?”
Shang Shuangze pinched Xia Yunzhao’s chin and tipped his face up to wipe away the sweat beading on his forehead, leaving him unable to nod, so he could only make muffled agreement. “Mm-hm, mm-hm.”
Lu Shi pointed at Xia Yunzhao and shook his head. “You’re too clever for your own good. Early wisdom harms the body, you know. Smart people learn too much and tend to die young.”
Xia Yunzhao said speechlessly, “I’m already in my twenties. What early wisdom? Still, since they’re supposedly investigating the death of that Yan family descendant, the two of us shouldn’t keep staying here. We’ll set out for home now.”
The moment he said that, the young disciples all crowded over reluctantly. “Senior, you’re leaving already?”
“Stay and play for a few more days. They might not even investigate Xiangqu.”
“Even if you’re afraid they’ll find you, you can hide in our vegetable cellar. I guarantee nobody will know!”
Xia Yunzhao: “…Thank you. I appreciate the thought.”
He took out several sheets of paper and lined them up across the table. “Thank you for going through so much trouble to come onto the icefield and pick us up. I’ve wanted to give you something in return but couldn’t decide what. After thinking it over, this seems most suitable.”
Lu Shi waved a hand. “This old man brought those foolish disciples to rescue you because I wanted to thank you for removing the scourge of Cold Crow Stronghold. Now I can finally let them travel farther without worrying. As for a thank-you gift, you should keep…”
Chang Sanbao’s excited cry came from the side. “They’re Spirit-Cuisine Recipes! Ones we’ve never seen before!”
Lu Shi immediately changed course. “Since you’re sincerely giving them to us, we won’t stand on ceremony!”
Xia Yunzhao burst out laughing, then produced another sheet of paper with a mysterious air. “Fellow Daoist Lu, I have another piece of information here especially for you. Don’t let anyone else see it.”
Lu Shi glanced at it. Hm? Could this be some exclusive secret?
He unfolded it… and found the gossip sheet about Yanhuo Studio.
Watching his expression, Xia Yunzhao saw a faintly nostalgic smile appear on Lu Shi’s face. “So it was this…”
Xia Yunzhao asked curiously, “You’ve seen it before?”
Lu Shi smiled. “My wife wrote these. I had only just entered the Dao back then and was an outer disciple of a small sect. My wife lived in the village at the foot of the mountain to stay near me. Whenever I made her angry, she would write gossip sheets like these and threaten to toss them up the mountain so my senior and junior brothers could read them. In truth, she couldn’t bear to throw away a single one. Unfortunately, I never knew where she hid them, and I was never able to find them.”
The young disciples who had been studying the Spirit-Cuisine Recipes immediately crowded around again. “What? We had a master’s wife? Where is she?”
“Master, you actually managed to marry someone? What did Master’s Wife see in you?”
“Maybe Master’s Wife only liked good food…”
Lu Shi flicked each of them on the forehead. “I told you my wife was a mortal. She passed away long ago!”
The disciples let out a collective cry of regret.
Lu Shi pointed outside the city. “You’ve always wondered why I keep going to pay respects at that grave on the mountain, haven’t you? That’s your master’s wife. You never met her, and I never told you about her. Since you all want a master’s wife so badly, go pay your respects tomorrow.”
The disciples immediately sprang into motion. “All right! I’ll prepare offerings right now!”
“I learned a new dish! Master’s Wife will definitely like it!”
“Sweet soup, sweet soup! Girls all like sweet soup…”
Amid the quacking chatter of the little flock, Lu Shi carefully folded away the sheet and cupped his hands toward Xia Yunzhao.
Xia Yunzhao smiled and waved.
The next day, those going to pay their respects headed up the mountain, while the Green Bamboo Carriage rolled out through the city gate and clattered south.
Those who rushed to Yanhuo Studio after hearing the news arrived just in time to find the place empty.
＊
The Green Bamboo Carriage carried their family of five slowly onward.
Perhaps knowing that Xia Yunzhao was unwell, even Xianchan behaved itself. Every day after eating its fill, it obediently curled against Xia Yunzhao and served as his heater.
To be fair, this genuine-fur self-heating hand warmer worked remarkably well. It was just rather expensive to run, consuming several meatballs per hundred kilometers.
Xiao Qing was even more obedient and no longer dared casually jump onto Xia Yunzhao. The child had suddenly learned some sense.
On the third day of the return journey, the secret-realm core flared up again.
This was the first time Xia Yunzhao experienced an episode while fully conscious. The secret-realm core hidden within the Dao foundation of his qi sea stirred, swam into his meridians like a little fish, then advanced bit by bit like a plug slightly wider than the meridian itself, forcing the channel open as it went.
The pain was secondary. The real problem was the cold!
It chilled him from the inside out, as though every organ in his body had been dragged through winter.
When the episode began, Xia Yunzhao had been reading the Myriad Spirits Pharmacopoeia. One shiver was enough to freeze the entire book solid, and when it fell, it struck the floor with a sound like stone.
Shang Shuangze rushed over immediately. His own cultivation method leaned toward cold as well, which usually did not matter, but the instant he touched Xia Yunzhao now, Xiao Xia shuddered violently.
Shang Shuangze pulled back as though burned.
Xia Yunzhao was just about to reassure him when Shang Shuangze moved close again. This time, his hand was actually warm, and even the spiritual power he sent into Xia Yunzhao was comfortably heated.
With some of the cold driven away, what remained became a little easier to bear. Xia Yunzhao’s meridians relaxed the tiniest bit, and his curiosity immediately came wriggling back to life. Even with his teeth chattering, he insisted on asking, “Y-your s-sp-spiritual power… h-how did it… get w-warm?”
Shang Shuangze said lightly, “I only changed the way my spiritual power circulates.”
The cultivation world really is magical, Xia Yunzhao thought, tugging insistently at his sleeve. “W-w-want to learn!”
Shang Shuangze sighed helplessly and gently brushed the ice crystals from his eyelashes. “All right. Once you’re better, I’ll teach you.”
After that, it was as though the secret-realm core had flipped some hidden switch. It flared up every other day.
Like a diligent old ox plowing a field, it tirelessly worked at Xia Yunzhao’s meridians, widening them again and again.
Not only that, the ice-attribute spiritual power leaking from it automatically tempered Xia Yunzhao’s skin, bones, and flesh, with an effect even better than the finest tempering pills.
And every time his meridians widened, Xia Yunzhao could clearly feel his absorption of spiritual energy accelerate once more.
…It would have been nothing but good news if his daily spirit-pearl consumption had not risen to one hundred and fifty thousand.
Xia Yunzhao no longer dared quote the saying that a single coin could stump a hero, because what was stumping him was very obviously not one coin, but a million of them.
Under the secret-realm core’s diligent labor, Xia Yunzhao’s cultivation rolled upward at a speed that defied understanding, then quietly crossed a bottleneck and entered mid Foundation Establishment.
By then, they had also completed half the journey home.
That afternoon, the Green Bamboo Carriage reached a river.
The secret-realm core was resting for the day, so Xia Yunzhao did not need to stay curled up inside the carriage. He lifted the curtain and was momentarily stunned by the beauty before him: the river wound onward like a ribbon of light, green grass covered the rounded hillsides, smoke rose in straight columns from a village not far away, and at the farthest edge of the view, a crimson sunset rested on the mountain.
It looked like a brightly colored line drawing.
Xia Yunzhao sighed in awe. “So beautiful… I want roast whole lamb.”
Shang Shuangze: …
He hesitated. “There is no woodland nearby. If I want to find a herd of Fragrant-Grass Sheep, I’ll have to go some distance. You…”
“That’s fine, that’s fine!” Xia Yunzhao nodded obediently before he could finish. “I’m already at mid Foundation Establishment. Who would be stupid enough to rob me now? I’ll wait right here. Go quickly and come back quickly! I want a tender one, so catch a young lamb!”
Shang Shuangze could do nothing with him. Seeing Xia Yunzhao wanted to sit by the river, he settled him on a rock beside the water, raised his sword, and left a strand of sword qi to protect him before departing with a thousand worries still on his mind.
Xia Yunzhao was helpless. He suspected Shang Shuangze had developed some lingering stress reaction after what happened, because every day the man watched him without so much as blinking. Whenever he got the chance, Xia Yunzhao deliberately sent him away for a little while, hoping he would stop being so tense.
In truth, when the secret-realm core was not flaring up, Xia Yunzhao’s movement was completely unaffected. He could not even really be called injured now. At most, his cultivation method had become somewhat unusual, and he had grown a little sensitive to cold.
The air by the river was fresh and damp, wonderfully comfortable.
Xianchan was getting restless and wanted to play in the water, but Xia Yunzhao held it firmly. “Once Shang Shuangze comes back, we’ll catch a few big fish and make soup. Behave for now. The water’s too cold and I don’t want to touch it.”
Xianchan kneaded its paws a few times, failed to wriggle free, and eventually settled down.
Xiao Qing’s lid shifted and rubbed against its fur as a token gesture of comfort.
Just then, a slender figure approached from nearby.
Xia Yunzhao looked up and saw a young girl who appeared to be twelve or thirteen, presumably a villager from the nearby settlement.
The girl carried a wooden bucket. When she saw Xia Yunzhao, she hesitated.
Afraid of frightening her, Xia Yunzhao smiled faintly. “I’m just a traveler passing through. I stopped by the river to rest.”
The girl visibly relaxed a little, set down her bucket, and began picking through the stones along the riverbank.
At first Xia Yunzhao assumed she was a child gathering pretty stones for fun, but after watching for a while, he realized every stone she chose was thin and sharp. Unable to resist, he asked, “Little girl, what do you need those stones for?”
The girl glanced at him. Her features were still childish and her cheeks retained a little of a child’s softness, yet her expression was remarkably mature. Calmly, she said, “I’m getting married soon. I’m gathering some stones to use.”
Xia Yunzhao nearly jumped to his feet. “You’re this young and you’re getting married? Are you even thirteen? And what are you planning to do with those stones?”
The girl looked at him again as though she did not understand why he was so agitated, then continued expressionlessly, “My husband is going to swallow me on our wedding night. I’ll hide some stones on my body, so they can cut open his organs and I can crawl back out.”