Travel-worn and dusty, Mei Xia Ying hurried back to Haojing. What he had seen and heard along the way differed slightly from his expectations, but he did not dwell on it. The fleeing populace proved that the Northern Zhou court had ultimately lost. He only wondered whether his master had reached Golden Core yet.
Just imagining his master becoming the most powerful person in the world made his blood boil. All those years of humiliation and restraint would finally be rewarded. Yet the closer he came to the iron tower, the more uneasy he felt.
Thunder rumbled overhead, violent winds whipped around him, and all of nature seemed in a frenzy. Yet the people, who ought to have been moving, stood motionless like statues. The battle seemed to be over. Corpses scattered across the ground silently testified to the night’s brutality. The blood had already congealed, but the stench grew stronger as dawn arrived and the air warmed.
He stopped a dozen or so zhang from the tower.
Mu Kai Sen stood beside an elderly man, speaking with his head lowered. The old man’s face was grave as he gazed up toward the tower’s summit. Behind them, Duan Qian crouched with one hand braced on his sword, glancing around warily. Not far away, two men sat back to back.
Mei Xia Ying recognized one as Ren Fei Ying. He did not know the other but guessed he was from Immortal Treasury Palace. Both were badly wounded and looked to be in poor shape. For some reason, however, they were not dead.
His arrival drew everyone’s attention.
Duan Qian stirred but did not rise. Mu Kai Sen said something to the old man, who waved a hand, and Mu Kai Sen walked over.
Mei Xia Ying narrowed his eyes, then quickly produced a gentle smile. “Is my master still inside the tower?”
Mu Kai Sen stopped two or three zhang away. “The Haojing grand formation has already activated, and the first Golden Core cultivator is about to be born. Senior Brother Mei, why not find somewhere quiet and wait?”
Mei Xia Ying’s fingers trembled slightly, and his smile grew brighter. “I see. So I’ve come early. I have some news about Pei Yuan Jin and Fu Xi Yan, and I’d like to see Master.”
He stepped forward. Mu Kai Sen made no move to block him and even shifted aside a little. “This isn’t a good time.”
The distance between them quickly shrank to half a zhang.
Mei Xia Ying suddenly lowered his voice. “The White Tiger King plotted with my master against Sect Master Mo. Given Mo Xiao Ran’s vengeful nature, he will never forgive that betrayal. Regretting it now is far too late.”
The old man was naturally the White Tiger King, who had followed Mo Xiao Ran from the western frontier to Haojing. As though he had overheard, he turned a sharp gaze toward them but said nothing.
Mu Kai Sen lowered his eyes, evading Mei Xia Ying’s scrutiny. “Circumstances have changed.”
Mei Xia Ying’s expression finally cracked. He cast a quick, guarded glance toward the tower. Mu Kai Sen sighed. “Martial Uncle Zheng has passed away, and Heaven and Earth’s constraints upon cultivators have finally been lifted.”
Mei Xia Ying blurted, “What do you mean?”
Mu Kai Sen sighed softly. “None of us can defeat him.”
The blame lay with how smoothly Zheng Jiao Jiao’s plan had gone. Not one palace master or elder of Immortal Treasury Palace had come down from the mountain, while Jing Luo and Pei Yuan Jin, who had descended, were lured away by a diversion. Then Wang Yu fell in battle and Zheng Jiao Jiao was effectively sacrificed to Heaven. Though their side had many people, only the White Tiger King was capable of fighting Mo Xiao Ran, and he had not yet prepared himself to die a noble death.
Mei Xia Ying sneered. “Then why didn’t you save my master?” If Zheng Jiao Jiao and the White Tiger King had joined forces, what would they have had to fear from Mo Xiao Ran?!
Mu Kai Sen said nothing, turning his gaze toward the White Tiger King instead. The latter showed no regret. “Mo Xiao Ran has paved a road to the heavens for cultivators everywhere. I cannot obstruct him.”
Mei Xia Ying’s fingers curled one after another at his sides. “Are we to sit here and watch Mo Xiao Ran become the strongest person in the world? I’m only a small fry; he may not bother with me. But as for you, Martial Uncle…”
It was an exceedingly crude attempt to sow discord.
Yet whether such a scheme worked had never depended on how convoluted its design was. It depended entirely on whether it touched its target’s deepest fears.
The thunder grew louder and closer. Lightning pierced the clouds, blanketing half of Haojing. Neither Mu Kai Sen nor Mei Xia Ying had ever seen such a spectacle, and even the White Tiger King, despite his years, had not witnessed anything like it.
A branch-shaped bolt of white lightning stretched from the clouds almost to the tower’s middle stories, not far above their heads. The white glare turned every face corpse-pale.
“Martial Uncle, time waits for no one,” Mei Xia Ying urged. “If you cannot decide, then I shall have to flee for my life. But think carefully. Once Mo Xiao Ran advances, who will he allow to follow? He’d sooner tolerate Pei Yuan Jin, his son-in-law, than you. When he starts purging his rivals, you will have nowhere to hide. And even your family…”
He deliberately left the threat unfinished. The White Tiger King’s expression shifted, his gaze hardening as though he had made up his mind. He opened his mouth, but Mu Kai Sen interrupted.
“Master, why don’t I go up and take a look first? Mo Xiao Ran must have suffered badly to activate the formation. If…”
He lifted his eyebrows meaningfully. The White Tiger King’s expression eased. His eyes softened toward Mu Kai Sen, and he nodded. “Very well.”
Mu Kai Sen immediately bounded up the tower, springing between the eaves of one story and the next. Reaching the highest level, he peered inside. Mo Xiao Ran stood with a hand resting upon the formation eye. His expression was no longer quite human. He resembled an emotionless statue of a god.
Mo Xiao Ran turned his head slightly. His eyes were extraordinarily black, deep and dark as a bottomless pool.
Mu Kai Sen was not especially nervous. In a low voice he said, “Martial Uncle Mo, Mei Xia Ying is back. He’s trying to incite my master to turn against you.”
“He wouldn’t dare,” Mo Xiao Ran said disdainfully.
Even when the White Tiger King wished to harm someone, he preferred to hide behind others and work in secret. Ask him to shoulder the task of challenging Mo Xiao Ran himself, and a hundred borrowed hearts of lions would not give him the nerve.
Mu Kai Sen sighed. “Not for himself, perhaps. But for my youngest junior brother, I’m not so sure.”
His voice turned sour. “In Master’s eyes, my youngest junior brother is precious beyond measure. He must never be sullied or exposed to danger. I’m called a disciple, but really I’m an obedient servant. He says I’ll inherit his mantle, yet he passed the No-Return Sect’s Soul Pearl to my youngest junior brother instead.”
“You may leave,” Mo Xiao Ran said.
Mu Kai Sen rolled his eyes. “Then Martial Uncle intends to…”
At last Mo Xiao Ran bestowed a glance upon him. “You needn’t delay me to gather intelligence for him. If he wishes to come, let him. I’d like to see who can stop me from ascending to Heaven today.”
* * *
In a building near Zhuque Gate Street, not far from the iron tower, two cloaked figures leaned against a window opposite each other and talked. Their hoods and cloaks concealed their identities, but their voices made it clear they were women.
The shorter of the two rubbed her aching arm. “How much longer do we have to wait? If you’re worried that I’m too nervous and need time to prepare, I’m telling you I’m ready. When the time comes, never mind doing something as monstrous as killing my master. Even if you asked me to show him filial respect and kowtow to him, I could do that.”
The taller woman said, “They say cultivators must undergo a tribulation to reach Golden Core. And the tribulation is their most dangerous moment.”
“But he’s hiding inside the tower. If the tower starts operating again… Do you have a plan?”
“No.”
The shorter woman went rigid, then raised her voice. “No?”
The taller woman answered evenly, “I’ve made many plans before. Plans to escape, to hide, to survive… and none of them worked. Every plan I devised, no matter how carefully, left traces. As long as there were traces, he could find the weakness. Then one day, I caught the plague and was abducted. Because it was unexpected and sudden, it left no trail for him to follow. I was free for more than ten years, freer than I had ever been. So…”
She paused, then simply pushed back her hood, revealing a delicate, strikingly beautiful face with an almost otherworldly quality. “Senior Sister, even the most perfect plan is no match for adapting to circumstances.”
Seeing her reveal her face, the shorter woman hesitated, then also removed her hood. Had Fu Xi Yan been there, he would have been stunned: this was Yin Fei Yu, whom he had personally watched being buried. And only one person in the world would call her Senior Sister: Jin Yuan Xiu, who had entered the sect after her.
Yin Fei Yu looked incredulous. “So you’re telling me you came all this way, taking such a risk, just for the sake of taking a risk?”
“Now is the best chance to kill Mo Xiao Ran,” Jin Yuan Xiu said, ignoring the question. “Since Golden Core has not existed in this world, nobody knows precisely how to attain it, not even Mo Xiao Ran. Right now, he may be at the most uncertain, least calculable moment of his entire life, past or future. If we are patient enough, perhaps an opening will appear.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“Then we leave and go back to hiding.”
Yin Fei Yu covered her head in exasperation. She clearly did not want to accept that. “Before I met you, I’d never even heard of Golden Core. Are you sure this isn’t another trick Mo Xiao Ran invented?”
“People can lie. Lightning tribulations cannot.”
Jin Yuan Xiu jerked her thumb toward the tower. The lightning, which had rumbled and roared overhead for so long, finally struck the tower’s peak like a branching tree.
Mo Xiao Ran activated the formation eye.
The residents hiding in nearby houses felt their vision blur. Their minds grew foggy, their bodies suddenly light, as though floating upward. After that, they remembered nothing.
Yin Fei Yu used her Spirit-Peering Arts and watched countless glowing specks, souls converted into soul power, rise across the city. She frowned. “When do we strike?”
“Wait a little longer,” Jin Yuan Xiu answered.
“If the tower withstands the lightning tribulation, Mo Xiao Ran really will advance.”
Jin Yuan Xiu said nothing. She merely looked toward the White Tiger King standing below. With their martial cultivation, a frontal clash with Mo Xiao Ran would be suicide. Their only chance was to act while he was enduring the lightning. But the White Tiger King and his disciple were also there.
Judging by the situation a moment ago, the White Tiger King was on Mo Xiao Ran’s side, making things far more complicated. Jin Yuan Xiu began regretting not bringing Yan Xie.
She was not the only one troubled. The White Tiger King himself felt caught in an impossible situation. He was wary of Mo Xiao Ran, yet frightened of charging up only to die. So when Mu Kai Sen came down and reported that Mo Xiao Ran did not appear to be injured, the old man felt as if his world had turned gray.
Yin Fei Yu suddenly pointed to the other side of the sky. “What’s that over there?”
Jin Yuan Xiu followed her gaze. Thick clouds had gathered there too, with flashes of white light.
“Looks like lightning as well,” Yin Fei Yu said.