Chương 15: Chapter 14: CROSSING REALMS

CHAPTER 14 CROSSING REALMS —∞— Jieyuan headed straight back to their initial location and took a moment to assess the situation, scanning the scenes before him. Daojue's fight with Qingshi was still ongoing, the two of them clashing over and over as gleamstone popped in and out of sight around them. Meiyao's with Liangjie, further to the back, had also yet to end. Standing there, Jieyuan felt hesitation strike him. He knew his teammates well. Neither would appreciate him butting into their duels.

He was also perfectly confident in both of them; though they hadn't ended their fights, Jieyuan didn't worry for even a moment that they'd lose. He had won his fight, after all, and he knew very well that he wasn't Meiyao's or Daojue's match. He'd intervene if that situation changed, but for the time being… Jieyuan moved to stand next to a gleamstone tree, out of sight. From this vantage point he had a clear view of both fights. Gleaming End made Qingshi's fight with Daojue a curious one.

Qingshi could only avoid the spear. If he tried to parry, the spear would cleave straight through his sword, no matter which part of the spear he tried to block; Gleaming End's Law ensured that even it would meet no resistance altogether against a lower-realm entity. The gleamstone barriers he summoned were likewise utterly ineffective as protection for the same reasons.

That left Qingshi mostly on the defensive, weaving in between Daojue's attacks and going for quick, snappy strikes when an opportunity presented itself and using his bondskill to summon gleamstone barriers much as Sunqiu had done earlier, mostly as obstacles rather than shields. Daojue really is absurd. Gleaming End was definitely playing a pivotal role, but Qingshi was a fifth-step Redsoul; his haste-space was two-thirds faster than Daojue's.

Jieyuan doubted he'd have fared half as well in Daojue's shoes, even if he also had Gleaming End. Sunqiu, the inner disciple Jieyuan had just killed, had also been a fifth-step Redsoul, but watching Daojue and Qingshi fight, it was clear to Jieyuan that Qingshi was much faster than Sunqiu despite being at the same step and also much more skilled. And Jieyuan had only managed to kill Sunqiu by tricking him with Absolute Will Command.

It wasn't just a matter of skill that allowed Daojue to bridge the difference in steps between himself and Qingshi; Daojue's natural agility and reflexes were so high that despite the supposed two-thirds gap in temporal perception between them he didn't seem that much slower than Qingshi. Seeing that Daojue had matters mostly in hand, Jieyuan turned his attention to Meiyao's fight with Liangjie. And he immediately noticed something.

Back on their first day in Valley, when Meiyao had fought an onyxgleam wolf, she'd been glowing with a green aura and there had been a reddish haze around her. Right now, Meiyao wasn't glowing like before, but that red haze was back. He'd wondered before if it might be something like beacon dust. Now another possibility occurred to him. Materialized chroma.

Only sixth-step Redsouls could materialize chroma, but space-hasters could replicate the tenth-step Redtalent; it was within the realm of possibility that Meiyao had an artifact that allowed her to replicate the sixth-step one too. Jieyuan squinted his eyes. No, that's not it, he realized. It couldn't be materialized chroma; the red haze was far too dull and dim, too far off from the ten chromal shades of red. What could it be, then? Maybe… the product of a bondskill?

But if a bondskill was behind it, then what was the glowing green aura he'd seen around Meiyao during her fight with the onyxgleam wolf? The fight wore on, and Jieyuan noticed another curious thing: Liangjie seemed to be growing slower and slower. It didn't take long after Jieyuan started watching before Meiyao managed to sink her blade into the inner disciple's chest. Not paying her downed opponent any more attention, Meiyao drew open her holder pouch, and the red haze flowed inside it.

Jieyuan's interest in the haze only grew. That Meiyao was storing it like that meant the red haze was a permanent thing, like a chromal artifact, rather than the manifestation of a bondskill, which as far as Jieyuan knew was almost always temporary in nature. No, can't be an artifact. Meiyao had used that red haze when she was still a second-step Redsoul, before she'd had the ability to bond artifacts. And it certainly wasn't the result of an exploding pill beacon dust either, not with how Meiyao could control it.

Just what in the Heavens is it? Maybe it really was the product of a bondskill after all, one of the rare ones with permanent manifestations? The mysterious red haze fully put away, Meiyao strung her holder pouch closed and rushed over. She stopped much like Jieyuan had done when she saw Daojue and Qingshi still fighting in the center. The next moment, her eyes found Jieyuan standing on the other side of the ongoing duel, opposite her. She stilled; their gazes locked in silent understanding.

Much like him, she stayed put, opting to watch as Qingshi and Daojue fought. With Meiyao's fight over, Jieyuan focused fully on Daojue and Qingshi. The two seemed about evenly matched; Jieyuan would give Daojue the edge, though, despite his lower step. While neither had drawn blood, Daojue had managed a few glancing attacks that had torn holes in Qingshi's robes, whereas Daojue's were pristine.

In a battle of attrition, no third-step—not even one as abnormal as Daojue—would be able to match a fifth-step, but all Daojue needed was to get one hit in with Gleaming End, and it'd be the end of it. Jieyuan was also sure that Daojue had a bondskill up his sleeves, and Gleaming End would have at least one spiritskill. All in all, everything pointed toward Daojue winning much as Jieyuan and Meiyao had. Even more so since Gleaming End ensured Qingshi could only remain on the defensive.

Daojue suddenly pulled away, jumping backward mid-offensive, while Qingshi stayed put. Jieyuan saw it all happen but couldn't for the life of him tell why it had happened. Daojue had just retreated seemingly without rhyme or reason. Qingshi stayed put, staring at Daojue. Daojue held his opponent's stare, but his expression was distant, like his mind was elsewhere, not at all focused on Qingshi. Jieyuan's confusion only grew. What the rot's going on here?

Jieyuan glanced at the inner disciple—and saw that not only Qingshi had yet to move from his place, the inner disciple had also dropped his stance, letting his right arm slump to the side, his sword dipping down carelessly.

"You… You're not even paying attention to our fight anymore, are you?" Qingshi said, sounding oddly despondent.

"You have your mind completely elsewhere." That seemed to bring Daojue's attention back; Jieyuan caught it as his teammate's eyes narrowed, focusing fully on Qingshi now. Something flickered across Daojue's expression, too fast for Jieyuan to catch it. Daojue stayed put.

"I knew that you were good," Qingshi said.

"But not to this extent. I was afraid our fight would be unfair, with me at fifth-step and you at third-step, but then you got that spear and I figured that'd even things out. But you're even better than I thought, if even now you can afford to let yourself get distracted." Qingshi let out a low, bitter laugh.

"You could've fought me to a standstill even without Gleaming End, couldn't you? A third-step spear would've sufficed to make you my match, despite the difference in our steps." Daojue still did not move. He was still staring at Qingshi, his face undecipherable. Rot, what I wouldn't give to know what's going on inside his head right now. Qingshi sighed again. Then he nodded slowly to himself.

"Very well. I admit defeat. At fifth-step, I am not your match. I admit I don't fully understand yet what Yunzhu sees in you, but I accept it now that it's not entirely unwarranted." Daojue's expression seemed to grow even colder, even steelier. Like all hints of emotions—originally very subtle hints already—were draining away, leaving him with the perfect visage of stone and steel.

"I can't help but wonder, however, just what your limit is," Qingshi said.

"What if I were at sixth-step? I imagine that would at least push you, or at least I hope it does." Qingshi smiled.

"Would you care to find out?" Jieyuan frowned. Sixth-step? What was Qingshi on about? Daojue shifted his posture, tensing, and Jieyuan knew the fight was about to resume.

"I'll take that as a yes," Qingshi said. Nothing seemed to change. Still smiling, Qingshi slowly walked forward; he stopped about eighteen feet away from Daojue. At the very edge of Daojue's soulsenses, Jieyuan realized. Way beyond Jieyuan's soulsenses, though; he was more than thirty feet away from them. And then something shifted. Jieyuan couldn't tell how he knew, only that something had changed, like a pressure in the air, a semi-tangible premonition, even though the scene seemed the same physically.

What if I were at sixth-step … Would you care to find out… Jieyuan's eyes widened. It can't be—"No reaction?" Qingshi tilted his head to the side.

"Interesting. You were so expressive just now. Did you do something? Well, no matter." Qingshi brought his sword back in front of him slowly and pointed it at Daojue.

"Let's go for round two." Qingshi lunged at Daojue, noticeably faster than before. Clearly at a higher haste factor. And Jieyuan's suspicions were confirmed. He'd been suppressing his hastespace before. Qingshi was, in fact, a sixth-step Redsoul. Qingshi and Daojue clashed, sword meeting spear—and this time Daojue was pushed back. Rot, Jieyuan thought. Rot rot rot. Soul masking. Jieyuan had heard of it before. You layered your soul with a layer of lower-density chroma and reduced the emanation of your mantle.

It was a straightforward application of pure chroma manipulation, but one mostly used for infiltration, not combat. Maintaining the chroma mask around your soul would take up concentration, and lowering the potency of your mantle would obviously reduce your power. Meaning that on top of suppressing his mantle and hastespace, Qingshi had also been splitting his focus the entire time to maintain the mask around his soul. Meaning that Qingshi had been holding back a lot.

When Qingshi lunged at Daojue again, resuming the fight, it was with a great deal more attention that Jieyuan observed the fight. He gripped his spear tighter and kept his feet light on the ground, ready to intervene. Qingshi had already been fast as a fifth-step, but now he was even faster. Before Qingshi's hastespace had been about two-thirds faster than Daojue's; now his haste factor was fully double's Daojue's. Meaning Qingshi was experiencing time twice as fast as Daojue now.

Daojue put up a good fight, though. A very good fight. Jieyuan had been painfully aware for a while now that Daojue was good, absurdly so. If anything, he considered Daojue his yardstick, the one to beat. And his constant simulated deaths at Daojue's hand sure helped drive in that point. Now, though? Now Jieyuan realized that Daojue had been holding back on him. That none of the fights so far had been enough to really push Daojue, not even his solo fight against the gleam wolf.

Suddenly Jieyuan understood what Qingshi had meant about Daojue being distracted, about Daojue not putting his all into the fight." There we go," Qingshi said. Before he'd revealed his true step, Qingshi had been entirely silent, solemn. That wasn't the case anymore. The inner disciple was smiling now. Grinning. Qingshi barely managed to dodge a stab from Gleaming End that'd have gone through his neck. He didn't seem perturbed in the slightest as he drew closer to Daojue's guard and let loose a storm of stabs.

"Yes, yes! This is it!" Qingshi crowed.

"You're focused now, aren't you? Come on, Daojue. Show me. Show me what you can do." Qingshi was fully on the offensive now. Gleaming End didn't pose as much of a threat to the inner disciple now, with how fast he was moving. But Qingshi wasn't the only one who'd gotten faster. As Daojue avoided Qingshi's blurring attacks, he was also moving faster than before. Not by much, but previously he'd already been able to nearly match a fifth-step Qingshi's speed; any increase at all was ridiculous.

It shouldn't be possible for a third-step Redsoul to be that fast. Jieyuan had suspected Daojue had a bondskill ever since he'd shown an utter lack of interest in Rongkai's violet skillseed. Daojue had never given any indication of using it, though, so Jieyuan couldn't even guess at what it might be. But now he was starting to suspect that it might have to do with speed, somehow. Because if Daojue wasn't using some kind of power to increase his speed? If that was his actual speed as a third-step Redsoul?

Then Jieyuan wasn't even sure Daojue could be considered human anymore. Daojue made ample use of that speed to weave himself in between Qingshi's attacks, almost like he was predicting them, and stab back. In his past few simulated fights with Daojue, Jieyuan had managed to get in a couple of blows before he was cut down. He suspected that if he were to go for a simulation now, though, he'd be killed just about on the spot.

"You truly are something else, aren't you?" Qingshi called out as Daojue's onslaught forced him into the back feet. But Qingshi evaded it all, and all it took was for him to slip into Daojue's guard once to break Daojue's momentum as Daojue was forced to bring his spear back to block the thrust. And then it was Qingshi's turn to barrage Daojue with attacks. Jieyuan tensed. Absurdly talented and skilled as Daojue was, Qingshi was plenty talented and skilled himself.

Not at the same level as Daojue, but enough so that with the gap between third-step and sixth-step, the inner disciple definitely had the upper hand. Although the flow of the fight seemed to be constantly shifting like they were taking turns at holding the advantage, Jieyuan would say that Daojue was at his limit right now—while Qingshi could spare the time and attention to make comments like that. Stepping out of the way of a thrust, Daojue arced Gleaming End into a sweeping strike at Qingshi's side.

Just as it seemed like a reversal was incoming and Qingshi would take up the defensive again, Qingshi managed to twist his body out of the way of the attack. And Daojue was unable to bring Gleaming End back in time as Qingshi thrust his sword at Daojue's side. Daojue pulled back immediately.

"Would you look at that," Qingshi said. He didn't give chase, and instead held his sword out in front of him. There was blood gleaming on its tip, shimmering in the spectral lights of the Gleamstone Valley." First blood is mine." There wasn't much blood on the sword, and all of it was near the tip. The stab mustn't have been deep.

And as Jieyuan inspected Daojue in turn, although he couldn't see the wound, he also noticed that the robe around where Qingshi had struck didn't seem any darker, so the wound was definitely superficial. But it was still first blood. Qingshi managed to step into Daojue's guard after dodging a sweeping strike from Gleaming End, before landing a stab on Daojue's side.

Daojue pulled back immediately, so it was unlikely to be a serious wound. But it still meant first blood was Qingshi's. And in a fight that had been going on for so long. Jieyuan hesitated. Should he intervene? He exchanged looks with Meiyao again, on the other side, and she shook her head at him. So he stayed back, watching. If the wound affected Daojue at all, the man didn't show it. If anything, Daojue struck at Qingshi even faster, even fiercer. Daojue's spear art was heavy and entirely offensive.

All about momentum, low-stanced, favoring thrusts but also making use of sweeping cuts. Regimented—Daojue snapped from form to form in clearly practiced moves, no impromptu, instinctive fighting, every move clearly trained and intentional. Clean, too—no feints, no subterfuge, just pure offense. It was a perfect match for a weapon that couldn't be blocked like Gleaming End. But Qingshi was fluid and seemed to favor a flexible, reactive style that was a perfect match for Daojue's.

And now that he had the definite edge on speed, he was making ample use of it. Second blood wasn't a long time coming, and it was Qingshi's again. A stab on Daojue's left shoulder. And this time, as Qingshi pulled back his sword, Jieyuan saw red on the blade, while the cloth on Daojue's shoulder immediately darkened. Daojue's left arm dropped to the side, limp. Jieyuan didn't hesitate. Space-hasting, he launched himself toward the two. From the other side, Meiyao did the same.

Qingshi didn't press his advantage, jumping back in retreat just as Jieyuan and Meiyao arrived at Daojue's side. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident." Ah. I see Liangjie and Sunqiu didn't manage to hold you two back for long," Qingshi said. The moment he started speaking Jieyuan realized Qingshi had dropped his hastespace, and he did the same, though he kept ready to reactivate it at any time. Qingshi didn't seem surprised in the least by their arrival.

But while he affected that same pleasant, easy tone, it sounded a bit tighter now, like it was forced.

"Normally, I wouldn't have appreciated you two intruding, but I've already taken my… measure against Daojue, so I'll overlook it this once. This also saves me the time of going after you two later." Jieyuan narrowed his eyes at Qingshi. The inner disciple didn't seem as at ease now as he'd been before, but it wasn't wariness he was getting from him. More like bitterness. Or maybe even disappointment. Neither Daojue nor Meiyao seemed particularly interested in engaging Qingshi with anything other than weapons.

Daojue's left arm was still dangling by his side, probably useless, but his teammate's expression was impassive, and he was holding his spear firmly enough with his right one as he stared stonily at Qingshi. Meiyao opted for a glare as she brandished her saber. Jieyuan was of a slightly different mind. He cleared his throat.

"Say, before you kill us and all, would you mind terribly telling us why you're after us? Weiming and Sunqiu weren't all that forthcoming. That, and they really didn't seem to know much." Qingshi curled his lips up, amused.

"And what makes you think I'll be? Or that I know any more than they did?"

"The fact you were ordering Sunqiu and Liangjie around. That you knew about Weiming when they didn't. That you knew about the cave when they didn't. That you…" Jieyuan shrugged.

"Well, I think you've got it." He could feel Meiyao's glare on him, but he paid it no mind, wholly focused on Qingshi. He doubted Qingshi would actually reveal anything—but if he did? That was profit. And this would also let Daojue recover a little, though Jieyuan wasn't sure how much help that'd be.

"I do, yes. And yes, I do know more than they did," Qingshi replied.

"However, I'm afraid I have no intention to be more… forthcoming, as you put it, than they were. It'd be rude of me to deprive you of your mystery." Before Jieyuan could reply, Qingshi shot toward them. Jieyuan activated his haster ring again, but Meiyao was even faster: she shot forward, toward Qingshi, meeting the attack. But unlike with Gleaming End, Qingshi didn't need to avoid her gleamstone saber like a plague. Saber and sword met.

Jieyuan immediately circled to the side, Daojue doing the same in the other direction. In a blurry movement, much faster than Sunqiu had been—so much so that Jieyuan marveled at how Daojue had held his own against it—Qingshi pulled his sword back and followed with a thrust targeting Meiyao's chest. Jieyuan stabbed with his spear at the same time as Daojue did.

But a gleamstone barrier popped into existence in the path of his spear the next moment, blocking the stab, while Qingshi twisted to the side, avoiding Gleaming End's attack. Qingshi then sent a sweeping strike at Meiyao, who stepped out of the way. Without stopping, the inner disciple used the momentum of his missed attack to rotate his body and advance, this time in Daojue's direction.

Qingshi had his back to him now, and Jieyuan immediately stabbed at it—only for Qingshi to sidestep it like he had eyes on his back. It was then Jieyuan remembered how exactly it was that Qingshi saw. And realized that if there was one person meant to fight multiple enemies at the same time, it was the one with a comprehensive, three-dimensional view of the battlefield. It didn't matter who Qingshi was facing, he'd be paying attention to what all three of them were doing, would know every little movement they made.

Qingshi wasn't talking anymore, taunting or otherwise. He was between the three of them now, at any given moment moving in response to three separate opponents by either dodging or summoning a gleamstone barrier. And even between the three of them, they failed to land a hit. Even with Meiyao's saber and Gleaming End stabbing and hacking at him, Qingshi remained entirely unharmed. Rot. Do I need to use Absolute Will Command again? Jieyuan thought furiously. But what command?

He'd only get one shot at it; he'd already used too much chroma. He recalled the realization he'd had earlier about Qingshi's echolocation. He'd been wondering how he might've been able to take advantage of that information. Maybe… Jieyuan mind-linked Meiyao and Daojue. They didn't pause at all or so much as glance his way as they accepted the connection, not a break in their rhythm as they kept their barrage of attacks. This wasn't Jieyuan's first time he'd reached out to them like this mid-combat.

Meiyao knew chromal beasts best, so she was the one who came up with the plans when they hunted on; but it was Jieyuan who came up with new tactics in the middle of the fight. He quickly told Meiyao and Daojue his idea. Then he reached for Absolute Will Command, formed a connection between himself and Qingshi, and commanded, "RING!" Qingshi jolted like he'd been struck by lightning, jerking back abruptly; he should be hearing the loudest ringing noise possible, utterly skewing his echolocation.

The very next instant Jieyuan felt a titanic surge of resistance that snapped the command. Both Jieyuan and Qingshi staggered back, but Daojue and Meiyao had been ready; in that brief moment where Qingshi faltered, they had surged forward. Qingshi just narrowly managed to dodge the stab Daojue had aimed at his neck, but he failed to avoid the slash Meiyao had aimed at his chest. Yes! We did— Qingshi jumped backward. One moment he'd been between them, hacked by Meiyao's saber.

The next, he was shooting back through the air, landing several feet away from them. Before they could give chase, a voice cut through the clearing, sounding from above.

"Qingshi?" It was a woman's voice, but not Meiyao's. Though still one Jieyuan recognized. One he was sure all four of them did. Qingshi had his head up, focused on the skies. So did Jieyuan and his teammates. Floating in the air between two gleamstone trees, near the canopy of crystal leaves, was a cloudcraft. And on it was Yunzhu, in emerald robes but covered in rubies. Jieyuan stared at her, wide-eyed. And he kept staring, mystified, as she slowly lowered her cloud to the ground. Nobody else moved.

Yunzhu alighted not too far away from where Qingshi was standing. The inner disciple had his head facing her way and was standing completely still. Unnaturally so. A great, bloody tear ran down his chest where Meiyao's saber had struck him, the surrounding cloth torn, but he didn't seem to notice. Meiyao and Daojue were also staring at Yunzhu. Meiyao, wide-eyed. Daojue, narrow-eyed. Yunzhu stepped off her cloud, then looked between Qingshi and the three of them.

The moment her attention landed on Daojue, though, she went very still, her eyes fixing on him. Or rather, Jieyuan realized as he followed her gaze, on Daojue's bleeding shoulder. Yunzhu stared at the wound like she was in a daze; Jieyuan shivered. There it was again. That unfathomable thing lurking in the depths of Yunzhu's black eyes. That unsettling, chilling pressure. And it was stronger than ever. Yunzhu stepped forward. But she stopped just as she was about to take a second one.

Then she looked away, her face scrunched up, like it'd taken her some monumental effort to pry her eyes off Daojue. Now facing Qingshi, Yunzhu pursed her lips.

"What's this?" Her voice didn't have her usual cheer. It was cutting, incisive.

"What are you doing here, Qingshi?"

"Yunzhu," Qingshi said tightly.

"This… This is…" He trailed off, like he was at a loss for words. He didn't stop facing Yunzhu for even a moment. Then he exploded into movement, crossing the distance between himself and Yunzhu. Startled, she edged back, but Qingshi was faster, reaching her and wrapping one arm around her waist, and with the other one holding the blade of his sword against her throat. He nudged Yunzhu to move as he turned her body so that the two of them were facing Jieyuan and his team.

"All right," Qingshi said. If his voice had been tight before, now it was almost painfully so. He spoke through gritted teeth." All right. Here's what will happen. The three of you will turn around and leave. Yes?" Jieyuan looked from Qingshi to his hostage. Yunzhu had frozen up; she was back to staring at Daojue and his bleeding shoulder now, so Jieyuan wasn't entirely sure how much her reaction had to do with the blade at her throat. Honestly, he wasn't sure if Yunzhu was even aware of the blade at her throat.

Jieyuan licked his lips. He wasn't sure what to make of this situation. Yunzhu didn't really strike him as that good a hostage.

More than anything else, Yunzhu unsettled him. Particularly when she was doing… Well, the thing she was doing now, staring at Daojue like that. It didn't mean Jieyuan wanted her dead, not quite, but it also wasn't as if he'd be shedding any tears if the Silver Stream paid her a brief but lasting visit. Jieyuan glanced at Daojue. His teammate was, unsurprisingly, mostly impassive, but his eyes were narrowed enough for Jieyuan to call his stare a glare. But the one Daojue was glaring at wasn't Qingshi. It was Yunzhu.

Jieyuan recalled every time he'd seen Daojue and Yunzhu interact so far, and he was left with the suspicion that Daojue would probably celebrate if Yunzhu were killed. Or whatever passed for celebration to Daojue, at any rate. Really, Meiyao was the only one among them that probably cared about Yunzhu. And as Jieyuan turned to her, he saw that she was, for one, glaring at Qingshi.

But when her gaze dipped a little lower to Yunzhu, who was still staring fixedly at Daojue in what was probably her most unsettling showing yet, Meiyao suddenly seemed just the slightest bit unsure. Jieyuan weighed their options. They'd almost gotten Qingshi. With the wounds he and Meiyao had given the inner disciple he was sure they'd have been able to seal the deal. Then again … Jieyuan frowned. Qingshi didn't seem much affected, never mind impaired, at the moment.

Was a sixth-step Redsoul's regeneration that good? Or maybe the wounds had looked far more serious than they really were? Jieyuan wasn't sure what it was, but regardless, one thing was clear. Yunzhu was a fifth-step Redsoul. If she'd joined up with them, they'd have very definitely been able to beat Qingshi. So maybe what Qingshi's plan was to temporarily neutralizing his toughest opponent and then get them out of the picture so he could deal with Yunzhu on his own terms, after which he'd chase after them— No.

That doesn't add up, Jieyuan caught himself. Because if that was Qingshi's intention, he'd kill Yunzhu. Meaning Qingshi couldn't kill Yunzhu, because if he could, he'd have done so already. Going by that logic, Qingshi's threat (which, again, wasn't even that much of a threat) wasn't one he intended to follow through on. What's Yunzhu even doing here, anyway? Questions sparked in Jieyuan's mind, one after the other. And how did Qingshi sense her presence earlier, way before everyone else?

There was no way Qingshi's soulsenses reached that far up. His echolocation, maybe? They had certainly been making enough noise for it, both with their weapons and with their heavy steps on the gleamstone floor. But did it have that much of a range? Jieyuan was doing his best to understand the situation, to figure out Qingshi's motives and Yunzhu's circumstances. He really was. But the more he thought about it and this whole situation, the more confused he got.

It was like he was trying to piece a puzzle together but more than half of the pieces were missing. Jieyuan had been stumped a couple of times in his life before, but never to this extent. He was about to call on Maeva, see if she had some insights to offer, when another voice came from above. A man's voice, cold and deep, resonant.

"Enough." Before Jieyuan could look up, he was distracted as Qingshi was suddenly encased in gleamstone. One moment the inner disciple had been there, and the next a gleamstone statue—a rough, featureless one that only had the outline of a person—was standing in its place. For a brief, crazed instant, Jieyuan remembered Protector Yuanzhi and thought that Qingshi had been spontaneously converted into gleamstone. Even though he looked nothing like Yuanzhi had, and they were nowhere near the Gleamstone Depths.

But then he remembered the voice and looked up. Another cloudcraft was drifting down toward them. A man was standing on it. What first caught Jieyuan's attention were the man's robes. Topaz, with an elder's coat over it. An inner elder. Jieyuan then noted the man's appearance, and he blinked, then stared. The man looked young—not that much older than them, probably in his mid-twenties at the most. It wasn't anyone he'd ever seen before, but he looked… familiar. He was handsome.

Handsome in a statue-perfect way, with sharp, chiseled features that reminded him of Daojue. But his features were even more delicate than Daojue's, almost androgynous. And as the man's cloudcraft reached the ground, just beside the gleamstone-covered Qingshi and Yunzhu, who was still in Qingshi's grasp even though everything indicated she could very well get herself out of it now, still with that eerie, deeply unsettling look in her eyes as she stared at Daojue, utterly entranced.

But Jieyuan's attention was brought back to the inner elder as he stepped off the cloud, and Jieyuan realized there was another way the man resembled Daojue. The man was very tall—the tallest person he'd ever seen, just about of height with Daojue. Only about an inch taller than Qingshi, but Qingshi was a towering fellow himself. Whereas Daojue was clearly heavily muscled, though, this man seemed slender, lean, if not outright gaunt.

To Jieyuan's knowledge, all cultivators were martial artists, so he was guessing the man had some muscle, but of the wirier, denser sort. The man didn't have armor on, but there was a sheath by his waist, with the hilt of a blade extending from it. He also had a bond band covering his neck, indicating he was married. Jieyuan's gaze flicked down to Yunzhu, then back to the man. With both of them in his line of sight, Jieyuan could spot the similarities between them in the lines of their faces.

They had the same dark, somber looks, despondent-like. Unless Yunzhu had a brother who was a inner elder, then what Jieyuan was looking at was Luoyefen Taishou. Elder Taishou. Qingshi's master and the head of the Justice Hall. One of the most powerful and dangerous personages in the sect. Jieyuan had never really wondered what the man looked like, didn't really have his own mental image of what Elder Taishou should look like, but he still found his non-existent expectations defied.

"Yunzhu," the man said in a soft, pleasant voice, almost silky—not at all like the cold, reverberating way he'd spoken earlier. Yunzhu blinked, then turned to look at the man.

"Ah! Father." She blinked again, glancing down at the blade pressed against her neck; then she craned her neck back, and her gaze fell on Qingshi's crystallized face.

"Oh. Oh." Gingerly, she leaned her body away and took a few steps to the side until she was out of Qingshi's grasp. She then walked from around Qingshi to stand behind her father. Where she stopped and went back to staring at Daojue. Elder Taishou put a hand on her shoulder, and she snapped out of it. She then turned to look at Qingshi's imprisoned form, her expression growing blank, inscrutable. Elder Taishou faced them.

"Meiyao, Daojue," he said, nodding at the two. The elder then paused before also giving Jieyuan a nod.

"Jieyuan. Well met." Uncertain, Jieyuan nodded back.

"Uncle Taishou," Meiyao said slowly, hesitatingly, looking from Yunzhu, to the elder, to the crystallized Qingshi.

"What… are you doing here?" Daojue didn't have much of a reaction, though he did evenly meet Elder Taishou's gaze. From Daojue, Jieyuan would say that was about as much acknowledgment as could be expected. Elder Taishou glanced sideways at his imprisoned disciple.

"It's a long story, one I'll be sharing with you soon. For now, however, it suffices to say that I saw what happened here and decided to intervene, lest my apprentice make any more of a mockery of the sect's rules and of both my station and his." He narrowed his eyes at Daojue.

"How's your shoulder?" Jieyuan also turned to look, having stopped paying attention to the wound Daojue had suffered. When he looked at it more closely, however, he saw that while the cloth around it darkened with blood, the wound itself was barely bleeding anymore. Daojue also seemed to have regained some measure of control over his left arm.

Although he only had his right hand on Gleaming End, the spear held up by his side with its butt against the ground, his left arm wasn't dangling loose anymore but rather pulled back and firm in proper standing posture. Odd, Jieyuan thought. The wound had looked quite serious; a third-step Redsoul's regeneration was six times that of a mundane, but even then, Daojue shouldn't have recovered this fast. Daojue said nothing, but to Elder Taishou that seemed to be answer enough, and he nodded.

Meiyao took a moment before she spoke next.

"How much did you see?"

"Enough," Elder Taishou said, "to have my apprentice executed." Well. That was one way of putting it. Yunzhu whipped her head up to look at Elder Taishou.

"Father—" Elder Taishou put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a look; she settled down, and he returned his attention to them.

"I understand all of you have many questions, but this is not the place for them," Elder Taishou said.

"Acting in my capacity as head of the Justice Hall, I'm taking Qingshi into custody for his crimes, and I'd ask the three of you to accompany me as witnesses. I lack details, and while Qingshi will be interrogated, I require a proper accounting of the situation from you three." Into custody … Jieyuan glanced back at Qingshi. Those words and the promise of an interrogation implied that Qingshi was alive—so he hadn't been turned into gleamstone. Meaning that he was only covered in it… Gleaming Stone Containment?

Jieyuan didn't know what bondskill Elder Taishou had, but he imagined it was either that or the sect's other bondskill, Gleaming Stone Arsenal, and all the first form of Gleaming Stone Arsenal did was summon gleamstone weapons. He doubted the gleamstone casing Qingshi was imprisoned in could qualify as a weapon, but maybe, if you really stretched the definition, it could be seen as a barrier.

"You're taking us back to the Justice Hall?" Meiyao asked.

"Yes," Elder Taishou said, "but I assure you, none of you are in any trouble." Meiyao glanced to the left, and Jieyuan spotted Liangjie's corpse on the ground, among the gleamstone trees. The man followed her gaze.

"I stand by what I said. You aren't in any trouble. I am witness to all that has happened here, and should the Geshihan Clan"—he glanced at Jieyuan—"or the Fusongshi Clan demand satisfaction for the death of their members, they'll have to go through me and the entirety of the Justice Hall first." Meiyao nodded slowly.

"And what will happen to Qingshi?" Elder Taishou's expression darkened.

"It is as I said earlier. I saw enough to warrant an execution, and he'll find that being my apprentice grants him no leeway or any measure of leniency from me." Elder Taishou then reached into his robes and produced a talisman from within, which he held near Qingshi. The barrier binding Qingshi vanished, but before Jieyuan could get a proper look at him, Elder Taishou slammed his hand down onto his apprentice's shoulder, moving with a tenth-step Redrealm's speed.

A dim white light flashed, and another barrier materialized around Qingshi, except this one wasn't made of gleamstone but instead of what looked like hard light, and was wrapped much more tightly against Qingshi's body. It was the exact same color as the dome of light conjured by Meiyao's Radiant Light Haven talisman. Elder Taishou picked up the imprisoned Qingshi by the arm and hauled him up effortlessly onto the cloudcraft he'd arrived on, carelessly tossing him on top of it.

It seemed that this barrier was as solid as the gleamstone barrier that had preceded it, and throughout it all Qingshi's pose remained the same.

"Yunzhu, join your cloud to mine," Elder Taishou said. Yunzhu, her attention still on Qingshi, face still unreadable, complied. She motioned at her cloudcraft, which was just beside her, and it drifted closer to meet Elder Taishou's. The two then seemed to meld into one. Yunzhu then jumped up on top of the composite cloudcraft and then took a few steps to stand right beside Qingshi's form at the front. Elder Taishou waved them over.

"Shall we?" Meiyao made her way over without hesitation, and Daojue lingered in place for a few moments, his eyes shifting from Elder Taishou to Yunzhu to Qingshi, before he followed. Jieyuan was right behind him, but as he approached he cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, Elder," he said, drawing Elder Taishou's attention.

"But what of the Hunt?" Jieyuan wasn't so keen on following Elder Taishou like this, no matter how much Meiyao seemed to trust the man; he still found it very odd how the man and his daughter had just popped up here. But it wasn't like he had much of a choice, given the man was a tenth-step Redrealm. They'd only have a chance to run off if Meiyao used her talisman, and that didn't seem all that likely right now.

So since he couldn't do anything about that, he decided to just cover his bases instead and ensure that leaving early like this didn't get disqualified on some technicality. A thousand prisms—three thousand split between the three of them. Jieyuan had hardly forgotten of the reward for the first place in the Outer Hunt. Even though the armor pieces he had on were probably worth that much, if not more, as tenth-step Redrealm artifacts, that wasn't a prize he was willing to pass up on easily.

"Worry not," Elder Taishou said.

"I'll arrange for your contribution points to be calculated and considered." He tipped his head in Meiyao's direction.

"However, I suspect that even if I did nothing, my sister-in-law would still find a way to ensure you three were given what you were due."

"Aunt Yuyan!" Meiyao was already standing on the cloudcraft, next to Yunzhu. Yunzhu still only had eyes for Qingshi, for some reason—though Jieyuan wondered if she wasn't simply avoiding looking at Daojue. Regardless, he'd consider it as an improvement. Meiyao turned back to Elder Taishou, looking rather worried.

"Does she know—""I haven't informed her yet," Elder Taishou said.

"I decided it'd be best to get all the facts out of you three first."

"That's… good." Meiyao didn't elaborate.

"And the corpses?" Jieyuan glanced back at where he'd left behind Sunqiu's body, and then over at where Liangjie was.

"I've already called some of my men over. They should be arriving shortly to both collect the bodies and inspect the area. High-profile cases such as this call for… thorough investigations." After a pause, he added, "Weiming's body has also been collected already." Jieyuan froze. Meiyao's eyes widened.

"You know—""Yunzhu and I tailed my apprentice for quite some time," Elder Taishou said.

"He inspected the cave before he met up with Sunqiu and Liangjie and tracked you three down. I inspected the cave after he left." Elder Taishou spared a glance at Daojue's spear.

"As I said earlier, we have much to discuss." Daojue had no reaction to speak of, and he climbed onto the cloudcraft after Meiyao, taking a position at the very back, as far away as he could be from the two women and the imprisoned Qingshi. Jieyuan got on next and moved to stand beside Daojue at the back. Elder Taishou was last, and as soon as he was standing on the cloud they began rising upward, putting on speed.

By the time they were nearing the canopy, the gleamstone trees were little better than shimmering blues, and Elder Taishou directed them through a gap among the thick gleamstone leaves and branches. And with that, they were out in the open, the Gleamstone Valley below them and the mountains that surrounded the Gleamstone Valley—the Twins—now in plain sight, in all their massive, crystalline, and borderline blinding splendor.

Elder Taishou sped up—and everything was a blur, the wind howling, screeching in Jieyuan's ears. When the cloud began to slow and he could see clearly again, barely moments seemed to have passed, but the Gleamstone Valley was nowhere in sight. Rather, leaning to the side of the cloud, what he saw far below were the white, vaguely geometric shapes of buildings and the softer hills and slopes that were so commonly found throughout the Gleaming Stone Sect. Well, this is it. They were back in the sect.

But whether that was for good or ill stood to be seen. Jieyuan had always been a betting man, and right now he wasn't sure he liked the way the odds were leaning.