I traveled for three days, relying on my Demon Eyes only when absolutely necessary. Every time I forced the sight, the familiar, searing heat returned, a cruel tax on the temporary invincibility it granted. My self-refinement breakthrough in the Ironbark tree had granted me enough energy to sustain the flight, but I was still only a novice Qi Vein Opening cultivator. Survival in the wilderness was exhausting.
I moved along the path my eyes had shown me, the clean, unknotted thread leading East toward the Silent Peaks. The pursuit behind me was disciplined, but they were still searching the dense network of official roads and spiritual convergence points. My invisible path through the forest's rugged borderlands kept me ahead.
On the afternoon of the fourth day, the rolling hills began to transform into sharp, jagged mountains. The air grew thinner, cleaner, and the faint, silver-webbed spiritual signature of the distant, secluded sect grew stronger.
I needed water. I needed food. And I needed to change my blood-soaked, ragged robes. I couldn't approach a sect looking like a bandit or a fresh corpse.
I found a narrow, winding river fed by the mountain snowmelt. I stripped down to my inner garments and slid into the frigid water. The cold was a shock, but it was cleansing, washing away the dirt and the sticky memory of blood.
As I submerged, I forced my eyes one last time. I needed to know if the nearest market town two miles downriver was safe.
The sight was painful, but clear. I saw the market, a busy place full of bright Qi threads from merchants and travelers. I saw a thin, black, pulsing thread, the shadow of a Heaven's Gaze Pavilion informant, snaking through the crowds. The danger was real.
Then I picked up something else, something unusual.
Near a deep pool just fifty yards upriver from me, a thread pulsed with vibrant, unique white-blue energy. It wasn't the wild, uncontrolled Qi of a spiritual beast. It was disciplined, refined, and cold the signature of advanced Ice Element cultivation.
I scanned her immediately with the Eye. No dark, chaotic threads of killing intent. No silver-and-indigo traces of Heaven's Gaze Pavilion. Her core fate line, while strong, was not currently crossed with any major danger line except, perhaps, mine.
She is strong. Spirit Sea or higher. Too strong to be a casual traveler, but not an assassin.
As I watched, she reached out and gently touched the surface of the pool. The water instantly froze into a perfect, glassy sheet of ice that trapped a dozen small, silvery fish beneath its surface. She lifted the sheet, plucked the fish, and let the ice instantly melt back into liquid water. Practical, precise, and powerful.
I decided my best move was silence and withdrawal. I was a fugitive, and she was a powerful unknown. I began to quietly back away, pushing through the reeds.
"You might as well come out," her voice cut through the air, calm and clear, yet carrying a resonance that reached my bones. "You're ruining the effect of the scenery."
I froze. She hadn't moved her head, still looking at the river.
I emerged slowly from the reeds, water dripping from my hair. I didn't reach for the dagger I'd stashed in my discarded robes.
"My apologies for the intrusion," I said, my voice steady. "I was only seeking water."
She turned her head, her gaze cool, intelligent, and utterly assessing. Her eyes were the color of clear ice.
"I know," she said. "I also know you've been tracking my spiritual signature for the last two minutes."
My heart gave a faint, unpleasant jolt. She hadn't seen me, but she had felt the subtle disturbance of my powerful spiritual perception, the fallout from using the Demon Eye.
"I am Jian Longwei," I stated, offering my name directly, trusting my honest demeanor.
"Shen Yuerin," she returned, folding her arms into her sleeves. "You are injured, running, and you smell faintly of blood and powerful spatial disturbance. You are also incredibly observant. I felt your gaze examine the structural flaw in that river stone behind me, the one I used to support my meditation seal."
She had detected the unconscious action of my eye. I didn't just see the world; I interacted with it by noticing its inherent flaws.
I decided on a risky approach partial truth, wrapped in my calmest observation. I needed information about Silent Peaks, and she was the highest-level cultivator I had encountered since the massacre.
"I apologize again. I have a rare perception ability that makes observation difficult to control," I admitted, my eyes never leave hers. "I am fleeing from a high-level organization. I need to reach the Silent Peaks."
Her eyebrows arched slightly, a flicker of interest in her otherwise placid expression. "Hostility from a high-level organization is a common tale on the Crimson Lotus Continent. But few fugitives dare to admit it so openly."
"If I had the luxury of pretense, I would use it," I countered. "I am going to the Silent Peaks to join a small sect. I need training."
She rose, gathering the freshly caught fish. The movement was fluid and economical. She was tall, perhaps a few years older than my seventeen.
"The Silent Peaks," she mused. "Interesting choice. I am heading there myself, though not to join a sect."
My Eyes flared involuntarily, the persistent pressure of the migraine forcing a glance at her fate line.
It was powerful, a rising wave of energy destined for command, but it was currently approaching a complex, shimmering intersection, a Destiny Knot related to political upheaval and hidden agendas.
"You seem to be carrying a significant destiny," I noted, then immediately regretted the overly technical description.
She paused, her cold gaze focusing on me sharply. "You say you have a perception ability. Are you capable of seeing the fate of others?"
The truth was laid bare. I hesitated only for a moment. Lying now would destroy any chance of being allied.
"I can see faint threads," I confirmed, keeping my voice low. "Enough to understand that the path you are on, and the path I am on, may cross soon at a point of high risk. You are not a hunter. And I am not a criminal. We both require discretion in the mountains ahead."
A almost imperceptible smile touched her lips. "Discretion is something I value highly. My name is Shen Yuerin. I am a strategist, currently observing the power dynamics among the minor sects in the Peaks. If your destination is one of them, then cooperation on the approach would be beneficial to both of us. The path is treacherous for a sole Qi Vein Opening cultivator."
She saw my weakness, but not the true, terrifying extent of my power. She saw a rare talent, not a forbidden eye.
"I accept your proposal, Strategist Shen," I said. "I can ensure that every step we take is the one of least resistance."
"Then let us begin, Jian Longwei."
I changed into a set of dried, ordinary clothes I had bought months ago, a simple disguise. The brief rest had left me ready to face the mountain path.