After a long night of pushing her movement technique to the limit, and half-running and half-stumbling down the road, Yue Rin finally made it back to the kingdom gate. From there, she rented a carriage straight to the Willowshade inn, too tired to argue with her own pride.
Midnight had already passed by the time she dragged herself upstairs. The kitchens were shut, the dining hall quiet, so she dug out a few ration biscuits and ate in silence.
Halfway through, she wanted to smack herself.
She had not even entered the secret realm yet, and she was already chewing through her supplies.
With a tired sigh, she finished, undressed, and almost slipped under the covers, only to stop at the edge of the bed. Her dantian felt light, nearly hollow from training and the long sprint back. If she slept like this, the Qi would recover on its own, but slowly, like filling a bowl one drop at a time.
So instead Yue Rin sat down, crossed her legs, and drew up the cultivation method from memory. She steadied her breath, pulled in the ambient Qi around her, and guided it through her meridians, circulating it in a controlled pattern before settling it into her dantian in slow layers.
Somewhere between one cycle and the next, her head dipped.
Yue Rin fell asleep while cultivating.
* * * *
"Yue Rin!" A-Ling stood near the north gate, waving with one arm raised high. The sun had only just crested the horizon, yet the road was crowded. Carriages lined the stones, cultivators gathered in loose groups, and more people arrived by the minute, all drifting toward the same route leading to the north mountain.
A-Ling looked a little too bright for this hour, like she'd run here on a burst of stubbornness. If Yue Rin had to guess, A-Ling had taken an early break the moment she could and hurried straight here.
Yue Rin approached with her bag tugging at her shoulder.
"A-Ling," she said, a smile slipping out despite herself. "You really didn't have to come."
"How could I not?" A-Ling's eyes curved. "You'll be gone for an entire month."
Then A-Ling's gaze settled on Yue Rin's face, and her brows pinched slightly. "Did you sleep badly? You look tired."
"I just stayed up late," Yue Rin said quickly. "Don't worry."
A-Ling nodded, only half convinced, and her attention dropped to the bag. "What's in there?"
"Just things to help me, nothing dangerous."
Although A-Ling looked like she wanted to pry more. She stopped herself, and Instead, she stepped back and lifted her chin, forcing herself into something serious. "I won't hold you. Good luck, Yue Rin. Come back safe."
"Okay, and you should hurry back. You'll get scolded for stretching your break." Yue Rin spoke with a softer voice.
A-Ling's mouth twitched. "Worth it."
After their exchange Yue Rin headed to a nearby carrige and paid for a seat before climbing in. They still needed two more people, so the coachman waited while the crowd shifted and new passengers appeared.
One of them stepped inside, and Yue Rin's stomach tightened.
It was the same girl she tried to help from that vendor's scam. This is awkward, Yue Rin thought, shrinking into her cloak like it could make her invisible.
It did not.
The girl's eyes slid toward Yue Rin, paused for a breath, then moved away again as if Yue Rin was nothing worth remembering.
Yue Rin just let out a quiet breath in return.
When the last passenger climbed in, the coachman snapped the reins, and the carriage began to roll.
* * * *
After an unknown stretch of time, the carriage arrived at the base of the north mountain. The road ended in a broad clearing filled with parked carriages and restless horses. Cultivators climbed down in steady streams, packs adjusted, weapons checked, eyes already scanning for trouble.
From here on, everyone had to climb. No horse would carry a cart up those slopes.
Yue Rin stepped down, tightened the strap of her bag, and started going upward, doing her best to keep distance from a certain person.
After the time it takes to burn a long incense stick, the Verdant Pine Sect's outer gate came into view.
It was not the towering heavenly arch Yue Rin had once imagined sect gates to be. It was practical, heavy wood reinforced with dark metal bands, set into stone carved with pine-leaf patterns worn smooth by weather and time.
Ten disciples stood before the gate, five men and five women, all wearing the Verdant Pine robes. Their posture was straight, their expressions indifferent, and their eyes carried that faint edge of arrogance that came from standing on higher ground.
One of them spoke, voice clear and flat. "You may rest here. When the sun reaches midday, we will lead you to the rear mountain. The formation for entry is located there."
After that, they returned to stillness, as if they had not spoken at all.
Some cultivators, including Yue Rin, seemed used to this routine and claimed the better resting spots within a few breaths. Those who were new hesitated, and hesitation cost them. They ended up on the rough ground near the edges while more and more cultivators arrived from below.
One of the cultivators slipped into the nearby woods to relieve himself, humming under his breath as he loosened his belt. Behind him, a girl's shadow drifted closer, soundless between the trees.
* * * *
As the sun climbed, heat built on stone and shoulders. When midday finally arrived, the same disciple spoke again, just as flat as before. "Follow."
The disciples then moved, not through the gate, but to the right of it, onto a rougher path that hugged the sect's outer boundary. Yue Rin followed with the rest, biting down on the urge to complain.
They were being treated like filth the sect didn't want inside its walls.
But anyone who said that out loud might lose their spot, or worse.
So Yue Rin kept her mouth shut. Judging by the tight faces around her, she was not the only one who thought that.
After a long walk, the trees thinned, and a broad stone platform appeared ahead, carved into the rear mountain like a deliberate scar. Faint formation-lines were etched across its surface, barely visible unless the light struck them at the right angle.
The disciples led the group onto the open ground, then turned. "An elder will arrive to activate the formation soon. Wait here. If you have a valid entry token, you will be sent into the secret realm when the formation is activated."
Without another word, they unsheathed their swords, stepped onto the blades, and flew back toward the sect without hesitation.
The moment they disappeared, the complaints started.
"Do they think we'll dirty their sect, making us take that path?"
"That's your complaint?" another snapped. "At least they could have shown some face and had the elder waiting instead of making us stand here like beggars."
A third voice scoffed. "You're just a stray. Do you really think you matter enough for that?"
"What did you call me?" the guy barked back.
The argument swelled, insults traded like cheap talismans. Though no one dared to draw a blade. Entering the secret realm injured was asking to die.
Yue Rin moved away and found a quieter spot, putting her bag down at her feet. She opened it just enough to check her supplies. Making sure everything was there.
Then she opened the talisman pouch at her belt and reorganized it, with defensive talismans in front, movement talismans behind, and the odd ones tucked deeper.
After a moment's thought, she pulled out a shield talisman and pressed it beneath her clothes against her lower abdomen.
It could be fully activated if fed enough Qi, but it also had a subtler use. With only a thin thread, it spread a barrier so faint she could barely feel it. If an attack pierced that thin layer, the talisman would trigger on its own, blooming into a proper shield.
It would not save her from everything, but it might save her from dying before she could even react.
With that done, Yue Rin leaned back and forced herself to plan.
Placement inside the realm would be random. Best case, she spawned on higher ground, somewhere she could see landmarks and orient herself quickly. If not, she would have to find a high elevation point on her own without blundering into a spirit beast's territory.
And the best outcome of all would be landing near the ape's range, close enough to reach the orchid before the realm turned into chaos.
"I will activate the formation now."
A voice snapped Yue Rin out of her thoughts.
A figure had appeared at the edge of the platform without fanfare, as if he had been there all along. Only a pine-green robe sleeve shifting in the breeze made him stand out from stone and shadow. He didn't look at the crowd. He didn't need to.
The platform shuddered with light. Formation-lines brightened, then flared until the stone looked like it was filled with moving fire.
Heat brushed Yue Rin's pocket.
She reached in and pulled out her entry token. It was glowing, the pine-leaf emblem lit from within as its light merged with the platform's radiance.
Yue Rin grabbed her bag and held it tight to her body.
Then the pull came.
An invisible force hooked into her and dragged her forward. Light swallowed the world, and her stomach lurched like she was falling through empty space.
Even though she had done this once before, it did not feel any easier. The unknown pressed at her chest. What if the formation failed? What if she was unlucky enough to catch a misaligned transfer?
She shut her eyes, breathing hard.
Then her body dropped.
Her feet touched ground first, then her weight, and the pull vanished as suddenly as it came.
Yue Rin opened her eyes.
Rolling hills stretched under a pale sky. Mountains rose in the far distance, and between them lay a dark band of forest that looked like spilled ink. If this were a painting, it would sell for a fortune.
She let out a breath.
Just then a cold prickle crawled up the back of her neck. The fine hairs on her arms lifted beneath her sleeves.
Her danger sense screamed.
Yue Rin twisted aside a heartbeat before a blade punched into the earth where she had been standing.
The attacker clicked their tongue and surged forward, no greeting, no warning, only killing intent that felt sharp enough to cut.
Yue Rin's mind went blank for a breath.
Couldn't you wait a moment? Couldn't you pretend to have morals?
She dodged again, stumbled, then forced herself upright.
The cultivator's eyes flicked to her bag as he pressed in. "What's in that?" he demanded, like he had a right to her answer.
Yue Rin didn't reply. She slipped another thrust by a hair, boots scraping dirt, heart hammering.
His expression tightened. "Answer me."
That did it.
"What does it have to do with you?" Yue Rin snapped, dodging a third strike.
He paused mid-step, offended, then smiled thinly as if he'd been given proof of something. His gaze lingered on her cloak, on her posture, on the way her voice came out. At first he had been cautious, wary of a hidden expert, but now…
No. Just an inexperienced cultivator. An easy target.
Yue Rin cursed her luck.
Random placement, and she landed near a murderer.
Still, as she dodged, she noticed a few things. His footwork was quiet. His strikes aimed to pierce rather than cleave. The first attack had nearly caught her without sound, and only her senses at peak Qi Foundation had warned her in time.
An assassin-style technique, then. Deadly in surprise. Less impressive once exposed.
Running was her favorite option.
But the thought of the spirit stones she had spent, the years she had scraped and saved, burned hotter than fear.
An easy battle had just been handed to her.
If she won, she would not only survive.
She would rob him of everything!