Sensing the unexpected opportunity, Nolan cleared his throat, drew out a basic construction arrayment and activated it to give life to a fireplace of mock stone. He simultaneously pulled out a thick blanket, which he laid out on the ground before he slid a hand behind Nyla’s slender waist and pulled her in for a passionate kiss. He parted only to summon a few logs of wood and a snapfire bean, which floated into the fireplace as he swept Nyla off of her feet and lowered them both onto the blanket. Trapping a small amount of Origin Energy around the wood as they began to undress one another, Nolan activated the snapfire bean and caused an ambient flame to flare into existence just as they cast aside the last of their clothing.

Nyla looked up at him expectantly, her toned, lightly tanned body on full display. As they began to touch each other here and there, Nolan felt like he was flying. Against all sense, he was momentarily grateful for the Interspatial Migration. Both Uncle Grey’s absence and the soundproofing of the eighth floor emboldened him to unseen heights, and he made full use of his near endless stamina in the twenty minutes that followed. During this time, he gleefully discovered that inner essence could rejuvenate all sorts of cells.

“Are you listening?”

“Huh?”

“What about the fireplace?”

Coming out of a daze, Nolan blinked a few times and glanced back at the strongly burning fire, along with the blanket that he decided to leave behind. Misunderstanding, he said, “Ah, you’re right.” He used some spiritual energy to toss the blanket into the flames. “Don’t want anybody finding that.”

She rolled her eyes and led the way downstairs. Straightening his sect uniform, Nolan fell back into the time loop of his most recently made memories. Sound might have been sealed between each floor, but it seemed amplified at the tower’s top. Face lax in recollection, Nolan stared at Nyla’s back—a proud one, if anything—and mused that he would never have expected that she could make such feminine sounds.

He came back to himself as a sharp knock to the arm caused him to flinch.

“What?”

“Stop smiling like that.” It was surprising to see that her face was faintly flushed, more so out of anticipation than from embarrassment. “Try not to make it so obvious.”

Why was she whispering? Nolan wondered this as he composed himself and followed Nyla onto the lower landing. He’d expected to suddenly hear some sort of conversation, but he was met with absolute quiet. This caught him off guard, since nobody was cultivating or enjoying idle chatter like he'd expected. Instead, they were sitting in an awkward silence and avoiding one another's gazes. Everybody, even May, was blushing to some degree.

“Uh, we’re back.”

He was met with a few ‘heys’ and ‘hellos,’ which immediately gave him an odd, sinking suspicion. Summoning a spirit stone, Nolan threw it to the top of the staircase and onto the eighth floor. He was momentarily mortified to hear a series of sharp, distinct clatters in response.

What the hell? Each of the sections of the tower is supposed to be soundproofed! His eyes flew to Nyla, who had been waiting at the bottom of the stairs just a short while earlier and thus should have known that the tower’s muffling effect had seemingly warn off. She didn’t meet his gaze, however, for she was locked in a fierce staredown with May. Seeing the challenge in her eyes, realization dawned on Nolan and he couldn’t help but look at Nyla in a new light.

Damn, that was pretty G of her.

“So, uh,” he began, “we’re all done upstairs.”

“No shit,” said Sean.

Nolan broke the ensuing silence with an ‘alright, my bad,’ and then forcefully explained everything that had taken place at the top of the tower, sans the sexy time. His story was interesting enough to shift everybody’s focus, especially May, who was tremendously surprised to learn that the soul of a powerful expert resided on the eighth floor, and that Nolan’s master had completely harvested this man’s life force in a matter of minutes.

“That’s not something that just anybody can pull off.” She bit one of her full, glossy lips, her figure as appealing as always in her new sect uniform—the one that Nolan had made, of course.

“He also said to give you this.” Nolan tossed over one of the strange beads that Uncle Grey had refined out of the lingering spirit. “How fast do you think you can refine something like this? Is it even possible?”

“I take it this is one of the beads you mentioned?”

He nodded.

“Hmm. It’ll be quite dangerous, but I should be able to.” Seeing Nolan’s inquisitive stare, she added, “It shouldn’t take more than a few days.”

“Consider that your welcoming gift to the sect.” Nolan turned to the others and spoke with a probing tone. “Okay, what do you guys think we should do here? Wait for May to refine that pellet so she can get a boost in power and protect us better, or should we head out right away?”

“I can’t wait that long,” said Ian, whose face was the only one that was still flushed, and it quickly became apparent that it wasn’t due to the awkwardness from earlier. “Even if I don’t take in any more energy, I’ve got an hour, maybe two at the most, before my dantian makes the move on its own.” Looking a bit helpless, he quickly offered to exit the tower first so that May could take her time refining the pellet that Nolan had just gifted to her.

“I’ll draw them away,” he went on, a regretful tint to his golden eyes. “The last thing I’d want is to bring down everybody’s chances just for my sake.”

“Phht,” said Sean, “as if we’d throw you to the dogs.”

Lyra looked as if she were about to agree, as Nolan intended to, when three people suddenly appeared at the top of the staircase that led down to the lower levels. A middle-aged man with a handsome face, a young woman that was drop-dead gorgeous, and a balding old geezer with a long, white beard suddenly commanded everybody’s attention.

May immediately began to draw an arrayment diagram, but the spiritual energy that she’d expelled to power it was almost instantly disrupted and dispersed.

“That would not be wise,” came the old man’s tired voice.

“May? Some of the disciples were claiming that you were involved in this mess, but I can’t believe that it’s true.”

Almost everybody’s attention was on either May or the one that had just disrupted her diagram, who they recognized as Great Elder Tegan. Nolan was different, with his gaze locked onto the beautiful young woman with long, startlingly white hair that stood to the right of the middle-aged man. Her eyes had locked onto him in return, a greedy, contemptuous smirk on her clear-complexioned face.

How can it be her? Did she seriously follow us all the way here from Ridgerock? Sean, Esteban and Ian were also rigid with alarm. None of them would ever forget when the relief they had felt at barely managing to kill Keplin, an elder of the Nightshadow Sect, had instantly melted away when this woman had ambushed them outside of the mountain kingdom. If it hadn’t been for the powers of Ridgerock intervening, then the four of them would have died by her hand long ago.

“Tell me, May,” said the middle-aged man, who took a few steps forward. “Did you kill Drasin and Elder Jameson?”

“No,” she said deceptively. “Drasin had been envious of the attainments of this lot and wound up overestimating himself out of pride. When Jameson found his remains, he lost all reason and attacked these young cultivators so I had no choice but to protect them.”

“You…killed him? You have been hiding your strength.”

“I fought him off until his barrier broke, then the pressure of the tower killed him just like it did Drasin. He might have only been a level above me in terms of cultivation, but he wasn’t someone I could best.”

The man’s blue-eyed stare gradually lowered to rest upon May’s chest, which was perfectly outlined by the soft fabric of her new clothes. “Ah, yes. They were always so foolish, those two. As the saying goes, like master, like disciple.”

Great Elder Tegan shot a disapproving look at the man, appearing irritated. A moment later, he seemed to realize something and his eyes slowly widened. “There’s no energy on this floor. That can’t be right! You!” He stared needles at Nolan’s group. “What have you done to our sacred tower? Where has all of this floor’s energy gone?”

“Now that you mention it,” said the white-haired woman, who adopted a slightly disinterested attitude. “There really is no energy here.”