Jidihu’s harried gaze caught that of a much-refreshed Alex as he slipped free of his humble garden shack and the palace he left behind. “You’re awake at last? Good. Panheu has called a coach. It will be ready to take us into the city in half a glass.”

Alex blinked, eyes widened in admiration, seeing no less than four striking beauties dressed in satin and silk, smoky eyes, crimson lips, and nails lacquered either silver or bronze perfectly complimenting their silken cheongsam-like garments, all of them stitched with coiling serpentine dragons of either bronze or silver, the exact same shade as their nails. Even the strips of cloth fluttering in the breeze from the high hems of their dresses gave off the aura of dragons. He couldn’t help smiling at the sight.

“I’m guessing the dresses and makeup denote you all as cultivating beauties affiliated with dragon academy?”

Yinzi grinned. “Exactly! And the lacquer on our nails should make it clear to even the most headstrong idiot that we’re not to be trifled with.” She spun around in her dress, sending the serpentine tassels twirling in the air as the hem of her dress rose dangerously high, the evil mischief in her grin making it clear that leaving Alex breathless as he caught a glimpse of things he really shouldn’t had definitely been intentional.

“Do you like what you see?”

Alex flushed, then laughed. “You know I do,” he said, before turning to smile and bow before the one among their number wearing tasteful black cultivator’s robes that spoke of understated wealth and influence, though the pair of golden dragons at the high collar would give anyone in the know definite pause as a perfectly groomed and polished looking Panheu favored Alex with the tiniest of nods.

“How are you feeling, disciple?”

Alex grinned. “Like we don’t need to waste an hour going back and forth in carriages.” He then winked. “Come on. Let me show you the power of interdimensional shortcuts!” he said, smirking at the way Jidihu’s eyes widened and Ning Jing hissed when a seven by four foot window shimmered into existence, showcasing a quaint little hidden garden filled with ancient oaks and countless flowers in glorious bloom. Alex smiled at the looks of awe and whispered curses from the elders among them. He didn’t hesitate to step right on through, waving them forward from the other side.

The air smelled of lush green grass, wildflowers, and memories as his companions all stepped free of the portal leading right to a certain private garden that hid so many secrets. He gazed for long moments at the entrance to a certain forgotten tomb dug into the steep cliff face upon which Dragon Academy had been founded. Over the sight of his original ascension, when he had been caught between life and death for a thousand breaths, countless centuries ago.

Alex rapidly shook away the chill he felt, effectively walking past his own grave before his eyes took in the beautiful little garden with its medicinal plants and wizened, ancient trees. He couldn’t help smiling at the sight of a guard, the very same guard as had accosted him when he had first exited the mist-shrouded tunnel… now snoring under the bower of the oak a near naked and absolutely terrified version of himself had been forced to scurry up when awakening to this world a lifetime ago. And probably had been, even if it simultaneously felt like just a handful of seasons back.

Either way, he felt an odd warmth for that quietly snoring guard, who didn’t look a day older than he had the first time he had glared Alex’s way.

Alex ignored the strange looks Panheu and Jidihu were giving him, doing his best to capture that precious moment, that snapshot of an innocent life come to existence once more… one that might never be reborn again.

Hao Chan’s concerned gaze caught his own. “Alex? What’s wrong?”

He swallowed the lump in his throat. “Right in the cliff face, so well hidden in shadow that you’ll never find it if you lack a kitsune’s gifts, is a tomb.”

Hao Chan gazed at him for long moments. He felt the tremble in her hand, now clenched so tightly to his own. “Alex...”

He took a deep breath, grateful his companions allowed him that silent moment to crystallize the memory of his beginning, already knowing that, for him, the eternal cycle had been broken. Oblivion or Ascension… or eternal torment in Shui Jun’s coils… were the only paths forward for him now.

“Come on, this way,” he said, with a final smile for the sleeping guard as he made his way to the wrought iron gates, opening them with no trouble at all. Within seconds they were sedately strolling along a wide central boulevard divided by a stately row of trees forming a soothing green canopy in the heart of the city, a steady stream of pink and white blossoms raining down upon them, perfuming the air with the delightful fragrances of honeysuckle and cherry blossoms.

Hao Chan squeezed Alex’s hand, gazing with awe and wonder as they past the pagodas, shops, and manors that made up what he now knew to be the richest and most exclusive quarter of the city, his beloved finally having a chance to behold Yidushi in all its glory.

“Alex, we’re here! I… I almost can’t believe it.”

His heart swelled with adoration as he gazed into a beautifully made-up Hao Chan’s smiling features, his beloved looking absolutely striking in her crimson Qipao, bronze dragons highlighting and emphasizing the very curves their tiger-like countenances warned the unworthy from ever trying to claim.

His heart pounded with the sudden desperate desire to kiss her ruby-dyed lips, blood heating with a flame that would do any wujen proud, as Yinzi grinned. “Here we are, all dressed up, and Alex already has us beat.”

Ning Jing snorted. “He’s wearing the same ancient changshan tunic and hose as he has since the moment we met him.”

“Exactly! We’re dressed like Yidushian nobility that can cultivate, and Alex gets to wear the attire of the gods!”

Alex winced, but it seemed that none of the passersby had heard them, Jidihu’s exasperated look making it clear that even if Yinzi had lost the ability to hide herself or her words in Shadow, her mother certainly hadn’t. Still, he noted any number of men wearing robes or far more modern versions of the changshan jacket he himself favored, most of the latter being worn by men with the hard gazes and pinched features he associated with Yidushi’s elites, more than a few glaring his way with furrowed brows and odd intensity when they caught his gaze. Of course, there were plenty of other men who looked nothing at all like the stereotype that had perhaps been coming to Alex a bit too easily, with wide brows, stocky builds, and dark bronze complexions. Granted, most of the latter wore humbler attire and looked to be laborers, and one or two were even bold enough to flash Alex an approving smile at the sight of him openly holding Hao Chan’s hand.

And perhaps Alex understood at least a few of the angry glares, forcing himself to recall that this truly was a different world, with different customs, particularly outside the relatively egalitation world of cultivation. Unlike the far more plainly dressed males, he caught sight of a wide spectrum of dresses and styles so much more colorful and varied than the men, everything from high hemmed dresses with fluttering pieces of cloth like Yinzi’s own, to long gowns paired with short coats and dresses or flowing pants that went to the tips of their sandals or shoes. Their hair styles were also far more varied than the short cuts and topknots uniformly favored by their male counterparts. Many women had their hair wrapped in tight buns, held in place with sticks of silver inlaid wood or ivory, whereas other girls favored elegantly knotted ponytails, often with bright strips of cloth woven in them.

Yet despite the outward displays of elegance and beauty, they were far more demure than the girls Alex had become so used to in the cultivation world. Not even one met his curious gaze, only looking away, their cheeks flushing prettily, save for one in particular, wearing high hemmed silk Qipao much like Hao Chan’s own, who was positively glaring daggers at Alex when a beaming Yinzi happily claimed his other hand. Yet Eric just smiled and gave a polite bow of his head, recognizing the subtle glimmer of a bronze dragon on the high collar of her dress, thus explaining her boldness as she strode their way.

Before her eyes widened and her features paled upon catching sight of a subtly smiling Panheu, who kept his gaze straight ahead, not even gazing her way. Yet the sight of Dragon Academy’s headmaster was more than enough to send the now trembling girl into a quick discrete bow that wouldn’t draw undue attention before turning on her heels and darting off as fast as she could, claiming the hand of a confused-looking man who most definitely bore the stamp of a Yidushian noble who gave Alex one final confused glare before allowing the obviously stronger woman to lead him away.

“What your gaze, foreigner! You think you have any right to gaze upon our women, let alone claim their hands?”

Alex blinked at the words, struck by an odd sense of deja vu as he beheld a hot-eyed powerfully built man in a black changshan shirt slam a palm into his chest.

The man’s eyes abruptly widened. “I recognize you! You’re the Ruidian who dared to look at my…” He lurched back, only at that moment registering that far from being sent stumbling back, a grimly smiling Alex hadn’t moved at all. He was glad that Hao Chan and Yinzi had discretely stepped back, freeing his hands. Yet by the way the man was now holding his own wrist, Alex’s immobility had come as something of a surprise.

“You… no, you couldn’t be him. You’re at least two inches taller. And your arms… he was a scrawny Ruidian. As all your kind are!”

Alex said nothing, for all that he now radiated the killing aura of a Silver who had dared to challenge the gods and forge himself in Death’s own waters.

The basic cultivator before him blanched and paled. “Forgive me… honored cultivator. I must have been mistaken. The lowly Rim Pan apologizes if he caused you any offense.”

Alex couldn’t quite hold back his wolf-like smile as he spoke. “Funny how things can change in just a year or two, isn’t it?”

The man furrowed his brow, Alex now noting the creases in the man’s face and the subtle beginning of crows feet that hadn’t been there before. “Honored cultivator, I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re…“ his eyes widened. “Twelve years ago I met a Ruidian who looked just like you. And you… you radiate the power of a Silver, and you haven’t aged a day!”

Alex’s blinked, feeling a cold chill with those words, realizing that it had indeed been twelve years, and not just a year and change since he had taken his very first steps in Yidushi… at least this time around. Because he really had died, sacrificing himself for the sake of a city that would have been imperiled by the darkest of summonings, a rift it had cost Alex his life to seal once more.

Before coming back to groggy awareness what he had thought had only been moments or hours later, floating along a river between life and death, allowing the cajoling of a certain fox to inspire him to kick for shore. A momentary dazed fugue that had lasted for the ten full years he had effectively been dead… before pulling himself free of the River of Souls once more.

The man before him trembled, quickly flowing into true Dogeza, clearly terrified by whatever he saw in Alex’s gaze. “Please forgive my foolish tongue, my lord. You are, of course, a Trueblood. My eyes merely deceive me in the midday glare!”

Alex winced, hating the attention he feared this would draw as Ning Jing glared down at the man and Panheu cleared his throat.

“Your misunderstandings are forgiven. Now please leave,” Alex said, the man rapidly scurrying away the moment he uttered those words.

Ning Jing snorted. “What a fool.”

Alex sighed and shook his head, though he couldn’t help but smile when Hao Chan claimed his hand once more.

“What’s wrong, Alex? You looked so… strange, when his gaze met your own.”

Alex chuckled. “It’s just the strangest thing. When first I came to, it was in the garden I showed you, the sleeping guard looking just like I had last seen him. And by sheerest coincidence, the man we just ran into, who thought he could so easily knock me over with the palm of his hand had basically done just that… when I first ran into him after fleeing the garden as the scrawny fragile boy I had been, just two years ago.” He swallowed, suppressing a shudder. “I mean… twelve years ago.”

Hao Chan furrowed her brow. “Alex, I’m not sure I...”

“I was dead for ten years,” he said hoarsely, eyes growing haunted. “Ten years bobbing in the warm soothing waters of the River of Souls that felt like maybe ten seconds, ready to slip away in dream before I was coaxed back to shore, to embrace life’s adventure once more.”

Hao Chan’s haunted amber gaze met his own, her hand squeezing his so tightly, as if she would never let it go. “That’s when you met me,” she said at last.

Alex smiled and nodded. “I woke up to find myself a slave, helped organize a rebellion, and managed to free myself and everyone else I could. Shortly after that was when I met you.”

“And my stepfather,” Hao Chan said the words like a curse.

Alex dipped his head. “That too.”

He squeezed her hand, gazing fondly at the city all around him. “And we’ve grown so much since those early days. All three of us. Now come on, there’s a market up ahead that I think you’ll absolutely love. Filled with artists, street performers, food stalls, and the tastiest sticky buns you’ll find anywhere!”

Hao Chan’s eyes brightened at those words.

“Ooh, sticky buns! Mother hardly ever took me anywhere for sticky buns,” Yinzi declared with a pointed look Ning Jing’s way. “Or anywhere, for that matter. Now, at least, we can properly explore our city together!” Claiming a bemused Alex’s hand, she happily led the way, ears quirking in just the direction they needed to go, quickly pulling ahead of their elders.

Ning Jing furrowed her brow, but Panheu just smiled, slowly shaking his head. “Let them. They will be fine. And if they truly cannot handle whatever they might find in the nicest quarter of Yidushi, then they have no business daring the world’s challenges at all. Now come, my wives. We will catch up with the children later. We have matters of our own to attend to.”

Yinzi’s ears made it clear she had heard her stepfather’s counsel as well as he had, eyes twinkling with delight at the promised freedom. “Come on, Alex, let’s go. As fast as we can before my parents get a clue and change their minds!”

Laughing, the three of them did just that, Alex happy to dart through the increasing foot traffic of casual shoppers and harried looking porters, the central boulevard lanes closest to the trees taken up by palanquins and rickshaws being ridden by self-important looking bureaucrats and officials, perhaps a lesser noble or two as well, with only a few folk actually daring horse drawn carriages in this quarter of the city, away from the arterial flow of trade caravans needed to meet the demands of a city that was home to no less than ten million souls. Because trade was the absolute lifeblood of all the Sacred Cities, blessed as they all were with wide boulevards, gardens, aqueducts, cisterns and sewer systems, not to mention alchemists, food rich in life nourishing spiritual energies, and countless apothecaries that allowed such a city to grow far beyond the limits of ancient Terran metropolises. The amount of time and effort invested in citywide infrastructure and trade was nothing short of mind boggling. Even if there was an unspoken but always followed rule that the demands of commerce and sustenance were never to impede the comforts of the elite.

Sure enough, Alex sensed the pressure of at least a pair of Bronze cultivators self-important enough, like Hao Zei once was, to impede the nicer city streets with their gilded carriages that Alex and his friends happily darted right past. He couldn’t help but smile when one hot-eyed Yidushian noble opened is carriage door to roar his curses at the trio of youths who dared dart so boldly through the street, before taking an oddly thoughtful sniff, and getting a good look at a winking Alex and his companions, before paling and quickly slamming shut his carriage door once more.

Yinzi flashed an evil smile. “A sensitive nose like his, I’ll bet he has some kitsune blood in his family tree somewhere.”

Hao Chan squeezed her friend’s hand. “Best not say that too loudly, lest you’d doom him, sister. This is Yidushi, after all.”

The normally mischievous girl flashed an oddly sympathetic smile at the carriage they were even now racing past. “True,” she said, before her eyes were immediately drawn to a beautiful storefront with actual windows of clear-paned glass, showcasing brooches, necklaces, silver inlaid ivory hairpins, jeweled rings, and exquisitely crafted fans of lacquered hardwood and mother-of-pearl. All of those treasures were artfully displayed on petite satin cushions.

“Hao Chan! Look at all the pretty jewelry!” Yinzi practically squealed with delight, earning a derisive sniff and perfectly timed tittering smirks from one regal looking woman wearing an intricately hemmed cheongsam who was leaving the store at that very moment along with her entourage of plainly robed and not quite-so-pretty servants snapping open their fans and smirking Yinzi and Hao Chan’s way as they shared whispered words and mocking smiles.

Yinzi’s ears and tail immediately wilted. Before Hao Chan gently clasped her hand, standing tall before the sneering noblewoman leaving the store, flashing her coldest smile.

“Oh look, dear sister-wife. A vulture and her tittering magpie companions preening like they’re actual peacocks. Have you ever seen a sillier sight?”

The noble’s eyes widened with outrage as the handmaidens behind her paled, glancing fearfully at their mistress.

Yinzi’s eyes immediately brightened. “Why no, sister-wife, I don’t believe I have. Perhaps we should thank them for brightening an otherwise dreary day with a farce of a performance that would do even my father proud?”

Hao Chan smirked. “Indeed we should.” She coldly dropped a single copper feather at the feet of the closest handmaid. “There. An adequate performance from the youling fools before us. Certainly worthy of a few bowls of rice, I should think.”

“You insolent cur!” hissed the tallest of the handmaidens. “How dare you speak so to Lady Feng Yu, the favored consort of Administrator Ruizhi himself!” She snapped her fan shut, suddenly radiating the aura of a Bronze Cultivator as another girl blew a whistle and Eric sensed a handful of men rapidly approaching through the crowd. “You will kneel before our lady and beg for her forgiveness this very moment, and pray she sees fit to forgive you, if you don’t wish to end up in the purple pavilion before the day has ended. A fitting end for a pair of trashy harlots like yourselves!”

The supposed favored consort flashed a cold, smug smile, but didn’t lower herself to say another word, letting her second speak for her.

Alex turned to behold a quartet of fifth and sixth rank basic cultivators as Hao Chan laughed with disdain at the other woman’s threat. The handful of armored men tried to intimidate Alex with hands on the hilts of their dao, a pair going so far as to pull out lead-capped truncheons.

Their muscles bulged, clearly far stronger than the average mortal, but nothing compared to even a recently broken through Bronze.

“Kneel, filth,” said the largest of the four, an imposing six and a half foot tall man fully kitted in lamellar armor, who cracked his knuckles and scowled down at Alex.

Alex couldn’t quite hold back his smile. “Seriously? Your spiritual perception is that abysmal?”

The man’s beady eyes narrowed. He drew his his truncheon and smacked it against the meet of his palm. “I won’t ask again, cur.”

“Ooh, this is looking exciting, sister-wife!” Yinzi squealed. “Just minutes away from my parent’s company, and already we’re about to pick a fight with our city administrator’s most egotistical slut! We’ll be in a fight with the entire city before the day is out, and won’t Father be roaring with laughter then!”

The lead handmaiden glared at Yinzi will killing intent.

Before blanching and stepping back from whatever she had seen in the younger woman’s ice-cold smile. The handmaiden’s disdainful gaze became the wide eyes of a frightened doe. She then glanced Alex’s way as the lead bodyguard prepared to strike.

Before falling to the ground with a cry when, in a movement so fast that the woman’s coterie were gazing in wide-eyed stupefaction, the lead guard had crashed to his knees, shrieking like a child as he clenched the shredded stump of his right arm, unable to hold back the tide of crimson blood spurting forth, spattering the entire coterie of now shrieking handmaidens and the lead fading beauty herself.

Alex gazed down at the forearm he was now holding, a palm strike meant to shatter his opponent’s elbow after his wrist lock having instead blown right through his opponents limb, with hardly any resistance at all.

He gazed down at the shrieking man who’s features were even now taking on a ghastly pallor as his fellow guards desperately worked to staunch the flow of blood. “Wow. I’ve encountered twigs with more strength than your arm. Just how weak are you?”

“That’s hardly fair, Alex.” Yinzi spared a single pitying glance for the maimed guard sobbing in a growing puddle of his own blood before she pulled out a handkerchief from nowhere and began carefully wiping the crimson droplets that had managed to stain her and Hao Chan’s dresses, for all that inhuman grace had allowed them to avoid the worst of the spray.

“That poor fool is a basic cultivator, and you’ve been forging yourself in the crucible of combat, sparring against a Gold every day.”

Alex glared down at the crumpled guard gazing at his own spurting blood with horrified dismay, now white as a sheet. He sighed and shook his head. “This fool’s going to die on us. Isn’t he?”

Yinzi shrugged. “Well, he is just a halfstep away from mortality, being as he hasn’t even finished clearing all of his meridian channels, and he doesn’t even have a full set of seven! And you did sort of tear his arm off.”

The handmaiden who had actually managed to achieve Bronze was looking at Alex with undisguised horror, her eyes finally taking in Hao Chan and Yinzi’s silk cheongsams, looking beyond what Alex thought were probably scandalous hemlines for any lady who wasn’t a cultivator to wear, despite the ribbons and tassels, at last understanding the message so blatantly advertised to all with the wit to see and understand. Her eyes widened with each additional bronze dragon she counted upon their form-fitting dresses, only now appreciating the deadly potent flow of spiritual energy infusing bodies that perfectly balanced exquisite sensuality with a predator’s deadly grace.

“My lady… I fear we will be late for your audience with Administrator Ruizhi if we don’t hurry.” She gently clasped the hand of the now horrified-looking noblewoman, paling and flinching when she caught Alex’s gaze.

“Yes, Zhou, I do believe you are right.” Lady Feng Yu turned to her fawning coterie. “Come, ladies, we have no more time to waste on this foolishness.” She then glared daggers at the trio of guardians struggling to staunch the bleeding of the fourth, carefully not looking Alex’s way, as if pretending that Alex and his companions weren’t even there. “I trust you all to handle the situation here. If you fail to do so, don’t bother coming back,” she said, before lifting her chin and retreating with her handmaidens for all she was worth.

Alex exchanged a bemused look with Hao Chan and Yinzi, before the trio burst into laughter.

He then sighed, gazing down at the guard.

The three shorter basics blanched and pulled away. “Please spare us, revered cultivator,” whispered the closest, the other two just blanching and stepping back as Alex met the desperate gaze of the dying cultivator.

“Please...” the man sobbed, clearly in extremis, Alex realizing the poor fool likely had less than a minute to live.

He glared down at the forearm in his hands… before roughly grabbing the man’s shattered arm and pressing the two halves together, merciless grip not moving an inch as the man screamed and thrashed in agony.

Alex, now covered in his patient’s blood, glanced Yinzi’s way. “Feed him a red.”

Before the man could blink, Yinzi had pinched shut his nose shut before forcing the contents of a whole vial down the man’s throat, who immediately began frothing at the mouth and spasming and kicking as his eyes rolled back… before he collapsed in a heap, whimpering in exhaustion and pain… his arm attached once more.

Alex tossed the man a flask of watered wine. “Drink that. With your off hand. And be sure to consume plenty of organ meat for the next week. Spirit boar meat would be best. You’re dehydrated and anemic right now. And unless you want to lose that arm for good… I wouldn’t use it for anything for at least a couple weeks, and give it a full month before you train seriously again.”

“Yes, my lord!” The man sobbed, kowtowing as best he could while cradling one still clearly damaged arm that Alex might, or might not, have perfectly reattached. “Thank you for sparing this unworthy one’s life!”

Alex smiled sadly at the man, before turning to glance meaningfully at the other three now gazing at him in slack-jawed disbelief. “When you’re supposed enemies treat you with more mercy than your own employers… maybe its time to consider a new line of work.”

Alex wasted no more time with the sobbing man or his desperately nodding underlings, doing his best not to catch the gazes of the dozen wide-eyed citizens now staring at him and his companions far too intently. Instead, he exchanged a look with the girls by his side. “Maybe now’s not the best time for shopping?”

Yinzi snorted. “Any time is the best time for shopping. But certainly not here.” She frowned down at the bloodstained cobblestone road. “Far too messy. And besides, we have a whole delicious city to explore, so let’s go!” With that, the three were off, more than happy to put the scene behind them, refusing to let the encounter spoil their day.