Alex exchanged a nod with a shadowy Jidihu before Bullrushing across the third and final Bronze tier chamber in the blink of an eye, springing for the ceiling and skipping through the air to balance on a wisp of nighttime shadow, gazing down upon a single confused-looking girl, sensing no other threat in sight, before quietly making the same offer as he had to the girl before.

This one simply took fright and ran towards the door leading out of the chambers, before disappearing in the blink of an eye.

“Alex, what did you do?” Asked a concerned Jidihu moments later, as Alex received a message that lightened the sudden weight on his heart, as he quietly closed his two gates, now having five to use as he would once more.

“I made her the same offer as I made the lost girl on the plateau below us.”

Ning Jing frowned. “Don’t tell me you killed that poor girl.”

Alex solemnly shook his head. “No I didn’t, but she’s now in Yidushi, and I already know her pouch is filled with extract and silver, so her fate could be far worse. I only regret that I couldn’t make it any better.”

Ning Jing snorted. “Maybe she would have been more receptive if you weren’t perched on a sliver of shadow, glaring down at us like a god passing judgement.”

Alex winced, realizing that he was balanced on absolutely nothing, that movement all it took for him to start to fall… before blinking down before his friends.

“That’s not entirely fair,” he said. “Besides. The other girl I talked to just ported into my realm, along with...” He blinked in surprise. “maybe twenty of her closest friends and family?”

Alex closed his eyes. “We have some more guests in need of a good healer, Dong Xiao.”

“I am well aware, Child of the Heavens,” said the calm voice of the guardian of that realm.

Alex grinned. “Has Aiko organized that support group we talked about?”

“Indeed she has. And she thought bringing the archaic practices of your dream world a fine idea.”

“Wonderful. Anything else I should know?”

“All is well here, Child of the Heavens. Your devoted disciples sobbed with joy at the birth of our goddess of lake and sea, and wept in fear at the specter of death as well. So many students dreaming of a new continent, the perils of oblivion, and the majesty of eternity as the River of Souls embraces our world at last.”

Alex frowned. “Wait, it wasn’t just a dream? Our realm doubled in size again?” He felt an unexpected shiver of wonder, realizing that what he had thought mere metaphor and dream, had been anything but. And that he had used the last of his Silver Tier soul stones sharing whatever insights had pushed himself and his future wives to such profound gold tier revelations just days ago.

“Indeed. Our Goddess of knowledge greets her pantheon sisters and commends you on forging a world now the size of your ‘Mars,’ I believe it was called. She also commends you on a stable atmosphere, and earth-norm temperature, pressure, and solar radiation levels, though I’m afraid I’m not entirely certain what she means. But she would like you to double the world’s size once more, just to be safe.”

Alex blinked. “Right… alright, thanks for the update, Dong Xiao. Please make sure our new guests feel welcome… and can find work or assignments or just a cultivation path that lets them feel like useful and valued members of our little community.”

“Of course, Your Grace. Be well.”

Alex’s smile faded when he noted the stares of his entire party. “What? I was just making sure everything was okay back home. Shall we?” Not waiting for an answer, he quickly made his way across the eerily empty basin, grandly gesturing toward the shimmering gold steps before them. “May I present to you the first of the Silver Tier steps! If you found Bronze easy, here is where you’ll begin to refine your souls in earnest! Since I know our party is mostly Silver and those who achieved Gold the very hard way… best brace yourself for the currents, and prepare for the strongest foundations of your lives.”

His cheeky grin hardened. “Best we prepare for the iron fist as well. We’ve resisted Purple path enticement so far. But anyone pushing things all the way to Silver will either be a powerful cultivator they’ll be eager to recruit and, I fear, force into ugly binding contracts… or annoyances they won’t want troubling the new academic order at all.”

Ning Jing rolled her eyes while Jidihu grinned. “An accurate assessment, Lieutenant. So how do you plan on countering?”

Alex frowned thoughtfully. “I think we’re still best served racing up the steps as fast as we can, throwing off whatever machinations they might be dreaming up, since from what I gathered, we’re their first batch of fresh students and Dongfang Hong’s enticements and traps are only now getting a trial run. I really don’t think that Silver back there was expecting us to forgo his honey trap, so I think we might have a chance, still, at outrunning trouble. Even better, I know my gates work in the plateaus, or at least they can be used to block off the passageways, even if I don’t dare use them in these pools which will soon be as much spiritual water as actual, well… water.”

Hao Chan nodded. “So you and I will launch and attack in unison while Jidihu cloaks the rest in Shadow. You’ll then block off the entrance while we strike and distract. If things get scary, that’s when Panheu and the others attack from Jidihu’s shadow. Then when the pool is clear, we head up to the next.” She flashed a fierce, hungry smile. “And the next. Just as far as we can go.”

Alex swallowed. “Hao Chan...”

Delicate, powerful fingers covered his mouth, she slowly shook her head. “I would defend my beloved, just as you would defend me. Please, Alex. Let me be a part of this.” her eyes flashed. “Let my skills mean something!”

Alex gazed at her for long moments. “Alright,” he said at last, bowing his head, even as his heart screamed with sudden worry, so easily visualizing a dozen awful endings to the tales of their lives if they didn’t execute things perfectly.

“Thank you for your trust, beloved.” She kissed his cheek, eyes smiling into his own. “And once this ordeal is over...”

Her wicked smile sent a hot flush across his cheeks and a painful tug in his chest, but it was all he could do not to race up the steps, even as Ning Jing gasped and Jidihu’s eyes widened with surprise.

“The currents really are stronger here.” She turned to her husband. “Not quite the easy stroll we had thought, a husband?”

Panheu flashed a tight smile. “It will only make us stronger, in the end. And it would shame us both if we don’t make it to the very heights of Silver.”

Jidihu winced. “I spent centuries getting as far as I had.” She chuckled softly. “I should be a mid-Silver at best, were it not for focus and far too much time and dedication. I fear I will be the one slowing us down, and how odd it is to even acknowledge that.”

“Don’t worry, mother! If it gets to hard, we’ll carry you!” Yinzi declared.

Hao Chan blinked. “But wait, wouldn’t that be cheating?”

Yinzi shrugged. “Who cares? It’s not like we’re here to actually join the school, right?” She turned to Alex, a curious look in her eyes. “So, why exactly are we here again?”

Alex grinned. “To do what we’re doing right now. Daring these golden steps to enjoy a mystical view somewhere between earth and heaven as we strengthen our souls and foundations in spiritual currents too few benefit from, while we ascend a stairway the gods above once took in their own ascension.”

He laughed at the awed and in some cases, horrified expressions coming over so many faces. “Don’t worry. The guardian himself, who clearly is no mortal, lifted some strictures when he realized who I was. Besides, the cards of fate on my soul means our enemies won’t hear a word I’m saying… but best you guys never repeat my words aloud. Anyway, yeah, these steps are why we’re here. And if we can join in the yearly games, tug Dongfang Hong’s beard, and maybe steal away a Jade tier cultivation tome or two, that would be icing on the metaphoric cake.”

Panheu gazed at Alex for long moments. “And how do you expect to join the competition, let alone claim a Jade tier cultivation manual, without the Red Prince’s troops imperiling us all, disciple?”

Alex flashed a cheeky grin, deliberately looking Tan Wu’s way when he flashed a talisman for a single heartbeat, the half-step Gold lurching back. “It’s you!”

Alex grinned. “It is indeed.”

“But… how?”

Alex laughed. “Earthly wujen might still be a problem, so best I say nothing at all, at least for now. Save that depending on the wording of the oath the Red Prince hopes he can trick every prospective student into saying, even if he’s being more discrete about his darker bindings for whatever reason… might actually work in our favor.”

Yan Tu gazed at him for long moments. “The Headmaster’s Oath.”

“The very same.”

“But he has declared himself the Headmaster, and Crown Princess Cui Zhe has declared it so!”

Alex frowned thoughtfully. “Interesting. I wonder what glorious fountain of persuasive bullshit he used to pull that off?” He shrugged. “Well then, we’ll just have to see how things play out, right? Anyway, on to those steps! The Silver tiers wait for no man, and I know for a fact that assassins absolutely love lurking up there!”

Ning Jing snorted. “Encounter a few the last time you dared these golden steps?”

Alex only grinned in response, before his features hardened into intense focus once more, practicing the exercises Panheu had already mastered so effortlessly as a Gold, before exchanging looks with his beloved when they were just a handful of steps away from the lip of the First Silver basin.

So much was said when his gaze locked with her own, sensing her thought’s racing with a Sage’s alacrity, profound insights continuing to coalesce as divine spiritual waters infused a foundation that dared to make the body itself her core. Truly, she and her kung fu sister were body cultivators in the most Xianxia sense of the word, and this river couldn’t be better for strengthening their foundations, and perhaps their souls as well.

Alex spared a single glance for Yinzi, her eyes now twinkling with an ebullience and wonder that Alex knew could only mean one thing. But the lip of a basin that might or might not be filled with killers was no safe place for a breakthrough.

“Are you ready?”

Hao Chan gave a quick nod. “I am.”

“Me too!” Yinzi giggled.

Alex frowned, but heard a splash just above, and knew he dared not waste any more time. “Cloak them?”

Jidihu nodded, and Alex was over the lip of the basin, lowering his balance and bracing himself when he caught sight of the Silver spokesman from below, along with two nervous-looking young women exceedingly blessed by mother nature by his side. Alex quickly took in the spiritual treasures the man had donned since their last meeting, a shirt of indestructible mail much like Alex’s own, underneath silken changshan and trousers, his feet bare in the water.

The man flashed a hard smile, dipping his head without taking his piercing dark eyes off Alex’s own, hands carefully away from the jian sheathed at his hip.

The man forced a hard smile. “Welcome, initiate, and congratulations! You have reached heights most can only dream of, ascending all the way to Silver! And have proven yourself more than worthy of my name. You may call me Brother Peng.” He forced a chuckle. “And you were indeed correct, clever one. For those with the resolve and grit to push past enticement and achieve the vaunted rank of Silver, there are indeed other privileges to be gained, including access to forbidden tomes and the library’s innermost sanctum!” Hard eyes locked with Alex’s own. “You would like that, wouldn’t you, boy? Access to all the secrets of our school?”

Alex carefully schooled his features, slowly dipping his head. “Of course, Brother Peng,” he said, before forcing a smile of his own. “As soon as I’ve ascended just as far up these steps as I can.”

Peng laughed, clapping his hands in mocking approval. “As if you had the blood of kings in you, Ruidian mixed-blood. And there’s no shame in dreaming, or ascending past humble origins!” His gaze hardened. “But know your place. Unless you can declare before me right now your royal heritage… you’re journey is at an end. Be grateful that you even made it this far, and unlocked privileges most can only dream of.”

“You have accomplished that which few would even fare, brave cultivator. Please allow us serve you as you so richly deserve,” whispered a husky voice as the pair of voluptuous young servants by Peng’s side sunk into curtsies that revealed far too much with their qipaos dampened by steam and the spiritual waters now covering so much of their torsos before rising upright from their curtsies, kohl-lined eyes meeting Alex’s in challenge as pearl white teeth bit crimson lips, the pair flaunting treasures behind silken wrappings kissing flesh so close as to leave no secret hidden, and Alex’s smirk instantly froze to sudden alarm.

Realizing what he was missing. What he should have noted straight off.

He saw no sign of the steps leading further up, no glimmer of Golden steps and the glorious swirling heavens just beyond. Nothing but darkness and shadow. Which could only mean one thing.

And the girls, even more voluptuous than all the beauties below, yet looking so damned nervous.

They weren’t here to seduce him.

They were here as a distraction.

“There’s just one thing that troubles me, young Ruidian, besides the sheer impossibility of your ascension. There should have been hostesses there to greet you at each basin, and yet not one has returned with aspirants drunk on the sweet nectars of wine and passion. In fact, they haven’t returned at all. And when my men went to check, they were nowhere to be found.” Peng flashed an ice-cold smile. “Of course I commend you for a feat well done and look forward to rewarding you as you so richly deserve. But these are questions that I fear I must get an answer to before you will be permitted to attend the revels below. I’m sure you understand.”

Alex’s heart began to pound when he tasted death in the air. “Yinzi, Hao Chan, stay down!”

But it was already too late when Hao Chan sprung up by his side, a challenging glare in her eyes as a giggle echoed through the basin when shadows flickered and lurched.

“You! It’s you!” Roared a voice hidden in inky dark shadows in the rear of the basin.

For just a heartbeat, Alex froze, stunned by the sheer horror of it.

A foe who had actually escaped the inescapable. Furious golden eyes forever seared into Alex’s memory.

A single split second was all it took to process the worst possible coincidence, to scream silent warning to his beloved… and

MOVE!

But it was already too late.

Li Jaw-Long, the Red Prince’s fearsome general who possessed at least one true gold technique in his arsenal, was here. And so hungry for Alex’s head that he was more than happy to cut right through his own men, as evidenced by the hideous shaft of golden fire that seared right through Peng’s Silver tier body like a laser. The frightened girls didn’t even have time to blink before they were cleaved in half as well. Instincts screaming, Alex was already moving with desperate panicked intensity, when the hideous plasma blast came for him.

Never had Alex moved so fast, in terror and fury, when Hao Chan’s cry abruptly cut off, Alex’s wild eyes having only the hideously brilliant plasma beam to lock onto as it cut through the air.

A shower of rainbows arcing over Alex even as he began to move.

Already knowing he was too late.

Already knowing he was a dead man, as Hao Chan’s unspeakable agony became his own.

Bullrush!

Bullrush!

Black--

Alex blinked through the air, darting and diving like mad to miss the devastating beam of golden light tearing through the darkness, his only saving grace being that the inky blackness was clearly as much a hindrance for a roaring Li Jaw-Long as it would have been for Alex, had he not had Qi Perception allowing him to sense the marble pillars, pilings, and walls that he bounced between as the massive plasma beam tore through the entire chamber, Alex ignoring the screaming agony searing through his flesh as best he could.

YOU have successfully switched to Dark Qi Metabolism!

His muscles burning with agony beyond pain as he demanded full muscular exertion on Dark Qi alone. But he had not choice as he caught a glimpse of the furious madness in his enemy’s eyes.

Then the chamber lit up brightly once more.

The golden steps revealed.

As the enslaved kitsune wearing a collar radiating infernal magics who had been controlling shadow abruptly collapsed when Li Jaw’s golden beam sliced her completely in half.

Yet all Li Jaw-Long did was laugh like the madman he was while Alex darted as close as he dared, springing about his foe crackling with dire energies, sensing his own life flowing away, having no time to heal anything, and knowing that if he stopped his frantic bouncing for even a heartbeat, it was all over anyway.

As his gleefully cackling enemy knew just as well as he.

“Soon I will have vengeance for the slaughter of my men, worm! For the death of my nephew! For the insult to my—“

The Gold Wujen’s eyes abruptly widened when the air flashed in a shower of rainbows, and he was sent tumbling through the air with a spinning heel kick that had once shattered marble stone.

And that was before Yinzi had shot up the ranks of Bronze, now glowing with the power of newly awakened Silver.

“Black Swan!” she screamed, before haunted eyes locked with Alex’s own. “Hao Chan’s dying! That bastard cut her in half! And you’re missing your arm and half your chest!”

“Duck!” Alex screamed with his mind alone, because Yinzi was right. He was dying, and it didn’t even matter.

Not with the horrific reality of what had flashed across Alex’s sight when first he had Bullrushed, what he had been so desperate not to see.

The monster even now blasting the air with beams of plasma, for all that he had been sent hurtling against the far stone pillars, had just cut down the only thing Alex truly valued in this bitter cruel world.

The only thing keeping him sane at all, as General Shalu and his vile family roared with laughter in the heavens above.

“The game ends here and now, WiFu!” The bloated, spite-filled god that Alex hated above all others cackled with glee. “Your final piece about to be destroyed, but not before he gets to watch his beloved bitch die in his arms once more!”

The words became tinny and distorted as Alex’s ears roared with the furious pounding of his heart, Bullrushing forward so fast that even the Gold about to cut Yinzi in half lurched back in surprise when Alex was in front of his face, Dark Qi covered left palm effortlessly piercing his foe’s defenses, slamming down the wujen’s plasma-wielding arm. The pool abruptly erupted in superheated steam as the beam tore through the water… before Li Jaw cackled in surprised laughter when Alex’s right arm attempted to end his foe for all time, only to smack the wujen with a skeletonized limb that was nothing more than pearlescent bone.

“You’re missing an arm, fool! Ha! I finally got the best of you, you cursed wretch!” Li Jaw roared as he whipped out with the arm Alex hadn’t pinned, now glowing and about to unleash yet another beam of lethal plasma.

“Oh, the look in your eyes when I took the life from your wench, and you soon to follow! For I have two arms, fool, and now you only have—“

SOUL CLEAVE!

For the barest instant, Plasma scattered over Alex’s cheek in a splash of rainbow hues, instantly flash boiling both his eyes and disintegrating half his face.

Gold Swan kung fu successfully scatters Gold tier attack!

Titanic damage mitigated 3 additional tiers!

Prismatic Bone saves versus disintegration!

You have saved versus sudden death!

But fortunately he didn’t need his eyes to see the priceless secrets his squirming foe was even now trying to hide from him, Alex sparing only a heartbeat to roar in his mind for Yinzi’s sake before embracing his darkest discipline, ignoring the desperate writhings of a panicked soul that had lived so many just and honorable lives before, the beloved scion of a dragon god even now begging the horrid avatar of death to let his scion go.

Spirit Crane Strike fails to claim free Lesser Card of Fate!

That all sins would be forgiven, if only…

Spirit Crane Strike successfully tears free Rank 5 Golden Soul Stone!

Warning! Qi Perception detects previous lives of dignity and virtue!

Warning disregarded.

Soul stone claimed!

You have dared the forbidden! Your soul blackens with the karmic weight of golden potential torn free of its rightful host for all time!

You have disregarded your internal code of only harvesting corrupted souls! Your corruption is now absolute.

Candidacy for Honorable Hellion has been revoked!

You are now considered one of the Fallen; the wings of your soul are now so blackened with karmic debt that purgatory can be your only reward!

Cleaved Fates card in effect!

All karmic ties have been severed.

Your karmic virtue has been reset to zero!

Note! Divine conflict between you and the Lesser Deity Long Li has been upgraded to Profound Enmity!

Long Li now seeks your destruction above all others for killing a favored scion and stealing his eternal soul stone for all time, in addition to daring to fuse the dragon god’s blood with your own!

Fog of War is now in effect!

Neither Long Li nor any other deity hostile to your cause can detect your whereabouts within the Golden Realms.

“Hao Chan!” Alex sobbed, though it was barely a whisper, so ravaged and ruined his body was, Panheu and the others gazing at Alex with what could only be called horror as he desperately claimed the top half of Hao Chan’s body, even now looking about with confused eyes, before fastening upon Alex’s own, flashing a breathy smile.

“Finally my knight in shining armor comes to my rescue. If only I hadn’t...”

Alex sobbed, Qi Perception revealing so many secrets that his actual eyes no longer could, holding her tight, sensing that they were both running out of time.

“Eternal Fox!” A terrified Yinzi screamed. “Use Eternal Fox! And the experience point pool! The blinking light in our shared interface! Come on, kung fu sister, Alex explained it all to us!”

Yinzi was practically shrieking even as Jidihu wordlessly wrapped her sobbing daughter in her arms as she and the others carefully huddled beside the exit, well out of the basin’s waters.

Waters now clearly tainted by the mercury water of the River of Souls.

Alex flashed a bitter smile. “It won’t work,” he whispered. “That bastard Li Jaw-Long actually had a Lesser Bronze Tier nemesis card linked to his patron, so I couldn’t pluck it free. Thanks to the dragon throwing his own tile in, we’re suffering wounds that are now pretty damn hard to heal.”

Alex spat up blood with his laughter, choking off in a sob as he held his Shuddering Hao Chan close. “I had to use all my party experience just stabilizing the pair of us. But as it stands, I think we only have a handful of minutes, at best,” Alex said with an exhausted smile as Shalu howled with mirth so loud Alex could see even his friends’ eyes widening with horrified awareness.

“Finally, you goddamned fox! Plans within plans, schemes within schemes! His punishment for claiming Long Wang’s hammer and destroying his vessel was the enmity of yet another dragon god that I knew would do is part to see this rat crushed out of existence! And he has! It ends here and now! Finally, you and your cursed disciple will be out of our hair for all time!”

Alex flashed a fierce grin, locking eyes, the only organs he had successfully managed to heal, with Ning Jing’s own once more.

“I took a full moral inventory of myself. Do you want to know what I discovered?”

Ning Jing slowly shook her head, eyes filled with wordless pity for the dying pair before her.

Before her eyes widened with horrified awe when the ground began to tremble and shake, and the droning sound of Alex’s super cable of spiritual energy… as vast as the heavenly skies above, began to resonate in the physical realm as the basin began to froth and boil, Alex, Hao Chan, and Yinzi lighting up a fierce brilliant Gold.

Almost as bright as the golden core Alex now held for all to see.

“I discovered that I’m a ruthless bastard, every bit as dark and vicious as the gods so eager to kill me above. Every bit as dark and twisted as the face I catch glaring back at me in the mirror! And I won’t stop. No matter how many assholes get in my way, no matter how much fucking collateral damage there is, if someone threatens me or the people I love, I WILL NOT STOP UNTIL ALL MY FOES ARE DEAD!”

Alex began to laugh them, laugh as the air filled with the surprised pain-filled howls echoing through the heavens above, laugh as he channeled all the furious might of a thousand lifetimes worth of deep gold cultivation sufficient to melt away even a Bronze Card’s curse with the tiniest fraction of its power, pouring the rest into speeding up the spin of his impossibly massive supercable, taking savage delight as his nemesis continued to pay six sevenths of the bill.

Soul Link Card is now bound to Unorthodox card titled: Jade Queens Upon the Board of Fate.

Hao Chan has been successfully bound to your cards!

Yinzi has been successfully bound to your cards!

Your queens are protected by Fog of War!

Your queens are cursed by Cleaved Fates!

You have successfully claimed all injuries suffered by party member: Hao Chan!

You have successfully claimed all injuries suffered by party member: Yinzi!

Your companions are now sitting beside you in the River of Souls!

You have successfully evolved both party-members’ Water Walking skills!

Party members now have Soul Stride! Both of your companions may now freely walk upon the River of Souls!

There was so much Alex wanted to say as Yinzi and Hao Chan’s faces locked in rictuses of rapture, glowing as fierce and bright as streams of plasma themselves, as the power of two indomitable rivers and countless lifetimes’ worth of potency roared through them both. But all Alex could do was howl with bliss that bordered upon agony, the same as the girls by his side, refusing to lose either treasure to the monsters who so clearly wanted them all dead.

Yinzi and Hao Chan’s bright Silver cores soon took on a rich deep luster, Alex sensing no strain of any sort, so well suited was the Pearlescent Path of pure compression to the madness Alex dared. His Jade Queens had endured Jupiterean pressures and emerged all the stronger for it, all three of them trading fierce dark grins as their sworn enemy howled and screamed in the heavens above.

“Hao Chan is healed. By WiFu’s whiskers, the girl is healed!” Ning Jing sobbed.

“But look what he does to our daughter!” Jidihu gasped before Ning Jing’s solemn nod, both of them squinting at the golden glow.

“He dares that which would destroy any mortal. That which nearly destroyed me,” Panheu said with a rueful chuckle. “And look how they blossom, look how they thrive! Our shared daughter now glows with the power of a deep Silver, under pressures that would have destroyed any of us of us in the blink of an eye.”

Congratulations! You have successfully increased the angular momentum of Divine Tier Super-cable by 5 Gold Ranks! (Your sworn foe has been forced to donate an additional 30 Gold Ranks!)

After coming so close to losing the girl he would have died for, it was all Alex could do to keep from crashing to his knees and sobbing in Hao Chan’s arms when he took a deep breath, opening his eyes once more as he left that transcendent state so close to ascension and oblivion as the howls and screams of his foes, along with the delighted chuckles of his bemused patron, grew faint and distant, the assemblage of outraged and furious gods slowly fading to the mist of far-off dream.

After chortling with such dark glee for Hao Chan’s death, Alex wanted nothing more than for his foes to pay like never before.

“Not here, Disciple. You dare not ascend any further. Not lest you’d destroy the city you’re so eager to save.”

Alex swallowed the fierce bitter ache in his chest… fighting far harder than he’d like to admit against the writhing card in his chest to force his head to bow in deference to one of the very few he’d ever call master.

“Very good, Disciple. But no need to quench your killing fury just yet. Think of where you are. Think of just how far you still have to go!”

And much to the dismay of the elders gazing on, the basin erupted with discordant laughter as Alex snapped back to himself once more, gazing at the two girls peering back at him with dreamy smiles, expressions filled with rapturous wonder.

“How do you feel?” Alex softly asked the shivering kitsune gazing so intently back at him.

“I feel like I’m bursting with so much power! Like I’m a bubble in a dream, and could float right up to the heavens if I chose!” Yinzi crowed, even as Jidihu flinched with dismay, raising her arm desperately from the shore.

“Please, daughter. Please don’t leave us so soon!”

Alex quickly tightened his grip on Yinzi’s arm, before blinking with surprise, realizing that a transformation had indeed occurred, when Yinzi effortlessly slipped free of his grip.

And the power of her body wasn’t lost on any of the experienced trainers among them.

“Saint’s mercy, our daughter is now stronger than Alex!” Hissed Ning Jing, gazing at her child with no small amount of awe. “Just how deep was their Silver ascension?”

Tan Wu was shaking his head with wonder. “Such a thing… such a wonder I have never seen before. Even the most powerful cultivation pills couldn’t see a Bronze all the way to Deep Silver, not even at the cost of their cultivation and perhaps their life after a single glorious season.”

“Only in the wildest tales would a youling bard even dare to describe such a feat,” Jidihu whispered. “A blessing that only the gods above could grant.”

And an eyeblink later, a chuckling Yinzi was twirling before her awed parents, Alex’s desperate words almost too late.

“Yinzi, no! You’re still covered in the River of Souls! None of us dare touch mortal flesh until dawn’s first light, or we’ll be the death of everyone we love!”

Alex’s words froze Yinzi where she stood, Ning Jing lurching back with a surprised hiss as a tearful Yinzi slowly backed away, stepping effortlessly across the silvery waters.