He needed an answer, desperately, but not now.

It has been decades since the last time Li Qi found himself in a situation so troubling as this.

On one side, he needed to take care of the girl who was very likely to be chosen as a direct disciple of the monarch. His orders were clear:

Convince her to accept the offer by enlightening her on her true potential, but do not resort to force. When she agrees, bring her to the founding planet as an ordinary core disciple under your tutelage, master Qi.

This had been the message from the monarch, and so far Li Qi had not been able to accomplish the very first of his task, to convince the girl.

Unlike what the monarch had assumed, the girl did not look quite delighted by the prospect of being recruited to the Jade Forest as a core disciple.

"Whatever this true potential of mine may be, my heart desires to pursue the end of the road I walk right now. Your promise, sir, is grander than what I can imagine, but I seek simply the fulfillment of what I can imagine. Once that is accomplished, I'll happily follow you to your sect."

Her answer to his offer had made things difficult for him.

Yuen Zhou was a bit of an oddity for someone so young. But that was one of the reasons why the monarch had expressed his interest, so Li Qi could not fault her outlook.

But their time was running out. The Lightbreaker on the seventh planet of this solar system was almost ready to be assembled. This planet would hardly be safe after it was used. The injured Li Qi would be discovered in the first raid.

Yuen Zhou's dream to reach the pinnacle of her current cultivation technique was going to be nipped in the bud by the time the second or third raid hits this planet.

"Shall I tell her?" Li Qi seriously considered the question.

But his understanding of Yuen Zhou's character was enough to let him predict her reaction to his warning.

She would not believe him, and rather, would completely lose the trust he had managed to consolidate in her heart already.

The monarch's last message had set off a storm in Li Qi's heart. If Lord Crimsontide had truly managed to escape, the current era of peace, the status quo among the giant factions and clans might be overturned brutally. The seeds of the first cosmic war since the Great Sundering were ready to bloom. Lord Crimsontide could trigger the final spark so simply as by just existing outside his prison.

On another side, the damages caused by his injury would grow more fatal if he continued to stay in this place without proper medical care. To understand the root of the problem, Li Qi knew that he needed to grab the boy called Han Xuhan and take him back to his planet where the facilities were good enough to unearth what went wrong during his attack on the boy's soul.

But this boy was a close friend of Yuen Zhou. She was depending on him to deliver the weight map of their transportation spell. Earlier, this meant nothing to him. He hadn't even known why she wanted the map. But now...

Her plan might just save both of their skin easily. Li Qi wanted the map even more than she did, now. Several times, he had considered robbing the map from the sect master's residence. Each time he had given up after weighing the pros and cons.

It was not a particularly difficult task for him to snatch the map. It was, however, difficult to hide the fact that someone far above the power level of anybody in this sect had taken the map. At least he would not be able to hide it from the perceptive sect master whose background spelled trouble.

Xuan Zi would know immediately. And he would definitely alert the factions opposing the monarch. The neutral territory rule was inviolable, at least that was the ideal every faction maintained publicly. Li Qi's entry here could not be brought to light, or it would bring a disaster to the monarch's faction, as well as Li Qi's entire clan.

For now, Li Qi chose to wait till the end of this tournament these sects were participating in. Yuen Zhou's plans were not clear to him. But he could believe that she wanted to earn a big boost to her cultivation.

It didn't matter. His own plan was simple enough to execute if the circumstances the girl had predicted came true.

"Han Xuhan...let me see your capability." Li Qi awaited in his new hiding place, a small cavity inside one of the giant rocks that formed the floating island of Crimson Snow Sect.

* * * *

"Hey, seriously, what's going on between you and sister Zhou?" Xiao Wu nagged at Han Xuhan's back once more as Zhanxian rushed to his backyard. Han Xuhan delivered another one of his mysterious, annoying laughs and said decided not to torment him further.

"Nothing. She's a business partner. Of course she'd be in touch with me regularly. What got you so worked up? Don't tell me you've taken a fancy to martial sister...."

"Oh no, I was just worried that I'd be the only single dog left on this mountain peak. I'm okay with being a loser, but at least I'm not the only remaining loser! It's relieving to hear that's not the case."

"....." Han Xuhan felt hurt. His own martial brother was rooting for him to live as a single dog! This unforgiving world of cultivation has truly molded these children into ruthless devils.

"Papa! Uncle Wooo! I wanna play peek-a-boo!"

Hai Yin Zhe popped out of Xuhan's right sleeve and sprung toward Xiao Wu's face like a coiled arrow.

As a cultivator at the peak of the edge of the fifth layer, Xiao Wu had the reflexes to slap the spine off little Zhe's body mid-flight, and he also had the mental dexterity to NOT do that in a panic.

Hai Yin Zhe splattered on Xiao Wu's torso and bit on his collar with his mouth in order to not fall off. Xiao Wu gingerly put his arms below the snake's body as a safer landing space.

"Peek-a-boo? Hah! I've got a new, better game in mind today, little Zhe. Come on, come on!" Han Xuhan gestured at Xiao Wu to carry little Zhe over to a large rock nearby while he sprinted back into the house to get the necessary equipment for the 'game'.

Little Zhe squirmed around in Xiao Wu's embrace, hissing and squealing in excitement. The little one loved anything that bore the adjective 'new'.

"Okay, to play this game, first we need to put some makeup on you!" Han Xuhan said in a sugary voice as soon as he returned outside and saw Xiao Wu placing little Zhe on top of the rock. Carrying a small pouch emitting clanking sounds, he rushed over.

"Makeup?" Little Zhe repeated after him, probably wondering what the word meant.

"What kind of game is this?" Xiao Wu asked suspiciously. He hadn't heard of any games that required a snake in makeup.

"The best kind, of course," Han Xuhan said soothingly, patting the restless snake on the back. Taking out a tiny needle from the pouch he had retrieved just now.

"Face down, ass up- I mean, face down, tail up, little Zhe!"

"....." Xiao Wu looked lost as little Zhe obediently followed the order.

"Hmm, first the tip," Han Xuhan muttered as he cautiously grabbed the tip of the snake's tailbone and observed his own handiwork. It had been just weeks ago when he had been putting his heart and soul behind the construction of this tailbone.

"Brother Wu, hold the tail here, just an inch or two below the tip," he directed the thick-fingered youth as he took out the second piece of equipment, a very small hammer.

"You're trying to create those dents you put on Zhanxian and little Tian, aren't you?" Xiao Wu said, gripping the tail and steadying his hold.

"Correct."

TING!

The first blow landed on the needle, driving its other end past the tip of little Zhe's tail and creating a groove wide enough to fit a hair.

Xiao Wu's eyes widened as he noticed a flash of blue in the impact zone.

"Qi? Why is there qi in its tail?" Xiao Wu enquired in surprise.

"The qi is in the needle. It's my qi," Han Xuhan answered, landing the second slam without hesitation.

TING!

"This needle...is this a treasure of some sort?"

"Not exactly a treasure. It's from the Snow Thread Mountain Peak. They invented a mechanism to make their needle-weaving skills more efficient and cost-effective. Some of them even use modified versions of this as their weapons."

"What's the mechanism?" Xiao Wu's curiosity was palpable.

"There are some sorts of complicated arrays and whatnot inside the body of the needle. Don't ask me how they work, I'd like to know, but they don't like to tell.

Basically, the qi entered into the needle carries the property of glue when it comes out through the other end and fixes any of the unintended damage done to the target surface so long as you direct the flow of the qi with your mind, just like controlling normal qi.

In this case, little Zhe's bones are too tiny and brittle to sustain the grooves I'll be putting there. This needle constantly fortifies the sides of the groove with the displaced fragments of the bone, creating very stable grooves.

I faced the same trouble with Tun Shi Tian, whose bones are mostly hollow and very light. Good thing I had the idea to ask around for tools that might help. Found it easily."

TING! TING! TING!

His explanation went alongside his work. Little Zhe had already grown impatient, the rest of his body beginning to squirm around. This was going to be a tiring task even with the extremely useful magical instrument.

"Whoa!" Xiao Wu exclaimed. "This mechanism

sounds too unorthodox to be implemented in weapons! I need to see how they fight!"

"Yeah, me too. Guess we'll see soon. This is a tournament we're in right now, after all."

"I almost forgot that." Xiao Wu chuckled. "By the way, how much did this needle cost? I could use that. My clothes need to be patched up pretty often and my mother isn't here to do it...." he trailed off, looking awkward.

"Four Hundred spirit stones," Han Xuhan answered blankly.

TING!

"Forget I ever asked." Xiao Wu's awkwardness was overshadowed by frustration.

"Aiya~ what can I say, I'm okay with being a loser, but at least I can afford the things I need." Han Xuhan exacted his revenge viciously, mercilessly.