When they return from my Inner World, they return to their senses in the same body of water where they had broken through into the Core Formation realm.

And they are not alone.

Completely naked, on the other side of the basin, stands Lady Yue, her skin glistening in the moonlight, as she faces the other way and squeezes the water out of her black hair.

Even though I have been paying attention to Wu Yulan and Lan Xiaohui in my Inner World, I left behind a sliver of consciousness to observe my surroundings. Even so, this is the second time that Lady Yue has managed to sneak up on me, somehow. If only for this reason, Lady Yue is the most dangerous entity in the world to me. Her ability to remain undetected, even with my absolute perception, is something that goes against the entire corpus of my knowledge of this world.

Wu Yulan and Lan Xiaohui are stunned speechless by Lady Yue’s impeccable beauty and pale form. Her skin is so pure and perfect that it looks like it might glimmer like diamond sand in the sun. Like this, completely naked and only her upper body emerging from the water, she looks like a fairy that descended from the Heavens — at least, that is the sentiment with which Lan Xiaohui and Wu Yulan regard the woman.

Other than the obvious signs of her immense cultivation and attainment, I find nothing exquisite or appealing about her appearance.

Lady Yue glances at the two over her shoulder, regarding them briefly from the corner of her eye, before she looks away once more and continues the cleaning ritual of her hair.

Wu Yulan is the first to break the silence. “Auntie Yue, how long have you been here?”

The mature woman before them pauses briefly, and then continues draining the water from her dark locks. “A couple of days,” she says, with a hint of amusement in her tone. “I didn’t want to interrupt your… meditation.”

The manner in which she says “meditation” raises alarm in Lan Xiaohui’s heart. It doesn’t surprise me, however. I have long suspected that Lady Yue is aware of me, and possibly many of my capabilities. It does not trouble me at all if Lady Yue knows about my Inner World, or my [World Eater] breathing method, or the countless ways that I can overturn the common sense of this world.

What makes me afraid of Lady Yue is the fact that I do not understand why she does not want to steal me from Lan Xiaohui. And fear may be a strong word to describe my wariness, but if my sub-routine told me that even such a strong term was inadequate to describe it, I would not complain.

What kind of creature is an entity that even I cannot understand or predict?

After a moment of silence, Lady Yue turns around and approaches the two. After she is finished with her cleaning ritual, the water no longer clings to her body or her hair, and simply slides off.

“I see you’ve made quite a bit of progress in your cultivation,” she says, her lips maintaining a neutral smile on her expression. “And I even detect traces of the Moon in your hearts. You must’ve cultivated the Empty Moon Prana to the second or third layer. Impressive.”

She settles in between the two and sinks down into the water, until only three heads and shoulders remain outside of the water. Like this, they all appear to be similar in age, with Lady Yue appearing the oldest of the three. Yet, Lady Yue is likewise older than the other two put together and multiplied by ten.

“Auntie Yue, you know about Empty Moon Prana?” Wu Yulan asks, completely unaware of the undercurrent in the situation that is causing Lan Xiaohui’s heart to beat madly.

“Of course,” Lady Yue says. “My ancient Yue clan gave it to the Galaxy Sword sect. We have somewhat of an agreement, you could say.”

Wu Yulan smiles, excited about Lady Yue’s words and the meaning behind them. “What kind of agreement?”

Lady Yue looks to the quiet Lan Xiaohui and smiles. Her hands rise out of the water, and stroke the cheek of each girl. “I will tell you about that some other time,” she says. “We have something else to discuss.”

Lan Xiaohui half-closes her eyes at Lady Yue’s touch, and slowly nods. In her heart, I sense only a great deal of acceptance. It is not that she is infatuated with Lady Yue, or even particularly interested in her, but that she has already decided to sell her soul and body to Lady Yue for many reasons, the greatest of which is the promise and power to kill Yu Shun.

I understand Lan Xiaohui’s decision. Who is Lady Yue? She easily defeated a Grand Elder of the Seven Killing Swords sect, casually gave away a powerful cultivation method, and never even made a move to obtain me. Elder Qin could offer the entire inheritance of the Galaxy Sword sect to Lan Xiaohui, and in Lan Xiaohui, such a thing could not compare to what Lady Yue could offer her. Whether she is right or wrong about this particular matter is not important, because Lady Yue offered Lan Xiaohui a life beyond revenge.

A life she could spend with me, seeking the Dao.

That alone is enough for Lan Xiaohui to agree to anything and everything Lady Yue desires.

“While you were meditating, I treated your friend with the Wood Essences that I and Zhu Ye managed to obtain,” Lady Yue explains. “It is not enough to cure her, but it should prolong her life.”

With those words, Lady Yue looks at each one of them in turn and smiles. “Refining her body as if she is an alchemical cauldron containing medicine was quite a daring idea, and it was the correct choice. Should I even ask who came up with this solution, or how you even obtained a refining flame capable of doing this?”

Both Wu Yulan and Lan Xiaohui wear a conflicted expression of guilt and reluctance.

Lady Yue simply chuckles and runs her fingers through their hair. “It doesn’t matter, you will tell me when you are ready,” she says and smiles. “Right now, Yun Fei might be able to awaken for brief periods of time. Perhaps even cultivate to normalize her energy. At the very least, she shouldn’t be in so much pain anymore. You’ve not only saved her life, but possibly even recovered her future. However, this is not my area of expertise, so what the future holds for her, I no longer know, but it is not restricted to only death or misery anymore.”

Wu Yulan and Lan Xiaohui smile at Lady Yue’s words and nod.

“However, it is not over yet,” Lady Yue says. “She still needs to rebuild her roots. Luckily, I know where to find the medicine to accomplish this.”

Lan Xiaohui’s eyes widen at those words, and she leans forward. “Please, Lady Yue! I will do anything to obtain it!”

Lady Yue chuckles and looks at my owner. “Don’t be so hasty, little lily,” she says. “It is not that simple. Do you know of the Sky Continent Martial Conference?”

Lan Xiaohui shakes her head.

“It is the tournament held by the Sky Dragon Alliance, no?” Wu Yulan asks.

Lady Yue nods to Wu Yulan. “That is correct. The top ten Inner Disciple cultivators compete in the Martial Conference as a way to maintain good relations and also measure each others’ strengths. There is more to it, but that is the general gist of it.”

Lan Xiaohui nods along to Lady Yue’s words.

“The first place reward is medicine of the Emperor grade,” Lady Yue says. “And I know that they have a Rainbow-Colored Rebirth Lotus. On its own, it can vastly strengthen the spiritual roots of anyone who consumes it, but if combined with an Immortal grade spiritual herb with a strong Yin attribute, it can rebuild the spiritual roots entirely.”

Lan Xiaohui tilts her head down, considering Lady Yue’s words. After a moment, she asks, “How do we compete in the Martial Conference?”

Lady Yue chuckles. “As I’ve said, only the top ten Inner Disciples of each sect are allowed to compete. It is best you ask your Elders how to enter their ranks,” she says and looks at them again, stroking their cheeks. “Nothing in this world is free, not even kindness. Never forget that. Whether or not your friend lives, I will let you decide and prove to me that my efforts are not wasted.”

“Ah, you are leaving already, Auntie Yue?” Wu Yulan asks.

The mature cultivator nods and then climbs out of the pool, donning her dress in one smooth, Qi-assisted motion. “My business here is finished. The rest is up to you.”

In a split second, and in a burst of sound, Lady Yue takes off into the sky, on a sword made entirely of Qi.