The door clicked shut behind Qian Shanyi, and she rested her back against it, slowly sliding down to the ground. Her saber dug into her back, but frankly, she welcomed the discomfort.

"Master?" Linghui Mei said, getting up from her bed, the worry plain in her voice. She must have been meditating to take the edge off her worries. "What happened?"

"It's fine," Qian Shanyi said, waving her off with a tired hand. Her eyelids slid closed. "I just… need a minute."

She needed more than a minute - she needed a vacation a week long, but one had to remain realistic.

She wanted to scream, but she couldn't. Even this little show of weakness had to be carefully mediated - to fit her story, to fit what she thought Lei Kou knew and what she thought he thought of her. He knew Svarggam Xiaochun was her friend, and they both knew that without Qian Shanyi's intervention their meeting would have ended differently. She could afford a minute of stillness, but only just.

Lei Kou, Lei Kou, abominable Lei Kou… The fucker was like a tumor upon her entire mind, squeezing out every other thought, suffocating by the sheer volume of attention he demanded. He was always watching, always present, and so she had to think through every little thing thrice, lest something small give her away…

And if she was doing it alone, she would have managed easily - but with others in the picture… She left Svarggam Xiaochun to attend to the man, she had to, but now she had to live with the knowledge that at any moment that woman might fuck it all up, and the life of the illustrious Qian Shanyi would end with no more ceremony than a fly being swatted away. And if he ever learned what the formation beneath his feet meant, then he would know for certain that she tried to assassinate him. There would be no getting out of it, no lie or trick that could save her.

I just have to finish it quickly. Only one more witness left.

"Our Lord had graced me with the honour of being responsible for his other servants. I brought in one to serve our Lord his meals, and she made a mistake…" Qian Shanyi raised one tired hand, and made a dismissive little wave. "But I handled it. Everything is fine."

"I was worried. You were gone for several hours."

"I was busy. But this is a good thing. When a whale breaches the surface, even a little barnacle stuck to its side gets to see the sun."

Linghui Mei nodded, though clearly without any real feeling. "So… What now?"

What indeed?

"Now I need to finish questioning the other cultivators on the sandpiercer," Qian Shanyi said, pushing herself back onto her feet. She gave Linghui Mei a critical look. "And find some entertainment for our Lord's meal, I think. How is your dancing?"

Linghui Mei swallowed and quickly shook her head. "I don't think I am ready, master."

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Qian Shanyi's eyes slid towards the other bed, where Wang Yonghao was snoring quietly. How he managed to fall asleep under these circumstances, she would never know. Perhaps he was simply used to being pressured by such deities.

"Very well, but help me with the census," she said, returning to Linghui Mei. "I'll write the questions for you."

Just one more witness. It will all be over soon.

Qian Shanyi already knew where Zhou Xiaoyan's cabin was, but heading there right away would have been suspicious - if she was taking a census, why would she skip other cultivators on her way? The best she could do was to stack the deck, hand off enough cultivators to Linghui Mei that Zhou Xiaoyan would, naturally, move up her list. The wasted work grated on her, but fortunately, she had time: when she left Svarggam Xiaochun, they agreed that dinner would be served in exactly one hour.

On the surface, it was merely an agreement over scheduling, a way to make sure Qian Shanyi came back when she was required. In reality, it was a way for them to coordinate the tribunal.

They needed to bring all the witnesses before Lei Kou at the exact same time. Svarggam Xiaochun had been planted right by his side, but at any moment, she might be sent off to handle some minor task - such was the duty of a servant, after all. Lei Kou, too, might decide to tour the sandpiercer - it was a wonder that he did not already. If Qian Shanyi brought her third witness when one of the other pieces was not in place, this would be all for nothing.

But there was one time when she could be sure that both Lei Kou and Svarggam Xiaochun would be in the dining car: when food was being served. The upcoming dinner would have to be when she made her play.

She had one hour to arrange the third witness. If she failed, they would have to wait until the morning, and that could be… deadly. If anyone else had entered the dining car - whether invited by Lei Kou or otherwise - then their reaction at seeing the formation might give the whole game away.

Thoughts like these circled through Qian Shanyi's mind as she finally reached the door to the cabin of Zhou Xiaoyan and Su Mengyao and knocked lightly on the wooden door - no different from any other cabin she had already passed, except for the number engraved in copper on its face.

The door opened almost right away, revealing Su Mengyao's worried face. She was a tall and voluptuous woman, an equal to Qian Shanyi, and tended to dress in light and flowing clothing. This time she wore summery yellow robes, with an equally light overcoat tossed over her shoulders - one that could be turned into a scarf to cover her head from the dust.

In the crack of the door behind her, Qian Shanyi could see Zhou Xiaoyan, getting out of bed and quickly tossing her robes on. Unlike her girlfriend, she was a full head shorter than Qian Shanyi, and tended to wear her hair wrapped up into a tight bun.

"Fellow cultivator Xing?" Su Mengyao said, glancing around the empty corridor. Zhou Xiaoyan came up behind her, putting a hand around her lover's shoulders. "What is this about?"

With the suns having set, it wouldn't have been unusual for the cabin's inhabitants to go to sleep - but judging by their faces, it seemed neither of them had rested. With Lei Kou's spiritual energy choking out the air, any hint of sleep had fled from the sandpiercer, and so far, every single cultivator she'd sought to question had already been awake.

Except for Wang Yonghao, of course.

"Fellow cultivators," Qian Shanyi said with a bow. "May I come in? I only have a few questions."

Su Mengyao glanced back at Zhou Xiaoyan and stepped aside. "Oh, of course."

Their cabin was a mirror image of the one Qian Shanyi and her companions shared - though judging by the state of the beds, only one had been used. Qian Shanyi sat down on the unused bed, letting Su Mengyao and Zhou Xiaoyan settle down opposite her, hands held together.

"I am afraid that this is not a social visit," Qian Shanyi admitted, putting a severe mask upon her face. "I would advise you to listen to me patiently until the end. I represent the duke you both have already witnessed. His majesty wishes to -"

As soon as those poisoned words left her lips, all colour left the faces of the two women. Su Mengyao even sprung to her feet, trying to interpose herself between Zhou Xiaoyan and her.

"You are with him?" Su Mengyao hissed. "With that -"

"Quiet, Ah Mengyao!" Zhou Xiaoyan said, immediately pulling her lover back down to the bed. But her eyes did not look any less frightened.

Qian Shanyi leveled a glare at Su Mengyao. At this point, she had dealt with close to two dozen people reacting to her words - some would freeze, while others would blurt out the first thing that came into their mind. Su Mengyao, clearly, was one of the latter. It was why Qian Shanyi began her speech as she did, to try to preempt this useless panic - only it did not seem to have worked all that well.

At least Zhou Xiaoyan seemed to be made of sterner stuff.

"I would advise you to keep your opinions to yourselves, fellow cultivators," Qian Shanyi said, still glaring at Su Mengyao. "My Lord demands respect, and his hearing is known to be beyond measure."

She flicked herself slightly on the edge of her ear. That was about as much as she could do without outright telling them to shut their mouths.

Surprisingly, it seemed to work. Zhou Xiaoyan patted Su Mengyao on the hand, and the other woman settled down somewhat. "What do you want from us?" Zhou Xiaoyan asked, voice tense and curt.

"Just some basic information," Qian Shanyi explained, pulling out her notes. She hardly needed them, but the less reason Lei Kou had to wonder about her mental abilities, the better. "Your realms, your cultivation law, your constitutions. Nothing secret." She looked up at Zhou Xiaoyan. "If you are lucky, then perhaps my lord will bless you by making you his disciples."

"Disciples?" Zhou Xiaoyan asked in confusion. "I work for the ministry of agriculture."

"I am sure that my lord will work out some arrangement with the Empire," Qian Shanyi said, making an incredibly casual gesture. With a flick of her spiritual energy, she sent a small pencil she borrowed from the Steel Torrent Sect into her hand and gestured towards her notes. "Shall we go on with the questions?"

Zhou Xiaoyan frowned slightly, which was exactly what Qian Shanyi was going for. There was no possible arrangement that could ever be worked out. Zhou Xiaoyan knew that, and she knew that Qian Shanyi knew that - but Lei Kou did not. The more hints she threw in that things were not quite what they seemed, the easier it would be for Zhou Xiaoyan to go along with Qian Shanyi's real plans.

"And if we don't want to tell?" Su Mengyao said, briefly glancing at her girlfriend. She wasn't an imperial official and perhaps didn't know as much - but even she could tell that something here was off.

"Then I would advise you to change your desires."

The two women shared another look. "Okay," Zhou Xiaoyan said with a small nod. "Fine. Ask what you came here for."

Qian Shanyi did. The questions themselves were irrelevant - but she could use them to better gauge the reactions of the other two women. This was a delicate operation, and she couldn't afford any fuckups.

And so as they went along, she threw in a couple more hints - little things, nothing that would bring Lei Kou's attention down on them, nor catch his notice, even if he focused his senses on them at this very moment. Su Mengyao's instinctive reaction concerned her - but as they talked, her worries began to ease somewhat. Compared to Svarggam Xiaochun, this woman was like a calm river next to a raging, stormy sea - and Qian Shanyi had handled Xiaochun just fine.

Fine is an overstatement. But it's now or never.

When the questions dried up, Qian Shanyi thanked the two women and headed for the doors. Just before she reached them, she paused with one hand on the doorframe - coincidentally bringing her closer to Su Mengyao.

"There is one more thing…" she said. "My lord had been curious about the suns. Fellow cultivator Zhou, I believe you know something about this topic?"

"I would not say that I know much."

"Far more than this here humble cultivator does," Qian Shanyi said with a light shake of her head. "My lord would be glad to witness your explanation of this strange phenomenon during dinner."

The strange word choice did not escape the notice of the other women, their postures changing ever so slightly. Qian Shanyi eyed Su Mengyao like a hawk, ready to slap her through the wall if she so much as looked like she might blurt out the words "tribunal of the fourth edict," but thankfully, she stayed quiet.

"Are you certain?" Zhou Xiaoyan said after an entire minute of silence. With how she looked at Qian Shanyi, she could tell that the other woman didn't really trust her. Whatever the situation, Qian Shanyi had still pledged her service to a monster. But perhaps it was still worth the risk.

"Quite."

Zhou Xiaoyan squeezed her eyes shut as if she was just about to jump off a cliff. "Okay," she finally said, moving to stand up - before Su Mengyao grabbed her hand.

"No!" Su Mengyao hissed, and Qian Shanyi took a casual half-step forward. She didn't want to waste any time on a wind-up. "You can't - it's too dangerous. Let someone else be the - the entertainment. Please."

"What other choice do I have?" Zhou Xiaoyan hissed back, before she drew herself up straighter and adjusted her silken black robes. "I am - I am an official of the ministry of agriculture! If I am too scared to even leave our cabin, how could ordinary people trust me to handle a famine?!"

False courage, Qian Shanyi could see that much. But the determination was real. She wouldn't have expected anything less, from someone willing to head into a newly annexed region.

Zhou Xiaoyan reached out towards Su Mengyao's face, cupping her cheek. A tear rolled down Su Mengyao's face.

"Don't worry. It's just a little dinner," Zhou Xiaoyan said, pulled away, and stepped out of the cabin, putting on her sandals on the way.

The atmosphere on their walk to the dining cabin was subdued. Zhou Xiaoyan must have still been understandably wary of Qian Shanyi to initiate the conversation, while Qian Shanyi was focused on thinking through how she would present Zhou Xiaoyan to Lei Kou.

Everything was slowly coming together, and the most dangerous steps of her plan should have already been past them. As long as she didn't mess up, there should be no problems… But there was a danger in relaxing at the very last moment. And so she thought everything through a second time, just to be sure, spinning the situation in her head as best she could.

"I will introduce you," Qian Shanyi told her when they reached the doors. "Just follow after me, and you'll be fine."

Zhou Xiaoyan nodded, and Qian Shanyi pushed open the doors, stepping into the garden. It looked much the same as when Qian Shanyi had left it last time, though now, the air was filled with some softly glowing insects, no doubt released from Lei Kou's prodigious stores, and the gentle light of talismans. They quickly strolled towards the center, where the wooden dais still stood above the dirt -

- and the abominable Lei Kou, who looked absolutely furious. He was sneering, upper lip raised so much he showed teeth. It was the most emotion Qian Shanyi had ever seen on that ancient face - even when she first disturbed him, he mostly looked bored.

Qian Shanyi's heart sank all the way down into her feet.

How did I fuck up? Did I let something slip? Did Xiaochun?

"What is that thing -" Lei Kou said, gesturing towards Zhou Xiaoyan as if she was a particularly disgusting slug. "- doing in my court?"

Qian Shanyi's mind briefly stumbled, but kept on going. She did not mess up, at least not in the ways that would have been most ruinous. But she did still make some mistake, some miscalculation - but what?

"My lord, your humble servant begs for mercy if she had misjudged," Qian Shanyi said, half turning to keep both Zhou Xiaoyan and Lei Kou in her sights. The other woman's face had gone completely white, and she was trembling - perhaps pressured by Lei Kou's spiritual energy, on top of the completely rational terror at being confronted with a golden core powerhouse. That courage of hers did not last long.

"This is the honorable cultivator Zhou Xiaoyan," Qian Shanyi continued slowly, mind racing to try to figure out what Lei Kou meant by that thing. "She is… from the ministry of agriculture, and knows far more than me about the suns -"

"Do not soil your tongue with lies," Lei Kou cut her off. His sneer only grew. "A degenerate knows nothing and has no honour."

Degenerate? Because she is an imperial?

Qian Shanyi threw another glance at Zhou Xiaoyan, before looking back at Lei Kou, and bowing as deeply as she could manage. Her sense of doom had only gotten worse. "My lord, I am afraid your servant still does not understand."

"Hmpf. Clearly you have eyes yet cannot see Mount Tai," Lei Kou said, gesturing toward the back of the train. "How have you missed the other woman in her bed?"

Sweet mercy, this cannot be what ruins everything. He isn't even a refiner!

She wasn't ignorant of the possibility that the man might be bigoted - he was more than two hundred years old, for mercy's sake - but mostly dismissed it. He did not bring it up when they spoke, did not even ask her about it when they discussed her half-completed census -

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Pointless to cry over spilled tea. Solutions, Shanyi.

She needed to distract Lei Kou now. "My lord, that is -" Qian Shanyi began, but was cut off by the movement of Lei Kou's hand. He didn't even look at her.

"I was content to leave you alone to your perversions," Lei Kou said, now looking directly at Zhou Xiaoyan. Something in the air had changed, as if he was no longer speaking as a mere cultivator - but as a god dispensing judgement. "But it seems that you felt it necessary to taint my garden with your disgusting presence."

"My lord, I -" she tried to butt in again. If she could only get a word in, she could -

"Silence," Lei Kou said, and with a movement of his spiritual energy, Qian Shanyi's jaw slammed shut, and she was yanked down onto the floor, left kneeling.

No, no, no, no!

The best she could offer to Zhou Xiaoyan was a pathetic, apologetic glance, just out of the corner of her eyes.

"You," Lei Kou continued, gesturing to Zhou Xiaoyan. "You piddling nonbeing who cannot recognise the immensity of heaven and earth. Why should I leave you standing?"

Zhou Xiaoyan was trembling so hard that it was a wonder she had not already fallen. Whatever determination she possessed before, had vanished entirely. "I am so sorry," she mumbled, "I can leave, please, I don't want -"

They'd stopped only a couple meters away from the dais, but it might as well have been a hundred miles away. Even if they all leapt for it, Lei Kou would simply arrest their momentum with his spiritual energy. Not that she could leap - she was held down far too firmly.

It was useless.

"Leave. What good is it if a boar leaves a field it has already trampled?" Lei Kou spat on the ground, his nose furrowing in disgust. "My muhkya said you were a servant of agriculture. Is that true?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Qian Shanyi saw Svarggam Xiaochun coming around with a serving tray full of food. She saw her eyes widen in fear, at the sight of Qian Shanyi - but what could she do? Against a golden core, a refinement stage cultivator was like an ant before an elephant.

"I - yes, it is," Zhou Xiaoyan replied, stumbling over her words. "Please, I can help with the garden, I'll do anything -"

Sweet mercy, say anything but that.

"Anything?" Lei Kou said, confirming Qian Shanyi's thoughts. His sneer had turned to a smug grimace. "Very well. Go to that whore you sleep with and shatter her every limb. Then I will let you go."

Somehow, Zhou Xiaoyan's face managed to get even whiter. "Please, no, no, anything but that! I, I, I can't, I'd die for her -"

"Pfeh. Worthless," Lei Kou sneered again, then snapped his fingers.

Qian Shanyi could hardly even see what happened, with her neck forced down to the ground by Lei Kou. All she heard was a loud bang, followed by a terrifying hiss, as if a hundred kettles had boiled over all at once - and a blood-curdling scream the likes of which she could never have imagined even in her darkest nightmares. Zhou Xiaoyan's body collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

"Out of respect for your masters," Lei Kou said over Qian Shanyi's head, still addressing Zhou Xiaoyan. Behind him, Svarggam Xiaochun had fallen too, in her haste to get away, the tray of food she carried spilled all over the ground. "Those who wasted time teaching you the mysteries of horticulture clearly beyond your comprehension, I have spared your miserable life. Be grateful."

He turned to Qian Shanyi, and snapped his fingers a second time. Qian Shanyi wasn't proud to say that she squeezed her eyes shut, but after a brief moment of all-consuming panic, she realized that she was not crippled, and was in fact free to move once more. "You - take this degenerate trash away from my sight," Lei Kou coldly said, gesturing vaguely towards the back of the train. "We will discuss your failures later."

"A-at once, my lord," Qian Shanyi said, rising up on shaking feet, while trying to bow throughout. She backed away, and just about lost her footing when Zhou Xiaoyan's spasming feet slammed into her ankles.

The sight of Zhou Xiaoyan's body froze blood in Qian Shanyi's veins. There were no wounds, no flowing blood, and yet she looked just on the verge of death: eyes rolled into the back of her head, clammy sweat covering her skin, and breathing that was so ragged it didn't sound human. She no longer screamed, but only because she seemed to have lost consciousness entirely; and her body spasmed wildly, limbs flying, smashing into the floor so hard they would surely leave bruises.

What in the netherworld's name did this monster do?!

The true horror came when Qian Shanyi focused on her spiritual energy senses. The problem was immediately apparent. Spiritual energy poured out of Zhou Xiaoyan's body with no direction, no pattern, merely water leaking out of the cracks in a damaged vessel.

Her meridians. He must have shattered them.

Even if Zhou Xiaoyan survived the storm of spiritual energy rampaging within her body, she would never cultivate again. A truly barbaric punishment, something from out of the novels, not real life.

All for what? Merely daring to approach this monster?

Briefly, Qian Shanyi glanced behind her, but Lei Kou no longer paid them any mind. Instead, he was berating Svarggam Xiaochun for spilling his food.

Qian Shanyi could only hope that Xiaochun would figure out how to survive this tribulation on her own.

The first priority was to get Zhou Xiaoyan out of Lei Kou's sight, before he changed his mind and decided to put her out of her misery. Tearing her favourite silk rope off her body, she quickly circulated her rope control technique, tied Zhou Xiaoyan's hands and feet together, and lifted her off the ground, rushing away from the dining car.

The petite woman was blessedly light, but even with her hands and feet tied together, she still jerked around so much that carrying her was an enormous challenge. Qian Shanyi tried to at least keep her head from slamming into the doorframes: whatever bruises she got on her legs would heal in time.

It's your fault for involving her in this scheme.

The thought came unbidden and refused to go away.

She was the logical choice.

You should have known he would react this way.

Qian Shanyi's cheeks flushed at her own thoughts.

How could I have possibly known?! Was I supposed to ask him directly?! Would that not make him suspect me a hundred times more?!

If Lei Kou knew of her own proclivities, she'd have ended up just like Zhou Xiaoyan. She'd have frankly preferred death.

Should have found an excuse.

What excuse?! There are a thousand things that could have made that horse-fucked bastard take offense! Was I supposed to question him on every single possibility?!

Zhou Xiaoyan's eyes flickered just as they were passing through the cart where Qian Shanyi had her cabin. She muttered something, and Qian Shanyi lifted her a bit higher, in case she had something to say.

And then Zhou Xiaoyan screamed. The same blood-curdling scream of someone tortured to death by their own crumbling body, only this time, she did not get the grace of falling unconscious. The scream trailed off, and then began anew, ripping through the silence of the sandpiercer with all the grace of a bloodthirsty demon beast in a maternity ward.

The scream made Qian Shanyi's teeth ache. She didn't even notice that she stopped and took another step forwards -

- before she froze again.

She couldn't bring Zhou Xiaoyan back to Su Mengyao. She simply could not.

If Su Mengyao saw her girlfriend crippled… She would blame Qian Shanyi. Perhaps she would even turn insane from grief. All it would take is her speaking of the fourth edict aloud, and Lei Kou would know.

He would know, and he would slaughter them all.

Qian Shanyi swore, then kicked in the door of a cabin she knew was empty. The lock broke easily, and she stepped inside, carefully setting Zhou Xiaoyan down on one of the beds, and tying her to it so that she would not roll off.

Now what?

Qian Shanyi collapsed on the opposite bed, squeezing her head in her hands. She felt the room start to tilt, but it was merely in her head.

Su Mengyao lived in a different wagon, and with the thick walls in the way, probably couldn't hear Zhou Xiaoyan's screams. Probably.

But so what? She knew her girlfriend had left. Sooner or later, she would go looking for her. How was Qian Shanyi supposed to hide a patient who screamed out their lungs in agony?

And once she found her…

With Zhou Xiaoyan taken off the board, she desperately needed to find a different witness, and she needed one right now. Su Mengyao was out as well…

That agonizing scream tore straight through Qian Shanyi's thoughts. She couldn't think, couldn't focus. Even her memory started to swim. How many other people were even in the wagon when Lei Kou appeared? Four? Five?

They were all ordinary people, of that, she was certain. What earthly excuse could she manufacture to get one in front of Lei Kou? She doubted that she had any leeway in his eyes anymore, not after this.

She couldn't breathe. The walls were closing in.

When a hand touched her shoulder, she just about leapt out of her own skin.

Instead of Lei Kou coming back to execute her, it was Linghui Mei. She looked surprisingly calm, unlike Wang Yonghao - who stopped in the doors behind her, his face so white Qian Shanyi would have thought he was the one who had to deal with Lei Kou.

"Master, what happened here?" Linghui Mei quietly asked her.

"A mistake," Qian Shanyi muttered. She couldn't explain shit, not out loud.

Linghui Mei bit her lip, looking over at Zhou Xiaoyan. A strange expression passed over her face, but she seemed to have reached a decision and turned back to Qian Shanyi. "Could I help?"

You want to bring a jiuweihu before a golden core cultivator?

It's not like they had any other options. If this failed, they were all dead anyways.

"Perhaps," Qian Shanyi breathed out. "I need to get back. I do not want to offend my lord any further."

Having a rope to grasp onto brought some degree of sanity back into her mind, even if that rope was clearly a noose. But if she played it right… it might not be woven for her neck.

"You have disappointed me."

Lei Kou spoke as soon as she came into view of the wooden dais, and Qian Shanyi had to suppress a shudder at hearing his scratchy, murderous voice. She was only gone for a few minutes, but the spilled food and drink had already been cleaned up as if it was never there. She supposed that with the power of a golden core, such matters were but a trifle.

Qian Shanyi immediately kneeled, kowtowing before the man, and pressed her forehead into the dirt. In this case, even keeping a neat appearance would clearly be a mistake. "My lord, I beg your forgiveness," she said. "Had I known, I would have never dared bring her!" She glanced up at Lei Kou, putting on her most earnest mask. "There are few things more disgusting than those who fetishize such utter degeneracy. I truly thought those two were merely cousins - but I shall interrogate everyone on this sandpiercer at once and root out any other signs of such perversion!"

An errant thought in the back of her mind told her that she would be very, very good at that. She pushed it away.

"Hmpf," Lei Kou scoffed, but nodded lightly. "Do so. Have you at least already finished your previous task?"

"I have."

"Then come here and tell me what you found."

Cautiously, Qian Shanyi stepped forwards and onto the dais. The formation drawn around its edge had flared as Lei Kou poured more of his spiritual energy directly into it, and the sounds of the sandpiercer beyond had quieted down.

Qian Shanyi had plenty to talk about - she picked up Linghui Mei's notes before she returned and read through them on the way here. Little in them surprised her, and frankly, there was little of interest, but there was a skill in saying with a hundred words what one could say in five, one her father had inculcated into her from the age of six. He always said a good merchant could always talk up their products well past the sunset.

She hoped he was safe. Safer than her, at least.

Lei Kou, for all his spiritual strength, couldn't see through her trickery. He listened and asked curt questions, but did not rush her. Whatever he meant by "talking about her failures," he clearly did not see it as particularly urgent.

A movement caught Qian Shanyi's eye, Svarggam Xiaochun returning with a new serving tray. A scarlet mark crossed her cheek, the trace of a slap administered as punishment, and some blood had leaked out of her nose - though smushed, signs of a hasty cleanup. She met Qian Shanyi's eyes, trying to convey her meaning through gaze alone.

What are we going to do? asked Svarggam Xiaochun's confused, fearful eyes.

Qian Shanyi said nothing, made no gesture. She didn't even spare a nod. She simply held Svarggam Xiaochun's gaze for a brief moment, before looking back towards Lei Kou. She'd made sure that she could wrap their talk up at any moment, and did so now.

"My lord, my heart breaks at having ruined the atmosphere of your meal," she said when Svarggam Xiaochun stepped into the formation, and could hear them speak. "May I humbly request a chance to correct this misstep?"

Lei Kou leveled a flat gaze at her. "How?"

"My disciple - an ordinary person under my care - she is a dancer of some talent," Qian Shanyi said, motioning toward the back of the train. "Is the sight of something pleasant not the best cure for eyes wounded by a disgusting visage?"

As Svarggam Xiaochun set down her serving tray, filled with warm and sweet-scented dishes, she tried to meet her eyes again, but Qian Shanyi did not look toward her. Best not to give Lei Kou a single hint the two had anything at all to do with one another.

Lei Kou snorted. Ignorant of the sword that was coming for his throat. "I will allow it. But I shall question this disciple of yours."

"Of course, my lord."

Qian Shanyi rose and quickly left the car. As she did, she saw Svarggam Xiaochun head out as well - perhaps to fetch some drinks.

Linghui Mei was waiting just outside, and all it took was a single gesture from Qian Shanyi for her to follow. Together, they came back, and presented themselves before Lei Kou.

"This is Linghui Mei, my lord," Qian Shanyi said with a bow. Linghui Mei bowed at her side.

Does he know?

She had to wonder. Lei Kou had not reacted to the presence of a jiuweihu, so perhaps Linghui Mei could fool even his senses - but he also let a demon summoning pass unremarked, so it was equally possible that he simply found the idea amusing.

"Come here and sit," Lei Kou said, motioning to his dais. "What dances do you know?"

The two of them did so, kneeling just on the edge, side by side. The formation flared again, and Linghui Mei began to speak, softly and carefully - and far more importantly, slowly.

All they needed was just one more element, and they'd be set - but Qian Shanyi refused to relax. So much had gone wrong already. She would relax when Lei Kou was dead and his soul shattered, fragments scattered into the ghostfall.

Svarggam Xiaochun returned swiftly, bringing a new serving tray. Out of the corner of her eye, Qian Shanyi saw nervous sweat dripping down her forehead as she approached the dais - but Lei Kou suspected nothing, and she stepped into the formation without any opposition. She knelt, setting the serving tray she carried down onto the floor, prepared to serve dinner. Her head turned slightly, away from the plates, and she made a noise - something between an exhale and a snort, and a few drops of blood flew out of her nose.

Svarggam Xiaochun had aimed well. The drops flew unerringly towards the formation drawn upon the floor, the lines drawn in spiritual ink upon the wood.

And then they froze in mid-air. Lei Kou's soul, acting without its master's orders - simply seeking to keep things clean and undisturbed - would not allow their fall.

Svarggam Xiaochun's eyes widened, and her body started to shake once more. Her eyes started to fill with tears. Qian Shanyi had to act fast, while Lei Kou was still distracted by Linghui Mei.

Lei Kou's soul might have frozen the drops, but it was but a soul. It acted on instinct, not logic - and since Lei Kou would have no reason to be truly concerned about these few drops of blood, neither should his soul. Qian Shanyi swept her hand just above the drops, as if reaching up to fix Svarggam Xiaochun's hair, or plug her nose - and Lei Kou's soul, ordered to stay a foot away from her body, was forced to relinquish its hold upon the blood.

The drops fell upon the ink. For the briefest of moments, the formation flickered - before the flow resumed once again.

Nothing happened. Qian Shanyi's soul sank. Did they make another mistake? But how - the formation was perfect, she was certain of it -

"You've made a mess again," came Lei Kou's cold, annoyed voice. His lips were pursed, eyes boring into Svarggam Xiaochun, who shook beneath his gaze. "Clean -"

He didn't get to finish his sentence.

The suns have long since set, and their car was lit by the gentle light of talismans, and an occasional flying bug - but in a single blink, it all went dark, and they could see nothing at all. Lei Kou's spiritual energy sputtered and broke, as a force far greater than any single man smashed down upon them all. Qian Shanyi was already kneeling - but it had forced her lower still, until she could just about kiss the floor.

And then, the darkness blinked. Three enormous, crimson, catlike eyes opened just above them, shedding their malicious light upon their ignorant souls. The world beyond the formation had vanished entirely, replaced with the sheer blackness of the void - all that remained was the circle of wood they sat on, the boards having shifted out of position as they were severed away from the rest of the cart, and the four cultivators, their prostrated forms seeming all the more sinister in the strange light.

Qian Shanyi could not help herself. She began to laugh, choked up at first, but soon, it started to flow out freely. Without moving to get up, she turned her head to stare at Lei Kou.

You rat-fucking bastard, let a thousand horses kick you in the head. Your death is coming. Make your final prayers.

She didn't need to speak. Her meaning was clear from her gaze alone. "You dare -" Lei Kou roared, and made to get up, his spiritual energy flaring so much that it warped the air around him - but the force upon him simply matched his strength, and crushed him down, straight through the wood beneath his knees until he was halfway buried in the floor. His spiritual energy never even touched anyone else.

Qian Shanyi stayed still, only glancing at Svarggam Xiaochun. For now, this deadly pressure didn't seek to kill, merely subdue. As long as you did not resist, it lessened quickly. And she had no need to move.

The next few steps would not be up to her.

The only one left free was Svarggam Xiaochun. Her form still shook, and as she sat up and raised a hand to wipe tears streaming down her face, Qian Shanyi briefly worried that she might have forgotten what lines she had to say.

But then the hand came away, and revealed a gaze full of such furious hatred that it almost seemed to eclipse the three crimson eyes shining down on them.

"So-called Lei Kou," Svarggam Xiaochun spat out, her lips split in a scowl. Her voice shook, and yet, she did not stutter. "Beneath the gaze of the imperial palace and in the eyes of all those who raise their swords against the Heavens, you stand accused of violating the fourth imperial edict!"

Svarggam Xiaochun raised her hand and pointed to the prostrated form of Lei Kou. Something in the air changed, a shift, a blink of forces quite beyond Qian Shanyi's comprehension - and for all that the pressure upon her shoulders did not change, she felt its attention move away from her, ever so slightly.

Svarggam Xiaochun paused, drawing another shaky breath. For a moment, her eyes flooded with tears once more - but she shook her head and drew herself up straight. Her hands squeezed her knees.

"With no excuse, no justification, nothing but malicious intent to guide your hand, you have slaughtered a man of the lower realm," she continued, every word a judgement, a sword that fell upon the neck of a condemned prisoner.

"Pray that this tribunal will have mercy where you had none!"

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.