~~~

Fan Bingbing opens her eyes.

She sees Lu Mei sitting by her bedside. The crimson-haired girl wears a positively vicious smile that only grows sharper when their eyes meet.

Fan Bingbing closes her eyes.

“Now, now, none of that,” Lu Mei says when Fan Bingbing tries to hide her face under the covers. A quick tug pulls them away. Fan Bingbing’s delicate fingers try to keep hold of them, but her body is too weak from the fight. “You are awake. Isn’t it time we talked?”

Fan Bingbing stubbornly keeps her eyes closed. It is childish, yes, but she absolutely does not want to be at this woman’s mercy.

Lu Mei clears her throat.

“I will not have it! I am tired of you irrational people making trouble for him,” she says, mimicking the words Fan Bingbing spoke during her match.

“...Kill me,” Fan Bingbing says, covering her face with a pillow. Her pale skin is flushed crimson. “Spare me further humiliation and be done with it. This is mortifying.”

“Now, why would I do that?” Lu Mei says, still smiling. “It was such an impassioned declaration. I never thought you were capable of something like that.”

“I am not emotionless,” Fan Bingbing says, one brown eye peeking from behind her pillow to glare at Lu Mei. “I merely refuse to allow my emotions to make me act like a fool.”

“Except for today,” Lu Mei points out.

“Except for today,” Fan Bingbing admits, sighing. “I was childish.”

Lu Mei hums but doesn’t say anything. The girl is content to let the silence continue until Fan Bingbing lowers her pillow.

“I have never quite liked you, you know?” Lu Mei says.

“You have never quite hidden it,” Fan Bingbing says. “It does not matter. I am used to being disliked.”

Because she is strong. Because she is favored by Elder Ju. Because she does not allow her emotions to run wild like most people. The reasons are many and varied, but the end result is the same. Fan Bingbing has never quite managed to connect well with others.

“Truly? I thought I hid it well. Oh well, it doesn’t matter,” Lu Mei says. “I must admit I was confused as to why. Usually, I am the one disliked by other women, so why would I bother giving you that distinction? What did you have that made you worth disliking? It took me a while to recognize it.”

“And?” Fan Bingbing is forced to ask when Lu Mei deliberately allows the silence to stretch.

“I was jealous of you.”

Fan Bingbing blinks.

She looks at Lu Mei, a woman with a face songs and poems can be written about and a body that would inspire lust in the most disciplined ascetic, then at herself. No one will ever call Fan Bingbing ugly, and many would agree she is quite pretty, but most would not even notice her with Lu Mei in the room.

“Not of your appearance or your talent in cultivation. Obviously,” Lu Mei explains, rolling her eyes. “It is something else. You connect well with my Jin. Your temperaments are similar, and that allowed you to bond quickly. More so than we did. I did not like that.”

Fan Bingbing refrains from pointing out that anyone with sense would hesitate to trust someone as obviously deceitful and manipulative as Lu Mei. How Brother Jin managed to secure her so tightly to his side is an utter mystery to her.

“I… do not have an easy time connecting with others,” Fan Bingbing says instead. “It is not something I mind, but in Brother Jin, I found someone I could talk to. Spending time with him is soothing. I enjoy it very much, but that does not mean I feel as you do.”

Lu Mei raises an eyebrow. “After what you said in the arena, many people would disagree.”

“I treasure my friend. Is that so odd?” Fan Bingbing asks. “It is because I treasure him that I felt angry on his behalf for having to deal with all of you.”

“Am I included in that statement?”

“Have you done anything to think you are not?” Fan Bingbing retorts.

“Was that anger? How emotional of you.”

“I am being ambushed in my recovery bed,” Fan Bingbing points out. “A little anger is fine in this case. Are you still jealous of me?”

“No. Not for a long time,” Lu Mei replies. “My relationship with Jin has long surpassed the need for me to ever be jealous of anyone else.”

“You are bragging.”

“Absolutely,” Lu Mei admits. “However, the reason I am here is that I wanted to say that now I can appreciate the benefits of someone like you. The people around us tend to be extreme personalities in one way or another.”

In Fan Bingbing’s opinion, Lu Mei is also an extreme personality.

“Having a moderating influence like you around can only be a good thing, especially right now. I am sure you have noticed there are far too many interests surrounding him. He needs as many people on his side as possible.”

Fan Bingbing meets her eyes calmly. “I am a member of the Eternal Flame Clan, not the Storm Dragon Empire.”

Lu Mei smirks. “Of course.”

“However,” Fan Bingbing adds, “I am not so small that I would ever fail to help my friend. That is not something you ever needed to ask.”

“Fair enough,” Lu Mei says. “By the way, the others have already procured multiple memory jades of your fight.”

Fan Bingbing covers her face with the pillow once more.

~~~

Cold permeates throughout the Imperial Cloud City Branch of the Divine Frozen Palace.

Such is not the usual state of affairs. Though the ladies of the Divine Frozen Palace are well known for their mastery of ice, it is precisely this mastery that makes them excellent at keeping the cold they wield from spreading. Even the arrival of Bai Lianshi and Meng Yue did not change this.

However, Xiao Shaung has.

The girl’s presence has complete hold of the property, forcing the servants to walk around in multiple layers of clothing, and even that is not enough to stop their limbs from shivering, much to their displeasure and Xiao Shuang’s mortification. To curtail the effects of her presence, Xiao Shuang has secluded herself in an isolation chamber, but it has not been as effective as she’d like. The cold still manages to seep through the barriers around her.

Sitting cross-legged in the isolation chamber, Xiao Shuang tries her best to control her Qi. She breathes in, and frost forms over the walls. She breathes out, and snow falls over the floor. With her next breath, mist fills the room. A frown mars Xiao Shuang’s face. The cold begins to recede.

It comes back with her very next breath.

“You are unfocused. That is not like you.”

Xiao Shuang does not jump when her master appears in front of her. It does not matter that the doors are locked. It does not matter that she never once sensed her approach. Meng Yue of the Divine Frozen Palace is not a woman who can be limited by such things. After so many years, her sudden appearances are a familiar event.

They usually herald that something unpleasant is about to happen, but Xiao Shuang rather doubts that is the case right now.

“Master,” she says. “I do not believe I am unfocused.”

Meng Yue sits on the floor in front of Xiao Shuang. Raising an eyebrow, she waves a hand at the room. The same gesture also dismisses the frost and cold.

“I am focused,” Xiao Shuang protests, unable to stop her lips from forming a pout. “It is impossible for me not to be focused right now.”

That is the problem.

Meng Yue frowns.

“Perhaps we were too hasty in telling you the truth,” Meng Yue says. “The burden it has placed on you is too great.”

Xiao Shuang softly shakes her head. Wisps of ice fall from her hair as she does.

“No, Master,” she says. “Even if you had not told me anything. I would have noticed something. The change in the tournament ever since my husband used that movement technique is unmistakable.”

“True enough, but there are degrees of truth,” Meng Yue says. “There was no need to elaborate on certain things. That was my error.”

“What things?” Xiao Shuang asks. “That because my husband knows a movement technique, the strongest people in the continent want to capture or kill him? That the only thing keeping him alive right now is the structure of this tournament? That once it ends, they will pounce on him like starving wolves?”

Xiao Shuang smiles mirthlessly.

“No, Master. This disciple will always be grateful for your harsh, thoughtless, and almost cruel bluntness.”

“...Little Shuang, you added a lot of unnecessary adjectives there.”

A smile cracks through Xiao Shuang’s face, though it is at odds with the state of her Qi. The usually disciplined energy that Meng Yue is used to sensing from her student is now erratic and unstable. Her Dao, which should be the source of her power, is now unbalancing her.

“Sorry,” she says. “However, I am grateful. That was no lie.”

Meng Yue sighs. She has never cared much for what others call tact, but now she looks back on her words and wonders if she could have chosen them better.

“It is called Art of the Roaming Thief, but the technique is not as important as its users, Little Shuang. I cannot tell you what the other Sects know, but the last known user of this technique was a man who held great and dangerous knowledge. He was greatly sought after by those on the other side before vanishing. It is said they killed him. No doubt, those people will try the same once more.”

“Little Shaung, you are the brightest jewel of this generation. Even prodigies of past eras are lacking when compared to you,” Meng Yue says. “That is why there is no need for you to worry. Once you win, everything will be settled.”

“My husband is strong.”

Meng Yue nods. “He’s strong, resourceful, and capable. All those things are true.”

However, he could not bring himself to use his Dao against his brother-in-law. It is hardly surprising. Meng Yue does not need to fight him to understand he possesses a Dao with an inherently dangerous nature. That makes him less likely to wield it against those he cares for.

Xiao Shuang will have no such problem bringing her Dao against him.

“However, you are my disciple, so you will not lose,” Meng Yue says with certainty. “You have a trump card.”

Xiao Shuang looks down at her hands. They are covered in thin wisps of ice.

“Eternal Coffin of the Eighth Frozen Hell,” Xiao Shuang says. “Do you really think I can use it, Master?”

“You can,” Meng Yue says. “Most importantly, you must.”

The Eternal Coffin of the Eighth Frozen Hell is among the Divine Frozen Palace’s strongest techniques. It traps the target in an ice coffin from which there is no escape. The ice freezes not just the body, but the Qi, mind, and soul. One can only be freed if the technique is released by someone else.

“As long as you trap Emperor Qing Jin-”

“Liu Jin,” Xiao Shuang cuts her off reflexively. Meng Yue smiles softly and rubs Xiao Shuang’s frost-coated hair.

“As long as you use the technique on Emperor Liu Jin, this will all be resolved,” Meng Yue says. “We will claim that the coffin can only be undone in the Divine Frozen Palace, and that if anyone else were to try, it would hurt the Emperor.”

It is a lie, obviously, but it would hardly be the first time the Divine Frozen Palace has used that excuse to secure important targets.

“Will that really work?” Xiao Shuang asks. “I hardly believe they would take such a story at face value.”

“It doesn’t matter if others believe it, Little Shuang. What matters is that they won’t be able to stop us,” Meng Yue explains. “In that sense, it is a good thing we have three of the Five Fairies here. Only the Eternal Flame Clan can match us in quantity, but it falls short in quality.”

Feng Gui and Feng Shang might be a match for her and Sister Bai, but Elder Xue, talented cultivator as she might be, is simply not close to Shao’s level. While Meng Yue does not doubt that the other Sects have begun rallying their forces, the same is true for them. They sent word for Dai Jie after the first day. If she manages to get Yan Yunlu out of isolation, all the better.

The only issue is the Wandering Wind, but if someone like her acts, it will force everyone else to join against her. Even her own Sect will not trust her.

“Even so, I feel guilty, Master,” Xiao Shuang says. “To drag the Divine Frozen Palace into this…”

Meng Yue snorts.

“Little Shuang,” she says. “This is no altruism on our part. Do not be confused. We always stand to gain something.”

As if on cue, a happy sound echoes throughout the mansion. Spots of red appear on Xiao Shuang’s cheeks.

“I hardly doubt Shao Zhilan will complain about helping the young Emperor,” Meng Yue says wryly. “He has more than earned our goodwill.”

Meng Yue wonders, not for the first time, if she should have arranged for the child to be taken to the Divine Frozen Palace, but it is like she once told Bai Lianshi. It is not a seed she planted, so it wouldn’t have been right for her to harvest it.

“Just remember,” Meng Yue says. “You only have to do one thing.”

“I know,” Xiao Shuang says. She looks at her with determination. “I will win, master.”

It is the answer Meng Yue wants, and yet, feeling her disciple’s aura, her Dao, Meng Yue cannot help but feel a hint of unease.

~~~

Liu Jin feels a lot of unease.

The Crimson Cloud Arena is truly a marvel to behold. Floating in the skies in defiance of all natural laws and anchored to the ground only by chains of crimson clouds, the structure dominates Imperial Cloud City’s skyline. Even the Imperial Palace pales compared to it, being figuratively and literally in the Crimson Cloud Arena’s shadow.

Maybe, that’s on purpose.

Liu Jin moves through the palace without making a sound. Though there are several guards on his path, not one of them notices anything unusual. Liu Jin goes left and right and down and down. The Imperial Palace may not be a tall building, but it is certainly a deep one. The further down Liu Jin goes, the fewer guards there are.

The further down he goes, the easier it becomes to feel It.

A door waits for Liu Jin at the very bottom of a palace. A complex array of talismans keeps it locked, but for one who wields Art of the Roaming Thief, such security measures are simply not enough. Not when his Qi blends so completely with the environment. Even an old-fashioned lock would have been better protection. Liu Jin opens the door and steps into a large stone room with a high curved ceiling.

He almost falls to his knees.

“I thought you’d come by.”

Struggling to remain on his feet, Liu Jin looks to the side and finds Emperor Xiang leaning against the wall, looking considerably more at ease than Liu Jin.

“You are good with that technique,” Emperor Xiang says. “However, you’re arrogant if you think you can hide from an Emperor in his domain.”

“I’d never dream of making such an insulting assumption,” Liu Jin says, breathing deeply as his aura rises to protect him from the overpowering presence. “I do not think I have the skill to hide from you even if we weren’t in your palace.”

“Is that so?” Emperor Xiang says, walking away from the wall. He looks to the center of the room. “Well, what do you think of it? Not many people outside the Imperial Family have ever laid eyes on it.”

It is a mass of red energy that takes up nearly the entirety of the room. White sparks flicker over its surface, and crimson gases swirl around it, making a faint hissing noise. However, that is all secondary compared to the power it emits. Though Liu Jin has been in the presence of several Emperors, not a single one of them can compare to the oppressive weight that now threatens to suffocate him.

“This is the Crimson Cloud?” Liu Jin asks in disbelief.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Emperor Xiang says. “This has been quite the fruitful tournament. I suppose I should thank you for it, but I am not feeling particularly grateful. In fact, I am pretty sure I should kill you. I won’t, obviously. That old woman likes you for some reason, but I would probably be better off killing you.”

“I cannot say you are wrong,” Liu Jin says, still looking at the Crimson Cloud. Then, he looks back at the Emperor. “How?”

“Oh, that’s an interesting story. One that began a long time ago. You see…”

“The Crimson Cloud Tournament is a way for the Crimson Cloud to gain energy,” Liu Jin cuts in.

Emperor Xiang stares at him.

“I really do not like how easily you said something that is supposed to be a secret,” he says, sighing and pinching his nose. “But yes, child. The Crimson Cloud Tournament is not just a way for the many sects of the empire to settle their petty rivalries or compete for relics. It is not even just about solidifying the authority of the Imperial family. Above all, the Crimson Cloud Tournament exists so the Crimson Cloud can feed.”

He gestures at the floating red energy in the center of the room.

“The Crimson Cloud is a mind without power. The Eternal Flame is power without a mind,” Emperor Xiang says. “Put another way, the Crimson Cloud only needs to gain power to return to its former glory. The Crimson Cloud Tournament was a plan designed with that purpose in mind. To that end, giving away a few relics is a small price to pay.”

Every time there is a tournament, the Crimson Cloud feeds on the energy used by the participants. All those who fight in the Realm of the Crimson Cloud and in the Crimson Cloud Arena. It is not much when compared to what the Crimson Cloud lost. The participants do not even feel it, since the Crimson Cloud is not truly feeding on them, merely on the energy they have already spent.

It is a safe yet incredibly slow process, one that has been going on for thousands of years.

“You said this is because of me,” Liu Jin says. “How can that be? No matter how many prodigies there are this time, there have been tournaments with one or more cultivators in the Heaven Realm before.”

“Can’t you think of a reason? Truly?” The Emperor laughs. “Dao, child. Dao! All you horrendously talented youngsters have been throwing around the weight of your existence. That’s a far more filling meal than the Crimson Cloud has ever received. There may have been tournaments with people of greater cultivation, but there hasn’t been a single one with so many defined Dao. It’s horrendous.”

“Oh.”

“Indeed.” Emperor Xiang brings his hands together in a clap. “Tell me, Emperor Qing Jin, why have you decided to betray my hospitality? Are those who walk the steps of the Roaming Thief simply incapable of containing their curiosity?”

“It was not mere curiosity that made me come here. I also did not wish to take advantage of your hospitality,” Liu Jin says. “However, I needed to see with my own eyes because… because I believe a successor has been chosen.”

Emperor Xiang sighs.

“Of course it has.”

~~~