The girl spoke fast, her voice crisp as a woodpecker's beak. She switched to the common tongue, though ancient words still slipped through.
She pried open Yuan Qi's massive jaw, peered inside, and strolled right in. Her voice echoed from within: "Spacious in here. Cool too. And an axe — fierce aura."
A loud clang rang out. She'd struck the weapon. The force straightened Yuan Qi's entire body.
She emerged carrying a stone axe, now barely a foot long. "Fixed it for you."
Su Yan tucked it into his belt. "Why were you in that sea of fire? Why didn't it burn you?"
She leaped onto Yuan Qi's head and stroked the black-and-white horns behind his skull. Yuan Qi bared his fangs — those horns were his weak spot. She punched him once. His eyes rolled white. He went docile.
"What fire? That's the Tusita Palace. I was stealing immortal medicine." She puffed out her chest. "The flames are Tusita Divine Fire. It refines all things. The immortal medicine grants eternal life. Survive the fire, live forever."
"Tusita Palace?" The name sounded familiar.
The bell floated out. "How long were you trapped? You weren't breathing when we pulled you out."
She circled the bell, then hammered it with her tiny fists. The bell jumped — its wounds from the fire were healing. "Now you know my power."
"What's your name? Where do you cultivate?"
"Zhu Chanchan. Call me Elder Chanchan." Her braids swayed as she nodded. "We wander where we please. I was preparing for ascension, stealing medicine from the Tusita Palace, using seals to withstand the flames. But the fire burned away eighty or ninety percent of my cultivation."
She declared proudly: "I've stockpiled medicine inside my body. Once I recover, I'll refine it and ascend on the spot. Even if some great villain blocks the path, he can't stop me! I'll take you all with me!"
Su Yan turned to Yuan Qi. "Elder Qi, you've read books. Why does the Crimson Palace connect directly to the Tusita Palace?"
Yuan Qi looked shifty. "Kid, you know I haven't read everything."
The bell butted in. "The Six Secrets can't be that complicated. Crimson Palace to Tusita Palace, Jade Pool to Jade Void Palace, Mud Pill to the Chaos Sea. There's a pattern here."
Su Yan interrupted. "Zhu Chanchan survived six thousand years stealing medicine from the Tusita Palace. The fire couldn't kill her. So Tusita medicine grants longevity. But nuo masters who open the Crimson Palace secret can't live long. Why?"
Yuan Qi caught on. "Right! Elder Guo is practically dying of old age, yet he opens the Crimson Palace and draws heart-power — that's the Tusita medicine. So why can't he live forever?"
Zhu Chanchan's face darkened. "There's a longevity art like that? I risked my life for nothing?"
Grief overwhelmed her. "I abandoned everything. Family, friends, enemies, lovers — all of it, for immortality, for that damned medicine. And I didn't even need to steal it."
Su Yan and Yuan Qi exchanged pitying glances.
"The Mud Pill Inner-Realm Cultivation Method's opening says: 'If one absorbs heaven-and-earth qi, one can steal from the Chaos Sea. Gathering medicine from the Mud Pill Palace grants immortality.' Chaos Sea medicine grants longevity. Tusita medicine does too. So nuo arts are truly longevity arts."
He paced, thinking. "But nuo masters only live two or three centuries. They don't even outlive yao. So where's the flaw?"
Su Yan's eyes lit up. "Elder Chanchan, how do you refine the medicine?"
The key. If nuo masters died young, they were refining wrong. Zhu Chanchan could refine correctly — that was the secret to extending their lives.
Zhu Chanchan tensed. "You want to eat me too?"
Su Yan smiled. "We protect you from Heavenly Demons. You teach us your refining method."
"Protect me first. Once I recover enough to defend myself, I'll teach you. What if you learn the method and cook me into a pill?"
"Teach me half first."
Zhu Chanchan bared her teeth and punched the bell. It cracked. "You bargain with me?"
The bell wailed. "I'm cracking! Kid, agree to it! Hurry!"
Su Yan stood firm. "Elder Qi said a true man bends before no threat."
She punched Yuan Qi. He collapsed, gasping. "Mencius said that. Not me."
"Bring Mencius here. I'll fight him myself!"
Su Yan crossed his arms. "You hit my companions. Impressive. Hit me. I won't fight back."
She hammered his chest. He didn't move. She rained blows on him — he stood unmoved. Finally she sat down, her hands swollen and round, feet puffed up, wailing.
Su Yan knelt, massaged her hands to clear the blood flow, removed her shoes, and treated her feet. Her swelling subsided.
She slumped. "How did you know? My cultivation is nearly gone. I could hit them because I used to forge treasures for the Zhou Heavenly King — I know how to hit artifacts. People? Not my specialty."
Yuan Qi wondered: "Why could she hit me, then?"
Zhu Chanchan's face fell. "The Tusita fire burned my cultivation dry. I just escaped. I know no one here. I'm afraid — afraid someone will catch me and refine me into a pill."
She looked up at Su Yan, tears pooling. "I smell good. Smell me."
He did. A strange fragrance, mouthwatering. The scent of immortal medicine.
"When I refine the medicine, I'll grow up. I'll be beautiful. You'll definitely like me."
Su Yan was unmoved. "Half the method."
She deflated. "Fine."
She punched the bell twice — its wounds healed. She punched Yuan Qi — he sprang up, cured. "Why did she heal me?"
"I forged treasures for the Zhou Heavenly King. You have artifact qualities."
Yuan Qi froze. "I refined myself into a treasure? When? How did I not know?"
Zhu Chanchan wrote out a method, barely a hundred characters. Su Yan compared it to the Crimson Palace Crescent Moon Furnace Art. Ninety percent identical — only the word order differed.
"Elder Chanchan, who else is in your sect?"
She flinched. "Why so fierce?"
Su Yan softened. "Who else?"
"My master crossed to the other shore three centuries before me. I never found him — probably burned up. Some fellow disciples died on the way, or in the fire. After they left, I became sect leader. But I only had one junior brother. He was young, weak in cultivation."
Su Yan showed her the manual. "Could this be his work?"
She scanned it. "Similar handwriting. But we haven't met in ages. Without immortal medicine, he couldn't survive."
Yuan Qi murmured, "What if nuo masters are his immortal medicine?"
Zhu Chanchan went silent.
Su Yan revised the manual, restoring the jumbled sequences. When he activated it with the Grand Unity Daoyin Art, a subtle fragrance rose from his heart-chamber. True immortal medicine.
He called for Guo Xiaodie and handed her the revised manual. "Have your grandfather practice this. It will extend his life."
Guo Xiaodie panicked. "You're leaving the capital? Do you know how dangerous it is out there?"
Su Yan glanced at Zhu Chanchan. "If I leave her here, your estate is finished. Get her some clothes."
Zhu Chanchan puffed up. "Adult clothes. I'll grow soon. And my chest is large — nothing small. Small won't fit."
Guo Xiaodie stormed off and returned with her own clothes. Zhu Chanchan held them against herself. "Tight. But usable."
"I'm still growing!" Guo Xiaodie snapped.
"Many women think that. Usually they only get smaller."
Su Yan changed into fresh clothes, axe at his belt. "Miss Guo, we'll meet again on the road."
Guo Xiaodie steadied herself. "Open the gates! See off Lord Su!"
Su Yan stepped through. He knew — one foot past this threshold, and the capital would become a bloodbath.
He strode out anyway.
Light cloth, straw sandals — who fears the rain?
What did a little blood matter?