Su Yan smiled. "These generals, chancellors, and ministers—were they all nuo immortals?"
Yuan Qi shook his head. "The books don't say. But this gray elder is a nine-grotto-heaven nuo immortal. He's not listed among the recorded generals and ministers. The Pei family likely has far more immortals than history admits."
Su Yan felt a strange humor. "Is the Pei family in the leek business?"
He thought of nuo immortals' fates and whispered, "How do you write 'Pei'?"
Yuan Qi traced the character with his tail.
Su Yan studied it. "Leek on top. No wonder they have so many immortals."
Yuan Qi explained what had happened. "They arrived claiming Mount Wuwang was their ancestral property. Produced wet-sealed land deeds. Told us to leave. Niu Gan lost his temper and injured a dozen. They injured him back. I demanded fair combat."
Su Yan glanced at Pei Jingting. "Their target was always me. Everything else was theater."
The elder cleared his throat. "Serpent King Su, the Pei family invites you to the capital. Do you accept?"
"Gladly," Su Yan said. "I have friends in the Yuan and Guo families. I was planning to visit."
Pei Jingting paused, surprised by the easy agreement. "The Pei family wishes to invite you alone. Without other clans involved."
Su Yan's smile didn't waver. "If your family can stand alone against the others, I have no objection. I'm simply afraid you can't bear the weight."
Pei Jingting's expression tightened. He remembered the patriarchs gathered on Mount Wuwang. None had moved against the serpent-raising youth. "The clan heads recognized him. Yet they waited. This trip was always dangerous. That's why the family head stayed hidden."
Yuan Qi whispered, "A-Yan, we're letting them drag us to the capital?"
"A nuo immortal personally escorts us, surrounded by experts. We can't refuse." Su Yan's eyes swept the Pei contingent. "Besides, who's coercing whom remains to be seen."
He looked at the Pei family cultivators. "I wonder how many will return alive."
Yuan Qi asked the great bell, "Can you kill a nuo immortal?"
"I've been... diligently cultivating. My injuries have healed forty or fifty percent. One immortal, I could manage. Too many, and I'm overwhelmed."
"Too many?" Yuan Qi looked around. He saw only Pei Jingting.
Su Yan instructed the bull brothers. "Guard the grotto-heaven. Practice daily. When I return, I'll test your progress."
The two bulls stood on hind legs, crossed their front hooves, and bowed. "We obey our teacher's command."
Su Yan packed dried clothes into Yuan Qi's mouth, then lifted the massive stone axe from the corner.
Yuan Qi panicked. "That won't fit! You'll hurt me!"
"We might meet Yuan Tiangang's family in the capital. The sword case must be returned. And we might need to chop someone."
Yuan Qi opened his mouth as wide as possible. Su Yan carried the axe inside and stored it.
"Elder Pei," Su Yan said. "After you."
"This way, Serpent King. I've prepared a treasure carriage."
Su Yan followed. The great bell vanished into his head. Yuan Qi shrank, leaped to Su Yan's shoulder, and hung there, tail hooked through his collar, watching everything with cold eyes.
The Pei family had acquired forty or fifty new casualties. Moans filled the air.
"Next time you invite me," Su Yan said, "just ask. No need for land deeds and duels. We're country folk. We don't know our own strength. If we'd killed someone, it would have embarrassed you."
Pei Jingting called for a servant. "Bring the slave. Heal the wounded."
A man was led forward. He was corpulent, a dog chain around his neck, hooks through his shoulder blades, crawling on all fours like an animal.
A Pei disciple kicked him. "Heal the masters, slave."
Su Yan's gaze sharpened. "Slave. Look up."
Another kick. "Young Master Su commands you to look up!"
The man raised his head, eyes darting away.
"A-Yan, it's Governor Zhou Heng!" Yuan Qi hissed.
Su Yan said nothing. The man who had ruled Yongzhou with an iron fist, who had delivered Zhou Qiyun's letters, now crawled on a leash.
"Young Master Su," Zhou Heng laughed, tears streaming. "When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter."
Su Yan waved. They led Zhou Heng away.
"The Zhou family was young and arrogant," Pei Jingting said. "They exploited commoners and offended other clans alike. Without their invincible ancestor, their position was untenable."
"You know Zhou Qiyun is dead?"
"Everyone knows. The Zhou family fled like locusts. A few captives told us everything." Pei Jingting sighed. "His failed ascension left behind ascension light. Mount Jiuyi is now an ascension ground. The clans have fought bloodily over it."
"Did the Pei family claim it?"
"We wished to, but too many powers stir beneath the surface. We brokered peace instead. Everyone shares." Pei Jingting smiled. "That is the wisdom of ancient clans."
* * *
The white rhino carriage was palace-sized inside. Su Yan didn't understand seating etiquette, but Yuan Qi whispered instructions in his ear.
Music began. Seven graceful women emerged and danced before him.
Su Yan felt awkward, then composed himself. "City girls are pretty. And fragrant. Their arms are so pale... everything's pale. But they're poor—they can't afford clothes."
"What song is this?"
"'Peaceful Joy,'" Pei Jingting said. "The capital is also called the Divine Capital. The Empress Who Stole the Nation once tried to build a divine kingdom, uniting imperial and divine authority. She failed. Her successor invaded the underworld and completed her vision. Nations paid tribute. The Divine Capital rivaled heaven itself."
Su Yan looked through the window. Guardian Pei cultivators rode spirit beasts alongside the carriage.
He looked back. Mount Wuwang and Mount Jiuyi stood on opposite sides of the New Territory, distant from each other. At the New Territory's edge, cracks still churned. The underworld's invasion continued.
More lands were being released from the abyss.
From high above, Su Yan saw the truth. The ancient empire—built by three great emperors—had been fractured into pieces by emerging New Territories.
The old divine empire was crumbling.
Inside the carriage, music played and dancers swayed. Peace and prosperity masked approaching disaster.
Everyone pretended not to see.
Yuan Qi poked his head out. "Elder Pei, your family has so many nuo immortals. Do they meet bad ends in old age?"
Pei Jingting's face changed. He called for tea. "Has the water boiled?"
"Not yet."
"Then don't bring it up until it has."
Yuan Qi understood and fell silent.
* * *
After half a day, the white rhinos tired. The other mounts faltered. They landed in a mountain town to rest.
Pei Jingting scanned the streets and felt unease. Some townsfolk breathed once for every ten breaths of an ordinary person.
"We're being watched," he murmured. "Pei Yu, take the clan to offer incense to the rhinos. Restore their spiritual power. And tell everyone—no wandering, no eating local food."
The disciple ran off. But many Pei cultivators slipped into town for entertainment anyway.
Pei Jingting had his own cooks prepare meals. Thirty people didn't return. A nuo immortal went searching. He didn't return either.
After the meal, Pei Jingting said, "We leave. Now."
They boarded their mounts. The white rhinos rose on auspicious clouds and pulled the carriage skyward.
From above, the town was already invisible.
Pei Jingting sneered and pressed his palm downward. The town collapsed, sinking ten zhang into the earth—a massive handprint scarring the landscape.
"I couldn't fight inside," he said. "But I could avenge you."
A breeze blew.
The white rhinos' heads silently separated from their necks. One by one, Pei experts split apart in the wind. Pei Jingting turned to see blades of air slicing through his entourage.
In moments, most of his three hundred disciples were dead.
The thousand-year-old white rhinos were dismembered. The treasure carriage shattered.
Inside, Su Yan watched the seven dancers fall headless. The palace walls dissolved around him.
The breeze reached him—and parted, flowing around him.
A single hair touched the wind and disintegrated.
Su Yan noticed he was sitting in midair, surrounded by Pei family experts dissolving in the breeze.
"A-Yan!" Yuan Qi cried.
Su Yan remained calm. "Don't panic. The Pei family will handle it. Their technique is sloppy. They damaged one of my hairs."
Pei Jingting planted himself before the surviving disciples. Nine grotto-heavens erupted behind him, rooted in a glassy Inner Realm. His Primordial Spirit—no, his soul—stood within the Inner Realm, ethereal and immortal.
"Boundless Ocean!"
He thrust both palms forward. Thunder cracked. A vast sea materialized in the sky, dark and heavy, smashing toward the invisible enemy.
The sea struck a mountain ten miles distant. The peak shattered. But the ocean technique hit resistance—a wall of nothing—and exploded outward.
Pei Jingting roared again, qi surging.
The mountain crumbled. The sea rolled on. A voice laughed, fading into distance. "Second Brother Pei, it was just a joke. So stingy..."
Pei Jingting's face was iron. He dispersed the technique.
Of nearly three hundred Pei cultivators, only three remained.
The Seventh Young Master, Pei Ye, lay dead—an arrow through his back.
Pei Jingting looked at Su Yan, who floated calmly amid sword light, completely unperturbed.
"Aren't you afraid?" Pei Jingting asked.
Su Yan shook his head. "I said before—who's coercing whom? Have you forgotten?"
Pei Jingting's eye twitched. He stamped his foot. A great river spanned the sky.
"Even if you get soaked," Su Yan smiled, "it's fine."
He stepped onto the river and let the current carry him forward.
Pei Jingting maintained the river technique, escorting Su Yan while thinking, "He's the Serpent King Su who understands qi cultivation. No one will target him. They'll target us instead."
He was right. Before he finished the thought, Pei Ye fell, an arrow through his back.
Pei Jingting's face spasmed. He forced down his rage and pressed on.