Pei Jingting did not sleep. Of the three hundred who had set out from the Pei estate, only he remained, and he would see Su Yan to the Divine Capital if it killed him.
They made camp on a barren ridge. Su Yan cooked without complaint. Yuan Qi went hunting and returned dragging a boar the size of a hill.
"A-Yan, the pigs in these mountains are enormous!"
Pei Jingting's eyes swept the darkness. "New Territory breeds." He struck at a distant shadow, and a mountainside exploded. "Just a mosquito."
Su Yan served the meal. "Elder Pei, relax. Eat."
After dinner, Pei Jingting sat watch through the night while Su Yan slept like a stone.
At dawn, Su Yan faced the rising sun and cycled his qi. A field of light formed above his head, three or four acres wide. Behind him, the Mud Pill and Crimson Palace Secrets pulsed in rhythm with his breath.
"He unified two Secrets," Pei Jingting thought, reeling. "They said he guided the white-browed ancestor to unite nuo and qi. It's true."
Then he saw the donkey.
It grazed on a distant slope, looked up, and trotted to a wooden-faced youth at the ridge's peak.
Pei Jingting drew a sharp breath. "The Zhu family. Like the Zhou, young and arrogant." He rose, power building with every step. "Elder Zhu, don't bring trouble to your clan."
The youth said one word: "Try."
Yuan Qi whispered, "A-Yan! The old man's distracted. We can slip away!"
Su Yan shook his head. "Keep cultivating."
The great bell chimed softly. "Where would we run? Cultivation draws attention. Better to hold the initiative."
"How?" Yuan Qi asked.
"By the time we reach the capital," Su Yan said, "I'll have it."
A white-haired elder rode up on a donkey. "Serpent King Su, well met."
It was the Zhu elder from Mount Wuwang. Su Yan had thought him the wooden youth's father. He was the son.
"Well enough," Su Yan said.
"Would the Serpent King honor the Zhu estate?"
"Lead the way."
The elder beamed. "This old man dare not claim such honor. Our ancestor still lives. Serpent King, please—ride the donkey!"
The great bell vanished into Su Yan's head. Yuan Qi shrank and hid in his collar. Su Yan mounted. The donkey's hooves smoked as it galloped, leaping ridges like flat ground.
Yuan Qi whispered, "Didn't they want to eat this donkey on Mount Wuwang?"
The donkey snorted, bucking so hard Su Yan nearly fell.
Three hundred li later, true dragon qi erupted from the forest ahead. A green-scaled dragon coiled around an entire mountain, fangs dripping, eyes fixed on them.
The donkey pissed itself. The Zhu elder paled, then roared, eight grotto-heavens manifesting behind him.
From the mountain's far side, nine massive grotto-heavens rotated in a sky-twisting display.
"The Li Imperial Clan," the Zhu elder breathed. "Serpent King, I can go no further." He leaped onto the donkey and fled, backwards.
Su Yan walked forward. Beneath the dragon, a youth in yellow lounged in the grass, chewing a weed.
"I am Li Jie, the Zhao Prince. Some call me Imperial Uncle Li." He sprang up, grinning. "His Majesty sent me to escort you to the capital."
"Gladly. I parted with His Majesty at Mount Jiuyi and wished to see him again."
Li Jie laughed and waved. The dragon lowered its head. On its brow sat a prison cart, complete with chains and manacles.
"His Majesty insisted you ride this to the capital."
Su Yan climbed aboard without protest. Li Jing locked the restraints around his neck, wrists, and ankles.
"Heavenly Prison bindings. They seal the Six Secrets, the grotto-heavens, even the soul. But the Xiyi Domain... they cannot touch that."
Su Yan smiled. "If His Majesty means to imprison me, I won't make it difficult."
Li Jie's brow furrowed. He stamped, and the dragon rose, winding through the sky toward the northeast.
Two thousand li out, a second sun tilted across the heavens. A carriage drawn by four flame-wrapped horses raced toward them, a sun blazing behind it.
The horses shed their skins, revealing dragon scales and claws. Ancient bloodlines awakened.
Li Jie paled. "Dragon-blooded steeds? Only a top-tier clan could find four."
The dragon swerved to intercept. The carriage exploded, and a golden titan rose, muscles coiled like serpents, heaving a colossal axe.
"The Zhao brothers!"
Li Jie coughed blood as a massive staff struck his chest. The dragon's head severed, the prison cart plummeted.
A white crane—hundred-zhang wingspan—swept in and snatched the cart. A seductive woman stood on its brow, laughing. "Serpent King Su is coming to the Cui estate!"
An arrow pierced the crane's skull. It dissolved into blood mist.
The cart fell. A heavenly ladder caught it. A giant stood atop it, one hand propping up the sky.
"Serpent King Su is my Guo family's son-in-law!" A tall, white-haired elder in a black mask appeared, the giant carrying them in bounding leaps. "He goes to the capital to marry my young lady!"
Pei Jingting, covered in blood, charged from nowhere. "Guo patriarch, leave him!"
The wooden-faced Zhu youth attacked too. Li Jie, struggling free of the Zhao brothers, roared, "Lord Guo, you defy the imperial decree?"
The masked elder cursed and hurled the cart. "Serpent King! The capital lies ahead—shout the Guo name!"
Su Yan watched the ancient city approach, towers and spirit-pagodas piercing the clouds. Divine statues soared, incense forming bridges of light.
He cycled the Grand Unity Daoyin Art. The Heavenly Prison bindings shattered. Cloud-ladders formed beneath his feet, and he descended ten li from the walls.
The road was lined with corpses. Starving dead wrapped in straw mats lay piled by the river, while fish-demons dragged bodies into the water.
Ahead, nuo masters worked among the corpses, crimson gourds in hand, muttering incantations. Black smoke poured from the gourds, wrenching souls from nostrils of the recently dead.
"What are you doing?" Su Yan demanded.
"None of your concern. We're from the capital prefecture."
Su Yan understood. They were harvesting souls for some great lord's elixir.
Sword light flashed. The nuo masters fell before they could react.
Su Yan picked up the crimson gourd and walked toward the Divine Capital, his friendly face gone cold.
"I came to learn. But this capital does not look like a place of learning."