Vessel of Worlds

"I was simply lucky—a few chance opportunities let me advance to late-stage this quickly. And hasn't Fairy Hongchen broken through her own bottleneck into late-stage as well? You've come for the two spirit liquids that aid Core Formation too, I take it?" Andy said with a smile.

"That's right. Forming the core is harder than climbing to heaven—without those two liquids to help, the chances are dimmer still. So I came to try my luck. Who knew that before finding any treasure I'd be tangled up by that Monster Gate cultivator—and unable to outrun him either! If Fifth Brother hadn't appeared when he did, I could only have held him off desperately awhile, then triggered the restriction and left this sealed space empty-handed." The girl sighed softly and looked at Andy with gratitude.

Andy chuckled. "I merely happened to pass by—I never dreamed I'd run into you. Where have you been cultivating all these years, Fairy? I could never trace you from West Star Island."

The girl didn't answer at once. Instead she looked at Andy with a gathering gravity.

At that look, Andy guessed immediately what topic was coming—but he kept his smile and met her gaze.

Sure enough, after a moment the girl dropped her eyes and said quietly: "Fifth Brother—tell me honestly. Has Big Brother Xi been gone all along?"

"Why do you ask, Fairy? Have you turned up some clue?" Andy answered the question with a question.

The girl said softly: "Let me start from the beginning. Some years ago I deliberately gathered what information I could on the Blood Intent Gate. Their young master truly has been without trace for decades. The Gate even mobilized considerable manpower to screen, one by one, every Core Formation cultivator who had visited Island Five over those decades—and found nothing."

"Do you know why the Blood Intent Gate investigated only Core Formation cultivators?" She lifted her head suddenly and looked at Andy.

Andy shook his head and said nothing.

Seeing him silent, the girl sighed lightly and continued in a low, distant voice: "Because by every account, that young master's strength was far beyond any ordinary late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator's. Even against a common early-stage Core Formation cultivator, he could have preserved himself. In the waters off Island Five, apart from the occasional Core Formation expert, no one alive could have threatened him. And I know Big Brother Xi's strength best of all—outstanding, yes, but still far beneath that young master's. So the young master did not die at Big Brother Xi's hands. Which means... Big Brother Xi almost certainly perished at his."

"Perhaps the rumors are wrong. Why torment yourself over it, Fairy? Our meeting Big Brother Xi was an affinity of fate—if we never meet again, it only means that affinity has run its course. Look at the two of us: could either of us have foreseen meeting here today?" Andy offered what comfort he could.

The girl's eyes went distant and desolate. "All these years—and still I cannot accept that Big Brother Xi is gone," she murmured.

To turn her thoughts elsewhere, Andy asked: "How long have you been watching the Blood Intent Gate? Do you know anything of the hidden story behind their opening this ancient sealed space?"

"That I couldn't say. A matter of such weight is far beyond my reach to probe. I know only that the Gate labored over it for decades and engaged more than a dozen formation masters before it was finally done. But word leaked—no one knows when—and all three great powers thrust their hands in. They say the Gate's upper ranks were furious." She shook her head.

"I see. Fairy—I have an ice-attribute spirit beast that might help us find the liquid treasure." Andy patted the pouch at his waist, and the three-or-four-zhang Ice-Wind Python came streaming out.

Stolen novel; please report.

"Fifth Brother's spirit beast is a rank-two python! That's the equal of an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator—stronger than most, in fact!" The girl regarded the python with wonder and envy, and couldn't resist reaching out to stroke its body, half jade-green, half snow-white.

At Andy's command, the python could only hold still in resignation while the girl petted and appraised it. "My, my—these green scales are truly lovely. And hard as iron; even your flying needles couldn't pierce them, could they? And these belly scales—smooth as silk. It must fly wonderfully fast!"

...

Meanwhile, on the Immortal Island of Yingzhou, within a vast and magnificent dwelling on a colossal peak of more than three thousand zhang, an old man with a crane's white hair over a child's unlined face—white-browed, white-bearded, proud and commanding of bearing—sat in a great chair draped with some rare beast's pelt. The Min surnamed big man stood at his side, hands lowered, his manner reverent in the extreme.

"Reporting to the Gate Master: Hermit Tianhe of West Star Island confirms that Yun Leixiao's daughter has indeed formed her core, and has agreed to capture and deliver her bound to the Gate Master." The big man saluted with clasped fists.

"Mm. On our terms, he had no reason to refuse." The old man nodded—he had expected nothing less.

"Your subordinate has one point of confusion, and begs the Gate Master's instruction." The big man hesitated, then asked all the same.

The old man smiled slightly. "You want to ask why we deliberately let the matter of the ancient sealed space slip out—let all three great powers learn of it—until this gate was forced to open the space rather than hold it for ourselves?"

The big man started. "Exactly so. That is my very question."

The old man sighed lightly. "Of this gate's few Nascent Soul cultivators, you are the most loyal to me—and also the bluntest-natured. The reasoning is simple; think on it and you'll see."

"None of the three great powers is a lamp that burns no oil. To break this ancient sealing formation, we gathered—by every means available—nearly all the formation grandmasters of the Star Sea. Discreetly, yes; but a movement that large the three powers would notice sooner or later, and following the thread, they would certainly arrive at our gate. We may be one of the five great sects of the Heaven-Defying Alliance, but beside the three great powers we are nothing. Truly offend every power in the Star Sea, and this gate's outright destruction follows. The tree that stands above the forest, the wind will surely break—that is the whole of it. The three powers would never sit idle and watch one sect swell in strength. That is the first reason."

"Second: opening the ancient sealed space is, for us, merely the first step of the operation—far indeed from the final goal. Making the space public exposes nothing whatsoever of this gate's true design. That is the stratagem of deceiving the heavens to cross the sea."

"Third: the space itself now becomes our cover. Whatever moves we make hereafter can be ascribed to matters of the space—drawing no special attention from the other sects. Even our gathering of the formation grandmasters is explained away. On the surface, this gate appears to have swallowed a plain loss—but in truth we have thrown dust in the three powers' eyes, to the great profit of everything that comes after. That is the stratagem of repairing the road openly while crossing by hidden paths."

"Simple reasoning, all of it. But the masters behind the three great powers—every one an old monster of centuries or a millennium, each mind sharper than the last. Would tricks this simple deceive them for long? Hence: every move we make from now on must wear the guise of perfecting the ancient space's restrictions—not one hoof-print may show. And this is also why I have never told you what the final plan actually is." By the last words, the old man's voice had turned grave.

"Yes, Gate Master. Only—admitting so many cultivators into the space, will it not hinder the Gate Master's plan?" the big man asked further.

"Foundation Establishment cultivators, every one. There is nothing to fear from that quarter," the old man said, and then gave his orders: "But of the formation grandmasters we hold, several have now taken their own lives one after another. Go out again through the Star Sea and find replacements. Even grandmasters already sworn to other sects—if a clean opportunity offers, take them. But everything quietly."

"Yes, Gate Master!" the big man said gravely—then asked with real concern: "And the young master—any word?"

"Ah." The old man's brow creased and he sighed. "No certain news. In this, I was careless. Consumed by the sealed space, I let him make his own arrangements. With his talents and planning, nothing should have gone wrong—yet a party of several, and not one word back in over ten years. I fear the worst." As he finished, the proud, soaring spirit drained from the old man's face, and grief rose in its place.