When they reach the age of twelve, ordinary people begin cultivating in earnest, and after a year on average, they reach the Qi Condensation realm. Two years later, if the roots are not a complete waste, they will enter the Qi Refining realm. After this, it depends on luck, opportunity, talent, and dedication, but most cultivators reach the Foundation Establishment realm after four years. Beyond this, it takes many years and a lot of effort and medicine to form a Golden Core.

  In the common wisdom of the Sky Continent, someone who enters the Core Formation realm at the age of thirty is considered a terrific talent. Someone who achieves the same at twenty-four is considered a generational talent. Beyond that, words cannot describe the value such a cultivator has.

  Everyone in this strange place belonged to the third category. Most of them achieved Core Formation before entering their twenties, and most were nineteen years old or had just turned twenty. Sun Yongzheng was the oldest, at twenty-three, and Mu Jingyu was the youngest, at only eighteen.

  So when they saw Zhu Xuelian exit the Formation Hall as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, after only three weeks, it blew everything they knew about cultivation out of the water.

  They were so stunned by her fast progress that they failed to notice, at first, the subtle changes in her appearance, or the fact that she wore a much simpler outfit than before that did not suit her as well. Her hair was darker — so black as to be comparable to the darkest onyx — and, yet, at the same time, there was a subtle shade of deep red to it in the halation of light moments before being swallowed by the canvas of black. Moreso, there were two braids in her hair, although they weren’t braids, but metal chains formed of black diamond shapes gleaming like black jade. Her lips were redder, and her nails glimmered like precious stones in the light.

  She was both terrifying and beautiful to behold — an idea more suitable for a sword than a human being — and they weren’t certain if she always appeared like that to them. Now that they thought about it, there always was something like that about her, but it was never her specifically. Now, it was her specifically.

  Naturally, they knew that Zhu Xuelian also practiced body cultivation arts, which is how she managed to withstand the elders and the Sovereign beasts, so the fact that her appearance was changing was not that alien to them. Even those who practiced only qi cultivation experienced physical changes.

  Mu Jingyu, for example, practiced the cold arts at her Frozen Peak Palace, which made her body like fine snow: smooth, soft, and usually extremely cold. She had even paler skin than Zhu Xuelian.

  Wu Yulan, who also practiced ice-attribute martial arts, had gold eyes and white hair, though this may also be due to her inherent Physique.

  Seeing everyone staring at her, Zhu Xuelian bit her bottom lip and looked away at first.

  “Y-you don’t have to stare…” she whispered, prompting Tian Li to burst out into laughter.

  “Facing elders and Sovereigns without flinching,” Tian Li said, sighing. “Anyone would think you are a devil incarnate, but you are actually like this.”

  Almost everyone burst into laughter at those words, and they nodded in agreement. The cultivator that turned their world upside down couldn't handle praise or admiration.

  Zhu Xuelian smiled mysteriously and didn’t comment.

  “Li, stop messing around,” Lei Yangming said, on a first-name basis now. “At this rate, she will become a Nascent Soul before we do, and then we’ll all have to wear our names backward.”

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  They blinked in unison. They had spent so much time together, in these three weeks, that they were so in sync to even blink all at the same time. Even their reaction to the words was exactly the same. Realization, disbelief, shock, then panic.

  “You are right,” Tian Li said. “We should return to training. Lei Yangming wouldn’t even sound so bad backward, but Tian Li? I don’t want that! Let’s hurry!”

  “Speak for yourself!” Lei Yangming responded to the idea that his name wouldn’t sound so bad backward. He was a very proud cultivator; even if Tian Li was right, his honor wouldn’t allow it.

  “I have to go to the Martial Hall first…” Mu Jingyu whispered.

  “You already have enough contributions?” Sun Yongzheng asked. “You are a monster.”

  Mu Jingyu blushed but waited for permission.

  Lei Yangming urged Mu Jingyu on with a gesture of his hand. “Go! We’ll start, so you join us when you are done.”

  “Thank you, Lei,” Mu Jingyu said, smiled at Zhu Xuelian, and then hurried toward the Martial Hall.

  “You are all taking well to the Killing Field, it seems,” Zhu Xuelian said, smiling broadly.

  “Fourth Elder has been helping us,” Tian Li said.

  “Fourth Elder?” Zhu Xuelian asked.

  “Shi Long,” Tian Li said. After a pause, he added. “Ep-shi-long.”

  Zhu Xuelian was surprised at first and then nodded.

  Epsilon.

  Written as ‘envoy’ and ‘dragon’. It was fitting.

  “You should come watch if you have time! We got a lot better at it!” Tian Li said and then hurried after the others who had already gone into the Formation Hall.

  Zhu Xuelian nodded again but did not move to follow.

  Wu Yulan remained, and if anything, she didn’t seem in a good mood. This was not something that anyone else but Zhu Xuelian would notice since the two of them spent so much time together.

  “Is everything all right? Where is Yun Fei?” Zhu Xuelian asked.

  Wu Yulan shrugged.

  “I think Yun Fei is down below,” Wu Yulan said.

  “Below?” Zhu Xuelian pondered.

  “She says there is a snake there, and that the poison in her body came from that snake. But none of us saw a snake, so…” Wu Yulan said.

  “Ah, I suppose you’ve never seen the snake,” Zhu Xuelian said.

  Wu Yulan looked curiously at her companion.

  “Back when I was in the Ancestral Forbidden Land of the Seven Killing Swords sect, we found a place with a strange formation. Willow trees attacked us, and Yaoyue consumed a snake and that big tree,” Zhu Xuelian said, pointing to the giant tree that towered over the sect’s mountain. “I think Yaoyue used the snake’s poison to treat Yun Fei when she was sick. So maybe she is right that the poison came from the same place?”

  Wu Yulan nodded, but she seemed more distracted than anything.

  “Yulan, what’s the matter? You can talk to me,” Zhu Xuelian said and took her friend’s hand into her own.

  Wu Yulan bit her bottom lip and shrugged again. After a moment, she spoke. “I am worried about my mom,” she said.

  Zhu Xuelian nodded. She expected this much. She squeezed Wu Yulan’s hand and smiled. “As soon as we can return, that is the first thing we will do — make sure she is safe and sound.”

  “And if she’s not?” Wu Yulan asked.

  Zhu Xuelian knew better than anyone that the obvious solution wasn’t a solution. Revenge can only work when the hate runs deep enough, but even then, it cannot erase the wounds — it can only inflict more on others.

  But Zhu Xuelian didn’t know any other way, so she spoke the only thing that was in her heart.

  “Then we will kill them all,” she said.

  Wu Yulan bit her bottom lip hard enough to draw blood and then nodded again, releasing her tormented lip.

  “Would you become a devil with me, Lian’er?” Wu Yulan asked.

  Zhu Xuelian smiled and wrapped her arms around Wu Yulan from behind, resting her cheek on Wu Yulan’s shoulder.

  “I would,” Zhu Xuelian whispered.

  Wu Yulan smiled and rested her hand on Zhu Xuelian’s other cheek. Softly, she spoke. “Then I am not afraid of anything.”

  “Fear and joy are eternal companions; you can’t have one without the other. So don’t forget the other side, Yulan. We didn’t see your home get destroyed, so it is too soon to give up hope and fall into despair,” Zhu Xuelian whispered.

  “You are right,” Wu Yulan said, nodding. “All right, get out of here. Go back to cultivating. Me and Fourth Elder made a bet that you won’t reach Nascent Soul before the others do.”

  Zhu Xuelian chuckled. “You gamble with your elders?”

  Wu Yulan looked away. “It was his idea!”

  Zhu Xuelian laughed now. “Who did you bet on?”

  “Who do you think?” Wu Yulan asked with a wry smile. “Go!”

  “All right, all right! I am going!”