Just when I thought we would be flattened to the ground by the pressure, it suddenly disappeared, leaving us all gasping for breath.

  My legs nearly gave out as I slumped against the wall.

  From the way my heart was pounding, trying to break out of my chest, it felt like I’d just run up the largest mountain in the sect without using qi.

  Hell, even breathing felt like an accomplishment.

  “Everybody good?” I struggled to say while still panting.

  Wei Lin was the first to regain his footing; he stood up from where he’d braced himself against the table, his hands shaking slightly as he smoothed his robes. “Yes. You okay, Lin Mei?”

  She nodded weakly from her position on the floor; she was pale, but she was gathering herself. “That was… intense.”

  Liu Chen hadn’t moved from his place against the wall; his eyes were wide open and unfocused.

  I walked over to him on shaky legs and touched his shoulder. “Hey buddy, you with us?”

  He jumped at the touch, but then it seemed he came back to himself.

  “What …what was that?” he whispered, as though terrified the presence would hear him.

  “That,” Wei Lin said, finally getting back to normal, “was the Way Station Guardian announcing themself.”

  “Guardian?” Liu Chen furrowed his brow in confusion. “Like Rocky?”

  Wei Lin smiled faintly. “Not exactly. Each of the major Way Stations have a Stellar Realm cultivator assigned as its guardian. Normally, they’re hiding, only manifesting themselves when there is a serious situation.”

  “Like murder,” Lin Mei added softly.

  Wei Lin shook his head. “Only if the person killed is important enough. The Xiao clan must have demanded something be done. For a young master to die like that, that’s a huge loss of face for them.”

  “But why…” Liu Chen swallowed, then tried again. “Why did it feel so… scary?”

  “That wasn’t meant to scare you,” Wei Lin explained. “It was a searching technique, extremely powerful, but also very precisely controlled. Did you all notice how none of us were actually hurt by it?”

  He was right.

  At the time, it felt like I was being crushed by a heavy pressure.

  But checking myself right now, there were no injuries, everything felt fine.

  I was only a little shaken up by the experience.

  “The Guardian was searching for something in particular,” Wei Lin continued. “Most likely residual demonic cultivation, or some other forbidden technique. That type of spiritual pressure would normally break through almost every concealment method.”

  “So, the Guardian is hunting the killer?” Liu Chen asked, finally disentangling himself from the wall but still clutching his practice sword like a security blanket.

  “That’s the plan,” Wei Lin nodded. “Anyone using techniques to conceal their true nature would have been exposed.”

  Liu Chen seemed to relax a little at that.

  I decided not to mention how that was only true if the murderer was below Stellar Realm.

  After a few moments of silence, Lin Mei spoke up.

  “The Xiao clan must have a lot of pull to get a Stellar Realm cultivator to act so fast.”

  “Of course they do,” Wei Lin snorted. “Why do you think Xiao Feng was acting so arrogant? When your family can call on the power of a Stellar Realm cultivator….” he trailed off, probably remembering that Xiao Feng’s arrogance hadn’t protected him in the end.

  ***

  We spent the next half-hour trying to recover our composure.

  Wei Lin was pacing by the window, occasionally checking to see if anything was going on outside. Lin Mei had taken out some sort of spiritual herb to help calm nerves, and she shared it with us. Liu Chen had relaxed even more after chewing on the bitter herbs.

  I was just beginning to think we were going to be locked down all day when we heard a knock at the door.

  Everyone’s heads snapped toward the sound.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Azure Peak disciples?” A guard yelled through the door. “You’ve been released from lockdown. The criminal has been captured.”

  We exchanged a look. That seemed... fast.

  “Already?” Wei Lin asked aloud.

  “The Guardian wishes all guests to vacate the premises for a thorough cleansing of the grounds,” the guard continued. “Please gather your belongings and prepare to leave within the hour.”

  “Well,” Lin Mei started after the guard’s footsteps had faded, “that was…”

  “Convenient,” I finished, frowning.

  If Li Yuan, assuming that was who had done the deed, had really been caught, why would they want to evacuate everyone? Wouldn’t they want to keep witnesses to see justice served?

  “We should go see what’s happening,” Wei Lin suggested, already packing his things. “This could be important.”

  He didn’t need to go on any further.

  In the world of cultivation, information was currency and anything related to a Stellar Realm cultivator was valuable.

  We quickly packed our belongings, although we hadn’t unpacked much to begin with.

  When we stepped out into the courtyard, we found that many of the other guests who had been similarly forced to abandon their rooms were already exiting the Way Station.

  There was a great deal of whispered conversation and speculation throughout the courtyard.

  Then I saw him, or rather, them.

  A group of guards were escorting a prisoner across the courtyard. The man was bound in spirit-suppressing chains that glowed with intricate patterns. His head was hung low and his feet stumbled along the ground.

  “That’s Chen Wuying,” Wei Lin identified, recognizing the prisoner. “The Bloodhand Butcher.”

  The name meant nothing to me, but Lin Mei gasped. “The one who killed all those merchant families?”

  Wei Lin nodded grimly. “Fifteen families in total. He tortured them for financial information, then killed them all: parents, children, even servants. He’s been wanted for years.”

  From the look on Wei Lin’s face, I could tell that a murderer hunting merchants really bothered him. Of course it did, he probably never felt truly safe knowing someone like that was out there maybe hunting him or his family.

  I decided to take a look at the prisoner more closely.

  The guy certainly looked like a ruthless killer: scarred face, athletic build, qi that radiated barely suppressed violence even under the effects of the spirit-suppression chains. But something about him felt... wrong.

  “I didn’t do this one!” Chen Wuying exclaimed, his voice filled with desperation. “I might have killed a lot of people, yes, but I’m not capable of that! I don’t know nothing about soul-draining or formations!”

  “Silence!” A guard struck him, the blow amplified with qi that sprayed blood from the prisoner’s mouth.

  For some reason, I believed him.

  I mean I knew he wasn’t completely innocent.

  The guy was clearly a murderer that deserved to be punished for the crimes he committed.

  But this particular kill?

  The ritualistic arrangement of the body, the exact draining of the victim’s spiritual energy, the intricate formation work... it didn’t fit the profile of a common butcher, regardless of how bloody his hands were.

  The most likely scenario was that Chen Wuying was being used as a scapegoat.

  Before I could ask the others what they thought about that, I felt it – another wave of spiritual pressure.

  But this wasn’t like the overwhelming force of the Guardian’s attack, this was subtle and delicate, like silk sliding across skin.

  The only reason I sensed it at all was because I was already hyper-aware after the earlier assault. Otherwise, I probably would have missed it.

  In my inner world, something unprecedented happened.

  The two suns, which had always orbited the Genesis Seed at a precise distance since the creation of my terrain, dropped below the seed’s spreading branches, their light dwindling to barely perceptible glows.

  The pressure flowed past us as gently as a breeze, and I fought the urge to shudder.

  None of the others seemed to notice anything unusual; they were all watching the prisoner being led away.

  “Azure?” I called mentally. “Was that...?”

  “Yes,” he replied. “Some form of Life Realm energy, possibly the real thing. The suns recognized it immediately which is why they decided to hide.”

  “Do you think they sensed us?” The thought sent chills through my veins.

  “I don’t think so,” Azure responded after a moment. “The canopy formed by the Genesis Seed somehow concealed their energy signatures.”

  I watched as Chen Wuying was escorted away, still maintaining his protestations of innocence regarding the particulars of this crime. Around us, the other guests were already heading away from the Way Station, eager to establish some distance from the location of a young master’s murder.

  “We should leave,” I said, tugging on Wei Lin’s arm. “Whatever is really going on here, we don’t want to get involved.”

  Regardless of whether Li Yuan was truly back from the dead or simply a puppet dancing on someone else’s strings, I had no interest in becoming involved. Let someone else play the hero and investigate the mystery; I had enough of my own problems.

  “Wait,” Liu Chen said suddenly, his voice small but urgent. “What about Rocky? He’s still not here.”

  Given the events of the day, including a young master having been killed and his spiritual energy drained, and someone capable of manipulating souls being able to walk freely among us — I suddenly realized that leaving Rocky alone was a terrible idea.

  “We need to check on him,” I said, already heading for the gate. “Now.”

  No one argued. We quickly merged with the flow of departing guests, though we were moving significantly faster than most of them. Liu Chen was practically running ahead of us, and only Wei Lin’s firm hold on the boy’s shoulder kept him from sprinting down the road.

  “He’ll be fine,” Lin Mei attempted to comfort the boy. “Rocky’s tough, remember? Who would want to harm a stone guardian?”

  I wished I could echo her optimism, but my mind kept returning to the previously described wave of Life Realm energy. There was someone, someone incredibly powerful, able to manipulate souls walking these roads. And someone like that might be very interested in an elemental spirit currently in the process of a breakthrough.

  “Master,” Azure said cautiously, “the Genesis Seed is... irritated. The branches of the tree are swaying even though there isn’t any wind.”

  That was new and concerning.

  “We need to hurry,” I said, increasing my pace.

  The others matched my speed without hesitation, possibly feeling my urgency.

  The road stretched on longer than I remembered, and with each successive bend and turn, Liu Chen’s complexion grew increasingly pale, his hands already white-knuckled around his practice sword.

  Finally, we approached the final curve that should have revealed Rocky’s resting place.

  Liu Chen broke free of Wei Lin’s grasp and sprinted forward.

  Then he stopped so abruptly it was as if he had slammed into an invisible barrier.

  “No,” the boy cried out in despair, cracking his voice. “No, no, no…”

  I arrived at his side first and then froze.

  The detection formation that Wei Lin had established had not been triggered, but the clearing where we had left Rocky was empty...