"Begin."

  The word hadn’t even finished echoing before hordes of cultivators charged up the mountain, roaring like a bunch of bloodthirsty barbarians. Cade and Jade stood alone at the base of one of the mountain’s steepest faces.

  “Let’s wait for a few minutes,” he said calmly, placing a hand on Jade’s shoulder as she made to shoot forward.

  “Why? And why did you insist we come here of all places?” the princess asked, looking around in confusion. Noticing his blank, distant gaze, her brows drew together, but she still did as he asked. After a couple of minutes, Jade's patience started to run thin. She was about to say something when the young Asura’s eyes focused, and he gave her an easy smile.

  “Thank you. We can go now. I’ll explain as we walk,” he said. They had roughly a mile of a moderately steep approach before the first major wall, which was over a thousand feet high, with a roughly two-hundred-foot overhanging section near the top. Theirs wasn’t among the shortest routes either, and that combination of factors was the main reason no one else was willing to start their climb here.

  Cade laid out everything to Jade—how she was quite possibly being targeted and how he wanted to make sure there were as few people around them as possible. He especially didn’t want any groups behind him. By the time they reached the wall, her face had turned a little pale.

  “But why did you want us to wait when there wasn’t anyone else around?” she asked, unable to stop herself from casting nervous glances, as if expecting an assassin to spring from behind the nearest boulder.

  “I have a… something that allows me to detect the presence of others. I was using it to observe people nearby for suspicious behavior. But everyone is busy climbing, so we’re good for now. Let's focus on ascending.” At least there were no direct threats. He couldn’t do anything about the hundreds of elders high in the air, watching silently over their disciples. There was a good chance someone up there was paying special attention to their every move.

  His calm demeanor seemed to reassure Jade, and her curiosity took over.

  “There are artifacts that allow you to do that?” she inquired.

  “Sort of,” he smiled awkwardly.

  “You really won’t tell me?” She faked a sad expression that was lost under the veil, leaving only her twinkling eyes.

  “Sorry, if I could, I would, but I promised my Master to keep it to myself,” Cade smiled apologetically. “How about we start climbing for now? Once we’re past the overhang, we can take a short break.”

  “You have a Master?!” she exclaimed in surprise.

  “Later. Let’s focus on what’s ahead of us. You go first,” Cade answered, a light smile still tugging at the corners of his lips.

  “Knave! You know how curious women are!”

  “Climbing first, Masters later,” he grinned.

  “Whatever. But you’ll tell me?” she asked insistently.

  “I’ll tell you what I can,” he said, letting out a soft chuckle.

  “Fine. Stop wasting time then; the mountain won’t climb itself,” the princess shot him a cheeky grin and started rubbing her palms with powdered chalk.

  Cade released a laughing snort, and they began the ascent.

  For a normal person, climbing a wall like this without ropes and pitons would have been a suicidal act. On the other hand, an early Foundation Establishment cultivator—even without a drop of qi in their pre-core—was still four to five times stronger than a mortal, with vastly superior endurance. They could cling to the smallest holds and maintain perfect body tension for hours, making the ascent of this jagged titan just barely possible within the two-week time frame. The greatest challenge wasn’t the distance itself, but the toll it took on the body. Without qi to aid recovery, fatigue would soon begin to accumulate, slowing climbers down and leading to mistakes. And those were often fatal.

  “Why do you insist I lead?” she asked after a while, taking a brief rest on a narrow shelf. Cade appeared next to her in two swift moves, scaling the wall as easily as others walked a straight path. They were now more than a couple hundred feet above the ground.

  “If there’s danger ahead, I’ll leave it to you,” he answered with a straight face.

  “What?! Bastard!” Jade laughed, swiping lightly at his arm—but even that small motion threw her off balance, and she let out a startled yelp. His arm, hard as steel, caught her before she could fall.

  “That’s why,” Cade said lightly. “Unless, of course, princesses fall upward.”

  “Oh. Right. Thank you,” she giggled nervously, wiping a sheen of sweat from her forehead.

  By the time they reached the top of the overhang, the sun had already begun to set. They probably wouldn’t be able to climb much further before it got dark. For him, it made little difference, but Jade’s night sight wasn’t as good. Luckily, the shelf ahead was spacious, some twenty feet across.

  The princess sat on a small, loose boulder, watching as Cade pitched the tent, feeling absolutely exhausted. She watched him break off several large slabs of rock as if they were rotten wood, then wrap guy ropes around them.

  “Cade… I’m slowing you down. I know I am. I’m sorry,” she said, each word coming out softer than the last. Her eyes glistened in the warm rays of the descending sun.

  “What are you talking about?” he turned to her, dropping a boulder with a loud thud.

  “If not for me, you’d be much further ahead. You climb so quickly! Whenever I catch a glance of your face, there is no strain on it whatsoever… and I… I move like an old, fat pig!” she burst into tears.

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  Aw, crap. “No, no, there’s no need to cry. We did well,” Cade crouched next to the princess. The climb was a grueling challenge for an early-stage qi cultivator, and it would only get tougher. “Jade, listen to me. Jade?”

  She stopped crying, wiped the tears from her face with an embroidered handkerchief, and looked at him with reddened eyes.

  “Honestly, you are doing great. I can detect other cultivators nearby, and most of them are behind us. You can’t compare yourself to a body cultivator. Remember how we talked about me having an advantage?”

  “Mhm… yeah,” she said. She wanted to wipe her face but forgot about her veil and tore it away in frustration. “Sorry,” she blew her nose quietly in a very ladylike fashion.

  “We’ve covered a decent chunk of the mountain for one day. Even though we chose a hard route, we’re still doing better than most. And it’s only because of how well you climbed. I simply followed you.”

  “Really? Are we really doing well?” she perked up slightly.

  “Definitely. If we maintain similar pace, two weeks is more than enough,” Cade said, giving her a thumbs-up followed by an encouraging grin.

  Jade finally smiled, revealing two rows of pearly white teeth. “I should at least help you with setting up the tent, but…”

  Cade quickly waved it off. “Don’t worry about it. Focus on recovering your strength. Do you want to know a secret?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows with verve.

  “You know I do! And please don’t do that… thing. Ever,” she giggled.

  He let out a short chuckle, satisfied to see her mood improving. “Fine. I have a secret technique which only my Master and I can use. I can’t teach it to anyone else, even if I wanted to. Do you know what it does?”

  “What?” This was more than enough to fan the flames of her curiosity.

  “When using it, I don’t need to rest. I don’t need to sleep. I can just go on. Two weeks is not a problem. So I meant what I said: you shouldn’t worry about anything other than climbing.”

  “But… how? There has to be a price,” she asked, shaking her head.

  “I’ll probably end up sleeping for three days straight after we reach the summit,” he shrugged. “Other than that, there shouldn't be any detrimental effects, as long as I don’t stretch it too much past those fourteen days.”

  “That’s amazing! Too bad you can’t teach it to me. I’d have loved to see the faces of Arthur and the girls after I told them how quickly we reached the peak,” she snickered.

  “We’ll still make great time. So just rest for now.” Cade stood up and went back to pitching the tent.

  “Wait… You’re just going to watch over me while I sleep? Without ever sleeping yourself?” Jade asked in a doubtful voice, as the idea didn’t sit right with her.

  “Yes. And don’t feel bad about it. I’m used to being alone for long periods of time. A few hours every night is nothing,” he reassured her. “Alright, the tent is ready,” he added, testing the last guy rope and brushing the dirt from his hands.

  “Thank you. For everything. I really mean it…” she said, stifling a yawn. Her voice was growing quieter with each word. Cade could see she was barely holding on, her eyes already half-lidded as she stepped inside the tent. He saw her lie down on a small, flat bed she had pulled out of her storage ring. “Goodnight, Cade,” her barely audible voice reached his ears.

  “Goodnight. Sleep well.” By the time he finished speaking, the princess was already dead to the world.

  The next four days brought little change to their routine. During the day, they climbed. At night, Cade watched over Jade, sipping on blood essence and circulating blood qi according to Flesh Fortification diagrams. Most of the time, he’d use a minor technique from the late stage of Blood Transformation called diagram automation, which allowed him to inscribe diagrams directly into his realm of consciousness and designate a tiny part of his mind to work on cultivation while the rest could focus on something else, like reading. Still, at no point did he allow himself to fully relax, and he continued scanning the area with his life sense.

  It was on the sixth day that things changed, when they stepped onto a broad shelf that appeared to encircle a large section of the mountain. At that moment, Cade sensed rising pressure at the back of his head, and he immediately signaled Jade to stop. She already knew what this meant and patiently waited while he focused his life sense on the source of the trouble. There were three signatures approaching from the other side of the shelf. They were still around a mile away, but they seemed to move in their exact direction. This was nothing too out of the ordinary, as cultivators were always searching for the easiest routes to ascend. However, none of the previous situations had awakened his danger sense from its slumber. What made him doubly cautious was that all three were likely to be at least in the late stage of Skeletal Reinforcement, possibly even at the great circle.

  Cade had little doubt these were the assassins coming for Jade, and he quickly scanned his surroundings. Gaining an upper hand from the start was crucial, as it would save him from revealing his more questionable abilities. The shelf appeared man-made; it was too wide and far too straight for a natural formation. On his right was the wall, a mostly straight rock face with hundreds of sharp, jutting ledges. On his left, a chasm around five hundred feet deep. Any contestant falling there would have a really bad time. Unfortunately, due to the trial’s rules, he was forced to deal with the assassins using non-lethal methods.

  An idea began to take shape in his mind: According to the rules, I can’t appropriate their storage rings. But maybe there’s another way to profit. It's a bit bold but... The more Cade thought about his plan, the more tempted he was. The potential score would be worth poking the hornet's nest.

  His eyes narrowed on an irregular crevice about forty feet above them, barely visible from this downward angle. It was just wide enough for Jade to squeeze in. “Jade, can you climb up there?” he pointed at the opening.

  The princess’s bored expression immediately turned serious. “Why? Are we in danger?” she asked, her voice flaring with worry.

  “I think they’re about to make their move. I don’t believe they know exactly where we are, but they must have a pretty good idea. Stay low inside the crack, don’t peek, and definitely don’t come out. No matter what happens. Let me deal with it,” he calmly explained.

  “But I can help…” she wanted to argue, but Cade interrupted her.

  “Can you trust me and do what I ask? Please.”

  “But…”

  “Jade, go!” Cade barked. His outburst was so sudden, she actually twitched. He had never raised his voice at her before. While she was momentarily stunned, she quickly realized the situation must be very serious indeed.

  “Hmph. Fine! But if I hear you struggle, I will come out to help, and that’s that,” the princess retorted angrily. She turned around sharply, pinned her hair, and started climbing. After six days on the mountain, her skills had grown tremendously, and ascending a few dozen feet was as easy as breathing. While she was a little annoyed, in her heart she knew he was trying to protect her. What really frustrated her wasn’t Cade, but her own uselessness. Without spiritual qi, she was easy pickings for a group of experienced body refiners.

  The young Asura sighed, relieved to see the princess actually listened. Var Du Long must be a true saint, with endless reserves of patience. He pulled out a small bottle of blood essence, topping himself up. Once he saw Jade hide in the crevice, he confirmed the enemy’s position, then took off his red longcoat, not wanting the sound of billowing fabric to betray him. Even though wild winds constantly howled over their heads, body cultivators had very sensitive hearing, unaffected by the depletion of spiritual qi.

  A determined expression settled on his face as Cade loosened his shoulders and cranked his neck. Alright, let’s see who ends up ambushing whom here.