“Excuse me, can I help you with something?”

  Cade stiffened, the voice pulling him from a memory so deep he had completely cut himself off from the world. He took a slow breath, then sighed, the air misting in the cool morning. Releasing his life sense, he felt the emotional fluctuations from the woman behind him: worry, fear, curiosity, and determination, all jumbled into a complex knot. Her life signature suggested a young age, and something else—her cultivation was at the fifth stage of Qi Condensation.

  Straightening up from his kowtow, his hand instinctively reached for the mask resting beside him. He slowly stood up, trying not to make any sudden movements that could scare the young woman. He heard her gasp and take a few quick steps back. Compared to most villagers, who tended to be of a thin, energy-conserving build, Cade was now not only incomparably more muscular, but he was also well over six and a half feet tall. He understood how intimidating his presence could feel.

  “Don’t worry, Young Miss. I mean you no harm. I’m wearing a mask—it’s a little ugly, so please don’t be scared. I only came here to visit the graves,” Cade spoke, his voice low and soft. He turned around slowly with his hands raised in a placating gesture. The girl involuntarily lifted her hands to her mouth, her whole body tensing anxiously. Her knees trembled slightly, but she firmly stood her ground.

  “I’ll have you know I’m a cultivator in the fifth stage, so don’t get any stupid ideas, M… Mister!” the young woman warned, shifting into a defensive stance as if ready to fight. Cade’s body lacked any discernible spiritual fluctuations, and most people would assume this meant he was a mortal.

  He couldn’t help but release a quiet chuckle. He lowered his hands and gave the girl a small nod. She was around seventeen years old. Her cultivation was exceptional for her age, considering the lack of pills and decent cultivation arts. Most village women would already be married, but she was likely waiting for the upcoming outer disciple trials at the Sword Sacrament Sect.

  She was quite pretty for a village girl, in a very natural way, without the layers of whitening powders many women in Kettle wore. She was tall, but not overly so, with long, dark hair and a slightly pointy chin, which only served to give her face more character. However, what truly struck Cade was her faint resemblance to his mother, mostly around the eyes.

  “Are you… a relative?” the girl asked, her voice cautious.

  Unsure what to say, Cade eventually chose to nod again. Silence fell on the small garden behind the house, with only the occasional cries of birds discernible in the distance. Cade could see the girl was growing slightly uncomfortable, being around this large stranger who had shown up out of nowhere.

  “Are you also Leanne’s family? You look a little like her,” he asked gently.

  The girl’s face instantly lit up. “I’m her cousin. No, sorry! My mother is her cousin, so I guess she would be my… aunt? If she still lived, that is. I’ve never met her, unfortunately,” she said nervously, embarrassed about her confusing answer.

  “Cousin? Then Lara should be your mother and you are… Anna?” Cade asked, surprise tinging his voice.

  The girl’s big, dark eyes opened even wider, and she smiled beautifully. “Yes! Do you know my mother?!” she inquired energetically, intense curiosity lingering in her tone.

  Lara and her husband, Mark, lived closer to the coast, on the eastern side of the Empire. They didn’t own their land, instead renting it from the local sect. The family grew several types of root vegetables—a tough and thankless job. He was less than a year old when Lara moved away to live with her husband.

  “It was a long time ago. She wouldn’t recognize me now, but that’s not important. Since fate has brought us together, I have something for your parents. And for you, of course, but they should decide what to do with it. Could you pass it on to them?” Cade replied, a small smile tugging at his lips.

  “For me too? But you don’t know me,” the girl tilted her head to the side, pursing her lips as if trying to recall when she could have met him before, only to realize she hadn’t answered his question. “Sorry, of course! I’ll pass on whatever you need,” she nodded vigorously. By now, her guard was mostly down, and her life signature was dominated by feelings of strong curiosity.

  Cade smiled under the mask, then brought out a brown leather bag, one of many he carried in his storage ring. “In the common room, there used to be a loose plank near the wall adjacent to the kitchen. Place this under there for now. Never show it to anyone other than your mother and father; otherwise, you will bring a terrible calamity upon your family. Use what’s inside to improve your lives,” he said, extending his hand with the bag in her direction.

  Anna’s surprise at his words was reflected on her face. Not only was there indeed a loose plank—though she remembered her father nailing it down some time ago—but this piece of information was way too specific for some random person to know. Suddenly, she froze mid-breath, her mouth slightly open, the color draining from her face. “Are you… Are you Cade?” she asked hesitantly.

  Good question. Am I still Cade? Or am I a different person now, and I can’t even tell?

  “Take it. Do not share it with anyone. People would kill your family to claim what’s in that bag. Show it to your father and mother, then let them decide what to do with it,” he repeated solemnly, choosing not to answer her question.

  The girl’s face took on a serious look, and she nodded gravely. As she approached, she couldn’t help but notice his thick, black nails, almost like short claws. Then she looked into his eyes and stopped, swallowing nervously.

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  “Don’t worry, I would never hurt you or your parents, but it’s better if you don’t know who I am. Now, please take it.” He shook the bag lightly, and the crystals inside sang with a soft chime.

  Anna’s brow furrowed, but she finally stepped forward, carefully picking up the bag. She looked at it with a puzzled expression, then her eyes shifted to Cade, then to the bag again. Cade chuckled upon witnessing her hesitation. “I’ll save you the shock. There are spirit crystals in the bag, a hundred of them. I’ve also included the name of an honest wine merchant who can exchange them for gold. Just don’t bring more than a couple at once; he probably won’t have that much coin on hand. These crystals are enough for your family to live comfortably for the rest of your life. Will you be careful and do as I ask?”

  Her eyebrows lifted, her mouth opening wide upon hearing the bag’s contents. She proceeded to nervously untie it. Upon glancing at the shimmering blue crystals, her hand immediately shot to her mouth, stifling a cry, and she nearly dropped the bag from sheer shock.

  “It’s not a gift; it’s a payment. For these crystals, I want to buy three things from you. First, please look after these two graves. Plant some flowers around them. Second, provide some help to the people who helped bury Leanne. Not all at once; it will be suspicious. Try to find some indirect ways; don’t just shower them with coin. And don’t go overboard. Third, I need the six books that were left in the house. Do we have a deal?”

  “Of… Of course! I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say. Let me bring you the books. My mother kept them safe,” she spoke in a trembling voice, then turned and ran back into the house. A few moments later, she returned, much calmer, carrying a large linen sack.

  “Thank you. I will return to visit the graves at some point in the future. Take care of yourself, and look after your parents. They are very precious.” As his voice began to break under the weight of heavy emotion, Cade stopped talking. He took a deep breath, lowered his head, and repeated his father’s calming mantra. He then looked at the concerned girl once again. “I’m going to place some incense sticks on their graves. Would that be alright?”

  She immediately perked up. “Of course. I’ll leave you to it; I’ve still got some cleaning to do.”

  Cade smiled beneath the mask, nodding with gratitude. A short while later, Anna, in her unrestrained curiosity, decided to peek through a crack in the window, only to find three incense sticks stabbed into the ground in front of each grave, their white smoke slowly wafting, releasing a pleasant aroma. The mysterious stranger was gone.

  His Arrow cut through the air at full speed, flying just beneath the clouds. After visiting his parents’ graves, Cade felt a heavy load that had weighed down his soul lessen substantially. His determination to punish the Brighthearts, however, now burned with hellish intensity. The only thing capable of quenching that fire was vengeance. He needed to raise his realm as fast as possible and bring the heavens down on Marius.

  Right now, his priority was to step into Flesh Fortification. He wanted to do that before arriving at the monastery. The second important task was to take control of the red mist and this weird aura. He couldn’t afford for them to trigger randomly. For now, he set his course south, keeping his speed well below the maximum; otherwise, he’d be forced to burn through a lot of blood qi. He could use spirit crystals, but the distance was huge—he had over 65,000 miles to cross. It was better to conserve resources.

  Cade was currently in the north-eastern part of the Sun Continent, and his goal—the Desert of a Thousand Lakes—lay roughly in the middle portion of the continent’s southern half. He couldn’t find any detailed map of that area, only a general one with a few of the largest cities marked. Luckily, the desert’s main center of trade, Tower Oasis, was already highlighted. From what he had gathered, even though the city belonged to elves, it was open to visitors from other races. He had read some fascinating things about Tower Oasis. It was dominated by an enormous white tower piercing the clouds, a city unto itself with hundreds of levels. It served as headquarters for the Tower of Arts—the largest qi cultivation academy exclusive to elves, focusing on battle arts. It also trained alchemists, artificers, jewelers, and other cultivating craftsmen. While goldscales were known as top experts in artifice, elves were a close second. Their artifacts had an innate lightness; he had seen a couple of ancient ones in Kettle, guarded by protective barriers. They were outrageously expensive but stunningly beautiful.

  He settled comfortably into his seat, sending a trickle of qi into a beginner alchemy manual. As long as he could find the time, he was planning on returning to concocting pills. Since he might need to hunt powerful beasts in the future, he’d be able to harvest many alchemical ingredients. If he learned to turn them into pills, especially of the rare kind, it would be a great source of revenue. He was painfully aware of how difficult and time-consuming alchemy was, but so was nearly everything until you put the work in.

  At his current, energy-saving speed, it would take him around two weeks to reach his destination, taking occasional breaks for sleep. The yearly disciple trial at the monastery should begin roughly two months after his arrival in Tower Oasis, giving him some time to get to know this new environment. Before that happened, however, he first had to find a Rank 2 beast, ideally one that had only recently broken through. Cade didn’t need a life-and-death challenge at this moment; what he needed was to raise his cultivation as quickly and efficiently as possible.

  The Arrow devoured the miles in tireless fashion, and the landscape below him went through fascinating changes. The many cliffs and mountains of the Verdant Sea gradually gave way to hills covered with tall, dense grass, and thick forests became a lot sparser. After traveling close to 8,000 miles, Cade began looking for a place he could stay for the night. He passed over a beastborn settlement, but those places weren’t welcoming to cultivators from other races unless they were trading goods. It was definitely safer to remain in the wilderness, especially since the spiritual qi in the area was still fairly low.

  In the end, after a long while of straining his eyes, he eventually found a tall hill with a cliff on one side and a couple of cave entrances. He chose one roughly eighty feet above the ground, the height limiting access to all animals that weren't good at climbing or flying. It was only a shallow opening, the cavern no deeper than a dozen feet, but for his purposes, it was enough—dry, empty, and surprisingly clean, with no sign of animal feces.

  A few days later, Cade was nearing the midway point of his journey. The land below had fully transformed into open plains, covered in tall, yellowing grass and dotted with sparse, flat-topped trees. Occasional hills still broke the horizon, sometimes giving way to gently sloping cliffs, but the plain gray rock had vanished, replaced by golden-hued sandstone. The qi was growing denser, and he started to pay more attention to the creatures below, flying over many peak Rank 1 spirit beasts, mostly large quadrupeds with curled horns resembling deer and packs of scaled horse-like reptiles that appeared herbivorous. It seemed this area didn’t have many predators, which was rather surprising, as the Verdant Sea crawled with things waiting to turn you into dinner.

  It was during one such scouting flight that his sensitive sight picked up structures in the distance, with tiny silhouettes bustling about.

  “Hold on..." Cade muttered, narrowing his eyes to further magnify the scene.

  There was no doubt—it was a human city.