Shen Yang regretted everything about the current situation.

  The Matriarch was as stunning as noon on mountain snow, and as a small smile touched the corner of her lips, her overwhelming presence faded, becoming a background note that someone — a fool, perhaps — might forget about.

  “I greet the newly appointed Phoenix Gate Captain,” the Matriarch said. “I rather believe you swore that you wouldn’t return after my personal attendant declined your advances.”

  Shen Yang blushed, but there was nothing he could do. His guards stiffened, but they were even more helpless than him.

  He knew he had pushed his authority too far in this nebulous zone of neutrality, and now he could only hope to flee before too much of his honor was tarnished.

  “Duty tells me where to go,” he said. “Now, I believe that an appropriate punishment has been meted out to the perpetrator.”

  “Yes, a shattered cultivation is certainly enough punishment,” she said, and most of the drinking house guests winced at those words. “As for the bridge, the Stone Forest Pavilion will fund the reconstruction. The Bridge to the South has been a rickety affair for far too long, and I say that our great city should welcome those from the south with open arms and grand invitation!”

  Her words stirred her qi, and applause rang out as people smiled and cheered. The crystalline flowers in the ceiling bloomed, and sparkling blue motes drifted down. It was a scene of wonder, and even Shen Yang felt the patriotic tug in his heart.

  Such was the menacing technique of the Matriarch of the Stone Forest Pavilion.

  He needed to get himself and his men out of here.

  “Since matters are resolved,” he said. “I shall take my leave. And, again, I apologize for the disturbance this evening.”

  “Never apologize for entertainment,” the Matriarch said with another one of her dazzling smiles.

  Shen Yang placed his helmet back on his head and marched out of the drinking house with his guards following behind. His pace was measured, and disciplined, and nobody — nobody at all — could say that he was fleeing.

  ###

  Even though I didn’t need to breathe, sighing was a wonderful means of releasing psychological tension. So, it was challenging to hold back my sigh of relief as the guards left the drinking house. Captain Shen Yang had obviously recognised me, and I’d feared he would expose my lie or lock all three of us up for my disciple’s crime. However, it seemed the heavens were gracing me today, since the guards had left. Though I couldn’t exactly say that the woman who replaced them was any less frightening.

  Garbed in a dress made from scintillating blue gems, and with her braided hair falling over her shoulder, she had that strange, ageless look that indicated she was a cultivator. From the way everyone acted around her, I assumed she was quite powerful.

  It sure must be nice to be able to detect qi!

  Though all my mortal memories drew the same conclusion based on the lifetime’s supply of gold that made her platform shoes and the heavy rings on her fingers.

  “Why don’t we take this conversation somewhere more private?” she said in a voice that turned a question into a command.

  As she willed it, so it was done.

  Chen Ai, my disciple, and I were escorted by an attendant who introduced herself as Xue Yaoni. She led us out of the drinking house, past the patrons who stared at me so openly I had to check if I was naked, and up into a private room no larger than a cupboard.

  The walls were undecorated metal, polished to a mirrorlike shine, and there was barely room for the four of us. Before I could ask why we were in the room, the floor shuddered, and a strange sensation in my stomach told me we were rising.

  “What is this?” Chen Ai asked.

  “A mechanical marvel,” Xue Yaoni said with a smirk. “This room between rooms is the only way to access the rooftop gardens.”

  “Couldn’t someone climb up the building?” I asked with a frown. “Or jump up onto the top?”

  “Excellent observation, master.”

  “That would be ill-advised,” said Xue Yaonicooly. “The Stone Forest Pavilion does not take kindly to those who break the rules. It is only by the Matriarch’s grace that you three are not rotting in a dungeon right now.”

  I dipped my head toward her with as much politeness as the tight room would permit.

  “Of course, we understand that,” I said. “And we are very grateful.”

  Xue Yaoni sniffed.

  Once more, the floor shuddered and came to a halt. My stomach flipped, but I kept my drinks down. Chen Ai looked to be truly struggling, and my disciple was likewise leaning against the walls.

  “Are you two alright?” I asked them.

  “Do not concern yourself with this lowly disciple, master. I am fine.”

  I raised an eyebrow at Chen Ai, but she simply gave me a thumbs up. Talking would probably open the floodgates.

  “We are at the garden,” Xue Yaoni said. “Try to be on your best behavior.”

  It was a relief when the metal doors slid open, and cool, refreshing air wafted in. We quickly left the room between rooms and walked out into a lavish garden of living petrified trees, bushes, flowers, and grass. Even in the moonlight, this place was a riot of color, as someone had painstakingly painted each and every twig, leaf, petal, and blade of grass in bright colors. Blue dominated, such that the open-air garden almost felt underwater, but there were reds, pinks, yellows, greens, and purples subtly woven into the scene.

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  We stood, for a moment, at the entrance to the garden and simply took in the view.

  Far above, the lights of the palaces near the mountain peak glimmered and gleamed, and as the clouds passed, I saw the massive branches weaving between the stars.

  “Quite the view, isn’t it?” said the Matriarch from beside me.

  I was so startled that I forgot to tell my body to move. She raised an eyebrow at me before gesturing to a path that wound through the garden.

  “Would you join me on a walk?” she said. “I would love to show you my garden, and I believe we have much to discuss.”

  “Oh, right,” I said with a bow that felt necessary. “About paying for the bridge damages. Thank you so much for that offer, and we can pay you back. I think we have…” I trailed off as I glanced back at Chen Ai, who held up five fingers as she leaned against a tree. “Five hundred silver, plus more after the serpent fangs go on auction.”

  The Matriarch’s laugh poured out of her, rich, bubbling, and causing the stone leaves in the garden to tremble. She wiped away a tear that glistened like a pearl.

  “Oh, oh my,” she said. “You truly are entertaining! But, no, alas, that is not sufficient. If I had to estimate, the construction of a new Southern Bridge will cost around five thousand gold, but probably more. So, while I appreciate the offer in all its generosity, I must insist you keep your funds to yourself. Now, shall you join me?”

  She stepped onto the meandering path, and I got the distinct impression that terrible things would happen if I didn’t follow. There was nothing she said, or even did; it was simply the gleam in her eyes that told me — and three sets of my memories concurred — that the Matriarch was a dangerous predator disguised as a woman.

  I glanced back at Chen Ai and my disciple.

  “Maybe you two hang back here?” I said.

  “As you wish, master,” my disciple said as he knelt on the ground like a servant.

  Chen Ai gave me another thumbs up as she slumped down beside him.

  I hurried on to catch up with the Matriarch before my imagined consequences became a reality.

  “You have some interesting companions,” she said to me. “An unaffiliated girl with the Ox Bloodline, and a man whose cultivation hangs on by a thread. Is it true that you shattered his core?”

  I nodded.

  “It shattered while we dueled in Sleeping Ruin Pass.”

  “Fascinating. Perhaps I am in danger, then?” she said as she turned to face me and pinned me with her eyes. “You have me all alone in this garden with your secret, core-breaking technique…”

  I panicked.

  Was I supposed to hold her gaze or avert my eyes? What was the etiquette in a situation like this? Was she flirting or threatening? She was a Core Formation cultivator who could turn me into a fine mist with a wave of her hand!

  “It’s not a technique,” I said quietly, desperately hoping that she wouldn’t think I was a threat.

  She searched my eyes, and I have no idea what she found there, but she turned away and continued down the path.

  “That’s a pity,” she said. “You’ll want something like that if you truly intend on entering Howling Blossom Valley.”

  I hurried to walk after her.

  “I have to go there,” I said. “There’s a flower I require.”

  “Oh?” she said as she leaned down to inspect the petals of a stone rose. “What flower? As you can see, I have hundreds. Perhaps we can make a deal that will spare you from entering that nightmarish place.”

  I frowned.

  A lot of people had tried to talk me out of going to the Howling Blossom Valley, but I intended to keep my promise.

  “I need an Azure Tiger Blossom,” I said.

  She moved so fast I couldn’t react.

  One second, she was rubbing at the thin paint on the thinner petal, and the next, she stood close to my face, the jagged edge of that petal pressed against my neck. A moment later, my brain processed the snapping sound of breaking stone that occurred when she’d ripped the petal free.

  Up close, her eyes blazed like twin suns.

  “Alchemist Ran said you were an assassin,” she said softly. “Have you come to kill me? Do you think that you can?”

  The petal’s broken edge pressed into my skin, but I held back my blood. Though the chip of stone was small, I had no doubt she could remove my head. Really, it was just for show. I considered shouting out to my companions and warning them to run, but what use would that be against a Core Formation cultivator?

  None.

  If I kept her attention on me, then she would only hurt me. Hopefully, so long as the damage wasn’t too complete, I would even regenerate from whatever she did.

  “I’m not an assassin,” I said.

  “That is exactly what an assassin would say.”

  I thought about that for a moment.

  Wow. She had a great point. But if an assassin would say that, then someone who wasn’t an assassin would say…

  “I am an assassin.”

  She frowned for a moment before she understood my thread of logic and pulled the petal away from my throat.

  “You’re not here for me?” she asked.

  “No, just for the flower.”

  “Not…” she hesitated, and for the first time, I saw a glimpse of a genuine human behind the facade of the Matriarch. “You’re not here for this flower?”

  She pressed her palm over her heart as she looked at me. For a moment, I thought she was making an offer I had no idea how to refuse, but then her dress shimmered. One by one, the petals retracted, flowing up toward her palm, revealing her clear, unblemished skin and modest, silk underclothes. As the blue dress collapsed completely, I let out a gasp.

  Those sapphire petals had hidden something I couldn’t have imagined.

  There was a gaping wound in her torso. It obliterated part of her chest so thoroughly that I could see through to the plants on the other side. Where her heart should have been, I saw only a blue flower with rings of countless petals. Barbed vines extended from the flower into her veins and her body, and as I watched, the blue petals shimmered and pulsed as though they were her heart.

  “What is that?” I asked.

  “The object of your quest,” she said softly. “Forgive me, I have not shown anyone this in over a decade.”

  I shook my head, so enraptured by the flower that I barely even noticed her body. She stood without modesty, and as I approached, she moved her hand so that I might examine the flower.

  There was a softness in the air, and as I glanced up at her face, I felt no need to bow and scrape. This was not the Matriarch of the Stone Forest Pavilion, but Xue Ruixue, the cultivator.

  “You thought I was an assassin, but you revealed this to me?” I asked.

  She smiled.

  “You think I am any less dangerous because I am exposed? No, little assassin, I showed this to you because only you, of all people, would understand, since you, of all people, are committed to entering that valley.”

  “I’m not going alone.”

  “Oh?”

  “My companions will come with me.”

  “Because they are committed to you, but would either go on their own?”

  I nodded, conceding her point. It wasn’t like Chen Ai or my disciple had made a promise to Tan Lu.

  Still… why was she showing me the flower that replaced her heart? It was nice to know what the Azure Tiger Blossom looked like, and it seemed to be quite horrifying if it fed on people’s hearts. Though I could probably just give it my heart and keep walking, so I wasn’t too concerned about that.

  “Thank you for showing this to me,” I said with a bow.

  “So, you understand?” she asked.

  What?!

  Understand what? I racked my memories for a clue as to how to proceed. My street rat memories surged to the forefront, and I let them take control to get out of the awkward situation.

  “I understand that for all the gems in this garden, the only true flower is yourself.”

  What?!

  Why did I say that? With a great deal of mental willpower, I shoved my streetrat memories to the back of my mind and forced a calm smile onto my face. Maybe she hadn’t heard me?

  The Matriarch stared at me with eyes like hot irons.

  Nope, she heard me.

  She stepped toward me, the blue flower in her chest pulsing as the brambles twitched and the thorns glinted. Her eyes were bright, her lips slightly parted, the shock on her face so extreme I knew I had mere seconds before I ceased to exist.

  Her hand swept toward my face so fast I couldn’t hope to react. She caught my cheek, but instead of a slap that would send my head hurtling beyond the city walls, she gripped my hair and pulled me forward and into a kiss.

  What?!

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