At sunset, Yu Sui had already left the Daoist school hall and met with Xue Mushi to discuss the strange fire.
They crossed a secluded water corridor. At the end of the wooded path stood a stone table and chairs for people to rest. After taking a seat, Yu Sui marked Shuizhou's location on the paper Xue Mushi had prepared.
"Somewhere around here, but it doesn't seem to be in the same sea as Taiyi." Yu Sui marked Taiyi's location too. "Have you heard of Taiyi's Geothermal Core Power?"
Xue Mushi shook his head, gazing at the map. "I knew that the Twenty-Four Saints of Taiyi changed from time to time, but I didn't know how they were chosen. I thought the Saints voted among themselves."
Yu Sui twirled her pen, falling into thought.
Xue Mushi asked her, "What do you think about Geothermal Core Power?"
Yu Sui tapped Taiyi's position on the paper with a finger and said thoughtfully, "I was wondering what would happen if we burned it with the strange fire."
Xue Mushi stared at her in shock. After a moment of silence, he asked uneasily, "Are you going to do it?"
"Not right now." Yu Sui propped her head up with one hand, as if thinking it over. "But who knows what the future holds?"
Xue Mushi looked up at her. "Are you going to Shuizhou, then?"
Yu Sui smiled silently and asked in return, "Are you?"
Xue Mushi shook his head. "There's no way I could go."
Yu Sui replied in a light tone, "If you're not going, then neither am I."
Xue Mushi was speechless.
Yu Sui added, "We've established that neither of us is going. I wonder what the other three will think."
"Is there a way to contact them so we can