Tomorrow

The people in the square finally dispersed.

As Li Tui left with the last few people, his legs went weak. Every step felt like he was treading through mud.

The Blood Bodhi in his chest throbbed faster and harder, like a beast rampaging through his body. The smell of blood made it tremble with excitement, and waves of scalding heat raced wildly through his meridians, leaving Li Tui dizzy.

By the time he returned to the West Courtyard, night had fallen.

The side room was unlit. Li Tui groped his way to the bed and sank down heavily, panting for a long while before he recovered.

He pulled open his collar. In the darkness, the Blood Bodhi gave off a dim red glow, like a solitary eye buried in his chest. Its surface was etched with increasingly dense, deep patterns, as though some kind of cipher was completing its final stroke. The moment his fingertip touched it, he jerked back from the heat.

Suddenly, three knocks came from outside the window, two light and one heavy.

"Who is it?" Li Tui asked warily.

"It's me."

Li Tui opened the window. Zhao Hao slipped into the room like a shadow, his gaze immediately falling on Li Tui's deathly pale face and the strange glow at his chest.

"Why are you worse than before?" Zhao Hao asked in a low voice. "Will it affect tomorrow?"

"I'm not dead yet." Li Tui tugged at the corner of his mouth, pressing a hand to his chest. "This thing... it's getting more and more wrong."

He briefly described how his injuries had worsened and the Blood Bodhi had grown restless.

Zhao Hao listened in silence. In the darkness, his breathing was faint.

"The final is tomorrow." Zhao Hao spoke, the usual calm gone from his voice, replaced by a murderous edge. "Zhao Yuanchong and I have a score to settle."

Li Tui could hear the weight behind his words. After Zhao Yuanchong's fight with Zhao Wen today, the two of them tomorrow would likely fare no better.

"And for that Old Ghost, it's the last opportunity—and the best one." Zhao Hao paused and looked at Li Tui, his eyes sharp. "The scene will be at its most chaotic, everyone's attention will be focused, and it'll be easiest to exploit a gap. He'll definitely come."

Li Tui nodded silently, his fingers unconsciously pressing against his chest. The Blood Bodhi throbbed harder with every beat.

"I need you to do me a favor." Zhao Hao's eyes gleamed eerily in the darkness. "At the most critical moment, use that Old Ghost to stir up some commotion. You don't have to risk your life. Just make the eyes watching from the shadows blur for a moment, blink once, and that's enough."

Li Tui said nothing.

Zhao Hao knew he wouldn't agree for nothing. He took a cloth pouch from his robe and tossed it onto the table. It landed with a dull thud.

"One packet of Qi-Condensing Powder," Zhao Hao said. "Enough to break through one acupoint. There'll be more after it's done."

He then took off an iron token and placed it beside the pouch. A cold gleam shone across its surface, where a faint medicinal herb was engraved.

"The shopkeeper at the Hundred Herbs Hall on West Street is surnamed Chen. Take this token there, and you can collect a monthly supply of herbs to strengthen your foundation and nourish your vitality." Zhao Hao's voice was even. "Once it's done, I'll take care of that Old Ghost for you."

Li Tui looked at the things on the table. Qi-Condensing Powder was a valuable commodity, hard to find at any price; the herbs from the Hundred Herbs Hall would provide a steady supply; and the promise to deal with the evil cultivator would solve his most urgent problem.

Zhao Hao was offering a hefty price this time.

"If you help me with this, I'll owe you a favor," Zhao Hao added. "Someday, in the Zhao Family or outside it, if you need me, just ask."

He'd made his sincerity plain.

Li Tui was silent for a long time.

He knew Zhao Hao was calculating. If he was offering so much, he surely wanted more than "a little commotion." That "blink" of an opening was probably a matter of life and death for Zhao Hao.

But Li Tui genuinely needed these things. The evil cultivator hung over him like a blade at his throat, while his lack of cultivation resources left him unable to make any progress. What Zhao Hao offered was exactly what he needed most.

But would he even live long enough to use it?

"All right," Li Tui finally said, his voice hoarse. "I'll do my best."

He didn't ask Zhao Hao exactly what he planned to do, or what would happen if the commotion got out of hand. Some things lost their meaning when you asked too many questions.

Zhao Hao seemed relieved, though it didn't show on his face.

"Use your judgment." He rose and went to the door. "Don't actually risk your life. These things are only worth anything if you're alive."

With that, he opened the door and slipped into the night in a blur, without a sound.

The door closed again.

Li Tui stood in the darkness for a while, then slowly moved to the table and felt the cloth pouch. The hard pill inside pressed against his hand through the fabric. He picked up the iron token as well, rubbing his fingertips over its icy patterns.

The goods were real. The promise might be, too.

But Zhao Hao probably wanted a great deal more than he'd let on.

Li Tui sat back down on the bed and pressed a hand to his chest again. The tumor thumped beneath his palm, its scalding restlessness rising in waves, as though urging him toward something.

He closed his eyes. The image of the Treasure Mirror greedily gorging itself flashed before him. Cold, greedy, survival of the fittest.

In this world, the soft-hearted were the first to die.

A thought began to grow like mad, impossible to suppress.

If chaos was coming, he might as well make it total. If things were going to get out of hand, he might as well push them beyond anyone's ability to control.

Zhao Hao wanted a moment of distraction. Li Tui wanted to muddy the waters until no one could see through them, until he had the chance to... do something.

For instance, amid the utter chaos, he could approach the platform and try to touch—or claim a share of—this so-called Star Fate.

The thought was so insane that it made even him shudder. Yet it wasn't just an idle fantasy; Li Tui already felt that his days were numbered.

Even if Zhao Hao really helped him deal with Old Ghost, he probably wouldn't be able to do anything about the Blood Bodhi in his chest. He might as well risk everything.

After all, the Treasure Mirror's reaction to Star Fate earlier was proof enough that they contained something it needed.

Li Tui slowly clenched his fingers into a fist, his nails digging deep into his palm and drawing blood.

He opened his eyes and looked through the darkness at the pouch of pills and the iron token on the table, then lowered his gaze to the dark red glow flickering over his chest.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow was the day.