A Heart Hard to Overcome, a General Slain Before the Battle (Middle)

The night over Ci Prefecture City was still as a sheet of solid ice, slowly melting.

A sliver of pale dawn had risen along the eastern horizon and was spreading toward the zenith.

Su Che stood on a rooftop, his official boots planted on several black tiles as he gazed up at the sky.

The long night was nearly over.

Beneath the eaves, the Yin-Yang Dharma King held a cup of hot tea and sipped it slowly, occasionally fishing a pastry from his sleeve and popping it into his mouth.

Flaky five-nut pastries, soft cakes filled with cheese, ox-tongue biscuits packed with pepper, salt, and assorted spices, and rice cakes fragrant with osmanthus...

Who knew where this old senior had scrounged up so much food, or why he had stuffed it all into his sleeves.

"Look, if you're not going to make a move, you might as well come down and have a bite."

The Yin-Yang Dharma King mumbled around his food. "While the tea's still hot."

The Mount Zhong Association's gathering had ended. Su Che and the Yin-Yang Dharma King were waiting for their companions from the association to come knocking.

But there was something else to deal with first.

Someone was in the sky.

Many cultivators could ride the wind and fly, though each had a different way of doing it.

A First-Rank Earth Immortal could roam freely through heaven and earth. On a whim, such a person could soar through the Void, beyond the grasp of any single world.

Those of the Second Grade who practiced Tribulation Dharma, and Third Grade Immortal True Persons, could also travel the Void if they wished, though they still had to guard against the Heavenly Demons.

A Fourth Grade cultivator of the Void-Treading Realm could step into the Ninefold Celestial Firmament