Pei Ye felt his soul leave his body, so cold he had nowhere to huddle. In his panic, he grasped wildly about until at last he caught a thread. He soon realized it was [Quail Head]. Following that thread, he finally found his body again, and in an instant, the cries rushed from far away to his ears: "...Pei Ye, Pei Ye!"
Black Cat suddenly burst into his field of vision and pressed a soft paw against his lips. Those clear jade eyes were inches away. Pei Ye shifted his gaze slightly; bright blood was running down half its body.
Black Cat immediately caught that shift of his gaze. "-Hold [Quail Head] to your heart. Shut out the Edict Diagram!"
Pei Ye obeyed. Soon his limbs and every part of his body began to revive, warmth surging through him, followed by dense, fresh agony everywhere. His face contorted as he curled his body tightly. Only after a long while did he recover, pale-faced and sweating like rain.
Black Cat propped him up and fed him two Kongtong Wound Medicine pills. "Are you all right?"
Pei Ye rested a limp hand on it and said weakly, "He took the Soul-Seizing Pearl..."
"I know."
"I should have destroyed it..."
"If you'd destroyed it, you'd be the new one." Black Cat fed him a great deal of its own blood. "Stop thinking nonsense."
Some color returned to Pei Ye's face, and he buried his fragility once more. He stared blankly at the distant mountains for a while, then closed his eyes briefly, seemingly rallying his spirits.
He braced himself on his sword and rose. "...Where will he go?"
Black Cat looked back toward Five Peaks Lotus Heart. "That depends on what they intend to do. Now that their preparations are complete..."
"...But we