Nethergold Stardust

The fierce wind whipped the robes of the two men in the air. They said nothing more, merely staring at the courtyard fifty li away.

Li Yan did not know how long he had walked through the void. One glittering mote of stardust after another, each with its own sheen, slowly fell behind him.

Some inexplicable force seemed to draw him onward, letting him feel the strange power radiating from the vast expanse of stardust overhead. He kept contemplating, kept walking.

Then, at a certain moment, a strange mote of stardust glowing with a dark golden light appeared before his eyes. It was unlike all the blue, gold, and green motes around it.

It grew clearer and clearer in Li Yan's sight. Though its glow was dim, he could not tear his gaze away from it.

Amid the brilliance of the stars, the nethergold stardust seemed eerily aloof, quiet and cold as a vast moonlit palace. Unconsciously, Li Yan stopped walking.

His eyes fixed on the fist-sized mote. As he stared straight at it, an invisible thread slowly formed between his heart and the stardust.

He stood there for who knew how long—a fleeting instant, or an eternity. Drawn by his gaze, the nethergold stardust drifted toward him bit by bit, until it slipped into his body.

The instant it entered him, Li Yan's consciousness crossed thousands of mountains and rivers and returned to his flesh. He snapped awake, feeling dazed, as though he had merely had a very brief dream.

But when he looked around, he found a foot of dust covering the room. His hair had grown long enough to reach the floor, and the hem of his robe lay buried in dust.

Still somewhat dazed, Li Yan had no time for anything else. He immediately turned