Nearing the City

On the third day after Long Tian returned to Bluestone Town, word that he had three rings spread throughout the academy.

That morning, while he practiced his Third Soul Skill at the training ground as usual, the crowd watching him stretched from beneath the banyan tree all the way to the foot of the courtyard wall. At the very front, Zhao Xiaopang held up a wooden sign bearing the crooked words "Light of Bluestone." He had drawn them with a fire poker the night before, and the ink had yet to dry completely. Mr. Wang did not come to watch, but a window on the second floor of the lecture hall stood open. A steaming cup of tea rested on the sill, and every so often someone picked it up for a sip.

The Third Soul Skill was more practical than Long Tian had expected. Once the chaotic film of light covered his body, it was as thin and light as a cicada's wing and scarcely hindered his movements, yet it could dissipate most of an external blow. He had Zhao Xiaopang swing a broom at him ten times, and the film did not budge. Then he had Chen Hao punch him using thirty percent of his Soul Power. The film trembled a few times before settling, and Long Tian felt only a slight pressure in his chest and abdomen. His skin did not even turn red. Chen Hao drew back his fist and clicked his tongue. "This thing's even better than an Ironback Turtle's shell. Best of all, it doesn't get in the way."

Long Tian tried using the film of light and Yin-Yang Twin Wings at the same time. With his wings spread, he flew through the air, the film covering his entire body. Like a cannonball wrapped in a chaotic halo, he plunged toward a pile of thick straw mats on the ground. Bang! Bits of straw flew everywhere. Long Tian climbed out of the pile and brushed the dry straw from his hair, without so much as a scratch on him.

"If I run into someone I can't beat, at least I won't get scraped up while running away." He gave the Soul Skill a name: "Yin-Yang Body Protection."

The days slipped by in cultivation and refinement. Autumn gave way to winter, the winter snow melted, willows put forth fresh green shoots, and before he knew it, another summer had climbed into the treetops. Nourished by his Third Soul Ring, Long Tian's cultivation steadily rose to level seventeen. The inner surfaces of all three Soul Rings were completely covered in patterns. In his dantian, the three rings were like three tightly interlocking wheels. The powers of light and darkness revolved and flowed back between them in an endless cycle, so harmoniously integrated that they scarcely seemed to be three separate Soul Rings.

Zhao Xiaopang's chopping block Martial Soul had also lived up to expectations and acquired its First Soul Ring, though it was only a Hundred-Year Soul Ring hunted from an old yellow ox by a field. Its Soul Skill was "Chopping Block Defense": he could hold the chopping block upright in front of him to withstand an ordinary blow. Zhao Xiaopang cheerfully showed off the Soul Skill to Long Tian, who obliged him with a palm strike using ten percent of his strength. The chopping block did not budge, and Zhao Xiaopang grinned smugly behind it. Long Tian added another twenty percent, and the chopping block shattered. Zhao Xiaopang squatted on the ground, picking up the splinters with a pained look.

At the start of summer, Chen Hao gained another level of cultivation. His level-nineteen Ironback Wolf Soul Power surged, and the colors of his three Soul Rings had grown a shade richer than the year before. He sought out Long Tian for a spar without a referee. They fought for a full incense stick's time before both sat on the edge of a stone platform, panting from exhaustion. They exchanged a glance, and neither said who had won or lost, but both wore smiles.

One evening in early autumn, Long Tian was packing his belongings in his dormitory. He checked the Iron Guard token, jade pendant, peace talisman, several maps, and his father's letter one by one. He had just put them in his bundle when a barely audible set of footsteps came from the doorway. He looked up to see Zhao Xiaopang standing beside the doorframe, an odd expression on his round face and a piece of paper clutched in his hand.

"Long Tian, someone in gray clothes just threw this over the wall. I picked it up." Zhao Xiaopang handed him the paper. "He said you should read it tonight."

Long Tian took the paper and unfolded it. The sheet was rough, with creases along its edges. It had neither a greeting nor a signature, only six words:

"The time has come. Meet south of the city."

The handwriting was identical to that on the parchment map Shen Mo had left last time.

Long Tian stood beneath the lamp for a long time, clutching the paper. The token against his chest felt faintly cool through his clothes. Zhao Xiaopang lingered in the doorway, studied his expression, and asked quietly, "Is something... going on with your father?"

Long Tian nodded. He took a deep breath, folded the paper, and put it in his bundle. Then he turned to Zhao Xiaopang. "I'm leaving. First thing tomorrow morning."

Zhao Xiaopang did not leap up and shout as he had in the past. He simply stood there in silence, his chubby hand gripping the edge of the doorframe until it turned white. After a long while, he said, "I'm going with you."

"Your parents..."

"I'll say I'm going to Spirit City for further study. They'll be overjoyed." Zhao Xiaopang stuck out his neck. "Besides, my chopping block can block a hit for you. I'm a full-fledged Soul Master now, at least."

Long Tian looked at him for a moment, then nodded. "All right. Pack your things and come with me tomorrow."

Zhao Xiaopang turned and ran back to his own dormitory, his thudding footsteps fading at the end of the corridor. Long Tian stood in the doorway, looking at the dim yellow light in the corridor, and suddenly felt that the empty passage was no longer so quiet.

He returned to the table, spread out a sheet of paper, and wrote a letter for Mr. Wang. In a few short lines, he explained why he was leaving and thanked his teacher for three years of instruction. As he set down his brush, he thought for a moment, then added another line at the end: "If I tread the thorns flat someday, I will surely return to see the pine on your windowsill, sir."

He left the letter on the table, weighing down one corner with the pot of asparagus fern.

At dawn the next day, before the sky was fully light, Long Tian walked out of the dormitory with his bundle on his back. Zhao Xiaopang was already waiting in the courtyard, carrying a bundle larger than he was, stuffed with clothes, rations, and the fragments of his treasured chopping block Soul Tool. Chen Hao was there too, standing against the courtyard wall with his gray leather travel bag slung over his shoulder.

Long Tian stopped short.

Chen Hao spoke. "Mr. Wang came to see me last night. He said you were leaving today and told me to go with you. His exact words were, 'Chen Hao, go with him. Don't let that boy run wild in the city on his own.'" Chen Hao shrugged, a trace of a smile at the corner of his mouth. "I wanted to see what the age-group competition in Spirit City was like anyway. It's on my way."

Long Tian looked at Chen Hao, then at Zhao Xiaopang. The early autumn wind swept over the courtyard wall, carrying the crisp scent of grass and trees and making the hems of their clothes flutter. He did not say much in thanks, only nodded to them both and strode out through the academy gates.

Behind him, the leaves of the old banyan tree rustled in the morning breeze. The window on the second floor of the lecture hall was closed, but the shadow of the potted pine on its sill showed faintly through the window paper. Long Tian did not look back. Without breaking stride, he stepped onto the official road leading to the world beyond.

The three figures gradually blended into the thin morning mist. Behind them, the outline of Bluestone Town grew fainter and smaller, until it finally vanished in the light of the rising sun. Spirit City was still nowhere to be seen on the distant horizon, but the road lay beneath their feet, and with every step they shortened the distance.

In the fields on either side of the road, the rice was ripe, a golden expanse stretching to the horizon. The autumn wind blew across the fields, carrying the fragrance of plump grain. It scattered the dust on the three youths' clothes, then gathered it again.

Zhao Xiaopang walked in the middle, looking at Long Tian on his left and Chen Hao on his right. Suddenly he grinned. "Hey, what should we eat first when we get to Spirit City? I heard there's an old-established braised meat shop in the south of the city..."

Chen Hao frowned. "Can you think about anything else?"

"What's wrong with thinking about food? You need a full stomach to have the strength to fight!"

The two walked ahead, bickering, while Long Tian followed and watched their backs. He reached inside his robe to touch the token and jade pendant, then tightened the straps of his bundle. The sun rose behind him, casting his long shadow across the dirt road before him, all the way to the row of poplars at its end.

He quickened his pace and caught up with them.