Along with roughly a dozen other inner disciples, He Yu arrived at the outer sect mountain. When the outer disciples caught sight of the approaching inner disciples, a barrage of question arose to greet them. Most were of the First and Second Realms. A few early Body Refining disciples were there, too. None of them would have the first idea what was going on. He Yu was content to allow the more senior inner sect members to field the questions. To his knowledge, even among the top-ranked inner disciples, few knew of the Sunset Court, or the Shrouded Peaks Sect’s true purpose.

  As He Yu hung back with Li Heng and Tan Xiaoling, someone he’d not thought about since his days in the outer sect approached.

  Qiao Xia. She was still at the peak of Body Refining, as were most who’d joined the sect at the same time He Yu had. Most, at least, who weren’t part of his core of companions. She wore the same fine sorts of clothes she usually did, but seemed in noticeably better spirits than when she’d been in Sha Xiang’s orbit—despite the worry in her expression.

  “Senior Brother He,” she said, bowing over a salute. “Do you have a moment?”

  He Yu shared a glance with Li Heng before he answered. “You can just call me He Yu. But sure. What do you want?”

  Qiao Xia took a moment to glance around before she stepped closer. Although he sensed no danger or ill intent from her, He Yu still tensed. He was on edge after all the fighting still.

  “Does all this have to do with the Sunset Court?” she asked in a near-whisper.

  A sharpness settled over the four of them as Tan Xiaoling got practically nose-to-nose with Qiao Xia. “And what if it was? If I recall, you were among their number not too long ago.”

  Qiao Xia looked at the dirt. “I was,” she admitted. “I wasn’t privy to everything that Sha Xiang was, and I cut off my association with the Court after Sha Xiang was expelled from the sect.”

  “I’m sure,” Li Heng said.

  “I went to the elders and told them everything,” she added quickly. “They extended the sect’s protection after, so long as I swore to never associate with another member of the Court again.”

  “So then, what’s the question?” He Yu asked.

  “I just—I don’t know.” Qiao Xia looked to the east. “I heard experts were coming. I assumed they were part of the Court. All of this,” she gestured toward the west, “feels like the Emissary.” For a moment, she looked like she wrestled with something in herself, then she said, “He’s powerful. And frightening. If someone like him is coming, be careful.”

  “He’s dead,” He Yu said.

  Qiao Xia visibly relaxed, closing her eyes. “Then heaven is merciful. I can fight whoever comes along with my sect siblings without fear.”

  “Fight whoever comes?” Tan Xiaoling asked.

  She drew herself up then. “I earned my place in the inner sect with the last tournament. I’ve been running messages so far, as I am only ranked six hundred forty-second. That’s how I was able to find you all.”

  He Yu shook his head. “Don’t throw your life away,” he said. “You’re still only Body Refining. I’ve been fighting the Court for the past year and more now. Let the Fourth Realms face them.”

  A number of different emotions played across her face before she finally bowed her head. “Senior Brother is right. I will go. Thank you.”

  “I never held any ill-will towards you,” He Yu said before she left. “You were needlessly cruel to Chen Fei, and you should feel bad for that. But I don’t blame you for falling under Sha Xiang. I know what she’s like.”

  “Kinder than she deserved,” Tan Xiaoling said, watching Qiao Xia go.

  “Kindness is something this world needs more of, I think,” Li Heng said, sweeping his gaze over the consequences of battle that surrounded them all.

  “I agree.” He Yu turned back towards the east. “But there’s no kindness for what comes. Mercy and kindness are for those deserving of it. Or who can learn from it.” He produced his guandao as the approaching presences encroached on the outer sect, and the gathered lower realm disciples scattered. “Mercy is wasted on full members of the Court proper. I’m sure the both of you have seen similar enough things as I have.”

  Silence was his only answer, and the only one he needed. He’d already spoken to Li Heng about what he saw at the alchemy workshop where they’d used demonic techniques of blood and flesh to experiment on the unbonded demon core. Li Heng had shared that he’d discovered similar scenes on the missions he’d conducted. He Yu didn’t expect Tan Xiaoling would have experienced anything different.

  It took less time than he’d have expected for the members of the Court to arrive. When they did, they attacked. There was no preamble. No exchange of speeches or boasts. They simply appeared in the plaza via their movement techniques and engaged the closest sect disciple they could find.

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  Almost immediately, He Yu found himself separated from the others. His opponent was a woman who appeared to be perhaps thirty. She wielded a pair of hook swords. She’d reached the peak of Body Refining and was half a step into the Fourth Realm. Her techniques and presence reminded He Yu of metal and starlight. Although she was in a full realm below him, she put up a far tougher fight than he thought she had any right to.

  As they exchanged techniques, he idly wondered if this was how some of his foes had felt when they faced him. He’d pushed Sha Xiang back when he was less advanced than her, and together with Li Heng, he’d bested a pair of late stage Golden Cores.

  Against most Third Realm cultivators, He Yu hardly had to try. Against this expert of the Sunset Court? She fought more like a fresh Golden Core than a peak Third Realm. The only person of a lower realm that had ever come close to pressing He Yu like this had been Sha Xiang shortly after he’d advanced. And she’d bonded a demon core—something that He Yu didn’t sense in this foe.

  He moved on to his next opponent in short order. This one was more on his level, an early Fourth Realm approaching the middle stage. Almost immediately, He Yu realized this foe was far tougher than he’d any right to be.

  Through all the hours of training against Yan Shirong, He Yu felt as though he’d gotten a pretty good grasp on how slippery shadow cultivators could be. This member of the Court cultivated mostly shadow, with a nasty addition of metal. He fought with a spear, and a combination of long range techniques.

  Although his foe tried to slip away whenever he could, He Yu used the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment to good effect. His perception technique easily pierced the illusions his enemy created to confuse him with, and the speed granted by the combination of the Empyrean Ninefold Body Tempering and the Sky Dragon’s Flight allowed him to just as easily keep pace. Metal clashed against heaven, and wind blew away shadows that resembled smoke.

  Still, the other cultivator matched He Yu blow for blow. It took everything He Yu had. All the tiny insights he’d gotten from training and fighting against those of such greater advancement amounted to so little. He had to claw every inch of advantage against someone who, by all accounts, should have fallen easily before him.

  At length, he managed a decisive blow. Using the Spring Rain Mirror, he threw his opponent off-balance by deflecting a particularly heavy attack. The Peerless Judgment opened the way for him, and he darted in using all the speed he could muster. He severed the other cultivator’s hamstring and then took his head.

  It was a hard-fought victory. Harder than it had any right to be. In the tiny moment before another devotee of the Court could attack, He Yu took in the battle. All around, the inner disciples were fighting hard. Many were losing. Nearby, Tan Xiaoling drove her paired dao into the chest of her opponent before kicking his body off the mountain.

  Nearby, Li Heng had been slowly gaining advantage over his own black-clad foe. With the death of Tan Xiaoling’s opponent, the momentum of Li Heng’s fight reversed. It was subtle. Almost imperceptible. But He Yu could have sworn that the black-clad cultivator’s movements had grown faster. More controlled. Like they’d gotten a boost to their cultivation with the death of their comrade.

  He Yu zipped away from the fight, positioning himself on top of a nearby roof. He watched the melee in the courtyard unfold with the discerning judgment of an emperor. As it was intended to, the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment showed him the truth of things. With each death the Court suffered, their remaining number grew fractionally in strength. As if the cultivation base of the slain expert was then distributed among those that remained.

  As the full implication of what he’d realized fell into place, horror gripped his heart. He recalled what had happened after Kong Huizhong had died. He recalled his confusion at why Jin Xifeng would throw away the lives of so many in a pointless attack on the sect. He finally saw the full shape of the Sunset Empress’s strategy.

  He Yu poured qi into his meridians even as they screamed at him in protest. Faster than he’d ever moved before, he blasted through the sect, heedless of whatever destruction he might cause with his passing. He needed to find someone—anyone—with some sort of authority. A core disciple. An elder would be the best.

  Elder Wen. Was he still in the west? Defending the sect from there?

  He Yu headed in that direction as fast as he could. As he drew closer, the elder’s overwhelming presence pressed down on him. Just being on a nearby mountain was enough to cause He Yu’s cultivation base to seize up, making it impossible to use his techniques. There was no way he’d be able to approach the elder without some sort of assistance.

  Instead, he sought out Zhang Lifen. She wasn’t hard to find—he was so familiar with her qi that he could pick her out even among the riot of presences all warring with one another across the sect. When he landed next to her, she only flicked her churning black eyes in his direction before launching a volley of arrows at a group of Third and Fourth Realm cultivators doing battle with a noticeably smaller group of inner disciples.

  “Now isn’t exactly the time for a social visit,” she said. Although her words weren’t exactly angry, it was clear she didn’t approve of him being here.

  “The strategy,” He Yu half-gasped, feeling out of breath for the first time since he’d reached Foundation. “I figured it out.”

  “What strategy?” she asked, this time not taking her eyes off the battle below.

  “The Court. Why are they just killing themselves? They know they can’t win here.”

  “Fanatics. They throw their lives away—”

  “And give their cultivation to her!” He Yu shouted.

  Zhang Lifen froze. She didn’t need to argue. Or to ask. She’d been there when Kong Huizhong had died. When the Dawn Palace had, after a thousand years, finally shattered.

  “Fuck.”

  In the west, the column of red light vanished. The bloody red sun that hung over the peaks vanished a moment later. For the briefest of moments, it was morning.

  Then, it wasn’t.

  Jin Xifeng stood atop a treasured flying sword and stared down at the Shrouded Peaks Sect. She looked just as she had in when the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment had shown her to He Yu. Like she was barely twenty years old, with skin the color of white jade. Beautiful wasn’t enough to describe her. She was like a creature of heaven. He Yu’s heart ached as he looked at her. Every part of his being screamed at him to go to her, throw himself to the ground in kowtow and submit. To give himself to her wholly and forever.

  She turned her eyes to the sect. Deep, black, and ancient. They carried the weight of hundreds of years in them. And they shone with a fury and a hatred that caused He Yu’s mind to reel. Behind her, a flat plain stretched to the horizon. A battlefield covered in corpses. The bloody red disk of a setting sun just touched the edge of the world. The Sunset Empress stood among a field of the dead—a field of all those who had given themselves to her. Who had made her what she was.

  Jin Xifeng had come—in all her terrible power and insatiable desire for more.