*WHOOSH*
Barely five seconds after An Weiying spoke her last words, her luminous form shattered and dissolved into motes of light. They drifted down like embers, then were gone.
The pendant cracked. The markings that had glowed faded, leaving behind nothing but an old piece of metal, unremarkable in every way.
Bai Fanxian stood motionless, eyes unfocused. Her mind turned over everything An Weiying had told her.
If something so devastating had truly happened in that era, why had no record survived? And if magic had existed back then, it had been present since her time, perhaps long before.
But that wasn't what troubled her most.
When she first woke into this age, her palace was gone. She had put it down to the ravages of time. And accepted it.
But if it hadn't crumbled on its own — if it had been *destroyed* — that was an entirely different matter.
Something in Bai Fanxian went ice cold. Tang Tianjie, the only other person in the room, felt a chill from her that he had never felt before. The air began to shift. He called out before the building — barely days old — came apart around them.
"Lady Bai... my lady... please calm yourself!"
Her gaze, which had gone somewhere terrible, stilled. She closed her eyes and drew the qi she had let slip back into herself. The tremors stopped.
"Whew..."
Tang Tianjie let out a breath. Several pale-faced bodyguards were peering through the doorway. They had been at their posts outside when the surge hit, and it had shaken them badly. Outside, the guests were in disarray, and staff were rushing to manage the situation.
"It's nothing... all of you, step out." Tang Tianjie waved them off. His lady was in no state for company.
Silence settled over the room. Tang Tianjie caught Huang Zihuan's eye and gave a small nod. Both understood. Brave as he was, he didn't dare make a sound — they would simply wait, quietly, while their lady stood alone in the center of the room, somewhere far away in her thoughts.
"Tang Tianjie..."
She spoke first. He startled, then approached carefully, reading her.
"Is something wrong, Lady Bai?"
"Do you think there are other pendants like this one?"
He reached out to every procurement contact and intelligence network the Tang and Xie clans had.
"Lady Bai... it seems that was the only one they found." He didn't look pleased delivering the news. He had been the only witness to what had just happened, and he understood exactly what this meant to her.
"Is that so..."
The calm in her voice caught him off guard. She walked to a chair and sat down.
"...Don't tell anyone what happened here today. Understood?"
"Yes! I understand!"
In the span of a few minutes, more had happened in that room than he could process. The history ten thousand years old, the demonic beasts from other dimensions, and above all the fact that he had seen Bai Fanxian's tears.
If he told anyone, no one would believe him. The Alchemy Empress, weeping?
"Look into this for me... and if you can, I'd like whatever historical records exist on magic as well."
Tang Tianjie agreed and left, Huang Zihuan following quietly behind him. She was alone with the cracked pendant and her thoughts.
"...A group of people wielding strange power?"
.
.
.
"My lady, is everything alright?"
The next morning, Huang Zihuan brought tea to Bai Fanxian on the balcony of the island mansion, where she sat in the sea breeze. For the past half month or so, he had taken on the role of caretaker here, overseeing the final stages of construction across the island.
"Mm..."
The sound came from somewhere low in her throat. She had felt hollow since last night. The only lead was the shadow, whoever had appeared at the edge of An Weiying's recording.
Who were those people? What did they want with cultivators?
She had tried feeding qi into the pendant again, hoping to hear An Weiying one more time. Nothing. Huang Zihuan sighed quietly. She had told him she was fine, but since returning last night she had barely moved, just turning that cracked pendant over in her hands.
"My lady!"
Two voices rang out from above — bright and sweet. The great dark bird made one final sweep of its wings and settled onto the beach, delivering its two passengers. Tang Yeye and Hui'er jumped down onto the sand and came running toward her, both grinning.
"...Done already?" she asked, setting down her glass. Hui'er had her training duties with the military each morning. Tang Yeye had lately taken to watching her grandfather at work.
"Yes, my lady! Are we doing something today?"
They both loved the island. The life force here was dense enough to feel — it left them clear-headed and pushed their cultivation faster than anywhere else.
They didn't live here yet. Too many things weren't in place, and without the dark bird they had no way to cross back and forth on their own. But today Bai Fanxian had summoned them herself, and even Hui'er was excused from her afternoon session with Liu Yianfei. The excitement showed on their faces.
"Huang Zihuan. The Training Tower — it's finished?"
She turned to the old butler, who knew the island better than anyone. He had been quietly overseeing construction from the start.
"Yes. Everything is in order, my lady." he said, bowing with a smile.
"Then follow me, both of you..." She turned and raised a hand. The children felt themselves lift off the ground and float after her toward the northern end of the island.
A tower stood there. Built from great dark timber, it had the look of something very old — the kind of structure you might find preserved at an ancient site. But Huang Zihuan, who had watched it go up, knew better. Even a Sage-level attack wouldn't make it shudder.
She set them down at the base. They tilted their heads back and still couldn't find the top. Neither had seen the inside.
"...My lady, what kind of place is this?"
Tang Yeye was already fascinated. Hui'er, on the other hand, had gone quiet. Something in her instincts was screaming.
Bai Fanxian said nothing for a moment. She regarded the two of them. An Weiying's words had left her seeing ghosts — faces from ten thousand years ago, layered over these two standing in front of her.
*...She didn't want to feel that way again.*
Her resolve settled. She led them toward the entrance. The heavy door swung open as she stepped through, and she turned back — something unreadable in her eyes.
"Come in..."
"...This is a place that will make you both far stronger."