Su Yan sat in silence as the carriage slowly made its way toward Maple Leaf Village. In his lap, he unfolded the regional map he had bought before leaving Nuoding.
It was, frankly, a disappointing map.
A few landmarks. A few towns. The major roads. The larger rivers. That was all.
Su Yan stared at the thin blue lines crossing the parchment and resisted the urge to sigh.
He remembered the broad shape well enough. Tang Hao had hidden the Blue Silver Emperor in a cave behind a waterfall.
Unfortunately, "a cave behind a waterfall" was not exactly a precise address.
If the waterfall sat along one of the main rivers, this might be manageable.
If it did not…
Su Yan looked down at the empty spaces between the marked waterways.
Then this was going to be a pain.
Looking up, he found Nihilister sitting across from him, eyes closed and arms crossed, emitting an aura of impatience.
Su Yan wisely chose not to disturb her.
He turned his gaze outside the carriage instead and let his mind wander as the scenery passed by. The steady clip-clop of the horses' hooves became a metronome, and before long, his eyes grew heavy.
Before he could fully fall asleep, however, he noticed a sudden uptick in traffic.
Su Yan blinked himself awake and poked his head out of the carriage.
Streams of carts loaded with stone blocks moved along the road, mixed among carriages, workers, merchants, and pedestrians all heading toward Maple Leaf Village.
Squinting past them, he saw the reason.
A wall.
Or rather, the beginnings of one.
Stone foundations had already been laid around the edge of the settlement, with wooden scaffolds rising in uneven sections. Workers hauled cut stone and timber into place while overseers shouted instructions over the clatter of wheels and hooves.
Su Yan stared for a moment.
Maple Leaf Village really had grown over the years.
Ever since Su Yuntao and Sisi settled here, people had begun drifting toward the village. Two Spirit Masters living in one place made travellers feel safer, merchants more willing to stop, and families more willing to move in.
Su Yan looked at the half-built fortifications again.
Maple Leaf Village was still called a village, but at this rate, it would not be long before people started calling it a town.
When the carriage finally rolled to a stop, Su Yan climbed down with Nihilister following behind. After bidding the driver farewell, he made his way home.
The path was familiar, even if the village around it was not.
More houses had been rebuilt in brick. Others had been expanded, repaired, or given proper courtyards. New fences stood where old ones had once sagged, and a few buildings even had fresh signboards hanging above their doors.
Then Su Yan saw it.
His home.
Compared to the buildings around it, the old wooden house looked strangely out of place. It had not changed much at all. The same timber walls. The same simple roof. The same small yard out front.
Liu Fenglin always said he simply disliked brick houses and felt more comfortable with wood.
Su Yan had never fully believed him.
Maybe that was part of it. Maybe the old man really was that stubborn. But Su Yan knew him too well to miss the truth beneath it.
Every spare coin that passed through Liu Fenglin's hands had gone somewhere else first.
Road repairs. Drainage ditches. Storehouses. Boundary markers. Now even walls.
The village had grown so quickly because Liu Fenglin had kept feeding everything back into it.
Su Yan stood there for a moment, looking at the unchanged wooden house.
For some reason, seeing it stay the same made his chest feel tighter than seeing the rest of the village transformed.
He pushed open the front door and strode inside.
There, he found Liu Fenglin sitting at the dining table, so engrossed in paperwork that he did not even notice someone had entered.
"You know," Su Yan said, leaning against the doorway, "they built you an office in the village hall specifically so you could do your work there."
Liu Fenglin looked up.
The exhaustion on his face vanished the moment he saw Su Yan.
"You brat," he said, his face breaking into a smile. "You finally remembered to come home?"
Then, putting on a pitiful expression and wiping away imaginary tears, he carried on.
"If it had been any longer, I'd say you had completely forgotten this old man. Not even a letter home this year."
Su Yan looked on fondly as Liu Fenglin played out his act.
Then, like a child peeking to see if his trick had worked, Liu Fenglin stole a small glance at him.
Su Yan was still just smiling.
Liu Fenglin's expression collapsed.
"You brat! I put on such a show, and you don't even react? Heavens, what have I done to deserve such an unfilial child!"
He shook his fist at the ceiling as if expecting the heavens to answer.
Then his gaze shifted past Su Yan and landed on Nihilister.
His attitude changed instantly, his face breaking into a warm smile once again.
"Ah, Nihilister! It's good to see you again. Please, have a seat."
He stepped around the table and pulled out a chair for her.
Nihilister walked past Su Yan and smirked at him before taking the offered seat.
"I'll get some refreshments for you now," Liu Fenglin said, already turning toward the kitchen. "Brat, come give me a hand."
Nihilister leaned forward with one elbow on the table, her chin nestled into her palm.
"You heard him, Su Yan. I am hungry and thirsty after such a long journey."
Before Su Yan could answer, Liu Fenglin grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the kitchen.
"We'll have your food and drink ready soon!" Liu Fenglin called back.
As Su Yan helped prepare the food and tea, Liu Fenglin nudged him from the side and lowered his voice.
"Tell me honestly, Su Yan. How far have you gotten with Nihilister?"
Su Yan's fingers froze.
He took a second longer than he should have to answer.
"…Err, what do you mean?"
Liu Fenglin gave him a baffled look.
"What else would I mean? Your relationship, brat. Has she accepted you? Are you courting her? Should this old man start preparing to welcome her as family, or are you still being useless?"
Su Yan slowly covered his face.
"Dad. Please choose your words more carefully."
"I chose them perfectly."
"No. You really didn't."
Liu Fenglin frowned.
"Regardless, answer me. Does this old man still have hope of becoming a grandfather before his beard turns white, or are you determined to disappoint me in every possible way?"
Su Yan silently returned to preparing the food and tea.
Seeing that Su Yan had no intention of answering, Liu Fenglin sighed and continued in a lower voice.
"In all seriousness, brat, a woman like Nihilister does not keep travelling with someone for no reason. She protects you, tolerates you, and even came home with you again. If she truly has some interest in you, then don't be foolish enough to let it slip away."
He paused, then added with great sincerity,
"Heavens know how many suitors would lose their minds over her in a larger city."
Su Yan sighed.
"I get it already. I'll keep it in mind."
He now had an inkling of why Teacher Lin stopped going home for the holidays.
Seemingly satisfied with his answer, Liu Fenglin continued helping with the preparations.
After a while, they returned to the dining room with several dishes of food.
That evening, Su Yan basked in the warmth of a home-cooked meal. Nihilister was not much of a conversationalist, but that did not matter.
With the three of them seated around the table, eating together in the old wooden house, Su Yan felt comfortable.
At home.
The next morning, after breakfast, Su Yan placed a pouch of gold soul coins in Liu Fenglin's hand.
"What is this?" Liu Fenglin asked.
"It's just a son's filial piety," Su Yan said with a smile. "Take this and get yourself a proper house. Don't spend it all on the village again. It can function well enough without you putting every spare coin back into it, you know. Take a proper salary and live well, Dad."
His smile slowly turned into a smirk as another thought came to him.
"Besides, how else are you going to find me a mother before the next time I visit if you don't have any money to take care of her?"
Su Yan rushed out the door just as a wooden bowl flew past his head.
"YOU DAMNED BRAT! I'LL TEACH YOU TO TEASE YOUR OWN FATHER!"
Su Yan laughed as he ran down the road, Nihilister following close behind.
Only after they left the village proper did Su Yan pull out the map again. After taking a moment to orient himself, he stepped off the road and into the surrounding forest.
By the time they reached the deeper woods, the noise of the village had faded behind them.
Then Su Yan heard the familiar sequence at his back.
A low click.
A heavier clack.
The faint metallic slide of something settling into place.
He glanced over his shoulder and saw Nihilister already back in her Nikke form, the dragon-headed appendages behind her shifting like restless beasts.
She let out a low hum of satisfaction and stretched long and slow, her tail giving a lazy twitch while the dragon-headed appendages flexed behind her like things freed from a cage.
"Finally," she said, rolling one shoulder. "Much better."
"Where to now?"
Su Yan showed Nihilister the map and pointed at one of the rivers marked on it.
"The place we're looking for is a hidden cave behind a waterfall," he said. "So the current plan is to follow the main rivers. Since there are only two marked nearby, this shouldn't be too difficult."
Su Yan soon regretted those words.
Three days later.
Su Yan cursed his past self.
Why did he have to jinx it?
He trudged along yet another riverbank, boots sinking slightly into the damp earth with every step.
The map had not lied, exactly. There were indeed two rivers marked nearby.
There just were not any waterfalls along either of them.
What the map had failed to mention was the mess of smaller streams branching away from those rivers, winding through the forest like someone had spilled blue ink across terrain the cartographer had not bothered to finish.
And then there was the second problem.
Elevation.
The map had said nothing useful about elevation.
The stupid little triangles drawn along the edge of the parchment had severely understated how large those mountains actually were.
His legs burned as he walked. Looking back, he saw that Nihilister looked far less worn down than he did, though the tightness in her brows suggested she was nearing the end of her patience.
The only thing that kept her from snapping was the abundance of Soul Beasts that had decided the two of them might make a decent snack.
They had been wrong.
They were, however, surprisingly delicious.
Su Yan was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of rushing water.
He followed the noise through the trees until the forest opened up before him.
A lake stretched out ahead, its surface rippling beneath the force of a waterfall far larger and stronger than any they had found so far. White water crashed down from the cliff above, throwing up a fine mist that drifted over the lake like pale smoke.
With sunlight spilling across the water and catching in the spray, the whole scene looked almost picturesque.
Which, after three days of mud, mosquitoes, bad terrain, and misleading map markings, only made Su Yan trust it less.
"Nihilister, do you mind taking a look?"
"No."
"After getting soaked for nothing twice, I am not moving until you confirm this is the one." Her eyes narrowed. "And if you confirm it and you're wrong…"
She slammed her fist into her palm.
"Someone is getting hit."
Su Yan stared at her for a moment.
"Right. I'll go check it out. You wait here."
Su Yan swiftly made his way away from the irate Nihilister and tried to get a closer look at the waterfall. No matter which angle he chose, he could not quite see past the curtain of water.
He picked up a stone and threw it toward the waterfall.
The moment it struck the falling water, it was dragged down into the spray without even punching through.
Su Yan's expression tightened.
Looking back, he saw Nihilister sitting on the bank, watching him.
He thought better than to ask for her help.
Moving closer, he spotted several smooth stones beneath the waterfall, large enough to stand on. By the time he reached them, he could feel the wind kicked up by the crashing water pushing against his face.
He picked up a fallen branch and extended it toward the waterfall.
The instant it touched the torrent, it was ripped from his hands.
Su Yan watched the branch vanish into the churning spray.
"…Right. No throwing myself through that."
He stood there for a moment, staring at the waterfall and trying to think of a solution.
Then an idea came to him.
"Bastion."
Two gold-coloured barriers materialised in front of him.
Water was the problem, technically, but this was not some water-attribute attack. It was weight. Pressure. A constant crushing force falling from above.
If he wanted to force even a narrow opening through it, he needed something that could endure impact.
The two barriers tilted inward, their edges meeting in a narrow point as Su Yan shaped them into a crude wedge.
He pushed the wedge into the path of the falling water.
For a brief moment, it worked.
The torrent split around the angled barriers, and as Su Yan forced them deeper, a narrow corridor opened through the curtain of water, revealing the rock behind it.
Before Su Yan could even think of celebrating, a crisp crack rang out.
Even over the roar of the waterfall, he heard it.
The fracture spread too fast.
He tried to pour more Spirit Power into the barriers, but the waterfall did not strike once and stop. It kept falling. Kept grinding. Kept crushing.
The barriers shattered into small motes of gold light, vanishing into the spray.
Su Yan frowned.
This could work.
Not for long, but long enough.
He drew a breath, prepared himself, and summoned the two Bastions again.
This time, he was ready.
The moment the wedge forced open a narrow corridor through the falling water, Su Yan pushed more Spirit Power into the barriers and dashed forward.
Cold spray struck his face. His boots slipped against the wet stone. For one breath, the roar swallowed everything.
Then he threw himself past the curtain of water and into the narrow space behind it.
A heartbeat later, the barriers shattered again.
This time, it no longer mattered.
Su Yan had made it through.
He was soaked through, though whether it was from the spray or the cold sweat of throwing himself through the curtain of water, he honestly did not know.
He lay there for a few moments, breathing hard, letting his heartbeat settle before pushing himself back to his feet.
The space behind the waterfall was roomier than he had expected.
Unfortunately, there was no obvious hidden door.
Only wet stone, mist, and the constant roar of water at his back.
Su Yan stepped closer to the rear wall and began inspecting it by hand, searching for a crack, a seam, a button, anything that looked like a hidden mechanism.
Nothing.
After a while, frustration got the better of him.
He picked up a small rock and threw it at the wall.
It bounced off immediately and shot back toward him.
Su Yan jerked his head aside just in time for it to clip past his ear.
He stared at the rock as it skittered across the wet stone.
"…Right. I deserved that."
This time, Su Yan picked up another stone and walked to the rear wall properly.
He pressed one ear near the rock, then tapped the stone against it.
Once.
Twice.
Nothing.
He shifted a little to the side and tried again.
The sound stayed dull for a while, swallowed by solid stone and the roar of the waterfall behind him. But Su Yan kept moving, tapping section after section, until finally—
Tok.
His hand stilled.
That sound was different.
He tapped the same spot again.
Tok.
Hollower.
Su Yan's eyes sharpened.
He checked the surrounding stone piece by piece, tapping and listening until he had a rough sense of the space hidden behind the wall.
There was definitely something there.
Unfortunately, knowing there was a space behind the wall and knowing how to open it were two very different things.
After searching for a while longer, Su Yan finally stepped back with a sigh.
Maybe it was hidden behind some loose stone he had missed.
Or maybe he was simply too short to reach it.
His expression darkened slightly at that last possibility.
"…I should get Nihilister."
Su Yan forced himself back through the waterfall the same way he had entered, burning more Spirit Power to open another brief corridor through the torrent, and made his way to the bank where Nihilister rested.
"Nihilister, I think I've found it."
She lazily opened one eye.
"Really? You know what happens if you're wrong."
Su Yan sighed.
"I'm almost certain this time. And if I'm not, I'll take the hit."
Nihilister smirked.
"Fine."
Reaching the waterfall again, Su Yan formed the corridor with his barriers and dove through.
A moment later, the barriers shattered behind him.
Just as he started wondering how to get Nihilister through, the curtain of water bulged.
A dark shape stepped through the spray.
Su Yan froze.
Nihilister emerged from the waterfall, water streaming down her armour and crimson hair. One dragon-headed appendage was raised above her, braced against the torrent as it hammered down over her body.
She looked at him flatly.
"What are you staring at?"
Su Yan blinked.
"…I was thinking of a way to help you through."
Nihilister glanced back at the waterfall, then at him.
"You were taking too long."
"Right," Su Yan muttered.
Nihilister looked past him. "Now where is this hidden entrance you found?"
Su Yan snapped back to attention.
"This way."
He led her to the rear wall and tapped the section he had found.
"It's here. I think the switch might be higher up, or I missed something. Could you try and search—"
A thunderous crash cut him off.
Su Yan clapped his hands over his ears, squinting through the pain.
Nihilister stood in front of the wall, a feral grin on her face, her fist still pressed against the stone Su Yan had indicated.
Small cracks radiated out from the point of impact.
Su Yan swallowed.
He really, really hoped he was right about this being the right cave.
Nihilister continued her barrage.
Each punch left visible damage in the stone, the cracks spreading wider and deeper with every impact. The concealed wall groaned under the force, stone fragments breaking loose and scattering across the wet ground.
Then, with one final blow, it gave way.
The false wall shattered inward with a grinding crash, leaving a dark opening behind it.
Su Yan stared at the entrance.
Nihilister rolled her shoulder, looking far too pleased with herself.
"Not the most elegant solution, but it works… I guess," Su Yan said glumly.
Nihilister glanced at him.
"I got it open."
"It's not the same."
"Still got it open."
Su Yan sighed and walked inside.
The moment he stepped through, he realized how dark it was.
Before he could ask, one of Nihilister's dragon-headed appendages lowered beside him, a small flame kindling between its jaws and casting flickering light across the damp stone ahead.
Su Yan nodded his thanks, and the two proceeded deeper into the cave.
They walked for some time before a dim light appeared in the distance.
When they finally reached it, the narrow passage opened into a small stone chamber.
A pale shaft of sunlight fell through a hole in the ceiling, landing almost perfectly on a stone pot at the centre of the room.
Inside the pot grew a single stalk of Blue Silver Grass.
It was slender, quiet, and fragile-looking, but unlike ordinary Blue Silver Grass, a faint golden line ran through the centre of its leaves.
As they entered the room proper, Nihilister extinguished the flame with a soft clack.
"This is not all we came here for, right? If it is, I will be disappointed."
Su Yan kept his eyes on the Blue Silver Grass for a moment longer.
"No," he said quietly. "She is not."
Nihilister's gaze shifted to him.
"She?"
Su Yan did not answer immediately.
Instead, he forced his attention away from the stone pot and looked around the chamber.
"There should be a mechanism somewhere in this room," he said. "A hidden case. That is what we came for."
Nihilister looked at Su Yan with faint suspicion before turning to search.
Su Yan joined her, running his hands along the damp stone walls, tapping where the surface looked uneven and pressing at anything that seemed even slightly out of place.
Again, he found nothing.
Unfortunately, when Nihilister found it, he immediately understood why.
The mechanism was set high into the wall.
Higher than he could comfortably reach.
Su Yan stared at it.
Then his expression darkened.
"…Of course."
Nihilister glanced down at him, then up at the mechanism.
A slow smile spread across her face.
"Oh?"
"Don't."
"I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
"I was thinking it."
Nihilister pressed the mechanism.
Something shifted above them with a dull scrape, and a long black case dropped from a hidden recess into her waiting hand.
Su Yan reached for it, but Nihilister moved it out of his reach.
He looked at her questioningly.
"Not yet," she said.
Su Yan's eyes narrowed. "Nihilister."
She tilted her head toward the stone pot.
"First, you tell me why you're looking at that weed like it matters."
Su Yan grimaced.
He took a moment to consider his words before answering.
"That 'weed,' as you call it, is Ah Yin."
Nihilister's brow twitched.
Su Yan continued, voice quieter.
"Tang San's mother. Tang Hao's wife."
Nihilister stared at him.
Then she looked at the fragile Blue Silver Grass in the stone pot.
Then back at Su Yan.
"…How the hell does that work?"
Her eyes narrowed.
"Are you trying to brush me off?"
"No," Su Yan said. "Soul Beasts can transform into human form after reaching the hundred-thousand-year stage. Age, cultivation, power… the terms blur together at that level."
He glanced at Ah Yin.
"She met Tang Hao while transformed. Tang San was born during that time."
Nihilister still looked somewhat disbelieving.
Then something clicked.
"So what you're saying," she said slowly, "is that this weed is the mother of the little brat who tried to kill you?"
A feral smile spread across her face.
The two dragon-headed appendages behind her snapped up, flames leaking between their jaws as they pointed directly at the Blue Silver Emperor.
Su Yan stepped out in front of Nihilister.
"Nihilister. Stop!"
Her face turned cold.
"What are you doing?"
"We shouldn't kill her."
"You'd better have a damn good reason."
Su Yan's mind spun.
"Alive, she is better insurance."
The flames did not vanish, but they thinned.
"Insurance?"
Su Yan's gaze flicked once toward the fragile Blue Silver Grass, then back to Nihilister.
"If our path keeps crossing Tang San's, Tang Hao may become a problem sooner or later. And if that happens before we're ready, we won't be able to fight him. We may not even be able to run."
His voice lowered.
"If Tang Hao corners us, she may be the only thing in this world that stands between us and death."
Nihilister stared at him.
Then her eyes narrowed.
"So, a hostage."
Su Yan did not answer immediately.
Nihilister watched him for another moment, then the flames finally died between the dragon heads' jaws.
"Fine. Have it your way."
She tossed the case toward him.
Su Yan caught it with both hands, nearly dropping it as the weight dragged his arms down.
Nihilister's mouth curled.
"Careful with your prize."
Su Yan set the case carefully to one side, then moved toward the Blue Silver Emperor.
Seeing her like this, weak and fragile, made it difficult to connect the plant before him with the sovereign of her species.
The green of her leaves was pale, and her stem looked as though a stiff breeze might break it.
Su Yan swallowed.
Then he took out the damp hemp bag he had prepared and emptied the spare clothes inside onto the stone floor.
He crouched beside the pot and worked slowly, loosening the soil around the edges first. He did not pull at the stem. He did not tug at the leaves. Instead, he eased both hands beneath the root mass and lifted the soil, roots, and plant together as carefully as he could.
The whole thing came free in one trembling clump.
For a moment, Su Yan barely breathed.
Then he lowered Ah Yin into the hemp bag, packed the remaining soil from the pot around the roots, and drew the rope closed just enough to hold the soil in place without crushing the fragile stem.
Nihilister watched in silence, her expression unreadable.
Only after holding the transplanted Blue Silver Emperor did Su Yan realize how awkward she was to carry.
He carefully set the hemp bag back down.
Then he summoned his Martial Soul.
Gatekeeper appeared before him, its segmented ring turning faintly as Su Yan focused.
A bag.
Nothing complicated. Just something large enough to hide the hemp sack and sturdy enough to carry it without crushing what was inside.
The outline began to form.
Then something caught.
A bright flash lit the chamber.
Su Yan squeezed his eyes shut, spots bursting across his vision.
"The hell are you doing, Su Yan?!" Nihilister snapped.
"I'm sorry," Su Yan said, blinking hard. "I was trying to make a bag. The manifestation went weird again."
When his vision finally cleared, he looked down.
A long tan tactical duffle bag lay on the stone floor, its sides reinforced with dark panels and heavy straps.
Su Yan stared at it.
This looked very familiar.
Where had he seen it before?
The answer surfaced a heartbeat later.
His expression slowly flattened.
"…Isn't this D's bag?"
He opened it carefully.
But he found nothing useful hidden inside.
Just several fine pale hairs caught in the inner lining.
Su Yan pinched one between his fingers and stared at it.
"…Why is there fur in her bag?"
A memory surfaced a moment later.
Late nights. Old posts debating what D actually carried around. The official comic where K opened the bag and found kittens.
Su Yan's mouth twitched.
Then, despite himself, he snickered.
Nihilister looked at him. "What?"
"Nothing."
"That does not look like nothing."
"It's just…" Su Yan glanced down at the fur again, then shook his head. "Never mind."
Nihilister stared at him for another second before losing interest.
"Whatever. Pack the plant."
His gaze moved to the hemp bag holding Ah Yin, and the humour faded.
This was not the place to linger.
Before packing anything away, Su Yan reached for the black lead case Nihilister had tossed him earlier.
He opened it just enough to check inside.
The moment the lid parted, a wave of refreshing energy brushed against him, cool and gentle, like a summer breeze passing through tall grass.
Through the narrow gap, he saw it.
A right-leg Soul Bone, slender and luminous, shaped more like condensed crystal than ordinary bone. Blue-gold light flowed faintly along its surface like veins beneath translucent jade, carrying a dense, gentle vitality that made the damp chamber feel warmer just by being near it.
Su Yan closed the case again.
This was indeed what he had come for.
Only then did he turn back to the duffle bag.
He shook the loose fur out as best he could, then used his spare clothes to pad the inside. Some of the cloth was still damp, but that was better than letting the hemp bag slide around freely.
The case went in first, wrapped in spare cloth and braced along one side of the duffle where it would not shift into the hemp bag.
Then Su Yan tested the balance once.
Then again.
Only after making sure the case would not press against the root ball did he carefully lower Ah Yin inside.
He packed more cloth around the hemp bag, steadying it until the root mass would not tip.
Finally, Su Yan pulled the duffle half-closed, enough to hide the blue-gold leaves without sealing her in completely.
When he lifted the strap, the weight settled awkwardly against him.
But it was better than simply holding everything by hand.
Nihilister glanced at the empty pot, then at the bag.
"Done?"
Su Yan followed her gaze.
The stone pot sat beneath the ceiling hole, bare except for a few crumbs of damp soil.
After a moment, he nodded.
"Done."
Then he turned and walked back toward the dark passage.
Behind him, Nihilister followed in silence, her flame lighting the way.