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Tigu had gone to ask for Jin’s blessing. Xianghua had gone to once more practice her newest techniques. The boys had followed Delun’s lead and decided to spend some time thinking.

Xiulan herself was satisfied with the night. She went to sit under a tree, and meditated until she fell asleep.

In her dreams, Xiulan danced. Her head was filled with the pounding of drums and the twanging of guzheng. She could see the ghost of an impossibly graceful woman, moving with such skill and grace that it took her breath away. She was the absolute perfection that every performer would aspire towards.

Xiulan could not copy her dance. She was different from the woman. Too different. She did not live only for the song and the performance; in her heart she wasn’t only a dancer but a warrior. While she could not copy the dance of Verdant Fans exactly, she could take from it. She could fuse it with the dance of war that she had learned from her father, the dance of protection. Each night, she felt, she got closer to reconciling the two.

Until tonight, after her talk with Delun, something within her soul slid into place. When she truly took the first step upon her chosen path. Tonight, when she stepped to the beat, and tried to reconcile the two parts of herself, they truly began to fuze. Peace and protection.

The two parts harmonized, and the first steps of the Dance of Silk and Steel finally formed, perfect and true.

Xiulan let out a breath as her foot planted itself in the final move. The drums ceased their thunder, and the world fell into silence.

The sound of a single person clapping broke the silence causing Xiulan to nearly jump. She turned to face her spectator and their applause.

Tianlan smirked at her, and the applause got just ever so mocking. Xiulan took an exaggerated bow, and both smiled at each other.

The Earth Spirit looked a lot better these days. The cracks in her form were smaller, and her dress no longer ragged. But she still held the form of a little girl, one with impossibly ancient eyes.

Tianlan stopped clapping, and the silence stretched for a moment.

“So. This is your path?” Tianlan asked.

“Yes. It is.”

The Earth Spirit looked at her, and after a second, she sighed. “Why are the ones I like the most so prone to doing foolish things?”

“As Jin says: That sounds like a you problem.”

Tianlan barked out a laugh, sitting down on a rock. “Look at this cheek! And you used to be so respectful!” She smiled, shaking her head, and after a moment, the amusement faded again. “You kept the parts about me out of the memory crystals.”

Xiulan had. What they were filled with was the allusion that they had all once been united… and the techniques of their sect.

“Do you wish me to add them back in?” Xiulan asked Tianlan, who considered the question.

“No. I don’t think I want to be known. I’m not their saviour or their ruler. I failed them once already, and now they have to live with this.” Tianlan’s voice was quiet, as she looked at the grass. “And… I don’t think I can handle caring about so many people again, not again…”

Xiulan nodded. “Then do not worry. I think you deserve a bit of rest.”

The Earth Spirit flushed and looked away. “I don’t know how much it means to you,” she said softly, “but if Ruolan could see you… I think she would be very proud.”

Xiulan smiled at the compliment. “And what about you? What do you think of me, Tianlan?”

“I think you’re a weed. No, a mushroom,” the Earth Spirit grumped, still looking away. “You’ve grown on me.”

Xiulan chuckled at her words, walking over and kneeling before the Earth Spirit.

“Thank you. For all your help, Tianlan.”

Tianlan’s eyes softened. She cupped either side of Xiulan’s face, gently pressing their foreheads together.

“Some people are just going to take what you give them and turn their backs,” the Earth spirit whispered.

“I know.”

“Some of them will try to stop you from giving these to anybody else.”

“I know.”

“Some of them will pretend to be your friends, then betray you!”

“… I know.”

“And you’re going to do it anyway?”

“Yes,” was Xiulan’s serene answer.

“How foolish,” she whispered. “You really are their descendant, you know? They were both dumbasses.”

“Stupidity and brilliance are only a matter of whether or not I succeed.”

“Don’t get cocky, fool!” The Earth Spirit leaned back, and then brought her head forward again in gentle chastisement. Xiulan winced—Tianlan’s skull was as hard as a rock. “… don’t die, okay?”

“I have no intention to.”

Tianlan nodded and pulled back. She sniffed and looked away, her eyes clearly not watering.

“Could you show me again? The new version?”

Xiulan nodded, and stood. In the dream world, her blades came to her. The Jade Grass Blades, the Treasures of her Sect. More swords, like growing grass, rose behind her.

The blade in her left hand, forged to be an opera prop, split down the middle. Opening, it revealed a fan made of white jade, and decorated with golden cracks.

A sword and a fan. The fusion of the past and the future.

[Verdant Azure Arts, First Form: The Harmony of Silk and Steel]

Shen Yu sighed with contentment as the silver wire that was touching him corroded and then burned to ashes as it sucked out some of the demonic Qi in his body.

Well, wire was a bit of a misnomer; the thing was as thick as Shen Yu’s thumb and filled with Lunar Qi. Bi De’s face was a mask of concentration as he channeled his energy into the wire. Jin sat beside the bucket of high class medicine that was rapidly turning into black sludge. He grimaced at the sight, and his hands glowed gold, his Qi suppressing the demonic power and rendering it inert.

It was the best treatment yet, and Shen Yu would have paid any doctor who had done this for him enough resources to make them the power of any land they resided in.

Mei’er, on the other hand, frowned heavily, her fingers on Shen Yu’s pulse. Her eyes narrowed and her intent spiked before she clamped down on her emotions.

“Thank you for your assistance, husband, Bi De,” she bit out, glaring at the sludge that was once pure water as she withdrew her Qi from his body. She was exceedingly careful not to cause any disturbance, now that she knew the magnitude of the problem that she had been presented with.

The Demonic taint was suppressed by Shen Yu, coated in his Qi and being corroded. It muddled the sheer magnitude of what was within him.

A mortal would have ceased to exist, burned away into nothingness in an instant. A cultivator in the Earth Realm would have died screaming, turning into blacked sludge just like the water in the bucket.

He, however, was Shen Yu. The Demonic Qi had reduced what he was capable of drastically, a good portion of his power spent keeping the taint in check and isolated from doing any damage. It would be crushed in time, of course, but Mei’er had reduced the Demonic Qi enough that he could use his full strength in minor bursts, rather than his utmost exertions remaining a full realm below what he should have been capable of.

It was by all accounts a miraculous recovery.

Jin took the bucket away to purify it while Mei’er started writing down the new effects of the formation.

This latest refinement had been to take the pure silver from the mines of “the Eighth Correct Place,” which Shen Yu had refined further using his own pill furnace, and infuse it with Bi De’s Lunar Qi.

“Better than last time, but I don’t know where to go from here,” she muttered to herself, chewing on her lip. She took the fact that Shen Yu still had Demonic Qi in his system as a personal affront, even though, realistically speaking, the fact that she had removed any was an accomplishment worthy of praise.

It was quite endearing, the way she harnessed her wrath to spur herself forwards. She was still rough around the edges, still green—but she had drive and talent in spades. If she were not Jin’s wife, he would have taken her to Minyan to nurture her talents among the fairies of Soaring Heaven Isle.

“You’ve done enough, Mei’er.” Her nose wrinkled at the affectionate suffix, like a cat debating on whether or not she wanted to claw at his leg. It was such fun teasing her! He wondered what manner of attack she would try this time. The itching powder last time had actually worked for a whole second! He had been utterly impressed with what she had done—but his praise of her improvement had only made her angrier. “You have done far more than I expected you to, and you have my thanks.”

The woman huffed and then sighed. “So, this is the last one before you go?”

“It is. I need to confirm some things, I promised Jin, and my apprentice needs to see the world!” He patted the rooster who had clambered up onto the couch. The cock looked drained from how much Qi he had infused the silver with, his proud, erect neck drooping.

Really, the student was contributing to the Master! How shameless of him to be borrowing one so lesser’s strength, but here he was—and he would pay it back a hundred fold, as was his custom. He would need to visit one of his stashes, too, to get a certain storage ring out. Mei’er would be receiving her reward as well.

“Indeed,” the rooster said. “We shall find out if there truly are demons in the north, and then figure out what to do from there.”

Meiling nodded seriously. “If there is an infestation, I expect it to be exterminated,” she commanded, her voice sharp.

‘Don\'t worry, Master. I’ll test to see which poisons are most effective,’ a tiny voice squeaked as the Rat, Ri Zu, walked in with her arms full of vials and a chipper lit to her voice.

Shen Yu chuckled as he watched the little creature pack, Bi De also looking on with fondness.

She was… an interesting creature.

‘If you come, you will not be my student,” Shen Yu said frankly to the little beast. He had been surprised when the rooster brought him the rat, and even more so at her own request to join them when they left.

The rat nodded. ‘Ri Zu did not expect to learn from Grandfather; She promised Bi De that the next time he went on an adventure, she would join him. Ri Zu will keep that promise.”

The little rat looked Shen Yu in the eye, and once again Shen Yu wondered if it was simple kindness that inspired such loyalty, or if it was something else.

‘Ri Zu will not be left behind.’

It had been a whim to allow her presence. Shen Yu normally, when he was injured, just used high grade medicines. Having an actual doctor to tend to his new student while they trained would improve things, especially with how intimately Ri Zu seemed to know Bi De’s body. She was able to diagnose a tremor in the Rooster’s Meridians instantly and correctly realign them in moments.

Mei’er chuckled at the rat’s statement. “Good. Remember, if a live subject may be taken…”

‘Of course, Master. Ri Zu will try her best!’ Both of them started chuckling at the thought, the laughter taking on a dark, vindictive edge.

Shen Yu smiled at his granddaughter-in-law. A woman that would butcher your enemies and smile while doing it!

Jin truly had the luck of the Heavens.