Alexei stared at the mountain of spirit stones Bailu had dumped on the ground.
180,000 mid-grade spirit stones...
His brain did the math automatically. Which was honestly strange. Back in Moscow, he had avoided math whenever possible. But ever since arriving in this cultivation world, he seemed to be doing it constantly. His old math teacher would probably be proud if he could see him now.
With Fortune III, mining these would multiply the drops. Instead of getting one stone per block, he would get anywhere from two to four, sometimes more if RNG smiled on him.
But there was a problem. If he just mined them in a pile, the Fortune enchantment wouldn't work as efficiently. The blocks needed to be spread out properly for maximum yield.
"Hey, uh..."
"You can call me Bailu."
She looked up, still radiating that composed aura that made him vaguely uneasy. People that calm were either enlightened masters or serial killers, and he wasn't sure which she was.
"So, Bailu..."
"Yes?"
"Could you do me a favor? Spread these stones out in a line, about twenty-five meters long, and space them evenly."
She blinked. "Why?"
"Reasons."
"That's not an answer."
She looked skeptical but shrugged. With a wave of her hand, spiritual energy lifted the massive pile and began redistributing it across the chamber floor in neat, even layers.
The whole process took less than a minute.
"Like this?"
"Perfect. Thanks."
He pulled out his diamond pickaxe and got to work.
The first block shattered, and instead of the expected five mid-grade spirit stones, seven dropped into his inventory.
The second gave him six.
The third gave him eight.
By the time he finished the entire row, he had gained sixty-one mid-grade spirit stones, bringing his total to 113.
He did the math again, just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.
Each mid-grade spirit stone could be crafted into a spirit stone lamp, which provided six times the spiritual energy within a six-meter radius. That covered a 14×14 meter area per lamp.
With 113 lamps, he could easily cover his entire spirit plant farm and still have extras left over.
But more importantly...
He checked his experience bar.
Level 197.
He hadn't only recovered the 90 levels he had spent on assimilation, he had even gained two more on top of that.
His grin widened until his face hurt.
Bailu, meanwhile, was having her own crisis.
She held the Glasswood Spirit Flame in her palm, staring at it.
The flame was real. She was certain of that. And yet, something about it felt off. She couldn't quite explain it. It was like looking at a perfect painting and realizing something was wrong, even if you couldn't say what.
"Everything okay?" Alexei asked, slipping his pickaxe back into his inventory.
"I don't know how to absorb it."
"You are the alchemist. Should you not know how this works?"
"I do," she said, frowning slightly. "But this one feels strange."
Refining a spiritual flame wasn't simple. You had to understand its nature, form a connection, draw it into your qi sea, then nurture it over time. Rushing any part of the process could lead to serious injury, or worse.
Alexei, however, was thinking about something else.
When he had been holding the flame earlier, just before handing it to her, he had felt something unusual. It was almost like the flame had been waiting for him to use it, the same way his tools reacted when he could shear a sheep or use a bucket.
"Let me see it again," he said, holding out his hand.
Bailu hesitated for a moment, then placed the flame back into his palm.
The interface appeared in his vision.
[Glasswood Spirit Flame]
And beneath it, the prompt: [Use on target?]
"Huh." He looked at Bailu. "Stand still for a second."
Before she could ask why, he pointed the flame at her and confirmed the action in his mind.
The flame vanished from his hand.
Bailu froze.
For a moment, she simply stood there. Then, almost instinctively, she raised a finger.
A spark appeared at the tip, and a heartbeat later, a finger-length emerald flame flickered to life.
"What...?"
She stared at it, then immediately began testing it. The flame moved between her fingers, stretching and shrinking as she willed it to change.
Her expression shifted from surprise to something closer to disbelief. The flame was stable. Far too stable for something she had just acquired. And the control responded instantly. It felt more natural than her own pill fire, even after decades of practice.
That made no sense.
She had no technique for it. By all logic, she should barely be able to summon it. Yet she controlled it perfectly, as if it had always been hers.
"Human and flame as one," she murmured.
Alexei had no clue what that meant, but she sounded impressed, so he counted it as a win.
Then her expression sharpened. She focused and pushed more energy into the flame.
It brightened slightly. But there was still no heat.
This flame had no offensive power at all.
She could feel it instinctively. It wouldn't burn, consume, or harm anything.
Which was probably for the best. If it had been a combat-grade spiritual flame, Alexei might have died the moment she activated it.
Not that it mattered much to her. She rarely needed to fight. Her strength lay in alchemy, not combat.
Still…
This was strange.
She looked at Alexei. He was watching her. He was clearly worried she might ask for a refund.
She almost laughed.
She had no idea how he had done it, how he had bound the flame to her without any of the usual refining process, but the result spoke for itself. In the cultivation world, results were what mattered. If something worked, it worked. Questioning every technique or ability you encountered was a waste of time. Besides, cultivation itself was vast and unpredictable. Bloodlines, techniques, divine abilities, treasures, there were countless things she didn't understand. That was simply how the world worked.
"I am very satisfied with this flame," she said finally.
Alexei relaxed.
"Pleasure doing business."
Bailu kept her gaze on him for a moment longer. Now that the deal was done and her attention was no longer fixed on the flame, she took a closer look at him.
He looked young. His features were ordinary, not unattractive, but nothing that stood out. His face was easy to forget. Only the silver-white hair set him apart, though even that could be explained by a bloodline or some kind of spiritual mutation.
Then there was the armor. It was ugly, but clearly enchanted, judging by the faint traces of spiritual energy around it.
"So," she said, guiding the flame into her qi sea with a thought, "what are you planning to do next?"
Alexei shrugged. "I'm just going to keep exploring. I still have a few more chambers to... uh, investigate."
She raised a brow. "Mind if I come along?"
Alexei hesitated.
She seemed capable. Having someone who could fight would make things a lot safer. At the same time, she was a cultivator, which meant she almost certainly had her own motives.
Then again, she had just paid him 180,000 mid-grade spirit stones without haggling. Which meant she probably wasn't desperate enough to backstab him over random loot.
"Fine. But let's set some ground rules. If I call dibs on something, you leave it alone."
"That's acceptable." She inclined her head slightly. "Hundred Flowers Valley has its reputation. We don't steal from those we work with. You have my word."
That wasn't just empty talk. Hundred Flowers Valley's entire model depended on maintaining trust with the cultivation world. Breaking their word over something as minor as treasure in an inheritance site would be idiotic.
"I am holding you to that," Alexei said. "Let's go."
He turned toward the next stone door and pulled out his pickaxe, ready to start digging.
A hand landed on his shoulder.
He paused and glanced back.
Bailu was already raising her other hand slightly. "There's no need. You don't have to dig through this one."
"There's always a need. Doors are a scam."
She let out a sigh. "Just give me a moment."
She stepped past him and walked up to the door, placing her palm against the surface.
The Glasswood Spirit Flame surged out from her qi sea and flowed into her hand. Emerald fire spread across the door, tracing the carved patterns and runes until the entire surface was lit in green.
The door trembled, then slowly began to slide open.
"Huh. That actually worked."
She shot him a look. "Of course it worked. This stage is about controlling spiritual flames."
Alexei shrugged. "Still wasn't sure it'd be that simple."
The stone ground against itself as the opening widened, revealing a dark chamber beyond.
They stepped through together. Alexei summoned a Brightglow Pearl to light the way, while Bailu kept the flame hovering at her fingertips.
---
Meanwhile, in the Trial Hall…
The four remaining alchemists continued working in silence.
Hours passed.
One by one, three of them finished their pills and rose from their cushions.
Dan Cheng was the first.
The second was a young man from the Shen family, one of the rising alchemy clans of the Eastern Territories.
The third came from the Xiao family, just as well known.
The three of them gathered near the massive stone door at the far end of the hall, exchanging brief nods.
"You are as fast as ever," the Shen alchemist said with a faint smile. "Finishing that quickly… I didn't expect anything less."
Cheng let out a soft chuckle. "You are giving me too much credit. I have heard quite a bit about the two of you as well." He glanced between them. "Now that I have seen it for myself, the rumors were not exaggerated."
The Xiao alchemist replied calmly, "It seems your sources are reliable."
Their words were polite, but there was a clear edge beneath them. None of them had forgotten that they were competing.
They reached the door together and pressed their hands against its surface.
A low rumble echoed through the hall as the stone door slowly opened.
Beyond it was complete darkness.
The Xiao alchemist frowned. "Why is it so dark?"
All three raised their hands, summoning flames into their palms. Each flame was a different color, reflecting their individual pill fire.
For an alchemist, pill fire wasn't just a tool. It was a manifestation of their qi and vitality. Unlike spiritual flames, which could exist on their own, pill fire was tied directly to the cultivator.
That was also why it worked so well with other flames. With the right method, an alchemist could fuse a spiritual flame with their own, strengthening both.
Of course, it came with a cost. The body had to be strong enough to handle the fusion. And once a fifth-grade flame or higher was integrated, there was no turning back.
BOOM.
The moment the three alchemists stepped through the doorway, the massive stone door slammed shut behind them. The sound echoed through the chamber for several seconds before fading into silence.
However, with the light from their pill flames, the chamber wasn't dark.
The three of them looked around.
The room was empty.
"Where is Bailu?" the Xiao cultivator asked with a frown.
The other two instinctively glanced around, as if she might suddenly step out from behind the pillar.
She didn't.
"She must have already passed through," Cheng said after a moment. "This trial probably sent her deeper into the inheritance site."
That made sense. Bailu was a prodigy. Of course she would pass whatever test this was before they had even figured out the rules.
"Can you tell what this trial is testing?" the Shen cultivator asked.
Cheng closed his eyes and spread out his spiritual sense.
The chamber pushed back immediately. His awareness could only extend a few meters before it hit an invisible barrier. Even so, within that limited range, he sensed a faint trace of fire energy.
It was extremely weak, almost impossible to detect.
"There's a fire aura here," he said as he opened his eyes. "It's very faint. We'll have to sense it carefully and use it to figure out which door is the right one."
He gestured toward the four stone doors around them.
"One of them should lead forward. The others are probably dead ends or traps."
The Xiao cultivator frowned. "What about the square openings above each door?"
Each of the four doors had one. A small, square passage about a meter wide was built into the wall above each doorway, leading into dark tunnels that stretched out of sight.
Cheng stared at them for a moment, then shrugged.
"Probably just ventilation. Maybe drainage. Either way, it shouldn't matter for the trial."
Confident in his conclusion, he walked to the central pillar and sat down cross-legged. The other two followed, positioning themselves around it in a rough triangle.
They raised their pill fires above their heads, then closed their eyes and began to meditate.
Before long, the chamber fell completely silent.
---
Time passed slowly. Ten minutes, then twenty, then thirty...
BOOM.
The stone door opened once more.
A fourth cultivator stumbled inside, breathing heavily and looking both disheveled and irritated.
The three alchemists seated around the pillar didn't react at all. None of them opened their eyes. To them, someone who arrived thirty minutes late wasn't worth acknowledging. Anyone that slow clearly lacked the ability to compete.
The latecomer, a man named He Li from a minor alchemy family, clenched his fists.
He had wanted to ask about the trial, but their complete indifference made it clear he would get no help. After a brief hesitation, he forced himself to calm down.
Fine. I will figure it out myself.
He closed his eyes and tried to sense the chamber.
There was nothing.
Whatever fire aura the others had been meditating on had already been taken. He couldn't detect even the faintest trace.
Frowning, Li opened his eyes and began to study his surroundings more carefully. There was the stone pillar, the four doors, and the three self-important idiots sitting in a circle as if they had already reached enlightenment.
That was all.
At least, at first glance.
But something felt off.
He stepped toward the nearest door and examined it more closely. Above it was a square opening. He had noticed it earlier, but dismissed it as meaningless decoration. Now that he was paying attention, he realized it wasn't just a hole, but a passage.
He quickly checked the second door and found the same thing. When he moved on to the third, however, he suddenly stopped.
This one was different.
He leaned closer and looked through the opening. There was space on the other side, not just a narrow passage, but a room.
And inside, he caught a faint flicker of green light.
His heartbeat quickened.
He glanced back at the three alchemists. None of them had moved. They were still sitting there with their eyes closed, focused on their meditation as if nothing else in the room existed.
Idiots.
Moving as quietly as possible, he climbed into the opening. It was about waist-high and just wide enough for him to crawl through on his hands and knees. The passage itself was short, only a few meters long, before it opened into a small chamber.
Li pulled himself through and rose to his feet, brushing the dust from his robes. Then his gaze fell on the center of the room, and he froze.
A spiritual flame hovered in the center of the room. The light didn't behave like ordinary fire. Instead of spreading in soft, rounded flickers, it formed sharp, square edges.
He paid it no mind. What mattered was the aura. Dense wood-element spiritual energy filled the space, pressing lightly against his skin and making it tingle.
His hands trembled as he stepped forward.
For thirty years, he had lived in the shadow of others.
He had once been the greatest alchemy genius in the Eastern Territories, until Hua Bailu appeared and overshadowed everyone else with her overwhelming talent. Not long after, three more prodigies rose to prominence.
Together, the four of them pushed him out of the spotlight.
But he had never accepted that. He refused to be forgotten. He had waited all this time for a chance to prove he still mattered.
Now, that chance stood right in front of him.
If he could refine this flame before the others even discovered it…
He lowered himself into a cross-legged position and slowly closed his eyes.
---
Outside, in the main chamber, another thirty minutes passed.
The three alchemists were starting to realize something was wrong.
The fire aura they had been painstakingly gathering was pathetic. After an hour of meditation, Cheng had managed to collect a wisp of energy roughly the size of a bean. And it wasn't getting any easier. The aura was so thin that even sensing it required complete concentration.
This wasn't normal.
The Shen cultivator opened his eyes and glanced around.
"Where did the He family cultivator go?"
The others opened their eyes as well.
The chamber was empty except for the three of them.
"He must have left," the Xiao cultivator said. "But I didn't hear the door open."
"Neither did I."
They looked at each other.
After a moment, Cheng stood and walked over to the door where Li had been standing earlier. There was nothing unusual about it. Just a stone door with a square opening above it.
He bent down and looked through the opening.
"It's just a tunnel..."
But doubt was starting to creep in.
The three of them split up, each examining one of the remaining doors.
"There is a chamber inside this one," the Xiao cultivator said suddenly.
Cheng and the Shen cultivator hurried over.
Sure enough, when they looked through the opening, they could see a faint green glow in the distance.
Without waiting for the others, the Xiao cultivator climbed through. The moment he disappeared into the passage, the stone door behind him shifted.
Cheng and the Shen cultivator watched as the door he had just entered swapped positions with one of the other doors across the room.
"Are you..."
"That's just insulting," the Shen cultivator muttered.
They didn't waste time complaining. Both of them climbed into the nearest opening, which now led to the same chamber the Xiao cultivator had entered.
When they emerged into the small room, they found Li sitting in front of the green flame, deep in meditation.
The Xiao cultivator had just sat down across from him.
Cheng and the Shen cultivator exchanged a look, then quickly claimed the two remaining spots around the flame.
Li's eye twitched, but he said nothing. In the cultivation world, treasures went to whoever could claim them. That was the rule.
He could only blame himself for not being fast enough to establish a connection before the others arrived.
Still, refining a flame of this grade typically took ten days to half a month. Failing to connect after just thirty minutes was completely normal.
He pushed aside his frustration and focused.
---
An hour passed, then another, yet none of them made any progress.
At almost the same moment, all four alchemists opened their eyes. The green flame flickered quietly in front of them.
"I cannot sense anything," the Xiao cultivator said quietly.
"Neither can I," Cheng admitted.
The Shen cultivator let out a slow breath and shook his head. "This flame is far from ordinary. Even with a second-grade flame, it shouldn't take this long just to establish a basic connection. I have never heard of such a thing."
Li, who had been sitting here the longest, looked the most disturbed. His gaze remained fixed on the flame.
Cheng hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "What if… this isn't a second-grade flame at all?"
The others immediately turned toward him.
"You think it is first-grade?" the Shen cultivator asked.
Cheng's expression grew more serious. "Possibly. Or something even higher."
The room fell silent.
A flame beyond first-grade was no ordinary treasure. It could change the fate of an entire sect. If someone managed to refine it, their status would soar to unimaginable heights.
Li's eyes gleamed faintly as his thoughts raced. If I can refine this, I'll surpass all of them. I'll reclaim my place at the top.
The Xiao cultivator's thinking was far more grounded. A flame of this level would secure his family's position for generations to come.
The Shen cultivator, meanwhile, was already considering the alliances and influence such a treasure could bring.
As for Cheng, he was quietly calculating something else entirely. If refining it proved impossible, how much could it be sold for?
Then, almost at the same time, a stray thought crossed all of their minds.
If I refine this flame and become the greatest alchemist in the Eastern Territories, maybe Bailu would...
Each of them stiffened slightly before pushing the thought away.
No. That wasn't why they were here. They were here for the flame and for their future.
It had nothing to do with Bailu.
Absolutely nothing...
"Wait," the Xiao cultivator said suddenly. "If the flame is still here and hasn't been taken... where is Bailu?"
The others paused.
That was a good question.
Logically, if Bailu had entered this chamber and discovered the flame, she should still be here, attempting to refine it. There was no reason for her to leave something like this behind.
And yet, there was no sign of her.
Without another word, they spread out and began searching the room, examining every corner for hidden mechanisms or concealed passages.
After some time, they regrouped.
There was nothing.
In the end, they could only return to the flame.
One by one, the four of them sat down again and closed their eyes, resuming their attempts to connect with it.
---
After going through the stone door, Alexei and Bailu stepped into a new chamber.
Both of them stopped just inside the entrance.
The room was small, maybe fifty or sixty square meters, but it was packed with treasures. More than a dozen Brightglow Pearls were embedded in the walls and ceiling, filling the space with light.
The furnishings were minimal but clearly valuable. Two jade meditation cushions sat on the floor near a low jade table. On the table: a wooden alchemy furnace about half a meter tall, a jade token carved with intricate vine and flame patterns, and a cup of tea that was still steaming as if it had just been poured.
But what caught Alexei's attention was the wall directly across from them.
Dense lines of text covered the entire surface, carved deep into the stone. As his eyes moved across them, each word began to glow with a soft white light, revealing itself automatically.
"This is the Jade Canon of Medicine?" Bailu exclaimed.
Alexei's head snapped toward the wall.
Was this one of those situations? Some legendary cultivator carving their supreme technique into stone for posterity?
How heavy was this wall? Could he mine it in sections?
Bailu noticed the calculating look on his face and let out a quiet laugh.
"This is the foundational medical text for all healers in the Eastern Territories. Even mortal physicians study it. It has been copied and distributed for centuries, but no one ever knew who wrote the original."
She stepped closer to the wall, reading the signature at the bottom.
"Verdant Vine," she read aloud. "So that's the answer."
Alexei deflated slightly.
So it wasn't some secret ultimate technique, just a medical textbook. A famous one, apparently, but still only a textbook.
He turned his attention back to the jade table and picked up the steaming cup of tea.
The interface appeared in his vision.
[Enlightenment Spirit Tea]
Anything with "Enlightenment" and "Spirit" in the name was probably valuable. He pocketed it without hesitation.
Next, he grabbed the jade token.
[Verdant Lamp Cultivation Method]
"Verdant Lamp? What's that supposed to be?" He turned the token over in his hands. It didn't look like a weapon or defensive treasure. "Is this some kind of technique?"
"That should be the cultivation method the Verdant Vine left behind," Bailu said. She had been reading the medical text but now turned to look at what he was holding. "It's probably meant to help with spiritual flame cultivation."
She started walking toward him.
Alexei took a step back and held up one hand.
"We had a deal. If I see something I want, you don't take it."
Bailu stopped and gave him an exasperated look. "I'm not trying to take it. With my current level of control over spiritual flames, learning another method would be pointless. I was just going to explain what it is since you clearly have no idea."
She pointed at the token in his hand.
"That's a transmission jade slip. It's a type of technique jade slip that can only be used once. Based on the name, you should give it to someone with fire or wood spiritual roots. Otherwise, you will be wasting a valuable inheritance."
"I will keep that in mind."
He had no intention of giving it to anyone. He was going to try assimilating it himself and see if it worked.
The technique had to be high-grade. He was already level 197, yet there was no reaction at all when he touched it. That meant it was likely at least Heaven-tier.
He had wanted to try assimilating a cultivation method for a long time, but he had never had the opportunity. Techniques recorded in books were different. When assimilated, they only created a page-like interface. It was useful for reading, but that was about it.
A technique jade slip, however, was rare.
According to Qingxue, most technique jade slips were locked away in the archives of major clans and sects. They almost never circulated in the outside world.
Even in top-tier sects, ordinary disciples still had to learn from books.
The reason was simple: storing a technique in a jade slip required a massive amount of spiritual energy. Without constant replenishment, the slip would degrade and become useless within years.
That was also why cultivation methods were so scarce in the Eastern Territories. The higher the grade of a technique, the more complex it was. That was an unchanging truth in the cultivation world.
A Heaven-tier technique, if learned purely from written text with all the spiritual energy circulation needing to be figured out independently, could take over a decade to master under normal circumstances. That was where technique jade slips and transmission jade slips became essential.
A regular technique jade slip could imprint a cultivation method directly into your mind, skipping the memorization process entirely. They could be reused indefinitely.
A transmission jade slip went even further. It not only imprinted the technique into your mind but also embedded the flow of spiritual energy directly into your body, guiding your qi through the correct pathways automatically. The downside was that each slip could only be used once.
Before the Heavenly Tribulation had devastated the Eastern Territories, most cultivation methods had been recorded using jade slips. But when the tribulation struck, it drained the spiritual energy from the entire region. The thin spiritual energy that remained couldn't sustain the storage requirements for jade slips.
Cultivators had tried to salvage what they could, but after countless years, very few remained intact.
Alexei tucked the jade slip away and turned his attention to the last item on the table.
He picked it up and checked the interface.
[Verdant Wood Alchemy Furnace (Replica):
Spiritual Energy Circuit IV
Spirit Stabilization IV
Extraction III
Pill Resonance III]
His eyes widened.
This was at least a Heaven-grade alchemy furnace. And judging by the name, it was just a replica.
How powerful was the original?
For comparison, he recalled the state of Yan's furnace before he had enchanted it.
[Bronze Pill Furnace:
Spiritual Energy Blockage II]
There was no comparison.
He stored the Verdant Wood Furnace in his inventory. Yan would probably appreciate the upgrade.
---
Meanwhile, at the inn...
Yan was polishing her beloved alchemy furnace when she suddenly frowned.
She ran her fingers over the surface, feeling for imperfections.
For a moment, she could have sworn there was a new scratch on it. But after inspecting it more closely, she let out a quiet sigh of relief.
It must have been a manufacturing flaw from when it was made.
She went back to polishing.
---
With the furnace stored away, Alexei turned his attention to the remaining furniture.
The jade table and meditation cushions were still sitting there, practically begging to be looted.
[Spirit Enlightenment Jade Table:
Enlightenment III]
[Spirit Enlightenment Jade Cushion:
Enlightenment III]
He had no idea what "Enlightenment III" actually did, but it sounded useful.
Without hesitation, he mined both the table and the cushions, compressing them into his inventory.
The room was now almost completely empty.
Bailu watched him work.
"You are very thorough."
"Waste not, want not."
There was only one thing left: the Brightglow Pearls embedded in the walls.
Alexei pulled out his pickaxe and got to work.
THUNK. THUNK. THUNK.
CRACK.
[Brightglow Pearl ×1]
Bailu still couldn't understand why he was so obsessed with these things. They only glowed in places with dense spiritual energy. Once you took them outside, they were just ordinary pearls.
But he didn't seem to care.
By the time he finished, his total count of Brightglow Pearls had reached twenty-eight.
"All right," Alexei said, dusting off his hands. "I think that's everything."
Bailu had been examining the exit door while he worked. She reached out and placed her palm against it.
RUMBLE.
The door slid open.
Beyond it was a long corridor, just wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Brightglow Pearls were embedded in the walls every dozen meters or so, providing steady illumination.
"The trial should be over," Bailu said, extinguishing the green flame in her hand. "This is probably the exit."
"That's it?" Alexei said, frowning. "We just started."
Bailu gave him an incredulous look. "I spent over two months in this trial."
"Two months?"
"Yes. And this was only one trial. There are supposed to be others, but no one has found them yet."
She gestured around them.
"The Verdant Vine Secret Realm is massive. If it weren't for the crack that opened in the core region, we wouldn't have even found this inheritance site. Someone powerful enough to create a space like this could hide it from anyone. Even Nascent Soul cultivators wouldn't be able to find it if it were properly concealed."
"So what's the point of the secret realm if most of it is inaccessible?"
"Cultivation," Bailu said simply. "The spiritual energy here is far denser than the outside world. That alone makes it valuable. Most people just use it as a training ground."
She started walking toward the corridor, then paused and glanced back at him.
"Are you coming?"
Alexei nodded and followed.
As they walked, Bailu continued talking, pacing slightly as she explained the history of the secret realm and the various theories about what other trials might exist.
Alexei found it vaguely annoying. She had a habit of circling while she talked, moving around him in a way that made it hard to follow the conversation.
"Do you have to keep moving like that?"
"What?"
"You're pacing while you talk. It's distracting."
Bailu blinked, then seemed to realize what she was doing. She stopped mid-step and gave him a sheepish look.
"Sorry. Old habit."