Gen and his group arrived at the inn where they had left Madame Su and the others, near the Heaven's Gate. The entrance felt cold and lifeless, the compound completely empty.
Gen moved silently inside and went straight into the main hall. No one stood there, as if the house had been vacated. Gen frowned slightly.
"Maybe she is somewhere else," Liang said.
"Let us look for her inside," Chubbs offered.
Lorel nodded, and they began searching the rooms and gardens. But they found no one. The house was empty. Even Black Green Wood was absent.
Gen's heart skipped a beat. Worry coiled in his chest. *Had Juo Si done something in his absence?* But that was impossible; Black Green Wood was here. What had happened?
Just as Gen was beginning to panic, a figure walked through the entrance, holding a young girl by the hand.
It was Black Green Wood. The girl beside him looked to be about fourteen, starting to grow out of her childhood form.
"You are back, Gen," Black Green Wood said with a gentle smile.
Gen nodded, his worry easing only a fraction. "I did it. Here is the Zenith Sky Root." He picked the luminous, root-like plant from his pouch without a moment's hesitation and handed it over.
The Pillar was silent for an instant, holding the root. He looked at Gen, then nodded. "It was not a mistake, taking you in that day."
Lolly, at his side, looked at the strangers and shrank behind Black Green Wood's robes in fear.
Gen walked to her side, his voice soft. "Hey, little devil. How are you?" He smiled, trying to coax out the girl he remembered.
But Lolly only shrank further back, hiding completely.
"You are scaring her, looking like a zombie with blood all over the place," Liang cursed at him, dragging him back by the arm. "Lolly, it's us! Liang and Gen!" he called to her.
But Lolly said nothing, just stayed behind the Pillar.
Lorel turned to Black Green Wood, her voice quiet with concern. "Why is Lolly behaving like this?"
Black Green Wood sighed. "First, for you all to understand, you need to take a look in a mirror. I have prepared a bath for this specific occasion. Get cleaned, and we shall discuss all that has happened later."
They all nodded. Gen, Liang, and Chubbs went to the back of the inn where a bathing pool had been created, separated by a living wall of trees—one side for Lorel and Lolly, the other for the boys.
Gen peeled off his blood-stiffened, tattered clothes and slipped into the warm water with a heavy sigh. Chubbs followed, sinking in with a groan of pure relief. "This is indeed the best form of relaxation," he declared, floating on his back.
Liang leaned back against the stone edge, his clean, muscular build coming into view. His frame had filled out, the last softness of boyhood gone.
Gen frowned, taking a closer look. Liang looked more and more like a real adult. "How come you have grown up so fast?" Gen asked, perplexed.
Liang laughed. "You still have not noticed, Gen, right?"
"Notice what?" Gen asked, turning to Chubbs.
Chubbs popped up from underwater, his strands of stark white hair showing amid his black locks. "A year has passed by, Gen. We have been in the Sky Ocean for over a year. I guess it should be a day or two before the next year starts. That is what Black Green Wood meant."
Gen blinked twice in surprise. It was true they had spent quite some time in the Sky Ocean, but… a year already?
He rose from the water, observing his own hands. He could see faint, silvery scars on his shoulders and ribs—the accumulated marks of a year's worth of battle. His frame had matured: more muscular, leaner, having grown a few solid inches. He held his chin, thinking. "Now that I think of it, last time I held her, I could feel her head on my chest." He said it absently, to his friends.
Liang cursed and splashed him with water. "We do not need the details, fool!"
Chubbs let out a booming laugh that echoed off the bath walls. "Would you listen to him! The master of the Sky Ocean, the breaker of puzzles, and here he is, counting the inches on his lady like a market tailor! Have you no shame, Gen Jiang? Save your measuring for after the wedding!"
Gen cursed back, threatening to strangle him if he didn't shut up. They laughed and played in the water, the simple joy a stark contrast to the tension they had just left.
In a day's time, Chubbs and Gen would be turning seventeen. Lorel and Liang, eighteen. Time had fled so fast they had not noticed it.
After a while, Gen leaned back in the water. Apart from his height, his body, his hair, and his scars… he also noticed something else. He had matured inwardly. The faint, sharp edges of his youthful self had completely disappeared. He bailed his fist.
"A year," he said to Liang and Chubbs, his voice low. "And we haven't defeated another Divine General. Out of the five years, we are left with three."
Liang nodded, his own expression sobering. "Without Zeph, we still have Buqu and the other three to defeat. To remove the four remaining Damocles."
Chubbs lost his playful side. He added, his voice gruff with new gravity, "A year ago, Nix broke you. Now look at you. You have a spirit of an age in your pocket and more scars than a war banner. If the boy who crawled out of that arena can stand here today, then this year…" He pounded a fist into his open palm. "This year, we make a general fall."Chubbs would never have dared to say such a thing in the past. But around these two, who always seemed to create miracles, he wanted to believe it was possible.
Gen sighed, looking at the steam rising from the water. His expression took on a deep, philosophical edge. "We will," he said softly, his voice deeper, more manly.
***
After the bath, the group found themselves at a low table in the main hall, seated on their knees as they waited for Black Green Wood. Lorel was the last to arrive, walking with a new, unconscious grace and presence. Her long black hair, washed and clean, fell in a soft cascade over one shoulder. Her form had matured—her chest more generous, her curves more pronounced and feminine. Earlier, Gen had not noticed any of this amidst the blood and chaos. But now, looking at her, he understood just how much she had changed, and not just in strength.
Lorel smiled faintly as she sat by Gen's side, her clean robe tightening slightly at her waist as she settled. Gen felt strangely shaken by her presence, by the tangible evidence of the year that had passed. He quickly pulled his attention back to the front of the room as Black Green Wood appeared, with Lolly by his side.
Once the two were seated, he spoke. "Thank you for your help, Gen."
Gen bowed his head. "It was nothing. I promised to do it anyway. And back then, if you had not helped me regain my Jingdao, I do not know what I would have done."
Liang added, "Black Green Wood has done a lot for us."
They all murmured their thanks, bowing to him once more.
Black Green Wood then hesitated slightly. He looked at Gen and sighed. "Madame Su left, Gen."
Gen's heart skipped a beat. He rose to a half-crouch. "Left? What do you mean?"
"She left to find the daughter of that man—the one who proposed to help you back when you were locked in the Forgotten Realm. Ever since she left, I have had no news. But she is a cautious and capable cultivator. She should be fine."
Gen bailed his fist, keeping his head low. He had expected to come back and tell her about his adventures, about all that had happened in the Sky Ocean. Madame Su was still the closest thing he had to the Jiang Mountain. She wasn't his real mother, but she had been one of the most important people in his life during this period of loss.
"She told me to tell you not to worry," the Pillar added gently.
Gen nodded silently, the weight of another absence settling on his shoulders.
Lorel, feeling the heavy air, turned to Black Green Wood. "What about Lolly?"
Black Green Wood's expression seemed to age even further. "Lolly's sickness… it has caused her to lose her memory. She does not remember any of you, and perhaps only half-remembers me. That is why she was reacting that way earlier."
Gen's heart instantly ached. He remembered the joy, the boundless energy she had. When they left, she was full of life. Now, she was a quiet, lost soul.
"Is there anything that can be done?" Liang asked, his voice pained.
Black Green Wood shook his head slowly. "The Zenith Sky Root was the last ingredient I lacked. Now, the only thing I can do is prepare the medicine and wait for it to respond. In the meantime, it will be better for her—and for me—to stay away from all forms of outside contact. It only increases her fear."
Gen understood. His situation was clear. "You are the best doctor in this world," Gen said, his voice full of trust. "I trust you to find a solution. You always do."
"Yes! This is but a little, meager inconvenience for a doctor of your level, Pillar!" Chubbs joined in with his usual exaggerated support.
Gen then recounted everything that had happened—the chessboard, the Eggs, the betrayal, Buqu's ultimatum. When the story ended, Black Green Wood was speechless, looking at Gen and his group with newfound admiration.
"No wonder you are his son," he muttered. Then he added, his voice grave, "On your journey with Buqu… I can only wish you luck. Tomorrow, the year ends, and I will leave with Lolly. You will not be able to find us until I have fully cured her. Please, I apologize in advance for having to leave so soon."
Gen understood what Black Green Wood was trying to say. He meant he wouldn't be able to help against Juo Si. It wasn't that he was abandoning Gen; it was that Lolly's safety was of greater importance. It was a kind of selfishness, depending on which side you looked at it. Gen did not blame him. In fact, he saw it as a great strength.
Black Green Wood stood up with Lolly and bid them farewell.
As they turned to go, Gen's eyes met Lolly's for a fraction of a second.
*I hope we meet again,* his eyes seemed to say.
Lolly simply held Black Green Wood's hand tighter and walked away without a word, leaving the four of them alone in the silent, empty hall, with the weight of a lost year and a daunting future hanging in the air between them.