The Mobile Palace descended the slope and stopped at the edge of what had once been Qīngshān's central courtyard. The draft beasts snorted, kicking up cold ashes from the ground. Around the carriage, the imperial guards in gray armor drew their swords. An official dressed in purple silk stepped down from one of the white tents set up near the dry well.
Zhì Yuǎn climbed down from the driver's seat and stepped onto the scorched earth.
— Stop right there! — one of the guards shouted, advancing with his spear pointed at the man's chest. — This is an Imperial investigation zone. The entire village was…
Zhì Yuǎn did not slow his pace. He raised his left hand and struck the back of his fingers against the spear shaft. The movement was simple, but the force behind it snapped the thick wood in half with a dry crack. The impact carried through to the soldier's chest. The guard was thrown backward, crashing into two of his companions, and the three of them fell tangled on the ground, gasping for air.
The imperial official swallowed hard. His hand stopped on the hilt of a short dagger, trembling. The other soldiers froze in place, realizing that the man in the gray tunic was not someone they could restrain with chains.
Zhì Yuǎn walked up to the purple-robed official and reached into his belt, pulling out a heavy leather pouch.
— The Yuánchén Treaty and the Edict of the Broken Blade, signed by the Imperial Court and the Three Great Sects — Zhì Yuǎn's voice came out flat and practical. — Your jurisdiction ends where cultivator conflicts begin. Qīngshān was not targeted by bandits. It was retaliation from the Unique Path Sect. The Empire has nothing to investigate here.
He tossed the leather pouch. It struck the official's chest, and the man caught it with difficulty. The clinking of pure imperial silver and gold rang loudly.
— The Empire lost the coal taxes and the land. This pouch covers the government's losses and buys the boundaries of this valley — Zhì Yuǎn continued calmly. — The bamboo grove land is mine. Pack up your tents and return to your city.
The official opened the pouch slightly. The gleam of pure imperial silver and the sheer amount of coins reflected in his eyes. He was a bureaucrat. He knew when the law of the strong came knocking at his door — especially when it came accompanied by hard currency.
He quickly tied the pouch shut, cleared his throat, and gestured to the fallen soldiers.
— Get up! — the official shouted, adjusting his purple silk. — Dismantle the camp. The lands have been compensated according to border law! We're leaving!
In less than half an hour, the dust from the imperial army's wagons disappeared down the road. The valley of Qīngshān was once again completely empty and silent.
Zhì Yuǎn returned to the carriage and guided the Mobile Palace into the eastern bamboo grove, stopping the heavy armor near the old cabin — the only place the fire had not touched.
The two sisters stepped down from the cabin.
Yù Méi looked once more toward where the main house where she had lived once stood. The memory of her father and mother struck hard, but she did not cry. Her eyes were harder now.
Zhì Yuǎn leaned against the carriage wheel and looked at the teenager.
— The rules have changed as of today — he said, his rustic voice direct, pulling the girl's attention to him. — We're not going south now. We're going to stay locked in this valley until I understand my new foundation and your sister stabilizes hers. And you're going to train.
Yù Méi straightened her spine, attentive.
— Two hours a day, we'll stay on the veranda and I'll teach you how to read records, anatomy, and calligraphy. A sword in the hand of an idiot isn't worth much — Zhì Yuǎn continued. — After that, four hours of raw training in the bamboo grove. Running, weight, and impact. I'll develop techniques specifically for you.
He paused and pointed at the cabin door.
— For the rest of the day, the cabin door will stay locked from the inside for me and your sister. No matter what you hear, no matter if the walls shake. You don't knock on that door and you don't come close. You use your free time to hunt, meditate in the courtyard, and cultivate. Understood?
Yù Méi nodded quickly.
— Understood.
Zhì Yuǎn opened the small jade vial he had prepared beforehand.
— Once a week, I'll inject a drop of my pure Golden Qi into your channels. As your bones thicken and you stop breaking so easily, I'll increase the dose.
The teenager did not hide her smile. She took a step forward, closing the distance between them until she stopped dangerously close to the man. She tilted her face upward, her almond irises shining with provocation.
— Whatever you command, A-Yuǎn… — she murmured, her voice coming out sweet and soft, letting her eyelashes fall. — My body is ready for anything you want to put inside it.
Yù Qíng scoffed. Zhì Yuǎn did not even blink. His face remained like a stone tablet. He raised his calloused hand and pushed Yù Méi's forehead back with two fingers, moving the girl out of his personal space without effort.
— Go fetch water from the creek and clean the courtyard — he replied dryly.
Yù Méi let out a short laugh, completely unfazed by the rejection. She spun on her heels and walked toward the river, her golden dress swaying along with the new curves she deliberately displayed.
The days followed a rigid rhythm. In the morning, Zhì Yuǎn taught her on the veranda — ancient records, beast anatomy, and precise calligraphy. In the afternoon, the bamboo grove became a training ground. Running with weights, impact against tree trunks, repetition until her body trembled. And every week, without fail, he injected a drop of Golden Qi into her back.
Time passed. Her body transformed even further.
A golden figure tore through the eastern bamboo grove at high speed. No leaf moved. No branch snapped. The displacement was absolute and silent.
A few meters from the cabin, the figure stopped. The stop was clean, without sliding even a millimeter on the ground. Yù Méi drew in air slowly, her feet hovering a fingernail's distance from the ground.
Four years of isolation and weekly baptisms with drops of Primordial Gold had destroyed any trace of the fragile girl who had once arrived in the valley. The body now hovering before the cabin displayed the peak of the Ninth Mortal Stage. She was two fingers taller than her own sister. Her skin, dense and saturated with power, had the luster of milky white jade. Her hair, once blonde, now fell heavily down her back in a vibrant golden tone.
The dark golden dress that wrapped around her had been sewn by Yù Qíng, but the cut now revealed more than it hid. The deep V-neckline plunged low, exposing the damp valley between her full breasts. Two side slits tore the silk all the way to the waist, leaving her thick, firm thighs visible with every movement.
However, the most dangerous change was in her face.
Yù Méi's almond eyes had lost all fragility. The raw foundation that filled her body had transformed her gaze into something magnetic and predatory. Whoever met those irises would be pulled into a spiral of attraction and involuntary submission.
Yù Méi looked down. Her bare feet hovered motionless in the air, a fingernail's distance from the ground. She had already mastered the Suspended Lotus years ago, but now she kept the technique active at all times — not out of necessity, but by choice.
Stepping on the earth had become an offense. Her body had been remade and nourished by his hands. It could not be tainted by the filth of the world. It had to remain clean, untouched, and perfect for when his eyes decided to evaluate her again.
She smoothed the hem of the silk over her thighs and walked through the air, climbing the veranda steps without making the old wood creak.
---
Zhì Yuǎn drove his hips forward in the final thrust, sinking his full weight into the bed. Thick, scalding seed erupted straight into Yù Qíng's womb.
The body beneath him convulsed. The eldest was lying on her stomach, her face buried in the pillow. Even after he emptied his load, her flesh continued trembling in uncontrollable spasms, fried by the excess of hyper-dense Yang. She no longer had a voice. Her breath came out in thin, ragged gasps.
The bamboo door opened.
Years ago, trying to enter that room would have earned a broken neck. Today, the door remained unlocked.
Yù Méi entered, hovering. The youngest glided straight to the corner of the room, picked up the clean linen pants and gray tunic that were folded on the straw bench. Zhì Yuǎn pulled his body back and withdrew from his wife. He stood up, his broad, sweaty muscles glistening with residual heat, and stretched his arms, cracking his shoulders.
Yù Méi approached him from behind. She dressed him in the pants first, then covered his broad back with the gray tunic. The movement was calm, repeated hundreds of times over the past four years. Her hands held no haste. She smoothed the linen over his rigid chest, sliding her palms slowly along the man's ribs, and pressed her own voluptuous body against his back to tie the leather belt from behind.
While doing so, she looked over his broad shoulder toward the bed.
— One hour and twenty minutes — she clicked her tongue, shaking her head with mockery. — Once again you didn't even reach an hour and a half, sister. Your endurance is getting worse.
Sprawled on her stomach on the damp straw, Yù Qíng tried to lift her neck. Her hazy black eyes focused on her sister rubbing herself against her husband's back. The eldest's breathing faltered in a raspy huff of exasperation, but her voice did not come out. Her body collapsed back onto the mattress once more.
Zhì Yuǎn finished adjusting the collar of his tunic and turned his face toward the teenager, ignoring the territorial mockery that hung in the room.
— Have the golden drops I injected into your back earlier this week already been assimilated? — he asked, his rustic voice direct.
Yù Méi leaned her shoulder against his chest. Her hand rose and squeezed her own full breast over the golden silk, massaging the volume in a lingering manner right in front of him.
— It took a little longer than you calculated, A-Yuǎn — her voice came out soft and provocative. — Your Qi filled my Dantian even more. But my body consumed a lot of energy to give me this form.
She slid her free hand down the front of Zhì Yuǎn's gray tunic, her almond gaze fixed on the line of the man's jaw.
— It would be much faster if you didn't only use drops on my back — she continued, lowering her tone until it became a dirty whisper. — If you deposited your energy directly into my womb and taught me to cultivate the same way you do with her… my limit would break on the spot.
On the bed, Yù Qíng's trembling fingers dug into the straw of the mattress. The eldest's breathing faltered. She forced the muscles in her neck, lifting her crumpled face from the pillow with difficulty. Her hazy black eyes, exhausted, pierced through her sister, who was offering herself so shamelessly against her husband's body. Jealousy boiled the blood that remained in her.
— In your dreams… little girl — Yù Qíng's voice rasped, hoarse and weak, before her face collapsed back onto the pillow, without strength to say anything more.
Yù Méi let out a short laugh through her nose. Knowing she would be rejected, she simply turned her face toward the bed and stuck her tongue out at her older sister, savoring the victory of seeing the always untouchable woman left there like an old rag.
Zhì Yuǎn ignored the friction between the two. He lightly pushed Yù Méi's hand away from his chest and walked to the cabin window to look out at the bamboo grove. The wind blew slowly between the green trunks.
Yù Méi adjusted the collar of her golden dress, changing the subject before the teasing lost its charm.
— Your cultivation, A-Yuǎn — the girl said, leaning against the edge of the wooden table. — How is the void in your chest? You spent the last few months just looking at the landscape, without giving me any new techniques. Was the Law of Space really what was missing?
Zhì Yuǎn rested his arm on the windowsill. His gaze was not focused on the leaves, but on the way the air passed through them.
— It stabilized — he replied, his rustic voice sounding calm. — Understanding space made the void stop being just a dark hole wanting to swallow everything. I managed to create a mesh inside it. Now it's… an entire universe.
He turned his face toward the youngest.
— And it's no longer dark — the young man continued, practical. — The darkness was the lack of rules. Now, every Law I understand from the world outside becomes a star inside.
Yù Méi frowned slightly, trying to follow the image.
— Stars?
— It's a physical manifestation of the Laws I comprehend — he explained, raising his right hand. A sphere of water appeared in his hands out of nowhere.
— The movement of the creek water formed one star. — Every time he spoke about a different Law, it manifested in his hands. — The sound of the leaves formed another. The Law of Destruction I took from that volcano is the oldest of them. In the beginning, they stay dim. Except for the Law of Destruction, which had been nourished by the energy contained in the sphere I absorbed. So, when I pushed my Primordial Qi into one of them, the star lit up.
He closed his fingers into a fist, making the manifestation dissipate in midair.
— The more Qi I pour into the star, the brighter it shines inside. And the brighter it shines inside, the more control I have over that rule out here. I even think I can surpass the limit established for each Law of this plane if I feed them enough.
At the back of the bed, Yù Qíng tried to keep her eyes open to listen. Her husband did not depend on accumulating energy by sweating in meditation poses or swallowing alchemy pills like mortals. He only needed to keep looking at the world and dissecting how it worked, chewing on the rules of reality and turning each one of them into foundation stones.
And the only thing missing for him to ascend without limits was the pure energy to light those stars. Energy that came from their dual cultivation technique.
The eldest squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth against the pillow. Possessiveness fought a losing battle against her own exhaustion. She needed more time. She needed a stronger body. Because if her husband depended only on the hours she could endure in bed to light the sky of that new universe, her god would starve to death in the darkness. And that, the Priestess would never allow.