Four months passed in absolute isolation inside the Crystal Dome. Time was swallowed by the continuous routine of dual cultivation. Fed directly by Zhì Yuǎn's Inner Universe, Yù Méi, Mò Yán, and Bái Wǎn stabilized the new energy and filled their Law Seas.
Yù Qíng had been cultivating for longer and absorbed a much greater load of Qi, but she advanced to the Second Transcendent Stage — the Weaving of the Tides — at exactly the same time as her sisters. The difference lay in the foundation: while the newer ones filled seas, the eldest's receptacle was an ocean. The amount of energy required to make her advance a level bordered on the absurd, which cemented her strength and her unquestionable hierarchy over the rest of the altar.
The morning was peaceful, like all the others. Sunlight struck the limestone slabs swept clean by Mò Zhōng. Zhì Yuǎn was reclining on the veranda lounge chair, silently drinking tea. His gaze was lost among the trees, but his mind worked without pause, dissecting Laws one after another.
He set the porcelain cup on the wooden table.
"There's an annoying buzzing coming from the east," he commented, without taking his eyes off the trees.
The women stopped talking. Yù Méi was the first to furrow her brow.
"Buzzing?"
"Thousands of mixed auras," Zhì Yuǎn replied calmly. "The continental tournament has begun in the valley."
He picked up the cup again and resumed drinking, clearly not giving it much importance.
In the courtyard, the atmosphere changed. Yù Méi and Bái Wǎn exchanged a glance. The fact that the world outside was making enough noise to bother their husband was, in itself, an offense.
Yù Méi stood up first.
"We're going for a walk," she said, her voice low and sharp.
Bái Wǎn also rose.
"Before that noise turns into a real headache."
Zhì Yuǎn nodded, still holding the cup.
"Be back before lunch. I asked Mò Zhōng to make steamed fish and almond tofu for you, Wǎn'er."
Bái Wǎn's eyes lit up for a moment. She nodded, clearly pleased, and left the courtyard together with Yù Méi.
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Tearing through the eastern sky, the ground passed below as a green and brown blur. The speed was absurd, but the wind did not even touch their clothes. The technique Zhì Yuǎn had created cut through the air without friction, keeping the flight perfectly clean and stable.
Bái Wǎn flew beside her sister, hands clasped behind her back.
"It's impressive," she commented, looking at the horizon rushing past. "Our heaven created this flight technique that mixes principles of the Laws of Wind and Space to make locomotion absurdly efficient — all while using only raw Qi. Something that would normally be impossible."
Yù Méi shrugged, not taking her eyes off the horizon.
"Soon he'll pass the comprehension directly to us. After that, it won't even matter whether we can fire the Law or not. We'll be practically impossible to reach."
Bái Wǎn nodded slowly. The satisfied smile on Yù Méi's face said everything.
A few minutes later, the Valley of Dry Bones appeared on the horizon.
The afternoon was hot. The sun beat down hard on the cracked stone stands packed with cultivators. In the center of the main jade platform, a young master brandished a sword wrapped in flames while shouting about the new era his sect would build now that the "ancient monsters" had disappeared.
The speech died mid-sentence.
Yù Méi and Bái Wǎn descended from the sky and stopped hovering a few meters above the arena. The entire valley fell silent.
The young master slowly lowered his sword. Instead of fear, a wide, lust-filled smile spread across his face.
"Come down here, fairies," he said, his voice loaded with arrogance. "My tents are big enough for the two of you. I can teach you your place in this new era."
Yù Méi did not reply.
She appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye. Her boots touched the platform and the jade floor sank half a meter with a dry crash. The young master stepped back, confused. Before he could speak, Yù Méi raised her hand. Two fingers came together.
Ploc.
His head exploded backward in a blur of blood and bone. The body collapsed face-down in the dust.
The silence lasted less than a single breath.
Then came the panic.
Screams erupted. Cultivators jumped to their feet, pushing one another toward the stairs. Several of the fastest drew swords and shot into the sky, trying to flee as quickly as possible.
Bái Wǎn descended calmly beside her sister. She raised her pale hand and gave a light wave to those flying.
The cultivators in the air suddenly froze. Their faces turned pale. The Qi inside them tried to resist — and failed completely. One by one, they lost consciousness and began falling from the sky like sacks of flour, crashing against the stands with heavy, dull sounds.
The panic did not stop all at once, but it diminished. Many stopped running to look at those bodies falling unconscious. The chaos began to lose momentum.
It was at that moment that Yù Méi raised her voice.
Her voice was not a desperate scream. It was something firm, loud, and sharp that echoed throughout the entire valley.
"Silence."
The entire valley seemed to freeze.
Yù Méi looked at the crowd with an expression of clear impatience.
"If you keep screaming and trampling each other like cattle, I'll have to kill every last one of you right here. I don't want to do that, but the noise is already reaching my husband. You're lucky he's in a good mood today."
She pointed toward the exits of the valley.
"Go fetch the old monsters hiding out there trying to organize this world. The current elders are barely stronger than these disciples anyway. Tell them that this decade's tournament is over. If you want us to not have to come back, stay quiet, return to your sects, and cultivate in silence. Young heroes who think they're the chosen ones die quickly."
The valley fell into a tense and heavy silence.
No one dared to move for several seconds.
Bái Wǎn turned her face slightly toward Yù Méi and whispered with a small smile:
"You've gotten good at this, sister. You even sounded like Sister Yan."
Yù Méi blushed instantly. A light red flush climbed up her neck to her cheeks. She gave Bái Wǎn a light slap on the arm.
"Shut up…" she muttered, embarrassed. "She only explained the situation once. I paid attention, that's all."
Bái Wǎn laughed softly, clearly pleased.
Yù Méi cleared her throat and raised her voice again, drier this time:
"The competition is over. Disperse."
This time, the crowd obeyed.
Bái Wǎn raised her face toward the empty space. Her voice came out calm and gentle.
"My heaven," she called. "We're done here. You can come get us."
The air cracked with a dry snap. A silver rift opened beside them. The two crossed the dimensional tear without looking back.
They stepped onto the limestone slabs of the Crystal Dome's courtyard.
Zhì Yuǎn was still sitting in the same lounge chair on the veranda. Yù Méi and Bái Wǎn walked straight to him. Without asking permission, Yù Méi sat on the arm of the chair, leaning her shoulder against her husband's broad chest. Bái Wǎn settled on the other side, rubbing her cheek against his tunic like a lazy cat.
"The silence has returned, my heaven," Yù Méi murmured.
Zhì Yuǎn slipped one arm around Yù Méi's waist and rested his other hand on Bái Wǎn's blue hair, gently stroking the strands.
"Good work," he said, his rustic voice calm and steady.
The buzzing of the world had ended. With the noise outside resolved, the family still had another year and a half of guaranteed peace and isolation inside the Crystal Dome.