Supercruise.

  Li Jang sat across from Sulara, sipping tea while Grand Elder Ning observed from a respectful distance.

  “Thank you for taking the time to meet with me, Empress.” Jang purred.

  Sulara smiled, but in a way that did not reach her eyes.

  “Of course, what can I help you with today?”

  Jang leaned back and took a breath to relax.

  “It seems I owe you an apology.” She said grudgingly.

  Sulara’s brow rose.

  “The items we discussed previously. It seems you and the kingdom knew the problem very well. We had been sent to align them with expectations, but it seems expectations did not take into account the situation on the ground.” Jang offered.

  Sulara bowed her head. “I thank you for your candid speech. If we are all being honest, you well know the situation is neither good nor bad. The problem lies in Heaven's expectations vs what we can produce with the resources available to us.

  Jang leaned forward.

  “Yes…which brings me to why I have come,” Jang admitted.

  Sulara gave a ghost of a smile. “Oh, I thought you only came to tell me I was right.”

  The two looked at one another, then laughter broke out as both women smiled.

  “Please tell me, I am interested in hearing what has come to mind,” Sulara said, finally.

  “You have a family of anomalies we would like to test,” Jang admitted.

  Sulara paled.

  Jang shook her head. “Let me rephrase that.” She glanced at Ning, then back to Sulara.

  “When our cultivation is sufficient, we can manipulate natural laws to fly. I have been able to fly for over three decades, but in that time, do you know how often I actually do so?” Jang asked.

  Sulara leaned back, gave it real thought, then looked at Ning.

  “For some reason, I would say not often, but I have no reason to think that,” Sulara admitted.

  Jang nodded. “It is a skill that instills fear and awe, but it is also a skill that consumes energy. Pushing ourselves costs Qi, but even slowly, you are using cultivation, and that puts strain on the spirit and soul.”

  Sulara glanced at her relative, who nodded.

  Jang continued. “So while in theory Grand Elder Ning and I could fly to Golden Claw and have lunch, we are stifling growth, damaging our soul bodies, and eroding our meridians.”

  Sulara became visibly shaken. Jang blinked and realized that her relative had not told her the same way her seniors had not told her until she had ascended and begun flying around to complete errands.

  Being sat down by a fellow Nascent Soul and told, ‘Don’t do that,’ was a humbling experience.

  “Which brings me back to Ironwood.” She took a sip of her tea and smiled.

  “The border to Blackroot Basin is approximately ten days' travel from here by horse,” Jang explained.

  Sulara nodded.

  “A craft left Ironwood and in under an incense stick passed over Blackroot, we know that because we heard it here, they heard it there.” Jang pointed out.

  Sulara tilted her head in thought. “The craft you describe we have used for reconnaissance of the Ferals, what would take a month to travel one way, they did it in a day. It is truly miraculous.” Sulara agreed.

  Jang felt her heart tremble. “You have had them fly your people?” Jang asked in disbelief.

  Sulara nodded.

  “The person who did that specific task has passed on, but his brothers are generally open to assisting us any time we ask,” Sulara stated.

  “What do they demand in payment?” Jang asked excitedly.

  “We owe the mother and her friends tea in the imperial gardens currently, and letting one of them step away to kill someone,” Sulara said, aggrieved at the second part.

  Jang blinked.

  Sulara licked her lips. “The family is close to Dar Luso’s wives, Alia's family. VERY close: the sons refer to her as their mother… they don’t distinguish her from their mother. So any slight against her is deemed a personal insult to the entirety of Ironwood. We…don’t have the details, but we have surmised that one of her husband’s acquaintances assaulted her and harmed her. It was believed she had a miscarriage over it. “

  Sulara said quietly.

  “They did not ask you to kill them, only…”

  Sulara nodded. “They regard it as a personal vendetta—one that cannot be entrusted to anyone else.”

  Jang glanced at Ning, who had turned away. He knew the story. He had sat with the three sons who were on the roof drinking when Shepard had stood up to leave so he could kill him. The other two had to tackle him and hold him until he passed out.

  “Do you have an idea who it is?” Jang asked.

  Sulara nodded. “Only one person aligns. He is an Imperial Inspector General who was once friends with the family, but after taking a position in the western quarter, has been silent.

  “If I recall, the family head is a Royal Investigator?” she asked.

  Sulara nodded. “The two worked together and were housemates,

  “Then he meets the wife, they marry, and a friend visits when the husband is away.” Jang breathed.

  Sulara bit her lips again and nodded. “You see it clearly.”

  “Would they do it?” Jang asked seriously.

  Sulara blinked, turned to her uncle, and laughed so hard she began to cry.

  After a short time, she recovered. “The attendant we have…she did not know my Great Uncle. So he appeared while my aunt and I were relaxing.” She said with a sly smile.

  Ning coughed.

  Jang’s eyes sparkled. “And?” she breathed.

  “She destroyed this room trying to kill him. He took it easy on her, but she was like a feral beast; she thought he meant to harm us, so she was going to die protecting us.”

  Jang’s heart missed a beat. “He is a Nascent Soul”

  Sulara nodded. “That is what I am saying. They do not care. I think if a god descended and stated he would kill me, Jianrong would still fight and die. They do not concede, they adapt; they overcome. They do not accept what they deem unacceptable.”

  Jang was silent as she tidied her robe. “How far do you think Jianrong would go to protect several older women she cares about?”

  Sulara turned to Ning, who nodded and spoke. “There is no end. Once she started, she would not stop…not willingly. She would kill or be killed; nothing else is acceptable to her.”

  Jang frowned. “Surely…they cannot be so…firm?”

  Sulara shook her head. “They strike me as the kind of people that if their life meant their family could live, they would go to the enemy's heart and self-detonate with a smile.”

  “Do you trust her…them?” Jang asked, alarmed.

  Sulara and Ning both nodded.

  “Absolutely,” Sulara stated.

  “Implicitly to do whatever is needed to protect the Empress and Elaren at any cost,” Ning stated.

  Jang breathed out slowly. “Your attendant killed three Core Formation Elites when they tried to abduct her forcefully, and nearly killed a Gold Core that tried to detain her and scapegoat several women abandoned by the clan.”

  Sulara nodded. “That sounds right.” She admitted.

  Jang’s eyes widened. “You don’t sound surprised.”

  Both Ning and Sulara shook their heads.

  “Not surprised,” Ning breathed.

  “Absolutely on brand for Ironwood. They…well, let's say that the Slavers that moved through their area more often than not disappeared. Anyone Core Formation and below who went there to find out why disappeared as well.” Sulara stated plainly.

  “This…you…”Jang fumbled for words.

  Sulara leaned forward. “Let me tell you a story our envoy told me.” She smiled and looked at Ning. “You have not heard this one, I had forgotten.”

  The grand Elder moved closer and smiled, taking a seat, surprising Jang with the warmth of their gaze.

  “So when you asked me about the Healer Dar Luso, we had much the same reaction you did. Understand it, Replicate it, or Contain it. “ She chuckled. “Well, the Envoys go to Ironwood with Dar in their airship that is shaped like a swan and can take around 5 to 8 people.”

  She gulped her tea then smiled.

  “They arrive in the village of three hundred, and they describe it as one giant family. Not like a noble family, but a mortal family; everyone is friendly. So they are staying there, and the Bloodforge have four large dogs, nearly spirit beasts, I am told. They see someone loitering, watching children play. So both envoys become concerned, I am sure you know why.”

  Jang DID know why abductions, assaults, and the disappearance of children occurred for a myriad of reasons.

  “So they are watching this man, and these hounds surrounded him, then they cornered him. Then the crows arrived. No one had said anything, but these guardians had identified a danger and dealt with it.”

  “That is Ironwood and these Bloodforge; they do not ask, they simply remove a problem.”

  Sulara looked away.

  “Since they have moved to the city…the number of violent offenses to people of specific groups has dropped… precipitously,” Sulara murmured.

  “Which groups?” Jang murmured.

  “Crimes against women and children,” Ning said quietly.

  Sulara sighed. “I pulled us off topic. Now it is my turn to apologize.” She smiled.

  Jang shook her head. “This makes things clearer. In your opinion, can these siblings work with others…cultivators, I mean.” She asked.

  Ning and Sulara nodded.

  “Absolutely, the difficulty will be their lack of understanding of hierarchy and social interaction, but honestly… they seem to like everyone and are not shy to show it,” Sulara explained.

  “They smile a lot.” Ning pointed out with a sigh.

  “Too much,” Sulara added.

  Jang recalled the two brothers grinning at her.

  Jang cleared her mind and started anew. “I would like to ask them to make a flight for us, not me, but Tianrelion and Golden Claw… I have an idea, but I need to understand the system first.”

  “What are you thinking?” Sulara asked.

  Jang smiled, genuinely excited. “The hindering factor of growth for this continent is what?” she asked with a sly smirk.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “Resources, you need a constant supply,” Ning said immediately.

  Jang nodded. “Now, what if we can do two months’ worth of exploration westward without two months' supplies? Or three or five months of ground travel in less than a single day?”

  Ning and Sulara stared, then their minds began to race.

  “They can work in tandem; one can recover while the other flies, then they can switch. They did it when they had to flee the Calamity beast that was eventually destroyed,” Sulara said, thinking aloud.

  “Rong has said that when her brother performs medical care on severely damaged people, his wives can assist as their Qi is compatible with all of the siblings; they don’t suffer backlash,” Ning added.

  “That’s… unsafe,” Jang said flatly.

  The words came out before she could soften them.

  “That’s something that should hurt them.”

  She looked between the two of them.

  “Have you… actually seen them do this?”

  Ning hesitated.

  Sulara glanced at him. Then nodded once.

  Jang’s breath caught.

  “…You’ve done it with them,” she said quietly. It wasn’t a question.

  Her Spirit Sense brushed them—brief, instinctive.

  She froze.

  Sulara looked too young.

  Ning looked… well.

  Not preserved. Not maintained.

  Vibrant.

  Jang’s eyes lingered on Ning, and a rare stillness settled over her expression.

  That… should not be possible.

  Jang stood suddenly. Her mind was a jumble of both doctrine violation and existential dread.

  “I need to understand.” She warned Ning, who nodded slowly.

  Ning inclined his head, unoffended. “You likely already noticed how quickly the family recovers Qi after exertion.”

  Jang blinked, then nodded. The brothers had given her a number once—absurd, unverifiable—but she had no evidence to contradict it.

  Ning hesitated, then chose his words carefully.

  “Think of it less as sharing,” he said, “and more like a blood infusion. They take our Qi. It doesn’t harm us. They cycle it through themselves… and what returns is richer. Denser. More refined.”

  Jang’s jaw tightened.

  “And afterward?” she asked.

  “They recover in a day or two,” Sulara said quietly. “Then they can do it again.”

  Jang sat down. “How many people have done this?”

  “Hundreds,” Sulara stated.

  Jang swallowed. “Percentage of people who had adverse reactions?”

  “To date, none reported,” Ning stated.

  Jang turned to Ning. “Benefits?!”

  Ning leaned back. “Full Qi recovery in a session, Qi is refined and denser.” He admitted.

  Jang blinked her head, moving as her mind collated data and questions.

  “Negatives?” She asked in a strained voice.

  “You need to be rendered unconscious, or you will have a bodily reaction similar to prolonged lovemaking.” He admitted.

  Jang stared with her brow furrowed, then she barked a laugh, thinking it was a joke.

  “He isn’t kidding, it's…intense,” Sulara warned.

  Jang nodded and sat in thought.

  “Let's chair that and focus on the flight. I would like to request that the brothers take one of my staff on a flight.

  They will start here, testing to gauge their baseline; then they will take off, fly toward Jinzhuao Tianchao, go as far as they feel safe, then return and retake readings. This way, we can figure out how far from our controlled area they can safely and repeatedly travel. This will also give us a timeframe to understand what to expect and when. “ Jang explained.

  Sulara and Ning considered it.

  “They will likely treat it like a challenge,” Sulara stated.

  Ning nodded.

  “What will we need to do to convince them?” Jang asked.

  “Send a few wagon loads of fruit to Ironwood, some silks for their mothers and wives.” Ning pointed out.

  Sulara smiled. “Yes, this would be plenty.”

  Jang‘s eyes widened. “That is it?”

  Both Cyreth’s nodded.

  Two days later, at her pavilion, Shepard and Andrew stood looking around as Sulara and Ning sat with Jang.

  “I am not happy that your sister has not returned to her post,” Sulara said, more pout than bite. Shepard had been delivering letters that Jianrong recited in the Bloom of Returning.

  But the Minister and Sulara knew the siblings shared a bond of communication, though how it worked remained hidden.

  Sulara was simply complaining when seeing her family.

  Andy bowed. “Excellency, my sister recovered five family members who were discarded. She felt compelled to recover the children of Matron Na, knowing they would face difficult times soon. You know how deeply Jianrong thinks about family; she is already working to seize them and return them to their mother. “

  Shepard smiled and bowed. “Sister Shen Vey said we should turn this over to you today.”

  The young man handed over a token and several pages of parchment to Sulara, who took both and looked at the token in confusion.

  She handed it to the Grand Elder, then opened the parchment.

  Ning stared at the magical token; it was a metal he was not familiar with.

  “Where did she get this?” he asked.

  “She found the people who control the Ferals, so she killed them and took this along with a few other things to…uh, never mind the last part,” Shepard said when Andy pinched him.

  He turned to Andy. “I forgot.”

  Andy sneered. “Oh, ok, no problem then… “

  “Brother, don’t mention this to her…” Shep begged.

  Andy glanced at him, then nodded.

  Ning stood up. “What do you mean she found them?!”

  Jang stood as well, took the token, and touched it with her Spirit Sense.

  “Divine Cloud Sect, Commander Zhou Li Qiang, 4th Expeditionary force.”

  Sulara spoke up by reading.

  “Empress, I hope this finds you and Minister Elaren well. Tell Grand Elder I said hi, too. So, while being dragged back to Clan, I came across a group that wore the same attire as the people in the Feral Mountains. They had a Savage Feral standing stationary and were using a magical device to do something with it when I came across them. I killed all but one to lay a trap for someone I have animosity with, since I know Shep will spill the beans. I hope to set this Divine Sky Sect against my grandfather, so they kill one another. Anyway, the guy I let live says they came from across the ocean. Apparently, it's very competitive there, so they had broken rules to enter our continent. He did not expand on it but got the feeling they are not allowed to be here by their own rules. All came down to resources, big surprise there.

  Stay well, will be back soon.

  If there is an issue, just let my family know I will come right away.

  Rong.

  “How reliable is this?” Jang asked

  Andrew coughed.

  Everyone turned.

  He was holding a box. “Rong said you could have it all,” Andrew said, then added, “but she wants a storage ring.”

  Ning stepped forward and opened the box lid, and inside was an assortment of more Tokens and magical gear.

  Gear he was not familiar with.

  He lifted a paper talisman and blinked. It was a high-grade communication talisman.

  Jang felt cold.

  “Have you had an interaction with these people before?” Jang asked Sulara quietly.

  “The empress shook her head. Ironwood has seen cultivators walking with Ferals as if they were their pets. They found a portal in the mountains that nearly killed them. They had stated these people have airships that are concealed as clouds.” Sulara explained.

  Jang reached her decision, one she had been circling since the box opened.

  This evidence could not remain regional.

  It could not be filtered.

  It could not be “handled.”

  It had to be fixed in place where no single sect, ministry, or alliance could erase it.

  Golden Claw would receive everything.

  Not as an accusation.

  Not as an alarm.

  As a record.

  Because once Golden Claw logged it, the question would no longer be whether something was happening.

  Only those who had known, and for how long.

  And that question would ruin careers.

  Jang exhaled slowly.

  This was no longer about Rong.

  This was about whether the continent still believed its borders were real.

  There had been rumors of airships off the coast.

  Did that mean these ships were not concealed with magic?

  Jang took the box, the token, and the paper and called for her Commander.

  Andy and Shep watched like they were pedestrians at an accident.

  The items would be sealed, and a request would be sent for authorization to ship the higher-grade Qi gear.

  Jang finally turned to Andrew.

  “When your sister returns, she will come see me, and I will place the tool in her hand.” She stated.

  Andy and Shep grinned.

  “Yes, Mum—er, ah, Excellency,” Andrew stammered.

  Sulara had a smug look, but it seemed no one knew why but Jang.

  Jang had everyone sit down. She was beginning to see why the Royal family had faith in this family.

  Anyone else who came across those items would have sold them or tried to use them, regardless of the danger.

  These two seemed to care less about what happened to it all.

  Jang glanced at Sulara, who simply nodded.

  “I am currently assisting the Tianrelion government, and I need your assistance.”

  “Okay,” Andrew nodded while glancing at Shepard, who was choosing what fruit he wanted.

  Jang took that all in, then offered. “I have a lot of fruit, take what you like.”

  Both brothers laughed, stood up, and began looking at her selection while stuffing some in their pockets.

  Jang opened her mouth, then turned to Ning, who just shook his head as if he didn’t understand either.

  When they sat back down to compare their spoils, Jang started.

  “We would like to know how far you can fly,” Jang said, adding that she was going to help them.

  “Depends on the speed and altitude, we can give the formulas if you like, or I can just round off for you,” Andrew said, eating a grape, then sharing it when it was sweet with Shepard.

  The room fell silent.

  Finally, Jang asked what she feared. “Could you reach the Golden Claw Heaven Dynasty?”

  Andrew popped another grape in his mouth. “Sure, how fast depends on what you want to do. If we do a suborbital launch, go to over four kilometers up, and hit supercruise, we can be there in under two chimes. That is a guess; we know it's over 800 kilometers, so give or take.” Andy said relaxed.

  Li Jang realized that for the first time in living memory, the Golden Claw was not protected by distance, preparation, or warning—and that knowledge alone is dangerous.

  Jang turned to Ning, then Sulara, and all three looked confused.

  Ning saw her face and spoke up. “Child use real words.”

  Shepard laughed, and Andy nodded. “Sorry you hang out with Solomon enough...” he got quiet, then nodded.

  Yeah, suborbital launch will be what you saw before Excellency, we fold gravity and reverse it, making up…down. So you fall upward, and the craft takes form.

  Supercruise is a description: it means flying beyond the speed of sound without using additional power. We call that Afterburner and Ramjet. One is excessive use of Qi, the other is burning Qi directly like fuel, highly potent and extremely hot, so it needs specific conditions.”

  All stared at him.

  Andrew sighed. Then he lifted his hands and rubbed them together as he stood.

  He moved farther back and faced them.

  With his palms facing each other in front of Qi, he moved, and the air raced to his palms; they rushed past.

  The wind was strong enough to feel like a windy day.

  “Ok, this is how the craft moves, pulling air then compressing it rearward… any questions?” he asked.

  The three people stared at him, unable to speak.

  Shepard clapped. Then got up to brace him when he asked.

  “Ok, same thing but MORE, we call this afterburner.”

  There was a pulse, then the air around his hand started doing the same process, but the air moving wasn’t a steady wind.

  It struck the threat like a waterfall, threatening to launch Andrew away.

  After a beat, he stopped.

  “The other one is dangerous near anything flammable…sorry,” Andy warned.

  “If I report this exactly as spoken, it will trigger a response I cannot control.” Jang thought.

  “Has this range ever been tested beyond Tianrelion?” Jang asked weakly.

  Andy shook his head, “We mapped the region but didn’t go anywhere, not like we are moving.”

  Jang nodded. “Moving forward, it will be necessary that you not demonstrate this for other parties, sects, merchants, etc.,” she warned.

  The brothers laughed.

  “We usually fly ourselves; people are a hassle. We just don’t bother interacting with sects when we can. Merchants would just see profit, so that is an easy request to follow, Excellency.” Andy agreed without a fight.

  The next day, out well away from the city, Dar Luso, Alia, Erin, Serel, Andrew, Virea, and Shepard sat in the shade watching the Golden Claw work.

  Virea was resting with Shepard, who blushed every time she smiled.

  “After all that we have shared, why do you still blush?” Virea whispered.

  Shepard turned red and whispered into her ear, making her smile.

  “Because you are beautiful,” Shepard murmured.

  Jang watched the group from a pavilion that had been set up.

  Fong Lu stood beside her.

  “I am surprised they agreed to a test so quickly.” Fong Lu admitted.

  Jang turned. “The children or the empire?” she asked.

  Fong chuckled. “Both.”

  Jang turned back and watched the tools meant to test Sect elites for recruitment being set up.

  “These people are like children just having fun… asking them to stretch their legs is like asking them to go play. AS for the Empire… well, they are very interested to see what is beyond our borders if it's not going to bankrupt them.”

  Fong Lu nodded.

  Jang turned. “Was there any movement on my request?” she asked.

  Fong shook his head. “No one, and I mean no one, has heard of a Divine Cloud Sect, but they petitioned for a Karma log; something interesting happened.

  Jang stilled, then turned and glared.

  Fong Lu put his hands up in submission. “The report provided. Stated ‘Out of regional reporting’ “

  Jang frowned. “What was the clarification?”

  Fong smiled. “No comment.”

  Jang turned sharply.

  Fong Lu laughed. “I didn’t say that, they did.”

  While they waited, Andrew, who was chatting with Erin, pulled out a bamboo flute and started playing a playful melody.

  The young ones were delighted.

  Fong Lu was amused.

  Envoy Jang wanted to break his flute.

  Shepard didn’t want to leave until Virea pushed him away.

  Andy waved goodbye, lazily making all of them laugh.

  Both were tested.

  But came back with Qi readings that made Jang feel that she was dreaming.

  Fong Lu, along with the test team, understood how Rong could take an elder to task if her cultivation of her siblings reminded her of what she had.

  “Isn't that Gold Core levels?” Fong asked Jang quietly.

  Jang did not comment on their cultivation. “You have the tools and the treasure to track our location, and don’t antagonize them.”

  The three men stood in an open field.

  “How does this work?” Fong asked.

  “We fall upward and accelerate until we are up to speed.” Shepard smiled gently.

  Fong Lu nodded, realizing the boy was too sweet for this world.

  Jang watched as Andrew took control and made an air race around the three. Then Shepard stomped his foot, and the three moved upward as the sunlight flickered strangely.

  In less than three heartbeats, she could not track them; they had raced a five gravities upward, then accelerated as the Kunai took form around them.

  She felt strange. Something that could change their world had started with no sound and the flicker of light.

  Meanwhile, Fong Lu had screamed enough that he had lost his voice as the two young men had been laughing nonstop.

  “Give it the BEANS! Shepard shouted joyfully as they stared up at the sky, while Fong Lu stared out through the craft's clear bottom, watching Seldara shrink to the size of a child's toy.

  AFTERBURNER.

  Fong Lu screamed as his legs wanted to buckle under two gravities as they climbed until the sky started to darken.

  “HERE IT COMES AHAHAHAHAHA,” Shepard screamed ecstatically.

  Suddenly, they curved downward and to the northeast. Their speed increased with gravity assist.

  By the tenth breath, Fong was hyperventilating as he felt like they wanted to race back to the ground and die.

  RAMJET.

  Fong Lu was the Foundation Establishment.

  His Spirit Sense easily captured the entire craft.

  When they fell upon the Qi burning, he could only describe it as a sun igniting below and behind him.

  He screamed again, terrified, as the Qi was being turned directly into fuel.

  No transforming, no recovery—just the annihilation of material, turned into heat that consumed air and expelled its byproduct with terrifying force.

  The ignition made his legs buckle as they exceeded three gravities, accelerating downward, then leveled off and began to climb slowly to retain speed and compression, keeping the fire burning.

  The craft thinned and narrowed, then sharpened.

  Half a stick of incense from the time they left the ground, they were racing across a landscape he did not recognize. He expected rivers and mountains, roads and farms.

  Instead, he got clouds, shadows, and shapes he wasn’t sure how to equate to the real world.

  When the flame was silenced, the craft was painfully quiet and bone-chilling cold.

  They had told him to dress warmly.

  He had brought a cloak and some gloves, as if he were riding a horse on a winter day.

  “H-how high are we?” he asked.

  “Maybe seven kilometers.”

  A hand woke Fong, who had fallen asleep in the cold, silent dark.

  “We are here; your nation is beautiful by the way,” Andrew said.

  Below them was a city of cities.

  “Brother Fong, how many people live there?” Shepard asked, shocked that where mountains and rivers looked small, the city below them was row after row of perfect geometry.

  “When I was a boy, they said just in the inner city were the most powerful residents, over twenty million,” Fong said proudly.

  Both Shepard and Andrew had other ideas, but did not vocalize them.

  The entirety of Tianrelion’s population is under three million; the Golden Claw likely exceeds hundreds of millions.” Andrew said, looking down in mild horror.

  “Brother,” Shepard said softly. “Let's go home.”

  Andrew nodded, they smiled, and sent a thought to Shepard, who laughed but said nothing.

  The cockpit began to shrink until all three were held tight.

  “What is happening!?” Fong demanded.

  “Don’t worry, Brother Fong, we are just gonna take a closer look on the way back.” Shepard offered.

  Before Fong could add a complaint, the craft rolled over and aimed downward.

  “AFTERBURNER!” Shepard yelled.

  “AFTERBURNER!” Andrew yelled.

  The entire craft began to pull and expel air as both brothers laughed delightedly.

  Fong was too busy screaming.

  On the ground at the Ministry of Divine Wind, dozens of sensors were tied into larger treasures to watch for the craft they knew was coming.

  Elder Han, we read that the Envoys' tracking token is near.

  An older man with a long beard nodded. “Direction?”

  The technicians moved, watching the readings shift with Qi and Spirit Sense.

  “It is stated several kilometers away, but shows it in a vicinity.” One man stated.

  Nearly everyone there dealt with airships or winged transportation.

  All of them looked straight up, searching.

  Then they felt it, the Qi in the air trembled almost in fear as something happened.

  Then a younger man with sharp eyes pointed.

  A blood-red wedge, sleek and deadly, was racing downward like an arrowhead falling.

  Several men shouted, and a woman screamed, thinking the craft had failed.

  In all honesty, many had met with similar fates.

  Then it pulled up painfully slow.

  Its speed kept increasing until it passed them close enough that it felt like it could be touched; men thought she must cut the air like a blade.

  The woman thought her lines were like the silk over an elegant knife.

  “How is it so quiet?” one man said, watching it race by close enough to see what had to be a four-meter-long blue flame shooting from its rear.

  Every cultivator felt it coming but could do nothing. Like a rogue wave catching everyone off guard.

  The pressure front arrived first—then the boom shattered glass.

  People in the vicinity screamed as if the sky were falling—a wave of sound followed by Qi spreading in its wake.

  The sky filled with halos of rainbow light as the sunlight refracted off the expelled material.

  Tianxuan Cheng, also known to residents as Shengdao Emperor City, watched the red blade race away as it slowly began to gain altitude once more.