"Greetings, Superior Zhang Wei." Leo gave Zhang Wei a Daoist salute, trying to diffuse the situation.

  "What is an alchemist doing here serving as a shopkeeper?"

  Zhang Wei's eye twitched. "This elder asks himself that question every single day!"

  He took a deep breath. Then another. His hands were shaking slightly.

  "Your retainers are the most unreasonable people I have encountered in one hundred years of cultivation. They do not understand Common. That Kevin? He must have deceived you about his language skills. He does not speak Common. He does not understand Common. Whatever comes out of his mouth is not what any person under heaven would say!"

  "And the rest of the retainers, it is even worse. The only word they know is 'injustice' and they scream it while self-detonating!"

  Zhang Wei's voice had risen to something approaching a shriek.

  "Do you know what it's like to negotiate a trade deal with someone who responds to every counteroffer by exploding? Do you?"

  Leo blinked.

  "In order to complete your retainers' massive commissions on time, our Redstone Crossing city was forced to band together like villagers fighting a flood. We had to recruit every Golden Core cultivator to assist with the engraving process. Every single merchant guild has a hand in this so-called Ammo Sect. The Alchemical Society. The Treasure Pavilion. The Tomb Raiding Alliance. Even the tea merchants!"

  Zhang Wei gestured at the empty warehouse around them.

  "We built this entire building just for them! Because they kept exploding in our actual shops!"

  Leo looked at Arthur. Arthur was just standing there grinning, unable to follow the conversation. He gave Leo a thumbs up.

  Leo looked back at Zhang Wei. "I'm sorry that my retainers have caused you such trouble. But you must have made great profit from them? After all, I know we need thousands of these treasures. I don't believe you would have let yourself suffer a loss."

  Zhang Wei deflated slightly. "You are not wrong about that. But profit earned with a splitting headache is still a headache. We are forced into fencing random treasures your retainers just happened to pick up. If it were not for fear of our warehouses being robbed by you desperadoes, we would have chased your retainers out of the city long ago."

  He pointed at the pile of jade slips and the scepter.

  "Those are contraband from the Still Mountain Temple. I do not know who your retainers killed..."

  Leo interrupted him.

  "My retainers acquired it in legitimate self-defense."

  Zhang Wei glowered. "Regardless, these cannot be sold."

  "Destroy what you have to destroy. Melt what you have to melt. We just need flak shells."

  Zhang Wei grimaced and nodded. He sent a fireball at the jade slips, slowly incinerating them. Threw down two long strips of tiles representing twenty total shells.

  Leo continued, "You must have made great profit from the blueprints we gave you too. You must have never seen anything like them."

  Zhang Wei waved dismissively. "What do you desperadoes understand about the wider world? These weapons are useless for those in civilized society like us. Almost all Nascent Soul Lords swear allegiance to a temple. Even if you manage to kill and rob one, you will invite the wrath of a Great God upon your head."

  He crossed his arms. "What use do you even have for them? One cannot simply walk up and kill a Nascent Soul Lord. That is like an ant boasting it will topple a great tree."

  Leo paused.

  This was too good a setup to pass up.

  He took out a blank jade slip that Tianyi had taught him how to make. Stamped it on his forehead. Tossed it to Zhang Wei.

  Luo Mingxia, Nascent Soul

  Zhang Wei caught it with one hand. Examined it.

  His expression shifted. The casual dismissiveness drained away. He held the jade slip up to the light, turning it slowly.

  "This is..." Zhang Wei's voice had changed. Quieter. More careful. "This is a genuine merit stamp. Of the Heavenly Dao."

  He looked at Leo with new eyes.

  "So the rumors were true. You desperadoes stole the Pond Gazing Sect's Profundity."

  Leo corrected him. "We saved the Pond Gazing Sect. The Pond Gazing Sect was just food for the Profundity, bait to lure them into a cage."

  Zhang Wei looked at him. "You are probably the only one under heaven who sees it that way. The Pond Gazing Sect had been guarding it for centuries."

  "It was a great merit," Leo offered helpfully. "Saving all those lives."

  Zhang Wei was quiet for a long moment, and then shrugged.

  "The water has already flowed past the bridge. What is done cannot be undone. I apologize for my earlier rudeness, young friend."

  His tone had shifted. No longer the exasperated shopkeeper dealing with unreasonable customers. Now he spoke with the careful respect of a senior addressing a promising junior.

  "A Nascent Soul Profundity is beyond what most Golden Core cultivators dare to imagine confronting. Let alone your group of motley Foundation Establishment desperadoes."

  He studied Leo more carefully.

  "You are only at Qi Refining. What role could you have played? Were you the strategist behind the curtain? The one who identified the Profundity's hiding place?"

  Leo answered honestly. "I don't have that great a talent. It was Kevin who identified the Profundity. I'm just a desperado. I was responsible for attacking and directly confronting Luo Mingxia while my retainers provided support."

  Zhang Wei's eyebrows rose. "You. A Qi Refiner. Directly confronted a Nascent Soul?"

  "Someone had to do it."

  Zhang Wei was silent for a moment. Processing.

  "The merit stamp does not lie," he finally said. "The Heavenly Dao recognizes contribution, not cultivation. If you say you confronted her directly..."

  He gave Leo a small bow. Not deep, but genuine.

  "Then this elder believes you. It seems you desperadoes can do more than just cause trouble."

  Leo tried to look humble. He was pretty sure he failed.

  "So why are you here, young friend?" Zhang Wei's entire demeanor had warmed. "Have you come to be the one to do business with us from now on? I dare to hope?"

  The hope in his voice was almost painful to hear.

  Leo gave him an ugly look.

  "I, uhh... I apologize, but I have too much on my plate. I'm too busy to come take care of it personally."

  Zhang Wei's face fell.

  "Can you at least instruct them to conduct themselves with some basic civility? To no longer self-detonate at the slightest grievance?"

  Leo looked at Arthur. Then Mike. Then back at Arthur.

  Both of them were starting to look antsy. Mike was checking his pack. Arthur was bouncing slightly on his heels.

  "I'm sorry," Leo said. "But my retainers are strong-willed. There is little I can do."

  Zhang Wei sighed. A deep, weary sigh that seemed to come from his very soul.

  "Then how can this elder help you, young friend?"

  Leo asked, "We just wanted to ask about the blueprints we gave you to refine. I heard there were problems with the Seven Stars Formation array sections?"

  Zhang Wei nodded, his scholarly interest taking over. "Your blueprint has the hallmarks of a treasure from another realm. Unusual formation inheritances that no cultivator here has seen, and the Seven Stars Formation being inverted are clear signs."

  "It is less rare than it sounds. Such things surface every few years here and there. After all, the Azure Profound Continent has weathered its share of ancient wars against invaders."

  "Our city was only able to translate this because of the Tomb Raiding Alliance. They possessed the means to convert the inverted Seven Stars Formation to the proper orientation. Perhaps that is why we are the only city that was able to do business with you desperadoes."

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  He paused thoughtfully. "Well, perhaps from the rest of the universe's perspective, it is from the proper Seven Stars to the inverted one. Just another mark of our broken and troubled realm."

  Leo inquired, "Oh, like what problems?"

  Zhang Wei's expression grew more serious.

  "Problems like you. Well, no one has appeared with your desperadoes' ability to revive before. But problems like Profundities, invaders, strange inheritances, and above all..."

  He pointed at the sky.

  "The problem of the Great Ascension. No one has ascended from the Azure Profound Continent. Not a single soul. No one knows why."

  Leo speculated, "Probably the issue comes from the Great God realm. Why would Great Ascension come after Great God? If you become a Great God, why would you ascend away?"

  Zhang Wei thought for a moment and sighed.

  "Whatever the reason may be. At this point, this elder has learned to find peace with this broken realm he calls home. I will simply blame it on the Heaven Pivot Array, as we blame all other things."

  Leo nodded. Zhang Wei had good mental fortitude. Kevin could learn something from him.

  "Speaking of problems," Leo said. "I heard there's a war brewing? In The High Marches?"

  Zhang Wei's expression darkened.

  "It's one of the problems. The problem of the Great God realm. And the endless hunger for faith and believers."

  He folded his hands behind his back.

  "There is a Deity Transformation Lord, Monarch Cloudpiercer, who is planning his ascension to the Great God realm. To ascend, he must prove to his associated Great God that he commands enough believers to sustain that realm."

  "He plans to cleanse The High Marches by the sword, uniting it with the Western Spines and repopulating it with his faithful." Zhang Wei looked a little sad.

  "If the war goes poorly... this may be the last time we share words, young friend. They will likely march after the fall harvest next year."

  Leo looked confused. "So why don't you just convert if you needed to? Why not just switch your faith?"

  Zhang Wei shook his head slowly. "To desperadoes like you, faith is meaningless. Worthless. But to the Great Gods, faith is their lifeblood. And to us who follow the path, all our cultivation, all our wealth, is bestowed by our Great God in exchange for our devotion."

  He met Leo's eyes seriously.

  "How could a Great God allow what has been given through him to simply be carried away to another? Our faith is woven into the very root of our cultivation. To abandon one's faith... is to pull up one's own foundation. Everything one has built collapses with it."

  Leo nodded. He didn't really understand. But he figured that it was a big reason why the Azure Profound Continent looked so different from the modern, developed America he had grown up in.

  Zhang Wei asked Leo in turn, "What did you do with the Singular Formation? Did you even understand what it represents?"

  Leo shrugged. "We are ignorant desperadoes. Kevin is our formation master and you have seen his quality."

  He gestured at the sign outside that said "Entrance."

  "We just gave it away for some favors. We knew we couldn't keep it."

  Zhang Wei looked at him and said, "What a pity. But perhaps wise. A treasure that invites calamity is no treasure at all. Did you at least make a few copies?"

  Leo pointed at the burned pile of jade slips. "Visually, the formation looked like that. Just a weird circle. In person, it felt different. Changing. In some kind of unknown pattern that did not repeat."

  Zhang Wei sighed. "Ah well. The Singular Formation is just a young man's dream. This elder chased it once too."

  "Oh?" Leo asked. "What do you mean?"

  Zhang Wei smiled, a distant look in his eyes.

  "When one ascends to Nascent Soul, one must choose a formation character to engrave upon the Golden Core before transforming it into one's domain."

  He held up a finger.

  "There is no perfect choice for Nascent Soul. Every character is roughly equivalent in power. But who among the young and ambitious can resist the allure of the Singular Formation?"

  His smile turned wistful.

  "Learn the Singular Formation. Engrave it upon your Golden Core. Become a Nascent Soul the likes of which history has never witnessed. Is that not the dream of every young hero like yourself?"

  Leo thought for a bit. And nodded.

  "Thank you for teaching me," Leo said. "I will take a stab at it."

  Zhang Wei smiled warmly, as if he was looking at his younger self.

  "Do this eld a small favor, young hero."

  "Yes?"

  "When you and your companions decide to leave, can you please refrain from creating a great disturbance when self-detonating? Just do it off to the side somewhere. Away from the main roads. Perhaps behind that hill to the north."

  Leo blinked. "How did you know that was going to be our plan?"

  Zhang Wei pointed at Arthur and Mike.

  Both of them had stupid grins on their faces. Arthur's fingers drummed against his thigh, tapping his foot in impatience. Mike shifted his weight from foot to foot, unable to stand still.

  ---

  The three of them walked through the streets of Redstone Crossing, heading toward the northern gate. They had plan on respawning rather than trying to sneak back to their base, after all there were too many people who knew they had the Chaos formation on their hand at one point.

  It was better to just spend some time waiting for revival rather than risk exposing their base and having their access to the game world cut off.

  Leo had convinced the two others to detonate somewhere behind the hill, away from the main thoroughfare. A small concession since Zhang Wei had provided a lot of information.

  Leo was quiet for a while, watching the city pass by. Merchants hawking spiritual herbs. Children chasing each other through alleyways. An old woman hanging laundry from a second-story window.

  All of them marked for death if the war went poorly.

  "I've been thinking about the war," Leo finally said.

  Arthur grunted. Mike looked over.

  "Zhang Wei said its going to start next year after the fall harvest. That's what, a little over a year? And then everyone here just... dies?"

  Leo kicked a stone down the cobbled street. "Tianyi taught me a little about karma. How actions accumulate. How the Heavenly Dao weighs everything."

  "And?"

  "And I'm more confused than before." Leo ran a hand through his hair. "If I participated in this war. If I helped defend Redstone Crossing. Would that be good karma? Bad karma?"

  Arthur snorted. "Does it matter?"

  "It matters to me." Leo's voice was sharper than he intended. "Good karma because I'm protecting the innocent? Or bad karma because I'm just using it as an excuse to slaughter people?"

  They walked in silence for a moment.

  "The Still Mountain Temple cultivators have families too," Leo continued. "They probably think they're doing the right thing. Spreading their faith. Serving their Great God. From their perspective, Redstone Crossing is the villain."

  Mike nodded slowly. "That's the thing about wars. Everyone thinks they're the hero of their own story."

  Leo stopped walking. Arthur and Mike paused, looking back at him.

  "What if we did something different?" Leo said. "What if instead of just fighting, we tried to help the mortals resist their overlords?"

  Arthur raised an eyebrow.

  "We have Mike teach people how to make AK-47s," Leo continued, warming to the idea. "We have the Five Elements Spiritual Technique. Universal cultivation. What if we spread it? Gave the common people the power to fight back?"

  Arthur's expression shifted. Something between amusement and pity.

  "Kid, the Soviets love to try that."

  Leo blinked. "What?"

  "The Soviets," Arthur repeated. "They love spreading communism in the catacombs. AK-47s and Five Elements Spiritual Techniques for everyone. Power to the proletariat. Revolution against the cultist bourgeoisie."

  He started walking again. Leo hurried to catch up.

  "You know what happens?"

  "What?"

  "The mortals get a few months of glory." Arthur's voice was flat. Matter-of-fact. "They rise up. Kill a few Foundation Establishment cultivators who didn't notice the signs. Feel like heroes. And then the real powers notice."

  He made a crushing gesture with his hand.

  "Slaughtered. Every single time. The Nascent Souls and Deity Transformations crawl up from underground, annoyed that someone disturbed their meditation, and wipe out entire provinces. Men, women, children. Anyone within square miles of the technique. Even people who have never had the chance to hear about it."

  Leo felt something cold settle in his stomach.

  "If you lack the strength to protect the people," Arthur continued, "the only thing you're doing is giving them drugs. A temporary high. A few months of hope before the hammer falls. And the hammer always falls."

  Mike spoke up. "And even if you did have the strength to protect them..."

  He trailed off, looking for the right words.

  "Let's say you're strong enough. You kill the Nascent Souls. You overthrow the temples. You liberate the masses." Mike scratched his beard. "Then what?"

  "Then... they're free?" Leo offered.

  "Free to do what? They don't have a government. They don't have a system of laws. They don't have schools or infrastructure or any of the things that make a society function."

  Mike shook his head.

  "Passionate Cultivators have tried it before in the catacombs. However, without the institutions of Earth, without the culture and education that took us centuries to develop, you can't just hand people freedom and expect everything to work out."

  "The power vacuum gets filled. Warlords rise. Factions form. Before you know it, you've got a dozen petty tyrants fighting over the scraps. And then you become the tyrant you were hoping to replace."

  Leo was quiet for a long moment.

  "People live in systems," Mike said gently. "They thrive in systems. You can't just take the fruits from one system, hand them to a different population, and expect the entire tree to sprout overnight. It doesn't work that way. It's never worked that way."

  They passed through the northern gate. The guards barely glanced at them.

  "Earth didn't receive universal cultivation overnight. It took hundreds of years of development. Multiple wars to rid the world of the legacy sects. Generations of building the right institutions. Decades spent exploring wrong paths."

  Leo looked out at the grassland. Somewhere beyond the horizon, armies were gathering.

  "Why has the Azure Profound Continent failed developed the same way?" he asked. "They've had tens of thousands of years. Longer than Earth's recorded history. Why are they still... like this?"

  "Kevin and I asked that question too." Mike said. "And we think we found some stuff after we learned that the T6 realm here is called Great God instead of Void Refining."

  "There's a lot of speculation." Mike chose his words carefully. "Something seems to be wrong at the Void Refining and Great Ascension realms. Something that makes the powers keep their populations ignorant and dependent."

  Arthur nodded. "Faith-based cultivation. The Azure Profound Realm Great Gods need believers. The Cults of the Catacombs needs believers. Educated populations ask questions. Questions lead to doubt. Doubt weakens faith."

  "So they keep everyone dumb on purpose?"

  "Maybe. No one knows for sure." Mike shrugged, he continued.

  "Some people predict that once Earth gets its first Void Refining cultivator, that will mark the end of universal cultivation for us too."

  Leo felt a chill. "What do you mean?"

  "A lot of people think that's why the countries of the world haven't been cooperating as much as they should. Why everyone's so aggressive about attacking the catacombs instead of trying to coexist."

  Mike's expression was grim.

  "After all, what if the Soviets reach Void Refining first? What if they come back to the surface, look at all those spirit veins we're sitting on, and decide to take them?"

  Arthur spat on the ground. "We shouldn't have ended the Second World Cultivator War so early. We could have nipped the problem in the bud. No one listened to us back then."

  Mike continued, ignoring the old boomer.

  "So would the Chinese. So would anyone, even us. Void Refining might change everything. And everyone's racing to get there first."

  Leo's mind was churning.

  "So when the Still Mountain Temple comes and slaughters everyone here," he finally said, "what do we do? Just... watch?"

  He turned to face Arthur and Mike.

  "It sounds like there's no reconciliation. No surrender. Just pure genocide. Is that something we can just tolerate?"

  Arthur stopped walking. He put a hand on Leo's shoulder.

  "Kid." His voice was gruff but not unkind. "It's something out of our control. There is no perfect solution. You cannot save everyone. You can't even save most people."

  He looked Leo in the eyes.

  "Hell, saving your family and friends back on Earth might be harder than you think if the war with the catacombs goes bad. We've got bigger problems than one city in one realm."

  Leo shrugged off his hand. "But this... I mean..."

  He struggled to articulate what he was feeling.

  "If this place is only a game," Leo finally said, "shouldn't there be a perfect solution? Some way to win? Some path where everyone lives?"

  Mike and Arthur exchanged another look.

  "We all know this isn't a game, Leo." Mike's voice was soft. "These are real people. Real lives. Real deaths. The respawn mechanics don't change that."

  Leo looked at the ground.

  "But," Mike continued, "I promise you something."

  Leo looked up.

  "When my Common gets a little better, I'll go back and talk with Zhang Wei." Mike put a hand on Leo's other shoulder. "Maybe we can come up with a solution to save some people. Help transport refugees to other countries."

  Leo felt something tight in his chest loosen slightly.

  "Thank you," Leo said quietly. "Maybe even if we just saved a few lives, that would be worthwhile."

  He took a deep breath.

  "We don't need to save this world. We just need to know we gave a good enough try. Right?"