“We aren’t going to make it in time,” Ishin protested for the eighth time since they had started traveling together.

  The clear night sky was illuminated by starlight, all traces of the previous storm gone. Ishin could even make out the constellation of the Great Tiger Monarch. A calm breeze whispered between the hills as the two travelers sat nestled in a shallow saddle between the slopes. Lou Heng had been leading Ishin west for eleven days now, and Ishin had no choice but to trust the Anji Elder.

  Overall, Lou Heng had proven to be a fine travel companion—occasionally amusing when he regaled Ishin with stories of his exploits. Most importantly, since Lou Heng had joined him, any Sun Tigers they encountered gave the pair a wide berth. Anytime a beast so much as glanced their way, it would take one look at Lou Heng and flee. The only real issue was that Lou Heng refused to travel after sundown. They always made camp at dusk, and he wouldn’t let them move again until the first rays of dawn lit the Nine Striped Hills.

  “There are still nine days left,” Lou Heng replied as he sat cross-legged. When Ishin had raised this point before, the elder had claimed that nighttime was an important period for rest and cultivation. He made that comment while pointedly looking at Ishin. “I suggest you use the time to cultivate instead of arguing fruitlessly.”

  Ishin tore a bite from a strip of Sun Tiger thigh meat his mother had previously prepared. He’d already finished the last of his original jerky rations. Without Akira’s foresight, he would’ve gone hungry four days ago.

  In contrast, the Anji Elder withdrew a pill canister from his satchel. He plucked a brown-and-yellow pill no bigger than a grain of rice and swallowed it dry. Ishin had seen Lou Heng do this on the third day of their journey. He’d explained that it was a type of fasting pill that allowed him to go a week without needing food or water. It sounded immensely useful for a traveler.

  “Are we at least close?” Ishin asked.

  Lou Heng kept his eyes closed. “Seven more days at this pace. We’ll still arrive two days early.”

  Seven days. Master Seven. Ishin couldn’t help it—every time he heard that number, it reminded him of the assassin leader his mother had faced. No, that wasn’t quite right. The fight is surely over by now. Master Seven was either Ro Akira’s killer… or just another corpse left in her wake.

  “Elder Lou Heng,” Ishin asked quietly, “have you ever heard of someone called Master Seven or something called the Hidden Ring?”

  Until now, Ishin had omitted the assassin’s name—or title—when recounting what happened atop Tyrant’s Rest. He’d merely referred to her as the Assassin Leader. Aside from that initial telling, he hadn’t spoken much since. His mind had been too busy replaying everything over and over.

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  Lou Heng opened one eye. “Is that the name of the person Ro Akira was fighting?”

  “Yes. Or at least what she called herself.”

  “I’ve never heard of someone known by that name. Given she was confident enough to engage your mother, she must be at least in the Merit Realm. If she were from the Nine Striped Hills, I’d know her. There are only so many cultivators of that level in the region.”

  That was what Ishin had assumed. “But why would someone from outside the Nine Striped Hills attack my mother?”

  Lou Heng opened both eyes, finally interested. “You called them assassins, Ro Ishin. Surely you know assassins are typically employed by others.”

  Ishin resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Yes, but who would do that? A true warrior is supposed to challenge their opponent head-on. And besides, we were on Tyrant’s Rest. I thought bloodshed was forbidden there.”

  “It’s only forbidden among the inhabitants of the Nine Striped Hills,” Lou Heng corrected. “My guess is that group came from another part of the Heron Empire. They wouldn’t care about the traditions of our sacred site—or show the same honor that cultivators from the Nine Striped Hills possess.” He grew quiet for a moment. “You’ll find those from the Heron Empire are different from us in many ways.”

  The remark stirred unease in Ishin. What kind of people live in Yellow Dome City? Growing up, the regions beyond the Nine Striped Hills had felt distant and irrelevant. He’d always planned to train at the Daihu Martial Hall, become a warrior, then join the Falling Star Martial Society. From there, he would rise to become a captain of the Silver Fang Guard and someday replace his mother as First Warrior.

  That was all before he’d given up on cultivating.

  “I heard my mother mention Spear Shore once,” Ishin said after a pause. “Is that place in the Heron Empire too?”

  Lou Heng furrowed his brow. “I don’t know. The empire is vast. From what I learned on my last visit, the Nine Striped Hills is considered only a small part of it. Apparently, we fall under a larger territory called the West Falcon Province.”

  “We’re considered small?” Ishin tried to wrap his head around the idea. Over a million people lived throughout the Nine Striped Hills. How massive is the Heron Empire?

  “So I’ve been told,” Lou Heng said with a shrug. “I will say this: Yellow Dome City is the largest place I’ve ever seen. Larger than my tribe’s Taji Fortress—and probably larger than Pale Fang Fortress too. The Yellow Dome it’s named after is as big as Tyrant’s Rest.”

  Ishin frowned. “Surely you jest, Elder.”

  Lou Heng chuckled. “Just wait until we arrive. You’ll see for yourself.” He closed his eyes once more. “For now, just cultivate.”

  Reluctantly, Ishin obeyed. A dome as large as Tyrant’s Rest? The image was difficult to believe.

  As he began cultivating, he met the same challenge he’d faced every night since leaving Tyrant’s Rest. The lightning qi was thin now—a mere shadow of what it had been during the storm. He finally understood why Akira had insisted they remain on the mountain to cultivate. That storm had been a treasure trove of energy.

  Still, Ishin was determined to make the most of what was available. He used the Silent Storm technique to draw in what little lightning qi lingered in the air, gradually reinforcing the density of his chakra.

  For the next week, the pattern continued—daytime travel, nighttime cultivation. Then, on the eighteenth day just as Lou Heng had promised, Ishin caught his first glimpse of Yellow Dome City.