Qin Yi watched the ship in the distance grow smaller and smaller, his expression calm.

  This was the third vessel.

  Built from solid ironwood, it was not as towering as the very first ship Wen Shan’s group had seen, yet it was many times larger than the flimsy skiffs that had passed before. The hull looked sturdy enough to carry dozens safely across the sea. If it bore only a handful of passengers, it would be more than sufficient.

  Because of it, three people were now permanently absent from his side.

  Exactly as he had intended.

  Those three had opposed him at every turn. Their paths diverged. Keeping them would only invite instability.

  The ironwood ship carried them away, disappearing into the gray mist.

  The atmosphere on the island grew heavy.

  On another part of the sea, Wen Shan glanced toward the shore. The enormous jade vessel was about to leave. Remembering Senior Sister’s instructions, he muttered an apology under his breath, bent down, and lifted Huang Xiuxiu onto his back.

  He was startled.

  She was far too light.

  Even with his body reduced to that of an ordinary mortal, he barely felt her weight at all.

  There was no time to dwell on it. The jade vessel was departing. Wen Shan sprinted to the shore, seized his moment, and leapt.

  He landed steadily on the deck.

  At once, commotion erupted nearby.

  “Senior Sister! This is bad! Junior Sister Xiuxiu and Junior Brother Wen Shan haven’t boarded!”

  “Did something happen to them? Should we go back?”

  “Idiot!” someone snapped. “The shore is higher than the ship. We’re mortals right now. You think you can fly back?”

  “But we can’t just abandon them!”

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  The argument was cut short by Senior Sister’s cool voice.

  “Silence. There is no need to worry. Wen Shan will bring her.”

  Almost as if summoned, Wen Shan’s voice followed.

  “I’m here.”

  The crowd spun around. Relief flooded their faces when they saw the two of them safe.

  Senior Sister approached, her gaze lingering briefly on the blank faced Huang Xiuxiu.

  “Enough. Let them rest.”

  Someone muttered, “Rest? On a ship this large, it must rock terribly”

  He stopped.

  There was no rocking.

  Not the faintest sway.

  The jade vessel glided as though over flat ground.

  He rushed to the railing and looked down.

  The sea was perfectly still, like a vast black mirror.

  And floating across that mirror were countless wrecks.

  Suddenly his pupils contracted.

  “Look! That ship!”

  They followed his finger.

  A massive black vessel, unmistakably the first ship they had seen, was split cleanly in two. It was slowly breaking apart, sinking into the pitch black depths.

  “That’s the first ship!”

  A wave of delayed fear swept through them.

  “If we had chosen it”

  “And if we had chosen something worse”

  They did not finish the thought.

  Senior Sister said nothing. She only watched ahead, occasionally glancing at Huang Xiuxiu with a complicated expression.

  Wen Shan felt unease churn in his chest.

  More and more wreckage drifted across the sea.

  After an unknown stretch of time, Senior Sister spoke.

  “We’ve arrived.”

  On the horizon, land emerged.

  But what seized Wen Shan’s breath was not the shoreline.

  It was the mountain beyond it.

  It rose into the clouds, impossibly tall, black as if carved from condensed abyssal darkness. Its presence alone inspired instinctive awe.

  Then he saw it clearly.

  The mountain was split down the middle.

  At that moment, the fourth ship appeared from the far horizon.

  Gasps broke out.

  It was larger than the ironwood ship.

  A two decked vessel with carved beams and painted pillars, slightly damaged yet still majestic.

  “It looks better,” a disciple murmured hoarsely. “Should we board it? It seems sturdier than the one Mei Ji chose.”

  The temptation was obvious.

  Qin Yi’s calm voice drifted over the wind.

  “I said I would lead those who believe in me through this trial. Those who do not may choose for themselves.”

  No one answered immediately.

  But the group shifted.

  Two or three, unable to resist, quietly left and ran toward the shore. Before boarding, they glanced back at Qin Yi, as if wanting to speak, yet said nothing.

  They jumped aboard.

  Others hesitated, taking half steps forward, struggle written across their faces. But when they looked at Qin Yi’s steady back, they stopped.

  Only Feng Wuya never moved. He stood beside Qin Yi from beginning to end, even a trace of pity flickering in his eyes toward those who left.

  Qin Yi merely waited.

  For the thirty seventh ship.

  On the jade vessel, Wen Shan’s unease deepened.

  Something was wrong with Huang Xiuxiu.

  Her face had grown eerily placid. No, not placid.

  Empty.

  Like a finely crafted doll.

  He tested softly, “Senior Sister Xiuxiu?”

  No response.

  Her eyes stared forward, unfocused.

  He raised two fingers.

  “How many?”

  Without hesitation, without emotion, she replied, “Two.”

  The precision of the answer made his heart sink further.

  She did not feel human.

  She felt like a puppet.

  Cold. Accurate. Devoid of warmth.

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