A figure descended from the heavens like an avatar of divine wrath.

  The spiritual pressure that followed was overwhelming.

  This wasn't a simple cultivation advancement.

  The breakthrough was a transformation in the being’s fundamental nature.

  Seeing this, Weiming's blood chilled. He had been right. Fu Yangming hadn’t just been trying to break through to Lucid Lawbearer in the middle of a battle; he had actually done it. What this meant for the Xu Family wasn’t something Weiming wanted to consider.

  A true Lucid Lawbearer could re-write the very laws of reality within their jurisdiction.

  Against such power, Weiming's Half-Step cultivation was but a candle in front of the sun.

  But right now, he couldn’t think about that.

  If he didn’t do anything, the debris from the collapsed roof would kill his wife and son.

  Immediately, he wrapped a barrier of dream qi around them.

  The debris bounced off the golden dome, but Weiming knew it wouldn’t hold up against a Lucid Lawbearer.

  Fu Yangming landed in the middle of the ruined space.

  He looked different to the last time Weiming had seen him.

  Fire burned in his eyes (which were now silver) and every motion of his body sent shockwaves through local reality. The air surrounding him was distorted as if responding to his thoughts rather than physical laws.

  "Oh," the young master spoke with harmonics in his voice, making the stone walls of the space vibrate. "So, this is where the great Xu Weiming is hiding while his people die."

  Weiming didn’t respond to the insult.

  "Li Nai," he whispered urgently to the midwife as he pressed a jade talisman into her hand. "Take the child. Now."

  The old woman took it and lifted the baby without hesitation.

  The jade talisman was a treasure he had saved for decades.

  It contained transportation patterns that would be able to carry someone thousands of miles in a single instant.

  "Use this," he said softly. "Get as far away as possible. Hide his identity. The Xu bloodline has to survive."

  Fu Yangming’s enhanced hearing caught Weiming and the midwife discussing their escape plan.

  "No," he said, raising one hand surrounded by silver flames. "I don't think so."

  The attack came faster than Weiming could blink.

  Streams of focused dream qi shot across the room, but instead of targeting Weiming, they targeted the escaping midwife. Li Nai held the baby tight and activated the transportation talisman just as the dream qi hit.

  The jade talisman cracked as it strained to activate under the assault.

  For what seemed like an eternity, Li Nai and the baby flickered between being substantial and being translucent, caught in between two states of existence.

  Then they disappeared.

  "How annoying." Fu Yangming scowled, his perfect features twisted into an expression of irritation.

  Weiming stood up, placing himself between the Lucid Lawbearer and where his wife still sat clutching her birthing-cloths. Weiming's spiritual pressure erupted outward, and dream qi of both silver and gold swirled around him in a complex pattern.

  "You want me, Yangming?" he said calmly, though his heart was pounding with fear. "Here I am."

  "I want your clan's submission,” the younger man’s expression was cold. “Your mining rights. Your stored dream crystals. Your cooperation with the new order I'm establishing."

  "And if I refuse?"

  "Then I'll show you why Lucid Lawbearers are feared throughout the cultivation world."

  The battle that followed was more akin to a natural disaster.

  Weiming used everything he had learned in decades of cultivation to defend himself: elemental attacks, mental attacks, even his dream palace rose to defend him.

  Fu Yangming nonchalantly walked through it all.

  Physical barriers were irrelevant to the young master since he could define what a barrier was.

  Attacks were meaningless since he could determine whether or not harm existed in relation to him.

  Weiming's strongest techniques, which had taken a lifetime of study and effort to develop, were merely waved aside by the younger cultivator.

  "You're talented," Fu Yangming said as he moved forward step-by-step. "For your skill level. However, this is the difference between mortality and genuine power."

  With one finger, he touched Weiming's forehead.

  The Xu Clan Patriarch’s cultivation base disintegrated like a poorly constructed tapestry.

  Years of methodically building up his base, spiritual techniques he had mastered through years of work, the collective wisdom he had acquired through a lifetime - all of these things stopped existing.

  With a soundless cry, he collapsed, his body unable to sustain itself without the spiritual foundation he had relied upon for so long. Behind him, Lianhua struggled to sit up, her face pale, exhausted and fearful.

  "Weiming!"

  He looked back at his wife, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

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  Even as he was dying, even with his cultivation destroyed, the sight of her face gave him peace.

  "I love you," he somehow managed to force out a whisper.

  "I love you too," she replied, tears falling from her eyes as she reached for his hand.

  Fu Yangming's second assault was fast and fatal.

  Husband and wife died looking into each other's eyes, their hands clasped together in a final moment of connection.

  The Lucid Lawbearer stood for a moment over the corpses with a contemplative expression.

  “The child survived,” he murmured, looking into the distance. “But an infant without clan protection, without resources, without any knowledge of his heritage… what could such a thing possibly do?”

  With a shake of his head, the thought flew from his mind.

  A dragon didn’t concern itself with an ant.

  ***

  When Li Nai materialised in a flash of golden light, her knees hit hard earth and her vision swirled as the unstable space transportation finally settled. Her disorientation was extreme. One moment she was in her comfortable lord’s quarters, the next she found herself huddled on the ground of what appeared to be a bandit camp beneath the open sky.

  Flames from cooking fires danced across ramshackle tents and rickety shelters, while the acrid smell of unclean bodies and cheap liquor wafted through her nostrils.

  The baby in her arms remained remarkably silent throughout the transition, but now he fussed loudly as the foreign surroundings took hold of his rapidly developing senses. Li Nai quickly assessed the baby for signs of spatial sickness; the teleportation talisman was made for adult cultivators, and she worried the trip had harmed the infant.

  Fortunately, the baby didn’t appear to be affected by the journey.

  Instead, his bright blue eyes seemed to shine more brightly than previously as if being transported across continents had somehow energized him rather than harmed him.

  “Well, well,” a gruff voice boomed from her left side. “What do we have here?”

  Li Nai turned to find a circle of bandits forming from the darkness, each armed.

  They represented the standard assortment of failed cultivators and desperate men: scarred faces, mismatched armor and the gaunt, starving appearance of men who survived by taking what others earned.

  Their leader, a massive man with arm muscles like tree trunks and cultivation barely at the Thoughtshaper level, towered over his companions.

  “It looks like the heavens is giving us a little present, boss,” a bandit laughed as he pointed at Li Nai’s blood stained, yet obviously expensive robes. “Rich lady with a baby. Probably got split off from her wagon train or something.”

  “See if there is a storage ring on her,” the leader barked, advancing with a crudely fashioned sword in his hand. “This could be our greatest haul this year. And that baby: there are plenty of buyers for healthy infants in the slave market.”

  As Li Nai carefully rose to her feet, holding the infant close to her chest, her blood ran cold. These were not ordinary bandits; these were slave traders, the type of humans who stole children to sell to the cults that did not care how the children were obtained.

  She looked down at the infant in her arms, at the pale blue eyes which seemed almost too aware for a mere hours-old infant. She thought of his parents and the sacrifices they had made to ensure his survival. She thought of the faith they had put in her. Then she thought of her own history, the power she had surrendered more than four decades prior when she chose a life of peace as a servant.

  But that didn’t matter right now.

  She couldn’t let Baby Kangwei become a cauldron boy in an alchemist’s laboratory or something even worse.

  “I’m afraid,” she replied calmly, “this would not be acceptable. This child is under my protection. Leave now and I’ll let you all live.”

  The bandits exploded into laughter at her audacity. “Listen to this old crow!” one of the bandits wheezed. “Threatening us! You’re outnumbered fifteen to one, and even if you know a couple of cultivation techniques, what could a servant possibly—”

  He never finished speaking because Li Nai allowed her spiritual energy to manifest.

  Dream Architect aura flooded the outlaw bandit camp like an avalanche.

  The men who had laughed only seconds before were now on their hands and knees, pressing their faces into the dirt as an unrelenting spiritual force prevented them from remaining upright.

  “Forgive us, Honored Madam!” the leader begged, his previous arrogance gone. “We didn’t realize. Please, spare our wretched lives!”

  Li Nai looked down upon the bandits. These men were predators who had deliberately chosen to make their livelihood from preying on the weak and vulnerable. In most cases, she would have exterminated them without hesitation. However, she was currently isolated in a foreign land with an infant to protect, and dead bandits would undoubtedly attract unwanted attention from local authorities.

  “You will give me information,” she ordered, retaining sufficient spiritual energy to compel the bandits’ compliance. “Where are we? What is the closest city? What can you tell me about secure routes for travelers with young children?”

  “The Wornwood Territories, Master,” the leader stuttered, not daring to raise his head. “We are roughly fifty li southwest of Winebridge City. The primary trade route goes eastward through Havenbrook Village; it is very heavily patrolled and safe for families.”

  Li Nai mentally processed this information while gently swaying the infant, who was becoming increasingly agitated once again.

  The Wornwood Territories were approximately three thousand li from the Xu clan compound, which meant, right now they were in a completely foreign kingdom. The talisman had transported them far beyond Fu Zhengming’s immediate sphere of influence, but it also meant they were now alone in unfamiliar territory with virtually no resources other than what she carried.

  “What sort of place is Winebridge City?” she asked. “Is it large enough to have proper cultivation resources? And is it safe for refugees?”

  “Second-tier city, Master,” another bandit offered, still lying flat on the ground. “Possibly fifty thousand people. It has a genuine Cultivator’s Quarter with training halls and stores selling spiritual items. The City Lord keeps order.”

  That sounded promising.

  Second-tier cities generally contained the necessary infrastructure to accommodate refugees fleeing clan strife and also included local law enforcement to offer some degree of security from immediate dangers. However, it would also mean scrutiny from local authority who would be curious why an old woman was traveling alone with an infant.

  Li Nai glanced down at the baby in her arms, noting once again his unusual complexion and the way the pale blue eyes followed movement with uncanny perception.

  This child was undoubtedly destined for great things, however that same potential made him a prime target for everyone who recognized his lineage. The Xu clan had numerous enemies outside of just the Fu family, and a surviving heir would represent both an enemy and a possible ally to various factions.

  She needed to be cautious, extremely cautious.

  “What should we call you, child?” she whispered to the infant. “Your parents are dead; your clan has been destroyed; you survived a near-certain death by nothing more than incredible luck.”

  Luck. Chance. The words resonated within her mind as she pondered their situation.

  The sort of impossible survival that implied the heavens themselves had a vested interest in this specific child’s destiny.

  “Hongyun,” she whispered softly, testing how the name felt. “For the good fortune of enduring such a difficult birth during such dangerous times.” She readjusted her grasp on the baby, making a decision that would affect both their fates. “And you will bear the surname Hou to hide your actual ancestry until you are strong enough to reclaim it.”

  The child let out a faint cry which could have been acceptance, his tiny hand wrapping around her finger. Li Nai experienced a rush of protective instincts similar to those she had felt when caring for her own children decades ago.

  “From now forward, you are my grandson,” she declared. “Li Nai died along with the Xu clan. I am your Grandmother Hou, and you are my dear Hongyun. Together, we will find a safe place to live, and when you are ready, I will teach you your true heritage.”

  The bandits lay frozen on the ground, too scared to move without permission.

  Li Nai directed one last glance at them and made her decision.

  “You will forget seeing us,” she ordered, infusing her words with enough dream qi to plant them in the bandits’ memories. “By tomorrow morning, you will only remember that you had strange dreams about powerful cultivators. Not a thing more.”

  With that, she gathered her robes and began walking toward the rising sun on the eastern horizon. As she walked away, behind her were fifteen bandits who would awaken in several hours with no recollection of what transpired except for a vague feeling that perhaps they should reconsider their career path.

  Hou Hongyun, for that was now his name, nestled securely against his new grandmother’s chest, his pale blue eyes reflecting the growing dawn. He was too young to understand the tragic event that had altered every aspect of his existence, yet a small portion of him seemed to sense that this was not an ending, but a beginning.

  The route to Winebridge City extended before them, a pathway to a precarious yet hopeful future.

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