The journey for the next two weeks was defined by a heavy, fragile silence.
Lin Yue, her power now revealed, had returned to her wagon. But she was no longer the frail,
hidden "Yue." She was Lin Yue, the prodigy. Merchant Guo, who clearly knew her true identity
all along, treated her with fawning reverence. Meilin, the professional, treated her with the deep
respect one cultivator gives to a much stronger one.
And Jin, the brother, was a broken man. Lin Yue had thawed him an hour after the battle, the ice
melting away to leave him soaked, shivering, and profoundly humiliated. He had lost his brother,
been defeated by a woman he'd leered at, and now had to live with the fact that his life was
spared as an afterthought. He never spoke, his eyes darting between Lin Yue (with terror) and
Kael (with a haunted, confused hatred).
Kael, for his part, was in pain. His ribs were cracked, and his back felt like it had been branded
with acid. The [Corrosive Shadow (Minor)] status was a constant, dull throb that his passive
regeneration was struggling to overcome. He did his job. He tended the horses, he took his
watch, and he kept his distance.
On the third night after the battle, Lin Yue approached him. He was on watch, sitting by the
low-burning, magically-suppressed fire.
"Your wounds," she said. It wasn't a question, but a statement.
"They'll heal," Kael said, not looking at her. He was staring into the darkness of the pass.
"They are infused with Shadow-Qi," she stated. "A mortal's body cannot purge that. It will fester.
You will die. Slowly."
"Then I'll die slowly."
Her perfect brows furrowed. This was not the gratitude she expected. This was not the fawning
she received from everyone else. This was... resistance.
"I can heal it," she said, her voice clipped. "Hold still."
She raised a single, elegant finger. A wisp of pure, silver-blue Qi, humming with cold, gathered
at the tip. She was going to "inspect" him, to purge the bad energy. It was an act of profound, if
arrogant, kindness.
She touched his shoulder.
For Kael, it was a sudden, invasive cold. But for Lin Yue, it was like touching a black hole.
Her Qi, a force that could freeze rivers, pressed against his skin... and stopped. It didn't flow. It
didn't enter. It met a "something" that was completely, utterly inert. It was like trying to pour
water into a block of solid lead. She pushed, her Qi flaring brighter. The "wall" held. It didn't push
back; it simply... existed.
This was his [Aura of Protection] and his [Iron Will], born of Vows and conviction, not of worldly
energy. It was a power so alien to her that her spiritual sense couldn't even interpret it. It
registered as a void.
She snatched her hand back as if burned.
"What... are you?" she whispered, her composure breaking for the second time. "There is no Qi Kael finally looked at her. Her face was a mask of confusion, her power useless. He
remembered her freezing Jin without a thought. He remembered the casual arrogance of her
power. He felt a sting of resentment, not for her, but for the world that had given her everything
and him nothing but this stubborn, painful path.
"I told you," Kael said, his voice rough. "I'm sturdy."
He stood up, his cracked ribs protesting, and walked to the other side of the camp, leaving the
prodigy of the Sky-Veil Sect staring at her own hand in stunned, frustrated silence.