One thousand one hundred and ten days to get here.
Three thousand from the beginning, from the day the cultivation journey started.
Nearly three years since he had walked into sixth grade and into the battle against Orion.
General Ren hadn't just counted the days. He had lived them, which was different, and the difference showed in the way his body moved now, at speeds that would once have required conscious direction and now simply happened, the way breathing happened, the way balance happened.
The way it only became genuinely fun to reach half the velocity needed to break the sound barrier while mounted on his enormous golden mantis, the air parting around them with a sound that had no good description except cutting the storm.
The world had expanded enormously. And in that new world…
The fire mountain had been watching him from the distance for a few hours now with the specific indifference of geography that didn't know time existed.
