The central provinces welcomed them with rain and prosperity.
Wide stone roads lined with spirit-lantern posts stretched between gleaming cities. Merchant caravans moved in endless streams—silk banners fluttering, gu beasts pulling jade carts laden with ores, herbs, and caged gu eggs. Sect disciples in bright uniforms patrolled the highways; righteous banners snapped in the wind. Every few li stood towering spirit-gathering formations, feeding ambient qi into the earth like inverted waterfalls.
Lin Xuan and Hong Lian traveled as a small, unremarkable group: two rogue cultivators with one guard. No sect affiliation. No ostentatious gu. Just quiet competence and the faint, deliberately suppressed aura of rank-six power from Hong Lian.
They avoided the main gates of the nearest city—Jade Wave City—and entered through a minor eastern postern used by low-tier merchants and information brokers.
Inside the walls, the streets were alive: auction houses blaring promotions, street stalls selling rank-three gu snacks, young disciples haggling over spirit stones. The air smelled of incense, roasted meat, and the metallic tang of freshly refined gu.
Lin Xuan led them to a nondescript inn on the edge of the black-market district—"Silent Moon Pavilion." No sign. No doorman. Only a single rank-four array at the entrance that scanned entrants for hostility.
They took a private courtyard room on the third floor.
Once the door sealed and silencing gu activated, Lin Xuan spoke.
"We separate here for three days. I will acquire the remaining materials to fully awaken the Fate Cicada Fragment. You will gather intelligence: righteous sect movements, black-market auctions, any rumors of time-path inheritances or hidden ruins in the central region."
Hong Lian leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
"And my guard?"
"Send him to scout the outer districts. Low-profile. No fights. No questions."
She studied him.
"You still don't trust me completely."
"I trust results. Not people."
Hong Lian pushed off the wall and stepped closer—close enough that the faint lotus scent of her robes reached him.
"You know what your problem is, Gray?"
Lin Xuan waited.
"You treat everyone like gu insects. Useful until they're not. But even gu insects need proper nurturing to reach their peak. Starve them, overwork them, discard them too quickly—and you end up with nothing but dead husks."
Lin Xuan's expression did not change.
"I have nurtured before. The results were betrayal and death. Three times."
Hong Lian's blood-red eyes narrowed.
"Then maybe your nurturing method is flawed."
She reached out—slowly, deliberately—and placed a single finger against his chest, right over his heart aperture.
"Not once have you asked what I want. Not once have you offered anything beyond cold utility. You think that's enough to bind someone like me?"
Lin Xuan did not move.
"What do you want, Hong Lian?"
She smiled—sharp, almost feral.
"I want to see the peak with you. I want to stand at the top of this world and look down on everyone who ever tried to chain me. I want power. I want freedom. And I want…" Her finger pressed harder. "…to know that the man beside me isn't just using me as another stepping stone."
Lin Xuan regarded her finger, then her face.
His voice was calm—devoid of warmth, anger, or compromise.
"Then prove you are more than a stepping stone. Bring me actionable intelligence. Bring me resources. Bring me results. When your value exceeds the risk you pose, I will reevaluate."
He gently but firmly removed her hand from his chest.
"Until then, we remain partners of convenience."
Hong Lian's smile faded—replaced by something colder, more dangerous.
"Very well."
She turned toward the door.
"But know this, Gray: the day you decide I'm no longer useful… you had better be ready to kill me. Because I will not go quietly."
Lin Xuan watched her leave.
The door closed.
Silence returned.
He sat cross-legged in the center of the room.
The Fate Cicada Fragment pulsed—stronger now, almost eager.
He closed his eyes and resumed refinement.
Three days.
Three days to turn knowledge into power.
Three days to turn a temporary ally into either a greater asset…
…or a necessary corpse.
In the Gu Dao, there was no middle ground.
To be continued...