"I did it," Gen said, his voice echoing with a breathless triumph in the silent hall. "I did it!"
Baili approached, his earlier hollow apathy replaced by a sharp, analytical interest. He studied the faint golden shimmer still clinging to the dead leaf. "How can you reach this level of understanding of the Wheel of Creation without having your Heart Acupoint open?" It was a genuine question, free of his usual disdain.
Gen smiled, though it was tinged with his own confusion. "I have no idea. It just… worked. It is the same thing with my Sword of Infinity, back then." He looked at the walls, at the question etched a thousand times. "I am starting to think Master Yujin is trying to teach me the Wheel of Creation through his trials."
*He is trying to show me the steps,* Gen thought, the connections snapping into place in his mind. *First, the understanding of consequence and space with the queen. Now, the principle of imposing a pattern, of creation's echo…*
"Whatever," Baili said, his attention shifting to the statue of the horse chess piece, which now stood in the center of the hall at a more human size. It had turned its stone head to observe them.
The statue looked at the briefly-glimmering plant, then back at Gen. A sharp, approving gleam flashed in its stone eyes. "Perfect," a voice resonated, not from a mouth, but from the hall itself, deep and dusty with age. "You are the first person to actually succeed in this test."
Gen's smile widened. He felt a surge of pride and stood up, dusting off his knees.
As he did, the connection broke. His released Qi disrupted the delicate weave. The golden light on the plant died instantly. The brittle leaf crumbled into grey ash, and the rest of the plant seemed to sag into final, absolute death.
"No!" Gen cried out, reaching a hand toward it.
"It is fine," the chess piece's voice intoned, calm and unsurprised. "I have already seen what I wanted to see. Not even Master Yujin, at his peak, could sustain such a forced remembrance for more than a minute. You have grasped the principle. That is the test."
The statue seemed to glance vaguely at Baili, its stone expression inscrutable, but it said nothing to him. Its form began to dissolve, crumbling from the edges into countless particles of soft, white light. "One more piece to find. Then, I shall revive Master Yujin's secret."
Gen nodded, the excitement returning. "I cannot wait to find out."
Then, the light faded. The hall was gone.
Baili and Gen exchanged a final, faint look—a silent acknowledgment of their strange, strained captivity together—and the world dissolved around them.
Just before they vanished, Baili spoke, his voice low, as if to himself. "My strength now… has nothing to do with pride. Where in the past my Cloud Juggernaut was alimented by my pride… now it is alimented by an intense desire to grow."
Then, they were gone.
***
Gen reappeared on the rocky island, the sudden cacophony of the real world assaulting his senses. He stumbled slightly backward, his legs weak, and fell hard on his backside. It was as if time was catching up to him, the fatigue of having stood motionless in concentration for what felt like over a week crashing down all at once.
"Gen!" Liang's voice was sharp with worry. He and Kang Mao rushed to his side.
"I am fine," Gen rasped, pushing himself up. His eyes darted around the plateau. The Zenith Sky-Root still glowed softly at the statue's base. But the two dozen or so cultivators from before were gone. Vanished. "What has happened to them?"
Kang Mao and Liang opened their mouths to speak, then hesitated. Their faces held a deep, unsettled fear. It was the first time Gen had seen Liang look this frightened. It wasn't a fear that paralyzed, but the fear of *understanding* something so vast and terrible it felt absurd.
Gen turned his head, scanning left and right. No one. Only Baili, now standing silently a few paces away, Liang, Kang Mao, and…
A voice spoke from behind him. Calm. Deep. Empty of malice, yet heavy enough to bend the air.
"I heard from your friends you are called Gen Jiang."
The voice. The aura. The *feeling*.
A primal prickling erupted over Gen's skin, the same instinct that had screamed when Nix descended. He turned, hurriedly, his body moving before his mind could fully process.
The moment his eyes fell on Buqu, he understood the expression on his friends' faces.
The man was tall, bare-armed, with strange spiral tattoos. He released no crushing aura, but the space around him felt dead, silenced. He was simply *there*, and his presence made the world seem thin and fragile.
"You," Gen said, the word choked.
Buqu took a single, casual step forward. And then he was already in front of Gen, having covered the distance without a sound, without a blur. The sheer weight of his proximity forced Kang Mao and Liang to their knees with grunts of pain, as if an invisible mountain had settled on their shoulders.
Buqu leaned down slightly, taking a close look at the trembling young man before him. His eyes, dark and dispassionate, scanned Gen up and down. "Hmm," he murmured, a hint of genuine confusion in the sound. "Did I mistake? I felt a powerful being here, other than the Greedy Shark."
*Are you Buqu?* Gen wanted to ask, but his voice was locked in his throat. He had heard the rumors—that one of the Divine Generals was playing pirate in the Sky Ocean. Could it be him? He wanted to voice the question, but deep within himself, he already knew the answer. Even without the divine armor, there was no mistaking it. This familiar, world-suppressing presence lingered in the air, a cousin to the oppressive weight of the four Damocles stakes in the sky.
Bax moved from behind Buqu, observing the stunned kids. He wasn't surprised, nor did he find it pitiful. He himself understood how daunting Buqu really was. This was one of those people who guarded the Damocles that threatened their world. How could a sixteen-year-old kid *not* feel the sheer weight of his presence, even if he wasn't releasing any aura?
Even Baili, usually so prideful and difficult to impress, was utterly silent. His fists were balled so tight his knuckles were white, and a fine tremor ran through his arms. *This was it.* One of those people who decided their fate that day in the sky. One who stood at a peak where they dared to face Jiang at his peak. Baili wanted nothing more than to charge, to face Buqu head-on… but was that even possible? The sheer gap between them felt so immense he couldn't see the end of it, even though Buqu was just a meter away. All his courage seemed to have fled.
Buqu sighed lightly. "I might have made a mistake. Bax, you were right." He sounded almost disappointed. He didn't even bother looking at Gen again. He simply ascended into the sky—not with a leap, but as if the air became a solid stair—and vanished into the distance with another deafening **SONIC BOOM**.
Bax rose into the air after him. He paused, looking down at Gen, his expression unreadable. "Your exploit with Nix was a great feat," he said, his voice carrying clearly. "But do not be mistaken. After staying with Master Bu for some time, I understood something fundamental." He met Gen's eyes. "In the hierarchy of Divine Generals, if Nix was fifth… then Buqu was third."
Then he, too, ascended and vanished.
His words left Gen deeply shaken. He could only stare at the empty sky where his mortal enemy had just… departed. Dismissed him.
Only after Buqu left did Kang Mao, Liang, Gen, and Baili release the breath they had been holding without knowing.
"Gen, are you okay?" Liang asked, his voice weak.
Gen was silent, his jaw clenched so tight it ached. Bax's words played on a loop in his mind. *If Nix was fifth, then Buqu was third.* What did that mean? That Buqu was even way stronger than Varja at his peak? Of the six Divine Generals, Gen knew the last one, Zeph, was without doubt the final bastion to defeat. But of the other five… Buqu was *third*.
Kang Mao touched Gen on the shoulder. "We cannot take his word too seriously. After all, he has not met Nix, nor the other Divine Generals, to say such things."
Baili let out a low, shaky sigh. "If someone at the level of Bax says it, it is not to brag. Buqu himself must have admitted it, unknowingly." He looked at his own trembling hands, then clenched them, forcing them still. "I need to train harder." Without another word, Baili ascended into the sky and vanished, leaving the rocky island.
Now, only Gen, Liang, and Kang Mao remained.
Gen had suddenly become very quiet. He moved mechanically to the Sky Zenith Root, collected it, and placed it into the specially prepared bag at his waist. "One good done," he said, the words devoid of his usual jovial energy. He sounded hollow.
He turned to his friends, not meeting their eyes. "I need to be alone for some time. Please." Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked deeper into the rocky, barren island.
Liang took a step to follow him, concern etched on his face.
Kang Mao's hand shot out, blocking his path. The former Kang heir shook his head, his own expression grim. "We should leave him some time."