By the time dawn broke, the Bia family gates were already wide open. A low mist still clung to the streets outside, and the sky was just starting to lighten, but the estate was buzzing. Guards stood in two lines by the main gate, servants hurried back and forth with final bundles, and spirit beast carriages, marked with the Bia crest, waited in an orderly row. Everything was ready. Almost too ready, in fact.
Yuzhen stepped out of his courtyard, storage ring on and sleeves neat, his expression calm. His furnace and herb boxes had already been packed with his other belongings. He'd double-checked everything before sunrise, so there was nothing left to do but leave. And somehow, that felt stranger than all the meticulous preparation.
He found the other six waiting for him by the front path. Wenxiu looked surprisingly alert for the hour. Anhe was practically vibrating with excitement, though he was trying hard to play it cool. Lanyue stood tall and composed, as if she were born ready for travel. Shuyin seemed entirely unimpressed by the whole morning's affair. Zichen was quiet. Runze looked like he might either get stronger from this trip or completely crumble from nerves before they even left the city.
Anhe spotted Yuzhen first. "You're late."
Yuzhen checked the sky. "I'm not."
"You feel late."
"That sounds like a 'you' problem."
Wenxiu chuckled.
The seven of them stood together for a moment, watching the front of the estate get busier by the second. Elders walked past in pairs, a steward checked names against a jade slip, and two younger disciples carried extra weapon cases toward the carriages. This wasn't the atmosphere of family practice grounds or tense market dealings. This was movement. Real movement.
A few breaths later, Bia Zhenyuan arrived. Conversation stopped instantly. The family head didn't need to raise his voice. He just stood at the front steps, surveying the assembled group, the guards, the stewards, the carriages, and the juniors about to embark under the Bia banner. "Set out."
That was all. The command rippled down immediately. The escort group moved first, then the first line of carriages, then the main group of juniors. The entire front of the estate began to flow outward in a practiced, orderly fashion. Yuzhen stepped through the open gates with the others and onto the streets of Mingzu.
The city was awake for them. Of course it was. People lined both sides of the road – shopkeepers, servants, minor family members, common cultivators, and the usual idlers who show up when anything remotely interesting is happening. No one pushed too close; they wouldn't dare with so many Bia guards around. But they watched. They always watched.
The Bia family procession moved steadily down the main avenue, the crest on the lead banners catching the weak morning light. Yuzhen kept his pace even and his gaze forward, though he could still feel the weight of attention settle and slide across the group. Some eyes were on the family head's carriage, some on the elders, some on the younger generation walking under escort. And some, he knew, were on him. Not because he looked back to check, but because he could feel it.
Wenxiu, walking half a step to his left, muttered, "The whole city really did come out."
Lanyue replied quietly, "No. Just the part that likes gossip."
"That might be the whole city."
Anhe chimed in, "You're both underestimating how many people just wanted an excuse to stand around at sunrise." Yuzhen almost smiled.
Ahead, the avenue widened near the central crossroads where Mingzu's four major routes diverged. That was where the other families would be. And sure enough, by the time the Bia procession reached it, the street was no longer solely theirs. To the east, the Xu family line was already moving – dark carriages, sharp uniforms, banners with an elegant style Yuzhen found vaguely irritating. To the west, the Yu family procession was quieter, more restrained, with fewer obvious displays and more hidden order. And from the northern avenue, not yet fully visible but unmistakable even at a distance, came the Chen family line. So the four great families of Mingzu had indeed timed their departures around the same time. Face. Order. Display. The city loved all three.
The Bia group didn't stop, but neither did the others move so quickly that they failed to notice one another. For a brief stretch near the central crossing, Mingzu's four major families existed in the same public frame. Banners. Juniors. Guards. Elders. All of it assessed at a glance.
Yuzhen kept walking. From the Xu side, he felt a gaze he didn't need to turn to recognize. Xu Shurong. Sharp. Open. Still testing. From the Yu line came something softer, harder to pinpoint. Observation without challenge. Probably Yu Tianqiu. And from the Chen side—
Yuzhen's eyes flickered just once, despite himself. Not enough to be obvious. Just enough. Chen Xianyi was there. Seventeen, straight-backed, dressed in Chen family colors, his expression composed in that way people wear when they know they're being watched from too many angles at once. For one breath, their eyes met across the crossing. No words. No greeting. No visible reaction. Then the processions moved on, and the moment was gone.
Wenxiu said under his breath, "I hate this part."
"The staring?" Anhe asked.
"The pretending everyone is civilized."
"That part is kind of funny."
Lanyue added, "Only because you're not important enough for them to stare at."
Anhe put a hand to his chest. "That was unnecessary."
"It was true."
Yuzhen let their voices wash over him and kept his gaze forward. He'd expected something from seeing Chen Xianyi again like that. Anger, maybe. Old embarrassment. A bitter tug somewhere in his chest. Instead, what he felt was mostly distance. Not complete, not clean, but distance. That told him more than any dramatic confrontation would have. Good, he thought.
The city gates came into view soon after. Massive, old, and crowded even at this hour. Minor families and smaller cultivator groups had already gathered to depart. Merchants jostled for good road timing. A few academy youths from lesser clans stood to the side with elders seeing them off. When the Bia family procession approached, the way opened almost immediately. The city guards bowed low. The smaller groups stepped back. The noise thinned, though it never completely vanished. And just like that, the Bia family passed through the gates of Mingzu. Out.
Yuzhen didn't turn around immediately. Neither did the others. For a stretch of road beyond the walls, everyone simply moved in the same disciplined order as before, the city now behind them and the open southern road ahead. Fields spread out on both sides, still touched by morning mist. The stone road ran straight for a time before curving through a line of old trees and low hills. In the distance, the first outline of smaller settlements could be seen like faint marks against the land. The air felt different outside the city. Wider. Less watched. Even with guards and family still all around, it felt different.
Anhe was the first to glance back. "We really left."
Wenxiu snorted. "What did you think we were doing?"
"Participating in a long family performance."
"That doesn't sound wrong," Shuyin chimed in.
Runze finally looked over his shoulder too, then quickly forward again, as if staring back too long might be shameful. Yuzhen turned then. Mingzu City stood in the distance behind them, its walls pale in the morning light, its towers still familiar. Home. Pressure. Beginning. Humiliation. Protection. All of it at once. Then the road curved, and the city shifted partly out of view. That was enough. He looked ahead again.
Around midday, the procession halted near a riverside rest stop, long maintained by the Bia family for trade and travel. Servants moved efficiently. Spirit beasts were watered. Guards rotated. The younger generation was finally allowed to sit without looking ornamental. Anhe flopped onto a flat stone. "If all great journeys begin like this, I may choose not to become great."
Wenxiu sat beside him. "You say that now. Wait until we meet the Southern Region talents."
"I'll still complain."
"That part I believe."
Yuzhen stood a little apart from them at first, looking out over the riverbank. The water was shallow here, bright where the sunlight hit, darker where reeds gathered near the bend. A few family servants were already setting up a simple meal further back. Behind him, he heard approaching footsteps. He didn't need to turn to know who it was.
Bia Zhenyuan stopped beside him. The family head looked out over the river. "Once we reach the Southern gathering city, everything becomes noisier."
Yuzhen nodded. "I know."
"Good." A pause. Then his grandfather added, "From there on, I won't always be close enough to correct your mistakes before others see them."
Yuzhen looked at the water. "Then I'll make fewer."
"That would be ideal." For a moment, that was almost funny. Almost.
Bia Zhenyuan glanced at him once. "Your recovery, your cultivation, your alchemy—keep them in proportion to what you can protect." Yuzhen's expression sharpened slightly. Not because the warning was unexpected. Because it was exact. His grandfather didn't know the truth of the pendant space, the spring, Xiaoren, or the libraries sealed by mastery and cultivation. But he knew enough to sense that Yuzhen's path wasn't entirely ordinary anymore. And instead of probing, he was warning him how to survive it. "I understand," Yuzhen said.
Bia Zhenyuan gave a short nod and turned away first. That was his style. Say what matters. Leave before the moment gets soft.
By evening, the Bia procession reached the first major stop on the route south. A large travel station town had sprung up around an old road crossing and spirit beast exchange point. Inns, supply halls, medicine shops, stables, and guarded courtyards lined the outer roads. Other family groups were already there too, though not the four great families of Mingzu gathered together. Mostly smaller forces. Merchants. Escort teams. Independent cultivators. The Bia family took over the best-secured inner courtyard without any fuss. Of course they did.
After the evening meal, the seven Bia youths finally gathered in a side room while the elders handled outside matters. Anhe sat cross-legged on the bed platform. "This isn't even the gathering city yet, and I'm already tired of roads."
Lanyue replied, "You've spent less than one day on them."
"That's enough for a strong opinion."
Zichen, seated by the window, said quietly, "The road today was easy on purpose." That quieted the room a little. Because everyone knew he was right. Today had been orderly because they were still under direct family protection, still close enough to Mingzu that everything remained neat and controlled. Soon that would change.
Runze asked, "Do you think the other families stopped nearby too?"
Wenxiu said, "Obviously."
Anhe added, "The real question is whether they're as tired of being noble as I am."
Shuyin, from the corner, said, "You were never noble."
Anhe put a hand to his chest. "That was unnecessary."
Yuzhen sat at the table with a cup of warm tea between his hands, listening to them talk. Tomorrow the road would continue. Then more days. Then the Southern gathering city. Then the first real widening of the world. His storage ring sat quietly at his side. The defensive token from his grandfather rested hidden in his inner sleeve. And under his clothes, the jade pendant lay cool against his chest. A hidden space. A clear road. A life that had begun moving again. This time, when he looked ahead, he didn't see only uncertainty. He saw room.