— ✦ —
The Jade Summit range appeared on the fourteenth day.
Grey peaks above the treeline, their upper sections permanently cloud-wrapped. The kind of mountains that had been old when cultivation was young — stone so ancient it had its own qi memory, a record of every storm and season that had passed over it.
Clear Sky Hall was built into the southern face of the second peak. Not a valley sect compound like Iron Mountain. A mountain compound — terraced levels carved into the rock face itself, connected by external stairs and internal passages, the whole structure integrated into the mountain rather than placed on top of it.
From below, it looked like the mountain had grown a building.
Elder Ma was waiting at the lower gate.
She looked at the Tiger behind Wen Dao and said nothing for a moment.
Then: "The records mentioned the Tiger. I didn't quite believe them."
"Most records understate it," Wen Dao said.
"Does it—" She gestured.
"Come further? No. It will stay at the mountain base. The Tiger chooses its distance."
Ma nodded. She looked at Cai Rong and Zhou Jin. "Both of you are welcome at the hall's outer disciple facilities." She looked at Wen Dao. "You specifically are welcome as a guest practitioner — not a student, not a disciple. Guest status carries different rights."
"What rights?"
"Access to the main library. Access to the senior cultivation hall. Access to the restricted archive with my direct authorization." She paused. "And the right to leave whenever you choose without obligation."
"No cultivation debt?"
"No cultivation debt."
He thought about it.
"Why?" he said. "What does Clear Sky Hall get from hosting me without obligation?"
She looked at him.
"The opportunity to learn from someone practicing the complete combination," she said honestly. "Watching correct practice of techniques we have only seen in partial form. My senior disciples will improve faster from observation than from any teaching I can provide."
"And you personally?"
A pause.
"I want to understand what I've been missing for twenty years," she said. "That's a selfish reason. I'm not hiding it."
He looked at the mountain above them. At the hall carved into its face. At the clouds wrapping the peaks above.
"Is Xuan Bing aware of this location?" he said.
"Clear Sky Hall operates independently. He is aware it exists." She met his eyes. "He does not have access to our internal activities."
"How certain are you of that?"
A very slight pause.
"Mostly certain," she said honestly.
He appreciated the honesty.
"Then I'll stay until I have reason not to," he said.
They entered the gate.
The Tiger sat at the mountain base and watched them go.
Its yellow eyes were steady in the morning light.
Below, on the south road, a figure in plain clothing had appeared at the road's far bend. Too far to identify clearly. Standing still, watching the gate.
The Tiger's gaze moved to the figure.
The figure did not move.
For a long moment, the two of them regarded each other across the mountain base.
Then the Tiger looked away.
And the figure in plain clothing turned and walked back the way it had come.
Carrying whatever it had learned about what it had seen.
— ✦ —