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Six hours ahead of Wei Dao was comfortable until it wasn't.
The elder's pace was different from theirs. Seven people — including two Level Twos — couldn't sustain Spirit Opening movement efficiency for twelve-hour days. The elder had no such limitation.
By midday of the second day north of the waypoint, the gap had closed to four hours.
"He's not going to the tower site," Zhou Jin said. He had been doing distance calculations since dawn. "His trajectory has shifted. He is specifically following our group's movement signature."
Wen Dao had already figured this out.
"The waypoint," Li Qing said. "When you activated the formation, it produced a qi pulse. Distinctive."
"Broken Dawn's geometric signature," Wen Dao confirmed. "Wei Dao would recognize it. He's been searching for that pattern for however long Xuan Bing has been waiting."
"So he's not looking for the tower," Cai Rong said. "He's looking for you specifically."
"Yes."
"And gaining on us."
"Yes."
The Ling siblings had been quiet through this exchange. Ling Tao spoke: "Our presence is slowing you."
It was true. He didn't say it.
Ling Fan said: "We know this region. Our village was twelve miles east of here." She looked at the terrain ahead. "There is a river system that runs north through the basin — the Pale River, locals call it. It floods seasonally and leaves mudflat sections that don't hold footprints or qi signatures. If we move through the mudflat zones—"
"Wei Dao can read qi traces even in mudflat," Zhou Jin said.
"But he'd have to slow down to read them," Ling Fan said. "Which means he reads terrain instead of covering ground. Which buys time."
Wen Dao looked at her. She had thought it out.
"How far is the river?" he said.
"Four miles east. We'd lose two hours of north progress." She met his eyes. "But the mudflat sections run north for eight miles. If we use them, we come out eight miles north of where we entered — and Wei Dao comes out the same eight miles but at half our speed through the mud section."
He did the calculation.
"Lead," he said.
She led.
The mudflat sections were as described — grey-brown flat ground that held water just below the surface, soft enough to swallow footprints but firm enough to walk on. The Tiger moved across them without leaving marks at all. Wen Dao suspected the Tiger didn't leave marks anywhere it chose not to.
They moved through the mudflats for three hours. Cold. Slow. Each step required Qi footwork to avoid sinking past the ankle.
Cai Rong did not complain. This was notable.
At the far end, emerging onto firm ground again, Wen Dao turned and extended the Pale Flame sense south.
Wei Dao's signature was stationary. He had hit the mudflats and stopped.
Reading. Careful.
The gap had stabilized at six hours.
"It worked," Ling Fan said.
"For now." He looked north. The distant hills that framed the northern approach to the tower region were visible on the horizon — still days away, but real. "Two more days of hard travel. Can you maintain it?"
Ling Tao looked at his sister.
"Yes," she said.
They kept moving.
That evening, the Tiger killed something.
He heard it from camp — a brief violent sound from thirty feet north, then silence. The Tiger returned with a large animal — one of the northern deer-analogues, heavy with autumn fat. It deposited the animal at the camp's edge and sat down.
Cai Rong looked at it.
"Is this a gift?" he said.
The Tiger looked away.
"I'm going to interpret that as yes," Cai Rong said. He began preparing the food with the efficiency of someone who had decided to be grateful rather than confused.
The hot meal was real and sustaining. All seven ate. Even Li Qing, who had been in near-continuous cultivation, stopped for an hour and ate.
"The Tiger is aware we needed food," she said, afterward.
"It's been watching the pace," Wen Dao agreed.
"It's aware of everyone in the group. Not just you." She looked at the Tiger, who was at the camp's north edge in its usual position. "How long has it been following the path?"
"The records say it's been with various practitioners for centuries. Always at the right moment."
"What does right moment mean?"
"The moment when the practitioner is close enough to matter and far enough from ready that they still need help." He looked at the Tiger's still profile. "I think it judges when the practitioner is genuine. Not just capable. Genuine."
Li Qing was quiet for a moment.
"Is there a difference?" she said.
"A capable liar can develop the combination technically," he said. "But the question at Soul Ascension — the one that makes the entity answer instead of attack — requires asking something you actually want to know. Not a technique. An actual question."
She thought about that.
"What question?" she said.
"I don't know yet," he said honestly. "I'll know when I reach it."
She looked at him.
"That's either very wise or completely unprepared," she said.
"Both," he said. "Same as most things."
The fire burned low.
To the south, Wei Dao moved north through the mudflats with careful precision.
Closing the gap. Patient as stone.