A few days passed.0

Li Yuan delivered his latest intelligence to Gu Xuejian, along with a few jars of a special brew not sold to the public, plus some fried peanuts and beef as snacks. She studied the reports through the night, then suddenly left again.  1

This time, word spread of an epic battle seen in the skies above a place called Readyfar County. Local merchants and workers from the Purejade Merchant Association claimed the clouds changed color, fierce winds raged, and across the heavens loomed massive, rootless vines glowing a glaring green which turned even the sunlight green.0

At the same time, burning petals whirled chaotically in the high air, a height where no lotus should ever reach. In the end, what looked like falling stars crashed to earth, leaving deep craters in their wake.0

Gu Xuejian was gone for a long while. In the dead of winter, during the twelfth lunar month…with snow piling high, she finally returned. It was just her and a single sword.  0

She wore white, her sword was light blue, and her eyes blazed like a midday sun. Snowflakes fell around her, but each one that landed hissed into white steam, drifting about in a veil of mist. In that moment, she looked like...0