Jun Li walked across the rooftops of the capital, occasionally stepping off each roof with force enough to reach the next, though her stride across the tiles was far slower than normal, her mind tangled as she attempted to parse the nature of the 'contract' that had been signed in her stead.

  Since the moment she had felt her own blood seeping into the garden soil a few hours ago, she felt an irrational logic begin to form in her mind.

  As she walked, the tiles beneath her feet would melt and warp, leaving deep indentations. Yet, whenever she looked on with confusion, it would cease, and the tiles would stand solid beneath her feet again.

  Her thoughts on the phenomenon alternated disorientingly between confusion and flashes of unconditional acceptance.

  Supposedly, those with profoundly intimate understandings of the workings of the world could cause such disturbances. That 'way of the world' was referred to in Jun Li's inherited memories as 'the Dao,' and such enlightenments were of great importance for higher cultivation.

  Yet that knowledge merely served to frustrate Jun Li, who felt no 'enlightenment' in the malformation of natural law that followed her. She felt no great and profound knowledge or control over the way of the world. She merely felt that things were far more prone to melting than she was comfortable with.

  Her fluctuating cognition was far too inconsistent to be called an enlightenment. 'Damn it… I'm getting tired of feeling like such a half-baked work in progress…'

  Deeper than even this frustration was her discontent with her fight against Ren Liwei, even if it had ended in a victory.

  Her master, Zhu Enlai, had once told her that the best way to improve was to use your skills in a real encounter, but Jun Li now felt he had neglected to mention how awful it feels to fight a more skilled and well-developed martialist.

  Jun Li's mind flickered back to moments of her fight with Ren Liwei, thinking of all the ways she could have responded better in the moment.

  She had myriad techniques at her disposal that could have allowed her to turn the battle into a decisive victory, but she lacked the ability and the familiarity to properly apply them.

  And though she lacked the memory of what followed, she couldn't help but believe it was her own incompetence that led her to her current situation.

  Forced to flee the land she was born in, and to abandon her family, as she had no means of safely uprooting their lives, and carrying them into the unknown.

  The one thing that kept her from true hopelessness in this moment was the knowledge that they would be well cared after. A promise of the contract she had unknowingly signed with her hand, one that felt like an immutable truth in her mind.

  Jun Li could somewhat intuit the terms of the deal made while she was 'asleep.' And although it was difficult to accept, the compelling force of the contract left Jun Li incapable of questioning its reality.

  Eventually, Jun Li reached the edge of the city, and her pace grew faster. A heavy lump of shame formed in her gut, and she tried to shake off the festering feeling of guilt that the consequences she now faced may have been her fault. 'I didn't do anything wrong… It's all Ren Liwei's fault, and that damn Immortal…'

  Interrupting her thoughts, the orphanage Jun Li once called home came into sight at last, and all the shame and hate that was building within her sputtered and died, replaced with fear.

  This was the last time she would ever see her home again. Perhaps she would walk in there, find her old bed, and wake up with her family in the morning, as if nothing had changed. Perhaps she would help her auntie with chores, or play with her siblings, or even simply rest.

  Thoughtlessly, Jun Li reached the front door of the orphanage, where she herself had once been left, many years ago. She pulled the patchwork hat she had given to Duan Shu from her spatial ring, merely holding it for a moment.

  'I'd have to… say goodbye… I'd have to see Auntie and everyone else for… maybe the last time ever…' In her heart, hesitation became aversion, and aversion became dread.

  Before Jun Li could calm herself, the door began to open from the inside.

  The caretaker of the orphanage, Jun Li's 'Auntie,' peered out the doorway, glancing about. She often kept herself alert in the early hours of the morning, before the sun rose, just in case a child was left at her door, as so many had been.

  Today, however, all she saw outside was a familiar patchwork hat, lying crumpled at the doorstep.

  … … … … … …

  Silent as a corpse, Jun Li crept into the woods behind her childhood home, fleeing obligation and dignity both, chased into seclusion by her cowardice.

  Within moments, Jun Li arrived at the small waterfall where she began her Cultivation, and she hid herself behind the hollow clearing eroded into the stone behind the waterfall.

  Holding her head in her hands, a disorienting surge of nausea reached up from Jun Li's gut, tugging at her throat. 'I can't… I can't go look at Auntie and Duan Shu and everyone else and… know that might be the last time I'd ever see them…'

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  For a time, she simply remained there, struggling to believe her own actions. In her mind, she thought back in an attempt to remember the last time she had seen her family. Thinking that perhaps that was the last time she would ever see them.

  That memory was just slightly vague to her now. And that vagueness offered a comfort she didn't dare peel away.

  'I've been so blessed, but none of it matters. I failed at the very end… I couldn't protect my family, that damn Immortal had to step in at the very end and… I wasn't strong enough to choose for myself.'

  Quietly, Jun Li had begun to laugh, tears rolling down her face. 'I took breaks, spent time doing unnecessary garbage… I split my focus, I cooked meals, I bathed and groomed myself for the sake of comfort, I spoke with others as friends, I wasted my time…!'

  "Haha! I sacrificed nothing, so I lost everything!" Jun Li sighed heavily, almost in relief, as though she had realized something important. "If I had set aside everything… dedicated my every living moment to Cultivation, what kind of path would I be on now…?"

  Images rose to the boiling surface of Jun Li's mind, memories of a life that wasn't her own.

  Memories of a world seen from above, where the gesture of His hand could tear down mountains and boil oceans, where a word from His lips could tear down an empire of a thousand years, where each blink of His eyes would see a decade pass.

  A domain of power so far beyond mortal reckoning that merely aspiring to reach it was an absurdity. But it was only absurd for someone who didn't know, who didn't 'remember' the path that led to that power.

  Jun Li knew what that old immortal felt in his life.

  She knew the way he lived when he was young, and she knew that at the end, and only at the end, would she have the freedom to relent.

  Jun Li hardened her heart and wiped her tears. Standing up from the dampened earth, she strode out from the cove that hid her.

  'Auntie…' Jun Li looked in the direction of her home. 'You all deserve so much better than just safety. I'll come back one day, with the power to take you anywhere, and give you anything…'

  Jun Li clutched her chest, suddenly feeling the compulsion of her involuntary contract tell her 'you can never return,' as though sensing her intent.

  "There's a way out of this…" With a scheme in her mind, born of love and conviction, Jun Li knew there was one person she needed to meet with before she left to fully dedicate herself to Cultivation, one person she needed to warn before she embarked on the journey to break her one-sided contract.

  'The Patriarch of the Glass Cloud Sect, and his descendants… that contract only prevents me from returning for as long as they remain in power here…'

  … … … … … …

  Zhao Xiaoli lay in her own room, having been tended to by a number of skilled doctors throughout the night, all carefully following the recommended procedures and treatments advised by the Alchemist's Association Branch Director, Zhu Enlai.

  Zhao Xiaoli would live, but her Cultivation had been permanently harmed by how severely she had overdrawn her vitality.

  Furthermore, her arm had been severely mutilated in her battle and may never regain its full functionality.

  Even so, Zhao Xiaoli had no qualms with her condition; it was a price she had to pay, and she paid it willingly.

  Her only regret was that her father had indeed passed away in the night. It was something she felt was long overdue, given his age and health, but she feared her brother had some hand in his rapid decline, and she was never able to discover how.

  Her life would surely change greatly in the coming months, both medically and politically. But she had plenty of time to consider her future as she spent the next few weeks in recovery.

  'I can't believe Jun Li was here last night… Damn Ren Liwei… I'll make him regret using the palace grounds like an arena for his own grudge match.'

  A sudden crashing noise made Zhao Xiaoli flinch, though it manifested as little more than a twitch in her diminished state.

  Looking towards the entrance of the room, the door had been violently swung open, revealing Jun Li, clothed in tatters and soaked medical dressings.

  One doctor who had remained in the room to monitor Zhao Xiaoli's condition immediately approached Jun Li in shock. "Who… what are you doing here!? Leave this instant, the Princess needs rest!"

  Seeing the mild-looking man approach her, blathering with frustration, Jun Li's expression was unmoved. "Leave us..."

  The presence of her Cultivation, though near-imperceptible to a non-Cultivator, still held an oppressive force over them. The doctor's mouth flapped open as if he was trying to speak, beads of sweat dripping down his face as he stood there.

  In the end, he quietly retreated, quickly walking out of the room, with his eyes to the floor like a struck dog, silently shutting the door behind him.

  After making sure they were alone, Jun Li looked towards Zhao Xiaoli, her eyes softening somewhat. "...Sorry to disturb your rest."

  "Not at all… I'm always happy to see a friend." Though Zhao Xiaoli wished to manage a smile in her condition, just speaking proved more taxing than she expected, and Jun Li's serious demeanor caused her heart to move anxiously, knowing what little she did of last night's events.

  Jun Li was happy to hear Zhao Xiaoli's words at this uncomfortable time. "A friend, huh…" She pulled a chair up to Zhao Xiaoli's bedside and sat down. "You probably don't know, but my circumstances have changed…"

  Seeing the concern grow in Zhao Xiaoli's expression made Jun Li slow her explanation, but she had made up her mind. "I'm leaving the kingdom and venturing out into the Jianghu."

  Zhao Xiaoli was quiet for a moment, her brows knitting in confusion. "How long will you be gone?"

  Jun Li allowed herself a small laugh at the question. "Well… I suppose that's the issue…"

  A heavy silence descended as Jun Li thought for a moment. "I should… No, I will be back in twenty years." Zhao Xiaoli's reaction was difficult to read; her expression was colored in an emotion like 'shock,' but far quieter. "But… why?"

  Jun Li grit her teeth and pushed forward. "Because I have to… but it doesn't matter why! I'm just…"

  "I'm just… here to warn you." Jun Li steeled herself, as if her words she mustered were as much a vow to herself as they were a warning to Zhao Xiaoli. "Before I return, you need to leave this kingdom, and if you can't, then run far, far away from the royal family."

  "Otherwise…" Jun Li looked Zhao Xiaoli in the eye and spoke with true sincerity. "Otherwise, I'm sure you will die when I return."