Quietly, Jun Li passed through a great weave of vines and roots that hung from above, deeply rooted into the great arches of bone that swept overhead, left behind by the long-dead Earth Dragon.

  Drifting down from those now green-furred bones, a steady rain of decaying plant matter covered the sodden marshes that dominated this corner of the Earth Dragon's Grave.

  More than once did Jun Li step down onto a patch of muddy green foliage, only to have her foot fall into a puddle, obscured by some suffocating blanket of algae or duckweed.

  She was careful to make her presence as faint as possible, hoping that she would be the one to 'find,' rather than 'be found.'

  Although she had yet to find one of the other eleven disciples here, she found her time here quite fruitful with insights into the realm's valuable resources.

  'Ah, there's another one…' What caught Jun Li's attention this time was a patch of rot, floating weightless over a dark and cloudy strip of swamp. That rotten lump seemed like a clump of foliage that had fallen from the bone arches above, but those with good eyes might catch a glimpse of something more.

  Mostly obscured by the folds of rotting leafage, Jun Li could see the dull glint of bones, peering out from within, half-covered in a grimy, mossy substance.

  Despite appearing rotten to the eye, that floating clump gave off a strong and invigorating scent, bearing traits well known to Jun Li, the likes of which indicated a medicinal plant of exceptional quality.

  Of course, Jun Li wasn't alone in her ability to sense the plant's beneficial properties. That was an ability that almost all Magical Beasts possessed, and it was an ability that often led them to compete with one another for control over particularly remarkable medicinal plants.

  Some Magical Beasts were even known to tend to certain medicinal plants that they could take advantage of in the long term, and even fertilize such plants with the remains of their natural competitors.

  Some medicinal plants, however, didn't need any help securing such nutrition, and grew to deliberately intensify their appeal to weak and vulnerable beasts.

  This floating 'clump of rot' was one such medicinal plant, which appealed itself to the foul-feeding detritivores that lurked in these marshes.

  'This Secret Realm was naturally formed, right…? I wonder how all these species found their way here?' As Jun Li contemplated the oddly robust biodiversity of this space, she walked to the water's edge.

  She had observed one of these plants devouring a small amphibious beast when she had entered the area, and had time to consider how she might be able to take advantage of it.

  Placing her hand on the surface of the water, Jun Li sensed the floating clump change course slightly, still pretending to be an utterly immobile, senseless mass. 'This uses a fair chunk of Internal Qi, so you'd better be worth it…'

  Jun Li held out her left arm, and with her other hand, she formed a hand seal. In the space of a single breath, Jun Li flooded Qi through her meridians in a practiced pattern.

  A deep and brutal haze of cold filled her left arm, seeping into the air and lowering the ambient temperature. In the fingers of her right hand, a sharp chill condensed solidly into a visible blade of intangible Qi.

  As if to strike sparks from flint, Jun Li scraped her right hand, still formed into a hand seal, over the length of her left arm, shearing off the Internal Qi that had surfaced there and sending it spilling out over the waters.

  Across the surface of the water, that scattered Qi, as if guided by some natural inclination, twisted itself into long, pale stems that floated down, penetrating deeply into the waters even as far as the 'clump of rot' that floated a half-dozen steps away.

  As the length of those stems sank deep into the water, large buds came into definition at their ends. "Grow!" Sending a signal, Jun Li pushed her Qi into the water, spreading a thin layer of ice that itself further improved the flow of her Qi to the lotus stems.

  When that frozen Qi reached the stems, the buds erupted into life, unfolding to become full lotus blooms not of intangible Qi, but of real, solid ice. And from each blooming ice lotus, deep frost penetrated into the water and out over the surface.

  In the blink of an eye, a solid walkway of ice came into form over the water, anchored to the bottom of the swamp by the deeply penetrating ice lotus stems.

  At the end of that walkway, an encirclement of ice completely froze the predatory medicinal plant in place.

  With a corrective breath to steady her unevenly flowing Internal Qi, Jun Li stood and made her way down the frozen walkway. 'Feels like… thirteen, fifteen percent of my Internal Qi? It's not so bad, but it's a poor fit for combat.'

  Standing above the frozen medicinal plant, Jun Li saw that a number of thin, serpentine roots were frozen in place, having attempted to reach up and out of the water in the moment it was attacked, a reflexive attempt to defend itself, but too simple to stand any chance against even minor sorcery.

  With one hand, Jun Li pressed hard into the ice, focusing her mind on the unnatural logic that drove her minor authority over the natural law of melting. 'When you freeze, you expand… When you melt, you compress… Warmth, pressure, and moisture… that's all it takes…'

  Melting through the ice bit by bit, Jun Li formed a hollow ring around the plant, like a sort of moat. Unlike a moat, however, this ring was designed to offer ingress, not forbid it.

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  Within time, that moat would allow her to safely dig out the true core of the medicinal plant, which rested underneath the clump of detritus that it had pasted over itself.

  "Don't move!" From above, the voice of a young woman fell to Jun LI's ears. "That is, if you value the rest of your time in the Grave."

  Jun Li, who was still looking down into the ice, did not recognize the voice she now heard making demands of her. 'It's a shame someone got the drop on me… but if it's not one of those three, I can handle it, even at a disadvantage…'

  Seeing that Jun Li made no further movements, the woman let out a sigh of relief, too distant for Jun Li to hear. "Climb out of the water, and walk back across the ice, slowly…"

  Assuming correctly that the woman making demands wielded a bow, or other ranged weapon of some kind, Jun Li climbed out of the melted moat she had created and walked back to solid land just as slowly as she was asked.

  "Apologies down there, 'Cousin.' I was looking for one of these plants, but didn't know how to gather one without destroying it. It's just a bit too tempting to let slip-" As the woman continued to speak, Jun Li turned around, causing her to adjust her bow's aim with intent.

  "Hey, who said you could turn around!?" Looking towards the disciple that accosted her, Jun Li noticed that she wore the ochre robe of the Tiger-Slaying Sect, and stood balanced on a vine that hung down from above like an inverted arch, now pressed into a 'V' shape by her weight.

  At the sight, Jun Li smiled and hid an arm behind her back in preparation. 'The perfect target for some limit testing…'

  "The hell's wrong with you!? Turn back around if you don't wanna get shot, I won't hesitate to send you back to the Sect Elders…" The woman's words stopped, as her eyes failed to find what she was looking for on Jun Li's body.

  "Where the hell is your escape talisman…!?" When the disciple's confusion spiked, Jun Li smiled and spoke to buy just a second more time. "Oh, that? I don't plan on going back, even if I suffer a mortal wound."

  "Huh…?" In that instant, the woman noticed a glint of light beneath the sole of Jun Li's foot, a moment too late.

  Jun Li pressed down, rupturing her Cloudburst Movement Technique and sending herself hurtling towards the disciple like the payload of an artillery piece.

  During that split-second of Jun Li flying towards her, the disciple loosed her arrow, not hesitating to threaten ending the life of a 'cousin' disciple if it meant protecting herself.

  But Jun Li had not only expected this reaction, she had planned for it. Pulling her arm out from where it was hidden behind her back, Jun Li revealed a thick, curved slab of ice she had created during the time her enemy spent engaged in dialogue.

  Thrusting it out in front of her body, the icy wedge cracked under the force of the heavy arrow, sending chunks flying off to the side, but it was enough to deflect the arrow itself away from Jun Li's body.

  "Shit…!" With her arrow missing its mark, the Tiger-Slaying Sect disciple lacked the time needed to fall from the vine she stood on and was forced to guard, force-to-force.

  Jun Li did not pull anything from her Spatial Ring before attacking, concerned that a purple glint of light might be noticed. Nor did she prepare to use any offensive sorcery, as she didn't believe it would be effective against any combatant worthy of discretion.

  Instead, mid-air, she fell into a harsh stance, preparing to strike bare-handed with the Fist Technique imparted to her by her master, Zhu Enlai.

  "Collapsing Echo Fist - Echoing Depths!" Flying out reinforced with the force of her approach, Jun Li's fist crashed into the disciple's arm, instantly fracturing it and sending her flying from her perch.

  Crashing to the soft ground of the marsh, the Tiger-Slaying Sect disciple managed to interrupt her tumbling and steady herself on the ground. Jun Li's strike, although powerful, didn't seem able to end the fight in an instant.

  "Piece of… trash!" Raising her fractured bow-arm, the disciple made ready to take another shot, the likes of which Jun Li would have far more difficulty evading in an open and honest context.

  However… all that came from the disciple in the following moments were the sounds of pain. Her bow arm trembling, it sank slowly as if rendered inert with agony. "Damn it… what is- AACK!" From that arm, the pain intensified until the sound of bone shattering could be heard clearly.

  For a few moments more, the sounds of cracking and fracturing rang out from the disciple, who buckled over in pain at the residual, echoing force that ran agony through her arm.

  Taking advantage of the opening, Jun Li shot forward to meet her with another strike.

  And yet, Jun Li stopped mid-charge, looking towards the disciple with shock on her face. 'That… can't be possible…'

  Grasping her weapon with her other hand, the disciple wielded her bow as a melee instrument, apparently intent on using the pointed spike of the bow's upper limb to defend herself.

  But before she could make a single move, a great force crashed into her from behind, pressing her limbs down into the soft ground and constricting them in heavy coils.

  "Little… Yun…?" Jun Li was baffled by the sight before her, but the pure white snake that was now suppressing her adversary was undeniably the same Little Yun she had known for years. 'How!? There shouldn't have been any way for Little Yun to sneak into this place!'

  'Unless…' Jun Li's mind ran rampant with theories, realizing this could entirely change her plans for the Earth Dragon's Grave.

  "Hah!" Reaching what she felt was the most likely conclusion, Jun Li reached a hand up to her face and took off her mask. "I don't have any need for this anymore." Confused at her 'opponent' and bitter at her circumstance, the Tiger-Slaying Sect disciple looked up from the mud towards Jun Li, who walked away, back to the frozen medicinal plant. "Little Yun, keep her there!"

  The snake immediately held tighter onto the disciple at Jun Li's command, forcing her to wait face down in the mud for some time.

  Eventually, Jun Li returned, holding a warped and malformed medicinal plant in her hands. "Now then… You're going to help me learn a bit more about those escape talismans…"

  The disciple was silent, barely able to breathe with Little Yun's constriction, and was forced to simply watch as Jun Li held the medicinal plant in both hands, compressing it forcefully.

  "...Rupture!" With a word of affirmation, the root-like plant Jun Li held between her hands burst open as it instantaneously melted, pouring down from her hands in uneven streams.

  "...And freeze!" At Jun Li's second command, her frozen Qi shot down through the pouring streams of the liquified medicinal plant, freezing it into a long, jagged blade.

  A cold smile blooming on her face, Jun Li looked towards the disciple who had earlier ambushed her with threats. "You wanted this medicinal plant, right? You can take it with you, out of the Grave."

  "Just… let me see how much damage it takes to trigger that escape talisman… after all, one broken limb clearly isn't enough!"