The green flames died down and Sage Enduring Blossoms willed the walls of icy trees to disintegrate with it.

  “What happened? How is my nephew?”

  Instead of answering the sage walked up to him and took her disciple from his hands before asking a question of her own “How much do you know of the Pale disease”

  “I have some idea” replied Zhao Bing

  “Do you know where the ‘madness’ stems from?”

  Zhao Bing nodded “Good enough, I have sealed his cores, that has halted the progress of the madness. I have not cured him, that is a challenge only he can overcome by himself. I will slowly release each core over years, each core I release will weaken the overall seal on the madness, give him time to adapt to it over years. I am hoping that by the time he reaches the sixth tier, he would have gained control over it. That said, I wish the boy to remain with me, for the first few years. So, I may monitor the rate at which he adapts to the madness and release the seals accordingly.”

  “How long is a few years?” Zhao Bing asked, the two monks tensed up momentarily.

  The sage chuckled and the two monks relaxed. Zhao Bing looked between the three monks, only just noticing the interaction.

  “What?” the two monks shook their heads simultaneously. “Ah! Thank you, Sage. For your help.” He bowed sincerely “forgive me, we had already planned to leave my nephew in your temple’s care till things calmed at home.”

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  “Oh? That makes things easier. He will not leave the temple till I have unsealed his second core. After which he may go home, he may seek me out whenever he feels ready to unseal more of his cores.”

  “Sorry, when you say ‘till he has unsealed two of his cores’, how long exactly are we talking about?”

  “Well, that will depend on him and his adaptive capabilities, won’t it?”

  “Yes indeed, you speak truth. The University of Aniu-lang will not forget this favour.” Zhao Bing bowed again “we will come and visit him when things cool down.”

  Sage Enduring Blossoms raised an eye brow, knowing exactly what he was scared of and what he was trying to imply, “you may visit at anytime you wish.”

  She waved her hand and two trees bent inwards, toward each other, their branches and trunks entangling to form an archway. As soon as the archway locked in places the space in between the two trees vanished replaced by a ‘doorway’.

  “Go on, I have done your home a favour and I have done your nephew a favour. Let me do one for you as well. The doorway will take you to the end of the valley of Indus. You may make your way from there.”

  Zhao Bing hesitation stemmed not from a lack of knowledge of the ability in question but more from the way in which she had spoken the word ‘favour’ it sounded strange and it made him feel strange, if he were to put it to words it was a feeling between unnecessary paranoia and outright fear. But it was mild, enough that he noticed but not enough to require more than a hesitation as a response. Across from him, the sage’s smile grew a tad bit wider but she offered nothing more. So he shrugged internally and walked through the doorway.

  The monks looked on as Zhao Bing walked through the archway formed of trees. Once he had gone through, the trees realigned back into two separate trees and the way into the void vanished.