Wait. Not into her— into her sword. Lily and the servant realized at the same time, but by then it was far too late. The outer disciple swept her sword down, a slice of bloody qi rocketing out with an indomitable aura enshrouding it, slicing cleanly through the qi shield… and continuing on to slice cleanly through his arm.

  A tendril of blood leapt out of the severed limb, wrapping around the golden fruit and carrying it through the air back towards the disciple. “Well. That was fun enough, I guess.” She realized that the servant had been utterly and totally outclassed. If she’d had to fight her instead of Ruqian… she was certain they would have died. Was that the true power of the Bloody Saffron Sect? “C’mon.” She was still staring at the servant as he struggled to bite into some pill or another when the disciple walked up to her, grabbing her hand and throwing her sword down in front of them— only for it to hover neatly at perfect, ankle-slicing level. “Well? Get on?”

  That managed to shock her out of her indecision. Getting to ride a real flying sword? Awesome! Hopefully it was—

  With a sickeningly strong lurch, they shot up into the sky, and Lily realized that if anything flying was worse than she’d expected. The wind roared around them as they left the island behind, shooting south as they headed back towards the 32nd precinct the expedited way. By the time they landed, Lily was just proud that she’d managed to keep her stomach down… though that might have more to do with how she’d not eaten anything for the past few days than anything.

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  They’d landed on top of the library roof, which was… well, a tiny part of her was disappointed that they weren’t going to do a dramatic landing in front of everyone, but she appreciated the discretion. As the disciple wordlessly held out the fruit to her, one thing bothered her…

  She gently picked up the valuable spirit herb, clutching it tight to her chest, and asked— “why?” The question had gnawed at her from the moment she’d first shimmered into existence in front of her. “Why did you help?”

  “Your master asked.”

  “Why did you listen?”

  The disciple paused, turning back for a moment and fixing her with a gaze that made her blood prickle with premonition of violence, restrained. That gleeful, happy cultivator from before was gone, replaced once more with the stoic representative of the Bloody Saffron Sect. “The methods of cultivators are not for mortals to discern.” Then she turned and strode away, pausing at the edge of the roof— “remember this as you study. The heavens are higher than you could possibly imagine, and every corner hides a threat. Guard your soul.” Then stepping off the roof—

  She was gone. Just like that.

  Lily sighed, just a little wistfully. So cool…

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