45th of Season of Fire, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

  “Big Brother?” Newt knew he was delirious. Dandelion gripping his arm and helping him stand straight was a figment of a dying man’s imagination.

  “Our timing is quite fortunate.”

  “Yes… Impossibly fortunate.” Sect Master Greenthorn dragged out the words, glaring at Dandelion, but the man ignored it.

  Am I dead already?

  “Honorable sect master, I have done my part, please take good care of my little brother for me and thank you for saving his life. If I may be so bold, I would suggest you take him to the Savage Wood with these few minutes we have left, it would be better if such a cataclysmic event happened where others will have a difficult time connecting the incident with your sect. Take care, Newstar.”

  Air whipped Newt’s hair before he processed the words. The fantasy seemed so real. His stomach lurched, and the wind picked up, slamming into Newt with the force of an unbreakable wall as the world changed from a blur to a nauseating nebula of colors.

  Then, just as abruptly as it started, everything came back into focus. Newt went limp, but the sect master held him tight.

  “I can’t rush too deeply into the Savage Wood. A tenth realm spirit beast would enter a rampage if it sensed me, and this is far enough from any prying eyes.”

  The sect master released Newt who slumped to the ground and looked up, then burst into laughter.

  “Thank you, sect master, thank you. Even if this is a dream, I am eternally grateful and in your debt.”

  “Stop speaking nonsense. You fought bravely for the sect while I was held up in the imperial capital, but we will discuss everything later. Now, the time is nigh. Take off your clothes.”

  Newt doubted the words he heard, which confirmed he really was dreaming, and undressed. The sect master stored the robe into his spatial pouch, but Newt hardly paid him any attention.

  His skin smoldered, air around him dancing in a haze.

  Maybe this isn’t a dream? With that thought, Newt blacked out. A moment later, he opened his eyes and found himself in a familiar bed in a familiar white room.

  He turned his head to the side and saw the sect master sitting on the same chair as he did the previous two years.

  “Did you see anything?”

  Newt stared blankly.

  Am I alive?

  “Did you have another vision?”

  Newt considered the matter. Everything hurt. That probably meant he lived. His muscles were sore, his mind and body so exhausted that he either did not experience the visions or worse, he had completely forgotten anything they had revealed to him. Newt feared it was the latter, and that he had missed an important part of the puzzle. But, if there was a puzzle to solve, an event he missed, it meant he was blessedly alive.

  Newt laughed, then stopped himself and shook his head.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t recall anything. I was running for weeks, maybe even moons without stopping, I got lost in the jungle, and everything turned out wrong.”

  Newt felt the tears sliding down his cheeks. He was embarrassing himself. Realization struck him, and he jumped out of his bed, trying to kowtow, but before his head hit the ground, a wall of air lifted him back to bed.

  “Thank you, Sect Master, thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” The man seemed unfazed by the outburst. “What happened? Where did you get such an impressive spear and that scar on your forehead?”

  Newt explained everything he remembered in as few lines as possible. The entire Savage Wood trek was barely worth three sentences. He did not know whether the group was incredibly lucky or cautious enough to avoid all the spirit beasts along the way. The secret realm they had stumbled upon deserved more details as Newt told the story of Coldsteel of the Claw clan, including when and how the ancient cultivator had died.

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  Newt gave the sect master an expectant look, but the man just shrugged. “Never heard of him, nor the clan.”

  The rest of the story was boring. With a solid weapon in hand, and outside the area controlled by fifth realm spirit beasts, Newt ran in a straight line, slaying any spirit beasts which appeared in his way until he left the jungle.

  “How did you find me?” Newt asked after finishing his telling.

  “Your friend, Dandelion, showed up in the sect one day, some eight moons after the attack. He requested an audience and offered to help me find you. He examined the tracks and guessed where the airship was headed. Just so you know, the slightest change of course or imperfection translates into an error margin calculated in miles by the time you crossed the sea, but he deduced the likeliest direction in a matter of minutes, and we headed out to search for you.”

  The sect master looked out the window.

  “I followed his directions and sneaked through the jungle while he waited outside. I found the crash site on the second attempt, and I must admit I was impressed. It still seems impossible, the initial patch of broken trees was the only clue he had to calculate your location. Right, he had one weird request — I needed to conclude my investigation of the jungle and return to him in thirteen days or fewer.”

  The sect master shifted his gaze back at Newt.

  “Is he psychic? Can he see the future? The way he warned me, it sounded like something horrible would happen if I stayed more than two weeks in the jungle. I was starting to get nervous. We had only twelve days left before the summer solstice when I found the crash site. I was tempted to ransack the jungle in search of you, but your friend insisted I should return as soon as I found any clues of your whereabouts. And do you know what he said when I returned?”

  Newt shook his head.

  “He first told me to relax and calm down for an hour. I mentioned the tightness of our deadline then, told him about the solar tribulation, but he nodded, saying he already knew. I’m guessing you told him?”

  Newt tried to remember whether he had discussed his problem with Dandelion. He did not. He was almost certain. Dandelion certainly knew about Magmin’s realm, but he had no way of divining Newt’s curse.

  Newt looked at the sect master and wondered whether he should lie to cover for Dandelion, but there was no point. The sect master would catch his lies, and that would only make matters worse.

  “I’ve never mentioned my curse to anyone.”

  The sect master nodded.

  “After sitting and thinking for a while, your friend stood up and said you must be heading back to your clan. I’ve never seen such calm conviction, that’s why I thought he could see the future. The only mistake he made was about the first potential crash site.”

  Maybe he guessed I was planning on entering Magmin’s realm to escape the solstice? Newt considered the matter. It seemed likely. If Dandelion knew the sun was smiting him, and that secret realms had no sun, existing in separate pockets of space, that made Magmin’s realm an obvious hiding place for Newt.

  “You know the rest. We found you, and I protected you. Fortunately, your tribulations seem to be weakening; this one was even easier to handle than the previous one, and my power was enough to protect you. You have suffered grievous injuries, but I brought a collection of pills, just in case, and managed to stabilize your condition before bringing you here.”

  Newt could feel the sect master’s telling was just as rushed as his, bare of meaningful details, but considering the difference between their statuses, the man owed Newt no explanations, let alone wasting time to search for him.

  “Sect master, I am eternally grateful,” Newt said the same thing for the third time, “I really am. I just have a single question.”

  The sect master smiled and motioned him to speak.

  “Why invest so much in me? I think the Blood Cult’s attack happened because of me. I interfered with their plans and summoned misfortune to our sect.”

  “You did what was right. If everyone feared the consequences of standing up to the demons, they would have destroyed the world already, or whatever their plan is. Our sect received imperial bounties for slaying the cultists, and the imperials compensated us for our losses. While spirit gems can’t make up for the lives we lost, they more than covered the material damage we have suffered, and the rest we will use to further the sect’s growth.”

  Newt watched the kind smile and burned with shame from hiding his secrets from the sect master.

  “As for helping you survive, your solar tribulations are dwindling and empowering your body at the same time. Your body right now is on par with cultivators at the initial layers of the fifth realm, roughly around the second layer. You have potential for a glorious future, and that future will benefit the sect as long as you remain loyal to us.”

  “I will do everything in my power to repay your kindness and meet your expectations.” Newt said with a steely look. After the whole Blood Cult incident, he owed the sect more than he owed his clan.

  “I know you will. You’re a fine young man, upright and responsible.”

  Newt suddenly remembered something he missed in his account of what happened during the Blood Cult’s attack.

  “Sect Master, somebody sabotaged our ship. That’s why we flew so far into the Savage Wood.”

  The sect master’s face turned grim. He gave a sharp nod.

  “Your airship wasn’t the only one. Another airship crashed into the sea shortly after taking off, and Rexheart slew an outer disciple which had infiltrated their airship.”