“After the treatment you gave him, he woke the very night you left,” Yan Xiao said. “His injuries are still severe, though—he needs a few more days of rest.”
“That’s a relief.” Feng Yuxin let out a long breath. The memory of that blade still made her heart race. If not for the life-force in the realm source and the timely treatment, Yan Geng might not have survived had she been any later.
“You saved him.” Yan Xiao’s voice was uneasy. “If you hadn’t... I don’t think I would have had any peace for the rest of my life.” He couldn’t forget that the fatal strike had been aimed at him; Yan Geng had taken it on his behalf.
“We’re family,” Feng Yuxin said, and went inside to check on Yan Geng herself.
He was out of immediate danger. Now it was only a matter of convalescence.
Under other circumstances they all would have lingered, celebrated having one of their own spared. But Huang City had been badly damaged by the invasion from Zhongzhou; no one felt like celebrating. A city that had been invaded like that had to be rebuilt from the ground up. This was the first time since its founding that Huang City had suffered an incursion on such a scale. What angered Feng Yuxin most was that Zhongzhou belonged to the same broad continent as Huanglong—how could they do this to their own people?
She had stayed only for a simple meal with the elders and then returned to her own courtyard. The three little ones—always eager to shadow her—had wanted to come back with her, but Mo Xuanye had been heartless enough to hand them over to Yan Xiao. Yan Xiao, understanding the young couple needed time alone, willingly took on the three as their babysitter and accompanied them to Yan Geng’s place.
Back at their courtyard, Mo Xuanye waved a hand and the formation at the entrance dissolved. Before Feng Yuxin could react, he swept her up in his arms.
She was startled. “What are you doing?”
“You!” Mo Xuanye said, the single word sharp and certain. Heat rose to Feng Yuxin’s cheeks.
The rest of the night was a private kind of reckoning.
When morning came, Mo Xuanye watched her with steady, unblinking attentiveness. She flinched and sat up. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
“You’re beautiful,” he said, corners of his mouth lifting with a satisfying calm.
“I’m going to get up.” She scrambled out of bed, eager to wash and dress before he could sweep in again. He had hoped to, but she had the foresight to get away.
Once they were both dressed, she turned to him. “Do you know where the core of the Huanglong Continent is?”
He looked at her with indulgent affection. “What do you think, Yuxin?”
Her brow knit. “I don’t know. I never really had the chance to learn. I left before I ever properly looked into it, and since I came back after three years, I never got around to studying the continent in depth. What I care about most are the people of Huang City—Yan’s family, and those who followed me like Dongfang Zhi. Everything else hasn’t been my focus.”
“Very few people on the Huanglong Continent know where the core is,” Mo Xuanye said.
“Among those few, you must be one of them,” she said with a half-smile.
He returned the smile. “You really put your faith in me.”
“I chose my husband carefully.” The rare compliment made something like softness cross his eyes.
“Have you ever wondered why Huang City’s spiritual energy is so concentrated?” Mo Xuanye asked.
She froze. “You don’t mean—are you saying the continent’s source is right under Huang City?”
He nodded. “Beneath the Eight Trigrams formation.”
“But we went there before,” Feng Yuxin protested. “We looked and we didn’t see any source.”
“I only discovered it recently,” Mo Xuanye said, smiling. “The Five Gods Realm has been demoted to the Five Gods Continent, and our Huanglong Continent is poised to rise into the Huanglong Realm. Are you worried?”
Feng Yuxin considered. “Every change has its pros and cons.” If the continent advanced to a realm, neighboring realms would take notice. Powerful regions like the Xuan Yu Realm could easily set their sights on a newly elevated land. Even if some great realms wouldn’t interfere, realms similar in strength to the Five Gods Continent might be tempted. When a continent first becomes a realm, its overall strength often lags behind—everyone would need to protect what they had built.
“It’s good you think that way,” Mo Xuanye said. “But do not worry—the Enforcement Hall will not sit idly by.”
“Then why didn’t they intervene when the Five Gods Realm caused all that trouble?” she asked.
“Because the Five Gods did it to themselves. This was punishment for them,” he said. “Besides, the realm source is a reward for you. You helped release so many of their people’s trapped souls.”
Feng Yuxin looked at him. “Don’t put all the credit on me. If you hadn’t dealt with those demons, I couldn’t have freed those puppets so smoothly.”
He smiled. “It’s because of you too. If you hadn’t done what you did, I might never have gone after those demons. The credit is yours.” She let a small smile lift her lips.
“Can we put the realm source into the core now?” she asked.
“You’ll probably have to go yourself,” he replied.
“Why?” she asked, puzzled.
“When a continent shifts,” Mo Xuanye explained, “its terrestrial boundary changes.”
She blinked. “What does that mean? I don’t understand.”
“Do you think placing a realm source into the continent’s core will simply boost the spiritual energy without consequence?” he asked gently.
“Isn’t that how it works?” she blinked back.
“No.” He grew serious. “This spot is the continent’s heart. If the continent ascends into a realm, the land’s boundary will peel away, and the continent will start to rise—comprehensively, fundamentally. The terrain, the very nature of the land, will change.”
Feng Yuxin stared. She had never thought such a thing could happen. Before she went to the Five Gods Realm, she hadn’t imagined the realm source could be used to elevate an entire continent—and that doing so would alter the land itself.