In the ruins of the street few people were left, where mortals once stood, only immortals now dared stand.
Feng Wuqing awoke from her shocked slumber, her gaze searching until they landed upon the guard leader who similarly looked at her.
"The Grandmaster has ordered that we do not interfere with your actions, lady. He eagerly looks forward to your visit and to be introduced to your husband, however." A fist palm salute and a sharp bow.
The Unchained Leader watched closely as she stood from her stupor and slowly began to blink.
Straightening himself out, multiple of the guards who'd arrived back upon the street bowed as well.
The captain continued slowly, "You have been stripped of your position as the lady of the Feng. However, due to your prior affiliation with us and your involvement in the uncovering of the Yan's treason and External Affairs Ministries treachery, you've been bestowed the title of Lesser Lord within the exiled court."
The meaning was clear.
Your actions will not cause us to be held responsible, and we will not come for you now that the Exiled Court has officially decided to that you're a noble, someone of interest to them. You are on your own, no one will come for you.
She looked around, their words like flies in her ear, however much like the buzzing of a fly, it was annoyingly clear.
Mortals slowly crept back to the sight of the destruction.
She did not know where Fukkatsu had taken Shou Xin, and she did not know if he would live, however she did know one thing.
If he was alive, he would return.
He would be back.
And until then, she would do what she must.
Her aura slowly began to gather together and then expand as though a beasts sleeping breath, her lips parted, "It seems the Wild States have forgotten that it is not just the Sword Dragon that lurks in the skies."
Taotie.
Such a mystic beast began to swirl through her eyes, prowling, step by step seemingly searching for it's next prey, that which it would devour.
However the beast went to slumber, it's breath peaceful despite it's ferocious body.
"I will have my pound in flesh."
The guards were not intimidated, but rather shocked.
To see such serenity in a person right after such a harrowing battle, her lover's state unknown and nothing certain yet she was calm.
No.
She was not calm.
She laid in wait.
The sleeping taotie pretended to be dreaming with a peaceful breath, yet it's eyes were open in slits almost untraceable if not looking closely.
A voice reached out among the mortals, a girl leaving her grandfather's arms, "Let me help you! He is my lord too!"
She turned her attention to this girl, the very same which had caused this entire stoppage, and her grandfather the Spirit Leaf vendor.
Step by step she approached slowly and with a measured gaze, "What is your name?"
The queen stood before the girl.
The girl looked up at the queen.
"Cao Yue!"
Her whole body trembled with the force of her own words, a child trying to reach the person who seemed to so far away yet stood right in front of her.
A gentle gaze washed over her and her vision seemed to clear a bit.
Feng Wuqing turned her back and began walking into the sky.
Her eyes followed the figure of the queen of beasts, dejected at being left behind.
Yet, she paused.
Her body was being lifted off the ground by a power unknown to her, "We are going."
Yet as she began to take off, she felt a hand touch hers and something being passed, a little bracelet with a note attached.
Though when she looked back, no one was to be found.
A few words landed gently in her ears, "Men are all the same."
Her eyes began to shine with a foreign power, and suddenly she could sense something, an old familiar man, his eyes wet with tears as he hid away behind the debris.
He could not bear to watch her go, and if he could not see her go with a smile, he would cheer her on from afar.
The girl, Cao Yue, didn't know what to say, and chose to remain silent.
The grandfather who raised her, she would never forget him and come to visit, so she swore to herself.
—
Drizzling cave deep beneath the surface, a pond in the middle.
A mangled body, withered in many places, beaten down and broken.
A small dog-like dragon slept on it's lap, a weak light creating a small area of a warmth.
Something was changing.
Lightning coiled around the corpse and fire made runes on his body, the dog-like dragon shifting slightly as though in great pain, it's own body growing weaker and weaker.
The withered parts slowly began to change.
His arm which was almost fallen off was healed and runes crawled up his arm.
His hands which were crippled now each carried a separate rune, of lighting and fire.
The god-like dragon got smaller, turning into something akin to a little bird in size.
It was only then that the mangled corpse opened it's eyes, starlight leaking into the cave from it's sharp gaze.
It spoke simply, "I'm alive."
The little dragon circled happily, and the mangled corpse, nay, the young man slowly stood up giving the little dragon his shoulder and a word of thanks.
Glancing around however, he could not find the sword which the little dragon belonged to.
That was, until he thought about it and the handle appeared from within his very own arm.
With wide eyes, he grasped and pulled it out, a crisp low cry ringing through the dreary cave lit up only by him and some glow lichen.
The little dragon happily swirled around him.
Becoming one with the Spirit Artifact.
His pupils narrowed.
He had never heard of this.
Testing a few times, it was indeed not painful to pull the sword out nore to put it back.
He also realized he didn't need to pull it from his arm but could simply summon it out, the blade directly connected to his very soul.
Within his Inner Sea the cauldron stood firm though battered as though it had been under siege this entire time.
The Qi around was frozen, preventing him from using it.
The sword spun in his palm.
Little arcs of lightning fizzled and fire gleamed hidden away.
A cold sensation ran up his leg.
Kicking off the ground, he stumbled away, not expecting such a weak move on his own bodies part.
On the ground, water swirled in the form of a small tentacle, a familiar scent rising within the cavern.
He drew himself up, "...Dragon."
The water swirled and swirled, pointing in a single direction before looking back at him and then pointing there once again.
"Leading me are you, little water?"
Glancing around, the walls of the cave were still slick with water and the little water was clearly connected to everything around him, it was everything in this cave.
Tap… Tap… Tap…
His footsteps echoed.
Going deeper from his current position through a crack in the wall of the cave, an opening began to show where a large crystal illuminating the surroundings appeared bit by bit.
"A rib cage."
The little bugs that had attached to him as he passed through that crack quickly fell off, curling into balls, dead.
An enormous will descended around him, his body freezing up, if not for the strength of his soul with it's immense density, than he would have exploded.
Any ordinary Law Expert would not have survived, even an Unchained Expert would suffer greatly beneath the probing will which tingled like ants on the skin.
"The Great Path has done no wrong."
Sultry and aged, as though a wine which had been completed long ago and yet did not wish to finish it's long journey.
The will swirled around the little water, and with a slight bow, the sentient puddle began back into its home on the other side of the crack in the wall.
"It is those that manipulate the Heavenly Emperor and his court which cause the calamities across the many worlds connected by the Endless Dao's Roots."
It's voice slowed to a near halt, as though eons passed despite each word coming out no slower than the last, nor any faster than a drop of falling water.
He had not felt such a sensation since he last spoke with his father, though that time was far more turbulent.