You, Are Too Valuable To Be Free.

  Xiang closed his eyes and let his senses flow through Jianrong.

  What he found baffled him.

  “Release your Aura.” He breathed.

  Jianrong’s Aura unfolded and came to rest over them.

  Fei realized at that moment that the woman's power was at a minimum, Peak Core. But for some reason, her Dantian was nearly silent as if asleep.

  Xiang felt the steady rotation of power within her, the churn with her Soul Sea, but more as if another Soul Sea was spinning within her. Two galaxies apart, but material from one is becoming part of another.

  Xiang withdrew his senses slowly, as if stepping back from a precipice.

  “You were right to restrain yourself, Fei,” he said with pride.

  His eyes never left Jianrong.

  “This is not something that should be examined in the open.”

  Jianrong was not being hunted because she was violent.

  She was sought after because she broke the rules that allowed power to exist under specific conditions.

  Conditions Sects and Empires controlled.

  Xiang looked at Rong. “Child…how long have you been at Core Formation?”

  Rong thought. “Several months.” She admitted.

  “How long did it take you to form your Core?” Xiang asked.

  “Which part of the process, the gathering of Qi or the compression portion?” Rong asked.

  Xiang blinked. “All of it.”

  “Not long, my siblings share the same affinities, we can share Qi, many hands make light work.” She replied.

  Xiang’s breath seized, then he continued.

  “During that time, did you rely on pills, arrays, or sect instruction?” he asked.

  “We are a remote village of Exiles; we don’t have access to those things, Grand Elder,” Rong replied.

  “If you stopped cultivating tomorrow, what would happen?” he thought aloud.

  Rong shrugged. “I think I would just stagnate where I am. My core is slowly cycling on its own through locomotion, so yeah, I don’t know.” She admitted.

  “Have you ever attempted to guide another through the same process?” Xiang asked.

  “The crown has had us help people who are chosen. The criteria is being stalled in their cultivation.” She said evenly. “The last person we helped was an injured sect elder.”

  Xiang closed his eyes and touched his Token.

  “Fei. Clear the outer courtyard. No one leaves. No one approaches.”

  Fei bowed to Xiang, then stiffly returned Jianrong's salute as she turned to leave.

  “From this moment forward, what you represent cannot be handled by field authority, city administration, or standard sect procedure.”

  “You are too valuable to be free,” Xiang stated.

  Rong’s brows shot up. “Too valuable?’ she said before chuckling. “I think you have the wrong idea about me.” She said, shaking her head.

  Xiang slowly stood up and addressed Rong.

  “I do not mean valuable as a weapon.” Xiang’s hand slid down his beard in thought.

  His eyes met hers.

  “I mean, valuable as a failure point.”

  Then more quietly.

  “People will try to own that.”

  “So better to be first than last, right?” Rong said her head tilted as she laughed without bitterness.

  She moved and took a seat on the bench and leaned back, watching the man.

  “I am afraid you are traveling a road that is already well-traveled.” She admitted.

  Her hands steepled across her chest as she looked up at him. “We are not pills or arrays that will help you. As you already heard, there is more going on in my body than just Core Formation. “

  She glanced at the matrons watching from a short distance away, then looked him in the eye.

  “I don’t know how it is for people in the sect, but existing and breathing isn’t enough for my family. We tend to go scorched earth for several things, the first being family, the second for their security, and finally for our own autonomy to do the former.” Rong explained.

  The man's eyes hardened.

  He liked this person, but her ideology was dangerous because if it spread, it would be a cancer that would rot out his Sect and others.

  The powers she had demonstrated were not registered; they were not inherited under their value system.

  She neither valued nor needed the Sect. This alone could not be allowed to continue.

  The system relied on separating assets from their dependents, converting loyalty into leverage. This forced personal advancement over personal attachment.

  She spoke as an equal, not as a petitioner.

  She did not beg.

  She did not bargain.

  She did not abase herself.

  She defined terms.

  To the Sect, that was heresy.

  That was intolerable.

  “This is not about her intentions. It is about what happens when others like her appear.” He thought,

  Xiang's eyes softened for a moment.

  “Child, I can only give you one chance: fall to your knees, beg heaven for forgiveness, accept me as your master, and I will guide you on the proper path. We will never speak of this day again, and your companions will be released at the city gate. What happens to them after that will be up to fate.” He said, standing tall as his Aura slowly surged.

  Rong closed her eyes in thought, then slowly rose to face him. With a low bow, she addressed him.

  “I have already sworn a blood oath to protect them, and I am under my Empress's rule to do as she orders. While I appreciate your consideration, I must decline.” Rong stated, her arms falling to her sides, loose and ready.

  Xiang nodded.

  “There are many ways to break stubbornness; I am afraid all of them are painful.” He glanced at the matrons.

  “They will be placed appropriately for their part in the Sect losing dedicated disciples. You might want to savor her sweet kiss one last time, before it belongs to others. Many others.” His tone was cold.

  Xiang pressed to elicit a reaction, to see how best to move against the group without risking a scandal and further loss of life.

  Jianrong smiled brightly. “It seems even a dragon is just an elegant snake in the end.”

  Xiang felt a sharp pain he had not felt in a long time.

  Rage.

  Xiang glared at the young woman. He realized he was going to enjoy breaking her will.

  “A woman should know their place. You were blessed to know what it meant to be more than one who tended pots or who comforted your betters. Your mother failed you; I will not. “

  His eyes looked at the matrons in newfound disdain.

  “You're just a frog at the bottom of a well.” Xiang mused.

  Jianrong laughed freely and openly at him. All she saw was someone pretending to be something they weren’t.

  “You gonna run your suck forever or you gonna fight like a man…even if it is like an old man.” Rong teased, licking her lips as her eyes narrowed.

  The rumble of the Gold Core spiked, and the power flowing through Xiang erupted.

  The next moment, he attacked.

  In a move to dominate the battlefield, his Aura detonated outward, making the woman scream as it washed over them like a tsunami.

  This was not an attack to harm.

  It was better to say this was the opening move.

  This was a total field assertion.

  Just like someone using intent and domain, this was meant to flood the area with his cultivation signature.

  This was equivalent to seizing the high ground.

  All Qi in the area would be forced to synchronize with him, as his Aura controlled the space.

  This was able to lock down techniques, spells, and arts that would be moving through the land he controlled.

  This was textbook Gold Core Control doctrine.

  This was a step toward understanding the Nascent Soul's domain.

  Even Jianrong’s External Qi control would move more slowly when fighting directly against his Aura without her Aura competing for the same space.

  At the same time, Jianrong’s Core moved just as fast but was a step behind, as she did not move to attack until he had done so.

  As Xiang pulsed Qi through his feet to gain some distance to attack, he realized Jianrong had remained nearly on top of him.

  She had not tried to use any art or spell.

  She simply attacked him as a mortal would; the only difference was that, instead of her Aura expanding and competing with his, it curled around her body as armor that took on the shape of an animal as Qi flooded it, making it become not just a distortion of light but a physical manifestation of gold.

  Xiang’s eyes widened.

  He pulsed Qi once more to side step Rong while drawing his sword.

  But his Spirit Sense was already screaming at him.

  She was still on top of him.

  The ground under her clawed armor exploded as her muscles and Aura moved her as fast as his movement arts did.

  They clashed because the sealed grounds that hid the incident had turned his retreat into a dead end.

  The detention centers hardened, and the defensive walls became a cage.

  Xiang’s mind moved faster than a mortal, faster than Foundation Establishment or Core Formation Cultivator.

  In the brief moment before blows landed, he saw the woman smiling, her eyes sparkling with violet pinpricks as Qi accelerated her thought process.

  For the first time in a very long time.

  Xiang had regrets.

  Rong's head dipped to one side. Xiang’s mind was screaming at maximum speed to determine her actions as no Qi was moving through her meridian in pulses he could decipher; her Aura did not hint at her movement.

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  Just static as if she was moving on instinct alone.

  His sword swung, her feet switched from left to right, forward, then back as the blade landed.

  Then it made contact with the armor and slowed, as if it had hit something soft and pliable. It stopped once it made contact with her tactical armor, but by then all its inertia had been devoured and or diverted.

  The proximity meant he could not muster enough energy to break through her defenses.

  Her right fist came around in a hook from his blind spot. It was like being struck by a hammer blow; he saw stars and felt dazed.

  Xiang’s feet left the ground as he was launched one meter into the corner of the courtyard.

  Xiang did something he never imagined he would be forced to do.

  He let go of his sword to meet the woman in hand-to-hand combat.

  He had tanked her single blow, and his cultivation was churning.

  He was taller.

  He had reach.

  Twenty breaths into the fight, she smashed into him without a care in the world.

  A sharp, powerful strike filled with Qi exploded where she had been, missing her as the woman rolled her shoulders aside.

  The next moment, she was back at it, pounding his Aura shield.

  The more he tried to fight her, the more enraged he became.

  What did not miss was absorbed by her golden armor, and in that instant, he understood—

  It was fueled by Qi, but unlike his, it was not a spell.

  She had figured out a way to enhance her Aura using cultivation itself.

  HERESY.

  When the first magic shield shattered, he raged.

  At one hundred breaths, the second shield crumpled and dispersed.

  He howled and redoubled his efforts.

  When the third shield did not snap in place fast enough, she shattered four ribs with a single strike.

  His organs screaming in agony, understanding finally broke through the pain.

  She was not trying to defeat him.

  She was not trying to win a duel.

  She was trying to kill him.

  At nearly two hundred breaths, he panicked.

  With a shout, he pulled out a talisman and activated it.

  Well… he tried to, his hands were shaking with exhaustion, and his lungs on fire.

  SILENT NIGHT

  The darkness pulsed, destroying the magic for both Rong and Xiang.

  Rong Aura armor was consumed, while Xiang’s talisman died mid execution.

  A breath later, Xiang blinked, trying to figure out what happened, when, for a brief glimpse, he remembered Fei describing the strange skill.

  He had forgotten about it in the heat of the moment.

  In the blink of an eye, Rong's forearm pinned his throat into the corner of the two walls, and a searing pain engulfed his midsection as Rong's dagger moved in and out of him a half a dozen times in the span of three heartbeats.

  Xiang gave a sputtering gasp, a death rattle; his cultivation sputtered.

  “STOP!” Fei screamed.

  Rong’s Spirit Sense warned her of two presences.

  When she turned, her chest was heaving, her breath ragged, her face flushed from exertion.

  Fei was holding her sword to Lin Su’s throat.

  “Surrender!” she screamed, seeing all the blood on her master and on Jianrong’s blade.

  “You give me my aunt, I give you your Elder, and you can save him. If not, he dies.”

  Rong warned, then cleared her throat and spit on the ground, her breath calming, but her adrenaline still coursing through her veins.

  “You will heal him! Then surrender!” Fei screamed louder.

  “Give me my woman, save your Elder, or I will make your death painful and meaningless,” Rong stated coldly.

  Fei’s eyes were wide in horror; she was not making sense.

  “I swear on my mother's name, you let her go, I will feed him a pill, and you take him to get help.”

  Fei blinked, then nodded as she let go of the woman, who ran to the others gathered not far away to watch.

  Rong pressed her shoulder into him to hold him up, pulled out a vial and popped the cork, and a powerful scent of Qi enveloped Xiang, who was losing consciousness.

  Rong grit her teeth and flicked the Qi gem into the Elder's mouth, then moved back to let go of him.

  Xiang slumped to the ground.

  She felt the movement and the killing intent from behind her.

  Rong turned her back on Fei and lowered her head.

  The tactical armor tanked the sword strike as Fei tried to stab her in the liver.”

  The next movement was Rong's arm snapping back at her full power, with her knife in an underhand grip.

  The tip found the flesh of her upper arm and shattered the bone as it passed through her flesh as if she were made of a soft pastry.

  Fei’s powerful two-handed lunge turned into her trying to back away from her enemy while Rong's blade pulled her closer.

  She could feel Xiang recovering fast with the infusion of Qi.

  The fact that she was not putting pressure on him gave him the time he needed to recover.

  It was only a breath of thought, but Rong committed to it as her legs flowed, and a side kick sent Fei sailing away as Xiang crawled towards his sword.

  “TIME TO GO!” Rong announced, sheathing her bloody blade, leaping to the matrons.

  The women grabbed onto her and each other, then the light flickered and gravity compressed, paused, and reversed over several heartbeats as Qi drained from every meridian in Rong's body.

  The group fell upward and disappeared into the darkness.

  Fei stared upward in shock.

  A moment later, Xiang screamed in rage and impotence as he fell over after over-exerting himself too soon.

  In the darkness as they fell upward, several women were screaming in terror.

  Then Jianrong laughed, and the air pulled them closer; they fell quiet as …something began to form around them, softly encapsulating them.

  Soon, they were crushed together.

  The falling upward was slowing to a stop as the space around them grew larger, little by little.

  Then the screaming started again as they began to fall down, the city clear in the darkness, light making a sea of gold and orange.

  But this time, the construct they were in began accelerating.

  Rong smiled, “Let's go home!”

  They made a hard bank, and all five matrons groaned as they moved faster and faster upward and away.

  Rong popped a gem in her mouth and smirked.

  “Gold Core, in a tight spot… not so scary… luckily, he didn’t hit me with killing intent.” She thought.

  In the silence, the women looked down through the craft's transparent bottom, the light marking towns and cities still awake.

  In the distance, a tiny spec was their marker, Seldara.

  Lin Su lay beside Rong, holding hands.

  “Rong’er, what is your plan?” she asked, making everyone hold their breath.

  “I will take you to Ironwood, get you settled in.”

  “What about you?” Na asked.

  Rong smiled. “I have family to go pick up and some people to kill so…. I will be a bit busy for a few days.”

  “Please... don’t kill them, leave them.” Bao Yun pleaded.

  “I agree.” Lin Su said softly, leaning into Rong.

  The young woman closed her eyes.

  “You will learn about the Council; the Council guides my path. As a member of our family, I have recognized your sovereignty within Ironwood. Take a vote. If you say let them live, then they live. If not well.” Rong said softly.

  The women talked, and finally, there was a vote.

  No one voted whether or not they should die; they voted on whether Jianrong should do as she wished.

  In the end, they voted for her to take the path she felt was right.

  They did not want to feel responsible for other people's pain.

  They asked she not kill because of what happened to them.

  Before dawn, the sky thumped with thunder over Seldara.

  Jang was resting in her coach when the sound roused the guards.

  She looked up, but she could not sense the craft, only the telltale signs of Air Qi in the atmosphere slowly increasing.

  In less than a stick of burning incense, she was notified.

  A black craft, just like what the brothers had flown, had circled in the low predawn light.

  Then six people fell from the sky.

  Ironwood village.

  In the village, people felt the wind and knew what it was, but not who it was. What followed was people who knew the Matrons stepping forward to help them get situated.

  Valen was there and received the news with Vessa and Lana, who took Rong to a room and verified the unbelievable truth.

  Soon, Janice arrived, worried.

  Jianrong rested the day, slowly walking through the new village, feeling our way, catching up on the news, and sharing stories and memories.

  By midday, she finally felt rested. She was crushed between Bram and Janice on a bench, chatting when one of the mothers of a two-month-old baby girl stopped by.

  The child was far along when the mother had been liberated; they had not had enough time and hands to offer medical care. Now the mother was adamant, and Rong was receptive.

  Lying on a large mat with a blanket, the mother and child lie down, Jianrong joining them.

  With the child between them and Bram and Janice watching, she checked her over.

  Poor nutrition early on was Rong's guess.

  With a baby, they had to give it Qi at an extremely slow pace, so she began,

  Then it started screaming.

  Startled, Rong stopped, and the mother tried to calm her, but the farther away from Rong she got, the louder she grew.

  Rong clicked her tongue while the mother blinked in incomprehension.

  Finally, Rong held the child directly.

  It quieted down, then got fussy, then began screaming once more.

  Lana approached and finally spoke. “Child, try feeding her.”

  Rong closed her eyes and turned red from her neck to her ears, but after a moment, with the help of the birther mother, she helped her get into position, and the child was placed.

  Rong flinched when the little one latched on, but then there was only silence as she began eating like there was a hole in her stomach.

  At some point, the child fell asleep. Its skin had a warmth beyond the red of blood; it was almost as if there were an inner light.

  Lana and Vessa checked her over.

  Her health had improved.

  Those four words doomed Rong as more mothers popped out of the woodwork, their children in tow.

  Soon, Rong was surrounded by women with children, talking and laughing, while Rong fed babies who seemed undernourished.

  Food was brought, and Rong was stuffed full of Feral meat and every delicious dish families could think of.

  Before the day was over, Bram and Janice had begged Rong to be their wet nurse.

  Rong felt a deep sense of defeat but could not say no.

  The couple dragged her home and didn’t release her until morning, simply wanting to be with her, but succumbing to her Yin and Rong missing them, unable to say no to people she loved.

  “Don’t worry,” Janice whispered, curled around Rong as the light spilled into the room.

  Janice bit her lip. “Cheri already understands Bram has responsibilities for the ladies of the Village.”

  Rong stared at her, not comprehending.

  “Baby girl… you're now part of that group, which means she cannot say no,” Janice whispered, then slowly kissed her lover.

  Rong felt unmoored. “Wut?” she croaked.

  When Janice whispered in her ear, Rong’s body got hot.

  When it was over, she was clinging to Janice for dear life.

  The old woman giggled. “You are so sensitive.”

  Internally, Rong's life was on fire. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no.”

  Jianrong realized that when Solomon's body was low-sensitivity, high-endurance

  He controlled pacing

  He could give pleasure without being overtaken by it

  His partners reacted to him

  Now:

  Jianrong’s body is highly sensitive, highly responsive.

  Her nervous system escalates faster than her will.

  Her reactions are visible, audible, and undeniable.

  Her partners can read her state instantly.

  That creates leverage, not because her lovers are cruel, but because responsiveness is power in intimate dynamics.

  Whoever can:

  Stay coherent longer.

  Pace more slowly.

  Withhold reaction…has control.

  That’s true across cultures and genders.

  This was not about humiliation.

  It was about the loss of executive control over a domain he had once been sovereign over.

  That’s destabilizing for someone whose identity is competence.

  To a small degree, Rong felt something alien.

  Lack of relevance.

  As a man of Ironwood, he was desired, needed, and pursued.

  In a sense, now she was sitting in line for people like Bram to find time to lie with her.

  It struck at her self-worth.

  Jianrong realized that she likely was not the only person who felt this way… and she needed to find a solution.

  When it was just Rong and Janice, she broke down.

  “Baby? What's wrong? Did I hurt you?” Janice became alarmed.

  Rong held her close.

  “I am struggling, but I don’t want to upset you,” Rong admitted.

  The woman smiled, making her heart ache; she loved being around her.

  “Just tell me,” Janice said reassuringly.

  “I am mourning my loss of manhood; I am mourning the fact that I am now a village resource. Before...

  Jianrong's voice cracked.

  Before, I would tell myself that I could just end my life if things got too hard. Now I have lost that… dark comfort. I can help sick children; I can be there for your baby.” Rong whispered.

  Janice smiled. “We want to have a child with you, baby,” Janice confessed.

  Jianrong felt pressure on her chest and began taking shallow breaths, alarming Janice, who helped her sit down.

  “Calm down, calm down, I didn’t mean now, it was just something we realized when we realized it might be possible. You and Bram would have a beautiful baby.” Janice gushed.

  Jianrong felt as if the world was spinning, then she blacked out.

  Jianrong moved through dreams.

  She had been overwhelmed by Rou and Ling; she loved them, trusted them, and knew deep down that what Ling had given her was a resource nations would kill for. It would help her children and the village children. But that was hypothetical.

  Coming home made it real.

  It had gotten too real as more people wanted her to live with them; they wanted her to run a nursery, because not only was she the best healer of the Dars, but also, she was now a woman, and a woman who took care of children was more comfortable because that was what society and nature told everyone on a subconscious level.

  Later, when Jianrong woke up, Bram was there with Janice, both of them crying and worried.

  Her hands cupped their faces, which led to kissing, which led to lovemaking.

  Rong realized that while she had given up one thing, she had gained another.

  Just like with Rou and Ling, when she joined with Bram, it was a feeling unlike anything she could put into words.

  Janice has said they had become one and had cried more than once during their lovemaking, but now, with Bram, she understood.

  With it was the physical sensation or a chemical reaction; she felt closer to both of them, and she did not want to give that up.

  Janice practiced breathing, and just that made things more bearable than feeling as if she were being compelled against her will, her body's natural drive taking over.

  The Matrons caught up with her while she did her medical duties, and they took turns slowly repairing the old damage.

  Bao Yu knew several people who had been exiled and was shocked to see them. Some looked younger than when they had left the Clan.

  Lin Su followed Rong along and met Rosha and Mira, who, just as she expected, treated her completely differently.

  “So…you’re a woman.. a real woman now?” Rosha asked, shocked.

  Half an incense stick later, they believed her.

  “So… remember when you asked us to marry you.” Mira purred.

  Rong stared at them.

  “If you tell me you were waiting for me to have a gender change to see me as a viable partner, I will kick you,” Rong warned.

  Lin Su laughed.

  “So, what do you think so far?” Mira asked.

  Jianrong shared with the three of them memories of where she had been with Bram and Janice.

  “Oh, my gods.” Lin Su gasped.

  Rosha stared, then looked to Mira, whose mouth was open.

  “That….is a lot of sensation. A-LOT-OF sensation.” Mira marveled.

  “So I am not crazy?!” Rong felt suddenly relieved.

  Rosha shook her head. “That, that is like my most exciting interaction then multiplied.” She murmured.

  “Is it ALWAYS like that?” Lin Su asked, alarmed.

  Rong nodded.

  “Talk to your grandma; there should be herbs that dull the sensation.” Mira offered.

  Rong brightened.

  Another day passed, but Jianrong felt as if her feet had finally found solid footing.

  When she helped children, she practiced speaking about her emotions and about how things made her feel. She was used to simply accepting pain, discomfort, and despair.

  She turned the baby's feeding into a logistical problem rather than an autonomy issue.

  She would build a way to save and store milk; she couldn’t simply sit around feeding babies, that was poor planning and not how she wanted to live her life.

  When evening came, she stayed with Na and the other who were still coming to terms.

  With Lin Su using her as a body pillow, she closed her eyes and entered the Bloom of Returning.

  Matron was waiting for her.

  “It seems you have been busy.” She teased.

  “I was having a nervous breakdown,” Rong admitted.

  Matron smiled. “As all of you have opened your meridians, the amount of Qi the Bloom has been able to harvest has exceeded expectations.”

  The two entered through the large doors into a room that seemed to be modeled on a hotel lobby.

  “Have any more memories come back?” Rong asked.

  Matron nodded. “It seems the system closely follows human biology. Recent memories are being retained once more, but access to older files is very slow.”

  “Were you able to find the files as I asked for?” Rong asked.

  Matron nodded, but her expression was bad. “They are massive, even accessing may take several seasons.” She admitted.

  Jianrong had asked for a blueprint of the treasure, which was built more like an orbital habitat than a magical treasure.

  Moving around the room, she touched the statue that had a female Cat-kin holding hands with several types of child Cat-kin.

  Rong looked at Matron and decided.

  “I would like access, even if it is pitch black, I can start close and start figuring out what is inside so we can figure out why you're low on energy or how to get you energy. Plus, we can do a rough map with you using my sense of echo location.” Rong offered.

  Matron embraced Rong, making the woman melt in her scent.

  “What will you do when you grow a tail?” Matron asked innocently like what she wanted for lunch.

  “I… she… said it would be incorporeal… so.” Rong thought back to Ling explaining how a tail might manifest itself.

  Matron licked her lips and considered how to broach such a delicate subject.

  Rong closed her eyes and gave a defeated chuckle. “Just tear the scab off, tell me,” Rong murmured, then sat down in the large leather couches that were nearby.

  Matron sat with her, she leaned her head against the young womans shoulder and spoke softly.

  “When they told you that, you were using the alchemical pill to conceal your gender and it allowed your mate to share their essence.”

  Rong nodded.

  What they described to you was if you had stopped there.

  Jianrong blinked.

  “How many times since then have you joined with the spider and fox?”

  Rong opened her mouth, then it closed as she thought about each time they would find her alone, brief interludes while she marched, which had been why her fragrance had been such a problem.

  She cleared her throat. “There, uh, have been several times.” Rong croaked.

  “Child.” Matron sighed. “I have them on record; you have twenty-seven different times in which essence was exchanged.”

  Rong blinked. That number could not be correct. Could it?

  Matron sighed. You're changing daily, and your hair has already stopped being black.

  Rong looked down, but realized it was a soul projection, not her real body.

  “So…a tail?” Rong mouthed.

  Matron sighed.

  “No, don’t… don’t sigh...” Rong moaned.

  “Child, it is both a blessing and a curse. You will likely become a Spirit Beast if you keep mating with our partners.

  “I love them,” Rong said weakly.

  Matron nodded. “To share essence with you means they are also invested in your growth. If I am honest, it is startling and unbelievable.”

  Matron leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I will account for four incense sticks, which is approximately an hour of your era’s time, so you can return and sleep.

  Rong stood up and walked to a large door, then, with the matron's command, it opened, and Jianrong entered the darkness and disappeared.