The tea poured from the spout like liquid amber. It was silent and devoid of steam yet the aroma that filled the small cottage was thick enough to drown in. It smelled of rain on dry earth, of old books and of a home Li Yu had not known for a long time.

  He sat across from the Village Head with his hands resting on his knees. The Matriarch watched him with milky, sightless eyes that nonetheless tracked the rise and fall of his chest.

  Li Yu took the cup she offered. It was warm, the ceramic rough against his skin.

  "Senior," Li Yu began with his voice breaking the stillness. "This junior has been showered with gifts by your village. Laws have been demonstrated to me as casually as one would discuss the weather. The spiritual density here exceeds most places sects guard with their lives."

  He paused as he was looking into the swirling amber liquid. "Why? Why are beings of such terrifying power living in a miniature realm like this? Hidden within the mountains in this small village? What are you hiding from? Or... what are you guarding?"

  The Matriarch smiled but it looked like a slow stretching of parchment-thin skin. She didn't drink her tea since it was poured. She merely held the cup and seemed to be warming her gnarled hands. Her eyes had not left him this entire time.

  "The tide waits for the moon, child," she said. Her voice was slightly raspy. "And the dust settles before the storm. We are neither hiding nor guarding in the way you think. We are merely... waiting."

  "Waiting for what?"

  "For the gears of fate to click into place," she answered, frustratingly vague. "A farmer plants a seed and waits for the season to turn. To dig it up before the time is right is to kill the sprout. We are simply farmers of a different sort. We are merely waiting for the harvest."

  Li Yu frowned slightly. It was the kind of riddle old monsters loved to give. It meant everything and nothing at the same time. It would probably lead to confusion and wrong doing if thought too much about as well.

  "But tell me," the Matriarch said, shifting the topic before he could press further. She leaned forward with the shadows of the room deepening around her. "The restrictions on this realm... the spatial locks on the archway... they were set by stronger beings than yourself. A Key is required. A blood sacrifice of sorts or a cultivation base high enough to force it open. Yet..."

  She tilted her head with her blind eyes narrowing. "You walked in. The girls with you, they were dragged in by your wake. But you... you simply stepped through. Did you use a talisman? A secret art? Or something else?"

  Li Yu blinked. "Restrictions? I didn't feel any restrictions. I saw the archway and I felt a pull as I got closer... a curiosity... and I walked in."

  The Matriarch sat back slowly. A silence stretched between them, heavy and suffocating. She nodded, almost imperceptibly, as if confirming a suspicion that terrified and delighted her in equal measure.

  "You felt a pull," she murmured to herself. "And the door opened because the owner of the house approached. Of course. How foolish of me."

  "Senior?"

  "Nothing," she waved a hand, dismissing his concern. "Just the ramblings of a senile old woman. Drink your tea, Li Yu. It is called the One Heart Brew. It soothes the weary. Calms the mind."

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  Li Yu lifted the cup and took a sip.

  The flavor wasn't sweet or bitter. It tasted like... peace. It tasted like a moment of respite after a thousand years of running. The tension in his shoulders, a tension he hadn't realized he was carrying was slowly dissolving.

  The wariness that kept his mind calculating what to do next smoothed. The constant calculation of threats, the cynicism—it all melted away, leaving him feeling strangely vulnerable.

  "You have a heavy soul for one so young," the Matriarch observed softly. "Tell me. How did you come to this place? Not the path you walked today but the path of your life. Who is Li Yu?"

  Normally, Li Yu would have deflected and wouldn’t have shared. He might have given a surface-level answer, a summary of his cultivation and a few edited highlights. Trust was a currency he spent miserly.

  But looking at this old woman, seeing the way the light caught her silver wisps of hair, he felt an inexplicable compulsion. It wasn't a magical charm or a mind-controlling art. It was something deeper. It was the feeling of a child wanting to tell a trusted adult about their day. A primal urge to share the burden.

  "I..." Li Yu started. He cleared his throat. "I was... I was not always a cultivator. I was a simple kid living in a village with my parents. We didn’t have much but always had enough and we had each other."

  Li Yu began to share his story, stretching all the way back to his earliest memories for some reason. Li Yu didn’t notice it because he was deep within his own thoughts but the old woman’s face would light up at the mention of his parents and his love for them.

  He spoke of his beginnings. He spoke of the fortuitous encounters. The Green Mountain Sect. His setbacks and struggles. He spoke of the loneliness of the path at times. Of friends he’s met along the way. Companions he could trust and share memories with.

  He spoke of the weight of leadership, of having power and the responsibilities it brings. Of people looking to him for salvation when he wasn't sure he could save himself. Everything big and small he shared. He didn’t know why he was going into such detail, he never had before. Not with anyone.

  Outside the cottage, the rhythmic sounds of the village had ceased. The clang-clang of Granny Tie’s hammer was gone. The chop of Auntie Tu’s cleaver had stopped. The creaking of the waterwheel seemed to be the only sound in the world. Each of the elders outside was listening to each and every word.

  Inside, Li Yu’s voice was the only thing that mattered. Li Yu even talked about his recent encounter with Si Luo and Bai Ruo and how his eyes couldn’t stop betraying him with Si Luo, much to the amusement of all the Elders. Then he went into his current quest for revenge and finished his tale of his life.

  He never talked much about his cultivation, his martial spirit or his souls. Those matters were things he never talked about with outsiders.

  He was just sharing his experiences and his life. The leader never probed into his cultivation with any questions, just silently listening to what he was willing to share about his life.

  "I just want to walk my own path and enjoy the journey," Li Yu whispered while staring into the dregs of his tea. "The enemies get stronger. The sky gets higher and the shadow it casts gets colder. I’m tired, Senior. But I can't stop. If I stop, everything I’ve built collapses."

  The Matriarch was silent. She had turned her head away from him, feigning interest in the incense burner on her right. Her hand came up to her face, a quick, brushing motion against her cheek. When she turned back, her face was composed but her eyes were red-rimmed.

  "You have suffered," she said. "More than... more than you should. The Heavens are cruel teachers. No path is easy but even more so it is tough to walk your own path."

  "They are fair," Li Yu corrected with his cynicism returning slightly. "They treat everyone like dogs. "

  The Matriarch let out a wet, strangled chuckle. "Perhaps. Perhaps."

  She reached into the sleeve of her frayed robe. "You must leave now, Li Yu. You have been here for too long already. Thank you for sharing your life story with me but this realm is not meant for you. You should go now and thank you for visiting us old folks."

  Li Yu stood up and gave her a bow. He respected the rules of hospitality and these people have been nothing but kind to him. "I understand. I have already imposed too much."