The crisp morning air carried the scent of pine and damp earth as Kai surveyed their progress. Three weeks had passed since their fateful decision to claim the tower mountain as their new home - three weeks of meticulous planning, backbreaking labor, and more than a few terrified screams echoing across the cliffs.

  The flying beastkin worked in coordinated teams, their powerful wings stirring up miniature cyclones of leaves and dust with each takeoff. Kai watched as Fenglei and two Storm Hawks carefully lifted Gin between them in a specially crafted harness, the drunkard's knuckles white as he death-gripped the support ropes.

  "Remember to breathe!" Kai called up cheerfully, earning himself a stream of creative curses. Beside him, Lulu covered her mouth to hide a laugh as Gin's was lifted aloft.

  When the last human members finally touched down on the summit's mossy plateau, the transformation was immediate. Gasps of wonder replaced the screams as the newcomers took in the impossible forest surrounding them. Sunlight filtered through the silver-barked trees in ethereal shafts, illuminating the steam that curled from the central lake in lazy spirals.

  "I'll be damned," Gin muttered, brushing pine needles from his clothes as he stared around in disbelief. "The bastard wasn't exaggerating." He reached out to touch one of the bioluminescent fungi growing along a fallen log, jerking his hand back in surprise when it pulsed faintly at his touch.

  Chen Gong, still slightly green from the ascent, knelt to examine the soil. "This shouldn't exist," he murmured, letting the rich black earth sift through his fingers. "The geothermal activity must be creating near-perfect growing conditions." His analytical mind was already racing with possibilities.

  Over the next several days, teams conducted thorough surveys of their new domain. Scouts mapped the forest's boundaries while others tested the lake's mineral content.

  As Kai had promised, the mountain's isolation provided unparalleled security. Not a single predator's track marked the soft earth, no nests or dens disturbed the undergrowth. Only the occasional glittering insect and the ever-present whisper of leaves broke the silence. Even the most cautious among them had to admit - they'd found something extraordinary.

  With the summit's safety confirmed, Kai made the strategic decision to leave his mortal disciples and lighter spirit beasts atop the mountain while construction began in earnest. The first three weeks saw a flurry of activity as they established their sky-bound settlement. A semi-permanent camp took shape first - sturdy canvas tents reinforced with wooden frames to withstand the mountain's unpredictable weather. These would serve as temporary shelters until proper structures could be built.

  Kai prioritized human housing first, directing the construction of simple but robust log cabins with steeply pitched roofs to shed the constant mist from the boiling lake. Each morning, Kai would wake to find his disciples already at work - Chen Gong directing the placement of new structures with military precision, while Zhang Liao experimented with ways to channel the geothermal heat through stone ducts. And lu Bu moving some rocks or wood.

  Yet Kai's heart remained divided. Each time he descended to continue work on the mountain passage, he was met with an overwhelming welcome from the earthbound beastkin. The moment his feet touched the ground level, a tide of fur, scales, and feathers would rush toward him - the Stoneback Tortoises nudging him with their massive heads, the Moon Stag Cres ran up to him, even the normally aloof Moonstalkers rubbing against his legs like oversized house cats. Their enthusiastic greetings often knocked him clean off his feet, resulting in a pile of affectionate spirit beasts covering him completely.

  "Alright, alright!" Kai would laugh, struggling to breathe under the weight of their devotion. "I missed you all too!" This intensified affection had begun there after he'd broken from his sect, as if the beastkin collectively decided to show him just how much his choice meant to them. Their unconditional love made the separation each evening ache like a physical wound.

  The staircase project was an engineering marvel born of necessity and care. Kai obsessed over every detail, often reworking sections multiple times to ensure absolute safety. The main passage wound through the mountain's interior like a spiraling tunnel, with strategically placed openings that admitted sunlight while preventing dangerous exposure to the sheer drops outside. At each turn, he had Ning use her earth-shaping abilities to compress the stone until it gleamed like polished marble underfoot - dense enough to support even the heaviest beastkin without wear.

  Size was another critical consideration. The central corridor needed to accommodate Ning's massive Quake Buffalo form with room to spare, which meant creating passages nearly fifteen feet wide and twenty feet tall. This would prove fortuitous when they successfully hunted their first Northend Elk - a creature bigger than the size of a cart whose antlers would barely clear the tunnel ceiling if it stood upright. In the future if any of the spirit beasts wanted to bring back their kill to share with the rest of their bestkin family they could.

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  Progress was painstakingly slow. Between supervising construction topside to make sure everyone was building properly and the meticulous work on the staircase, Kai found himself running on just a few hours of sleep each night. After three weeks of backbreaking labor, they'd barely passed the halfway point for the staircase—though the completed sections stood as a testament to their dedication, with smooth stone steps and cleverly designed resting platforms every few hundred feet.

  The evening air was crisp as Kai stood on the latest completed section of the staircase, the wind whistling softly against the mountain's side. Below him, the world stretched out in a sea of towering pines, their crowns now small as saplings from this height. They had climbed far—higher than the ancient trees, higher than the clouds that often clung to the mountain’s midsection—and yet, the summit still loomed above them, its peak veiled in mist.

  Kai turned to the massive Quake Buffalo beside him. "Ning, can you compress the stone here?" He gestured to a rough patch where the natural rock jutted unevenly.

  Ning let out a deep, resonant "Moo," her curved horns pulsing with a soft golden light. The earth beneath them trembled faintly as she channeled her power, the stone shifting like wet clay under an invisible hand. The jagged edges smoothed into perfect, level steps, their surface polished to a faint sheen.

  "Good job, Ning," Kai said, patting her thick, muscular shoulder. The buffalo rumbled happily in response, nuzzling against him with enough force to nearly knock him off balance. Kai chuckled, scratching behind her ears. "Yeah, yeah, I appreciate you too."

  He stepped to one of the staircase’s openings, a carefully placed window in the mountain’s side that allowed light and air into the passage. Leaning against the stone, he gazed downward—the forest below looked like a patchwork of green, the individual trees now indistinguishable. They had come so far, and yet, the peak still felt impossibly distant.

  A pang of guilt twisted in his chest. The larger beastkin—Ning, Snow, Igni, and many others—were still stranded at the base, unable to join their smaller kin atop the mountain. Kai knew they missed each other. The spirit beasts were a family, and being separated like this weighed on them more than they let on.

  I need to finish this faster.

  But rushing would be reckless. The staircase had to be safe—wide enough for the largest beastkin to pass through, strong enough to last generations, and secure enough that no one would ever fear a misstep sending them plummeting to the forest below.

  As he turned away from the view, something caught his eye to the east.

  Between one of the distant boiling lakes and river, where steam curled into the darkening sky, a faint orange glow pulsed against the twilight.

  Kai’s breath hitched.

  Lu Bu had been the first to spot it days ago. The excitable child had scrambled up to the plateau’s edge during one of his explorations and came running back, tugging at Kai’s sleeve with wide eyes. "Uncle Kai! There’s a light out there! Like fire!"

  At first, Kai had dismissed it—maybe a trick of the sunset, or some natural phenomenon. But night after night, the glow returned.

  And now, seeing it again, Kai couldn’t deny it.

  That wasn’t just a flicker in the dark.

  The distant orange glow pulsed faintly against the darkened horizon—undoubtedly a fire, deliberately lit to ward off the encroaching night.

  Kai had initially dismissed it as nothing more than a passing group of Windriders. Both Chen Gong and Zhang Liao had mentioned that nomadic tribes roamed these lands, following the migratory patterns of beasts and stopping by the boiling lakes that provided warmth in the brutal winters. It made sense that a band of travelers might camp near one of the boiling lakes, using its heat to sustain them before moving on.

  But a week had passed, and the light remained.

  Every evening, as the sun dipped below the jagged peaks, that same flickering glow reappeared in the east. It never wandered, never dimmed—only burned steadily, as if marking territory.

  That consistency unsettled Kai. If this wasn’t a temporary camp, then it had to be something more permanent. A settlement. A claim.

  And that complicated things.

  He had already poured weeks of labor into this mountain—constructing shelters, carving stairways, establishing what he hoped would be their new home. The thought of abandoning it now, of uprooting everything and starting over at one of the distant monoliths to the west, made his jaw tighten in frustration.

  But if another group already held sway over this region, would they challenge his right to the mountain? Would they see his presence as an intrusion?

  I need answers.

  Kai exhaled sharply, his breath misting in the cool night air. The light was far—perhaps a full two days journey on foot—but with the aid of the flying spirit beasts, he could reach it in a fraction of the time.

  He wouldn’t go unprepared, though. He would bring people he thought that could help him negotiate if need be.

  "Lulu. Chen Gong," he muttered to himself. "They’re coming with me tomorrow."

  Lulu’s intelligence would make her invaluable, and Chen Gong’s being a local would help avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings. Together, they would find out who—or what—was out there.

  And then?

  Well. That depended on who was there.

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