From inside his robe, produced a crumpled yellow charm, its runes crooked as a toddler’s scrawl. “Look at this worthless thing, I was sure it would never fire.”
Yuliana’s gaze swept over the talisman paper. Her fingertip summoned a thread of spiritual energy, the charm was indeed the lowest-tier Immortal Binding Charm, its spiritual energy so ragged it could barely hobble an Earthly Immortal Realm Level One cultivator, let alone imprison a celestial princess.
Yet at the gate, his golden spiritual energy had felt solid as iron, nothing like this trash…
“Fortune favors you, it seems,” murmured, masking the chill in thoughts. She pointed toward a patrol of silver-armored Celestial Guards at the far end of the street. “Those Celestial Guards watch over West District. Celestia City’s been restless-strange cultivators wandering the alleys. If you keep sightseeing, avoid the lonely back lanes.”
The warning held a hook. She wanted to see whether talk of the sealed gates rattled him.
Jared’s eyes narrowed, dazzled by the sun on polished breastplates. “That armor gleams! Puts every soldier on level five to shame. Give me a suit like that and no one would dare shove me around while I’m running errands.”
He even reached out to tap a vambrace, yanking his hand back when the Celestial Guard glared, never once touching hint about illicit wanderers. Watching fawn over metal and ignore bait intensified Yuliana’s unease.
She simply did not believe a cultivator who could bind a princess was that crude, and yet every gesture, every greedy sparkle in his eyes for magical items, every evasive shrug fit the mask of a gutter-born wandering cultivator.
“That tower ahead is Lunar Tower,” said, shifting course toward a cloud-carved structure whose eaves kissed the sky. “One of the few places outsiders may enter. Since you’re here to broaden your horizons, care to climb and admire the view of Celestia City?”
She calculated that from the balcony, the palace spires and the distant seal would dominate the horizon. Perhaps the height would pry a crack in his disguise.
Jared’s face lit like a lantern. “Yes, absolutely! I’ve never looked out from a place so high.”
He bounded up the steps three at a time, oblivious to Yuliana’s frosted stare sinking into his back.
Whether is a wandering cultivator or not, I will have someone shadow him. An Earthly immortal Realm Level One who can bind a princess cannot be left to wander free. Yuliana had made up mind about Jared.
The moment they reached the second floor, Jared heard two celestial cultivators at the next table whispering that the seal atop Roaring Storm Mountain had shuddered again. One slapped a hand over the other’s mouth, eyes sweeping the room.
Jared lifted the teacup before him, pretending to sip while his ears stood at attention. Across the table, Yuliana caught the tiny twitch. A ghost of a smile curved lips, cold, patient-wondering how long his act could last.
A chorus of morning recitations drifted through the lattice windows. Following the sound, Jared spotted an academy not far from Lunar Tower. He looked over the academy’s students.
They were dressed in fine robes, faces glowing with health, their every gesture carrying the innate pride of the celestials. Yet to his eyes, that spirit and bearing reeked of nothing but stale arrogance.
“You see before you the crown jewel of Celestia,” Yuliana said, chin lifted with quiet, almost practiced pride. “Only the most gifted minds are admitted within these walls. Celestial cultivators pursue more than cultivation…”
“We temper strength with learning, with music, with philosophy, everything that polishes the spirit from within. Strip a warrior of that inner grace, leave to chase brute force alone, and becomes nothing more than a savage.”
