"The sword," he said. "The sealing array on it is Sword Gate standard issue—third tier inscription, upper-level variation. They only use it on the demon-path containment series." He glanced at her back, where the long sword rested in its sheath with the particular stillness of something that was sealed and knew it was sealed and had opinions about this. "You chose the demon path voluntarily and they expelled you for it."
The silence lasted five steps of forward motion.
"I chose the demon path," she said. "Yes."
"Why."
"Because the Sword Gate's conventional path would have taken me thirty years to reach Core Formation. The demon path took three." She looked forward, not at him. "I have things to do."
"Like what."
"Like none of your business."
"Fair." He looked ahead. "What's your name?"
A pause that was calculated to be exactly as long as required to decide how much truth to issue.
"Chen Yun," she said.
