The walk back to Heaven's Gate felt like stepping into a different, louder, dustier world after the serene eternity of the bamboo forest. The air no longer smelled of damp earth and green growth, but of spices, sweat, and the faint, ever-present tang of the city's industry.
As they navigated the bustling streets toward the modest inn they'd left months ago, a familiar anxiety crept in.
"She's going to kill us," Liang muttered, eyeing a street vendor's cart of heavy-looking iron pans. "Actually, no. She's going to make us wish we were dead, then bring us back and do it again."
Gen, walking with a new, unconscious confidence—his back straighter, the bamboo sword a light, reassuring presence at his side—puffed out his chest. "Relax. Look at me. I've grown a whole inch. Maybe more. I'm not a kid she can just toss over her shoulder anymore. We've been training with a legend. We can handle Madame Su."
His bravado was undercut by the way his eyes darted nervously at every stern-looking older woman they passed.
The city itself was transforming, draped in preparations for the year's end festival. Streamers of crimson and gold crisscrossed the wider avenues. They passed a troupe of performers maneuvering a magnificent, scaled dragon costume through a square, its painted head weaving to the beat of distant drums.
"Look at that," Gen said, momentarily distracted. "The festival's going to be huge this year."
A group of merchants passed by, their conversation carrying on the festive air. "Bigger than ever, I hear," one said. "They say Unbreakable Varja himself is coming to the capital for it."
"Varja? Here? What for?" another asked.
The first merchant lowered his voice, but not enough. "Word in the lower taverns is he's not just coming for the wine. They say he's looking at the sky. That he might... challenge one of them."
A stunned silence followed among the merchants, then a burst of dismissive laughter. "Tavern talk! Drunkards' dreams! Challenge a Divine General? The man's a legend, not a fool!"
The group moved on, but the words lingered in the air between Gen and Liang. Their heads tilted back almost in unison, their eyes finding the familiar, baleful points of light in the afternoon sky— five Damocles swords, hanging directly above the distant Tower of Wonder. A cold, sobering reminder of the true clock ticking over their lives.
Gen's fist clenched at his side, the easy confidence draining away. "I've been lazy," he whispered, the words tasting like ash. "Months in a forest, training for a tournament, while *they're* still up there."
Liang placed a steadying hand on his shoulder. "We haven't been lazy. We've been getting stronger. Not strong enough to face them, not yet. But strong enough to carve a path *toward* that strength. The Tower of Wonder isn't the end goal, Gen. It's the anvil. We get hammered there, we come out harder. Then we face the next trial. And the next. Until we're standing where we need to be."
Gen took a deep breath, the logic cutting through the sudden wave of impotent fury. He looked at his friend and managed a weak, grateful smile. "You're right. If we went against Zeph now... hah." He laughed, a short, humorless sound. "Even if you gathered every loudmouth in this city and gave them my current power, we wouldn't last a second."
"Exactly," Liang said, steering him back toward their destination. "One mountain at a time. Right now, our mountain is Madame Su's wrath. Then, the Tower."
They found the Silver Lantern Inn looking just as they'd left it. Taking a collective breath, they pushed open the door to the common room.
"Madame Su!" Gen called out, trying to inject his voice with triumph. "We're back! And I'm cured! Well, almost! It's just a matter of time now! We met the Blackgreen Wood!"
The few early patrons glanced up, then quickly looked away.
Madame Su emerged from the back room. She did not look overjoyed. She looked like a storm given human form. Her face was a mask of controlled, simmering fury. Her eyes, usually sharp with discipline, were blazing.
For a few seconds, she said nothing. The silence was more terrifying than any shout.
Then she pointed a single, unwavering finger at a clear space on the wooden floor. "There. Now."
Gen's newfound maturity evaporated. "But Madame Su, we—"
"**Now.**"
They moved. In moments, they were both in the deep, uncomfortable "inverted stance" she had favored for punishments since they were children—balanced precariously on their hands with their legs bent awkwardly over their heads, their weight straining their wrists and shoulders.
"Serves you right," Gen hissed under his breath to Liang, his arms already trembling. "We're not kids anymore, this is undignified..."
Liang, his face already turning red from the inverted pressure, grunted. "Shut up, you idiot, or she'll make us hold buckets of water too."
Madame Su stood over them, her hands on her hips. "You think you can disappear for months? Vanish without a word, without a note, without a single clue? You think you can just waltz back in here, taller and with a new stick, and announce everything is fine?" Her voice was low, each word a lash. "I was worried *sick*, Gen. I turned this city inside out. I questioned informants, I tracked rumors to dead ends, I sat up every night wondering if you were lying in a ditch, poisoned dead by your own condition, or worse, captured by those who hate your father's name!" The raw fear underlying her anger was now audible, and it was worse than any scolding.
Gen, struggling to hold the pose, tried to explain. "It wasn't like that! We didn't have a choice! And it's not even the whole story! We met... we met a naked woman! And an old fox! She was beautiful but there was something really off about her—"
Madame Su's eyes widened in pure, incredulous horror. "You... you went off on a... a *liaison*? Chasing naked women instead of focusing on your healing and your training? Have you lost all sense of responsibility? Of *decency*?"
"No! No, no, no!" Liang burst out, his voice strained from the inverted position. "That's not what he means! She wasn't human! She was a— a thing! A Milky Beast! An Old One!"
Madame Su froze. The anger on her face shifted into stunned confusion, then back into a deeper, more exasperated fury. She shook her head slowly, a devilish, unforgiving smile spreading across her lips. "A naked fox-woman. Of course. How silly of me. Clearly, this justifies months of silent absence and a guardian's heart failure. Double the time. And if either of you collapses, we start over."
Liang let out a low groan, shooting a look of pure, murderous intent at the top of Gen's upside-down head. *I am going to strangle him. I am going to invent a new Wheel just to strangle him silently.*
Gen, for his part, started to laugh—a pained, breathless, upside-down chuckle. Despite the burning in his muscles and the scolding, it felt good to be back. To be in trouble for something so normal.
As she watched them struggle, Madame Su's own fierce expression slowly softened into something more complex. The frantic, gnawing worry that had been her constant companion for months unclenched its fist from around her heart. He was here. He was alive. More than that, she could see it. The extra inch of height, the defined muscles in his trembling arms, the subtle, new sharpness in his profile. But it was more than physical. There was a calm in his amber eyes, even inverted and pained, that hadn't been there before. A sense of having been tested and tempered. He had matured.
*He's been through something profound,* she thought, the relief making her feel suddenly weary. *Something that gave him hope. Blackgreen Wood... he actually found him. He has a path.* Her gaze drifted to the simple bamboo sword lying discarded on a nearby bench. *And a new weapon.*
Then she remembered his blurted confession and her lips twitched again. *A naked woman. Honestly. Some things never change. He's still all fluff and reckless words wrapped around a core of stubborn will.* But for the first time in a long time, looking at her inverted, groaning charges, she felt the warmth of genuine hope cut through the residual anger. They were home. And they were ready for the next storm.