After Rose scurried out of my room like a frightened rat, I locked my door. My heart was still racing, not from fear, but from the sheer adrenaline of standing my ground. For years, I had been the "fragile" elder sister, the one everyone pitied and ignored. That version of Lin Xia was dead.
I sat on my bed and gripped the jade pendant. Take me back, I thought.
The world blurred, and once again, I stood in the serene, violet-skied expanse of the Divine Space. Bai was floating near the silver spring, lazily tossing pebbles into the water.
"Back so soon? I thought you were busy playing house with your 'loving' family," he teased, though his eyes scanned my new aura. "You used the Heart-Mirror power. How did the filth taste?"
"It tasted like opportunity," I replied, walking toward the marble library. "Rose is planning something for the Autumn Banquet. She mentioned 'ruining my reputation.' In this kingdom, a woman without a reputation is better off dead. I need more than just healthy skin, Bai. I need to be able to protect myself when the daggers come out from the shadows."
Bai landed on the ground and beckoned me into the library. The interior was massive, with shelves reaching so high they disappeared into a golden mist.
"If you want to survive a banquet full of vipers, you don't need a sword—not yet," Bai said, reaching into the mist. A scroll bound in midnight-blue silk descended into his hand. "You need the Thousand-Face Phantom Manual."
I took the scroll. It felt cold, vibrating with a strange, elusive energy. "What is it?"
"It's a dual-purpose technique," Bai explained. "First, it teaches you how to control your facial muscles and vocal cords to become anyone—or to make yourself appear so unremarkable that people forget you're in the room. Second, it develops 'Phantom Steps.' You'll move faster than the human eye can track in short bursts."
I opened the scroll. The diagrams were complex, showing networks of meridians I hadn't even known existed.
"Since time in here is slower, you have exactly seventy-two hours before the sun rises in the real world," Bai said. "That gives you three days of training. If you can master the first stage, you'll be able to hear thoughts from twenty paces away and move like a ghost."
I sat cross-legged on the floor and began to circulate my energy according to the manual. At first, it was agonizing. It felt like my blood was turning into mercury—heavy and slow. But as I pushed through the blockage, the energy began to spiral.
Step one: The Heart-Mirror expansion.
I closed my eyes and reached out. In the Space, there were no humans, but I could hear the "thoughts" of the Space itself—the hum of the spring, the rustle of the ancient books. My mental radius grew. Ten paces. Fifteen. Twenty.
Step two: The Phantom Step.
I stood up and tried to move. I fell flat on my face.
"Again," Bai barked.
I stood up. Fell. Stood up. Fell.
By the end of the second "day" inside the Space, my silk robes were drenched in sweat, but I was no longer falling. I was gliding. When I moved, a faint afterimage followed me for a split second before vanishing.
By the third day, I stood before the library's mirror. I focused my energy on my face. My high cheekbones softened, my bright eyes turned dull, and my radiant skin looked sallow once again. I looked exactly like the "sickly" Lin Xia.
"Perfect," Bai whispered. "The best predator is the one the prey thinks is a corpse."
I reverted my face back to its true, glowing beauty. A cold light flashed in my eyes. Rose wanted to ruin me at the banquet? She expected me to show up weak, trembling, and easy to frame.
I wouldn't just show up. I would be the shadow she never saw coming.
"Bai," I said as I prepared to exit the Space. "How do I bring items out of here?"
The boy smirked and pointed to a small patch of soil near the spring where silver-leafed herbs were growing. "Those are 'Spirit-Numbing Grass.' To a physician, they look like common weeds. But if you drop a single leaf into someone's wine... they'll lose their voice for three hours. No trace, no scent."
I plucked three leaves and tucked them into my sleeve.
"The Autumn Banquet is in two days," I whispered to the empty air of the Space. "Let's see who loses their reputation first."
I woke up in my bed just as the first light of dawn hit the floorboards. There was a frantic knocking at my door.
"Miss! First Miss!" It was the voice of the Head Steward. He sounded panicked. "The Duke's carriage has arrived early with the invitation for the banquet! But... but Second Miss Rose says you are too ill to receive guests! She's trying to take the invitation herself!"
I stood up, my feet silent as a phantom's. I didn't feel tired. I felt lethal.
"Is that so?" I said to the closed door, a sharp smile on my face. "Tell the Steward I'll be down in a moment. I wouldn't want my dear sister to overexert herself on my behalf."