Two Pieces of the Key

The desert wind swept endlessly across the dunes, carrying layers of fine dust close to the ground until the footprints left by the group ahead gradually disappeared beneath it.

The sun was already high.

Light fell across the low rocky hills stretching eastward, making the distant landscape seem submerged beneath a thin veil of heat.

Hao Nhien traveled at the front, with Lanh Hoa to his right and three Hoa Ky warriors following behind.

They carried little luggage and no cumbersome supplies, so their pace was considerably faster than the journey from Hoa Van to Heavenly Eye had been.

After everything that had happened, Hao Nhien was no longer in much of a hurry.

Heavenly Eye had entered a new stage.

For the time being, everything he could personally interfere with there had come to an end.

The rest belonged to Quan Nha and those who had chosen to remain.

Lanh Hoa occasionally glanced toward him as they traveled.

Since leaving Heavenly Eye, the young Alliance Leader had seemed quieter than before.

Yet the change in his aura was something even Lanh Hoa could not ignore.

Foundation Establishment layer nine.

Hao Nhien had finally crossed that barrier after a long period of accumulation.

But what interested him most was not the increase in True Qi.

It was the unusual stability of its circulation.

In the past, every breakthrough had required a period of adjustment before his body fully adapted to the new level of strength.

This time, his True Qi, meridians, and soul had almost simultaneously reached equilibrium.

There was none of the obvious conflict between newly increased power and his ability to control it that had appeared during earlier breakthroughs.

Hao Nhien had spent most of his final night near Heavenly Eye examining that change.

He knew the force born from belief that had touched his soul was connected to what had happened, but he found no sign that it had directly transformed into True Qi.

His cultivation foundation had already accumulated enough long before.

After everything he had experienced recently, his soul seemed to have reached a more stable state as well, allowing body, Qi, and soul to cooperate at a level he had never achieved before.

What role the Soul Art had played in that process, he still could not fully explain.

Hao Nhien was in no hurry to decide.

What had happened at the core of Heavenly Eye had shown him clearly that forces existed in this world beyond his current understanding.

If he assumed he understood their nature merely because he had touched a small part of them, he might pay dearly for that arrogance later.

By mid-afternoon, the group stopped near a line of rocky hills to rest.

Lanh Hoa sent the three warriors to inspect the surrounding area while he remained behind to prepare the campsite.

Hao Nhien looked around, chose a flat stretch of ground hidden behind several large boulders, and summoned the Cosmic Ark.

A faint light appeared.

Its familiar dwelling form quickly took shape before them.

Lanh Hoa glanced over without showing any surprise.

“I’ll go inside for a while. Call me if anything happens.”

“Clan Chief, rest assured. This subordinate will watch outside.”

Hao Nhien nodded and entered the Ark.

The interior remained as quiet as ever.

Familiar chambers appeared beneath soft light, spiritual energy flowing steadily through the space and creating a sensation completely different from the dry heat of the desert outside.

Hao Nhien walked along the corridor until he stopped before the place where Tieu Lan lay.

She still had not awakened.

He stood there for a while before moving closer and sitting beside her.

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Tieu Lan’s face was peaceful.

The intense pain she had shown when everything first happened was gone, yet that silence still made Hao Nhien uncomfortable every time he saw it.

He reached out and adjusted the corner of the blanket beside her.

Then he spoke softly.

“Tieu Lan, we’ve left Heavenly Eye.”

There was no answer.

Hao Nhien looked at her, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.

“This trip took longer than I expected.”

“And a lot more happened.”

He told her about Tien Thanh.

About the Hoa Ky people who had spent years scattered throughout Heavenly Eye’s armies.

About Luu Ho and those who had chosen to return.

He did not recount every battle in detail.

He only spoke of the things he thought Tieu Lan would have wanted to know if she were awake.

More than three hundred Hoa Ky warriors had been given the right to choose.

Those who owed no blood debt could leave.

Those who had harmed their own people would have to answer for what they had done.

Duong Long had been captured as well.

“He used to believe the Hoa Ky should not be allowed to choose their own path.”

“I talked to him about a few things, though I still don’t know how much he truly understood.”

Hao Nhien paused, remembering Duong Long’s expression among the medicinal fields of Lac Van.

“But at least he was willing to look.”

Then he told her about Lac Van, where medicinal fields had begun turning green across once-barren ground.

“I sent people from Hoa Van to help them for a while.”

“Later, Lac Van will continue sending people to Hoa Van to learn, then bring back whatever actually suits their own land.”

Hao Nhien looked at Tieu Lan.

“See?”

“The things we once did in Hoa Van are starting to be learned elsewhere.”

“If enough places can become like that one day, maybe fewer people will have to abandon their homes just to survive.”

He fell silent for a moment.

Then his voice slowed.

“As for Quan Nha… she’ll remain in Heavenly Eye.”

The spiritual patterns outside the room continued glowing quietly.

Hao Nhien leaned back in his chair, his eyes falling toward the hand resting beside Tieu Lan.

“Heavenly Eye has changed a great deal.”

“Quan Nha is now recognized by all four Deputy City Lords as the God-Lord.”

“And she has accepted that position.”

He told Tieu Lan what had happened in the inner shrine, the changes in Quan Nha after receiving the force gathered through faith, and the decisions they had discussed before parting.

Heavenly Eye would gradually stop using faith as a tool to force tribes into submission.

People who had once been made to choose between obedience and losing their homes would be given the chance to decide their own future.

The military lines would still need to maintain order during the transition.

But in the long term, the goal would no longer be to expand control through force.

It would shift toward trade, cooperation, and mutual development.

Hao Nhien understood that none of those changes could be completed in a few days.

Heavenly Eye contained too many people, too many interests, and too many rules that had existed for years.

The four Deputy City Lords might accept Quan Nha.

That did not mean everyone beneath them would immediately change the way they thought.

“I told her there was no need to rush.”

“A place as large as Heavenly Eye won’t truly change just because the person at the top changes.”

“If the way it operates remains the same, eventually everything underneath will become the same again.”

Hao Nhien paused.

The image of Quan Nha standing in the wind above Heavenly Eye City returned to his mind.

“Quan Nha is still Quan Nha,” he said quietly.

“She just has another road she needs to walk now.”

He remained there for a while.

Then his hand gently closed around Tieu Lan’s.

Since she had fallen unconscious, Hao Nhien had sat beside her many times and told her about what had happened outside, despite knowing she could not answer.

Sometimes he wondered whether she could hear him.

But he always continued anyway.

Just as he once had whenever he returned to the Cosmic Ark after a long journey.

Hao Nhien looked at her peaceful face.

Then the corner of his mouth suddenly curved upward.

“Oh, there’s one more thing.”

“This one you’d probably want to know.”

He reached into his storage ring and took out a small object of ancient design, placing it on the table beside her.

It was the key fragment he had obtained from the Heavenly Spirit Merchant Association.

One of three fragments said to open the path toward the Firmament.

Hao Nhien picked it up and studied it briefly.

Then, unexpectedly, he took a second object from his storage ring.

Its shape shared clear similarities with the first.

The material.

The ancient patterns carved across its surface.

And when the two were placed beside one another, the missing edges made it easy to see that they had once belonged to the same whole.

“Look.”

Hao Nhien smiled faintly, even though the girl before him remained still.

“Now we have two.”

“The second fragment was found by Quan Nha within Heavenly Eye’s collection.”

“The Saintess once suspected it might have fallen into their hands, but even I didn’t expect us to actually find it this time.”

He placed the two fragments close together and changed their positions several times, comparing the lines across their surfaces.

Then he sent a strand of spiritual sense into them.

Having two pieces gave him more to compare.

But too much was still missing.

He could not yet determine their complete shape or how they were meant to be used.

After a while, Hao Nhien withdrew his spiritual sense and looked at the two fragments.

“Only one left, Tieu Lan.”

His voice became slower.

“If what we know about these fragments is true, then once all three are gathered, I may be able to find the road to the Firmament.”

He paused.

Anh Nhien’s image appeared in his mind, along with the few scattered clues he had followed for so long.

“Maybe I’ll find some trace of Anh Nhien there.”

“There is still too much I don’t know.”

“Even where I should begin looking for her is still unclear.”

His gaze dropped toward Tieu Lan.

His grip unconsciously tightened around her hand.

“And there’s you.”

Hao Nhien looked across the face still lost in its long sleep.

“The Firmament may still contain records connected to the Heavenly Spirit.”

“If I can find them, perhaps I’ll understand some of the things I still can’t explain.”

“Maybe I’ll even find a way to wake you.”

He made no promises.

He still knew too little about the Firmament.

No one had confirmed whether the place truly held the answers he wanted.

But compared with continuing to search blindly, the two key fragments before him had at least given him a direction.

Hao Nhien ran a finger lightly across the ancient patterns of the second fragment.

Then he looked at Tieu Lan and smiled.

“I’ll find it.”

He stored both fragments back into his ring and adjusted the blanket beside her once more.

“For now, we’re going back to Hoa Van.”

“It’s been a long time since you’ve been home.”

Before leaving the room, Hao Nhien turned and looked at her one last time.

“Rest.”

“I’ll handle the rest.”

The chamber remained silent.

Hao Nhien closed the door behind him and left the Cosmic Ark.

Soon afterward, he and Lanh Hoa continued their journey home.