That night, Shao experienced an unsettling dream.

  Sitting atop the towering temple that rose high in the western district, deep in the area of Shigong Temple only open to inner disciples of the sect, the Wolf Immortal scanned the horizon. He wore the dark purple haori of the Sect Patriarch, and his lips curled into a toothy grin as he waited for the appearance of his old friend, the Spider Immortal.

  As he turned his head, the Wolf Immortal spotted a small dot rising over the horizon to his west. After taking a second to focus on the dot, he realized that it was a large floating contraption that was approaching the island from over the ocean.

  The Wolf Immortal rose to his feet and tried to gauge the distance to the floating vehicle. If he remembered correctly, the Spider Immortal had described it as a “blimp” in the past.

  The blimp was about sixty li away by his approximation. The Wolf Immortal took a step, and an instant later he stood on the deck of that gargantuan vehicle. He was suddenly more than a li up in the air, and the ocean stretched beneath him far in all directions. Wind flowed through the Wolf Immortal’s hair as he breathed in the salty sea air.

  When he could see the blimp up close, the Wolf Immortal realized it was much more complicated than he expected. A baroque iron lattice connected a complicated series of steam-producing machines that nested beneath a gargantuan balloon. The Wolf Immortal had seen the early-concept sketches for such a device, but the blimp was so much more impressive in person.

  Guards dressed in the white-and-gold uniform of the elite soldiers of the Xiahou Empire patrolled the blimp’s deck. One of the guards witnessed the sudden appearance of the Wolf Immortal and immediately swung his heavy broadsword toward the immortal’s head. The guard attacked with the speed of a lower-realm Jindan, and the Wolf Immortal spent a moment appreciating the guard’s skill as the blade slowly inched toward him. When the broadsword came within a hand’s breadth of the Wolf Immortal’s face, he reached his hand up and caught the blade between two of his fingers.

  With a smile on his face, the Wolf Immortal said, “Consider yourself lucky that I caught this, friend. If the blade had struck my face, it would have shattered.”

  “Please forgive me, great and honorable immortal!” In an instant, the guard fell to one knee, leaving his sword clasped between the Wolf Immortal’s fingers.

  “Don’t worry. I’m in a good mood. Now, tell me, where is the Spider Immortal?”

  “I see you couldn’t wait for us to reach the island, Shao.”

  The Wolf Immortal turned his head and saw the wizened form of his old friend, the Spider Immortal. It had been nearly half a century since they had met. Both stood at their world’s summit of power unchallenged.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Their world had entered an unprecedented era of peace under the rule of the nine immortals. It was an agreeable era, and the Wolf Immortal always enjoyed seeing whatever invention the Spider Immortal would invent next. However, the remnants of the Dao of War constantly pulled at the Wolf Immortal’s gut, telling him that something was wrong.

  The Wolf Immortal knew that realms existed above his own, but the world was not in a state conducive to his continued advancement. It was only through the murder of several other immortals that an immortal could possibly advance to the vaunted heights of godhood. In truth, the Wolf Immortal was good friends with the other eight immortals. In his old age, he could not stomach the thought of tearing out their hearts and cutting off their heads.

  That dream of reaching godhood was one the Wolf Immortal had discarded long before. He emptied his mind of those foolish thoughts and brought himself back to the present.

  Standing next to the Spider Immortal was his wife, the Rabbit Immortal, a woman from the Silver Hawk continent and one of the only people in the world that could possibly match the Spider Immortal’s intellect.

  “It’s so good to see you two,” the Wolf Immortal said. “How are things on the continent?”

  Her bright yellow hair fluttering in the wind, the Rabbit Immortal said, “Peaceful. We’ve had to deal with divine beasts destroying our telegraph wires, but Ren has created a new design that will allow us to bury them deeper underground.”

  What in the Jade Emperor’s name was a telegraph? The Wolf Immortal had just recently learned the word “electricity,” and the immortal couple was already moving on to some new invention.

  “Very interesting, Maria,” the Wolf Immortal said, forcing a smile.

  With an excited look on his face, the Spider Immortal said, “By the way, I need to show you this new weapon I made.”

  From a pocket in his robes, the Spider Immortal produced a new device. It was a firearm, as far as the Wolf Immortal could tell, but it contained a spinning cylinder near the trigger. The new device was different from the other firearms the Spider Immortal had shown him.

  “Is that a new firearm design?”

  With excitement in her eyes mirroring her husband’s excitement, the Rabbit Immortal said, “Yes! It’s a major breakthrough! I never would have guessed we could reach such a level of technology in just five decades!”

  The Wolf Immortal frowned. As far as he could tell, the new firearm was just like the ones he had seen in the past. “I don’t get it. Why don’t you show me?”

  He pointed toward his own chest to indicate where the Spider Immortal should shoot.

  “I’ll give you a demonstration, but we shouldn’t do it so close to the balloon,” the Spider Immortal said, looking up at the large balloon above them. “Why don’t we go to that island just to the west of Haishan? You know, the one where you fought the Dragon Immortal?”

  The Wolf Immortal frowned upon being reminded of that bad memory. “We should be able to see it from here, but it’s probably little more than a sandbar after our fight.”

  The three immortals looked off the side of the blimp. After less than a second, the Rabbit Immortal spotted a small green dot off in the distance. Upon seeing the small island, the Wolf Immortal took a step and found himself standing on it. An instant later, the Rabbit and Spider Immortals appeared beside him in two muted gusts of wind.