Under Dong Miji’s guidance, Shen Zhuxi arrived at the chieftain’s large dwelling, which stood directly before the altar platform.

What she had not expected — the moment she stepped inside, she found Li Kun sitting cross-legged on the ground, spooning from a clay pot and eating contentedly.

Seeing Shen Zhuxi, Li Kun took up the clay pot and walked over to her, holding out both the pot and the spoon filled with sweet, clear honey.

“Little pig eats… little pig eats…” Li Kun said with a foolish grin.

“How did you end up here?” Shen Zhuxi was both surprised and puzzled, looking him up and down. Li Kun appeared perfectly well — neither injured nor the least bit unhappy. She looked over at the chieftain, who sat expressionless on the stone couch, giving nothing away.

Li Kun did not answer her question. He only smiled with a trace of smugness and scooped the honey spoon Shen Zhuxi had declined back into his own mouth.

Dong Miji glanced between the foolishly cheerful Li Kun and the seated chieftain, equally puzzled.

The Rong tribe had no elaborate ceremonies. With everyone present, the chieftain came straight to the point.

Dong Miji translated: the chieftain’s question was: “What is it you want?”

Shen Zhuxi weighed her words for a moment and decided to speak plainly.

“We want to know the way to leave this place.”

Dong Miji hesitated briefly before translating her words.

Over these days of interaction, Shen Zhuxi had taken the opportunity of teaching Dong Miji the Yan tongue to consciously begin learning the Rong tongue. By now it was not only Dong Miji’s Yan that had made great strides — she herself could understand some of the Rong tribe’s everyday speech.

The chieftain’s reply was: “I can see you out.”

Just that one brief sentence. When she finished, the chieftain looked silently at Shen Zhuxi, seemingly waiting for something.

So as not to reveal that she could already understand some Rong speech, Shen Zhuxi waited until Dong Miji had finished translating, then waited a moment longer before cautiously saying: “…What are your terms?”

“Physician, arms—” under Shen Zhuxi’s astonished gaze, the chieftain spoke three words in halting Yan speech — “Li Kun.”

Li Kun, hearing his name, lifted his face from the clay pot — his chin smeared with glistening honey — and looked at the chieftain with a blank expression.

“Absolutely not!” The refusal came to Shen Zhuxi’s lips before she had even thought.

The chieftain’s face remained calm, as though she had expected it would not be so simple.

“Why, not possible?” Dong Miji translated the chieftain’s words.

“Li Kun is my husband’s younger brother — my family. If it were you, would you trade Dong Miji away to us in a deal like this?” Shen Zhuxi met the chieftain’s eyes directly, and the fury in her own could not entirely be suppressed.

The chieftain fell silent as Dong Miji relayed the translation.

“Why do you want Li Kun?” This time it was Shen Zhuxi who asked.

Each time Li Kun bowed his head to eat honey, the sound of his name being called interrupted him. After several such times, he set the honey aside and his gaze jumped back and forth between Shen Zhuxi and the chieftain, looking utterly at a loss.

“Keep calling me… why?”

The chieftain’s gaze came to rest on Li Kun, her expression grave and solemn.

Dong Miji wore an expression of surprise as he translated her words: “Li Kun, finest warrior, elephant god, received recognition… Li Kun, belongs here.”

“No.” Shen Zhuxi stepped in front of Li Kun, cutting off the chieftain’s burning gaze directed at him. She clenched her fists and, like a small hen guarding her chicks, met the chieftain’s eyes without yielding, unflinching: “Other things can be discussed. This — absolutely not.”

She did not even need to confer with Li Wu to make that call.

Neither she nor Li Wu would ever agree. Even if what was being traded was not an escape route, but their very lives, it would still be impossible.

Dong Miji relayed her meaning with some difficulty.

The chieftain did not stay silent long. She looked at Shen Zhuxi and spoke at a measured pace.

“What if I could drive away the evil spirit that dwells in him?”

Shen Zhuxi suspected she had not understood correctly — but what Dong Miji translated was the same as what she had heard.

She froze. The question slipped from her lips before she could stop it: “…Evil spirit?”

Dong Miji looked with sympathy at Li Kun, who was as artless as a small child, and said: “Body, evil spirit entered, filth, blocked in head, shaman, can heal.” Worried Shen Zhuxi might not grasp his meaning, Dong Miji gently knocked his own closed fist against his head and made a strange sucking motion.

“You can cure his condition?!” Shen Zhuxi was thunderstruck.

“Yes.” Once the chieftain finished, Dong Miji translated: “But — shaman, only heals tribe members.”

The negotiations fell into a deadlock.

The chieftain was willing to let them leave — on the condition that they leave behind a physician, arms, and Li Kun.

Shen Zhuxi could accept the first two conditions, but the chieftain would not forgo any one of the three. The person at the center of it all — Li Kun himself — remained completely outside the proceedings, entirely unaware of the dispute being waged around him. Finding that people kept calling his name yet then ignoring him, he finally pursed his lips, picked up his clay pot, and moved to a corner to eat in peace.

After a long silence, the chieftain spoke again.

Dong Miji translated: “Since he is your family, can you bear to watch him, stay like this forever?”

Shen Zhuxi could not help but look at Li Kun. He hugged his clay pot and ate with great happiness, his entire chin smeared in thick, gleaming honey. Feeling Shen Zhuxi’s gaze upon him, he broke into a foolish, wide grin.

In that moment, Shen Zhuxi’s eyes suddenly grew wet. A sharp, aching sorrow welled up powerfully within her.

“My mother said, you, go back.” Dong Miji’s expression was pained. “Think on it, come, tell her.”

And so Shen Zhuxi was “invited” out of the chieftain’s large dwelling.

Li Kun was allowed to bring along the remaining honey. He walked cheerfully and lightly beside Shen Zhuxi. Noticing that she was watching him, he immediately scooped up a spoonful of honey and held it out to her.

Shen Zhuxi forced out a smile and said: “…I’m not hungry — you eat.”

Li Kun stared at the glistening honey and swallowed a mouthful of saliva. After a moment’s hesitation, he carefully placed the spoon back into the clay pot.

“Diao’er won’t eat — take it back… for big brother and little pig to eat, for Xiao Rui and third younger brother to eat.”

“Xiao Rui is in Xiangyang — by the time you bring it back, the honey will have gone bad.” Shen Zhuxi kept her voice deliberately light to conceal the ache within her.

“Then what to do?” Li Kun scratched the back of his head, looking genuinely troubled.

Shen Zhuxi did not answer his question.

“Diao’er…” she said softly.

“Mm?” Li Kun raised his eyes — guileless and innocent, like a child’s — and looked at her.

The words Shen Zhuxi had been on the verge of saying — “Do you want to get well?” — never left her lips after all.

“What have you been doing inside the Rong tribe’s settlement these past few days?”

Li Kun looked down and said nothing. Shen Zhuxi continued:

“They seem to like you very much. Do you like them?”

“Yes!” Li Kun nodded without a moment’s hesitation. He looked up at Shen Zhuxi with a face full of happiness and pride: “They praised me and said I was impressive. They taught me how to talk to elephants. Someone even gave me a flower… eh, where is my flower?”

Li Kun grew agitated over the flower that had disappeared at some unknown point. Shen Zhuxi quickly steered the conversation away: “Would you want to stay and live here?”

“Yes!” Li Kun set aside his wandering gaze and answered without an ounce of hesitation. His face lit up with happiness: “Diao’er, little pig, big brother, and Xiao Rui, third younger brother… all of us stay here together.”

“Diao’er…” Shen Zhuxi said, “What if only you had to stay?”

Li Kun’s expression changed at once. He said unhappily: “No! Why… stay here alone? Not staying!”

Shen Zhuxi smiled and guided the conversation elsewhere. Li Kun quickly forgot the matter and went back to talking about saving the leftover honey to bring back for his older brother, for her, for Sui Rui far away in Xiangyang, and for Li Que whose whereabouts were unknown.

He was without guile, as innocent as an unformed child. His guileless manner cut like a small sharp blade — one slice after another — into her chest. Li Kun stood nine chi tall, his features imposing, his strength without equal. Had he entered the military examinations, he would surely have been a top military candidate, with promotions and honors to follow — and family honor for generations. Yet now he wandered in a haze of foolishness. Without Li Wu, he would long since have become a weapon of harm in wicked hands.

He had become this way protecting Li Wu. If Li Wu were to learn that someone could heal his condition — but that the price was remaining forever in this world cut off from all others — what would his answer be?

Back at the camp, the scouting Li Wu had not yet returned. Shen Zhuxi had no heart for anything and simply sat in the main tent in a daze.

After the sun went down, Li Wu finally returned. The moment he walked into the tent, he noticed the unusual despondency in Shen Zhuxi’s expression.

“What happened?” Li Wu removed his light armor and hung it on the nearby clothes stand, then walked straight toward her.

Shen Zhuxi was not sure how to begin. After a moment’s hesitation, she said haltingly: “Today… the chieftain received me…”

“That’s good news — what did she say?” Li Wu sat down beside her and took her cold hands in his, frowning slightly. “Why are your hands so cold?”

“She agreed to see us out of this place. But the condition is…” Shen Zhuxi paused, then said: “She wants us to leave behind a physician, arms — and Li Kun…”

“What an absolute outrage!” Li Wu erupted in fury. “She’s old enough to be Li Kun’s mother, and she still wants to take advantage of him?!”

Li Wu’s mind worked along paths that Shen Zhuxi despaired of following.

“What are you thinking?!” Shen Zhuxi said. “The chieftain wants Li Kun to stay because she recognizes his innate divine strength and the elephant god’s acknowledgment of him — she hopes he will remain and join the Rong tribe.”

“Whatever the reason — absolutely not!” Li Wu’s stance was as firm as Shen Zhuxi’s. “Dreaming in broad daylight! Get out — get far away! I’ll go catch myself one of the Qiqi people and make a deal with them instead!”

“The chieftain says the Rong tribe’s shaman can cure Li Kun’s condition.” Shen Zhuxi said.

It was as though the air had suddenly been sucked from the room. The main tent fell instantly silent.

After quite a long moment, sound returned to the tent.

“How do you know what they’re saying is true?” Li Wu said.

“I don’t,” Shen Zhuxi shook her head. “But I feel they were not lying to me.”

“…What does Diao’er himself think?”

“I can tell — Diao’er likes it here.” Shen Zhuxi said. “But he does not want to stay here alone.”

“Then don’t stay here.” Li Wu thought for a moment and said: “Tomorrow, go to the chieftain and say we agree to leave Li Kun behind — but only on the condition that she cures Li Kun first.”

Shen Zhuxi was startled: “You’re really going to leave Diao’er here?”

“Who said I was leaving him here?” Li Wu straightened up, speaking with conviction that his argument entirely did not support: “I’m leaving Li Kun behind — what does that have to do with Li Diao’er?”

Shen Zhuxi: “…”

Shameless scoundrel Li Wu. True to form.

It was underhanded — but it was truly the only workable option right now. They could find ways to make it up to the Rong tribe later. Li Kun was not only Li Wu’s younger brother — he was an important part of Shen Zhuxi’s family too, and she simply could not bring herself to leave him alone with the Rong tribe.

“Alright.” She turned it over carefully in her mind and gave a firm nod. “I’ll do as you say.”