Lady Mary held the teacup and took a slow, deliberate sip.
While she was drinking her tea, Richard asked about something that had been on his mind for a long time.
"Lady Mary, that big commotion in the city last night... what was it all about?"
Lady Mary set down her teacup.
She raised a hand and flicked it lightly over the center of the coffee table.
The patch of warm yellow light on the table condensed into a pool of water of indeterminable depth.
An image surfaced in the water.
Richard recognized this technique.
The image that surfaced was of a city block.
"Watch this first."
At a certain moment, the entire street fell deathly silent. The steam whistles, the clanking of chains, the voices of people—all vanished.
"This is the area the outside invader walked through last night."
"Wherever it passed, the reflections there would be half a beat slow.
In the middle of the night, everyone nearby heard their own name whispered very softly."
Richard had heard it last night, too.
"Everyone in that area had the same dream last night," Lady Mary continued.
"They dreamt of an eyeless eye. It opened and looked at them."
A chill ran down Richard’s spine. Everything was starting to connect.
When Mrs. MacNeil had reached for the fourth card behind the Answering Head, the card had flipped over on its own, revealing an eye with no pupil and no iris.
"Last night, this invader was fighting two of our local resident Experts."
Lady Mary raised her hand, and the pool of water on the coffee table retracted.
"I won’t show you any more images."
She said this with a hint of warmth in her voice, almost teasing.
"Your inspiration, boy, is still like a baby just weaned off milk. Feed it too much at once, and it’ll get indigestion."
Richard was amused by her words and felt a sense of relief.
Lady Mary swirled the last bit of tea in her cup, as if considering where to begin.
"Since we’re on the topic."
"This old woman will add a couple of things you don’t need right now, but might find useful later."
"You might know that when you reach the Middle Tier, you have to pre-select a future tradition. This is where the road forks."
Lady Mary held up two fingers.
"One is the main road."
"The five you’ve read about in your books.
This path is paved smooth and flat, with one signpost after another marking the way clearly.
For those who walk this path, it’s worry-free... People from the last thousand years have filled in all the pits for them. All they have to do is lower their heads and walk forward."
"And the other path?" Richard asked.
"The other is the narrow path."
"The small, nameless, unclassified traditions. On this path, no one puts up signposts for you.
The ground beneath your feet is uneven, and you have to find your own way through everything."
She paused here and chuckled to herself.
"But these two paths, I’ve heard... and I’ve only heard, mind you... they look very different at the top."
"The top of the main road is welded shut."
Lady Mary’s fingertip tapped the coffee table.
"No matter how brightly someone on the main road burns, the highest they can reach is Expert.
The door to ’Master’ above that is welded shut. They could smash their heads against it and never break through."
Richard listened with intense focus.
"The top of the narrow path, I hear... isn’t welded."
Lady Mary’s tone shifted, dispelling some of the gravity.
"Look at me."
She lifted her teacup and gestured vaguely toward the indistinct part of her face.
"Here I am, an old woman at Grand Mastery, telling you about things even Experts can’t grasp, speaking as if I’d seen it all with my own two eyes."
"Just treat these words as idle post-dinner chitchat. Hear them and then forget them."
"One of us hasn’t even signed his name yet, and the other is just living out her retirement guarding this little patch of Huayue Street.
Whether the doors of those up high are closed or not shouldn’t be our concern."
"Then... those two local Experts from last night, which path are they on?" Richard couldn’t help but ask.
Lady Mary didn’t seem to mind and continued.
"One follows the Sun, the other follows Furnace Fire. Both are on the main road."
"Last night’s events were a trap they set.
They planted bait in the city to lure that foreign guest out from where it was supposed to be."
"Why lure it out?"
"They wanted to crush it before it could slip into a domain ’beyond their reach.’"
Lady Mary spread her hands.
"And the result?"
"The result... they didn’t crush it. The guest slipped away, covered in wounds."
Lady Mary looked at the young man before her and swallowed the words she had left unspoken.
’The Abyss Tradition is an exception.’
’It’s the deepest, most dangerous, and most alluring of the narrow paths. The door isn’t welded shut, and it’s fast and powerful.’
But she had no intention of revealing this to the young man before her.
She had seen too many good Miaozi, ruined simply because someone had shown them that fast, powerful path with the unwelded door far too early.
They could no longer stop themselves, and they spiraled all the way down, burning out and becoming old incidents no one wished to speak of.
’His cycle is so pure, and his resonance with the Marvels so deep. He’s a rare and good Miaozi.’
’And precisely because he’s a good Miaozi, she couldn’t let him go astray.’
"Alright," Lady Mary said. "That’s enough talk for today."
Richard was quiet for a moment, but then he finally voiced the matter that was weighing on his heart.
"Lady Mary, Old Big... Mr. Bigelow, he’s in Brighton right now, investigating something."
"I was thinking, since you’re his teacher, if you could perhaps..."
"Little Richard," Lady Mary said softly, cutting him off.
"Bigelow’s affairs are not for you to worry about," she said.

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