Lifang becomes desperate, knowing that Tuoren is already worn out from his powers nearly going wild. He wishes with all his heart that he had some power to help. Wang summons his magic for an attack, but suddenly it disperses, providing Tuoren an opportunity to strike. Wang asks when Lifang learned that spell, though Lifang himself hadn't realized it was his own doing. To make certain, Wang blasts them again, and Lifang disperses the power before it reaches them. Wang teleports away and escapes.
As soon as he's gone, Tuoren hugs Lifang and tells him how worried and frightened he was to wake up alone. Lifang gushes that it's all because of Tuoren that he's growing stronger, and he could never have another partner. Xionglin and Hulei send their adversaries to the palace. When they all gather again, however, they discover that Huzhi and Nasha went off somewhere. An gets upset that Tuoren was injured, saying it wouldn't have happened if he had a proper soldier as a partner, but Tuoren responds that he decided on his partner himself and it's his choice to risk injury to save that partner. (Xionglin tells An it's time she grew up and moved on...)
Huzhi confronts Wang, demanding to know why he joined the rebels. He replies that he was bored and wanted to cause a commotion--the same as had happened three thousand years before. He claims that the revival of the legendary Man-beast, Jinjuu, is drawing near. Chasing the trail of the heir, Nasha meets up with Shenwu. He points out that killing him won't make her sadness go away. She remembers that Lujing had told her once not to give in to revenge, because using magic to kill was exactly what the rebels were doing.
The rest of the group comes running up, Toudou and An interposing themselves to protect the heir. Just as Wang attempts to blow up the whole area, Long appears and suppresses the blast. He had come to bring Huzhi back to Jusenkai, deducing Wang's presence by the rebels who had been transported in the preceding battle. Meanwhile, Shenwu defeats Nasha, but he makes certain she's still alive and kisses her hand. He silently tells her to continue focusing on him, because if she attempted to fight the true object of her revenge she would have no hope of winning. By the time the others arrive, he has already taken off to meet up with Wang and force him to retreat.
Huzhi is crushed that Wang truly intended to kill her, without the slightest hesitation. Long offers her his chest to cry upon. Finally she notices that Lifang has gained a magic ability. As the others get all excited, she has a whispered exchange with Long about them not knowing yet, and he tells her that the emperor is still waiting for the right time. All she says is that they have a high probability of being able to match Yanlang eventually. Long warns the team members that, due to Lifang's energy transfer talent, he's a prime target and they have to protect him.
Wang is ticked off at Shenwu for depriving him of his fun. Yanlang's power exchange partner, Linghoa, reports that their leader hasn't fully regained his strength yet. At the palace, everyone gathers to welcome the heir back. She's amazed that they've all believed in her while she was gone. She apologizes to the emperor for taking off on her own. Long reports about their encounter with Wang and that Lifang's power has begun to awaken. Nasha wonders what Shenwu's blood on her hand meant. She gets the impression that he didn't take any energy, but rather the reverse. She goes to ask a favor of Xionglin.
Lifang gets bubbly about the day's events, especially finding his magic talent. He promises that in the next battle he'll protect Tuoren from the enemy's attacks. For a moment he's afraid that Tuoren will misunderstand it as one more way Lifang doesn't need him, but instead Tuoren promises in return that he'll always come to the rescue if Lifang is in danger. The next morning, Nasha appears with short hair. At last she has the feeling she can move ahead with her life, silently hoping that Lujing is watching over her.
Several days later, the team enters the mountains and decides to split up to be less conspicuous. Lifang demands to be allowed to travel alone, since otherwise it seems like they don't consider him a real soldier and need to baby him. Xionglin agrees, yet gives Lifang his rei as a compromise so he won't get lost. It'll tell him Xionglin's location so he can rejoin the others by nightfall. (They can sense ki directly, but he hasn't learned how, particularly with all their ki dampened to avoid detection by the rebels.) He takes off, saying he'll depend on Tuoren if anything happens. Tuoren, as expected, follows right after him.
When Hulei protests Xionglin taking on the role of group leader, Xionglin teases him that he's only stalling because he wants to stay together longer. (Xionglin: "If you're lonely, just say so." Hulei: "That does it, I'm going as far away as possible, so even if you call for help, I'll be the last one who gets there!") Lifang begins to hate himself for his actions. He knows he has no power to attack their enemies, and still he pushed away the hand Tuoren had offered. He wants to be strong, but all he can do is dwell on what he lacks.
He notices that he lost Lyui somewhere and goes searching frantically, meeting up with Tuoren. Lifang pretends he's fine, but Tuoren can tell something's wrong. He stalks off, not wanting Tuoren to see him miserable, and loses his footing at the edge of a cliff. Tuoren catches him and breaks his fall. Lifang reluctantly admits his depression and his image of himself as weak. No matter how much he practices, he can't close the gap between himself and the other four.
Suddenly an Upper Army rebel attacks them. When he causes a rock fall, Lifang finds that his defensive power only blocks energy attacks, not material objects. What worries him the most is that Tuoren isn't using any magic. Then Tuoren smiles at him, and Lifang strikes at the enemy head-on, stone exploding all around them. He realizes that Tuoren deliberately held back to force Lifang into demonstrating he possesses attack magic as well. Tuoren assures him that even when he thinks he's weak, he's still needed. He shouldn't hold it in and struggle alone, they have to work together.
A distance away, Xionglin accidentally steps on a poisonous snake and gets bitten. The fog that rolls in to cover the mountains interferes with the perception of ki, which they don't notice until night. Lifang points out that Xionglin's rei has gone cloudy, and Tuoren figures they'd better rejoin the others.
End Volume 6