"I have my own way to return," Liu Mingyan reassures him. She can no longer see the stairs back to her audience hall, but she is confident they remain where she left them. It is clear that whatever brought her here is not entirely the same as what brought them here, or at least not for entirely the same purpose. "As for the two of you--"

She removes a qiankun pouch from her belt and opens it, drawing from within a long bundle wrapped in pale, almost moonlit leather, tattooed all over with suppression talismans in ink the color of dried blood. She turns to Luo Binghe. "Junshang. I know you may have more to do here before you are ready to return, and please know I will gladly shoulder the burden of your Empire and your harem until you see fit to return. But when you decide it is time, this may help."

She carefully undoes the ties around the bundle of leather and the folds of it part, revealing the long, shining, crimson-and-onyx blade of Xin Mo, its hilt extended toward Luo Binghe's hand.