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The silver spaceship was quiet.
Sam, Jean, and the children had left to find the Forbidden Land of Samsara.
Inside the ship's training room, four women sat in a circle on the soft white mats.
Xia Qingyue, Chu Yuechan, Chu Yueli, and Mu Bingyun weren't meditating today.
They were drinking warm tea.
Little D had brought it to them.
Xia Qingyue held her cup tightly. She stared at the green liquid.
"I have a problem,"
Xia Qingyue said softly.
The other three women looked at her.
"Is it your cultivation?"
Chu Yuechan asked.
"No. My cultivation is perfect."
Xia Qingyue shook her head.
"Then what is wrong?"
Mu Bingyun asked.
She took a small sip of her tea.
"It is about Sam,"
Xia Qingyue explained.
She looked down at the floor.
"I asked him to accept me. I wanted to be his woman."
Chu Yueli raised an eyebrow.
"And he said no?"
"He didn't say no completely,"
Xia Qingyue sighed.
"He told me he would only accept me when I know how to love. He said my heart is just a block of ice. He said I only follow him because he is strong, not because I actually love him."
The room went completely silent.
The three other women stared at her.
They didn't know what to say.
"How do you learn to love?"
Xia Qingyue asked them.
She looked at their faces, hoping for an answer.
"Don't look at me,"
Chu Yuechan said quickly.
She put her tea down.
"I have lived in the Frozen Cloud Asgard my whole life. I was taught that men are distractions. I was told to freeze my emotions to gain power."
"Me too,"
Chu Yueli agreed.
"I only know how to swing a sword and practice ice arts. I have never even held a man's hand before Sam touched my shoulder to heal me."
Xia Qingyue looked at Mu Bingyun.
"You are older than us. You are a realm master's sister. Do you know?"
"Eh… No,"
Mu Bingyun said.
Xia Qingyue groaned and covered her face with her hands.
"This is terrible,"
She whispered.
"We are all completely useless."
"We are strong fighters,"
Chu Yueli pointed out to defend them.
"But we are totally blind when it comes to the heart,"
Chu Yuechan corrected her sister.
"Sam is right. We follow him because he saved us. We follow him because his power is endless. But is that love?"
"I don't know,"
Xia Qingyue said.
"When I look at Jean, I see something different. She doesn't just follow him. She stands next to him."
"They talk without speaking,"
Mu Bingyun noticed.
"When Sam moves, Jean already knows where he is going. When Jean is worried, Sam already knows how to fix it."
"Can we learn that?"
Chu Yueli asked.
"Can we read a book about it?"
"I don't think love is in a manual,"
Chu Yuechan smiled a little bit.
"We can't just circulate our energy to make a feeling appear. It has to grow naturally."
"Then what do I do?"
Xia Qingyue asked.
"We watch,"
Mu Bingyun said simply.
"We stay with them. We watch how Jean treats him. We watch how he treats her. We learn to be normal people, not just cold ice statues."
Xia Qingyue slowly nodded.
"Okay. We will learn together."
Outside the ship, far into the golden city, Sam and his family were walking down a wide street.
The street was made of white jade.
Many dragons walked around them.
They wore rich silk clothes and golden jewelry.
They stopped and stared at the human group.
They pointed and whispered.
Suddenly, a group of five young dragons stepped into the middle of the street.
They blocked the path.
They looked like rich nobles.
They had bright scales on their cheeks and long, sharp horns.
"Stop right there,"
The leader of the young dragons said.
He crossed his arms.
"Humans aren't allowed on the Jade Path. This street is for true dragons only."
Sam sighed.
He put his hands in his pockets.
"We are just passing through. We don't want any trouble."
"You are making the air dirty,"
Another young dragon laughed.
"Go back to the dirt where you belong."
Before Sam could speak, Sue flew forward.
Her red hair was sparking with real fire.
"You are very ugly!"
Sue yelled at the young dragons.
"And you are very mean! Papa, can I beat them up?"
Lily walked forward and stood next to Sue.
"They are blocking the road,"
Lily said in her flat voice.
"Papa said we only destroy things that get in our way. They are in the way."
Sam looked at Jean.
Jean smiled and crossed her arms.
"Let them get some exercise,"
Jean said.
"They have a lot of energy to burn."
Sam looked back at the girls and nodded.
"Okay. But don't kill them. We are guests here."
"Yay!"
Sue cheered.
The young dragons looked insulted.
"You are letting little human brats fight us?"
The leader sneered.
"I will step on them like bugs."
He charged forward.
He raised a heavy fist covered in golden dragon energy.
Sue didn't even blink.
She pulled her tiny right arm back.
Her fist glowed with bright, golden Phoenix fire.
She punched the air.
A massive wave of True God fire shot forward.
It hit the dragon leader perfectly in the chest.
*BOOM.*
The dragon leader flew backward like a broken toy.
He crashed through a stone wall and disappeared into the dust.
"Wow,"
Jean said softly from the back.
"Her form was very good. She kept her elbow tight."
"Yes,"
Sam agreed, nodding like a wise teacher.
"But she used too much power. She only needed a little spark for him."
The other four dragons stopped moving.
They stared in horror at the broken wall.
"What did she just do?"
One of them whispered.
"Get them!"
Another yelled.
They all rushed forward at the same time.
Lily stepped in front of Sue.
She gently touched the white jade floor with her small boot.
A wave of blue energy spread across the street instantly.
The ground turned into pure, frictionless ice.
The charging dragons slipped immediately.
Their legs flew up into the air.
They crashed hard onto their backs, sliding helplessly across the freezing ground.
Lily pointed her finger at them.
Four thick cages of solid ice grew out of the ground.
The ice trapped the dragons completely.
They couldn't move an inch.
"Very clean,"
Sam smiled, clapping his hands once.
"She controls her domain perfectly."
"I like how she didn't waste any extra energy,"
Jean noted proudly.
"She is very smart."
Sue flew over the frozen dragons and laughed at them.
"You look silly in there!"
She poked one of the ice bars.
"I told you I was going to help,"
Lily said, walking over to Sue.
"My ice is better than your fire. I captured them without breaking any walls."
"My fire is cooler!"
Sue argued.
"Fire is hot. It cannot be cool,"
Lily corrected her.
"You know what I mean, matchstick!"
"Don't yell, it is bad manners."
Sam and Jean walked past the frozen dragons.
They walked right between the two arguing sisters.
"Good job, girls,"
Sam said, patting both of their heads.
"You cleared the path perfectly."
"Did you see my punch, Papa?"
Sue asked proudly.
"I did. It was very strong,"
Sam smiled.
"Did you see my ice cages, Mama?"
Lily asked Jean.
"They were beautiful, Lily,"
Jean said warmly.
"Now come along. We still have to find the Forbidden Land."
The two girls stopped fighting.
They happily followed Sam and Jean down the jade street.
Behind them, the young dragons were still trapped in the cold ice, shivering and terrified.
They finally realized that the humans they insulted weren't weak dirt at all.
They were traveling with two tiny monsters who held the power of the ancient gods.
Sam looked ahead.
He could see a massive dark forest at the edge of the city.
A strange, ancient energy leaked out from the trees.
"That must be the place,"
Sam said.
"Let's go find the Azure Dragon's daughter."