15-19

Chapter 15-Zhou's Trial 4

In the end, Ling Qi put aside such useless thoughts. She could panic about her possible encounter with a Great Spirit later. For now, she had an exam to pass and a plan to follow.

Her plan was simple, as good ones usually were. She would disguise herself as a commoner and gather information while watching out for her fellow disciples. Cultivators paid little attention to mortals so if she could still pass for one… she was sure she could find advantage there.

It didn't take very long to find what she was looking for. The entertainment district was full of gaudy storefronts and colorful signs, although it was quieter and less crowded than she was used to. Ling Qi grimaced as she passed in front of seedy business after seedy business, full of women with empty smiles and men who stunk of alcohol and other things. The cloying scents of cheap perfumes and incense was ever-present.

She hated these kind of places. Whatever difficulty and pain she had suffered after leaving her mother and whatever troubles being a cultivator would bring, at least she would never have to serve in a place like this.

Still, it had its uses for her present need. She bought a set of cheap clothing and some cosmetics to disguise herself. She was even able to purchase some rawhide and canvas to wrap her new staff in and hang it over her back. If she were to ambush a fellow disciple, it wouldn't do to alert them by carrying an obvious talisman.

She used her time purchasing her supplies to slip in innocuous questions about any odd happenings in recent days. It didn't go as well as she had hoped. The citizens of this city were tight lipped and often apathetic, and getting straight answers from anyone was irritatingly difficult.

Still, she did manage to pick up a few leads, even if the details were lacking. The first was that the city's sealed catacombs had been opened the day before and not for any funerary rights. A group of city guards had been seen carrying in a large clay urn with something shining from within but leaving empty-handed. The second was that the primary well in the southeastern section of the city had been shut down. Someone had been seen lowering an object that glimmered like starlight into it a few nights ago. In the morning, the guards had removed the bucket and crank that normally adorned the well. Ling Qi didn't particularly look forward to entering a tomb or climbing down a well, but it seemed these were her best leads.

As she was mulling over which one to follow up on, she heard a commotion further down the street. Voices were raised followed by a crash from something falling to the ground.

Ling Qi spotted the distinctive silver robes of one of her fellow disciples. She vaguely recognized the boy from her lessons though she didn't recall ever hearing his name. He was thin and gangly with somewhat pinched features and a proud set to his shoulders and demeanor. The impression was reinforced by the way he was berating the owner of one of the many dingy street stalls that lined the narrow streets.

Ling Qi wasn't close enough to properly overhear, but she could piece together the situation well enough from the wet stain on the front of the boy's robes and the broken gourd on the ground at his feet. The stall looked to be selling cheap drink, probably brewed in one basement or another, but something had caused a spill. She couldn't really say who was at fault, but she couldn't help but pity the merchant. No one else was going to help him.

This was an opportunity. If she could lead that disciple to one of the star tokens, she could wait and take it from him after he had braved whatever dangers there were. She could also just try to rob the other boy for a chance at a sun token and maybe take a competitor out.

For a moment, Ling Qi lost herself in thought, nervously plucking at the sleeves of her new and much drabber clothing. The obvious thing, in her opinion, would be to strike out of the crowd while the boy was distracted with the merchant, but starting a fight in the middle of the street would endanger civilians. Even if the civilians weren't real, she couldn't help but think that the Elders would disapprove of a plan that unnecessarily endangered them.

No, that wouldn't be the best option. But what other options did she have?

While she had never particularly focused on being a scam artist, she had played the role once or twice when more direct methods were off the table. Of course, she had been younger then, and people were less suspicious of being tricked by a child.

She would just have to try. If she continued to stand here agonizing over it, her opportunity would pass. Taking one last moment to steel herself, Ling Qi began to move towards the disciple and the merchant, shifting her posture to a more subservient and fearful one, as was appropriate for a mortal approaching an angry cultivator. She was fairly confident that the boy wouldn't recognize her under her disguise and hopefully he wouldn't sense her qi.

As she drew near, she noticed the splotch of red on the left side of the other disciple's robe and the way he favored his right leg. He was wounded at least as badly as she had been, and perhaps worse given the location of the wound. His robe stuck wetly to him, soaked through, but the lack of dripping indicated the wound was sealed by some means. The sight made her more confident.

"Ah - Excuse me, honored sir," Ling Qi spoke up as the proud boy wound down from berating the scrawny merchant for poorly securing his goods. She couldn't see a weapon on him anywhere, but unfortunately, that didn't necessarily mean anything given the existence of dimensional rings.

The boy didn't seem too startled so he had been keeping an eye on the people around him. He still snapped his head around to glare down at her… only to fail due to their relative heights. Ling Qi managed to conceal her wince at the flash of irritation in his eyes. Why did she have to be so tall?

"What do you want, girl?" he asked haughtily, crossing his arms over his chest. "I have no business with the rest of you, only this clumsy fool." He gestured with irritation at the merchant, who was eying her warily over the disciple's shoulder.

"I am very, very sorry for interrupting you, sir," Ling Qi continued hurriedly, catching the merchant's eye as she bowed deeply to the disciple. "Please spare my uncle. I beg your mercy in this matter." It was a gamble involving the vendor in her lie, but she could probably rely on the man's survival instincts to have him play along. Besides, someone entirely unrelated choosing to involve themselves in the dispute would be too unbelievable.

She saw the merchant's eyes widen a fraction before his expression returned to one of abject gratitude and contriteness.

"Oh, Yue. No, please do not involve yourself in your uncle's foolishness. Sir, this is entirely my fault. Please do not take offense at this girl's interruption. I will, of course, remunerate you for my carelessness..." Even in this weird city she could rely on people knowing how to act in their self-interest.

The boy scowled, glancing back and forth at the two of them before glancing up at the sky. His expression darkened further at the sight of the steadily sinking sun. "I will dismiss this for the moment as I have other business. You will surrender whatever funds you have in this mangy stall of yours and act as my guide."

So that's what he was doing. It was rather ham-handed of him but about what she would expect from a wealthy boy trying to find information in the scummier parts of town.

"Sir?" she spoke up meekly, doing her best to tremble in fear as he turned his glare back to her. "If it is a guide you need, I can serve that role. Disciples such as yourself are here for the tokens hidden in the city, are you not? I saw where the guards placed one of them. I can lead you there, but please, spare my Uncle's stall. We have so little as it is."

Ling Qi could see that she had succeeded by the look in the other boy's eye. "Hmph. You should be thankful to have a niece so filial, old fool," he said haughtily, eyeing the merchant. Ling Qi suspected that the merchant's expression of gratitude was not faked at all.

"However," he added, jabbing a finger toward Ling Qi. "If this is some trick or a waste of my time, I will ensure that your entire family regrets it."

"Of course, sir." Ling Qi bobbed her head in another bow. "I would never dream of lying to a lord such as yourself. Would you like me to take you there now?"

"Thank you so much for your mercy, sir," the merchant added quickly. "Truly, I do not deserve such a dutiful niece."

The old man barely got another cold glance before the boy's attention focused on Ling Qi. "I do not have time to waste. Lead me there now, girl."

Ling Qi restrained the twitch of irritation at his condescension. It meant that her disguise was working. She kept her expression meek and her head bowed. "It's right this way, sir."

She only had rather vague directions to the well, which she had decided was better for the sake of her plan, so she would have to bluff and hope he didn't notice any uncertainty on her part. Thankfully, her fellow disciple was - not foolish, because that could lead to underestimating him, but - less than attentive. Although he kept an eye on his surroundings as he marched stiffly along, concealing the occasional pained hitch in his step, he seemed to have entirely dismissed her as a threat.

It took another quarter of an hour to cross the city and reach the the well she had learned of, partially because she wasn't familiar with the street layout. The most difficult bit was when she had to convince him to stop and purchase a coil of rope with an explanation of what he would need it for.

Eventually, they reached the square where the well was located, only to find it dark and empty. A few wooden barricades surrounded the squat, knee-high stone ring of the well. It was uncapped with the rope and bucket missing from the bar suspended above it, yet a faint glittering light seemed to shine from the darkness within.

As they wove through the signs along the squares perimeter warning civilians to keep away, she glanced at her temporary companion. He had a certain desperate eagerness to his expression, which she hoped meant she could manage the second part of her plan. She paused a few steps from the well, leaving him to continue on and peer down into it, leaving his back to her.

"Sir? Should I tie the rope for you?" Ling Qi asked quietly, hefting the coil of rope carried on her good shoulder. "Will you need me to look after anything for you while you descend?"

He glanced over his shoulder at her, a frown on his pinched features. "Do not be foolish. I am not going to leave any of my things behind." He gave a haughty sniff as he turned to fully face her.

"Besides, you will be descending first. I refuse to give you the chance to run off while I am occupied. I don't even know if this place yet contains a token, and I will need a servant to carry a torch."

Ling Qi blinked. This wasn't part of the plan.

"Sir?" she asked, injecting a bit of fear into her tone. "I… I'm not sure - I mean - aren't there s-spirits and other things down there? Please, I led you here, didn't I? Please don't make me go into such a place!" With practiced ease, she squeezed a bit of moisture out of the corners of her eyes, doing her best to look frightened and pathetic.

For a moment, Ling Qi thought she had managed to convince him, but then the boy's expression hardened. "Stop your whining, girl!" he snapped. "You should be thankful to be assisting me like this. You will just have to stay close and…"

She couldn't do as he asked. If this were the location of a token, there was no way she would get through whatever defenses lay down there without revealing herself as a cultivator. Nor could she realistically refuse him without blowing her cover. It was fairly obvious he intended to use her as a canary given that he intended to make her go down first and play torchbearer.

No. Playing along wasn't an option.

Ling Qi's cultivation of Zephyr's Breath had trained her in the use of throwing knives. This included simple melee forms, but it was nothing so refined that she struck with. It was simple experience in the street that formed most of her response, combined with reflexes honed by 'training' with Gu Xiulan. Her shoulder hit the boy's chest at the same moment a knife dug into his injured side and twisted.

He let out a yelp of pain and surprise… and to Ling Qi's shock, he was easily shoved backward by her shoulder check. Why was he so weak? She had expected it to be like striking a wall, but instead, his arms windmilled as the back of his knees hit the lip of the well. She ducked under his grasping hand with ease and instinctively kicked out, striking his stomach even as she pulled out of reach.

Ling Qi winced at the meaty thwack of flesh striking stone as his head cracked against the back lip of the well, dulled by a flare of blue-white qi. Had he used qi to absorb the damage? Whatever he did, it didn't stop the boy from falling. His expression was locked into one of fury, pain, and surprise as the well's mouth expanded before her eyes like the maw of a hungry beast, leaving him nothing to grasp onto as he disappeared down the shaft.

Ling Qi stood there, dumbfounded by how easy it had been, only to wince as a much louder thump resounded from far below, echoing hollowly up the shaft. The distended black void that he had fallen into seemed to wobble for a moment before snapping back down to the size of a normal well. As time resumed its normal pace, she became all too aware of the sticky wetness staining her right hand. A single thought dominated her thoughts.

... That had not been a splash.

Chapter 16-Zhou's Trial 5

Ling Qi stared at the now innocuous well that the boy had disappeared into. She wasn't certain what she had expected to happen, but it wasn't that. Was that boy dead? Did the Elders retrieve him? She didn't know. Despite having lived in the streets, she had never killed anyone before, not like this.

Her thoughts flashed back to a memory of a disheveled Gu Xiulan's expression of satisfaction as the ice-flinging girl was consumed by fire. Would she become like that? Someone who could smile while trying to kill another person? She had known that she would have to fight and kill from the moment she was recruited, but she had thought it would only be barbarians. That was different than having to fight and kill a person - even if that person had been an unrepentant ass.

Ling Qi shook herself and straightened her shoulders. She didn't have time to stand here doing nothing. Her plan to rob the other boy after he completed the trial was useless now. If she wanted the star token, she was going to have to do it herself. And if the boy was still alive and present down there, she could at least make sure he didn't drown in a puddle or bleed out. She couldn't afford to regret her chosen course of action, but neither did she have to be completely callous.

Ling Qi let out the breath she had been holding and stepped forward, eyeing the well warily as she secured the rope. She soon had it looped over the high bar that would have once held the well's actual rope and bucket, with an additional length pulled out several feet away from the well. Sadly, she lacked any proper tools so she broke off one of the 'legs' allowing the barricades to stand upright. The wood had splintered with a bit of effort and some leverage on her part. Using one of her knives to scrape the broken end down to a point had taken a little longer, but eventually, she had something with which she could stake the end of the rope to the ground.

It was surprising how little it hurt when she had used her hand as a makeshift hammer. The force necessary to drive the stake firmly into the hard packed dirt of the street had only made her hand sting but not bruise. Once she had given the rope a few experimental tugs to ensure it was actually secure, she returned to the side of the well and looked down the dark shaft, steeling her nerves.

The climb down was nerve wracking. Bracing herself against the damp stone wall, Ling Qi half-expected to find it pulling away or for a gust of wind or some other strange magic to drag her down.

The descent went on longer than she expected. She was certain that the rope hadn't been long enough for her to be climbing down the well for nearly ten minutes. The tiny circle of light from the surface seemed terribly far away.

As she descended, some illumination appeared below, looking like dim candles burning in the dark. The wide dark chamber that greeted her was just barely high enough in places for her to stand upright. Its walls were dotted with odd crystalline growths that glowed with the faint illumination of a moonlit night and its floor was a field of mud with the occasional standing pool of water.

Reaching the end of her rope, Ling Qi dropped the remaining meter to the floor, grimacing at the feeling of mud squishing up under her sandals. Spotting the still figure of her fellow disciple lying in the mud, she felt her stomach drop. The boy really was still down here. His right arm and leg were unpleasantly twisted and the nearby mud and water were stained by red. Despite his injuries, his chest still rose and fell shallowly.

Maybe he hadn't been removed because the fall hadn't killed him? Elder Su had mentioned in a lesson that a cultivator would instinctively use qi to blunt harm, even if it was only minimally useful without a proper defensive art and training.

... Maybe this was why Gu Xiulan had seemed so blasé about throwing lethal attacks during the first test?

She considered the boy as she peered down at him in the dark. She was glad that he hadn't been faking, but as much as he had been an ass, she also hadn't really intended to seriously injure him outside the heat of the moment.

Ling Qi dragged the other disciple out of the slowly filling muddy crater his impact had dug. Although the movement made the boy twitch and groan in pain, thankfully, he didn't wake up. Ling Qi looked him over, tearing off a bit of his sleeve to rebind the stab wound she had inflicted. He… should be fine, and with his limbs like that, he shouldn't be a threat even if he woke up. The Elders would still retrieve him at the end of the test, right?

She hoped so, but having bandaged him, she paused. She - perhaps not fairly - had beaten him. She had even taken some time to make sure he wouldn't die at the bottom of the well. … She had earned her spoils, right? Besides, this would all be pointless if she failed to get the tokens she needed.

Nodding at her own reasoning, Ling Qi quickly searched the other boy. She checked his belt pouch first, the strings securing it deftly sliced by one of her knives. Ling Qi found herself grinning with relief when the first item she pulled out was a golden disk with the character for sun carved into it.

Lucky. She was very lucky.

Thinking of the strange pills resting in her own pouch, she couldn't help but wonder. Maybe it had nothing to do with the spirit that was apparently interested in her, but she could afford to take some incense from the storehouse and make up an offering. It certainly couldn't hurt.

The pouch didn't have much aside from the token, but she was glad for what it did contain: three red spirit stones and a clay bottle with two dark blue pills of some kind. She was going to have to find someone who could identify medicines.

The rest of her search turned up frustratingly little. The boy didn't even have a weapon or any talismans. Ling Qi was beginning to think that maybe he hadn't been quite as much of a wealthy young lord as his behavior had suggested. However, she did find something tucked under the collar of his robe, between the underlayer and the upper one. The three odd bronze cards shined with a mirror finish on one side and stylized swirls on the other. Turning them over in her hands, she couldn't begin to guess at their purpose.

Tucking the items into her bag, Ling Qi stood up. Now that she had a sun token, there was only one other that she needed to acquire to pass. She began to search along the walls, squinting in the dim light. At first, it seemed that this small muddy chamber was all that lay down here, but eventually she found a point of egress: a low, muddy tunnel set near the floor of the chamber.

After a moment's hesitation, Ling Qi sighed and kneeled in the mud to peer through the exit. Thankfully, the tunnel retained the dim lighting from the strange crystals, but the crawl was still going to be uncomfortable. She scowled as she leaned forward, hands sinking into the mud with a wet splorch as she began to shuffle forward on her hands an knees. She hated tight spaces like this. Absolutely hated them.

Ling Qi kept moving as quickly as she could manage, alternating her gaze between the tunnel ahead and the ground below. Several times, she nearly slipped, but she managed to avoid face planting into the deepening muck. The cheap clothing she had bought was less lucky. By the time she could see the end of the tunnel, her sleeves and top were sporting several rips where they had caught on the crystals.

For all that she felt relief as she poked her head out of the narrow tunnel and into the open space beyond, she was still brought up short by the sight that met her eyes. Not only did the tunnel drop off into clear, knee-deep water, but the temperature had suddenly dropped as well, enough that her breath was coming out in puffs of steam.

Warily climbing to her feet, Ling Qi peered around, confirming what she had hoped was a trick of the light. The chamber had three other passages leading out from it, and every wall was coated in a solid layer of ice from which her reflection stared back at her in the dim light.

It made her skin crawl to have her gaze reflected from multiple directions like that. She looked positively filthy: her hair was askew, her arms coated in mud up to the elbows, and her clothing tattered from the passage. Grimacing, she took care of at least one of those things, washing the silt and mud on her hands away in the icy water.

Ling Qi shivered and not just from the chill. She didn't like this place. Glancing between the three identical-seeming passages, she chose the leftmost one and flipped a knife out of her sleeve to mark the ice that made up the wall. It failed, the knife's edge only grinding uselessly against the reflective plane.

Gritting her teeth Ling Qi instead crouched down, shivering as the water further soaked into her clothes. She picked up a handful of mud and smeared it over the mirror. She was going to mark her path one way or the other.

Navigating the icy passages proved difficult. At first, when the tunnel was straight, it was easy enough, but the tunnel quickly began to curve, twist, and split. The reflective walls only made it worse. Gradually, they began to distort, showing off twisted reflections that made her head spin as she tried to make her way through the labyrinthine passages. It didn't help that all the while, even with her efforts to mark the walls, she was feeling less and less sure of whether she could find her way back out. She couldn't afford to turn back...

"Why were you so concerned about killing him?" Ling Qi whipped around, a knife already in hand as an echoing voice sounded just behind her. However, instead of a person, she found her own distorted reflection looking back at her from the curved mirror of the wall behind her. As she stared into her own shadowed eyes, she thought she may have simply imagined it.

Then, the image cocked its head to the side and crossed its mud-stained arms over its chest.

Ling Qi hadn't moved at all.

"Why?" her reflection asked, its eyes narrowed and pitiless. "He was a threat. You heard the Elder. If he died, it would have been his own fault."

"That doesn't mean I should be trying to kill people." The words slipped out even as she inched backwards, away from the unsettling doppelganger. "I don't need to make more enemies." She didn't quite know why she was explaining herself to the thing wearing her face, but if it wanted to talk that gave her time to find an exit. There was another split behind her, but she was pretty sure the left path wasn't real, just another twisted reflection.

Unfortunately, inching backwards did not prevent the mirror thing from stepping forward through the plane of the mirror as if it were merely water.

"Ah. So you were just being a coward again. That's not really surprising," it said condescendingly.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ling Qi snapped. The thing's attitude irked her as condescension usually did, but it seemed worse to hear it in her own voice. "There's nothing cowardly about showing restraint."

"What restraint?" the thing asked, its expression warping into an ugly sneer. "You don't give a damn about that idiot. You tipped him into the well with barely a thought. So why feel guilty afterward? Or do you really believe that you've never killed anyone before? How delusional are you?"

"I haven't," Ling Qi responded, her uneasiness increasing. Should she just run? This was obviously some kind of spirit trick. "I - I'm a just a thief, not a murderer." She was babbling. Was this part of the trick - something making her want to keep talking?

"Liar, liar, Ling Qi's such a liar."

Ling Qi stiffened as a second voice, high pitched and childish, sounded from behind her. A careful look over her shoulder made her silently curse. The path behind her had gone dark, all of the crystals beyond a half dozen meters extinguished. Sitting in front of the inky cloud, seemingly in mid-air, was another reflection of sorts. It was her as she had been right after running away from home. Ling Qi felt a stab of regret as her eyes caught on the flower shaped ornament keeping the little girl's unruly hair in check. That had been her last birthday gift, and it had broken a few months after she had run away.

The child reflection grinned, seemingly noticing where her eyes had gone. "Did you already forget Wei? He really thought you were gonna pull him up after you, you know? How about old man Shen? Even after he gave you bread, you still stole his blankets when winter came."

The thing leaned forward on its invisible seat and added in a conspiratorial whisper, "But you don't even remember, do you? I guess there were so many..."

Ling Qi felt colder than before even as she tried to keep both spirits in sight. This… What was… Were these spirits plucking things from her mind? While she didn't have more than a vague inkling of recognition at the names it spoke, she could not say that she didn't recall events that were at least… similar.

"Kids - People who join a heist know what they're getting into," she said defensively, memories of the first person she had ever partnered up with bubbling up."I didn't pull him up because I would have gotten caught too. I didn't kill him. I mean - the guards caught him, but…"

The older reflection let out a derisive snort. "Idiot! Do you think that scrawny little dumbass survived long after the beating you'd get for theft?" It rolled its eyes as she fell silent from the interruption. "And he said he'd protect us. As if anyone could do that."

"You didn't even try to say anything about the old man," the child added with a giggle. "I could bring up some more, but we both know you'd just make more excuses!"

"Cut the crap," Ling Qi responded roughly, her hand tightening on the grip of the knife. "What do you want? This… this is some kind of test, right? Get to the point."

She had to hope it was part of the test, because the lights were winking out one by one around her, steadily shrinking the circle of light she had to see by. If she needed to, she could break through in the child thing's direction, but...

"If it is, then you've already failed," the older reflection sneered. "Do you really think the Sect wants a disloyal coward like us anywhere in their upper ranks? Especially if we can't even bring ourselves to dirty our hands? We're meant to be a warm body on the front line at best."

"Stop calling me that!" Ling Qi snapped. "If you're really me, then you know damn well that I just… I just did what I needed to do!" The justification sounded lame even to her. "Besides, I can be better now, right? I'm a cultivator. Improving myself is what it's all about!" Ling Qi straightened her shoulders and glared at them defiantly. Was it just her, or had a few of the crystals flickered back on?

"If you weren't a coward, you would have talked to Mama when you saw her in the market last year," the child reflection's voice cut in, sounding subdued instead of gleeful like it had before. The phantom idly kicked her feet, sending the painstakingly stitched hem of her dress flapping. "We saw how thin she was."

"If you weren't disloyal, you wouldn't have left mom to rot just because you were scared," the older one growled.

Ling Qi flinched.

"Oh, it looks like you remember Mama at least," the child taunted.

Ling Qi's free hand balled into a fist even as the circle of light shrank. "I wasn't going to let her make me like her," she snapped. "I couldn't be what she wanted. So why not run away! It saved us both pain."

"Liar."

"Coward."

"That wasn't what you were thinking when you ran," the older reflection said, her voice dripping with contempt.

"You were scared of that gross man," the child added with a shiver. "And you didn't trust Mama to protect you anymore."

"You just kept telling yourself that stupid lie until you believed it," the older one sneered

"Ling Qi runs, Ling Qi hides, and Ling Qi only loves herself. This is who we are," they both continued with eerie synchronicity. There was something wrong with their voices; they were distorted as if speaking through water. The last of the lights were flickering out. She could barely see either of them, save for their eerily glowing eyes, staring at her with derision and pity.

She didn't… She wasn't really like that, was she? Was that the kind of person she was?

Why was she so tired? Why were these words affecting her so much? She had been called worse things before. Suffered worse things before. So why did she feel so hopeless?

It was…

Why was it so cold?

Chapter 17-Zhou's Trial 6

No!

She wasn't going to give up. She couldn't afford to be weak, and she couldn't afford to doubt herself. Not in the middle of a dangerous test. Even if what the reflections said was true.

"It's true that I have lied. People have probably died because of things I did… and Mom…" Her voice, despite being little louder than a whisper, resounded in the utter darkness she was in.

"You should stop," the childish voice responded with resignation. "More excuses won't help."

"Shut up!" Ling Qi snapped, straightening her sagging shoulders. "Do you really think you've said anything I haven't thought of before?" More than anything, Ling Qi felt angry: angry at these stupid spirits playing with her mind; angry at herself for stopping to listen to them; and angry at their reminder of things she had so deliberately forgotten. The spirit wasn't wrong.

She knew she had hurt people with her actions. It wasn't possible to live at the bottom without doing that.

She knew she was selfish.

She knew she wasn't a virtuous person.

... She knew that mother hadn't really wanted the same life for her. Her education was proof of that, even if it hurt to admit it.

Ling Qi barely noticed the flickering of the lights overhead, allowing her to see the dim outline of her hand as she pointed accusingly at the thing wearing her face.

"You're wrong. I've stolen things, left people behind, and made plenty of other shitty decisions I can't even remember, but… I know that. I know I'm not a good person. I never said I was. Just because I'm not a saint doesn't mean I'm a monster," Ling Qi snapped angrily.

"I'd make those decisions again if the situation was the same," she admitted in a more subdued voice. "That doesn't mean I'd do the same if I had more choices."

As the light grew, she could once again see the child, now staring at her skeptically. "Words like that won't do you any good, you know. Saying that you didn't have any good choices is just an excuse."

Ling Qi's vision swam, and she found herself wobbling on her feet as the creeping fatigue sapped the energy her anger had given her. the little girl's voice and tone had changed somehow.

"... That's bullshit, and it pisses me off to see someone wearing my face say it." Ling Qi frowned, forcing herself to continue speaking. "There's a reason I stopped thinking that way." She shook her head, trying to shake off the fuzziness of her thoughts. "Because - I've thought about it - what it means to be free. I… I left mom just for that after all, even if it started because I was scared. It doesn't matter if it wasn't what she wanted… If I'd stayed, then..." Her words were a bit slurred, but she managed to keep her focus on thing's face.

"… As long as you're poor… as long as you're weak… you aren't really free. I've seen that. There aren't any real choices there. You're bound by all kinds of things." It was getting hard to concentrate.

"Point is - I… Things can be different once I change that."

"Does that really make it better though? You're still the same person in the end." The not-child sighed.

"Won't you make the same excuse when Li Suyin needs your help? Or when your fellow disciples finally manage to find their spines and gang up on Bai Meizhen?" The voice was different now, lower and more mature. In the corner of her vision, something shimmered.

That shimmer seemed to break through the clouds filling her head, and for a moment, she found clarity.

"...Maybe," Ling Qi admitted quietly. "But that's something to work out for myself in the future, not something to discuss with a damn parasite messing with my head."

"What…?" the illusion began, its childish features drawing down in a pout.

Ling Qi's hand snapped out in a blur, launching a sliver of metal upward toward the sight that had flickered in her vision. A shrill squeal shattered the silence, and with it, the world. Everything around her wavered: the reflections, the darkness, even the sense of fatigue that had been creeping up on her again.

A glittering web, beautiful in its intricacy, hung across the ceiling of the tunnel in front of her. Its occupant, a spider the size of a small cat with glittering silver chitin, fell from it, spasming around the knife buried dead center in its abdomen. It kicked up a splash as it hit the ankle-deep water. Ling Qi moved forward without hesitation, renewed anger burning in her veins, and brought her foot down as hard as she could manage, again and again, until the damned thing finally stopped twitching.

"Stay out of my head," she hissed under her breath. She reached down and jerked her knife out of the corpse.

She was left staring at the milky-white, oblong shape stuck on the end of her knife. She could feel qi in it. She recalled Li Suyin's roommate had mentioned something called a "beast core." Maybe this was it?

She gingerly prodded the thing. It felt like warm stone, not fleshy at all, so after a moment's hesitation, she tucked it into her belt pouch.

As her anger and adrenaline faded, Ling Qi found her thoughts turning back to her recent ordeal. She knew now that it hadn't been real, just another illusion twisting her own thoughts and blaring the distorted results back in her face. The last thing she wanted was to think about her old life, but that stupid spider had pulled it all back to the forefront. Now, she couldn't stop thinking about it.

She glared darkly at the tunnel ahead, carefully studying it for more webs or any other sign of a trap. She even strained the vague sense for qi she had managed to cultivate as she advanced. But despite her best efforts, she remained distracted.

Ling Qi hadn't lied. She didn't like hurting people or abandoning them… but she had to put herself first, and in her previous position, that hadn't left much room at all to care for others. She still believed leaving Mother had been for the best - for both of them. Even now, knowing that she had misread the situation due to her fears, she still held on to that belief.

... Still, maybe she could send out a letter along with some of the coin she had recently acquired once the Sect restrictions on communication ended. She hadn't wanted to chance getting entangled in things again back in the city, but she was beyond that now.

Mother had done her best for her daughter, even if Ling Qi had rejected it at the end. Ling Qi could afford to give… something back. It wasn't as if she had much use for silver anymore after all. Assuming the silver was real anyway, she thought irritably. After this day, she wished that she had some ability to sense that kind of thing.

The path ahead was still a maze, although she wasn't knee-deep in water anymore. Perhaps that was the trick? She needed to follow the decreasing water level?

The last trap had left her feeling tense, but perhaps that was a good thing because it allowed her to maintain focus and keep her sense of direction in the maze. Ling Qi kept working toward a single direction even when the twisting paths didn't allow her to proceed directly. Several times, she found herself stopping and backtracking to avoid more glittering webs or places where the darkness grew unnatural.

Gradually, the water grew shallower, first to lap around her toes then to simply leave the ground wet and muddy. The number of turns, twists, and splits in the path began to taper off as well until finally, the tunnel opened up into a small chamber dimly lit by a single crystal growth on the ceiling.

Ling Qi peered inside warily, easily spotting the stone plinth that lay directly under the light with a glittering black jade token shot through with veins of white laying atop it. If that wasn't the star token, she would eat her sandals.

Unfortunately, the plinth rose from a pool of crystal clear water. Stepping into the chamber, Ling Qi could not help but stare suspiciously at the pool. She strongly doubted that it was so simple as simply walking up and taking the token. If the rest of this spirit-infested city was any indication, the token would be guarded by some kind of water spirit.

Perhaps she didn't need to confront it? Spirits could be placated, and Ling Qi recalled a few things about water spirits that had slipped in among her etiquette lessons with Bai Meizhen when conversation turned to the girl's home province. Ling Qi didn't have incense or offerings, but… maybe she could talk the spirit into just handing the token over or at least explaining what it wanted before she went and stuck her foot in the thing's pool?

After deliberating, she decided that it couldn't hurt. Ling Qi stepped into the chamber, straightened her posture as best she could, and then bowed, pulling on dim memories of priestly ceremony and hearthside conversation. She then clapped her hands together, once and then twice before holding them apart.

"Scion of waters, child of the the Eternal Ocean from which all life rises, this one would treat with you. Will you appear?" Ugh. Ling Qi had nearly stumbled over the odd and formal words, but she thought she had gotten it right. Ling Qi almost grimaced, feeling increasingly ridiculous as she held her pose in the silence that followed.

Then, she heard the sloshing of water and witnessed the calm surface of the pool growing frothy with motion, lapping at the shore. The water bubbled and rose, an indistinct face forming from the waters. Its eyes were two unsettling dark holes, and its other features were little more than outlines, like an amateur sculpture of a person's head. She could feel a weight in the air which had been absent as those pits focused on her.

Rootbound Fledgling, what words/meanings/communication do you have for [Earthwater/Bringer of Health/Shadowsea/*****]?

Its words, if the sudden barrage of meaning that struck her mind could be called that, made her body tremble in discomfort. Ling Qi did her best to ignore the pressure that she felt weighing down on her. For all that this was no great spirit, she had a feeling that the New Moon had been distinctly taking it easy on her, body and mind, if something like this could make her feel so pressured.

"This one requests the knowledge of what must be done to acquire the token at the center of your pool," she pressed on, knowing that it was too late to back out now. "This one has no wish to unnecessarily defile your waters."

The face in the water regarded her silently, and she found herself dearly wishing that it was more expressive, less flat and alien.

Blood and flesh has been offered, yet the life was denied. Were we true/real/original, we would take of yours. Here, we are but a shadow/reflection/memory so there is no purpose/meaning/nourishment.

A thread was cut. Return it and begone with our burden, disciple of the Blood-Drenched Moon.

Ling Qi concentrated on keeping her limbs from trembling. The spirit's words were difficult to parse, but she thought she understood what it wanted. Loathe as she was to give up her prize for having killed that damn spider, it was probably a… part of this spirit? She knew vaguely that spirits were often interconnected in weird ways.

Hoping she was right, she slipped a hand into her pouch and brought out the core she had torn from the dead spider and held it out. Sure enough, the thing vibrated in her hand and shot from it the moment she opened her fingers, hitting the surface of the pool with barely a ripple and dissolving.

Ling Qi stumbled back as the star token hit her chest, having been flung with significant force. She managed to catch it before it hit the ground though despite the throbbing where it had struck her. She would probably have a nasty bruise on her chest later.

"Thank you," Ling Qi said, bowing her head a fraction lower. "I apologize for disturbing your rest."

Wings too stunted to fly, and roots too damaged by frost to flourish. It is not for your sake that we grant our burden. Begone.

Ling Qi stiffened as the world seemed to twist and distort around her, squeezing down on all sides. She was just beginning to panic as she found herself unable to move, but before she could even get going, she found herself blinking as the light of sunset stung her eyes.

Carefully peering around, Ling Qi found herself standing at the edge of the square which contained the well, hidden in shadow behind several haphazardly stacked crates. She frowned as she saw another disciple, a girl she didn't recognize, watching the well intently with a fine saber in hand. Ling Qi's rope was still there, and from the way the girl stood, her intentions were clear. Ling Qi supposed she owed the water spirit thanks, even if it had been irritatingly cryptic and condescending.

Ling Qi crept away with the girl none the wiser, eyeing the sky. She still had some time, but the sooner she got to the temple, the better. At this point, every moment she spent in the city was a risk with no reward.

Luckily, she doubted any of her fellow disciples would identify her at a glance; she was wet, muddy, and wearing cheap, torn clothing. Unless they could sense her qi or they recognized her personally, she could pass for a commoner, unless the wrapped staff on her back drew attention.

... At least until she got to the wealthier part of the city. There, her appearance would start to stand out.

However, that concern could wait for the moment. Ling Qi focused on making her way further into the city at the quickest pace she could manage while sticking to back streets and alleys. As she traveled, it became more and more clear that the city had quite a few disciples in it now. Smoke rose in the distance, and people were hurrying away from that location with frightened looks on their faces. These signs and other little things caused Ling Qi to pick up her pace even more.

Once she moved out of the poorer, outer districts, Ling Qi made a small detour to clean up and dry off. A stop at a pawn shop afterward bought her a cloak to throw over her tattered clothes. Leaving the shop, she worked to blend in with the street traffic as she approached the inner walls around the wealthy districts. She could see a huge tower, carved to appear as a tightly coiled dragon rising over those walls. Going by the guard's words, that was her destination.

That just meant she needed to be even more cautious.

She saw some of her peers on the way. Some loitered on street corners, scanning the crowd. A tiny number had even gotten the same idea as she had and dressed down, making themselves less obvious. Ling Qi focused on remaining in the background and kept a tight leash on her qi.

As she neared the inner districts, Ling Qi slowed her pace even more. She no longer weaved through the street traffic for maximum speed without compromising her anonymity. Instead, she walked normally. She even stopped periodically at street stalls or entered shops, making sure she didn't appear to be in a hurry to reach a particular destination.

It seemed to work. Her fellow disciples took no notice of her as she worked her way closer. There were at least a dozen guards in plain sight at the intricate bronze gates that separated the outer city from the inner, including two who wore marks of rank. Here, there were no disciples that she could see. Perhaps they assumed that the guards would intervene in violence that occured right in front of them.

A handful of bloody footprints that had yet to be smeared away by passing foot traffic seemed to give credence to that, as did the fact that several of the guards had blades drawn. As much as it went against every instinct she had to openly approach such a group, Ling Qi finally broke her casual pace as she reached the open square in front of the gate. As she expected, the two men flanking the gate raised their halberds to block her way, staring at her with cold disinterest. She glanced at one of the two officers in their ranks, digging into her pouch to reveal her tokens. She hoped that what she had really was a star token. The guard officer stepped forward to examine the offered tokens. Ling Qi held her breath until he silently gestured for the two men to lower their weapons. This was it! She had managed to pass! She felt almost giddy at the realization.

She murmured a breathless thanks to the guard officer and darted through the gates, hurrying through the opulent buildings of the inner city. Even the confused disdain on the wealthy citizens she passed couldn't bring her mood down. Soon, she stood before the wide open gates of the temple with fires burning merrily in the braziers that flanked it.

Ling Qi forced herself to pause and examine the temple's grand interior for potential traps, but there were none. Smiling triumphantly, Ling Qi stepped through the doorway.

Bonus 3: Faculty Meeting

Warm afternoon sunlight played across the polished black surface of the table which took up the majority of the space in the meeting hall. The tall windows that lined the east and west walls were left open, allowing the cool breeze to blow inside. It was, Dong Feng supposed, much like the quieting of the winds that came before the breaking of a storm.

Looking back down to his desk in the corner of the room, Dong Feng resumed arranging his tools to his liking. It was an honor for a Sect Clerk only a bit past his centennial to be selected to take minutes for a meeting of Elders. He would certainly have to buy his senior another bottle of Blossoming Dream Nectar in thanks for the opportunity.

As Dong Feng placed the last strip of jade down and checked the nib of his etching tool for sharpness, the doors at the far end of the brightly lit hall opened, and the first of the Elders swept in with a small rustle of cloth. Elder Hua Su was among the youngest of her rank, he thought idly. Only two hundred and fifty years or so older than himself. Truly a talent and credit to the Sect. He did not raise his eyes as she passed him. Normally, it would be quite rude to not acknowledge an Elder, but as a record keeper, his role was to be a silent pair of hands.

His ears caught heavy footfalls echoing from the hallway a moment later, and he felt a thrill of fear go up his spine as Commander Zhou marched past, barefoot and bare chested. Dong Feng still remembered well his days serving in the Sect military, training under sergeants who had in turn learned directly from the Indomitable himself. His muscles ached at the memory.

"Sect Sister Su," the man greeted shortly, dipping his head briefly to the other Elder. "Your courses are going well?"

Elder Su gave the taller man a soft smile as she pulled out her seat. "As well as can be expected. Our disciples are an interesting bunch this year, are they not?"

Elder Zhou scowled, and Dong Feng felt himself break out in sweat as the shadow of a vast mountain fell over him, crushing his shoulders with its weight. It passed then, a mere flicker in the Commander's iron discipline. "I dislike this… circus," he said with distaste. "There is nothing that I can teach such neophytes that a lesser officer could not. I look forward to weeding out the worst."

"You underestimate your insight," the younger woman replied, taking her seat. "Still, it is not often that the Sect is host to such names. Have any yet made an impression?"

"The Bai lives up to her name. She will be a terror in a century or so," Commander Zhou replied, a touch of irritation in his voice even as he sat down. His seat creaked from his unnatural weight, but the spiritually reinforced wood held. "The Sun is hot-headed and talented but bored by the basic lessons. I have no other insights to share."

"Neither is much interested in my basic primers either," Elder Su admitted. "The other though…"

Commander Zhou grimaced. "I have no complaints at her performance," he replied neutrally.

"Of course you don't." The light drained from the room as another voice echoed as if from the bottom of the well, and Dong Feng felt a violent shiver go up his spine as staring, judging eyes formed in his shadow and all across the room. Watching and grading and… He took hold of himself before he could make a mistake in the etching recording the Elders' words.

Across from the other two Elders, a pillar of liquid darkness arose, frothing and bubbling until it resolved into the gray skinned form of Elder Jiao, lounging in his seat and wearing a robe of eye-searing yellow and a jauntily tilted cap on his bald head.

"Our Glorious Duchess would hardly fail to prepare her heir," he drawled. "But really, must we talk of this again? Is there nothing more interesting to speak of?"

Dong Feng was quite sure he saw Elder Su roll her eyes during Elder Jiao's extravagant entrance, but that was obviously a mistake of perception on his part, he told himself. At least the eyes in his shadow were fading away.

"If you have any insights to offer, they are obviously welcome, Sect Brother Jiao," Commander Zhou replied in a voice drier than any desert. "You have, after all, been so involved in the running of the Outer Sect."

"Oh, nothing of my work would interest you, Sect Brother," Elder Jiao replied in amusement. "Just scribblings and such, you know. Nothing for a man of your stature to be concerned over."

The room shook, and the stone floor rippled as another arrived. The figure of Elder Ying was not an impressive one visually. The stooped figure, wrinkled face, and tightly bound bun of gray hair would be common on any street. All the same, she had emerged from solid rock, and her plain brown gown drawing ripples in the flagstones as she shuffled toward the table and her seat at a deceptively slow pace.

"Do let it rest, you two," she chided. "We will be discussing our high status guests enough, I think. Why not speak of the other gems we have been given to polish?"

"There are a few," Commander Zhou grunted. "It is too soon to know if there is anything but potential among the charity cases."

"And potential hardly guarantees ability," Elder Su added. "Yet there are two that have the drive to make something of it, I think."

Commander Zhou grunted in agreement. "Agreed. I am disappointed in the Golden Fields group. I never imagined that Han would coddle his son so."

"Hmph. Not everything is cultivation," Elder Jiao replied. "That one is at least well adjusted. There is a reason that the common age for beginning cultivation has risen."

Commander Zhou scoffed. "We are growing soft."

Elder Su gave the commander a brief look which Dong Feng could not read, but it was Elder Ying who spoke, her reedy voice nonetheless carrying a great weight to it. The air began to tingle with thickened qi as wills clashed through narrowed eyes. "You know as well as any that beginning before the age of twelve is near pointless. A child so young cannot properly form even the first steps of a Way. You may as well attempt to sculpt a wall from dry sand."

"But we have an exemplar of such early cultivation this very year!" Elder Jiao said brightly. "And they have such an interesting mind, do they not?"

Elder Ying's wrinkled face drew into a scowl, and Elder Su frowned. Elder Zhou merely closed his eyes. "I am aware that there is a point which is too early," the commander said. "That does not change the truth of my words."

For Dong Feng, things were far more intense. He shivered violently, goosebumps forming on his skin as the qi in the room thickened with raised emotion. Where before he had looked upon a brightly lit meeting hall and four seniors and superiors, now he drowned in a lake of darkness filled by mocking, judging eyes while twin mountains, one a peak of barren gray stone and the other a riot of greenery and life, that both stretched into the sky rumbled and shook at one another.

He felt relief when thunder clapped, rattling the very frame of the building, and the tension in the air dissolved along with the figments of power. Dong Feng gasped for air as the crushing weight fell from his shoulders and chest.

"Hoh, he's finally here. I am surprised that the Sect Head was so late," Elder Ying said, sounding curious.

"Must he limit himself so with mortal affectations? He could very well have just entered the room directly," Elder Jiao complained, a flick of his voluminous sleeve producing a sheaf of densely written papers.

"Not all are interested in abandoning their bodies so, Sect Brother," Commander Zhou snorted. "You will survive waiting another minute for the Sect Head to traverse the halls."

Dong Feng almost sighed as the serious atmosphere that had formed dissolved back into the casual one-upmanship and bickering of a normal office meeting. It was always frightening to be reminded of just how far an Elder was above a mere clerk.

Chapter 18-Zhou's Trial 7

It was like having cold water splashed in her face.

Ling Qi blinked as her vision swam and the opulent temple interior she had glimpsed was replaced with a plain stone room with a bright bonfire burning in the center. The doors she had just passed were closed, and beneath her, the lines and characters of a formation flickered.

"You have passed the second stage. Calm yourself and rest." Instructor Zhou's deep voice rang out from the raised stage at the other end of the room. He stood there, arms crossed, his expression just as hard and stern as ever as he looked down at her from over the bonfire, and yet, she couldn't help but feel that there was the tiniest hint of approval in the man's steely eyes.

Ling Qi did her best to ignore the warmth she felt on her cheeks as she hurried away from the door. She didn't want to end up getting bowled over by another entrant from behind, certainly not in front of Instructor Zhou or the… another person on the stage? She squinted. There was a man lounging against the wall on the left side of the stage.

It was the Elder from her very first day in the Sect, only this time, the odd man was wearing a minister's robe that was a horribly eye-searing shade of orange. As she looked at him, he raised his head, apparently awakening from the light doze he had been in and looked back at her. Ling Qi felt pinned by his gaze, but the thin-faced man smiled as if at some private joke and glanced to the side, freeing her from his regard.

Ling Qi quickly averted her eyes, taking in the other occupants of the room. There were surprisingly few of them. There were only six… no, seven disciples here already. She had been the eighth to make it to the temple. Among them, she recognized only three.

Gu Xiulan and Han Jian stood near the fire, and Han Jian raised his hand to wave to her when he saw her. He looked a bit crispy around the edges, his robe blackened at the hems and an ugly burn marred his cheek. In contrast, Gu Xiulan looked like a waterlogged cat, irritable and miserable. It made Ling Qi feel somewhat better about her own state.

The last person she recognized was no surprise. Sun Liling sat cross-legged in a secluded corner of the room with a scowl on her face, otherwise looking none the worse for the wear. The room was quiet. Even those speaking were keeping their voices down to a low murmur. It seemed she would have to wait a while yet.

With the glow of victory fading, Ling Qi felt rather wrung out. The encounter with that damn spider had been mentally exhausting, and the stress of sneaking through the outer city had not been restful either. Frankly, she could see the appeal of doing as Sun Liling had and just finding a quiet corner to sit down and meditate in. Who knew what the Elders would have them doing next?

It might seem rude though. Han Jian and Gu Xiulan were both present, and if both she and they passed, they would be the only ones in the class that would be friendly to her. She had a feeling that her efforts to stay unnoticed would be for naught after this.

It wasn't as if she disliked them either. Well, she liked Han Jian; her feelings about Gu Xiulan were more complicated. The other girl intimidated her if she were honest, and Ling Qi didn't quite know what to think about the girl's actions toward her.

She found herself recalling the mocking words of her reflections. It would be better to have allies. The Sect wasn't like the city. The rules were different, and so was she, and even if she was still weak… well, she had proven that she had some value, right? Making it here had to prove that.

Ling Qi walked toward her two teammates, attempting to appear unfazed by the appraising looks she was receiving from the other disciples in the room. For better or worse, she had done something to stand out, and people would be paying attention to her. She couldn't just run to another district this time. She would have to be much more careful in the future.

"Ling Qi. Looks like you made it. Great job," Han Jian greeted her warmly, smiling despite the burn on his cheek. She gave him a tentative smile in return, allowing herself to relax.

"Congratulations," Gu Xiulan added. Ling Qi thought she detected a bit of surprise in the other girl's demeanor, but she wasn't sure. The way the other girl's cosmetics had begun to run and smear made it harder to read her expression. "And you made it through unmarked as well. How did you manage that?"

"I… managed to surprise the boy who had my sun token," Ling Qi admitted sheepishly. "He thought I was just a mortal." She plucked at the frayed cloth of her new clothing for emphasis. "It's how I got past the others circling the inner city gates too. No one pays attention to commoners," she added wryly.

Han Jian chuckled, and Gu Xiulan looked thoughtful.

"I had wondered why you changed into such dreary rags," the other girl said, looking Ling Qi up and down contemplatively. "I cannot say that I would employ such methods myself, but I can see the use in them."

"Of course you wouldn't," Han Jian interjected dryly. "You could never avoid the spotlight for that long."

Gu Xiulan pouted prettily at the taller boy, crossing her arms under her chest as she turned back to face him. "And what is wrong with that? No one should ever forget encountering me."

Ling Qi let out a small sigh. It was a little irritating that even with her make-up running and her clothing in disarray, Gu Xiulan was still so much more attractive than her. She didn't miss that Han Jian's gaze had flickered down, let alone the way Gu Xiulan drew attention from the other boys in the room.

... Not that she wanted that sort of attention. It was just annoying that some people had all the luck when it came to appearance, talent, and wealth.

"So, what happened with you two?" Ling Qi asked. "Why did you end up taking the lake path, Gu Xiulan?"

"Hm? I did not have much choice in the matter. I was forced to travel between a number of small islands," Gu Xiulan responded, turning her attention back to Ling Qi.

"That miserable excuse for a watercraft I was provided with capsized several times," she added darkly. "I do believe I hate the ocean. It is going to take ages to fix the damage done by the saltwater."

"Oh, have you managed to learn how to swim in the last couple years, Xiulan?" Han Jian asked, sounding amused. "I seem to remember…"

"Hold your tongue, you terrible man. What of you then? I suppose you managed to trip into a campfire?" Gu Xiulan said hastily, looking genuinely embarrassed. Ling Qi had a feeling that it was only because the one poking fun at Gu Xiulan was Han Jian. Anyone else would probably have gotten a less pleasant response.

Han Jian laughed, sheepishly rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. "Well, something like that. I got… entangled with a flame spirit while searching for my star token." His smile faded, and he seemed a bit distant.

Ling Qi was distracted then by the arrival of another disciple. It was a broad-shouldered boy with short-cropped golden hair and darkly tanned skin. By the time Elder Zhou greeted him he had left the entryway to join a sharp-featured girl with luxurious waist-length black hair and a disproportionately long sword sheathed in a blue scabbard on her shoulder.

"So, Ling Qi." She blinked in surprise as Gu Xiulan turned to address her, pulling her from her observation of the other disciples. "I do believe we have earned ourselves some luxury. There is a hidden mineral spring on the mountain that my Elder Sister deigned to inform me of. Would you care to join me after this is all said and done? I am not the only one who looks like she could use a warm soak."

Ling Qi stopped herself from frowning. She supposed she was still a bit muddy and damp, but the other girl's little offers and gifts were starting to bother her. She didn't know why Gu Xiulan was being so amiable.

"Maybe. Why?" She asked, almost wincing at how bluntly it came out.

Gu Xiulan gave her a slightly exasperated look. "It is hardly a good idea for a lady to bathe alone in such a setting. Who knows what might happen? Besides, it only makes sense for us to get to know one another better, does it not? Unless you intend for this to be the last time we work together."

Ah, did Gu Xiulan just decide to be blunt right back? Ling Qi wasn't really sure how to respond.

"Well, no. I - I think we made a good team." Ling Qi hated the way she managed to stumble on her response. "I think I need to cultivate tonight, however… Maybe another day?"

Gu Xiulan pursed her lips but eventually nodded. "Very well. I suppose we all likely have some things to meditate on after today." Thankfully, Gu Xiulan didn't seem to be angry at Ling Qi's refusal.

Ling Qi noticed Han Jian giving Gu Xiulan an unreadable look while the girl was focused on her, but when Gu Xiulan's eyes shifted to him, his expression had relaxed back into a smile.

"Ling Qi probably has the right idea," he added supportively before glancing toward the entrance.

"I hope Yu and Fang make it through as well, but I admit I'm worried that we'll have another test if too many people succeed."

Ling Qi frowned at the thought. She had hoped that maybe enough people would fail that a third test wouldn't be necessary. As if to mock that hope, the entrance formation flashed then, and another disciple entered.

This time, it was a short and rather effeminate boy with long, silky hair. Half of the upper part of his robe was missing, leaving his shoulder and part of his chest exposed. There were a series of wounds across his torso that made it look like he had been clawed by some huge beast.

Ling Qi frowned at the newcomer as he stumbled his way across the room… to Sun Liling. Huh. Ling Qi hadn't thought much of it, but the red-haired girl hadn't gone into the test alone. Sun Liling's dark expression lightened a tad when she saw the boy enter, and he smiled weakly at her. Ling Qi couldn't hear whatever was said between them, but it ended with the redhead cuffing him lightly on the back of the head and evidently ordering him to sit down and clean up.

She shook her head and turned her attention back to her own group.

"We'll make it through even if there's another test. I didn't go through all that for nothing," Ling Qi said with more conviction than she really felt.

"A good attitude to have," Gu Xiulan said absently, shifting closer to the fire. "Obviously, we aren't going to fail at this point," she added with a more genuine confidence.

The three of them continued to chat idly while Ling Qi sat down to rest her feet. She stayed quiet for the most part as disciples continued to trickle in. She didn't have context for a lot of the things her two teammates spoke of, but it was nice regardless. She almost felt like she actually belonged.

Ling Qi did manage to pick up a few things about her companions from context. Han Jian was an only child, but Gu Xiulan had a number of older sisters. Han Jian's father was a general, and the relation Gu Xiulan's family had to his was unclear but subordinate. Gu Xiulan's family were also apparently very, very wealthy.

Han Jian did his best to include her in the conversation when he could, which she was thankful for, but in the end there simply wasn't much for her to say. The room steadily filled up as the remaining time ticked away, and Han Fang finally emerged from the formation some thirty minutes into the wait, making him… the seventeenth in if her count was correct. The tall boy looked significantly worse for wear with both sleeves reduced to tattered shreds and his muscular forearms looking as if they had been scoured bloody with sandpaper.

He came over to them without hesitation and sat down heavily, letting out a raspy sigh as he gave her a nod of acknowledgement. His presence didn't do much to change the conversation; Han Fang seemed content with Han Jian's initial congratulations and little else. She hadn't really noticed it before, but Gu Xiulan seemed almost dismissive of the large boy, offering him a polite greeting and then largely ignoring him. Ling Qi wasn't quite sure what to make of the attitude. It didn't seem malicious, but it was strange. Unfortunately, she didn't really have a polite way of asking about it so she let it go.. The rate of disciples finishing began to increase steadily after Han Fang's arrival though those who came in at this point were in rather poor condition.

By the time Elder Zhou clapped his hands together to draw everyone's attention, there were more than forty disciples in the room. Fan Yu was not among them.

"The second phase has now come to an end." Elder Zhou's voice overrode any lingering noise from the crowd of disciples, and those sitting down moved to stand at attention. "Through wit or strength, you have succeeded at the trials placed before you. I have no doubt that every one of you has gained something of value in this test. However, I have one final task for all of you. In the first test, I saw which of you could lead and how well you could function in groups of your own devising. In the second, with help from Elder Jiao, I saw what you could accomplish with your own power."

The gray-skinned man in the hideous robes smiled lazily in acknowledgment of Elder Zhou's words.

"In this final test, I will see how well you are able to cooperate with those who are not friends or allies. A soldier of the Empire must put aside personal grievances and rivalries when in service. This will be the final test." Elder Zhou scanned the room, meeting each disciple's gaze in turn.

"Now…"

"Mm. Hold on a moment, will you, Sect Brother Zhou?" Ling Qi blinked as the moment was broken by the other man speaking up. Elder Jiao pushed himself up from the wall, an amused expression on his face.

"Since I so graciously provided my expertise for your second test, I'd like to make a suggestion."

Chapter 19-Zhou's Trial 8

For just a fraction of an instant, Ling Qi was certain that she saw an expression of irritation cross the implacable Elder Zhou's face.

"... Yes, Sect Brother Jiao? As you will be providing the opposition for the coming exam, it would be rude to refuse your input. Could you not have done so earlier however?" There was a distinct note of exasperation in Elder Zhou's tone.

As Elder Jiao chuckled merrily, moving to stand next to Elder Zhou, Ling Qi frowned at the implication in Elder Zhou's words. They weren't going to have to fight an Elder, were they?

"No, not really. It only came up recently," Elder Jiao said, maintaining the same unconcerned demeanor despite the look Elder Zhou was leveling at him. "It's only a minor thing anyway. I simply suggest that you pass that one immediately instead of putting her through another test." Elder Jiao raised his hand as he spoke, pointing down into the crowd of disciples.

... Right at her.

Ling Qi blinked and swallowed nervously as she felt everyone in the room look at her. She very much wanted to sink into the floor and disappear. Gu Xiulan's expression was calculating, and Han Jian's surprise quickly faded into curiosity and contemplation. Even Han Fang was eyeing her with interest. Many of the other gazes were less friendly.

"Sect Brother Jiao," Elder Zhou spoke up after a short, uncomfortable silence. "I will not refuse you if you desire to select one of the disciples for your personal tutelage, but that does not seem to be your intention."

"You're as perceptive as always, Sect Brother," Elder Jaio said, folding his arms behind his back. "She's not quite ready for that. I suppose that depends on how well she manages to take advantage of the good fortune she encountered in my Hidden Soul's History Formation." Ling Qi's eyes widened as gazes on her grew greedy.

As she stared at Elder Jiao, she glimpsed something strange. It was only the briefest flicker, but she was sure she saw the face of the moon spirit, Xin, appear over Elder Jiao's shoulder, giving Ling Qi an apologetic look before shooting Elder Jiao an exasperated one.

Elder Zhou stared at his fellow Elder hard, having either not seen or not reacted to the image. A surreptitious glance around showed that no one else seemed to have seen Xin either. Elder Zhou turned his eyes back to her, and Ling Qi straightened her shoulders, swallowing nervously.

"... Ling Qi." He actually knew her name, which was shocking in its own right. "This is unusual, but as poor as his sense of timing can be, Elder Jiao is one whose opinion I respect. I will leave it to you. You may participate normally in the third exam or pass on his word. Make your choice."

Ling Qi felt that if she let her eyes grow any wider, they would roll out of her head. She should have been overjoyed to pass, but the feeling was drowned by the avaricious atmosphere that had come over the room. What was she going to do? Everyone would… Ling Qi felt a hand on her shoulder and glanced back to see Han Jian giving her an encouraging smile. To her left, she saw the huge shadow of Han Fang shifting to stand behind her as well. Even Gu Xiulan, for all that her gaze was cold and calculating, hadn't moved away from her.

Right… This... She would still be fine, but she had to make a choice. Taking the pass guaranteed her a position in Elder Zhou's class, which she would need to get ahead, but it would also raise the ire of disciples who might otherwise be willing to leave her alone. And even if he said he would respect the other Elder's words, would Elder Zhou really be impressed with someone who coasted by on a recommendation?

More than anything else, Ling Qi felt frustrated. That encounter had been the first real glimmer of good luck she had in years, and it was getting flung back in her face, causing her more problems. The resentment she felt for the loudly dressed elder up on the stage was difficult to keep off her face. After everything she had dealt with today, she absolutely didn't want to have to fend off other thieves during or after the test.

That was going to happen regardless now so she would accept the silver lining and take her pass. Rejecting a free victory would be an absurd and pointless show of pride.

Despite the anxiety she could feel at being the center of attention, she straightened her shoulders and back and bowed politely to Elder Zhou and Elder Jiao.

"Thank you very much for your recommendation, Elder Jiao. I humbly accept your offer, Elder Zhou." Her voice sounded stiff and unnatural to her own ears, tight with ill-restrained nerves, but she managed to avoid making a fool of herself.

Her words brought more than a few discontented murmurs from her fellow disciples, but she saw no recriminations on the faces of her team… and for the moment, that was enough. Elder Zhou silenced the murmurs with a single stern glance before looking back at her, expression neutral.

"Very well. Come up to the stage. Elder Jiao will release you from the formation."

Ling Qi let out a low breath but managed to keep her posture straight and unworried. She nodded politely to Han Jian and the others, murmuring a quiet wish for their good luck before proceeding up to the stage where the Elders stood. She saw plenty of resentment along with greed on the faces of the disciples around her, but to her surprise, it wasn't omnipresent. A few of her fellows seemed ambivalent or looked at her with interest and calculation instead.

The most obvious was the girl she had noticed earlier when the first disciple to arrive after Ling Qi had gone to her side. The immaculately dressed girl stared at her with furrowed brows, studying Ling Qi with uncomfortable intensity as if the girl was committing every detail of her face to memory. At least the girl's face was easy to remember as well, completely unadorned by the cosmetics the other obviously wealthy girls wore with thin lips and sharp features that made her more handsome than pretty.

As Ling Qi ascended the shallow stairs to stand beside Elder Zhou, she dipped her head respectfully to the older man. She resolved to work twice as hard as before to make sure she was ready when the truce came to an end. So focused was she, she almost startled when she heard the instructor's voice, pitched low so as not to carry down from the stage.

"Retreat is not always cowardice but can become it if relied on overmuch. Think hard on what stands to be lost before choosing to cede ground." Ling Qi nodded rapidly, relief bleeding away some small part of the tension she felt. Elder Zhou didn't think she was a coward for taking the pass or resent her for the decision.

As she moved past Elder Zhou, Elder Jiao gestured for her to follow him and walked toward the far end of the stage. It made her nervous to follow someone who clearly didn't have her best interests at heart out of sight of everyone else, but there wasn't much choice.

"You chose wisely," the amused elder commented as the two of them reached the rear wall where a single silver character was emblazoned on the stone. "Do try not to get trampled in the coming days. It will be ages before I hear the end of this as it is."

Ling Qi kept her expression carefully neutral, but she had a feeling the Elder could detect the resentment she was doing her best to hide going by the merry twinkle in his color-shifting eyes.

"... Why?" she asked quietly, drawing on her last bit of courage.

The spindly man hummed thoughtfully to himself as he traced the character on the wall with his finger, leaving a dull glow in its wake.

"Because it amused me, girl," he said lightly, shooting her a warning look. "And perhaps because you caused my companion the discomfort of being subsumed by her greater self, if only for a short time."

Ling Qi frowned, not understanding what he was talking about. Did he mean the moon spirit? What did he mean by greater self?

"... I'm sorry?" she tried, not really feeling sorry at all. She could tell he was lying, which probably meant he wasn't even trying.

Elder Jiao chuckled quietly as he finished tracing the character. The wall in front of her warped, becoming a doorway filled with shifting fog.

"Don't worry yourself. I'm not the sort to hold a grudge." He looked her way once more, the same infuriatingly lax expression on his pallid face. "Well, as long as you do not slack on your studies. I would be most offended if you manage to be merely average."

Ling Qi set her lips in a thin line but nodded The older man wasn't going to give her any further answers. Elders were beyond her. Being angry at one was as pointless as raging at a thunderstorm and about ten times as likely to get her struck by lightning. All she could do now was to deal with the fallout.

As she stepped through the fog filling the gate, his voice reached her one last time.

"Oh, young lady. Neither those garments nor the silver in your pockets are real. I suggest you find a change of clothes before they fade away." Her eyes widened. She tried to turn back, but it was too late.

Ling Qi found herself being quickly drawn forward as if an invisible rope had been fastened around her waist and pulled by a team of horses. Phantom wind roared in her ears, and she felt her eyes watering from the sensation of being pulled rapidly through space, only to stumble as she came to a sudden stop. Her vision swam as she regained her balance.

Ling Qi stiffened immediately as she took in her surroundings. She was back at the site of the formation that they had begun the test at, with the sun sinking under the horizon. All around her were other disciples, presumably the ones who hadn't made it through the test. Thankfully, she didn't see anyone she had directly confronted.

However, she was once again the center of attention, and she was getting very tired of that indeed. She glanced back at the formation she had emerged from to find it still lit and active. Ling Qi hurried to step away, hoping she could merge with the crowd of failed students and observers, but even that was denied to her.

"You! Peasant girl. The third test has already begun. Did you see Xiulan? Was she well?" Ling Qi found herself confronted by Fan Yu, who had pushed through the crowd to approach her. One side of his face was swollen with bruises, and she could see more such wounds under the collar of his robe. He resembled those poor souls who managed to draw the ire of an entire gang and survive, beaten black and blue.

The way he referred to her was irritating, but she was too tired to argue with the lout. He did seem genuinely worried about Gu Xiulan. Maybe she could just answer quickly and move on.

"Gu Xiulan was fine. She wasn't wounded as far as I could tell. The others are still taking the test," she said while glancing over his shoulder, trying to find a path through the crowd that she could take.

"Han Jian and Han Fang were fine too, just a little banged up," she added as an afterthought.

The squat boy's shoulders sagged in what she thought was relief. It was hard to read the expression on his swollen face, but she thought that she saw some bitterness briefly flash in his eyes.

"That is… good. If she's fine then…" he muttered, seemingly to himself. As she began to try and edge around him, his eyes snapped back up.

"So what of you? Did it simply take a bit longer for them to fish you out of the second?"

Ugh. Why did he want to talk to her now? And to just assume she failed like he had when she had done the opposite and been one of the first to make it through... She could feel her already frayed temper slipping her control.

"No. I'm the first to pass the third," she found herself snapping. "Elder Jiao let me out of the formation early." She almost immediately regretted saying it as a few of the disciples nearby looked to her in surprise, and whispering began to quickly spread. Fan Yu looked poleaxed for a moment, but his expression quickly twisted into a sneer.

"What a ridiculous lie. A commoner like you who can barely fight being the first one to pass Instructor Zhou's test? The test that I failed?" His voice gradually rose, growing angrier with each word.

Ling Qi grimaced. She was done with this. No longer attempting to be subtle about it, she sidestepped Fan Yu and made to pass him without saying another word. It wasn't to be. Maybe it was her mental exhaustion or maybe she had just been too surprised by his action, but when he reached out and seized her wrist, she didn't avoid it.

"I did not say you could leave yet," the battered boy growled. "Apologize for lying to my face right now."

Ling Qi tried to pull herself free but found his grip on her wrist inescapable. Her struggling only caused him to tighten it. She could still get away, but it would involve hitting or tripping him up. Would that count as attacking another disciple?

"I'm not lying," she responded angrily. "Now let me go. That hurts, you oaf." Ling Qi knew she shouldn't insult him further, but her temper was up at this point.

"I won't just…" he began, expression darkening. Ling Qi prepared to do what she needed to in order to escape, but then the disciples around them, who had been watching their argument with interest, went pale and silent. Ling Qi's eyes met a pair of gleaming gold ones over Fan Yu's shoulder. Fan Yu went pale when a dainty white hand clamped down on his shoulder, quite painfully from the way he winced.

"Ling Qi has asked you to release her. Do so this instant," Bai Meizhen said frostily. "And think, the next time you choose to be so boorish."

Fan Yu let her go as if she were suddenly aflame, stumbling back and clutching his arm. Resentment stewed on his features. Bai Meizhen did not even look at him, stepping past with a swish of cloth to gesture for Ling Qi to follow.

"Shall we walk home then? I completed my meditation somewhat early so I thought that I would come observe your success," she said as Ling Qi quickly fell in beside her. Bai Meizhen ignored the disciples clearing the path around them.

Ling Qi almost laughed, although she suspected the sound would have been closer to a sob. Just like that, she was safe to reach their home. It really was that easy when you were strong, wasn't it?

There was something different about Bai Meizhen now; she managed to seem even more casually ominous than before.

"Thanks," Ling Qi managed. "I guess your cultivation was a success?"

Bai Meizhen's eyes flicked up to meet hers before she nodded shallowly, returning her gaze to the path leading out of the formation plaza.

"Somewhat. I have broken through to the next stage of the Imperious Serpent art. Unfortunately, I have not yet reached the next level of cultivation. It seems something yet holds me back. What of you? I imagine the Elder's exam was not easy."

"It wasn't," Ling Qi admitted. "But… I think I did well, and I have many things to meditate on." Everything she had experienced recently swirled in her mind's eye. She really needed to get her thoughts in order. "I should thank you. Knowing how to beseech a water spirit properly really saved me in the second test."

Bai Meizhen raised one perfect eyebrow questioningly. "Is that so? Well, I am glad that some part of my words remained with you. I had worried that you were not truly listening at points."

Ling Qi flushed. She knew her attention had wandered a bit during some of those conversations, but she hadn't thought that Bai Meizhen had noticed.

"I was," she responded quickly. "So thank you… and not just for that."

The other girl simply nodded slightly. "It was a trifling thing. A man should know better than to lay hands on a lady outside of combat," Bai Meizhen responded with a dismissive gesture.

"I'm hardly a lady," Ling Qi responded wryly, rolling her shoulders only to wince as her damaged one twinged slightly.

Her housemate shook her head. "Nonsense. You walk the Way. You are as much a lady as any of those back there - if a somewhat crude one for the moment."

Now, Ling Qi really did laugh, drawing a questioning look from the girl beside her. "Sorry, I guess I'll just have to work on my manners then when I'm not cultivating." Was it really that simple in Bai Meizhen's view?

The two of them returned home in comfortable silence, and by the time Ling Qi retired to the meditation room, she felt much more settled. Finally, she would get to see what all this trouble had been for. Sitting down, she carefully withdrew the narrow jade slip from inside the moon-scented bottle and let her qi flow into it.

As the world around her faded, she found the meanings held within the tiny piece of jade impressing themselves on her mind. It still felt strange to her. She had only done this once before with the Zephyr's Breath art. However, if Zephyr's Breath had been a pamphlet filled with exercises and diagrams, this jade slip was a tome big enough to brain someone with.

She felt instinctively that only the the most basic surface understanding of its contents was open to her. There were depths of knowledge hidden far beyond her reach. Yet even what content she did have access to was enough to shock her. The slip contained not one art but three: a movement art; a cultivation art; and a combat art.

The movement art, Sable Crescent Step, exemplified elegance and subtlety, allowing the user to step through shadow and moonlight as a blur barely visible to mortal eyes. It required an open leg meridian to begin practicing and cultivated a 'darkness' element. Curious, Ling Qi pressed further, trying to understand this new concept. From the depths of the jade slip, words churned up to meet her questing thoughts.

'Darkness has no form nor presence. Those who master it learn to cast these things aside and embrace the absence and silence of the empty night.'

Even this idea felt incomplete, like seeing only a single facet of a gem. However, she put it aside for the moment. She still had two other arts to review.

The cultivation art, Eight Phase Ceremony, allowed the user to absorb the light of the moon and stars into their dantian. It granted great speed to cultivation performed at night and improved the cultivation of Yin-aspected arts. There was a deep well of further meaning there, but Ling Qi could not comprehend it. She understood then that her spirit and body were not yet ready for this art. As she was, stellar and lunar qi would only poison and sicken her.

The final art was Forgotten Vale Melody. It was part of the chronicle of a long dead wanderer, composed into music and offered to the moon. It spoke of mist-covered valleys hidden deep in the mountains, the mischievous and hungry spirits that waited in the dark, and of the loneliness of the wanderer's path. It brought to mind images of wild, untouched places where spirits roamed free in the damp mist under the light of the moon. The art worked to obscure and confuse the senses of those who could hear the melody. It required the opening of both heart and lung meridians to channel the darkness and water-natured qi the technique required.

The last bit of information she was able to extract from the slip was the use of the pills. Each of the Sable Light pills would not only greatly increase her ability to open new meridians or cultivate Yin-aligned arts, but it would simultaneously expand her qi pool. It was a little overwhelming. Was this what it was like for wealthier cultivators? Why someone like Bai Meizhen was so far beyond her?

She put that thought aside for the moment and returned the slip to its bottle. Right now, she needed to meditate on what had happened to her during the test.

By the time she opened her eyes, it was late at night, and Ling Qi felt refreshed. She was still worried and still nervous, but... she would survive, just as she always had before. The bundle of clothing and coin she had acquired had all vanished. The only things that remained from the test were the staff, the moon spirit's gifts, the things she had taken from the boy, and strangely, the tokens.

Ling Qi gathered it all up and stood to go to bed. She had passed her first obstacle, but things were still just beginning.