“What sort of power is that?” Wu Jian wondered as he and the others ceased moving to stare in horror at the scene. He had never seen something so grotesque. All the people who had chains attached to them shriveled up like dried out corpses.

“A dark power that we’d best avoid,” Yin Wuhan said in a grave voice.

Zheng Yawen nodded. “That man is a practitioner of death chi. It’s a more extreme form of yin chi. I don’t know the specifics, but I know that sort of cultivation method is banned in many nations. It’s methods are extreme and often rely on human sacrifices to cultivate.”

“We should stay as far away from that man as possible, then,” Hou Jingshu said.

Everyone agreed.

After he killed the cultivators who had stopped them, the vice commander and Shā Ying Yue continued toward the tree. Their ambushers had put them behind quite a few others. Huǒ Pànguó was in the lead.

Wu Jian’s group traveled along a curve, purposefully keeping away from the Yang Fire Bonsai. He kept an eye on what was happening. Many fights were still breaking out, but Huǒ Pànguó and several others had reached the bonsai. Shā Ying Yue and the vice commander had also caught up. A standoff occurred between the many groups.

“I’ve heard of you,” Huǒ Pànguó said as he pointed at the vice commander. “The name Sǐwáng Hou is quite infamous. They say you’re a practitioner of a vile cultivation method that relies on absorbing the souls of other cultivators. Quite dastardly, if you ask me.”

So that was his name. Sǐwáng Hou. It was definitely a name that could strike terror into those who knew its origins. Sǐwáng meant death. He wondered if that had always been his name, or if he changed his name after acquiring his cultivation method.

“Leave. Now. I’m only going to say this once,” Sǐwáng Hou commanded.

“Hah! It looks like becoming a hotshot in the Qing Province has gone to your head. You don’t seem to realize something. You’re just a large fish swimming in a little pond. You’re only powerful because everyone else in your nation is weak. Perhaps you’ll come to realize that if you live long enough to leave this desert,” Huǒ Pànguó grinned. “In either event, I refuse to leave. I want that tree, and you’re not powerful enough to stop me.”

“Hmph!”

Chains shot from Sǐwáng Hou’s body and sailed toward Huǒ Pànguó, but they were quickly burned to a crisp and dissolved before they could reach the man. Crimson wings emerged from behind Huǒ Pànguó’s  back. They were much larger than Huǒ Shuchang’s. Their color was a more brilliant vermillion as well.

“I see my half-brother has become a lot stronger as well,” Huǒ Shuchang muttered with a bitter smile.

Sǐwáng Hou clicked his tongue as he retracted his chains and attacked from a different angle. Yet it didn’t matter what angle they came at Huǒ Pànguó. He blasted them apart with his incandescent flames. Even when Sǐwáng Hou used his chi to make them serve in an attempt to avoid the flames, his chains still failed to reach the crimson-haired man.

Of course, Sǐwáng Hou wasn’t alone.

Shā Ying Yue ran toward the tree while Huǒ Pànguó was distracted by her comrade. She didn’t get far. Several people who were either working for Huǒ Pànguó or acting independently leapt in front of her.

“We won’t let you get that tree!”

“Kill her!”

The woman bit her thumb and let blood flow. It swirled around her before changing shape into a bloodred scythe, which she swung upon reaching the group. Everyone jumped out of the way, but a few cultivators were cut. The blood from their wounds flowed out as though something was draining it. Those men and women cried out in horror as their bodies began to dry up.

All of that blood gathered along Shā Ying Yue’s scythe, which became far darker and more ominous-looking. The sharp angles became jagged blades. It now looked like a weapon meant for rending flesh instead of cutting it.

“Dammit! She’s a blood arts user! Don’t let her cut you!”

“Everyone, back off—aaaaahhh! My arm! My arm!”

One of the men received a cut on his arm. Blood began flowing out. The man gritted his teeth as he was forced to severe his own arm. It somehow managed to stop the blood from draining out. Shā Ying Yue’s technique was the sort where she had to injure her opponent to use it. If she couldn’t get her own blood in someone else’s body, her technique was useless. Consequently, if someone removed the limb where they received a cut, it would stop her from being able to use her technique provided her blood hadn’t already flown into his bloodstream.

“Looks like they’re distracted. Guess that means you’re up, Wu,” Huǒ Shuchang said.

Wu Jian didn’t acknowledge the man, but that was because he was busy concentrating on the Yang Fire Bonsai. He stared hard at the large fruit on the tree. His chi leaked from his body as he carefully folded space around it.

The further he was from his target, the harder it was to teleport something. Teleportation became harder still if something contained a lot of chi like this fruit. Folding space around it felt as fruitless as trying to cup water in his hands. Yet he continued concentrating as the battle for the tree waged on.

Just… a little more… just a little more…

“Ah.”

Wu Jian suddenly blinked when he felt something give. It was like chains shattering inside of him. The Yang Fire Gadoma Fruit, which was about the size of his head, fell neatly into his hand.

Hou Jingshu’s three bodyguards looked shocked. They had seen some of his powers, but this was a technique he hadn’t shared with them yet.

“You got the fruit! Let’s go! Quickly now,” Hou Jingshu said. She seemed to be the most composed of the group from the Shang Kingdom.

Wu Jian stashed the fruit inside of his storage ring, and the group quickened their pace to leave. He hoped no one had seen them take the fruit. With luck, they would be able to sneak away while everyone else was fighting.

But it seemed he had spoken too soon.

Hou Jingshu looked back to see what was happening, and her panicked expression let him know they were in trouble before she even said anything.

“We need to run! Sǐwáng Hou is chasing after us!”

Wu Jian didn’t even bother looking back. He put on a burst of speed alongside the others. All he wanted to do was get as far away from the man chasing them as possible.

Several chains appeared around them. A scream echoed as chains wrapped around Zheng Yawen’s left arm. Wu Jian acted quickly. He severed the arm with a spatial blade, then hauled the woman over his shoulder without breaking pace.

“Huǒ Shuchang!” he shouted.

“I’m on it!” Huǒ Shuchang roared as his chi exploded from his body. Wings of fire emerged from his back as a powerful flame flew out in a shockwave. He was not strong enough to make the chains disintegrate like his brother, but they were strong enough to knock the chains away from them.

Their group finally reached the other end of the haul, where a massive black gate with the same spatial distortions as the one that led them to the ruins stood. They didn’t hesitate. With Hou Jingshu in the lead, the group raced through the gate. The chains followed, but Huǒ Shuchang knocked them away with his flaming wings.

A maze lay on the other side. It was the labyrinth that Hou Jingshu had told Wu Jian about. All they could see was the enclosed walls before them. A sky lay overhead, but Wu Jian was sure they were too high to leap over and too smooth to climb up. The group raced down the corridor, took a random turn, then another random turn, then another, another, and another still. They made so many thoughtless turns they quickly got lost, but they didn’t stop moving. Sǐwáng Hou was not someone any of them wanted to fight.

Finally, after what felt like hours, they were forced to stop. None of them had the strength to keep going.

“Do you… haaaaah… haaaaah… do you think we lost him?” asked Hou Jingshu, hands on her knees as she bent over and took deep breaths.

“I… I hope so,” Huǒ Shuchang muttered. “I don’t want to think about what will happen if that man manages to catch up to us.”

“Me neither,” said Wu Yong.

Wu Jian went over to a wall and set Zheng Yawen on the ground. Her face was already pale from loss of blood, and while she wasn’t unconscious, she looked woozy.

“Let’s take a break. We need to do what we can for Zheng Yawen. She’s lost a lot of blood,” he said.

Hou Jingshu knelt beside her bodyguard. Tears stained her cheeks as she reached out to touch the stump where her arm used to be.

“Oh… Yawen. I’m so sorry. I…”

“Your Highness… it’s okay. We all knew what we signed up when you told us where we would be going.” Zheng Yawen smiled mirthlessly as she looked at her missing arm. Wu Jian had been forced to severe it at the elbow. “Losing an arm is going the hamper my ability to fight, but that’s better than losing my life… though I feel like I’m going to become a liability now. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say that! You’re not a liability! I need you!” Hou Jingshu shouted.

Zheng Yawen’s eyes softened. “You’re too kind, Your Highness.”

Hou Jingshu summoned several pills from her storage ring. Wu Jian didn’t know what all of them were, but he recognized a few. They were healing pills. Logic dictated the other pills were the same.

“Here. This should restore your lost blood, chi, and stop the bleeding. I… am afraid we can’t do anything about your missing arm,” Hou Jingshu looked away in sorrow.

“I assumed as much. I’ve heard there are pills that can restore lost limbs, but they are legendary pills that only the best alchemists can refine.” Zheng Yawen took the pills with her remaining hand and popped them one by one into her mouth. She grimaced at the flavor, but the pills did their job. The blood leaking from her arm clotted, preventing further blood loss, and her face regained some color.

“I promise. Even if it takes me a hundred years, I will find one of those pills for you,” Hou Jingshu said, fire blazing in her eyes.

“I will hold you to that,” Zheng Yawen said.

“What should we do now?” asked Wu Yong.

Hou Jingshu stood up and looked around. The area they were in was a simple hallway. It was so long that Wu Jian could not see all the way to the end. He had no idea where they were.

“Let’s travel down this hallway a bit to see if we can find a side passage to set up camp,” Hou Jingshu decided after several long seconds.

Hou Jingshu ordered Wu Yong to help carry Zheng Yawen. He allowed the woman to lean against him and wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her secure. Since this left him vulnerable, he and Zheng Yawen were placed in the center of their formation. Hou Jingshu took the front, while Wu Jian, Huǒ Shuchang, and Yin Wuhan took up the rear. They decided to have more people in the back in case Sǐwáng Hou found them.

They eventually found a side passage, which led to a small pagoda surrounded by overgrown flowers. This place must have once belonged to someone from the sect. Wu Jian could imagine someone living here, cultivating these flowers with great care. He even recognized quite a few of them.

“These are used in alchemy,” Hou Jingshu murmured.

“Should we take some?” asked Huǒ Shuchang.

“We should check for traps first,” Wu Jian said.

Huǒ Shuchang scratched his head. “How do we do that?”

“How should I know?” asked Wu Jian.

“If there are traps here, they will likely be in the form of a sealing array,” Yin Wuhan made a hand seal. It was the dragon seal. “Give me a moment.”

A small pulse of chi burst from the man, though it did not do anything more than rustle the flowers. Several seconds passed. Wu Jian and the others waited to see if something would happen. Just when it looked like nothing would happen, several glowing symbols appeared in the air above the flowers.

“What kind of seal array is that?” asked Huǒ Shuchang.

Yin Wuhan’s eyes widened as he whirled around. “All of you, get back! This is—!”

He was unable to finish his sentence as a flash of light filled their vision and the world went white.

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