“What am I going to do with you all?” Wong Tang sighed.

She now had two disciples in the medical tent with their eyes bound, entirely more cheerful than they had any right to be.

“Gou Si-hing, I did it!”

“You're amazing, Bik Si-mui! You picked up your sight arts so quickly!”

“Take that, Teem Djeung Baak!” Chan Bik challenged into thin air. “I'll get you-”

Gaam Yuk Ying tapped the back of her knee and she collapsed back onto the bed. “Rest.”

“Gaam Si-hing-”

“Rest.”

“Ugh. Where's Cheng Si-dze?”

“She's still out with Lau Yan speaking to the local demons. Little Gaam?”

“Divine Majesty.”

“We're going scouting. Get ready and come with me.”

“I'm ready.”

“Dzit Dzan Faan!”

A loong soldier, a stocky man with a well-groomed beard, entered the tent and saluted. Chan Bik stared at him curiously.

“Greetings, great disciples, I am Dzit Dzan Faan, Second-in-Command of the Third Head.”

“The what?”

“The Third Head is one of the battalions of the Ocean Emperor, Tin Yeung Wong,” he explained patiently. “All of the soldiers here are from the Third Head.”

“I thought this was your army, Grandmaster. Who's Tin Yeung Wong?” Chan Bik said. “Sir Dzit, are there other male loong? You're the first one I've met. And how many Heads are there?”

“My own army?” Wong Tang laughed. “That sounds like a lot of work. Tin Yeung Wong is one of my daughters-”

“You have more than one daughter?”

“She keeps the balance in the oceans around the Five Kingdoms. As for male loong...” Wong Tang chewed the end of her pipe thoughtfully. “... I've met one or two.”

“There are nine Heads,” Dzit Dzan Faan supplied helpfully. “The First Head guards the Emperor, the Second Head guards the palace, and the Third Head are the elites of the army.”

Chan Bik's brow was furrowed. Dzi Dzan Faan was about to explain the remaining Heads when she said, “So are loong polygamous?”

“Uh... why... I don't quite understand the question, Miss Chan.”

“If there are only a few men and lots of women, then how else do you have babies?” Chan Bik demanded. Gou Dzing had his face buried in the bedsheets, stifling his laughter. Gaam Yuk Ying appeared to have fallen asleep to avoid the awkwardness of the conversation.

“Ah... you're assuming that loong have the same reproductive systems as humans,” Dzit Dzan Faan said, looking awkward.

“They don't?”

“They don't,” he replied.

“They don't,” Wong Tang confirmed.

“Why are we talking about this, again?” Gaam Yuk Ying asked, eyes still closed.

“Oh...” Chan Bik bowed rapidly and apologetically. “I'm sorry! That's such a weird topic! How did we even get here..?”

“It all started when you-”

“Shut it, Gou Si-hing.”

Leaving the two temporarily blind disciples to bicker, Gaam Yuk Ying, Wong Tang, and Dzi Dzan Faan left the tent.

“You'll be in charge while we're gone,” Wong Tang said. “Keep alert for Teem Djeung Baak. Capture her if she appears.”

“Yes, Your Divine Majesty.”

“Little Gaam, let's go.”

The two of them raced from the camp, heading north. Traces of the first demon contingent to attack the mountain were clear in the dust, and soon, they could see a shabby camp ahead. Slowing, they circled the camp to try and find a way to approach without being seen, but the land around was flat and featureless. Wong Tang snorted and dropped down to press her hands to the ground. Gaam Yuk Ying's eyes flashed silver.

f it. “There seems to be around twenty demons in the camp. Their movements are slow, their heartbeats irregular. Let's go to the other demon encampment.”

They flew away westwards, until they picked up the trail of the second set of attacking demons. The land here was a little hilly, so they slowed their pace as they came to each hilltop, alert for whatever might be on the other side.

They crested a hill, and looked down into a bottomless canyon.

The suffering earth was rent, a huge crevasse stretching left and right from horizon to horizon. As their eyes took in this unexpected feature, they noticed a narrow set of stairs at the edge of the canyon, disappearing down into it. The demons' trail led there.

Wong Tang sniffed the air. “Blood. Lots of it.”

They flowed down the hillside to the stairs at the edge, and peered down.

A face stared back at them.

Or the remains of a face, an enormous face of rock with its nose missing and features worn smooth, a crack running up its left cheek, eyesockets empty. It gravely considered them, turned directly upwards as if straining towards the sky beyond the canyon walls.

Wong Tang shuddered involuntarily.

“Divine Majesty?”

“I don't know, Little Gaam. This world is beyond me. And yet...” She grimaced at the face. “Sometimes, I feel like I've forgotten something.”

They followed the stairs downwards, descending past the level of the face as it continued to stare upwards. They could see now that the face was indeed attached to a neck, covered in symbols they did not recognise, but it disappeared into the darkness of the canyon, and they had already reached the remains of the demon encampment, based in a cave partway down the staircase.

Even the hungry dust could not absorb all of the spilt blood.

The demon corpses had been dismembered, hacked apart, burnt, or blasted. Wong Tang and Gaam Yuk Ying examined them quickly, impassively.

“Knives. Traces of fire. Explosions,” Gaam Yuk Ying reported.

Wong Tang tore a small piece of bloody cloth from one of the corpses, and nodded. “Let's return.”

They raced back up the stairs, past the eternally staring face, and back to camp in silence.

In spite of the speed at which they moved, it seemed as if they were running in place, floating over an endless dusty landscape, devoid of any life.

Gaam Yuk Ying glanced over his shoulder as he ran. There was nothing behind him, but he continued to look for a little while longer.

Arriving just as Gong Lau Yan and Cheng Baak-hap were returning, Wong Tang intercepted them.

“The communication efforts. How are they going?”

“They seem to be working!” Cheng Baak-hap's face was glowing with excitement. “Some of them are picking up words very quickly. I was able to learn a few names as well!” Her expression stiffened when Wong Tang held out the piece of bloody cloth. “Grandmaster...”

“The demon camp to the north-west is gone.”

Cheng Baak-hap's expression crumpled further. She gingerly took the piece of cloth, and turned wordlessly back to the demon camp. They watched her present the cloth to the demon formed entirely of blue frills, and begin to draw in the dust, pointing north-west.

A team of demons was soon headed in that direction, carrying what sacks they could find.

The young woman returned silently.

“Any ideas about how this world ended up this way?” Wong Tang asked her granddaughter.

Gong Lau Yan shook her head. “We can't exchange such complex ideas yet. We have to build the language further yet.”

“A good start though. Well done. Now, we need to have a meeting. Little Cheng, you are welcome to take a rest.”

“I'll join the meeting, Grandmaster.”

“Very well.”

The meeting was held in the medical tent, although Gou Dzing was now able to remove his blindfold, although his eyes were still bloodshot. Cheng Baak-hap slumped against Chan Bik. Gong Lau Yan and Gaam Yuk Ying yawned simultaneously, provoking a grin from the former and a tiny smirk from the latter.

“Communication with the demons has begun, and is showing promise,” Wong Tang began, a thin plume of smoke coiling from her pipe. “Although it is too early to get excited, this is good news.

“Gaam Yuk Ying and I scouted the encampments of the two demon groups that attacked the mountain. The one to the north is down to around a score of demons, and they are clearly hurting for supplies. The one to the north-west has been destroyed.”

“By other demons?” Chan Bik asked.

“Possibly, but the attacks were inflicted by knives, fire, and explosives.”

“Teem Djeung Baak!”

“More likely. So, in order to hunt her down-”

“Divine Majesty!”

Everyone turned as Dzan Dzit Faan called from the entrance of the tent. Wong Tang frowned, but gestured him in.

“Well?”

“Divine Majesty, a message has arrived from His Earthly Majesty Dzue Dziu Ming.”

“Yes?”

“The Sects of the Five Kingdoms are meeting soon. They're calling for war.”

“Against whom?” Wong Tang asked, voice even despite the sounds of consternation breaking out around her.

“The exact phrasing of the message is: 'The Sects have called for war against the demons, and their allies.'”

“'Allies'?” Gou Dzing repeated.

“Grandmaster,” Cheng Baak-hap asked, forcing herself to sit up, “what are relations like between the Dzue Kingdom and the Sects?”

“Deteriorating.” Gong Lau Yan answered instead. “With the demons emerging from portals in Dzue, then attacking people in the neighbouring countries... Well, it's not hard to see why.”

“So they mean to fight the demons, and they will attack Dzue too.”

“Not if we can help it. When is the meeting?”

“Very soon,” Dzan Dzit Faan said. “It seems you would need to leave as soon as possible, given how time moves differently here and there.”

Wong Tang tapped her pipe on the table. “Lau Yan. Dzan Dzit Faan.”

“A-po.”

“Divine Majesty.”

“You will stay here. Continue your observations, and – Cheng Baak-hap.”

“Grandmaster.”

“Your mission is to improve communications between our world and the demons to the utmost. You will stay here.”

“Yes, Grandmaster.”

“Gou Dzing. Gaam Yuk Ying. Chan Bik.”

“Master.”

“Divine Majesty.”

“Grandmaster.”

“We are leaving. Now.”

Chan Bik bit her lip, but bowed with her Senior Brothers. She exchanged a rushed hug with Cheng Baak-hap before Gaam Yuk Ying lifted her on his back and they were gone.

*

The northern kingdom of Wong was cold and dry, the white trunks of dense groves of birch trees shining in the sun.

Cultivators from all across the Five Kingdoms had gathered at the stronghold of the Ngo Mei¹峨嵋 (ngo4 mei4) - better known as Éméi, a cultivation sect with predominantly female practitioners. Sect. Greetings were exchanged, some genuinely pleased, others with false smiles or even downright suspicion. Four cultivators in dusty robes arrived last, landing lightly at the edge of the gathering. A group of disciples sneered at their unkempt appearances.

“Did no-one tell them they needed a bath?”

“Are they beggars?”

“This is an invite-only event!”

Cultivators began to turn to watch the situation. Not far away, the regent of Dzue, Dzue Dziu Ming caught sight of what was happening and pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing.

“Disciples of the Mou Dong²武當 (mou5 dong1) - better known as Wǔdāng or Wu-tang, a famous cultivation sect. Sect,” Wong Tang observed.

“Oh, I see,” Gou Dzing said cheerfully.

“Oh, I see,” Chan Bik said, in a very different tone of voice.

“There are other sects?” Gaam Yuk Ying asked.

The disciples looked ready to spit blood in anger. The first who had spoken, a young man who carried a spear, swaggered forwards. “Turn around and go back!”

“Who are you?” Gou Dzing asked conversationally.

“I'm-”

“I don't care,” Gaam Yuk Ying said. Before the disciple could blink, Lou Fu Ngan and Yiu Tsing shot from their sheaths and slapped him hard. He collapsed instantly. The Mou Dong Sect disciples stared.

“They do have a point about our appearances though,” Gou Dzing conceded. “Here-”

He flicked his hand, and all the dust blew off their robes and hair.

Chan Bik glared at the Mou Dong disciples, the whites of her eyes still bloodshot, and her brown irises glittering with red and pink sparks. “I can't believe people like this exist in real life.”

“There are all sorts of people in the world,” Gou Dzing said, giving the Mou Dong disciples a friendly smile. The gold flecks in his eyes glittered ominously.

Lou Fu Ngan and Yiu Tsing returned to their sheaths with an audible click and a flash of silver in Gaam Yuk Ying's eyes.

“Three cultivators with sight arts?” one of the Mou Dong disciples murmured. “Jade-hilted swords... The uniform of Mount Fa...”

“Grandmaster.” Dzue Dziu Ming finally interceded, approaching Wong Tang to bow respectfully. The faces of all those watching turned green.

The Grandmaster of the Mount Fa Sect?

“Little Dzue,” Wong Tang replied lazily, extracting her pipe. “Were you having fun just now?”

“I'm ashamed to admit I was.”

“I'll remember that.”

She walked past him, towards the large, grey-roofed pavilion at the centre of the Ngo Mei Sect stronghold, cultivators parting quickly before her. Her footsteps seemed to vibrate through their bones.

Everyone filed in into the space beyond the red walls, taking seats. Disciples sat on floor cushions, while sect masters and government officials climbed the dais to rest on wooden chairs. The other disciples gave Gaam Yuk Ying, Gou Dzing, and Chan Bik a wide berth.

Seven Masters sat on the raised platform, along with representatives of the kingdoms of Sek'syun and Cheon. There was clearly an implied divide between the majority of these people and Wong Tang and Dzue Dziu Ming. The representative from Sek'syun frowned at Wong Tang until she turned her golden eyes on him and he was forced to look away.

The Grandmaster of the Ngo Mei Sect got to her feet and rang a small bell, bringing the hall to attention.

“Everyone gathered here today, it is now time to begin this conference.”