“And that’s when we left the patrician’s guards darting about the entire warehouse in a tizzy, so desperate to secure the shipment of priceless jade we had claimed before those boxes were ever delivered, and all their panic did was cover our tracks so perfectly that not even the elite inspector that madman hired could find our trail!”

  Chaoxiang’s eyes twinkled with mirth, sharing a warm smile with his old counterpart as they clinked a pair of jade goblets from that very heist, savoring exquisite and absurdly expensive rice wine that only a few desert calderas were so hydrated as to export in any quantity.

  “Those were indeed fine adventures we shared, Chaoxiang,” Nili said with a fond smile, taking a luxurious sip of her drink. “Emblematic of far simpler times, when the world’s cares were the farthest thing from our minds, when we needed to worry about nothing more than our next big score.”

  Chaoxiang gave a knowing chuckle. “Oh, but that’s when the fun and excitement truly began, little Nili! For taking the role of the reformed rogue and concerned patron, you were able to elevate your, ahem, protege to quite exceptional heights, were you not? Soaring so high that she went from hot-headed little monster no one cared to teach or tutor, to a study in elegance and grace, talent and refinement. She is a jewel now polished to such exquisite perfection that, should tumultuous times consume our guiding lights once more, the counsel will have very little say in deciding our next ruler. Wouldn’t you agree, Nili?” The rotund guildmaster flashed Nili a too knowing smile. “I’ll bet our dear Princess Sunlay could claim Wanshi’s throne and win the hearts of the people within a single season, should the vagaries of fate and fortune put her in line for such a path.”

  Nili’s smile stiffened, jade chalice frozen an inch from her lips. “May such a necessity never come to pass,” she said.

  “Oh indeed, indeed! May his royal grace live on, our esteemed and vaunted scholarly Silver, for a hundred years...a millennia! Whatever leads to the continued safety, security, and prosperity of our home! For that’s the real reason why you choose to walk in the princess’s shadow, is it not, my dear former master? Your vested interest in the safety and integrity of our home. And having a princess sympathetic to the many benefits that strong JiangHu relations can have… showcasing the best attributes of our, ahem, enlightened organization can only be of benefit to us all! Where the benefits of unlimited trade with our neighboring cities will be found in ever-full bellies for our people and, of course, mercantile fortunes that will soon be beyond all compare. With a fair portion of that going to the royal coffers as well, no? Ha ha!”

  Nili gave the man before him a pointed look. “No, dear Chaoxiang. I suspect even our dear princess would be loathe to sacrifice more than the tiniest patches of our exquisitely fertile but painfully limited farmland to the cultivation of poppy and cannabis. For all that the medicinal benefits in modest quantities is something that even the most prudent apothecary will acknowledge. And a bit more grown for controlled vice and placating violence also has it’s place, as you and I both know. But any more than what’s already grown would be a burden we can ill afford until the waters flow far more heavily than they are now,”

  Nili crossed her arms, gazing pointedly at her counterpart. “And don’t think I haven’t spotted a number of rooftop operations in this quarter of the city, Chaoxiang. Tiny operations that might supply a dozen here or there with relief of one sort or another, which we have chosen to turn a blind eye to. But such forgiveness, such leniency, doesn’t mean that our princess is keen on the idea of giving up food independence for a chance to corner that particular market. Because we both know what happens when such exotics are suddenly in great supply, and a rare seasonal indulgence becomes a much craved treat one simply cannot live without… no matter the wrack and ruin that makes of too many fragile, mortal lives.”

  Chaoxiang raised a dispassionate eyebrow. “An indulgence that could have hundreds upon thousands bending their knee in supplication to our future queen. The blessed benefactor who will turn all their cares to sweetest bliss, so long as food and silver flows into our silos and coffers… or force them to suffer the consequences of an open palm becoming a closed fist of denial, subjecting them to weeks of agony like fire in their veins, without our having to lift a single finger, sacrifice a single cultivator, or field a single army.”

  He gave a cold chortle. “Can you imagine it, Nili? If any of our so called competitors actually protested? Fielding their armies to starve and wilt in the desert heat, pounding fruitlessly against our caldera walls when a third are writhing in the agony of desperation? Why, our queen could offer citizenship and unlimited supply of bliss to whoever was willing to kill their superiors and swear allegiance to our cause, and it would be as if our enemies had hand delivered us an army to serve as our own!”

  Chaoxiang’s laughter faded, Nili’s expression void of all emotion as she took a thoughtful sip from her goblet, her gaze not leaving her former disciple.

  Chaoxiang’s smile only grew. “And this leads right to a topic near and dear to both our hearts. The continued safety and prosperity of our home. For nothing matters more than the survival of our much beloved people, yes?” He gave a satisfied smile, sipping his drink as Nili simply stared.

  “You’re no fool, Nili. I see the twitch of your ears beneath your bonnet. I think you already know which way the wind is blowing. So is it not in our best interest to secure what stability and resources we can?” He nodded at his own question. “Of course it is. Of course it is! And a strategic water cistern would do much to alleviate pressures in all sorts of directions. Do you understand, Nili?” He took another sip of his drink, peering intently at his enigmatic countepart. “Should certain resources be made available, should certain promises be made… there is absolutely no reason why your deepest desire cannot be made manifest. No reason why the young scion you have spent so many seasons grooming can’t claim the throne that is her birthright, while solidifying an alliance that will see Wanshi stronger than it’s ever been before!”

  His eyes twinkled with warmth. “Do you understand, dear Nili? We need not fear being crushed before the forces confronting us. Or, to quote an ancient proverb, you need not fear being washed away by the river’s currents, if you can channel them for your own ends!” He sighed, sat up, and pointed his jade chalice toward an exquisitely rendered painting on carefully treated bamboo slats that depicted the entire basin as if seen from up high. He thought nothing of casually poking a bronze tack into the bamboo. Nili’s eyes widened, taking the color of the tack’s top.

  “You understand as well as I the threat we face, should we refuse to channel the river’s might for our own ends. But the beauty of it, Nili, is that we actually have a choice! Should we aid the current, fate’s currents will favor us in turn! Currents that will see our precious princess washed upon Wanshi’s throne with a powerful Deep Silver who will dote on his future wife… currents and networks that will then make the flow of poppy effortless, far greater and more efficient than our cobbled-together amateur caravanners, most of them petty criminals overstaying their welcome in any one caldera who hardly know what they’re doing on their best days!”

  Chaoxiang positively beamed as he spread his arms wide, eyes alight with the grandiosity of his vision. “We will turn our crimson enemies into bosom buddies! Allies that will happily ship our glorious spices of delirium throughout the desert. Our Princess will truly be a queen free to indulge in her every passion and desire, the weight of the crown resting lightly upon her privileged brow as you and I forge an empire within the one even now being formed! An empire of top quality products and fanatically loyal customers that will see our humble little sect rising to such glory that we will become the stuff of legends! Self-made entrepreneurs able to navigate the winds of fortune to unfathomable heights! We will be that which every aristocrat will weep tears of envy when our fortunes eclipse theirs own. We will be the ideal to which every aspiring JiangHu associate will aspire to be! Do you understand, old friend? A world of exciting opportunities lies before us. We can sidestep our own extinction and assure undreamed fortunes, just by reaching out and seizing hold!”

  Nili took a long sip of her drink, gazing so intently at the man before him. His charming smile could light up a room, even if not the shadowy corners within which other figures hid. And the fortunes he offered, such an enticing prize… or so her thoughtful smile suggested, the tiniest of nods making Chaoxiang beam all the wider, before her calm reply froze him where he stood.

  “So. Let’s lay all our cards on the table, dearest associate. The new hidden master of Zuihaoshi, in his eagerness to conquer the desert, is in need of strategic water sources that don’t depend on penetrating reinforced caldera basins. In return for access to this resource, and a willing princess with which this city could be effortlessly claimed via a single casualty-free engagement, we’ll be given exclusive distribution rights for unlimited poppy and cannabis production with which we can enslave the hearts and minds of countless cities. And, since our future associate is no fool, I’m assuming this will be done to sap the will and drive of opposing cities who are not yet protectorates of our future master. Thanks to unlimted access to the highest quality poppy grown in the heart of our caldera, not merely rooftop operations, we will have the resources needed to both entice and enslave them so utterly, that it will all but ensure compliance. Thus formerly impassable city gates will quickly spring open with one city surrendering after another in what will be remarkably bloodless coups.”

  She smirked, raising her jade chalice at the cool gaze of so many pairs of eyes, hidden and not. “And of course, our profits will soar beyond all comprehension! For it will be the highest echelons of society that we enslave with vice. For they control the purses, gates, and flow of power while diligent workers will be of sound mind and body. Or at least sound enough to work the fields and produce the goods and services that keep our desert calderas functioning!” She allowed herself a throaty chuckle. “And we will be at the heart of it all. The chief suppliers, the orchestrators of a bloodless coup and a city devoted to our future master’s cause. Well done, my dear Chaoxiang! Truly, you have outdone yourself with the scope and grandeur of your plan.”

  Chaoxiang’s features had turned frightfully cold with the first words Nili had uttered, hand clenched in a fist as tight as the glare that immediately thawed to the warm smile of a beloved uncle when he saw Nili’s knowing smile, heard the warm laughter that melted all ire away. If anything, he seemed giddy with Nili’s approving nod.

  “Wonderful. This is wonderful! I knew you would approve, if only we gave you an opportunity to be a part of the process. To work with us to elevate our city to heights undreamed! To protect it from the trials and tribulations to come, and, of course, to make ourselves absolutely indescribably rich!”

  With a flourish, he unfurled an exquisitely detailed map radiating both Spirit and Fate Qi, depicting dozens of exquisitely detailed cities upon a map that must have stretched for several thousand leagues in all directions. Yet somehow it was all contained in the four by five foot patchwork of living skin Chaoxiang had so casually placed upon his hardwood table that had been polished to a burnished glow in the lamplight.

  Nili suppressed a shiver as best she could, but Chaoxiang hardly seemed to notice in his excitement.

  “Now, here is Wanshi. And if we unfurl our map all the way down to Liushi, where several of our associates swear they spotted a band of adventurers much like your own crew, my dear mischievous old friend, but of course they were wrong and none would dare suggest otherwise, especially when we show them all the value of the information you gained in your...ahem… reconnaissance of the surrounding areas. Now, if you could aid us by pointing out where, exactly, that wondrous water cistern and its underground water system can be located, our position within the upper echelons of our now expanded, ahem, organization will be beyond approach, and we shall enjoy virtually unlimited seed capital to start our own enterprise that will see us rolling in silver before the year’s end!”

  Nili’s heart was pounding. It was all she could do to force her self to take one graceful step after another towards that awful map of living flesh. And was Chaoxiang truly so blind he couldn’t even sense the dark arts keeping that foul construct working? The souls trapped and strangled by Shadow, roping nodules of Spirit Qi twisted together in a working so foul that it was beyond horrific?

  Her ears wilted at the silent shrieks echoing through the ether. Even with all her planning and rehearsing with her beloved husband, in case either should find themselves in this situation, it was all she could do to grip the pen Chaoxiang gently placed in her hand.

  It was only then that she felt the sting, her eyes widening in alarmed dismay, realizing she had been a complete and utter fool to not assume the absolute worst, once her former underling had unrolled that map. But she had been seduced by conversation and wine, embracing a certain role so well she had become the overconfident blind fool… and the weight of the two powerful Silvers hidden in Shadows that hid nothing at all from her, made it clear with their cold, soulless eyes that they could obliterate her in the blink of an eye, if they so chose.

  It was all Nili could do to pretend she didn’t notice them at all. So focused on maintaining this role. Telling her old employee exactly what he wanted to hear, just so she could leave this place with her ears and tale intact. To report to her mistress and, if she had her way, take her kits and leave this doomed city as fast as her feet could fly across the desert sands.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  She whimpered when Chaoxiang smiled. Yet far from malicious, his look was amused.

  “Really, Nili. Why such a look for your old partner? Right when were on the cusp of forging something truly grand together? Of course this artifact needs a drop of your blood to assure the… ahem… accuracy of your depiction.”

  Nili jerked a nod. Controlling her frantically racing heart as best she could. Because the truth was that she and her husband truly had uncovered an impressive number of secrets hidden in the desert sands over the years. And there were few better deceptions than those that could hide perfectly in the veil of absolute candor.

  So, Nili lowered crimson quill to damned parchment and did just that. But not before infusing the blood demanded with thrice its wait in liquid Shadow. Even if the effort left her so drained that she was weak in the knees. The cold looks this earned her, if anyone understood her actions at all, was immediately mollified when Nili marked one of her family’s most precious secrets upon that map. Surrendered so damned quickly, when she sensed her own life truly was on the line.

  Chaoxiang frowned. “My. I didn’t realize it was so far from Wanshi. Closer to Liushi than here… but no matter, no matter!” He gave a pleased chuckle, gently taking the cursed quill from Nili’s suddenly slack fingers, his eyes lighting up with odd warmth. “Yes… yes I taste the truth of it! Who cares if it isn’t right next to Liushi? Who ever said it was? We said no such thing! Indeed, we have completed our end of the bargain, just as I swore we would! No doubt this will prove very useful with the flow of… no matter. What matters is that you have seen the light and have chosen the path of prudence and profit. As I knew you would, yes I did!”

  Nili pretended she didn’t feel bone-deep relief when the killing aura of the pair of wujen glaring from the shadows eased to simple disdain, one of the pair actually closing her eyes as if to meditate, having far more important things on her mind than a simple insignificant fox who had already bared her throat to the powers-that-be.

  Chaoxiang was all deference and smiles once more. “Some more rice wine, dearest Nili?”

  “Please,” she said, forcing her lips into the most graceful of smiles, in complete control, even amused by the turn of events and so dearly looking forward to mercantile conquest of the most ruthless sort. Even if she wanted to grimace and scream and flee into her husband’s arms before hiding their entire family in deepest shadow they need never depart… but it wasn’t time for that. Not yet.

  And just when she thought she might actually survive this unexpectedly perilous encounter, of course that was when fate’s dice were rattling loudest, her ultimate sire’s ultimate catalyst of chaos and change left too long upon the hot coals of endless possibility… so of course that was the moment everything would explode into absolute chaos.

  Just like in all the tales, she thought with utter dismay as she darted to the ground so fast she only registered it after the fact when a massive body cultivator shrieking about a blue-eyed ghost ruptured every ward upon the triple-sigil door closing off Chaoxiang’s private wing from all the mundanities of daily JiangHu operations.

  “Lord Gru, Lady Asp, He has come! The demon we were warned about is here!”

  It was telling, Nili reflected as her thoughts raced far faster than even her Bronze-tier Quickness could respond, that Chaoxiang’s boldest warrior that her former disciple had been so happily bragging about when first they shared wine was now completely ignoring his supposed master, instead addressing the pair of wujen sentinels who had hid from Nili behind tainted wards from the moment she had entered.

  It wasn’t hard for her to school the horrified surprise she felt at the pair of cold-eyed wujen making themselves known at that moment. For all that she had been aware of them from the start, and all too painfully aware that her life had hung by the thinnest of strands from the moment she had first started sipping rice wine with her former colleague.

  “Chaoxiang, who are these people?” Her voice was a squeak, and she was utterly ignored.

  Good.

  Far better that she be dismissed as less than nothing that obliterated out of hand, just in case she was an additional threat.

  “Lion, report at once!” Chaoxiang bellowed, yet Lion, whose black-steel armor radiated the stink of infernal enchantments that had been shattered by some inconceivable force, utterly ignored him. Just as he did the blood trickling from a wound that would have been fatal in any mortal, Nili had no doubt.

  “Report,” hissed the woman known as Lady Asp.

  “A blond-haired master of the fangtian ji! He successfully countered my blood axes like they were less than nothing!” The powerfully built cultivator’s anxious gaze turned to outrage. “There’s no way any half-blood should be so powerful a cultivator that he could counter my arts. The arts of a third circle Silver! He is an abomination, a twisted amalgamation of ancient magics and the wiles of our enemies. There is no other explanation!”

  Nili cursed in her mind, instantly knowing the source of the chaos, debating whether or not she could slip away with both wujen occupied by Lion’s desperate recounting.

  Of course that was the moment that the door that had relatched itself behind the Silver cultivator exploded in a shower of twisted steel, blasted wood, and a flash of lightning so brilliant that the room was filled with startled cries, even Nili momentarily seeing stars despite Shadow’s caress.

  “So, I take it you must be Chaoxiang, and the ugly, infernally scarred pair of assholes next to you are your wujen cohorts?”

  Nili’s mind shrieked a desperate warning that of course the towering blond-haired fool with such piercing blue eyes was completely oblivious to, antagonizing not only her former partner who had been so close to letting her slip free of his deadly net, but also the pair of wujen who were Silver tier monsters and could slaughter them both in the blink of an—

  “It’s him!” Lion shrieked. “The one we were warned about! He ripped through master Dung’s wards like they were nothing! Strike him dead now before he can flee!”

  That was when Nili felt it, powerful wards of twisted might thrumming about both wujen, even as that thrice damned fool flashed his madcap grin. At least he hadn’t given any sign that he knew her, yet. He would give him credit for that much… and no more. If they actually survived this…

  “So, seeing how much you two clearly don’t give a fuck about Chaoxiang blathering orders in your ear, you must be Dongfang Hong’s lackeys, and I’m guessing that the bloated buffoon beside you is just a temporary tool you’ll be disposing of the moment he’s no longer useful?”

  Chaoxiang blanched at Alex’s callus words, yet Alex’s goading earned him nothing but contemptuous glares.

  “You’ve interfered for the last time, Ruidian Scum,” snarled the scar-faced woman known as Asp, her dead serpentine eyes locking with Alex’s own.

  The male wujen flashed a bitter smile, even as his hands flashed sigils that flared with infernal brilliance through the air. “I do look forward to teaching you the many errors of your ways, filth. When we are done with you, you will be beyond eager to embrace your place at the foot of our master, a broken dog who knows he is filth, embraces his filth, and will willingly disembowel himself for the pleasure of he who commands us all!”

  The man gave a cold chuckle so malevolent that it sent shiver’s down even Nili’s jaded spine.

  “The lesson begins now, you appalling wretch! Prepare for pain that sears not just the flesh, but your very soul!”

  Nili felt it then, a foul corrupting taint so awful that all she could do was close her eyes and curl into a ball, for just a heartbeat feeling like a tiny wisp of sentience lost in bitter cold waters, surrounded by endless screams she could do nothing to escape.

  And much to her horror… Alex didn’t even dodge the blow. She sensed it wash right over Alex, a horrific art so vile that Chaoxiang fainted, and even Lion was crumpling to his knees, eyes bulging with dread as he spat blood from the wound on his chest, trembling not with pain but with terror, tears streaming down his cheeks.

  Tears no different from Nili’s own. The pair of them shared an odd communion, an awareness and understanding that this horrific feeling, their souls drowning in endless blackness, was a fate they wouldn’t wish on their worst enemy. In that moment, Nili knew that should she and Lion be forced to face one another, both would let the other flee, both eager just to escape with their lives and their souls intact.

  Yet what was almost as awful as the wave of soul-crushing despair leaving Nili a screaming wreck in her own mind was the discordant laughter suddenly all around her.

  The laughter and madcap grin of a wildcard who was utterly without fear.

  Yet his eyes… his eyes hinted at witnessing firsthand horrors that would send them all shrieking into oblivion. Twisted states of torment that made the vile wujen’s arts seem no more fearsome than a drunken mother’s lullaby. Off-key, but utterly harmless. That’s what Alex’s smile conveyed.

  “Seriously? That’s the best you can do? That’s NOTHING like the River of Souls!”

  Then, to Nili’s horrified amazement, Alex was suddenly right IN FRONT of the startled Gru. Moving at such shocking speeds it was utterly beyond Nili’s ken.

  “Would you like to see it?” Alex queried as if it were the most natural thing in the world, while slapping away the wujen’s limbs with a fangtian ji covered in darkness so thick that not even ghostly hands could pierce the haft.

  “What trickery is this?” Gru roared, eyes incensed with fresh outrage. “No one can counter Spirit Hands! You buy yourself but a handful of seconds, fool! Even now, retribution for all your crimes is at—”

  The man lurched when Alex suddenly wasn’t there, just in time to catch a face full of infernal fire from his partner Asp who had been positioning herself to attack from behind. Yet all she managed to do was burn through her partner’s wards and sear his face. Of course, with wards as strong as theirs, only the lightest of burns were suffered. Yet it was enough to make the man roar.

  “This fool dares to mock us! He will pay for that! Asp! Grab the kitsune! That fool has a soft spot for them in all the tales. We’ll use her to—”

  “You’ll use her to do nothing.” The words were cold as ice, all mocking warmth turned to a bitter cold storm of howling hail which Nili had only seen once in her life. A freakish experience that had been beyond rare.

  Almost as rare as the flash of lightning followed by a crack and boom that had Nili collapse, too stunned to think or speak as her ears rang, the gentle patter of warm rain washing down upon her from the neck stump that had been a Silver tier wujen, just a second ago.

  Asp screamed. It wasn’t the roar of a warrior desperate to avenge her fallen comrade… it was the scream of a woman who had just lost her beloved.

  Yet before Nili could even process the irony and horror of it all, she found herself pinned by a killing aura so intense that she knew her demise was a foregone conclusion as the woman jabbed death’s finger in her direction, piercing her Shadow cloak as if it wasn’t even there.

  “Die, vermin!” She screamed. A heartbeat before Asp was sent stumbling back, gazing at the stump of her wrist spraying blood, turning to stare at the wild blood-spattered countenance of the Ruidian butcher among them.

  How odd it was to hear words of confused disbelief. Sounding so… normal. So human. Free of the deadly resonance of a Silver-tier monster secure in her power.

  “How? My wards are beyond anyone below Gold.”

  Alex paused to stare at the woman. “Really? You think that? I mean, clearly that’s not the case. Just look at your own spurting wrist! And ooh… that smile! I know what you’re up to.” Alex chortled and winked, and how odd it was that the woman was giving Alex a hard bitter smile in turn as if, despite the devastation of their battle, she still had one final card in play.

  And then she didn’t.

  Alex snapped his head around so fast that Nili was momentarily speechless. “Get out of here, Nili. NOW! Our friend’s about to port out. I don’t dare risk holding back. Get on your feet and MOVE!”

  But Nili could only gaze numbly on, sharing a confused look with Chaoxiang, who seemed as stunned by the lightning fast turn of events as Nili herself was.

  Lady Asp’s cold laughter filled the chamber as Lion, confidence puffed up by Alex’s seeming distraction, roared and charged Alex.

  “You’re an abomination!” Asp hissed. “When my master hears about your foul, twisted arts, he will countenance the systematic genocide of every Ruidian clan that thinks to hide itself in desert sands, and I will happily lead the purge! And you will have only yourself to—”

  “Come on, Mother. We have to go! Now!”

  Nili hissed when she felt an unexpected hand grab her arm and drag her back, a furious response transformed to instant agonized guilt and dismay, along with twisted relief and awful worry, when she caught the scent of the girl pulling her out of that deadly chamber, a heartbeat before it flashed with lightning so black that Nili was blinded, crying out in dismay as hideous power seared through her flesh like the coldest waters of oblivion as she stumbled to the ground.

  “Mother!”