Wu Xien shifted his powerful bulk, resilient enough that his steel didn’t freeze him despite the deadly chill in the air. Though he had been the first to acknowledge to both the beautiful flying faerie and the near pureblooded Ruidian girl how useful their mastery over Wind and Fire had been in helping them set up camp against the side of the massive spirit-drake, as much serpent as beast, actually comfortable. Especially with the tarp providing much-needed shelter above their head.

  He exchanged a glance with Tang, not quite as big but certainly faster, both of them turning to meet Kuaisu’s gaze as she watched over Lao Tie, presently sitting in a lotus position much like their eccentric blond Ruidian companion, as if he too was having a breakthrough.

  “Thoughts?”

  Kuaisu’s scowl softened when she took in the trio of exhausted girls. Ya Ling was cultivating by the back of the Ruidian boy while focusing on her wind ward, Linnea looked lost in the fiery trance that was allowing her to warm the entire dome of quiescent air, and the petite Ruidian girl with the dark curly hair was curled up on furs like a cat.

  Certainly none of them were paying any mind to their comrades-in-arms.

  “We were ambushed by a pack of spirit-wolves. Half-step Silver spirit wolves so much deadlier than any Winter Wisp, Ice Crab, or odd automaton that we had been led to expect encountering, so long as we didn’t go to deep. With no warning whatsoever, save for a howl meant to distract us from the ambushers that tore so cleanly through my calf.” She shook her head with a sigh. “And that’s never happened before. As bad as Winter is… I’ve never heard of any party not getting the drop on their prey. At least, not at first.”

  Tang flashed a hard smile. “Survivorship bias.”

  Kuaisu blinked. “Excuse me?”

  “Sorry. It simply means that we’ve never heard of it happening because all those who dared Winter who faced ambush hunters so soon might have been slaughtered without a single survivor.”

  Wu Xien’s eyes widened. “So, wait, you’re saying those accounts of steady progression in difficulty and rich fortunes with the bitter cold were just luck? That anything can happen, and we only hear about the most fortuitous of Winter delves because they’re the only ones with survivors?”

  Tang shrugged. “Perhaps. But let’s be honest. It’s been years since anyone dared Winter. Or at least… that we know of.”

  “That’s because the fatality rate was so high.”

  “Exactly.”

  Tang chuckled, gazing fondly at their employer. “And here our dear Lao Tie cultivates on the cusp of ascension, so eager to be a part of the story defining our lives, and not the side-character that most of us will always be.”

  “Watch your words,” Kuaisu hissed.

  Tang shrugged, sipping ale from his flask and taking a bite of crispy spirit beast meat from the skewers cooking before their impromptu fire. “I’d never call him a fool. He was wise enough to snatch up an entire party of Ruidians that Sun La was so ready to kick into the street. Why, because her silly pride had been picked?”

  Wu Xien snorted. “The Ruidian boy might have been stupid to let the situation unfold as it had. But at least he thought fast on his feet, saved face for them both, and got what he wanted in the end.”

  Tang nodded. “He’s clearly a dreamer, just like our Lao Tie.”

  “True,” Wu Xien agreed, both ignoring Kuaisu’s warning glare.

  Tang gazed thoughtfully at the blond-haired youth. “Alex can’t be any older than my oldest, still attending the academy. Which is absolutely insane, considering what we’ve seen so far.”

  Kuiasu’s scowl softened into a look of gentle concern. “How is she?”

  Tang’s jaw clenched, before easing into a sigh. “Well enough, Kuaisu. Her master’s getting her ready for closed-door cultivation.”

  Kuaisu frowned her concern. “But she’s only sixteen. Normally, meridian cleansing tinctures aren’t given until eighteen, right?”

  Tang shrugged. “She’s otherwise in pristine health, and has been striding a very safe path. She should be fine. And just as importantly… Master Tang believes this is the best way for her to ascend past a girl’s regrets and reforge herself anew into a woman who can hold her head up high.”

  Wu Xien nodded. “It’s exactly what my master did when one of my kung fu sisters… anyway, it makes sense. Especially since she’s never forced open any nodes open before. It will be her final one, right?”

  Tang’s grim countenance softened into a look of pride. “It will indeed. And Master Tang’s already picked out the perfect cycling technique for her, aligned to Sand, just as she is, with the potential to ascend all the way to Silver.”

  “Impressive!” Wu Xien commended. “I always said that she had a strong gift!”

  Kuaisu gazed pointedly at the Ruidian boy once more. “Was it him?”

  Tang flashed a hard smile. “Without a doubt.”

  Kuaisu nodded. “Honestly, the stories I heard... about some golden haired boy coming to the rescue of our city’s wayward girls like a character right out of the oldest tales… I thought it all just a bit of poppy-inspired fantasy. A way to put a gentle spin on life’s tragic play. But after seeing him take out that absolute monster of a Deep Silver…”

  She gazed pointedly at the monster they were resting in the lee of at that very moment. “I could almost believe it.”

  Tang nodded. “He can run through the air and his fangtian ji crackles with the might of the storm. And his fist, when he struck that wyrm…” The man gazed at Alex for long moments. “He struck like a Gold. A boy who should still be cleansing his meridians striking like a true legendary monster.”

  “Or like someone who had truly mastered a Silver-tier technique, since Golds are probably a myth from the before times,” Wu Xien declared. “Before the world was set ablaze and endless forest transformed to desert.”

  “With the moon goddess’s mercy giving us these final bastions with which to battle the eternal sands,” Kuaisu whispered solemnly, before flashing a game smile. “I used to believe that too. But this foul Dongfang Hong… with tales that he had once ruled a massive empire beyond our ability to comprehend… who now intends to forge himself a new desert kingdom upon the shells of any cities that dare to oppose him, makes it clear that at least some of the world avoided the fiery doom that cooked so much of our land to desolate sand. Besides. It’s said that this ‘Red Prince’ has actual Golds in his employee. And that would explain how he’s gained so much influence so fast.”

  She turned to Lao Tie. “Do you think he knows?”

  “Without at doubt,” Wu Xien declared. “It explains why he was so very eager to have the boy and his harem join us on this mad little bit of folly.”

  “Folly that’s netted us two Deep Bronze cores and a Silver’s worth of mixed ice slivers that are far, far better than nothing in less than an hour,” Kuaisu softly noted.

  “Exactly. Our master’s a dreamer, but he’s certainly no fool,” Tang declared, before his features tightened with worry. “Of course, if things truly are as we suspect… if ancient tales are truly coming back to life in our city’s final hour… I can’t help but recall a certain ancient proverb.”

  Kuaisu took a bite of sizzling hot spirit beast meat. “And what would that be?”

  Tang chuckled ruefully. “It’s one thing to catch the fox’s tale. Quite another to let it go.”

  ***

  When Alex’s eyes snapped open minutes or hours later, he wasn’t sure to what extend he had slept or cultivated. To what degree the voices he had thought he had heard, secrets revealed that he feared meant he dare spend only a tiny sliver of time here in Wanshi… were real, or the echoes of his fears.

  Yet regardless, he couldn’t deny feeling as refreshed and alert as ever, his earlier insights crystallized into comfortable familiarity, and he now felt the farthest thing from a Sage’s revelation or a Fool’s Folly.

  Instead, he took a deep breath of air far warmer than it had any right to be, absolutely delighting in the sight of actual ferns growing on the bed off moss and lichen that both the ice and most especially the fallen drake had become.

  “Well done, Rachel!”

  Rachel positively beamed, looking at him shyly from the little group that she, Ya Ling, and Linnea had formed.

  “Thank you, battle-leader. I’ve been, um… practicing. Feeling so alive with energy… and I actually ranked up!” She looked on the verge of squealing, eyes lit bright as Linnea rubbed her soft curls with a sister’s fondness. “Twice!”

  Alex chuckled, clapping in approval. “Well done. I’d love to see your build some time.”

  “Oh, I put it all into key stats! Perception, Finesse, Quickness, and Vitality!” She gently squeezed a smug-looking Linnea’s hand. “My battle-sister’s advice. She said it was exactly what you would recommend, since I already boosted my Strength and Vitality one point each, just with grandfather’s exercises and helping out so much with our crops! And now the world is so much clearer, so much brighter! And I can think faster, even if I didn’t increase my scholarship which I might do next level, so I can conceptualize a bit better and recall more of the rich vibrant tale that is our lives! Right Linnea?”

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  “Exactly!” Linnea enthused.

  Alex forced his smile to stay firmly in place. Because as much as he would have absolutely loved it if she had ranked up her plant-based magic so closely aligned to the Cultivation element of Wood… he knew that was for his benefit as much as whatever future good it might be for the caldera fields below this city, or wherever she chose to call home.

  “But don’t worry… I naturally got two ranks in my Herbam Control skill with all the algae I grew on the ice. They even evolved into lichens and ferns! Though those will perish as soon as the greenhouse effect my battle-sisters are performing comes to an end. But I’ll level up Wood next time, I swear!”

  He blinked, sensing her sudden worry, realizing she could sense his mixed feelings.

  “No, you made the smart call,” he said, making himself believe it, to both Rachel and Linnea’s relief. “Nothing says survival like quick reflexes, being able to process what’s going on around you, and reacting in time. And Vitality is extremely beneficial for any number of reasons.”

  “We get to live so much longer, especially when Alex eats away our Waste Qi!” Linnea enthused, and Alex pretended he didn’t sense Lao Tie’s surprised stare. “It’s also good if you have unfortunate um… mutations. Higher Vitality allows for ideal allele expression so healthy protein synthesis waxes ascendant! So your brain is happy and your mood is super stable!”

  Rachel blinked at that. “Um, I sort of… no I don’t understand a word you said.” her cheeks flushed. “I think our commune kind of forgot a lot of um… lore. Grandfather didn’t worry too much about those parts of our culture not related to farming,” she whispered.

  Linnea’s expression grew somber at that. “That’s unfortunate,” she softly said. “Our lore-masters are our only real connection we have to what came before.”

  She then gave Rachel a comforting hug. “It’s alright. I’ll teach you! Once we get out of this delve. Hopefully alive, I mean.”

  Rachel’s eyes lit up. “Would you? I would love that!” So what exactly are um… alleles?

  ***

  “Are you ready to continue our expedition, Alex?”

  Alex grimaced and nodded Lao Tie’s way. “Yes. And thank you for waiting so patiently while I, um… consolidated my gains.”

  “Of course!” Lao Tie said. “Who would I be to fault you, when I was doing much the same?” His gentle smile took on an animated light. “Now come. If my understanding of the terrain is correct, then we have only a short ways to go before we encounter the frozen maze, and beyond that is the ice lake saturated with the essence of cold where true serpentine beasts are said to dwell. And that, my friends, is where we shall forge a legend of our own.”

  “Even after we nearly got killed by this oversized ice drake?” Ya Ling said with a smirk, patting the massive scaled behemoth Alex was eager to put into storage but really didn’t want to reveal that capability just yet.”

  Kuaisu smirked as Lao Tie momentarily paled. “She has a point, Captain. Considering how close a battle this was, relatively close to our exit point, how much more perilous would the predators be near that legendary lake no one’s dared to approach for years? Or if they did approach it… they’re long dead now.”

  Wu Xien frowned, clearly not pleased that one of their own was questioning their leader, yet Lao Tie just gave an agreeable nod. “A fair question, battle-sister, and the answer is simple.” His gentle features turned hard and cold as the howling winds now circling them once more, near instantly freezing all the ferns to brittle statues of ice that shattered in the howling winds. “Because if we are to have any hope of saving our home, that is where we must go.” He then turned to nod at Alex and Ya Ling both. “And with two masters of Wind and two of Fire,” he said, smiling Linnea’s way, “I have high hopes that if we’re careful and prudent, we will be able to take out lone wyrms just as we did this one. Any one of which could serve as the key to our saving the city, and going down in the city annuls as heroes for all time.”

  “Ooh, goody! Me and Alex would love to be heroes for all time. Right, Alex?”

  Alex couldn’t help but grin at Linnea’s words, for she could sense both his hunger for glory… even if, a heartbeat later, her widened eyes made it clear she understood his hesitation as well. Hesitation? And regret.

  “So, we’ll have to leave then?”

  “Of course. If The Fox’s tales are to have happy endings, then his disciple must always leave before the final act. Always.”

  “Even now, with the gods all gone?”

  Alex flashed a sad smile. “If you really believed that, you’d dare to say their names, instead of people using metaphors like fox and Moon Goddess. But no. Don’t actually say their names. The point is… I’d like to think they’re far more forgiving of lands they choose to ignore. In fact, I think an extremely fragile truce is going on right now where I sort of don’t exist, so long as I avoid certain paths. But I’m still not selfish enough to stick around when I start making waves and happy endings are all but certain, just so long as I swallow my stupid pride and just leave.” He shook his head angrily. “Even if things should be okay... even if I was all but promised that it was alright if I actually lived life to the fullest… I’m still not stupid enough to stick around. Not when leaving could so easily prevent… things I’d really like to prevent.”

  “But you’re going to make sure Wanshi is safe, right?”

  Alex nodded. “Just like Liushi.”

  “Which you totally saved!”

  Alex shrugged. I’d like to think so, anyway.”

  “Oh, you totally did! Saved the city and stopped the explosion, and faded away into myth and legend. Just like in all the tales where you’re allowed to live and we’re allowed to have happy endings!” Her brows furrowed. “But, um… never in the ones where you stick around.”

  Alex sighed. “I know,” he said, feeling a bitter ache in his chest. “With the tiny, tiny bit I’m starting to remember… the only time I was ever safe, or happy, was when I made damned sure that I didn’t stick out.”

  “But when you did stick out, your best stories are when you rode off into the sunset!”

  “Exactly.”

  “So that’s why we should start a caravan together!”

  Alex snorted. “Or I just need to find a fresh city with a well-stocked academy where no one knows me at all.”

  Linnea’s eyes twinkled. “Like you’d really have a chance to just study and cultivate for years on end, without your master’s wiles getting you into trouble before a single season passes!”

  Alex laughed. “A guy can hope, can’t he?”

  She smiled, gently taking his hand. “Yes, Alex. A girl can certainly hope.”

  Alex smiled pride for a shivering Rachel who continued doing her best to hone her craft as they continued traversing the endless terrain of frozen ice, powdery snow, and howling winds, leaving rings of ice algae in their wake as she alternated being gently carried by Alex or helped along by Linnea who warmed her with a gentle touch even as she forced her to keep the pace, assuring that this was an excellent way to squeeze one final point of Vitality before she boosted it naturally so high that it would all feel almost effortless, though Alex privately thought that Linnea might just be getting a tiny bit jealous that Rachel seemed all too comfortable being carried in his arms, and he couldn’t blame her for getting involved. Far better Linnea treat Rachel as a little sister she was eager to force-bloom, not like a rival where jealousy could create a rift or regrets where absolutely none was needed.

  Then they all came to an abrupt stop when Ya Ling hissed and raised her clenched fist.

  “I feel it. Pressure against the wind!”

  Alex’s wandering thoughts snapped into sharp focus once more, eagle eyes and a sense of the frozen ground’s tremors revealing nothing untoward… until he saw it, a faint hazy outline in the distance.

  And it seemed he wasn’t the only one to.

  “We’re here!” Said none other than Lao Tie, eyes lighting up with excitement. “The legends are true. It’s really here!”

  Alex looked at the man, so casually surrounded by his protectors, in case further ambush predators showed. And them having encountered absolutely nothing else in the last half hour… had been unnerving, even for Alex.

  “What’s here?”

  Lao Tie pointed at the massive silhouette Alex could now just barely make out. “One of the very few defining features of this ice flow. An ancient cultivation academy, supposedly carried on endless seas of ice, wherein legendary inheritance treasures might be found.” He chuckled at his own words. “Of course it’s just a fanciful tale. For how could it be anything else? The maze leading to the academy has never been opened and if there were truly treasures inside… how would anyone know who hadn’t looted it first? OR simply held the information close, eager to plunder it’s fortunes, one expedition at a time?”

  He sighed, shaking his head sadly as they continued to approach. “No. It’s a simple delve landmark with a colorful history, as if these rifts were actually portals to neighboring realities, not simply constructs of elemental and Spirit Qi. What matters is that it’s a significant landmark, because it means that the frozen lake where we hope to make our fortunes is just a short distance ahead!”

  Lao Tie’s excitement was infectious, the entire party picking up their pace as they raced before the massive wall of ice that Alex would think the escarpment of an overlapping ice sheet… if he couldn’t actually see what looked to be a maze of lush greenery behind the nearly transparent glacier.

  He whistled. “I think I see how such stories could have evolved. Even if it’s nothing more than a maze garden, it’s certainly impressive!” He frowned thoughtfully. “Maybe the ice, being so clear, is somehow having a greenhouse effect? He pointed up at the clear blue sky at the very normal-looking sun shining brightly down upon them all, grateful that the snow flurries had finally stopped.

  Linnea and Rachel shared a look, then nodded. “There are greenhouses that work very much like that,” Linnea said. “Maybe with the outside temperatures being so cold… and with the right magic enchantments… you could have a giant hothouse made of ice in an arctic climate. And all the greenery should keep the environment well oxygenated while the solar radiation still kills all the airborne pathogens that would otherwise crop up in, say, a colony ship lacking proper filters.”

  Rachel frowned. “There you go again, using strange words I feel like I should know.”

  Linnea’s eyes twinkled. “Ooh. It will be so exciting explaining everything to someone I’m not forbidden to actually talk about…” She gazed at the bemused looking cultivators casually listening in. “Stuff.”

  Alex couldn’t help but smirk at the byplay, though most of his focus was on the lake he thought he could just make out in the distance, feeling a curious frisson of fear and exhilaration in equal measure at the thought of hunting whatever abominations might be stalking under the icy flows.

  Before abruptly stiffening and turning, eyes widening with wonder, even as Ya Ling cursed under her breath and darted to his side.

  “Alex!”

  But she didn’t have to say a word. Of course he had sensed it, the cheeky wind finally revealing a few of its secrets beyond even sound. For he could feel the chilly air entering the otherwise sauna-like greenhouse through an icy air flow vent a handful of yards above their heads. Giving away no clue visually that it was even there, no matter how hard one might peer through the perfectly clear icy barrier that no one would be able to make it out who wasn’t aligned to Wind… not without deliberately feeling out every square inch of an icy sheet that soared high above their heads and went on for nearly a mile.

  Alex cleared his throat.

  “Lao Tie?”

  The young master, sensing something in Alex’s voice and perhaps fearing the worst, quickly turned around, a placating expression on his features. “No need to worry, Alex. The lake’s just a mile or so ahead, and we’ll hunt for our prey carefully, I assure you. Believe me, the last thing I wish to do is play the fool when we are so close to…” His words died off, eyes bulging in disbelief when Ya Ling casually floated up to the air vent and slipped right through… before darting back out with an impish smile.

  “So, Lao Tie, how’d you like to see if there’s any truth to those legends? Because I, for one, would absolutely love to find another inheritance treasure!”