Lu Na wanted to cry. She was too tired and hungry for this.

  “Ghost, I’m going to kill you again,” Sun Ren said.

  “What are you talking about?” Zi Xu spread his arms out. “I promised you a feast and I have brought it. I need you all strong and healthy for what is coming.”

  “Amituofo. I can see through your ghost trickery,” Hen Li said.

  Zi Xu’s smile disappeared.

  “I didn’t expect someone that could see through this. And here I wanted to see if I could control you like the other fools that passed through the gate. Well then, no matter.” Zi Xu waved his arm over the table and all the food turned into rot. The delightful smells disappeared. “I guess we’ll have to do it another way.”

  Lu Na had to squeeze her nose to prevent the smell from overwhelming her. She wanted to gag, but knew she had nothing in her stomach to vomit.

  “I apologize. I’ll get rid of this immediately.” Zi Xu clapped his hands and a few servants cleared the table. The only things still left on the table were the inedible items such as the rope and the charms.

  With the food gone, breathing was more bearable but the lingering stench of rot made Lu Na lose her appetite.

  “Please, sit. Take whatever items you want,” Zi Xu said. “Think of it as my apology for trying to trick you.”

  “Why? I thought you wanted us to solve the puzzle of the labyrinth,” Sun Ren asked.

  Zi Xu sat down.

  “It’s true. I do. But just because your friend has a few inventions, it doesn’t mean you’ll be able to walk right through the labyrinth. The Xia weren’t idiots. If you three couldn’t see through such a minor trick, then you wouldn’t survive the next section.”

  “We don’t need this. This is a waste of time.” Sun Ren turned to walk away.

  “But wait, I will give you what I promised. This time, no tricks.” Zi Xu reached underneath the table and pulled out familiar sacks.

  Lu Na opened one. They were the same sacks they took from ghost Jie.

  “How did you get them?” Lu Na passed one to Hen Li.

  “Oh, you might not sneak by those soldiers and their powerful summoners, but I’m a ghost. They should have brought a ghost hunter instead of all those powerful summoners,” Zi Xu said.

  “Amituofo. These are all real. None of them have been tampered with.” As if to prove the point, Hen Li took out a water skin and drank deep from it before taking a large bite from one of the dried buns inside.

  Lu Na grabbed a pack back from Hen Li and shoved a piece of jerky in her mouth. She was so hungry, she barely chewed. This was the first time she’d ever felt such hunger before.

  Sun Ren reluctantly grabbed a sack of her own to check its contents. She smelled everything inside before also eating a piece of jerky, but slower than Lu Na.

  “I know it’s not as delicious as the meal I showed you, but at least this won’t poison you. And that’s the first lesson you need to learn before you head to the next section: whatever ghosts give you can be poison or dangerous.” Zi Xu waved his hand and the fan Lu Na held earlier appeared on the table. “Just like this simple fan. It’s an interesting invention, but it’s charmed by a ghost to keep you there.”

  “If that’s so, then why didn’t you warn us earlier?” Lu Na asked.

  “It’s a stupid test,” Sun Ren said. “It’s just like those tests my father and sifu forced on me during my training. They told me that there are some forces in the world that can bewitch you with supernatural power even beyond spirits. They must have been talking about ghosts.”

  Zi Xu laughed while covering his mouth with the sleeve of his tunic.

  “Oh yes, your teachers are smart. I will help you as much as I am allowed and I do hope you will solve the puzzle as I find living like this to be endless suffering.”

  “Then tell us how to get to the center as fast as possible,” Sun Ren said.

  Zi Xu smiled. There was another pitch coming.

  “All you have to do is walk there. This place is not a maze. It was not meant to confuse anyone. But the residents of each section might not like visitors like us.”

  Lu Na took out her map.

  “Show us.”

  “Oh, you surprised me again. I can’t believe you have a map of this place,” Zi Xu said. He turned the map around a few times. “You highlighted a few interesting places, but I wouldn’t bother with those unless you want to die. If you walk from here all the way around, you’ll reach the center in a few hours.”

  “That’s it?” Lu Na asked.

  “Of course not. In this first section, you’ll encounter the vengeful ghosts that want nothing more than to kill you. Watch for their traps. The next section will be the most decadent noble’s quarter. After that, are the ghosts that have gone crazy. Most explorers die there. If you make it past all that, then you’ll face the strongest feral spirits the labyrinth has to offer guarding the very center.”

  Lu Na gulped. How were they going to do this? Her na?ve thoughts of walking through with a powerful summoner and a master strategist now seemed laughable.

  “I’m sorry Sun Ren and Hen Li, I’ve brought us to our deaths.”

  Sun Ren flicked Lu Na on the forehead.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “There is no dying here. Not while we have a guide.”

  “Amituofo. Young Miss Sun is right. Besides, if we have to, I’m sure we will find a way. If there were villagers living in this labyrinth for so many years, we could do it too.”

  That was not comforting to Lu Na. She wasn’t sure which was better. To charge straight into certain death, albeit a quick one, or to languish within the labyrinth for the rest of her life. Of course, there was also her mother to consider. Maybe her mother could help them out, since she was stuck in the labyrinth somewhere.

  “Zi Xu, what do you know about a summoner that might be trapped within the labyrinth?” Lu Na asked.

  Zi Xu’s face lit up.

  “I knew you were special. Are you three connected with that bird? The one that shrieks every night?”

  “If you’re talking about a phoenix, then yes. She’s my mother,” Lu Na said.

  “Oh, that’s how you got in here. Come here, I’ll show you.” Zi Xu walked away from the table at his slow pace.

  Lu Na grabbed whatever she could hold on to. Luckily, there was a large table cloth she used as a new sack to wrap as many of the things as possible.

  Her companions were doing the same. When they finished, they had plenty of supplies hanging off their bodies in two sacks, one for food and water and the other for supplies.

  Despite all that, Zi Xu was only a few hundred feet away. Lu Na knew the man was dead, but he had to move faster than that when alive, right? Or else the feral spirits would have eaten him first.

  It took a bit of time, but they reached a large building that reached to the ceiling. It was almost as if it was built into the wall of the labyrinth. It was colored in a dark brown that almost mimicked wood. There were only windows on the ground floor.

  Lu Na could feel the spirit energy coming from the building. She used her spirit sight technique and saw spirit energy rushing from the building. But unlike the usual bright, blinding energy, this was very thick like a rich herbal broth.

  Almost as if she could touch it or taste it.

  Lu Na reached out with her hands and touched one of the stray strands of spirit energy coming from the building. Her hand went right through, but for the moment she felt the element within the spirit energy. It was cool, like water.

  Her hand was a little wet.

  There were techniques layered on the wall of the building. Each one was complex, almost as complex as the mountain that laid on top of the monkey king. Speaking of, the scroll within Lu Na’s chest pocket vibrated.

  “What happened Na Na? What do you see?” Sun Ren asked.

  “I don’t know. This building is so complex that the scroll the monkey king gave me is vibrating.” Lu Na took out the scroll. It unfurled and flew at the building’s only door.

  When the scroll connected, the golden sheen turned bright for a second and then dulled. Pictures appeared on the scroll.

  “Do you guys see that?” Lu Na asked.

  “Yes. But I couldn’t see much before. What is it?” Sun Ren said.

  “Amituofo, that’s a power we shouldn’t mess with.” Hen Li pushed his palms together and recited the heart sutra.

  Despite how intrigued she was with the scroll, Lu Na was getting irritated with Hen Li’s constant reciting of the heart sutra. She thought little about it before, but it felt like that was all he did nowadays. Gone was the confident and powerful summoner. All they were left with now was an actual monk.

  Lu Na ignored him and walked up to the scroll. A picture of a phoenix appeared on it. It was soaring above the sky.

  Then lightning appeared, almost as if striking the phoenix. Then chains of metal wrapped themselves around the phoenix’s legs and its wings.

  A loud phoenix shriek came out from the building.

  “And that’s the shriek we’ve been hearing for years,” Zi Xu said. He finally caught up to the group with his slow plodding pace.

  The scroll then showed a woman, painted in a style Lu Na recognized right away. It was her mother. Her father, Lu Tien, had many paintings of her mother hanging around his study before she left.

  The woman reached out with her hand to touch the phoenix. The next instant, they combined. The head of the phoenix turned into her mother.

  “That’s not possible,” Lu Na said. “Spirits have always bonded with humans. They’ve never bonded together where the human becomes a part of the spirit.”

  “Amituofo. That is possible if they reach stage four in the summoner arts. It’s a myth though, as no one aside from Emperor Yu who merged with his spirit to control the great floods.”

  “But if my mother did this, then does that mean she’s powerful?” Lu Na asked.

  “Wait, that is your mother?” Sun Ren said.

  Lu Na nodded. She put her fingers on the face of the phoenix spirit. There was no mistaking that the style and choice the scroll represented was her mother.

  The scroll changed again and this time, showed two young women and a monk walking into the labyrinth. There they met with the phoenix to break her chains. Once freed, the phoenix exploded with red spirit energy.

  The three people were turned to dust as the phoenix flew away.

  “Oh, that’s a nice technique you’re using. I haven’t seen that since I was alive,” Zi Xu said. He plucked the scroll off the wall and the pictures disappeared. “These things were very popular back then. It showed whatever the heart desired.”

  “May I have it back?” Lu Na reached for the scroll.

  Zi Xu smiled before giving it back.

  “Just a small warning. While it showed the heart’s desire, it didn’t mean it was the one holding it. Sometimes it showed what the creator wanted you to see. So I’d be wary of what you use that for.”

  “Thank you.” Lu Na tucked the scroll back into her chest pocket. She barely heard Zi Xu’s warning as she thought about her mother and what she saw at the end. If saving her mother would bring their deaths, would it be worth it? No doubt the three people that showed up to save her were them.

  “Now that we’re here, you have a choice to make,” Zi Xu said. He walked into the building and the trio followed. “You can continue walking through this building into the next section or walk through the ghost town where every ghost will tempt you to stay with them. Of course, you’ll also meet with those nasty soldiers you ran away from before.”

  “What’s the catch?” Sun Ren asked.

  Zi Xu smiled again. Here came the pitch.

  “There is no catch. I genuinely want you all to succeed and finally break us all free. And while I’m not particular about who does it, I feel that your group out of all the others has the greatest chance of succeeding. And besides, this might be safe, but the next section of the labyrinth will probably kill you. I thought I’d give you a head start so you can join me as a ghost.”

  “Wait? Join you as a ghost?” Lu Na asked.

  “Oh yes, this labyrinth doesn’t want any of its secrets to leave it. Not even ghosts,” Zi Xu chuckled. “It’s the ultimate joke by the Xia emperor that created it. He was so paranoid that he made sure that those who died were turned to ghosts and trapped here for eternity. Ironic that there are emperors who want eternal life and all they had to do was die here.”

  Lu Na didn’t like the sound of that. To be trapped here for eternity even as a ghost was the worst fate.

  “So what will it be?” Zi Xu asked.

  “We’ll take this route. The last thing we need is to run into Yang Deli or his soldiers again.”

  “Ah ha! Excellent choice!” Zi Xu clapped. “This will make it a bit more interesting for me.”

  “You just want to see us get cut down by whatever traps there are in the next section,” Sun Ren said.

  Zi Xu’s smile widened further, making him appear inhuman.

  “Oh, that is not what I want to see. There is a surprise for you in the next section and this will be more entertaining than anything that has happened in the last three hundred years.”

  “What is it?” Lu Na asked.

  Zi Xu disappeared without responding.

  Lu Na hated ghosts. Zi Xu was on top of that list.