Sun Ren could still taste the blood in her mouth from the nightmares. She knew it wasn’t real, but the memories brought back her greatest fear of a lonely death. Not only that, the ghosts of those she killed haunted her.

  Those didn’t bother her too much. They all deserved death.

  Except they weren’t the only ones that died from her actions. Children and women starved because they lost their fathers. Entire villages were wiped out because of revenge killings from those that she killed. It was only fitting that the ghosts in the labyrinth made her taste their blood.

  Sun Ren put her tongue against the inside of her cheek and realized that the blood was real. It was her own from biting down so hard from the nightmares. She spat the blood onto the ground.

  Up ahead in the maze, she heard fighting. Sun Ren had run fast through. She felt a little foolish for leaving behind Lu Na, but she couldn’t deal with her at the moment. She had to separate her desire to protect her friend and accomplishing the mission. Her friend was too softhearted, even to her enemies.

  Sun Ren never made that mistake. If she had time to end that rebel leader, she would take it. Even if it meant she would die in the attempt. Lu Na never understood the idea of sacrifice for the greater good.

  When Sun Ren approached the fighting, she stopped. The fighting sounded like spirit techniques being released. It was right around the corner, but she felt the dense spirit energy in the air. Yet there were no human sounds. Why were spirits fighting each other within the maze?

  Sun Ren took out a small bronze mirror and used it to reflect around the corner. It was hard to make out, but it looked like a group of naga spirits were fighting against a large wolf spirit and a variety of smaller spirits.

  Could those nagas be a part of Nugua’s pack? Lu Na’s spirit disappeared for a long time, but that was in the lower sections. If she was wrong and revealed herself to them, Sun Ren would be in greater danger than before.

  It wasn’t lost on her that this trip into the labyrinth not only dredged up dreadful memories, but she was also spirit-less. Not since before Sun Ren bonded with Baihu had she ever felt that loss more ever present. It wasn’t just loneliness. It was like she lost a part of herself.

  Baihu wasn’t only her spirit, but a part of her body and mind. The spirit allowed her to think clearly and be the strategist and warrior she needed to be. It cut out the weakness from her, the fear that she felt even now as she held onto her daggers. She hated that more than anything else.

  The fighting intensified, this time with shouting from the spirits. Their voices sounded harsh and the words were unfamiliar to Sun Ren.

  The best thing to do was to turn around and flee before they discovered a weak human among them. Even without her spirit telling her, Sun Ren knew that was the best course of action. If nothing else, she could retrace her steps and hope to find Lu Na again.

  Before she took a step back, Sun Ren heard something familiar. A loud yelp that sounded familiar. It couldn’t be.

  Sun Ren pulled her mirror out a little more to look at the fight again. Sure enough, there was a small fox pup dashing through the legs of the larger wolf spirit. She recognized the white fur and purple accents on the tail anywhere.

  It was Baihu fighting the larger wolf spirit and all their minions.

  Sun Ren had to help, but how? She was a weak human.

  Wait, she had something that few other humans had. A friend who invented things that could compete with spirits.

  Sun Ren took out the earth wall wards and spirit wall wards. She never used them much before because she couldn’t depend on something that was so temporary. But she had no choice now. She didn’t have any spirit techniques without Baihu. It was time to change that.

  Sun Ren activated the spirit wall and placed it in front of her. A large shimmering wall sprang to life from the ground up. If she remembered correctly, Lu Na told her it would allow physical things through, but stop spirit techniques.

  This was going to be an easy distract and run. Sun Ren peeked behind her to find that her path there was still free. That would have to do for an exit if she got caught. The spirit wall would cover her.

  Next she took out the silly little slingshot Lu Na made. Sun Ren could see it work, but the flimsy nature of the device meant she would have three full shots before it broke. Of course, she wouldn’t depend on it too much. She had her trusty daggers coated with spirit cutting material.

  Let’s hope this was enough.

  Sun Ren crouched low and stuck to the walls. Luckily, the lighting through these hallways wasn’t as good as the previous sections. With her black tunic, she could blend in well with the shadows. Aside from the few sparks from spirit techniques, she should be mostly hidden until she attacked.

  The first thing she needed was information. She couldn’t jump in blindly against a mob of feral spirits. More importantly, what if she was wrong? What if the fox pup she saw wasn’t Baihu? She’d be throwing herself into a fight that wasn’t hers at all.

  Sun Ren focused on her spirit realm and called out to Baihu. If that fox pup was her spirit, she should be able to sense her.

  Nothing.

  Sun Ren had to move closer. She couldn’t see any better than the spirits at this point. So if the fox pup ran away, she couldn’t reach it.

  Around the corner, there was more intense fighting. The sight caught Sun Ren by surprise. Somehow Yang Deli’s soldiers had created a spiked fortification in this large room. Feral spirits threw themselves at the wooden spikes on the ground. The soldiers pushed back with their own spears. There were summoners who had thrown spirit techniques at the feral spirits ranging from powerful flame attacks to create ice walls and metal spikes.

  The most surprising thing was the small army of nagas that fought alongside the rebels. Leading the pack was Nugua. Sun Ren could never forget the sassy spirit adorned with jade beads. That spirit really needed proper clothes.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  But why were the nagas fighting with the rebels?

  Sun Ren found an opening in the battlefield near the back and dashed across the room. She had to leap over a few broken feral spirits, bleeding spirit energy as thick as blood. She ducked a few spirit techniques that flew over her head.

  A large crab claw smashed down in front of Sun Ren. Its blue-gray claw opened up and swiped at her.

  Sun Ren unsheathed her daggers and stopped the claw from biting into her body and crushing her in two. She used all her strength to wedge the claws open before dropping into a roll right below the claws. When she came up, she drove her two daggers right into the crab spirit’s eye sockets. Just in case, she gave it a casual twist and ripped her daggers back out.

  Sun Ren then dipped below its flailing claws before running toward the opposite wall.

  Two small wolf spirits, one orange and the other pink, jumped at Sun Ren. Their jaws were wide open, ready to snap onto Sun Ren.

  With no choice, Sun Ren blocked with her left forearm. The orange wolf missed while the pink snapped shut onto Sun Ren’s arm. Crushing pain shot up her arm, but the daggers hidden there prevented the wolf from snapping off her arm. With multiple quick stabs, Sun Ren drove her dagger into the pink wolf’s flank, causing pink spirit energy to leak out from its wounds.

  Despite such intense injuries, the pink wolf didn’t let go. The orange wolf pounced at Sun Ren aiming for her neck.

  Sun Ren used the pink wolf on her left arm to smash against the orange one. There was no better defense than the body of her enemy. The orange wolf smashed against a green deer spirit.

  Soon after, the deer spirit and its two companion deer spirits turned toward Sun Ren. Their eyes glowed red and their antlers looked like pointed curved blades. They shaped them to deal the most damage to anything they ran out.

  Sun Ren had to get to the rebels now. She plunged the dagger into the pink wolf’s neck and sliced off its head. She didn’t have time to pry the jaws off her arm before she ran toward the opposite wall where the soldiers were.

  Sun Ren reached out into her spirit realm out of reflex. Right now would have been a perfect time to turn into a fox pup herself. She knew it would not work, but she couldn’t help herself. It was what she’d done ever since she bonded with Baihu whenever she was in trouble. She had been doing this the whole time they’ve been separated. The only thing she expected was the same hollow emptiness. That white fox pup was not Baihu.

  “Oh foolish child, you never needed me.”

  “Baihu!” Sun Ren tripped when she heard her spirit’s voice. As she fell, she saw the world become bigger. The pain in her left arm faded as the pink wolf’s jaw dislodged itself from her own paws.

  Sun Ren marveled at the warm feeling she had being a fox pup again. Everything was so much taller and out of reach than before, but she was tiny. She was close to the ground and she could finally outrun this nightmare.

  “Baihu, where are you?” Sun Ren dashed around the legs of the charging deer as they ran past her. If she hadn’t turned into a fox pup, they would have gored right through her body.

  “I’m over by the humans. I can sense you. Make a right turn into the next hallway and then round back around toward the fortifications,” Baihu’s voice echoed.

  Just hearing her voice gave Sun Ren all the energy she needed to dash through the mob of feral spirits. Most of them were taller and ignored her as she ran past. There were a few that tried to stop her, but with her practiced agility they couldn’t stop Sun Ren. It reminded her of all those drills her sifu had her do against insurmountable odds and obstacles. Now she was thankful her sifu forced her to do all those things.

  Following Baihu’s directions, she turned a corner to stare down the spears of Yang Deli’s soldiers.

  “Halt or die, spirit,” one soldier yelled. He thrust the spear out at Sun Ren.

  Sun Ren felt the thrill of being a fox pup and wanted to jump over the spear and the soldiers’ heads to dash over to Baihu. She sensed her spirit’s present just beyond these soldiers. Yet because she sensed Baihu, she also felt the comforting presence of calm and the familiar push to pause and think before rushing into a situation.

  Baihu was truly back and for that, Sun Ren felt true happiness for the first time since coming into the labyrinth. She turned herself back into her human form and swiftly pivoted on her toes to slash at the feral spirit pouncing right behind her. Her dagger cut into its flank before Sun Ren rolled away, leaving the spirit to crash into the spear wall of the rebels.

  “Take me to your leader,” Sun Ren said.

  The soldiers didn’t put down their spears.

  “It’s fine. Let her through.” Yang Deli stood behind the group of soldiers with his iron helmet on. “It’s nice to see you again Young Miss Sun.”

  Sun Ren cupped her hands and bowed her head.

  “I wish I could say the same about you.” Sun Ren walked past the soldiers.

  Yang Deli laughed.

  “You’re here to kill me again, aren’t you?”

  Sun Ren said nothing. She still held the two daggers in her hand and with the rebel leader so close, it wouldn’t take much to plunge it into his chest. The only thing stopping her was the warning from Baihu.

  “Show me my spirit.”

  Yang Deli led Sun Ren to the command tent at the center. The rebel soldiers were standing at attention, fresh and ready for battle. But Sun Ren could see fatigue already setting in. Their discipline impressed her.

  Baihu sat atop a purple pillow next to Nugua. Both of them were drinking tea when Sun Ren walked in.

  “Your summoner finally came back. Now you can stop your crying,” Nugua said.

  “I was not crying,” Baihu said. The spirit was in her human form with only one long white tail behind her. The others must be out in the field.

  “What happened?” Sun Ren asked.

  Nugua made a hissing laugh.

  “You should ask that rebel leader.”

  “Clear the room,” Yang Deli ordered. The others left the room. “These two spirits made me a deal. If I joined them, they would stop their slaughter of my men and lead me to the center of the labyrinth.”

  Yang Deli was silent.

  “Tell her the rest, you worthless human,” Nugua ordered.

  “I tried to renegotiate the terms,” Yang Deli said.

  “You mean you tried to betray them again, didn’t you?” Sun Ren huffed.

  Yang Deli nodded.

  “Except this time, we let him. You should have seen the look on his face when he tried to activate the door.” Nugua chuckled, but tried to hide it behind her cup of tea. “All the feral spirits on the floor ran his army down. Baihu and I watched from the side as the spirits didn’t care about attacking us.”

  “So we made a new deal,” Baihu said. She put down her cup of tea. “I told him we’d help him if he submitted to you.”

  “There’s one thing I don’t understand, though. He’s got powerful summoners under his command. Why would he submit to me?” Sun Ren asked.

  Yang Deli grimaced.

  “It’s because the key didn’t work. None of the keys we had worked. Your spirits told me that your Young Miss Lu would have a key that could work and if she didn’t, she could figure out a way in with her inventions. The last thing I want is for my men to die with me here for nothing.”

  Sun Ren understood now. Despite being better prepared, Yang Deli fell to the same thing that always destroys men like him: greed.

  “Very well, I’ll accept this deal on one condition. Bind yourself to me in a blood oath.”

  Yang Deli clenched his jaws, and eyes narrowed.

  “That’s too much to ask. I command these men. I can’t ask them to bend to the will of a woman, much less the daughter of a man that killed many of their brothers.”

  “Then we’re done here. I’m sure my spirits will—”

  Yang Deli rushed Sun Ren with a dagger aimed at her throat. The man never learned.

  With one swipe, Nugua knocked the rebel leader to the floor with her tail. Baihu stood above the man with her claws at his neck.

  “Bind yourself to me or die. Either way, doesn’t matter to me,” Sun Ren said. Truthfully, she knew it did. The soldiers would only follow a man like Yang Deli. If he died here, they wouldn’t last much longer after when the soldiers found out.

  “Fine. I’ll swear a blood oath to you.” Yang Deli cut his hand with his dagger and held it up.

  “Good.” Sun Ren took out a clean dagger from her chest pocket. She would not do a simple blood oath on this one. She was going to make him her thrall through the forbidden technique her sifu taught her.

  There was only one thing she dreaded with the technique. Sun Ren would have to drink his blood.