The maze made the labyrinth feel smaller. The path was narrow as the walls were closer. Lu Na felt unease as she walked through, unsure of what might pop out at any moment. What’s worse was the slower pace they all took because of the Elders.

  Elder Hen was the slowest of them all. His plodding steps seemed heavy. He made walking with Zi Xu feel like a sprint.

  Elder Xu walked slowly only to look at the reliefs drawn on the walls. Many sections of the walls had scenes drawn of mythological figures such as the phoenix and nagas. They also had a few that Lu Na had never seen before.

  Senior Wong was the only one that wasn’t as affected by any of this. She murmured to her spirit from time to time, but she didn’t seem different.

  It took about three turns before they found their first feral spirit.

  “This one was the weakest my spirits could find,” Elder Xu said.

  Lu Na peaked at it from around the corner. The feral spirit was a large goat with sharp, wicked horns. Its size made it so that it fit the entire path, meaning it would be impossible to avoid a charge from it.

  “How is that the weakest?” Lu Na asked.

  “Well, there’s only one to start. The other paths had flying fish,” Elder Xu said.

  “Let me take care of it,” Senior Wong said. “I’m sure Gaigung can take it on.”

  “Wait, I have a better idea,” Lu Na said.

  “I don’t need help from someone as weak as you.”

  “As much as I love your ego, I don’t think you can afford that here. Besides, you’ve never seen what my wards can do.”

  “I saw plenty at the inn. You can’t do anything other than defend.”

  “I was just being nice.”

  Senior Wong scoffed.

  “Let her speak,” Elder Hen said.

  “Yes, I’m curious to see what else the girl can do,” Elder Xu said.

  “Thank you, honored Elders.” Lu Na bowed her head. “It looks like the spirit is in a hallway that leads to a route we don’t want to go. What if we annoy it so it charges and we run past it? We wouldn’t need to fight it at all.”

  “How would we do that? The moment it sees us it will attack us,” Senior Wong said.

  “All I need to do is shoot at it with my Tiger Claws technique from around the corner. It won’t see what hit it, but it will know where it came from. Maybe that will force it to move out of the way.”

  “You mean my father’s technique, you thief. It won’t work. Let me take care of it.” Senior Wong glared at Lu Na.

  “Well, it’s that or throw your metal rooster spirit at it and maybe win. Then you will tire yourself out so much that the next problem we face you will be useless.”

  “Fine, we’ll try it your way. But I’ll have Gaigun ready in case you fail.”

  Lu Na nodded. She peeked around the corner again at the large goat. Why was it content merely sitting there? What did these feral spirits get for protecting the labyrinth? More importantly, how do they deal with the endless tedium?

  Maybe immortality wasn’t worth as much as most people thought.

  Lu Na clenched her left fist and pointed two fingers of her right hand at the feral spirit. She focused the shape and form of the technique in her mind. It was getting easier and easier to do this, despite still needing the ward to activate the technique. When she got out of the labyrinth, she was going to make it more intuitive to what she needs instead of constantly have to think about the technique in order to use it.

  Lu Na released the technique by tilting her two fingers downward at the spirit. Two tiger claws shot out from her fingers and smashed right into the goat. It barely scratched its horns, but it got the spirit’s attention.

  It bleated once, got up, and charged down the dark hallway. The spirit ran past where the group was waiting. Once the hoofs seemed distant, they all ran into the hallway.

  The maze opened up into a larger room. This one was lit by many torches on all four sides, showing off three other branches.

  Elder Xu summoned her sable spirits and sent them down each tunnel. A few minutes later she winced.

  “We can’t go down the left way. Huge pit.”

  Elder Xu winced again not too long after.

  “That way has even stronger spirits than the goat.”

  Her remaining sable spirit came back.

  “That way is the safest.”

  When Elder Xu dismissed her sable spirit, her hand turned green.

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

  “Are you okay, Elder Xu?” Lu Na asked.

  “No. I’ve had nothing threaten my spirits like that before. Whatever spirits living in here are absolute nightmares. I fear Elder Hen and I might not fight them in a fair fight.”

  “Then let’s not make it a fair fight,” Senior Wong said.

  Lu Na nodded. She siphoned a little of the spirit energy from her null metal bracelet into her own spirit realm before cycling it throughout her body. If she was going to have to use it, she’d rather it be at full strength without burning off her wrist.

  “You know child, you could always send that dense spirit energy into those tiger claw attacks you use. It would make them much stronger,” Elder Xu said.

  “I’ve never tried it. I fear it might overload the technique.”

  “If you modify the technique to take any spirit energy, then it should be more effective. Sect Leader Wong made it take water and earth spirit energy because that was what he practiced all his life. You don’t have that problem.”

  Lu Na looked at the ward on her bracelet. The specific technique required spirit energy to fire, but she used the original requirement of water and earth. Yet if she changed it just a little, she could easily do what Elder Xu suggested. Now, if only she had her spirit wand to make that change.

  This was the limit of her inventions. She could only use the wards as she designed them. She couldn’t change them without her tools.

  There was a loud crash up ahead. Men screamed.

  The group walked carefully out. The hallway opened up into a smaller room. Right across from them, a large door with Xia writing glowed in white. The light lit up the entire room.

  Yang Deli’s soldiers were fighting against a legion of spirits. It looked like they created an encampment right in front of the glowing door with small hastily made spikes into the ground.

  Yang Deli was at the front of the line, fighting against the feral spirits with his ibex spirit. His iron helmet was the only thing that shined every time a spirit’s technique flashed across the battlefield.

  They were losing, badly.

  “Should we help?” Lu Na asked.

  “We should observe first and see if we can sneak around them. We only need to get Lu Na to the door,” Elder Hen said.

  The feral spirits were about to break through on the other side. The spikes gave way and a large group of boars set up a group charge. Before they could crash into the soldiers and their spears, a large five colored hound stomped on them.

  Hen Li was riding on top.

  “What is your fool boy doing?” Elder Xu asked.

  “He’s probably helping as he always does,” Elder Hen said.

  “Then what about Young Miss Sun?” Senior Wong pointed at a woman in black, rushing to the back of the spirits and attacking a humanoid spirit with the head of a fox.

  Sun Ren was brutal in her slash as she cut through the neck of the spirit and fled as fast as she could. She used a spirit ward and a light ward to cover her escape.

  “There’s no way she would team up with Yang Deli willingly,” Lu Na said. “We should help.”

  “We have little choice. Move, now!” Elder Xu ran ahead first toward Yang Deli’s base. “The goat is back and he’s coming right at us.”

  Senior Wong turned to face the goat as Elder Hen and Lu Na ran with Elder Xu. She clenched her left fist and slashed down with her right hand. A large metal clawed wing shout out from her and clashed against the goat.

  The goat tried to stop the attack with its horns, but the claw cut right along its horn until it slashed into its face. The sudden damage turned the goat’s charge, forcing it to veer off to its left and right into the feral spirits attacking Yang Deli.

  Senior Wong jumped out of its way to join the others.

  “That was amazing,” Lu Na said. “How did you do that?”

  “If we survive this, I’ll show you. Your use of my father’s technique is a joke.”

  They reached Yang Deli’s base.

  “Let us in,” Lu Na asked.

  The soldiers paused for a moment, spears held up against them. They looked afraid.

  “We’re not spirits,” Elder Xu said.

  “I’ll prove it.” Lu Na took out her phoenix hairpin. “I’m sure there is someone here that remembers a woman with this hairpin here. I showed it to your boss.”

  The soldiers didn’t budge. They pushed their spears toward Lu Na’s group instead.

  “Fine, we do it the hard way.” Senior Wong summoned her metal rooster. It was the same size as she was.

  The soldiers screamed as one and took two steps toward Senior Wong.

  “Hold, you idiots,” Sun Ren called. “They’re with me.”

  Sun Ren pushed through the spears and the spikes on the ground.

  “Come Na Na. We have to get you to the door as quickly as possible. I’m not sure how long we can hold this position.” Sun Ren glanced at the Elders and Senior Wong. “You three might want to come too to form the last line of defense.”

  When Sun Ren said that, one soldier cried.

  “Hey, get it together.” Sun Ren grabbed the soldier by the collar. “Understand this. If we don’t make solve this labyrinth puzzle, you will become a ghost that can never leave here. Dying is the least of your worries.”

  The soldier nodded, raised his spear, and joined his fellows at the front.

  Sun Ren led their group to the door. She looked different. She was calmer, despite how she acted before. Had she figured out something or was this because they were under incredible stress?

  They met Yang Deli by the door. He had a gash running along his left arm while his right held a sword.

  “Ah, Young Miss Lu, I’m glad to see you again. It appears you were right. I need your help to solve this.”

  “What changed?” Lu Na asked.

  “All my so-called experts do not know how to open the door. They got us through the ghosts and some traps, but they did not know what to do here. By the looks of the skeletons, many have tried and didn’t make it into the door either.”

  “I’ll look then. How long can you hold them off?”

  Yang Deli looked grim. He shared a look with Sun Ren.

  “As long as you need. Get it open.” Yang Deli wrapped his sword on his hand and marched back to the front line.

  “Sun Ren, what happened?” Lu Na asked.

  “The rebel leader realized that any help is better than no help, even if it is from an enemy. At the moment, it’s humans versus spirits. All our hope is with you now Na Na.”

  “Stay with me, Sun Ren. I’m scared,” Lu Na said.

  “I know it’s scary, but you got this. Besides, I need to go take care of their commanders. I’ll be right here when you open that door.” Sun Ren hugged Lu Na. “You three protect her at all costs.”

  The two Elders and Senior Wong nodded before Sun Ren ran off again.

  “Why do we keep letting her give orders?” Elder Xu asked.

  “Oh, give it a rest,” Elder Hen said. “Young Miss Lu, get started on the door. Yang Deli’s soldiers look like they’re about to collapse.”

  Lu Na walked over to the door and took out her silver phoenix hairpin again. She used her spirit vision to look at the door. It lit up in different colors. When it turned red, her hairpin had a soft glow.

  Was it as easy as matching colors?

  Lu Na put her hairpin against the door. Nothing happened. Maybe it was because the key ran out of spirit energy.

  She took out the other key given to her by the ghost. It glowed yellow. She waited for the door to glow yellow before putting the key against it.

  Again, nothing happened.

  The screaming and the crying from the soldiers were getting closer. They were being pushed in despite Hen Li’s charge with Panhu.

  “Oh, that’s not going to work,” Zi Xu said.

  Lu Na yelped.

  “Where have you been Zi Xu?”

  “That’s not important right now. What we need is that monk of yours. He can open this door with your help, but he might not do it.”

  “How come?”

  “It’s going to require him to unbind his spirit and release all his spirit energy into the key you’re holding.”

  “But that would kill him,” Elder Hen said.

  Zi Xu smiled, this time looking like an adult talking to a child.

  “Yes, child, it would.”