Lu Na had already clenched her left fist when she saw the boar spirits charge. It was just like the last time when they went mad. She had been thinking about what she would have done different had the two boar spirits charged her again.

  Lu Na flicked her wrist left, raising a couple of thick earth walls in the way of the boar spirits. They weren’t high, but high enough that it made walking through them harder. Then she made sure to pull the earth down, creating shallow holes in the ground.

  The boar spirits ran through the first few walls, but tripped over the others. They pitched forward when they hit the shallow holes, rolling at full speed.

  Next Lu Na flicked her hand to the right, activating her spirit wall. This time, she made it more into a net than a solid wall. She anchored the ends of the net to the walls of the labyrinth, creating a massive net from side to side. Just in case, she created multiple layers right behind the first, the next ones thicker and the holes in the net smaller until it became as solid as her normal spirit walls.

  The boar spirits slammed into the spirit nets and slowed down until they hit the solid wall at the end.

  With another flick of her wrist, Lu Na summoned a spirit box to surround the boar spirits. She couldn’t do anymore as the null metal bracelet was now burning again. With a quick yank, she pulled the null metal bracelet off her left wrist before laying it on the ground. The smell of burnt leather filled the area.

  Lu Na rubbed her left wrist as she approached the fallen boar spirits. It had a shallow red mark which was mostly from all the previous times she burned herself. It still hurt though as she re-injured herself every time she overused her null metal bracelet.

  “Are we ready to talk?” Lu Na asked.

  “Give us back our villagers!” the boar spirit squealed. “Or we will crush you.”

  “You’re not going to crush anything. And we don’t have your villagers. They’re living in that mini-city we left back there. We’re trying to leave. Do you know how?”

  “No. Go and die. You humans don’t deserve our help.” The large boar spirits both struggled to get up until they righted themselves. The shifting nets of spirit walls held them in place.

  Lu Na’s back felt cold. She turned to face ghost Jie, frowning with her hands raised above her head.

  “What are you—”

  Ghost Jie swung her hand down and smacked Lu Na across the face. The cold sting didn’t stop at her face, but it felt like it went through her mouth, her teeth, her tongue, and finally back out the other side. It was the most uncomfortable slap she’d ever experienced.

  A yellow rope wrapped around ghost Jie, tying her up and anchoring her to the ground. Her eyes tracked the rope around her and she tried to fly away. The yellow rope held taut, bringing her back down to the ground.

  Lu Na rubbed her face, trying to get the warmth back into her cheeks. It was like getting slapped by a snowman.

  “You’re welcome,” Yang Deli said. He walked up to ghost Jie along with another man in a daoist uniform. He held a red wooden sword and another yellow rope.

  “Thank you,” Lu Na said. “Jie, we didn’t take your villagers. They should be safe in the city as I said. If you tell us how to leave, we’ll never bother you again.”

  Ghost Jie glared at Lu Na, saying nothing.

  Nugua slithered over to ghost Jie and spoke to her in Xia.

  The ghost’s face softened and nodded. She responded in kind.

  “Can you please release her?” Nugua asked the daoist.

  The daoist turned to Yang Deli who nodded. He waved his wooden sword at ghost Jie and the yellow rope holding her disappeared.

  “Good bye,” ghost Jie said before disappearing.

  Nugua placed her hand on the spirit walls and dissolved them.

  The large boar spirits huffed before turning toward the mini-city.

  “What did you tell them?” Lu Na asked.

  “That the labyrinth was open and that all her people had a new home now within the mini-city. That Yang Deli here is also going to supply the mini-city with resources so that they can prosper.” Nugua winked at the rebel leader.

  “I can do that. As long as they give me access to the city and—”

  “Look, I don’t care about all this. My mother needs a doctor. Can we get out of here first?” Lu Na was tempted to leave all these people and burst out of the labyrinth herself. Now that she solved the labyrinth and it unlocked itself, couldn’t she just make a hole herself?

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Don’t worry Na Na, Jie was kind enough to tell me how to get out,” Nugua said. She walked up to the Xia symbols and tapped the wall beside them. It cleared the selections Lu Na made. She tapped a few of the symbols in quick succession and the glowing symbols stopped moving.

  The labyrinth wall shifted back, creating a large rectangular cutout. Right behind it was the outside. Cool, fresh air rushed in through the hole and for the first time in ages, everyone smelled the fresh smell of trees from the nearby forest. They couldn’t see anything though as it was night.

  “Yang Deli, set up an encampment outside. I’ll meet you there,” Sun Ren ordered.

  “Yes, of course,” Yang Deli said as he marched forward with his men.

  “And don’t forget the blood oath you gave me. I wouldn’t want to remind you to not betray me again.”

  Yang Deli’s shoulders slumped but he didn’t respond. He kept walking away with his men through the hole.

  Sun Ren turned toward Baihu.

  “What will happen when we leave the labyrinth? More importantly, do you want to stay here?”

  Baihu hugged Sun Ren, her nine tails wrapping around her.

  “I would never leave you if I can.” Baihu disappeared, turning into a white mist before entering Sun Ren’s spirit realm in her chest.

  Sun Ren held a hand over her heart and took a deep breath. She stood taller, her back straighter. It was as if she regained a part of herself. Despite all her injuries and torn clothes, the regal air she used to hold herself before entering the labyrinth was back.

  Lu Na was glad to see it. Although she enjoyed spending time with the real Sun Ren, this version of her friend made the most sense to her.

  “Are you coming Nugua?” Lu Na asked.

  Nugua looked back toward her naga family. They all waved at her.

  “Yes, I think I will. I still have unfinished business outside.” Nugua looked down at Chen Su.

  Lu Na felt as if a hand gripped her heart for a moment as the naga spirit looked at her mother. She knew that Nugua wouldn’t hurt her mother because she still had so much more to give her. But if Nugua were to kill her mother, then she would be free to live out the rest of eternity in here with her family instead of protecting or helping Lu Na.

  It was frightening to think of losing both her mother and spirit like that. Fortunately, Nugua slithered over to Lu Na instead.

  “This was a fun experience. Let’s do this again sometime.” Nugua wrapped her long tail around Lu Na and thrust herself against her chest. She turned into a black mist before entering Lu Na’s spirit realm.

  Lu Na felt a coolness spread out from her chest. It was different from the cold of a ghost’s presence. It felt comfortable, as if she had been missing this for a long time. She hadn’t noticed it missing ever since she entered the labyrinth.

  Maybe this was because she reached stage two as a summoner as she had been in the labyrinth without Nugua. The experience had given Lu Na more sensitivity toward sensing spirit energy. For the first time since bonding with her spirit, she could tell how the spirit energy cycled through her naturally.

  “Oh, this feels cramped. I haven’t been back in here for only a few days and you’ve already remodeled. I don’t like it,” Nugua said.

  “I’m glad you’re back, Nugua. Now I don’t have to work so hard to shape those techniques. Let’s go home.”

  The group camped outside of the labyrinth for the night. It passed by quickly as for the first time nothing was trying to chase them or murder them in such a long time.

  The Wintersweet disciples and their Elder chose to hurry home despite the darkness of the night. They used their spirits to light the way and departed as quickly as they could with Elder Xu leading the way.

  “We could have went back to Jianye with them,” Sun Ren said.

  “I don’t want to owe the Wintersweet anything. If we followed them home, Elder Hen will want something from us. I’d rather not. Besides, it doesn’t look like my mother is in any danger after her phoenix bonded with her outside of the labyrinth.” Lu Na stared up at the night sky, admiring the stars. For the first night in a long time, she could sleep without worry.

  “I’ll take the first watch,” Sun Ren said.

  “What do you mean? Yang Deli can watch over us.”

  Sun Ren glanced toward the large tent the rebels set up for the rebel leader.

  “I can’t trust him not to send one of his underlings to kill me. He is right that I bound him and not them. I’m going to rectify that when we get back to Jianye.”

  Lu Na smiled and nodded. It was glad to hear the calculating Sun Ren back in full force. She held her hand.

  “We both need a vacation after this.”

  Sun Ren squeezed her hand.

  “We have too much work to do. We still have to recover the stolen Xia device from that mischievous monkey. I knew we couldn’t trust him.”

  Lu Na closed her eyes.

  “I know. But he did us a favor. At least now, no one will be chasing us for it. No more Wintersweet Sect, no more rebels, no more anything. I can go back and develop my inventions.”

  “You’re so naive, that’s all you ever want to do. Tinker with your toys. As soon as I get back to my father, I’m going to ask him to set up an expeditionary force for that device. I’m willing to bet that its value is far beyond our imagination, especially for the effort it took to get it.” Sun Ren laid down beside Lu Na on the ground.

  For one single moment, Lu Na felt peace. Her mother was in a tent nearby, finally free from the labyrinth, they were also out, and the night time was cool without being cold.

  Loud hooves thundered toward them. The shaking of the ground was enough to wake Lu Na. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised that the sun didn’t wake her before this. It had risen well above the horizon.

  The rebel soldiers were shouting when they saw what was approaching. The men scrambled out of their tents, putting on their armor, and wielding their spears and swords.

  “What’s going on?” Lu Na asked.

  “Remember the Imperial Official we saw on our way to the labyrinth? He’s finally here.” Sun Ren got up and smoothed out her tunic.

  “Why are is Yang Deli’s people going crazy?”

  Sun Ren smirked.

  “It’s because they’re rebels. They fly a rebel’s flag. And the Imperial Official has an army of summoners behind him.”

  “Then should we run?” Lu Na got up, looking around to see if she left anything while she slept. She doubted it, but she recently had to put everything back into her chest pocket. “Wait, what about my mother?”

  Sun Ren patted Lu Na on the shoulder.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll handle this.” Sun Ren walked over to the Imperial Official’s carriages. The now red and purple horses pulling the carriage came to a stop.

  Sun Ren bowed toward the carriage with cupped hands. She said a few words before the imperial soldiers surrounded Sun Ren with spears.

  Horns sounded in Yang Deli’s camp and all the men formed ranks, facing the imperial soldiers and the carriages.

  What happened? Why did they capture Sun Ren? Lu Na moved two steps toward the imperial soldiers before one of the rebels grabbed her arm and yanked her toward Yang Deli’s tent.

  “Let go of me,” Lu Na screamed.

  “No. Yang Deli needs you as a shield.”

  Just when Lu Na thought she had a moment of peace, this happens.