Pan Tian made it to the gap on the bridge to the portal room and leaped across, still holding Chen Ai by her neck. Xue followed a moment later then turned back around to face the rest of the Chen family as they followed slowly...

  Elder Kanev started walking toward Pan Tian, subtly closing the distance between them more.

  Pan Tian stopped moving. "Stay back!" she snapped, "Chen Ai can survive without a tongue."

  Elder Kanev slowed his approach but didn't stop it. Jie tried to kick him again and he shook her violently. Her legs hit only empty air.

  "I said stay back!" Pan Tian yelled, "Any closer and Chen Ai dies!"

  Elder Kanev stopped and glared at Pan Tian.

  "He won't let me go," Jie said, "just head for the exit. Maybe Sorek will help y--"

  Elder Kanev squeezed Jie's throat, strangling her. She formed a dragonfist over her left foot and tried to kick his arm. But once again he formed a wall of rock. Her kick detonated against the rock, cracking it and sending another sharp jolt of pain up her leg.

  "Let her go!" Pan Tian snapped.

  "Of course," Elder Kanev said as he squeezed tighter, "as soon as you release Chen Ai."

  Jie writhed and tried to kick him as she opened her mouth to breathe but failed to draw any air past his suffocating grip.

  Pan Tian's lips were pressed into a hard thin line.

  "Come now," Elder Kanev said as Jie squirmed in his grip, "time's running out... hurry and release Chen Ai, or your friend will die..."

  Pan Tian pressed her blood claws into Chen Ai's neck, breaking the skin slightly. Rivulets of blood ran down Chen Ai's skin as a trickle of green life energy and black, light-bending qi flowed through Pan Tian's claws and into her.

  "If you kill Jie, I'll kill Chen Ai. You can't pressure me into making a bad decision. If I can't win, I'll make sure we all lose," Pan Tian said, "If we can't get out of here alive, you'd better believe I'm taking this bitch with me. And I'm betting the Chen family will make sure you follow us shortly."

  Pan Tian and Elder Kanev stared hard at one another as Elder Kanev squeezed even harder.

  Jie struggled and writhed and tried to free herself but her movements grew increasingly sluggish and clumsy. She started to feel lightheaded and her vision darkened on the edges. She kept trying to breathe but made only wet sounds with her lips as she floundered like a dying fish.

  "Have you heard the stories of the Chen family head's favorite torture methods?" Pan Tian asked though her voice sounded further away by the second, "Which do you think he'll use on you if you cost him a child? The bonebreaker? The rack? Maybe he'll toss you to those purpleheart eyeworms he's so fond of."

  Elder Kanev's face paled.

  "Oh? So, you think he'll throw you to the eyeworms? Maybe you should stop strangling my friend and let her go then. If you upset me, my fingers might slip," Pan Tian said. Her voice was low and surprisingly calm.

  Elder Kanev and Pan Tian glared at each other for a long moment as Jie's world shrank...

  To Jie's surprise, Elder Kanev released her. She fell and collapsed to the ground as she clutched her broken fingers. She took in a wheezing gasp, coughed, then inhaled a short choking breath again followed by more coughing as her lungs screamed for air and her throat struggled to stay open.

  She knelt, shivering upon the frozen ground as she gulped for air between coughs.

  "There," Elder Kanev said, "she's released. Now let Chen Ai go and I promise you can all leave unharmed."

  Pan Tian laughed darkly. "How stupid do you think I am? You'll kill us the moment I let Chen Ai go. No. I'm taking her with me. You can have her back when we're gone," she said as she took a step closer toward the exit, Elder Kanev, and Jie.

  Jie wheezed for breath and rose shakily to her feet as she backed away from Elder Kanev and withdrew a healing pill from her storage ring. She tossed it in her mouth and bent her fingers back the right way, hoping that would be enough for them to heal properly.

  Healing energies surged through her, and her bones knit together with an audible, soft, fleshy sound mixed with a sickening series of crackling pops. She sighed with relief as the pain faded and breaths came to her easier. She cycled qi armor and the crackling blue glow surrounded her once more.

  Elder Kanev moved slightly closer to Pan Tian. They all stood near the pyramid now. Elder Kanev stood between Pan Tian and the most direct path to the exit. His freezing aura fell just shy of Pan Tian.

  "Step away," Pan Tian warned darkly.

  "How can I do that while you hold Chen Ai hostage? What's to stop you from killing her after you get away? Let her go and I'll let you leave. Otherwise, I have no choice but to keep you here," Elder Kanev said.

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  Pan Tian's gaze was firm, but she seemed to be considering something.

  "He's lying," Jie said, "he'll never let us leave here alive."

  "I know," Pan Tian said. Her expression changed to a resigned determination, and she smiled softly.

  "Xue, go with Jie. Both of you, get out of here while you can," she said calmly.

  "I won't leave you," Jie said.

  "Do you remember the qilin?" Pan Tian asked.

  "I--yes but--" Jie began.

  "They told me I would have to make a choice," Pan Tian said, "that I would have to choose between your life or my own. I'm making my choice, Jie. Though... if I'm honest... I made it a long time ago."

  Jie clenched her fists as emotion welled up inside her. "I can't leave," she said, "I promised to protect you."

  But despite her words, she knew just how helpless she truly was. Against Elder Kanev... she couldn't even save herself.

  "And you did," Pan Tian said, "the dungeon is over. It was a pleasure to fight beside you."

  Jie shook her head as emotion choked her throat and she tried desperately to think of another way.

  "Now, as team leader, I order you to run. You too, Xue. Both of you run and don't look back," Pan Tian said.

  Xue growled softly as his tail flicked the air.

  "I'm not abandoning you," Jie said.

  "We went over the portal locations, remember? You know where the closest one is. The elders will come through there. If you meet them halfway, they can protect--"

  "I said I'm not leaving!" Jie snapped.

  Elder Kanev smirked.

  "Don't be stupid, Jie! That's exactly what he wants! Now, if you can't make it to the portal, maybe Sorek or Kazzak will protect you. Now go! Or he'll kill you too," Pan Tian said.

  "Yes, Jie," Elder Kanev said with a twisted smile, "Run away with your little tiger. Betray your friend and let her die knowing you left her. She never meant anything to you anyway."

  "Ignore him, Jie! I'm telling you to run!" Pan Tian yelled.

  "I've been watching you for a long time, Liu Jie. I saw how your so-called friends had to beg for every scrap of your time. Tell her how little she means to you and run, Jie," Elder Kanev said.

  "Shut up!" Jie roared as her qi armor flared and what little qi she had left snarled inside her dantian.

  "Run while the halls echo with her screams. Run until I catch you and break every bone in your body. Run, so you can die alone, knowing your last act was to forsake her. And it was all in vain. Lord Chen Liang will love that," Elder Kanev said.

  "Ignore him! Run and don't look back!" Pan Tian shouted.

  Jie squeezed her fists and stood as rigid as a statue. Her qi raced chaotically within her dantian and slammed into the barrier to her middle dantian but failed to break through. It felt like a punch to the gut, and she tried to hide the pain.

  "Damn it, Jie! I said run! You're not team leader! I am! And I'm ordering you to run! If you die here, I'll never forgive you!" Pan Tian yelled.

  Every one of Pan Tian's words pierced Jie's heart like a knife. But she couldn't leave. Couldn't just give up.

  The qi in Jie's dantian surged and slammed into the barrier to her middle dantian harder than ever. Pain radiated through her body as it beat upon the barrier to her middle dantian like a battering ram. Each thud reverberated through her like an agonizing drum beat that drove the breath from her lungs and made her body tremble.

  Rage mixed with her helplessness.

  Even now I can't break through, Jie thought bitterly.

  It wasn't fair. She hated Elder Kanev. Hated the Chen family. But, most of all, she hated herself. Hated her own weakness. If she were stronger, none of this would be happening.

  "Go, Jie!" Pan Tian shouted.

  Xue padded reluctantly away from Pan Tian, seeming conflicted as he turned his gaze from Pan Tian to Jie and back again.

  "I'm ordering you to run!" Pan Tian yelled.

  Driven by her words and not knowing what else to do, Jie took several steps back toward the exit.

  Pan Tian's smile grew. Her olive green eyes glistened with unshed tears.

  "Live well, Jie. I'm glad I had a friend like--"

  Elder Kanev's aura flared with spiritual energy.

  "NO!" Jie screamed as she unleashed twin finger of light attacks directly at Chen Huo on pure instinct, hoping it would distract Elder Kanev.

  But she was too slow. Elder Kanev flicked one hand and a wall of rock erupted between Jie and Chen Huo. Dragon lightning qi crashed into it with a sizzling, thunderous crack that rumbled through the chamber.

  At the same time, rock grew over Chen Ai's body like a second skin. It rapidly climbed up Chen Ai before Pan Tian had a chance to react, covering Chen Ai like a cocoon.

  Pan Tian clenched her hand around Chen Ai's throat in a move that should've ripped it out. But her claws scraped uselessly over spiritual energy reinforced rock, barely even scratching it as the rock encased Chen Ai entirely.

  Elder Kanev pulled at the air and Chen Ai and the rock encasing her sank through the floor. In the blink of an eye, she was gone and only a swirling cloud of dust remained where she'd been.

  Jie cycled two finger of light attacks, aiming one at Chen Huo again and the other at Chen Lisha. Her attacks did nothing to Elder Kanev and it seemed the only hope of diverting his attention.

  Elder Kanev clawed at the air and the ground pulled out from under Jie, yanking her off balance. He then stomped his foot and a pillar of rock burst out of the floor at an angle and slammed into Jie's hip. The strike shattered her qi armor anew into fragments of blue crackling qi and sent her spinning through the air with a bone-jarring flash of pain.

  Chen Ai rose up through the floor near the exit to the chamber and the rock covering her broke away in fragments that slid off her clothes as she coughed and sucked in deep breaths.

  Jie landed on her feet, but her hip flared with a sharp, stabbing pain, and she slipped on the ice. She fell and caught herself on her hands and knees as she slid across the slick frozen ground. Her hip radiated pain, but she did her best to ignore it as she formed a tiny lightning step platform to stop her slide.

  She was running on fumes now and even just the small platform cost her more qi than she would've liked. Despite her dwindling qi reserves, she reformed her qi armor once more as without it, even a glancing blow from Elder Kanev might kill her.

  Elder Kanev's aura surged again.

  The ground rumbled and before Jie could shout out a warning, a large spike of rock erupted behind Pan Tian at an angle that drove the point up through her stomach. The spike continued growing, impaling Pan Tian upon it as it lifted her into the air.

  A red stain bloomed on Pan Tian's robes and her legs spasmed with twitching kicks at the empty air beneath her. Her mouth moved soundlessly, her olive green eyes wide with pain as she grasped the sharp rock surging through her stomach.

  Elder Kanev laughed. "As if I was ever going to let either of you escape," he said.

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