I rush up the stairs, dodging the first sloppy swing of the man’s sword and tripping him. He reaches out, trying to pull me down with him as he falls. I slip from his grip to watch him tumble down the stairs into the group of other cultivators.

I don’t wait to see how they respond as I run back to the window I’d snuck in from.

Qi builds up from behind me as I jump out of the window. I grab onto the windowsill, swinging into the building and stopping my momentum. I fully let go, rolling as I hit the ground.

I stand up, only to fly forward as something heavy hits my back. I roll across the ground, unable to control my momentum.

Jing Xia runs to me from where she is watching the building. The earth seems to guide her to me, pushing her feet forward.

Pain fills me as I try to push myself off the ground, foreign qi pushing its way into my body. I collapse back down, and Jing Xia arrives at my side, gently lifting me into her arms.

Shouting from the building fills the air. The cultivators inside release their auras, qi gathering around them.

Jing Xia holds me carefully, stepping out of the way as a bolt of qi flies towards us.

I focus on the invasive qi in my body, rallying my own qi empowered by spirit.

The earth of the street seems to guide and push Jing Xia as she runs forward, dodging attacks aimed at the both of us. Her qi gathers in her as her own aura is released.

Jing Xia races through the slums with me in her arms, her breathing focused as she dodges around mortals and debris. The occasional bolt of qi aimed at us hits a mortal or a building, killing those it touches and creating gaping holes in the architecture.

The aura of a powerful cultivator surrounds us and our pursuers stop their attacks. The pursuers’ auras disappear.

Jing Xia stops running, using her momentum to turn around and look behind us.

I trust in Jing Xia as I close my eyes, focusing all my attention on the invasive qi.

The world around me tunes out, as my awareness focuses on my body. Streams of the invasive qi split off from each other, making it hard for my own qi to devour it. Slowly, step by step, I force the qi into the air around me, dispersing it.

Eventually, hands touch my back, Jing Xia’s qi working with mine to destroy and disperse the last of the invasive qi.

I open my eyes to find myself still in Jing Xia’s arms. She sets me back on my feet now that I’m healed.

The road is empty as mortals cower behind buildings and objects. A man stands calmly, his feet resting on nothing but air.

It takes me a moment to recognise the strange cultivator as Master An Meng. His back is straight and his gaze serious. He looks twenty years younger than when I saw him earlier today.

Slowly his aura and qi retreat back into his body. He hunches over, regaining his usual look as he steps down from the air until his feet touch the ground.

“Are you alright, Disciple Lin?” Master An Meng asks, his voice steady as he walks over to us.

“I think so, Master An Meng.” I answer, a wave of pain from my back contradicting my words. I do my best to not show the pain and Master An Meng appears to not notice.

JIng Xia, however, seems to catch that something isn’t right as her gaze focuses on me.

I ignore her gaze and look carefully down the street we are on, wondering where the enemy cultivators are. The three of us appear to be the only cultivators on the street.

“They are gone.” Master An Meng answers my silent question. “Something hid them from me as soon as I arrived.”

I let out a sigh. Something about the whole situation doesn’t seem right, giving me a bad feeling. There’s that book too. Whatever it is, it’s dangerous. I can feel it.

Master An Meng proceeds to ask us about what happened. Jing Xia tells him what she saw before turning the story over to me. I tell him everything that I saw in the building, going over the memories in my own mind as best I can. I don’t recognize any of the cultivators that I saw, not that I know many of the cultivators in the capitol.

He listens to my story carefully before nodding and immediately turning to look for the escaped cultivators.

I see a frown on his face as he turns away. He’s worried about something, but I can’t tell what.

He walks down the street, carefully analyzing every overturned cart until he is out of sight.

Once he is gone, I relax, twitching slightly from a sudden pain in my back.

“You don’t look alright.” Jing Xia says, moving over to me to support me as I fall back into her support, my legs almost giving out.

“I thought the qi was gone.” I say, the pain in my back making itself known to me with a furious force.

“It is.” Jing Xia says with confusion. She leads me to the side of the now empty street, sitting me down on a crate.

She pulls her hand away from my back and we both see a dark blood coating it from where she touched me. She briefly looks into my eyes, her gaze serious, before turning me and pulling my robe down to expose my upper back.

I hiss in embarrassment. “We’re in public!”

“No one’s here and you’re injured. No one is going to accuse you of being a harlot.” Jing Xia says, her words harsh but filled with a subtle worry.

Her breath catches at the sight of my back.

“What is it?” I ask, unable to stop the worry from entering my own voice.

“I’m not sure. The skin is blackened.” Her fingers trace around the wound, qi probing into my back. “We need to get you to a healer.”

She lifts me up into her arms again.

“I can walk-” I start, only to be interrupted by her.

“You nearly fell again. Let’s not risk anything until you’ve been looked at.” Her eyes carefully avoid mine as we head to the cultivator district. It’s probably closer to us than the healers of the imperial palace. Jing Xia knows what she is doing

A weariness starts to take over me as we get closer to wherever she is taking me and my eyes work to stay open.

My awareness completely leaves me as the next thing I know I am sitting on a bed, a female cultivator with a calm spirit removing my robes to look at my back.

A sharp intake of breath from the woman doesn’t inspire my confidence as her qi enters the wound, soothing the pain that has been sending waves through my body.

Her qi does something, and my eyes close as darkness overtakes my senses.

****

Someone holds my hand, gently rubbing the back of my hand with their thumb.

My eyelids flutter open, taking in the evening sunlight. I’m not in my room at the palace. I turn to look at Jing Xia whose gaze is focused on our intertwined hands.

She notices my gaze and turns to look at me, her mood lightening as our eyes meet.

“Am I alright?” I ask quietly.

She nods. “You’re alright. You just need to heal.”

I breathe a sigh of relief, knowing of the many dangers that exist in the world of cultivation.

“What was it?” I ask, letting go of JIng Xia’s hand to sit up. I become acutely aware of the bandages on my back as I move.

“Some kind of poison. Thankfully Sha Lan got to it in time.” JIng Xia says.

“Necrosis, not poison.” A voice says from the entrance to the room. I turn to see a woman who’s whole face is covered in a veil, her robes light blue to the point of being white. “A nasty trick from those who wish suffering on others.”

I bow to her in thanks. “You must be Sha Lan. Thank you for healing me.”

She nods, acknowledging my thanks. “I am always pleased to help a member of the Flowing River Sect. Do you still feel any pain?”

I pause, testing the wound. “A little, but not as much.”

“That is to be expected. The damage was severe.”

She walks up to me, carefully placing her palm on my shoulder. Her qi soothingly moves through my body, checking the wound on my back, then checking the cut on my arm from the fight with the assassins.

“You are as healthy as I can make you.” She says, removing her hand from my shoulder. “Do your best to avoid fighting for the next week.”

“I don’t seek fights.” I answer.

Jing Xia laughs, quickly covering it with a cough.

The woman doesn’t respond, instead nodding her head and leaving the room.

I carefully leave the bed, the bandages around my back feeling strange in the way they constrict me. I put on the robes that are neatly arrayed on the side of the bed, feeling slightly embarrassed.

I dress in silence as Jing Xia watches me with an unreadable expression.

“That was reckless.” She says finally. “I shouldn’t have let you go in there by yourself.”

“I can hide from demonic cultivators better than you.” I say, matching her gaze calmly.

“You were still found!” She responds, her voice taking a hard edge to it as she stands up. She looks away, embarrassed from the outburst.

I walk up to her, putting my hand on her arm. “Are you alright?”

She slowly looks into my eyes, her gaze holding a strength to it.. “I’m not. Staying in the palace and seeing those disgusting Princes....” I freeze at the insult to the royal family, but I don’t interrupt her. “The things they do to their servants- it’s unspeakable. And, and-” She motions to me, tearing up.”You’ve gotten injured twice now..”

I nod. “I know.”

She takes a deep breath, calming herself and relaxing her body. “Let’s get a drink. I need an excuse to stay away from that horrible palace.”

I nod again at her words and she takes my hand, walking with purpose out of the Healer’s home.

I let her lead me back to the Tavern I’d visited twice now. Her steps are purposeful, and she keeps her face forward, obviously embarrassed about the outburst.

We arrive at the Tavern, brightly lit from the lanterns put out because of the slowly darkening sky.

We are about to step inside, when the door bursts open. Sun comes flying out, landing on the road and rolling a few times. He moves slightly, groaning.

A muscular man carrying a sword as large as me walks out through the now broken door, his expression dark with anger.

Sun stands up, his blackened eye landing on me and my Sister.

“Oh. Hi.” he says, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.