“You think this is part of the trials?” I whispered.

Shangtian frowned. “I… I don’t know. Maybe we are in Shenjie already and a god needs our help?”

Shangtian and I looked at each other and ran towards the sound. Sheets of tangled vines blocked our way to the source of the cry. We ripped at the intertwined mass until they fell.

In front of us were three swirls that emitted clangs and bright flashes. I squinted and realized that they were three men, fighting so wildly that their movements blurred.

“This is a matter of helping the underdog,” I said confidently. “The gods want to test our chivalry.”

“Who is the underdog?” Shangtian wondered.

“The man in green?” I pointed.

But a moment later, the man in green, who was being attacked by the men in red and blue, now aligned himself with the man in blue to attack the man in red. Several moments, it was the man in blue being attacked by the men in green and red.

“Er, perhaps we are supposed to mediate?” I whispered into Shangtian’s ear. Grannie Liu had a knack for settling altercations in the village. What was it that she used to say, turn big problems small, turn small problems—

“Hand it over before we attract the Shenjie lot,” the man in green suddenly hissed.

The man in red held his hand further away. In it was a sphere-shaped basket.

“I caught it—”

The man in green interjected, “Because I tracked it down—”

The man in blue cried, “With my persistent help!”

The man in green responded by plunging his sword into the man in red. Out of the blur of colors squirted blood. Shangtian’s face turned ashen.

“I don’t think this is part of the trials,” she whispered.

She was right. The blood was real; it bore the familiar metallic smell of pig slaughter days.

“The crane didn’t take us to Shenjie! Why?” Shangtian hissed.

I remembered the disgruntled look of the crane as it bore the combined weight of our bodies.

“Um, let’s leave before they notice—”

Just then, one of the men’s swords slashed open the basket.

Hundreds of butterflies fly through the gash and soared towards us. Their wings flashed in the sunlight as they fluttered around me.

The trio stopped fighting. They stared at me open-mouthed and wide-eyed.

I gaped at them as well. Little butterflies were what these burly men fought over?

The man in red came forward slowly and cautiously.

“Your highness?” He said uncertainly.

“We are just candidates for the Celestial Trials,” Shangtian squeaked.

There was visible relief on his face. He exchanged glances with the other two men. Then something hardened in his eyes. I had seen that look on the butcher’s face when he needed to slaughter an animal. My stomach sank. We saw something that we shouldn’t have seen, and they were going to kill us.

In all of the butcher’s years of butchering, only one pig eluded his cleaver… a pig that hid behind a bull in heat on slaughter day. For weeks, the butcher could not get near it. Eventually, the pig ran off into the forest. The old scholar summarized the incident by teaching us a proverb: a fox exploits a tiger’s might. I didn’t know who these men thought I was, but they were afraid of her, and I had to use it to my advantage.

“Idiots!” I snapped. “We are disguised!”

The hand at the hilt of his sword paused. They stared at me warily.

“What are you fools looking at?” I snarled as menacingly as possible. That seemed to convince them. Hesitantly, the man in red dropped to his knees. The other two men followed suit and crawled up to us.

“Your highness… I knew no one but your highness could attract butterflies. I just didn’t expect to see your disguise…”

SLAP. Without warning, the man in red struck himself across the face so hard that a tooth fell out of his mouth.

“Your humble servant is unworthy of questioning your highness’s brilliant schemes. Please punish my lack of propriety!” He sputtered.

“Um, no,” I said, stunned.

Instead of looking relieved, the man in red shuddered.

“If your highness is unwilling to forgive my blunder, I can only hope that the punishment I choose shall appease your highness.”

He slashed at his shoulder. His right arm fell to the ground with a sickening thud.

Shangtian retched. I, too, re-tasted bits of the sorghum bread I had for breakfast.

“Stop!” I yelled in horror. “That is enough! We… we have an important matter to attend to.”

“Yes your highness, we apologize for delaying you. Can we be of service?” The man in red asked weakly as the other two bandaged his bleeding stump.

My heart began to pound. Was this our way out of this mess?

“Take us to Shenjie,” I said immediately.

“Your highness can’t cast a cloud?” The man in green asked.

“Idiot! Can ‘mortals’ cast clouds?” The man in blue snapped.

The man in red coughed and flicked his fingers. A stairway made of ice appeared in front of us and extended into the sky.

“Come on, Ziyan,” Shangtian said as she ran for the stairway immediately.

“Wait!”

I froze. Did they catch onto our pretense? I turned around slowly.

“Your highness,” the man in blue said cautiously. “If you are trying to sneak into Shenjie. That name shall not work as an alias—”

“Her highness is well aware of their security defenses. Do not insult her intelligence!” The man in red interrupted before smiling at me in an ingratiating way.

I took one last glance at the three men and hurried up the staircase with Shangtian. It wasn’t until they were out of sight that I finally unclenched my butt.

Suddenly, I missed the simple, normal life I had known just a day ago. I wondered if going to Shenjie was the right decision.

The bright sun beat down on our backs, our heads, and every inch of our skin. Shangtian’s steps grew slower and slower. We were both drenched with sweat.

“Just a little more,” I encouraged Shangtian. But we were barely above the treetops and the thick cloud bed was still distant.

Shangtian nodded absently and tried to quicken her pace, but her right foot missed the step. In a flash, she rolled down the stairs.

I lunged after her and caught her leg. Shangtian’s body slammed against the cloud stairway. With difficulty, I heaved her up.

Her face and hands were scraped raw by the icy clouds. I looked down at myself and found my state to be no better.

“The staircase is melting,” Shangtian panted, staring at her wet palms. “You go ahead first. One of us has to make it.”

I stared at the dripping stairway and realized that she was right. So I squatted down and pulled Shangtian onto my back. It was going to be difficult, but I had to do it. The only thing that stood between me and Shenjie was this stairway.

“Ziyan!” Shangtian’s voice shook.

“I used to carry manure up the mountain daily. You weigh less than half a bucket,” I lied, borrowing the night soil collector’s words.

There was a moment of silence.

“Thank you,” Shangtian whispered.

I cracked a few jokes to lighten the mood but soon, my lips became parched. I focused on pushing with my feet. Cool clouds around me helped ease my burning muscles. I tried not to think about the words of the man in red, but what was about my name that he didn’t think Shenjie would like? Perhaps I shouldn’t go? Immediately, I shook that thought out of my head. I had to rescue the villagers. I couldn’t waste Bullhead’s efforts, and Shangtian wouldn’t get to Shenjie in her current state. I would just deal with it all when I get there. I just had to climb.

Damn that crane. Damn that crane. I cursed silently to the beat of my steps. I didn’t know how long I climbed. Shangtian drifted in and out of consciousness. The sun blinded my sight. I could hear nothing but the pounding of my heart. Blisters formed on my feet. They swelled in size and burst into a bloody mess. Every fiber of my body seemed to scream in protest.

Pretend there was a big bowl of cold plum soup, I told myself. Pretend that there was a straw bed waiting for me to collapse on… Pretend the god was waiting for me up there, waiting…

After what seemed to be eons, the clouds around me thickened. We were almost there. I tried to only focus on climbing. Step, step, step, step.

Slowly, the mist around me became solid. I hoisted us up the last step and collapsed onto the bed of cloud.

The air erupted with a high-pitched blare. Swoosh swoosh swoosh. Multiple feet immediately surrounded us.