A song of slowness echoed through the air as the Ran musician plucked her pipa inside the abdomen of the metal cicada. The Dreaming Blade did his best to grip the cicada and prevent it from crawling away, but I’m not sure the creature was even aware that it technically had a paraside inside its body.

  Though I’m not really one to talk.

  You are the parasite, not us…

  Again, I wasn’t sure which voice spoke, and I didn’t find that unsettling, not at all.

  The collapsing earth further up the slope slowed from a rush of rock and dirt into a crawl as the music took hold. There was no stopping the landslide, not with the level of power available to Qi Condensing cultivators. The entrance to the valley glowed an ominous, misty white at the bottom of a cliff, and the landslide itself was maybe half a mile away from that cliff. Once the musician stopped playing and the last echo of her song died, we had maybe a minute to reach the entrance before it was buried.

  So, we had until the song ended, which wasn’t that long…

  The amplification from the cicada’s hollow abdomen dramatically increased the power, but it was costing the Ran musician, as her fingers trembled and blood dripped from the corner of her mouth.

  “Can you drag the cicada?” I asked my disciple.

  “I can try and push it,” he said.

  “Let's get it as close to the cliff as we can.”

  Blood surged through my muscles as I leaped up to the creature’s head. The texture of its armored exoskeleton was strange on my skin as I looped blood around the creature’s bulging eyes as makeshift reins. My disciple shoved the spirit beast’s flanks with all his strength, and after a couple more prods, the insect started crawling toward the cliff. Whenever it veered away, I would yank at the reins and redirect it toward the valley’s glowing opening.

  Song Shuai jogged alongside us.

  “I knew this would be exciting,” he said.

  “This is all your fault.”

  “No, this is Ran Cong’s fault.”

  I glanced at him, but couldn’t read any deceit in his innocent expression. If we didn’t need nine people, I would have gotten rid of him, but the only possible replacement was one of the attendants, and I didn’t dare conscript a mortal for this adventure.

  “Go and fetch Ran Yaliu,” I said. “Any minute now, we’re going to have to dash for the opening.”

  He gave a bow that could only be sarcastic before vanishing in a clap of thunder.

  “I don’t trust him, master.”

  “I trust that he will make things difficult,” I said. “But his abilities are undeniable, and we need power such as that if we’re to survive this expedition.”

  “I wish I could replace him.”

  “I know.”

  The cicada neared Shen Tongtong and Ran Cong. One last flaming arrow shot out towards a rolling boulder, and after that, they were done. With the landslide slowed by the music, they could join us in herding the cicada towards the opening.

  We reached Chen Ai and Shen Botao, who were grimacing with exertion. Chen Ai’s hands were pressed against the younger man’s back, and his arms were extended out in a complicated gesture. It was no exaggeration to say they looked as though they were carrying the world, with veins bulging on their bodies, sweat dripping from their faces, and their feet sunk heavily into the ground.

  “Hold out a little longer,” I said encouragingly. “Once Ran Yaliu returns, we will sprint for the opening.”

  Only the barest nods indicated that they heard us. Even with the music slowing the masses, it must be taking tremendous effort for them to root the sliding ground.

  Ahead of us, only a few hundred feet away, the valley opening glowed. Seeing it from so close, it looked less like a tunnel in a cliff and more like an entrance to another world. A chill came over me, prickling my flesh, as I stared into that vaporous hole and felt, inexplicably, that it stared back.

  With a gust of wind, Ran Yaliu appeared. Her skin was paler than her usual jade splendour after dashing so far up the slope, and she seemed disoriented for a moment before she got her bearings and addressed me.

  “The attendants have made significant progress down the path thanks to the movement techniques of Ran Qin and myself; they should make it to safety before the landslide commences.”

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  “Thank you,” I said as the slow music plucked away and filled the space around us.

  The cicada twitched, but it too was affected by the slow music, and so didn’t put up much resistance. There was a strange, dreamlike sense to everything with the qi filling the air, as though everything were seen through clear honey.

  “We’re just waiting on more people…” I said with a frown as I tried to remember who that was.

  “I am ready,” said the old Shen swordsman as he appeared.

  He looked as though he’d been exerting effort, but I couldn’t recall what he’d done. Initially, he was going to help Chen Ai and Shen Botao, but he hadn’t…

  “Where did —”

  The song warbled before I could finish my sentence, and the last note faded out into the air. With a stomp, the cicada started to crawl away, with the unconscious musician still inside the hollow abdomen. Shen Botao let out a harsh groan as he collapsed into Chen Ai’s arms.

  For a moment, a soft blanket of stillness descended onto the mountainside like the first snow of the season… before a rumble shook the ground. The landslide shifted again, and from the vibrations travelling through my feet, it was picking up speed.

  “Everyone move!” I shouted.

  With my blood tendrils, I slung myself down from the cicada’s head and into the gash we’d made in the tymbal so I could extract Ran Qin. The musician’s unconscious body smelled delicious, and in the dark of the creature’s interior, I was tempted to take just a bite.

  Do it…

  But now wasn’t the time to indulge in curiosity and cravings. I slung the woman over my shoulder and burst my way through the cicada’s ribbed membrane. It crawled away from me, but it was already out of my mind as I sprinted for the opening. Chen Ai was ahead of me, moving like a stampeding ox, with the Shen swordsman carrying Shen Botao beside her. Ran Cong and Ran Yiliu were ahead and closest to the portal, while Shen Tongtong, Song Shuai, and my disciple were waiting for me.

  “Good luck, master,” my disciple said with a bow.

  “Get out of here safely,” I said. “I’ll see you in nine days.”

  He bowed once more and leaped away, sailing through the air with the power of his body. I started running, and Shen Tongtong and Song Shuai kept pace.

  “Aren’t you curious why we waited for you?” Song Shuai asked as we neared the glowing entrance.

  “I waited because…” Shen Tongtong began.

  “Not the time,” I said.

  She looked torn, but nodded.

  “She wants to be your disciple,” Song Shuai said with a grin. “Me too.”

  I glanced at them as my eyebrows shot towards my hair.

  “What?”

  “I’m just joking!” Song Shuai said with a cackle. “You couldn’t handle me if I were your disciple.”

  With a clap of thunder, he appeared at the lead of the pack and stepped through the opening first. Ran Cong and Ran Yiliu stepped through next, followed by Chen Ai, the Shen swordsman carrying Shen Botao, and then Shen Tongtong and I reached the glowing mists.

  There was no definite outline of the entrance. No gorge, or cave, or even a door… simply the glowing mists. I hesitated, for the briefest moment, and Shen Tongtong hesitated with me. She gripped her bow with a white knuckled hand and looked as though she wanted to say something, but pebbles fell and bounced off our heads and shoulders.

  A shadow passed over my face as a wave of earth descended towards us. Blood tendrils swept out of me and grabbed Shen Tongtong, hauling her along as I leaped forward into the glowing mists.

  I crashed to the ground, expecting a cacophony to follow, but there was no sound of crashing earth. I felt around for Ran Qin, but she was not there. I called out for Shen Tongtong, and for the others, but my shouts faded faster than I could make them.

  There was nothing and nobody, only the glowing mists that hid the ground beneath my feet. Silence stretched out, and I felt an intense sense of detachment, greater even than when I floated up out of my body during the candlelit blood ritual.

  I walked, in no direction but forward all the same, and I’m not sure how long I walked; it could have been seconds or years in that strange, timeless space between spaces, and it was a surprise when something brushed my leg. I jumped, but it was only a small fern bobbing in the mists. More ferns emerged. A butterfly flapped out of the mists on wings of pale gold, circled my face, before moving off and vanishing into the glowing vapors. I continued, and eventually, I heard a beautiful sound.

  Drip.

  A smile stretched across my face as I found an opening, almost like a cave, almost like a waterfall.

  Drip.

  Damp rock with a rivulet running down in a gentle curtain, and beyond stretched a valley lush and tropical.

  Drip.

  I stepped through the opening, and the water touched me with cold, pure droplets that sent a refreshing shiver through my body. Ahead of me, I saw the waiting members of the expedition, and, already, the memories of the mists were fading.

  Drip.

  The water fell behind me, and I walked towards the eight cultivators who were sprawled out on a patch of lush grass, enjoying the sunshine, cultivating, or inspecting the vibrant flowers that grew in patches. A tall, sheer cliff rose behind us, with only the trickles of water running down like silver ribbons to indicate that anything lay at the mist-shrouded top.

  Beyond this little clearing, a veritable jungle grew, teeming with life as a bonfire teems with heat, and my heart raced to spy a colossal tree standing in the distance.

  Drip.

  “What are you grinning about?” asked an exhausted Chen Ai.

  “Oh, nothing,” I said as I walked around and checked on everyone’s condition. “Just thinking of an old friend.”

  What would Drippy say if he could see me now? What would he think of the adventure — or, rather, misadventure — I’d found myself on? What was he doing with himself?

  As badly as I wanted to see him, I suppose it was easy enough for me to guess what he would say if he saw me.

  ###

  “Drip.”

  Deep inside a mountain, in a small cubic room with blank grey walls, Qian Ling paced. Her junior brother, Ren Feilong, and his two companions sat on the bed cut out of the same grey stone.

  “Drip.”

  “I fucking hate that leaking tap,” Ren Feiling said with a growl.

  His features were hidden behind a mask, since he refused to let anyone see his disfigurement. Ever since the incident, he had grown moody and sullen, and Qian Ling couldn’t blame him…

  “Drip.”

  But how could she agree when she had seen for herself how righteous that cultivator was? It would take time for Ren Feilong to truly heal and for his heart to realign, and she would be there for him every step of the way.

  “What are we doing here?” Ren Feilong asked.

  “I don’t know exactly,” Qian Ling said with a sigh. “Only that…”

  “I asked you all to assemble here,” said Elder Guo Zimo, the Talisman Master of the Shining Mountain Sect. “Because I have a special mission that only the four of you can achieve.”

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