PtM Book 14 - Chapter 53: Flight (2)

4/5. Will immediately post 5/5.

--

Yu Wen panted heavily as she made her way through the woods, dodging, ducking, and weaving between obstructions. Thorny bushes tore at her ankles, and vines tried their best to trip her. Even the wildlife tried to drag her down. Whether they were rabbits, songbirds, annoying things like skunks and ferrets, they threw themselves at her with suicidal intentions.

The situation was very familiar to Yu Wen, and it evoked memories of being chased across worlds, never knowing why, and never knowing how they found her. No matter where she ran, Yu Wen always managed to attract trouble.

She caught hints of a shadowy figure in the woods, and this time, it wasn’t a figment of her imagination. One of Artemis’s wolves had been stalking her since she’d left. She sent her trusty flying sword out to skewer it, only for it to duck for cover behind a tight grouping of trees. It was fast, unreasonably so for its level. But that made sense—it was a fragment of a goddess.

“This way,” Xiao Bai said, appearing at her right. Yu Wen followed her friend without hesitation. If there was anyone with a keener sense of danger than hers, it was Xiao Bai.

Despite their swift progress through the wilderness, it was clear that Artemis was catching up. She was probably getting bored and a little frustrated.

“Dodge!” Xiao Bai suddenly shouted.

Time sped up for them. Yu Wen tapped into the potential of her Grandmist domain, stiffening the air and providing just enough resistance for them to dodge the arrow they’d barely seen. It pierced the ground right next to them, releasing an explosion that blasted them sideways.

Yu Wen saw Xiao Bai was off balance, so she sent a silver string out to right her. The two of them landed on their own two feet and continuing fleeing.

Arrow after arrow rained down upon them, drawing closer to their heels but never quite hitting. She wasn’t sure if it was intentionally done, but she knew that if she moved any slower, she’d be dead.

Six wolves appeared on their left. Yu Wen activated her domain in full, and Xiao Bai activated her time-slowing dominion. The summoned wolves were only partially affected, but their speed was slow enough that Yu Wen could take care of them.

She sent out her half-step immortal flying sword and pierced through the heart of the first wolf. The sword arced around and cut through another one before returning to her hand. The wolf nearest her pounced on her, but she lodged her sword just above her abdomen, using her body to brace it as the creature impaled itself upon the too-sharp blade.

Xiao Bai was equally vicious. In her white armor, she was unreasonably fast and strong. She struck with experience that transcended lifetimes, easily anticipating her opponents and pinpointing their vitals. She smashed their brains, their spines, their hearts, and their spleens, and destroyed the last one with a blow to its spine. Three wolves fell to the ground dead, then burst into motes of golden light.

The goddess descended just as they were catching their breath.

“I believe this game has outlived its usefulness,” Artemis said.

Yu Wen laughed. “You can’t kill us with your wolves, so you’ve gotten upset? You want to kill me? Go ahead and try. But don’t think you can humiliate me.”

The goddess’s lips pulled up in a smirk. “Let’s see if you can block my arrow.” She pulled out her bow and shot it before Yu Wen could react. The arrow was brilliant gold and shockingly powerful.

Too fast! Can’t dodge! Two pairs of angelic wings appeared on Yu Wen’s back. They were misty gray, not jade or ochre, or black or white, and a half size larger than normal. They filled her with strength as her soul began to burn away like Artemis’s.

The increase in strength and speed barely allowed her to react and swing out with her sword. Dodging was impossible, so she didn’t try it. She used her Grandmist domain to predict the arrow’s trajectory, then released a wave of gray sword light that smashed into the arrow, completely disintegrating it.

“Such skill at such a young age,” Artemis said, clicking her tongue. “Cultivating Grandmist on a transcendent plane, no less. And those wings… well. Those are even rarer than the element you cultivate, my dear.

“You are a veritable treasure. That is why, while I personally despise you and want to kill you, I am obligated to extend an invitation. My lady Jezeriah would be quite happy to receive you as a follower, despite the damage you’ve caused.”

Yu Wen snorted. “She wants to make me one of her rankers?”

“That would be terribly wasteful,” Artemis said. “Jezeriah only wants your loyalty and your faith. While you have caused much damage to our operations on this plane, she believes that your talents will more than make up for it. Besides, there’s no need to keep you here, on this specific world. With my lady’s power, it would only be easy to take you to another plane for a fresh start.”

The offer was tempting. Yu Wen considered it for a whole second before tossing it in the proverbial fire. “Faith? In a mere goddess?” Yu Wen said. “Don’t think I know what trap she’s laying, and what karma that will entangle me with? There are few things I value more than my freedom, Artemis, so I won’t be giving it up anytime soon.”

“She would definitely make it worth your while,” Artemis continued. “Your ability to destroy and convert treasures is quite precious. She has never seen its like. And while faith is a karmic tether, it is no impediment to the advancement of the truly strong. I can see the makings of a true immortal in you. Perhaps even an immortal king or an immortal empress.”

“You might as well just kill me,” Yu Wen said. “There’s no need to taunt me like this. I’ve met gods that could kill Jezeriah in a single blow. I’ve waded through the blood of countless enemies like yourself.

“Do you think you’re special? Do you think a mere false goddess is something glorious? You’re nothing but an ant. Perhaps in this life, I am weak, but if you think I’ll kneel to trash like you, you are mistaken.”

She released a part of her aura, a part she normally kept sealed.

Artemis, who’d been so condescending, frowned slightly. “God-Slaying Aura? How?”

“You’re just a frog in a well,” Yu Wen answered.

“Then I must do my duty,” Artemis said, though this time, she looked far less reluctant and half-hearted.

The air trembled as the goddess poured a piece of her essence into the shape of an arrow. A part of her divinity. Yu Wen could sense that it posed a threat to both her body and soul. “This is Soul-Extinguishing Arrow, mortal. It is a rare ability that directly targets one’s spirituality. A single arrow will damage your soul beyond repair. Even if you reincarnate, you will no longer be yourself. So I ask you one last time: Will you submit?”

Yu Wen looked to Xiao Bai, who shook her head, confirming that her threat was meaningless. One of the many benefits of whatever curse was on her. “Get on with it, then,” she told the goddess, then prepared to face death.

The arrow screeched as it left her bow, and this time, Yu Wen didn’t have time to defend herself. She watched in shock and horror as it ignored all physical obstructions on its way to her spiritual sea.

“You think it’ll be that easy?” Xiao Bai said. Her flickering figure appeared in front of Yu Wen. Her white hair and white armor shone with a jade light that only appeared in those rare instances where she chose to burn her blood essence. Her sudden kick smashed down on the arrow. It exploded, blasting her away.

“Xiao Bai!” Yu Wen shouted, but relaxed when her friend landed beside her. There were now cracks all over her armor, and a trickle of blood ran down her lip.

“You’re going to have to do better than that if you want to hit my sister, you sad excuse for a deity,” Xiao Bai said.

“Insolence!” Artemis said. Her next arrow was blindingly quick, but this time, thanks to Xiao Bai’s power, Yu Wen was able to send her sword through a rift in space to directly attack the arrow.

Alas, she’d underestimated how upset the goddess was. A lot more energy was infused in the attack this time, and it smashed her sword away before continuing on to Xiao Bai.

Yu Wen formed a last-second barrier of Grandmist glass and repeated it ninefold. The arrow smashed through all of them without slowing, then proceeded to smash into Xiao Bai’s chest, breaking apart her armor and sending her flying into Yu Wen’s arms. It was only thanks to her bond that she knew Xiao Bai was still alive and breathing.

“Last chance,” Artemis said, drawing another arrow.

“Die in a fire,” Yu Wen spat. The arrow loosed, and time stood still.

She stared death in the face and accepted her end.

***

They arrived to find Xiao Bai down for the count and Yu Wen not doing much better. The goddess drew and fired her arrow, and Cha Ming moved. He pierced through space, taking no small amount of damage in the process, and appeared in front of Yu Wen just as the arrow took flight.

Crushing Chaos bore down on the arrow with unrestrained destruction, but the energy released by the arrow was too much.

It consumed him and destroyed him.

Yu Wen cried out and sank down to her knees, trembling. “Cha Ming…” she said, unable to hold back her tears.

Cha Ming’s main body appeared beside her shortly after. “Where was all that concern when you left without telling me?”

Huxian and his friends landed beside him, and Petros slinked away into the background where he hoped no one would notice him.

Yu Wen wiped her eyes when she saw them. “Who wouldn’t be concerned? Last time you did something like that you nearly died.”

“Well, I’ve learned some tricks since then,” Cha Ming said. “Those arrows. Powerful. Not something you can block when you feel like it.” He looked up at the goddess, who now looked thoroughly peeved. “Artemis, I presume?”

“You,” Artemis said. “And here I thought I wouldn’t bother hunting you down because you were just an accomplice. But since you’ve come all the way here, I might as well save myself the trouble.” Her eyes flickered to Huxian, then his gang, then finally, to Petros. “You are one of Jezeriah’s rankers. She based your class on my abilities. Why throw your lot in with them?”

Petros put up his hands. “I’m not here to fight anyone. I wouldn’t dare. I’m just a lowly tracker, hired to track down a thief that stole something from Verdant Crossroads. Now that the thief—Daoist Misty Sea—has been located, my work is complete. I’ll stand off to the side if that’s all right.”

“Fine. Whatever.” Artemis looked understandably annoyed.

“So what’s the plan?” Yu Wen asked Cha Ming. “I sure hope you have one, because goddesses aren’t easy to handle.”

“I’m improvising,” Cha Ming said. He looked up at angels and devils fighting in the sky. “How did you get Locke and Trevonay and their army of devils to fight for you?”

“I paid them, obviously,” Yu Wen said. “Immortal jades aren’t exactly plentiful, and I figured I couldn’t spend the money if I was dead.”

“You’re not going to chase me off again, are you?” Cha Ming asked.

Yu Wen sighed. “Why bother? My false trail didn’t throw you off, and a thousand warring gold rankers didn’t either. I was hoping that even if you did figure it out, you’d be smart enough to wait until your teacher woke up. But what can I say? You’re hopeless.”

“This pressure, though,” Cha Ming muttered. On the surface, this enemy had the power of an initial-gold ranker. But when combined with the force of will and the authority of a goddess, it was more than enough to wipe the floor with him. Even standing in her presence was a struggle. It was only thanks to a strange aura Yu Wen was giving off that he could put up with it.

Huxian flashed to Xiao Bai’s side. The jade rabbit was badly wounded, so he tossed a pill in her mouth and proceeded to throw her into a spatial fissure. Out of sight. Out of mind. Out of reach.

“Clever trick, little fox,” Artemis said. She strengthened her spatial lock over the area, making it impossible to teleport, even using Huxian’s abilities.

“Can’t have a weak link kicking around,” Huxian said. “If one goes, so does the other. You know how it is.””

“I hate clever animals the most,” Artemis said. She raised her bow and shot an arrow at Huxian. Huxian had obviously anticipated it. He summoned another void rift, this one unstable, and caught the arrow, smashing it apart.

“Let’s see how you try and shoot down my friends,” Huxian said. “I’ve got as many rifts as you’ve got arrows.”

“I suppose it wouldn’t be fun without a challenge,” Artemis said. The goddess took a long step back. Twelve silver wolves with golden eyes appeared beside her.

The wolves then began to walk into each other. They merged, forming a much larger, fiercer wolf, which howled as the last of the wolves joined it. “Chase the fox and keep it pinned down, Silver. Don’t let it intervene!”

The wolf pounced on Huxian, forcing them to overlap their seven dominions. They immediately poured their power into Huxian’s manifestation, forming a six-tailed Bagua fox with glassy, armorlike hair and teeth and claws that cut and shattered space, which proceeded to merge with Huxian in a pseudo fusion transformation.

The wolf landed on Huxian, who latched onto the wolf forcefully and tumbled away together, destroying a good deal of the local woodland. When it looked like they were about to roll back and crush their human companions, Huxian teleported them both a half kilometer away.

“What a fierce demon fox,” Artemis muttered. “Too bad it’s already contracted. And one of yours. But no matter—let’s see how long the two of you last without it to protect you.” She took a step forward, then another, each time leaving a silver mirror image behind. They solidified into weaker copies of her, each infused with a piece of her divinity.

“More than enough to go around,” Cha Ming said. One of the copies began muttering a spell, and bamboo stakes thrust up from under the ground. They flew up to avoid them but immediately realized that being airborne against an archer was setting yourself up as a target. They each summoned platforms to push off of and dodge the two arrows her other copies fired.

Cha Ming didn’t hold back. He broke his limit twice and felt his soul burn away. Already, he could tell it was getting thin and faint. How long would it take to recover this time? Two weeks? Three weeks? In the end, he didn’t care.

The shot from the goddess’s third incarnation came flying toward Cha Ming. He considered splitting off another clone to intercept the arrow. But before he could do so, another arrow flew out from beside them.

“You dare interfere?” Artemis growled. The arrow had come from none other than Petros. It had skillfully knocked hers to the side just enough for it to miss Cha Ming by an inch.

“I’m just expressing my admiration for my idol,” Petros said. “It’s not every day you get to compete with a goddess’s avatar.”

“I will not tolerate this insult. Excommunication!” Artemis thrust out her palm, sending out a wave of divine light that crashed into Petros. He came to no outward harm, but judging by his ugly expression, she’d affected him greatly.

“What a good goddess…” Petros said. “Do this. Do that. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. Here I am, just sparring with you, and you excommunicate me?”

“If you want me to forgive you, you’ll have to beg,” Artemis said. “Or at least take on one of these two.”

“Ha!” Petros said. “What a goodgoddess. A scheming goddess! You know that I’ll never convert to Harid Dej, so you think you can manipulate me. Well played, Artemis! Well played!” His bemused expression turned into a glare. “How lucky for me that the Dao origins of this plane have shifted, and I no longer have to put up with your crap. What a good goddess, crippling my class on a whim after so many years of faithful service. Well done.”

“Petros…” Cha Ming said.

“Don’t you dare say anything, Clear Sky, and don’t make me regret this,” Petros said. “Just remember that I’ve gone to bat for you. You owe me.” His words were cut off as Artemis shot another arrow, which he met with one of his own. “Artemis, you disappoint me. Your archery is well below my expectations. What are you, a druid? It certainly looks that way.”

Even without his class, Petros managed to pull an entire incarnation off their backs. Two on two, things didn’t look so bad.

Despite Petros’s taunting, Artemis didn’t let up on controlling the greenery. Plants burst out of the ground and tried to strangle or impale them, and birds flew out from the woods and tried to blind them. The two remaining incarnations simultaneously rained arrows upon them, forcing them into a passive position.

“We need to deal with these distractions,” Yu Wen said. “How about you use your destruction domain?”

It was an obvious synergy, because as effective as Cha Ming’s destruction domain was, it was superseded by Grandmist, which meant that others wouldn’t be able to muster the full power of their techniques, but Yu Wen would.

Three black runes began to spin around Cha Ming’s head, and his domain spread out fifty meters in every direction. The artificial land, the trees, and the woodland creatures burst apart. Stones shattered, as did the smaller, weaker arrows used as distractions. All techniques were broken, and it became a battle of pure physical skill.

They put their backs to each other to better defend. Cha Ming used swift staff strikes filled with destruction qi to block, while Yu Wen wielded her half-step-immortal sword and attacked with waves of gray light.

Yes, they were at a disadvantage, and yes, this was a goddess, but they had one thing going for them: She was an incarnation, and the more power she used, the less remained.

Artemis seemed to realize this. She stopped with an arrow half nocked, and this time, she injected a much larger amount of power into it. It felt heavy. “Enjoy,” she said.

The arrow flew out, and Cha Ming felt his hair stand on end. Yet to his surprise, he didn’t need to dodge the arrow, because it landed at his feet. The instant it struck, he felt tens of thousand of times heavier, and even breathing became difficult. It also put Yu Wen in a difficult position, because the second incarnation also launched a powerful attack.

“Dodge!” Cha Ming yelled at Yu Wen, but she ignored him. It was in her nature to ignore him. Because if she dodged, the arrow would miss her, but it would definitely hit him.

Her sword shot out and tried to intercept the arrow, but it was knocked away. Layer after layer of Grandmist glass shattered. The arrow struck past her defensive artifact and pierced her battle robes.

Her eyes and ears and nose began to bleed, and she coughed up blood, but she’d done it. She’d blocked the arrow.

But she wasn’t quick enough to dodge the third arrow that came flying from the third incarnation fighting Petros as the goddess decided to trade one of her bodies for one of theirs.

“No!” Cha Ming yelled.

But it was too late. The arrow struck her. It pierced through her defenses and lodged itself in her shoulder.

But to everyone’s amazement, Yu Wen didn’t fall. Not only was she still breathing, she was filled with power.

“You suicidal fool!” Artemis screamed. Her silver bow transformed into two silver blades. Yu Wen drew her half-step-law-stitching sword again and hacked with swift movements that channeled the power of the Jade Moon and the Starry Sky.

“You’re the one who forced me, Artemis!” Yu Wen said. “Let’s see who the hunter is now! Cha Ming, lock her down!”

Cha Ming kicked off with all his strength and caught Artemis in his destruction domain. Any techniques boosting her speed shut down, and their proximity took away her bow’s advantage.

But the goddess fought back, and his domain lost its effect. No. I must. Lock. Her. Down. Cha Ming pushed his soul to the brink and tried to break his limit once more.

It was foolish. It was suicidal. His first pair of wings broke, and then so did the second. They filled him with energy, but the price he paid this time would be far greater than normal.

Yu Wen had used a mysterious method, and he’d used his. He was putting his life on the line. His soul on the line. But no matter what, this goddess had to die.

Cha Ming completely ignored defense and simply beat at her with savage staff strikes. Artemis was skilled with blades, but their combined attack was too much for her. He knocked one of her silver blades away, and Yu Wen lopped off her head.

“Gods are stubborn things to kill,” she said, and he shivered as he realized those words came from personal experience. How often had she done this? A hundred times? A thousand? She threw out her sword to fight the other incarnation, then used her left hand to summon misty gray blades that smashed into the headless incarnation’s body to destroy its remnant energy.

This was beyond a limit break, Cha Ming quickly realized. Her strength had increased too greatly. It didn’t take him long to discover why. “Yu Wen…” he said, seeing a piece of green immortal jade in her left hand, which was dripping with blood. A similar green energy ran up her arms and into her body, feeding it with potent energy her mortal body couldn’t handle.

“I’ll be fine,” Yu Wen said.

It was obviously a lie, but their situation was desperate. The only way to minimize how much damage she took was to end this quickly. Artemis seemed to realize that she might actually lose this battle, so her two remaining incarnations and her wolf merged to become a more powerful entity.

This time, she manifested golden armor, and her silver blades were now engraved with a golden script. She’d used her divinity to create divine armor and divine weapons, sacrificing longevity for the extremes of speed and power.

“Let’s see how you resist this!” she said, sweeping out with both blades.

A sharp wind burst out, and Cha Ming had no time to react. His staff broke. His body disintegrated.

Cha Ming found himself reassembling a short distance away, barely capable of standing.

Petros seemed to have a nose for danger, so he’d pulled back to fight her at range. Even so, his presence no longer mattered, because his arrows had little effect on an incarnation this powerful.

Huxian appeared through a rift in space and struck with a deadly claw strike. She responded by blowing a gust of wind at him, sending him spiraling away.

Yu Wen took the opportunity to launch her flying sword once more, smashing off different pieces of her armor. Every time she did so, the green lines snuck further and further up her arm like a deadly poison. How long would she manage? How long would she last?

“How interesting that you can still hold on,” Artemis said. “Your endurance is commendable.” Then her eyes flickered to Cha Ming. No, they flickered to his staff. “I find you quite troubling, Daoist Clear Sky. I was told you’re not bad, but I suddenly feel the intense urge to nip you in the bud.” Her figure blurred as she slashed with both her silver blades.

“In your dreams!” Huxian’s shouted. He’d broken free from his bindings. The fox shrank down and appeared in front of Cha Ming and blocked with several overlapping barriers of spatial energy. They broke, one after another, as the silver blades swung through them.

“You can’t stop me…” the goddess said.

“But I can!” Yu Wen said. Her figure appeared behind the goddess like a ghost. She lashed out with a sword that contained more power than Cha Ming had ever seen in one place.

The half-immortal weapon and the Grandmist cleaved through her immortal armor and poured into it. The goddess screamed in agony. “NO!” she shouted.

Her shout was echoed by a chorus of five hundred angels. All at once, they unleashed their potential, burning their blood essence, breaking their limits, and unleashing forbidden techniques. They immediately broke away from combat, regardless of the consequences, and flew to their goddess’s aid.

The display was shocking to everyone present, including the devils. It didn’t take them long to realize what had happened. Facing off against such unreasonable enemies was practically suicide, so they did the sensible thing. They walked away from the battle.

Death was coming for them. The goddess was writhing in agony. She was done for, but that didn’t matter with so many gold rankers present.

Oh well, Cha Ming thought. I lived a good life. He did not close his eyes. He would face death head on and with no regrets.

Yet just as he had intercepted the arrow meant for Yu Wen, a figure appeared in front of them and collided with the blades of energy and spells and arrows that came raining down on them. A shield sprang up around them, a fearsome protection filled with golden light that healed them and protected them from harm.

For a while, all was darkness, but when the dust cleared, a familiar bare back appeared. A red-bearded man looked over his shoulder and grinned.

“Teacher!” Cha Ming exclaimed.

“Brat!” Sun Wukong barked. Then, noticing Artemis, he stomped his foot. The goddess fell to her knees from the pressure and coughed up golden blood.

“Heh. So it’s you,” the goddess croaked. “My loss isn’t unfair.”

The Monkey King sighed. “A loss, is it? It seems like a win to me.”

“Just so!” The goddess cackled. Her body broke up into motes of golden light that merged into the fabric of the Inkwell Plane.

“Great Goddess!” Cardinal Shenedrik shouted as they arrived. The Cardinal of Saints was slick with blood, and so were the hundreds of surviving saints.

Sun Wukong seemed completely unconcerned about their presence. He ignored them and flashed over to Yu Wen’s side. Cha Ming ran over when he saw that her condition wasn’t good. The green lines on her arm had reached her neck. He caught her hand. She was cold as ice.

“Can you help her, Teacher?” Cha Ming asked.

Sun Wukong hesitated. “After a fashion.”

“Don’t waste your time, I know my body quite well,” Yu Wen croaked, but the Monkey King, stubborn as ever, would have none of it. He stuck out his hand and pulled something out from her body. Green flecks of energy flew onto his outstretched hand, and the dark lines on her neck receded.

Cha Ming let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

“Don’t,” Sun Wukong said. “You two sit tight.” He looked up at the saints with hate-filled eyes. “I have a bunch of self-righteous priests to take care of.”

Storm clouds began to assemble above them—no, above him. The sky crackled malevolently. His power leaked out in waves, and the plane, clearly displeased by his actions, threatened to strike him down.

Cardinal Shenedrik flew up. He drew out a sword and pointed at the wounded Yu Wen. “She dared strike down a goddess, so she must die!”

Sun Wukong scratched his head. His aura continued increasing, and lightning flashed across the clouds. “And you’ll do that with you and your army, I suppose?”

“Yes, me and my army!” Cardinal Shenedrik said. “I recognize that you are an exalted immortal, and I owe you deference, but this is a matter between mortals. They have blasphemed a goddess of our pantheon and cannot go unpunished. Stand aside, lest you face the Will of the World’s retribution!”

The Monkey King began cackling madly. “Such hypocrites. Your goddess can come down and cause trouble, and I can’t?” He glared at them, and they shivered. “I loathe hypocrites.”

He took a step forward, and a bolt of lighting struck his body. Then a second. Then a third. The heavens began pouring out an entire storm on his body. But no matter how much lightning came, he didn’t stop. To him, it was like walking in the rain.

“I’ve never cared much for divine punishment,” Sun Wukong said. “It only hurts a little. But if you keep at it, girl, things might get personal.”

The heavens, incensed by his words, began hurling down lightning dragons instead of lightning bolts. Sun Wukong responded to by waving his staff, shattering the clouds, and causing them to retreat.

“I don’t want to cause any trouble, but they messed with my student’s girl.” He looked over the gold rankers and counted them, then shook his head, sighing. “Five hundred. Too few as an accompaniment, but it’ll have to do.”

The Monkey King launched himself into the sky. The host of angels scattered, including the cardinal, but it was already too late. A spatial prison the size of the entire canyon came down on them, cutting off their retreat.

And if that wasn’t enough, nine golden pagodas fell from the sky, each with nine levels. A fence of golden light appeared, trapping them in place. Even if it were an immortal, they wouldn’t be able to flee, forget small figures like them.

“Shrink!” Sun Wukong yelled, and the boundary pulled tight. It swept up all the gold rankers in the area into a sphere that was five kilometers across. The Monkey King jumped into the makeshift arena, then split into nine incarnations, then eighty-one, then seven hundred and twenty-nine. He did not kill anyone, but he did break their arms and their legs, then proceeded to make them suffer.

“Cha Ming, I’m cold…” Yu Wen said. Cha Ming held her shivering body close. “Where’s Xiao Bai?”

Huxian had dragged his wounded body over. The fox opened a spatial rift and pulled the rabbit out.

Xiao Bai groaned. “Well, this sucks. Looks like we’re dying again.”

Cha Ming jolted and looked down at Yu Wen. The lines had faded, but he hadn’t looked past her skin. He did so now and sent his spiritual force into her body and was shocked at what he saw. Her meridians were gone. Her qi pathways were shattered. Her flesh, her bones, and her core were broken. Her organs were on the verge of failure, and there was nothing he could do about it.

“It’s fine,” Yu Wen said softly. “I’m fine. Why… why don’t you don’t you two catch up for a bit. I want to talk to him alone.” The rabbit and the fox edged away as Yu Wen started tearing up. “It was my choice, Cha Ming. No need to blame yourself. I got a little out of hand and stole things I shouldn’t have. I guess some people would call this justice.” She coughed, and blood came out, black and corrupted. “You’d think after dying once it would get easy, but the second time’s just as hard.” She smiled. “You don’t seem surprised. When did you figure it out?”

Cha Ming blinked away the tears in his eyes. “In the Garden of Memory. I put the pieces together. But by the end of it, it didn’t really matter. I decided to put the past behind me, so I never mentioned it again.” He looked away. “When?”

“In the Burning Lake Prefecture, when we were hiding behind that brick wall, and I looked at your camera,” Yu Wen said. “I remembered most things, but the middle part was hazy. When you nearly died in Kerava, I remembered everything. Your teacher found out, but I made him promise not to tell you.” She shivered again. “Do you know that the worst part about dying is the cold? It’s worse than any other cold you can think of. Absolute zero? Not a problem. It doesn’t hold a candle to what I’m feeling.”

Cha Ming pulled her close. He didn’t know what to say. He had so much he wanted to tell her, but the words only caught in his throat.

“I was happy in this life, you know,” Yu Wen said. “Despite all the suffering. All the pain. My last life wasn’t very happy in comparison. If I have one regret, it’s that we didn’t move on earlier.”

“What can I say?” Cha Ming said. “I missed you. When I saw you that day on the docks, I couldn’t help but hope you’d remember me.” He laughed. “Looks like that hope paid off, if in a twisted way.”

“You got lucky, Cha Ming,” Yu Wen said. “It gave Xiao Bai quite the scare. You should know by now that even if you find me again, you can’t hope for something like this to happen again. You should know how this works. I wouldn’t be the same person.”

Cha Ming opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off. “Shut up. Let me talk. There are things I need to say. Important things, but not enough time to say them…” She shivered again, and this time, her energy began to spill out. Her body became ethereal, and the gray wings on her back crumbled into gray specks of light.

“I… I don’t want you to look for me again, Cha Ming. Not because I don’t want to see you, but because I love you. I… I have a bad feeling about this next round. Xiao Bai won’t say anything, but something feels off. I feel karma twisting around, like a pendulum at the end of its motion. It’s been caught for too long, and what goes up must come down. I’m… I’m afraid.”

Cha Ming pulled her tight. “Don’t worry, I’m here for you. Just know that I’ve always loved you, and that I’ll always love you.” She smiled one last time, then collapsed into motes of gray light just like her wings, leaving behind only a small soul that looked lost and confused.

Not far away, Xiao Bai’s jade armor began to fall away, piece by piece. Cha Ming saw her smile at Huxian and tell him not to worry, and that if they were fated, they’d meet again, and she would remember.

Then she, too, was gone. Her jade-colored soul joined Yu Wen’s gray soul and interlocked with it protectively.

Souls could not survive long in the mortal world. The only place for them was in Diyu, the cycle of reincarnation, and the Yellow River. The Inkwell Plane ushered them along into one of many yellow tendrils, which carried the twin souls away alongside the many millions of others who had also died today.

Cha Ming and Huxian broke down. The loss was too much for them. Their companions stood off to the side, not smiling, not joking, not laughing.

Gua offered no snide remarks, and Lei Jiang said not a peep. Even Petros, who had suffered greatly from his encounter with Artemis, kept his complaints to himself. He simply watched as Sun Wukong finally released the five hundred angelic souls from their bitter suffering.