Hong Fei strode through the marble-clad corridor, his steps crunching where the floor had been shattered by the Shield Bearer. The lack of decorations made the passage seem out of place in comparison to the lounge behind him, as if it belonged to a cave system more than it did human habitation.

  The art on this level had gone from depictions of people mining to undersea predators and now emptiness. Hong Fei thought the shift was meant to reflect how the Rock Knives saw themselves changed over time. What did it mean to be bare of decorations, however? The answer wasn’t entirely obvious.

  The door at the passage’s end was similarly clad in marble and empty of decoration. When Hong Fei was about a zhang away, he sent essence streaming into his legs, and he propelled himself forward to kick it open. Though the marble cracked, the door resisted him, and the force rebounded into his legs and hips.

  He gritted his teeth, established his stance, and kicked twice more. Chunks of marble fell to shatter on the ground, revealing a wooden door slightly askew. Apparently, a metal bar on the other side kept it shut.

  Hong Fei put a hand on the door to steady himself in preparation to kick again. He frowned when he noticed the surface was hot. He pushed against the wood and a gap opened along one side, through which he saw the tell-tale flicker of flames.

  “They’re destroying the evidence!” Hong Fei yelled to inform his comrades behind him.

  Then—bang, bang, bang—he kicked the door three times in quick succession. The wood splintered, and the bar bent from the force of those kicks. Another bang, and the metal finally deformed enough for the door to smash open.

  An unnatural fire engulfed the room on the other side, and among the flames stood a woman in a tiger mask, her crimson robes billowing. She was of about equal height to Hong Fei, with a streak of scarlet running through her hair. A black number 2 hovered above her head.

  Hong Fei had just enough time to take in the state of the room and its sole occupant before dodging to the side. “Run,” he yelled.

  The woman in the tiger mask laughed.

  Then, the air where Hong Fei had been standing rippled. The sweat on his brow dried instantly, and a heat blasted him worse than even the Great Maldoor, the terrible desert south of the Askalousan Steppes.

  What was left of the door ignited, and Sun Han screamed in agony from within the passage beyond it. Any further sound was cut off when a section of flaming cabinets along one wall exploded and was sent flying to block the doorway.

  The room looked to have been used for meetings previously. Besides the cabinets, there were also the remains of a table and chairs, though all the furnishings glowed dangerously, like they’d been sitting inside a kiln.

  Scarlet took a deep breath, and the orange seeping into the furnishings deepened. Clouds of sparks and ash burst from cabinets’ drawers when their contents burst into flames. At the end of that breath, Scarlet’s eyes turned the same color as the streak in her hair before becoming dark again.

  The room should’ve been filled with thick, black smoke but wasn’t. Instead, that smoke collected into a ball hovering above her shoulder, just to the left and below the number 2.

  Hong Fei got his feet under him, his sword at the ready. Essence sang through his meridians. There was enough qi in his lower cauldron for at least one more spell. The room’s only exits were the now-blocked passage and an open doorway opposite it.

  Wood shattered as another section of the cabinets exploded, flinging the wood across the room to join the pile blocking the passage. With a gesture, Scarlet sent the smoky ball to hover in the air between Hong Fei and the open doorway.

  “Have you ever seen someone die from inhaling too much smoke?” she asked, her voice lilting. “It’s nasty at first—the bitter taste, the chest tightening, and the feeling like you’re breathing through wool—but then a peace descends before you fade away.” Scarlet looked toward the hovering ball. “You can experience it for yourself if you’d like.” Turning back toward him, her voice firmed: “Or you can surrender and live for a few days longer.”

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  Hong Fei searched the room for options. His opponent’s manipulation of fire-aligned qi clearly indicated she was in the upper tiers of Qi Blossoming, and he needed to find a way to survive the encounter.

  With a mixture of essence and qi magics, he ought to be able to burst through the flaming cabinets, but then he would become an unmissable target for her super-heated air.

  The fact that she blocked the open doorway indicated that there was another way out in that direction, yet he had seen the results of people dying to smoke from both fires he’d set and fires he’d survived. No doubt Scarlet would send the smoky ball directly into his lungs if he tried to flee in that direction.

  Scarlet watched him considering his options, and her expression turned amused. “I was hoping it was you, you know, making all that noise on the other side of the door. The dūtóu of the Yu family, the bloody butcher of the Askalousan Steppes. Is there anyone luckier than the man born with a sword in his hand? The man who, even when fate turned against him…” She giggled, then her eyes became hungry. “Well, you survived, didn’t you? Really, one wonders just how much good fortune is trapped within you, doing no good whatsoever. I really must thank you for placing it into my hands.”

  “Is that—” Hong Fei voice cracked, and he began again: “Is that what you people do? Drain the good fortune out of others.”

  Scarlet shook her finger at him. Waves of heat billowed with the motion, baking his skin on the left and right, left and right. His eyes felt painfully dry. His mouth and lungs, too.

  “You don’t get to ask questions,” Scarlet replied. “There’s only one thing you can do and that’s to decide if you want to become disfigured or not. You will be my resource. That won’t change, but how you spend your last days is the gift I give you. Consider it my gratitude for aiding in my ascent.”

  “And if I die before then?” Hong Fei asked.

  Scarlet expression turned flat. “You’re like all the others, then. Death before dishonor and all that. It’s boring. So boring.”

  The waves of heat around her feet shifted, and Hong Fei preemptively dodged the punch launched at him that’d been almost too fast to see. The blow clipped him across the shoulder, dislocating his arm.

  Not holding back, Hong Fei dumped his ready essence into his body. Twisting with the force of the impact, he placed his good hand briefly on the hot stone floor, pushing against it so as to continue the turn and land upright again. Immediately, he ran for the open doorway, and with his remaining qi cast The Donkey Prepares for Death, which would mute any pain he felt until the spell ran its course.

  The smoky ball slammed into his face. Hong Fei had already held his breath, but the smoke wormed through his nostrils and forced open his trachea to pour into his lungs. The taste was acrid; he sensed how it burned all the way down.

  His chest clenched and he coughed, but the smoke refused to dislodge. It clung to the interior of his lungs. Hong Fei’s only hope was to somehow move out of range of Scarlet’s ability to control it. If he could just find a way to get above ground, she may discontinue the chase for fear of exposing herself to the city at large. It was such a small chance to pin his hopes upon, but he’d not been able to think of any other solution.

  The open doorway had led to another passage, this one wider and lined with doors. Hong Fei glimpsed bedrooms, offices, and store rooms—all seemingly evacuated in a hurry. The contents of each room burst into flames as he ran past them. Sparks surrounded him, then rushed ahead to set the rooms further down the corridor on fire. The area below was larger than the building above; these living quarters must extend under the buildings adjacent the Rock Knife base. Was a hidden entrance truly possible?

  The corridor ended with a small open room to the left. Even at a glance, Hong Fei recognized it as a guard station, and to the right was a ladder leading up. A hatch at the top had been left open.

  Hong Fei leapt, intending to catch onto the ladder halfway up. Immediately, he was jerked back down; Scarlet had caught his ankle. His good hand grabbed the side of the ladder. With his free foot, he kicked at where Scarlet gripped him.

  “So troublesome,” she muttered, and the ladder caught fire under his Hong Fei’s hand.

  The pain it caused was muted, but he knew the damage would impede his capacity to fight, so he let go. As soon as he did, Scarlet swung him to the side to bash his head against the stone.

  Disoriented, Hong Fei saw a vermilion-colored sheet carried on shimmering waves of air flying toward Scarlet from the direction he’d just come. She reached out to grab it and pull it toward her.

  “You disregarded my sincerity,” she said, “but I truly am grateful, which is why I’ve decided not to disfigure you. I’ve seen enough cooked meat in my life, anyway.” Scarlet paused to think, then punched Hong Fei in the jaw, adding to his disorientation.

  He felt his limbs weakening and an overwhelming urge to sleep, which he fought so she punched him again. She nodded in satisfaction at seeing him so at a loss.

  “You should be close to passing out now.” The words had sounded distorted in Hong Fei’s ears, like he was drowning in water instead of smoke.

  Scarlet hummed to herself, pleased. “This is quite the catch,” she muttered to herself, while wrapping Hong Fei in the cloth. “The trick will be in keeping you all to myself. No one can know I’ve got you.” She thought a moment. “Perhaps I should burn away your features. But I really am tired of the ugliness, you know.” Her smile brightened. “I’ll have to hide you away extra-special good.”

  The world darkened around Hong Fei, and just as everything went black, his scattered, jumbled thoughts coalesced in a sense of peaceful detachment.

  This isn’t the end. Unity with the Dao awaits.

  ten chapters ahead. :)