They flew for a few hours, grey-green grassland returning to golden-yellow desert, and then, grey rock. The mountains that had sat so small to the south during their travels west now loomed tall before them. The necromancer had thought the pure white limestone spires of Yùhǎi and the yellow granite walls of Zhàng were impressive, but now, with the imposing gneiss peaks looming over them, he felt very, very small, as he had not felt in a long time. Grey clouds had begun to roll in around them, until sky and mountain were one marbled confusion of grey and white.

“So where are we?”

“I'm not... entirely certain. I don't know to much about these lands – the Jade Road passes north of here, where there are less mountains. We call this place Yōu Líng Shān Luán, which means-”

“Tonnes of fecking ghosts?”

“... something like that. Can you sense them?”

The necromancer grinned strangely, like a dog with its hackles up. “Sense them? I can see 'em.”

Up the mountains, down the mountains, in the valleys, amongst the stunted trees, Yōu Líng Shān Luán, the Ghost Ranges, was true to its name. The place swarmed with spirit fires, with flickering forms of ghosts that had managed to retain some semblance of their living selves, with more defined ghouls in torn clothing, and one or two humanoid figures that made the necromancer shudder and bare his teeth.

Abruptly, the grey clouds above and around them began to release their rain, a freezing sleet that had them quickly soaked. Sunny whimpered and shook herself. Sou Yuet frowned and increased the speed of the ginseng leaf.

“I don't really want to stop here.”

“Agreed.”

But it was clear that the monk wouldn't be able to fly them completely to safety. They had already been flying for a while, and they were still tired from the happenings of the last few days. The leaf began to slow, even stopping from time to time, while Sou Yuet shook their head as if the rain had gotten inside.

“Let's land.”

“I can keep going.”

“I'm sure ye could, right up until we fall out of the sky. I might not be able to die but it'll still fecking hurt, and I don't fancy spending a year or more waiting for me body to heal.”

Sou Yuet silently brought the leaf down until they could all jump off.

“Sunny, in front. We need some shelter,” the necromancer said, before Sou Yuet had even touched the ground. “You. Monk. Come here, I'll carry ye.”

“Um-”

“Don't start. This place is crawling with stuff, and I can see yer legs shaking like a fawn's from here. Get over here.”

Sou Yuet heeded the urgency in the witch's voice and stepped up to his side. They were immediately hoisted up so that their upper torso was above the necromancer's shoulder.

“Sorry it's not the most dignified way of carrying ye, but I need ye to look out behind us.”

“Of course.”

They hastily followed Sunny as she snuffled her way along the wet mountainside. The necromancer's eyes darted about as he strode through the rain.

“Hey, Ah Yuet?”

“Yes?”

“This is... a road, isn't it? A human-made road?”

“It's a road, but...”

The sentence remained unfinished. For a few minutes more, they walked after Sunny, and then the road swung around the edge of the grey rock and a huge vista opened up before them.

Haloed by rebounding rain and blue haze, jagged mountains clawed up from the earth. The tallest were cloaked in snow, and in places, ancient glacier tracks left trails through the stone.

Amongst it all, there were ruins.

The crumbling remains of city walls, made from the same stones as the surrounding mountains, seemed like naturally-formed geological structures. Giant pillars, ancient stone gates, the sight was at once eerie and awe-inspiring. A single, giant tiger's head lay half-buried where it had toppled from a statue many centuries ago. The eye glared at them, but the snarling fangs were coated in lichen and moss.

A roaring wind pushed even the sturdy necromancer a few paces to his right. They both closed their eyes against the blinding sleet until the gust passed. When the necromancer opened his eyes again, he realised that Sou Yuet was holding him tightly, although the monk was looking out over the ruined city, green lights dancing in their eyes.

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“I think I know what this place is,” they said, and their voice was tinged with melancholy.

*

Sunny led them to a sheltered spot, where rock and building rubble were propped up by broken pillars. Everyone was shivering by now, and there was very little to light a fire with. The necromancer began to strip off his wet clothing.

“Pang Yau...”

“I just don't want to catch pneumonia, okay?”

“That's not...” Sou Yuet's teeth were chattering. “I might be able to find some plants... If I can get them to grow up to here, we could try burning them...”

“With the state ye're in? Come on, there's gotta be something else.” He threw his wet outer robe on the ground and twisted around to examine all of the space they were in as he began to remove his inner robe. “How did the people here get heat? Don't tell me they imported heaps of wood or got a bunch of whatever you call fire mages here.”

“Maybe? I don't know.” Sou Yuet began to slowly peel their outer robe off, stiff with cold. “What else... Wait...”

They felt along a wall of rock, their fingers trembling but probing a line of soft material. “This... has echoes of the Wood attribute... It's coal. There's coal here.”

“Give me yer knife, and then go sit with Sunny.”

The necromancer began to gouge at the coal vein, the knife easily cutting through the rock even as it grew harder the further he dug. When he had gathered a sizeable pile of coal chunks, he brought them to the centre of their shelter. Some dried moss served as tinder, and he scrounged about for any other flammable material he could find – scraps of wood and cloth, dead vegetation. With a stone and the knife, he knocked out several embers, blowing on them until the moss began to smoke heavily, then caught light. He rapidly built the fire with the scraps and coals, intently nursing it until the shelter began to warm.

“You're far better at this than I am. I should have had you build all of our fires.”

“Ah, but I was having fun, watching ye...” The necromancer finally looked up from the fire and forgot what he was saying.

The monk had taken off their wet clothing and was hugging Sunny for warmth. The big si dzi puppy was like a furry, if damp, blanket over Sou Yuet's torso. All that could be seen of the monk was their head, and their bare arms and legs.

The necromancer cleared his throat and looked away. “Ye don't have to hide behind that wet dog, ye know. Come closer to the fire. I won't look if it bothers ye.”

“... Thank you.”

The necromancer heard Sou Yuet stand and move closer to the fire, and the smell of the damp Sunny soon joined them all. “So... What did ye think this place is?”

“That tiger statue suggests this was once a place important to Lord Gaam Bing, the White Metal Tiger of the West.”

“And he is? Was?”

“One of the Five Divine Creatures who guarded the human realm.”

“... Ye mentioned them before, didn't ye? One of them's supposed to be yer real master?”

“Right.”

“Does this tiger-guy have a disciple too?”

“He did... When Si fu was younger, he was very close to Lord Gaam Bing's disciple.”

“And...?”

“Si fu won't say much about him. Really, Si fu doesn't like to talk about his past much. I think there's a lot of things he doesn't want to remember. I know a few things, because the disciple was actually a very famous man. He was known as the Jade Exorcist because of his skill at defeating demons. He carried a jade-hilted sword and played an important role in the Great Demon War.”

“Wild. I still struggle to wrap me head around how old yer master really is, to have been around for stuff that sounds like it happened in a completely different age.”

“It really was. The language spoken was different, there were five kingdoms, not four, and the Ng Dzeung, the Five Divine Creatures, walked the earth. Although, even then they were already disengaging from the mortal realm.”

“Are ye warm enough?”

“Getting there.”

“What d'ye think happened to this place?”

“I don't know. I never knew there was a place like this here before.”

“Bet yer master would know.”

“Maybe. But this place is so old, if he did know, it would be from a time he probably wouldn't want to talk about.” Sou Yuet sneezed, and the necromancer almost turned to look at them. He managed to catch himself in time.

“Are ye sure ye're warm enough?”

“I'll be fine. Once I've had a rest I'll be able to cure myself. I'm just a bit low on spiritual power at the moment...” The monk's voice was trailing off, slurring with exhaustion.

“Get some sleep. Sunny'll make a great mattress.”

“No... It's... Um... Are you tired? We need to keep watch for the ghosts...”

“Say that to me again once ye can string together a sentence. I've been doing less than ye, so I'm fine. I'll wake ye in a bit, how's that?”

“Yes... We never got your earrings back...”

“Ah well, it means they can't take 'em from me again.”

“'m sorry for bringing you out... here...”

“I told ye to stop that.”

“You're good at... building... fires...”

“Now ye're just rambling.”

“No... I should have... seung leung... lei...”

“Aaaaand they're out.” The necromancer sighed and turned a little to warm his arms. From the corner of his eye, he could see Sunny's fluffy, stubby tail twitching. If he turned a little more, he would see...

He took a deep breath and focused on the markings on his skin. Usually, he would focus his attention away from them; the constant sensation of them writhing just under his skin was nauseating, but right now he needed something to distract him.

He gathered up his hair and swiftly braided it with practised ease, despite its length and how tangled it had become over the last few days. With his wet hair tied back and his body somewhat drier, if not warmer, he stood and walked to the opening where they had entered their new shelter.

The howling outside was mostly from the wind. But the rock faces were covered with forms that even the least spiritually powerful person could probably see. They clung to the rocks and crawled down head-first, some waving unpleasantly long tongues in his direction. Not all of the ghosts were humanoid, either – some resembled large beasts, others could not be defined.

The necromancer took another deep breath. “Ye know, it really was a bad idea to stop. But that stupid monk already made themselves tired, so what was I supposed to do?” He watched the ghosts crawl, shamble, glide and drag themselves closer and closer. “I guess I've just got to keep everyone entertained until they've finished their nap.”

As he spoke, a strange scent drifted through the cold air. The necromancer laughed ruefully. Pine.

“I see ye've decided to pay another visit, fox-arse. What can I do for ye?”

In a whirl of snow, a figure appeared amidst the ghosts, elegant in all black, a sumptuous, fur-lined hood over his head. The usual blue-grey of his hair was now a piercing, deathly white.

Lí grinned. “You could die for me.”