Immediately upon rising, Chang-li handed out purification rations to each of them. The tablets were small wafers, about the size of the circle he could make with his thumb and forefinger. They were pale white, like they were made from fine rice flour. He popped one in his mouth, and it melted away on his tongue, tasting of honey and rosewater.

"Now cycle.” Joshi assumed a position.

“Why?”

"It stands to reason. If it's to purify us, it'll be more effective if we cycle." He closed his eyes. Chang-li followed suit, using the new cycling technique Joshi had taught him. It was getting easier. He could cycle lux to one limb of his body or to two at the same time.

Orange and yellow lux both still filled his core, and though he was getting adept at only letting the yellow out, the orange was building up. He could feel it there in his core, getting denser and denser. What would happen if it completely filled his core? He should find a way to release it.

Chang-li imagined the holes on the outside of his core being a different shape, and then pushed out the lux, not to his right hand, as he had been, but to his left.

His scribe mentors had taught him that the left hand was impure, used for touching dead carcasses and beasts, or wiping filth from himself. That was why, as a scribe, he was not permitted to touch a pen with his left hand, only with his right. He had striven for months to perfect characters with his right hand that his fellows mastered in a matter of days. But at the end of it, it had paid off. His writing was as easy to read as any others. And now he found an advantage, because his left hand willingly embraced the orange lux he was trying to bleed off.

He pushed it out and took a deep, relaxing sigh as he felt the purification tablet doing its work in his body. Emptying his core had definitely been the right choice to allow the tablet to work. He mentioned that to Hiroko and Joshi. Hiroko's face immediately relaxed. "You're right," she said after a moment. "It did make a difference."

Joshi said nothing, but Chang-li saw how his face screwed up with concentration briefly, then went still. So he'd done the same.

Chang-li climbed up. He brushed a few bits of viper crab off of his bag and slung it over his back again. He felt refreshed. The short sleep, hard bread, mouthful of water, and purification tablet had renewed him. His body felt stronger. Maybe he was just imagining it, or maybe the lux and cycling really was having an effect.

“Onward!” He set off down the corridor again.

It wasn't long until he sensed a change. Joshi licked a finger and held it up. "Yes, you’re right. There's a breeze, stronger now than before. It's coming from ahead of us," Joshi sniffed. "I can smell trees and water."

"That's a good thing.” Hiroko closed her eyes briefly, but shook her head. "I can't feel any life yet.”

“Would you feel anything from trees?"

"Oh, definitely," Hiroko said. "Some might not, but my grandmother was a master gardener. She was Dowager Pearl in charge of a vast swath of the Imperial Gardens, and she taught me well. I can feel the life force of plants as easily as that of animals, humans."

"Be wary," Joshi said. "Remember what the cultivation journal said. The oases in this place were guarded by protector spirits."

Chang-li hefted his canteen. It was two-thirds gone, at least. "If they're standing between me and water, then they get what is coming to them.”

A short while later, the labyrinth finally ended. The three stopped right at the edge of the corridor, looking out into a vast expanse of green. Hiroko frowned.

"I still can't feel it."

Grass grew. Palm trees waved overhead. Chang-li had only ever seen trees like that in a book. Hiroko was staring at them in wonder. "Be ready.” Joshi’s hands curled into fists. He stepped over the threshold. The others followed.

At once, a wave of warmth and moisture hit Chang-li like he was walking into the sauna room of a bath. Hiroko gasped. "Now I feel it. All around us, there's so much life."

He glanced back over his shoulder. The corridor was there at their backs, a stark gray stone trough, open above. On this side, the corridor was buried in an embankment of grass running right up to its edge. Bushes grew along the top, thorny and harsh, as though they'd been planted there to ward off animals. The strangeness was a good reminder that they were inside a cultivation tower, not in a real place.

"Be careful," Chang-li urged, and they started forward. They passed swaying trees and through stands of grass. There were bushes here and there, nothing in flower, nothing in fruit, and no water. The land sloped down a little, which gave him hope they were heading for some sort of water course.

It wasn't until they'd gone perhaps half a mile that he realized there'd been no signs of animals anywhere. No birds in the trees, no squirrels, no mice or any other kind of creature, not even insects. He mentioned it to the others. Hiroko nodded. "I feel something dense with life ahead of us. That usually means an animal or perhaps a human.”

They continued down the slope, then pushed past a last stand of trees and found themselves at the edge of a shallow pond. In the center of the pond, fifteen feet away, was a rocky island, and on the island a tree gnarled and twisted. One portion of the tree was in pink blossom, another deep green leaves, another boasted golden broad leaves stretching out toward the sky, and the fourth part of the tree was barren.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"That's a heaven cherry," Hiroko said. "But I've never seen one like that, with its branches all in a different season. And it's dense with life. Too dense. Be careful."

They edged around the pond. Nothing else moved. There were odd white rocks here and there in the pond, and piled up on the shore of the little island. In fact, the whole of the island seemed to be covered in them.

Something didn't seem right. Strands of vine ran down the trunk of the heaven cherry tree and in and out through the stones, twisting around them, coming out of holes that gaped like...

Chang-li gasped as he finally realized what he was seeing. He stepped back.

"Bones."That island and the whole pond, they're full of bones. Look at how the vine wraps them."

Joshi swore and backed away from the pond. They had moved backward just in time. Vines burst from the water right where they'd been, curling up on the shore.

“Get away!” Joshi shouted, pushing Hiroko up the slope.

Chang-li turned to follow. Something grabbed at his ankles and pulled him down. He cried out. The vines had wrapped themselves around him. They were pulling him toward the water. In panic, he tried to grab his bag to use as a weapon, but the vines wrapped around his arms, too. He shouted. Hiroko and Joshi shouted something back, but he couldn't make out the words over his own panicked heartbeat.

Chang-li grabbed at the lux flowing in his veins, desperately crying out to his core, seizing whatever yellow came and pushing it through to his right hand. He closed his eyes, imagining fire leaping from his fingertips to burn these vines. For an instant, it worked. He could feel heat on his fingertips. He could feel the flame. He grabbed at the vines wrapping him, and they shrank back. Something inhuman screamed, far off and nearby, like it was in his head and far away at the same time.

Chang-li pulled away, but more vines came out of the water and grabbed at him. Joshi came hurtling down the slope, hands wrapped in red lux. He leapt to a boulder sticking out of the water five feet from the shore, and then, with another prodigious leap, onto the island beyond. He punched the tree right in its trunk. It shivered.

Hiroko was there, kneeling at Chang-li's feet. The vines wrapped around her hands, and she grinned, showing her teeth. "That's what I wanted," she hissed. Her face went pale. Chang-li could feel the power flowing through her, hear the chime of the lux that she was wrapping through the vines as she sought to drain this tree of its strength.

Over on the island, vines were rising, coming to attack Joshi. Chang-li took a deep breath. He grabbed the small knife from his scribe's kit and raced across the water. It was up to his knees in places. He splashed through, feeling submerged bones shift under his feet.

Then he was up on the other side and out. He raced forward, swiping at the vines that were attacking Joshi with his left hand and the knife. With his right, he once more summoned yellow lux and called for flame.

It answered. Not much, but it answered. A tiny handful of flame danced on his palm. He smacked it into the trunk of the tree, then darted back as more vines came at him. He tried again, but his core was too full of orange lux. He couldn't get enough yellow to summon a spell.

Chang-li grabbed all of that orange lux and flung it into his left arm, the arm holding the thin penknife. Joshi roared and slammed red-coated fists against the trunk, right, left, right, left.

Chang-li stabbed the penknife into the heart of the tree. It sunk in deep, slipping from his fingers and plunging deep inside as thought pushed by an unseen force, the orange lux flowing from his hand.

He stumbled back. The tree was shaking. He could feel its death throes. The pink blossoms turned gray and fell. The golden leaves crumbled to ash. The vines shook and withered, curling up. Then the tree's branches seemed to droop. Joshi stepped back, lowering his fists and panting. The two men stared at the tree for a long moment.

"Is it dead?"

“I think it must be.”

They turned and looked back at the shore. Hiroko was slumped over on the beach. She sat back up and waved a wan smile on her face. "I'm all right," she mumbled.

Joshi was already across the water, leaning over her. Chang-li went to follow, when his eyes caught something silver gleaming in the tree. It must be his knife. He leaned to retrieve it. His left hand grasped and drew it forth.

The handle was wrong. It had been a simple penknife with a thin handle a few inches and a two-inch blade for sharpening the nibs of his pen or cutting off the ragged tips of his brush.

The handle was longer now and thick. A hilt, not a handle. As he pulled the blade free, it just kept coming and coming and coming until he drew it out and stared at the sword he had pulled from the heart of the tree.

Its hilt seemed to be made of the cherry wood of this very tree, reddish wood polished and lacquered to a shine. It was grooved and easy to grip, fitting his hand as though it had been made for him. The blade was long and thin, perhaps two feet long, curved with a sharp tip and a wicked edge. He held it up. The patterns of the metal rippled in smoky lines all down it. It was beautiful and deadly, and it gleamed with yellow lux.

Joshi and Hiroko were calling to him. Chang-li turned away from the tree. He splashed back across the water, holding the sword. Hiroko was on her feet now.

"Are you all right?"

"I am," she said wanly. "My teacher failed to mention a few things, but I'm getting the hang of it. What's that?"

"I don't know," Chang-li said. "I thought it was my penknife."

"If that is a penknife," Joshi said, his eyes sweeping up and down the blade like it was a long-lost treasure, "then perhaps my people have more to fear from your empire's scribes than your empire's soldiers."

"I used my penknife. I had no other weapon," Chang-li explained. "I stabbed the tree. I was holding orange lux at the time. My core was too full. See, I couldn't get any more yellow. I wanted more fire, but I had to get rid of the orange.”

"Hold," Joshi raised a hand. "Let's fill our canteens and drink and then retreat a little ways from here. I think this is important."

Chang-li nodded. He knelt at the water's edge and washed his face, splashing water across the back of his neck. He drank deep from a cupped hand before filling his canteen. The others knelt beside him, and they retreated back up the slope to a safe distance.

The tree certainly seemed dead. Hiroko assured them it was, but none of them wanted to linger near the pond.

They sat down. Chang-li offered around strips of dried fruit from his pack. They ate, and Chang-li explained what he had done. Joshi listened intently. At last, he nodded. "I have heard of similar techniques. The monks who taught me did not approve. They were strong believers in building a firm foundation with a single form of lux. In fact, they said that in almost all circumstances it should be red lux, that enhancing one's body during the Bodily Refinement stage was the best way. I follow their wisdom. And yet I can see for you two that is not the correct path. I think..." He hesitated. "If this path calls to you, then follow it."

"Why your left hand?" Hiroko asked.

Chang-li realized he was still holding the sword. He set it down and wiped his hand against his tunic.

"I was born with a tendency toward my left," he confessed. "But scribes may only use their right for pens."

Hiroko smiled. "Well, that solves your problem, then, doesn't it?"

"What?"

"You said before, the hand that holds a sword may not hold a pen. There you are. Use your left hand for your sword and your right hand for your pen. There's no need to choose between being a scribe and being a cultivator after all."

Chang-li stared at her. Joshi broke out laughing. He clapped Chang-li on the shoulder.

"I think the princess has the right of it," he said cheerfully. "Scribe — friend Chang-li, you've taken the first step along your very own path of cultivation. Now let us work together to discover the next."