A river had sprung up in the middle of the wilderness, right out of a hole in the ground. Chang-li hadn’t read anything like this in his book. They followed it as the land around became lusher and greener. Soon, they were walking through a broad river valley with plants growing up on both sides. Wide-branched, leafy trees overhead swayed in the breeze. Hiroko said they were called palms and grew far in the south ends of the empire, where it was always hot and people went about naked. Some, she said, were nut palms and some date palms, both good to eat, at least out in the real world. There were some in the Imperial Gardens, it seemed, and she’d eaten their fruit before.

Joshi scaled the odd trunk of one palm. It had no branches until up at its top, where the wide palms spread out like hair. The bark grew in thick, sharp ribbons, giving Joshi good grip as he scaled up barefoot. He threw down some large, round shells. They hit the ground and bounced.

Chang-li puzzled over them. The husks were much too dense to peel. He bashed one with a rock and it oozed milky liquid all over him. "Do we dare eat it?" he asked Hiroko and Joshi, who had retreated back down the trunk.

“Cultivators farther along the path eat what they can find in a tower,” Joshi said.

"We ate,” Hiroko said. “The emperor's soldiers gave us some of the fruit growing inside his tower. They said it would strengthen us so long as we ate only what they gave us. But none of us ever spent more than a few hours at a time inside."

Joshi bashed a hole in one of the strange balls. He lifted it, sniffed inside. "I'm willing to take a risk.” He held it to his lips, closed his eyes, and drank. White liquid poured out of the hole and trickled down his face. He lowered the fruit. "Ah, delicious." Then he put himself into a cycling posture. "I feel all right,” not opening his eyes. "I do feel like my lux is denser..”

Chang-li watched him cycle before deciding he'd try. He offered the open fruit to Hiroko, who took it, sipped hesitantly, then, seating herself on the ground, proceeded to drink the rest as Chang-li bashed open a third nut for himself. He was just getting ready to cycle when Joshi's eyes flew open. Chang-li could feel the difference in him.

"My core has condensed," Joshi said excitedly.

"Ah!" Hiroko exclaimed. "Congratulations!"

"This is good," Joshi said. "I felt for some time as though I were on the cusp. I have taken a step toward Bodily Refinement." The first of three, Chang-li thought to himself. He himself could feel himself pushing up against his second core condensation. But he wasn't there yet. Perhaps he needed something to trigger it, like Joshi.

He was relieved that Joshi had triggered his first compression. Guilt over keeping the violet lux secret had been gnawing at Chang-li. If he told Joshi, the barbarian would like advance much faster. But a secret shared was a secret endangered. If Hiroko learned he was cultivating violet, she might be convinced it was her duty to report him to the camp officials. And then — he didn’t want to think about the consequences. Execution. Slavery. At the very least, loss of his post and being sent back to his family in disgrace. Not allowed to progress, ever again.

No. As long as Joshi was making progress, he would hold his tongue. Chang-li raised the fruit to his lips and drank. The stuff inside had a light and refreshing taste to it. A little sweet but not very. It wet his lips and then spread throughout his body.

Joshi smashed his fruit against the ground until it split open. He raised a chunk to his mouth and bit the white flesh. "It's good." He chewed. "Tastes like the liquid. It's a nice change from dried meat, at any rate."

They each ate their fruit. Joshi had thrown down more, but Chang-li felt sated after one. The others seemed equally disinclined to eat more. Instead, after they cycled, Chang-li gathered up what he could of the nuts and placed them in his satchel. It was large enough to hold a few, now that their rations were down by almost half. He had to shove aside the parcel containing the hydra's heart. Thankfully, it had not rotted. It seemed to have shrunk, though he hadn't opened the parcel to check. It was smaller and heavier than it had been.

They continued deeper into the oasis. Tall rushes lined the banks of the river. "There's life here," Hiroko warned. "More than just a single protector. I'm feeling multiple, smaller creatures."

"We shall be wary, then.”

Chang-li said nothing, just drew his sword from the makeshift scabbard he'd created out of a loop of his belt. The land opened up a little, giving them a good view of the river as it swung wide around a lazy bend. They cut across the inside, past a dense bunch of trees.

"Look out," Hiroko warned, and they whirled to face the threat as five dark shapes emerged from the trees. They moved like dogs. They were a little bigger than any dog Chang-li had seen before, and their heads were shaped strangely, a little too triangular, with upright ears and slathering mouths. Their tails lashed like a cat's, long and whip-like. They raced forward.

Chang-li channeled yellow lux to his right hand, orange lux to his left, and raced to meet them, fire in one hand, steel in the other. He slashed, trying to remember Joshi's lessons. His sword caught the first dog behind its ear. The creature whimpered and growled as it turned on him, teeth smashing. Chang-li thrust his right hand out, a ball of fire in his palm, striking the dog creature on its muzzle. The dog howled and whined.

To his right, Joshi leapt into the air and came down hard on a second dog, his hand smashing into the creature as he bowled it into the next one of the pack. He squatted in the way of the dogs, both fists pounding, red lux suffusing both his hands.

Chang-li slashed again and sliced deep into his dog. He called more yellow lux. The dog whimpered and tried to bite down on his hand, but the fireball in Chang-li's palm seared the dog's mouth. It reared back, exposing its throat, and Chang-li thrust. His aim was good. His sword point sank under the dog's chin. He pulled it back as the dog collapsed.

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Joshi had smashed one dog and was punching the next. The two beyond were weaving unsteadily on their feet. Chang-li glanced over his shoulder. Hiroko had both hands extended, her teeth grit in determination.

"Get it!" she hissed, and Chang-li stepped forward. He swung his sword and struck the head clean off one of the two dogs Hiroko was handling. A second later, the second withered in front of his eyes. It collapsed into a heap of dust at his feet. Chang-li turned back as Joshi smashed the skull of the last of the dog creatures.

"Are there more?" Joshi asked, whirling, even as the last of the dogs bled out and died.

"I don't feel any," Hiroko said woozily. She was still on her feet, swaying a little. Joshi was there, catching her elbow and steadying her.

Chang-li checked for a token, even though he didn't think these were the protectors. They hadn't put up that much of a fight. There was no token that he could see.

He returned to Joshi and Hiroko, who was beaming as she caught her breath. "Did you see that? I managed both."

"You did!” He couldn't help share her triumphant smile. They had all come so far. It was hard to believe. Anything seemed possible right now. If only they had enough purification tablets.

They shared a drink in the river before continuing onward. As they approached an even wider grove of trees, Hiroko paused.

"I can feel the guardian up ahead. It feels big, like the hydra.”

“Any more of the small ones?"

"I can't tell. With the guardian there, it's all kind of a blur."

Chang-li and Joshi shared a look and then a shrug. There didn't seem to be much strategy here.

"Well, let's do our best."

They breached the trees together, Chang-li and Joshi, a couple of steps ahead of Hiroko. Beneath the trees was a swath of green grass. And on the grass, reposed, was a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a man. Around it snoozed more of the dog-creatures, half a dozen of them at least.

This was bad, but they had no choice. Joshi split off to the left, Chang-li circling to the right to flank the creature.

It opened its mouth, looked directly at them, and spoke. Chang-li scrambled to a halt. Its voice commanded respect. "You have bested my minions, and so you have won the right to a question."

The three looked at each other.

"What sort of question?" Chang-li wondered.

Joshi cleared his throat and stepped forward. "Ah. you are the protector of this oasis?"

The beast inclined its head. "I am. I will tell you this in truth: If you attack me, you may win. If you do, you may seize the token from my corpse to present to the guardian of this floor."

Chang-li felt deeply uncomfortable. None of Scribe Wulan's entries mentioned protectors who could speak, think for themselves, or knew what their purpose was here. He wondered if perhaps during the hundreds of years this floor had lain fallow, if some of the oasis creatures had become so rich in lux that now they could think and speak. That wasn't supposed to be possible at the Bodily Refinement tier. Only those at the Spiritual Refinement tier were capable of thought. Yet here was this creature speaking.

"I am the Sphinx," the creature declared. "From my body, you may seize a yellow token such as you already carry. But if you answer my riddle, I will give you a greater boon, one that I do not think you will be able to achieve anywhere else."

"What good will that do us?" Joshi demanded.

"If you present all seven colors to the guardian of this floor, the boon he grants you will be far stronger. Believe me, it is worth it."

"And why would you do that?"

The Sphinx turned its gaze on Chang-li.

"Because I have come to enjoy being alive and would prefer to continue that way. It has been many years since cultivators came here and killed my predecessor, but I remember taking the memories from its corpse. I do not wish such to befall me. So, I say, you have earned a question. Would you like me to ask it?"

Ah, it meant to ask them a question, not for them to ask. That made a bit more sense. Hiroko stepped forward. "Yes," she said clearly. "We would."

Chang-li supposed that was the right answer. If the creature was lying, they could always just kill it afterwards. The Sphinx rumbled, something between a sigh and a laugh. "Bravely said, girl. Then I shall ask you. You are cultivators. You strive on a path whose beginning is written in ten thousand pages by a thousand hands. Where does it end?"

They glanced at each other. That seemed like too easy a question. The Heavenly Climb ended after Spiritual Enlightenment, unless you were chosen to serve the Emperor as one of his Prisms, in which case further progression was possible. But in that case, it meant the path did not end.

Hiroko was opening her mouth, no doubt to parrot the official line. Chang-li stepped forward, shaking his head. "Hang on," he said in a low voice. "Let's think about this. He wouldn't be asking such an easy question. There's a trick to it."

"He just wants to stay alive," Hiroko whispered. "He says he'd give us the token if we answer his question, so let's answer it."

"But what is the answer?" Joshi asked. "Where does progression end?"

"In the service of the Emperor.”

Chang-li shook his head. "No, no, I don't think that's what he's asking. It's too simple."

Joshi nodded in agreement. His lips were pursed. "There are forbidden texts deep inside the Hapiru Monastery," he said quietly. "Texts which acolytes such as myself were never permitted to read that date from before the beginning of the Empire."

"That's ridiculous," Hiroko scoffed. "The Empire had no beginning."

"Even the Emperor claims only to be immortal, not ever-existent," Joshi said. "My people remember, even if yours have forgotten. Cultivators once sought to ascend to the heavens. Now the Emperor forbids climbing past himself. Yet his prisms come and go. They are not immortal, and I do not think that one who has climbed so high would be content to sit and do the bidding of the Emperor forever. No.” Joshi shook his head decisively. "The Heavenly Climb is called that not because it was ordained by the heavens, but because it leads there."

"Hold on," Chang-li said. "Riddles like this are a scribe game. I played this sort of thing in school." He turned back to the Sphinx and bowed low. "Oh, noble Sphinx, would you repeat your question?"

The Sphinx blinked and then slowly recited his question again. Chang-li turned back to the others.

"That's the key. Where does it end, not where does it lead? I know the answer."

Joshi raised his eyebrows. "You do?"

Chang-li stepped forward. He bowed low a second time before the Sphinx. "Oh, Sphinx, I have your answer. The path of progression ends when the cultivator stops."

The Sphinx rumbled. "That is a simple answer. Speak of it more, that I may know you are not merely playing with words."

"The path doesn't end, or rather, it ascends to the heavens and is wreathed there in mystery. I cannot answer, and I don't think you know the answer either," Chang-li said boldly. "But it ends when a cultivator stops trying to progress, whether that is Bodily Refinement because he's denied an unlimited license, or after reaching the peak of Mental Refinement because he is tired of the climb, or after Spiritual Refinement, forbidden by the Emperor. It ends when he chooses to."

The Sphinx nodded its own head in response. "A good answer. Then, if you can answer me this one more, I shall tell you where to find the two colors of offering you lack. Where will you end?"

Chang-li hesitated. It was unlikely that he could get a license to go past Bodily Refinement. He'd already been forbidden to cultivate at all, after all. Even if he could, Mental and Spiritual Refinement were large steps to take. He wasn't sure he could master them.

Certainly, he had never thought of defying the Emperor again. And yet here, under the eye of the Sphinx, under the strange sky full of lux, with his body and mind already raised to heights he had never believed possible, there was only one answer.

"I won't."