Chang-li and Joshi stood atop a stretch of bare rock. This oasis barely deserved the name. A pool of water bubbled up from the center. Beside it lay the corpse of an enormous basilisk, its body all hard stone. It was on its back now, its underside scored with a dozen hits from Chang-li's burning blade.

Joshi was the one who had struck a killing blow. This was the seventh oasis protector they had faced. They had not gathered one of each color of token; they had two red and two orange and an assortment of other colors.

It had been close to three weeks. If their calculations were right, it would have been almost two days on the other side, and the fourth floor would be opening in another two.

"We need to leave now," Joshi insisted.

"We have not mastered our new techniques," Chang-li protested. "I think we could give it another day or three.”

“We do not know how much time has passed on the outside. We cannot risk Feng entering the tower before us. Our disciples have all reached the Peak of Bodily Refinement. We have our techniques, even if we need to practice them. It’s time to go.”

"Min hasn't,” Chang-li pointed out. She had started farther back than any of the disciples and had only reached her second core condensing.

"She will not reach it before we must leave, and we should not take her onto the fourth floor anyway, not with Feng there to put her at risk."

Joshi made a good point, but Min had taken to cultivating like a dog to water. She was up before anyone else, practicing her cycling, and stayed awake later than anyone else. She was using a technique scribe Wulan, of all people, had taught her. None of the basic Bodily Refinement techniques that Joshi and Chang-li knew had suited her. So they'd called up Scribe Wulan, and he had a suggestion for her. It was a lux bow with a solid red arrowhead that Chang-li was certain she could fill with yellow lux once she had better control of her lux manipulation.

"She is a cultivator spouse, not a cultivator," Joshi said. "We would not take her, even if she was ready.”

"You let Hiroko fight," Chang-li pointed out.

"That was a matter of life and death. This is not. I think your thoughts are clouded by your feelings for Min. It does you credit, but she should not come with us."

"In another week, Min will easily be as good as any of the other three disciples," Chang-li said stubbornly. "And we don't have control of our abilities either."

Chang-li had practiced his Firepot until he could do it one-handed, which would let him weave while using his sword with his other hand. He’d also been practicing a training technique described in the scrolls, weaving together physical lux in a net and using it to hold spiritual lux in place. That would form the base for more complicated techniques later, assuming he could master it.

He was worried that by not focusing on a specific technique to use immediately, he’d be holding them back in their attempt to challenge for the tower boon. But everything he read cautioned that the foundation he laid now would serve him in the future. Take the time to lay it right, the scrolls urged, and you will go far.

Joshi, on the other hand, was attempting to master two different abilities. The first was from a scroll that called it the Thousand Fists. By combining red lux with indigo and binding it together with green, Joshi could punch a target and have his punch reflected from several other directions at that same target. He was making progress on the braid, but had not been able to land it in practice yet.

His second technique, Meteor Punch, he'd used to end this last Oasis Guardian fight, coming off the rock with a red lux-empowered leap, crashing down to earth with a wave of yellow and orange, smashing through the basilisk's stony skull and splattering its diamond brains across the landscape. His attack had fractured the stone. Spiderweb cracks radiated out from where they stood now.

"We cannot risk it any longer," Joshi insisted. "We'll practice our techniques as we race to beat Feng. There's not enough lux here to raise us to Peak of Mental Refinement. You must know that."

Chang-li did. The feel of lux in the air was thinning every day. Already there was less violet than there had been when they entered. It was harder and harder to fill his core all the way up.

Wulan had educated them on that, as well. "Well, of course you need a higher lux density. You are cultivators well past the Peak of Bodily Refinement. Look!" He had held out his arms. He was nearly translucent again. "Why, this lux can hardly sustain me. You must keep climbing. If it were possible to reach higher tiers on the first or second floor of a tower, why would anyone ever go deeper? No, you need to move on. Don't summon me again until you've got more lux for me. This is like trying to drink air." He'd vanished and stubbornly refused to come out again.

"We're not ready to take on Feng," Chang-li insisted.

"I am," Joshi snapped.

Chang-li wove together lux. He started with red and yellow together, then layered it with green before at last slipping in a thin thread of blue lux. He'd had no luck yet working with indigo. Then he hurled it at Joshi. His technique was inelegant and imprecise. He much preferred using techniques based around his sword, but he wasn't trying to hurt Joshi anyway.

Joshi raised a red and orange gauntleted fist. Chang-li's technique broke around his fist. The yellow burned at Joshi's gauntlet as the blue lux tried to eat its way in like acid. Joshi snapped his fingers, his gauntlet, and Chang-li's technique vanished.

"We will never catch Feng here," Joshi said. "It will never be safe to go against him. If we are to do this thing, we need to take a risk."

"Why do you care?" Chang-li challenged. "Why are you trying to make this sect real? Me, I've got myself in a bad situation, but you could just walk away."

Joshi considered him. At last, he said, "Feng has challenged me. I will not walk away from that. Besides, he speaks of Hiroko as though she were a prize to be given, not a woman to be wooed. I... That is..." He looked away, clearing his throat. "He offends me. I will not run from him."

It wasn't a very convincing argument, but so be it. Chang-li took a breath. "All right. We find the floor guardian and we leave. We do whatever it takes to be ready for the fourth floor. I'll explain to Min that she has to stay behind."

Joshi bowed his head. "I look forward to advancing at your side once more."

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"You are not going to leave me behind," Min insisted.

"Keep your voice down," Chang-li urged. Their tent might block them from the curious stares of others, but it did nothing to stop sound. He didn't like to think of the rest of the sect listening in as he and Min had a spat.

Min glared at him but lowered her voice. "I've been working as hard at cultivating as any of the disciples. You've said so yourself."

"You've made huge strides. You've gone further than Hiroko did in about the same amount of time."

Her eyes narrowed. "So, she was in here with you. I knew it. How come she hasn't reached the Peak of Bodily Refinement, then?"

"She had too strong an affinity for blue lux," Chang-li explained. "It hampers her advancement at the lower levels."

"Oh," Min considered. "So, you admit that I am better at cultivating than an indigo princess, and better than the other disciples?"

"They're not true disciples," Chang-li hissed. "They're your people."

"You were the one telling the rest of us that this was as real as we make it," Min said.

Chang-li sighed. "Yes, all right. They are true disciples now, and they're cultivating alongside the rest of us. But the point is, we don't even know what we're going to face on the fourth floor, except that Feng wants Joshi dead. With you not even at the Peak of Bodily Refinement, you'll be a liability, not an asset. We can't risk it. Besides, I very much doubt any other cultivator spouses will be going along.”

“Because there aren't any in the camp," Min pointed out. "Old Lady Moon Whispers, yes, but she and the grandmaster are too high level to enter the floor. None of the other Young Masters have married. Cultivator spouses are expected to climb alongside their husbands or wives, maybe a step or two behind. Think how ridiculous it would be if you were at the Peak of Spiritual Refinement and I haven't even reached Physical."

"That won't happen," Chang-li promised. "It's just this race to gain the tower. I — I’ll fight better if I’m not worried about protecting you.”

Min sighed, her shoulders slumped. "Fine," she said.

Chang-li hadn't expected her to give in that quickly. "Really?"

"If I make it to the Peak of Bodily Refinement before we find the way out, then I'll argue my case again," Min said. "But to be honest, there's a lot I need to be doing outside of the tower to establish our sect, and this is too good an opportunity for me to pass up. When I send word to my grandfather that I've raised four of our loyal brothers to the Peak of Bodily Refinement already, and they have a path to the next step as well, well, that'll redeem any mistake he thinks I'll have made."

A brief stir of hope made Chang-li ask, "Will he pay our sect debt?"

Min hesitated. "I don't know if he'll go that far, and I don't think we should ask him, not unless we have to. The threads tying our sect to Oaken Band are already strong, very strong. But so far the tapestry of obligation is in the correct balance. I've been thinking about it myself, and I think that this is the best way I could possibly prove myself to my grandfather, by helping you and Joshi make this sect into something. I'm not going to do that by trying to put chains on you. You'll see that the Oaken Band can be valuable allies, but we do not want to make ourselves their slaves."

Chang-li was touched by Min's resolve. He took her hand and squeezed it. Her fingers were warm against his. He didn't know what to say. They'd been together inside the tower cultivating for probably three weeks now, and some of the awkwardness felt like it had melted away, but they still hadn't spoken of the gulf that lay between them.

Min looked down. "Promise me you'll be careful. Feng will stop at nothing to get what he wants, and right now he wants Hiroko. Joshi is in his way, and if you're standing beside him, Feng won't hesitate to strike you as well."

"I know," Chang-li said. He squeezed her hand. "But being a cultivator means taking risks, and this is one that I have to take."

To his surprise, when they entered the floor guardian's chamber, Chang-li saw only a haze filling the room, no sign of his friends. He groped through it, found the door on the other side, stepped out, and found himself outside the tower, standing there with Joshi. He looked around in alarm. "Where are the others?"

"Speaking with the guardian," Joshi said.

"Why aren't we?"

Joshi shrugged. "It seems you can only receive a floor boon once, or so Magen tells me." The lux creature hovering over his shoulder pulsed in agreement before dissipating into a cloud of thinning sparks. A moment later, Disciple Cui emerged, followed by the other two, then Brother Stone. They were wide-eyed with excitement.

The disciples had all received enhancements to their basic technique. Disciple Yang and Shou were patterning themselves on Joshi and using bare fists, while Brother Stone continued focusing on his staff, and Cui was trying to learn to use yellow lux, similarly to Chang-li. All four of them seemed to have gotten guidance from the floor guardian. Cui in particular now had direction for his yellow lux, a technique to combine it with red into a spike he could rip out of stone and throw at enemies. Or at least, he swore he’d be able to once he had more lux in his core. Already they were nearly drained.

It was a lesser boon than what Chang-li had received, but they'd been expecting that since they hadn't gotten a full set of colors in their tokens.

At last, just as Chang-li was starting to worry, Min stumbled out. She looked shaken.

"You all right?" Chang-li asked, hurrying over to her.

She set a hand on his arm. "That wasn't quite what I was expecting," she said.

"What was your floor boon?"

"He gave me insight," Min said.

"What does that mean?"

She shook her head. "I'll talk to you later. We should hurry back before someone sees us here."

Chang-li thought it unlikely that anyone would happen past and notice them. The exit here was some distance from the path back up the mountainside, screened by trees, so even if a caravan happened to be passing, it was unlikely they'd be noticed. But they were wasting time. She led the way, and they scrambled along. It took three hours to reach the camp. By the time they did enter the camp, they found it in a commotion in the forecourt by the bridge over the chasm. As they crossed the bridge into the camp, the guards came to attention.

"Halt! We must send word to the magistrate."

Joshi and Chang-li exchanged a look. Had their secret been uncovered? Should they attempt to flee?

Min stepped forward. "What's the matter, Sergeant? I didn’t realize you were on gate duty this week. Good to see you got that promotion.”

The soldier stood a little straighter. "Magistrate said to send word as soon as you had returned. You are to wait here until he does."

Min nodded. “Understood, but we have a lot of belongings. May I send word for porters to assist us?"

"Certainly, lady. So long as the Young Master and your ranking disciples remain.”

She turned and spoke with Brother Stone, who broke off from the group and raced up into the camp.

Quicker than Chang-li had expected, the magistrate came puffing down the steps from the upper camp, two of his attendants in his wake. He looked at them wide-eyed.

"Then you didn't flee?"

"We were on a training trip," Joshi said. "As we stated when we filed our requisitions in the magistrate's office."

"Yes, yes," the magistrate waved a hand. "But you're late. We thought your sect had perhaps decided to flee. Word is that Young Master Feng made some pointed threats. At any rate, the fourth floor was opened three hours ago. All of the others have already gone ahead."

He and Joshi exchanged a worried look. Time must have passed faster inside the tower than Chang-li had expected. “We will go at once.”

“The Inquisitor said if you reach the tower by noon you will be allowed in.”

Chang-li craned his neck skyward as a pair of Brotherhood men appeared on Brother Stone’s heels, Min stepped forward and gestured at the sacks full of scrolls that Chang-li and the others had been carrying. “Leave these here and run to the house. Bring back the cultivation supplies as quickly as you can.."

It was nearly noon now. They needed to hurry.

"We have no time to waste," Joshi said. "We must get to the tower."

“You’ll need supplies,” Min pointed out as the brotherhood porters hauled the precious sacks of scrolls away.

Joshi nodded, turning away and studying the sky. In minutes, the Brotherhood men returned laden down with packs of rations.

Chang-li slung a heavy sack across his shoulders. “Thank you,” he told Min.

"Good luck.” She stepped close to Chang-li and squeezed his hand, then leaned forward and brushed her lips against his cheek. "Be careful. Don't underestimate Feng."

He squeezed her hand back. She broke away and smiled proudly at them as Joshi led the way back across the bridge, the disciples following him, and Chang-li bringing up the rear.

His heart pounded. It was time at last to set himself against cultivators. Not true cultivators, he realized, as they started up the path, up the mountain. Other cultivators, because he was one himself now. He would do his part to help prove the Morning Mist sect was back.