Chang-li waited with Li Jiya, Joshi, and the disciples they had selected to enter the sixth floor with them one last time. They stood in a mass of other cultivators all waiting to be allowed in.

"You are the top five candidates. You will enter with your team in order of your standing in this tournament, with ten minutes between each group," the announcer boomed from beside the door. “The first three to receive the floor boon from the guardian will advance further, the other two being eliminated.”

Li Jiya looked unhappy. She had not performed as well as she hoped at the interviews and talent testing phase of the last week. They had dropped from second to third position, and she had received no more clues to the floor guardian. All they had to go on was the scrap of writing, the censer, and the scale. Chang-li had no idea how they were to find the floor guardian, summon her, and win her boon, but they must.

He shifted uncomfortably. Min had been gone when he woke up that morning, leaving a note behind saying she would see him before he entered, but he'd had no sign of her. Now the dowager pearl cleared her throat.

"Mai Wen of the Golden Locks Sect, you and your escort may enter."

Mai Wen and her gold-clad retinue marched through the crowd of cultivators and into the tower without looking back. She had performed very well in the last week. Chang-li had been forced to listen to Li Jiya rant about how the judges were rating her answers highly just because she had the backing of a prism. She radiated confidence as she entered.

Minutes stretched by interminably. At last, the dowager spoke again. “Xue Lan of Azure Flame, you and your retinue may enter."

The second group of cultivators rose and began filing through the crowd. As they did, there was a small commotion behind him. Chang-li turned. Min was pushing through the crowd, elbowing her way past onlookers. "No, out of my way. Excuse me." She shoved past a pair of burly cultivators in orange robes and arrived panting in front of Chang-li. There was a sack in her hand. She thrust it at Chang-li, smiling. "I did it. I wasn't sure I'd managed to convince them, but I did it."

He stared at her, uncomprehending. "Did what?"

"I persuaded Silver Crane to give up the clues they won earlier. Since they were disqualified, they didn't need to know how to reach the floor guardian. They had done well on their turn. They had four puzzle boxes. One of them was just another of the censers. I took it anyway. But the rest are all new to us.”

He looked from the bag to her. "How?"

"It wasn't easy, believe me," she said grimly. "I spent hours there over the last week, trying to persuade their cultivator spouses to give it up. Finally, I mentioned how furious I thought it would make Prism Eri if her bridal candidate got shown up by a sect that came out of nowhere, and that did it. They gave them to me."

He stared. "You didn't tell me."

"Because I wasn't sure it was going to work," Min said. “You haven't got much time, and you need to look these things over. Take it."

He took the bag. "What else did you promise them?"

"A few favors," she admitted. "From the Brotherhood, not on behalf of our sect. Just using my ties. Oh, and of course, I implied that Yuan-li and I are on better terms than we actually are. It's how the game is played," she said hurriedly.

Chang-li's throat was tight. He wasn't sure how to answer. Min had gone behind his back, but this was an absolutely priceless gift.

Joshi had noticed what was going on. "What is it?"

Chang-li held out the sack to him. "Min has brought us something priceless. It might mean victory."

Min blushed and ducked her head. "It was my duty." She looked up and meet his eyes. "No, it was my pleasure. I want you to get the floor boon. I want our sect to win."

"Li Jiya and the Morning Mist, you may enter," the dowager said.

Li Jiya was inspecting the contents of the bag, a paper with writing on it and a bundle of dried herbs and flowers. She replaced everything in the sack and hurried forward, Joshi and the disciples streaming after. Min took Chang-li’s hand and squeezed it. "Go on. Win it." She tried to let go, but he would not relinquish her. "You're coming with me," he said, pulling her forward.

Her eyes widened. "What? But I..."

"Nothing in the rules says you can't. You’re a member of our sect, you’re a cultivator. Come on."

He practically dragged her for the first steps, then she hurried eagerly forward at his side. He should have thought of it already. Min had received a boon at the Golden Moon Tower, nothing particularly exciting, an insight into her best cycling patterns, since they hadn't bothered to collect the correct tokens to win an exceptional boon. But he had been telling himself for days now that he was neglecting her cultivating, and how better to fix that than taking her in now. Besides, she'd more than earned it.

They stumbled inside. "Hurry," Li Jiya urged. "Chang-li, we need stepping stones so everyone can make it. We're heading east.” She pointed. She consulted a piece of paper in her hand.

"Do you know what to do now?" he called as he threw out a stepping stone and Joshi leapt across to the next island.

"If these notes are right then we have everything we need," Li Jiya said. "And unless one of the others cheats, we should be able to claim a spot. Thank you, Min," she called over her shoulder as she leapt to the next island.

Min seemed too overcome to answer. Chang-li pointed her to the red stepping disk. She crouched and leapt, landing on it, nearly losing her balance. He reminded himself that she was not as practiced with the sort of acrobatics as he was. The next step he threw out was larger. The sect raced forward across the islands, Joshi scouting ahead with Magen watching their flank, Li Jiya ordering the disciples and Chang-li providing the stepping disks.

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"There's so much lux here," Min marveled as she waited her turn for the next disk.

"Every floor has more than the floor before," Chang-li said. "Is it too much? I have an inhibitor in my satchel." He had forgotten that she had not reached the Peak of Bodily Refinement, and would likely find the lux density intense.

"I think I can manage," she said. "I'm cycling as hard as I can. I don't get many opportunities to cultivate. I'll take everything I can."

"Here.” He tossed it to her. "Keep that on you. If it gets too much, put it on. It'll block out most of your lux channels."

"You told me that you and Joshi had not used them the whole time when you were racing Feng for the Tower Boon."

"Yes, but this isn't nearly such a dire situation," he pointed out.

Min leapt across the open stretch of water to the next channel. They hadn't gone this far east previously. It was all new territory to Chang-li. Joshi reported back. “No signs of the other cultivators or of any threats.”

"Keep going," Li Jiya said. She handed Chang-li a scrap of paper. "I can't read this one."

He squinted at the characters. "It says more or less what the other did. 'Under the roaring waters gather, summon her with sweet aromas.'"

"Well, the map shows an X at this end of the lake," Li Jiya said. "So that must be where the roaring waters gather. There's a bundle of herbs in here. The note says we are to burn them in the censer and that will summon the Guardian. Or perhaps it's a beast we have to defeat that will let us summon the Guardian after that. It isn’t completely clear. We'll see when we get there, I hope."

They hurried on. The islands were growing farther apart here. Joshi rejoined them.

"Magen sees the Golden Locks team off to the north. They're heading east as well, but not as directly. He doesn't think they've seen us."

"Pick up the pace," Li Jiya said grimly as they raced forward. The lake waters were growing more disturbed, with a definite current leading toward the east. As they passed the next island, it picked up speed. Chang-li felt tense. Up ahead was a larger island, not one of the floating mats, but actual land humping out of the water. There was a ridge of spines down its center blocking the view from the other side. The island was covered in sand and scraggly bushes. They raced up it, vaulting past the row of tall rocks, then down the other side of the rounded hummock. Now at last, Chang-li saw what they had come for, a swirling vortex of waters on the other side of the island. They halted on the sandy shore.

"This must be it," Li Jiya said. She took one of the censers and the bundle of herbs out, placing the herbs in the censer. "Everyone be ready." She lit the device on fire. A thin stream of sweet-smelling smoke rose from the censer. It wafted around Chang-li, making him think of holidays back home, of lighting candles for his father and grandparents to watch over the family.

Min yawned. "It's an interesting smell," she commented.

One of the disciples stumbled to his knees. Chang-li shook him. He blinked up. "Sorry, I was just tired suddenly."

"Spread out," Chang-li said. "Be careful. This smoke is putting us to sleep. And cycle!”

He cycled as he spoke, and the lux pushed away his sleepiness. Instead, he felt a growing sense of unease. Something was wrong here.

"Look out," Joshi warned. "Above!"

Chang-li looked up. Magen was darting overhead as a shape plummeted toward them, growing larger by the second. First a dot, then it became a line, then a sinuous set of curves as it snaked toward them. It was blue against a blue sky, and he only made out what it was just as it reached them. An enormous flying dragon. The dragon hovered in the air in front of Li Jiya.

"You have called on me?" she boomed.

Min gasped. "A dragon!”

There was a shout behind them. Chang-li turned. Mai Wen and her party were racing forward, weaves in hand, clearly ready for a fight. Joshi and Chang-li moved to intercept, weaving red shields.

"Stop!" the enormous blue dragon shouted.

Chang-li's hands fell to his sides without his volition. He stood dead in his tracks, his lux draining away out of his core. This was a will like a prism's steel cage trapping him. He forced himself to breathe. Most of the disciples and Min were on the ground, panting. Min was shaking, quivering, her limbs twitching. Chang-li forced himself to walk to her, even as the dragon boomed.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Chang-li knelt and found the suppression bracelet. He put it around Min's wrist, and her limbs stopped twitching. She blinked up at him, her mouth open.

"Don't try to fight it," he told her, before letting go of his own reserves and collapsing next to her.

The dragon turned its attention on him. It had enormous eyes set in its long snouted face, and a crest rising over its head. Its dangling limbs were much too small to support it, but tipped with vicious-looking claws. It looked as though it would be more at home in the water than the air.

"You defy me?"

Chang-li returned her gaze. "To help the weak, yes."

"Great one, forgiveness!" Li Jiya exclaimed, not moving from where she stood. "He was confused!”

“Trying to care for the weak can be the mark of a fool," the dragon said, and let a ponderous pause before she added, "but if he is strong enough to actually do it, then that proves he is no fool at all. You have done well enough."

The willpower lessened slightly, still maintaining its grip on Chang-li and the others. "Who summoned me?"

Li Jiya stepped forward. "I did," she said.

"Then I shall grant my boon to you and yours." The dragon cast an eye over them. "It's a ragtag lot you have here, but very well." She breathed out. Chang-li braced himself. A cooling mist worked its way across the beach, touching him, Li Jiya, Joshi, Min, and all the rest. It grew around him, turning white. He tried to reach out to Min, but she was gone. All he could see was mist. The dragon's voice boomed.

"What boon do you seek, oh defiant one?"

"Ah, we're trying to win this tournament," Chang-li said, casting about for his answer.

"Hmph, I care nothing for such things. I have agreed to bestow my boon upon three groups, and yours was the first. So you receive a stronger boon. But hurry, the others with you are already telling me what they desire. The woman who summoned me here wishes for the strength to defeat her rivals. Secretly, she wants to avenge her brother's death. Curious how you humans lie. Most of your disciples are desperately want to please their superiors. I see you and another in their thoughts, someone not here. Someone curious. I can't see him well at all. Your friend from the Wastelands is conflicted in himself. He wants what is offered him, but not on the terms it is offered. So what is it you want?"

"I want," Chang-li paused. "I want to know how to reach the Peak of Spiritual Refinement," he said.

"That is merely the next step on your journey. You will find your own way.”

"I want to get stronger?" It came out as a question. It shouldn't be. That was what all cultivation was about.

He hoped Min was receiving a useful boon, and then it struck him. "I want to know how to bring those I care about along with me. I don't want to hold myself back, but I want to be able to help them."

"Now that is beyond even my ability to grant," the dragon said. “But I think I can help you. Here, with my blessing."

She opened her mouth and breathed on Chang-li. He felt warm all over. The sensation faded, leaving ice in his veins. He shivered as the cold penetrated deep into his bones.

“Reach out with your lux senses and cycle,” the guardian instructed. Chang-li did, the lux answering him easily. It chimed in his ears, each note clear as a bell. He wondered at that. Each shade of lux had its own tone, of course, but usually he had to strain to listen.

“Now, when you reach out with your lux senses, you’ll hear the tones others are using. Practice, and you’ll hear when a tone is discordant with their cycling. That won’t tell you what they should be doing, but…”

Chang-li bowed low, already seeing the power of this boon. “Thank you, guardian!”

“The rest of your sect is done and others clamor for my attention.” The dragon sounded almost indulgent. “Go forth and climb, little human.”