The spires passed slowly by. Occasionally, Hui found his feet drifting off the straight-line path they’d decided upon, but Xue always corrected him before he drifted too far. Likewise, whenever Xue started to wander, he drew her back.

The light began to fade. Darkness again fell over the sky, the fog swirling thicker. Shuffling sounds echoed from the fog. Hui’s ears prickled. He whirled to find nothing for the hundredth time. Frustrated, he rubbed the back of his neck and adjusted the undead skin around his chest. I wish I could properly refine it. Then I wouldn’t have to be so worried all the time.

Ordinary undead aren’t so bad, but if I run into another undead cultivator…

“We made it!” Xue declared, slapping her hand on a final spire.

Hui looked up. Ahead of them, the fog cleared. Spires of flint stood at even intervals, tilted toward them. Undead shambled, lurching around a giant flint castle.

The castle dominated the horizon. Black, crystalline walls soared to the sky. Three tiers stacked on top of one another, each one grander than the last. Wraiths perched on the edges of curved roofs, carved from stone. Hideous, they snarled at the realm's intruders, mouths open to reveal razor-sharp fangs. The outer wall sported double doors carved with a hideous ghost face, eyes wild and face twisted into a grimace.

"Is that the center of the realm?" Hui asked.

Xue shrugged.

Before she could answer, a talisman flashed under her foot. She stepped away, startled, but too late. A beam of green light blasted into the sky.

Uhoh, Hui thought, stepping back. He dropped into a defensive pose and reached for his sword. "We should escape—"

Three flashes of green streaked toward them. Three cultivators rode identical disc-shaped shuttles, each one sporting the same face. Powered by a blue glow at their center, the magical vehicles propelled themselves and the cultivators under their own power, allowing cultivators under the fourth stage to fly.

Despite himself, Hui felt a tinge of jealousy. This world has shuttles? I want one!

In the space of a breath, the triplets reached them. They circled around Hui and Xue like vultures, staring down at them with greedy eyes.

“She’s here.”

“Found her.”

“Snow bunny!”

The three of them plunged, raising their hands toward one another. Gold light shimmered between them.

Hui jumped back, drawing his sword. The gold light passed over him, and he landed outside it in a puff of gray grit. Almost more concerned, he patted himself down. It didn't... hurt me?

Xue leaped back as well. She struck the golden light, and it repelled her. Back arching, Xue bounced to the floor. Her bound ankles tangled, and she fell to her knees.

The three identical cultivators stood at the corners of a triangular array. Shimmering light walls materialized between the three of them, rising into the heavens.

“Take that, bitch!”

“Trapped her.”

“Poor bunny.”

As menacingly as he could manage, Hui pointed his sword at the triplets. “Release her!”

The triplets glanced at him.

“The interloper?”

“We’ll kill you later. Scurry off now.”

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“Bye-bye.”

Xue scrambled to her feet. Gesturing, she summoned one white and one black fan from her sleeves and sliced at the wall with all her strength. A wave of ice smashed into the wall, to no avail. Ice shattered, unable to break the golden light.

What’s going on? Wasn’t she more powerful than them earlier? Hui wondered.

Xue threw another blast of ice at the wall, then another. The light stood strong, surface stable. Her brows furrowed.

The first triplet smirked. “It’s a yin-prison. Without yang energy, you can’t break out.”

“A Bai clan pure yin, how precious. Give in and become our furnace,” the second added.

The third triplet nodded at Hui. “As a member of the Bai clan, she should be able to swap between yin and yang. Instead, she’s stuck like this. Broken. We figured it out earlier after she didn’t use fire against the ghouls. It’s a loss for the ladies but a win for us.”

The first triplet glared at the third. “Shut up!”

“We agreed. Keep it simple!” the second added.

The third flipped the first two off.

Hui frowned. A furnace? Shit. I can’t leave Xue like this. He charged at the wall and slammed on it.

“It only lets pure yin in!”

“You’ll never get past it.”

“Yin in, yang out.”

Turning to the triplets, Hui charged at the closest and slashed. His sword deflected off a transparent wall of light around the back of the triplet. Shit, there's a second layer to their barrier! Damn it!

The triplets snickered.

“It’s useless.”

“Give up. You’re too weak.”

“Our bunny.”

Inside the prison, Xue put her back against the wall. She pushed her hair back and sucked a short breath, tense. Her eyes darted left and right, searching for an escape, finding none. “Hui, run. They’ve probably called help. You can’t beat them.”

Hui shook his head. I've read enough cultivation novels to know what a furnace is. I’m not leaving her to that fate. No one deserves to be treated like a piece of training equipment, especially not… like that! “No! Xue, there’s got to be something…”

“If I could swap to my yang form…” Xue shook her head. “We’re strangers, Hui. Run.”

“What do you need?” Hui asked, desperate. He put his hands on the barrier and shoved at it. It stood solidly under his hands, firm as steel.

“I need yang qi to swap,” she replied, pressing her hands against his.

“Stop dreaming.”

“Ha, good luck.”

Yawning, the third rolled out his shoulders. “I wanna let the barrier go and attack the little cultivator boy.”

The first two rounded on the third.

“No! Wait.”

“They’re almost here! We won’t be able to catch her with the same trick twice!”

“I could flick him to death! Foundation Building? Ugh! I let him go last time, but I didn’t expect him to be so annoying.” Despite that, the third settled down, steadily maintaining his corner of the barrier.

Yin in, yang out. I have both energies in my body--everyone does, but I haven’t cultivated them. I have no idea how to single that energy out, or what it feels like. Hui frowned. He pushed harder at the barrier. It remained steady under his hands, unwavering.

From behind the corner of the castle, two more green-robed cultivators jumped out.

“Hui, run! It’s too late! Don't die a pointless death for a stranger's sake,” Xue pleaded, a note of desperation in her voice. She shoved at the wall as though she could reach through and shove him away.

Yang out. But what if there’s no yang? No qi at all? Hui clamped down on his dantian, cutting off his qi. His body went limp. He toppled forward, through the barrier.

“W-what?” the triplets shouted in sync.

Hui released his hold. Qi rushed through him. The barrier began to expel him, but before it could, Xue caught his hands.

“Now! Push your qi into me!” she shouted.

Hui complied. As qi blasted through his veins, filling in the void where he’d killed it, he fed it into Xue. Reminds me of what I did to Chang Bolin, he thought, except this time his qi wasn’t rioting.

He felt Xue’s qi in return. Icy cold yin, as far as he could reach. Then, deep inside her, rushing up to meet him, a blast of yang, hot as fire.

Something flickered in the yang. Black. A thread of smoke. Hui frowned, focusing on it. That… could it be?

Xue’s grip tightened around his. Her hands grew larger, rougher. Muscle coiled up her delicate arms. Her white robes and long skirt turned black and simpler. White hair burned away to black. The same red eyes blazed at him; the same red accents lined her robes; the same red rope bound her ankles.

Hui blinked. Not her. His.

Xue smirked. As handsome as the female version had been beautiful, he tossed his hair and looked down on the cultivators around them.

“Feels good to be out,” he sighed.

He released Hui’s hands. Hui fell back, out of the barrier. He crumpled to the ground, drained. Ah! How much qi did he take?

Xue gave the barrier a casual, backhanded slap. The light shattered like glass. The triplets faltered and fell back as their technique, broken, backlashed. Gold light cut into them. The third screamed and clutched his head. He toppled to the floor, squirming.

Xue knelt and snatched Hui up, dangling him over his shoulder. He drew one of his fans and swept it at the onrushing cultivators.

A wave of fire burst out, rushing over the dusty earth. Undead in its path lit up like paper in a bonfire. The two cultivators fell back, darting out of the fire’s blast.

“Shit! I thought he couldn’t enter his yang form?”

“Who the hell said that? Gao Three, I hope you’re ready for death!”

Watching from high above, the female cultivator from before shook her head. “Serves you right, gutter-minded trash.”