Ithilix stepped forward and handed the woman in white her spear.

"Ah... another gift from treasured friends. Fine," said the woman.

Xue padded forward, stared directly into the woman in white's gray eyes, lifted one leg, and peed in the snow. Just barely missing the woman's shoes. Then, he turned around, kicked up some snow in her general direction, and walked back.

Pan Tian giggled and covered it with a cough.

"Yeah, you have no possessions you little hobo beast," said the woman in white, "Just be glad you missed my shoes or I'd be wearing your skin."

All eyes turned to Jie then and the woman in white smiled wider than she had before. A bloodthirsty, manic smile as though she were certain Jie would fail.

Jie swallowed hard. There were many things she had that she did not wish to part with... but there was one that stood above all the others. The thought of giving it away made a cold sweat break out over her body. She felt herself start shaking as she struggled to make herself take out the stone. But her hands would not respond.

"Jie? What's going on?" Pan Tian asked.

"Princess?" Ithilix asked, sounding equally worried.

Even Xue seemed concerned.

"It seems your friend has betrayed you," said the woman in white.

"I haven't," Jie said. Each word was a struggle to get out. "It's just... difficult," she said. She raised her trembling hand and something wet ran down her face. Crying over a stone... what's... wrong with me... she thought as she struggled to raise her hand.

Her friends looked at her, horrified. It hurt her heart almost as much as it ached to force herself to part from the stone.

"Jie... your eyes are bleeding," Pan Tian said.

Jie touched her face with her other hand and pulled it away... her porcelain fingers were stained red. Just like the snow when she'd killed the monster earlier. But, as easy as it was to touch her face... it felt like she was wrestling against chains as soon as she tried to use that hand to help the one she was trying to activate her storage ring with.

Just a stone. Just a stone. Just a stone. Just a stone. Just a stone... Jie repeated to herself. She didn't believe a single syllable, but it gave her something to focus on other than the gut-wrenching agony. Finally, her storage ring shimmered and the silver stone appeared in her grasp. She gripped it tight, like a vice, and pushed her hand forward to present it to the woman in white.

Her friends shrieked and the woman in white recoiled.

"Get it away! Get it away!" screamed the woman.

"You'll kill my friends if I do that," Jie snarled. Every word felt like metal shards cutting her throat and lips to force out.

Jie took a step toward the woman in white.

"No! I swear! Please! Get it away! Away! Far away!" screamed the woman in white. She stepped backward, her gray eyes wide with terror as she stared at the stone. But red energy snapped and crackled around her and sent her to her knees. She struggled against it, but couldn't leave the clearing.

"Your task is underway!" Roared a voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

"Please... please no... please..." said the woman in white, "I... I can't... please... please no..."

"Make a blood oath! Swear you won't harm me and my friends and I'll put it away!" Jie said. The words were a relief to say, though she still strained to hold out the stone in front of her, offering it to the woman.

The woman cut the palm of her hand without a moment's hesitation. "I, Lady Liandra swear on my life to never harm these four in any way as long as she gets that damned horror away from me!" she screamed.

The frozen garden turned red for a moment before returning to normal.

Jie stored the stone in her storage ring with a flick of her hand. Everyone stared at her.

"Jie! Your eyes are bleeding! What did you do to her!?" Pan Tian yelled as long claws of bright white qi formed from her nails.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"No!" Jie said, "it's not her. It's fine. We can go now."

"Go?" said Lady Liandra as she smirked, "aren't you forgetting something?"

"No," Jie said, "I'm not. But, you might be, Lady Liandra. If I were you... I'd return my friends' things and let it be. Tell whatever is keeping you here that we gave you the right items. Because we did. Or tried to anyway."

"Jie no! Please, I'll get you a new one! Whatever it is! She'll freeze us!" Pan Tian said.

"No," Jie said, "she won't."

"Cocky brat. You failed the test. I don't know what you thought you'd achieve by using my name. But, we can talk about that... forever," Lady Liandra said

Her aura fluctuated, bearing down on the clearing in an increasingly oppressive manner as Lady Liandra smiled sadistically and the temperature began to drop. Only to abruptly stop as Lady Liandra grasped the hand she'd cut to make the oath and stared at it incredulously.

"I told you," Jie said, "you made a blood oath. Just let us leave. It doesn't have to end this way."

"Don't try to trick me, little girl. If I'd made a blood oath, I'd know about it. I don't know what treasure you're using to do this to me, but I'll find out after I freeze you. Smile and make it a good one. You're going to be stuck with it forever," Lady Liandra said.

Power gathered around Lady Liandra once more as she gritted her teeth, her face twisted with agony. She coughed and blood spilled from her lips, spraying onto the white snow. Power continued to gather and she fell to her hands and knees.

"Please, don't do this," Jie said.

Lady Liandra glared defiantly at Jie as the temperature plummeted... the woman coughed violently, spewing out blood like vomit. Then, fell face-first into the blood-stained snow and lay still.

I really need to make sure I stick to my blood pact... Jie thought with a cold shiver.

"Wha... what?" Pan Tian said.

"This one does not understand either," Ithilix said.

Jie swallowed hard and her stomach turned. Her skin felt clammy and the world felt like it wasn't quite real as she stared at the woman... she'd tried to keep this from happening and if she hadn't made Liandra take that oath, they'd all be ice sculptures now... but it still made her feel sick. Jie suddenly found herself aching for a shower so she could scrub her skin clean even more than when they'd fought the plant monsters in the swamp.

"Jie... are you okay?" Pan Tian asked, "you look like you're going to hurl."

"I'm," Jie began, only to wrestle with a wave of nausea, "I'm okay. I'm fine. Can we... can we just go?"

"Sure..." Pan Tian said, "I'll just... search her body first. She's way more powerful than we are, so she might have some nice items. Maybe you should sit down for a moment?"

Jie sat on a garden bench in front of a beautifully trimmed hedge with a winged magical beast frozen on top of a pedestal. When they'd first entered the garden, she would've found it beautiful. Now, it only made her skin crawl all the more.

"We should probably hurry," Jie muttered, "I don't want to be here when these things start melting."

"This one agrees. Should we try to save the ones you saw, Pan Tian?" Ithilix asked.

"I'm... not sure. One of them is from the Chen family," Pan Tian said, "but... he wasn't that bad. Probably the nicest person in that entire, twisted family."

"So, we should try to save them then?" Jie asked. She kept looking away from the woman in white. She hadn't felt like this when Ming had killed those men for her... but she felt more directly responsible this time... and cursed herself for how sick it made her feel.

"If we can," Pan Tian said, "they're probably dead anyway."

"Then we can return their bodies and take their items," Ithilix said cheerfully.

Jie clamped one hand over her mouth to keep from retching.

"Sorry, pr--Jie," Ithilix said.

Pan Tian found a storage treasure and some other items that she said they could go through later. Jie trusted her and was glad to get away from the woman's body. Then, Pan Tian stored the woman's body in one of her storage rings. Apparently even the body parts of cultivators could be used for some items and arts. That sent fresh waves of nausea rushing through Jie.

Jie was all too glad to leave the small clearing within the garden and even more so that the entrance was getting closer. They found the students Pan Tian had identified before they'd tried to escape and studied them.

"Do we light a fire?" Jie asked.

"In here? What if it melted one of those magical beasts? And, I want to get out of here as soon as possible," Pan Tian said, "we'll store them in our rings and try and thaw them near the plaque or something."

They did exactly that and raced out of the garden and along the pathway they'd come down before entering the area with the statue and plaque.

They approached the statue and the stone head turned to regard them.

"Thrice you chose greed and thrice you emerged victorious. Even going so far as to kill my guardian," said the statue, "whether by luck or skill, clearly you're able to make good choices. Nurture this advantage on your path." The plaque at the base of the statue pulsed with red light and four red orbs shot out into them. Once again, Jie's skin itched.

"That's the second plaque done," Pan Tian said, "it's getting late. We should see if we can thaw the students from the garden and then find somewhere to cultivate to replenish our energy before continuing to the third plaque. We're making incredibly good time and have insane treasures, but I still want us to be the first to reach the dungeon... and what did you do to that woman, Jie?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Jie said.

Her friends looked at her expectantly while Xue licked his fur.

Jie sighed. "I showed her what I carry that I value most... that's what made my eyes bleed. And, it freaked her out so much she took a blood oath to keep it away... but it erases people's memory when they aren't looking at it," she said, "so... you and she forgot... and... I guess that killed her..."

Saying it made her head spin as bile threatened to work its way further up her throat.

"Um... well... I suppose that's not much weirder than anything else about you. It sounds like a scary treasure... I won't tell anyone about it. I promise," Pan Tian said.

"Neither will this one," Ithilix said, "though... this one would rather not take a blood oath for that right this moment..."

"I'd rather you don't," Jie said.

Ithilix looked relieved.

They took the frozen students out of their storage rings and studied them.

"So... how do we thaw them?" Jie asked.