The Sasin forest was as safe as it had been in their time there. It was far louder now than when the puppeteer’s heavy blanket of death lay upon the place. Birds had noticed a bounty of nest materials, the scattered bones finally becoming a part of the cycle of life. Light itself seemed to fall away, and with Dan’s new level of perception and skill, he could see that there was a physical cause to it.

The trees had bent, strained and been cut in places by the sharp, powerful threads of mana wrought by the puppetmaster. He saw as they seemed to be relieved of pressure, freeing the sunlight to breach to the forest floor. Miraculously, the battle had left Xiaomei, Hyun Soon and Dan fairly unscathed. It made their journey through the now peaceful woods far more pleasant than it may otherwise have been.

“So you think it was a… trick?” Hyun Soon asked Dan as they walked.

“It’s possible, right? It’s something my old master would have done.” Dan became more sure with every stride. The challenge was indeed the puppetmaster, and the threat of expulsion from the Guan family lands was just fire to ignite the students. Fanning the flame like a bellow, Park Man-Shik had been intensely fond of anything that seemed like a smithing metaphor. “It’s the simple answer, I think.”

“I think he’s right,” Xiaomei agreed, “this whole place had felt wrong.”

“And… Are you alright, Dan?” Their pace had slowed, now walking instead of running. Guan Fa Lian had left Dan’s range of perception but there wasn’t much they could do about that. While Dan may have been able to keep up with her, the other two had no chance. Xiaomei and Hyun Soon were capable, but the Guan heiress moved like a prodigy, eclipsing others in the triangle stage. Only Dan’s explosive jump to square stage put him on even ground. Why then, Dan wondered, was she still at the triangle stage?

“I think so,” though in truth, Dan wasn’t entirely sure, “I have some questions I need answering but…” He trailed off, holding up his soul badge which was no longer cracked, no longer had nebulas of power within. A clear, empty soul badge once more. Yet, now Dan saw potential instead of a roadblock. Etched by an unseen hand, the triangle it had previously shown upon it was now in the shape of a square.

Hyun Soon seemed happy enough with both Dan and Xiaomei doing more of the complicated thinking for him, so he smiled and increased his pace. With a sly look, he stuck a foot out to try and trip Dan.

At the speed they were going, a stumble might have been quite dangerous, but there was as much chance of Hyun Soon surprising Dan as the sun setting in the morning and rising at night. It couldn’t happen. Instead, Hyun Soon found himself tumbling headfirst, flipping over himself with an unintentionally graceful-looking spin. The large boy had monstrous strength, but it didn’t mean he was clumsy. He righted as he fell through the air and landed heavily, dispersing his weight with a low stance.

He looked at Dan, his eyes alight with playful amusement. Xiaomei sighed, but Dan could tell that there was a smile on her face. Dan felt a shift in the atmosphere. A huge weight seemed to disappear from the group with Hyun Soon’s prank. Now there was an energy which Dan was desperate to explore more. A friendly one.

With a flash of speed, he appeared before Hyun Soon. It was almost unfair how quickly Dan could move now. He was able to watch as he disappeared from his friend’s eyes, a quick dart to the left, and then Dan essentially jumped, horizontally, and within a heartbeat he had cleared the twenty or so yards between them. Dan sped over and before Hyun Soon could react, Dan shouted “Bang!”

The effect was far more amusing than Dan had expected. Hyun Soon leapt, as though instinct made his skeleton leap away before the rest of him was ready. He yelled in surprise and this time the fall was not graceful in the slightest. Dan was so surprised himself that he reacted with fear, sure that he had actually hurt Hyun Soon.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

A peal of crystalline happiness flowed through the glade. Xiaomei began laughing harder and harder, until she was doubled over. “It’s not that funny,” grumbled Hyun Soon, but quickly all three were in tears, howling at each other. Every time they seemed to reach the end of their fit, someone would make eye contact with one of the others and set the whole thing going from start again.

“Please, I’m dying,” Dan moaned, clutching his aching stomach muscles. Of course, that brought only more raucous laughter and suddenly the process was repeated. Only when any threat of laughter caused actual anger, the pain overweighing the amusement, did they manage to stop. As though they had just battled the puppetmaster all over again, the three had collapsed into panting and exhausted heaps. After the echoing laughter, the increased sounds of birds and other wildlife, Dan could see the forest healing in real time.

“I needed that,” Hyun Soon said, a smile in his voice.

“Absolutely. Why is this place so serious all the time?” Xiaomei agreed.

“Well, it’s a forest of death. The Sasin were a clan of violent poisoners, right?” Dan had heard about them, but considering their only legacy was the trees around their group, there wasn’t much to learn.

“I meant the Jiaoduo, Dan.” Hyun Soon was nodding seriously, clearly he’d understood Xiaomei’s meaning quicker. “It’s like a noble court or something,” she said before scoffing as herself, “I’m related to the patriarch, of course the Jiaoduo feels like a royal harem of gossip.”

Dan had not been privy to the gossip. Long ago he had decided that he could not let himself be drawn into things like that or he would lose himself constantly listening to the conversations of others. “Is it that bad?” The girl’s scrunched eyes and sudden desire to start moving again were answers enough but she replied.

“It’s horrible. All the girls do is pick on each other. On me,” Her voice was beginning to sound sore, “I’ve had my hair cut before, I’ve had milk poured on me. They even bother you when you sleep. There’s so many branch families all on top of each other that you never know who’s being told to do what by who, whether someone is your friend or just trying to use your connections.” She seemed to have a million more things to say, all fighting to get out at once so that none of them could. Instead she just let loose a small scream of rage.

Dan and Hyun Soon exchanged a worried glance, both boys completely unequipped to deal with the intrigue and plight of a teenage girl. Wary of the dangerous territory they were now treading upon, the two were happy to try and find the trail again so that they could leave the forest. It somehow felt more dangerous now than it had when the puppetmaster lay at its centre. Xiaomei fell into step with them, her face noticeably blushed when Dan chanced a glance her way. He decided, wisely, to keep his thoughts on something else for now.

Such as why the test had been set up this way. Surely the plan hadn’t been for four unready students to defeat the monster, had it? Was there another layer to this that Dan couldn’t see? He hadn’t put much thought into it before, but Xiaomei had mentioned that the Jiaoduo was something of a nest of vipers. It was possible that there was more intent behind the danger they had just faced than they knew.

There wasn’t enough information to go on, or path to travel to think about it, Dan realised, as the trees began to thin. After two days and nights, long and tiring, they burst from the Sasin forest beaten, exhausted and victorious.

To a situation that was definitely going to make them even more tired. Arrayed before them, on the field they crossed to enter the forest, was a collection of the most influential figures in the Guan family. Stood in a scattered, chaotic group. With weapons drawn. Dan recognised Guan Po Shang, the elder who had struck him when he had looked at elder Baba. A spear in his hand, the air around him was alight with strange green refractions of light. The spear was pointed at the aforementioned elder Baba, who in turn had her foot on the neck of the teacher who had sent them into the forest. A very confused and worried looking Guan Fa Lian stood looking as meek as Dan had ever seen her.

As they breached the treeline, Dan winced. He hadn’t been sending his perception forward, and as such hadn’t seen the massive gathering of power in the field before them. If he had seen the supernovas of energy waiting here, he would have at least warned Hyun Soon and Xiaomei what they might be walking into. Not that Dan had any idea himself.

“I’m within my rights,” the teacher on the floor said, quite an impressive feat given the slipped on her throat, “to craft any challenge I like for my test.” She seemed to be spitting the words at elder Baba, who replied in kind.

“And I told you, that I am within my rights to kill you for trying to harm my student.” Elder Baba jumped away from the woman planted on the ground, using only her other leg so as not to actually snap the teacher’s neck. “Underhanded tricks are common for a Po, it seems.”

“Enough.” Guan Po Shang was still pointing the spear at Elder Baba, his mana slicing the air apart into sickly green shards of light. “Please, mother.” His plea was so quiet, Dan nearly didn’t hear it. Elder Baba was Guan Po Shang’s mother? That meant… The mother of the patriarch? Dan nearly had a heart attack, he was sure, but he managed to survive. “As you can see, your student is fine. We can settle this with a Quiet Combat.” The way he said the words made it feel like the name of a thing, rather than simply a description of events.

There were a good few moments of silence after that. A silence that was only broken after many pointed glances and smiles at Dan from elder Baba.

“Me?!” Dan asked. Instead of an answer, all Dan received was the embrace of unconsciousness. In that flash of an instant, he saw elder Baba sigh and nod slightly before Guan Po Shang struck.