It was a hazy, hazy world.

Now, the sky was supposed to be clear; it always was except when sandstorms and sandsurges arose. But it wasn’t. There was the distinct scarlet of a life’s pillar of support dying above, and instead of clouds were floating masses of raindrops. Instead of the deep blue was a blurry scarlet, observable by him only.

That’s blood, isn’t it? He realized, and coughed a mouthful of blood. His head had to face the ground to not drown, so he turned sideways; his nose plowed through the mould of sand under him. Now the blurry scarlet disappeared and a light yellow came into his sight. Even then, it wasn’t clear.

From the corner of his half-bloody left eye, he saw the landscape; sandy hills, sandy plains, sandy mountains, sandy pits, sandy ridges, sandy valleys, sandy cliffs. It was all sand, and some even couldn’t be called pits and ridges and cliffs, for nothing but sand existed. Desolate, he thought, and closed his eyes. Desert was not a picturesque existence, it couldn’t be. It would tarnish and starve its residents, send storms upon their way and prey upon them, and force them to submit to its burning winds.

I’ll die...now?

A sliver of his eyelids moved away from each other; his gaze wandered off to another sandy hill not far from him.

And I was going to win, too...pity...

A shadow walked and walked, with stomps as heavy as a pair of oxen. If not for the sand escaping in large swaths from the figure’s steps, it wouldn’t be easy to notice.

Now the figure was near, and the following instant was next to him; crouching in front of his face it spoke.

‘’If I save you, may I borrow this cloth?’’ The figure tugged at his Chief robes- those he won after killing two companies of Shuangguang auxiliary.

Go on...pilgrim... He tried to nod, and tried to speak, and as expected none happened. Only his eyes had a gleam pass through them once, then twice, and the figure itself nodded.

‘’Alright then, thank you.’’ The figure raised its hands and waved them towards his head; a large, oval red Qi coagulated in front of him. Its edge shone with a dangerous light.

Ahh...I was deceived... He thought before his mind went blank.

*********

‘’Thank you-’’ Xie’e muttered and plucked the loose cloth over the unconscious man’s body. It seemed like a robe at first; and it indeed could be a robe. But associating this large, wrinkly, loose-waisted, and tight-sleeved robes with those he wore proved a little bit difficult.

My leather robes were different from the sect’s, too. He smiled.

Xie’e slipped his hands into the loose robe, threw the veils over his shoulders, and revolved them around his waist like a belt once. As it tightened, Xie’e pulled the cloth up and connected it at his shoulder; With one last motion, the veil covered his empty neck like a cloak.

The few grains of sand left from the owner himself slipped into his chest- though it bothered him not much after walking a few hours in this reddish-yellow landscape.

Should I give him some water? Xie’e gazed down at the man. He was floating on a piece of mirror-like surface, made out of concentrated Earth and Fire Qi. There were no visible wounds on his body except a small gash above his brows; a horizontal cut that started from his left ear and went to the right brow’s edge. There was the usual crimson as always, but in its company was also a tint of greenish-purple liquid.

Poison, Xie’e frowned, though I don’t know if its potent or not. He crouched on the flaming hot sand to inspect the man; his feet sunk a few centimeters into the ground.

He knew it was poison; one half out of expertise he gained from Quan’s imparted knowledge at Yadratafos and his books, the other half from Meng Liu’s extensive talks about Spectral Manuals and Poison Manuals.

Shamo has four provinces: Bashkend has three state manuals; Kuhzey, Ghuneit, and Bahıt has two state manuals. Which one was it...Ghuneit Province’s Scorpion Manual?

There were two official state manuals dictating the use of poison he knew: Shamo Khanate’s Ghuneit Province’s Scorpion Manual and Shaowei Empire’s Hu region’s Tiger Tongue manual. Former dwelled more on poison useful in warfare: simply put massacre, assasination, and sabotaging while the latter focused on self-defence and ambush types.

This is superficial knowledge though...so it doesn’t have any guarantee. It might not be foundational manual, or even could be some secret cult or group’s own Scripture as well. That would complicate the situation, but Xie’e couldn’t be bothered about the background of this man, or others who attacked him.

To leave someone to die in a desert was either of the two: They were confident of the poison’s potency or they were confident of the desert’s brutality. Both weren’t that much of a preferable scenario for the victim, but it was to Xie’e; this meant he wouldn’t be affected by anything related.

Xie’e was pondering while he willed the surrounding Qi to gather around him. With a tensing of his muscles around chin and cheeks, the feeling of a burnt finger drilled into his mind; it passed through his head into his shoulders and torso, to his arms and waist, and at last to his legs and feet. But the feeling was the fiercest at the tip of his right index and middle fingers.

Reminiscent of a volcano erupting, the invisible and intangible scarlet Qi started coagulating between two fingers into the shape of a half-sphere: a Versatile Barrier as large as his nails. The more corporeal the barrier turned, the ambient Qi lessened in that amount; Then it was refilled by the ambient Qi again in the same millisecond.

Raising the burning half-sphere to the man’s forehead, Xie’e put it near the dried purplish-green blood and placed it right on the man’s black forehead. The contact sent a faint sizzling, and Xie’e willed the sphere to close its other half. While the other half started to materialize, his fingers retreated afar.

Xie’e gazed at the Versatile Barrier to inspect the piece of purplish-green blood.

I’m not some expert...but most can be resolved by burning, was it? He willed again, his head muscles tightened, and with a poof an ember appeared inside the Versatile Barrier.

The moment of contact between the ember and the blood, a gleam shone off the purplish-green blood and it evaporated into a two-colored mist: Green and purple. As they rose into the air, the barrier’s surface clashed with both to halt their advance. It failed to contain the duo, though, and the mists pierced through the barrier; they disappeared into thin air with no more sound.

Then I won’t attempt, Xie’e sighed and stood up.

Giving him water now might not bring any benefit, so I’ll leave it at that. He cast a glance at the round piece of rock he carved from the cave, hung on a stone belt around his waist now covered under the loose robe. It was half-filled, for walking several hours in the desert with no direction caused him great fatigue as well. He wouldn’t mind giving a little sip if it could help the man awaken; then, after all, he would have a direction to go and learn about his home.

Thereon, perhaps, he would seek the Guild Of Explorers for Quan’s whereabouts.

Xie’e nodded to himself and waved his hand. The mirror levitating the wounded man rose halfway through his waist and followed behind him. With his wounded state, it might burden him quite a bit to get this fellow trailing behind, but without him Xie’e would suffer in the long-run no lesser.

So he made his way through the desert, under the glaring sun and fierce winds of the burning hills.

To find his path, and to find a cure.

*********

‘’Aaah!...I am still alive?’’

When he took a breath in and the Sun descended on him with its wild lights, a voice in his front responded.

‘’Alive, indeed, but not fine,’’ He raised his head alone; it felt quite prickly throughout his whole lower body after all. Without the support of his waist, he couldn’t raise himself up to face his now...supposed benefactor.

‘’I can see that,’’ He said, replying to the man carrying him. While not on his shoulders, he was lying on a flaming hot something. It looked quite dull in color, also red, and smooth. If his already weary back wasn’t getting boiled between the desert winds and the thing he laid on, he might have rolled around to relax.

‘’Can you?’’ The voice stopped, and he halted mid-air.

‘’...I can feel it,’’ he snorted.

‘’Hehe,’’ The man giggled and came closer to him. ‘’I thought you wouldn’t wake up this soon.’’

‘’Why is that?’’

‘’Well, because you were poisoned?’’ The man took a few steps towards him and his unconcentrated gaze focused on the man.

Now, that was no man. It was a shady looking youth; with half sand-woven blackish hair and donned in patches of different clothing. One at his top, he recognized it as his own. The bottom didn’t look like something they wore around Holy Desert, so he thought of the Shuangguang’s officials he met. They had some differences but still, it wasn’t that unfamiliar.

‘’Was I?’’ He asked and looked at his own torso. There was another robe over him laid without much care- not his, of course, as it was now worn by the shady youth, but also familiar; the tight white robe of a Tribal Cavalry. They would wear these under scale armors.

‘’You were,’’ the shady youth said, ‘’And that-’’ he pointed at the blood stains near the neck of the cavalry robe, ‘’I found on another corpse, don’t worry.’’

‘’Another?’’

‘’...well, you aren’t the only person I met along the way,’’ Shady youth smiled, ‘’But you are the sole living one.’’

Who were they, then? We were going through Batıh Oasis to scout the Ghuneit Elder’s lack of re-...my company, is it? Now that he thought of it, that was the most probable. Armistice was signed for only a few days when he approached the Region Passage through Batıh to Ghuneit. It wouldn’t be rational for the Ghuneit Elder’s men to give up their plot with how disconnected they tended to be amidst the mission.

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Or Ghuneit would be content with my death? Being this lofty is hard.

‘’Are you done contemplating?’’ Shady youth asked. He cast an inspecting glance at him, but the youth didn’t show any response.

‘’...Thank you for the help,’’ He said.

‘’Don’t worry, I was paid with fabric and sand,’’ The youth smiled and waved his hand down; the platform carrying him floated down and sank into the hot sand. ‘’Now, let’s talk about a few things.’’

*********

Xie’e sat down in front of the mysterious man and started collecting his thoughts. His first priority was to find where he could go, and from there how to locate a branch of the Guild Of Explorers. They were supposed to be available through most of the towns but Shamo wasn’t that much of a welcoming place to the foreigners- even to the sect. So that came as the first.

Second was the source he wanted to uncover the information: this man, and the poison in his body. Contrary to his expectations, this poison didn’t seem to be fatal- though it showed signs of corrosive elements- rather more weary and weakening type.

But strong enough to have him die faster than starvation in desert. Why didn’t they bleed him to death anyway? That would be much faster and efficient. One shouldn’t have to worry about blood or body trails in the desert, right?

Is there a way of tracking that I don’t know?

Xie’e crossed his legs to shake off some sand over the skin and pulled the man up to sit as well. They looked at each other, one long nose facing a smaller one, and Xie’e spoke first.

‘’For first, may I get your name?’’

‘’Ah Li,’’ The man replied, ‘’And yours?’’

‘’...Xie’e,’’ He said, ‘’Now, I have some questions for you, if you don’t have any memory loss.’’

‘’Go on,’’ Ah Li waved his hand as to motion.

‘’Where are we now?’’ That, after all, was what he cared the most right now.

‘’Hmm, it shouldn’t be that far from Shagang; and if I remember right the border with Shaowei is at most a few dozen kilometers away from there.’’

Xie’e looked at the man without a word.

‘’...what?’’ Ah Li raised a brow.

‘’That is not helpful at all!’’

Ah Li raised his other brow in response to the yell, composed. ‘’By any chance...are you from one of those tribes?’’

‘’Those?’’ Xie’e scratched his chin in frustration whilst urging him to talk.

‘’Those...diviner lunat- prophets’ tribes.’’

Of course not! Xie’e narrowed his eyes to slits; he found it helpful when focusing on things he ponder over. But does it change anything? Lunatics, he almost said, and he now has a grasp of my background- at least the part that I know not much.

I can’t remember every inch and province of a map, it is not my fault to not know...

‘’I understand,’’ Ah Li spoke after his prolonged silence. ‘’Be at ease, I won’t ask more. But in the case you want to escape far from your tribe, we must hurry.’’

‘’...indeed,’’ Xie’e nodded, ‘’But to where?’’ And why did he assume I was a fugitive?

‘’Do you have any Sun Calculator on you? You must have stolen one if you managed to escape for so long,’’ The time Ah Li assumed, Xie’e thought, must be because of the period he took the man with him in the desert. Indeed, the desert was a treacherous environment and without the support of some equipment or life supplies, it was harsher to keep on moving. But of course he didn’t have that Sun Calculator Ah Li talked about. He preserved all this way with water and Qi enchanting his wounded feet.

What way? I don’t even know where I am...and my back hurts. Xie’e sighed.

‘’Why dissatisfied, benefactor?’’ Ah Li asked. His brown eyes had a glint pass through them at Xie’e’s lack of response. ‘’...no’’ he muttered, ‘’You did not?!’’

‘’Why are you angry at me?’’ Xie’e said, his brows furrowed as well. ‘’And aren’t I the one who saved you?’’

‘’Saved? I paid you with my Chief Robe damned lunatic!’’ Ah Li said. ‘’That is worth at least three hundred soulstones! And is this what you call saving, benefactor? I don’t want to get buried alive with insects in a mud pit because some fugitive decided to flee his tribe-’’

‘’I-’’ He cut off Ah Li’s speech at its end,’’-AM. NOT. FROM,’’ Xie’e pressed each word with a gnashing teeth, ‘’A. DAMN. TRIBE!’’

‘’...you are not?’’ Ah Li looked at him with his tongue open in the air. Sand drifted in his mouth whilst it invited the hot winds in, so he came back to reality while spitting the grains in his throat.

‘’I am not-’’ Xie’e said. He didn’t know why he was so infuriated at Ah Li’s response yet his tone incensed Xie’e’s heart ablaze for a moment. In the next second, he calmed down and started pondering.

It is not right to just tell ‘’Well, I’m not from here at all, I come from a forest far faraway!’’ And it isn’t...why do I even need to explain myself to him, at all? Xie’e raised his head, his hand scratching his chin, and looked at Ah Li. And does he need to as well? Isn’t what I want a known general direction?

His well-being isn’t my concern further than what I want from him- Xie’e tilted his chin, it seemed his subconsciousness approved of the train of thought. And in his case, I am no more important than his life. Reaching a safe place is both of our goals; it is just that we need each other.

But their needs were on different scales.

As long as I can find anyone with some knowledge of the land, I can achieve what I want. Yet in his case, he is dependent on me alone for now. The robe of his- Xie’e stroked the sleeves of the robe on him. He said it is worth quite a lot; three hundred is no small number. He must have quite the background, or a wealthy one. He can buy his way out of a predicament if I leave him anyway...

But! Xie’e met the brown eyes of Ah Li and smiled at him; Ah Li made the same, though it was one of defeat. And the lack of words between showed Ah Li was also pondering before that. What he thought, and its extent, however, wasn’t known to Xie’e.

It is not only friends who might recognize him.

Nevertheless, that was what he and Ah Li needed to know at the moment.

‘’Then, benefactor, how do you expect me to know the way?’’ Ah Li’s smile turned into one of the shrewd old man; he was not an old man in any way.

Xie’e, for response, didn’t utter any word in his defeat.

*********

They departed to the unknown a minute after, with Ah Li smiling all the time and Xie’e sighing to himself.

The first few minutes passed quite quiet between the both, it was no longer than three or four hours they met after all. But Ah Li seemed to get bored after his initial silence and tried to strike a conversation.

‘’How did you shape those?’’ Ah Li pointed at the stone belt and stone gourds around his waist. ‘’They look quite smooth as well.’’

‘’With the thing you are riding on,’’ Xie’e said. ‘’But smaller and sharper.’’

‘’Won’t this drain you of your Qi fast, benefactor? You must preserve as much energy as possible in case of an ambush or sandsurge.’’

‘’It won’t,’’ Xie’e said. At least revealing this won’t hurt. ‘’I am crippled anyway.’’

‘’...are you sure you aren’t from one of those tribes?’’

What are those tribes anyway!? He wanted to ask of course, but he didn’t want to give more hints about his background. And if I’m not wrong, the tensions between Shamo and Shuangguang should be high. If he thinks I am a kind of spy, I’ll be in some bad situation.

‘’Do you want me to prove it?’’ Xie’e turned around, his right foot half stepping on a sand hill overshadowing them.

‘’Sure,’’ Ah Li said, ‘’Just let me see your balls, if there is any.’’

‘’...’’

‘’What’s wrong, benefactor? Are you unwilling?’’ Ah Li showed the trace of a smile.

‘’We were near the border with Shaowei you said,’’ Xie’e turned back and started scaling the sandy hill, speaking without facing Ah Li. ‘’Is there anything worthwhile we need to be aware of?’’

‘’I’ll get my response,’’ Ah Li said before answering. ‘’Perhaps the disciples of the evil sects, but for the most the Avengers.’’

‘’Avengers?’’ Xie’e found the name quite familiar- it was a term acquainted to all with a little bit of knowledge about how warfare worked in the Northern Continent. ‘’I don’t remember any big slaughter happening near here though.’’

‘’Most atrocities have a history of remaining hidden, benefactor,’’ Ah Li muttered, ‘’And are never corrected.’’

Xie’e took his last step over the sandhill and reached to the top; a flurry of sand surged down to the bottom under his feet. He could see the Sun halfway down the horizon- within a few hours it would be nighttime. In the presence of the endless sand drifting to the endless desert beyond, he chose not to comment on Ah Li’s words.

‘’How safe it is in the night?’’ He asked outright. Knowledge was, after all, knowledge. He knew what the dangers were to some extent but some extent wasn’t enough to get by.

‘’If we are still near where I’m assuming to be: in mortal danger,’’ Ah Li said. ‘’There are no insects or desert spiders and foxes near Ghuneit, yet scorpions abound in the place. Venomous ones are the most, some serpents appear as well. A few even burrow underground like a worm, but they are not real worms. They can’t stay under sand for too long.’’

‘’Then,’’ Xie’e stopped for a moment to think. The sunlight escaped from his silhouette and lighted up Ah Li’s face. ‘’Will I be able to take care of you?’’

‘’It depends on your prowess,’’ Ah Li said. ‘’And my own. This poison is not one to kill, it is to weaken. There are of course limits to it, but the affliction should last no longer than three days.’’

‘’And how long have you been in this state?’’

‘’At most a day when you found me, at earliest some five or six hours.’’

So it is either a day and a half he needs, or two days.

‘’...can I trust you, Ah Li?’’ Xie’e glanced back at the man, into his brown eyes flickering with amusement.

‘’I assure you, benefactor, you will be the burden once I regain my cultivation.’’

‘’Then it is good!’’ Xie’e laughed. ‘’I need a strong guide as well.’’

Ah Li smiled at the response, it had no underlying tones for the moment. Xie’e, however, didn’t probe further. He took a step forward to where he faced and started sliding down the hill of sand. Ah Li followed behind, sitting tight on the reddish platform with eyes quite inexplicable.

And so the day passed and sun set; the moon rose in front of them with a quarter of its body: a silver waning crescent.

Ah Li looked at the sky for a moment and he spat on the sand they were traveling.

‘’Fuck this!’’

*********

‘’Fuck what?’’

‘’That-’’ Ah Li pointed upward to the moon...smiling at them?

‘’That’s creepy,’’ Xie’e said; he squinted and made a quick set of seals to veil his eyes in a reddish Qi cloak. His gaze now saw not the sand, but the huge storm of reddish Fire Qi spiraling up in whirlwinds of brown Earth Qi.

But the moon was the same. At the lower part of the crescent was a huge, yellow gash shaped like lips; the moon’s lips curled up and from a golden circle at the top of the crescent it gazed down.

‘’...Ah Li, explain.’’ Xie’e thought of a name Hao Tou mentioned beforehand: Cruel Crescent.

‘’I forgot we were near the crescent week...’’ Ah Li muttered and raised his head to look at Xie’e. ‘’It is, in fact, not that different from normal desert nights except a few Scorpion Kings and Serpent Queens submerging...’’

‘’And?’’

‘’And perhaps...a little bit of poisonous smoke...?’’

‘’Alright, I’m leaving!’’ Xie’e took a step forward.

‘’Wait, benefactor! It isn’t that dangerous!’’ Ah Li pulled Xie’e’s robe from the sleeve, ‘’Let’s just lay low- or stop. There should be caves surfacing as well throughout the night. We can go into one to shelter for the meantime.’’

‘’That is, if we can find it.’’ Ah Li added.

‘’...I’m also joking,’’ Xie’e sighed. As he looked at the horizon, however, he couldn’t help but blink. ‘’Hey, Ah Li,’’ He said and gazed up into the sky.

‘’Why is the conversion rate so high?’’ The reddish and brown Qi’s of the earth shone with a silver luster under the silver moon; from the center of the specks of Qi a white-gold brilliance shone and started devouring the Fire and Earth Qi.

‘’It is normal in Cruel Crescent time,’’ Ah Li said, ‘’And are you really not from those tribes?’’

‘’Can you stop doubting me?’’ Xie’e waved his hands and the red veil on his eyes disappeared. Now the sand, and the sand, and more sand came into his vision. And from the look of it, they not only came into his sights, but were coming towards him as well. The growing cloud of sand trampled down hills and pits of sand in its way.

‘’Ah, bottom of my ancestors, why is your luck so bad?’’ Ah Li also noticed the rising tsunami of sand grains surging towards them. The howling wind pressed on their long hairs so as to greet the two men.

‘’It is your luck that’s bad,’’ Xie’e said.

Or it could be mine...

‘’Benefactor, let’s run back. The sandsurge should die in a few minutes.’’

‘’Will they stop, though?’’ Xie’e raised his index finger to the inside of the sandsurge. Ah Li glanced inside, his dry lips shut tight.

‘’My dumb, damned ancestors!’’

From within the sandsurge, shadows of a group of scorpions heralded their arrival with sharp cries.