The ancestral shrine wasn’t guarded when they got there. The air was colder the moment they reached the doors and the lingering incense smell wafted through them. There were only two white lanterns hanging outside of the doors.

Lu Na couldn’t help shivering.

“Amituofo, I can already feel the ghost’s presence from here,” Hen Li said. “Remember to keep reciting the heart sutra.”

Lu Na nodded. She tried to think about the heart sutra but couldn’t remember the first phrase. All she could think about was how cold it was.

“Avalokiteshvara,” Hen Li recited in a slow, drawn out word. He opened the door and stepped in, leading with his staff. The light ward gleamed, illuminating the entire room.

Lu Na repeated the phrase and instantly felt calmer. She hadn’t realized her whole body was tense. As she continued the heart sutra, her shoulders relaxed and her knees stopped locking up. She could walk in.

Hen Li led the way with his slow, continual recitation of the heart sutra. This was the first time Lu Na heard him recite it aloud and so slowly. It sounded like a mix between singing and chanting.

They walked past the meeting area they were in earlier with the village leader. They reached the inner part where the memorial tablets lined in rows that reached the ceiling. On the right was where the hidden compartment was.

Sun Ren’s unconscious body was just past the threshold.

Lu Na wanted to run to her, but Hen Li barred her way with the staff. He recited the sutra louder.

A wave of nausea hit Lu Na. That’s right, she had stopped reciting. She closed her eyes and forced the next phrase of the heart sutra out. It took a few minutes before the nausea went away and she could open her eyes.

Hen Li had walked forward over Sun Ren into the secret chamber. The light ward dimmed. Lu Na followed.

Hen Li had stopped and kept reciting the heart sutra.

In front of him was Sun Ren’s Baihu. But it wasn’t the usual cute white fox pup that Lu Na had seen before. It was a large fox with nine tails. Every tail was striking at some invisible enemy. Their tips lit up every time it touched it. It reminded Lu Na of her spirit wall.

Lu Na reached into her chest pocket and took out a spirit wall ward. She activated it and threw it past Baihu. An invisible spirit wall sprang up in front of the spirit.

Baihu turned toward Lu Na, her fangs bared.

That look almost made Lu Na stop reciting, but she kept pushing the words out of her mouth. More importantly, she took a deep breath between each phrase, calming her mind. She got down onto her knees and beckoned Baihu to come over.

Baihu closed her mouth and padded over to Lu Na.

Now that she was so close, Lu Na realized how big Sun Ren’s spirit was. If it wanted to, it could rip her throat out and disappear into the night. But it didn’t.

Baihu nuzzled against Lu Na’s hand before padding over to Sun Ren. She laid down over her.

Hen Li walked past them both. The light ward fizzled out the moment it touched the spirit wall, plunging the entire place into darkness. Only the occasional spark from the spirit wall made any light.

Lu Na knew she should have pulled out another light ward, but she couldn’t. The icy embrace from before was threatening to overwhelm her if she did anything but recite the heart sutra. Right behind her, she heard Baihu snarling.

The only thing Lu Na could hope for was that if Baihu attacked, she wouldn’t strike her instead.

Hen Li stopped reciting the heart sutra. Instead, there was a groan and the sound of the staff clattering to the floor.

What was Lu Na to do now? She couldn’t sit there reciting the heart sutra forever. But the thought of doing anything else was sapping all her energy.

“Why is it suddenly so cold?” Nugua said. There was a slight shiver in her chest.

Nugua! Maybe her spirit could help her somehow. She’s an ancient spirit that dealt with many things. Maybe she could tell Lu Na how to get out of this.

“Oh, it’s a ghost. A very strong one. Ooh, a furious one. Well, good luck. I’m going back to sleep.”

Lu Na almost stopped reciting from the outrage. What did Nugua mean she was going back to sleep? Didn’t she promise Lu Na’s mother that she would help her?

These racing thoughts stressed Lu Na out and she felt the cold seeping into her body, making it harder to keep awake.

No, she couldn’t depend on Nugua. She couldn’t keep depending on others to get her out of every situation.

Lu Na focused her breath and her recitation of the heart sutra. She had to start over but it calmed her instantly. It wasn’t long before she felt normal again.

“Oh, you must be the one that threw that Buddhist talisman at me.” It was a hollow sounding voice, as if the person wasn’t all there. A cold rush of air came closer to Lu Na. “I hope you can do better than the other two, or I’ll devour all your life essence for disturbing my rest.”

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Lu Na wanted to ask what it meant, but didn’t dare stop reciting.

“I’m a ghost, trapped here to protect this village’s relic,” the hollow voice continued. “It took some skill and power for you to find it, but your summoner arts are nothing in my domain.”

A face with long hair, pale skin, and large bulging eyes appeared before Lu Na. An eerie light came off its face.

Lu Na skipped a phrase, but kept reciting the heart sutra. She felt her heart pounding in her chest. What the hell was that? She closed her eyes and focused on breathing. She recited the words of the heart sutra as slowly as she could.

“Oh, you’re stronger than that first woman. She fainted when she saw my face,” the ghost said. “It’s understandable, since she’s killed so many people. Ghosts probably follow her everywhere she goes. I just showed her we’re real.”

Lu Na felt cold air moving past her. She forced her eyes open to see the ghost trying to go past her. She put her body in its path to prevent it from reaching Sun Ren or Baihu.

“Trying to save your friend?” The ghost smiled, his lips stretching wide across his face. “If it wasn’t for that silly fox spirit, I would have eaten her already and started on that fake monk. But since you want to play, I can play with you a little. It will be hours before morning, anyway.”

The ghost came back around to face Lu Na. He tilted his head aside and raised his fingers toward her face. They were thick white noodles with a long black fingernail on each one. It was like he forgot to cut his nails for a long time.

“Do you know how I became the ghost that protects this relic? I created this relic. Oh yes. I found a piece of old Xia technology that was near the labyrinth and figured out how to not only make it work but also improve it. I made it better than what the old Xia inventors could do. And you know what my own village leader did after they found out?”

Lu Na could only stare at the ghost and recite. She didn’t dare answer, in case that’s how he attacked Hen Li when he stopped reciting.

“They took it from me, locked it in this room, and buried me alive beneath it! So every time any villager stupid enough tries to look in here, I devour their life essence. Spirits aren’t the only ones that can do that.”

The ghost circled around Lu Na once. He reached into her chest pocket and jerked his hands back.

“You’re just like the old Xia inventors with their inventions on you. You also have the same key I found all those years ago. Except mine is better. It can open more doors than your key can. Do you want it?”

Lu Na risked nodding her head.

“Then all you have to do is let me devour the life essence of that fake monk and the woman behind you. All you have to do is turn around and walk out of here. I even promise to not attack you.”

The strong lethargy Lu Na felt lifted. She could think more clearly and move now. But she wasn’t stupid to stop reciting the heart sutra. This was her one chance to save them all. There was no way she was going to let the ghost devour Hen Li or Sun Ren.

The only option Lu Na had was the light ward within her chest pocket. She realized that Hen Li only got attacked after the light ward fizzled out. Maybe she could use that to buy her some more time before pulling Sun Ren and Hen Li out.

It didn’t seem like the ghost was going to allow Lu Na to run for help. At the moment, it seemed like it would rather go for easy prey it’s already knocked out than try to tire her out.

Lu Na sneezed. The incense finally got to her. It was more concentrated here. With the next sneeze, she took out the light ward and activated it. A blazing light shone in the extreme darkness.

Lu Na had to close her own eyes for fear of blinding herself.

“Ooh, you naughty girl,” the ghost said, its hollow voice sounding much closer. “You might have turned on that light, but you forgot to keep reciting that heart sutra. Now I’ll show you why that monk screamed at the end.”

The entire landscape shifted, making Lu Na feel like she was rolling down a hill. Despite her light ward activating, the darkness wrapped around her like a heavy jacket. All she could do was tuck herself in preventing injury as she kept rolling.

It didn’t take long before she stopped. The wind was blowing against her face. She opened her eyes.

No, it can’t be.

Lu Na was standing on that cliff at the Wintersweet Sect. The Wintersweet ancestor was pulling her in with his disgusting tongue. He had yellow skin and beady eyes.

Lu Na scrambled away as fast as she could on the ground. She kicked with all her might, but nothing was happening. She reached in to grab her wards, but none of them activated. No matter how many times she pushed them, ripped them, twisted them, untied them, nothing worked. All the yellow papers flew from her hand after a powerful gust.

“Come here, brat!” the ancestor said.

No, she would not be eaten by this man. There was something wrong with this situation, but Lu Na couldn’t think. She spent all her energy pulling away as hard as she could. She grabbed the grass on the ground, then stones, anything to stop her from entering the disgusting mouth of the ancestor.

A phoenix screech pierced the night.

Lu Na was saved. She remembered her mother’s spirit and her call. That’s how she was saved the last time. The spirit came and with a little help from her; they could defeat the ancestor.

Lu Na reached into her chest pocket and pulled out her spirit wand. She waved it in front of her and tried to focus on pulling the spirit energy again from the ancestor. A small little wave of spirit energy flowed to her wand.

Yes, this was it. This was how she would defeat the ancestor again. Only another realization hit her.

The phoenix spirit was nowhere near her.

Lu Na looked around and it wasn’t until it screeched again did she look up to the sky.

The phoenix spirit was flying away. The spirit would not help her.

Why? It was sent there to help her by her mother. Her mother loved her. She wouldn’t have abandoned her like that.

That’s when Lu Na saw her. Her mother appeared right in front of her. She didn’t look like the tortured ghost she saw when she fought the ancestor, but like how she was before. Her mother was dressed in a beautiful blue-green dress that was made of silk. Her hair was tied up into an elaborate bun and there were many expensive accessories pinning her hair together. She was looking away from Lu Na at the moon.

Lu Na pulled herself up, breaking herself off from the ancestor’s pull. She reached out to her mother and recoiled right away. When her mother turned around and it was actually her second mother. The round face confused Lu Na. Her body was exactly like her mother, but not her head.

“Where’s my mother?” Lu Na called out.

“I’m your mother,” her second mother said. “I’ve always been your mother ever since she left you. Come here.”

Her second mother opened her arms, but Lu Na couldn’t do it. No matter how scared she was right now and no matter how much she knew that this was all an illusion, she couldn’t run to the woman that made her life miserable.

The hairpin would save her. That’s what she needed.

Lu Na took out the silver phoenix hairpin from her chest pocket. It was whole, unbroken. She didn’t understand why, but it had what she needed. If she broke this one, then her mother would come find her again and save her.

Or maybe she would never have left.

Lu Na snapped the pin in half, preserving the phoenix.

Nothing happened.

What’s going on? Where is my mother? Why did she leave me again?

Tears soaked Lu Na’s cheeks.