For the first time, Lu Na was not the one exhausted from the march they made getting out of the village. Although that wasn’t accurate. Sun Ren was mumbling to herself, most likely talking with Baihu, her spirit. While Hen Li kept reciting the heart sutra and his footsteps matched the rhythm.

Their first rest stop was only about ten li away from the village. It had smooth rocks for seats and a small pavilion over them.

“Lu Na, you don’t think I’m a bad person, do you?” Sun Ren asked.

“Of course not. You’ve been nothing but honorable and courageous and—”

“No, I’ve killed people, and honorable and courageous people don’t do that.”

Lu Na grabbed Sun Ren’s hand and held it to her chest.

“You have done everything you can to help others. I’m your best example of that. Everything you’ve done has been for the good of the people.”

“I’ve killed others because I was ordered to. They were the ones I saw when the ghost attacked me. They had family, children, and did nothing wrong other than opposing my family.” Sun Ren gripped Lu Na’s hand, almost as if she feared Lu Na would pull away from her.

Lu Na tugged her hand until it got free. But instead of pulling away, she held Sun Ren in a hug.

“Ren, you did what you had to do in order to bring about a better world through your family. From what I can tell, your family is more noble than most of the corrupt magistrates and imperial officials that are ruining the country right now. If you asked me, I would rather be under your family’s noble rule than the current emperor.”

Sun Ren leaned her head on Lu Na’s shoulder and cried.

“I know my words are not enough to help you through whatever you’re going through, but as you helped me, I will never leave your side. Know that I support you no matter what.”

“Amituofo, let the sins pass. After this business with the labyrinth, I’m going to go back and dedicate myself to the path of the Buddha with my sifu.” Hen Li got up. “I’m going to continue walking. You ladies take your time to catch up.”

Lu Na nodded. She couldn’t get up right now, as Sun Ren was still sobbing against her chest. She didn’t want to question her past, but what did Sun Ren have to do to become as skillful as she was?

Whatever it was, Lu Na wouldn’t have the resolve to do the same thing. If what she did could break someone as strong as Sun Ren, Lu Na could never get out of bed.

This showed the gulf between their experiences despite being almost the same age. How was Lu Na going to ever catch up to the monster walking away and her friend on this path? She decided right then and there that after she found her mother and freed her, she would go back to being the simple Young Miss of the Lu Family.

This path was not hers.

The trio walked on the path toward the labyrinth. Despite it being a large death trap, there was a worn path that made traveling at night easier. It also helped that having Lu Na’s light wards were more effective than torches. They hung easily from Hen Li’s staff and as necklaces on Lu Na and Sun Ren.

The only fear they had was that they could be seen from a far distance. If Elder Hen followed them, they could see them from many li away.

After turning onto a hill, they saw a gigantic structure up ahead. It was tall and boxlike. It looked like any modern city but with an enormous stone wall covering the top. Judging by the size, it was a little bigger than Jianye.

Lu Na stood atop the hill, just admiring the labyrinth. She used her technique to really look at it. There were many arrays of techniques running through it and they were large. They were bigger than the mountain that was crushing Sun Wukong, but they weren’t as complicated.

The inventors of the past were so advanced, why did none of their ideas get passed down through the generations? Their technology wasn’t much different from the modern technology that Lu Na uses. This was something that confused Lu Na.

By the time they reached the labyrinth, the sun was peeking out from the east. They walked up close to the labyrinth and the sheer size hit them. It reached higher than any trees they’ve ever walked by.

“How did they create this?” Lu Na asked.

“I don’t know, but the legends say they completed the entire structure in a year,” Sun Ren said. They walked around the structure for a bit until they found a weird platform.

“They must have used spirits to build this,” Hen Li said. He placed a hand on the stone. “I can’t picture Bifang Niao willing to build something like this though, but spirits of that size could easily lift these blocks.”

Lu Na never asked about Hen Li’s sealed spirit, but this gave her a better idea of what he was capable of. They stopped at the platform because there were techniques running throughout the entire thing. They all connected underground into the labyrinth.

“Are you okay?” Sun Ren asked.

Lu Na looked up.

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“Well, you didn’t sleep all night. Hen Li and I have our spirits to help boost us, but you don’t.”

Lu Na thought about it for a moment. She felt a little sleepy, but it felt more like a buzz in the back of her mind than anything else.

“I guess not. This is probably the most exciting thing I’ve seen since meeting the monkey king. It’s another myth and legend come to life.”

Sun Ren chuckled.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“This is a tourist attraction. People come from all over the country to see the labyrinth. It’s not much of a secret.”

“The only secret is what’s inside and we have a key for that.”

“Amituofo. Let’s hope that we can solve this secret so people will stop throwing their lives away treasure hunting.” Hen Li recited the heart sutra.

Lu Na didn’t want to tell them she didn’t care for the treasure. She only wanted to free her mother.

“So, what do we do now? How do we get inside?” Sun Ren asked.

“I believe this is the entrance into the labyrinth.” Lu Na said. “This platform has many configurations and they all lead into the labyrinth. I think that if we hit them in a certain order, it should let us in.”

“And what order would that be?”

Lu Na sat down on a nearby rock and took out a sheet of paper. She had a piece of charcoal that she used in place of a brush and ink. Her father would admonish her for wasting all those calligraphy lessons in favor of something so inelegant and dirty. But what did he know? He still used wooden tablets.

Lu Na made a mark of the unique patterns on the platform. She noticed it kept changing every twenty minutes. And with each change, the platform shifted and pointed at different points on the labyrinth.

“I think that if we follow this pattern, we’ll get in.” Lu Na showed her drawing to Sun Ren.

“It doesn’t hurt to try. What’s the worst that can happen?” Sun Ren said.

“Based on what I can tell of the inventions the Xia used, it can move us into a piece of rock or stone.”

“Wait, what? You mentioned nothing about moving us into a rock or stone. Would that kill us?”

“Most definitely. The only stable time to teleport is when the patterns stop shifting. Then we have only a few minutes to hit the right combination in order to get to where we need to go.”

“Amituofo, I hate to interrupt this, but it seems we have company.” Hen Li got up into a defensive stance.

Lu Na looked around. There was no way Elder Hen and his disciples could catch up so fast. That large of a group would take at least a little time to pack up before they can get here.

A group of men climbed a distant hill and jogged over toward the trio. All of them were armed with swords and wore leather armor. Right in front of them was Yang Deli, the bandit leader. Lu Na easily recognized him from the iron helmet he constantly wore. She wondered if he took it off when he bathed.

“I expected you three were going to come here. And also, you three gave me the gift of leaving that summoner sect behind. Now we can continue where we left off last time.” Yang Deli waved his sword in front of him.

“Last time you caught us in your trap, surrounded by your men, and drugged one of us. I think this time you’ll find that it’s going to be harder to take us down than you did before.” Sun Ren unsheathed her sword and a dagger. “This time, I’ll make sure to kill the rest of your men.”

Yang Deli smirked, showing off his teeth.

“I think I’m going to have a lot of fun with you, Sun Ren. I know who you are now and I’ll send you back to your father in pieces.”

“Amituofo, maybe we can talk about this instead of fighting?” Hen Li asked.

“No, there is no talking. Only fighting to the death. And no matter how strong you think you are, I have more men on their way.”

Lu Na saw another larger group of men coming from behind Yang Deli. They were carrying large litters of supplies and other equipment in wheelbarrows.

“You are planning on going into the labyrinth,” Lu Na said.

“Yes. We’ve been sending in people for the last few weeks, trying to find its secret. We first sent the village until that village leader gave us a map and the instructions on how to get in. We have an entire base inside.”

“We want to go inside, too. Maybe we can help each other?” Lu Na reached inside her chest pocket and pulled out the bronze key. “This will allow us to unlock the secret within the labyrinth and open it up for good.”

“Where did you get that?”

“The ancestral shrine. The village leader was hiding it, but we got it from him.”

“Then you’ve saved me the trouble. Kill them.”

“Wait! You don’t know how to make it work. Remember my silver phoenix hairpin?” Lu Na took out her hairpin and activated it again, showing a map of the inside of the labyrinth. Except this time, the image changed again. This time the map had small red dots that also showed movement. There was a large congregation in one corner of the map.

“Boss, that’s where our men have set up a camp,” one bandit said.

“And there are so many other red dots on this map. Who knows what else you might find inside without my help and we both know you don’t know how to activate my inventions? Even if you were to take this from me and the bronze key, would you know how to use it when you got there?”

Yang Deli paused for a moment, looking between the key and Lu Na.

Lu Na noticed that Sun Ren had shifted her stance to the right, with her foot pointed toward the rebel leader. If there was one thing she knew of Sun Ren was that she wouldn’t let the chance to kill the leader get away, even if it meant condemning the three of them to death afterwards.

“You’re right, but I don’t need those two. Kill them,” Yang Deli said.

“Wait, Sun Ren.” Lu Na stood in front of her friend.

“Get out of my way. I’m going to end him right here, right now so we have nothing else in our way,” Sun Ren said.

“Give me one minute. If I can’t convince him, then kill him, okay?” Lu Na didn’t know when it happened, but she already accepted Sun Ren as a killer. If Lu Na hadn’t stopped her, she knew that her friend would have killed Yang Deli first.

Sun Ren nodded. She sheathed her sword and took out another dagger instead.

“Look, Yang Deli, was it?” Lu Na showed her hands to the bandit leader. “We can help each other here. I don’t care about the mystery or treasures within the labyrinth. We only want to free the ghosts trapped inside. What if we give you everything of value as long as you and your bandits help us do that?”

“And why would I believe you would do that? You want the treasures as much as anyone else.” Yang Deli shifted his stance to be less threatening.

“Well, you might know who Sun Ren is, but I doubt you know who I am. I am the Young Miss of the Lu family in Jianye. My father is Lu Tien. I’m sure you’ve heard of him.”

Yang Deli nodded.

“I don’t need the money or the treasure within. My father has enough money to match the emperor’s treasury.”

“Then why are you risking your life to free these ghosts?”

“The honest answer? My mother is trapped inside. She came to me in a dream and told me how much she is suffering there.”

“Then why hasn’t your father sent an entire team to get her out?”

Lu Na fidgeted with her fingers.

“He’s got a second wife and if he wasn’t so busy, he’d probably get a few more if he wanted. He doesn’t love my mother. And besides, who would sign up for a one-way trip into the labyrinth?”

Lu Na said the last part as loud as she could.

Yang Deli grinned. He took out a bronze key from his chest pocket.

“You see, you’re not the only one with the key to the labyrinth. With this, I can get in, solve the mystery and get out with all my men. They won’t follow me for nothing.”

“But we can still come to an agreement without bloodshed. We don’t have to fight.”

Yang Deli stepped closer to Lu Na.

“Oh, but we do. You see, there’s a blood debt that must be paid. Your friend killed many of my friends. We only ask that she pay it back with her blood.”

“But—”

Yang Deli turned Lu Na around and wrapped his arm around her neck.

“Now, kill those two.”

How did Lu Na fall into that trap? She watched helplessly as the bandits surrounded Sun Ren and Hen Li.