Lu Na followed Jie all the way to the end of the row of huts. There were four guards standing in front of a door with a large, ancient Chinese symbol on it. Based on what it looked like, Lu Na guessed it had something to do with fire.

“I’m about to bring you to our most sacred locations within our village,” Jie said. She took out everything from her pockets and laid it on a table in front of the guard. “You’re going to have to leave everything you have on you with these guards. Even as the village leader, I’m not allowed to bring anything inside in case we break something.”

Lu Na nodded and took out everything she had in her chest pocket. Most of it was paper from her ward making paper to the bank notes her father secured for her. She had a small pouch of silver and gold in there along with her null metal bracelet. The last thing she took out was her modified spirit wand.

“Can I keep my wand?” Lu Na asked.

“No, you can’t bring anything in there.” Jie patted herself down before allowing a female guard to do the same.

“But I might need this to diagnose what might be wrong to fix it,” Lu Na said.

Jie paused.

“How did you know that the device beyond this door is broken?”

“I might be a sheltered woman, but I can see that there’s something wrong with this place. You wouldn’t take someone you just met on a sightseeing tour.”

“You’re right.” Jie extended her hand. “But I want to check your spirit wand before I allow you to bring it in. I don’t want any surprises like with that scroll.”

Lu Na handed her spirit wand over.

“This is my design based on the spirit wands from the Imperial Office of Inventions.”

Jie flipped the wand over. She touched the tip where the device gathered spirit energy. With a small wave, she gathered some at the tip. She touched a few other buttons on the wand and the spirit energy turned different colors, first green, then red, then yellow, then white, and finally to black.

“Oh, it can gather specific elements of spirit energy,” Jie said. “That’s very useful, but I’m not sure how this will help you repair anything.”

Lu Na reached out with her hand.

“Let me show you.”

Jie returned the wand.

Lu Na pressed the button to gather water spirit energy. The spirit energy turned black. She carved simple lines that she remembered from the water fountain onto one of her ward papers. When she was done, she folded the paper into a triangle.

“Cup your hands for me.”

Jie did so.

Lu Na twisted the top corner of the triangle and water trickled down into Jie’s hand. She twisted it harder and a handful pooled there, while some dripped down her arms and onto the floor.

“That’s what I can do.”

“Amazing.” Jie lifted the water up to her mouth.

“I wouldn’t drink it, though. I wasn’t able to copy the filtering device that was part of the water fountain so I’m not sure if it’s—”

Jie sipped the water.

“Not as refreshing as the fountain, but tastes fine.”

That was good to know for Lu Na for a few reasons. First, it didn’t seem like Jie was angry she so easily copied her fountain device. Second, she hoped that the water created was safe to drink. It would help a lot if she were ever trapped somewhere and couldn’t get any water. With enough paper and her spirit wand, she could make all the water she’d need.

Of course, the next step was to create a large fried rice with her spirit wand somehow.

“I think for the first time we go inside, you shouldn’t bring this wand,” Jie said. “We’ll have plenty of time later to come back.”

“Okay.” While Lu Na wanted to dive deep into checking the devices within, she can understand that prudence. She wouldn’t have wanted anyone to come to her workshop and mess with anything.

After a longer pat down of Lu Na, the female guard discovered a few other things that Lu Na hid she forgot. There were a few null metal spirit and earth wall wards she sewed into her tunic in different places. After a quick compromise, Lu Na changed out of her tunic and wore a plain hemp tunic one guard provided.

At least she kept her underclothes. The tunic was rougher than the one she got from the poor family back in Jianye. If she had to suffer through that, she might have given up on looking at the devices.

When they finally entered the large room, the inside was brightly lit by multiple light wards hanging on the walls. Apparently, those simple light wards that Lu Na created were nowhere near as potent as these because she could see that these were not new. They were as old as all the other devices in the labyrinth.

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“Do your people not have any inventors yourself to fix anything?” Lu Na asked.

Jie shook her head.

“Most of our ancestors were farmers that were forced to build this labyrinth. They killed my ancestor before he escaped into the labyrinth. Only his son could escape into the labyrinth before they sealed everyone else in here. And as I’ve told you earlier, most of them resorted to banditry in stealing everything from anyone who came in to survive. There is never any time to sit and invent.”

“But what about you? You seem like you know how to work these devices.” Lu Na glanced at the light ward, wondering how it was powered.

“I’m ashamed to tell you that most of our knowledge comes from our spirits. They teach us how to use the devices, but as they’re not inventive, they can’t teach us how they work.”

“It’s like giving a man a trained horse to ride, but not teaching them how to train more horses.”

Jie nodded.

It was more dire than Lu Na thought. Not only are things broken and they’re about to die from it, they don’t have any clue to help her fix anything.

“Show me what’s housed in this secret room,” Lu Na said.

Jie walked deeper into the room. It got darker, as there were fewer and fewer light wards. Soon there was only one small light ward every few feet and they were fixed to the floor. There were a few twists and turns that led to other rooms, but they didn’t go into any of them.

Finally, they entered a large, cavernous room that hummed with spirit energy. There was an invisible pressure pushing into Lu Na. It wasn’t like a summoner’s spirit energy where it suffocated her every time they fought. It felt more like being hugged by a very warm blanket made of spirit energy.

The only light ward here was one that hung from the ceiling, giving everything a weak, ethereal glow.

Jie walked forward until she stopped in front of a large device.

It hummed. Lu Na wasn’t sure what she was hearing. She felt her whole body rattle as she approached it. It was nothing she’d ever seen before.

No, it was something she could never imagine.

“What is it?” Lu Na asked.

“It’s the device that’s keeping us all alive, but it’s breaking down. And as much as I want to say we’ve kept it running for the last few decades, it’s been more luck than anything that it still works.” Jie took two steps closer and placed her hand on a panel. She closed her eyes and the panel turned white. “This is the interface and one spirit told me how to change some settings so that it can work longer. But even the spirit doesn’t know how much longer it will last.”

Lu Na stepped up to the panel and looked. It was all written with the ancient script.

“What does it say?”

Jie laughed.

“It says if you can’t fix it, my village of a little over a hundred is going to die soon. I don’t know. This script wasn’t taught to any of my ancestors and by the time we found this room, we were barely literate.”

“If only I had my tools. Then maybe I could check to see what’s going on,” Lu Na said.

“Oh, don’t be childish. I’ve seen what your tools can do and until my people can check them over and be sure you won’t sabotage this device, we’re not allowing you to bring them in.”

Jie tapped one character on the bottom of the panel, turning it off. She turned to walk out of the room. The room became darker.

Lu Na closed her eyes and focused on her technique. She reached within her own spirit realm and tugged at the memory. She had done it so many times with Nugua that it shouldn’t be this hard to recall.

She took a deep breath and pulled in the spirit energy within the room, filling her own spirit realm. This was a lot easier since the room had such concentrated spirit energy.

Lu Na opened her eyes, activating the technique, and gasped.

The device was a gigantic machine. It pulled a lot of spirit energy from the surrounding area and pushed it through its internal pipes. The reason this room was flooded with spirit energy was because it had a leak from one of the pipes. It looked like an animal struck it with their claws.

It was a simple fix, but unlike a water pipe that could be remade, Lu Na would have to mold spirit energy to create it.

The only problem was, she didn’t know how to do that… yet.

Lu Na blinked and turned off her technique. She closed her eyes, yet still saw the afterglow of all the spirit energy practically burned on her eyelids. Next time she saw Nugua, she’d have to ask her how to tone it down.

“Did you see the problem?” Jie asked.

“Yes, and I think I know how to fix it. Except I think it was a spirit that broke the machine.” Lu Na pointed at the broken pipe. “It’s right there. It’s got claw marks running through the pipe.”

Jie squinted, but Lu Na doubted she could see anything in this darkness. Lu Na couldn’t see it now without using her technique.

“Why is it so dark in here?” Lu Na asked.

“The spirit that taught us said that any stray spirit energy that enters the room would be sucked into the machine right away. And we don’t dare bring a lantern in there in case it sets the entire place on fire. The spirit warned us about that as there are also gas vapors that travel from below the labyrinth.”

Lu Na pointed up at the light ward hanging above.

“What about that one?”

“That light is hanging on the ceiling and even at that distance it sometimes doesn’t work very well.”

“Okay, I think I’ve seen enough. Let’s head back.”

Jie brought Lu Na back outside and found a grassy area to sit down. The sun was setting leaving the labyrinth in twilight.

Lu Na’s head was swimming from everything she saw. The inventions here were beyond anything she’d ever made before, but she was certain with a bit of study she could figure them out. This entire labyrinth was a dreamscape for Lu Na.

If only she had the time.

“What would you need to help us fix this problem?” Jie asked.

“I think the better question is, what are you willing to give me to solve this problem for you?”

Jie laughed.

“Me give you something? I could have all four of you killed right now and no one would stop me.”

“You could, but no one would fix your problem. My one life for your entire village.”

Jie’s laugh turned into a grimace.

Lu Na was taking a tremendous risk here by antagonizing Jie. But she didn’t want to simply walk out of this village. She wanted the native of the labyrinth to give her every advantage she could get when she went back outside to solve its mysteries. This time, she wasn’t simply running away from the Wintersweet Sect; she was fighting for her very survival in a labyrinth that took no prisoners.

“I’m open to negotiate, but if you can’t fix it, I will feed you to our large boars as opposed to letting you go as I intended,” Jie said.

“I can work with that.”