Lu Na forced herself to not shut her eyes. The last thing she needed was to freeze up. But the stares from the ghosts sent chills down her spine. The entire room felt colder suddenly and Lu Na knew it wasn’t from blocking out the sun.

Lu Na took out an earth wall ward. She pictured a dome in her mind before activating it. A round wall of earth pushed up from the ground, creating a domelike shape, but it didn’t cover them.

“You still need more practice,” Nugua said. She placed her hand on Lu Na’s shoulder and the earth wall ward reshaped back into a perfect dome all around them. “But this will not help for long.”

“Your spirit is right,” Jie said. Her voice was projected within the dome of earth despite not being seen.

“Jie, what are you doing? You still need our help,” Lu Na called out. “If you kill us, your village will die as well.”

“Oh, I don’t plan on killing you, Young Miss Lu. But your friends and their spirits are too dangerous to leave alive. That Baihu is a legendary spirit that I can’t deal with and that monk’s spirit is even stronger. I don’t negotiate when I don’t have the advantage.”

“If you kill them, I won’t help you no matter what.” Lu Na took out her spirit wall ward. If Jie was planning on using another spirit technique against them, she was going to have a hard time.

“Nugua, help me put these shields on Sun Ren and Hen Li.” Lu Na placed the spirit wall wards on Sun Ren’s and Hen Li’s lap after activating them. An invisible barrier engulfed them like a second skin.

“Let us go and I’ll promise to help you with nothing required from you,” Lu Na said.

No response.

Lu Na looked at Nugua and then at Baihu.

“Is there anything either of you can do?”

Nugua shook her head. She had undone all the human beauty techniques and turned back into her naga form. Only the tunic remained.

Baihu stroked Sun Ren’s head like a child.

“There’s nothing they can do to me or Sun Ren while I am here,” Baihu said. “But we should be more worried about the monk. He looks like he’s on the verge of collapse.”

Hen Li had his eyes shut, but the moment he heard the word monk he began reciting the heart sutra louder.

“Hen Li, what’s wrong?” The last one she ever thought she needed to worry about was the powerful monk. Yet his face told her everything.

“I can’t hold it back anymore,” Hen Li said.

A small five colored puppy appeared on the table. It had the round squishy head that Lu Na had seen before. It looked around and then started chasing its own tail. It had a little drool coming down the corner of its mouth. It was so cute that Lu Na wanted to pick it up and cuddle it. If only it wasn’t a spirit that could kill her.

“Was that all we were worried about?” Lu Na asked.

“Amituofo. Please… let… the sins… pass.” Hen Li clenched his eyes closed and collapsed head first onto the table.

Lu Na looked down at his face and he was out. The only thing left on his face was anguish.

“Child, move away from him,” Nugua said.

Baihu had already lifted Sun Ren into her arms and stepped into the far corner of the room.

Lu Na tried to stand, but she couldn’t. She felt an incredible heat coming from above her. There was an enormous spirit energy pressure pushing down on her.

So instead of standing, she went with it. She bowed her head until it touched the floor. With both hands pressed together, she held it out in supplication to whatever godly spirit that appeared.

Now she regretted not putting the bracelet back on. It wasn’t fixed yet, but a burned off hand is better than a burned up body. Although based on the feeling of the spirit energy, she doubted her spirit walls would be enough.

The puppy barked somewhere above her, probably still on the table. That little fluff ball was going to be erased from existence if it kept barking.

Not that Lu Na could do anything about it. She was sweating all over at this point. Any longer and she’ll have her own puddle below her.

But nothing happened to the barking puppy. The barking got louder and deeper, as if the puppy was going through puberty. It reminded her of the cracking voice of her older brother. After a few moments, it sounded like a roar more than a bark.

The pressure lifted enough so that Lu Na could lift her head up to see what was going on. She shouldn’t have done that.

A large burning bird with wings that reached from one end of the room to the other hovered over them all. It looked frozen as it stayed there. It didn’t flap its wings to stay afloat.

“What’s going on?” Lu Na whispered. She didn’t dare to be louder for fear it would break whatever spell and release the burning bird of doom upon them all.

The puppy was still barking and sure enough; it had turned into a large hound with its usual bone mouth head. The color on its back turned brighter with every bark.

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Lu Na knew she shouldn’t do this, but she reached for her spirit sight to see what was going on. It was blinding and beautiful. The burning bird had spirit energy that was denser than anything she’d ever seen, but it didn’t move like stagnant air. With every bark, the five colored hound was absorbing its spirit energy.

At that moment, the burning bird turned its head to Lu Na. Its glowing eyes seared into Lu Na’s, forcing her to close her eyes. All she could see was bright orange behind her eyelids.

Lu Na might have screamed from the pain as she clutched her eyes. She collapsed onto the floor.

“Foolish dog,” a man’s voice roared. “You will cease the barking or I will kill everyone here.”

The dog stopped barking.

“The seal is still too strong for me to break. Know this, Hen Li. I will be back and you will have to reckon with me sooner rather than later.”

Just like that, the entire room cooled off.

“Na Na, are you alright?” Nugua asked.

“No, my eyes. They’re burning!” Lu Na clenched her fists as she tried to bear the pain. What if it melted her eyes or burned into her brain? “I need water. It’s so hot.”

A hand steadied her and instantly Lu Na felt a coolness rush to her eyes. The pain went away, mostly. Lu Na took a deep, ragged breath. She had been crying, but couldn’t feel any of the tears. Were her eyes really gone?

Lu Na opened her eyes and was hit with a blinding light. She forced her eyes closed again.

“Does it feel better?” Nugua said.

“Yes, but I can’t see.” Lu Na now had an unfamiliar pain to deal with.

“Don’t open your eyes for now. Let me try to heal you.”

A hand pulled Lu Na’s own away from her eyes. Then she felt a gentle warmth covering her. Her pain dulled from a stabbing pain to an aching one.

“You’re lucky that’s all the bird did to you,” Nugua said.

“I’m not sure being blind is lucky. But how are you healing me, Nugua?” Lu Na asked.

“Child, I’ve been living inside your spirit realm for so long. I know where everything is. I can heal you back from the brink of death if I wanted to. But don’t expect it as that might kill me instead.”

Lu Na nodded. It was odd hearing Nugua without seeing her, especially now that she’s been outside of her own body. It felt like before they came to the labyrinth where only she could hear her.

“There, your eyes should be good. But don’t open them just yet. Wait a few minutes to let the healing settle.” Nugua’s warm hand left her eyes.

“Thank you Nugua.”

“No need. Now I need to rest after that.”

“Jie, wherever you are, we’re still alive. Come out. We have a lot to talk about,” Lu Na said.

Lu Na felt a rustling on the ground as if someone blew dust at her legs. Now that her eyes were closed, she could feel Jie’s spirit presence. It was different. With a little more focus, Lu Na felt the other three spirits in the room. No wait, there was a fourth but that one felt like it was in her pocket. It was like a small toothpick.

“I’m here. And I must say, I’m impressed you survived that spirit’s wrath,” Jie said.

“How did you survive? Where did you go?” Lu Na asked.

“I can’t tell you my secrets. You haven’t agreed to be a part of my village yet.”

“Can I open my eyes yet Nugua?”

“You should be fine now.” Nugua slithered away.

Lu Na opened her eyes, and for a moment, she saw through her spirit sight. The entire room they were in lit up with a light green. Then her technique faded and all she saw was the same drab room.

Hen Li was still unconscious on the table. The small five colored puppy was nuzzling against his face.

Baihu sat with Sun Ren cradled in her arms like a baby. Did she grow? It almost looked like the fox spirit held a toddler in her arms.

Nugua slithered off somewhere out of sight already, but when did Lu Na ever have to worry about that snake? At least everyone seemed alright.

Jie sat in the same spot she was in before Hen Li’s spirit went wild. She had a cup of tea in hand and a small box in the other.

“Now first, I want to say, that wasn’t my doing. The labyrinth has been materializing them ever since you got here. I didn’t want the monk to explode and take out my village.”

“We want to leave,” Lu Na said. “We don’t want to waste anymore time here when you’re only going to play games with us.”

Jie’s smile slipped from her face.

“If you really want to leave, I won’t keep you. You three pose more of a danger than any benefit right now. And not only will I send you on your way, I’ll give you a gift.”

Jie pushed the box toward Lu Na.

Lu Na took out a small broken pipe from the box. It felt cool to the touch.

“What is it?”

“You’re the inventor. You tell me.” Jie leaned back in her chair with her arms hidden within her robe’s sleeves.

Lu Na took out a small dagger and scratched the surface. The outer layer peeled to reveal shiny metal underneath.

“This is null metal.”

“Yes, and since I don’t have the time to waste on you anymore, the pipe is from the machine I showed you earlier. It was the part that you said was broken.”

Lu Na turned it around to look at the pipe. The Xia used this metal to create their inventions. It made sense because the amount of spirit energy being pushed through the pipes needed something that could absorb and concentrate it. This gave Lu Na some new ideas of what she could do with her own inventions.

What if she used the null metal not only as a power source for her inventions but also a way to concentrate the spirit energy they use for different effects? That would make them more flexible and powerful to use.

“You’re thinking very hard. The least you could do is share some of your ideas? Maybe how we might fix this problem?” Jie sipped from her tea.

Lu Na placed the pipe back into the box.

“This is too precious. I can’t take this gift.”

“That’s it? You won’t even try to help us?”

“I never said that. The only way to fix this is if you have more of this metal to repair the pipe. Not only that, I’m sure the Ancient Xia inscribed some patterns on there to make it work. I don’t have the tools or the time to really study this right now.” It pained Lu Na to say that because she would love nothing more than to sit in that dark room and study the machine for days and days. But her mother and the wellbeing of her friends came first.

“That’s a shame.” Jie took the box and put it into her chest pocket.

“So are we free to go?” Lu Na asked.

“I’ll let you go only on one condition.” Jie lifted her hand and clenched it. Wood shot out from all the furniture like moving branches. They were as thick as Lu Na’s arm. But they didn’t attack them. Instead, they surrounded Jie.

“Come back after you’re done with your business in the labyrinth and fix the machine.”

“And if we don’t? Are you going to kill us right now?” Lu Na had her hand on a spirit ward in her sleeve.

“Oh no, I’m going to help you. I’m going to give you something no one has ever received when they enter the labyrinth: a key to the center labyrinth room.”

Jie reached into her pocket and pulled out a metal badge. This one was made of null metal like the pipe.

“With this, it will allow you to get inside to solve the puzzle.”