Chapter 16 – Black Robes, Black Tower

Lin Yue tugged at Xue’s collar, adjusting the silk until it draped properly. The black fabric rippled against the blood-red sash. Not bad for street rats. A few loose threads stuck out near the hem—she’d need to trim those later.

She turned her last-minute check toward herself.

The defensive shield and the explosive talismans crinkled beneath her own matching robes as she patted them down. Her fingers traced the folds of paper, counting. One shield, four bombs. She hadn’t tested them yet, though it was better than nothing.

The weight of both knives pressed against her forearms and was, just as if not more, reassuring.

Slum dwellers lurked in doorways and alley mouths around the square, their gazes sharp with hunger and calculation. A few wore the telltale colors of local gangs. None approached. Maybe they sensed the qi radiating from her. Or maybe the amount of bodies stacked in the last week or so had made everyone cautious.

Shadow coiled through the air above them. “This is boring. When are we going to eat someone?”

Lin Yue stared at the shimmering air that marked the demon market’s entrance. The distortion rippled like heat waves off summer stones, beckoning and warning in equal measure. It hadn’t been visible to her before.

Her fingers drummed against the knife hilts in her sleeves.

The last visit had ended in spiritual devastation and blue-robed cultivators throwing around enough power to level buildings. She had no idea of what happened after their rampage.

Running into one of them was certainly a fast ticket to getting her heart stabbed out or body crushed. From what she had seen, righteous cultivators stabbed first and questioned later.

Except… The memory of Rin Ruo’s face surfaced with painful clarity—those frost-blue eyes and flowing white hair. The way her pale cheeks had flushed pink at Lin Yue’s play on their names. Heat crept up Lin Yue’s neck.

Nope. The temple district is permanently off limits. She rubbed her burning cheeks. The demon market waited, but at least it didn’t come with confusing feelings.

“Are you getting sick?” Shadow poked his head over her shoulder. “Your face is all red.”

Xue peered up at her. “Who is that person you like?” The innocent question shot through Lin Yue’s chest like an arrow.

The soul bond pulsed between them, raw and new. Fragments of thoughts flickered across their connection at random. The Sable Script had detailed brutal methods for imprisoning bound souls, crushing them into submission. The mere thought of doing that to Xue made Lin Yue’s stomach turn.

Lin Yue grabbed Xue’s narrow shoulders. “No one. Just a ghost.” The lie tasted bitter. “Listen, we’re heading somewhere dangerous. You’ll need to be brave.”

“How scary?” Xue’s eyes widened.

Shadow swooped down from above, expanding into a massive serpentine form. He reared back and unleashed an ethereal roar that echoed. “This scary!” His spectral form rippled with dark glee.

Xue’s tiny fist shot into Shadow’s snout. “Ow!” Shadow recoiled, spiraling upward with exaggerated pain. “Ungrateful brat,” he muttered, retreating to sulk.

“Good.” Lin Yue patted Xue’s shoulders. “Remember—if that nasty dragon misbehaves, punish him.”

Xue bounced on her toes. “I will!”

Shadow twisted through the air as they approached the market’s shimmering entrance. “Remember—cultivation or not, you’re still bottom-feeding trash here. The only difference is you won’t instantly die when someone looks at you funny.”

“Didn’t die last time, though.” Lin Yue stepped through the barrier. The sensation of reality warping around them sent pins through her meridians.

“Pure luck,” Shadow muttered, coiling tighter.

Xue’s small hand squeezed Lin Yue’s fingers as they emerged into the eternal twilight.

The market sprawled before them, packed with new stalls. Beast-folk bartered over glowing crystals while hooded figures haggled for herbs that writhed in their jars. The devastation from the blue-robed cultivators might never have happened.

Cultivator equipment glinted from every surface—jade meditation mats, spirit-infused weapons, and bottles of refined qi essence. All of it highlighted that they might have moved to ‘wealthy’ in the mortal world, but they were very poor here.

Shadow darted toward a nearby stall where bleached bones lay arranged on black silk. “Fresh righteous cultivator bones! Full of refined qi!” The vendor’s proclamation carried across the crowd.

Shadow sniffed at a femur. “Now that’s the good stuff.”

Lin Yue ignored his enthusiasm and pressed forward through the crowd. She knew exactly where she needed to go—assuming it still existed after the attack. The familiar dirt walls of Madam Yanlue’s hovel came into view, unchanged amidst the market’s chaos.

Xue pressed against Lin Yue’s side as they ducked into the hovel. The familiar blue flames flickered across shelves of bones and bottled horrors.

“Here to trade.” Lin Yue stepped toward the stone slab table.

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The shadows didn’t writhe and twist like before. Instead, her enhanced senses picked up the dense spiritual pressure saturating the air. Trapped souls pulsed within the walls, their essence thick enough to taste. The qi pressure rivaled Master Ruixian’s overwhelming presence.

A massive shape emerged from the rear of the room. Madam Yanlue’s frog-like form towered over them, golden rings glinting in the folds of her throat. Xue squeaked and stumbled backward.

“Pathetic.” Shadow swooped through the air. “And here I thought you were getting braver.”

Madam Yanlue’s painted lips stretched into an amphibian smile. “What delicious morsels visit my humble shop today?”

“One soul to trade.” Lin Yue kept her voice steady. “Looking for inert spirit stones again.”

“A soul?” Madam Yanlue’s tongue flicked out, tasting the air. “Perhaps this innocent child’s? Such pure essence would fetch quite a price.”

“A thug from the slums.”

“How mundane.” Madam Yanlue’s rings clinked as she shifted. “Though still of some value. Two inert stones for your offering.”

“That’s worse than your last offer.” Lin Yue tightened her grip on Xue’s shoulder.

“You promised exclusive trade with me.” Madam Yanlue’s tongue flicked between her painted lips. “That means I set the prices now.”

“Then I’ll find another buyer.” Lin Yue turned toward the dirt doorway. The shelves of bottled horrors rattled as she moved.

“That would break your promise.” Madam Yanlue’s rings clinked against the stone slab.

Lin Yue spun back. “I don’t keep promises to cheats.”

Spiritual pressure slammed down like a physical weight. The air thickened into syrup. Lin Yue’s knees buckled. Beside her, Xue froze mid-breath, paralyzed by the crushing force.

Lin Yue’s fingers slipped beneath her robe, extracting one of the talisman papers. Fresh soul-ink gleamed on its surface, the explosion array she’d practiced ready to trigger. The paper crackled with stored energy.

The pressure vanished.

“This should level your little hovel.” Lin Yue held the talisman between two fingers. “Take all those precious souls with it.”

Madam Yanlue’s throat bubbled with laughter. “You’d destroy my home and my collection, yes. But you and your child would die in the blast.”

“Try the pressure trick again.” Lin Yue raised the talisman higher. “Test how much it takes to set this off? Don’t you value your soul vault more than robbing a stubborn girl bound to Blackspire Pavilion?”

“Blackspire?” Madam Yanlue spat the word like rotten meat. “Such filthy words in my shop.” Her painted lips twisted into a grimace. “Fine. Three inert stones for one soul. Though I cannot fathom why you’d trade with me.”

Three crystalline shards clinked against the stone slab. The blue flames cast prismatic reflections across their faceted surfaces.

Lin Yue glanced at Shadow. The spectral dragon sighed dramatically and swooped to the center of the hovel. Dark essence poured from his maw, coalescing into a writhing soul-orb.

Madam Yanlue’s tongue shot out—a pink blur that Lin Yue’s enhanced senses tracked with newfound clarity. The muscled appendage wrapped around the soul and snapped back. Wonder if I could catch that with my knife. The morbid thought sparked an itch in her fingers.

Blue smoke curled from Madam Yanlue’s nostrils as she burped contentedly. “Delicious.”

Lin Yue swept the spirit stones into her sleeve. “Thanks for the fair trade.”

“I dislike threats during business.” Madam Yanlue’s rings clinked ominously.

“Mutual feeling.” Lin Yue placed both hands on Xue’s shoulders. “Maybe skip the cheating next time, hey?”

She steered Xue toward the exit, raising one hand in a backward wave without looking at the soul-gorged amphibian behind them.

The market’s eternal twilight welcomed them as they emerged from Madam Yanlue’s hovel. Spirit stones moved from her sleeve to her bag.

Shadow swooped down, coiling through the air. “That was suicidally dangerous. Did you want her to kill us all?”

“Can’t show weakness.” Lin Yue guided Xue through the crowded marketplace. A horned merchant’s stall displayed rows of gleaming cultivation weapons. “Not here.”

“Being dead is the ultimate weakness!” Shadow expanded dramatically.

Lin Yue traced the outline of the talisman paper beneath her robes. “When you’re weak, you have to be stiff. Help me get stronger, then we can be more flexible.”

Shadow twisted into annoyed spirals above their heads, grumbling incomprehensibly.

“She was the biggest frog I ever saw!” Xue bounced on her toes, seemingly recovered from the spiritual pressure. Her new robes rippled with the movement.

Lin Yue chuckled, the tension draining from her shoulders. She looked to Shadow. “Where to now?”

“Blackspire Pavilion!” Shadow swooped lower, his ethereal form rippling with excitement. “Deep in the district.”

“Lead on then.” Lin Yue took Xue’s hand. They wove through the market’s twisted paths, past stalls selling bottled lightning and preserved organs.

Lin Yue halted at the empty space where Ruixian’s bookstore should have stood. Fresh stonework and unfamiliar shop fronts filled the gap without a trace of the previous structure. The architectural lie blended seamlessly with its surroundings, as if reality itself had been rewritten.

Lanterns shifted to cast orange and red light across cobblestone streets as they continued. Paper ghosts dangled from eaves while carved demon masks leered from doorways. The whole district screamed “spooky cultivation aesthetic” like some twisted theme park.

“This way.” Shadow darted down a narrow alley lined with spirit-binding talismans.

The buildings grew taller and older as they pressed deeper. Ancient wood creaked overhead while spirit sewage pooled thickly in the gutters. Xue’s grip tightened.

A massive structure emerged through banks of rolling mist—a towering pagoda crowned with blood-red lanterns that pulsed like beating hearts.

More buildings sprawled behind it, encircled by weathered walls covered in yellowed talismans. The papers radiated traces of power despite their obvious age.

A woman with black hair and amethyst eyes wearing segmented leather armor blocked the main gate. Her glaive gleamed with ethereal light as she positioned it in front of the archway entrance. “Who dares approach the Blackspire Pavilion?”