When she got home, the first thing she did was pull Jin out of his evening spear practice.

“We need to talk.”

He was drilling the Nine Sun Rises, one of the signature Yang spear arts which Father had pioneered as a youth. A chain of nine thrusts, each a sun rising at the tip of the spear, brighter and fiercer than the last.

Also louder, too—so loud she had to shout twice for him to hear her.

“What is it?” he said, mopping sweat off his brow.

***

“You’ve been exercising!” he said, patting her sleeve. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed. Good for you, sis. Ah—you ought to throw on a coat, you feel cold.”

Then he saw the look on her face. “Is everything alright?”

“You can’t go to the Lower City anymore,” she told him.

“Excuse me?”

“Remember that footman at the royal palace? The pretty-looking one with the dark hair?”

“There’s a lot of footmen at the palace, Rue.”

“He helped me down at the Banquet.” But he stared blankly.

“Well, anyways, there’s this footman at the palace who knows who you are, and who I am, and he works for the demon cult!”

“…And?” Jin grimaced. “You’ve got to let go of the idea that all cultists are bad, Rue. Lots of cultists serve nobles during the day.”

“He’s the cult leader, Jin!”

“…Ah.”

“Something about him… He’s too good at playing games.” Ruyi shook her head. “It’s like there’s a mask, and he pulls it off, and there’s another one, and another, and another… I don’t care if the cult does good things—there’s something about him… he just feels wrong. And he’s seen me! He knows I’m connected to Mei, so he knows Mei’s connected to you—”

“Woah! Slow down. I think you’re overreacting just a little.” Jin was on his way to a smile; it died on his face. “Wait. Hold on—you said he saw you? How?”

“Ah,” said Ruyi. “Um.”

“Please—please tell me you did not go into the Lower City alone, without me. To meet with the leader of the demon cult.” Jin didn’t get mad much. But when he did, up close, eyes coldly black, it was a scary sight.

“Mei was with me,” mumbled Ruyi, looking at her feet.

“Mei—!” Jin muttered a curse under his breath. “Mei should know better. You can’t just—do you have any idea how dangerous this was?!”

“So you can go, but not me?” Sulking had never worked out well for her, but she couldn’t help it.

“I know how to be discreet, Rue. And I know how to take care of myself. You don’t.”

“I can take care of myself just fine, thank you!”

“No, you can’t. You really, really can’t, Rue, and I’m not saying this to be mean, but Heavens, one of these days—”

He was looking like her like Father used to, and there was no easier way to make her mad.

“Fine! Whenever I need to go anywhere I guess I’ll come ask your permission first. Why don’t I wear a collar while I’m at it, so you can make sure I don’t run off?”

Jin dragged in a breath, then let it slowly out. “I’m worried about you, Rue. That’s all.”

“So was I, you big dumb oaf!” said Ruyi, poking him in the chest. “That’s why I came warning you!”

Jin sighed. “… I hear you. I do wear a mask wherever I go, but… I’ll let Mei know, too. Thank you.”

“I’m serious, Jin, be careful—”

“I’m used to having folk want to take advantage of me,” he said dryly. “Even goodhearted ones. You don’t need to worry about me. But this goes for you too, alright? No more shady meetings with cult leaders.”

“I’m not an idiot,” scoffed Ruyi. She sensed now was not the best time to bring up the contract.

***

She told Mother and Jin to leave her be for a week. Then she descended into the lab to try her new treats.

10 Yin Veins was a lot more demon flesh than she thought. The steel case before her held what looked like strips of beef, blackened well past burned. The muscle had the most demonic essence. This had been harvested from some larval bear demon, they told her. She’d never had bear before, and when she took a nibble she realized it was for good reason.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Yegh!” It felt like biting a block of steel and it tasted like soot; it stung at the insides of her mouth, made the base of her teeth feel like little fires in her skull. Her tongue went numb for several breaths, even after washing out her mouth with ice water.

Next she tried treating the thing with acids, then sprinkled on peppercorn and cinnamon. She could see now why it was that Demon Lords kept kennels of larval demons to ravage at mealtimes. Fresh really was best. She’d gotten a drop of essence from the bite but none of the flavor. Now she was stuck—hunger gnawed at her but that horrible taste still lingered in her mouth; it made her feel like retching.

She was eyeing the strip nervously, desperately trying to delay, when she realized she forgot a step.

She pricked her finger and dissolved the blood in a solution. She’d made this to measure her power—pink meant Larval stage. The pinker, the stronger, until it crossed into Feral red.

The color came up faint pink, so faint you could hardly see it, the slightest blush of liquid. So faint she had to put it up to the weak beams of sunlight through the entrance gratings, just to make sure. How much was this—maybe half a Yin? She was about to load her body with twenty times that…

She sucked in a breath.

It was a good thing she had cushioning. ‘Cushioning’ was her term for her cocktail of modified Tartarus Codex drugs. Each time you took in essence there were risks. If she loaded her body with this 10 Yin worth, no cushion, she’d have a tail, a snout, and be slobbering over the floor by the time this was through.

There were vials of ‘cushioning,’ each a bright pastel color—soft reds and warm blues; not their natural colors, but you could throw in inert ingredients to color the mix. These made her feel like she was drinking fun little fruit juices, like Mother used to make her as a summer treat. Not toxic elixirs to ward off even more toxic demon’s flesh.

For the sixth time she checked she’d scaled the doses right. Just one Yin at first, she said—about one flesh strip’s worth.

She plugged her nose and drank, and got a pleasant mouthful of citrus. She forgot she’d flavored these! What a clever, considerate girl past Ruyi was. She’d expect nothing less of herself. By the time she finished the last vial she almost felt ready for the flesh.

“Come on,” she whispered to herself, pacing back and forth. “Come on! I am Ruyi Yang! That’s right! You, meat hunk, are but one stepping stone on my path to greatness! If you think you can defeat me—”

She froze. Had she left the grate open? She dashed over to the ladder leading up. She had! Thankfully none of the gardeners looked within earshot when she poked her head outside. She latched the steel cover tight, climbed back down, cheeks burning.

“What am I doing?” She mumbled. She’d been feeling all stoked up, too, but now she just felt like an idiot. Best get on with it.

She ambled over sheepishly to the steel tray, took a deep breath, and sank her teeth in.

She promised herself in that breath she wouldn’t stop chewing until she had it down.

She lasted four bites before she broke. Two bites went down. The rest she retched onto the ground; they lay there in sad smoldery stringy clumps. “Fuck!” she gasped. She swiped for her canteen, missed, swiped again, then kept chugging, but it was like the taste had seeped into the linings of her mouth; it was everywhere. Her eyes watered.

New solution: dice up the meat, wrap it in thin films of sugar, then swallow them. An hour later she had dozens of little wrapped strips. The half-chewed meat on the ground she chucked into the incinerator. It was wasted Yin, true, but the thought of eating it, even wrapped, brought on another fit of retching.

This time, she swallowed one Yin’s worth just fine. She nearly gagged on a strip she forced it down so fast, but that was all. She was just congratulating herself for her cleverness when the pain struck.

“Are you kidding?” she groaned. A knifing twist in her gut sent her to her knees; pain radiated out like heat. Again?! Surely it couldn’t be like this every time a demon ate another demon! She really hoped this was simply because her body wasn’t used to demon flesh. She’d nearly doubled her dose of painkiller but the stupid thing was useless—

That was her last thought before her mind unspooled. The worst part was she didn’t black out this time. Maybe her body was getting used to it, a little. Instead it held her on the edge of consciousness, so that she could only lay there and thrash.

An excruciating quarter hour passed. She wasn’t fighting to cling on; she wasn’t fighting at all. Tears dribbled down her cheeks. She was capable of only one thought—I hate this, I hate this, I hate this—rattling around her head. She hated it so, so much.

It took another quarter hour just to muster the will to pick herself off the ground. She had to change dresses, then mop up the puddle she’d left, still trembling. She’d been in such a good mood. Now she had no humor left in her; she felt cold, a hollow of feeling. Her last effort was to brew up the Silkworm’s Draught, one of the strongest sleeping elixirs she knew.

She picked up her meat strips, then washed them down one by one with Draught. All of them.

She really hoped she woke up.

***

She did.

It felt like waking after one of those great deep restful sleeps. There was no yawning, no blinking sleep out her eyes; her wits came to her fast. She patted herself all over, checked herself in a mirror she’d dragged down here. No visible differences—the cushioning had done its job well.

She felt no different at all. She was worried nothing happened until she turned her mind’s eye to her insides.

The color was nearly doubly as bright, gleaming like blue ice in sunlight.

She dashed over to her testing station and pricked her finger. The solution came back pale pink. Still light, but clearly there.

She cackled, hopped around in a little happy dance, then scrambled to take new benchmarks. She found a clearing patched over with wild grasses five li deep in her family’s woods, where she was sure no one would disturb her.

Her sprint this time: 100 strides in a little over half a breath. Almost double as fast as before. There was no whiplash, no stumbling over her feet—her body knew where it needed to be, each joint and limb humming in perfect synchrony.

She snuck out one of Jin’s stones next. 500 jin moved so easily it shocked her. She could toss it a full foot in the air! Walking around she felt like she always had—she thought she hadn’t changed all that much until she tested herself.

Light things still felt light. It was only that heavy things also felt light. It made her giggle, for some reason.

She ran a series of cognitive tests and found her pattern recognition speed was back to pre-demonification levels. Maybe even a little faster!

Even the air wasn’t quite so unbearable. With more light in her, she felt more power to mold it to her will. She could burn essence to cool her insides while leaving her skin only somewhat cool, so she didn’t feel like an ice block to the touch. Only her demon arm would need to be in a perpetual sleeve.

Oh, how she loved being a demon! She loved it so, so much.

Would it always be like this? Would she simply keep doubling her physical powers each week?!

She would conquer the Heavens in a year.

Ruyi let herself bask in the fantasy.