Everyone knows not to panic when things go south. But how many know to stay flexible? That tunnel vision in a time of crisis is just as bad as hysteria? Take a breath, take every action deliberately, even if it’s slow. -Captain Din Su of the Marakesh City Guard to recruits.

* * *

“Tsuyuki!” Kansi’s voice rang clearly across the clearing, but I ignored it. There was simply too much to do, and I didn’t have time for dancing on eggshells around the wind artist.

In my hand, I held a clipboard, complete with all the remaining items that needed to be completed prior to the Shattered Moon Festival…a name that grated at my nerves every time it was brought up. Could they be more obvious that this festival was, in part, to celebrate my defeat? After all, the whole point of the Spirit Caller Sect coming all this way was to subdue the Four Spirits of the Shore, two of whom were my direct blood, one of whom was my right-hand advisor, and the last of which was just a copy of myself. It took quite the thick skin not to take this entire affair personally.

“Tsuyuki, I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Kansi Ren said, laying a hand on my shoulder. Unable to pretend like I hadn’t heard her, I turned.

“Sorry, what is it? I’m trying to help Lin with the planning.” I gestured to the list in my hand. There were many items still unchecked, and entirely too little time finish them.

Kansi nodded. “I won’t take much of your time, but perhaps we could talk after the preparations are complete? I would like to request your assistance in my mission.”

“My assistance?” I couldn’t keep the shock off my face. After all, I was her mission. How could she possibly expect me to assist in my own capture and execution? That would be silly.

“I would like to consult some of the local yokai to find my quarry. No one here knows yokai quite like you do,” she explained.

“What about Lian? He’s pretty skilled.”

Kansi’s lip curled into a twisted grimace. “I would sooner kiss an oni.”

“I’ve known a few rather handsome oni. The stronger ones alter their appearance to appear more beautiful.”

“Oh, so you’d fit right in?” Lin said, walking over with Zumi trailing at his heels. I flashed him my most winning smile.

“The difference is that I was born beautiful, thank you,” I answered.

“Never said you weren’t, but you do spend quite a bit of time in front of a mirror every day.” Lin nudged me playfully, but I just scowled back.

“At least I devote my time to important things, instead of working myself to the bone in the thankless task of administration,” I jabbed back, but he just gave a pointed look at the clipboard in my hand. I quickly hid it behind my back. “At least, not all the time.”

“Right, and how is everything coming along?”

“Slowly,” I admitted, pulling out my clipboard again. “Xinya reported back that the kitchens are working very hard and will hopefully be done in time. She complained that there were too many fish-based foods on the menu.”

“Saikan is a fishing town,” Lin answered dryly. I nodded in agreement.

“Which is what I told her. She’s off checking on the inns, right now, to make sure they’re prepared to host our guests of honor,” I explained. Not only would we have to host a dozen sect cultivators, but also Pharyx and Pollen, who were royalty and deserved appropriate housing. “Otherwise, I’ve been trying to help with the decorations, but lanterns are slow to hang.”

The townsfolk were doing their best. They had been beyond excited when Lin had announced the coming festival. Despite recent tragedies, they’d all come together to make the event truly wonderful. Just about every homemaker in town had offered their services to cook the traditional foods for everyone in town. A few had even offered to hand-sew new festival garments for Lin, Xinya, and I, seeing as how all our possessions had burned in the fire. It was truly heartening to see everyone putting in so much work on our behalf.

“Let me help with those,” Kansi offered. “I’ll have them up in a flash.”

“Oh, no, we’re quite al-” I was silenced by Lin’s hand over my mouth.

“We graciously accept your offer of assistance, Disciple Kansi,” he hastily said. “You are most generous to offer your aid.”

She smiled and shrugged. “I feel the town could use a bit of festivity with all that’s happened recently. Wicked storms, child snatchings, and arson weigh heavily on the spirit of a community.” She bowed deeply. “It would be my pleasure to help the Administrator in this task.”

Lin shot me a pointed look, but I just scowled back. At the end of the day, a wind artist would have a much faster time putting up lanterns than I would, but I didn’t want her around. The more she was around, the more anxious I became. She was just so…strange. I couldn’t tell if she knew the real target of her mission from the Sword Saint, or if she was just that clueless. It wasn’t like I’d been particularly subtle.

“I guess that leaves the question of Pharyx and Pollen, as well as the arriving sect artists,” I reported off my list. “One of the Hanai scouts arrived this morning. Pharyx and Suzume will be arriving tomorrow afternoon, with Pollen following shortly after.”

“That’s perfect actually.” He took off his glasses and wiped them clean. “Tonight, you and I attempt to reach the Black City.”

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“Attempt?” I asked. I’d never heard of the Black City before, and no one in Saikan had been besides Lin, himself. All he was willing to say was that it was a spiritual waypoint, one that existed between the spiritual and mortal realms.

“It may take us several nights to enter,” he admitted. “They don’t exactly have stable pathways.”

* * *

The Black City…

It went by many names, most of which I didn’t know. It was said that those who lost their way at night would find their lanterns blown out by an unseasonably cold wind. They’d continue on their way, floundering through the dark wilderness until happening upon a crossroads…but only one would lead them home. The other would lead them to the Black City.

In truth, there were apparently several ways to enter the Black City, each one requiring the traveler to be completely lost and disoriented. Those who fall asleep on the side of the road might just find themselves awakening to a nightmarish scene of yokai and ghosts. Drunken travelers, those without maps, and those travelling on a cloudy, moonless night were also liable to find themselves in the Black City, someplace no mortal ever wanted to be.

Apparently, the city had earned something of a reputation. Many, both mortals and cultivators alike, would enter and never leave. It was a sanctuary for all manner of yokai, spirit beasts, and shades, but it was said that humans who tried to dwell there would be hunted down. The lucky ones would be killed and eaten. The unlucky ones? Those were the stuff of horror stories.

Regardless of the fact that it was someplace that no sane person should want to go, cultivators had been travelling there for as long as the city had existed. It offered a solution to the age-old logistical problem: how to get from one place to another quickly in our vast world. A person could get lost in the Pearlescent Valley, only to step out of the city in the Phoenix Empire, a journey that would normally take the better part of two years. The lure of faster travel drew cultivators by the thousands, even in the face of the risks.

However, it still provided one major conundrum. One could not simply go wherever they wanted. The gates to leave the city would only open to the place to which a person was most attached. For example, I might step in, only to return to my hometown in the Pearlescent Valley whereas Lin’s gate would open straight to Saikan.

Several times, I caught myself comparing the Black City to my capital at Half-Moon Hearth. Then again, I’d never make such a silly logistical system. Certainly, the instantaneous travel could be used to one’s strategic advantage, but overall, it was too unreliable. Without extreme planning and the right resources on hand, it couldn’t be used effectively.

The Spirit Caller Sect had done that planning, though. Thanks to their letter forewarning their arrival, we could send Lin himself to greet them, open the gate, and deliver them straight to Saikan…or at least close by.

“At least the weather’s nice,” Lin muttered on the third night we wandered aimlessly through the forest. “Not like last night.” I nodded and passed him a jug of high-quality, qi-infused wine, the most expensive in Saikan. He held it and sighed. “This is worth a whole year’s salary for an average fisherman,” he muttered before raising it to his lips.

“Enjoy it while you can, Lin,” I said. “Ascendents don’t get to have alcohol.”

“Why? Infinite cosmic powers not conducive to warped judgement?”

I snorted in amusement. “Any one of them would jump on the chance to get drunk, but any alcohol strong enough for an ascendent to even feel is beyond rare. I remember one time, the Sun Queen managed to find a hidden field in the mountains that was raised by a wood spirit. She kept it a dire secret for nearly three hundred years after she found it so it could mature.”

“What did she do with it?”

“She brewed the most glorious wine I’ve ever tasted,” I answered, recalling that wonderful night. “I was lucky enough that she invited me and mine, and we all had a grand time.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’ll never be an ascendent, then,” Lin said. “I’m perfectly content to remain right where I am.”

I blinked in surprise. “Is it hitting you early? I almost thought I heard you say you were content to be at Iron for the rest of your life.”

“Why would I need to go further? I’m already more powerful than most of the administrators in the Moon-Soaked Shore.” He shrugged his shoulders, and I narrowed my eyes.

How could he be so…nonchalant about this? Advancement was the most important thing a cultivator could strive for. Everyone had their own reasons, but the truth of the matter was that with advancement came power, and with power came the ability to have everything you wanted. A powerful cultivator could protect the things he loved without fear of being challenged. How could Lin be so…apathetic towards that?

“Alright, spit it out,” he said grumpily.

“What?”

“When you have an opinion, you stand up straighter and cross your arms,” he pointed out. “So, what is it?”

I hastily put my hands at my side and slouched. “It’s…nothing,” I answered, a little unnerved that he’d called me out like that.

“You’re lying, Yoru.”

“And?” He looked at me expectantly, and after a moment, I caved. “I just don’t get how you could be content at Iron. Someday, there might be a threat at Silver, or even Gold, that comes to Saikan. What would you do then?”

“What if a threat comes to Saikan because I’m Silver? Some challenger who wants to test his mettle?” he countered. “I’m not cut out for the higher echelons.”

“I seem to recall Hanako disagreeing with that,” I argued. She had pushed him to Bronze in the first place and was the first to congratulate us after we reached Iron. She was always in favor of her husband seeking the might of the heavens.

Lin didn’t answer. Instead, a sad look came over his face and he buried his face in the remainder of the wine jug.

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I shouldn’t have brought her up.” He stared into his jug for what felt like an eternity, likely trying to figure out how to respond. In the end, he changed the subject.

“I just hope I don’t get lost this time,” he muttered as he handed the empty jug back. I handed him another.

“No, you don’t. The whole point is to get lost and fall in a ditch.” His ears began to turn red, though whether it was the alcohol or embarrassment was undetermined.

For three nights, we’d filled Lin with spirits and sent him on his way. Only in the morning would I scour the forest to find him. Luckily, he never got far, and I found him sleeping it off somewhere…like when he landed face-first in a muddy ditch just that morning.

“Have fun, now!” I said, taking the second empty jug. He muttered something incoherent before striking off in a random direction.

For several minutes, I followed him through the forest, making sure that he was good and thoroughly drunk. He wove through the forest, his footfalls becoming less and less confident as the minutes progressed. Confident in his disorientation, I stopped, letting him wander off on his own. The Black City would not reveal itself so long as I was watching.

Instead, I sat down against a tree and waited, as I’d done several nights already. Getting to the Black City was not an exact science, after all. Chiho and I occupied ourselves by playing keep the acorn up, a game which Chiho almost always won.

It was nearly an hour before a chill wind blew through the forest, one that carried a wave of potent void qi that sent shivers down my spine and made me drop the acorn. Though the flavor of qi was a surprise to me, I was quite certain that we’d succeeded.

Lin had entered the Black City.