When my band finished playing everything they had come up with, which included the lyrics sung and mostly written by Gold String, I was fucking floored. These guys weren’t slackers at all. They’d all improved immensely while I was solving the sect’s alchemy issues.

There were still a few places where the song needed something more or had to be improved for emphasis.

I cleared my throat. “The part where you sing, ‘sleeping in silence, unbothered by time. Dragon beneath the waves, still and sublime.’ We need to change those lyrics. It doesn’t give the feeling of being injured and alone that you think it does.”

Dread Lotus tapped her chin with her fan. “What about replacing it with ‘Shattered sword shards, cut deep beneath the skin. Dragon abandoned by blood and by kin?’”

I pointed to her. If anything screamed injured and alone, that would be it. Holy shit.

Gold String’s face turned red like he was about to argue that he would never abandon his ancestor. But then he calmed down and hung his head, likely remembering how his family did nothing to save that important figure leading to his clan’s complete destruction. “Yeah, that... works for this song incredibly well.”

Dread Lotus grinned. “As Sister Lin said earlier, I understood the assignment.”

Wait, when did I say that? Whatever. I probably had.

I pointed out a few more places we could alter to elevate the song from pinnacle quality to perfection.

I knew for certain that the few changes I made would cause something incredible to happen once put together, so I had us practice each section of the song in separate parts. Mostly I focused on the newer parts that needed the most attention and adjustments. Then everyone practiced it in full by themselves.

***

Several hours later, Little Spring stood nervously next to Noxious Fangstrike. That Nascent Soul fucker must have heard me say that we were finally ready to play in front of an audience, because he arrived just after the kid, making it hard for us to ask him to leave.

The little protagonist bit his lip and grabbed the necklace that was hidden beneath his robes. “Junior Linlin, are you sure you’re ready to play? You haven’t had a break in days. I didn’t even see you while you were helping Senior Noxious Fangstrike.”

“I’m fine. And I ate a grain liberation dan a few hours ago.”

He frowned at me and crossed his arms. “That’s not food.”

The poison master nodded. “Junior Verdant Spring has a point. You’ve only been back here for half a day. Is that really enough time to finalize a song?”

I played a power chord that caused the wind to rush through the trees and blow everyone’s hair. “Stop worrying and listen up!”

“Yeah, uncle. Stop worrying. You’re lucky we aren’t throwing you out.”

He frowned and looked very sad. “How could you say that to your own beloved uncle?”

She huffed. “Fine, stay. And be surprised. This is the first time we’ve played this all together, so it will be a treat.”

“Wait, Sister Linlin, what is the song called?”

All of us froze.

Yeah, we still hadn’t come up with an official name. A song couldn’t be perfect without a title!

“Shattered Shards,” Gold String said.

“Boo. No!” Dread Lotus said.

“What? Do you have something better?”

“How about, ‘Pure Living?’” Azure suggested.

They both frowned but said nothing — obviously not liking it, but not sure why.

I began playing. “It’s called, ‘Dragons Never Die.’”

Their eyes widened like they realized I’d said the most obvious thing.

Our song was guitar-heavy in the beginning, so I picked single notes in quick succession. Gold String added in his bass, blending our sounds together.

I sang the intro phrase just before Dread Lotus crashed a cymbal and began drumming, expanding the music while bringing a fullness and depth to it that was missing before.

Azure Melodic River used her keyboard to add a delicateness that would be missing without it, making the spaces where I didn’t sing absolutely lovely and filled with emotion.

A healing energy I’d never felt before, not even during our practices, built up. Maybe it was because a song was never complete without an audience, or maybe it was the battle formation pulling everything together, but this was something special. Utterly beautiful.

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The emotions in every line were so intense that I could feel it deep in my soul. The loneliness, the injury, the hurt. Even though I was the one singing, it felt like I was being exposed, then purified and cleansed. As if the stains on my massive soul had been bleached away. Aches and pains I had never noticed began to vanish. They had to be from the injuries I received during my failed immortal ascension.

Of course, this had the unfortunate side effect of increasing the dichotomy between my body and soul once again, but I didn’t care. I wanted to be healed as well.

As we played, Little Spring had the biggest grin on his face. Even Noxious Fangstrike appeared happy, at least until a spiraling cloud formed above us. This one was ten times the size of the previous one. Which meant that our song was so perfect that the heavens wanted us to stop its creation.

As if I would ever allow that. This song was not only healing me, I could tell from the brat’s expression that it was waking Ghosty up. If we didn’t finish, there was no telling if he’d experience a rebound. I was not letting that happen.

Except that I didn’t need to do anything because Noxious Fangstrike was already there, with his goddamn giant-ass Little Cauldron, protecting us as we played. That look on his face told me that he was so proud of his niece that he wanted to cry. He would not let her perfect song get ruined by a mere tribulation cloud.

Eight lighting strikes struck his cauldron in time to our song.

None of us stopped.

We all came together to finish the beautiful outro, and it felt like a wave of purifying energy washed over us and our practice grounds.

My mind had improved but my skin felt too tight and weak. I’d have to get used to this… or hurry up with my next tribulation. But what mattered most, was that we’d fucking done it!

I turned to congratulate everyone for playing their second perfect song, except the heavens had other plans. They opened up and sent epiphany energy into them, strengthening their bodies and internal energy. If they didn’t cultivate it immediately, it would be a complete waste.

Well, I had mentioned that writing their own songs was the best way to gain enlightenment, and I hadn’t been wrong.

Noxious grinned and stood in front of his niece. “Junior Linlin. You’ve worked too hard recently. You’re starting to make me suspect that you really are a time-traveling immortal here to save the sect.”

Little Spring, who had been walking over to me, tripped.

I casually stepped between the two as I laughed. “Only a fool would think that.” I gestured to the three. “I assume I can leave them in your capable hands?”

He nodded and shooed me off.

Which was good, because the kid and I needed to check on Ghosty’s condition.

***

I appeared sitting at the stone table under the gazebo that had the best view of Fairy Lake. The spiritual energy-filled air of the space was refreshing after so long. Seriously, the week I’d spent away from here felt like a month.

Xiao Bai ran across the grass with his tongue lolling. When he reached us, he sat down like a good not-puppy.

The wind blew slightly, and I noticed that the herbs I had stored here had been planted either by the spirit of the space or by the kid.

And speaking of that annoying dragon, he flew over in his noodle-form only to suddenly appear as a golden-haired teenager.

Well, everyone was here. Now all we needed to do was to contact Ghosty McGhostFace.

Little Spring pulled the necklace out and set it on the table.

We all waited patiently.

The illusory image of a middle-aged man floated out of the soul gem to hover above the table. He still had black hair that was graying at the temples, pulled into a bun. Unlike the last time I saw him, his face looked extremely pale and many strands of his hair were out of place. He hadn’t fully recovered. But he was awake!

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I might have hugged him if he’d had an actual body. Instead, I placed my palm on the cool table. It wasn’t like my hands had been shaking or anything. Especially not because I’d been worried about this fucker for weeks and I finally felt relieved. Not at all.

I cleared my tight throat. “Welcome back, Ghosty.”

Little Spring leaned in. “Senior Ghosty! We were worried about you! How are you feeling?!”

The dragon briefly squeezed his illusory shoulder. “Humph. I knew you’d be okay.”

Ghosty clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the enchantment-filled sky. The tips of his translucent ears reddened.

“It’s good to be back.” Once he’d regained his composure, he turned to us. “Did you all go through a lot to heal me?”

“A lot?” I crossed my arms. “No. I only spent a better part of this month infiltrating an unorthodox sect and building up a band that was good enough to write a perfect healing song while risking both of our necks. I wouldn’t necessarily call that a lot.”

Little Spring looked at me, shocked. “Sister Lin! That’s a bit…”

But I didn’t let him stop me and continued. “Since you’re worth it.”

Ghosty bit his lip and our eyes met.

Little Spring’s face turned red. “Oh. I thought you were being…”

What? Sarcastic? Fucking brat.

Casually, I rested my head on my hand. “I’ve also decided to move up the collection of supplies to create a new body for you. I think we can have one ready in fifteen to twenty years, as long as we can get out of this backwater continent.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off.

“This is, of course, so you don’t blame us for making you use your shield to save our asses and those of the three alchemy disciples.” I leaned back. Xiao Bai hopped onto my lap and I ran my hands through his soft fur.

Ghosty’s jaw clenched. “Senior Lin!”

I kept going. “We’re all alive right now because of you. But I think that we shouldn’t keep track of things like who saves who from now on.”

He looked exasperated, then nodded. “I agree. We shouldn’t bother with that. And what I’ve been trying to say is thank you!.”

Actually, I thought he’d get irritated because I’d made him overextend himself too far. Maybe even threatened to leave our group directly after I prepared a body for him. This amount of gratefulness was outside of my expectations — though it was definitely deserved.

He smiled. It made him look a little younger. Or maybe I was just an old monster. “And, Senior Lin. That was a damn good song.”

I paused, then grinned.

Fuck yeah, it was.

“I’d like to hear it again sometime.”

“Of course! I think you’ll enjoy learning about the Dao of Rock.” maybe I should introduce him to the music of Ghost. Muahahaha!