The next morning, Ishin’s group waited patiently along the tree line that rested just ten yards from the crater’s edge. All lay flat on the ground, intent on preventing anyone from detecting their presence. The air was still and heavy with mist, and the distant cries of unseen spirit beasts echoed faintly through the forest canopy. The sun had yet to crest the horizon, leaving the crater’s crimson interior draped in the dim, shadowed hues of dawn.

  Ishin looked skyward, spotting the vast splay of the flying carpet just as Long had reported. The massive artifact hovered above the crater like a dark mirror against the pale horizon. He wondered what had caused it to disappear previously—then how difficult it must have been to both move and anchor such a large object. Clearly it was a spirit tool, but one that must have required an immense amount of qi to sustain.

  The Crimson Abyss Sect is quite something. No wonder it’s a Grand Sect.

  Rhee lay directly to Ishin’s right. Her sharp eyes never stopped scanning the rim of the crater, her body tense and ready. Ishin could feel the same anxiety in his own chest.

  “We’ll find him,” Ishin reassured her softly.

  “We better,” she muttered, her gaze fixed ahead.

  “It’s starting,” Mei gasped from Ishin’s left.

  The first golden rays of dawn breached the treetops, streaking across the crater like molten light. Just as before, a brilliant jade glow ignited in the center of the pit. The light pulsed brighter and brighter until, at last, it dimmed and vanished—revealing another pill basket waiting for the brave or the foolish to claim it.

  “How many people do you think will die this time?” Long asked from his position to the right of Rhee.

  Too many.

  “My guess is eight,” Chen speculated from beside Mei.

  “Seven,” Ishin guessed, joining in the grim game.

  “You shouldn’t say such heartless things,” Mei chastised. “They’re people just like us.”

  “All people who would try to kill us without hesitation,” Ishin countered. “My main question is—when will Bai Hao appear?”

  “I bet he’ll wait to make another spectacle,” Chen scoffed quietly. “He strikes me as someone with a flair for dramatics.”

  Their exchange was cut short when a familiar orange-and-red sparrow darted out from the forest canopy and descended toward the basket.

  That spirit beast again? And before anyone else too.

  Soaring so fast it was almost invisible to the naked eye, the spirit sparrow reached the basket in an instant. Its talons clasped two pills, and it continued flying onward, vanishing into the morning sky in a flash of gold and crimson feathers.

  “That is a smart cultivator,” Chen murmured, half-amused, half-impressed.

  “Spirit beasts have their uses,” Long agreed.

  Evidently.

  The sparrow’s success seemed to spark the others into motion. Six cultivators emerged from their hiding places and began descending the crater’s slope. Two traveled close together—barely a few yards apart—while the rest spread out evenly along the rim. One even appeared just twenty yards to the right of Ishin’s group.

  Can’t believe we didn’t notice her.

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  The two closest cultivators immediately clashed upon reaching the crater floor. One wielded a naginata while the other fought with twin curved swords. Their battle was short and merciless. The dual-wielder sidestepped a thrust and, in one swift motion, decapitated the naginata user.

  Ishin didn’t spare the victor another glance. His attention swept over the other fighters, searching for Isho Nel or any of his companions. To his disappointment, he didn’t see them among the candidates below. What he did see, however, was a familiar face—the coal-wielding woman they had robbed the week before. She hurled burning embers like miniature suns, driving her foes back.

  “Is that the same girl we robbed last week?” Rhee asked quietly.

  “It is,” Ishin confirmed. “Back for more.”

  He couldn’t help but feel a small pang of guilt at the sight of her.

  No doubt we forced her into this. Would she have had to risk this fight if we hadn’t taken her pills?

  The coal cultivator unleashed six blazing coals toward a nearby man. The red-hot projectiles struck him squarely in the chest, knocking him off balance and sending him screaming as fire consumed his robes.

  The woman sprinted toward the basket—but a tomahawk suddenly spun through the air and struck her in the side of the head. The blade split her skull cleanly, and she crumpled lifelessly to the blood-stained earth.

  Ishin watched her body fall with slight regret—but mostly with cold acceptance. The world of cultivation was merciless. She had taken a risk coming here, and it had cost her life. It could just as easily have been him lying dead in the dirt. In the end, Ishin knew there were paths only the strong could walk.

  His inner beast stirred within, growling in resonance with his thoughts. He could feel its hunger for strength—its desire to walk the full length of the Immortal Path.

  Turning his gaze back to the battlefield, Ishin focused on the warrior who had thrown the tomahawk. She moved with fluid precision, dodging every attack from the remaining candidates as she retrieved her weapon from the corpse’s skull. Her skin gleamed a deep bronze under the morning light, and her black hair was woven into intricate braids that whipped through the air as she moved. She wielded a second tomahawk, which she buried in another cultivator’s chest before twisting aside from a thrown lance. Then, with frightening accuracy, she hurled her remaining weapon into the forehead of the lancer, felling him instantly.

  She’s impressive, Ishin thought as the warrior strode forward to reclaim her tomahawk. Only she and the dual-swordsman remained now. Another bloodbath was imminent.

  He scanned the horizon. Where is Bai Hao? Surely if that arrogant cultivator was going to make an entrance, he would have done so by now.

  But no others entered the crater. The final two combatants faced each other, weapons raised, their stances tense and deliberate.

  “Do you see that?” Long whispered suddenly.

  “What is it?” Rhee asked.

  Long pointed toward a patch of ground near the pill basket. Ishin followed his direction and spotted it—a thin green vine creeping silently along the crater floor, inching toward the basket like a living snake.

  “It’s a vine,” Mei observed.

  “A vine,” Rhee echoed. “Like what Isho Nel’s wood cultivator used.”

  “Precisely,” Long confirmed.

  Below, the clash of weapons continued—steel ringing, dust rising, and sparks flaring from every blow. The fighters were too focused to notice the vine slithering toward its prize.

  “I can see where it’s coming from,” Ishin murmured, tracing its path upward along the crater wall into a dense thicket of trees roughly four hundred yards to their right. “We could be over there in no time.”

  “Are we certain that’s them?” Chen asked. “If it’s not, and they show up later, we might miss them.”

  “A valid concern,” Mei admitted. “Should half of us scout it out while the rest remain?”

  “That’s her,” Rhee said with certainty, her voice low and steady. “I remember those vines when we fought. I’m sure of it.”

  Down below, the vine reached the basket and looped around its handle. It began to pull, dragging the prize toward the crater’s edge. But before it could make much progress, the tomahawk warrior hurled one of her axes with pinpoint precision, severing the vine in mid-tug—just as she sidestepped a slash from her opponent.

  How did she notice the vine? No, it doesn’t matter.

  “We need to go now,” Ishin declared. Now that the vine had been exposed, whoever controlled it wouldn’t remain in place for long. If it was Isho Nel’s group, this was their only chance to strike before their quarry vanished again.

  Rhee rose first. “Agreed!”

  The others stood swiftly, ignoring the battle raging below. As one, they slipped through the undergrowth, dashing between the trees. Leaves brushed their arms, roots snapped beneath their boots, and the humid scent of soil and blood filled the air.

  They moved like shadows—silent, focused, and united—intent on finding their prey and claiming vengeance.