“Damn those monkeys,” Lei cursed after swallowing the last mouthful of the herbal elixir.

  “You alright?” Ishin asked.

  “My arm and shoulder hurt something awful, but I’ll live.” He pushed himself up into a seated position, his breath sharp with lingering pain.

  “That’s a relief,” Tan Chen sighed.

  “Is he good?” Wei Long called, his eyes never leaving the rotting trees of the forest.

  “Yes,” Ishin answered. He considered for a moment, then turned back to Lei. “Are you able to walk?”

  Lei forced a grin. “Of course. A couple of monkeys aren’t enough to keep me down.” Using his good arm, he shoved himself up and staggered shakily to his feet.

  “You think we need to go?” Tan Chen asked Ishin.

  “Yes. It’s too risky to stay here.”

  “In case more of those apes come?” Lei asked, rotating his wounded shoulder. The motion earned him a wince.

  “Precisely.”

  “Where do we go?” Tan Chen asked, glancing around. Every direction looked equally bleak. With the sunlight mostly hidden beneath the canopy, they couldn’t even determine which way they faced.

  “We just pick a direction,” Wei Long said, finally returning to the group.

  “Any direction?” Ishin asked.

  “As long as we stick to it, yes.” Wei Long noticed their doubtful looks and elaborated. “This is an island. If we can reach a beachhead, we’ll see the sun clearly and can plot our path from there. Zhu Rhee!”

  At the sound of her name, Rhee left her post and joined them. “I heard most of that. It makes sense to me.”

  It made sense to Ishin as well.

  “Then we’ll proceed.” Wei Long slung his bow and started off.

  “He seems quite confident,” Tan Chen murmured, watching his back.

  “Indeed,” Ishin agreed.

  As though he’s faced something like this before.

  “Do you need help moving?” Rhee asked Lei with concern.

  “I’ll be fine,” Lei declared, pounding a fist against his chest. “You both worry too much over minor flesh wounds.” To prove his point, he strode after Wei Long.

  “Those weren’t minor wounds,” Rhee countered, keeping pace with him.

  Those beasts are dangerous, Ishin thought as he and Tan Chen brought up the rear. We were nearly overwhelmed by six of them.

  “It looked like they were sucking your blood,” Tan Chen said. “Were they actually?”

  Lei’s expression darkened. “They were. Felt like my life was being stripped from me. I could feel my blood being forced out.” He examined the bandaged arm grimly. “Made my muscles weak, like all my strength had been stolen.”

  “Even after you punched through one?” Rhee asked.

  “I couldn’t believe it either,” Lei spat. “The bastard bit down with those fangs, and the more he drank, the stronger he became. I don’t understand why it didn’t die.”

  “Your blood,” Ishin said. Lei turned his eyes on him. “It was healing itself with your blood. I saw it. The one on your shoulder recovered even after you cracked its skull—because it kept drinking.”

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  “That’s awful,” Rhee frowned. “Stealing Lei’s life to heal itself.”

  “I’ve fought many kinds of spirit beasts in the Blood Pits back home,” Tan Chen said grimly. “But none as monstrous as these.”

  “What do you think they are?” Rhee asked.

  No one had an answer. With unease gnawing at them, they pressed on in silence, every eye watchful for another threat.

  Hours passed without incident, yet the vigilance itself was exhausting. Sweat clung to Ishin’s robes, dampening the fabric against his skin. Judging by the others’ weary faces, he wasn’t alone in feeling the toll of this place. The island’s heavy humidity only made it worse.

  “How much longer?” Lei asked, his voice ragged with fatigue.

  Wei Long glanced up at the ashen canopy. The faint rays had shifted from gold to amber—sunset would arrive in only a few hours. Dark circles beneath his eyes betrayed his own exhaustion.

  “Perhaps a short break is warranted.”

  Murmurs of relief answered him. Lei slumped against a tree and closed his eyes. Tan Chen unbound her braid, letting sapphire hair spill down her back. Rhee drew a waterskin from her storage ring and drank deeply. Seeing her, Ishin drained the last drops from his own.

  We’ll need more water soon. But where?

  Wei Long alone remained vigilant, scanning the foliage for danger. Ishin approached him. “Still worried about more monkeys?”

  “Not just them,” Wei Long replied. “There are other candidates here too.”

  Right. The elders said there were sixty-seven others on this island.

  Ishin thought of the dead archer who had killed Wu Kai.

  Sixty-six now. Seventy-one with us, I suppose.

  “We have a problem,” Tan Chen said suddenly.

  Ishin and Wei Long turned. She was seated cross-legged, her expression grim, brows knit in concentration.

  “What is it?” Rhee asked, lowering her waterskin.

  “There’s no qi here.”

  Ishin blinked. He hadn’t understood.

  “What do you mean?” Wei Long pressed.

  “As I said,” Tan Chen repeated tightly. “There’s no qi. None.”

  Lei cracked one eye open. “Huh?”

  “See for yourselves,” she said.

  Ishin did. Opening his third eye, he reached out.

  Impossible.

  Tan Chen was right. The island held no ambient qi at all.

  “How can this be?” Rhee whispered.

  “This is not good,” Wei Long said, troubled.

  With his brief time as a cultivator, Ishin couldn’t judge the true severity. “Have any of you experienced something like this before?”

  “No,” Rhee said. “It shouldn’t be possible. There should be qi everywhere beneath the Heavens.”

  Lei rubbed a dirt-streaked hand across his face. “What in the world is happening here?”

  Tan Chen rose to her feet. “If we can’t cultivate ambient qi, then our only path to the Adept Realm is through pills.”

  She’s right.

  Ishin looked around with new eyes—the withered trees, the diseased undergrowth.

  This place is death.

  “And we have no food or water source,” Wei Long added darkly.

  “The Culling,” Ishin said quietly. All eyes turned to him. “The elders called this the Culling. Now it makes sense. Everything here is meant to drive us into conflict. No food or water. No qi. The Pill Drop is the only chance to cultivate. Even those spirit monkeys… How could we not fight each other in conditions like these?”

  “He’s right,” Rhee said, dirt smudging her face, hair in disarray. “The candidates must fight over the pills when they appear. They’d have no choice.”

  “No wonder that archer attacked us on sight,” Tan Chen murmured.

  “It explains why he looked so sick,” Wei Long said. “The poor fellow was desperate. Probably thought we carried food.”

  Ishin stared absently into the darkening trees.

  What kind of sect does this to its disciples?

  “You’ve figured it out faster than most.”

  The voice came from behind them. All five spun around. Wei Long nocked an arrow, Ishin lowered his spear into stance, Lei lurched to his feet, and both Tan Chen and Rhee readied themselves for battle.

  A bald, pale-skinned man stepped from the shadows. He looked about twenty, grime coating his skin and sweat glistening on his bare scalp. A tattooed red “6” marked the center of his forehead. His black-and-red robes were shredded and frayed, ragged from long wear.

  “No need for that,” he said with a wave. “I’m not here to fight you.”

  The man’s voice was calm, though Ishin noticed the metallic object fidgeting in his hand.

  “Who are you?” Rhee asked, her guard still up.

  “You can call me Six,” he said, pointing to the tattoo. His tired eyes flicked between them. “If it’s alright, I’d like to talk.”