The city of Songying boasted majestic views of the White Mountains to the North, and prospered from vigorous river trade Southward. Its people were rich enough to keep it well-maintained, and yet the population was not so great that it fell into urban squalor. The city inhabited that wonderful sweet spot, just small enough to feel like home, just big enough to host a really, really well-to-do brothel.

  Shukui bid farewell to a handsome man with sparking eyes and a silken robe. “Please, visit us again. We will eagerly await your return.” He accepted her deep bow and took his leave. She suppressed a shiver as soon as he’d turned his back.

  Mama Orchid said that when dealing with cultivators, they were to maintain the status quo. Sure, few would turn out to be as brutal and volatile as the Roiling Pines… but one could never be sure. There existed only one exception.

  The exception sauntered into view, with her usual company. Shukui lit right up. “Oh, Lady Dahe! Here for part-time work, as a client, or did you just come to bring me my favowite wittle customer?” Shukui reached out to give his cheek a little pinch. He was everyone’s favorite: polite, well-spoken, and absolutely adorable. Every week for the last three months, Lady Dahe had brought him in to play xiangqi and weiqi with any of the girls who could make the time, and the pay was fantastic.

  Her hand faltered when she looked closer. “Oh, you poor baby! What’s wrong with him, is he okay?” The child’s sapphire eyes, usually sparkling, meandered aimlessly and were dragged down by heavy bags. He swayed from side to side like a drunk.

  “Oh, he’s fine, probably. He’s learning continuous, subconscious meditation! It’s tough to sleep that way, but he’s hanging on. You may be tempted to take it easy on him, but don’t. He needs to condition himself to function, even in this state. Even if he falls asleep, and he might, make sure he remains aware enough to play.”

  The Lady left her student in Shukui’s care, but the handoff did not go as smoothly as usual. She had to take the boy’s hand and lead him, step by faltering step, to the usual lounge room. She positioned him on a nice pillow and laid out the board and the stones.

  “... Little Customer, do you want to take a nap?”

  He mumbled. “Mm. Yeh. Gonna slep a lil. I’ll play…” His head tilted forward, his breathing became deep and steady. “... white,” he finished at last.

  “You people have your own challenges, don’t you? You relax.” Even so, she did her job and put a black stone on the board. To her surprise, he actually took a white stone from his bowl and put it into an appropriate position near the corner.

  He remained silent for the rest of the game, eyes half lidded and breath steady and deep. “Huh. You play better asleep than awake. I’ll have to tell Lady Dahe about that.” Stones clicked, the relaxing smell of incense filled the room, and the afternoon wore on.

  The world turned.

  -

  An invitation from the Empress, herself. Zao Zhang followed the attendant through the majestic halls of the Palace in disbelief. A mere sergeant, a transferee, receiving the personal attention of royalty? Although, he had at least spoken to a member of the Imperial Household before. Perhaps his brief acquaintance with the First Prince had something to do with this.

  He kept his back straight, and maintained the dignity proper to a cultivator. When the mortal attendant stopped in her tracks and bowed deep, he did the same without hesitation. She didn’t speak to greet the object of her reverence, but Zhang knew as soon as he saw her. A very small, very young girl in an ornate children’s robe had stepped into the hallway. Her hair shimmered gold, and her eyes shone sapphire-blue. The First Princess, Bai Shanyao, a mere eight years old.

  Without a glance at the attendant, she stepped past and into Zhang’s personal space before he could straighten back up. “Are you the soldier Mother called for?” she asked, voice like a delicate temple bell.

  “Yes, Young Mistress.”

  She beckoned him downward, and whispered into his ear. “Are you ready to die, pig bastard?” It took him a moment to process the words, and in that time she’d stepped back. One look at her face chilled his very soul. He’d fought in the East-West War. He’d suppressed demonic cultivators. He had never witnessed such malice on a smiling face, not once in his long life.

  She skipped past him, like a normal child, as if nothing had just happened. Then, the attendant continued on.

  She led him to an imposing door adorned with golden filigree and then positioned herself beside it. “Here, honoured guest.” The bow she gave him was deep, and final. He steeled his very soul for the ordeal awaiting him.

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  The door made no sound as it swung open, nor when it shut behind him with no visible mechanism. Darkness awaited him, and in that darkness lurked a predatory force unlike anything he had ever experienced or envisioned. Intent flooded into him, ‘something’ that cried of regalia. His forehead hit the ground before he realized it.

  Lights flicked on, and he could make out the reflective tiles beneath his nose. He dared not look upward, where the Tiger waited unseen. “Honoured Zao Zhang, faithful servant of the Empire. Please, raise your head.” The voice rubbed the ears like silk, and sang a mocking tune.

  He could do nothing but obey. His eyes raised to see her, the Rosegold Paragon, the Empress in the flesh. Golden hair, fair skin and golden eyes- the predator revealed in fearsome beauty. She wore the finest cloth in layer after layer, all inlaid with golden thread. When her beauty could no longer hold him captive, he registered the rest of the room- and only a lifetime of discipline kept him from recoiling in horror.

  “The decor? Something of a Tiger Clan tradition. It’s all new. What do you think of it, faithful Zao?” She sat upon a chair of human bones, a refined noble amidst barbarian brutality.

  Expressionless eyes, everywhere. The chamber bore a forest of wooden spikes, out of place amid the palace fineries, and each adorned with a human head. He reckoned them all to be mortals, and a quick tally put their number at nineteen. His roving eyes caught sight of a small table, occupied by a single glowing hourglass. Then, moving toward the floor, he finally noticed the most horrible piece of all. Twenty.

  The Empress arose and wandered the room as Zhang took it all in. “You know, these men were wise. They were put in a ghastly situation, and took the best possible route. And their fate? Peaceful, perhaps, the natural end to a life of banditry. Nothing more.” She stroked the cheek of a head bearing a scruffy beard. Then she strode to the ‘rug.’

  A man-skin rug, laid out like bearskin. His head remained intact, his eyes replaced with glass orbs. The expression indicated that the flaying, and the ocular replacement, had taken place while he yet drew breath.

  “Curious? I know, clan traditions can be shocking to the outsider. Look at the eyes, Zhang! In life, he was a merchant. His nephew mentioned he had an ‘eye for glass.’ Get it? ‘Eye for glass,’ ‘glass for eyes?”” Her voice hid a razor’s edge, despite her gaiety.

  He could only swallow. “Very… effective display, Your Majesty.”

  She took the hourglass from its stand and waved it in front of his face. “And look at this! The rest, as I said, is Tiger Clan treatment. This little contrivance is pure Imperial work.” The hourglass contained no sand, but rather a bright, white fire. It moved about in the glass like a liquid. Before Zhang’s eyes, a tiny drop of flame trickled down the spout and fell to the plate at the bottom, evaporating on impact. It fizzled away with a tiny, distant, human scream. “Soul torture! Who would dream up such a thing? Ah, but ‘when in the Empire,’ as they say…” She set the object back down on the stand.

  “Your Majesty, please forgive me.”

  “Forgive you? Why, Zao Zhang, your service record is exemplary. What ever could require an apology?” He watched her cross the spotless tiles to the ‘rug,’ then place her foot on top of the corpse’s head. “Come to think of it, do you recognize this fellow?”

  The matter did not require much thought. “Yes.”

  “Oh? From where? And when?”

  He swallowed hard. “From the day… that the prince left for his Dao Journey-”

  When the intent rippled through the room, he slammed his face back onto the ground. He didn’t see the impact, but heard a sound like a ripe melon exploding. An object collided with his head: a glass orb.

  For a moment the Empress did not speak. Finally, “Zao Zhang. Why did you take all of my baby’s money, and leave him in the hands of a swindler?”

  He knew he was going to die, and with certainty came peace. Even in his prone position, his back straightened. The truth came easily. “Because I dared not gainsay the First Prince… and because the world is vicious and cruel. Generosity is the rightful domain of childhood, and there is no righteousness in denying such an act.”

  The blow did not come. The room remained silent, save for the occasional faint scream from the hourglass. He dared to look up, and found that the Empress had her back turned to him. She traced a finger along the back of her bone chair, as if deep in thought. “There are so many people involved with this that even I can’t touch.” Her words were soft, as if she were speaking to herself. “Why should I not crush those I can reach? Zhang, should I kill you? Would you believe me, if I told you that I am not a kind woman?”

  There could be no sane answer to this question, so he held his tongue. “It is so very hard to impart a value into children if you, yourself, lack it. Yet I succeeded, in one case out of two. Should I kill you for proving my own success?”

  “I render myself to your judgement, Your Majesty.”

  “Do you? Then this is my judgement.” She turned back around, avoiding the pool of gore to loom over him. “You are a brave, righteous, and faithful man. And you knowingly hurt my child. Therefore, you are deserving of both reward and punishment. Here is my compromise: Kowtow before me a thousand times and cripple your cultivation. After, I shall grant your desire to marry into the Outer Disciples of the Imperial Household’s Sect.”

  Silence, again. Everything he had ever wanted, for everything he had ever achieved. “I… I do not deserve such an-”

  “No, you don’t. The Great General’s grandaughter, Mantian, would be appropriate. She’s in the fifth stage of the Realm of the Brilliant Soul, far greater than you- and once you’ve destroyed yourself, it shall be a wedding between a bear and an ant. Can you endure such a thing? Reward, and punishment.” Her golden eyes glistened like cold metal, unyielding and demanding. “Now, do it.”

  He did it. Zao Zhang kowtowed a thousand times, until the blood from his forehead mingled with the wreckage of the merchant. He reached within his very core and broke himself, crushed and shattered everything he had ever been, all the power and meaning he’d accumulated. Those predatory, gleaming eyes never closed.

  The Rosegold Paragon continued her game.