The Ten Swords Conference V
The shadows stir.
You shift your footing mid-run, narrowly dodging a black blade aimed for your ribs. Spinning around, you smash your left foot into the side of the figure that has just attempted to ambush you. To your surprise, it manages to stop your attack, blocking your kick with its arms. At the same time, it vanishes with a dark little puff, dissipating into the air.
“Everyone, watch out!” shouts Song Lingshu.
More and more of these strange shadowy figures appear, seemingly oozing from the floor and the walls. Are they some sort of servants bound to the veiled lady? They are certainly not human – even moreso than ghosts, they seem to consist purely of yin energy. Regardless, getting tied down here would be a huge mistake. You should not waste your time with these things. “Don’t engage them! We just need to make it through!” Directing them to run for it, you grab Xuezi and begin sprinting down the corridor. The shadows are not extremely agile – it is a simple matter to evade them. Their numbers, however, are a different problem altogether. Dodging the outstretched hands and assorted weaponry, you zig-zag your way past the gauntlet.
“Watch it, you fool!” shouts Xuezi, as a pike nearly catches her hair. “That was close!”
“No harm done! Just cling on tighter!” Darting to the side, you make a sweeping strike behind you with your palm. The power of the Divine Dragon Sweeps Its Tail blows back a good dozen of the shadows, evaporating them. It also causes the wooden beams set into the walls to creak. You hope that the cracking is just a figment of your imagination. Feeling slightly uneasy at the structural integrity of this mansion, you hurry on. As you turn another corner, a series of bright flashes cause you to squint.
Ahead of you are Liu Qi and Su Liaojing, the two orthodox pugilists standing back-to-back in a large room. A horde of shadows, almost indistinguishable from one another, has surrounded them. Su lets a bunch of empty satchels drop from his hand. “It doesn’t seem to work that well. Back to the usual methods, I suppose,” he says in resignation.
“Don’t worry, brother! I have your back!” shouts Liu Qi, raising the Tai’e Sword high into the air. For a moment the shadows appear to freeze, cowering before the magnificent blade. Without hesitation, they begin attacking, exchanging blows with the throng of dark figures. You leap into the fray, dispatching two shadows with your powerful claws. Some of them even appear to be armoured, and as for others, you have a strange sense of familiarity; as if you have fought them somewhere before. The rest of your group follows, joining the battle as soon as they can.
“Man Tiger Pig!” Liu Qi is surprised by your sudden arrival, gawking even as he disarms a shadow and rams his blade into its chest. “Why are you-“
“No time for words right now. Where’s the woman?”
“There,” says Su Liaojing, one finger pointing upwards. A wooden stairway runs along the walls, spiralling upwards. “The… noble young man was chasing after her, along with his companions.” He swats away a row of shadows with his staff. “We were about to follow, but these things cut us off.” You can see what he means: although they are not extremely skilled, the shadow fighters have the overwhelming weight of superior numbers behind them. It would be too risky to use qinggong and break past with just two people, but now that you have brought reinforcements, that is no longer impossible. Still tricky, however. The battle appears to be never-ending no matter what methods you attempt.
Looking at the architecture of the room, you decide that it is impossible to temporarily clear the room with a good roar; chances are good that you would just collapse the place on top of your head. If so…
“I will do something about this,” rumbles Guo Fu. “Please make a break for it when you have the chance.” He swings the Qixing Longyuan Sword above his head before bringing it down, drawing a circle about himself. His move seem to attract the shadows, drawing their hostile intent towards him like water circling down a hole – is it another Taiji technique? Calmly, his eyes full of purpose, Guo Fu parries the closest shadow expertly. This starts a chain reaction where they topple swiftly one by one, each shadow knocking down the one next to it. “Now!”
Hugging Xuezi close to you, you take Lingshu’s hand and leap before the shadows can recover. Even so you have to contend with thrown spears, each narrowly missing you by a hair. Bouncing off the railings of the stairs, you hop to the top. Beneath you, however, it looks like Guo Fu and the others have been surrounded by the shadows again. Liu Qi and Su Liaojing fall into step with Guo Fu immediately, guarding his back in perfect harmony. “We’ll take care of things here!” calls out Liu Qi. Nodding, you shout your thanks and head for the doorway at the top of the stairs; you are almost there.
“More ants.”
The moment you leap through the door, a strong gust of wind batters you, almost blowing you back into the building. You drop down to avoid that fate, clawing the grass in a desperate effort. Xuezi lets out muffled moans of protest as you cover her with your body. Lingshu grips your hand tightly, steadying herself while she plunges the Chixiao Sword into the ground for a better hold.
You appear to have reached the top of the cliffs; the highest point of the island. Rows of multicoloured banners flutter, tossed about by the strong gale. At the end of a brick path lies a large stone altar. A long object lies upon it, wrapped in a strip of dirty yellow cloth. There is a forest of incense in front of the altar. You can hear the light tinkling of bells, floating through the air.
This place is a shrine.
Shun stands before the altar, facing the veiled lady. He casts you a quick glance and gestures briefly with his fingers. Do not worry.
Even as his clothes are whipped about by the wind, his expression remains unchanged. Xiaofang is down on the ground, but Gao Ying is nowhere to be seen. The veiled lady giggles. “So, what will you do now, little Emperor? Did you not come here for this?” Picking up the wrapped object from the altar daintily, she allows the wrappings to blow away in the wind. The yellow cloth flies into the air, its colour striking a stark contrast against the dark, cloudy sky. In no time at all it is carried out by the air currents towards the sea. What she holds in her hands is a sword: a copper sword that is rather nondescript except for inscriptions that run all along the blade.
Intense, inexplicable feelings of hatred and sorrow swarm your mind all at the same time when you see that blade. Betrayal, whispers the deepest, darkest part of your soul. And as the feelings fade, vanishing as quickly and as mysteriously as they have appeared, you somehow know that the sword in her hand is the real Xuanyuan Sword. You open your mouth to shout, but your words are blown away by the wind. Your fingers dig in deeper into the ground. Your mind begins furiously considering the things you can do right now.
“Your predecessor was a fool but rather thorough in his defenses. I predicted you would leave the safety of the capital with such a lure, but to be honest, I did not expect you would come prepared.”
“My father left behind some interesting writings in his laboratory,” smiles Shun calmly. “I do not seem to have prepared enough, though.” Somehow, their voices carry through the air softly, even through the powerful winds.
“No, you have not,” agrees the lady. “You are but a child. Did you think you could stave off the natural cycle of the world forever? All dynasties rise, have their day under the auspices of Heaven, and eventually all must fall. Such is the way of the world... a reminder that only the rule of Heaven is eternal, not man. The Tang have long, long overstayed their allotted time to rule. The Will of Heaven must be followed.”
“At the cost of the people suffering in the time it takes for a new dynasty to arise and impose order? I am not so callous that I will stand aside and watch as that happens. You can do your best with your famines and plagues, and let us see whether the capricious whims of the gods can suppress the ingenuity of man,” laughs Shun lightly.
“Yes, that is a problem, is it not?” The lady cocks her head to one side. “You have been a particularly tenacious one. All was set up to finally fall into ruins at the moment of your father’s death, but you wrested control of the empire from the wheels of fate. Still, we would have been content to allow the Tang to die a slow, shameful death at the hands of your descendants – any respite you can earn in your short lifetime is only temporary – but you just had to blaspheme against the gods by that little act in which your servants pretended to their hallowed names, didn’t you?” She laughs mockingly. “When we saw that terrible show, we decided to speed up things just a little as a reward for your hubris. And now here you are.”
“You dragged me all the way up here just so you could explain your little plan? You immortals must be really bored.”
“You can think what you want, but in truth… Yes. We are, actually.” She raises the Xuanyuan Sword, resting its point under Shun’s throat.
The wind grows stronger – you are forced to keep your head down, unable to even raise it. There must be something you can do.
There is a light cough underneath you. Looking down, you see blood trickling from Xuezi’s mouth.
“This is bad. I exerted myself too much to fight off the zither’s melody,” she gasps. “I can’t unlock my seals by myself. I need some help… I need your chaotic qi. Quickly!”
***
A. You give her your qi. You can’t see any other way out of this predicament other than for Xuezi to unlock her seals and buy you some time to retrieve Shun.
B. You cannot give her your qi; it will be severely harmful to her body if used to forcefully unblock her power. You’ll find another way out of this. You can do this.
