After finishing the food, Chang-li and Joshi sat talking, their backs against the wall of the lambing shed. It cut out the wind, and the fire on the open side kept the cool evening air pleasantly warm.

"If these bandits are camped in the Morning Mist sect ruins, we'll have to do something about it," Chang-li said. "I don't think they'll take kindly to us poking our noses in."

"No," Joshi agreed. "Nor am I inclined to make deals with bandits. If they have been preying on local villages like this, they deserve to die or be driven out. Yet three dozen men..."

Chang-li nodded. "If most of them aren't cultivators or are only at the Peak of Bodily Refinement, then we can probably do it, but..." He let his words trail off.

Joshi was thinking along the same lines. "To murder so many, even if they have done much to deserve it, is a grim thought indeed. We will do what must be done, yes?" He fixed Chang-li with a cold eye.

Chang-li nodded. "We'll do what must be done."

The next day, they made their way cautiously along toward the peak Poai had pointed out to them. As she had said, there was a ridge jutting out from it. When they had come around the edge of the ridge, a narrow, steep canyon appeared, barely ten feet wide, but with a well-trodden path along it.

"There must be another entrance to this canyon," Joshi noted. "There's no sign of water here. There must be a path for snowmelt and rain to escape. This is perhaps a back door."

Chang-li and Joshi proceeded along carefully, Chang-li keeping his pack slung over only one shoulder so he could easily drop it if a fight became necessary. The canyon wiggled back and forth. Brush grew up on either side, but Chang-li noted how it was wide enough for a wagon to come through. If a sect had been here once, they could have brought in supplies this way.

Then they rounded a bend and found the canyon opened up suddenly into a round valley. At the head of the valley, a mile or so off, a cluster of ruins broke out of the thick undergrowth, rearing stark stone fingers skyward. There had been a mighty fortress or enclave here, once. Chang-li only hoped it still held its secrets.

"We should send Magen to scout," Joshi said.

Chang-li was about to agree when an arrow whizzed past his head. Without taking time to speak, he and Joshi dropped their packs and sprinted clear of the canyon mouth, by unspoken agreement veering to the left.

Chang-li reinforced his limbs with red, dropping into the Double Branching River cycling technique and separating out spiritual and physical luxes, preparing to weave a pattern with his right hand.

"North. To our left, and ahead, 30 paces," Joshi called. "Magen sees them." He punched the air suddenly. Chang-li heard a shout of dismay as one of Joshi's Thousand Fists was reflected through Magen toward their unseen enemy. Chang-li had a modified Firepot. He tossed it toward where the shout had come from, and a cloud of smoke exploded from that point.

Three men staggered out of the bushes, coughing, spluttering, wiping at their faces with one hand while clinging to their weapons with the other. Two had spears; Joshi immediately moved to intercept them.

"Leave one to question," Chang-li called as he drew his sword and used yellow lux to set a line of fire along its edge.

Chang-li wove his Mirage Blade technique. A second sword appeared in his right hand. Dual blades flashing fire, he fell upon the first of the men slashing at him with the flaming swords.

The man Chang-li was attacking gripped a long sword tightly. He blocked Chang-li's illusory right-hand sword, while the left-hand blade sliced deep into his arm. The man cried out and dropped back, his right arm hanging limp as he barely kept a grip on his sword.

The two spearmen had recovered from the smoke and turned toward Joshi, who threw Binding Chains on one of them while racing toward the other. A well-aimed punch knocked the man back several yards. His spear went flying, and he landed hard in the dirt.

Meanwhile, the swordsman shouted angrily and swung at Chang-li, who caught the sword on his illusory blade. The Mirage Blade vanished under the hit. Chang-li still couldn't keep the technique going for very long.

Chang-li stabbed at the man with his real sword while weaving a technique with his right hand. Bloodflame Venom came to life in Chang-li's hand. He felt the technique take effect almost at once, slipping into the lux that coated his blade already.

He stepped in toward the man, smoothly ducking the frantic sword swing and coming up under his guard, stabbing him through the shoulder, then dancing back out of the way.

Chang-li intended to give Bloodflame Venom a minute to work. He had begun to move away from the man to help Joshi when the swordsman began screaming in pain, his weapon forgotten. The man was on his knees, tears running down his face. "Please," he called, "please make it stop. It burns." Suspicious of a trap, Chang-li hesitated.

Joshi closed the steps between him and the man he'd wrapped in Binding Chains. A blow to the face laid him out. Joshi stood glaring. The man Joshi had first knocked sprawling had made no attempt to rise.

Chang-li lowered his hands, still holding tight to his sword. He approached the man with Bloodflame Venom in his veins. The man looked at him through tear-filled eyes. "Please, young master, forgive us for standing in your way. We had no idea you were great cultivators. Please make the pain stop."

Chang-li carefully wove the pattern to withdraw Bloodflame Venom from the man's wounds. At once, his face relaxed. "Thank you. Bless you, young master," he blubbered.

Chang-li reached out with his lux senses and confirmed what he'd been suspecting. These men were not cultivators. Their cores were empty and, as far as he could tell, had never been used for anything except basic cycling. From the tight and blocked feeling of their lux channels, they knew nothing of the art of cultivation. No wonder it had been so easy.

"What do we do now?" Joshi asked him, as the three men watched them through angry, sullen eyes.

"That depends on how they answer our questions," Chang-li said with a bit of bite and saw in satisfaction the look of fear on the men's faces. "Are you Yellow Masks?"

"We are," said the man Joshi had knocked on his rear. "Just foot soldiers, not important. Here on guard to watch the path in case any of the locals came to pay us a visit. Not that they ever do."

"How many of you are there?" Chang-li asked.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The one who'd been talking hesitated. Chang-li turned to the man who had felt Bloodflame in his veins. "Do you really want to make me ask again?"

The man shuddered. "Forgiveness, great one. There are 29 of us at foot soldier rank. Then three captains, and our Boss, and his two Fists."

"Fists?" Joshi asked sharply.

"The cultivators who work with him. They're the reason we found such a sweet setup. With them around to intimidate the peasants, the rest of us barely have to do anything. It's much better than when we were working as mercenaries," the man continued.

"Why did you come out here? Where were you before?" Chang-li asked.

"The Yellow Mask Company worked as caravan guards and riverboat protectors for decades, mostly in Riceflower, High Sun, and Deepwater provinces. Our new leader came in right after we'd suffered a major setback five years ago now. We'd been hired to do a job, and it went wrong. I don't know all the details. My brother died. That was enough for me. Our new leader and his Fists came and offered us an easier life. So we came here."

"I think at first they were looking for something," one of the other two offered. "When we first arrived, no one was allowed to venture into the cave. I knew a man who did, and they had him beaten. But that's not a rule now. Just no one goes in because there's nothing in there."

"Cave?" Joshi asked sharply. "Where?"

"At the head of the valley behind our headquarters. But like I said, there's nothing there."

The third man spoke up, as though eager to prove he was cooperating. "I think they had heard a rumor there was treasure buried here somewhere. They've argued a few times about moving on, but it's a comfortable life."

"Not anymore it isn't," Joshi growled.

Chang-li sighed. To bind these men with enough lux to keep them secure would dangerously deplete his reserves. He dug into his pack for some lengths of rope and began to approach the first man.

"No," Joshi said, "let me do that."

Chang-li handed Joshi the rope and watched in astonishment as Joshi approached the fallen spearman, forced him to lie on his stomach, and bound his wrists and ankles together behind him. He repeated with the other two men.

"When we have finished with your people, we may come back and free you," Joshi told them as they lay there groaning. He set off without a backward glance.

Chang-li only hesitated a moment. Even as the men's cries plucked his sympathy, he hardened his heart. They had attacked first without warning. They had preyed on the innocent villagers for years now, and Joshi hadn't even permanently hurt them. Once they'd dealt with the others, they could return for these.

"What will we do with them?" he asked quietly.

"Turn them over to the villagers," Joshi said. "It's that or slit their throats."

Chang-li said nothing more. The valley was heavily overgrown with very different plants than had been in the farmland outside. There, the wilderness had been pushed back and tamed, filled with rice paddies and carefully planted and tended willow, chestnut, and fruit trees. Here, wild trees with gnarled branches choked the valley, making it hard to see how wide the place was.

Vines hung down from the western cliff wall as they made their way along the valley, following a watercourse, which to Chang-li's surprise flowed the same direction they were going. Despite the fact that the mountains were growing taller, the valley actually sloped down toward it, which was an odd feature. He pointed it out to Joshi, who nodded.

"Yes. I have the sense that this place was sculpted long ago by cultivators. This water may drain into deep cisterns, which could be used to supply a sect headquarters for months or even years, should it be besieged by enemies. This place is very defensible. My father would approve of it, but for Morning Mist to have placed their headquarters here suggests they feared being attacked."

"Which means they may have secrets worth taking," Chang-li said, his heart lifting. He'd been a bit discouraged to hear that the Yellow Masks had not found anything useful. Now he hoped they had overlooked a cultivation secret.

The smell of roasting meat wafted along the canyon toward them. They were getting close. Joshi sent Magen ahead to scout while he and Chang-li waited. After a few minutes, Joshi reported back.

"Magen has reached the ruins. There are multiple buildings, nothing more intact than a wall or two, but I can see where they once were." He looked grim. "I see what we expected: 30 or more men. There are four, perhaps five women, who are trying to keep out of sight inside the hut at the far end of the ruins. What looks like the leader and two of his thugs are lounging beside that building."

A thought struck Chang-li. "They've taken a handful of women." His mouth had a bad taste at that, but he pressed on. "But not nearly enough for all of them. If the leader's having to keep a watch over them, that suggests dissension in the ranks. Perhaps they'll be less willing to die for their boss?"

Joshi considered it, then shook his head. "What have we to offer them? We cannot grant amnesty, nor should we. The villagers have a right to their justice. We..." Joshi broke off. He straightened up. "Ah! Trouble! I found one of the cultivators. Magen was trying to scout the hut where the women were, and he came out of it and spotted Magen."

Chang-li heard distant shouts and cries. The alarm had been raised. He steeled himself. Maybe this was better than diving headlong into the camp. The bandits would have to spread out to look for them.

"We should stick together," he told Joshi. "The two of us should be a match for some bandits. Did you get a sense of how strong that cultivator was?"

Joshi shook his head. "No."

Chang-li was expecting that the two Fists and possibly the leader might be cultivators at the Peak of Mental Refinement, unlikely that they could have reached the Peak of Spiritual Refinement. It was possible they might have shared some secrets with the ones their captives had called the captains, which meant as many as six enemy cultivators.

Chang-li's confidence was fairly high, especially after the meeting with that rural sect. He cycled his lux, checking his reserves. Not as much as he wanted, but there never was. He wove Bloodflame Venom into his sword and reached into his pack for a pair of scripts he had written and passed them off to Joshi.

"Firepot with smoke," he told his friend, who nodded and stuck them into his waist sash. There was no time for more. Chang-li could hear rustling and running footsteps and shouts. Then a trio of men carrying clubs burst through the branches. They shouted a cry of alarm, but that was all they got out.

Joshi lunged forward and punched out quickly with both hands His left smashed one of the men in the face while his right slammed the other man in the center of his chest. At the same moment, Chang-li sprang forward. He slashed, and his sword cut the third man down where he stood. The two Joshi had punched flew backward. Both crumpled to the dirt, lifeless.

Without waiting to discuss, Chang-li and Joshi sprang forward toward the nearest group they could hear.

They cut a swath through the forest, catching the bandits in groups of two and three. Chang-li counted as they went. Two taken out by a carefully thrown Firepot from a distance. Then Joshi leaped in with Meteor Strike on the third of that group. A pair of men with spears burst in through the underbrush as they were turning away from the fallen foes. Chang-li sliced through both spears with one sword strike before skewering one. The other ran past him straight into a blow from Joshi that laid him out cold. Neither man was dead as Joshi and Chang-li raced on, but neither was in any condition to keep fighting.

"This way," Joshi urged, pointing toward the encampment. Chang-li followed. Two more bandits stepped out of the woods, followed immediately by a third who was wearing an actual yellow bandana around the bottom of his face. This one was a cultivator, Chang-li could tell, but not a particularly strong one.

"I'm on Yellow Mask," he shouted, and dove in as Joshi engaged the first two. Yellow Mask had a fine, curved sword similar to Chang-li's blade. He raised it. Their swords met. Chang-li's blow knocked him back three steps. The man's eyes widened. Chang-li could hear the lux pattern he was using. A simple red lux enhancement of his body. He could have laughed. This man might barely be at the Peak of Bodily Refinement, if that, but his pattern was sloppy, his lux use inconsistent, and his core felt about as tight and full as an empty gourd.

Chang-li threw a blindfold on his face. The man dropped his sword and scrabbled at the blindfold while Chang-li dove in, slashing him from shoulder down to sternum with a shallow cut that nevertheless set Bloodflame Venom coursing through his veins. The cultivator screamed and shifted his pattern to something similar to purification of mind and soul, but against a technique from a stronger cultivator like Chang-li, it was hopeless. Chang-li channeled more lux in. The man dropped to his knees. Joshi, panting, turned from where he had just felled the other two.

"You," Chang-li demanded of the man before him, "are you a Yellow Mask cultivator? Would you style yourself a Yellow Mask cultivator? Is this all the challenge I can expect from you?"

The man held his hands up pleading. "No, no, I'm no true cultivator. I'm just a student. If you're looking to challenge for our find, you can have it. Boss Karanga and his two fists are the ones who want this place. Not me."

"Where can we find them?" Chang-li asked.

"Ah!" The man screamed. "I can take you to them. They won't have come out. That's why they sent us."

"On your feet then," Chang-li said, and withdrew most, but not all, of his Bloodflame Venom technique. "Let's go have a talk with your boss."

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