Chang-li approached the sealed wall, his heart rising. He spoke as boldly as he dared. "Guardian? I, Wu Chang-li, demand recognition as a disciple of the Morning Mist Sect."

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the passage lit and the floor boomed. "You are of sufficient rank. You have been vouched for by a sect member. You may enter."

Chang-li turned to Joshi, grinning in delight, but before he could speak, the whole passage trembled. The wall in front of him split top to bottom and slid apart. Light streamed in.

Chang-li raised a hand to shield his face as he stepped forward into the light. As his eyes adjusted, he looked around and gasped. He had been expecting a cave complex, perhaps a cavern full of chambers, but this was a mountain valley open to the sky. The sun shone down just as it had on the other side of the passage.

A tranquil river ran down the middle of the narrow steep-walled valley. Fruit trees and willows grew along the river, shading its banks. Higher up on the slopes of the valley were stands of pine, oak, and beech. He could spot terracing on the walls of the valley. Ancient fields, rice paddies, most likely.

Ahead, the river swept on into a perfect still lake that filled the whole end of the valley. In the center of the pond was an island, more-or-less square, green and dotted with beautiful, graceful buildings. Some resembled pavilions but were two or three stories tall.

There were four pagoda-style towers at the north, south, east, and west points of the island. Each tower was a five-story building, with each floor a little smaller than the one below. Roof tiles in different colors and sweeping overhanging edges over tall colonnades.

The building in the center of the island was built on the same pattern but much taller. It stood on a small hill and had seven floors. The tile roof on the bottom floor was red, the next one orange. going all the way up to violet at the top. He could see carved statues peeking out from the ends of the roof beams, protective spirits watching over their surroundings.

Joshi was looking up at the bright blue morning sky and frowning. "How can this have prevented the Emperor's entry?" he asked. "Prisms can fly."

Chang-li's heart plummeted. He hadn't thought of that. What if they reached the towers and they'd been ransacked? Nevertheless, they appeared in good shape. He didn't answer but started down into the valley. They made their way along the river.

Joshi picked a peach from one tree and an apple from another. He held them both out to Chang-li.

"These do not ripen at the same time."

Chang-li accepted the apple and bit into it. "Tastes fine."

Joshi said nothing but ate the peach. They reached the edge of the lake. Chang-li looked for a boat or a way to cross. There was none. He didn't feel like swimming. Instead, he eyed the jump. It was farther than he'd managed before, but his body felt lighter, nimbler, less fleshy, more like lux was already suffusing him and making him something new.

At the water's edge, he crouched, then sprang forward. His leap carried him across the lake, all the way to the far shore. He landed lightly. An instant later, Joshi landed beside him. They shared a grin.

"Where first?"

Joshi shrugged, pointed. They were not far from the eastern tower. "Might as well start there."

The tower was completely empty. There was a stair running around the perimeter leading upward, and they climbed all its height, checking each floor. Inside, the tower was hollow with balconies around the edges of each floor and windows that looked out onto the island or the lake. Shelves lined the walls, all disturbingly empty but dust free.

"Maybe they looted the place?" Chang-li asked.

Joshi grunted. "This building would go up in flames easily. Why not just set fire to it?"

"Perhaps the fleeing disciples took their books with them?" From the inside of the building, there was no way to the roof. After thoroughly searching, they retraced their steps.

They found the same in the other three towers. Frustrated by the fact that they had reached their destination and so far found nothing, Chang-li just hoped that the final tower proved more interesting, and it did. Unlike the other towers, which had doors standing open, the central building's doors were twice the size and closed.

They were made of red-lacquered wood with a raised geometric pattern all over it. Chang-li studied the pattern, but it meant nothing to him. He set his hand on one of the great brass rings and pulled it open. It creaked ominously.

Inside was darkness. They stepped in. Chang-li summoned a ball of light to help them see.

There was dust everywhere. Clouds of it kicked up as they stepped inside, and Chang-li covered his mouth and nose.

This was no empty tower. They were in a vast room held up by thick pillars, painted gold. The floor underneath had been covered in reed mats once, now dissolving with every step Chang-li took.

"It's a training room," he guessed.

Joshi summoned his own ball of light. He held up a hand, frowning. "It feels odd."

"What does?" Chang-li asked.

"The lux in here."

Chang-li cycled. "You're right, like we're muffled." Even as he spoke, he noticed that his lamp was growing dim. He frowned and sent more lux into it and watched. After a moment or two, the light began to dim. "It's sucking the lux out of our patterns," he realized.

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"Perhaps a safeguard to allow higher-level cultivators to spar against each other without damaging this room," Joshi suggested.

That made as much sense as anything else to Chang-li. They proceeded around the edge of the wall to the stair leading upward and then climbed, pushing through a trap door onto the next floor.

They stood on a balcony open to the outside, the wall on their right sturdy wood. They made their way along until they found a door. Chang-li opened it. They stepped in and found themselves in what, after a bit of investigation, proved to be living quarters.

There were suites of sitting rooms flanked by small sleeping chambers, larger parlors, and filling an entire corner, a room with long tables standing silent, a refectory.

"For the inner disciples, perhaps," Joshi guessed. Finding nothing of interest, they pushed upward to a much more interesting floor. Here, a major corridor ran east to west with three smaller corridors branching off at regular intervals. Doors opened off of all the corridors. Chang-li poked his head inside several.

One quadrant was a vast white-painted room with several waist-high platforms the size of a dinner table, perhaps. Racks and racks of bottles lined the walls. There was a table near the front, covered in decaying books. As they went a bit further in, he spotted a rack of silver and bronze instruments: a saw, forceps, a set of pins. Chang-li realized what this was.

"It's a surgery." He pointed at the bottles of acupuncture pins. "Or a healing place of some sort to treat the wounded."

There might well be something interesting in the bottles if it hadn't completely decayed in the centuries, but that wasn't what they were here for, so they retreated.

Other rooms reminded Chang-li of the classrooms at his Scribe's College, with windows and rows of cushions for students to sit on and face the front where the teacher might lecture.

Then they opened a sealed door and Chang-li's heart leapt. Inside were shelves and racks, packed tightly with sealed scroll cases. He stepped over the threshold, his heart racing, and approached the first dust-covered rack. Gently blowing the dust, he studied the scrolls. Each had a lead endcap with a series of symbols on it. He recognized the characters but they didn't form words. Instead, he had the sense they were categories or classifications.

Hands shaking, he took one at random from the shelf and slid it out. The parchment inside came easily. He worried it would dissolve at his touch, but it seemed untouched by the years. He unrolled it and stared.

For a moment the lines sketched on the yellowing parchment made no sense. This was no scroll of knowledge. It was —

It was a technique, fully woven and entrusted to the parchment. These were scripts, set down an age ago by unknown Morning Mist cultivators, just waiting for a touch of lux to reactivate.

"Have we found what we're looking for?" Joshi asked.

Chang-li shook his head. "No. It's more — and less." He explained.

Joshi rubbed his hands together. "Now that could be truly powerful. You think all these cases hold scripts?"

"Most likely," Chang-li agreed, looking up from the one in his hand and estimating. There must be thousands and thousands of scripts here.

Reluctantly, he replaced the script in his hands. "These are incredible. But they're not what we're after. Let's keep on."

The next floor held more living quarters, more elegant than below, with the suites considerably larger. Each suite had a sitting room, a sleeping room, a dressing room, and an empty chamber with a window in it that Chang-li guessed was for meditation.

"For the masters," he guessed, and Joshi nodded.

On the floor above, they at last found something interesting. Here was a sealed door with a plaque beside it in tarnished bronze. Chang-li rubbed away at the tarnish until he could make out the words.

"Restricted," he read to Joshi.

"That's promising," Joshi said, and set his hand on the door. He pushed it open.

With his heart hammering, Chang-li stepped inside. He nearly backed out again as soon as he entered. He couldn't breathe. Chang-li focused on his cycling, forcing himself to do his best. Then he realized it was just that the lux here was so dense.

A voice spoke in his ear. "So, has the sect been restored, then?"

Chang-li turned. A shade hovered. She was a dumpy, middle-aged woman wearing robes. She was all silver and gray, so he couldn't make out the colors in them, but the pattern was large striped bands running diagonally across her.

She smiled kindly at him. "And who are you?"

"I am Wu Chang-li, young master of the Morning Mist."

She put her hands together excitedly. "Then it is restored! I'll tell the others." She vanished. Chang-li at last recovered himself enough to realize what this place was.

"It's the Shade Library," he said happily, and pulled out Wulan's pen case. He hurriedly infused it with lux, and a moment later Wulan appeared .

"Well, this is better," he said, peering about, just as the woman's shade returned, along with half a dozen others.

Wulan dropped to his knees and bowed low. "Grand Mistress Ara Nia, Grand Master Ru Shahan, Master Rihal, Master Nulai, you are still here."

The shades gathered around. Chang-li tried to take in details, but all he got was an impression of wrinkled faces and aged bodies.

Two, though, were tall, straight, and youthful-looking, a woman and a man. They seemed to be the ones Wulan had addressed as Grand Master. The tall man turned to Chang-li.

"You then are our disciple?"

"Yes," Chang-li said, deciding not to go into the long explanation.

"And what is this?" the grandmaster woman, Grand Master Ara Nia, said, pointing to Wulan.

"I am Scribe Wulan. I dedicated my life and my death to the Morning Mist, and I have returned to join you."

"Wulan," Ara Nia said, frowning. "Wulan. I can't remember a Wulan as any of our disciples."

"I was a scribe," Wulan said hastily. "I had the honor of scribing for you four times before your passing and six times after."

She considered, then shook her head. "I'll take your word for it," she said, and turned back to Chang-li. "So, our gamble paid off then."

"And who is this?" Grand Master Ru Shahan asked, pointing at Joshi.

"This is Young Master Joshi, also of the Morning Mist," Chang-li said hastily. "Your, um, excellence."

The Grand Master fixed Chang-li with a look. "Have standards slacked so much? The proper mode of address is Exalted Master."

"Yes, Exalted Master," Chang-li said. "May I beg to ask, what gamble is it that you made?"

"Why, that the sect could survive the Emperor's wrath after defying him to his face like that," Grand Master Ara Nia said. "I told my great-great-great-grandson not to risk it, but he was determined. And it seems he's paid off."

"I'm afraid not, Mistress," Wulan said. "The Emperor laid siege to the place and destroyed our sect. It has been hundreds of years since then."

"But you stand here now," Ara Nia said. "So, it's done. No doubt my great-great-grandson is well pleased. He was the grandmaster of Morning Mist in the days of our siege. Have you spoken with him yet?"

Chang-li and Joshi exchanged a look. "I'm afraid not," Chang-li said, then turned to Wulan. "We've done as you asked. Here you are. Shade Library. Is there something else I have to do?"

Wulan lifted his arms to the other shades. "Oh, great ones. Please accept me into your exalted company. I've traveled far and endured much in order to return with what knowledge I have of the outside world."

"And what knowledge is that?" Grand Master Ru Shahan asked.

"Let me join your company and I shall share all I know," Wulan said.

The shades considered him. Ara Nia turned back to Chang-li and Joshi. "You can leave him with us for a time. Return in two days and we'll have decided if we're accepting him into our company."

Chang-li cleared his throat. "Uh, can you direct me to the sect library?"

"You'll need permission from the current Grand Master for that," Ara Nia said. "He ought to be in his chambers. Next floor up. Don't venture to the top floor without his permission, though." And with that, all the shades vanished.

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