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I Was Drafted as My Village's Spare Orphan, So I Used the Health Bars Only I Can See to Rank #1 — Transcript

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0:00The man next to me is licking his bowl,
0:02not sipping, licking. Tongue all the way
0:04around the rim like he's polishing it
0:06for resale. And honestly, I get it. The
0:09soup in my hands is the first thing with
0:11fat in it I've seen in a month. And my
0:13body is screaming at me to do the exact
0:15same thing. We're at a wedding, not
0:18mine. The groom is a skinny kid called
0:20Ergu, which translates to second dog,
0:23and that is a normal name here. His
0:25bride has a red cloth over her head and
0:27a dress with no visible patches, which
0:29in this village counts as royalty.
0:31Urgu's own clothes have so many patches,
0:33they've got patches. So, somebody lent
0:35him a bolt of cloth to drape over the
0:37worst of it. An old man with about four
0:39teeth is yelling the vows. Bow to heaven
0:42and earth. Bow to your parents. Bow to
0:44each other. Everybody cheers. And over
0:46every single head in the yard, there's a
0:48little red bar. Health bars. Like a
0:51video game. The old man with four teeth
0:53is at 88%. The bride's at 95. The guy
0:57licking his bowl is at 91. And if he
0:59licks any harder, he's going to lose a
1:01point. My name is Joe Yuan. A month ago,
1:04I was a perfectly normal guy on a
1:06perfectly normal Earth. Then I went to
1:08sleep and I woke up in a mud hut in a
1:10village called Chowshi in the body of a
1:1316-year-old orphan everybody calls
1:15Stone. And the very first thing I
1:17noticed was that everyone has a health
1:18bar and I have a stat panel. I can open
1:20it like a menu. Name, health, three
1:23stats, skills, experience, the whole
1:26package. Here's the catch. Nobody else
1:29can see any of it. I spent a month
1:31poking around asking sideways questions,
1:33and the villagers are just people. They
1:35get sick. They get old. They gossip
1:37about who stole whose turnip. No
1:39floating text, no menus. Either the
1:42whole world turned into a game or I'm
1:44the only one who did, and I genuinely
1:46can't tell which. Then the elders gave
1:48me the safety talk, the one every kid
1:50here gets. When you go outside the
1:52village, watch out for the demons. Some
1:54are strong, some are weak, but they all
1:56have one thing in common. They don't
1:58die. Kill one and after midnight, it's
2:01back. The good news is they stay in
2:03their own territory and never come out.
2:05You hear that? And you hear what I
2:07heard. Monsters that respawn at midnight
2:09and never leave their zone. That isn't a
2:11curse. That's a spawn timer. Stone. What
2:15are you standing there for? A big rough
2:17hand slaps my shoulder. Uncle Dahang.
2:20His name means big yellow. He's got a
2:22face like a walnut and he's been my
2:24shadow for three weeks. Jealous of Ergu
2:26getting hitched. Huh? Don't you go
2:29blaming the village for not finding you
2:30a wife. Your paw went off to the army
2:33when you were little and your ma passed
2:34the day you were born. I'm not thinking
2:36about a wife, uncle. I'm thinking about
2:39the draft notice. What's there to think
2:41about? You're not thinking of running,
2:42are you? That won't do. 67 households in
2:46this village and we owe 23 men. You run.
2:49Some other family has to fill your spot.
2:51That's the other thing about this new
2:53life. 20 days ago, the county clerks
2:55wrote in and nailed up an order from the
2:57court. War is coming. The country of way
2:59needs soldiers and the rule is one man
3:01for every three households. And somehow
3:03the orphan with no household at all made
3:06the list. One person counted as a full
3:08family. Cool. Very cool. Love that for
3:11me. Stone. The last few years it was the
3:14other houses sending men. Daang says
3:17army or labor gangs. We always let you
3:19off because you were a kid. But you're
3:2116 now, a grown man. You can't skip it
3:24again. I wouldn't, uncle. I've got a
3:26conscience. I'm not going to run and
3:28leave somebody else holding my spot.
3:30I've absolutely thought about running,
3:32but the village thought about it, too.
3:34They assigned three family men to eat,
3:37sleep, and breathe wherever I do, and I
3:39can't beat three farmers in a fight. So,
3:41for now, I'm learning the world and
3:43making a plan. Bow complete. The happy
3:46couple gets shoved into the bridal room,
3:48and the village women bring out baskets
3:50of soft yellow millet cakes and bowls of
3:52thick chicken soup. Everybody who
3:54brought a gift gets a cake. The 23 of us
3:57who are about to be marched off to war
3:59get a cake and our own bowl of soup with
4:01two actual pieces of chicken in it. Two,
4:04I counted. The cake needs sugar. The
4:06soup needs salt. My brain is completely
4:09unimpressed. My body, on the other hand,
4:11would sell my soul for the bowl. I drink
4:14it. It's the blandest and the best meal
4:16I've ever had, both at once. Bland is
4:18the food. Best is the body, which has
4:21been running on bark and good intentions
4:23for a month. Stone, don't waste it. Lick
4:26the bowl clean. Uncle Dawang, I've
4:29decided to start a new life. Step one, I
4:32don't lick bowls. Big man now, huh? Then
4:35give it here. I hand him the bowl. He
4:37licks it. After the feast, I head home
4:40and my three bodyguards scramble after
4:42me with cakes still in their hands.
4:44Between my brand new attitude and my
4:46personal entourage, I am now the best
4:48dressed loser in Xiaosi. Uncle, I'm not
4:51going to run. Why do you follow me
4:53everywhere? Go home. If the bride's
4:56people see you, they'll think everyone
4:57from Koshi is a jailer. We're worried
5:00about you, Stone. You've got nobody and
5:02nothing. You slip into the deep forest
5:04and who knows how many folks you'll
5:06hurt. Okay, that's a bit much. Say that
5:09again and I really will run. Fine. Fine.
5:12We won't say it. You're the boss. We'll
5:14listen to you. That night, I can't
5:16sleep. Partly because two of my guards
5:18snore like a sawmill and Deuang on night
5:21shift is staring at me like I'm a pot
5:23about to boil over, but mostly because
5:25my big plan just failed. See, I used the
5:28excuse of I need to get used to blood
5:30before the army to win the village's
5:32chicken killing rights. I slaughtered
5:34three chickens. Three. I was waiting for
5:36that little ding. Experience plus 10.
5:39Anything. Nothing. Zero experience. My
5:42plan to farm poultry into godhood is
5:45officially dead. Maybe only the
5:47deathless monsters give experience. Or
5:50maybe chickens are just too weak. Should
5:52I try a person? I look at my three
5:54guards. I look at my arms. I decide I
5:56love my neighbors very much. They have
5:58families and they kept this body alive
6:00for 16 years. Even a rabbit doesn't eat
6:03the grass by its own burrow. If I ever
6:05test that theory, it'll be on some
6:07scumbag outside the village. Stone, why
6:10are you staring at us? Don't do anything
6:12stupid. Our boys didn't die on a
6:14battlefield just to get done in by one
6:16of our own. I wouldn't. Uncle, take my
6:19bed. I'll keep watch for you. I wouldn't
6:21dare. Ever since the draft notice,
6:23you've gone all wicked. I'm planning on
6:25taking my boy's place in the army. I
6:27can't let you kill me first. We're
6:29neighbors and you've got zero trust in
6:31me. Forget it. Good night. I lie there
6:34and pull up my panel one more time,
6:36hoping some hidden leveling path is
6:38going to jump out at me. Name Joe Yuan,
6:42health 98%,
6:44essence one, chi one, spirit one,
6:47skills, none, experience none, no
6:50levels, which is weird for a game, but
6:52the core is there and it's insulting. 20
6:55days I've been training, same as every
6:57man in the village. Nobody wants to
6:59march off and die, so everybody's out
7:01running and lifting rocks. And my three
7:03stats haven't moved a single point. My
7:06health actually went down 2%. All I've
7:08got to show for 20 days is a pulled
7:10muscle and an empty stomach. Experience.
7:13I just need to find out how to get
7:14experience. Then everything gets better.
7:17I fall asleep on that. Dawang doesn't.
7:20The three of them take shifts all night,
7:22keeping their eyes on the wicked boy. I
7:24wake up around noon, run out to the
7:26outhouse, and come back to find the full
7:28noble treatment waiting for me. I don't
7:30cook. I don't fetch water. My three
7:32guards do everything. Highest standard
7:34of living in Kioshi. Morning, Uncle
7:37Dahang. Morning. It's nearly lunch. Go
7:40back to sleep. I'll wake you when the
7:41food's ready. No way. Get me my machete.
7:45I don't feel right if I don't train. He
7:47hands me a rusty machete and sets two
7:49logs on the chopping block. Hurry it up.
7:52We need that firewood for lunch. And
7:54don't start on that tetanus sword style
7:55of yours. Chop the wood first. Then you
7:58can mess around as long as you want.
8:00Won't be long. Once I master splitting
8:02the mountain, I'll pass it down as the
8:04village's secret technique. The three of
8:06them look at each other, then quietly
8:08pick up some heavy sticks, just in case.
8:11Behind my back, I can hear them
8:12whispering. Old Hang was careless,
8:15handing him a blade like that. What if
8:17splitting the mountain turns into
8:18splitting the uncle? Hush. You can't go
8:21saying Stone's lost his mind. If he
8:23tells the clerks, they'll take one of
8:25our boys and leave us the crazy one.
8:27Right. Right. Stone is smart. Famous for
8:30it. Anyone says he's crazy, that family
8:32can fill his spot. So, here's where we
8:34are. I think the villagers are backward
8:36and the villagers think I'm a lunatic.
8:39We're all acting. Nobody's winning an
8:40award. I don't hear any of it because
8:43I'm in the zone. Face red, muttering to
8:45myself, glaring at a log like it owes me
8:48money. I'm not faking it. I really am
8:50training. I don't know a single real
8:52sword move, but I do know the simplest
8:54one there is. Lift it high. Bring it
8:56down hard. And over these 20 days, the
8:59chop has been feeling better, smoother,
9:01more satisfying. Almost. Almost there.
9:04Break. Ding. You comprehend splitting
9:07the mountain. You have learned a blade
9:09technique. Level one. One out of 10.
9:12Coordinate the whole body. Gather your
9:14strength. Strike from top to bottom. The
9:17second that chime goes off in my head,
9:19something unclenches in my chest. Like a
9:21month of pressure just walked out the
9:23door.
9:25I did it behind me. Three grown men sigh
9:28in unison. To them, this is a tragedy.
9:31Stone used to be a slow, simple, honest
9:34kid who'd do any dirty job you asked.
9:36Then one draft notice later, he's
9:38laughing at firewood. They've been
9:40spoonfeeding him and doing his chores
9:42precisely so he'd calm down. And now
9:44even chopping wood is making it worse.
9:46Those cursed clerks, they scared the
9:48poor fool clean out of his head. None of
9:51them notices that the log in front of me
9:53has split dead flat. That rusty machete
9:55shouldn't be able to cut that clean.
9:58Thunk. Splitting the mountain.
9:59Experience plus one. I chop and chop. In
10:03no time, I've got a full day of firewood
10:05and the skills at level two. About 30
10:08swings and only 12 experience. So, not
10:10every swing counts. But that's fine.
10:13I've got the rule now. Total focus. Keep
10:15thinking. Keep fixing what's wrong. And
10:18right there, the why doesn't everyone do
10:20this question answers itself. Plenty of
10:22men here chop wood every day of their
10:24lives. They don't get a ding. They don't
10:26get a number. I'm the only one the game
10:28is keeping score for. For the first time
10:31since I woke up in this body, I feel
10:32like I've got a grip on something. A
10:34rope out of the pit. I want to keep
10:36chopping and max this thing out, but my
10:38hands are already shaking on the handle.
10:40This is still a body made of meat. It
10:43gets tired, unlike a real game
10:44character. So, I put the blade down and
10:47switch to the other battlefield skill,
10:49running. Everybody knows the trick. You
10:52don't have to outrun the enemy. You have
10:54to outrun the guy next to you. And at
10:56the moment, I'm a villager and my skull
10:58isn't worth any more than anyone else's.
11:00What's wrong, Stone? Done already? I've
11:03mastered splitting the mountain. Now,
11:04I'm studying other techniques. Uncle, if
11:07you trust me, come chop wood in my yard.
11:10No promises, but I can at least teach
11:11you how to take one of them down with
11:13you. Puff, you think I need a lesson in
11:16that? A man stabs me with a spear. I
11:18don't step back. I stab him too. Done.
11:21Easy to say, but in a real fight, it's
11:24not one spear and one sword. Learn my
11:26way and you'll take one with you. Unless
11:28he's wearing armor. Then my way is
11:30better. Armor or not, the whole village
11:33pushes together, knocks him down, and
11:35stomps him flat. Look at you, uncle.
11:37You've been to war. No, my paw went
11:40before he passed. He told me in the
11:42army, "Everything else is fluff. A long
11:44spear is what keeps you alive. Get good
11:47at stabbing and pulling back, and that
11:48beats any fancy stuff. Fair enough. Find
11:51me a long stick later. I'll practice the
11:53spear, too. Sure, you're strong. A spear
11:57suits you better than a blade. I wasn't
11:59planning to keep my tricks to myself
12:01anyway. If we really go, these men are
12:03my only real team. The fewer of them
12:06die, the better. But it turns out
12:07they've got their own ideas, and they're
12:09a lot better adapted to this world than
12:11I am. Good thing I'm a guy who listens
12:13when the advice is good. Stone. Erggo's
12:16here to see you. You should see him.
12:18Legs like noodles, shaking all over.
12:21Married one day and look at the state of
12:23him. One of my guards waggles his
12:25eyebrows at me. I give him a flat look
12:27and tap the machete on my belt and he
12:29decides he has somewhere else to be.
12:32When I step out of the gate, I get it.
12:34Ergu is sitting on a stump and he looks
12:36awful. White as rice paper, drenched in
12:38sweat, both legs trembling even while
12:40he's sitting down. And his health bar
12:42has dropped under 90. 89%.
12:46Stone, I've got something to tell you.
12:48Don't talk yet. Catch your breath. What
12:51happened to you? His eyes go red. He's
12:53about 2 seconds from crying. It's not
12:56what you think. Queen Yang is a widow
12:58from Kiodong across the bridge. My
13:00family's only a little better off than
13:02yours. No proper girl's going to marry
13:04into a house where her husband might be
13:05dead in a year. Okay, Stone, you've
13:09always talked about running into the old
13:10forest and terrorizing the countryside.
13:13Take me with you. Let's go right now. I
13:15can't fall into the clerk's hands.
13:17They'll kill me. His soba story doesn't
13:19make me sad. It makes me suspicious.
13:22Ergu, whether we run or not, we'll talk
13:24about that later. First, explain to me
13:27what you mean by terrorizing the
13:28countryside. Ah, I uh I'm not good with
13:32words. Stone, don't be mad. I meant, you
13:35know, punishing the wicked, protecting
13:37the village like a hero. Better than
13:39those skinning clerks. Don't try that on
13:41me. Uncle Dahu calls me a menace. Fine.
13:44He's older. He does my cooking. He's
13:46allowed to complain. But who else have I
13:48ever hurt? What gives anyone the right
13:50to say I terrorize people? Am I too weak
13:52to swing a blade? Or are they itching
13:54for a beating? Okay, quick bit of
13:56context. When I first woke up here, the
13:58old stone had been a slow, quiet kid who
14:01got pushed around by everyone. I didn't
14:03have the patience to fix that the polite
14:05way, so I went with plan B. I became the
14:08village maniac. 20some days ago, a guy
14:11who' bullied the old stone for years got
14:13chased from the north end of the village
14:15to the south end by a madman with a
14:17machete. He was fast. He didn't get a
14:19scratch, and he started plotting his
14:21revenge. But I am not a forgiving man. I
14:24started hanging around his house day and
14:26night. Sometimes I'd jump out of a
14:28haystack. Sometimes I just stand at the
14:30end of his street and stare. Once or
14:32twice I opened his door in the middle of
14:34the night. He packed up and moved in
14:36with relatives in another village. He
14:38still hasn't come back. And ever since,
14:40everyone in Chaosi knows Stone doesn't
14:42joke. If he says he'll kill you, he'll
14:44kill you. I thought that made me a
14:46respected local hero. And now someone's
14:48saying my secret plans out loud, which
14:51means he understands me way too well. He
14:53needs an education. Ergu, I've been
14:55robbed. I've got the bad reputation, and
14:58I haven't even done anything bad yet.
15:00That's not fair. Tell me who's talking
15:02behind my back. Once I deal with him,
15:04we're still friends. Stone, please don't
15:07make me. It's not that I won't say, it's
15:09that there are too many of them. You
15:11can't deal with them all. Okay, that one
15:14lands. Got it. Then let's talk about
15:16running off to the forest. You know what
15:18they say, a man away from home is cheap.
15:21And don't let good fertilizer flow to
15:23your neighbor's field. Two talented
15:25brothers like us should start right here
15:26and terrorize Kuashi first. Set an
15:29example, Stone. Terrorizing our own
15:32people isn't very nice. Sure it is. With
15:35your own people, you've got experience.
15:37You know the roads. You know the houses.
15:39Every hit's a sure thing. Erggo
15:41instantly regrets everything. He just
15:43wanted to hide from home for a bit and
15:45maybe dodge the draft. Now he realizes a
15:48man with a conscience can't keep up with
15:50Stone. Uh Stone. I just remembered. I've
15:53got a family. If I run, my P and Ma and
15:55my wife will all get punished. I've got
15:57to think of my conscience. I can't go to
15:59the forest with you. Fair. But if you
16:02really do terrorize Kashi, skip my
16:04house, okay? We're poor enough already,
16:07and we've never picked on you. Never.
16:09With our friendship, if I rob strangers,
16:11I'll drop some of it off at yours.
16:13That's great. I knew you were the most
16:15loyal guy around. I pat the blade on my
16:18hip and get up. But Ergu grits his teeth
16:20and grabs my sleeve. Stone, one more
16:23thing. If I go to the army and don't
16:25come back, look after my folks for me.
16:28and Queen. You're the only one in this
16:30village I'd trust with them. I put my
16:32hand on his shoulder hard and I lean
16:34right down into his face and stare at
16:36him long enough that he starts to sweat.
16:38Stone, what are you? You're trying to
16:40rope me in as your bodyguard, aren't
16:42you? He opens his mouth. I don't let
16:44him. Get up. For that, I'm going to
16:47march with you. And I swear to you, if
16:49you die out there, there'll be somebody
16:51to carry your body home. Really? If you
16:54carry me back, my folks will treat you
16:56like their own son. Stop joking. Just
16:58don't wet yourself when it starts. I'm
17:01not from this world. I don't get the way
17:03Ergu is willing to share everything he
17:05has with me. But I do know this. I'm
17:07flesh and blood and so are the people
17:09here. Wait, Ergu, you're married now.
17:12You're a man. I don't have anything to
17:14give you, so I'll give you a real name.
17:16If you die on the road, at least the
17:18grave marker won't say second dog. Okay.
17:22Xiao Yang Yang like the sun. Your house
17:25could use a little more sunshine.
17:27Xiaoyang. That's way better than erggo.
17:30If I have a kid, I'll give it to him. If
17:32I don't make it back, I'll keep it for
17:33myself. Whatever you like. Now go home.
17:36I've got training to do because that's
17:38my real plan now. If a chop can become a
17:41skill, what else can? Eating, sleeping.
17:45Every day you do something and nobody's
17:47ever been scored for it except me. So, I
17:50start eating differently, and
17:51immediately the village decides the
17:53madman has got worse. It's not hard to
17:55see why. Before, I was rude and violent,
17:58but basically functional. Now, I treat a
18:00stale, steamed bun like a royal banquet.
18:03I chew it slowly. I savor it. And I
18:05don't eat one meal. I eat three bites at
18:08a time, 20 or 30 times a day. My guards
18:11are horrified. They think I've forgotten
18:13what full feels like. Stone, don't do
18:16this to yourself. If you stuff yourself
18:18to death, even the ghosts in the
18:20underworld will laugh at you. If you
18:22want something good to eat, just say so.
18:24You don't have to scare us. Uncle,
18:26you've lived enough already. You don't
18:28understand a man who hasn't. What kind
18:30of talk is that? You've lived enough.
18:33I'm just stocking up. Eat as much as I
18:35can before the army in case they don't
18:37feed us at all. Though, you've got a
18:38point. Get me something good tomorrow.
18:41Maybe a few good meals, and I'll stop
18:43obsessing over buns. Nonsense. The
18:46army's not going to starve you. Even the
18:48king of hell doesn't turn away a hungry
18:49ghost. I don't know. If I were a
18:52general, I'd send a few riders to burn
18:54the enemy's grain. Let them starve.
18:56Where do you get these ideas? We're
18:58being drafted, not going to war. It's
19:01digging ditches, hauling grain, building
19:03walls. If you want to fight, you have to
19:05get picked. Oh, that's bad. Now I get
19:08why you're so calm. The village has
19:10plenty of young men. They'll stick you
19:12in the back.
19:14That's the beauty of being old. Learn
19:16something, kid. Then I start sleeping
19:18weird, too. Nap, wake, train, nap again.
19:23My schedule has no logic at all, and it
19:25breaks my guards completely. They end up
19:27splitting shifts. The two young ones run
19:29around with me in the daytime, and
19:31Dahang sleeps by day and watches me at
19:33night. Look, I tell them, training needs
19:36stillness and movement. What's still and
19:39restful at the same time? Sleep. Sleep
19:41is training. One of them turns to Dohang
19:44with real fear in his eyes. Uncle, this
19:47is bad. That almost made sense to me. Am
19:50I going crazy, too? And then, after
19:52three bites and a long, slow chew, the
19:55chime comes. Food supplement level one.
19:58Eating actually counts. My health creeps
20:01up to 91. A few nights later, I wake
20:04Dahang up. Uncle, I've had another
20:06breakthrough. Training isn't just
20:08stillness and movement. Food and
20:10medicine come from the same route. If I
20:12don't eat properly, I'm running on
20:14empty. You promised me something good.
20:16It's been days and I got one egg. I know
20:18you tried your best, so tonight I'm
20:20doing it myself. And you're getting
20:22some, too. You and your breakthroughs.
20:25Don't you go stealing from the
20:26neighbors. Nobody here has anything to
20:28spare. I know nobody has anything to
20:30spare, but somebody does. Come on.
20:32Tonight we rob the rich and feed the
20:34poor. Dahang licks his cracked lips.
20:37Night shift makes you hungry enough to
20:39see green. His brain is still arguing
20:42with him when his legs start following
20:43me. It only clicks for him when we're
20:45standing outside a house with a tiled
20:47roof and a mud wall. Stone, this is the
20:50village head's house. Don't you dare.
20:53Relax. Old Lee's loaded. I'm only
20:55borrowing a chicken. I'll pay him back
20:57in 80 or 100 years. 100 years. That's
21:00stealing. It's for marshall training. It
21:03can't be stealing. It's borrowing. Old
21:05Lee borrows things from everyone with
21:07that title of his. If he can borrow, so
21:09can we. The village head is a villager,
21:12too. But he's got a halfofficial badge,
21:14so everybody gives him a pass. Not me.
21:17I'm not from here. The village rules
21:18don't hold me, and I'm being marched off
21:20anyway. Why would I care whether he
21:22likes me? Two clucks, and I'm back over
21:25the wall with a chicken. Uncle, we eat
21:27well tonight. You cook, you eat. I'll
21:30carry the blame. This This is all you're
21:33doing, Stone. It's got nothing to do
21:34with me. Look at you scared. Keep that
21:37up and I'm eating it alone. Not even the
21:39broth for you. Wait, wait. We're here
21:42now. Can't let it go to waste. East
21:44Hill. My teeth are bad. We'll stew it
21:47soft in a clay pot. Two shady figures in
21:50the dark running from the north end of
21:51the village to the east end with a
21:53chicken, a pot, and a lump of ginger.
21:55And somewhere in there, Dahong works me
21:58out. Stone, I've got your number now.
22:00You're wicked, but you're not stupid.
22:02It's just the two of us out here. After
22:04we eat, take a stick and give me a
22:06whack. I fall down, you run. You call me
22:09uncle. I won't treat you like a stray.
22:12He's offering to let me escape. That's
22:14real. Can't do it, uncle. I actually
22:16want to see the army now. What? You want
22:19to go then? Why all the fuss? All this
22:22bad reputation. What are you even after?
22:24And since when do you have a conscience?
22:27Since always. You know the saying, the
22:29crying baby gets the candy. If I hadn't
22:32made a scene, would the village be
22:33looking after me like this? Half of what
22:35I say is true, as usual. I did want to
22:38run. Now I don't. And it's not my
22:40conscience. It's the skills. Chop, eat,
22:43sleep, and each one turned into a
22:44number. This village is too poor for
22:47that. I need resources, space, and a
22:49world bigger than one bridge. The army
22:51has all three. Daang tends the fire like
22:54a doting grandfather. And while he's
22:56fanning the coals, I say it. Uncle,
22:59let's make a deal. Don't go this time.
23:01Send your son with your old arms and
23:03legs. If you drop on the road, you're
23:05not coming home. I promise to carry
23:07Erggo back. I can't carry you, too. A
23:10man's cheap far from home, and so is a
23:12ghost. Better not to die somewhere
23:14strange. The fan stops. He rubs his
23:17rough hands together. Something's on his
23:19tongue. What comes out is this stone.
23:22The meat's done. Your teeth are good.
23:24Eat it before it goes tough. Just leave
23:26me a little broth. I'm no use anymore.
23:28My gut can't handle the grease. He
23:30doesn't want to talk about his family. I
23:32don't push. I snap a twig into
23:34chopsticks and dig in. Okay, I'll save
23:38you the chicken feet. You really can't
23:39take a hint, can you? You're actually
23:41dumb. He fishes out a piece of meat with
23:44the skin on, gleaming with fat, and it
23:46shines so bright it stings his eyes.
23:48Then his twig wobbles, the meat falls
23:51back in, and he comes up with the
23:52chicken's head instead and gnaws on it
23:54happily. I pick out a foot for him.
23:57Here, uncle. a chicken hand. If you
23:59can't chew it, let go. My teeth are
24:02fine. Not one human word comes out of
24:04your mouth. After the stew, I lie in the
24:07grass and watch my panel. An hour later,
24:09my health has crawled from 91 to 97. A
24:12skinny chicken and a level one skill
24:14don't go far. Then I sit straight up
24:17down by the river in the dark. Two
24:20health bars are moving. Damaged ones.
24:22Person-shaped. Not the little short bars
24:24chickens have. Heading for the Stone
24:26Bridge. What's up, Stone? Still hungry?
24:29Uncle, clean up the crime scene. I'm
24:31going for a swim. Running again? We
24:34agreed you'd come with us. Hit me with
24:36the stick first or I can't explain it.
24:38I'll be back. I'm not lying to you. I'm
24:41not. But in this village, I'm the only
24:43one who talks about cutting people up.
24:46And I've actually done some chasing. If
24:48somebody's sneaking around at night, I
24:50don't want to end up blamed for whatever
24:51they're doing. At the bridge, one bar
24:53dives into the river and vanishes. The
24:56other waits on the bank. A while later,
24:58the first one surfaces and the two of
25:00them stroll back toward the village. I
25:02don't follow people. I follow health
25:04bars and they go straight to Urg's
25:06house. Ergu's yard isn't even a mud
25:09wall, just a fence of sticks. I hop it
25:11and crawl up under the window of the
25:13main room. Ma, I'm cold. Get in the warm
25:16water. Husband, no more stealing from
25:19the dragon palace. A few more trips and
25:21our boy's dead. Never again. He nearly
25:24didn't come back today. Then a young
25:26woman's voice. Queen Yang, the bride.
25:29Didn't he do it the way I said? You
25:31can't anger the palace guards. That's
25:33how my first husband died. Queen Yang,
25:36you showed us the dragon palace door.
25:38We're all living off your luck, but
25:40people's steps are different sizes. You
25:42said 36 steps is safe. Erggo took 32 and
25:45the guards noticed him. Lucky he's fast
25:48and not greedy or he'd have a hole in
25:49him. It's Stone's fault for being so
25:51thick, the father grumbles. If he'd
25:54married into our house, he could have
25:55gone in the water instead of our boy.
25:57He's the only one in the village we
25:58could trust. Pa, don't say that. 20some
26:02pearls. Urgu says we're rich now. We
26:05just can't show it. If I come back from
26:07the army, we say it's my warloot. If I
26:09don't come back and stone does, say it's
26:11what I left behind. Outside the window,
26:14I'm frozen. There's a dragon palace
26:16under the river by the bridge, and
26:18Erggo's been robbing it. And then the
26:20other thing sinks in. Erggo, you sly
26:23dog. I thought you were sharing
26:24everything with me from the heart. You
26:26just liked that I've got no family. Easy
26:28to recruit. Fair play to Queen Yang,
26:30though. She's smart. Anywhere with more
26:33brothers, someone might have buried her
26:34for those pearls. Whatever's down there,
26:37something in that river makes pearls and
26:39is just dangerous enough to survive. So,
26:42I go and look. Under the bridge, the
26:44water's murky with a thick mat of weeds
26:46on top. I strip, bite down on my
26:48machete, and dive. I was expecting the
26:51entrance to be hard to find. They were
26:53counting steps and leaving marks. For
26:55me, it's lit up like a casino. On the
26:58riverbed, under the silt and weeds,
27:00there's a black whirlpool, and over it,
27:02two lines of red text. Dungeon: Nest of
27:05the Kingshot General. Recommended level
27:0815. Recommended party 5 to 10.
27:11Good. Very clear. One small problem. I
27:14don't have a level. Is this a bug? What
27:17do you mean recommended level? Is this
27:19dungeon on a different system from me?
27:21Health bars. I've got used to a dungeon
27:24portal. I can live with a level
27:26requirement on a guy whose panel doesn't
27:28have levels feels personal. Ergu said 36
27:31steps is safe. His legs are short. I'll
27:34do 20. I dive and touch the black. And
27:37I'm standing in a corridor as wide as a
27:39four-lane highway. The floor is dark red
27:41coral with pearls of every size set into
27:44the cracks like a road made of stars.
27:47Along both walls stands six shrimp
27:49headed soldiers with trident still as
27:51statues. Over each of them a health bar,
27:54a name, and a number. Level 15 cold tide
27:58shrimp soldier. The cold is brutal. The
28:01water on my skin is starting to frost.
28:03And when I pry at the pearls with my
28:05machete, I finally get why Ergu kept
28:07creeping toward the guards. The pearls
28:09near the door are set like they're
28:10welded in. I wreck a bunch and get two
28:13decent ones. The closer to the shrimp,
28:15the more brittle the coral, and the
28:17better the pearls come out. But I'm not
28:19here to mine. I'm here to look. So,
28:21after six pearls and about 20 steps, I
28:24stop. These guards change the
28:26temperature of the room just by standing
28:27there. I know I can't take them. There's
28:30no point pulling aggro to find out
28:31exactly how hard they hit. The last guy
28:34who was that stubborn, his widow
28:36remarried. Ergu's family should send him
28:38a thank you note. Still, I don't have to
28:40touch them to do the math. Say a
28:43character starts with one in every stat
28:44and gets at least one point per level.
28:47Then those shrimp are at least 15 points
28:49ahead of me before skills. Probably a
28:51lot worse. That much power plus a
28:54respawn timer. Yeah, they really are
28:56deathless demons. But I don't leave yet.
29:00I've got a dungeon nobody else in this
29:02world can read. Time for some science. I
29:04smash a whole patch of pearls with the
29:06machete, drop my headband on the coral
29:08as a marker, and swim out. The river
29:10feels like a hot spring after that
29:12freezer. Then I run home, grab a big
29:14litted clay pot and two sets of clothes,
29:17stuff the clothes in the pot, and dive
29:19back in. First thing inside, I pull on
29:21both shirts and look around. The coral
29:24is whole. The smashed pearls are back in
29:26the floor. Perfect. My headband is gone.
29:29So, the place resets, and it even resets
29:31the junk you leave behind, but only when
29:33nobody's inside, which gives me a wild
29:36thought. If somebody stayed in here
29:37permanently, this would be the best
29:39secret warehouse in the world. Its own
29:41little pocket of space, cut off from
29:43everything. No wonder Argu's family
29:45calls it the Dragon Palace. Under a
29:47river, shrimp guards, a world of its
29:49own. If I'd been born here, I'd call it
29:52a blessed land of the immortals, too.
29:54And this is a tiny nobody stream. If a
29:56place like this has a dungeon, this
29:58world must be full of them. Somebody
30:00finds one, tells his wife, she tells her
30:02new husband, and now it's a family
30:04secret, passed down like an heirloom.
30:07Next, I light a bundle of damp grass and
30:09wave the smoke in their faces from a
30:11distance. The shrimp lose it, trident
30:13up, charging. I'm out the portal before
30:15they get there. Then, I catch a live
30:17turtle in the shallows and toss it
30:19through the door. If a living thing
30:21inside stops the reset, I've got a cheap
30:23way to soften the guards over a few
30:25days. It doesn't work. The dungeon
30:28resets with the turtle in it. Turtle,
30:30this was a great experiment. I'll
30:32remember you. So much for my poison the
30:34roach's plan. But I walk away with
30:37something bigger. Why build a stone
30:39bridge right here at a spot that's no
30:41use to anyone? Somebody found this
30:43whirlpool and put a landmark over it.
30:45And that means anywhere in this world
30:47where someone built something that makes
30:48no sense, there might be a dungeon
30:51underneath. On the walk home, the rest
30:53falls into place. This country's had
30:55dynasty after dynasty. Each one
30:57inheriting what the last one found.
30:59They've had centuries to collect
31:00dungeons. And who keeps the good stuff?
31:03The noble houses, the court, the army.
31:06That's my second reason to go to war.
31:08The dungeons are already owned. The arm
31:10is my way in. Back home, I fall into the
31:13deepest sleep I've had since I got here.
31:15And I have a dream. I'm in a level 100
31:17dungeon. I'm winning. And then Earth
31:20reaches out and drags me back by the
31:21ankle. I wake up on the floor, fell out
31:24of bed, and the chime goes off. Rest.
31:27Level one. Sleep counts, too. Turns out
31:30I've been training for 20 years without
31:32knowing it. As for the Village Head's
31:34missing chicken, well, I ate it. It went
31:37into a skill and the skill used it up,
31:39which means technically I never ate the
31:41chicken, so it's got nothing to do with
31:43me. Erggo's health bar is still bugging
31:45me, though. 89% the morning after his
31:48wedding. Everyone in the village assumed
31:50the wedding night was to blame. Now I
31:52know better. That boy went into a
31:54freezer full of shrimp. He wasn't worn
31:56out. He caught a chill. So, I want to
31:58see what happens to a regular person
32:00when the bar drops. Do they heal? Does
32:02the maximum go down? Erggo is a brave
32:05volunteer in an experiment he doesn't
32:07know he's in. And every experiment needs
32:09an observer. Stone out for a run? One of
32:12my guards asks then quieter. Can we skip
32:15it today? The loafers under the elm keep
32:18laughing at us. They say we don't train
32:20strength. We don't train the spear. We
32:22just train running away. Then what are
32:24we waiting for? Grab sticks. Once we're
32:26chasing them, they'll understand why
32:28running fast matters. That's what I was
32:30hoping you'd say. We just needed you to
32:32lead. Under the big elm at the end of
32:34the village, five idlers who live off
32:37their wives are lying around eating
32:38dates and bragging. If they got drafted,
32:41they'd charge straight into the enemy
32:42line. They've just never had the luck.
32:45Real heroes, the lot of them. Then they
32:47see three men coming from the south. One
32:49of them has a stick and a machete on his
32:51belt. Lunchtime, boys. I'd better head
32:54home. My stomach hurts. Back in a bit.
32:57Oh, would you look at that? I forgot to
32:59feed my dog. Catch you later. Three
33:02against five and not a scratch on us.
33:04The five bravest men in Xiaoshi get
33:07escorted to their front doors at stick
33:08point. My two guards come back glowing.
33:11For 3 weeks they've been the village
33:13joke and now they walk with their chests
33:15out. Let's swing by Urgus. I say kid
33:18came to see me the day after his
33:19wedding. I shouldn't forget him. Erggo
33:22is not doing well. Last night he could
33:24talk. Today he's flat on his back with a
33:26fever. Through the window, I can see his
33:28bar sitting at 77. His parents are
33:31sighing in the yard and wiping their
33:32eyes, and Queen Young keeps soaking a
33:35cloth in cold water for his forehead.
33:37I'm not surprised. Then the bar ticks
33:39again. 76. Ah, got greedy, his father
33:43mutters to nobody. The family sends for
33:46old Luo, the herbalist from across the
33:48bridge, and he arrives with his son in a
33:50bag of roots. Everyone who comes to help
33:53gets a boiled egg, and my two guards
33:55split theirs and give me the other one.
33:57I peel it and sit down next to the
33:58herbalist. Uncle Luo, have you got
34:01something for building up the blood?
34:02Make me a couple of doses. He stops
34:05peeling and looks me up and down. Stone,
34:08you've got red cheeks and you're
34:09bursting with energy. That's no
34:11weakness. Have you got some hidden
34:13problem? Don't be shy. You're young.
34:15Treat it early. Uncle Luo, I'm serious.
34:18I'm about to go to the army. I've been
34:20training so hard everything aches. Ah,
34:22well, I do have a formula, but the good
34:24tonics are expensive and I haven't got
34:26them. I can make you something cheap
34:28from common herbs. Fine. If it works,
34:31I'll order more. Burgu's fever breaks a
34:34day later and I get my tonic for 12
34:36coins. Then I do what nobody else in
34:38this world can do. I measure it. Before
34:40the bowl, I'm at 92. After a hard run,
34:43I'm at 90. After the tonic and a nap,
34:4694. So, one bowl buys me a net plus two.
34:49And if I train smart, I gain about 4% a
34:52day. That's my first real number on how
34:54this body heals. And I get one more rule
34:57out of watching Ergu. A person who drops
34:59about 40% stops functioning. And then
35:02practicing with the long stick Dang
35:04found me. The chime comes again. Spear
35:07thrust. Level one. I hang a few coins on
35:10strings in the yard and stab at them
35:12from five paces. Clink, clink, clink. My
35:16guards stand there with their mouths
35:17open. Uncle Duang, it's bad. Stones had
35:20a real breakthrough this time. What do
35:23you mean this time? I've had
35:24breakthrough after breakthrough after
35:26breakthrough. By evening, they're asking
35:28me to teach them. A few days later, Ergu
35:31finds me at the fence. He's pale, but
35:33his bars back up and he's on his feet.
35:35He presses something into my hand. A
35:37pearl. This is Queen Yang's dowy. Keep
35:40it. Once you're in the army, you'll need
35:42something to grease an officer. Get
35:44yourself a better post. This is too much
35:46and we're going together. If anyone
35:48needs a better post, it's you. Stone,
35:51just take it. My pay sold our field. He
35:53begged the village head to report me
35:55sick and the county agreed. Somebody
35:57else is going in my place. So that's
35:59where the field went. And that's how my
36:01promise to carry Urgu home gets
36:03cancelled. Not by a war, by his father
36:05who sold the only land they had. All
36:08right, I say. If I make something of
36:10myself out there and anyone ever pushes
36:12you around, you say my name. Deal. And
36:15Stone, the kid thing. I think I'll
36:17handle that myself. Good. You do that.
36:21He's moving to the city with Queen Yang.
36:23On his way out, he tells me the village
36:25head is holding my land while I'm gone.
36:27My replacement for Erggo's spot turns
36:29out to be Lead Juang, one of five
36:31brothers. And with Erggo's family bowing
36:34out, Koshi officially has 66 households.
36:37Then the clerks come. 23 of us in the
36:40square. A clerk with a scroll looks us
36:42over like he's buying livestock. Choose
36:44a man to lead you. Silence. Nobody wants
36:48to be the one who gets yelled at first.
36:50Me. A real man. Young men have fire in
36:54them. Fine. Your squad leader for the
36:56Koshi conscripts. That's how I start my
36:59military career. Not with talent. With
37:01raising my hand when everyone else was
37:03looking at their shoes. The column is
37:05about a hundred men from a handful of
37:07villages, a dozen plus relay stations
37:09between us and the city of Jingan. At
37:12the first station, Dahang presses a cake
37:14into my hand. Sweet, I say. Uncle, where
37:18did you even get sugar? You lucky brat.
37:21Date cake. Eat that and you'll show up
37:23at camp strong as a dragon. And yes,
37:26Dahang came. Of course, he came. I asked
37:29him to send his son and he just showed
37:30up at the muster with a bundle on his
37:32back and didn't say a word about it. On
37:34the road, I pick up Brisk Stride level
37:37one, which makes the long marching days
37:39hurt a little less. And I start throwing
37:41twigs at Dawang's back. Stone, stop
37:45throwing sticks at me. Hang in there,
37:47uncle. Little twigs don't hurt. Just
37:49think of it as me playing with you. The
37:51clerk riding beside us watches this for
37:53a while. Kid, a word of warning. Learn
37:57the bow and you'll never go home.
37:59Archers are too valuable, they keep
38:01them, which is the best piece of career
38:03advice I've had in this world. The army
38:05runs on two tiers. Auxiliaries serve
38:08three years and dig ditches. Regulars
38:10serve 10 and actually fight. So, my plan
38:13writes itself. Learn something real,
38:15become a well- paid marksman, and drag
38:17my Kioy boys up the ladder behind me. My
38:20own little faction. Five skills so far.
38:23Three for living, two for killing. Not
38:25bad for a month. 3 days in, we reach a
38:28relay station in the hills and it's
38:30wrong. The gates are shut at dusk and
38:32there's exactly one person inside. An
38:34old courier who looks at a hundred
38:36conscripts like we're a weather report.
38:38You want to stay out of the woods around
38:40here, he says. Black bears, cunning
38:43ones. They come in fives and sixes. Grab
38:45a man and carry him off. Chase them and
38:47they'll ambush you halfway. The clerks
38:49and the escort guards have one iron
38:51spear between them. I walk up to the
38:53head clerk. Sir, can I borrow your iron
38:56spear? Take it. If you can actually hurt
38:59one of those beasts with it, it's yours.
39:01I organize a night watch. 20 odd men per
39:04room, gongs and sticks ready. And around
39:07midnight, while everyone else is peering
39:08into pitch black, I'm looking at health
39:10bars. Six of them moving along the wall.
39:13They're here. Six bears. Two of the bars
39:17have names. Level three mountain forest
39:19moon bear. Levels. That means
39:22experience. Clang, clang, clang. The
39:25gongs go off in every room. Men grab
39:28sticks, and the old courier calmly takes
39:30one look outside, flips his bed over,
39:33and climbs into a hole underneath it. A
39:35couple of the clerks try to follow him,
39:37but the hole only fits one, and he holds
39:39the lid shut while they scream at him.
39:41Everybody, weapons, get to the doors and
39:44windows. If it tries to force its way
39:46in, we push it back out. A 100 men
39:48yelling should scare off any animal.
39:50These bears don't care. They can tell
39:52the difference between soldiers and
39:54farmers. In the dark, nobody can see
39:56them. I can. Two level three bars
39:59hammering at the gate, then climbing the
40:01wall. When they come over, I finally get
40:03a look. Taller than a man standing up,
40:06round heads, a white V on the chest. The
40:09other four are a size smaller and have
40:10no levels at all. Here's the nasty part.
40:13These houses are our protection and our
40:15cage. Six bears have split a 100 men
40:18into rooms of 20, and nobody can help
40:20anybody else. Light the lamps. Somebody
40:23tear off the bedboards. Use them as
40:25shields at the window. Bang. Bang. The
40:28door shakes. The men's hands are
40:30trembling on their sticks. I take the
40:32front row by the window and brace the
40:34spear. The window explodes inward and a
40:37bear's head comes through roaring. Hold.
40:40Hold. Hit its skull. Stab its neck. Bear
40:43paws. Bear bile. You know what those
40:45sell for? One job like this and we're
40:48all rich. That gets them swinging. wild
40:51panic swings that won't kill anything.
40:53The two guys holding the bedboard drop
40:55it and back off. I'm scared, too, and it
40:57doesn't matter. That's the thing about a
40:59skill. My nerves can do whatever they
41:01want. The skill still lands. The bear
41:03lunges to come through. I plant the butt
41:06of the spear in the floor and let it
41:07come onto the point. Its own weight does
41:10the rest. Half its bar vanishes. I drop
41:13the spear, draw the machete, and give it
41:15two splitting the mountain chops to the
41:16head. It tries to back out with my spear
41:19still stuck in it. 26% and falling. I
41:23don't fall for the playing dead routine.
41:25Sticks. Everyone push its head. Shove it
41:28out. Ding. Level three mountain forest
41:31moon bear killed. Experience plus 30.
41:34The body hits the ground outside and
41:36everybody in the room screams like they
41:38won the lottery. They see a dead bear. I
41:40see something else on top of it. A faint
41:42glowing green orb. It dropped loot. The
41:46other bears haven't left, so I'm not
41:48going out there to pick anything up.
41:49Then something weird happens. The second
41:52level three bear turns on the four
41:53smaller ones and starts tearing into
41:55them. Two die, two scramble over the
41:58wall. I reach out the window and with
42:00two men pulling, yank my spear back. Wet
42:03stone. Dah digs a wet stone out of the
42:06junk pile before I finish the word. The
42:08spearhead is bent and chipped. I give it
42:11to two guys to sharpen and grab a hammer
42:13as a backup. The second bear comes back
42:15to the window. The dead one mattered to
42:17it. Brothers, this one holds a grudge.
42:20Don't let it in. Don't flail. Push it
42:22back with the poles. Wear it out. We
42:25killed one. We can kill two. And they do
42:27it. A dozen strong men shoving it off
42:30the window again and again until a fight
42:32to the death turns into a tug of war.
42:34Every time it shows its face, I'm there
42:36with the spear. When it finally slows
42:38down, I find a gap and we pin it.
42:40Another 30 experience. Everybody sags. I
42:43climb out the window. I'm going to check
42:46on the other rooms. See if anyone needs
42:48help. Careful, Stone. You're a good man.
42:51Don't do anything stupid. What I'm
42:53actually doing is bending down over two
42:55dead bears and picking up a green orb
42:57and a white one. Moonlight bear bile.
43:00Great bear stance. And the moment I
43:02touch them, a bag opens in my head. An
43:05inventory. Nobody else can see it.
43:07Things I pick up just go in. Moonlight
43:10bear bile. If your essence is under
43:12five, essence plus one. I eat it on the
43:15spot. The great bear stance has a
43:17training manual, a standing posture, and
43:20the panel says every level three, 6, and
43:2210 adds a point to a stat. I go door to
43:25door telling everyone it's safe. The
43:27clerks peek out the window for a good
43:28long while before they follow the
43:30villagers out to count the damage. Two
43:32big bears in the yard, two more under
43:34the broken windows. The clerks suck in
43:36their breath and suddenly I'm not the
43:38Kioke squad leader anymore. Young sir,
43:41you fought off four bears. Real skill.
43:44If my brothers hadn't put their lives on
43:46the line, I'd never have got a clean
43:48thrust. The credits theirs, too. Well
43:51said, Stone. From today, every man from
43:54Shaashi follows you. I give the bears
43:57away, one to each room, but the courier
43:59physically throws himself between a
44:01butcher's knife and a carcass. Hold it.
44:04Don't spoil the bile. Don't damage the
44:06paws. You take these to the county
44:08magistrate in Lei. The rewards worth
44:10more than the meat. Before we get to
44:12Lei, I pour 60 experience into the great
44:15bear stance. 10 for level one, 20 for
44:18two, 30 for three. My panel ticks over.
44:21Essence 3, Chi 1, spirit one. The county
44:25seat of Leg has walls and a magistrate
44:27called Jiang. He throws us a banquet and
44:30the first thing out of his mouth is
44:32which hero led the men against the
44:34bears. I must thank him personally. Then
44:37over wine he leans in. Besides caring
44:40for the people, I love strange tales.
44:42Odd happenings. If you know any young
44:45sir, tell me. They go well with the
44:47wine. He's fishing. Bears that come in
44:49packs and know soldiers from farmers
44:51aren't normal bears. And this man knows
44:54exactly what a dungeon is. If anyone
44:56figures out I can read them, I'm not a
44:58soldier anymore. I'm a tool. I've never
45:00seen anything strange myself, sir.
45:02Killing the bears was just using the
45:04building to our advantage. He gets
45:06nothing out of me, loses interest, and
45:08leaves the banquet early for official
45:10business. By the time I'm back with the
45:12column, his chief constable has already
45:14questioned everybody about the bear
45:16fight and ridden off to the relay
45:17station to check. The clerk's plan to
45:20take the credit gets torn up on the
45:22spot. He even finds out when the old
45:24courier climbed into his hole. Stone,
45:26that magistrate's strict, one of my
45:28villagers says, "Whoever did the work
45:31gets the credit. He's nothing like the
45:33fools in the story books." Yeah, a
45:35smiling ghost, sharp as a needle. And
45:38that's a warning I take seriously. In
45:40this world, I need a big stage where I
45:42can get strong out in the open in
45:44daylight. Otherwise, somebody's going to
45:46get suspicious. The magistrate pays out
45:49500 coins for me. 50 for every man who
45:52fought. Then he sells me six gins pills.
45:55And when I haggle, he throws one in
45:56free. 5 + 1. My villagers can't believe
46:00I don't try to stay. Stone. The
46:02magistrate likes you. Why not stay on as
46:04a county man? The whole village would
46:06benefit. I can't stay and I shouldn't. A
46:10man that sharp watching me level up
46:12under his nose. No thanks. I like this
46:14magistrate. I'm glad I'm leaving his
46:16county. The bare money got split all the
46:19way down. A gold cake for me, 200 coins
46:22to every clerk, 60 to every Koshi man,
46:2520 to everyone else. At the fork outside
46:28Jingan, the clerks say goodbye like old
46:30friends. And that cut buys me something
46:32better than gratitude. It buys me
46:34advice. Young sir, you're not like the
46:36others. You'll probably end up a
46:38regular. My advice, in the army, don't
46:41swallow anything you don't have to. A
46:43bunch of men with no ambition can afford
46:45to be patient. A man with ambition has
46:47to be hard. The Jingan army fort is
46:50huge. A selection officer, agitant Ma of
46:53the Ma clan, reads my papers, reads the
46:55bear report, and looks at me. Do you
46:57dare join the Wui camp as a regular
47:00soldier? 10 years, a military household.
47:03I'll follow orders. I'm Ma of theQing Ma
47:06clan. You call me agitant Ma. Remember,
47:09the army is serious. Never get a rank
47:12wrong. He gives me two aids from my own
47:14village. Leadwang, who took Urgu's spot,
47:17and Ziao Tinyu. And on day one, I learn
47:20the most important fact about the
47:21Jenghan army. It's rich. Regulars get a
47:24bowl of meat. I flip it with my
47:26chopsticks, expecting the usual trick. A
47:28layer of meat on top and vegetables
47:30underneath. Nope. Fat on top, lean
47:33below. Nothing but meat all the way
47:35down. Wo! It's solid. Things the people
47:38of Koshi don't get at the New Year. This
47:40camp serves on a Tuesday. An auxiliary
47:43at the next table watches me eat with
47:45pure hatred. You want to eat well, his
47:48sergeant tells him. Go be an armored
47:50regular. The camp doesn't stop anyone
47:52transferring up. The instructor in
47:54charge of new recruits is a man called
47:56Hong. He hands me a training bow,
47:58watches me draw it, and frowns. That bow
48:01is too light for you. Here, a three-
48:03stone bow. A stone here is about 60
48:06kilos of draw. Three stone is 180. He
48:09gives me that bow to humble me. I draw
48:11it to my ear smoothly. He takes it back
48:14and stares at it like the bow cheated.
48:16That evening, I can hear him bragging to
48:18the other instructors across the yard.
48:21That kid's a freak. First day in camp
48:23and he's training on a three- stone bow.
48:25The next morning, he comes back with a
48:27serious face. Young man, do you want to
48:30be an ordinary soldier or an officer? An
48:32officer, obviously. If you can get
48:35promoted, who stays a private? Then I'm
48:37recommending you to the Sheshang Archer
48:39camp squad leader at least. Maybe more.
48:42Are you afraid? Thank you, Instructor
48:44Hong. I can't ask for more. What's there
48:46to be afraid of? The Xi Shang camp's
48:48commandant is a man called Lee Fu. He
48:51walks me through the army's eight ranks
48:53like a board waiter reading a menu, then
48:55puts me in front of a target with 30
48:57arrows. I hit it 30 times. Good. A born
49:01marksman, squad leader, official papers.
49:04Are you coming? What's there to think
49:06about? If the commandant's offering a
49:08post and official status, I'll serve in
49:10Cheshang. I start training with the bow
49:12and the chime does what the chime does.
49:15Bow string control level one. And then I
49:18make a mistake. I train the way I
49:20trained at home. Six double hours a day,
49:2212 hours of shooting. My arms don't
49:24care. The rest of the camp watches this
49:26for a week and quietly loses the will to
49:29live. Eventually, a group of archers
49:30goes to the commandant. Commandant, we
49:33can't train anymore. Joe Yuan's got iron
49:36arms. He shoots 12 hours a day. What's
49:38the point of us even trying? Lefu calls
49:41me in. I'm expecting a lecture. A good
49:44sword has to taste blood before it's
49:46sharp. Otherwise, it's just a pretty
49:48ornament. You're going to the divine arm
49:50squad. They go into the dungeon. On the
49:52way to the commander's compound, I get
49:54an escort. A gloomy instructor called
49:56Jeang. And instructor Jeang, it turns
49:58out, is the first person in this world
50:00willing to explain how power actually
50:02works. A warrior's strength comes from
50:04ki. The dowists call it spirit key. And
50:07you know where it comes from? The demons
50:09inside the hidden realms. You eat what
50:11they drop, you get key. So people eat
50:14demons to get stronger. People eat
50:16demons and get spirit. Demons eat people
50:19and get minds. That's how it goes. That
50:22one stops me in my tracks. Monsters that
50:25kill people start to think. So, a world
50:27full of dungeons is also a world slowly
50:29filling up with monsters that are
50:31getting smarter. The meat in your bowl
50:33every day, that comes out of a hidden
50:35realm, too. That's why this camp is
50:37rich. He's quiet for a bit. Then, I'm
50:40from a clan family, but a clan only has
50:42enough spirit goods to make one warrior,
50:44not two. It wasn't me. I got a bow and a
50:47job. He laughs, but there's nothing in
50:50it. The hardest thing in this world is
50:52watching other men soar like eagles
50:54while you end up worse than a chicken.
50:56And then we walk into the commander's
50:57compound into a big store room. And
50:59there it is, a black swirl in the middle
51:02of the floor with red text over it that
51:04only I can read. Dungeon Oxhead Fort
51:08recommended level three. Recommended
51:10party 10 to 15. Level three. Finally,
51:14something my size. The divine arm squad
51:16hangs out in an inner hall, about 30
51:19archers, and they look me over like a
51:20horse at market. Brother, how many stone
51:24do you pull? Three. Everybody's health
51:26bar in this room is damaged. 86 90 93.
51:31These are men who go into the dungeon
51:32every week and come out a little less
51:34every time. Where are you from? Good
51:37farming family. Low then. With skill
51:39like yours, good family won't get you
51:42far. Just kill. Kill a h 100red and
51:44you'll get official status. A veteran
51:46called Woo takes pity on me. Carry a
51:49two- stone fast bow in there, too, not
51:51just the big one. Speed matters more.
51:54And forget the formation drill.
51:56Formations are for those turtles in the
51:57black armor squad. We just shoot
51:59straight and learn to dodge. Thanks,
52:02brother. Woo. Don't thank me. You're
52:04new. You go in first. Let's see what
52:06color you bleed. Wait, that's it? No
52:09training first? I thought you'd train
52:11me, then decide if I'm good enough to
52:12stay. The whole hall laughs at me.
52:15Training? If you weren't already
52:17trained, what are you doing here? Clan
52:19sons get training. Farm boys get a
52:22chance. And when you get a chance, you
52:23take it. Drums. Everybody grabs a bow
52:26and runs. In the yard in front of the
52:28storehouse stand hundreds of men in
52:30black armor, the black armor squads. And
52:33in front of them, a broad-shouldered
52:34officer with a voice like a gate
52:36slamming. I am Army Marshall Kai Changen
52:38of this camp. From today, I'm your
52:40direct superior. Remember this. In the
52:42hidden realm, nobody retreats without an
52:44order, and nobody advances without an
52:46order. Disobey and you're executed on
52:49the spot. Every kill in there counts as
52:51merit. 10 kills, a promotion. 100 kills,
52:54an official post. He picks 15 men, nine
52:58black armor, five archers, including me
53:00and himself. And I finally understand
53:02the number over the portal. Recommended
53:05party, 10 to 15. It's not a suggestion,
53:08it's how many can fit through the door.
53:10Then we're through. And I'm standing at
53:12the bottom of a hill looking up at a
53:13bandit fort. Wooden walls, two
53:16watchtowers, 20 or 30 bandits on the
53:19wall. Six of them archers. And every one
53:21of them has a level three tag over his
53:23head. The black armor lock shields and
53:25walk up the slope like a moving wall.
53:27Arrows thunk into the shields. Open a
53:30gap. Divine arm. Take out the archers.
53:33The shields part. I draw. The archer
53:35drops and 30 experience lands in my
53:38head. Good shot. The rest of you hit the
53:41left tower. New boy. Finish the archer
53:43with the wounded arm. It's like a raid
53:45team carrying a newbie through his first
53:47dungeon. The black armor hold the line.
53:50We shoot. The bandits fall. Two waves of
53:52melee bandits charge down the slope with
53:54sabers, and we shoot them on the way
53:56down. The kills pile up. 30 experience a
53:59kill, 20 for an assist. And on top of
54:02that, the dungeon pays double. I'm
54:04getting 60 for every bandit. And every
54:06time I step over a body, I'm also
54:08quietly picking up whatever glows.
54:11Nobody can see the drops but me. Long
54:13blades, three. Spears, two, rice balls,
54:17eight. wound salve 2 into the bag. By
54:21the time the walls are clear, I've got
54:23320 experience. I dump all of it into
54:26bowring control. I train for days to get
54:28this to level four. One fight and it's
54:31level eight. Behind us, the black armor
54:33are rotating. The ones who took a
54:35beating walk back out through the
54:36portal, and fresh men walk in to take
54:38their places. The rule is 15 inside.
54:42Nobody said they all had to be the same
54:4415. Divine arm, how are your arms? No
54:48problem, Marshall. I'm naturally strong.
54:50I wasn't straining on the field bow. The
54:53gate breaks and we walk into the fort.
54:55There's a platform in the middle with a
54:57banner and on the platform stands the
54:59boss. Level five bandit chief. Wait,
55:03we're pulling the boss already. Isn't
55:05that a bit fast? Nobody answers me
55:07because the bandit chief jumps off the
55:09platform and comes straight at the
55:10archers at me. And 10 men with hooked
55:13spears catch him and drag him back like
55:15a bull on ropes. He charges again. They
55:18drag him back again. While he's busy, I
55:20shoot him and shoot him. 18 arrows.
55:23Ding. Level five bandit chief killed.
55:26Experience plus 200. The black armor
55:29look at each other. Usually the chief
55:31takes five or six drags. New boy. What's
55:34your name? How many arrows did you put
55:36in that demon chief? Reporting marshall.
55:39I'm Joe Yuen. I shot 18. 18 hit. The
55:42other four archers put in 21 between
55:45them. about five each. Thank you for the
55:47praise, Marshall. It wasn't my courage.
55:50The black armor were fearless. Zu Yan,
55:53will you stay in the hidden realm as a
55:54regular? With that fast, heavy bow of
55:57yours, you'd save my black armor a lot
55:59of pain. I'll do it with everything I've
56:01got. The chief drops loot. Eight
56:04bladebreaking forms, a manual, a gold
56:07wire heavy saber, three bottles of euhen
56:09powder. Then Kai-Chang takes me aside,
56:12points at a big chest by the chief's
56:13bed, and reels off a list without
56:15opening it. 10 white bottles, five blue,
56:19one Marshall manual. Check. Exactly as
56:22you said, Marshall. Not a thing
56:24different. I've done this a hundred
56:25times. Every count gets written down.
56:28Don't get greedy in here. And don't
56:30touch the blue bottles. That stuff. Once
56:32you start, you can't stop. No spirit to
56:34feed the key. The key scatters. And
56:36you're back to being a regular man. All
56:38that for nothing. Then the transport
56:40troops come through the portal like ants
56:42and strip the fort bare. Chests,
56:45weapons, banners. Nine pigs. Nine.
56:48That's where my bowl of meat comes from.
56:50The Jingan army isn't rich because it's
56:52well-run. It's rich because it's got a
56:54fort in a store room that refills itself
56:56every week. A giant health potion that
56:59never runs out. I put another 200
57:01experience into bowring control and max
57:04it. Level 10. On the practice range, I
57:06put three arrows into the same hole.
57:09Payday. 4 ounces of gold and 500 coppers
57:12for me. Marshall, isn't this too much? A
57:16few more trips and we'll all be rich.
57:18You're special. Normally, it's 6 ounces
57:20for me, but mistakes cost money. If I
57:23lose a black armor man, I pay for it.
57:25The other archers got less than a third
57:27of my share. Nobody complains. They saw
57:30the 18 arrows. Then I'm promoted. Squad
57:33leader of the divine arm. I go with Kai
57:35Chang to see the wounded. And there I
57:37meet the man at the top of this camp,
57:39the Jingan commanded. He goes from bed
57:41to bed with the same promise. Light
57:43wounds, 15 days paid leave, heavy
57:46wounds, 2 months. Seven black armor went
57:49down. All seven get paid. On the way
57:52out, I asked the question I've been
57:54chewing on. Marshall, if the command is
57:56such a powerful warrior, why doesn't he
57:59clear the hidden realm himself? For him,
58:02it'd be easy, but a warrior burns spirit
58:04key in a fight. And what does he refill
58:06it with? Spirit goods from the hidden
58:08realm. If he goes in every week, he eats
58:11the camp's whole harvest by himself.
58:13Better we do the work and he stays full
58:15for the real fights. So warriors are
58:17expensive. Expensive to make and
58:19expensive to run. Got it. I try the
58:22forge next. Forgemaster, does the camp
58:25have a four- stone bow? Squad leader,
58:28you're joking. We really don't. He
58:30offers to build me a bed crossbow, a
58:32five stone siege piece, and tells me a
58:35proper four- stone bow would take years
58:37to make. A stone is 120 caddies here.
58:40Four stone is 480. Most men can't even
58:43string that. Never mind. Years is too
58:46long. I'll stick with three. That night,
58:48the archers drag me to a tavern. 30 odd
58:51men. They raise their cups. You're
58:54better than us. We accept it. Teach us
58:56and sharpen our bows. At the table, an
58:59archer from the Ma clan, the same clan
59:01as the agitant who signed me up, tells
59:03me something that changes my whole plan.
59:05You know why the clan sons are here? Not
59:07for the fighting. There's an exam. The
59:10court runs a spirit opening exam every
59:12four years. A handful of men get picked.
59:15Sometimes a dozen pass and the court
59:17feeds you spirit goods until you're a
59:19warrior. That's what they're all after.
59:21And if you're not a clan son, then you'd
59:23better be very good or get into a
59:26temple. The big ones take disciples. So
59:28there's a door. The exam. And for the
59:31first time, I have a target. Thanks,
59:33brother Ma. You've shown me how big the
59:35world is. Don't thank me. You'd have
59:37found out anyway. Teach me a few bow
59:40tricks sometime. At dawn, Kch Chang is
59:42banging on my door. How are the arms
59:45recovered? Steady as ever. I can shoot
59:48fast all day. Good. Beat the drum. Let's
59:52finish this month's quota early and rest
59:54a few days. The second raid is where
59:56things get awkward. With bow string
59:58control maxed, I don't just kill
1:00:00archers, I erase them. Three arrows,
1:00:02three archers, then four arrows into
1:00:05four sword arms. By the time the black
1:00:07armor reached the wall, I've got 20
1:00:09kills and they've had nothing to do.
1:00:11Marshall, one of them says, "Let's just
1:00:13swap gear outside. No need to rotate the
1:00:16men." We rotate. Rules are rules. Break
1:00:19them and the men waiting outside will
1:00:21get lazy. Then Kai Changeng pulls me
1:00:23aside and his face is serious. Zhao Yan,
1:00:27your archery is barely human. But listen
1:00:29to me. If the court hears that one
1:00:31archer clears Oxhead Fort, what happens?
1:00:34They raise our quota. A paper comes down
1:00:36and suddenly the men don't get rest
1:00:38anymore. Fight after fight. Heavy
1:00:40losses. Thank you for the lesson,
1:00:42Marshall. I'll watch my rate of fire. I
1:00:45won't break the rhythm. That's more like
1:00:47it. If we don't come back with a little
1:00:48blood, how can we call ourselves the
1:00:51blood black armor? So I slow down. The
1:00:54black armor get their fight. The chief
1:00:56goes down to cheers. And even with me
1:00:58holding back, the hall is bigger. First
1:01:00raid, 520 experience, five savves, three
1:01:04euen. This one, 780 experience, nine
1:01:08savves, three euen. I pour it into the
1:01:11great bear stance. The standing post I
1:01:13got from the bear. 3 to 10. At level
1:01:16six, I get a point of key. At level 10,
1:01:18a point of spirit. And this time,
1:01:20something happens to my body. When key
1:01:23ticks up to two, I feel it open like
1:01:25every door in a house swinging open at
1:01:27once and a breeze going through. When
1:01:29spirit ticks up, my sight changes. For a
1:01:32second, I'm looking at myself from
1:01:34outside, from just above my own
1:01:36shoulder, like a cicada that stepped out
1:01:38of its shell. That has to be soul
1:01:40vision. Is this what they call opening
1:01:42the spirit, building the foundation?
1:01:44Essence three, key two, spirit 2. An
1:01:47ordinary person is one across the board.
1:01:50I drink one of the blue bottles. Een
1:01:52powder just to see. And for the first
1:01:54time, a second bar appears under my
1:01:56health. Blue, a mana bar. It glows for
1:01:59about 2 hours and then fades away to
1:02:01nothing. So that's the trick. You need
1:02:03the stat first. Then the key you swallow
1:02:06has somewhere to go. drinking key
1:02:08without a method to hold it and letting
1:02:10it all leak away. Even the commandant
1:02:12would call that a waste. Days pass like
1:02:14that. Raid, rest, raid, food supplement,
1:02:18rest, and brisk stride all hit max.
1:02:21Eight blade breaking forms hits max.
1:02:23Spear thrust hits max. I'm a sword and
1:02:25bow fighter now in the core of the raid
1:02:27team. Then one morning, Kai Chang walks
1:02:30me to the command hall. Marshall, what
1:02:32are we doing here? Is the commandant
1:02:34rewarding our merit? Not our merit,
1:02:37yours. You're probably the fastest
1:02:39promotion this camp has ever seen. The
1:02:41commandant hands me a paper and a copper
1:02:43seal. These are your official papers.
1:02:46Your household registration has been
1:02:48moved from the countryside to the Jingan
1:02:50commander office. From today, you're not
1:02:52a farmer anymore. You're an officer of
1:02:54Wei. The seal reads Jingan Divine Arm
1:02:57Duobo Joe Yuan. Thank you, Camant. I'll
1:03:01repay it with everything I've got. If
1:03:03anyone asks where you're from now, just
1:03:05say Jingan. That's who you are. Young
1:03:07man, while your edge is sharp, fight
1:03:09your way to a noble title. Then your
1:03:11line will hold office for generations.
1:03:14From orphan with a borrowed spear to
1:03:16officer with a seal. A few weeks. Then
1:03:19Kchang gives me a warning I don't take
1:03:21seriously enough. You're an officer now.
1:03:24You'll want a house in the city. Just
1:03:25know two things. The rich houses hunt
1:03:28young officers for sons-in-law, and the
1:03:30city's got demons in it. Demons in the
1:03:33city. Doesn't the army do anything?
1:03:35What's new about that? Every place has
1:03:37its rat holes. Once a demon gets a mind,
1:03:40all it wants is to hide. Who's going to
1:03:42find them? You've seen the ones in the
1:03:44realm. If they could think, could you
1:03:46tell them from people? I could. That's
1:03:49the problem. I rent a little house, hide
1:03:51my seal, and take 10 guards into the
1:03:53city to look around. And Jingen City is
1:03:56beautiful. Tiled roofs, wine flags,
1:03:58music from the upper floors. Then I
1:04:01start reading the tags. The lady in silk
1:04:03getting out of a sedan chair. Level 10
1:04:06painted skin lady. Her maid. Level 9
1:04:08painted skin concubine. The girl behind
1:04:11them. Level seven painted skin miss. The
1:04:14beggar on the corner. The constable on
1:04:16patrol. The doctor in his shop. The
1:04:18singer leaning on the balcony rail
1:04:20laughing. Painted skins. Monsters
1:04:23wearing human skin. They're everywhere.
1:04:25Not hiding in rat holes. Walking around
1:04:27in silk. This really is a city of ghosts
1:04:30and painted skins. There has to be an
1:04:32undiscovered nest somewhere near here.
1:04:35And then the thought that turns my
1:04:36stomach. Wait, Kai Cheng's wife. She
1:04:39can't be one, too, can she? I need to
1:04:41see her. So, I go shopping. A shop boy
1:04:44walks me through the market like a tour
1:04:46guide and helps me pick gifts. And I
1:04:48turn up at the army marshall's door with
1:04:50my arms full. The servants are clean, no
1:04:53tags. I walk in and Kai's wife is clean,
1:04:56tall, thin, kind face, plain human.
1:05:00Their two kids are clean, hanging on
1:05:01their mother's sleeves and staring at
1:05:03me. I don't want my friend murdered in
1:05:06his own bed. That's the whole reason I
1:05:08came to drink at his house. Brother, I
1:05:10brought my wife and kids to meet you,
1:05:12and you still call me by my rank? If you
1:05:14don't mind it, call me Brother Kai. I'll
1:05:16have my wife find you a good girl from a
1:05:18good family. Don't listen to him. I'll
1:05:20keep an eye out for a good girl myself.
1:05:22So now he's brother Kai and she's my
1:05:24sister-in-law. You came with so many
1:05:27gifts on your first visit. I have to
1:05:28give you something back. You're the
1:05:30camp's sharpshooter. This green jade
1:05:32thumb ring suits you. Don't turn it
1:05:34down. Thank you, sister-in-law. I really
1:05:37did need a thumb ring. They planned
1:05:39this. Even the gift fits. And I don't
1:05:42blame them. A teenage sharpshooter with
1:05:44a seal, no family baggage rising this
1:05:46fast. Now is exactly the time to make
1:05:49friends with him. When she leaves with
1:05:51the kids, Kay leans in. She meant it
1:05:54about the girl. Being in camp, you can't
1:05:56sort your own family affairs, and she'll
1:05:58find you a decent house, so the agents
1:06:00don't cheat you. If you're short, don't
1:06:02worry. I'll lend it. Pay me back
1:06:04whenever. That alone is worth the trip.
1:06:06He's betting on my future, sure, but
1:06:09there's real brotherhood in it. I turn
1:06:11down the girl. I'm aiming for the exam.
1:06:13And then I ask him about something else.
1:06:16Brother Kai, have you mastered the three
1:06:18talents seal? I told you that's mumbo
1:06:21jumbo. Nobody can master that. The three
1:06:23talent stance is a standing method and
1:06:26the seal at the end of it is a palm
1:06:27strike Kai swears nobody can actually
1:06:30do. He lends me the manual like it's a
1:06:32joke book. That night we drink. I drink
1:06:35the whole table under it because food
1:06:37supplement doesn't care what kind of
1:06:38food it is. Then I sneak out to the
1:06:40flower garden and dump experience into
1:06:42the three talent stance. 50 a level.
1:06:45Five times the bear stance. 1 to 10.
1:06:48Essence 4, key two, spirit 2. And I try
1:06:52the seal. Boom. A hole the size of a
1:06:55wash basin in his wife's flower bed. My
1:06:58palm aches. My bar drops to 95. And it
1:07:01works. The mumbo jumbo works. In the
1:07:04morning, walking through the garden, I
1:07:05see an old woman in gray praying beads
1:07:08in her hand, standing by the hole and
1:07:10staring at it. Level eight painted skin
1:07:13old woman. My stomach drops. I keep my
1:07:16face completely still. Who's that old
1:07:18lady? Do you keep servants that old?
1:07:21Brother Kai, that's my mother. She keeps
1:07:23a Buddhist diet. Never touches meat. She
1:07:26can't eat what we eat. His mother, a
1:07:28painted skin, is living in my friend's
1:07:30house wearing his mother's face. And I
1:07:32say nothing. If I tell him now what
1:07:35happens, he doesn't believe me and we're
1:07:37done. Or he does and he tries to fight a
1:07:39level eight demon in his own house with
1:07:41his kids in the next room. Either way,
1:07:43it ends badly. And it's been here a
1:07:45while without killing anyone. That's not
1:07:47mercy. That's a job. If it wanted his
1:07:50wife and kids dead, they'd be dead.
1:07:52Here's what I find out the hard way over
1:07:54the next day, and I'll tell it the way
1:07:56it must have gone. Because everything
1:07:57that happened next only makes sense one
1:08:00way. That old woman was a spy. The
1:08:02painted skins planted her in Kai's house
1:08:04to keep an ear on the commandant through
1:08:06his army marshal. And last night, she
1:08:08stood in the dark of her room and
1:08:10watched me put a hole in the ground with
1:08:11my bare hand, a seal made of red fire,
1:08:14the kind of thing that kills things like
1:08:16her. She was terrified. My officer's
1:08:19rank is lower than her sons, so she
1:08:21figured she could get him to throw me
1:08:22out. In the morning, she called him in
1:08:24and gave him the whole pious mother act.
1:08:26A man with a bloody aura sleeping under
1:08:28our roof. His killing energy on top of
1:08:31yours. It's breaking the Buddha's light
1:08:33that protects this house. It's a curse
1:08:35on the family. If he stays, I won't
1:08:37live. Mother, don't talk about living
1:08:40and dying. I'll see him out right now.
1:08:42He comes to me red in the face,
1:08:44stammering. I let him off the hook. I
1:08:47understand. Don't trouble yourself,
1:08:49Brother Kai. We're brothers in arms. How
1:08:52could some family matter come between
1:08:53us? Good brother, if you ever run into
1:08:56trouble, say my name. I'll come running.
1:08:58I leave. And I know exactly what happens
1:09:01next. The old woman passes my
1:09:03description to someone. Over a cup of
1:09:05tea in a tea house on the next street, I
1:09:08watch it arrive. Four men in black come
1:09:10up the stairs and sit around my table.
1:09:12All four are level seven painted skin
1:09:14thugs. Brother, you're in our seats.
1:09:17Don't you think you owe us an
1:09:18explanation? So, I get up and walk out
1:09:21straight down the stairs into the crowd.
1:09:23Here's the thing people get wrong. A
1:09:25crowd isn't safe. These things don't
1:09:27care about witnesses. If the constables
1:09:29pick them up, the constables are painted
1:09:31skins. If they go to jail, the jailers
1:09:34are painted skins. The crowd just
1:09:36watches or runs. He's there. Don't let
1:09:39him get away. Black tiger gang business.
1:09:41Everybody out of the way. And the city
1:09:43splits in two in front of my eyes.
1:09:45People scatter. The singers on the
1:09:47balconies, the ones with tags, point
1:09:49down the street. That way. He went that
1:09:51way. The human girls next to them pull
1:09:54at their sleeves, telling them to mind
1:09:55their own business. I check my bag as I
1:09:58walk. Wound saven
1:10:0235. Rice balls 237.
1:10:0660 odd blades, spears, shields, 20
1:10:09leather armors, 13 sets of bows. All of
1:10:12it dungeon drops. You guys have got the
1:10:14rolls mixed up. I'm the boss here.
1:10:17Seriously. Full potions, a stack of
1:10:20maxed skills, and a seal that hits like
1:10:22a door. I've got more damage and more
1:10:24health than that level five chief I've
1:10:26been farming. Four level sevens can't
1:10:28take down a boss. I let them chase me
1:10:30into a deadend alley. Running, huh?
1:10:33Where are you going to run now? I draw a
1:10:35saber out of thin air. Pulling a blade.
1:10:38Rude. Careful with my clothes. If you
1:10:41tear them, I'll be very upset. Do you
1:10:43know who I am? Ha. He's asking if we
1:10:46know who he is. This isn't your fort,
1:10:48boy. Some little jing officer. You think
1:10:51we're scared? Come here. Let's see how
1:10:53tough your skin is. They pull out
1:10:55daggers and little hooked knives and
1:10:57close in. Four on. No shield. No armor.
1:11:01Nobody at my back. Two cuts and I'm
1:11:03dead. Right. Whoever sent them didn't
1:11:05mention that I might not be a normal
1:11:07man. Fine. I'll try to leave one alive
1:11:10for questions. I drink a bottle of
1:11:12Euene. The blue bar lights up. My right
1:11:14hand swings a saber sweep from the eight
1:11:16bladebreaking forms and knocks two of
1:11:18them flat. And my left palm comes up in
1:11:21the three talent seal. This time I've
1:11:23got mana behind it. My palm goes red.
1:11:25Then it catches fire. A real visible
1:11:28flame of red key. Bang. The painted skin
1:11:32I hit pops like a balloon. Scraps of
1:11:34skin fly everywhere and something black
1:11:36comes out of it. A shadow. A ghost. Its
1:11:39bar is mostly gone and it shrieks and
1:11:41dives for the shadows in the corner of
1:11:43the wall. The fire's still on it. It
1:11:46hurts. Give me a skin. Somebody give me
1:11:49a skin. All of that takes about 1
1:11:51second. Four confident thugs. One
1:11:54exchange. One of them nearly dead. You
1:11:56You're a warrior. I'm not. Don't make
1:11:59things up. You know too much. Bang. The
1:12:03second one pops. Stay away from me.
1:12:05Help. Murder. The fourth one runs. I
1:12:09drag him back by the collar and finish
1:12:11it. Then the third. Four kills. 70
1:12:14experience a piece. And then a little
1:12:16old man pushing a card of dates comes
1:12:18around the corner, takes one look, and
1:12:20starts yelling, "Constables! The
1:12:22constables are coming. You'll be in
1:12:24trouble." Level six painted skin
1:12:26peddler. He's not going for help. He's
1:12:29bluffing, trying to scare me off so the
1:12:31ghost in the corner can crawl away. And
1:12:33I realize something important. If I kill
1:12:35him too, the painted skins find out a
1:12:38soldier can see through them. That's
1:12:39worse than any number of dead thugs. My
1:12:42eyes are the secret, not my seal. Old
1:12:45man selling dates. Bring me one. If it's
1:12:47sweet, I'll buy a few. You, you, you.
1:12:50I'm not doing business with you. Take
1:12:52them all. Just spare my life. I put an
1:12:55arm around his shoulders and walk him
1:12:57into the alley. Empty. Just skin scraps
1:12:59blowing around like paper. Take a good
1:13:02look. What do you see? I see it. Clear
1:13:05as day. This old man would never get it
1:13:07wrong. Then why are you shaking? I'm not
1:13:10a demon. I let him go. I wait half an
1:13:13hour. No reinforcements. Interesting.
1:13:16So, they're not an army. They're a gang
1:13:18that doesn't want to look like one. Then
1:13:20I check what they dropped. Two vials of
1:13:22yin essence, four little knives, and one
1:13:26item that makes me grin. Painted skin
1:13:28thug. Use take the form of a painted
1:13:31skin thug. Height and weight cannot be
1:13:33changed. A disguise. A demon's skin I
1:13:36can wear. Looks like we're about to swap
1:13:39roles. I find an inn in the ward next to
1:13:41Kay's house. Kay is still my best card.
1:13:44Below him are the black armor and the
1:13:46archers. Above him is the common dant.
1:13:49And I walk the city for half a day
1:13:50waiting for the next attack. Nothing.
1:13:53Not a single painted skin turns its
1:13:55head. I've been wandering around all
1:13:57afternoon and they don't even react. Did
1:13:59they just give up? They hadn't given up.
1:14:02They'd held a meeting. I wasn't in that
1:14:04room. But I'm going to tell you what was
1:14:06said in it because every word of it came
1:14:08true over the next 3 days and I was on
1:14:10the receiving end of all of it. In a
1:14:12side courtyard in Chunang Ward, a group
1:14:15of men in scholars robes sat around a
1:14:17table and read my file out loud. Joe
1:14:19Yan, farm boy, joined in the sixth
1:14:22month. One month later, a duo bow with a
1:14:25seal. Their leader was a level 13
1:14:27painted skin called Lu Ying, an
1:14:29assistant in the commandery office, the
1:14:31brains of the whole operation. And their
1:14:33verdict on me was, "No village boy does
1:14:36that. He must be a court spy with a fake
1:14:38clean background." So, what do you do
1:14:40with a court spy you can't kill quietly?
1:14:42You tie him down. They had a plan, and
1:14:45her name was Manning, a level 15 painted
1:14:48skin, their best fighter, living as the
1:14:50sister-in-law in Kai Changengs wife's
1:14:52family, the Jeangs. Get Yuan into the
1:14:54Jeang house. Get him bound to that
1:14:56family by duty and debt, and the spy
1:14:58becomes their guard dog. That Jo
1:15:00Yuen<unk>s blade is sharp enough to cut
1:15:02through our clothes, Lo Ying said. We
1:15:05steady him first. We plan the rest
1:15:07later. Then he went to ask permission,
1:15:09not from a boss, from his mother. In the
1:15:12back room sat a slender woman with a
1:15:14pretty, tired face, tending a young man
1:15:16who raved and thrashed on the bed.
1:15:19Everyone called her mother. Every
1:15:20painted skin in Jinganne answered to
1:15:22her. "Mother, I want to use Manning to
1:15:25bind someone. Turn a dangerous man into
1:15:27our puppet." "You may." The young man on
1:15:30the bed screamed that the demons could
1:15:31skin him if they liked. He'd come back
1:15:33as a ghost and eat them. Lu Ying looked
1:15:36at him with open contempt. If it weren't
1:15:38for that skin of his, he said, I'd have
1:15:40peeled you long ago and taught you that
1:15:42ghosts can't just do whatever they want
1:15:44either. I didn't know any of that yet. I
1:15:47was at my inn reading. The inkeeper had
1:15:50bought me a stack of Buddhist and dowist
1:15:52books for 320 coins. I didn't have the
1:15:55cash on me, so I paid with my seal. An
1:15:57officer's note. He added a hundred for
1:16:00the errand without even blinking. And
1:16:02two of those books had something in
1:16:03them. a pine and crane breathing method,
1:16:06a demon subduing mantra. If chopping
1:16:09wood can become a skill, why not a
1:16:11sutra? I also found a copy of the
1:16:13classic of mountains and seas, the old
1:16:15beastiary of every weird creature in the
1:16:17world, and stayed up half the night
1:16:19reading it. Every page written like it's
1:16:21absolutely sure of itself. Honestly, I
1:16:24respect that. Next morning, Brother Kai
1:16:27is at my door with 10 guards and a face
1:16:29like a funeral. Brother, there's trouble
1:16:31at my wife's family home. I'm going over
1:16:34with my men. I need your bow. We're
1:16:36brothers in arms. You don't have to
1:16:38explain. On the way, he tells me the
1:16:40story. His wife's younger sister,
1:16:42Manning. A ghost is haunting her. She's
1:16:45been fainting, crying out at night. Too
1:16:48convenient. A haunted girl, a
1:16:50sharpshooter friend, a rich house. Is
1:16:52this a damsel in distress setup or the
1:16:55real thing? At the Jeang mansion, the
1:16:57old master comes out to meet us. And
1:16:59behind him, the steward, the maids, the
1:17:02gatekeeper. Level five, level six, level
1:17:05eight. The whole household is painted
1:17:07skins. The real Jeangs might be in there
1:17:09somewhere, but if so, they're
1:17:11outnumbered by their own furniture. And
1:17:13then in a back room, I see her lying on
1:17:15a bed, pale, eyes closed, a maid wiping
1:17:19her forehead, level 15 painted skin
1:17:21manning, a named elite, the strongest
1:17:24thing I've seen outside a dungeon, and
1:17:26three level five yin spirits floating
1:17:28over the bed, pretending to fight over
1:17:30her. It's a play, a stage play with a
1:17:33cast of ghosts. And the audience is me.
1:17:36They're waiting for me to react, to rush
1:17:38in, to be the hero. I don't move. I
1:17:42stand by the door with my bow and my
1:17:44most boring face. Somewhere behind me,
1:17:46the steward whispers to the old master.
1:17:49This one's a court spy with a heart of
1:17:50iron. Switch to plan B. Then a maid
1:17:53turns to K. Brother-in-law, don't you
1:17:56have the spirit revealing liquid the
1:17:58commonant gave you. Try it. Maybe you'll
1:18:00see something. Kai fishes out a little
1:18:02vial. Two drops in his eyes and he goes
1:18:05white. There really are ghosts. Joe
1:18:08Yuan, take the vial. Two drops for me,
1:18:11too. I already see them. Now I'm allowed
1:18:14to. Brother Kai. Arrows won't hold them.
1:18:17They float through my arrows like smoke.
1:18:19Then the steward hints very helpfully
1:18:21that the blood of a man with a bloody
1:18:23aura scares off ghosts. Kai cuts his own
1:18:26hand and waves the blade around and the
1:18:28spirits pull back from him. Exactly on
1:18:31cue. Brother, help me. I put my fist
1:18:34behind my back, wrap it in a fake
1:18:36gesture, and fire a three talent seal at
1:18:39the nearest spirit, disguised as a
1:18:41punch. A third of its bar disappears.
1:18:44They scatter out the window, and I go
1:18:46after them alone into the garden where
1:18:48nobody can see. Three seals, three dead
1:18:51spirits, very quietly. When I come back,
1:18:54Manning is awake, sitting up, looking
1:18:56frail and grateful. And she's not
1:18:59looking at Kai. She's looking at the
1:19:00door, waiting for me. Old Master Ciang
1:19:03bows to me. Young officer, the house is
1:19:06still in danger. Stay on here as my
1:19:08daughter's guard. Live with us. Become
1:19:10part of this family. We'll make it worth
1:19:12your while. Me? Why not the marshall?
1:19:15He's got the liquid. He's family. He's a
1:19:17much better fit than an outsider like
1:19:19me. The marshall has his own household
1:19:21to protect. Then I'm an even worse fit.
1:19:24Please find another way, Master Cang. I
1:19:27have ambitions in the army. I can't live
1:19:29in the city and watch over your
1:19:30daughter. Everyone in the room is moved
1:19:32or pretending to be except me. I'm
1:19:35standing there frowning like I'm working
1:19:37out a hard sum, which I am. If a level
1:19:4015 decides the act is over, can I take
1:19:43her? On the way out, Manning does the
1:19:45big scene. She runs to the gate, grabs
1:19:47the post, and says it to the whole
1:19:49street. This family took you in, and you
1:19:51walk away the moment we need you. Fine,
1:19:54go. I'll have no protector but him, or
1:19:56none at all. Remember that I asked,
1:19:59brother? Kai says on the road, "You've
1:20:02got a hard heart. It's not too late to
1:20:04go back. Once you leave, that door won't
1:20:06open again so easily." Brother Kai, do
1:20:08you really believe a family can decide
1:20:10they need you after one meeting? I
1:20:13don't, but my sister-in-law is a
1:20:14good-hearted girl. What would she want
1:20:16from you? What have you even got? Who
1:20:18knows? Maybe she's after my skin.
1:20:21Nonsense. You look sharp enough, but
1:20:24plenty of clan sons are better looking.
1:20:26If looks were what that family wanted,
1:20:28they'd have settled her long ago.
1:20:30He has no idea how right I am. I don't
1:20:32explain the joke. Then he slaps my
1:20:34shoulder. You know what? I'm glad. A
1:20:37pretty thing that does nothing for you.
1:20:39What's the point of it? You keep your
1:20:41head. That night in my room at the inn,
1:20:43I try something new. I put on the skin.
1:20:46The skin settles over me like a
1:20:48raincoat. In the bronze mirror, there's
1:20:50a stranger with a broken nose. I climb
1:20:52out the window and go for a walk among
1:20:54the monsters. First test. The music
1:20:57house down the street where the hostess
1:20:59on the balcony has a level five tag. I
1:21:02drop a fan under her balcony. She looks
1:21:04down and scowls. What are you doing
1:21:06here, you lot? Did mother send you with
1:21:08orders? No orders, big sister. I just
1:21:11missed you.
1:21:13You lot have no money and no life force.
1:21:15What would I get out of spending time
1:21:17with you? Get lost. Don't block my
1:21:19customers. I'm kicked out by a demon who
1:21:22thinks I'm a demon. Perfect. The
1:21:24disguise works, and it means they can't
1:21:26tell each other from people either.
1:21:28They're running this whole city on
1:21:29uniforms and gossip. I'm barely back at
1:21:32the inn when the street fills with
1:21:34lanterns. 20 or 30 servants and a
1:21:36cluster of young lords, all yelling for
1:21:38me by name. Zu Yan of Jingan. Where are
1:21:42you? I'm Wong Lee, son of the commandery
1:21:45chancellor. You insulted the Jang family
1:21:47and you insulted Manning. Come out. His
1:21:50friends are trying to drag him back.
1:21:52Brother Wang, that's enough. If you keep
1:21:54this up, the officers in camp will take
1:21:56offense. I don't care for the Ciang
1:21:58family. I'll do anything. A chancellor
1:22:01is fifth rank. I'm seventh. On paper, he
1:22:04can crush me. But I take one look at his
1:22:06tag, and I almost feel sorry for him.
1:22:08Level two heart puppet, Wong Lee. He's
1:22:11not even a monster. He's a person with a
1:22:13leash on. The weakest enemy I've seen
1:22:16since I got here. The painted skins
1:22:18can't just wear people, they can drive
1:22:20them. Heart puppet. Nice name. The heart
1:22:23goes first, then the puppet. Cause and
1:22:25effect. I don't go down. Nobody in his
1:22:28crowd is going to start a fight in front
1:22:30of an inn full of witnesses. And he's
1:22:32not the one I want. I want to know where
1:22:34the people holding his leash go at
1:22:36night. So, I put the skin back on and
1:22:38follow the traffic. And the traffic of
1:22:40painted skins all flows the same way
1:22:42into Chunang Ward toward a little
1:22:45neighborhood temple to the local ward
1:22:46god. What are you standing around for,
1:22:48idiot? Get inside and make your
1:22:50offering. Don't you want your monthly
1:22:52pay? An old painted skin grabs my arm
1:22:54and shoves me in. Inside, one by one,
1:22:57the monsters pour vials of yin essence
1:22:59into a bowl at the feet of a clay
1:23:01statue. Five strings of cash per
1:23:03offering. Apparently, they're feeding
1:23:05it. And on the statue, draped over its
1:23:08shoulders like a sash, there's something
1:23:09only I can see the tag on. Item: skin of
1:23:13the ward god. I walk up to make my
1:23:15offering like everyone else. I touch the
1:23:17statue and the sash is in my bag. Ding.
1:23:21I walk out. Behind me, the level 10
1:23:24temple keeper looks up at the statue and
1:23:25starts screaming. Thief. Thief.
1:23:28Someone's stolen the ward god's golden
1:23:30belt. Huh? The golden belts right there
1:23:33on his waist. Did the keeper see wrong?
1:23:36The humans in the crowd see a statue
1:23:38with nothing missing. The keeper sees a
1:23:40hole where the most important thing in
1:23:41the city used to be. A whole skin in
1:23:44broad daylight. Gone. Back in my room, I
1:23:47read the item. There was once a kind
1:23:49ward god, says the legend, who sheltered
1:23:52the soul of a drowned man. To thank him,
1:23:54someone opened his coffin, took his
1:23:56skin, and made it into a garment so the
1:23:58god could walk among people again.
1:24:00Effect, a divine garment with no seams.
1:24:03It shelters a spirit and holds blood. It
1:24:05can be fed with yin essence and repaired
1:24:08with incense. Slowly restores health and
1:24:10mana. A god who wore his own skin as
1:24:13clothes and a city full of demons
1:24:15wearing other people's. This thing has
1:24:17something to do with where the painted
1:24:18skins came from. I think I just dug up
1:24:21their roots. What happened next I didn't
1:24:23see. I pieced it together afterwards.
1:24:25And I'm telling it here because without
1:24:27it, nothing I did over the next week
1:24:29makes sense. Lu Ying went to Mother and
1:24:31told her the skin was gone. He'd been
1:24:33arguing with his scholars all the way
1:24:35there. Mother's been in a foul temper
1:24:37lately. Things haven't been going her
1:24:39way. Don't tell her. We have to tell
1:24:41her. Mother, forgive us. Today, the ward
1:24:45god's garment vanished in front of the
1:24:47keeper and a whole room of guards. She
1:24:49didn't move for half an hour. Not a
1:24:51word. Ah, enough. It's fate. It's not
1:24:54your fault. Then search the city. When
1:24:58they'd gone, she went back to the young
1:25:00man on the bed, Lu Shing, her husband,
1:25:03and she talked to him like he could hear
1:25:05her. years ago, she'd married into the
1:25:07Luo family, playing a human bride. And
1:25:10she'd liked him. She'd stitched and
1:25:12restitched her skin to look prettier for
1:25:14him. But Lu Shing was born able to see
1:25:16the other side. One evening, he saw a
1:25:19ghost lying under the bride's face, and
1:25:21he grabbed a blade and went for her. A
1:25:23brave man, a truly brave man. After
1:25:26that, she replaced his whole family and
1:25:28brought in dowists and fortune tellers
1:25:30to work out what was wrong with him. One
1:25:32of them cast his stars and told her,
1:25:34"This man has a rare fate. Fierce,
1:25:36stubborn, sees through yin and yang. A
1:25:39fate strong enough to anchor a soul."
1:25:41And mother got an idea. Every painted
1:25:43skin is a dungeon monster. They're
1:25:45deathless, but they're tied to the
1:25:47realm. If she could take a human's fate,
1:25:49she could walk free, live forever, and
1:25:51keep her mind. The ward god's garment
1:25:54was supposed to hold it all together.
1:25:55Now it was gone. Heaven and earth have
1:25:58room for deathless demons with no minds.
1:26:01Why is there no room for a deathless
1:26:03demon that can think? She picked Lu
1:26:05Shing up in her arms and walked out to
1:26:07the carriages. The ward god's garment
1:26:09was my teacher. Whoever stole my teacher
1:26:11carries its scent. He won't get away. I
1:26:14was already gone. Painted skin off,
1:26:17brisk dried on, out of the city gate and
1:26:19back to the fort. At the camp gate, the
1:26:22guards stopped me with a thin knife.
1:26:24Duobo, please give a drop of blood for
1:26:26the check. The blade's thin. It doesn't
1:26:28hurt. Don't make it hard on us. The
1:26:31whole fort is on lockdown. A blood check
1:26:33at every door. Two cuts later, I'm in
1:26:35front of the commandant. Zu Yan, why are
1:26:38you suddenly back? Got bored of the
1:26:40city. So I tell him everything. Kai's
1:26:43mother, the thugs in the alley, the
1:26:45Jiang house, the puppet with the
1:26:46lanterns. I leave out the eyes, the bag,
1:26:49and the skin. Everything else straight.
1:26:52He listens, then he nods. Every word is
1:26:55true. You're a loyal man. You didn't lie
1:26:58to me. Don't think the camp's been
1:27:00watching you. The province has had spies
1:27:02hidden in Jinganne all along. They saw
1:27:04you lead those thugs into the alley.
1:27:06They saw you go into the Jang house, but
1:27:08they weren't watching a new officer.
1:27:10They were watching the marshall's house.
1:27:12The demons watched Kai because he's
1:27:14close to me. And the spies find the
1:27:16demons by watching who watches him. So,
1:27:19the painted skins were spying on the
1:27:21camp through Kai's mother. And the camp
1:27:23was spying on the painted skins through
1:27:24the same window. Command Dant, there are
1:27:27so many of them now. Why not send
1:27:29soldiers in and kill everyone? They hide
1:27:32too well. Bleeding every man in the city
1:27:34to find them is the worst way. Corner
1:27:36them with no way out and they'll start
1:27:38something far bigger. Right now, they're
1:27:40still hiding. A thing that hides holds
1:27:42itself back. The damage stays small. I
1:27:45understand. Thank you, commandant. Then
1:27:48he looks at my hands. I hear you've
1:27:50learned the three talents seal. Since
1:27:52you've said it yourself, I don't need to
1:27:53wonder how to give you this. A jar chi
1:27:56boosting paste. Use the seal less. It
1:27:59drives blood and quee with the spirit.
1:28:02Use it too much and you'll drain
1:28:03yourself. One spoon morning, noon, and
1:28:06night. 3 days. That's how he does it. He
1:28:08doesn't just give orders. He feeds his
1:28:11men like he's raising them to die for
1:28:12him. Few men in this army get past the
1:28:15first two gates of the three talent
1:28:17stance. Show me what you've got. I raise
1:28:19my hand and seal the chair next to me.
1:28:22No wind up, no breath, just bang. The
1:28:25chair explodes into kindling. How did
1:28:27you do that? How can you fire it at
1:28:29will? There's no gathering, no charge.
1:28:32Isn't that how the three talent seal
1:28:34works? The manual says the spirit leads
1:28:36the key, so it should go where the mind
1:28:38goes. He stares at me for a long time. I
1:28:42really didn't expect it. You've got a
1:28:43talent for key. Don't get proud. Train
1:28:46hard. When the court holds the spirit
1:28:48opening exam, this gift of yours might
1:28:50buy you something. Thank you for the
1:28:52lesson, Command Ant. I never heard what
1:28:54he muttered after the door shut, but
1:28:56from the way he treated me from that day
1:28:58on, I can guess. A dragon out of a
1:29:00village. And lucky for him, it's his
1:29:02dragon. If I fail the exam, I'm his best
1:29:04soldier. If I pass, I'm his ally.
1:29:07Meanwhile, in the city, the painted
1:29:09skins were tearing Jingan apart, looking
1:29:11for a thief who smelled of the ward god.
1:29:13Beggars, dancers, doctors, thugs, all of
1:29:16them suddenly out on the streets at
1:29:18once, sniffing. And the province's spies
1:29:21wrote it all down. Three reports hit the
1:29:23commandant's desk in one day. The spies
1:29:25list, the army's own scouts, and a
1:29:28sealed letter from the commandery
1:29:29chancellor himself begging for help.
1:29:32Good. So you don't want to hide anymore.
1:29:34You think you can run Jinganne by
1:29:36yourselves? Drums. Three camps put on
1:29:39alert. Every warrior in the county
1:29:41called in. A report sent up to the
1:29:43court. A request for reinforcements sent
1:29:45to the province. And the armory doors
1:29:47opened wide. Where is divine arm duobo
1:29:51Yon? Zhu Yon is here. Your orders? By
1:29:54order of the commandant. Zhao Yan takes
1:29:57temporary command of the divine arm
1:29:59squad. Draw three hidden realm bows, 60
1:30:02evil suppressing arrows, 300 blood fiend
1:30:05arrows, and 20 vials of spirit revealing
1:30:07liquid, 20 picked men. Zhu Yuan takes
1:30:10the order. I'll have the men ready. In
1:30:13the city that night, the scholars came
1:30:14to Mother again. One of them spoke for
1:30:17all of them. Can we go back to the
1:30:19hidden realm for a while, rest there,
1:30:21and slip back into the city later? No,
1:30:23said Lu Ying. No, said mother. If they
1:30:27ran back to the nest, the spies would
1:30:29follow them and find it. Better to let
1:30:31the commandant kill the ones who'd been
1:30:32seen, write his report, and go home.
1:30:35Then the city would be theirs again. In
1:30:373 days, it's the ghost festival, mother
1:30:39said. The day the gates of the dead
1:30:41open, the day I change my fate, let the
1:30:43others draw the commonance eye. I
1:30:45brought them into the world of men and
1:30:47gave them years of pleasure. It's time
1:30:49they paid some of it back. She was going
1:30:51to feed her own people to us to buy
1:30:53herself 3 days. The order came on the
1:30:5612th of the 7th month. In 2 days, 13
1:30:59county warriors rode into the fort and
1:31:01on the 15th the ghost festival. The
1:31:03commandant didn't wait for the province.
1:31:05He marched 3,000 men on his own city.
1:31:08500 WOi, 300 archers from Shashang, 300
1:31:12light cavalry, 1,800 auxiliaries, and
1:31:15100 o of us from the divine arm and the
1:31:17black armor. And me at the front reading
1:31:19the tags on my new toys. Tiger shooting
1:31:22bow, five stone, 600 caddies of draw,
1:31:25and I can pull it. Evil suppressing
1:31:27arrows against painted skins. That bow
1:31:30and those arrows are basically a cheat
1:31:32code. The commonant's worried, and he
1:31:34says, "Why? On the ghost festival, the
1:31:37old books say, "The hidden realms loosen
1:31:39their grip on their ghosts for one
1:31:40night. Whatever's in the nest can walk
1:31:42into the world. If the painted skins
1:31:45have been waiting for anything, it's
1:31:46this." Then he points at me. Order.
1:31:49Jingan officer Joe Yuan takes the war
1:31:51banner and a hundred light cavalry. Sees
1:31:54the city gate. Hold it for the main
1:31:55army. Yes, sir. At the south gate, the
1:31:59guards see a hundred riders coming and
1:32:00start pushing the gate shut. The bar is
1:32:03already sliding into its brackets. I put
1:32:05two heavy arrows through it. Thunk.
1:32:07Thunk. The bar splits. The gate swings.
1:32:10And I ride up and hand the gate captain
1:32:12the commandance token. General, don't be
1:32:14angry. We're all brothers here. We just
1:32:17didn't get orders from the commandery.
1:32:19When we saw cavalry charging, how could
1:32:21we not be scared? The army takes all
1:32:23four gates. The commonant rides in
1:32:25behind us. Zhao Yen. Anything strange in
1:32:28the city? Reporting. Commandant. The
1:32:31city's quiet. The thugs who usually
1:32:33patrol the streets ran off the second
1:32:35they saw cavalry, so they still know how
1:32:38to hide. It's not out of hand yet. He
1:32:40splits the city between eight squads.
1:32:42Five divine arm archers, 20 black armor,
1:32:45and 50 auxiliaries go with me. And he
1:32:48hands me a target, the Black Tiger Gang.
1:32:50The same thugs who chased me into the
1:32:52alley. Zu Yon, the county warriors have
1:32:55their own rules. You're young and
1:32:57hot-blooded. Don't go wild. Leave the
1:32:59guilty to the auxiliaries to arrest.
1:33:01Don't use this as an excuse to kill.
1:33:04Understood. I'll only kill the ones who
1:33:06fight or run. The ones who obey get
1:33:08arrested. The Black Tiger Gang's yard is
1:33:11full of men with clubs. Five of them
1:33:13have tags. When the shields come up,
1:33:15those five charge. Six arrows later,
1:33:18five painted skins and one fleeing gang
1:33:20boss are down. Five level seven painted
1:33:24skin thugs. 350 experience. Blood check
1:33:28everybody. And the gang turns on itself.
1:33:30The moment the knife comes out, the
1:33:32human members start pointing at their
1:33:34own friends. Hey, new big head. That's
1:33:37why you two never had a scratch on your
1:33:39skin. Two more painted skins flushed out
1:33:42by their own buddies who surround them
1:33:44now that there are soldiers at their
1:33:45backs. Brave men. One of the cornered
1:33:48skins drops to his knees. The other
1:33:50turns on the gang's boss, a bully called
1:33:52Wu Laiu. Huh? Wu. If the soldiers
1:33:56weren't here, I'd have the skin off you
1:33:58right now. We ghosts hurt people because
1:34:00that's what ghosts are. You look like a
1:34:02man and you're nastier than any of us.
1:34:04You're the real evil ghost here. He's
1:34:07not wrong. Three arrows, two painted
1:34:10skins, and the man who'd been hiding
1:34:11behind the soldier's shields to settle
1:34:13his own scores. Write it down, I tell my
1:34:16clerk. Zhu Yon of Jingan surrounded the
1:34:19Black Tiger gang. Seven painted skin
1:34:21ghosts destroyed. Five flesh and blood
1:34:24evil ghosts killed. My squad leader
1:34:26leans over. Duobo, there's too many of
1:34:29them. Should we kill half just so
1:34:31there's something to report? I look at
1:34:33the remaining gang. They look at me. I
1:34:35just killed two. That leaves three spots
1:34:38on the list. Whoever doesn't behave, you
1:34:40drag him out and fill a spot. They tie
1:34:42themselves up. Every one of them.
1:34:45They're marched off to forced labor and
1:34:46the whole street comes out and cheers.
1:34:49Officer, take them all and don't bring
1:34:51them back. These cowards have been
1:34:53tormenting us for years. Next stop, the
1:34:56music house. The one where a hostess
1:34:58once kicked me out for being a broke
1:35:00demon. Sir, general, what's all this? We
1:35:04run an honest business here with a
1:35:06license from the commandery. She comes
1:35:08out smiling, all silk and perfume, level
1:35:1110 painted skin hostess, and she glides
1:35:13right up to me. Since you came out
1:35:16first, we'll start with you. Dog of an
1:35:18officer, die. The sweet voice drops, and
1:35:21a knife comes out of her sleeve. My palm
1:35:24is already there. Three talents seal.
1:35:26She pops. 100 experience for a level 10
1:35:29hostess. I've had worse pay. Upstairs,
1:35:32the hidden skins start jumping out of
1:35:34the windows. Level five, 6, 8, and the
1:35:38crowd outside is horrified. They don't
1:35:40see monsters. They see a squad of
1:35:42soldiers shooting girls who are running
1:35:44for their lives. Then one of the falling
1:35:46bodies bursts open in midair and a
1:35:48shadow comes out of it and the whole
1:35:50street screams. Ghosts. There really are
1:35:53ghosts. They're wearing human skins.
1:35:56General, great shooting. Hurry. Shoot
1:35:58them all. If they get away, he'll dare
1:36:00go out at night. My archers pick through
1:36:02the scraps afterwards and find five
1:36:04vials of yin essence. Do these two look
1:36:07about done. Can we have them? By late
1:36:10afternoon, something's wrong, and I can
1:36:12feel it. We've killed dozens, and none
1:36:14of them fought together. Not once.
1:36:16They're spread out across the whole city
1:36:18in ones and twos, getting caught one at
1:36:20a time. They're too scattered. All they
1:36:23can do like this is waste our time.
1:36:24They're not doing any real damage, which
1:36:27means wasting our time is the point.
1:36:29They're stalling until dark. I wasn't in
1:36:31the Luo mansion that afternoon, but I
1:36:33know who was. The painted skins came to
1:36:35mother begging. The soldiers are
1:36:37everywhere. They're using blood checks
1:36:39to flush us out one by one. We can't
1:36:41hold. Let us fight back. Wait a little
1:36:44longer. It'll be dark soon. On the ghost
1:36:47festival night, the gate of ghosts
1:36:48opens. The living had best stay home.
1:36:51And here's a piece of their plan I
1:36:53didn't see coming. The city guard
1:36:54captain. Level 12 painted skin warrior.
1:36:58All day he'd been grumbling to his men
1:37:00in front of everyone. Those plagerridden
1:37:02Jingan soldiers don't treat us city
1:37:04guards like people. They stir up the
1:37:06ghosts and then they make us stand the
1:37:08night watch. So that night his men
1:37:10skipped the watch and the gates went
1:37:12back to the painted skins. Lu Ying had
1:37:15the plan. Fight a retreat. Lure the
1:37:17soldiers outside the walls. Make them
1:37:19think the nest is somewhere in the
1:37:20countryside, not under the city. Let the
1:37:23commandant win a messy victory and go
1:37:25home. And their best fighter, Manning,
1:37:27would take mother's place in the battle
1:37:28as bait. Since there's no road back,
1:37:31Manning said, "I'll fight them. It's not
1:37:34as if I could fool their blood check
1:37:35anyway. Nightfalls. The army surrounds
1:37:38Chun Rang Ward. 1,200 men, eight
1:37:41warriors, and from the dark ahead of us,
1:37:43a man in an official's robe comes
1:37:45running at our line with his arms out.
1:37:48Commandant Jang, I'm Wong Hun, the
1:37:50commandery chancellor. My son is still
1:37:52in Chunang Ward. The commandant doesn't
1:37:55even look. Two soldiers pick the
1:37:57chancellor up and carry him away. Beat
1:38:00the gathering drum. Southeast, three
1:38:02marks, the Luo mansion. Fire arrows. The
1:38:06sky lights up. The Luo mansion goes up
1:38:08like paper. And out of the smoke come
1:38:10the painted skins. Five squads of 10 or
1:38:1320, maybe a hundred in all. In front of
1:38:16them, running is Wong Lee, the
1:38:18Chancellor's son. He has no weapon. He's
1:38:21not a monster. He's a puppet on a
1:38:23string, sent out first so the army will
1:38:25kill a chancellor's son, and the
1:38:27commandery and the camp will hate each
1:38:29other forever. He doesn't make it 10
1:38:31steps. The comedant doesn't flinch, and
1:38:34neither do I, but I write that one down
1:38:36in my head. Divine arm, fast fire on the
1:38:39yin spirits. Clear the targets with no
1:38:42bodies. I take a three-story wooden
1:38:44house on the corner and shoot from the
1:38:46top floor. 20 draws, 11 kills, eight
1:38:50ghosts revealed. I can see the spirits
1:38:52that are invisible to everyone else. So,
1:38:54every arrow I send turns a ghost into a
1:38:56target for the men below. The painted
1:38:59skin squad start falling apart. Then she
1:39:02walks up the street. Through fire and
1:39:04screaming, a girl in silk and jade
1:39:06hairpins, perfectly calm, like she's
1:39:09walking to a garden party. Level 15
1:39:11painted skin manning. She looks up at my
1:39:14window. Zhao Yon. The Jeang house won't
1:39:17be waiting for you after all. You go on
1:39:19ahead. I'll take care of your
1:39:20commandanton first. Arrogant demon Jang
1:39:23Ren is here. Let's see if my blade is
1:39:26sharp enough. The commandant draws his
1:39:28hidden realm saber. And for the first
1:39:30time, I see what a real warrior looks
1:39:32like. Light comes off him. Lightning
1:39:34wraps around the blade and thunder rolls
1:39:36with every swing. She catches it on an
1:39:39iron bamboo whip, turns it into the
1:39:41ground and still gets knocked back three
1:39:43steps. The lightning tears the skin of
1:39:45her hand, and what's underneath is black
1:39:47and flowing. You don't know your place,
1:39:50Commandant. He's about to leave, and you
1:39:52made him watch me look ugly. You'll pay
1:39:54for that. While they fight, the stairs
1:39:56behind me creek. Luo Ying in half armor,
1:40:00a sword in his hand, two shield carrying
1:40:02painted skins covering him up the
1:40:04staircase. Officer Joe, you really
1:40:07aren't an ordinary man. If we just
1:40:09killed you at the start, we'd have saved
1:40:10ourselves a lot of trouble. I doubt you
1:40:13could have. I'm actually pretty good at
1:40:14hiding. Third floor, small room,
1:40:17furniture everywhere. No room for the
1:40:20bow. I put it away and draw a steel
1:40:22saber. Oh, the jing officer has other
1:40:25tricks. That blade looks pretty and
1:40:27useless. An ordinary weapon. If you want
1:40:30to cut me with that, I think you're
1:40:31dreaming. Ordinary steel might still cut
1:40:33a ghost. Why don't you test it? Very
1:40:36well, let's test it. He's level 13 and
1:40:39he can really fence. Faster than me,
1:40:42stronger than me, and years of practice
1:40:43behind every move. But that human skin
1:40:46is holding him back. He can't use his
1:40:48full strength without tearing his own
1:40:50clothes. And I fight like a madman. My
1:40:52armor covers more of me than his covers
1:40:54him. So I don't block anything that
1:40:56isn't my head or my heart. I trade wound
1:40:59for wound, cut for cut. After a while,
1:41:02he looks at the slashes in his skin.
1:41:04Then at me, bleeding from a dozen places
1:41:06in size. I underestimated you. I didn't
1:41:09think you'd be this savage. My skin's
1:41:11ruined, so the spirit has to come out.
1:41:13Let me see you off. You're a good
1:41:16fighter. Why cling to a human skin? You
1:41:18should have shed it and fought me for
1:41:20real. What would you know? You're born
1:41:22with flesh and soul. You have no idea
1:41:24how precious this skin is. Without it,
1:41:27how could we ever touch the human world?
1:41:29Here's what he doesn't know. I look like
1:41:31I'm bleeding out. My health bar hasn't
1:41:33dropped below 95. I've got a bag full of
1:41:36sves and until they run out, I'm not
1:41:38going down. The skin goes limp and
1:41:40falls. The ghost comes out of it, half
1:41:43shadow, half fog, and dives straight at
1:41:45me to tear my soul out and meets a hand
1:41:48wrapped in red fire. Bang. Then the next
1:41:51one, and the next. The seal that's
1:41:53supposed to drain my health and key is
1:41:55just my basic attack. Now I'm refilling
1:41:58faster than it costs. On the sixth seal,
1:42:01his bar is empty. Ding. Level 13 painted
1:42:04skin Lo Yang killed. Experience plus
1:42:07200. He drops a green orb. Three things
1:42:11inside. A painted skin scholar item. A
1:42:14skill called ghost script and a curse.
1:42:16Ghost script curse up to a 100 marks. A
1:42:19tag I can put on anything and follow
1:42:21anywhere. So that's how they talk to
1:42:23each other across a whole city. That's
1:42:25their message system. Did I just kill
1:42:27their switchboard? Is their whole
1:42:29command chain about to collapse? Outside
1:42:32it does. The painted skins break and run
1:42:34for the south gate. The city guards hide
1:42:36and let them through. And the commandant
1:42:39lets them go because driving them out of
1:42:40the city on the ghost festival is
1:42:42exactly what he wants. They want to lure
1:42:44us out. We want them out. For once,
1:42:47everybody's on the same page until the
1:42:50south gate. The cavalry and the archers
1:42:52get there first, and they stop dead
1:42:54under the arch. Not one of them steps
1:42:56outside. Only the commandant and the
1:42:58county warriors follow the skins into
1:43:00the fields and they keep their distance.
1:43:02A few dozen skins run for a while before
1:43:04they realize the army isn't behind them
1:43:06anymore. Manning has lost most of her
1:43:09skin. What's left is scorched black and
1:43:11cracked by the lightning. Cords. She
1:43:13spits. Every advantage in the world, and
1:43:16they won't chase us. If mother were
1:43:18here, she'd kill every one of them. She
1:43:20doesn't know the commandant has been
1:43:21saving his key all night with three
1:43:23county warriors hidden in our ranks,
1:43:25ready to jump whatever came out of the
1:43:27dark. Nobody on either side moves. Both
1:43:30sides are wondering why the other one
1:43:32stopped. And then the bell for midnight
1:43:34starts ringing in the city behind us. 1
1:43:372 3 Manning is saying something else,
1:43:41sounding thrilled with herself. 10 11
1:43:4512. And she isn't there anymore. She
1:43:49doesn't fall. She doesn't run. She just
1:43:51stops existing. Where she was standing,
1:43:53an iron bamboo whip drops into the
1:43:55grass. All over the fields and all over
1:43:58the city, every painted skin vanishes at
1:44:00the same instant. In one stroke of the
1:44:03bell, a city where people and ghosts
1:44:05lived side by side is clean. Commandant
1:44:08Jang, a county warrior says behind me.
1:44:10Why did they just disappear? Nobody can
1:44:12answer him. Not that night. Here's what
1:44:15I worked out much later from what I saw
1:44:17with my own eyes in the days after.
1:44:19Under Chun Rang Ward in a cellar
1:44:21connected to the sewers, mother woke up,
1:44:24not in her own body. In Luo Shings, the
1:44:27young man on the bed, she'd done it.
1:44:29She'd taken his fate. She was a human.
1:44:31And that's exactly why everyone else
1:44:33died. The painted skins were monsters
1:44:35from a dungeon. The dungeon had a boss,
1:44:38mother. At midnight on the ghost
1:44:40festival, the boss left her body and
1:44:42became a human being. So, the realm did
1:44:45what a realm does. Boss dead, no players
1:44:48inside, reset, and every monster that
1:44:50came from it. Every skin walking around
1:44:53in the city was pulled back into the
1:44:54reset and wiped. Mother tried to escape
1:44:57the dungeon. I think the dungeon let go
1:44:59of her and of all of them. She went down
1:45:02to the dry well that hides the portal
1:45:04where all the empty skins of her people
1:45:05were lying in heaps, and she said
1:45:07goodbye to them. Good journey, all of
1:45:09you. You've gone home and I can't. Since
1:45:11you're deathless and mindless, at least
1:45:14you won't feel any grief. Let our karma
1:45:16end here. By dawn, the whole city is
1:45:19hanging white banners. Funeral white out
1:45:21of every other door. The families of the
1:45:24dead don't know whether to thank us or
1:45:26curse us. Glad the army came. Furious it
1:45:29didn't come sooner. The chancellor
1:45:31doesn't come. He's at his desk burying
1:45:33his son in his head and counting how
1:45:34many of his own clerks were swapped out
1:45:36for monsters. The rich families bring
1:45:38gifts for the soldiers. One of the
1:45:40officers says it out loud in the
1:45:42commandance hall. Commandant, that fight
1:45:44was a joke. We meant to put the fear of
1:45:46God into those painted skinned folk.
1:45:48Make them live like decent people. And
1:45:50the cowards just ran. Don't talk
1:45:53rubbish. That was a victory. A great
1:45:55victory. It has to be. That's the only
1:45:58way our brother's deaths mean something.
1:46:00Then he turns to Kai. Kai Cheng, pick a
1:46:03squad of auxiliaries and an officer. set
1:46:05up a hall in the city. From today, the
1:46:07families of the fallen can come to that
1:46:09hall for help. Don't let anyone bully
1:46:11the widows and orphans of our brothers.
1:46:13I have a guess about the midnight bell
1:46:15by the time I'm called into the hall,
1:46:16and I give my report like I don't.
1:46:18Commandant, we'd caught a few ghosts
1:46:20hiding in the ward. When the midnight
1:46:22bell rang, every one of them vanished.
1:46:25Then a guard comes in. A man is at the
1:46:27gate asking to see the commandant. Says
1:46:30he's a survivor of the ghost nest and
1:46:32wants to give information. What kind of
1:46:34person survives in a nest of painted
1:46:36skins? Someone very useful to them or
1:46:38someone they want us to believe? I'm
1:46:41curious. The guard brings him in. A thin
1:46:43young man, pale, eyes down, and the tag
1:46:46over his head is a mess. Level four,
1:46:49heart puppet. Fate of the fierce ram.
1:46:51Luo Shing. Level 15, painted skin ghost
1:46:54mother. The first half is in normal red.
1:46:57The second half, ghost mother and the
1:47:00little skull icon, is gray, like a title
1:47:02that's expired. Well, well, so that's
1:47:05why the dungeon reset. You moved into a
1:47:08human and your boss status switched off.
1:47:11I, Lu Shing of Jingan, greet the
1:47:13commandant. I'm grateful beyond words
1:47:15that you saved me. I'll tell you
1:47:17everything I know to repay you. He drops
1:47:19to his knees, and the gratitude looks
1:47:21real. That's what bothers me. If you
1:47:24have information, you're my guest. Sit.
1:47:26If you can tell me where the nest is and
1:47:28why the ghosts multiplied, I'll ask the
1:47:30court to reward you myself. I don't dare
1:47:33ask for a reward. I only ask that when
1:47:35you're satisfied, you take me into the
1:47:37army. After what I've been through, I'm
1:47:39too afraid to live alone. I want to
1:47:41learn to fight, to grow some courage.
1:47:44Done. Speak. The commandant leans
1:47:46forward. Lu Shing looks like he might
1:47:49cry. And I sit there with a little
1:47:50smile, like a man watching a magic trick
1:47:53he already knows the secret to.
1:47:55Commandant, you've heard of the crulest
1:47:56thing beggar chiefs do. My painted
1:47:59skinned wife told me where all of this
1:48:00began with the beggar chief of this
1:48:03city. The story's short and it's ugly
1:48:05and I'll keep it that way. The beggar
1:48:07chief made children disappear. When the
1:48:09constables came down on him, he hid in
1:48:11the city's stone sewers and started
1:48:13digging a well to build himself a little
1:48:15fortress underground. The well wouldn't
1:48:17go deeper, and the beggar boys he sent
1:48:19down never came back, so he used it as a
1:48:22pit for the children he was done with.
1:48:24The well led straight into a nest of yin
1:48:26ghosts. And the ghosts that fed on those
1:48:28children got mines. Then they climbed
1:48:31out, took the beggar chief's skin, and
1:48:33used him to keep feeding them. Year
1:48:34after year, more of them woke up and
1:48:37took over every trade in the city.
1:48:39Accidents, kidnappings, a whole city
1:48:42crack. The commandant's hand comes down
1:48:45and the solid table in front of him
1:48:47breaks in half. His guards burst in with
1:48:49blades drawn. Outrageous. A crime
1:48:53against heaven. He should have died by a
1:48:54thousand cuts. Losing his skin was far
1:48:57too good for him. Calm yourself,
1:48:59commandant. This sorrow isn't Jingans
1:49:01alone. The beggar chief just happened to
1:49:03dig into the nest. Beggars and vagrants
1:49:06are the last road left for the poorest
1:49:08people. I never imagined anyone would
1:49:10commit something like this on that road.
1:49:12Fine. If evil men are everywhere, I'll
1:49:14cut off the route. Evil against evil by
1:49:17my order. Search every ward. Arrest
1:49:20every beggar. The able-bodied go to the
1:49:22camp as auxiliaries. The crippled go to
1:49:24the quartermaster as tailor. From today,
1:49:27as long as I, Jang Ren, amant here,
1:49:30there will be no beggars in this city.
1:49:31Let's see if their evil can outlast the
1:49:33army's blades. He takes a breath and
1:49:36looks at the broken table. That was my
1:49:38temper. Forgive me, gentlemen. And I
1:49:40know why it hits him that hard. His wife
1:49:42and son are in the capital, but a
1:49:44concubine and a little daughter live
1:49:46here in Jinganne, in the city that was
1:49:48full of monsters. Lu Shing offers to
1:49:51lead us to the nest and the commandant
1:49:53promises him a reward from the court.
1:49:55And there goes my plan. I've been
1:49:57sitting there working out whether I
1:49:59could get him alone and pop his tag for
1:50:01the experience. A boss is a boss, even a
1:50:03retired one. But once the court's
1:50:05promise to protect him, I can't touch
1:50:07him. The sewers under Jingan are narrow,
1:50:10wet, and black. The commonant's
1:50:12clansman, Jang Yong, goes first with two
1:50:15live rabbits on strings. Then he goes in
1:50:17after them. reporting common dent. The
1:50:20sewer is narrow, but there are no ghosts
1:50:22wandering. I walk right behind Lu Shing
1:50:25in full armor with an arrow on the
1:50:27string, ready to put it through his head
1:50:29the second anything goes wrong. Half an
1:50:31hour later, we're standing over a dry
1:50:33well. To everyone else, it's a hole. To
1:50:35me, there's a swirl at the bottom and
1:50:37red text over it. Dungeon: Grotto of the
1:50:40Painted Skin Yin Ghosts. Recommended
1:50:43level 10. Recommended party 10 to 20. A
1:50:47county warrior, Shen Yu from Lei, Sword
1:50:50and Shield, doesn't wait for a plan.
1:50:52Rest a moment, brothers. Shen Yu of Lei,
1:50:55is going down. He jumps. A few minutes
1:50:58later, he climbs back out, frosted and
1:51:00grinning. Huh, wonderful. What
1:51:03incredible luck. It's a hidden realm, a
1:51:05yin realm full of cold fog. The
1:51:08commandant turns to Lu Shing, who's
1:51:10practically vibrating. General, don't
1:51:13forget me. Don't worry, I won't forget
1:51:15you. Wait for the court's reward. Then
1:51:18comes the boring part, which is building
1:51:20a house over a hole. The captured thugs
1:51:23from the Black Tiger gang dig a proper
1:51:25shaft. One basement, two floors. The
1:51:28commandant explains, "Whether or not
1:51:30reinforcements come, the only way to
1:51:32explore a realm is the stupid way. A
1:51:34little at a time, and the quartermaster
1:51:36turns me from a dashing officer into a
1:51:38snow hunter. Duo Boe, put on these
1:51:42boots. copper studs, specially made, fur
1:51:45coat, fur hat, studded boots, 60 arrows.
1:51:48I look like I'm about to trap a bear in
1:51:50the mountains. And standing next to the
1:51:52commandant, a lean man with a bow on his
1:51:55back and a familiar accent. Zu Yon.
1:51:58Commandant Jang tells me you're from
1:52:00Chaoshi village in Shangle County.
1:52:02Greetings, Commandant. I didn't expect
1:52:04us to be from the same county and both
1:52:06archers, too. Please look after me. Easy
1:52:09enough. We're from the same place and
1:52:11we're both good with a bow. But I don't
1:52:13know how good you are yet. Show me
1:52:15something worth it and I'll teach you a
1:52:17real spirit arrow. Chang Fay, commanding
1:52:20of Shangle County, my home county, a
1:52:23warrior archer. And he's just dangled
1:52:25exactly what I want in front of me. Then
1:52:27we go in. It's a ruined city. Gray
1:52:30streets, gray houses, gray fog lying on
1:52:33everything like wet wool. The moment I
1:52:35step into it, the chime goes off.
1:52:37Contact with fogged yin essence.
1:52:40Negative status. Yin cold. 1% of my
1:52:44health. Every 5 minutes. And it's worse
1:52:46for the regular soldiers. Within a few
1:52:48minutes, they're shaking. Commandant,
1:52:50I'm freezing. My body and my fingers are
1:52:52going stiff. So, it's the key. If you
1:52:55can't move your body's key, you can't
1:52:57resist this fog. All the regular
1:52:59soldiers go back up. 20 can fit inside.
1:53:02And now it's just warriors, eight
1:53:04archers, and the common handing out
1:53:06elixir. He gives me two bottles. Essence
1:53:084, key 2, spirit 2. I'm not a warrior,
1:53:12but my stats are high enough to stand in
1:53:14the fog. The first wave comes out of the
1:53:16houses. 30 odd ghosts, levels 5 to 10.
1:53:20We cut them down, and nobody loses much
1:53:22health. Good. That pole barely touched
1:53:25anyone. We can run this a few more
1:53:26times. Then Chang Fay goes into one of
1:53:29the houses to check and comes back with
1:53:31a face like a rainy day. If every house
1:53:33in this ward is like that, there are a
1:53:35lot of ghosts in here. Too many. Four or
1:53:385,000 people used to live in a city like
1:53:40this. I never expected this place to be
1:53:43this dangerous. Slow the advance. Search
1:53:45the houses. Five waves later, 160 dead
1:53:49ghosts, and the warriors are sinking
1:53:51into despair. The ghosts don't stop. The
1:53:54fog doesn't stop. Everyone's draining
1:53:56spirit goods just to stand here. And I'm
1:53:58the only one feeling something else.
1:54:01Command it. I don't know why, but this
1:54:03fog makes me uncomfortable, and it makes
1:54:05my sense of key sharper. He tries it.
1:54:08They all try it. He frowns, then nods
1:54:11slowly. Gentlemen, he's right. This fog
1:54:14harms the body and helps the key. It's
1:54:16cold, but it wakes the spirit. That
1:54:18turns a death trap into a training
1:54:20ground. And then the commandant has an
1:54:22idea about how to stop burning through
1:54:24elixirs. Chang Yun, you two pull the
1:54:28ghosts and kill them from range. The
1:54:30rest of us rest. Can you do it? Why not?
1:54:33Rest, brothers. We'll do the work. I
1:54:35think it's worth trying, too. Otherwise,
1:54:37we'll burn through everything before we
1:54:39reach the deep end. So, the two archers
1:54:41kite. Groups of five or six pulled one
1:54:44at a time, shot down in the street, 12
1:54:46people on the team, and I'm doing the
1:54:48work of 11. One carrying 11. Am I the
1:54:51team's genius or the team's mule? But
1:54:54I'm good at it. Really good. I've played
1:54:56this exact game a thousand times on
1:54:58another planet. Pull, back up, shoot,
1:55:01back up. Never let one touch me. I was
1:55:04going to teach him archery, Chang Feay
1:55:06mutters to the commandant. Just his
1:55:08normal shooting, and I'm not sure I'm
1:55:10better. Then teach him something that
1:55:12isn't normal. Ha, since the commandanton
1:55:15asks, why not? I'll teach him a spirit
1:55:17arrow. Deeper in, the ghosts start
1:55:20carrying weapons. Level 12. They drop
1:55:23yin blades and a little red vial. Item:
1:55:26Underworld blood do reporting command
1:55:29dot. Normal ghosts die in one arrow.
1:55:32Armed ghosts take two or three. And at
1:55:34the end of the street, in front of a big
1:55:36mansion, something huge is waiting. A
1:55:38broad, ugly ghost in black holding an
1:55:41iron bamboo whip. I know it. It looks
1:55:44nothing like it did. But that whip
1:55:46doesn't lie. That pretty girl in silk
1:55:48once she shed her painted skin was this
1:55:51level 14 ghost marshall chief. It hits
1:55:54the front line like a truck. Shen Yu's
1:55:57shield caves in and his bar drops to 2%
1:55:59in one blow. Archers, hit the right arm.
1:56:03Knock that whip out of its hand. Chang
1:56:05draws an arrow made of his own blood.
1:56:08That's what his spirit arrow is. It
1:56:09turns out he spends his health to make
1:56:11the shot. It hits like a cannon. I put
1:56:14three arrows into the same arm. The
1:56:16triple shot I learned on the range. The
1:56:18arm goes limp. The commonance lightning
1:56:20saber takes it off at the shoulder. The
1:56:22wukui goes down. 280 experience and a
1:56:26skill. Marshall chief condensation.
1:56:29There's a note on it. Ghost fighters
1:56:31come in three. The literary, the
1:56:33marshall, and the flower. Collect all
1:56:35three chief skills and max them, and you
1:56:37get quidu, the chief's battle art. Chang
1:56:40comes over, wiping his hands. Zu Yun,
1:56:43your triple shot has something to it.
1:56:45Will you teach it to me? If you like it,
1:56:47once we're out, we'll practice together.
1:56:50The next mansion over has the second
1:56:52chief. Level 14 literary ghost chief.
1:56:55And it's carrying a writing brush. Is
1:56:57that ghost script? Don't tell me this
1:56:59thing's a puller. It is. The thing waves
1:57:02its brush and every house on the street
1:57:04empties at once. Two 300 ghosts. Run.
1:57:08Ghost tide. Don't fight it. We run. The
1:57:12commonant turns at the end of the street
1:57:13and sends one lightning slash down it to
1:57:16buy us room and 12 warriors in heavy
1:57:18gear try to climb out of one narrow well
1:57:20at the same time. Damn it. Stop stepping
1:57:23on my head. Hurry up and get up there.
1:57:25There's still a bunch of us down here.
1:57:27That night, there's a bath and a feast
1:57:29and Lu Shing sits at the warrior's
1:57:31table. The commandant notices he isn't
1:57:33drinking. Mr. Luo, why aren't you
1:57:36drinking? Is the wine too harsh? I'll
1:57:38have them bring something gentler. No
1:57:40need. I came to the army for exactly
1:57:42this, to sit here and drink with heroes.
1:57:45He drinks the whole cup, and his eyes
1:57:47are wet. Good wine. A man with ambition
1:57:50should join the army and drink strong
1:57:52liquor. I watch him all night. I know
1:57:55what he is, and I know what's happening
1:57:56in his head. That's his home down there,
1:57:59full of his own people, and he can't go
1:58:01back. And he doesn't want to. He wants
1:58:03to be a warrior now. Raid other realms,
1:58:06sit and talk and drink. I almost feel
1:58:09sorry for him. Almost. The next morning,
1:58:12the commandant calls me in. Zho Yen,
1:58:14cleaning up the ghosts and exploring the
1:58:16realm cost us a lot. You and Kai Cheng
1:58:19take my order back to the camp. Raid the
1:58:21camp's realm as hard as you can. Refill
1:58:23the armory. Yes, sir. He trusts me to
1:58:26make it go faster. Kai is quiet the
1:58:29whole way. I finally say it. Brother
1:58:31Kai, I've heard about your family. I'm
1:58:34so sorry, Zu Yan. I'm not sad that Ghost
1:58:37is dead. I'm only afraid that my mother
1:58:39was in pain, and I hate that when she
1:58:41called for help, I wasn't there. He
1:58:43doesn't say anything for a while.
1:58:45Neither do I. Let's go back and fight.
1:58:48Only blood can get this out of my chest.
1:58:50At the fort, he looks at me in the
1:58:52portal room. Juan, you've got the tiger
1:58:55shooting bow. See if you can shoot the
1:58:57demon chief dead from range. All right,
1:58:59I'll kill it. And for half a month,
1:59:02that's all we do. Oxhead Fort used to
1:59:04give us about 780 experience, nine wound
1:59:07savves, and three eujen a run. Now it's
1:59:10a,000 experience and 12 savves. I max
1:59:13marshall chief condensation. It's a
1:59:15defense skill and the jump is huge. I go
1:59:17from a normal archer to a tank who also
1:59:19shoots a turret with armor. Changfay and
1:59:22I trade by letter. My triple shot manual
1:59:25for his blood fiend arrow. The more
1:59:27health and mana you spend, the harder it
1:59:29hits. 1% of your health at level one,
1:59:3210% at level 10. I max it every day.
1:59:35It's the same loop. Raid, loot, sleep. I
1:59:39even dream about it. Clearing the
1:59:40dungeon, picking up drops, and at the
1:59:43end of the half month, my bag reads
1:59:4520,000 experience saved, 320 wound
1:59:49savves, 116 euen, a pile of rice balls
1:59:53and weapons. I've stopped counting. Then
1:59:55a writer comes in with the commandant
1:59:57seal. By order of the commonant, army
2:00:00marshal Kai- Changeng resumes the normal
2:00:02raid schedule. Divine armed duo boho
2:00:05Yuen takes 200 cavalry and escorts three
2:00:08crates of spirit goods into Jingan city.
2:00:10Jingan is a different city when I ride
2:00:12back in. Shops open, wine flags out,
2:00:16clerks being hired off the street
2:00:17because half the old ones turned out to
2:00:19be monsters. Life comes back fast when
2:00:22the monsters are gone. And the province
2:00:24has finally arrived. Eight warriors from
2:00:26the prefecture, 3,000 men. The
2:00:29prefecture's officers want the new
2:00:31realm, and they want it now. Shen Yu of
2:00:33Lei, the man who jumped down the well
2:00:36first, is already famous for another
2:00:37stunt. To prove the fog's cold liquid
2:00:40wasn't poison, he drank a drop of it
2:00:42himself in front of everybody. The
2:00:44prefecture's agitant, Lou, wants it
2:00:46opened. All that timber in the ghost
2:00:48city would make fine charcoal, he says.
2:00:50And if spirit goods turn up, all the
2:00:52better. And his colleagues have a plan,
2:00:54and I hate it. Agitant Lou is right.
2:00:56Huai Joe hasn't had a new realm in
2:00:58years. Now that we found one, how could
2:01:00we seal it? Send the Sheshong archers in
2:01:02with fiend arrows. A squad at a time. A
2:01:05quarter hour inside, then out, then the
2:01:07next squad. Grind the ghosts down
2:01:10without stopping. Regular archers with
2:01:12fiend arrows. Arrows that eat your own
2:01:15health to fire. The prefecture warriors
2:01:17don't care how many of our archers it
2:01:19costs. The commandant holds up a hand.
2:01:22Gentlemen, don't rush. Whether to open a
2:01:24realm doesn't depend on the ordinary
2:01:26ghosts. It depends on the chief. We test
2:01:28the chief first. He looks down the table
2:01:31at me. Spirit goods move hearts and even
2:01:34poison is treasure. Joe Yon, you get
2:01:36ready, too. The team that goes in is 21
2:01:39warriors, four archers, 16 in front. The
2:01:42commandant in the middle. Gentlemen, the
2:01:45ghost that stirs the tide is a nuisance.
2:01:47Don't attack it headon. We clear around
2:01:50the literary chief block by block. tides
2:01:52of 50 or 60 at a time until it's
2:01:55standing alone in its mansion with its
2:01:57brush. Then we kill it and another skill
2:01:59drops. Literary Chief Gathering use gain
2:02:03the skill gathering slightly raises your
2:02:05mana cap adds a trickle of mana
2:02:07regeneration and for the first time I
2:02:09have a mana bar that doesn't come out of
2:02:11a bottle. It appears gray empty like a
2:02:14cup with no water in it. Then the
2:02:16regeneration kicks in and it starts
2:02:18filling slowly, steadily on its own.
2:02:21Chang Feay wanders over, grinning like a
2:02:23kid. What's got you so happy? Something
2:02:26good? Just now I suddenly understood a
2:02:28trick of the fiend arrow. I think I see
2:02:30how to train it. Two archers trading
2:02:32notes in a ghost city. In the chief's
2:02:35mansion, there's a brush washer full of
2:02:37red liquid, and standing in it a white
2:02:39and purple flower like a water lily. To
2:02:42me, the tags are plain. The red is
2:02:44underworld blood dew, and the flower is
2:02:46a crystal lotus. That dew heals ghosts
2:02:49and poisons the living. Commandant, this
2:02:52red liquid probably has some special
2:02:54effect, like the black. This realm's got
2:02:57plenty of spirit goods. Don't touch it.
2:02:59What good can come out of a ghost's
2:03:01house? We test it on a condemned
2:03:03prisoner first, then decide if there's
2:03:05spirit in it. The third chief is in a
2:03:07three-story building at the end of the
2:03:09ward. Level 14 flower ghost chief. And
2:03:12she doesn't fight. She smiles. One of
2:03:14our county warriors turns around and
2:03:16slashes the prefecture warrior next to
2:03:18him. Damn you. You attacked me. Die. He
2:03:22didn't. Nobody did. She's in their
2:03:24heads. In a few seconds, the whole team
2:03:26is in chaos. County men cutting at
2:03:29prefecture men. Prefecture men cutting
2:03:31back. And everyone's sure they're the
2:03:33one who got betrayed. A prefecture
2:03:35officer, commandant Gia, takes a blade
2:03:37across the arm meant for a ghost. Stop
2:03:40it. What are you doing? Did you bring us
2:03:42into this realm just to murder us? Calm
2:03:44down. It's the demon doing this. Don't
2:03:47fall for it. Get the riers under
2:03:48control. Get out of the realm and sort
2:03:50out who's right afterwards. Six warriors
2:03:53carry two out through the well. And
2:03:55outside, Jia's arm is laid open almost
2:03:58to the bone. And you can feel the two
2:04:00camps separating like oil and water.
2:04:02Jang Ren. Agitant Lu says, "We saw your
2:04:06call for help. We ignored the danger. We
2:04:08rode through the night to save you. And
2:04:10this is what happens. Don't rush. Wait
2:04:13until Commandant Gia's wound is
2:04:14stitched. Then we'll talk. That night,
2:04:17the commandant is pacing. That heart
2:04:19charming demon has to die or this will
2:04:22never end. I've been thinking about the
2:04:24fog all day and something the commandant
2:04:26said in the first fight. Commandant, do
2:04:29you remember how you described the gray
2:04:31fog? Hm. Now that you say it, I do. This
2:04:34might be worth a try. He described it as
2:04:37cold that wakes the spirit. a clear
2:04:39head. And what does a charm do? It fogs
2:04:42your head. The commonant drinks the
2:04:44black cold liquid himself. Then again, I
2:04:48drink some too and lose 6% of my health
2:04:50for the privilege. Then 1% the second
2:04:52time. Gentlemen, this yin cold liquid
2:04:56really works. The first sip turned my
2:04:58brains to ice. The second just cold. It
2:05:01can probably resist the demon's charm.
2:05:03The health cost is controllable. It can
2:05:06be used as an anti-charm item. So, we go
2:05:08back in. Shields only. Everybody's had a
2:05:11sip. The commonant gives me one order.
2:05:14Zuan, I'll use the fiend arrow. You use
2:05:17the triple shot. Kill it fast. And it
2:05:20works. She smiles at the line. Nobody
2:05:22turns. Our arrows reach her from 100 m.
2:05:26She drops. And I get the last piece.
2:05:28Flower chief charm. And then all three
2:05:31chiefs collected. All three maxed.
2:05:33Quido. The chief's battle art effect.
2:05:36Enter the state of the fierce chief.
2:05:38Raises attack and defense. Every attack
2:05:41carries a charm. My arrows can now make
2:05:43the enemy forget whose side they're on.
2:05:46What a waste, I say. If we'd known the
2:05:48black liquid beat her charm, that
2:05:50prefecture commandant wouldn't have got
2:05:52hurt. Then the commonant does something
2:05:54I don't understand at first. He stops
2:05:56the advance. He pulls our people out.
2:05:58And outside the well, the prefecture men
2:06:00are waiting. Commandant Jang, what's the
2:06:03meaning of this? Do you think we're too
2:06:05stingy and gutless? So you'd rather
2:06:07clear the realm alone with your own men?
2:06:09Agitant Lou, you misunderstand. After
2:06:12Commandant Gia was wounded, my brothers
2:06:14and I couldn't rest. So we went in to
2:06:16get revenge for him. The chief that hurt
2:06:18him is dead. Commandant Gia, arm in a
2:06:21sling, actually bows. Thank you,
2:06:24Commandant, for avenging me. Now that I
2:06:26know, my arm doesn't even hurt. 12 of
2:06:29ours, 20 of theirs, and now they're
2:06:31friends again. And inside before we came
2:06:33out, the commonant had told us the rest
2:06:35of it. One heart charming demon cost us
2:06:38this much. Who knows how bad the chiefs
2:06:40after it will be. We raid realms for
2:06:42spirit goods, not for the sake of
2:06:44raiding. Now we've got a reason to
2:06:46soothe the province, so we don't need to
2:06:48push. Wait. When they can't stand it
2:06:50anymore and demand we push forward and
2:06:52someone else gets hurt, then they'll owe
2:06:54us an explanation. He's not just a
2:06:56fighter. He plays the long game. The
2:06:59long game doesn't help me. Four days
2:07:01later, a man called PG arrives from the
2:07:03Huhou main camp. A loyal marshall
2:07:06commandant, a rank above everybody, and
2:07:08he takes command of the realm. He picks
2:07:10the strongest team he can from the
2:07:12warriors, and the first thing he does is
2:07:14strike me off the list. I'm not a
2:07:16warrior, just an archer. The commandant
2:07:19calls me in. I expect an apology. I get
2:07:22honesty. Zhu Yan, loyal marshall
2:07:24commandant, came a long way. He won't
2:07:27squeeze Jing's people too hard. We
2:07:29belong to the Hayou camp as long as
2:07:31we're crawling around in the army. We
2:07:33can't get away from the Haou governor
2:07:34and the Hayau officers. There's no point
2:07:37puffing ourselves up or bowing too low
2:07:39in front of them. Thank you for the
2:07:41lesson, Commandant. I'll go back to the
2:07:43fort and wait for good news. And I do.
2:07:4620 warriors against one ghost chief. The
2:07:48last one, the boss of the whole Grotto.
2:07:51And right when they think they've got
2:07:52it, it goes berserk and powers up and
2:07:54hurts several warriors twice. They're
2:07:57pushed back twice. H the huhou camp is
2:08:00useless. If they'd sent a real expert,
2:08:02our brothers wouldn't have been hurt.
2:08:04I'm not saying anything, but I'm not not
2:08:07smiling. Back at the fort, Kai has a
2:08:09bucket of water and a bronze basin. And
2:08:12he's grinning. Tomorrow's the water moon
2:08:14festival. Here's the story. In the
2:08:16bright moon live the jade rabbit and the
2:08:18golden toad. The rabbit is good at
2:08:20medicine. The toad is good at money.
2:08:23Okay, that's the folk version. Now, let
2:08:25me tell you something real. He leans in.
2:08:28The book of way, secret records of
2:08:30heaven and earth, says on the 15th of
2:08:33the eighth month, reflect the moon and
2:08:35water and the moon palace hidden realm
2:08:37appears. Its place is not fixed. Its
2:08:40time is not clear. The lucky may enter.
2:08:43Brother Kai, you have the book of way,
2:08:45secret records of heaven and earth. Can
2:08:47I borrow it? No. Wait. Aren't you
2:08:50curious about the moon palace realm? Why
2:08:53are you drooling over the state
2:08:54chronicle? both. But I'll tell you what,
2:08:57if I'm lucky enough to get into the moon
2:08:59palace, I'll bring you back medicine and
2:09:01gold." He laughs. I'm not joking. That's
2:09:04a promise, and I intend to keep it. He
2:09:07also hands me a little guilt sparrow
2:09:09he's bought for me to give the
2:09:10commandance daughter at the festival.
2:09:13Thanks, brother Kai. I'll pay you back.
2:09:15The commandance girl, Qu is under five,
2:09:18with a face like a dumpling, and she
2:09:20studies me very seriously. Papa, this
2:09:23general is so young. Do I call him big
2:09:26brother or uncle? Uncle. I've been in
2:09:28this world a few months and I'm already
2:09:30an uncle. The feast is huge. Bonfires on
2:09:34the parade ground, the full moon
2:09:35overhead. Every soldier in the camp,
2:09:38whatever his rank, gets a string of 15
2:09:40copper coins tied with red cord and
2:09:42eight date cakes the size of a fist. The
2:09:44camp roars. The county warriors are
2:09:47drunk and happy. Huh? We haven't
2:09:49celebrated in camp since we took our
2:09:51posts. If clearing a realm means this, a
2:09:54few wounds were worth it. Then the
2:09:56strange part. After every round of
2:09:58drinks, everybody dips their hand in a
2:10:00bronze basin of water with the moon
2:10:02reflected in it, hoping to touch the
2:10:04moon palace. The commandance daughter
2:10:06tries to do it, too. And her mother
2:10:07scolds her. Children who go into the
2:10:10moon palace get lost and can't find
2:10:12their way home. And I watch the moons in
2:10:14the basins because I can see what nobody
2:10:16else can. In some of them, for a second,
2:10:19the reflection turns into a spinning
2:10:20portal. Then it's gone like a soap
2:10:23bubble. And if the water ripples or
2:10:25anything touches it, it never appears.
2:10:27Its place is not fixed. Its time is not
2:10:30clear. The lucky may enter. I read the
2:10:32tag the next time one flickers. Dungeon
2:10:35Moon Palace. Recommended level 5 to 99.
2:10:39Recommended party 1 to 1,000. A holiday
2:10:43event levels 5 to 99. and only a
2:10:46thousand slots for all of Wei and every
2:10:48other country. That's why nobody ever
2:10:51gets in twice. The slots fill up and
2:10:53that's it. While I'm doing the math, the
2:10:55moon in my basin starts to spin. I put
2:10:58my hand in it and I'm gone. Nobody at
2:11:01the table even notices except one bored
2:11:04little girl who's been counting the
2:11:05officers. Papa, that young uncle
2:11:07disappeared. Kawir saw him put his hand
2:11:10in the basin and then he just vanished.
2:11:12Did he go to the moon palace? Papa, tell
2:11:14him to bring Kir back a moon rabbit. The
2:11:17whole parade ground goes quiet. Then K,
2:11:21my brother went into the moon palace.
2:11:23I'm not dreaming. We were joking around
2:11:25and he said if he ever got in, he'd
2:11:27bring me back medicine and gold. He
2:11:29won't forget, will he? He can't forget.
2:11:31This is the closest I'll ever get to
2:11:33Moon Palace medicine and gold in my
2:11:35life. And then the whole camp is
2:11:37yelling, "Lucky dog, faded. Bring me a
2:11:40golden toad. My kid wants a moon rabbit,
2:11:42too. Papa moon rabbit. I remember if Joe
2:11:46Yuan comes back with a moon rabbit, Papa
2:11:48will ask him for it. And if he doesn't,
2:11:50don't be upset. Getting into the moon
2:11:52palace at all is fate. You can't demand
2:11:54more. Meanwhile, I'm standing in a white
2:11:57meadow under a black sky, and the first
2:11:59thing I see is a rabbit. Huh? So, this
2:12:02is the rabbit that's good at medicine.
2:12:04That pestle is a bit much. The pestle is
2:12:062 m long. The rabbit is holding it like
2:12:09a war club. There are levels everywhere.
2:12:12Level five, moon white medicine rabbit.
2:12:14Level 10, pestl jade rabbit. Level 10,
2:12:17fortune golden toad. Level 15 treasure
2:12:20golden toad. Charm arrows and fiend
2:12:22arrows. 1% of my health per shot at
2:12:25level 1. 10% at level 10. Five small
2:12:28rabbits, 500 experience. Then a big one
2:12:31with a pestle. The pestle rabbit goes
2:12:33down. 300 experience. It drops jade
2:12:36rabbit elixir and a skill. pounding
2:12:39medicine. Use your key to press jade
2:12:41juice from herbs and make medicine. The
2:12:44fifth rabbit drops a coin, the
2:12:46squarehold kind, and I laugh. This place
2:12:49really is home to the money toad. I must
2:12:51have caught a bit of luck. Then the
2:12:53toads see me. The first coin hits the
2:12:56rock next to my head like a cannonball.
2:12:58Then another, then a storm. Three golden
2:13:01toads sitting by a pool, spitting
2:13:03squarehold coins the size of wash basins
2:13:05at me. And I'm pinned behind a boulder
2:13:07with chips of stone raining on my hat.
2:13:10And right there, a sniper finally learns
2:13:12what it feels like to be on the
2:13:13receiving end of ranged pressure. A long
2:13:16range shooter with a diamond body.
2:13:18That's too hard to fight. I lean out and
2:13:20fire a normal arrow. It snaps on the
2:13:23shell, so I switch to fiend arrows. One
2:13:25shot takes 28% of a level 10 Toad's bar.
2:13:29Four shots, 40% of my own health. Sav,
2:13:32shoot. Sav shoot. The two level 10s go
2:13:36down. 500 experience each. Then the
2:13:38level 15 moves. It doesn't hop like a
2:13:41toad. It comes like a golden millstone
2:13:44rolling downhill. Every arrow I put into
2:13:46it takes 11%. And every hit makes it
2:13:49jump closer. 80 m 70. Fantastic. Long
2:13:54range, thick health, high defense, and
2:13:57good up close. It has everything. The
2:13:5910th flaming fiend arrow drops at 60 m
2:14:02from my rock. 750 experience. And the
2:14:06drop isn't an ordinary skill. It's a
2:14:08cultivation method. Golden Toadqi
2:14:10nurturing. 500 experience for level 1,
2:14:135,000 for level 10, 27,500
2:14:17to max. I have just over 20,000 saved
2:14:20from half a month of farming. I spend
2:14:22almost all of it. Max, essence 4, key 4,
2:14:27spirit 3. One warning comes with it.
2:14:30Once the body's used to this much key,
2:14:32if the source dries up, a body that's
2:14:34gone from poor to rich can break. I file
2:14:36that away. The little toads drop spirit
2:14:39toad pills. Effect, a key shield, more
2:14:42defense, and it eases the disrupted key
2:14:44status. Deeper in, I scout and stop
2:14:48dead. Level 10 rabbits, level 15, and a
2:14:51level 20 golden light moon rabbit in
2:14:53gold armor riding a deer. I back away
2:14:56very carefully. So, the realms built in
2:14:59rings. The further in, the higher the
2:15:01levels. Recommended level 5 to 99. There
2:15:05isn't a level 100 boss in the middle, is
2:15:07there? Either way, nobody here should
2:15:09let these rabbits get mines. Or we'll be
2:15:11looking at the rabbit uprising. On the
2:15:13way back to the meadow, I find bodies,
2:15:15other lucky people who got in. A farmer,
2:15:18a fisherman, a woman, and a young man in
2:15:21scholars robes with a jade token on his
2:15:23belt. Imperial Academy of Chu Deng Yu on
2:15:26the back. Great Chu, grain bell of the
2:15:29land, carrying virtue through letters. A
2:15:32student from another country. If I take
2:15:34that token home, it's a diplomatic
2:15:36incident waiting to happen. I put it
2:15:38back next to him. Further on, one
2:15:41survivor is kneeling in the grass,
2:15:42co-towing to the rabbits and toads again
2:15:45and again. He hasn't got a thing, but
2:15:47he's alive. Then the stars start going
2:15:49out. Time's up. I run the two pestles
2:15:52through the holes of a dozen wash basins
2:15:54sized coins like a kebab, put it on my
2:15:56shoulder, and grab three portions of
2:15:58elixir. The next moment, the world
2:16:00breaks like a reflection in water, and
2:16:02I'm standing in the fire light on the
2:16:04parade ground with a giant coin kebab on
2:16:06my back. Zu Yan, you said that's a
2:16:09medicine pestle and a jar. You didn't
2:16:12rob the jade rabbit, did you? Of course
2:16:14not. We sparred. I won and the rabbit
2:16:17didn't object to me taking a few things.
2:16:19So, I brought back some Moon Palace
2:16:21souvenirs. And these giant coins, don't
2:16:24tell me the golden toad gave them to
2:16:25you. That part's true. The toad's way of
2:16:28giving is a bit unusual, though. It spat
2:16:31a few dozen of these at the rock I was
2:16:32hiding behind. The old warriors look at
2:16:35each other. If the rabbits and toads
2:16:37were friendly, why was he hiding behind
2:16:39a rock? Why was he picking which coins
2:16:41to take? They get it. Then a small hand
2:16:44tugs at my armor. Uncle, is this really
2:16:46the pestle the moon rabbit uses to pound
2:16:49medicine? Sure is. Why, you want it?
2:16:52Uncle will give it to you. No, no, I
2:16:55don't want it. Moon rabbits are so cute.
2:16:57How could they use a pestle this big?
2:16:59Her whole face falls. A childhood dream
2:17:02killed by a 2 m club. Huh? Good thing
2:17:05you didn't bring a moon rabbit back or
2:17:07Quir would never dare celebrate the
2:17:09water moon festival again. I pour the
2:17:12elixir for the wounded. Yes, I tested
2:17:15it. It heals wounds and refills keyi.
2:17:17Give every injured brother some. That's
2:17:20my promise to Kai. Paid medicine and
2:17:23gold. Though the gold part goes a bit
2:17:25differently than he expected. The
2:17:27commandant takes me aside. Zuon, you've
2:17:29been lucky, but a windfall should flow
2:17:32upward too. Send some of this to the
2:17:34Huhou governor so the joy goes up and
2:17:36down the line. Commandant, getting into
2:17:38the moon palace was worth it by itself.
2:17:41Keeping trinkets doesn't make me happy.
2:17:43Better to share them with my comrades.
2:17:45So, one pestle, the jar, and two coins
2:17:48go to the governor of Hayjo. With a 100
2:17:50cavalry for escort and my merit record
2:17:52attached. If nothing goes wrong, once
2:17:55the governor receives these moon palace
2:17:57wonders, you'll be promoted. The second
2:17:59pestle I give to the commandant, and the
2:18:01coins get borrowed one by one by the
2:18:04black armor as molds. They want to cast
2:18:06copies for luck. There are so many of
2:18:08them that Kay ends up chasing his men
2:18:10after every raid to give the coins back
2:18:12so he can lend them to the next guy. By
2:18:14the end of it, I've got exactly one
2:18:16golden toad coin left as a keepsake.
2:18:19Then I max pounding medicine and start
2:18:21pressing herbs. And one of the herbs I
2:18:23press is water hemlock. I take three
2:18:25quivers to the camp's arrow poisoner. 60
2:18:28arrows each, 180 arrows. An archer whose
2:18:31arrows aren't poisoned is like a sword
2:18:33and shield man whose blade isn't
2:18:35sharpened. The poisoner agrees. The
2:18:37officers do not. Their backs go cold.
2:18:40Where did that passionate young man go?
2:18:42Why is he suddenly so interested in
2:18:44poison? The commandant hears about it
2:18:46and makes a decision. Fine. Leading men
2:18:49is very different from fighting alone.
2:18:51Let him become a real officer with real
2:18:53men under him. It might change his lone
2:18:56wolf habits. I don't know any of this.
2:18:58All I know is that suddenly every
2:19:00warrior in camp is giving me three
2:19:02portions of euen powder as a
2:19:03congratulations gift. The commonant
2:19:06gives me six plus 60 fiend arrows. And
2:19:08the governor of Huhou has made me a
2:19:10kudu, one rank below army marshal. To
2:19:13keep me from becoming the camp's
2:19:15resident poisoner, they gave me an army.
2:19:17Thank you, commandant, for raising me
2:19:19up. I'll learn humbly. I won't be
2:19:21arrogant or reckless. My new army is 100
2:19:24WOi regulars, 50 Sheshang archers, and
2:19:27300 auxiliaries, about 500 men. My
2:19:30orders. Go south with Commandant Hu of
2:19:33Chong Yu County and help him with his
2:19:35pirate problem. Who is a sword and
2:19:37shield warrior, wounded and still not
2:19:39healed, with the tired kindness of a man
2:19:42who's buried a lot of soldiers on the
2:19:44road. He watches me check the column for
2:19:46the fifth time in an hour, and he grins.
2:19:48What? Scared your men will die? How
2:19:51could I not be? They left the fort and
2:19:53they do whatever I say. If one of them
2:19:55dies because of my mistake, how could I
2:19:57live with that? He stopped smiling. We
2:20:00all came up this way. You see enough of
2:20:02it. The weight gets lighter. If you ever
2:20:04want to hold a post of your own, you'll
2:20:06have to lead men yourself and comfort
2:20:08the families of the dead yourself. Then
2:20:11he tells me about his first dead
2:20:12soldier. I'm not going to repeat it.
2:20:14Some things you keep. 10 days of
2:20:16marching. Five men down before we see a
2:20:19single enemy. Two twisted ankles. Three
2:20:22caught cold sleeping out. The
2:20:24auxiliaries take them in and treat them
2:20:25on the spot. My first losses as a
2:20:28commander, and it's to the weather.
2:20:30Chong Yu is a little coastal town that
2:20:32lives on two things: red dates and
2:20:34charcoal. Our hidden realm is called
2:20:36Guanju Temple, who explains. The
2:20:39soldiers call it Date Mountain. Officer
2:20:41Joe Chongyu is not as rich as Jinganne.
2:20:44Date Mountain is exactly what it sounds
2:20:46like. A level five temple on a hill full
2:20:49of date trees. Recommended party 5 to
2:20:5215. And it's the town's whole economy.
2:20:54Raid the temple, harvest the dates, sell
2:20:56the dates. But pirates keep hitting the
2:20:59merchants on the coast. And who's been
2:21:01too hurt to fight them? Inside there are
2:21:03warrior monks, level five, 20 odd of
2:21:06them. Staves out coming down the temple
2:21:08steps. I put the shields up and start
2:21:10shooting. Officer Joe is mighty. Can you
2:21:13do a few more? Kill them from range. Why
2:21:16not? Raise your shields, hold your
2:21:18formation, and watch me. 50 experience a
2:21:21monk. And then the loot is
2:21:22disappointing. Eight G- Shang powders,
2:21:25two iron staffs, a saber. So, it's not
2:21:28that the realm's poor, it's that the
2:21:30boss chest is small. Officer Joe, a
2:21:33captain warns me. The boss is hiding on
2:21:35the second floor of the main hall. The
2:21:37moment we enter the courtyard, he'll fly
2:21:39down and attack. So, I walk into the
2:21:42courtyard with an arrow already drawn
2:21:43and charged. Full charge fiend maximum.
2:21:47He drops from the second floor like a
2:21:49hawk. Level 10 Abbott. Two full charge
2:21:52arrows in the air before he lands. 72%
2:21:55of his bar gone. The remaining 28 starts
2:21:57bleeding. The shields pin him against a
2:22:00pillar and I finish it. 300 experience
2:22:03loot. Three fire dates and a lightness
2:22:05technique. And in the chest, a marshall
2:22:08skill called burning wood palm. The
2:22:10commandant says it needs spirit key to
2:22:12activate, the captain tells me. But
2:22:14there's no method for drawing the fire
2:22:16key. It's useless. All name, no
2:22:18substance. Then the Chong Yu troops walk
2:22:21into the main hall and start prying the
2:22:23bronze Buddha off its pedestal to melt
2:22:25it down. The Chong Yu camp has inherited
2:22:27the Jingan army's great virtue. Pluck a
2:22:30feather from every goose that flies
2:22:31past. At the feast that night, Hu
2:22:34explains why he's so grateful. And in
2:22:36the middle of it, I learned something
2:22:37big about this country. 20% of this town
2:22:40lives off dates, selling them,
2:22:42processing them, plus charcoal. Then the
2:22:45merchants who come here spend money,
2:22:46rent warehouses, hire men. Without our
2:22:49camp keeping the granery stocked, this
2:22:51town falls apart. And the spirit goods,
2:22:54where do they go? Spirit tax. There's a
2:22:57spirit tax, of course. Every other tax
2:23:00is handled by the local government and
2:23:02passed up to the court. Only the spirit
2:23:04tax is collected directly by the court's
2:23:06own troops. It's the first of all taxes,
2:23:09the foundation of the country. So that's
2:23:11how Weii works. The center collects
2:23:13every realm's spirit goods and hands
2:23:15them back out. Poor provinces get fed by
2:23:17rich ones. That's why there are no big
2:23:19sex here. You can't redistribute a
2:23:21nation's spirit goods through a master
2:23:23and his disciples. You need an army and
2:23:25an empire. Back in my room, I put my
2:23:28saved experience into burning wood palm
2:23:30and max it. Burning wood palm. The five
2:23:33elements match the five organs. And the
2:23:35fire of the organs comes from the heart.
2:23:37Hollow fire, restlessness. Solid fire
2:23:40burns wood effect. Fire key damages the
2:23:43surface. Hollow fire disturbs the heart.
2:23:46Stacks disrupted key and burning.
2:23:49Disrupted chi is basically a silence. A
2:23:51warrior who lives on spiritqi gets hit
2:23:53with that and he can't cast. Useless?
2:23:56Not for me. If some warrior decides an
2:23:58archer can't fight up close and rushes
2:24:00me, I hit him with a silence and then
2:24:02shoot him in the face. Then I look at
2:24:04the map. The King Sha back home is just
2:24:06a tributary of the Coup River and it had
2:24:09a level 15 realm in it. Chong Yu sits at
2:24:12the mouth of the main river where it
2:24:13hits the sea. There must be water realms
2:24:16here. That's my real reason for coming.
2:24:18A man with only a few dungeons to farm
2:24:20just goes in circles. A man with lots of
2:24:22them goes up. So in the morning, I
2:24:24suggest a split. Huh? takes the river
2:24:27patrol. I take the coast. 20 riders. And
2:24:30along the coast, there's a row of walled
2:24:32forts. Officer, these forts are mostly
2:24:34warehouses for hire. The sea merchants
2:24:36pay to store goods, and the forts
2:24:38provide armed protection and take a cut.
2:24:40And that's when I see it. Outside one
2:24:42fort, a crowd of men is shaking down the
2:24:45gatekeeper. And mixed in among them,
2:24:47standing like men, talking like men, are
2:24:49monsters with tags. Level seven, level
2:24:52eight, a level 10 lean woo lieutenant.
2:24:55Where'd these officers come from? We're
2:24:57just borrowing a little money from
2:24:59friends to get by. Let us go and we'll
2:25:01be on our way. I shoot the lieutenant,
2:25:04the arrows faster than he can react. 80%
2:25:06of his bar in the chest. You dare hurt
2:25:10me, I'll kill you first. Then I hit the
2:25:12crowd with charm arrows from the Kudo
2:25:14set and they start cutting each other. I
2:25:17mark three who run with the ghost script
2:25:19curse. 20 odd bandits and in a few
2:25:22minutes there's a field of bodies and
2:25:23two prisoners. Humans and monsters
2:25:26living together, monsters leading men.
2:25:28The Lee and Hen Wu are already on the
2:25:30rise. Then I find the lieutenants drop
2:25:33and it's a green pearl. Turtle mansion
2:25:36stipened. The Lee Henwa bandits and the
2:25:38river turtle show. Those two don't look
2:25:40like the same faction at all. So why are
2:25:42the bandits getting paid by the turtle
2:25:44mansion? The prisoners know nothing
2:25:46about their boss. Half an hour of
2:25:48questioning. Nothing. But my three marks
2:25:51are moving. Not out to sea, inland
2:25:54toward the forts. So these bandits have
2:25:56either become a local power or made a
2:25:59deal with one. One of those marks runs
2:26:01straight through the gate of a big fort
2:26:02owned by a family called Xiao. I'm not
2:26:05inside that hall, but this is what was
2:26:07going on in there, and it's the key to
2:26:09everything that happens on this coast.
2:26:11We ran into a hard case today. The third
2:26:13master's gone. I'm not like you. The
2:26:16master of the fort, Xiao Gong, shouts at
2:26:18them. When you die, you get your minds
2:26:20back again. When we die, we're really
2:26:23dead. His father, Xiaoi, had been
2:26:25ambitious. He'd failed to clear his own
2:26:27family realm and then he'd found a
2:26:29second one, the turtle mansion under the
2:26:31river. Two realms passed down forever.
2:26:34The temptation was too much. So he made
2:26:37a deal with the Lean Huan Wu. He fed
2:26:39them people to give them mines and the
2:26:41two of them raided the turtle mansion
2:26:43together. Then Xiaoi died and his son
2:26:46got the deal without the grip. Ziao Gong
2:26:49wanted to sell the realm off, buy one
2:26:51rich generation, and be done. His elders
2:26:53wouldn't let him. Clan uncle, you've
2:26:56seen it. The Lee and Huan Wu are
2:26:58impossible to control. Can't we just
2:27:00hand over the turtle mansion and get a
2:27:01lifetime of wealth? Master, absolutely
2:27:04not. A realm blesses every member of the
2:27:06clan, generation after generation. What
2:27:09would handing it over get us? We're one
2:27:11step away from becoming a gentry family.
2:27:13You can't give up halfway. What I do
2:27:15know that afternoon is this. I didn't
2:27:18ride past the Xiao fort by accident. I
2:27:20rode past it slowly with 20 horsemen so
2:27:23everyone inside could see. Officer,
2:27:26isn't that a bit much? Commandant who
2:27:28always follows the rules. Commandant who
2:27:31follows the rules. I don't. The next
2:27:34day, I take the whole army out and start
2:27:36surrounding forts at random. Fort after
2:27:38fort, four sides blocked, gates watched,
2:27:41and I don't take a single valuable, only
2:27:43food and drink. And I write a receipt
2:27:45for every bite. It counts against their
2:27:47taxes. We came to scare the bandits. I
2:27:50tell my captains, "We can't actually
2:27:52become bandits." To my soldiers, it's an
2:27:55exercise. To the forts, it's terrifying.
2:27:57And at the Xiao Fort, I close all four
2:27:59sides. Not three. Four. 50 bandits and
2:28:0320 horses inside. And the elders all
2:28:05know the old saying, "Leave one side
2:28:07open so the trapped don't fight to the
2:28:09death. I've left nothing open. Master,
2:28:12it's over. Shut the gates and fight. The
2:28:15books say surround three sides and leave
2:28:17one open." And he's left nothing. Ziao
2:28:19Gong comes out sweating through his
2:28:21robe. I've heard from the camp spies
2:28:23that some forts are in league with the
2:28:25bandits, hiding them, fencing their
2:28:27loot, feeding them. I'm innocent,
2:28:29General. The coast towns are crawling
2:28:31with pirates. We built forts to survive.
2:28:34Maybe so. Spread the word. Every fort I
2:28:37surrounded today is a suspect. That
2:28:40night, two forts move. Carts, lights,
2:28:43people running. I storm both. One fort
2:28:46master tries to fight and an arrow
2:28:48through his arm puts him on the ground.
2:28:50They confess everything, hiding bandits,
2:28:52moving goods for them. What a shame. Now
2:28:55I see why Chong Yu can never root out
2:28:57the pirates. The forts are the local
2:28:59snakes. The Chong Yu troops are the
2:29:01outsiders. But the Xiao fort doesn't
2:29:03move. Xiaoong sits tight for days. So I
2:29:07pull back like I've lost interest. And
2:29:09while I wait, I learn to swim properly.
2:29:12Waiting increases swimming speed and
2:29:14time underwater. At max level, unlocks
2:29:17water breath. Spend key to breathe
2:29:19underwater. And the moment Xiaoong
2:29:22thinks it's safe, he sends a cargo boat
2:29:24down river with bandits instead of crew.
2:29:27The second he moves, my mark moves. I
2:29:29follow it alone. I put on the painted
2:29:31skin disguise and slip into the river
2:29:33after the boat. 10 bandits dive at a
2:29:36spot on the riverbed. And there it is. A
2:29:38whirlpool, a portal, dungeon, frog nest.
2:29:42Recommended level 10. Recommended party
2:29:4510 to 20. The bandits go in. I wait.
2:29:49They come out in shifts, rotating. The
2:29:51same trick the black armor use. When the
2:29:53last shift goes in, I follow. And inside
2:29:56the frog nest, there are no frogs. There
2:29:59are turtles. Level 15 show mansion
2:30:02turtle soldiers with hammers and
2:30:03shields. and a level 20 turtle general
2:30:06with a spiked chain hammer. The bandits
2:30:08are fighting them and it hits me. I
2:30:11think I just found something huge. Did
2:30:13the river turtle show kill all the frogs
2:30:15and use their realm as bait to farm
2:30:17humans? A frog realm close to the
2:30:20surface with pearls inside. The perfect
2:30:22lure. People come down to raid it and
2:30:25the turtles are waiting. 10 bandits plus
2:30:2710 turtles. 20. The party cap is full.
2:30:30When the bandits pull out, the turtles
2:30:32stay and I step out of the shadows. My
2:30:35first shot is a full charge flaming
2:30:37fiend arrow right into a turtle
2:30:39soldier's eye. A weak point crit, 46% of
2:30:42its bar. It was already down to 72 from
2:30:45the bandits, so it drops to 26. And
2:30:48instead of charging me, it drops its
2:30:50hammer and shield and pulls into its
2:30:51shell. The rest come for me. Five
2:30:54soldiers and the general, but they're
2:30:56slow and the floor is all puddles and
2:30:58mud. Perfect for something that can
2:31:00jump. I bounce back, charge another
2:31:02arrow, and the kiting begins. Then I
2:31:05hear voices. Two of the turtles can
2:31:07talk. 23. Let's just go. We can't
2:31:10command these brainless idiots. No. Lord
2:31:13Sho sent us to look after our kin until
2:31:15they woke up. If we abandon them and
2:31:17run, how do we explain that to Lord
2:31:19Show? Let's crawl toward him in our
2:31:21shells slowly and grab him when we get
2:31:23the chance. Easy for you to say. We're
2:31:26climbing banks and waiting puddles. How
2:31:28are we supposed to catch him? Then I
2:31:30noticed something else. Below 30%, every
2:31:33turtle goes into its shell and starts
2:31:35healing itself. Armor and regeneration.
2:31:38That's nasty. If it weren't for the
2:31:39fiend fire on my arrows, they'd heal
2:31:41right back up. 23. You hold him off.
2:31:44I'll go get help. You coward. Don't you
2:31:47dare run. If you run, you'll show him
2:31:49the back of your head and you'll get an
2:31:50arrow in it. Listen to me. He's a
2:31:53warrior. He hasn't got much key. He
2:31:55can't kill us. At worst, he'll knock a
2:31:57few of our kin into their shells. All
2:31:59right, I'll guard the exit and won't let
2:32:01him out. 23 is right about human
2:32:04warriors. A warrior's key runs out. What
2:32:0723 doesn't know is that I'm not a normal
2:32:09warrior. 15 minutes later, I'm still
2:32:12bouncing around full of energy. 23. He
2:32:15keeps wasting spirit key. Why does he
2:32:18still have key? Soon. Wait a bit. When
2:32:21he's weak, we charge. 30 minutes in. All
2:32:24five soldiers are in their shells. Only
2:32:26the general is still chasing me. 23. Can
2:32:29the general outlast him? Don't let him
2:32:31get killed. Impossible. How could a
2:32:34general lose a war of attrition to a
2:32:36human warrior? Don't worry, it's almost
2:32:38over. Another 30 minutes. The general's
2:32:41in its shell. The cave floor is covered
2:32:43in turtles hiding in their shells. He's
2:32:46coming. He's going for the exit. He must
2:32:48be out of key now. Charge. One of them
2:32:51holds its shield over its head and
2:32:53charges me. The other bolts for the
2:32:55exit. I spin in midair and land a triple
2:32:57shot on the runner. It falls into its
2:32:59shell. It pokes its head out to try
2:33:01again and takes a full charge fiend
2:33:03arrow to the back of the skull. 23. You
2:33:06lied to me. His key never runs out. When
2:33:09I get back to the mansion, I'm going to
2:33:11smash your head in. The other one keeps
2:33:13charging. It doesn't believe I can keep
2:33:15going. right up until it drops below 30,
2:33:17pulls into its shell against its will,
2:33:19and finally understands. Lord show, I
2:33:22was wrong. This has to be some ancient
2:33:24monster that escaped from a realm. It's
2:33:26absolutely not a human warrior. Then I
2:33:29clean up starting from the exit. Minds
2:33:32or no mines. Ding. Level 15 show mansion
2:33:36turtle soldier* 8. Experience plus
2:33:381,800. Level 20 turtle general plus 500.
2:33:43Three shells, 30 pearls, a spiked shell
2:33:46armor, and a skill called turtle breath.
2:33:48And when the realm resets with nobody in
2:33:50it, it respawns frogs. Proof the turtles
2:33:53had been moving in from somewhere else.
2:33:55I learned turtle breath and wait in the
2:33:57weeds on the riverbed. Turtle breath.
2:34:00Waiting and water breath together. I
2:34:02could sit down here all day. An hour and
2:34:04a half later, a fast turtle comes
2:34:06zipping down. Level 12. It finds the
2:34:09portal, goes in, and comes out a minute
2:34:11later surrounded by croaking frogs.
2:34:14Croak, croak, croak. That's all you know
2:34:16how to do. When I get back, I'm bringing
2:34:18a few generals over, and you'll never
2:34:19croak again. It shoots off. I put a
2:34:22ghost script mark on its shell as it
2:34:24goes. And I follow the mark to a palace
2:34:27on the riverbed, the water mansion of
2:34:29the river turtle show. I can't hear
2:34:31everything inside, but I watch what
2:34:33happens next, and that tells me
2:34:35everything. The mansion's ministers come
2:34:37out. Ambush orders go out. Shell wants
2:34:40the bandits who dared kill his people
2:34:42dead. And Xiao Gong, the only human who
2:34:45knows where the frog nest is, has to
2:34:47die, too. Two fast turtles to follow his
2:34:49boat. A shipwreck to make it look like
2:34:51an accident. I watch the delivery
2:34:53system. Giant clams carrying mindless
2:34:57turtle generals in their mouths swim up
2:34:59the river and open up at the frog nest.
2:35:0110 level 20 generals. They bury
2:35:03themselves in the mud around the portal
2:35:05and wait. So that's how they move the
2:35:07turtles. Clams. That's actually genius.
2:35:10And another thought, monsters fighting
2:35:12monsters, humans fighting turtles. If
2:35:15the water and the land both have mines,
2:35:17there's a country up here, and there's
2:35:19probably a country down there, too. At
2:35:21that moment, I realize the Lean Huan Wu
2:35:23are in trouble. The turtles never meant
2:35:26to let them leave. Between 3 and 4 in
2:35:28the morning, the boat comes back. Xiao
2:35:31Gong and the Lean Juan Wu Chief level 12
2:35:33with his lieutenants. That's all for
2:35:35later. Gong, let me tell you something.
2:35:38Even if you become a warrior, you'll
2:35:40never clear this water realm alone. The
2:35:42boss himself has come to farm the
2:35:44dungeon. 10 go in. Inside, the turtles
2:35:47aren't fragile anymore. They break out
2:35:49and run into the ambush. Stop fighting.
2:35:52Run. If we stay in this realm, they'll
2:35:54wear us down. Only if we get out and
2:35:56onto the boat do we live. They don't
2:35:59make it to the boat. The chief has a
2:36:01skill called Jie, the rally of sworn
2:36:03brothers. Below 30% health, he can
2:36:05summon his whole crew to his side. 500
2:36:08m. He uses it underwater. Bad. The
2:36:11chief's rallying in the water. He's in
2:36:13danger. And every bandit on the boat
2:36:16gets dragged into the river. Xiao Gong
2:36:18jumps into a skiff and paddles for his
2:36:20life. Something big grabs the skiff from
2:36:22underneath. He goes under and doesn't
2:36:24come up. I could have stopped it. I
2:36:27don't. But I do one thing. I land a
2:36:30ghost script mark on the chief just
2:36:32before the turtles finish him. A mark
2:36:34counts as damage. Ding. Level 12 Leon Wu
2:36:38chief killed. No assist experience, but
2:36:41the kill counts and the chief skill
2:36:43drops in a little glowing ball. Jai. If
2:36:46I use it well, I could gather a lot of
2:36:48sworn brothers. Life and death friends.
2:36:51Then I swim home, pull my army together,
2:36:54and go back to the Xiao fort. Two days
2:36:56of riding, 500 men. The fort's in chaos.
2:37:00The master is gone. The bandits are
2:37:02gone. The elders are arguing in the
2:37:04hall. Someone shouts from the wall.
2:37:07General, why have you come back? Has the
2:37:09Xiao family done something wrong? Name
2:37:11your number. There's no need for blades.
2:37:14Tell him that if he doesn't open the
2:37:15gate, I'll use the fiend arrows. I put
2:37:18two arrows through the gate bolts,
2:37:20another arrow over the wall, and the
2:37:21elders change their tune. Shout it. The
2:37:24Xiao family will hand over a hidden
2:37:26realm to atone. General, you're too
2:37:29harsh. I'm not harsh. You picked the
2:37:31wrong moment. If you'd offered the realm
2:37:33before I surrounded your fort, you'd
2:37:35have been rewarded. Now the blades at
2:37:37your throat, and you want to trade it
2:37:38for a clean slate. I might agree. These
2:37:41500 soldiers won't. They hand over the
2:37:43route to their hidden realm, and the
2:37:45list of every fort that worked with the
2:37:47bandits. Commandant who, when he gets
2:37:49back from the river, just stares at me.
2:37:52Officer Joe, you sent word to the Jingan
2:37:54camp already. With something this big,
2:37:57if I didn't report to the camp first
2:37:58thing, I'd look like I was hiding the
2:38:00merit for myself. He's crushed a little.
2:38:036 years he served on that coast. And I
2:38:05solved his pirates in a few weeks. In
2:38:08Jinganne, the commonant gets two letters
2:38:10on the same day. One from the prefecture
2:38:13complaining that the Jingan officer was
2:38:14running around the coast surrounding
2:38:16forts without permission, and one from
2:38:18me saying the pirates were done and
2:38:20here's a new realm. trouble. He says, "I
2:38:23only just sent the governor a gift to
2:38:25get Joe Yan promoted." The new realm
2:38:27gets checked. Leon Juan Wu, level 8, 10
2:38:30to 20, two or 300 monsters in a boss
2:38:33chest with real loot in it. 10 of this,
2:38:36five of that, one of something rare. So,
2:38:38I'm promoted again. Army marshal, Ka's
2:38:41rank, and then a writer comes in with an
2:38:43imperial decree, and the hall goes
2:38:45silent. By the special grace of the
2:38:48court, for merit and opening realms, Joe
2:38:50Yuan is summoned to the capital. The
2:38:52papers have arrived. Depart at once and
2:38:55sit the new year spirit exam. The exam?
2:38:58The door I've been aiming at since the
2:39:00night in the tavern. Except I'm not
2:39:02getting in through the clan quota. I got
2:39:04in on merit. Kai is the first one to
2:39:06grab me. Brother, you've been in the
2:39:08army a few months and you've caught up
2:39:10with 10 years of my hard work. Brother
2:39:12Kai, if I'm lucky enough to become a
2:39:15warrior, won't you have one more person
2:39:16to lean on? Huh? Working hard myself is
2:39:20so tiring. You and the commonant just
2:39:22keep pushing and I'll wait for you two
2:39:24to pull me up. Before I go, I quietly
2:39:26make sure nobody ever hears about the
2:39:28turtle mansion under the river. Some
2:39:30things you keep. The gentry officers at
2:39:33the farewell feast watch me with envy
2:39:35and longing in equal measure. I go to
2:39:37the commonant. Commandant, I hear your
2:39:40wife and son are in the capital. Do you
2:39:42have any letters or gifts you want me to
2:39:43carry? He gives me a whole bundle.
2:39:45That's a promise now. I'm going to
2:39:47deliver it. The only thing to watch for
2:39:50is that the capital is full of powerful
2:39:52people, more than you can count. Don't
2:39:54offend the wrong one and ruin your
2:39:55career. The feast goes late. Halfway
2:39:58through, some of the gentry sons are
2:40:00drinking and crying at the same time. At
2:40:02dawn, the officers walk me to the gate
2:40:04and agitant Lou from the province is
2:40:06riding with me. I turn back once in the
2:40:08saddle. Marshall Joe, don't look back
2:40:11since you're leaving. Don't turn around.
2:40:14If you come back, people will laugh.
2:40:16They'll think you threw away the chance
2:40:17to reach the sky. You're right, sir.
2:40:20Leaving now is hope. Coming back would
2:40:22be a retreat. 4 days later, we reached
2:40:24the Huhou main camp, and it's not a
2:40:27camp. It's a walled city with soldiers
2:40:29in it. The reason it's built so big,
2:40:32agitant says, is that there are two
2:40:34hidden realms inside. They had to widen
2:40:36the walls to fit both. Two realms. My
2:40:40eyes light up. Since the camp has two
2:40:42realms, could I lend a hand? I'd like to
2:40:44build up some combat experience for the
2:40:46Huhou camp. The governor's office
2:40:48approves it in an afternoon. And on the
2:40:50way, Leu explains the exam to me. Three
2:40:53trials. One, everybody drinks the same
2:40:56amount of a spirit good, and they
2:40:58measure how much key you pull out of it,
2:41:00sensing. Two, control. Three, a real
2:41:03fight in a realm. The other Huaiho
2:41:06candidates find me that evening. Four of
2:41:08them, clan and gentry sons. One, a
2:41:11friendly young man called Guong, does
2:41:13the talking. We hear you're raiding a
2:41:15realm before the exam. Please be
2:41:17careful. Don't get hurt. Otherwise, it
2:41:19would just be handing a win to the men
2:41:21from the other provinces. And behind my
2:41:23back, I hear them guessing. A commoner
2:41:26who rose that fast, who goes looking for
2:41:28fights right before the biggest exam of
2:41:30his life. He's not a normal man. He's a
2:41:32battle maniac. a born killer star and
2:41:35with a bow. He must be one of those
2:41:37archers who never misses. They're not
2:41:39wrong. The realm is called the kingdom
2:41:41of the two-tailed foxes, and the officer
2:41:44in charge is a big bald monk commandant
2:41:46with a voice like a temple gong. If you
2:41:48do badly in there and put my soldiers
2:41:50lives at risk, you'll obey my order and
2:41:52pull out. Don't worry, General. The
2:41:55Jingan army knows military law, too. You
2:41:57won't see any childish tantrums from me.
2:42:00Fox archers on the walls. Levels 10 and
2:42:0312. About a hundred of them. And the
2:42:05Huhou camp clears them the slow way.
2:42:07Shields up. Archers shoot. Shields
2:42:10rotate. Normally it takes 12 or 13
2:42:12rotations to grind the walls clean. With
2:42:14me shooting, it takes 10. Then the monk
2:42:17changes tactic. Dig trenches, then fire.
2:42:20If we just push with soldiers, the
2:42:22losses are too high. So we dig and we
2:42:25burn. And the foxes come out of the
2:42:27smoke and we shoot them. The boss is a
2:42:29level 15 two-tailed fox. The monk's men
2:42:32catch it by both tails with hooked ropes
2:42:34and pin it to the ground. It roars and
2:42:37turns into a beast twice its size. And
2:42:39the monk hits it with a bell skill that
2:42:41drops a cage of golden light over it.
2:42:43And I shoot it until it stops.
2:42:45Experience plus 450, five fox pills, and
2:42:49a skill that makes my hands go cold when
2:42:51I read it. Deathdying rebirth. On death,
2:42:55spend one point of any of your three
2:42:57stats to revive instantly with full
2:42:59health and mana. Cool down 100 breaths.
2:43:02A revive skill. I didn't know bosses
2:43:04could drop these. It costs a stat point
2:43:07per death. Essence, key, or spirit. My
2:43:11most valuable things, but it means that
2:43:13once at the worst moment, I get to not
2:43:15die. After the raid, the monk pulls me
2:43:18aside and the gong voice goes quiet.
2:43:20When the governor calls you in, ask him
2:43:22to lend you a treasure bow. Ideally, a
2:43:25fire bow with wind. It'll help you in
2:43:27the exam. And another lesson from him.
2:43:30After you pass, don't rush off to your
2:43:32new post. Go back and visit your old
2:43:34superiors. They'll be in a good mood,
2:43:36and good moods come with treasures.
2:43:38Commandant, from what you're saying,
2:43:40candidates can bring their own weapons
2:43:42to the exam. Isn't that unfair? What's
2:43:45unfair about it? We has always done it
2:43:47this way. A family's blessings are part
2:43:49of a man's strength. The court takes men
2:43:51of great talent and men of great
2:43:53backing. Both get things done. To the
2:43:55court, there's no difference. I see. So,
2:43:58the exam isn't kind to people like me
2:44:00with no family behind them. You forget
2:44:03it. You've got the Huhou camp behind
2:44:05you. That's at least as good as an
2:44:07ordinary clan son. The commoners and the
2:44:10poor families, they're the ones who
2:44:11really struggle. The governor of Huhou
2:44:14looks at me like a horse trader who's
2:44:16finally found a good horse. Agitant Lou.
2:44:19This boy is interesting. If he's missing
2:44:21something, he knows to ask for it. I
2:44:23like subordinates like that. He opens
2:44:25the armory himself. A hundred odd bows,
2:44:28all realmade, all with tags. I go down
2:44:30the rack, reading every tag, and I stop
2:44:33at a five- stone bow that glows a little
2:44:35red. Flowing fire bow. This one, it's
2:44:39light and violent. It'll boost my
2:44:41damage. Outside, a dark-faced gentry son
2:44:44is waiting, and he's not happy. H I
2:44:47didn't think the Huh camp was this
2:44:49unfair. They look after that Joe boy,
2:44:51and ignore the three of us candidates.
2:44:53His name is Chen Shin, second son of the
2:44:56Chen clan. And the other two gentry
2:44:58candidates take me aside afterwards.
2:45:00Watch out for him. He might try
2:45:02something. 100 kinds of rice feed 100
2:45:05kinds of men, I say. Let's see. If he
2:45:08really is that arrogant, he can stick
2:45:09his head out first and we'll see what
2:45:11hits it. The governor throws a small
2:45:13banquet for the five of us who are
2:45:14going. Five officers, five suits of
2:45:17armor. If you're picked, I'll celebrate
2:45:19with you. If you're not, come straight
2:45:21back to Huhou. There'll be a place for
2:45:23you here. One more thing. If any of you
2:45:26dares to stab one of your own in the
2:45:27back in the capital, I won't let it go.
2:45:30He hands out the armor himself. Mine is
2:45:32a light suit of scale, faintly glowing.
2:45:35Fungu light armor. Wind and rain. A good
2:45:39suit. Fire rides the wind and wind makes
2:45:42fire burn hotter. A fire bow and wind
2:45:44armor. Perfect together. The gentry sons
2:45:47are stunned. And when the banquet ends,
2:45:49Chenshin stands at the door and says to
2:45:52nobody in particular, "When I'm the
2:45:54master of a district someday, I'll
2:45:56handle every case fairly. No favorites,
2:45:58no family. A threat dressed up as a vow.
2:46:02Noted. The governor's summons is dated
2:46:04the 12th of the 9th month. 5 days to get
2:46:07ready, 20 days by horse, half a month by
2:46:10boat, and will reach the capital in late
2:46:12October. The exam is 2 months after
2:46:14that. On the road, the party splits into
2:46:17two camps without anyone saying a word.
2:46:19Officers on one side, gentry on the
2:46:21other. A loyal marshall commandant
2:46:23called Yang Fu is escorting us. And he
2:46:25gives me one warning. You're right about
2:46:28the clan sons, but you've forgotten
2:46:30someone. The court's own nobles, Duke's
2:46:32sons, Marcus' grandsons. They'll be
2:46:35sitting the same exam. 13 provinces,
2:46:38about a 100 candidates, and at the end
2:46:41of a month on the road, Guong has
2:46:43quietly drifted over to Chenshin's side
2:46:45of the campfire. The capital's Yaou camp
2:46:48is where the candidates check in. At the
2:46:50gate, I read the guard's tags and almost
2:46:52fall off my horse. Level 30 Yahawu
2:46:55armored soldier. Level 30 Yahawu Archer.
2:46:58Level 35 Yahw Elite. They're monsters.
2:47:02Humanoid monsters with tags and the
2:47:04court's own uniforms standing guard.
2:47:06Most of the camp is normal soldiers.
2:47:08Thank god. Otherwise, I'd think I'd
2:47:10wandered into a highle dungeon by
2:47:12mistake. A level 35 agitant called Lou
2:47:15handles our papers. He's dry, sharp, and
2:47:18he doesn't waste a word. Selecting
2:47:20spirit goods is a camp benefit. The Yahw
2:47:23camp will set out 20 odd key boosting
2:47:25goods. You try them and choose. And the
2:47:28camp will give you arrows. That night in
2:47:30the barracks, I can't sleep. Monsters in
2:47:32the emperor's guard. So, the Empire
2:47:34doesn't just fight sentient monsters, it
2:47:36recruits them. Maybe recruiting humanoid
2:47:39monsters isn't as dangerous as I
2:47:41thought. And I think about Lu Ying, the
2:47:43painted skinned scholar who tried to
2:47:45kill me. After he died, a lot of his old
2:47:47classmates mourned him in secret. A deep
2:47:50scholar, they said. If his birth hadn't
2:47:52held him back, he might have inherited
2:47:53the Jingan Academy. His birth being a
2:47:56monster, which makes me wonder who's
2:47:59really at the top of this empire, at the
2:48:01very end of all the absorbing, humans or
2:48:04the humanoid monsters that have
2:48:05outlasted every dynasty. I'm just a
2:48:08little Jinganne army marshal. The court
2:48:10is far away from me. Let's watch and
2:48:12walk. In the morning, the four officers
2:48:14from Shuju come to say hello. Men in
2:48:17their 30s with scars and calluses, and
2:48:19they treat us like brothers. Immediately
2:48:21officers find officers. Lou stamps our
2:48:24papers. Summoned to the capital for the
2:48:26new year spirit exam. Identity verified.
2:48:29Permitted to stay in the capital 100
2:48:31days. Now choose your spirit goods. The
2:48:34camp has prepared 23 key boosting goods
2:48:37for you. All fast acting from every
2:48:39province. 20 doses each. I choose purple
2:48:42velvet dew. Too generous. This time I'm
2:48:46finally going to splurge on spirit key.
2:48:48Lou gives me a look. Then the capital,
2:48:51Fangg Jing. Walls 30 m high. And as we
2:48:54ride through the streets, we pass a
2:48:56pavilion with painted walls that glow
2:48:58and a crowd of young lords going in and
2:49:00out. I read the tag. Painted wall
2:49:03immortal pavilion. A hidden realm. Level
2:49:0620, 10 to 20. The painted wall pavilion
2:49:08doesn't take gold or silver. LSE says
2:49:11only key boosting goods and realm
2:49:13treasures. It belongs to the court. It's
2:49:15for people who aren't short of spirit
2:49:17goods to play in. The officers can't get
2:49:19over it. What do you even do in there
2:49:21with a price that high? If you've got
2:49:23spirit goods to spare, why not train
2:49:25your key? Why waste them on a moment of
2:49:27fun? I'm wondering the same thing.
2:49:30That's the point. Remember what you said
2:49:32today. Don't get attached to outside
2:49:34things inside. There's no music and no
2:49:37beautiful girls. It shows you whatever
2:49:39you want. It makes people unbelievably
2:49:41happy. The officers swear on the spot.
2:49:44We'd never. Lou just shrugs. Don't be so
2:49:47sure. A few hometown gatherings, a few
2:49:50polite refusals, and sooner or later,
2:49:52you catch a glimpse of something
2:49:53wonderful. Be careful. He showed it to
2:49:56us on purpose. A warning before anyone
2:49:58even unpacked. The gentry sons are out
2:50:01every night. The officers stay in. And
2:50:03from the moment we pass through the city
2:50:05gate, the court screening began and
2:50:07nobody announced it. The next morning, I
2:50:09want to go deliver the commandance
2:50:11letters to his family. Lou stops me at
2:50:13the door. You're going to the Jang house
2:50:15like this? Is that to borrow their light
2:50:18or to beg for their help? Once the
2:50:20exam's over, you'll see who's sincere
2:50:22and who's pretending? Why go see their
2:50:24pretending now? Agitant. Say no more. I
2:50:27won't go. The officer's hostel locks
2:50:30down. Curfew. No leave. Visits from
2:50:33family only. And I finally see what's
2:50:35happening. The court is building a
2:50:37block. Commoner officers with clean
2:50:39backgrounds. Men who rose by blood and
2:50:42merit set against the clan sons. to the
2:50:44court. Those are its own people. They're
2:50:47turning us into model citizens whether
2:50:48we like it or not. A few days later,
2:50:51Guong is at my door, pale, embarrassed.
2:50:54I came to ask Marshall Joe for help.
2:50:57What happened? I just want to borrow
2:50:59some key boosting goods. When we get
2:51:01back to Hai, Joe, I'll pay you back
2:51:03double. Why are you short? He hesitates.
2:51:06Then it comes out. Chenshin had a grudge
2:51:09in his heart and he stirred up trouble
2:51:10and Gu got dragged into it and bled his
2:51:13own spirit goods dry trying to fix it.
2:51:15Chenshin's scheme was real after all. It
2:51:18just landed on the wrong man. Gee holds
2:51:20out a stained old scroll as a pledge. I
2:51:23read the tag. Item: Peach bamboo
2:51:26courtyard. I have 10 bottles of Euen
2:51:29that the Jingan commandant gave me. Take
2:51:31them all. Marshall Joe, you're a man of
2:51:33honor. I won't forget this today. And
2:51:36somewhere above us, agitant Lou hears
2:51:38about it and makes an order. No more
2:51:40visitors from Huaihao, unless it's
2:51:42something serious. He thinks we're soft.
2:51:45Why not knock out a competitor while you
2:51:47can? How can you go soft just because
2:51:49he's from the same place? The scroll
2:51:51costs a thousand experience to activate.
2:51:54When I do, it unrolls into a picture of
2:51:56a little courtyard with peach trees and
2:51:58bamboo. And it does something I didn't
2:52:00expect. It catches things. It works a
2:52:03bit like a Pokeball. Pointed at a
2:52:05creature and it gets pulled into the
2:52:06painting as a follower. Not a great one.
2:52:09With four little birds and a tabby cat,
2:52:11it's full. And the tabby cat, once it's
2:52:13inside, cheerfully hunts the birds in
2:52:15broad daylight. I spend days playing
2:52:17with it. Followers have loyalty. If it
2:52:20drops below 30%, they leave. I wonder if
2:52:23people can become followers. If they
2:52:25can, this scroll could be a loyalty
2:52:27test. The capital officers make us drill
2:52:29for the exam. Sensing key under stress
2:52:32with someone shouting in your ear. A
2:52:34sight technique called Guangmoo, which I
2:52:37learned in three days and pushed to
2:52:38level two. Team mock battles where I
2:52:41learned the hard way that in a team
2:52:43protecting the man next to you is worth
2:52:45more than your own kills. And a tour of
2:52:47the exam hall. One spirit good per
2:52:49visit. No discounts. You feel nothing
2:52:52now. When you really sit the exam,
2:52:54you'll find out what it means to be
2:52:56exhausted and unable to sit still. Those
2:52:59whose key sensing was poor step forward
2:53:01for punishment. Psychological support?
2:53:04Absolutely not. There's no psychological
2:53:07support. On the 26th of the 12th month,
2:53:10the 13th year of Hany, the exam begins.
2:53:13As long as you perform normally and
2:53:14don't stab your comrades in the back,
2:53:16Lou tells us at dawn, "Your chances of
2:53:19passing are very high." Agitant. You're
2:53:21not joking. We can really do it. Of
2:53:24course. Why would I lie to you? Then he
2:53:26steps back and raises his voice. Men of
2:53:29Hai and Schwo, follow me into the
2:53:31palace. 58 officers ride out in
2:53:33chariots. Drums, crowds, blessings
2:53:37shouted from the roadside. It's the most
2:53:39ridiculous and wonderful thing I've ever
2:53:41been part of. 10,000 people calling out,
2:53:44soldiers riding behind you. That's a
2:53:46kind of romance, too. 130 odd
2:53:49candidates, 40 plus clan sons, 20 plus
2:53:52sons of nobles, and us. Three trials
2:53:55over 6 days. Four judges on a raised
2:53:57platform. The crown prince of Wei, the
2:54:00Minister of the Guard, and two generals.
2:54:02And one of the generals has a tag I
2:54:04can't stop staring at. Level 40 Mountain
2:54:07Patrol general, Jeang Hi. 40. First
2:54:10trial sensing. Each of us sits at a
2:54:13table with a bowl of something called
2:54:15chi dispersal drink. It drains your
2:54:17mana. Then they give you a gourd of
2:54:19spirit liquid and you pour the chi it
2:54:21gives you into a measuring ruler that
2:54:23lights up mark by mark. The bell rings.
2:54:26I drink the dispersal. It takes a full
2:54:28quarter hour to empty my blue bar. But I
2:54:31have regeneration from the literary
2:54:32chief skill. So by the second bell, I'm
2:54:35already a tenth of the way back.
2:54:37General, please take your key. I drink
2:54:40the gourd. 30% mana. Then quietly
2:54:43through my panel, I use a dose of euen.
2:54:4690% just in case. Here's my plan. Lou
2:54:50told us last year's best score in
2:54:52sensing was eight marks. So, I'm going
2:54:54to light the ruler to about 8, not nine.
2:54:56Nobody needs to know what I can really
2:54:58do. General, please light the ruler.
2:55:01Don't drain yourself and harm your body.
2:55:03Nobody listens to that advice. Not
2:55:06today. The third bell. I pour in the 30%
2:55:09from the gourd. The ruler jumps to seven
2:55:12marks. 2°. That's my real talent.
2:55:15Decent. Not genius. Then I add 6% more
2:55:18from my bar carefully and stop at just
2:55:21past 8. The clerk and the general write
2:55:23it down. Eight marks, one up. Sensing
2:55:26middle A. Middle A. Marshall Joe, look
2:55:30carefully. Eight marks is middle A. Nine
2:55:33is top A. Our record is correct. You
2:55:36misunderstand. I'm just curious. Does
2:55:39anyone really get a top A? Of course.
2:55:41Top A is rare in the New Year exam, but
2:55:44every open exam has some. Don't think
2:55:46middle A isn't enough, Marshall. Last
2:55:48year, the winner of the new year exam
2:55:50had a middle A. So, my plan worked
2:55:52perfectly. And I learned something, too.
2:55:55My real gift is seven marks, too.
2:55:58Without the cheat, I'm a solid pass. But
2:56:00the monsters who chug medicine and hit 9
2:56:02plus, I'm not there. Thank you for
2:56:05explaining. An A is enough. I wouldn't
2:56:07dare hope for a top A. When I find the
2:56:10other Hai and Shuo officers, almost
2:56:12every one of them got an A. Only
2:56:14Commandant Louu from Huaihuo got a high
2:56:17B. If they didn't have talent, they
2:56:19wouldn't have survived the battles that
2:56:20got them here. The crown prince
2:56:22addresses the ones who did badly. Those
2:56:24who scored poorly had a cause for their
2:56:26fear. It's in their nature, and it's
2:56:28hard to overcome. But a warrior's glory
2:56:31comes from mastering himself. Train
2:56:33harder. Temper your hearts. And the
2:56:35court doesn't choose its men by the
2:56:36hair. Seven marks 9 and eight marks are
2:56:40not essentially different. Those with
2:56:42middle A, keep a steady heart. Don't
2:56:44grow arrogant. He sends us all to bed.
2:56:46No banquet. Tomorrow is control. The
2:56:49second trial gives us a technique and
2:56:51four days to learn it. Chi- sword
2:56:53finger. You point and the key goes where
2:56:55you point. And here's where the noble
2:56:57sons pull ahead. They don't have to
2:56:59learn anything. They pull out family
2:57:01treasures and family elixirs and they
2:57:03pump their numbers. The provincial
2:57:05officers are poor. The camp can't give
2:57:08every one of us something precious. This
2:57:10is the one place the clan sons can beat
2:57:12the soldiers before the third trial
2:57:14where the soldiers who've bled their way
2:57:16up will have the edge. I don't have
2:57:18family treasures. I don't need them. In
2:57:212 days, the finger technique turns into
2:57:22a skill and I use my saved experience to
2:57:25push it to level two. A level two skill
2:57:27should beat a normal elixir unless
2:57:29someone's holding something really
2:57:31special. On the fourth morning, the bell
2:57:33rings. A clerk from the court of
2:57:35ceremonies measures a distance with a
2:57:37short staff and draws two red lines on
2:57:39the floor. Soldiers carry in a bronze
2:57:41mirror as tall as a man and set it on
2:57:43the line. Its tag reads duo and bronze
2:57:46mirror. General, please stand at the red
2:57:49line. Show your skill in the mirror. I
2:57:52stand there. I breathe and I point. A
2:57:55clear ringing sound. Ripples spread
2:57:57across the mirror. Messy at first, then
2:57:59steadier. One ring, two three. They hold
2:58:03for a moment, then fade, and the mirror
2:58:05is a mirror again. One ring is C, two is
2:58:09B, three is A. Above that is top A. Joe
2:58:12Yuan of Jingan makes three rings. A
2:58:15grade in control. General, any
2:58:17objection? None. Exactly right.
2:58:20Congratulations, General. Three rings
2:58:22without any outside help. Your talent
2:58:24for control is rare. What I don't know
2:58:27is that a few noble sons with treasures
2:58:29and elixirs both are making more than
2:58:32three rings. What I also don't know is
2:58:34that on the platform, the crown prince
2:58:36of Wei has his eye on my record. Two as
2:58:39already, he says. Can he make it three?
2:58:42I didn't hear what was said on that
2:58:44platform after I walked out. But it
2:58:46changed the rest of my life. So here it
2:58:48is. The crown prince and the minister of
2:58:50the guard both had their eye on me. The
2:58:52prince was thinking, "If he wins a third
2:58:54A, I'll bring him into the war council,
2:58:56win his loyalty, and raise him myself."
2:58:59The minister was thinking, "The palace
2:59:01guard could use a man like that." Two
2:59:03very powerful men quietly bidding on a
2:59:06farm boy who still thought he was just
2:59:07taking a test. Then the prince stands up
2:59:10for the third trial, and he doesn't give
2:59:11a speech. He gives wine. Will you fight
2:59:14for my great way? How could we refuse?
2:59:17We'll give our lives for way. We'll give
2:59:19our skill to your highness. And with one
2:59:22cup of wine, the noble sons and the clan
2:59:24sons and us commoners are all officially
2:59:27soldiers of Wei on campaign. The third
2:59:30trial isn't an exam anymore. It's a war
2:59:32for the state. They draw teams. My tag
2:59:35says Yin Chen 6. I'm on team Bing Shen
2:59:38with nine others. Two archers, one
2:59:40talisman mage, seven in melee. The team
2:59:43leader is a Shuojo spear and shield
2:59:45officer called Mang who looks like a man
2:59:47carved out of a door. We have a day and
2:59:49a half. As we leave, crowds are packed
2:59:52against the city walls, reading the
2:59:54posted results of the first two trials.
2:59:56Who is this Joe Yun of Jingan? An army
2:59:59marshal and two as in a row. It's
3:00:02strange hearing your name in a
3:00:03stranger's mouth. Our realm is at the
3:00:06Yangpu camp, the tomb of the wandering
3:00:08corpses. Level 10, 10 to 15. Me and I
3:00:12scout first alone. Eight passages
3:00:14leading off a central hall. And zombies,
3:00:17levels 10, 12, 13. Hopping zombies,
3:00:21stiff as boards, jumping 2 and 1/2 m
3:00:23high and 4 meters forward at a time. I
3:00:26put a test arrow into one 52%.
3:00:30Brother Mang, the targets attack one
3:00:32way. Probably poison. Stiff bodies, no
3:00:35normal weak points. Marshall Joe, let's
3:00:38pull back. Once we have light and
3:00:40anti-poison medicine, we'll come back
3:00:42and attack. The nobles on our team send
3:00:45runners to their families. And 7 hours
3:00:47later at 5:00 in the morning, the
3:00:49supplies arrive. Light antidotes. Five
3:00:52doses for every melee fighter, two for
3:00:54the archers, five poison pendants. The
3:00:57nobles get credit for providing them,
3:00:59which is fair. That's what families are
3:01:02for. Our mage is a quiet young man
3:01:04called Ku Hung. He sticks three corpse
3:01:07talismans on the zombie I wounded, and
3:01:09it stands perfectly still, like a Jungi
3:01:12in an old movie with a paper charm on
3:01:13its forehead. Then he looks at the eight
3:01:16passages and starts talking. Eight
3:01:18passages, eight gates, bagua. Jen is
3:01:21life, kun is death. The lifegate is
3:01:24opposite the most crowded passage. He
3:01:26does it all in his head, fast and
3:01:28confident, like a man doing taxes for
3:01:30fun. Quihong's analysis hits like a
3:01:32tiger. A full calculation is hard. An
3:01:36estimate isn't. We don't have a better
3:01:38plan, Mang says. Quihong<unk>s method is
3:01:40worth a try. So, I lure each passage one
3:01:43at a time to count the zombies. Shoot
3:01:46one, back up, see how many come. Five,
3:01:49six, seven. Here they come. Six this
3:01:52time. One more than the passage brother
3:01:54Mang and I tested. Seven rounds of
3:01:56luring. Then three more. We pick the
3:01:59lifegate and clear it. Steady and
3:02:01careful. My warding arrows take 83% per
3:02:04shot. 120 experience a zombie. At the
3:02:07end of the gen passage, something big
3:02:09turns around. Level 14 Gen Guardian, an
3:02:13elite. Fight or not? I say we strike
3:02:16first. Triple shot. 42%. 35. 77% of its
3:02:22bar gone in one volley. And my teammates
3:02:24freeze. Uh, Marshall Joe, maybe save
3:02:27some of your strength. It's fine. The
3:02:29triple shot doesn't cost me much. The
3:02:32second volley drops it. 280 experience.
3:02:35My team looks at me like I'm not an
3:02:37archer. I'm a professional assassin with
3:02:39a temper. It drops a piece of Gen
3:02:41Mountain Jade, but there's no boss. Ku
3:02:44Hing goes pale, then thinks, then nods
3:02:47firmly. The demon chief must be behind
3:02:50the death gate. He's right this time.
3:02:52The cunn passage ends in a stone coffin,
3:02:55and the lid explodes off. Level 15
3:02:58wandering corpse general. And beside it,
3:03:00the cun guardian, another elite. Quai
3:03:03hung, strength talisman. Marshall Joe,
3:03:07attack fast. If both of those strong
3:03:09demons get close at the same time, our
3:03:11line won't hold. Brothers, hold off the
3:03:14corpse general. I'll take out the hopper
3:03:16first. K's talismans and one noble's
3:03:19grappling hook keep the general off our
3:03:21line. I put a fiend arrow into it. 24%
3:03:24then 12. Then I shoot it through the
3:03:26elbow and its arm goes dead. Then I turn
3:03:29and kill the cog guardian. 78% in one
3:03:32shot. And when I turn back, the general
3:03:34is down to 10% and furious. Black corpse
3:03:37gas pours off it. The last arrow is a
3:03:40vermilion firebird and it splits the
3:03:42dark gas and nails it to what's left of
3:03:44its head. Ding. Level 15 wandering
3:03:47corpse general killed. Experience plus
3:03:50600. The drop is a body method.
3:03:53Unrotting bone. Every level five, one
3:03:56spirit point. Level 10, two more.
3:03:59There's a gilded chest. We open it
3:04:01together. And inside is the original
3:04:03manual of a technique called chi ring.
3:04:06Somebody on the team says it before I
3:04:07can. Give the original to Joe Yen. He's
3:04:10used a lot of fiend arrows. He's taken
3:04:12more damage than any of us. The judges
3:04:15stationed at the tomb. Write down their
3:04:16verdict while we watch. It should be top
3:04:19A in practical spirit. Top A three as of
3:04:23every candidate in that exam. I'm at the
3:04:25top. We were so fast and it still took 4
3:04:28hours. No other team could be faster
3:04:30than us, could they? Even the best other
3:04:33team won't be flawless. On the road
3:04:35back, Kui Hong rides next to me. Zu Yen,
3:04:39you must have got top A. Why do you say
3:04:41that? He smiles. Then he tells me
3:04:44something he didn't have to. My little
3:04:46brother is obsessed with the Marshall
3:04:48path, but our family's spirit good quota
3:04:50is used up, so he can't open his spirit.
3:04:53So, I asked the head of the family for
3:04:54this exam slot. If I can make it on my
3:04:57own, I won't need the family to support
3:04:58me anymore. My brother can eat that
3:05:00share. He's the eldest grandson of the
3:05:03Kuk clan and he took the hardest exam in
3:05:05the country to free up a bowl of rice
3:05:07for his brother. Brother Coup, that's
3:05:09real honor. You'll get what you want. We
3:05:12make plans to drink. We're the first
3:05:14team back at a quarter noon and the
3:05:17crown prince of Wei personally waves us
3:05:19over. Come, all of you sit next to me.
3:05:23We eat at the same table. Nobody moves.
3:05:26We stand there stiff as the zombies we
3:05:28just killed. What are you standing there
3:05:30for? I'm the commander. You're my
3:05:32vanguard. So, I eat lunch next to the
3:05:34crown prince and I learn his title,
3:05:36Prince ofqi. By 8:00 in the evening,
3:05:39seven teams are back. Six never make it
3:05:41to the banquet. At the night feast, the
3:05:43prince serves sacrificial meat, the kind
3:05:45offered to heaven before a war. And then
3:05:47he does something I don't expect. He
3:05:50talks to the ones who failed. Will you
3:05:52make me a promise? When the court holds
3:05:54its open exam, I'll wait in this
3:05:56marshall palace for all of you who go
3:05:57home. Come back. Your highness, don't
3:06:00worry. If we fail and go home, we'll
3:06:03train harder than ever and come back to
3:06:04keep the promise. What happened in the
3:06:06palace that night, I didn't see. The
3:06:09judges ranked me second. The prince read
3:06:11the list and moved my name to the top.
3:06:13The court needs him to be first. Your
3:06:16highness is right. His talent is real.
3:06:18All he lacks is a family to look after
3:06:20him. Then let this commoner boy ring out
3:06:22through the capital. And the emperor of
3:06:25Wei, a man over 50, took his red brush
3:06:27and drew a circle around the name at the
3:06:29top. Joe Yuen of Jinganne. Then he
3:06:32counted the list.
3:06:34132 candidates. One in 10 passes. That's
3:06:37grace enough. 18 names. The yellow list
3:06:41goes up on the palace wall in the
3:06:43morning, and the capital loses its mind.
3:06:45Everyone, here's something rare. The top
3:06:48of the list is a commoner with an
3:06:49official post. By lunch, there are
3:06:51legends that I'm a star from heaven.
3:06:54That the Marshall star woke up in a farm
3:06:56boy. My fellow officers at the hostel
3:06:58are delighted and merciless. The
3:07:00Marshall star is awake. Come look at me.
3:07:03Maybe I'm a star from heaven, too. I'd
3:07:05advise you to turn yourself into the
3:07:07court's investigators early. I'm afraid
3:07:09if the rumors go any further, I won't
3:07:11even be a human being anymore. And then
3:07:13they make me write invitations to my own
3:07:16celebration banquet for all of them in
3:07:18my own hand. You have to write us an
3:07:20invitation or we're not coming. Some of
3:07:23them want invitations for their
3:07:24children, too. Marshall top scorer
3:07:26invitations for luck. One officer asks
3:07:30for his 12-year-old. He's 12 already.
3:07:32It's just to give him a name. Then the
3:07:3418 of us dress in the robes. The emperor
3:07:37sends embroidered tigers, rhinoceros
3:07:39hide boots, marshall caps. And on the
3:07:42way out, the ones who didn't pass are
3:07:44there lining the path. The others push
3:07:46me to the front. The top of the list has
3:07:48to speak for everyone. Brothers, rest
3:07:51easy. We'll go ahead first. The road is
3:07:53long and there may be bloody battles on
3:07:55it. We hope our brothers come soon to
3:07:57fight beside us. Go ahead. We'll catch
3:08:00up and we won't leave you to fight
3:08:01alone. Then it's settled. Let us go into
3:08:04the line first and show ways marshall
3:08:06glory. We wish you, General, a long and
3:08:09glorious fortune in war. 58 chariots
3:08:12left the hostel on the first day of the
3:08:14exam. 18 roll out of the Marshall Palace
3:08:17now. Some with different men in them. No
3:08:19drums this time. Just a crowd of men who
3:08:21didn't make it, watching us go. The
3:08:24streets fill anyway. Imperial guards
3:08:26with gongs clear the road at every
3:08:28crossing so people can see the new
3:08:30warriors. Someone throws a scented pouch
3:08:32into my chariot. Is that Joe Yuan of
3:08:35Jingan? So young. That's what a real
3:08:37young man should look like. It's
3:08:39wonderful that Joe Yan topped the list.
3:08:41Weii is open to merit. Even a common
3:08:44family can climb to the top. And in the
3:08:46crowd, though I don't know it, there are
3:08:48spies from the neighboring countries.
3:08:50The people see a fair army. The spies
3:08:52see a country getting stronger. Let's
3:08:54wait and see. Weey is stable inside,
3:08:57marshal to the bone, and always hungry
3:08:59for war. If it keeps growing stronger,
3:09:01we should avoid its edge and make
3:09:03friends. The news that a commoner family
3:09:05topped the list must never reach great
3:09:07chew or the local strongmen will start
3:09:10having ideas. We leave the chariots at
3:09:12the palace gate and walk in past the
3:09:14twin phoenix towers through the jade
3:09:16gate up onto the terrace of bright
3:09:18spirits. And I can't help reading the
3:09:20guard's tags. Level 40 Y marshal
3:09:23soldier. Level 45 Y centurion. The
3:09:27palace guard is full of humanoid
3:09:28monsters. And every single one of them
3:09:30carries the name Wei. No wonder the
3:09:33court can keep all the other humanoid
3:09:34monsters in line. A palace guard this
3:09:37strong could crush every army in the
3:09:38country. Then the decree. The 18 of us
3:09:42are given posts in the hall from a
3:09:44throne I'm not allowed to look at
3:09:45directly. The emperor jokes afterwards
3:09:48that a few of the boys dared to sneak a
3:09:49look at him on their way out. The second
3:09:52place man, a noble son called Dui and I
3:09:55are made guard commandants with places
3:09:57on the war council and in the training
3:09:59of the Yulan guard. Kui Hong 17th goes
3:10:02to the Imperial workshops and everyone
3:10:04else goes to the camps and the academy.
3:10:07Our posts start after the 15th of the
3:10:09first month. Until then, we're free. So,
3:10:12I do the things I've been putting off
3:10:13for months. I write letters home to the
3:10:16governor of Hi Joe, to the commonant in
3:10:18Jingan, to Seg, and to Commandant Chang
3:10:21Feay in Shangle County, my home county.
3:10:24Each one says the same thing. What
3:10:26happened? And the good news, only the
3:10:28letter to Chang Fe has one extra line in
3:10:30it. Please look out for Xiao Ergo from
3:10:33Koshi village. I'm not going to carry
3:10:36Ergu home in a coffin after all, but I'm
3:10:38not going to forget him either. Then I
3:10:40buy gifts and I go to the eastern city
3:10:43to Chongi Ward, to the house of the Jang
3:10:45family, the commonants family in the
3:10:47capital with his letters in my bag, the
3:10:50ones I promised to carry before I left
3:10:52Jinganne. At the gate, I find out
3:10:54they've been waiting for me for weeks.
3:10:56The commandant wrote to them long ago.
3:10:58The capital officers just wouldn't let
3:11:00me go. And when the news broke that I'd
3:11:02topped the list, they upgraded the
3:11:04welcome. Young sir, sit. Sit. If you
3:11:07hadn't come, I wouldn't know how to
3:11:08explain it to my eldest son. If he found
3:11:11out I hadn't hosted you, he'd blame me
3:11:13for not looking after his brother in
3:11:14arms. The commandanton's father, a
3:11:17retired general with one arm left. You
3:11:20misunderstand, sir. The exam kept me too
3:11:22busy to come. The moment I got free from
3:11:24the palace today, I bought a few gifts
3:11:26and rushed straight here. You, child,
3:11:29you're too formal. You're my eldest
3:11:31son's friend. Treat this place as your
3:11:33own home. Why bring gifts at all? Wait,
3:11:36I'll go find something good to give you.
3:11:38You'll go home loaded. When he's gone,
3:11:40the commandance's wife calls a boy over
3:11:42to bow to me. She's cool, a little
3:11:45distant, but her love for her son is
3:11:47right there on her face. Uncle, your top
3:11:49scorer invitations are famous. Could you
3:11:52write one for my son, too? Of course.
3:11:54What's the young master's name? He
3:11:56forgot to tell you his name. How rude of
3:11:58him. My son is called Xen. I hope he can
3:12:01borrow some of Uncle's Marshall luck.
3:12:03She waited for the old man to leave
3:12:05before she asked. I think I know why. If
3:12:08he'd been there, every child in the
3:12:09house would have wanted one, and her
3:12:11sons wouldn't be special. Doesn't
3:12:13matter. I owe the comedant this much at
3:12:16least. So, I don't just write Jangghan
3:12:18an invitation. I invite him to my
3:12:20banquet myself. He's 11 and he takes the
3:12:23invitation in both hands and bows very
3:12:25seriously. Thank you for inviting me,
3:12:28Uncle Joe. I won't disappoint you. The
3:12:30whole Jang clan in the capital comes to
3:12:32meet me that night. Main branch, side
3:12:35branches. I'm the only outsider in the
3:12:37room, and somehow I'm the center of it.
3:12:39They ask me to move in. I say the Ulin
3:12:42camp is strict. A new man can't come and
3:12:44go. The old general makes me stay one
3:12:46night anyway. If you have a home in the
3:12:48capital and don't sleep in it, our
3:12:50hearts won't rest. In the morning, they
3:12:53load two carriages. One for me, one for
3:12:55the gifts. Nephew, don't worry. Your top
3:12:59score banquet on the 13th of the first
3:13:00month. My second and third sons will
3:13:02arrange it. With me watching, they'll
3:13:04make it splendid. Uncle, there's no need
3:13:07for so much trouble. I'll just book a
3:13:09restaurant. Don't treat my family like
3:13:11strangers. How much money could you have
3:13:13brought to the capital? Your salary
3:13:15hasn't been paid yet, has it? If you
3:13:17have to run around borrowing money for
3:13:19your own banquet, people will laugh at
3:13:21you behind your back. You've thought of
3:13:23everything, uncle. Then I'll trouble you
3:13:24and my two older brothers. Agitant Lou
3:13:27was right. After the exam, you see who's
3:13:29sincere. Back at the hostel, I finally
3:13:32open the gifts. 100 ounces of red gold
3:13:34and a paper wrapper marked New Year's
3:13:36money for the young one. Two sets of
3:13:38Marshall robes for each season. Two
3:13:40pairs of leather boots with a red note.
3:13:42Family robes are comfortable. A little
3:13:44help for your training. A small chest of
3:13:46books, arithmetic, notes on leading
3:13:49troops, records of battle formations,
3:13:51two thick quilts, nothing fancy, the
3:13:53standard bedding a family gives a son
3:13:55when he moves out of the house, and at
3:13:57the bottom of the book chest in its own
3:13:59sandalwood box, the real gift, alter
3:14:02exorcism method. The true method has
3:14:05five thunders, heaven, earth, water,
3:14:09spirit, and altar. Alter thunder is
3:14:11gathered from the heroic souls of loyal
3:14:13patriots and fierce filial men. It can
3:14:16seize sea serpents, call wind and rain,
3:14:18and break things. Its nature is
3:14:20unstable. Honor it properly, and it
3:14:22shelters a whole region. Honor it wrong,
3:14:25and it brings storms and lightning. A
3:14:27hand copy, not the original, so I can't
3:14:30see its effects yet, and I can't level
3:14:32it on my panel. But a highle method like
3:14:34this barely exists, and its originals
3:14:36are almost never given away. The
3:14:38commandant's skill is thunder, too.
3:14:41Lightning on his saber. This must be the
3:14:43same method. I wonder if giving away his
3:14:45core technique was his idea or his
3:14:47father's. Either way, I know what it is.
3:14:50A debt. Whatever it was, I owe them now.
3:14:53When I find a highle technique with a
3:14:55clean history, I'll have to find a
3:14:57reason to give it back. The hostile
3:14:59guards see me come in and rush over to
3:15:01carry my things. Then before they go,
3:15:04each of them asks me for a few top
3:15:06scorer coins to put under their
3:15:08children's beds for luck. Alone at last,
3:15:11I spend my saved experience. I max out
3:15:13unrotting bone, one spirit point at
3:15:16level five, two more at 10, and a
3:15:19passive called golden muscle, jade bone,
3:15:21and I activate the chi- ring. Essence 7,
3:15:24key four, spirit three. I'm just sitting
3:15:27down with the Thunder Manual, starting
3:15:29to dream about becoming a Thunderfire
3:15:31Archer when my colleagues burst in and
3:15:33drag me outside. It's the third day of
3:15:35the first month. Time for a custom
3:15:38called sticking the red mouths. The red
3:15:40mouths are strips of red paper 7 or 8 in
3:15:43long and an inch wide with lucky words
3:15:45on them. You stick them over the front
3:15:47and back doors. They're supposed to nail
3:15:49shut the mouths of thieves, gossip, and
3:15:51fire from every direction. Send every
3:15:54disaster back to heaven. For most
3:15:56people, it's just for luck. For us, it
3:15:58means something specific. The ones who
3:16:00passed are praying for a smooth career
3:16:02with no small men whispering poison
3:16:04about them. The ones who failed are
3:16:06praying the folks back home will be kind
3:16:08with their tongues and won't jab them in
3:16:10the back for failing. As the top of the
3:16:12list, I can't exactly say no. So, we cut
3:16:15red paper together, all of us, winners
3:16:17and losers, and we cover both doors of
3:16:19the officer's hostel until they're hung
3:16:21with red like a curtain of crimson
3:16:23tassels. From a distance, it looks like
3:16:25the stern old government building caught
3:16:27fire with good luck. A few months ago, I
3:16:30was a 16-year-old orphan with three
3:16:32family men sleeping on my floor, so I
3:16:34couldn't run away from the army. Now,
3:16:35the army has pasted red paper on my door
3:16:38so that nothing bad can get in. I stand
3:16:41back and look at it, and I think about
3:16:42what I don't know yet, standing there
3:16:44with glue on my fingers. That a prince
3:16:47moved my name to the top of the list on
3:16:49purpose. Not because I was the best,
3:16:51though I was good. Because the court
3:16:53needed a commoner on top. I'm not just a
3:16:55soldier anymore. I'm a flag. And flags
3:16:58get looked at. By princes who want to
3:17:00raise you. And ministers who want to use
3:17:02you. By spies in the crowd from
3:17:05countries that don't want my story told
3:17:06at home. And by a family in the capital
3:17:09who gave a stranger what's probably
3:17:11their son's own lightning and never once
3:17:13asked what I'd give back. I owe them.
3:17:16And in this world, I've learned every
3:17:18debt gets collected.

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