THE EMPEROR WAS QUICK to adapt to the situation. After listening to their explanation, he gathered his thoughts and forced himself to breathe deeply. Moments ago he'd been isolated and surrounded by enemies—at least now he had two companions by his side.
Following their lead, he lowered his voice to a whisper. "What should we do now, Cui-xiansheng?"
Another emperor might have balked at taking commands from his subjects. But Yang Jian was under no illusions: It would be impossible to escape by himself. Zhangsun may have been the martial artist among them, but the one he trusted most was still Cui Buqu.
Cui Buqu, too, dispensed with the usual courtesies. "Your Majesty, can you remember how you got here?"
The emperor flushed. He'd been in such a panic after falling it hadn't occurred to him to make note of his route. "Let me think."
He had an excellent memory. Thinking back over the stone walls he'd touched, he said, "Follow me."
Zhangsun lit no fire, lest it draw the attention of eyes within the darkness. Instead, he placed his hand on the emperor's arm to guide him. Cui Buqu followed a step behind.
The emperor felt along the carvings, recalling the mural he'd found. Men on horse- and camelback rode from far and wide to pay their respects to the bodhisattva, who sat high on a throne of lotuses. The bodhisattva's fingers were bent in a mudra, their pose exuding an air of untouchable serenity. Auspicious clouds were depicted in the mural; the emperor's fingers quickly found their stylized whorls. Above the clouds was the bodhisattva he recalled.
Now more confident, he pushed forward. "There was a man impersonating me. He was unconscious just up ahead."
"Stay here, Your Majesty. Let me check." Zhangsun Bodhi left the emperor to Cui Buqu, who put a hand on his shoulder, and strode toward the spot the emperor had indicated.
"There's no one here, Your Majesty."
How can that be? The emperor couldn't believe it. The impostor had been out cold—how could he have woken so quickly? Even if he had, he should have made some kind of noise they'd have heard. He took a few involuntary steps forward, as if to verify the impostor's absence himself. Cui Buqu's hand slipped from his shoulder.
"Your Majesty, there are many hidden passages here. We should stay together," Cui Buqu cautioned.
"That man mimicked my voice and appearance so flawlessly even I might have mistaken him for myself. If he escapes, it will spell trouble."
The emperor bent and began to search his surroundings, but found nothing under his fingers beyond coarse sand and stones. He furrowed his brow. Impossible. He distinctly remembered the impostor emperor falling and landing on top of him. He'd shoved the impostor away, and his head had struck the stone wall. He'd probably bled.
The faint scent of blood did linger in the air. The emperor searched again and felt a small damp patch. So this was the place—but then, where was the fake emperor?
"He must be nearby," the emperor muttered. Perhaps he'd woken in a daze and silently found a place to hide.
There was no reply from Cui Buqu and Zhangsun.
"Cui-xiansheng? Zhangsun?"
How could this be? Just moments ago, Cui Buqu and Zhangsun had been a few steps behind him. They couldn't have failed to hear him. He thrust his hands out again and felt something warm. It felt like a bare human foot, the skin rough and craggy as scales.
Drip, drip.
Water fell from above and dropped onto the emperor's forehead. He reached up unthinkingly to wipe it away. His fingers came away sticky, stinking of copper.
Not water. Blood.
Wind rushed past his ears, and a light flared behind him. The emperor turned to see Zhangsun holding a torch. He stiffened in realization and slowly, jerkily looked up at the figure clinging to the ceiling above him.
A person. No—it could no longer be called that.
The creature had human limbs, but its hair was completely gone. Its face and scalp were crimson, shiny and swollen as if scalded with boiling water. Its skin was riddled with countless holes, through which black and white worms crawled. Where eyes had once resided, there were only two hollow sockets filled with flickering black flames. Its limbs were covered in scales, and its nails were long, blackened, and extraordinarily sharp. The monster stared at the emperor, who froze like a rabbit beneath the glare of a venomous snake.
All the hair on his neck stood up as he looked at those worms. He yearned to shuck his skin and flee, to leave this place so he didn't have to keep looking at the thing. He couldn't speak—all he managed was a wordless gasp.
The emperor thought he'd seen it all. He'd never imagined a creature like this could exist. No wonder Zhangsun and Cui Buqu had been so cryptic; no one could maintain their composure before such a sight. Belatedly, the emperor realized his hand was still resting on the monster's foot. His soul almost fled his body in terror, and he yanked his hand back.
The monster growled deep in its throat and lunged. It moved as fast as lightning, swiping its sharp nails at the crown of the emperor's head. A gust of rancid wind rushed toward the emperor. He had no time to evade.
He was going to die.
The thought had barely formed when flames erupted between him and the monster. Zhangsun had thrown the torch while the emperor stood stunned. The monster recoiled in pain as the torch struck its head.
"Lord Chief!" Zhangsun Bodhi shouted.
There was no response—Cui Buqu was nowhere to be seen.
The torch fell to the ground, illuminating a suspiciously large pool of blood. Yet it failed to reveal Cui Buqu.
The monster gave a low roar and barreled toward them. Zhangsun shoved the emperor behind him and threw out his palm, pushing the creature back with a blast of wind. He was wary of getting too close—Cui Buqu had warned him that the worms crawling over the monster were deadly. If even one or two were to enter his body, he'd be afflicted by the gu.
The gu worms didn't take over their host at once. They lay dormant within the body, waiting for their moment to strike. Those who managed to excise the worms in time, like Pei Jingzhe, were few. Most ended up like the residents of Yandang Mountain Estate: driven to madness by the gu invading their minds. At that stage, there was no cure.
This made it much more difficult to fight. Zhangsun could have fled with the emperor, but they still had no idea where Cui Buqu had gone.
The emperor plastered himself to the wall, afraid to move, and called out again for Cui Buqu. There was no response.
The monster fought savagely. Zhangsun was forced to expend more and more energy to block each strike. Suddenly he realized this creature had its own cunning. It'd lured them into the depths of the labyrinth, and now it sought to exhaust his true qi.
He couldn't stall any longer. The emperor was still beside him, and his safety had to come first. That was both Zhangsun's duty and Cui Buqu's order. Gritting his teeth, Zhangsun shoved the monster back a few steps. Then he seized the emperor, and they sprinted off down the passageway.
The monster followed them into the boundless dark.
***
Cui Buqu stood in silence with his back to the cold stone wall. He could feel the contours of the stone carvings through his clothes; it was a depiction of a Buddhist tale, the Astasena listening to Buddhist scriptures. But he couldn't make a sound around the hand tightly gripping his throat.
The face of the person choking him was inches from his own. His breath was light; the occasional puff of warm air fanned over Cui Buqu's face. His fingers were slender yet strong, their skin dry and cool. Cui Buqu couldn't make out his silhouette in the darkness, but he knew who it was. This person was using their left hand. A number of jianghu practitioners were left-handed, but there was only one both present here and hostile to him.
Xiao Lü.
Only when the monster had chased Zhangsun and the emperor into the distance did Xiao Lü loosen his grip. He struck Cui Buqu's acupoint, rendering him immobile. "We meet again, Chief Cui."
"It's a pleasure, Pavilion Leader Xiao."
They greeted each other like close companions, old friends reunited after years apart. There was no hint of animosity. But Cui Buqu guessed that, if it were up to Xiao Lü, he'd never have come down here. It seemed Feng Xiao throwing the fake emperor down had forced his hand—Cui Buqu could vaguely make out the man slumped nearby.
Cui Buqu coughed a few times. "What was that creature just now?"
"You're so sure I know?" It seemed Xiao Lü was still in the mood to joke. "Chief Cui, you overestimate me."
"This underground labyrinth was built to house the eight treasures. Booby traps and various poisons make sense. That creature doesn't. That thing is no beast; it's a living person who's been cast into a pool of gu. After forty-nine days, their flesh was perforated and the gu eroded and took control of their body. Now they're a walking corpse driven solely by the urge to kill."
Human gu couldn't be made from just anyone. The host had to have a strong physique, preferably that of a martial artist, to withstand the relentless waves of gu burrowing through skin and muscle and into their organs. They could only watch helplessly as their body was riddled with holes until they finally died in agony. Nurturing a monster so sinister and deadly demanded no small effort from its creator.
Xiao Lü was silent a moment. "That human gu was once the head disciple of the Nanhua Sect, Song Yuntao."
Cui Buqu was stunned. "Kuhezhen has only been in the Central Plains for a few months. Song Yuntao has been missing for over three years. How did he fall into a Göktürk prince's hands?"
Xiao Lü sighed. "At the time, the Nanhua Sect was embroiled in internal strife. The sect leader remarried a beautiful young woman, but she fell in love with the head disciple, Song Yuntao. The leader and his wife clashed, and the sect was fragmented. Alone, Song Yuntao set out beyond the Great Wall to search for his shifu. Nothing more was heard from him—a terrible pity. He had great potential and could have revitalized the Nanhua Sect. But fate laughed at him, and he perished."
"Were you involved with this, Pavilion Leader Xiao?"
"If I said I wasn't, would you believe me?"
"I would," said Cui Buqu coolly. "You have no scruples, but you're not a liar."
Xiao Lü smiled. "If only you were willing to abandon Sui, you and I would surely become companions capable of reading each other's thoughts."
Cui Buqu ignored this comment. "How did you discover this place?"
"Lady Ashina."
Cui Buqu needed only a moment to recall everything connected to this name. "The empress?"
"Correct. Fifteen years ago, the daughter of Muqan Khaghan, Lady Ashina, married Yuwen Yong."
The Göktürks were Buddhists, and Lady Ashina had been no exception. At the time, Buddhism's expansive influence had begun to threaten the emperor's authority, and Yuwen Yong ordered a crackdown on the religion. He expelled monks from the country and even destroyed several sections of Daxingshan Temple—it was this last that led to the discovery of the entrance to the labyrinth. Upon learning of it, Lady Ashina had ordered an investigation. But those who entered never returned, and the investigation came to an unsatisfying end.
The entrance to the maze was sealed soon after, but it remained on Lady Ashina's mind. She ordered Daxingshan Temple's plans collected from the library and sent to the Khaganate for examination.
Cui Buqu furrowed his brow. "So the plans from the Jin dynasty ended up in the hands of the Göktürks, and from there made their way to Kuhezhen?"
"Mm," said Xiao Lü. "Back when the temple was first constructed, the Buddha statues were crafted from wooden sticks and bent-reed frames, then secured with a base of white clay and painted. The only exception was the great Buddha in the Mahavira Hall, which is hollow and contains the entrance to the labyrinth. I'd already visited the temple long before your emperor sealed it off."
Cui Buqu had guessed the enemy would disguise themselves as monks or the emperor's attendants to infiltrate the temple. He'd never anticipated something like an entire secret labyrinth.
Xiao Lü seemed to sense his thoughts. "Surprising, isn't it? But I didn't expect the Göktürks to choose this moment to turn against me. I thought Kuhezhen would at least wait until I had the situation in hand before making his move."
But Kuhezhen clearly wasn't operating on the same principles. To him, there was little difference between Xiao Lü and the emperor of Sui: Both were men he could use to further his plans of sowing discord in the Central Plains.
"Well then, Pavilion Leader Xiao, we're in the same boat. It'd be wise to cooperate, at least until we're out of the labyrinth."
Xiao Lü smiled. "I agree. Please go ahead."
"Do you know the way?"
"I don't," said Xiao Lü. "Kuhezhen never showed me the plans. I must trouble you to guide me."
Cui Buqu didn't answer. He merely started walking.
Xiao Lü had tapped the fake emperor's mute acupoint earlier. He lifted the silent man easily to his feet and followed close behind Cui Buqu. The passage was deep and dark, the only sound the tap of their footsteps. The fake emperor, still dazed, stumbled as he walked, his footfalls unpleasantly discordant.
Though the fake emperor was a crucial part of his plan, Xiao Lü's treatment of him made it clear how little regard he had for him. This impostor couldn't be a high-ranking member of the Thirteen Floors. Perhaps he was truly only a puppet. What a puppet thought or felt about Xiao Lü was of no concern to him—it needed only to fulfill its role.
The three men edged along the wall, each harboring their own motives, each with their own agendas. Xiao Lü let Cui Buqu take the lead; if any danger arose, he could use him as a shield. But Cui Buqu made no comment. He walked slowly, memorizing each turn.
But he quickly realized this was futile. "The wall carvings are repeating," he said.
"What do you mean?" Xiao Lü arched a brow.
"When we started walking, I was touching a mural of the Astasena listening to sutras. Next was a mural of Prince Mahasattva's sacrifice of himself to the tigers, then another tale about the crown prince retrieving treasures from the sea. But now the sequence is repeating."
"Perhaps they are multiple copies of the same mural?"
"No. If they were copies, I'd find slight differences in the details. But I remember what I touched—they're the same mural."
They were going in circles.
Xiao Lü sighed. "I'm starting to regret not asking Kuhezhen for the plans to this labyrinth."
Then again, even if he had asked, Kuhezhen might not have shared them.
Cui Buqu thought for a moment, then pulled out a torch and lit it. The darkness surrounding them was endless, the flame a tiny puddle of brightness. Still, by its light, they could see that they were at the edge of a circular hall. Standing in the center, not far from them, was a low stone pillar.
"If I'm not mistaken," said Cui Buqu, "the center of the labyrinth symbolizes the yin and yang—heaven and earth, sun and moon. The eight stars around it embody the eight trigrams of the bagua. We passed one when we arrived—it must have been the xun trigram. As for this one—"
The central stone pillar shone brilliantly in the torchlight, its white jade surface shimmering with an ethereal and captivating glow. Cui Buqu took an involuntary step closer.
The fake emperor was similarly entranced. He staggered forward, moving even faster than Cui Buqu as he reached out to touch it. Even Xiao Lü almost lost himself. He took one step forward, then another. Just as he took his third, he halted in alarm.
Xiao Lü prided himself on his iron willpower. Even if a heavenly demoness were dancing seductively before him, Xiao Lu could close his eyes against the sight. But somehow that white jade tower was causing his self-restraint to unravel. How could this be?
It wasn't that his will was weak—there was something wrong with the tower. He slammed his eyes shut.
Cui Buqu's torch was guttering out, its flame flickering. In the wavering torchlight, the white jade tower seemed to emit a crimson glow, eerie and surreal.
"Get back!" Cui Buqu cried. The torch went out; everything was plunged into darkness.
A scream split the air.
If Xiao Lü had had the use of both hands, he might have grabbed both his companions. But he could only use one. Xiao Lü yanked Cui Buqu backward. By then, it was too late for the fake emperor.
Cui Buqu also reacted swiftly. As soon as Xiao Lü pulled him into his arms, he whipped out another torch and lit it. The torch hissed and flared, illuminating the fake emperor.
He was bound to the white tower by countless red threads. At least seven or eight were coiled around his head and neck, digging into his flesh so deeply that blood welled up as they watched. The threads tightened, and the fake emperor's eyes bulged one final time in death.
Xiao Lü's and Cui Buqu's breaths stopped in their throats.
They were neither sheltered nor naive; both had witnessed countless horrors. Yet the death of the impostor was beyond their comprehension. Xiao Lü pulled on Cui Buqu's wrist to bring the torch closer, then took a few steps forward.
"The red threads are coming out of the tower." He dropped Cui Buqu's wrist and struck the pillar. It shattered under the force of his true qi, revealing a hollow interior. Here was the source of the threads: The place that must have once held a monk's sarira now housed a small, human-shaped puppet instead. Countless red threads wound around it, and the faint scent of sandalwood wafted toward them.
Touching the pillar had triggered the mechanism, releasing both the red threads and the entrancing fragrance. Even a true martial expert would struggle to escape its effect, let alone Xiao Lü's fake emperor. Cui Buqu had been close to the tower as well; if not for Xiao Lü's timely tug, he likely wouldn't have escaped unscathed.
Cui Buqu bent and examined the pillar, then straightened. "Someone's tampered with it. Releasing the human gu in here isn't the only thing Kuhezhen did. He's revamped the place."
Xiao Lü brushed his fingers over the impostor's neck.
"How is he?" asked Cui Buqu.
"Beyond saving," said Xiao Lü slowly.
With the fake emperor dead, Xiao Lü's plan had already partially failed. Cui Buqu should have felt victorious, but seeing as they were trapped here with no guarantee of making it out alive, it would be wise not to provoke Xiao Lü overmuch. Who was to say Xiao Lü wouldn't feed him to the human gu if he became angry enough? Cui Buqu coughed and said with feigned sympathy. "Ah. Be at peace."
The corner of Xiao Lü's mouth twitched. "It would have been more convincing if you hadn't said it."
Cui Buqu swiftly changed the subject. "Kuhezhen has turned this place of worship into a purgatory of his own making. We must find a way out, and quickly. Let's go."
The words were hardly out of his mouth when he felt a jolt of alarm. Something had shifted beneath his feet.
Cui Buqu looked down. Fine fissures snaked through the earth beneath him. They widened rapidly, growing from the thickness of a finger to the width of a palm.
Xiao Lü grabbed Cui Buqu and leapt toward the wall. The ground beneath the jade pillar split as it collapsed, cracks radiating outward from the center of the chamber. Stones and dirt crumbled away beneath them as they clung to the wall.
Xiao Lü gave a muffled grunt. The hand gripping Cui Buqu's arm went limp, and they both plummeted down into the dark.