The journey upward changed as the solid path abruptly ended at the edge of a sheer cliff face. Ahead of them, the mountain range didn't look like a single landmass but rather a collection of peaks that had been stabbed into the earth by a giant hand.

  Li Yu looked up as he was shielding his eyes from the glare of the high-altitude sun.

  'This is it, Tekton. The Tethered Peaks. The locals say the ground here is just a suggestion.'

  On his wrist, the rust-colored metallic bracelet vibrated. Tekton’s voice echoed in his mind, clear and dry. 'I see no road. Do they expect us to fly? That would be inefficient for the local mortals.'

  'Look closer,' Li Yu replied.

  He pointed to the thin black lines crisscrossing the gaps between the peaks. They looked like spiderwebs from this distance but as they got closer the scale became apparent. They were massive, braided metal cables.

  The town wasn't built on the ground. It was clustered on the flat tops of the peaks and dug into the vertical rock faces. To get from one cluster of buildings to another, residents hooked themselves onto the cables and slid across the abyss.

  'They travel by zipline,' Li Yu grinned. 'And pulleys for the ascent. It is like a city built for those that like to feel the wind and air.'

  'Rodents are surprisingly efficient,' Tekton conceded. 'But I question the safety here. One wrong move and you are dead. Why make a home in such a place?' Tekton wondered.

  Li Yu walked to the base station. It was a large wooden platform anchored to the rock. A massive winch system, powered by a team of muscular mountain goats walking on what seems to be like a treadmill of sorts was hauling a basket of supplies up the cliff.

  Two guards stood by the lift, their arms disproportionately muscular from a lifetime of hauling themselves up ropes. They both wore harnesses instead of traditional belts or bands.

  “Halt, traveler.” One of the guards said as he was stepping forward. He eyed Li Yu’s robes and the heavy pack on his back. You don't have a harness, you need one. You might… no you will fall otherwise.

  "I have a strong grip," Li Yu said cheerfully. "I am Li Yu, a physician and a traveler. I heard rumors of a cheese that is buried in ice for three years. I have come to taste it."

  The guard blinked and then laughed. It was a booming sound in the thin air. "The Frost-Bite Cheese? You came all this way for that? Well, if you want to risk the drop, go ahead. Use the guest basket. But hold on tight. This is your last warning though, if you die, you only have yourself to blame."

  "Thank you," Li Yu bowed.

  He climbed into a large wicker basket suspended by a thick iron chain. The goats groaned, the gears turned and he was hoisted into the air.

  As he rose the view expanded. The wind howled through the gaps in the mountains and was shaking the basket. However, Li Yu stood perfectly still with his feet rooting him to the wicker floor. He watched as a mother with a baby strapped to her chest casually hooked a roller onto a downward sloping cable and zipped across a thousand-foot drop to the next spire, landing with a practiced run.

  'The core strength required for daily errands here must be immense,' Li Yu observed. 'Every trip to the store is a death-defying stunt. The people here are strong.'

  'I could build a bridge for them.' Tekton suggested. 'It would take me no time at all. I could melt the surrounding rock and fuse it.'

  'No bridges,' Li Yu shook his head. 'That ruins the charm and their way of life. I am sure if they wanted one, they could probably have made one by now. Let them fly.'

  They reached the central spire, a wide plateau that served as the town square. It was a bustle of activity. People were constantly arriving and departing via the rope lines. The sound of whirring pulleys filling the air like mechanical cicadas. The sound had its own charm to it.

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  Li Yu hopped out of the basket. He found the inn the guards had mentioned, The Knotted Rope. It was a low stone building where the heavy oak tables were bolted to the floor. Presumably because of the wind gusts that swept through when the door opened.

  He ordered the famous cheese and a loaf of hard bread. When it arrived, the smell hit him instantly. It was a dense, heavy scent, like wet earth and sharp vinegar.

  'Smell that?' Li Yu asked mentally.

  'My sensors are currently registering a biohazard,' Tekton replied flatly. 'It smells of decomposition and sadness.'

  Li Yu cut a slice and ate it. The flavor was intense—salty, sour and incredibly rich. He broke off a crumb and offered it to his wrist.

  Tekton’s head emerged slightly from the sleeve. Mandibles clicked. He pulled the crumb in.

  'What do you think now?' Li Yu asked while eating another piece.

  'Acceptable,' Tekton decided after a pause. 'It tastes of minerals and time. It is fuel. But I prefer what I normally eat. I can see the slight charm it has though.... Certainly different and unique from what I know.'

  As they ate a shout went up from the cable station outside.

  "Help! He is stuck! The pulley jammed!"

  Li Yu wiped his mouth and stood up to see what the commotion was about. He walked outside and gathered with the others.

  A crowd had gathered at the edge of the platform. About two hundred feet out and suspended in the middle of a cable that stretched to a higher peak was a young man. He was dangling helplessly out there and shouting. He was strapped into a harness along with a massive and terrified Cloud-Sheep. The pulley mechanism above them was smoking.

  "He can't pull himself up!" a woman shouted while wringing her hands. "The sheep is too heavy! And the wind is picking up! He’s going to smash into the needle-rock!"

  The wind was indeed picking up. It was buffering the young man and swinging him dangerously close to a jagged outcropping of rock known as the Needle. Li Yu gauged the distance.

  Li Yu took out a bamboo staff that he had sometimes used during his travels as a walking stick. He stepped onto the cable and was using the staff to help balance himself.

  The onlookers gasped. "You can't walk on the line like that! It's round! It’s too icy right now for that!"

  Li Yu ignored them and continued onward. He didn't walk like a tightrope walker. He moved with the sliding grace of a water strider. Almost as if he lived here his entire life and did this as his job from birth. His feet adhered to the cable using a tiny amount of Qi so he was cheating a bit. He practically skated up the incline, the staff acting as a balance pole.

  He reached the stranded boy after just a bit. The boy was pale but was still clutching the bleating sheep.

  "Help!" the boy stammered. "I... the gear broke! The wool got stuck! I can't move!"

  Li Yu looked at the jammed pulley. A tuft of the Cloud-Sheep’s incredibly fluffy wool had indeed wound itself into the gears, locking the mechanism tight. The friction had melted the grease, fusing it.

  "Hold still," Li Yu said calmly.

  He reached out with his free hand. He didn't try to untangle it. He simply gripped the solid iron casing of the pulley.

  Crunch.

  Li Yu crushed the iron casing like it was made of paper and exposed the gears. With a flick of his finger, he broke it and freed the wheel.

  "Hold on," Li Yu said.

  He hooked his staff over the cable above the pulley. It hissed as it slid against the iron.

  "Grab my waist," Li Yu ordered.

  The boy grabbed Li Yu’s belt with one hand while holding the sheep with the other. An impressive display of strength. What the boy hadn’t realized was that Li Yu already had a firm hold of both of them with his Qi. He wouldn’t needlessly risk the lives of others while he journeyed as a mortal. Li Yu pushed off.

  They slid down the cable and were picking up speed. Smoke was coming from where the staff ground against the line. The wind roared in their ears. Just as they reached the platform, Li Yu dug his heels into the air and slowed them to a gentle stop.

  The boy collapsed onto the stone while still hugging the sheep. He had a vice like grip on the sheep the entire time. The crowd erupted into cheers.

  "That was amazing!" someone shouted. "You walked on the line like a spider!"

  The young man said his thanks to Li Yu and the several in the crowd offered Li Yu some free drinks or meals if he visited their shops.

  Li Yu spent the next two days in The Tethered Peaks. He became known as "The boy with the Iron Grip." He fixed jammed pulleys, he treated the rope burns on the hands of the elderly using a salve made from local herbs, but it was mostly due to his life Qi. He even helped install a new heavy-duty cable for the cargo transport using his immense strength to pull the tension taut.

  But his eyes were always looking around and he enjoyed people watching while he ate and drank. Several scenes reminded him of his own village when he was smaller. Of people going on about their lives without worrying too far away.

  ‘Sometimes it is just good to enjoy yourself now and be in the moment. Plan ahead but don’t forget about the now and here. It’s easy to say but hard to do… well for some people the reverse would be true…’ Li Yu thought with a smile while he shared some roasted yak with Tekton.