Yu Di pulled back his hand to find Reis standing over him.

  “Let’s not kill our savior,” Reis said. He waved his hand to motion his men over. They made a solitary wall against the oncoming rushing mortals. “Let’s hurry into the temple where it’s easier to defend. I’ll bring High Priestess Faouzia inside.”

  “No, I will.” Vimala lifted the high priestess like a sack of rice, carrying her with her arms. “No man shall touch her. Carry Yu Di with us.”

  Reis nodded before helping Yu Di up onto his feet.

  Yu Di’s entire body screamed in protest as all his bruised muscles flared. He tasted blood in his mouth and he wasn’t sure how. Had he pushed himself so hard that he burned his own blood essence? He’ll have to find out later on the jade tablet if he made it somewhere safe.

  Reis had half carried, half pushed Yu Di all the way to the temple before dumping him onto the ground. The rest of his men retreated into the temple with weapons drawn.

  Yu Di sprawled on the ground for a moment, looking up at the ceiling and its concentric circles. He took a moment to really soak in the ridiculous situation he got himself into again. Feeling every bit of his body bruised and battered. Was this his life now? Get cursed and continue to fight these life-and-death battles that he never sought as a cultivator?

  Yu Di would give anything to be back in his village, having some wine, and eating that fatty roast pork.

  “Hey, hey!” Vimala shouted. “Yu Di, we have to go.”

  Yu Di heard shouting, screaming, crying, and weapons clashing. He looked up to see Vimala dragging him by his useless arm. His useless, painful, bruising, broken arm. He liked this dragging feeling, not having to do anything himself.

  At least until his shoulder popped in the most painful way.

  Yu Di shrieked. Everything came back into focus from the smell of burnt flesh to the feeling of sharp pebbles underneath him where he was being dragged.

  “Are you finally awake, Demigod?” Vimala shouted. “Move or die here.”

  Yu Di pulled himself up and hobbled into the waiting tunnel at the back of the temple. It was a hidden door behind the pulpit that led into a dark hole.

  The fighting behind with Reis’s men had pushed them into the temple. Reis fought at the front with his bare fists while his men had curved swords.

  “Reis, come on!” Vimala shouted across the temple. She held the door open.

  “We’re coming,” Reis said. “Retreat!”

  Reis and his men made a hasty retreat toward the tunnel’s entrance. They were halfway there when the temple’s ceiling opened up, letting in the day’s light. A gloved hand reached down through the dome and crushed half of Reis’s men.

  Reis glowed white with the Goddess Qi before making a desperate run for the tunnel. He jumped through the opening, pushed past Vimala and Yu Di, and kept running. “Close it, close it, close it.”

  “But your men,” Vimala said.

  “They’re already dead.”

  Vimala looked out and saw the men moving slowly. The Shah’s army behind them were closing in fast. She held onto the door, her hands shaking.

  Yu Di pushed her out of the way and slammed the door closed.

  “No, they can still make it.” Vimala tried to pull the door open against Yu Di’s weight.

  Yu Di pushed a small Qi artifact against the door, making the door a hundred times its weight. “Reis is right. They’re all dead. That strike was from Fatima. Her specialty is mind control. Even if they survived the crushing weight of her hand, they wouldn’t be in their right minds anymore. Which reminds me.”

  Yu Di took out a small lighting artifact and passed it to Vimala. He also took out a sword and pointed it down the tunnel.

  “What’s the sword for?” Vimala asked.

  “Reis if he’s turned,” Yu Di said. “We can’t be sure the man is still in his right mind after taking that hit from a person in the third realm. I’ve experienced it and it made me do things I never thought I would do. And I have a Demigod’s body.”

  Vimala nodded as they walked through the tunnels. It was a straightforward tunnel with no obstacles, yet they took their time.

  Yu Di had to hobble along with only a helping hand from Vimala while struggling to keep his sword in his left hand. The rest of him was in dull, aching pain, probably his body finally giving him a break.

  After half an hour of walking, they saw a light at the end of the tunnel. It shone brightly, but its color was pure white, unlike the sunlight.

  “That’s not right,” Vimala said. “The tunnel leads to a dark storage room. Even if they had torches, it wouldn’t be this bright.”

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Yu Di returned his sword into his storage ring. He knelt down on the ground, feeling bone-weary. He knew what the white light meant.

  “I’m sorry I ever got you into this mess, Vimala.” Yu Di reached into his storage ring for a special construct. Now that he was out of barriers, he had to get creative. He created this artifact for his daughter for when she was younger and too rambunctious for him to handle. It covered the target in a film that absorbed the impact from either falls or sharp rocks or in this case, weapons soon pointed at them.

  Yu Di only had one so he put it on Vimala.

  “What is this?” Vimala pulled at the film.

  “The only protection I have left,” Yu Di said. “Let’s go meet our hosts.”

  The moment they crossed the threshold into the storage room, an army of priests surrounded them. Each of them wore a white robe similar to High Priest Kutan, except they had no embellishments. Each of them glowed with a white aura that showed at least the middle stages of the first realm. None of them had a core, but their numbers more than made up for that.

  Kutan stood in the middle, his gaze locking onto Vimala. “We finally meet again, Goddess. You could have saved yourself so much pain and trouble if you had stayed in the castle.” He looked past Yu Di. “Where’s your prince?”

  Vimala looked around, high and low. “Where’s the high priestess, Faouzia?”

  Kutan narrowed his eyes. “What High Priestess?” He looked around just as Vimala did. He pointed at three of the priests. “You three find that hag. Kill her if she resists. Otherwise, bring her back alive to the Pavilion.”

  The three priests saluted with their arms across their chests before running out of the storage room.

  The only good news was that at least Yu Di knew where the exit was.

  Kutan spat on the floor. “Take them back to the Pavilion. Gag and tie them up. We will not have a repeat of last time.”

  The priests closed in on the pair except one. The lonely priest stood in the back, hands clasped, and mumbled something under his breath. It sounded like prayers to the Goddess.

  “What are you doing?” Kutan asked him.

  The man looked up. He looked young. He couldn’t have been over twenty. Yet he had a serene look on his face. He was at peace with himself.

  Yu Di pulled Vimala back. “Run when I do.” He recognized that face. He’d seen it many times over the years. It was one of complete surrender.

  The young man glowed white, his entire body churning with chaotic Goddess Qi.

  The other priests turned to him, realizing what he was doing. One of them grabbed Kutan and ran.

  “Vimala, tell Prince Ying that I have repaid my debt,” the man said. He looked up at the sky. “Also, please ask the Goddess to forgive me for all that I’ve done.”

  Yu Di ran out the exit as fast as he could with Vimala following close behind. The ground shook as the young man unleashed his rampant Qi. The storage building exploded outward in a flash of white.

  Yu Di braced for the debris to knock them down. To his surprise, the white Qi stopped large chunks of the building from slamming into them. How did the young man learn such fine Qi control?

  That was such a waste. He could have been a powerful cultivator if given a chance.

  Yu Di kept running, feeling his feet hitting a paved road. After three blocks, he was out of breath and had to stop.

  “Why are we stopping?” Vimala asked. The woman had a slight sheen to her skin, but wasn’t out of breath at all.

  “I can’t breathe,” Yu Di said. “I don’t know where to go.”

  Vimala looked around at the buildings. “Follow me if you can keep up.” She took off at a slight jog, slower than the pace they kept before.

  Yu Di hammered his chest to get the breath in before pulling in Qi from the air to power this jog. His Demigod body made it worse as it took most of the Qi to repair itself. This feeling of heavy pressure on his lungs made him remember how it was to be mortal. He took out his jade tablet for a quick peek.

  Current Power: Realm 1, Stage 3, Peak Level (Core Formation)

  Remaining Lifespan: 2 years, 8 months.

  Current Status: Cursed (19.6% lifted)

  Overall Power: Fourth Realm, End Stage, Peak level (Demigod)

  Yu Di put away the tablet. He lost more of his lifespan. What happened to it? The only positive he could take away was that at least he wasn’t dead. That last act he did in the sect should have killed him.

  The buildings they passed by at first were decent looking. The buildings were brick, and the people on the street were all dressed up in cotton and silk.

  It wasn’t until they took a sharp turn southward that the buildings became worse. Many of them were made of packed earth. Laundry hung on lines between buildings. Children were the majority, running around in filthy clothes without a care in the world.

  “Almost there,” Vimala said. Her pace slowed down to a quick walk.

  Yu Di was thankful because his heart was not only pounding; it wanted a divorce from his body.

  A sweet smell hit him. He turned to see rats on skewers roasting over a grill. Yu Di knew his people ate everything under the sun, but it took a certain desperation to eat vermin. Where were they?

  Vimala took another turn down the main road onto a worse one, if that was possible. This path wasn’t paved, but all the hungry eyes dwarfed the discomfort of walking over rocks. Each belonged to a small body that looked more like dolls than children.

  “Vimala!” a boy yelled. He charged down the path until he rushed into Vimala’s waiting arms. “Do you have food? We’re so hungry.”

  “Farooq.” Vimala hugged the boy against her chest.

  As if that was the signal, all the other little bodies moved forward out of their hiding places. Some held the hands of even smaller bodies.

  Yu Di hunched over, his left hand on his legs, trying desperately to catch his breath. He couldn’t help but feel the pull of these children.

  This was the middle section of the city, outside of the lower section where the Shah’s army attacked. Yet, these children fared much worse than those in the war zone. How could that be?

  “Please Vimala, we haven’t eaten in days,” Farooq said.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t have any food,” Vimala said. “I have been on the run for the last few days.”

  “On the run?” The boy looked at her legs. “Your legs must be very tired. Come and sit for a while before you go then. You can bring us food later.”

  Farooq led Vimala away with him toward a dilapidated building. It had boards covering all the windows.

  Yu Di tried to follow, but the swarm of little kids surrounded him. He wasn’t sure what to do as he had given out most of his food the last time he wandered the city.

  “I’m sorry, but…” Yu Di paused, remembering he had something. He might not have any more mortal food, but he had a storage ring full of cultivator’s food. However, he wasn’t sure how it would affect these tiny mortal bodies.

  Yu Di made the simple calculations in his mind. If he didn’t give them the food, they would die soon anyway. At least with his food, they might survive.

  “Children, I have something for you all, but you all have to do something for me,” Yu Di said. “I have food for you but—”

  Curse unlocked: .1% lifted.

  “Don’t listen to him,” Ying Fusu’s voice rang out. The prince walked over to the crowd of students holding two huge satchels. He dropped it on the ground and the kids swarmed it.

  Yu Di wanted to object that he was only going to offer them food, but the look on the prince’s face told him he should keep quiet for now. Instead, he cupped his hands and bowed.

  “Greetings Prince Ying,” he said.

  “Inside. Now.” Ying Fusu walked past Yu Di into the same building as Vimala.

  What the hell did Yu Di do this time?