The formation took them to a small room made of hard-packed, reinforced dirt. A rickety ladder, a trapdoor in the ceiling, and then… grass. An endless, flowing ocean of tall, yellow grass, growing up to Huang Jin’s stomach. He turned around in a complete circle, taking in the view. Clear blue sky, a smattering of wind-swept clouds, and yet more grass. The gentle hills created the illusion of swelling waves as stalks bent in the warm breeze.

  If he focused very far away, he could just make out tiny copses of trees, like islands above choppy waters.

  “Behold, the Nameless Plains,” said Master.

  “I think that’s apt,” he replied. “‘Nameless’ as a stand-in for ‘featureless.’”

  “You could walk within a mile of the Hallowed Rift, and you’d never suspect it… at least, during the day. In this flat country, you can see the Path of Lanterns from dozens of miles away. Don’t fear getting lost- but follow close. And don’t let Baoshi out of your cloak, even here! The grass can be treacherous.”

  At the words, he could feel the little shape huddle closer against his chest. The dragon’s claws sunk uncomfortably into his ‘father’s’ flesh, but the prince did not complain, cradling him all the tighter.

  As it turned out, the teleportation point was not particularly close to the city. The march gave Master and student time to catch up after half a year spent apart. “You know, I kind of expected you’d make an enchanted sword for the auction.”

  “Really?” Beneath his travelling cloak, Huang Jin brushed the short sword at his waist. “Funny, I never even thought of it!”

  She gave him an appraising side-eye. “With the way you handle formations, I’m sure you could cook up something truly devastating. But, aptitude must often take a backseat to enthusiasm.” She put a hand to her chin and observed his way of walking for a moment, causing him to shift his gait in discomfort. “Well, it doesn’t look like you’ve neglected your training. Seeing what you got up to, I was half afraid your deep dive into applied microbiological alchemy would mess with your Sword Dao routines.”

  “That’s a mouthful!” He relaxed at her approval. It hadn’t been easy to keep up with that pursuit with everything else going on, and his apprenticeship hadn’t been focused on combat arts to begin with. He had no intention of taking that Dao, that path, to its conclusion. But he was an artificer as well as an alchemist, and one could not create something without understanding it on some level. Swords were something of a hot-ticket item in the world of cultivation, and he would have to both create and wield them on his own path, wherever it may lead.

  She listened patiently as he recited all of this, nodding. “And do you feel that you understand the ideal of ‘Sword’ any better, after these six months?”

  He could only shake his head, his long hair moving about in the breeze like the stalks of grass around him. “No. My understanding has neither decayed nor advanced.”

  “Good enough, I mean you made a fucking dragon, I can’t ask for everything.”

  They had time to speak of many more things before the ground began to lift. It was gentle, at first, just enough to hide the terrain ahead from view. But the slope grew steeper and steeper, until finally the pair stood on top of the ridge.

  Huang Jin boggled at the view stretching out beneath his feet.

  “Geology quiz!” his Master chimed. “What natural force caused this?”

  A truly vast chasm filled his entire line of vision. Layer upon layer of rock had been revealed and disturbed here; there were ridges and valleys and tears, a badland of tormented stone and exposed veins of crystal. He knew plenty of geology, and came to a conclusion immediately: “Master, that’s metamorphic bedrock. Nothing in nature pulverizes granite this bad, this fast, not this far from a plate boundary. Something dug this place!” His eyes traced the path it must have taken, from the relatively shallow region far to his left, to the depths down to his right.

  There was a city in the midst of the wreckage, every large building carved from the sheer stone. The Path of Lanterns led straight into the heart of it, the spirit lanterns visible even from this distance. And there, in the deepest part of the depression, lay a glittering ‘something.’ A palace? A temple? Lovely straight lines, shaped from a solid chunk of glassy crystal, like quartz.

  “Crazy, isn’t it? The Gate of the Earth Sovereign, they call it… more like a sewer cap on the Wild, really. In spite of everything, it is pretty. You were raised in a palace, I’ll bet this place reminds you of home, huh?”

  The prince stood transfixed. Not because of the view, but because of a memory. Or rather, a hole, the aching lack of a memory where one should be.

  The last six months of feverish activity had not aided his memory situation. He had seen something very much like this once, long ago… but inverted. Now, he gazed down at a palace deep within a hole in the Earth; then, he had gazed up at a palace perched atop a great mountain. He did not remember this, he had no image of it, but he knew it must have happened. He must have turned to see the place of his birth as he left it behind, it was a thing that he would do.

  Not nostalgia, nor homesickness, only the context to feel their absence. And that was worse. There had to be a name for this feeling, this knowing lack of an appropriate emotional release. He thought back to Elder Fu, and nothing remained, truly and genuinely nothing. Impressions of impressions, memories of feelings toward events forever out of his reach. His mental search expanded as tears formed in his eyes. Realization struck him in that moment.

  “Master…” he started, voice catching. She listened, and did not interrupt him. “In a little less than a year, I’ll return to the capitol. And it’s not going to be home. There is no home left in me.” His eyes remained on the crystal palace far below- that mocking parody of his missing life.

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  He felt his Master’s appraising gaze. “How bad has it gotten?”

  The prince could do nothing but shake his head. She pressed, “How about your mother? Your sister?”

  “I know they look like me. I remember knowing that. But…” He clutched Baoshi to his chest, and he felt the little dragon dig his nose into him in an attempt to provide comfort. Little Baoshi surely could not comprehend this sudden change in his ‘father’s’ mood… but he wanted to make it better. The Zodiac. Surely, Dog and the others would do the same.

  The prince had abandoned and forgotten those who had loved him, but there were those who loved him still. It was a comfort. Accompanied by a stabbing, white-hot pinprick of guilt… but a comfort nonetheless.

  But Master did not relent. “Your father?”

  “Perfect clarity.” The exact moment, the look of loss on the Emperor’s stern face. “Every detail. Every line. I barely ever saw him, but…” He swallowed hard.

  “We’re wired to prioritize the recollection of pain. Doesn’t that just suck? But that’s life! Chin up, that shit’s not gonna get better by standing up here moping. Come on, let’s get our feet dirty!” She leapt off of the ridge and raced down the canyon, just slow enough that Huang Jin could catch up if he put his mind to it.

  And he did. Still feeling the trailing edge of heaviness, he lifted himself to dash down the wall with her.

  -

  They opted against barreling straight toward the city. There were barriers in place, and watchers to prevent approaches and attacks from the canyon walls, and their business was technically ‘official.’ It was far better to enter through the front gate, where their presence and status could be confirmed.

  The prince noted the bustling activity on the Path of Lanterns. The road wound down through harsh and barren country, but many travelers and merchants were making the journey today. Presumably, these were visitors and vendors here for the Auction.

  Then, he saw the gates of the city rising high above him, elegant filigree covering the vast surface and unbroken stone providing the frame. The doors were cracked and several booths had been set up to check incoming visitors’ credentials. As they drew near and joined in the throng of incoming guests, he noticed something else. The giant doors were flanked with rows of long spikes, coming out of the wall as if grown from the living stone. The thorns had been draped with decorations that instantly dropped Huang Jin’s recently-recovered spirits.

  He could not help but leave his place to get a closer look, and his Master followed. Hoping against hope that this was just some local tradition involving straw dummies or the like, he approached the spires.

  No such luck. Bodies, dozens of them, were impaled there, and many spines held two or three human corpses.

  Master spoke from beside him. “Ah, a message to the wise and a warning to the foolish. Look closely, my apprentice. Tell me what you notice.”

  His eyes were drawn to one in particular, a girl only a little older than himself. The stone showed little traces of blood, meaning that the people had been deceased before they were mounted on the wall. With his enhanced vision and mental faculties working at full blast, he analysed the body.

  He noted aloud, “Callouses indicating frequent use of a knife. External signs of heavy opium use… probably going through withdrawals when it happened. Ah, then…” He moved to other victims, and realized that while each person had different conditions, all shared a common theme. “Criminals.”

  “And can you interpret the message for the wise?”

  Huang Jin turned away from the spectacle in disgust, even as he answered. “‘Behold! We have cleaned the house for our guests.’”

  She caught his shoulder before he could return to the crowd. “Have you decided to abandon your birthright, after all? I would count it wise, if so. But if not, you mustn’t turn away from such things. Look!”

  She pointed up at one of the ‘decorations.’ “Note that man! The thin one, with the massive chin. Can you tell me his crime?”

  It didn’t take much examination, not with Huang Jin’s metaphysical and medical training. He bore signs of injury inflicted by fingernails, in self-defence. More importantly, the fading remnants of his qi told a vivid story. “I could, but I’d rather not mention it aloud…”

  “Yeah, fair enough. Now tell me, what would you do with such a man? Punishment is the domain of a ruler. That,” and again she gestured at the degenerate with the chin, “can’t be blamed on poverty. What would you do?”

  He didn’t have an answer. He couldn’t put himself in that position, not at that exact moment. Finally his Master relented, and they returned to the crowd by the gate. When he finally spoke again, he said, “It seems that I have neglected some things while I’ve been focusing on biochemistry.”

  She shrugged. “Only so many hours in a day.”

  A woman with her power and prestige could have skipped any line entirely, but that just wasn’t how Dahe Yiji tended to do things. They waited for their turn like any of the mortal vendors, which gave the prince time to reflect.

  Ironic. He’d forgotten his own mother’s face, but that little girl- that child who committed murder for opium money and was caught and executed before she could even take her fix- would remain in his mind forever. [Cognitive Enhancement] would not let him forget anything, not truly forget it.

  He barely noticed as his Master gave the guard a shining token that sent him sprawling onto the floor in apology. They carried on to the neat stone buildings of the city proper without issue.

  Not all of the buildings were made of local material. Temporary shops, mortal dwellings, and many other establishments were built from imported wood. Some showed signs of decay; of course, not all of these merchants were newcomers here for the Auction. But nearly all were packed with patrons as people flooded the city.

  As the pair walked by a bustling noodle shop, Huang Jin felt a sudden, explosive build-up of Earth-element qi. It was such a sudden thing, he barely had time to step aside and turn his back to shield Baoshi from the blast. Wood splinters flew in all directions, an earth-shaking BOOM erupted through the crowded street, civilians screamed and scattered.

  Not a speck of dirt had touched Master’s robe, and as the prince rose to his feet he found himself and his dragon unharmed.

  Amid the remnants of the shop’s exterior lay a battered cultivator, his Water-element qi building up as if for a counterattack. A wave of power from within the broken building suppressed the surge in an instant, as a figure in an elegant grey robe emerged.

  “So, you dare to insult the Crystal Soul Sect within our own home! You court death!”

  “Ah! Ah! He said the thing!” cried the Master.