Huang Jin stayed crouched low to the ground as he extended his qi to analyse the situation. There were two cultivators here, and one had just been blasted out the side of a building. Neither had yet reached the apex of the Realms of the Body- the one on the ground was in the Advanced Realm, and the one doing the menacing had power reaching the Adept level. By some miracle, the Advanced man’s flight path hadn’t taken him through any mortals; the prince could sense no casualties.

  Earth qi was a powerful, steadying, and connecting force. The Adept exuded a force like a landslide barely held back by a retaining wall, ready to spill over at any time. Still, the Advanced expert got his hands under him, and then his feet, rising to a challenge he couldn’t possibly meet.

  “Master, what should we do?” the prince asked his Master in a fierce whisper.

  She didn’t bother lowering her voice in her reply. “Well, this looks like a heaping helping of none of our goddamned business, love. I think we keep walking.”

  That was true, actually. They had no reason to interfere; the combatants didn’t appear to pay them any mind and the mortals had already fled. For them, it was as easy as walking away, so they did.

  The whole ordeal served as a reminder of their destination. This was the crowd the Auction brought: powerful, but volatile. Huang Jin paid more attention to his surroundings as they continued. He had more than his own flesh to protect today.

  The buildings began to take on a less haphazard quality, and the people operated with less abandon and more solemnity as the pair penetrated deeper into the city. Real sculptural quality began to make itself known; intricate carving adorned some of the structures. The streets artfully incorporated sluiceways and aqueducts to redirect the water that would naturally tend downward, toward the city’s sunken heart. Down and down they went, until the walls of the inner courtyards rose above them.

  The sun began to set, though not much time had actually passed. In such a crevasse, sunset came at an early hour. Just before they reached an entrance to the outermost reaches of the palace complex, a voice rang out. “Lady Swallowstone? Lady Swallowstone, is that you?” A male voice, in an incredulous tone.

  Huang Jin’s eyes met his Master’s for only an instant. She wore a look he could only describe as ‘pleasant inevitability,’ as though a burden had just been placed on her which she could not ignore but did not entirely dislike. Then, she rounded on the newcomer with her arms spread out and a wide look of artificial joy plastered over her features.

  “Why, if it isn’t ‘Thirty-Seconds’ Hong, my favorite customer! What a surprise!”

  A man jogged up to meet her. A cultivator, certainly, and the prince’s mind kicked into overdrive making connections. Adept-level, the same as the Earth-aspected expert from before; but this man was less like a raging landslide and more like a sheathed sword. He smiled with uncontrolled glee, approached the Master with unguarded steps, but steel lay beneath. With the right stimuli, he could produce a biting edge.

  The man clasped her hands and then drew his face in for a kiss, which she bent herself backward to evade. It had the air of ritual, something they had done countless times. He laughed, and said, “How I’ve wished to head up to the White Mountains to see you again! I don’t suppose I can convince you to-”

  Master cut him off with a finger to his lips. “Mama Orchid hasn’t managed to wrangle me onto the payroll for some time. I’m here on other business today,” she added, gesturing at Huang Jin. “Look at me, a proper guide and guardian. It’s a vital thing; no time for pro bono work.”

  The prince understood. He already knew that his Master had once been employed by Mama Orchid, the girls referred to her as a ‘part timer’ on occasion. Her prostitute name was ‘Lady Swallowstone?’ It made sense. Beautiful, desirable, but ancient beyond mortal reckoning. Also a double entendre in the Master’s favorite dead language.

  Fortunately, the man accepted her refusal with grace. “Pity! I do hope I can come to Songying soon… But for now, the Elders have another in the area on scouting duty. There’s been a lot of maneuvering since the Roiling Pines were wiped out. Tell me, how have you been getting along?”

  ‘Lady Swallowstone’ shook her head. “You ought to try talking them into committing to it. There’ve been more than a few cultivators around, taking a look at the free real estate. It’s been over four years already, the other Sects might move in before your boys get a chance. I’d prefer it if your folk could win out, I could use a few friendly neighbors.”

  “Ah, and our good Mama Orchid would enjoy an influx of able customers, I suppose!” the cultivator laughed.

  “Such an able-bodied coinpurse you keep!” The conversation continued, the man named ‘Hong’ open and vigorous in his questions, while the Master responded with much affection and little detail. Huang Jin found himself drawn into the mundanity of the thing, for he had never seen this side of his Master before.

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  Finally, however… “Oh, I nearly forgot to ask! How is that darling coworker of yours doing, the spicy one with the black hair? Kind of looked like you?”

  Her aura changed abruptly, from a loose manner meant for conversation with a casual friend to something… sharper. Her back straightened, her head cocked to the side, her stance became tense. “Are you referring to my granddaughter?”

  “G-granddaughter?” he boggled. “Why- what a trade to practice alongside family! I somehow never imagined you were the type to have one. But I suppose it makes sense, I know that you’re an expert yourself, and long life alongside such activities… though it is strange, I never felt any real power from the girl!” The revelation sent the man babbling.

  “Quite mortal, in fact. Too mortal.” Master shook her head. “I picked a bad time to wander off. While I was away, there was an incident with the Roiling Pines Sect.”

  At this, the cultivator stilled, chastened. “Oh. Oh, Lady Swallowstone, I am so sorry. She was a good woman.” His voice carried genuine regret.

  “Indeed. But, I can’t claim that no good came of it, in the end. The Roiling Pines happened to her, and I happened to them.”

  In the silence that followed, only Huang Jin stirred. The world seemed to hang suspended on the end of that sentence, even the sun refusing to sink beneath the canyon wall at its appointed time. In the canyon-floor city-complex of the Hallowed Rift, sunset should be an abrupt thing, but the reddening sky seemed frozen in the tension of the moment.

  He realized it wasn’t an illusion. Pedestrians didn’t choke this path as they did the outer districts, but there were people around. Those the prince could see did not move, not even to bring their feet down mid-stride. Time had literally stopped; only himself, and by extension Baoshi, the Master, and her friend remained active.

  Hong noticed, too, and swallowed hard. “L… Lady Swallowstone, do you mean to tell me that you were the one who…?” The question lingered in the silent air.

  The Master drew in close, her nose nearly touching Hong’s. She held her face in near-contact for a moment with amusement dancing in those graphite eyes. Then, her lips met his in the lightest of pecks before she put them to his ear and whispered, “I have done many things, some of which you know and some you do not. Your favorite whore is a woman who has worn many shoes.”

  She drew away and waved a hand, returning the world to motion. The sun finally made it past the lip of the Rift, yet the city did not darken with the sunset. Between lanterns, bonfires, and glowing jewels that might have been carved from that central palace citadel, the Hallowed Rift never fell into complete darkness. As the light from the sky faded and the light from the city rose, Hong still stood transfixed.

  Finally, shaking his head as if trying to escape from stupor, he recovered. His first response to the revelation was simple and universal: he bowed deeply at the waist. “Forgive my rudeness, Lady. Do I…” The words caught in his throat. Likely, he found himself caught between two absolute imperatives. Survival, and organizational loyalty.

  Master sighed. “Yes, you have permission to tell your Sect about it. If you want a bit more information, you’ll likely find it at the Auction. I’ll be acting as a backer for my apprentice in the ancient ways,” she said, gesturing again at Huang Jin. “You might hear a name your Elders will recognize.”

  “I shall be there, Lady Swallowstone,” Hong replied with infinite, carefully-controlled dignity. The effect was dampened somewhat by the sweat lining every visible inch of his flesh. Then, he scurried off somewhere, dismissed.

  The Master watched his retreating back for some time before she shrugged and continued on the way to their destination, as if nothing had happened. Her apprentice, too, remained quiet in the immediate aftermath, holding his dragon close for mutual comfort.

  -

  “You know, there’s just something exciting about sleeping in a hotel.” Lavish furnishings filled the suite, pristine and covered with auspicious red linens. Baoshi floated about the room, happy to have some room to roam; and it was spacious. If the keepers of the Earth Gate provided such rooms to the mere craftspeople, Huang Jin had to wonder how the actual guests were treated.

  Registration had gone more-or-less smoothly. It involved a lot of paperwork, a veritable army of scribes were stationed in the hall of the outer courtyards for the occasion and every one of them had looked exhausted. Master’s crystalline identification had fast-tracked the process, but it still took most of the night.

  Now they were set up in one of the guest rooms prepared for the ‘producers,’ or at least those with known names. Seemingly, they were intending to use his Master for some act of showmanship, but that was all for tomorrow, for the ceremony. She lounged on one of the two beds, relaxing in monochrome pajamas as if she hadn’t a care in the world.

  He didn’t want to overstep, but the questions had been stirred up in his mind. “Master?”

  “Tier Five-B, Planet level, MFTL.”

  The prince blinked and said nothing for a moment. “... What?”

  “Oh! Sorry, after the time-stoppy thing I thought you were going to ask about how much juice I’ve got. What were you going to ask?”

  He shook his head. “It’s, uh, more personal than that. I think I know you better now, and I don’t think you’ll take offense.”

  She gestured for him to continue. “You’re right. Go ahead.”

  He had committed, and he absolutely wanted to know. “Will you tell me about… about your granddaughter, and the Roiling Pines?”