“Now that that’s settled… may I ask where you are planning to acquire rope, Miss Song Fen?” Xu Chang asked. Li Xiulan turned to Song Fen, having been wondering the same thing. After all, they were stuck on the roof. Anything they may have had access to inside of the pavilion was far out of reach and nobody had thought to bring anything of the sort with them.

“T…t-hat is also a bit unfortunate,” Song Fen said with a sigh. “We’ll have to use our clothes.”

Even Hou Jin turned around to stare at Song Fen after she said it. With three pairs of eyes fixed on her, her face grew red.

“Please don’t look at me like that… I mean to use our sleeves and hems, that’s all.”

“How could we hold a giant spirit with such a flimsy rope?” Hou Jin said, his top lip curling in disgust once more. But Song Fen did not seem at all deterred, the light in her eyes only shining brighter.

“We have t…t-hree cultivators with us. If we all infuse our spiritual energy into it, the rope will hold. I can promise you that.”

“Even three of us is not going to be enough…” Hou Jin began, but Xu Chang cut him off with a shake of his head.

“Master Hou Jin, even using all three of us is a courtesy for Miss Song Fen. Have you not noticed the way she fights?”

It was evident that Hou Jin had not, in fact, noticed, as he gave Xu Chang a blank look. Xu Chang closed his eyes and let out a breath.

“Miss Song Fen, would you be so kind as to demonstrate?”

Song Fen extended a hand. Li Xiulan expected her to reach for her sword, but instead she reached forward. Her sword reacted at her side almost immediately, withdrawing itself and slicing through the air in a perfect arc to reach her hand. Even then, it didn’t land, hovering just in front of her.

“As you can see, Master Hou Jin, Miss Song Fen has much stronger spiritual abilities than most. She fights entirely without the use of her hands. Should she want to, I am quite certain that she could enchant a rope of her own accord.”

Both Li Xiulan and Hou Jin were transfixed, staring at the floating blade. To an outsider, perhaps it would seem like a trivial feat. Cultivators could fly on their swords, so what difference did it make to be able to make a sword float? But from all the scrolls and books Li Xiulan had read, she had very rarely heard of those who fought like this. It required incredible focus and strength since it lacked the connection point with the flesh; it was much harder to command a sword to do your bidding when it wasn’t an extension of yourself.

Under their gaze, Song Fen withdrew into herself, the redness overtaking her elegant features. She covered her face with her hands.

“I assure you… I am not t…t-hat powerful,” she mumbled. “I would not trouble you for your help if I didn’t think it necessary.”

“Don’t be so modest, Song Fen,” Li Xiulan said, barely managing to shake off her awe to speak. She found herself reaching out and touching the blade, surprised by how it felt both easy to move and completely immovable. It wavered slightly beneath her touch, but stayed aloft despite it, as if it were held up by a puppet’s strings. “You are… so much stronger than I thought.”

“Stop,” Song Fen squeaked, hiding her face in her knees. “T…t-hat’s enough, please. I think my heart will explode if you say anything more.”

Li Xiulan smiled, placing a hand on Song Fen’s shoulder and shaking it gently. As requested, she didn’t say another word, letting Song Fen take a moment to breathe.

“Master Hou Jin,” Xu Chang said, “perhaps we should collect cloth to make our rope while Miss Song Fen prepares for the enchantment?”

Hou Jin grunted in agreement, seeming glad for an excuse to turn away from Song Fen. He stomped off towards the scholars and Li Xiulan could only hope that he would at least ask before trying to tear all their clothes apart.

Song Fen nodded appreciatively at Xu Chang as he moved to follow Hou Jin. He returned the gesture with a quick bow, leaving Song Fen and Li Xiulan alone.

“Xu Chang seems nice,” Li Xiulan ventured. Song Fen had recovered a bit, uncovering her face and instead lying her chin against her knees.

“He is. I believe I mentioned before t…t-hat he and my brother are friends.”

“I’m surprised, honestly. But at the same time, he feels like he has the personality of a brother, with how much he tries to corral Hou Jin.” Li Xiulan glanced over at Song Fen. “And with how much he seems to fuss over you, as well.”

Song Fen shook her head with a scoff. “No, believe me, that is just the way he is. He tries to make sure that he sees everyone for exactly what they are worth. He can be brutally honest, at times, but when he likes you, he acknowledges you.”

Li Xiulan hummed, watching how Xu Chang soothed the men that Hou Jin riled up with his blunt manner. “Would you say he’s your friend, then?”

Song Fen pursed her lips. After a moment, she laughed and glanced away.

“I wouldn’t say so. I don’t think he would say that about me.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she shook her head, pushing herself to her feet. “Nevermind. T…t-hat’s rather rude, isn’t it? He is one of my favorite people in the sect, at least.”

Song Fen glanced at her sword, and before Li Xiulan could say a word, it leapt into the air and made a slicing motion. Song Fen’s long sleeves were cut off at the shoulder, slipping down and pooling around her wrists. She slid them off, and with one more slice they became long ribbons.

“May I, Li Xiulan?” she asked, the sword turning in the air. With a sword pointed right at her, Li Xiulan found her mind going blank for a moment, feeling the urge to step back. She had to forcibly remind herself that it was Song Fen who was in control of the sword. She nodded, immediately squeezing her eyes shut as the sword approached.

There was the sound of metal moving through the air, and then suddenly her arms were much colder than they had been before. She blinked her eyes back open and let her sleeves fall to the ground. When they landed, there was a small clink and the dull metallic noise of a bell. Li Xiulan, remembering what she had stuffed inside there, quickly knelt down and collected her little good-luck charm from the pile, tucking it safely into her belt before passing the cloth to Song Fen.

With her arms now exposed to the air, she shivered and rubbed her hands along them for warmth. She hadn’t been able to feel it before, but the fog was filling the air with an eerie chill.

Hou Jin returned, his arms victoriously piled high with cloth that he may or may not have chopped off from the scholars without asking. He released the flood onto the ground where it pooled around Song Fen’s feet. Xu Chang followed soon after, placing his much more modest, but nicely cut and folded, pile gently next to Hou Jin’s.

“T…t-hank you, Hou Jin, Xu Chang,” Song Fen said, giving them each a nod. She glanced at the sky, or at least what used to be the sky. “We’re running out of time. Sit; we need to braid this all into a rope. Quickly.”

Li Xiulan did as instructed. Xu Chang was also quick to do so, but Hou Jin lingered, as if he was trying to make it look like his own decision to sit. Song Fen didn’t wait for him, passing out the cloth strips and beginning to give instructions on how to twist and layer it. Seeing that he was being left behind, Hou Jin finally plopped down, begrudgingly taking what Song Fen handed him.

They had very little to work with, meaning that the final width of the rope was extremely thin, and it was only perhaps as long as two people stacked on top of each other. Maybe two and a half, if they were Song Fen’s size. Either way, Li Xiulan couldn’t imagine it would be easy to carry a monster with the rope, spiritual energy or no spiritual energy.

Her skepticism was reflected on Hou Jin’s face. But, she couldn’t possibly let herself think the same way as him, so she tried to smooth out her expression as much as possible and turned to Song Fen.

“Song Fen, do you think you can work with this?” she said sweetly, trying to be optimistic. That was shattered when she saw the exact same look of skepticism on Song Fen’s face.

“It’s not quite what I had hoped for,” Song Fen said. Her fingers closed around the rope, coiling it up in her lap until it was one condensed circle. “But it will have to work. Xu Chang, Hou Jin, we’re going t…t-o strengthen it now.”

Li Xiulan scrambled back, giving them space. She wished she could do something to help with the nervousness in Song Fen’s eyes, but without any power of her own, she knew the best thing to do was to just stand back.

All three of them took hold of the rope. There were no magic words, no glowing lights, nothing special about it at all. Their eyes slid closed and they stood in silence.

Although Li Xiulan couldn’t see anything happen, in an odd way she could almost feel it. It was like she was sitting outside in a snowstorm, but a comforting tendril of warmth rose toward her from a newly-started fire. The feeling was gone as quick as it came, but it left behind a sort of strange new confidence in her. It was working. 

Song Fen let out a breath, her eyes slowly opening. Xu Chang and Hou Jin opened their eyes and withdrew their hands. Hou Jin immediately crossed his arms with a scoff.

“You just wanted to show off. Didn’t even give us a chance to do anything.”

Song Fen laughed awkwardly, tilting her head to the side. “My apologies, Hou Jin. I’m just t…t-rying to make it as strong as possible.”

He rolled his eyes and wandered to the edge of the roof. He grimaced as he looked down.

“You weren’t wrong. The fog is getting close now. If we’re going to do this, it has to be soon.”

Song Fen nodded, getting to her feet. Li Xiulan followed after, trying to keep hold of that newfound shred of confidence even as her heart began to beat harder in her chest.

Song Fen and Hou Jin stood at the edge of the roof, each of their swords floating at their feet. Song Fen looked over to Hou Jin.

“Remember the plan?” she said. He scoffed.

“Fly down, fly up, use the rope. Not that hard.”

Song Fen handed him one end of the rope. “When it comes out of the fog, you go right, I go left.”

“Whatever.”

Hou Jin’s sword dipped further towards his feet, allowing him to step up onto it. Song Fen lowered hers as well, but as she began to step up, she caught Li Xiulan’s gaze.

“Wish me luck?” she asked, the hint of a smile on her lips. Li Xiulan tried her best to smile back.

“I wish you the best of luck,” she said. As the words emerged, her eyes widened. “Hold on, Song Fen, just wait for a moment. There’s something I want you to have.”

Li Xiulan reached into her belt and pulled from it the tiny rabbit charm. What was it that the merchant had said? Good luck, protection in battle?

She held up the charm on its little string, letting Song Fen get a good look at it.

“I was given this good luck charm before arriving here. I was told that it might be able to protect someone in battle. Uh, I don’t think I really need it, so.” She took Song Fen’s hand, placing the charm in it and gently closing her fingers around it. “This might, uh, be weird to hear, but you’re the first friend I think I’ve ever had. These past few days have been some of the best of my life, despite… everything. So…” 

Her grip tightened unconsciously around Song Fen’s fingers. She was shaking, although she wasn’t quite sure why.

“Please come back to me?”

She squeezed her eyes shut and bowed down until Song Fen’s hand was pressed to her forehead. Her skin was cool against Li Xiulan’s warm-from-nerves skin, and it sent a wave of calm over her to just… hold her.

She felt Song Fen’s grip tighten on the charm and took it as her cue to pull back. Song Fen’s eyes were watering, and she seemed not to know where to look.

“T…t-hank you, Li Xiulan,” she said, voice trembling. “I… look. I’ll put it right here.” She took the charm and tied it through her belt so that it hung down on her left side, a small pop of color against the gray robes. When she looked back at Li Xiulan, it was with eyes that overflowed with gratitude, searching Li Xiulan’s face as if trying to memorize every piece of it.

“I’ll bring it back to you once I’m done, my precious friend.”

Her lips kept moving, trying to form words that came out as silence. Finally, she pressed her lips together, settling on an appreciative look.

“I’ll be back, Li Xiulan. I won’t fail you.”

She stepped up onto Jingshen. Her urgency was ushered by the glare Hou Jin was giving her. Li Xiulan didn’t want to delay them any further, so she gave Song Fen a simple nod and stepped back.

“Good luck to you both,” she said. She clasped her hands tightly in front of her. As the two of them lept from the roof, although she didn’t know whether her words would be received through the spirit’s boundary or not, she sent out a prayer to her father to let them succeed.