Song Fen flew down from the roof with a nervous determination gripping her heart. In her hands she held one end of the rope, poised and ready to execute her plan. Still, she wished that she could hold both ends, to rely on nobody but herself to complete this mission.

She could trust herself to return to Li Xiulan. Hou Jin, however, was a different story.

Song Fen shook off those thoughts as they slowly approached the surface of the fog. Her own strength would never be enough to capture and slay a spirit so large. It was only natural to rely on somebody else in this situation, no matter who they were. She couldn’t afford to get bogged down by negative thoughts. She had to do this. Not just for herself, not just for Li Xiulan, but for every remaining person who was trapped in this cruel situation.

She let her racing mind grind to a halt. Jingshen stopped a head’s length from the surface of the fog, Hou Jin coming to a stop right beside her. Now began the waiting game.

From above, they could see the vague outline of the spirit as it swam around, but from this angle it completely disappeared. They would have to keep their senses sharp. The instant the spirit moved to strike, they would have to already be gone, or else their lives were forfeit. 

Song Fen kept her sword swaying from side to side to attract the spirit. Hou Jin, however, stayed stationary, glaring into the fog as if he was having a staring contest with the spirit hidden inside. Song Fen didn’t quite care what he did as long as he kept a firm grip on the rope and didn’t get himself killed.

As nothing happened, Song Fen began to worry that perhaps her analysis of the spirit hadn’t been quite right. Had they waited too long? Maybe the spirit wouldn’t try to snap them up when all it had to do was wait. Her wild thoughts made her heart race and her hands shake. She took slow breaths to try to calm herself to no avail.

From somewhere nearby, for just a fraction of an instant, she sensed something. Like something had pierced the surface of the fog.

Song Fen nodded at Hou Jin. It’s coming, she tried to convey, pointing her chin to where the disturbance had been. He shifted his stance, bracing himself to move, and she did the same.

There was a long, torturous silence. The surface of the fog was perfectly still, swallowing all sound. Song Fen could hear the blood rushing in her ears, and had she not been so intensely focused on the task at hand, it may have driven her mad.

Then, like a pebble thrown into a lake, she saw a ripple beneath her.

“Go!” she yelled, leaping upwards on Jingshen. Hou Jin did the same, narrowly avoiding the jaws of the beast that emerged from the fog. Its head was like a snake, covered in spiny scales with long fangs protruding from its mouth; but as it emerged further, Song Fen could see that it had thick, short legs with hideous hooked claws on them. On its sides were membrane-bound pockets that oozed wisps of fog, no doubt the source of its camouflage.

Song Fen had been right; the spirit let out a low hiss as it leapt further, its focus and ire captured by prey dangled just out of reach. Its full head and neck rose from the fog. Song Fen ducked to the side, stretching the rope to its full length before diving forward.

Hou Jin mirrored her movements, meeting her at the back of the creature’s neck. Before it could bend backwards and snap them up, they flew around each other a few times, coiling the rope tight to the spirit’s neck.

“T…t-here!” Song Fen said, nodding towards a nearby rooftop. Both she and Hou Jin began to fly upwards, dragging the beast with them.

This was the first snag in the plan. Song Fen didn’t consider herself particularly strong, but she had figured that whatever the spirit was, it must have been relatively light to be able to move so undetectably through the fog. This proved to be incorrect. As soon as they had reached the end of the rope, Song Fen was nearly thrown backwards by the weight of the thing. It screeched, flailing backwards and nearly tossing her off of Jingshen.

Luckily, Hou Jin was quite a bit stronger than her. He managed to keep his balance and yank the spirit in the other direction, letting Song Fen get her footing back. Knowing what to expect now, Song Fen was able to brace herself for it, pulling with all her might as she rose into the air. 

The spirit hissed, screeched, and flailed wildly as it was pulled in the air, barely held aloft by the makeshift rope. Song Fen could feel its energy wavering in her hands and endeavored to move faster, pouring everything she had into flying.

Even moving as fast as they could, Song Fen could feel their grip on the spirit lessening. A hundred prayers ran through her mind, begging Bai Chen to give her more strength, more speed, more anything so that they would make it. Perhaps her prayers were answered, as both she and Hou Jin seemed to find one last burst of energy in them to surge forward and slam the beast into the rooftop.

Song Fen panted, already more exhausted than she had expected. She lept off of Jingshen, turning around and yelling towards Hou Jin.

“Cut it off from t…t-he back! We can’t let it jump back in!”

Hou Jin nodded, circling back around towards the end of the spirit and jumping off, skidding to the ground as his blade flew into his hand. He made a jab at the spirit, which was already trying to run, forcing it to step closer to the center of the roof.

The spirit let out a low growl. Its eyes were surprisingly intelligent, surveying the field it had been trapped on. Song Fen still had her back turned, in the middle of yelling at Hou Jin, as the beast perceived her. When forced to move away from the edge, it screeched, twisting its long, scaled body to the side and spiking its tail out. That tail, a cold and calculated move, slammed into Song Fen’s side, launching her into the air.

Song Fen barely had time to process what was happening. One moment, her feet were on the ground and she was preparing for a fight; the next, she was looking at the hazy, warped sky. Pain radiated from her side, and she could hear someone yelling her name faintly from somewhere far away. And then she smashed into the roof.

Although she expected the crunching of bones and inevitable rush of pain as her life bled from her body, it never came. Instead there was one single, clean crack, followed by the faint ringing of a bell.

When she pushed herself up, she was in a crater, roof tiles shattered in a halo around her. But a quick look over her body revealed no injuries, and only the faintest pain left in her side from where the spirit had struck. She had no time to think through what that meant, quickly giving her thanks to whatever god had decided to save her and pushing herself to her feet.

“Are you alive?” Hou Jin shouted at her, more surprised than questioning.

“I am,” Song Fen said. She pushed aside the tiles in front of her, letting Jingshen come back to her side as she walked back to cut off the other side of the spirit. It watched her carefully, flicking its tail back and forth as it tried to figure out how she had survived.

“I suppose,” Song Fen continued, “that somebody wants me to survive. So let’s make sure we don’t waste it!”

She launched Jingshen at the side of the spirit, aiming at the thin membranes there. Already they were beginning to produce fog that was pooling faintly around her feet. They couldn’t allow the spirit to turn the battlefield in its favor. They needed to eliminate its advantage.

Hou Jin got the hint, leaping in the air and slashing at the other side of the spirit’s body. It let out a horrible wail, rage filling its eyes as it tried to defend itself from both sides. Its blade-like tail swept back and forth, attempting to knock both cultivators away. Song Fen, having seen the power of that tail first-hand, was keen to stay away, using her spiritual energy to keep Jingshen aloft, ducking and dodging the spirit’s best attempts to swat it from the air.

It was like a delicate piece of weaving. Song Fen perceived the strands there, threading Jingshen through them like a needle, back and forth until she reached her target. Jingshen struck, slicing open one of the membranes. The severed flesh fell to the ground with a splash that was drowned out by the spirit’s screams. But, as Song Fen had suspected, that organ stopped releasing the fog.

The spirit’s eyes fixed on her, the skin around its mouth peeling back to reveal long, jagged fangs. It launched itself forward, barreling towards Song Fen with those fangs aimed right at her throat. Song Fen threw her hand out to summon Jingshen towards her, grabbing the hilt as it passed. It yanked her into the air just an instant before the spirit’s jaws latched onto the spot where she had been.

With the beast momentarily distracted, Song Fen released Jingshen mid-air. She rolled on the ground and ran away from its tail as Jingshen successfully sliced off another one of the membranes. On the other side, Hou Jin managed to slice another, and dodging around the spirit’s tail one more time, he sunk his blade into the final one.

A shudder ran through the spirit’s body. It began to shake wildly back and forth, flinging Hou Jin off its side. Luckily, he didn’t go nearly as far as Song Fen, managing to grab hold of his sword and spiral out of reach of the spirit’s wild attack.

The spirit was filled with desperation now. Its eyes were wide and wild, saliva dripping down in strands from its horrific fangs. It panted heavily, eyeing the edge of the building. However, with its fog-producing organs damaged, there was no longer anywhere to run. The existing fog would slowly fade, leaving the spirit an easy target even if it did manage to escape. The tides had turned against it, and it realized that. That, however, only gave it one final choice: kill or be killed.

“How are you feeling about brute strength?” Song Fen called out to Hou Jin, although she didn’t dare take her eyes off of the spirit.

“I’m liking my chances,” he called back. Song Fen could practically hear the smirk in his voice, and she felt him moving before she saw him. He ran past her, a wild grin on his face as he leapt into the air with his sword aloft.

“Impulsive,” Song Fen muttered under her breath. But, she had expected nothing less. As he collided with the spirit’s tail, she prepared Jingshen, letting it float beside her with its point at the ready.

Hou Jin let out a barking laugh as he pushed the spirit’s tail aside, kicking it away from him and slashing downwards. The spirit stepped back, narrowly avoiding getting its foot skewered by his sword. With a growl, the spirit launched itself forward with its jaws at the ready. Hou Jin jumped as it approached, flipping over its head and landing on its neck.

It howled, shaking its head back and forth viciously. Hou Jin held on for as long as he could, but finally he fell off with a shout. Jingshen soared through the air, guided by Song Fen’s sharp eyes, catching him before he hit the ground and spiraling out of the way of the spirit’s thrashing body. Hou Jin jumped down from the sword as the spirit slashed its claws at him.

“Song Fen, attack its face!” Hou Jin yelled. Song Fen nodded, redirecting her attention. Jingshen followed perfectly, making a circle and pointing back at the spirit’s face. Song Fen slashed downwards, sending the sword point-first at the creature.

It turned its attention from Hou Jin, attempting to swat the sword from the air. It had both precision and power, easily tossing the sword to the side before it could cause any damage. However, this was one of Song Fen’s favorite things about the way she fought. Before the sword even managed to hit the ground, she regained control, turning it right back towards the spirit.

The spirit could clearly sense Hou Jin approaching it from the side. It kept trying to turn its head, to claw at him or slash him with its tail, but every time it took its attention off of Song Fen, she landed a successful hit against its face. It was no more than mere scratches against its scales, but they infuriated it. The spirit wailed, slashing wildly at its face and slowly pushing itself towards the edge of the building.

With Song Fen’s neverending onslaught of attacks, the spirit was powerless to keep Hou Jin from moving forward. Its attempts were half-hearted sweeps of its tail, which Hou Jin easily leapt over. He ran closer, jumping into the air and stabbing his sword into one of the severed membranes. It sank all the way to the hilt.

The spirit roared, rolling over in an attempt to smash Hou Jin into the roof. He, however, was faster, pulling his sword out and sliding over the beast’s side.

Precision became the furthest thing from the spirit’s mind. It slashed and bit with reckless abandon, giving no heed to where it was aiming. It became an impenetrable shield to attacks from the ground, leaving Hou Jin stuck anxiously waiting for an opening. Song Fen, however, knew his plan, and had the added benefit of not having to control her sword with her body. She took careful aim and launched Jingshen towards the spirit.

Jingshen slid easily through the spirit’s defenses, delicately weaving its way through each and every strike. Song Fen led it to the spirit’s weak point, where Hou Jin had recognized its lack of defensive armor -- the fog membranes. She felt a tug on her spiritual energy when Jingshen found its target, and with all her might she twisted the blade.

It sunk into the spirit’s flesh, twisting and tearing chunks of it apart. The spirit clawed and slashed at its side, but it was no use; Song Fen pulled the blade in even deeper, submerging it fully into the spirit’s body. It screamed, howled, wailed, filling the air with horrific noise. The sound was slowly corrupted by the sound of bubbling fluid drowning its lungs, and with one final pathetic cough that splattered a blue bloodstain on the roof, the spirit fell with a thud.

Jingshen emerged from the corpse, shuddering with the beat of Song Fen’s own heart. It clattered to the ground in front of her, completely coated with blood and traces of the spirit’s flesh. When Song Fen looked up, she found Hou Jin staring at her. He looked like he wanted to say something, but instead he cleared his throat and looked at the sky.

Song Fen followed his gaze to see that the hazy cage was disappearing in patches, revealing a bright blue sky behind it. She laughed, happy but breathless, and looked back at the other roof to see Li Xiulan waving at her excitedly.

She nodded at Hou Jin, giving him a smile.

“Let’s head back and get everyone, shall we?”