No weapons, money, or other belongings.

  An autumn filled courtyard was wrapped in stretching walls that crowded the sky above.

  A blur of red whispered something incoherent in his ear before being washed away like wet paint in a stream.

  Make it back to Tiantang Tower.

  The darkest forest he'd ever seen twisted and changed, claws lashing out in spiraling fractals.

  Bodies fell and blood poured.

  Don't hurt your peers.

  The ghost, now in black, chuckled down at a corpse with an arrow running through it. Tears rising in their eyes as they squeezed a child to their side.

  Don't die.

  Qing Xiashu, torn to pieces, fell into darkness below a burning palace.

  ???

  Qi Haomi had been in the North for three years by this point. He was integrated as Qing Xiashu's second seat disciple. Today was yet another very kind autumn day that echoed the chill of winter. The summer rains had ended and allowed Qi Haomi to rest in the open air training courtyard beside Xue Huayu, waiting for her older brothers.

  "It is inevitable." Xue Feiyi said quietly as he walked with Qing Xiashu into the courtyard.

  "But- Shixiong- everyone knows the trials are nothing but a culling, no one would blame her for waiting another decade." Qing Xiashu argued.

  "I'm afraid we lack the luxury of time." The king said calmly, not leaving much room for further argument.

  "What's wrong?" Qi Haomi questioned as he sat up, quickly fixing the way he'd been lounging now that the king was present.

  "Xue Shixiong says Xue Huayu is required to partake in the Eastern trials." Qing Xiashu said with a faint grimace.

  Not only did the beginning of the trials sign his death warrant to be carried out within the season, but it was also not at all a pleasant road for anyone else involved.

  Of course there was a chance he was going in blind to something else and the dreams had been wrong... one could only hope.

  "Alright." Xue Huayu shrugged.

  No!

  Not alright!

  Agh!

  Xue Huayu!

  If the next few months followed his dreams Xue Huayu would be losing her mind all too soon.

  "It will be dangerous. Unfortunately, socially speaking, it's mandatory for you as the crown princess. Of course Qing Xiashu will go with you. Qi Haomi on the other hand has the option of going or staying."

  Qi Haomi blinked slowly. "I would like to partake." He mentioned eventually. "If by chance they have information about me it would do quite the service. Their isolated nature means they might have something they've neglected to share."

  "Very well." Xue Feiyi said with a soft nod.

  Qing Xiashu grimaced even more.

  The Eastern trials this year would be the worst they ever had been if his dreams had anything to say about it. Those woods looked like twisted depictions of the wilds.

  The wilds which were so dangerous they had prevented trade between the Eastern Nations and Western Kingdoms for millennia.

  All without swords or weapons.

  With Hong Chunji sniffing about for opportunities to spearhead his revenge. They were already in danger. An excessive loss of life was absolutely not in the books if they wanted to stay standing.

  Qing Xiashu had never been so aware of just how many threats they were dealing with.

  "Hefeng will take care of A-Ying if that's your concern, not to mention Beifang Dianxia." Qi Haomi noted, he didn't seem nearly concerned enough and that made Qing Xiashu only direct the grimace toward him.

  "There are larger issues here. First of all, with so few disciples in Chaoting and the North as a whole, we'll be open to attack. Moreover we won't be getting all of them back. The death rate of these things is ridiculous. No one is confused. The East just set up population culling games."

  "Why would they do that to their own disciples?" Xue Huayu asked with a faint eye roll.

  "Plausible deniability."

  "The best plan of attack would be to attack immediately after." The king pointed out. "By which point our little tactician would be back in working order." He said, gently patting the top of Qing Xiashu's head. "Besides, I am not so incompetent that I can't handle some time ruling my kingdom on my own."

  Qing Xiashu huffed. "We both know that isn't the point. I don't want to lose a lot of disciples to prove some stupid point."

  "So you don't want to be proved wrong?" The princess snorted.

  At this the head disciple scowled at his sister. "That's the mindset that starts these things." He said with a sigh, it was clear he wasn't getting his way, so at this point all he could hope for was the dreams to be wrong.

  "You'll be going either way." Xue Feiyi said flatly, again leaving very little room for Qing Xiashu's myriad of complaints.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  It was decided.

  And.

  That.

  Is how Qing Xiashu found himself at the gates of Tiantang tower.

  The tower was bedazzled in golden arches and cream marble pillars that towered around yellow leafed trees.

  Eastern dyes swirled around on the palace residents, soft oranges, coral red, warm beiges and rusty tones.

  Red maples were cascading down from every corner, yellow dripping willow leaves fluttered across the palace grounds.

  The Northerners' frosty black, silver, and blue tones were wildly out of place.

  So much so that it took very little time for an escort to appear and deliver them to the meeting hall. The primary factions of North and South were positioned on either side of the host seat.

  Qing Xiashu and Qi Haomi were positioned in seats directly behind Xue Huayu who was settled in the forefront of the group.

  They weren't the first batch to arrive, beaten out by a few minor political sects, but of the three royal sects they were first by far.

  The Eastern royals had that disastrous habit of being "fashionably" late, and the Southerners had the farthest to travel. It was expected that they would be nearly last.

  It is what it is.

  It was nearly no surprise to hear someone playing music near the top of the room; it seemed that a few members of the royals had in fact arrived.

  The art of musical cultivation was such a mild thing in most situations that Qing Xiashu couldn't tell if there was in fact any energy in the notes at all.

  At the head of the room, a boy sat with a guqin laid across a low table, plucking the strings in a soothing pattern, large silk moths fluttering around his shoulders in a manner that seemed far too intelligent.

  They were likely spirit beasts as surprising as it was to see someone latch onto silk moths in such a way, let alone three.

  The boy was wearing very muted robes for a royal, only broken by pops of citrine and gold jewelry. But he surely was a royal, thin chains with drips of more metal were hung from many points on his form, from the crown of his head to his shoulders to his waist, probably to his legs too if they were visible.

  The room was so enraptured with the sound that Qing Xiashu was sure he could hear the boy's fingers sliding along the strings even from so far away.

  Behind the young royal stood a guard, dressed in soft shades of blue and with a huadian. Qing Xaishu's personal assumption was a Northern mercenary, but the second assumption was that the woman was one of the rumored yao employed by the Eastern crown. Either way half of her face was obscured with a veil, leaving little but black eyes to gaze outward.

  "Who is that?" Qi Haomi asked quietly.

  "The youngest prince. I've not seen him in a while but he's the only one in that age group." Qing Xiashu said softly back, leaning towards his second seat disciple without breaking his eyes away from the boy playing the music above them.

  "I thought you said they've been constantly having children every few years for millenia?"

  "Mm, they did. They have countless children. But they lost one of their children eight or nine years ago and people say the queen was too heartbroken to conceive again. The youngest prince used to have a twin."

  Qi Haomi frowned. "Oh... That's very sad..." He said as he fiddled with one of his layers, eventually looking to watch the prince perched on the platform. The boy either didn't know he was drawing so many eyes, or he was very used to it, because the attention didn't break his focus in the slightest.

  Even when the prince scanned over his audience, he didn't so much as pause his playing.

  Or rather...

  That was how it had been, until his eyes landed on the Northern disciples.

  The music stopped without warning as the prince's mouth dropped slightly. Shock over taking his features as he stared past Qing Xiashu's head.

  Right at Qi Haomi.

  The second seat disciple squirmed under the gaze and frantically averted his eyes, unsure of the reason for the stare and perhaps just a bit afraid of its meaning.

  Largely confused, Qing Xiashu leaned forward slightly to break the prince's line of sight.

  Maybe Qi Haomi had committed some horrible crime. So extreme that even the youngest royal recognized him on sight.

  Or he worked for the royal family.

  Which was arguably more concerning.

  The boy blinked and shook his head, before turning his face up to his guard and quietly whispering something. The guard responded and the prince frowned heavily, finally returning to his instrument.

  More royals arrived as the song picked back up, all in muted colors with the same flashes of citrine and gold.

  These must be some of the princes and princesses, because they all seemed a various mix of the same few features, some had wavy hair, some had pin straight hair, some had eyes brighter purple than any slug dye, while others had eyes in soft tones of chestnut brown.

  At a similar time, a group of Southern disciples arrived, their head seats left open as a show of respect to their fallen royals, one by one a number of rogue cultivators cluttered around to hear the announcements.

  And finally, lastly, the Eastern King and Queen appeared. The King had pin straight hair and sharp violet eyes, and the queen had soft fluffy hair and gentle chestnut eyes.

  For immortals they looked preposterously young.

  What stuck out even more, though, was the red stain on the queen's face.

  She must have been living as a part of the Northern tribes that started the tradition before she married the Eastern King.

  "Welcome." The king hummed to his guests in a tone that was simply far too calm and smooth for someone organizing a killing event.

  The speech that came next, Qing Xiashu had heard, or rather seen, before. The rules were simple:

  No weapons, money, or other belongings.

  Make it back to the Tiantang Tower.

  Don't hurt your peers.

  Don't die.

  Qing Xiashu had to give them props for that third part. At least they were pretending they didn't want everyone dead and weak.

  The king didn't actually tell them they would be going into the wilds. Just that they would need to return to the East from somewhere, while having no access to their previously amassed benefits.

  They were making the playing field even between rogues and sect seniors alike.

  The sects and rogues were quickly dismissed, lined up to be recorded by name and blade by a few officers, and then told to collect in a major courtyard overlooked by the palace walls.

  Tiantang's courtyard brought with it another whirlwind of commotion. There were hundreds of people. Some from minor sects in the borderlands. Some from larger political sects. Some from the royal sects. Some from no sect at all.

  All clustered together.

  Most were buzzing with some form of excitement. Xue Huayu was shifting uncomfortably beside him. Qi Haomi, who had been practically wringing his hands non-stop since they crossed the Eastern border, was chewing his lip. And a few of their juniors were even more antsy.

  But all Qing Xiashu's eyes could zero in on was Hong Chunji's back.

  It was turned so squarely to him, facing the center of the courtyard and gazing into a pond where goldfish swam in smooth circles.

  This was the moment his dreams had gotten difficult to understand.

  A flash of deep heavy red caught Qing Xiashu's attention and snapped him from his thoughts.

  Yan Hesheng.

  The baihu gui navigated through the crowd with a displeased tip to his ears, trying not to touch anyone as he moved. When his eyes met Qing Xiashu's, his face brightened faintly and his pace quickened.

  The head disciple broke away from his little troop of disciples and met the baihu gui half way. "Yan-gege, it's good to see you again, I didn't think a Westerner would take part in something like this."

  "Qing-didi, it's good to see you too. Truth be told, I'm only here because I'm suspicious. I have a feeling something much worse is going on here in Tiantang."

  "What kind of thing?" Qing Xiashu asked with a curious head tip, voice hushing as he moved a bit closer.

  As if that would provide more privacy in the crowded square.

  Beside Xue Huayu, Qi Haomi bristled again.

  Yan Hesheng's voice was in a quick hush. "Well, as I said, I chose to visit the under-city during my travels. There's currently a massive power struggle between the ghosts. When I spoke with information brokers, they said that the reason for the uprising is that they've had issues with Easterners making deals with the current ghost lords and taking--"

  Qing Xiashu felt his stomach churn as he was torn away from the land by a powerful teleportation talisman, Yan Hesheng's words lost in the air as he was removed from it.

  It had begun.

  He was in the dark.

  He'd meant to say goodbye before they were all lost, but he hadn't gotten the chance.

  ?●?