Deep Behind Enemy Lines, Alien Schemes

The instant shattered stones came crashing down, Chen Wuya had already dragged a personal guard and rolled into a depression at the side. Bai Zhi followed close behind, tapping her sword hilt against the rock wall and using the force to leap half a zhang away. When she landed, her heels sank slightly, and sand trickled down with a soft rustle.

Before the dust had settled, he took a small pinch of silver powder from his robes and flicked it with his fingertips. The powder floated in the air, then slowly veered, drifting toward deep underground on the western side of the Beacon Tower.

"The wind is wrong," he said softly. "It's an artificial airflow."

Holding her breath, Bai Zhi followed the trail of silver powder with her eyes. Most of the slope ahead was buried beneath rubble, but a thread of cold wind leaked through the cracks, making the loose hair at her temples tremble faintly.

The six personal guards lay prone behind them. Blood seeped from one man's shoulder, while another had sliced his palm on broken stone and was hastily wrapping it with a strip of cloth. After dodging trap after trap, their strength was already nearly spent.

Chen Wuya closed his eyes and let Misaligned Force seep into the ground, sensing the vibrations in the rock strata. The frequency was steady, the intervals even. It did not resemble natural fracturing, but rather some mechanism running without pause.

"There are passages below," he said, opening his eyes. "And more than one."

Bai Zhi nodded and drew her flexible sword, lightly flicking its tip across the sandy ground ahead. A thin iron wire lay taut beneath the shallow surface, leading into a groove between two low stones.

"Another tripwire," she murmured. "What does this one connect to?"

Chen