Taking Stock

"Taking the pillar heads too?" Lu Huan looked baffled.

"The Purple Sandalwood Yinwood is at least eight hundred years old, and only the heartwood was used."

Lu Huan held out her hand and counted.

"One, two, three, four... Eight in total!"

"All of them."

As Shen Hui spoke, sword light flashed from his sleeve.

Sword Qi, fine as silk, swept around the bases and tops of the pillars. The eight massive columns silently separated from their mortise-and-tenon joints.

Lu Huan's vision blurred, and a vast stretch of roof came crashing down.

Fortunately, Shen Hui had already grabbed the back of her collar and hauled her away.

Shen Hui continued onward, with Lu Huan close on his heels.

As the little girl walked, she kept chattering away.

"Should we move these stones? This threshold looks pretty nice too..."

They passed through halls and chambers before entering a side courtyard.

The courtyard was piled with strange-shaped stones. Some towered like sheer cliffs, others crouched like sleeping oxen. Jagged and craggy, riddled with holes, their surfaces were covered in ancient moss and tiny ferns.

Shen Hui circled the courtyard and spotted a slab of bluish stone, its texture smooth as congealed fat, with a jade seat suppressed beneath it.

He stopped, reached out to stroke the stone, and nodded.

"A superior stone."

Lu Huan asked, "Taking this one too?"

"Yes."

With a sweep of his sleeve, the stone and its seat vanished together.

Lu Huan pointed at a squat stone beside it.

"What about that one?"

Shen Hui gave it a glance. "Not worth the trouble."

With that, he lifted his foot and walked away.

But Lu Huan ran over and touched the squat stone. It felt warm beneath her hand, startling her into jerking it back.

She hurried after Shen Hui and