Yu Jin
The iron bars began to warp under the sustained burning of the Power of Chaos.
Long Tian pressed his palm against a thick iron bar, covering its surface with a gray-white film of light. The metal gave a series of low creaks in the intense heat. He used the Origin Return Pearl's breath as a heat source. It was neither purely the searing heat of Light Dragon Power nor purely the corrosion of Shadow Dragon Power. The two mingled to produce an effect somewhere between melting and corrosion. The bars were about two fingers wide at their thickest, and it took the time needed to brew a pot of tea to burn through two of them.
Number Seventeen huddled in the corner, watching him melt the iron, his dull eyes fixed unblinkingly on the light in Long Tian's palm. A veil of faint golden-black embers shrouded him, as feeble as a candle flame that might go out at any moment. Long Tian melted through the last two bars and bent them apart, pulling open a gap wide enough to crawl through. He reached inside the cage. "Can you stand?"
Number Seventeen tried pushing himself up, but his arms trembled and gave way. His body was weaker than Long Tian had expected. Long confinement in the dark room, without enough exercise or nourishment, had left his muscles badly wasted. Long Tian crawled through the gap and crouched before him. He took off his coat and wrapped it around him, then helped him up and lifted him onto his back. Number Seventeen was as light as a bundle of dry firewood, his weight barely noticeable against Long Tian's back.
"Hold tight to my shoulders."
Number Seventeen put his arms around Long Tian's neck. His fingers were thin and icy, and they trembled slightly as they gripped the cloth at Long Tian's shoulders. Long Tian carried him through the gap in the bars and hurried up the stone steps. The higher they went, the less damp the air became, but the chill grew sharper. At the corner on the third level, Long Tian suddenly stopped and cocked his ear. From behind the barrier outside the iron door above the steps came a deep, faint hum, as though some kind of array had been activated halfway through a cycle and then stopped.
Chen Hao! Long Tian's heart tightened, and he raced up the stone steps. On the barrier's side of the iron door, the silver-blue wall of water was churning violently, dense ripples spreading across its surface as though someone were ramming it repeatedly from the other side. Long Tian tightened his hold on Number Seventeen, drew a deep breath, and drove the Origin Return Pearl to its limit. A gray-white halo poured from his dantian, covering his entire body before expanding to envelop Number Seventeen on his back as well. Wrapped in a film of chaotic light, the two crashed into the barrier.
A violent repulsive force surged against them! It was several times stronger than it had been on the way in, probably because the barrier's mechanism for blocking anyone "carrying a foreign object" was operating at full force. Long Tian felt as though he were forcing his way upstream against a towering wave, his ribs creaking under the pressure. Number Seventeen gave a muffled grunt on his back, his fingers tightening on Long Tian's shoulders. Long Tian clenched his teeth and kept pushing forward. The Origin Return Pearl spun wildly, and tiny gray-white sparks splashed from the film of light at the edge of the barrier.
At last, with a muffled pop, they passed through the barrier. Long Tian staggered forward several steps and fell, striking his knees against the hard floor. Number Seventeen slipped from his back and landed on his side beside him. Long Tian braced himself against the ground and panted for a while before looking up. Chen Hao was getting to his feet, a trace of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, but he still clutched his short staff. He had been ramming the barrier from outside, using both array interference and physical blows to take some of the pressure off Long Tian.
"Go." Chen Hao wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, scooped Number Seventeen up, and hoisted him onto his back. "He's lighter than you. I'll carry him. You lead the way."
Long Tian didn't argue. He got up and ran north along the passage they had come through, with Chen Hao carrying Number Seventeen behind him. They crossed the side chamber and went around several bends. By the time they finally crawled through the gap, climbed the rope, and hauled themselves out of the well, fine pellets of snow were falling outside. The snow struck Long Tian's face with a biting chill. He breathed out a cloud of white, pushed the bluestone slab back into place over the well, then carried over several bundles of withered grass and spread them on top to hide the traces.
The three made their way through the city's alleys under cover of night to Old Chen's Blacksmith Shop. After three knocks from inside, the shop door creaked open. Old Chen stood behind it holding an oil lamp. He glanced at Long Tian and Chen Hao, then rested his gaze on the small, thin figure wrapped in Long Tian's coat on Chen Hao's back. Without a word, he stepped aside to let them in.
The stove in the little house in the back courtyard burned all night. Old Chen cooked a pot of hot porridge, mixed in some herbal broth to ward off the cold, and carried it to the bedside. Number Seventeen lay on a wooden board covered with a cotton mattress, sipping the porridge in small mouthfuls. He had to rest after every two sips, and his lips were pale. Long Tian sat across from him on an old low stool, the scrapes on his knees washed with salt water and wrapped in strips of cloth by Old Chen. Leaning against the wall, he watched the child.
After finishing a little under half the bowl, Number Seventeen set it down. His throat moved, and he spoke. His voice was a little clearer than it had been in the dark room, but still weak, like wind passing through a narrow crack. "My... name is Yu Jin."
Long Tian started slightly. Yu Jin. He had spent who knew how many years in the dark room, and the label on his cage had numbered him Number Seventeen, but he had kept a name for himself.
"My name is Long Tian." Long Tian shifted his stool closer to him. "Yu Jin, do you have twin light and shadow too?"
Yu Jin nodded and raised his bony fingers a little. An extremely faint golden-black light appeared in his palm, flickering once before going out like a match snuffed by the wind. He drew his hand back and said quietly, "They wanted to experiment on me... They said my light and shadow were unstable by nature, perfect for testing the limits of the Fusion Technique. But my Martial Soul hadn't taken shape yet, so they waited a few years, until I was a little older..."
He paused, staring absently at a loose cotton thread sticking up from the edge of the quilt. "Later, someone secretly told me that as long as I kept my Martial Soul from taking shape, they wouldn't be able to carry out the fusion. I listened to him and kept delaying it. I dragged it out until they lost patience and said they were going to force it into me, so I pretended... pretended I was about to dissipate..."
His voice grew softer and softer, the last few words barely making it out of his throat. Long Tian sat on the stool and listened as warm yellow firelight from the stove danced across the floor between them. He looked down at his right hand. Golden scales surfaced and receded, responding across the distance to the faint golden-black light in Yu Jin's palm.
Old Chen took the empty bowl and set it on the stove, then bent down to add a few pieces of charcoal to the firebox. The flames rose, driving back some of the chill in the room, and firelight flickered over the grain of the wooden boards. Outside the window, snow was still falling. The north wind swept the snow pellets against the window paper with a rustle.
Long Tian settled Yu Jin down to sleep, then returned to the low stool and leaned against the wall, staring at the fire in a daze for a long time. The child who had curled up in the cage in the stone chamber now lay asleep three inches in front of him, his breaths long but shallow, like a newly hatched bird testing its hold on life. He was only a little over eleven, yet he had already spent who knew how many years underground.
Long Tian reached up and touched the token and jade pendant at his chest. The Origin Return Pearl turned quietly in his dantian, its gray-white halo steady and soft. He pulled the collar of his coat closer and closed his eyes against the wall. Listening to the faint crackle of charcoal burning in the stove and the soft tapping of snow pellets against the window paper, he gradually slipped into a light sleep.
The night was still deep. In the lit room at the northern camp, someone waited until daybreak without receiving the "ready" report. At last, he rose, pushed open the door, and went outside. Wind and snow struck him in the face. He narrowed his eyes and glanced toward the foundation level of the old city, then turned back to fetch a thick cloak. He draped it over his shoulders and walked into the wind and snow at an unhurried pace.
The barrier on the inner side of the iron door continued to operate calmly, its silver-blue surface of water perfectly still. But at the entrance to the empty stone chamber beyond the door, the edges of the gap melted through the iron bars bore a gray-white residue that had already cooled. The stove fire had held the lingering warmth Number Seventeen left behind in the room for most of the night; only as dawn approached did it gradually dissipate.