Before they could fully process what they were seeing, a sound ripped through the shrine, like cloth tearing under a blade.
Yue Rin peered out from the doorway and froze. A thin line hung in the air above the ground, almost like a crack in the space itself.
Han Suyien and Qing Xueyi stepped up behind her. The moment they saw it, their suspicions clicked into place.
"The realm is collapsing," they said at the same time.
Qing Xueyi turned toward Han Suyien, startled by their perfect sync. Han Suyien didn't even notice. Her eyes stayed locked on the tear. Qing Xueyi's ears warmed, and she immediately looked away like nothing happened.
"Collapsing?"
"Yes, I already suspected something was wrong. With the main exit activating, and now a tear like this…" She frowned. "This realm has lost its source of power. It can't sustain itself anymore."
Yue Rin swallowed. "By main exit you mean that beam of light?"
"That's a safeguard," This time it was Qing Xueyi who spoke in a serious tone. "Most sects that own secret realms have one for situations like this. A last corridor out."
Yue Rin's eyes widened. "So we just go to it?"
"We hurry," Qing Xueyi corrected. "It looks close because you can see it, but it's in the center of the secret realm."
Yue Rin nodded, although she felt a slight fear, Han Suyien presence reduced it. Then another thought popped in her mind. Would the sect refund my two hundred spirit stones?
Realizing what she was thinking about made her want to laugh and cry at the same time. She shoved it down and fidgeted instead, fingers twisting together. She couldn't even use Falling Leaf anymore. If Han Suyien and Qing Xueyi ran at full speed, she'd slow them down. She opened her mouth, meaning to say they should go ahead and she'd-
Wind rustled through the shrine.
Slow at first before it tightened into a spinning draft, building and building until it became a miniature storm. The air gathered into a single point in front of the shrine and began to take shape, threads of wind twisting into something that looked like feathers.
A crane formed out of the gale, huge and elegant, its wings folding with a soft, whistling sigh. It was nearly as large as the shrine itself.
Yue Rin's mouth fell open.
A hand reached up and closed her jaw with a firm tap.
"Stop staring and get on."
Yue Rin blinked. "On that?"
Han Suyien stepped forward and placed her hand against the crane's wind-formed body. Wind gathered beneath her feet and lifted her smoothly onto the crane's back.
Yue Rin's eyes practically sparkled. She hurried forward and copied her, palm against the crane, half-expecting her hand to pass through like mist.
Instead, the wind cradled her. It lifted her gently, as if she weighed nothing before setting her down in front of Han Suyien, close enough that Yue Rin could feel Han Suyien's warmth through her robe, close enough that her back nearly touched Han Suyien's chest. Yue Rin's cheeks heated, and she couldn't stop it.
"Isn't this a bit… too close?" she muttered.
"It's so If you slip, I can catch you."
Qing Xueyi got on next, only for the wind to place her on the far back like an afterthought.
Her face twisted. "Isn't this too obvious, Han Suyien? Just say you hate me!"
Han Suyien ignored her. With a subtle shift of her Qi, the crane's wings flapped like a real bird, and the three of them rose into the air.
Yue Rin had thought she might sink through it since it was made of wind, but it felt like sitting on something soft, springy, and steady.
They surged forward, soaring toward the distant pillar of light.
Yue Rin stared down at the ground. Even from this height she could see people running in the same direction, tiny and frantic. She could also see faint ripples and hairline tears appearing.
Swallowing hard, she looked ahead. "How can we talk up here without the wind-"
"There's a barrier, you'd be deaf by now without it."
Yue Rin nodded, then her chest blossomed with gratitude. "Thank you, If I hadn't met you… I'd be down there. Or worse."
"No need. Like I told you before, I have my own reasons."
Behind them, Qing Xueyi fell silent. For the first time since the shrine, she looked less angry and more unsettled. She still hated how close Yue Rin sat to Han Suyien, but she couldn't deny one thing.
That purple-haired rogue didn't look like she was trying to steal anything.
As they flew, Yue Rin spotted three figures on the ground, running hard but clearly struggling. She narrowed her eyes, then recognition hit.
It was the trio Han Suyien had mentioned before, the ones who tried to protect her when she was weak. Yue Rin had immediately connected them with the ones from the turtle fight, and she also had a vague idea why they stepped up for her.
"Han Suyien," Yue Rin said quickly, pointing. "Those are the three who tried to defend me, right?"
Han Suyien followed her finger and nodded, already reading Yue Rin's face. "You want to pick them up."
"Um, if you don't mind-"
The crane dipped hard to catch a rushing updraft and cut its angle.
Yue Rin yelped and grabbed the nearest solid thing she could reach, which happened to be Han Suyien's thighs. Her fingers clenched hard, and her heart tried to climb out of her throat.
* * * *
Qiao Min ran until his lungs burned, boots slipping in mud that hadn't frozen properly. Dang Hui stayed on his right while Kang Loen lagged behind by a step that grew wider every few breaths.
A huge pillar of light had appeared not long ago, and at first Qiao Min had thought it was a treasure. Then he heard someone scream that the realm was collapsing.
He didn't believe it.
Not until he saw sect members with anxious expressions running too, and not until a tear opened without warning and swallowed two disciples whole. Their screams cut still ringing in his ears.
After that, Qiao Min stopped thinking and started running like everyone else.
A heavy thud landed behind him.
Qiao Min spun around and saw Kang Loen on his knees, shoulders heaving, sweat shining on his temples despite the cold.
Dang Hui rushed to him. "Did your Qi run out again?"
Kang Loen nodded, jaw clenched in humiliation.
Dang Hui looked at Qiao Min, panic threading into his voice. "We're out of replenishing pills."
Qiao Min's stomach sank. Carrying Kang Loen would slow them down. Leaving him would-
He didn't get to finish the thought.
A powerful wind descended around them, making the three stiffen.
Before any of them could react, two wind-talons swept down, firm but not painful, and lifted Dang Hui and Kang Loen clean off the ground. A sharp wind-beak hooked Qiao Min by the back of his robe, yanking him upward like a fish caught on a line.
Their feet left the earth.
Qiao Min's first thought was spirit beast.
His second thought was death.
Then a voice called down from above. "Are you all okay?"
Dang Hui looked up, eyes wide, and recognized who spoke the moment he saw purple hair.
"It's you!"
"Who is it?" Qiao Min shouted, twisting his neck uselessly as the wind held him facing forward.
"It's the purple haired girl!"
"My name is Yue Rin," the girl called down. "Nice to meet you!"
Qiao Min fought to sound dignified even while dangling in the air. "Greetings, esteemed senior. May I ask why you're kidnapping us?"
With his robe hooked and his legs kicking a little, Yue Rin couldn't help thinking he looked like a villain from a teahouse play, the kind who tried to sound grand while getting dragged offstage.
"You're heading to the exit too, right? I saw you struggling and thought we'd pick you up on the way."
Qiao Min opened his mouth to respond, then a colder voice cut in.
"If you don't like it, I can drop you right now."
Qiao Min's blood turned to ice. He didn't need to see her to know who that was.
The storm girl.
He forced his voice into something humble. "How could that be? Please excuse my lack of manners. We're grateful to be picked up."
Han Suyien snorted, unimpressed. She only tolerated them because they'd stood up for Yue Rin. Otherwise, she wouldn't care in the slightest.
Qiao Min swallowed the rest of his complaints. He didn't love being carried like bait beneath a crane, but pride didn't matter when the ground itself was tearing.
Suddenly a rift opened ahead.
It wasn't a thin line this time. It was a jagged mouth in the air, black edges shimmering, stretching wider as if hungry.
"Watch out!" Yue Rin shouted.
Han Suyien had already moved. The crane banked hard, slipping past the rift by a hair. Cold brushed their faces as they passed, and Yue Rin's skin prickled like it had been touched by a blade.
More tears appeared.
One to the left. Another below. Another that opened and closed like an eyelid.
"Everyone hold on!"
Wind slammed into them as the crane accelerated.
The barrier held for a moment, then thinned under the strain. The rushing air began to bite through, loud and cold, making speech hard and breath harder.
Another sharp drop made Yue Rin's stomach lurch. She swallowed hard and kept her mouth shut.
Qing Xueyi didn't hold up as well. After a brutal bank, she leaned over the side and vomited.
Qiao Min's group fared slightly better, mostly because they didn't have the energy left to complain. Dang Hui gripped the wind-talon like it was a lifeline. Kang Loen's face was gray, and Qiao Min swung beneath the crane's beak-hook, trying not to think about how one mistake would turn him into paste.
* * * *
By the time Yue Rin's throat stopped burning from swallowed bile, the last light had drained from the sky, and the pillar ahead glowed like a cold sun in the night.
They were close. Close enough that Yue Rin could see other groups converging on it from different directions like moths to flame.
Han Suyien watched the tears carefully. They weren't just appearing more often. They were also getting larger.
She thought about something and decided to warn everyone. "Anything can now use the exit, meaning spirit beasts too. When we get out, things won't be calm."
"And since the realm is collapsing," Han Suyien continued, "then something is wrong outside as well. Expect chaos. Be ready."
As the pillar of light drew nearer, Han Suyien leaned forward and spoke low, just for Yue Rin.
"Hold my hand when we reach it. If the corridor throws people out at random, we might get separated. I don't want that."
Yue Rin's heart thumped painfully. "Me neither."
The crane surged into the beam.
Light swallowed them whole.
Yue Rin shut her eyes and felt warmth flood through her fingers as she reached for Han Suyien's hand. Han Suyien turned her palm and locked their fingers together.
This time, Yue Rin felt it. The pull. The familiar wrench of space, like the world tugged her soul through a narrow gate.
And as it faded, screams filled her ears.
Yue Rin's eyes snapped open, and she wished they hadn't.