Later on, Qian Shanyi wasn't sure how they got back to their cabin. It was several wagons down from the dining room, so they must have walked; but she simply had no memory of anything in between Lei Kou dismissing them and arriving at their cabin's door. Her mind was reeling so much that she only vaguely remembered Wang Yonghao needing to take her keys, because she couldn't even manage the door lock.

It was impossible. And yet, it had happened in front of her very eyes. A cultivator, slaying his junior as if swatting away a fly.

The first thing she remembered clearly was Linghui Mei's terrified face, framed within the crack of the opening door. She had backed into a corner, hugging her knees, her eyes open wide in terror. It was only to be expected - for Lei Kou's spiritual energy still coiled all around them, a suffocating fog. There was so much of it that even ordinary people could surely feel it.

He was golden core. The entire sandpiercer was within his grasp.

"What is happening?" Linghui Mei said as soon as the door had started to swing open. Her voice was tense but focused. "What is this feeling -"

She stopped as soon as her eyes fell upon Qian Shanyi's face, her eyes opening yet wider. "Master! You are bleeding!"

Qian Shanyi touched her forehead and her fingers came away bloody. "It's not mine," she muttered absently, her legs finally giving out as she collapsed down on the edge of her bed. Her entire body felt like jelly.

"What is going on?" Linghui Mei hissed, rushing to Qian Shanyi's side, her look of panic transforming into that of deep concern. She grabbed her blanket on the way and moved to wipe the blood off Qian Shanyi's face.

"Quiet," Qian Shanyi said, though without any real conviction. She let her disciple do what she wanted - not like it mattered.

They couldn't even talk of what had happened, of what was to be done. A god had seized the sandpiercer, and with the senses of a golden core cultivator, Lei Kou might hear them from three wagons away. Even if his ears faltered, his spiritual energy coiled all around them. He could sense the shape of their lips, read the words directly from the movement of their tongues. If they so much as said a disrespectful word, he might smite them on the spot for that alone.

Inescapable.

<Get your things> Wang Yonghao signed to Linghui Mei without a care in the world, just about giving Qian Shanyi a heart attack. <We have to flee ->

<No! Stop!> Qian Shanyi hurriedly signed back, her fingers cramping from the stress, but Wang Yonghao was already shaking his head.

<He won't understand sign,> he signed, with deliberate slowness. He looked panicked in his own way, but there was also determination in his eyes, some sort of warped focus. Not his first time, clearly.

It took an entire second for Qian Shanyi to realise what he just said. She breathed out slowly, lowering her hands back to her knees.

Right. Of course he wouldn't.

The imperial sign had only been developed half a century ago. If Lei Kou was as old as he seemed, if he just came to the empire, then he was very unlikely to speak it. That the spiritual energy around them didn't move to snap their necks was no proof, but it was better than nothing.

That meant… something.

Lei Kou would still know they talked. He'd know they talked in sign and not speech, could surely guess it meant they wanted their discussion to remain private. He might ask them what they spoke about. But for now, they had a fraction of privacy. They could discuss, could plan.

Plan to do what? A mortal could do nothing against an entire hurricane, plan or no plan.

While Qian Shanyi tried to gather back some semblance of her sanity, Wang Yonghao was already busy unceremoniously stuffing their Go board into his bag. They didn't carry that much outside of the world fragment, and what few things they did bring were largely still packed, so he'd finish quickly.

Qian Shanyi had to snap her fingers to bring his attention back to her. <We can't flee,> she signed, giving him a defeated look.

<Flee what?> Linghui Mei signed, momentarily dropping the blanket. <What is this pressure?>

Qian Shanyi's eyes followed the blanket's fall. Its corner was already ruined, caked with drying blood and what remained of Qian Shanyi's usual makeup.

I doubt anyone will do the laundry now…

Then again, she doubted any of them would get much sleep tonight, so what good was a blanket?

<There is a golden core cultivator,> Wang Yonghao explained. He only paused packing up briefly, but now resumed it, signing in between putting things away. <He is dangerous. We have to go, stop dawdling!>

He was trembling just as much as Qian Shanyi did, but at least he seemed to be moving, doing something, even if it was all completely fucking wrong. Qian Shanyi felt bile rise up in her throat at her own paralyzed inadequacy.

<No,> Qian Shanyi signed insistently, having to do it twice because her hands shook so much she couldn't form the signs properly. <We can't flee.>

Her fucking hands wouldn't stop shaking. She squeezed one into a fist and clasped the other around it, hoping it could at least keep the tremors down. There was a bit of blood on the back of her hand, only Heavens knew how it got there, and she rubbed at it with one finger. It only served to spread it around more.

Zhang Xiaogang's blood. He was dead, killed by a whiny, petulant old man -

The shakes came back, but different this time, red fury where before laid terror. That single fact - that she could at least talk, it seemed to mean so little. What good would talking do here? And yet it was as if the cauldron's wall had cracked. The pressure dropped, and the water, heated far beyond capacity, instantly boiled over and exploded outwards with the roar of steam and anger.

<How do you imagine fleeing?> Qian Shanyi signed, every gesture precise, her spiritual energy forcing every finger to move exactly as she wished it, shakes or not. She kept all her emotions off her face. That much, at least, she could always manage. <If we jump out the window, he will simply grab us with his spiritual energy and pull us right back. We are fully within the domain of his soul. We can't flee unless he allows it, and the man had just called us his subjects.>

She wished that she could scream, but she felt completely exposed under Lei Kou's watchful eye. She couldn't risk giving him the wrong impression. She had to seem docile, like a little fucking lamb being lead into the kitchens.

Wang Yonghao flinched back, what little composure he had on him cracking almost entirely. <We'll hide in my inner world,> Wang Yonghao signed back to her. If he spoke, he would have been begging.

<That will make it worse,> Qian Shanyi signed back, letting her lips twitch freely in annoyance. <You might as well hang a signal lantern on your neck if you do that. If that is your wish, then do it alone.>

Wang Yonghao stepped back as if she slapped him. Ordinarily, Qian Shanyi might have bothered finding a better way to phrase that, but the turmoil burning in her soul made it hard to care for much else.

Lei Kou…

She wanted to strangle that evil bastard, stomp his skull into scarlet mush, to shatter every single fucking bone in his entire body and make him scream for weeks on end, until even the throat of a golden core cultivator would tear itself hoarse, just so that he would know a fraction of the fury that she felt.

But she couldn't, could she? The bastard was golden core.

<Why?!> Wang Yonghao signed back at her. There were desperate tears in his eyes now, <Why won't you hide in my inner world?! We- we have to ->

Could she actually kill Lei Kou? With what? Even if she caught him sleeping, her sword couldn't even scratch his eyeballs.

<Because he'll catch you?> Qian Shanyi signed, giving Wang Yonghao a truly baffled look. Did he truly fool himself into thinking it would work? <Do you think he will not sense the entrance opening? Do you think he will not immediately realise its significance? And once he catches us, he'll kill both me and Mei on the spot. He'll need you alive to access the world fragment. We'll just be an unwelcome distraction.>

It was a wonder that he didn't notice Wang Yonghao already, and decided to turn him into a disciple. Perhaps if they had left right away, he would have paid more attention to them - but it was impossible to guess.

Wang Yonghao sank onto his own bed, clasping his head in his hands, entirely defeated. The bag he was holding had dropped to the floor, forgotten entirely.

Linghui Mei gave Qian Shanyi a concerned look. She had left her side for a brief moment, to wet the blanket in a water basin that was built into the corner of their cabin, but now returned and grasped Qian Shanyi by the wrist to clean the blood off her hands.

Qian Shanyi rubbed her forehead with her free hand. They had no weapon that could hurt Lei Kou. Qian Shanyi couldn't even speak aloud, talk to other cultivators on the sandpiercer.

And yet Lei Kou had killed a man. He did the unthinkable, and in doing so, left himself vulnerable.

To cultivate was to rebel against the Heavens. What cultivator would she be, if she would not try to slay a hurricane?

<So what then?> Wang Yonghao said, giving her a desperate look. A drowning man, searching for a piece of driftwood.

There was only one response.

<We kill him.>

That got her some looks. Linghui Mei even reached over to touch her forehead, as if to check if she was running a fever. Qian Shanyi gave her a slight glare but said nothing. She probably looked too ridiculous to pull off a truly furious face, with her makeup only half-wiped.

Wang Yonghao's reaction was quite different. He scowled at Qian Shanyi, and for a moment, she was sure he'd make a really rude gesture. <He is golden core!> he signed back furiously.

Qian Shanyi sighed and closed her eyes. She needed to think. All she had in her mind was a mere hint of a possibility - but turning it into a real, actionable plan was something else entirely.

The sandpiercer spun in her imagination, coming apart like a deck of cards being put into an arrangement. She knew all the passengers by name, but few of them would be of any use - only those who were in the dining wagon at the time. She thought of who sat where, what they knew and how well they could keep their cool. She thought of the disciples of the Steel Torrent sect, and what they might be doing right this moment at the very front of the train.

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And most of all, she thought about the abominable Lei Kou, and what that insect might be doing right this moment. About his motives. About his knowledge. About what kind of man he truly was.

Qian Shanyi had played her games on a lot of people in her life. All sorts passed through the Golden Rabbit Bay, through its gambling parlors and seedy tea houses. She'd met some real bastards in that time, and frankly, didn't think too highly of them. She could see some of them in the abhorrent Lei Kou, but it was only scraps, echoes of a half-touched similarity, reflections of waves on the surface of the same reality.

The man was, after all, a golden core cultivator. He was well over two hundred years old, much of which he spent in seclusion. His life, his upbringing - it was infinitely different from anything Qian Shanyi had faced before.

And yet, reflections they may be, but the waves made by a stone thrown into water stayed the same, regardless of the shape of the pond around it. Human nature could be shaped, but not altered entirely. She wasn't working with nothing.

It would be difficult. But difficult was not impossible.

<I think I could do it,> she finally signed, opening her eyes once more.

Wang Yonghao stared at her in incomprehension, and Qian Shanyi could almost see the gears slowly turning in his mind.

<You want to trick him into a tribunal?!> he finally signed, before pulling on his hair in dismay. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't sign and gesticulate at the same time - and so he had to let go to insult her further. <Shanyi, you are insane. You are absolutely insane, and it would never work, because you are insane.>

<Do you doubt my abilities? I could make it work.>

She was feeling more and more confident by the second, the plan spinning in the back of her mind, extraneous details being flensed away.

<I don't doubt your abilities. I doubt your sanity.>

<My sanity is not a requirement.>

<We should just flee!> Wang Yonghao said, gesturing towards the window, where the flat rocky landscape was still quietly rolling by. He jumped up onto his feet, tearing at his hair some more. <Wait until he sleeps and flee! That's the safe choice!>

<How would you know when he sleeps? And what if he chooses not to?> Qian Shanyi signed back, scoffing at Wang Yonghao. <Besides, this isn't about our safety.>

<What then?>

<He violated the fourth imperial edict,> Qian Shanyi signed, giving Wang Yonghao a flat stare. She wasn't sure when her hands had finally stopped shaking. <He has to die.>

Wang Yonghao's baffled grimace turned into a scowl. <Are you seriously thinking of laws now? Now? Stop being ridiculous ->

<You dare?!> Qian Shanyi signed, jumping to her feet as well. Linghui Mei tried to catch her by the hand, pull her back, but she slipped away easily and stalked over to Wang Yonghao, poking him in the chest.

In the back of her mind, Lei Kou's presence hung like a toxic miasma over every action. She'd have to spin this whole discussion to him, and a bit of open anger should make it easier to fit everything together.

<Do you even comprehend what he did?> she continued, signing directly in Wang Yonghao's face. <The fourth is not just any law. It is THE law. Lei Kou is a dead man walking, no different from a ghost! He might be an immortal god on this little sandpiercer, but in front of the entire empire, he is but a fart in the wind! If necessary, the Emperor himself will come to slay him! As soon as the Empire learns of what happened here, there will be no escape for him, no hole he could ever crawl into!>

Wang Yonghao pushed her back, and Qian Shanyi let him. <Then what does that have to do with us?!>

Qian Shanyi felt the damndest sense of deja vu, and briefly glanced back at Linghui Mei, to make sure she hadn't switched places with Wang Yonghao - but Linghui Mei still sat where she left her, right next to her bed. Her disciple gave her another worried look, but otherwise stayed put.

Qian Shanyi turned back to Wang Yonghao. <He violated the fourth ->

<So?>

<So without a witness the edict isn't worth piss,> Qian Shanyi signed. She would have hissed the words if she spoke, but she was not very good at conveying such subtle notes of meaning - the best she could do was sign faster, or wider, or repeat them several times. Improvising, she made the sign for "snake", which had the index and middle fingers curled into a claw, and signed it right in Wang Yonghao's face, as if she was trying to claw his eyes out. <What do you think that means?>

Wang Yonghao stepped back and gave her another baffled look. <That you want to lead the tribunal so badly that you will throw all safety to the wind?> he signed back.

<That if abominable Lei Kou slaughters everyone onboard this pathetic little sandpiercer, there will be nobody left to accuse him!> Qian Shanyi signed, repeating the last part three times. <We are in the domain of his soul. In the domain of his soul! He can shatter this entire machine into pieces, crush it into a ball that would fit into his pocket with but an exertion of his will! And the moment he learns about the edict, the moment he realizes the death that awaits him, that is exactly what he will do.>

Lei Kou had to be ignorant of it. There were far easier ways to commit suicide than this.

Qian Shanyi stepped back, leaning against the wall, giving Linghui Mei and Wang Yonghao a careful look. Both of their faces had grown ashen after her pronouncement. <The lives of everyone on board are in danger,> she concluded. <And you expect me to flee? I am a cultivator, not some mongrel dog.>

It was even worse than that, of course. Solar Whirligig was smaller and poorer than other imperial provinces, with no golden core cultivators of their own - or at least none that Qian Shanyi had ever heard of, nor seen recorded in the cultivator almanac. Once Lei Kou arrived in the Fourfold Constellation City, he would reign unopposed, until the news got out to the other provinces.

Not even the Heavens could guess how many others he would slay in his rampage.

The cabin was still for a moment, except for that slight shake every time the wagon ran over the narrow gap between the rails. Before, Qian Shanyi felt that the rhythm of it was calming - but now, every shake brought them inexorably closer to this final destination. Like the ticks of a chronometer, their time was running out.

Wang Yonghao was the first to break the stillness. <How would he even find out?> He signed, sitting back down on the edge of his own bed. <It's not like he will be reading a history textbook.>

<He very well might. It's what I'd have done, after coming out of seclusion,> Qian Shanyi signed back right away. <But it won't even come to that. He just killed a man. You expect other people won't talk? There are a hundred passengers here. How long until one of them lets something slip?>

Linghui Mei swallowed nervously, her breathing turning a little panicked. <So at any moment, anyone on the sandpiercer might speak up, and… we will all die?>

Qian Shanyi nodded. <If Lei Kou takes an interest, thinks through the implication, yes. Him flexing his power actually plays into our hands somewhat. Might shock the people into silence. But we have to act now. It's him or us.>

They had, at most, two days, until the sandpiercer reached the Fourfold Constellation City. Perhaps a little more, if the Steel Torrent cultivators made all the same deductions and chose to slow them down - but that by itself might provoke Lei Kou into action.

Selfishly, Qian Shanyi wanted the man to step on a flying sword and fly away. Logically, she knew they'd never get a better chance. The empire would bring him down eventually, but a golden core powerhouse on the run was a calamity waiting to happen.

Wang Yonghao rubbed his face. Before, he looked anxious, jittery - but now, he was just completely exhausted. <So you want to trick him into a tribunal,> he signed. <How? He'll never step into the formation.>

<He said he was a duke,> Qian Shanyi explained. <The empire didn't have any for… four hundred years, or whereabouts. Forget the fourth - I don't think he knows about any of the edicts, nor about the tribunals. He would have no reason to be suspicious.>

His name, Kou, pointed in the same direction. Qian Shanyi didn't know anyone named that outside of history books.

<They stuck around for longer here, but maybe you are right,> Wang Yonghao signed with a shrug, though he didn't seem terribly confident. <But so what? The man is crazy. He can just kill you for no reason. You can't plan around that.>

<He is not crazy.>

<What?>

Qian Shanyi shrugged, going back to sit down on her own bed. <I said, he isn't crazy,> She continued, <Demonic, yes. But not crazy. Those robes of his? They are in the modern style, so I think he stole them. He didn't have an accent, which meant he was shifting his manner of speech to better fit in. Trivial for a golden core, but it means this was premeditated. He came to the wagon with the most people, where most people would see him. He called us subjects. He was looking for an excuse, for a show of power, all to establish his claim.>

Linghui Mei reached out with her blanket again, but Qian Shanyi put her hand on hers to stop her. She didn't want to be distracted. Linghui Mei seemed strangely disappointed, but she'd get over it.

<Claim to what?> Wang Yonghao signed, confusion plain on his face.

<I think he is… Making a court, I suppose,> Qian Shanyi signed, taking a moment to scratch her head. Her hand came away bloody, because of course Zhang Xiaogang was also in her hair. She desperately wished for a bath.

<It's probably why he even bothered coming here, instead of just flying off,> Qian Shanyi continued, taking the blanket away from Linghui Mei to wipe her hands. <He is starting small, just one sandpiercer, not the whole province, giving himself time to learn the lay of the land, what happened while he was in seclusion. Time to find some servants. Perhaps even time to recover, if he was injured somehow. It's rational, in a sick way, but it's also a weakness.>

<You are just guessing.>

<I am,> Qian Shanyi confirmed. <So? You have a better guess? I am not saying the man is entirely sane, but even crazy people have their patterns. I think this is one of his.>

Wang Yonghao shrugged. He looked completely defeated. <Maybe,> he signed. <I've seen some that would do that. But it's just a guess, and… I don't want you to do it. It's far too risky.>

Qian Shanyi crossed her arms under her chest, meeting Wang Yonghao's teary eyes. He sniffled, and looked away, down at her feet.

<Then do you have a better idea?> Qian Shanyi signed, snapping her fingers again. <The death's hands are already a hair's width away from my throat. Anything I could do is risky.>

<Okay.>

He didn't even look at her while he signed. Qian Shanyi gave him a minute to continue, but he said nothing more.

<Okay what?> she signed, looking at Linghui Mei as well. Her disciple seemed to be holding up no better. <This is the last time we'll be able to talk like this. One private conversation between friends, after such a great shock - it's easy to explain. I think Lei Kou would even expect it. Any more, and it will be suspicious, make it seem as if we are plotting against him, which we of course are. The moment I walk out that door, we'll have to start speaking out loud, and you two would have to pretend to know nothing - so if either of you have any objections, any ideas, then tell me now.>

<I don't want you to do it either,> Linghui Mei signed to her.

<Too bad. Anything productive?>

Wang Yonghao shrugged. <You'll need the ink for the formation. Where will you get it?>

Qian Shanyi nodded. She already thought of it, but it was good to go over it a second time. <There should be some in the front of the train. This machine… They surely have some for repairs.>

If they didn't have spiritually conductive ink… She would have to make some. The basic process wasn't supposed to be all that different from making regular ink, if using a spirit stone instead of an ink stick, but perhaps there were complexities unknown to her. It would make the whole scheme far more unreliable.

<What about the other two witnesses?> Linghui Mei asked.

<It's too dangerous for Yonghao to be one,> Qian Shanyi signed the obvious. Who knew how his luck would influence the process if he was directly involved. <So I'll need to bring two more people in. Ones who know the ritual, ones who could stay calm.>

<Could I be one?> Linghui Mei signed uncertainly.

Qian Shanyi raised an eyebrow at that. <You haven't even seen the deed. You won't have the conviction for it.>

Linghui Mei shook her head quickly. Her stare turned more than a little pleading. <Shanyi, if you say he did it, then I will.>

Qian Shanyi's eyebrow climbed even higher. She kept Linghui Mei's gaze, but her disciple seemed entirely honest, not even exaggerating.

<That's touching, I suppose,> Qian Shanyi finally signed back. <Then there is no reason why you couldn't. Even ordinary people could bring an accusation. But I haven't taught you the whole ritual.>

<I could still serve as the third.>

<And then what?> Qian Shanyi snorted slightly. <The tribunal leaves a record, and you cannot speak without conviction. How will you announce yourself? You'll have to state your name. Who you are.>

<I only have the one name.>

<And will you say that you are a cultivator?>

Linghui Mei flinched back a bit. She still refused to call herself that, despite Qian Shanyi's repeated prodding.

<But if you can't find two other witnesses in time,> Linghui Mei signed, pulling her knees a little closer. <Then… You will die for certain.>

Qian Shanyi held her gaze for another moment, but in the end, she looked away.

Two witnesses, Qian Shanyi thought, tapping a knuckle against her own forehead, trying to ignore Lei Kou's accursed spiritual energy curling all around her. I just need two good witnesses. I'll find them.

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