From his place of concealment, Sun Wukong watched as the Golden Locks cultivators slaughtered the villagers, taking their lux and using it to fuel their own progression. He sighed. It was clear this world had not changed much since his earlier days.

It had been so long since he had watched ambitious cultivators on the climb, and his encounter with the four from Morning Mist had made him wonder if perhaps the nature of the universe could change, that there was a way for one cultivator to aid others along the path.

But as the three below finished off the villagers and turned on each other, he saw his earlier beliefs confirmed. These cultivators were hungry, ambitious, and greedy. They might have been ordered to work together by their superior, but she would expect this cutthroat behavior. As long as her task was completed, she would ladle out no punishments on the survivors.

In fact, he suspected from the artifacts each possessed that she had intended this trio to cannibalize itself. All three of them felt stronger than any of the cultivators in the other trio. Was their mistress attempting to rid herself of potential threats?

It was always a delicate balance: finding underlings talented enough to aid you, but not ambitious enough to overthrow you. Sun Wukong had benefited from that for many years, as he accompanied the great sage-scholar Tripitaka on his own heavenly climb. It was only after reaching the heavens that Sun had truly embraced the truth that the only cultivator you could trust was yourself.

Down below, the woman with a necklace and the man with a Lens turned on the swordsman. Their combined techniques seized him, snatching the sword from his hand, then ripping open his core. They drained his lux greedily, then turned on each other.

"He would never have fulfilled the mistress's designs," the woman shouted. "But give me your word you'll not betray me, and I will let you assist me."

"Nonsense," the man called back. "I am the more powerful and I'm the senior cultivator. You know as well as I do, Hua, that the only thing that matters in cultivation is power."

Sun smiled as he continued to feed blue lux into the deception techniques he had deftly plucked from Hiroko's control. She was talented, but young and missing the raw power needed here.

He could play on their emotions like a harp, plucking at one, dimming another, convincing them their fellows were ready to betray them, that their only hope for advancement was to kill their fellows and take what was theirs.

It didn't take much work at all, since deep down in their hearts, each of them had already believed just that.

The woman dashed for the sword. That was her mistake. The man blasted a technique at her and knocked her back through one of the buildings. She exploded out the top, raining techniques down from her hands. Truly, a mistress of both physical and spiritual luxes.

Sun Wukong watched in amusement as they fought. He split himself into two for some company.

"Oh, good day," Sun Wukong told himself. "Thank you for bringing me to such an interesting place." He studied the fight down below. "Which do you like?"

"They're fairly well matched," Sun Wukong replied. "The woman seems a bit more desperate. I think the man has a little more raw power, and his artifact will be the stronger if he's able to overcome her, but her artifact may give her an edge in the fight."

"I'll put ten on the woman," Sun Wukong said.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Done," he told himself, and they spat in their hands and shook on it.

They turned back to watch the fight, which was going on longer than Sun Wukong had expected.

"Nonsense," Sun Wukong answered. "These are Lux Embodiment cultivators on the verge of Lux Dominion. In fact, I think the winner will make it there easily. This is not a quickly resolved fight."

"I do hope you're correct about that," Sun Wukong said.

"Have you given thought to what we will do after this?"

Sun Wukong stilled himself, though he could feel the tail that wasn't there twitching. He licked his lips. "The Jade Emperor was very precise," he said.

"He was," Sun Wukong's eyes glittered. "We must help those we have sworn to aid."

"Yes, we must. They'll have to fight the winner of this battle unless we intervene."

"I don't see why we would."

"One or two of them might die."

"It would be careless to lose more than two. One of the women, perhaps the irritating one with the blue lux. She knows far too much about us."

"Just what I was thinking. It's as though you read my mind."

"A clever cultivator like you agreeing with me only tells me my plan is correct."

"After all, the Jade Emperor said we needed to bring them to him, to the top. He said nothing about after. This is our chance."

Sun Wukong nodded. "Our chance to escape. To return… without the prize we sought, but intact. For that, we need this tower opened as well."

"Easy enough. But doing it in a way that gets us what we want… that's trickier. We'd have to kill the Jade Emperor."

"Which would kill us."

"Unless…" They looked at each other, smiling.

"The boy with a Lens in his soul," Sun Wukong said.

He saw a toothy grin, identical to his own, answer back. "That will likely overload him," Sun said. "The backlash could destroy the tower before we can use the lumos."

"If he dies, we will be there to prevent that," Sun Wukong pointed out.

"Just make sure we get our hands on what we deserve."

The fight down below was nearing its end. Both cultivators had run out of lux and didn't have the leisure to refine enough more. This fight was about to be over.

Sun Wukong watched as they both readied their finishing moves. He clucked his tongue as he saw what was planned. Then glanced over. "Hey, no cheating."

Sun Wukong lowered his hands and looked sheepish to have been caught. "I was only going to give a little nudge."

"We have a bet," Sun Wukong reminded himself.

But it didn't matter. The battle was done. The two techniques clashed. Smoke and dust rose up as a great wave of force smashed flat every building in that village. When the dust closed, Sun made out the male cultivator in a meditative posture, seated with his hands on his knees. The woman's body hung in the air in front of him. He was draining the lux from her now.

"Huh. There we are," Sun Wukong said. "I'm disappointed he did not reach Lux Dominion."

"That makes it easier for us to control the next fight," Sun pointed out.

"You always did know how to look on the bright side of things," Sun agreed. He snapped his fingers, and his duplicate vanished. Then he transformed himself into the image of an abbot, complete with yellow robes and long white beard. He dropped down into the town, conjuring a board-bound book of scriptures.

"Well done, disciple of Truth. Here is what you were looking for. Make haste to reach the North Mountain. Your fellows have fallen, and their enemies have taken the token. If they reach the Guardian before you, they may persuade him to allow you to pass."

The cultivator opened one eye. He had the other two cultivators' artifacts at his side. "They have defeated my fellows?"

"I am afraid so."

"Have they taken their treasures?"

"It is hard for me to see at such a distance," Sun shrugged. "What cultivator would neglect to snatch such a treasure from his fallen foe? It is his due."

A smile spread across the man's face. "Then I will ensure myself to be master of all six before I leave this floor."

With that, he leapt skyward and was gone.

Sun stared after him. "Well," he said cheerfully, though now there was no one to hear him, "I'd best be getting back to my comrades."

Another copy of him snapped into existence. He hadn't willed it, but it was the sort of thing that happened sometimes.

"How about another bet?" the copy suggested.

"Oh?" Sun raised an eyebrow. Making inane bets with himself had been the only way he'd stayed sane this whole time.

"That fellow there's plenty strong. Let's say you and I remain neutral, even give our friends a tip or two along the way. And then we see what happens. I have another ten that they can defeat him without losing more than one of their number."

Sun frowned. It did sound like an interesting bet to place. "We need the boy."

"Oh, come. We can find another plan if necessary. Besides, he's one of the ones I have bet will survive," Sun said. "And if you're worried, you can give him a few extra lessons along the way."

Sun considered.

"It's a bet."

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