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“He’s not leaving here at all,” Xiang snarled.

Junjie tried to calm his racing heart and slow his breathing. Desperation and fear would hinder his reactions and weaken him as a fighter. He had to be at his best for the sake of his clan mates and for the honor of his clan.

A slight ripple in a deep shadow beside Chen caught Junjie’s attention. He palmed a throwing knife and sent it flying past Chen’s cheek. It narrowly missed Chen and disappeared into the opening Jiang Chong had created. A soft grunt slipped from the opening before it closed.

“You couldn’t have just said, ‘Move’?” Chen asked, though it came with a smirk.

“It was faster to throw a knife.”

Jiang Chong continued this frustrating game of hide-and-seek until he found a weakness to exploit. A snap of a branch from a powerful gust of wind drew too much of their attention. Jiang Chong surged through a black doorway to strike at Yichen. Chen barely pulled their shidi?3 away as the monster’s blade kissed Yichen’s arm.

Junjie threw himself at Jiang Chong. Their blades clashed again and again as Junjie went through the same moves that had been drilled into his head for decades. And as he expected, Jiang Chong deflected every one of them. Junjie grew tired, andJiang Chong knocked Junjie’s sword out of his hand. A gasp left Junjie. Pain surged through his gut as Jiang Chong shoved his sword deep. At the same time, Junjie plunged a dagger he’d kept hidden through bone and muscle in the center of Jiang Chong’s chest.

The monster tumbled back on a shout, and Junjie went with him. He pulled the knife from Jiang Chong and slammed his free hand into the opening. His fingers brushed what felt like a frozen stone that faintly pulsed.

Jiang Chong’s heart.

He wrapped his fingers around the organ and attempted to pull it from the monster even as Jiang Chong twisted the sword in Junjie’s stomach. A scream erupted from Junjie’s lips, but he kept digging and pulling at the heart. Nothing was going to stop him.

“I may die, but I’m taking you with me,” Jiang Chong threatened through clenched teeth.

“I’m happy to die for my clan.”

The words had barely left his tongue when he noticed the darkness falling over them. Jiang Chong had pierced the veil between worlds, opening a doorway around them. He planned to trap Junjie there with his corpse.

Should Junjie release Jiang Chong and save himself?

Or stay and finish him?

Stay. End this. Save his clan.

The thought had formed in his mind as two sets of hands grabbed his legs and pulled. The unexpected sensation jolted him into loosening his hold on Jiang Chong’s heart. As the monster’s sword slid free of his stomach and his grip on Jiang Chong faltered, Junjie took a final swipe at his creator with the blade in his left hand, cutting him across the throat.

Those black eyes—filled with icy hatred—held Junjie’s as the doorway between the living and dead realms closed. Should hesurvive his injuries, the unspoken promise of torment and death rested in Jiang Chong’s cold stare.

“Jun-Jun, are you okay?”

“What the hell were you thinking?”

“Is he dead? Do you know if he’s dead?”

It was Mei Lian’s frantic question about Jiang Chong that snapped Junjie out of his daze.

“Why did you pull me out?” he shouted as Xiao Dan and Chen helped him sit up. He winced at the painful tug of the open wound in his gut. “I had his heart in my hand! In my hand!” As he shouted, he shook his blood-and-gore slicked hand at his shixiong. “I almost had him.”

“And we would have lost you,” Chen argued.

“Who cares! It would have been over! We would have been free.”

“How do you know we’re not?” Xiang pointed out.

“Jun-Jun, drink,” Xiao Dan ordered, placing his wrist to Junjie’s lips, but Junjie turned his head to avoid it.

“But—”

“Shidi, shut up and drink,” Xiao Dan snapped. “You’re bleeding from several wounds and covered in burns.”

Junjie wanted to argue that they were all in terrible shape, but a quick glance revealed he had suffered the worst injuries. It was only when he carefully took his first drink of Xiao Dan’s blood that Shixiong released a sigh of relief.