"I want that Sword-plundering Nemesis gone as much as you do," she admitted, gripping the handle of the broom tightly. The priestess had heard the rumors as much as any other seal guardian had. The Nemesis came in the night and stole priceless relics from the War of Fading Dusk and disappeared as much as he came. But this was the first time she'd heard he had accomplices. "But to use a relic? This seems far too risky."

"Riskier than having them steal the sorcerous sword in the middle of the night?" the imperial pushed up his glasses. "If you do this, you will be renown as the shrine that helped to take down that villain."

She seemed unconvinced by his words, though there was that concern that the precious relic her clan guarded would be stolen so easily. Was the Sword-plundering Nemesis truly so powerful? Could she take that risk? She stared at the broom in her hands, still debating on what to do.

He spotted the concern still written on her face. Just a little more work and he could seal this deal with her. "Very well, seal guardian. I shall speak to her highness Princess Cháo Fēng personally to make you the only recognized seal shrine in all of Xī Yōu," he added with a grin.

"You can truly do this?" Now there was an enticing offer. Not having to worry about imperial pressure or the Sword-plundering Nemesis would certainly leave the guardians to do their work. Perhaps she could strike a deal with this man. "What would you have me do?"

He grinned, pushing up his glasses.

…..

Shāng Bù Huàn peered out of the forest at the nearby Storm Seal Shrine. The place was rather remote, nested high in the central mountain range and away from any nearby towns. Walls surrounded the edges though the doors were set open wide with a singular guard posted at each. A large courtyard lay just beyond the wall with a few sacred trees tied with blessings. Further in was a large building, the doors shuttered tight.

"For rumors of imperial activity, this place certainly is quiet," Mù Tiān Mìng observed. "Perhaps it was just rumors. Most people don't come up this way."

"They're not exactly quiet about raiding seal shrines and taking the sorcerous swords within," Shāng frowned. "It doesn't look like they've been here. The place is still standing."

The imperial army had been quite aggressive in their search for swords lately. They were caught up in a supernatural arms race with Shāng and company to see who would reach the sword first. Even if the sword ended up in Imperial hands, they stole it back and sealed it away, much to Xiào Kuáng Juàn's annoyance.

Shāng peered over at Làng Wū Yáo who hadn't moved much since they'd arrived. The bard had joined them two years ago on their quest to seal all of Xi You's sorcerous swords. Shāng couldn't always tell what he was thinking, but at the moment, it wasn't hard to guess. He'd seen Làng do this before.

Làng had his eyes closed, listening to everything around them with his hand placed on the ground. He could hear the birds in the nearby trees, the wind blowing a bridge nearby, the guards nearby shifting uncomfortably, the lack of travelers on the pathways. There was someone sweeping inside the courtyard, pacing uncomfortably as if they were expecting something, anticipating someone to come.

Shāng frowned. "Something is bothering you, isn't it?"

"This is a trap, man!" Líng Yá replied.

"There's a chance of that every time we follow the trail of a sword," Mù pointed out, "especially with the empire and Huò Shì Míng Huáng competing against us to acquire these swords."

Làng stood up without another word, but Shāng caught him by the edge of the robe as he aimed to leave the forest. "I can hear someone with ill intent," Làng informed them.

Mù leaned just enough to peer into the courtyard without being seen. "I see a seal guardian sweeping. No imperials unless they're further in and hiding. But they're not always the best at hiding." The woman was probably close to Mù's age, long dark hair pulled into a low ponytail. Her robes were long in red and white with a black lightning pattern embroidered up her sleeves. She had a black hat on her head with a large white lotus decoration. "You can't mean her, right?"

Làng hadn't expected a seal guardian to be the source of the sound, but his sense was never wrong. He peered at her as she swept, just to be certain. It was definitely her. He peered back at his companions. They still didn't quite understand what he was thinking all the time, not that he spoke all that much. He was still working on that. "She is expecting something. Her movements, her shortness of breath, her pacing back and forth, sweeping the same location over and over again. Her stance speaks of ill intent."

"Now hold on, Làng," Shāng hadn't released the grip on his robe. "She's just sweeping. She hasn't done anything yet."

"If we don't do something, she will cause trouble for us," Làng warned. He was quite absolute in his judgment. Someone with evil in their hearts had to be stopped before they did something terrible. He had witnessed enough evil firsthand, his sharp natural senses picking up on the minute details to determine someone's intent. She was close enough he could hear them as she swept near the entrance, and now seeing her, he was certain that he was correct. He couldn't let his companions get hurt from someone like that. Their quest to protect Xī Yōu was dangerous. He didn't want some evil seal guardian to Mùck everything up.

"Làng, we can't just go and attack the only other people trying to protect Xī Yōu," Shāng frowned. "The seal guardians are still trying to keep the swords from the War of Fading Dusk from falling into evil hands." The problem was that the empire was taking down shrines and forcing the guardians to hand over the swords or else. This one seemed remote enough with a number of natural defenses that they could fend off the imperials at least for a bit.

"His sense is never wrong, you know!" Líng Yá informed Shāng.

Shāng huffed. He knew that Làng could sense things he really couldn't understand. Conceptual things like intent and illusions. He could sense that. "People can have bad thoughts and not act upon them. I'd rather give her the benefit of the doubt, especially with the empire possibly traipsing around here. That nervousness could be from that, after all."

Mù sighed. She knew how sensitive Làng was, but Shāng did have a point. People did sometimes have bad thoughts. Well maybe not Shāng. He seemed to never have any ill intent, even when he was stomping imperials into the ground. And the empire's shrine-stomping habits could make anyone nervous.

Làng continued to stare at the entrance. Her unconscious actions could be telling that story. Was he jumping into this a bit too quickly, assuming the worst before it happened? He frowned a bit. He was absolutely certain he was correct but he made no move to pry his robe from Shāng's grip. Perhaps there was still a lot he had to understand about the rest of the world. He didn't always understand people. That much was true in his attempts to communicate with his companions and to understand where someone supernatural like him fit in this world.

"Who's there?" the seal guardian called out from the entrance. "I hear you talking."

Mù stepped out of the woods first. "Sorry, we're just passing through."

The guardian frowned. "This is pretty remote for 'just passing through', you know." She watched as the two men emerged from the forest as well. There he was, the Sword-plundering Nemesis. The imperial described him well, though Shāng definitely wore a more pleasant expression than she'd expected. She tightened her grip on her broom. She had to go through with this.

Làng kept his attention on the seal guardian. Her stance defied her calm demeanor. She was up to something, and he well knew it from her movements. He kept Líng Yá in his arms, making no move against her despite his better judgment. Perhaps it was nothing, perhaps the imperials had put her on guard like Shāng said. But the way she had returned the stare told him more.

Shāng placed a hand on Làng's shoulder, seeing his friend tighten his grip on Líng Yá.

"If you're looking for the town, you can just follow this pathway across the ravine," the guardian pointed down the road. "It's about half a day's walk from here. You should reach it by nightfall."

"Thank you. We'll do just that," Mù bowed politely, turning towards the road. The hike up the mountains through the forest looked much safer than the road in the indicated direction. The path they had taken up was solid ground, though the hike was rather steep. This one required crossing a ravine on a wooden bridge that swayed slightly in the breeze.

Làng didn't like the idea of leaving that seal guardian as she was. The way she seemed to be boring a hole into his back made him uneasy. "We should deal with that guardian before something happens," he warned as they stepped on the bridge. "It cannot simply be the imperial forces which had set her off."

Shāng sighed. He was rather insistent about this, but he knew Làng meant well. "Let's save that sort of thought for the imperials. If they did truly come through this way, they shouldn't be too far off, and I'd rather catch up with them. If they have a sorcerous sword, we can take it from them before they can use it against the people, especially with terrain like this. There's only two ways up this mountain and they certainly weren't on the other slope we came up."

Làng frowned a bit. Perhaps it was best to follow the imperials even though that seal guardian's stance still bothered him. There were more important things like ensuring that the people were safe from whatever imperial plot was going on here.

"Given the information we've heard, this is the only way they could've gone," Mù reasoned. She turned, noticing that Làng had stopped on the bridge. She frowned. That sense of evil he picked up at the shrine must still be eating at him. He was certainly one to enact justice against those with evil hearts, but she hadn't seen him want to harm someone before they had actually done anything. Still, despite his words, he'd hesitated. "Wū Yáo, let's-"

She leapt backwards as a cracking sound rang out over the ravine. The bridge gave out, splitting at the center near where Làng had been standing. "Wū Yáo!"

The bard leapt along the falling planks, attempting to grab at whatever he could, he narrowly missed the bridge's rope, finding himself falling quickly. His leap had fortunately flung him enough towards the cliffside opposite Shāng and Mù, his hand barely finding a jut of rock to catch himself.

"Wū Yáo!" Mù shouted.

Shāng gritted his teeth. "Làng! Hold on!" The ravine was far too wide to leap across. The mists below concealed its depths. Perhaps he could use his wooden blade to dislodge rocks and create handholds. He pulled his sword from his belt, pausing as someone approached. "This wasn't an accident, was it?"

"That was easier than I expected." The shrine guardian stepped out of the woods, her broom still in hand as she brandished it like a sword.

"It's the seal guardian!" Mù shouted. "What did you do?!"

"My name is Lián Měi, the guardian of the Storm Seal Shrine!" she announced. "And I will not have the Sword-plundering Nemesis and his cronies take the Mountain Gale from this shrine!" It was time to fulfill her part of the bargain. The imperial would take care of the rest, and soon her shrine would be protected from both the empire and the greatest villain in all of Xī Yōu. She rose the broom up above her head, driving it downward in a large arch.

A gust of wind followed her movements, pushing downwards into the ravine. Làng gripped the side of the ravine wall tightly, digging his fingers into the rocks. They were slippery from the mist, threatening to loose his grip and send him to the ravine below.

"Hang on, Làng!" Líng Yá shouted as he flipped to Làng's back.

The bard attempted to grip the tiny ledge with both hands. He had no means to defend himself, using as much qi as he could to stabilize himself. That seal guardian was trouble, he just knew it. Perhaps he should've been more insistent about this. But now he was at her mercy, trying to hang on as best he could.

And he would've been fine had the ledge not cracked and given into the pressure of the winds. He pulled Líng Yá from his back, using sonic waves to counter the winds as he fell into the mountain mists below.

"Làng!" Shāng shouted in horror. "Laaaang!"

...

Author's musings

Oh boy! What a way to start off a story! I thought to myself, how would it go for Lang and Shang's first disagreement about intent? How would the group react to Lang's absolute judgment? We can see how Shang reacts 10ish years later in S2 but something about that scene always struck me, like there was a story behind their reaction. Lang storming off and Shang upset about it. What if something had happened? Well let's see how this all plays out. Prepare yourself for an emotionally charged story (my favorite kind!)