The peninsula town was peaceful, despite the large crack that now split the town in half. An actual crack that people were easily able to step over and not a giant ravine. The people here claimed it was the strange recent earthquakes that had caused it. They weren't exactly wrong, just the source wasn't natural at all.

Those swords were now sealed in the Index, away from thieving hands and malicious intent. The peninsula wasn't known as the most loyal of imperial towns, but they were still part of Xī Yōu's territory and any part meant that the Hunting Fox could be lurking nearby. Even if he hadn't been seen for some time after their last clash, probably nursing some broken ribs.

They had situated themselves in a private cafe room overlooking the nearby sea. It was safer to talk about what they needed without prying eyes and ears. They had more than enough funds left over from the last town where Mù Tiān Mìng and Làng Wū Yáo had played. That bowl had been overflowing from the extended show in exchange for information.

"We're up to 15 now. Not even half of the swords here in Xī Yōu." With a flick of his wrist, the scroll wound shut and disappeared into the other dimension. Shāng Bù Huàn turned his attention to the serving of dumplings on the table.

"We have a lot of work ahead of us, don't we?" Mù mused. "Any information yet?"

Shāng shook his head, "Not yet. But it's only a matter of time before another one suddenly shows up or the Empire exerts their force on another seal shrine and just takes one."

"Are you intending to loot the shrines before the empire?" Làng questioned.

"Definitely not," Shāng shook his head. "As long as they're in the shrine, they're safe from being abused. It's when the empire or Huò Shì Míng Huáng takes the swords that it becomes a problem."

"It's also possible that some of these sacred swords are duds," Mù added. "One of the earliest ones we went after. The empire had stolen it, believing that it could command weather itself. That was the legend anyway. Turned out the sword was just some brass painted silver, the original likely long-since lost in the War of Fading Dusk."

"There was also that one sword that turned out to be a melted metal pipe," Shāng recalled.

"You've got to be kidding, man!" Líng Yá exclaimed.

"It has happened more than a few times," Mù said, plucking another dumpling from the steamer basket. "We generally don't pursue them until they're removed from the shrine or some other possibly sacred location. And well, we'd rather not make enemies of the few people still trying to protect Xī Yōu. The empire is the real problem here, almost more so than Huò Shì Míng Huáng lately."

"And they won't really stop until all the swords are in their possession," Shāng frowned. "Dud or not, they want to control all of them and use them for atrocities across the empire. They don't care about the devastation as long as the people obey them."

"To make them believe they have no other options," Làng recalled the feeling. "That one must survive with a broken string wound around their neck or not live at all."

Mù frowned. It was a terribly accurate description, one that would only come from someone who had suffered at the empire's hands directly.

"And that is why we must steal the swords from them," Shāng agreed. "With each one, we unwind that string just a bit more. Eventually that string will be gone and the empire will no longer have the sorcerous power available to use."

"And now with the Index, it'll be much harder to get those swords back once we have them," Mù added. "Much easier than trying to stash them out of the empire's sights. We're certainly not trying to haul around an armory on our backs anymore." She finished off her dumpling, unrolling a map of Xī Yōu. It marked off the regions of the empire but had the addition of each seal shrine marked. Several had Xs marked across them. "The bigger challenge right now is to predict where the Empire might strike next or an unknown sword might surface."

"Are these all shrines?" Làng looked over the map. The battle against the demon realm had stretched across much of the original empire, eventually splitting it in two when the Wasteland of Spirits first formed. Seal shrines had been established to protect the world from the demon realm in case of a second war, but in 200 years, none had come. They now had imperial problems to handle instead.

"Some of these are abandoned or just places that are said to have large amounts of supernatural energies. Legend has it some of the locations are much older than the War of Fading Dusk. There are so many locations, but since some are duds, we're not sure how many are real or fake," Shāng added. "Plus we have the problem that older swords seem to just manifest out of nowhere. We're not really sure where Huò Shì Míng Huáng or the empire gets them sometimes. But the pair we have are likely local to this region. If the legends we've picked up are true, the sonic sword may have originated here." He indicated a marking at the base of the mountains just a bit north.

"The Sorrowful Soul was said to rest here in a seal shrine," Mù pointed at a marking near the first.

"And if that's the case, that means all the potential locations in this region have already been looted," Shāng reasoned.

"Given that no other swords suddenly show up, we should start moving east," Mù suggested. "Perhaps even north to the more mountainous regions to throw the Hunting Fox off our trail. Sooner or later, we'll find some unusual phenomenon to point us in the right direction."

Làng glanced over the map. Many of the Xs were clustered in the bordering southern regions where they currently sat. He spotted a few closer to the palace and a handful scattered about. There were a few marked locations near where he once lived. To think that a potential sword was nearby his home. If he had not left the mountains, perhaps he would've encountered them again and his path would've ultimately been the same.

He made that choice already and was truly glad he did, even with all the trouble these two swords had put him through. Shāng had asked if he felt the choice was right, saying that there was no turning back. Làng had no doubt in his mind it was the right choice. Die alone in the mountains, become a caged songbird once again, or live free and hunt evil. The choice was easy.

Something prickled at the back of his ear. Làng turned towards the window. "I hear the Hunting Fox's voice."

"So soon?" Shāng frowned, quickly gathering up the map and the remaining dumplings. "And here I thought we could enjoy a meal for once."

"With what we're doing? Unlikely," Mù commented, plucking her guqin from its resting place. Dropping some coins on the table, she followed the pair out the door and into the alleyway. Several imperials dashed towards the restaurant where they once sat.

"Find them. Find the Sword-plundering Nemesis!"

"Well there he is," Shāng frowned. "He sure healed from that last fight quickly."

There was a temptation to simply leave before he noticed they were there, but Xiào Kuáng Juàn wasn't exactly known for his mercy. He'd beat the town senseless in hopes to gain any information he could about Shāng's whereabouts. That didn't exactly sit right with Shāng. He opened his mouth to suggest they take the Fox out first, but Làng had already left the alleyway. "Well that answers that suggestion."

"Well well, the Sword-plundering Nemesis, the former Court Virtuoso, and their accomplice!" Xiào pointed at the group emerging from the alleyway.

"At least you could give me a worthwhile title," Mù mused, pulling the guqin from her back.

"Get them!" Xiào barked the command.

Not that Xiào exactly got them. He was left lying face down in the dirt, cursing their existence as they left the town and headed on their way.

They had so many other potential swords to seal, so many threats on their path to freeing Xī Yōu from their supernatural power. Làng pulled at the strings of the pipa. His heart cried out for another song.

...

Author's musings

Thank you very much for reading my first TBF fic! I wrote a few so there is another Xi You story to come next week!

I honestly thought quite a bit about how Mu and Shang operate. The current sword count is kinda rough since I guestimated (I didn't go pause the movie to say "Oh there are 13 swords on the table!" but it looked close enough, right?) and so with the two from this story, there are now 15.

And while Shang and Mu seem to be the type to "wing it" sometimes, they are also the type to have a plan. I went back and rewatched Bewitching Melody recently, and found Shang in the background several times near Mu. He was off investigating and possibly retrieving swords. They have A Plan. For my version? It's a map marking shrine locations, legends, and possibly sorcerous locations. There is one brief mention (I believe it's actually in the movie) that some of the swords are older than the War of Fading Dusk, so good luck marking all the locations, right?

Thanks again for reading this whole thing and hope to see you all in the next story that involves an insidious imperial plot, stolen memories, and misty cliffside.