Morning mist still clung to the ancient shrine stones as the group sat in a loose, tired circle on the moss-covered ground.
No one had spoken in nearly ten minutes.
The mist demon was gone—for now. Their limbs ached, and their hearts still hadn't slowed completely. But the silence that followed had become awkward, not tense. Exhaustion and adrenaline had made the group strange bedfellows.
Han Bo was the first to break it.
"So," he said, plucking at the sleeve of his robe, "what exactly are we writing in this spirit message? 'Dear Elder Mu, sorry about the cursed demon beacon, love from your least favorite disciples'?"
Lin Yue didn't even look up. "We write the truth."
"Oh, yes, because 'we stumbled on a forbidden object and lured a mythological predator into the forest' is a great way to start a letter to an Elder," Han Bo replied, making dramatic hand gestures. "'P.S. please don't exile us to the Outer Ridge.'"
Liang Jun, who was gently dabbing a scratch on his forearm with a folded cloth, sighed. "We don't exaggerate. We state the facts. Succinctly."
"Right," Han Bo nodded. "Like this: 'We were on the Mist Path. Found a jade amulet. It cracked. It glowed. Demon showed up. We did not die. Please advise.'"
Joseph couldn't help it—he laughed. It came out rough, almost a bark, but it broke the lingering pressure in his chest.
"That's… honestly better than what I was thinking," he admitted, wiping a hand across his face.
Lin Yue looked at him. "You were thinking about lying."
Joseph blinked. "I didn't say that."
"You thought it."
Han Bo grinned. "She's got the forehead-reading technique."
Liang Jun set down his cloth. "Alright. We need to compose something balanced. Nothing too dramatic, nothing misleading."
He pulled a thin piece of folded spirit parchment from his inner sleeve, followed by a simple talisman brush and a copper vial of spiritual ink. "We can't afford to waste a transmission. It costs two prayer tokens and one breath of personal qi. So if anyone ruins the paper with dramatic nonsense—" he looked at Han Bo "—they will be paying the next transmission."
"Relax," Han Bo said, reclining lazily against a stone. "I'm here for comic relief and swordsmanship. Not calligraphy."
Joseph, who had been quietly observing them all, leaned forward. "Okay. Let's figure out what actually happened, then. No jokes. No leaps."
Everyone paused.
Liang nodded. "Good. Start at the beginning."
Joseph recounted it piece by piece. The jade amulet appearing in his dorm—though he left Ping An's name out. Then the forest trial, the serpent, the memory-blossom. The amulet pulsing. The crack. Then Lin Yue's warning and the mist demon's approach.
"I still don't know what set it off," he said. "It didn't pulse like that before. Not until Liang reached for it."
Liang frowned. "It may have resonated with something nearby. The shrine stones, maybe. Or even one of us."
"That's not unsettling at all," Han Bo muttered.
Lin Yue tilted her head. "If the amulet was meant to be sealed and it reacted to a disciple's presence… that's a bigger problem than just 'found a shiny rock.' That's deliberate activation."
"But who'd put a cracked amulet into the dorms?" Joseph asked. "By accident?"
No one answered.
The suspicion in the air hung between them like a second mist.
"Let's not accuse anyone yet," Liang said quickly. "We don't know enough. We say: 'an unstable jade amulet was discovered during the Mist Path trial. It was already cracked. It responded to proximity and activated spiritual resonance. Shortly after, a mist demon emerged from the woods. We retreated to the protected shrine and await instruction.'"
"Boring," Han Bo muttered.
"Precise," Liang corrected.
"Lacks character."
"We're not writing a novel, Han Bo."
Lin Yue raised a hand. "Add this: 'The amulet was not retrieved. It remains at the site of manifestation. Coordinates approximate.' We shouldn't touch it again."
Joseph blinked. "We left it behind?"
Liang nodded. "We weren't carrying that thing after it started glowing. I'm not losing a limb over a cracked rock."
Han Bo waved a hand. "Spirit tools are like moody animals. Get them wet, get them broken, and they start howling."
Joseph leaned back on his hands. "You guys are way too casual about cursed artifacts."
"Welcome to sect life," Han Bo said.
Liang finished writing with practiced ease, the brush strokes smooth, flowing with cultivated qi. Once done, he placed the talisman into the small bone tube and sealed it with a whisper of breath. The scroll glowed faintly, then dimmed.
He stepped into the center of the shrine and raised the sealed scroll. "By elder rite and disciples' breath, let this message be delivered in truth."
He tossed it into the air.
The scroll hovered, spun once, and vanished in a sharp crack of light, spiraling upward like a streak of fire.
It was gone.
Now, they waited.
****
The tension dropped almost immediately.
Han Bo flopped onto the moss like a dead man, arms sprawled. "If I never see fog again, it'll be too soon."
Joseph chuckled. "You live in a mountain sect. That's all fog."
"Then I picked the wrong aesthetic."
Lin Yue sat near one of the stones, carefully retightening her bracers. Her usual stern mask softened slightly, though she still didn't smile.
Liang stood near the edge of the clearing, watching the mist line. "It hasn't come back."
Joseph walked to join him. "You think it will?"
"I don't think it left for good," Liang replied. "But the shrine will hold. For now."
A beat passed.
Joseph looked over at Lin Yue, then at Han Bo, who was now trying to balance a pebble on his nose. He had to admit—it was weirdly peaceful. After the terror, the chase, the tension of being accused—it was nice to sit in the quiet and not be dead.
He let out a long breath. "Thanks," he said.
Liang looked at him. "For what?"
"For not letting them kill me. Or blame me."
Liang shrugged. "You didn't deserve it."
"Didn't I?"
"You made mistakes. But you listened."
Joseph smiled faintly. "That's… new for me."
Han Bo snorted from the grass. "Don't get mushy. The sect's punishment halls are brutal on emotions."
Lin Yue finally spoke again, low and steady. "We survived today. That's enough."
The four of them sat in the ancient circle of stones as the mist slowly began to lift. Somewhere in the sky above, the first hint of sunlight broke through the clouds.
They didn't talk about the amulet. Or the demon. Or the fact that their trial had turned into something far stranger than anyone expected.
They just sat.
Breathing.
Waiting.
Alive.