Bai Ning waited near the palace stairs, doing her best to appear as unobtrusive as possible.
There were several problems with that. First, being unobtrusive did not come naturally to her. No matter how unfair she found it, or how much she protested whenever Mo Jian brought it up, the truth remained that she had a tendency to make a splash, for good or for ill.
Second, the stairs were perhaps the worst possible place to avoid attention. The imperial palace stairs formed a single vast spiral connecting every floor from the very bottom of the palace to the very top, and in a manner of speaking, they were a domain unto themselves. Though the staircase linked the levels together, its position shifted from floor to floor. On the second level the stairs stood near the western edge of the palace, while above and below they appeared in entirely different locations. Such was the nature of the shifting palace.
There was also the matter of the stairs’ importance. Technically, only those authorized to travel between floors were permitted to use them, but sneaking around was apparently common enough that guards had to be stationed nearby to deter adventurous cultivators. And the guards were not the only danger. Certain steps increased gravity without warning. Others cast illusions upon those who walked them. Some teleported travelers to unknown locations, while a few simply vanished beneath one’s feet, sending the unfortunate cultivator tumbling into a bottomless abyss.
The steps themselves were enormous, broad enough for a hundred people to walk abreast. To keep travelers occupied, the walls and landings surrounding the staircase had been filled with paintings, statues, murals, embroidered tapestries, and every other manner of decoration imaginable. Which led directly to the third problem. Whenever someone unfamiliar lingered near the stairs, the decorations swarmed them with relentless conversation.
Since arriving, Bai Ning had already spoken to, and politely attempted to escape from, at least fifty different paintings. Two statues had tried to convince her of the wonders of existing as stone rather than flesh. An embroidered tapestry had threatened to sound the alarm unless she identified herself and explained what she was doing there. A bald monk forged entirely from metal would begin chanting Buddhist teachings whenever she wandered within earshot. It was a mess. A loud, chaotic, exhausting mess.
Thankfully, the Nascent Soul elder who oversaw the palace stairs was currently away attending the meeting. Otherwise, this would have been many times harder. A handful of Core Formation guards still remained on duty, but Bai Ning had managed to placate them by claiming she was waiting for a friend. Technically true, in the way the best lies tended to be. She only wished her “friend” would hurry up.
Her wish went unheeded.
Another half hour passed. The guards grew increasingly suspicious, and the paintings grew increasingly talkative. Then, at last, the curtain of mist separating the first floor from the second rippled, and someone stepped through onto the stairs. Bai Ning recognized her immediately: Shen Jinglan.
She raised her arm at once, waving energetically. “Sister Shen! Over here! It’s me, Bai Ning!”
Shen Jinglan looked up. She blinked once, then again, as though confirming that yes, Bai Ning truly was standing there and waving at her. Her expression shifted rapidly from surprise to confusion to something like cautious acceptance, and then she began climbing toward her.
"Senior Bai Ning? Is that really you?" Shen Jinglan asked. "Were you called to serve in the palace?"
Bai Ning beamed, praying not even a trace of guilt showed on her face. Technically, she was taking advantage of Shen Jinglan, and though her intentions were not malicious, it still left a bitter taste in her mouth. But necessity was necessity.
“Indeed. Both Mo Jian and I were summoned to the palace shortly after your inspection.” She smiled warmly. “I wanted to thank you for that. Had your report not been favorable, we might never have received this opportunity.”
Shen Jinglan immediately looked embarrassed. “There is no need to thank me, Senior. I merely fulfilled my duty and reported the truth. It was your excellent stewardship that earned you this invitation.”
Bai Ning waved a sleeve dismissively through the air. “Oh, hush, you flatterer. And what is this ‘Senior’ nonsense? Call me sister.”
At last, Shen Jinglan smiled, bowing shallowly in acknowledgment. “Sister Bai, then.”
Bai Ning brightened further, looping her arm through Shen Jinglan’s as she guided her up the stairs. “You’re heading upward, correct? Then let me accompany you to the top of the floor, at least. I cannot go beyond, but we can chat along the way.”
Shen Jinglan nodded and finally voiced the question her surprise had delayed as they ascended side by side. Beside them, a portrait of a handsome cultivator standing atop a mountain, robes and hair rippling dramatically in the wind, winked at them as they passed.
“How did you know I would be here, Sister Bai?”
There was a faint undercurrent of wariness beneath the question, subtle but unmistakable. Bai Ning caught it immediately, despite Shen Jinglan’s attempt to conceal it.
She shrugged casually. “After entering the palace, I asked around about you. At first, I merely wished to thank you properly, but then I learned you were an attendant to a member of the imperial family.” She arched an eyebrow at Shen Jinglan, who looked simultaneously defensive and resigned. Bai Ning continued before she could respond. “One of the paintings mentioned that you make a trip down to the lower court every month, so I simply waited for the right time.”
Shen Jinglan nodded, seeming faintly relieved by the explanation. “I hope you do not take offense, Sister Bai. The Princess prefers to remain discreet, so I did not mention her when we first met.”
Bai Ning waved the matter away easily. “There is nothing to apologize for. You had no obligation to tell me.” She smiled. “I was merely surprised that the inspector sent to the Kanchi mine happened to be an attendant of the imperial family. It is quite an honor for me, actually.”
Shen Jinglan grimaced slightly, though she did not contradict the statement. Instead, she smoothly changed the topic. “How are you finding the palace, Sister Bai? I do not spend much time in the outer court, but I have a general understanding of the lower levels. If you have any questions, you may ask me.”
Bai Ning allowed the shift in conversation. Lingering too long on the Princess might make Shen Jinglan suspicious.
“So far, so good,” she replied. “Senior Mo Jian is attending a gathering of the Nascent Soul cultivators on this level, so he could not accompany me today, but we have settled in well enough.” She glanced around as they climbed, letting her gaze drift across the murals and landings with the open curiosity of someone still finding her footing. “Still, it feels like an entirely different world. Stranger and far vaster than I ever imagined.”
Shen Jinglan nodded, a faint smile touching her lips. She carefully avoided commenting on Mo Jian, doing her best to maintain the impression that a Nascent Soul cultivator was entirely absent from their conversation.
"For me, it is the city outside that feels like another world," she admitted. "I went to the markets last autumn. A vendor tried to bargain with me and I had no idea what to do." She gave a faint, self-deprecating smile. "Apparently I stared at him for so long he simply gave me the fruit." She shook her head. “I have spent so much of my life within the palace that this place feels natural to me.” Her smile softened slightly. “Still, I am glad to hear you are finding your footing. An assignment on the second floor is quite favorable. It may not house the most renowned locations, but its proximity to the court is an advantage in itself.”
Bai Ning nodded along. Then she decided it was time. She did, after all, have a purpose for this conversation.
She made a show of glancing around the staircase with mild confusion, letting her brow furrow just enough to invite a question. It was not her finest performance – her mother certainly would not have been fooled – but for the present situation, it was adequate.
Shen Jinglan looked at her quizzically. “What is it, Sister Bai? Did you notice something strange?”
“It’s more that there is nothing strange,” Bai Ning replied. “Aren’t the stairs supposed to be filled with restrictions and traps for those ascending or descending? Illusions, increased gravity, disappearing steps, and the like?” She carefully phrased the question with the earnest curiosity of a naïve newcomer, hoping sincerity alone would carry it through.
Thankfully, it did.
Shen Jinglan’s expression softened into amusement, and she raised a hand to stifle a small laugh. “I should not laugh. I know it takes time for someone to grow accustomed to the palace.” Seeing that Bai Ning had taken no offense, she continued, “I possess a token that grants me unrestricted access up to the twenty-fourth floor. The restrictions will not obstruct my path. Such measures only affect those without tokens, or those forbidden from entering certain areas. Since you work here as well, you already have free access to the entire second level, including the stairs.”
Bai Ning nodded and employed one of her most reliable tricks: she let her eyes go wide and shine with open, artless wonder. It had never worked on her parents or on Master Mo Jian, but Shen Jinglan was a far easier fortress to breach.
“A token that grants access up to the twenty-fourth floor?” she asked with carefully measured awe. “That’s incredible. Sister Shen, may I see it? I promise I’ll be careful.”
Shen Jinglan grew immediately awkward. It was clearly not the sort of thing she was supposed to display casually, much less hand over to someone else. Bai Ning noticed the hesitation at once and pressed the advantage without mercy.
"Well," she began, letting her expression dim into disappointment while she watched Shen Jinglan's face carefully, "if you cannot, then you cannot. Please don't feel pressured. There is truly no need to trouble yourself over something so minor..."
Shen Jinglan visibly wrestled with herself for several long moments before exhaling in surrender.
“No, it’s fine,” she said at last. “It is not such a great matter. The token is keyed to me, so it would not function for anyone else regardless.” She then added, with a slight reluctance that had nothing to do with regulations: "It was a gift, when I first entered Her Highness's service. I don't often show it to people. But you may take a look, Sister Bai."
Bai Ning beamed, this time with entirely genuine delight.
Shen Jinglan slipped a hand into her storage pouch and retrieved a small jade token. It was no larger than Bai Ning’s palm, carved from pale green stone that seemed almost translucent beneath the qi lights lining the staircase. Golden lines threaded through the jade like veins, shifting faintly as spiritual energy flowed within them. On one side was engraved the symbol of the imperial palace: a many-tiered tower rising beneath a crescent moon. The reverse side bore rows of intricate script so dense that Bai Ning’s eyes hurt merely trying to follow them.
Bai Ning accepted it with both hands, careful to appear respectful rather than overeager. Internally, however, her thoughts sharpened at once.
Now, she thought. Strike now.
She could neither see nor sense the Netherworld Scorpion, but she could only trust that Mo Jian was watching through it and would seize the opportunity, or that the instructions he had left the creature with would prove sufficient.
The jade was warm to the touch, almost alive beneath her fingers. Spiritual energy circulated through it in impossibly intricate pathways, forming layers upon layers of restrictions. She recognized enough from her studies under Mo Jian to realize she was looking at masterwork craftsmanship far beyond anything produced in the Thousand Shattered Islands.
She also noticed something else.
The token was not simply identifying Shen Jinglan. It was communicating continuously with the staircase itself. Every few breaths, faint ripples of qi pulsed outward from the token and vanished into the surrounding walls and steps, as though the palace were constantly verifying its authenticity.
Bai Ning kept her expression wide-eyed and admiring. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed. “I’ve never seen anything this sophisticated before.”
“That is because palace access tokens are personally crafted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” Shen Jinglan explained, unable to entirely suppress the note of pride in her voice. “Even among powerful cultivators, very few possess clearance beyond the lower floors.”
Bai Ning nodded absently while pretending to study the engravings. In truth, her attention had already shifted to Shen Jinglan’s storage pouch.
Come on, she urged silently. I can’t stall her forever.
Thankfully, that was when the Netherworld Scorpion acted. Bai Ning realized it only when a dark blemish suddenly spread across the surface of the token, like a fresh burn mark searing through the jade. Normally the artifact spirit could not affect anything that was not living, but Mo Jian had bound some of his ghostly flames within it for precisely this purpose. She reacted instantly. With perfect theatricality, she dropped the badge and jerked her hand back as though scalded.
“Ow!” she yelped, immediately regretting how ridiculous she sounded.
Shen Jinglan’s eyes widened in alarm. She lunged for the fallen token at once, snatching it up and examining it frantically as though terrified it had been damaged. Her spiritual sense surged over the jade while her fingers rubbed anxiously across its surface. At the same moment, Bai Ning moved. She crouched down as well, hastily adopting an appropriately guilty expression while palming the jade slip Mo Jian had prepared beforehand.
“Sister Shen, is the token alright?” she asked hurriedly. “I’m so sorry. I dropped it because it burned my hand.”
As she spoke, she placed one hand lightly atop Shen Jinglan’s, hoping the instinctive desire to shield the token from further mishandling would distract her completely. With her other hand, concealed by the folds of her sleeve, Bai Ning slipped the jade slip into Shen Jinglan’s storage pouch. That had been the true purpose behind all of this: the acting, the deception, the elaborate charade. Normally, a storage pouch was linked to its owner through both spiritual sense and refinement, much like a magical treasure. Inserting or removing anything without the owner noticing was extraordinarily difficult unless they were dead or far away. Since Bai Ning could arrange for neither, this had been the only plan she could devise.
With Shen Jinglan wholly distracted and her spiritual sense focused entirely upon the token, Bai Ning managed to slip the jade slip into the pouch unnoticed.
Even then, it was only possible because of the difference in their cultivation realms, and because Shen Jinglan had trusted her enough to let her get close.
For one terrible moment, Bai Ning was certain Shen Jinglan had noticed.
The other woman’s shoulders stiffened almost imperceptibly, and her gaze flicked upward with sudden sharpness. Bai Ning’s heart lurched. She forced herself not to freeze, or retreat, or to look toward the storage pouch she had just tampered with. Instead, she kept her expression fixed in anxious embarrassment, as though all her attention remained on the possibly damaged token.
Then Shen Jinglan exhaled in relief.
“It’s fine,” she murmured after another hurried inspection. “The token wasn’t harmed.” She glanced suspiciously at the dark mark still marring the jade. “Though I have no idea what caused this…”
Bai Ning swallowed nervously, partly for show and partly because she truly was nervous now. “Maybe it’s because I wasn’t supposed to touch it?”
“That should not happen.” Shen Jinglan’s brow furrowed. “But I’ve never lent it to anyone before, so perhaps it is some feature I was unaware of.”
Beside them, the portrait of a merchant holding an enormous magnifying lens leaned halfway out of his frame to inspect the token.
“Mm. Scorch residue,” he pronounced sagely. “Ruins the resale value. You’ll get less for it now.”
Neither woman paid him any attention.
Shen Jinglan continued examining the token for several long breaths before finally relaxing. Satisfied that no lasting damage had been done, she carefully returned the jade token to her storage pouch. Bai Ning resisted the urge to watch it go.
Had it worked?
She thought it had. She was nearly certain it had. But nearly certain was a dreadful thing to rely upon inside the imperial palace.
“Well,” Shen Jinglan said at last, offering Bai Ning a reassuring smile, “there is no real harm done. Please do not worry about it, Sister Bai.”
Bai Ning lowered her head contritely. “I truly am sorry.”
“It was an accident.” Shen Jinglan waved the matter away, though she still looked faintly puzzled. “Perhaps, as you suggested, the formations reacted oddly because you touched the token without authorization.”
Bai Ning made an agreeable sound, silently thanking the heavens that Shen Jinglan had accepted the explanation so readily.
The two resumed climbing the staircase, and Bai Ning forced herself to continue their easy conversation as though nothing had happened. Beside her, Shen Jinglan already seemed to have moved past the incident entirely.
A few steps later, they passed another metal monk, much like the one Bai Ning had encountered earlier. The statue inclined its bronze head toward her and intoned solemnly, “Attachment to deception is the root of suffering.”
Bai Ning nearly stumbled off the stairs.
Shen Jinglan blinked in surprise before laughing softly. “These statues say strange things to everyone. Don’t mind him.”
“Right,” Bai Ning replied weakly. “Of course.”
Eventually, they reached the top of the second level, where another curtain of mist obscured the landing leading toward the third floor and the staircase beyond. Shen Jinglan turned toward her and offered a shallow bow.
“Thank you for accompanying me this far, Sister Bai. I’m afraid I must leave you here. The Princess expects me this evening.”
Bai Ning returned the bow with a salute. “No need for formality, Sister Shen. You helped Mo Jian and me greatly before, so if you ever require assistance, please do not hesitate to rely on us. I look forward to meeting you again.”
Shen Jinglan returned the farewell, then stepped forward into the curtain of mist and was gone. Bai Ning watched her disappear, feeling something like guilt and something very much like triumph twisting together inside her chest. It was done. The message was sent, and the Netherworld Scorpion could ride all the way to Princess Muxue atop Shen Jinglan's shoulder without her ever suspecting a thing.
They had their way in.
She exhaled slowly, turned, and began descending the stairs. She needed to report back to Mo Jian.
………………………………………………………….
Back at their residence, Bai Ning found that Mo Jian had already returned. He looked tired.
Even though she knew he was already aware of everything through the Netherworld Scorpion's senses, she said it aloud anyway.
"It's done." She dropped into a seat across from him. "And if your understanding of the Princess is correct, Master, then we should be meeting her soon."
Mo Jian nodded, utterly unsurprised. "We will." He poured himself a cup of tea, though he did not drink it immediately. He set it down and looked at it, as though his thoughts were elsewhere. Then he said, "I've found a suitable target to prove our claims." His gaze lifted toward her, calm and steady. "We're standing at the threshold now."
Bai Ning fell silent for a moment. It was strange. It felt as though only days ago she had still been back in the Thousand Shattered Islands, helping him refine impossible plans in secret while the sea crashed outside their halls. Back then, just entering the imperial palace had seemed absurdly distant: a gamble built atop another gamble, horizon stacked on horizon.
And now they were here. They had entered the palace. They had reached the Princess. They stood one step away from whatever came next.
Danger, certainly. Opportunity, perhaps. Most likely both at once.
Bai Ning smiled slowly.
"Then," she said, "let's step through it."
........................................................................................................
AN: We'll finally be meeting the princess next chapter!
Fun fact: after this, she shows up in nearly every chapter for quite some time. The one exception is the next Bai Ning chapter, which is probably Bai Ning filing a formal complaint about the amount of screen time she's losing (we'll make up for it!).