Wen looked around him. If this isn't death, he thought, it's a pretty strange part of Fusang. Still, Yin Fengzi was beside him, and that would be hard to credit if he truly was dead. "You did this to me, I assume."
"Of course I did, you idiot." She looked at him, and the tears were gems in the corners of her eyes. "You are such a... such an idiot, Wen Xia! To run off like that, leaving us all behind, and then to get yourself captured that way and leave me behind —"
"I know I'm an idiot," he said. "I've been telling myself little more than that ever since I saw Chin wearing that damned ridiculous silver armor. Which was, incidentally, at least four sizes too small for him. He needs to change tailors."
"You don't need to make me laugh," Fengzi said. "I'm still too angry with you to find anything funny."
"Fair enough. So why are you here? And where exactly is here, come to that?" The landscape looked earthly enough, but nothing at all like Fusang. There were mountains, but they were green, and rounded—not unlike, he realized, the "trained stones" in Scholar Wu's garden. "This is China," he said. "Isn't it?"
"Not quite," Fengzi said. It's the gates of Fengdu."
"Hell? And here I thought we weren't dead."
"We're not." Fengzi got to her feet; Wen was startled to realize that they'd been lying on a bed of some sort of flower as they'd talked. "I have cast a spell that made it appear as if your heart has stopped. And mine, back at Scholar Wu's garden. One of the things you learn when you study Daoist arts—even if you're not seeking immortality—is the ability to control the way our bodies and souls interact with the material and immaterial worlds." He told himself they were walking now, but Fengzi at least appeared to be floating. "Our spirits are in the underworld, Wen, and we have to hope that our spirits can complete their task before someone in Jīn-sè Mèn decides to throw your body to the dogs or burn it or do whatever it is they do to notorious pirates."
"If Chin Gwai was speaking honestly—and let's face it, he's usually too stupid to lie properly—Governor Li is going to melt gold and silver all over me somehow. Don't know when it's going to happen, but I think it's safe to assume we don't have too much time."
"Well, time seems to move differently here," she said. "So let's hope we'll have what we need. Incidentally, speaking of things being different, it looks as if your Dragon Emerald Eye has not made the journey with you. I see two human eyes in your face. Can you see properly?"
"It seems so." Wen blinked, and looked across at the beautiful green mountains. "I'm sorry about the Emerald Eye, though. It probably would have been very useful." He turned back to Fengzi. "So, what exactly is our task? Or our spirits' task, which as far as I'm concerned right now is the same thing."
"We have to rescue your father."
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