The canyon was silent except for the wind. It whispered through the shattered stone and the corpses left in Jurok Ironveil's wake, carrying the copper tang of blood and the burnt-stone stink of the collapsed suppression field.
The survivors moved like ghosts among the dead, dragging the wounded into makeshift rows, scavenging for water, or just staring, hollow-eyed, at the broken world around them.
Shen Yuan sat slumped against the canyon wall, one arm pressed to his ribs. Each breath sent a sharp pulse of pain through his side. He tried to push himself upright but his legs trembled violently.
"You're not moving," Yun Xue said, crouching beside him. Her dagger was still slick with the blood from Jurok's seal.
"I'm fine," Shen Yuan lied.
She gave him a look. "You're half-dead. Sit still before you fall over and make it worse."
I ran a diagnostic, forcing what remained of my functions into coherence.
[ HOST INJURY: SEVERE – MULTIPLE FRACTURES, INTERNAL BLEEDING ][ SYSTEM CORE STABILITY: 43% AND RISING ]
I could stabilize him—eventually. But I couldn't undo what had been lost.
Fourteen survivors dead. Seven critically wounded. Morale: fracturing.
I projected the tally into Shen Yuan's awareness.
He didn't flinch, though his hand tightened into a fist. "We bury them," he said quietly.
A murmur of assent rippled through the group, but it was thin, brittle. The survivors looked more like the living dead than people. They'd seen too much death, and this was only a pause before the next pursuit.
"Bury them?" one man rasped. He was young—barely a cultivator—and his hands shook as he gestured at the canyon floor. "We don't have time for graves. We should leave now. Before the Bone Court sends more."
"They'll know where we are anyway," another spat. "We're dragging a beacon with us."
Everyone turned.
Han Fei stood apart from the group, arms bound in scavenged rope. The branded captive met their eyes in silence, jaw tight. The faint glow of the Bone Court's tracking runes still flickered beneath the half-burnt skin at his collarbone.
"They can find him," the young man said, voice rising. "The brand isn't gone. We should end it now!"
He moved forward, sword trembling in his grip.
"Stop." Shen Yuan's voice was low, but it carried.
The young man froze.
"I said stop," Shen Yuan repeated, levering himself upright against the canyon wall. His cracked spear was little more than a staff now, but he held it with enough presence to make the boy lower his weapon.
"You saw what happened," the boy said. "He's a liability. One pulse from the Bone Court and we're all dead!"
"I'm aware," Shen Yuan said. He turned his gaze to Han Fei. "But I won't kill someone who's fought beside us just because it's easier."
"That's not easier," the boy snapped. "It's survival!"
He wasn't wrong. My calculations supported it.
[ SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: +31% IF BRANDED CAPTIVE TERMINATED ]
You know this is the logical choice, I told Shen Yuan.
"I've heard enough," he said aloud.
Yun Xue stepped forward then, voice low and sharp. "Shen Yuan, he's right. We can't carry dead weight right now. If the Bone Court is tracking us, he's a risk we can't afford."
Han Fei's jaw clenched, but he said nothing.
Shen Yuan looked between them, then shook his head. "We bury the dead," he said again. "Then we move."
The young man's face twisted in frustration. He stalked off, muttering curses under his breath.
Yun Xue's glare was harder. "You're going to get us all killed."
"Maybe," Shen Yuan said. "But if we start killing our own to buy time, we're already dead."
That's flawed logic, I said.
"It's not logic," Shen Yuan murmured. "It's what makes us worth saving."
I didn't respond.
The survivors dug shallow graves in silence. The ground was hard and unyielding, forcing them to use splintered weapons as improvised shovels. Every scrape of stone on stone was a reminder of how little strength they had left.
When the last body was laid to rest, Yun Xue lit a talisman at the edge of the graves. The soft glow cast long shadows across the canyon walls.
Han Fei lingered nearby, still bound. His voice was hoarse when he finally spoke. "You shouldn't have spared me."
"Maybe not," Shen Yuan said. He looked at the graves, not at Han Fei. "But you're here now. Make it mean something."
Han Fei said nothing.
Night fell cold and quick. The survivors huddled close to the canyon wall, clutching scraps of ashwater to drink and rationing what little food remained. Yun Xue moved among them, quiet and efficient, while Shen Yuan leaned back against the stone, every breath a ragged effort.
"You're pushing too hard," I said through the tether.
"We can't stop now," he whispered.
You can't lead them if you collapse.
He closed his eyes briefly. "Then I'll stand as long as I can."
I watched him in silence. Shen Yuan had held the group together when reason said to abandon them. He'd chosen compassion over cold efficiency again and again, even when it cost him.
And now, because of that, they still had a chance.
But chance wouldn't be enough for long.
Near midnight, I detected a faint energy signature along the canyon rim—small, disciplined movements.
[ WARNING: TRACKERS DETECTED – BONE COURT SCOUTS ]
They've found us, I told Shen Yuan. We have less than an hour before they report back.
He opened his eyes. "Can we move?"
Not all of us. Too many are wounded. We'd be exposed in the open.
Yun Xue approached, having overheard. "Then we hit them first," she said grimly.
Shen Yuan nodded, wincing at the effort. "Wake everyone. If the Bone Court wants to hunt us…" He gripped the splintered spear tighter.
"…then we hunt back."