Fates Parallel Chapter 376 - Responsibility

Jia rubbed her temples. Her head ached, and she was starting to think there was more to it than the situation with Xiao Chong. Not that she needed more than that to give her a headache.

“This is the final straw, surely. We should kill her now while Yan Yue has her trapped.”

Zheng Long’s argument wasn’t entirely unreasonable. Xiao Chong had made it abundantly clear that she had no intention of working with them, and now she’d even gone as far as to take advantage of her mercy to prey on one of Zheng Long’s allies. She was a threat, plain and simple.

So then why was it so hard for her to make the call? She’d killed Bai Lin for less. If she couldn’t execute Xiao Chong now, then it meant she’d broken her truce and killed Bai Lin for nothing but personal reasons. The practical matter of Bai Lin risking the group over her pride was just an excuse.

“Alright, fine. We’ll...”

Jia hesitated. Was that really the road she wanted to travel down? She looked at Xiao Chong, standing just in front of Yue, her eyes staring blankly ahead while her mind was trapped in Yue’s spell. Killing her wouldn’t change anything. She had killed Bai Lin for personal reasons, and she had no such quarrel with Xiao Chong.

“We’ll handle it the way we do in Goryeo. Yue, keep an eye on her until our defenses are ready, then we’ll send her out to fend for herself.”

Yue smirked and gave her a little bow, but Zheng Long sputtered angrily.

“Wh—you can’t be serious! Exile?! She murdered one of mine and all you’re going to do is exile her?”

Jia sighed—she knew her decision wouldn’t be popular. Even she didn’t like it. It made her feel like a hypocrite. She could remember all too clearly the pain of being beaten and thrown out of a city, or Eui’s desperate pleas for mercy as the magisters marked her with the brand that prevented her from ever entering a Goryeon shield formation.

Goryeo’s policy of exile was no mercy—she knew that. It was execution under another name. A way for self-important bureaucrats to eliminate undesirables without having to feel the burden of their actions weighing on their conscience.

Jia knew that her nation wasn’t perfect, and neither was she. Perhaps it would create more problems later, but the fact was that she just didn’t want to kill Xiao Chong.

Ruiling fidgeted nervously, wringing her hands as if she wasn’t sure whether or not to speak.

“Uh...I hate to say this, Miss Jia, but I agree with Zheng Long. If the demon isn’t willing to cooperate with us, then she should be put down to prevent any further problems.”

Jia sighed.

“If you feel strongly enough about it, then you can feel free to kill her yourselves.”

Zheng Long immediately drew his sword, but Jia wasn’t finished.

“After we exile her. Our truce agreed to non-interference, so I won’t stop you if you want to hunt her down afterwards, but I’m not going to help you do it.”

He scoffed.

“You don’t have to. Yan Yue, keep her still.”

Yue interposed herself between Zheng Long and the demon, shaking her head.

“I’m afraid that I’ve decided to follow Yoshika’s example on this matter. My aid is her aid, and if she’s elected not to give it, then it’s not mine to give.”

Zheng Long sneered as he replaced his blade.

“You’ve picked a poor time to learn submission, Yan Yue.”

“Maybe all I needed was a strong leader.”

He ignored the jab and stormed off.

“Do as you like! I’ll take over scouring these worthless huts myself. I obviously can’t afford to trust anyone else with the safety of what remains of my men.”

Jia grimaced as he stomped off. As much as she disliked the man, she didn’t think she could afford to alienate him entirely. While they were nominally in competition for the ultimate prize of Chou’s tomb, it wouldn’t matter if they were all dead before reaching it.

“Eui, can you handle things here? I’m going to try talking to him.”

“Yeah, good luck with that. I’ll see if he’s got any more girlfriends we can kill to earn his favor.”

“That’s not funny, Eui. Just keep an eye on things, okay?”

She didn’t wait for a response, rushing to catch up with Zheng Long, who barely spared her a glance as he slipped into an empty building.

“What do you want now? Here to rub it in some more? Spare me.”

Jia blinked.

“What? No! Rub what in?”

“Your authority, of course. Despite what you might think, I’m not stupid. I’m well aware of the power you currently hold over me, and how lacking my own allies are. If you’re afraid I’m going to renege on our deal just because you have, worry not. I still value my life.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

He chuckled and shook his head, brushing past her as he finished clearing the room and moved on to the next hut.

“Of course you don’t. You’re still unaccustomed to power. You don’t realize that whether you intend it or not, your every action is an exercise of that power. You have a knack for people, I grant you that—but that’s all it is. There is more to leading than getting people to like you, Miss Lee.”

“Are you trying to say you actually like me?”

“Heavens, no. But the fiends certainly seem to, and you’ve even managed to win over what remains of my junior brethren. I might loathe you more than anyone else, but I am only one man and the evidence suggests that you are quite likable, Miss Lee.”

Jia pursed her lips.

“That’s remarkably straightforward, coming from you.”

He shrugged.

“I have a knack for people too. If I spoke to you as one of my countrymen, or condescended to you as a beastkin—yes, ‘beastkin,’ spare me your corrections—you would bristle. You prefer people to be direct.”

Jia crossed her arms.

“If you’re trying to make me like you, insisting on using pejoratives isn’t the way to do it. And why now? You’ve never bothered changing the way you talk to me before.”

“I don’t want you to like me, I want you to listen to me. I never bothered before because I didn’t care, and because I had to consider appearances. I no longer have either luxury, which I suppose brings us back around to the entire point of this conversation.”

“I’m not sure I even know what that is anymore.”

Zheng Long snorted.

“The point is that you are still shying away from your power. And I don’t mean your strength as a cultivator, though that is naturally a part of it. I mean the influence you wield over people, both as a leader and through the implicit threat that your more literal power creates.”

“I’m not threatening anyone!”

He pointed an accusing finger at her.

“See, there! That’s exactly what I’m talking about. I don’t think you’re that stupid, Lee Jia, but I am beginning to understand that you fear your own power. You hide from it, trying to convince yourself that it’s not real, but it is. Miss Lee—Yoshika—you are threatening each and every one of us as directly as if that partner of yours held one of her knives to our throats, and you are doing it just by existing.”

Jia huffed.

“That’s not fair! Just because I’m stronger doesn’t mean I’m automatically a threat to those around me!”

“But it does. And no, it isn’t fair, but it’s true. It’s something most cultivators are taught to understand from an early age. As long as you hold power over someone, they will fear what you might do with that power.”

“And that’s my fault?”

He shook his head.

“No, but your failure to acknowledge it is. You think those fiends are your friends? Because that’s not what I see at all. I see people who are used to rallying behind whoever presents as the strongest. With Xiao Chong, they saw what happens if your authority is questioned—with Bai Lin, what happens if you are crossed personally. And now you’ve demonstrated clearly that your protection extends only to those who fall in line.”

“That’s not—”

Zheng Long whirled on Jia and met her with a hard glare.

“Isn’t it? What would you have done if one of yours was murdered? If Yan Yue had been caught off guard by the demon and slain? Or if your mage friend was the victim? Would you have been so merciful if it was one of your new pets?”

Jia held Zheng Long’s gaze and scowled.

“They are people, Zheng Long!”

“And you are not answering the question.”

“That’s—I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it. Probably not, I guess.”

He nodded slowly, sighing as he turned away.

“And therein lies the problem. You aren’t thinking about it. Each choice sets a precedent, and while you might not think much of it, I promise you the rest of us do. You made an example of Bai Lin, and now you’ve made an example of me.”

Jia bit her lip, staring down at her feet.

“That’s not what I wanted to do.”

“But it’s what you have done. You have power, Miss Lee, and if you do not learn how to apply it deliberately, then you will soon find yourself sitting on the throne of a brutal tyrant.”

“You’ve got a lot of confidence in me.”

He scratched his head and frowned.

“I have confidence in those who have confidence in you. Personally, I think you’re a naive coward who will bring ruin down on anyone foolish enough to trust you, and your partner is an unapologetic criminal who should have been executed long ago for her crimes. But I also admit that I do not know you—not that I care to. I defer to the better judgment of those who do.”

Jia felt an odd sensation from Zheng Long’s aura. Hard to pick up between his own emotional masking and the natural suppression within Chou’s tomb, but she felt twinges of regret in his voice—and an almost imperceptible air of melancholy.

Something clicked in her mind. Her mouth moved before her brain had time to stop it.

“You actually loved Yue, didn’t you?”

Zheng Long froze—just for a second—then sighed.

“Some things are better left unsaid, Miss Lee. Have you not embarrassed me enough for one lifetime already?”

“S-sorry...”

They continued searching the huts in awkward silence while Jia thought about everything Zheng Long had said. She didn’t like him, and he didn’t like her, but his points resonated with her.

She’d been irresponsible. She still wasn’t comfortable with the idea of having power over other people’s lives. In a way, nobody was more afraid of what she might do with that power than she was. Jia had exiled Xiao Chong because she didn’t want to feel directly responsible for her death, knowing full well that she was being hypocritical.

It was naive. She was responsible for Xiao Chong—not just her life and death, but her actions. After all, she had been the one to insist on cooperating with the demons. She’d been hiding behind the idea that they were disparate groups loosely connected through a vague truce, but she couldn’t run from the truth.

There was only one group, and she was the leader.

And under her leadership, they were falling apart at the seams. Yoshika could have kept Xiao Chong on a shorter leash—played by her rules and made her submit by force. She could have made more of an effort to work with Zheng Long or even Bai Lin, rather than just treating them like obstacles she needed to work around.

There was more to being a leader than just getting people to like her. It wasn’t just about making decisions or giving orders. It was her responsibility—her duty—as a leader to bring the people under her together. She couldn’t keep running away from that responsibility.

“Well, I’ll be damned. There was something here after all.”

Zheng Long’s words snapped Jia from her reverie, and she felt a bit embarrassed for being too distracted to help with the search.

The hut was just like any of the rest—packed dirt floor, mud bricks, and a thatched roof that failed to block even the sun, much less any rain. The only difference was a single item on the floor—as though it had been tossed aside haphazardly.

A tiny scroll. Just a regular bamboo slip that looked so fragile it might fall apart if they were to try picking it up. But even from the entrance, Jia could sense the power within it—the same choking, overwhelming power that she experienced in the presence of xiantian cultivators who weren’t politely restraining themselves.

That dingy little bamboo scroll was a divine artifact.