Fates Parallel Chapter 345 - Distraction

Yoshika rose to her feet slowly. Though she was trying to suppress her anxiety she knew full well that it was a worthless effort in a room full of powerful empaths. She definitely didn’t belong there, and she had no idea how to defend her place at the table. All of Yue’s preparation and bolstering fled Yoshika’s mind as she desperately tried to gather her thoughts.

First, bow.

“Thank you Prime Minister, Your Highness.”

She could follow their customs, at least. Yoshika wasn’t sure which form of address was appropriate, but the others that the table had used ‘Prime Minister’ or ‘Your Highness’ so she figured she couldn’t go wrong with both.

The pressure of so many powerful grandmasters staring her down was nearly unbearable, but Yoshika tried to focus on Lin Xiulan’s encouraging smile and forced herself to continue.

“My role here is not as one of your peers. It would be arrogant in the extreme to make such an audacious claim. My duty here as an ambassador of Goryeo and Yamato is to represent the interests of the alliance over that of its individual signatories.”

One of the elders—a northern one that Yoshika didn’t recognize—interrupted.

“Is that why you’ve taken a barbarian’s name despite clearly being from the beastmen tribes to the east?”

Yoshika was certain the man could sense her irritation, but she kept her cool as she responded.

“My name was given to me as a sign of love and respect, and I bear it with pride. While I was born in Goryeo, I have been to Yamato and lived among their people. My time there was short, but I remember it fondly. It is my love for the people of both nations that drives me to care so deeply about this union. For that matter, I have also grown to love the people of Qin during my time here.”

Another elder, this time from the south, chimed in.

“That still doesn’t address the question—why are you here? Surely your masters could represent the interests of your alliance without insulting us by bringing you to the table?”

“I agree. Master Ienaga and Princess Seong are both more than capable of speaking for themselves. However, as you may have guessed, I am a former student of the Grand Academy of Spiritual, Martial, and Arcane Arts—its best student, if I might be so bold—and I have another master who is not present here today.”

The elders murmured amongst themselves for a moment before one of them spoke up.

“I had disciples who attended the academy and I think they would have remembered a creature as strange and grotesque as you. Furthermore, I seem to recall it was the barbarian Hayakawa Kaede that ultimately won the grand tournament. Why deepen your insult with such blatant lies?”

Yoshika pursed her lips. They were needling her on purpose—they had to be. Unfortunately, there was no way to answer that without stepping into an enormous trap. Oh well, it’s not like she’d ever expected to keep it secret.

She bowed politely to the rude man.

“My apologies for the misunderstanding. Nobody at the academy would have known me by this form, as it was only recently that I was able to give it a physical manifestation. Please allow us to reintroduce ourselves—we are Lee Jia and An Eui. Our cultivation method is somewhat unusual, but when we met Sovereign Shen Yu, he described us as ‘dao companions.’”

That got their attention. The elders all began speaking over each other, and Yoshika was starting to understand why they had appointed an arbitrator when Qin Yongliang raised his hand to stop them. When he spoke, his tone was level and even—completely free of judgment or accusation.

“You are aware, of course, that my great father, may He reign eternal, has outlawed dual cultivation throughout the empire?”

Yoshika nodded.

“Yes. However, I was not within the empire when I began my cultivation—”

A northern elder cut her off.

“The Heavenly Empire has no borders! All the world is the domain of the God-Emperor!”

“But the Special Extranational Territory of Geumji was afforded the right of self-administration. My masters warned me away from this path, but like all arrogant youths, I failed to listen. By now, my path is set—to change my cultivation method now would be tantamount to death.”

Bai Renshu grinned and leaned forward.

“Could you elaborate on what you mean by that?”

Of course he wanted to hear about her weaknesses. She fought down the urge to roll her eyes or sigh and nodded at the slimy elder.

“Certainly. As dao companions, we are one soul united. Whether you speak to Yoshika, Lee Jia, or An Eui, it’s all the same. It can hardly even be called dual cultivation anymore. Asking me to cultivate separately would be like asking you to cultivate your left hand independently from your right.”

“Nevertheless, you are in flagrant violation of imperial law, and guilty of demonism.”

The room fell silent at Elder Bai’s accusation. They’d all been thinking it, surely, but to speak it out loud meant another trial, like the one that Ienaga had just gone through. Qin Yongliang turned to Yoshika with a weary expression.

“How do you respond to this allegation?”

She opened her mouth to speak, but she was cut off by an unexpected source.

“If I may, Your Highness?”

Yan De held his hand up for attention, and Yoshika went pale. Now what?

Qin Yonliang gestured for him to continue and he bowed.

“My sect has had reason to look into this matter already. The ambassador was present for the death of my late son, and Yan Hao met with them during his time at the academy investigating the issue. Furthermore, Yan Ren, while executing orders from God-Emperor Qin himself, encountered the girls briefly before the descent. If I may give my summary?”

“You may.”

Yan De straightened up and turned to address the elders.

“Lee Jia and An Eui are dual cultivators, of that there is no doubt. However, we must all remember that our laws are more than just words or bland instructions for us to mindlessly follow. The laws against dual cultivation protect our citizens against predation and oppression. A more powerful dual cultivator has absolute dominion over their victim, capable of stealing their power or twisting their cultivation into something corrupt and vile to destroy them from within—an unquestionably demonic technique.”

A round of murmured acknowledgements went through the table, but Yan De wasn’t finished.

“But what of our Lady Ambassador? There is no exploitation to be found here. Neither is more powerful than the other—nor can they be. They are—as she says—a single soul. No harm has been or is being done, and unless you can prove that she has used her technique to prey on others, litigating the matter is a waste of time. If the knowledge of dual cultivation was enough to break the law, we would all be demons.”

The elders chuckled politely until Qin Yongliang regained their attention.

“I concur with Elder Yan De’s judgment. The accusation is dismissed.”

Yoshika allowed herself a tiny sigh of relief, but the fact that Yan De had now twice defended her side was starting to freak her out. What was his game?

Bai Renshu didn’t seem particularly bothered by the dismissal, either. Yoshika could guess why—he’d succeeded in disrupting her, and emphasized her role as an outsider right when she’d been about to try to establish common ground. Now she was on the back foot again.

Just as she opened her mouth to try to recover, she was cut off again—this time by another northerner.

“Never mind all that—your claim to being the best student in the academy is absurd! I had disciples participating in that tournament, and they all agreed that the barbarian princess was the strongest fighter there—although only because the rules favored her.”

Yoshika wasn’t going to bother trying to argue about the fairness of the tournament—that was another red herring. She was starting to get a feel for the way the elders were intentionally derailing her—trying to keep her busy talking about things that didn’t matter. Yue had prepared her for that, at least.

“I never claimed to be the strongest—I said I was the best student. When we first arrived at the academy, Lee Jia and An Eui were both mortals. Since then, we’ve united the spiritual, martial, and arcane arts into a single discipline and reached the peak of houtian practice within it—something we could only achieve by taking the lessons of each of our masters to heart. Including those of Elder Qin Zhao, who accepted us as personal disciples.”

The man scoffed.

“Qin Zhao is a disgrace and a traitor. The mere fact that he allowed our sacred traditions to be spread to the likes of you is—”

“You’re wrong!”

The elder was taken aback by Yoshika’s sudden interruption, but she slammed a hand on the table and pushed forward before anyone could reprimand her for being rude.

“Qin Zhao is a man of honor. His word is literally his bond, and any xiantian practitioner worth the air he breathes could sense that in an instant. Yes, he disappeared during the descent, but so what? Would you accuse the sun of failing to rise just because the roof hides it from view?”

A few of the elders snickered, but most of them remained deathly silent as the one she’d addressed grit his teeth. Yoshika could feel the intense pressure of his anger threatening to overwhelm her domain, but she held firm.

Qin Yongliang’s voice cut through the silence like a knife.

“Let us table the matter of Qin Zhao’s loyalty. Lady Ambassador, please make a final statement so that we may proceed to more important matters.”

Yoshika took a deep breath. She focused on what Yue had told her, on her domain and on all the things she cared about. This was her one and only chance to get her feelings across to a bunch of stuffy old immortals who’d probably made up their minds long before they ever even took a seat at the table. But she had to try.

“What I represent is the potential that we have as friends and allies. I’m not perfect. I’m a pioneer for an untested new method of cultivation, and I’ve made more mistakes than I can count as I’ve walked this path. But I believe that I’ve demonstrated its potential, and I—”

She felt the pit of her stomach drop as a pressure that had nothing to do with the gathered elders descended on the mountain. A thunderous crash shook the room moments later, confirming that Eunae’s tribulation had begun.

The elders didn’t even flinch, their glares boring into her as strongly as ever.

“I, um, I’ve also—”

Another bolt struck, and Yoshika ignored propriety to expand her domain to see what was happening. Eunae was just fine, her wards still holding against the barrage for now. Relieved, she continued speaking.

“I’ve laid the foundation for others to follow in my footsteps, without making the same mistakes. If you are willing to support this alliance then I—”

At the edges of her domain, she sensed a disturbance. A strange gap in her perception that didn’t make any sense. If not for Hyeong Daesung teaching her about his odd stealth formation, she might not have noticed it at all. The disturbance was moving quickly up the side of the mountain—headed straight for Eunae.

“I...uh...”

Yoshika began to sweat, looking at each of the elders as they waited for her to finish. Some of them were amused by her stumbling, a few just looked bored or disinterested. Bai Renshu was openly sneering at her, while Yan De just watched impassively. What caught her eye, however, was Sun Quan.

The grandmaster of the Silver Orchard hadn’t said a word since the deliberations began, but his eyes remained fixed on Yoshika’s side of the table—but not on Yoshika. Instead, he’d been staring at Seong Misun the entire time.

As the disturbance reached the peak, Yoshika had to make a snap decision. She prayed she wouldn’t regret it.

“I have to go.”

Yoshika’s awareness fled her avatar and returned to her real bodies just in time to see a black-clad cultivator rushing across the plateau towards Eunae. His sword was drawn, and Yoshika could sense an unmistakable bloodlust emanating from his aura now that he was no longer concealing it.

Most disturbing of all was his face. It was completely wrapped in black cloth, but Yoshika could sense what was behind that mask clearly.

He had no eyes.