Chapter 563: Working Out Drama

It was just the three of them in the room, finally free of crowds, distractions, and hopefully politics. Normally, this was home for Kai, the one place he could truly relax. Given the recent revelations, it might not be so restful now.

"Is it true?" Zae Zin Nim asked. Her face was nearly expressionless, except her eyes were slivers of obsidian.

"I already told you," Omilaena said, "the accusation wasn't credible."

"I want to hear it from him."

Kai took a deep breath. For the first time, he thought about all the veteran hunters back in Monskon City, complaining about their spouses. To have this come back after so long felt almost unfair... but that wasn't true at all. He had taken those actions, this was the result, and it would be irresponsible of him to do anything except face it.

So he sat down opposite Zae Zin Nim and met that piercing gaze without looking away.

"I can't promise what I can't control," Kai said. "What I can tell you is that I was very careful with contraceptive potions throughout the revolution. Having a child in the middle of a bloody war with no clear end, especially when I didn't know if I would survive... I wouldn't do that to anyone. Mother or child. Before today, I had never heard about any of this."

Zae Zin Nim regarded him wordlessly. She sat almost in a cultivation stance, where apparent placidity could conceal a coiled spring that might lash out at any moment. After several painful heartbeats, she closed her eyes and took a breath.

"Okay," she said.

"Wait, is that it?" Omilaena had gravitated between them and now stared at their wife. "You're really just going to let this pass?"

"I had never wanted to think about this ever again." Zae Zin Nim glowered, but now Kai understood that her expression was at the world in general, not them. "I still don't like remembering it. But it would be immature of me to lash out based on something that happened before our relationship."

"I was ready to apologize," Kai admitted. "Despite what you say, I don't want to see you unhappy. I especially don't want to be the one making you unhappy."

"I may not like it, but... I also remember that you were celibate for years based on nothing but a weak promise from me. And you have been a very good husband since then. But..." Zae Zin Nim shifted away, shielding her face with her hair. "I should not have to say this, but it will make me feel better: you must never be unfaithful."

"I don't mind," Omilaena said.

"Omi! Don't joke about this!"

Though Zae Zin Nim fumed at Omilaena, the tension had been defused. The two of them struck at one another half-playfully, letting loose some of the tension that had built up. Kai sat there, almost as stunned as at the initial confrontation... had that all just worked out with an ordinary conversation?

On one hand, he still felt bad for bringing stress into the relationship based on his past decisions. On the other, the Zae Zin Nim he had met years ago absolutely would not have handled that half as well. More than relief, Kai was flooded with a sense that he had to preserve this relationship, whatever it took.

"What are we actually going to do, though?" Omilaena had gained the upper hand, pinning Zae Zin Nim, though the other woman wasn't trying very hard to escape. "It sounds like others will make the same claim, and we can't just ignore them."

"Kill them," Zae Zin Nim suggested. Completely stone-faced, but he thought jokingly.

"This one might have been lying," Kai said, "but it's possible there could be someone who's earnestly mistaken. I wasn't the only one sleeping around during the revolution, after all. There's a part of me that wants to give them something out of sympathy, but-"

Omilaena shot him a glance. "Kai..."

"I know, giving money to one would just incentivize more bad actors, until I apparently slept with half of Krysal."

"I think you can do better than half. Give out enough money and men will get creative."

"Ugh." Zae Zin Nim suddenly used a real palm strike, hitting Omilaena in the chest and driving her all the way up to the ceiling. Unharmed, but it gave Zae Zin Nim space to sit up and glower. "I don't want to think about this. I trust the two of you to deal with it in a prudent manner."

"Such sweet, honeyed words." Omilaena slipped back down, embracing Zae Zin Nim from behind. "Alright, dearest, we'll be prudent for you."

"You are insufferable," Zae Zin Nim said, while suffering it without apparent trouble.

"Sorry to put you through all this," Kai said. "What would you like to do?"

"I want to train!"

The outburst, louder than Zae Zin Nim had been throughout the entire conversation, took Kai and Omilaena aback. Zae Zin Nim seemed a little surprised by her own vehemence as well, but gathered herself and continued somberly.

"We have spent time together, but we have been training on separate paths." Zae Zin Nim tucked her hands into her sleeves and regarded them. "Spouses should train together. I know we aren't facing any imminent threats, but I miss it. Surely you can spare some time from all the work raising up soldiers?"

Though she was concealing her emotions, she sounded surprisingly earnest. And, as soon as Kai thought about it, he realized that he missed it too. Spending time together, even being intimate, weren't really replacements for working side by side toward a common goal. That was something that had been a part of their relationship from the very beginning and he saw no reason to stop.

And so they began to train. While Omilaena worked on an experiment and watched, Kai and Zae Zin Nim began to spar with each other. Even though he had reached B rank and technically gained more strength from Physique, Zae Zin Nim could deal heavier strikes than almost anyone he had met. When she began to use her Pure Yin Shroud as well, he needed to use his monstrous abilities just to keep up.

But keep up he did, and he found himself laughing. They sparred more aggressively than they would have with anyone else because they knew one another too well. When occasionally they did connect, it felt more like a love tap than anything, testing his armor or her gray skin.

At one moment when they landed opposite one another, preparing for another encounter, they were overtaken by blue smoke. Kai was accustomed to Omilaena's poison and so was startled when he found himself coughing.

"Been working on a muscle-weakening poison," Omilaena whispered, a ghost within the smoke. "Might as well test it out and let you two build up immunity."

"I think I am resistant now," Zae Zin Nim said. "Something about my Physique repels it."

"How about this?" In a flash Omilaena was behind her, one arm around her waist and the other injecting a needle into her neck. She bent down and kissed the other woman's neck as she injected it. "I was going to say I have a more fun way to build immunity, but honestly... this is fun too."

Zae Zin Nim responded with another palm strike.

They had so much fun sparring that, even when their normal schedule reasserted itself, Kai made sure to make time for the three of them to train together. Between taking care of problems in various city-states and training his students, he was hard-pressed, but if he didn't make time for his wives, who would he make time for? Maggle mocked him with innuendos, but they honestly did meet up to train together.

And, more than he expected, they drove one another to new heights. In their time training in different ways, they had all grown, and now they could share that advancement. Dual cultivation was the most obvious method, but that neglected the simple pleasure of teaching one another new things.

Zae Zin Nim had already increased a Physique level on her own, and their intense sparring managed to drive her up again. When Kai examined his wife again, he was impressed.

<

Name: Zae Zin Nim

Total Power: 1822

Cultivation: Earth Soul 88% (531)

*Heavenly Sash: Cultivation +10% (53)

Coldfire Corona: 43 (429)

Pure Yin Shroud: Spinel Rank (275)

True Blackblood Physique: E-9 (454)

Soul Level: 9 (81)

>

With 1822 Power, she was equal to the strongest cultivators on Cloudspire, but she was only 88% of the way to Sky Soul. When she reached that point, she would take another leap into unprecedented territory. Kai was still trying to feed his monstrous abilities, so he didn't think he was quite in the 2000 range yet, but it would be easy to get there. As for Omilaena...

"So you've grown all the way to E-9," Omilaena said, clearly examining their wife at the same time. "It didn't take you excessively long, either, which suggests growth should continue easily."

"The next rank may be difficult," Zae Zin Nim said. "Currently I don't feel anywhere close to the limit of E rank, so I may need special assistance to reach that point and jump to D rank."

"Well, I'll be here if you want that assistance injected. I need that data."

"When are you going to develop your own Physique, anyway? It is overdue."

"Oh, this from the woman who spent years not using her Blackblood Physique properly?"

.

..

.

One of the biggest benefits of training with his wives was that Kai was able to cut loose in a way that he couldn't with others, especially not students or soldiers. Not that it was impossible for the fight to result in an injury, but they could defend themselves in a way others simply couldn't.

That alone would have been worth it, but Kai was pleasantly surprised a few days later when he broke through to Physique B-1. Not only that, but the Savage Heart had been creeping up, in large part due to the efficacy of this training.

<

Name: Kai Clanless

Total Power: 1147

Monstrous Hunger - XV (omicron)

Cultivation: Nascent Foundation 62% (264)

Savage Heart: 28 (282)

Physique Level: B-1 (505)

Beggar King's Robes: +3 (15)

Soul Level: 9 (81)

Direboar's Strength - XV (omicron)

Behemoth's Heart - XI (lambda)

Thunderbird's Wings - XI (lambda)

Tyrant's Claw - XIII (nu)

Manticore's Spine - VI (zeta)

Baleful Breath - VIII (theta)

Void Gaze - IX (iota)

-

Famished World - VI (zeta)

Mutefang's Stealth - XV (omicron)

Isulfr's Bite - X (kappa)

Sahagin's Soul - XII (mu)

Monstrous Tail - III (gamma)

Wallcrawler's Feet - V (epsilon)

Abominalgum - II (beta)

Rose Piranha - IV (delta)

Cloud Piranha - IV (delta)

Bloodtrap - III (gamma)

Slime's Immortality - II (beta)

Silver Demon - II (beta)

Voidmaw's Bite - II (beta)

Great Cetae - III (gamma)

Bloodtail's Armor - III (gamma)

>

"Just made it to B-1," he reported. "It's another 5 Power, Omilaena. Should I be concerned about that?'

"Why would you be concerned?" She shot him a strange glance. "It's important data. I don't have any other B rank Physiques to play with."

"Yes, but the individual levels are the same as they've been since D rank. Zin Nim's body is growing faster, even the Ironpath Physique broke away from the pattern. Just doing basic math, those would surpass me before the highest ranks. Does that mean I'm on the wrong path somehow?"

"I also thought I was on the wrong path for years," Zae Zin Nim pointed out. "It is difficult to know the endpoint of any path, so perhaps it is better for us to walk different ones."

"Plus, you have us." Omilaena smirked from the other side. "If you took a wrong step - hell, if any of us do - we'll figure out the way back."

They were just words, but they warmed Kai far more than he had expected. With the three of them together, he felt like they could take on anything.

The next day, looking over the myriad problems facing Krysal, Kai wasn't so sure. Tempting as it was to just focus on his own relationship, he needed to deal with people who were far less reasonable than his wives. He never doubted them for a second, but when it came to Krysal surviving the incursion... Kai hoped no one would ask.