v7c30+31: Fall of the Wu DEFINITIVE EDITION

Good afternoon everybody. After taking yesterday to think things over, and reading your comments, I have come to the conclusion that the previous chapter was indeed unsatisfying, and didnt make use of things as well as it should have. For that I apologise.

Thus I have rewritten the entire thing, and also gone back and corrected the corruption of Sheng Yanjing that had somehow turned into Shen Yanjing in previous chapters.

Now, the first part of the chapter is roughly the same, save for one big difference: The Wus are NOT invited into the speical meeting. I will put a bold line in where the real big changes start.

Thank you all for the feedback! It really does help.

This will count as monday's chapter, because it ended up balloning to 6k, and will be split in half when it goes to free sites.

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After commanding their cultivators to deal with things, naturally, the next step was to go to bed; Chanchou was utterly exhausted by the entire boring day, and so she slept soundly. She awoke quite early, however, quite excited to show her sister the error of her ways… but things were strange in the morning.

“What do you mean nobody arrived last night?” Father demanded of one of their servants, who had been instructed to receive their “guests”.

“Nobody arrived, My Lord,” the servant repeated. “We have had no contact from the people whom you said would arrive.”

“Lazy, no good bastards,” Father muttered under his breath. He swiftly went up to his room, and ripped in half another talisman. He waited. And waited. And waited some more.

When after twenty minutes no cultivators materialized, he sent servants to the palace they kept to go and find the man.

However, when their minor transmission stone buzzed… it was not with good news.

“It's empty, My Lord,” the servant stated.

“....what do you mean, empty?” her father ground out.

“I mean what I say, My Lord. The palace servants said they were dismissed late last night by Master Ye Shun, and so they went to the servants’ quarters. Now there is no furniture, no luxuries, no food—they even extracted the gold and jade from the inlay in the meditation rooms.”

Chanchou’s jaw dropped. Her husband’s eyes bulged. Even Father looked utterly baffled, before rage overtook him.

“Perfidious, feckless—this is why one should never trust a cultivator. Their oaths are worthless. The Azure Jade Trading Company must have somehow offered them something. Our informants said they had a lot of cultivation resources. And of course, the peasant chose that over his honour,” Father snarled, before glaring off to the side. 

But… if the cultivator is gone, and the Auditor still has all of our records... Chanchou paled.

“Wha—what do we do then?” Chanchou asked. “They still have to be bluffing, don’t they?”

Father just stared at her.

“Idiot girl,” was all he said, and Chanchou flinched. “They’ve had some minor victories, so now they’ll think they are invincible. We have to—”

He paused at the sudden, frantic knocking on the door to his study.

“Enter,” he commanded.

A servant poked their head in. “My Lord. A special session of court has been called by the Lord Governor and the Lord Magistrate of Pale Moon Lake City, on behalf of the Auditor General and the Lord Director of Civil Service Examinations. They have not informed any of our men through the usual channels, and there are guards… they altered their patrol routes. They have us surrounded.”

Chanchou’s breathing hitched.

Father frowned. “I see,” he said, then lowered his voice. “How many men do they have with them?”

The servant, still nervous, swallowed. “At least a hundred. My Lord, what—”

“That is enough,” Father commanded. “Worry not, there is merely a political matter that must be attended to.”

The servant nodded hesitantly, before backing away and closing the door.

“They do not want us running, it seems,” her husband mused. Chanchou on the other hand, felt her heart beating out of her chest.

“Wha—what do we do—” she started, her voice rising, but then something hit her. Heat and pain exploded in her cheek. The room spun. Chanchou blinked the stars out of her eyes, to see her father retracting his hand.

“Control yourself!” Father ordered her. As if she was one of the servants!

Her head whipped to her husband, who said nothing about the strike. In fact, he wasn’t looking at her at all. His eyes were narrowed into the distance past the window. They were cold and calculating. Chanchou swallowed, and clasped her hands together in her lap.

“Have the servants make preparations to leave. We shall wait, to see if they truly have the guts—but we are no longer being kind,” Father declared.

Father took a scroll, and began to write. Chanchou just sat, her hands folded in her lap, and tried to ignore the stinging in her cheek.

Father called in another servant when he was done. “Send this transmission to our men in Grass Sea City and Yellow Rock Plateau. Open a bounty, for our dear Acting Lord Magistrate,” Father said, then rose, and turned to look at Chanchou’s husband.

“We will endure this,” he stated simply, “as we have endured since the Age of Heroes. Now, let us see what they do.”

Chanchou’s husband turned to her father, and smiled. It was the smile he smiled when he had to, when he didn’t like somebody.

“Of course. I have no doubt of our eventual victory,” her husband replied.

The men nodded at each other. Both of them had cold eyes.

The stirrings of fear, quelled by pain, started up again.

….this was all her sister’s fault. If she hadn’t… Chanchou bit the thought off.

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The Lord Governor of the Azure Hills was not in a good mood. He rarely was when he was asked to call an early morning special session of court, but the Lord Director of Civil Service Examinations, as well as the Auditor General, had been insistent.

The request had come in last night, when he had been in the middle of enjoying a particularly skilled courtesan’s company. She had been supremely talented at go, her dance had been elegant and refined, and her voice divine. Her last ballad in particular had him misty-eyed… at least until his aide walked in, and informed him of the men wanting to see him.

Which had been an annoying conversation, and some of the documents had been concerning. Concerning enough to ruin his sleep, and upset his stomach.

He hadn’t even managed his morning meal yet. 

He strode down the halls of his palace with a frown on his face, and met with Ban coming up the other way. The Lord Magistrate of Pale Moon Lake City fell in beside him with his own retinue, the two merging.

“Lord Governor. You look well this morning,” Ban said with a sardonic grin. The bastard.

The Lord Governor simply scowled at the Magistrate… before noticing the makeup hiding the eyebags on his subordinate’s face.

“That bad, Ban?” he asked.

“Certainly not good, Jufeng. It appears we drastically underestimated our good Auditor General,”  Ban replied. “The weasel is indeed a weasel. Though in this case, attacking rabbits ten times his size, rather than being a coward. I'm rather baffled how he got this information.” 

“There were rumours of the Wu Clan’s manse being raided yesterday,” Jufeng replied. “I thought it idle gossip, as nobody would be that foolish, but apparently somebody was.”

Neither of them liked being wrong. And neither of them liked the instability that was sure to arise from this.

“Ah, always exciting times, My Lord Governor,” his Magistrate replied. “Let’s hope it's not as exciting as thirty years ago, hmm?”

The Governor grimaced. Indeed. Thirty years ago. What a disaster. If it weren't for that one green-haired scribe, the one with the fabulous hair, and the freckly maid…

Well. No sense in dredging up painful memories.

Both of them paused outside the door to the meeting hall, where another aide was waiting. The aide looked rather pale.

“Meng. Have they all arrived?” he asked the man.

“Yes, My Lord, everyone on the list is in attendance but…” the man swallowed. “We may have a… situation.”

The Governor took a deep breath, then let it out.

“What sort of situation?”

“My Lord, are you familiar with the main Heavenly Ascension Stone?” the man ventured.

“Yes, the broken one that doesn’t detect anything in the Initiate’s realm,” he replied.

Whoever had built the Palace had good ideas: a cultivation detector, built right into the floor. The problem was that it couldn’t detect the cultivation of ninety nine percent of the cultivators who existed in this province.

“It turned on. And… we checked the characters. Triple-checked them, to be sure, but… it hit Spiritual.”

Everyone froze at that.

“You’re certain?” the Governor asked, shakily.

“We don’t know if it actually detected something or it was another Qi anomaly,” the man said again. “It's not on anymore; and we can’t see anybody who looks like a cultivator…” the aide trailed off.

There was definitely something afoot. It had started three years ago, when a wandering cultivator had accidentally shattered a bunch of detection stones with his cultivation… and apologised. Then gave them money to replace them. That had been the strangest cultivator meeting he had ever been apart of. A cultivator, apologising for breaking something? 

It turned out that in order to break those pendants, the person had to be Spiritual Realm or higher. Massively stronger than any cultivator in the Azure Hills.

Then, somebody matching that cultivator’s description started wandering around the province. He only appeared in bits and pieces, but soon after the Plum Blossom’s Shadow had sprung up out of the ground.

After that, there was the business at the Dueling Peaks. Then the Qi anomalies in the winter, which Mengde’s Crystal Emporium had said were natural.

And now this.

He sighed heavily.

“Well. No sense in putting this off,” the Lord Governor finally said with a grimace.

The servants opened the door for him, and he stepped into the hall. He immediately took in the people gathered. There were not many; it was mostly the directors, their aides, and several noble families. Sheng Yanjing was sitting with the Lord Director of Civil Service Examinations, both men quietly conversing, with documents open on the table before them.

There were also numerous members of the Wu’s faction in attendance, but the Wus themselves—and the Master of the Treasury—were conspicuously missing.

The guard captain was under orders to form a cordon around the Wu Clan compound.

Everyone rose.

The Governor and his Magistrate walked to the head of the proceedings, where his throne awaited. It was the second grandest seat in the room. The much better chair was raised high above his own, and obscured by flames: the symbolic seat of the Emperor, never to be filled.

The bastard thing always made the heat in the summer bloody unbearable.

The Herald of the Azure Hills began the rituals; declaring the year, the date, and all other boring minutiae before the rest of them were allowed to sit as well.

“And now, we do declare that this court is in session!” the man finished. “Glory to the Crimson Phoenix Empire! May its flame shine eternal!”

“Glory to the Crimson Phoenix Empire! May its flame shine eternal!” the rest of court echoed back.

Jufeng sat heavily. At least the Emperor allowed them comfortable seats.

“This special session of court has been called by the Auditor General of the Azure Hills, and the Lord Director of Civil Examinations for the Azure Hills,” he stated, his voice carrying over the hall. “It is of great concern to His Imperial Majesty’s government, and backed by the word of two trusted men. Auditor General. Proceed.”

“Yes, Lord Governor,” the man said, rising to his feet. “This Sheng Yanjing, Auditor General of the Azure Hills, accuses the Wu Clan of bribery, corruption, conspiracy, arson, and assassination!” the peasant declared. “As shown in the Wu Clan’s own records.”

“And how did you receive those records?” Ban asked, his eyes focused on the pages.

“By raiding the Wu Clan’s compound, as outlined in the rights granted to me by His Imperial Majesty,” came the bold reply.

The court immediately erupted into shouts of shock and anger. Eyes narrowed at Yanjing, and not just from the Wu’s side. Every noble looked disturbed by that revelation. It was one of his powers, but it was only used sparingly.

It was abhorrent to the nobles, to be imposed upon like they were commoners.

Hells, it was abhorrent to him, because this would destabilize things. He was getting old; excitement was the last thing he needed.

And yet… he was actually rather impressed. The Wus had been the ones to push for Yanjing to become Auditor General, yet here he was, baring his fangs at them. 

Jufeng’s initial impressions of the man had been that of a spineless coward. His face did him no favours; the man looked a bit like a weasel, and his grin was that of a schemer. Oh, the man was good at his job, undeniably intelligent, a hard worker, and as a commoner he was driven to prove himself… but he was also a soft, pliable sort. 

It was one of the reasons he had allowed the Wus to sponsor the man so easily, and not given much pushback to his appointment. A driven coward? That was useful.

His predecessor has been undeniably effective… but also slow. When he found something, he wouldn’t rest until he dug it up completely, finding every piece of evidence.

When he caught someone, there was no escape. The problem was that he got slower as he got older; until the work was piling up. Near the end of his term, the previous Auditor’s opponents had started running circles around him—a proven fact with the debacle in the Grass Sea.

Yanjing had been fast. Indeed, during his first month he had completed more audits than his predecessor had finished in years. The amount of fines and punishments was less, to be sure, but if he had kept up the pace? It would have been just what they needed.

A man who would put in the work while keeping his head down, unless the Wus got some damn fool idea.

Yanjing had also been the one to bring up some strange errors in the reports from Grass Sea City… before the Wus asked him to investigate Huizhong. Which was annoying, but it was the price of having such a spry boy, indebted to a noble family. That, and Huizhong did need a boot up his ass every once in a while. Jufeng couldn’t do anything to the smarmy shit, the cultivators liked him. But a few months of squirming? The bastard would deserve it.

It should have quelled the nobles’ squawking… and somebody other than him could tell the gossips what had happened at the Dueling Peaks.

He sure as hells wasn’t going to tell the fools that the Shrouded Mountain Sect had been embarrassingly defeated in a drunken brawl.

Yet after that, Yanjing had basically disappeared, never coming back to the capital. Instead he had gone north for half a year, and come back with steel in his spine.

Which would have been interesting if the brat wasn’t painting a nice big target on his back by doing something this reckless.

The murmuring and anger started to peak, and when it looked like somebody was about to interrupt, a single gnarled hand rose.

“I recognise the Lord Director of Civil Service Examinations,” Jufeng said, and all words ceased.

The Lord Director of Civil Service Examinations rose to his feet.

“The raid upon the manse of a noble was not done in haste, nor without considering other avenues,” the old man said, his voice quiet and mild, yet all heard his words. “It was this humble servant of His Imperial Majesty who advised this course of action, when Junior Yanjing sought the counsel of his elder. He presented overwhelming evidence that such a raid was necessary.”

That cut most of the rage off at the knees. The Lord Director was a man that was the very definition of temperance. The old man was one of the more tolerable sorts. Even Jufeng’s predecessor told him to heed the man’s counsel well, and that worked—mostly because the man rarely felt the need to give it. He was content in his little kingdom and never involved himself when Jufeng wanted to do things, unless it would interfere with the running of the realm. And even then, the old man would work with him to get the things that he wanted done instead of just saying no and digging in his heels.

“Overwhelming evidence?” Ban asked.

“In addition to the documents that show gross embezzlement, and testimony from the surrounding towns of foul play, including delayed food shipments and arson… we also obtained testimony from one of the daughters of the Wu Clan,” the old man continued.

Jufeng raised an eyebrow. “And why would the daughter of the Wu Clan speak against her family?”

“The Wu Clan plotted to have her son assassinated, and then attempted to use my office as a bludgeon against her, when her son proved too difficult to strike,” Yanjing answered this time. He sounded legitimately upset.

Who knew the weasel had such a sense of justice? It was rare that he misjudged a person so badly.

“And who is her son? Is he known to this court?” he asked.

“The acting Lord Magistrate of Grass Sea City.”

Once more there were gasps, and Jufeng’s eyes narrowed.

The Special Inspector, now the Acting Lord Magistrate. One of his best pieces; the man who had cut down Grass Sea City, and taken out half the pains in Jufeng’s ass.

It was the Wus who had sponsored the man. He thought it was their masterstroke; their creature, to take over a position. His successes had been unnatural. Miraculous, even. He had thought the Wus fully behind him.

Instead, it seemed that they were indeed trying to get him killed, and only the luck of the heavens had saved him.

He frowned.

“And what did your raid discover?” he asked.

“The attempted assassination of a Lord Magistrate, the successful assassination of another. Purposefully sabotaging food aid during famine. Directing their agents to prevent fire brigades from doing their job, so their rival's buildings were burned,” Yanjing began.

The room was silent, as the accusations kept coming, with different books being lifted up each time.

Jufeng kept his face carefully neutral as the man spoke. He would have to double check his own records later, and perhaps burn some of them. There was probably near enough damning evidence in his own little black scrolls; one needed somewhere to record who owed them what favours, details on payments, or collections of correspondence for later blackmail.

And indeed, there was much dirty laundry currently being thrown onto the floor. Yanjing was being diplomatic by not mentioning names here and now. But Jufeng could see multiple people in the Wu’s faction squirming as a certain fact or another was revealed.

Jufeng wanted nothing more than to pinch the bridge of his nose. He wanted to curb the Wu Clan’s power. Many did. But they also had certain uses. Their contributions to him were many, and the Lord of the Treasury really knew how to throw parties.

Yet with everything thrown into the open like this? He couldn’t not act. Especially because one of the men they had killed had been his wife’s cousin—and that had been one of his summer homes that had been damaged by that fire.

He could feel a vein bulging in his forehead.

There was going to be blood. A war of shadows. But right now… there was only one thing he could do.

“I have heard enough. Lord Magistrate, your verdict?” he asked.

Ban’s face was hard and cold.

“The evidence is indeed overwhelming. I recognise Lord Wu’s own handwriting, as well as their seal. It is the opinion of this Magistrate that they are, indeed, guilty.”

“Then I, the Lord Governor of the Azure Hills, command the immediate arrest of the Wu Clan and the seizure of their properties,” Jufeng declared, “Let none harbour them. Let them be brought to account for their crimes.”

And, he thought to himself, let none escape.

Because if they did things were going to get very, very messy.

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The Lord Magistrate of Verdant Hill watched it all from the viewing gallery in the back, his wife sitting beside him and holding his hand. Xue Ji stood behind them, a small, amused smile on her lips.

The command echoed through the room, and immediately, men started to move out.

While The Lord Magistrate was loathe to give up praise for being part of the group to take the Wu Clan down, and be on the floor making arguments and unveiling his enemies’ deeds… it was not the wisest course of action. What was some praise, weighed against being able to go home without fear?

He would be relegated to a single line in this sorry affair. If he appeared at all.

It was the best outcome.

The legal holdings of the Wu Clan would be seized. The head of the Wu Clan and all his descendants would be seized and placed under arrest immediately, while the investigation continued.

…there was a high likelihood his wife’s father would be exiled or executed, as well as a great many more of her family.

He turned to his wife… yet he found her watching, her face a blank mask, when the Lord Governor finished pronouncing his verdict.

“To think this all happened because Chanchou wanted to torment me one last time,” she said in a dispassionate voice.

“Spite is indeed a powerful motivator,” Xue Ji mused.

“They’re going to try and run, I think,” his wife whispered. “They probably have different routes now. But I remember, the one my sister and I were told to use…”

She trailed off.

“Shall I take you there, my Lady?” Xue Ji asked.

For a while, Lady Wu didn’t answer.

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There was a buzz from Father’s desk. A small transmission stone came to life. Father’s eyes narrowed, and Chanchou swallowed.

The connection crackled and writhed, barely stable.

“Lord Wu. The Governor has ordered your immediate arrest, and all clan assets to be seized,” the voice on the other end said, clearly strained.

“I see,” was all her father said. He rose calmly, and picked up another crystal that was lying upon his desk. He walked to the window, and then threw it into the sky.

The crystal rose, elegantly, and unbound by the earth. It began to glow. Softly, at first, and then with increasing intensity, until it was a bright green star hanging in the sky.

At once, smoke and flame erupted from several buildings. Warning gongs started ringing. People started shouting and screaming—but her father’s frown became even deeper.

“They found some of them—no matter. We are leaving,” father stated, as armed servants rushed into the room. “We are splitting up, and we shall regroup at the fortress. From there we can coordinate our return.”

His command rang out, and all of a sudden, things were a whirlwind. Her guards bundled her along, and Chanchou just kept moving, as they ushered her below ground. Things happened so fast, she lost track of her husband. At the start, he was there, and then all of a sudden, he wasn’t. Perhaps he had gone to get their children? Yes, yes, that had to be it!

There was no palanquin this time. Chanchou had to half run, half walk, her heart pounding in her throat. She moved like in a dream, following the route father had made her practise. 

She was panting and gasping by the time she pulled herself up the ladder that led to a quiet alleyway. They had to proceed a couple of blocks, and from there they would hit the lake, where there would be a boat—

“My Lady, back!” the guard shouted desperately, throwing himself in front of her. All of her guards drew their blades, their faces masks of desperation.

And then, Chanchou saw the people standing in front of her and freedom.

Blank crystal lenses stared dispassionately at her. Rasping breaths issued forth from face-covering masks.

They had clubs and mancatchers in their thick, cloth-covered hands, and a few had crossbows levelled at her and her guards. The tips of their bolts were made of glittering crystal.

At the head of the faceless men, Mengde’s elite guards, was a giant of a man. He too had a club—though it was more like a tree trunk ripped from the ground.

“Wu Chanchou. You will surrender to us,” the man commanded, his voice so deep it rumbled her bones.

Chanchou’s legs were shaking.

“You dare impede the Wu Clan?” her lead guard demanded.

Those blank lenses simply stared at her guard. Sweat trickled down the back of his neck.

“They’re behind us too,” another of her men whispered.

The captain nodded.

“Through, then. Get ready to run, My Lady,” he said.

And then, they attacked. The two men with shields were first, roaring battle cries as they surged forwards.

The crossbows fired.

And instead of simply sinking into or bouncing off the shields, Chanchou staggered as blasts of cold hit them. Her guards cried and fell; their shields and shield arms suddenly encased in jagged chunks of ice. Two men behind them also had their feet frozen to the ground.

But they had done their job.

For a moment, she was hopeful. Her men were much faster than the hooded soldiers, who were trying to capture, not kill. She saw several of her men simply dance past the thrusts, and then descend on those who dared to impede her path. A sword arced beautifully through the air, sure to kill.

The Mengde soldier simply raised his arm, and the sword made a clanking noise as it bounced off, the armor holding true.

The return strike from a club crashed into her guard’s gut, and sent him to the floor.

It was a scene that was swiftly repeated. Her guards’ blades couldn't penetrate the Crystal Emporium’s armor, getting caught on the heavy cloth, and clanked off well-hidden plates.

The crossbows fired again, and this time they were aimed completely at the ground. The earth froze, locking everyone’s legs in place—save for her enemies, which with a bit of labour, ripped their way free of their imprisonment.

The big one simply grabbed a guard’s head, lifted him into the air, and then slammed him into a wall.

Chanchou had fallen to her knees. Her legs were shaking. The faceless, emotionless things closed in around her, too-big hands reached down, and grabbed her arms. 

Chanchou struggled, and screamed, tears falling from her eyes, looking around desperate for something, anything—

She froze, as she saw a flash of black and white hair.

Her sister was standing there, staring at Chanchou. Her maid was standing right behind her—and the pretty servant was smiling. It was a thin smile that was too wide for her face, that looked like it had to have split her cheeks open.

“S-sister?” she asked.

“Hmmm. It's rather strange that you used this route. I thought Father would have changed it. Either he's sloppy… or you were sent this way on purpose,” Zei Qi mused.

Chanchou shook. The men holding her arms kept her on her knees, but parted, so her sister could stare at her.

“B-big Sister. Big Sister, please, this isn’t funny anymore,” Chanchou whimpered.

“Oh? And doing that to my son, doing that to my husband… that was funny?” Zei Qi asked.

“It was just—I didn’t mean anything by it! It was just a game, like we used to play!” her voice cracked. “Please, Big Sister. You made your point! I lose, you win! I’ll do whatever you want!”

Zei Qi smiled at her. She stepped forward, and cupped Chanchou’s cheek like she used to do, and leaned in. Her breath ticked Chanchou’s ear.

“You burned down the field, salted the soil, and now you’re trying to garden,” Zei Qi’s voice dripped with condescension. “Oh, worry not, my dear sister. So you have sown; now you shall reap. This Wu Zeitian declares it.”

Chanchou choked, her sister’s courtesy name a brand in her ears. She had always found it so funny that the squeamish bore had been given the same courtesy name as the Torture Empress.

It wasn’t so funny anymore. Nothing was.

Her sister let go of her cheek, and turned around.

“Big Sister?” Chanchou tried one last time.

Her sister did not look back.

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Fires burned in the city—yet they were swiftly extinguished. Half of those prepared were never started in the first place.

As soon as the flare rose, the Wu Clan was under assault. While the legal holdings were assaulted by Pale Moon Lake City guards, the less than legal holdings were swiftly subdued.

The enemies of the Wu Clan feasted on their entrails while they were still alive.

The guards stormed the Wu Clan compound— and as soon as they broke open the gates, they found the Master of the Treasury waiting for them, claiming he had been taken prisoner by the Wu Clan, and that as he had nothing to hide, he would of course cooperate with the Lord Governor.

The Lord of the Wu Clan made it to his ship—upon which less than an hour later he was intercepted by boats belonging to both the Azure Jade Trading Company, and Master Shiban’s North Passage Cargo Company. The cordon was too tight.

A battle ensued, which ended up sinking two of the pursuing vessels; but just when it seemed that Lord Wu would slip away, a stroke of bad luck caused the sail lines to snap—snaps that were suspiciously clean, like they had been cut open by an absurdly sharp knife. Some men even reported seeing a flash of silver overhead, that looked oddly like the wing of a cicada.

In the end, Lord Wu was subdued.

To the Lord Governor, the death toll was surprisingly small—the Wu Clan captured… and justice ready to be meted out.

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The Lord Magistrate of Verdant Hill stood with his wife on the docks of Pale Moon Lake City. The entire city was awash with gossip about what had just happened.

The topic of course was the destruction of the Wu Clan. The people were quite gleeful about the likely impending executions. That they would have acted the same if it were any other clan was obvious, yet… still tragic somehow. 

The farcical performance of admonishments made him long for the peace of Verdant Hill. Most of them didn’t really care.

“It’s quite sad, but sometimes, I think getting hurt by that cultivator was the greatest thing that could have ever happened to me,” his wife whispered. Her eyes were distant… and he wondered if she was alright.

“Fate does work in mysterious ways,” he finally replied.

“That’s enough of this. Let’s find our dear students, and put this sorry business behind us,” she said, turning to him

“...indeed. I do think a meal and good company would do wonders for us,” the Lord Magistrate agreed.

They set out into the city, the warm breeze on their faces. It was too nice a day to be bothered with such things.

He hoped that this would be the last they ever saw of the Wus… but they also had to be prepared for anything they had set in motion.

He prayed for their son’s safety.

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Far, far away in Grass Sea City:

Gao Yuze of Yellow Rock Plateau grimaced under the moonlight. He had heard the stories about the Azure Hills, but he had never thought it would be this bad. The Qi here was abysmal. It felt like it was trying to eat his soul, this damn shit.

He glanced at the paper in his hand again, the amount written on the bounty, and his irritation started to fade away. He had just ascended to the Profound Realm… by spending all of his money on cultivation aids. And this bounty would sure as hell pay it all back, and then some. Being an independent was rough, and a job like this? It would set him up to at least the Third Stage of the Profound.

So he had come down from the plateau, to this heavens-forsaken place. It was a quick in and out. It would be worth it, even if the man did have a couple of protectors.

…case in point, as he landed on the rooftop. Qi signatures. The air was messing with his ability to sense Qi, but he knew they were Initiate’s Realm.

Not one, not two, but three ladies landed in front of him.

“State your business," the shortest of them demanded. She was a cute thing, her hair in twin tails, with a light dusting of freckles on her cheeks, and wearing a green robe.

“He’s obviously here with ill intentions. Let's just cut him down and be done with it,” the second, taller one declared arrogantly.  A true haughty beauty, this one, wielding a spear, glared at him in a rather fetching way. She wore a blue and white dress, and her hair looked like silk.

The final one was some tribal girl. An exotic-looking thing with tanned skin, a bandanna with a geometric pattern on it around her head, and dark blue eyes. Her dark hair was done up in two braids, and she had a tattoo that started on her right hand that went up her wrist to mid-forearm. A dagger tied to a rope was held loosely in her hands.

Yuze flared his own Qi in response, and smiled as they all stiffened.

“My business is my own, pretty sisters. Let me be on my way, and later I can show you all the sights of my home up on that plateau. The best view is from my bedroom window,” he said, smiling at the fetching things. Against one from Yellow Rock Plateau, they would surely stand down; he heard that they barely got above the First or Second stage around here—

“Absolutely not,” the petite beauty said.

“Disgusting,” the tall one sneered.

“Khöökh! He's a bit touched in the head, yeah?” the tribal barbarian uttered, butchering the proper tongue with her accent.

Yuze chuckled, even as a vein bulged in his forehead. “Very well, then, I'll play with you now,” he replied, drawing his sword.

All three launched themselves at him, and he raised his blade confidently to meet their strikes—when suddenly a rope wrapped around his leg and yanked. 

His eyes widened at the sudden assault that dragged him off balance. A fourth?! He caught a glimpse of another form—the tribal woman was behind him, but in front still—no. Not the tribal woman. A mirror image. Twins.

The women’s Qi flared higher, and he got a better sense of it; that wasn’t the First or Second Stage, these women were at the Fourth or Fifth of the Initiate’s Realm!

And it was four on one.

[The Harmony of Silk and Steel, First Form!]

The shortest woman’s blade split into twelve copies—and one of those blades split into a fan. Some wavered and spluttered, the blades not quite all there.

[Coursing River, Shattering Waves!] The spear became a thundering rapid, heading for every vital point.

[Binding the Clouds!] Two voices shouted as one. The rope daggers weaved a net, sliding around his limbs.

===========================

An Ran of the Verdant Blade Sect panted, and wiped some blood off her sword in the predawn light. Shui Xinlai of the White Water Sect was favouring one leg. Oyun Sarantuya and Oyun Narantuya, twin sisters of the Grand Ravine, made sure that the most recent assailant’s wrists were bound.

“Yoy, Yoy! You girls weren’t kidding! The Magistrate certainly has a lot of flies after him!” Sarantuya chuckled, standing up and readjusting her headband, which was damp from her own sweat. Her eyes scanned the horizon, however, alert for any more threats. “This is the second one this night!”

“Khöörkhii döö. Must be stressful! We should give him a massage to relax!” Narantuya agreed with a little smirk, but similarly alert. The cut on her arm was freshly bandaged.

Both An Ran and Xinlai twitched at the blatant teasing. After the Acting Lord Magistrate had protected several families of the Grand Ravine from a mob, the Grand Ravine had decided to show their appreciation for the act by dispatching these two, to “protect a friend of the Grand Ravine, and assist the Grand Marshal of the Azure Hills.”

An Ran wished they had been men, rather than two stunning tribal beauties, who had instantly decided the most amusing thing to do would be to insert themselves into things.

Neither An Ran nor Xinlai could tell if they were serious or not—at least at the beginning. Now both of them were quite sure they had a new pair of devastating, extremely forward rivals who took great delight in teasing everyone they could.

“Thankfully Rags warned us,” An Ran said, thankful the man had some people who kept an ear on the transmission stone networks. They had tried to hide this one, but the ragged-looking cultivator proved why he had An Ran’s teacher’s trust. “An open bounty, and for that much silver…?”

“I’m going to kill whoever put that out,” Xinlai agreed. “They’ll die a thousand deaths for this.”

“Oh! I know a good one! You cut open their back, break their ribs open, then tear their lungs out the hole!” Narantuya said, a bloodthirsty grin forming on her face.

“Makes them look like a fat, ugly bird,” Sarantuya chimed in.

“...that one has merit,” Xinlai declared.

“Let's just get ready for the next one,” An Ran said, sheathing her blade.

They had to hold the fort here—and trust Rags would get to the bottom of this.

====================

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I hope this version was a lot more satisfying!

Edited By: Brandon “Philosophysics” Zhang-Leong, BargleNawdleZouss,