65 A Cruel Comedy

*Things like sexism and racism are purely for worldbuilding and to make it more realistic. Thank you for your understanding.*

A few minutes since Jiang started to wait at the entrance of the Freedom Alliance, a beautiful figure appeared before him.

A female with the grace of a fairy, yet the youthful charm and allure that contradicted it. Tight robes emphasised her long and toned legs, making one imagine just how pure and smooth the skin beneath was.

Naturally, it was Chu Hua.

She was walking over to Jiang with a simple smile on her face, yet no one could tell what she was thinking. After her outburst earlier, Jiang had seen her suddenly flee at his question. Something like that couldn't be simply overlooked.

Jiang smiled at the approaching fairy, yet he put some worry and questioning expressions on his face. To say he wasn't concerned was untrue, yet if he blatantly ignored that strange behaviour from earlier, it would be obvious that he had some ulterior motive towards Chu Hua.

"Junior Chu! How have you been? Are you feeling better? You gave me quite a fright when you suddenly ran off earlier." Jiang said as he took the initiative to walk over. He had a guilty look as if he was afraid he had caused Chu Hua's retreat earlier.

"Your concern warms my heart, Cousin Jiang. I am well, I just had a bout of nausea and hurriedly retreated out of sight. Please don't worry too much; it should be me apologising for leaving you alone like that." Chu Hua bowed her body and had a merciful and apologetic expression, like an angel that could do no wrong.

"I hope you can forgive me, Cousin Jiang. I must've worried you." Chu Hua came back up only to see Jiang smiling sweetly, causing his eyes to crease and disappear. It was a genuine smile and the sight made her at ease simply just by being before it.

"Junior Chu, you have nothing to apologise for! Let's just forget about it; it's nothing really." Jiang said happily as he reassured Chu Hua.

In the face of that, Chu Hua could only smile and say nothing more.

Her impressions of Jiang were only increasing. He was a strong and handsome young man who was also so understanding and kind. If Chu Hua had not experienced what she had before, she may have even fallen in love with him already. After all, in a world such as this, power can easily turn someone bitter and sour. Such kindness at such a young age truly resonated with Chu Hua.

"Let's go, Cousin Jiang. The mission I told you about has to be done today. Also, the rewards will be much greater than the one's you will see in the mission hall, even the greater missions that we cannot hope to complete with our strength." Chu Hua said as she took Jiang and led him through the huge gates of the Freedom Alliance.

Beyond the main gates of the Freedom Alliance's territory, they still controlled much of the surrounding city. And although that area was shrinking behind the scenes from constant pressure, it was still a huge area.

"So what is so special about your mission, Junior Chu?" Jiang asked once they had moved away from the Freedom Alliance.

"Well, have you been to the main mission hall yet, Cousin Jiang?" Chu Hua replied with a question.

"I have indeed been there." After Chu Hua had left him alone earlier, Jiang had looked around the whole Alliance and had indeed taken a peek inside the mission hall. However, the missions there were lowly in his eyes. They couldn't even give him any information to give back to his accomplices on the outside.

"And what did you think of the missions there? Don't they seem quite mundane and essentially like manual labour for cultivators?" Chu Hua hinted to Jiang. Although he wasn't a core disciple, he was a friend to Wang Yufei so, of course, she wouldn't hide things like this from him.

"Hmm, yes. It is as you say, Junior Chu. The missions there didn't seem to have any effect on the Freedom Alliance and were basically just side tasks. Now that you say it, when I looked earlier, I did indeed have the thought about how the Freedom Alliance conducted towards the more confidential matters. Surely everything cannot be left to a select few?" Jiang said pondering.

"You have a keen eye, Cousin Jiang. Well, it is actually like this. Outer and inner circle disciples are basically treated as manual labour and workers by the Alliance until they prove themselves either strong or trustworthy. It is quite a smart system created by His Excellency Zheng Li as it thoroughly filters out any cunning spies without doing much at all." Chu Hua narrated as they walked.

"All of the important tasks that actually have an effect on the development of the Freedom Alliance and contain sensitive information are done by core disciples like me and Cousin Wang. It's because we not only have a high status and are heavily intertwined with the Alliance, our masters are always keeping an eye on us. With judges of character like grand Protectors or even trusted Elders like my master, how can things go wrong?" Chu Hua said. She seemed to truly look highly upon Zheng Li and his designs.

Hearing this made Jiang truly interested. After all, not only did he get important information about the Alliance, it gave him a direction as to where he could learn more about the more intricate matters of the Freedom Alliance.

"It is truly amazing, Junior Chu. Such a system basically has no flaws when it comes to trust as all core disciples are closely watched by their masters, who are eternally loyal to the Alliance. But doesn't it seem too inefficient? After all, how many core disciples can there be?" Jiang asked.

"Oho, you are right, Cousin Wang. However, it is only people from the core circle that can do these tasks when it comes to disciples. The countless numbers of outer and inner circle elders that have proven their trust over the course of many decades are also qualified. One's growth in the Alliance is essentially a constant screening process of trust. It can be said that whoever thought it up is extremely paranoid." Chu Hua detailedly explained.

'Or, they are in a state of war.' Jiang thought but didn't voice. He had truly learnt a lot. The system was one that made it inaccessible for newly joined members and elders and years of service have to be invested to get any gains. Just looking at this point, it seemed like the Freedom Alliance was on a constant state of alert.

But, from Chu Hua's own words, a single question rang out in Jiang's mind like a huge church bell. If there was an immense amount of trust needed to get missions and information like this, then how did Chu Hua become a core disciple so soon?

It would be simple if she was just a descendant of an esteemed figure, yet her actions disproved that idea. After all, she skirted around the matter of her origins quite a bit, to the point that Wang Yufei did not even know! If Wang Yufei came back to Jiang later and told him that even Pi Xing did not know, then Jiang might even start to fear Chu Hua's background.

"Then, the main force of the Freedom Alliance is not their disciples but their elders? It is truly quite unorthodox. After all, the main numbers come from those outer and inner disciples. Won't it seem like the true fighting force of the Alliance is a lot lower in reality?" Jiang said.

"Haha, Cousin Jiang, you are overthinking things! Who said the soldier needs his general's trust or even the layout of the battlefield? As long as the soldier kills the enemy before him, nothing more is required of him." Chu Hua laughed and said, but her words were truly cynical.

She already had the mentality of the upper class, Jiang observed. The masses were simply pawns beneath her. Such words could make any other frown, however, they only made Jiang wary. After all, such mercilessness, even cruelty, was something only great leaders and the strong possessed. It was something he, himself, possessed which might make some mistake him for being evil, however, that was not the case. But, Chu Hua possessing such a deep and war-like attitude was something Jiang didn't expect.

"Your words are very profound, Junior Chu. War is indeed a game of chess. The pieces don't need to think about anything but where the hand moves them." Jiang said which got a nodding smile from Chu Hua. "But such words are only needed in war. Peaceful times like these…such thinking is similar to tyranny." Jiang spoke carefully and with a sideways glance to Chu Hua.

"This…" Chu Hua was taken aback and then shone with understanding. She grabbed Jiang and led him towards some high rooftops where sound couldn't reach.

"Since you have noticed, I might as well tell you a secret." Chu Hua was extremely serious as if some great secret was only a few words away.

Jiang was extremely interested and beckoned Chu Hua to continue. This is what he is after! Secrets like these! Information like these! He even got excited.

"Go on, Junior Chu. You can trust me." Jiang said those words casually, yet they held a lot of weight.

"It's like this." Chu Hua started.

"The city seems peaceful and serene on the surface, and there doesn't seem to be conflicts between the major forces and everyone looks as if they're coexisting, right?"

Jiang nodded.

"But, in actuality, there is a huge hidden war occurring right beneath the noses of many people. A huge war that is waged between the Temple, the City Administration and our Freedom Alliance. There are hundreds of conflicts in the sky, yet no one notices. Disciples and elders suddenly disappear and huge portions of the slums are obliterated overnight, yet no one bats an eye. That is because there is a Great War." Chu Hua seriously said, and Jiang seemed seriously interested, yet he already knew all this. Most of the destruction in the slums was even caused by him and that beast.

"But why is there a need to be so secretive about it, Junior Chu? Surely these forces can do as they please? After all, what does it matter if the mortals know? All the powerful cultivators probably partake in the Great War anyway, right?" Jiang asked confusedly.

"This is the secret, Cousin Jiang." Chu Hua said extremely seriously, several times more so than before. "I need your trust that information like this cannot be let out. If it does, there will be havoc."

"As I said, Junior Chu, you can trust me." Jiang said.

"Alright, then answer me this: why do we cultivators stay locked beneath the earth like dogs? Why don't we soar into the sky and toward the great oceans and plains depicted in ancient scrolls? Why does the Freedom Alliance, whose sole goal is to gain freedom from this city, yet linger so? Why can't Zheng Li, an illustrious and powerful cultivator, simply fly into the sky and attain his dream?" Chu Hua's questions were extremely profound and the answers were not easily said.

"Please enlighten me, Junior Chu." Jiang earnestly said, yet he had some understanding towards the matter. After all, the reason his King attacked the Temple as soon as it did was because they had found the escape from the city: the so-called sacred garden. The spies of his King promptly attacked before they could leave this place and go back to the outside. After all, the Qing family of the Temple were extremely special and Jiang knew why.

It was because they were cultivators from the outside world. From this, Jiang didn't know the specifics, but he had heard that there was some detailed information about the outside world that had become known to the more powerful captains and his king. Jiang was extremely curious about the outside too, however, he wasn't qualified to know.

"The reason is because an extremely terrifying existence guards the exit of this place. An extremely terrifying existence that instantly killed the cultivators of old who flew too high. The higher-ups of the city's various forces know of this, yet they don't dare to try and escape, for the level of that existence is unattainable." Chu Hua said solemnly.

However, if she knew that Jiang even knew the information that she was hiding from him—information that her Qing family had about the outside world and also the means to escape via the sacred garden—she would indeed be terrified.

"A terrifying existence?" Jiang put on a meek expression as he looked up toward the crack in the gorge above. He looked at the sky that slipped between the cracks and how there was a heavenly existence between him and it. But alas, he already knew of it.

He thought back to that night when he fought the monster and that Baron Kang, how he had seen the monster flee towards the sky after he had attacked him using incomprehensible means. Just knowing that it meant that the monster was probably already dead, and was killed by that existence that loomed overhead. It brought a completely new meaning to "don't look up".

"You might be thinking: how does that relate to how the Great War has to be fought in secret?" Chu Hua accurately guessed the thoughts that someone might have if they didn't know all this beforehand.

"It's because that existence overhead cares very much when we try to kill each other. It is written down in history thousands of years old, to the time when the Freedom Alliance had yet to exist, that huge conflicts would be stopped by that existence somehow. We don't know why it cares so much about the loss of life. Some think it a benevolent god that can't bear to see its children kill each other, others think we are just simply livestock that shouldn't be killing each other in that existence's eyes."

"But, because of that, the Great War is fought in absolute secret. Cousin Wang, the main secret that cannot be let out is not the war, but that existence. If mortals know of it, havoc will ensue and there would be a huge calamity that comes about from the hysteria and fear." Chu Hua reminded Jiang to not say a word of the grand secret just told to him.

"I swear on my mother that I will not speak a word of this." Jiang first said. "But, still…there is a great being in the sky? Does that mean I will never see the sky in its full entirety, never see more than a few stars at one time?" Jiang acted to be in great dismay as complex emotions were in the air. He sat down on the roof and looked up to that crack in the rocky gorge.

"Cousin Jiang…" Chu Hua was taken aback for a second and then smiled helplessly. In truth, she did not sleep for several days and nights when she found out about that secret. Naturally, how could Cousin Jiang just shrug it off as words?

So, she sat down close beside him, who was staring up. She hugged her knees and sat there for a moment with him until she spoke.

"It is not as scary as you think, Cousin Jiang. After all, it only takes one person to escape, and then all of us will be set free. That's the reason Zheng Li and his brother, Zheng Kang, felt the need to amass a huge force. If they could not be the ones to do it, then they would nurture the younger generation and wait for a hero to appear. And when he does, the city will cry out in celebration!" Chu Hua said with a sweet smile.

"But, what lies beyond? What if that existence is truly as benevolent as some believe? Then, wouldn't it locking us here be a form of protection? Protection from what, though…" Jiang thought out loud and caused Chu Hua to frown.

Her little mouth parted and wanted to say some words, but she choked the, back down. She simply could not say them. She could not say that she already knew what lay beyond, she could not say that her own father was from the beyond. She could not say that she knew the route of escape, yet was not strong enough to go there.

The Qing Clan.

She had heard tales of it from her father and her aunties and uncles when she was growing up. How it was their real family and everyone was waiting there for them, billions of them. It filled her with excitement when she heard that growing up, but now only a sad and helpless smile remained.

That huge family of hers that ruled the world was simply out of her reach, and no matter how she cried out, they could not hear her. Chu Hua even dared to think that the existence that entrapped them here was but a dog to her real family, the Qing Clan.

However, she could not voice these words. It was her well-guarded secret that she had used to bargain for a core disciple position. It was her secret that caused the traitorous remnants of the Temple and that Hong Yuxuan, where ever she may be, to hunt her down.

And yet, even though she didn't say it to protect herself. She had no clue that one of the heartless demons that killed her entire family and continued to hunt her was right next to her as she curled up next to him. And neither of them knew who the other was. The predator and the prey were exchanging words without care or realisation.

It was a cruel comedy, and the gods above could die of laughter.

*3,033/3,000 words*