Fix Your Mess

After the funeral, the family members were able to take time to grieve, though only the Hou family took the time off. Hou Xiulan was a cook within the dining hall in the center of the sect. Hou Ning was still just five years old and had just started her cultivation foundation only a few months prior with her father's help. She now went into a closed door cultivation, which seemed good timing.

Li Wei had decided to go back out with group two, to ensure no one else decided to go against the sect rules and get themselves killed. She hadn't uttered a single word to either her father or Hong Zhao after the flames had settled. Hong Zhao could see something missing in her eyes when she looked at him during the mission brief Li Wen gave the group before setting off. He could tell it was going to take a long time, if ever for her to get over her brother's death.

Hong Zhao waited outside the Sect Leader's office. After Li Wei had taken off with her new group, her father looked his way and nodded towards their house. He held up a finger, which Hong Zhao had taken as asking for an hour before going into the small room.

As he waited, he thought about the setbacks he could plainly see. Li Wuhan had been the Sect's alchemist. Even though he had been quite new at the task, he had been thriving well enough. He had already unlocked three of the pill formulas within the book Lan had given him. The last formula was a stone foundation pill, which helped to strengthen bone density by one star rank higher than the cultivator who took it. The pill itself was worth its weight in gold, and was partly why Hong Zhao had been working up to sending more groups into the stone lion dungeon. Even now, they sat on top of a small mountain of the pills. He was sure that if he were to go to a large city, he could sell what he had for more gold if they needed it, but it was more important to use their supplies to increase the quality of their average cultivator.

He also ensured that Li Wuhan had spent most of his time creating health recovery pills and qi grasping pills. He was able to go on strengthening missions only a quarter of the time that most others were able to go. In hindsight he was most likely the reason that his friend had gotten so reckless in the first place. If he hadn't been forced to create a warehouse of pills, he might have had more discipline when out in the field. His head hurt when he thought of everything he could have done differently.

"You did nothing but expect your friend to understand the stakes." Lan appeared sitting on a stair. Hong Zhao stared at her for a moment. The usually pristine goddess he'd usually see was slightly worse for wear. Her red dress was still beautifully kept, yet Hong Zhao could see wrinkles within the fabric. It wasn't like Lan to look out of sorts. The buns on her head had hair spilling from them and she looked stressed.

"What's up with you?"

"Subtle as always." Lan sighed. "I'm also allowed to grieve, you know."

"You barely knew him."

Lan gave him a disapproving look which took him off guard. "He was one out of a million with a latent talent in pill creation." She glared at her student until he looked the other way. "You took him for granted, and now you will have to find a new alchemist and trust me, that won't be easy."

"You know, that's a load of crap." Hong Zhao said under his breath.

"What was that?"

"If he truly was so important, why didn't you warn me when he was about to go past the perimeter?" Hong Zhao's voice rose as he allowed a little of the pent up frustration he was feeling out. Lan was like a god in this world. Nothing happened without her knowing, so she could have told him if something were happening with Li Wuhan, right? "You say you knew him more than I believed. I think that means you were watching him from a distance, like you were watching me. So why didn't you intervene?"

"Because that would defeat the purpose!" Lan stood and walked towards the shadow sect leader. "I told you before, I'm not here to coddle you. This sect needs an alchemist. It is crucial towards your future success for someone to be found. I can tell you out of the three hundred that you have gathered, none of them have the skill that Li Wuhan did." Her brow twitched slightly and she looked towards the ceiling. "No, not here. But there is an alchemist that has not been claimed."

"Where?"

"You will find him in Yuan City." Lan said without hesitation. "As I said, this is your mess. The man's name is Yeng Feng. You will find him at a tavern, most likely."

"Yuan City." Hong Zhao said to himself. "And how exactly should a third star disciple ranked ten year old cultivator go around the city Zheng Guo owns without having to worry about being discovered?"

"You are an expert infiltrator, are you not?" Lan raised an eyebrow. "So infiltrate."

Hong Zhao stared at her with his mouth agape. He couldn't find any retort to that. It was true, he was an expert infiltrator.

"I have something that will help, but only for a time." Lan took out three items and held them out to Hong Zhao. "This is a qi suppressor." She held out a jade pin to him. "Take it out and put it on when you wish to suppress your qi. It will be as if you are a ninth star student ranked cultivator in other people's senses, but it will absorb your qi constantly in order to maintain the deception. If you are not using your qi blocking uniform, make sure you are wearing this."

Hong Zhao looked at the other two items with interest, yet he couldn't think of what could be as impressive as the qi suppressor. "This next item is a chameleon charm. If you concentrate on a certain area, you can mask it's appearance. I would suggest using it on the ring."

"And the last?"

"A trinket to insert your qi into." She gave him another small pendant. "If you place your qi within this, it will act as a decoy. When one attempts to observe you, they will see your qi. As long as they do not enter the room where you reside, they will believe that this trinket is you."

" And another pile of qi grasping pills." Lan said with annoyance. "You will need these, and I don't want you taking from the stock that Li Wuhan has made. They should be just for the sect. After you are finished with the qi suppressor, make sure to take a pill to restore your qi. You will be at a tenth of your strength until you replenish, which will put you at a huge disadvantage if you encounter anyone disciple ranked." She looked down to her apprentice distastefully. "Fix your mistake, and hurry."

Hong Zhao blinked and Lan was gone. He took out the copper collar that Ren Cai had given him. He groaned when he realized just exactly how he would fit into the city, yet he sighed and accepted it.