Chapter 22 - A Meeting of Threes

Deep into the night, a young man sits beneath a pavilion in the middle of a grand courtyard. In front of him, two scrolls sit side by side atop a long table. Behind him, a tranquil pond reflects the faint glows of the stars above. Golden lanterns, hanging from each corner of the pavilion, illuminate the space below, highlighting the young man's sharp features. Aside from the occasional droplet of night dew splashing onto the pond, the courtyard is completely silent.

The silence is broken when two attendants trot into the courtyard and towards the pavilion, each with a tray in hand. They slowly enter the pavilion before setting both trays onto the table. He waves slightly, signaling for the attendants to dismiss themselves. The attendants bow before trotting backwards away from the pavilion and out of the courtyard. The young man sets one cup at each end of the table. He picks up the porcelain teapot from the left tray and fills up the cup before picking up the clay pot of liquor and filling up the other cup. With each cup filled, the young man makes his way to the pavilion entrance before kneeling. 

"Gyohoho! The child is trying to win me over with Longjing tea. Must be an important matter." 

"Bahaha! You smell that old man? It's baijiu. Mo taught you well, boy."

Upon hearing the two voices from the shadow, Chancellor Zhi bows his head onto the pavilion floor.

"Junior Zhi greets Grandmaster Yi!" Chancellor Zhi lifts his head before bowing it towards the floor again. "Disciple Zhi greets Grandmaster Liu!"

The two Grandmasters' figures emerge from the shadows as they tease the young Chancellor. They both make their way into the pavilion, walking past the kneeling Chancellor, before sitting down in front of their preferred drink. Grandmaster Liu, wasting no time, picks up the cup of baijiu and drinks it all in one gulp. Setting the empty cup aside, Grandmaster Liu picks up baijiu and takes another gulp directly from the pot.

"Aah! Finely aged baijiu." Grandmaster Liu exclaims in satisfaction. "I'll overlook the fact that you greeted me second. Now, what could possibly move the great Chancellor to request our assistance? You have until I finish my drink, boy."

"At ease, child." Grandmaster Yi waves his hand towards the kneeling Chancellor before taking a small sip of tea. "Come, let us talk over a cup of tea."

Obeying the command, Chancellor Zhi lifts his head from the pavilion floor before making his way towards his seat. Grandmaster Yi extends two fingers towards the empty cup that Grandmaster Liu had set aside. Upon retracting his fingers, the cup slides across the table and into his hand. He picks up the teapot and fills the cup half-way before swirling the cup in a circular motion to clean out the liquor. After emptying the contents of the cup into the tray, Grandmaster Yi fills the cup up all the way before pushing it towards Chancellor Zhi.

"Junior Zhi thanks Grandmaster Yi!" 

"Now, child. Back to my old friend's question. For what reason did you request our presence?" Grandmaster Yi inquires before taking another sip of tea.

"Grandmasters, there are three matters I wish to discuss today." Chancellor Zhi, without taking a sip of his tea so as to not waste the Grandmasters' time, starts talking. "The first matter is one that I'm sure Grandmaster Liu has already filled you in on, Grandmaster Yi. I wish to hear your opinions on what should be done with the remnant of the Crimson Era."

Grandmaster Yi nods quietly. Although Grandmaster Liu had filled him in on the details of the medallion bearing the Sword of Song and the Crown of Chu, Grandmaster Yi decides to remain silent as to respect his old friend's opinion on the matter.

"Nothing." Grandmaster Liu replies dismissively before taking another gulp of baijiu. "Aah! The medallion stays with me until I figure out what connection the boy has with the Grand Ancestor of Song. Besides, those Song bastards have no right to claim any owner- not after what they did to his direct descendant."

If this were a public discourse with every important member of the Grand Government and Martial Alliance present, most would agree that the medallion should be returned to the Song family while the remainder would argue that the medallion should be returned to the Chu royal family. To dismiss both options without even giving it a second thought would be equivalent to invoking the ire of the entire continent. Yet, Grandmaster Yi couldn't help but agree with his old friend's decision. Based on historical records, the medallion was never properly inherited by neither Song nor Chu. It had disappeared from history with the Grand Ancestor of Song on his final battlefield. Thus, the matter of ownership is not as simple as "who", Song or Chu. Rather, the matter of ownership is a complicated issue of "what" and "why".

"Disciple Zhi understands." Sensing an undertone of rage in Grandmaster Liu's last statement, Chancellor Zhi decides to move onto the second matter. "The second matter is regarding the influx of missing persons reports. In the past month, we've gone through and confirmed over a thousand reports. Of this thousand, roughly nine hundred are young women between the ages of sixteen and twenty-two and roughly eight hundred are unwedded."

"Demonic practitioners." Grandmaster Yi sighs. 

"That is what Junior Zhi believes." Chancellor Zhi agrees with the Grandmaster's suspicion as he unrolls the two scrolls on the table. "This is a direct command from the Martial Alliance. After mapping out each report, we've identified three regions of interest: the Emerald River westlands, the northern regions of the Eastern Mountains , and the Zhou Plateau eastlands. Grandmaster Ren, the Sword of Spring, has been tasked with investigating the Emerald River westlands. Grandmaster Yi, Grandmaster Liu, you have been assigned to investigate the northern regions of the Eastern Mountains and the Zhou Plateau eastlands, respectively."

"Bah!" The mention of the Sword of Spring causes Grandmaster Yi to spit. He takes a large gulp of baijiu before continuing. "So, that flowery fool gets to leisurely stroll through his own backyard while we have to travel for days to investigate Qi and Zhou?! Also, what's with this 'direct command' nonsense? I'm retired! Retired! What happened to their Grandmasters? Hmm? Where's Fang? What about Miao or Linlin? Did they all retire too?"

"Old friend, let's hear the child out. It seems he feels the child has more to say." Grandmaster Yi, seeing the Chancellor's sharp gaze, chimes in to snap Grandmaster Liu out of his drunken rant. "Enlighten this old soul, child. Why us?"

"Grandmasters, forgive this Junior for being so bold." Chancellor Zhi addresses the Grandmasters with a serious and unwavering tone. "These are simply words from the Martial Alliance. I have my own thoughts on the matter."

"Well then? Out with it, boy." Grandmaster Liu, still acutely riled up about the Sword of Spring, grumbles as he sloshes the liquor within the pot. "Pots almost empty."

"The third matter…"