46-51

Chapter 46 Tribulation Part 1

Rin Wi's blades crossed together as she leaped into the midst of the storm. Her heart was firm and her body was willing, but her mind, her mind was yet to gather. 

Strange feelings bubbled inside of her. Fear and joy, love and hatred, eagerness and caution, an antithesis of emotion filled her very being. She could feel her dantians, each of them as mortal as her, but pulsating immortal qi vigorously. They were trying to grow, to strengthen and leap beyond the mortal realm. 

But they needed a Dao. 

Rin Wi had that, she realized. She had a dao and she had discarded it and that was the thing that pushed her over the edge. 

Daos were a tricky thing to understand. They were the blood of the soul, the thing that could keep an immortal's will alive after billions of years, and so very vital to cultivation. 

Rin Wi's dao was one that had been bred into her since birth, ingrained upon her being for hundreds of years. She could see it floating and mixing with the immortal qi before her. It was trying to come back, trying to weasel its way back into her soul. 

She held the blades firmly. She would not let it. 

The qi coalesced, sinking into one place above the clouds. Rin Wi watched from her spot in the clouds unsure of what would happen next. 

"Listen, kid," a voice suddenly spoke. 

Rin Wi spun to her left to see the honored master there floating beside her. 

"You're going to have to fight this one out," he continued. 

Thunder roared from a distance. 

"This is a rare form of tribulation, and the cons-"

Then lightning struck him. It struck him with more force and fury than Rin Wi had ever witnessed. It was as if a solid pillar of qi and flame had descended upon his being and burnt him to a crisp. 

The honored master sighed, completely unaffected by the attack. 

"The cons-"

Then again, the lightning struck.

"Would you relax?" The man yelled up to the sky. "I'm not aiding her in combat, this is purely advice. Advice I would have gotten to give her if we were given time to prepare. Nothing less than those little scions you treat so nicely."

Thunder roared once more. 

"Yeah, yeah. Well, you don't really have a choice, do you?"

The lightning came again, but this time before it could strike. The honored master merely raised his hand and smacked it away, sending the thing reeling back to where it came from. 

Space shuttered and a moment later, held still.

"Old realm still thinks it can beat me," the honored master muttered. "Give us a minute and I'll let you be, alright?" 

There was an almost audible silence and the honored master smiled and nodded his head. 

"Alright, what you're facing is a rare form of tribulation called a demonic self. Normally when you ascend to the immortal realm, you expel qi, the realm rapidly tries to shove it back into you and you fight the realm while slowly reabsorbing your qi until you can both settle down. But this time, you didn't only expel your immortal qi, but you also discarded your dao in the process, immediately picking up a whole new one as you did so."

As the master talked the dense welling of qi grew and the storm clouds started to fade, each leaking their qi into the well. 

"Due to that, you've effectively formed a dao angel. A coalition of your immortal qi and your previous dao."

The well of qi took a humanoid shape, settling itself into a figure. It glowed for a moment, its face and form being a vague human-like figure, but Rin Wi knew what it was. 

The light faded and there stood a woman. She was draped in a long and delicate robe and on it was the emblem of a dragon on a chain, the symbol of the Divine Beast Emporium. Her hair was a long dark-gold color and reached down to below her waist. She held a sword in her hands, one that Rin Wi was all too familiar with, a sword that Rin Wi had owned and practiced with many times before. 

"Look at you," her copy spoke. "You're a disappointment. A broken tool."

The woman wore Rin Wi's old clothes and held her old weapon. She was a clone of Rin, down to her very qi. 

"Then what does that make you?" Rin asked curiously. 

"Why I'm the working version, the undulled blade. You've clearly discarded your purpose, choosing to cut vegetables and serve mortals instead of those beyond you. You've forgotten your place, reaching to have things you aren't meant to have."

"Oh really?" Rin Wi asked with a spin of her cleaver. "Seems like you're the one who's forgotten her purpose. A discarded dao rebelling against her cultivator, now that's a broken tool."

The clone made a disgusted face.

"Rebelling?" the copy asked. "Was it rebelling when you served your betters? Was it rebelling when you knew your place and gained joy from a job well done? You had your purpose. You had me to guide you through your journey. It was I who showed you the purpose of servitude and the glory of your masters. And it was I who fueled you through decades of punishment when you failed to do your job."

"I showed you a path forward! I pulled you through pain and sorrows until you stood at the pinnacle of your usefulness! A blade sharper than all! AND IF YOU HADN'T WAVERED THEN THE MASTER WOULDN'T HAVE TOSSED YOU TO THE SIDE WITH SUCH LITTLE CARE!" The dao yelled out. 

The honored master whistled next to her. 

"She's a pissy sport," he mumbled. 

Rin Wi was about to respond, but the man interrupted her. 

"Don't speak. She can't see me or sense me. That is the dao of servitude, after all, if she sees me she'll immediately declare me her master and refuse to fight. And Rin, trust me when I say you will need to fight her. There's no way around it. Dao angels are rare and Dao angels that are the byproduct of a single cultivator are even rarer. But if you don't end this now then the rest of your path forward will be filled with heart demons and self-doubt. She'll worm her way into your soul and will refuse to leave. So you gotta end this, understand?"

Rin Wi was still staring at her copy, studying the woman's figure through the clouds. Then she nodded and headed straight for her clone. 

Cleaver met sword and knife met hilt during their first clash and sparks flew from the point of impact, echoing loudly through the skies. More blows were traded, one striking an ancient immortal sword and the other with a mortal's kitchen knife. 

Two hundred clashes rang in a single instant and then they both leaped back, each having tested the other. 

Rin Wi was damaged, having endured injuries from the lightning tribulation, she was already walking into the fight at a disadvantage. And her clone, while unable to generate qi, due to the lack of dantians, was bursting with the bits of immortal qi that Rin Wi had failed to absorb. 

She was effectively fighting an immortal, a task she would have deemed impossible if not for one fact. The honored master had told her to win. He had told her that she, Rin Wi, needed to beat this demonic self tribulation, and Rin Wi believed that the honored master wouldn't say that unless she had a chance. 

This time, the clone initiated the attacks, slashing at Rin with her sword. Rin blocked and defended with her cleaver, but the clone was fast. She struck again and Rin moved the knife to parry, but she was too slow. The copy's blade struck through her right shoulder, barely missing the bone. 

Rin pushed her foot against her opponent's chest and propelled herself off the blade, finding herself floating a good distance away. 

"You have no laws, no strengths, hells you wouldn't even know how to swing a sword if it wasn't for me," the clone mocked. 

Rin clutched her wound, trying her best to mitigate the invading qi. It was rough, moving through her muscles like a worm eating a leaf. The cut had been clean and the qi had been brought into her with precision, just as she would've done it. 

Rin Wi breathed heavily as her clone approached. Could she win this? 

The clone swung again and this time Rin Wi dodged, bringing herself beneath the blade and pushing against the air behind her. But again, the immortal clone was faster. Another stab wound appeared on the opposite shoulder this time.

Rin Wi grimaced as she looked up at her assailant. 

"Always distracted," her clone muttered. 

Rin pushed off, unskewering herself off the woman and falling to the ground beneath. She landed with one folded and both arms limp. 

"Always so stubborn," her clone spoke, seeming to appear directly in front of her. 

Rin Wi pushed back, barely avoiding the blade at her neck. The clone didn't let up and followed her retreat, swinging lazily in her pursuit. 

The attacks were simple, lacking in laws and strength, but they were from an immortal. Each swing could level mountain ranges and cut through valleys and yet for some reason, here Rin Wi stood fighting her. 

"Even if I shall fade, I will make sure to take you with me," the dao angel spat. "One last cleaning before it ends."

Chapter 47 Tribulation Part 2

Rin Wi ran. That was all she could do at the moment. The immortal was not a creature she could keep pace with in battle. 

Her copy couldn't produce qi, but it had sucked up all of the immortal qi Rin had created during her enlightenment. Her dantians flashed, pulsating with a bit more of that dense immortal qi and while Rin Wi closed her meridians in an attempt to conserve it, it would hardly make a difference in the battle. She would, at best, accumulate a puddle while her copy maintained a pool.

It would be a battle of attrition and Rin Wi would lose.

Her feet peddled against the ground, using her movement technique to propel herself to the furthest edge of the region, but even there her copy waited. 

"Weakness," her copy said to her. "Running away from your duties, running from your own tribulation. You're not worthy of immortality."

The copy swung once more and once more Rin Wi dodged, but just barely. The copy was faster than her. She was outpaced in strength and speed, and impossibly outmatched in qi reservoirs. 

There was no use. 

"Have you given up?" The copy asked her with a smug smile. "Mere minutes since you've abandoned me and you fall?" 

Rin Wi stood silently as she breathed. 

"No," she spat. "I haven't given up."

Rin Wi took a moment to take in a few breaths full of qi. 

"I'm just wondering as to why I'm still alive," she finished. "You could have killed me a thousand times over by now. I mean, you are effectively an immortal version of me, aren't you? Your qi might be limited but even then, you outmatch me in every way."

The copy kept staring at her, still and unbothered. 

"And yet I'm still alive," Rin Wi finished. "Why?"

The woman raised her blade to her side and swung. This time, the attack cut through the air. Though the blade didn't touch Rin, the cut left its edges and immediately buried itself in her gut. 

Rin Wi fell. A wave of pain came from her stomach. The strange qi flowed through her body, seeming eager to wreak havoc where it went. It was dense and destructive, tearing apart her meridians wherever it reached. 

Rin Wi screamed, and liquid left her mouth. She coughed, choking on her own blood, struggling to breathe. 

"And arrogant, oh so arrogant." the clone mumbled as it walked towards her. 

Then the clone grabbed her head and lifted it close to its own.

"I want you to suffer," the dao angle whispered. "That's why I haven't yet killed you. Now run."

It threw Rin Wi across the land, tossing her further than the eye could see. Rin Wi didn't fight it. She could barely register its words through the pain much less run. 

But she could think. That was the gift of the servant, the gift of her past. Even when she was being punished she could think, that was Rin Wi's best trait. The pain was bad sure, but some of her punishments had been worse, and she'd gotten through those so truly, what was this predicament? 

Rin Wi focused her mind on the invasive qi. It was spreading, but not nearly as fast as she thought it would and it was causing damage, but again, not nearly as fast as expected. 

Why? She thought. 

This was a blow from an immortal ranked being. She was an insect to this creature, an ant. No. Rin WI didn't buy it's I want you to suffer, statement. 

That made no sense. This was a Dao Angel, not a person. It wasn't capable of resentment, yet it was faking it, forcing her to run and be whittled down, little by little. 

Why? She thought again. 

She held herself still, pretending to be knocked out while she attacked the invasive qi within her. She retrieved her senses and buried them deep within herself. She sent qi into her eyes and ears, bursting the eardrums and forcefully ending her vision before the clone could catch up. 

She didn't know the power of an immortal, but she did know that the Servent Mothers could always tell whether you were sleeping or not by sensing the qi activity in your eyes and ears. Of course, they would die without qi but that would take time. 

Then Rin Wi waited. She laid there for minutes, first five, then ten, and then twenty. Slowly working on whittling down at that immortal qi. She had no sense of the outside world aside from her skin, and even that wasn't enough to let her figure out where the immortal was. 

Rin WI thought silently during this time. What did she know of dao angels? What was their purpose? She'd had a few of them as customers back in the Divine Beast Emporium and the policy was to be kind but direct for them. They weren't exactly people but more of a manifestation of human thought, beliefs made flesh. 

Some were powerful, like the Angel of Death or the Angel of Time. Those creatures were said to be at the level of a God Imperium. What was it they said about these creatures? They weren't the thing itself, more of a collective representation of how people viewed the thing. 

But this dao angel was different. This wasn't a collective reflection of humanity's idea of servitude, this was her idea of servitude. It was her own insults the thing hurled at her, her own perspective and beliefs. 

Her own qi as well. 

Suddenly the invasive qi collapsed into her own, the difference between the two becoming unknowable. The realm had tried to force her own qi back into her through lightning and flame. The only reason it had stopped was because the dao angel had started to do the same. 

Rin Wi's eyes opened and her eardrums mended themselves, returning her to her senses. And sure enough, there was the dao angel staring down upon her. 

Rin Wi smiled, slowly getting up to her feet. Her wounds leaked blood and pain still howled through her broken bones, but that was bearable. All pain was bearable.

"End this," Rin Wi spoke. "No more waiting for me to get up. Just end it."

"Gladly," the angel spoke raising its blade to swing. 

And Rin Wi stood, waiting for the strike to cut down on her. 

But it never did. 

"You can't kill me? Can you?" Rin Wi asked. "You're not just a dao angel, you're my dao angel."

The clone didn't speak, only looking at her with unbothered eyes. 

"Why do we serve?" RIn Wi asked the clone. 

"To live," the clone answered. "To be useless is death."

And there it was. Those words were the mantra she had repeated over and over again throughout her lifetime. Her mantra. And back then, those words were true. 

We live to serve, and when we become useless, we die. 

That had been her reality ever since she was taken up by the Servent Mothers. Those were the words that fueled her. The words that showed the only path forward throughout the subjection process. 

When she had been recruited. 

When she had to say goodbye to her family. 

When she was forced to live centuries in training, knowing her parents and siblings had long since turned to dust. 

When she finally forgot their faces and voices. 

When all she wanted was death, but couldn't even be given that release.

That was what had kept her alive.

Those words stood before her now, strict and angry. They had been abandoned, tossed to the side for a chance at freedom. 

But it wasn't just anger. Rin Wi looked at the creature before, truly studying its presence with her senses. 

A dao was the path a cultivator chose to take. It was the thing that kept them alive and breathing, the hope that allowed them to struggle through the great expanse of torment and time. 

Rin Wi had never gotten to choose hers. Her dao was the only one open to her, the dao of servitude. She couldn't have done anything else. She wasn't allowed to do anything else. She tried to fight for a time, but it was no use. She was broken in over and over again, and each time she was quicker to give up than the last, till eventually, the rebellion was nothing more than a quick thought in her head.

And in front of Rin Wi stood the part of her responsible for it all.

The Servant Mother within. 

Rin Wi swung her cleaver, aiming for the thing's throat, but the clone sidestepped and stabbed. Her opposite's blade cut through Rin's stomach and out her back, the invasive qi flooding through her in an instant. 

Rin swung her knife, and the kitchen utensil rushed towards the clone's throat, but again, her opponent dodged with ease. 

A fist slammed into Rin's face, unskewering her from the blade and away from her opponent. Her body flung past mountains and clouds before crashing deep into the earth. 

Rin wanted to scream, but the pain wouldn't let her. Her wound blazed in silent agony and her whole body radiated pain as the invasive qi ran throughout her body.

But she still lived. 

The qi moved, piercing and penetrating her meridian pathways and the pain moved with it. It bit in and out of her like a worm squirming through the soil. 

Rin Wi felt herself being torn asunder. 

But still, she lived. 

How? She thought. How am I still alive?

The qi bit again. 

How am I still alive?

It bit harder as if it didn't like those thoughts, but not enough for her to die. 

Then it struck her. 

It's still my qi, isn't it? She thought. It's my power.

RIn Wi looked within and called the immortal qi. It refused, tugging away from her like an angry child, but she didn't give up. She pulled again, demanding this time instead of asking and the qi relented.

It was like a dam had burst deep within her. The immortal reflection ran at her again and speared through her once more, but Rin Wi didn't stop. 

The pain was a distraction, the suffering was a mere illusion. The pain was there of course, but the hurt, the hurt wasn't present. The qi wasn't cutting through her meridians, it was reforming them. The qi was pushing her body beyond that of a mortal and into the immortal. 

Her clone struck once more, this time with more fury and pain, but Rin Wi smiled through it. 

You gotta end this, understand? the honored master had said. 

This was not a battle of strength, nor was this a battle of qi or power. It was a battle of dao. It was a battle between who she was and who she strove to be. 

"YOU BARELY COOKED IN THE EMPORIUM, AND YET YOU'D CAST ME ASIDE FOR THAT?" The Dao screamed. 

"SOME VAGUE HOBBY YOU BARELY UNDERSTAND. YOU'LL THROW AWAY EVERYTHING YOU ARE FOR COOKING?"

There was no sword this time, just words, but they cut Rin just the same.

It was true, she was rejecting everything she was, everything she had been, just for some hobby she had picked up this very month. Centuries of suffering, of conditioning, and pain, all thrown away for what? A distraction?

"You can still become an immortal," the clone spoke. "Just throw those blades away and be what you truly are. Think of how valuable you could be, how useful. You could prove yourself once and for all, and show yourself as the brightest. You'd be an immortal servant Rin, that's beyond rare, no master would ever leave you!"

That was true. Immortal servants had to have a Dao, and a dao by nature, guided you above all things, even your master. So the only way one could get an immortal servant was if you somehow managed to ingrain the Dao of servitude upon a person. 

It was what the Emporium aimed for, seeking to make the ultimate tools out of beasts and humans. 

It was what Rin Wi had been aiming for. 

She'd met an immortal servant once, and he had been treated like the most precious jewel in existence. He was wanted, perfect and refined, and his eyes were empty of pain or suffering. 

He looked almost dead and Rin Wi was jealous. 

Then the blades shuddered. The mortal weapons Rin Wi had almost forgotten about shook with indignation. The cleaver and the knife surged with energy, the Dao within them fighting against the servitude. 

But it was no use. Rin was no cook, she was barely a person. Why had she chosen this measly Dao anyway?

"What do you feel up for then?" Medin's voice echoed in her head. 

The woman had asked her for her preference of chores and Rin Wi had chosen to cook. It was such a silly choice. Rin would have been far more effective at other tasks. Cleaning, butchering, security, she was much better suited for everything else aside from cooking.

But Rin Wi had chosen to cook. 

Rin Wi Had Chosen. 

Oh, RIn Wi thought in realization. It doesn't matter why.

The choice hadn't mattered. The dao hadn't mattered. Nor did the efficiency or any other practical aspect of the choice. What mattered was that she had chosen it. She had picked the chore and she had picked the cleaver. 

Her Dao of cooking wasn't important because she liked it.

It was important because she had chosen it. 

Rin Wi screamed and clung her blades, funneling as much of her own will as she could into the utensils. The brittle mortal blades had already been pushed far beyond their capability, but Rin Wi refused to let them break. 

"WHY??" The immortal screamed. "WHY DO YOU FIGHT ME??"

Rin Wi pulled at its qi, drawing in her own immortal qi through pain and suffering. It couldn't hurt her, it was her qi, after all, just a little bit different. 

The dao angel shrieked as it lost power. 

"WWHHHYY?" The angry thing screamed, stabbing at her in an attempt to kill. 

Rin Wi smiled, absorbing every strike of qi selfishly. 

"Because," She said. "I want to."

Chapter 48 Gu Xin

The battle didn't last long after that. The dao angel burst into immortal and Rin Wi took it all back. She cycled the qi through and through and the dao realigned itself with her being and she stepped into the immortal realm.Her sisters wept. They were all hugging each other as they watched, crying visibly at Rin's declaration. Then Rin stepped forward, leaping through the dragon gate and into the immortal realm.

Very standard cultivator stuff.

Then she came down, her face carrying a sad but accepting smile.

All her sisters ran out to hug her, crowding the girl and clinging onto her now immortal form. There was more crying, more hugging, lots of smiling and questioning as well.

After a few minutes of emotional reactions, Rin walked up to me and smiled. I smiled right back.

"Thank you for your guidance Mister Bill," she said with half a bow.

"No problem," I replied. "That was one hell of a therapy session though, real violent."

Rin Wi smiled and nodded.

"If only we could all beat up physical manifestations of our traumas," I joked.

Again, Rin Wi smiled and nodded.

"Thank you," she repeated.

Rin Wi clearly wanted to say more, but I just shook my head.

"You're welcome," I replied. "You don't need to say anymore."

Rin Wi looked at me, smiled, then nodded.

The walk back was quite loud, possibly the loudest the girls had ever been in my presence. There was lots of chatter and lots of questions, all aimed at Rin, and a decent lecture that came from Mei revolving around proper preparation and actions one should take when ascending.

They just talked to one another, almost forgetting me entirely.

Progress comes in small doses I guess.

Once we got to my house, the girls split apart, heading to their own residences nearby. They had gone and constructed their own places, all of them scattered through the valley for their convenience. I was willing to let them live with me at first, but their consistent unprompted aid got really annoying really fast. There were only so many "honored masters" a person could take.

Gauntlet stepped out to greet me at my destination.

"How is she?" I asked the poor golem.

Gauntlet held up a small enchanted cage with a bed and a sleeping baby inside of it.

"No tantrums?" I asked.

The golem shook his head.

"That's good," I muttered.

Babies were hard to deal with. Super babies who could crush mountains in their sleep were worse. The average fifth rank held a tremendous amount of power. They could flatten cities and change landscapes. Put all that into a ten-pound baby with a primordial bloodline and beast-like instincts and you get a terrifyingly powerful super baby. She could probably smack an immortal down without much of a struggle.

So even if she was asleep, without any control over her power, a misplaced fart could spell genocide for this whole region.

I opened the cage, gently bringing the slumbering child out of there.

"How ya feeling?"

"Uggah."

"Are you hungry?"

"Uggah uggah!"

I nodded and pulled out all the food Medin had left me. The child crawled out at the speed of sound and suckled it all down in an instant.

A second later the child lay there, rubbing her stomach and sitting next to a clattering plate that was still spinning from her instant devouring technique. The baby burped before squealing in joy, crawling back to her cage, and sleeping again.

I didn't know much about super babies, but I knew that babies slept a whole lot and this one was no exception. The qi within her had yet to completely settle and her body was still making adjustments to itself every day.

Which was sort of like a baby, in a way. But it was also just like a cultivator consolidating their power after a recent rank-up, and I assumed it was a mixture of both at the current moment.

"Keep charge then," I said to Gauntlet with a nod, and Gauntlet nodded back.

********

Mo Whe of the Void Blade sect sat spread and comfortable in his chair. He had purchased it from a crafting sect, one of the best in the empire, and among all he owned, this large cushioned seat was his most prized object.

This was because Mo was a bureaucrat. Most of his time was spent on his ass anyway, and the way Mo saw it, if he was to sit down for most of his life, then it might as well be the most enjoyable thing he did. Not that Mo minded his job. No, Mo loved his job.

Most of his brothers had fought one another, a few of them dying to get themselves to be the next in line for the Patriarch's title. His father, Long Whe, was a proud and powerful leader but also pants as loose as a canyon, though Mo would never tell him that. The man had fathered approximately fifty-six children and had over seventeen wives and concubines.

"Spread the seeds and may the strongest blossom!"

That was what his father had said about his children. A little animalistic of him, Mo thought, but it was the way things were. It was the way cultivators were. His father, his grandfather, and his great-grandmother had all been the same way. His great-grandmother had already ascended to the higher realms, seeking her chances at strength with another sect and his grandfather was planning to do the same.

His father now led the sect as the patriarch and in planning for his realm ascension, had told his children to prove themselves worthy of leading the clan and possibly one day, even the sect.

Mo Whe did not prove himself worthy. In truth, as soon as he heard the news, he plotted ways of proving himself unworthy. He didn't want to lead or show responsibility, he wanted to be one of the old uncles of the sect that stayed around for a million years leaching off the sect and rotting in the corner.

That was Mo Whe's dream, to be a fat old man sitting in a comfy chair, and finally, with this job, he had reached it.

He had been assigned to govern over a small group of a thousand regions, most of them boring and useless, some of them lacking even a single immortal. It was the backwoods of the continent, the boonies. All the land had empty qi and even emptier regions.

To a person seeking power and prosperity, it was a curse. There were no accolades to be found here, only boring old middle management work for the empire.

But it was perfect for Mo Whe. It was an easy job and it was the easiest job he could get while still having the position of a scion. Reports came in and he glanced at them, and more importantly, he rarely had to report anything to the higher-ups himself.

He'd have to host a passing guest every decade or two, some members of another clan flying through the region on their way to somewhere else, but most of the time it was quiet and comfortable.

Mo sank deeper into the cushion.

"Quiet and comfortable," Mo muttered.

"Minister Whe?" A servant spoke.

Mo rose, ready for dinner and sniffing the air in anticipation. When he smelled nothing, Mo opened his eyes to see a servant standing in a bowing manner and offering him a scroll on a jade green plate.

"What is this?" Mo asked.

"A report came in Master Whe, just now delivered through a personal runner."

"A runner?" Mo spat.

"Yes, my lord."

"Not a teleport?"

"No, my lord."

Disgraceful. Mo thought.

What barbaric barren region would dare to send in a report outside of the official times? If they couldn't afford to teleport a scroll all the way here, then they should at least have the decency to bother him during official business hours.

Mo grabbed the scroll and cut through the metal golden seal with his nails. He opened the thing, reading through its contents immediately.

Mo groaned.

Why? Why did this have to happen now?

An unregistered immortal, while unimportant, was a chore.

"Did they send anything else along?" Mo asked.

"Yes your lordship," the servant replied, holding up a small ornate box.

Mo flicked his finger, opening the thing and pulling out a rather dull-looking piece of jade.

"Good," Mo said with a nod. "Run this through the local archives and see if there are any matches. Report back to me immediately after you get the results."

The servant nodded, taking the piece of jade and the scroll back along with him.

A rogue immortal was nothing scary, not to the Void Blade sect, but a rogue immortal was still in many minor ways, a threat. The jade piece they'd sent over contained the immortal's qi signature which could be used to cross-reference with the Void Blade Sect's database to determine if the man was known by any other name.

It wasn't perfect of course. Many immortals hid from their gaze, a consequence of the Sect's ambivalence rather than ignorance. Most immortals simply weren't worth cataloging, and an immortal who hid in an unnamed region was likely to be the same.

A servant stepped, one Mo wanted to see this time. She was beautiful and draped in cloth made from a spirit sheep's wool. With her came several others each carrying plates that burst with qi-filled delicacies. The smell danced on Mo Whe's nose and the woman, knowing what he wanted, came and sat on his lap.

"Would you like me now or later my lord?" The vixen asked.

Mo Whe smiled as he touched her, his hand making its way to her inner thighs.

"Later my beauty."

The girl pouted.

"Oh, but I will be ever so lonely, unwanted and unloved, by my lonesome."

"Oh nonsense. Come! We shall eat together! There's no need for tears!"

The girl giggled affectionately and pulled him into a kiss that was placed half on his lips and half on his cheek.

This temptress, Mo thought.

Not a minute later, they both had their food laid out on the table, Mo eating at one end of the table and his lover indulging quietly at the other end.

If Mo were a smarter man, he would have noticed her eyeing him as ate, her hand merely moving over the food and barely consuming it.

If Mo were a shrewd man, he would have noticed how she came to him today, instead of the normal practice of him seeking her.

But Mo was neither smart nor shrewd, just lazy. And the woman managed to inspect him to her liking unnoticed.

"Gu Xin, my love, tell me how the food tastes," Mo Whe asked the woman.

"It's delightful," she replied. "But not as delightful as you."

Mo Whe beamed at the compliment and Gu Xin giggled in response. She didn't know how the man hadn't picked up on her obvious information-gathering techniques. She'd been blatant on numerous occasions, but either he knew and didn't care or he cared but didn't know. Gu Xin suspected the latter.

It wasn't as if the Void Blade Sect had any obvious secrets hidden in this area. You'd be lucky enough to find a decent fifth-rank cultivator out here, much less a decent immortal. But still, Gu Xin was curious and Mo Whe relented, even going on a tirade about these backwoods cultivators and their total lack of manners in this regard.

Gu Xin had smiled, nodding along with his rant and validating his irritation. But in truth, it was a struggle to not call him out on his lazy governing. The nameless region was nameless by nature, they couldn't muster up enough spirit stones for a long-distance teleport, much less an interregional teleport.

Each region was tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of miles away from one another. And the runner, who was probably the fastest man they had, had movement techniques that even Mo Whe's servants wouldn't even bother learning. Of course, their interruption was mistimed. But at least they did their duty of reporting the changes to the empire.

Gu Xin smiled, not letting her face betray her thoughts, but Mo Whe wouldn't have noticed either way. The man was far too self-indulgent to see anything past his face and status.

Gu Xin smiled and continued the charade, till she eventually guided the man to his bedchambers afterward and paid the price for her curiosity.

After the deed was done, Gu Xin only had to wait a minute till Mo Whe slumbered. She knew that once he began snoring, it would take an earthquake to wake him up, and she would be free to leave his side.

Gu Xin frowned before she even left the bed. That was bad demeanor. She shouldn't be revealing her emotions around her target whether or not she believed they were asleep, especially one of Mo Whe's rank.

But she couldn't help it. The man was perfectly unbearable. All he did was sit and eat and wave away the numerous reports from the regions he was supposed to govern. He treated his position like a child treated their meal, picking and tossing the bits he didn't want until only the unhealthy vices and deserts were left on the table.

Gu Xin couldn't stand it. All that power yet so little action.

She walked through the manor, winding through its wide corridors and servant-filled abodes. It was large, almost half a mile in length and width, all unnecessary, all indulgent.

She finally escaped the self-centered lair, making her way outside of the residence, and seeing the open green clearing and the night sky that stood above it. A spillage of sparkling dots decorated the backdrop and a cascade of moons stood on top of them.

Ah Marin was impossibly big. Its weight drew in stars and planets into its orbit, some large and some small. The seven major stars that rotated around the planet provided a strange day and night pattern for the planet, painting it with alternating zebra stripes of day and night. And nights like this, a true night when the edges of the horizon didn't leak the pink glow of another sun were rare, only coming around only a few times a year.

Gu Xin pushed, channeling her qi into a movement technique. Her legs rebelled against the earth and within a moment, she was in the clouds. Mountains flashed below her as her body flew through the skies.

A hundred miles, a thousand miles, ten thousand miles, all passed beneath her in an instant. Her qi split the air, gently moving it aside for her body to glide through. Finally, she slowed down and touched down gently on a sand-sloped beach.

Gu Xin looked toward the night sky. She had traversed tens of thousands of miles, but the sky didn't care, it glittered just the same. The same stars and moons greeted her as if she hadn't left at all.

Except for one. One small and almost dust-like planet shining dullly at the edge of the horizon. Even Gu Xin, who could see a thousand miles out with clarity, had to circulate an advanced sight technique to catch a glimpse of it.

It was so small compared to everything else around it that no one beneath the fifth rank would ever be able to see it, even if it orbited right above them.

From here the moon looked to be colored a dull earthly brown, but Gu Xin could see what they were, even from millions of miles away. Even when she couldn't actually see the planet-sized ball of chains that held her master, the image of them still burned clearly in her mind.

She would be disappointed to see her now, groveling and low at some scion's beck and call.

"Master Fey Lin," Gu Xin whispered. "One day I will free you, or one day I will die."

Chapter 49 Merchants

The merchants were an integral part of the village's income. They would come through during the rainy season and camp out at the village for a few days at a time, and some had started to use the area as a temporary market between the two divided parts of the region.

There wasn't much reason to use the village as a central trading post. As wide as The Great Desert Strip was, all of the merchants had some method of crossing it. Most had pack beetles, some had beasts, and many just ran across the distance over a few days.

After all, the desert lacked qi and spirit beasts, making it arguably the safest place in the region, if you discounted the baking heat. The village was generally treated like a trucker's stop rather than a trading hub.

But this rainy season was different. This rainy season, there were rumors of a strong and ancient cultivator living in this valley and that the mortals within this region were protected under his rule.

I sighed.

I knew the sects had promised to keep their mouth shut, but I also knew leakage of this secret was inevitable. It had been a strategic play on their end from the start. They'd brought in nearly a hundred different cultivators and an entourage of servants during their little trip.

They probably had a list of heads ready to be chopped off to appease me if I brought it up with them.

Oh well, I expected that.

But Rin Wi's smacking that one guy had also encouraged the rumors. There had been a drastic increase in the quality of behavior after that public beating and Rin Wi was now rumored to be one of the many students of the Honored Grand Master who called the forest his home.

A few cultivators had even tried to sneak into the forest, and though none of them had died, they did witness a few of the beasts clashing against one another. And though there was no death, the aura of something seven ranks beyond your own did cause an indescribable feeling of dread and insignificance.

That made me think back to Sun Wukong.

I pushed the thought away. I didn't like thinking about the Monkey King, he scared me. Regardless of how kind he seemed to be, the man… no, the being was just too much.

I imagined that was how the cultivators who had snuck into the forest felt.

The camp was a dot under the horizon from the distance. Even a mortal's eyes could make out the gleam of the village and camp from deep within the forest. I walked towards it, wrapping myself in common cultivator clothing.

Nothing new, just a more tight-fitting robe and a simple blade by my side. I lowered my aura to that of a third rank, before strolling into the camp.

There were tents and goods all gathered up and around one another and several large bonfires in between them. Tonight was a true night, meaning the sky was black all around, but the camp didn't seem to know that.

Everything was lit up, and everyone seemed to be awake. There was also a whole lot more food, cold meat, and still boiling stew, stuff the merchants could serve to themselves.

Along with a lot of bargaining. Yells shouted over the campfires and angry curses were thrown around from one merchant to another. Different types of music played as well, some sang, others played an instrument, and around a few spots, there were even groups of musicians all strumming along to their different audiences.

I frowned. I didn't frown. That was Chin's thing, not mine.

This was new. This group, in its entirety, was over ten times larger than the regular groups that would come through this area. And more importantly, a lot of them seemed to have brought in their own food, meaning they weren't the regular migratory merchants that would walk through this area.

I had expected that to be the case as the rumors got around, a lot of small sects and clans would surely send their groups over to investigate. There were a lot more rank threes and rank fours, even a few rank fives.

But the problem wasn't any of that. The problem, if it could even be called a problem, was that everyone was getting along.

That might not sound like a big deal but it was. Peaceful areas where merchants could do their business untaxed and unbothered were a great draw for trade, and with trade came jobs, and with jobs came infrastructure, and with infrastructure came… a city.

This was a valley where a great immortal resided and the rumors stated he wanted nothing but to be left alone and have no conflict. There was recently a fifth-ranked cultivator who enforced that peace without losing a sweat. The immortal wouldn't hurt you as long as you didn't hurt anyone else and treated the mortals nicely.

Yeah, this was a great draw for most of these people, and this lively market was like a practice run made by some merchant sects to see if this type of thing would be okay with the immortal.

"Man," I mumbled. "Chin has his work cut out for him."

The poor bastard would have to farm harder to keep up with the soon-to-be-boosted population.

That was if he wanted the sudden growth. He could always ask me to kick them out, but I doubted the old man would say no to that much money, especially when the solution to his problem would only be for him to farm harder.

I walked through the area, navigating my way through the tents and campfires. A few merchants tried to get me to buy stuff, some of them even blatantly asking for information about the "locals and their practices."

Subterfuge was dead with those guys.

I kept going through till eventually I reached a very distinct tent. It was a large tent, easily one of the biggest in the camp, but it was situated at the edge of the group and even separated by about a hundred feet from any other tent. Its top was colored yellow and grey and there was a distinct smell of urine and feces wafting out of the place.

I walked in, flapping past the weathered entrance and into the animal-filled den.

Inside was a man sleeping on a straw-covered floor. He was a portly fella, and his gut managed to show through his tunic and spill out of his waistline and onto the floor.

"Dai Heng."

The man didn't wake up.

"Dai Heng!" I yelled.

And he still didn't move. I walked up and bent over, putting myself right next to his ear.

"DAI HENG!" I exclaimed pushing a bit of qi into my throat.

The man jumped onto his feet and spun around, qi funneling to his fist.

"WHO DARE- oh. Mister Bill, it's you!" The man said with a relieved smile on his face. "I was just having this wonderful dream about the Hidden Viper. You know they have a scion, Young Master Yu Xuefeng? Anyways I dreamed that she was trying to buy a pack beetle from my uncle, but as you know we don't sell-"

"Dai Heng," I interrupted. "Where is your uncle?"

"Oh, my uncle? He's out tonight, surveying the surroundings and the merchants or something. I don't know why though. There's never been any problems in this area, not since we've been using it. But we heard rumors about a secret immortal living in the woods, but who-"

I let the man ramble on while I turned to look at the animals. Dai Heng and his uncle Lee Heng were beast breeders by trade. Not spirit beasts, qi beasts. While spirit beasts had a human level of intelligence and their own understanding of the world, qi beasts were just really strong animals.

Chin had bought a few of them over the years, only a few because they were an expensive purchase for mortals, even for village chiefs, but they were a necessity, especially for this village.

Since the next village was one thousand and five hundred miles away, fast rideable qi beasts were a must in case of emergencies. The village alchemist always tried to keep enough medicine on hand at all times, but there were moments when they needed to send someone out to get materials from another village, and in those cases having pack animals that could run a hundred miles per hour for fourteen hours straight was quite literally a lifesaver.

A couple of Chin's grandkids manned the beasts, training them and taking them out of the desert for trade trips, picking up news and rare goods along the way.

Most of Chin's beasts had been bought directly through Lee Heng.

"Lee Heng," I spoke. "Get in here already!"

"Ah!" Lee Heng said from outside of the tent. "Bill Ter Rance, how have you been? It's been a while, fellow Daoist!"

Lee Heng was a skinny fellow. His clothes dangled from his stick-like frame and his fingers came together like mismatched chopsticks, the exact opposite of his nephew.

"Uncle! He was just talking about how he was looking for you before we got sidetracked discussing the rumors about the immortal! I told him I didn't believe it but there might be some strong cultivators camped out in the forest. Some of the other people were talking about getting a strange feeling from there-"

"Mhm," Lee Heng interrupted with a nod. "I've heard about that too."

Both men looked at me in inquisition.

"What?"

"Well," Lee Heng asked. "Is it true?"

I'd made a few cultivator acquaintances over the years and the Heng family were the ones I'd associated with the most. I'd met Lee Heng several decades ago and was surprised to find the man had connections that spanned outside of the region.

He was only at the third rank of course, but he had been full of news about the region and the grander empire as a whole. And even aside from that, Lee was a pleasant fellow and had more spine and morals than most cultivators. His technique wasn't suitable for building a clan. It was more of a master disciple thing, passed from one master to another so a few years later, he picked up Dai and gave him his surname.

"Yes," I answered.

Lee Heng let out a sigh and his Dai Heng audiblely gasped.

"But Mister Bill, you've lived here all this time? How did you not know about it all-"

"He did know," Lee Heng interrupted.

"Then why didn't he-"

"Probably because this immortal didn't want him spilling his business to outsiders. Is that right Bill?" He asked frowning.

I nodded. None of what they said was wrong per se.

"Not like you've never lied to me before you old weasel."

Lee Heng smiled.

"Well, call us even then," the man muttered. "Dai Heng, fetch us some cups and clean yourself up before you do."

"Yes master," the boy bowed before running off into the other sectioned-off parts of the tent.

"That boy is a mess," Lee Heng commented.

"He likes animals," I replied. "Probably why he likes you."

Lee Heng chuckled lightly.

"I think he likes talking to the beasts more than he likes people."

"Maybe it's because they listen better," I replied.

"I doubt it," Lee Heng commented with a shake of his head. "I think he talks so much because he doesn't know what to say. But he doesn't have to worry about that with the beasts."

"Mhm. Does that still bother him?"

"Yes," Lee Heng.

"Well he is just a kid," I muttered.

"He's twenty-five."

"Still just a kid," I replied.

"Maybe to us, but he's a man by mortal standards. I think it's time he acts like one."

I looked towards the separating curtains in the tent. I could see Dai Heng's shadows waving through the cloth walls as he scrubbed his body clean in a bathing troth, singing loudly as he did so. The boy was socially troubled, which wouldn't be a big deal in any other trade, but being a merchant required a knack for that sort of thing.

"It just takes time is all," I replied. "And you've got a lot of that."

"I suppose," Dai Heng said with a sigh. "Now, about that immortal."

Chapter 50 Merchants Part 2

"Has he been here all this time?" Lee Heng asked.

"As long as I've been here."

"Damn," Lee Heng muttered. "All this time. All this time we were dancing in front of a tiger's den."

Dai Heng came in dressed in a long tunic and pants, hair still wet from bathing. He handed each a cup before running back to the other room to finish his business.

Lee Heng reached into his robe and dug out an old wine sack, one made from the aged leather of a spirit beast. He poured some liquor into each cup. We both raised our glasses towards one another and downed the contents of the spirit wine.

Dai Heng groaned lightly as the qi-infused spirit burned down his throat.

"Still the iron stomach?"

"Still the lightweight?"

"Hm."

There was a moment of silence as Lee Heng collected himself.

"Is he as strong as they say," Lee Heng asked.

"If not stronger."

Lee Heng nodded.

"What about his kindness? They called him a gracious cultivator, protecting the mortals and his land the best he can."

I frowned.

"No. If he were a gracious man, he'd unite the lands and rule them like a gracious king. Or he'd at least fight off injustice where he could. He's just another powerful old bastard who wants to be left alone," I replied.

Lee Heng stared at me.

"Are you sure you should be speaking those words out loud?"

"He doesn't care. A few mortals have even cursed him at times. He's unbothered by words, for the most part, only actions."

"What a strange man," Lee replied.

I shrugged.

"What about the fifth ranks? I heard there were a few fifth-rank women seen around the area. They say one of them almost beat Fatty Peng to death."

"His companions," I replied.

Lee Heng nodded, though I think he got a different meaning from that word than I did.

"Platonic," I added.

"Really?" The man asked.

I nodded.

"And what about you then?"

"Huh? What about me?"

"What's your connection with the Immortal?"

"I am the Immortal."

Lee Heng snorted.

"And I'm Sun Wu Kong," he replied.

I frowned, reaching for the man's wine sack and pouring myself another drink.

"Don't joke about that," I muttered before downing the whole cup.

"Then give me a good answer."

"I'm… amicable towards him. Neutral really. Just don't hurt the mortals and make sure to go directly through them before you do anything in this valley and you'll be fine. He's a real docile guy Lee, boring really."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Lee Heng took the wine sack from my hand before I could pour myself another drink.

"Hey!"

"I need a sober man tonight Bill, and either the answers you're giving me are honest or you've really lost your iron stomach."

"I'm sober," I replied.

Lee Heng stared at me intensely for a moment, even sending some of his sense to sweep over my aura.

Well, I guess I had given the man some reason to doubt my sobriety. From his perspective, everything I've said thus far must sound like the ramblings of a drunk shithead.

He's known me for decades and as far as he knew I was a third rank cultivator, just like him. And no third-rank cultivator would insult an immortal, claim to be the immortal, and then call him boring.

Lee squinted.

"Have you been poisoned-"

"Noo. I'm fine and well, I'm just telling you how it is. Leave him be and keep to the law and he'll leave you be. Also, don't fight anywhere within the Desert Strip, he can sense it."

Lee still looked at me, untrusting.

"I swear it. Haven't you wondered why it's always so peaceful here? You've never noticed the few cultivators that go missing in the night sometimes, always the violent ones. Remember Do Lang? What do you think happened to him?"

"I do remember him. His clan says they lost track of him nearly a decade ago and still don't know where he went. Most of their members were celebrating his loss rather than mourning it though. The man was a known… oh. Oh, I see. Did he try to hurt a mortal?"

"He tried to take one," I answered. "And he got taken instead."

Lee took a moment and stroked his beard in thought.

"Are you able to get in contact with him?"

"Nope."

"You're lying."

"I refuse to get involved with a bunch of greedy merchants and their negotiations. You should go ask the mortals instead-"

"Bill, this is personal."

Now that took me by surprise. The man's anxiety had been rising this whole time, but I thought that was due to the topic. But now that I focused in on his aura, there was something more there, something more than business worries.

There was fear, genuine fear.

"Over the years, I'd like to think we've become friends-"

"I wouldn't go that far," I cut in. "Acquaintances maybe, but you've ripped me off plenty of times."

The man sighed in partial defeat.

"But go on," I added.

Lee Heng took a deep breath before speaking.

"I would like to think that I know what kind of man you are. I think, like me, you feel a disdain towards the evil of this world. I believe you're a man of noble fiber and have a gracious soul-"

"I'm about to say no," I interrupted.

"Fine!" The man yelled. "I think you're a lazy and lucky man who sits around and does nothing all day, but I do believe you care about right and wrong, even if to the smallest degree. And I'd like to think you'd do the right thing at a minor cost to your own sloth."

There was a moment of tension as Lee wondered if he had lost any chance of getting my aid, and me being me, I held it for as long as possible. His aura twisted up in anxiety at every passing millisecond, working itself into a Gordian knot, and just when he was about to give up all hope, I replied.

"Maaaaayyybbbeee," I answered. "How minor of a cost would it be?"

Lee's aura loosened

"Just come with me and listen, then you'll know everything."

Lee turned to walk through the curtains and out of the tent, and I followed. We worked our way around the campsite, walking around barters and parties. A few people glanced at us, at me specifically. Word must have gotten around of the one cultivator who was known to live here before the immortal had been revealed. They must have seen me the same way Lee did, as a possible connection to the immortal who lived in this land.

Shit.

I wasn't exactly a secret to them, but now I was known and being watched.

Rin Wi, I said telepathically. Can you flex some Immortal Aura around here, and make it similar to the one I was emitting with the sects?

I got a telepathic nod in response and suddenly everyone, including Lee Heng, had their senses focused towards the back of the camp. Rin Wi's qi left as soon as it came, blipping right out and leaving everyone confounded.

I took the opportunity to hide myself from all but Lee.

If the merchants saw me, they wouldn't want to hurt me or steal from me, they'd want to talk to me, which was definitively worse from my perspective. I could always snap away a murder hobo, but that option wasn't available with a diplomat.

All the negotiations would be Chin's problem, not mine. At worst, he could have Rin Wi growl at them from a distance. That seemed to get them in line pretty quickly.

Eventually, we arrived at a heavily occupied tent, one that was almost the size of a circus and had two floors to it. The second floor was a wooden platform, one that had been assembled before the tent was put up.

There was a lot of foot traffic in the area. Men and women of all ages walked in and out of the place eagerly. Some of them were smiling while others were trying to hide their face. Their auras radiated all types of emotion, shame, guilt, joy, and lust.

I looked at Lee Heng.

"A brothel?" I asked.

The man didn't speak and just went inside. I sighed and did the same, undoing my stealth as I entered.

Unsurprisingly, the inside of the tent was cramped with thin fabrics separating the area into different rooms. The fabrics themselves were enchanted to not let any sound or light pass through them and the area seemed to have a cleaning array floating through it, making sure no stench would bother the customers.

The cloth walls were painted with menageries of beautiful half-naked men and women, and the air was filled with the sweet smell of qi-infused perfumes and stringed instruments.

Finally, at the open center of the area, we saw the nearly naked band of men strumming and singing their instruments in harmony. One of the women looked up and smiled at me, and I politely shook my head. Then the man did the same and I shook my head again.

They both frowned a little and went back to their music.

In the center of the area was a front desk, manned by a large and burly woman, a half-dwarf, meaning she had the height of a human with the proportions of a dwarf. Her wrists were as thick as a neck and her hands were the size of dinner plates. She was at the peak of the fourth rank and talked to all the customers that came in. Her job seemed to be a bursar type, collecting money from the clients and guiding them to their awaited rooms. She had an imposing frame and most of the clients were weaker than her, making everyone very calm and respectful in her presence.

"Lee Heng? What are you doing back so soon?" The woman asked.

"I'm here to speak with the Madam," Lee answered.

The half-dwarf looked at him, then at me and her eyes seemed to carry some understanding.

"Go ahead then," she said.

Lee Heng nodded and guided us into another hallway. This hallway was short and unoccupied by customers and lacked the sound-numbing enchantings that the other fabrics did. Here there were muffled whispers and light snoring.

This was probably the staff's quarters. Brothels never closed after all.

Finally, we stopped at one set of curtains that seemed to lead to another large area.

"Madam, may we come in?" Lee asked through the curtain.

"Oh Lee Heng, you're back already?" A voice responded.

"Apparently he couldn't get enough," I quipped.

"And you've brought someone with you?" The voice asked.

"Yes," Lee said with a sigh. "Someone who can help."

Again, there was another moment of unspoken understanding.

"I see. Well, do come in then. "

Lee nodded, parted the curtains, and entered. I followed.

Inside was a room filled with books and scrolls and jade pieces. At the center was a desk clattered with organized spirit stones and jade pieces. The books and scrolls were set up in an organized pile at one end and a big enchanted box full of spirit stones sat at the other.

The person sitting at the desk was at the fourth rank. Her aura radiated from her body with strength and seduction and her skin gleamed brightly even with the small amount of lantern light within the room. She had brown maple-colored skin and straight fire-red hair that fell gently down her shoulders.

She got up from the desk and walked to greet us. Even the most useless action was meant to draw eyes. Lust and desire wafted off of her soul and into the minds of anyone who could want it. Her hips seemed to speak and her eyes seemed to beckon with every blink.

A succubus, I thought. That was rare.

She raised her hand out to mine, clearly expecting me to take it.

"Madam Rose," She said firmly.

She was expecting a kiss, or maybe even a bow I think.

I shook her hand.

"Bill Terrance," I replied.

She watched me for a minute, smiled, then laughed a beautiful laugh.

"I see. Please don't take my actions as an insult. I meant nothing by it I assure you."

She had a charm to her, one that all beauty and seduction cultivators naturally had. I hadn't fallen for it of course. I couldn't fall for this type of charm, not unless the person executing it was at the fifteenth rank, and even there I still might not fall for it. I was incapable of romantic love or lust.

People who were resistant to her charm tended to have a certain belief about succubi and their practices.

"You're a succubus," I replied. "You can't help it."

"Indeed," she answered, turning herself to greet Lee.

"Lee, my darling, is there any news that you need to give me so quickly?"

"Your problem Madam. I believe this man can aid you with it."

Chapter 51 Madam Rose Part 1

Succubi weren't a race of people. That was just a myth, but they did love to fuck a lot.

'Dual cultivation,' as some would call it, was their main thing. Except, instead of sticking to one partner, they would get freaky with as many people as they could find.

They were, technically, demonic path cultivators. Demonic path cultivators were defined as those who take from others, and succubi did take from others, but most of them were harmless unless you were talking about the siren variants. And most realms had their share of succubi, even the holy realms in the heavens of the multiverse had their own variation of the idea.

The definition was partial bullshit of course. The 'taking from' part only applied if you were taking something good away from a person. Monks would tell you that succubi took the 'pride' or 'virtue' from a man or woman, and the succubi would argue that they took the lust and yearnings that held people down.

It was one of the most controversial things in the multiverse, whoring.

But I had no qualms with it. It seemed to me that nothing was taken as much as given, and two consenting adults could do whatever they pleased, minding a few circumstances.

"You like men?" Madam Rose asked.

"Not more than I like women," I replied.

"Impotent?" She asked.

"Apathetic," I answered.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"How unfortunate. And here I was hoping a good night's rest and woman's warmth would help smooth our talks."

"Madam," Lee interrupted.

"I'm joking Lee, and he doesn't mind the jokes, do you Bill Ter Ance."

I winced at her pronunciation.

"Just Bill is fine. And no I don't, but I'd like to know what all this is about."

"You haven't told him?"

"I didn't have the time. I found him just after I left Madam. I assumed you'd want to tell him yourself," Lee replied.

There was one of those small silences of understanding before Madam Rose nodded and walked back to her chair. With a wave of her hand, two small earthen stumps grew out of the floor.

"Well, have a seat then Bill. This will be quite an earful."

I sat down and Lee followed suit. The earth morphed beneath me, extending to back support and crawling up my back like a sentient cushion.

"It all started about five centuries ago…"

********

Whoring wasn't something Li Fang had wanted to do.

It wasn't stable, and contrary to her client's beliefs, it wasn't pleasant either. She had started young, just sixteen at first and while there were other options open to her, none of them could feed two growing orphans half as well as she would like. It was a job she had turned to in necessity, not passion.

Her younger brother Gai Fang and another estranged orphan they had befriended Liu Yong all lived together in a small room down in the Beggar's District. All things considered, it wasn't an awful place to be.

Strong Fist City laid at the base of the Monk's Mountain, originally functioning as a resource point for the Bloody Fist Sect, but blossoming into its own full-grown city within the past few decades. Most of the shops and resources revolved around the needs of the Sect, as did any other city.

People, like cultivators, used spirit stones for trade. The small dull shiny rocks weighed twice as much as they should have and had a sheen, almost metallic texture to them. Mortals never got a charged spirit stone, of course, only the spent-up remains of the Sects, but they could still tell a stone's grade by its color and shine.

Li Fang walked quickly, gathering her cloak around her and hiding the bag at her waist.

There wasn't much criminal activity around here, if any. The monks saw to that. But whoring was still illegal within the city, or anywhere the monks could enforce that rule.

Spirit stones were uniform in nature, each shaped exactly like the other. They were like large eggs, smooth and oval on the outside and rainbow-colored on the inside.

But one spirit stone was too much to be spent alone. She'd have to take them to the cutters, who would then cut the spirit stones into ten silvers, taking one of the butt ends as payment.

Li Fang clutched her cloak as a group of monks came by. Cultivators. The Monks of the Bloody Fist Sect kept a pretty tight watch around here. They'd beaten away the criminals and slavers in the area, but they'd also cut down brothels and gambling dens. Even a few social clubs had been burnt down to the ground after being accused of vulgarity.

Li Fang quickened her pace. They had driven out all the elves and dwarves in the area, and even the leaflings were forced from their territory. And the neighboring land was ruled by the Hollow Echo Sect, an even worse group of tyrants.

The majority of the fairy folk had taken to living in the forests or fleeing downward, past the Hollow Echo and towards the Hidden Viper. Li Fang herself wished to make that journey, but that would be a treacherous thing for a mortal. Even with a mount, crossing through the Echo's region would be disastrous for her.

Li Fang sighed, finally seeing her home around the corner. She walked swiftly and grabbed the door, yet before she could even knock, the door pushed open and two children leaped into her arms.

"Li Fang! Li Fang! What took you so long Li Fang?" Gai Fang squealed.

"We haven't seen you since sunrise Li Fang!" Liu Yong stated.

She smiled.

Li Fang hated it when they jumped upon her like that. Her job was dirty and tasking and even though she cleaned up before she left work for this specific reason, they should still be cautious and wait for her to change into something new.

But they didn't care, they loved her and would jump into her arms every time she came home, and she loved that.

Li Fang laughed and turned, twisting the two children around for as long as her arms would let her. And the two children screamed in her arms and laughed. Then she slipped and fell with the two of them piled on top of her.

They laughed again, all three of them not bothering to get up and just content with each other at the moment.

"You did take a long time though," Lui Yong asked. "Was something wrong?"

"No," Li Fang answered. "Nothing was wrong, I just had a tough customer is all."

"Was he mean?" Lui Yong asked.

"He thought he was," Li Fang answered. "But I Li Fang, brought him down to his knees and made him beg for mercy!"

Lui Yong snorted in laughter. The children didn't know what she did. She couldn't risk them telling anyone of their friends about it. The brothel doubled as an acupuncture shop and that's what she told her neighbors when inquired, and that was what the children believed.

"I want to be a merchant when I grow up," Lui Yong stated. "So you can quit working and we can all become filthy rich!"

"I want to be a dwarf!" Gai Fang replied. "So I can drink all day!"

"Gai Fang, have some ambition!" Lui Yong replied.

"You have enough ambition for the both of us Lui, I want to be fat and drink!"

"You've never had a drop of alcohol in your life!"

"I don't care! It must taste good if that's what the dwarves do all day!"

Li Fang chuckled.

"Dwarves don't just sit around and drink alcohol all day Gai, they work much more than they drink. They only drink on special occasions, actually."

"Really?" Gai Fang asked. "Then why do I always see them going into the pub?"

"It's probably a different group of dwarves each night Gai."

Gai nodded. "They do always have those beards on them. I wonder why their wives don't make them shave."

Li Fang didn't have the heart to tell the boy that even female dwarves had beards.

"All dwarves have beards," Lui Yong answered.

"What? Even the women?"

"Even the children."

"THE CHILDREN?"

"That's what Pyer told me. He says humans look like tall and hairless dwarves to them. He says we look scary and strange."

"What? He's a dwarf! He's the short and creepy one!"

Li Fang laughed at the sight, her stress and worries eroding under the absurdness.

"I'm going to the stone cutter," She told them.

"Aww, but you just got home!" Gai Fang replied.

"Well, I need to get some silvers and go to the market to get dinner. Unless you want to eat rice and potato stew tonight?"

"Can we come with you?" Gai Fang asked.

"If you can get dressed quickly enough-"

The boy didn't wait for her to finish and instantly went to the closet, rummaging through tunics and making a mess in his haste. Lui Yong was no better, crawling over his mess to quickly make her own.

Li Fang smiled. Children were a chore in many ways but a blessing where it counted. She had taken care of Lui and Gai ever since she was ten, and while the burden was hard, it was rewarding.

She watched as they argued about the weather and what the proper clothes would be for this time of year. Li Fang remembered when they had no choice in clothing, wearing the same coat and pants at all times of the year. She remembered their hunger in the streets and worrying about having shelter for the night.

But now that was no more.

"Alright, alright," Li Fang interrupted. "I'm leaving in two minutes so if you're not dressed by then both of you will have to stay home."

The children looked at each other rushed to either side of the room and pulled on their proper clothing.

Li Fang smiled, heading off to her room to do the same.

They were all out the door five minutes later, each child holding onto either side of her hand and walking along with Li Fang. The stone cutter that she went to was a normal man, a half-dwarf she suspected. He was the cutter that everyone in the brothel went to.

The man was known not to ask questions, but he did take both buds of the spirit stones in return.

But she had no choice in the matter. A whole spirit stone, even drained of qi and at the first rank, was still far too much wealth to be used in any one purchase. Her rent was only three and a half stones and all their other needs brought their monthly expenses to four and a half.

So to spend her money wisely, she, like most other mortals, went to a stone cutter. A man who would cut your stones to fifths, tenths, and even twentieths in some cases. The cut pieces were silvers and much easier to use in the market than whole stones could ever be.

She had about four tenth-silvers remaining right now, and about five stones in her purse. She'd save three stones for rent, and the other two would come to one and sixth tenth-silvers, which should last them all quite a while.

The rest of what she had would be given to the Moneykeepers. They were the most reliable bank within the empire after all, if not throughout the continent.

They made their way through the town, navigating around groups of monks and merchants. The city was a few decades old, young by cultivator standards, but it was starting to bloom. The Bloody Fist Sect had started to distribute more spirit stones in return for material goods, mainly iron and strong clay from what Li Fang had heard.

She didn't know why they bought these things, but it hardly mattered in the long run. The only ways to get spirit stones were to mine deep beneath the ground or to have cultivators make it, and the Bloody Fist Sect seemed to have chosen the latter method.

They had pushed out an absurd amount of spirit stones lately, producing more than a thousand first-rank spirit stones a day. She caught a lot of gossip in her line of work, and some of the merchants who'd visited her often mumbled about how ragged the Bloody Fist Sect's disciples must have been, laboring their qi into these spirit stones all day.

But strangely enough, Li Fang didn't think that was the case either, because as unvirtuous as she was, she'd still find a monk or two in her clientele list. They wore disguises to be sure, but the tan marks of kasaya were hard to hide in bed. She'd found more of them recently. In the brothels, the streets, the back alleys, they were loitering on almost every block.

As a matter of fact, it seemed like the disciples were being displaced from the mines, though she didn't know why. And it was none of her business anyway. She should keep her head down and not wander. That was the best way to live, she knew.