Fear Not a Hundred Failures

It was Wednesday.

Wuxian had mostly recovered, although he had a visible scar along his left side, starting from his armpit and running all the way down to the hip.

Comparatively, Wan Qiushou was much worse off, but due to his tempered martial artist's physique, he recovered relatively quickly.

Though Wuxian did not have a martial artist's physique he did have the benefit of constant qi circulation. Combined with wood qi's natural restorative power, though its passive healing was mostly negligible, he healed the same time he finished refining the pericardium.

The pericardium protected the heart. Now that it was refined, Wuxian could feel a continuous revolving of qi around it with each of its beats.

He brought his attention back to the present.

Looking at the corridor they'd arrived in, he realised that they were in a building adjacent to the prefecture office.

"In here." Wan Qiushou said.

He took out his badge and tapped it against a circular panel on the wall. A small light attached to the panel's side flashed red three times before changing to green.

"High tech." Wuxian remarked as he entered the room.

Wan Qiushou nodded, shutting the metal door behind them with a clang.

"Badges and other gadgets are stored on the left. Uniform, weapons and armour are on the right. The classified and experimental equipment are at the very back."

Wuxian raised an eyebrow.

"Experimental?"

Wan Qiushou nodded seriously.

"Yes. I don't know how much you know about how Cang'An works, but it's affiliated with the Jade Garden sect. Some of their disciples and elders tend to experiment with different sorts of artifacts."

He gave a sideways glance at the door sealing off the experimental armoury.

"They are prone to exploding," Qiushou shivered, as if reliving unpleasant memories.

"Good to know." Wuxian muttered, silently deciding to never step foot in that room.

He walked over to a rack on the left. There were rows of badges lined up neatly, in order of rank. On the left, bronze, then silver and finally gold. Though gold badges were designed for higher ranking cadres, all three varieties seemed to be made with the same level of expert craftsmanship.

Wan Qiushou picked up a gold badge, handing it to him briskly.

"According to Nightwatcher hierarchy, cultivators are immediately promoted to gold badge members. But usually, like the others, they tend to start off as bronze badge martial artists before moving up the ranks, before eventually becoming gold badges and then cultivators."

"Oftentimes, a gold badge Nightwatcher might accept a disciple from the lower cadres, turning them into a cultivator. Other times, it might be someone from the Jade Garden who tentatively picks one from our fold. Talented individuals also have a chance to enter the sect."

'Despite my repeated chance encounters with cultivators, spirit roots are rare amongst the populace. Even for an organisation like the Nightwatchers, a low ranked cultivator like me is on the top-end of combat strength.' Wuxian mused, playing with the badge. At the same time, he was curious about the role the so-called Jade Garden had to play in the city's affairs.

"I'll go over the badge's functionality briefly," Wan Qiushou announced.

"The badge contains a spirit battery. For martial practitioners like myself, we have to get them charged by sister Shui or chief Li. Since you're a cultivator, you can do that yourself. The battery powers a few different functions."

"First, it has the ability to communicate with other badges that it's linked to. When a gold badge Nightwatcher is sent out with silver or bronze cadres, their badges are linked together. Then, the gold badge can issue orders through this function."

Wuxian nodded as he charged the badge's spirit battery.

Wan Qiushou wore a hesitant look. Seeing this, Wuxian couldn't help but inquire.

"What's wrong?"

"Since you're new and for a few other reasons, you're not allowed to lead cadres on missions. According to the chief, you have to always be accompanied by a gold badge when in the field."

Wuxian shrugged. It was only natural, given how little they trusted him. And rightly so. After all, it was in his best interest to eventually escape the city- of course, only after strengthening himself.

"Then there's also another function, which you're already familiar with. It's the emergency alert button. This is a last resort and is only to be used in the direst of situations. When it's activated, the badge will completely drain its spirit battery and launch a wide-ranged distress signal. Doing so prevents you from using any other functions, so use it only if necessary," Wan Qiushou said.

Wuxian wore a look of understanding.

'Perhaps that's why during the fight with the white robed man, Wan Qiushou was so reluctant to call for reinforcements. He didn't have any lower ranked cadres with him, so he couldn't use the normal communication function and he didn't want to drain the badge's battery until the final moment.'

Wearing a puzzled expression, he touched his chin.

'That's not right. If he wasn't linked up to other cadres, what would he need the remaining energy in the spirit battery for?'

Looking over at Wan Qiushou's cold expression, Wuxian gave up thinking any further.

'Perhaps that wasn't even in his considerations…'

"The Nightwatch is a relatively covert organisation. Or it used to be. With chief Li at the helm, things have been changing up a little bit." Wan Qiushou continued.

"Cang'An's affiliation with the Jade Garden could be considered a more recent event in the grand scheme of things. It's likely that lots of his moves are aimed at increasing the integration between the Jade Garden and Cang'An city itself."

Wuxian lacked knowledge on this topic, so refrained from commenting, merely nodding his head in courtesy.

"Back on topic. We've only received proper armour in recent years, and all of it is custom made. Previously, the Nightwatch was more of a secret police style of organisation, so only wore lighter and more stealthy uniforms. We still wear those today, but if there's news of a large pitched confrontation, we wear our personal armours. Otherwise, we store them in here."

Wan Qiushou waved his arm, gesturing to the dozens of empty armour stands before them. They were each locked behind bars with identity scanners, much like the one that barred the entrance to this armoury.

Of the many armour stands, only four still carried armour. Clearly, the rest were currently being used on the battlefield.

He sized Wuxian up briefly, before rummaging through a large crate. The next few minutes were spent with Wan Qiushou digging up various pieces of clothing, trying to find anything that fit Wuxian's tall figure.

Eventually, he managed to cobble together enough items, stuffing the ball of clothes into Wuxian's arms.

"You already have your fancy reclining moon blade. The chief told me not to let you take anything else from here." Wan Qiushou said, ushering Wuxian out of the armoury.

"That's fair. By the way, should I continue staying at the guesthouse? It seems a little unsafe, thinking back to what happened last week." Wuxian questioned.

"Follow me. You have a new room in the golden badge quarters. It's quite close by."

They navigated the twisting interior of the Nightwatch headquarters. After the second hour of wandering around, Wuxian began to wonder whether they had gotten lost, but the moment he decided to ask, they finally arrived at the quarters.

"Go up to an unoccupied room and hold your badge in front of the scanner. Make sure the words engraved on the front are facing forward." Qiushou instructed.

"Which ones are unoccupied?" Wuxian asked as he paced forward.

"Rooms 30 and onward."

Wuxian stopped in front of room 33, scanning the badge. After a second, the scanner turned green and let out a beep.

Then, there was a buzzing sound, accompanied with the sound of twisting gears and the shifting of locks.

Wuxian glanced at Wan Qiushou, "Security is pretty high."

Qiushou didn't respond, merely continuing to stare blankly at the door.

Wuxian was used to it by now.

He gave the room a preliminary glance. It had a double bed, a dresser and an en suite. Wuxian whistled appreciatively.

"Luxurious." 

Wan Qiushou nodded.

"Do you need to move any belongings over?" He asked.

Wuxian shook his head, gesturing to the rings he wore in response.

"Let me get changed first before we go out and have some fun."

———

Wuxian, now wearing his new Nightwatcher uniform, admired himself in the mirror. Though he was taller than average, his proportions were normal. He had a slim jawline, a clean shaven face, a body that was toned from working the fields and long black hair that was tied into a pony tail.

His pupils were black but combined with his soft facial features, they seemed more gentle and kinder than one might expect.

His robes had a tight-fitting inner layer and a more billowy outer layer. What was nice was that none of the extra fabric got in the way of his movements- he felt that he could probably run a few dozen li and not break a sweat.

Wuxian sat down on the end of his bed, suddenly feeling quite tired. He eventually shook the fatigue off.

'I suppose it's a miracle I haven't already passed out, considering I barely slept the last few days, cultivating instead. Speaking of which, I am now in the Minor Yellow Foundation Building realm. My next goal is to refine the liver. Having access to a wider range of abilities will undoubtedly elevate my combat power, but more importantly, my ability to adapt to various scenarios.'

Since there was still some time before the agreed meetup later that evening, Wuxian decided to do conduct a self-review.

'My previous instructor in the white crane style always said that self-reflection was the key to success. Failing a hundred times is not to be feared- only failing and not learning anything is. Going over the previous battle with the white-robed man, I must understand what I did well, what I did poorly and how I could improve overall.'

'First, it is important to understand that my greatest mistake was putting down my guard and becoming too relaxed. Thinking about it properly, the main reason I decided to join the Nightwatchers was to gain protection, at the risk of becoming a target of the Nightwatcher's enemies.'

'It is obvious that the moment I returned from the prefecture office, I had been too lax. At the time, I did not have access to a Nightwatcher badge and so would not have been able to call for help. In that regard, their distrust of me and sending Wan Qiushou to monitor me was a move that ultimately favoured me. Had they not sent Wan Qiushou, I would have been unaware of the white robed man until the moment he decided to launch an attack.'

'But back to the main point. Instead of returning to the guesthouse, the best move would have been to directly request to reside in the Nightwatch headquarters. It is likely chief Li would have agreed too, since his wish was to monitor me- what easier way to do so than to have me live with them?'

Wuxian supported his chin with his hand and crossed his legs in thought.

'In terms of the actual battle, my biggest mistake was most likely not urging Wan Qiushou to call reinforcements sooner. Though, there was little I could have done to hold him back before he ran off to engage the white robed man head-on. In terms of my combat techniques, I generally performed quite well. At the end, I made a spur of the moment move, throwing the Northern Dark Edge at the white robed man.'

'Since it was so spontaneous, I did not have the time to imbue the treasure weapon with qi. Rather, it would be more correct to say that I was not practised enough to be able to do so under that much stress. If I had imbued the Northern Dark Edge with toxic wood qi, or destructive fire qi, it is significantly less likely that the white robed man would have been able to free himself from the treasure weapon after being impaled.'

'At the same time, according to Big North, a parasitic gu receives the same damage that the host receives, though partially reduced. While the gu might not have died outright from my strike, having it filled with poison or fire might have been enough to kill it without the help of the talisman-wearing stranger.'

Wuxian had unknowingly begun to sweat, his nerves catching up to him.

'Thinking about it now, I have been too reckless these last few days. Not only did I put down my guard, leading to this current chain of events, but I also would have died if I was slightly less fortunate at any turn.'

He frowned, caressing the Northern Dark Edge's sash slowly.

"Then, is it worth going to the red light district to celebrate tonight?"