Sleeping Among the Dead

As the Sun neared its zenith, Jack and his men walked down the almost deserted main street of Tranquil Lake Town. Even the dour atmosphere of the street couldn't remove the smiles from the young men's faces as the jostled and joked with each other.

Half-way back to the Gravedigger courtyard, Jack saw a conspicuous teen in a shabby white uniform running towards them.

He immediately started to perform the Beast Recovery Method and felt the drunken haze slowly lift from his eyes. With his current body it took a lot to get him drunk, and with the help of the recovery method, he only needed a few minutes to get back to normal.

The teen reached their group in a jog and let out a sigh of relief as he said "Senior Brother Song, that screaming lady from a couple of days ago came back and sent me to get you. We told her that you had to do something for Elder Yu, but she didn't care. I looked for you for the time it takes to eat a meal already."

Jack cursed under his breath as he said "Good thing that you found us." He turned towards Shi Furui and continued "Take everyone and go visit old Long, he'll appreciate the company. I'll send someone to get you once she's gone."

Shi Furui nodded and led the men into a side alley to avoid bringing attention to a large group, without an official disciple of the Sect supervising them, roaming around the town.

Jack patted the teen that came to get him on the shoulder and said "Let's go, we don't want a few more of our people to go deaf on one ear."

When they got back, Jack saw the five other teens that stayed behind doing their duty with the corpses. They all looked as serious as if the Elder himself came to do an inspection. He shook his head in amusement and sent the messenger to join them, while he went towards his office.

Before he even covered half of the way to the door, it opened and Mai Yining stepped out to rush towards him with a relieved expression.

"Disciple Brother Song, I am so glad that you are alright." she said in relief as a tinge of fear disappeared from her eyes. She stopped in front of Jack and continued with watering eyes "When those beasts attacked the Eternal Rest Mountain… For a breath, I thought that you would leave this world."

Jack didn't hesitate as he spread his hands wide and closed them around Mai Yining in a tight embrace. She froze for a second, but then allowed Jack to hold her for a few additional ones before she lightly pushed him away.

He stepped back without protest and said "I thought I'd die too, but the Sect Master blocked the attack in the last second and saved us." Jack put on a lopsided grin as he added "I had a pretty great view, though."

Mai Yining swatted a hand at him with a giggle as she said "Stop that, I was really worried."

Jack's face turned serious as he asked "Any news from the Elders about this whole affair?"

Mai Yining scanned the two open doors with her eyes before she dragged Jack to his office by the sleeve of his robe.

When they entered the office, Mai Yining closed the door behind her and whispered "Some of the Elders are pleading with the Sect Master to give that Bai Shetai person over to the Slaughtering Sword School and their helpers, but most of them think that it would not help."

Jack's brows furrowed as he asked "Will they?"

Mai Yining hesitated a bit, but she shook her head in the end as she answered "I do not believe so." She glanced around the room for a second before continuing "Mother says that almost the entire Slaughtering Sword School moved and surrounded us. That is the reason why the Sect Master decided to leave the Sect-protecting formation on all the time. If he lowers it, they could attack us from all directions."

Jack's face became dark as he asked "How long will it last if we continue to use it?" He knew that in any world there never existed a power that didn't require a price.

Mai Yining took a deep breath to gather her courage, before saying "Not more than ten days. Less if they keep attacking it."

She looked down at her clasped hands and added "Mother almost prevented me from coming to town today. She worries that spies from the Slaughtering Sword School might have infiltrated the Sect before this even began."

Jack squeezed her left arm softly as he chided "You should have listened to her. Bad things could erupt here at any moment. It isn't safe for someone like you."

Mai Yining looked up at Jack with angry eyes as she said "I can take care of myself." Her anger dissipated as she stared into Jack's calm eyes and she added "I made a promise to you yesterday, and I keep my promises." With that, she pulled out a scroll from her robe and handed it over to Jack.

His brows rose in faux surprise as he unfurled the scroll and saw a detailed depiction of the local area on it. Jack rolled the scroll up and looked back at Mai Yining with a reproachful gaze as he asked "You risked your life for this?"

She looked back down at her hands and answered "You really wanted to see it yesterday so I… It seemed important."

Jack planted a finger under her chin and tilted it up without resistance. They stared into each other's eyes for a second, before he said "Thank you, but don't risk yourself for something so foolish in the future."

He held her there for an extra second, after which he let her go and turned around to walk to his desk.

Jack took his seat at the desk and took out a few blank scrolls out of the desk's drawer before Mai Yining even blinked her eyes in confusion and looked down at him.

She furrowed her brows a little as she asked "What are you doing?" with a tinge of disappointment in her voice.

Jack looked up with an innocent face as he said "You risked your life to get this to me. I'm not going to waste it." With that, he hunkered down and started copying the map.

Mai Yining had a slightly lost look on her face as she stared at Jack while a vague feeling that she missed something important kept bothering her. After a few seconds, she shook her head, sat in the chair in front of Jack's table, and watched him copy the map.

A minute later Mai Yining sniffed the air and asked "What is that strange smell?"

Jack felt cold sweat gather on his back as he cursed Madam Su's inwardly while he looked up at Mai Yining and said "I'm trying out a new perfume for the building, you know, to combat that death aroma we have going for us. You don't like it?"

She frowned for a few seconds in thought, and declared "No, it does not suit you."

Jack gave an accepting nod and agreed "I think so too. Consider it removed." With that, he looked back down at the map and continued his work.

When he had three decent copies, Jack stopped his work, rolled up the map, and stood up from his chair. He went over to the other side of the table and offered Mai Yining his hand to get her up from her chair too.

"What are we doing now?" Mai Yining asked in anticipation as Jack opened the door of his office for her to pass through.

He handed her mother's map to Mai Yining in passing and said "We're going to escort you back to the Blooming Life Mountain. It's already midday; your mother will worry about you."

Mai Yining frowned a little and opened her mouth to object, but she closed it after she saw the unwavering look that Jack gave her.

Before they left the Gravedigger building, Jack went to the courtyard and gave whispered instructions to go get Shi Furui and the rest from old Long's.

Trouble didn't find them on the deserted road to the Blooming Life Mountain, and Jack sent Mai Yining back to her mother while she still looked like she wanted to stay with him. He ignored her unsaid protests and made her walk up the mountain while he watched for troubles.

On the way back Jack went to get the food for his people and had to promise double payment to the restaurant manager before he agreed to send the food servers with Jack.

The rest of the day Jack spent with his men. He had to show the new grade four people how to move their spirit energy outside of their bodies.

When they all got the trick, he explained the Moon Step to the entire unit. Most of them had some success in its practice already, and Jack just went over the main points with them.

After that, he left the grade three people to practice the Moon Step, while he led the grade four people in practicing the Air Blast spell. By the end of the day, only Yin Ping had any success in forming a stable spell structure. Jack realized that teaching people from scratch took a lot longer than when he received the packet of memories and experiences with the spell. He could only make them study his notes on sigils more and hope for quick improvements in the next few days.

Jack didn't dare teach any of the fourth grade men the Beast Recovery Method before they had full control over their spirit energy. He couldn't risk any of his friends having a burst artery.

When night fell he took out food for dinner from the Star Bag on his waist. Jack stored all of the supplies from their houses and secret stashes in it to lower the burden on the men. Their small hoard left more than enough room for the supplies that he ordered from old Long.

After the meal, they set up sentries that would change every two hours and went to sleep on the tables in the courtyard. They had to use the blankets they brought from their houses as coverings to protect them from the cold night.

Before he fell into his turbulent dreams, Jack looked around at the snoring bodies of all of the friends he had in this world and thought 'This has to work.'