The Fourth Wall - Chapter 35 preview (Patreon)

Author Note: Preview chapters are rough/first drafts. These chapters have not been edited, expect that there may be errors - however, feel free to point out consistency issues!

The Su family compound was in the south east corner of the city, multiple buildings structured in the traditional open courtyard style that was common throughout many of the cities. As they passed through the compounds, Wu Ying noted the exquisite nature and upkeep of the compound. Beautiful granite stones, manicured bushes, towering and vibrant trees and polished deep, hardwood furnishings and edgings. The Su family displayed their wealth for all to see, and it was staggering.

Rather than be led to a minor reception hall in the beginning - a location much acquainted to the pair from previous visits - or the prestigious main reception hall, they were instead brought deeper into the compound itself. Here, the harsh and obvious edges of wealth were softened, not by impoverishment but by use and intimate familiarity. 

The outer halls were a showroom to impress outsiders. The inner halls and buildings were meant for the family. Their opulence was the understated kind, not gold edgings on tea cups and tea sets, but porcelain hundreds of years old, furniture once bought and manufactured a century ago by a master artisan. Paintings, gathered over the years, showcasing skill of ancestors or favorite pieces.

In the smaller, more intimate visiting hall they were shown to, their host waited. Teas and delicate snacks laid out before him, a pair of chairs facing across. The first thought that struck Wu Ying when he spotted the other was surprise, for the other was no more than skin stretched over bone, a living skeleton of a man with liver dots and shaking hands. The only true sign of life were the eyes that fixed upon the pair, burning with an intensity undiminished by age or mortal frailty.

“You’re shorter than I expected,” Yeye Su said.

“Me?” Wu Ying replied, blinking at the direct comment.

“Yes.” Eyes turned to Yang Mu who was tall on the side for a woman, being only a few inches shorter than Wu Ying. “She is decent. Could be taller.”

“The north does generally have a taller populace,” Yang Mu replied smoothly, taking hold of the chair and sitting down before being asked or offered the seat. There was a slight approving nod from Yeye Su, a small indicator of what the man expected.

So. 

Wu Ying took a seat, smiled. “I have never found my height to be an impediment. After we reach the latter stages, it is not even a concern.”

“It always is. How you present yourselves will always be important. Ignoring such things shows a lack of understanding.” He sneered as he said that. “No wonder that you have fallen.”

“Perhaps.” Wu Ying let the words wash over him, refusing to be stirred. “Yet, you have asked us to speak with you. So it seems this flawed one - or this flawed couple - have something to offer you.” All the while, Wu Ying probed the other’s aura. It was guarded, enclosed tight and blocked off, but the wind managed to infiltrate everywhere. What he found within was not surprising, not after what they had learnt.

Grandfather Su was a Nascent Soul cultivator but only barely so. Like Wu Ying, his merging was flawed, incomplete. He had yet to pull the physical and soul together, and while he was not directly conflicting with one another like Wu Ying, it was still broken.

“Blunt.”

“No more than you. Isn’t that what you prefer? After all, it seems you do not have much more time,” Wu Ying replied. He felt a hand touch his knee and he glanced over to Yang Mu who sipped on her tea serenely while the two verbally sparred. 

“Rude,” Yeye Su snapped.

“You started it.”

“Children.” Yang Mu interjected. “There is no point in fighting. We are trying to come to a deal here, are we not?.”

“Who’s fighting?” the older man said, looking surprised. “We are just getting to know one another, no?”

Yang Mu sighed. “Boys…”

Wu Ying flashed her a grin before focusing on the man. “Yeye here is just testing. He wants to see whether I’ll just agree to anything because he’s old and dying. Which I won’t. But Ah Mu is correct, we are wasting time. So tell me, what do you want?”

“To bring me when you enter the realm,” Yeye Su replied.

Wu Ying leaned back while the lone attendant in the room, standing by the side only twitched a little. The request made sense, of course. If Wu Ying thought the realm could help him, it was possible so did the other man. Of course, “I have a cultivation method that will aid me, in forming and compressing my immortal soul. It is why I seek this mystic realm. Do you?”

“What I have is no concern of yours.”

“It is, because otherwise I’d just be taking you to your death.”

“And that matters, why?” He gestured down at his emaciated body. “You yourself said it. I have no more time. Even sitting here is tiring. I only have one path left, and that path might be dangerous, but it is mine.”

“Does your family know?” Yang Mu asked, honing in on the greatest concern.

“Do they have eyes?” Yeye Su said, sarcastically. “You see what state I am in. Do you think my upcoming death is a surprise?”

“You play the fool,” Yang Mu said with a sneer. “I mean your intention to enter the mystic realm. Do you intend us to bear the brunt of your family’s anger when you are gone?”

“I will leave a letter.”

“A letter, he says,” she scoffed. “I”m sure that’ll assuage their fury at losing their yeye.”

“You speak as though you have a choice.” Yeye Su leaned forward. “You think any of the others will give you the information you seek?”

“Yes.” As the fierce look he gave her, Yang Mu relented a little. “Eventually.”

“And how much more damage will this one take, before that eventually happens? Like me, every day he waits is another step into the grave.” 

“Now who’s rude?”

“Truthful.” Yeye Su pointed a bony finger at Wu Ying, a flicker of chi extending out to strike at Wu Ying. He automatically defended with his own aura, but the compression and retaliation brought a wince to his face. “Every moment you continue, your soul and body injures itself. You forced them together - are still forcing them together - and yet, they will not fit.”

“I am fixing it,” Wu Ying said.

“With your cultivation method. Which can only relieve portions of the damage at a time. At least safely.” Yeye Su sneered. “Don’t try to hide things from me, boy. Do you know what the Su family are known for?”

“You are physicians of the highest order,” Wu Ying said, tiredly. “So, you do have your own methods for healing things.”

“Or elongating a life. Or pushing ahead, at great risk.” A hand rose, touched his chest. “But all such methods have a limit. What comes next, it can only be done at the realm.”

Yang Mu turned a little to look at Wu Ying. “A realm that has no use for any other cultivator, you said.”

Wu Ying shrugged. “How was I to know there was a whole family of masochists nearby?”

“We weren’t, initially.” Yeye Su shook his head. “My family moved here, many generations ago because we learnt of the realm. And before you ask, we do not lay claim to it because we are physicians first and foremost.”

“You lack the strength to hold it,” Yang Mu summarised.

“Or the need.” He gestured at the wind cultivator who finally had chosen to try one of the almond cakes, chewing on it silently as he listened. “The boy is not wrong. Few would have reason or ability to utilize the realm.”

“Why not just tell us then?”

“Because eventually, you all grow desperate. Anyone who comes this far, well...” Hands opened, splayed apart. “They are willing to pay much.”

“Then why not share the proceeds? Surely some might play one family against the other to get what they need?” she asked.

“Why share at all? The reward, even if diminished, is still greater than split four ways.”

Yang Mu opened her mouth to argue then shut it, as she noticed how Yeye Su perked up. Wu Ying smiled a little, seeing that she understood. The man didn’t hold any real positions on this. He just liked to argue, for arguments sake. Perhaps there were other reasons, other considerations. Perhaps they were truly that shallow.

It did not matter to them, in the end.

“I will warn you thought, if you are thinking of turning my offer on me. The moment you speak with another family, my own offer is rescinded.” Yeye Su leaned forward, continuing. “I need you not to enter the realm. You, however, need me.”

“Why do you offer this to us then?” Wu Ying interjected. “If you can enter it, then what is the point of this meeting?”

Yeye Su grimaced, gestured out the doors. “Because my family will not accept me going. So you will need to spirit me out.”

Before Wu Ying could point out the inconsistencies in the man’s argument, a disturbance from outside drew all their attention. Multiple agitated spiritual auras approaching the hallway, moving quickly. A trio of auras, the loyal servants of the old man before them intercepted the group, but courtesy would only hold for so long.

“It seems you must decide now. Take me up on my offer, or lose it entirely.” Yeye Su smiled thinly. “Decide, quickly.”

“Hun dan!” Yang Mu cursed.

Wu Ying on the other hand had to admire how easily they had been maneuvered. If they refused to be pushed, they would lose out on their chance here. Maybe even lose access to the Su’s entirely. There was, of course, a remote chance that they might be able to gain access to the mystic realm due to gratitude, but he doubted that scenario most of all.

No, if they did not want to wander around, asking and begging and waiting, eventually paying a king’s ransom of goods for access, they would to agree. Considering, in the distance he could sense the return of more powerful cultivators throughout the city, this was the optimal time to act.

“Well played, sir. I hope the letter...” Wu Ying cut off as the letter appeared in the man’s hand, held up to the attendant who stepped forward to take it. “Then let me deal with those outside, and we shall go.”

Before Yang Mu could object, Wu Ying used the wind to blow open the door. He swept outwards, choosing not to speak or pose or otherwise explain himself, but to strike at the dozen figures gathered outside. None of them were more than Energy Storage stage after all, so even in his injured state, they were nothing to him.

Open hand chops to necks, open palm slaps to stomach’s and diaphragms, two fingered chui na strikes to pressure points across the body to shut down nerve and acupressure points, stymying use of their chi. He saw a trio leap into the sky at him, seeking to catch him unawares.

He lifted off too, striding on footings of air to deliver his blows, more graceful and in control in the wind than these three could ever be.

By the time Yang Mu and the old man had reached the door, all twelve of the Su family members were incapacitated.

“Impressive.” Yeye Su grudgingly muttered.

“Which way?” As the old man pointed to the west, Wu Ying gripped him in bonds of air and flew him skyward, trusting in Yang Mu to follow.

It was time to go. More than time, as the approaching Core Formation cultivators streaking all across the city to the residence indicated.