The Fourth Fall - Chapter 24 preview (Patreon)

By the time Wu Ying had returned, barely an hour had passed and dinner had been served and consumed. The cultivators of the Shen had gathered once more, even the Patriarch of the Six Flags present at this time. Even with his august presence, it was the younger Sect Head that spoke and lead the meeting.

"Tomorrow, we shall begin the negotiations. There will be no meeting till the introductions and the order of arrival have been settled," Sect Head Yan said. "During that time, I expect all of you to continue your progress. Patriarch Hiu, you had thoughts you wished to share about our Cai counterparts?"

"Yes." Patriarch Hiu sighed, looking tired and fed-up. "We did not complete the building today. It would have been simple, but they are wary and cautious. They do not trust us, nor should we them." Another pause, before he added. "I expect they will require at least another week before we are done."

"A week!" Yin Xue squeaked. "Why so long?"

"Because they are fools." The Patriach said grumpily. "Ever flag must be inspected. Every line reviewed, again and again. We have had to discard three perfectly acceptable flags, to be redrawn such that all would be fair. They expect treachery. And a mind that only sees treachery in the future can not be trusted to uphold their own honour."

"You expect them to act against us. To break the treaty," Right Guardian Chang said. "Even if it'll injure the soul of those who bound themselves to peace here."

"Yes."

"Are you sure?" Fa Yuan said, frowning. "They might just be overly careful."

"I am no soothsayer, no forecaster of the future." Patriach Hiu sighed. "I am just old and have seen much, and these Cai are snakes. They act like snakes, and so one should always expect to be bitten."

"Will you inform the Prince?" Sect Head Yan asked.

"No need. My counterparts were of the same mind."

"Then, should we not leave?" Yin Xue asked, his deviled hand clenching. "If this is a trap, there is no reason to spring it."

"Is there not?" Now the Sect Head smiled. "They might think they have the upper hand, but they know not our true strength." A gaze landed on Wu Ying, on Yang Mu and even Yin Xue moments later. "Do you not think we could best them?"

Yin Xue lips compressed. "Then, are we planning treachery then?" He gestured around. "Are we going to attack beforhand? Are we then putting true their doubts?"

Blatant words, brutally honest. More than a few of the gathered Elders looked at Yin Xue askance, but the Sect Head did not seem to mind. "No, we are no dual-faced cultivators. Many of us would find it hard, if not outright impossible, to act this way. We are of the orthodox sects, not heretical, not demonic."

Under her voice, Yang Mu could not help but mutter. "As though that matters." Fa Yuan, remembering her own abandonment so many years ago, where honour gave way to practicality and she had been left to fend for herself nodded grimly. High-minded ideals, often let down by the practilities of ruling and managing a sect or kingdom.

"We will not act first. But we shall be ready, when they betray us," Sect Head Yan said, firmly.

"I wonder if they say the same," Wu Ying could not help but remark. "If everyone is on edge, expecting betrayal, is this negotiation not doomed to fail?" Fingers drummed against the curved, wooden armrest by his side. "I did not leave the Sect to take part in an assassination by any other name. I was led to believe we were negotiating."

Yin Xue looked over and nodded, almost grateful that someone else was backing him up.

Patriach Hiu snorted. "Just because we want it to succeed doesn't mean it will."

"But we must try. Or why bother at all?" Wu Ying said. "Might as well just begin fighting now."

"We are not the principal negotiators here, Elder Long." Sect Head Yan now stared at Wu Ying. "Our role is to aid the kingdom. And because of that, we must plan for the worst. The state will be planning the rest." He swept his gaze over them all, the gathered Elders who made up the Verdant Green Waters and the few outlying sects who had the prestige or sect to come along. He stopped on Yin Xue, on Wu Ying, even Fa Yuan to ensure his words were understood. The murmured words of assent that rose around, at these on the surface, indicated they were accepted.

Here and now, perhaps. But Wu Ying wondered, silently, how the conversation went with the Wei. After all, they risked more. And stood to gain much, if they broke the peace.

***

Yin Xue found him later, as the meeting broke up after some further discussion. He caught Wu Ying as the man strode back, nodded to the ladies with him and, after a moment and a small gesture, drew the wind cultivator aside into an empty living room. A flexing of his will hardened the air, metaphorically, as he formed a shield of unyielding metal that blocked any attempts to eavesdrop on the pair.

A single raised eyebrow was all the wind cultivator used to query the matter.

"It's nothing dire," Yin Xue said, grumpily. "I just don't want others hearing our conversation."

"If it's not dire, then why bother hiding it at all?"

"Because if I do it for all - or most - of my conversations, when I do have something important to say, no one will notice." Yin Xue rolled his eyes. "Did you not listen to your elder sister at all? Surely se taught you that."

Wu Ying grunted. "I rarely have anything important to discuss, unlike you two. Unless people enjoy listening to compost pile management or how often to turn over fields or whether a yellow or white lotus, the colour of the new moon or freshly fallen snow; is more appropriate for a Red and White Dusk Ceremony Pill is more approriate."

"That's very specific."

"Two and a half hours." Wu Ying said. "That was a two and a half hour discussion."

Yin Xue didn't bother to suppress his shudder at that revelation. The wind cultivator did not blame him either, he would have preferred to avoid it too, though he had to admit, increasing the effectiveness of the pill such that it could be smelled and sensed upon opening the pill furnace had been gratifying. He just wished it hadn't taken them that long.

"I wanted to thank you." Yin Xue changed the subject willfully, adding. "They speak of honour, but their actions sometimes..."

"Aren't so honorable?" Wu Ying felt the shift, the minor twisting of chi as a spiritual perception managed to sneak pass Yin Xue's own protective  shielding to listen to them. Afterall, metal was not the easiest element to block such perceptions. To Wu Ying's surprise, his once-rival did not seem perturbed, though a slight inclination of his head in the direction indicated the other noticed the intrusion. More than one reason for the audio shield then. "Practicality can win out over morals, if we let it. I have no intention of that, though."

"Nor me." Yin Xue paused, then added. "But what if they do choose to attack first?"

"Then I'll step back and let them deal with themselves," Wu Ying said. "I won't have my hand forced or my honor tarnished just because some people are more concerned about the future than I am. And you?"

"I am but a minor Core Formation cultivator," Yin Xue said, modestly. At Wu Ying's face, he flexed his demonic arm. "Though I admit, I have a few surprises."

"Yes..." Wu Ying narrowed his eyes. "You know, I do remember how you were intent on fighting me. Till my judgment. Then those challenges disappeared."

Yin Xue lips pursed. "You're stronger than me. I know that. Then, and now. There is no reason to gloat."

"I wasn't..."

"You think I want to be weaker than you? You think I enjoyed this arm?" He clenched the demonic fist. "It still tries to control me, still tries to force me to its own desires. The demon it owned loved blood and fire, and it seeks chaos even now. To find peace, I had to discard my family's cultivation method."

"I never..." Wu Ying tried to protest.

"Of course not. You've swanned through your cultivation, like the prodigy that some once thought I was. Does it make you happier, then? To gloat?" Yin Xue challenged.

"If that is all you intend to say, then enough." Turning on his heel, he moved to leave, only to stop when a hand reached out to grab him.

"Stop. I did not mean to start again. I wanted to thank you. And..." Yin Xue's voice dropped at the next part, as he mumbled the next sentence. "ask for your help."

Wu Ying was tempted to make him repeat it, a petty portion still angry at being accused - again - of cheating his way through cultivation. But he knew doing so would just prick the touchy cultivator's ego. He would rather not antagonise the other, especially over something so simple.

"What for? The price to the Wei?"

"Yes." Something burnt in the demonic eye, something dark and vicious as Yin Xue spoke. As he did so, his aura flexed, harder than ever and the permissive aura steeled itself, shattering the tendril of aura perception that had snuck in. Like a blad coming down on the other's spirit, Wu Ying knew, the spy would be hurting after that. "They have named my price, and I... I do not wish to pay it. Not yet."

"What is it?" Concern now, seeing the look, the hesitation in the arrogant man's demeanour.

"Me. They want me." Before Wu Ying could get the wrong idea, he added. "Ten years of me training the Wen family, the Wei. I am to be sent as a teacher for I have experience, in both battle and the Wen family style. I have progressed further than their own scions... even if it is via a heretical method."

Can you even train them in anything, with that demonic arm? Wu Ying almost asked that, but then chose against it. Not only would it likely anger the man, it was possible that the training was not the point.

"Do you think they'll care for you well, as an Honored Guest?" he asked instead.

"No." A bitter smile at that. "I'm certain they'll work me to the bone and deny me any resources. They said as much, though obviously, not as blatantly."

"I'm sorry."

"I don't want or need your condolences." Yin Xue jerked his head upwards. "Will you aid me?"

"How?" Wu Ying said. "I have no control or influence with the Wei."

"You do with the Sect Head." As though expecting the other to protest, Yin Xue rushed on. "You have more influence than you think. Many of the Elders have grown to rely upon your gathering, to the easy access to powerful pills that were missing before. The Sect itself has grown stronger, because of you and your department. If you asked..."

"I thought you were content with things? Or at least, accepting of it." Wu Ying changed the subject, probing the other.

"To paying with pills, with taels or cultivation secrets. Not to giving up my cultivation. I cannot just waste a decade of my life!" Yin Xue snarled. "This is too much."

Obviously not to the rulers of Shen and Wei. But again, Wu Ying had learnt not to say such things. "I do not think the Sect Head can gainsay the Prince."

"But he can delay it, alter the terms a little, perhaps. Make it less of a sentence, make sure I have time to train," Yin Xue said, almost desperately. "Please." Another breath, then he added. "This is just them being pragmatic again. Sacrificing an Elder for their supposed peace. But the Wei will turn on us too, the moment they can."

Wu Ying hesitated, then nodded. "I'll speak with the Sect Head. I cannot guarantee anything, but I'll speak with him."

"You can do more than that." Yin Xue started heatedly, then clamped his jaw shut. He struggled with himself visibly, anger and arrogance and pride warring before he added. "Do so. Soon." A second, then he added, almost as though he could not help himself. "You owe me."

Again, Wu Ying inclined his head in acknowledgment. Even in asking, nay, begging for help, Yin Xue was arrogant and touchy. But he was not wrong. He had lost his arm and eye when he aided them in retrieving Fa Yuan. He was owed, something.

"Good." Then, the pair stood in awkward silence. Eventually, Yin Xue relaxed his hold of the aura and stepped back, nodding to Wu Ying and stalking off.

Leaving the wind cultivator alone, in the dark of the night. With another task, another soul to aid.