Chapter 741 unedited unmemed (Patreon)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oXCPoNFy0p5kuYASediXdbpDoIAqY-graHGdzCLQSn0/edit?usp=sharing

At first glance, the steel bolt and crossbow in Akanai’s hands were utterly unremarkable, but she and everyone else who was present in this meeting understood the implications these two items represented.

Crossbows were a simple affair, but whoever crafted this one was a fool who’d used one in his or her life. The stock was too short for the limbs to pull back to their maximum tension, and the butt was poorly shaped for firing from the shoulder or hip. There was no mechanism for quick loading bolts or to easily draw the string back, making it even slower to cock and reload than the weapons used by the Irregulars. The flight groove was shallow and too wide for the bolt, the trigger unlatched and prone to slipping free when moving the weapon about, and the bowstring flimsy and liable to snap before loosing more than fifty bolts, to say nothing of how the riser blocked the line of sight to the target. Overall, a shoddy piece of work that had much room for improvement, a small blessing in disguise.

The arrow was in an even worse state, as if someone had been shown a picture of one and tried their best to recreate it. A real possibility all things considered, but that was a matter not worth considering just yet. The bolt’s head, shaft, and nock were all one piece, cast in a mould and honed to a point, a method that emphasized speed over quality and resulted in a substandard product. Even without laying it on a flat surface, one could see a slight curve in the shaft that would render it unstable in flight, an aspect made worse by the slapdash fashion in which the fletching was affixed at the end, one approximately on either side, but running perpendicular to the nock instead of parallel to keep them from grinding against the bow itself. There also a plethora of bumps and protrusions that needed grinding down, and it would be far deadlier with a broad-blade arrowhead affixed to the end, one properly weighted to keep it from spinning end over end if the wind were blowing the wrong way.

And yet, for all their flaws, the crossbow and bolt was still a deadly weapon capable of killing even a Divinity if caught off-guard, a weapon the Enemy had adopted for their own use and almost claimed the life of her precious son.

Placing the bolt and crossbow on the table, Akanai carefully extracted two items from her hip pouch to lay alongside the previous two, lining up the bloodied tip and broken base of the bolt that the pup pulled out of his chest and back with the intact one above it, showcasing how a good twenty centimetres of the steel shaft was missing from the picture. A clean shot straight through the heart, and the damage to his blood-stained armour corroborated his story to those who might otherwise disbelieve, armour which her old husband laid out on the table next to everything else. The crowd within the boy’s officer’s tent watched the proceedings without comment, their silence speaking volumes to their shock and alarm, for this heralded a change in the face of war, one Akanai had long seen coming ever since she finished her basic army training without ever touching a bow or arrow.

“Not three hours ago,” Akanai began, her voice hoarse from lack of use, “The Legate was ambushed in Huang Hai by Wraiths carrying weapons just like this one. Approaching under the cover of Concealment, approximately thirty Wraiths unleashed a single coordinated volley and peppered the Legate’s command tent in a blind attempt to take his life. The Death Corps Guards stationed outside his tent emerged unscathed save for a few cracks and bruises, largely protected by their heavy armour which fended off the worst of the damage, but only because they were not the target of the attack. The crossbows are wildly inaccurate even at so close a range, but as you can see from my son’s ruined armour and the six, unarmoured guards defending the Legate who died in the attack, even a single lucky hit can have devastating results.” Glancing about the room at the fearsome Warriors gathered within, she hoped they would take this warning to heart as she added, “Not just because of the physical damage done, but also because the bolts are tipped in a new and improved version of Wraith poison, one that paralyzes their target and interferes with attempts to Heal whilst under its effect.”

That last part was of far more interest to her audience, as a good number of them were powerful enough to Heal anything short of instant death, like say a bolt through the heart. Glancing at the ruined armour once again, her throat tightened in fear and anxiety as she envisioned the pup wearing it once again, with the bolt protruding from his chest and his life’s blood pooling in the dirt around him. There was a time when she would’ve steeled her nerves and accepted his death as fate, just like the deaths of any other of her Sentinels, but things were different now that he was her son in name and in truth. Though she would not go so far as to say she raised him, she’d watched him grow from a rambunctious pup into a fine, upstanding man, and she liked to think she had no small part in making it happen. They’d only grown closer in recent years after she finally stopped saw past her stubborn ways and accepted him into her family, and her only regret was not doing so sooner, because even though they’d always been close as any mother and son, there was still a barrier between them that she never noticed until after she let it down.

A Mentor could take pride in her Disciple’s accomplishments, but a mother needed no reason to shower her son with love and affection, two things the pup had no lack of, but welcomed all the same from the people he saw as his parents in every way except name. An honour Akanai felt she did not deserve, for though she always strove to be the best Mentor to the pup, there were many times when she would’ve failed him as a parent. It showed in Mila’s training the most, for though Akanai was hard on the girl, she’d been a hundred times harder on the pup, because at the end of the day, her job as a Mentor was to make him strong, while her job as a mother was to raise her children well.

“Thirty shots at fifty metres and the pup still lives?” Letting loose with a snort that set a fire in Akanai’s heart, the Old Wolf curled his lip in a sneer and said, “Hardly see what all the fuss is about then.”

“Shuffle closer and take a better look, old fool.” Hot-headed as always, the foul-tempered Tigress Machali traced her fingers across the ruined armour while studying the broken bits of bolt. “Someone skilled Healed young Baatar and kept him from death’s door. Your work, I presume?”

The last was directed at Taduk, who was the most relaxed of them all, yawning as he shook his head and replied, “Not at all. I was fast asleep on the ship until word of this meeting arrived, so I suppose that charlatan of a Healer Tokta is finally earning his keep.” His ‘rivalry’ with Tokta was one of his ‘mortal’ guilty pleasures, a senior unabashedly bullying a junior while hiding his status as an Ancestral Beast, but Taduk’s behaving was atypical of a Divinity. Most never cared to hide their status, not to anyone who was paying close attention, nor did they bother trying to blend in, but Taduk’s behaviour was so utterly flawless even the hyper-observant boy failed to notice anything amiss. To be fair, Akanai wasn’t sure if the Ancestral Hare’s compassion and empathy was innate, learned, or feigned, but the way he relished life and cherished family and friends made her think he was younger than he cared to let on.

Possibly even younger than her, who’d grown jaded in less than four-hundred years, so if Taduk was truly over a thousand years old, then she admired and envied his wholesome mindset and lighthearted demeanour.

If only the others were even a quarter as humane, or a tenth as perceptive as the silly but brilliant Ancestral Hare, his eyes narrowing in thought as he took in the careful manner in which Akanai laid out the bolts, but he was interrupted before he could raise his next question. “Mortals fighting with mortals, why should any of us care?” Ling Lu asked, putting up a brave front while using Hua Lie to shield herself from every other Ancestral Beast in the room. “We spend most of our time Concealed and hidden away even from one another, so these weapons prove little threat to us here.” Though she was the youngest of the gathered Divinities by far, she was still almost twice Akanai’s age, which meant the Ancestral Gazelle had no excuse for having yet to master her temper. She was similar to the boy in this, allowing her fear to control her by channelling it into aggression, and it was in her nature to fear everything, even that which she could kill without blinking an eye. While this made her a formidable foe to be wary of, it also made her a dangerous, double-edged sword, for if she were to ever lash out in fear or anger, her enemies would not be the only ones to suffer.

Thankfully, cooler minds prevailed as Hua Lie fixed Ling Lu with a stare that set her back on her heels, and Akanai pretended not to notice the petulant Ancestral Gazelle pouting like a scolded child. They were a strange pair, Hua Lie and Ling Lu, with the latter idolizing the former while simultaneously yearning to surpass her, but the difference between them was like night and day, and not just in strength. Ling Lu loathed the world of mortals and only sought out companionship when she could no longer contain her urges, but while Hua Lie proclaimed she had desire to mingle in the world of mortals, she also had a habit of bringing home every handsome stray that crossed her path. History showed that this would inevitably lead to another half-rabbit son or daughter, though thus far, Gerel was the exception to the rule, likely the first human male Hua Lie interacted with for so long without having bedded, largely due to her decades long obsession with Taduk.

Touching as it was to see her efforts to win over her ‘fated partner’, Akanai still had an ongoing wager with her old husband whether or not Hua Lie would succumb to her urges before her ‘Disciple’ turned forty, for her Husolt was an eternal romantic and secretly hoped his rival in chess would find love with Hua Lie, while Akanai wasn’t so optimistic.

To make matters worse, she wasn’t certain if the Saint’s Tribulations Mountains could sustain a second pair of contentious Divine lovers like Machali and Da Hui. “I bring this matter before you to all for two reasons,” she began, ignoring the jealous wife’s glare brought about by the adulterous husband’s leer. If only Da Hui didn’t look so much like her old husband, with the same burly frame and kindly good looks, but the similarities between the sire and his offspring ended there, for never had there been a man as loving as Husolt. “First, as a warning, for the Enemy only need catch you off-guard for disaster to strike, and secondly, to request your aid. With these weapons in hand, our countermeasures against Wraiths are no longer enough, as our foes only need to draw close enough to loose their bolts rather than drive a dagger through their hearts. Only watchful Divinity can warn us of approaching Spectres in time to guard against them now, a taxing and inglorious assignment I know, but you know I would not ask this of you if I had any other choice.”

Glancing about the room, she met the eyes of every Divinity present as they reacted to the request, save for Wu Kong who was laid out in the corner and apparently sleeping, but Akanai knew better than to be taken in by the trickster. As mischievous as his twin sons Jochi and Argat, Wu Kong was perhaps the second best parent in the room, surpassing even Hua Lie in the affection he showed his children, but then again, he only had the two at the moment, while Hua Lie had a total of fifty six currently living in and around the Saint’s Tribulations Mountains, and more out in the world that Akanai had never met. The Ancestral Rabbit’s affection for her children was not innate and instead a sort of forced burden she took upon herself, something anyone with eyes could see. That being said, despite her tendency to take new lovers like others purchased new clothes, she had a good eye for partners and many of her ‘husbands’ were more than happy to raise their half-rabbit children themselves, perhaps as a reminder of the whirlwind affair they shared with the aptly named Divine goddess of their dreams.

The good news was that regardless of her reasons, Hua Lie was the most involved with safeguarding the Saint’s Tribulations Mountains, having supported Akanai in her efforts to form the Sentinels since before its inception, and it was clear she was supporting Akanai here as well. Unfortunately, while she was undisputedlythe strongest of the seven gathered Divinities, it was Old Wolf who held the most influence over the others, as they all looked to him for his response, which was far from ideal. A tiny, frail looking elder in the twilight of his life, the Old Wolf’s gaze was still fierce as ever as he fixed her with a clear eyed glare and said, “Yewarn us of danger yet intend to throw us into the fire once more? A filial girl ye are, working yer elders to the death. Ye’ll spread us thin and leave us vulnerable to Enemy attack, which is probably what they and the Imperials want, so ye tell those snooty bastards to protect their own and forget about using us as their stalking goats.”

If only Ghurda was here to soothe the Old Wolf’s temper, for he had a soft spot for the few mortals he cared about. Even his old children weren’t so blessed with his affection, as young Huushalonly warranted his guidance thanks to Ghurda pleading on her son’s behalf. A difficult man to read, the Old Wolf of the mountains, a fearsome and territorial Divinity who took strays into his pack, a Mentor and father-figure to every other Divinity present. That’s why they all respected him, not just for his strength which was likely second to Hua Lie’s, but also because he was the man who stood up for them when no others would.

Take Machali for example, who as the tales went had been exposed as a Divinity long before she was strong enough to hold her own against a Peak Expert, to say nothing of another Divinity. Had the Old Wolf not claimed her as one of his pack, her fate would have been a miserable one indeed, captured by Imperials and raped day and night to breed half-tiger slaves for their armies. Ling Lu would have suffered a similar fate, while the men would have been drugged and kept in a state of constant arousal to facilitate their breeding prowess, but Old Wolf was the man who sheltered them all in his mountain home and united them in purpose, if not harmony.

So strange, the Imperial fixation on breeding Demi-humans while simultaneously scorning them for being different and inferior. Having seen little Alsantset’s talents develop from a young age and blossom into the phenomenal Warrior she was today, Akanai had could see why others mistakenly believed that Ancestral Beasts of fiercer or more predatory origins would have more powerful offspring, as the girl was a talent few could match. Then again, the same could be said of Yaruq, Jochi, Argat, and even Akanai herself, all scions of ‘less desirable’ Ancestral Beasts, ones that were not hunters or killers by nature. This was without mentioning sweet Mila of course, who would be the undisputed number one Talent of her generation were it not for the boy’s phenomenal and frankly unheard of rate of improvement, though to be fair, Guan Suo himself had been a fierce Warrior to be wary of, one almost on par with the Old Wolf in terms of reputation.

A shame the grouchy Red Panda had passed away, for Akanai had always been fond of him ever since their first meeting in the forests of Ping Yao, a gruff and dour man that Old Sumila would’ve approved of. A harsh tongue and soft heart, just like the sweet woman herself, and it would’ve been nice if little Mila could’ve one day forgiven her sire for his failings, for it was clear he loathed his failings almost as much as he yearned to make connections with the world around him. There were few as hardy and stalwart as Taduk, a Divinity who mingled with short-lived mortals and came away unscathed, but Guan Suo was perhaps the furthest one from it, a man who abandoned civilization because he had lost too much over the course of his life.

So too had the Old Wolf, and doubly so now that he had one foot in the grave, which meant he was even more protective of his Divinity peers than ever before. Akanai dreaded the day he passed, for she feared his death would mean an end to the alliance of Divinity’s in the Saint’s Tribulations Mountains. Taduk and Hua Lie would undoubtedly remain behind, but she dared not assume with the others, especially considering how domineering Hua Lie could be without the Old Wolf to rein her in. Even the mischievous and laid back Wu Kong would not tolerate her heavy handed ways, to say nothing about Machali and Ling Lu. As for Da Hui, even if he did not follow his wife’s lead, he was not one to care about the affairs of mortals unless an attractive woman happened to catch his eye, so his support was essentially useless.

There was no sense considering the future just yet though, for the Old Wolf still lived, and without Ghurda here to soften his temper, Akanai could only use logic and reason to sway him. “We have sent word requesting aid from the Imperial Divinities, and Niu Mowang assures us that he will do everything in his in power to see that we receive it.” Unfortunately, Akanai wasn’t sure if that would be enough, as the Bull Divinity held little sway in Imperial affairs as he too was a free-holding Territory Lord, one whose lustful personality surpassed even Da Hui who once tried to convince Machali to let him court Ling Lu to become the first Divinity with two Divinity wives. As if this weren’t enough, the fact that Ling Lu was willing to entertain the notion drove Machali to near madness and was the spark which set off the conflagration only ended after little Alsanset’s birth, and the Ancestral Tiger realized she was not equipped to raise her Demi-human child herself.

Oh how Akanai empathized with the poor woman upon seeing her sob in equal parts grief and fury as she handed her daughter over to be raised by the People, her bestial instincts to be rid of the ‘crippled’ cub warring with her motherly desire to love and cherish the beautiful child she only just gave birth to. Though Akanai herself would never know the joys of giving birth, she was grateful she would never experience what Machali went through first hand, having to abandon the daughter she both loathed and loved for fear of what she might do. Small wonder most Ancestral Beasts kept themselves apart from mortal affairs, for that was not a pain one could simply forget.

“Hmph.” Leaning heavily on his steel cane which threatened to buckle under his weight, the old wolf considered his answer quietly before asking, “There’s more isn’t there? If there wasn’t, ye’d have waited for an answer from the Imperials before bringing this up. What is it? Ye thinkin’ of using the fact that the pup almost died to move me? Don’t bother. Old as I am, no one knows how many years I’ve got in me yet, so there’s still a good chance I outlive him yet.”

That was the crux of the issue, pragmatic self-interest, for the Old Wolf had seen entire generations come and go in what must feel like the blink of an eye. Though they kept records of family histories going back generations, the Old Wolf had lived through it all, so who could say which friends he’d made along the way? Perhaps he secretly Mentored one promising young talent and raised him into a hero of the Empire, or maybe he took an interest in one family or another for feeding him a meal he particularly enjoyed. How many friends and lovers had he lost along the way? Too many to count in all likelihood, and Akanai could not imagine losing her beloved old husband, to say nothing of Mila, Li-Li, or Baatar. Inwardly pitying the poor Old Wolf, Akanai shook her head and said, “No, I know you well enough not to appeal to your better nature. Instead, I bring your attention to a possibility, slim though it may yet be.” Gesturing at the bolts laid out on the table, she said, “Tokta was not the one who Healed the pup, nor was it any other Healer of note.”

“No,” Taduk said, denying it even as his eyes lit up with pride and glee. “Don’t tell me? I had my suspicions, but to think that they would be on point...” His initial elation passed almost immediately as he considered the implications, his furrowed brow and fetching grimace making Hua Lie visibly swoon on her feet and Da Hui shift closer to his wife for of losing her to yet another man, one far stronger and more talented to boot.

“What are ye on about?” The Old Wolf snapped, cranky not just from waking early, but being away from his territory for so long. They wouldn’t be able to keep him here for much longer, as initially he’d only come to keep tabs on young Huushal for Ghurda’s sake, but even though circumstances were more dire than ever, one could not simply take the wolf from the mountains and expect him to transform into a loyal dog.

“Little Rain Healed Baatar,” Taduk declared, and Akanai nodded in confirmation, but this was not all he had to say. “And look! Look at the bolt and how she placed it, to emphasize the missing parts. This isall that remains of the bolt, was it not? Of course it is, you wouldn’t have kept these two bits and thrown the rest away, that’d make no sense at all. How marvellous for little Rain, a true prodigy of a man, my little student and son-in-law!”

“So what of it?” Opening his mouth for the first time all meeting, Da Hui cradled his wife close while she pretended to hate his jealous pawing yet secretly loved the attention. All cats were cats in the end, even one as regal as a tiger, a lesson Akanai realized after seeing how easily little Rain tamed the man-eater Rakshasa with little more than baths and bits of string. “A talented mortal is still mortal in the end, doomed to live and die before I’ve had time to blink.”

“Don’t you see?” Taduk exclaimed, pointing at the bolt again. “The armour. The blood. The area of impact. The incomplete bolt. Everything you need to know is right before your eyes. Baatar was shot clean through the heart with a poisoned bolt, and little Rain pulled him back from the brink of death by utilizing the Energy of the Heavens!”

Something Akanai and the pup both suspected, but neither were brave enough to voice it out loud, for this was an implication that went far beyond mere crossbow wielding Wraiths. Not many knew of little Rain’s acquisition of a Heavenly Tear or his Devouring Talents, and even fewer were aware that together, they provided him with a source of usable Heavenly Energy he had yet to tap into, but if others were to learn that the boy could harness the power of a Divinity without being one himself, the whole Treaty’s existence would come into question. Even though the Enemy was clearly pushing the limits on the mutual agreement to limit Divine action, they were still not so foolish as to engage an Imperial Divinity in open combat. An ambush in the darkness perhaps, or a contest of Will at most, and it was a combination of the two that led to Guan Suo’s death, caught off guard by the Enemy’s Anathema while matching Will’s with the Ancestral Bristleboar Zhu Chanzui. Not exactly a violation of the Treaty, as throwing a vial could hardly be considered use of Divine power, seeing how there was no chance of losing control and summoning enough Heavenly Energy to change the landscape for kilometres around them. That was the scariest part of a battle between Divinities, for even they were not wholly in control of the power of Creation and Destruction both, else there would be no need for such strict restrictions upon their use.

The Heavens just loved Divinitiesfar too much, responding their Will even without focused intent, resulting in all sorts of ‘miracles’ and disasters that few cared to delve into. The lands outside the Empire were said to be scarred from clashing Divinities, to say nothing of the Arid wastes, and there were stories of how the Saint’s Tribulations Mountains were called such not because a Saint encountered tribulations within them, but because his tribulations gave rise to the mountains themselves. Such was the power of a Divinity unhinged, a force of nature and disaster unto themselves, and now, little Rain might well be comparable to such a being, albeit having arrived there in a roundabout way.

The Enemy was aware of him now, that much was clear, and the Uniter was focusing much of his efforts on breaking the poor boy. The carnage in LuZhuo almost did the trick, and were it not for his wives and Li-Li, Akanai might well have had to do something drastic before the boy hurt himself or others. A split second of his Aura of despair had almost unnerved her, and she feared what she would do if exposed to it any longer. The depths of the boy’s misery and anguish were dark and unfathomable indeed, a weapon powerful enough to topple Divinities as Taduk, Hua Lie, and Guan Suo’s encounter with Pong Pong so ably demonstrated. This was something that went beyond manipulation of the raw Energy of the Heavens, yet another powerful weapon in little Rain’s hands that the Enemy yearned to keep as their own. It was easy to see why the Uniter found so much success where others failed, for he was nothing if not adaptable and far-seeing. First the Wraiths to make up for the disparity between Defiled and Imperial Experts, then the enslavement of Demons to turn them into a unified fighting force, to say nothing of the Emotional Aura they exhibited during the withdrawal from JiangHu, a weapon they had yet to use again. Now, the Uniter stole little Rain’s tactics for his own use while the Imperials were still fussing about matters of honour and long-term viability, for they would sooner cut their noses off than lose face wielding a weapon meant for ‘cowards and commoners alike’.

Were the Imperials half as flexible as Zhen Shi, then the Defiled would be no threat at all, because even as Legate, little Rain had been unable to force the Imperial Army to adopt his weapons and tactics and thus could only arm and train brave commoners in the use of his crossbows and catapults. Had the outer provinces thrown their support behind him from the start, Akanai believed that not only would the Central Citadel have thrown back Bai Qi’s army without support, she was certain that the war would not have progressed so far. No, little Rain had his way, then Sinuji would still stand as the front line of this war, or perhaps even serve as rear support for a much for a more coordinated and multi-pronged effort at re-taking the West.

Such was life however, and Akanai could only assume Imperial stupidity was part and parcel of little Rain’s trials and tribulations. Now would come another, as the Divinities of the world would soon learn of a young boy who wielded the power of a Divinity without being one himself. Some would seek to safeguard and nurture him in hopes of establishing the first ever Ancestral Human, a human Divinity for go beyond Shattering the Void to reform his very being. Few knew what such a Path might entail, as none had ever come close, for though Human Divinities could match an Ancestral Beasts in combat and experienced the same pitfalls when losing control, they fell woefully short in sheer destructive capability. A blessing and a curse both, as Human Divinities were far more flexible when it came to exerting their Divine strength, but it also meant that they needed to tread lightly lest their Ancestral Beast opponent do away with all restraint and kill them both in their rage.

For long seconds after Taduk’s cheerful declaration, not a single gathered Divinity even blinked, all six of them regarding the Ancestral Hare with mixed expressions. Horror, ridicule, and disbelief were chief among them, though the Old Wolf let none of it show as he twitched his nose in careful thought. “Ye sure that’s the case? Absolutely sure?”

“Of course not,” Taduk replied, and the other visibly sagged with relief. “I’ve yet to speak with him as he fast asleep in his bed, and I’m not brave enough to intrude while my sweet Lin-Lin is there with him.” There was more than a hint of melancholy in the man’s voice, and Akanai commiserated with him fully, for little Rain had sunk his fangs deep into sweet Mila as well and done unspeakable things to Akanai’s precious daughter. It must be doubly as difficult for Taduk to bear, but he loved the boy and sweet Mei Lin both, so much so that he would sooner break his oath to do no harm than see either of them hurt. That being said, he wasn’t much of a protector as he loved his sleep too much, rising with the morning sun and sleeping soon after it set as if he himself were a plant reliant on the light for sustenance. “It’s entirely possible the boy dissolved the bolt through more mundane means,” Taduk began, resting both hands on the table to lean in close enough to lick the poisoned bolt if he should so choose to. “He could have broken down the steel and dissolved it into Baatar’s bloodstream, to be filtered out in the kidneys later on, but that would introduce future complications the boy would never forget to mention, and Akanai made no mention of it to me.” Tilting his head this way and that, he continued studying the bolt and rattling off theories that made just enough sense to be possible, yet not enough to conclusively prove little Rain had gone through with it, until he finally concluded with, “But I don’t think the boy bothered with any of that. I think that after seeing his father dying before his eyes, he called upon the Energy of the Heavens to Heal Baatar, and the Heavens obliged.”

“Why’s that?” Making his presence known for the first time in weeks, Wu Kong cracked a single eye open and asked, “What makes you so certain the boy is so capable, ah? To do what even we cannot accomplish on a whim at so young an age?”

“Because,” Taduk began, offering a sheepish shrug of apology to the boy who would not see it, “Little Rain is... he is a brilliant child, but not in the traditional sense. A traditional genius would be a child who learns to count from one to ten, then without guidance, understands that after ten, comes ten and one, ten and two, ten and three, and so on and so forth. Little Rain would be the child that grows tired of learning how to count and instead devises his own logical method to keep track of numbers.” Which wasn’t so far from the truth, as he’d devised a number system to simply how to represent large figures on paper after growing frustrated at having to write out so many characters in his accounting ledgers. The boy was barely thirteen when she first saw him scrawling his numbers into the dirt, trying to keep track of the number of times his lessons ended in a visit to the Healers, but the sheer scope of what he accomplished never occurred to her until after Zheng Luo took them up for her own use.

“What’s that have to do with anything?” This time it was Ling Lu’s turn to speak up, though her interest did not bode well for little Mila, as the Ancestral Gazelle was still young enough to find the notion of taking a human lover intriguing, and while little Rain was not as bad as Da Hui or Niu Mowang, one could not honestly claim that he did not have a prodigious appetite for beautiful women. Akanai had already lost one daughter to him and was fast mourning the second, for little Li-Li so firmly in his grasp she didn’t even know it yet. The girl’s Aura said as much, and though Akanai was pleased to see her poor daughter overcoming her trauma of men, she would be happier if Li-Li had fallen in love with almost anyone besides little Rain.

Taking a moment to consider how best to answer the question, Taduk looked up from the bolt and shook his head in shame. “It’s my fault really,” he began, pacing about the room, and it was almost adorable how Hua Lie followed him about like Mama Bun followed Rain, so infatuated with the man she simply wanted to be as close to him as possible at all times. “When he was still young and new to the Dao, I inadvertently showed him too much while Healing him from a deadly injury, though to be fair, he’s come closer to death more times that I can remember. This one was a particularly gruesome snake bite, one that grazed his heart and pierced his lung among other things, so I panicked and rushed the Healing more than I usually would, giving him a glimpse of my full capabilities. After he regained consciousness, he likened my efforts to weaving a complex tapestry using ten-thousand needles at once, one of my favourite compliments to date I’ll have you all know.” Beaming foolishly as he made sure they all knew how pleased he truly was, he scratched his cheek and continued, “The issue is that this display scared him off from properly learning how to control Chi because he thought it was too complex for him to ever master, andhas since been dead set on simplifying the Dao. That’sbeen the driving force behind many of his steps along his Path, from Panacea to Keystones and more, and combined with the fact that he has not always been one to keep calm under pressure, I believe the only way he could’ve saved Baatar from so grievous an injury is by utilizing the Energy of the Heavens. Not to say I’m looking down on him, but while he’s known for his ability to Heal injuries in combat, the truth is he’s only slightly above average for someone his agewhen it comes to traditional Healing, and Panacea does not work fast enough to Heal an injury of this magnitude.”

This was another area in which Taduk differed from a traditional Ancestral Beast, for few were as inquisitiveand discerning as he. Most took their strengths for granted and never delved too deeply into understanding the details of their respective Paths, but Taduk’s boundless curiosity drove him to study anything and everything that caught his fancy.

“Where is the boy now?” Old Wolf asked, and Akanai was not sure if the hint of threat in his tone was imagined or real. An Ancestral Human would be a prized possession indeed, especially if the theories were true and that his coupling with an Ancestral Beast would result in a powerful demi-human worthy of a natural bornscion of two Divinities, though there was little more than wistful thinking to support it. Either way, if the boy had the capability to ascend into such a never before seen Divinity, factions the Empire round would be fighting to claim him and his offspring to raise into their own personal Divinity slave army.

There was no helping it though, for the Old Wolf would have his way regardless of whether or not Akanai stood in his way. “Resting in his ship after his trying ordeal, which should dock in LuZhuo soon enough. He woke briefly to ask about his father on the way back and share a few scant details with his wives, but he soon lapsed back into unconsciousness after complaining of a headache and Chi strain.”

“So he’s not a Divinity just yet,” the Old Wolf murmured, and the other Divinities aside from Taduk and Hua Lie nodded in agreement. “Wouldn’t feel the strain if he were, not after Healing just one pup.”

“Yes, he passed out for weeks the last time he pushed too hard,” Machali added, the dutiful daughter supporting her father as always, and Akanai fought hard not to smile at how similar they were to the pup and his girl. “So it’s possible he’s simply acting as a medium for the Heavenly Tear and that none of this power is his own.”

“A difference without a distinction, as far as the Imperials will be concerned.” Such a solemn expression was rarely seen on the golden-furred Wu Kong’s face, reminding her and everyone else that he was second in seniority after the Old Wolf, though he was still a child in the latter’s eyes, as was everyone else. “They will not care where his power comes from, so long as he can wield it, to say nothing of his latent potential. Perhaps it is time we abandon this farce and retreat to the mountains, where will be better poised to defend him.”

Good, good, there was no talk of abandoning the boy just yet, though even if the others were willing, Taduk and the women would never allow this chance to slip through their fingers, for an Ancestral Human represented their chance to give birth a child they would not instantly pity and wish death upon.  A powerful impetuous, the desire to raise the next generation to succeed them, one even a Divinity could not escape for long, and Akanai could only apologize to her daughters for allowing them both to become tied to a man whose future was so uncertain.

At least they had love aplenty to get them through these trying times, and Akanai could only pray it would be enough, for there was no way little Rain would allow himself to be brought away while so many suffered in the West, nor would Akanai condone it.

Because at the end of the day, she shared much in common with her son-in-law, for despite the machinations of the Imperial Clan, they both loved the Empire and all its people too much to stand aside and watch them suffer, meaning for better or for worse, they would fight on to the bitter end.