Fates Parallel Chapter 295 - Resonance (Patreon)

Before they could sort out what to do about Luo Mingyu and Pan Jiaying getting tracked down and hunted as traitors, Jia decided to get everyone together for formal introductions. It also meant that they could discuss their new obstacles as a group.

Once everyone had gathered together, Jia began with Pan Jiaying.

“Everyone, I’d like to introduce you to my new apprentice, Pan Jiaying. She was a great help back in Lushan, and Eui and I have agreed to teach her.”

Narae bounced excitedly, her goatlike ears flapping up and down.

“That makes me the big sister right?! I’m the senior apprentice above her!”

Eui snickered.

“It sure does. Pan Jiaying, make sure you pay respect to your senior.”

Pan Jiaying smiled wryly and bowed to Narae.

“I’m honored to study alongside you, senior sister.”

Narae clapped her hands and giggled in delight. Rika ruffled her hair, chuckling.

“Don’t bully the poor girl too much, kid. She’s already got her work cut out for her as Yoshika’s apprentice.”

Ja Yun nodded solemnly.

“My condolences, Miss Pan. And it’s nice to meet you.”

Jia frowned.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. Next is—well, you already know Li Meili, I guess.”

Eunae raised her hand to interrupt.

“Actually, I’d meant to ask about that—is there any particular reason you haven’t reintegrated your avatar?”

Pan Jiaying started to bristle, but Li Meili placed a hand on her shoulder and stepped forward.

“I’ve decided to try living separately from Yoshika, for now. I’d be pleased if you considered me a different person entirely.”

Narae wrinkled her nose and drilled a knuckle into her forehead.

“So there’s big sis, and then Aunt Eui, and together they make Yoshika, but now there’s two Yoshikas? So...I have two big sisters and a new little sister? Cool!”

Jia refrained from mentioning that Narae’s new ‘little sister’ was older than her mother.

“Next is Luo Mingyu, the alchemist we...um, kidnapped. By accident.”

Luo Mingyu smiled and bowed.

“At your service—by compulsion, apparently.”

Rika smiled and waved.

“Hey there! We met your dad, I think. He was a good guy, though his smoking habit is kind of gross.”

Luo chuckled.

“Still doing that, is he? I’m amazed it hasn’t already done him in. I suppose it’s nice enough to meet you all, despite the circumstances.”

Jia indicated herself.

“You two have already met us, but our real names are Lee Jia, An Eui, and Lee Jung. The little hellion over there is my younger sister Lee Narae—Jung’s daughter.”

Luo Mingyu furrowed his brows.

“Your older sister is the mother of...your younger sister?”

“They are my adopted family.”

“Ah.”

Jia quickly moved on.

“The other two you met back at Lushan are my master, Ienaga Yumi, and Princess Seong Misun of Goryeo.”

The two new members paled slightly as Master Ienaga nodded in greeting, but it was Misun who inspired dawning horror on Luo Mingyu.

“Princess...? As in the fox princess? I—I thought she was just a legend.”

Misun grimaced.

“History, not legend. And thankfully long gone. I’m just a descendant, thank you very much. Though if you’re concerned about that, I’m not the one you should be looking at.”

She glanced pointedly at her sister, prompting Seong Eunae to bow politely.

“Princess Seong Eunae. It is lovely to make your acquaintance.”

Pan Jiaying’s eyes widened incredulously.

“You’re traveling with two princesses?! Why?”

Jia sighed and shook her head.

“That’s too long a story to get into here. Lastly, Eunae’s bodyguard, Magus Ja Yun, and Ambassador Takeda Rika, of Yamato.”

The pair of them bowed, then Ja Yun lifted Muddy in front of her.

“And this is Muddy—or Iseul. They’re uh...going through a bit of a transition at the moment, so I’m not too sure.”

The vaguely humanoid little slime waved a pseudopod arm before collapsing back into a spherical blob. Luo Mingyu blinked impassively.

“Fascinating.”

Pan Jiaying was more enthusiastic.

“By the emperor, it’s so cute! Where did you find...him? Her?”

Ja Yun blushed and smiled, looking down affectionately at the mud elemental.

“They were...a gift? The divine elementals that descended in Goryeo sent them to us. As for him or her...well, they’re still working on that.”

“I can’t believe how interesting you all are! I’m really looking forward to getting to know you!”

Well, Jia was glad that Pan Jiaying liked everyone else at least. After their argument, it was abundantly clear that she was dead set on hating Jia and Eui for no reason. She mentally prodded Heian, but the little cat spirit was still recovering her strength.

“There’s one more in our group, but she’s still resting dormant. You’ll meet her eventually.”

Before anyone could ask about that, Seong Misun clapped her hands once to get everyone’s attention.

“Right! Now that we’ve wasted our time on that. What do we do about these two liabilities? Frankly, I don’t think they’re worth the trouble.”

Jia sighed.

“We’re not killing them. Though actually, I wanted to ask you about that. They’re being tracked by spiritual jade tablets. You seem like you’d be the most knowledgeable one here about that kind of magic—do you know how they work, and is it possible to break that connection?”

Misun crossed her arms and glared at Jia.

“What makes you think I’d know?”

“You’re a high magus and a member of the royal family. Also you were the first person to mention it after Qiao Quan died. Am I wrong?”

“Tsk. Fine—there’s no connection to break, I’m afraid. It’s a kind of sympathetic soul resonance. The jade tablets are attuned to match frequencies with the soul of the user, so that if anything happens to the soul in question, it will be reflected on the tablet. Since the soul is mostly inviolate, that generally means death. Using them for tracking works by following the signature embedded in the tablet, not by following any sort of metaphysical connection.”

Jia frowned.

“So as long as the tablet matches the souls, it can always be used to track them? And it’s completely impossible to change that signature on our end.”

A sinister smirk crept across Misun’s face as she settled her gaze meaningfully on Eunae.

“Not completely impossible, no.”

Eunae shook her head adamantly.

“Absolutely not. No. I resent that you’d even suggest it.”

Misun scoffed and looked away.

“Well, there you have it.”

Eui crossed her arms.

“Your Highness, with all due respect. I’m not sure I understand your position. Do you resent Eunae’s power, or do you want her to use it? Ever since the first time we met all the way back at the academy I’ve been getting mixed messages.”

“It’s simple. My sister’s power is a disgusting abomination—a blight on our family’s history. It shouldn’t exist, but it does, and we must live with that. Eunae is the worst of both worlds—she has that vile power, but pretends as if she doesn’t. As if denying it makes her any less dangerous than if she used it without discretion. She’s no better than our ancestor.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that actually makes any sense.”

Misun sneered down at Eui dismissively.

“I didn’t ask.”

Pan Jiaying furrowed her brows.

“Hold on, I’m getting lost here—what are we talking about?”

Luo Mingyu stared at Eunae, his eyes drawn to the veil covering the upper half of her face.

“The legendary fox princess was said to be a shapeshifting demon that took the guise of a beastwoman. She could enslave men with her gaze, turning even the most stalwart defenders of the empire into spies and traitors. Her bloody rampage was such a dire threat to the empire that the God-Emperor himself mobilized to destroy her. I...always thought it was just a propaganda legend to inspire a distrust against outsiders.”

Seong Misun chuckled.

“Well, to say that Goryeo remembers it differently is an understatement, but yes. Seong Heiran was quite real, and her incursion into Qin some five hundred years ago led to the occupation of Kucheon, which is territory we still hold to this day.”

Pan Jiaying looked back and forth between the two of them, frowning.

“But what does this have to do with Miss—er, Princess Seong Eunae?”

Eunae sighed and shook her head.

“Just Eunae, please. I am cursed with the same power as our ancestor. My gaze twists the will of any who meet it—apparently a form of soul magic. What my sister means to imply is that my power could simply alter your souls until the signatures of your spiritual tablets no longer match.”

Pan Jiaying blinked.

“Would that work?”

Eunae was taken aback by the question.

“Er, I-I don’t know...I try to avoid using my power.”

“Well, that’s stupid.”

Eunae’s ears flattened against her head, and Jia felt a rare burst of actual anger from her.

“Excuse me?!”

Pan Jiaying raised her hands plaintively.

“Just hear me out! It’s like Princess Seong Misun said, having and not using it is just as bad as if you went around blasting the souls of everyone in sight. In either case, you’re not bothering to properly learn and understand it, right? The best option would be to learn how to control it and use it responsibly—what if you really could just break the link to our spiritual tablets without causing any other damage? I’m not going to pretend to know how your power works, but isn’t that at least worth investigating?”

Misun laughed.

“You know Lee Jia, I had my doubts when you decided to pick up another stray, but I think I kind of like this one.”

Eunae ignored her, focusing entirely on Pan Jiaying.

“You—I—I’ll have you know that I have taken steps to learn how to control my power. But it’s something that has to be handled delicately! It’s not exactly something that I can just practice.”

Pan Jiaying shrugged.

“Why not? This seems like as good a time as any, and it sounds like your power could do some real good.”

The entire group went silent for a moment before Eui coughed.

“Are you...volunteering?”

“Sure. As long as you promise to teach me everything you learn in the process, and not to irreversibly mess with my head.”

Li Meili put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a worried glance.

“Are you sure about this? Eunae’s power is no joke, and there really is a danger of permanent damage.”

“I’m just thinking ahead. There are only so many ways forward here—you either have to kill us, kill god-emperor knows how many bounty hunters and compromise your position with your allies up north, or find another solution. This is the only path that doesn’t lead to unnecessary bloodshed, so yeah—I volunteer.”

Ja Yun stared at Pan Jiaying in awe.

“Ancestors, I’m so jealous...”

She covered her eyes and blushed as all eyes fell on her.

“I—I just mean...she—confidence—and...I’ll shut up now...”

Rika chuckled and patted Ja Yun on the shoulder.

“It’s fine, I know what you mean.”

“That doesn’t make it better!”

Luo Mingyu raised an eyebrow and shook his head before returning his attention to Pan Jiaying.

“I must admit, junior, I think I misjudged you. You are much stranger than you seem.”

Pan Jiaying shrugged.

“Someone recently told me that all cultivators are strange. The more I think about it, I think she’s wrong, but I’m starting to see where she got the idea.”

Li Meili gave her a questioning glance, and she winked.

“I think it’s obvious that she surrounds herself with greatness. Everyone here is so incredible and I don’t want to just be some tagalong—I want to become like all of you! So if all great cultivators are strange...then I’ll just have to embrace it and become strange myself!”

Master Ienaga, who’d mostly stayed out of the conversation so far, smiled at that.

“Well said, Miss Pan. Yoshika, you’ve chosen your apprentices well. In that case, if Eunae has no further objections, I suggest you spend the next few days working together on a solution. We’ll hold this position while Luo Mingyu completes his elixir unless our position is compromised, then reconvene to discuss our next steps—agreed?”

Eunae sighed.

“Very well. Jiaying, I look forward to working with you. I sincerely hope neither of us comes to regret it.”