Fates Parallel Chapter 341 - Patriarch (Patreon)

Yan De, the patriarch of the Yan clan and grandmaster of the Great Awakening Dragon Sect, the most powerful of Qin’s cultivating sects. He was a distant, lofty figure to Jia—always more of a far off idea than an actual person. That he’d been her enemy for nearly as long as she’d known of his existence had just been an academic footnote in her life. It didn’t matter because she’d never meet him.

Except now she would meet him, and the reality of it was intimidating.

Before she could finish gathering her thoughts, Seong Misun swept onto the plateau like a thunderstorm.

“Where is my idiot sister?! Eunae, what are you doing here, we’ve got to—where the fuck is your veil?!”

Eunae shrugged and handed the piece of fabric off to Eui, who accepted it with a confused expression.

“I took it off, Misun. I’ve learned to hold my power back, so it’s unnecessary. I hope you don’t mind me gifting it to Yoshika—the divine essence you enchanted it with should be quite useful.”

Misun grimaced.

“You picked a horrible time to gain a rebellious streak, you brat. We’ve got to prepare to be introduced to the incoming delegates, and it’s going to go rather poorly if they think you’re going to try to subvert all their disciples.”

“I’m afraid not. I’ll be staying here to face my upcoming tribulation.”

“Tribu—?! Oh for fuck’s sake! It’s like you’re all conspiring to make my life miserable. Fine—we can work with this.”

The older princess scanned the plateau for a moment before her eyes settled on the wide-open formation area.

“Alright then, change of plans. Eunae and I will delay our meeting until after her tribulation. A freshly ascended new fox princess will work just fine as a power play—we’re making a lot of those, but to hell with it.”

Eunae frowned.

“I’d rather not be introduced as—”

“Shut up—don’t care. You, soldier girl!”

Ja Yun yelped and straightened into a rigid salute.

“Y-yes ma'am?!”

“I know you and Lee Jia have been poaching my spells. Time for you to get a direct lesson. You’ll be helping Eunae and I prepare for her tribulation. I especially want every bit of research you’ve got on the Sky Hall formations.”

Ja Yun swallowed nervously and nodded.

“Yes, Your Highness...”

Eunae took an angry step forward and frowned.

“Misun, stop, you can’t just—”

“I can and I will. Yan Yue, don’t just stand there gawking, you of all people are expected to greet your—”

“MISUN!”

Seong Misun turned slowly to regard her little sister, who glared straight at her with a furious expression.

“You cannot order me or my friends around like that. Your official authority is no greater than mine, and I’m tired of you superseding me out of spite! Need I remind you of what happened last time you did that?”

Misun pursed her lips and sighed, speaking through gritted teeth.

“I am not doing this out of spite, you ungrateful lout. We are in hostile territory and the enemy is here. Most cultivators die as a result of failed tribulations, but of those who remain the majority end up getting killed immediately afterward. No sister of mine is going to die to something as trite as assassination or ambush, her legacy being that she managed to ruin any chance of peace on our continent by fucking dying!”

Yan Yue coughed once.

“Ahem. Princess Seong Misun is correct. You’d do well to accept any aid she’s willing to give, regardless of her reasoning. Besides, I really should go greet my father. Jia, Eui, I hate to impose on you like this, but could I trouble you to join me?”

Jia felt the trepidation in Yue’s soul. She managed to keep her voice from trembling, but her poor thumbnail had practically been chewed down to the quick.

“Of course. We’ve got your back!”

“Thank you.”

The relief on Yue’s face was enough for Jia to forget her own nerves for a moment. Yan De was intimidating, but they’d face him together.

Rika smiled wryly, looking around as everyone else began moving with intense purpose.

“Hey, uh, big s—I mean, Your Highness, what about me? Anything I can do?”

Seong Misun barely spared her a glance.

“How should I know? I don’t care—why are you even here?”

Rika’s face fell a bit, but Eunae kicked Misun hard in the shin.

“Ow, shit! I forgot you could do that...”

Eunae ignored her sister and took Rika’s hands in hers, and looked up into her eyes.

“Just stay close please? Your support is more than enough.”

Rika blushed, briefly averting her eyes before regaining her confidence.

“Wow, being able to meet your eyes really changes our dynamic doesn’t it? Of course I’ll stay, Eun-eun. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

She punctuated her statement with a kiss, and Misun rolled her eyes.

“Yes, yes, how very moving. Can we get on with it, please?”

—-

Yoshika, Yan Yue, Xin Wei, and Guan Yi stood together at the front entrance of the Flowing Purewater’s main temple. They stood in a calculated formation, with Xin Wei and Yue at the front, with Yoshika and Guan Yi slightly behind and to the side next to Yue and Xin Wei respectively.

The grandmasters had already gone ahead to meet the visiting grandmaster, and Yoshika’s party had nothing to do but stand and wait. Yue chewed on her thumbnail the entire time.

“Remember Yoshika, let me do the talking. Don’t say anything unless I prompt you to. Even if you’re asked a direct question, let me answer for you, please.”

“I know, Yue, you’ve told me a dozen times.”

Yue sighed.

“I know you know, I’m only worried you don’t understand.”

“You’ve taught us more than we ever wanted to know about imperial etiquette.”

“See, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. This isn’t just a matter of etiquette or formality, Yoshika.”

Xin Wei nodded.

“Yan De is among the oldest and most powerful cultivators on the continent. It’s more than tradition to him, it’s what he has lived and breathed for millenia. It’s as important to him as his cultivation.”

Yoshika frowned.

“If he’s so old, how come he only just recently had kids? For that matter, I’ve been wondering for a while, but how come so many of you young scions are all the same age?”

Yue bit her thumbnail so hard Yoshika thought it would break.

“By the fucking emperor Yoshika, this is not the time!”

Guan Yi cleared his throat gently to gain their attention.

“They are here.”

Yoshika didn’t need Guan Yi’s announcement. She felt Yan De’s presence before she even saw him. All the powerful xiantian cultivators she’d met had a palpable intensity to them, but Yan De’s was unlike anything she’d felt short of her encounters with Sovereign Shen or the demon Longyan.

Even Jianmo hadn’t been nearly so all-encompassing, though perhaps that was because they were holding back.

The worst part was that as oppressive as his aura felt—he was keeping it restrained. His domain was neatly controlled to only a tight zone of influence around his immediate surroundings, perfectly following the common etiquette of xiantian immortals. What Yoshika was feeling was nothing more than the passive influence of his existence on the essence around him.

For a moment, Yoshika was struck by the utter hopelessness of having such a man as her enemy. There was no fighting something like him. If he wanted her dead, she’d be gone before she could blink. She might as well try to swat the sun out of the sky.

As he came into view, Yoshika gathered her resolve. She’d felt this way plenty of times before. When facing adults as an orphan in the gangs of her hometown. When she’d first met a mage as a young girl. Each of her instructors at the academy had made her feel this way at one point or another.

Yan De was a mountain, but she’d climbed mountains before. It had been a long time since she’d felt like she was at the bottom, but she wouldn’t let it stop her from climbing.

Xin Wei and Yan Yue bowed low as he approached, and Yoshika followed suit, Guan Yi and her bowing slightly lower than the two before them.

Yan De was not as old-looking as some of the ancient immortals Yoshika had met. His appearance was that of a perfectly-kept man in his mid to late forties. He had a tall, muscular build with a clear family resemblance to his son Zhihao. Unlike the late young master, however, Yan De did not flaunt anything. From his ornate but understated robes to his immaculately trimmed beard, to his top-knot without so much as a hair out of place, Yan De was a man who exuded an air of effortless perfection.

Next to him, his disciple Yan Hao’s rotund body and ill-fitting robes struck an almost comical contrast. He still moved with a grace that belied his formidable size, and Yoshika knew better than to underestimate him—he was a powerful cultivator in his own right and the foremost alchemist in the empire.

Behind them, Yoshika was surprised to see the familiar faces of Zheng Long and Han Yu. Yan Hao’s disciples had been petty rivals of hers back in the academy. It had been life or death at the time, but in hindsight her squabbles with them felt so pointless.

The pair of them were much as she remembered, though she was surprised to sense that they’d both not only returned to the third stage after having their foundations shattered by Qin Zhao, but had also awakened in physical and mental cultivation disciplines. They weren’t unified cultivators, but it was unusual to see multi-disciplinary cultivators in the heart of the empire, even if they had been academy students.

Bringing up the rear, Xin Hai, Lin Xiulan, and Guan Yu made way for their guests, keeping a respectful distance as Yue greeted her father.

“Honored Father, it is good to see you well. Thank you for coming all this way to bless my marriage. Senior Uncle Yan Hao, it is good to see you again.”

Yan Hao sneered.

“That’s ‘master’ to you, girl.”

“Pardon me, Senior Uncle—it is not this junior’s place to correct her elder, but did you not formally disown me as your disciple?”

“Tsk...”

For his part, Yan De inclined his head by a tiny fraction.

“It is good to see you well, Yan Yue.”

Without raising his head, Xin Wei held his hands out in front of him, still joined within his sleeves.

“This junior humbly welcomes you, future father-in-law.”

“Well met, Young Master Xin Wei. I hope that I can entrust my daughter to your care.”

Yan De’s gaze drifted disinterestedly over the group before settling on Yoshika.

“You’ve kept strange company, Yan Yue. I’ve known the half-beasts of Goryeo for nearly as long as their kind has existed, but never met a strange chimera like this one. Who is this, and why is she at your side?”

Yue bowed.

“Yes, father. This is Yoshika, one of the ambassadors from the Yamato-Goryeo alliance. We’ve grown close during her stay here, and I hope that you will hear her petition with an open heart.”

Yan De raised one eyebrow.

“I commend the effort, but you should know better than to think I would accept such a lazy half-truth.”

Yoshika felt the intense weight of Yan De’s attention as his domain crashed into hers, effortlessly crushing her defenses as he examined her avatar.

“Hm, yes, I see. An artificial vessel, like the barbarian woman—that explains the Yamato name. Or, no—Yan Hao, there was a ‘Yoshika’ at the Grand Academy, wasn’t there?”

“Yes, master. Though it was a nickname for a pair of Goryeon girls. The ones involved in the incident with the late young master.”

Zheng Long and Han Yu shifted uncomfortably behind their master, but Yan De showed no reaction.

“Ah! The dual cultivators. Yan Ren was quite impressed with their showing in the tournament.”

Yue’s eyes widened, and she jumped on the opening.

“How is my other Senior Uncle doing? Last I heard he had engaged that demonic sovereign, Longyan.”

“Still recovering, but don’t change the subject.”

Yoshika tried to suppress her shock. That battle had happened over three years ago, and Yan Ren was a xiantian cultivator. Just how badly had Longyan injured him?

Yan De picked up on her surprise, his steely gaze boring into her as he spoke.

“Hm, so you were there? I suppose it must really be you, then. Two souls joined in a single vessel—how creative. Tsk, and I see my daughter’s been selling secrets—you shouldn’t be so cavalier with your mother’s techniques, Yan Yue.”

Yue bowed deeply.

“I’ll take that under advisement.”

Yoshika clenched her teeth. She hated this. She felt so powerless under Yan De’s scrutiny, and every secret he casually unearthed made her feel exposed and defenseless. Finally, Xin Hai stepped forward and cleared his throat.

“Ahem, Elder Yan De, Ambassadors Lee Jia and An Eui are our esteemed guests. While I understand that their association with your late son is a personal matter, I humbly ask you to grant me face by dropping the matter for now.”

Yan De didn’t break eye contact with Yoshika as he responded.

“Very well. I’m sure we’ll have cause to speak again soon. Well met, ambassadors.”

With that dismissal, Yan De moved on. Yoshika and the rest bowed as he entered the temple, keeping their heads down until the entire group had passed. As they did, Yoshika caught Han Yu sneering down at her when he thought she wasn’t looking, and Lin Xiulan giving her an apologetic smile.

Once the doors were closed behind them, Yue practically deflated.

“Oh, thank the emperor. That went extremely well.”

Yoshika practically choked.

“You call that going well?!”