Chapter 131 (Patreon)

Sorry for the chapter delay. My family got a new puppy recently and watching it while writing is an inefficient combo. Plus, this is a longer chapter.

Note: For those who aren't aware Chapter 125 was changed to reflect Chen Haoran holding copies of the Heaven-Rank technique.

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Chen Haoran let Xie Jin and Bao Si go as soon as they reached the underground tunnel. No one said anything as Jiang Lei opened the way for them to go back to their own inn. Xie Jin and Bao Si marched up into the room in lockstep. Chen Haoran hung back on the stairwell and watched them go. Best to let them talk among themselves first. Today had been a day of revelations, and Chen Haoran’s wasn’t even the worst. Jiang Lei awkwardly stood next to him, looking as if he wanted to say something but failing to find the words.

It was striking how quickly things could change, and roles could reverse. A few months ago, Chen Haoran had been forced to watch his words and step lightly around Jiang Lei. Now they stood as equals in cultivation, and it was the unflappable and carefree Jiang Lei who was now forced to weigh his words carefully in front of Chen Haoran.

“What’s up?” Chen Haoran asked. “Cat got your tongue?”

“No, my apologies—” Jiang Lei hesitated. “—sir?”

Chen Haoran huffed and waved off the respectful address. “Don’t call me that. It’s just awkward hearing it from you.”

“My apologies.”

Chen Haoran rolled his eyes. “Bet you didn’t see this coming when you decided to follow me that night.”

“No,” Jiang Lei said. “I can’t say I could have ever imagined this.”

That made two of them.

“Well, you were the one who was always confused about my background. Now you know,” Chen Haoran joked.

“I’m still confused,” Jiang Lei immediately retorted. “Your background is clear, but you’ve become even more inscrutable.”

Chen Haoran felt amused. “Honest now, aren’t we?”

Jiang Lei’s face twisted as he apparently judge his words were too informal. “I’m sorr—”

“Can it,” Chen Haoran interrupted. He reached into his storage bag and pulled out a flimsy book. “Here. This is for you.”

Jiang Lei gingerly took the book with wary eyes and, under Chen Haoran’s urging, opened to the first page. His eyes went wide. “This is—”

“My handwriting isn’t great, but I did my best to make it legible. I’d give you the original, but you know it’s not really mine to give away.”

Confusion was writ large across Jiang Lei’s face. “This is the Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs.”

“Yes,” Chen Haoran confirmed. “What about it?”

“Why are you giving this to me?”

“Why not? I said you could learn it too, didn’t I.”

“But that was….” Jiang Lei didn’t finish his sentence, but he didn’t need to. There were plenty of reasons to insert.

“Well, at least you can recognize what you were putting me through,” Chen Haoran said. “At the end of the day, I said you could learn it, and you saved my life. Take it.”

Jiang Lei gripped the book tightly. There weren’t words to describe the various emotions he cycled through in that instant. Eventually, he settled on gratitude. “Thank you, Young Master Chen.”

Before Chen Haoran could reply, a flash of golden light appeared in his mind, and when he cast his thoughts toward it, he found that the golden light surrounding his second gifting slot was brighter than before.

Chen Haoran masked his surprise with a grimace. “Don’t call me that. You remind me of another asshole. Besides, you saw my relationship with Xi Wangmu. It’s not exactly something you can call close.”

“Your family is still one of our major backers,” Jiang Lei said. “Etiquette demands I address you with respect.”

Chen Haoran raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Were you already aware of my family’s involvement? Xi Wangmu must value you a lot.”

“It’s just a little talent that’s caught the Queen Mother’s interest,” Jiang Lei not so humbly said. “Even I wasn’t aware of the nature of the relationship.”

“Well, that’s Chen Qitao for you,” Chen Haoran casually said.

Jiang Lei nodded. “Yes, the Southern Dragon King is mighty indeed.” He glanced at Chen Haoran. “His son doesn’t seem far off either.”

Chen Haoran snorted and clapped Jiang Lei on the back. “Flattery will get you nowhere. Now get. The longer I stay here, the more annoyed that old bat will be.”

Jiang Lei shook his head in exasperation. “Only you could be so bold, Chen Haoran.” He walked down the stairs and paused at the bottom, looking up at Chen Haoran and nodding. “Until we meet again.”

“Oh believe me,” Chen Haoran thought. “The next time we meet will be too soon.”

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Chen Haoran had yet to hear any shouting or any discussion at all as he approached their room. Despite knowing better, he still had the thought that things weren’t as bad as they seemed. This thought lasted until he actually opened the door, and the sounds that had been blocked from escaping assaulted him in full force.

“—do you not understand the implications!”

“I do! Stop treating me as if I’m a fool!”

Bao Si and Xie Jin cut their shouting short when Chen Haoran entered the room. Their Gu, no doubt the cause of the noise being trapped inside, hovered protectively by their sides. Phelps peeled himself off the bed where he’d pressed himself flat and floated into Chen Haoran’s arms with a distressed squeal.

Chen Haoran patted Phelps’s head. “Easy there, buddy.”

“Chen Haoran,” Bao Si said. She did not glare or narrow her eyes at him. She did not look angry at all. Yet she did not look happy either. The teasing look in her eyes that he’d grown so used to seeing was gone. Her centipede Gu wrapped itself around her arm, and Chen Haoran mourned the precaution.

“Before you ask anything. I can’t give you the answers you want,” Chen Haoran said.

“Can’t or won’t?” Bao Si demanded.

Well. Both honestly, but if Chen Haoran said that, he had no doubt things would go from bad to worse. He didn’t know enough about the Chen Family or their deal with Xi Wangmu to satisfy Bao Si’s questions, and he certainly wasn’t going to reveal his total lack of knowledge. Not when there was a chance the information could make its way back to Xi Wangmu. Especially since there was no telling if she could listen in to them.

“I’m sorry about the Heaven-Rank,” he said. “I didn’t know it was that politically charged.”

“Is that all you didn’t know?” Now Bao Si narrowed her eyes. “That day, we were wary of the Peach River Swordsmen’s methods to enter the Basin. Perhaps we should have been paying more attention to yours.”

Xie Jin stepped between them. “Wait a minute. There’s no way Brother Chen could have come to us with ill intentions. He was already living in the north long before I ever arrived, and I was the one who approached him.”

Bao Si’s face became terrifyingly blank. “Yes. You were.”

Xie Jin frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean.”

Chen Haoran slowly edged over to the corner and tucked Phelps’s head into his shoulder. His drama senses were telling him this was going to get ugly.

“You were the one who approached him.” Bao Si said.  “You were the one who brought him to Zumulu. You were the one who fought to keep him in our home. Now he’s turned out to be in the same bed as the bitch who’s dragging our people into a bloody rebellion.”

Shock colored Xie Jin’s features before quickly turning into a scorching glare. “Are you implying I’m trying to harm our home? Do you think I’m some kind of traitor?”

“Can’t I?” Bao Si sneered. “Even my Master has decided her interests supersede the tribes. If the Grand Shaman can do that, then why not a maverick like you?”

“Bao Si how dare you—”

“How dare you!” Bao Si shouted. Her centipede tattoo writhed as if it were alive. “Xie Jin, you dare act indignant? You dare claim you have the tribe in your heart? You? A shaman that pays no heed to his duties? That wanders away from his village more than the rogues in the Gu Department do? You still have not told us why you left Zumulu and went up north, yet you demand our trust and faith? Xie Jin! ”

“The Palace Exams!” Xie Jin roared. He let out a heavy exhale, like an angry bull, in the silence following his outburst. “I went to take the Palace Exams.”

Bao Si froze.

Then she erupted with incandescent rage.

“The Palace Exams!” Bao Si’s voice shook with force and emotion that she had not displayed even when Xi Wangmu strong-armed her with her own Master’s permission. “Xie Jin! What were you thinking? Joining the Empire? You would really sell your Gu to the faithless bastards of the Gu Department? Is that why you became a shaman?”

“I was never going to join the Gu Department!” Xie Jin protested. “I was going to join the Palace School with my own skill. I would never use my Gu to help the Empire.”

Bao Si sneered. “You think you could join the Palace School without them realizing what you were? How much of a fool can you be? Is that how you’d explain yourself in front of your grandfather? You unfilial bastard, is this how you treat Grandpa Xie’s care for you?”

“Bao Si, don’t you dare bring my grandfather into this.” Xie Jin’s Beetle Gu released a low chitter akin to scraping knives.

“Who else will? You? Why do you care now when you never have before? Is it because you’re ashamed? Good! Be ashamed! That poor man is always placing his faith in you, and all you do is disappoint him at every turn!”

“You fucking bitch!”

Chen Haoran flared his qi and quickly stepped between Xie Jin and Bao Si. His qi was like a bucket of water atop their heads, dousing their rising qi and emotions. They both shook and stepped back but did not relent in their ugly stares.

“Let’s take a step back, okay?” Chen Haoran asked. “Don’t forget where we are right now.” He turned to Bao Si. “Listen. The Palace Exams were canceled before anyone could take them, and Xie Jin’s only thought was of home. Even if he did pass them, he’d never join the Empire. There’s no way he’d abandon the Basin for the Palace School.”

Bao Si’s face had returned to being expressionless, and she addressed Xie Jin directly. “Xie Jin, answer me honestly. If the conditions here permitted, were you going  to leave Zumulu with Chen Haoran?”

Xie Jin’s silence was loud in the quiet room.

Bao Si shook her head. “There were other shamans available. I even argued with Grandpa Xie not to bring you. He wanted to test you, though. It turns out he was right too.” Bao Si laughed. It was a hard, bitter sound. “I can’t believe I ever thought I could marry you. Why did you even become a shaman if you hated it so much.”

Xie Jin stood there, his face a twisted mask of grief and smoldering anger. “Because I wanted to be like you,” he whispered. His Gu flew into his sleeve, and he decisively turned and left the room, slamming the door so hard it rattled in the frame.

Chen Haoran watched him go, tracking his direction with his sense. Bao Si said nothing, and instead collapsed onto the bed and buried her face into her hands.

“Chen Haoran,” she said. “Who are you?”

“Well, maybe a little can’t hurt.” He sat down on the bed next to her and set Phelps next to him. “Do you know who the Southern Dragon King Chen Qitao is?”

“Southern Dragon King,” Bao Si murmured. She looked up from her hands with dry, clear eyes. “I’ve heard that title. My Master had mentioned it before. She said it belonged to a powerful warlord in the Splintered Lands.”

Again with the Splintered Lands.

“What are these Splintered Lands you keep talking about?” Chen Haoran asked.

Bao Si was not amused. “Will you continue playing a fool Chen Haoran?”

He really wasn’t. This was a pure, authentic fool. He couldn’t help asking. He’d heard the term bandied about far too often to keep being ignorant of it. Thankfully Xi Wangmu had given him the perfect excuse.

“I was sent as a hostage to Clearsprings City when I was young by my father,” Chen Haoran somberly said. “I was weak and otherwise useless to him. I didn’t stay that way forever, thought.” He placed a hand over his heart. “You heard Xi Wangmu talk about the foreign spirit in my body. Thanks to it, I was able to become a Liquid Meridian Realm. But… sometimes it feels like this body isn’t my own.” He tapped a finger against his head. “Sometimes things I should know, I don’t.”

Bao Si searched his face for any sign of falsity. For any hint that he was lying to her. Unfortunately for her, there wasn’t, and he wasn’t. His poker face was the one born out of long hours spent in retail and customer service, and what sort of lie could she find when he didn’t speak any?

“The Splintered Lands are the shattered remains of territories and kingdoms that lie between the Empire, the Baghmar Republic, and the Eastern Lightning League. They’re lawless places that only served to be exploited by the superpowers and used as buffer states. There the only rule is by the fist.”

“I see. Thank you.”

“If you really wanted to thank me, you would tell me what sort of danger my people are in,” Bao Si said.

“It’s not completely bad,” Chen Haoran said. “At least Xi Wangmu values you and isn’t planning to use you as some soldier. Plus, she can’t be too disrespectful now that she knows I’m involved.” Granted, that was relying on Chen Qitao’s prestige more than anything Chen Haoran himself did, so it wasn’t the sturdiest threat, but for Bao Si, anything was better than nothing.

“So is that it? I must choose between you or her?” Bao Si straightened. Her centipede tattoo rippled even has two eyes not unlike Xi Wangmu’s, threatened to draw Chen Haoran in and throw in down into the abyss. “I do not like being forced to do what I do not want to do. Nor do I appreciate being sold.” Her eyes narrowed to snake-like slits. “By my Master or you, Chen Haoran.”

“Oh, sorry about that.” Chen Haoran said. “In my defense, though, you’ve seen that old coot. If I rejected her, then things would have gotten worse before they got better. That does remind me, though.” He pulled out the jade box, took the Banquet Peach, and held it invitingly in front of Phelps. “Here, buddy. Snack time.”

Phelps took one sniff and his face turned a rosy pink even through his fur. The peach quickly disappeared from his hand, core and all.

Received Hundred-Fold: 80 thousand-year-old Banquet Peach

Bao Si’s face featured yet another one he had yet to see, this one of open-mouthed shock.

“What?” Chen Haoran asked. “You didn’t think I trusted her? Did you?”

Bao Si slowly shook her head. “I don’t know what to make of you anymore.”

“You never knew what to make of me,” Chen Haoran pointed out. “Now, would you like a hug or an emotional support sloth before I go find Xie Jin?”