Chereads / The leader learns / Chapter 28 - 4 79-81

Chapter 28 - 4 79-81

Interlude: The Legacy of a Proud Warrior

Rearing the striker back, he swung forwards a second time. The Gong sounded; its call a command that would have the White Tigers gather. It made his ears ring, being so close to the loud noise. It was scary, like thunder! But Big Sis had asked him to ring it! So he did! He was a good boy!

He dropped the striker (it was not for chewing, no sir!) and turned, racing off to the meeting ground. He was speed incarnate! He was faster than fast! He shot along the corners, his mind fixated on the muster grounds.

The few people in the halls either got out of the way or tested his agility as he dodged around them! Both were good! He made sure not to hit anybody because he was a good boy! Big Sis said he could hurt people, and he didn't do that. Well, not to good people. Bad people were for killing, like wolves were for killing—sometimes. Big Sis taught him that.

He didn't entirely get it, but he listened like a good boy. He was always a good boy. All the people said so!

He was called Shaggy, Second of his name. His father, even though he couldn't remember him, had been Shaggy as well! He too had been a good boy—the best boy, Big Bro said. He had died a long time ago, and he had been a proud warrior, defending his village.

Shaggy Two hoped that he could be as brave as his father.

"Good morning, bud!" a voice called out and Shaggy Two immediately whipped his head to the side.

'Big Bro!' he shouted back happily. Oh heavens it was Big Bro! Big Bro was his favourite! The best human! The human whose smell was so imprinted in his mind that he could never forget him, never ever! He was wearing his awesome mask and had on his cool cloak and amazing spear and Shaggy Two hoped that one day he could have a spear like that! It was like a big stick he could carry around all day—ah! His tail was wagging too hard! His back end was skidding and that wasn't good!

"Oh? I almost heard you that time!" the other human beside Big Bro said. Raggy was a good human too! He gave Shaggy Two treats and scratches! But he couldn't hear Shaggy Two when he spoke. Well, he could hear his barks, but not his words! Most nobody could! Only Big Bro, Big Sis, and Yin-jie could. Big Sis and Yin-jie said more people would be able to hear him as he got stronger, but he didn't really mind. Even if they couldn't understand him, they could understand him. Barking was great like that!

They raced into the muster grounds. It was a very big place and very old, with all sorts of interesting smells that he stopped himself from checking out. Big banners fluttered in the wind. Some of them said "Azure", and there was a big one with a White Tiger on it. Shaggy Two paid his respects to one of the guardian beasts, and then he turned and trotted over to the end of the courtyard.

Big Sis was already there, being the fastest person Shaggy Two knew! She turned and smiled as they all jogged to a stop before running her fingers through Shaggy Two's fur. He leaned into the touch. It felt very nice. Her fingers were strong, and she was tanned and she smelled like the sun and vaguely like something he wanted to chase and also like a big predator.

Part of him screamed at him to bark and drive her off, but he wasn't dumb.

Big Sis was also a guardian, like him. All the predators would run away from her, making their job of guarding people easier! How fantastic!

"Good job ringing the gong, my Disciple," Big Sis said warmly. Shaggy Two barked happily at her praise. "We shall be training hard today, so prepare yourself!"

Shaggy Two nodded and marched over to stand beside his Big Bro and Raggy. Yin-jie was next into the courtyard, and she also gave him some scratches. Loud Boy, who could bark very loudly, hopped from the wall of the courtyard to stand with them. They were all behind Big Sis, lined up.

And then the gates on the other end of the courtyard opened, admitting the rest of their pack. Or their pack in-training, as Big Sis said.

They needed to be strong and skilled to be proper guardians of the flock, because it was very, very big!

So big Shaggy Two couldn't comprehend how big it was.

Shaggy Two stayed quiet and still as he watched the people file in. It was a bit hard not to greet them and inspect the people entering their domain to make sure they weren't threats, but he managed. Even though the one person in the back was making it very hard. He smelled delicious—like beef.

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Beef was very yummy.

Shaggy Two licked his lips but stayed put.

Big Sis nodded as everybody assembled. "Your speed is acceptable—but next muster we shall be even faster. Now, today we shall be working in randomized teams…"

Shaggy Two listened intently as Big Sis made their big pack into smaller packs so that they could hunt better. The other people listened intently.

Big Sis said most of these people were from the people without a pack, the "sectless", so they needed to learn how to work as a team! There were people from the big packs as well, and they were a lot better at fighting and working together, so they all needed to learn from each other!

"Shaggy Two! You'll be with Grey Team. Hunter!" Shaggy Two perked up as his packmates cheered, while the others looked distraught.

"Damn it. This is going to suck. The Captain's pet finds everyone," he heard somebody mutter.

He was right! Shaggy Two found everybody! Always!

They trained long and hard—just the way Shaggy Two liked it! He chased and chased and chased. He stayed quiet when they were stalking and ran out and barked while his pack came in from the other side. And he stayed awake for all of it. Sometimes when he was hunting he felt his head go blank and some of himself slip away, back to how he was before he could think better. He didn't really mind it, but Big Sis said to keep it under control.

So he did! He was a good boy!

After the hunting and the chasing, they had combat training! People would pair up and spar. Shaggy Two helped Big Sis with demonstrations as she showed them how to fight wolves, since he was roughly the same shape. He would get to spar again later too, and then one of his pack would really trade pointers with him.

After sparring they all ate food together, and then Big Sis split everybody up again. This time, a bunch of their pack went to study maps and talk about how to split up patrols, while Big Sis went to teach again.

"Today you will be doing supply procurement," Big Sis commanded. "I have a list of everything we need, and you will have to source this material."

She handed out the pages to the people who were left. They looked relieved… but today Big Sis was being sneaky!

Today wasn't a lesson on supplies! It was a lesson on ethics! She said it was the most important thing a person could learn! Shaggy Two didn't really get it, but if Big Sis and Big Bro and Raggy and… well, everybody important all said it was important, it was!

The sectless people were normally pretty good at these questions. But the people from the big packs needed more time to learn, for some reason.

He still remembered Big Sis's words. It was actually one of his first concrete memories.

==================================

They had been talking about what to do if a village was damaged. That much Shaggy Two remembered. They were discussing how to best compensate the people of the village, and how to rebuild what had been broken.

"They're just mortals. What should it matter?" one of the men had said. He looked bored.

That lasted until Big Sis's eyes focused on him completely.

"They are not only mortals. They are the reason for our existence. Our only mission is to protect the people of the Azure Hills. I will not have the very people we are supposed to defend run in fear from us because we destroy their homes and hurt them without a thought," Big Sis went from kind of scary to calm.

"We will be operating throughout the entirety of the Azure Hills. We will be trusted to go onto other sects' lands, if that means chasing down our quarry. The Elders are looking for a reason for this not to work. They're looking for a reason to say all their old grudges were justified, that they should once more close down their borders and return to the old ways. We cannot give them this reason. We cannot make any mistakes. We must be paragons beyond reproach, beyond any accusations of spying or damaging another sect. This is a duty. We shall train as if we are going to war tomorrow. We will strive for perfection—for a better future for everyone."

The man hadn't asked if the mortals mattered after that.

=======================

And today, Big Sis had a test. A test that needed all of Shaggy Two's pack to help them!

They snuck over the buildings, each member of the pack assigned a person. Shaggy Two was with Big Bro, as was only right. They tailed their quarry out of the big mountain and into the town. The man glanced at the note he had been given, located a shop, and nodded.

"Excuse me, sir, I require several wooden barrel—"

"Eh? Sonny, you'll have to speak up!" somebody inside the shop shouted. "My ears ain't what they used to be!"

"I need a—"

"Louder than that, sonny!"

Shaggy Two heard the man's teeth start to grind.

==================================

Their quarry, in the end, managed to finish his list! Even though he met a lot of annoying people! Even though he ground his teeth a lot, he passed Big Sis's test!

He was a very good boy! Shaggy Two praised him!

They finished for the day. They had a very nice dinner, and Shaggy Two got a steak!

Then he sparred with Yin-jie and Big Sis, and then it was time for bed.

He curled up with Big Bro.

"Man, what a day," Big Bro sighed. "Never thought I would be here."

'Big Bro belongs!' Shaggy Two comforted him, and Big Bro laughed.

"Thanks, buddy. Do you want to hear another story about Shaggy tonight?" he asked.

Shaggy Two barked happily.

And so the tale began. It was a nice, peaceful tale. The thing Big Bro talked about the most when he told stories of Shaggy Two's father was not his razor teeth or booming voice, but instead his kindness. How he would let children ride on his back, and talk about how gentle he was with the lambs that used his body for shade.

Shaggy Two felt pride bloom in his chest. He had a great legacy to live up to!

He was Shaggy, Second of his name!

And all the People of the Azure Hills would be his flock.

Interlude: The Man of Iron and Stone

In the dim glow of a light stone Tie Delun took deep, even breaths as he worked alone. He was standing in the middle of a granite tube, one twice as tall as he was. His hammer gently tapped out an even beat on the back of his chisel. Each tap was uniform in power, and each movement of the chisel was perfectly aligned with the formation that had painstakingly been drawn on the inside of this tube of solid granite; it was cladding for one of the devices of the Ancients, and it aided in regulating some of the artifact's functions.

It was an arcane, branching thing; if one traced every line and character and spread it out, end to end, it would reach all the way to Verdant Hill.

Delun had been working on this for twelve hours so far today. He had started long before the sun had risen, and now it was setting. Yet his chisel did not deviate. No groove was deeper than any other. Each and every line was ruler-straight or perfectly curved. All that existed was himself and the work.

There was no pause. There was no break. Until, at the fourteenth hour, his hammer finally stopped falling. His chisel ceased its relentless cuts.

Tie Delun took a deep breath and let it out. He examined the walls. Tomorrow, he would cross reference everything to the diagrams. But for now… he was finished.

Carefully he climbed out of the cladding. The sound of clanging hammers, scratching chisels, pumping bellows and shouts of other members of the Azure Hills Restoration Commision returned to him. They were winding operations down for the day, and within the hour this place would likely be deserted.

Delun sighed and stretched as he surveyed his domain; there were a lot of people. Every member of his own tiny sect was here, in addition to members of practically every sect in the Azure Hills; every seal specialist, every formation master…everybody who could contribute had come.

All of them were working together for the resurrection of their history. The Dueling Peaks were considered the heart and soul of cultivation matters in the province. Who would shame their sect by not participating? Who did not wish to see the glory of their Ancestors return?

At first, it was a small thing. He had called it the Azure Hills Renewal Force. Tigu, Xiulan, and Xianghua had so much on their shoulders, taking the foremost roles within the tentative alliance. So he sought to lighten the burden and give them some victories—showing tangible, immediate benefits to this alliance. He would repair some of the broken infrastructure of their Azure Hills, to return it to the glory of the Ancients like he had in Grass Sea City.

A few of his fellows in the Young Generation had been receptive: Chen Yang from the Framed Sun Sect and one of his fellows, Ai, a woman whose father had been a carpenter; a couple of members of the Grand Ravine Sect had joined them; one member of the Misty Lake Sect; and the Young Master of the Rumbling Earth Sect, Gan, who had looked so lost and confused Delun had taken pity on the other man and shoved a chisel into his hands.

Delun had decided to start things off with something small in the Dueling Peaks. They were already there, so he looked for things to do to help out, deciding to take a look at the elevators first. They had only stopped working relatively recently, and the formations they used were pretty exposed.

Together, they managed to find the break in the formation—and luckily the formation used was one of the ones familiar to Delun. Delun taught his comrades the proper way to repair the formation, and within the week the elevators, operated by pulleys and chains, once more smoothly slid up and down the mountain of their own accord.

That caught the attention of everybody. An assembly had been called, and Delun had explained what he had done and what he planned to do.

His idea to aid his friends quickly went from a minor operation to something central to the first days.

They went from the Azure Hills Renewal Force to the Azure Hills Restoration Commision. One with sweeping powers over how and where they repaired things.And after Xiulan had mentioned he had already repaired the formation in Grass Sea City… Delun was quickly asked to head the new commission.

He got asked. Not his father, not some Elder, him. His Father had even agreed with them!

At first he had been confused about them not asking the obviously more experienced man to head their efforts, but his father was resolute.

"You are more experienced in this field than us, my son," his mother had gently reminded him. "You've had months to study the memory crystals… and our Dao is much more set. We must reexamine ourselves and alter our very foundations, for we study iron and steel—and the mysteries of stone are a different creature altogether."

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Of course, then she kissed him on the cheek and started calling him Head Mason.

Which stuck.

And now everybody called him Head Mason.

So the repair work began on the Dueling Peaks. To Delun's surprise, there was even an entire archive in the basement, something that the various sect Elders only became aware of not too long ago and now freely shared, that contained even more knowledge than the crystals did about how the Dueling Peaks worked… but had equally lacked much of the knowledge that the creators had evidently considered common sense about constructing extremely complex formations.

Delun had been in that library quite a bit—and honestly he wasn't tired of it yet. There was something invigorating about repairing the Dueling Peaks.

"Master Mason!" a voice called out and Delun blinked as he was knocked out of his thoughts, turning to look down to where Bao Wen, the caretaker of the archive, was standing, and beside him was—Delun blushed as Tigu smiled up at him. She was holding a waterskin and she had a backpack on that smelled delicious. His body suddenly remembered that he hadn't eaten or drank anything since he started, and he swallowed the spit in his mouth.

"Handsome Man," Tigu said with a smile. It had been a week since he had seen Tigu last, and he drank in the sight of her. "Bao Wen told me you normally finish around this time!"

Delun turned to look at the man, and Bao Wen nodded back. For some reason, the Elders had appointed the young mortal to be the archive's caretaker—and they couldn't have chosen a better man.

Not just because Bao Wen did this for him. He already had a good idea of where exactly the scrolls that Delun needed were; he had mastered the use of a control rod, which made things a lot easier in testing where the mechanisms were broken; and he shared Delun's irritation with the demands of his work interfering with the time he could spend with the woman he liked… which was the only really bad part about his position.

Bao Wen understood, in the way a true man did. Delun had made Bao Wen a lotus formed out of burnished copper and beaten gold for his early assistance, and now it seemed that the mortal was returning the favour.

"How goes the work?" Bao Wen asked leadingly.

"I am done. I'll finish the checks tomorrow, and then we can get this cladding into place," Delun answered, and Tigu brightened up before she slumped.

"I wish I had more time to assist you! This looks so interesting!" Tigu said with a sigh.

Delun smiled. "We both have our roles to play. And any time you feel like it, well… You're handy enough with a chisel," he teased.

"Handy enough—" Tigu shouted, outraged, before she crossed her arms and stuck her nose in the air. "Humph! I'll take these bao I made elsewhere then!"

"Forgive me, mistress of carving," Delun immediately capitulated, and Tigu laughed.

"You've been working too hard, and my Master says that all work and no play makes a dull man," Tigu declared. "So come! Bao Wen told me of a lovely hill! We're going to meet up with the rest of our comrades and dine upon it, after you show me what you've been working on!"

Bao Wen, who had been looking smug, suddenly slumped slightly and turned an apologetic gaze to Delun.

But Delun simply smiled. He hadn't seen most of his friends in a while. It would be good to catch up with everyone. Though he would have to do something nice for his mortal friend. It had been a good idea, and he had tried his best.

"Sounds like a great idea," he replied. "Now come on up, I'll show you how this works."

They hopped down into the cladding together. It was a very tight fit, with both of them pressed up against each other.

Tigu's eyes were wide and sparkling as he explained everything he had been doing and how they were going to assemble everything.

He had her full attention. Though for some reason she kept her eyes mostly on him as he talked, rather than the things he was pointing at.

And he really wasn't prepared for when she spoke.

"You're very handsome when you're passionate," she declared.

Delun's face went crimson.

He was in a very good mood for the rest of the night.

=============

The next day, in the afternoon, Delun once more found himself surrounded by Elders.

"Alright, everybody. Let's do this," Tie Delun commanded his subordinates, and he received nods in return as they swung into action.

The checks had all come back good, so they went ahead with things. The old artifact was one of the simpler ones, and only slightly damaged. They had removed all the broken parts last week, including the outer cowling, and now it was time to install the components.

It was several hours of work. Several hours hoping that everything was right and that when they activated this there would be no failure.

The bronze components were connected. Intricately carved wooden rods were placed where the old ones had snapped off. And finally, the granite cowling, twice as tall as Delun, was carefully lowered into place around the main core.

Then came the moment of truth. Bao Wen picked up his control rod and went through the movements, and the ancient artifact shuddered. It clicked.

Like a great beast, seemed to take in a breath.

Then another.

Then a third, and everybody in the room could hear as water started filling the device.

And then it started trickling out. It dripped into bone dry channels. Its trickle became a stream, and the stream a steady flow.

There was a great cheer as the Dueling Peaks Water Pump and Purifier started working again.

The channels would take it all throughout the mountain. Every room would have fresh water; it would flow past long-desiccated planters filled with seeds.

And finally, it would flow out into the town around the mountain itself, in long unused channels. They had already warned the people what would happen, and that there would soon be a ring of water in the town itself; A constant flow of fresh, immediately drinkable water.

At first, he hadn't really known its value to mortals, but now he truly knew. Even if they did have wells, they could now have a spigot dispensing water on every street corner.

And, if they fixed a couple of other things…it would allow the Earthly Arena to be flooded for additional environmental effects.

Tie Delun smiled and nodded his head.

They had a lot more work to do, but he was looking forward to it.

Interlude: Inheritance of Ragged Leaves

"Commander, the last set of reports," a dry voice intoned.

Dong Chou, known as Rags to his friends—and well, to most people nowadays—glanced up at his subordinate, dismayed to see the number of scrolls in his arms.

"You're a bastard, Huyi," Rags groaned.

Hi Huyi, one of Xiulan's students, simply shrugged apologetically, his dead-fish eyes filled with both commiseration and amusement. The other two people in the office, Khaliyun from the Grand Ravine Sect and sectless Ze Xi, both let out little snickers at the tone of Rags's voice.

"And you two! Get back to work instead of laughing!" Rags ordered in annoyance at them.

"Yes, Commander," the tribal woman and handsome-looking man both replied, both faking at sounding innocent. Huyi's smile widened.

Rags glanced down at the intelligence reports and sighed before opening up the first.

There were a lot of them, but most of them were just going to be tests of their new system. Bland reports about the weather, for nothing of note would be happening. Most of these were to see how the back and forth worked.

"Good luck, Commander of the Grass Sea," Huyi said, making a grand bow… before going off to assist Rags' two other subordinates.

The title still felt weird. Dong Chou, Commander of the Grass Sea, Information Master of the Grand Marshal and her White Tigers. He had even volunteered for the position when they had all been talking about it.

Rags… well, not to brag, but he was good at this kind of thing. He knew how to keep his finger on the pulse of what was going on, and it had saved his ass more times than he cared to count. It was how he had known to get his people out of harm's way before the Face-Snatchers went on their "merry" night. Chou had saved nearly a hundred lives that night. And while that was a small number… he had only been mortal then.

But this job needed more than Rags being another guy on the street. Xiulan was the boss of bosses… but he was also a boss. Boss Tanhui didn't go around getting the goods on his lonesome, he had people for that.

And Rags had a way wider area to cover than Grass Sea City. So he needed to set things up for the flow of info, of goods, of manpower and crap. Fancy folk called it… logistics.

Naturally, Rags had found out who the best people were at information gathering and then shamelessly stole what he could from them.

The Plum Blossom's Shadow obviously knew what they were doing. So whenever Rags bought information from them, he tended to stay and chat. He talked about their difficulties and how things were for them… and surprisingly they were rather open about their philosophy for one of "Master Scribe's Favoured Clients."

Xiulan was still a bit wary of their mysterious benefactor. Rags, however, had some suspicions on who the benefactor might be. Just suspicions, but… well, it was something he had overheard one Plum Blossom lady telling another.

"While birth may account for some things, merit is the only measure that truly matters. A day labourer striving to learn is objectively superior to a noble who only contents himself with pleasures of the flesh."

It had been said in a light tone, but strangely, it was something Rags had recognised— because it was something he had heard before.

That Lu Ri fellow had said it. And he had been reading out of a Cloudy Sword Sect manual to Wa Shi.

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The Plum Blossom's Shadow. Lu Ri's surname meant plum. It may have been a coincidence, but he also bet if he described Lu Ri to one of the Plum Blossoms he would sound suspiciously like Master Scribe.

But Rags wasn't dumb enough to poke at something like that, so he 'didn't' know.

He shook his head and read through the reports. He marked more things down that they needed looking over, and filed others away for tomorrow.

Finally, he put down his inkbrush as he finished the last report and let out a sigh as he finished his work for the day. He shook out his hand and then grabbed the cold cup of tea that was sitting on his desk. Taking a sip, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

He glanced up and took in the rest of his office, its interior cast in gold from the setting sun. His three subordinates were still working.

"Khali, Huyi, Xi, that's enough for today," Rags said, and when they all glanced up he smiled. "Now go out and have a drink on me."

His subordinates grinned as Rags tossed them all a coin— a silver coin that was more money than he had ever had in the first twenty years of his life. To think that now he could toss such an amount to somebody on a whim and tell them to have fun.

"We'll take our leave then, Commander," Xi and Huyi intoned respectfully.

"Boss," Khali said, and somehow the simple word sounded just as respectful.

They left the room.

And then Rags was alone. He looked again at his office. The nice chair. The nicer desk. It was solid oak, and had been crafted by a master carpenter. He liked running his hand across the smooth surface.

It was nice. It still felt a bit strange that it was his… but it was proof of how far he'd come.

And a reminder not to let the opulence go to his head.

He was Dong Chou, a street rat from Underbridge who through luck and wit had escaped the Face-Snatcher Gang and led the young and the old who had joined him to a better place. A cultivator who came from nothing. Hells, he hadn't even been able to read until a year ago.

And now he was here. Now, he had the power to change the world.

Not for the bastards who sat in ivory towers. But for the people like him, those who couldn't— He couldn't forget his people. The Underbridgers, who had a shitty enough hand in life that they didn't need cultivators dumping on them either.

Rags took a breath as he remembered the thing that had started it all. The pictograms on the side of the long abandoned fortress. The pictograms that had ignited his dantian and had sent him to the Dueling Peaks, where he had met those he could call friends and comrades.

He still didn't know its name. He didn't know if he was practising it right. But it was evolving all the same, changing as he grew in power… and dedicated himself to a cause he knew was just.

"I swear to you, Dong Chou. There will be no more Sun Kens. No more slavers," Xiulan said, her eyes burning blue.

Rags chuckled at the memory. It was a good one. He clenched his hand into a fist and brought it to eye level. Rags opened his hand, and a single golden Ginkgo leaf, ethereal and not quite all there, swam into existence. It was a thing of life, and of protection.

It was a good power.

[Preserving Ginkgo Leaves]

Rags blinked as the name swam around in his head. Yeah, that sounded right.

His musings were interrupted when there was a slamming on the door. Rags sighed.

"Whaddya want?!" he demanded and the door opened, revealing Loud Boy and Yin.

"Oi! We're gonna have a party tonight! Tigu said to spread the word!" Loud Boy declared, his voice booming off the walls.

Rags brightened up. "No shit?"

"Yeah! C'mon, let's go, Commander of the Grass Sea!" Loud Boy declared.

"Oh, well, if Leiting Long, Commander of the Tiger Leopard Outriders, commands it, I guess I can come along," Rags jabbed back, using Zang Wei's new nickname. Leiting Long, the Thundering Dragon.

It was pretty appropriate, and pretty cool… but there was no way Rags was telling him that.

Yin laughed at Loud Boy's face going a bit red.

"Shut up, Commander of the Blazing Swords," he retorted.

Yin just laughed harder.

As they pushed and shoved each other, it felt no different from being kids again, playing and pretending to be great cultivator heroes.

But it wasn't pretend anymore. They would be the new stories people told to each other. The Legend of the Azure Heroes.

============================

"Hey! Ho! Hey!" Rags shouted in time to the beat of the song. His arms were slung around Loud Boy and Tigu's necks. They were all rocking from side to side and kicking their legs out. The line was everybody long. Even Delun had joined in, on Loud Boy's left, while Xianghua was on Tigu's right.

For the first time in a long time… they could all just have fun.

Even the Grand Marshal.

"Ohhhhhh~" Xiulan's sweet voice rose in the air. "There once was an ol' whore, spry as could be, and her companion, by chance, was a young donkey!"

Oh, the Ol' Spry Whore. Rags loved this song.

They partied into the night, and the next morning Rags got to see something amazing.

He got to watch as pure, fresh, clean water poured out of the Dueling Peaks. Water that wouldn't make you sick if you drank it. Enough clean water for everybody.

Rags couldn't help but smile.

Book 4: Chapter 79: Strength of Purpouse

"Keep moving, you bastards! Lengthen your stride! One must find the perfect balance between haste and endurance!" Yin shouted as she blitzed across the Grass Sea along with her squadron. The sun beat down strongly on them, the wind howling as they moved across the sea. The grasslands were bad for stealth but good for speed.

"Yes, Commander!" her people bellowed back at her. There were thirty of them, from all the corners of the Azure Hills, drawn by one thing and one thing only; the promise of what the Blazing Swords was.

Rags had the sneaky types and scouts. Loud Boy and the Tiger Leopard Outriders were the first reaction force.

The Blazing Swords? They were the hammer. Theirs would be the most difficult and dangerous jobs; the front line, the heavy assault—just as Yin liked it. And judging by the enthusiasm of the people she was running ragged, they too were looking forward to the day when they would be put to the test.

Some might say that it was cruel to hope that bad things would happen so they could be of use; but Yin knew that bad things were going to happen regardless. It just so happened that they would be ready for whatever came, instead of being surprised by it.

"In two more Li, hold! Then we will be trading pointers! I want some enthusiasm, damn it!" Yin shouted again, and the reply was a resounding affirmative.

Good.

When she was first introduced as a commander and she set about gathering up the people she needed, her Blazing Swords had been filled with fools. Many men had come just so that they could stare at her.

That lasted until the first training session, when some asshole from the Azure Horizon Sect had run his mouth. Well, more accurately,the Young Master of that sect.

"I would deign to be under Rou Tigu or Cai Xiulan. But you? You're just a pretty flower. Your beauty is wasted, being the commander of an assault force. You would look much better in silks than that rough gi, and I would be happy to provide," Jian Jiang had said, his eyes lingering on her chest.

"And you look like you could suck a gourd through a rice stalk," Yin had replied. The look on the man's face had been priceless. "Alright, let's get this outta the way first. If any of you dumb shits have a problem with me being in charge, we're settling this right here, right now."

The entire crowd had recoiled at Yin's declaration, but the Azure Horizon Sect guy stood his ground.

"Your manners and speech are appalling!" the man replied. "I shall be sure to teach you properly, when I am commander."

He had drawn his sword. He actually had pretty good cultivation, being at the Fourth Stage of the Initiate's Realm. He had obviously been one of the ones who had broken through after seeing his sect's memory crystal.

Yin drove him head first into the ground like a nail.

And then put the next two people to test their luck into the ground right next to him. One was a big guy from the Grand Ravine Sect, and the other was from the Green Leaves Sect.

A bunch of people had left after that… but, after she pulled the three of them out of the ground, Jian Jiang and Elbeg, the Grand Ravine Sect guy, had both stayed.

They had proven to be surprisingly good lieutenants, if a bit prone to staring at her whenever she took her top off.

Eh, they would grow out of it.

"Sho Shan! You're up first!" Yin declared and pointed at one of her men.

"Yes, Commander!" he shouted, and got into his stance instantly. The first couple of times people traded pointers they were all skittish and worried. Like most of them thought that trading pointers with her was dangerous or something.

Nobody really thought that anymore, and most people were downright eager to spar. Which was also great.

"Come on and do your best, or I'll kick your ass!" Yin shouted to him, and then they were sparring.

========================

"Great job today, everyone!" Yin shouted, and a cheer followed her words. They were all in a tavern; one Yin found quite agreeable, as it had a balcony that they could all sit on and watch the setting sun from.

Her people looked exhausted. She had driven them hard…. but that was what all of them wanted. To be challenged. To be the best.

Liang Yin was finally content with life. The peace and quiet of Fa Ram was nice in some ways, but in others it made her restless. She had felt aimless, without direction, drifting from one new thing to the next, trying to find something, anything that truly captivated her. Her Shifu wanted her to be more than a weapon, and she strove to make him happy… but nothing had clicked. Nothing gave her the peace the others had; they all found joy in the simple things in life. They found peace in it.

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And Yin couldn't. It had made her restless and irritable. Her heart yearned for something, anything.

And now, she had it. She had finally found her purpose once more.

Each new day was a challenge. She had to think up ways to keep her people motivated, lead training exercises, and spar, all with the knowledge that what she was doing was right. That she was once more a weapon against evil.

Even the other things she had tried, like mining, blacksmithing, or weaving, felt more fulfilling.

Yin, in the middle of the most work she had to do in a year, during a stressful, turbulent, changing time… was at peace.

And wasn't that one of those paradoxical things?

Almost as funny as a rabbit blessed by the sun.

She smiled and closed her eyes, enjoying the moment.

================================

The work was hard and fulfilling in equal measure, but after months of it… things were finally starting to slow down. Tigu and Xiulan started getting days off, ostensibly for their own cultivation…. but most of the time for stuff like this.

Yin was sitting beside a very bewildered farmer's field with the rest of her companions.

Xiulan had bought all the grain in this particular farmer's field after they had all refused to let her harvest it. Right now, both Tigu and Xiulan were stretching and warming up for the "epic battle" to come.

Xianghua was lounging almost indolently on top of a pile of hay. Loud Boy and Rags were sharing a drink with Delun, and the Torrent Rider was teaching Shaggy Two how to write.

Yin herself was leaning slightly over the Torrent Rider's shoulder, watching as he wrote down a bunch of easy characters for the dog to try his hand at.

Shaggy Two was doing his best, and he was a commendable spirit, even if his characters were rough and uneven.

"This one," Yin suggested, and her little brother brightened up. She could tell he was smiling under his rooster mask.

"Okay! This one means peace, okay bud?" the Torrent Rider asked.

Shaggy Two barked as the young man started writing the character out, the dog following the strokes closely.

It took him three tries to get it right—but both Yin and the Torrent Rider made sure to praise him. He really liked being petted, Shaggy Two, and Yin couldn't blame him. Being petted in rabbit form was really nice. Sometimes she got Tigu or the Torrent Rider to scratch behind her ears.

Eventually, however, Tigu and Xiulan were ready. Yin picked up the gong and stood as her two friends faced off.

"Prepare to lose, Blade of Grass!" Tigu haughtily declared. "I'm much stronger than I was last—"

[Verdant Blade Sword Arts: 64 Blades of Grass]

A veritable forest of blades erupted around Xiulan before they began to morph. Like a child weaving blades of grass into a crown, Xiulan's swords wove together into multiple shearing blades, reminiscent of one of Bowu's reapers.

Tigu paused and her mouth dropped open. She pointed straight at Xiulan, her arm shaking.

"Let's have a good match, Little Sister," Xiulan said sweetly.

Tigu said something that even Yin raised an eyebrow at, while Rags choked on his drink.

"Did she really learn how to do that just to beat Tigu?" Loud Boy asked.

"Yes, I saw her practising. It took her a week to figure it out, and she copied my little brother's work!" Xianghua replied. "It's why This Sectmaster did not add her blade to the ring. I refuse to partake in such a lopsided battle!"

"I think we might have to say no Qi techniques in the future." Rags mused, scratching his chin.

"You think Tigu will accept that?" Yin replied.

"Probably not," Delun said. "But maybe she can do something with her Qi claw blades like that?"

Yin shrugged before sounding the gong.

The battle began, and ended, in Tigu's devastating defeat.

The cat stared forlornly at the reaped field.

"...best two out of three," she demanded.

The day ended at five to zero.

Yin wrote down everything that had happened that day in a scroll. Either it would be another letter… or she would be able to read this to everybody once they got back home.

And then she would tell her Shifu about her life properly.

The solstice was coming soon enough.

============================

Zang Zeng, Elder of the Shrouded Mountain Sect, looked closely at the messenger.

"And this lead is accurate?" he asked.

"Yes, Elder. The north Azure Hills. Everything matches."

The cultivator considered his subordinate's words. Out of the corner of his eye he glanced at his woman, the one who always knew exactly what to say. She was wearing a bland, inoffensive smile, as always.

"I must meditate upon this," he decided.

His man bowed and left the room. Zang Zeng frowned. They had been sitting here, waiting for news for entirely too long a time, but finally they had a lead.

"Today is a joyous day, is it not, Master?" His woman said, her voice like silk. "You finally know where the charlatan who spits on the Shrouded Mountain Sect hides."

"Indeed. The isolated north. It does all fit, from where my boy was first ambushed, but…" he trailed off. Something still felt wrong about this.

"I'm certain your skilled men have brought you accurate information, Master," the woman whispered, her voice oh so very convincing. She was right. He had skilled men, and that location was where his enemy hid. "There's no more reason to hide; I'm sure you can descend upon his family as you please. Like the rats at that mountain could stand against you."

That did sound like a good idea, to get the girl at the Dueling Peaks. But that carried a risk that was currently unacceptable, his gut told him.

"No. I shall not give my enemy any alert as to my action. We head north, quietly," he said, making his decision.

The woman's smile remained fixed on her face, and her hands started toying with his chest. His body reacted—this was the only reason why he kept her around, she was supremely skilled in the art of pleasing him. Why, he could almost get lost in her eyes and taste. "Of course, Master. Your caution does you credit."

Zang Zeng nodded as she started pulling him down. He considered dallying, but instead he grabbed her hand. "My plans are immaculate. Now, begone. I have to meditate. We will leave soon."

His woman's eyes flashed with disappointment, before she bowed.

"Of course, Master."

Zang Zeng frowned as she left. The feeling of wrongness was diminished. His soul felt at peace.

So he planned and issued his orders. An hour later, he decided to break his fast—and partook of his only meal that day.

He walked over to his nightstand and pulled out the last of the Silver Grade Rice. There was a miniscule amount left.

He cooked it himself and savoured every bite. He chewed slowly.

And the feeling of unease came creeping back.

======================================

A messenger from the Shrouded Mountain Sect arrived four hours later.

He had been given quite the run around. First, he had gone to the safehouse in Green Stone Forest, where Zang Zeng was supposed to be. Instead, he found only a skeleton crew, and nobody knew where he had gone.

The messenger had kept looking—eventually following the Elder's trail to here.

But now the man was gone again, with not a trace of where they had went.

The messenger was starting to get nervous.

He turned away from the Azure Hills and headed back into the interior of Yellow Rock Plateau, clutching his emergency orders for Zang Zeng to return to the mountain.

Book 4: Chapter 80: The Wheel Keeps Turning

"By the power the sects of the Azure Hills have invested in this position, Cai Xiulan calls this meeting to order," Cai Xi Kong's daughter declared formally. Her eyes roved over the assembled Elders as she spoke. This was the first meeting called with all of them in attendance since that fateful month, where his daughter had revealed her ambitions.

How much things had changed in that short time already. The little seed his daughter had planted was already growing and gathering strength. He had charted its course with great interest, as had the rest of his sect. Like the grass their sect was styled after, it had grown fast, quickly covering the hills in green.

Those who hadn't been paying as much attention, those whose entire thoughts were consumed by the crystals and the secrets within them, had likely received a rather large shock. They had assumed the hot blood and folly of youth would stymie the growing movement. They assumed that the old grudges they held for each other were inviolate, even with the oaths they had taken.

Needless to say, they had been unprepared for when Xiulan and her allies went on their tour to each and every sect in the province to make their oaths and claims a reality. The youth had not fallen to petty infighting. Instead, Xiulan's vision had captured them all.

The youth had a dream, a shared vision burning within them. A dream of strength, glory, and respect that they chased after with all the passion and fire their youth gave them. They had something to build, something to create for themselves, and they had grasped it with all their might.

What was worse for those who never intended the organization to be as strong as it became was that Xiulan's ideas were good… and that they were working.

Cultivators who seemed certain to forever only taste the First Stage of the Initiate's Realm had surged to the Second, or even the Third. Young Masters and Young Mistresses went from the Fourth at best to knocking on the gateway to the Profound—if they had not broken through already.

It was like some great curse had suddenly been lifted from all of them, like some hand that had been weighing them down had suddenly relinquished its grasp on their souls, and now the children, especially those who had thrown themselves into this new dream, grew like weeds.

It was here where the nature of cultivators worked in his daughter's favour. She was making them stronger. And thus, she was allowed to work.

Still, some would scheme, some would plot, some would grumble behind closed doors…

But none, right now, could refute that what she was doing was working.

All Xi Kong felt was pride, and a sense of satisfaction.

It was still the early days yet… but this was no longer some mere ephemeral moment. It was an enduring reality.

And today they were about to see more fruits of this reality; for today these Peaks would be hosting a very special guest. A guest that Xi Kong never would have guessed they would have.

"We are gathered today to welcome one of the first benefactors of the Azure Hills, the ones who made it possible for me to share with all the sects the memory crystals you now hold," Xiulan said to the gathered cultivators. "Captain Tigu, please bring in our esteemed guests."

Several of them leaned forwards, clearly curious. Xi Kong would have likely been curious as well… but being Xiulan's father did have some paternal privileges.

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So he was not surprised at all when the doors to the amphitheater opened, and an honour guard walked in.

They were one and all clad in armor, their allegiance to the Azure Hills proclaimed upon the flags they bore. Little Tigu managed to look stern and commanding, a far cry from the boisterous young girl he had known briefly last year; her demeanour all business as she escorted one of the secret movers and players of the Azure Hills.

Several of the Elders leaned back in their chairs, bafflement upon their features. Others had their eyes widened in recognition. Lady Mengde, the woman who had created the Crystal Emporium, and her close friends had featured heavily in many of the recorded memories after all.

"A monkey?" one of the Elders asked, his voice incredulous.

"Presenting, Master Gen Ten!" Tigu declared.

The monkey was one common to the north; some called them a golden snub-nosed, or simply a golden monkey on account of the rich golden colour of their fur. His face was a pale blue, and his nose was non-existent, only having two small holes that made his face look slightly skull-like.

But nobody who saw this monkey could say he was a mere beast.

It was his eyes. Like Bi De and Ri Zu, the monkey's eyes were filled with a keen awareness and intellect. He did not merely see; he observed, his eyes considering them all.

He walked in on his hind legs, his gait only slightly shuffling. On his back he wore familiar clothes—the same blue colour that Xiulan and her companions had worn. On his back was the symbol for azure, and over his heart was a stylized open palm. His wrists and neck were adorned with crystal pieces—and some of the crystals Xi Kong had never seen before.

The monkey walked to the center of the room.

"Master Gen, it's a pleasure to see you again," Xiulan said, starting things off.

"It's good to see you again too, lass," the monkey said, his voice strong, deep, and gravelly, like a mortal mining foreman. The kind of mortal who would stare nobles in the eye and tell them to get bent. "Now, I've got a few things to say, ifn' ya don't mind, Little Orchid."

"Not at all, Master Gen."

The monkey smiled at Xiulan, before that smile faded. He looked up at them all. He studied them, his eyes fathomless. And then, he reached into his shirt and produced a pipe. He pressed a crystal to it and it sparked, igniting the smokeweed within.

The monkey took a puff before he straightened up. He had a presence about him, Gen Ten. He felt old and hardy—it was like looking at a fellow Elder, if Xi Kong was honest.

"I am Gen Ten, Master of the Crystal Hill and supplier of nearly every crystal used in Mengde's Crystal Emporium. Each and every one of you has used something mined by us; some of you have used thousands of our crystals. And some of you use what we have even now, looking at the memories of your ancestors. Yet… we have kept ourselves hidden. I'm sure you do not need for me to tell you why," Gen's rumbling voice filled the amphitheater. There were several nods—and On Gang suddenly looked particularly ill.

They would have been resources at best to most of them. Still, it was quite remarkable that the crystal sellers had managed to keep such a secret quiet for so long. That their main suppliers were Spirit Beasts…

"Several months ago, it was my first time seeing the past as well. Long have my kin searched for the secrets of our Ancestors—for we too had lost much. Imagine my surprise, at seeing what we had in the past. Even more surprising was the Little Orchid there, who swore that she would bring about those times again.

"It had been thousands of years since we interacted with any but our dear friends in Mengde's… Well, she convinced me of the purity of her resolve. So we backed her, with the crystals you use to view the past. We believed in her resolve, and we believed in her dream. And now… in light of the repairs being made to this blessed mountain… we shall extend some trust to you as well.

"We are the Monkeys of Crystal Hill. We will not be your servants. We will not be your resources. But we trust the Orchid. We will believe in that dream, the dream our ancestors had. So… we are willing to extend this much trust. Everything must start somewhere."

And then, he raised his hands in the traditional gesture of respect.

"This old man pays his respects to the sects of the Azure Hills," the monkey said. "I represent my kin; the miners of the crystals of the Azure Hills. I look forward to working with you in repairing the mountain."

There was a brief moment of silence. The monkey's calm, gravelly voice had been full of power and resolve.

Then, Xi Kong spoke.

"I pay my respects to Master Gen. It is good to meet you."

"You have kept your people safe for thousands of years. That indeed deserves respect," Ulagann Baatar, Patriarch of the Grand Ravine Sect, intoned.

It was one thing to see the monkeys helping to craft the Dueling Peaks. It was another to have one in front of them, laying out his own plans.

The greetings were slow. The greetings were cautious. But they were a start.

Just like all of this. Just like the rest of the revitalization of the Azure Hills.

For the first time in thousands of years, a spirit beast sat upon one of the Dueling Peaks' chairs—and to the chagrin of some, it lit up with three lines, denoting a person of importance.

For now, only the people directly involved with the repair of the mountain would know. But what else would the future bring?

Xi Kong couldn't say.

What he did know was that the new ambassador from the Monkeys of Crystal Hill to the Sects of the Hills was named Huo Ten, and both Tigu and Yin were very happy to see him.

Book 4: Chapter 80: The Wheel Keeps Turning (2)

The days continued, sunrise and sunset winding into each other. The cold wind began to blow even in the south, as the trees began to change colours. The harvests of the mortals were reaped in full, the ground in the morning started to be coated with frost, and the fall rains poured from the heavens upon the Grass Sea.

Great herds of bison and deer continued their unending march, heading south, where the winter would be milder. Many would come to shelter in the Grand Ravine, where there was always at least some grass exposed, and the clear running water rarely froze.

They were preyed upon by tigers, ripperbeaks, wolves, and the occasional Spirit Beast. So too did the people of the Grass Sea take their bounty, as the herds marched past them; yet even they could not make a dent in the vast numbers of herbivores, fueled by the green of the Grass Sea.

Fall had come, at last; a deep breath before the snow fell, and winter was truly upon them.

================================

The cycle of seasons marches ever onwards, Liu Xianghua mused as she sat on a balcony.

The Dueling Peaks had hundreds of such platforms, and the lower reaches of the mountain had turned scarlet, orange, and gold as the trees changed colours. Today, there was no work; a day of rest, and one that Xianghua was grateful for. Instead, they were observing the fall colours, one of Master Jin's traditions, and watching over the town below as it prepared for the Mid-Autumn festival.

Despite the coming cold, the entire town seemed to be in a festive mood; men practised for the dragon dances, women carefully inspected the puppets and the clothing, repairing as needed, and children dashed all about the town.

Xianghua smiled at the peaceful atmosphere and stretched her arms above her head. She had needed this break. Running a sect was hard work, but she was fully capable of the task. She had been learning since she had been a toddler, after all.

If she was honest, the pressure was immense. All of a sudden, she was responsible for everybody and everything. It was a grand task, and one made more complicated by the state of the sect. Her fool of a sire had been rather lax in some of his record-keeping. There were some mortal villages that hadn't been visited in nearly a decade, and even worse, he had not been performing his duties as outlined in the sect's founding document. The head of the Misty Lake Sect was to open the festivals of the mortals, and her father had simply sent somebody else, uncaring about the "wastes of time."

Absolutely, positively unacceptable.

The man's only redeeming quality is that he hadn't abandoned all his oaths and all his senses and was actually on top of the petitions from the mortals, as was their right, even if many of the petitions had stalled with the sudden instability any power transfer brought.

Elder Bingwen, at least, had made great strides in resolving those issues, but he still needed the Sectmaster to have the final say. The man had been an immense help, and he was in charge whenever Xianghua was absent. Some might find it strange to trust the man who had led the charge in deposing her father—but Xianghua was fairly certain she understood Elder Bingwen. The man cared only that the sect was strong and righteous.

Oh, Xianghua was certain that he had liked ruling the sect, but Elder Bingwen was the pragmatic sort. Xianghua made them stronger, so he gladly relinquished control. The entire sect was swelling like a spring river, the rediscovered teachings of their ancestors and the steam furnaces propelling them to new heights.

It was a new dawn. The sect was united like never before. The councils were fruitful and productive—even when Xianghua had to speak with the woman who birthed her. They had an understanding between them. The woman did her job, and Xianghua did hers.

Integration into the alliance, training regimens, diplomacy… it was all under Xianghua's purview now. Though she was getting a bit tired of running back and forth between Misty Lake and the Peaks. She had gotten the travel time down to a day and a half at this point.

But running the sect was not all she did—she was an integral part of the alliance here, if she did say so herself, assisting where she could. Her days were full to bursting.

The lack of a defined routine she could follow was starting to wear a bit, and having to remember so many faces and people was exhausting. At least her act still worked… mostly. Some people were getting harder to read, as they stopped treating her like a Young Mistress and instead a Sectmaster. She may have to rework her entire act, and that made her soul leave her body just a little bit.

But today, there would be no work! None! She could recover herself and truly appreciate the fall colours with her friends, even if she wished she was with her Gou right now. Sitting in his lap and watching the leaves fall would have been very nice! Especially if Bowu was in her lap so he could tell her all about the new things he had made! And Mother Hu Li and Father Ten Ren would be there too, as well as Lady Meiling and…

Xianghua pouted a little bit, then took a sip of her tea to wash away the budding grumpiness before she returned her attention back to her friends who were sitting with her. They were acceptable too. Especially since Xiulan had gone out of her way to make Xianghua's favourite tea.

'Perhaps we should tell them?' Tigu asked from where she was sitting. At the moment she was a cat. 'Maybe knowing that there are already other Spirit Beasts among them would smooth things over?'

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Xianghua blinked at the conversation, before she recalled what they were talking about. The Crystal Hill monkeys joining the alliance had been a bit strained. Most cultivators didn't know how to act around the friendly Spirit Beasts. Things were awkward and stilted and there had been some inadvertent insults as the monkeys were treated like animals instead of the cultivators they were. Thankfully, disagreements hadn't escalated to blows, but the worry was always there. It helped that Master Gen was very visible sitting among the Elders, and the monkeys were very present in various rebuilding efforts.

"It's up to you, Tigu," Xiulan replied. "I do not know what the reaction will be. I just know most won't be as subdued as others."

At this, Xiulan turned and smiled at where Delun was sitting. Delun, Loud Boy, Rags, The Torrent Rider, Shaggy Two, and Huo Ten the monkey were all sitting around Yin and using the heat she was producing to roast rice balls. The woman was currently in rabbit form, content to be used as a portable stove, lying underneath the metal mesh that served as the grill.. All of them were chatting about something and laughing.

Indeed, Delun's reaction to finally figuring out Tigu was a Spirit Beast had been quite amusing… and proof of his nature. He had looked a bit shocked, then he had pondered for a moment, then he had spoken.

"Tigu is Tigu, no matter the form she takes," the man had said with a shrug.

Xianghua smirked before considering Tigu's question. "I think we should stay the course. I believe it is helping with you being so casual with them. The others look to you for guidance, and if a "human" reacts like this to them, they will follow suit."

Tigu sighed. There was a pop, and then she was human again. "Feels a bit like tricking people."

Xianghua shrugged. "Then do as you please. We shall deal with any problems that come up together."

The woman smiled. "Thank you, Misty Lady. Truly, my Brother Disciple had a good eye to find such an exceptional woman!"

Xianghua chuckled, and Xiulan rolled her eyes.

"You can thank me by not talking about work, fool," Xianghua deadpanned.

Tigu blushed and scratched the back of her neck.

"Though, speaking of our Junior Brother," Xiulan said. "Delun has mentioned difficulties in repairing some of the core structural components of the mountain—for all that we can repair the mechanisms… there are no true architects here for the task. I think I'll be asking him to lend us a hand, if he can be spared."

"He already has a most worthy and pressing duty assisting Master Jin," Xianghua demurred. "But it would be nice to see him, if only in an advisory role."

Gou Ren, aiding in this? Being by her side so she could refill her reserves of energy? It would make her a thousand times more efficient!

The thought put Xianghua in a better mood.

After that, things did change to lighter topics. The Mid-Autumn Festival, for one, and what they would be doing. It was a good conversation!

Then, they finished their tea and all went for a walk through the forest on the mountain, to properly admire the colours.

Xiulan scoured the entire mountain until she found a red maple tree and started making a crown for herself out of it.

"You know, there would be fewer comments about you being Master Jin's woman if you stopped wearing so much of his symbol," Xianghua noted.

The look on Xiulan's face was most amusing.

===

Across the Grass Sea, and in Grass Sea City, another man prepared for the Mid-Autumn Festival—or rather directed the preparations.

And directing festival preparations for the city of over a million souls, and probably the surrounding lands that held millions more, was certainly a trying endeavor—but also ironically a lot easier than he had feared.

"Excellent work on the banners," the Special Inspector, Acting Lord Magistrate of Grass Sea City, complimented one of the work gangs who were making fresh banners for the interior of Underbridge. The men grinned and slapped each other on the back. They were rough lads, some covered in tattoos and most scarred, but they did good work. "Let's get these up. Report to Mister Lung for payment, afterwards."

"Yes, Special Inspector!" the probably previously gang members said, smiles on their faces. The Special Inspector nodded to them, and then turned to the brightly lit interior of Underbridge. It looked great—much better than it had previously, bright and clean, instead of dark and dilapidated. For the first time in living memory too, Underbridge would officially be a part of the celebrations.

Normally the place was completely ignored, the previous administration citing the people as "dirty malcontents who stole everything good."

Which was an unfortunate comment. Sure, the people were poor, but back home in Verdant Hill, the poor weren't any lesser or dirtier, they were just poor. His Honourable Father's methods on how to make the place better and reduce crime worked wonders, and he was a little bit baffled that the previous administration had such a hard time imposing order.

All you had to do was go down and talk to them like they weren't simpletons, and things got done. Tell people what you want, pay them the amount you said you would on time, and the suspicious looks instantly turned into polite deference. Hells, the guards previously refused to enter the place except in force… so he had gone and done the patrols himself. Now, little patrols were there, accompanied by Boss Tanhui's men, and the thefts and violence had dropped like a rock into a river.

The people he had the most trouble with were the remaining nobles. They schemed and they politicked and they looked for any slip-up he could make. He checked his drinks for poison whenever he was around them. That was the hard part, and the part that had him wishing for his replacement to hurry up and arrive already.

He'd give the man his functioning city, that didn't have anything obviously wrong that could be blamed on his management in it, and then he could escape to a less stressful job!

Or maybe go back home, escape from being Special Inspector forever and sleep on his parents' couch for the rest of his life. Maybe inherit Verdant Hill?

It was a pleasant thought that kept him going throughout the day, making sure everything was running smoothly, and waving to the people who called his name.

He kept his smile wide, as he met with the nobles again, and listened to a couple of them complain about how much he was paying workers.

He finally got to his room, screamed into his pillow for thirty seconds, and then got ready for bed.

The only good part about this was at least he wasn't causing his parents any stress.

===

Ming Jie was on one knee as he bowed his head before his Lord and Lady. His Master's face was stone, while the Lady was smiling.

It was not a nice smile. In fact, he was rather terrified right now.

"This will be a long and arduous journey; the first of many, and the first long distance test," the other man in the room said. Some manner of cultivator who served the Patriarch. And was that not a fascinating idea? Only the Master of Verdant Hill could have such a retainer.

"Yes, I will write down everything and make note of any problems," Ming Jie reported, his head bowed.

"Excellent," the Lord Magistrate said. "Thank you, Ming Jie, for volunteering to go so far."

"It is no trouble at all, Lord Magistrate. It's an honour and a pleasure." And it truly was. He had already done the first rounds in Verdant Hill and to the outlying villages. Ming Jie liked to travel, honestly, and this new mail system his Lord was devising was truly ingenious! He planned to spread it over all the province—and Ming Jie would have the honour of being the Lord Magistrate's eyes and ears in how he could implement it.

"Then please, go, and deliver this message to our son. To his hands only," Lady Wu said. "To Pale Moon Lake City first. Because our son is certainly not lying to us about his peaceful school life, and if he is I'm going to tan his hide…" The last part was furiously said under her breath, the woman's smile turning malevolent.

"Yes, my Lady. Not rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail, nor rampaging spirit beasts shall prevent your words from being delivered," Ming Jie swore.

And then he set off, his head held high, his delivery for the Young Master safe and sound.

==

"It's probably just a coincidence that the new Lord Magistrate has the same name as our boy," the Lord Magistrate said to his wife after Ming Jie left.

Lady Wu twitched. "It had better be."

Book 4: Chapter 81: Last Days of Fall

Drums pounded without cease. Fireworks detonated with wild abandon. Dragon costumes bounded and pranced through the streets, and children chased their tails.

"—And so the Sects of the Azure Hills, and this Director of Spiritual Ascension Affairs, bid you all welcome to make merry on this fine day!"

Xiulan listened to the cheer that went up as the Lord Director's voice finished booming through the recently repaired formation. His voice was jovial, and punctuated by even more fireworks.

The streets thronged with people as the Mid-Autumn Festival at the Dueling Peaks commenced.

It was likely very different than the people of this town were used to, Xiulan mused as she walked through the crowd herself. The Dueling Town was normally quiet and sleepy this time of year. Perhaps there would have been a few parties and small town events, as most of the people left during the "off" season. There normally were no cultivators, and without the crowds that travelled to watch the tournaments most of the residents dispersed back into the countryside, retaking their roles as farmers, or simply closing their shops and heading back to other towns and villages.

But this year the cultivators had stayed. This year, each and every sect was in attendance. Over the months they had been operating out of the mountain, the people who lived in the town had obviously sent messages to friends, family, and business partners. And while it wasn't to the level of a tournament, the number of people in the town had once more swelled. The town once again looked more like a city—and Xiulan had worked with the Lord Director, Bai Huizhong, to organize the festivities properly.

The man had only been too happy to help—the Lord Director had been nothing if not accommodating of everything they had been doing, and in return he had a seat in the meetings. Not that he actually spoke much, simply saying most of the time that he "deferred to the Elders' judgment."

Xiulan realised instantly why he had been Lord Director for so long, and why her father never had anything bad to say about the man. He was very adept at the political game.

Outside that, he had actually been quite the help in smoothing out some of their problems. At first the Elders had been skeptical on how a mortal would be able to help with cultivator logistics, but Bai Huizhong clearly knew how to move vast quantities of supplies relatively quickly, and his ability to coordinate men in different towns and villages so far away from his seat of power was fascinating.

He also had several interesting ideas on how to cement the idea of the "Azure Alliance", as many were calling it, in the minds of the people. They had not announced the alliance officially to the mortals, even if they knew something had changed, simply because at first nobody knew if it wouldn't all fall apart. But now? With the way things were progressing? Most of the Elders were fine with the people knowing.

To that end Huizhong was commissioning songs and plays and, of all things, dolls of various cultivators, clad in what was fast becoming their uniform—the blue gi top with the symbol for Azure on the back.

"Familiarity reduces fear," the man had said. "What child is afraid of the doll they hug for comfort at night? Who does not want to hear of their glorious protectors?"

Xiulan found his logic hard to argue against… as did the rest of the Elders. Everybody had been happy about it—except for Tigu.

"So… what about royalties?" she had asked.

Huizhong became slightly less enthusiastic after that—and Tigu had to explain the entire thing to the Elders. Most hadn't cared about the "paltry sum from mortal trinkets", but Tigu had simply said it was so they could pay their mortal servants and that they needed every silver coin they could get to properly restore the mountain.

That had found more fertile ground with the Elders, and a deal was soon agreed to. Huizhong would be in charge of the announcement, and they would have a likely small but still useful income stream to aid in the reconstruction efforts.

Xiulan paused and took a step back as she felt something approaching.

"'Scuse me!!" A child shouted as she darted past Xiulan.

"Outta the way!" another yelped as he barely avoided hitting Xiulan.

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"Sorry, miss!" a third yelped, stumbling after his friends.

Xiulan chuckled at them and shook her head before returning her eyes to the festival.

She only really had two festivals to compare this to. The one in Green Grass Village, and the one in Hong Yaowu. The one in Green Grass Village was a happy memory, and one that was slightly hazy in her mind—she had stopped going after her mother had left to continue on her journey. She remembered some kind of candy, and watching from her father's shoulders as the dragon puppet bucked and leapt.

The festivities in Hong Yaowu were a lot fresher in her mind, and equally as happy. She had to say, compared to the dancers here, Uncle Xian, Ten Ren, and Yao Che were the superior dragon dancers—the men may have passed middle-aged, but they could put on a fantastic show.

But while the acrobatics of this lot at the Dueling Peaks were not quite as pulse pounding, they were still experienced… and they showed it when they choreographed the dances with the other sets of dragon puppets, bounding and spiraling around each other, before meeting in the center of town and then shooting off again. The men were even making use of one of the new flows of water, skipping and leaping over the shimmering rivers.

Xiulan found herself following one of the better dancers of the five dragons, swaying to the pounding beat. As she walked, her eyes roved over the crowd and what she saw made her smile.

She saw Chen Yang eating at one of the stores he had made a sign for. Ulagan Tarkhan was speaking to an older mortal while the Young Master of the Grand Ravine Sect examined sets of rope with him. Dulou Gan, Young Master of the Rumbling Earth Sect, was having a drink with some of the road workers. Another cultivator had an entire group of mortals cheering him on as he bought all the dumplings one of the carts had, his nose so far in the air he was practically bent backwards. A woman was seated with an old man outside a kiln as they both examined a set of bowls.

Xiulan saw Tigu giving the girl from the store Jin had repaired, Ning, a shoulder ride as she darted through the streets, the little girl howling with laughter the entire time. Yin was engaged in an eating contest with a man three times her size, slurping down bowls of spicy pork noodles. She was on her eighth bowl already. Rags and Loud Boy were shifting through scrolls together, Loud Boy pointing out ones that he thought Rags should read. Delun was with the Torrent Rider and Shaggy Two, the older man deeply considering a new shirt the Torrent Rider was thinking of buying. And there was Xianghua, who was leading around her own younger sectmates, and watching over them as they partook in the festivities. She looked for all the world like a mother directing her children, or a duck leading around ducklings.

Xiulan smiled as she watched, her feet taking her around the town. Her smile was still firmly on her face as she felt another presence approaching.

"It is a strange… but not an entirely unwelcome sight," the rumbling voice of the Patriarch of the Grand Ravine Sect noted as he fell into step beside her. He was not much taller than she was, even if his presence and Qi made him seem larger than he was.

"I'm glad you think so, Master Baatar," Xiulan replied. She had been given the honour of addressing him by his first name after their last meeting and the journey to the Grand Ravine. They had not stayed long, as they had to travel to a great many sects, but the week spent in the Grand Ravine had been pleasant. Xiulan silently thanked the fact that she knew the Xong brothers and their mother—both she and Xianghua had rather impressed the people of the ravine with the knowledge and respect they had for their customs. Impressed them enough that Sarnai, Tarkhan's little sister, requested to be her aide.

And, Xiulan was not the only one who had impressed. It still brought a smile to her face every time she remembered Xianghua holding court with a bunch of other swooning ravine women as she waxed pridefully poetic about "Mother Hu Li" and "her" Gou Ren—complete with drawings of said man's abs.

The only incident on the trip was that Tigu had nearly gotten a full shoulder tattoo, and was only prevented from getting one because they wouldn't have had enough time to do so before moving on.

"Mmm. We have the same dragon dance, even if many of our customs are different—though our dragons have to walk across the ravine balanced on ropes," the old man continued.

"I would like to see that some day," Xiulan said. "Perhaps next year? I would like a visit not cut short by the necessities of politics."

The man smiled. "Of course, Grand Marshal. We would show you our hospitality—but why wait? I would invite you to witness Ovliin Tuli—that is the Holy Solstice. It is of great importance to us."

Xiulan paused, surprised, before she smiled. "I am honoured, but I promised Master Jin I would celebrate the solstice with him and his family."

The older man nodded his head. "Say no more. I understand…" he trailed off for a moment. "How does he celebrate the night, if it is not too presumptuous of me to ask?"

"The old ways. His family dances until the sun comes up, to once more greet the dawn."

Baatar looked intensely interested. He took a breath, before deciding to speak again. "I know Master Jin asked for his privacy. But…there are some delicate matters of clan and people. How would he react to receiving a letter from us? I would like to meet him and offer my thanks. He looked after my kin when they battled the Shrouded Mountain Sect. If he is agreeable, I would invite him into our home as a guest of the highest honour—weak though we may be to a man of his caliber."

Xiulan considered the request. The man making it was completely humble, with not a hint of greed in his eyes or posture. There was nothing in his mannerisms that indicated he wanted to use her friend. Instead, he spoke only with the greatest respect—and Xiulan knew how much inviting a man into the ravine meant for the people of the Grand Ravine. Very few outsiders received that.

Besides, Jin had mentioned exploring the province, hadn't he? He had once said he thought the Grand Ravine would look amazing. When Little De got a bit older, perhaps they could travel? Xiulan wanted to show him the Azure Hills. The real Azure Hills, in all its glory.

"I will deliver any correspondence myself, but I cannot promise anything," Xiulan said after a moment.

"Thank you, Grand Marshal. That is more than I could have asked," Ulagaan Baatar said, clasping his hands in respect. Then he turned and considered the rest of the festival, before his eyes alighted on a go board. "Though, may I ask that you keep this old man company for just a little longer?"

Xiulan chuckled. "Of course, but I'll have you know I have defeated Master Jin every time we have played."

The old man's eyes widened. "Ah, then I shall be challenging your might."

Ten minutes later, Baatar was squinting at the board. Xiulan's cheeks were flushed as she stared at the complete domination she had been subjected to.

"...Master Jin is really, really bad at Go," she said, defending herself.