"You're back. What did you find out?" Tu Qiang was sitting outside, waiting for Xin to return, warming his hands by a campfire. Everyone else seemed to be back in their tents.
"I managed to overhear Boozeman speak to his subordinate. Things are as I suspected."
"Shit. Go on." Tu Qiang shook his head and slapped his knee.
"They aren't to attack us for now, but yes, they work with the Fist sect. They trade with them, this shipment is also meant for them."
"I see. And those prostitutes?"
"Is this what you're interested in? Nothing happened, I paid them for a private dance. End of story." He raised his voice slightly, hoping that some other people in the camp would hear it as well.
"No, just trying to get a full picture. So, what do we do?"
"I thought about it for quite some time. You know what I want to do?"
"Tell me."
"A sabotage. I could poison the boose, I'm a metal and wood path alchemist, subtly spiking the barrels isn't hard for me. We could also just attack them outright. No one expects a freak like Rui Ming, and no one expects Lei to have an attacking method capable of harming rank twos. If we just rushed them when they sat at their campfire, they wouldn't be able to react on time..."
"Wait... what?" Tu Qiang interrupted him in confusion. "Are you fucked in the head? Are you a psychopath?"
"No, I am not. That's exactly my point. We could defeat them, and the loot would be great, the gains immense. We'd also disrupt the Fist sect…."
"But, our sects aren't officially at war, if something goes wrong..."
"Stop interrupting. I told you what I want to do, not what we should do. And I want you to nail this point home to everyone. Once we inform the others, they might want to pull something stupid, too. Especially Lei. And that's why I need us to act in unison, master Qiang."
"So, what do you propose? Keeping a low profile?"
"I thought about it for some time, my proposal is actually quite anticlimactic. But it's the best option, objectively."
Xin explained his idea and went to sleep.
Next morning, the caravan ventured forth. They'd need to spend around two more days to reach the Riversong manor, and that's where they'd split — the group was supposed to turn towards their sect, while the caravan would take a short detour towards Tealstone.
Xin still felt frustrated from yesterday. It was humiliating, being a prisoner of your own desires, and he had a whole ocean pent up. Need to seriously think about finding a partner, I'm too irritated to think properly. But women are also irritating a lot of the time, you just can't win!
The next two days passed without any events of note. The caravan hands and Boozeman Chao himself tried chatting the people up, they responded politely but only revealed the most basic information. Xin was hawkishly pecking his nose into every conversation, just to make sure.
"Hey, Xin, Riversong Manor is a few hours away. The trees in this forest look familiar. Let's stay alert." Lei addressed Xin as they rode to the side of the main squad.
"Well, that demon won't attack us again, unless she assembled a demonic cultivator squad. Funny how that Chao guy doesn't suspect that it's us who fought there, since we came from a different route."
"How do you know that he doesn't?"
"Elimination, logic. Otherwise, his responses would make no sense. Remember, I overheard his discussion with his subordinate. If he knew about the manor, he'd act differently. And if they had an ambush prepared, their conversation would be a bit different, too. And it's impossible that they knew about my perception and staged their discussion, as there is no gain from doing this."
"Still, fuckers work for the Fist sect... " Lei said. Xin had already described his findings to his group, but in very brief details, and instructed everyone how to act properly. Murong Zhan was of great help in this particular aspect. "You sure we shouldn't just wreck them?"
"Do you want to kill everyone involved? Even the innocent caravan hands that he hired a few days ago, who know nothing of his plans? Do you want to take any more losses? Do you want to be reprimanded or outright punished by the sect? Remember, we still have no standing. Fucks sake, man, use your brain."
"I'm just trying to let my thoughts flow free, see an opening if there is any. Talking about doing what you want, it was you and not me who visited those prostitutes. You've been squirming all night, what did they do to you?"
"I was having dreams about our previous combats. The bad ones." Xin lied. Of course he was having erotic dreams.
"Yeah, sure." Lei smirked. "Look, brother, we're almost done with this journey, our gains should be immense. We'll come back and digest them, you'll join me at rank one, maybe we'll even manage to enter closed cultivation, you know? Dodge the war completely."
"Do you believe in this yourself? It's clear that the sect is stretched, we've displayed ourselves as a useful asset. It's much more likely that these pavilion worms will stay in the sect, while we'll be sent to fight again."
"Ha, those that refuse to fight don't reach high ranks. Combat is the highest expression of your dao understanding, if you refuse to partake in it, you'll stagnate." Lei scratched his nose with his wooden arm.
Xin smirked:
"Well, I won't tell you anything new. If the challenge is too much, people just die before they reach the top. If the challenge is not enough, you get these decadent sixth year internal disciples. Fucking despise them."
"Same! Can't wait to enter the Combat pavilion as a master, none of these fuckers will look me in the eyes now. But you know what I want the most, though?"
"To slide your dick into some pussy."
"How did you know?!"
"Precognition."
"No, but seriously, I am going crazy. I've been seeing this girl in Clay Nest, but it didn't go anywhere. I neglected her too much because of the whole alchemy gig, so she broke it off. I gave her expensive gifts, and didn't even get to tap! Should be illegal!" Lei sighed.
Xin felt that Lei wasn't too serious, and was playing up this horny man persona to compensate for being rejected. And he certainly didn't care about the money that he was spending.
"Eh, you know what? What if I told you there is someone you find attractive, with a lot of pent up sexual energy, who looks like a viable option in your current situation?" Xin spoke slowly, in a mysterious tone, to tease Lei even more.
"Oi, mate! Are you hitting on me?" Lei laughed out loud.
"You wish. So, there was this girl in the tent, one of the prostitutes. I recognized her. She was… Your mom!"
"Oh!" Lei exclaimed and grabbed his heart, as if he was shot and was about to fall from his horse. Everyone turned back to look at him.
"Is everything alright down there?" Boozeman Chao asked. He was riding at the top of the caravan.
"You should ask him if everything's alright up there!" Murong Zhan pointed at his temple. "Lei's unhinged, hahaha!"
"You lot are alright, don't scare me like that!" Master Chao also laughed.
"Well, anyway..." Xin whispered to Lei. "I'm talking about Yao Nang. You've got good chances if you want to pursue her. I recommend doing it as soon as we come back to the sect. Just be gentle, apologise, switch your attitude for a bit. She'll like it."
"Oh, matchmaker much? Alright, I'll consider what you said. Are you also spoonfeeding me dating advice as well now?"
"Oh, that comment stung? Well, I won't apologise. You should spend more time studying."
***
The evening came, and Xin knew that the perfect moment was approaching. There was a small chance they'd get ambushed near the Riversong Manor, as it was adjacent to Fist sect territories, and he wasn't about to take any chances.
"Guys. Soon." He quietly told his squad. Tu Qiang subtly nodded.
"You, back there! We'll make a ten minute stop, then ride towards Riversong manor! There was a demonic cultivator attack back there, but my intel says it should be safe now!" Boozeman Chao called them up.
Xin glanced around his squad, scanning them. Wu Xiaoyun looked the most distressed.
"Are you alright, sister?"
"Yes, Xin. Just thinking about that fight back then. We almost died. You organised everyone nicely. Back then, me and Su Xing fought shoulder to shoulder. We were such small fry, but I believed our friendship could help us endure despite the lack of power. Well, you know what happened next."
"Look, I was rude to you throughout our journey. I am sorry." Where did that come from? Xin was confused with himself, he noticed he was speaking impulsively quite a lot lately.
"It was necessary to snap me back to reality, actually. I appreciate it a lot."
"That's... not how it was, from my side. I had a lot of anger pent up, and wanted to snap at someone. So I snapped, from time to time, looking to hurt someone. 'Helping everyone think straight' was how I justified it, and even if I was right, it wasn't why I did it. I could go about it differently. Sorry."
"Xin, you're making a fuss out of nothing. We're talking about war. You kept us alive. You can bark all you want, it kinda fits you." Wu Xiaoyun got embarrassed for a moment. She wanted to say something eloquent and playful, but randomly called him a dog. She found him quite pettable, though. "Eh, not that you're a dog, just like…That's your style!"
Xin almost panicked. He was about to command a risky operation, but was dealing with something weird instead. Is this why he just tried getting her to dislike him by making this weird confession?
No, that would be an easy explanation. The truth was, Xin thought, if he made people dislike him, they wouldn't be disappointed later. Only a select few like Lei and Ming would get to see the real him, as they were also a bit eccentric, just like he is, so he accepted them.
That's not what I should be thinking about!
"Guys, drop the tent bags, let's go." Xin instructed his squad.
"Yes, Xin." Tu Qiang said. Everyone dropped their borrowed tents and other equipment, stirred their reins and started galloping away!
"Oh, stop! What's going on?!" Boozeman Chao was confused. He didn't know whether to chase the youngsters or to prepare for defence, in case some hidden threat was coming.
Xin rapidly led the squad away, towards a road circling around the Riversong manor. The road was much more traversable this time, since there was no rainfall. An hour later, they were far away from the caravan, and there were no signs of a chase.
"Well, that was a good plan, but still kind of awkward, you know?" Murong Zhan said.
"Yeah, kept those guys hanging." Rui Ming added. "No closure, no resolution! Just riding with the wind. Can't lie, kind of my style."
"Well, I thought it through a hundred times. It's an obvious solution, if you think outside of the box." Xin explained. "The guys are spies, we can't get too close to Fist sect with them, so we need to bail early. We can't attack or sabotage them, as we can't foresee the consequences of this for our sect. We gave them no reason to accuse us of anything, as we returned their equipment. Oh, I forgot to drop the frying pan, tough luck. Hope they won't go to war over it." Xin laughed.
"People went to war for less, my friend." Lei smiled. "Certainly heard about a war over a bucket. Not even an artefact, just a regular one. Look, we used their protection for the steppe area of our route, used their supplies and bailed, all without getting into too much trouble. They were certainly planning our demise further down the road, one way or another, so my only regret is not being able to kill them."
"And if they get ambushed in the Riversong manor, like we did, I'll call it karmic justice." Murong Zhan smirked. "Probably won't happen, but please let a man dream."
The group hurried towards their sect.
***
The next few days left the group mentally exhausted. Constantly anxious about the probability of being chased, afraid of a highly ranked cultivator descending at them from the sky, their horses foaming, the group finally reached a post station, half a day away from the sect. There, they left the horses to the stable master, instructing him to send them back to the Border Guard, rented the new horses and rode towards their sect, ignoring all the caravans and travellers they met.
The Five Elements Transition school looked painfully familiar. Same fancy fortifications, same little villages beneath, same massive castle-complex. It felt weird how little time had actually passed, and how nothing really changed here. For the caravan members, it felt like "they" who returned were years older.
Before they even climbed the hill road towards the sect's gate, a lonely figure flying on a spinning earth cube approached them. It was an overweight, balding man, with muscles bulging from underneath the fat, wearing thick orange robes, adorned with fancy ornaments. Master Xie Xiaodan. He quickly descended towards them.
"I've got the news already." He grimly announced. He looked somewhat majestic, despite his unpleasant looks. His broad shoulders and an impressive flying cube gave him an imposing presence, towering over a beaten squad of teenagers. "Are the supplies intact?"
"Yes, of course, master!" Tu Qiang bowed lowly as he handed him the bag of holding. "We had to buy a new bag with our loot and master Taowei's money, as his own bag was occupied."
"I see. What's that good that took so much space, yet justified being placed there?" He raised his eyebrows, puffing his lips.
"The iron mantis, master." Xin answered. We've damaged it enough to put it into a coma. As far as I understand, it would soon start regenerating, but we've cut its limbs off. It disrupted the metabolism."
"The iron mantis... Rank two battle power, I think? Captured alive? Will cost a lot to repair, not sure if it's better to scrap it for materials. Was it the culprit behind my brother's death?"
"Yes, master."
"I see. We'll give you contribution points for it."
"Actually, master Xiaodan, are you handling the logistics now? I don't mind, but it's unusual." Tu Qiang asked. Where's Shenmiao Meiling, he wondered.
"The Iron Fairy's hospitalised. She'd certainly analyse the creature better than me. With our forces stretched, I manage the logistics."
Xin's heart skipped a bit. Hospitalised? There is a very probable explanation. She tried to break through to rank three, and failed. Imagine if we sold out to her!
"Master Xiaodan, there is a touchy subject we'd like to discuss... Except we don't want to overburden you, if you're still mourning." Lei said.
"Don't you dare. My brother redeemed himself, and kept most of you alive. There's nothing to mourn. In his death, I forgive him, and hope he forgave me. I'll pray to his shrine on special days, but now is not the time to spill tears. You want to haggle, merchant?" Xie Xiaodan clearly established the boundary. I know who you are, boy. I'm ready to negotiate, but be careful. After all, the sect could just take this good away, and give you scraps.
Xin also thought about this scenario a lot. Our caravan is filled with talented, ambitious people, pissing them off would be a terrible political move. We performed a rare exploit, and their squad finished the mission against all odds. It would harm the sect's reputation if we aren't compensated fairly.
"Haggle? Well, we've got a potential alternative buyer, so we are just looking for what the sect has to offer. We've kept the limbs of the creature with us as well, so if you have the means to heal... repair, whatever, if you have the means to restore the creature, we thought the sect should be given a priority in this sale." Lei displayed loyalty, but what he also meant to establish with this was "selling to the Merchant's guild is a legitimate and realistic alternative that can't be denied to us". As the mantis was still alive, it wasn't a cultivation material, and couldn't be confiscated under sect rules. If the sect disagreed, Lei was ready to lawyer up.
"We'll consult the Sect Leader directly, as this is a serious matter. Also, after you sleep, you should all head towards the Administrative pavilion, there is some business that has to be taken care of. For now, please rest. You've earned it."
The group marched into the gates, where hundreds of internal disciples and low-ranked masters gathered, minding their own business, but briefly becoming bystanders for their small moment of fame.
The crowd gathered around them and cheered them on.
"Heard you delivered some secret package for the sect, despite all odds! Thank you, masters!" A young disciple shouted.
"Please don't bother the kids, let them rest. They've survived some terrible stuff..." An older female master said.
Xin was anxious about so many people looking at him. Yesterday, during a break near the river, he stared at his reflection in the water: a haggard face with giant bags beneath his eyes, noticeable weight loss, even his facial features looked a bit twisted. Hope it's not permanent, Xin thought, as I genuinely look ugly.
Xin sighed, climbed the stairs to his room and fell asleep, sinking into the void. It's over.