The war ended as fast as it began. A delegation from the capital arrived, insisting that the peace talks conclude as soon as possible, or both sides would be heavily punished. The Divine Sword sect lost all of their territorial gains in the south, but managed to lift the trade sanctions that were imposed by Xuanwu clan and FETS in the weeks before the war.
The Divine Fist sect was prohibited from recruiting outsiders for five years, and every recruit that had joined them in the past two years was allowed to leave without paying any compensation. This, coupled with the massive losses they suffered on both fronts of this war, would mean the end of their aspirations to become a regional power.
The Xuanwu clan had claimed Tealstone for themselves and started rebuilding it rapidly, stationing hundreds of troops inside. The long-term plan was to make it into a hybrid of a trade hub and a military base, not a proper town it once was.
Five Elements Transition sect had claimed two thousand serfs of the Fist Sect, massively bolstering their economy. As soon as the peace deal was signed, Chimera Daoist sent a letter to the capital, informing them of his intent to annex and develop the Yellow Pine forest for his sect. Several forces in the capital appealed against it, yet several more sided with FETS, some capital noble factions even leveraged their help in the ongoing lawsuit against the Chimera Daoist (caused by him capturing master Bo despite the inspector's orders) in exchange for trade preferences.
Back in the sect, Xin was still teary-eyed, only during this morning's funeral had he managed to finally mourn Murong Zhan properly. He followed the Murong clan's delegation with his gaze as they loaded Murong Zhan's body, covered by a flower adorned coffin, onto a fancy carriage and rode away. Once the procession was over, Xin went to the inner garden to clear his mind.
Lei was also there, and looked quite calm.
"What a massive funeral. So many people..." Xin took a sip of grape wine.
"I almost joined their ranks in Tealstone... Thank you, Xin."
"It was you who saved me, I did nothing of the sort. You covered me from that smaller gorilla, and tripped the bone ape. You are the hero of that fight."
"No, shut up, Xin. I know better. Thank you." Lei's crimson eyes looked very sincere. Xin finally got used to looking at them, he even found them somewhat endearing, the pupils and irises merging into big red dots made his friend look somewhat childish. He was ashamed of being weirded out by Lei's new look before. "Our sect's number nine in the world now, by the way. I don't feel like celebrating it."
"I don't give a fuck, either. At least they're letting me break through."
"Shit, they are? Nice, finally! What about the contribution points?"
"Twenty. Fucking twenty. And for what? This little 'armed conflict' has fucked me up for life."
"For both fights? And the duel? This is absurd, they gave me thirty five, and you've contributed as much!"
"I'd give you more. Thing is, I only drew with that Ling Yue girl, and there is a reward limit they apparently can't break. Always adhering to the rules when it benefits them, and changing them when it no longer does. Xie Xiaodan assured me that the sect holds me in high regard now, but I'm yet to see the fruits of it."
"Did you at least loot anything in Tealstone?"
"I claimed five spirit stones from the shared treasury. That's it."
"I feel for you... You know what? Take this." Lei produced the Iron Lung dao shard from his aperture. "I'll be getting a different defensive method soon, and you know how to use this one."
"Lei! You don't have to! You mastered it so fast as well, you know how much time I spent training it? You're a metal path talent, don't throw it away!"
"It's easier to control qi as a rank one, and it's much easier to activate dao shards than it is to use techniques. Don't be humble. Take it." Lei pushed it into Xin's arms, using the hand Xin helped him regrow.
"Fine! Thank you." Xin smiled and snatched it into his bag of holding. "But I can't attune to it, my spirit capacity is filled by the other two and the totem, there won't be more space until I break through."
"Then you should break through, hehe. How's your totem, by the way?"
"It's lashing out. I managed to calm it down and promised that I'll leave the sect after ascending, but our relationship is strained. It's growing stronger and attacking me, constantly sending me visions and urges. I can't stand this, it needs to be tamed."
"Does this struggle train your soul foundation?"
"Somewhat. It's less effective than training it out properly. It's why all those construction workers aren't too jacked, you know? Whatever you do, effort is not enough, you need direction and method. I've had some marginal gains, a few more weeks and I'll be able to channel another minor aspect. But nothing beats ranking up, once I am Foundation stage, my soul foundation will also grow."
"That's right."
"Oh, one more thing! I became a physical cultivator by accident."
"That bag of materials thing? Yao Nang mentioned it. Also said you're a big fucking jerk."
"Of course she did. No, a separate thing. Have you noticed that I'm more durable? I could use more techniques before exhausting myself in the past few fights. My qi reserves grew by a third compared to a year ago, when I still lived in a hut. I calculated during training yesterday. My meridians have been refined through prolonged usage."
"Congratulations, but also... There is a reason it doesn't happen often. People with your experience and training are at least rank one by now. Hopefully, you'll refine these gains into earth qi. Oh, can you channel the heavenly inspiration again? Could be a cool trick, you know, failing a breakthrough intentionally to become smarter."
"Lei... That's a good way to get smitten by a tribulation. I won't ask the heavens for anything next time, I'll just repeat the revelations I obtained previously to easily pass the heavenly stage. And yeah, I hope I'll refine my meridian gains into something meaningful when I'm rank one."
"Right. You busy today? We haven't been assigned anywhere just yet, and I thought of visiting Clay Nest. Need to get my mind off the funeral."
"Oh, of course! I also wanted to. We could visit old pa Chonglin. I kind of miss that jerk."
"That was one of my destinations."
"And the others?"
"Fuck, do I have to give you a list? Are you a jealous husband or something?"
"Oh, easy, I'm just interested."
"Sure, have your list. Visit Peng Shan and Cha Dai, spend some time with Jia Li, go to a brothel, check up on the guild, ask them for rare goods, this sort of stuff."
"A brothel? Aren't you and Yao Nang…?"
"Well, we aren't together. But also, you know, not being together, I'm losing interest. I want a woman to be smitten. I want a woman to jump into my arms, I want her to thirst without my embrace. When I'm gone, and she moves on and fuck herself with a wooden toy, then goes on with her life without longing, what's even the point?"
"Fucks herself with a wooden toy?" Xin raised his eyebrows. Another detail of Lei's and Yao Nang's sexual history was dropped on him, unprompted.
"Xin... Many women do this. They have all sorts of things to entertain themselves when the husband is away. And some things for when he is present, they often want to improve on the experience."
"So... You lost to a wooden dick and decided to visit a brothel to get back at her?" Xin smirked and raised his eyebrow.
Lei realised how ridiculous his excuse sounded, and decided to be truthful with himself and XIn.
"Fuck you, inspector! Of course it goes deeper. I'm a good lover, it's just... I want passion. Love. Connection. Not an unstable abandoned bitch who uses me to get back at the world. Makes me feel like a freak. And since the… You know, transformation, this feeling doubled." He raised his chin proudly, his expression angsty.
"What do you mean?"
"Xin... We fuck like rabbits, but outside of it, when I... Go for something more gentle, she shrivels lightly. She reciprocates, but barely. That's not what I need!"
Xin furrowed his eyebrows. It seems that Lei and Nang are both unhealthy for each other…
"Brother... You're quite a looker, don't worry. With my hearing, I heard many girls gossip about you. You won't be alone, don't worry, you're more popular than ever!" Xin exaggerated based on one group of girls he overheard, but he genuinely wanted to support Lei. "You shouldn't waste yourself on women who don't want to commit. And you shouldn't be playing with good girls, they could be building a family with someone, not be your playthings, you know?"
Lei scoffed.
"Well, thanks. You're naive, but I guess that's why I need you as a friend. You keep me grounded. Let's go redeem our contribution points."
"Naive? I'm cynical, it's you who is forever thirteen. Let's go."
"Oi, fuck off, 'adult'. Only children take themselves as seriously as you do."