“Well, this is a little…”
Hei had followed Matriarch Fang from the shadows as she led the father-daughter duo to the Fang Clan. She made sure they were comfortable, sending them to the “office” that had earlier been prepared for the childish sages, and after she was sure they had everything they needed, she went over to the holding cells where the assailants were held captive.
That was all fine and dandy, Hei thought, there weren’t any notable flaws in her handling of the situation, but…
“Boring, isn’t it?”
He thought his own interrogation techniques were a little more effective.
“She’s not even threatening to refine their souls or anything. How long is it going to take to drag the answers out?”
Against his better judgement, he decided not to intervene, allowing Matriarch Fang to handle it her own way.
But that didn’t mean he would stick around to watch.
His time was limited, after all.
“I might as well get started on the formations.”
He would use spiritual perception to watch out for any interesting developments.
***
“They really did a number on this place, huh?”
Hei observed the damage that had been done to the formations he had placed down earlier.
“And I thought they were pretty good too.”
Fortunately, it didn’t look like they had been overcome with brute force. It was more likely that some artefact was responsible for the damage.
“And if that’s the case…”
He wasn’t without options.
Closing his eyes, he brought to mind the contents of the books he had appropriated from the Crimson Moon Sect.
They had extensive documentation on the inner workings of their sect-protecting formation.
Such information would prove beneficial if he could incorporate it into the formation he placed around the bakery.
“But why stop there?”
It would be a stretch, and the results would be a little shabby, but he had just about enough time to set up a rudimentary formation around the entire city.
If he placed control of it in the hands of Matriarch Fang, even if it couldn’t stop major threats, it could probably stall them for a while, granting Matriarch Fang precious time to prepare an emergency defence force and call for backup.
“A single breath could be the difference between a scare and a tragedy.”
And so, Hei fashioned for himself a shovel and began digging.
***
As Hei was hard at work, laying the foundation of Spring Leaf City’s defence, Matriarch Fang, Fang Liling, was also working towards protecting the city from external threats.
She was seated at her desk, looking at a report she had received the other day.
“The Merchant Guild, huh?”
Though she was confident in her abilities and took her role as the local leader seriously, Liling wasn’t so arrogant as to completely ignore the threat of the Merchant Guild.
There was a reason she had behaved in such an unyielding manner back at the bakery.
She looked out the window, into the star-speckled horizon.
“Our course has already been set.”
She heard it from one of the liaisons who relayed messages from the juniors who had gone off to the five sects, and the same information was relayed in the written report.
“Shao Hei has denounced the Merchant Guild!”
It was nothing short of a declaration of war.
“Are you sure about this, Young Master?”
The boy was special, there was no denying that. But the forces at play here weren’t anything to sneeze at. Liling wasn’t entirely confident that they could come out of this unscathed.
And as of now, the Shao Clan’s closest ally, and the most likely to get dragged into the conflict, was precisely her Fang Clan.
They also stood to lose much more than the Shao Clan, having hundreds of times the population.
This made her more than a little concerned.
“I hope you know what you’re doing.”
As for cutting ties with the Shao Clan…
For some reason, the thought never crossed her mind.
***
Hei dusted off his hands.
He spread his spiritual perception through the tunnel system he had just dug out by hand.
“A painful experience, but worth it, I would say.”
His injuries had yet to heal, so he avoided the use of his qi wherever possible, but at this point, his body alone was enough to get a substantial amount of work done.
“Now comes the tough part.”
There was no avoiding the use of qi when actually laying down the array formations, so Hei braced himself for a long night of suffering.
“No pain, no gain, right?” Was what he told himself, but images of the past flashed by his mind, causing him to shudder.
“The worst thing was the look in their eyes… I’m a person, darn it… Not some kind of experiment…”
Wiping away the tears that had begun to well up, he got back to work.
***
Liling heard knocking at the door followed by a voice.
“Miss Matriarch?”
“You may enter.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
In walked a young woman in red robes.
She clasped her fist and bowed.
“Be at ease.”
The young woman relaxed her arms and raised her head.
“What do you have to report?”
“Yes, Ma’am. There is a man at the gate who is requesting entry.”
Matriarch Fang frowned.
The young woman understood what that meant.
Such a thing wasn’t worth reporting, after all. Matriarch Fang had already instructed the doormen to turn away all visitors. Naturally, if someone refused, the doormen already knew what to do.
So the frown was not an expression of displeasure, but instead, a question.
What is the special significance of this particular guest?
“He claims to be your elder brother, Ma’am.”
Matriarch Fang failed to blink her eyes for a while.
***
Meanwhile, Tianlan was standing atop a roof, looking down at a procession of carriages.
“What the…?”
From the outside, it looked no different from a merchant caravan. Armed guards and all.
But Tianlan’s eyes could see more than just the outward appearance.
The goods they were carrying, for example…
“People?”
To be specific, women. Bound and chained.
And Hei’s aura, he could see a number of items bearing it, all stored in a chest beside one of the carriage drivers.
All except one, that was.
“Inside her stomach?”
To say that Tianlan was bemused would be an understatement.
“What exactly does he want me to do here?”
***
“It’s been a while, little sis.”
“I’ll say.”
Liling leaned against the wall, eyeing the man with crossed arms.
“Such a warm welcome,” he said, “I’m touched.”
“You’ll have to excuse me for not jumping for joy. I’m debating whether to hug you or kick you.”
He smiled.
“I’ll help you out.”
He spread his arms and invited her over.
Her lips quivered as she stepped forward, trying to restrain her emotions.
“There th’oof!”
He received a solid kick to the abdomen.
He clutched his stomach and hunched over in pain.
“I… didn’t think you’d actually do it…”
“Shut up.”
She stepped forward and hammered his head with both hands repeatedly.
“Stupid brother… Where have you been…?”
Raising his head through the feather-light impacts, he saw that tears were streaming down her face.
“It’s been hard on you, Liling.”
She quickly turned around, hiding her face.
He turned her around and placed his hand behind her head, bringing her in for a hug.
“I’m home.”
She closed her eyes and felt the tension leave her body.
It was as if a decade of concern had been lifted off her shoulders.
She wrapped her arms around his back.
“Welcome home.”
***
“So, this is a little awkward, but do you mind if I take a look at your wares?”
After observing for a while and lamenting Hei’s vague instructions, Tianlan decided to jump in front of the procession, blocking their way.
The driver at the front, as well as the guards, didn’t seem to be amused.
“We’re busy, kid. Get lost.”
“I would, but you see… How do I put this? I’m not saying there’s no good reason to have a bunch of women caged up in your caravan, but… Is there?”
“Kill him.”
It was quick and decisive.
Tianlan’s counterattack, that is.
Before the guards could even draw their weapons, a blinding light stole their vision. They didn’t even get the chance to hear the following thunderclap.
But the driver did. And when his eyes adjusted, he saw all the guards lying unconscious.
“!”
He felt shivers run down his spine and from then on could only watch the proceedings in stunned silence.
Tianlan walked toward one of the carriages and opened the door.
He looked into the eyes of the young lady who had Hei’s aura in her stomach.
“You wouldn’t happen to be acquainted with my brother, would you?”
“I… I…”
“He’s a little guy, about this tall. His name’s Shao Hei.”
“Oh! Yes, we kn-”
She was pushed aside by one of her friends.
“Excuse me!”
“Yes?”
“Do… Um… Do you have a girlfriend…?”
***
“And these are the training grounds.”
“I see.”
Liling had been leading her brother around the clan, showing him how much things had changed since he was last here.
He watched as the juniors sparred, even at this late hour, and was taken aback by the display.
Sporadic bursts of action followed by carefully considered peer review.
He took a moment to listen in on one of their discussions.
“Yeah, you’re still putting too much weight on your right foot when you step in for the Rising Phoenix form. I think you need to shift your centre of gravity a little.”
“Like this?”
“No. I was thinking more along the lines of this. See how I’m absorbing some of the impact by bending my knee here? It lets me shift some of the weight away from my right foot when I go for the extension.”
“Ah, right. That might work.”
“Hmm, I don’t think so. That approach works for Hualang because he’s got longer legs. If you try the same thing, you won’t be able to widen your stance enough. You’ll have unstable footing at the build-up, it could create an opening. Maybe you should try raising your heels off the ground ever so slightly. Let your calves do the work.”
“You mean like this?”
“Looks good. Try the move again. See how it feels.”
The junior swung her sword and could feel a slight difference.
“It’s not perfect, but it definitely feels better. I think I just need to tweak it a little. Thanks for the help, you guys.”
“Glad to help.”
“Same here. And as a matter of fact, I’ve been having a little trouble with my Southern Gale Sword Arts, you think you guys could take a look?”
“Sure.”
And with that, the juniors continued their training.
“What are you thinking?”
Liling noticed that her brother had been watching the juniors in the distance with a contemplative look on his face.
“Nothing much. It’s just that this place is almost unrecognizable.”
Liling smiled.
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
“I’m not sure.”
“What’s there to be unsure about? Isn’t it better in every way? If you had grown up in this version of the Fang Clan, would things still have turned out the way they did?”
“That depends on your father, doesn’t it?”
“He’s your father, too.”
“You could have fooled me.”
“Sigh. Even after all these years, you’re still holding a grudge?”
He chuckled.
“Can a person hold a grudge against garbage?”
***
“Few!”
Hei wiped the sweat off his brow and took a seat in the tunnel interior.
“I wonder if I can get Onyx to help.”
[Don’t even think about it.]
“… Mooch.”
This was an interesting feeling. It had been years since he had last felt tired. He had almost forgotten what it was like.
“But this is deeply concerning, isn’t it?”
If he was getting tired, that meant one of the side-effects of his abilities wasn’t working. That would imply that there was something wrong with the ability or combination of abilities that had resulted in said side-effect, and if there was something wrong with his abilities, which seemed to be tied in some way to his soul, did that mean there was something wrong with his soul itself? If so, would it recover on its own or had he really overstepped his bounds with his latest experiment?
“It was a little crazy.”
He had attempted to make something disappear.
It wasn’t a matter of destruction.
It was erasure.
To take something and create nothing.
“And it failed spectacularly.”
He had suffered a severe backlash.
It was as if the world had taken notice of what he was attempting and stabbed him in the throat for it.
And on top of that.
“Okay, okay. I won’t do it anymore, so could you go away?”
There was nobody else there.
But it felt like there was somebody there.
Watching.
Always.