Fates parallel vol 2, p.7
Fates Parallel Vol. 2, page 7
That was a lot of lying and conspiracy just to stall the investigation. Lee Jia was fairly certain she could get her friends to go along with it—though Xin would no doubt find a way to make her pay for it later—but just how much would it actually accomplish?
"Say we stall them indefinitely, Miss Yue—what’s your endgame? When do you achieve the freedom you seek?"
"That should be simple. If I can stall them long enough for my cultivation to reach the xiantian ranks, securing my freedom should be much easier. The number of women in Qin who have achieved xiantian rank can be counted on one hand, and nearly all of them are imperial concubines. I would no longer merely be a prized possession—but a priceless treasure."
Lee Jia looked askance at Yan Yue.
"That sounds like you’d be in even more trouble than before."
"I’d rather be a priceless gem that none dare touch than a coveted, but ultimately disposable tool."
She supposed she couldn’t argue with that, and it wasn’t like Lee Jia had any better ideas.
"Alright, I guess. Do you really think we’ll have that kind of time?"
"I do. I’m already close to the peak of the core forming stage, and the investigation will likely slow down quite a bit as we are forced to maintain our cover as academy students. If successful, our ruse should buy us at least a year or two."
A year or two was an incredibly short timespan to break through to the xiantian stage, as far as Lee Jia understood it. Most never made it that far, and those who did had usually cultivated for decades. Then again, Yan Yue was already in the third stage, so her confidence wasn’t unfounded.
"So what now, then? I don’t know how much we’re going to be able to help while tied up like this. Also, we were being spied on by a high level cultivator before—we thought it was Do Hye at first, but now we suspect Yan Hao. Are we in danger of being discovered?"
Yan Yue bit her thumbnail and considered the question.
"He’s not usually one for taking things hands-on, like that. We haven’t yet even reported your involvement to him, so he shouldn’t know about it yet. I don’t know who was spying on you, but we should be safe from eavesdropping. You’re not the only ones capable of mental communication."
Lee Jia’s head jerked up with a start, her eyes going wide with surprise.
"You knew—?"
She cut off her surprised exclamation too late, blushing as she realized her mistake. Yan Yue shook her head and smirked.
"Tsk tsk, twice in one conversation, Miss Lee. You have a lot to learn about lying if you’re going to be involved in any kind of conspiracy. To be fair, it wasn’t a difficult assumption—you must have some kind of mental link to be appearing together in a dreamscape like this. Normally I’d have to adjust the illusion for each of you, which gets exhausting with more than a few victims. Your strangeness is actually quite convenient for me."
Lee Jia grumbled irritably while Eui patted her on the shoulder sympathetically, and Yan Yue chuckled lightly before continuing.
"As for our next move, I’ll have to convince the others to free you. I don’t suppose you two are interested in defecting to Qin, are you?"
7. Terms
It was a little surreal after having a comfortable and civil conversation to go straight back to being bound and blindfolded—though Lee Jia recognized that she actually had been the whole time. Yan Yue’s voice was apologetic as she spoke.
"Sorry, girls. You’re going to have to stay there for a little bit."
Lee Jia couldn’t do more than grunt in affirmation due to the cloth gag in her mouth. She had already tried overpowering her bonds, but they had obviously been designed with cultivators in mind. With a bit of effort, she managed to lift herself into a kneeling position and turned to face Eui.
“Are you okay? You were being pretty quiet during that conversation.”
Eui shrugged awkwardly in her bonds, sitting up straight and shuffling around to face Jia.
“I’ve been better. I didn’t want to give that bitch the satisfaction. She reminds me of the noble girls from the prep school. Bunch of fucking snakes.”
"Fair enough. There’s nothing to do now but wait. We may as well make the most of our time with some meditation."
Eui nodded in agreement and inched forward. It was a little bit awkward with their arms tied behind their backs and their legs tied together, but they were able to arrange their posture so that they knelt in front of each other. With their foreheads resting against each other, they controlled their breathing as well as they could through the gags and began to meditate.
* * *
Yoshika’s cultivation was still infuriatingly slow as most of the essence she absorbed disappeared into whatever it was her domain did with it. She had spent the last few hours probing the formation that blocked her domain, but she’d yet to discover any obvious weaknesses. In the first place, formations weren’t really her strong suit—she would have to take Do Hye up on those lessons when this was over.
Jia’s ears twitched, and Yoshika heard the sound of someone approaching from outside. After a moment the door opened and shut and one of Yan Yue’s ‘friends’ entered the room. From the heavy footsteps, she judged that it was likely the larger of the two men—Han Yu.
"I got nowhere trying to talk to those savages and beasts—they just repeated the same story as everyone else. That Xin Wei was even worse, he met me with open hostility and suspicion! Me! It’s no wonder that family fell from—Yan Yue, why are the prisoners awake!?"
Yan Yue sighed and responded in a bored tone.
"Because I don’t have an unlimited supply of qi, Han Yu. They’re not causing any harm, so leave them be."
"What are they doing?"
"Meditating, looks like."
"Tsk, their posture is all wrong."
"...they’re tied up, you moron."
Yoshika could only imagine the flat look that Yan Yue must have been giving Han Yu as he choked and sputtered on a response.
"I—gh—a-anyway, did you get any useful information from them?"
"Mm, the sword demon is called Jianmo. He was injured fighting the fire elemental and demanded tribute in exchange for saving them. When Zhihao refused, Jianmo killed him and then mysteriously decided that the tribute had been paid, and left after trapping the rest of them with a minor seal."
"Jianmo? A little on the nose, isn’t it?"
"Object spirits aren’t exactly known for their creativity."
"Tch, I suppose not. So you think the demon made off with the ring, then?"
"That would be the most likely conclusion, I think. From what they’ve said, the demon should be recovering somewhere on the mountain."
There was a pause in the conversation, and Yoshika could hear Han Yu pacing before he spoke again.
"Can we trust their words? If what they say is true, this is one of the worst case scenarios. Not only would we have to track down a xiantian cultivator—injured or no—but our master would have to act directly."
"We always knew it was a possibility—even a likelihood—that a xiantian cultivator would be the one to take the ring. If anything it’s for the best that it was a third party and not one of the instructors."
Another pause as Han Yu tapped impatiently with his foot.
"I suppose. Ugh, I had hoped I wouldn’t have to mingle overlong with these foreigners."
"We can’t always get what we want, Han Yu. Perhaps try not offending everyone you see, before you meet the same fate as my brother. Mm, actually, I changed my mind—as you were."
Han Yu scoffed, but gave no further retort. Instead he turned and Yoshika could feel his attention on her.
"So, how shall we dispose of these two? I was thinking that we could stage it to look like they’d been slain by magic beasts."
Though her eyes were covered, Yoshika turned both heads towards Han Yu and glared, directing as much of Eui’s well-practiced killing intent as she could towards him. She was pleased to hear him take a half step back in surprise, chuckling nervously as he attempted to regain his composure.
"H-haha, so you are listening. Impressive emotional control for beasts—I felt that! Yan Yue, did you see the way they moved at precisely the same time? It’s eerie."
Yan Yue let out a long-suffering sigh.
"Stop antagonizing them. You’re quick to call others savage, yet you’re as bloodthirsty as any beast or barbarian I’ve ever seen. I don’t think we should kill them—they are more useful to us as collaborators."
"You can’t be serious. That’s an insane risk, they’ll inform their friends and instructors about us right away!"
"I’ll explain when Senior Zheng returns. I don’t want to have to say it twice—wait, this is you we’re talking about. I don’t want to have to explain thrice."
Yoshika heard a growl of frustration from Han Yu as he sat down with a huff.
"You take your insults too far, Yan Yue. There’s only so much I am willing to tolerate, even if you are the daughter of our Ancestral Grandmaster."
Yan Yue laughed melodically, and Yoshika could clearly hear the condescension in her voice.
"So you keep telling me, Han Yu. I eagerly await the day when the boldness of your actions begins to approach that of your words."
Han Yu did not respond, but Yoshika could hear his teeth grinding. Thinking the conversation was over, Yoshika was about to return to meditating when she heard the door once again. This time she had not heard anyone approaching. Zheng Long’s steps were much lighter as he entered the room and sat down without a word.
There was a loud thunk of something heavy on wood before Zheng Long spoke.
"The sword, as they said. It was placed as a grave marker near the base of the mountain, and I was able to find the cavern. Clear signs of a battle, scorch marks on the walls and floor, and a ritual altar with a now-inactive sealing formation around it. I felt the lingering presence of exceptionally powerful wood and fire energy—the sealing formation, and the fire elemental that had been feeding off of it."
Yoshika was surprised. Yan Yue had made her companions sound like incompetent buffoons, but Zheng Long had gotten all that just from a quick visit to the cave? She would have to watch herself around him. She heard a clap as Han Yu began to praise his leader..
"Excellent work as expected of Senior Zheng. I’m surprised that the beasts were telling the truth, but I suppose this confirms it. Speaking of which, Junior Yan was just telling me about how she wanted to release the prisoners."
Han Yu’s obsequious attitude reminded Yoshika of Hayakawa’s forgettable attendant, Miyata. She wondered if anyone actually liked people like that, or if they were just an unavoidable consequence of authority. Zheng Long’s tone was curious as he questioned Yan Yue.
"Really? What’s your reasoning, Yue?"
Yan Yue clicked her tongue, inaudibly to all but herself and Yoshika, before adopting her usual fawning attitude towards Zheng Long.
"I was thinking ahead, darling! The same demon that slew my little brother most likely also took the ring, but he’s sequestered himself on the mountain to recover from his injuries. We won’t be able to freely explore the mountain while posing as disciples, but there’s one group who are allowed to do so!"
Zheng Long hummed thoughtfully.
"Hmm, and they are among that group?"
"Well—no, not exactly. The group that was granted permission were all Yamato disciples led by Hayakawa Kaede."
Han Yu barked out a sharp laugh.
"Hah! The barbarian princess from the briefing? Then what’s the point of dealing with these beasts? We should just deal with the savages directly, and make them take us to the mountain."
"Oh certainly! I’m sure that with your unique charms, you’ll have them eating out of your palm in no time, Han Yu. Or we could approach them using known associates as proxies, and skip the step of establishing their trust entirely."
Zheng Long coughed once and spoke with a diplomatic tone.
"Ah, yes that might be more...expedient. Are you certain we can trust them, Yue?"
"They’ve already agreed to help in exchange for their freedom, and I’ll be keeping an eye on them personally to ensure that they don’t betray us. I’ll just need you to convince our master to arrange for an adjustment to our living arrangements."
Yoshika froze—she had not agreed to that, but at this point it didn’t seem like she had much of a choice. She heard a sigh from Zheng Long as he responded.
"Yue, you know he doesn’t like to act directly. Besides, I’m not sure I’m comfortable dedicating you entirely to playing watchdog for our insiders."
"You’re thinking about it wrong, darling. You’re not committing me to watching over them, you're using them to enhance my ability to act—their introduction will go a long way towards securing Hayakawa’s cooperation. As for master, just tell him that I’m feeling lonely by myself in such a large house, and that I’d like to be able to spend time with my new friends. I’m sure he’ll accept any cover story that makes me look weak."
"Very well. If you’re certain, then I’ll see what I can do to arrange it. I suppose I should take the chance to speak to them myself."
Yoshika briefly considered remaining as herself, but decided it would be better not to—she didn’t have much practice using her bodies to do more than breath, and worried she’d mess something up. By the time the blindfolds and gags had been removed, Jia and Eui were back to being individuals.
Lee Jia coughed as the cloth gag was removed—her mouth felt incredibly dry. How long had she been here? She blinked as her eyes readjusted to the light, and was met at last by the sight of her captors.
Zheng Long was tall and muscular in a way that reminded Lee Jia uncomfortably of Yan Zhihao, though his facial features were somewhat more handsome than Zhihao’s gruff, square-jawed look. Han Yu was a bit shorter, and portly—not to the same degree as Yan Hao, but it seemed like he was heading in that direction. The room they occupied was the exact same log cabin from Yan Yue’s dreamscape, and Lee Jia guessed that her illusion probably built off of what she could see.
Zheng Long waited patiently for Jia and Eui to finish their coughing fits and adjust to the light before closing one hand over the other in front of him and bowing politely.
"Greetings. As you’ve probably overheard, my name is Zheng Long. My apologies for your rough treatment. We are Young Master Zhihao’s sect seniors, and we’ve been tasked with bringing his killer to justice, as well as recovering a precious sect artifact which he had on his person. I’m told that you’re willing to help us in this matter."
Lee Jia looked up at her captor and frowned.
"My name is Lee Jia, and ‘willing’ might be putting too fine a point on it. If it’s between that and my life, however, then yes, I’ll help you."
From behind Zheng Long, Han Yu snorted derisively.
"Hmph, of course, leave it to a pathetic beastkin to grovel for their lives. This is ridiculous, they clearly lack any real morals and will betray us at the first opportunity."
Eui shot Han Yu a death glare, this time enhanced by the fact that she could meet his gaze directly with her blood red eyes.
"And if we said that we’d opposed you to our last breath, I’m sure you’d use the exact same tone to decry us as violent animals that need to be put down. I know your type—there’s no reasoning with prejudice."
Han Yu snarled, but his retort was cut off by Zheng Long raising a hand. He smiled gently at Eui.
"Miss An Eui, is it? Please understand that among my countrymen, we rarely meet beastkin such as yourselves. Outside of war, the only people of your kind that cross the border are branded criminals and exiles—they don’t give the best first impressions. Though, come to think of it, aren’t you marked with such a brand yourself? One wonders how you might have earned it."
Lee Jia narrowed her eyes at Zheng Long as Eui bit back a response. As she thought, he was dangerous—it was like all the worst qualities of Yan Zhihao, Qin Zhao, and Xin Wei rolled up and hidden behind a mask of polite civility. She spoke up before Eui’s anger got the better of her. Quoting something she recalled Dae saying to her back when she was complaining about Yan and Xin.
"A clash of cultures is inevitable in a place like this, over time we will learn to accept that which makes us unique and distinct, while forgiving the perceived flaws that otherwise set us apart. We’ve already lived here for half a year, so we’re used to it."
Lee Jia gave silent thanks to Dae as Zheng Long nodded appreciatively in her direction.
"Well said, Miss Lee. I can understand that you might disagree with our methods from your current position, but if you are willing to look past that and work with us on our terms, then I believe that we have nothing to worry about."
She shrugged dismissively.
"We don’t have any stake in this. I wasn’t on friendly terms with Yan Zhihao, but I never wanted him dead. Honestly, if you had just asked normally instead of kidnapping us, I probably would have agreed to help you anyway."
"For various reasons, our activities must remain clandestine. If you can respect that, then I see no problem working together."
Lee Jia sighed, but nodded her head in agreement.
"Fine. I don’t understand the need for secrecy, but I am willing to honor it."
Zheng Long smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes.
"Good, and you, Miss An?"
Eui scowled, and Jia could tell she’d be crossing her arms if they weren’t tied behind her back.
"Whatever. If Jia says it’s fine, I trust her. Personally, I think we have more to worry about with you betraying us than the other way around."
Eui shot a meaningful glance towards Yan Yue as she spoke, and Zheng Long chuckled wryly.
"I suppose that will have to do. Then we are agreed—you’ll act directly subordinate to Yue and receive your orders from her. You’ll deny any involvement with us if asked—except as friends of Yue—and speak to nobody of our sect’s treasure, understood?"
