Chapter 22:

Chapter 22

~~~~Tai Su~~~~~

Meeting new people is a strange experience at the best of times. It is not unpleasant by any means unless the person itself is unpleasant, but it is nonetheless strange to me.

To meet new people is to engage with them in a social dance where you try to get to know them, to understand what makes them tick, and to decide who they are to you, and you must do all that without causing the other individuals you’re trying to learn about to be unnerved or scared of you.

On the contrary, you must make them comfortable with sharing about themselves and you must do that without knowing them at all.

The only thing that could possibly make this experience stranger is when they themselves do not know themselves and neither do I know myself fully.

“And that’s how we killed the cherry bastards.” I said as I finished the retelling of our fight with the sons of the cherry banner.

My audience was appreciative of my recollection, even those that actually saw it, which said good things in my opinion.

“I never liked the cherry booted thugs, and now that they’re cultivators they got worse. They didn’t even dare call their attempt at robbing us paying taxes, they just took.” One of the men said derisively.

I nodded at that, the more I learned of the cherry tree banner, the more I disliked them.

I took another chew out of the last pieces of jerky we still had and addressed our ‘hosts’.

“Indeed, nobody likes thugs, but I believe that now that we’ve had a good story and a decent enough meal. I am Tai Su, the leader of our group, I’ll let my squad introduce themselves.” I said genially.

Each did so in turn, albeit it was Bao that was a bit more forceful than she had to be when she introduced herself.

“I am Bao Xiaoli, this big lug’s wife.” She said as she buried herself deeper into my arms.

All eight of us were sitting around the fire, with my squad and the unnamed group each on opposite sides of the burning fire as the starless sky shined down on us.

There were no clouds to be seen, and yet the sky had less stars than even the city sky back home which was strange to think about. Some nights there were some stars, other times there were none but there were never many.

If there were few or none consistently I could understand, but the fact that it changed each day with no clear pattern was confusing. I was as if there was an intermittent light source that drowned out the stars even when it wasn’t in sight. I chalked it up to some sort of formation weirdness.

“I am Mei Lin, to my right are my two younger brothers, Haoran and Cheng. It’s a pleasure to meet someone as valiant as you.” The now named Mei Lin said and introduced each of them in turn.

I didn’t need this new sense, or the feeling of Bao clenching her fist to tell me this woman was now doing this intentionally. This woman was either a home breaker or a professional tease.

Also it was quite an interesting thing to notice the men’s reaction. They certainly did not seem to mind having their older sister introduce them, nor did they mind her showing this sort of interest. No, I am unsure exactly as to what I am seeing from them, but the two men felt comfortable, as if this was routine.

“A pleasure to meet you.” I greeted warmly.

“A pleasure to me as well.” The professional manipulator answered back with a soft smile..

I looked into her eyes for some sort of clue as to what is going on and I saw the eyes of a killer. Oh they were warm at least on the surface which was what clued me in.

I have the most control over myself from my own group and not even my eyes look like that, not even when I look at Bao. Not even Bao’s eyes look like that anymore, they look needier as if my love is water and she is in a desert, but this woman? Either she hasn’t awakened her cultivation yet or it did not affect her.

No, I am feelings something from her, even if it’s faint, this woman is a cultivator which could only mean one thing.

“It’s strange seeing one of the ice blooded here.” I observed.

Her features started matching her blood shortly after as her eyes turned dull. Now even her siblings started becoming worried, same as my friends.

“What gave it away?” She asked bitterly as both she and her siblings body started stiffening.

Bao’s paradoxically started relaxing in my arms now that the other woman was no longer looking like competition and I gave a soft chuckle at that.

Cultivation does strange things to social dynamics it seems.

“Your eyes are soft, do any of our eyes look like that now?” I answered simply.

She gazed into my eyes and then went and did the same to the eyes of the others. All of us were looking at her with the same gaze that wondered if the rumors were true and that if we killed her, her blood would truly turn to ice.

I’m sure we could turn that into something that kept food from spoiling for longer with some creativity. I felt it in the air, the sense of fear as she realized that each of us was looking at her as if she was a useful plant in the forest and were considering whether or not to pluck it.

I doubted it would actually turn to ice but checking for it can’t hurt.

“No, it does not. What will it take for you to leave us alone? We did not lie, the cherry bastards did take our supplies, we have little to offer. It wouldn’t be very moral to take what little we have left after we welcomed you at our campsite” She asked questioningly.

It wasn’t begging which made me chuckle. I liked the woman, even if the woman’s sense of morality did not actually exist. She probably believes I am like her then, and just using a mask and wants to take me down with her. I can respect this level of spite even if it’s not warranted as I meant her no harm despite what she was.

Ice blooded are the local name for a type of person suffering of what I assume to be psychopathy. They are individuals with little to no emotions, no empathy, just cold utilitarian thought that learn to mimic human emotions and that will betray all they’ve ever known if it feels like it would be advantageous. I have a hard time thinking that people would do that normally, even the psychopaths in my past life which meant that they were most likely a local phenomenon.

Needless to say however, Imperial culture despises them and most would kill their own children than allow them to live like that. It seems that her family genuinely values every member though, if the way the two brothers were looking ready to protect their sister was any indication.

“I mean you no harm.” I replied.

I could feel my friend’s confusion but I raised my hand in an unspoken gesture of ‘Let me handle it.’

They chose to trust me, for now at least, and Bao started drawing circles on my chest out of boredom and contentment as her trust for me was absolute.

Mei Lin raised an eyebrow in a near universal sign of doubt.

“Do you expect me to believe that?” She asked back.

I nodded and let her think about her next words.

“Do we still have something that doesn’t require cooking? I’m still hungry.” I asked Bao as I turned to her.

“Yes, some cheese, but we’ll keep it for tomorrow as you like it melted.” Bao answered.

“I am not spending hours cooking now, I’ll eat it tomorrow.” I replied with a shrug.

A shame, but it wouldn’t be the first time I went to sleep a bit hungry.

“Why?” Mei Lin asked bluntly.

“Why what?” I asked back with a smile.

“Why do you not care about me being ice blooded?” She asked again.

I looked again into her eyes and decided to break the unspoken taboo our group has been operating under.

“We aren’t in a much better state than you are right now. Cultivation did to us what you were born with, and while we’re slowly building ourselves back up, we’re little better than ice blooded for now. To me it seems that part of the test is the sect seeing if we can build ourselves into something functional again.” I explained.

She narrowed her eyes at that.

“Things change and I certainly don’t feel any different than I was before I started cultivating. You’re smart enough to see through me and you very well know that things will change and I won’t.” She replied sternly.

I considered what to say on this and decided that honesty would serve me more than trying to deceive her.

“I have water meridians and this has granted me a new sense, the ability to sense emotions, albeit I can only sense it to a limited extent and only to cultivators. I have little doubt that those with higher cultivation than me can sense more and perhaps even from those that are not cultivators and you know what that means.” I answered.

She slumped her shoulders in defeat at that.

“If you do nothing then I can still just be called if, no, when the sect notices what I am. My fate is no longer in my hands.” She answered bitterly.

It seems she does not believe that cultivators can sense what others without QI feel which I suppose is a bit much to ask her to believe. I can provide proof of the fact I can feel what she does, I can’t do the same for my other claim.

She proceeded to fall on her back and look at the empty sky in silence.

“What can we do to help her?” One of the twins asked.

“Haoran Lin was it?” I asked him and the man nodded at that.

“What makes you think I have an answer Haoran Lin?” I continued.

“You are not mocking her, or looking at her with pity, you look at her as if you saw an opportunity.” He answered.

I suppose I was, if not for the reason he expected. I wanted knowledge from her as to how she feels as she cultivates and to see if I couldn’t use cultivation to induce emotions, if for not other reason than because my curiosity demanded it of me.

“I want to use her condition to see how does cultivation affect emotions, and am willing to offer to work together and pass the Trial together to be allowed to test it out. I have no clue as to how to actually save her if the sect actually kills any ice blooded it finds.” I answered with a shrug.

The two brothers looked at each other and had a silent conversation only twins could have.

“Have the two of you not unlocked your cultivation yet?” I asked curiously.

They seemed normal, their eyes were worried, their body language alert and most importantly, they looked and acted like two worried siblings. There was none of the uncertain swaying, no false starts as their instincts came one after the other to try and sway their actions, they seemed in full control of themselves and I doubted I happened to find a family filled with Ice Blooded.

I also could not feel anything from them, but I did not understand the full limit of my senses or the two could somehow mask theirs instinctively. I knew too little to say for sure but my instincts told me they were not cultivators yet.

Haoran Lin turned to me after his brother Cheng Lin slumped down in defeat.

“No, big sister managed to do so but we haven’t. She was showing us where she feels her meridians for us to have an easier time finding them before you arrived.” He answered.

His sister just exhaled loudly.

“Has she given up?” I asked dryly.

“No, I am thinking. Haoran, Cheng please shut up, you’re not helping us.” Mei Lin said tiredly.

The twins looked apologetically at their sister and proceeded to stop talking.

“Tell me what you’re thinking about, I still think we can help each other out.” I replied.

The older woman rose back slowly and her brown eyes stared deeply into mine with the same blankness as before.

“How do I know you won’t just betray me assuming they can’t detect it?” She asked.

“They can and I think that I can prove it.” I answered.

“How?” She asked sharply.

“Each of us received a different cultivation technique before leaving, one for Light Root cultivators, another for weirder Light Roots, one for Water Roots and each was meant to help us handle our cultivation. I am pretty sure your own is different from all of the other’s including your brothers despite you having the same roots as them.” I simply said.

It was a gamble with decent odds on my end to think that she did.

Ya Xue and I each had the same cultivation manual, Bao had a different one and Da Xiu and Yu Zong had the same technique as well. Considering that cultivation affected our minds and yet hers remained unaffected then my guess, and it was a guess, was that she would have a different one to help her grow.

One technique for Water Meridians, one for Light Meridians and one for the weird in-between Meridians Bao has.

“I have received ‘The Duality of Light and Meditation’. I assumed there’s a number of low level cultivation techniques they just spread randomly.” She answered.

I could feel a faint whiff of what I assumed to be curiosity.

“None of us have that, I have ‘Water Root Sublimation Sutra’, two of us have ‘The Light of Impermanence Manual’, and one has ‘Between the Sky and the Seas Sutra’, each one a technique tailored for our needs specifically.” I replied with a smile.

“My brothers also have the Light of Impermanence Manual.” She replied with a faint smile.

I gave a much wider smile in return as it seems that my guess was correct. If that guess was correct then the assumptions it was based on were correct as well which meant that I was right in the fact that my strange new sense was given to me by my Water Meridians and if I can sense something strange about her, then so can the senior cultivators In the sect.

“So are you interested in my deal then?” I asked.

She was silent for a bit as she considered my words, but shortly after she gave a hesitant nod.

“You want to experiment on me.” She answered.

That was a rather blunt answer and I chuckled at that.

“I want to see if transferring Chi from one person to another after they’ve awoken to cultivation does something to them, especially if I try and infuse it with my emotions. If you agree to let me do these checks and a few others tomorrow in the morning then I’ll awaken the cultivation of your siblings the same way I awakened it to my squad.” I said simply and offered my deal.

The fire was starting to dim it seems and its master seemed unwilling to put any of the wood near her into it.

I looked at her and then at the fire.

“No long term cooperation?” She asked with a raised eyebrow as she ignored my unspoken question.

Why would she think I want someone like her near me… oh she wants to make sure she and her siblings survive once I am done testing things.

I shook my head at that.

“I am perfectly willing to walk away from one another in peace, but I cannot trust you to have my back. You’re an ice blooded, your oaths mean little and I have little to offer to keep you loyal.” I answered.

Her having no morals, shame or any reason to keep to her oaths except incentive and force did not mean she someone you can’t talk or enter a deal with. It meant that you can’t trust them to stay by your side when things get tough and that’s exactly what I want from those that follow me.

Da Xiu is loyal because we’re fellow bannermen and we have each other’s backs, Yu Zong is loyal because she and Da Xiu love each other and where he goes, so does she. Bao is loyal because we love each other and Ya Xue is loyal because we’re the only group outside her family that is willing to accept her. None of that applies to Mei Lin.

Unless loyalty to me was a pre-requisite to her getting something she needed then she would stab me in the back at the first opportunity. I am perfectly willing to keep my word as a reputation of honoring one’s oath is nothing if not useful, but that didn’t mean that I’m an idiot that will trust blindly.

“What will it take to have myself and my siblings added as your subordinates? At the very least for the duration of the Trial.” She asked bluntly.

I thought about that, that second part was something I would be willing to consider as you can’t betray someone to beasts, they’ll just eat and kill you as well.

“What do you bring to the table?” I asked back.

“I’ll share my cultivation manual with you, I can fight and if you’re too squeamish to take a life or want to preserve your reputation, but need someone dead I am perfectly willing to do it.” She said and started to yawn.

Shortly after, everyone started to yawn.

“Let’s talk about it tomorrow when we’re both rested. I’ll have to talk with my squad about it, if they think it's worth it anyway and we can’t do that when some of us are asleep.” I answered.

Bao was asleep in my hands now and a look to my sides told me that so was Yu Zong in Da Xiu’s arms.

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow when we’re rested and both our groups will have one of us stay guard. Haoran you’re first, I’m second and Cheng is last.” She replied with a smile.

“Da Xiu?” I asked simply and turned to him.

“Same as usual, I go first, you go last, I’ll wake Yu when I must.” He answered simply.

Excellent, this negotiations took a lot out of me and I needed rest and a good night’s sleep to recover.

As the last embers of the fire went out, so did I close my eyes and trusted Da Xiu to wake us if the Ice Blooded and her kin decide to try something.