Chapter 26:

Chapter 26

~~~~~Bao Xiaoli~~~~~~

"What are you planning Tai?" I asked my husband as I stood on his lap.

My husband's body was an excellent replacement for a proper bed. No, his body was even better than a bed.

Men's bodies are firm, warm and made specifically for you to sleep on them as a gift from the heavens for making women bleed too much each month. Their bodies hold where we are soft, and where we are hard, they mold around us and my toned barbarian of a husband has body made only for me.

It is his mind however that is the most remarkable path of the man I call husband.

"Just the usual." He teased back.

I snorted at that. As if that meant anything, he always thinks of too many things. Some useful like the paper he made for Teacher or his plans for winter.

My fingers started digging softly into his flesh.

Others were more infuriating, such as getting that harlot Mei Lin near him.

"The usual doesn't always involve you being with a woman acting as if she's a sheep-dog wagging her tail. At least I hope it won't husband." I answered a bit more forcefully.

If the thing thinks she can steal my Tai then she'll learn that no matter what type of demon she is that the only thing she's good for is her blood serving as ink.

"We need more people to deal with the cherry bannermen. I have a way to keep Mei Lin loyal for now, so she and her brothers can be useful to us." He answered

My nails did not leave his flesh, that answer was not good enough for that her.

"We don't need her." I said pointedly.

I do not care much for the cherry bannermen, I want to know why I have to have that bitch near my husband.

"It's the only way I could ensure that she remains loyal. There were twenty cherry bannermen and at least a similar enough quantity of their clansmen to support them if Ya Xue's guess is to be trusted. If they decide to join up, then we need all of the help we can get, especially if they conscript the other civilians to help with whatever stupidity they end up deciding on." He replied.

Little Ya told us what her former kin like getting up to as they acted little better than Bandits, and Cultivation would not have helped things as it changes you and never for the better.

It changed me too, and not for the better, this I knew. The time where I scared teacher still frightened me in my mind, even if the one I killed was a merchant. Now I am eager to do worse than what was once a chore I needed to do.

I would have certainly not confronted Tai like this, even if my mountain is not complaining.

"Ya Xue told us what the bannermen get up to. She'd make a better concubine than the ice blooded." I declared bluntly.

Mei Lin was little more than a whore in my mind. She was too eager to use her body to get her way, even if her wiles were something Tai was actively ignoring. If she were to just come and say she wanted it I would welcome her as she was just too cute to say no to.

She was like a lost puppy I am perfectly willing to take in and love so very much.

"Oh, so you've decided among yourselves which one is taking her in? Also no reason not to have both then." Tai asked with a chuckle.

I nodded at that and my nails stopped biting into his flesh. I don't want to draw blood.

"Yes big sis Yu said she does not want to share Da Xiu under any circumstances, so while she'll continue to care for little Ya, she'll let me be her senior." I answered proudly.

Ya Xue is a much better choice for a concubine, she at least can appreciate what it means to be my junior and a part of my family.

When the girl abandoned her banner she put her family in a tough spot where they either have to do do the same or abandon her if she ever returns to them. Better to have her be a part of my family instead.

Tai Su chuckled for some strange reason, but that was fine as he'll explain why shortly, until then I'll just bask in his warmth before everyone gathers and we prepare to depart.

"I think I might have influenced that decision by accident. I told Yu Zong to think of herself first from time to time, and not merely do what others need. That might have affected things." The big lug foolishly said.

As if that would have been enough to change her mind. No, Yu Zong was struggling with the decision herself beforehand as both of us knew what Ya's decision meant.

"I don't know, she does like Ya Xue too." I said.

"Why do both of you like her, or even want to have her as a junior?" Tai Su asked seriously.

Until now his tone was the same indulgent Tai Su I always knew, but now it wasn't old Tai talking, but the new one, the curious one. Old Tai Su looked at the world like something to change, to protect or care for, but the New Tai looked at world like a puzzle to be understood.

That was fine there was an old Bao Xiaoli and a new one and both of them were me. One of them was bolder and the other warmer, but both of them loved their families and that was enough.

"Do men speak of concubines?" I asked simply.

"No, father told me of the practice, but I never cared much for it." He answered with a shrug.

Something old Tai would say. There were things old Tai did not care for, things he was happy to not know about, but I don't think new Tai has anything like that yet.

"Among women it's a common enough topic. Those women without a marriage arranged are told to find a man themselves, or a woman to take pity on them and take them as a junior. This would happen even if they had a marriage prepared but the man annulled it or died. Kept women agree to serve their senior, and if they behave well enough they can have a child or two with their senior's husband. I like her, she needs a new family to look after her and I don't really need another reason beyond that." I replied.

The old me would have not done this, but the new me saw something she wanted and decided to ignore the doubts of its past self and just take it.

"Would there be a problem if I got her into the arrangement then?" He asked sheepishly.

I thought about it and considered whether or not to lie. Ultimately I decided not to. Neither of us would rather bother with lying and we've decided that if we are to keep secrets from one another we can make a game out of it as we do not fully reveal what we mean.

Lying though? That sort of game and our marriage can't survive lying, not for now at least. Maybe when we have three or four children we'll reconsider it.

"No, she's still my problem to deal with. If you want to plunder her caverns without my say so there will be issues, but otherwise Ya Xue is welcomed in our home." I answered and nuzzled myself tighter in his embrace.

Kept women or concubines are women who can't handle their own lives for whatever reason and need to go to another to mooch off their household. This means they have to fulfill the same duties as a proper woman, while subordinate to the woman of the house and while both the husband and wife can take some in, it's the wife's duty they make sure the concubines behave or if they've overstayed their welcome.

The man decides how the house looks and is meant to behave and the wife ensures that it does so, that's what my mother told me is normal and how a happy family looks like. This did not mean that I have no say in what's going to happen, similar to how Tai won't just have no say in what everyone is meant to be doing but it does mean that there is a hierarchy in what each of us is meant to be doing.

"Speaking of problem though, why are you laying the groundwork for a clan Tai? A main branch with the two of us and two side branches with Ya Xue and Mei Lin and even marriage prospects with the children of Yu Zong and Da Xiu. I am not dumb nor blind Tai, I can see what's going on." I asked him.

I felt an infusion of pride? He likes it that I found out, how… strange. Mother told me that men don't like it when women learn their secrets, but that's just one more strangeness from Tai I suppose. He has plenty of them anyway so what's one more?

Oh it seems that the others are gathering too, I can see Ya Xue starting the fire now, it seems our conversation won't be going on for much longer.

"Planning for the future. I don't know how life in the sect is going to be, but I do know that our education and training and beds are unlikely to be free. In the case that there's no laws against it, it will be easier to have three or five people pooling up their contribution to allow one of us to focus on child rearing. I did promise you that as soon as we have everything arranged we'll be making sure you have a child Bao, you can't exactly blame me for immediately starting to plan for it." Old Tai said.

I froze for a few moments as I processed his words and then I kissed him and both of us lost ourselves in the kiss.

The kiss ended shortly after and I saw that the others were already at the fire place and I considered Tai's words.

Old Tai Su was a man of planning, of constantly looking at things and thinking how to make sense of it so it can be improved and changed. New Tai Su may be a creature of curiosity more than improvement for its own sake but the same man old me fell in love with is still there, same as old Bao still lives inside the new me.

Suddenly him finding reasons to keep Mei Lin near him made sense. If she joins our future clan, then her brothers will join in too and will contribute to eventually let her be pregnant and raise her children. They'll be a part of her branch of the clan which will mean Tai will have to find them wives to do the same with, but that's a small price to pay.

"Come, the others are waiting for us." I declared happily.

I jumped up and took Tai's hand to bring him to the others, we had much to discuss as tomorrow we will be leaving.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~Fu Jian~~~~~

" Shen Xifeng, Mao Ma what am I looking at?" I demanded of my three apprentices.

The red haired woman and bald man dressed In the same pure white robe as myself looked at their junior's and former junior's camp. There were four of us were looking at the strange group in front of us.

The Shadow was there as well, even if only I could feel him. He was most likely also looking at the young man who brought all four of us here.

We were all looking at the eight young men and women from the side, our Clouded Mind technique making it so that their very sense of self and perception prevented them from acknowledging our existence.

"There's nothing strange about the Applicant sect master. His Meridians are water meridians, they do nothing water meridians are not meant to do." Shen Xifeng replied.

"Mao Ma?" I asked pointedly.

"The Ice blooded is normal for her type. There is no strange technique going on, I truly believe that the madman rediscovered the Star Crossed Burning Mind Ritual or something like it from first principles." He answered, his tone flat.

"How is that possible? The ritual was discovered and implemented by a Nascent Soul cultivator. How is an applicant to join our sect capable of replicating something like it?" I asked again.

The original creator of the ritual was a man whose son was born ice blooded and he had spent centuries finding a way to allow him to be normal, even after the man died of old age his obsession did not cease.

The Star Crossed Burning Mind Ritual was a result of his many failures and it allowed Ice blooded to feel whatever emotional mindset one could feed to the Ice Blooded even if it and it's many siblings failed to provide the normalcy its creator wanted.

It now serves as a tool to keep Ice Blooded loyal and useful as it places them into the mental state the ritual master wishes them to have.

"He's not doing it. He's rediscovered the principle that Qi affects emotions and decided to have Qi carry his emotions. He fills his Qi with his emotions, pushes them out of his body into the meridians of the Ice Blooded to feed her. Nothing in there is something someone possessing Water Meridians shouldn't be able to do, as he is not controlling the Qi once it leaves his body. The Star Crossed Burning Mind Ritual has a similar effect, but it creates a structure trapping the emotions to serve as long term resource storage for the Ice Blooded to experience and feast upon. He most certainly did not make something like that." The man answered.

He is the resident expert on rituals and the only one that bothered to learn how to do it in the sect.

"He's hand feeding the creature what it craves." Shen Xifeng declared with a snicker at the talent of her junior.

I was not amused. If what Mao Ma said was the truth then all was good, but there was another ugly possibility as to what I was seeing could mean.

"How likely it is that the man is a Jiangshi sent by the spiders?" I asked bluntly.

The two froze at that, as they knew I was not talking to them.

The spiders love doing this sort of thing where their shadow weavers kidnap children, empty out their soul from their dantian and put one of theirs inside. To outsiders it looks like a very talented youth learning faster than they should, grasping concepts and ideas far, far sooner than all of their peers and being showered in resources by sects that see a talented youth, not knowing that they are feeding their enemy.

Whatever ritual the spiders use, it prevents the one they are doing it to from ever reaching beyond the Golden Core tier but that's about the only downside from their perspective as the only ones that can survive the ritual on their end are Nascent Soul cultivators.

"Highly unlikely, the young man is a twice-born, this I can see. They have a distinct smell to them and the way their soul settles in their dantian is distinct enough that it is obvious when one tried to turn them into a Jiangshi. Unless this Tai Su was a spider in his past life then he is no Jiangshi." The shadows whispered in a thousand different voices.

My disciples trembled at that voice. None of us could pinpoint the shadow's exact location, even I, a Nascent Soul, could only tell that they are in the area.

The Shadows are part of the Auditors, or it is better said that the Auditors are the mortal members to the Shadows. They are meant to ensure proper behavior and it would be strange if a Nascent Soul would be able to easily deal with all of them. The Shadow was my equal, of that there is no doubt. If they weren't I would be able to tell exactly where they were.

"And your verdict?" I asked it.

"This Tai Su, and isn't that a funny name, is highly unlikely to be an agent of the spiders. Your promptness in verifying this has been noted and appreciated, but you are under no obligation to dispose of him." The shadow said in a thousand different whispers again.

"And his past life?" I asked the more important question.

That is a rather delicate topic, for cultivators more than most I'd imagine.

"As long as he has no loyalty to any organization from any of his past lives then the Empress and the Shadows don't care. There's a few like him in our number as well, and the standard policy is apathy provided that the individual is loyal." It answered.

"Surprisingly generous." I observed with a raised eyebrow.

The shadows are rarely so generous when it comes to the background of others, not with cultivators at the very least, as they represent the most powerful group of people in the Empire after the Empress.

"The Father of the Empress was such a man as well, albeit his past life was that of a wolf of all things. Most of the twice born aren't even human or cultivators, just a random being that remembers their past life. We can't go and kill every being that remembers what it's like to have a tail and run on four feet. Unless their past lives become relevant we don't care about what their past lives were." It declared and then it was gone.

Even I could no longer sense it, which meant that it left to check on the other Applicants. Also it was interesting to learn that the shadow was so familiar with the Empress that it knows personal details about her and is sharing them.

That was as clear a sign as one could get that this matter was something she was now personally aware of.

"Well, now that the serious stuff is gone, what do you think Mao? Your former junior is getting settled well with her new family, would you have rather she stood with your banner?" Shen Xifeng said as she picked on poor Mao Ma.

There were ten sons and two daughters of the Cherry Tree in the sect, and Mao was the highest ranked among them as one of my three personal disciples. The Sons of the Lemon Trees loved provoking them with the poor quality of their juniors and while it was all in good fun, nobody could deny that it wasn't well earned.

"The current crop are worse than bandits, they're incompetent ones at that too. I had high hopes for the girl when I saw her pick the banner by instinct while the others were bickering, but your junior went after her like a hound after a succulent meal. I am happy for her, even if I wished she would have stayed a daughter of the cherry trees." He replied with a shrug.

Both of us could see that the man was truthful at least, but it did not stop us from snickering, much to his displeasure.

The level of corruption in the Cherry Banners has become so bad, the sect's trial changed to accommodate it, increasing the number of sons of the cherry tree that come so that they could serve as villains for the others to defeat.

If the other Applicants could defeat them, then it allows us to see that we got a good crop, if the cherry banners send us a good crop, then we have options to test the mettle of the applicants as we use the old test. And if the other applicants fail to keep them at bay and the disgraces somehow reach the sect? Then we do as we are meant to do and cripple the bastards and send them back for being failures or kill them.

"A shame, but it is what it is. The applicants this year are quite good, two water meridians, some decent cultivators that can think ahead and one group that remembered that we are meant to be a part of the Armies of the Empress. All in all an excellent crop by all accounts." I observed happily.

Truly this test was much better than the one last year.

In front of us the young men and women prepared to go to sleep as they've decided that tomorrow they'll leave the supply drop off point.

They thought that this point is meant to hold supplies which is why they smartly put it on their small map, but unfortunately this is a spot where one is meant to leave messages for the sect, not a hidden stash for patrols and so they got nothing here.

"You're just happy you won the bet master." Shen Xifeng said with clear misery in her voice.

I shrugged.

"Not my fault you said the former cherry girl will join the leader's bed after the test is over. I just said she will." I replied.

The former cherry girl went to sleep guided by her new senior at the sides of their husband now as it seems that her decision was made for her. The Ice blooded quickly joined them as they went to sleep and the fire started going out.

They seem like good people and I can't wait to learn their names properly once they pass. I've seen far too many talented young men and women die over the centuries to make that mistake again.