Chapter 30:

Chapter 30:

~~~Tai Su~~~

Returning to the others did not take long, as Bao and Da Xiu rushed to meet me after Mei Lin brought Ya Xue back. Apparently, Bao got the idea to climb trees and use them to find where the mountain is meant to be early on, then she did just that and found it quickly and she did so fast enough enough to fill her group's water flaks and come back.

"I was so worried!" She exclaimed once we sat down.

Cheng Lin and Haoran Lin were busy while we were gone and they've made the little space actually livable. They made some roofs made out of branches to protect us from the wind, removed rocks from the designated sleeping area and even put some leaves down to help smooth out any bumps.

It wasn't perfect, or really that comfortable, but for a few hours of work it was comfortable, and appreciated and most importantly better than nothing.

"I am just annoyed we had to split up when we could have just climbed the trees to see where to go." I grumbled.

"You should be more worried about your life Tai!" She exclaimed loudly.

I sighed, I probably should but I just can't seem to find that emotion in me. I am not that tired either, I just can't look at myself and think that me being into danger is that big of a deal.

"I would rather care about your life and those of our family than mine Bao." I replied flatly.

She looked into my eyes and she saw something there as she was preparing her retort. Whatever she saw or did not see in my eyes killed her retort and she bit it back with a gulp.

She noticed it, noticed that I genuinely did not see anything wrong with what I did, or that me risking my life was in any way something to be worried about.

I've always been bold in this life, being willing to approach teacher Hao Wen required boldness when she was a pariah. Being the first into the fray and the last one out too required boldness, but both of us knew that what I was feeling now was not it.

"I would rather you care about not leaving us alone." She answered meekly as she buried herself into my arms.

That got a reaction from my heart at least, guilt and an undercurrent of worry.

"That I can do." I answered as I smiled softly at her.

"Thank you, thank you for still being you and coming back." She whispered.

I hummed at her as I pulled her in closer or better said tighter into my arms.

Cultivation played merry havoc with both of us, but I knew that both of us were still determined to see this through.

"What did I miss while I was gone?" I asked.

"Nothing much, the twins made camp and saw nothing worrying, Yu ,Da Xiu and I managed to find water and brought back, but it's weird." She answered.

Please don't tell me the water is contaminated too, we don't have another water source. Hopefully it is something boiling can fix if it's contaminated.

"Weird how?" I asked her, already dreading the answer.

"It has a lot of Qi inside of it, enough that even the rest of us can feel it when we stand near our waterskins, here let me bring you one for you to see." She said and left from my arms.

I let her go without complaint, instead I followed her to the improvised campfire the twins made. It was little more than a patch of ground with a few rocks delineating it, but it was a fire that Mei Lin was tending to. Da Xiu and Yu Zong were busy somewhere in private, and the twins were looking after Ya Xue who looked like she was having a nightmare still.

Around us the sky was darkening more and and more by the minute as the sun was in the final stages before setting.

Bao went and picked one of the waterskins from near Mei Lin and brought it back to me.

"Here, do you smell anything weird?" She asked as she presented the waterskin to me.

I wasn't feeling anything. I could feel Bao's emotions, a mix of excitement and curiosity, but the waterskin itself wasn't providing a smell.

"No, but maybe it's because it's sealed? Let me see if I feel anything with it unsealed." I answered.

She proceeded to unseal the waterskin and presented it back to me.

I took a sniff and I felt a sudden weakness and heat come to me.

hic

I started swaying from one foot to the other as the world started blurring.

Where was I ? hic There was a thud nearby but I was to disoriented to mow where it came from.

I was tired and my shoulder hurt.

"Bao." I said softly as I saw my wife near me.

She looked, I was too drunk to say how she looked but I was tired which meant it was probably night and I was tired.

I took her into my arms and went to sleep, whatever I was doing before could wait until tomorrow.

I was far too drunk to bother with it and my wife's body was soft and perfect to serve as a pillow.

~~~~Shen Xifeng~~~~

"Water Meridians with a Light Dantian sure have it tough." I observed with a chuckle

The sight of the Lemon group's leader falling down drunk from sniffing beast Qi infused water was hilarious and sad in equal measure. The former cherry girl will also have it rough when she wakes up.

Water Meridians would normally be one of the two requirements to reach the Second Tier and Ascend from being a Qi Warrior to a Body Tempering Cultivator and those that were born with it could turn the work of decades into years or less, but such talent came with downsides.

Chief among the downsides was the fact that once they awakened their cultivation they were hypersensitive to Qi to a near debilitating extent until they could strengthen their bodies and Dantians enough to get used to it.

"It is nonetheless an amusing sight whenever it happens. I am curious though, why do you go through with this farce when you've already decided to let the lemon bannermen in?" A voice sounded out of nowhere.

I sighed, why couldn't the Shadow go bother somebody else?

"I am not the type of woman to reveal sect secrets to the wind and people I can't verify the identity of." I declared harshly.

The Shadow revealed itself to be an utterly unremarkable man with plain features and black hair. He was dressed in black robes and with round blue cobalt glasses and if it wasn't for the fact he still appeared as a vacuum to my senses there would have been nothing special about him. He flashed to me his badge with the symbol of the Empress, a Black Phoenix on a white background, before putting it back in his robes.

The glasses glowed faintly too, and an intricate pattern appeared for but a moment before they dimmed back.

'So his glasses help him with his technique?' I wondered as I filed that bit of knowledge down.

Techniques that trick the senses of others of a lower realm were common enough, but knowing more of whatever the Shadows were using to pass unseen could be useful as their techniques are far superior to what our sect possesses.

"Your sect master is far less recalcitrant about this sort of thing elder Xifeng." The man said, his voice thick with amusement.

I scoffed at that. The Sect Master is just waiting for him to slip up like the mortal Auditor did.

"The Sect Master is a Nascent Soul, his senses are far more capable than mine, even if they are only geared towards combat. To trust his assessment is as wise as not trusting that the words in the wind are truthful." I answered.

Sect Master Fu Jian is a Nascent Soul, his senses are naturally sharper than mine who is still a Golden Core Cultivator. He may not have bothered to learn medical applications and the subtler forms of Qi currents to tell them apart, but when it comes to identifying threats during combat or knowing exactly what technique an enemy will use in combat there are few that can rival him even in his own realm.

The man shook his head at my words and I could feel my vein pop from the disrespect he was throwing to my master as he began to speak.

"Your sect master is a hammer in the shape of a man but let us not speak behind his back like this. I'll reiterate my question, why do you not just pull them out? You obviously want this group to succeed, you've even crippled that boar so that it won't kill their leader." He replied.

It took a lot out of me to not lash at the bastard, if he was the same tier as me I wouldn't have stopped, but the realization that my attack would do nothing tempered my anger and prevented me from getting myself killed.

"We do not pull them out because, even as we want them to succeed we can't just hand them the win, also I didn't cripple the boar for them. I would have had to kill or cripple it the moment I saw it, as it was far too powerful." I answered as I tried my best to hide my anger behind a bland tone.

The bastard gave me a chuckle that told me he did not believe me.

"I looked over your Trial rules and the only rules demanding that you kill the beasts apply only if they are of the second tier, and that boar was on the upper end of the first tier still." He replied.

I nodded at that.

"Yes, unfortunately the beast was too close to jumping to the second tier. We've had an incident some four hundred years ago where a beast jumped from the first tier from one day to another and we only noticed when it killed seven applicants in half as many minutes. It's not a rule, but as a safety measure, that if we do see a creature that is far too close to ascending to the second tier and reaching Lesser Tempering then we cripple them before they can do so." I continued.

It's rare for it to happen so it's not surprising that he hasn't seen it before as he can only be in one place at the same time but it's hardly unheard of for a beast to advance so fast once we provide abundant Qi for them to devour.

The beasts would all be killed regardless once the trial was ended anyway. We've purposefully contaminated the rives with Beast Qi to cause a Rapid Cultivation Spiral, as the scholars call it, and make the wildlife go mad and start going mad near the rivers as all animals started killing each other.

We've been doing this for so long that we've had to start importing animals to serve as part of the Trial, because the Native ones started going dormant or migrate somewhere else for the duration of the trial and what few are not gone know to stay away from the rivers and humans in general which is annoying.

"Ah yes, and I assume that you would have done that even for the cherry bannermen?" He asked mockingly.

"Yes, we have done it before, and I personally did so in past trials, even if they were bad seeds." I answered with a shrug.

The seemed to surprise him as he noticed that I meant it.

The cherry skirts were useful as part of the test and we reserved their banner a set amount of seats in the trials so that they could serve as villains to be vanquished, but their were still Aspirants at the end of the day.

They were entitled to the same protections as all of the others while the trial was underway. Once it was finished though, then the trash will sorted from the gems, but until then if anything of the second tier dared be too close to them then they will die for it.

He hummed at that as he considered my words.

"Your sect has a reputation among the shadows, I trust that you are aware of it." He said and chuckled.

I knew that. Our sect and the Stellar Blade Sect used to be close allies until the treacherous bastards decided to betray the Empire. We cut off communications with them after they decided to go back on their oaths and the Empress decided to not tempt the Heavens and forbid us from being part of the forces going west to burn the treachery out of their souls as to not risk split loyalties.

At least that was the official story, as the truth was something else entirely.

"I know you think us battle hungry maniacs that need to be reigned in and that are far too good at skirting the laws." I answered mockingly.

Us being stopped from going after the treacherous bastards was a decision made out of the fact that the Empress did not want the Orange Prefecture to be left defenseless. The vast majority of us were ecstatic at the fact we had a reason now to go pummel idiots to death and the Empress had to expressly forbid us from going to hunt our former allies for the insult of betraying us.

We were allies as our cultivators could work together well and could also close the vulnerabilities of the others on the battlefield, but we were not friends.

We both liked beating spiders and anything that dared think could threaten our territory yes, but the Stellar Blade Sect disciples were far too focused on becoming powerful for its own sake and kept blabbering nonsense about the Heavens keeping us down for us to grow close.

We just want to beat idiots up, if you're too weak then that's on you and whining about the Heavens is as the honored founder declared 'a skill issue'. Your weakness is your own fault and no other's, and the moment you start claiming it is then few disciples of the Blazing Fist Sect will like you anymore.

"Yes, so you understand the fact that what all of the irregularities we're seeing here are worrying us. The last thing we want is you to somehow find a way to go around the mandates of the Empress and leave this area to go beat something up before she notices and you leave the area empty." He said tiredly.

This again? The banners are perfectly capable of defending this area without us, not like there's anything to worry about here. The spiders are nowhere near our borders and the foxes are allies and while the Sisters of Dawn occupying a town was worrying, the Empress called in one of their Ancestors to explain why that was happening already.

We can't do anything about that and so most of the sect wants to go and beat something up that deserves it. Us standing here helps nobody, least of all us.

"We haven't been able to find a way to go around the orders of the Empress' shadow, not due to a lack of trying mind you, but being told to stay here, not allow any of our enemies in and to explicitly not go hunt down traitors associated with the Stellar Blade Sect makes for some difficult to circumvent restrictions." I answered sullenly.

"You know that having an entire sect protect the research teams takes priority over your honor or bloodlust." The shadow replied and stated wagging his finger as if I was a naughty child.

"Most of the disciples, practitioners and elders in the sect couldn't care less about honor. I know for a fact the sect master does not care about that either, we're going stir crazy from lacking something to beat up and you having us baby people we'd rather beat to death is not helping things." I said as my anger flared up once again.

The best thing in life is beating up idiots and killing spiders and we can't do either for now while we babysit the 'researchers' that have put the southern half of the prefecture into abject poverty with their research of the air flows to serve as part of an anti-spider weapon.

We'd rather just kill the bastards whose last centuries of research have killed tens of thousands for some nebulous goal of creating a weapon that can kill of spiders in their mountain fortresses.

"I know, but please let me live with my delusion that it's your sense of lost honor and hatred of treachery that makes you want to kill off whatever comes your way, and not the fact you just want to beat down anything that gives you a reason." He replied tiredly.

I scoffed at his words. He's been looking over our trials for centuries, he's talked with us for longer still and he still doesn't get it.

"You look after us, your eyes and ears take in the truth and your mind still can't accept it. If either of those were the case, we would have gone with the Stellar Blade Sect already." I said finally and left.

Beneath us the lemon squad seemed to have calmed down as they saw that their leader is fine. His wife also seemed to realize the cause of it and with the help of the Ice Blooded started draining the Qi from the water to prevent it from afflicting her husband and their concubine.

I had no more reason to look after them for now, I had others I needed to check up on as well as doing another round to make sure no beast is getting too close to the second tier.