Chapter 34:

Chapter 34

~~~~Bao Xiaoli~~~~

“No.” I replied simply.

The group was visibly startled by my words and they each started looking at each other and their leader for guidance. Huang seemed just as uncertain as they were.

They were not warriors, the way they held their weapons was uncertain and too loose for anything resembling proper form. One could even argue they had no weapon to speak of either. Their knives were kitchen knives meant for vegetables from the look of it too. Their axes were wood axes, which were better than nothing but they were unwieldy things that are more likely to tire their wielder as they swing rather than hit any combatant that wasn’t an idiot.

I received some martial training, not enough to be a proper warrior, but several years of it in-between my studies and farm duties meant that I can see what I am dealing with and what I am dealing with is seven civilians that have no clue what they are doing and that probably came here expecting that the sect will provide martial training before putting their lives in danger.

On the other hand, we had a warrior in Ya Xue, if according to Tai and Da Xiu a poorly trained one, me who is still not as good and Haoran Lin who at the very least knows what he’s doing even if his weapon is little better than theirs.

“I am afraid I must insist Bao Xiaoli, we mean you no harm, but we would rather not have unknowns bringing more of themselves unannounced and we could really use the help.” He said pleadingly.

I could sense the weakness in his voice as he realized his position rested on shifting sand. He realized we were properly trained and that our spears weren’t just for show. We were martially trained and armed with proper weapons, we could take them and their number would mean nothing as they broke.

Huang’s followers looked at him as they realized something was wrong.

My first instinct was to seize the momentum, to capitalize on their weakness and remove the threat, but I remembered what Tai wanted, what he expected me to do as I looked after our family. Ya Xue is my junior, and Haoran Lin a brother of my other one.

I have no reason to put them in harm’s way and risk one of them getting lucky, not when it would ruin future attempts at diplomacy with this group, as Tai might make them useful the same way he did with the Lins.

“No, I am willing to separate peacefully, if you need food then I am afraid we don’t have much to spare ourselves, but we can part with some medicine to keep things amiable.” I offered reasonably.

My left hand tightened around the spear as it was implanted in the ground to act as a walking stick. It was a signal meant to showcase my weapon and make it clear to him that I know how to use it. Leaving In the ground though, told him that I am not about to use it.

Yet.

That is going to change fast if he’s not careful.

Huang’s eyes light up.

“Yes, we do need some medicine, some of our own were wounded as we tried to cross the river by some squirrels and many are bleeding.” He answered as hope and relief bloomed across his features.

I turned my head towards my junior, she was mimicking my stance and her face was relaxed even as her body was tense, each of her muscles coiled and ready for violence at my command.

“Ya, give me the ointment for the wounds, there’s no reason to not help our friends, even if they are a bit rude.” I asked.

She looked at me strangely but did as I asked.

The medicine we got from the outpost, It was a strange red paste that smelled of nothing, not even to Tai’s or Ya’s senses but it used some form of Qi to quickly knit together wounds. It was a small thing, easily fitting in my fist but its contents weren’t to be looked down upon despite its humble exterior.

We had been given five such containers, one for each of us that asked for it and Yu Zong and Ya Xue were the only ones that had used one before so they were the ones left to handle them.

I threw it towards Huang, who to his credit caught it without fumbling even as it hit at an awkward angle near his head. The man opened it and looked at curiously as he tried to smell it to check for anything strange.

“Here, treat the wounds with boiled water, after the water has cooled, before applying it to the wound. We have nothing for infection on us, but extremely strong wine or vinegar might help if you have any. It should close most small wounds and help with regenerating some of the more serious ones, it won’t regrow organs if there’s little left, nor can it be used to reattach limbs or restore eyesight. Use it well and don’t waste it, we don’t have much left ourselves.” I instructed.

The last part was a lie, we’ve used exactly half of one container so far out of five, so we still had three and a half left in total and still had one more on us. Two were with Yu and her group while the last one was left back with Tai and Cheng Lin.

“Thank you, and I apologize for me previous rudeness.” The man said as he bowed apologetically.

How shameless, not even asking if we need something as well, but I’ll take peacefully parting ways with a shameless person rather than this turning hostile. Or perhaps he’s not properly aware of how such things are meant to go?

There’s few options beyond being an orphan to not have a family name and orphans are rarely the most apt at socializing. This meant that this man was not their leader, merely someone entrusted with the duty by another.

“You are welcome, we will return tomorrow with the rest of our group and have our leader talk to yours. I have to ask, is you camp that way?” I answered dismissively and pointed towards my best guess as to their camp.

It was the place where I thought I saw some grass and it specifically wasn’t the place they came from.

He looked nervous as he realized I knew where their camp is meant to be which confirmed it. Or maybe he was nervous because he now realized that there’s more trained warriors coming? Or perhaps it was the fact that I realized that he was not the leader of their entire group?

The others by his side were certainly spooked by my words.

“Y-yes, I do have to ask, you aren’t associated with the cherry bannermen?” He asked nervously.

I shook my head and did my best to stow away my instinct of looking at little Ya.

“No, we’re associated with the lemon banner and we don’t like them very much either. We’ve already had to kill some of them for thinking our supplies are theirs.” I answered.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

“Good, no enemy of those bastards can be that bad.” He declared.

Haoran Lin snickered at that and I did the same shortly after. Huang’s followers did the same as the two groups bonded a bit over our antipathy over the cherry bannermen.

“We’re leaving. Haoran Lin, check our camp to make sure we left nothing behind, we have no reason to leave a mess behind us.” I ordered.

The man did as I asked and then we were off and left the civilian group behind us, hopefully Tai would know what to do with them tomorrow.

~~~~Tai Su~~~~

The ideals of my old life do not exist here. Objectivity, rationalism and many others are dreams I myself can only half remember.

This is obvious in the culture I live in, for it is a culture where who your family is matters more than what you have to say, unless others from certain families care about it, then what happens to you depends entirely on what they want it to happen.

It is for this reason that I rejected my teacher’s offer. I do not want to have my life dictated by what others decide. I want to have the power to dictate what happens to my life, to have my words mean something because it is I who says them, not because someone else decided they should matter.

There is something that remains the same in this life as in my past life however, two things actually.

The first is that education continues to remain interlinked with indoctrination. Each of the different manuals the sects have provided us have in various parts of themselves a single line.

‘For humanity to be prosperous we must unite against the injustice of the world. Only under the banner of the Empress can Injustice be fought and the villainy inherent to existence be banished.’

All of the manuals have this line tucked in somewhere in them, even if in different places. I am starting to think that this and a few other lines are part of the core philosophy of the Blazing Fist Sect, because they fit what this test has been all about.

Injustice is represented by the Cherry tree bannermen, unity is provided by having a common enemy and their continued existence, even if necessary to unite disparate peoples is not something that can be tolerated, and so even as we despise them, the cherry skirts serve a purpose at smoothing things over in the social aspect.

Which leads me to the second point in which my second life matches my first.

You do not touch another man’s family, which is something this Huang bastard very nearly did. That very nearly after he implicitly threatened my wife is the one reason I am considering not just killing him and all his followers the moment I find them.

I am angry and I very specifically do not care for things such as decency and long term plans right now, even as I try to contain the warmth eating at those concepts.

“I see.” I said simply.

Bao had just finished telling me of her experience with the civilians and her thoughts on them.

“It feels as if I am drowned in the screams of the damned.” Ya Xue muttered near imperceptibly.

Ah, she can hear something from me. It’s not emotions, but something related to what I want to do. Her hearing the screams of the damned fits what I want to do to the bastards that dared threaten the three of them.

The others shuffled around the campfire. Cheng Lin and I moved the camp to a more open space to allow us to sleep better during the night and make a fire to boil the water properly.

Bao may have found a way to remove the Qi from the water by cultivation, but she did not remove any illnesses from it by doing that and so Cheng and I made a fire to boil all of our water. We’ve lost some of it despite using a lid, but at least we’re less likely to shit ourselves to death.

“I am just glad nobody got hurt.” Haoran Lin said from my side.

The two of us made the camp so he’s staying by my side tonight.

Ya Xue winced at his words too, apparently Haoran was angry as well that his twin’s life was at risk. Neither of us appreciated our families being in danger when we were looking after the camp it seems.

Who would have thought?

“What do we do now?” Da Xiu asked and pushed through our anger with the grace of a falling mountain.

“Bao, how did that group seem to you?” I asked her.

“What do you mean?” She asked back.

“What was the first thing that comes to mind when you think about the way they acted?” I clarified.

I did not specify what she is to look after, I need her opinion unaffected by my conclusions.

“They seemed normal, unsure of themselves, scared of violence even. It’s probably why Ya Xue struggled to hear them well, they probably only have their Meridians Awakened.” She answered.

“Some of them flinched when you put the spear into the ground, one of them looked ready to run.” Ya Xue interjected.

So, civilians in more ways than one.

Cultivators are not scared of violence, nor do they doubt or act unsure, we act impulsively and violently unless kept in line. Our group did not grow violent with one another because I am keeping the pressure from boiling over by massaging tempers, but a few innocent words exchanged between two individuals can just about bring two of us close to blows. The only times doubt comes to us is after we’ve acted and we realized we don’t remember why we’re doing something, only the fact that our instincts have already told us to act.

That pressure will have to boil over one day and allow itself to pass in what I assume to be some sort of cultivator pecking order, but I’ll let it come only after all of us are safe. We can decide who can punch and stab better once we’re safe and in the sect proper, not here and not now.

“I see.” I answered and took a deep breath.

I need a clear head to decide on what to do. Until then I’ll address the other group and their findings.

“Yu Zong, have you managed to identify the fruits you found?” I said and turned towards the woman.

She and her group managed to find some fruits and took them back to camp to add to our supplies. They were some sort of red berry as long as one of my fingers. They looked good and smelled appetizing, but we decided to look over the copies of the manual on edible fruits we’ve made back at the sect village before trying them.

“Yes, they are edible, apparently they don’t taste good but eating them helps against scurvy. It’s called yangmey. They should have been flowering in late spring not now, but the entry said those on the mountain don’t flower at the right time.” She answered.

I nodded, that’s one bit of good news. I took one such fruit and ate it.

I am not letting them try something first without me. A strange fruit none of us heard before that doesn’t flower at the right time? Might as well not have have the entry for all we could trust it.

It was mildly unpleasant despite it’s sweetness. I could see myself enjoying it given enough time, but right now it wasn’t something I liked. At least it wasn’t poisonous.

According to the manual my Qi would react to poison and things trying to attack me, but at my tier there are many, things that would kill me despite my Qi attempting to fight it. Better me, than them, I can always wake up in my next life, I am unsure if they can.

I am being melodramatic in my own thoughts now, anger does strange things to me.

Fruits are unlikely to kill me, make me regret being alive? That’s likely, but there’s few fruit trees that make fruits that will kill you.

“Tastes better than dirt, less so than something so sweet should.” I said simply.

That caused everyone but Mei Lin and Yu Zong to snicker. Mei Lin because she couldn’t be bothered and Yu Zong because she understood exactly what I was doing and did not approve.

I could almost taste her thoughts on this, she did not like the idea of me dying, she knew like I did that there’s more plants that can kill us than we can eat. Me eating this when I did not trust it meant I was perfectly willing to suffer or die to see if we can eat it or not.

I am just glad she did not tell Bao anything, the last thing I want is to have her taking my place. Hopefully we won’t need to check again.

“We could try some of the mushrooms too, I saw some and those back home tasted good, no need to try strange tasting fruits.” Haoran Lin offered.

“NO!” Yu Zong and I shouted at the same time.

That startled the man and everyone that was not Bao and Da Xiu.

“We are not trying any mushrooms, I don’t care if you think you recognize them, unless someone that lives in the area and whose family has eaten these exact mushrooms for centuries says that they are edible don’t even think to try it.” I ordered.

This was the one rule I accepted no argument on, we are not trying any mushrooms despite their abundance and Yu Zong who has some medical training agrees with me. I am willing to take risks, but mushrooms are not a risk.

They are playing russian roulette with a loaded up rusty revolver and praying it misfires.

“Why?” Mei Lin asked simply.

“Mushrooms don’t act by normal rules. You can have two completely identical mushrooms that look the same, act the same, sprout at the same time, smell the same, look the same when you cut them and yet one will kill you and the other won’t. We are not trying any mushrooms unless we are starving.” Yu Zong said vehemently.

I nodded at that.

“Mushrooms are not plants, nor are they animals they are something else, we are not touching any unless desperate or we know exactly what we are doing and that’s final.” I continued.

“They can’t...” Haoran Lin wanted to say but his sister stopped him.

“Haoran, we don’t know anything about mushrooms except that we can buy them at the market. We’ll rely on their wisdom for this one.” She explained calmly.

“I’ve never heard of anyone dying from mushrooms.” He mumbled.

“That might be because you local area only cultivates mushrooms that are edible, we don’t know which is which, nor do we have a way to even tell without guessing. I would like to eat mushrooms as well, I like the ones back home too, but you don’t try mushrooms in a place you’ve never been to before. That’s how you end up shitting yourself to death.” I explained reasonably.

The man did not seem convinced, but I suppose that for a city dweller this is the sort of thing you need to see someone choke on their own blood to take seriously. Despite his opinion on the matter, he decided not to press it anymore and nobody seemed to have anything left to say or ask, so it was up to me to think about what we are to do tomorrow.

I’ll have to be diplomatic won’t I? Very well then, I’ll pretend the bastards managed to beg Bao well enough that she decided to let go of very important medical supplies to help them, and not that she had to bribe them with said supplies to avoid a confrontation like my instincts demand of me.

I am many things, but I am not a hypocrite that will just let myself be guided by instincts and emotion when I need to have a cool head.

“Ya Xue describe to me how they felt, you told me you could hear faint whispers? Describe them to me.” I asked the former cherry bannerwoman.

She turned pensive as she tried to remember what I asked her and all of us were looking at her.

“I’m not sure I was even hearing them if I am being honest, it felt as if I was hearing a memory, as if it was something I did or said a long time ago, but I didn’t remember remembering that.” She said with a shrug.

I looked to Bao who looked straight to me, that sounded suspiciously like old man Yi’s ramblings. Did we get a shaman into our family? I saw on her face the same expression I imagine was on mine, worry.

Old man Yi was a respected man, but I did have to pull him out of a ditch while he mumbled of spirits and storms and despite being a tall man, weighted less than even Bao. We did not want the girl to end up like that if we could help it.

Perhaps the sect has a solution for that, but I’ll have to wait and see, it’s highly likely I’m wrong after all, as shamans don’t grow on trees. I turned back to Ya Xue who was looking at us worriedly.

“You heard whispers and suddenly seven people came out of nowhere. Just try to see if you can remember any of the words of if there were any words.” I answered back.

It took a great deal of courage not to raise an eyebrow or make her more self-conscious. The girl did her best to try not to show it, but she was scared of messing things up to an unhealthy degree.

Our conversation continued as Ya Xue could not provide any further details and we needed to get to sleep in preparation for tomorrow. I’ll have to be rested to deal with that headache.