Volume 2- Chapter 7

Chapter 7

~~~~Tai Su~~~~

Villages are given a certain amount of autonomy because nobody but the most deluded of tyrants can be bothered to micromanage them, due to this and the harshness of living in villages as well as their importance in food production there is a certain understanding between officials when dealing with villages. Elder Shen Xifeng told us that it's not a law and it is not written anywhere, but it's more of a rule agreed upon by everyone.

The rule is 'When you want something from villages, give them some time to prepare before you impose on them.' and it is a perfectly reasonable rule to follow. The village head of this village received a messenger announcing our coming and giving the messenger enough time to reach the village and back to confirm it to give them the time to arrange things to be more 'presentable' was why we waited a few days before going on our mission.

Nobody appreciates sudden and uninvited guests in their home after all. Especially when our presence here was not guaranteed. We could have very easily not bothered according to Elder Shen Xifeng, but I knew a social trap when I saw one.

What was actually a 'you don't need to bother' is always an 'you must do it' in social contexts, because it shows that you care. Elder Shen Xifeng could have easily not have bothered to inform the village ahead of our arrival either, and yet she did it.

This was a cordial meeting and not a surprise inspection, so there was no reason for us to come unannounced. And besides, such arrangements are simple enough to follow and are meant to help us avoid finding ourselves in the exact situation we just found ourselves into just a few minutes ago.

I put my tea cup down on the table after taking a small sip.

"Thank you for the tea Village Head, it is quite good." I thanked the young looking old woman with a nod.

The tea was forgettable, a blend common in the area and that many had to subsist off of. What wasn't forgettable was the woman in front of me.

I was aware of the fact that beauty creams and elixirs in this life are much more potent than in my past life, but those that actually make you younger only work on Third Tier cultivators. Despite that, the ninety years old woman in front of me did not look a day older than thirty.

She is a failed Aspirant according to Elder Shen Xifeng and so she has cultivated a bit, but even assuming she reached Qi Condensation, she would only live a few decades longer but would still look her years.

I was expecting an old woman, not a woman that looked younger than my own mother. I'll have to buy mother some of these tinctures when I have the time or can find anyone selling. The Lins can't make any yet, instead being relegated to some that slow down aging, removing scars and that make the skin smoother. It might take them years before they can do something like what I am looking at.

The two of them still gave her some in a sign of friendship to slow down her aging and I knew women were desperate for them and so they are always being improved, but what I am seeing is far, far beyond what I thought possible.

"I profoundly apologize for my shameful deeds and receiving you like I did." She declared and bowed deeply in front of me while on her knees.

The woman did not look like the sort of woman that bowed in apology often, her movement was stiff and unfamiliar to her, her large green and white robes not arranged properly to make the bow comfortable or at least spare the fabric from tearing at a sudden movement.

Her face was honest, as honest as an artificially preserved one could be at least.

"It is us that interfered in your personal meeting, so the fault is shared. Let us speak no more of it and instead focus on more important matters. I trust that you still have our master's letter?" I replied softly.

I really did not want to make a mess of things, the woman may be unprofessional to pull the village's assigned guard for a bit of a rumble when she is expecting official guests, but it could have been far worse.

If she was shameless enough to try and invite us to join the fun then I would no longer treat this as an honest mistake, but a genuine character trait and put it in my official report as more than just us unfortunately interrupting a personal meeting of hers due to an overabundance of caution after we couldn't find the Village Guard.

All villages have one posted for when everyone else is sleeping to avoid the repetition of so many stories of villages being caught unaware by wild beasts, bandits and other undesirables thinking to prey on the defenseless.

"I thank you for your understanding Honored Ones, yes I still have the letter and the Rogue Cultivator's Vial of Blood. Should I bring them both?" She asked, still kneeling on the floor.

I shook my head at that, no I didn't need the letter.

"No, only the vial, and please do not bow anymore, I would like to speak with you normally." I instructed.

"I will bring it back shortly." She declared and rose up and left back to the room her lover still hadn't been allowed to leave.

Or maybe he left by way of the window? The door was closed shut.

"Da Xiu, you have a better vantage point and are shameless enough to look, is the man still there?" I whispered at the hulking man.

The others were behind me, with Mei Lin and Ya Xue close to me and Da Xiu a bit further behind and this gave him the ability to look through the door without needing to move.

The man has grown wider, taller and more muscular since he became a cultivator, somehow, even if his height growth was barely noticeable.

Our host opened the door.

"No he is not." Da Xiu whispered back and I could feel him holding down a laugh.

I chuckled lightly. Going out the window is a classic for men caught with their swords where they shouldn't for a reason, it never stops being funny.

Our host pretended not to notice our whispers but I saw her mouth curve into a slight smile as she too found it funny. Either that or she was very good at pretending she did.

"Here, honored ones." She said and presented the small wooden case to me.

Inside the small case was a small bottle containing some blue alchemical liquid that rested on red fabric. The liquid is meant to enhance the smell of blood placed in it and keep it fresh for decades and it looked just like the Elder told us it should look.

I gently took glass bottle and passed it to Ya Xue who gave it to Da Xiu, as he will be the one making use of it.

Da Xiu, and most of the Prefecture was born with the Bloodhound Physique, which allows him to be very adept at identifying smells and at higher tiers of cultivation would allow someone to be able to find any other individual wherever they may be on this world. They could even tell if they were alive or not, their emotional state and even if others the Bloodhound knew were near him if the reached Nascent Soul.

Da Xiu is not there yet, but if given a Vial of Blood he can tell who it belongs to and will retain the smell in his memory for decades.

"We thank you village head. Da Xiu will take a whiff and then we will return the Blood Vial to you. Has the Rogue Cultivator acted in an improper manner when asked to provide it?" I asked.

Behind me Da Xiu finished smelling the vial and came forward to present it to the Village Head before going back behind me. She took it with a grateful smile at being show at least some amount of face by one of us rising up and walking to deliver her the bottle back when we moved it between each other while siting down.

That seemed to relieve a lot of the pressure on the woman's shoulders as she visibly relaxed.

There were times when I looked at Elder Shen Xifeng strangely during her lessons as they felt strange, and then I saw them working which felt even stranger. Giving someone face and consideration when socially above them relaxes them far more than I could have ever imagined.

"No honored ones. Lu, son of the Yang, who goes by the name of Yang An Lu was courteous and respectful. He wished to know why it was needed when I was hosting him in my home to wait for the Wolf Clan envoys to come to the village, but that was to be expected and, once I explained, he provided it willingly and with no comment against it." She explained.

"Is he from Ming's Domain to use the old forms? I believed only they still used it?" I asked.

After the Empress banished to spider to their Spider Fortresses a cultural revolution washed through humanity and they rejected a lot of the old cultures and the most obvious signs of it was how people would introduce themselves. Before the Two Hundred Years of Darkness most human cultures would introduce themselves by the family name first, a second personal and chose name and the third being their name given by their parents to symbolize the submission of the individual to the clan and how one's personal choices only exist as a part of the choices of their parents and the history of their clan.

Once the Imperial Cult became prevalent, the usage of the personal chosen name became rare, as it was only taken after some great deed, and we started introducing ourselves by the name given to us by our parents first to symbolize our respect for them and the name of our clan or family second to show how filial piety stands above allegiance to other concepts.

The woman shook her head again.

"No honored ones, he comes from a village from between the borders of the Empire and the Fox Clans and his family still uses the… old ways as you call them." She answered.

Judging from the way she referred to the old ways, it was clear that she did not approve of them, which was a common enough belief among the educated I found.

'The Old Ways failed us and turned us into cattle, and now they are to be despised and their failures mocked for all eternity' or so the saying goes. I am ambivalent on the issue, I don't care one way or another, a name is a name and as long as it's mine I don't care why I am introducing myself with my given name first or my family name.

"I see, and of his reincarnated nature? Has he spoken much of it?" I asked.

"He has told me of it and he seemed proud to share it, if a bit awkward. But the stories he told me of the sects in his past life are haunting and I would rather not remember them anymore. I didn't know cultivators could be poor, and yet the man weaved a story of the horrors that would cause.

The stories spoke of how cultivators were forced to eat each other to survive and advance and about how they lived in squalor and fear that the flames of the Empress keep at bay from the Virtuous." She, said her voice turning reverent towards the woman whom I only know of from letters and the stories others told me of her.

I could see just how shook she was from what the cultivator said to her of his past life and while she was disturbed, I was intrigued.

That sounded like some sort of Demonic Cultivator Sect from the stories of my past life. There your fellow disciples are turned into the materials for your Advancement and your juniors are resources you cultivate to eat the same way your seniors do the same to you.

She put her hand close together and muttered a prayer I couldn't understand as she shivered from the memory.

"I thank you for telling me, but if they were so horrific please do not force yourself to remember. I wanted to have a rough idea of his character before meeting him, but that is not worth causing you distress." I assured the woman gently

I put my hand on hers and gently caressed it to calm her down. She was shaking now.

"I… am sorry honored ones, the stories were harrowing and I have them written down still. I've been trying to forget them, but they would just not leave my mind." She explained.

Ah, so that's the reason she was acting the way she was when I came here.

"I apologize for bringing it up. We will be taking the papers back with us when we return, so you can keep them sealed until then." I said once she stopped shaking.

I let her hand go and she nodded in thanks to me, as she did not trust herself to speak for now.

If whatever sect she was told of wasn't a demonic sect I'll eat my shoes, this is not the reaction on has to normal horror. This is the sort of thing that scars the mind and soul just to hear about.

"Tha-thank you honored ones. If I may add though, the man seemed proud of what he had achieved there in his past life and he had managed to die of old age in the First Tier despite cultivating diligently all his life, because his world had little Qi. He was overjoyed to hear he won't need to stoop so low as in this past life as a wolf clan, but still wished to be along his old people." She replied.

"So his Virtue belongs to his people and he does not see us as that." I answered as I realized where she was getting to.

"Yes honored ones, the man was perfectly willing to look at his human family, pay the debt he felt he owned for taking a son from them and left. This is not virtue as I understand it, but it is still virtue."

"Despicable." Ya Xue muttered darkly behind me.

I sighed.

There is a reason I don't want to tell people of my own nature and why I imagine most other's like me don't, and that because for a long time I agreed with this Yang An Lu and felt as if I've taken the life of Tai Su for myself. Our mind is formed inside of our society, it is shaped and molded by it and our family as they mold our young selves into who we will become.

To reincarnate is to be reborn as someone already molded and pretend you were not and are a part of the life you stole from someone else. It took me years to come to terms with it and eventually decide that I am Tai Su, and my old life is merely something I remember and my second life is who I am and that I have stolen nothing and instead been gifted something else from a man I've never met.

I however, needed to address Ya Xue's little impropriety, because she was my subordinate and her speaking out of turn when unprompted or uncalled for could be a slight hit to our host's face, especially as the woman most likely knows what the silver uniform means. Concubines may not be slaves, but the Empire does not look favorably on those that can't fulfill their obligations and need the help of others to be a part of society, and woman's face already took too many hits just now.

Some do not care, others insist that Concubines behave to a certain standard to show respect and gratitude for being taken in. While Bao and I don't punish Mei Lin and Ya Xue for speaking their mind unprompted, and in fact encourage them to do so, I was told that in most other places letting them do that in public or when we speak to others could be seen as insulting to both us and those we speak to.

"I apologize for Ya Xue speaking out of turn. She and her family have had a rather strained relationship as of late, and the thought of someone just abandoning their family for strangers when they had no reason to do so weighs heavily on her." I apologized and bowed slightly.

I didn't need any Water Meridian enhanced senses to feel her tense up, the floor carrier her leg's movement as she realized she had made a blunder.

Now it was time to see what sort of woman we were dealing with.

"There is nothing to apologize for, I certainly said the same thing when the man told me that. He chuckled then, but I knew he agreed." She said kindly.

I could feel Ya Xue relax slightly, but she did not say anything this time.

"I thank you for your consideration Village Head. If it is not too imposing on you, we would like to rest in the village for today before going to search for the wolf clan. We have been on the road since yesterday and could use some rest." I asked and gave another light bow.

Running on mud paths in Autumn was slower and it took us twice us much to reach here as it should have if we ran on a proper road. Da Xiu and Mei Lin were a bit tired, Mei Lin more than Da Xiu as she is far less used to physical exercise and does not have a lot of stamina, but both of them are tired nonetheless.

I knew both of them knew what I've just done and I didn't care for their protests. They need rest, no matter how much their pride prevents them from asking for it when Ya Xue and I don't.

"Naturally honored ones, I've prepared one of the empty buildings just for your stay, as Elder Shen Xifeng told me you might need some place to stay and recuperate from your trip. Please let me show you to it and we can talk about the wolf clan and their route tomorrow if that pleases you." She offered us.

So master knew what my two prideful idiots would try to do and still prepared accordingly. I'll have to thank her for it next time I see her.

"We thank you for your kindness Village Head." I said and bowed more deeply now.

Behind me, my little squad of prideful fools quickly did the same.

"Please call me Mi Ping, honored ones. Now that the official business is out of the way, there is no reason to be so formal." She declared and we rose up.

"Only if you will call me Tai Su then." I replied amiably and mirrored the smile she had on her face.

Her smile morphed into fear before it was gone so fast most people wouldn't even be sure they saw it or merely imagined it.

"Please follow me, honored ones, I'll show you to your dwelling." She said, her voice strained slightly as she reverted to the formal way of addressing me.

She quickly rose up and we followed at a respectful distance behind her without comment.

I sighed, it seems that somehow, rumors of the fact I could use my wit to cause dozens to kill themselves reached even here… somehow. The woman in front of us froze slightly in-between steps as she heard my sigh but she recovered quickly and did not slow down her pace at all.

If I knew my deeds would become so popular I would have asked to have the people trying to steal my work publicly flogged, it might have stopped people from fearing my words so much.