Chapter 9 - The Disciplinary Courtyard
The walk to the Disciplinary Courtyard was not a pleasant one. It was still pitch-black outside, and the only source of light came from the twin moons hanging high in the sky. The air was bitingly cold, and my body ached with every step. I felt like a sack of broken bones held together by sheer force of will.
And yet, I could walk. Thank God for that. I could walk, and I could think, and I could feel.
Which was a small miracle, considering I'd just spent a frightening amount of time lying on the floor of my room, completely paralyzed from the neck down.
Yeah… it turned out that pinching a spinal cord meridian was a spectacularly bad idea. Who would have thought?
I wiggled my fingers, testing the sensation. They were still tingling with pins and needles. I guess I'd managed to cut off the nerve signals to the rest of my body, including the pain signals, but I'd also cut off the signals that controlled my muscles. Which was an incredibly stupid oversight on my part. For some reason, I had expected some kind of gradual numbness, something that would happen slowly and allow me to adjust my pinch accordingly. I hadn't expected to be instantly paralyzed.
Frankly, the more I thought about it, the more I realized just how idiotic my plan had been. I had been so focused on the idea of blocking pain that I hadn't bothered to consider the fact that pain signals travel along the same pathways as other critical signals in the nervous system. What if I had shut down my breathing? Or my heartbeat? Hell, what if I'd completely severed the flow and couldn't release it again?
I shook my head in disgust. I was an idiot. A complete and utter moron.
Still, I couldn't ignore the fact that I had, in fact, blocked the pain. I'd blocked motor function as well, but I'd blocked the pain. So the theory was sound. And it had undeniable potential. If I could refine the technique, learn to control it with more precision, I might actually be able to beat Grand Elder Zhou Liang's obviously bullshit claim of pruning ten thousand meridians in a single night.
The question was, how would I go about refining it without putting myself at risk of becoming a permanent quadriplegic? Aiming for lower and lower parts of my spinal cord seemed like a good start. I'd started with the neck, but that had been a mistake. The closer to the brain the blockage was, the more of the body it would affect. If I could create a blockage in my lower back, for example, I might only paralyze my legs, which would allow me to prune all the junk meridians in my lower body without feeling a thing. That was still not ideal, but it was a lot better than being a talking head. Actually, could I somehow block the nerves branching off the spinal cord instead of the spinal cord itself? That sounded safer. A lot safer. But I wasn't sure if my Mind meridians branched out that way. As far as I could tell, the spinal cord meridian was a single, unbroken line. So then…
Wait a second… What the hell was wrong with me?! I'd just paralyzed myself, and here I was, not an hour later, already theorycrafting ways to do it again. Was I going insane? Was this world's inherent madness starting to rub off on me?
I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. Screw it. I needed to stop thinking about this for a while. My brain was fried, and I was starting to lose touch with reality.
For now, I had more pressing concerns. Wei Ling was about to get whipped.
I rummaged through the satchel I had brought with me as I walked. I'd managed to squeeze into it a spare set of crimson robes (probably several sizes too big for her, but better than nothing), a half-empty bottle of "healing pills" that Wei Fan had bought from Lin Tao (which were basically low-grade opiates, incredibly addictive) and a small flask of clean water. It wasn't much, but it was all I had. I hoped it would be enough.
And if it wasn't enough… well, there wasn't much I could do about that, was there? Besides offering some kind of moral support, I was completely useless.
Still, at least I was trying to be there for her, unlike a certain other waste of space she had spent the last twenty years of her life protecting…
Ugh, what a mess this whole situation was.
Sighing tiredly, I kept trudging along the dusty trail as Chinese pagodas and gravel courtyards gave way to trees clinging to jagged cliffs and steep, narrow staircases. Finally, I arrived at a flat, barren plateau carved into the mountainside.
I already knew what to expect from the Disciplinary Courtyard based on Wei Fan's memories, but honestly, the place still somehow managed to catch me off guard by how incredibly… mundane it was. You'd think that a place where people were routinely tortured to near-death would have some kind of dramatic architecture, or at least a few skulls hanging from the gates. But nope. It was just a plain, rectangular courtyard surrounded by a low stone wall, with a small wooden platform in the center and a few rows of tiered benches for spectators. The atmosphere was more like a town hall meeting than a torture chamber. Dozens of disciples were milling about, chatting and laughing loudly while placing bets on the poor victims waiting for their turn to face the whip.
"Ten spirit stones says he passes out after the fifth lash!" one disciple shouted.
"Twenty says he starts begging for death!" another chimed in.
"Fifty says he shits himself!"
The poor victim in question—a pale, trembling man with his hands bound behind his back—was standing on the wooden platform, looking like he'd rather jump off the nearest cliff than go through what was about to happen.
Behind him sat the Disciplinary Elder on a cushioned, high-backed chair with a bored expression, lazily twirling the infamous Blood-Thorn Whip in one hand while holding a steaming cup of tea in the other. "Girl, my tea is cold," he yawned, handing the cup to a servant girl standing beside him. "Fetch me another. And make it hot this time, or you'll be the next one on this platform."
Her face went pale.
"Just kidding," he chuckled, taking a sip from the cup anyway. "It's fine. Now, where were we?" he glanced down at the scroll in his lap. "Ah yes. Disciple Chen, for the crime of stealing medicinal herbs from the sect's greenhouse, you are sentenced to five lashes. Ten percent strength, without poison. Do you have any last words?"
The man's eyes widened. "Ten percent?! But Elder, I—"
WHACK!
"ARGHHHH!" the man's scream echoed through the courtyard, silencing the murmurs of the crowd for just a moment before they erupted into cheers and laughter. "Heavens above, have mercy!" he shrieked, writhing in agony as the whip came down again and again. "I'll never do it again, I swear! Please, I—"
"Oh just shut up, will you?" the Disciplinary Elder grumbled, taking another sip of his tea and lounging back in his chair. "It's only ten percent of my strength. I'm barely even trying. You should see what I do to the demonic cultivators we capture. Now that's what I call a proper whipping."
I could only stand there and gawk, dumbfounded.
Another WHACK, another pathetic scream.
"ARGHHH! Why?! WHY?!" the man shrieked. "I only took a few stalks of Spirit Grass! My mother is sick!"
"Save us your sob story, Disciple Chen," the Disciplinary Elder said with another yawn. "Everyone has a sick mother. It's the oldest excuse in the book." He took a final, leisurely sip of his tea, then set the cup down. "Alright, that's enough of that. Next!"
I finally closed my mouth and blinked, realizing I had been standing frozen like an idiot in the middle of the courtyard.
…Jesus Christ, Wei Fan. Was this seriously your idea of entertainment? Betting on people being tortured? What a sick fuck you were.
I shook my head in disgust before shifting my attention to the line of people waiting for their turn on the platform. Wei Ling wasn't hard to spot among the riffraff. For one, she was the only person there with a huge, crimson sword strapped to her back, with what looked like a literal rope made of blood binding it in place. For another, she was the only disciple who looked like she was ready to murder everyone in the courtyard. Including the Disciplinary Elder.
I tried to catch her attention, but she was too busy threatening the guy waiting in line in front of her, something about ripping out his intestines and using them as a jump rope if he dared to brush against her robes again. The other disciples gave her plenty of space.
Deciding it wouldn't be a good idea to interrupt her, I found a spot near the back of the crowd and climbed up to the highest tier of benches.
Annoyingly, I was immediately joined by—surprise, surprise—my old pal, Disciple Lin Tao. Of course he'd be here. He probably had a season ticket.
"Fancy seeing you here, brother," he said with a grin. "Come to watch the show? I've got a bet going on how many lashes it'll take before your sister screams. I'm putting ten mid-grade stones on seven. What do you say?"
Psychological torture right from the get-go, huh? This guy really was a piece of work.
I gave him my best "fuck off and die" look, but he just laughed. "Tough crowd. Alright, alright, I get it. Family loyalty and all that. But you have to admit, there's a certain… poetic justice to it, don't you think? The great Wei Ling, brought low by her own temper. It's a classic tale."
"She'll pull through," I said curtly, not even sparing him a glance.
"I guess she will," he shrugged. "But this time it's different, isn't it?"
"How so?" I asked despite myself, already regretting that I had engaged with him at all.
"You are here now," he said, his grin widening. "You've never attended one of her punishments before. Always too busy getting drunk or chasing tail. But here you are, bright and early, looking all concerned. It's a new development. A very interesting new development." He leaned in closer, making me even more uncomfortable than I already was. "And they are here too." He pointed at a group sitting on the opposite side of the courtyard. They were all wearing the same dark red robes as the rest of us, but theirs were trimmed with black and embroidered with the emblem of a demonic dog. The Li clan.
They came to watch, of course. Li Hu was among them, comforting a crying woman who I assumed was Li Qiang's widow. How I hadn't noticed them earlier was beyond me.
"See that big guy in the center?" Lin Tao continued, nodding towards a huge bear of a man with a shaved head and a face covered in scars. "That's Li Jian, the head of their clan. A Fourth Realm cultivator. One of the strongest men in the valley. He's the one who pushed for this punishment. He wanted her executed, you know. Called her a 'menace to the sect' and a 'threat to the natural order.' The Sect Leader had to personally intervene to reduce the sentence after your father sent a formal letter of complaint."
Wait, what?
I was immediately alert. The Li clan wanted Wei Ling outright executed? And the Sect Leader had intervened?
Actually, hadn't Li Hu mentioned something about half the elders siding with his clan? I'd been too busy trying not to die to really process it at the time, but now…
"How the hell do you know all that?" I frowned.
"I have my sources," Lin Tao said with a shrug. "Let's just say I have a talent for being in the right place at the right time. And for overhearing things I'm not supposed to. It's a very profitable talent to have." He must have caught the brief concerned expression that crossed my face because he leaned in suddenly and brought his mouth close to my ear, voice dropping to a whisper. "Li Jian, that big ugly bastard over there, he wants her cultivation crippled. Permanently. He's been bribing Elder Pang all week. He likes crippled girls. I wonder what he plans on doing with her, once she's broken."
My fists clenched involuntarily and my Blood Qi flared for a split second before I managed to suppress it. He was crossing a line that I hadn't even known existed, and I was about to break his fucking jaw.
Thankfully, I quickly came to my senses and realized that punching Lin Tao in the face right here, right now, would accomplish absolutely nothing.
Seriously, what the hell was wrong with me? It wasn't like me to fall for such obvious bait. Especially not in defense of a woman, who was, by all accounts, a stranger.
I let out a slow, calming breath and forced my muscles to relax. "Very informative," I said. "Thank you for the update, Brother Lin. You've been a great help."
"Damn, brother! That's cold, even for you," Lin Tao said, pulling back with a look of genuine surprise. "Not even a little bit of outrage? Not even a token threat of violence? You've really changed, Wei Fan. I'm not sure if I like it." He shrugged. "Then again, maybe you're just smart enough to know when you're outmatched. That's a new development too."
I nodded slowly. "You're right. I am outmatched," I said, my gaze fixed on the platform. "I was outmatched against Li Qiang as well. How did that work out for him?"
Lin Tao had no reply to that, but I could see the flicker of unease in his eyes. Good. Let him sweat for a change.
"Touché, Brother Wei. Touché," he finally said, standing up and dusting off his robes. "But I think you'll find that I'm a little harder to get rid of than Li Qiang was. And a lot less forgiving." He gave me a final, predatory smile. "Enjoy the show."
"Wait," I said before he could leave. "I want to place a bet."
"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow. "On what?"
"On my sister," I said. "I'll bet you a hundred mid-grade spirit stones that she doesn't make a single sound. She won't collapse, she won't beg, and she won't scream."
He stared at me for a long moment, then burst out laughing. "A hundred mid-grade stones? Brother Wei, you don't have a hundred low-grade stones to your name. Are you planning on selling your other kidney?"
My hand immediately shot to my side. I was horrified, for a moment, wondering if Wei Fan's idiocy had actually resulted in the loss of a kidney at some point in the past and I simply hadn't gotten to that particular memory yet. Mercifully, a quick mental check confirmed that both of my kidneys were still present and accounted for. Thank God.
"I already owe you a hundred mid-grade stones, don't I?" I said, recalling the astronomical interest rate he'd quoted. "So what's another hundred? Double or nothing. If I win, my debt is cleared. If you win, I owe you two hundred."
His eyes lit up with a greedy glint. "You're serious. You're actually serious." He chuckled again, shaking his head. "Alright, you're on. But let's make it interesting. If you lose, you don't just owe me the stones. You also owe me a favor. Any favor I ask, no questions asked. Deal?"
I wasn't going to lose, so it didn't matter.
"Deal," I said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to watch the proceedings in peace."
"Of course, Brother Wei. I wouldn't dream of disturbing you." With a final pat on my shoulder, he sauntered off to rejoin his group of lowlifes, chuckling to himself as though he'd already won.
I couldn't wait to get rid of that guy. It couldn't come soon enough.
I watched as the last of the minor offenders received their punishments, a series of whippings that ranged from tragically comical to genuinely brutal. Finally, when the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, it was Wei Ling's turn.
"A core disciple, huh? This should be interesting," Elder Pang said, getting to his feet for once and stretching his arms. "Been a while since I've had a real challenge."
"Just get on with it, you fat pig," Wei Ling spat. "I have better things to do than listen to you wheeze."
What the…?
My eyes widened at the absolutely unhinged level of disrespect. That was probably the worst thing she could have said in this situation.
Luckily, Elder Pang just chuckled and shook his head. "Feisty. I like that. Alright, girlie. For the crime of murdering a fellow disciple in cold blood, you are sentenced to thirty lashes with the Blood-Thorn Whip. Full strength, with poison. Do you have any last words? Perhaps acknowledge your crime and beg for mercy?"
"I acknowledge that I killed a man named Li Qiang for trying to murder my brother," Wei Ling said coldly. "I ripped off his arms and legs and fed them to the koi in the sect pond. I regret nothing."
The crowd gasped in horror. Even Elder Pang looked a little shocked.
I blinked once, twice, then proceeded to facepalm so hard that I almost gave myself a concussion. Seriously, Wei Ling? Why would you say it like that?
"Murderer!" someone shouted. It was the woman who'd been crying in Li Hu's arms. She pointed a shaking finger at Wei Ling. "You killed my husband! You took away my son's father!"
"Your husband was beating a boy twenty years younger than him to death," Wei Ling said without a shred of emotion. "He deserved to die. And you deserve to be a widow."
"You bitch!" the woman screamed, trying to rush the platform, but Li Hu held her back. "I'll kill you! I swear, I'll kill you!"
"Alright, alright, settle down everyone," Elder Pang said quickly, raising a placating hand. "Let's not get carried away. The sentence has been decided. Justice will be served." He turned back to Wei Ling. "Strip to the waist. Face the post."
Li Jian, the clan head, stood up. "Elder Pang," he said, his voice a low rumble that vibrated through the stone benches. No one dared to breathe. "I suggest you show no mercy. The Li clan will be watching very closely. I will be watching very closely. And I will know if you are holding back. I will know, and I will be… displeased."
"Ah, but of course, Clan Head Li," Elder Pang replied with a greasy smile, bowing slightly. "This Elder would never dream of shirking his duties. The integrity of the sect's laws is paramount." He cracked the whip, a sound like thunder ripping through the silent courtyard. "Now, Disciple Wei. The post."
Without a word, Wei Ling untied the sash of her crimson robes and let the top half fall, revealing a back crisscrossed with old, faded scars. Much to my relief (and to the obvious disappointment of every other male disciple in the crowd), she was wearing a tight-fitting black undergarment that covered her chest, with what looked like a thin layer of her own Qi-infused blood reinforcing it. It was a common practice among female Body cultivators, at least the ones who weren't keen on flashing their assets to the entire sect during sparring matches.
Her sword parted from her back, the blood rope dissolving into crimson mist as she grabbed the hilt and threw the weapon to the ground with a dull thud. "You know the rules, Elder," she said. "A core disciple has the right to face their punishment standing. I will not be tied to a post like a common criminal."
Elder Pang shrugged. "Have it your way." He cracked the whip again, sending another explosive ripple of sound through the courtyard. "Thirty lashes. Let the heavens bear witness."
WHACK!
I flinched, even though I knew it was coming. The whip landed squarely across her back, leaving a bloody gash that sizzled and smoked as the poison took effect. She didn't move. She didn't even grunt. She just stood there, her back ramrod straight, her fists clenched at her sides.
Another WHACK. And another, and another, each one tearing a fresh wound across her back. The crowd gasped and murmured, but she didn't make a sound. I could see her muscles trembling with the effort of holding herself still, but she didn't flinch, she didn't cry out, she didn't even breathe faster.
By the tenth lash, her back was a bloody mess of shredded flesh, and the air was thick with the smell of burnt meat and poison. I found myself gripping the edge of the bench so hard that my knuckles turned white. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't. I had to see it through. I wasn't sure why, but I had to.
By the fifteenth lash, I could see the Blood Qi barrier protecting her chest starting to crack. The dark red was fading, and the black fabric underneath was starting to show through. She seemed to grit her teeth, and the barrier brightened again.
By the twentieth lash I had managed to trick my brain into believing that what I was witnessing was a play or a movie, or some kind of elaborate illusion. She wasn't my sister. She wasn't. I had to repeat it like a mantra until I could barely feel a thing. My real sister was back on Earth, and she was fine. Probably slightly worried about me not responding to her texts, but fine.
I thought about that for a moment, then shook my head.
Eh, who was I kidding? She probably hadn't even noticed I was gone. Since I had moved into the studio apartment, we barely saw each other. My parents were the ones who were, I guess, slightly worried, but I'm sure they were fine too.
I just hoped my cat would be able to escape the apartment when the landlord eventually came around to check on me. I honestly missed the little furball more than I cared to admit.
Those thoughts of home calmed me, and I found myself relaxing more and more as the numbers of lashes counted down. By the last lash I just felt bad for Wei Ling in an abstract, detached sort of way. It sucked. The whole situation sucked.
At least I'd won the bet. That was something, I supposed. I watched Lin Tao scowling furiously as he handed over a small pouch to one of his lackeys. I almost smiled at the sight.
Eat shit, you condescending prick.
"Thirty," Elder Pang finally grunted, lowering the whip. His arm was slick with sweat, and he was breathing heavily. "The sentence is carried out." He tossed the whip to one of his assistants and slumped back into his chair, looking exhausted. "Take her to the infirmary."
Two disciples moved forward to carry Wei Ling away, but her death glare was enough to send them scurrying backward. "I can walk," she gritted out, grabbing her discarded sword and slinging it over her shoulder before jumping off the platform.
"As you wish," Elder Pang said with a wave of his hand. "Just get out of my sight. You're ruining my appetite."
Some of the crowd began to disperse, but a lot of them stayed to gossip and exchange spirit stones. The Li clan were still sitting there, watching Wei Ling like hawks. I didn't like the way they were looking at her. I quickly jumped down from the benches and hurried over to intercept her.
"Wei Ling," I said, my voice coming out a little hoarse. I held out the spare robes I had brought. "Here."
She hardly spared me a glance, just snatched the robes from my hands and threw them over her shoulders, wincing as the fabric brushed against her wounds. "I trust you made a tidy profit from my suffering, little brother?" she said. "I saw you betting with that weasel Lin Tao."
I winced slightly at her tone.
Yeah, that probably wasn't a good look, was it?
"I won," I said, deciding to just own it. "He bet you'd scream. I bet you wouldn't."
"How touching," she said dryly. "You have such faith in me." She took a staggering step, then another, her legs trembling. I reached out to support her, but she brushed my hand away. "I don't need your help," she said, still refusing to look at me. Quite pointedly, in fact. Almost as if she was embarrassed to let me see her like this.
I wasn't sure what to do, so I just pulled back awkwardly and nodded. "Right. Of course. Sorry about that."
But saying 'sorry' was clearly another mistake, because her head immediately snapped around, her eyes boring into mine. Any trace of vulnerability was gone.
I was momentarily stunned by how beautiful she was, even with her face pale and sweat-drenched, her high ponytail coming undone in messy strands of black hair. She had the same sharp jawline and dark eyes as Wei Fan, but hers were brighter. More intense. More… unhinged. Honestly, that was the only word that really fit. Almost feverish.
The blood dripping down her chest certainly didn't help with that impression.
"Something is wrong with you," she said, closing the distance between us before I could react. She grabbed my face in her hands, her fingers digging into my cheeks. "Your eyes… they're different." She tilted my head from side to side, my neck creaking in protest. "Your Qi flow is wrong. Your posture is wrong. Your heartbeat is wrong. Everything is wrong." I gulped and tried to pull away, but her grip was like iron. "What happened? Tell me what happened to you in that infirmary. Did that old quack Pill Master Zhao do something to you? Did he experiment on you?"
I was about to say 'no,' but then realized that saying 'yes' might actually be a good way to explain my recent personality transplant. A medical experiment gone wrong was a lot more believable than "I'm a reincarnated soul from another world."
"Honestly, I don't remember much," I said, going for a confused and slightly pained expression. It really wasn't that hard to pull off, what with her fingers still digging into my cheeks like she was trying to crush my skull. "The last few days have been… rough."
"Rough?" She narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean, 'rough'? Be specific."
"Eh, you know, the usual," I replied, trying to sound casual even as my jaw ached. "Debts, enemies… whores trying to scam me into paying child support… the usual."
I thought I'd nailed Wei Fan's level of scumbaggery with the whores comment, but judging by the way Wei Ling's grip tightened even further, I had clearly miscalculated.
"Whores?" she hissed, her eyes blazing with a terrifying light. "You've been consorting with whores again? After I expressly forbade it? After what happened last time?"
Huh? What happened last time…?
I did a quick skim of Wei Fan's memories, and my eyes widened in horror. Oh. Oh, that. The time Wei Fan had contracted a particularly nasty strain of "Spiritually Transmitted Demonic Corruption" from a brothel in the mortal town, and Wei Ling had to personally track down the infected prostitute and extract a sample of her blood to create an antidote. She'd ended up burning the entire brothel to the ground afterward, just to be safe.
"I was just kidding," I said quickly, trying to backtrack. "A joke. A bad joke. I haven't been near a brothel in a—ouch! What the hell, Wei Ling?!"
She cut a small slit in my neck with her fingernail, and then sniffed the blood. "You're not possessed by a demon," she concluded, wiping the blood on her sleeve. "And you're not under the influence of any mind-altering substances. So what is it?"
She didn't wait for a response. She cut me again, this time a long gash across my forearm, and then leaned in close to suck it dry like a goddamn vampire. I finally had enough. "Could you stop doing that?!" I snapped, yanking my hand away. "Look I just came here to see if you were okay. Clearly, you are. So I'll just be on my way."
Like, seriously, what the hell was wrong with this woman? At least show some appreciation for the guy who brought you spare robes and tried to help.
I was with my back to her when her hand snapped out like a viper, grabbing hold of my wrist and stopping me in my tracks. "You're not going anywhere," she said. "Not until you tell me what's wrong."
I froze, my back to her, trying to control my temper. I'd already known that Wei Ling had some serious control issues, but experiencing it firsthand was a whole different beast. I wasn't sure I'd have it in me to deal with her bullshit long-term. So should I just put an end to it right here, right now, and tell her to fuck off? Well, maybe not like that, but I could definitely draw a line in the sand. The question was whether doing that now, when she was clearly having some sixth-sense intuition that something was off about me, was a good idea.
Not to mention that she'd just been whipped thirty times and was probably not in the most stable of moods.
I didn't know what to do, so I just kept standing there, frozen like an idiot.
She must have sensed my hesitation because her grip on my wrist just kept tightening until it felt like she was about to crush the bones in my arm.
It was quickly becoming apparent that she wasn't going to let go until I turned around and faced her.
Which was why her sudden collapse at that very moment took me entirely by surprise.
I just managed to catch her before she hit the ground, instinctively grabbing her under the arms as her knees buckled beneath her.
Holy crap, she was heavy.
Thin as a twig, but heavy as a sack of bricks. I almost folded under her weight, forced to circulate Blood Qi frantically to keep my own knees from giving out. It took me a few seconds of struggling before I realized that there was no way I'd be able to lift both her and her sword. The blade felt like it weighed almost as much as she did.
But then the sword seemed to move on its own, floating upward until the rope of blood stretched to its full length and provided some support, pulling her up with it. I was still struggling to lift what must have been three hundred pounds of dead weight, but at least now it was manageable.
We stood awkwardly like that for a few moments, me holding her up and her sword holding her up, until her eyes fluttered open. She blinked a few times before realizing her position, her body stiffening in my arms.
"Are you oka—" I began, but her hand flew to my mouth, silencing me.
"Don't say anything," she ordered sharply. "Help me to my room. Act natural. And don't you dare drop me."
I immediately tensed at her tone, looking around despite her telling me not to. There were still a lot of disciples lingering around, but thankfully most of them were too busy exchanging bets (and in some cases, fistfighting over disputed wagers) to notice us. The Li clan, however, were still staring. Li Jian wore the same stone-faced expression as before, while Li Hu and the widow whispered furiously to each other.
"Walk, you idiot," Wei Ling hissed, linking her arm with mine. "Just walk."
I didn't walk. I had to think. I stood there frozen with Wei Ling's arm in mine, my face blank, my mind working overtime, completely ignoring the way her grip was slowly turning my wrist into a mangled pulp.
It wasn't that hard to put the pieces together, really. Li Jian had bribed Elder Pang to use more poison than usual. Wei Ling had known about it, and she'd tried to power through it, but the poison was stronger than she'd anticipated. They probably thought she'd collapse on the platform, humiliating herself in front of the entire sect.
Or… maybe they wanted to intercept her on her way to the infirmary, finish the job, and make it look like she'd succumbed to her injuries.
One of those options was infinitely more concerning than the other, especially since I would be intercepted as well and likely silenced alongside her.
"The Li clan," I said. "They did something to the wh—"
Her hand snapped up and covered my mouth again. "Not here. He can hear you." She nodded almost imperceptibly towards Li Jian. "My room. Now."
I didn't really have a choice in the matter, so I just nodded, and we started walking. It was a pain just getting to the edge of the courtyard with Wei Ling leaning on me like a sack of steel. She kept up a stoic front, but that didn't prevent her from digging her nails into my arm every time I misstepped or adjusted my grip too roughly.
"You weigh a ton," I grumbled under my breath, earning another painful squeeze. "What do you have, rocks in your pockets?"
What could I say? It was true. And it also wasn't my fault that Wei Fan had been skipping leg day for the past ten years. Seriously, what a fucking embarrassment. A two-hundred-pound Body cultivator who couldn't even carry a girl that looked like she weighed ninety pounds soaking wet. She actually weighed three hundred pounds soaking wet, but that was beside the point. The point was that Wei Fan was a disgrace to Body cultivators everywhere, and now I was likely going to pay the price for his years of slacking off.
I couldn't help but think of all the terrible ways this could end for both of us. Would they jump us in the middle of the forest? Would they set a trap for us in one of the narrow mountain passes? Would they just straight-up attack us right here and now, in plain sight, consequences be damned?
I had no clue, and the anticipation was killing me.
But I just kept moving, one slow, agonizing step at a time.
It was going to be a long fucking walk back to her room.
If we even made it there at all.
/-/
Li Hu stared in confusion as Wei Fan and his sister slowly made their way out of the Disciplinary Courtyard. He had expected Wei Ling to collapse. He had expected her to crawl. He had expected her to beg for help, humiliated and broken. He had not expected her brother, of all people, to be there to support her.
His stomach sank.
This wasn't right. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.
"Li Hu…" his cousin's widow gritted, her nails digging into his arm. "You promised me… You promised me her heart. A feast for the dogs…"
Li Hu winced. He'd never made such a promise. That had been his father's drunken boast, not his. But he didn't correct her. She was grieving. "I know," he said. "I think we're just waiting for the poison to take effect. It's only a matter of—"
"I don't care!" she shrieked, hitting his chest with her small fists. "I want her dead! I want her dead, do you hear me?! I want her to suffer!"
"Li Hu," Li Jian's voice, a low rumble, cut through the woman's hysterics. "Come."
Li Hu immediately obeyed, disentangling himself from the weeping woman and jumping down from the benches to join his clan's head. The rest of the Li clan followed, forming a tight circle around their leader. "Uncle," Li Hu said, bowing his head. "I—"
Li Jian held up a hand, and Li Hu immediately fell silent.
His uncle withdrew a jade slip from his robes and crushed it in his fist. A wave of Qi pulsed outwards, creating a soundproof barrier around them. Only then did he speak. "That boy," he said, his eyes fixed on Wei Fan's retreating back. "Is he the brother that you have failed to cripple in the sparring match, as I had instructed?"
Li Hu's face flushed with shame. "Yes, Uncle. I… I underestimated him. He was faster than I expected."
"Faster?" Li Jian raised an eyebrow. "He is a First Realm. You are a Second Realm. There should be no contest."
There was no accusatory tone in his voice, just a calm rumble that made Li Hu feel even worse. The shame of his failure burned in his gut. It burned worse than any of Elder Pang's lashes. "My Crimson Blade technique… it was not yet perfected. I lost control."
"Hmm…" Li Jian grunted, stroking his chin. "I see. And the boy, what did you observe of his techniques?"
Li Hu blinked. Wei Fan? Techniques? He hadn't used any. Not really. Just some clumsy footwork and a failed Blood Steel Palm. "He was... evasive," Li Hu said, choosing his words carefully. "He did not fight back. He only dodged."
"Tell me of his Qi. Did you sense any elemental nature to it?" Li Jian asked. "Any signs of demonic corruption?"
Even if Li Hu had been capable of detecting such things, he hadn't been paying close enough attention. He'd been too focused on his own technique, too caught up in the heat of the moment. "No, Uncle. I did not sense anything."
Li Jian just nodded slowly, his gaze still fixed on the distant figures. They watched in silence as Wei Fan and Wei Ling disappeared over the crest of a hill.
When Li Hu couldn't take the silence any longer, he spoke. "Uncle, what are your orders? Should we follow them? I thought the plan was to ambush her on the way to the infirmary."
"Oh?" Li Jian raised an eyebrow, finally turning to face him. "And who told you that was the plan?"
Li Hu faltered. "I just thought… since we brought everyone here…"
"You thought that I would risk a direct confrontation with a core disciple on sect grounds, in broad daylight, surrounded by witnesses?" Li Jian asked. "You thought that I would be so foolish as to give the Sect Leader a legitimate reason to intervene and punish our clan?"
"No, of course not, Uncle," Li Hu stammered, his face paling. "I just… I misunderstood."
"You misunderstood because you are a child," Li Jian growled. "You see a problem, and you want to solve it with your fists. That is the way of a brute, not a cultivator. A true cultivator understands the value of patience. Of strategy. Of striking when your enemy is at their most vulnerable." He gestured vaguely in the direction Wei Ling and her brother had disappeared. "Now tell me, Li Hu. Why would I create such a public spectacle? Why would I go to the trouble of bribing an elder and making a public show of force, only to let her walk away?"
Li Hu stared at his uncle, his mind a blank. He had no idea. He had assumed the public punishment was the main event, a way to humiliate Wei Ling and assert the Li clan's dominance. He hadn't considered that it might be a part of a larger plan. "I… I don't know, Uncle."
Li Jian sighed, a sound like grinding stones. "No matter. You will learn in time."
Li Hu couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment. He wanted to be a part of his clan's plans. He wanted to prove his worth. "So… if we are not going after them then—"
"We are not." Li Jian cut him off, his voice flat. "When one wishes to catch a tiger, one does not chase it into the mountains. One waits. One watches. One learns." He turned to Li Hu, his eyes like chips of obsidian. "I want you to watch him, Li Hu. I want you to watch the boy. Find out everything you can about him. His friends, his enemies, his habits, his weaknesses. I want to know what he eats for breakfast, who he sleeps with at night, and where he shits in the morning. Do you understand?"
Huh? Watch Wei Fan, not Wei Ling?
Li Hu blinked in confusion, but he knew better than to question his uncle's orders. "I understand completely," he said, bowing respectfully. "And what of Wei Ling?"
"She is not your concern," Li Jian said, his gaze distant. "I will handle her myself. I will break her in ways she cannot even imagine. And then, when she is nothing more than a whimpering, broken toy, I will give her to you. And you will give her heart to your cousin's widow, as you promised." He clapped a heavy hand on Li Hu's shoulder. "Do not fail me again." His hand tightened, and for a terrifying moment, Li Hu thought his shoulder would shatter. Then, just as quickly, the pressure was gone. "Go. And do not return until you have something useful for me."
Li Hu didn't need to be told twice. He bowed again, then turned and pushed his way through the dispersing crowd, his mind already racing. Watch Wei Fan. That was his mission.
A simple task, on the surface.
On the surface.
Li Hu had a feeling it would be anything but.
Chapter 10 - The Weight of a Sister
Getting to Wei Ling's room, as it turned out, was a whole fucking ordeal. The core disciples resided in a separate, more luxurious area high up on the mountain, and to get there we had to climb a seemingly endless flight of stone steps that snaked up the cliffside like a giant stone serpent. At some point I simply stopped caring whether we were being followed or not because I was too busy trying not to collapse.
I did care just enough to keep my Dream Qi circulating through my spinal cord, though. Just the tiniest wisp that I could manage with my now almost depleted reserves. Circulating Blood Qi would have made the climb a lot easier, but I had a feeling that the "zone" effect of Dream Qi circulation would be far more useful if we were ambushed. I wasn't able to circulate both types of Qi at the same time, so I had to make a choice. And honestly, I'd rather have a few seconds of reaction time than a bit of extra muscle power.
It did, however, make the trek feel much longer than it really was. The world was moving in slightly slower frames, as if I were trudging through molasses.
Fortunately, Wei Ling seemed to regain some of her strength during the climb, which made things marginally easier for me.
"Can't you just fly us up there?" I grunted. She obviously couldn't, but I felt like that was the kind of idiotic thing Wei Fan would say, and I had made the decision to give the "I'm just the same old dumbass Wei Fan" act a try. It was the safest bet, given her current state of suspicion.
"If I could fly," she gritted out, "I wouldn't be clinging to you like a drowning rat, now would I?"
No, you wouldn't.
"But you can fly," I doubled down, trying to inject some of Wei Fan's usual whininess into the words. "You have a flying sword, don't you? It's literally on your back right now."
"It takes Qi to fly a sword, you idiot," she snapped. "Qi that I currently do not have. The poison is suppressing my Dantian." She gave me a suspicious glance. "You should know this."
Well, shit. So much for keeping up appearances.
I pulled out the pills I'd brought from my satchel and shook the bottle in front of her. "Want one?" I asked, trying to change the subject. "They're the good stuff. Cost me a fortune."
I didn't actually expect her to accept.
But I also didn't expect her to snatch the bottle from my hand and then toss it over the side of the cliff like it was a piece of garbage.
I blinked, staring at the bottle's descent as it disappeared into the abyss, then realized that a measly 'blink' was the wrong reaction when someone had just tossed your entire stash of painkillers down a mountain.
Wei Fan would have gone ballistic.
I, on the other hand… just felt slightly annoyed. I could have sold them for a handful of spirit stones, at the very least. Or really use them on myself, after all the insanity I'd been through in the past couple of days.
Eh… Whatever.
"What… what did you do that for?!" I forced out a half-hearted yell, trying my best to sound outraged. "Those were expensive!"
Wei Ling didn't dignify that with a reply. She was just watching me with a hawk-like intensity. "Something happened to you," she said slowly. "Something… bad. I don't know what it is, but I'm going to find out. And then I'm going to kill whoever did it."
The way she said it gave me chills, especially given that I was technically the "whoever" in that sentence.
"I'm fine," I said. "Just… tired. It's been a long week."
"You're lying," she said flatly. "You're a terrible liar, Fan'er. You always have been. Your heart rate is elevated, your pupils are dilated, and your Qi is in a state of flux. You are either terrified, on the verge of a Qi deviation, or hiding something from me. Which is it?"
So apparently she was a walking lie detector on top of everything else. Great.
I turned away from her, giving myself a moment to think as I skimmed my memories for the last few interactions she'd had with Wei Fan. It was obvious that trying to imitate his behavior was a lost cause. I'd never be able to replicate his specific brand of arrogant idiocy, not convincingly enough to fool her. So I was left with two options: either come clean about the whole reincarnation thing (a terrible idea) or try a different approach. A smarter approach.
"You were right before," I said, keeping my back to her so she couldn't see my face. "Something did happen. In the infirmary, I mean. I… I think Pill Master Zhao did something to me when I was out of it."
That wasn't an outright lie, actually. I'd been almost completely unconscious during my treatment, and Zhao had to check on me a couple of times, so it was plausible. Hopefully her lie detector wouldn't go off if I stuck as close to the truth as possible.
Wei Ling's sharp intake of breath told me I'd hit the right nerve. I had her full attention now.
"What did he do?"
"I don't know for sure," I said. "I think he force-fed me some kind of experimental pill. Said it would speed up my recovery. But ever since then… I haven't been myself."
I didn't feel even a bit guilty throwing him under the bus. The man was a sadist who enjoyed torturing his patients. He deserved absolutely everything that was coming to him.
"I will cut off his dick and feed it to him, then I will boil his head in a cauldron of his own piss."
Eh… well, maybe he didn't deserve that.
"I will make his apprentices watch," Wei Ling continued. "And then I will make them eat his remains. And then I will burn the entire infirmary to the ground, with them inside it."
Or that.
I let out a nervous laugh. "That's… that's a bit much, don't you think?"
"Is it?" She finally stepped around me, grabbing my face in her hands again "He deserves a slow, painful death. And so does anyone who was complicit in his crime." She paused, her grip on my abused cheeks tightening. "Unless… you're lying to me again, Fan'er. Are you lying to me?"
I forced my eyes to meet hers. "Why would I lie to you, Wei Ling?"
"I don't know. Why would you?"
"I'm not," I said. Then, on an impulse, I added, "I swear on our mother's grave."
For a moment, I thought I'd made another colossal mistake, because her face hardened, and her grip became almost unbearable.
But she let go a second later. "Fine," she said coldly. "I believe you." She turned and continued up the steps, leaving me to catch my breath and massage my poor, aching cheeks.
"For now," she added without looking back.
…great.
/-/
Life as a core disciple paid well, apparently. Wei Ling's "room" was more like a small mansion, a standalone pagoda perched on the edge of a cliff with a beautiful view of the entire valley. It had a private training courtyard, a garden filled with exotic glowing plants, and even its own hot blood spring. Yes, the liquid in the "hot spring" was literally just blood. I tried not to think about where they got it from.
There were five such mansions on the same plateau, each belonging to one of the sect's five core disciples. And Wei Ling's was the biggest and most ostentatiously decorated of the bunch.
She even had her own personal team of servants.
"Young Mistress Wei," a uniformed, middle-aged man bowed deeply as we approached. "Young Master Wei. Welcome back." He didn't seem at all surprised to see the both of us looking like we'd just crawled out of a meat grinder.
"Is my bath ready?" Wei Ling asked.
"Of course, Young Mistress," the servant replied. "The Blood-Soothing Bath has been prepared to your exact specifications. Shall I have a meal sent up as well?"
My stomach growled at the mention of food, a loud, embarrassing rumble that echoed in the quiet mountain air.
Wei Ling shot me a look of mild disgust. "Bring him something to eat," she said to the servant. "And then leave us. I do not wish to be disturbed."
"As you wish, Young Mistress." The servant bowed again and gestured for us to enter. I followed Wei Ling into the pagoda, deciding to drop the Wei Fan act for good. I was terrible at imitating him anyway, and it wasn't like Wei Ling didn't already know something was off.
"So you have a cook, a butler, a gardener… what else, a personal masseuse?" I asked, looking around the lavishly decorated interior. There were silk tapestries on the walls, expensive-looking wooden furniture, and a massive, four-poster bed that looked big enough to sleep a family of five. I was tempted to ask her if I could crash on her couch for a few weeks, but given that Wei Fan had never once stepped foot in this place before, I figured it was probably a bad idea.
"Of course I have a personal masseuse, " Wei Ling said, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "How else am I supposed to relax after a long day of training?" She unstrapped the blood-red sword from her back and let it clatter to the floor. "Go clean yourself up. You stink."
I did stink. The sect's bathhouse was a long trek from the outer disciples' quarters, and I hadn't had the time or energy to make use of it over the past few days. A hot bath sounded like heaven right about now.
But first… I walked over to one of the windows, pulling the curtains open and glancing outside. No Li clan assassins hiding in the bushes, as far as I could tell.
"We're safe here," Wei Ling said. "No one would dare attack a core disciple in their own residence. It would be an act of war against the sect itself."
"Aha…" I said distractedly, moving to the next window. "And you're sure about that?"
"Yes, I'm sure. And stop touching my curtains," she snapped. "They're made of Spirit Silk from the Eastern Continent. A single thread is worth more than your entire pathetic allowance."
"I thought I don't have an allowance anymore," I said, moving on to the window on the other side of the room. "Didn't father cut me off?"
"We will speak of that later," she said. "Now go take a bath. You are tracking mud all over my floor."
"This way, Young Master," the servant from before said, appearing at my side as if from nowhere. He gestured towards a side door I hadn't noticed. "The guest bath is this way. Your meal will be brought to you shortly."
I reluctantly tore my eyes from the window and followed him down a short hallway. The guest bath was almost as luxurious as the rest of the pagoda, with a sunken tub carved from a single block of polished black stone, filled with steaming, fragrant water. There was a stack of fluffy towels and a fresh set of crimson robes laid out for me. It was definitely a step up from the cracked basin and grimy rags in Wei Fan's room, and probably even a step up from the shitty shower stall I'd had back on Earth.
It seemed like the kings of old had it pretty good, after all. Honestly, I'd never quite bought the bullshit about how modern-day plebs were living better than them. Sure, we had smartphones and the internet, but they had… well, this. And a whole army of servants to cater to their every whim. It was a fair trade-off, in my opinion.
Not that I wouldn't have accepted a plane ticket back to Earth in a heartbeat, if someone had offered one.
I stripped off my filthy robes and sank into the hot water with a groan of pleasure. The water was infused with some kind of herbal concoction that smelled of mint and sandalwood, and it immediately began to soothe my aching muscles. It was almost enough to make me forget about all the stress and craziness of the past few days.
I allowed myself to relax for a few minutes, closing my eyes and letting the tension melt away.
Eventually, I had to snap myself out of it. My situation was far too precarious to waste time luxuriating in a bath, no matter how tempting it was.
I gave myself a thorough scrubbing, then changed into the fresh robes and followed the delicious smell of roasted meat to the main living area. A small table had been set up for me, laden with more food than I'd seen in the last three days combined. There was a whole roasted spirit chicken, a bowl of steaming rice, a plate of stir-fried vegetables, and a pitcher of what looked like fruit juice. My stomach growled again, louder this time, and I didn't hesitate to dig in.
I devoured it all in less than five minutes.
"Shall I bring you another serving, Young Master?" the servant asked.
"Yes, please," I said, my mouth full of chicken. "And another pitcher of juice. And maybe some of those little cakes I saw on the way in."
"I'm afraid the Young Mistress has instructed me not to serve you any dessert," the servant said with a polite but firm tone. "She believes you are getting fat."
I blinked, then looked down at my stomach. I wasn't fat. I was ripped. Wei Fan had a six-pack, actually. A slightly soft six-pack from all the drinking and lazing around, but a six-pack nonetheless.
Something about the way the servant was looking at me made me sober up a little. "Fine," I said, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. "Just more chicken."
"As you wish, Young Master."
I ate slower this time, chewing each bite more thoughtfully as my mind wandered.
So Wei Ling was living up here like a queen, while Wei Fan had been scraping by in the outer disciples' quarters like a beggar. It was a stark contrast, to say the least. And the natural question was… why?
After all, she clearly cared deeply about him, and could have easily pulled some strings to improve his situation. And yet, she hadn't. She hadn't gotten him a better room, she hadn't paid off his debts, she hadn't even tried to get him transferred to a sect that would actually suit his talents. She could have trained him herself, but she hadn't. She could have shared some of her cultivation resources with him, but she hadn't. She could have done a thousand different things to help him, but the only thing she'd ever done was beat up his bullies.
I mean, sure, he hadn't exactly shown a ton of initiative himself, but still…
I thought about Wei Fan's last days, before Li Qiang had beaten him to death. Wei Ling hadn't come to check on him those days. Not once. She'd usually come to see him at least once a week, but not this time. Why? Had they had a fight? I skimmed through the memories, but couldn't find anything.
I felt like I was definitely missing something important here. Something crucial about their relationship that Wei Fan's memories weren't showing me. The problem was that I hadn't really gone through every little detail of his life. I'd mostly just skimmed the lowlights. The fights, the women, the drunken escapades. The boring, mundane stuff? I'd skipped right over it. Maybe it was time for a more thorough review.
Before I could delve into his earlier memories, specifically around the time their father had decided to send them both to the Crimson Blade Sect, Wei Ling entered the room. She'd changed into a simple, loose-fitting white robe, and her long black hair was damp and unbound, flowing down her back like a silken curtain. Without the crimson robes and the intimidating sword, she looked almost… normal.
We stared at each other in silence for a bit.
"You need a haircut," she finally said, breaking the silence. "And you're eating like a pig."
I wiped my mouth with the sleeve of my new robes, ignoring her disapproving glare. "I decided to try a new look," I said. "Less maintenance."
"It looks like a bird's nest," she said. "Sit." She pointed to a chair in front of her vanity table.
"Uh, no thanks," I said, taking another bite of chicken. "I'm good."
"Sit. " She folded her arms across her chest and fixed me with a steely glare. "I'm going to cut your hair."
Good grief, she was bossy.
I sighed and did as I was told, swallowing the last of the chicken and reluctantly parking myself in the ornate wooden chair. She picked up a pair of wicked-looking shears from the table. They looked more like something a gardener would use to prune a particularly stubborn hedge than something you'd use on human hair.
"Someone did a terrible job," she muttered, running her fingers through my tangled mess of a mane. "Who was it? I'll have their hands cut off."
I wasn't sure if she was joking or not, so I just stayed silent.
Thankfully, she didn't press the issue.
I let her fuss over my hair for a few minutes, feeling like a scolded child. Her touch felt nice, if I was being honest, but it was also unsettling. Mostly because I couldn't help but imagine her suddenly snapping and using those scissors to stab me in the neck.
"So… are you feeling better?" I asked.
"Since when do you care?" she said, snipping a lock of hair from above my ear. "You've never asked me that before."
"Well, I'm asking now," I said. "You took a pretty nasty beating. I was worried."
"You were worried about losing your bet," she corrected.
"Okay, you got me, I wasn't worried." Apparently, there was no winning with this woman. Alright, if she wanted to play it that way, then so be it. "If you die," I added, "I'm next in line for the Li clan's hit list. It's a matter of self-preservation."
She snorted. "Don't be dramatic. They wouldn't dare touch you."
Wouldn't dare touch me? She spoke as if Li Qiang hadn't already beaten Wei Fan to death just a few days ago. Or as if we hadn't just been stalked, glared at, and likely plotted against by an entire clan during the public punishment.
"They already did," I pointed out. "In case you've forgotten."
"Li Qiang was a fool acting on his own," she said. "The rest of the clan is not so reckless. They know the consequences of harming a direct descendant of the Wei Clan. Especially one who is under my protection."
"Is that why you killed him?" I asked, testing the waters. "Because you knew they wouldn't retaliate?"
She didn't answer right away. The only sound in the room was the soft snip-snip of the scissors. Finally, she said, "I killed him because he hurt you. That is the only reason that matters."
"A lot of people hurt me," I said. "You don't go around murdering all of them."
"Not yet," she said. "But I'm working on it." She finished with a final, decisive snip and stepped back to admire her work. "There. Much better. You no longer look like a vagrant who's been sleeping in a ditch."
I couldn't let her off that easily.
"Answer me, Wei Ling," I said, turning in the chair to face her. "Why this time? It's not like you."
"Did you mean what you said?" she asked suddenly.
I froze, caught off guard by her sudden change in tone. "About what?"
"About being lucky to have me as a sister," she turned me to face the mirror, holding my chin so I couldn't look away. "When Li Qiang was beating you. You said you were lucky to have me."
Her eyes were shining again, that same feverish intensity from before.
I wasn't sure how to respond. The easiest thing to do would be to just say yes, of course, and move on. But for some reason, I hesitated.
It was true that I meant it while I was getting beaten to a pulp, but that was before I'd learned she'd actually murdered the guy for it. Now, I wasn't so sure. Was I lucky to have a homicidal maniac for a sister? Probably not.
I must have taken too long to respond, because Wei Ling cleared her throat and released my chin, turning away as if embarrassed. "Forget it," she muttered. "It doesn't matter. It was a stupid question."
I should have said something reassuring then. That was the moment where I should have made some heartfelt declaration, telling her that of course I cared about her, that of course I was grateful.
But it just wasn't in me. I was too exhausted, too confused, and frankly, too creeped out by her intensity. I just wasn't ready to open that can of worms.
I had to focus on the things that mattered, so I did the only thing I could think of. I changed the subject again. "Father cut me off," I said, my voice flat. "The clan won't be paying for my expenses anymore. I'm broke."
"That's not a problem," she said, her back still to me. "I will take care of your expenses from now on. You will want for nothing."
"Nothing?" I asked dryly. "So I can finally move out of that shithole in the outer disciple quarters?"
"I meant," she said, turning back to me with a scowl, "that I will cover your basic necessities. Food, medicine, training supplies. Nothing more. You will not receive an allowance. You will not be given a single spirit stone to waste on gambling, whores, or whatever other foolish pursuits you've been indulging in lately."
Great. How generous of her…
"Why can't I move in here?" I asked, gesturing around the opulent room. "You have plenty of space. It would save you the trouble of having to come down and check on me all the time."
Her scowl deepened. "Absolutely not. This is my personal residence. You are not welcome here."
"Why?"
"Because you would be a distraction," she said. "I am a core disciple. I have responsibilities. I do not have time to babysit you."
"But—"
"The matter is not open for discussion," Wei Ling interrupted. "You will remain in the outer disciple quarters."
"What if the Li clan comes after me again?" I asked. "What if they send someone stronger than Li Qiang this time? How are you going to protect me if you're all the way up here?"
"That won't happen. I've already taken precautions."
"What kind of precautions?"
I seemed to have crossed some kind of invisible line, because her expression went from annoyed to downright glacial. "Stop asking so many questions," she snapped. "You do not need to concern yourself with such matters. All you need to do is focus on your training and stay out of trouble. No more fighting, no more gambling, and absolutely no more whores. Do you understand? If I smell the faintest whiff of cheap perfume on you again, I will personally castrate you. Is that clear?"
"No, it's not clear."
"Excuse me?"
"I said, it's not clear," I repeated, standing up to face her. "It's not just Li Qiang. They also sent one of their goons after me in a sparring match. A Second Realm disciple named Li Hu. He challenged me to a deathmatch. I almost died."
"Instructor Bai wouldn't have allowed that," she said dismissively. "He's a stickler for the rules. You were never in any real danger."
What the hell? Was she actually downplaying the fact that I almost got my head chopped off?
"That's not the point!" I exploded, finally losing my cool. "The point is, the Li clan is clearly out for my blood. And you're telling me to just sit here and cultivate while they send wave after wave of assassins after me? Do you really think that's a viable long-term strategy? Do you know that they have the support of half the sect elders? Do you know that they wanted you executed?"
"I am aware," she said, completely unbothered by my outburst. "And I am handling it."
"Oh, you're handling it? Like you 'handled' Li Qiang? By murdering him and getting yourself publicly whipped? That's your brilliant plan?"
Her hand shot out and slapped me across the face. Hard. "You will not speak to me in that tone," she hissed, her eyes blazing. "You know nothing of the burdens I carry. You know nothing of the sacrifices I have made for you, for this family. You are a child playing at being a cultivator. Do not presume to lecture me on matters you cannot possibly comprehend."
Okay, fuck this shit. I was so done with this bullshit. This entire fucking world. It'd been nothing but pain and misery since the moment I'd woken up here, and I was seriously starting to reconsider my whole "survive at all costs" philosophy. Maybe dying wasn't so bad, after all. At least it would be a break from all this.
Goddammit. I was too old for this shit. Older than her, that's for sure. She was what, twenty? Twenty-one? I was twenty-eight when I died. I'd lived a whole life, a boring life, sure, but a life. I'd had a job, an apartment, a cat. I'd paid my taxes. I'd been a functioning adult. And now I was getting slapped by a hot-headed twenty-year-old murder-hobo with a god-complex and possibly the emotional maturity of a petulant teenager.
My life back on Earth hadn't been glamorous, but it had been mine, damn it. I didn't allow for anyone to talk to me like that.
I wanted to explode on her then, but that would have been a mistake. That would have been exactly what Wei Fan would have done. He would have thrown a tantrum, called her a bitch, and stormed out.
And I wasn't Wei Fan anymore.
"You're right," I said slowly, forcing myself to take a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoken to you like that."
Wei Ling's eyes narrowed, as if she didn't quite believe me. Which she probably didn't. "Apology accepted," she said stiffly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have training to attend to."
It was another way of saying get the fuck out of my house, and I was more than happy to oblige.
I stopped on my way to the door, though, and turned back to face her. I might as well try to get something out of it before I left. "I don't suppose you have any Mind cultivation manuals lying around, do you?"
She stared at me as if I'd just asked her for a lock of her hair to use in a demonic ritual. "Mind cultivation? Why in the Nine Hells would you be interested in that useless nonsense?"
"I heard it makes hangovers go away faster," I lied. "And I've been getting a lot of those lately."
She rolled her eyes. "Of course that would be your reason. No, I don't have any Mind cultivation manuals. Why would I? It's a path for weaklings and scholars, not warriors." She waved a dismissive hand. "If you want to clear your head, go dunk it in the blood spring. It's more effective than any Mind cultivation technique and it will toughen your skin."
Yeah… no thanks.
"Anything on meridian growth?" I asked, pushing my luck.
"I have some scrolls on meridian strengthening," she said slowly, "Why?"
"Can I borrow them?"
She looked like she wanted to say no, but then sighed and gestured to a bookshelf in the corner of the room. "The third shelf from the top. The ones with the blue bindings. Take them. But I expect them back in pristine condition. If you so much as spill a drop of wine on them, I will flay you alive."
Flay you alive, castrate you, boil someone's head in their own piss… people really had a way with words in this world, didn't they?
"Thanks," I said, grabbing the scrolls and stuffing them into my satchel. "I'll see you around."
"We'll have dinner this weekend," she said. It wasn't a request. It was an order. "My servant will come to fetch you at the ninth hour. Don't be late."
The weekend, right. They had their own concept of a "weekend" in this world. Slightly different from Earth's, but the same idea of a designated day for rest. They didn't actually use the normal weekday names, of course, but it was basically the same seven-day cycle, so my brain automatically translated it to the familiar Monday-Sunday. I had woken up in this world on the Sixth Day of the Great Heavenly Cycle, which was essentially a Friday, then tried to escape the sect on "Tuesday." Li Hu's revenge spar had taken place on "Wednesday," and Wei Ling's punishment had been on "Friday." So I had two more days until that blessed "weekend" arrived. Hopefully I wouldn't be dead by then.
In any case, Wei Ling's dinner invitation was fine by me. More opportunities to gather information, and more importantly, more free food.
"Sure," I said. "I'll be there."
Without another word, I strode out of the pagoda and into the cool morning air, a stack of priceless cultivation manuals in my satchel and a belly full of roasted chicken.
Not bad, for a morning's work.
I would have preferred to not get slapped, and maybe get a thousand spirit stones in cash instead, but hey, you can't have everything.
I was walking down the path that connected the five core disciple mansions when I noticed the naked woman lounging in the hot blood spring of the mansion next to Wei Ling's. She was sprawled out on the edge of the pool, her long blond hair bunched up on her head, sipping from a wine glass. I couldn't help but stare. Because boobs. And also because she was controlling blobs of blood bouncing around in the air with her Qi. But mostly because boobs.
She cracked open an eye and saw me looking at her. She gave me a slow, lazy smile and raised her glass in a mock toast. "Good morning, Wei Fan," she called out in a throaty voice. "Enjoying the scenery?"
Huh? She knew Wei Fan's name? She shouldn't have. Wei Fan had never been up here before, and she was a core disciple. There was no reason for them to know each other.
She was still smirking at me, clearly waiting for a response. Wei Fan would have said something stupid. Something like, 'I didn't know they allowed goddesses to bathe in the mortal realm.' Or worse, something like, 'Nice tits. Can I touch them?'
I, on the other hand, just gave her a polite nod and kept walking. I wasn't in the mood for any more drama today.
"Not going to stop and chat?" she called after me. "I don't bite. Unless you ask me to."
Yeah, I'm good, thanks.
"Don't be a stranger!" she called after me. "Come visit sometime! I get so lonely up here all by myself!"
I just kept walking.
Walking away from a naked woman was a first for Wei Fan, I was sure of it.
It was also the smartest decision I'd made all day.
/-/
Wei Ling watched from the window as her brother walked away, his shoulders slumped and his hands shoved in his pockets. He didn't look back. He never looked back.
Follow, a voice said. The Soil is flawed. Correct it.
She instantly squashed the impulse. She was the one in control here, not the other way around.
"Uncle Guo," she called out.
The old servant appeared at her side in an instant. "Yes, Young Mistress?"
"Make sure he gets back to his quarters safely," she said. "Have someone watch him. Discreetly."
"Of course, Young Mistress," the servant replied. He bowed, but annoyingly, didn't leave right away.
"Is there something else?" she asked, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice.
"It is not my place to question your decisions, Young Mistress," he began respectfully, "but perhaps… it would be wise to exercise a degree of caution. The Young Master's recent behavior has been… erratic. And your father's instructions were quite clear. Delaying the inevitable will only make things more difficult in the long run. Additionally, the suppression seals on your soul are weakening. The poison from the whip has accelerated the process. If—"
"Remind me, Uncle Guo," Wei Ling interrupted. "What is the penalty for a servant who presumes to offer unsolicited advice to their master?"
"A hundred lashes and a month in the dungeons, Young Mistress," he replied without a hint of fear in his voice. "However, as your sworn protector and the man who changed your diapers, I believe I have earned the right to speak my mind, even at the risk of your displeasure."
Only Uncle Guo would dare speak to her like that. And only Uncle Guo could get away with it.
"The seals are holding," she said. "And my father's instructions will be followed. When the time is right. Not a moment sooner."
"But—"
"That will be all, Uncle Guo," she said coldly. "You are dismissed."
She turned back to the window, ignoring the man's heavy sigh as he finally took his leave.
She closed her eyes and sharpened her hearing, listening to Wei Fan's footsteps as they faded into the distance. He even walked differently now. Slower. More deliberate.
"Lucky… to have… a sister… like Wei Ling. She's… something else."
Those cursed words replayed in her mind. Again, and again, and again.
He had never said anything like that before. Never. Not once in sixteen years.
"Good morning, Wei Fan!" A woman's voice drifted up from the neighboring mansion. "Enjoying the scenery?"
Wei Ling's eyes immediately snapped open in irritation. It was that slut, Su Mei. The one with the annoyingly large breasts and the even more annoying habit of flaunting them at every opportunity.
Her hand tightened on the window frame, the wood groaning in protest.
"Not going to stop and chat?" the harlot called after him. "I don't bite. Unless you ask me to."
Wei Ling was ready to storm next door and rip that harpy's tongue out, but then… Wei Fan just kept walking. He didn't even turn his head.
She stood there in stunned silence as she watched her brother disappear down the path.
Her brother walking away from a naked woman?
That just wasn't possible.
The seals on her soul cracked a little more.
The Bloom in her soul seethed.