Li Qiang had always been a crafty, scrappy youth.
Growing up in the back alleys of Jinzhou, he had needed to be. Knowing who to flatter, who to extort, what places should be avoided and what places were best for making money, were all things that were of extreme value to a street urchin.
As such, when his boss, Huang Ming, had managed to strong arm some army uniforms from a couple of deserters, he'd had a brilliant idea. Who would question a tax on the road to the capital? And, more importantly, even if it was questioned, who would dare to refuse?
His boss had thought it was a great idea, and after Li Qiang had roped in his drinking buddy, the trio had hatched their scheme. They all knew it could only be done for a couple of days before complaints would be raised against them, but even after only a day, the fortune they'd made was comparable to months of labor at the docks or in the ceramic warehouse.
As such, greed had lit their hearts, and although they had all agreed to only use their scheme for a couple of days… they had decided to pose as soldiers for just one more day.
And that very day, they'd met someone they absolutely shouldn't have.
Slowly waking, the first thing that Li Qiang heard were voices, and chirping insects, and the painful pulse of his heartbeat pounding in his head One of the voices was mature, and feminine, and he heard it giggle in a heart catching way every so often.
The other voice was deep, and soft. It was clear in a way that denoted intelligence, but also had the harder undertones of a man acquainted with labor.
He resisted the urge to shiver as he felt the coolness of night air brush his skin, and he realized that he was almost fully naked. The armor had been stripped from him, leaving only his underwear. Furthermore, he felt a tightness around his wrists and ankles, and knew that he had been bound with rope.
Li Qiang then realized that he was thirsty, and hungry. He heard a campfire crackling, and as he raised his head he saw its warm glow illuminating the dense forestry around them.
"No, I'm telling you, it's true!" The male voice exclaimed. "You should have seen me. Bald completely from head to toe."
The female voice giggled at that, as light as air. "Surely you must have known throwing that much lard into the fire would be disastrous, no?" She laughed, and the male voice cleared his throat.
Li Qiang tried to control his breathing, the aching throb in his head making his mind a haze of thought. He thought through the day's events, trying to remember how he'd ended up in this situation. He had always been a quick witted man, and knew not to draw attention to himself until he was sure of his situation.
They had been extorting travelers along the road. They had made a sizeable amount of money as well, a sum that would allow them to live lavishly for months on end. And then they had seen a particularly lordly young man, but he had fought back, revealing himself to be…
An Immortal. They had offended an Immortal!
His breath faltered, and he trembled on the forest floor. And, to his horror, he realized that the voices… had quieted.
"One of them's awake." The male voice said, and Li Qiang swallowed thickly as he heard faint footsteps approaching him. He quickly rolled over onto his stomach, pressing his forehead to the earth beneath him. His head throbbed painfully, but he did not dare hesitate.
"Greetings to the Immortal!" He shouted, his voice muffled against the dirt. The footsteps paused.
"What is your name?" The voice asked coolly, and Li Qiang shivered as he felt a pressure settle onto his back as the words landed, almost crushing him into the dirt. Gritting his teeth, he ground his forehead further into the earth.
"This lowly one's name is Li Qiang!" He answered, and after a moment he felt the pressure disappear. However, it hung over his mind like a blade, the promise of its return looming over him if he displeased this almighty being.
"Li Qiang. Very well, raise your head, Li Qiang." The voice commanded, and he did not dare to refuse. As he looked upwards, he saw the Immortal standing above him, hands in the sleeve of his robe.
He looked just as he had before. Handsome, with thick eyebrows and long flowing hair, and fair skin that seemed to almost glow in the darkness of the night. However, he now emanated an aura of power.
Li Qiang immediately lowered his eyes to the Immortal's chest, shifting until he had his knees underneath him. "Li Qiang, you recognized that I was an Immortal soon after I used a spell." The man said, and Li Qiang immediately intuited what he was asking.
"The Royal Advisor is also an Immortal." He explained, swallowing thickly. "Although I have not seen him personally, there are many stories of his punishments against the nation's enemies. The matter is an open secret within the capital."
The Immortal hummed thoughtfully for a few moments, and Li Qiang saw his robes shift as he looked back towards the woman. "I'm not well versed in State affairs. Is this advisor…" He trailed off.
"You met him a few times during his visits to inspect Chenghe. He was a fair man. In fact, you both became friends, as he and Kang Shanxi were acquaintances." The woman explained, and Li Qiang nearly wept. This Immortal was a friend to the King's advisor? He was finished. Execution would be the luckiest fate he could meet, now.
"I see." The Immortal mused, then resumed his focus on Li Qiang. "I am going to ask you a question. If you do not answer, I will slay you. If you lie to me, I will slay you. Only if you are truthful, will I spare your life. Do you understand?"
Li Qiang's breath was squeezed out of him as the pressure returned, nearly double in force of what it had been previously. "This one understands!" He exclaimed, quivering.
"Have you ever killed someone?" The Immortal asked, and Li Qiang gulped. It truly felt like if he did not answer quickly enough, or did so untruthfully, he would surely die.
"Never, honorable Immortal!" He said fearfully. And it was true. Li Qiang had never killed someone, although he had gotten into his fair share of fights and brawls. After a few moments passed, the pressure finally alleviated.
The Immortal turned around, and walked away. Li Qiang trembled, but did not dare to inquire about his fate. He remained kneeling, awaiting his verdict.
Shen Jintian frowned as he returned to Xingyue, casting a glance over his shoulder. Truthfully, he wasn't sure what to do about the three people he had captured. He had tied them and brought them with him in a spur of the moment.
He had never killed someone before, but he figured he could have mustered the courage to do so if these people were murderers. But Li Qiang, at least, was not one, so now… he was at a loss.
"What do you think?" He whispered as he sat down next to Cao Xingyue. His companion hadn't questioned his decision to bring them, only accepted it with a small smile. Xingyue seemed to think for a few moments, before she fixed him with her starlit gaze.
"You said that man's name was Li Qiang, correct?" She asked, and Shen Jintian nodded. Xingyue smiled mysteriously as she turned her head, her gaze settling on nothing. "I will need an attendant, when I arrive at Jianling. From what I heard of your conversation, he seemed to be a smart fellow. We can deliver the other two to the guards when we arrive at Jinzhou, and I will take him as a servant."
Jintian immediately frowned at that. "Do you really think that's wise?" He whispered, looking sharply at the group. "I mean, even if he's not a murderer, he is still a criminal."
Xingyue giggled, lightly touching his arm. It soothed his worry, somewhat. "Fear not. You, to them, are an almighty Immortal. So long as we impress upon him your connection to me, he will come to his own conclusions about my identity. Furthermore, I will not be alone in Jianling. I will have my own master."
Jintian pursed his lips, but nodded. By this point, he figured that her future must have included Li Qiang in some capacity. She had not seemed surprised when he decided to take them as prisoners.
He returned to the man, who trembled as he looked down at him. The man's heartbeat thundered in Jintian's ears, and he could practically smell the terror radiating off of him, despite not being in his Beast transformation. He figured that Xingyue was right, and that this man would not act errantly while in his presence.
Jintian pulsed his Qi outwards. After the week of travel, he had roughly only eighty percent of his Qi left, and no way to recover it with the lack of spiritual energy around him. Still, using this miniscule amount to cause pressure to settle onto Li Qiang was a negligible expenditure.
"Li Qiang." He said, his voice deep. "I will give you a choice. You may become a servant to my companion, or when we reach Jinzhou, I can turn you over to the guards, along with your two companions."
Li Qiang's shuddered, before he quickly began to pant. He by this point assumed that the Immortal's traveling companion was also an Immortal, which would make him… the servant of one of these almighty beings. He could never have imagined his fortune turning so quickly!
"This lowly one would be most honored to serve!" He whispered fiercely, and Shen Jintian nodded.
"Let it be known that if you betray your mistress, you will suffer a fate worse than death. Is this understood?" Jintian asked severely, and Li Qiang nodded hurriedly. He of course would never do such a thing. To serve one of these beings could only be described as a gift from the heavens. Seeing his attitude, Jintian's final reservations were cleared, and he finally relaxed. "Very well. Henceforth, you are the vassal of Lady Xingyue. Thank her for sparing you from a worse fate."
Li Qiang raised his head, and then immediately lowered it again, pressing his forehead to the dirt. "This lowly one thanks the Lady for her grace!"
Jintian looked over his shoulder toward Xingyue, who cleared her throat as a blush made its way to her ears. Chuckling, Jintian reached into his bag of holding and procured one of his spare robes.
He removed the stitching from the back of it with a wave of his hand, leaving it as an ordinary, if luxurious, light blue robe. He then passed his fingernail over the man's bonds, severing them, and handed him the robe.
Li Qiang rubbed his wrists gratefully, and clothed himself, blessed warmth finally finding him as he was brought to the campfire. He kept his gaze lowered, though even the partial glance he was able to find of the woman let him know that she was incomparably beautiful.
Still, he did not lust for her. He swore from that day onward, he would serve his Lady with full devotion.
"This one greets the honorable Lady." He said, bowing deeply. Shen Jintian grinned at Xingyue, who he knew was doing her best to not appear uncomfortable by the address.
"Raise your head, Li Qiang." She said softly, and the man did so, though did not meet her gaze. "I will tell you now, I am blind. Thus, I will require your aid in my daily activities. Can you handle this?"
Li Qiang hurriedly nodded. He did not believe for a moment that her blindness made her vulnerable. "This one will do his best. The Lady needs only to speak, and this one will carry out your will."
Shen Jintian saw Xingyue's lips tremble, her ears now bright red, and he finally could not hold his laughter. And so, like that, Cao Xingyue had acquired her first servant.
-
It was only two days after that night when they arrived at Jinzhou in the early afternoon. Li Qiang had watched somberly as his friend and boss were handed over to the guards for questioning, but did not say anything about the matter. After all, he knew after traveling with his Lord and Lady over the past couple of days that their destination was Jianling, and thus, he did not need to fear reprisal from his boss' subordinates.
Unbeknownst to the group, as they entered the city's limits, a handsome elderly man with a shaven face and salted hair was standing in a grand throne room, and he glanced upwards, his brows furrowing slightly.
Currently, Chen Ruide was standing beside a throne, seated by a handsome man with a trimmed beard and thin eyebrows. Currently, three others were standing below the throne, holding a discussion about the tensions between the state of Wei and the state of Chu.
"Clearly, their refusal to reopen negotiations of their bronze trade to us is an indication of their stance." One of the men was saying, in his early thirties and just beginning to show a recession of his hairline. Each of the individuals was garbed in ornamental cloth, with the crest of their position held on their chest. The man who had just spoken was the minister of trade.
"But this does not indicate they hold ill intent." Another man argued, older and larger than the other man, with a multitude of scars visible along his hands and a particularly long scar crossing from his right temple to the back of his right ear, cutting the lobe of it cleanly in half. He was the minister of war, and served as the acting general. "I have finished discussions with the state of Yin's minister of war. He informed me that their King still has not given them access to the iron mines taken from them in the previous war. Thus, bronze is still their only means of weaponry."
"And why would they need the bronze for weaponry, if not to shore up their army for an attack!" The minister of trade snapped. The King sighed, rubbing his temples. However, he seemed to notice that Chen Ruide was remaining silent, and he glanced to his side.
He saw his family's advisor frowning, his hands tucked neatly into his robe. "What is it, old friend?" He asked quietly, ignoring the continued argument below him.
Chen Ruide glanced to his side, and shook his head. "It is nothing, sire. Just now, I sensed another cultivator enter the city." He answered, his voice inaudible to the three below him but carried to the King's ears by means unknown.
The King seemed taken aback by that, before he stroked his beard. "Another one, you say? Strange. No others have appeared in the past fifteen years, but now, in only a year, five have come through my city." He mused, and Chen Ruide nodded.
"Their spiritual energy is only in the Third Circle. They do not pose a threat, as the visitors did previously." He said. "Still, their Qi feels similar to Kang Shanxi's. That old coot told me his apprentice would be passing through in the spring. Perhaps it's him."
The King nodded. "Very well. Would you pay him a visit? If he is only passing through, it poses no problem. Perhaps we can even sow some good karma with him." He said, and Chen Ruide nodded. A heartbeat later, he was gone, as if he had never been in the throne room at all.
The King then turned his attention back to the ministers below him. If they had noticed the advisor's departure, they paid it no mind, and he sighed, once more rubbing his temples as their argument grew more heated.
Chen Ruide flew through the air, unseen by the mortals below him. As a Tenth Circle cultivator below Foundation Establishment, flight would normally be unavailable to him. However, thanks to his Eastern Wind Pendant, he could do so, albeit for a limited time.
In only a short moment, he hovered high above where he sensed the spiritual energy, his eyes scanning the flowing crowd until his gaze settled on a trio making their way through the city.
There, he saw a handsome young man in light blue robes pushing a cart, whereupon a woman wearing a veil was sitting. Trailing behind them was another man, in robes similar to the first man.
Chen Ruide pondered the matter for a few moments, before deciding to test the cultivator. Staring at him, he unleashed a trace amount of killing intent. The young man paused, shivering slightly as he looked around the crowd. The man behind them was oblivious. However, to his complete shock…
It was the woman who looked up, her veiled gaze immediately piercing the air directly towards him. Chen Ruide sensed no spiritual energy from her, but there was no mistaking her immediate reaction. Furthermore, he felt…
Danger.
The woman was dangerous.
Immediately he reigned in his murderous intent, lightly clearing his throat. A moment later, he was amongst the crowd, approaching the trio as the young man resumed pulling the cart. When they saw him, the woman lightly leaned forward and whispered something to the young cultivator, who nodded.
Chen Ruide, of course, heard what she said. But deciding to be polite, he cleared the words from his mind, and nodded his head lightly to them as he hid his arms in his sleeves. The mortals around them did not notice him, as he only revealed his presence to the trio specifically.
"Welcome to our fair city." Chen Ruide greeted. "Might I ask if you are staying, or only passing through?"
The woman said nothing, deferring to the young man, who bowed his head. "We are only passing through. Our journey takes us to Jianling." He said, his voice deep but soft. Among the large, unceasing crowd, his words have been lost to mortal ears.
Chen Ruide nodded at that, before freeing a hand and flicking a sleeve. "In that case, may I offer you three a cup of tea, before you go? It is not often we receive the company of cultivators, here."
The young cultivator seemed to hesitate for a few moments, glancing over his shoulder at the woman. Chen Ruide noticed that the action did not seem one of deference, but of counsel. He had assumed the woman was their leader, but it would seem that was not the case.
Seeing her nod, the youth turned back to Chen Ruide and nodded his assent. The advisor then turned, and led them through the crowd. And behind him, the cart rumbled forward once more.