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Chapter 21 – Yang Mu

Being summoned in the palace was unusual. Yang Mu had a steady schedule in the palace itself, mainly consisting of her studies of the heavens, the cultures and mores and the requirements of a new immortal within it. She could peruse histories and works of scholarship to her hearts content – and often did – while charting the flow of goods and materials with a merchant’s eyes.

Though she was no longer the Silver Merchant of the Middle Kingdoms, she could not help but ponder what her role might be in this new realm. Working for the government directly sat ill with her, for even in the Middle Kingdom, she had joined no sect officially. Oh, she had been an ‘Honored Elder’ in many, including the Verdant Green Waters – but such a title had few responsibilities.

A lecture here and there, access to her network of contacts and the warehouses and trade routes she had so painstakingly created. Attendance at some parties, and a willingness to put up with the fumbled attempts at courtship laid upon her.

Working for the Jade Empire would be too constraining. Her need to be free of such rigorous bindings was perhaps one of the reasons she and Wu Ying had connected so well, though her beloved might object to such characterization. After all, he had been a loyal member of the Verdant Green Waters sect.

Though he had spent a large portion of his life outside of it. Even as an Elder and the chief instructor of the wandering gatherers, he would disappear for weeks or months on end on his gathering trips. A ‘necessity’ he had said, to fulfil the obligations of goods required by the elders.

Or so he said.

Her other studies were more eclectic. She trained her martial abilities, of course, though improvements in her martial style and adaptation to this realm came abruptly. Like a clogged drainage channel, that filled to the bursting before exploding forwards, her abilities grew quickly before they came to a shuddering stop. Utilizing her dao – understanding it – and how it might improve her fighting style was difficult, but Yang Mu persisted. She was no sword prodigy like her beloved, but if there was one thing that she knew, she would be inevitably be dragged into further battles in the future by his side.

Studies in blacksmithing, apothecary, herbs and cooking, in horticulture and art, medicine and formations all arrived on schedule. Vice Minister Yu controlled the tempo of her days and it was packed; for her own desire to understand each aspect of this new realm was necessary.

If she was to take on her old role, it would be necessary to weigh and evaluate every resource that might find its way into her hands.

It was an exciting time for her, a return to the a beginner’s mindset and exploration that she but experienced once before as a child. She might have greatly enjoyed this, if not the quiet pressure of Wu Ying’s looming sentencing. That it might be the next day or a century from now made making use of all the opportunities available even more pressing.

That she had to do it without seeming to be pressured was just another form of pressure. An irony that was not lost on Yang Mu at all.

When the summons arrived, Yang Mu had to force her heart from exploding. Instead, she turned to the servant, raising an elegant eyebrow as she looked up from the manual on heavenly mineral types. “A summoning? From who, may I enquire?”

“Instructor Peng of the Blacksmithing Guild,” the servant said. “If you’ll follow me, I shall bring you to him.”

“There’s no need.” Yang Mu was standing, closing the book as she did so and putting it on the pile to the side. She knew better than to try to shelve the work themselves, but she did place the small plaque that had her name on it. The works on that pile would be set aside till she returned, so that she could continue her studies. “I know the way to the blacksmith myself.”

“That is not where we will be going,” the servant said. “If you’ll follow me.”

Hiding the slight smile that threatened to break across her face at the highly polite but mildly caustic tone in her voice, Yang Mu followed the woman through the palace corridors. They were headed in the directions of the main blacksmithing portion of the palace, though as they entered the main section, the servant turned to the side and headed for another smaller building.

Within, Yang Mu was led to a separate meeting room where Instructor Peng was already waiting. On the table in the center of the building lay a pair of fans. It was familiar in shape and size, but much of the equipment had changed.

“You’ve finished?” Yang Mu blurted out, and then blushed, bowing to the man. “Apologies. It is a pleasure to see you, Instructor Peng.”

The boisterous, wide bodied and slightly paunchy bearded instructor burst out laughing. His beard was slightly burnt, portions of the hair burnt from sparks that skipped through the air to strike it. Perhaps he could have protected his vanity, but he seemed to not notice such minor matters.

“Hah! I am happier to see someone so excited about my work than routine formalities. Come in, come in!” Waving her to the table, he pointed. “This was quite the problem you gave me. To fix broken mortal fans and improve them to be utilized in this realm, while keeping their basic properties and shape. Easier – and cheaper! – to have just started anew, many would have said.”

“But not you,” Yang Mu said.

“But not me. What Ascendants bring to this realm carry with it stories, the hopes and dreams of the Ascendant themselves. That is powerful magic in there, energy that can be harnessed by the right craftsman to reinforce the equipment to make it more powerful than any basic work.” A louder chuckle, as he continued. “Of course, many blacksmiths would consider utilizing such aids to be a cheat, a failure on their part. But not…”

“You.” Yang Mu returned the man’s big smile. Inspector Peng was one of her favorite instructor’s in the city. Though his ego was massive, his skills were just as large and he never took himself that seriously either. Just his work.

The fans before her were large, nearly the length of her arm and her fully extended fingers. One was jade green, the lustrous material embedded into the fan itself and cut thin to become the ribs of the fan itself. The sticks that held the ribs together were not metal as she would have expected, but bone of some form. The other fan was a contrast, metal inserts in the ribs and flexible, wooden sticks that were joined at the head and riveted together. Both fans had precious stones that had been carved and embedded in the head to act as the rivets. Along the ribs and, as she bent down to inspect the fan, even the sticks, small characters were carved into the material itself and filled with gold, jade and obsidian dust that had been then embedded in them.

With the fans open, she noted how the ribs were filed to a sharp point, leaving a deadly edge to the fan and allowing it to be a hidden, cutting weapon. At the same time, the whole ensemble was beautiful, the painting of the rivers and valleys of the Middle Kingdom that had been on the original fan transferred over.

“I can feel the pulse of spatial daos within the fans,” Yang Mu murmured. “Stronger than ever.”

“They can now absorb and redirect attacks by even an immortal. You’ll want to be careful on how you utilize them against those with a spatial dao, of course, for if their understanding exceeds yours, it will overwhelm your defense.”

“Mine? Not the fans?”

“Mmm, remember how I said that these come with a linkage to yourself?” At her nod, Instructor Peng continued. “Well, one of the advantages – or disadvantages some might say – is that I can link their strength to you. Not in all aspects, of course, but as your understanding of spatial dao, of time and shadows deepen; you’ll be able to wield the fans with greater strength. There is an upper limit, of course, and it’s possible that by linking the fans to your own understanding, I have further limited the weapons but…”

“But?” Yang Mu said.

“Well, I pride myself on reading my clients. And I believe, that you’re one who prides herself on her ability to be… well. More.” He chuckled quietly. “Surely you are not limiting yourself to the mere dregs of understanding you have grasped. In the centuries, millenia that you have, that drive that brought you – a mere mortal – to the heavens will see you break even my poor grasps.”

“I somehow suspect that your ‘poor’ grasp far exceed my own,” Yang Mu said, demurely.

“Oh, certainly.” He nodded genially. “But compared to some whose sense of self focuses upon understanding time and space itself? The Scholar Bing for example far exceeds my own understanding. Why, some say he exceeds all but those who exist in the Three Pristinees – and some might argue about that point too. If he was not so much of a hermit…”

Yang Mu gestured, when the man came to a stop in his aside. At his assent, she picked up the fans, testing the weight and feel of them. The weapons felt like an extension of her own body, a lost limb returned to her and she let out a little contented noise.

“The displacement defense is still embedded within, I can tell. But what else?” Yang Mu asked.

“Correct. The rest, it is rest for you to experience yourself.” A gesture to the doors, a smile on his lips. “I recommend you try them in the testing grounds.”

“Which is why we’re here.”

A big, charming grin. “Obviously.”

“Then, lead the way, Instructor Peng.”