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Chapter 74 – Fa Yuan

Once the Third Prince had made up his mind, things had moved fast. At least, fast for political machinations. There was still quite a distance that everyone had to cross, to arrive at the agreed upon location to the west of the newly formed state of Liu. The Wei kingdom representatives would have to travel the farthest, and rather than wait for their personal arrival, a messenger was being sent with an artifact. Fa Yuan was quite interested in seeing it, and a small part of her wondered if she might arrange for the artifact to be ‘lost’ while on its way back.

A communication mirror, sympathetically linked to another in the northern general’s own, would allow the man to converse with them as though the multitude of li between them was non-existent. The fact that the mirror alone was paired and thus useless without the second was probably the only reason they allowed its distant travel.

Even so, such Far Speaking mirrors were the works of a combined space, soul and time Dao. So rare that the individuals involved in their creation had existed centuries ago, and the mirrors themselves never replicated again. There were, perhaps, a dozen such items that Fa Yuan knew of, most belonging to powerful kingdoms.

Of course, representatives from the states of ___ which bordered them all had to make their way over, and it was their arrival that the group had awaited before the entire procession began the journey west. It would give them more time to understand, recognize and manipulate the other to their ends – theoretically.

Unfortunately, the representative had chosen not to follow their plans, instead only speaking with the prince and had avoided interacting with Fa Yuan but for the barest forms of courtesy. It was a puzzle, and one that Fa Yuan had probed with her senses, stretching them to see what she could grasp.

Only to be rebuffed, her dao turned away by the shadows and twisted strands of silent manipulation that made up the other’s dao. That, in itself, was revealing – though a dao of subtle political manipulation, of twisted thoughts and hidden leverage boded ill for their talks.

Then again, the kingdoms that had formed, the individuals who had survived had done so because they were the victorious rebels of a tyrant kingdom. To expect a straightforward political administration and royalty was, perhaps, too naïve.

Initially, they had removed her from the royal residence via the same palanquin. However, upon exiting the town itself as they journeyed, she was – finally – allowed to ride unencumbered, shadowed only by the gifted pair of servants. That they were, obviously, spies was a given, but Fa Yuan had long grown used to not trusting her servants.

After all, one did not want to gift them the opportunity to poison oneself.

The disparate group of administrators, diplomats, guards and cultivators traveled along the newly formed border of the Liu kingdom, just behind the series of forts set upon the rolling hills that formed a natural barrier between the two. A single, winding road had been cut through the land, following the rolling hills with occasional branches inwards to the kingdom proper and smaller tracks to the forts. More signal forts than barriers to entry, these watchtowers gifted the Liu kingdom time to ready the army to intercept invaders before they managed to penetrate too deeply.

Or so lay the theory, as Ke Yi noted for Fa Yuan.

“But you haven’t had a chance to test it.”

“Not as yet,” Ke Yi said. “If the gods and the fates are generous, we shall never have to do so.”

“They rarely are. Though, it seems a lot of work to establish such watchtowers, only to abandon them months later.” Her senses stretched to their limits, she could see the recently built stone containers for the signal fires, brush and wood contained within. Not far away, soldiers lived in tented encampments while stone and wood were harvested to create a permanent residence.

“You’ve never served, have you?” The general sniffed. “Soldiers without anything to do are agents of chaos and mischief. Idle hands create disciplinary actions. Better for them to build forts and residences, signal towers and run drills than stand around, envisioning their next moment in town.”

“You do not have a good view of your men.”

“I have great respect for my soldiers. Enough so that I also understand their limits.” He smirked. “I was one too, after all.”

“You climbed the ladder from the start?” she said, surprised.

“Of course. Do you think those nobles who survived were allowed to serve here? No, the Cui knew better. They sent them all to various parts of the country to serve in battles far from home. Only thoseof us who climbed the ranks were left here – and even then, we never had true responsibility.”

“Even you?” She eyed the Nascent Soul cultivator beside her, knowing that leniency for individuals at their stage of cultivation was normal. One did not just discard those with such great strength, not when one was waging multiple front wars as well.

“Especially me. I kept my true strength hidden.”

“Then you must be quite skilled at it.”

“We all are.” Ke Yi’s voice was firm, though shadows of darkness lay in them. Sights, or comrades left behind, who failed to hide their rebellious hearts as well. “Though in my case, I was just lucky. My ascension was soon after the fracture. If not for the fracture itself, I would have been sent away. My commander had already drafted the orders when I killed him.”

“It must have been difficult.”

“Difficult?” Ke Yi sneered, something dark rolling up into his eyes. She noticed the shift in pressure, a touch of killing intent leaking out as he spoke. “My commander, the general, would whip my men for the smallest infractions. Send them to the brig, without rations or water for days, because they dared to complain about the status of our supply lines. He used to send his lieutenants into local villagers, to bring back young boys for his use.

“Killing him was a pleasure.”

Fa Yuan bent her head in acknowledgement. When such heinous crimes had been committed, when one party had been forced to live oppressed for so long, some might consider the backswing, the return to balance a necessary over-correction on the other hand. If her dao was truly of balance, did she then believe in the ever-changing equivalence of action? Like a pendulum, swinging between two extremes, never resting at the end.

Or did she desire that stillness, that moment of unchanging certainty. A rock, lying on the beach was still. It was also dead. Even so, removed from under a wall, it might cause the collapse of an entire building. What then, was balance, and what form would her dao take?

This was something she had to ponder, search within her soul for the correct expression. The Dao encompassed all expressions of the concept of equilibrium, but could she, a mere mortal grasp it all? Yet, if she were to take hold of such an imbalanced viewpoint knowingly, was she then crippling her own ascension?

What terrible choices, existence required of them.