Chapter 132: Evening Uncertainty (Patreon)

Liu Wei landed in front of his pagoda, startling a couple of birds that had been resting on the branches of the nearby trees. He had flown here a lot faster than usual, as he was in somewhat of a hurry. It was late afternoon and he still had some things to prepare before Hu Chen showed up.

His day had been a hectic one, the ascension of a new elder having caused an impromptu meeting with his allies, among other things. Hao Peng’s breakthrough hadn’t truly caught them by surprise – if anything, they’d expected a new elder of the Peng Family to appear much sooner – but it had still necessitated some discussion of their future plans, especially with the upcoming general sect assembly in mind.

Before that, there also still were the negotiations that would take place during the disciple admittance exam, which was probably where the new head of the Peng Family would make his political debut. It would be interesting to observe what sort of role he would take, as Liu Wei barely knew anything about him or his background.

He was aware that there had been a power struggle within the family, which Hao Peng had apparently won, and he felt reasonably sure in guessing that several elders had been involved in the whole affair, but that was about the extent of his knowledge on the matter. A solid information network was of the things the Reform Faction was still sorely lacking.

However the conflict had been resolved in the end, if Liu Wei had read him correctly, Elder Chen had had a part in it – likely an unwilling one. If he wanted to, Liu Wei could probably force that information out of him when they met up later today… not that he was intending to do that.

Hu Chen, despite his status as an elder, was largely just a forced puppet of the Pillar Families, so putting the screws to him wouldn’t quite fit his style. Besides that, Liu Wei doubted that whatever the man knew was quite as critically important as he likely believed it was.

After all, it wasn’t that difficult to roughly guess the outcome of the Peng Family’s internal conflict. In all likelihood, one of the elders who had involved themselves had managed to oust their rivals in the end and made ‘their’ candidate – Hao Peng – the next family leader. In one way or another, they’d have ensured the family’s loyalty and would control it for the foreseeable future.

If Liu Wei had to say who the winning elder was, he’d bet that it was either Meixiu Xia or, if he had chosen to involve himself, Long Zhao; none of the other elders were as adapt at playing this sort of politics. Perhaps if Sun Liang had allied with Yue Zhong, they could have had a chance, but he doubted that they were on good enough terms for that.

No, it wasn’t information Liu Wei was after today. It hadn’t been hard to see that Hu Chen was rather fearful of their meeting today, but not only where his fears unfounded, if everything went as Liu Wei hoped it would, his colleague would leave having received a great boon.

Liu Wei had made his way to his treasury and dispelled the defensive formations with a wave of his hand. Once inside, he began searching his spatial gems for cultivation items that carried traces of the Dao of Earth.

He didn’t have any finished cultivation drugs of the Dao of Earth, there had never been a reason for him to be acquiring any, but he pulled out a good number of plants that he had gathered for their value at some point and never sold off. He sorted through them and settled on a roughly five-hundred-year-old ginseng root and several exceedingly rare spirit herbs. These all contained a great amount of earth Qi, but were much less potent if used for cultivation without refining them through alchemy first.

Not that it mattered, because Liu Wei wasn’t planning on having anyone absorb them, at least not in the usual way. Earth-aspected cultivation drugs would do next to nothing for his cultivation, even if he hadn’t sworn not to take any, and Elder Chen’s cultivation was well known to be broken to a point where only truly heavenly pills – the kind that even Ma Rong would only be able to create with the finest of the finest ingredients – would be able to truly help him overcome his predicament.

Liu Wei returned the remaining plants to the spatial gems he had taken them from and left his treasury. After reactivating the defensive formations, he got to work using his findings to prepare a large kettle of what was perhaps the most expensive brew of tea he had ever made.

Just as he was finished, his soul sense, which he had expanded to cover as wide an area as possible, alerted him to the approach of a presence. His guest had arrived.

…

Hu Chen approached Elder Wei’s residence at a moderate pace while trying to ready himself for what was to come. He’d enjoyed the walk through the forest it had taken him to get here well enough, but the closer the time of his visit came, the less had the tranquility of the forest been able to calm his racing mind.

He’d had a private conversation with Elder Wei only once before, but that had been the result of a chance meeting at the Training Hall. This time, he’d been specifically invited, so there was a purpose to this meeting. Something that Elder Wei wanted off him. Hu Chen had no idea what a cultivator of Liu Wei’s caliber, influence and wealth could want from him, but given that they were members of opposing factions, he hardly had high hopes.

Time had no sympathy for his worries and since he had certainly already entered the range of Elder Wei’s soul sense, Hu Chen couldn’t even stop to gather his bearings anymore. So instead, he marched on, soon stepping out onto the small clearing around the tall pagoda that rose above the surrounding forest.

Elder Wei stood in the entrance awaiting him, his hands clasped behind his back.

“Greetings, Elder Chen. It’s great to see you here.”

“My humblest regards, Elder Wei. I hope I didn’t make you wait for me.”

“Oh, not at all. I just finished brewing the tea. Please come inside.”

Hu Chen bowed and made his way up the steps that led up to the building. He entered and Elder Wei followed after him, leading him up the stairs up to the third floor. There, a table had been set up in the center of the room.

“Please take a seat, Elder Chen. I will get us some tea.”

Hu Chen followed his instructions and waited as Elder Wei brought a kettle and two cups, which he filled with practiced motion.

“I want to thank you for taking time out of your schedule to join me here, Elder Chen.”, Liu Wei opened the conversation as he sat down opposite to him.

“You need not mention it. As I mentioned, I don’t really have much to do these days.”

“Hmm…”

Elder Wei stroked his beard in thought.

“…Does a cultivator ever truly have nothing to do?”

“…I suppose not.”

If they were a real cultivator, that was. Hu Chen’s sorry attempts at advancing his cultivation further were met with such meagre results that he’d been on the verge of giving up entirely for a while now. What trouble was one lost evening in the face of that?

He took a sip of tea to distract him from his thoughts. Its rich flavor carried a deep, earthy note that was unlike anything he had tasted before. Hu Chen’s eyes widened as he felt the purest earth Qi spread into his body, soothing all its aches and settling deep into his bones.

He starred at the cup in his hands in disbelief. Whatever had been used to brew this tea had to be of unbelievable value. Cultivation ingredients worth more than his yearly income. He carefully set it down onto the table.

“I hope the tea is to your liking?”, Elder Wei asked, an amused tone undertone to his voice.

“I… this…”

“…Was quite costly to make, yes. So let’s not waste it.”

He took a sip of the tea himself, savoring it with closed eyes.

“Yes… that should work.”

“Elder Wei, I…”, Hu Chen began, apprehensively raising a hand.

“This is not an attempt at indebting you to me, if that is your worry. You don’t owe me anything for this tea, I’ve made and offered it to you as a guest off my own volition after all. In fact, it plays a necessary part in what I have in mind for today. So please enjoy it without any reservations for now.”

“I… I see. Then thank you.”

Hu Chen let his hand drop. What Elder Wei had addressed had in fact been his exact concern. But while his words had somewhat alleviated his worries, they had only added to his confusion. He eyed the cup before him.

Okay… might as well.

Continuing to refuse the tea would be outright rude after all and while the tea wasn’t a cultivation drug in the classical sense, it still represented an opportunity one shouldn’t let go off.

The two elders drank their tea in silence and by the time Hu Chen had finished his cup, his body was deeply saturated with the remarkably pure elemental Qi that corresponded to his Dao. It wasn’t the same as a normal cultivation pill or the like, that would give him the opportunity to absorb comprehension of the Dao directly, but Hu Chen felt that if he were to cultivate in this condition, it would ease the process remarkably. Sadly, he couldn’t just start cultivating right now.

Elder Wei took one last sip, finishing his cup as well and setting it down.

“Now, Elder Chen, I know you are confused as to why I’ve had you come here today and I don’t want to keep you guessing. Just one thing: As I’ve mentioned before, this is a private conversation. It stands to benefit both of us if what happens from now on stays between us and only us.”

Hu Chen nodded. That was something he was very much accustomed to, and he knew it was best to keep one’s word regarding such arrangements, especially if the other cultivator happened to be incomparably more powerful than oneself.

“I understand, Elder Wei.”

Elder Wei’s spatial ring flashed, and a zither appeared in his hands. It appeared to be made of ivory and engraved with intricate golden inscriptions, most certainly a valuable instrument.

“This artifact is something that I have obtained from the Roaring Thunder Sect five years ago. Ever since then, I’ve been spending much of my time trying to figure out it’s intended function to no avail – until now. I’ve brought you here today because I believe I have finally found out the use of this artifact and I need your cooperation to test my hypothesis.”

Hu Chen swallowed, trying to keep down a rising panic.

“Elder Wei, that…”

“Do not worry. If this was a weapon, I wouldn’t have taken five full years to figure that out. I can assure you that this is in no way meant to harm you, quite the opposite in fact. If it works out like I believe it will, this should prove quite the boon to you.”

Hu Chen breathed a sigh of relief. He barely cared about how this could prove a boon; he was just glad that he wasn’t about to become the test subject for some esoteric weapon powerful enough to catch and hold the attention of one of the most powerful cultivators on the peninsula.

“I understand. I apologize for even entertaining such a thought about you.”

“I have taken no offense. It is an understandable worry considering…”

He didn’t finish the sentence, but Hu Chen could hear the ‘your masters’, nonetheless. Perhaps Elder Wei had a less extreme expression in mind, but the implications were clear either way. Hu Chen took a deep breath.

“Very well. What do you need me to do, Elder Wei?”

“The tea you have just drunk should have put you in a good state to cultivate. Please make yourself comfortable and do just that.”

“I see… I mean, I understand. I shall do so at once.”

With mixed feelings but no other options, Hu Chen stood up from his chair and sat down on the ground next to it in a lotus position. He watched as Elder Wei let the table and chairs float to the edge of the room, then he closed his eyes.