STNS: Chapter 565 (Patreon)

Wu Jian dragged the reluctant Wu Meiying away from the others to speak with her privately. He did not do so by the hand, however, which would have been a form of physical intimacy and something he knew she might like. That was perhaps the biggest reason for the woman’s petulant expression. She looked almost like a child who’d been caught stealing mooncakes before the Mid-Autumn Festival.

This fortress had very little, but it wasn’t small. He walked around the Hall of the King and eventually found a place with no one present. This would be as good a spot as any.

He whirled on Wu Meiying and snapped at her. “Stop antagonizing Lili and Jingshu.”

Wu Meiying bit her lip and trembled. “I--you don’t understand how I feel.”

Wu Jian pursed his lips. “I know you’re jealous that I slept with Jingshu before you, and I know you hate that I’ve had… well… that I’ve been intimate with Lili.”

He coughed into his hand. He and Zhou Lihua hadn’t been able to have sex because of her family. Before they knew that her family was their enemy, they had butt sex to get around the chastity policy of her family. Nobody checked to see if she’d taken it up the butt--probably because nobody would think of doing such a thing. Even if they did, he wasn’t sure they’d care. The only thing the Zhou Clan had cared about was that her yin essence remain intact.

He shook his head. “Though I don’t understand why. You were never this against it when we were little. You even encouraged it.”

“I know. I… I regret it intensely,” she confessed.

He furrowed his brow. “I don’t understand why though. You always got along well with them. Why the change of heart?”

Wu Meiying’s lips became a thin line. The struggle on her face was clear as day. She didn’t want to talk about this. She really didn’t want to, but she also couldn’t deny Wu Jian when he wanted something. He was her one weakness.

“When I first encouraged you to get close to them… I was young and not yet a cultivator. I didn’t have the memories that I do now.”

“So the memories changed you…?” He paused for a moment, then nodded slowly. “I can see how that might happen.”

People are just an accumulation of memories, but most people only have memories for a hundred years or so. A cultivator could have memories lasting for thousands or maybe tens of thousands of years. And Wu Meiying? She had lived the lives of who knew how many thousands of cultivators. Just how many memories had she accumulated? He couldn’t even begin to guess, but… supposing that, in all those memories, she had never once shared Wu Jian with anyone else, how would she feel now that she had to share him with others?

“At least you get it, but let me spell it out for you in case you don’t.” Wu Meiying paused as though to center her emotions, then looked at him with steely eyes. “I am not just the Meiying of this life. I am every Meiying who has ever lived, every Meiying who ever loved you. I cannot pretend to be content now that I have regained those memories. I told you to let others into your heart, and I… I stand by that decision, but every time I see you with them, it feels like a shard being driven into my soul.”

Wu Jian was very different from Wu Meiying. Wu Meiying had tethered her soul to him, so that every time he reincarnated, she would reincarnate as well. Because of how her spell worked, she regained her memories upon reaching the Age of Majority. Wu Jian did not. He only had the memories of this lifetime. While he could understand her when thinking about it logically, there was no way for him to empathize with her.

“I know it hurts… and I wish I could do something, but you’re the one who told me to let them in, and now that they are here, you know I can’t just cut them out. I refuse to do that,” he stated, trying to infuse both his determination and his sincerity into his words.

Wu Meiying reached over to grip her left arm. “I know… you wouldn’t be the Wu Jian I love if you didn’t do that.” Her lips trembled. “It’s funny. You have an unlimited number of potential futures, infinite possibilities, and yet, when it comes to the people you hold dear, I always see you making the same choice.”

“Can you even see my futures right now?” he asked curiously.

“Of course not.” She shook her head. “If I could see your future, then so could our enemies. We made sure to block the ability to see the future a while ago, but I saw this moment during my time in isolation when I first became a cultivator.”

Wu Jian closed his eyes. “You mean back when you were trying to find a way to save the Wu Clan.”

“Yes,” Wu Meiying said, smiling sadly. “The moment we are having now happened several times during my search. I… had hoped that you’re unlimited potential would prevent this particular moment from happening.”

“It wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t treated Lili and Jingshu so poorly,” Wu Jian said. He put on a stern face. “You will apologize.”

“I… yes,” Wu Meiying sighed.

“And you’ll stop trying to stop me when I am intimate with them.”

Wu Meiying paled. He’d never seen her look so horrified.

“No! Don’t sleep with them! At the very least, wait until I can sleep with you too! I know I can’t stop it from happening, and I even have plans that require it… but at least wait until I am able to do it!”

Wu Jian sighed. “That’s not going to happen.” He ran a hand over his face. “Besides, there are ways for us to be intimate that don’t involve, um, vaginal penetration.”

“There are?” Wu Meiying actually looked shocked.

“Yes. Lili and I have been intimate plenty and she’s still got her pure yin essence.”

“That’s… right. She does still have it, and yet, she was intimate with you.” Wu Meiying blinked rapidly, then tilted her head, confusion written clear on her face. “I didn’t think about that, but now that you’ve said it, I can’t help but wonder how that’s possible.”

Wu Jian shrugged. “You can ask Lili all about it after you’ve apologized.”

Wu Meiying pouted.

***

Zhou Lihua had decided to check the Heavenly White Tiger Clan’s stock of alchemy ingredients. Every clan had a storehouse for ingredients, even one as barbaric as this. While none of the tigers liked letting her into their storehouse, none of them could do anything about it either since she was the new Khan’s “woman.”

“Aaaaaah!! Is that tiger-turtle origin fruit?!?!?!”

“And that’s demon skull vine!”

“Oh! Oh oh! This is star concealing grass!”

Zhou Lihua was in heaven. This must have been what heaven looked like. The Heavenly White Tiger Clan’s storehouse was filled to the brim with rare alchemical ingredients that she never expected to see in her lifetime. Each one was considered a heaven-sent ingredient. There was so much she could make with all this! So many of the ingredients had been lost in the Xaio Continent. She never expected to find them here.

Her feet thumped against the wooden floorboards as she looked at the small shelves that contained each ingredient. They were encased in glass cube shelves. Each shelf was completely isolated from the outside world, preserving the ingredients perfectly. She touched the glass for the tiger-turtle origin fruit, feeling the chilling coldness that helped preserve the ingredients. So they weren’t actually using glass but ice crystal glass. That was just as rare as the ingredients they had. Where did they get so much of the stuff?

The guards who had come with her were giving her strange looks, but she ignored them. They clearly didn’t understand how amazing this storehouse was. She had learned that their previous alchemist had been killed by Batu Khan, who not only didn’t believe in alchemy but actively believed anyone who used was weak. Idiot. Moron. She almost couldn’t believe someone so dumb had been the leader of a clan, but she knew important figures who’d been dumber.

Before her excitement got too far ahead of her, someone entered the ingredient storehouse. Zhou Lihua turned and felt her excitement dim when she saw who it was.

“Hello,” Wu Meiying said, giving her a tepid smile. “Can we talk? I’d like to, um, apologize for my behavior.”

Long ago, she and Wu Meiying had been great friends. She would have even included this woman among one of her best friends, but things had changed. A lot had happened. The Wu Clan was destroyed, Wu Meiying was forced to flee, and Wu Jian was left to fend for himself after losing everything. Zhou Lihua had been broken upon hearing news of the Wu Clan’s destruction and fallen into a deep slump that prevented her cultivation from rising or her comprehension into the Dao of Alchemy from blossoming. Then Wu Jian had appeared before her, and years later, Wu Meiying came back as well. Zhou Lihua had hoped they would be able to rekindle their friendship, but it was not to be.

Wu Meiying had grown cold, calculating, and jealous. She seemed to have picked up a hatred toward her and Hou Jingshu for their closeness to Wu Jian. The woman often had sharp words for them and had even stated that the only reason she allowed them to get close to Wu Jian was because he needed allies they could trust. Her words had hurt. They’d cut deep wounds into Zhou Lihua’s heart. This woman only saw them as tools now.

“Are you apologizing because Wu Jian is forcing you to?” asked Zhou Lihua cautiously. If that was the reason Wu Meiying had decided to say sorry, then Zhou Lihua did not want to hear it. She would not accept an apology made by someone who didn’t truly regret their words and actions.

“That is… part of it,” Wu Meiying said with a frown. “But all he did was remind me of how I have been acting. I… I’m not good at sharing.”

“I noticed,” Zhou Lihua said with a soft snort.

Wu Meiying looked like she wanted to glare, but she took a deep breath. “I deserve that. I know. I’m… going to try and do better from now on. I won’t get in the way of you or Hou Jingshu when you want to be intimate with Wu Jian anymore. I was wrong to try and keep him from you.”

“Especially since you’re the one who pushed us together.”

“Yes, you are right, of course. I was the one pushing for him to create a harem,” Wu Meiying affirmed. “That’s another reason I shouldn’t be this… this…”

“Obsessed?” offered Zhou Lihua.

“I was going to say possessive, but obsessed might work better,” Wu Meiying admitted. Then she bowed. It was not a martial bow, but a low one at the waist, showcasing her sincerity and repentance. “I am sorry for the way I’ve been acting. Neither of you deserved to be treated the way I’ve treated you. I hope you can forgive me.”

Zhou Lihua didn’t know if she could accept Wu Meiying’s apology at face value anymore. This woman had proven herself to be calculating and conniving, more so than anybody Zhou Lihua had known. Could she trust that Wu Meiying was being sincere? That she truly meant what she said? Or was she saying this because she thought it would get her back in Wu Jian’s good graces?

“If you’re willing to do something for me, I might be willing to let bygones be bygones,” Zhou Lihua said after a moment’s pause.

No matter what her reasons were, Wu Meiying had hurt her, and Zhou Lihua couldn’t just accept her apology without getting some concessions in return. There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world. If Wu Meiying truly wanted to showcase how sorry she was, then she’d have to work to make it up.

Wu Meiying shuffled her feet. “What would you have me do?”

“I don’t know yet, but I’m sure I’ll think of something,” Zhou Lihua said, shrugging. “Until then, consider my acceptance of your apology postponed.”