Chapter 490 – Casual Little Play-Date (Patreon)

Gosh, I'm actually really enjoying Arc 11. Fun balance of things, and I feel like I'm managing to ramp things up pretty organically as we go. We're about at the halfway mark, so it's time to start the ball rolling downhill to that fun little ramp I'm gonna launch shit off of!

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Friendship is weird. A lot like family, but less certain. Less things to anchor it to than blood relations or romantic attraction, but no less varied and profound in the face of the connections between people. And in a world of immortals? I have friends who I once would have sworn, with absolute certainty, would be my enemies until our last days. I have enemies who I once would have slit my own throat to protect. I have those who are both, whose presence I treasure in one context and yet who I will fight to bitter murder in another. 

People are complicated. They only get more complicated as we get older and weirder. That’s life, though. Nothing wrong with it, so long as you accept that pain and trust are two sides of the same coin. 

–-”Path Of The Deathless”, primer on Cultivation of all forms, written by Sun “Murder The Heavens And Eat Their Thrones” Dailou, Burning Ambitions Made Flesh, The Screaming Sunlight Turned Sweet And Savory. Redacted by official Imperial Decree, held in perpetuity amongst the Divine Vaults.

Recommended Reading for the Feng Clan.

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“They sound like good kids.”

“They really are! Mostly. Kind of. In all the important ways, at least.”

“So many caveats, Raika. Honestly, how do you expect this young lord to trust your word when it requires so much circumvention and clarification?”

She snorts, moving another piece on the board between them. “I didn’t get mutually soul-molested with you just for you to start casting aspersions on my trustworthiness now.”

“Oooh! Aspersions! Well, someone has been elucidating themselves through educational means.”

She flicks one of the pieces she’s won at her opponent's forehead, not minding that his hand snatches it out of the air without even having to look.

“And an assault upon my personage, now!” he says with mock shock, his eyes never leaving the board between the two of them and the collection of black and white pieces upon it. “Truly, thy semblance of social advancement and personal improvement crumples along the slightest fault-line.”

“Do you ever get tired of hearing yourself talk?”

Shin Ren snorts, sounding almost identical to Raika when she did the same. “Absolutely. But I rarely get tired of annoying you.”

He moves another piece forward on the go board, pursuing more of his aggressive forward march into their contested territories. 

“Your move.”

“Hmm, let me see, perhaps I’ll… no, that’s not it, maybe instead… oooh, or perhaps–”

“Are you going to keep mocking my visibly superior tactic of actually thinking through my moves or are you going to get on with it?”

“I’m going to keep mocking you, obviously.”

He rolls his eyes, but that’s all he does. 

Raika smiles, enjoying the play-by-play. It’s rare that Shin Ren is relaxed enough for moments like this. 

He’s wearing the same clothes as always, still showing himself to be more ascetic than not. While the robes are of impeccable quality, clearly made of incredibly fine materials and natural treasures, there’s no ornamentation on them, no additional flairs of style of presentation. If not for their absurd components, one might mistake his robes for that of a simple man, a traveling merchant, perhaps. 

Though the armor does break the illusion a bit. 

Cast from ingots of Sunfire Steel, a treasured material capable of dynamically enhancing fire concepts, the chainmail beneath his robes and the gauntlets encircling his wrists shine even through the illusion array they’re speaking through. Boots, chainmail, greaves, gauntlets, but his shoulders and half of each limb is kept clear, making the armor less all-encompassing than it was clearly designed to be, with buckles and glowing arrays unable to complete themselves for his insistence on looking more like a princeling than a warlord. 

The scar on his face ensures that the impression of a warrior is never far, though. A cut across his lips, down to his chin, turned to scar-tissue and glowing ever so faintly with the fire of his Souls. He still hasn’t told her why he never healed it, or what caused it, and she respects his privacy enough not to ask. It suits him, just as he suits the plain room of red stone he’s sitting in as he plays against her.

“You still haven’t told me why you reached out,” he says, pushing past her latest round of verbal jousting. “While this young master surely has some merit in the art of games and strategy, I will find myself disappointed if you called me simply to lose a game of Go.”

“Big assumptions, there. First among them that I’m going to lose.”

“I’ll have your side of the board empty in ten moves.”

She laughs at that, a genuine sound that comes across loud and brash. “We’ll see about that, pretty boy.”

“We shall. Unless you decide to surrender early and save us both the trouble.”

“And deprive us both of the joy? For shame, young master. I wouldn’t dare.”

He smiles, and this time it is a softer thing. “I suppose if your daring must end somewhere, it would be at depriving yourself of the moment.”

She snorts again, using the sound as a shield. It’s annoying sometimes, how well he knows her for someone she feels she’s barely interacted with.

But that’s the trick with sharing a soul with someone, for however brief a moment. 

They stood together, at the Wall, during a moment of Tribulation. True Tribulation, the direct attention of the Heavens, breaching the Emperor’s quarantine of its realm and the defenses of the Wall and more. It washed over the both of them, focused on her but widened by Shin Ren’s forceful inclusion into the experience. 

For a moment, their awareness was both individual and mutual. They saw every single part of each other, down to the faintest memory and the tiniest iota of their beings. 

And then their only real interactions afterward was killing each other on the battlefield of the Wall for a while. And then she was dead. 

But five years is a long time to think about things and decide on how to approach things. 

She moves another piece on the board, off to one side of Shin Ren’s own advance and drawing obvious attention to itself. She lays it out like bait, desperate to be taken and limit her further options. 

Like a good boy, he doesn’t bite, instead keeping his approach measured and consistent. One piece at a time, he moves forward, consuming the board. 

“It’s good that you’re giving them some peace,” he says, his attention never leaving the board. “It’s in rare supply these days. Especially beyond the Wall.”

“Oh?”

He sighs, finally letting his gaze come up so as to give her a soft-hearted glare. “As if you haven’t noticed it.”

“Where would the world be without the perspective of the wise young master Shin Ren, offering insights to the foolish?”

“...Kai’s been getting more engaged.”

She nods, letting out a little “hmm” sound. “And the Fifth?”

Shin Ren shrugs. “She’s young. Younger than most of your kids. She’s adjusting poorly to the war effort, so most of her time is spent against the Pack’s grand monsters or in training me. I think she likes being needed for more than just slaughter. It’s funny. She remains at a level I can’t even see, but I find it hard to imagine someone worse suited to the role of a Blade.”

Raika sighs, letting the breath out slowly. “I’m… sorry to hear that.”

Shin Ren smiles sadly. “If I could offer her the peace you’re granting your students, I would. I do still believe she can be turned against the Empire with the right blows, but lining them up out of sight is difficult when she has the awareness she does. And with how badly she wants to avoid confronting certain things. She’s young, yes, but she’d almost always prefer to bury her head in the sand rather than confront how the world fails her ideals. It’s lucky she’s only in the early steps of the Nascent Soul Realm still, or I think she’d get a Heart Demon worse than mine.”

“I’ve always wondered about that. Do you think the cultivation of the other Blades is so divorced from their skills?”

Another shrug, following by placing his next stone on the board. “Perhaps. I think, much like what you’ve told me of the Craft, it’s something intersecting but perpendicular to cultivation, not directly aligned with it. I’ve seen her perform Cuts that change more of the world than any Warrior could, approaching truly unique, singular effects, while also having less Qi than many of the footsoldiers around her.”

“And Kai?”

Another soft exhale, followed by a slumping of the shoulders. It’s a bit insulting, how his scars and exhaustion have only made him hotter, somehow. 

“Similar story, but not as intense. He’s definitively in the Warrior Realm, and deep into it, but his Cuts also stand apart from him. Like… he’s wielding something more than himself. Like the Dao itself comes down to follow his will. Maybe that’s what all the Blades are. Shadows of Dao, held my immortal hands.”

She places a stone further into his back-line, into one of the few spaces he’s left exposed. “Maybe so. I’ve wondered about that, actually. There’s something to the way that things work that feels… maybe not a mystery, but lacking, somehow. Like how Dao, Intent, Concepts and Truth all overlap, but only Truth stands apart. I think, sometimes, that it isn’t. But I’m not sure of the details.”

“Well, when you figure it out, I would appreciate the information.”

“You’re on my mailing list.”

A few moves pass in silence between them. Three, to be precise, leaving Shin Ren’s prediction of ten moves to her loss quite close indeed.

“And your little girlfriend?”

Shin Ren grimaces, and it’s with such force that Raika can’t help but break out in laughter. 

“We are… managing. I believe she has successfully internalized my… lack of appreciation? Of romance. But I also believe that she has yet to fully put aside her feelings and see them resolved.”

She sighs, nodding. “Some drown while others die of thirst.”

He frowns at that, turning to look at her. “Don’t you have like a hundred spouses?”

“Oh sure, but that’s just politics and sex. Not all of us have such honest affections so honestly presented to us.”

He chokes a bit, then coughs to one side, grumbling. 

“I… yes, there is a difference between the romantic and sexual aspects of things. Though I find it dubious that you haven’t had any genuine offers. A woman of your…”

“Power? Majesty? Raw animal appeal? Massive chest? Phenomenal ass? Exceptional tea-making skills?”

“I have tasted your tea, and you possess less than no skill at the art!”

“Ah, so you don’t deny my other appeals?”

He splutters, but it’s only for an instant. He lets go of it quickly, laughing sincerely in a way that she appreciates. For all that she can almost taste the lies in him, Shin Ren is a refreshingly sincere man. 

“I have not,” she answers him.

He pauses, then, surprised. Then he sets down his next stone, and sits back onto the pillow behind him, tilting his head curiously.

“My spouses experienced firsthand the abuses that come when someone truly powerful loses control. Affection from those I have hurt and abused so terribly is a poisoned chalice at best, even when it is offered, even when it is not intended as such. And new paramours are… well, they’re not something I’ve pursued, and even if I had, options are limited. The stronger you become, the weirder people get, and most everyone’s focused on the war and the coming end of the world and all.”

“And in the face of immortality…”

“Yeah. Ironically, everyone is quite comfortable waiting.”

“So truly, none have caught your many, many eyes?”

She goes to speak but pauses. Places down a stone instead of answering.

Shin Ren’s responding stone comes down behind her, nearly completing his division of the board. It’s matched by his smile, making his scar quirk in an annoyingly attractive way. 

“Ah.”

“Don’t ‘ah’ me, dumbass. There’s… possibilities. Down the line. When we win, maybe. But it’s… a bit complicated, I think. One of them already has people, the other, we split paths long enough ago that we’re a bit strangers to each other, and the third… well, there are some concerns. He’s old, for one. And sort of annoying. And I don’t know if he sees romance at all, much less if he sees it in a way I would mesh with.”

“So the great Raika has spent some time thinking about this, then.”

“I have a million brains, pretty boy, I can afford to spend time thinking about everything.”

He pauses at that. Sets down his next stone in response to hers. If he’s noticed that they’ve passed the ten-stone mark he said he’d beat her in, he doesn’t mention it. 

“How does that feel? Having a million minds?”

She sighs, leaning back. She picks up her pipe from the table beside her, where she’s been letting it smolder beside a cup of some very wormy tea. 

“It’s… nowadays, it’s a lot less confusing. A lot more cohesive. There’s an awareness that it’s a hive mind, but also that it’s not. Or it’s both. We’re all me, and we’re all distinct, and we’re all something else together. But mostly, it’s… aging.”

That makes a mark on him. Shin Ren sits up straighter on the red stone floor beneath him, opening a hand to invite her to say more.

Another sigh. Longer this time, and followed by a slow, gentle inhale from her pipe, letting the bluish smoke fill some of her sets of lungs and then filter back out into the world around her on the exhale. 

“I think that I’m thirty-seven years old, more or less. Maybe forty-ish. Incredibly young for a cultivator, even amongst prodigies like yourself, and younger still in the face of the immortal monsters out there. But so much of aging isn’t moving through time, it’s accumulating experiences, and I accumulate so many. By the amount that I have moved through time, I am approaching my end of my fourth decade, I think. And I am never sure, because by the amount of memories I have, I think I would have to be approaching my fourth century. Maybe more. I’ve never really timed it.”

“And you think that this ages you?”

“I know that it does,” she says, pausing to take a sip of her tea. “I know it. By percentages, the time where I saw out of only one pair of eyes is a dozen times more than the time since I’ve seen through many, but subjectively? Yes, it still takes time to process things. Yes, I still age, and yes, all of my minds are kinda-sorta starting off at the same age relative to each other, but at the end of the day, if you suddenly gained the memories of living a thousand years in a hidden realm, wouldn’t you say that makes you older than before?”

Shin Ren pauses to think about that. Eventually, stroking his nonexistent beard, he nods. 

“Yes, I suppose I would say that. Though it’s subjective, nonetheless.”

“It is.”

He puts down his thirteenth stone since his proclamation that he’d win in ten moves, finally starting to look a little annoyed by it. 

“What has that subjective age offered you in wisdom?” he eventually asks.

“It sure does help with the planning side of things.”

“Oh?”

“Yep. I’m still relying on you, of course, but I do think I have a pretty clear idea of what I’m going to be doing next. Can’t tell you the details, but…”

“I know. All of the mental concepts and arrays I travel through, it’s only a matter of time before that sort of thing slips, even with the Prince lying for me. Do you need anything new from me?”

“I do, actually.”

That surprises him, though he disguises it well.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Your updates about the sky-fortress have been plenty, and your access to the Blades remains the best use of you for now. But soon, I’m going to launch the next phase of the war. Things will change pretty dramatically.”

“And you want to use me to assassinate them?”

She scoffs. “No. I mean, maybe you could, I’m not trying to be rude, but I doubt it. I doubt I could, and I could kick your ass.”

He rolls his eyes at that, but notably doesn’t refute her. “Then what?”

“Things are going to break. A lot of things. When they do, the Flame Atop the Wall will be in the perfect position to put some of them back together. I want you to organize the retreat. Consolidate the Imperial forces as much as you can, and make sure that it’s an actual retreat, not a rout.”

“...I always assumed the plan would be to break the Empire open wholesale.”

“And I will. We will. But the more people are alive at the end of this, the more people that can help fix it. There’ll be death enough without seeking it out. If you gather what I break, draw them to your light, it’ll be easier to build something new after. Less dissenters, less rogue elements, and more lives saved.”

“The Empire won’t afford the type of mercy you’re holding on to,” he says, his voice quiet. “Keeping the Division of War cohesive like that will have its own cost in lives. Maybe it would be better to break them wholesale, in one sharp blow.”

“It would.”

That brings him pause. He looks up at her, and Raika smiles at him, letting out some of the smoke in her lungs to add a tinge of smoke to the expression.

“Breaking the army would be faster. Cleaner in the short term. But I’m not gambling with whether or not we win. We will. I’m gambling with what comes after.”

She does a longer exhale, emptying out the pipe-smoke and drawing in fresh air. 

“The world is going to break. And what good does worrying about losing, if our loss will be the end of us and everyone else besides? It’s going to break. We’re going to win. So I need to start working for what comes after, or else what’s the point?

“So keep them alive. Protect the civilians. Help me guide the Pack by way of offering them a consistent target, and they’ll feed on less flesh of higher quality.”

“Do we have time to draw out a war like that?” he asks.

“Nope. That’s where all my other plans come in.”

She places down a stone, her fifteenth move since Shin Ren’s declaration of her inevitable loss. 

He goes to place one of his own, keeping the flow of conversation ongoing– then pauses. Looks down at the board. 

Sees the chain of possibilities she’s built, where any of the half-dozen moves available to her are in the perfect positions to break his advance and devour his side of the board. 

“Same time next week?” she asks.

He sighs, placing his stone down in surrender. “Sure, beast. See you then.”

The door to the room of red stone receives a firm but gentle knock. Calmly, Shin Ren turns to look at it, transmitting soundless Intent to make clear that it may be opened. 

The towering figure of Gou Mai, still soft and round but hiding mountains of muscle beneath it, fills the doorway, barely able to fit.

“Were you talking to someone, senior brother?” he asks, the sky-blue of his eyes glinting with hints of starlight.

Shin Ren smiles, looking up from the Go board in front of him. It is filled entirely with all-black pieces, with no clear opponent visible. 

“Just myself, brother,” he says. “What do you need?”

From one layer of the real away, Raika gives her once-enemy, now friend, a little wave, taking her own version of the Go board with her as she goes to her next appointment.