The Magistrate: Chapter 10 (Patreon)

And that's the original 10 chapters I promised, now onto today's chapter. How are you liking it so far? Leave a comment below.Chapter 10

Old Men Talking

The Lee Clan was one of the five Great Clans of The Three Kingdoms. It was a great honour to be invited to speak with their patriarch, even if that patriarch was only the head of one of the branch families. However, Tobias felt he might have been more honoured if the man wasn't trying to destroy his auction and take everything for himself.

Tobias forced himself not to look upset as the patriarch finished explaining why he should cancel his auction and sell everything to the Lee Clan instead. "Patriarch Lee, this one will repeat what he told Patriarch Chan when he spoke with him this morning. No amount of money will make this one put his auction aside. If you consider that an insult to your prestigious self, this one will understand if you wish to withdraw from his auction, but he will not choose sides between the Great Clans. Each will have the same opportunity to pursue this one's inventory with no advantage given to anyone."

Patriarch Lee stroked his long white beard, considering Tobias's reply. The nascent realm cultivator was over a thousand years old, having spent most of his life in Cloud City. His features didn't look a day over twenty-five, but his hair was as white as snow. Only a few of the elders in the sect shared this trait. It came only when cultivators progressed their cultivation late in life.

Tobias had heard rumours that Patriarch Lee had been banished here because his cultivation skill was a threat to the main branch patriarch. If that were true, he had to be a formidable cultivator for that banishment to not have been lifted after so many centuries.

Patriarch Lee stopped stroking his beard and smiled. "Good. That's exactly what I was hoping to hear."

Tobias couldn't stop himself from frowning. Patriarch Lee had been more insistent than any of the other patriarchs. "It was?"

"Yes, I prefer to crush my enemies publicly, but I couldn't risk you not going ahead with the auction and selling to one of the other families in private. Now that I know the action will go ahead, we can talk about the other reason I invited you here."

"Other reason?"

Patriarch Lee nodded. "I've heard whispers from the sect that you returned with a unique batch of tea. I would like to purchase this from you."

Tobias frowned, wondering how the patriarch had heard about his tea, before quickly shaking his head. "The tea is not for sale. It was a gift from someone very dear to me, but this one would gladly share a pot or two with you over pleasant conversation."

Patriarch Lee went back to stroking his beard while he thought. "What sort of conversation?"

Tobias realised his mistake immediately. The patriarch was reading too much into his words. Hearing things he thought Tobais left unspoken. "This one was told that you have lived in Cloud City for centuries and is curious to hear its history from someone who experienced it firsthand."

Patriarch Lee's face softened. "You probably heard the rumours that I came to Cloud City because the patriarch of the main branch banished me here. The truth is, I visited here seven hundred years ago and fell in love with this city. Before the Great Plague, Cloud City was the greatest hub of cultivators in The Three Kingdoms. There was art, music, food, and an exchange of ideas that existed nowhere else in the world." A wide smile spread across his face. "Young man, there is nothing I enjoy more than talking about this city. I'll send someone to fetch your tea, and I'll tell you anything you want to know."

***

Hours later, Tobias was still in Patriarch Lee's array-protected garden, basking in the warmth and enjoying the conversation. The ancient cultivator had realised that Tobias was not trying to buy his favour but was honestly interested in hearing about the past and asking questions about the city's history. Patriarch Lee was just as interested in sharing as he claimed to be.

Tobias understood why.

After a certain age, the world began to change. It was not the world of your youth, and the only ways to go back were to spend time with those who had lived through it or share your memories with the younger generation. It was nostalgic and comforting, an opportunity to live in a world you understood, instead of the one that had developed around you.

Tobias frowned as he poured Patriarch Lee another cup of his grandpa's tea. "This one means no disrespect, but why didn't you try to save the city if you cared so much about it?"

Patriarch Lee sighed. "Your generation no longer understands how horrific the plague was or the actions that were taken to survive. Only those who were immune to the plague lived through it. That was one in fifty for mortals and one in five for cultivators. Those low chances of survival do not include the losses we suffered from battling the powerful miasma abominations which arose from those that succumbed to the illness."

The Great Plague had been something akin to a zombie apocalypse, from what Tobias had gathered from his history lessons. The cause of the disease was firmly rooted in the cultivation world, and many of the disasters that followed could be laid at its feet.

Tobias filled his own cup. "This one is not sure he follows?"

"Without people, there is no way to save a city because a city is not its buildings but its people."

Tobias nodded, understanding his point. "And after such a loss, it would be impossible to replace those people without centuries passing, so saving the city was impossible."

Patriarch Lee nodded. "The Three Kingdoms' population is still a third of its former size, and that is only if you include the surviving states. I honestly didn't expect to see life return to Cloud City for another few centuries, but I will be happy to discover I am wrong if you're successful. Your willingness to sell cultivation resources for silver is a step in the right direction."

Tobias found yet another reason to frown. The man was a wealth of knowledge, and Tobias did not need to guard his tongue with him, unlike how he did in the sect. "Why do you say that?"

"In my youth, such basic cultivation resources were commonly exchanged for silver and gold. The practice only fell out of favour after miasma destroyed most of the world's chi and made resources scarce. There was even a saying back then, mortals are only mortals because they are poor. Escaping mortality used to be a matter of means, not skill."

Tobias considered the man's words. "So, specific meridian opening and cleansing pills exist because of this abundance of spirit herbs during your youth."

Patriarch Lee chuckled. "You must understand that you couldn't step into a wild forest back then without tripping over spirit grass. Resources were so plentiful that alchemists constantly experimented, trying to outdo each other. They made many wonders."

Tobias leaned back, thinking. "Did alchemists consider a one in three success rate mastery of a pill in your youth?"

Patriarch Lee nodded. "The rule of three predates me by almost one hundred thousand years. It's always been the fastest way for an alchemist to progress their craft."

"It might be the fastest way for an alchemist to progress, but it's crippled the recovery of the cultivation world."

Patriarch Lee nodded. "Some have argued it has, but most aren't convinced."

"By your own admission, the sects stopped selling pills for money because of the lack of cultivation resources after the Great Plague. This didn't hurt them, but it harmed everyone else. The actual price of pills is now twenty-eight times higher than in your youth, which means alchemists have been burning most of the Three Kingdom's resources to accelerate their growth."

"Few are willing to follow Inner Disciple Xi's path."

Tobias raised an eyebrow. "You're aware of my assistant?"

Patriarch Lee chuckled. "Discrete inquiries had to be made over whether your auction was legitimate. It was not hard to discover who was making your pills and why he was so happy to help. And I cannot say I disagree with his philosophy."

"Because without that philosophy, you would only have half as many pills to bid on?"

Patriarch Lee roared with laughter. "You cheeky rascal. If it weren't true, I'd strike you for your devil's tongue."

Tobias smiled. "You were saying that all the sects and families became more focused on tradition after the Great Plague."

Patriarch Lee nodded. "With so many dead, we all fell back on tried and tested methods. No one has been willing to push the boundaries or experiment for the last three centuries. Replenishing our losses has been everyone's focus."

"When will your work be done?"

"It will take centuries."

"Why so long?"

"In a clan as large as mine, there is only one or two born each generation with the potential to reach the core realm, and a clan's strength is not in how many cultivators it has but in how many core realm cultivators it has. The Lee Clan once boasted over two thousand. Now we have only one hundred and twenty-three."

Tobias turned and looked up the mountain. "How many did Cloud Sect have?"

"They had more than three thousand in my youth. They were still considered disciples at that stage, living in the district where your residence is located. The title of Elder was reserved for those who had reached the nascent soul realm."

From his conversation with Patriarch Lee, Tobias had learned that the act of cultivation created chi. The more cultivators there were, the more chi was created. The Great Plague had been so destructive because the miasma produced by the infected destroyed any chi it encountered. It was like antimatter, but without the explosion.

"That many core cultivators would certainly change how many spirit herbs were available."

"That many core cultivators change how much of everything is available."

"Why didn't they replace their missing numbers with core compression pills?"

"The pills you're referring to only work for neutral cultivators. The ones my family and Cloud Sect create require significantly rarer materials, which are extremely hard to obtain. That being said, we still make them, but they're only given to individuals with secondary talents that are hampered by not being able to progress."

Tobias sighed. "The Great Plague really was the end of the world, like my teacher taught me."

Patriarch Lee nodded. "You truly would not believe the wonders I have seen, the art and sophistication that no longer exists. Cities I visited as a child are now swallowed by nature, broken ruins of our once great empire. Your own village sits on the border of what used to be the greatest tea region in The Three Kingdoms. Now it's woodlands."

Tobias sat up straight. "I didn't know that."

Patriarch Lee smiled as he took a sip. "Only those born before the Great Plague remember. If you gave this tea to any of them, they would recognise it immediately."

Tobias's face lit up with excitement. "You know what it's called."

Patriarch Lee nodded. "It's called Three Towns Tea. It was the most commonly consumed tea by anyone of means, but it was abundant enough that even those less fortunate would share it on special occasions. It was quite challenging to cultivate, from what I recall. They could only grow it at the peaks of the hills."

Tobias filed the information away for later. "So, this wasn't the main variety of tea they grew then?"

"Far from it. They sold dozens of different varieties to the masses. However, you must understand, it wasn't the weather and fertile soil that contributed to the region's success. The empire put in over two thousand years of effort, carefully breeding and cultivating specific tea varieties so that they continually improved."

"Two thousand years spent on improving tea. It's hard to believe."

Patriarch Lee smirked. "You're young. You don't understand the sort of perspective centuries offer you. Back then, every important town and city was under the watchful eye of a core realm magistrate. They would watch over their domain and direct the short lives of the mortals beneath them toward projects that would take their families generations to complete, seeing the bigger picture and the improvements that the mortals could not. We were a society of slow but constant improvement." 

"Why did it change?"

"You need a secure border to consider projects that take generations and to divert core realm cultivators to civil management."

A servant wrapped in furs quietly approached Patriarch Lee and bowed.

Patriarch Lee raised a questioning eyebrow. "What is it?"

"The young master is insisting upon his bedtime story."

Patriarch Lee chuckled. "Tell him I will be there shortly."

The servant bowed and left.

Tobias looked at the ancient cultivator, surprised. "You have a child?"

Patriarch Lee sadly shook his head. "Once upon a time, I did. The young master they are referring to is the great-grandson of the great-grandson of the great-grandson of my daughter."

"Are you this close with all your family?"

Patriarch Lee smiled. "Mortals live and die, Magistrate Finch. You can choose to make the short time they have better, enjoying their company and accepting the inevitable end to your relationship, or you can hide away, letting your heart wither as you try to protect it from the pain of lost love and heartache. The sect will tell you to renounce worldly attachments, but those are coward's lies repeated so loudly and often that they almost sound like truth. While they hide away in seclusion, never reaching immortality, I have lived. I have loved. And I have experienced life a dozen times over, knowing that even if I never attain immortality, my life is not a failure. So yes, I try to be this close with all my family."

Tobias stood and bowed, knowing it was time to leave. "Thank you for sharing your wisdom."

Patriarch Lee nodded. "I'm sure we will be seeing a lot of each other. I have a feeling this is the start of a very long friendship."

Tobias smiled. "This one has that impression, too."

"You are an old soul in a young man's body. It is like looking in the mirror."

Tobias continued to smile, not because Patriarch Lee was close to the truth, but because being told that he was an old soul by someone who was more than a thousand years old than him sounded ridiculous.