The Magistrate: Chapter 23 (Patreon)

Chapter 23

The Sleeping Dragon

A week after the assassination attempt, Tobias walked into Mist Sect's state assignment hall ready to work. He wanted to leave Mist City with a flawless record and complete the assignment that had brought him here. It was part of who he was. However, he had no interest in training his replacement. There wasn't enough time.

Tobias put his lunch on a shelf and then went to the pile of letters waiting for him in the corner of the room. He picked up the basket and carried it to his desk before pulling his letter opener from the drawer and taking a seat. He began opening letters and sorting them into piles, depending on what the state had requested. There were pills, talismans, bounties for wild spirit beasts, along with the usual requests for spirit stones.

Spirit stones were the main export of Mist Sect. Spirit stones occurred both naturally and unnaturally. Mist Sect dealt with the unnatural variety, teaching their initiate disciples how to channel their chi into chips of spirit stone to make them grow. The spirit stones were then sold to the state, which used them to power arrays in low chi saturation areas or fed them into a cultivation chamber to create a high chi saturation zone for cultivation.

Tobias had learned that someone in the initiate realm could only refine a single stone each season while working alone. However, when working as a group, each additional cultivator increased individual output by 6%. This percentage compounded, making larger groups significantly more effective.

For those who had just entered the foundation realm, refining five or six spirit stones each season was possible, even without working as a group, which provided the same benefit as it did to those in the initiate realm, so most didn't bother with the practice until they reached the foundation realm.

Mist Sect kept track of how quickly each disciple could produce spirit stones, sharing the stones based on individual ability once the work was completed. It caused some grumbling among those who were less effective at gathering chi, but not enough to deter them from the benefits of working as a group.

Shortly after he started reading through the mail, Tobias opened a letter that shocked him. The state was requesting 250,000 spirit stones be delivered within the next five years. That was in addition to their usual requirements. The budget for the assignment was double what the state usually offered.

Tobias put the letter aside and moved on to the next. Three letters later, there was another large request, this time for bundles of 10,000 talismans. This also had double the usual budget. Tobias added that letter to the other one and kept going through the pile.

A few more letters, and he ran into another interesting assignment. This one was for 10,000 stomach meridian opening pills. Tobias added it to the pile and then moved on.

A few hours later, Tobias put down the last letter and turned his attention to the six exceptional requests. Together, they indicated that the state was expanding the state army. You didn't need that many stomach meridian opening pills, along with general meridian opening and cleansing pills, for any other reason.

The question was, why were these assignments being given to Mist Sect? Cloud Sect's meridian opening pills were slightly more effective. Either the state didn't trust Cloud Sect, or it was purposely trying to build up Mist Sect by giving it more resources. And if the state was trying to build up Mist Sect, this was likely some form of apology for the rogue cultivator incident. Expanding the army would also allow for more patrols across the state, which would make it harder for so many rogue cultivators to surround Mist Sect again. The state was solving one problem while creating another.

Tobias hated the army, both the state and the imperial army, but the imperial army was worse.

Their officers were always the most ruthless cultivators, killing people for trivial matters. The disciples of the sects and nobles were saints compared to them, and the thought of adding 10,000 more soldiers to their state sickened him, but he had no way to prevent it. Even if he didn't hand out the assignments, the lower magistrate who replaced him would.

Tobias put the larger assignments aside and got to work organising the day-to-day assignments Mist Sect usually dealt with. He needed time to think about the best way to implement those assignments. If he offered them to the sect now, his other assignments would be dropped in favour of them.

Half an hour before sundown, Tobias had an idea and left his office to speak with Elder Tan. She was sitting in her usual spot in the corner, drinking tea while she practised embroidery on a pillow.

Tobias bowed. "Magistrate Finch greets Elder Tan."

Elder Tan smiled but didn't look up. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I need to know if your sect is truly interested in relocating your disciples to Cloud City?"

"Is my answer necessary for you to fulfil your duties?"

"The right answer would allow me to fulfil my duties and aid your sect."

"In that case, we've begun negotiations with Cloud Sect to relocate all of our disciples at the end of their natural path to Cloud City."

"Are these negotiations a secret you would prefer to keep until the negotiations are complete?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I have several lucrative assignments that I would prefer to offer to those who depart. No one would easily turn down the greater rewards from these assignments, so they will interfere with both my other state assignments and your sect's own assignment halls."

Elder Tan paused. "If they truly interfere, we will not take offence. I would have to know what we were talking about to give a better answer."

"One of the assignments is for 250,000 spirit stones with double the normal compensation budget."

Tobias had already determined that there would be no way to complete the assignment on time without offering 150% of the normal rate. Other assignments weren't so demanding that he could skim more of the budget to subsidise the Mist Sect's growth. He intended to leave Mist Sect in a much better position with more opportunities than when he arrived. He owed their disciples that much. 

Elder Tan sighed. "You're right. Such a lucrative assignment would interfere with the sect's assignment hall. If the other assignments are also as generous, we will be the state's lapdogs until they're complete. Offering them to those who leave would be preferable."

Tobias smiled. "If you could make it known that you have opened negotiations, I'll begin sending assignment offers to those at the end of their path in a few days."

Elder Tan nodded before returning to her embroidery.

Tobias returned to his office and finished the last of his work for the day before waking Disciple Wo, who was lying on the couch and heading to the gate just before sunset. Disciple Xi politely disengaged from his conversation with the gatekeeper, and the three of them walked across the bridge into the city.

Disciple Xi noticed how distracted Tobias was. "What's caught your attention?"

"How would you feel about producing ten thousand stomach meridian opening pills with the Mist Sect formula?"

Disciple Xi raised an eyebrow. "Timeframe?"

"Five years."

"What do I get from this exchange?"

"The goodwill of Mist Sect's gatherers. When they move to Cloud City, they won't have as many alchemists to sell to, allowing you to fill the role."

Disciple Xi smiled. "I would have done it for the practice."

"I know, but it's best to have more reasons to do something than less."

***

Late that night, Tobias sat on the roof of the House of Sound with Xu Feng, watching the lights from the city and drinking wine from a jar. The building was heavily protected by arrays, and nothing short of a core realm cultivator would get through, which was why Tobias was happy to be in the open.

Xu Feng drained his cup before refilling it from his much stronger jar of wine. "I've never seen Xu Ling so insecure."

 Their conversation had been light and friendly all evening, so Tobias was thrown by the serious change. "Why does she feel insecure?"

"She's finally admitting your talent is greater than hers."

Tobias frowned. "It was never my intention to make her feel inadequate."

Xu Feng chuckled drunkenly. "That was not an objection to her current state. My daughter has more talent than she knows what to do with. It's her biggest weakness. Humbling her by showing her that a hardworking genius can outshine a prodigy will hopefully awaken the sleeping dragon that lies within her."

Tobias sighed. "You consider her a failed prodigy."

Xu Feng nodded. "It's my fault. So many prodigies burn so bright they perish. I did not want that to happen to her, so I never pushed her or forced her to progress. With that freedom, she became enamoured with the mortal world. She has no dreams of immortality, no dreams to follow my cultivation methods and take them higher than we have ever been."

"Did you share your concerns?"

"Many times, but Xu Ling is headstrong, doing as she pleases. She will not sacrifice her life for my dreams." Xu Feng smiled. "And then you showed up. Now she's a prodigy who is terrified of losing someone she cares about, desperate for me to find her teachers who can instruct her in the cultivation methods I hold so close to my heart."

"Is that why she wasn't at dinner?"

Xu Feng drained his cup and grinned. "The House of Sound's greatest cultivators are downstairs performing for Xu Ling so she can choose which of our methods best suit her temperament."

"What if she doesn't like them?"

Xu Feng sighed as he refilled his cup. "A father hopes their child will choose to follow in their steps, but a prodigy can also build something new. If she chooses to walk her own path, there is nothing I can do to stop her. And I wouldn't want to. I can never reach her heights, but I can prevent myself from holding her back."

***

News of the lucrative assignments for those who left the sect quickly spread. Attaching Disciple Xi's services to the stomach meridian pill assignment caused any gatherer who qualified for relocation to put their name forward within a few days. Spirit stone infusers and talisman artists made their decisions within ten days, which prompted the sect into action.

Two weeks after the assignment arrived, Tobias sat at his desk while Xu Ling lay on Disciple Wo's couch, reading body cultivation manuals. She had chased him away with bribes, and he was happily sitting outside the window, soaked to the bone from the constant mist that fell upon the sect, ready to protect him from assassins.

Getting access to some of Mist Sect's cultivation manuals was less complicated than Tobias imagined. Sects had a public collection of manuals that they were willing to share for a price, and Xu Ling's father had the money to pay for access.

The manuals she was reading were not sect secrets, but cultivation methods that had been purchased from wandering cultivators, down-on-their-luck nobles, or were designed by bored elders. Each manual had been practised by at least three cultivators who had reached the core realm, so they were authentic.

Xu Ling suddenly sat up.

A frown formed as she continued to read, and then she smiled. "That explains why our dancer's physique enhances strength so poorly."

Tobias knew Xu Ling wanted to make her father proud and practice part of the Wandering Minstrel path, but it didn't suit her. The dancer's physique was the body cultivation method with the closest fit, offering precision and control over one's body, but it lacked power.

Tobias looked up from his work, taking the bait. "Is the problem the materials, like you thought?"

Xu Ling shook her head. "The materials are fine. This manual suggests there are three types of muscle within us. The first provides stability and endurance, the second provides functional strength, and the third provides our most explosive power."

Tobias realised she was talking about slow-twitch, fast-twitch, and super-fast-twitch muscle fibres. "The Wandering Minstrel's dancer's physique only develops the first, I take it?"

Xu Ling nodded slowly. "I think so. None of the Wandering Minstrel's body cultivation methods incorporates the concept of muscle types." She pointed to the other manuals she'd already read. "Neither do those, so this manual could be wrong."

Tobias didn't want to lead her astray, so he came up with a plausible explanation for why it was right. "Spend enough time around mortals and you will realise it isn't. There are mortals you can run from one town to the next, mortals who can perform hard work all day without trouble, and mortals who can lift an incredibly heavy stone by themselves but only do so once or twice before they're exhausted. The second is more muscular than the first, and the third is more muscular than the second. If the creators of the Wandering Minstrel method didn't know about these muscle types, then they would unintentionally push to develop the first type because the other two would make them big and bulky, which is far from the ideal form for those who follow their path."

Xu Ling nodded. "A dancer needs to be graceful and elegant, so our body cultivation method would need to prioritise transforming this first type of muscle, rejecting the others that provide the most strength. Knowing that doesn't tell me how to fix the issue."

"Yes, it does. Find a method that reduces the size of the second and third types of muscle while making them stronger, and then incorporate it into your body cultivation method."

Xu Ling groaned. "You mean completely redesign our body cultivation method?"

"If something is fundamentally flawed, it can be easier to start over than fix the flaw. And your body cultivation method is fundamentally flawed if it doesn't account for muscle types."

Xu Ling nodded before turning back to her pile of cultivation manuals and digging through. "I've read several manuals that can do that. The question will be whether they're compatible." She paused. "It would probably be easier to implement if I introduced stages instead of making it a gradual process. Start by reducing the size of the second and third types of muscles before stabilising the changes. The second stage would involve increasing the size of the muscles to more ideal ratios, increasing strength while maintaining shape. The third stage would require increasing their strength without influencing their size, which would likely result in a reduction of strength compared to a true strength-based body cultivation method, but would greatly enhance the original method."

Tobias tuned Xu Ling out as she continued muttering to herself, working her way through the problem. This wasn't the solution, just one of many solutions she needed to find to fix the Wandering Minstrel's cultivation method to suit her needs.

The problem was that Xu Ling liked music and dance, but she didn't want to end up powerless because she had chosen a body cultivation method that prioritised grace over everything else. It would be years before she understood enough about cultivation to create something to suit her needs, so there was no quick solution. Tobias would love to help her, but his security and livelihood depended on him knowing little about cultivation and not being able to cultivate.

Tobias finished his paperwork, double-checked his outstanding assignments, and then took a moment to relax. He'd caught up on his assignments and now had a comfortable buffer for his replacement that would make the man's life easy until the middle of Winter. All he had to do now was write an operational manual, and then he could leave.