A week prior to the meet, Grisla took himself over to the provisions store. Restocking up on all the things that he lost during his time in the Wilderness didn’t take long, nor was it a pang on his wallet; the materials restocked were of little worth in the first place, though they were lacking in talismans, especially of the bounded field type it made for trying to assemble his plan for Ji Nan tricky. If he could think of one at all.

The quandary here is that although he himself agreed that Ji Nan was a certain threat, and needed to be disposed of, he wasn’t entirely sure if that’ll work out in the end. The what-if’s plagued him the worst. Trying to pump the disciples for information didn’t turn out well, as it seemed to be an unsaid policy to ignore him. Whether it was due to them being “in the know” about his precarious position or the assumption that he, was uninteresting and therefore a waste to associate with; he hadn’t a clue.

He wanted a word with Mu Yin on the subject—problem being, he doesn’t have any idea of where she’s staying, or if she would even want to see him at all.

With his hands in his pockets, Shu came to mind.

  Asking her wouldn’t be a bad idea, but…

Something about her gave him the impression that his intentions would be seen through immediately. Sure, she helped him. That doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of it—he’s considering a murder of her fellow disciple. Should even a hint of his thoughts breach the ears of the wrong people… death would be a mercy.

Grisla passed by the Founders’ Plaza, where a set of fountains pumped out crystalline water tainted with strong amounts of herbal energy. If he had a sip of it, it would soothe all anxieties, ground his judgement, and possibly refine his core just a tiny bit. With that effect on a cultivator like him, a mortal could potentially have their life extended by five years at least. A few sect disciples took the calming winds as a good time to sit wherever in the plaza and just—meditate, expand upon the Path; maybe even solidify their foundation.

His chest ached as he let his glance move over them. Some of these young disciples were talents without a care in the world; forever striving without burdens, unhindered by the problems of the misfortunate.

Conversely, he took a pride in that.

These disciples were all the same—soft and fat leeches on the system. Most of them hadn’t ever the need to kill a man. What’s the reason they train so hard, sweat so much, if none of it would ever be applied, if there’s an entire household who’ll do it for you?

Grisla realized he had a bowl of condensation for them. Just, another secret feeling he kept under lock and key.

Out of the plaza, down some stairs, and after turning a corner he stopped. The person he expected least to see was in front of him, and just as surprised as he.

  The woman raised an eyebrow, “There you are.”

Jadestone. Another problem.

  “Elder Jadestone,” Grisla bowed. “Greetings, I haven’t seen you.”

  Jadestone made a sound at that. Eyes searching him, “You’ve been looking for me? What’s wrong?” she said.

  Grisla tongue wagged, “Must there be a problem for me to talk to my Elder on the Path?”

  “You’re not our disciple. So, I am, not directly, your ‘Elder’.”

  He's a little apprehensive. Caught off guard and without a prepared line makes his talk a bit more stilted, a little more awkward. “I’m heading out with Brother Ji Nan on some journey he has, something about a place of fortune?”

  “Ah, yes, that. The Well of Wonders, as they’re calling it. Expeditions out there occur every now and again, the older generation used to take trips out there but, they've mostly scavenged out whatever treasure useful to someone of their level and blasted through the rest. The remainders for our sect disciples.” she said. “It’s surprising.”

  “What is?”

  “Don’t tell me you don’t see it.”

  “You mean Ji Nan?” Grisla says. His inner penman is drafting up a script, “Oh, don’t worry about it Elder! Ji Nan and I have come to an understanding.”

  Jadestone, waiting for an explanation, said, “…Elaborate.”

  “Well, you see these bruises are quite fresh. We had another scuffle, of course. It was inevitable. But!” Grisla wasn’t sure if the hook would dig, but it didn’t hurt to try, “Under the heat of battle, blood pumping and sweat on a sprint; Both he and I, have come to see some things under similar eyes. He is my senior brother, in both experience and cultivation, and he is justified in wanting some kind of… reprisal.”

Grisla was sure Jadestone at this moment was trying to peg what kind of idiot he was. That was good, it’s working then.

  “You’ve come to some sort of… ‘understanding’,” She said that as sarcastically as she could, to pass a message. “That, both you, and he, will be to work in a mutually amiable relationship on your trip to the Well of Wonders?”

Grisla nodded.

The Elder couldn’t help but roll her eyes. It seemed her hint, has fallen on deaf ears or the lack thereof. She wouldn’t push the matter—too far out of reach, and of little relation to bother with. Jadestone did her part in saving him. Anything else that stumbled upon him was his destiny to begin with, especially if that is a narrow road to death.

Grisla noticed her eyes do a flicker, barely concealed, fast enough to think nothing of it by the unaware, to a place of note for her; his medallion’s string that hugged his neck. The greed subtle, concealed. An Elder desiring a junior’s treasures? Shameful.

  Jadestone shrugged. “If you’re that interested in going with Ji Nan, I won’t stop you.”

He squinted; She has a thought.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  On the outset, she cannot do a single thing to directly jeopardize or end my life—the clan would be interested in anyone who dares harm a member, even if its someone like myself; it is the message that’s important. She went out of her way to save me, then offered some minor protection while I slept. But it just so happens as like Seri said, she’s taken a regard to my medallion.

  She can be entirely hands-off of the situation, if Ji Nan were to kill me—the blame and fallout would be majorly on him, the rest for the sect. By that time, the blame on her would essentially be null. It’s an adventure for the juniors, and if one child out of, how many or whatever were to die, then that can just be chalked up to fate having other plans. That’ll be her opportunity. If I don’t die, fine; if I do, she can snatch the medallion without lifting a finger. Shrewd.

  Under Grisla’s watch, immediately Jadestone’s mouth lifted for a light grin.

  “I’d never thought you were such a forgiving person, young Grittus.” Jadestone said.

  Grisla nodded, humble smile doing its work. “I’ve come to the mind that cooperation…delivers a better outcome than needless conflict.”

  “A bite into wisdom; the cultivator grows. You haven’t done much of note, but you’re growing all the same.”

Knowing she’d concluded that he, was a complete dunce on the treadmill to his own end, it was time for him to enact his idea.

  “Elder, before I depart, one question.” He raised a finger.

  Jadestone had it in her patience for one more from the walking corpse, and asked: “What is it?”

  “Elder, I’ve come to think about Ji Nan’s abilities. He’s a great warrior, his future is boundless, and I would love to test myself against him any chance I can,” Grisla said, while trying to work his disgust away from his tongue. “I am not his equal, or anywhere close to thinking of myself as worthy. But I’d desire to gain a victory, somewhere.”

  “Get to the point boy,” Jadestone said, taking a glance over his shoulder, “I’ve got a lecture to do.”

  “How does that hammer of his work?”

  “Oh, that? It’s a Soul Projection.”

  “Soul Projection?”

  “Yes, he isn’t pulling it out of thin air or his pocket, now if you asked him, he’d say something like that, but the hammer is just a reflection of one of the many pieces of his soul.”

  Grisla was even more intrigued, “So, it’s not the whole?”

  Annoyed, “You think a man’s soul could be just defined from a hammer he pulls out?” Jadestone said. “No, it’s only a fraction, a shard of what’s actually going on inside that husk of his.”

Jadestone’s gaze went elsewhere. “The soul is an infinite lexicon to which, I believe, mere cultivators like us could never begin to grasp the complexities of. Complexities within complexity, that is where we stop. Nevertheless, some of us are more factitious in the knowledge they possess and pass themselves off as shapers of the soul. Charlatans in plain sight.”

  “In the One-City Kingdom, there’re individuals who’ve spent centuries in closed-door study of the soul. They do not understand all, as I’ve said, but they’re the closest we’ve got to some of the workings of it. Soul Workers.”

The Elder began to walk, “That’s it, question answered. I bid you good fortune young Grittus. And do be careful.”

  Grisla smiled. “’Course, Elder. I always am.”

  Until now, I suppose.

----------------------------------------

The ‘Seven Gates of Hell’ and all its eeriness sat on Grisla’s table. It was the sole thing within the room that insulted an aesthetic eye and the spatially conscious. A book that outsized any that were fit in here, fit nowhere to place, and had the appearance of rightfully looking like it was pulled out of a trash heap. It would be tossed without blinking an eye if he left it here after his stay. For that reason, Grisla had his reluctance on it still.

While Seri sat across from him, he flipped to the foreword. Its power of entrancement captivated Grisla just like the first time, however a quick flick to his forehead brought him back to focus. He nodded a “thank you” to Seri.

  “Seri, is there anything off about this, you feel?”

  “Eh, not really. My suggestion to toss it and start over still stands.”

  “I plan to,” Grisla mentioned. “Just hold on, this is my fun here.”

He flipped to the next page. That brought a face of confusion to the book, and he flipped to the next page. And the next, and the next after that, and after, and after…

  Seri giggled. “The curious cub crawls from the den to find a desert awaiting.”

The pages? Blank, and, curiously enough they were the most pristine pages of absolute nothing he’d ever seen. Which admittedly didn’t make sense. It’s as if the very pages itself repelled any sort of foreign material on them. A crazy notion to think, but the thing was strange enough it only added to the pile for Grisla. He flipped a page, turned it back, then flipped again just in case for something—but nothing.

  “I don’t understand,” He pressed his temple. “Who bothers to put in a near four to five hundred, give or take, pages in a tome and there’s nothing inside of it? I would’ve assumed it was just somebody’s journal, unwritten, but that’s not the case. Clearly there’s an intention behind this, just that… there’s nothing else here.”

Grisla, in a random impulse of frustration slapped the book’s pages until it reached the end—nothing. He felt so idiotic.

  And, like the sun peeking through an overcast cloud, Seri chimed in: “Oh, I forgot. There is something there, but it’s nothing you’d be interested in.”

  Grisla’s head shot up. “I’m interested.”

  “Put your hand on the first page.”

Unsure where she was going with this, but in no position to question, he did as asked.

  “Just, put it on?”

  “The center please.”

  “Seri, what’re you—”

He was a little concerned. Seri’s hand was camped on top of his. Despite her ghostlike appearance, she could make her form physical whenever she desired. Thinking about it, this must be important if she needed direct contact. Seri closed her eyes.

—Silence.

The crickets took their positions, performed their orchestra outside. After a time, an illumination below their hands came. At the moment of his alarm Seri retrieved her hand. Without needing a word from her, he also looked at the book.

Where their hands once lay, a symbol appeared. Something like a circle and cross were thrown together, and the light came directly from its ink.

  Grisla squinted. “Invisible ink?”

  “Yes, and no.” Seri said. “It’s a Soul Imprint. In this context, it serves as invisible ink but that’s a simplification. It’s both a deception to outsiders viewing it, and an encryption from undesirables who bypass the first.”

  “So, people like me.”

Seri did a timely nod.

  “Feels good to have a cheat, right?”

  “You’re handy, here and there. Maybe next you can sprinkle some divinity dust over my meal, and I’ll grow two inches.”

  “What do I look like?" Seri made a face. "A magic fairy to you?”

  Grisla raised an eyebrow.

  “Moving on, you’ve said that a Soul Imprint on… this book does those two things?”

  “Yeah, Soul Imprints in general are traces left behind of a person’s soul. They are bits and pieces of information, written without any sort of pen. Unsurprising that it was tossed, to most, like yourself, this’ll be a waste of time. And before you start getting your hopes up—I can’t do anything else here.”

“What, why?”

  “Because, I just said Soul Imprints are usually, encrypted. Your soul must resonate with the imprint in some way in order for the contents to be revealed; whomever did this has requirements for it to reveal itself. This isn’t anything new, actually, in some decent sects this would be a normal thing.”

He chewed on that information.

  “So, how would I start to open it?”

  “Really? Even after everything I’ve just told you?”

  “Well, to start, you’ll need to be able to sense, and work, souls.”

  “Like Jadestone said.”

  “Yes.”

  “…Can you teach me?”

  She shrugged, “Kind of? I can show you the methods, but in the end, an individual’s success on being able to work on matters concerning the soul is based upon luck, to be frank.”

  “Luck? Is that from your observations, or as a fact?”

  Seri leaned back in her chair, “Both. Talent has no regard to it. Some people are keener on things others are not, while the rest sit oblivious; for example,” She raised an eyebrow to Grisla.

  Not taking the hint, Grisla said, “Well, even if I can’t use the technique. It serves as a probe into whether or not I have a counter for Ji Nan.”

  “Seri, I want you to teach me.”

  Seri ran both hands through her hair, with a mild screech. “Even after everything I tell him! He still asks! I must have a penchant for picking idiots.”

  Grisla grinned, “Sure do.”