We woke up the next morning and had breakfast with Jia’s dad. It was a short affair as we had investigating to do before our mission in the city started and swept us away to lands unknown. On our way out of the mansion I waylaid the seneschal for information on where in the city we could find the church of the one true dao.

We decided to separate from each other to investigate the church but promised to meet back at the city lord’s mansion by midday with our findings.

I went to the southern part of the city where the poorer citizens resided, while Jia went to the moderately more affluent districts as she knew the city better than I did.

The problem with large cities is that the population tended to lean toward the impoverished rather than the affluent. This resulted in an even further disparity in the economic castes citizens found themselves in. The part of the city I was walking in was a perfect example of this divide.

At some point I had transitioned from the nicely kept, well guarded streets near the city lord’s mansion to the dirty, unkempt roads of the impoverished district of the city. I didn’t dislike this part of the city, per se, but something about the atmosphere in this area gave me a weird feeling.

I stopped by a few of the vendors on the streets to buy some of their wares, and I donated a few of the pieces of coin I had left on me to some of the beggars on the street. I knew they would probably use it for something other than food and improving their situation, but I couldn’t just do nothing.

I was walking by a side street when I noticed a commotion happening in the middle of an adjacent street. I went to see what was going on, but I heard the voices of the mob before I saw their victim.

“Get out of our city!” one person said.

“We don’t need your help!” said another.

What kind of person could have elicited this response from the townsfolk?

“Don’t worry folks, we’ll take care of him.” the larger of a pair of lanky cultivators said from the edge of the crowd. They walked forward until they entered the circle around the man wearing the familiar red and gold robes.

“This weakling will make a good example for the rest of those church freaks.” The other of the cultivators said.

Now that I looked at the group of people, most of them were dressed in fairly clean and expensive clothes. They didn’t look like they belonged in this district of the city.

I needed to intervene before they hurt the man. I rushed forward and jumped over the gathered crowd, eliciting shocked yelps from the people I nearly missed hitting with my feet. I landed in the small outcropping within the gathered mob and stood between the man and the cultivators.

“What’s your game girl? You trying to protect this church freak? You some freak lover or something?” The larger of the two cultivators asked me.

“I don’t have any love for the church either, but I won’t let a mob attack someone who is probably innocent. Especially if they aren’t a cultivator. What has this person done?” I asked.

“Being a part of the church is bad enough. The church attacked the blooming violet sect! That’s bad enough for me to consider all of them an enemy. I’ll be accepted to the sect next year after all.” The smaller of the men said.

I flashed both of the men my sect token and they blanched.

“As you can see, I’m a member of the sect and I’m saying I won’t let you hurt this person.” I got down into a fighting stance, but my position as a member of the sect must have given them enough doubt about beating me that they lost the will to fight.

“Fine. If you want to protect this church freak then so be it. Let’s get out of here guys.” The cultivator said. The crowd dispersed after a time and I helped the dusty acolyte up from where they laid on the ground.

“Sorry about that mob, are you alright?” I asked the man.

“Y-yes thank you miss cultivator, I-I don’t know how to thank you for h-helping me.” he said. I smiled at him. I still didn’t like the church, but helping people still made me feel good.

“You’re welcome! I’m glad I could help, I was actually kinda curious about the kind of work you do for the church if you wouldn’t mind telling me?” I asked him. He nodded his head.

“Of course! Anything for my benefactor. Come with me to the church and I’ll show you my work!” He said. I was a little taken aback by his exuberance.

I followed him a few streets away until we came upon a large ornate building located smack in the middle of the slums. It had tall vaulted arches covered in vines and tall stained glass windows that were more broken than whole. The place looked like it belonged in this district and I couldn’t see it being a base for the church of the one true dao.

I followed the man inside before remembering I never asked his name so I asked.

“My name is Mordecai miss…?” He asked more than said.

“Astra.” I told him. He smiled at me.

“Well, welcome to my humble abode, miss Astra.” He said. He led me to a few rooms on a tour of sorts. One was stocked with various non-perishable food stuffs, while another had row upon row of partially tattered clothes.

Lastly he showed me to a room that looked like a normal bedroom, though it was sparsely decorated. Only a small end table next to bed and a medium sized chest for storing belongings.

“As you can see, I have a lot of donated items from the generous people of the city and what the church can provide me. I use whatever I can to help the needy in this part of the city, but the work of one man is hardly enough. I keep asking the church to send me more help, but my pleas have all fallen on deaf ears.

As a church, we should be working to better the lives of the people within the city. I'm not sure what headquarters is doing, but alas, I can only do what I can.” He told me. I thought that all sounded admirable.

I walked around the poorer district with Mordecai, helping him distribute food and clothes to people in need and it felt good. I hoped that Jia was having as good of a time as I was.

*** Jia

I dodged the third blast of lightning qi launched at me by using my movement technique, icy transposition. It brought me behind the cultivator in red and gold robes and I cut him down with my sword. This was the third group of church members who had attacked me when they caught me tailing them.

I needed to get to the bottom of what the church was doing in the city, but every time I got close, they noticed me tailing them and instantly attacked me! It’s so frustrating. I stamped my foot on the ground in anger, my icy aura leaking out and freezing the nearby ground. I almost slipped on the ground and reigned in my emotions. I couldn’t fail this mission given to me by father.

Just like the previous times, I went out again in search of a group of church members I could tail to their hideout. I was skulking around the seedier parts of the city’s underground when a situation nearby caught my attention. A group of red and gold cloaked figures were carrying a large sack through the alley ways.

I stepped through ice next to the group and struck out with my blades of icy abjuration. The group was beset by countless knife-like icy projectiles exuded from my aura. I unsheathed my sword and struck out at the leftmost member of the group cutting him down.

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The remainder of the group were harried by my icy projectiles and I moved over to them and cut them down. The man carrying the bag ran away and I gave chase once I ensured the remaining men wouldn’t be attacking me from behind.

I chased the man through the alleys, he must have been a body cultivator in the body training realm because he was doing a good job keeping up the chase. I turned a corner and found a dead end ahead of me. I frowned at the sudden disappearance of the man but then I noticed that the metal disc leading down into the sewers was askew. I smiled.

I slipped into the entrance in the ground, vowing to wreak havoc upon the church for making me traipse around in the sewers.

The fetid reek of the sewers was getting to me even after only a few minutes of tracking that church acolyte who ran away. My ice elemental powers were wholly unsuited to helping stave off the noxious smells. I steeled myself and trekked forward using my aura to freeze the water of the sewer as I stepped on it, keeping myself dry.

The winding corridors of the sewers would make anyone confused and lost, but I had a trail to follow. A trail of icy qi was left by the man who had escaped from my attacks. I was following this trail through the sewer to hopefully find their home base.

Before long I came upon an open room within the sewers, I peeked around the corner into the room and saw the man I had been chasing along with four others. The man threw his load onto the ground and the sack yelped with the impact.

I hadn’t found their base of operations, but the complication of a hostage made the situation tricky. I needed to get the drop on the group before they could abscond with their kidnap victim.

“I see you brought the brat back with you. Where are the others?” One of the men in the room asked their new arrival.”

“We were waylaid by this crazy ice cultivator. I managed to escape but I don’t know what happened to the others.” he responded.

“Well grab the brat and let’s bring him back to base, the boss will be happy we managed to complete the mission despite the complication.” The first man said. I decided I couldn’t wait any longer. I let my aura suffuse the room and jumped into action when the second man realized what was happening.

“Look ou-” he tried to shout before I appeared behind him in an explosion of icy qi. I cut him down before launching myself at the group of acolytes. One man defended himself by surrounding his body with an aura of fire qi while another created a wall of roots and plants for his defense.

The man I identified as the first man who spoke was creating a wall of tempestuous wind qi to block me from advancing toward him. I stepped through ice behind him and struck out with my sword but it was intercepted by a barrier of fire from the fire cultivator.

I jumped backward and went after the fourth man first, he didn’t seem to be a cultivator but as I approached him the ground beneath him turned to sand and he threw up a wall of sand between us.

I growled and cut through the sand, no icicles being created due to the lack of moisture. I stepped through ice again, this time appearing behind the fire cultivator. He didn’t notice in time and I took him out of the fight before changing targets to the nature cultivator.

I barely managed to dodge a blast of wind qi and a gout of sand launched at me as I stepped through ice behind the nature cultivator. He anticipated my attack and rolled forward launching a throng of vines at me to hamper my movements. I jumped backward and cut the vines before dodging another set of attacks from the other two men.

I created my blades of icy abjuration and redoubled my efforts to attack the nature cultivator. He was just getting his bearings after his forward roll and couldn’t react in time before myriad icy projectiles stuck into his back causing him to fall to the ground, icicles growing from each of the projectiles sticking out of his back.

I dissipated the blades in his back before they could kill him and launched myself at the sand cultivator. The bad thing about sand cultivators is that it was hard to block their attacks.

They controlled all of the grains of sand as easily as the others and they generally had stronger qi control than a normal cultivator. Before he could escape, I appeared behind him and struck out.

He dodged to the side and I was launched back by a blast of wind qi. I hit the wall of the room with a thud and fell to the floor. I began infusing my body with qi and I could feel myself growing stronger. I launched myself at the wind cultivator faster than he anticipated and managed to catch him off guard. I cut him shallowly across his body, icicles sprouting from the wound.

The last remaining uninjured cultivator, the sand cultivator, fled from the room then, using his qi to help propel him through the sewer. I decided not to follow him and made sure all of the acolytes were alive before restraining them with icy manacles. I went over to the bag on the ground which was coated in a layer of ice and sand. I undid the rope holding the opening closed and revealed the form of a young boy inside of it.

I was confused. What did the church want with a little kid? Was he the young scion of some important family in the city? I didn’t recognize him, but maybe knowing who he is would be helpful.

“Hey, hey, you’re okay. I’m here to save you, what’s your name?” I asked the boy, doing my best to calm him down and console him. Astra would have been much better at this than I was.

The boy sniffled from his place within the sack and barely got out his response.

“K-Kai” he managed to get out between sniffles. I smiled down at him warmly.

“Hello Kai, my name is Jia, would you like to come with me and we’ll go find your home?” I asked him. He seemed to calm down at my words.

He nodded and I picked him up from within the sack and carried him to the nearest opening in the sewers back up to the city. It was a little annoying climbing up with Kai in my arms, but I managed it.

When I got a good look at my surroundings once appearing from within the sewers I was surprised to see Astra standing there with an acolyte of the church. They were staring at Kai and me, still holding the food and clothes they seemed to be handing out to the people waiting in a line nearby.

“Jia?! What are you doing here?” Astra asked me.

*** Astra

Jia had appeared out of nowhere, climbing out of one of the many entrances in the ground to the sewer. It was certainly a strange entrance, but I wasn’t going to complain.

“Jia!? What are you doing here?” I asked her.

She briefly explained what had happened and I felt Mordecai tense up at the mention of the church being involved in a kidnapping. I moved closer to Jia and leaned down to talk to Kai.

“Hello Kai, my name is Astra, I’m friends with Jia. This is my fox friend Shimmer. Would you like to play with her while Jia and I talk?” I asked him. He looked down at Shimmer and his eyes grew wide as he nodded. Jia put him down and he tentatively reached out to touch Shimmer’s fur. She let him pet her and nuzzled up against him much to his delight.

“Alright Jia, I think you better tell the whole story from the beginning.” I told her. She shook her head.

“Sorry, first I have to alert the guards about the prisoners I took. I’ll be right back.” She said. I waited as she went to retrieve the guards, led them into the sewers for a few minutes before coming back out with four prisoners in tow. The guards thanked Jia for catching them and were on their way. Only then did Jia turn to Mordecai and I and explained what she had been up to all day.

Mordecai looked mortified by the time the story was finished and fell to his knees.

“I can’t believe members of the church were doing something so despicable. The church of the one true dao should be about helping people.” He said, slamming his hand onto the ground.

“Hey, Mordecai, I’m sure there are plenty more people in the church that are like you and want to help people, I admire your work in the city.” I told him. I explained to Jia about who Mordecai is and what we had been doing in the city.

“Thank you for your kindness to the people of my city.” She said as she half bowed to Mordecai.

“I’ll speak to my father about helping you and your cause.” She continued to which Mordecai had a confused look on his face.

“Your father?” He asked her. She smirked.

“Ah yes, I never introduced myself. My name is Lian Jia, and my father is the city lord.” She said. Mordecai’s eyes flew open wide and he fell to the ground again.

“Oh mistress Jia, please forgive me. I am but a humble member of the church of the one true dao doing my best to help people in the city, I am unworthy of your thanks.” he said.

Jia looked uncomfortable and took on that icy affect I recognized from the first day I had met her. I put my hand on Mordecai’s shoulder and urged him to stand up.

“Now, now, Mordecai. Jia is just a normal girl, you should just thank her for offering to ask her father to help you, right?” I convinced him. He nodded at me and gave Jia his thanks. She seemed to smile slightly at his words and I smiled at her.

“Well, now that that’s all settled, Jia, do you want to help us out? We still have a lot of supplies to hand out to people.” I asked her. She shook her head.

“Maybe later. I have to make sure Kai gets back home first.” She said. I remembered the young boy and looked over to find him chasing Shimmer around a set of stalls along the side of the street, nearby people laughing and smiling at the pair’s antics.

“That makes sense. We’ll be here for a while longer so when you’re finished, just come back here.” I told her. She nodded and headed off, Kai in tow. The young boy looked sad to depart from Shimmer’s side, but relented and followed Jia.

I watched the pair walk off with a smile on my face. I was proud of Jia for helping the young boy.