Chapter 94 - Setting Up The Pieces

I took a deep breath, relishing the damp air as drops of water cascaded off the roof of the Chinese-style mansion. The governor fixed his gaze on me as if attempting to discern my intentions. Or perhaps he sought something else?

Regardless, it held no significance for me. If he expected me to undertake a perilous task merely for a handful of spirit stones and a charming smile, he would fare better with individuals like Hu Jin. He seemed the type to embark on frivolous quests at the drop of a hat.

The sole reason I'd risk my life was if it aligned with my whims and desires.

"Since you are so knowledgeable about monstrous beasts, and I wanted a second opinion," the governor grumbled, displaying his dissatisfaction. "How did the monstrous beasts approach unnoticed by any of our scouts?"

"None at all? Could you elaborate?" I inquired, pondering the level of organization among the monstrous beasts.

"We maintained regular contact with the scouts, relying on them to alert us of approaching monstrous beasts. This year's influx was the largest I've encountered since assuming office. For the scouts to miss such a significant threat..." He furrowed his brow, a bead of sweat trickling down. "The monstrous beasts must have incapacitated all the scouts simultaneously, with precision timing, just before the attack to avoid arousing suspicion from our lack of communication."

This revelation highlighted just how organized the monstrous beasts were. To execute such a maneuver was undeniably impressive.

Monstrous beasts excelled at stealth, naturally suppressing their Qi without requiring human-like training. Adding ambush plans on top of that, we had a very dangerous enemy on our hands.

"It seems like you are probably right with something like that happening. From now on, we must keep our guards up and not think of our enemies as only mindless beasts," I cautioned. My words lacked the comfort he sought, but honesty was paramount. Fabricating the truth would only lead to our demise. "In any case, I shall resume constructing the barrier as soon as possible. However, it's essential to understand that the barrier will serve as little more than a deterrent. It is just a paper tiger."

I dispelled any potential misconceptions in the absence of witnesses. To be safe, I even used the idioms from this world in that last part.

The governor nodded, indicating his prior understanding. "The illusion of strength is still preferable to vulnerability."

Those words reminded me of a certain quote from Sun Tzu: Appear strong where you are weak and appear weak where you are strong.—Or something like that.

I learned most of Sun Tzu's quotes from memes. If I had known I would be involved in actual war, I would have read the book ten times from cover to cover and memorized every word.

Still, this gave me an idea...

I rubbed my chin and was in deep thought. My gaze wandered toward an empty piece of paper as an idea slowly began to formulate in my mind.

The governor also seemed to be in deep thought as he looked at the sky. We seemed to be using this time as a brief scheming session. But just as he looked ready to say goodbye, two Qi signatures entered my sensory range, and the governor frowned as he noticed them too.

I turned toward the gate, and the two clan leaders were walking side by side on the stone road leading toward the mansion. The Hong Clan Leader had a smile on his face and seemed like he was talking about something. By the smug look on his face and the annoyed grimace of the Lu Clan Head, it couldn't have been anything diplomatic.

But what stood out most about them was that they each had five Body Tempering guards wearing their respective clan colors.

The number of cultivators approaching put me a bit on edge.

What was up with the bodyguards? There was no reason to have so many of them inside the town... Unless they were about to do something really dumb like attack us. Even if they were more in numbers, quality more often than not made up for quantity when it came to cultivators.

In the end, as they got closer, my worries subsided as it was just them arguing.

"Anyway, my clan made the most contributions in the war. But it isn't like the Lu Clan did so bad," the Hong Clan Leader's smug smirk widened. "I mean, you did well to get to second place."

"There are only two clans in the city..." the Lu Clan Leader grit his teeth, with veins popping on his forehead.

"Oh! Really!" The Hong Clan Leader gasped in mock surprise.

Even though I was not a part of the discussion, the Hong Clan Leader had a very annoying voice. He was as unlikable as they came and looked like a fox just waiting to get his bite of the pie.

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I glanced at the old governor, who displayed no outward emotions and looked rather calm. His face had tightened up compared to when we spoke before, which was probably a sign of annoyance. The governor had dealt with these two for decades. I understood where he was coming from.

As the two clan leaders walked past the mansion's gates, their argument intensified, and even the usually passive Lu Clan Leader started throwing back verbal jabs. It seemed that they wanted to save face in front of important people.

Before their argument could continue much longer, I smiled politely and said, "Thank you for coming here."

That got their attention, and I continued, "The governor and I were discussing a barrier to scare the beasts for now. Sadly, I don't have the skills to make a strong barrier. But we can make one that looks just like the previous one, and assuming that the thing leading the monstrous beasts is smart, it will buy us some time as they won't attack carelessly."

The clan leaders stopped arguing for a minute, and the Hong Clan Leader was the first to speak up, "Your skills are admirable and you're a rare talent. I know a bit about Array Conjurers, and someone your age who is at such a level where they can cast a city-sized barrier is still amazing."

Here came the ass-kissing. It was neat in the beginning since no one had acted like this around me before. But it was growing old fast and was becoming annoying. Maybe if they weren't praising every little thing I did, just like the theory they hadn't believed in the beginning, then I would perhaps appreciate their compliments more.

"Perhaps you should just make some smaller and stronger barriers around the important parts of town," the Hong Clan Leader suggested, his smile growing stony as a strange glint twinkled in his eyes. "Some sacrifices have to be made, and it is smarter to keep the fighting forces alive."

Ah, so that was where he was going with all this.

Despite his words and how much I disagreed with them, I didn't let my smile falter and tilted my head, looking confused about what he meant by that.

Acting like I disagreed with him would breed needless animosity; agreeing with him aloud would alienate someone else here. So, I chose the middle ground and decided to wait for now. Playing as the naive young boy could also make it seem like I was not worthy of leadership, as someone who didn't understand the underhanded meanings of words had no place as a leader. But this was the option that would cause the least damage compared to either of the other ones.

However, whether they noticed my confusion or not was a whole other matter as the governor grunted and spoke up, "As expected of Cultivator Clans, you don't care about the civilians and just want to guarantee your own safety!"

It was surprising how much rage he showed despite his words coming out as calm, but there was an edge to his voice. The dangerous kind of edge that the Clan Leaders quickly caught on, and the Hong Clan Head seemed unnerved.

"Of course not," the Hong Clan Leader shook his head. "I'm not as cold as not to care about the civilians. But we have to be realistic. Without the barrier, we are doomed either way. At least going with my suggestion, the cultivators will not die with the civilians."

Even the Lu Clan Leader, who usually spoke against him, said nothing. I suspected these clan leaders were not as annoyed with each other as they made it seem. They were just playing up their anger.

Either way, with this speech alone, their value and the efforts I was willing to go through to keep them alive had plummeted.

An ally willing to give me up at the slightest sight of trouble was useless. But I was not going to say anything that would hint at that. Even though the clan heads had quickly plummeted from 'possible allies' to 'meatshields.'

In his own words, we had to be realistic here, and Qi Gathering Cultivators made much better meatshields than civilians.

But despite sticking to the sidelines, the governor was quite angry despite his calm demeanor. So before the situation could escalate any further, I intervened, "I plan to finish the barrier today. Also, I need some monstrous beast cores as fast as possible."

This seemed to free the governor from whatever he had been thinking of doing before, and he turned toward me. "The cores aren't ready yet, as not all monstrous beasts have cores and those that do need to be extracted carefully so the cores don't break."

Monstrous beasts with cores were rare and, in many cases, much more dangerous since they had more potential than average monstrous beasts. No research was done on how a core formed inside a monstrous beast or if they were born with it. Monstrous beast cores were useful only for specific skills or situations, so despite their rarity, they were not as valuable as one might think. They were expensive but not valuable enough for a town like this to keep them in stock.

"We can give you some," the Hong Clan Leader said. "My clan and I believe the Lu Clan also have some cores in storage. How many do you need?"

They had them? Neat.

"At least two dozen," I said without missing a beat.

For a split second, the clan leaders faltered before the Lu Clan Head nodded, and the Hong Clan Leader hurriedly followed suit. Though they looked thoughtful as they made such a choice.

I glanced at the governor from the corner of my eye, and he also was staring at me. When I had asked him about beast cores, I had not asked him even a quarter of what I was asking from the Clan Leaders. The old governor was smart enough not to speak up about this.

To the Clan leaders, agreeing with them to take their 'gifts' was a silent message that I was on their side. With the governor, he knew I was screwing them. Yes, I was playing both sides here.

Even if the governor decided to spill the beans about my trickery, I could use it as ammunition to make the clans think he was lying to make them hate me and put a wedge in our relationship.

Both sides thought I was on their side while hating each other. Now, I just had to keep this fragile mixing bowl from becoming a fighting bowl with two sides. Internal tension was good for keeping everyone from ganging up on me, but internal conflict was the last thing we needed.

Still, for now, it was check…

…

True to their word, the Clan Leaders had servants deliver the monstrous beast cores a few hours after we talked.

So, here I was, sitting on a carriage as one of the guards rode with barrels of monstrous beast blood in the back. At the same time, I stared at the crimson beast cores that looked like blood diamonds in my hand.

Some cores were entirely red, while others had a red sphere inside and looked like they were made of highly transparent glass.

“Here is our first stop, honorable cultivator,” the guard told me, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I got down from the carriage, stuffed all the monstrous beast cores in the sack, grabbed the barrel of blood over my shoulder, and approached the northernmost part of the inner wall. Cracking open the barrel, I took out a thin brush and dipped it in.

Time to make a big fake barrier!