Having throttled the strength of cultivators willing to come after me directly with City Lord Huan’s aid, and having demonstrated that I could handle anyone who could afford the Face to come at me, the subjugation war went relatively peacefully on my end.
It would have been unnervingly peaceful, even, if not for the mortals that I had to warn off from identifying me as a Heavenly Spirit as they insisted on worshipping me after I dealt with Xue He.
It was hard to blame them, but I managed. I was very specifically initiating a war that would absolutely wind up killing a bunch of them and trying to deter threats to my own life. Not show off for them to fixate on and venerate me.
I particularly hadn’t been aiming to discover a feature of my Identity Core that was dependent on perception of others by discovering that I had a budding foundation that I didn’t set in motion. Qu Mo Shi.
Exorcist.
I wasn’t opposed to the foundation. I rather liked the concept of being able to fight against forces that destabilized and consumed souls. But I hadn’t put it there. I wasn’t feeding it with my labor.
The mortals had titled me thus. The mortals were feeding it with their worship.
It was slower than even the normal cultivation rate of my followers now that it had levelled off, and the creation of it seemed to require the massive and pure initial surge of faith, because I hadn’t yet developed one for a ‘protector’ face despite the populace having taken to offering me tribute under that title too.
Really, the only reason it bugged me was that I had been blindsided by it.
So I was meditating on it in particular as I cultivated atop a tree while keeping an eye out for anyone trying to take a shot at me. Trying to suss out how the hell the process even worked.
“You are Guang the Unaligned?” a voice out of nowhere nearly startled me.
I opened my eyes and found another man casually standing in the air in front of me wearing robes much like a city or family administrator, but in colors that I couldn’t match to any faction I knew of.
“I am Guang of the Yellow Fang.” I answered politely but neutrally.
The man blinked, then nodded “I misspoke. You are the first ascended mortal I’ve spoken with in quite some time. I am Nan Feng, an administrator in the court of Fengbo, Count of the wind. There was an incident that I am in the process of investigating some months ago that several local spirits name you as a key actor in. May I ask your perspective so that reprimands can be doled out appropriately?”
“I’ll gladly help your investigation. Though I imagine I might take reprimands poorly, myself.”
A small smile curled his lips. “Rest assured, you are beyond my remit to issue reprimanding even if you were found to have acted wrongly. I am charged only with keeping the winds in line.”
“My sympathies.” I offered. “I can’t imagine that is in any way easy.”
“I appreciate your understanding.” he sighed. “The incident I am interested in is the demonizing of a cultivator in the local arena seven months back. Do you recall the event?”
“I do. I’m even still dealing with the effects of it.”
“Excellent. All I require from you is what you observed during the event, particularly about the wind’s behavior.”
“Ah! The technique I cobbled together!” I grinned and explained the observation I had about the wind blades sacrificing force to disperse the miasma, how I repurposed my smithing technique’s principles as an armor, and then how I wove the principle into my thrust hoping that it would work because I was running out of stamina and space even with the armor. I left out the detail of the helpful spirit entirely.
“That lines up with most of my findings.” Nan Feng nodded. “You say it was a strike of desperation against the demonized man?”
“Indeed. It took me most of a month to figure out what exactly I’d done, and most of another to develop it as a proper technique that I could use on command.”
“I see. That does account for the last of the discrepancies in my investigation.” He’d taken out a clipboard and was finishing recording my side of the story with a slight frown.
“Suboptimum findings?” I asked sympathetically.
“No, quite the opposite, actually.” he shook himself and put on a polite smile. “It seems everyone stuck to their duties properly, even taking the initiative to respond to your talisman in a way to inspire you instead of trying to handle the demon themselves. I’m actually surprised at the lack of overstepping they committed.”
“Ah. Superiors are likely to find the report suspicious because they stayed in line this time.” I nodded with an understanding smile.
“Precisely.” he sighed. “There’s nothing to be done about it though. Wind spirits are notorious in their disregard for restrictions. I shall hope I have been thorough enough that my superiors will accept the apparent truth.”
“Would you like a comprehension scroll as additional evidence that the winds had good reason to expect to get what they wanted from within their stations?” I offered, figuring I could ease the guy’s suffering a little by taking some of the heat I’d created.
“Comprehension scroll?” He tilted his head slightly.
“Yes, they’re a cultivation aide I devised to grant myself additional perspectives. As I use the same principles as for empowering the talismans that spirits respond to, inspecting one may convince your superiors that the spirits had good reason to believe they could attain the result they desired from the fight while avoiding reprimanding.”
He leaned back slightly in surprise. “You would part with a treasure to ease my task?”
“I create several every month.” I smiled and extracted a scroll reading ‘Wind’ from my ring. “This one is redundant to me. Parting with it will not weaken me at all, and it can do some good for you, I suspect.”
“And you seek nothing in return?”
“I am sacrificing nothing of note. Naturally I would not seek returns on it.” I insisted. “If anything, I count it as payment toward the debt of having instigated your task in the first place.”
His eyes sparkled slightly as he relented and accepted the scroll. “The rumors of your manners do you justice, Guang. Whoever schooled you in them should be honored to name you as a student.”
“I am glad my mother’s teachings earn such lofty praise.” I smiled. “I do hope my life is counted as a merit when she is assigned a rebirth.”
“I am sure it is, from what I’ve heard.” he chuckled. “I thank you for your cooperation. If you find yourself working with the Wind Count’s court in the future, do ask after me. I would be happy to lend you some insights.”
“I will be sure to do so, Administrator Nan Feng. May your report go well.” I waved as he left and then noticed wisps of confusion from near the trunk of a tree nearby.
“Senior Ling! If you’re going to eavesdrop, at least join me for tea!” I laughed, eliciting a spike in frustration and murderous intent.
I pulled out a balancing table and a pot for tea with two cups by way of insistence. It hadn’t worked yet for any of my watchers, but I knew it pissed them off something fierce.
So I legitimately had to double-take when Ling Huyin, Bronze core beauty and pride of the Ling family, was abruptly across from me.
“Drop the pleasantries.” she snarled as I was about to welcome her. “Who the hell were you just talking to?”
“Must we be discourteous just because you’re going to rip my head off once the schism war starts?” I sighed as I poured the tea. “I certainly don’t hold it against you.”
She scowled at me even harder, reminding me of memes of a godslayer.
“That was a Heavenly Administrator, if I understood correctly. Investigating my tactical error to make sure I was the only one to blame.”
“Why couldn’t I see him?”
I blinked. That was good to know. “Probably because he only chose to present himself to me. You know how loathe Immortal Spirits are to be spotted if it’s not absolutely necessary.”
“How many of them are around for you to be talking to them?”
Oh the temptation to bullshit her.
“That have spoken back, he was the first. The Earthly spirits that respond to my talismans are quite abundant, to the point of being literally everywhere, but they have not taken my open invitation for conversation.” I resisted the urge and took a sip of tea.
She tch’d and took a sip of her tea while she thought. I looked at the situation from her perspective and realized the new threat she was probably concocting.
After all, I was famous for speaking to heaven, and she now had confirmation that that was a literal matter.
“They’ve been protecting you this entire time.” she finally concluded.
“I cannot say they haven’t, but I do doubt that would be within their permitted duties.” I answered calmly. “After all, even my being inspired by the wind spirits caused an investigation for the sake of censure.”
She glared at me, drained her tea, and vanished.
I smiled. It was nice to see homicidal maniacs learning to take tea. There was a good argument to be made for tea being the foundation of proper civilization, after all.
---
“You are rather calm for a man who knows his days are numbered.” Raka smiled as we sat for tea. “I cannot imagine what inspires this confidence in you.”
“I have known my days were numbered from the day I learned of the schism.” I answered warmly. “I’ve had more than enough time to come to terms with my death, however it comes to me.”
“I see.” he hummed, then he actually saw and failed to keep his pupils in line. “No longer shall I need to wonder how you saw your moves so clearly.”
“Indeed. Though I rather thought I’d left that answered in full these past years.”
“In plain sight, no less.” Raka’s sigh was a subtle thing, but no less rewarding than Master’s temple vein. “Buried amidst your decoys and other admissions.”
I kept my smirk small and polite. “I do hope Elder’s enthusiasm to thwart my countermeasures remains as brilliant as yesterday. It would be a sadness upon disciple’s soul to die to bare pragmatism.”
His eyes glinted with malice and what I’d learned was respect. “Fear not disciple Guang. Ending your life will be among my most treasured accomplishments for the rest of my long life. Though the world will be less vibrant without you, we sit upon too many offences to reconcile with as little as your clear vision.”
“I count my fear assuaged.” I sipped my tea and shared the calm antagonism with him.
It really was a shame he was born to xianxia politics. He’d have done so much better in a corporate environment than anyone else I’d met in either life.
“On the matter of ploys on my life, was it your insight to offer me to the Master of the fist if he managed to defeat Master Kong?”
“No.” he let his face relax in earnest surprise. “Someone thought to betray the sect Master so brazenly?”
“So it appears. My spies among their servants report that the Master of the Fist is disgruntled to an extreme about being promised my deployment to his lines if Master Kong is indisposed properly.”
“Truly? And our traitor thinks Master Kong would fall to a Demonic cultivator?”
“Or that he can similarly entice the Master of the Spire. Though I’ve not yet heard with what.”
“Ah.” Raka nodded. “So they are among the few competent schemers of our ranks.”
“That is my thought as well.” I admitted. That’s why ruling him out was worth anything.
“It may not be one of your enemies.” he said after a moment of contemplation. “One of your allies may be trying to entice the enemy Masters to fight disharmoniously.”
“The same occurred to me. Rushing the Master of the Fist into a battle that Master Kong can recover from before meeting blades with the Master of the Spire is a stratagem I myself considered, but discounted as I’ve found nothing to indicate the Master of the Spire to be fool enough to fall for it.”
“Are you certain of your allies being as wise?”
“Not in the least.” I admitted, to his mirth. “But I also doubt that they could cause the Master of the Fist to believe that they’d betray me with the lines as well-reported as they are.”
He acknowledged the point and swiftly came to a recognition that eluded me. “I shall have to commend them if they survive to be executed for treachery.”
“Wonderful!” I let him smirk over having beaten me to identifying the culprit. We both knew that his knowledge was a tool in my arsenal even when I didn’t know what he knew.
It was easily the most enriching part of our relationship.
“I finally figured out why your talismans work the way they do.” he gloated. “Your supposition was close, but missed the mark.”
“Oh? Shall yours be under your own authority as well, then?”
“Indeed. It is a tidy freedom from your insolence chaining my growth, even.”
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“Disciple is earnestly happy to hear of Elder’s fortune!” That would make two of my enemies who would ever be able to cultivate again. Provided someone else killed me.
He let his lips curl ever so slightly into a wry smile. He’d remarked in the past year that it was disconcerting that I could share joy in his victories despite us both acknowledging that we were enemies. Disconcerting, but no less pleasant.
And him being able to call forth the spirits of the earth to enact his will without stealing Heaven’s authority to order it meant that it wasn’t a matter of me being an immortal spirit or a candidate for such.
“So it is the moving nature of the poems themselves, then. Alongside the invitation placing responsibility on oneself.” I deduced aloud.
“Precisely. Accepting responsibility upon my own head and inspiring them to obey. That you stumbled upon such a method with only a disdain for invoking Heavenly rulers remains impressive.”
In the midst of being proud of the Elder who most politely wanted me dead, I caught what I’d been flubbing on inviting the spirits to dine with me if they wished.
“Disciple thanks Elder Raka for the insight.”
He shook his head, evoking dozens of laments that I was everything a dutiful disciple should be in his eyes, and that I felt the need to destroy the foundations of respect that culture itself -as he understood it- was built upon.
“In case you die before I kill you myself, I have enjoyed matching wits with you. If it were feasible, I’d have considered alternatives.” he confessed as we finished our drinks. “Alas.”
I smiled, he really was too kind. “I’ve enjoyed trading pointers with you as well, Elder Raka. I fear that if I survive you, I shall find future opponents unworthy in whole.”
The slightest tensing of his eyebrow as he heard -correctly- that I counted him unworthy in large part was my personal reward for the tea, on top of the information exchange.
I reviewed the discussion as I walked to my own house. I was only afforded one day every other week to not be visibly available for anyone seeking to harm the Fang’s morale, so I was making the most of it with my contacts, friendly and not, and my garden.
I could maintain Duanzhou, Moshui, and Wancan with ease with only equipment I could carry myself. But Nongmin required me to work the land. And I didn’t have land to work at the Weapons Pavilion.
The idea to grant me a portion of the grounds had been floated along with the idea to change the actual name of the pavilion from Silver Tiger Pavilion to something declaring it my personal property, but common sense had overcome the silly hero worship for now.
Rightfully so, given that a portion of every waking hour was dedicated to trying to find a way to vanish despite damn near every eye in the region being on me.
Because while I hadn’t lied to Raka about having accepted that I would die eventually, but I was still unfond of just letting it happen.
If nothing else, it’d be embarrassing to have attained proper longevity-style immortality and then die a mere year and change later.
Funny, but embarrassing.
I stepped into my writing room first, having failed to draw further actionable insight from the review of the discussion and pulled out a small gold-edged scroll, fit for standing declarations and orders, and cleared my mind.
By Invitation and Authority of Immortal Guang
Called Wancan, Duanzhou, Moshui, Nongmin, Fei Jiao, and Qu Mo Shi.
Within the space that this declaration is displayed:
Any spirit of the Earth or of the Heavenly Bureaucracy who is not occupied with their duties and who wishes to reveal themselves and share in conversation with Immortal Guang may do so.
Returning to normal thought, I nodded at the simple alteration to my pre-existing standing invitation. Formalizing it as a declaration under my own authority would give the spirits who wished to take the invitation someone to blame if the regulations of Heaven bristled at them revealing themselves.
After all, if leaving Raka with the bag for stepping outside their normal duties worked, leaving me the bag for breaking whatever policy obligated them to stay hidden was entirely feasible.
Then I swapped my finery for my gardening clothing and went to my garden and posted it on a simple wooden stand.
A mere three minutes later I felt a shift and turned around to see a man with a similar administrator’s uniform to Nan Feng, but in ‘earthier’ colors, wearing a scowl.
“Does my invitation transgress my position?” I asked politely.
“Ah, no. Not as such.” he sneered. “I am Shiban, Administrator in the court of Shegong Maori. Out of courtesy, given your respectful history, I feel it appropriate to ensure you understand the responsibility you are taking on with this invitation.”
“I thank you greatly.” I bowed politely. “I am Guang, as I’m sure you’re aware, and I appreciate your indulgence.”
His face didn’t turn any gentler, but he laughed earnestly enough. “The injunction against revealing ourselves directly to mortals and cultivators is a matter of maintaining the peace of the world. Cultivators in particular, but mortal men in general, lust after power and authority that they do not have the temperance to handle appropriately. Exposing them to the truth of Earthly spirits tempts them to devise all manner of demonic means to claim the world’s forces for themselves.”
I nodded that I understood the reasoning. I had met humans before, after all.
“The punishment for revealing oneself to a mortal without explicit direction from one’s superior or critical need, then, is typically a year or more of torment, to deter the recklessness that many spirits exhibit. By inviting them to reveal themselves to you, you are accepting responsibility for their safety while they are exposed. Should one be harmed while exposed under your invitation, you will face similar punishments to those inflicted on Heavenly Administrators who allow their charges to be exposed and come to harm. Said punishments are more severe than for personal recklessness by no less than seven fold.”
“And I assume that my lack of submission to Heavenly authority myself will only result in armed forces coming to deliver me to said punishments?”
“Indeed. So it would be wise of you to exercise your authority to invite spirits to reveal themselves sparingly, and only when you are sure no demons or cultivators are watching.”
Concern over the assassins, right! “I thank you deeply for the advice, Administrator Shiban. Are Earthly spirits adept at only revealing themselves to select targets?”
He barked a laugh. “They are indeed. And you shouldn’t have any difficulties in the immediate. Spirit Hunting arts haven’t been reported in the area for centuries, and their wielders have all moved on. I am simply telling you of the risks you are accepting as a return of courtesy, not warning you off as yet.”
“And I am dearly grateful for it.” I bowed again. “I have cause to believe that it will eventually save my life if I last the year.”
“Indeed! I’ve heard of your methods!” he laughed, scowl not lessening in the least. “It would be a shame for your path to be cut short by a misstep against Heaven’s regulations!”
“I must agree.” I chuckled. “Though there is a poetry to the possibility that I cannot deny.”
“That there is. One last point of advice before I’m about my other tasks. Some of my charges have reckless ideas about how their relationship to you can be altered. Do think cautiously before accepting any of their suggestions. Even the most benign of what I’ve caught them scheming would require more paperwork than I’m sure they grasp.”
“You can rest assured that I will not agree recklessly. And that I’ll insist that they handle what they’re allowed to of the paperwork themselves instead of dumping it on you.”
His eyes widened just enough that I swore I saw his furrowed brow crack. Then he recovered his composure and nodded. “As always, it is a pleasure working with you, Guang Nongmin.”
“May your work be light and rewarding, Administrator Shiban.” I bowed as he stepped away and vanished.
“I see that your constant tea taking has shaped you well.” a woman’s voice laughed, and I marvelled politely as the soil in front of me seemed to rise as a stunning, sturdy female form dressed in courtly robes. “I’m glad the rumors got that correct.”
“I am glad to hear my efforts pay off to your liking. How may I address your magnificence?”
She threw her head back in a laugh that rumbled through the ground. “I am Shegong Maori, of course! When Shanshen Rangtu sent a messenger that the resident aberrant was finally inviting conversation properly, Old Shiban and I came as fast as we could to get a proper look at you!”
I put on my best pleased-neutral expression as I tried to come up with a way of not offending the highest ranking Earthly spirit of the land in the area. “I am deeply honored to have your interest, great Shegong. Though I confess to having no rightful idea how I garnered it.”
She chuckled again, giving every appearance of genuinely enjoying the interaction if I trusted my human-trained social cueing -something I was pointedly trying not to do on principle as she was not a human. “Word circulates, Guang the Independent, Guang the Poet.” She smirked. “And with so many of my subordinates reporting a Cultivator, of all things, tidily sorting out his own impact on them with trial and error, I was bound to notice, even before your antics after your ascension.”
I gulped. “Was that a poor use of the power I was granted, then?”
“Reducing the need of the mortals and reinvigorating my subordinates? Hardly!” She laughed as I dared to relax. “From the ocean to the Tang mountains, you’ll find nothing but positive reception among my subordinates and the Heavenly Administrators we work with after such a selfless display of the power. I expect the other Earthly courts are coming around to similar conclusions as well, after your latest display!”
My stomach started dropping as she spoke. I couldn’t pin down a reason, but I could feel something hiding in the praise.
“The fight with the demonic cultivator?”
“Indeed!” she beamed. “I don’t know how much your Cultivator cohorts have bothered to explain about demonic qi, but demonstrating that you’re not only crazy enough to fight it head-on, and skilled enough to disperse it properly like a Wind Governor and accidentally implicate him for it? There have been suggestions to help you grow strong enough to rid the land of demonic cultivators at large!”
Oh.
Oh, that... That wasn’t great.
“Something about my position as an independent entity allows for me to be useful in such a way?”
“Oh, Guang.” she smiled with way too many teeth. “You explicitly stepped outside Heaven’s dominion and ability to restrain your actions, and you didn’t realize what a power piece you made yourself in doing so?”
Shit!
Okay, I’m in a free-to-act blindspot in Heaven’s restrictions. Dispersing demonic qi ‘properly’ is a big deal, even bigger than the sect Elders let on, and they pointedly don’t enrage Fist cultivators to deviation.
“You imply that I could be of service in a mercenary fashion? Addressing matters like demonic qi poisoning the land and other disturbances?” I asked as I began to understand the sinking in my gut.
“I do.” she nodded. “I even imply that this could become a deeply rewarding relationship between you and whoever you choose to offer services to. A man of your skills and interests could build a reputation with Earthly spirits of every domain, making yourself an incredibly wealthy and respected force where your Cultivator peers can only conjure fear.”
Oooh boy. I’m going to pretend I imagined that shift of her dress and not think about the relationship she might be suggesting.
The surface suggestion was interesting though. Speak to Earthly spirits, see if they’re being bothered by something, see what they call a fair repayment for resolving it if it’s within my power. For that matter, I might even encounter Heavenly spirits who need something done ‘off the books’.
It would see me self-managed, as I need to be for my sanity. I’d be expanding my networking in directions that normal cultivators couldn’t. The spirits of the world probably had much more interesting ideas of what constitutes a ‘treasure’.
“It is a fascinating suggestion.” I admitted as I pondered. “And you say some have run so far ahead as to propose strengthening me so I’m capable of handling the tasks?”
“None with power to do much for you, but yes. It has been suggested by several that you might be able to at least learn techniques from some of our more skilled number, or granted treasures to similar effect.”
“Even if they are the spurious musings of those without standing, I must admit those are flattering thoughts. Certainly more tempting than most concepts of wealth that I’ve heard, at least.”
“Oh?” an eager smile split her face, revealing that I’d misstepped. “The rumors are true then? You value power beyond coin and pleasure?”
“Coin does serve many purposes, though most of them are only viable with interaction with others who value it more highly than I. Pleasure enriches life in great and small ways, but is ultimately fleeting, so the pursuit of it holds no priority for me. Power, meanwhile, especially power I can make my own, is as enduring as I am, and makes for a far better target of pursuit.” I confirmed, quietly hoping that I wasn’t offending.
“I see.” her smile relaxed and worried me further. “So your interest is, in all ways, to stand without dependence on others.”
It wasn’t a question. It was a declaration that she’d sussed out how best to manipulate me if I took the idea of mercenary living.
Chilling, and largely accurate, but not half as dangerous as it could have been.
“I have never phrased it so well, great Shegong. Your understanding is awe inspiring.” I bowed in admission of the defeat.
“It is a necessity of the position.” she acknowledged with a small nod. “And now I can correctly guide my subordinates to a healthful and fruitful relationship with you whether you elect a mercenary course or not.”
“I humbly look forward to such opportunities to forge good relations. And I thank you deeply for informing me of the interesting position I put myself in.”
“You are welcome, Guang Moshui.” she smiled with a glint in her eye. “Do please have wherever you are standing report your decision regarding it when you come to the decision. One thing I shall personally praise the Bureaucracy with is teaching me the value of communication.”
Noted. The Lord of the Land for the entire region my life has been spent in has eyes anywhere my foot could fall.
Terrifying.
I bowed again as she sank back into the ground and focused on regaining my breathing.
“Wow.” another female voice arose from the ground. “I am so sorry about that. I thought she just wanted to send a messenger, not arrive herself.”
I steeled myself and looked up, seeing a woman in simple, practical clothing with her hair done up in a bun.
Something about her felt familiar, and that distracted me enough that it took me a moment to realize she’d already told me who she was by admitting it was her that reported my invitation.
“Shenshan Rangtu?” I ventured.
“That I am.” she smiled earnestly. “But please, don’t stand on formality with me. I’ve had little enough to do that I know you don’t like it half as much as you pretend.”
I chuckled at the understatement. “I thank you for the consideration. And for being such an accommodating host these past two years.”
She giggled and handed me my watering can. “Having a resident who bothers to talk like he’s glad to live on me is novel enough to accommodate. Having a proper garden tender, even more so.”
“Oh? The garden has been appreciated?”
“You bet it has!” a little mud gremlin piped up as it stuck its head out from under a leaf. “You know your stuff!”
I blinked and looked around as the sentiment was echoed by other minor Earthly spirits similarly revealing themselves.
“In fact,” Rangtu grinned. “The most valid gripe I’ve had to put up with is from the spirits who want you to expand the garden to cover all of me.”
I proceeded to start my watering pattern while rolling with the oddity I’d literally invited. “That is a task I would gladly undertake if I expected to last the rest of the year.”
“Or if you escape and return.” she smiled cheekily. “Your disciples would appreciate it, I imagine.”
I shook my head. “If they survive, sure. But being honest about the way the war is going, the Elders that would support the Sect Master are suffering more losses than our enemies.”
“And you’re not allowing yourself to rise to take the balance into your own hands.” she nodded behind me. “After all, that would tie you down and make your disciples dependent on you despite your best efforts to teach them otherwise.”
“You sound like you’ve got an idea in mind.”
“Oh, just one of those reckless ones that requires Old Shiban and his attendants to file paperwork.” she answered coyly. “Though I can’t imagine what paperwork would be required to gift us talismans and bid us to only read them when your allies are threatened.”
I let myself freeze as I thought through the implications of the idea. It wouldn’t be of much use in wider application without arranging friendly ties with Earthly forces, but simply asking the spirits of light, lightning, fire, and wind to act independently of discrete cues could be a war-changer with the right planning.
With the same level of planning, the far subtler spirits of earth, wood, metal, and shadow could be territory defining for centuries if I wished.
The world itself would seem to be fighting my enemies. And for how little most cultivators study the natural world’s governing structure, Raka might well be the only one to understand why and how.
“That is certainly worth asking one of Administrator Shiban’s attendants what manner of paperwork it would demand.” I nodded to a chorus of cheers from the tiny goblins and butterflies that I had to surmise were wind spirits who’d likewise taken my formal invitation. “If enough of it can be handled ahead of time that the Heavenly Administrators aren’t put upon for the sake of a sect civil war, it would ensure that I have reason to return if I escape properly.”
“I’ll find one of his attendants and ask myself, then.” Rangtu audibly grinned.
“Oh! I’ll go check with one of ours!” one of the larger wind spirits offered before vanishing, earning a laugh from the mountain spirit.
“I’ll make sure he actually has the answers or send him back.” she shook her head. “I imagine you intend to post the invitation again at supper?”
“Indeed! I only posted it here to confirm that it works and check on whether mortal food is nourishing to any of you.”
“Excellent! The food itself does rather little, but the way you dine is nourishing by itself. And I’ll confess that the aroma of some of your roasts has distracted me more than is proper.”
“Then I am obligated to tempt you to try its flavor if you’ll join me tonight.” I turned to shoot her a grin and realized that I might have an entirely different matter to handle as she smiled back eagerly.
“I’ll look forward to it!” she accepted the invitation and vanished. Leaving me to wonder at the folly of offering to feed a mountain.