There were only so many ways to ruin a government functionaries day. On that fateful morning, I would like to think that the man on the front desk just go done reading his dao horoscope and it had a warning about the cultivator who would be asking him to speak directly with his boss. At least that's what I assumed based on his look of disdain when I arrived.

"Hello!" I said.

"Good morning, young master. What business do you have with the blue robes outreach team?" He said. The cultivator behind the desk had to have some kind of nepotism just running rampant through his bloodline, the was that his contempt just misted into the air.

"I'm here because I have some intelligence that the Mandarin would be very interested to hear, and the last time I had information, let's just say that we found over one hundred demonic cultivators working inside the city."

The flat affect of my tone probably didn't convey what I wanted but I found that being hyperbolic or even slightly more than tepid didn't get me anywhere. I needed the man on the wrong foot because I was about to hammer him.

"Ah," he said, immediately dismissing me. "He will take in visitors in ten days for-"

He was hitting behind the table. I tell you this because I want you to know that he was sitting and that when I did the next thing I was about to do, got even lower. I unveiled my core just a bit. It was just enough to let him know that I was truly powerful. For most people without any training, the sort of flattened that. I gave him just enough to make him reconsider dismissing me out of hand.

"Pardon me sir, but allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Joseph Pudge and I'm responsible for the deaths of over fifty demonic cultivators directly or indirectly. So when I tell you that perhaps the Mandarin would like to speak to you. Right now, I'm going to need to see him within the next fifteen minutes."

He looks like I was the Mandarin come down from on high to issue him a holy reprimand. I wasn't but it was fine. He wanted me to think that I hadn't worked out. The right amount of words or correct phrases to say to get to the part where I could just skip levels of bureaucracy. This guy was going to have to report to somebody and that person was going to have to figure out a way to get the Mandarin here or me to the Mandarin. But as I did not want to cause a fuss unduly, all I could do was pressure the bureaucrats in front of me to do their job expediently.

"I must impress upon you the need for haste in this matter," I said.

"Yes sir," he said, returning to stand. " This one would be pleased connect you directly."

I stood around for about five minutes before a very stern and familiar looking man brought me to through a side passage.

The Mandarin was somehow doing paperwork when I arrived. The last time we had met had been a very interesting time for both of us. Now we show them to him with some very good intelligence and he was going to ask some questions that I didn't want to answer. And now the real question came to me. If he asked if she was still alive would I say yes or would I say no?

"I see that you have arrived here and once again come with news of grave import. Please sit and tell me why my manservant needs to change his uniform again today," the Mandarin said, indicating a cushion on the ground.

It wasn't kneeling. It was more like I was just sitting there in the seiza position. Get gestured for me to continue. I explained what was going on, leaving out that the girl was still alive.

For his part, he took it calmly asked a few questions and after a few minutes called him a scribe to take down some notes. He had me start again with some of the information as he clarified some of the things. I told him everything I could possibly get and let him know when parts were speculation. Nothing. He said maybe any less certain that if he saw Xiran, he would kill her. That made my choice crystal clear.

If she wanted to stay alive, we would have to break her cultivation, and then potentially work her back.

"All of this can be corroborated?" He said.

"The elders I have mentioned that were there, they will corroborate. I must impress upon you that we can act before the demonic cultivators understand that we have such a view of their operation," I said. " My understanding is that you want to get some bragging rights over the blue codes. I can offer you exactly that. But if you're not going to act on it, I need to know so I can act on it. This trail can and will go cold very soon. I already have a center runner to book passage for me to one of their hubs."

He gave me a look that said that he really wanted to say something. I knew what he was thinking. He had too much on his plate and he didn't want to take care of this. But he did want to get credit for it. If he asked me it'd be to deputize the agent of the state or something like that. I wouldn't say no but I also would not work under anyone else's supervision. I had eyegotten so far to be someone's direct report. I was going to do my own damn thing. However, I damn pleased and demando could be damned. But if the government actually looked, then I might not have to do all that hard work myself. I could see him chew this over. I was going to give him a minute or so to the side.

I really wanted to offer my entire group to go after them. I was absolutely certain that the Taoists and Moon clan would be incensed if he didn't do anything. All I had to say was that he's going to take care of it and then I would call it a day. That's all I need. But he looked like he was going to be taking liberties with his staff.

"If I head out of here, they will not be another cultivator of my realm to defend Western Jewel. But if I send a small Force that is trying to do this, we can get to them before they understand what's coming?" he said.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"That's why I came directly to you this morning. We got to stick while the iron's hot and I think that this trail will go cold within three days. She said that she was supposed to report in at that time."

I don't know what he was going to do. But he said that he would send a word to me shortly. I told him where I was going to be, at the Moon Clan holdings and he accepted that.

If we were going to do something for these guys, it would have to be far sooner than I expected. I had only told the Mandarin about her checking in, to see if you would actually follow through. That wasn't entirely necessary for me to tell him. And they wanted to be informed as well. But otherwise it sounded like I was going to be getting on a airship with whoever wanted to join me on this little. Jon. And I'm all I need to tell us to figure out what to do with the girl and if Lorenzo could keep her safe.

At worst, she would be tied to me and then I would have to take her back to the last place she had come from. Then we would use her to point out where her former family was.

That felt unnecessarily cruel. But seeing what they had done before, I could understand it. It will be beyond the pale to ask her to physically go there and point out her family. Either way, something was going to happen.

My second meeting with Mandarin ended with him. Thanking me and letting him know that I would be hearing from him very soon. He was going to have to go through his people to figure out which ones he could spare. If he could send them at all. I let him know about the airship that I had looked. If we were going to head where I thought we were going to head, then we were going to be hitting a lot of roadblocks. If he wanted to could stand his authority over us. I was only a mere fourth round cultivator and I could use this help. I thought that this week was going to involve me working with the victims, but it looked like yeah that I was back up to speed that I was going to be working against the demonic sect again.

---

I headed back.

"I'm coming with you of course. I think that this is foolish but I'm with you," Moon Lee said.

I still had a ton of unresolved feelings about the dress that she wore last night and how she had asked me to go to see the Opera. More and more. I was thinking that she was trying to move but she just didn't have the social niceties to actually take the next step. I appreciated a strong independent woman but also I was not going to just give it away to the first. Really nice girl that I met in this world. I honestly was still getting over Lauren. I was such a dumbass back then.

"I won't go without you. You mean a lot to me and you've done so much for me," I said.

She blushed and then tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. She actually blushed. This side not expected. I was thinking that you're the praise link or something like that. Why does everyone in the Scott forsaken place have a praise kink? It's like the parents ever loved them when they were kids. Now I know, that you can't infer correlation from causation here but more and more. I was just thinking that things that this was normal and that yeah she was going to have to think about this. I was going to have to think about what I would do if she would move on me, while knowing that she would respect me.

If you really wanted something she would come out and say it. And then I realized that I was staring at her and she had asked me a question and I've done it again.

"I'm sorry you said something? I've just been so distracted with this recent discovery," I said.

"That is understandable," she said. "

I wanted to talk about last night."

"Okay. What did you want to say?"

She gave me a look. I don't know what would be worse. If she was going to try to nail me down about not killing the girl or if she was just trying to try to nail me the sexual way. Either way, I have to admit that I was kind of digging it. She was that type A girl that every guy like me who doesn't want to bother the waiter loves to have around. No I'm not going to have my food sent back because I have this bulldog of a wife or girlfriend here to send that back for me. So I can sell with a good guy.

Then I thought about this. Was I the good guy? Because I was trying to say this little girl's life. Want to have done the same thing if it was a guy. And I realized that I would have tried to save a guy who was so naive and out of touch. If he had grown up in the sect and they had just kicked him out here like some candy to try and bait me or my team to come find him, yeah I would have done the same exact thing.

"If this is about Xiran, you don't need to worry. I've made up my mind."

I don't know if she was put off but she folded her arms close to her chest and kind of stepped back. I hadn't realized how close she was. I was kind of thinking that she was finally getting comfortable enough to actually tell me her And not just be a little...

"Lee, do you want to hold my hands?" I said.

Her face was beet red.

That's a bingo.

I came up a little bit closer and grabbed both of her hands and mine. Now normally when I do this I don't really linger. But at that moment, I wanted to linger. I wanted her to know that not only was I here for her. That I might be here for her in the future and I'm more in-depth capacity. I didn't know if she was actually looking for companionship or just friendship. Either way, her hands made me feel like she was a thirty year old virgin who just didn't know what she was doing.

We had sparred so many times. Hell we had gone through the ringer together killing a sect of demonic cultivators and if she couldn't tell me what she felt, then this society was too fucking repressed.

When even hand holding felt super lewd, yeah things were a little different. So I stood there, holding her hands face to face with a woman who couldn't keep a goofy grin off of her face. I smiled.

"After last night, did you have plans to tell me something," I said, my head only about a foot away from hers, my face directly looking at her. If she was going to go end run around me and be awkward as fuck I was going to give her the same that she gave me.

"I ...uh..." She said. The strongest woman I've ever known just melted in my hands. I wasn't even doing anything special that we were just giving her attention and letting her know that I wanted to know what she had wanted to tell me.

"Look. We're both adults here. I understand that things are different here than where I came from, but if you want to do something officially, you can just ask. You are amazing. You can't be my sparring partner and companion for all this time and not be able to tell me what's really going on inside of your head. I already have an inkling," I said. One of my hands found the small of her back and the other one found her chin. She had been staring at my chest and I gently nudged her to look me in the eyes.

She hadn't thanked her what felt like forever. I knew that she was strong and stubborn and she was not calling to admit anything. More than likely she wanted me doing the first move.

"If you need me to make the first move, blink once," I said.

And that beautiful woman blinked. I smiled and leaned in. If I could fight demonic cultivators next to her, I sure could date her.