As we stepped through the doors of the Golden Spire, it felt as if I’d been instantly transported back home again. It wasn’t that the place looked the same as the Golden Spire back in Jurin, far from it actually. The place was huge for one, more like a dining hall than a bar and there had to be over a company worth of soldiers already inside. What was instantly familiar, however, was the atmosphere.

Lively music played in the backdrop, competing with the loud and raucous laughter and conversation filling the air. Haze filled the air as well in the form of Qi herbs being smoked in chalices and pipes. A large banner hung from the rafters of the ceiling, with bold characters in Yee.

“Welcome Home 566!th”

It was an amazing sight to see, especially with how many infantrymen were eating, drinking and carousing. Both Hein and I got pats on the back and bows of respect as we waded through the masses of half-drunk soldiers and pushed-to-the-max wait staff.

I nudged Hein and smiled. “See, nothing to worry about. No street thug assholes are going to find their way in here.”

“Let’s get to the officer’s mess,” Hein said. “It’s upstairs.”

As we continued to push through the crowd, I ran into my own platoon who were taking up most of the room at the bar. At first, I thought they were hogging up all the space, but then I saw they were buying drinks for everyone, passing bottles of wine back through the crowd behind them.

Juk Sui and Dim Wei greeted me with half drunken salutes and laughs.

“What took you so long to get here, commander?” Juk Sui said. “Were you trying to avoid buying us drinks?”

I chuckled. “Had to take care of some business. Besides, it looks like you all have the drink buying part under control.”

“Yeah, we do!” Dim Wei said, before letting out a drunken howl of celebration. “Wooo! Get the commander one, Juk Sui!”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

It was a reminder that we’d all been caged up for months or even years in some cases. Most deployments we would have only seen the inside of an infantry transport and then the Hell Worlds before returning right back to Du Gok Bhong, but my platoon was having the rare treat of tasting the freedom of the outside world in advance.

It was probably a gift beyond measure.

Especially considering if we all didn’t make it back home.

Nah, screw that noise, I thought. No one was going to die on my watch.

I happily received the small bottle of wine from Juk Sui and then asked him for another as I passed mine on to Hein. We both then toasted with my team.

“To the 28th Legionnaire Deployment!” I shouted, raising my bottle and then I clinked it with Hein’s. “And to our hosts, the 566th Battalion!”

That got a banger of applause and yells from the crowd.

“To the Iron Bull!” someone shouted, and a cacophony of cheers went up with a tsunami of lemonade.

I cultivated the essence into Frenzy while I downed my drink.

Before I knew it, I had another in my hand and was toasting some more.

A good half hour or so went by with all of us laughing, shouting and talking shit—reminiscing about the good ‘ole days back in Du Gok Bhong or the various other places across the stars, where everyone was from.

“Come on,” Hein said eventually, after emptying his second bottle. “Enough fraternizing with the enlisted personnel. We should be in the officer’s lounge. Let’s go.”

Hein dragged me away and my team gave me a final salute.

“Don’t come looking for us for two more days, commander!” Dim Wei called out, double-fisting two bottles in her hands. “But if you do, we’ll probably still be here!”

Everyone laughed and toasted to her for that.

We finally made our way up a set of stairs to the back and emerged on an upper floor that was far more laid back in atmosphere, but perhaps just as lively in terms of activity. Officers from the 566th and other visiting battalions were lounging around gambling tables or playing games of Xiangqi.

A sharp whistle drew our attention and across the room I saw General Gong gesturing for us to join him at his table. When we approached, I saw he was sitting with the ship’s captain, Master Li Jeng and Captain Yungi from Onyx Company along with the four other company captains of the battalion. I knew them all by face now but was still learning their names. Captain Lin Fei of Saphire Company was easy to remember, being the only women amongst them as was Captain H’ul Thorg of Gold Company who was Sullied. The other two were Captains Yi Xing and Jing Ru of Emerald and Ruby company respectively, but they looked so similar in appearance that I couldn’t tell them apart at times. It didn’t seem to matter though as General Gong instructed Hein to pull up a couple of chairs for us to sit with them.

“There you finally are,” Gong said with a laugh. “I suppose I should blame Yungi’s protégé here for holding you up!”

He jabbed Hein in the ribs, but Hein raised his hands in innocence. “The legionnaire commander’s tardiness is all his own doing, General. You should be thanking me for actually getting him here.”

“I’ll have to give that one to him, general,” I said as I sat. “Guilty as charged on that front.”

“Then you’ll pay with a drink,” Gong said. “Next rounds on you, but this one’s on me.”

With a snap of his fingers a server came with two glasses and poured Hein and I spirits from a dark bottle.

“To Legionnaire Commander Iron Bull,” Gong said raising his glass. “May you fare well in the upcoming tournament. Whoever your opponent may be.”

We all clink glasses and I let out a scoff.

“Thanks for reminding me,” I said with chagrin. “That’s one fight I’m not looking forward to. How do you even know about that already?”

“Governor Tai Su Long has been on about it ever since we left D’shar,” Captain Li Jeng said. “You upstaging him and his nephew before the Princess Ul’vera, has certainly seemed to have left a bruise.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” I said.

“Well at least you need not worry about seeing those two for a while,” Gong said. “Neither of them would be caught dead in this place. So you’re safe here for now.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Captain Li Jeng said, and the rest of the officers laughed.

“Is it true your only twenty or so?” Lin Fei asked, narrowing her eyes at me skeptically. She looked about twice that age herself, with short hair like Dim Wei and a face etched with a deep scar on one side. “I can’t believe you’ve reached the Sacred Soul Realm already.”

“This one is full of surprises, captain,” Hein said, slapping me on the back. “I’ll have to keep an eye on him for my sister’s sake.”

That got another round of laughs.

“You should think about joining the 566th when you return,” Gong said. “You’d be leading your own company in no time with that level of skill.”

“Gong are you serious?” Captain Li Feng said. “He’d be a damn Full-Blooded Legionnaire. What the hell would he need to join the army for?”

“Exactly my point,” Gong said. “He could demand a starting battalion as high as the 566th with that kind of clout.” He then winked at me. “And who knows? By the time you make general, you could be way up there in the top 100 battalions, smooshing it with the top brass of the core worlds.”

I laughed. “Thanks for the offer, but I got a bunch of stuff I need to do back home first.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Like marry my sister,” Hein said deadpan as he sipped his drink. “And she’d probably have me killed for snatching him away from her, if he ever joined the battalion for real.”

We all laughed at that.

But it did get me thinking how all this battalion ranking system worked.

“General Gong,” I said. “When the Princess welcomed you home, did she mean you, as in, this is where you’re from?”

“Me?” Gong pointed to himself and laughed. “Hell’s no kid. I wasn’t born into this kind of luxury.”

Damn, I thought.

I was kind of hoping he could lead me to another connection to finding a cultivation manual while here. But it probably made sense. Gong didn’t strike me as someone coming from a core world.

But that led to another question.

“How you got into the 566th then?”

“I got here the hard way,” he said with a chuckle. “By kissing the right ass and a lot of close calls.”

That got polite laughs around the table and then he rolled up the sleeve to his robes. He showed me his forearm and on it were several tattoos all depicting various battalion insignia. I studied them, starting from the top down.

The first was a dragon with the numbers 8,254th underneath.

The second was a wolf with the numbers 4,735th underneath.

The third was a lion with the numbers 2,332nd underneath.

The fourth was an eagle with the numbers 1,113th underneath.

And the final one was another dragon representing his present battalion of the 566th.

Gong smiled as he laid out his resume for all to see. “I’ve had a long career kid, and as you can see, I started out in the sticks like most folks.”

“I’ve never seen that before,” Hein said leaning closer. “Wow… much respect, general. You pulled yourself up from the 8000’s to way up here in the 566th? I guess I was damn lucky to get in here as my first posting.”

Li Jeng chuckled. “Hey, don’t be so impressed. We both did it. And you should have seen this one on his first deployment. It was embarrassing as hell.”

“You shut up,” Gong said.

“So you two started out together?” I asked.

Captain Li Jeng rolled up his sleeve as well and showed an identical career path of tattoos. “Started and will likely finish together as well. Every time I jumped ship, this bastard followed me.”

Gong merely laughed. “More like you followed me.”

“How did you manage to go up in battalion like that?” Hein asked.

“By deferring promotions,” Gong said. “I stayed a sergeant for a lifetime. Whenever I made the cut to be a lieutenant, I opted for a transfer to a higher battalion instead. I waited until I joined the 1,113th before I finally accepted promotion to lieutenant and then joined the 566th as a Captain. I’ll end out my career here. Leave this seat for one of you pups to soon take over.”

“Here’s to retirement,” Li Jeng touched glasses with him. “Soon to come!”

We all toasted to that, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the first tattoo.

I swear, I’d seen it before and the number too.

And then like lightning it hit me.

The tattoo, the name, the number, the rank.

“Wait a minute,” I said looking to the general. “Sir…Are you, ‘Shitpants’ Gong?”

The table went deadly quiet as everyone’s mouth hung open, mortified. All save for Captain Li Jeng who spit out his drink in a laugh, spraying General Gong in the process.

“Holy shit he knows!” he yelled slapping the table while laughing his head off. “How the hell does he know?”

General Gong lowered his brows at me. “Answer quickly, boy. How the hell do you know that name?”

Guess there was no denying that I was right.

Holy crap.

“Well, it’s an honor to actually meet you,” I said. “I bring greetings from your former battalion comrade, Iron Pot Wong.”

“Pot?” Gong said incredulously. “You know Iron Pot Wong?”

I nodded. “He lives in my city back on my home world. He taught me my glaive technique.”

Li Jeng was still laughing. “Stars alive! Gong and Wong back at it again. You two were hilarious.”

“Shut up, Jeng,” Gong snapped. “How is the old bastard?”

“Not doing as well as you, I’d say, but he seems to be having fun,” I said. “He’s been trying to win in the local Iron Bracket Tournament for the last ten years or something.”

Both Gong and Jeng laughed.

“That sounds like him,” Gong said. “Always fancied himself a true martial artist. Never had the Qi for it mind you, but he was a good fighter.”

“Still is,” I added.

“General,” Captain Yungi said. “About this name of yours.”

“Yes,” H’ul Thorg said. “What’s the story behind it?”

“Aye, what’s the story?” Lin Fei added. “You must tell us now.”

“There is no story!” Gong yelled, waving his hand dismissively. “I’m not telling you bastards anything.”

“No, you won’t,” Li Jeng said. “I will tell it!”

“Don’t you dare!”

“Come on, Gong. They already know the name. They’re owed the story now!”

“Come on general!”

“Please general!”

Gong sighed again. “Fine tell it. You damn, bastard.”

Li Jeng grinned gleefully and began recounting General Gong’s first deployment in a drop skiff. It was word for word almost exactly how old Iron Pot Wong had described it and by the time he was finished the entire table was in stitches.

General Gong shook his head but chuckled good humoredly.

“So two lessons to learn from this,” Gong said. “One, always find a latrine before a drop and Two, if you can’t, don’t be afraid to swap battalions later.”

That got us all laughing again.

“To the great shitpants, Gong!” Captain Li Jeng said with a toast. “Let it be an example, that no matter where you start, you can always end up on top. Even general of the 566th.”

“Here, here!” H’ul Thorg shouted.

We all toasted to that and from there the conversation opened up as to who could top that story with the most embarrassing situation they’d ever been in. It didn’t turn out to be too hard with stories ranging from Captain Yungi being singled out in an entire battalion for messing up in a parade when he was just a recruit, to H’ul Thorg being caught masturbating by his company commander, only to have him simply say, “carry on” before he quickly left the room.

The stories got worse as everyone tried to one-up each other.

“Just remember,” Gong said. “What’s spoken of in the Spire, stays in the Spire.”

“What about you, Iron Bull?” Lin Fei said. “You must have some stories of your own.”

“This one?” Hein said, jerking his thumb at me. “He has plenty. They don’t call him Max Chun back home for nothing.”

That instantly got laughs and Hein and I went at it.

I explained my nickname while he explained the crazy situation with him, Yu Li and I.

We then went back and forth, trying to give our own versions of what happened between us, which seemed to not line up in the slightest, even to our final battle together.

“It never happened like that!” Hein was shouting by now.

“How would you know? You were unconscious by then.”

“That’s bullshit!”

To my surprise, Hein kept everything above board in front of the crowd, not revealing anything too deep that would open old wounds or bring down the jovial mood. The end result was a humorous banter that had everyone laughing by the end.

“Well, it looks like you two will never agree on that one,” Captain Yungi said. “But at least the fates have brought you both to the 566th.”

“To the 566th!” Gong toasted loudly and the entire mess joined in.

“To the 566th!”

The night went on and the stories and liquor flowed.

Perhaps it was the open sharing of our most embarrassing moments or the camaraderie in general, but as the night wore on and the alcohol started kicking in, I felt comfortable enough to share an actual problem with them to find an answer. I still needed that manual and I needed someone who knew the true lay of the land to find it.

“Hey guys,” I said. “Are any of you actually from here? Like not transferred from another battalion?”

“You mean from Li Shui Prime?” Captain Yi Xing asked with a raised brow.

“Yeah.”

“I am,” Lin Fei said. “Why?”

My eyes widened with hope. “Do you know the people around here? Those that might be connected with the Jianghu maybe?”

“The Jianghu?”

Hein sighed. “Give it a rest, Chun. You’re not going to find that here.”

“Find what?” Lin Fei asked.

“A cultivation manual for the Sacred Soul Realm.”

The table suddenly went quiet and all eyes turned to me in shock.

“Even you still have need of such a thing?” Captain Yungi said. “At your level of strength and power?”

It was embarrassing to admit, but as General Gong had said, hopefully what was said in the Spire remained in the Spire and I trusted them to be discreet after how much we’d already just shared.

“As Hein will tell you, much of my sect life was a bit of a turmoil,” I said. “I only ever learned the basics. The rest has been mostly self-taught.”

Their eyes went wide again and there was even a little lemonade.

“Self-taught?” Lin Fei said, blinking at me shocked. “You’re not just a prodigy, you’re a damn genius.”

“Hey, don’t tell him things like that,” Hein said dismissively. “It’ll make his head even bigger.”

That got a few laughs to break the tension.

“But honestly yeah,” I said. “I could really use a connection to find a manual of some sort. Nothing crazy illegal like a sect manual, just something generic that’s above a foundation level manual.”

“I already told him such a thing is likely to not ex—” Hein began, but Lin Fie quickly cut him off.

“Oh, they exist,” Lin Fei said. “And I know who could get you one.”

“Who?” I said excitedly.

But before she could speak General Gong raised his hand. “That’s quite enough.”

My heart sank as I sensed a laying down of the law.

Perhaps I’d gone too far to assume that everything that happened in the spire would be cool. Gong then stood.

“Whatever you’re about to talk about I need not know,” he said. “I need some plausible deniability in case things go wrong. As does everyone else. So you three should get on your way to discuss whatever you’re talking about.”

“Us three?” Hein said. “I don’t want to be—”

“Shut up,” I said. “You’re the one who mentioned the manual.”

“My first order still stands,” Gong said as he invited us to leave the table. “Whatever you do, don’t embarrass me.”

* * *

Hein trailed behind us apathetically, as I discussed the idea with Captain Lin Fei, making our way downstairs.

“So you truly know someone who can get me this manual?”

“Anyone who grew up around here would,” Lin Fei said. “I was fortunate enough to get selected in a recruitment drive when I was ten. Luckily, I had developed some aptitude for Qi by then. But up until that time, I lived in these streets. And when you did, you knew who to pay your respect. The Black Crows of Lu Shui City can get every and anything for anyone. So long as you pay the price.”

“And what kind of price you think this would be?” I asked as we pushed through the crowd towards the front doors.

“No clue,” she said. “Tens of thousands of spirit stones probably. And that would be just for a peek.”

With my mental agility, a peek or two would perhaps be all I needed. “That’d be fine. So where do we find these guys?”

“Guy,” she corrected. “I can take you to the underboss of the region. His name is Mak Tung.”

“Where is he?”

“Across the city,” Lin Fei said as we stepped out into the night. “We can grab a rickshaw. I’m feeling way too drunk to walk that fa—.”

She stopped short and when I got out the door myself, I quickly saw why.

There before us, was no less than a hundred cultivators in mismatch robes.

But they all had a common theme.

Black feathers.

I spotted a tall man at the front. Bearded with a set of cutlasses at his sides and tattoos all over his face. Next to him was a man I recognized immediately. The same one that I’d beaten the core out of.

“No need for that rickshaw,” Lin Fei said, squinting her eyes puzzled. “Looks like Mak Tung and his crew are already here for some reason.”

“Yeah,” Hein said with a sigh as he rolled his eyes at me. “And I’m sure that reason has absolutely nothing to do with us.”