Tundra’s mind whirled, as he brought his three companions back to their designated guesthouse. Lord Baljuk’s plan could invite enemies, and may even lead to specific targeting by the Zuja, if the Zuja knew they were behind it. Or they might not, if Princess Luharl isn’t a high value target.
Tundra didn’t have thorough insight of how they worked at this time, or what sort of thought process they had. But if something was going to happen, he needed to protect his wife and his son from the fallout.
They all noticed, though Edison’s face looked like it went from tense to outright stressed. They all overheard the discussions between the three alchemists during the banquet, though they didn’t truly grasped the implications.
“Here’s what is happening. Lord Baljuk plans to request the right to speak to the Princess, or if denied, sneak into her private quarters and speak to her directly.”
As of now, none of them, other than Lord Baljuk, had ever seen Princess Luharl. She was always behind a sheer. Even at the banquet itself, the shadow of her presence was seen through a curtained window.
An ancient superstition about the royal princesses to hide their appearance.
So, they would be committing a major crime if Lord Baljuk attempted to sneak in and got caught, or if Princess Luharl was less open to such attempts. Even if Tundra didn’t involve himself in the actual act, it may still implicate them as an accomplice or collaborator.
Edison stared at his father. “We- we should report him.”
Tundra nodded. “Let us see if Lord Baljuk manages to get the permission to speak to her. If he doesn’t, we will unfortunately have to report Lord Baljuk’s intention to the royal guards.”
A part of it didn’t sit right, but the royal family was an institution that was significantly stronger than them at the current time. If he was a 10th realm cultivator, he need not fear the Royal House.
Truly, a part of him felt a little helpless.
Celestia said. “Husband, do you suspect that someone is intentionally weakening the princess?”
“Indirectly. It’s hard to really pin it down to intent, when the tournament is independent.” Tundra looked up the judges, and from what he knew, they were all competent, honest, fellow alchemists of repute. So, the tournament itself was not flawed. In some ways, it was a really clever attempt at misdirection, and the energy, focus of an alchemy competition would suck most of the participants in.
If he was a high realm cultivator like he was, he would talk to the judges, and the judges would likely see his point.
But right now, the judges, the three alchemists in the sixth realm and part of the Princesses’ personal alchemists. Given their high status, it is likely they would not consider his suggestion as worth listening to. It is unfortunate that most cultivators only listened to cultivators of a higher rank or prestige, not cultivators of a lower rank. Even if Tundra was a seventh realm, in the matters of cultivation and medicine, his words carry not much weight.
Maybe some of them could see the wisdom in his proposed solution, but he doubted it.
“For now- we wait.”
Celestia was worried. “Anything we can do, in the meantime?”
“We wait. I doubt Lord Baljuk is a hasty person, he would likely attempt to reach her through the official means. I think.”
“I see.” Tundra paused and looked around. “I wonder whether we could hear more about this competition-”
At that point, Celestia suggested as she looked outside. The banquet may be over, but for cultivators, spirit wine, drinking, and enjoying the company of beauties is a lifestyle. “Then we should head to a tavern or a restaurant. There may be other places where we may learn more.”
Tundra would truly stick out if he went to such taverns alone, and he wouldn’t achieve his goals. It had to be more natural. “I will need you to accompany me, then. Would you two join?”
Edison and Julia glanced at each other. Edison shook his head. “I’ve seen enough for today. I- I think I want some time to myself.”
Julia paused. A part of her probably didn’t want to go to a wine house with her sect master and the sect master’s wife. “I will stay back. Just in case.”
Tundra nodded at the core disciple. “That would be for the best. Thank you.”
Celestia nodded, looked at her attire briefly, and went to her room. “Just wait a minute.” She came out with a slightly different outfit, one that was slightly more revealing, a shorter qipao with a looser collar and a much higher slip along her thighs. She also took out her hairpin and changed her bunned up long hair to one where it flowed freely. “This would be better for where we are going.”
Tundra smiled, and gladly held the beauty’s arm as they walked to the wine house located in the inner city’s dining streets. As Celestia expected, the wine houses were exceptionally busy at this time.
There were wine houses on both rows, and the sound of boisterous drunkards could be heard from the streets. Each of the wine houses had their own beautiful wooden name plates, and lanterns hung throughout the streets kept it well lit. For most cultivators, the lanterns were unnecessary, so it mostly existed to recreate the ambience and feel of a cozy drinking alley. There were guards, official guards of the Royal Family stationed on the streets itself, and they looked thoroughly bored. They were not here to stop any conflict, all they would do is run off and call for the Princess’s actual imperial guards to step in.
Tundra looked at Celestia, and she looked back. “You choose. I’ve got no idea which one.”
The regressor looked back and examined the wine houses one by one, but eventually decided to just go to the biggest wine house that was located at the corner, next to a decorated stream.
“Oh, please, please, come on it. Let me arrange a table for the two of you.” The waiter probably didn’t know who Tundra was, but the waiter’s instincts were sharp enough to tell he was someone, and escorted him to a table with a good view of the performance.
Their table was a circular ring, with a sofa that wrapped around the table in a half circle.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
There were ten skimpily dressed dancers dancing on a central platform, accompanied by musicians. There was also a woman playing a guqin at the corner, for those who prefer a more ‘gentle’ type of performance.
“Do you come to such places often?” Celestia asked, as the two sat around the table. They talked, but both of them kept their ears wide open. Sometimes a drunkard would let slip a sentence or two, and that revealed anything.
Tundra also knew that the Zuja’s agents, in the much earlier days, were also found in such drinking establishments. Such places were just a convenient place to meet up without having to explain too much to other folks.
A male waiter came over, and asked. “What sort of spirit wine would you like, sir? We have some fine rice wines from the far north, and even more exotic spirit rice wines from the central fields.” He then quickly turned to face Celestia, and presented her a menu. “Milady, we also have some milder versions of spirit wines, please do have a look at our selection. But if you would like the same spirit wines as your partner, do let me know.”
Tundra glanced at the menu and inwardly cursed the cutthroat prices of such institutions. Drinks were easily ten times, if not twenty times their cost prices. But such is the life of a restaurant that suffered the brunt of a cultivator’s whims. They had to factor in repairs and losses. He decided to order what he always did anyway. “I’ll have brown rice wine, serve some of your snacks, and a fruit platter.”
“A fine choice, sir.”
“A lemon mix.” Celestia pointed to one of the selections of flavored wines, and the waiter stepped away.
Their attention then focused outwards. Their location was actually quite good, and Tundra could feel the presence of a few groups of other cultivators drinking. Celestia adjusted her position so that she seated herself closer. So close that their bodies touched.
It was a defensive instinct. If she seated herself too far from her companion, some cultivators may view that she didn’t want to be there, and would approach her.
“When’s the last time you went to a place like this?” Celestia decided to ask.
Tundra smiled. “A long time, I generally eschewed drinking events. I would only go to such a place when a senior insists.”
“Ah, the perils of leadership. Entertaining your fellow leaders.” Celestia chuckled. Her eyes briefly glanced at a group of six around the party that was still wearing their imperial attire. They were likely officers of the Princess. Tundra followed, and focused.
He didn’t sense Zuja on them, and their chatters were mostly irrelevant banter. They were so stressed out from running the whole Imperial Summons that they came here to drink their stress away. Tundra nodded, and then noticed another group, and ironically, the same elder from before.
Gurdra Black, of the White Striped Tiger Temple, was with two senior ministers from the Sixteenth Palace. They were escorted upstairs, to a private room. Gurdra Black wasn’t a Zuja agent, that part was certain, so he directed his senses on the two senior ministers, and remembered Lord Saljuk/Baljuk’s words. There were Zuja agents conspiring against the royal family.
The drinks arrived, sent by the same waiter. “Enjoy your drinks.”
Tundra nodded, as he felt Celestia’s senses darted across the large open drinking area to another group of sect members. His fingers tensed slightly.
It wasn’t an elder, but there was a person with the Zuja’s infestation. It was extremely subtle, probably only in the minor stage. A Core Disciple.
He focused, then his mind reconnected the dots. Alchemy Elder of the Crimson Lotus, Lady Zuri Blackpetals, the champion of the tournament in his first life.
The elder was someone in the mid seventh realm, from an upper mid tier sect, the Crimson Lotus Spire, a sect located near the volcanic spires of a neighboring region, and their Sect master was someone in the Eighth Realm.
They were nominally not under the jurisdiction of Luharlia, but the Imperial Summons allowed a Prince or Princess to request the presence of sect members and alchemists from any part of the world.
He didn’t speak to her then, and in his mind, she deserved the win with her beautiful Deeprooted Flame Unity Elixir. He recalled during the final judging process he was amazed at elixir, and knew that the Deepheart Flame Roots must’ve come from the Crimson Lotus’s own treasury. It wasn’t the kind of treasure that could be found in the treasury of the sixteenth’s princess.
Alchemy contests where there were no restrictions on materials like the Imperial Summons were as much a contest of their backer sect’s wealth, as it was in the alchemist’s own skills. True alchemy competitions usually specified a restricted set of materials, but Imperial Summons’ objectives were different.
Tundra didn’t want to spend resources, so stuck to the set of materials that were available to the Imperial Palace.
But there were a million and one things a Zuja-controlled Core Disciple could do to the elixir between alchemy judgment and the Princess consuming it.
Celestia touched his hand, and nodded. He nodded back. “One potential.” There could be more.
“Good. They’re looking this way.” She whispered, and Tundra immediately moved to hold his wife a little more intimately.
The glances passed, and Tundra took a sip of his drink, and back at the dancers.
“They dance well.” Celestia said, as she leaned her head on his shoulders, her eyes looking at the dancers. She followed his lead and also took a sip of her drink.
“They have a hard life, so they have to.” Tundra said. It was not uncommon for cultivators to find them charming and make demands of them, though establishments backed by the royal palace could often get away with an apology.
“You’re uncharacteristically sympathetic to their plight.” Celestia teased. “I didn’t see you as one who understood how dancers felt.”
Tundra didn’t know whether he wanted to share how one of his sect elders was once a dancer in such a place, that he spotted her having a rare set of metal spiritual roots and saw an opportunity. He recruited the dancer with a hefty sum, rescued her from a life of servitude to such entertainment houses, and trained her personally.
The dancer grew into one of his high 7th realm elders, and they shared many moments together on adventures, battles and missions, but sadly she died during one of the wars against the other Great Sects. Later on, when he went through her belongings, he found out she kept a private journal, and that she loved him. She wished she could be one of his wives. She just never found the courage to ask him, and within her, she thought her origins as a dancer meant she would never deserve to stand by his side.
He felt bad, because as a sect master, all he wanted was war potential, and back then, he saw that war potential in her. He didn’t realize he also unknowingly played with her heart.
Celestia touched him again. “You’re thinking about something that happened.”
“Ah. Yes. It- it is nothing. Just some bittersweet memories.”
“Life is full of bittersweet memories.” Celestia said. “Like this one. We’re seated together in a drinking establishment, watching dancers dance, but we are both not present to enjoy it.”
Tundra felt like a knife went through his heart again, and then looked at Celestia. Tundra held her closer. “I suppose we can do both.”
But she regretted saying it. “I kid, I kid. It is probably the spirit wine getting to my head. We have a purpose to be here. Ignore what I said.”
He nodded, but he was torn as he continued to observe the elder of the Crimson Lotus Spire drinking, and the Core Disciple. The Core Disciple didn’t do anything unusual. Tundra spread his senses, and tried to look for the Core Disciple’s co-conspirators. Zuja agents worked in teams. He must have others who worked with him.
For now, he didn’t spot any.
Celestia took another big drink of the lemon flavored spirit wine, and snuggled a little closer. Tundra could feel her body, and her skin on his. With her actions, no cultivator would dare approach her. She knew her purpose here was just his ‘cover’, but Tundra felt bad using his wife this way. She deserved better.
Tundra scanned the other members. Nothing unusual.
Then there were loud footsteps, as he saw Elder Gurdra Black with a frown on his face. He looked pissed as he walked out. Two of the senior ministers followed, but they seemed a little upset too.
The two spoke some words that Tundra couldn’t hear, and one of them approached Elder Zuri Blackpetals of the Crimson Lotus.
The two talked, but then he noticed a strange, subtle shift of energies between the minister and the Core Disciple.
It was something Tundra could sense, because of his familiarity with the Zuja’s ways. This minister was the accomplice.