Chapter Nineteen - War Looming

Lao Xiaojun

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Lao Xiaojun’s mind was not on his work, which was, perhaps, why his work was not going well. He glowered down at the destroyed remains of a Crimson-Eyed Jewel Locust that he had managed to mangle in the process of attempting to refine it into something useful. His mind had wandered instead to a certain sickly frame in a certain bed, and he’d accidentally crushed one of the crimson eyes the species was named for, which of course, rendered the damned thing useless, since the interior jelly of those eyes is rendered inert once it touches air.

He sighed, setting the bowl containing the locust body aside, and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. Clearly he wasn’t going to make any progress on this Second-Tier Earth-Grade Longevity Pill today. His sister would of course be upset over this, as it had been for one of the Core Elders who was beginning to see the effects of their many long years, and were, of course, making it her problem.

His sister was too kind-hearted.

He took a moment to manually cycle his qi through his meridians, a practice that he’d used to calm himself even as a child, when the world was too large and too noisy to be anything but painful. Then, he turned and waved a hand over the edge of the cauldron he’d started heating, a spark of qi cutting off the heat of the flames, and ending that particular bout of work.

Stepping outside of his workshop’s courtyard and into the bustling pathways of the sect drew him through the pine-splattered rock garden that gave this section of the sect it’s name. The Pine Hall was the domain of most of the Alchemists, Artificers and Pill Masters of the sect, where the sect’s medicines, pills, and artifacts were made and stored temporarily.

His sure steps took him down the stone pathways, and then up the wooden steps onto the wooden pathways of the inner-buildings of the main manor, where his sister held court as Sect Leader. Perhaps if he alleviated the REASON behind his inability to focus, then he would be able to complete his work. And since that reason pertained to a meeting his sister was meant to be having today, he might as well impose himself into the meeting.

There were, after all, some perks to being Sect Heir.

He found one of his sister’s secretaries, Xiang Yun, gathering up scores of paperwork and scrolls from his sister’s desk, when he went to her office to locate her. The young man looked up, and his deeply exhausted eyes widened. “Lao-Shixiong, what brings you here today?”

Lao Xiaojun watched as the young man jostled the scrolls in his arms so that one of them did not fall out of his elbow. “Has my sister had the meeting with the Furtive Jade Sect Leader yet?”

Understanding flitted across the young man’s face, and Xiang Yun nodded, “Shizun is attending that meeting as we speak. Allow this one to lead you.” With a respectful dip of his head, Xiang Yun took off towards the meeting room, leaving Lao Xiaojun to follow along at his own pace.

When they reached the meeting, Lao Xiaojun could hear it occurring before he saw it, which was odd, since most of these rooms were built with silencing charms carved into them so as to avoid this very situation. He frowned, realizing that the reason for this was that the door to the meeting room was being kept open by a Furtive Jade Disciple.

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Xiang Yun made muttered excuses to squeeze past the other sect’s disciple, even as the foreign disciple did a double take upon seeing Lao Xiaojun behind him. Staring down impassively had it’s benefits, because the teenager in Furtive Jade’s dusty grey-blue robes scurried out of his way upon seeing the imposing figure Lao Xiaojun made.

“I’m sorry, but that just isn’t good enough.” Lao Minghui said, her voice deceptively soft. Her fingers where interlaced in front of her on the low table. He wasted no time in settling himself behind and to the left of her, kneeling elegantly. “This is a matter of utmost seriousness, Liang-Zongzhu. Even if I wished to treat this as only the foolishness of a young woman, I could not, for Liang-Guniang is not just a young woman any more than I am just a young woman.”

“That seems hardly the same, in this instance.” The old man who was apparently Lao Xiaojun’s sister’s opponent today waved a hand, as if to say ‘this is this and that is that.’ “Liang Lanlan is much younger than yourself, Lao-Guniang.”

Immediately Lao Xiaojun felt his jaw clench. How long had his sister had to subject herself to this disrespect? “Lao-Zhangmen.” He corrected, his voice barking into the center of the conversation, and snapping every eye in the room on himself.

“...Yes, well. Lao-Zhangmen then.” The old man waved his hand again in that same manner. “Liang Lanlan did not act in the capacity of a Sect Heir, but rather in the capacity of a young woman who made a mistake. Surely that warrants some leniency.”

“Liang Lanlan is, regardless of her age, a Sect Heir. And in this instance, she knowingly took an injured and mortal disciple of this sect into a dangerous and highly inaccessible location. She then knowingly left this disciple of the Severing Firefly Sect, whom she had promised safety to, to the mercies of the cave and it’s infestation of Sedimentary Sludge Hounds. Our disciple nearly died, Liang-Zongzhu.” His sister paused here, to let that sink in.

“Then, your Liang Lanlan had the audacity to come back to our sect, impose on our hospitality for hours before anyone even realized what was wrong. Since, she has not once reached out to her victim to offer amends or apology, and now she is not even present at this meeting, to speak on her own behalf. And what’s more, even Liang-Zhangmen does not attend? What kind of face does this leave our Severing Firefly sect, hm?”

His sister had always had a gilded tongue, usually soft and gentle spoken. But now, there was a hint of steel he appreciated in her voice. She was right of course. It was absolutely unacceptable that they would treat the Severing Firefly sect this way.

“An act of War.” He said, keeping his voice lower than his sisters, but loud enough that everyone in the room could hear it.

“Come now-!” Liang-Zhongzhu began, the leader of the Liang clan smoothing his own beard in agitation, only to be interrupted.

“No, honorable elder, my brother is correct. Given the state of relations between our sects, this could easily be seen as an act of war on the part of the Sect Heir of Furtive Jade Sect. Give me three good reasons why we should not assume it to be so?” She asked, her chin lifted just an inch, which caused her to look down upon this man several centuries older than her.

The man’s face darkened, his lips pursed before a delicately painted folding fan snapped out and covered the expression. It could not cover the ire in his set brow, however. “Is that so?” He hissed, “Are we then to take no notice of your sect's own face-slapping? Have we not already consigned enough forgiveness upon the Severing Firefly Sect that we will not be afforded any of our own? Our Furtive Jade Sect has-”

“But you cannot speak for the Furtive Jade Sect, Liang-Zhongzhu.” Lao Minghui reminded him with an imperious tilt of her chin. “You are the clan leader for the Liang Clan. You are not Sect Leader for the Furtive Jade Sect. Hence, this entire discussion is quite pointless. Why don’t you call your sect leader here once again, and this time tell him war is on the horizon, should he not arrive.”

A bold move. One that Lao Xiaojun stood behind entirely, as he cracked his knuckles to emphasize her point.

image [https://i.imgur.com/xzisjky.png]