Chapter 9 - Briefing

Cai Bingtian

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

"Well, look who's finally out of secluded cultivation!" Cai Bingtian crowed when opening the door revealed his favorite shidi. The younger man glowered down at him, before stepping back to reveal the rest of the room as well. That was what Cai Bingtian got, he supposed, for being so late to a meeting with the Sect Leader. Lao Xiaojun was incredibly protective of his sister's time.

"Ah, Cai-Shidi. Thank you for coming." Lao Minghui said from behind her desk, tea steaming at her elbow. "Please, come in and settle yourself. Xiang Yun, if you could."

The harried secretary nodded and poured an eighth cup of tea on the long table. Cai Bingtian sat himself down in front of the cup, and looked over everyone present. Liang Lanlan and her brother seemed keyed up over something, and Lao Xiaojun was similarly affected by whatever they'd been discussing before he'd come. Lin Baiwei sat, back straight, bandages still covering her face over the now-missing eye. Her arm was still in a sling, which reminded him of how hard she'd fought to defend the camp while he and the others had gone on the diplomatic portion of their failed mission. Song Fengling sat next to her, sweating nervously, his hands in his lap and his back ramrod straight. Poor child, he looked so uncomfortable in this room full of Senior Disciples and Sect Heads.

"So, what did I miss?" Cai Bingtian asked in a cheeky tone, prompting them to fill him in.

"We were just discussing the events of the recent mission. Sect Heir Liang was curious as to what happened to the Dragon. I've called you all here to help give our report." Lao Minghui explained, raising a delicate hand to draw her tea cup to her mouth.

"Oh." The Dragon's fate was a bit... sad, honestly. Once the adrenaline rush had left, he'd found himself lamenting that he hadn't been able to see the creature alive. How magnificent it had been in death, torn to shreds in what had obviously been a desperate fight for survival. He hoped to go out in the same epic way, when it was his time to go.

"I was just about to have Lin-Shimei explain the beginning of the mission." Lao Minghui continued, once she'd put her tea down. "Lin-Shimei?"

Lin Baiwei stood, leaning one hand on the table, to hold her weight. "In response to the Dragon's incursions into our lands, we had set up a camp at the borders of the Forest. Fifty disciples accompanied me, and the camp had been in place for a total of seven months. During that time, we rotated in and out new disciples on the weekly. During that time, we lost no less than 66 disciples to the creature, and another 131 civilians. That doesn't include the sheer amount of cattle and sheep that local farmers lost, or the decimation of the large game population within the forest."

"Gods above..." Liang Lanlan breathed, eyes wide. Cai Bingtian was pretty sure she'd been keeping track of the death toll on her side of the border, but she clearly couldn't have known how deadly the beast had been to theirs.

"Upon totaling the losses, our sect summoned an expert in the beast's species. Nie Ruyi was an immense help in providing not only information about the beast but also in providing an option for diplomacy." Lao Minghui explained, before holding up a sheaf of papers. "Her report of the incident is a matter of public record at this time, and can be copied for either of you, should you so wish."

Cai Bingtian wondered how edited it was. Clearly Lao Minghui was avoiding telling the Furtive Jade Sect that they'd summoned a girl from another world.

"Why would you continue policing the creature after such losses?" Liang Lanlan asked, "Why not simply put up a barrier and avoid the damned forest? Surely it would starve it out?"

Cai Bingtian, having been privy to the chaos infecting the sect during this time, wondered how the Sect Leader would avoid losing face in her answer.

"We could not be certain the creature would starve. Dragons have been known to go into deep periods of sleep and wake centuries later, ravenous. We could not chance that the sects would forget its existence and cause a calamity down the road." Lao Minghui smoothed over, picking up her tea again. What a great answer. It made the Severing Firefly sect seem filial and forward-thinking. Cai Bingtian was impressed.

Lin Baiwei took over, "After the expert arrived, she, Lao-Shidi, Song-Shidi and myself went on a scouting mission, to confirm the expert's identification of the beast and to attempt diplomacy with the beast."

Here, she paused and gestured to Lao Xiaojun, who stood with a grunt as she sat. "Nie Ruyi's information proved useful. The creature confronted us, and with the mental and spiritual protections that Nie-Shimei suggested, we withstood its mental attacks. Attempting negotiations was difficult, but upon connecting on an emotional level with the beast, it gave us a 24 hour period within which to draft our first round of negotiations. We returned to camp, and in the morning, I, Lin Baiwei, and Cai Bingtian went to deliver the negotiations to the beast."

With a nod, he passed it back to Lin Baiwei, who stood. "At this point, we have determined that an unknown Tourmaline Grove disciple was on route as well. We are unsure what her objective was, but she made contact with our camp approximately a shichen from when our diplomatic party left camp. According to the only survivor to have seen her arrival, she emerged from within the forest, in a similar direction to the one we left in. Our working theory at this point is that she encountered the dragon and severely injured it. This explains the condition Nie-Shimei and Song-Shidi found it in, later.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Upon contact with our camp, the Tourmaline Grove Disciple began indiscriminately attacking our disciples. Of the fifty disciples we had at the camp, only twelve survived. Of those twelve, nine are permanently crippled, and two are in a coma. She intended to wipe all of them out, to get rid of any witnesses. During the massacre, she spotted Nie-Shimei and Song-Shidi escaping into the woods and abandoned her attempts at genocide and followed them. Song-Shidi can explain more about this."

Song Fengling jumped, clearly having not expected to be allowed to speak in this room filled with giants. Cai Bingtian had a moment of sympathy for the kid as he jolted into standing.

"N-Nie-Shijie and I ran, on her insistence, and headed into the woods. She thought that if we could get the dragon to protect us, we could survive. But... when we ran into the dragon, she was... The dragon was near-dead. She'd been hung in the branches... and blood dripped everywhere..." The boy's face grew clouded, and Cai Bingtian wondered if he was seeing the red everywhere, or if he was hearing the plip-plip-plip of the droplets. "Nie-Shijie noticed it was still alive, and begged it to give us a place to hide. Wh-when... When it said that it didn't care about us, that it was lamenting the future death of its child, its egg, Nie-Shijie swore to care for the dragon's egg as if it were her own child."

It was clear this had affected the child greatly because he sighed a little, shaking his head. "The dragon agreed, and using its control over the flora, led us to a cliff. Nie-Shijie said that the Dragon's lair would be in the cliffside." Here he paused, pain showing on his face clearly. The young boy closed his eyes, and his shoulders drew up by his ears.

"I'm not strong enough to carry another person on my sword. So Nie-Shimei had to climb down the vines on the cliff. And when we got to the opening of the cliff, she wasn't able to climb around to get in safely. So, she had me push her when she dropped, so that she'd land inside the cave. ...but I pushed too hard. She... She hit her head, and wouldn't wake up for a while."

"Has she been treated?" Liang Zilin asked, raising an eyebrow. Cai Bingtian’s senses trained on the young man. It wasn’t often he showed interest, outside of common courtesy, in others. Yet, he’d spoken up several times since meeting Nie Ruyi about her.

"Of course. Nie-Shimei has been looked over. As a mortal, she will have a slow road to recovery, but she is on her way." Lao Minghui explained, before gesturing to Song Fengling to sit down. The boy did so, and the Sect Leader took over from there. "Song-Shidi and Nie-Shimei hid in the caves for a while, while the Tourmaline Grove disciple tracked them. Luckily, before she realized the cliff was carved into, A-Jun and his party found her. They drove her off, and rescued Song Fengling and Nie Ruyi."

"So she got away?" Liang Lanlan frowned, and Cai Bingtian remembered that expression from when they were little and she'd find something missing from her lunch. It usually precluded her going and fetching the thing while yelling at the one who forgot it.

"Yes, unfortunately." Lao Minghui smiled gently, giving a gesture that could mean 'such is life' or 'we're working on it'. "So, that concludes the report. At this time, the Dragon is slain, its body is being laid to rest by our sect. The forest should begin recovering soon, and the local towns have been compensated on our side of the border."

A subtle way of saying that they weren't paying for any damages on the Furtive Jade side. Cai Bingtian had to admit he really did admire Lao Minghui's ability to handle business. He tuned out the rest of the meeting, which was mostly the banter and sly negotiations that made up any meeting for Sect Higher Ups. He was so glad he'd gotten out of that game before the Furtive Jade Sect Leader could have forced that onto his shoulders. He'd never wanted to be Leader of anything, much less a whole sect, and this, right here, was why.

Luckily for him, the meeting ended soon enough, with Lao Minghui dismissing everyone in order to finish the documentations cementing the reparations they’d be collecting on the commoner’s behalves from the Furtive Jade Sect. He pushed himself upright and let his long legs bounce him over to Lao Xiaojun’s side.

Now that he wasn’t detoxing, the little lordling of the Severing Firefly sect was only mildly touchy today. Which meant that Cai Bingtian could sidle up to his side and with a bright grin, needle him with, “Ah, Lao-Shidi, you look so much better now that you’re out of seclusion! You should let this old man join you some time, we can spar!”

The younger cultivator sniffed, not even deigning to answer. Honestly, something about the way Lao Xiaojun looked at him, like he was lower than the slime he’d wipe off his boot, made a strange little thrill slide up his spine.

“Ah, come on, Lao-Shidi! Don’t be like that. This Shixiong of yours wants to trade pointers!”

“You are a seal-master. I am a pill-forger. We would not be able to provide any pointers that the other might find useful.” Lao Xiaojun snapped, sharp and cutting. His eyes, a mulled grey like dark storm clouds at twilight, flicked to Cao Bingtian for a moment before turning away even as Lao Xiaojun’s hands repositioned themselves. One hand tucked up behind his back, the other adjusting on his sword grip.

“That doesn’t mean anything. I’ve learned quite a number of different weapons. Surely a spar won’t hurt any? And I know that you could always use more combat experience. You may be a pill-forger, but your cultivation is best built with physical practice, right?” Cai Bingtian wheedled.

The difference between a physical cultivator and a spiritual cultivator was very distinct. Physical cultivators, like Lao Xiaojun and the boy Song Fengling gained experience and rose in cultivation level by fighting. Something about the combat gave way to breakthroughs on how to move the energy of the universe, the Yang Qi all around them, through the body. It was this that ended up helping them grow in level of cultivation.

For spiritual cultivators, that breakthrough was stifled by fighting and conflict. Spiritual cultivators were more focused on how the energy moved when it was in use for other things, such as seal-work, cooking, furnace-work, and meditation. It was during the slow, methodical work a Spiritual cultivator was Called to, that the Spiritual cultivator was able to understand and implement the best ways to cycle and control their Yang Qi.

There were, of course exceptions. Lao Xiaojun was a physical cultivator, who often used his furnace-work and pill-making to refine his control of his Qi. It was quite fascinating, in Cao Bingtian’s opinion. And then there were cultivators like Cao Bingtian, who hovered dangerously between the physical and the spiritual. To be too much of one was to upset the other, and it didn’t sit well with him not being able to improve in any way he so chose. He’d of course suffered for it, as some of the mended cracks in his core foundation and spiritual veins could attest. But it was what worked for him.

“...” The silence spoke volumes on how little Lao Xiaojun wanted to admit Cai Bingtian was right. Cai Bingtian tried not to feel like he was bullying a recalcitrant child.

“If you spar with me, I’ll use a saber? And try and copy that Grove Tourmaline Cultivator, that way you can replay the fight?” Cai Bingtian could see the narrowing of Lao Xiaojun’s eyes which made him think just a little more and he’d have an agreement. “And I won’t use seals either! Just martial attacks.”

“Tsk.” Lao Xiaojun clucked his tongue and turned, striding out of the room and towards the training grounds. Cai Bingtian did not crow in triumph, but it was a very close thing.

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