Chapter 44: Bracelet (5)

Muchen joined his hunting party for dinner. The six of them gathered in front of Shuchang tent. As the leader of their expedition and the leader of their party, Shuchang naturally commanded the position at the head of the camp, near the north gate. He'd be the first one manning the defense in the case of an emergency.

He also hadn't skimped on the creature comforts. His tent was made of fine material more than a grade or two above what Muchen usually wore for his clothing, and the glimpse Muchen had of the interior suggested that his bedding was similarly sumptuous. Shuchang didn't hoard all of the goodies for himself, though. The wine he'd poured out to go with their meal reminded Muchen of some of the better vintages he'd enjoyed at the Wang fmily's dinner table.

The other five members of the party had known each other for a while. It wasn't their first hunt together. It would have made for an awkward meal, if Shuchang hadn't worked so hard to draw Muchen into the conversation.

They ate while speaking of the things they'd seen. Muchen took their tales of the wonders of the northern wastes with a grain of salt, though he was sure they only half believed his stories of the great cities in the south of the Qianzhan Empire. It wasn't until they had scraped their plates clean and set them aside that talk turned to business.

"Reaching the peak of the meridian opening realm is no small feat," Shuchang said, giving Muchen a respectful nod. "What is your preferred martial style?"

Muchen gestured toward the saber at his side. "I chop things."

That got a friendly chuckle. Muchen restrained himself from openly celebrating the fact that he had successfully evaded naming the saber style Xinyi had imparted to him.

"I hit harder than you would expect," Muchen continued, "but I'm not much for back and forth exchanges or reading the flow of battle."

He would have liked to brag about his fighting prowess, but they were about to venture into danger together. This was a time for honesty, not boasting that would see more responsibility heaped on his shoulders than he could deal with.

"We can always use more attacking power," Shuchang said. "Stick close to me tomorrow. I'll watch your back and make sure you have opportunities to strike."

Maybe there was a reason Shuchang had a reputation as a reliable guy. Muchen couldn't help but be heartened that the leader of their expedition was willing to look out for him. As he smiled and nodded, he noticed that he wasn't the only person who was impressed.

The young woman who had brought their meal and who was currently gathering up the dishes had paused in her work. Muchen looked over just in time to catch the tail end of the admiring glance she was giving Shuchang before she came back to herself and went back to picking up plates. Unless he was very much mistaken, there was a light blush on her face.

Muchen made a mental note of her appearance before returning his attention to the business at hand. It wouldn't do to be negligent when it came to a task that put his own life on the line.

"What's your specialty?" he asked.

"I'm a bit of an all rounder," Shuchang said. He gestured at a spear leaning against the side of his tent, just within arm's reach. "With the added reach of the spear, I'm pretty good at crowd control. Don't worry, you'll get a chance to shine."

The loot distribution for this hunt went more or less towards whoever contributed the most to each kill. Getting the last hit in was good enough to claim the body of most monsters. For Shuchang to go out of his way to set up kills for Muchen was generous. Of course, the fact that half of all the proceeds of the hunt would end up in Shuchang's pockets at the end of the day probably made it easier to be generous.

"I'll do my best," Muchen said, "but as long as I finish the hunt in good health I'll be happy."

"Don't worry!" Shuchang said, leaning forward to clap Muchen on the shoulder. "I've been out here dozens of times. It's dangerous, but as long as you keep your head about you and don't take any stupid risks, you'll be fine."

"And don't go north of the standing stones," one of his friends added.

"Like I said, don't take stupid risks," Shuchang said, before turning his attention back to Muchen. "We'll be heading more or less directly north from camp, but we won't be going too far. If we get separated, try to meet up. Failing that, head back for the camp. Whatever you do, no matter how badly you get turned around, don't keep going north past the standing stones."

"What do they look like?" Muchen asked. He had no interest in going north on his own under any circumstances, but it was always possible he could confuse the direction or get turned around.

"You'll know it when you see it," Shuchang said. "There's a whole line of them. Stretches hundreds of li."

"What do they do?" Muchen asked.

"Nobody knows. Nobody knows who made 'em, either. All that matters is that it marks the absolute farthest north we can travel with a big group like this," Shuchang said. "Raiding past the stones takes a small, elite team that can go in, get what they need, and get out."

Muchen nodded. "Got it. I'm not in the business of gambling with my life."

With Muchen's role in place, the plans for the next day were settled. The other four members of the group had worked together enough that their cooperation was almost automatic. As the conversation shifted away from business and more towards reminiscing over past hunts together, Muchen excused himself.

He told the others he wanted to make sure he got a good night's sleep. That was true, but he had an errand he wanted to carry out first.

It was easy to find the cookfires. All he had to do was follow his nose. It was a little harder to find one person working food preparation without coming across like a giant creep, but Muchen managed. He found a cook who wasn't too engrossed with his work and struck up a conversation about what it would take to get a custom order prepared for his breakfast.

It turned out it cost far more than Muchen was willing to pay, especially when he could build a perfectly good campfire and cook his own. He wasn't sure if other cultivators just didn't care about the value of money or if the chef was quoting a high price to make him go away. Either way, it didn't really matter as Muchen caught sight of a familiar figure carrying a stack of freshly cleaned dishes.

A moment later he excused himself and made his way over to the dishwashing station. He stood there, waiting to be acknowledged, for long enough that she worked her way through half a dozen sets of dishes. Finally, Muchen decided he would have to open the conversation.

"Excuse me-" he began, only to be interrupted.

"I'm busy."

"I just wanted to ask you a couple questions," he said.

"And I don't want to answer," she said, looking up from her work and fixing him with a glare.

"It's about Shuchang," Muchen said, noting the instant softening in the woman's expression. "I'm partnered up with him for the hunt tomorrow, but I don't know him very well. I thought you might know more about him."

"Of course I do," she replied. Her tone was still not exactly welcoming, but she no longer sounded like she was trying to drive him away.

"That's good. I figured I should learn something about his likes and dislikes," Muchen said. "After all, we need to get along out there.

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"He likes cultivating, and leading these hunts," she said. "He's a wonderful fighter, one of the strongest in Jiaoqu. The only thing he really doesn't like is people who ignore instructions and risk their lives when they don't have to."

Muchen nodded, encouraging her to continue. She was happy to do so. He made careful mental note of it all, even if he wasn't sure what use he would get out of knowing Shuchang's favorite color, or the fact that he had preferred climbing trees to swimming when he was a child.

He didn't interject until she had run out of steam. "You must have known Shuchang for a long time."

She nodded happily. "Of course. We practically grew up side by side."

Muchen paused for a moment, not quite sure how to broach the next subject. He was trying to approach this whole task with a modicum of subtlety, after all. He didn't want to stir up any unnecessary drama. At least, not until he made sure the drama would serve his purposes. Well, feigning ignorance had worked well for him so far.

"I only had to pay half price to join the hunt," Muchen said. "I heard he got engaged recently."

She looked back down to the plate that had been forgotten in her hand all this time, returning to her scrubbing as if it had personally offended her. Her grip on the scrub brush tightened to the point that her knuckles turned white.

"His father insists on marrying a talented woman into the family," she grumbled, not looking up.

"Shuchang must have had his own thoughts," Muchen said.

A childhood sweetheart could be just the ticket to making sure the marriage didn't go through. If Shuchang had already tossed her aside for the more impressive Zihan, though, there wasn't much Muchen could do.

"Maybe he does," she said. "He never shared his thoughts with me."

"Did you ask?" Muchen asked.

Instead of an answer, he found himself on the receiving end of another icy glare. Muchen held up his hands in surrender.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have pried."

"No, you shouldn't have," she replied.

"Well, the future's not set in stone," Muchen said, before excusing himself to return to his tent.

He found Xinyi sitting in front of their small fire, legs crossed as she meditated. She wasn't so deep in meditation not to notice him coming, though, clambering to her feet as he came within conversational distance.

"The plan for tomorrow's hunt is set," Muchen said. "And I may have found a way forward on our main objective."

The two of them sat by the fire as he relayed his recent conversations to Xinyi. Even in the summer, this far north the nights got cold. A decent cultivation base took the edge off the cold, but it was still more comfortable to stay warm.

"The battle plan sounds sensible enough," Xinyi said. "I'll be conducting my own investigations while you play around with the local wildlife."

Muchen nodded. Xinyi's efforts to unravel the mysteries of the northern wastes weren't something he was qualified to help out with. He was a little nervous to discover that he'd be going into danger tomorrow with only the men around him for protection, but the Qianzhan Empire wasn't a place where you could achieve greatness without taking any risks. He'd known for a while that he wouldn't be able to shelter under the umbrella of Xinyi's protection forever.

"Be careful," Xinyi added. "Don't bring shame to my teachings, or to the simpleton's saber."

Muchen nodded again. Different people showed that they cared in different ways.

"As for this childhood friend," Xinyi said, then frowned, "I mislike how your plan keeps growing more complicated."

"I wish there were a simple way to get what we want," Muchen said.

"Raid Zihan's home and take it," Xinyi replied.

Muchen coughed. "I wish there were a simple way to get what we want that won't cause us more problems in the future."

Xinyi snorted. "Problems that you can solve with violence aren't really problems."

"Be that as it may," Muchen said, "We'll still have the option of trying things the simple way if my plans fall through."

Muchen didn't care for stealing. It struck him as a shortsighted way to get what you wanted. If you always lived your life taking what you wanted with brute strength, what would be left to fall back on when somebody stronger came along? Sometimes, though, long term interests and ideals had to be sacrificed in the face of short term needs.

That bracelet could shave decades off of the time Xinyi needed to recover. It would effectively improve her ability by at least one large realm right away. That was something any other cultivator would kill for, let alone steal. Still, Muchen hoped that it didn't come to that.

"Besides, the plan isn't really that complicated," he said. "Once both of the parties involved in the marriage decide that they don't want it any more, then naturally it will fall apart."

Zihan obviously didn't want the marriage. As best he could tell, Shuchang was still on the fence. If his childhood friend could turn him against the idea, then all that would be left would be to find a way for the elders to back out of the marriage agreement without losing face.

"If you say so," Xinyi said.

If things didn't work out, not only would Muchen be forced into his first outright crime since coming to the Qianzhan Continent. He'd also never hear the end of it from Xinyi.

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