Chapter 157: 225. Map

Jia was almost entirely dumbfounded by the absurd claims of the elemental in control of Ja Yun’s body.

“Are you telling us that the elementals are specifically trying to destroy the world?”

Iseul blinked once—the first time Jia had seen her do so at all—then shook her head.

“Oh, no. Well, not really. It’s more like they just don’t care if it does? I guess destroying it is the path of least resistance, though.”

Kaede cut into the conversation, still holding Eui’s limp form in her arms. Jia’s heart ached as she tried in vain to reach out with her domain to restore their connection, but she kept her attention focused on the conversation.

“If the elementals seek the world’s destruction, then is there even anything to discuss? Whether we have something you want or not, we will fight you to the end. There can never be any hope of cooperation—you may as well just kill us and be done with it.”

Iseul grimaced.

“I keep telling you, they don’t want to destroy the world. They just want someone—anyone—to get their hands on two keys and the map, find the tomb, and open it. Once that happens, everything else should just fall into place.”

This time it was Eunae who interrupted. At some point she had picked up Haeun and was holding her on her hip. The little princess was a little old to be carried like that, but she still hadn’t woken up and it was better than leaving her on the floor.

“By ‘fall into place’ you mean that one of the divine factions will steal away the treasure maintaining our world, dooming us all. There’s no difference!”

Iseul glanced back at the xiantian elementals, hesitating for a moment before responding.

“Well, not necessarily. The tear could also be used to destroy the divine seal on the world and restore the natural order of ascension.”

Jia frowned.

“Why do they care so much about ‘natural order’ or whatever anyway? What difference does it make if one world is separated from the divine realm?”

Iseul bit her lower lip.

“I’m not supposed to tell you this, but the divine seal keeping the Sovereign’s Tear separated from the divine realm is actually really bad. It corrupts the will of heaven itself, and grandpa is worried that if it keeps absorbing the power of a demiurge, it will eventually turn into something...really bad—sorry, I can’t really understand it.”

The Ice elemental suddenly shifted, crackling and tinkling with the sound of shattered crystal as it focused its attention on Iseul. There was a pause before Iseul shook her head at the elemental.

“Mom, I’m telling them because they need to know. Jia is right, this is why you haven’t been able to make any progress. This is literally what I was made for, let me do my job!”

Another pause, more crackling ice, then Iseul crossed her arms and frowned.

“Yes you are! That’s so mean! You and dad contributed parts of yourselves to make me, that means I’m your daughter! Now be quiet and let me work.”

Iseul turned back to face Jia and the others, her pouting lips a bizarre pairing with her manically wide eyes.

“Ugh, I hope I learn how to get my own emotions later. Yun’s are a mess! Mom said I’m not her child, and I think I’m going to cry now.”

True to her word, Iseul’s tears began to flow freely down her face, the goopy cloak of her elemental body reaching up to dry them.

“Sorry! I don’t know how to turn this off. Anyway, grandpa is really invested in making sure that the divine seal is removed one way or another. It doesn’t have to be destruction, but if you aren’t going to cooperate, then there’s really no other alternative.”

Jia shook her head, feeling completely lost.

“Fine, what do they want, and what are they offering?”

Kaede snapped her head around to glare at Jia.

“Surely you’re not actually considering working with them?”

Jia shrugged.

“I’d rather hear them out before martyring everybody here, at least.”

Kaede scowled and averted her gaze, and Iseul took the opportunity to jump back in.

“That’s great! Like I said, they want to know where the map is. If you can prove you have a way to find the tomb, then the other elementals are willing to discuss cooperation.”

Eunae shook her head.

“Even if we did, how can we trust you? You’ve already brought our nation to its knees, imprisoned me and my family, and destroyed what little hope we had against the other factions of the divine realm. What prevents you from simply taking what you want as soon as it’s demonstrated?”

Iseul shook her own head in a mimic of Eunae’s gesture—her mannerisms were growing more human with each moment.

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“They didn’t kill anybody! Er...nobody important. The mage colleges agreed to stay out of it, and the xiantian nobles were only sealed, not killed. They uh...may have underestimated the long term importance of the military for keeping the peace among the mortal population, though. They aren’t really used to mortal concerns, sorry about that.

“Anyway, aside from needing to reform the military, this is all super reversible! Having the map opens up options that didn’t exist before—that’s why they are so interested in it. And uh...well, sorry to say this but I told them everything about Jianmo already. Please don’t blame Yun! I just know everything she knows.”

Jia held her head in her hands. She really couldn’t blame Ja Yun, not after she’d made almost the exact same mistake so recently.

“Okay, but then you know that we don’t actually have any means of contacting her. Last we saw, she was being chased around the continent by that Sovereign Shen.”

Iseul nodded in agreement.

“Yep! I remember! Or Yun does. Still, mom and grandpa think you’ve got something else that will work.”

Jia’s eyes widened with a sudden realization. It didn’t matter whether she could find Jianmo or not, she had something else. The tiny piece of Jianmo’s essence, an illusion—no, a simulacrum with all of Jianmo’s knowledge. If Jianmo knew how to find the tomb, then so did the simulacrum. Jia narrowed her eyes—she didn’t trust the elementals, and she wasn’t sure she could trust Iseul, either.

“If I do, and I can prove it, then what? What are your promises worth? The high nobles trusted you, and you sealed their leaders away. The army trusted you, and you used them like expendable pawns in your coup. I need a show of good faith, I need you to demonstrate that you’re not going to just chew us up and spit us out like everyone else.”

Iseul cringed back, but nodded.

“Right, right! Let me just...”

She turned back to the elementals as she trailed off, presumably communicating through their odd telepathy—was that what it was like for others when she talked to Eui? The Ice and Magma elementals both shifted each of them taking an aggressive step towards Iseul who held her hands up defensively.

“You wanted me to get through to them—this is how! You can’t just selectively throw facts at people and expect them to do what you want!”

After another minute of strange, one-sided argument, Iseul finally turned back to Jia with an apologetic smile, her expression now almost entirely human—which was almost worse than when it had been completely wrong.

“Sorry! This is a lot harder than I thought—there’s a lot getting lost in translation. So...basically, they are willing to make whatever concessions you want, if you can prove that working with you is the most effective way to reach their goals. Which...I understand probably looks a lot like not compromising at all, but that’s just how they are.”

Jia groaned in frustration, but shook it off and focused. She was approaching this from the wrong direction. The elementals had their own strange kind of rationality to them, and Jia needed to recognize that. Making emotional appeals or trying to generate goodwill was useless if the elementals didn’t recognize those concepts at all. There was no giving face, no polite discussion. Iseul had given her a huge hint, maybe without even meaning to.

You can’t just selectively throw facts at people and expect them to do what you want.

If that’s how it worked for elementals, then maybe Jia could play that game.

“I can’t show you the map. I need Eui.”

Short, concise. Don’t give away excess information. Give them the facts that would move them in the direction she wanted. Iseul glanced back at the elementals, but the Void was already moving. With a flicker of unseen magic, the barrier surrounding Jia vanished.

In an instant, her domain was whole again. She was whole again. Eui’s eyes snapped open as she woke with a start and Jia could sense the incredible intensity of her hunger—her newly expanded demonic core demanding more than the tennin core could offset. She panicked, thrashing around in Kaede’s arms and falling to the floor before regaining her bearings and consciously suppressing the hunger.

“Wha—where am I? I’m alive? What’s going on? Oof!”

Eui’s inquiries were cut short by Jia slamming into her, bowling her over with a flying tackle hug.

“Eui! I’m so glad you’re alright!”

Jia didn’t care who was watching, or what it meant that such a short separation had been so painful. She squeezed Eui tightly and refused to let go. Her companion returned the hug and chuckled wryly.

“Me too. But uh, Jia, do you want to catch me up on what’s happening?”

Right. Priorities. Rather than waste time explaining, Yoshika simply picked herselves up off the floor and frowned in consideration. She hadn’t been lying when she said she needed Eui—her aspects lacked the control necessary to manipulate divine essence by themselves—but she wasn’t sure if she should follow through with the implicit promise that she would do so. She knew that the elementals didn’t expect her to, and wouldn’t take offense if she didn’t, but she didn’t really see another way out, either.

“Give us a moment—we’ve never done this before.”

Yoshika closed her eyes in meditation, and reached into her soul. Eui’s demonic hunger was now a constant distraction, but a manageable one. She set aside the temptation to feed the mote of divine essence to her demonic core as she brought it out.

Yoshika had been meaning to try this ever since learning how to control her divine spark, but she hadn’t had the opportunity between Rika’s tribulation and the elementals taking control of the palace. With as much grace as she could muster, she reached out with her divine spark to manipulate the piece of Jianmo’s essence. Nearly as soon as her divine spark touched it, the divine essence responded, acting on some instruction left behind by its creator.

Yoshika was ready, opening her eyes and preparing for whatever prank Jianmo tried to play on her. She was not prepared to meet the same pair of deep, purple eyes with both of her bodies—nor for the fact that each of the two Jianmos before her were a different gender and only five feet tall. The two Jianmos laughed in chorus.

“Hahaha! How do you like it?! I don’t hate creepy twins! Good job figuring it out, darlings. Now you can...start...hm?”

Jianmo began to trail off as they noticed the atmosphere around them, slowly turning to take in their surroundings.

“Oh my. Yoshika, sweetheart, you’ve gotten yourselves in quite a bind, haven’t you?”