Chapter 4: Chapter III: Qian Ru

The Jade Serpent Empire is a vast political entity spanning more than 3 million square miles in land within its territorial holdings. Starting from the tip of the Gulf of Xian's Dream to the West, it envelops the lion's share of the Zhōnghuán continent, only ending on the beaches of Dá mèn á mèng, bordering on the Sea of Tears, widely considered to be the easternmost point to the Xuáxià landmass.

 

Named after a particular river that crosses the capital city Tian'anmen, The Yù River,  which was said to have been the source of the First Empress's power, the Jade Serpent Empire was born as an idea concocted by the Immortal Mu Guiying, one she described in great detail in a letter to her great great granddaughter, Ming.

 

Envisioned by the powerful cultivator in the Year CCLIV A.A, it would only be five thousand years later, in the aftermath of the Hundred Year War, that a clan powerful enough would rise to prominence, one capable of realizing Mu Guiying's dream.

 

Beset by friend and foe alike, the Jade Serpent Empire is not without its fair share of enemies. The Gallic Sun Tribes to the north, the Yellow Dragon Principalities to the west and the Great Iberian Sovereignty to the southeast to name but a few of them. Each has faced the Jade Serpent Empire countless times in open battle, some for even several hundreds of years, at the height of the empire's imperialistic tendencies.

 

Divided into five regions, the Jade Serpent Empire is ruled by the Huáng Dynasty, and has been for the last two thousand years. But while the role of Empress is considered the premier position in the Jade Serpent Empire, and consequently, the entire Zhōnghuán continent as well, it is one with very little influence on the actual day to day life of its citizenry. Instead, it holds a far more ceremonial function, at least to those outside the Divine Realm.

 

In its stead, each region has a sole clan at its head, one powerful enough it surpasses all others. Peerless, except for three others in the entire Jade Serpent Empire, each of the four clans, consequently named "The Four", is near autonomous within its own territory, beholden to no one but themselves and the Grass Crown.

 

The fifth region, more commonly known as the Divine Realm, spans Tian'anmen alone, the capital and largest city in the empire, and is directly administered by the Empress herself.

 

Designed by an ancestor of the current Empress, Huáng Xiang, may her reign last for a thousand generations, the Region System is one that has greatly profited the Huáng Dynasty and the Jade Serpent Empire as a whole, the pitting of each of the Four against one another reducing the enmity each harbored towards the Grass Crown, in addition to raising its standing as judge and jury, an impartial bystander to the Four's warring. It also had the advantageous byproduct of ensuring only the most powerful thrived, complacency an absolute sin none of the Four dared suffer, for with it, one can find herself devoid of any land to call her own, territorial conflicts actively encouraged by the Grass Crown, so long as they did not significantly harm the Empire's population.

 

A stipulation that many found greatly varied between each Empress and case.

 

It is also the reason why the Jade Serpent Empire's enemies have withstood the test of time, for while some of them have faced the conjoined strength of even two of the Four Clans and lived to tell of it, never in the history of warfare has the full might of the Jade Serpent Empire been brought to bear, the political and social issues between the Four disallowing the very notion.

 

But our story, meager as it may be in the grand scheme of things, does not begin with one of the Four. Nor does it follow one of their subordinate clans, its path beginning in the far outskirts of the empire, in a remote city by the name of Shenzhen.

 

Neither large nor small, the border city has long since been the home of two opposing factions.

 

The Wèi Sect and the Lù Sect.

 

Rumored to have been one of those few who established the city, the Lù Sect was said to have been the most prominent Sect in Shenzhen up until the arrival of Wèi Chan, Founding Mother of the Wèi Sect.

 

In a clash that would reverberate across time and influence generations to come, the Matriarch of the Lù Sect perished before Wèi Chan, her death an unavoidable conclusion in a battle between two cultivators with varying degrees of proficiency. The act crowned Chan as the most powerful cultivator in Shenzhen, the subsequent changes in allegiances and affiliations practically occurring overnight.

 

Strange all the more was the fact Chan did not deign to kill the Lù Sect as a whole, her decision one that would be greatly debated by her descendants for years to come.

 

Since then, more than a thousand years ago, every Matriarch of the Wèi Sect has changed her name to Chan upon elevation to Matriarch-hood as a sign of respect for the Founding Mother, her gift to her daughters the entirety of the Shenzhen province.

 

For no one, not even the lowest born peasant in the villages bordering the suburbs of Shenzhen, did not know a Wèi by sight, their blonde locks and pale blue eyes a rarity amongst the sun-swept lands of the Shenzhen province.

 

It was both a gift and a curse, their thousand years interbreeding not having diminished a whiff of the Founding Mother's traits.

 

But while our story begins at the feet of the Wèi Matriarch, the most powerful cultivator in the surrounding leagues, it does not follow one of the Wèi Sect's daughters, instead it traces the trail of a young boy and his mother, recent immigrants to the beautiful city.

 

~~~~~

Qián Ru was incredibly excited this morning, for today, for the first time ever, he was finally going to visit his Big Sister in her own home! And not only that, he was actually going to live with her for the foreseeable future! How lucky was he? Or at least that is what his mother alluded to when she announced they were going together to the Wèi Sect's Main Branch.

 

He really couldn't be any happier.

 

He was just so excited it was becoming quite difficult to contain himself, the time it took for his mother to pack what meager belongings they had far more than what he could deem acceptable.

 

But, unfortunately for him, no matter the number or tone of his complaints, his mother would not quicken her languid pace, and so, realizing there was nothing else he can do, Qián Ru began packing her belongings as well, throwing everything they owned in small wooden boxes they had up until then been using as a substitute for chairs, the impatience bubbling from him in droves garnering quite the snicker from Ai.

 

One she deliberately capitalized on, taking even more time to finish each step.

 

Luckily for him, after a thorough search for anything missing they might have left behind, and last minute preparations that apparently included cleaning their home, much to Ru's consternation, they were good to go, all their belongings fitting in no more than a few, mildew‐smelling boxes that looked capable of falling apart from a light breeze.

 

Mindful of this detail, Ru stacking them up high, from least durable to most, before he took them in his hands, his line of sight now greatly diminished.

 

"So, would you like your breakfast here or do you think it can wait until we arrive there?" Ai asked, her question provoking quite the disgruntled glare from Ru, much to her amusement.

 

"My, somebody's eager. What, no wisecrack? Nothing you feel you want to say? I'm here if you want to talk about anything, Ru. No matter how long it takes."

 

"Moooooom!" Ru yowled, before he decided he had enough of her mischief and left, his mother following in his footsteps as she offered other, more inane, quips.

 

"Perhaps we should go on that detour you always wanted to explore, Ru? The one by the marketplace. And from there we could go find ourselves a nice place for a picnic. How about that, Ru? Feel like you're up for an aimless stroll in the city? I know I sure am."

 

Ru simply ignored her, content to walk the path he had not so long ago been forbidden from treading upon, the sudden reminder an unpleasant surprise he had a hard time swallowing.

 

"What? Cat got your tongue?" Ai jested, only to then notice Ru's considering gaze.

 

"Mom, why did you tell me to never go near the Wèi Sect?" As if feeling the need to further explain himself, he added. "Wèi Lan is from there, and she is the best!"

 

At his almost innocent question, Ai dithered, the joviality that was ever so prevalent a second prior having fled from her, causing Ru to inwardly wince.

 

But while he mentally chastised himself for being the one to deprive his mother from her cheer, and promised himself he would make it up to her, he did not flinch from his line of questioning, his desire to know the truth overpowering the need to please his mother.

 

Meanwhile out on the street, outside the hovel the Qiáns called home, a commotion was taking place, one that was the direct result of a cultivator in the Earthly Realm, the presence of one as powerful as her provoking quite the panic amongst the lowly denizens of Shenzhen's poorest neighborhood.

 

To escalate things further, the cultivator looked visibly irritated with the one beside her, all those present divided between pitying the poor girl, condemning the fool, or both. But not a single one of them even as much as thought of trying to step in and help, wholly aware no good could come from sticking your head where it did not belong.

 

"I still don't understand why your mother instructed me to accompany you. I see no reason other than to waste my time as punishment for allowing you to waste yours, and that is simply unacceptable. You may be Wèi Chan's daughter, but that doesn't mean you'll be the one to inherit. Far from it, actually, seeing as how your cousin is twice the cultivator you are." she bit, her juvenile display of malcontent, one that had the foreseeable result of provoking Lan, the only form of lashing out she allowed herself.

 

Wèi Ling may be a cultivator on the Sixth Step of the Earthly Realm, a titan when compared to most of the Jade Serpent Empire's population, but Wèi Chan was an Emperor.

 

Renegades did not dare trifle with her, and she was far below even the most lowly of Renegades.

 

"I… You bitch!"

 

*Slap*

 

The resounding slap, one that had the unfortunate consequence of derailing Ru and Ai's conversation, Ai using it as a excuse to chicken out of having to answer Ru's question under the guise of examining the source of the sound, pushed Wèi Lan into a wall, one already frail with the wear of time, causing it to crumble underneath her weight, stone and mortar entombing Lan in a temporary grave.

 

Those brave enough to stay and watch the ensuing argument, hidden behind their curtains, nodded at the inevitable conclusion of a disagreement with a cultivator in the Earthly Realm, and left, closing their windows shut lest they risk the ire of the cultivator any further.

 

It was one thing to stay and watch when the cultivator had a legitimate target in front of her, another thing entirely when it was no longer the case. Or so they reasoned, unaware Wèi Ling had already mapped the location of every one of her voyeurs.

 

"You would do better not to speak to your betters in that way. You may be Wèi Chan's daughter, but I am still an Elder of the Wèi Sect." Wèi Ling reprimanded her niece, well aware she was unconscious underneath the rubble.

 

Noticing the presence of another woman out on the street, one accompanied by a bobbing stack of boxes, caused Wèi Ling to sneer, her eyes tracing the Wèi Sect servant's uniform the woman wore with heavy distaste.

 

"I'm assuming you are one I'm to escort home. How wonderful." she drawled, observing the state of the woman's meridians.

 

Ai, watching the scene before her unfold, the beautiful woman clad in an air of mild contempt, the massive cave-in in the wall opposite of her, felt her breath quicken and her pulse skyrocket, her legs quivering in fear as her skin turned ashen.

 

She was going to die today and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

 

Clueless of the battle of wills his mother was experiencing, Ru peeked from behind the boxes and gasped at the devastated state of the wall of the home opposite theirs, his heart breaking at the sight.

 

The Wángs were good people, even if their daughter was the reason his mother forbade him from leaving the house.

 

They did not deserve this.

 

Besides, it had been a mistake on his part, one in which he accidently divulged his sex to Wáng Fù, and since then she had continuously hounded him, his every denial only proving to make her even more avid in her chase.

 

Fortunately, she had not revealed his secret to anyone else, too preoccupied with ways to gain his favour to notice the piddling detail of his Qi.

 

Turning towards the woman his mother was looking at and setting down the boxes, Ru admonished her with all the innocence of a child seeing a wrong and wishing to set it to right, his mind categorizing the woman before him as a powerful cultivator yet choosing to ignore it.

 

"Hey! What did you do that for? That wasn't very nice of you!"

 

Sneer firmly in place, Wèi Ling moved to answer the young child, incapable of understanding how someone so young and weak would dare question her, only to then notice that what she had at first glance thought was a girl turned out to actually be a boy, and that her senses weren't misleading her.

 

Qi flowed in him in the same breadth it was vacant from the woman standing next to him.

 

This time it was Wèi Ling who gasped, her sharp intake of breath coinciding with the look of pure unadulterated shock that appeared on her features, her expression similar to a fish fresh out of water. She stood paralyzed, unable to utter a word or sound at the reality of a male cultivator in Shenzhen, one that was inexplicably tied to the Wèi Sect.

 

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Toying with the woman before her had amused Wèi Ling, the act itself contained within a minimal display of her Qi, one she knew would scare the woman to such an extent she would beg her sister not to be escorted by Ling again.

 

That had been her sole intentions at first, up until she met her intended escortee. But then she noticed the state of the woman's meridians, the rot that afflicted her lower dantians, and she could not bear the thought any longer. She became incensed, unable to understand why her sister, a cultivator on the Second Step of the Emperor Realm, would interact with someone as lowly as her.

 

It was maddening, brought even further to a boiling point with the gesture of respect, an escort of one in the Earthly Realm.

 

Her.

 

If the boy hadn't spoken up, she would have undoubtedly struck the woman down and damn the consequences.

 

Even she had a limit for the sort of humiliation she could suffer, and accompanying an outcast in the city, showing deferential treatment to one as lowly as her, was far above her threshold, no matter the repercussions from her sister.

 

Wéi Lan was one thing, this another.

 

Or so she had thought.

 

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"

 

Wèi Ling moved to speak but found no sound would come out, her mouth as arid as the Sahaŕa Desert.

 

Licking her lips, Ling cleared her throat before she whispered an apology, her expression as sweet as a schoolgirl being chastised.

 

"Forgive me, Young Master. I did not know… If it pleases you, this one would welcome a spanking as punishment so that she may do better in the future."

 

Oh. Ru could not help but gawk, the admission of the woman before him surprising him in its apparent sincerity, Ru incapable of understanding why someone so old would so readily proffer such a punishment. He hated getting spanked, just the reminder of the last time it happened, after he had accidently divulged his true gender to Wáng Fù, making him shiver in fear.

 

"Why, you…"  Ai growled, before she slapped Wèi Ling.

 

Only to then curse out loud, staring at her throbbing hand in mild consternation as it pulsed red with pain, her nerves alight as if she had just slapped a rock.

 

A rather hard one at that.

 

"Careful, little one. It is not your touch my skin yearns for." Wèi Ling gently rebuked Qián Ai, her amusement as clear as day.

 

But while her features spelled amusement, her eyes suggested something far worse, lightning dancing between her pupils as a profound presence appeared in their midst, the full weight of a cultivator on the Sixth Step of the Earthly Realm blinding in its immensity.

 

Chuckling at the lovestruck eyes on Ru, Ling looked at him with startling intensity, her eyes tracing every shadow and curve of his features, making note in particular of his golden irises, before she offered him her hand, her smile dazzling in its brilliance.

 

"Shall we?"

 

It would only be weeks later, after the Qiáns had left for good, that the inhabitants of Ping Yang, the poorest neighborhood in Shenzhen, would realize that crime had stagnated for the past few years, its resurfacing a sign of troubling days to come.

 

~~~~~

"Finally, you're here. And what's this? You brought your personal belongings as well? Are you insane?" a woman that looked ten years Qián Ai's junior scolded her, her irate tone alone enough for Ru to lose his temper.

 

Even her expression, one that looked as if she'd recently bit on a lemon and couldn't quite get the taste out of her mouth, made something malevolent in Ru rise, teeth gritting in irritation as he thought of an appropriate response.

 

At least one that did not end with his hands around her neck.

 

Fortunately, he did not need to intervene, Ling taking it upon herself to expedite their entrance into the Wèi compound, leaving him the opportunity to stare awestruck at every corner and arch of the Wèi Sect's Main Branch's gatehouse as they passed it by.

 

A fact he exploited with relish, his gawk inadvertently cute to those lucky enough to notice.

 

Also, if he was being truly honest with himself, he really didn't mind being in the near vicinity of Wèi Ling, her delicate floral scent quite riveting to Ru, who was unaccustomed to the existence of perfume.

 

"You must forgive her tardiness, Lì Méi, she had been out with me and I had lost track of time." Wèi Ling chimed in, her smile biting.

 

Moving to glance at the one who spoke caused Lì Méi's eyes to widen in surprise, her denial lying dormant on her lips.

 

"And who… Oh, Elder Ling. Forgive me, I did not know you were here." she said, her mild remark the only sign of disapproval she allowed herself to express, the concealment of one's own Qi at one's door considered to be extremely rude and verging on the openly hostile. Even if this was Wèi Ling's own Sect.

 

"Well then, I hope Qián Ai served to your highest satisfaction, but if you would please excuse us, we have a lot of preparations to attend to. Matriarch Chan has ordered a feast to be ready at eve, and we could really use all the help we can get. If you would just leave your belongings at the outermost ring, I'll have someone send it to you."

 

"I see. Well, unfortunately, I still have need of Qián Ai, but I'll be sure to send her to you once I've finished with her."

 

"No!" Ai jumped in, staring at Ling in abject terror, a mouse on the verge of being cornered in. "Forgive me, Honorable Mistress, but wouldn't you agree my help is needed more urgently elsewhere? I do not hope to think I can understand Mistress's reasoning, but I'll fail myself as a person, and the entire honorable Wèi Sect as well, if I do not make known my disabilities. I am but a lowly outcast, punished for my sins. Surely Honorable Mistress would prefer someone more capable than this lowly one to administer her wishes."

 

"Surely you did not mean to imply I hadn't noticed your predicament?" Wèi Ling asked, eyebrow raised in amusement at Ai's frantic attempt to distance herself from her.

 

"No, Ai, I chose you specifically for this task, and I'm unwilling to deviate from my decision. Or would you rather I name you my personal assistant and be done with this farce?" Ling offered, her open threat voiced in the most casual manner in hopes it would not alert Ru, a fact she needn't have bothered with.

 

Ru was still very much just enjoying the sight of the Wèi gardens and hadn't the mind nor the patience to care about the conversation happening around him.

 

Adult stuff could be summarized as adult stuff, and right now, he had the luxury not to care.

 

A fact he fully intended to enjoy for as long as he could.

 

"Well, if you put it that way…" Ai grumbled, rolling her eyes at Ling, much to the Elder's mirth.

 

*Crunch*

 

"Have you no decency!? No shame?! The Wèi Sect has offered you a job, your entire livelihood, when no one else would even look at you and this is how you repay them? By turning your nose up at offers of advancement? By eschewing tasks handed to you by your betters? If Wèi Ling weren't here I would have thrashed you within an inch of your life for your disrespect. The gall!" Lì Méi reproached, her tone blistering.

 

Ai had been knocked to the ground by her blow, the entire left side of her body bleeding from numerous scrapes, her arm and legs twisted in a mockery of the human physique, bones clearly fractured in a number of places.

 

Qián Ru's reaction was instantaneous.

 

One second he was behind Wèi Ling, looking at a meadow of roses, and the next he was already upon Lì Méi, his hand enveloped in his Qi, as Wèi Lan had taught him. Without hesitation he jabbed his hand in her chest and killed her, his arm going through her rib cage like a hot knife slicing through butter.

 

Were it anyone else in the Wèi Sect, even the lowliest of the Outer Disciples, such an attack would have bruised at best and been blocked at worst, Ru's form far from the standard acceptable of even the Outer Disciples of the Wèi Sect.

 

But Lì Méi had only been on the Fifth Step of the Foundational Realm, a servant through and through, and Qián Ru was already on the Second Step of the Inner Realm.

 

Six paltry Steps, and a cultivation realm in difference, but more than enough to land a killing blow instantly.

 

"Good." Wèi Ling nodded at the blood-spattered boy, her smile even more gruesome for its genuinity. "The killing intent is one of the first things we check to see before one joins the Outer Disciples. It is so important that all other attributes pale in comparison to it. The cultivation Step, the mental and physical aptitudes, the background, all of them don't matter. You may be the most powerful cultivator alive, but so long as you dare not use your power to further your own goals, you might as well be the weakest human on earth. I believe it to be one of the cornerstones of cultivation, its very definition. The ability to decide for yourself what you deem to be right and the ability to act upon it. Without qualms or hesitation. It is why I would hate it if for you it was any different." she said, her eyes shining dangerously.

 

"Get my mother to a doctor." was all Ru could say, furious in ways he could not even describe.

 

This has all been a test to Wèi Ling, a tool she used to examine his behavior. If he were to guess, then Lì Méi wasn't even supposed to be here at this hour, but Ling had wanted to get a rise out of him and now an innocent girl was dead, by his hand.

 

No, not an innocent, Ru amended inside his own head, seeing the scrapes and bruises that stained his mother. She did not have to physically harm Ai to prove her point, she had just thought it fitting.

 

In the same way Ru had thought it fitting she no longer live.

 

This was a very strange world he had just entered, he realized, yet something told him this was only the beginning.

 

"Alright, sweet Ru. I will do as you command, but in return all I ask is for a favor."

 

Ru wanted to rage at her. He wanted to curse and bite, spit and claw, anything that would even remotely harm the woman that had harmed his mother on a whim and expected to be paid for saving her. It rankled him like nothing else did, not even the realization that what he had known for the past nine years of his life, what he had been born to, was extreme poverty when compared to the Wèi Sect.

 

Here, in the Garden of Eden of the Wèi Sect, Qián Ru first learned the consequences of power.

 

"Alright." he hissed, still seething inside.

 

"Good. Then we have a deal. I would suggest we kiss on it but I'd rather not find out the feel of your teeth just yet." Wèi Ling mused out loud, eyeing him with unbridled lust. "Perhaps later, when you are up for it. Well, bye bye then." Ling bid him farewell, her every gesture immensely amusing to her for some strange reason.

 

"Wait! What am I supposed to do in the meantime?"

 

"I would suggest you wait. Wèi Lan will soon arrive and I have a feeling she'll be needing you." she said and vanished, and with her, his mother's broken body.

 

Ru could not say when the tears started falling.

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