Imperial Year 34002
Two years and one month after Tundra’s regression
Anna found her room comfortable. The scent of the old cabinets, the subtle swaying of the curtains, the minor perturbations of the cultivators outside leaving little ripples of energy. She blinked.
“Wait. How am I able to sense them?” Anna could not believe her senses, but she could not mistake the sensation. She could detect them outside. The Inner disciples were practicing, and the minor energies could be picked up. The physique improvements granted by the pool, and her slightly better spiritual roots, meant her body was now more sensitive to the slight shifts in energy.
She felt a person walking nearby.
“Is this why father seems to know where everyone is?” Anna tried to extrapolate her new abilities. Her mind wondered what it’ll be like at the 5th realm, or the 6th realm. The expansion of her sphere of perception now explained more things. Up the 3rd, or even the 4th realm, the gaps in perception should not be that big. At least, for most regular cultivators, it really wasn’t that large.
She blinked as she felt a person approach. It was her stepmother, and the door opened.
“Welcome, Lady Mistburn.” Anna stood and bowed before the woman that is the de facto matriarch of the Fox family, and she felt the energies radiated by the slightly older woman.
The gap wasn’t large before, but now, even though Elly Mistburn was clearly a few stages above her in the 4th realm, somehow, Anna didn’t feel threatened. In a fight, Anna had a feeling she could win, and at least, hold her own.
“I’ve been wanting to speak to you ever since the treasure realm, Anna.”
The two rarely spoke. There was no need to.
So this didn’t feel right.
All this while, Anna gave the woman her space, and stayed out of her way. Lady Mistburn often used her authority to cement her descendants’ place in the Fox family, and for the most part, people like Anna knew better than to get in her way. Their father and the elders were often not around to hear out their point of view, they were also not there to defend them from the minor power tussles, so they suffered what they must.
But the recent treasure realm incident made it clear to everyone present.
Edison failed. Anna succeeded.
Anna knew that for Elly, this was an insult.
She was the better cultivator than her younger half-brother, Edison. The gap in their power was clear the moment they returned.
“This way, Lady Mistburn.” Anna’s part of the Fox mansion was fairly quiet. Basic.
It was where Anna and her daughter, Annaly, mostly spent her time. Anna took things as they came, and made do with what they were given. In the early days when her mother still lived, and her father was not yet the sect master, things were a lot simpler.
These days, her father’s constant presence and exposure meant she received more resources. A part of it was because her father brought in an order of magnitude more resources to the sect, thanks to his higher realm and thus higher powered pills. A portion of this extra wealth was channeled to the family.
Her home was decent, clean and with still good quality furniture, but nowhere near as decorated as Elly’s living chambers. “So, Anna.”
Anna sat and wondered what her stepmother wanted. Her heart steeled for something bad. “Yes?”
“Where’s your daughter?”
Anna wondered whether this was just small talk, or whether there’s something bigger at play. “She’s out. I believe she’s buying some treats for herself.” Annaly’s progress in cultivation has been decent, but for now she is still in the 2nd realm. She should be able to reach the 3rd realm in a year or two, if Tundra, Annaly’s grandfather, continued to support her cultivation.
“I see. Has she found some suitors?” Elly asked.
Anna blinked. Where was Elly going with this? “Not yet. There are a few that wanted to have a meal and tea with her, but I’ve not heard much.”
“I see. I see.” Elly said.
“Is there something you are here for, Lady Mistburn?” Anna prodded. Maybe it was her discomfort that made her ask the question.
Elly looked into Anna’s eyes and her hesitation was only momentary. “Anna. Tell me about the treasure realms. And Edison.” The first daughter heard of Edison’s struggles, and now it sort of made sense. So Anna didn’t hesitate to share what she knew and what she saw in the treasure realms.
A few cups of tea later, the two women were both quietly processing what they’ve shared.
“Tundra, your father, he plans to split the role of the heir of the Fox family and the Verdant Snow Sect.”
Anna paused, and blinked. “That makes sense.”
“It doesn’t.” Elly countered. “All this while, the role of the Sect Master is always inherited by his son.”
Anna thought that was obvious. There’s no way Edison could inherit it in his current state. He may be in the 4th realm, but he was on the weaker end. Even his mother, Elly, was stronger than him. With elders so far ahead of him, his position would forever be that of a young master. In fact, if it ever happened that Edison somehow inherits the sect, she truly believed the Sect would not tolerate his rule, and the Fox family would be swiftly ejected.
“You don’t have good opinions of him, don’t you?” Elly asked, quickly noticed her facial expression.
Anna shook her head, and hoped she didn’t offend her. Yet, now she had more options. She could legitimately leave the sect and join a small or mid tier sect as an elder. “Ah- that’s not what I meant.”
Elly looked at her, and didn’t seem keen on continuing the conversation. “I’ve heard enough.” Elly stood and left.
Anna sighed. Elly was always a little protective of her son. In fact, she believed her excessive coddling was also part of the problem.
But it was not her place to say it.
***
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
For a week or so, nothing much of note happened. The elders spread out to gather information and prepare for a second recruitment drive, while Tundra focused on cultivating and making pills. Pill refining was a big part of business, and he had to keep it up. But with high quality materials supplied by the palace, he could pretty much spend them on quite a lot of things.
Tundra brought those of the same age together. Jihan. Hana. The two were just one year apart. “Is she my aunt, grandfather?” Jihan asked. Hana was adopted as his daughter. Jihan was one year older, so, if they referred to each other by their familial titles, it was an awkward situation.
Tundra smiled, amused that this was the first question Jihan asked. Children can be so innocent.
“Well, you can call her Sister Hana, and Hana, you may call him Brother Jihan.” Tundra decided it was a small matter. “I think the two of you should be trained together, which is why I’ve brought the two of you here.”
Tundra sat with the two.
“Let’s start.”
Hana was bright, as he expected, but surprisingly, Jihan wasn’t bad either. Maybe because he started young, and his mind was still quite malleable. Tundra immediately thought of the question of bloodlines, and how he had a small window to give it to Jihan before his bones and souls were fully formed.
He touched Jihan’s wrists, and got a sense of his soul. The young boy was still a mortal, therefore he had no resistance to Tundra’s spiritual energies.
His spiritual roots had not fully formed yet. He had about two, three years then, to find a suitable bloodline for transplant.
It was Hana’s turn, and so he touched Hana’s wrists, and realized her spiritual roots were already growing well. A strong dual-elemental spiritual roots of Fire and Earth. That was a fairly decent and compatible set of spirit roots. Hana could start cultivating now, but that could interfere with the development of her spiritual roots. With the right diet and food, he could probably improve it by a grade or two before she reaches 12, and it wouldn’t be late to start cultivating then.
Within the next two years, he needed to find something for the two of them. From what he could sense, Jihan was likely to develop metal spiritual roots.
There were a few metal-element spiritual beasts that were well regarded as one of the top 100 spiritual beasts. The Ironblood Heavenly Turtle, or the Thunderstruck Steel Crow were two great spirit beasts that should be compatible.
After talking with the two young children some more, Tundra stood and walked to meet his fellow elders.
“I’m planning to set out to the Ancient Titans Great Sect, and would like to return with a set of Bloodline techniques. Severian, may I task you to handle the matter concerning the White Tiger’s Tournament?”
The Matter of the White Tiger Tournament would only happen all the way in Imperial Year 34,006. A few years to go, but preparations would have to start now. With Yavin, Julia and Agnia now promoted to elders, the quality of the current batch of Core Disciples and Inner Disciples would need to improve.
Tundra wasn’t sure how long he’ll have to be away, or what he’ll have to do to earn the Ancient Titans Great Sect’s trust to share the bloodline transfusion methods, but he hoped to receive it within a year, before Jihan’s spiritual roots are properly formed.
“When do you plan to leave?” Severian asked.
“In about two to three weeks. I’d like to visit some other folks along the way, and see what can be done about it. I’ll make a few more pills over the next month, and that should fund the sect’s operations for the next two years. Julia should also start working on producing pills regularly.”
Julia nodded. Her pills certainly wouldn’t fetch a high price, compared to Tundra’s pills, but a fifth realm alchemist’s pills was still fairly respectable.
***
“Would you like to come with me?” Tundra asked his wives, Elly, Marin and Celestia. “I’m planning to spend some time in the Ancient Titans Great Sect.”
The Ancient Titans Great Sect was located quite far away, on another continent altogether. It was a journey so far that it’s actually worth it for Tundra to engage a fast flying ship just to send them there.
In some ways, this was a personal trip, and so it was only appropriate that he invited his own family members with him.
Elly shook her head. “I want to be here for Edison. It doesn’t feel right for me to leave him.”
Marin and Celestia both nodded. “Sure.”
***
“You seem to have a plan.” Severian said as Tundra walked with him down into a secret chamber beneath the Verdant Snow Sect. This was where their defensive formations were placed.
“I’d like to think so. We can’t really trust any of the Princes, and I personally still wonder what Princess Luharl’s angle in this conflict is. If she intends to contest for the throne, her current strength is still wildly insufficient. It would be dangerous to throw our lot behind her, and so, we must rapidly hedge.”
“And yet, that object in your hand-” Severian eyed the circular object in Tundra’s hand. Even he could feel the faint pulse of a spiritual guardian.
“A ninth-realm shadow. An imperfect capture, likely with enough stored energy to fight for a day or two.” Tundra said. A great defensive object, but each use expended it’s energy and it could take decades to rebuild its stored energy. “I’ve bound my soul to it, but I intend to set it up, and bound it to you, as well.”
Severian blinked, as there was an energy gathering formation hidden underground. “You made this?”
“No. It was always here, used to power our existing defensive formation. But I had asked the formation master to build an extra energy gathering formation, so that I could add this.”
The circular object was placed on a stone pedestal, and then, two streaks of light connected the stone to the energy gathering formation. The addition of the energy gathering formation meant the defensive spiritual guardian would be able to activate more frequently.
Tundra guided his deputy through the steps, Severian touched the circular plate, and the binding was complete. “We should be able to use this every seven or eight years, but hopefully, we’ll never need to. Did you hear anything from the Whispering Man or the Beggar Society?”
“Yes.” Severian sighed. “The Beggar Society has quite a good set of data on the disappeared young masters and mistresses. It’s likely incomplete, but there are missing individuals all the way from a few thousand years ago.”
“Did they notice an increase in disappearance?”
“There is a gradual increase over time, but no particular moment where there was an uptick. So we can’t really point to any moment in time.” Severian countered. There were disappearances for many reasons, not just due to the influence of these demonic cultivators or the Zuja cult. So a baseline number of disappearances were normal. Expected, even. “Whatever these Zuja or demonic cultivators are up to, they are really well planned.”
“That’s not a convincing sign.” Tundra sighed, as Severian passed him a ring. The moment he touched it, he looked at his elder. “That’s a lot of scrolls.”
“One for every five years. The beggar society is also aware of multiple different claims about how the various ministers are in cahoots with various cults, but there’s so many such accusations that I think they are meaningless.”
Tundra rubbed his chin, and watched the waves of the energy gathering formation. “They are flooding the information networks with accusations so that even legitimate accusations seem frivolous.”
“Yes. Some ministers have up to ten different cult claims, each with a different demonic cult.”
“I wonder whether the beggar society or the Whispering Man themselves are compromised.”
“That is possible.” Severian said. “I considered it, but it does mean we have no information network to rely on, which does mean we will need our own ways of gathering information.”
“A competing faction to the Beggars or the Whispering Man will get us in trouble.” Tundra said. “Unless we have other ways.”
“I’ll see what I can figure out.” The two men just stood next to the defensive formation that protected their sect, and talked. There was a constant hum generated by the formation’s energies. “I’ll talk to some old friends and see whether we could do some kind of sect-to-sect trading of information.”
“Oh. The old barter networks.” Tundra nodded. “That could work.”
“But a hidden sect is still key for us to operate discreetly.”
“That’s something I should be able to obtain in the Ancient Titans. There’s someone I want to meet near that area.” The regressor thought about an acquaintance wistfully. To meet him now, instead of a few thousand years in the future, he wondered whether that was the right thing. Maybe he changed, maybe he hasn’t.
But the man he wanted to meet was a secret master, a man who was once at the helm of a Great Pretender Sect. Due to some internal politics and personal matters, he became a vagabond, and later, a reclusive hermit.
Tundra sighed, and Severian merely tapped his fellow friend’s shoulder. “Do your best, Tundra. If it’s not something we can get, we’ll try something else.”
The regressor smiled weakly. “I’ll have to depend on you to watch our home, brother.”
Severian tapped his chest.
