Chương 146: Identity Tokens

Savage Mountains, Azure Profound Continent After Leo accepted Flockfeather's commission, he immediately set off to find Zhang Wei. He found the man at the Ammo Sect, and started to explain to the old man that he needed help building fortifications on a mountain somewhere the Savage Mountains. Zhang Wei had listened politely for about thirty seconds.

"Fortifications." Zhang Wei folded his arms.

"In a forbidden area of the Savage Mountains. The zone that houses the beast Lords and Monarchs. The territory where human cultivators go to get eaten."

"It's not that bad."

"Young friend, this elder has lived on this continent for over a century. In that time, precisely zero cultivators have walked into the forbidden area of the Savage Mountains and walked back out with all their limbs attached." He made a circle with his fingers, and shoved it into Leo's face.

"Zero." Leo couldn't tell him the real reason why he was helping the beasts reactivate the defensive line. He didn't want to cause a panic by spreading word of a zombie invasion. So he tried a different approach.

"I can pay you in spiritual wheat."

"This elder is not so easily..."

"I have two million bushels to spend. Tier Two." Zhang Wei's mouth stayed open. No sound came out.

"The autumn harvest just finished," Leo added.

"Fresh from the terraces." Zhang Wei stared at him.

"Two million," he repeated.

"Bushels. Foundation Establishment Tier." Zhang Wei sat very still for a moment. Then he stood up, walked to his storage cabinet, and began packing supplies into his storage ring.

"When do we leave?"

The two of them had been flying westward on Zhang Wei's cultivation boat for the past few hours. The terrain below changed gradually. Cultivated fields gave way to forested hills, then to bare rocky ridges where the trees thinned and the peaks grew sharper.

"Young friend." Zhang Wei's voice cut through Leo's thoughts. His fingers had gone white on his boat's control formation.

"This elder has been patient. This elder has trusted you. But we are now flying into territory where something with claws will rip this elder's head from his body." Leo looked up from the map spread across his knees.

"Relax. I've got this covered." He reached into his storage ring and produced a small token of jade, roughly the size of his palm. The surface was smooth and cold, etched with a single character that seemed to shift when viewed from different angles. Zhang Wei leaned forward, squinting at the token. Some of the tension left his shoulders.

"Ah. A Beast Lord's passage token." He nodded, settling back.

"Good. That will grant us safe conduct to our destination. We will still need to be cautious beyond these borders, but..." He stopped. His eyes had drifted to the character on the token's surface. He stared at it. There was no lord's seal. No territorial marking. No provincial sigil. Just the one character.

"Young friend." Zhang Wei's voice had gone very quiet.

"May this elder see that more closely?" Leo held it out. Zhang Wei did not take it. He leaned forward over the edge of his seat, close enough that his breath fogged the jade's surface. His lips moved silently, as if reading the character over and over, trying to look for additional words. There was only one. He sat back. His face was white.

"Where did you get that?"

"Lord Flockfeather gave it to me." Leo shrugged.

"We're working on some stuff together. That's actually why I asked you to help."

"That is not merely a passage token." Zhang Wei's voice climbed half an octave.

"That is not a 'this cultivator works for a Beast Lord' token. That is not even a 'please do not eat this human' token!" He pointed upward, toward the sky, his finger trembling.

"That is a personal endorsement from the Kings! The Great Gods of the beasts! The beings who have devoured Deity Transformation Monarchs for breakfast! You carry their mark like it is a discount token for a tea house!" Leo looked at the token. He turned it over once, trying to see what the elder saw.

"Huh." Zhang Wei's eye twitched."'Huh.' He says 'huh.'" Zhang Wei addressed this to the mountains at large, as if expecting the peaks themselves to share his outrage.

"In all the histories this elder has studied, this elder has heard of perhaps five humans who carried such a mark. The weakest of the five was a Deity Transformation Monarch!" Leo scratched his chin. He didn't fully understand what the token meant, but it sounded pretty cool. He leaned back against the railing of Zhang Wei's boat and let himself enjoy the thought for a moment. The wind moved through the pines below. The boat drifted slightly.

Somewhere in the mountains, something large sensed the token's presence, shifted in its den, and went very still. Then Leo turned back to the old man and smiled.

"Great! That should make things easier. I'm going to be pretty busy with my own stuff, so I can't actually do any of the work myself." He extended the token toward Zhang Wei.

"I'll need you to handle the logistics. Talking to people. Coordinating supplies. Drawing formations. Basically everything. I'll have Kevin send you the schematics once we figure things out. So here, take this." Zhang Wei recoiled so fast he nearly fell off his own boat.

"This elder CANNOT hold that token!"

"Why not? It's just an identity token."

"It is NOT just an identity token! If this elder walks into beast territory carrying the Kings' personal mark, every Deity Transformation beast within a thousand miles will descend upon this elder to investigate! They will want to know why a Gold Core nobody from a refugee town carries the token of the Great Gods!"

"So just explain that you work for me.""'Just explain!'" Zhang Wei shrieked.

"Young friend, do you understand how beast territory works? The beasts do not sit you down and ask polite questions! They sniff you! They circle you! They decide whether to listen to your explanation or eat you first and investigate your storage ring afterward!"

"Okay, okay." Leo tucked the token back into his storage ring.

"What if I ask Lord Flockfeather for a lower-tier version? Something that just says 'don't eat this human'. Would that work?" This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Zhang Wei pressed both palms against his temples. He breathed in through his nose. Out through his mouth.

"Young friend. One who carries the Kings' favor need not borrow authority. You can issue your own identity tokens." Leo blinked.

"What do you mean?"

"You wish to grant this elder passage through beast territory, yes? And the authority to speak in your stead? Then grant it yourself. Issue a token that marks this elder as your associate." Zhang Wei's voice had steadied, though his left eye still twitched periodically.

"Either you design a token that others cannot reproduce, or you accumulate enough reputation that no one dares reproduce your token."

"So I just... make a piece of wood that says 'Friend of Leo Chen' on it?"

"You could use your merit stamp as a basis. Inscribe a formation over it. Others may copy the formation, but they will never be able to copy the merit within." Leo considered this. The merit stamp was a good idea in theory. But his mind immediately jumped to the obvious problem. If his identity tokens were based on a merit stamp, then Arthur would absolutely, definitely, without question attempt to counterfeit them. The old man would rack up debts across the nine provinces and blame it on 'Young Friend Leo'. No.

He needed something different. Leo glanced into his storage ring, looking for something else that would work. A few pieces of Tier Three jade rattled against the walls of the ring. He had used them as practice for the Ten Thousand Swords Struggling for Heaven Forbidden formation. They were still thrashing. Still trying to fly away and ascend to the heavens, even though it had been days since he last touched them. Leo watched them for a moment. He grinned.

"Touch down there." He pointed at a clearing between two ridges. Zhang Wei frowned.

"Young friend?"

"I have an idea for an identity token. But you should probably be on solid ground when I give it to you." Zhang Wei asked reluctantly, "Why would this elder need to be on solid ground?"

"Just trust me."

"This elder has trusted you three times today. Each time has been worse than the last." But he guided his boat toward the clearing. They landed in a spray of pine needles. Leo hopped off the boat and stretched.

"Alright." Leo turned to face the old man.

"Hold out your hands." Zhang Wei extended his hands, palms up, like he was accepting a gift.

"No, no, no." Leo shook his head.

"Like you're trying to wrestle a pig."

"A pig?"

"You know." Leo mimed grappling something at waist height.

"Grab it. Hold it down. Don't let it escape." Zhang Wei stared at him for a long moment. His left eye twitched again.

"This elder left a profitable business in Stonehaven for this. This elder turned down a very reasonable offer from the Treasure Pavilion to appraise jade for the autumn market. This elder could be sitting in his shop right now, drinking tea, not wrestling imaginary pigs on a mountainside." But he assumed a wrestler's stance. His arms came up. His fingers curled into ready grips. His knees bent slightly. Years of working with Arthur and Kevin had trained him well.

"Like this?"

"Perfect." Leo reached into his storage ring.

"I need you to hold on tight. I have something that might work, but I'll need to draw some extra inscriptions on it. Ready?"

"This elder is ready. And deeply suspicious." Leo pulled out a struggling Tier Three spiritual jade and shoved it into Zhang Wei's waiting hands. The jade exploded with motion. It thrashed. It bucked. It tried to tear itself free from Zhang Wei's grip and launch itself toward the sky. The elder's eyes went wide as the small piece of jade nearly ripped out of his fingers.

"WHAT HAVE YOU PUT IN THIS ELDER'S HANDS?!"

"Hold it!" Zhang Wei threw his full weight onto the jade. His hands clamped around it. The stone dragged him two feet across the clearing, carving furrows in the dirt with his boots, before he managed to wrestle it to the ground.

"Good job!" Leo produced his formation brush and a vial of Tier Three spiritual ink.

"Now hold still. I need to draw a formation on it."

"Do you hear yourself?!" Zhang Wei's face was pressed against the forest floor. His arms were wrapped around the thrashing stone like a man trying to hold down a live fish. Leaves stuck to his beard. A pine needle protruded from his topknot.

"What have you done to this jade?!"

"It's seeking enlightenment." Zhang Wei's mouth opened. Nothing came out for several seconds.

"It's seeking WHAT?!" Leo began to inscribe. The brush moved in quick, precise strokes. He wrote the characters for his name, Leo Chen, followed by a basic seal formation. Nothing fancy. Just enough to mark the jade as official. The jade continued to struggle. Zhang Wei continued to pin it. His robes were now thoroughly covered in dirt and pine needles. His dignity was somewhere in the canopy above.

"Just a few more strokes."

"A FEW MORE?? Young friend, this elder is a respected Gold Core cultivator! He has survived beast tides, sect wars, and four of Arthur's self-detonations! He should not be wrestling a piece of jade on the ground like a common street brawler!" Leo finished the final character. The formation flashed once, sealing itself onto the jade's surface.

"Done." Zhang Wei relaxed his grip experimentally. The jade immediately bucked against his palms, still thrashing, still desperate for the sky.

"Young friend." Zhang Wei's voice had gone hoarse.

"It is still trying to escape."

"Yeah, it does that. Just stick it in your storage ring."

"You know," Leo added, watching Zhang Wei stare at him suspiciously, "even if someone copies the formation, they won't be able to hold onto it long enough to use it." Zhang Wei did not want to stick this new identity token in his storage ring.

"What if it influences the other contents? This elder has life savings in that ring. Spiritual materials. Rare treasures. A very expensive tea set that has been in his family for three generations." His voice cracked.

"If this elder's tea set flies away to seek enlightenment, this elder will hold you personally responsible."

"It's not contagious. Your stuff will be fine." Zhang Wei looked at Leo. Leo nodded encouragingly. With the expression of a man who had already made so many bad decisions today that one more could not possibly matter, Zhang Wei shoved the jade into his storage ring. His hand immediately clamped down on the ring.

"Is it...?"

"It's in there." Zhang Wei's knuckles were white. His voice was barely above a whisper.

"This elder can feel it bumping against the walls."

"See? Problem solved." Zhang Wei climbed back onto his boat, one hand still clutching his storage ring like it might fly off his finger. Leaves and dirt covered his robes. His hair had come loose from its topknot.

"Young friend."

"Yeah?"

"Do you know what this elder said to himself this morning? He said, 'Today will be a good day. Today I will fly to the mountains, survey some land, and earn a fair wage for honest work.' That is what this elder said." He gestured at himself. At the dirt on his robes. At the storage ring vibrating faintly against his finger.

"Three generations of honest cultivation. Three generations! And this is what it has come to. Wrestling rocks. In the dirt. For desperadoes."

"You think anyone will try to copy it though?" Zhang Wei just glared at him.

Leo stood at the edge of Zhang Wei's boat, studying the terrain as they approached his new mountain. Mike had named it Gustav Mountain, after the German Legacy Sect's massive railway cannon from Earth's history. He was back on Earth now, digging through military archives for the original schematics. Gustav Mountain was medium-sized compared to its neighbors. The slopes were steep and rocky, covered with sparse vegetation that gave way to bare stone near the summit.

A natural plateau sat two-thirds of the way up, flat enough to build on, with clear sightlines in every direction. The mountain had a Tier Three spirit vein and three subsidiary Tier Two spirit veins. Over the next couple of years, depending on how the situation progressed, the beasts would redirect more of the spiritual qi output to Leo. For now, the beasts used all of the output to recharge spiritstones. A few miles to the south, a massive peak dominated the skyline.

It rose nearly twice as high as Gustav Mountain, its summit wrapped in clouds that glowed faintly with spiritual energy. That was probably a Tier Four spirit vein. Maybe a Beast Lord lived there. Beyond the mountain, barely visible through gaps between the peaks, the land flattened into rolling grasslands. The Lanternmarches stretched toward the horizon, brown and gold under the afternoon sun.

Lord Flockfeather's map had designated Gustav Mountain as a logistics base, a supply point for the front-line fortifications. It wasn't supposed to be a place where fighting happened Looking at the plains now, "behind the front lines" felt a little too close for comfort. The front-line mountains were only a few miles away. A sufficiently motivated Monarch could cross that distance in seconds. A stray technique from a battle between Lords could travel for miles before dissipating.

Leo's mountain sat close enough to the edge that he could almost imagine the shockwaves reaching him. The quiet settled over him, and for the first time, the full weight of what he had agreed to pressed down. He pictured millions of jiangshi pouring out of the underground installations. Waves of them crashing against the mountain passes while tens of thousands held the lines with their lives. He looked at the mountain with different eyes. Zhang Wei's boat touched down on the plateau.

"Young friend." The elder watched Leo stare into space.

"What exactly are you envisioning for this place?"