Chương 662: Chapter 654

Without the presence of the Enemy to unite it, Yuzhen wholeheartedly believed the Empire would tear itself asunder. Three weeks ago, the full military might of the Imperial Armed Forces joined hands and drove the Enemy back into the Western Province. News of their resounding victory swept through the Empire like wildfire, carried by ships, riders, merchants, and even pigeons in some odd cases.

Han BoShui was instrumental in spreading the good news, hiring Heralds to read his writings to every village, town, and city they could reach. Nobles and commoners alike revelled in the streets, drinking and carousing in good cheer as they honoured the heroes that made this victory possible.

The nobles were split between supporting their respective Colonel Generals, but the majority of commoners united behind Brigadier Hongji, the farmer-turned-Warrior whose tireless efforts on the front lines made all this possible. In similar vein, the people of the Empire also cheered for their Legate Falling Rain, the Mother's Chosen Son whose brilliant mind guided the actions of the Imperial Armed Forces and led them to rout not one, not two, not three, but four sizable Defiled armies out in the field.

A shame BoShui's literary skills were not for sale. A good publicist was worth his weight in gold, even a man as large and strapping as he. This was the greatest Imperial victory in living history, a much needed one given the stressful times. Not only did this put an end to the entire Defiled offensive, the good news came on the heels of potential disaster.

Less than one week before this stunning accomplishment, news of the war had been dire indeed, painting a bleak picture of a losing Empire crumbling before the Enemy threat. The front lines abandoned, the second line under heavy attack, Imperial Legate Shen ZhenWu attacked and injured, only to be replaced by the young, inexperienced, and crippled Falling Rain, all this and more boded poorly for the Empire's ultimate fate, but then the tides shifted and the narrative flipped, all in the blink of an eye.

And just as quickly, everything flipped again, not quite on its head, but on its side at least, with the celebrations lasting all of a day, if that. It all started with the order to withdraw from the second line, an order given by the Legate's Office the same night the Imperial Armed Forces scored their resounding victory, but an order conceived and sealed by a mere Imperial Servant.

At the time, Yuzhen was one of a select few privy to the news of Rain's poor health, but it made no difference since everyone at the highest echelon of command also knew. Zheng Luo, bless her heart, had gotten it into her head that after fighting so hard to hold onto the second line, now was the best time to torch those hard-won walls and withdraw back to the border proper. The worst part was, Yuzhen couldn't argue against Zheng Luo's logic, because at the end of the day, the girl was right.

The withdrawal from the front lines had been mere centimetres from disaster, and with the Enemy forces reeling on all fronts, it was the perfect time to pull out. Somewhere along the way, everyone had forgotten the simple fact that the first and second lines were never meant to hold indefinitely.

They were built as temporary stopgap measures, forward positions to hold out until the real Wall was built, but as time passed, everyone came to depend on that extra buffer, until Zheng Luo saw fit to rudely remind them while they were all mid-celebration. And so, the people of the Empire were on edge once more, left with but a single line of defence against the endless Defiled hordes.

One led by Warriors of renown who'd embraced the Father's foul lies, no less, which no one wanted to dwell upon because it was all too easy to imagine themselves in similar straits and sympathize with the Western 'traitors'. Despite agreeing wholeheartedly with the move, a part of Yuzhen still resented the Imperial Servant for forcing everyone to face the truth, unreasonable though this might be.

If she herself felt this way, it was difficult to fault the common people for feeling the same way when their happy celebrations ended on a sour note as the Empire's borders shrank once more and the Enemy drew that much closer. So thus began the downward spiral of the united Imperial efforts, one which continued on to this day. Hardly surprising in hindsight, all things considered.

Paper dragon or not, Falling Rain was the only thing keeping the provinces together, and now that he'd lapsed into yet another coma, North, South, and Central no longer had anyone to remind them to look beyond their own personal benefits. As such, they fell back into old patterns and divided the Wall into three sections, sections which each provincial power treated as their own affiliated territory.

No longer was the Imperial Army purchasing supplies directly through the Marshals, but rather the Marshals were haggling amongst themselves to barter and trade for whatever each felt was necessary. In this, Central suffered the most, despite Yuzhen's attempts to support them, because when it came right down to it, the merchants of the North were less than willing to bend to her will, when they'd been all sugar and smiles when the Legate stood behind her.

To make matters worse, the Imperial Clan had suspended any and all communications with the outer provinces, though at least the Death Corps Guards and Royal Guardians remained at the beck and call of their comatose Legate. There was no news of Shen ZhenWu or anyone coming to replace him, but mercifully, this also meant no one had come to arrest or execute anyone for the death of the provisional Legate, Yang Jixing.

Had Rain taken two seconds to think things through before appointing Zheng Luo as his provisional successor, then Yuzhen would have sung his praises from now until the end of time. However, being the bullheaded, idealistic idiot that he was, he appointed his successor based on merit alone, rather than taking the political climate into account, a fool's mistake if there ever was one.

It didn't take long for the Colonel Generals to fall out with one another, and shortly after the Marshals were forced to follow suit lest they lose support from the greatest military minds of the Empire. Arguably second-to-greatest, now that Rain unveiled yet another hidden talent of his, scoring high marks in his first ever grand military campaign which warded off disaster with careful planning and near omniscient forethought.

A shame he was out of commission now, because the Empire was wasting this valuable reprieve by squabbling amongst themselves. In Central, the Mitsue Family fortunes were fast declining as word spread far and wide of Hideo's betrayal, the blame for which many whispered lay solely on Juichi's shoulders. They would say that regardless of what truly happened, because it served the purposes of too many powerful people, but the aged Colonel General had yet to react.

Rumour had it that Mitsue Juichi was back at his family home in fair Guangdong, locked away in his meditation room and seeing no visitors, not even his sons and daughters, but Yuzhen couldn't imagine who else might go calling on the fallen Living Legend in this time of duress. In his absence, the uneasy balance of power had shifted between Central's three Colonel Generals, and Yuzhen did not envy Marshal Yo Jeung-Hun's plight.

Ryo Dae Jung was determined to seize as much of Mitsue Juichi's powerbase for himself, while Shuai Jiao was opposing him for the simple sake of self-preservation. The ascetic Living Legend cared not for politics and power games, but was now eagerly taking part because he now saw a future in which his hand alone guided Central's blades, a much needed consolidation of power in these trying times, or so he believed.

Thus far, it had yet to devolve into open bloodshed, but neither Colonel General was willing to give way for the other, and Yuzhen feared it would soon turn ugly. To the south, Marshal Quyen Huong was having problems of his own, what with the untimely death of his Colonel General.

Tiger Slayer Tran Hoang was perhaps the least famous of his peers, but according to Nian Zu, none of the Colonel Generals were so far above the others that victory was assured, yet Yuchun of the Ten Thousand Spears killed the highest ranking Southern Officer without taking injury himself before retreating from Castle Wulin.

Despite their supposed antagonistic relationship, Tran Hoang was something of a respected enemy to Marshal Quyen Huong, one who kept his dogs tightly leashed and muzzled in these trying times, but with the Colonel General dead, his hounds had turn against each other. Various Southern factions were now vying to fill the vacancy, one which could only be confirmed by Falling Rain or the Southern Marshal himself, but neither one was forthcoming with an endorsement.

Most were not as polite or farseeing as Tran Hoang had been, and rumour had it that some enterprising southern factions were hoping to fill the yet-to-be-vacated office of Southern Marshal at the same time. Though it seemed petty to think this, Yuzhen was relieved to learn Quyen Huong's supposed iron grip over the Southern Province was not as firm as she once believed, because it made her feel better about the mess she herself had to deal with back home in the North.

Leave it to Situ Jia Ying to choose this time to depose the Clan Patriarch, instead of allowing Yuzhen to rebuild SuiHua harbour and blockade all routes north, whether it be by foot, ship, or submersible. Those damned submersibles and their damned cargo were a new source of frustration, but it was nothing compared to the strife within the Society.

Jia Ying's attempt to become the first ever Situ Clan Matriarch tore her clan in twain, with two-thirds of the elders following Chi Gan's lead to stand with her, and the last third seceding with Rang Min. Only Martial Law kept them from each others throats, but their conflict had shattered the Society's longstanding unity. To outsiders, the Society of Heaven and Earth seemed like a monolithic organization who stood together no matter the foe, but only because each faction was guaranteed their own independence.

When the Han Clan and Harmonious Unity Sect stood in support of Jia Ying, the other factions saw the three greatest powers of the Society work together to overthrow another faction leader and feared the worst. If factions could unite together and overthrow the Situ Clan Patriarch, how long would it be before they set their sights onto the leaders of the lesser factions?

This reason alone was enough for most of the lesser factions to throw their support behind Rang Min, but there were also plenty of Society adherents who simply saw an opportunity for profit. While Rang Min and Jia Ying clashed, there was always a chance for treasures to be spilled by the waysides, not to mention the opportunity to sell one's loyalties to the highest bidder. None of which Yuzhen would give a faff about if not for the fact that the Society's infighting was disrupting her supply lanes.

Whether it was travelling by sea or by land, any and all goods coming out of the North had to pass through the Society Headquarters before proceeding south to Central. With the larger powers vying amongst themselves, no one was keeping the less scrupulous adherents from lining their pockets with coin and supplies Yuzhen desperately needed to rebuild the damned harbour, and the constant shortages and losses were beginning to raise her ire.

Usually, the various factions kept one another mostly honest, ostensibly because Society above all else, but more practically because no one wanted anyone else getting more than their fair share. Now, with everyone busy looking out for themselves, many a quiet deal had been struck as clans, sects, schools, and more plundered Imperial supplies in the name of bettering the Society.

To make matters worse, if Yuzhen were to come down hard on the Society for their malfeasance, they would simply band together to present a united front against her, then go right back to their infighting once the outside threat was dealt with. To think, there would come a time when she regretted having shed her status as an adherent of the Society... On the bright side, all her woes led her to seek aid from other sources, which put her in touch with the Spring and Autumn Consortium.

She'd met many of their representatives at various events with Rain, and though they were all middling merchants of Central, they were also common-born and therefore beholden only to coin and coin alone, a boon considering Yuzhen had more than enough to spare so long as it didn't get lost in someone's pockets along the way.

Curt and matter-of-fact Gwangjong was a Heaven-Sent blessing from above, providing her with the method and manpower needed to build a formidable sea wall to protect SuiHua harbour, while blunt and tactless Cixi stepped on everyone's toes putting in four sturdy concrete piers in the time it previously took to build a single wooden one.

Of course, the true brains behind the Spring and Autumn Consortium was the brilliant but awkward genius Cao Cuo who not only helped come up with these newfangled construction methods, but also revised all of the Consortium's logistical systems and recently did the same for Yuzhen.

It was shocking how much time could be saved simply by better organizing how supplies were loaded and stored in order to optimize worker pathing, and this was merely one facet of the stuttering young man's revolutionary approach to logistics and storage. Shame on Rain for keeping his consortium to himself. Shame. Another stroke of good fortune was that the Enemy had yet to resume their attacks.

Aside from Tiger Slayer Tran Hoang's unfortunate death, the withdrawal from the second line went about as well as could be expected. The castles were razed, the majority of soldiers safely returned, and for three weeks, the Empire saw neither hide nor hair of the Defiled, a much needed reprieve to rest and recuperate.

And so, for the thirty-first morning in a row, Yuzhen awoke to no news of Enemy armies on the horizon, civil war erupting in the outer provinces, or Imperial Justicars arresting Bekhai youngsters, and she gave thanks to the Mother Above for Her continued mercies. The only way the day could have started off better was if her beloved husband was there beside her, but the sun was already peeking over the horizon, which for Gerel, was hours too late to start the day.

Her magnificent lion of a man had grown restless of late, his dark moods bleaker than ever before as he drove himself to exhaustion each and every single day. Throwing a modest shift over her naked frame, Yuzhen sauntered over to the window to drink in the sight of her husband hard at work, Demonstrating the Forms in the manor courtyard.

There he was, his shirtless torso steaming in the cold morning air and glistening with sweat as he zipped through the courtyard with such speed, precision, and power she could hardly follow his Movements. Going through them sequentially was too simple and boring for him, and instead, he powered through the Movements seemingly at random, supposedly in search of new and undiscovered combinations to learn and master.

Tiger and Mantis, Wolf and Oriole, Bear and Snake, each Movement transitioning so smoothly into the next, Yuzhen wondered how she could have ever thought them mismatched. It took him less than three minutes to go through all the Forms, each and every movement demonstrated and accounted for, at which point he stopped, returned to the centre of the courtyard, and began anew.

As she watched, she tried to keep a mental checklist of his Movements in hopes of accounting for every last one, but her eyes were not up to the task. Three minutes and seventeen seconds passed, and again, he returned to his starting position and began anew. This time, she checked for patterns against the previous iteration, and spotted no repeated combinations in the three minutes and nineteen seconds it took him to finish.

Twice more, she watched, and still was unable to pick out any repetitions, all the while committing his unique routines to memory for later study. Though most of her time was spent dealing with civic, mercantile, and political matters, she was still a Martial Warrior, albeit one barely worthy of her former rank of Major, and she had a mind to progress along the Martial Path.

Later, perhaps, if her meetings went quicker than expected and no new problems arose, but she might as well wish for the sun to rise in the west and settle in the east instead. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. This was part of what it meant to be a Peak Expert, to do more than just Demonstrate the Forms, but to make them your own. Whatever that meant. Yuzhen was far from reaching this level, so she focused more on a metric she understood.

Three minutes and twenty seconds. That was roundabout the time it took for Gerel to go through one iteration of the Forms. In contrast, she herself required over nine minutes, while most Martial Warriors averaged between twelve to fifteen. While hardly an adequate measure of strength, the sheer speed required to go through them almost five times faster than most was shocking to behold, not to mention the stamina needed to keep going for so many rounds without rest.

Pursing her lips as she dressed for the day, Yuzhen inwardly cursed at her inattentive husband for spending all his strength on training and leaving little to none for recreation, but she kept her grumblings to herself. Far be it for her to get in the way of his Martial Path, especially as he was progressing by leaps and bounds in the midst of the greatest war the Empire had ever fought. Not to mention the minor, trifling detail regarding his limited lifespan.

Perhaps she'd grown maudlin with age, or perhaps it was the long lists of dead soldiers which until recently crossed her desk daily, but Yuzhen had grown more and more concerned about Gerel's mortality. Though she was ten years his senior and they'd been married less than a year, she could not imagine life without him at her side, an eventuality she would most likely one day have to face.

He gave her strength and confidence she never knew she lacked, and just laying down next to him helped her sleep more soundly than ever before. There'd been talk of children and debate on how this wasn't the best time, but how it was also possibly the only time that mattered, with so many orphans out on the streets. Though hardly a cuddly, paternal softie like his friend Charok, Gerel abhorred the fact that the Empire allowed children to go hungry.

"It's not right," he'd say, every time they passed a street urchin or child beggar, often after parting with enough coin to endanger their lives.

"Children are the future, and the Empire must take better care of them." Alas, even Yuzhen's and Rain's personal wealth combined wouldn't be enough to feed all the hungry children of the Empire, and the harsh truth was that there would always be more children born than seniors dying. Such was life, and despite all her efforts to fund and expand Rain's schools and charities, there was simply no way she could feed and house every orphan in the Northern province, much less start work on those of Central.

That said, she wasn't above taking in one or two to call her own, though if she was going to adopt, she would prefer to adopt a half-beast like herself, since she also wanted Gerel to father a natural-born child or two with one of the maids.

The problem thus became three-fold, in that one, Gerel had no interest in the maids, no matter how fair or enthusiastic they were, two, after the allure of a new and different experience faded, Yuzhen grew bored of sharing, and three, Central had a marked dearth of free-born half-beasts, with the majority being born into captivity.

While purchasing slaves in order to free them was all good and moral, the stigma would haunt her children for the rest of their lives, for the nobles of the Empire would never let them forget. There were days when Yuzhen wondered why she worked so hard to save the Empire, and couldn't come up with a suitable answer.

Mostly because her old man loved this broken kingdom and the people who called it home, but her motivation was fast fading as the days passed by, the work piled up, and the pain of his passing slowly faded. Mostly, she just wanted to spend more time with her beloved husband... Striding out into the courtyard, she stood at the edge of his training area and appreciated the view from up close, right up until he stopped to reset.

"I miss waking up beside you in the morning," she said, and only then did he notice her arrival, but her dissatisfaction from being ignored melted away before his radiant smile, and her legs grew weak as he greeted her with a kiss. When she found her breath and mind again, she picked up right where she left off.

"But then, I suppose I should've known what I was getting into when I married a training maniac."

"Apologies, my love," he said, panting with what she liked to imagine was desire rather than exertion.

"But the Martial Path waits for no one."

"Yet you already stand upon the Peak," she retorted, ashamed of herself for trying to hinder his progress, but she loved him too much to deny herself his company for so long.

"Surely you could spare an extra hour a day for your loving wife." Though delivered in a teasing manner, her all-too-serious husband took her admonishment to heart, his beautiful amber eyes so full of guilt and sorrow.

"Apologies, my love. I've been distracted of late." He didn't say anything more, and despite her guilt, Yuzhen's curiosity won out.

"I've noticed. Ever since the Imperial Forces withdrew from the second line." Hesitating to consider if she should say something, she threw caution to the wind and asked, "Is it because you blame yourself? For his infirmity?" That was all she would say out loud, here where too many prying eyes and ears were present. At least two of the maids were on someone's payroll, and she took great delight in feeding them misinformation, but she didn't dare speak of the Legate's poor health out loud.

Thus far, only the Marshals, Colonel Generals, and War Council knew about Rain's condition, and only because there was no way of keeping them in the dark. Already there were whispers wondering why Falling Rain hadn't made a single public appearance in the last month, with rumours abound of everything from his untimely death to having gone into secluded meditation to reforge his Core and emerge a Peak Expert, or perhaps even a Divinity.

A load of hogwash is what it was, but better to keep them all guessing than to confirm his poor health. Being a cripple was bad enough, but a dying cripple would draw all manner of speculation and panic. Given the roundabout way she'd brought the subject up, it took some seconds for Gerel to pick up on her meaning.

"Oh," he said, his eyes lighting up in comprehension before narrowing in absurdity.

"No, of course not. He had protectors enough that day, and more importantly, he walks his own Path. I can do nothing for him, nor would I blame myself if he should misstep." They shared a strange relationship, Gerel and Rain, barely even friends yet her husband would clearly die for the almost indifferent Legate, whom she suspected would also die for Gerel.

"No," Gerel reiterated, turning his gaze far west as his muscles tensed and trembled with anticipation.

"I train for another reason, one I cannot yet explain, but as I told you before, when the Enemy whelp appears again, I mean to seek him out." Not to kill Gen, as Yuzhen had long since ascertained, but to kill someone he expected to find at Gen's side. Whoever it was, Gerel only recently learned of his or her existence considering the timing. Who might it be? Gongsun Qi? Mataram Yuchun? The Confessor? No, Gerel's focus wasn't driven by glory or challenge, this was something darker, something more personal.

There was someone he knew, out there in the Enemy army, someone who'd turned Defiled and revealed themselves in the great clash on the plains, but who could it be? Guessing would do no good, since whoever it was, their relationship with Gerel likely predated her own, but still, her curiosity drove her to wonder.

It could be the Chieftain Vithar, who young Huushal hungered to kill, or someone else like him that Gerel met in Sanshu, but most likely it was a Defiled member of the Bekhai, someone captured, turned, and now revealed. The problem was, Gerel had precious few friends and no family to speak of at all, so who was this mysterious foe who inspired such passion in her stoic husband? Passion which she would much rather have focused upon her...

After stealing a few precious minutes more of her beloved husband's time, Yuzhen headed out to her office, escorted by her Captain of Guard, Tang Yu, and nine of his subordinates. A full honour guard, no more, no less, such was the state of vigilance within the Northern Citadel. If the Enemy were happy to keep this stalemate, Yuzhen feared the Warriors of the Empire might start a civil war just so they'd have something to keep them occupied.

Peace was precious, but anxiety-inducing to the extreme, especially since she had little to no information to go on. Thanks to MuYang's contacts, she knew the Defiled were still marshalling in the Western City of ShiBei, but in numbers far less than what they set out with the last time around, and in no rush to do so either.

It could be the Enemy had lost their appetite for conquest, but the general consensus was that either they were hiding their numbers until they attacked, or they had secondary staging grounds elsewhere along the border that had yet to be uncovered. All this was not her business however, so for the next five hours, she devoted all her focus towards the vital paperwork necessary to keep the wheels of the Empire greased and running.

It was lunchtime when she finally emerged from her office and headed down to the Citadel docks, drawn there not to partake in a meal, but to welcome an all-important guest. The vessel bore no distinguishing markings, but one could hardly mistake the unique and beautifully crafted carriage which drove off the ship and onto the pier.

If that wasn't enough to identify the owner, then the fact that the carriage was being guarded by the Death Corps meant that the vehicle must belong to the Legate, since the entire Empire would know if another Imperial Scion deigned to publicly reveal themselves in the outer provinces. Entering the carriage as it pulled up alongside her, Yuzhen carefully made her way through a horde of bunnies loafing around a sleepy turtle to find her seat.

She also chose not to remark on all the rabbit-sized receptacles lining the wall that went unused, save for one which held a scowling red panda.

"Good afternoon," she began, directing her greetings to Sarnai first, then the mysterious guard, then Lin-Lin last. The lecherous boy's wives were in another wagon behind them, alongside Du Min Gyu and no doubt more hidden Peak Experts than hairs on an ox. Well, perhaps not that many, but enough, for even unconscious, Falling Rain gathered fervent followers like flies to honey. Glancing at the boy in question, Yuzhen saw that nothing had changed, but still asked anyways.

"How's his health?"

"Same as always," Lin-Lin replied, fussing with the pillow wrapped around his neck to keep his head upright while Mama Bun sat and stared at his face. Apparently he tore a muscle during the long ride back from battle, what with his head jostling about even in the well-suspended carriage compartment, and as for Mama Bun... well, bicorn rabbits were famously stupid, so who knew what went on in their heads.

"Sleeping and unresponsive, but healthy as can be." Gone was the sweet girl's customary smile, her brow furrowed and hare-ears drooping at the tips.

"Sometimes his eyes move though, which means he's dreaming, or at the very least thinking about something." Yuzhen desperately wanted to say something to encourage the poor girl, not to mention Rain's forlorn mother who'd aged a decade in a month. Perhaps Baatar could cheer her up, but Yuzhen was at a loss, so she simply offered a hand to each and squeezed softly when they both accepted.

They weren't family, but they were close enough, and Yuzhen knew they would move Heaven and Earth to cheer her up if she were in the same straits. Not if. When. Gerel's death was inevitable fact, and odds were he would die long before her time was up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If Pride is the father of all sins, then Curiosity is probably the mother. I keep glancing at the phone sitting on my desk, but I cannot bring myself to remove it.

It's an oddity I can't ignore, an anomaly inside my Call Centre of the Void, and I keep trying to wrap my head around it. This all goes back to Emotion and Intent. I withdrew into myself, isolating my soul from my mind and body, alongside the world outside it, whether it be real, imagined, or made up. I tried interacting through a more comfortable medium, that of my long-forgotten bedroom from my previous life, but that experience was too real, too substantial, too undeniable for me to deal with.

I wanted to cut myself off from the world, so I threw up a bunch of layers between us, layers which are embodied by the slow, call-centre workstation computer and headset which are my indirect connections to the outside world. Through this, I spoke to so many people and affected so many things before finally just using as a medium to divest my emotions, and when I turned it off, I closed the connection. No connection, no Heavenly Energy, no limited omniscience, and most importantly, no illusions to deceive me.

And then this goddamned smart phone showed up, willed into existence by my unwilling subconscious, or perhaps Zhen Shi's malevolent machinations. I haven't been doing any of this on purpose, but rather the Energy of the Heavens is doing it for me, its actions shaped by my Emotions and latent Intents. It's the same way it tells me everything I need to know, but not in so many words, just... sensations, and while I'm not a hundred percent certain I'm interpreting all this correctly, it just feels right.

The computer is how I connect to the outside world, but the phone is how the outside world reaches me, a Keystone forged by the hopes and dreams I have yet to let go of. It's funny, technically, I could use the computer for both, but Keystones need clear separation of purpose, which is exactly what all these things are. And now I can't stop checking my messages. Huh. That's new. There, under Mama Bun's latest snoot selfie. Adorable. No, ignore that. Yuzhen's here.

Seems like Zhen Shi hasn't stopped playing his games. Also, I may have fucked up by convincing Zian's mom to reveal her strength and save her son, since she was planning a coup against Rang Min I didn't know about at the time, which is... interesting to say the least, and has caused my favourite Marshal quite the headache. Wow. That's a lot of baggage between Jia Ying and Rang Min, but I'm not gonna touch that with a ten-foot pole. Poor Zian.

Maybe I can help Yuzhen with more than just good vibes though, since there's someone else nearby struggling with a decision. The message sent, I resist the urge to keep going through the phone and put it back down on the desk once more. Glass side up of course, so I won't miss a thing. It doesn't light up for every message, but important ones do, like when Mila was feeling really down this morning when she woke up, or last night when Yan was struggling to find the words to express her feelings.

This is not what I would call severing ties, but I don't think I'm quite ready to give everything up just yet, even if it might all be a lie. How about this: no more messages from random people. If I don't personally know them, then they're blocked. Baby steps. Oblivion awaits. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All good things must come to an end, which makes it all the more important to enjoy the journey while it still lasts. Buoyed by this thought, she squeezed Lin-Lin and Sarnai's hands once more.

"This will pass," she whispered, smiling as she glanced at Rain.

"Sooner or later, he will wake. This I believe." Meeting the others eyes, Yuzhen softly added, "Do not give up hope." Hope. That was all they had left, and precious little of it yet, but Sarnai and Lin-Lin both rallied their flagging spirits and nodded, if only to affirm their own belief to themselves.

"Maybe the grove will help," Lin-Lin said, and from the tone, Yuzhen could tell she'd said it many times before but still didn't believe it.

"Or Daddy came up with something while we were travelling."

"Maybe." That was the purpose of this little trip, one they'd put off for weeks for fear Rain's condition would be revealed. Visit the supernatural bamboo grove and hope for a miracle. Failing that, the next best option was to find the Brotherhood and try and cajole their rooster into working his magic to try and wake Rain, but the Abbot's whereabouts were still unknown and all their pooled contacts were unable to find him.

"Is the groundhog still plaguing your father? Catch it and I daresay Rain will wake in an instant just to cuddle the new beast." That won Yuzhen a small smile from them both, but smiles that faded as they all glanced at Mama Bun, still standing on Rain's lap and staring at his face. He loved that rabbit dearly, and if he could see her distress, it was hard to imagine he would ignore her, which meant there was little chance a tunnel-digging rodent would do any better.

When the carriage arrived at the Eastern Gate, Yuzhen bid them all farewell and stepped out of the still moving carriage. Her honour guard was there waiting, all mounted and carrying a spare horse for her to ride, but she spotted someone in the crowd that made her stop and stare. There he stood, casual as you please, Situ Rang Min in the flesh, his hands folded behind his back and nose pointed towards the sky. Though he met her eyes, he did not greet her, so Yuzhen mounted her horse and hoped no one saw her freeze.

While she trotted away, Rang Min made the first move.

"We should speak," he Sent, still as haughty as ever.

"In private. I believe we have much to benefit from a discussion." Leave it to Rang Min to make a plea for aid sound like a mutually beneficial arrangement. Yuzhen was of a mind to leave him hanging in the wind for his attitude alone, but a part of her would not allow it.

"At least hear what he has to say," the little voice in her head suggested.

"The Empire must stand united against the Enemy, else all we have done will be for naught." Nodding more to herself than at Rang Min, Yuzhen Sent, "My office. Come unseen." Much as she loathed Rang Min, she desperately needed to put an end to the Society's internecine struggles, and Situ Jia Ying had not seen fit to approach her, or even respond to Yuzhen's none-too-subtle appeals for a meeting.

Rang Min was all she had to work with, and while there was no chance she would stick her neck out and help him regain the seat of Patriarch, she could help him keep his dignity, or his dog life at the very least, and maybe even back him in forming a new faction of the Society. Better yet, perhaps she could invite the tiger into her den and take him on as a Lieutenant Marshal. The man was nothing if not frighteningly competent, and as Rain once said, "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

A brilliant man, Falling Rain, and the Empire was lessened by his absence. He would be back though, this Yuzhen believed, because when it came right down to it, Core or no Core, Falling Rain was a Warrior born. Chapter Meme