Fates Parallel Chapter 293 - Escape

Things began moving very fast. Master Ienaga rushed off to fetch Lee Jung, Luo Mingyu stared in white-faced horror at the body of his late master, Li Meili tried to comfort Pan Jiaying who looked like she was going to be sick, and Seong Misun came marching right up to Jia to get her attention.

“Hey! Don’t just stand there, we have to move!”

Jia snapped out of her reverie and blinked up at the princess.

“What just happened? Where did you come from?”

“Not now—you can ask stupid questions later, but we have bigger priorities. The sect master probably had a spiritual tablet, and the elders are apt to notice his death soon. We need to be far away from here before that happens.”

“I thought you were still back at the camp.”

Seong Misun scoffed.

“Well it’s a good thing your master isn’t as stupid as you are. This isn’t the time, though—focus! What do you want to do about the extras? Are they coming with us?”

Jia looked back at Luo Mingyu and Pan Jiaying, trying to keep up with what was happening.

“Pan Jiaying is definitely coming with us—Luo—”

The alchemist shook his head vigorously.

“Absolutely not! I cannot believe you’ve involved me in this—this assassination! You murdered my master!”

Jia grimaced.

“I didn’t know that was going to happen, but also he was about to kill you right along with us.”

“Be that as it may, I want no more part in any of this. Just leave me in peace!”

Before anyone else could respond, Eui stepped forward and slapped Luo Mingyu across the face.

“Hey, stupid, are you trying to get yourself killed? First that shit with your master and now this. I’ll give you credit, standing up to the old guy was brave, if stupid, but this is just stupid. You’re not going back to the sect, we’re way past that. If you refuse to go with us, she will not hesitate to kill you and we cannot stop her.”

Seong Misun smiled sweetly.

“Aww, she’s learning! Honestly, if it were entirely up to me I’d just kill you and be done with it. You’re far more trouble than you’re worth, but I don’t care enough to press the issue.”

Luo Mingyu swallowed nervously.

“So it’s come to kidnapping, then? I join you or I die?”

Jia sighed.

“I’m really sorry about this. I didn’t mean for anything like this to happen. If it were up to me, I’d take your word that you wouldn’t betray us and let you go, but it’s not.”

“How convenient that it just so happens to also keep me close enough that I can finish the elixir for Li Zhen.”

Eui kicked him in the shin, scowling.

“Fuck you! Nobody’s making you do anything. If you want to be a spiteful little pissant about it, then you’re free to refuse to make the potion. We’re not so irresponsible that we’d refuse to protect you because of that—we’ll just also hate you.”

“Protect me?! From what—your own psychopathic sponsors?”

Misun rolled her eyes and began tapping her foot impatiently.

“Time is of the essence, here. Can we please get on with it?”

Jia didn’t let herself rise to her taunts, keeping her expression soft as she addressed Luo Mingyu.

“Please believe me when I tell you that I didn’t intend for this, but there’s no way your sect just leaves you alone. We come here asking after you, then you leave with us, then your master suddenly dies and we disappear but you return unscathed?”

Luo Mingyu pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned.

“No, you’re right—this looks exceptionally bad. Fuck! Fine, let’s go. Damn you!”

“I really am sorry...”

“I don’t care!”

Seong Misun rolled her eyes.

“How touching. Ienaga’s back—everyone gather around me and hold on.”

She spread her arms and tails out as she spoke, and Jia furrowed her brows as she took a small handful of white tail-fur.

“I thought we couldn’t use windwalking while within the empire...”

Misun nodded.

“Not without alerting any nearby xiantian cultivators, no, but it’s a little late for that don’t you think?”

Everyone gathered around the princess as she started to cast her spell. Li Meili directed Pan Jiaying to make direct contact with Seong Misun, while Luo Mingyu awkwardly reached out, unsure where to put his hand until she smacked him in the head with one of her tails.

With everyone in position, Seong Misun released her magic and they were all swept away in a gust of supernatural wind.

—-

The camp was already packed and ready to go when they landed, and there was no time for introductions before a frenzy of activity had them fleeing north away from Lushan at full speed. Despite her new technique, Pan Jiaying struggled to keep pace with the others, eventually having to give in and let Li Meili carry her while she focused on lowering her weight.

Luo Mingyu managed quite well at first, and took some sort of rejuvenating pill the first time he started to flag. After hours of constant running, however, he was forced to give in and let someone carry him.

Yoshika was busy with a litter containing their sister, and the stoic barbarian that had coldly murdered their master was carrying the crabby woman with all the tails. Just when Pan Jiaying was wondering if they’d have to slow down or take a break, the other barbarian cheerfully hoisted Luo Mingyu over her shoulder like a sack of rice.

The freakishly tall dark-skinned woman didn’t even seem bothered by the extra weight as they all carried on running through the rest of the day. To Pan Jiaying’s surprise, they didn’t stop at nightfall—carrying on with their breakneck pace as if it was a perfectly normal thing to sustain for such long periods.

She wasn’t sure when she fell asleep, but when Pan Jiaying woke up, they were in some unfamiliar forest. The thick foliage above her obscured the sun, but it was unmistakably daytime. Pan Jiaying looked around to find the new group of people bustling about the campsite. Foreigners—an entire force of them, mostly half-spirits aside from the pair of barbarians.

This was far more than just a group of travelers. It was practically a full-on incursion.

Next to her, Li Meili touched her shoulder gently, and Pan Jiaying had to fight against the reflex to pull away.

“Are you alright? You passed out last night.”

“I—”

Pan Jiaying’s mind flashed back to the sight of her sect master being beheaded, the spray of blood, the pervasive sense of wrongness that she’d felt as the barbarian woman stabbed him. She shuddered and hugged her arms.

“No, not really. Li Meili, I need you to answer me in all honesty. No obfuscation, no omission, no holding anything back for my protection or yours—who are you?”

Li Meili gave her a pained smile.

“I suppose it would be cheap of me to make a comment about my identity here.”

Pan Jiaying didn’t dignify that with a response. Li Meili sighed and continued.

“Yoshika’s real names are Lee Jia and An Eui. We—they were students at the Grand Academy, like you guessed. After the descent, they spent a couple years lost in the wilderness before making it back to civilization in Yamato. Thanks to some friendly connections they made at the academy and a bit of luck, they ended up becoming ambassadors between Goryeo and Yamato.

“This group is a joint diplomatic envoy sent by the Yamato-Goryeon Alliance to petition the empire to join forces against the demonic threat occupying the former academy grounds. That’s mostly just a cover, though. We don’t expect Qin to agree, and your country doesn’t officially do diplomacy with the other nations—hence all the skullduggery.

“It’s technically secondary to our mission, but the real reason we’re here is to meet up with an old friend from the academy who’s currently living in the Spiritual Flowing Purewater sect. She sent us a letter indicating that she might be in trouble, so we’re on our way to try to help her.”

That was...a lot. Pan Jiaying didn’t know how to respond, just sitting and absorbing all the information. She asked the first question that came to mind.

“Who’s your friend?”

Li Meili chuckled.

“Her name is Yan Yue, and it still feels weird to call her a friend sometimes. We’ve got a checkered history.”

Pan Jiaying frowned.

“Yan Yue...Yan. Yan as in Yan Hao? As in the Awakening Dragon’s Yan clan. Please tell me it’s just a coincidence and it’s actually a totally different Yan family.”

Li Meili pursed her lips, her silence speaking volumes.

“Oh. By the emperor... Wait! When you said you’d made powerful enemies—”

“I meant the Yan clan, yes. They, uh, think we killed their scion and stole their treasure. We didn’t, by the way. Well, we didn’t kill Yan Zhihao.”

“But you did steal their treasure?!”

She looked away innocently, refusing to make eye contact. Pan Jiaying stared down at her own hands trying to process everything. It was so much more than she’d been prepared for.

“This is...”

Li Meili grimaced.

“Pan Jiaying, I’m really sorry—I meant to tell you everything, I just—”

“This is amazing!”

“...what?”

Pan Jiaying rose to her feet and giggled.

“I knew you had to be downplaying things when you described what it was like as a rogue cultivator, but I never imagined...you really are on a whole grand adventure! I knew it!”

“You’re...not upset?”

“Oh, I’m very much still freaking out about the whole assassination thing, but I’m trying really hard not to think about it! This is my dream, Li Meili! I’ve always wanted to get away from the sect and just...go on an adventure! Except, I always figured that if I tried, I’d just end up getting killed by some random beast or worse. But you’re a real adventurer! And now I’m your apprentice! An apprentice adventurer!”

Li Meili chuckled.

“You may be excited now, but wait until Yoshika actually starts teaching you. Our cultivation method is pretty unique, and getting started in it is really unpleasant.”

Pan Jiaying waved her off.

“Shh! Don’t ruin this for me! I’m looking for silver linings, not more clouds!”

“Right, sorry.”

Eventually, the high of getting to go on adventures started to wear off, and Pan Jiaying started to dwell on what she’d witnessed again. She sat back down and hugged her knees.

“I’ve never seen someone die before.”

Li Meili winced.

“Yeah, it can be hard. Especially when you’re not expecting it, and especially the first time. Jia had the same reaction when Yan Zhihao died—actually in a pretty similar way, come to think of it.”

“I thought they didn’t kill Yan Zhihao.”

“They didn’t. They just saw it happen. I think you’ll actually get along with Lee Jia—you’re a lot like her.”

Pan Jiaying crossed her arms and frowned obstinately.

“Hmph! I don’t like her. She’s selfish and thoughtless, but justifies all her actions with some thin veneer of altruism so nobody can criticize her. Imagine dragging all these people and the entire fucking continent into your own personal drama!”

Li Meili scratched her cheek and smiled awkwardly.

“That’s a pretty strong opinion about someone you barely know. You do realize that you’re basically talking about me, right? And also that she can probably hear you.”

“Let her! Maybe she’ll take it to heart! The scope of this whole thing is way too big for something as simple as wanting to visit your friend Yan Yue—oh by the emperor! I just got it—she’s the moon you were talking about isn’t she?”

Before Li Meili could answer, Lee Jia appeared behind Pan Jiaying with a forced smile.

“That’s right, she is. But what our talkative little avatar is failing to mention is that the reason we’re petitioning Qin for aid against the demons is because the ‘false gods,’ as you call them, are all fighting over access to an artifact that will literally cause our entire world to collapse if it falls into the wrong hands. Yan Yue just happens to be our only connection to imperial allies.”

Pan Jiaying felt as if she was going to explode. It was too much at once, but she buried it. She forgot about the excitement of a literal adventure to save the world, she forgot about the assassination of her former master, she forgot about how annoyed she was to share a similar name to someone she loathed. There was something more important for her to worry about now.

She held out a hand, gesturing towards Lee Jia as she directed a glare at Li Meili.

“See?! This is exactly what I’m talking about! A justification for everything!”

Pan Jiaying had an argument to win.