Fates Parallel Chapter 272 - Estrangement

The Gaze of the Everwatching Mists Sect. Apparently a lesser sect that presided over a small territory not far from Qinghe. When word of Luo Mingyu’s cultivation pills reached them, they rushed to send representatives over to recruit him into their sect, luring him with promises of wealth and resources. Eventually he agreed, promising his parents that he would stay in touch and visit as often as the sect would allow.

“They must not have allowed much, since we never saw him again after that.”

Luo Huang was back on his pipe now that they’d returned to the sitting room. Wu Yuan wasn’t bothered by their true appearances—if anything, the doctor’s wife seemed gratified to learn that she’d been right to suspect them.

“I’m surprised you got my husband to wax nostalgic like this. I used to worry myself sick thinking that our son had gotten himself killed by offending some elder.”

Eui shrugged.

“How do you know he didn’t? It doesn’t really sound like he’d just vanish on you like that.”

“We’re always looking for word from out that way. We hear rumors now and then about an alchemist in Lushan. It must be him.”

Jia frowned. That was a pretty flimsy thing to hold out hope for, but she didn’t want to say it.

“What can you tell us about the sect, or Lushan?”

Luo Huang shook his head, taking a long drag from his pipe.

“Not much, I’m afraid. Lushan is a sect town run by the Everwatching Mists. The sect itself is built on a small, lush mountain range while the town is built at the foot. Now and then we get a few traders coming in to buy rice or bamboo, but otherwise they keep to themselves.”

“What’s the sect like?”

The doctor shrugged.

“How should I know? Only reason I even know their names is because they came for Mingyu. This isn’t a sect town—we don’t deal with immortals if we can avoid it.”

Rika leaned forward.

“We keep hearing that phrase—’sect town’—what does that mean? I mean, aside from the obvious.”

“Ah, right. You’re foreigners, of course. I dunno how they do things out in the untamed lands, but here in the empire we are protected from monsters and spirits by the great sects, under the God-Emperor’s command. Otherwise, though, we mortals are pretty much left to our own devices.

“The cultivators living up on their mountains have little interest in governing the masses, but someone’s gotta tend the fields and make sure the people are fed. Now and then, a cultivator might come by if something catches their interest—like they did for my son—but otherwise they don’t tend to bother with towns like this one. With one exception.”

Eui chuckled.

“Let me guess—sect towns?”

“That’s right. Turns out there’s plenty of things closer to home that immortals don’t want to do either. Tidy the gardens, sweep the dust from the streets, things like that. Sect towns are the answer. Towns or villages—cities for some of the bigger sects—with a ready supply of mortals more than happy to do whatever the immortals ask of them.”

Jia scowled. That sounded uncomfortably close to slavery to her.

“What do they get out of it? The mortals, I mean.”

“Well, two things I suppose. First, people living in sect towns don’t really have to work for a living. Oh, they have to work—but only to perform the tasks demanded of them by the sect. Their needs are completely provided for. The second reason is that they hold out hope to get picked to become disciples.

“Many young men spend everything they have to travel to sect towns in the hope that they can get accepted into a sect and become cultivators. But for those who live there, they have that opportunity as a matter of course—and it’s no secret that the sects like to recruit young. The vast majority of cultivators are born and raised in sect towns.”

Eui snorted.

“That explains a few things about the cultivators we’ve met. You said young men, but what about women?”

Wu Yuan furrowed her brows.

“Why would a woman move to a sect town? No man would want to marry such a low status woman when they have an eternity to work their way into the good graces of a noble clan. Female cultivators have no future.”

The three female cultivators stared hard at her, and she shrunk back a bit, realizing her mistake.

“Erm, in the empire, that is. I’m sure the untamed lands are different—more dangerous. You girls did what you had to.”

Eui failed to stifle her laughter, breaking into her signature cackling belly laugh before she regained her composure and wiped a tear from her eye.

“Okay, I’m sorry, I can’t keep letting that go. You do realize that we’ve got entire nations out there, right?”

Wu Yuan blinked, then blushed with embarrassment.

“You—you do?”

“Yeah, of course. What, did you think we were just a bunch of lawless barbarians living in total anarchy?”

Wu Yuan, Luo Huang, and Yi Lan all averted their eyes—their silence was deafening. Jia took pity on them and changed the subject.

“Anyway, Luo Mingyu is probably still in Lushan, then?”

The doctor grunted affirmatively.

“If he’s anywhere. If you take the road on this side of the river and follow its eastern branches, Lushan’s about a week’s travel. I can’t make any promises you’ll actually find him, though.”

“But you think he can cure Li Zhen?”

He shrugged.

“I don’t know about curing her, but if there’s a way to stave off her illness with medicine, my boy will know it.”

Jung leaned forward, holding her teacup with a white-knuckled grip.

“What about my daughter? Is she going to get sick too?”

Master Luo sighed.

“I don’t know. It’s possible. Like I said, bring her around if you like and I’ll check her out. How old is she?”

“She turns eight this year.”

The doctor nodded, then did a double take.

“Eight?! But you’re barely—”

He was cut off by Wu Yuan placing her hand over his.

“Now, dear, I’m sure the girl has her own circumstances. Let’s not pry, shall we?”

Luo Huang cleared his throat and nodded.

“Right, yes. Forgive my impertinence. Has she ever shown any symptoms?”

Jung shook her head.

“No. She’s always been healthy and full of energy. She’s never gotten sick, even when food was scarce. In fact she’s even—”

She paused, looking to Jia uncertainly. Jia realized what was causing her to hesitate and took over.

“Jung’s daughter is my apprentice. She’s a fully awakened cultivator herself.”

The doctor’s eyes widened.

“By the Emperor, have you brought your entire sect?!”

Jia scratched her cheek, chuckling awkwardly.

“Insofar as I have one, sure. It’s not as impressive as it sounds.”

He shook his head.

“In any case, you’ve got even more reason to seek out my son, then. I can’t do any conclusive tests on a cultivator—my instruments are too fragile. The needles I used for Li Zhen are an exception, but that’s not enough.”

Jia pursed her lips.

“If Li...Chi did inherit Li Zhen’s condition, would it even matter? Cultivators are completely safe from mortal illness.”

Luo Huang frowned.

“That’s only partially true, Miss Li Meili. Cultivators are immune to common infections, plagues, and other such diseases, but something like this is a part of the person themself. I don’t pretend to be an expert on cultivation, but you tell me, Miss—if her qi is the source of the sickness, what do you suppose would happen if she refined and strengthened that very qi?”

Eui scowled.

“Fuck.”

The doctor nodded.

“My thoughts exactly. I’ll tell you what—leave me a few of those herbs, and I’ll put together some qi suppression tablets for you. One of Mingyu’s recipes—the few that I can recreate myself. If the girl starts to show any symptoms, they should help manage it. If I start now I can get them finished by the end of the day.”

Jia retrieved the herbs in question and placed them on the table, letting the doctor pick out the ones he needed. While she was at it, she took out a few bags of gold.

“Thank you, Master Luo Huang. You’ve done us a great service, and we won’t forget it.”

Luo Huang bowed his head graciously.

“It was nothing, Miss. You’ve been wonderful guests and generous clients besides. I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for you after such a display of trust.”

Jia cocked her head.

“Oh?”

“After all, how do you know I won’t just take these and sell you out to the magistrate the moment you leave town?”

Wu Yuan stomped on her husband’s foot, but he remained resolute, staring into Jia’s eyes as she smiled.

“Will you do that?”

He scoffed.

“Would rather cut out my own tongue than give those scumbag sects a damn whisper. You seem like good people to me.”

Jia nodded at the conviction in his words, and took out another small bag of gold.

“Good enough for me! You’re good people too, thank you.”

“Thank you, Miss. Though, I can’t help but wonder how you got so much imperial gold or where you’re keeping it all.”

She winked.

“The gold is from a friend. I’ll just pretend you didn’t say anything about the second part, alright?”

Luo Huang froze for a moment, before chuckling nervously and nodding.

“O-of course, Miss. What second part?”

Jia rose and bowed.

“Exactly! Well, we’d better get going. Thank you again for everything. We’ll be back before we leave for those pills. For now, we need to get our papers in order.”

“Mm. Good luck with that. A word of advice—things will go more smoothly with the magistrate if you’ve got a man with you to do all the talking.”

Jia sighed, linking arms with Eui as the illusions fell back into place, once more disguising their true identities. She smiled and leaned into Eui’s side, resting a head on her shoulder.

“No need to worry about that. We’ve already got it covered—Jing Yi here is my husband!”

Eui grinned sardonically.

“Only because you gave me a man’s name.”

“It’s unisex!”

—-

The visit to the magistrate’s office was long and boring, but went as smoothly as they could have hoped for. There was a small hitch when the clerk got upset at them for being so late. Apparently the guard had sent word to expect them, and the clerk had gone out of his way to stay a few extra hours just to make sure he didn’t miss them. Once more, Jia was taken aback by how accommodating the people of Qin were compared to the self-serving and manipulative cultivators she’d met.

By the time the sun began to set, they had a set of four bamboo slips upon which their traveling permissions had been scribed. The passports would permit them to travel within the province, but the magistrate warned that they’d need to apply for new ones if they wanted to go any farther than that.

While the mortal bureaucracy had full discretion over travel within the province, the provincial borders were the domain of the sects and thus an application to cross them would require permission from a sect elder. Applying for such permission was costly and time consuming, with no guarantee that the request would even be approved.

That was a problem for later. For now, Jia’s immediate interests were still quite local. It would be difficult to justify the detour to the others, but Jia wanted to meet the alchemist Luo Minyu.

Before leaving, the girls picked up the bamboo litter for Jung and the qi suppression pills. It wasn’t easy slipping out of town after that. They had to stave off numerous offers of hospitality, and assure the guards that they had a safe camp set up not far from the town’s walls where they’d left some of their belongings.

They walked in silence for a long while, before Jia voiced what was on everyone’s minds.

“Qin is nothing like we thought it would be.”

Rika chuckled.

“It really isn’t. I mean, maybe it’s just this one town but if you told me that Yan Zhihao came from this place? I wouldn’t believe you.”

“Yeah...”

“So...I guess we’re going to find that alchemist kid, huh?”

Jia nodded.

“We have to. Jung might not make it all the way to the Flowing Purewater Sect even with regular treatments, and if there’s even a chance that Narae has it too, I want to know.”

Jung wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.

“If I passed this on to my little girl...I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Jia wrapped an arm around her older sister and squeezed gently.

“It’s not your fault. We won’t let anything happen to you or Narae—you know that.”

Jung smiled and returned the hug.

“I know. Thank you. You’ve truly been a blessing, Jia.”

Eui put her hands behind her head and looked up at the starry night sky.

“Misun’s going to have a fit, though.”

Jia scowled.

“Let her. I’m starting to think that woman is only happy when she’s mad about something.”

Rika shrugged.

“Leave big sis to me. I’m starting to get a handle on her, I think.”

Jia looked askance at her.

“Are you sure?”

“Sure, why not? She already hates me anyway, and I’m pretty sure she won’t actually kill me as long as it would hurt Eunae.”

Eui gave Rika an incredulous look.

“Uh, I’m pretty sure hurting Eunae would be half the point of killing you. Or did you somehow not notice how much she hates her sister?”

Rika shook her head.

“I don’t think she does. And I don’t think it’s just fear like she told you, either. Misun is...well, I’m not sure. I’m still trying to figure it out, but I think she cares. She’s just weird about it.”

Eui rolled her eyes and shrugged.

“I’ll be sure to put that on your tombstone.”