Fates Parallel Chapter 39 - Conspiracy

“—should never have brought them here!”

Lee Jia stirred awake to the sound of an unfamiliar man shouting. She was still bound, and her domain was still restricted by a formation, but she could sense Eui nearby. Yan Yue’s voice responded, her tone bored despite the man’s apparent ire.

“I couldn’t exactly leave them tied up in my dorm room, someone was bound to find them eventually, if they didn’t just break out themselves.”

“How in the emperor’s name would they break through the restraints?”

“I don’t know, but I’m not leaving anything to chance. The one with cat ears managed to cast a spell while trapped in one of my dreamscapes, earlier.”

Lee Jia tuned out their arguing for a moment to check on her condition. She was a bit singed from her stunt with the shock talismans earlier, but otherwise fine. Through their link, she could tell that Eui was similarly uninjured, though she understandably felt emotionally distressed.

“Eui, are you awake? Can you hear me?”

“Jia! Thank the ancestors you’re awake. Where the fuck are we? What do we do!?”

It seemed a bit odd to Jia that Eui was the one panicking, but Eui’s criminal experience was rather one-dimensional, while Jia had seen all sorts of things growing up on the streets.

“Calm down, Eui. We’re probably not in danger, yet. If they were going to kill us, they would have done it by now.”

“That’s not reassuring, Jia!”

“The best thing we can do right now is play dead and gather information. We need to find out where we are and figure out a way to escape.”

The man was shouting at Yan Yue again, and Lee Jia wondered where the other man she had been speaking so sweetly to before had gone.

“—have just killed them if you thought they had the ring!”

“Are you stupid, Han Yu? We can’t just go around randomly killing disciples on vague suspicions—and I didn’t say they had the ring, I said they might have information about it.”

“Ancestral Grandmaster told our master that—”

“I know what my father told that lazy fatass! I’m sure he’s be more than happy to ignite another few centuries of war that we have to deal with, while he sits pretty on top of his stupid mountain.”

Han Yu scoffed audibly.

“What war? For a pair of nobodies noone has even heard of from the beastmen’s tiny nation? Please.”

“Unlike you, Han, I actually pay attention to the information I gather, and who I gather it from. Those two are friends of Seong Eunae and Hyeong Daesung—before we met, they had been speaking privately with the Grand Magus himself. Furthermore, they are associated with both Hayakawa Kaede and Ienaga Yumi.”

“Being in the same class hardly counts as association, Yan Yue.”

“They’re private disciples of Ienaga Yumi. Killing them risks offending both Yamato and Goryeo, do you want a unified Yamato allying with the beastmen against Qin?”

Private disciples? That was news to Lee Jia. Was she lying or just misinformed?

“Tch, I think you overestimate both their value and the threat that war poses to Qin. Our Empire would endure.”

Lee Jia could practically hear Yan Yue’s eyes rolling as she responded sardonically.

“Of course it would. Your patriotism is a credit to our sect, senior.”

The last word was positively dripping with venom, and Han Yu clearly noticed it.

“You should show me more respect, Yan Yue. You lean too heavily on your relationship with the Ancestral Grandmaster. I am your senior under our master.”

Lee Jia could actually hear teeth grinding even over Yan Yue’s mocking laughter.

“Hahaha! You’re ridiculous, Han Yu. I’ve been that fatty’s disciple longer than you have, I’m stronger than you are, and I’m obviously smarter than you are. The only reason you outrank me—the one thing you have that I don’t, is a p—”

“Enough!”

A third voice interrupted Yan Yue’s tirade—Lee Jia recognized it as the same man that had been there when they had first been captured.

“You’re both subordinate to me, and I trust I won’t have to prove that I deserve that position.”

Once again, Yan Yue’s voice was sickly sweet as she spoke to the last, unidentified member of the trio.

“Of course not, darling! I follow you willingly, unlike that fat—”

“Please stop referring to our master by name or description. We can’t allow him to be implicated in our activities.”

Yan Yue clicked her tongue irritably at Han Yu’s interruption.

“Naturally, the lazy bastard never gets his hands dirty when he can just reap the rewards of the efforts of others.”

The leader of the group sighed wearily.

“No more arguing. We captured them because I said so, and our master has given me full autonomy on this mission. If you have a problem with that, Han Yu, you can take it up with him, but don’t blame me for what happens to you.”

Han Yu’s voice became low and deferential, and Lee Jia could imagine him bowing as he spoke.

“Of course, senior. It was not my intention to question your decisions, only the means by which junior sister Yan Yue carried them out.”

Yan Yue scoffed, but made no further comment. That seemed to satisfy the leader, who began delivering orders to the other two.

“Good. Han Yu, return to the academy and continue gathering information on the rest of the party that was present for Yan Zhihao’s death. See if you can get any of them to corroborate the story of this sword demon. Yue, I’ll leave you here to question the captives while I investigate the mountain—you said they marked Zhihao’s grave with a sword?”

“That’s what they told me.”

“Very well, let’s go.”

Lee Jia heard the sounds of movement as the two men left, leaving Yan Yue alone with her and Eui. Yan Yue began to hum a quiet tune, empowered by her qi. With Lee Jia’s other senses already blocked, her domain immediately noticed the foreign qi slipping through to assault her mind.

The qi moved through her domain faster than she could react, and she was unable to resist as her mind grew slightly hazy. Slowly, everything within her domain began to be replaced with qi facsimiles, and her senses were filled with false images of a small log cabin with two couches and a stove in a layout reminiscent of her own living area.

Glancing to her side, Lee Jia saw Eui standing next to her and scowling angrily at Yan Yue, who was seated on one of the couches and quietly sipping tea. As she set her teacup down, Yan Yue looked up at the girls and gestured across from her, where two more teacups had been prepared.

“Go on and have a seat. It’s not real, as you’ve already figured out, but I’m sure it’s much more comfortable than your current accommodations.”

Lee Jia sat down and crossed her arms, frowning across the tea table at Yan Yue.

“Why are you doing this?”

Yan Yue laughed as Eui grumpily flopped down on the couch next to Jia and casually flipped her teacup over, spilling it everywhere. It simply reverted a moment later as if nothing had happened.

“Hahaha, doing what, specifically? And do you mean me, or the group I represent as a whole?”

Lee Jia sighed, it was infuriating how much the people of Qin loved their social games.

“How about you just answer whichever version of the question you think is most relevant?”

“Hmph, you’re no fun. Well, I made sure you woke up early enough to get some context—it wasn’t easy to do that without them noticing—so you already know we’re under Yan Hao’s orders to recover Zhihao’s ring. We’re also supposed to find whoever killed him and bring their head back to the sect, though that sounds like it’s going to be difficult if what you say is true.”

Lee Jia blinked in surprise—that had been a more straightforward answer than she expected.

“I don’t know what ring you’re talking about, but bringing Jianmo to justice is probably going to be more than just ‘difficult’. He’s ancient, and he spoke of your God-Emperor as if he knew him personally.”

Yan Yue whistled appreciatively and took another sip of tea before responding.

“That sounds well above our ability to handle, but it doesn’t really matter. If anything, that’s rather bad news for you. My father doesn’t care who killed Zhihao—he’s never even met the boy. He only cares that the world thinks that whoever killed Zhihao has paid the price for offending the sect. Any head will do as long as we can convince people it’s a guilty head.”

Lee Jia paled a bit, it was starting to sound suspiciously like they were getting framed for murder. Eui scoffed and fruitlessly tipped over her teacup again, this time it didn’t even spill.

“So you kidnapped us as potential scapegoats? Why keep us alive, if you’re just planning to kill us later?”

Yan Yue waved a hand dismissively.

“Well, because I’m not, obviously. If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.”

Lee Jia made a sour face at the way Yan Yue spoke so casually of kidnapping and murder. If this was the standard set by the immortal ‘betters’ she’d grown up hearing about, then she was having second thoughts about involving herself in this world.

“I thought you were subordinate to the other two. You said when you captured us that you’d rather let us go.”

Yan Yue regarded Lee Jia archly and nodded.

“Nominally, I am, but Han Yu is a genuine moron who’s never had an independent thought in his life, and Zheng Long is—” she cocked her head and smirked “—pliable.”

Eui averted her eyes and made a gagging noise.

“Gross.”

Yan Yue chuckled ruefully and shrugged her shoulders.

“A girl does what she must to get ahead. In any case, my influence over the others is limited. I have to at least look like I’m trying to achieve the same goals, even as I pursue my own.”

Lee Jia frowned and narrowed her eyes.

“And what goals would those be? Since you haven’t actually asked us any questions in this ‘interrogation’, I can only assume you’re working your way up to it.”

Yan Yue raised her eyebrows with interest as she turned her smile towards Lee Jia.

“By the Emperor, you’re a clever one, aren’t you? And remarkably calm for the situation. Your friend hides it well, but she’s terrified—you, on the other hand, are genuinely relaxed.”

Lee Jia simply shrugged.

“It’s not my first kidnapping. So what do you want from us?”

“Me specifically, or the group I represent as a whole?”

She giggled as Lee Jia gave her a flat, unimpressed look.

“Apologies, I couldn’t resist. First, allow me to present some context. Nobody cares about little Zhihao or who killed him, and in truth, I doubt my father expects the matter to be resolved quickly—he’s lived over a thousand years already, and doesn’t really see time the way the rest of us do. Yan Hao might be interested in getting it dealt with so that he can return home sooner, but nobody else has a vested interest in it. What truly motivates my master and brothers-in-craft is the ring you’re wearing.”

Lee Jia reacted without thinking, reflexively holding her hand protectively to her chest.

“How did you—?”

“Jia!”

Eui’s mental warning came too late as Yan Yue’s smile once again became condescending.

“I didn’t, but thank you for the confirmation. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me—it’s in my best interests to make sure nobody finds out that you have that ring.”

Eui scowled angrily at Yan Yue and slammed a fist on the table.

“You still haven’t told us what your interests are!”

“Tsk, so impatient. What I want is for this mission to fail completely. I want Yan Hao to be forced to choose between returning home empty-handed or not at all, because I know that it’s in his best interest to choose not at all.”

Jia and Eui shared a confused glance.

“Uh, why? I mean, why do you want to fail, what do you get out of that?”

Yan Yue sat back and polished off her illusory tea before setting her cup back down and meeting Lee Jia’s gaze with a dire expression, her carefree veneer dropping in an instant.

“Freedom, Miss Lee. From my country, my sect, my family, and ultimately my master. I’m sick of it all. There’s no place for me, there. For better or worse, my little brother is dead and my father is awake. He’ll want a new heir before going back into closed door training, and while I was overlooked as an infant last time, I am now a beautiful young woman of marriageable age and incredible talent—do you know what that makes me?”

“Uh...fit to take over as head of the family?”

Yan Yue barked out a sharp laugh before grimacing.

“Hah! If only! No, it makes me good breeding stock—a perfect furnace. My father’s not so depraved as to take me directly, but if I were to return home it would only be a matter of time before he remembers he has a daughter, and trades me away for a new concubine to carry his precious heir.”

Was that a common practice in Qin? Elder Qin had alluded to different cultural gender roles, but this sounded like Yan Yue was going to be sold into—Lee Jia’s expression darkened.

“We’ll help you. What do you need us to do?”

Yan Yue and Eui both looked taken aback by Lee Jia’s sudden determination.

“Jia, are you sure about this? I don’t know if we can trust her.”

“I know but—I’ll explain later, but yes, I’m sure.”

Yan Yue quickly recovered her composure and cleared her throat.

“Ahem, well that was easier than expected. Well, I’ve given it some thought, and I think that the best option for me is to simply delay the mission for as long as possible. To that end, there are two key factors—First, this Jianmo must be publicly blamed for Zhihao’s death, to prevent the possibility of a scapegoat. Second, we must make the others believe that the demon also has the ring—if he’s as insurmountable an obstacle as you claim, then he makes the perfect scapegoat.”

Lee Jia nodded along and furrowed her brows thoughtfully.

“Distracting them with a wild goose chase...but what happens when they realize that chasing after Jianmo is hopeless?”

“We’ll just have to make sure that they don’t. You and your friends will claim that the demon struggled against the fire elemental, and that he’s still on the mountain, recovering.”

That was a lot of lying and conspiracy just to stall the investigation. Lee Jia was fairly certain she could get her friends to go along with it—though Xin would no doubt find a way to make her pay for it, later—but just how much would it actually accomplish?

“Say we stall them indefinitely, Miss Yue—what’s your endgame? When do you achieve the freedom you seek?”

“That should be simple. If I can stall them long enough for my cultivation to reach the xiantian ranks, securing my freedom should be much easier. The number of women in Qin who have achieved xiantian rank can be counted on one hand, and nearly all of them are imperial concubines. I would no longer merely be a prized possession—but a priceless treasure.”

Lee Jia looked askance at Yan Yue.

“That sounds like you’d be in even more trouble than before.”

“I’d rather be a priceless gem that none dare touch than a coveted, but ultimately disposable tool.”

She supposed she couldn’t argue with that, and it wasn’t like Lee Jia had any better ideas.

“Alright, I guess. Do you really think we’ll have that kind of time?”

“I do. I’m already in the core forming stage, and the investigation will likely slow down quite a bit as we are forced to maintain our cover as academy students. If successful, our ruse should buy us at least a year or two.”

A year or two was an incredibly short timespan to break through to the xiantian stage, as far as Lee Jia understood it. Most never made it that far, and those who did had usually cultivated for decades. Then again, Yan Yue was already in the third stage, so her confidence wasn’t unfounded.

“So what now, then? I don’t know how much we’re going to be able to help while tied up like this. Also, we were being spied on by a high level cultivator before—we thought it was Do Hye at first, but now we suspect Yan Hao. Are we in danger of being discovered?”

Yan Yue frowned thoughtfully.

“He’s not usually one for taking things hands-on, like that. We haven’t yet even reported your involvement to him, so he shouldn’t know about it yet. I don’t know who was spying on you, but we should be safe from eavesdropping. You’re not the only ones capable of mental communication.”

Lee Jia’s head jerked up with a start, her eyes going wide with surprise.

“You knew—?”

She cut off her surprised exclamation too late, blushing as she realized her mistake. Yan Yue shook her head and smirked.

“Tsk tsk tsk, twice in one conversation, Miss Lee. You have a lot to learn if you’re going to be involved in any kind of conspiracy. To be fair, it wasn’t a difficult assumption—you must have some kind of mental link to be appearing together in a dreamscape like this. Normally I’d have to adjust the illusion for each of you, which gets exhausting with more than a few victims.”

Lee Jia grumbled irritably while Eui patted her on the shoulder sympathetically, and Yan Yue chuckled lightly before continuing.

“As for our next move, I’ll have to convince the others to free you. I don’t suppose you two are interested in defecting to Qin, are you?”