Chapter 436: A Quiet, Rainy Courtyard

Even though Zae Zin Nim had been skeptical about the dryad village at first, especially how there was dirt everywhere, she had become accustomed to it. The walkways were all hard-packed, not filthy, and the rooms were well-maintained. With the many trees absorbing all the moisture, the sound of the rain within the shady rooms was surprisingly calming.

More importantly, the room they had given her for cultivation was highly appropriate. The qi was concentrated enough to actually be worth gathering into her dantian, so she was inching toward Sky Soul again.

It would not be attained soon, likely not in time for the battle, but for once that was not a cause for despair. Zae Zin Nim had not been forsaking her Coldfire Corona, not this time. Not only had she continued her mana exercises, she had used it frequently for her Coldfire Palm, so her level had been steadily rising. It had practically flown up to Level 20 and was still rising after that at a not unreasonable pace. Her Pure Yin Shroud had been growing as well, which really took the edge off the long cultivation plateau.

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Name: Zae Zin Nim

Total Power: 1460

Cultivation: Earth Soul 56% (521)

*Heavenly Sash: Cultivation +10% (52)

Coldfire Corona: 27 (381)

Pure Yin Shroud: Spinel Rank (235)

Blackblood Physique Level: E-9 (107)

Blackblood Shadow (+100)

Soul Level: 8 (64)

>

With a total of 1460 Power, she wasn't equal to the strongest Sky Souls, and would definitely be inferior to her father one-on-one, but she was formidable. If only she could resolve her Blackblood Physique, she would be even more competitive, and when one day she reached Sky Soul, she would be one of the strongest cultivators on all Cloudspire.

The difficulty was reaching that point without encountering lethal opponents or undergoing some sort of terrible deviation. These days she felt largely comfortable with the former, but the latter was always a specter haunting her...

Aside from her own advancement, she had been dutiful in preparing for the overall plan. She had studied the techniques given her and also explored some of the local sect politics. The Masterful Crown clan was obviously the dominant power, and the four Great Rivers were their most prestigious branches, but there were countless smaller sects and organizations.

Fewer than there had been a generation ago, however. When she consulted with the oldest dryads or the records, she discovered that many sects had been annihilated over time, and not all were replaced. It was very easy to believe that a surviving member of one of these might have endured, and playing one of those would be her role when the time came.

In order to prepare for it, Zae Zin Nim had mastered a technique called the Rushing Wave Palm. It wasn't actually very impressive, in her opinion, but the qi flow and pose for it was very elaborate, so few would believe she had just learned it for the sake of a ruse.

So far there had been no opportunity to use it, as she was still waiting on the signal from others. Kai was out hunting, Omilaena was training with the dryad matriarch, and the others generally left her alone. She missed them, but since she had so much time, she would cultivate as much as she could. Then she could have more time for her spouses when they did return.

As if summoned by her thoughts, she felt Kai's presence appear in the dryad village and nearly leapt up to go greet him. Would have done so, if she hadn't been at a critical point in her cultivation. She could hear him shaking off the water in one of the transition areas, then walking into their private rooms.

When she caught sight of him, she could tell that something was wrong just by how he walked. There were no injuries on his body, and no pain in his eyes, yet she could see the frustration in his movements. Not carnal frustration, either, something deeper that he wanted to release with brutal violence. As soon as he saw that she was in the middle of cultivation, however, his expression softened. He walked over to her, kissed the top of her head, then disappeared into their rooms.

It took real discipline not to rush her remaining cultivation, but the instant she was done, Zae Zin Nim hopped up to go to him. She found that he lay in one of the hammocks set up in a side room, staring out into the rainy courtyard. With the thick cloud cover and no lights in that room, he was cast in bluish shadows and looked peaceful despite his earlier frustration.

"Is everything alright?" she asked as she walked up beside the hammock.

"I ran into our targets," Kai said quietly. "Yul Wei Ren and other young heirs of the sects. They seem... very full of themselves."

"Yes, such young masters can be frustrating."

"What's annoying is that they... no, there's no point complaining about it. Come over here, Zin Nim. I could use your company."

She was happy to oblige, but trying to get into the hammock proved unwieldy. It would have made her feel clumsy, not at all like the accomplished cultivator she was, but soon Kai helped by scooping her up in one arm. Once she was balanced, she straddled his chest and lay against him. His arm automatically moved to hold her back and she would have been happy to fall asleep like that.

Instead she remained awake, comfortable against her husband's chest as they rocked gently in the hammock. No bright lights shone on them, the air was pleasantly cool compared to his warmth, and the sound of rain soothed her. She could feel Kai relaxing underneath her, his spirit restored by this intimacy.

When she had been younger she had been taught so many lessons about how to handle a man, mostly to do with massaging his ego, managing his needs, and calming his anger. She had always hated those feminine arts and gravitated toward lethal skills, but now... she felt extremely feminine, caring for her husband wordlessly. Later on they would shift to a different sort of intimacy, but there was no demand and no rush, and it would be no obligation.

"I'm so lucky to have you," Kai said quietly.

"I was just thinking I was the lucky one." Zae Zin Nim felt a new warmth and pressed against him. "But we aren't just lucky, we chose one another. This is how it should be."

"In an ideal world, anyway. But my other thoughts are a bit less romantic... you won't be offended?"

"Not at all." She found a new position and patted his chest. "Just talking with you is nice. What were you thinking about?"

"So there are four 'Great River' sects that are most prestigious. All their names have the same format, except one... the Deepriver sect. Does that mean anything, or is it just random?"

"Usually, the combined names are older sects with more ancient traditions. That is not true in every case, and there are some old sects that cling to stiffer names as a matter of respect. But it is accurate here: the Deepriver sect was once a powerful self-sufficient sect, before the Masterful Crown clan became dominant. They were eventually forced to become a branch of the clan, but the legacy remains."

"Yeah, that makes sense." He went on to tell her about his encounter, and though it wasn't the most romantic conversation, she enjoyed just listening to him, plus it was important to find out just which sect heirs were present and what resources they'd brought.

He usually had a strange perspective on things, though, viewing so many systems she took for granted in a different way. Even though many things about Deadwaste still seemed absurd to her, she could admit that perhaps there were some things to learn from them. The value of Classes, for example, or how Kai treated her. So what he said next was downright dismaying.

"I thought Jin Kung was being ridiculous at the restaurant, but he was actually making a pretty safe assumption." Kai rubbed his eyes with the hand that wasn't holding her. "Normally when you see a man with two women like that, you can assume what's going on. I must have looked just like all those men, just-"

"No!" Zae Zin Nim put a hand over his mouth. "I've met so many young masters like that and there's no comparison. They want a woman who will love them for no reason, gaze at them fondly, laugh at their jokes, and have no life of their own. If Kan Jin Kung couldn't tell that we were truly enjoying your company it was because he can't tell when they spend time with him."

"Easy, Zin Nim, I wasn't trying to-"

"Listen, Kai, this is important to me." She pushed herself up off his chest to look him directly in the eyes. "When you speak all kinds of ideals, even if I think they're unreasonable, I know you really believe them. But when he accused you, he was just using ideals as a pretext. Even if he thought he was defending us, he never cared about us as people. He wasn't angry because he thought you controlled us, he was jealous because he didn't own us."

"I appreciate you defending me, but you don't need to go that far." Kai gently touched the side of her face and gave her an odd smile. "I just... realized I didn't truly believe Cloudspire was like this. It's easy to assume that the way you learned things is the only way things can be."

"That is true. But we are also guilty of the same thing, here."

"And it just took me a while to figure that out."

"I just want..." Zae Zin Nim reached up to touch his hand against her face. "I wanted to be clear. I haven't always been good to you - I struck you when we first met, distrusting your intentions. So I want you to know how much I trust you now."

"Thank you, Zin Nim. I understand you don't say that easily."

"And I... know that sometimes I must seem strange to you. But I don't disgust you, right? I can tell what utter contempt you have for them, and I don't want to think you could ever..."

His eyes widened as he understood what she was trying to say, then Kai crushed her to his chest. "Never. We've had some things to figure out, and we'll probably have more in the future, but I've always respected you. Now that I've seen more of Cloudspire, I'm all the more amazed you turned out the way you did."

"Good." Zae Zin Nim wriggled into a more comfortable position, at last at ease. One of the first lessons she had been taught was to never be needy, never express any emotions like that, but here she could speak even her silly worries.

The atmosphere of the empty courtyard was still lovely, but the conversation had replaced her contemplativeness with a restless energy. While staying in his embrace, she wriggled lower so that she was straddling his hips instead. There, she got a clear sign that he definitely wasn't disgusted by her, in a less moral sense this time. It was so strange to actually be glad that a man was reacting to her, and so freeing.

"You don't own me," Zae Zin Nim told him softly, "but you do have me. Want me to help you forget all about those fools?"

Kai chuckled, and his hands slid down her back to rest on her hips, and for a time all was right in the world.

(Cognosticon here. We are off next week, because I'm behind and need to catch up on stuff. Not on the core chapters: this arc is written well ahead of this point. But there are a lot of other things falling behind, such as an expansion of this chapter and some talks with publishers. I need the break, but hopefully good news soon.)