~~~

Bei Hong and Bei Duyi are left as little more than bruises.

Internal bleeding, broken bones, and cracked skulls. There is little they didn’t do to each other. Their bloodied, beaten forms are laid out over stone platforms in what has become an improvised clinic of sorts. Few make the journey across the Dead Plains without serious injuries, making any semblance of medical facilities entirely necessary.

Fan Bingbing told him this room was most likely once used for fertility rituals, but Liu Jin isn’t about to share that with anyone.

Regardless, Bei Hong and Bei Duyi sorely need medical attention. Only their meridians and dantian are in good condition, but Liu Jin knew that even before having them brought here. Had he sensed either of them trying to cause permanent damage to the other during their fight, he’d have put a stop to it regardless of what the two idiots might have felt about it.

“How are they?”

Liu Jin feels Lu Mei enter the room before he hears her. Still, he does not turn to face her just yet. He is busy mending the bodies of the Bei cousins. His hands glow with Qi as he moves around them. Needles, potions, and salves are applied one after another with methodical precision.

“They will live,” Liu Jin says, deciding to remove the worst possibility from consideration right away. “No lasting damage was done, so I expect them to make a full recovery.”

“No lasting damage was done?” Lu Mei echoes incredulously. “Even though they look like that?”

He can almost imagine the way she crosses her arms and gives a pointed glare to the two giant bruises laid out over the stone beds.

“Incredible, isn’t it?” Liu Jin says as he continues treating them. “Even with their regenerative abilities, it will take time for them to recover, but the fact that they are capable of it is nothing short of amazing. It is almost like they held back a little.”

“If you say it like that, it almost sounds like you’re implying that was the case.”

“I am,” Liu Jin admits. “Though they fought for hours, they never once put the weight of their souls behind their attacks. Not fully, at least. We’d be having a different conversation otherwise.”

Thanks to their time in the Dead Plains, Bei Hong and Bei Duyi are at or near the late stages of the Spirit Realm. Even if they have not been instructed in the ways of the soul, it should be impossible for two cultivators of their level to not put their soul into their attacks. That their spiritual damage is so relatively minor compared to the physical one suggests purposefulness.

“So they’re both idiots.” Lu Mei sighs. “Stupidity seems to run deep in the Bei Clan.”

“That it does.”

“And yet you look happy.”

Liu Jin blinks and looks up at Lu Mei. “Do I?”

“A lady tends to notice if her partner feels happier around would-be corpses than he does anywhere else.” Her Qi brushes against his. She has gotten better at sensing emotions, it seems. “Had I not felt your emotions when we kissed, I’d be a little worried.”

“What? I am not…” Liu Jin trails off, the reflexive response lost on his lips as he forces himself to think. Whether he’s happier now than a few minutes ago, he cannot deny that he hasn’t exactly been happy lately, can he?

“I enjoy being a doctor,” Liu Jin says at last.

“You are good at it.”

“It is not just that,” Liu Jin says as he continues treating Bei Hong. Now that Lu Mei has pointed it out, he can feel the lightness in his chest, the briskness with which he moves when he heals.

Unsurprisingly, he feels most fulfilled when healing.

“You once told me you did not believe me to be a man of small ambitions,” Liu Jin says, finally meeting her eyes. A small smile tugs at his lips. “However, if I had my way, I would be nothing but a man of small ambitions. When I was a child, I wanted nothing more than to follow in my father’s footsteps. I didn’t need riches or power. I didn’t even need to leave the city where I was born. Being a doctor like my father was all I ever wanted. That was enough for me.”

When I was a child.

How odd it is to think of himself that way when not even two years have passed since the fall of Eastern Port City. It is not as if he is a grown man now. The opposite, really. The weight of his youth and inexperience has only become more noticeable with time.

“I wish I could have stayed that way.”

“But you didn’t. You haven’t,” Lu Mei points out, moving closer to him. “You are in the middle of the Dead Plains, taking part in a game that will decide the future of the Eternal Flame Clan. In a matter of months, you have become a major figure in Lord Feng Gui’s faction. Not only that, but in just a couple of weeks, you have gathered followers, many of whom worship you.”

“You have been talking to Ten,” Liu Jin guesses. The disciple from the Armory has made no secret that he believes everyone here stands more to gain by following Liu Jin than by staying loyal to a Sect that has clearly not valued their service.

While Liu Jin can understand those feelings, he is glad people like Ten are a minority. That is not to say the other disciples aren’t loyal to him. They just aren’t extreme enough to suggest he should start his own Sect.

“Him and a few others,” Lu Mei says, not bothering to hide it. “You have a knack for gathering people around you. Of course, the cultivation pills you have made for them likely helped.”

Liu Jin blinks, impressed. So she even knows about that. Though she has only been here for a few hours, it seems she already has a good grasp on the situation.

“I gather people around me so that they won’t die, and I made cultivation pills for them for the same reason,” Liu Jin says. The cultivation pills he made for the disciples here are not the best he could have made, but they have served their purpose. Give the disciples power so they can better survive the Dead Plains. “They are understandably grateful.”

“Not just grateful,” Lu Mei says. Though she tries to keep her voice calm, her Qi vibrates with anticipation. “Grateful is a smile and a nod. Grateful is a small favor without cost or struggle. They are loyal. They are in awe. They are ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“Whatever you wish,” she says with a shrug. She stands next to him, looking down at his hands as they work on Bei Hong’s body. “I will not tell you to humor foolish delusions about abandoning the Sect right now. However, you are doing all of this for something, aren’t you? That little vengeance quest of yours.”

That little vengeance quest. Lu Mei says it so dismissively it almost makes him laugh. From her perspective, it must surely seem petty. Liu Jin has joined one of the strongest Sects in the Crimson Cloud Empire and gained power in it only for the sake of interfering with the affairs of a country in ruins.

“It is not a vengeance quest,” Liu Jin says, almost automatically. “You called it that before. You are not the first one to do so. You are wrong all the same.”

“You seek to strike the man who took your family and hometown from you. You must understand saying it is not revenge rings hollow when taking the facts into consideration.”

Liu Jin supposes he cannot fault her for thinking like that. It took him a long time to get it through Lei Kong’s head that, regardless of his personal feelings, his reasons for interfering with Murong Bang are not a matter of revenge.

“I seek to stop Murong Bang, not for what he did but for what he will keep doing if left to his own devices,” Liu Jin says as he finishes with Bei Hong and moves over to Bei Duyi. “However, it is not just him. Murong Bang did not appear fully formed out of thin air. Murong Bang is a symptom. It is the state of the Storm Dragon Empire that created him, and that is exactly why I came to the Eternal Flame Clan.”

Liu Jin pauses. One of Bei Duyi’s arms is dislocated. With a grunt and twist, he pushes it back into place.

“The Eternal Flame Clan controls one of the Three Heavenly Generals. The current policy is to use him to keep the war going. However, the Eternal Flame Clan can change its policy, and I intend to make the Eternal Flame Clan change it.”

“Bold words. Do you really think that can be easily accomplished?”

“Not easily, no, but it’s not impossible. The Eternal Flame Clan just needs to believe they stand to gain more from a healthy Storm Dragon Empire than a dying one. The seeds are already there. The Exploration Division wants more territory to explore. The Apothecary, the Armory, and the Medical Pavilion all want more resources.”

Talking with Elder Xue, interacting with other disciples, and even simple observation. All those things have helped paint a picture in Liu Jin’s mind.

“If Lord Feng Gui wins, those who support him gain more power, and they are the ones who will be more amenable to what I propose because they will benefit most from it. Lord Feng Gui will probably relish the chance to unmake what his brother has made. The rest will go from there.”

“You are speaking of taking over a country,” Lu Mei tells him. Her cheeks are flushed. “You speak of the Apothecary and Division of Exploration, but in the end, even if Elder Xue does not place you directly in charge, you will almost certainly be placed in a position of authority. It is your idea, after all. You do realize that, right?”

“I am not trying to rule a country or take it over,” Liu Jin says. Some of Bei Duyi’s blood splashes on his cheek. “It is just… Murong Bang is a problem, but it’s not just him. There is so much to be done I don’t see any other way than this one. “

“‘I am not trying to take over the country,’ says the man seeking to impose his will over it.” Lu Mei hides a giggle behind her sleeve. “Your words are a contradiction.”

“You might be right. No, you definitely are,” Liu Jin admits. He sighs. “I… dislike this place.”

“I do not think there is a single person who likes the Dead Plains.”

“Not the Dead Plains. The Eternal Flame Clan,” Liu Jin clarifies. “This feud between brothers and what it has wrought, what it has made of us. Of me. The more time I spend here, the more comfortable I become with things I would rather not be comfortable with.”

When he joined the Eternal Flame Clan, even threatening people with violence was something he found distasteful. Now, it has become increasingly common for him to do so. The threat of violence is a far preferable alternative to using actual violence, which also, little by little, has started to become an acceptable method in his mind.

“I planned someone’s death,” Liu Jin says.

“Senior Brother Qu Rou. I heard.” Lu Mei makes no effort to disguise how impressed she is by it. “Please, do not tell me you feel guilty for killing someone who intended to kill you.”

“No, I feel guilty at how simple it was for me to come to that decision,” Liu Jin tells her. “I didn’t see any outcome where I could avoid killing him. Once I understood that, the ideas flowed easily enough.”

“And that is a problem?”

“Yes!” Liu Jin yells. “Though I didn’t know him, Qu Rou was a disciple of the same Sect as us. There should have never been a situation where we should have tried to kill each other. I should not have had to plan his death, and I should not have benefited so much from doing so. It was the same with Yuan Yi! I shouldn’t have had to kill either of them!”

His Qi flares angrily around him. He immediately stops treating Bei Duyi to avoid making any mistakes. It is fine. The older disciple’s condition is mostly stable now.

“And yet,” Liu Jin continues, “despite being disgusted by it all, despite knowing I will run into similar and even worse scenarios in the future, I have already chosen not to turn back. There is still so much to do! And all I can think of is that all those people out there who speak of loyalty might end up dead because of something I ordered them to do before it is all over. And even so, I do not wish to turn away!”

Liu Jin steps away from Bei Duyi. His hands, which are covered in blood, have started shaking for some reason. His whole body has. Suddenly, he cannot even speak.

Lu Mei hugs him.

She moves swiftly and with purpose, her arms wrapping him in a gentle embrace. She does not say anything, doesn’t even flinch in distaste as the blood on his clothes mars hers. She just holds him and doesn’t let go.

They stay like that for a while. Neither one says anything. The pure emotions flowing through their Qi say more than words can.

“Thank you,” Liu Jin says after a while.

“As much as I appreciate a man with ambition, yours might end up killing you,” Lu Mei says, her face buried on the crook of his neck. The worry in her Qi is fully laid bare. “Have you considered that?"

Liu Jin laughs weakly.

"I do not think I can stop."

Not while the world keeps being as it is.

"I did not ever imagine you could." Lu Mei lifts her head up and smiles. "That's quite alright. I do not intend to allow you to kill yourself."

"You support me still?"

"On a quest that will doubtlessly end with you gaining more and more power?" Lu Mei asks, one eyebrow perfectly curved. "As a person in possession of far fewer scruples than you, I see no downsides to this. Please, rely on me for that which may seem distasteful."

Her smile falters.

“However... for your own peace of mind, consider narrowing your vision right now.” Her hand touches his cheek. “We are not in the Storm Dragon Empire, but in the middle of the Dead Plains. If we cannot find our way back safely, all your plans will be for naught.”

Liu Jin takes a deep breath and lets go of her at last.

“We need to find Feng Hao,” he says. “If Feng Hao dies, Lord Feng Gui wins. In other words, his death is the only real condition for this game to really end. There are probably people from both factions trying to secure him as we speak.”

“Are you sure?” Lu Mei asks dubiously. “For all we know, he could be back in the Crimson Cloud Empire already.”

“He could be,” Liu Jin says, nodding. “However, I don’t believe that to be the case. Had Feng Hao ended up alone, he would have tried to come here under his own power. However, if Feng Hao is with Feng Zhi, as I believe he is, then Feng Zhi is undoubtedly hiding him in the Dead Plains.”

“You sound certain of it.”

“Feng Zhi is protective of Feng Hao,” Liu Jin says, thinking back to how Feng Zhi had reacted when he had gotten close to Feng Hao. “On this occasion, those concerns are more than merited. He will not risk returning to the Eternal Flame Clan with Feng Hao when they could be ambushed by Core Disciples at any moment. Nor will he risk bringing him here for the same reason. He must be hiding him in the Dead Plains, likely in the Eye or at least near it. Everywhere else is too chaotic.”

Left unsaid is that Feng Zhi and Feng Hao could both be dead. If that ends up being the case, all of Liu Jin’s theories and plans will end up in nothing.

“The Eye covers a vast area,” Lu Mei reminds him. “Assuming you are right, it will not be easy to find them even with our numbers.”

“Actually…” Liu Jin hesitates for a moment. “I was hoping you might be able to help with that.”

“Oh?”

Liu Jin spares a glance at Bei Hong and Bei Duyi. After making sure they are still unconscious and that no one is eavesdropping, he turns to Lu Mei.

“How far have you come along with the Eternal Flame?”

~~~