Mei Hua then lead them to the town on the west side of the mountain. In truth, she’d never been there. But she’d peeked on it a few times, from a high tree using qi-enhanced eyes, out of curiosity.

The town she’d grown up near as a child on the east side, had turned out to be pretty shabby by comparison to the west side. Mei Hua had no idea why, but things were always a lot livelier and interesting on this side of the mountain.

A large group like themselves, was quickly spotted by the western town. The mayor came out to interrogate the group. Even though he was elderly, he had a straight back, clear eyes, and a head full of white hair. His whole aura was one of authority.

The eastern townsfolk were intimidated and shrank back, so Mei Hua took it on herself to talk for them. The western Mayor, Li Hong, at first could not believe his ears.

The west and east sides of the mountains had been cut off from each other for several hundred years. People had, every generation or so, tried crossing over but it ended badly. They were never heard from again. To get from one side to the other, you had to travel a great ways south and go by ship across the ocean.

But this girl claimed they’d come through. He stared at her intently. He was a disciple of the West Lotus Sect, albeit a retired very low ranking one, and could tell when he was being lied to. Not only was this young girl not lying to him, she had an astonishing amount of Yang energy mixed into her qi.

Yin and Yang energy could be mixed together, but never in equal amounts. A man taking in Yin, could only take in a small amount and then circulate it through his meridians until it dissolved into the Yang energy. The same was true of a woman, only in reverse. Done correctly, the opposite energy doubled the native energy (that is, Yin converted to Yang, produced twice as much Yang).

But for a woman, with a Yin energy base, to be totally overpowered by Yang, was unheard of. She shouldn’t even be standing. He had a lot of things he wanted to ask, but faced with desperate townspeople from the east, now was not the time.

“We have a lot of respect for the Blue Fairy King in this town. Seeing as this is his first time being merciful, and he’s entrusted you to my town, I had better not disappoint him. That being said, taking in so many people will be difficult. You will all have to work. And, frankly, many will need to travel to other towns to find a permanent home. I will personally help you with references to make the transition easier. That is the best I can offer.”

The eastern townsfolk gave a ragged cheer. Mayor Li Hong was within his rights to turn them away or enslave them as payment for the burden they’d cause on the town. Only asking them to work for their meals and lodging was exceedingly generous.

Mei Hua bowed deeply in thanks, but he waved her up.

“I should like to talk to you in private, Miss Mei Hua, if you are inclined. There are some details to your story I’d like to hear.”

When she nodded, he motioned to the men he’d brought with him. They all helped the eastern foreigners find homes and get settled. Mei Hua was brought to the Mayor’s home, where she was served tea and sweets (which she ate enthusiastically, having only gotten sugar from berries for years).

When the Mayor came home, before he got a chance to say anything, she asked him:

“Why do you call him the Blue Fairy King?”

Mayor Li Hong blinked at her rudeness and then decided to let it pass. Based on her clothes, she clearly wasn’t one of the eastern foreigners. Her accent was different from their’s too. It sounded… old. Like something you’d read out of an ancient scroll.

“I call him that because my great great grandfather and his father before him all called him that. Why? Do you call him something else?”

“The Fairy Emperor.”

“Ha. Is that so? Well, there was an Empress so…”

“Empress?” She asked, confused.

“You don’t know? It’s a popular story here. Apparently this town was created by the refugees of the mountain. There used to be a village in the Blue Flower Mountains, and the people there were extremely powerful. The Blue Flower Empress, named because she created the blue flowering trees we still enjoy to this day, watched over the village and protected it.

Her brother, the Blue Fairy King, lost his mind one day and attacked the village, trying to completely destroy it. The Blue Flower Empress protected the villagers, who fled down here. They were never able to return, because the Blue Fairy King raged on the mountain for years after his argument with his sister. The Blue Flower Village refugees intermarried with the common folk, diluting the bloodline until it lost almost all it’s power. Now, we descendants, are mostly normal folk.”

“But if the sister was the Empress why is he the King?”

“Well, he did try to kill my ancestors. It’s a miracle they bothered to give him a title of respect at all, isn’t it? They certainly would never put him on par with their Empress, no matter their relation.”

“I suppose that’s true.” She frowned. “I wonder why the Emperor went mad?”

“Who knows? But I don’t plan on giving him a reason to lose his mind a second time.” The Mayor put down the tea he’d been drinking. “Now then, it’s my turn to ask some questions.”

To the best of her ability, Mei Hua tried to answer his questions. When he asked about the unusual amount of Yang in her qi, she’d not understood at first. After some back and forth, she told him it wasn’t Yang energy, it was the Fairy Emperor’s energy. He had healed her when she was sick, and ever since then she’d had his energy circulating thickly through her system.

It wasn’t harmful. And she was pretty sure it prevented her from getting sick after that first time. So she’d never tried getting rid of it.

The Mayor could only look stupidly at her. The Blue Fairy King’s energy was Yang? Did that mean the Empress energy had been Yin? That had never been mentioned in any of the old tales, but that seemed the natural conclusion. Yin and Yang energy from the mountains manifesting into individual spirits, how astonishing! He felt like he’d learned a great secret of the world.

When she told him about herself and her life, he got thoughtful. She’d been trained by a fairy named Teacher Ye in the Blue Flower Mountain Arts. If he was correct, it was the pure unaltered version of the Art, which had been lost quite some time ago. To get to see the mystic arts his ancestors supposedly used… he really wanted to see that.

He also wanted to write all this down and figure out a way to make money off it. The Mayor didn’t consider himself greedy, but at the same time, he was doing her, and the Blue Fairy King, a favor by taking everyone in. It couldn’t hurt to get some kind of monetary reward for his generosity.

The Mayor decided to test her skills through a duel. Having never fought another human for fun, Mei Hua was quite excited.

And then disappointed.

It turned out the Mayor was really weak. Because he insisted, she dueled him another 5 times, but he lost handedly each time. After the sixth time he finally admitted defeat.

“And you say Teacher Ye claimed you’re not very strong?”

She nodded. “He says that, in the Blue Flower Mountain Sect, I’d have ranked as one of their lowest disciples.”

Mayor Li Hong snapped his mouth shut at her words. Exactly how powerful were his ancestors, if her strength would have been counted as on the low end?

Well, that just made her more interesting.

“I’d really like it if you stayed. I’ll even offer you a room at my house, no cost.” He offered her.

“Why?” Mei Hua asked, eying him suspiciously. Generosity twice in one day in places it shouldn’t appear was making her uneasy.

“You might not know it, but the Blue Flower Mountain Arts don’t exist on the west side of the mountains. There’s only variations of variations of it. Having you come to my town is like…. It’s like a gem fell from the sky into my hand. I’d be an idiot not to keep it if given the opportunity.”

“…well…”

“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to. And you can leave at any time.” It’s not like he could force her to do anything she didn’t want anyway. “I’d like you to show your skills to some of my friends, though, if you do stay. They’d be as interested in your Arts as I am.”

She thought for a moment. This man had taken in the townspeople and seemed like a decent sort. She felt like she owed him. If she stayed for just a few days, and then returned to Ye, it should be fine.

And the outside world was interesting, after all. Now she was strong enough that no one could sell her into slavery. There was no reason for her to fear by staying to look around.

It’s not like the Fairy Emperor was guaranteed to let her back in. Even though he’d asked for nothing from the townsfolk, he probably did want something. And when she went back, he was sure to pin the payment on her. Maybe she couldn’t pay it.

So.

Just a few days outside, playing with other humans.

She promised herself she’d apologize to Ye when she got back.