“I’ve… been good. What’re you doing here?” I asked.

“The Lord asked of this old man’s presence today. There is something you wish to share, I have been told.”

I looked at the Old Man, memories of the talk he’d had about his grandson returning to me. He definitely deserved to know. I gave an acknowledging nod to him.

“Let us not make the Lord wait then,” the Old Man said, glancing at Elder Tian Feng.

The Elder took the lead, escorting us through the Lord’s manor. I noticed some guards walking around us as well, melded into the shadow, and well out of sight, but definitely there. I didn’t comment on them, walking quietly as we made our way into the manor propers.

Before we reached the gate I’d grown familiar to be the Lord’s chambers, elder Tian Feng paused.

“Lu Jie, the mortal girl, and Lao Zhang should follow me. The rest of you will be escorted to a chamber to rest,” he said to my party, glancing my way once to see if I had any complaints.

I looked back without any change in my expression, and the Elder nodded, proceeding ahead. I glanced at Yin, who looked pale as a ghost at having been picked out from the group. Gently, I grabbed her hand, and smiled at her.

She almost jerked back in response, pulling her hand away, but upon noticing my face, she let me hold on.

“You’ll be fine. Just stay focused,” I mouthed, not speaking the words out.

Yin nodded to me in reply.

Letting go of her hand, I proceeded behind the Old man, as all of us reached the Lord’s chamber.

“New gate?” the Old man asked, glancing at Tian Feng.

The elder nodded.

“What a shame. I had enjoyed the previous one. A pristine gift, it had been.”

“The young dragon had shattered it by accident,” Tian Feng replied.

“Dragon?” I asked, unsure of what was going on.

Old Man and Tian Feng both looked back at me, before glancing at each other. “The Lord had been entertaining the Prince and his young dragon spirit here, a few years ago,” Tian Feng replied.

I internally curled an eyebrow. The Prince? I didn’t know anything about the prince. Somehow, I’d never heard anything about the emperor’s children now that I thought about it.

Before I had the opportunity to voice my questions, the giant door shuddered open. With a creaking noise, the gates moved, letting light stream in, and for the first time since I had met the Lord, I saw him free of any task, simply sitting at him desk, ready to greet us.

Stepping inside, I bowed my head low, alongside Old Man and Yin. I briefly glanced at the girl from the corner of my eye, and saw her moving like a puppet being moved around by invisible strings.

“Raise your heads,” the Lord said, a lot more authority in his voice than the previous discussion we had participated in.

I raised my head, meeting the Lord’s eyes. The door behind me clicked close, and I felt a pulse of Qi encompass the area around us.

“Tian Feng has set up a ward around the chamber. Our men have been ordered to stay outside as well. You may speak freely here. We hear you’ve succeeded in your task, Lu Jie?”

“I have, my lord,” I said, reaching towards the pouch at my waist. Tian Feng walked up to me, and I handed the pouch to him.

“In there are Qi crystals, as I have come to call them. An improved version of the regular Qi gathering pill,” I said, as Tian Feng held out the little crystal thing.

I extended my hand, and the elder handed me the crystal. In a go, swallowed the pill, feeling it dissolve in my mouth.

“It uses less spirit grass than regular pills, and provides a greater amount of Qi,” I said, and the elder followed to eat one of the crystals as well, before nodding and handing the crystal to the Lord.

“I can see as such. And you had claimed the girl could create these as well?” the Lord asked.

“The one you hold in your hand was made by her,” I said, trying not to smile.

I could almost hear Yin turning stiff from fear and anxiety as the Lord’s eyes settled upon her.

“What’s your name, child?” the Lord asked.

It took a moment for Yin to realise she was the one being talked to, and then another for her to remember how to use her mouth. “It um I- I’m Yin. Wei Yin. M-my lord,” she stuttered, barely able to keep her words straight.

“A mortal, from the looks of it. That much is certain. Yet one capable of this curious alchemy,” the Lord said, before his eyes glanced at the Old Man.

“What do you think of it, Sheng Ming?” the Lord asked.

I turned to look at the Old Man, the name unfamiliar to me.

“My apprentice has always been a curious sort, trying to walk his own path against even common sense. This old man may be biased, but if the boy believes it to be a worthwhile path, I too, believe it will be one.”

I smiled, unable to hide my happiness at his words.

“The Alchemy halls will not be pleased. To have mortals capable of Alchemy more powerful than theirs would upset them beyond anything. How do you intend to handle that, when the time comes for it?” the Lord asked, looking at me.

“I have plans. But that is where your support is what I need the most. If you back me, my lord, we could present an entirely new method of alchemy to the empire. One that could strengthen both mortal and cultivators alike. Is that not what the jade court would want?”

Silence filled the chamber at my words, and I wondered if I’d said something wrong.

“We do not know,” the Lord replied. “And that is why you stand here before us.”

I looked at the lord, confused. “What… do you mean, my lord?”

“Tell me, Lu Jie. Do you know of the blighted lands? Of what exists beyond the empire?”

“The lands to the north?”

“Indeed. The lands beyond the empire, beyond the seven celestial peaks. The blighted lands, the miasma ridden lands, where life does not take a hold, where only death and it’s kin prevail. That is what we fight. For millennia, it has been our battle, to hold back the blighted lands, and preserve the life within our empire. But with each passing year, we see our empire getting mired in politics, in poison and squabbles, as our enemy grows stronger and smarter. But the jade court rules, as if all is right, as if our men do not die each day within this eternal war,” the lord said, each word heavy, as if just speaking them tired him.

The memory I had watched, of the demons that had attacked my birth village and killed my parents came to me. I nodded, letting out a breath.

“Why is no one concerned over this?” I asked.

“The demons have been quiet. There has been little activity in the past three decades, and the jade court grows complacent, too busy in their politicking and petty squabbles. But—” the Lord paused, glancing to the Old Man.

The Old Man continued in the Lord’s place. “Since my grandson died, and turned to Yang Shen, there have been attacks, far more strategic than there had ever been before. At one glance, they seem random, but there was a plan underneath it, one clever enough to fool us. That is not how a demon behaves.”

“It is why we are so desperate to know what you know, Lu Jie. How you tame that miasma that turns men into the beasts we fight. Perhaps, therein lies the answer to this war, and the answer to achieving peace. Because if nothing is to be done, then I fear for this empire, in the years that are to come,” the Lord said.

The topic was heavy, far heavier than I had anticipated coming into this discussion.

“I wish to gain wealth, and power. But those are mere tools. My goal, from the start, had been to discover the truth behind the heavens, and the cultivation of this world. I will share these with you, once we are at the appropriate location. But first, there is another truth I wish to share,” I said, glancing back at Yin.

The girl jumped as the glance before digging in the little bag she carried. She handed me the book I’d asked her to keep.

“It was not just my own work, that allowed me to create the Qi crystals. But of another. Of this girl’s grandfather, another man, who had arrived to this world from mine, but had not been blessed with Qi like I had,” I said, walking closer to the Lord.

“He is no longer with us, but his words remain, and they have helped me walk further in my path. The path of development, of advancement, and technology. I have not just created the Qi crystals, they are merely one facet of a much larger whole,” I said, as I put the book on the Lord’s desk.

Taking a breath, I reached into my pocket, and pulled my drugnade.

“This is a weapon that can explode and kill any second, and even some third realm cultivators, if they are not careful. If created with formation arts and devices, it can even be used by mortals with next to no training,” I said, putting the drugnade down.

“This is a gun. A gun from my world. One that is much older than what my era had, but still quite deadly. When created with the right explosive it can shoot little bullets, sharp tiny arrow heads if you will, into an enemy’s head or heart, killing them immediately,” I said, putting the gun down, before I reached for the final item.

“And this… this is my Gu-nuke. A weapon, I have made, combining Gu and Qi, into a more powerful version of my drugnade,” I said, before looking the Lord into the eye. “When used, it is powerful enough to kill an Elder.”

Putting all three weapons in front of the Lord, I stepped back.

“Advancement, technology. It heals, it develops, but it also brings power and destruction in our hands. How we use it is our own choice. This is what I have to come to you for, my lord. To ask for your support, for money, for scholars, to make these weapons. And then, you will not have to limit yourself an army of a thousand cultivators, when each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of mortals will have the ability to kill a demon on their own.”

I stood, and waited quietly. Now was the time for decisions. Of how I would progress on my path, and bring change to this world.