~~~

“You need not feel obligated to do this,” Mud tells Liu Jin later that day. “General Dan does not command the Eternal Flame Clan. He can growl and howl all he wants, but by no means are we obligated to obey.”

Despite the words of encouragement, Liu Jin does not bother looking at Mud. He just stays by the window, looking at the city beyond it. “That is exceedingly kind of you to say, Brother Mud.”

“It is the truth,” Mud says. “You are a Core Disciple of the Eternal Flame Clan, one favored by Elder Xue, liked by Young Master Feng Hao, and appreciated by Lady Ling. Your life is not something we would throw away just to satisfy the unreasonable demand of an Emperor.”

That makes Liu Jin smile. “Even if doubts about my loyalty have been raised and are sure to have reached the Eternal Flame Clan by now?”

Mud nods. “Even if.”

Liu Jin takes a deep breath and taps his finger against the window frame. “If I succeed, it would go a long way towards proving my loyalty, would it not?”

Mud looks at him with something that approaches concern. “You do not need to go on a suicide mission to prove your loyalty.”

A fair point. A valid point.

However…

“General Dan explained his reasoning to me.” Liu Jin says. He tilts his head so he is staring at his reflection in the glass. Red eyes gaze back at him. “Try as I might, my mind cannot deny that his reasoning is not entirely unsound.”

“Oh?” Mud raises an eyebrow. “I don’t suppose you would be willing to share that reasoning?”

Liu Jin frowns. “I’d rather not.”

‘You have the face of the one person he respected above all.’

How exactly is he supposed to feel about that?

Everything he has seen and heard of Murong Bang paints him as a terrible monster. The worst of the worst. A man who lives for violence only. Not a single person has said otherwise. Lei Kong, whenever he can bring himself to speak of him, reveals how terrified he is of that man. Even General Dan, who once called Murong Bang his comrade, did not try to tell him any different.

How could a man like that have respected his father?

‘Crueler than anyone, Kinder than anyone....’

His father left the Storm Dragon Empire in chaos, allowing men like Murong Bang to rule. That is undeniable and something he has always known.

His father died by the monster he raised.

Murong Bang unknowingly caused the death of the person he respected the most.

“To be honest, I’d rather not think about it all,” Liu Jin says, rubbing his forehead. “I wish things wouldn’t be so complicated.”

“We all tend to wish that,” Mud says. “However, the Heavens rarely oblige us. We are always faced with tribulations. Either we overcome them and grow, or we succumb to them and become dust.”

“Brother Mud, I am about to undergo a tribulation.”

“Then I sincerely hope you do not become dust.”

~~~

Liu Jin doesn’t leave the city right away. There is an order to things. General Dan cannot just make Liu Jin walk into Murong Bang’s territory and hope things work out. Letters must be sent. Preparations must be made.

“I really must thank you for receiving me on such short notice.”

Entertaining Song Daiyu is not part of those preparations, but it does help Liu Jin take his mind off more serious matters.

The daughter of the Song Clan sits on a comfortable red sofa in his room. Her green dress, which matches her eyes, is perfectly immaculate, as though she hadn’t just arrived after traveling by land all the way from Stone River City.

“Think nothing of it,” Liu Jin says, pouring her some tea.

The room given to him by General Dan has more square area than some houses. A four-poster bed large enough to fit several people is in the corner, hidden by delicately crafted room dividers. The rest of the room is more akin to a large living room with many couches and chairs.

“However, I am a little curious. Why did you decline Lady Bai’s invitation to bring you here if you were going to come anyway?” Liu Jin asks as he sits in front of her. There is only a small ornate tea table between them.

“That is simple,” Song Daiyu replies. She takes a sip from her tea and hums pleasingly. “I did not wish to be associated with you.”

Liu Jin raises an eyebrow.

“Please, do not look at me like that,” she says with a teasing smile. “I do not even want to imagine how much commotion you caused by arriving with Duke Lai caged in ice like that. Can you imagine how negatively predisposed General Dan would be towards me if that was his first impression of me?”

She mock-shivers.

“That would be dreadful.”

“And yet, you have no issue asking me to help you get an audience with him,” Liu Jin points out. Despite his words, he is not really offended. More amused than anything, really.

“Should I have one?” She asks him, shrugging her shoulders lightly. “I did abandon a potentially lucrative deal to help you. Now, I need to talk to General Dan to make sure all the agreements I made with Duke Lai don’t vanish into thin air now that he has been disgraced.”

“Some would say that since Duke Lai was a traitor, abandoning your plan worked to your advantage,” Liu Jin points out.

“Some would say that, yes.”

Liu Jin chuckles. On this particular occasion, such shamelessness is refreshing.

“General Dan has little time for non-military affairs right now. If you were to try to see him, you’d just risk earning his ire. The man you need to talk to is City Lord Chu,” he tells her. “I will talk to him. We get along well enough, and I occasionally correspond with his daughter.”

“Oh?” Song Daiyu leans in. There is a gleam in her eyes Liu Jin does not like. “Is this daughter-”

“No.”

His tone is so dull and lifeless that it takes the wind out of her sails.

She pouts. “The least you could do is let a lady have some fun.”

“The least I could do is not get you a meeting with City Lord Chu,” Liu Jin tells her. “Do forgive me if I don’t humor you in everything, but as I am sure you have heard, I have other things to occupy my mind with.”

“Ah yes, I have heard about that business. The whole city is talking about it.”

Liu Jin stares at her.

Song Daiyu stares back.

“Some people would offer a word of concern. Condolences, perhaps.”

“I would be concerned if it wasn’t you that we are speaking of,” Song Daiyu says. “As I understand it, this is not the first time you walk into a hostile Emperor’s domain. This is nothing more than another risk on the road to success, and I expect you will walk out alive just as easily as you did back then.”

She is talking about what happened in Five Bats City. No doubt, Branch Manage Bianfu told her about it. Back then, Ruan Goutin of the Endlessly Raging Valley had gone mad, holding the city’s doctors hostage and killing them. Liu Jin took it upon himself to deal with that situation and somehow emerged victorious.

What Song Daiyu doesn’t know is that Ruan Goutin was already in a dire condition before Liu Jin ever set foot in Five Bats City. The man hadn’t even been an Emperor at that point.

However, there is no need to let her know that. She might actually worry if he does. Better to take the compliment in the spirit in which it was given.

“I will do my best to live up to those expectations,” Liu Jin says, drinking his cup.

Now that he thinks of it, he has had more dealings with Emperors than most people his age. Most people any age, really. This is not uncharted territory for him. As long as Murong Bang does not kill him right away, there is no reason he shouldn’t be able to come out of this alive. If he thinks about it like that, his future is not so bleak.

That is when Lu Mei enters the room.

It says a lot about how distracted Liu Jin is that he only notices Lu Mei’s Qi when she opens the door. Usually, he’d have sensed her as soon as she arrived in the city.

As he locks eyes with her, Liu Jin absent-mindedly notices Lei Kong is somewhere around. Lu Mei must have bullied him into carrying her here as quickly as possible.

“Mei,” he says, rising from his seat.

That is all he gets out.

In a burst of quick yet graceful strides, Lu Mei closes the distance between them, her red robes flowing as she does, and catches his lips with hers.

It is not a quick kiss. Not even remotely. With every second that passes, she deepens it, and Liu Jin is no innocent bystander but an enthusiastic participant. After everything that has happened, this single kiss, the feeling of Lu Mei’s body and warmth against him, puts him more at ease than a hundred words of comfort.

“You are here,” Liu Jin says as their lips part. He has his arms around her waist, and she has hers looped around his neck.

“I am,” she says. Her cheeks are flushed. “Did you think I would stay in the border when I heard of all you have done lately? Why is it that whenever I am not with you, you throw yourself into danger so recklessly? It is quite rude of you.”

“Rude?” Liu Jin asks. “How so?”

“A lady does not like being denied the opportunity to see the man she is interested in be brave, bold, and daring,” Lu Mei explains, “Yet I always seem to be elsewhere when you are at your most daring.”

Liu Jin would hardly refer to those occasions as examples of him being brave and bold. Regardless, it is true that Lu Mei is usually not around when he is attempting something incredibly dangerous.

Most of the time, it is due to pure coincidence.

“Oh, my.”

Just like that, Liu Jin is reminded that Song Daiyu is still in the room with them. Her green eyes are wide open, and her fingers brush across her lips.

“This is the one, then?” She asks as she rises from her seat. Her eyes go up and down Lu Mei’s form. “Yes, yes, I see. Exquisite taste. On a completely different level from the one that accompanied you to Stone River City.”

“Oh?” Without her expression changing, Lu Mei lets go of him but does not step away. “And who might you be?”

“Song Daiyu of the Five Blessings Group,” Song replies with a charming smile. “I am his wife’s best friend.”

“I see,” Lu Mei says. “That means you must regularly visit the Divine Frozen Palace. How fortuitous it must be for you.”

“Oh.” Song Daiyu blinks. “You know about Xiao Shuang?”

“Did you think I would not?” Lu Mei asks. “Oh, how rude of me. I have not introduced myself yet. I am Lu Mei, Daughter of the Red Sky Pavilion and Disciple of the Eternal Flame Clan. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Enchanted.”

It is perfectly legal to have more than one spouse, Liu Jin reminds himself. While monogamy is by far the norm, it is not rare for people of means to have multiple partners. Liu Jin knows that because Xiao Nan made sure to repeat it to him as often as possible, well before he was old enough to understand relationships.

And yet, as Lu Mei and Song Dayi smile at each other, he feels very much like a criminal caught at the crime scene.

“Should we talk?” Lu Mei asks, gesturing at the seats.

“Only if we are frank with each other.”

“I believe I would love to be frank with you.”

“Likewise.” Lu Mei’s gold eyes flick over to him. “Jin, would it be too much to ask you to give us ladies some space?”

Song Daiyu’s green eyes join the effort. “It would be incredibly kind of you. There are just some things that ladies cannot say in the presence of a man.”

Liu Jin has no trouble obliging their request.

~~~

Though Liu Jin leaves the room, he does not travel far. For the first few minutes, he stays by the door. Lu Mei and Song Daiyu talk in hushed whispers, so he cannot make out what they are saying, but at least he can take comfort in knowing they are not shouting at each other.

When they start giggling instead of whispering, Liu Jin wisely walks away.

If his steps are a little hurried, it is not because he is running away. Not at all. He simply has other matters to attend to. Important matters.

“My lord, this Lei Kong is dreadfully sorry!”

Talking Lei Kong out of another bout of depression, for example.

“I thought we were over this,” Liu Jin says. He and Lei Kong sit atop a roof, well away from most prying eyes.

Well, Liu Jin is sitting. Lei Kong has his head bowed so low his forehead touches the roof tiles.

“I was not there while you faced several threats to your life, my lord,” Lei Kong says. “Even though I stopped myself from entering the Earth Realm so I could still be useful to you, I was still not there when you needed it the most.”

Liu Jin sighs.

When Liu Jin met Lei Kong, the latter was already at the high levels of the True Realm. The only thing that held his cultivation back was his injury. However, that problem has been taken care of. Nothing is stopping Lei Kong from taking the next step.

Nothing except himself.

When one enters the Earth Realm, one is struck with the curse of the earth, increased gravity that slows down one’s movements at every moment of the day. For Lei Kong, who prides himself in his movement technique, Thousand Steps of the Thunder God, that price is too high.

Lei Kong knows that his mobility has allowed him to be useful to Liu Jin thus far. Even if he were to take the experimental treatment the Apothecary has developed to significantly lessen the effects of the Earth Realm, there is no guarantee he would fully keep the full might of his movement technique. Thus, he has stopped himself from taking the final step that would take him to the next realm.

However, though he did all that, he still wasn’t there when Liu Jin was being hunted by the Core Disciples.

“You were where I asked you to be. That is all,” Liu Jin says. “If you feel you made the wrong choices regarding your cultivation, feel free to change them. It is not up to me to tell you how to manage such things.”

Perhaps, it is a bit harsh, but it is the truth. More importantly…

“I will be going to Murong Bang’s territory,” Liu Jin says.

Lei Kong’s body goes very still. “I… had heard about that, my lord.”

Liu Jin raises an eyebrow. “You won’t try to convince me not to go?”

“If I believed it would accomplish anything, I would have found a way to put my head even lower, my lord,” Lei Kong says with his forehead still resting on the tiles.

“You do not have to come with me.”

Lei Kong immediately raises his head. “No. I most definitely must.”

“Are you sure?” Liu Jin asks. “I know Murong Bang was not kind to you.”

An understatement, and they both know it. Lei Kong’s experiences in Murong Bang’s army have left a deep scar on him.

However, though Lei Kong trembles, his eyes shine with determination.

“That is all the more reason why I should go with you, my lord.”

“I see.”

Try as he might, Liu Jin does not have the courage to tell him not to.

~~~

Song Daiyu is not there when he returns to his room, but he does not worry much about it. Had the conversation gone poorly, he believes he would not have found his room untouched. In fact, the smile on Lu Mei’s face tells him the conversation went a bit too well.

“I have heard so many things about you,” she says. With a smile, she adds, “Liu Jin.”

Liu Jin lets out a defeated sigh and sits next to her. “I am sure you have, but please, have mercy on me.”

Lu Mei leans her head against his shoulder. “Have you ever known me to be merciful?”

“Fair enough,” Liu Jin says. “I suppose I will do my best to bear it until my departure.”

“Oh no, I will be going with you.”

The smile immediately falls off Liu Jin’s face. He moves away from Lu Mei and looks at her seriously.

“Absolutely not.”

Lu Mei raises an eyebrow. “I do not recall asking your permission.”

“And I cannot imagine why you would want to go where I am going. It is, by all accounts, a completely horrible place that is likely to kill me,” Liu Jin pauses. “If it is because of anything Song said…”

Lu Mei laughs.

“Oh, no. That went quite well, and since you are concerned, I will forgive you for thinking I am the type that can be easily swayed by the words of others. I had already decided this the moment I heard about it.”

Liu Jin stares at her. “Why?”

“Because you will not die.” Lu Mei answers simply. “If you believe this task is somehow beyond you, then you have not been paying attention. You will succeed as you have always done, and I will be there to watch it. Of course, if by any chance you are about to do something innately stupid, then it is better for you to have someone like me around.”

She speaks with unshakable confidence, confidence Liu Jin wishes he could share. His first instinct is to somehow arrange for her not to accompany him.

But can he really afford to do that?

Lu Mei is a strong cultivator capable of using the Eternal Flame. She is smart and resourceful, someone whose aid he knows he can depend on. His feelings for her tell him to keep her safe at all costs, but is that really the right choice? How many times did he wish she was at his side throughout the past few weeks?

Does he trust Lu Mei or not?

“If you truly mean to do this…”

“I do.”

“Then, there is one thing about me you should know. I once told you Qing might not be my real name.”

“I remember.”

“There is a reason for that.”

At the very least, he cannot allow her to make a choice like this uninformed.

~~~