Ling Qi was tired. Her limbs felt leaden, and even opening her eyes seemed like a monumental effort. The dewey grass under her back, and the cool night air at least made her rest comfortable though. She wouldn’t mind lying here forever. It was peaceful and quiet, and that was enough given how frantic things had been.

  Ling Qi frowned, finding the thought discomforting. What had been frantic? She couldn’t really remember. Voices yelling, a tearing pain in her abdomen, incomprehensible sounds. It all made her so tired. She didn’t want to think about it. Wouldn’t it be better to just drift away and relax? When was the last time she had slept for more than an hour at a time?

  “Isn’t that a little boring though?”


  Ling Qi’s eyes snapped open at the sound of her own voice but not from her lips. She lay in the middle of a field of shining white flowers beneath a starry sky and a crooked crescent moon.

  She found herself staring up at her own face. Wait, not exactly her own face. It was older and mostly hidden behind a partially transparent black veil. Those were her eyes though, bright blue and piercing. She stared up at her own amused expression for a time but eventually closed her eyes again. Ling Qi felt like she should be feeling something more than exhaustion, alarm maybe, but she just couldn’t manage it. Her older doppelganger seemed content to simply watch her so she could just go to sleep.

  There was something wrong with that thought, but she couldn’t say why.

  Ling Qi began to drift off, the only sound in the clearing her own breath and the soft rustle of the wind through the flowers. It wasn’t to last. She only had a moment to feel cool fingers brushing up her sides before the assault began. Ling Qi let out an indignant squawk, the leaden feeling in her limbs vanishing as she felt the other’s fingers tickling under her arms. She squirmed away quickly, rolling into a crouch as she glared at the older her.

  “Hm, that’s a good face,” older Ling Qi said, her lips twisted into a smirk behind her veil. “Are you sure you want to glare at me like that though? That’s hardly polite.”


  Ling Qi shuddered under the sudden, enormous weight on her shoulders.

  “What is even – I was resting. Why are you bothering me?” Ling Qi shook her head like a dog trying to shed water, and the feeling of pressure faded. “And don’t touch me like that either,” she snapped indignantly. The older copy regarded her with twinkling amusement in its blue eyes. Ling Qi didn’t like being touched. A hand was fine, but whatever that was……

  “Well, it’s hardly entertaining to let you lie there like a lump,” her doppelganger said. “Besides, isn’t it the elder sister’s right to tease the younger?”


  “I don’t have any siblings.” Ling Qi glared at the figure accusingly, her fuzzy thoughts moving slowly. Where was she?

  “Don’t you?” the veiled figure asked. “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter.”


  “What do you want?” Ling Qi shot back, growing irritated. “Who are you?”


  “That’s a hard question to answer,” the figure mused, tapping a finger thoughtfully against her lips. “I’m you, but also, not really? You wouldn’t understand.” The older-her shrugged. “As for what I want, I guess you could say I’m curious. You aren’t exactly what I was expecting. The determination is good, but you’re so uptight. You’re just puttering along playing by the rules.”


  Ling Qi narrowed her eyes. “And what’s wrong with that? The rules have been in my favor for once. Why shouldn’t I take advantage? Maybe I want to be better than I was.”


  Other-her frowned. “That’s a lie, and not even a good one. You just don’t want to look bad in front of your little friends,” she accused. “Do you really think that you can get by playing nice? That there’s no value in your old skills? You aren’t happy just letting things go either. What happened to your fangs, little rat? Have the snake and the tiger plucked them out?”


  Ling Qi shook her head, remembered indignation from the slights she had suffered bubbling back up. “It’s…… not important, and I have too much to do. They aren’t worth my time. Not anymore.”


  “You’re afraid,” the Moon corrected, eyes no longer blue but solid pools of silver. “Afraid of what others will think of you,” she said, sounding disappointed. “Afraid of being who you are. Do you remember what you felt when you saw that boy’s face as he fell into the well?”


  Ling Qi remembered the satisfaction and delight at her success well enough, even if it had been quashed by other feelings shortly thereafter.

  “Life is boring without risk,” the spirit continued. “What is the point to a trick or a scheme that has no chance of failure? If all you do is plan and train, you may as well stay home in bed or cultivate in a cave until you are old and grey.” The figure was growing indistinct, more a shadow than a human shape now. “You have enemies now, ones you can’t dismiss as beneath you. I wonder if you will have more excuses…… or if you will remember your own fangs.”


  “I remember,” Ling Qi replied, scowling at the dissipating mist. “I just remember my other priorities too.” Still, she was reminded now how she had been treated prior to her breakthrough…… Maybe she would have to look into getting some payback. Even if she didn’t steal from them, some humiliation might be in order.

  Ling Qi coughed from a suddenly dry throat and opened her eyes. She found herself staring at a polished, wood paneled ceiling rather than a starry sky. Her throat felt completely parched, and her stomach throbbed with pain. As she tried to sit up, she flinched and made a rasping sound when she tried to speak.

  A moment later, a cup of water was pressed into her hands, and she looked over to see Bai Meizhen sitting in a chair beside the bed she was lying in. They were in a small, sparsely furnished chamber that she recognized as one of the Medicine Hall’s private recovery rooms. It took her a moment to take everything in. Bai Meizhen gracefully set down the pitcher of water she had just used to pour Ling Qi a cup. There was a bundle of silvery-white flowers set in a vase on the table as well.

  Surprisingly, they were not the only ones in the room. Cai Renxiang was seated across from Bai Meizhen in a chair with its back to the wall. Her hands were clasped together over her knee, and she wore a soft grey mantle that covered her from the neck down.

  “Did we win?” Ling Qi asked after she had taken a swallow of water, glancing between Meizhen’s somber expression and Cai Renxiang’s neutral one. Bai Meizhen gave her a reproachful look.

  “The Sun Princess was forced to yield,” Cai Renxiang answered.

  “It is always troublesome to determine just how far their kind are from defeat,” Bai Meizhen said sourly. “Barbarians such as her fight at their full vigor even an inch from death. Your art prevented her from recovering the qi she had spent. It was enough.”


  “So what happens now then?” Ling Qi asked carefully. “Did Xuan lock them up?”


  “Unfortunately not,” Cai Renxiang replied, a hint of irritation leaking into her harsh voice. “Her status prevents me from doing such a thing.”


  “So what – she just gets away with starting that huge fight?” Ling Qi asked, incredulous.

  “Such is the luck of the Sun,” Bai Meizhen said, her anger barely concealed to Ling Qi. “But no, not this time. She went too far in planting that…… corruption on the mountainside.”


  “Sun Liling has been temporarily removed from the Outer Peak by command of Elder Ying,” Cai Renxiang elaborated, the drumming of her fingers on her knee the only sign of her emotions. “As for the others, unfortunately, I was instructed that we were not to retaliate further than taking prizes of battle, the majority of which was required for immediate medical costs.”


  Ling Qi wasn’t really certain how to feel about that. On the one hand, Sun Liling wasn’t going to be a problem for some time, but it didn’t quite seem like enough. She also had a feeling that she had been the biggest recipient of medical costs given the lack of a gaping hole in her stomach. She glanced over at Meizhen, who looked to be having similar thoughts.

  “I would, however, like to thank you for your support in this matter, Miss Ling,” the heiress said. “It seems that I was too naive and soft in my efforts to date. Be assured that I will not make such mistakes in the future.”


  “As we discussed, you will have my support, Lady Cai,” Bai Meizhen said cooly. “It would not do to be unprepared for the barbarian’s eventual return.”


  “Your support is appreciated, Miss Bai,” Cai Renxiang said, dipping her head in response. “It is earlier than I would have liked, but the preparations are already being made to arm and supply my enforcers. The newer crop of second realm cultivators and older Outer Sect Disciples are useful for that role. You and Miss Ling are naturally exempted from the upcoming changes.”


  Ling Qi narrowed her eyes. It looked like she had missed some things. “I do not know all the details you might have discussed,” she said slowly, forcing herself to speak carefully despite her throbbing head. “But I would appreciate some consideration for the disciples Su Ling and Li Suyin as they are good friends of mine.”


  Cai Renxiang regarded Ling Qi silently but then nodded. “Of course. For your contributions, such a thing is more than reasonable,” she allowed. “Perhaps it might be best if we discussed what will be changing in the future.”


  Ling Qi didn’t really feel up to it, but she could hardly say no now. The conversation that followed was enlightening. Cai Renxiang had apparently been quietly organizing things among the newer second realm cultivators and the amenable older disciples using her family contacts to form a proper enforcement group. The meeting arranged for today would have discussed the enforcement group and the rules it would enforce. With half of the ‘council’ gone, Cai Renxiang and Bai Meizhen were the ones whose say mattered.

  The rules sounded pretty reasonable to Ling Qi. They included things like enforcing fairness in duels and ensuring that the fighters were not preyed upon by opportunists in the aftermath. Order would be enforced in public areas and during the collection of monthly spirit stones. The possibility of organizing training and providing a certain amount of resources beyond simple spirit stones for those who joined up under Cai seemed like a nice idea as well.

  Ling Qi was less sure of the tax the heiress intended to levy to pay for those services despite the fact that she herself was exempted. Ling Qi’s tentative idea of making allowances for impoverished cultivators was met with some approval though. Defiance was likely going to be punished much more harshly, and those who refused to knuckle under would receive no recognition of rights from her enforcers.

  “This is all a lot to take in,” Ling Qi grumbled under her breath as their talk wound down. She had begun to go through the contents of her storage ring while Cai Renxiang and Bai Meizhen discussed details that were over her head. It was a habit of hers to make sure all of her possessions were in place.

  “I will leave you to your recovery soon, Miss Ling,” Cai Renxiang said politely, briefly meeting Bai Meizhen’s eyes. “There is only one more thing.”


  Ling Qi was distracted though. Something was missing. She patted her sleeves and failed to find it there either. “Wait. Where is my flute?”


  “It slipped my mind,” Meizhen admitted. “It was broken in the melee. I will ensure you have a replacement before you leave the hall. You really should consider a proper talisman though.”


  Ling Qi blinked then clutched her blankets, vindictive anger at Sun Liling rising in her thoughts. “Yeah, I should,” she said flatly. “I don’t suppose you picked it up, did you?”


  Bai Meizhen paused while Cai Renxiang looked on with a hint of irritation at being interrupted. “.…… I did not. It was only a mundane flute,” she replied slowly.

  “I will have someone retrieve the pieces,” Cai Renxiang offered cooly. “I apologize if it was an item of importance.”


  “I would appreciate that,” Ling Qi said distantly, thinking on the many many times she had kept the old thing intact and in her possession despite the hardship in doing so. “I am sorry. What was the last thing you wished to discuss?”


  “Nothing of great importance,” Cai Renxiang said. “I merely wished to once again extend my thanks to the two of you. As loyal members of my council, it is only right that you be rewarded for your contributions. One of my honored Mother’s apprentices is a core member of the Sect. I intend to have garments commissioned in thanks for the two of you and Sir Han. It will take some time to complete. So for now, please simply accept my thanks.”


  Ling Qi nodded, knowing she should probably be ecstatic at receiving an item of such high quality, but she couldn’t quite manage it given the loss of her flute.

  She was out of the Medicine Hall by the next morning, having been healed quickly at great expense on Cai Renxiang’s funds, the pieces of her flute in her storage ring, and a new, white armband pinned in place on her sleeve. The character for Cai embroidered upon it declared her to be a member of Cai’s group, and the gold lining identified her as a member of the ruling council. It was a strange thing to think about – that she, Ling Qi, was apparently an influential official in a pseudo-government. She wasn’t entirely certain what expectations the other girl had of her. Cai Renxiang seemed reluctant to push overmuch with either Bai Meizhen or Ling Qi.

  Ling Qi found her thoughts continually coming back to her flute though. It was the one thing she had carried with her through all her years in the streets, and now it was broken, snapped in half with part of the length pulped, likely by someone’s foot. She should have gotten a talisman or at least a basic flute instead of using it in combat. Yet, she couldn’t quite bring herself to buy another flute, even if the lack of instrument was a weakness.

  Dredging up half-remembered plans from before the battle, Ling Qi descended the mountain in a fugue. She needed to begin stockpiling Sect Points, especially now that it had been made clear how far she still had to go. Sect Points could be used to purchase valuable medicines and tutoring from Inner Sect disciples or in a pinch, traded for more spirit stones.

  In the absence of her flute, Ling Qi took to the bow as she ranged out to exterminate spirit beasts marked for death by the Sect. Her new archery art proved its worth here, letting her nail down birds and fleeing beasts a hundred meters or more distant.

  It seemed she had been underestimating herself. It would probably be a good idea to look into taking harder missions in the future. She had been too cautious to look at anything but the lowest missions before. The funds gained by selling the cores and carcasses could go toward replacing her flute.

  Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to locate Gu Xiulan to discuss the inevitable changes to their plans to challenge older Outer Sect disciples. Xiulan wasn’t at her house or the spring nor did she join the group for training even after Fan Yu had done so, the belligerent boy having finally managed to break through to Silver Physique.

  Han Jian was evasive when she pressed him on Xiulan’s whereabouts, saying that she wanted to cultivate alone for a time. Under the effects of Argent Mirror’s Discerning Gaze, Ling Qi thought he felt slightly guilty. She wasn’t sure how to press him on it without being rude so she left it alone.

  Somehow, she felt like the turmoil on the mountain was only just beginning.

  Threads 64-Foreshock 1

  “To think, you finally choose to change your style, and I am left out of it,” Xiulan said, aggrieved. “Ling Qi, am I truly so poor a friend that you would not even ask my advice?”


  Ling Qi rolled her eyes at Xiulan’s dramatics. “And I told you that it was something that got sprung on me suddenly. Who am I to refuse the advice of an apprentice to the Duchess?”


  “You could have at least angled to get me an invitation, you terrible girl,” Xiulan grumbled, looking over to study her. “I suppose I cannot argue with results.”


  Ling Qi shifted under her attention. She still felt odd about changing her looks on the regular since she was worried about messing it up. Since they were heading out into the wilderness and the weather was cooling, she had gone for an ‘autumn-winter’ look, not that she had more than a basic understanding of what that meant.

  Her winged mantle had been traded for a thicker cloak that covered her shoulders and chest and hung down almost to her feet with a high fur-trimmed collar that brushed her chin. She had switched out the front panel of her gown for one showing falling snowflakes that seemed to move as the cloth shifted. A few of the underlayers of silk had been switched out for thicker cloth, lending the gown a bit more ‘weight,’ and the hems had been drawn in and a trim of dark purple fur had been added. She liked the sleek, black calfskin boots that she had picked out, even if she was less fond of the fact that they were visible beneath the raised hems.

  On her left hand, she wore the Three Moon’s Chime talisman that Lin Hai had made. The hand jewelry consisted of a silver ring and a silver wristband with butterflies and songbirds etched into it in powdered ruby. The two were connected by fine chainlinks with three charms carved from colored jade representing the Grinning, Hidden, and Dreaming Moons attached to them. Tiny bells hung from the links between the moons, letting off a pleasing chime if Ling Qi did not want them to be silent. As befit a talisman created by a master, it even had an active technique that would allow her to absorb hostile dispel techniques.

  “I assure you, next time that I am going to be poked and prodded and measured for hours, I will be sure that you get an invitation,” Ling Qi replied dryly.

  “Be sure that you do,” her friend said imperiously, the gravel of the road crunching under the soles of her own boots. She gave Ling Qi another assessing look. “Really, I do think you chose well though. It is not my style, but that sort of cut suits you.”


  LIng Qi reached up, tentatively brushing her fingers through her hair. Lin Hai had convinced her to lighten up on the straightening elixirs. Her increasingly long hair was now bundled at the base of her neck, leaving a tail of wavy locks reaching almost the middle of her back. The whole thing was held together with a silver butterfly pin in deference to her liege. She still wasn’t sure if she liked it or not.

  “Thank you,” she said. “I see you’ve been experimenting yourself.” Her friend’s glossy hair had been woven through a complex golden hairpiece made to look like a rising sun with rays that radiated out, supporting the bundle of hair behind it. The girl had also been working some dark red highlights in, but whether that was an effect of cultivation or dye, Ling Qi did not know.

  “Ah, do you like it?” Xiulan asked, tilting her head to let the piece catch the sunlight and gleam. “I am considering commissioning a talisman, but I wished to wear a piece of similar make before I invested.”


  “It’s very mature,” Ling Qi said with a slight smile.

  Xiulan made a face at her. “Ugh, must you put it like that?”


  “It does seem like something your mother might wear,” Ling Qi teased. In her thoughts, she felt Sixiang’s amusement.

  Hanyi muttered mutinously.

  “And what is wrong with that? Mother is the peak of fashion,” Xiulan boasted. “I can hardly go wrong in emulating her.”


  Ling Qi did not think Ai Xiaoli was the sort of woman to be caught outside in less than three dozen layers of silk, let alone something like the mere three-layered light yellow gown Xiulan was wearing with its scandalously bare shoulders and hems that came down only to the calf.

  “I hate to interrupt, but I can see the walls.” The third of their number, previously silent as he walked a few paces ahead of them, spoke up. Shen Hu had not changed much over the last half year, except that he had unfortunately taken to wearing a loose shirt of dark green silk.

  Ling Qi was gaining on them in cultivation – and noticeably so. Xiulan had just reached the appraisal stage, and even Shen Hu had only recently reached full foundation cultivation despite starting the year a full stage ahead. It couldn’t be helped. “We’re still pretty early. Should we have a look around the town then?” she asked.

  “I doubt there is much to see,” Xiulan replied, giving the low stone walls ahead a faintly disdainful look. “But I suppose it is not a bad way to spend an hour or so. Will you escort us then, Sir Shen?” she asked sweetly.

  “I suppose,” the older boy said, his hands held together casually behind his head. It seemed that over the course of the last few months, he had become inured to Xiulan.

  Ling Qi glanced over as a disgruntled look passed over Xiulan’s expression. She had a feeling that she had missed something. Sparring and shopping was all well and good, but she recognized the signs of mounting frustration in her friend; it looked like they needed another girl’s night sometime in the near future.

  “Well, let’s have a look around then,” she said brightly before the silence could grow awkward.

  Ling Qi had done her research before this mission. While her Senior Brother Liao Zhu would still be on the mission as well, he would not be there to mind her as he had done in the previous scouting exercise. After completing the last lesson in the previous month, she, now in her seventh month in the Inner Sect, was a provisional officer of the Sect’s scouting division. She did not want to fail or do poorly now.

  The region they were deployed to, a hilly scrubland rich in mineral wealth, was a few days east of White Cloud Mountain at a first realm’s pace. The town they were approaching was the region’s center, a township of a little over two thousand people laid out behind neat square walls and sectioned into districts. The smoke and heat of smelters clouded the air here as raw ore was turned into bars to be shipped out to larger settlements, and heavily laden wagons full of blocks of quarried marble, granite, and jade moved slowly through the wide streets.

  At the north end of the city was a well kept market district where traders from outside the province came to purchase raw goods in exchange for foodstuffs, worked goods, and luxuries. At the city’s very center lay its Immortal district, kept clear of smoke by formations set into the inner marble walls. It was the luxurious barracks there that she and the others were bound for.

  The town had very few cultivator residents. There was a Sect Overseer which the mortal governor and ministers answered to, a man at the fifth stage of the third realm, and a bare handful of early third realm officers in the hundred and fifty strong permanent garrison of first and second realm soldiers.

  “How very rustic,” Gu Xiulan said dryly as she strode through the inner gates, paying no mind to the first realm soldiers manning it. She did not acknowledge the bowing men as she strutted past, once again in the full flower of her confidence. “Still, it could be worse.”


  Ling Qi favored the guards with an apologetic smile as she swept past, but it didn’t seem to comfort them. “Perhaps for you. I don’t really care for the soot in the air,” she said wryly as they left the gates behind. It wasn’t too bad – a handful of formation markers kept the worst of it from settling in the streets – but Ling Qi had grown used to the clear, crisp air of the Sect’s mountains.

  “Breathing in a few sparks now and then is good for your character,” Gu Xiulan jested.

  “It reminds me a bit of the charcoal makers at home,” Shen Hu commented. “Smells bad though.”


  “Your family makes charcoal? What for?” Ling Qi asked. She would think fuel like that would be unnecessary for most things.

  “Something about transferring properties to the metals,” Shen Hu said. “Sorry, my older brother and sister know more about that kind of thing. Don’t really have the head for crafting.”


  “It has its uses,” Xiulan said imperiously, not looking over at the boy. “Of course, the deathstone quarried from the outskirts of the Grave is superior.”


  “Sure is, probably,” Shen Hu agreed with an uncaring shrug.

  Xiulan made an irritated noise in the back of her throat. “In any case, it seems we must part ways here. Good luck, Ling Qi. Perhaps we might find ourselves assigned to the same hamlet sometime during the week.”


  “Maybe,” Ling Qi replied, dipping her head first toward Xiulan and then Shen Hu. “Try not to burn down anything we want to keep though.”


  “Just try not to frighten any peasants to death, you wraith,” Xiulan shot back with a smirk.

  Shen Hu gave them both mildly concerned looks and shook his head. Sometimes, Ling Qi thought, he just didn’t seem to get jokes. “Yeah, it’s raiding season. Keep your eyes open.”


  Ling Qi left the two of them to enter the barracks and turned down the street herself, heading toward the smaller office where the scouts would be meeting. Passing swiftly down the mostly empty street of the government quarter, the elegant single story building with a peaked roof soon came into sight. Ling Qi recognized it from the description she had been given.

  However, as she approached, she slowed down, first feeling and then sighting an unignorable presence. Slowing and then stopping in the tile-paved courtyard outside of the building, Ling Qi bowed. “Senior Sect Sister Guan.”


  The young woman cocked an eyebrow at her, not uncrossing her arms. “Commander is more appropriate when we are on duty, Officer Ling.” The tall young woman dressed lightly, wearing only a sleeveless jacket of grey padded cloth and similarly colored pants tucked into thick mountaineer’s boots. Formation-inscribed bandages covered her hands and forearms, but she wore no other accessories.

  “My apologies, Commander Guan.” Ling Qi held in a grimace at her mistake. She had spent so much time dealing with nobility that it had pushed some of her military lessons out of her head.

  “We are not on the field just yet, so I will forgive the slip. Seeing that you recently visited Senior Brother Lin, I can forgive some slippage in discipline,” Guan Zhi said evenly.

  Ling Qi’s eyes widened. “Is it that obvious?” she asked, glancing down at herself.

  “The only thing that flies faster than the barbarians are rumors,” her commander said dryly. “In any case, come along, officer. You are the last to arrive, and I must brief you all and decide upon assignments.”


  Hanyi complained.

  Ling Qi hurried to follow Guan Zhi as she turned and stepped toward the door, glancing over at the young woman. She assumed she was young anyway. It occurred to her that she had no idea how old Guan Zhi was. “May I ask a question of you, Commander?”


  “You may,” the girl replied tersely as she led her inside past rooms populated by first realm cultivators, cartographers and messengers going about their tasks and crafts.

  “What should I expect from raiders?” Ling Qi asked with a touch of nerves. “I have read reports and such, but my home city is far into the interior.”


  Guan Zhi looked her way, assessing Ling Qi. “Young men out to prove themselves warriors by looting and killing,” she answered. “The typical raid is a quick affair, a half dozen or so low ranking cultivators swooping down to smash homes, destabilize quarries or mines, and steal livestock and metals. It is unusual for them to stand and fight, and a show of force will typically scare them off immediately. However, sometimes this is only a feint to draw glory hungry soldiers into chasing them.”


  Ling Qi nodded in understanding.

  “However,” Guan Zhi continued sharply. “Recently, things have grown more dangerous, but I will get to that in the briefing.”


  Ling Qi dipped her head in acknowledgment as they reached a closed door. She could sense the other presences inside and was a little surprised by what she felt. Stepping into the room behind Guan Zhi, she found not only Liao Zhu, who was seated in a meditative pose against the far wall, but also two other faces she recognized among the handful of other third realm disciples in the room.

  Alingge and Sha Feng both nodded amicably to her as she took her seat beside them, and Guan Zhi moved to the front of the room to stand behind the speaker’s podium. Liao Zhu stood smoothly as she took her position, stepping into a deferential position behind her.

  “The region you all have been assigned contains three major landmarks and five settlements,” Guan Zhi began without preamble. Her voice was crisp and clear. “For the next week, the safety of its inhabitants will be in the hands of you and your counterparts. While this is normally not a terribly arduous task, a number of factors lead the Sect to believe that trouble may arise. Firstly, tribesmen have been spotted in greater numbers than is normal throughout the year, and this has not tapered off. Secondly, a new mine and its attendant village is currently under construction and development, meaning that there is a gap in our defenses and potential for trouble with the spirits of the mountain. It is suspected that the barbarians may strike there specifically as records indicate that some local tribes once used it as a site for certain rites.”


  Ling Qi listened closely as her commander began to lay out the situation. The region to the south of this town contained two major peaks comparable to White Cloud Mountain. The first, Cyan Peak, lay just a half dozen kilometers south and east and was the site of two well established quarrying villages that harvested the rare sky jade which composed much of the mountain. Further out from that was a stretch of hills with a single major river flowing through where two additional villages lay, farming the fertile valley to provide crops for the rest of the region. Furthest south was Icebreaker Peak, a tall and forbidding spike of a mountain that rose high to pierce the clouds.

  Icebreaker Peak was the site of the new village on a location discovered to hold iron as well as higher grade metals and seams of diamond. There had already been troubles from the spirits there as the mine shaft had been dug. Liao Zhu would be assigned there to ensure that the completion of the mine went smoothly. Guan Zhi herself intended to range out into the outskirts of the Wall itself to keep a watchful eye on known Cloud Tribe gathering places and sky routes.

  “This leaves the matters of the villages themselves. Each region will require a scouting division complement. I will also require a squad to act as rangers and messengers, remaining on the move between all points to maintain communications between myself and the captain here,” Guan Zhi concluded. “I would hear your suggestions now regarding where you believe you will be best deployed.”


  Ling Qi thought about the potential posts. The villages on Cyan Peak seemed as if they would be the safest. From the description, they were relatively well fortified already, which meant they might not need her.

  No, one of the other positions would suit her better.

  The valley villages were more sprawling and less well defended by nature, but she was fast, and her arts could cover a great deal of ground. Plus, it might benefit Zhengui to be in a position to defend something. On the other hand, being in the messenger cadre would make the best use of her mobility, and she could even use the techniques she had studied in the Curious Diviner’s Eye art to help facilitate communication. It might be a better use of her talents.

  As others began to speak, Ling Qi decided where she and her spirits would do best.