Just a heads up, I'm heading to Europe on the 1st of May. I'm going to be in Greece and Italy, checking out ancient ruins and art. I'll probably be able to maintain The Magistrate's schedule, but Unorthodox Farming will probably be sporadic.The opposite could also happen, and I'll be so damn inspired that I'll crank out chapters, but we'll have to wait and see. Anyway, here's the start of the next arc.
Chapter 103
Lung Mei and Hun Fen
Tobias Finch's clone and his disciple Lung Mei strolled beside the Ming River, navigating the crowded shopping district in the wealthier part of the Ming City. The Three Kingdoms was thousands of miles away, and the mortals who wandered around them, unaware of their existence, knew little of the wonders which lay there. They were content to live somewhere safe and secure, where the rule of law applied, which was a rarity across the continent.
Only fifty years earlier, the nearby cities were lawless cesspools, overrun by rogue cultivators who had fled their clans and sects after committing heinous crimes. Their depravity hadn't stopped once they escaped, and they became petty tyrants, harassing mortals or committing acts of malevolence that no sane individual would abide.
Tobias certainly hadn't.
It was here that Tobias received the title 'The Butcher from Ming'. And here, where people still spoke in whispers tones when they mentioned his name.
Tobias did not hurry or rush as scanning the mortals for signs of divinity. The Cultivation and Science Academy had long since perfected the art of recognising mortals with the potential to cultivate. Tobias had passed some of that knowledge to Patriarch Ming when he received his title, instructing him to gather and train all those with the potential to cultivate, and providing cultivation manuals to ease their passage to the foundation realm.
All Patriarch Ming had to do in return for this generosity was protect the inhabitants of his small kingdom and tell no one who he served. Tobias was pleasantly surprised to discover that Patriarch Ming had not let many slip through the cracks and that cultivators patrolled the streets, keeping law and order.
"Master, we're going to be late for the tournament," Lung Mei whined.
Tobias glanced at Lung Zhi's daughter and reached up to ruffle her snow-white hair, like he had a thousand times before. Lung Mei's height was the reason they wandered shrouded from the mortals. Seeing an adult-sized person with an eight-year-old's appearance always drew a crowd, but his disciple always used the enlargement spell he'd taught her when they walked side by side. She hated taking two steps for each one he took.
Tobias smiled as she began fixing snow-white hair with her aura. "You said you wanted snacks for the tournament."
"Not if it means we're late," she whined childishly.
Lung Mei was only eight years old when her mother forced her stomach meridian open and began stuffing pills down her throat. Lung Zhi's cultivation method was significantly more resource intense than the methods practised by those in The Three Kingdoms. This trade-off made it less likely to cause chi deviation, so her daughter had reached the core realm with only moderate damage to her foundation.
The damage to Lung Mei's mind and developmental growth was a different story. All Tobias had wanted to do was to protect those he loved from the old monsters of the world. The cost was a tortured child with a broken mind.
And more than a century in hiding to make up for his mistake.
Tobias ruffled her hair again. "There is an inn down the street that serves crispy pork belly."
Lung Mei brightened up, immediately forgetting about the tournament. Her spiritual sense moved through the streets, checking every building, like she was searching for treasure. Any other core realm cultivator would have used their aura, but Lung Mei could barely project hers more than thirty feet.
"I found it," she said, bouncing on her heel with excitement.
Tobias continued his stroll.
He got two steps before she stepped behind him and started pushing. "Hurry up, Master."
Tobias didn't dig his heels in. Contending with his disciple's physical strength was beyond him, despite being a nascent soul realm cultivator and centuries of studying and integrating dao. Lung Mei's cultivation method enhanced physical strength and speed at the cost of spiritual power and control.
This dao of sacrifice was something Tobias hadn't yet comprehended, so he couldn't replicate the benefits it offered her. Tobias quickly found himself running down the street in the most undignified of manners. Lung Mei laughed with glee as she steered him between mortals and street carts, before rushing him into the inn and straight up to the owner.
Tobias allowed the owner to see them.
The plump elderly woman dropped into a deep bow, reflexes covering her shock over two cultivators appearing out of thin air. "How may this one serve such esteemed guests?"
Her staff looked at her, confused, then quickly copied her and bowed to what they saw as empty space.
Lung Mei leaned around Tobias. "We would like all the crispy pork belly you can fit on your largest platter and all your dipping sauces. We're going to the tournament. Master secured a private box."
Tobias handed the woman a string of local coins. "As quickly as you can."
"I will have it prepared immediately."
The owner accepted the coins and hurried off, shouting orders to her bewildered staff.
The meat arrived promptly, and then Lung Mei was pushing Tobias towards the stadium in the distance. They ignored the line out front, moving unseen through the stadium's corridors, to the private box. Two chairs sat inside, with a small table between them, wine and food rested against the back wall, and there was a clear view of the grounds below.
Every luxury Patriarch Ming could offer was on display.
Tobias revealed their presence to Patriarch Ming in the box across from them. Patriarch Ming stopped his conversation, shrouded his presence from those around him with the spell Tobias had taught him, and then rose to his feet.
He cupped his hands and bowed, his long white beard brushing the ground. "This servant greets his Lord."
Patriarch Ming's words carried effortlessly across the stadium, conveying his sincerity. He was a core realm cultivator, but his foundation was shaky. He had formed three layers of his core and would never form another. The younger generation of his clan lacked his divinity and talent, and he had been worried about his clan's future when Tobias introduced himself.
Tobias had agreed to assist the Ming clan with their cultivation and remove the local threats in return for the man's loyalty and his clan providing stability to the region. The arrangement had worked out well, with neither side requesting anything outrageous.
Tobias's presence at the tournament was the first time in fifty years that the relationship had required him to come in person. Usually, issues were dealt with through his hidden network, but Patriarch Ming had made a request he could not fulfil from a distance.
Tobias returned his servant's greeting by inclining his head. "You may return to your duties."
"This one hears and obeys."
Patriarch Ming returned to his seat and removed the shroud, making an excuse to his son over why he'd disappeared.
Lung Mei undid her enlargement spell, returning to the size of your average eight-year-old, and then removed the platter of crispy pork from her storage ring and placed it on the table between theirs.
As Tobias sat down with her, she picked up a bowl of dipping sauce and began eating the pork like popcorn. The little carnivore would demolish the platter in record time, so Tobias reached out and took a piece and threw it into his mouth. He had to dull his taste buds to enjoy the experience, but eating together helped to keep Lung Mei grounded.
Tobias removed the shroud surrounding them after Patriarch Ming had finished his excuse, but left the portion that hid their cultivation. The Ming Clan would panic if they knew there was a nascent soul realm cultivator attending the tournament. Instead, he let them think he was merely a weak core realm cultivator. Lung Mei appeared to them as a mortal realm cultivator.
"I have a task for you," Tobias said.
Lung Mei groaned like a child who had been told she had to do the dishes while she was in the middle of play. "You said we could have fun today."
"We will. Your task is to watch the open matches and assess the competitors. Once the competitors for the tournament are decided and their lineups are selected, you will then place a one silver teal and spirit stone bet on every match. This bet will move into the next bracket and then the next, compounding until the end. If you do not guess correctly every time, you will fail."
Lung Mei frowned. "Why such a small amount?"
"It will not be small if you are correct."
"It's still trivial."
"Your winnings are not for you. They're for the victor."
Lung Mei smiled. "You know who it's going to be, don't you, Master?"
"And so should you."
"How am I supposed to know something like that?"
"We passed them on our way here."
***
Lung Mei cackled with delight as Hun Fen struck Ming Dia Lu's stomach with her wooden training sword. Their match had the crowd in a frenzy. The back-and-forth was unlike anything they had witnessed today or likely ever would again. Seeing two sword saints exchange pointers was usually a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence for mortals.
"The Little Tyrant's amazing," Lung Mei said, using the nickname she had come up with for Hun Fen. "How can she defeat another sword saint so effortlessly?"
Hun Fen looked to be around the same age as Lung Mei, but there was more than a century difference between them. That hadn't stopped Lung Mei from idolising her.
"She's a martial artist, sword saint, prodigy, and potential a savant," Tobias replied. "A once in a million years occurrence. Her connection to the dao of the sword is equal to that of a nascent soul realm cultivator already. She could literally have killed everyone without lifting a finger."
Tobias caught Patriarch Ming's attention and signalled that he wished to meet the victor, Hun Fen. The patriarch was furious over how easily she had defeated their clan's prodigy. The young woman was exceptionally talented, and if she had not met someone who literality defied everything Tobias understood about how much potential a prodigy could have, she would have easily won the tournament.
Hun Fen tried her best to make it look like a close fight to help the Ming Clan save face, but she could not hide her actions from cultivators.
Tobias needed to claim her before Patriarch Ming came to his senses and tried to marry her into his clan. Hun Fen was destined for more than being the trophy wife of a third-rate cultivation clan. So was their new prodigy.
Patriarch Ming's heir leapt from their private box, landing in the middle of the stadium. He took Hun Fen's hand and raised it high as he announced her as the victor of the tournament to a cheering crowd.
An elder from his clan came forward with her prize. The owner of the betting house, who controlled the gambling, also came forward with two large purses and added them to the prize given by the tournament hosts, pointing to Lung Mei as the source of the generosity.
Lung Mei waved back.
Hun Fen watched the exchange, eyes bouncing off Tobias before returning the grand prize.
She'd covered her face in dirt, matted and stained her cloth, and cut her hair short in a mismatched pattern. She was doing everything she could to hide her natural beauty and any signs of her wealthy upbringing, and she was fairly successful.
Next to Ming Dia Lu, she looked like a beggar.
You would need to be a cultivator in the foundation realm to tell that she wasn't male, which was clearly her intent. It was her bad luck that the assessor for the tournament was a foundation realm cultivator and had sent her to join the women's line.
Tobias watched Hun Fen's eyes light up as the patriarch's heir handed her the sword, the first-place prize. It was forged by a core realm smith for someone in the initiate realm. Here, it was worth risking your life. In The Three Kingdoms, you would find dozens of them sitting in a discount barrel of any blacksmith shop.
Hun Fen dropped the wooden training sword she'd been using as she took the blade. Then the most interesting thing happened. Her face twitched.
Lung Mei smirked. "Her metal root must be terrible for that sort of reaction."
Tobias had successfully proven that spirit roots weren't real, but a form of unconscious dao enlightenment related to the elements which could exist within cultivators from birth. However, the term proved so useful that it was redefined to refer to this aspect of cultivation.
Tobias nodded. "I'm surprised she's so attuned that she can instinctively know the wooden training sword she was wielding is more effective than the one she now holds. She must have an incredibly strong wood root or a greater understanding of the sword than I expect, considering her performance."
"Her performance was exceptional."
"With her natural talent, I'd expect significantly more. I don't believe she's ever received any lessons."
"She won against a trained sword saint without training?"
"Yes, but Ming Dia Lu also hasn't received proper training."
Hun Fen belted the scabbard to her back because it was the only way she could carry the sword. Patriarch Ming's son offered her the purse filled with silver next, knowing it was too heavy for her to carry, and faked surprise when she dropped it on her foot.
An expression of pain spread across Hun Fen's little face, and she began hopping in place and holding her foot. Her reaction turned the crowd's cheering to laughter. Tobias watched the girl bite back tears as her moment of glory was snatched away.
"He did that on purpose," Lung Mei growled.
The heir made a show of helping Hun Fen to pick up the purse, causing the crowd to turn in his favour. "Those who lack power and safety must play these games in order to survive."
"That doesn't mean I have to like it."
"Then go and beat him up where others can't see."
Patriarch Ming's eyes widened across the stadium as Tobias sentenced his son to a beating from a core realm cultivator. He knew he stood no chance against Lung Mei and was utterly powerless to stop her. Tobias had allowed him to hear their conversation so that he knew she had his permission.
A few minutes later, a foundation elder from their family delivered Hun Fen to their booth, while Patriarch Ming gave a closing speech. Hun Fen was still trying not to cry. The elder offered a deep bow before placing the purse on the table and leaving.
The moment she saw the elder bow so deeply, Hun Fen dropped to her knees and kowtowed. It was an elegant kowtow that did not match her appearance, and there was even a hint of the dao of beauty throughout her actions. Tobias knew there were only a few reasons for such elegance at such a young age, but only one that might explain her appearance.
Tobias looked at her. "Did you escape from a brothel?"
She shook her head.
"You may speak."
"This one was born in Silver Blossom Pavilion."
Tobias was aware of the establishment. He'd studied the first time he'd visited Ming City, hoping to understand how the women who worked there had learned to interact with the dao of beauty. He'd given up when he realised it was impossible to do from a distance.
"Raise your head."
She raised her head but remained in an elegant position with nothing out of place. Her training had been extensive despite her age.
"You've been trained in the ways of a courtesan."
Hun Fen kept her face expressionless. "This one is expected to be the greatest Blossom of the Silver Blossom Pavilion when she is older."
"Does this life intrigue you?"
Lung Mei scowled. "Of course it doesn't intrigue her, Master. Don't ask something so disgusting"
"Please excuse my disciple's words. She cannot see how hard you have studied or adhered to your training."
Hun Fen gave a brief smile. "This one does not reject her place in life."
"Then why did you compete today?"
"This one wishes for her mother to recognise that she has other gifts she would like to explore."
"Then you are not fleeing from a life you do not wish?"
She shook her head.
Tobias had met many prodigies over the centuries, and they were all much more mature than they should be for their age. However, despite this maturity, their brains were still not fully developed, and they were still little more than children. Extremely intelligent and talented children, but still children.
Hun Fen did not seem to be mistreated, and she was not running from a brothel or her family, so there was no reason to offer her aid.
Tobias removed a wooden training sword from his storage ring. His cousin Ping had fashioned it from one of their immortal ancestors, and it was worth more than the Ming Clan.
Hun Fen's eyes fell on the sword, as if gravity had pulled them to it, and Tobias sensed her sword dao grow stronger simply from looking at it.
Tobias smiled. "Would you trade me your sword for my one?"
Her hands moved the sword she had won before common sense caught up with her. "I need this to prove to my mother that I won. Will you trade me that sword after I've done so?"
Tobias shook his head.
Hun Fen bit her bottom lip so hard it bled. "Then I must decline."
Tobias returned the sword to his storage ring and then motioned to the bags of silver and spirit stones. "Would you allow my disciple and I to walk you home? That much wealth will attract trouble."
"I can protect myself."
Tobias could see she didn't trust him.
Tobias harnessed his understanding of the dao of the sword and sent a cut towards her hair. To his surprise, she parried it with her sword dao.
Hun Fen's eyes widened with excitement. "You know how to do the trick, too."
Tobias smiled. "I'm happy to trade pointers while we walk you home."
All distrust was suddenly forgotten before raw curiosity.