Chapter 389 – Unintended Trouble

Zou Tian couldn’t help but be worried. Even though his two youngest children were playing in gentle waves no deeper than their mid-calves and there were two Foundation Establishment lifeguards on duty, the sight of so much water made him anxious. The fact that Zou Su was old enough to swim on his own made that anxiety even worse.

Of course, in all the years the beach resorts had been open, there had been no drownings or even serious injuries, so his worry was somewhat overblown. He knew that. Still, he worried.

He and Master had discussed the issue once.

Master had simply said, “Now you know how I feel about you pulling that stunt during the ambush.”

Zou Tian didn’t have a ready answer.

Still, the beach wasn’t all bad—the pleasant heat of the sun, the sound of the waves, the strong, clean breeze. At first, he hadn’t understood Master’s insistence for creating the resorts, but as with almost everything else, Master had proved to be right.

And the kids absolutely loved playing in the sand and water. “Can we go to the beach?” was about the most common phrase heard in his house.

Zou Tian simply had to manage his anxiety as well as he could.

Something besides his children suddenly drew his attention—a black piece of paper folded into the shape of an owl darted toward him.

The technique used to create it was similar to Master’s blue dragons but even more complex. For one thing, the owls interacted with the portal networks to speed their delivery. For another, almost no one without a special technique could see them.

He surreptitiously plucked it from the air with his qi and sent it to a special storage device. The ring verified his qi signature, decoded the note, and projected the message onto his eye where only he could read it.

Visitor for Zou Ai at main gate. Lei Lanfen. Has card.

Hmm. He remembered his wife telling him about the girl. She didn’t sound like anything special, of course, but his wife had grown attached enough to give her a card.

A lot of mortals might have sought to use the connection for their advantage, but the girl had simply gone about her life, working on one of the farms. Something must have happened to have her seek out Zou Ai.

Zou Tian opened his tablet and pulled up all recent activities involving Lei Lanfen, starting with an update to her registration that hadn’t been uploaded yet.

Ah. That made sense.

“Dearest wife?” he said.

Zou Ai had been mostly napping in the sun while he watched the kids, and he hated to disturb her. Like him, there was little time in her life for relaxation what with her job, the kids, and cultivation. She looked so peaceful lying there.

“Yes?” she said.

“You’re needed back at the sect.”

Once she heard that Lei Lanfen was looking for her, Zou Ai agreed immediately, and Zou Tian sent a message to the gate guards, one of the dragons that time. Fortunately, Master was there that day, and he willingly agreed to watch the kids until they returned. So, after some quick hugs goodbye, the couple departed.

***

The Rising Tide Sect apparently had two portal exits, one for members and one for visitors. Lei Lanfen had been dumped from the latter not far from the gate. She stood for a moment, hesitating. After all, she wasn’t seeking entrance to a small outpost in her village but the actual main grounds of a powerful sect.

It was more than a little intimidating, and the guards looked big and scary.

Of course, appearances could be deceiving. Li Bo looked big and scary, too, and he had turned out to be a bit of a goofball. Besides, all the Rising Tide Sect members she’d met so far had been nice.

As she approached the gate, a guard addressed her. “What is the purpose of your visit?”

Lei Lanfen almost chuckled. Zou Ai had said they’d ask her exactly that.

“Greetings, Esteemed Cultivator, this lowly one is here to see the Exalted Sect Elder, Zou Ai. This lowly one has a card.”

The expression on the guard’s face transformed between the start of Lei Lanfen’s statement and the end. When she’d said who she wanted to see, the man was clearly skeptical, but when she’d handed him the card, it was almost deferential.

“Of course, Honored Miss,” he said. “Give me a few moments to determine the Exalted Elder’s location, and I’ll have you escorted to her. In the meantime, please have a seat in our waiting area.”

The area was very nice, and a lady came in to offer Lei Lanfen tea and snacks, which she refused. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take that long. If things went right, someone would come soon and take her to Zou Ai. If thing went wrong, they’d ask why Lei Lanfen was there, which would be a problem because she didn’t rightly know.

After a short while, well less than five minutes, the guard entered the waiting area. “Apologies, Miss, but it appears the Exalted Elder is away from the sect. How would you like to proceed?”

Before she could respond, the weirdest thing happened. A blue flying thing appeared in the middle of the room.

Obviously, Lei Lanfen recoiled from it, thinking it some type of attack, but the guard wasn’t disturbed at all and simply plucked it out of the air. As soon as he touched it, it turned into a … piece of paper.

“Apologies, Esteemed Miss,” he said. “The Exalted Elder and her Exalted Husband have been made aware of your presence and will be here shortly. If you will just wait a few more minutes?”

“Of course, Esteemed Cultivator.”

As he left, it took a few moments for the door to close, and while it remained open, she could hear him talking to a fellow guard.

“Who is she?”

“I don’t know, but she must be important. Elder Zou Ai and Elder Zou Tian are both rushing back from the beach to meet with her.”

Lei Lanfen felt bad. She hadn’t meant to cause any trouble, especially not for Zou Ai to leave a relaxing day. There was nothing to be done about it, though. So Lei Lanfen waited.

An embarrassingly short amount of time later, Zou Ai and a man entered the waiting area. From the complete obsequiousness shown by the guards, both of them appeared to be quite important.

Ugh. Lei Lanfen wished she hadn’t listened to Lin Tao’s advice.

“Lan’er!” Zou Ai said. “How are you?”

They were close enough to use diminutives now? Lei Lanfen didn’t think so. She’d only met the woman once, and she definitely wasn’t going to start referring to her as Ai’er.

Lei Lanfen cupped her hands. “Greetings, Exalted Elder. This lowly one apologizes for bothering you.”

“Nonsense. What’s wrong?”

Before Lei Lanfen could answer, the man said, “Greetings, Honored Miss. I’m Zou Tian, this lovely woman’s husband. Perhaps we should move somewhere more private for our conversation?”

Lei Lanfen didn’t know if that was appropriate or not, considering that she didn’t even know why she was there, but it was always best to go along with a powerful cultivator’s suggestion. She cupped her hands. “Gratitude, Exalted Elder.”

Zou Tian led the small group to a room in a nearby building. “We’re inside a silencing array. Nothing said inside will be transmitted to the outside.”

Her eyes went wide. What could possibly be so important?

Zou Ai slapped her hand lightly against her husband’s shoulder. “My dear husband is professionally paranoid. He thinks our grocery list should be top secret.”

“Well,” he said, obviously pretending to consider the matter, “if an enemy knew what we ate on a regular basis, it would make poisoning us easier, wouldn’t it? I’ll get to work on encoding our private messages.”

Zou Ai rolled her eyes. “Anyway, whatever you have to say is surely not that worrisome. Between he and I, we can handle it.”

Left unasked was the question—why did you come?

All Lei Lanfen could do was tell the truth. “I  don’t know why I’m here.” She went on to explain what happened with Lin Tao.”

“That sounds easy enough,” Zou Ai said. “We’ll scan you.”

“No need.” Zou Tian pulled out a tablet. “Here’s the reading from Lin Tao.”

For the second time if a few minutes, Lin Lanfen’s eyes went wide.

“Don’t worry about it,” Zou Ai said. “He does this kind of stuff all the time. It’s his job.”

Zou Tian grinned and winked at Lei Lanfen. Winked. The man was surely a Golden Core cultivator and an elder of a major sect, and he winked at her.

 Zou Ai was already reading the tablet, though, so she didn’t notice. When she finished, she chuckled. “Yeah. Okay. I see Lin Tao’s point. It’s probably best for you to have someone you trust to discuss your options with.”

Lei Lanfen’s heart was pounding. “Options, Exalted Elder?”

“Oh. Right. You don’t know yet.” Zou Ai handed Lei Lanfen the tablet.

“Uh… What does any of that mean?”

She got the first three lines, obviously, but the rest escaped her.

Zou Ai started to speak, but when Zou Tian met her eyes, she waved for him to continue.

“Spiritual root ranks range from G, someone who literally cannot cultivator, all the way through F, E, D, C, B, A, and S, someone whose talent is supreme in all the world. Further, each rank is divided into three subcategories—minus, neutral, and plus. Currently, there are no S ranked cultivators known to exist on this continent. They are extraordinarily rare.”

Lei Lanfen didn’t understand his emphasis on S. The screen, after all, showed that she was an A.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “A is good. A is really good. The top member in our sect is A+, and her talent is phenomenal. It’s also rare. Any sect on the planet would gratefully accept an A ranked prospect.”

That was a lot to take in. She’d gone from unwanted mortal to desired recruit in the matter of seconds.

“Even as an A, each of the three major factions on this continent—the Poison Claw Sect, the Emperor’s faction, and the Rising Tide Sect—would seek to recruit you. Fear not, though, no one will force you into anything. The three organizations have close ties in many areas, and no one would jeopardize our peace and prosperity for a mere recruit, no matter her potential.

“We can present the case for our sect and have representatives from the other factions come in to present theirs. No one will be mad at you for not choosing their faction. It is completely your choice, and there will be no coercion. You can even choose not to join any of us. Understand?”

Okay. That was something she could deal with that. She was a valuable commodity but not so important that people would kill for her to join their faction.

“Yes, Exalted Elder.”

“Lan’er, I have to ask, what do you want—to stand out or to blend into the crowd?” Zou Ai said. “From your aspect, I’m guessing the former.”

Lei Lanfen had never really thought about it. Since her father’s death, she’d prayed nightly to the heavens just to survive. Standing out wasn’t even something she put in her eyes.

The prospect … didn’t sound bad.

“See how she lit up, Tian’er? Aspects never lie. I wish I could take her as a disciple.”

A moment ago, Lei Lanfen had never considered the possibility of becoming a cultivator. Now, she found herself strangely disappointed at not having Zou Ai for a master. An exalted elder. Lei Lanfen’s master.

Wow, her arrogance was already growing.

Zou Ai must have sensed the disappointment because she rushed forward and hugged Lei Lanfen tightly. “I’d love to, dear, but look at your qi aspect, ‘Core metal of heavens piercing target to annihilation.’ If ever there was a recruit destined for the martial path, it’s you, and I’m all about alchemy.” She paused. “Oh! I know! Senior Sister will adore you just as much as I do. She can be your master.”

“S-senior sister?”

“She’s like a third sect leader when Master is off crafting or playing with the children, which is most of the time, and half leader of the Martial Pavilion,” Zou Ai said. “Besides not using a sword, she’d be a perfect fit for you.”

Lei Lanfen’s head was spinning by that point. So much was happening at once. “A sword?”

“Well, I mean, look at your aspect. Piercing target to annihilation? Sure, you could use a spear or bow or any bladed weapon, but I bet your sword affinity will be through the roof.”

“Ai’er?” Zou Tian said. “We can make our case, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The other two factions have to be allowed to make an attempt, and  we haven’t tested her karma.”

“Poo on that,” Zou Ai said. “Who would decide to join one of those two when the Rising Tide Sect is an option? And I know her karma is good because Yun’er hugged her. Besides, we haven’t even told her the best part of joining us.”

The best part?