Threads 358-Cornerstone 1
Cao Chun disapproved of her initiative. "I believe you have made an error, baroness."
The rest of the eting had gone well. There were a hundred, hundred details on which imperial and polar law differed from inheritance to property to the way civic disputes were resolved. But a frawork was grudgingly being hashed out, and precedents to fill the gaps were being produced.
With the day’s session ending, she had headed to the ministry’s operations center. Down in Cao Chun's office, she stood beside Zheng Fu, and behind Cao Chun was Jin Tae.
"And I believe it is the correct course. Nothing will be gained by our investigations tripping over one another," Ling Qi rebutted.
"We would not be 'tripped' by barbarian efforts," Cao Chun grumbled. "But it is done. I will simply have to take this into account."
"Thank you for your understanding, inspector." She was glad he was not pushing back too hard on this. The relative successfulness of the operation must have put him in a good mood. "But getting to business, may I ask if you have found anything useful with the parasite I have procured?"
"It is both an imnsely complex construct and as epheral as dew." Cao Chun clasped his hands together, his brows furrowed deeply. "I would know how you managed to acquire it."
Thinking of Shu Yue briefly, she t his eyes. Perhaps he could dig it out of her head. He would not.
"On that, I must invoke the right to my personal thods," Ling Qi demurred.
"And here I thought you were the one encouraging everyone to share," Jin Tae snipped at her.
"Eh, what's that? You wanna let
have a look at your pretty formations for a bit?" Zheng Fu laughed. "Co off it."
Jin Tae said hotly, "I rely…"
Cao Chun held up his hands. "Enough. The privacy of one's clan techniques will not be infringed. Knowing you have the capability of retrieving such deeply planted objects is enough. The parasite is not constructed to last. Even with your thod, it will not remain stable for more than a few days. However, there are signs of its maker to be gleaned."
"Still Waters Deeping, Archivist of the Reviled," Ling Qi repeated, letting qi enter the words, echoing the feeling of sli and acrid stagnant water that made them more than re syllables.
Zheng Fu glanced at her, his eyebrows visibly climbing even under his headscarf.
Cao Chun was more reserved, but he did observe her in silence for a long mont. Jin Tae looked at his ntor and back to her, frowning.
"Those words are part of it. There is more as well, including the ti of manufacture, location, and so deeper traces of its maker," Cao Chun said.
"And what about what you dealt with here, so kinda curse on the soldiers?" Zheng Fu wondered.
"It was a form of artificial disease spirit, deeply implanted," Cao Chun said. "It would have begun inducing paralysis and causing transformation of flesh into wood. It seems designed to cause panic and suspicion based on a layman's observation of the polar barbarians' cultivation thods."
Xia Ren would not have had any patience for further investigation.
"However, being able to observe and extract the process imdiately… There are the sa marks as this parasite. And the subject of this is not of their kind."
"You are certain of that?" Ling Qi asked. "I felt there were so signs of Hui arts, but…"
"It is an aping of them at most. The Hui are dead, but this does not an their knowledge died with them entirely. It is possible so thods were preserved or… lost."
He glanced down pointedly. Ling Qi's eyes widened. With all of the Erald Seas out for their blood, the old ducal clan had scattered and gone to ground to be hunted down in the proceeding decades. If so had simply kept running…
"I am surprised you would admit that barbarians might co-opt imperial thods."
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"The beasts underground are truly consummate scavengers. The ministry has begun to sift through their thods, and there is significant danger of technique theft by their foul arts," Jin Tae explained. "As expected of ghoulish corpse eaters."
"We have already passed the advisory to the Argent Peak Sect to destroy the bodies of the fallen on site if they cannot be recovered," Cao Chun followed up. The old man looked like he had bitten into a lemon. "But while this is possible, there is another culprit to be considered."
"Who?" Zheng Fu asked.
"The ng, or rather, so rogue within them," Cao Chun answered. "I am confident that it is not backed by the clan overall, but there are so markers which make
wary, and if there is anywhere in this province where so recollection of Hui arts would have been preserved, it would be the western marshes. Those nas you spoke point in that direction."
Ling Qi crossed her arms. She didn't want to believe that. She had been making strong inroads with the ng, and yet…And yet, she knew she was divisive, that the ng clan was strongly divided internally, and that while she was friend to ng Diu and those who followed her, that made her the enemy of others in the ng clan.
But would they really take such a risk, just to spite her and her project, when it could potentially draw the eye of the Duchess? It sounded suicidal in her mind.
Shu Yue's words on grudges drifted in her mind.
"I see. We will need to investigate both possibilities then?" Ling Qi asked after a long mont.
"We will. I have spoken to ng Deming, but if he is involved, then I doubt my casual perception would reveal him. I need more ti to dissect your evidence."
Ling Qi sighed. "Then, for now, I will focus on the etings ahead."
They were not done with this.
***
Over the course of the next few days, Ling Qi remained in contact with Cao Chun and, to a lesser extent, Dzintara, who seed to have been chosen to speak for the White Sky’s own efforts. They were vigilant, observing for any further sign of strangeness.
It was impossible for so of that tension not to leak into the wider etings, especially as news of the incident upon the switchback trail spread, of a man collapsing and seemingly losing his mind for a ti. The man Zheng Fu had dealt with was still unconscious, but the physicians were confident he would awaken soon. The official explanation was that it had been a minor spirit possession, arising from the continued geoforming efforts.
It still lent a pall to the discussions even as the negotiations proceeded at a good pace and as smoothly as she could have hoped. She wished she could have enjoyed the seeming success of the first leg of negotiations more without this unpleasant business hanging over her thoughts.
"The enemy is a slippery one indeed," Shu Yue's voice rasped from just behind her.
She sat in a darkened office in the imperial embassy surrounded by privacy wards and security. Shue Yue had appeared behind her nonetheless, unremarked by any of the agents or functionaries in the hall outside. She wasn't surprised, of course; she had been expecting this eting.
"So even you were not able to track and catch them." Ling Qi bit down on her lower lip. She had hoped.
"Like certain beasts shedding a limb to save the whole when the predator cos." Shu Yue laid their hands on her shoulders. "I grasped sothing akin to a simulacra after a rry chase, and it crumpled in my grasp. A lure, bait, and a trap all in one."
A high realm could spin off additional bodies, investing cultivation to being in more than one place at a ti. If they could do that and still fool Shu Yue… She was glad that they had been with her, when she'd caught the parasite.
"Are you well?"
"I am. There was so damage, but it was minor. Enough to force
from the trail and no more. The power put into such a thing ans their harm is more."
"And you weren't able to discern any more?"
"No more than I had from the parasite. They are a cunning foe. What more I found cannot be easily confird. I will inform you when it can be."
"Thank you, teacher. I would ask, do you think I can call this first iteration of my art complete?"
Shu Yue paused, their hands still resting lightly on her shoulders as Ling Qi looked down at the letters or on her desk. She could see a few strands of their hair dangling down in the corners of her vision like strands of dripping ink on the verge of breaking.
"Difficult. Difficult to say. I did not develop my arts in the orthodox way."
Ling Qi continued to read her correspondence, reaching over only to take her brush and make a note that this one would require a reply.
"It was successful in the field. Your… heist. It places a sharp constraint on your ti still. It is a risky technique to enter another's mind as one would a palace or fortress. What did you intend to call it?"
"Mind's Palace Heist, maybe? Or Seeking the Na?"
“Such nas are for your understanding alone. It is functional. It will require developnt, but I will not counsel you against its use now, if you judge it valuable."
Ling Qi nodded. "I was always going to have to be careful with it."
"Yes. It is good that you understand that." Shu Yue’s presence withdrew from her along with their hands. "I will echo the inspector. Focus upon your task now. I will co if there is more you can do to aid ."
Ling Qi gave a short, sharp nod. Shu Yue was gone.
Today would finish the first week of negotiations. Just a little more, and the first proper stone of the foundation would be set.
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