Forge of Destiny Nov Threads 379-Roil 2

Threads 379-Roil 2

Ling Qi was surprised by the sheer, quiet panic in his voice. She had thought she understood the implications,as soone who studied the past and the many tis clans had fallen in the Erald Seas, the Chu only being the most recent.

Jin Tae fell silent, and it was Cao Chun who spoke. "We have, thanks to Baroness Ling, a Na, and more than one after my own investigations. Would you know the Na of a hidden elder of your clan, if it were presented to you?"

ng Dan looked pained. "I am too young to receive such knowledge."

"Then…"

"But my grandmother is not. I have a way to contact her, imdiately and in real ti, for a dire problem."

Cao Chun shook his head. "And we are to trust that she is not in contact with the perpetrator?"

"ng Diu would not be involved in this," Ling Qi stated.

Perhaps… Perhaps that was only a mask. What the woman wanted her to see, she would, given the differences in their cultivation. But ng Diu’s actions since their first collaboration spoke otherwise.

"Inspector Cao,” Ling Qi continued, “if we are correct, is it not worth seeing this matter shut down at the root? It is even possible, given his abilities, that the perpetrator is still physically in ng lands."

Cao Chun looked at her hard, a small tic in his cheek.

"If this is allowed to burst into public view unimpeded, it will tear the province apart. We may disagree on much about this summit, but this is beyond that. Please, inspector."

"I will allow it," he said grudgingly.

Jin Tae's eyebrows flew up.

"It will be done right here under my supervision. Does this thod allow multiple speakers?"

"If we are close. It does not last long," ng Dan said.

He didn’t hesitate any further. There was a flash as the item appeared from within his ring. It was a small, smooth stone like any other that could be found on a riverbed. Ling Qi could neither see nor sense no formations on it.

He spoke, and the words were half-foreign to her ears. They sounded like ancient and archaic imperial and a little bit of hill tribe, but with elents foreign to both. The aning still ca to her clear enough, even without the sounds making sense. The Rains Arrive.

Cao Chun squinted at ng Dan, and Jin Tae frowned as the ng scion continued to speak in that odd archaic tongue.

“Grandmother, there may be a traitor dragging us into the duchess’ light. Uncle is compromised, even if the source is another. The ministry knows. They have a Na.”

She understood but kept her peace until she felt a trickle of the old woman's qi through the stone, like a single eye opening, peering down a long tunnel.

"And you believe him?" she asked, dry and creaking, sounding older than Ling Qi had ever heard her.

Cao Chun spoke, his qi pushing to the fore, ripples of tallic light gleaming on his skin. He spoke what could only be the words pried from the second parasite.

Preservation. Wholeness. Purity. Keeper Against Defilent.

There was a beat of silence.

"I believe Lady Ling, who found the first Na." ng Dan bowed his head to the stone in his hand.

The sensation of the eye fell on her.

Ling Qi inhaled, and when she spoke, what ca out of her mouth was not rely sound, but a full recreation of what she had felt hating her from the other side of a dream parasite's eyes.

Still Waters Deeping. Archivist of the Reviled.

There was another beat of silence.

In that old and unintelligible tongue, ng Diu swore.

The obscenity echoed in the tiny office room.

ng Dan's face had gone white with alarm.

"You recognize the na then,” Cao Chun said clinically. “You understand the gravity."

"I do. These were nas I expected to hear only at final funerary ceremonies," ng Diu said. Her voice was unruffled again, no sign of alarm or outburst. "You are correct. The na is known to . Its owner should be preparing themselves for the end of this cycle. There is no reason such a na should be known by one like the baroness."

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Cao Chun snorted irritably, but didn't comnt on his exclusion. The Ministry of Integrity might have other thods of acquiring a ng elder’s na. She was fortunate that ng Diu knew her and could read the truth in her voice, even from so far away.

"I see," Cao Chun said. "It is always a misfortune when an honored elder slips upon the threshold of life and death from a rotting soul."

"It is indeed," ng Diu replied warily. "ng Delun's preparations should have been too far along for such distant operations."

"Is it possible that his stores of talismans have simply been put to use by so lesser saboteur?" ng Dan asked. "If I recall, Elder Delun's domain is the restricted archives and storehouses. Could so number of his lieutenants and apprentices be making a play?"

"It is possible," ng Diu said shortly. "Although…"

"At the very least, it is soone who can credibly mimic his power," Ling Qi said. She had felt that presence, and Shu Yue had nearly caught them. A cultivator who could spin off a fourth realm simulacrum was not weak, but it would be better than facing a sovereign.

ng Dan looked pained. Finally, ng Diu spoke up. "The ng have long practiced certain cultivation thods which allow the borrowing and linking of powers… just as the Hui did. We do not discuss this."

"As the foreigners claim to do as well. Perhaps there is more than historical curiosity to this connection that was unearthed," Cao Chun muttered. "This thod, it is orthodox?"

"Neither the second dynasty, nor the founders of the current one, barred the thods," ng Diu replied tightly.

"And it has not been reviewed since, I would assu," Cao Chun said tiredly. For a mont, he looked far older and lined himself as if he were shrinking into his own body. "Well, clan business. It is possible then for it to be lesser collaborators, but they will wield a sovereign's power regardless."

Ling Qi could not help but uncomfortably recall her own sojourn into the Erald Seas’ nightmare where she had briefly worn the mantle of an old and forgotten sovereign whom Huisheng was an echo and shadow of. With her, it had been an ad hoc and desperate gamble that had lasted but bare monts, and even then, the mantle could have only existed in the deep liminal. Doing so had damaged her cultivation and could have done so much worse. But the very fact that she could do that proved such techniques were possible.

"There are thods of disruption, and it must be anchored in a place of power," ng Diu said. "Inspector, that is your knowledge. ng Delun's charge as an elder is the guarding and preservation of forbidden secrets and the developnt of defenses against them. In the old days, he was among those who guarded the clan’s minds from the Hui and the perilous foreign influences that they loved. His concealnt arts are without compare in his realm, and his understanding of the twisting ntal arts are deep and steeped with personal experience. He is not a warrior in the truest sense, but he is, at his core, a defender, even if his vision on what requires defense has beco twisted and broken. This talisman will run its course shortly. I will have matters arranged here to investigate the truth of this supposition and to ensure that no support from an apprentice, site, or formation cos from here… and I will have to prepare for a cleaning. Good fortune to you."

"Good fortune to you," Cao Chun replied tersely. "Knowing his mortal na is enough boon. From there, compiling information is easier."

"You will see that my grandson is not caught up in this," ng Diu demanded.

"Grandmother,” ng Dan protested, “I am already caught. I will assist the ministry and Miss Ling as I can."

"... Very well."

And with that, the connection cut.

"We have much work to do," Cao Chun said. "Jin Tae will arrange the ssage to the White Sky. Baroness, do you believe you can convince them to at least speak of delays and deflect over the reasons rather than cutting the eting off entirely?"

"I do not see why they could not be so reasonable."

Cao Chun grunted. "Then we will have a little more ti. Jin Tae, go to the formation room. The baroness will be along to dictate in a mont."

Jin Tae bowed. "Understood, inspector. Baroness, I assu you will be able to detect my qi?"

"Assuming the wards allow it."

Jin Tae straightened up. "I shall leave the door open." He took his leave.

Ling Qi glanced at Cao Chun after the door clicked shut behind his apprentice. "Inspector, what did you want to bring up that you do not wish Jin Tae to hear?"

"I would like to know the disposition of the duchess' pet demon," Cao Chun said bluntly. "I know it was assigned to the protection of the heiress… and you."

Ling Qi kept her expression neutral, for all that she wanted to scowl at the man for those words.

"Do not deny. I am not stupid. While I am certain your own arts were pivotal, you would not have accomplished what you did without so backing to prevent reprisals through the parasites. I do not approve of such a being, but it is under control for now. That is more than can be said of this rogue."

"Is that the opinion of the ministry?" Ling Qi asked warily.

"It is my opinion, and if my superiors did not wish for it, they should have left

my retirent. I cannot plan properly without knowing the disposition of the pieces on the board."

"Shu Yue nearly caught them the first ti, when they thought to strike at . Instead, they caught and destroyed a fourth realm simulacrum." Ling Qi paused, considering, before anding, "Or what they believed to be one. I am only in occasional contact to preserve their own anonymity and freedom of action."

ng Dan raised an eyebrow at her. "Then there is another peer already on the hunt?"

"There is. They have mostly been waiting for the target to overextend themselves."

"Not a bad plan, and it confirms my own thoughts. The target has been growing more careful and cagey, but they are not withdrawing. Either their Way will not allow it or they feel they are already caught."

"Do you think they intend to go unto death?" Ling Qi asked.

"I do not think they intended so at the beginning. This is why I lend so credence to this mantling notion. A sovereign on the edge of death already… It is possible this technique explains so discrepancies."

"I hope it is so," Ling Qi said. "Will you be willing to communicate with Shu Yue?"

Cao Chun grimaced. "I will. I assu it is not here?"

"If they were, I'm sure they would have spoken."

"Then the security formations are in good order at least," Cao Chun grumbled. "Very well. I will be taking a walk outside in thirty minutes’ ti."

"Understood. I do not wish to delay the ssage, and the general needs to be inford."

"If I may, Miss Ling,” ng Dan said, “I would go with you. I wish to be of what aid I can."

"Of course." She lowered her head. "Goodbye for now, inspector."