Chapter 291: Five Hundred Thousand

The room above the chandler’s had one window, one lamp, and a door that locked, which made it the best room Xuan had stood in since the palace.

He waited until the building went quiet. Hao was out somewhere buying goodwill, Lian had commandeered the back room for her cases, and Tianming had gone to sleep at an hour that suggested a boy who’d walked eleven miles of terraces on legs that had never seen a city.

Xuan dropped onto the edge of the bed and rubbed both hands over his face.

’All right. You’ve been sitting on something since the pier. You’ve done that thing where you suddenly get polite.’

[ I do not suddenly get polite. ]

’You said "that’s interesting" about a fish.’

[ It was interesting. ]

He waited until Mira gave in.

[ Fine. Yeah. Something came through when we docked. I’ve been staring at it since then because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t reading it wrong. ]

’And?’

[ I’m not. ]

The panel opened in front of him.

[ QUEST — Locate the Man in the White Robe ]

[ Name: —— ]

[ Reward: 500,000 Origin Points ]

Xuan read it once.

Then again.

Then a third time, slower.

He stood, crossed to the window, and read it from there as if four steps and a different angle might turn the number into something less ridiculous.

’Five hundred thousand.’

[ Yep. ]

’Mira, restoring Skyedge paid two hundred and fifty.’

[ I know. ]

’That was everything. The mines, the alliances, the war, the throne. Years of work, and the system put all of it at two hundred and fifty thousand.’

[ And this is double. Yeah. I’ve done the math too. Several times, actually. It keeps being horrible. ]

Xuan went back to the bed, leaned forward, and rested his elbows on his knees.

’So it’s not paying for effort.’

[ Go on. ]

’That’s the mistake. Nine years rebuilding a sect should be harder than finding one guy, but that’s clearly not how the system prices things.’

[ Nope. ]

’It’s not a wage.’

[ Exactly. ]

Xuan looked up at the glowing panel.

’It’s a price tag.’

Mira went quiet.

’It’s telling me what the objective is worth, not how annoying it’s going to be. Which means this one man is worth twice everything Skyedge took to restore.’

[ Took you ninety seconds. Took me most of the afternoon. Annoying, honestly. ]

’You recover quickly.’

[ I have a strong personality. ]

Xuan rubbed a thumb along his jaw and kept looking at the number.

’There’s another read.’

[ Yeah. I know. Say it. ]

’Maybe the number isn’t only about what he’s worth. Maybe it’s about what it takes to get to him.’

Mira did not answer immediately.

’Maybe the system looked at the actual difficulty, priced the road from here to a room with that man, and came back with half a million.’

[ That’s the part I really don’t like. ]

’So I’m wrong?’

[ No. That’s why I don’t like it. ] Her voice flattened. [ I don’t think it’s one or the other, Xuan. I think it’s both. He’s worth that much, and reaching him costs that much. Those are two separate problems sitting under the same number. ]

’Great.’

[ Yeah. Love that for us. ]

He got up again and paced the four steps the room allowed.

’Okay. Next problem.’

He stopped in front of the panel and pointed at the blank field.

’That.’

Where the man’s name should have been was a dash. Not hidden text. Just empty space.

[ Yeah. That’s what I’ve actually been chewing on. ]

’There’s no name.’

[ No sect. No family. No region. The quest identifies him by the clothes he happened to be wearing years ago. ]

’Because that’s all we’ve got.’

[ More importantly, it might be all anyone has. ]

Xuan’s expression tightened.

Mira continued.

[ Quests normally know things. Names, places, ranks, bloodlines. This one says "the man in the white robe." That’s it. ]

’You think the system doesn’t know his name.’

[ I think either it doesn’t know, or it can’t tell me. And honestly? I’m not sure which option I hate more. ]

Xuan looked at the dash again.

[ He’s worth half a million points and apparently doesn’t have a name the system is willing to print. Those two facts next to each other bother me more than the reward does. ]

’Trust me, they’re doing a good job bothering me too.’

He pushed the shutter wider. Noise climbed from below: crates on stone, bad singing, a dog objecting to it.

’All right. What do we actually know? Everything. Just run it.’

[ White robe. Red trim. White hair to the shoulders. Red eyes. Straight sword. Never touched the hilt. ]

’Keep going.’

[ Western tribune at Yuncheng. Early rounds. Sat through the morning. Then you planted the first star. ]

’And he stood up.’

[ Immediately. Said "what a madman" to nobody in particular, stayed standing, watched you, and left afterward. ]

’Route?’

[ Second ring, south road. Iron-grey horse. Wineskin. No escort. Almost no luggage. ]

Mira paused.

[ And that’s it. That’s my complete file on the most expensive man either of us has ever met. ]

’He rode south.’

[ Yes. ]

’And now we’re south.’

[ On a continent the size of your empire plus enough extra land to be irritating. Don’t start celebrating. ]

’I’m not celebrating. I’m narrowing.’

[ You have narrowed "the world" to "an entire continent." Stunning work. ]

’Thank you.’

[ You’re welcome. ]

Xuan almost smiled.

’Practical question. Half a million points. What does that buy me?’

Mira brightened slightly. Numbers did that to her.

[ Tier Three, basically top to bottom. Techniques, pills, formation tools, protection. Enough to patch every hole in your setup twice. ]

’Weapon?’

[ Whatever Marrow Dragon needs to stop being a Foundation-grade problem in the hands of a Golden Core cultivator, with plenty left afterward. ]

’So a lot.’

[ Xuan, it’s disgusting money. If you spent it intelligently—which is asking a lot— ]

’Hey.’

[ —you’d end up standing somewhere no cultivator your age has any business reaching yet. Fast. ]

’And I’m still not going after him for the points.’

[ I know. ]

’Good.’

He faced the panel again.

’That number isn’t tempting me. It’s warning me.’

Mira said nothing.

’Nobody here is going to tell us what he is. Maybe nobody can. So the system gave us the closest thing it has to a label.’ Xuan tapped the blank name field. ’Half a million isn’t what he’s worth to me. It’s how heavy he is.’

[ Yeah. ] Mira’s answer came quieter. [ That’s pretty much where I landed too. ]

’You could’ve just said that at the pier.’

[ Absolutely not. I would’ve made it sound way more ominous and ruined your afternoon. ]

’You’re admitting that?’

[ I know myself. ]

Xuan dismissed the panel. The room became ordinary again: one rented bed, one bad lamp, one open shutter.

’So we’re back where we were last night.’

[ Pretty much. ]

’We don’t hunt him.’

[ Nope. ]

’We make enough noise that he comes to us.’

[ That’s the idea. ]

Xuan folded his arms.

’And your first suggestion is still the poison sect.’

[ Of course. It’s the loudest locked door on this coast. Nobody gets in, and everybody knows it. ]

’So we get in.’

[ Yep. ]

’Lian gets what she needs for Yun Ji.’

[ Hopefully. ]

’We find out who bought the poison.’

[ Hopefully. ]

’And if we crack open a place nobody can crack open, people talk.’

[ Now you’re following. Three problems, one terrible plan. Efficient. Very you. ]

’You liked it yesterday.’

[ I like it now. I just want it officially recorded that I called it terrible before you turn half the southern coast upside down. ]

’Planning your defense already?’

[ Always. When this goes wrong, I want to be able to say "I told you so" with evidence. ]

Xuan snorted and pinched out the lamp.

Darkness settled over the room. He stayed by the window, watching the lights run down to the harbor. One thought kept circling back.

’He stood up because of one star.’

[ Yeah. ]

’That’s it. I was half-dead, at a provincial tournament nobody important should’ve cared about. I put one star in the air and a man worth half a million points stood up to see it better.’

[ And left afterward. Never came back. ]

Xuan rested one shoulder against the frame.

’So what did he see?’

For once, Mira had no quick answer.

[ I’ve had months to think about that. ]

’And?’

[ Nothing good enough to trust. ]

’Try anyway.’

Mira hesitated.

[ Best guess? He recognized that what you did wasn’t normal cultivation. Maybe not exactly what it was, but enough to know it shouldn’t have happened. You were barely Qi Refining, Xuan. Everyone else saw a talented kid doing something impressive. He looked at you like he’d just seen something familiar. ]

Xuan’s fingers tapped once against the window frame.

’You never mentioned familiar.’

[ Because I can’t prove it. Don’t build a theory out of my bad feeling. ]

’Your bad feelings have an irritating success rate.’

[ Yeah, well, I’d love to be wrong more often. Sounds relaxing. ]

The harbor lights moved on black water below.

[ Which might actually be the useful part, Xuan. ]

’How?’

[ Because I knew your physique. I knew your system. I knew what that star meant to you. ]

A pause.

[ And somehow, he looked at it once and knew there was something worth standing up for too. ]