Chapter 114: The Emperor’s Eyes

As the door shaped like a boulder closed behind them, the tunnel was illuminated by a series of qi lights along the ceiling.

Tunnel was the wrong word to call it. Rather, a hallway with fine decor carved into the rocks. Apparently, the outside appearance of this place was camouflage rather than representative of how they lived.

"How has the Mysterious Mountain Sect been doing these last few centuries?" Father asked.

Paike had to stop any expression from showing on his face. It was a rather on-the-nose name. Who would call themselves that?

Sheng Gou heaved a deep sigh. "Mister Kong, I will never understand your humor. You know that is not our name. The Hidden Summit Sect has been surviving. With a community as small as ours, it is hard to do more when we have few reliable trading partners around us."

"I understand that things have gotten worse in the neighborhood recently," Father commented.

"It has been a while since the last imperial purge of demonic cultivators in this region, and they are starting to mass outside of the boundaries."

That news made Paike's hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Actual demonic cultivators? That wasn't something that was supposed to exist. For the most part, any cultivator who tried demonic things died fast and hard. It was just too hard to control. And if any did survive, the empire would surely stamp them out.

"The empire has its attention elsewhere. There are many things calling on its time." Father commented lightly. Paike could tell that he wasn't happy about it.

"You would think that a mass of enemies like this on its borders would be a larger concern than... Whatever has the bureaucracy's attention."

"You would think so," Father said in a flat tone. "The emperor can only see so much, and if his eyes are all focused on each other, things are missed."

Paike looked back to see the reactions to this treasonous talk, openly disparaging the emperor in front of outsiders. All but Taka looked just as floored.

"Are you here to fix this?" Sheng Gou asked directly.

Paike wasn't so sure that the barbarian should be so eager to have the empire clean the barbarian threats on the border. They would undoubtedly be caught up in the purge, demonic or not. They had been banished for a reason, and they were still nearby. That wouldn't go over well.

"In a way," Father said. "The emperor asked me to get a feel for things while I was out this way. I think he had some idea that things have built up, but we need to learn more."

Father casually dropping that he had been personally tasked by the emperor was a revelation that jolted the group out of their amazement, and Paike could hear them shifting behind him.

"Well, you have come to the right place. How was your journey? I'm sure you would like to freshen up and rest a bit." Sheng Gou offered hospitably.

It would have been incredibly rude for Father to decline, even though there was no way any of them actually needed rest. Paike understood that much. The rest wasn't for them to recover from their trip, but rather for the sect to prepare a proper welcome. Clearly, this was important to them. With Father being who he was and apparently on a personal mission for the emperor, treating it like a state visit would be stupidity incarnate.

"Of course we would welcome the chance to freshen up," Father said. "And if you would spare some time to talk, that would be greatly appreciated."

"We will have a feast, and then after we can talk business. How could I welcome our oldest friend with anything less than our best?" Sheng Goun said with a smile.

After that, they were led to a complex of bathing and sitting rooms.

***

Paike sat in the hot water, slowly feeling the stress leave his muscles. The water was coming from the rocks, heated as if from a natural spring, but that likely wasn't the case.

This sect had done a very good job of creating an atmosphere that helped relieve the stress his body had endured during his advancements.

The welcome had been so interesting and unexpected that it had distracted him, but the ache was still there. At least he had answered one of his questions. Even if one was completely ready and not even rushing, pushing for advancements too soon certainly took a toll. Even after napping on the way here, Paike was worn out.

He wanted to test his new strength, but for now he was content. It all could wait a bit. He could eat dinner and leave the talking to Father. While he was taking care of getting the information, Paike could sleep more. Then he could find some time to try things out.

The water rippled as someone joined him in the artificial hot spring.

"They certainly got the balance of herbs right in here; it feels almost as good as home." Father's voice broke the silence.

Paike cracked an eye, but didn't bother to sit up. He had been around Father enough recently that the ways of interacting with him and how he liked to be treated were coming back. After some time away, the sheer power and social norms overwhelmed everyone a bit, and it took time to adjust again.

"Don't let Mother hear you say that," Paike commented before closing his eye again. Father let out a low chuckle, and they soaked in silence for a little while.

"You have been advancing well. I thought I had understood after talking to you in the sect, but you showed me I didn't on the way here." Father said eventually. The normal teasing was gone from his tone, replaced by an emotion Paike couldn't identify; it wasn't quite respect or an apology.

"I told you that I had skipped a stage in Ruby, right?" Paike knew he had, but now he wasn't sure if Father believed him or not.

"You did, but that is very different than what you did on the way here. It has to do with the nature of Ruby. If you had enough qi, there wasn't anything stopping you from moving on in theory; some people have mental blocks or various issues. You could apply more force because of your circumstances, so it was believable. Impressive, but believable."

"On the way, it seemed like you were encouraging me. Why?" Paike was pretty sure he hadn't misread that.

"Besides that it was funny to watch you scare the pants off the others? It was hard to miss the energy you were giving off, and I really wanted you to succeed, of course," Father said. "I gave you about a five percent chance of actually managing it, though, after you plateaued on your expenditure. You had found the right form, but you might have needed a while to gather the power and technique to make it happen. Most people need to practice the sequence over and over for a long while before they can manage it."

"Why?" Paike asked and realized it wasn't clear. "I don't understand how that would help. If they can form the pattern, then they can generate the energy needed to advance; doing it over and over again seems like a waste of time if the energy doesn't stick around. Unless there is some other benefit? I thought I felt some get absorbed into my soul each time, but it was an absolutely minuscule amount, so I didn't think it would be worth waiting for."

Father splashed a little as he started to laugh. Paike looked over to see what was going on, and Father had thrown his head back and was belly laughing openly.

"If your Mother could hear you say that. You truly are my son."

It felt good to hear, but Paike didn't understand. Father eventually got himself under enough control to explain.

"You see, it takes most a long while to form whatever pattern they need. That is personal, so it varies, but most can't run through them fast enough to trigger the advancement without a lot of practice."

"Oh, well, I didn't trigger them fast enough. I just cheated," Paike said. "I--"

"You did them in parallel." Father finished for him. "I know that's what I did as well. But it's not that no one else thinks of that; most aren't able to have that much control over their qi all at once."

He didn't understand. That wasn't one of the things that Paike was good at, though? His qi was powerful, and he felt he was pretty clever with some of his theories. More than anything, he was willing to take risks that others wouldn't. That had led to him having many advantages in his physical cultivation and qi work.

Precise control had only been something he hadn't struggled with because of how slow his qi moved. It was pretty easy to ride a slow horse compared to a fast one. right?

Since he had started using internal circulation, his qi control... actually, he wasn't sure. He had just assumed it had gone down, but had he actually noticed a difference? Maybe it was harder to turn once he got it moving, but that wasn't the control, just the momentum. If it was tightly spinning... then?

No, no he hadn't noticed a difference even making the patterns hadn't been any harder with the qi circulating non stop. Logically, it should have been. Was this something he was actually just talented at?

"Oh," Paike said after some time. " I didn't know that. I've been trying this without a manual; it seems to have been working so far, but I guess I miss how others do it."

"Good. Only listen to others when you have no answers for yourself." Father said. "They may help, but they may taint your path. It should only be a refuge of last resort."

"So this last advancement was impressive because I was able to learn the pattern so fast?" Paike said.

"That is what the others think, yes," Father said. "But I know better. You didn't just learn a pattern based on a manual and some insight into yourself; you created it and then did it in parallel without really trying before you recovered from the last advancement earlier in the day. That also shows a level of durability and mental fortitude rarely seen. I'm proud of you, kiddo."

Paike didn't know how to respond, so he settled on something basic. "Thank you."

Then he changed the subject. "So is there anything I need to be prepared for in this welcome feast?"

"I'm sure you'll catch on." The typical teasing tone had returned to Father's voice, and Paike was certain that there was something really annoying and potentially embarrassing in store for him soon.