Chapter 125: Almost Everything She Wanted

Paike saw no reason to wait to implement Shengyue's suggestion. He narrowed his eyes and focused. Under Lin Yue's supervision, Taka and Shengbai cleaned up the remains of the group of cultivators that Paike had knocked down in the tunnel.

He only paid enough attention to know that he wasn't in any danger. Even then, Shengyue stayed by his side and watched the area around him. He had only known her for less than a full day, but still it felt like he could trust her to watch his back. One thing he also appreciated was that she didn't even question what he was doing. Instead, she either seemed to understand or just trusted that he was doing something and needed a moment.

It didn't take him long to work out the needed changes to the qi working. He made a few tweaks on top of all the modifications he had already made to improve its speed and strength. This was just a simple change in how the shape was defined in the working.

Taka and Shengbai weren't even finished when he looked up.

"Make a path," he called, a smaller disk spinning in his hand. He turned the disk diagonally and then let it go once the tunnel was clear. He watched as the blade flung down the exit from the mountain. The tunnel was not only cleared, but his aim was ever so slightly off.

It wasn't like he had spent much time learning how to fling spinning disks. They weren't a practical weapon for the normal cultivator. With the kind of arts he had expected to learn, there was no need.

Luckily it wasn't too hard. For the most part, he just needed them to go in that general direction. He mostly used them to gain space and force opponents back. It was much easier to hit something a few paces away rather than what looked like an entire league.

The blade carved into the top of the tunnel, and rocks began to fall. He watched and winced as the thundering crash of the tunnel collapsing echoed throughout the mountains. Hopefully there wouldn't be anything important in that tunnel specifically. Because they didn't have the time to dig it out.

"Well, that is certainly one way to handle anyone trying to escape!"

The voice behind them made everyone spin around, hands preparing for a fight. However, Paike relaxed when he saw it was only Father. He wore the smirk he did whenever he was feeling particularly self-satisfied with whatever joke he was playing.

"Aren't you supposed to be in there?" Paike asked, still a bit on edge from the start. He could practically feel the fading tension slowly easing off Shengyue next to him. It was just that he would speak to Father like that as his child. No one else would dare to.

Father just waved him off. "Nah, I finished some time ago. I just wanted to see how you were all handling it."

Paike felt the need to spit again, as if he hadn't been able to get all the blood out of his mouth despite Shengyue lending him water. He pushed that down and ignored it.

"Things went well, Lo-- Mister Kong," Lin Yue said with a bow. "None escaped."

"Well done," Father said as he scanned each of them, his gaze landing on Paike. "I see your robes were the only casualty. Didn't bring any spares?"

Paike grimaced. "I did not."

"Well, watch carefully." Father reached out. Instead of using the standard trick and pushing qi out to force dirt away from oneself. Father knew that didn't work with Paike.

Father's qi moved so slowly that it was almost hard to follow what was going on because Paike was marveling at the control it demonstrated for him to slow it down so much for Paike to be able to see. He watched as the qi left the soul and knotted in a pattern he liked to think he could understand with enough time and some paper. Still, he committed it to memory as instructed.

The qi formed a ball in Father's hand, and he waved it over Paike's robes. The blood jumped off them, like iron filings to a lodestone. It took three passes, and the ball had grown to just a bit smaller than his head as the blood formed a sphere around the central point.

Father moved it away from him, over toward the hole that Paike made, and released it in a sickening splash.

"Interesting," Paike couldn't help but comment even as he forced himself not to retreat into his mind to dissect the fascinating qi working. He knew he could do something like that with the right kind of meridian. But like Father, he wouldn't need an art.

Even though Father just showed four other cultivators, it was useless for all of them. Besides Guan Li, how many others in the entire empire would be able to do the same? Pride welled up in his chest, but he didn't let it overtake him.

"Well, come on, I still have to get the others," Father said as he motioned for them all to follow. No one questioned why they weren't just flying, even if they were all thinking it. Instead, they just fell into line behind him.

Shengyue walked beside him, her eyes fixed on Father's back. Paike could practically feel her mind working on something. Her brow was slightly furrowed in concentration.

He just let her think as he had plenty on his own mind. However, her silence didn't last long.

"You were already going to do this."

When she saw that he didn't follow, she elaborated. "You had already planned to remove the demonic cultivators, didn't you?"

It was an accusation, plain and clear, but there wasn't a bite to her tone; it was just a statement of fact. "That was probably why you even came to Hidden Peak Sect. He wanted information from grandfather, didn't he?"

"Yes," Paike said with a nod. He felt no need to deny it.

"Then what was the bargain for?" Shengyue looked up at him, and he couldn't understand her expression, other than that it was a complicated one.

"I thought I could get something from you, something you seemed willing to give if you got what you wanted."

"You had your father take me as his ward because you just felt like it?" She asked, incredulous.

That wasn't the full story. He thought it would help his family, and it would get him out of the awkward situation where she was trying to negotiate a marriage. But it was true enough that he didn't see the point in correcting her.

"I did," Paike confirmed. He didn't feel in real trouble, but he knew better than to let someone in a situation like this get going. They could work themselves up and say something they would regret. So he asked a simple question. "Are you upset with the outcome?"

Shengyue opened her mouth, the first touch of heat in her expression. However, she seemed to catch herself, and she paused to think.

"I suppose it isn't that different from the first deal I offered you." She said, defeated. "I got almost everything I wanted."

"You even got the name in the end." Paike teased.

"A borrowed name," she shot back.

"Father doesn't give borrowed names. If you have the Kong name from him, you are a Kong." He assured her. It sounded like she wanted more from the marriage. Maybe it was the security. Being a ward was still less secure than being his wife, but it had a lot of upside for her as well. If she was concerned they would kick her out, and she would have to leave for no reason that wasn't a concern she needed to have.

That didn't have the intended effect, as she seemed no less tense.

"Then you need to call me Yue," She said out of nowhere. It was something she had asked before, but now it seemed that she had a new argument. That something he had done meant he needed to use that familiar name now.

Paike didn't see how that tracked. What about him doing her a favor and helping her out meant that he needed to change what he called her? He was already using her first name like he would with any of his siblings. For a ward of his father, that was already familiar.

"Yes, but until last night that was my full name," She argued when he voiced his confusion.

He supposed he could understand why that felt odd.

"Very well, Yue." The name felt strange on his tongue; it was probably because Mother and Father liked giving two character names to their children. It wasn't the typical custom, but he was used to it more. He didn't think he had even been close enough to use personal names with anyone with a single character before. He still used Guan Li's full name. He might consider changing that, though.

She smiled up at him. "Thank you, Paike."