78 – She Will Walk Free

“So why did you accost that Qi Refining fellow?” Huiran asked as we followed Xuehai.

“Hmm? Oh, there was just something odd about him.” I tried to reason it out for myself. Looking back, I had gone a little too far even by my standards. But that smell of something delicious had been overwhelming. It was similar to what I felt with Ningguang when I tried sensing desires, only this time it registered through smell, and it reminded me strongly of the red sludge after the incident in the capital of Jin. Was it some kind of compulsion? An addiction? Fuck. Just another confusing problem to add to the list.

“People have secrets. Sometimes it is best not to pry too deeply,” Wendao advised, to my mild surprise. I had expected him to be more gung ho about this sort of thing.

“Unless he is your enemy. In that case, leave no stone unturned,” he added.

Ah. Never mind. I nodded at his words and looked toward Xuehai, who continued leading us.

“Now, why did the City Lord summon us?” I asked, since I had missed their earlier discussion.

“It is best to hear it from the City Lord himself,” Xuehai replied as we turned down the hallway toward his office.

The two guards swiftly allowed us inside. This time the City Lord was not occupied with other work. It was clear he had been expecting us and considered the matter more important than his remaining tasks. The three of us bowed and greeted him.

“That Jiushuang sect disciple, Qianxue, was it?” The City Lord began. “When this tournament concludes, she will walk free.” He went straight to the heart of the issue.

“What? Why?” I asked, incredulous. It seemed like a poor decision overall.

“Was possessing the Liuli not enough to warrant proper punishment?” Wendao asked with a frown. Something about the situation clearly felt off to him as well.

“For various reasons, we cannot allow anyone to know that she stole the Liuli,” the City Lord explained. “Do not worry. I already have countermeasures in place so that she will be unable to speak of it.”

“Why not simply indict her for stealing another object of roughly equal value?” Huiran suggested. “Her connection to the thief should provide sufficient grounds.”

“That is possible, but I would prefer to keep it as a last resort,” the City Lord answered. “I was hoping for another… unorthodox solution.” At that, he glanced toward me.

“I am flattered to be held in such high regard, but this falls outside my expertise,” I said quickly. “I mean, based on my experience with this world judicial system, which is nonexistent, punishing her would require the approval or support of various elders, correct?”

The City Lord sighed and nodded. “That is correct. Which is why I intend to put her on trial after the tournament ends.”

His words startled both Huiran and Wendao, making it clear that such a course of action was far from common. Judging from my own experiences within the Tianhe Sect, the only remaining path was…

“Can we indict her for what she did to Hanmei and Ningguang?” Huiran asked, revealing a rare gap in his usual breadth of knowledge.

“No,” Wendao answered immediately. “The former would make it an internal affair of the Jiǔshuāng Sect. Adding the latter would still limit the matter to a dispute between Jiǔshuāng and our own sect. The Wanli Merchant Guild would have no standing to intervene.”

“Hold on. Let me get this straight first.” I raised a hand to pause the discussion. “The fact that you recovered the Liuli must remain unknown. The fact that another object of comparable value was stolen must also remain unknown. Am I correct in assuming there is another game being played here?”

“I suppose it is safe to say that you are correct, but nothing more,” the City Lord admitted, clearly drawing a line.

The realization quickly dawned on Huiran and Wendao as well.

“Ah. I see. So I was used as a distraction again. Oh well.” I drummed my fingers against my chin while considering possible solutions.

“Even if we did commit to a trial, it will ultimately be a game of sycophancy between the related parties. Something which is very unlikely to happen as the Jiushuang sect would try to make it private matters and would never allow this to be witnessed by other sects.” I concluded on what would realistically happen. 

I looked at Huiran and Wendao. Both nodded, sharing the same assessment. “In that case, I do not believe we can be of much help with this one.”

There’s simply too many factors if we insist on a trial. Especially if we give other witnessing elders a ground to vote for the verdict like juries as there’s bound to be favoritism and personal bias. Then judging that many of the sects present are those that have their disciples killed by me and my party, there’s bound to be plenty of opposition just to get back at me. Then there’s not a universally accepted codex of laws that the sects followed. It would be a bad day if the first proper trial within this world were to be mired with biases and personal vendettas. Do swearing oaths matter? Then again, even if it did, I doubt any Golden Core elders would want to swear an oath for matters from other sects and for Foundation Establishment level of matter. Unless we cherry picked elders that were known by their character to be just and righteous while also not from sects that would have biases, which also practically null since I am involved with me being a Xuan and so on.

Still, for the sake of clarity, I laid out all of these concerns to everyone present.

“Hmmm.” Xuehai hummed thoughtfully as he committed the points to memory. “It seems Young Master Xuan comes from a world with a much stronger emphasis on formal law. Implementing something similar here would be beneficial in theory, but the opposition would be fierce.”

“Of course it would. Enclaves like the sects will not freely relinquish their privileges,” I noted the problem with enclaves. “For matters like this, a distraction like me would not suffice. Unless you relinquish the subject matter to a higher authority. Which I assume is also not an option.”

“Very well.” The City Lord exhaled. “The tournament will end in three days. If we cannot find a solution in the meantime, we will have no choice but to let her go.” He framed the statement as a clear warning.

Qianxue had already shown herself willing to kill both her fellow disciples and those of other sects. It was obvious she could be highly vindictive. The three of us bowed and left the room.

—

“Did you get everything he said?” City Lord Baosheng asked Xuehai, who had already begun writing down the points the Xuan had raised.

“Of course.”

The two fell into a pensive silence after the short discussion. It was not only because of the points themselves, but because those same points had been raised before. More than one thousand and five hundred years ago, a formal and just trial of the kind the Xuan had described had actually taken place. Xia was still only a burgeoning and expanding kingdom then, long before unification and the Golden Age.

Demonic sects still existed in those days. The case had been brought jointly by the King of Xia at the time and the then Rúlái (如来|Thus Come One, essentially one of the standard honorific titles for a Buddha) of the Lingshan Temple against the Heavenly Demon Sect and the Demonic Path as a whole. The judge? Xuan Juéchén (絕辰|Absolute Star), adoptive grandfather of Xuan Danxing. Contrary to what Danxing had assumed, the trial had not descended into sycophancy. It had been conducted with complete seriousness, for its outcome would determine which side Xuan Juéchén supported in what later became known as the Demonic Extermination War. That war resulted in the annihilation of the Heavenly Demon Sect along with dozens of other demonic sects, until the Demonic Path itself was relegated to past tense within this world.

Baosheng sighed. After the war, the trial procedures and the necessary laws had never been formally codified by the then Empire of Xia. The very points the Xuan had just raised were presented not once, but twice to the ruling emperor of that era. First by the Rulai of Lingshan Temple before he ascended to an Earth-grade realm in pursuit of further enlightenment, and later by the emperor’s own officials. The emperor of the time had decided that unifying the sects under the empire’s banner was more important than establishing formal law. Progress on that unification had been smooth, carried forward by the glory and momentum of eradicating the Demonic Path. Codifying trials and law would have introduced hesitation and opposition from sects not yet under imperial authority, while potentially galvanizing resistance among those already within it. In short, the ruling emperor had chosen the easier path.

“Now, write me a letter,” Baosheng said to Xuehai.

Xuehai immediately pulled out another sheet of paper. “To whom?”

“The Emperor.”

Baosheng’s casual answer visibly startled Xuehai. Such a move was neither subtle nor particularly safe for their current work.

“Write the following…”

—

“What is the more likely outcome if Qianxue is released?” I asked Huiran and Wendao as we made our way back toward the dining hall. “For us personally,” I added.

“She will try to kill us. That much is certain,” Huiran answered. “But not immediately. She has lost an arm and will not target us right away. If Elder Guyue is present at the Jiǔshuāng Sect while Ningguang undergoes closed-door cultivation, then Ningguang should also be safe for a time. The moment Qianxue is able, however, she will cause trouble and she will almost certainly seek help from her master and others.”

“We should make sure we are prepared once we receive what we want from the City Lord, after this tournament is over,” Wendao added.

I had little idea what form of realistic retaliation Qianxue could still manage, so I was inclined to agree with Wendao. Assuming none of us took spirit stones as payment, each of us would still receive two cultivation or technical manuals, not to mention the special exception the City Lord had promised.

“Oh, and Danxing,” Huiran said, turning to me. “What did you mean earlier when you said you were being used as a distraction again?”

My steps paused for half a beat before continuing. Fuck. I had slipped.

“It was a slip of the tongue. You didn’t hear that.”

Huiran and Wendao exchanged a glance, then simply shrugged.

“Moving on, I would still need to work for the standard combat tournament. Apparently I will need to give pointers, commentary, and so on. Anything I should know beforehand?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. We will advise you as it happens,” Huiran grinned. “We are your ‘advisors,’ after all.”

“So I don’t need to read anything extra?” I confirmed. “I just need to parrot your points?”

“We can go that route if you prefer,” Wendao offered.

“I think I’m fine with parroting both of you for now.” I declined quickly. After reading through all those array books and grading every participant, the mere thought of more reading made me feel ill.

“Whatever you say, Young Master,” Huiran joked as we returned to the dining hall.

The place had been completely transformed into a series of makeshift workshops. Examiners were scrutinizing the coffee-bean roaster, the grinder, and every other utensil I had used. Spiritual products of various kinds were scattered haphazardly across tables as they attempted to create a spiritual equivalent of coffee. One examiner drank a dubious-looking concoction, immediately vomited it back up, and then began commenting on its elemental Qi composition. Elsewhere, the sharp clanging of metal rang out as someone operated a large makeshift grinder, not for beans this time, but for spiritual bamboo or sugarcane in an effort to produce refined sugar.

“We can just order food and take it back to our rooms, ye?”

“Yes.”

~ Valarion