Tian and Liren finished their meal in silence, eavesdropping on the restaurant but not learning anything of much importance. The tribes were unifying, and taking control of big swaths of the steppes. Rumors, so far unconfirmed, said that isolated villages and towns had been conquered already. Some burned to the ground, with the valuables and people carried away. Others were occupied.
There was a clear division between who was scared of what, Tian noticed. The laborers and common folk were afraid of the villages being destroyed, but the guards and the merchants feared the occupation. A sacked village was normal. Bad, but normal. Permanent occupation meant the tribes didn’t fear the army’s retaliation.
“Where shall we spend the night?” Liren asked. They had gotten used to sending messages through their communication spell, the seeming silence making conversations feel more private. “I don’t think we can stay at a mortal inn, and it sounds like the Radiant Dawn is not a friendly force for our Ancient Crane Monastery. In fact…” Her voice trailed off in a growl.
“The servants.” Tian nodded.
“We must investigate, and if it’s true, avenge them.” Liren’s hands were rigid, Tian noticed, moving through the air in little chops.
“Agreed, but I have a concern. Two concerns.”
“Numbers, equipment, experience, local support,” Liren didn’t sound impressed.
“That’s number one. Number two is the shamans. Do you know anything about them?”
That made Liren pause. “No. I knew the tribes had their own equivalent to cultivators… or not exactly equivalent. Closer to heretics or sorcerers, I guess? But I don’t know more than that. What do your books say about them?”
“Not much. They are religious leaders for their tribes, as well as their doctors. The authors described them kind of like heretics. Bones, blood, taking strange drugs. Lots of ghosts and spirits and demons. That kind of thing.”
They fell back into silence, drifting along the streets. Content to mix in with the crowds, watching the flow of mortal life. There were still shops open. Still grocers selling fruits and vegetables, even if their offerings were limited. Still cloth merchants and tailors, the gems and gold brocades no longer displayed. Jewelers and goldsmiths still had their signs up, though Tian noticed most of them were shuttered and bare. Whether they had been shut down forcibly, went out of business or simply fled the steppes was unclear.
“Funny how “The Martyr Venerable” just slips into daily conversation around here.” Liren peered at a stall offering cheap wooden ornaments. Tian assumed they were cheap, anyway, he could see the chisel marks plain as day. “It went from shocking to normal. Now it’s just part of the city. The Martyr Venerable, who saved the noble girl and sealed the demon.”
“With the loyal assistance of his loyal crane companion, Sister Whitefeather, of course.” Tian nodded at a painted clay cup offered by a potter. A monk with a basket over their head and a staff in their hands was looking up, watching a white crane fly overhead.
“I’m going to pretend that part of the story doesn’t exist.” Liren smiled. “I’m not thinking of any good places to sleep. You?”
“The shrine?”
Liren gave Tian a dirty look, to which he just grinned. “Or one of these sealed up houses. We would have to be a little careful, but hiding from mortal eyes won’t be any challenge.”
“Or we could queue up at the gate, get a pass and sleep in the inn.”
“Or we could do that.” Tian blinked, meeting Liren’s gaze with wide eyes.
“You see an opportunity to not spend money and you are determined to take it.”
“I do, yes. Frugality is one of the supreme virtues. I’m sure someone who needs the hotel room more than us will appreciate it.”
“This is your teacher’s fault. He has inspired a heart of criminality in you.”
“A very responsible one, I promise. We will only rob people with good things that are worth our taking.” Tian pressed his palms together, smiling fit to melt the heart of an angel.
They passed the night in a quiet place. Come morning, they had a plan. “Step one, check whether all the cultivators in the city actually belong to the Radiant Dawn sect. Step two, find out about the shaman. Step three, nail down when Hanshen is coming.” Tian counted out on his fingers, then with obvious relish added “Step four, trade for proper Heavenly food, weapons, armor, anything we can get, and, five, visit the shrine, just to take a look.”
“Is it that fun counting on your fingers?” The corner of Liren’s mouth seemed to be pulled upwards by forces beyond her control.
“It is for me, yes. Let’s go hunting!”
The cultivators did not, in fact, all belong to the Radiant Dawn sect. The highest ranked earthly cultivator was an extremely ordinary level eight, and the best of the rest were no higher than tier seven. Most of the Earthly Realm cultivators were barely worthy of the name, mortals at the faintest extremity of entering the first level of the Earthly Realm, with no hope of progressing further. They walked the streets with thoughtless grace, each breath reserved, their eyes bright and alert. He could see them silently marking each other, forming maps of possible dangers, yet holding themselves as though they were in perfect safety.
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“Grandmasters. They are all Mortal Grandmasters. Or at least they would be considered top experts. There must be more than a dozen of them. Seeing them all gathered in one place… I would find a dozen Heavenly Realm cultivators gathering in one place less surprising.” Liren shook her head in wonder. “Did you see the little ribbon they all have pinned to their chest?”
“Hard to miss. Black hawk on a white field. They are here for a reason. Do you think it’s related to our mission?”
“Hard to say. But I’d bet it has something to do with Hanshen. Everyone seems to be expecting a bloodbath when he arrives, and while he wasn’t at the master level when we saw him, I believe he could be considered an expert.”
Tian sat on a rooftop with Liren. They had been amused to see the mortal masters were treating the roofs like their own private roads, circling around each other like cats defining territory. The mortal masters chose to leave the boy in the head wrap and the woman in the hat and veil alone. There was being casual around experts, and then there was being indifferent to them. You didn’t get to be a master of anything, let alone martial arts, by being dumb.
The situation with the Heavenly Realm cultivators was harder to pin down. Tian and Liren could sense them, but they were being sensed in return. The cultivators weren’t sitting right on top of each other, but the city was only so big. If the four wanted to gather together, it would be a matter of seconds, and not many seconds at that. On the other hand, two heavenly realm cultivators visiting a lone stranger might well become ambushing a lone stranger in considerably less than a second. The ambushers might not escape, but what good did that do the victim?
Tian didn’t see a solution, short of forcing one of them into a corner for observation, which would rather defeat the purpose. Tian crouched on the edge of the roof, drawing circles on the dusty tiles with his finger. Around and around and around. Liren laughed, breaking his cycle.
“We are overthinking this.” She tapped the side of her head. “We can use the messaging spell. They probably are wondering why we haven’t already.”
“No, they aren’t, they think we are being properly paranoid. You talk to ‘em.” Tian waved his hand at Liren, who countered by looking down her nose at him, then dramatically looking away. She looked out across the rooftops, in the direction of a heavenly cultivator who was by themselves. Her eyes tightened slightly, as she strained to include Tian in the message.
“Greetings, fellow Daoist. This one is surnamed Hong. My companion and I are wandering cultivators, visiting the city. Would it be convenient to speak?”
“So it is Daoist Hong! This one is called Redspear, and I am a guest elder at the Radiant Dawn chapterhouse. We can speak like this, or if you prefer, we could meet for a cup of tea. I have a table reserved at the Graceful Aroma Teahouse.”
“This would suit us fine for now, though your offer is very kind. Might I ask, are all the Heavenly Realm cultivators in the city members of your Radiant Dawn Sect?”
“Alas, no. It is just myself and Daoist Stonesplitter. Daoist Sweetdove is a member of the Myriad Waters sect, and Daoist Liu is… unaffiliated.”
The pause was distinct enough for Tian and Liren to share a look and a nod. “We ran into three individuals some way outside the city, and one of them ran off before we could conclude our debate on the nature of the Dao. Would Daoist Liu happen to be affiliated with them, by any chance?”
“I really couldn’t say. It would certainly be possible, but he seems the sort to have few friends.”
Tian nodded slightly and mouthed “Set up.” at Liren, who nodded back.
“Good to know, thank you Daoist Redspear. I hear the situation down south is muddied to the point of being impenetrable, and the situation on the steppes is getting too clear. Could you perhaps shed some light on these matters? It would be much appreciated.”
“Nothing to explain. The salt trade still exists, but it’s a bare fraction of what it was, and prices are highly irregular. Tribes that had grown strong off it suddenly are without money or weapons, but long on enemies. While everyone fights to control the Gorge and its endless wealth, the steppe tribes are resolving their differences.”
“Bloodily.”
“Frequently, but not so much as you might imagine.” Daoist Redspear chuckled. It was not a pleasant sound. “You may have heard about a Clan Leader Wuusan of the Boruski? He’s brought twelve major clans under his banner, and innumerable smaller family bands. A famed war leader. But you want to know the worrying part?”
“Please, speak on, Fellow Daoist!” Liren nodded at the empty air.
“He’s mediocre. As a general, I mean. Some of his army leaders are quite exceptional, and the quality of his warriors is top notch, but he, himself, is middling. Nor is he a particularly capable warrior. Not a bad one, but not great.”
“So why is he so feared?”
“Because he is very, very good at turning former enemies into friends, and those friends, as I mentioned, are very capable generals and warriors. And part of what makes him so good at that is that he is beloved by the spirits of the steppes.”
Liren had to pause when she heard that one.
“Pardon?”
“I mention this, because now that you are here, we will almost certainly be fighting together. The shamans support him. All of them, or near enough as makes no difference. When I say he is loved by the spirits of the steppes, I am talking about things like semi-divine horses running across the grassland to be his mount, one of his sons was born as a blood red hawk caught and killed a white rabbit directly in front of his mother’s tent, and the spear he dreamed of was found when he raided a nearby clan.”
“That… would persuade me.” Hong nodded.
“They didn’t need persuading. The shaman heard it from the spirits they channel directly. He has been chosen to unify the steppe. His fortune is unstoppable. And he will take his revenge on everyone who wronged him. Both in the other tribes, and in the Kingdom.”
“The Kingdom? But it was the heretics who were buying slaves. The tribes were the ones selling them.”
“Indeed. But the tribes are notionally part of the kingdom, as are the salt merchants. The tribes are entitled to the protection of the Army, and the laws.” The dark chuckle was utterly malicious now. “The kingdom should have prevented the salt for weapons trade. Yet, they were betrayed. Betrayed, and sold into bondage. A humiliation for their honorable, valorous people. And so they must have their revenge. Enriching themselves in the process, naturally.”
“Ah. Greed and a righteous cause. That would do it.”
“Just so. And fanatic belief, too. Those shamans aren’t just for show. Their Foxtail Pennant warriors are as good as any martial experts in the kingdom, and their Shaman match up passing well with us cultivators. Their Grand Shamans, what few of them there are, have managed to kill at least a score of Heavenly Realm cultivators that I know of, over the last thousand years or so. Scattered tribes were never a threat. We could easily crush them in detail. Unified, however?”
The question lingered in the air. Tian and Liren shared a long look, then quietly started checking over their weapons.