Book 3: Chapter 34: Restrain the Growth! |
The Green Grass Blade Sector of the Hu Clan had turned from a band of unruly patriarchs that kowtowed a hundred times daily to their leader and into an efficient machine. Each one of the five original patriarchs had a role and responsibility meant to keep the functions of thai organization running seamlessly.
At this moment, they sat in a single room that had been requisition by Jun as her main seat of power and office.Within it was a table long enough to seat twelve, maps pinned to every wall, ledgers stacked in columns that threatened to topple if someone breathed too hard near them, and the faint smell of wood polish that Patriarch Fen's senior disciple applied to every surface twice daily whether it needed it or not.
Jun sat at the head of said massive table.
She'd stopped fighting the seating arrangement four days ago. Wu Xui had pointed out that refusing the head chair every morning only to end up sitting there anyway after twenty minutes of the patriarchs insisting was wasting time that could be spent on actual work. Jun had conceded the point, even though she hated it, and then sat down with enough force to make the chair legs scrape against the stone floor in a sound that made Patriarch Fen wince.
The chair was her throne now.
She still hated it.
Four of the five inner elders of the Green Grass Blades Sector sat in their usual positions along the table's flanks. Guo on her immediate left, white hair catching the morning light from the window behind him. Liang beside him, grey beard freshly oiled, fingers already moving through it in that slow deliberate rhythm that meant he was thinking about something he didn't want to say yet. Fen on her right, cracking his knuckles one at a time, each pop landing in the silence like a dropped coin. Sho across from Fen, shovel-hands flat on the table, thick fingers splayed across the wood grain.
Patriarch Duan's chair was empty.
Jun's eyes flicked to it then moved to the stack of reports sitting in front of Guo. Patriarch Duan would be here eventually and she would know exactly what had been keeping him from this meeting. Jun turned and surveyed the old men of her new forces. "Start.”
Jun's jaw tightened. It had been one thousand five hundred and sixty-one yesterday.
Their numbers were increasing every single day more than they could keep up with even with preventative measures and basic criteria to entry.
"–fifty-one new arrivals overnight. Thirty-eight from Cultivator Row dojos that dissolved their own schools to join. Nine walk-ins from the refugee camps who heard about us through the beggars. Four transfers from Patriarch Sho's outer training groups who met the minimum threshold."
"Which brings us to the threshold," Liang said. His beard-stroking accelerated by a fraction. "We need to discuss it."
Jun nodded. "Go ahead."
Guo flipped to a second marked page. "Current recruitment criteria. Minimum cultivation base of Qi Initiate Third Stage. Demonstrated elemental affinity of any kind, even trace matters of it. Body cultivation sufficient to endure the basic drilling regimen without collapsing within the first hour. Willingness to abandon all previous techniques and start from the foundation we've established. No active criminal warrants, no Demonic Cultivation taint, no outstanding debts to the Merchant Emperor's enforcers beyond the set maximum of… three silvers and twelve bronze coins with no interest percentages."
He looked up from the ledger.
"We're turning away six out of every ten applicants."
"Good," Jun said.
"It's not good, Young Mistress." Sho's pressed harder against the table. "We're turning away people who could contribute. Labourers, guards, support staff, soldiers against the Red Demon. Not everyone needs to be a front-line cultivator. We need bodies for logistics, maintenance, supply runs, cooking, cleaning—"
"The criteria stays."
Sho's mouth opened, then closed. His fingers curled against the wood.
Fen cracked another knuckle. "She's right. We can't dilute what we're building. Every person who joins under a lower standard weakens the foundation. I've seen it happen. My own school lost three senior disciples because I accepted a batch of students who couldn't keep up and dragged the training pace down for everyone else. Took me two years to recover."
"Two years we don't have," Liang murmured into his beard.
Jun's eyes swept the table. "What's the breakdown by stage?"
Guo consulted his ledger. "Of the one thousand four hundred and twelve active members. Roughly eight hundred and forty at Qi Initiate, various stages. Three hundred and ninety at Qi Condensation. One hundred and fifty-two at the Foundation Establishment stage, early to mid. Twenty-six at Core Formation, all of them senior disciples or former patriarchs from absorbed schools. Other than us patriarchs, there are six others who are threatening to enter the Liquid Core Realm. Otherwise everyone is in the Gaseous Core Realm—"
"That's enough." Jun held up her hand. The numbers were better than she'd expected and worse than she'd hoped. The bulk sat at the bottom two tiers, which made sense given the general cultivation level of Cultivator Row. The Core Formation practitioners were the patriarchs themselves and a handful of their most senior students. Above that, there was nobody.
Nobody except her.
And Wu Xui, who leaned against the far wall with her arms crossed and her eyes half-lidded.
Jun knew better than to assume the older lady wasn’t listening to everything being said and deciphering secrets she would never see coming.
A knock on the door sounded–
Wu Xui pushed off the wall before the first footstep landed inside the room distracting Jun from the person who knocked. She moved to the table, pulled out the empty chair beside Jun, and sat down. The four patriarchs went rigid. Wu Xui rarely sat at the table. Wu Xui rarely did anything that suggested she considered herself part of the administrative structure. She observed, commented, gave threatening glares if necessary, laughed if she heard something and didn’t bother explaining why she was laughing, smiled in ways that rearranged the priorities of everyone in the room, and then she left.
Sitting down meant she had something to say.
"The criteria needs to go up," Wu Xui said.
"Up?" Guo squeaked. He was already struggling with the current criteria. "Lady Wu Xui, we're already turning away sixty percent of applicants. If we raise the threshold—"
"Qi Initiate Fifth Stage minimum. Elemental affinity must register at D-rank or above on a standard orb reading. Body cultivation ceiling must project into the upper thirty percent rather than the current fifty. And the drilling endurance test extends from one hour to three."
Guo's quill dropped from his fingers and rolled across the ledger, leaving a thin trail of ink.
"That's..." Fen started.
"Impossible," Sho finished. "Lady Wu Xui, with all due respect. Those criteria would eliminate over half our current roster, let alone future applicants. Qi Initiate Fifth Stage is a benchmark that most cultivators in this city don't reach until their third decade. D-rank elemental affinity requires natural talent that can't be trained into someone. And a three-hour endurance test at the drilling intensity Lady Jun has established would put most of the elite Qi Initiates on the ground."
"I know," Wu Xui said.
"Then you understand why—"
"I understand that you don't understand." Wu Xui looked at each patriarch in turn. "You have no clue what you've become part of. That's why you don't understand. Best you pray to heaven and thank it for the blessed opportunity you gained without having to do anything. Blessed indeed."
The four patriarchs exchanged glances and were unable to figure out what she meant. Their eyes eventually settled on Jun.
Jun looked at Wu Xui. The older woman met her gaze and held it. Something passed between them that the patriarchs couldn't read, a conversation conducted in the space between blinks, built on weeks of proximity, shared meals, whispered briefings, and the mutual understanding of two women who served the same master and carried the weight of that service in different ways.
Jun nodded.
She turned to the four patriarchs and her chin rose half an inch.
"The Hu Clan is led by my Patriarch." Jun's voice filled the room. "Ja Mes An Der Son, otherwise known as Yin Hu."
All the elders tilted their heads or gave varying looks of confusion.
Guo's brow furrowed. His lips moved, repeating the syllables without sound. Ja Mes An Der Son. It was foreign to them to see a name that was this strange.
Patriarch Fen leaned back in his chair. His lips moved, barely audible, more breath than voice. "Hidden Tiger.
Beneath a Red Sun.
Crouched under an Endless Canopy.
Waiting for the Unwary Prey..."
All of them gulped at the little poem Patriarch Fen had just uttered.
"That's terrifying." Liang said with a shiver.
Jun said nothing.
The knock sounded again, louder this time.
“Enter,” Jun shouted.
A disciple stepped in, bowed, and held out a folded report.
Guo took though he did try to hide the slight tremor in his hands. He waved the disciple out and turned to look at the group around him, unfolded the parchment, scanned the contents, and his brow creased deeper. "A field report from the western district observers…The Red Demon is making moves upon the port sectors of the city. We suspect it may be... err..." His eyes flicked to Jun, then to Wu Xui, then back to the report. "...she... may be targeting the smugglers and rare resource movers. A very strategic move that speaks of a genius beyond the average." He set the report down and shook his head slowly. "This Red Demon is unlike any I've ever read about. Its shrewd move after shrewd move with no mistakes in between."
Jun and Wu Xui shared a look.
Wu Xui's almost-smile widened by a millimetre. Her eyes crinkled at the edges. Pride radiated from her expression for a few seconds before she schooled it back behind the mask.
Jun just rubbed her face in exhaustion. This whole leadership thing was far more than she expected.
No wonder her Ancestor hated every moment of it with a passion.
The meeting hall's door was knocked upon for a third time, this time though, the person stepped in without waiting to be called.
Patriarch Duan walked in.
His half-closed eyes were fully open. His weathered face carried an expression Jun had never seen on him before. It was bright and a decade younger. The deep lines around his mouth had rearranged themselves into something that looked almost boyish, which was deeply unsettling on a ninety-three-year-old man whose default setting was silent contemplation and the occasional devastating observation delivered at minimum volume.
He was smiling.
Actually smiling with teeth visible and everything.
Jun's eyebrow rose. "You're late. Explain yourself."
Duan pulled out his chair and dropped into it with none of his usual measured grace. "I met a strange fellow." Duan's voice carried a warmth that made Guo turn and stare. "Wonderful person. Invited me to tea later, and even gave me the directions to his little home." He paused, grin flickering as something caught in his thoughts. His clasped hands tightened and his brow furrowed for a moment. "Though I still don't quite understand a few things about him."
"Oh?" Jun said.
Duan nodded, the furrow deepening. "Couldn't sense his Qi even though he looked like a cultivator. Strange indeed."