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“Good luck to you,” Jakra said and then left.

As I turned about to face the entire contingent of around thirty or so tributes, they all stared at me wide-eyed. The one with the short beard who I’d bowed to before approached with a huge smile.

“Master Iron Bull!” he said excitedly with yet another bow. “What a fortune of fate that has guided you here to be amongst us now. With your aid we will all surely survive!”

That sparked murmurs amongst the other tributes and they all began to swarm around me.

“Can you really help us?”

“Did you kill that man?”

“What cultivation realm are you?”

“How do we know he won’t just kill us all too?”

I raised my hands in a slow down gesture. “Okay take it easy. I’m not promising anything to anyone. I don’t even know who the hell you all are.”

“My name is Kou Ren,” the guy with the beard said. He then pointed to a woman and two younger men behind him. “This is my wife, Su Ren and my sons Lo Ren and Chu Ren.”

I did a double take as they each gave me a bow in turn. “What the hell? Your whole family is in here with you?”

“He’s not the only one,” another man said. He was grizzled and portly with a scruffy beard. “They damn near imprisoned our entire town. And it’s all his fault too!”

“Aye!” someone else from the crowd shouted. “You can go to hell, Kou Ren!”

“I hope you die first, Kou Ren!”

Expletives and curses came next, along with the throwing of empty food trays and bowls.

Kou Ren shielded his family from them as he tried to retreat. “What’s wrong with all of you? Can you not see we are in the presence of greatness?!”

But that got little sympathy from the mob.

“Ask him what he’s done?” the grizzled man said. “Why don’t you tell him yourself, Kou Ren?”

I was about to say “Don’t know. Don’t care” but Kou Ren was already speaking ahead of me.

“They all blame me,” Kou Ren said. “As rightly they should as I was the mayor. But I never meant for any of this to happen.”

“What are you talking about?”

Kou Ren glanced about at all the angry faces staring at him and then smiled. “Let us speak over here in private, yes?”

That got more murmurs of discontent as the room split into two distinct tribes. Kou Ren and his family versus everyone else. Kou Ren gave me another smile as if to mask his embarrassment as he ushered me over to the side of the cell.

“You suffer too much disrespect from them, father,” one of the sons, Chu Ren said while looking back at the mob with a grimace. “They need to understand the truth.”

“It’s no matter,” Kou Ren said. “They are mad at the heavens. What I have to say would make little difference.”

I marveled at the man for a while. There wasn’t a hint of anger in him.

“So what did happen?” I asked, genuinely curious now. “Are you really all from the same town?”

“Same sect too,” the woman, Su Ren said. “My husband was our leader and the town mayor.”

“They blame him for all their farms failing,” the other son, Lo Ren said. “My father led us all to a new province with fertile soil, but no one could have known the dam would fail. They act as if my father broke the dam himself!”

“It’s fine,” Kou Ren said. “What is done, is done. No one could afford to pay back the loans and so they imprisoned us.”

“Who did?”

“The state,” Kou Ren said. “The land was owned by the empire. As natives we couldn’t do much to mount a defense in the courts. We didn’t have anything to pay them back with, so sending us here as tributes was perhaps the only way for them to recover their losses.”

I balked at that.

But even more so, I saw our potential future as Terrans in them if I failed.

Already the Warden had elevated her stupid nieces to Vice Wardens. Who knew what kind of bureaucratic bullshit they could come up with to screw over our sect? These poor people had seen the worst of it though. Literally sold into slavery by the state as tributes for who knew how many spirit stones to cover the cost of a disaster that wasn’t even their fault.

Complete bullshit.

“What’s the name of your planet and how long ago were you colonized?” I asked.

“Gujar,” Kou Ren said. “We were enlightened only sixty years ago. Our world is very new to the empire.”

Enlightened? I thought. What a damn joke.

I imagined they were perhaps second or third generation colonists, none of them retaining any knowledge of their true home world. It was pitiful in a way and exactly what I hoped to prevent in the long run.

“And you, Master Iron Bull?” Su Ren asked. “What is your world called?”

“It was called Earth,” I said. “It’s known as Terra now. We were conquered by the empire around thirteen years ago.”

Their eyes all went wide.

“Thirteen years?” Kou Ren said incredulously. “Your world is so young! And to have reached your stage of cultivation already? Are you truly a native?”

“Born a bred,” I said with a hint of pride.

Kou Ren fell to his knees and his family followed his lead. “Oh, great master. You must truly be a gifted cultivator! Please, I beg you, safeguard us if you can. Guide us in the ways of cultivation to survive this ordeal.”

“Say what?”

“We are not fighters,” Su Ren said. “Merely farmers and barely foundation realm cultivators at that. We need your help.”

“Please!” Kou Ren said clasping his hands together. “I beg of you!”

Well shit… I thought. I’d just upped the ante on my academy education, trimming my timeline down to months instead of years. And now I had a cell full of foundation realm cultivators looking for me to babysit them?

I blew out a sigh.

There was no way these people could survive.

Not on their own for sure.

I didn’t know if I could even help them or not.

But deep down I felt a kinship.

They weren’t the humanity I represented, but they were victims of the empire all the same. My Flame burned with the indignation of their plight. Another curve ball maybe? I guess my Path was chocked full of them now.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Ah, what the hell…

“I’m not going to promise you anything,” I said truthfully. “What lies ahead of us could be way more than even I can bear. But for you and your family. I’ll do what I can.”

* * *

Fia Dong sat in lotus position as she faced the morning sun.

The gentle whisper of a brisk spring breeze brushed her face as she breathed in deeply, cultivating the faint spiritual essence in the surrounding air and refining it through her meridians to store as Qi within her Dantian.

She was still yet to break into the upper tiers of the Core Realm as Max had already done.

But all of that seemed to matter little to her now.

She had much greater concerns to worry about.

From the apartment balcony atop of the Terran Sect’s headquarters, Fia had a brilliant view of the lower city below as well as the imperial city floating high above. She wondered for a moment what her parents were doing right now.

Her father had taken to visiting the artisan district to sell his wares, no longer willing to put up with the daily badgering by the Enforcers for selling his items at home. Things were still difficult for him, but he at least had begun crafting again and that seemed to take his mind off the stresses of money and saving face. Her mother was still as carefree as ever though, even with her crippled Dantian. A part of Fia wondered if her mother was in some sort of denial, or perhaps like her, had other things that had taken priority now.

She would perhaps come to pay a visit later to see little Su Ling.

Fia herself would see Su Ling shortly to start her daily lessons, which was much easier now that she lived so close. Since moving from her villa in the imperial city to relocate to Max’s apartment, Fia found she had a newfound sense of peace and freedom in all things. Even though she lived apart from her mother and father in the Imperial City, being this much further away gave her distance from the toils and trials of everyday life.

Although she did feel somewhat guilty for it.

Moving out of the villa had had another purpose than just distancing herself from the upper echelons of society. Her father had now rented it to another family as a form of income. It saddened her a bit when she thought of it in those terms, but she was also happy that her sacrifice could do some good for the family.

Fia readily gave up the villa when her father had asked. Granted he had expected her to move back home and not here to Max’s apartment, but just the feeling of being amongst Max’s family and belongings curbed her longer for him.

But there was another, more important reason for wanting to move.

Fia closed her eyes and cycled her Qi.

It had only been two weeks but already she could sense a difference in her body.

The slightest change in her flow of Qi as it made its way through her meridians and into her Dantian. It was still just an inkling, but she knew it was there.

The faintest hint of a new life within her.

She smiled at the thought.

It was selfish she knew, and she prayed that Max had somehow forgiven her by now, but the idea of having his child filled her with so much joy. She prayed for his safety and for his return. Three years. She still didn’t know how she would manage it. Especially now. A small part of her hoped that by moving away she could somehow keep it all a secret.

At least for now.

Fia sighed.

It would at least be months before she would truly need to make changes for people not to notice. Until then she had the solace of knowing that Max would always be a part of her.

No matter what.

* * *

Princess Lunalah felt her stomach lurch as she read the report.

“757,132 spirit stones?” she said as she glared at the numbers. “Is this correct?”

Lunalah shifted upon her throne within her royal audience chamber, her cabinet members assembled before her. She waited for her Minister of Commerce, Hui Long to answer. The tan-skinned Dharmian did so slowly as if already sensing her wrath.

“The number is accurate, your majesty,” Hui Long said in his frail voice. “I double checked the figures myself. Every expenditure was accounted for with the utmost detail. You can see a breakdown of the various costs on pages three to sixteen.”

She swiped her finger across her tablet aggressively, infuriated by the staggering amounts of items she saw. “What’s this? 42,000 spirits stones for cleaning services?”

“That was the accumulation of all the cleaning for every arena across the planet, your majesty. It is not a large sum considering the amount of work involved. And procurement was overseen by each Warden personally.”

“It’s too much!” she said. “And what is this? Skiff transportation for 178,000 spirit stones?”

“The barge skiffs for the finals of the jade tournament matches, your majesty. The cost includes their construction as well and transport to and from the desert arena each day. It was a month-long tournament, I remind you.”

Lunalah felt sick to her stomach again. “Why wasn’t I advised the cost were climbing so high?”

“A thousand apologies,” Hui Long said with an obsequious bow. “This One perhaps failed to emphasis the points when they were reported to you each month during our cabinet briefs on the tournament preparations. I believe your exact instructions were, ‘whatever it takes to be a successful’, your majesty.”

Her anger flared. The old man was being cheeky with her, but she did recall making such a comment more than once before. “No matter. Tell us of the return. Surely this was a good investment.”

“There was no direct return on investment,” Hui Long said. “The fees collected from visitors to the event totaled only 193,476 spirit stones. This leaves the total return for the tournament at a negative 563,656 spirit stones.”

Lunalah nearly dropped her tablet. “A loss? You allowed us to suffer such a great loss?!”

“But your majesty, this was never foreseen to be a profitable event,” Hui Long said. “I advised as such from the start. The return will come in the form of increased visitors from the core worlds. If you recall, you placed greater emphasis on this than even continuing work on the Omni gate, which we stalled for a year.”

Curse the old man and his memory. Still, she would not lose face in front of her own cabinet. “And what increase in visitors have we recorded since the event?”

Hui Long paused as he consulted his own tablet. “For the last few months we have indeed seen an uptick in arrivals. A solid 1.2 percent increase on average.”

“1.2 percent? Is that all?”

“It is equivalent to some 40,000 additional spirit stones a year your majesty. If the rate sustains, the event will have paid itself back in… only 14 years.”

14 years? Lunalah thought. That was longer than her world had even been established. The entire event was a damn failure! If word ever got out then her embarrassment within the lower courts would be too much to bear.

“These figures must never be published, understood,” Lunalah said. “Anywhere!”

Hui Long bowed. “As you wish, your majesty.”

“What is state of the treasury now?” she asked.

“We are in quite poor stead,” Hui Long said. “Down to less than 200,000 spirit stones.”

Her stomach lurched again. “What? How much exactly?”

“168,000 your majesty,” Hui Long said. “We may now wish to consider freezing other public services along with the Omni Gate to ensure we do not go bankrupt this year.”

Her heart was pounding. “No… that will be a sign of weakness. No one must know that the treasury is in such a state. We must increase the export of monster cores and cultivation materials to the core worlds. What of the handler stations? We must accelerate their production.”

“Their production is linked to the visitor arrivals, your majesty,” Hui Long said. “They are at maximum productivity already.”

Lunalah grimaced. “Then use the army then. Send our own forces into the wild to slay spirit beasts.”

“Ah, your majesty…” Xi Liu, the Defense Minister interjected, his deep baritone voice drawing her attention. “I would not advise that. The cost to mobilize troops for such a venture would surely cost more than the materials would be worth. And not to mention the losses of the troops themselves. Standard soldiers are foundation and low-tier core realm at best. They would not fare well against the A and S class monsters needed to harvest cores.”

“Yes, there are expected to be losses, but what do you mean there would be additional cost?” Lunalah said. “Don’t we pay them now anyway?”

“Yes, for defense, your majesty,” Xi Liu said. “To suppress an attack should a barrier fail. And yes, we would expect and accept such losses, but to do so willing…”

He didn’t finish his sentence. As well he shouldn’t.

Her ire was piqued.

“I agree with Minister Xi Liu,” Hui Long said. “The export industry works because the labor and risk is paid for by the adventurous cultivators themselves. If we were to take that risk on directly, there is no way it would be profitable.”

Lunalah’s hands balled into fists. “Are you to tell me none of you have a viable solution?” Her anger flared as they looked to one another like hapless children. “None of you!?”

“I may have a solution, your majesty.”

All eyes turned to her aide, Ling Wei who had spoken from her side.

It wasn’t common for Ling Wei to have a voice in cabinet meetings, but in this case, she would allow it, if not just to curb her ire. “Go on, Ling Wei. Of what solution do you speak?”

Ling Wei bowed. “Your majesty is well aware that the imperial compensation for our tribute will net some 20,000 spirit stones this—”

“A paltry sum,” Lunalah said. “We have lost many times that. Were you not paying attention, Ling Wei?”

“Indeed we have, your majesty,” Ling Wei said with another bow. “But if your tribute is to be as successful as we all hope, then the compensation can be much higher.”

She raised a brow. “Higher how?”

“It depends on how many survive a tour, but a billion spirit stones is split as compensation among the home planets of the veteran survivors. Like I said, if you have faith that our tribute will survive a tour then the return of compensation could be high indeed. It is not unheard of for a team of ten to return with only three or four.”

Lunalah’s mind cranked as a smile spread across her lips.

“A much better prospect indeed,” she said. “Far more guaranteed than this tournament nonsense that these lot came up with.”

Her cabinet gasped and looked at her with disparaging eyes, but they dared not question her words. She had laid the blame for the tournament’s failure and her word was final. No more would be said.

“Prepare another letter to the tribute,” Lunalah said. “The Iron Bull must know his objective when the times comes.”

She smiled as felt the stars aligning. Surely this was confirmation that the Iron Bull would not only return home successful under his own strength but that he was destined to be hers as well. The station of a Prince Consort would be the perfect reward for saving the royal treasury.

“Ensure he gets the message quickly,” she said. “Far more is riding on his success than he even knows.”

* * *

In the darkness It stirred.

A shift It sensed.

Through the apertures It could no longer sense the Husk of the Cursed Flame. Had it been quelled? Had it been destroyed? It knew not. But surely only One as powerful as It could achieved such a thing.

Its search for Its own husk, It would continue.

A vessel worth of the Divine Stars.

But wait…

Through the apertures did It still sense a Husk of the Flame.

Not the same.

Smaller.

Weaker.

It gathered Its focus, extending Its influence through the apertures.

Any progeny of the Cursed Flame needed to be extinguished.

And now…while it was away from the Other…would be the optimal time.