by Tao Wong
They were a couple of li from the city walls, safely away from any likely attack and, of course, any excitement. All of them, the entire cultivator group, had been relegated to this posting since Tou He and Wu Ying’s escapade.
“You mean there’s something worse than being sent to babysit soldiers washing their clothing and cleaning pots?” Yin Xue said sarcastically.
“Well, they could have made us do it for soldiers dealing with the latrines,” Tou He said.
“Don’t forget they also took your contribution points,” said Bao Cong.
“Our contribution points,” Li Yao said disapprovingly as she sat on her horse a distance away from the group.
For the most part, the group was spread out to ensure they could keep an eye on the river and any approach. Along the route back to the army, other mortal soldiers patrolled, travelling back and forth between the route and along the river edge. All to keep an eye out for potential attackers. Stationed as they were, Wu Ying’s group could spot any ships approaching from the city, and Wu Ying knew that more patrols roamed the hills and the riverbank, ensuring the security of their supply line.
“Well—”
“What Bao Cong means is that we are sorry,” Wu Ying interrupted Bao Cong before he could spill the beans that he had threatened to leave if Wu Ying did not make good the lost contribution points. It was why, after both the penalty and Bao Cong’s threat, Wu Ying was currently sitting at only a few hundred points.
“Being sorry is not good enough. Just because you don’t want to follow the rules doesn’t mean they don’t apply to you.” Li Yao crossed her arms, speaking to Tou He. But Wu Ying knew she really was speaking to him.
“Amitabha.”
In opposite of its intended effect, Tou He’s words managed to make the group sullener. Wu Ying gave up on trying to lighten the mood, choosing instead to watch the soldiers and the flowing water. At this point, a never-ending stream of soldiers was arriving, some coming by to fill their pots and water skins, others loading up the water wagons that traveled back and forth between the army encampment and the river. Others stopped by to wash their bodies and clothing at the same time. Pots and pans were cleaned by another group, while clothing was washed farther down the river. The entire process took up a good amount of space, forcing the group to watch over a wide area.
“Boat,” Bao Cong called, gesturing at the river.
The group turned to eye the large flat-bottomed barge that made its way down the river, oars banked. It was the fifth time in the last couple of hours that a boat had left the city. Without boats of their own, the army was unable to blockade the city, allowing it to continue its merchant activities and to resupply the city with food. It was perhaps one of the reasons why the general was so focused on taking the city quickly—there was no point in trying to starve them out.
Of course, it meant that the team was wary of any ship that arrived or left the city. Each time, they had to send one of the soldiers that waited beside the group off with a message. Once the message was received, additional teams of cultivators would ride along the riverbank, keeping close attention on the ship and ensuring it did not stop and release enemies into the backcountry. Not that the army didn’t have enough harassers as it was.
Still, while this type of work was boring, Wu Ying could not help but be grateful that it was also not dangerous. They might not be earning any contribution points, but like coin, neither could be spent if one was dead. And the number of corpses was slowly increasing as the army continued its assault on the walls.
“We just going to wait here then? My family’s style is inside the wall, not here,” Yin Xue said, once the boat they had been watching had passed by.
“If you have a better idea, I’m open to hearing it.” Wu Ying shot Yin Xue a glare.
Until the army breached the walls, there was no point in the discussion. He couldn’t sneak in, they couldn’t break in—they couldn’t even participate any longer. All they could do was wait and hope that they could get in before the home or tomb was looted.
“How about through the water? If the walls are too sturdy, can we go by the water?” Bao Cong asked. He had been watching the water, scratching his cheek while waiting.
“The water?” Li Yao shook her head, pointing farther up to where the city hid behind the curve of the river and low-lying hills. Only the edges of the wall could be seen from their current position. “They check every ship that comes in. Every single person. If they don’t know you, they leave a bunch of cultivators to watch you unload. The same thing we do. Only trusted ships are even allowed to get close before they are searched.”
“Oh.” Bao Cong shrugged, obviously unconcerned with the process. After all, he was being paid no matter what happened.
Silence enveloped the group as they considered the reality of the situation. Until further notice, all they could do was wait.
***
It was later that evening, when the team was done, that Li Yao guided her horse over to Wu Ying with a deft touch of her knees. Her brows were drawn, her lips pursed, making him realize that the talk that had been brewing for the last few days could no longer be avoided. Wu Ying dreaded it, but he had known he could only avoid it for so long.
“We need to talk.” Li Yao gestured for the rest of the team to go ahead without Wu Ying and her.
As they rode away, Wu Ying could not help but notice the smirk on Yin Xue’s face, though Wu Ying wasn’t entirely certain it was unjustified. He and Li Yao rode for some time in uncomfortable silence. Twice, Wu Ying tried to speak, but she had raised her hand each time, stalling him from doing so. It was only when they were a distance away from the group, when even the straggling soldiers who were busy running their errands were gone, that she spoke. Even so, she refused to look at him.
“I was given the role of the leader in this group.” When Wu Ying moved to agree with her, she sped up what she was saying, overriding his words. “I’m supposed to lead. I’m supposed to be in charge, dictating everyone’s moves, their depositions, their places. If you don’t listen, then it creates problems for all of us. No one will listen to me if you don’t.”
Silence stretched between the pair before Wu Ying realized she was waiting for him to say something. “I know. I’m sorry. I just—”
“You just what? You just chose to stick your sword in, even after I told you not to,” Li Yao’s said, her voice rising a little. “You could have chosen to listen. You could have chosen to stop. You didn’t. You chose to follow your friend. To defy me. To put the rest of us in an awkward position.”
“I’m sorry. When I see something like that, I… I can’t help but get involved. I can’t look away.” Wu Ying tried to explain his position, tried to explain why he’d done what he had. “I just… I didn’t want to not listen to you. I couldn’t help myself.”
“It doesn’t matter what you wanted to do. It’s what you did. You chose to ignore me. You chose to ignore what I asked of you. You went right ahead.” Li Yao finally turned, only now looking at Wu Ying. She saw the look of pain, the look of doubt on his face. He had not really meant to put her in a position like that. She knew it but… “Would you do that again?”
“Charge in and save others?” Wu Ying searched his conscience, trying to determine why he’d gone. He had stopped after all, when she asked him to. Then Tou He had gone. “I don’t know. I did stop. But Tou He kept going…”
“I’ve talked to him,” Li Yao said sternly, shaking her head. “I expected it from the monk. And I’ve worked out what to do with him. So has the vice-general. But you? You’re no monk.”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t have a conscience.”
“You didn’t go because of your conscience. You went because your friend went. And you thought you could get away with it.”
Wu Ying’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not fair.”
“You said it yourself. You went because Tou He went. You didn’t have the courage, you didn’t have the conscience to do it
because it was right.”
Wu Ying felt a flash of anger, his back straightening on the horse, tightening around his body. The signal sent the horse cantering forward, forcing Wu Ying to yank on the reins. The conflicting orders made the horse slow down and toss its head, hot-stepping a little, forcing the somewhat inexperienced rider to battle it before the creature settled. None of that helped to settle Wu Ying’s temper. By the time the horse was settled, Li Yao had caught up to him again.
“That—”
“Was not fair. It was not true,” Wu Ying snapped before he shook his head. “Don’t worry. I will listen to your orders next time.”
Li Yao opened her mouth to try apologizing and snapped it shut. She wasn’t wrong. Blunt maybe, but not wrong.
“Is that all?” Wu Ying asked.
When Li Yao nodded, he kicked his heels again, sending the horse cantering and leaving the young lady behind. How dare she say that to him. That he lacked courage! Lacked morality! Everyone did compared to those monks. At least he’d acted. Tried. Rather than just follow orders.
He found himself snarling and, in a fit of pique, kicked the horse into a gallop.
***
For all his anger, Wu Ying made sure to verify that Li Yao had made her way back safely later that evening. Once he spotted her horse and her, he made sure to avoid her. He still smarted from her words and chose to spend the night manning a secondary watch for additional contribution points. Even with some of the cultivators on watch, the military never had enough of them for their peace of mind. Rather than create additional problems by enforcing extra watches, they chose instead to incentivise cultivators to take additional watches.
It was only mildly successful. Few cultivators wanted to do something as boring as standing watch, so the army had to compromise between having as many as they wished and keeping their most powerful members happy.
As Wu Ying stalked the periphery of the camp, searching for trouble, he chewed over Li Yao’s words again and again. In time, his temper cooled. He had to admit, she had a point. He had decided to not go because she’d asked him to. He did see the point of military orders. He understood them and even valued them to some extent. The military, like a farming village, was not comprised of a single person. Taking care of the drainage, fixing up the riverbanks, dealing with water flow and planting, those were tasks no single person could do. No single person should do. Refusing to work with the village, doing things themselves, or choosing to do things out of order only disrupted the work of others. Sometimes it forced the villages to redo the same work again and again, wasting time and effort. Releasing water to flood one’s fields when the rest of the fields were planted not only angered the rest of the farmers but also wasted time.
He could understand that. He could see how his actions had affected her standing with his friends. With the army around.
But when others died, when he could help, he wanted to help. And even if he had stopped, Tou He had gone. So maybe Wu Ying had taken the opportunity to go to. He wasn’t going to allow his friend to rush out alone and without protection. Maybe that was the reason why Wu Ying had gone. Not because his conscience had said he should protect others, but because it had said he should protect Tou He.
His friend.
Or maybe he was a coward. He valued one life over others, valued the life of one he knew over those he didn’t. He did not have the expanse of mercy, the heart to sympathize with strangers.
And if that was not cowardice of the heart, what was it? To choose to not hurt, to choose to safeguard one’s heart, one’s body, from the pain and death of others.
Wu Ying kicked a stone, sending it spiraling off into the darkness, soon lost to sight beyond the light of the camps. He continued his patrol, turning as he heard the shuffle of feet behind them. To his surprise, Tou He was there, walking up to him with his staff over his shoulder.
“Did you choose to take the night assignment too?” asked Wu Ying.
“No.”
Tou He continued the patrol without waiting for Wu Ying to follow. Wu Ying cocked his head before hurrying to catch up with his friend. Unfortunately for his curiosity, Tou He chose not to say anything further.
Eventually, Wu Ying threw his hands in the air and said, “What are you doing here?”
“Joining you.”
Rather than continue this charade of question-and-answer, Wu Ying punched his friend in the shoulder. Tou He danced aside, though he took a glancing blow from the sudden attack.
“Okay, okay. I want to say thank you.”
“For what?” Of course, Wu Ying knew for what. But he kind of wanted Tou He to say it.
“Having my back.”
Wu Ying smiled at his friend. It was what it was. But it was nice to be thanked anyway.
They continued walking together for a time before Tou He added, “I’m sorry about you and Li Yao.”
“It’s fine. Couples are supposed to have fights,” Wu Ying said. Right? He really didn’t know.
He still resented the things Li Yao had said to him. He resented that she felt she could see into him, see what he had done. That she thought to judge his intentions as much as his actions. And he wasn’t sure he would choose differently if things changed. This fight between them, it was one of clashing positions. They both thought they were right. It was not like their first one, where he had insulted her with what he had said.
Did it mean they were done? How did you move on when neither party thought they were wrong? At least, not entirely.
Under that glum thought, the pair continued their patrol through the night, along the outer portion of the army that faced the walls, down to the river, and back. Walking, enjoying the humid and cool night air as thoughts churned and the world turned.
Chapter 18
Days passed with nary a change of circumstances. The walls around the city continued to be destroyed, the siege weapons continuing their assault through day and night. After all, it was not as if the walls were going anywhere. The biggest issue facing the trebuchets was keeping sufficient projectiles in stock. A constant stream of wagons and haulers traveled between the army and the nearby hills, picking up and dropping off rocks. The rocks came in a variety of shapes and sizes. A few cultivators gifted in earth and metal shaping worked the rocks, hardening and combining them to useable shapes. After all, quarrying the right shape and size was a difficult process. Much simpler to have cultivators rework them.
Even so, not all cultivators with an Earth aspect could do the work. It required both an understanding of their own chi as well as the external, environmental chi and an appropriate cultivation exercise. Thankfully, these types of exercises were common and easily purchased from the army—for obvious reasons. In fact, some cultivators even volunteered to work these shifts as it improved their control.
None of that mattered to Wu Ying. The constant, daily attacks on the walls of the city, the occasional raids against supply lines, and the battle against the soldiers from the city. Even the army supply teams that went and acquired additional supplies. None of those had anything to do with Wu Ying and his team. Instead, they continued to watch the water, the least likely location for an attack. In time, Yin Xue and Bao Cong managed to trade favors and end up working more comfortable jobs within the army encampment itself. In turn, other cultivators joined Wu Ying’s group, people like Lady Pan, Yan Qing, and Bai Hu.
At the top of a hill, astride their horses, the cultivators surveyed the empty ground before them. From there, they could see the launch of another futile attack against the city, hear the crack of stone as it struck, and smell the sweet fragrance of the field of flowers before them. The midday sun beat upon them, and Wu Ying took a swig from his water bottle. The enchanted one. Because he might as well use it.
“I’m surprised to see you here,” said Wu Ying to Bai Hu, who sat astride his own spotted mare.
“Did you expect me to run? Do you think me that much of a coward to run over the loss of my friends? You think we
did not know what would happen?” Bai Hu glared at Wu Ying, his arms crossing beneath his swarthy chest.
“The opposite actually.” Wu Ying gestured to where the edges of the city met the water. Because of their angle on top of the hill, they could look into the docks, watch the ships being loaded and unloaded. A boring job, but one that allowed them to keep an eye for potential new problems that might be dropped off—or taken away. “I thought you’d be at the walls again.”
“Oh!” Bai Hu seemed mollified by Wu Ying’s words. “Brave doesn’t mean stupid. The death benefits from my brothers are enough for me to purchase what I want. Safe now is good. I have to survive long enough to pick out the style, after all.”
“Death benefits?”
“Yes.” Bai Hu smirked at Wu Ying. “Don’t worry, you’re not missing out on anything. Your Sect takes it all for those of you who die. They make sure they aren’t missing anything.”
Wu Ying blinked. That did make sense. The Sect would want the resources it had expended on the slain returned to it. He wondered if that was what the Emperor’s envoy had been negotiating, then shook his head at his own naivete. As much the Sect valued them, they were also still just bodies—until they became Core cultivators. The Sect had hundreds of members in the same stage, and all too many geniuses who never managed to make it further than Energy Storage.
Still, Wu Ying felt less treasured now.
“I’m glad to hear that you’ve gotten something out of this,” said Wu Ying. The moment he said it, he realized how callous it sounded.
But this time around, Bai Hu didn’t seem to mind. “Yes. The martial style I will purchase will help. There are a number of demon beasts that were impossible for us to hunt. Now, I will be able to do it. I will honor my brothers and progress further. I will become a Core cultivator.”
Wu Ying turned to Lady Pan and her companion, the pair watching over the river and busy with their own activities. To Wu Ying’s amusement, Lady Pan was embroidering a silk scarf while Yan Qing was playing his erhu while balancing perfectly on his equine companion. The two-stringed bowed instrument cried and moaned under his skilled hands, the tune a sad accompaniment to the thrum of war in the background.
