“Without me, the Breaker is just a legend, something that people only wish they had the skill to build,” Cha Ming said. “The prototypes are gone, the information destroyed. With your death, and your possessions gone, I doubt there’ll be any records left on how to make it.”
“The crown prince has moles,” Tian Zhi said. “I know it, because he told me. For insurance.” His eyes narrowed. “Unless…”
“I am the mole,” Cha Ming said.
Tian Zhi laughed heartily, then held out his arms. “Fine, I admit defeat. Just give me a painless death. I can’t do anything to you anyhow.”
“Any last wishes?” Cha Ming said. “You treated me well. You trusted me, and I betrayed you.”
“No,” Tian Zhi said. “All the family I have is dead. Killed by time and tragedy.”
He closed his eyes, and destruction devoured the man as Cha Ming struck down with Crushing Chaos. The destruction qi ravaged the man’s body, eating away at his vitality until finally, there was nothing left. Cha Ming took his possessions and crushed his core-transmission jade. He also took Wang Yong and Wang Bo’s possessions, then destroyed the remainder of their bodies.
Only the scratches on the floor remained.
“Why in the Sea God’s name did we have to come here?” Gong Xuandi complained as they walked through the city streets, their bodies and faces covered in black cloaks. “It gives me the creeps.” Their disguise wasn’t an uncommon one in the Southern City, where trust only ran so far as a contract dictated. Right now, they resembled acolytes of the Spirit Temple, who wore black robes as a religious prop.
“We’re here for opportunity,” Feng Ming said, pushing through the busy but orderly streets. Many passersby glared at him. Pushing through lines wasn’t something someone did, especially if they had to walk. Anyone with a high-enough station to push would be flying, after all.
“There’re so many powerful cultivators here it’s not even funny,” Gong Xuandi said. “Even I might die if we’re discovered.”
“Then it’s fortunate that they’re all distracted by the massive Taotie that’s about to knock on their front door,” Feng Ming said. “I don’t know what they’re thinking, waiting till the last moment.”
“I heard that it’s that gnat Zhou Li,” Gong Xuandi said. “He’s taking as much time as possible to recover and coming at the last minute. They’re all too scared to act without him.”
“Selfish bastards,” Feng Ming said. “We fought that beast for months. Months!”
“And I’m really strong, and you’re lucky as all hell,” Gong Xuandi said. “Besides. It’s stronger now.”
The man did have a point. The creature never stopped eating, and it didn’t help that the South’s first attempt to halt the beast had failed miserably. Now it was difficult to slow it down as it homed in on the largest reserve of vitality and heaven and earth energy in the area, Bastion City, and the Shattered Lands beyond it.
“I’m sure the royals will help fight it too,” Feng Ming said. “When they leave, it’ll be our time to shine. We’ll swoop in and take their entire treasury.”
“You’re making it sound like you can actually store all those things,” Gong Xuandi said. “Rare treasures are often heavy, their energies too potent. At most, you’ll be able to store a few things in a peak-core-grade ring. For anything else, you’ll need…” His voice trailed off as Feng Ming pulled out a violet ring from his bag of holding. “You lucky bastard.”
“You’re right,” Feng Ming said. “To think that one of those blood masters had been carrying it, thinking it was a core-grade ring. He’d shake in his grave if he knew it was a transcendent-grade treasure.”
Gong Xuandi shook his head in disgust. “I’ve had it with your luck. It’s unnatural. Now tell me, what are we supposed to do while we wait?”
“Hmm…” Feng Ming thought aloud, tapping his fingers on his lips. “I’ve got it!” Gong Xuandi looked at him expectantly. “Noodles!”
“Sorry?” Gong Xuandi asked.
Feng Ming didn’t answer. Instead, he led the man to a high-end restaurant just beside the palace. He rented a room on the top floor facing the open courtyard. A few minutes later, two steaming-hot bowls of noodles arrived. Gong Xuandi grunted but didn’t complain as he sipped on a coffee he’d obtained on the main floor. It tasted strikingly similar to the blend they had back in Haijing, with all the same effects. Somehow, he suspected the differently named company was a secret subsidiary of the mighty coffee empire that had started in Gong Xuandi’s home city of all places.
Feng Ming hummed in pleasure as he slurped on the broth. “If we’re going to wait, we may as well do it in style.”
Little did he know that, in a private room just beside them, a half dozen transcendents were also eating noodles. They didn’t notice the duo, however, as their full attention was on the creature looming in the distance, as they mentally and physically prepared themselves for the world of pain they’d be in once it arrived.
“Halt!” guards yelled, stopping Cha Ming at the entrance of the palace. It was well past midnight, a suspicious hour for one so powerful to be wandering about.
“At ease,” a voice said, causing the guards to immediately retreat. The crown prince, clothed his the usual yellow robes, appeared just inside the gates. “Come inside, Pai Xiao.”
Cha Ming nodded and noted the prince’s welcoming smile. It was strained, a thin mask he used to veil the fatigue on his face. He’d clearly come at an inconvenient time. Likely it had something to do with the Taotie Elder Zhong spoke of.
“I was growing worried that you wouldn’t meet the deadline,” Prince Shen said. “My other informants said you were days away. When I saw your message, that you were done a full day before the deadline, I was ecstatic.”
“We have a contract, so I did my utmost fulfill it,” Cha Ming said, smiling bitterly. “Besides, I discovered something that made me uneasy. It seems the Blackthorn Conglomerate hasn’t been honest with me.”
“So you finally found out,” Prince Shen said, nodding understandably. “Since they’re traitors from the North, it only makes sense for us to keep up our guard up against them. If they’ll betray their own so easily, what’s to stop them from doing the same to us?”
Cha Ming nodded. They walked through a large hallway made of a white stone he’d never seen before. It wasn’t marble, but the yellow swirls in the stone reminded him of it. Tall yellow pillars stood to both sides of the main hallway. They seemed to glow in the darkness, providing a dim illumination to the otherwise unlit hallway. It was nighttime, after all, and no one dared buzz about while the king might be sleeping.
“As I said, I don’t have much time,” Cha Ming said. “If I’m gone for too long, they’ll begin to suspect me. For safety reasons, I suggest storing the device in a high-level storage ring, in a protective formation, or as far away from anyone else as possible.”
“Will this do?” Prince Shen asked, revealing a golden ring on his pinky.
“No,” Cha Ming said. “The device is too large and heavy.”
The prince pursed his lips. “The courtyard, then. As far away from prying eyes as possible until I can arrange an alternative.”
Cha Ming nodded. They took a right where the main hallway split into three. The hallway continued for quite some time before turning north again. The central palace might be square, but the entire palace complex was a wide rectangle skirting Bastion Wall. They continued as far as they could before exiting the palace into a restricted garden just south of the northernmost wall.
“No one can enter the garden without my or my father’s permission,” Prince Shen said. “To be sure, I’ll be posting some of our elites at the door.”
“Good,” Cha Ming said. He walked up to a relatively empty area and summoned the Breaker. The entire machine was twenty-five feet wide by fifty feet long, a weapon of mass destruction at its finest. It gleamed in the moonlight, its value apparent for all to see. Cha Ming could see the prince’s han
ds twitching just looking at it, wanting to make it his.
Cha Ming walked away, letting the crown prince inspect it. The man walked around, admiring it from every angle. “At last, the mighty Breaker,” Prince Shen whispered. “With this, our kingdom’s contribution to the struggle is set in stone.” He hesitated, then put his hand on the treasure. The space around it lurched, and the storage ring on Prince Shen’s finger cracked. “A pity. I should have listened to your expertise.” Such a loss of wealth wasn’t irreplaceable, but it definitely stung. “I confess myself impressed. You have a treasure capable of storing such an engine of destruction on your person.”
“Alas, it’s not for sale,” Cha Ming said, smiling. “You and I both know that such treasures would be kept as heirlooms in kingdoms and mighty sects or companies.”
“I would never dare offer to buy it,” Prince Shen said. “It’s only that I must reevaluate you. You are a man of many mysteries, Pai Xiao.”
“More than you know,” Cha Ming said truthfully. He summoned another item, a blue jade slip. Within it was a modified blueprint for the Breaker. Superficially, the blueprint would seem like a genuine item. It would take a true expert to notice it was riddled with flaws. Correcting them would be an insurmountable task, to the point that it might be better to start from scratch. And though contractually he was required to give him the genuine item, the prince’s Royal Seal of Notwithstanding had nulled that requirement. He’d hung up the rope with which to hang himself.
“The hour grows late,” Cha Ming said. “I’d suggest testing it as soon as possible. We didn’t have time to test it on the ancient wall sections yet, but I’m ninety-nine percent sure it will succeed. If anything goes wrong, anything at all, message me. I’ll find a reason to excuse myself and perform any tweaking required.”
“Good,” Prince Shen said. He flicked a storage ring to Cha Ming, who inspected it to confirm its contents. “Guardian Lin?” A figure appeared beside the prince, a black-cloaked guardian with a gleaming golden saber on his back. “Please see him out safely.”
“As you instruct, my prince,” Guardian Lin said. The threat of his presence was obvious to Cha Ming, who walked back to the front of the palace. As they walked, he spread out his transcendent force to eavesdrop on the many cultivators there.
Can he really be trusted? Do we dare trust him? a mental voice said.
We will test the device as soon as possible, Prince Shen said. In the meantime, I suggest we send the imperial tutor to supervise him.
Agreed, the other voice said. Though we need the tutor, the Breaker project is equally important. Besides, we have support from the entire South ready to intercept the creature. One imperial tutor won’t make a difference.
Moments later, Cha Ming sensed another presence beside him and Guardian Li. “Take care, Grandmaster Pai,” Guardian Li said, seeing him out the palace gates.
“Thank you for the escort,” Cha Ming said, giving him a short bow. He flew down the streets, feigning obliviousness to the expert hidden in the shadows.
“I wonder who that was, sneaking in and out in the middle of the night?” Feng Ming muttered, looking at the tall but burly man making his way out of the palace. Another figure followed, a figure he wouldn’t have noticed except for a coincidental glint from an exposed piece of jewelry. People, he thought, shaking his head. You’d think they’d be more careful if they were sneaking about.
“Should I tail him?” the Sea God Emperor asked, slurping loudly. After watching Feng Ming devour three entire bowls, he, too, had decided to try the restaurant’s famed noodles. Five bowls later, he’d developed a preference for their fish broth, consuming three entire bowls in quick succession.
“Naw,” Feng Ming said. “I have a feeling it’s best to leave him alone.” He looked at the palace with a concerned frown. “There are so many powerful cultivators there. What we need is something to draw them away.”
“You mean like a large creature of the void,” Gong Xuandi said, “hellbent on destroying every living and non-living thing on this plane, culminating in a universe-ending calamity that even Yama might have to step in to stop if it gets bad enough?”
Feng Ming coughed lightly. “I was thinking something smaller in scale but inconveniently timed. He looked to the west, and his face brightened. “I know just the thing. Tell me, old friend, how do you like smashing things to bits and causing a ruckus?”
“I’m not your friend,” Gong Xuandi said, glaring at Feng Ming and putting his bowl of noodles down. “But yes, I like doing those things. I’m a body cultivator. It’s what we do.”
“Excellent,” Feng Ming said. “I want you to go over to that army barracks, where all the generals and important officers are stationed. Start fighting and killing people, making a lot of noise in the process.”
Gong Xuandi winced. “While I’m obligated to aid you, even risking myself to some extent, that’s a little too much heat for me to handle.”
“It’s a good thing you won’t have to handle it alone,” Feng Ming said. “Most of the powerful cultivators are distracted by the aforementioned world-ending calamity, and I’ll be sneaking inside the palace. I’ll be sure to cause a ruckus on the way out, and then I’ll come help you out. I’m lucky, remember?”
“And I’m not, in case you haven’t noticed,” Gong Xuandi said. “I lost my crown, and now I’m forced to put up with you.”
“But your luck’s gotten better,” Feng Ming pressed. “I dare you to say otherwise.”
The old Sea God Emperor grunted. He picked up his bowl and slurped loudly, downing its entire contents. He then stood up, wiped his mouth, and left the room.
A few tense minutes passed before, finally, a large crashing sound filled the air. He heard many shocked yells from the room just over them. Several dozen flashes of light zoomed out from the palace. One of them was a half-step transcendent, and the rest were peak transcendents. These were most of the palace’s reserve, which was a testament to how large a ruckus Gong Xuandi had caused.
“Great,” Feng Ming said. He finished his own noodles with a quick slurp, downed his glass of wine, and proceeded down the steps, where all sorts of important people were scrambling about, trying to figure out what was going on. He left a confused waiter a generous tip and walked out the front door, walking over to a convenient shadow he’d spotted earlier. “It should be here somewhere,” he murmured, pressing the stones until suddenly, he heard a click. A small door opened in the wall. It led farther down the solid structure.
Feng Ming slipped inside the dark area, using his resplendent force to guide the way. After a few minutes of fumbling about, he eventually found a loose stone, which he pushed in. Another door opened, revealing a small but beautiful courtyard. It was completely empty of people, and a large contraption sat inside it.
What’s this? he thought, looking at it. The machine had a dangerous vibe to it. In fact, he had the distinct impression that, should he do something foolish, the device might destroy him, body and soul. “Who just leaves this kind of thing lying around?”
The outer shell of the device was mostly bare, but from the general shape, he could tell that the device behaved much like a spear, if a bit unwieldy. The tip was pointed north toward Bastion Wall, and the entire metallic contraption was mounted on a large stone base.
I wonder how it works? Feng Ming thought. Gong Xuandi’s distraction was good and all, but you could never be too careful when looting a palace vault.
First things first, take care of the imperial tutor, Cha Ming thought as he traveled through the city streets. His movements were confusing, but that behavior was well in line with someone who’d just stolen the most expensive prototype on the continent and betrayed his company.
He soon found himself a few blocks away from his destination: the Blood Master Monastery. There, he slipped into an alleyway and concealed his presence, disguising himself as a small mouse hiding in a hole in the wall. Predictably, the imperial tutor followed. He stopped just where C
ha Ming had previously been. He looked down at the mouse in disgust and glared down the alleyway.
Just as the imperial tutor was about to leave, Cha Ming suddenly appeared behind him, thrusting out with a green palm that shattered bones and damaged viscera. It pierced through the man’s abruptly summoned shields, shattering them. The man cried out, but before he could do anything else, Cha Ming locked down on him with his soul force. At the same time, he sent out hundreds of formation flags, painting with one hand as he held the incapacitated imperial tutor in the other.
Their surroundings merged together as the concealment formation he’d laid activated. He took out a pair of qi-binding manacles and a soul-sealing collar, placing them on the helpless, wide-eyed tutor.
“You qi cultivators should really consider doing weights or something,” Cha Ming said. “You’re so fragile that you collapse after a single blow.”
Of course, his being far stronger than the imperial tutor might also have had something to do with it. The older man could only weep and struggle for breath as Cha Ming confiscated his belongings, which included a core-transmission jade, among other expensive items. To his surprise, it even included a few formation flags. The man was a runic artist.
“You should thank the heavens you’re a good man,” Cha Ming said, noticing the light merit glow on him. “When this is all through, you might actually survive.” That, and the death of the imperial tutor would surely result in an uproar. It was extremely likely that the man was tied to a life slip, a life candle, or some similar device.
For good measure, Cha Ming snapped a picture, sealing the space around the man. Problem taken care of, he flew up above the Blood Master Monastery, holding up the Space-Time Camera as it burned away thousands upon thousands of peak-grade spirit stones. Whereas before, he was economizing, he now had no choice but to put in his all. He couldn’t risk letting a single blood master out of his containment.
Shattered Lands: Book 8 of Painting the Mists Page 42
