Hao squirmed, his face pressed together in shame. When lips parted, he wondered if anything untrue would come out, or just the truth twisted at the right angle.

  He placed a hand over his chin. “It just… To me, this problem is paramount. It has to do with my peace of mind, my calm, I find it hard to even focus on my Cultivation.”

  Taoyi sighed, almost sighed. He stopped halfway through, turning to a solemn smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Yes, well. That is indeed something rather urgent. If you were to be disturbed during Cultivation, you could lose yourself forever, nothing but a vessel to that thought.”

  “Thanks for understanding, Senior…” Hao paused, waiting for a response. He wasn’t the best at manipulation, but Meiqi was, and this man was her study. She knew everything.

  Hao just had to hope everything went right, and that all his responses were as predictable as he hoped they were.

  Taoyi pulled his lips higher. Thinned them out and whispered between the gaps, “If I can help, I would—But, what can be done in such a short time?” He slid his foot back, only for Hao to slide a foot forward.

  Hao kept his lips still, though he wanted to smile. “Senior, you don’t have to do much; my worries are easily solved.”

  With a shake of his head, Hao let his arms fall to his side and started moving along with the story he spun. “My friend, the leader of my hunting group, went into seclusion. I thought it was a good chance to take on a bunch of missions on my own, not just for resources but to see a bit of the world, you know. I just returned today after being out for months.” Hao shook his head.

  Taoyi lifted his head just enough for him to look down his nose to see Hao. “Good timing, smart to return to the Sect from your missions, on the same day as those returning from the Mid-Summer cave.”

  Hao sniffled, drawing his lips up in a smile, “I hope Senior doesn’t think I’m greedy, but I heard many people pay extra for things brought back from the Cave Realm, and people sell goods that they gathered inside. It was the talk of the Sect months ago—before they ever left the Sect to enter.”

  He paused, took a breath, and shrugged his shoulders. “I returned, hoping to sell what I found on my missions and buy stuff from the Mid-Summer cave. I was going to hold on to the stuff until it became rare again—like an investment kind of thing.”

  Most of what Hao said was easy to believe, something any other disciple would do if they thought of it. The explanation was sound, reasonable. There was no reason to doubt it; both months of missions or time in the Secret Realm would leave Hao looking the way he did.

  Taoyi’s silence nearly sparked worry in him. He had extra bait to throw out, but was hoping to save it until the end. He remembered what made the greedy man tick. Last time it was an Elder token, which made him comply this time.

  Before Hao could throw out any bait, Taoyi lowered his head back down. He wasn’t literally looking down at Hao any longer, at least. “Hmm? Greedy. No, no, I wouldn’t think you greedy, just smart.” Nearly cracking out in a chuckle, he stepped out of his house a little more, giving Hao a fairly large, but subtle scan.

  The greedy, gluttonous globe of a man seemed to believe Hao. Yet, surely, the man must have some doubts that lingered in that basket of wants he called a mind.

  Hao continued, knowing it was better to move on than let the man think too long on one thing. “I thought it would be best to clean up before I did the trades—Impressions and everything.” Hao sighed, as if he was revealing a moment of pain; it didn’t take any acting. “When I entered the home I had been staying at, it was empty and dusty…”

  His head snapped up. The act was turned back on in an instant, his eyes gleaming as he looked at Taoyi. “That is my worry, I had two people who were serving me, something must have happened to them. I paid my dues and left extra for the time I would be away, all of it Meiqi.”

  Through the teary gleam, Hao was glaring at the rotund beast of a man.

  Taoyi nearly dropped the pendant he was rolling in his hand; the only reason it didn’t hit the floor was that it was around his neck. It would have hit his belly first anyway.

  His face of sudden remembrance made Hao want to launch at him.

  Taoyi just now remembered who Hao really was. It was as clear as day, like an old stain that had long washed away, resurfacing as a discolored mark on the ceiling of his hollow skull.

  “Ah…” Taoyi pointed his finger. He hid that finger faster than he drew it, hitting his palms together, “Those two descendants of mine. Yes. No need to worry. I have retrieved them.”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Has something happened to them?” Hao said, not missing the faces of the servants at the side either, the old man may have looked fifty years older than Taoyi, but he hadn’t lived half as long.

  Taoyi put out a hand. “No, of course not, nothing has happened.” His words started to sound chopped up, like he was measuring and sifting through them on the spot. “They were left alone for a while, and it was my duty to ensure their comfort. Your due was well received—and they were well taken care of in your service. I thank you for it.” He looked pleased with himself as he spoke, Thanks.

  Hao heard his words like keys going into a lock. All he had to do now was be careful with his words.

  “I see, Senior, you are lighting my heart.”

  Hao stood there as Taoyi prepared to show Hao out, his face content, a task done written on his puffy cheeks. “Is there something else?” he looked around, between Hao, his servant, and the room where the Fourth Elder waited.

  With a subtle shift in posture, Hao started to turn the key in the lock of his conversation, “I was wondering when I can have them back.” His words came out perfectly—matter of fact, like it was a question with an obvious answer, like why do dogs run, fish swim, and birds fly.

  Taoyi nearly dropped that pendant again. Some type of bone wrapped around gold, with a tiny dot of jade in the blood red crystal in the middle. He tucked it under his robes, his smile gone.

  “No—no, you wished to have them again, that-that-ah, could be rather difficult—”

  Hao let his hands fall freely. They swung at his sides, his face tightening in disbelief. He started believing his own act.

  “So, something is wrong then?” He said, watching as the wheels turned in Taoyi’s head, he thought he knew what the man was thinking, and he waited.

  Taoyi’s words froze at Hao’s remark. He had just said all was good. They were well, and Hao did everything right by them and himself. If there were no problems, then what was the problem?

  Reputation, and caring so much about it, was a slippery slope; if he peddled backwards now on his own words, especially since Hao, a boy, the one who rang the bell, a disciple who had some sort of relationship with the fifth Elder. What value would his words have?

  “You said you will be cultivating. If you enter seclusion, they will be left on their own again, so you see… Of course, I have other concerns.” Taoyi spoke with some confidence. He thought he did well, that his words were tailored.

  Well done, Hao thought, but he had more bait. Meiqi had taught him everything the man liked to hear, and no matter what, he would take Meiqi from this residence.

  Hao folded as if he were struck, sinking a little in the shoulders, before perking his ears like an idea had come to him. “I see, no, you are right. But I could get a residence, with a seclusion chamber, a place to house them as well, surely there are a few on the mountain. I will speak with the Fifth Elder and make a request.”

  Back and forth they went. Taoyi sank this time, his head bobbing in thought; the mention of the Fifth Elder must have been like meat hung in front of a starving dog.

  Inside the room behind him, another Elder. The fourth, whom Taoyi was happy to bow in front of and act like a dog himself.

  Hao continued, “You mentioned other things, Senior. What other concerns do you have?”

  It was clear that Taoyi’s straw will was wavering, just a little bit more, and Hao could rest in his bed.

  “Yes, those two, they come to miss the youngest of their family if they leave my service for too long. I can’t give her up. She has been promised to another, who is in desperate need of her assistance. They are paying m — her quite the sum.”

  The big man’s voice was becoming weary, his words more careful, though he still had to catch them. A forked tongue often found itself tied.

  Hao stepped forward, nearly inside the building now. “Perhaps I can offer more and change her mind, if it will bring peace to the others, I can offer up something.”

  “That would be very hard.” Taoyi snickered like he heard a joke.

  “Senior, you didn’t forget I have just returned from a chain of missions,” Hao said, watching Taoyi suddenly light up, as he took a beast core out from his bag, lifting it aloft.

  “There are more too, and other things, and if I can pay in parts, a little at a time, I can make up the difference to change her mind.”

  Taoyi grabbed the core. His voice wavered as if to laugh. “It’s not bad, and more… Very well, I will see. First, I will delay her from getting committed to the job. For the other two, you can have them now on a condition.”

  Taoyi whispered to the servant at his side. The gray-haired man ran off, nearly slipping; he came back with a wooden slip and a brush. With a turn, the servant presented his back for Taoyi to write on.

  “Next time you speak to the Fifth Elder, deliver this into his hands.” Taoyi placed the slip into Hao’s hands, “You should go to the Fifth Elder sooner rather than later; you will need that extra space in your housing for them.” He hit Hao on the shoulder with a whole-hearted laugh.

  Taoyi stepped back, sending the servant back even further. “One of them is in the Medicine Hall, the other will be cleaning you… old house when you return from the Fifth Elders’ hall.”

  His smile had turned genuine. “Do not keep them in your seclusion chamber at all times; they might interrupt your meditations.”

  Hao lifted the slip between his two hands as he gave a half-bow. He was calling Taoyi, idiot in his head, but imagined the man was calling him, fool boy, all the same.

  He didn’t linger longer than he needed to.

  Hao walked to the other side of the Sect, towards the location of the Upper Peaks, where the Elders and their disciples ruled.