章 89: Chapter 89 - Xin's old hut.
I can't train my physique, I can't tame my totem, I can't break through! Where are my contribution points? Where are the proper supplies? Where is anything to justify my continued loyalty? Bullshit.
Xin marched angrily in a column of soldiers heading into the forest he was born and raised in, his feet obscured by the morning mist. Dai Bu's forest, Tranquil forest, Green forest, it had many names, but for Xin it was always The Forest. A peaceful and simple place, where everything was in order and made perfect sense. Until everything crumbled.
The forest itself was fading, it lost a third of its trees to new settlements and more than half of its animals to hunting and poaching in just ten years. Fist sect was the most audacious agent in this process, hunting and fishing uncontrollably, Tealstone's government powerless to stop them. Xin long held a resentment towards them, but somehow Lei was even angrier. When Xin asked him about what happened, he chose not to speak about it, which was unusual, given how sincere and open he usually was.
Xin still felt the itching urge to do something important again. He was raised in these woods, he knew every trail, he was a great tracker — but Master Xiaodan dismissed him. Apparently, the sect had their own investigative masters, and his life experience was nothing compared to their methods. It was a soul crushing revelation.
Every rank one master led twenty disciples now, but every rank two still had five rank ones under their command. There was also a number of smaller squads dedicated to recon and formations that had their own rules and structure. Overall, the sect's forces numbered around one thousand people, reinforced by five hundred soldiers of the Xuanwu clan.
Most of them had decent armour, pikes, ji polearms or crossbows, and there was even an elite heavy armoured cavalry force, led by cultivators of the Xuanwu bloodline. Xin felt a sense of relief being around proper soldiers, he felt the sect was lacking in this department. His perfectionist mind struggled to grasp how such a rich and old organisation like theirs could be so mediocre in matters of war and strategy. But remembering Rui Ming's story, and how their sect leader defeated two famous enemy masters alone, Xin also wondered if any of this even mattered. He kept marching.
A familiar spring. The water is as clean as ever, but the bushes look overgrown. It seems the animals that used to stop for a drink here were now gone. Soon, the fish will overbreed, and with the lack of usual birds and animals, a sickness might arise. If the balance is not restored, the whole spring might go barren.
An old glade, a place where Xin and his father used to cut some fresh medical herbs. It was now filled with tree stumps, and with no place to hide, the birds and animals left or starved to death, leaving their carcasses to scavenger birds. Xin's heart stung at this sight, more so than when he saw Tealstone get flattened.
This wasn't a monster invasion, it was manmade, and things would only get worse.
Soon, there'll be a road here, maybe a post office and a roadside inn. And the birds' singing will be a distant dream, a painful reminder of how fleeting childhood is.
To change the world or to accept the world as it is? If our sect controlled this place, would it be much different? At the end of the day, human interests trample over any obstacles, and this forest is just a symbol of my childhood, why would the sect restore it?
Even if I restored it, would it bring my mom and dad back? My dog? My town, or my innocence? I butchered yaoguai corpses, got people killed to earn a stake in the business, even killed some Tealstone youngsters in the name of sect interests. All of this was necessary, but none of this can be undone. It's painful, but I have to turn the page.
"How close are we, Xin? I've never been to Tealstone." Rui Ming asked. He looked calm and composed, his long hair waving under the morning breeze.
"An hour of walking and we'll be around the first houses. My neighbour lived up that hill, that's where we fought the tiger yaoguai. My house is twenty or so minutes down that hill, towards Tealstone. From where we are, Tealstone is an hour away, something like that."
"Got it. What can you tell me about it?"
"It was unremarkable even before the boar attack. The manor that gave it the name was ruined long ago, and was rebuilt a decade back, but from regular murmur, but painted. Quite tasteless. It was a town of small people, ruled by corrupt and small-minded officials. I preferred to stay away." Xin omitted all the positive memories so as to not hurt.
"That's harsh. I see that your memories of this town are unpleasant, I won't inquire any further. If you have anything useful to tell me, please do."
"I will, master Ming. There's one thing I wanted to ask you, if I may."
Ten minutes later, Xin approached master Xiaodan, who just landed in front of a group of rank one masters.
"Speak. Fast." Xin is about to make an audacious request, isn't he? He has these eyes again.
"Master, I have a request to make. Rui Ming said he can't authorise it. I want to visit my old house, up that hill. Will you authorise this leave? I won't desert, I promise."
"Desert? Huh, as if you could. I've got more important stuff to do, so go, get yourself killed over a sentiment. Authorised."
The other rank one masters, who Xin was unfamiliar with, looked at Xin with somewhat mocking expressions. It seems his request was considered funny and childish. Whatever, Xin thought. I don't care.
He grabbed his bags and headed towards his old home. Moving a familiar bush aside, climbing the hill, descending towards a familiar glade, he finally emerged near his house. It looked the same, except the door was open. Not a good sign, as Xin left it closed.
Xin looked at the weathered old hut, ten steps long and eight steps wide, with an old roofing made out of tarch, and he expected a certain feeling to arise. Nostalgia, maybe?
The flooring creaked as he entered and looked around. Everything of value was gone. The kitchen utensils, the knives, the bear hide and the furniture — everything vanished, giving the house an even more miserable and empty look. Xin sighed. He felt no nostalgia, no connection to what he was seeing, just emptiness and a slight hint of regret. At this moment, he felt a sense of separation from the past, as if he was just born just today. None of the things that mattered were now relevant, and it felt like there was truly nothing to hold onto.
Xin sat down near the fireplace. There were some bones and pieces of incorrectly burnt firewood amid the ashes. I just hope it was the refugees and not the Fist sect that looted this place. Whatever, none of this matters anymore. I'm free from my past, it has no control over me. It's time to move forward, figure out who I am. Even if I come to the realisation that I'm nothing. I need to find strength in me to turn nothing into something, then.
Wait, what am I thinking? I'm knowledgeable, competent, somewhat respected by my peers, how am I nothing? But these words resonate with me, so they must be at least partially true. I imagined myself as many things, painted so many grand narratives, but apparently I'm just a guy who'll shoot a bunch of bald heads tomorrow. Well, life is a tragedy and a comedy. Xin smirked as he walked out.
The birds still sang, but there were fewer of them, and they felt quieter. The air was still clean, but it no longer gave Xin a sense of calmness. He carefully hurried to catch up with his squad, giving up any hope of ever coming back to this place.
A figure watched him leave from behind the clouds, a melancholic smile escaping their lips.
"Xin, you visited your old house?" Lei asked him when he returned. Their army set up a camp twenty minutes away from Tealstone, completely uncontested. It seemed that the enemies chose to stay behind the town's walls. It made sense, as there was nothing to contest outside.
"I did." Xin answered coldly.
"Any revelations? Profound insights? Maybe you grabbed something you forgot as you ran? Hehe."
"It was robbed. Nothing there. Just emptiness. I'm never coming back. That place is alien now, it doesn't sing to me anymore."
"Such expressions, you'd expect a palace and not a hunter's hut. Well, what's done is done, good to have you back intact, at least. You had me worried, I was about to go investigate."
"I know every nook and cranny of this forest, and it's hard to catch me off-guard. There was no reason to worry."
"Whatever. Want some secret intel?"
"Of course."
"So, the guys from the Xuanwu clan have brought the war machines in their bags of holding. They'll assemble them soon. We'll flatten the walls, enable our formations and assault. We expect the Fist sect's forces here to be pretty strong, but not their defences."
"It's an optimal pressure point, especially if they just let us walk in like it's our garden. It seems much safer than attacking their base. Their resolve to defend it would be much higher, and their defences there should be much harder to breach, too."
"Correct. And now that there is parity between rank fours, unless something happens, rank threes will rule the field."
"And if we take Tealstone, what then? Are we going for their homebase?"
"Of course not. This will be hard and expensive to do, and I already heard the rumours of Eastern sects joining up on the fun. Both sides will want to resolve the conflict quite soon, and it's not like the capital will want us to fight for long, given the Edict and the prediction. Rumour is, both sides will soon be coerced into a resolution."
"What's confusing me is why the capital would allow this shit to happen at all. I guess they don't have enough power to stop this, so they are looking to intervene when they can and without exerting themselves too much."
"You're mirroring my thoughts. Sometimes you've got to let the guys duke it out."
"Heh." Xin chuckled lightly. "Are you up to duke stuff up?"
"More than. I talked about the contribution points with the higher ups, it's not that bad, we'll actually be awarded decently. Rumour is, they'll be handing out free dao shards to all rank ones after Tealstone."
"And qi active mortals?"
"You guys can only activate them once or twice, no offence. Other than you, I wouldn't waste them on mortals. The sect is doing the right thing."
"As if giving the seeds dao shards to help them survive wouldn't pay off in the future."
"Most seeds still can't use them properly, and those that can usually have their own. I agree that our caravan was a blunder, by the way. Have you noticed the thing with Zhan, though?"
"Yeah, he also joined without any shards. Once he gets rank one he gets the shards and a new armour, even gets a political favour to pull, but before that, his family treated him like nothing. It's quite disappointing."
"Poor him. You have to consider that it was him who chose to leave his clan, they don't owe him shit." Lei scoffed.
"Don't be so harsh on him, you don't know his circumstances."
"Whatever. I've got to go, call me if you need anything."
It felt good, having a friend. Xin felt grateful to the heavens for sending him Lei, but also Zhan and Ming. None of his friends abandoned him after he failed his breakthrough, which was his biggest fear.
The sect's army set up a camp and started raising fortifications around the town, and started spreading their troops around the area. Once Xin was finished with his labour assignment, he climbed a tall hill and looked around, trying to gauge the situation.
Last time, the boar attacked from the east, but the sect chose to approach from the south, where the forest behind them would seem as a natural shield against being flanked, as well as a potential refuge to retreat towards. The gate that the boar broke wasn't visible from this hill, but from what Xin heard, the town's walls and gates were fully repaired by now, it was the insides that were in ruins.
There were several other skirmishes other than the homestead battle Xin participated in, with various results, but the sudden loss of a core fortification forced the Fist sect into a somewhat organised retreat. After obtaining the strategic advantage, Five Elements Transition sect's forces decided to take it slow, and advanced carefully while waiting
for the reinforcements to arrive. And indeed, Xin saw a few new faces with orange armbands, the Condensation stage masters, probably reinforcements from the reserves or even the south. Xin wondered if any rank three masters had arrived, but so far Fang Zhi was the only one he had seen or heard.
Xin looked at the town again. What exactly is our strategy going to be? It seems we'll spread wide while assembling our war machines at the hills near the city. We'll mow down their fortifications and advance, all while rank threes and twos are "duking it out", most likely in the air.
Xin was slightly confused about the physical cultivators. None of the masters he fought felt out of line in regards to their assigned combat power rank, which was a source of major anxiety for him. If the capital found a way to quickly and effectively grade physical cultivators against xiandao masters, he wondered what it was.
Over the next two days, Xin helped around the camp, cutting down trees with his techniques, standing guard and patrolling at night using his totemic sense of smell. Eventually, the war machines were fully assembled, reinforcements arrived, and the siege began in earnest.
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