Capítulo 85: Chapter 85 - Three problems.
Following Master Xiaodan's orders, the medical team restored Xin to full health.
Feeling somewhat guilty for such preferential treatment, he donated most of the medicine he looted from the enemy medic, which certainly boosted his reputation.
In the aftermath of the fighting, the homestead was left relatively intact. A few broken doors and windows here and there and a hole in the stockade certainly felt like a good outcome, compared to the devastation usually wreaked by cultivator battles. The morning birds hummed their peaceful songs, as if the fight never happened, contrasted by the moans of the injured.
Overall, the sect's forces have captured thirty seven prisoners, most of them Fist sect members, but there were also some mercenaries. The rumour in the camp was that master Zhi had already interrogated the captured sword path master in his golden tent. When it came to the inspector from the capital, he vanished without a trace as soon as the battle ended, in contrast with his flashy appearance.
It's been two days of garrison duty at this point. Xin was sitting on a bench outside, trying to keep himself together after all that transpired. His wounds were mended, but somehow it made things even worse. If he was injured, he could at least feel what his heart felt, and wallow in pain, getting his masochistic release, but now there was nothing to distract from the gnawing in his tortured head.
I slaughtered several rank one masters. It felt great at the moment, and I still feel proud, it's an exceptional achievement, but also an empty one! And the Tealstone people... They weren't my friends or even people I was close with, but it still stings so gravely…
They attacked me first. They chose to join that sect and fight. No, it still feels terrible, no rational explanation can get this feeling to stop. Xin felt a dagger of sorrow twist in his chest. It was my choice to join a sect, knowing that I might be asked to kill one day, and I have to take full responsibility.
He opened his bag and checked up on his loot again.
Physical cultivation materials, quite a large portion. I don't know how to physically cultivate, and if I transform my organs and create a xiandao core, it'll dissolve all organ transformations. Should I just use them to just work out, without performing any physical alchemy?
Being at your physical peak never hurts, but it feels like a waste. Well, the girls like it when the guys are jacked, don't they? But those muscles won't be as hard earned, so I'll feel inadequate when they're attracted to me, won't I? Whatever, it's not the time to think about women.
Still, an image of a young maiden he was in love with in Tealstone flashed in front of his eyes. Then an image of her best friend, whose brains Xin splattered all over the wall. Splendid, Xin thought. This will torture me for life. Should keep checking the loot. He bit his cheek and kept rummaging.
A dozen spirit stones. This is good, but what do I buy with these? It's not enough for an enchanted crossbow or armour, and I'm already stacked on dao shards. The best way to get stronger is getting to rank one, but it feels like my road towards this will be quite thorny. Fuck Fang Zhi.
Speaking of dao shards, plant rejuvenation dao shard might be very useful. The enemy medic probably used it to revive the dry alchemical materials and make them fresh, but it could also be used to heal Lei's wooden limb. Or a plant creature. If I cultivate Carnivore Grove inheritance, this can come in handy.
Wood path cultivation materials. There's plenty. Enough for two breakthroughs, in fact. Maybe I should barter for metal path materials and try to break through once again? No, without the special environment it's a waste of time. My conflict removal materials are about to be digested once again, which will reduce my qi pool once again… Whatever, I bought more portions. They certainly pay for themselves.
Xin checked his leftover medicine. There was some good stuff there, mostly concerning healing, poison and emergency meridian repair. There was also Wu Xiaoyun's meridian restoring concoction, which could certainly come in handy in the future. Xin donated all the blood stopping and restoration pills he looted, as well as the limb reattachment paste. Wish we had it when Lei was maimed, he thought.
This battle and my donation have greatly raised my reputation, that's given, but what about me extorting that rank one master? Well, it was his fault, will show others not to cross my path like that. And my friends were very lenient when splitting the loot with me, is this their way of supporting me after I failed my breakthrough? Or are they just saying thank you?
Oh, the ring. Xin looked over this fancy trinket again. So, it's a pretty jade ring, enchanted with wood qi. That's interesting, since jade is of earth element. It seems like it can help its user blend with its surroundings somehow. Still, he became visible in stages when I shot him, which means the item's power quickly dissolves without concentration. His smell was also obscured, but not enough to trick my totem.
Xin felt his heart start beating faster again. That ambush was the scariest part of the battle for him, not even fighting a rank one master in hand-to-hand combat was as stressful.
So much happened in this battle! Our side made several mistakes, and so did I. My positioning was subpar, my martial arts moves are still unrefined. Relying on the crossbow will soon make my martial arts degrade, and I still haven't unlocked my glaive's full potential. I guess having it constantly at hand in my new bag of holding will make it more convenient to use it in the future.
Elemental overseer Ting is dead, but at least she managed to disable the enemy master with her dying breath. Otherwise, we'd be in trouble. These Divine Sword masters seem like trouble.
The enemy side had plenty of mercenaries, and they generally seemed more competent than Fist sect members. Wait... Me, Lei, Zhan, Ming, Nang — we're glorified mercenaries, aren't we? Spent little time in the sect, thrown into the front lines, performing dangerous missions. Underpaid.
In this battle, I was the most distinguished mortal, and, judging by the rumours, Yao Nang came second. Same with Lei and Ming, who completely stole the show. It seems the newcomers are dominating the sect when it comes to combat.
Without that new blood injection, where would the sect be? On the Southern front, there would be no mortal formation. On this front, the fort would endure our attack, and even more of the sect members would be dead. Yes, we are still small fry, but the effect we have on our organisation is evident. So why didn't the sect do it decades ago?
It was probably a question of loyalty, Xin thought. People like me and Lei are unique, and we drive the organisations we are in forward, but we also play for ourselves. A corrupt mediocrity is not a threat, they'll pull some resources away and go play in the mud, but a competent individual threatens to undermine the whole structure. People feel threatened, and demand that such individuals work overtime to justify their existence, otherwise they destroy them. People in power also feel threatened, as competent individuals can lead people against them, and even if their intentions are noble, they'll still get repressed just in case, like Rui Ming was, while corrupt mediocrities are left to plot freely.
Our sect probably focused a lot on the business side of things and coexisting with Xuanwu clan and the North's economy, earning money and building up connections in exchange for getting bullied and losing prestige. Seemed stupid at first, but now it looks like it's paying off. Too early to tell, this war will be a final verdict.
So, society has embraced mediocrity, and represses talented people. On a good day, they'll demand they sacrifice themselves heroically and get praised in death, as if it matters, or spend their life in service, underpaid and overqualified, having to give their superiors the lip service, boosting their standing as a consequence. That's it, right?
It can't be that simple. Every organisation's members aren't defined just by their competence or loyalty, but also the relationships they have with each other. People aren't loyal just to their organisation or themselves, but also to other people. You can't remove factional warfare and nepotism, it's immanent to humans, but if you let it get out of control, your whole organisation collapses.
So, each structure has to fight against incompetence, dissent and nepotism. Each of these problems propagates the other two, but how does this relate to our sect? Xin contemplated further, this sort of thinking helped ease his mind, just as rummaging through the inventory and making lists of pros and cons.
Nepotism? It always exists, but it doesn't feel like our sect's nepotism is too unhealthy, probably because of the Edict changing the circumstances. Was likely worse in the past. And there was less need for competent people before. In peacetime, I'd probably get repressed much more. Interesting.
Lei and Ming were elevated pretty quickly, but I was banned from attempting my breakthrough again. Will they help them grow to rank two, though, or do they want to marinate them at rank one some more? Too early to tell, but if I have to advance, I'll probably have to play the political game. It's good that I dodged lady Meiling's approach, would be a disaster.
Dissent? Barely any, from what I've seen. That's because the war has just begun, and morale is high. Who knows what happens once we start struggling. And we will, as in war, both sides are always struggling and undersupplied, it's about who manages their problems better and reinvents themselves more effectively. And who has the most soldiers and money, of course, this never hurts.
Incompetence? In terms of incompetence…
"Xin! Can I talk to you, or are you still menstruating, all moody?" Lei approached him and waved.
"There he is! Speaking of menstruation, it looks like your ovaries exploded inside your eyeballs."
"Hahaha, what? This is stupid, man! At least I washed all the other blood off. You know how long it took, you geezer?" Lei punched Xin's shoulder with his new arm. "But look, this arm is so cool!"
"Looks like a regular arm to me. Congratulations, anyway. Are your meridians alright?"
"I have a small bit of blood qi built up. Think it's persistent. I can ignore it for now, it's not bad at all."
Did the dao shard also cause some internal transformations? Lei's core is probably disrupted somewhat.
"Please, make sure that you're fine, I don't want you to get a clot and die."
"Listen, you heard what Rui Ming claims?" Lei ignored Xin's concern. "Says the enemies that he fought were the strongest, and that he carried us." Lei made a "big mouth" gesture with his hand, then slapped it with his other hand and grinned.
"Knowing you, you probably boasted in front of him and forced his hand. He's a modest man, usually." He's a king of humble brugging, who am I kidding?
"Well, maybe I did, but that's not the point. Guy goes around showing off his trophy meteoritic weapons. Can you imagine?"
"I suspect people just asked him to show them, and he did. Sorry, as good as we did, especially me, of course, Ming is also commendable. Let him enjoy his fame."
"Fuck off, you guys didn't have to fight a rank two! Oh, and Zhan, you heard?"
"What about him?"
"He says he requested that his father send us a shitton of rice, enough to feed the sect for two months or so. The sect leaders were struggling with supplies, so he offered to strike a deal on his family's behalf."
"That's cool. If he keeps doing that, I don't mind having a rich kid in the sect."
"Eh, he's alright. How are you, by the way?"
"Eh, think I'm fine." Xin almost choked on these words. "My battle gains are decent, but I need those contribution points, badly. How about that flying sword, do you get to keep it?"
"No, of course not. I had to give it away, lady Ting had a successor and wrote a will. Her younger sister will inherit it."
"Oh, is she hot?"
"Xin! You gigolo, haha. Frankly, I don't know. The sword was very helpful in this battle, I'm glad it was with me. Honestly, this fight was tense, but nothing beats the iron mantis!"
"I'm still having nightmares about the ghouls from before that. That feeling when everyone is drained of qi and injured, and I have to get everyone into the mines without knowing exactly where they are, or everyone dies — it's fucked up, brother. I had a dream about failing to find the mine and everyone turning into ghouls so many times at this point…"
"Fuck that forest. Just fuck it, seriously. How are you holding up now, though? You don't look very fresh."
"You look like Yao Nang sat on your face while on periods, that hair and eyes."
"Oh, I wish! Just kidding, I don't. Stop deflecting, fucking answer."
"The Tealstone people. It's like a dagger twisting in my chest, it won't go away. I feel like a spirit observing a guy operating my body, and the only thing that proves that it's not the case is pain."
Lei didn't answer, his eyes widened, he scratched his nose and looked away.
"Brother... Were you close?"
"No. We had some mutual friends, but that's about it. It's just absurd, we could have ended up in their place, if things went a little bit differently. If those Fist sect cunts drafted us in that tavern, can you imagine?"
"We'd run away, don't worry. Look me in the eyes. I thought about this stuff a lot, and I devised two solutions. You either embrace how rough and fucked up the world is, and try to build your own island of happiness inside of it in spite of all odds, or try to change it. Both choices are respectable. Just don't be delusional."
"Delusional? Happiness is an empty word, I think. So, focus on yourself or change the world? Well, I'd rather embrace it. Changing it sounds idealistic and pointless." Xin scratched his nose.
"Nah, you look like a kind of guy who'd try to change it. Maybe that's why you are such a sad fuck. Going against your nature."
Lei's words stung.
"So you wish I died in Tealstone and we never met?"
Lei rolled his eyes, Xin was being "that" guy again.
"I just wish you don't crumble when this all ends. I need you, friend. And I hope you'll need me, too, Xin."
"Huh. Lei getting sentimental? Fine, I'll get serious, no banter. You're a good friend, and I hope our friendship endures." Xin gave Lei's new fist a bump.
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