125 Invitation

A man walked through the forest at a tranquil pace. All around him, spirit beasts either prowled or slept, depending on their roles in the blackness of the night. They didn't see him. Not many could see this man who was wreathed in shadows.

He walked calmly and without fear. With every footstep, twigs almost broke and leaves almost bent. Shadows merged with his own, covering his body like a cloak, warding him from the most damaging element: light.

It wasn't long before he reached the peak of the mountain where the sovereign was located. He sent his incandescent force into a small cave situated near a jade plate. It was there because of the abundance of demonic qi, and it was a perfect place for a beast sovereign to cultivate. To his surprise, however, he found nothing.

"You came," a voice said behind him. He turned around in time to see a large black-and-white fox. He was surrounded by an aura of light and shadows that emanated from his two tails.

"Sovereign Two Tails, I presume?" the man asked.

"That's right," he said. "You do know the consequences of infringing on a beast sovereign's territory, don't you?"

"I suppose you'll want to fight me to assert your dominance," the man said nonchalantly. "If so, you may as well get it out of the way."

The two-tailed fox growled and split into two clones, one black and one white. The white clone sent out an aura of suppression as it attacked. The man made not a sound, choosing to immediately form hand seals. His shadow elongated, taking advantage of the purifying aura of light to lengthen itself. Then it split into a thousand hands that reached out and grabbed the black fox. The black fox would have none of it, however. It plunged into the black hands and began absorbing them.

"Shadows of fate, heed my call," the man said. "My shadow is yours, your shadow is mine." Instantly, black threads of karma shot out from the shadow hands and bound themselves to the black fox. It continued to try absorbing the hands that gripped it, but the hands absorbed back whatever they lost. The shadow could only remain trapped.

"You like to play dirty, huh?" the fox said. "Light in the darkness!" Its shadowy form spread out to cover the entire area. The clone of light transformed into a shining sphere and shot toward the man. The man grunted and simply walked forward, through the ball of light, distorting as though he didn't truly exist.

"You can't hurt me, Huxian," the man said. "Perhaps if you broke through to peak purification, it would be a different story, but for now you're helpless."

"Isn't it the same with you, Wang Jun?" Huxian replied. "You couldn't hurt me even if you wanted to. You can stall me, but that hardly counts as a victory."

"Fair enough," Wang Jun said. "You've grown up. Cha Ming will be quite happy to see you're safe and sound."

"You spoke to Cha Ming?" Huxian said, instantly shrinking to his baby form.

Wang Jun smiled. "Regrettably, only recently. He disappeared for years and was only able to contact me a few months ago. He's making quite a name for himself in the north."

Huxian remained silent for a few moments. "What have you come here for?"

"I'm sure you know what I came here for," Wang Jun replied. "I'm hoping we can negotiate something peaceful that's advantageous to the both of us. The others won't give you that. Besides, do you know the name of the leader of the other group?" Huxian didn't reply. "His name is Zhou Li."

Huxian pulled his ears back and bared his teeth. "Do you know what he did?" the fox said in a hoarse voice.

"I do," Wang Jun said. "And I intend to get revenge. But for that, I need your help. I need the immortal jade to gain an economic advantage over him in the Song Kingdom."

"I suppose you can't back out from this joint attack?" Huxian asked.

"You're very clever for a baby fox," Wang Jun said. "Yes, we're financially invested in the attack. Not just that, but if we give up, the kingdom will support Zhou Li's faction. Core-formation cultivators will come. You and I both know that while the outcome would be bloody, it's a price they are willing to pay. And once they obtain the jade, Zhou Li's faction will gain the economic advantage."

"And what do you propose?" Huxian asked.

"I propose that we trade," Wang Jun said. "The immortal jade is useless to you but very valuable to us. Fortunately, our mission here is not to decimate the beasts on the mountain. That's just one possible solution. I believe that it's most reasonable for us to trade resources that you beasts require most."

Huxian looked pensive. "I want resources, seeds, and something else. I want a peace treaty with the Silverwing Mountain Range. We will not send beast tides to human lands to the south or to the northern pass so long as the humans do not invade our lands. We will expand north and east, into other beast territories. In exchange, we will trade with you."

"That's a little beyond my ability to negotiate," Wang Jun said.

"It isn't, and I'll tell you why," Huxian said. "The formation contains immortal jade core. And it's in a well-hidden area. You wouldn't be able to find it without a competent earth-aligned beast."

"Such as a geomantic boa…" Wang Jun said softly. "How much are we talking? We only have estimates."

"The original formation has three thousand jin of elemental immortal jade," Huxian replied. "But the hidden formation has six hundred jin of immortal jade core."

Wang Jun's eyes widened when he heard the number. The immortal jade was already double what they had originally expected, with a value of about 450,000 high-grade spirit stones. However, the immortal jade core was worth twice that much, even with such a small quantity.

"What do you want, exactly?" Wang Jun asked. Huxian sent him a list mentally that almost caused Wang Jun to cough up blood. "Trying to rob me into an early grave? You know I'm desperate, but this is extortion."

Huxian shrugged. "Think about the military cost savings alone. If the Song Kingdom doesn't have to defend against the beast tides at the mountain range, not only will military costs be reduced, but the villages will be able to grow crops and mine in peace."

"And how will we guarantee this treaty?" Wang Jun said. It was a tolerable deal. Not only did the materials he requested cost less than 100,000 high-grade spirit stones, he would avoid serious losses in human life, which would increase the third prince's reputation. Meanwhile, the Song Kingdom would take thirty percent of the jade as a tax, nearly three times as much as the beasts would net. This advantage would enable them to grow troops faster than the beasts could. In fact, they could hire many masters to improve the local professions and start a virtuous cycle.

"That part is easy," Huxian said. "If you can guarantee me the resources, I can convince all the other sovereigns and the monarch. However, we will have to perform these trades in installments. I can exchange for twenty percent in the first month and ten percent every six months thereafter."

Wang Jun frowned. "Thirty percent up front, and ten percent every three months thereafter. This concerns my own family matters, so I can't budge on this. But there's still the problem of guaranteeing the peace treaty."

"Look at the top ten items on the list," Huxian said.

"What about them?" Wang Jun said, raising an eyebrow.

"With these, every beast sovereign will be able to break through to core formation," Huxian said. "Beasts rely only to the carrot and the stick. What beast doesn't want to improve their strength?

"Besides, I won't be staying around the mountain for very long. To guarantee the contract, we will form a blood pact with the sovereigns of each mountain and with… hm, let's say that nice minister down there. The one with the core-formation cultivation base. He seems like a loyal enough fellow. I'll also take a blood oath from this third prince you support. And yourself."

Wang Jun raised an eyebrow at this condition. "I can't sign blood oaths," Wang Jun said.

"You and I both know that this restriction doesn't apply when you willingly sign with source blood," Huxian said.

"I need to consider," Wang Jun said, shaking his head. "There are too many parties, and I doubt they or you would sign an agreement without the initial trade materials. I need to see when I can secure them. Also, we need to start attacking you to keep up appearances. I'm sure that we can work something out that minimizes casualties…"

"That can be arranged," Huxian said. "I'll instruct my subordinates to play gently with yours, and I trust you'll do the same. This way, I can divert more forces to Zhou Li's side and minimize our casualties by killing more of his." Huxian looked toward the bottom of the mountain with a murderous expression.

"Oh, one more thing," Wang Jun said. "While core-formation experts won't come due to the presence of the owl monarch, I expect reinforcements to trickle in on Zhou Li's end. You need to convince the other beasts as soon as possible."

"Fair enough," Huxian said. "I do need one last thing from you before you leave. I want to talk to Cha Ming."

"Of course," Wang Jun said before taking out his core-transmission jade.

***

The next morning, Cha Ming woke to the delivery of a white envelope beneath his door. The sun had just risen. He donned his blue robes and tore open the letter. It was written with exquisite penmanship. Cha Ming had no doubt that the writer was very experienced in the runic arts.

Dear Cha Ming,

It is my great pleasure to invite you for an interview for admission into the Alabaster Group. We believe that you possess qualities that will be of great benefit to our organization.

Should you choose to accept this interview, please report to our office in Quicksilver City within the next three days. I won't lie—the examination will be difficult. We take the recruitment of members very seriously, and we do not extend an invitation to just anyone.

I look forward to your kind response.

Sincerely,

Lu Tianhao

Cha Ming was overjoyed at the unexpected invitation. To his knowledge, securing an invitation was very difficult, and he'd expected it to take an astronomical amount of time.

The timing was wonderful. He was trapped in the city until his strength increased enough to fight Xiao Heilong, an insurmountable task without medicinal pills and foundation-establishment battle techniques. Not only was his qi cultivation stalled, his body cultivation was as well. Immortal jade was impossible to purchase due to its small quantities and wondrous effects. There were many buyers but no supply.

He was about to walk straight to the Alabaster Group when his core-transmission jade vibrated. He activated the voice-only function. "Brother Wang, it's only been a short while. What's the occasion?"

"Can you activate the video function?" Wang Jun's voice asked.

"Sure," Cha Ming said. He sat cross-legged on his bed before activating a green hologram.

"Brother!" a voice shouted. Cha Ming broke into a grin when he saw the tiny fox beside Wang Jun.

"Huxian, I've missed you greatly," Cha Ming said warmly. "I'm glad to see you're doing well. Did Brother Jun just find you?"

"We talked business for a bit first," Huxian said. "That aside, what realm have you reached?"

Cha Ming shook his head. "I haven't advanced much. I reached initial foundation establishment and initial bone forging a short while ago. Many experiences… delayed my advancement."

"Oh," Huxian said. "Well, it shouldn't be a problem for me to delay advancement now. "I'm a late-purification demon beast, so you need to work hard to catch up."

"I promise I will," Cha Ming said. "What have you been doing?"

"Small things," Huxian said. "I conquered a mountain and befriended the boss of another mountain. Oh, and let me show you my soul slave, Lei Jiang!" A small purple mouse appeared.

Cha Ming's eyes narrowed when Huxian mentioned the words "soul slave."

"He'll do anything I want him to, even if I tell him to kill himself," Huxian said. "Look. Lei Jiang, run in a circle." The little mouse only ran a half circle before Cha Ming couldn't take it anymore and cut the transmission.

A single tear ran down his reddened eyes. He clenched and opened his fists for an incense time before finally calming down.

He's only a kid and doesn't know any better, Cha Ming thought. He's only a kid and doesn't know any better. Cha Ming repeated this mantra many times. I can tell him that slavery is wrong, but will he listen to me?

***

Wang Jun looked at Huxian awkwardly as the transmission cut out.

"What happened?" Huxian asked. "Is this thing broken?" He sniffed at the core-transmission jade.

"It's not broken," Wang Jun said, sighing. "He's just very disappointed in you. So much so that he couldn't continue the conversation."

Huxian was hurt and confused. "What did I do? I just showed him all the awesome things I did."

"That's the problem," Wang Jun said. "Cha Ming has been through much these past few years, and it is why he's only just stepped into initial foundation establishment and initial bone forging." Wang Jun's eyes darted to Lei Jiang. "Send him away first, just seeing him makes me angry."

Huxian scrunched his foxy eyebrows but did as he was told. He wanted to get to the bottom of this.

"You see, Cha Ming just barely survived the tribulation. He was crippled. He slowly recovered his cultivation, only to…"

As Wang Jun recited Cha Ming's story step by step, realization dawned on Huxian. He was saddened when he heard of Cha Ming's injury and recovery, but his anger flared when he heard of Cha Ming's enslavement and the one year he spent in the mines.

"We need to kill that man Wei Chen!" he shouted.

"Why should we kill him?" Wang Jun said. "Is slavery a big deal?"

"Well, no," Huxian replied, clearly having missed Wang Jun's sarcasm. "But this is Cha Ming we're talking about. We need to get revenge."

"The perpetrator is already dead," Wang Jun said. "But the concept of slavery hurts Cha Ming greatly. He can't bear to see that you have a soul slave. You need to understand that Cha Ming feels sad for anyone who is enslaved. He may even feel ashamed to call you brother. The act of enslavement is heartless, and Cha Ming has a big heart."

Huxian remained silent, thinking of everything he knew about Cha Ming. "Is this kind of like the not-eating-meat thing?"

Wang Jun nodded. "It's exactly like the not-eating-meat thing. In fact, he feels hurt every time he sees you eating meat because he feels for the animals. But he doesn't say anything because he knows you need to eat. Likewise, he feels very strongly about slavery. He doesn't feel slavery is justified in any situation. He will feel upset whenever he sees a creature like Lei Jiang. In his eyes, what you are doing is very wrong. He probably hung up because he was angry but didn't want to yell at you and hurt you."

Huxian wasn't sure how to react to this information. It had never occurred to him that the things he enjoyed doing could upset his brother. Then, thinking back, he also thought of Silverwing's reaction when he almost sacrificed Lei Jiang. Silverwing had been very upset when Huxian didn't treat Lei Jiang as a friend. Was it possible that both man and beast saw things this way?

"I'm upset as well," Wang Jun said. "I'm upset that you hurt my brother. If you don't change your ways, you'll soon find yourself without friends."

Wang Jun left as silently as he had arrived. Huxian whined softly at the peak of the mountain. And for the second time in his life, the baby fox felt guilt. The feeling had a bitter taste. A taste he would never be able to wash away.