Torsten Hewson
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v4c76: To News
🕑 Added 2024-01-22 04:32:19 +0000 UTCThe wind blew through Meiling’s hair and steam blew off the top of her tea. It was warm—one of summer's last hurrahs. Outside the small pavilion and in the sun, it was even hot enough that quite a few of the people out in the fields had stripped off their outer layers. The rain from the past week had been chased away, leaving conditions perfect for the harvest… or an event.
And an event Hong Yaowu would have. The Great Reaping Race.
It was a small thing, mostly amongst family and friends, but somebody had invited the Lord Magistrate and Lady Wu—and to everyone’s surprise, they had actually come.
So now, Meiling was sitting with Lady Wu, Pi Pa, Meihua, Hu Li… and several other women from Verdant Hill that Lady Wu had brought along with her.
It was the kind of gathering where she normally would have sat on the edges of, if she had been invited at all. A wallflower, shying away from the more radiant ladies around her.
It was a hard habit to crack, but one could hardly blend into the background when they were seated beside Lady Wu. And yet there were no condescending looks from the other ladies. No barbs about Meiling’s appearance. Even when Meiling found herself looking for things to get angry about, there was nothing. The boney viper, the prickly thistle… was just Meiling.
She found herself smiling as she returned to the conversation.
“It has taken a lot longer than I first anticipated, but it's been an enjoyable project—I even saved up a bit, and bought thread from the Azure Jade Trading Company! Isn’t it a wonderful colour of blue?” one of the ladies said, as she opened up the embroidery project she had been working on.
Meiling gave it a glance. The scene of sky and clouds woven into the dress was very nice—she would have to see about making one like that for herself.
‘It is a wonderful design. The colours truly pop,’ Pi Pa said from her own seat.
“Thank you, Miss Pi Pa.” The women Lady Wu had brought with her had been afraid of the talking pig at first—but that fear had swiftly fallen away when they discovered the dainty-hat-wearing Spirit Beast was as prim and proper as they came, the picture of feminine grace.
“I wish we could afford that!” another lady grumbled. She looked slightly frazzled, even now. “But this year has been a travesty! Burrower ants in the foundation, termites infesting the walls of the servant’s quarters—we’ve had to tear down three buildings and take the servants into our own house. I haven't had a quiet moment in months, and my husband’s been working himself to the bone. He's been too tired to fulfill his own duties!”
Meiling felt a touch of pity for the woman. That was one thing Meiling didn’t have to worry about.
“I may know something to put a bit of… pep back in him.” Meiling said, and the rest of the ladies leaned forwards.
“Oho? Liling’s specialty?” Hu Li asked. “Youse best be careful with that, couldn’t walk straight for a week after Ten had a sip!”
Lady Wu’s eyes lit up. The rest of the ladies leaned in. “Please, do tell us more, Meiling.”
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The conversation meandered from there. It was nice to have women’s talk. While she did love Jin and Gou, ever since Xiulan, Ri Zu, Tigu and Yin left, she was mostly lacking in female conversation partners; only Pi Pa remained, and they both needed more people to talk to.
Meiling felt herself relaxing, and she looked out at the fields, where they were finishing the set up for the demonstration. She quickly spotted Gou Ren, who was taking care of Zhuye today. He looked to be lounging and lazing, her son curled up in his arms after finally exhausting himself.
It was a welcome reprieve for both of them. While Meiling enjoyed being a mother, she had just gotten hit with her first real trial. Taking care of Zhuye when he was immobile had been rather simple, in a lot of respects, and her constitution prevented a lack of sleep from impacting her.
This was a bit more of a trial.
The second her boy learned how to crawl, he immediately set about giving every one of his minders a headache. He scuttled about like a rather cute beetle, and each day he crawled for longer and longer. He definitely had his father’s inexhaustible stamina, even at this tender age.
It was good that they had baby-proofed the living room, but even then he had somebody watching him, just in case.
Just in case of times like when he decided the best idea ever was to launch himself off the couch. He had been sleeping the moment before! Chun Ke had managed to catch him on his back. The boar pushed the shaken baby back up onto the couch, looked Zhuye in the eye, and gently but firmly shook his head.
Zhuye had immediately started crying after being admonished… but somehow Chun Ke’s simple headshake had gotten through to him. Zhuye stayed away from the edge of the couch now.
Still, it was trying enough while he was crawling. Meiling wasn’t particularly looking forward to the day he could walk, run, and escape the relatively safe confines of the house.
As if reacting to her thoughts, Zhuye stirred. His eyes opened and he pushed himself out of Gou Ren’s grip, his eyes darting all around.
Gou sighed and looked at Meiling. Meiling simply winked and raised her cup of tea, cherishing the man’s expression as he stuck his tongue out at her.
“Ah, I remember when my son started crawling,” Lady Wu observed with a small smile. “He was a bit less spirited than your Red Leaf, but he got into everything. My husband used to call him his ‘Special Inspector’ because there was nothing we could do to keep him away from drawers he really wasn’t supposed to be in.”
Meiling laughed. “Like the ones containing the ropes?” she jabbed.
“Like the ones containing the ropes.” Lady Wu replied serenely.
Both of them chuckled.
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Soon, however, it was time for the event to begin, and Meiling, according to Jin, had a vital part. She was standing in the middle of a field, holding two flags that she would raise and drop to signal the start of the coming race.
There was also a costume to go along with this, but Meiling refused to wear the tight-looking, form-fitting garment in front of the village. The women in the Other Place were certainly bold to have such clothes!
No, the “racing queen” was strictly for her own enjoyment, and as a project. Getting fabric that shiny would be something to work on.
The atmosphere in Hong Yaowu was charged, as the racers lined up.
“First! We have Yao Che’s apprentice! The Lord of Steam! Ty An’s husband, Liu Bowu!” Jin shouted. Meiling stifled a laugh as Bowu’s face went crimson, and Ty An in the crowd started hurling expletives. The rest of the village jeered at the introduction, or whistled, making the teen’s faces go even redder.
“Next! We have the Master of the Blade! The ponderer of the riddle of steel! Bei Be and Sun Ne, along with their helper, Liu!” The crowd cheered at the ox peacefully chewing his cud. His horns were bedecked in flower crowns, and to Meiling’s surprise, Quiet Liu, the normally silent little girl, was seated on the plow, looking determined.
“The next contestant is the man you all know and love! The titan of the land! The greatest Ride Giver and his assistant—Chun Ke and Hong Xian!”
Meiling raised an eye at her little brother, who was standing on Chun Ke’s back, his arms folded over his chest. He was wearing a cape, of all things, and what looked like those glasses things Jin had drawn, but dark red and pointy—and it wasn’t glass at all, but lacquered wood, so her little brother couldn’t see anything.
The rest of the village children seemed to think it was the coolest thing ever, judging by the cheers.
“Chun Ke! I believe in you!” he shouted.
“And finally, the mountain of Hong Yaowu! The Mighty Blacksmith and his squad, Yao Che!” The man flexed, grinning, as did the five fastest men in the village.
“I’ll now turn it over to our lovely mistress of ceremonies!” Jin shouted. “The most beautiful woman in the world, my wife!”
Meiling just rolled her eyes, and raised her flags. The people at the starting line tensed.
“One! Two! Three! Go!” Meiling shouted, dropping her hands. The crowd around her let out a cheer as the contestants surged forwards.
Steam spluttered. Scythes swung. The two Spirit Beasts marched forwards.
Meiling shook her head, her job finished, as the crowd started heckling the contestants. She wandered over to plop beside Gou Ren, who had managed to distract Zhuye with a piece of fabric.
“You’re going to make a good father,” she told him simply, and Gou Ren flushed.
She watched the race from beside her brother in all but blood as Jin heckled every one of the contestants. Meiling honestly thought Bowu had it—but it was much closer than she thought. Bowu’s reaper spluttered at a critical moment, and Bei Be capitalized. The ox, with Sun Ne, reached the end of the field first.
Xian was still proclaiming he was going to win, his wooden, pointy red glasses completely blocking his view.
In the end, Bei Be won, followed by Bowu and then by Yao Che and his men—who had all taken off their shirts and were flexing at the crowd to laughter. Finally, Chun Ke was in last—though that was probably because he didn’t want her foolish little brother to fall off his back if he went any faster.
The Lord Magistrate was chuckling and shaking his head. Lady Wu, her retinue, and Pi Pa were all giggling about something.
Jin was running away from a red-faced Bowu and Ty An.
Meiling smiled, and breathed in deeply—and then frowned.
It had happened once before, a slight acrid tang on the wind that disappeared as soon as she smelled it. The first time, she had asked Vajra and Lu Ri to check on the area—but both had found nothing.
Yet here it was again.
Just what was it?
“Mei, you okay?” Gou Ren asked her.
Meiling startled and looked at him. “I’m feeling alright,” she said after a moment. “Just smelled something strange again.”
Gou Ren frowned and opened his mouth to respond, when he too paused, his eyes suddenly going to the road.
Meiling followed his gaze, and raised an eyebrow.
Because there were soldiers marching up the road. Soldiers bearing the colours of the Azure Jade Trading Company.
They were arranged around a single wagon, their eyes peeled. Jin went up to talk to them, and he was similarly frowning.
That lasted until the men all bowed.
And then Jin smiled.
Meiling walked over, interested.
“What's going on?” she asked.
Her husband’s giant smile turned to her.
“Letters from Tigu and Xiulan,” he replied.
The guards of the caravan unloaded a chest. A heavy chest, that made a thunk sound as it hit the ground.
The memory of the acrid scent was dispelled, as the letters were revealed.
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Sorry for the wait on this one.
Edited by: BargleNawdleZouss, Aaron “Pastafarian” Sofaer
Comments
Basil
IIRC, they learned that Xiulan and Co helped break up the slaving ring but TLM's son has very specifically not told his parents about any of his adventures or involvement. In his letters he says his work is boring because he doesn't want them to worry, since he knows they settled to Verdant Hill to avoid Cultivator business. So likely TLM heard about the slave ring, heard that a new Temp Magistrate has been appointed but has no idea it is his son. I'm looking forward to the chapter where that is revealed.
Len
i'm thinking now that i think about it, acrid.. that is how Meiling said the Demonic Corruption Smelled when she was going to Gramp's Room (i double checked) to treat him
Melanie Me
Ok in a previous chapter Jin got the report from TLM about the slave ring they busted up. How do they not know about the son being special inspector and promoted to temporary Lord Magistrate?
ItWasIDIO!!
Nickolas Cage voice "He's knocking at the door.... Should I let him innnnn"
Z H
And don't forget that even the CPE's records describe finding the Azure Hills as the largest hidden realm anyone had every seen or heard of. Most seemed more like city-states whereas the Hills were an entire hidden province.
Z H
He at least has a Pig that will pierce the Heavens!
FreakShow
Row row fight the power
Mitch McNair
I'm thinking it's not the elder and demon yet but the scouts and it's the smell of lightning/ozone that she's getting as they hit the edges of the formation. It's shown her nose has a huge range. They'll report back and either the elder will finally put the pieces together, or he'll show up himself to try to defeat the formation and get the answers he wants.
Casualfarmer
Everybody took her seriously enough to check, including Vajra AND Lu Ri, and neither found anything.
Reading the comments I feel people forgot the barrier that was setup. Wouldn't the ward that was setup to make people lost by Sr Brother and Jin affect the daemon? The elder might be ok as they don't have malicious intent, but the daemon would trigger it.
Truedragon5374
WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK HE IS!?
Gaunt
Your writting continues to be excellent
Merf
I’m thinking it’s the cultivators Elder Zheng sent to investigate further north. Meiling’s sense of smell has improved greatly so Its possible she’s smelling the demons at the edge of her range. But we know there are cultivators inbound who are trying to be as discreet as possible. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see 🤷♂️
BigBro Bluesman
Against all odds The spirit beast took the win along side the steam boy lol
Len
IF whomever drew the map did it to scale...prior to cars/planes/trains.. a person on foot did 20-30 miles a day- a person on a horse did ~40-80 miles a day depending on how many horses they used 40 miles 1 horse, being able to change to a fresh horse 80. an army can do 40ish miles on foot. tossing powers into the mix tossed that out of the window, but it was supposed to be about a week? journey on foot from the village to the northern tribe yun ren visited. it was supposed to be a few days travel from jins farm to the village, from the dueling peaks to yellow plateau where the body landed, about 1000 li, using that scale to the map = a few thousand li to the SMS then they went north to fight the demons.
Szymon Szczełkun
Well there are many bad things that can be said about xiaoshi but in his rule over azure mountains empire , the cultivation tehniques were relatively commonly distribiuted to all citizens regardless of their social class . As for the crimson phoenix empire even during it's inception when they were fighting demons , high grade tehniques were probably way more exsclusive and limited to those with best background . Coupling that with high concentration of qi that gave birth too many spirit beasts and spiritual treasures , the avarege level of it's inhabitants may have been higher that even those in the most prosperous regions of crimson phoenix empire . But as a whole they were way weaker in both middle an high level powerhauses due to shere size differance between empires.
Szymon Szczełkun
Prise the brave that still dare to take on a chalange of estimating proper distances in wuxia novels . Many has already fallen on this path and (I'am talking mainly about authors ) . So it's joyful thing to see someone still attemting it :D .
mag28
I know they agreed to try getting human form so they can have babies but idk if it has happened yet. Also when it does I need to see chunkys art
Old Dog
As always, thank you for the chapter. As someone else already stated, glad to have new (more) chapters.
Old Dog
They "talked" about it when they were talking about having children and wanting to make sure the children had the spark.
TheBugEater
Scorched earth. Meimei knows all
TheBugEater
They debated it for the sake of reproduction. But have not committed to it so far. It's during the visit from the deer nomads when they go on a date. Chunky dose not wish to be human but he said he would be for pipa.
TheBugEater
Aw, yes, casualfarmer. King of cliff hangers. I fucking love you. But sometimes, I want to stab you. Jk. Your freaking awesome!!!!!
mmarkgraf212
Am I misremembering something? I thought Pipa and Chunky took on human forms. I know they can change back and whatnot, but that was supposed to be rather difficult.
Bender
The elder and hidden demon are here!
matthew gilley
The shrouded mt. Remnants have arrived
fatbo
Kinda missed Washy in this chapter
Kat Wilton
Oh, CF, I very much enjoyed this - but oh my GOSH you are such a TEASE! "acrid scent" indeed.... How long will you keep us guessing?! *clutches pearls* 🤣🤣🤣
Demian Buckle
Thank you for the Chapter.
Cj
The smell is concerning are the demons already there and able to avoid being seen?
N0m_N0m
I think the citizens being that strong is the classic fantasy trope of "magic was stronger in the past"
Namorat
Wonderful chapter :) it's insane how much I missed this aspect
Just A Dude
Hong Xian trying to channel that Spiral Power, eh? He's no Kamina... yet... but he just has to keep advancing one turn at a time and he'll get there eventually.
Ichypa
Oh good, TLM and Lady Wu are here and will be able to promptly learn that their son’s nickname was prophetic.
Thomas Verjans
First thing I thought of lol. Little Simon standing on Gurren Lagann with his arms crossed is such a vibe, it’s immediately recognisable.
Javier van der westhuizen
Loved the new chapter
Conor lennon
Basically it might have been a very powerful province with a leader with the same level of power as the emperor. But it was probably was not as powerful just because the empire is huge.
Joel Bullock
From the vibes I got from Shen Yu I think the Crimson Pheonix was still stronger but maybe just because it was bigger. The Azure Mountain Empire was pretty close I equal but had less people
Lonnie Sizemore
I'm just happy to have new chapters again!
Caliburn0
They probably do, but if she can't pinpoint the location, and their scouts (bees) can't find a location, then what can they do?
CringeWorthyStudios
I know, right? Whenever Meimei smells something funny it’s either a cultivator going off the deep end or a demon so they really should learn to take it seriously. 🤣
Hong Zhou
I’ve been wondering, just how powerful was the Azure Mountain Empire in the glory days compared to Crimson Phoenix? I get the vibe that there wasn’t as much top tier power but the average citizen was realms ahead being in the earth realm as previously mentioned.
CringeWorthyStudios
“My husband used to call him his ‘Special Inspector’ because there was nothing we could do to keep him away from drawers he really wasn’t supposed to be in.” Hahahaha, oh if only Lady Wu knew…
CringeWorthyStudios
Heh, I remember my grandma asking me to open the “child proof” pill bottle for her when I was like… five because I was better at it than she was.
Lanter
Same lmao
Sean Ulrich
Cape and dark red pointy glasses… does he also have a drill that will pierce the heavens?
Barry Morgan
I'm guessing that the acrid smell is lightning qi from the SMS spies snooping around.
Echo Sparksong
A demon wandering around lost. The Boundary formation is doing it's job.
Homeless One
Uh oh, foreshadowing! Lovely chapter!
BelligerentGnu
Honestly, by this point they should all know that 'Meiling smells something funny' is *at minimum* a yellow alert.
Net
Little Liu!
Len
I'm thinking she is smelling the woman that is a demon that is influencing the elder. They were heading that way.Imo they are WAY too far away from where the sms troops got slaughtered looking at the world map it is a few weeks travel to the sms sect for initiates...less so for more advanced. I am thinking a few thousand li based on the position of dueling peaks and the plateau
Aiden King
"Meiling raised an eye at her little brother, who was standing on Chun Ke’s back, his arms folded over his chest. He was wearing a cape, of all things" Touch the untouchable, break the unbreakable Row! Row! Fight the mower!
Civer
Meiling might be picking up notes of demon as the guard team having a ride along cultist
Seaspike
Dunno bout you, but when I grew up the joke was "child proof bottles that only a child can open"
Seaspike
So, either the bad guys are distantly casing the area, or, she can catch hints of what happened farther north because it was just that big n bad...
taukid
Seriously, it's like toddlers seek death. They will find a way to make some you'd think would be perfectly safe, dangerous. Hell, I figured out how to open child proof caps when I was 3, drank an entire bottle of cough syrup
Buzz1089
I love it! Thank you!
Justin Barnett
This is so ridiculous. I love it!
Vasius
Needed more heckling lol, red did not make it go faster this time.
Joel Rodriguez
Uh oh I'm scared!
Npad11111
First?
