Chapter 212: Before Tribulation

~~~

“You need not feel obligated to do this,” Mud tells Liu Jin later that day. “General Dan does not command the Eternal Flame Clan. He can growl and howl all he wants, but by no means are we obligated to obey.”

Despite the words of encouragement, Liu Jin does not bother looking at Mud. He just stays by the window, looking at the city beyond it. “That is exceedingly kind of you to say, Brother Mud.”

“It is the truth,” Mud says. “You are a Core Disciple of the Eternal Flame Clan, one favored by Elder Xue, liked by Young Master Feng Hao, and appreciated by Lady Ling. Your life is not something we would throw away just to satisfy the unreasonable demand of an Emperor.”

That makes Liu Jin smile. “Even if doubts about my loyalty have been raised and are sure to have reached the Eternal Flame Clan by now?”

Mud nods. “Even if.”

Liu Jin takes a deep breath and taps his finger against the window frame. “If I succeed, it would go a long way towards proving my loyalty, would it not?”

Mud looks at him with something that approaches concern. “You do not need to go on a suicide mission to prove your loyalty.”

A fair point. A valid point.

However…

“General Dan explained his reasoning to me.” Liu Jin says. He tilts his head so he is staring at his reflection in the glass. Red eyes gaze back at him. “Try as I might, my mind cannot deny that his reasoning is not entirely unsound.”

“Oh?” Mud raises an eyebrow. “I don’t suppose you would be willing to share that reasoning?”

Liu Jin frowns. “I’d rather not.”

‘You have the face of the one person he respected above all.’

How exactly is he supposed to feel about that?

Everything he has seen and heard of Murong Bang paints him as a terrible monster. The worst of the worst. A man who lives for violence only. Not a single person has said otherwise. Lei Kong, whenever he can bring himself to speak of him, reveals how terrified he is of that man. Even General Dan, who once called Murong Bang his comrade, did not try to tell him any different.

How could a man like that have respected his father?

‘Crueler than anyone, Kinder than anyone….’

His father left the Storm Dragon Empire in chaos, allowing men like Murong Bang to rule. That is undeniable and something he has always known.

His father died by the monster he raised.

Murong Bang unknowingly caused the death of the person he respected the most.

“To be honest, I’d rather not think about it all,” Liu Jin says, rubbing his forehead. “I wish things wouldn’t be so complicated.”

“We all tend to wish that,” Mud says. “However, the Heavens rarely oblige us. We are always faced with tribulations. Either we overcome them and grow, or we succumb to them and become dust.”

“Brother Mud, I am about to undergo a tribulation.”

“Then I sincerely hope you do not become dust.”

~~~

Liu Jin doesn’t leave the city right away. There is an order to things. General Dan cannot just make Liu Jin walk into Murong Bang’s territory and hope things work out. Letters must be sent. Preparations must be made.

“I really must thank you for receiving me on such short notice.”

Entertaining Song Daiyu is not part of those preparations, but it does help Liu Jin take his mind off more serious matters.

The daughter of the Song Clan sits on a comfortable red sofa in his room. Her green dress, which matches her eyes, is perfectly immaculate, as though she hadn’t just arrived after traveling by land all the way from Stone River City.

“Think nothing of it,” Liu Jin says, pouring her some tea.

The room given to him by General Dan has more square area than some houses. A four-poster bed large enough to fit several people is in the corner, hidden by delicately crafted room dividers. The rest of the room is more akin to a large living room with many couches and chairs.

“However, I am a little curious. Why did you decline Lady Bai’s invitation to bring you here if you were going to come anyway?” Liu Jin asks as he sits in front of her. There is only a small ornate tea table between them.

“That is simple,” Song Daiyu replies. She takes a sip from her tea and hums pleasingly. “I did not wish to be associated with you.”

Liu Jin raises an eyebrow.

“Please, do not look at me like that,” she says with a teasing smile. “I do not even want to imagine how much commotion you caused by arriving with Duke Lai caged in ice like that. Can you imagine how negatively predisposed General Dan would be towards me if that was his first impression of me?”

She mock-shivers.

“That would be dreadful.”

“And yet, you have no issue asking me to help you get an audience with him,” Liu Jin points out. Despite his words, he is not really offended. More amused than anything, really.

“Should I have one?” She asks him, shrugging her shoulders lightly. “I did abandon a potentially lucrative deal to help you. Now, I need to talk to General Dan to make sure all the agreements I made with Duke Lai don’t vanish into thin air now that he has been disgraced.”

“Some would say that since Duke Lai was a traitor, abandoning your plan worked to your advantage,” Liu Jin points out.

“Some would say that, yes.”

Liu Jin chuckles. On this particular occasion, such shamelessness is refreshing.

“General Dan has little time for non-military affairs right now. If you were to try to see him, you’d just risk earning his ire. The man you need to talk to is City Lord Chu,” he tells her. “I will talk to him. We get along well enough, and I occasionally correspond with his daughter.”

“Oh?” Song Daiyu leans in. There is a gleam in her eyes Liu Jin does not like. “Is this daughter-”

“No.”

His tone is so dull and lifeless that it takes the wind out of her sails.

She pouts. “The least you could do is let a lady have some fun.”

“The least I could do is not get you a meeting with City Lord Chu,” Liu Jin tells her. “Do forgive me if I don’t humor you in everything, but as I am sure you have heard, I have other things to occupy my mind with.”

“Ah yes, I have heard about that business. The whole city is talking about it.”

Liu Jin stares at her.

Song Daiyu stares back.

“Some people would offer a word of concern. Condolences, perhaps.”

“I would be concerned if it wasn’t you that we are speaking of,” Song Daiyu says. “As I understand it, this is not the first time you walk into a hostile Emperor’s domain. This is nothing more than another risk on the road to success, and I expect you will walk out alive just as easily as you did back then.”

She is talking about what happened in Five Bats City. No doubt, Branch Manage Bianfu told her about it. Back then, Ruan Goutin of the Endlessly Raging Valley had gone mad, holding the city’s doctors hostage and killing them. Liu Jin took it upon himself to deal with that situation and somehow emerged victorious.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

What Song Daiyu doesn’t know is that Ruan Goutin was already in a dire condition before Liu Jin ever set foot in Five Bats City. The man hadn’t even been an Emperor at that point.

However, there is no need to let her know that. She might actually worry if he does. Better to take the compliment in the spirit in which it was given.

“I will do my best to live up to those expectations,” Liu Jin says, drinking his cup.

Now that he thinks of it, he has had more dealings with Emperors than most people his age. Most people any age, really. This is not uncharted territory for him. As long as Murong Bang does not kill him right away, there is no reason he shouldn’t be able to come out of this alive. If he thinks about it like that, his future is not so bleak.

That is when Lu Mei enters the room.

It says a lot about how distracted Liu Jin is that he only notices Lu Mei’s Qi when she opens the door. Usually, he’d have sensed her as soon as she arrived in the city.

As he locks eyes with her, Liu Jin absent-mindedly notices Lei Kong is somewhere around. Lu Mei must have bullied him into carrying her here as quickly as possible.

“Mei,” he says, rising from his seat.

That is all he gets out.

In a burst of quick yet graceful strides, Lu Mei closes the distance between them, her red robes flowing as she does, and catches his lips with hers.

It is not a quick kiss. Not even remotely. With every second that passes, she deepens it, and Liu Jin is no innocent bystander but an enthusiastic participant. After everything that has happened, this single kiss, the feeling of Lu Mei’s body and warmth against him, puts him more at ease than a hundred words of comfort.

“You are here,” Liu Jin says as their lips part. He has his arms around her waist, and she has hers looped around his neck.

“I am,” she says. Her cheeks are flushed. “Did you think I would stay in the border when I heard of all you have done lately? Why is it that whenever I am not with you, you throw yourself into danger so recklessly? It is quite rude of you.”

“Rude?” Liu Jin asks. “How so?”

“A lady does not like being denied the opportunity to see the man she is interested in be brave, bold, and daring,” Lu Mei explains, “Yet I always seem to be elsewhere when you are at your most daring.”

Liu Jin would hardly refer to those occasions as examples of him being brave and bold. Regardless, it is true that Lu Mei is usually not around when he is attempting something incredibly dangerous.

Most of the time, it is due to pure coincidence.