Chapter 216: Power Dynamics

~~~

“Are you well?” Liu Jin asks when Lei Kong visits him the following day.

“Yes, my lord,” Lei Kong replies. “I have not encountered any incidents thus far. It seems my identity has gone undiscovered.”

“Good, but that is not what I am asking about,” Liu Jin says. “The memory of Murong Bang has haunted you all this time, and I cannot imagine being in such close proximity to the man has helped you any. So again I ask, are you well?”

Lei Kong stays kneeling on the floor, saying nothing. Liu Jin closes his eyes and sighs softly.

“If you will not answer because I worry for your well-being, then answer because your mental state directly affects how useful to me you are.”

Lei Kong flinches. Liu Jin wishes he didn’t have to use this sort of argument, but Lei Kong is unlikely to open up otherwise.

“I am…not well, my lord. When we were in the arena with Murong Bang… I forgot to breathe. I see my past, and I am frozen, my lord. I could not even think of helping you when you saved those men,” Lei Kong says. His body trembles lightly. It is too faint for most people to notice, but Liu Jin has known Lei Kong for a long time.

“And yet… it is a relief that he did not recognize me,” Lei Kong continues. “I feared he’d notice who I was at a glance and drag me back into his army. Never have I been so glad to be trash not worth putting in someone’s eyes.”

Liu Jin frowns. “You are not trash.”

Lei Kong smiles sadly. “That is kind of you to say, my lord.”

It is not the answer Liu Jin wants. Unfortunately, even if Liu Jin were to argue with Lei Kong all day, he wouldn’t gain any ground on this issue.

People can be thoroughly annoying sometimes.

“While I cannot claim to be at my best, I am still fully capable of performing my duties, my lord,” Lei Kong says. He hesitates, then adds, “As long as I am not in that man’s presence, at least.”

“What of the Lei Clan?” Liu Jin asks. “Should we worry about them?”

While Lei Kong has never told him the full story, Liu Jin knows the Lei Clan are ones responsible for the injury that left Lei Kong crippled. Having him join Murong Bang’s army in such a sorry state was essentially an attempt to get him killed.

“My uncle is the Clan Master. Learning that I am alive and free of injuries might cause him to try to assassinate me,” Lei Kong admits, grimacing. “However, most members of my clan seem to be in Thunder Blade Fortress right now, so that’s unlikely to happen.”

Unlikely but not impossible. Another potential problem to take into account. How many of those does Liu Jin have by now?

Sometimes it feels like there are too many to count.

“There is also another matter, my lord,” Lei Kong says. “You ordered me to see to the well-being of the men you saved yesterday. I am pleased to inform you they woke up this morning.”

Liu Jin considers this for a moment.

“Take me to them.”

~~~

The two men are clearly underfed. They have sunken cheeks, and it’s easy to make out their bones through their skin. Their hair is dark and messy, likely cut with a rusted knife or some other low-quality instrument.

The only positive thing Liu Jin can say about them is that they are clean and dressed in clothes rather than rags. Liu Jin suspects Lei Kong is responsible for that. Perhaps sensing he would want to meet them right away, his servant ordered the men to wash themselves and procured clean robes for them.

They are in the Foundational Realm.

In Eastern Port City, someone who failed to leave the Foundational Realm before turning eighteen was looked at with scorn and was a frequent subject of mockery. Reaching the Inner Realm and even the Nascent Realm are things normal people are expected to be capable of within their lifetimes.

The men in front of Liu Jin look to be about thirty, though considering the life they have led, they could easily be in their early twenties. Not that it matters. Even that is far too old. Their cultivation is shockingly meager by any standard.

And yet, how could they possibly have done better? In a world where even something as simple as a daily meal is taken by those stronger, how can they be expected to do anything but wilt?

Liu Jin feels the beginnings of anger brewing inside him and takes a deep breath.

“What are your names?” He asks. The two grown men flinch at his voice, and Liu Jin reminds himself to lower his Qi.

“T-they call me Rust, my lord,” says one.

“N-nail, my lord,” says the other one, the one Liu Jin saved from dying.

Nail and Rust. Not real names, but ones they went by. Perhaps they were never given names. Or perhaps people stopped using their real names a long time ago. It matters little. The end result is the same.

“Rust and Nail,” Liu Jin says. “General Murong has decided to give you to me. Perhaps you might have harbored some hopes of becoming a Hundred-Man Commander. That will not be happening. Had Murong Bang given you what he promised, you would have been killed by your new subordinates. The path of a Hundred-Man Commander was never open to you.”

It is obvious to him, but it might not be that way for Rust and Nail. Best that he makes it clear to them now. Indeed, the two men look slightly confused by his words before nodding.

That angers Lei Kong.

“You ungrateful curs!” Lei Kong shouts. “My lord is making you understand you owe your lives to him and-”

“Lei Kong. Lower. Your. Qi.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Liu Jin does not raise his voice, yet Lei Kong immediately kneels down and completely lowers his Qi.

“My deepest apologies, my lord,” Lei Kong says. His eyes show clear regret as he looks at the quivering Nail and Rust.

He had not been trying to intimidate them with his Qi, but the two are so weak and in such poor health that just lightly raising his Qi caused them harm.

“Do you have any skills?” Liu Jin asks them once they have stopped trembling.

“I-I am good at fixing things,” Nail says, his voice quivering.

“I can use a knife,” says Rust.

“No,” Liu Jin tells him, remembering the man’s movements in the arena. “You cannot.”

He decides to take Nail’s fixing skills with similar lightness.

“You two will be in charge of keeping the Flame-Wheeled Wagons clean from now on,” Liu Jin decides after a moment of thought. He looks to the side. “Lei Kong?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“You are in charge of them for now.”

“Naturally, my lord.”

“I will prepare medicine and create a diet for them. You are to make sure they follow it,” Liu Jin tells him. He looks off to the side. “Ten, you can come out.”

A yelp and a crash follow as a young man a little older than him wearing the robes of the Eternal Flame Clan stumbles out of a corner and falls to the ground.

“Sorry, Senior Brother Qing,” Ten says as he stands up and dusts himself off. Unfortunately, there is no dusting the embarrassed blush on his face. “I did not mean to spy. I just saw you walking by and…”

“You wanted to see if I was going to have Lei Kong do anything dangerous and wanted to offer your services,” Liu Jin says.

Still blushing, Ten nods.