Interlude: Exploration

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The temple in front of them is old, dusty, and full of cracks. It has been left unattended for so long that one can barely make out the stone under all the vines that have grown over it.

Huang Shing cannot see why anyone would want to visit a place like this.

“This is boring,” he says.

“It is not boring,” Fan Bingbing says, almost glaring at him. Considering it is Sister Fan, that’s the equivalent of the foulest of scowls. It is a reminder to Huang Shing that there is someone who really wants to visit this place. “If you do not like it, you can leave. No one asked you to follow me.”

“Hey!” Huang Shing says. “Don’t make it sound like I’m some intruder! Going alone would have been dangerous. I’m here to help.”

“You are here because you were bored,” Fan Bingbing counters.

“I was very bored,” Huang Shing admits, nodding. “That doesn’t make me wrong about it being dangerous.”

Sister Fan stares at him in silence for three seconds.

“You are not wrong,” she says last. It sounds like it takes a lot for her to say it, so Huang Shing counts it as his win.

He tries not to let it show, though. Despite what he said, Huang Shing is grateful to Sister Fan for bringing him along. It would have been way too boring had he stayed behind now that the truce between General Murong and General Dan is in place.

The stupid, stupid truce.

It is not that Huang Shing doesn’t understand how the truce is a good thing. However, after how things ended with Yi Jiao, fighting in the frontlines had been a nice way to unleash all the frustration he felt. It is not as if he needed to care for Murong Bang’s soldiers. He could be as brutal as he wanted while fighting them, and everyone would say he did a good job.

Then the truce came.

Qing Jin getting Murong Bang to agree to a truce might have surprised General Dan’s soldiers but not Huang Shing. It was just further proof of how amazing Brother Jin is.

All the same, Huang Shing wishes Brother Jin could have given him a few more days to fully work out his aggression. With the truce in place, General Dan began mobilizing troops to the border with General He’s lands to engage in what the older officers are calling a “sitting war.”

It is a good name. There is lots of sitting around and staring at each other menacingly from across the border, but very little fighting. The most demanding physical activity Huang Shing has had to engage in lately has been digging up graves and burning the bodies so they could not be used by the Death Fashioning Scripture.

A voice in his head that sounds suspiciously like Brother Jin tells him it’s a good thing people aren’t dying by the dozens yet. The voice is obviously right, as Brother Jin often is, but that doesn’t mean Huang Shing hasn’t been bored for the past few days.

When Sister Fan announced she was heading out, he instantly invited himself along.

“Why are we here anyway?” Huang Shing asks, poking one of the temple walls. The inside of the building is dark and uncomfortably damp. The only sources of light are three small fireballs created by Sister Fan.

“Because Elder Fa has hindered the activities of the Exploration Division for far too long,” Fan Bingbing replies. Her eyes are fixed on the many odd symbols covering the walls. “Under Lord Feng Shang, the Division of External Relations handled most matters in the Storm Dragon Empire. Though our Exploration Division repeatedly tried to launch expeditions, we were always refused at the advice of Elder Fa.”

Those are the most consecutive sentences Huang Shing has heard from Fan Bingbing in a good while. That means she feels really strongly about this subject, not that one would be able to tell from her tone. She sounds as stoic as always. Even more so than Brother Jin.

“Things are different now,” Fan Bingbing continues. She points at a wall blocking their path. “Please knock down this wall.”

Huang Shing does not ask why. He punches, and the wall comes down.

“As expected,” Sister Fan says as the crumbling wall reveals a passage hidden behind it. She walks into it. Huang Shing follows.

“As I was saying, things are different now,” Sister Fan says. “Lord Feng Gui does not mind giving us free rein. That’s the reason Elder Ju supports him. While us, members of the Exploration Division, are nominally here to help General Dan, Elder Ju has ordered us to start laying the groundwork for future explorations. These ruins are just one of the many places now open to us.”

“Okay,” Huang Shing says. He folds his hands behind his head. “Is this old place really so important, though?”

Sister Fan actually glares at him for that.

“Yes,” she says. “Brother Qing understands that much. You should endeavor to learn from him.”

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“Wait.” Huang Shing blinks. “Brother Jin knows about this too?”

As soon as he asks that, he realizes how silly the question is.

Of course Brother Jin knows about this.

“Brother Qing sees the importance of history,” Sister Fan says. “It was he who suggested we look into this place when I discussed the matter with him. After all, this territory used to belong to Duke Lai.”

“Huh? Why is that important?”

Sister Fang gives him a very patient look.

“Because Duke Lai was working with those on the other side of the Dead Plains,” she explains slowly. “That a ruin like this is in Duke Lai’s lands cannot be a coincidence. They clearly have designs for this country. Maybe they are looking for something or don’t wish for something to be found. By the way, there are three of them. I can sense the vibrations under the earth.”

Huang Shing is about to ask what she is talking about when he senses it.

That foul, corrupted presence cannot be anything else.

Huang Shing moves to the side as an ugly, misshapen creature with eyes where eyes shouldn’t be and teeth where teeth shouldn’t be rises from the ground. Its large jaws make loud snapping noises as it tries to bite everything around it.