Chapter 1: Wei Houlin's Precedence
Wei Estate hosted its first real celebration in nine years
Wei Houlin stood at the head of the courtyard and watched the tables fill that had gathered dust since his political ruin years ago.
His daughter Wei Xinyue turned twelve today and for her he had opened the gates for the first time in a long while.
He was forty three now and heavyset and his once commanding had slowed considerably compared to before whilst in his youth .
His eyes had maintain their regular sharpness being ever so pale gold in color - and they kept wandering back and forth while he assessed the environment around him, it was an old habits from his younger days
Minor gentry from the bordering three counties came bearing gifts as they bowed while calling him "esteemed Lord Wei" - throwback to a short decade these people would never have even given him face, due to his circumstances at the time.
Houlin let it pass because in the end none of it mattered beside Xinyue's laughter that filled him with joy as she continuously opened silk wrapped boxes eager to find whatever new playthings that were inside.
Not to long ago the court gates were flung open and along with it entered all who came bearing gifts flooded inside.
Amongst them was an old beggar who shuffled through the gate sopposedly uninvited.
He wore torn robes whilst styling an ash matted hair and carried a wooden box under one arm
The guards moved to turn him away as soon as he stepped into the vicinity, However Houlin raised a hand and stopped them.
"Let him be" he said "what sort of person would I be if I turned away a willing guest especially on my daughter's special day"
The beggar bowed with the utmost sincerity. "Kind lord. I have nothing worth much but I bring a gift for the young miss"
He opened the box. Inside sat a small creature that was black furred with a snout like a tapir's and eyes closed as if sleeping.
It looked harmless from its appearance and Xinyue reached for it immediately, delighted - safe to say it had caught the little girl's attention.
Houlin's soul senses flared out of habit - a common reflex which he directed at every stranger who entered his home - The purpose of which he used to read intent, cultivation and the shape of the target soul all in a single glance.
However this time to his bewilderment nothing came back.
Perhaps It would be logical to summarize that the man's soul was so extremely weak that he couldn't sense it all or maybe it was hidden with some special methods that he couldn't decipher however but this wouldn't be the case.
There was just nothing at all. It was as if the beggar had no soul at all - could it be a puppet? He thought. No, even puppets had soul threads connecting them to the user so that was out of the question.
Then what the hell was he?
Houlin kept himself from revealing any sudden emotions, as far long as he knew his knew his spiritual sense had never once failed him - so in that case there had to be a logical explanation for this but for now for now he would let it slide.
"And your name is?" Houlin said in a light pleasant voice
"Forgive me my Lord but this old man has simply been referred to as plainly as the beggar as far back as he knows...as for any other name aside from that I am afraid there is none worth remembering my lord"
Houlin shook his head slightly. Whether or not the beggar was telling the truth mattered little since he had only asked out of curiosity.
In his eyes it was no sin if he decided to keep his identity hidden after all if that were the case he would have his reasons to do so.
This conversation had gone on for slightly longer than it should have and he just wanted to move on to the next person since there were many of them
"Sit. Eat. You've traveled far I'm sure"
The beggar bowed again and withdrew to the edge of the courtyard where he folded into the crowd like everyone before him
Houlin watched him go and lost interest as soon as he settled into the crowd as his eyes turned back to the fresh line of people in front of him
Time passed and more gifts came. Houlin's senses drifted across each new arrival and made sure nothing was out of the ordinary
A servant who carried in a chest for the Liang family's envoy soon came into view and Houlin's sense caught on to the man's soul like a nail catching a piece of cloth.
The cold and hollow soul that had undoubtedly been reshaped countless times now stood out to him - and this time he instantly recognized it.
Houlin was approached by the envoy bearing gifts for him.
"Fine gift" Houlin said "I had no idea the Liang family we're generous."
"They only wish the young miss a long life" the person or rather the thing said in perfectly ordinary that contrasted it uncanny look.
The creature stretched out it's hand to offer the gift to Wei Xinyue which she took gladly however moving it's fingers simultaneously it was obvious it desired to make contact with the little girl, fortunately Houlin was there to prevent such an action by holding on to the creatures hand.
The creature showed a disappointed look on its pale face as it retracted it hands from Houlin grip.
After that short display just now it's showed it intended not to cause any further troubles as it left the line back into the crowd.
Ku Long, those were the words in Houlin's mind as it watched the creature disappear into the crowd.
At least that was the name given to such creatures of artificial origin - they usually start out as regular slaves or servants that are modified through forbidden soul cultivation where did typically lose all their humanity.
Whoever built this one definitely had access resources that were forbidden to even most the demonic sects - and judging by the shape of the soul as well as the clan who it was representing Houlin just taught him might have a good idea on who was responsible.
The next group of people to catch his attention once again this time were a pair of individuals.
Two guests over a man and woman stood together and were dressed identically and moving identically - reaching for cups at the same instant, tilting their heads at the same angle and finishing each other's bows
Houlin's sense brushed them and found one soul. Not two souls in harmony. One soul split across two bodies and humming back and forth between them like a single flame burning in two lamps
Yin Yang fusion. A technique so costly in cultivation resources that only someone backing a rebellion could afford to burn two lives on it
Houlin excused himself from the nearest cluster of guests and crossed to his steward
"The two who arrived together - Yin Ji and Yang Ji. Who sent them"
"The Chu clan's cousin my lord. No formal invitation was extended and they simply -"
"Enough" Houlin's smile did not move. "Keep the wine flowing. I'll be back before the noodles are served"
He walked to the estate's outer wall, climbed the watchtower steps two at a time and looked east past the fields into the treeline
Two men waited there. Not hiding. Waiting to be found
Houlin's soul sense told him everything he needed before he said a word
He met them at the forest's edge alone and his hands were loose at his sides
"Lord Wei" the taller one bowed with exaggerated respect "Gu Huai. This is He Lian"
"You sent an undead servant and a soul fused pair into my daughter's birthday party" Houlin said "That is a bold opening line for a conversation"
He Lian smiled thin. "We wanted your attention without alarming your guests. It worked didn't it"
"You have it. Say your business"
Gu Huai stepped forward. "The capital is rotting Lord Wei. The throne sits on borrowed time. Men like you - men who understand real power and who once commanded real armies - should be standing with those building what comes after"
"You mean your rebellion"
"We mean your rightful place"
Houlin studied them both and did so unhurriedly. "You do not want my sword arm. You are not fools - you can see I have been out of the fight for years. You want my name on your banners and whatever is left in my treasury. You want a ruined lord's reputation to launder your ambitions"
Neither denied it
"No" Houlin said
He Lian's smile thinned further. "You'll reconsider once you understand what refusing costs"
"I understand exactly what it costs. I paid that price once already years ago in a war I lost. I have one thing left that matters to me and she is currently opening presents forty steps behind me. Leave"
Gu Huai's hand moved. The ku long servant's twin - a second modified soul construct hidden in the trees - dropped down behind Houlin with a blade already swinging
Houlin did not turn. His hand caught the blade edge on and his bare palm met steel and stopped it dead
"Rude" he said and drove his other palm into the construct's chest. Something inside it cracked - not bone but whatever unnatural core kept it moving - and it folded to the ground unmoving
He Lian and Yin Yang's second half lunged together and soul force snapped out like a whip. Houlin sidestepped, caught He Lian by the collar and slammed him into a tree hard enough to splinter bark
"I said leave" Houlin said and his voice had gone quiet now. "I am not interested in a repeat performance of my youth's mistakes. Today is my daughter's birthday and tomorrow if you are still in my territory I'll stop being polite about it"
Gu Huai raised both hands and signaled retreat. "This isn't over Lord Wei"
"It is for today" Houlin released He Lian and the man staggered back coughing
They withdrew into the treeline. Houlin watched until they were gone and then turned back toward the estate while rolling his shoulder where the blade had grazed skin through his sleeve - a shallow cut already closing
He did not feel the second wound. The one Gu Huai had left with a single brush of fingers against his wrist during the exchange was faint as a mosquito bite and gone before Houlin's soul sense could flag it as anything but incidental contact
The party ended past midnight. Xinyue fell asleep clutching the small black creature the beggar had given her and she curled against Houlin's side on the veranda
He carried her to bed himself, tucked her in and sat a long moment watching her breathe
Then he sent for Tie Jia
His retainer arrived within minutes still dressed and with his sword already at his hip. Twenty years of service had taught him not to sleep deeply on nights when his lord looked like this
"My lord"
"Tonight there were three visitors who should not have made it past my gate" Houlin said. "One of them touched me. I do not know what it did yet"
Tie Jia's expression did not change and his hand tightened on his sword hilt. "Orders"
"If anyone comes for this house - cultivators, soldiers, anyone - you take Xinyue and you run. Not fight. Not negotiate. Run. You get her to my cousin in Yunzhou and you do not stop for anything including me"
"My lord -"
"That's an order Tie Jia. Twenty years you've served this family. This is the only thing I need from you now"
Tie Jia bowed low. "It will be done"
Days passed
Houlin's strength ebbed first in small things - a tremor in his hand while pouring tea and a shortness of breath while climbing the watchtower stairs he'd taken two at a time a week before. His soul sense when he reached for it felt thinner like a blade losing its edge with each use
He blamed age. He blamed old wounds reopening. He never once suspected the mosquito bite touch at the forest's edge because a poison subtle enough to fool a soul sensor was not something he'd encountered in twenty years of dealing with cultivators
By the seventh day he could barely stand without his vision swimming
By the ninth day the household was attacked
They came at night over the walls and dozens of shapes in dark cloth moved inside with soul signatures Houlin recognized instantly - Gu Huai's cold constructs, He Lian's fused pair and behind them both more masters than Houlin had strength left to count
"Tie Jia" Houlin's voice tore through the compound
Tie Jia was already moving and Xinyue was wrapped in a cloak and hoisted onto his back before she'd fully woken
"Go" Houlin said. "Now"
"My lord -"
"Go"
Tie Jia went, cutting through the eastern hedge where Houlin had marked the escape route weeks ago and vanishing into the dark with Xinyue's sleepy protest fading behind him
Houlin turned to face the courtyard with a sword in hand and poison burned through veins that should have carried him through a hundred more fights like this one
He fought anyway
He put down three constructs before his knees buckled. He broke He Lian's guard and nearly ended the fused pair before his soul sense half drowned in poison failed to warn him of Gu Huai's blade coming from behind
It went through his chest
Houlin fell into the dirt of his own courtyard and the estate burned around him while servants scattered or died and everything he'd rebuilt in nine quiet years reduced to ash and smoke in a single night
He did not see Gu Huai and He Lian withdraw once the household stopped resisting. He did not see them search for Xinyue and find nothing, then curse and give up the hunt before dawn made retreat too costly. He only knew distantly that the small black creature from the beggar's gift had somehow made its way to his side and was sitting on his chest with its closed eyes finally opening
They were black all the way through with no white and no iris
The creature pressed its snout to his sternum just above the wound and Houlin felt something pull loose inside him - not pain not quite. His regrets. His failures. The nine wasted years. The nine more he'd never get to spend watching Xinyue grow
The creature drank it all down like water into dry soil
Houlin's vision went dark
He opened his eyes
The ceiling above him was wrong - lower and newer and painted with a mural he had not seen in over two decades. His hands when he raised them were unlined and unscarred and they were the hands of a young man in his prime
He sat up. The room was his childhood chamber in the old ancestral estate and it was the one torn down eighteen years ago to build the new wing
Wei Houlin sat very still and felt his own pulse - strong, young and untouched by poison - and he understood all at once exactly what had happened to him