~~~

“Is this the reward for competence?” Lu Mei ponders after Liu Jin tells her what Elder Xue has entrusted him with. “Not only more work but more difficult work as well?”

She sighs theatrically, her red locks swaying lightly as she shakes her head.

“I have often wondered how it is that certain people end in positions so ill-suited to them. I believe I may have found the answer. They were exalted to incompetence.”

The odd phrase gets a raised eyebrow from Liu Jin.

“Exalted to incompetence?”

“If your duties and responsibilities increase with every job well done, you’ll eventually receive one beyond your abilities,” Lu Mei explains. “Isn’t that just asking people to make a mistake?”

Liu Jin rolls his eyes at her pessimism only to blink a few seconds later, his comeback left forgotten on his lips.

She does make a frightening amount of sense.

“I believe I just realized something about the world I did not wish to know.”

“I believe they call that maturing. I wouldn’t know anything about it.”

Liu Jin and Lu Mei laugh, but it does not last long. The weight of the challenges ahead cannot be overcome by such fleeting lightness. It hangs over the room and drapes it in its dourness.

“I do not intend to become someone who eventually finds an obstacle he cannot overcome,” Liu Jin says.

“Good. I never once took you for that type of person.”

The outrageous words come naturally from Liu Jin’s lips, and Lu Mei accepts them without a second thought. Some would call them arrogant, but what else is there for them to say? The time for modest goals is long gone. The battle they are in is one between Emperors. Power is not enough. Skill is not enough. Intelligence is not enough.

If one does not aim to succeed in spite of all logic, one cannot win.

“However,” Liu Jin adds, throwing a meaningful glance at the room, “I would not go as far as to say the only reward for a job well done is more work. Otherwise, you would not have been able to make yourself quite so… comfortable.”

Before Liu Jin had gone into isolation training, he and Lu Mei had shared a single office between them, though it was Liu Jin who used it more often, usually to receive complaints from the other divisions, a task both tedious and thankless.

In his absence, well…

Liu Jin’s desk has been left untouched, but that’s the only part of the office that is the same as he left it. A hand-knotted rug with intricate patterns covers the floor. The sofa they are resting on is soft like a cloud and large enough for them to lay on opposite ends of it without touching. Multiple cushions are scattered over the floor, and tapestries hang over the walls. A stick of incense burning in the corner gives the room a pleasant scent.

There is also a large perch where Soaring Feather’s much smaller perch used to be, but Liu Jin decides not to think about the implications of that right now.

“I wondered when you were going to comment on it.” Her amber eyes shine. “Well, do you like it?”

“It is comfortable, though I have to wonder how necessary the change was.”

“Comfort is a necessity. What more justification does one need?” Lu Mei airily waves her hand. “What use is power if you cannot enjoy it?”

“To do things that require doing and enforce a stable system?”

Lu Mei stares at him.

“You are precious. I truly did miss you these past two weeks.”

“It is good to be here,” Liu Jin says, a smile forming on his face. “How have things progressed during my absence?”

“Bu Jing has returned twice to challenge you,” Lu Mei tells him, her playful smile fading.

Bu Jing. A former disciple of the Medical Pavilion who worked for Elder Cheung. During the banquet, his alchemical skills proved inferior to Liu Jin’s. His combat skills, however, are an entirely different matter. Bu Jing is someone who is already in the Third Level of True Realm. Liu Jin would have surely lost against him before.

What would happen if they were to fight now?

“I was planning on advising you to avoid him, but I wonder if that is needed now.” Lu Mei’s Qi brushes against his, feeling Liu Jin’s new strength. “You have done quite well for yourself.”

“I was in a good place to advance,” Liu Jin says as his Qi responds in kind. “You, who have advanced despite this, are equally worthy of praise.”

Lu Mei has grown by another level in his absence, putting her in the Second Level of the Spirit realm. There is something different about her Qi, but he cannot quite put his finger on it.

“You’re too humble,” Lu Mei says, but there is no praise in her words. “I recommend boasting a little more in the future. It will help stop the weak-willed from acting against you, and there are so many weak-willed people.”

“If the Eternal Flame Clan were filled with weak-willed idiots, it wouldn’t be the Eternal Flame Clan.”

“The implication being that it is strong-willed idiots we’re dealing with?”

“Have you?”

“I haven’t had to deal with Bei Hong, which is not to say he hasn’t come here to drop disciples. I just delegate dealing with him to other people. You should give it a try. It opens time for…” Lu Mei stretches, making herself more comfortable on the couch. “Relaxing.”

“I can see that.”

“It is not as if I have been neglecting my duties. Feel free to check the records or ask Khong Hu if you have any doubts. The Medical Pavilion has been fulfilling all its duties properly. There has been no neglect or blatant favoritism.”

Though Liu Jin plans to check the records, he doubts anything he finds there will prove Lu Mei a liar. He’d ascertained as much before even stepping into this room, making sure to visit every floor in the building and seeing how things have been operating in his absence.

However...

“Does that mean I can encounter subtle favoritism?”

“But of course,” Lu Mei replies without shame. “There’d be little point in having the Medical Pavilion otherwise, wouldn’t it? But don’t worry. I am aware of your scruples. It’s not the sort of thing that would put anyone’s lives in danger.”

Liu Jin sighs, well aware Lu Mei is not wrong.

When Liu Jin had ordered those belonging to Lord Feng Shang’s faction to be treated fairly, there had been some grumblings from others, but his decision had not been wrong. The power of the Medical Pavilion cannot be blatantly abused lest the Elders supporting Lord Feng Shang find cause to take away Elder Xue’s control over it.

However, that does not mean they have not been taking advantage of the Medical Pavilion in other ways. After all, it had been through the Medical Pavilion that they had taken away Lord Feng Shang’s chances of winning glory through the Crimson Cloud Tournament. That is over now, but that does not mean there aren’t other ways of leveraging control of the Medical Pavilion.

“Making patients from Lord Feng Shang’s faction stay more time than they should to keep them from reinforcing their ranks. Ensuring those in Lord Feng Gui’s faction are treated promptly and so on. They don’t really harm the patients but do allow us to take advantage of our power.”

They are not the sort of things Liu Jin would come up with. His upbringing has ensured he takes the job far too seriously for that.

However, they are the sort of things Elder Xue wouldn’t have a problem with and would even encourage. Furthermore, they are the sort of things the other disciples would expect, and that would mollify their desires somewhat, keeping them away from more flagrant abuses of authority.

“Really, you could benefit from trying to do things my way more often.”

“If I tried to do things your way more often, you’d advise me to do worse,” Liu Jin replies, moving his eyes to the ceiling. “Plots and schemes do not become me. That is part of the reason I came here first.”

When Liu Jin looks back at his plans and the results that have come from them, he can only call them mixed. Positive in the sense that he has yet to fail (for to fail is to die), but mixed all the same.

“So it wasn’t just because you wanted to see me again? I’m hurt.” As she speaks, Lu Mei crawls on all fours over to his side. The way she moves inevitably draws Liu Jin’s eyes to various parts of her body.

He forces them back to her eyes.

Cunning, curious, and intelligent.

Equally entrancing in their own ways, which is not really helpful right now.

“I am not sure how to best approach the task Elder Xue has given me. You, however, seem to me to be more at ease being…”

“Devious?”

“Cunning,” Liu Jin says instead.

“I prefer devious,” Lu Mei tells him. “It’s such a pretty little word, don’t you think so? However, I don’t think you came here without any ideas of your own. Go on, tell me what you have planned.”

Liu Jin does.

“Huh, interesting.” Lu Mei lays her head on his chest. “It is not a bad idea.”

“Do you think so? I worry I am being too blunt.”

“You’re overthinking it,” Lu Mei says. “Unless you are dealing with complete idiots, there is no such thing as an undetectable plot. The key is to force others to take action even though they know it could be a trap. In that regard, we are well poised to take advantage of the biggest weakness in Lord Feng Shang’s faction.”

“And that is?”

“Desperation. Lord Feng Shang’s faction is eager to prove themselves and gain power. They have been on the offensive so much lately because they are desperate to produce results. Even if they suspect you’re laying a trap, they will eventually have to trigger it.”

“I see.” Liu Jin frowns. “Perhaps, I should be focusing on narrowing their targets as well.”

Instituting a curfew for disciples of Lord Feng Gui’s faction could work. At the very least, he should act to prevent disciples from wandering alone in the middle of the night. Elder Xue would likely support the idea and bring it up to the other Elders who support Lord Feng Gui.

“There is also one thing I would like to recommend.”

“Which is?”

“Feng Zhi.”

Liu Jin frowns. “What of him?”

“This may be a good opportunity to mend fences with him, wouldn’t it? Elder Xue did give you permission to recruit whoever you wished.”

Feng Zhi. With someone that strong at their side, even a Core Disciple wouldn’t be an insurmountable obstacle.

Unfortunately, Feng Zhi heavily dislikes him right now.

“I would lose nothing by asking, but he’s likely to say no. He’ll probably see it as a plot of Elder Xue.”

“Our allies do seem to have troublesome relationships.” Lu Mei frowns. “However, I cannot fault him for being wary of that woman.”

Elder Xue is certainly intimidating, but Liu Jin is starting to get the sense Lu Mei just doesn’t like being outdone in being herself.

He decides not to say that out loud.

“By the way, while I am perfectly happy giving advice, I will not join you in laying an ambush for these braggarts.”

“And here I thought you’d enjoy showing those lesser than us their place.”

“Oh, how you tempt me, but no. I must decline.”

Liu Jin hums. There is clearly more than what Lu Mei is willing to tell him. That much has become clear to him as of late, but he has no desire to push. Lu Mei is hardly the only person keeping secrets between the two. She does not ask. He does not ask. That is the unspoken agreement between them. It will change eventually.

But not yet.

“Very well. You have already given me some ideas. If I cannot recruit Feng Zhi, I might as well go the opposite way.”

“Lady Ling?”

Liu Jin nods. He had promised Feng Hao to visit him once he’d gotten out of isolation training anyway.

“There is also someone else I think will enjoy the opportunity to take part in this.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

“Well…”

~~~

“You wish me to aid you in your quest?” Fan Bingbing asks.

“That is so.”

The short, brown-haired girl takes a moment to think it over.

“You will not tell me the specifics, only that we are up against enemies strong enough to almost kill an Inner Disciple and who will likely attempt to do the same to us. Do I understand that correctly?”

“You do.”

“Why would you think I would say yes?”

“I assume Sister Fan is tired of standing guard over the Medical Pavilion all day. Surely, this will be more to Sister Fan’s tastes.”

Fan Bingbing’s brown eyes are as tranquil as ever.

“You assume correctly.”

~~~