“If it isn’t the man of the hour!” A boisterous voice asked.

Su Lei smiled tiredly as he greeted his fellow Jiangshi resident. He’d already received dozens of similar greetings throughout the evening, and he had a feeling he’d be receiving many more before the party was through.

Not that he blamed them. Who wouldn’t want to congratulate the man who had killed a spirit beast?

Never mind that a half dozen other men had contributed to the kill – and anyone of them could have been the one to fire that final fateful shot. No, the town at large seemed to have decided that he was the man of the hour.

All, because he was the only one foolish enough to fall off the wall when the massive bull’s initial charge had slammed into it.

Almost imperceptibly, his fist tightened around the clay mug in his hand as he remembered it. The sensation of his heart hammering against his chest as he stood up out of the snow and found the massive animal turning its gaze on him. The shouting from his fellow militia members on the wall. The pressure from the rough brick behind him as he desperately fumbled with his gonne, in an attempt to eject the spent bullet and load a new one. The crisp click of the weapon closing shut as the latch clicked into place. The surprising weight of the weapon as he brought it up. The shaking of the very earth beneath his feet as the massive animal began it’s charge.

…Then he remembered that sensation of peace. Like he was back in the forest. Hunting. With a bow in hand. The bull wasn’t some mythical creature, it was just a charging stag. One of any dozens he’d killed over the course of his life.

Time seemed to slow, as it always did, as he exhaled. He started applying pressure to the trigger, in a reversal of his usual relieving of his grip on his bow string.

When the boom finally came, it came as a surprise.

As did the audible splat as what he liked to think was his shot hit at it hit his target.

For as tough as spirit beasts were, their eyes were as squishy as the next persons. Which meant that the bull was likely dead before it hit the ground.

Ironically, he’d still nearly been killed though.

The skidding corpse had nearly pinned him to the wall as inertia carried it onward. Only a last minute dive to the side had allowed him to avoid such an ignoble death.

Would it have been ignoble though? he thought, taking a sip of watered down baiju.

Ignoring the circumstances, dying while killing a spirit beast certainly would have made for a decent legend.

Finishing up his conversation with his fellow townsman, he jolted a bit as the man’s very attractive daughter gave him a coy smile as she followed after her father toward another part of the outdoor party that was being thrown in response to the bull’s death.

Well, perhaps surviving did come with a few benefits that dying wouldn’t have.

“Well, if it isn’t the man of the hour?”

Sighing internally – couldn’t they change up the greeting a little? – Lei turned towards the latest person that had come to congratulate him.

Only to freeze, electricity shooting up his spine as he found himself staring into the reflective breastplate of the town’s Overseer.

How does he do it? Lei thought frantically as his eyes tracked up towards the cultivator’s beaming smile. A man that large has no right to be that stealthy. Especially in that massive suit.

He was though, which was why Lei only had a moment to think on the proper response to his lord’s arrival… before coming up blank and defaulting to a bow.

One echoed by those around him.

The only exceptions were the ladies that accompanied Master Johansen. Lovely Lin on his left, with her slender arms wrapped around one of his massive biceps, and a stern featured Lady An, standing just a few feet behind them and to the right.

She was also glaring at Lin. Venomously.

Ignorant of the byplay going on around him, the hidden master laughed, his voice booming across the square.

“None of that, lad.” The cultivator planted a massive armored palm on Lei’s shoulder. “Stand tall, it’s your celebration tonight. I just wanted to come down and congratulate you myself after I finished setting up the night’s entertainment.”

Lei glanced over to the massive white sheet that had been draped over the side of the Apart Ment’s eastern wall. The thing was big enough to make a tent the size of a house. Then his eyes tracked down to the strange device positioned on the other side of the square.

Were he a more morbid man, he would have said that it looked like some kind of giant gonne.

It was only the presence of a glass sheet over the barrel – and it’s position aimed at the home of the militia – suggested otherwise.

And while the cultivator had said that the two things would serve as entertainment for the evening’s celebration, he had little earthly idea what form that entertainment would take. And he knew he was not alone in being almost desperate to find out.

If Master Johansen’s entertainments were even half as revolutionary as the other mystic tools he had brought to their little town then it was set to be an evening to remember.

“This lowly one is honored by your praise, master cultivator.”

The man nodded, hand coming up to stroke his rather impressive beard contemplatively. “I also come bearing a request.”

It was funny, despite all that the man across from him had done for their town, Lei couldn’t resist the sudden bout of nervousness that came over him at those words. For just a moment, it felt like he was once more across from that massive bull.

Only this time he didn’t have a gonne. And if he did, he doubted it would do him much good. Master Johansen could have likely shattered the spine of such a beast with a single errant slap.

Indeed, that was why many among the town suggested the role of slaying errant spirit beasts was so often left to Lady An. The task of hunting such lowly prey beneath the hidden master.

Whatever the truth, Lei could only nod warily. “This lowly one would be honored to aid master cultivator in any way he may.”

The man frowned a little, before sighing and nodding.

“Alright, now please bear in mind that this is a request on my part. Specifically, I’m requesting that you let An have access to the spirit core of the beasty you brought down earlier today.”

Lei stilled. Truth be told, he hadn’t even thought of it.

Certainly, the members of the milita had brought in the carcass, but they hadn’t known what to do with it at the time. Sure, it was a spirit beast, but ignoring that fact, meat was meat. And until the supply group got back from Ten Huo, Jiangshi need all it could get.

More to the point, he’d heard a number of rumors about eating the flesh of such an animal. Some of the older folk had said that spirit beast flesh was toxic to non-cultivators. Others, among the younger crowd, said it could make you a cultivator.

The truth was, none of them had a clue though. So the bull remained untouched but for a sheet that had been thrown over it.

The young hunter also didn’t see why Master Johansen felt the need to ask him for the corpse when no one would have gainsaid him if he just took it.

Seeing his confusion, the man spoke. “Normally, as overseer of Jiangshi, everything hunted, mined or harvested around here defaults to me as the owner of the land. Though it’s expected that as the cultivator in charge, I would distribute those resources for the good of the village.” He shook his head with a queer smile. “Communism-lite, as it were.”

Lei had no idea what communism was. Nor did it seem his understanding was needed as the cultivator continued.

“With that said, I’m also obligated to reward you for those contributions.” He looked over the crowd. “And, to make things more complicated, rules concerning spirit beasts are pretty clear cut. If you can kill it, you get ownership, regardless of location.”

Behind the master, Lady An frowned. “A rule that was created without ever accounting for the idea that a mortal might manage to kill such a beast – given that a mortal would both be normally considered incapable of the act and would have little use for the resulting body.”

Eyebrow cocked, the hidden master turned to his student.

“I’ll admit to being out of the loop of things for a while, but I’m guessing from your tone that nothing like that has ever happened around here?”

“Only in stories, master.” An shrugged.

“Right.” The hidden master nodded. “So, as much as I hate to interrupt our little party with business, I figured it better to get this sorted now, before the animal spoils.”

Lei barely heard him.

The spirit beast corpse belonged to him? He’d never even considered that was a possibility. As the overseer said, anything hunted around the village defaulted to the village. Of course, you would be paid for your work, but the fact remained that attempting to simply keep the spoils of a hunt would be poaching.

A crime that carried a hefty punishment – if you were caught.

He knew that this latest revelation changed nothing though. That the hidden master was simply giving face to the law. That if Lei were smart, he would hand over the corpse. Immediately.

Nothing good came from withholding something from a cultivator. They’d just take it and then punish you for the audacity of trying to stop them.

Better to make it a ‘gift’, he thought.

Of course, then his mouth had to go and open for him.

“Master Johansen, this lowly one would request to know if there is any truth to the tale that eating spirit beast flesh will make one a cultivator?”

Despite being told there was no need, Lei bowed deeply as he asked his question. Even then, part of him winced in anticipation of punishment.

Instead, above him, he heard a long sigh.

“An, I’ll let you tell him.”

The cat-woman’s scoff was immediate.

“No.” Lei’s heart sank as the woman spoke. “With the correct training one may harvest a number of rare reagents from the flesh of a spirit beast, but just eating them achieves little.”

“Then this lowly one has little use for it and would gladly make it a gift to the most beneficent overseer.” Lei actually surprised himself by meaning that.

It was not an exaggeration to say that everyone present owed their lives to the two cultivators in front of him. Certainly, Master Johansen was not shy about making use of the people of the town as he saw fit, but he was neither cruel nor wasteful in his dominion.

As evidenced by the way he simply chuckled. “A gift, eh? Alright, then I’ll accept on behalf of An here. But in the interest of keeping things on the level, I think I’ll reward you with a ‘gift’ in turn. Can’t say it rightly sits right with me to just take the crust from a man’s mouth without due recompense.”

He looked to Lin and An. “Four month’s salary sound about right to you?”

Ignoring the way his heart rate suddenly sped up at the thought of all that money, Lei snuck a pleading glance at the beautiful woman on the master’s arm.

“That sounds most generous, beloved.” The young woman cooed.

An’s face simply remained as impassive as ever. “The mortal gains face by gifting us the spirit core and we gain face by rewarding him for it.”

“Sounds good to me.” Master Johansen nodded decisively. “Report to the paymaster tomorrow and he’ll give you your reward in whatever medium is most useful.”

Lei could scarcely believe his ears.

“That good enough, kid?”

“Yes!”

Lei bowed ever deeper – and bowed again when the hidden master walked away after a few more minutes of conversation.

Four month’s pay, he breathed.

And as he glanced around the crowd, he had a feeling that there might be a few attempts among the militia to bring down a spirit beast in the coming days.

----------

An was as riveted by any of the mortals present by the ‘movie’. Projected via some illusionary technique onto the great sheet, she struggled not to hold her breath as the great battle displayed reached its climax.

Northmen in red surcoats fought a desperate battle against innumerable hordes of dark skinned southerners wielding spears and shields that would have been more at home in the hands of Instinctive tribesmen than Imperial citizens.

But they weren’t Imperial citizens, were they? Neither of the two sides in the great conflict spoke the Imperial tongue. Instead they spoke in a tongue she had never before heard.

They also fought with gonnes.

Or at least, the men in red do, she thought, gripping her glaive.

The illusionary orchestra’s music reached a crescendo in perfect unison with the battle, as the warriors in red were forced back into the very interior of their compound. The survivors were reduced to firing in three ranks, resulting in a constant deluge of shots that served to hold their enemy at bay.

Yet, even as she, along with the crowd, desperately hoped for the men in red to somehow triumph – she couldn’t help the dark pall of disquiet that fell over her thoughts.

Because, for all that the ‘Zulus’ outwardly looked like Instinctive tribesmen, she couldn’t help but imagine Imperial cultivators in their place.

Would they die as easily as the Zulu?

Of course not. she thought. But if enough mortals were armed with enough gonnes…

Sure, they couldn’t threaten sect masters or higher level cultivators – but it was the lower tiers that made up most of the membership of any given sect.

What would these weapons do to the carefully preserved balance of power in the Celestial Empire?

She shook her head. It wasn’t worth thinking about. She would trust her master to know what he was doing.

Instead she allowed herself to cheer with the crowd as the Zulus spared the lives of the brave guards in red, saluting them as fellow warriors.

Still, those questions wouldn’t stop bothering her. Was this historical or fictional? If it was fiction, why did her master have the players speak in such a strange tongue? The words along the bottom had allowed her to follow along, but she knew most of the mortals present couldn’t read. She doubted it had impacted their enjoyment of the story unduly, given their excitement, but it was an odd choice.

If it was historical… well, she didn’t know where it had been taken from.

Was it possible her master had traveled beyond the borders of the empire? Where humans still dwelled, given she could see no half-beast traits present on either side.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a slight squawk from the man’s helm, as well as the one on her belt.

Someone in the militia was trying to reach them through the Raid Io.

A marvellous bit of enchanting, she had been honored by being gifted one. Talking stones were not a cheap resource, and even if she didn’t recognize the exact type she had been gifted with, it was still a princely gift.

…That gratitude had lasted about as long as it took for her master to gift said devices to every man in the militia over the rank of sergeant.

And Lin.

Which had been especially galling.

Still, cheapened or not by their proliferation, the devices were incredibly useful for conveying information across town.

It was just unfortunate that they were limited to that distance – otherwise they could have kept in touch with the food convoy that had departed nearly two months ago. Though her master had said that was a limitation he would resolve shortly. And An saw no reason to doubt him.

Actually, that’s probably them now, she thought.

Her master stood up. “It seems our food convoy is back and they met some complications during their mission. As a result, they’ve got a cultivator accompanying them.”

Instantly, An’s mind turned to battle.

“Are they friendly, master?” she asked.

The man responded with a strange shaking of his hand, before swearing. “Probably, but I don’t want to take any chances, which is why I’m going to leave right now and meet them in front of the walls. In the meantime, I need you to round up some of the militia. From here. Not the ones on the wall. And sent them to the wall. With their gonnes.”

“Should they armor up?”

He shook his head. “No time. Apparently our guest is impatient and Gao doesn’t know how long he can delay her.”

He turned.

Behind him, An frowned.

At no point during his instruction did her teacher imply that she was to aid him if it came to combat. Only the militia.

Was she truly that beneath his regard that a few mortals with fancy toys were considered more useful?

-----------

Ren was getting impatient.

As a merchant, she was not unaccustomed to travel, but usually her travels took her to more… populous locations. And with a higher population came housing more fit for a lady of her pedigree.

The otherwise empty farmland that was the ground between the Imperial North and its Centre held no such housing. Which was why she was feeling just a little frayed as she sat on her rickshaw, mere minutes from their destination.

With any luck, our mysterious hidden master will have managed to rustle up some accommodations fit for a fellow cultivator, she thought.

“Aren’t you going to signal them?” she asked finally.

The head guard inclined his head to her. “With respect, Lady Ren, one of my people already has. Our lord is making preparations to greet you.”

He was? How did they know that? She hadn’t seen any sort of signal, from her party or the town. No runners. No signal mirrors. Not even a torch.

Part of her wanted to call her escort out on his obvious deception, but she held her tongue. So close to the home of this ‘hidden master’ it paid to step carefully lest he take offense at her hubris.

Though she was not made of patience. If in five more minutes, nothing had happened, she would advance on the town regardless.

In the end, that proved to be a move she was glad she never made. Not when two minutes later what looked to be a phoenix burst into the night sky, blazing towards their position on wings of flame.

It seemed that rather than waiting inside to receive them, the Hidden Master had decided to come out to greet them…