Where Truth and Lies unite

I

Introduction

"If it isn't the great Lord Fang, who would have thought the rumours were true?"

A pair of strangers came before me. I sat on the ground with my hands above my head, waiting in the shape of a bowl. The two men indulged in their ramblings, enjoying the situation I'd put myself in.

"Here, this master of yours will show you some generosity."

A single pellet the size and shape of a small candy fell into my hands, together with a nasty mouthful of spit.

"Thank you for your kindness," I said as they left laughing. I wiped the glass-like pearl off on my robe before putting it into a pocket where it joined its like. That makes eight. It was hard to believe, but Jin hadn't lied to me. Begging was faster than working, but my infamy likely also played a part in it. Some people absolutely loved taking a jest out of me, pitying the great lord with some leftovers. I wasn't one to complain.

"Your time is up," another man stepped in front of me.

"Boss Jin," I hurried to my feet, bowing in greeting.

Arek Jin, the same man who'd robbed me of my robe when I first arrived in Zhanhai. He preferred going by his given name only. Jin looked like your common man born in Shuanhuang. Long black hair, bound at the back; his round face smooth and adorned with amiable contours. I was told only his eyes had revealed his northern heritage, originating from his motherly side. Such was no longer the case.

Both of his pupils had turned into slits by now, surrounded by a green hue. It was one of the signs of a beast cultivator who had fully assimilated his beast essence, cementing his foundation. In nine out of ten cases, it'd start with the eyes. His skin was also covered in shallow furrows, crisscrossing along his body like scales. That hadn't been there a week ago, which meant that Jin had risen another step.

"Come with me," I was about to congratulate him when he pulled my arm, sending me a little airborne with his newfound strength. Another beggar took my highly coveted place in a breath. Many members of the Guild would pass through there, and they were most likely to donate some leftovers.

"Where are we going, Boss?"

"Nowhere," Jin kept glancing at me as I followed him into the bustling streets. The occasional flyer sailed through the air; one particular having it out for his face. The pressing wind stuck it to him with the great determination of keeping it there. He snarled, clawing away at the paper until he finally tore it off him. As it returned to flight, I caught a glimpse of the now familiar words.

Endure no longer.

Khan Sen will set us free.

Not a day had passed where I didn't see some guards running after a bunch of scattered papers, trying to sweep the city clean of them. Whenever they tore one off the walls, two more would replace it before nightfall. I hadn't bothered much with its ramblings.

"I won't apologize," suddenly, Jin spoke up, breaking the silence between us. When he talked, a hiss underlaid his words, and his tongue kept flickering out of his mouth as if searching for something to guide it. It was a common sight for the beast essence to influence the beginner cultivator with a new habit or two. Even mortals knew about it, yet the people still preferred taking the long way around us, hiding their wary gazes. To them, cultivators like Jin seemed less human. They were right.

"I'd never ask that of you," I said, a bit surprised. We hadn't talked much about our first, unfortunate meeting. "Rather, you have my gratitude for accepting me into your ranks."

"You and your way with words," he clicked his tongue, "ahh, annoying, annoying. Take this, and be quiet so I can think."

He dropped five pellets into my hand. I looked at Jin perplexed, waiting for an explanation.

"Your... share," he said, eventually. "Thanks to you, One-eye graduated."

"You don't have to..." My words trailed off. Knowing Jin over the last month, there was no point in me refuting his kindness. "Thank you, Boss. How did it go for him?"

He shook his head.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. He knew his chances," Jin spoke as if trying to convince himself. He clicked his tongue, whispering, "I still haven't told his family. They probably think he's too drunk to find the way back home... He was a great actor, that damn Hyun... Kept it up for a year. He's always been... so good that even he would forget how old he really was. Ahh, what a pain, leaving me with the crap to deal with."

I kept quiet, knowing I had nothing of worth to offer. We walked in silence when in the distance behind us a trail of smoke rose into the sky. Uproar followed soon after, as yet another fire sprung to life somewhere in the city. Our gazes lingered in the direction of it before Jin continued leading me down the street. Clearly, he had a destination in mind.

"Someone said they wanted to meet you," he told me after we turned a corner.

"And you said we were going nowhere," I stopped walking.

"Everyone's going somewhere. Come on now, don't look at me like that. I feared you'd have that kind of a reaction. I'm only making an introduction, nothing you need to worry about. Decline their offer if you want, not that I think you will."

"Offer?"

"I took over the beggars only recently," he said, pretending not to hear me, "before that, I was more affiliated with them."

Jin nodded across the alley where two children were huddling together in whispers.

"...Them?" They looked no older than twelve.

"They're Rin and Ren."

"See, I told you I wasn't seeing things!" I caught their voices as Jin dragged me closer.

"But he died! We all saw him carry his corpse away! What if he's a ghost?"

"It's you..." I frowned. They tickled a memory of mine. The two fell over themselves as they tried to gain some distance from me. Those faces... I met them on that day, when I'd grabbed the swords from the stall.

"You're those two thieves. I didn't notice you were twins."

"I'll leave you alone now," Jin turned away, clapping me on the back. The twins were watching his departure in horror. "If you have any problems, come to me, but make it one I can handle, alright? We owe you that much, I suppose. It was a... nice robe."

"My thanks, Arek Jin," I gave him an earnest bow, something which I'd a lot to improve on. "I won't forget this debt I owe you, I swear."

"Heavens be damned, stop it already, and don't you call me that again! Whoever told you about that deserves to have their tongue cut out!" He hurried away, clicking his tongue all the while. "Robbed the clothes off him, and he thanks me for it. Ahh, annoying, annoying. What an annoying little brat."

"Boss Jin's the best, isn't he?" One of the twins spurted out.

"He is!" The other answered.

"So," I focused my attention on them. Since Jin dragged me here, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. He'd never seemed the kind of guy to waste your time. "Who are you? What do you want from me?"

"H-Hello!" Their heads snapped back to me, one of them stammering. They backed away even more while nudging each other with their elbows. "W-We have an o-offer for you." They took a deep breath, straightening their backs to a fault. "J-Join us!"

"...Join who?"

"...us?" I waited. "Uhh... us. Rin and Ren. Grey. Nysha. Rael."

This is getting nowhere. What were they hoping to achieve by sending children for recruitment, or whatever this is?

"Why would I want to join you?" I started.

"You work a month for eight pellets," one of them took a step forward; the other watched their sibling in awe. "Beg a month for the mercy of twelve. Come with us, and you'll get all two hundred you need in the same span!"

"Why should I ever trust something sounding that ridiculous?"

"W-Would Boss Jin introduce you to us if we were lying?" The two shrank into themselves, intimidated by my question. They sounded the same, looked the same, and worse, acted the same. They were truly cut from the same cloth. It was a rare sight to see twins like them outside of that one sect who herded them like sheep from all over the continent.

"We're just using, uhh, unique methods..." The other glared at their counterpart who spoke up.

"Such as?"

"Stealing... and so on," one said meekly. I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms as the two hurried to talk over each other.

"It's nothing bad! We take them from the rich, so it's okay! Not like they'd notice a thousand or a billion missing!"

"Pellets from the rich, so the nobility or their affiliated merchants," I assumed; correctly given their hesitant nodding. "Which should make this quite dangerous."

"No risk, no reward!" They chirped as if rehearsed. They seemed incredibly proud of it. "Oh, but it's not really dangerous. Not with Nysha around!"

"Alright, I think I understand," I tried putting the puzzle pieces into a comprehensible picture, "You're a band of thieves. Five, I suppose, looking for a new member." They jumped, nodding with joy. "Which begs the question, why me?"

"We saw you!" Their apprehension transformed into excitement in the blink of an eye. "Your fight with the stinking dude, it was... it was amazing! You're amazing! We thought you died, but then Rin here said that she saw you in one of Boss Jin's spots, but I didn't believe her like the fool I was, but Rin kept insisting so I took a look and it was true, so we asked the Boss to introduce us to you and that's why we came after we begged Nysha to let us do this but she kept nagging, saying she should go so we had to convince her and-!"

"I told you I was right, Ren!"

"Yes, yes, I'll apologize later, Rin!" They both stared at me. "And? And?"

"I assume you're trying to fill a hole. What happened to your previous member? Was it Boss Jin?"

"No, no, Boss Jin never really did things with us, but the previous one graduated!" They raised their chests high, "after less than six months!"

So much for two hundred 'in the same span...'

"What are your rules?"

I was intrigued, nonetheless. Their earlier estimate was about right. It'd take me a long time to gather the two hundred pellets I needed. That wasn't bad in and of itself, but if there was another option it might be worth trying it out.

Pellets were the currency of the cultivator's world - a bead of condensed Qi. I needed them to take the Mortal Trial at the Guild. The pellets could also be consumed to strengthen your cultivation. Or, to start cultivating in the first place. Two hundred was the magic number in that case, together with a beast- or natural spirit essence. The trial provided easier access to the latter, but it was up to the individual to gather the pellets.

Non-practitioners had a difficult time getting their hands on them. Guild missions were inaccessible to mortals, and regular work for them was over-saturated. Few mortals could offer pellets as a reward, and cultivators would rarely require help from mortals. Hence, begging from others who'd been in a similar situation like yours was indeed considered one of the best methods to acquire them. The Guild never bothered to make them more accessible.

I desired to change myself, but I didn't know where to start. I had no clues, except for one. Cultivation. What was it? The strengthening of your body through change to escape your mortal mould. I didn't know whether it was the change I sought, whether it'd lead me to the place I didn't even know the destination of, but it was my only starting point. Therefore, I'd decided to walk the same path again, but different. Besides, my core was as good as useless, and I had no delusions about removing the seal on it.

The trial was made for mortals who wanted to become cultivators. This time, I'd not start as a cultivator of a sect or family, but by myself. Maybe, I'd learn something different from the outcome. I could only hope so.

"Rules? Simple!" The two beamed as if I'd already accepted their proposal. "Everything is shared evenly between us, regardless of your role. Once you get what you need, you leave. No hard feelings; another will replace the hole. We're a dynamic group that's existed for as long as Zhanhai!"

"Allegedly," the girl, Rin, I thought, added.

"Allegedly," the boy, Ren, conceded.

"Alright, I accept," the two jumped up in cheers, drowning out my voice, "for now... Are you two listening?"

Part of cultivation was cultivating your patience. It was important for those at the bottom rung, and more so for those who ventured into the wild on their own. Any misstep might be your last. I knew that but I could really make do with a slightly faster timeline, and without drowning in a sea of spit.