~~~

“Why is it that it takes the cleverest and most talented to make the most idiotic and thoughtless decisions?”

Liu Jin does his best not to squirm under Elder Xue’s menacing glower.

“Well?” She asks him, placing a hand on her hip. “That was not a rhetorical question, disciple.”

After being dismissed from the Patriarch’s presence, most disciples were taken to the Medical Pavilion. That would have been the case for Liu Jin had Elder Xue’s butterfly not arrived with orders for him to report to her right away. As soon as he set foot in the Apothecary, Liu Jin was taken to her study and told to give his report while she treated him using all manner of potions and ointments.

In hindsight, Liu Jin could have been a little less honest.

“I am not sure there is a right answer, Elder Xue.”

“That makes you wise,” she says. “Where was that wisdom when you dared to raise your voice at Patriarch Feng?”

He really should have omitted that part.

“Where was it when you brainlessly forced your way into the True Realm?”

“With all due respect, that was necessary,” Liu Jin defends himself. “The strength of the Spirit Realm was not enough to guarantee my survival.”

“What you mean to say is that the strength of the Spirit Realm did not guarantee your ability to bring back nearly as many people alive.” She shakes her head and sighs. “First, you take too long to reach the Spirit Realm. Now, you do the opposite for the True Realm. Do you understand how dangerous what you did was?”

“I realize there were many dangers involved,” Liu Jin says carefully, “but I was confident my foundation would allow me to endure the breakthrough.”

“Never try something like that again,” Elder Xue warns him. “The power increases between each realm and between each level of each realm only grow larger. That is why one needs more and more time to properly stabilize after every breakthrough. It is dangerous for the body to receive more Qi than it is prepared to handle. Your meridians or, worse, your dantian could have been greatly damaged. However, Qi alone was not the only danger you faced.”

She points to his chest.

“Your soul. The Spirit Realm is one in which the soul matures so that you might be prepared for the challenges ahead. Leaving the Spirit Realm before your soul finishes maturation could have crippled you permanently.”

Liu Jin looks down.

“Oh.”

“Indeed.” Liu Jin marvels at how much sarcasm Elder Xue manages to fit into that one word. “It is your good fortune that you have been taking steps to nurture your soul since the beginning. Even more so that the True Realm is a quiet one. The True Realm does not possess any inherent trials like the Earth or Heaven Realms, nor does it bring any new awakenings. It is a realm of quiet concentration that allows you to take what you have and hone it further. That is why even talented people choose to stop their journey towards eternity there. You would do well to use this time to properly stabilize.”

“I will do as I am told.”

“We will see about that,” Elder Xue says with very little confidence in his words. “Next, your soul constructs. How did you ever get the idea to use one?”

“A man who was like an older brother to me showed me the technique when I was a child,” Liu Jin says, seeing little point in lying. Time has made it so he only feels a slight pang in his chest when bringing up Xiao Nan. “He told me I should be capable of doing the technique once I reached the Earth Realm, but the situation forced my hand. Since I needed to make contact with Qu Rou without risking my life, using a soul fragment seemed like the best choice. I did not know exactly what I was doing, but-”

“No,” Elder Xue interrupts. Her anger forces his mouth shut. “You had no idea what you were doing and failed to heed a sensible warning.”

“It is a good thing I managed to do the technique then.”

As soon as he says that, he feels an invisible hand grabbing him by the back of the neck. He winces.

“You. Did. Not.” Elder Xue is as angry as he has ever heard her. “I will not ask you to demonstrate your technique because listening to your description was enough to notice your mistake.”

She waves her hand, and one of her butterflies appears.

“This is a soul fragment,” she says, pointing to it. “It is useful for performing minor tasks like sending messages. However, it is not myself. Unless it rejoins me, I do not see what it sees, and I do not know what it knows. Now, think back to your experiences and tell me the difference.”

“I… did feel what my soul fragment felt,” Liu Jin says with some hesitation. “It was as if I was in two places at once.”

“Which is completely natural. The soul is one. When you split it, you simultaneously exist in two places, a huge burden on the mind and soul. This is why the first step in creating a soul fragment is to establish a hierarchy. This greatly reduces the strain by cutting you off from your fragment.”

Elder Xue glares at him.

“However, you decided that the best way to handle this strain was to keep subjecting yourself to it until you could endure it! You then maintained a soul fragment for hours, fought a Core Disciple, and pushed your soul further by forcing your breakthrough using several cultivation pills!”

Oh.

“What am I to do now, Elder Xue?”

She takes a deep breath before answering him.

“Now, you will remain still while I apply more herbs. They will nourish your body, which will nourish your soul. After that, I would advise you to rest for several days and never attempt to create another soul fragment until I have taught you the correct way. However, you have other matters to attend to before that.”

Liu Jin blinks. “I have?”

“Ling wants to thank you for protecting her son, and a few of the disciples you kept safe have family members among our Core Disciples. They are eager to express their thanks, so you must go to them as soon as possible.”

“If they are the ones who want to thank me, why am I the one who has to go to them?” Liu Jin asks. “Should they not come to me instead?”

“You speak with sense. Alas, that simply wouldn’t be proper at all. Go along with their senselessness and take advantage of the opportunities given to you.”

Liu Jin hangs his head in defeat.

“I submit myself to Elder Xue’s wisdom.”

~~~

By the time Elder Xue finishes parading him around, the sky has already turned dark, and Liu Jin wants to do nothing more than curl up in his bed. He understands that having important people being grateful to him will increase his influence in the Eternal Flame Clan. All the same, there are only so many self-aggrandizing speeches he can listen to in one day.

“Finally! I have been looking for you!”

Liu Jin blinks a few times to make sure he isn’t imagining the sight of Bei Hong standing in front of the mansion for Inner Disciples.

“Shouldn’t you be in the Medical Pavilion?” Liu Jin asks once he is sure this is the real Bei Hong.

“Bah!” Bei Hong scoffs. “I’m fine! I can go there later.”

“Did you forget who your doctor was?” Liu Jin asks, pointing at himself. “You shouldn’t even be walking around.”

Of all the people who came back from the Dead Plains, the Bei cousins are the ones who require the most care. Though Senior Brother Guo suffered a grievous injury, the only thing he needs is a good pair of prosthetics. His regeneration has already taken care of healing everything else.

By contrast, Bei Hong and Bei Duyi badly beat each other up, had their healing process accelerated beyond what was healthy by Liu Jin, and were thrown into a life-or-death struggle. Then they had to make the journey back with everyone else.

“Look,” Bei Hong says, “I can still walk, so that’s good enough for this. There is no telling when we’ll have time if we don’t do it right now. I already sent Brother Shing to get the others.”

The others?

Liu Jin does not have time to ask. Bei Hong quickly drags him inside the mansion. As he is guided through the halls, Liu Jin is reminded of his first day as an Inner Disciple.

“You rented a private room?” He asks.

“The damn best one we could get without being Core Disciples,” Bei Hong boasts, lightly hitting his chest. “After you work hard, you enjoy yourself. That’s just common sense. But you have been going around doing work, haven’t you?”

Liu Jin looks away, suddenly greatly interested in the walls. “It was not exactly work.”

“Ah, it’s a waste for a guy like you to be so strong!” Bei Hong clicks his tongue. “If you don’t enjoy your power, what’s the point in having it?! Come on! We’re alive, aren’t we? That means we won! So be damn happy about it! That’s the proper way for a strong man to be!”

“The proper way, huh?” Liu Jin’s lips slowly curl up. “You might be right.”

“Weak! That’s still too weak! But that’s fine! We have enough alcohol here to work on it!”

Bei Hong opens the door.

“Ooh, that sounds so dangerous, senior brother!”

“Please, tell us more.”

Liu Jin blinks.

Several times.

The room Bei Hong led him to is large and luxurious, and the smell of wine and perfume is heavy in the air. All those are things Liu Jin expected. Even the many girls wearing skimpy pink outfits are not entirely surprising.

What Liu Jin did not expect to find was Senior Brother Khong Hu as the center of attention. The usually composed Khong Hu is blushing and stuttering like Liu Jin has never seen him before. He has a cup of wine in his hand and a girl on each side.

As soon as they make eye contact, he pales.

“Brother Jin!” He shouts, covering his face. Some wine spills on his robes because of it. “Don’t look at me! This is not what it looks like!”

Deciding to ignore him for now, Liu Jin turns to Bei Hong.

“I am surprised you have girls here.”

Bei Hong shrugs. “I’d have preferred if it was just us drinking, but they came with the room.”

Female servants, then. Maybe even Outer Disciples trying to earn points however they can.

“I did not come with the room,” Fan Bingbing says. It says a lot about how tired Liu Jin is that he missed her entirely. The small girl is sitting in a corner, holding a small cup of wine with her two hands. Unlike the servants, she wears the standard robes for Inner Disciples.

"Well, of course not!" Bei Hong rolls his eyes. "You were invited. It's different!"

"Brother Hong!" Huang Shing yells, abruptly appearing at the door. "I already called the others and-!"

He trails off. His face morphs from surprise to curiosity to admiration.

"Brother Khong! Nice!"

"It's always the overly serious types," Bei Hong adds. A serving girl fills his cup and guides him to a seat. Another one does the same for Liu Jin.

"It's not like that!" The red-faced Khong yells. "You left us alone with them! I was trying to be courteous!"

"I left you with alcohol, and you're not drowning in it," Bei Hong nods before downing his entire cup. "Ah, that's the good stuff!"

“No need to feel ashamed, senior brother,” Huang Shing adds as a serving girl fills his cup. Liu Jin raises an eyebrow as he pulls her to his lap, and she squeals in excitement. “This is the whole point of this, right?”

“I thought you came here because of a woman?” Liu Jin asks him.

“This and that are different.” Huang Shing laughs nervously. “You gotta enjoy yourself, Brother Jin! Enjoy yourself!”

“And how exactly are you suggesting that my Jin enjoy himself?”

Huang Shing pales as Lu Mei enters the room.

“I… there is no right answer?”

“Good. You are learning,” Lu Mei sashays over to Liu Jin. A simple look from her is all it takes to scare off the serving girl next to him. With that done, she seats herself on the armrest of his chair. “Oh dear, it seems you are suddenly without an attendant.”

“A truly horrible tragedy,” Liu Jin deadpans. “Who will fill my cup now?”

“We’ll have to remedy that, won’t we?”

Wind calls one of the bottles to her hands, and she brings it to her mouth. Liu Jin’s eyes widen as her lips meet his, but he quickly relaxes into the kiss and deepens it. Wine swirls between their mouths as he wraps his arms around Lu Mei and pulls her to his lap. There are many things he wants to talk to her about, but for now, he will do as Bei Hong said and be happy.

“That is one way to serve wine,” Liu Jin says when the kiss ends. His and Lu Mei’s faces are flushed in a way that has nothing to do with alcohol.

“Only the best. I will not suffer you receiving substandard treatment.”

“Argh!” Bei Hong scowls. “Do you two really have to do that in front of everyone?”

“Whatever do you mean?” Liu Jin asks. “You are the one who wanted me to enjoy myself.”

Lu Mei smiles smugly and leans into Liu Jin. “If we make you uncomfortable, you’re free to leave.”

“Bah! Whatever!” Bei Hong says as more people enter the room. Wong, Ten, and many of the other disciples that were with them in the temple join them. “More drinks! More music! Bring me something so strong I won’t have to see these two!”

~~~

Many hours pass before Liu Jin returns to his room.

He falls asleep as soon his head touches the pillow. Liu Jin does not even have the energy to get under the covers. The contest. The Dead Plains. The monsters. Now that he is finally safe, the physical and mental exhaustion from everything he has gone through catches up to him.

There will be work for him to do once he wakes up. Patriarch Feng’s decision. The Storm Dragon Empire. Xun Huwen’s existence. Lu Mei’s secret being exposed. Those are important matters, but for now...

For now, Liu Jin sleeps.

~~~