Chapter 287 - Figure it Out

Jun Yi Kong kneels in Ying Zhen.

Yuzu recalled the short poem that Somm had recited to her when he explained his suspicions of the pocket space ruler’s identity. Just by seeing the string of the man trapped within the statue she knew that he was an incredibly powerful immortal.

The aura coming off his silver thread reminded her of the Prince of Life Deka. Potent, rich and undeniably powerful.

Yuzu felt a heavy pressure from the Demon King when he spoke with her. He treated her like a child, looking down at her with a judgemental, superior attitude. Unlike other powerful existences that she had dealt with previously he didn’t give her any respect for being attuned to Fate.

No, to be accurate he actually seemed to hold this fact against her. He saw her manipulation of fate strings in the pocket space as ‘meddling’ with his world. When he talked about sensing fate there was a spiteful bitterness in his tone that conveyed a deep and complicated history with the domain.

Yuzu suppressed a frown as she came to an understanding of Jun Yi Kong’s situation. The seal that had imprisoned Jun Yi Kong in a cramped, dark well for millennia was created by Fate.

From the outset this Demon King was already biased against Yuzu due to his ancient grudge against the Fate domain.

Yuzu didn’t have a problem with dealing with powerful people who looked down on her. She had plenty of experience from her life as a shopkeeper, and plenty of tricks up her sleeve to change the flow of a conversation.

Her initial attitude to Jun Yi Kong, bluntly responding to his disrespect and firing back with a simple, but direct question of her own was one such attempt, showing that she was not intimidated by his pressure. As a teenage girl people expected her to be meek and easy to subjugate, to smile even when berated and give in to intimidation. Oftentimes, particularly with weaker-minded people, showing that she could push back was enough to throw them off and allow Yuzu to gain the initiative.

Jun Yi Kong was unfazed.

“Do you think just because Akahi has made this agreement with me, that you can meddle with Ying Zhen as you please?” Jun Yi Kong grumbled, “Don’t forget that Akahi granted me sovereignty over Ying Zhen, not to be disturbed until the Crystal Flame was relit.”

Yuzu’s ears perked up upon hearing the name of the Goddess of Fate. The situation was becoming clearer in her mind— he had mistaken her for one of Akahi’s followers, for a member of the Kismet Order, and had brought her here out of a perceived grievance. By manipulating Nilya’s fate string during the trial, she had unknowingly offended Jun Yi Kong.

Akahi herself was dead, according to what Argus had told her, but if this agreement was still active the Kismet Order likely was responsible for handling it. Of course, Yuzu did not know anything about the details of the arrangement that Jun Yi Kong was referring to.

From the sound of his words, though, it seemed that the Kismet Order had not yet come in contact with Jun Yi Kong recently. Yuzu’s presence was an unwelcome surprise.

“So tell me, Little Yuzu. Is there a problem?” Jun Yi Kong’s voice was tinged with impatience, “The arrangement of between me and your Goddess is clear, is it not? Or perhaps you have something to tell me?”

Yuzu’s eyes were cool as she didn’t show any reaction to the Demon King’s pressure.

Through some particular method he was keeping his actions unpredictable, intentionally making the future uncertain and hard to read. He was very deliberate about the information he was willing to reveal, preventing Yuzu from gaining deep insight into his thoughts and even shaping what insight she did get from him. Not only did Fate Cycling not have much of an effect, but he also was not giving Yuzu the time to scan the threads properly.

This, too, seemed deliberate.

He’s doesn’t seem to be using Exalted methods to counter Fate, yet he’s still negating the usual advantage I have from my powers… Yuzu found herself in a tough spot. Fate is powerful when it has time to prepare, if he thinks I’m here on behalf of the Goddess then he must believe that this is part of Her plan. However in the moment to moment he is still counting on his unpredictability to deal with me…

In recent memory were two other Exalted that particularly gave Yuzu trouble. Both these figures were powerful and insightful enough that they couldn’t be fooled into believe Yuzu was stronger than she was.

The first was Li Ru, the Angel of Death hiding in the mountains who she had personally sought out. Like Jun Yi Kong, Li Ru also carefully guarded his words, controlling the information he presented to Yuzu, testing her abilities. Li Ru was the first person who not only sensed that she was tampering with fate, but reprimanded her for it.

With Li Ru, Yuzu presented herself as the White Maiden, while being honest about the recent acquisition of her powers. It was out of necessity more than choice, but she had been prepared for that before seeking him out. She appealed to him for help to resolve the mysteries around the God of Life’s resurrection. She had the advantage of knowing that Li Ru was already sympathetic to her cause, since Lyssa had told her that he had offered his help to go against Markus Gantt.

Because of this, Li Ru readily accepted the role of mentor, guiding Yuzu and teaching her valuable things about the Exalted world.

The other being that gave Yuzu trouble was the entity behind the massive door at the bottom of the white world.

Like Jun Yi Kong, he had an ancient, powerful aura which he used to try to dominate over Yuzu. He threatened Yuzu with death, even causing her incredible pain but Yuzu refused to submit to him.

Against the entity behind the door Yuzu had no knowledge or leverage, except that she discovered that it did not actually want to kill her. Its threats were empty because it needed her more than she needed it.

However, though Jun Yi Kong was also trapped, there was a key difference between his situation and the entity behind the door. That was the arrangement of between him and Fate.

Yuzu knew nothing of this arrangement, but had been brought here on the assumption that since she was an Exalted of Fate, she was here on behalf of the Goddess of Fate.

A memory came to her mind.

Once, a few years back when she was minding the shop, a similarly irritable and self-important merchant had come into the pawn shop with a contract. This contract was for an item at another shop, but he had wrongly assumed that they were a branch of the shop and came to find trouble with her.

He came in yelling about the terms of the agreement, naming big names that he could call upon to have their shop shut down, demanding that they return his item immediately.

If it was Xiang at the counter that day he would have turned the man away. After all, he was disrespectful and rude, and his problems had nothing to do with their shop.

Yuzu’s eyes flashed as she decided on her response.

“Remind me about this agreement.” Yuzu said, “We seem to have a misunderstanding.”

The mountain range rumbled darkly in the distance as the Demon King displayed his displeasure. Yet notably to Yuzu, the chamber of statues itself was unaffected by the tremors.

“Are you really Akahi’s chosen representative?” Jun Yi Kong grumbled, “Asking such ignorant questions.”

“My task was simply to help the boy retrieve a hollow ember and return to the physical world.” Yuzu said plainly, “I can go back if you’d like and look into this representative for you.”

Jun Yi Kong fell into a momentary silence.

Yuzu had not confirmed or denied that she was affiliated with Akahi, deliberately ignoring his questions and accusations for the time being. This was not something she could carry on for long— the longer she hid the fact that she was not affiliated, the more manipulative and dishonest she would seem. However if she admitted this fact right away she would lose all bargaining power.

In the best case, she would be useless to Jun Yi Kong and be expelled back to the physical world. Jun Yi Kong would have no incentive to help Nilya, Yuzu would return empty handed. In the worst case, Jun Yi Kong might imprison or even kill Yuzu.

After all, unlike the entity at the bottom of the white world Jun Yi Kong had his existing agreement with the Goddess of Fate to fall back on.

Even if Yuzu were to be returned to her physical body, failing to save Nilya would put her in a bad spot. Both Somm and Bachi would be huge threats to her.

Jun Yi Kong was dissatisfied with Yuzu and clearly looked down on her for being young and ‘clumsy’ with fate. Yuzu further deliberately enforced her lack of qualifications by asking about the details of the agreement and offering to find someone better.

Yuzu’s offer to look into a representative was not an empty promise— after all, at some point Yuzu would likely run into the Kismet Order herself.

The implicit offer here was that Jun Yi Kong could assist Yuzu with her task of helping Nilya, and she would find a more qualified representative to talk to him. On the assumption that Yuzu represented Akahi, if Jun Yi Kong sent Yuzu back without helping Nilya he would also be hurting his relations with Akahi.

Of course, once Yuzu was successfully out of the pocket space she would stay clear of it from that point on. It was likely that her connection through Nilya’s fate string was the most likely cause. Though Jun Yi Kong had been vague about how he had dragged Yuzu into the space, he had slipped that she had ‘answered’ his summons, meaning that she had taken some action herself that enabled him to bring her into the pocket space.

Through the strings, Yuzu quietly observed Jun Yi Kong’s shadowed body at the bottom of the dark well. He had not made any motion at any point in the conversation, his voice transmitted clearly through the strings without using his voice.

Yuzu had faith that Jun Yi Kong would understand the meaning of her words.

Yuzu had little value to Jun Yi Kong as Akahi’s representative, her offer to find someone better was reasonable. In return Yuzu would get exactly what she came for, but since he was in charge of the Trial of Requirement this could perhaps be considered in line with Jun Yi Kong’s responsibilities.

The silence in the chamber was absolute as the Demon King weighed his choices before him.

In this brief moment of solace Yuzu saw the immediate future solidify on her white thread. He wasn’t going to let her go that easily.

Ah. So close. The edge of Yuzu’s lip twitched as she held back a rueful grin. But now I’ve got you figured out.