Chapter 94: Setting Up The Pieces
I took a deep breath, relishing the damp air as drops of water cascaded off the roof of the Chinese-style mansion. The governor fixed his gaze on me as if attempting to discern my intentions. Or perhaps he sought something else?
Regardless, it held no significance for me. If he expected me to undertake a perilous task merely for a handful of spirit stones and a charming smile, he would fare better with individuals like Hu Jin. He seemed the type to embark on frivolous quests at the drop of a hat.
The sole reason I'd risk my life was if it aligned with my whims and desires.
"Since you are so knowledgeable about monstrous beasts, and I wanted a second opinion," the governor grumbled, displaying his dissatisfaction. "How did the monstrous beasts approach unnoticed by any of our scouts?"
"None at all? Could you elaborate?" I inquired, pondering the level of organization among the monstrous beasts.
"We maintained regular contact with the scouts, relying on them to alert us of approaching monstrous beasts. This year's influx was the largest I've encountered since assuming office. For the scouts to miss such a significant threat..." He furrowed his brow, a bead of sweat trickling down. "The monstrous beasts must have incapacitated all the scouts simultaneously, with precision timing, just before the attack to avoid arousing suspicion from our lack of communication."
This revelation highlighted just how organized the monstrous beasts were. To execute such a maneuver was undeniably impressive.
Monstrous beasts excelled at stealth, naturally suppressing their Qi without requiring human-like training. Adding ambush plans on top of that, we had a very dangerous enemy on our hands.
"It seems like you are probably right with something like that happening. From now on, we must keep our guards up and not think of our enemies as only mindless beasts," I cautioned. My words lacked the comfort he sought, but honesty was paramount. Fabricating the truth would only lead to our demise. "In any case, I shall resume constructing the barrier as soon as possible. However, it's essential to understand that the barrier will serve as little more than a deterrent. It is just a paper tiger."
I dispelled any potential misconceptions in the absence of witnesses. To be safe, I even used the idioms from this world in that last part.
The governor nodded, indicating his prior understanding. "The illusion of strength is still preferable to vulnerability."
Those words reminded me of a certain quote from Sun Tzu: Appear strong where you are weak and appear weak where you are strong.—Or something like that.
I learned most of Sun Tzu's quotes from memes. If I had known I would be involved in actual war, I would have read the book ten times from cover to cover and memorized every word.
Still, this gave me an idea...
I rubbed my chin and was in deep thought. My gaze wandered toward an empty piece of paper as an idea slowly began to formulate in my mind.
The governor also seemed to be in deep thought as he looked at the sky. We seemed to be using this time as a brief scheming session. But just as he looked ready to say goodbye, two Qi signatures entered my sensory range, and the governor frowned as he noticed them too.
I turned toward the gate, and the two clan leaders were walking side by side on the stone road leading toward the mansion. The Hong Clan Leader had a smile on his face and seemed like he was talking about something. By the smug look on his face and the annoyed grimace of the Lu Clan Head, it couldn't have been anything diplomatic.
But what stood out most about them was that they each had five Body Tempering guards wearing their respective clan colors.
The number of cultivators approaching put me a bit on edge.
What was up with the bodyguards? There was no reason to have so many of them inside the town... Unless they were about to do something really dumb like attack us. Even if they were more in numbers, quality more often than not made up for quantity when it came to cultivators.
In the end, as they got closer, my worries subsided as it was just them arguing.
In his own words, we had to be realistic here, and Qi Gathering Cultivators made much better meatshields than civilians.
But despite sticking to the sidelines, the governor was quite angry despite his calm demeanor. So before the situation could escalate any further, I intervened, "I plan to finish the barrier today. Also, I need some monstrous beast cores as fast as possible."
This seemed to free the governor from whatever he had been thinking of doing before, and he turned toward me. "The cores aren't ready yet, as not all monstrous beasts have cores and those that do need to be extracted carefully so the cores don't break."
Monstrous beasts with cores were rare and, in many cases, much more dangerous since they had more potential than average monstrous beasts. No research was done on how a core formed inside a monstrous beast or if they were born with it. Monstrous beast cores were useful only for specific skills or situations, so despite their rarity, they were not as valuable as one might think. They were expensive but not valuable for a town like this to keep them in stock.
"We can give you some," the Hong Clan Leader said. "My clan and I believe the Lu Clan also have some cores in storage. How many do you need?"
They had them? Neat.
"At least two dozen," I said without missing a beat.
For a split second, the clan leaders faltered before the Lu Clan Head nodded, and the Hong Clan Leader hurriedly followed suit. Though they looked thoughtful as they made such a choice.
I glanced at the governor from the corner of my eye, and he also was staring at me. When I had asked him about beast cores, I had not asked him even a quarter of what I was asking from the Clan Leaders. The old governor was smart enough not to speak up about this.
To the Clan leaders, agreeing with them to take their 'gifts' was a silent message that I was on their side. With the governor, he knew I was screwing them. Yes, I was playing both sides here.
Even if the governor decided to spill the beans about my trickery, I could use it as ammunition to make the clans think he was lying to make them hate me and put a wedge in our relationship.
Both sides thought I was on their side while hating each other. Now, I just had to keep this fragile mixture bowl from becoming a fighting bowl with two sides. Internal tension was good for keeping everyone from ganging up on me, but internal conflict was the last thing we needed.
Still, for now, it was checkmate...
...
True to their word, the Clan Leaders had servants deliver the monstrous beast cores a few hours after we talked.
So, here I was, sitting on a carriage as one of the guards rode with barrels of monstrous beast blood in the back. At the same time, I stared at the crimson beast cores that looked like blood diamonds in my hand.
Some cores were entirely red, while others had a red sphere inside and looked like they were made of highly transparent glass.
“Here is our first stop, honorable cultivator,” the guard told me, breaking me out of my thoughts.
I got down from the carriage, stuffed all the monstrous beast cores in the sack, grabbed the barrel of blood over my shoulder, and approached the northernmost part of the inner wall. Cracking open the barrel, I took out a thin brush and dipped it in.
Time to make a big fake barrier!
