Xiulan’s wedding night was thoroughly enjoyable. In addition, it almost seemed like the morning after was going to be a blissfully cool and quite day of rest. Xiulan was sleeping wrapped up in a new bed with Meirong in that lovely half phase between sleep and wakefulness.
The pleasant haze was interrupted when a crack of thunder sounded out in the courtyard outside the palace. Another peal of thunder came immediately after the first, the noise reverberated so loudly through the palace that a vase vibrated off of a table to smash to the floor.
Xiulan was wide awake now so she groaned and patted Meirong’s head, “I will go see what’s going on. You continue to enjoy your morning off, wife.”
Meirong chuckled and replied, “it is no fun laying around in bed by myself, wife.”
They had been trading the title back and forth since last night. It was fun to refer to someone as your wife.
Xiulan stretched next to the bed, teasing Meirong with her supple form. Another crash of thunder got her moving more quickly and she changed into a dress before making her way to the courtyard.
In the Courtyard was Elder Xin. Like a discipled cultivator he was practicing his combat techniques. He was standing on the tip of his left toe, with his right leg raised as high above his head as possible. Xiulan could feel an almost electric potential difference between the two feet.
Faster than Xiulan could see the Elder smacked his foot down in a kick. A pressure wave exploded forward from the force of his foot moving and a second after the motion the sound of thunder rolled through Xiulan’s body.
Elder Xin had parleyed the kick into a push off of the ground leaving a crater in the soil. He followed this up by a sudden momentum shift that defied non-qi altered physics. He rocketed back at the ground in front of him spreading his fists so that his left fist extended in front of him, and his right trailed behind him.
When his left fist made contact with the ground his right whipped forward with lightning speed. Another crack of thunder knocked a tile off of the roof and Xiulan decided to intervene before the Elder caused more damage.
“A Thunder sect combat technique I assume?” asked Xiulan as she picked her way towards the Elder through the now cratered courtyard.
“Good morning misses Long,” said the Elder with a stretch, “it is our basic combat style. Overwhelming speed and force.”
Xiulan tutted as she looked around at the wrecked courtyard and flowers that had been flattened by the force of the waves of pressure the Elder had released. “Perhaps next time you would prefer to spare in the guards training grounds. It is constructed a bit more resiliently,” Xiulan said not bothering to hide the disapproval in her voice.
Elder Xin looked sheepish and quickly changed the subject, “so why will we be setting off for the mountains?”
Xiulan let herself be led off topic as she had questions along this line for the Elder anyway. “It depends,” began Xiulan, “depending on the nature of what you really want from us we will started with your supposed treasure trove in the mountains or with the founding of my new city.”
The elder sighed and his shoulders slumped, “I am really no good at tricking people.”
Xiulan chuckled and said with a smirk, “it is just the way I think. In a merchant’s mind doing anything just for pride or a vague sense of responsibility is not profitable.”
Elder Xin snorted and threw up his hands before saying, “fine you win I will come clean. The Thunder Sect is the reason the interior is barren of Qi. Years ago, we were the dominate power here before anyone else really settled in the kingdom. In the mountains we discovered a type of mineral which we did not mine properly. That is the mineral I am going to lead you too.”
Xiulan raised an eyebrow, “so what? You just want to fix your Sect’s mistake?”
Elder Xin shook his head and replied, “as the sect has flourished in the mainland, they are thinking of abandoning the Blue Crane Kingdom branch entirely. After seeing the changes, you are bringing to the Kingdom that would be a mistake. I want the Sect to be in on the ground floor.”
Xiulan nodded. The elder seemed genuine. “We’ll see if your sect thinks the same way you do, I do not mind partnering with them in the future. How difficult is this mineral going to be to extract?”
The elder winced and said with chagrin, “difficult. Why else would we have abandoned the mine. We were not sure how to fix it. Your crowd seems resourceful though. All I really know is that you will need to figure out a way to make it soft again. It is too hard to quarry as it is.”
Xiulan sighed. The shop could probably help with that, but she would need to figure out a way to earn a few spirit stones before she could use the shop again.
“We might as well start on the city first and setting up the Golden Hand in the mountains. It will take some time before I can get ready for any kind of large-scale mining operation anyway. We can go and look at this mysterious mineral after the big projects are on track,” decided Xiulan.
Xiulan turned around and called over her shoulder, “I am going to go back to bed with my wife. If you have to train, go and spare with Yen Wen. I know she has been looking for an experienced fighter to practice her technique on.”
Elder Xin blinked. His former pet parrot had been watching the conversation with amusement. The Elder turned to it and said, “did I just get an order from an eighteen-year-old?”
The parrot squawked an amused confirmation and then flew off after its new owner.
SmithJuly Thank you for reading. If you want five advance ed chapters and access to bonus chapter check out my Patreon.
Xiulan’s wedding night was thoroughly enjoyable. In addition, it almost seemed like the morning after was going to be a blissfully cool and quite day of rest. Xiulan was sleeping wrapped up in a new bed with Meirong in that lovely half phase between sleep and wakefulness.
The pleasant haze was interrupted when a crack of thunder sounded out in the courtyard outside the palace. Another peal of thunder came immediately after the first, the noise reverberated so loudly through the palace that a vase vibrated off of a table to smash to the floor.
Xiulan was wide awake now so she groaned and patted Meirong’s head, “I will go see what’s going on. You continue to enjoy your morning off, wife.”
Meirong chuckled and replied, “it is no fun laying around in bed by myself, wife.”
They had been trading the title back and forth since last night. It was fun to refer to someone as your wife.
Xiulan stretched next to the bed, teasing Meirong with her supple form. Another crash of thunder got her moving more quickly and she changed into a dress before making her way to the courtyard.
In the Courtyard was Elder Xin. Like a discipled cultivator he was practicing his combat techniques. He was standing on the tip of his left toe, with his right leg raised as high above his head as possible. Xiulan could feel an almost electric potential difference between the two feet.
Faster than Xiulan could see the Elder smacked his foot down in a kick. A pressure wave exploded forward from the force of his foot moving and a second after the motion the sound of thunder rolled through Xiulan’s body.
Elder Xin had parleyed the kick into a push off of the ground leaving a crater in the soil. He followed this up by a sudden momentum shift that defied non-qi altered physics. He rocketed back at the ground in front of him spreading his fists so that his left fist extended in front of him, and his right trailed behind him.
When his left fist made contact with the ground his right whipped forward with lightning speed. Another crack of thunder knocked a tile off of the roof and Xiulan decided to intervene before the Elder caused more damage.
“A Thunder sect combat technique I assume?” asked Xiulan as she picked her way towards the Elder through the now cratered courtyard.
“Good morning misses Long,” said the Elder with a stretch, “it is our basic combat style. Overwhelming speed and force.”
Xiulan tutted as she looked around at the wrecked courtyard and flowers that had been flattened by the force of the waves of pressure the Elder had released. “Perhaps next time you would prefer to spare in the guards training grounds. It is constructed a bit more resiliently,” Xiulan said not bothering to hide the disapproval in her voice.
Elder Xin looked sheepish and quickly changed the subject, “so why will we be setting off for the mountains?”
Xiulan let herself be led off topic as she had questions along this line for the Elder anyway. “It depends,” began Xiulan, “depending on the nature of what you really want from us we will started with your supposed treasure trove in the mountains or with the founding of my new city.”
The elder sighed and his shoulders slumped, “I am really no good at tricking people.”
Xiulan chuckled and said with a smirk, “it is just the way I think. In a merchant’s mind doing anything just for pride or a vague sense of responsibility is not profitable.”
Elder Xin snorted and threw up his hands before saying, “fine you win I will come clean. The Thunder Sect is the reason the interior is barren of Qi. Years ago, we were the dominate power here before anyone else really settled in the kingdom. In the mountains we discovered a type of mineral which we did not mine properly. That is the mineral I am going to lead you too.”
Xiulan raised an eyebrow, “so what? You just want to fix your Sect’s mistake?”
Elder Xin shook his head and replied, “as the sect has flourished in the mainland, they are thinking of abandoning the Blue Crane Kingdom branch entirely. After seeing the changes, you are bringing to the Kingdom that would be a mistake. I want the Sect to be in on the ground floor.”
Xiulan nodded. The elder seemed genuine. “We’ll see if your sect thinks the same way you do, I do not mind partnering with them in the future. How difficult is this mineral going to be to extract?”
The elder winced and said with chagrin, “difficult. Why else would we have abandoned the mine. We were not sure how to fix it. Your crowd seems resourceful though. All I really know is that you will need to figure out a way to make it soft again. It is too hard to quarry as it is.”
Xiulan sighed. The shop could probably help with that, but she would need to figure out a way to earn a few spirit stones before she could use the shop again.
“We might as well start on the city first and setting up the Golden Hand in the mountains. It will take some time before I can get ready for any kind of large-scale mining operation anyway. We can go and look at this mysterious mineral after the big projects are on track,” decided Xiulan.
Xiulan turned around and called over her shoulder, “I am going to go back to bed with my wife. If you have to train, go and spare with Yen Wen. I know she has been looking for an experienced fighter to practice her technique on.”
Elder Xin blinked. His former pet parrot had been watching the conversation with amusement. The Elder turned to it and said, “did I just get an order from an eighteen-year-old?”
The parrot squawked an amused confirmation and then flew off after its new owner.
SmithJuly Thank you for reading. If you want five advance ed chapters and access to bonus chapter check out my Patreon.
