Shan Hui arrived at Jianghu in record time. It would usually take him about a week because Huilang went by foot rather than flying. This time he had Huilang return to his original form, a wolf, and simply carried him on his shoulders. Being able to fly directly to the seaport without a tag-a-long sped the travelling process up.

If Shan Hui had his way, he wouldn’t have brought him at all, but the overwhelming pressure from his family to take Huilang prevented him from doing what he wanted. Saying things like he was “at a disadvantage in Jianghu and needed support”. It rankled his pride, but Huilang was strong and fast, and had helped him out of sticky situations before. 

The notorious Butcher of Jianghu and his companion,the Butcher’s Hound, were well known on the island by this point. Despite the insulting name, Jianghu residents liked Huilang better than Shan Hui. He was approachable and didn’t go on murderous rampages. Everyone gave the Butcher a wide space when he was in town rather than accidentally antagonize him. 

With Huilang on his back and the speed of their journey, Shan Hui didn’t hear the exciting news circulating Jianghu until after he arrived in the Luxury Hibiscus.

The Luxury Hibiscus was part of a high-end brothel chain called the Luxury Flower Gardens. They were found throughout the island. Jianghu didn’t have countries. Instead they had “independent city-states” and in every City State there was a Red Light District with a Luxury Flower Garden in it. The Vermilion Association owned them.

The reason the Flower Garden chain was popular, besides the women, was that they guaranteed privacy upon entry. As long as the guests didn’t cause trouble, what happened in a Luxury Flower Garden never left their four walls. 

The Vermillion Association took this promise very seriously. 

They took it so seriously that periodically people in their Association, including the people working in their Flower Gardens, would be killed to keep information private. They didn’t keep these deaths private, but capitalized on them by blaring their tragedies across Jianghu. Rather than the death being a bad thing for them, it further legitimized their privacy claims. 

In the end, less scrupulous sorts gave up murdering people in the Vermillion Association. It just turned into free advertising.

Shan Hui didn’t particularly like the Vermillion Association. They claimed they were part of the Neutral Faction but he doubted that. He’d seen criminal activity that had ties to the Vermillion Association that suggested there was a dark underbelly to them.

He couldn’t prove it though. Vermillion was very careful about appearances and any sketchy activities were done by contractors and temporary hires, who were several people removed from the Association. It was easy for them to claim they didn’t know or their orders were ignored, etc.

Unlike in Dalu, Shan Hui didn’t have the strength to take down an entire Association. Especially one like Vermillion that spent a millennium building and maintaining a sterling reputation. People would assume he was the liar before they thought Vermillion did anything wrong. The best he could do, and did, was stomp any of the Vermillion cockroaches who dared get near his feet.

If the Vermillion Association thought he was targeting them, they’d probably have used their contacts to attempt to get rid of him. But since Shan Hui stomped on Jianghu cockroaches indiscriminately, everyone just assumed he was another aggressive cultivator from the mainland out to prove himself. Naturally he didn’t dissuade anyone of this idea.

No matter how sketchy Vermillion might be, Shan Hui couldn’t deny their Luxury Flower Gardens were the best place to get privacy. Not only did they have top notch arrays to prevent eavesdropping, they were also always busy. The busy-ness prevented outsiders from knowing who was meeting up or when.

Shan Hui went to the Luxury Hibiscus in northern Jianghu. When he entered they didn’t ask any questions and simply took him to a private room on the fourth floor of the building. He’d made it a habit to do this after arriving. He’d stay a few days there and over that time his spies and contacts would find him and report to him.

The first spy to arrive was Hao Zi, a rat Beastie. This particular Beastie was part of the early groups sent out from Lanhua and one of the few to survive without additional help. Perhaps what saved him was what made it hard for him to get along with anyone in Lanhua: he tended to be paranoid and had a mean streak.

Hao Zi came in as a dumb rat “spirit animal”, sitting on his “master’s” shoulders. This wasn’t the first time Hao Zi came in this way. He made regular visits with his “master” and was known for being ill tempered. None of the workers in Hibiscus tried to get near him lest they risk losing a finger or two.

He left an illusion of himself on his “master’s” shoulders to meet up with Shan Hui.

Once he was in the room, he turned into a human and ate whatever was on the table with abandon.

Though he was working for Lanhua, he’d been in Jianghu for a long time. The natural reverence most Beasties had for Shan Hui wasn’t there. Shan Hui turned a blind eye to his behavior because his intelligence gathering was excellent.

“What brought you back in a rush?” Hao Zi asked through a mouth stuffed full of water chestnut cakes.

This was a sensible question. Shan Hui stayed in Jianghu for long periods of time, and left for equally long periods. It was understandable, considering how poorly he did on a boat. Though the First Prince would never admit it, he hated sailing and dragged his feet getting on a boat.

Shan Hui frowned slightly at the mess he was making.

“You remember the man I introduced to you last time as Uncle Fu?”

Hao Zi nodded. Having spent so long in Jianghu, Hao Zi had gotten into the bad habit of ranking everyone he met. “Uncle Fu” was at least in the top 10 most powerful people he’d ever encountered, if not the top 5. Naturally he remembered him.

“Where is he?”

“Last I heard he was looking for information about spirits.” Hao Zi responded, a little surprised by this question. 

As far as he knew the First Prince and “Uncle Fu” had special tablets that let them talk to each other instantly. Shouldn’t the First Prince know more than him?

“And when was the last you heard?”

“A few days ago but—”

“Be more precise!”

“A week ago, maybe, but—”

“Was it 4 days ago?”

Hao Zi made a strange face and set the pastry down.  “Did something happen to him 4 days ago?”

“Would I be here otherwise?”

The Beastie hesitated for a moment and then spoke slowly, “Master, do you know what happened in Jianghu 4 days ago?”

“Something happened?”

“So you don’t…” He muttered, “There was a Heavenly Tribulation.”

Shan Hui and Huilang were stunned for several seconds.

After a moment, Shan Hui asked in disbelief, “You’re sure it wasn’t a typhoon?”

Heavenly Tribulation took on the appearance of a massive storm. It looked very similar to a typhoon, the main difference being that people can see a typhoon coming while a Heavenly Tribulation simply popped up over a place without any warning.

Hao Zi shook his head.

“No, it was the real deal. I asked around. On that day, around that time, every square inch of Jianghu was covered in those clouds. Even in places that, less than an hour before, had been clear and sunny.”

Shan Hui was still unwilling to believe him and countered, “Unstable weather is a hallmark of Jianghu.” 

The rat persisted, “There was lightning too. It was exactly like the legends say: all the lightning seemed to have a target. I saw lightning come down and then bend away from the earth and go towards… something... or someone, I guess, in this case.”

Shan Hui knew Hao Zi wouldn’t lie about something he saw with his own eyes and finally believed.

“And this happened 4 days ago?”

Hao Zi nodded. 

“All of Jianghu has been buzzing about it.”

“And the target of the Tribulation?”

Heavenly Tribulations were said to always have a target. It was part of the process of ascending to godhood and gaining access to the Heavenly Realm, where all the gods lived. 

This was the dream and desire of all cultivators: to become gods. The Heavenly Tribulation was considered good luck and excited cultivators because it gave them hope of gaining their own divinity one day.

As the name suggested, the Heavenly Tribulation was not pleasant to go through. The gods tested, or perhaps more accurately tortured, their target with unescapable Divine Lightning. If they passed the “test”, the clouds would part and light from the Heavenly Realm would pour down onto the earth. The target would then be caught up and disappear from the Mortal Realm forever. Those that failed turned into a charred corpse or were so broken they could never cultivate again.

Shan Hui had always been dismissive of these legends. No one alive today had personally witnessed a Heavenly Tribulation. At best it was some kind of unique storm that appeared periodically and scared people. The last person to have witnessed one had died a thousand years ago, and he was old by cultivators standards when he passed away. The source for why cultivators thought the Heavenly Tribulations lead to godhood lay in an ancient Sect that claimed their god gave them a divine revelation about it. This Sect had disbanded eons ago and nothing but this single bit of information had survived. 

The thing that truly bothered Shan Hui was the thought that actual gods decided it was a good idea to take a mortal and make them divine. Shan Hui couldn’t look into people as well as his Old Man, but he could see enough to know that most people didn’t deserve to be a god. Humanity had a tendency towards being horrible, why would the gods want any of them around? Gods sending humans to hell made more sense to him than sending them to heaven!

Not that he thought all humans were horrible. He was half-human after all.

His Mother was one of the handful he knew that would be worthy of godhood. But she was still here on earth, so how could he believe in all this ascension nonsense? Either the Heaven’s didn’t turn any human divine or their taste in human’s was horrible and shouldn’t be trusted!

Shan Hui never expected a Heavenly Tribulation to happen, much less under these specific circumstances. His three worldviews were thrown into disorder and for a moment he didn’t know what to think.

Huilang, however, never doubted the idea of Heavenly Tribulation. Since his kind’s powers came from the benevolence of a mountain spirit, it wasn’t a stretch for him to believe in gods and their interest in humans.

The wolf Beastie couldn’t help blurting excitedly, “It can’t be a coincidence that a Heavenly Tribulation happened around the same time Sir Fu disappeared!”

“Was he powerful enough to get a Heavenly Tribulation?” Hao Zi asked curiously. Though Hao Zi considered “Uncle Fu” very powerful, that was different than whether he was strong enough to earn the notice of the gods.

Huilang lifted his chin, looking smug. “You wouldn’t ask that if you knew who he married!”

“What’s his wife got to do with it?”

“His wife is the Empress!”

“Which Empress?” Came Hao Zi’s confused response. There were so many empires in the world, how could this wolf be so vague!

Huilang tisked at Hao Zi and shook his head.

“You’ve been in Jianghu too long Hao Zi. How could you ask which Empress? THE Empress! The only one that matters!”

This time Hao Zi understood.

“He married—?”

“Yes!”

“But she’s—”

“Think of the Emperor.”

“...ah.” 

“And she always liked humans besides.”

“True.” Hao Zi raised his eyebrows and rubbed his chin. “Well, if the Empress took an interest, I guess it makes sense for the gods to take an interest.”

Huilang swayed slightly, as if making up for his lack of tail in human form.

“Did the heavenly light revitalize the elemental energy like legends say?”

“It did! Cultivators are going crazy trying to—”

“Wait,” Shan Hui interrupted, “there was a heavenly light?”

Both Beasties looked at him, eyebrows raised.

“Master… you can’t think the husband of the Empress wouldn’t ascend?”

Hao Zi agreed with Huilang and added, “The gods know a worthy person when they see one, mmhmm.”

Shan Hui's lips twitched.

Beastie loyalty to his Old Man and, by proxy, his Aunt was really something. Shan Hui liked his Uncle too but not to the point that he thought he’d ascend to godhood! 

Still, Uncle Fu was family….

‘At least the gods aren’t totally devoid of sense, picking my Uncle.’  Shan Hui felt smug for a moment and then, remembering his Old Man, thought in frustration, ‘Though their timing could have been better….’ 

Aloud he asked, “Where did the heavenly light fall?”

Rather than answering, Hao Zi frowned and questioned cautiously, “Master, you don’t intend to go there do you?”

“Of course I intend to go. I need to see this for myself if I’m to report anything back home...”

Just thinking about the kind of report he had to make to his Old Man was enough to bring on a headache.

Hao Zi looked genuinely nervous after hearing his plans.

“Master, you really shouldn’t. Wherever the light touched, it increased the elemental energy tenfold. Every powerful Sect, Clan, and Association has sent people down there to fight over the land and stake a claim. It’s basically a warzone!”

Shan Hui let out a flurry of curse words. He was strong but he had limitations, especially here. If a bunch of the most powerful cultivators were gathered together, fighting indiscriminately, even he’d have a hard time….

He just wanted to verify the information but naturally Jianghu wouldn’t make anything easy for him! 

It was like the entire island wanted to make his life difficult.

~~***~~

Xui Shi, the living Bloodstone Seal and most perfect spirit crafted artifact to come out of Jianghu, was in his office up to his forehead in stacks of paperwork. While other government officials would collapse at the thought of having to get through that many documents, Xui Shi was blazing through it without breaking a sweat. 

He was made for office work. Literally. 

This amount was nothing for him. His past masters were worse and never gave him any time to relax, treating him as an emotionless tool that didn’t need breaks. His current master, Imperial Queen Consort Bao, treated him like a person and gave him authority to go along with the amount of work he was assigned. He also got days off, though he sometimes forgot to use them.

Rather than being upset at the work he was given, he felt happy. He was fulfilling the purpose he was designed for and treated with respect too. Life was good!

He was in the middle of copying a decree when a fairy announced themselves.

“Hm? Yes, come in.” 

He looked up, his hand continuing to write as if it had a mind of his own.

The fairy came in and gave a short, polite bow before saying, “Emperor Huang has requested your presence.”

Xui Shi stopped what he was doing, his full attention on the fairy.

“The Emperor called me?”

“Yes sir!” And then, looking right and left, whispered, “He got a report and has been looking at it for half an hour without moving! I think he needs help.”

Xui Shi immediately stood up, his heart filled with curiosity. 

When the Queen Consort was in charge, Xui Shi often came to her office, giving advice or helping think up a plan of action. She was very concerned about getting details right before going forward with a decision and liked having as much input from experts as possible.

The Emperor was the opposite. When presented with a problem, he would decisively pick what he wanted to do and then ordered people to do it. How the task was to be done wasn’t his problem, it was the people beneath him who needed to figure that out. He was indifferent to details. 

This meant that Xui Shi rarely got called directly to the Emperor’s office. Usually the Emperor just sent him orders through a fairy. Other than general assemblies in the Imperial Court, he didn’t talk to many officials privately. 

Since the Emperor was reasonable in his orders and fair in his judgements, people didn’t take this distant treatment to heart. Including Xui Shi.

After Xui Shi arrived and gave his greetings, the Emperor handed over the report he’d been reading. Xui Shi immediately accepted it and read it eagerly.

Xui Shi recognized the handwriting as being the Third Prince’s but was surprised to find the report itself came from the First Prince. He knew the Third Prince made remarkable devices that let a person communicate instantly over great distances. He guessed that the Third Prince simply wrote down something sent by the Prince using one of those devices. 

Doing it this way meant the news was important. Both because it required a high degree of accuracy in the retelling and because it needed to get to the Emperor as fast as possible.

Halfway through he stopped the report, his expression incredulous. Then he looked down again and read it again. Once he was done he looked at the Emperor, mouth agape.

No wonder it was written down! He needed to read it several times to believe it!

“Heavenly Tribulation?!”

“Yes, I read that too.”

“Sir Shu Fu Jing ascended!?!?!?!?”

“That was also stated.”

“That— that— the last time someone successfully ascended was— goodness, several millennia ago!” He shook the report excitedly, “Unbelievable, one of our very own ascended! I believe that’s the first time that’s ever happened! What an honor, a real honor—”

The Emperor waved his hand, looking annoyed.

“Stop, stop! What honor? They kidnapped my Brother-in-law and I—”

“Kidnapped?!” Xui Shi interrupted, shocked enough that he forgot his manners. “How is ascending kidnapping?!” 

“How is it NOT kidnapping? Did my Brother-in-law want to go to the heavens? Since when? He’s never expressed that interest. Ask anyone! To just randomly decide to take a man without letting him contact his family first— if that isn’t kidnapping, what is?!” 

To emphasize the point, the Emperor slapped his desk. He used a little too much force and it immediately collapsed.

“Of all the…” He muttered, brow furrowed, and waved his hand. The desk pieces clattered back together and, seconds later, it was good as new. All the contents were back in their original places.

Xui Shi had seen the Emperor do this before and wasn’t shocked by it. What did shock him was the thought that Shu Fu Jing might not want to ascend.

Looking flustered, he said, “We can’t be sure that he didn’t want to ascend…”

“What, so his decades-long search for my sister was just a way to kill time?”

“Uh.”

 “How do I get him back?”

“B...ack?”

“Yes, they kidnapped my Brother-in-law, I want him back. You’ve been around for a long time, surely someone has tried to contact the gods or an ascended individual at least once?”

Xui Shi gave him a blank stare.

“...no… no one’s ever… ever tried to do that…”

There was a long silence after that.

“Not a single person cared enough to wonder what happened after a person ascended?”

“The Heavenly Realm is considered better in every way to the Mortal Realm so… so… not really…” When the Emperor’s face turned dark, he quickly clarified, “It’s not that no one was sad when a person ascended! There’s one story of a pair of lovers who got separated because of ascension. The man ascended first and the story goes that the lady cultivated for 2 thousands years before she, too, ascended to follow him.”

“How many people have ascended?”

“A total of 9.” Xui Shi immediately responded, “The first half happened before I existed, so I wasn’t around for their Heavenly Tribulation.”

“And you’re sure they actually went to this Heavenly Realm place?”

“Reasonably sure.”

“What’s “reasonable” by your standards?”

“I was familiar with the Sect that got the Divine Revelation about Ascending. They had never lied, nor did they muddy things by telling half truths. A truly Righteous Sect! They were also very careful to only repeat exactly what the god revealed to them, not adding anything else. There’s a saying that goes “When the gods speak, their words echo forward.” and I believe it. Except for beings such as myself, no one remembers the name of the Sect or the person who got the revelation, but they all remember what the god said.”

The Emperor leaned back in his chair and frowned, his expression sour.

“Is the only way to get to the Heavenly Realm through ascension?”

Xui Shi nodded.

“And… is there truly no way to contact those who ascend?”

The Bloodstone Seal cleared his throat, knowing his answer wouldn’t help any.

“Since he’s divine, it should be the same as contacting gods. With gods, you can pray to contact them and, if they hear you, they might contact you with a vision or dream in response.”

The Emperor stiffened, “You want me to pray to my Brother-in-law?”

“It’s… er… similar to praying to one’s ancestors?” Xui Shi replied feebily.

The Emperor, who was as old as the dirt under their feet, stared at him like he was an idiot.

Xui Shi felt silly for using that comparison but it had been the first thing to pop into his mind. 

On reflection, it wasn’t reasonable to expect a Mountain Spirit, whose essence was raw yang, to actually pray to a recently ascended mortal. This would be similar to asking a great-grandparent to kowtow to their great-grandchildren just to get them to agree to have a conversation. Though it could technically be done, the chances of it happening were basically zero….

He tried again, hoping to be more helpful the second time, “Maybe you could get someone else to pray on your behalf?”

The Emperor squinted for a moment and nodded, his expression easing slightly. 

“Has anyone…” The Emperor hesitated for a moment, “...has anyone ever come back after ascending?”

Xui Shi pursed his lips thoughtfully.

“There has never been a mortal who ascended who came back.” He quickly added, “But then, there has never been a case where a person didn’t want to ascend either. Since no one has come back, what we know about the Heavenly Realm is limited. Theoretically, if Shu Fu Jing is a god now, he should have the power to come back….”

“Then why hasn’t he come back?”

Xui Shi pressed his lips together while complaining internally at the unfairness of such a question. Still, he wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t have some kind of theory!

“The gods have stated, in the past, that time flows differently for them and their priorities are also not the same. Things we think they should rush, they don’t feel compelled to hurry. And things we don’t feel are very important, they put a great deal of importance on.” He paused and carefully continued, “Their values are different. So, it’s possible Shu Fu Jing values also changed…”

“No, his priorities won’t change.” The Emperor insisted stubbornly, “He has spent all these years searching for her... he will have to forget himself to forget her. I don’t know what ascending does to a person, but I don’t believe it can wipe away our influence. He will want to come back, just to find her, if for no other reason.”

It was well known that when the spirits of the mountain loved something, it altered them on a fundamental level. The trees and the deer changed, and because the mountains loved themselves, all the creatures living on them changed too. If it was like that for plants and animals, how much more for a human loved by a mountain spirit?

Xui Shi pondered for a moment before speaking. 

“You may be right, but even if he intends to come back and can do it, time is different there. There’s a saying that “A day is 1000 years to a god and an hour is 100 years.” Though mathematically that doesn’t make any sense. That would mean a was 144,000 years not 1,000—”

“Focus.”

“Ah, sorry.” He got easily distracted by math. “The main point is we don’t know how the time difference works out. Assuming the worst case scenario, 100 year for every hour, then it is safe to say there is another 100 years before we’d hear anything from him. And that’s if he realizes where he is and where we are and how to contact us. Which seems doubtful if you are correct that he didn’t want to ascend and wasn’t expecting it to happen.”

The Emperor rubbed his chin and grimaced.

“There is no way to simply go to the Heavenly Realm and bring him back?”

“Legends say that there were once paths to and from the different Realms, but those have long been closed off or destroyed. If there are any that exist now, I’ve never heard of them. Ascension is the only way I know of to get into the Heavenly Realm and as for getting back…. Only the gods would know the answer to that.”

“So we are reduced to a prayer and a hope. Not very useful.”

Xui Shi bowed deeply at the waist, raising his hands in front of him. He felt uncomfortable not being able to complete the task he’d been given. It was rare for the Emperor to personally ask for his help like this and he’d failed.

“My apologies for failing to meet your expectations, your Highness.”

Emperor Huang sighed heavily, lowering his hand and leaning back in his chair. “What is impossible, is impossible.”

Xui Shi straightened his posture. 

After a bit of thinking, he suggested, “Maybe if you asked the divine cats…?”

“Since when did they volunteer information?”

“They would have the most accurate information…” Xui Shi muttered and then added to his suggestion, “Shuya then?”

“Would she know more than you about people ascending in Jianghu?”

“Maybe not Jianghu, but she has a broader pool of knowledge than I do. Many things humanity has forgotten, she remembers.” He shrugged, “It’s worth trying to ask her, the cats too. At worst they won’t know, at best you will perhap stumble onto something?”

“Then I will try…” Jin muttered, trying not to show how discouraged he felt.

~~***~~

Jin went to his bedroom frustrated. Whether it was cats, trees, or any other being who might know, he’d brought them into his office to talk about his Brother-in-law’s kidnapping. They all said the same thing: once a person goes to the Heavenly Realm they don’t come back. If there’s a way to come back, it would be from the gods end of things, not here on earth.

Well, “all” was too extreme. The cats were impossible to get information from, not that he expected any different. If there was something noteworthy in their response, it was that they seemed to find his anxiety amusing. There was a possibility that meant he had no need to worry, but who knew? The cats certainly wouldn’t clarify why they were laughing at him.

By dinner time, everyone in the palace knew Shu Fu Jing wouldn’t be coming back. Whether it was the Royal Family or people who worked in the Palace, they’d all met Shu Fu Jing at least once and liked him. The entire Palace felt gloomy at the news. 

Mei Hua was brushing her hair when Jin entered and, seeing his bitter expression, stopped what she was doing and went over to give him a worldless hug. 

“I barely got to talk to him.” Jin huffed into her shoulder. “If the gods were going to take him, couldn’t they have done that after I had gotten to know him?”

“I don’t think knowing him would make the separation any easier. It’s not helping me.” Mei Hua stroked his back, feeling sad with her husband, “Why did they kidnap him anyway? I know he was strong but it’s not like he was trying to catch heaven's attention…”

“Who knows? I am stronger than him, but did my existence catch their attention? Hah! They have ignored me all this time, they certainly won’t start caring about what I want now.” 

After speaking, Jin moved away from his wife’s embrace and sat down to take off his shoes. He’d come home late and it was already time for bed. There’d been no good news and he’d been away from his wife all day on top of everything else, souring his mood further. 

As he took off his second shoe, he suddenly complained, “The gods are really unfair, ah! If they’re going to pick a fight with me by stealing my relatives like this, they could at least be within hitting distance!”

Mei Hua couldn’t help chuckling a little. She knew he was venting. In the past he’d have gotten a lot more angry about this kind of situation. With the cooling of his spirit, his temper cooled too. 

They’d both changed into their night garments and got under the bed covers. They had just gotten to that comfortable point of falling asleep when Mei Hua sat up with a start.

Holding her forehead, she exclaimed, “I forgot about the nephew! We should contact him!”

Jin yawned and looked at her in surprise. 

“Nephew?”

“Sister-in-law’s son.”

“Oh yes, that one.... Why bother?”  

When he opened Shu Fu Jing’s journal, a piece of his Sister’s power had been in it. Without words that power “told” him many things about her life away from the mountains. Shu Lan Jing, her son, had been included. 

“Of course we should bother! His father got kidnapped by gods! That’s big news!” Mei Hua also knew he’d gotten the gist of the contents despite not having “read” the journal.

“As if he’ll believe it even if we told him.” Jin sniffed disdainfully. “He doesn’t think I exist, how will he believe in Jianghu and ascension? He insists on being ignorant, so just let him!”

Though Jin’s temper wasn’t nearly as bad as before, that didn’t stop him from being bitter. He resented his nephew for not believing his sister and neglecting his brother-in-law.

She shook her head slowly. “He’ll believe if we send the right person to tell him. I actually meant to send him word earlier, after Brother-in-law arrived, but too many things happened and I really didn’t have the manpower for it…”

“Who do you want to send?”

“This is important news.” She paused, “What about one of our sons...? Ah, let’s send Lu Shao. He’s friendly but stands out enough that our Nephew won’t be able to ignore him.”

Thinking of his son’s strange fashion sense, Jin nodded in agreement.

~~***~~~

The next day Lu Shao was approached by his parents to send a message concerning his Uncle’s divine kidnapping to his cousin. 

Lu Shao had traveled all of Lanhua and been to all the interesting places to the east at this point. The idea of going that far west to see something new excited him. He immediately agreed.

Word quickly spread in the family that Lu Shao would be going west and the youngest, De Qiang, asked to tag along with him. Though he was the 10th son, he was already an adult at this point and, while not the strongest, he was certainly strong enough to defend himself against most dangers commonly found in Dalu.

De Qiang wanted to see the world too. More precisely, the “stuff” in the world. He’d been greatly influenced by the Wu family business, seeing objects from all over Dalu pass through their hands. He wanted to know the places those objects came from.

Unlike Lu Shao, who was visually bombastic, De Qiang was very normal by comparison. He practically faded into the background when standing next to Lu Shao. While Lu Shao’s appearance was needed for the end destination, any stops along the way would need a more down-to-earth approach. De Qiang would be good for this and was even capable of bartering, so he was given permission to go with his older brother.

The whole point of the trip was to make it clear to Shu Lan Jing that his mother’s homeland really existed. With that in mind, not only was Lu Shao sent, but he was sent in the most flashy way possible: The Princes were sent out in the most elaborate looking carriage possible and it was pulled by an actual blue deer! 

Sending the deer had been Jin’s idea. There were no blue deer to the west, much less a deer that can change into a human. If Lu Shao and De Qiang were not enough to convince his nephew, then surely the deer would do it! Though any Beastie could change into a human, Jin wanted to honor his sister through her son and also press home the importance of this meeting by sending people who were special.

Outside of his family, his deer were most precious to him.

His nephew grew up hearing stories about Jin, even the shameful story of what drove his sister away, which involved a deer. Once he saw the blue deer, he should understand the significance of entourage….

Unless the young man had also forgotten his heritage along with ignoring it.

The blue deer in question had been “volunteered” into the job. 

As with humans, the blue deer also had their own opinions about travelling far from home. While some were amicable to the idea, not a single one was willing to go on the trip pulling a carriage behind them! They weren’t beasts of burden! 

But they couldn’t directly say no. Their Emperor and Lord had personally made the request. Someone needed to go, but no one wanted to do it. And when a deer felt they might be picked, they kicked up a huge fuss.

The leader of the deers, Lu Fan, ended up using lots to choose who would be sent. That way no one could accuse him of playing favorites or using this opportunity to settle a grudge. And because he did it late at night and without any warning, there was no chance of rigging the lots.

Gao Ceng, a buck with decent sized antlers, ended up being the unlucky one. 

Lu Shao, De Qiang, and an unhappy Gao Ceng left Lanhua on a sunny afternoon to exhortations of family and friends telling them to keep safe and hopes of a fast return.

No one had any idea that at that moment the location they were heading towards was about to erupt into a violent civil war. Much less finding Shu Lan Jing, they’d be lucky to find the country he was supposed to be ruling.