A cultivator wearing the uniform of the imperial guard flies up to the ship, his form lit by a small lantern he carries in his hand. He steps onto the ship to speak with the captain of the crew and Master An Meng. 

I don’t recognize the imperial guard, but that is to be expected. As a child, they weren’t the people I was paying attention to. 

After a few minutes, the imperial guard leaves the ship and we circle the city until we are oceanside. The ship gently lowers itself into the water, rocking the nearby ships as we dock on the pier.

I jump directly from the ship onto the pier, hearing a shout from Jing Xia behind me. A moment later, she joins me, landing gracefully on the wooden pier. 

The dock workers around us bow and try to stay out of sight, creating a clear circle around the both of us.

“The both of you are free to explore the city.” Master An Meng says from right next to me. 

I jump, not having sensed his presence or movement.

He’s stooped over with a fisherman’s hat hiding his hair. Both of his swords are nowhere to be found and his robes have been replaced by simple worker’s clothes. “Make sure you are at the palace by tomorrow morning. We are expected to speak to the Master and Sect Disciples already here.” 

With that said, he bows to the both of us, stepping off and joining the crowd. Jing Xia and I bow in response, but he’s already disappeared into the crowd of dock workers. 

I feel as Shia slips out of my robes, slithering off to do her own business. She’ll find me again when she wants to.

Jing Xia turns to me with a grin. “Come on! I have something to show you.” She grabs my hand, leading me through the lamp lit streets. Men and women of all kinds walk through the streets, some wealthy, some poor. The mortals make a point of moving out of our way as we walk by, many of them fearing us. 

Jing Xia leads me down an alleyway to a wooden wall. Once there, she places her hand on it. Her hand glows with white light before the wall reveals itself as a door. 

Jing Xia wiggles her eyebrows in excitement and I hide my laugh behind my sleeve. With an exaggerated motion, she opens the door. 

I step through the door and my eyes widen at the sight of a bustling market filled with qi. Similar to our own sect’s own market, all kinds of cultivator items and trinkets are for sale in stalls lining the street. 

Cultivators walk down the streets, from small sects or clans to cultivators hailing from the six great sects to rogue cultivators. Every kind of cultivator walks the street, buying and selling items. 

I follow Jing Xia wide eyed as we walk down the street. My eyes catch on alchemy potions, artifacts, weapons and talismans. 

Jing Xia leads me to a clothing shop filled with clothing that gives off strange auras. “You’re going to want something other than sect robes while we’re in the city.” She says, motioning to some of the more common dresses on display. “Discretion has its value.”

I agree with her and end up buying some common looking clothing in drab colors. The owner of the shop assures me that the items of clothing will survive most conditions and the qi flowing through the fabric makes me trust his statement.

Jing Xia is distracted by a dress, so I take the opportunity to slip away and back onto the street. A tavern had caught my eye earlier, and I decide to return to it. The establishment is surprisingly quiet when I slip into it. All of the cultivators in the room are surrounding two cultivators who are glaring at each other heavily, their hands on the swords at their waists.

I walk quietly over to the tavern keeper, not wanting to disturb whatever is happening. “Could you get me something to drink?”

I do my best to act naturally, as if this isn’t my third drink in my life. Tai Qiu doesn’t approve of drinking and usually watches me carefully on our outings. 

The tavern keeper looks at me, surprised to see me talking to him with the atmosphere in the room. 

I smile sweetly. 

Age is hard to tell with cultivators, and no one is stupid enough to ask.

He pours me the drink while the shouting of the two cultivators slowly gets louder. I hand him the mortal money and take a look around the room as I take my first sip.

I cough, trying to cover it up with my sleeve. The highest cultivation in the room is early Foundation Establishment, which makes sense. All the more powerful cultivators probably have their own special places they go to, if they even drink. 

“You BASTARD!” The cultivator who looks to be from some minor clan says to the other. His aura marks him as a cultivator in the Eleventh Qi Awakening realm. He has his close cropped black hair pulled into a ponytail and his words are clearly tainted by drink. “How dare you steal from my Junior Sister?” He motions to a female cultivator whose face is red from drink.

“I did no such thing.” The other cultivator looks to be a rogue cultivator, his clothing little more than rags.  Still, he wears the sword at his waist like he knows how to use it. He looks to be my age, maybe slightly younger. His eyes hold a clear cunning to them, taking in everything about his opponent. His hair is cut short, hanging loosely around his face and he’s only in the Fourth level of Qi Awakening. He looks vaguely familiar, but I can’t place why.

I take another sip of the drink, this time managing to not cough. 

“Don’t lie to me! I saw you steal from her while you were walking by!” The ponytail cultivator draws his sword. “You will not insult the Tong’un Clan further!” Qi moves through his sword, giving it a slight silver sheen.

I lean forward, curious to watch a fight between two other cultivators in a lower realm.

The rogue cultivator draws his sword, obviously uncomfortable with the situation. “We can still work thi-” His words are cut off as he ducks under the swing of the other cultivator. 

He dodges another swing, diving to the floor and rolling away from the qi that arcs towards him. The cultivators surrounding the two start cheering  at the fight. 

“Not again.” The tavern keeper says under his breath with a defeated atmosphere.

The rogue cultivator is clearly skilled, but doesn’t have the ability to match the Tong’un cultivator’s qi enhanced sword. He’ll lose soon.

I wonder if I should interfere? I don’t want to see someone die and it doesn’t look like anyone else is going to stop the fight. I take another sip of the alcohol, coughing again as I do. It still hasn’t gotten easier to drink.

The rogue cultivator dodges another arc of silver qi, and I watch as the qi quickly moves towards the tavern keeper who just stands still in shock.

My sword slides from its sheath in a quick movement as I stand up from my chair, spilling my drink to the floor.

The silver qi breaks apart on my sword and the tavern keeper gulps nervously at the attack that nearly split him in two. 

I start humming.

The hum spreads through the room as qi answers my call.

The Eighth Requiem: Necrosis

Soft notes fading into nothing, weak in power coming from only a soft hum.

Everyone in the spell slows, the world around them decaying as their own bodies start to fade into death.

Everyone in the room turns their attention to me. I see the rogue cultivator’s eyes widen at the sight of me, “no way.”

I stop humming, raising my sword towards the two cultivators. “If you have face to save, then you can take it up with me and stop disturbing the tavern keeper. Now are you both going to keep idiotically swinging your swords around?”

“You dare-” The Tong’un cultivator starts before his eyes land on my robe, marking me as a core disciple of the Flowing River Sect. After a second, he sheaths his sword, turns around and leaves the building, his Junior Sister joining him a moment later. 

The rogue cultivator sheaths his sword as well, so I put mine away.

He starts to move towards me, but Jing Xia bursts through the door grabbing the room’s attention. “There you are! You had me worried when you disappeared!” She walks through the building with purpose, sitting down next to me. “If you wanted to get a drink, you could’ve just told me!” She turns to the tavern keeper, “I’ll have whatever you got by the way.” She turns back to me. “What trouble did you get yourself in? I felt your qi from the clothing shop.”

I look up to see the rogue cultivator gone. “The Tong’un Clan aren’t important, are they?”

Jing Xia snorts, “Hardly.”

“Then nothing happened.” I shrug, looking down at my spilled cup with sadness.

The tavern keeper sets two cups in front of us, bowing to me as he does. “Thank you for your help, Young Miss.”

“Nothing happened?” Jing Xia asks. 

I hide my expression by taking a big gulp of the drink. Then I start coughing at the large gulp. Shouldn’t it be easier to drink by now?

JIng Xia chuckles as she downs her whole glass. 

We talk for a while at the tavern, drinking more of the mysterious drink that the tavern keeper keeps giving us.

“Come on, let’s fight someone.” Jing Xia says seriously, standing and tilting a little to the right as she does.

“I don’t want to kill anyoooooone.” I whine. “It’s horrible. HORRIBLE” 

“We won’t kill anyone.” Jing Xia shakes her head wildly. “You know, just fight a little. Slash slash. Aaaaaah we surrender, you know, just fight a little.”

“I think you might have drunk too much.” I say seriously. “TOO- too much.”

“You might be right.” Jing Xia laughs. She grabs me, pulling me to her.  “I’m just happy to be doing this with you, my Junior Sister Lin.”

“You- you should call me Senior Sister Lin.” I say, putting on my best serious face and pushing her away.

“Junior! Junior, Junior Junior.” She laughs again, before calming, tears forming in her eyes. “You know I love you right?” she bursts into tears at her words.

“Aww. Shh shh. It’s ok. I love you tooo.” I respond, taking her into my arms as she cries.

She calms down quickly. “W-we should get to the palace soon. You need to sober up.”

“I need to sober up? I’m perfectly sober. Not- not a drop of alcohol in my bu-body.” I motion to myself as I speak, perfectly pronouncing every word and not messing up a single time.

“You're drunk.”

“You’re drunk!”