AIR Chapter 97-98 Mei Shan

AN: Double whamy. Two small chapters. Happy Friday.

Chapter 97 Mei Shan Part 1

Mei Shan was correct. She always was. That was why she had been the leader of the group. Her judgement was sound and her eyes were clear. 

She’d been thrown off for a bit. She’d met many beings, some far stronger than the even Mister Bill. She’d seen sixteenth ranks of the Divine Beast Emporium. Gods among gods, and yet still the man called Bill was different. 

It was as if a mortal’s perspective had somehow overpowered an immortal’s somehow. After months of thought, that was the conclusion she had arrived to.

But she was here, and she needed to care of her own. So she had started gathering the girls and looking after them. Her sisters, her responsibilities. The servant mothers had been strict and they had accepted it to survive. That was a servant’s duty, to be molded and shaped and empty of any identity aside from what your master needed you to be. 

That was impossible for most people. One would have to become an immortal servant, which was a rare thing even among the God Imperiums. 

But Mei Shan did her best, pleasing every customer she had and taking care of any mistakes her or her sister had made. She was their protector, their older sister, and that was what older sisters did. 

But things had changed. Back within the Divine Beast Emporium, if you had asked Mei Shan of her dreams, she would have said nothing because servants don’t get to dream. "But she did have hopes. She hoped of a nice life as a servant mother. She hoped for old age and retirement. She hoped to live her sunset years on some planet with her sisters have served her time and usefulness. 

That was the only time servants like her were granted peace, and if she had worked for a few more millennia, she would have gotten that hope, that dream. 

But instead Kin Jey had chosen her and her sisters as universal trackers. He could have used objects or beasts, but those could be discarded and refused. 

“No one throws away women,” he used to say. 

He would then track down whoever he had given them to and kill them with his horde of guards. 

He was the direct descendant of a God Imperium. He didn’t need to kill or steal. He just hunted people down for the fun of it.

It was sport for him, as it was to all of Tai Jey’s descendants. They were bestial that way and even though they believed themselves to be superior to beasts, in Mei Shan’s eyes they were no better than them. 

She would have never thought that within the Divine Beast Emporium. Her aura might fluctuate and reflect her emotions. There were techniques to manage such a thing but they all involved a calm mental mind, and when she thought about the people who owned her, well how could she keep calm then?

But anger would have done her no good back then.

And that was how Mei thought, practically. 

She was reasonable and measured. She couldn’t afford to be otherwise. 

Well, that was all until now. Now she was just…lost. 

She was free, well she was freer than she had ever been. She had never propositioned Mister Bill to leave the desert or the realm, but she knew he would say no if she did. But even that was both for her safety and Bill’s. And even with that rule, she was more free than she had ever been. She could choose to work or to lazy around. Her sisters were safe and so was she. Rin Wi had even become an immortal, little Rin Wi. 

She should have been happy. This was her dream after all, to find a place to relax and grow old with her sisters. She should have been content. 

But instead she was just sad. 

Mei didn’t miss servitude. At least she didn’t miss most of it. But some days when there was no call for her name, no demand for her presence. Some days she couldn’t help but feel empty. 

She was happy that her sisters were free, she truly was. Even though she had bashed Rin Wi on picking up a dao like that for no reason, she delighted in her victory. 

But she was simply unneeded as of now. Her sister were all safe. And any minor mistakes they made always went unnoticed, even major ones were excused entirely. 

For the first month of so, Mei Shan had believed this place to be a trick, a cruel prank played by Kin Jey. Maybe they should have all killed themselves or attacked Mister Bill in the name of Kin Jey. She had thought about it. 

The possibility that this was an evil test, a tiny glimpse at freedom made more sense to her than all of this being real. 

But Kin was never this patient. If it were a test, they would have already fail and Kin Jey would have been torturing them in some sick twisted way. 

Mei Shan had often been the one to take up the fault of her sisters in those day. If the mistakes were bad enough, she’d be beaten with a whip woven from an immortal steeds hair. Her back would bleed and the qi would traverse her meridians, tearing them up and making her nearly mortal.

She’d be healed to perfection of course. They didn’t like damaged products within the Divine Beast Emporium. 

And there were far worse punishments than that. If you rebelled or tried to run away, which was always futile.

You’d be fed to the beasts, brought back to life, then fed again. 

That was the way Gods played with mortals. 

Your flesh was remakeable, your soul could be grabbed, and these beings could put you in your own personal hell if they wanted to. 

She had gone through that a couple of times, and the fourth time it happened was when they had broken her. It was when she accepted her place, her nature. She was nothing but a tool and would never be anything more than a tool. 

She didn’t miss that part of the Divine Beast Emporium. No, that whole place could burn brightly in the void and be sieged upon by the Hells for all she cared. 

But now that it was all gone, she found herself wondering what use did she have?

What was her purpose. Sure she was free, as free as she could be in her situation, but now the practical minded person that had grown to bear untold hardships was useless here.

She leaned back, part of her mind still stretched out across the vast desert scape. It was her personal technique. She’d made it back when she was in the Emporium, something to help her watch over her sisters and guide them before they could make the wrong choices. 

Mister Bill had seen it and improved it, giving her an observation technique that would still be useful at the twelfth rank. She pushed qi into it, circulating through her own senses, treating them like limbs and creating temporary false meridian pathways through them. 

It was an advanced, something that was far beyond what she was worth. And it was also the moment Mei had believed this new reality to be permanent. She really was here. She really was free. 

And she really was useless. Joy, happiness, shock, relief, she’d gone through all of those already, and now she sat at the latest feeling, and now unmoored. 

She saw a cultivator about to cut down someone in the distance, and she pressed down her aura hard upon him. He screamed and ran. 

That was what she did to busy herself. She watched over the mortals, these tiny, pitiful weak people. She made sure none of them died or killed each other unduly. She settled disputes between mortals and whatever weaklings passed for cultivators over here. 

It was something. It was duty, but it wasn’t necessary. 

She wasn’t needed. The world could function without her and without that sense of urgency and consequence, everything just felt meaningless. 


Chapter 98 Mei Shan Part 2

Mei Shan walked through the door of her office. Yes. She had an office now and it was as useless as it sounded. 

Offices were for resources. It was where one stacked papers and information. A place of work, and in this village, a sign of high position. She didn’t need resources and though her position was high relative to the mortals, it wasn’t so high that it warranted a waste of a room. 

But Chin had insisted and while she thought little of the farmer at fist, he and his family had quickly proven themselves worthy of respect. Medin had played an integral role in helping out Rin Wi and Chin had given her sisters duty. 

She owed them if only that much. 

She was just sitting down and leaning back when a knock came from the door. 

“Mei Shan,” A voice broke through from behind her. “I need you to take a look at this.”

Light Master Renk walked into the door followed by a small girl carrying a set of robes in her arms. They both wore pure white robes, though the girl’s was a little more stained with droplets of food. 

Renk dropped a pile of pages onto her desk. Mei nodded and read through them instantly. 

“Order more supplies,” she commented. “Spend as much as you can on everything you can’t produce locally. As for this new imperial book, it shouldn’t matter to much. Just give the delivery face and call one of us to pick it up.”

“More supplies? For what? The rainy season’s half way done and we have enough to last us through the next year even with the increased population.”

“Well, since the desert scar’s been healed, you’ll have more traffic even during the dry-”

“What?” Renk interrupted. “What do you mean the desert scar is healed? What scar?”

“You don’t know? Mister Bill didn’t tell you?” 

Renk frowned deeply at the man’s name. 

“Tell me what? What’s ‘the desert scar’ and why has it been healed?”

“It’s the reason the Great Desert Strip is empty of qi. It’s tough to explain, but this region is- or rather was unable to hold qi. Mister Bill fixed that and that means that the desert will hold qi again.”

“I don’t understand. Will the desert disappear or something.”

“No,” Mei replied with a shake of her head. “It won’t disappear, but it will be filled with qi again.”

“And that implies spirit beasts? More cultivators?” He asked. 

“And more cultivator tools. Cultivators can now take water producing treasures across the desert. They can use techniques to fend off the sun and traverse the desert heat. And with an immortal living here, along with the new immortal of the Bloody Fist Sect, traffic is bound to increase across the desert.”

“And that would make our village a… trade city of sorts?” Renk said, finally understanding her point. 

Mei nodded. 

“There’s more money coming. I suggest a small trade tax and an increase in-”

“Yes, yes, of course,” Renk said cutting her off. “Heavens know how much time we have before the next wave of cultivators, and I suppose I should warn all the villages at the entrance of the strip as well. Increase food supplies, tell Chin. He’ll be thrilled to have an excuse to farm more. And the lodging will have to go faster as well.”

The man walked off, mumbling under his breath about all the things he had left to do. She liked Renk. He was rude, arrogant, and held great disdain for anyone more powerful than him. But he was smart. All she had to do was draw the edges of the picture and he would pick up on the rest. 

He was better than the other mortals, the ones that asked questions all the time.

“Uh, Miss Shan?” 

Mei Shan looked down at the little girl still holding a pile of scrolls and books. 

“May I study here? I don’t think my master will go back to the tower for a while.”

Mei Shan smiled and nodded towards the child. 

“You may.”

Taura Chin, granddaughter of Chin Chin and one of the few people Mei Shan enjoyed being around. 

The girl was kind, respectful, adorable, and intelligent. Yes, in terms of intellect, she could probably equal any adult in the area. That was one of the reasons Mei liked her. 

“What are you studying?” Mei asked.

“Common parlance and tongues among the ten major sects of Ah-Marin,” Taura answered.

“Oh?” Mei asked. “Did Renk assign you that reading?”

“No. But with an immortal in the region, understanding the grander empire might be important.”

Taura answered as she sat down on the floor and cracked open the tome.

“And you’ve taken to court parlance as a point of interest?” Mei inquired.

“Well, not particularly but Renk doesn’t buy books pertaining to the grander empire. He says its a waste. That we’re too small to even bother asking for information about it.”

That was true. A small backwater village couldn’t afford news of the grander empire and its happenings. 

It’d be a waste for Renk to buy books of that topic. But it wouldn’t be a waste for Mei Shan. 

“You know, that book is coming in a bit. Within the day I think.”

“Mister Bill’s book?” Taura asked.

“Mhm, I can let you read it if you want.”

Taura eye’s tried to widen into plates.

“Really? But that book is for immortals! It contains the laws and layouts of the empire, wouldn’t Mister Bill get in trouble if he let a mortal touch it?”

“Young Taura,” Mei said with a shake of her head. “In the eyes of the empire, Mister Bill is to unimportant to get in trouble.”

“But what about the rules and conducts? Wouldn’t it be theft, or a violation of the respect of the empire?”

“You wouldn’t kill an ant for stealing a stray crumb would you?” Mei asked.

The small girl thought over the sentence. 

“Is Mister Bill really that weak?” Taura finally asked.

“No, he’s not weak. He’s just common. Immortals are everywhere within the Void Blade Empire. And the codes of the empire aren’t a precious treasure of the empire, but rather just a set of laws every immortal is expected to follow. You could by them off some vendor within the capital you know.”

“Really?” The girl repeated. 

“Oh of course. This isn’t a secret technique. It’s a code of conduct, rules, nothing more. I could even get you more things you know.”

“Oh could you? Could you really?” Taura said practically bouncing off the floor. 

“Of course I could,” Mei said with a nod.

“But the question is, what could you get me?”

Taura frowned and Mei smirked. 

This reminded her of the past. The days she’d tease her sisters for favors or force them into training servitude even when they hadn’t wanted to. She hadn’t become the de facto leader of the group at first. Everyone like Xi Lu more back then. But Xi Lu was soft. She would have gotten them killed or punished if she had lead the group. So Mei had taken over, forcefully at first in order to make sure her group survived. 

That had been a mistake. The best servants go to the most powerful people, and Mei Shan’s group had over preformed and ended up in Kin Jey’s hands. 

But they had earned merits and were spared from the more…forceful jobs. 

Concubines, that was a nice term for them. 

Mei Shan pushed away the dark thoughts. 

“How about this, help me out every week and I’ll get you more books, along with the Immortal’s Conduct.”

“Really?” Taura asked practically bouncing with excitement. 

“Really,” Mei Shan smiled. 

“Oh yes! I’ll help! We can start now! What can I do? What do you need?”

Mei Shan needed absolutely nothing from a mortal child. Whatever Taura could do, Mei could do ten thousand times better. Truthfully, Taura would be a burden more than an aid. 

But Mei couldn’t help but be a little bit happy at the sight of a young, smart mortal girl giggling over books. She reminded her of the past. Of a time when a group of young girls faced slavery and death, but found moments of joy within it regardless. 

Childhood joy, the only real joy Mei Shan had ever known. 

Mei felt a shadow of that burden, that sense of being needed weighing down on her shoulders. 

Duty. 

She was wanted and she was needed, by a young giggling girl who wanted to know the world. 

“I’m sure we can find something for you to help me with.”