Emphyreal Divide

Chapter Fourteen

"Are we certain?" Yewan asked, turning to face the man who knelt down a short distance in front of him, tilting his head carefully in consideration. The man, one of his subordinates, nodded vigorously, glancing up at the man that stood to Yewan's right, arms folded behind his back.

"It's true, I verified as much myself," The man standing— Yewan's general— said, accentuating his words with a solemn nod. With the seal of approval of his general, Yewan allowed a smug smile to curl across his face.

"Tell me he's Jiang Nan and Yu Jiayang's," Yewan said aside to his general, words carrying an air of petty satisfaction, "It might be the only thing that would make this situation better."

"I can't say for certain either way, sir," The general said mildly, "If they are, it's a secret that has been tightly kept. Jiang Nan's fate was never known for certain, and Yu Jiayang hid herself away amongst the mortals; we never bothered to keep track of her."

"Pity, I had envisioned the horror that would have been on Jiang Nan's face had it been so," Yewan remarked, brows twitching up in disappointment. Beside him, his general let out a short puff of air in amusement. "He might as well be considered to be— that's all that others will see. Either way, I'll take it as a bit of comeuppance for Jiang Nan's betrayal. How satisfying."

"And yet you wouldn't have had even the slightest bit of idea if it weren't for me," A woman called out, sweeping into the hall the three men had gathered in, her dusty pink robes fluttering behind her. "I spent how many weeks travelling about in the human towns? Skin after skin; you know even for a woman like me it gets tiring after a while."

"You!" Yewan punctuated his words with a point, the black and red of his sleeve trailing after the action. "Zhuan Ai! You can't keep yourself in check, can you? Don't think I haven't heard of your performance in the past few weeks!"

"Me?" Zhuan Ai laughed, crossing her arms contemptuously. "I've been helping you, you old fool. Can't you see that? You think I enjoyed rubbing elbows with the mortal cultivators? Hardly."

"I sent you out to do one simple thing— get information," Yewan shouted in exasperation, "And then you took matters into your own hands with the boy. Don't you know what that could have cost us?"

"Who would care if I murdered the Jin brat? He's not the one we need, anyway," Zhuan Ai declared petulantly, expression morphing into a look of aggravation. Letting out a deep sigh, Yewan stepped off the short platform he had been standing on, crossing the distance between him and Zhuan Ai in a few short, slow steps.

"It matters because we are trying to minimize the animosity that could grow. Do you really think it would benefit us if you did something like that?" Yewan lent in, Zhuan Ai leaning back as he did so in an attempt to maintain some distance. "Do you think that cooperation would be easily attained? If I were a more cunning man, I would let him know that you were the one behind that incident, as an act of goodwill. He might be a bit more appreciative if I did so. Things being as they are, I'll leave as much unmentioned— for now."

Zhuan Ai pursed her lips together, expression resentful. "Well, I'm not the one who's failed mission lost him for two weeks. That fool better be glad he's dead. I fulfilled my duties; the other stuff was extra."

"Speaking of," Yewan said lowly, turning away from Zhuan Ai to the man who had remained knelt at the front of the room, expression chilling as he did so. "You know what I ask of you. Go now, handle it quickly."

"It's him, Sir," Wang Lu admits as he lets the sheet fall back down to the body, voice wrought with horror and expression to match. Jiang Cheng let out a short breath, nodding in understanding.