Chapter 189: Two Reasons
"It’d be rude to turn it down," he said. "You don’t slam the door on a great sect and expect to walk away friends, and I’ve made enough enemies this year."
"That’s the safe answer." She kept her eyes on him, waiting for the rest of it.
"It is." He owned it with half a shrug. "There are two real ones. First, I want to know which way the Heavenly Sword Pavilion leans when the fighting starts. A sect like that won’t say it out loud until something forces them to, but you learn plenty from how they treat you at the gate, what they ask, what they leave out. I’d rather see it up close than stay home guessing."
"And the second?"
"Money." He watched the road unwind in front of them. "They forge weapons for a living, and I’ve got a mountain that just started giving up Dragonvein. If I can set up a proper trade with them, ore going out and coin and steel coming back, Skyedge is steadier than it’s been in a long time." His voice dropped a notch. "You remember how bad it got, these last years. I’m not letting us get that close to the edge again. Not with a war on the way."
Something in his head cleared its throat. [ So, ] Mira said, far too innocent, [ this has nothing to do with the mission where I hand you a cool two hundred and fifty thousand Origin Points at the end. None of it. Purely business. ]
’You know that’s not why I’m going.’ A pause. ’Though I won’t say no to the points if you’re handing them over.’
[ Yeah, thought so. ] She sounded smug about it. [ Nope, don’t get comfortable. You’ve got a good stretch of that one left before it pays out, so quit spending it in your head. ]
He tuned her out, which by now was almost fond, and caught Qingyue watching him with a look he knew well.
"I knew there was more up there than him," she said. "Riding all this way because Yan Wuji asked you politely? That’s never been you. You’d have talked yourself out of it by nightfall if that was all it was."
"You’ve got me all figured out. Should I worry?"
"Probably." The corner of her mouth twitched. "So. It’s the Emperor."
"It’s the Emperor," he agreed. "I’m no genius, or fine, I’d like to think I’m not an idiot. Anyone with eyes can see the old man’s running out of days. The moment he goes, everything tips over at once, and I don’t want us stuck out here in the open and half-blind when it does. Anything could come for us on a road like this. I’d rather know exactly who’s standing around us before it happens."
"That’s the part I lose sleep over," she said. "Not the sect. The timing of all of it."
They rode on into the afternoon, the valley opening out in easy runs of green and dust. It was Qingyue who broke the quiet.
"There’s a city four or five days up this road," she said. "A big one. Mortal, no cultivators to speak of, but half the province runs its goods through it. We should stop and stock up before the passes close in on us again."
"You’ve been?"
"Twice." She said it like it was nothing, though she plainly enjoyed knowing something he didn’t. "It’s built on the river, so the trade barely sleeps. If you’ve got coin, there’s almost nothing you can’t lay hands on, and I know a shop near the docks that carries everything a road like this eats through. Far better to buy there than stretch what we packed."
That pulled him in properly. "How big are we talking?"
"Big enough to lose a day in without trying. Bigger than anything you’ve seen since Yuncheng. All that money changing hands in one place. You’ll be unbearable."
"I’ll take that as a recommendation." He was already turning it over. Supplies were the excuse; the real pull was watching how a proper trade hub ran its business, before he had to bargain with a sect that made its living off exactly that. "All right. We stop. Show me this shop of yours."
"I planned to." She nudged her horse a length ahead of his, pleased with herself. "Just don’t try to buy the whole street."
The days ran together. They slept under trees and rode from first light, traded small talk with farmers who’d never heard of either of their sects, and put the mountains further behind them with every dawn. Qingyue was easy company on an open road, which he hadn’t let himself expect, and the trip stopped feeling like a duty somewhere around the fourth night.
On the fifth day the land flattened for good, and the road climbed one last shallow rise — and there it was.
The city spread along both banks of a wide, slow river, larger than anything they had passed since the mountains released them. Smoke drifted above ten thousand rooftops, all of it enclosed behind high pale walls broken only by watchtowers and fortified gates. The river cut straight through the middle like a second road, passing beneath iron-barred arches guarded from both banks.
A long line had formed outside the eastern gate. Merchants waited beside loaded carts while armed guards checked travel papers, inspected cargo, and sent suspicious travelers beneath a small formation built into the gatehouse.
Xuan drew rein at the top of the rise and let the horse catch its breath.
[ There’s your hundred thousand, ] Mira said, quieter now. [ You told me you were riding into weeks of people who needed things. Well, that’s the first pile of them, all in one place. Somewhere down there is where we start. ]
Qingyue lifted one hand toward the walls.
"Look. You can see the city from here."
Xuan followed her gesture, taking in the towers, the river, and the endless roofs packed behind the stone.
"Well, first we should get through the inspection." He nudged his horse forward. "Then you can show me the city properly."
Qingyue glanced at him. "And the shop?"
"Afterward. We can stay here for a day." Xuan looked toward the gate and the line waiting beneath it. "For once, I would like to rest properly."
Together, they rode down from the rise toward the city walls.