Fates Parallel Chapter 357 - Expedition

As they soared over the landscape, Jia couldn’t help but appreciate just how much Seong Misun had been holding back on Jung’s account. It had taken months to reach the Goryeon capital of Songdo from the Yamato border, but only a week or so to return with Misun’s windwalking spell. Then, to reach Qingchuan province, they’d traveled for the better part of a year.

Even under Ja Yun’s power, the sustained windwalking spell crossed that entire distance in just a few days. It was hardly any wonder that Misun had been so impatient during their travels.

Jia’s group was the last to arrive at the southern coast. Even Master Ienaga had managed to beat them, though Jia had no idea how she’d passed them without being spotted. All of those thoughts fled her mind, however, when she saw what lay ahead of them.

The ocean. She’d never seen it before, and while she’d understood, conceptually, what it was, seeing it before her eyes was beyond anything she’d expected.

It was just water, and it wasn’t like she’d never seen large bodies of water before, but lakes and rivers—no matter how large—had failed to prepare her for the sheer magnitude of the ocean. Endless roiling waves in every direction, stretching out to the horizon and beyond with no way to even tell which direction you were going in.

It was as beautiful as it was terrifying. And thankfully, Jia did have a way to navigate that endless blue expanse.

As the girls touched down, they noticed a small crowd of people gathering near the beach to gawk at their sudden appearance, and it occurred to her that they were technically trespassing on Yamato territory.

“Is it really this easy to violate Yamato’s sovereignty? How have they held out against Qin for so long?”

Though Jia hadn’t directed her question at anyone in particular, it was Yan De who elected to respond.

“It’s not as simple as you might think. Every single person on that hill—man, woman, and child—is a soldier. Every inch of ground is hard fought, and the people never surrender—sooner burning their own land than letting the empire take it. Invading is one thing—conquering is quite another.”

Bai Renshu grimaced.

“I never imagined I’d hear such defeatist rhetoric from you, Elder Yan De. The fact is, these barbarians simply aren’t worth the trouble.”

“They aren’t worth the trouble because even if it costs them a hundred or a thousand martial artists to slay a single xiantian cultivator they will do it, and they will come out ahead in the exchange. In the time it takes us to raise another xiantian, they’ll have ten thousand more martial artists.”

Guan Yu nodded.

“By underestimating one’s enemies, one exposes their own weakness.”

Shen Yu shook his head and tutted.

“Enough! We’re not here to debate about the strength of the locals. Yoshika, your pace is unacceptable—you need to drop the dead weight if we’re to have any hope of arriving before it’s too late.”

Ja Yun slumped her shoulders and stared down at her feet in shame, but Jia stepped forward and put a reassuring hand on her arm.

“Forget it, Shen Yu. Flight speed isn’t going to be our bottleneck anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not like I have a compass that always points in the direction of the tomb. What I do have is a...sort of map? Jianmo left us with essence patterns to spot and leylines to follow, but we have to actually find them first. We’re going to need some time to get our bearings, and we’re probably going to have to do that multiple times.”

Shen Yu narrowed his eyes at her dangerously.

“Unacceptable. We do not have time to waste on your amateur wayfinding.”

“Well, too bad. I have what I have, and unless you’ve got another way to find the tomb, you’re just going to have to make do.”

“Share the information with me, and I’ll be able to navigate more effectively than you.”

Jia shook her head.

“Absolutely not! You’ll just kill us the second we give up the map—I’m not an idiot.”

He scoffed.

“I’ll swear an oath not to—”

Eui rolled her eyes.

“Fuck your oath! You think we’re going to fall for that? Who cares if you get ripped apart by some soul-oath if you’re just going to get replaced by another expendable avatar?”

“I assure you that—”

“No. You get what you get, Shen—take it or leave it. You want to waste more time bitching, or can we get on with it already?”

Shen Yu grit his teeth, but stepped to the side and ushered them towards the sea.

“After you, then.”

Ignoring the implicit command to move on, Jia turned to address Master Ienaga.

“Is everything going to be okay here? I don’t want to upset the shogun or whoever the local lord is.”

Ienaga shook her head.

“The local forces are probably organizing as we speak to investigate and drive off the ‘invasion,’ but we should be gone long before it causes any trouble.”

“Are you going to get into trouble for going with us? You’ve already been out of the country for a while...”

She pursed her lips and looked up towards the hill on the horizon. Already an important looking man in armor was surveying the scene, and taking a particular interest in Ienaga.

“I will continue to follow the shogun’s orders to the best of my ability until such time as I receive new ones.”

Jia could read between the lines of that non-answer easily enough. She appreciated her master’s support, but she hoped that the fallout wouldn’t be too bad upon her return.

“Alright, we’d better get started, then. Ja Yun, how are you for personal flight?”

Ja Yun fidgeted uncomfortably in her armor.

“I’ve got some spells I can use. Are you going to need me to cast windwalking again, though?”

“Once we’ve found our bearings, yeah.”

“It...might be better if I save my mana, then. Flying is costly.”

Jia nodded.

“Eui can carry you, then.”

The girls paired off, with Eui carrying Ja Yun under her arms while Jia held Yue in a princess carry. Jia’s Lightspeed Traversal wasn’t good at handling extra weight, but Yue’s mastery of the Body Lightening technique made that a non-issue. Meanwhile Eui’s Path of Heavenly Ascension handled Ja Yun’s bulky armor without much difficulty.

The world was truly unfair.

The four of them flew out over the ocean with the others following behind using their own methods. Not that she was surprised, but Jia couldn’t help but notice that there was plenty of extra room on Bai Renshu’s magical cloud for a few extra passengers, but he hadn’t even offered.

Ienaga didn’t fly, but strode out over the waves as if they were solid ground—no concerns about whether she’d be able to follow.

The armored man started to give chase as they flew out over the ocean, but Jia tried to put it out of her mind. If Ienaga didn’t want to deal with it, then she’d follow her master’s lead.

Casting her domain out over the ocean as widely as she could manage, Yoshika started looking for the leyline patterns that Jianmo’s final message had burned into her mind. After the first hour and a few false starts, she began to grow nervous. The ocean was unfathomably huge, and even long after the coast had disappeared over the horizon behind them, she still hadn’t managed to detect anything she could apply to her mental ‘map.’

It occurred to her, as she searched, that Jianmo hadn’t been out this way in ten thousand years. Surely they wouldn’t have left her with an outdated map, would they? How much would the world have changed in that time span?

She put the thought out of her mind and kept looking.

—-

“Yoshika, do you have a moment?”

Li Meili—no, Yoshika, she reminded herself—looked up at Guan Yi. The man had always been enormous, but had he grown since their time in the academy? It felt like he was twice her height sometimes.

“How can I help, Stoneface?”

“We’re nearly ready to depart, and I wanted to discuss marching orders.”

“Uh...sure? Not really sure how I can help with that.”

Guan Yi was the nominal leader of the expedition, even though Lin Xiulan and Xin Wei were present—to say nothing of Sun Quan, who’s forces would be joining them en route. Nobody complained about his appointment, including the xiantian elders—a silent statement that spoke volumes of the respect they held for the Earth Rending Sword sect.

They were currently assembling just outside of the town, and Yoshika was a bit intimidated by the sheer volume of cultivators under Guan Yi’s command. That was the sort of leadership she’d never be cut out for.

“I’d like to assign a unit of cultivators under your command and attach you to the support forces. Nominally, you’ll be reporting to Xin—that is to say, Lin Xiulan—but I’m designating you and your allies as irregular specialists with full autonomy.”

Yoshika blinked up at the giant, trying to make sense of what he was saying. Elsewhere, she urgently nudged Jiaying while her avatar stalled for time.

“Jiaying, what the heck are irregular specialists?”

Jiaying only had time to give her a confused look before Stoneface demanded her attention again.

“Miss Yoshika? Is something wrong? I can assign you a larger unit if you prefer, but I assumed you’d prefer a more mobile unit.”

“Uh...just a second.”

Meili was used to handling two bodies seamlessly, and if anything it felt more natural to her now that before she’d been given control of the Yoshika avatar. The only trouble was that when one conversation depended on the other, it made synchronizing them a bit complicated.

“Meili, what are you talking about?”

Jiaying furrowed her brows, but Rika interrupted with an amused snort.

“It sounds like Stoneface is trying to put her in charge of something, I can see her talking to him over there. Yoshika, it just means you don’t have to follow anyone’s orders.”

“Right! Okay, thank you.”

Turning her attention back to Guan Yi, Yoshika cleared her throat awkwardly.

“Uh, that’s a lot of responsibility. Are you sure?”

He nodded solemnly.

“Of course. You were always a capable leader during our time in the academy, but your immediate group of friends—while powerful—is a bit too small for the battlefield. Assigning you an autonomous unit was the obvious solution.”

“And you don’t mind that I’m—that we’re not...”

“I was led to believe that you are Yoshika, as I have always known her. Was that an error?”

Yoshika shook her head.

“No! We’re not as strong as the other two but we—I’m Yoshika, yes. The same Lee Jia that you taught how to fight in those sparring matches before my duel with Yan Zhihao—even if she’s not actually here at the moment.”

“Very good. Your strength isn’t an issue. As powerful as you may be at full capacity, it’s your character and judgment that I trust. Between your friends and the men I’m assigning to you, I’m certain you’ll be able to make up for any shortcomings.”

“I’m honored, Guan Yi. I’ll do my best to live up to your expectations.”

He held up a hand to stop her before she could bow.

“Miss Yoshika, we are friends. I am truly grateful for everything you’ve done for us—and for Yue. Consider this the least that I can do in return. Should you need anything else, don’t hesitate to find me or Xin.”

“Aww, she’s blushing.”

Meili looked up at Rika in surprise.

“Eh?”

She held her hands to her face and realized that in her attempts to mirror Guan Yi’s stoic demeanor, she’d been offloading all of her expressions onto her other body. Rika laughed harder as Meili buried her face in her hands.

“I take it your conversation went well? I could have sworn you were only into girls, though. Oh, Yue’s gonna be so mad!”

“Wha—n-no, it’s not like that. We were just talking about some logistical stuff. I just wasn’t expecting him to trust me so much, that’s all!”

Before Rika could retort, a Qin soldier approached their makeshift camp and saluted sharply.

“Lieutenant Chen Ling reporting to Commander...uh, Li Meili or Yoshika? I was told that we’d be under an atypical command structure, and that you’d explain the full details.”

Meili covered her face and groaned. What had she just gotten herself into?