Fates Parallel (A Xianxia/Wuxia Inspired Cultivation Story)

Sovereign Shen wasn’t inclined to stay once their deal was struck, and Yoshika wasn’t inclined to host him. He tried to leave the way he came, but Yoshika blocked his access to the spirit realm. He turned to frown at her.

“What’s the meaning of this?”

Jia crossed her arms and gave him a belligerent scoff.

“Hmph! We may have an understanding, but I don’t trust you anywhere near my soul realm. I know you took advantage of Heian’s absence to sneak your way in, but I’m not dumb enough to leave that gap open.”

“Then how do you propose I leave?”

“You can walk like everyone else. Or fly out on that sword of yours, I don’t care.”

He sighed and shook his head, stepping forward as his flying sword appeared beneath his feet.

“How petty. May I presume that your barrier will permit my passage on the way out?”

“Maybe. I don’t have my usual helper right now, so you’ll just have to find out.”

Shen Yu grimaced.

“Farewell, Empress Yoshika. We’ll meet again in five years. And if I may offer a piece of advice—”

“You may not.”

He gave her a flat look.

“If you hope to walk the path of a sovereign, you should be more selective about who you choose to make your enemy.”

Jia’s ears flattened and she huffed irritably.

“I didn’t choose any of this, asshole! Now get the hell out of my country before I send you back to your original the hard way!”

The divine sovereign scoffed and turned away, shooting off over the horizon faster than mortal eyes could follow. Despite her earlier implication, Yoshika made a point of letting him through the barrier right away—she didn’t want him sticking around a second longer than necessary.

With Shen Yu’s departure, the circle of privacy he’d conjured disappeared and Yue approached with a nervous look on her face as she glanced back the way Shen Yu had gone.

“That...didn’t look very productive. What happened after he cut us off?”

Jia sighed.

“We’ve got a five year armistice with Shen Yu, and by extension with as much of the Qin Empire as he can influence. In exchange, he wants me to take a soulbound oath to give him the Sovereign’s Tear within another three years.”

Yue winced.

“That’s a significant blow to our timeline, and losing the tear will cripple us even if we manage to break the divine seal.”

“He also offered his faction’s protection if and when our world is reconnected with the divine realm.”

“You trust him to follow through on that?”

Jia wrinkled her nose and flicked one of her ears.

“He’s the sort of person who follows a very strict code, I think. Insofar as it aligns with that code, yes I do. But I don’t know what that code is, and what little I’ve seen of it doesn’t give me confidence.”

Yue bit her thumbnail.

“Damn! There aren’t any good answers, are there? How vexing.”

“We’ve got five years to figure it out, at least. Shorter than I’d like, but a lot can happen between now and then. Maybe I won’t have to give him anything.”

“By the emperor, Jia—are you scheming? I didn’t think you had it in you!”

Jia snorted.

“Oh shush! He was already going to be a problem once we broke the seal, so what difference does it make if I end up breaking the deal? I’m still taking the option of giving up the tear seriously, but now we have more options.”

Yue wiped a false tear from her eye.

“Oh, they grow up so quickly. I’m so proud!”

Lin Xiulan approached and put a hand on Jia’s shoulder.

“There’s no shame in expanding your options, nor in taking refuge under the protection of someone stronger. We do what we must to survive. I’m curious about how you plan to oppose him, however.”

Jia sighed. It was getting harder to keep her plan to become the sovereign deity of their world a secret.

“I’m not entirely sure yet. We ended up getting distracted, but he mentioned something about how it was in our best interests if the other true immortals stayed dead. I didn’t get a chance to ask about it, but I think he’s afraid of them for some reason.”

“I see. And now you have direct control over two of the three he’s aware of, which means he fears you.”

“Maybe. I don’t want to read into things too much—it’s just a hunch.”

Besides, it wasn’t just two out of three. Shen Yu didn’t seem to be aware of Jianmo’s revival, despite the fact that she’d definitely caught the God-Emperor’s attention when she’d done it. On top of that, there was the whole mess with the Kumiho, and it was still hard to believe that Do Hye was dead for good.

That meant that there were as many as six true immortals to contend with, and while they weren’t all Yoshika’s allies, none of them were Shen Yu’s.

Kaede clapped her hands once for attention.

“Right. The most important part is that we have five years of non-aggression from Qin. Yue, Lin Xiulan, I’d like you to work together on policies here in Jiaguo to take full advantage of that. In the meantime, I’ll return to Yamato. If the fighting on the border quiets down enough, that might be just what I need to quell the southern warlords and push my reforms through.”

They bowed in acknowledgement, and Jia took over from there.

“I’ll organize the academy resources with Dae. Our timetable just got cut in half again, so it’s time to put everything we’ve got into figuring out the divine seal. Eui’s stay in Goryeo is probably going to be extended as well—there are some leads there we need to pursue.”

Yue nodded, then hesitated briefly.

“Um, about the matter with Zheng Long...”

Jia blinked, then slapped her forehead.

“Crap! I almost forgot about him! Does this mess up your plans?”

“No. If anything, this might open up new opportunities. I just wanted to know whether I should put those plans on hold for now.”

“Of course not! You’ve got full discretion to do whatever you need to. Just let us know if you need anything.”

Yue smiled and bowed.

“Thank you. I’ll be sure to do so.”

With the impromptu strategy meeting dismissed, they all went their separate ways to put plans into action. Shen Yu’s deal forced them to move fast, but it also gave them more freedom to act. The Jiaguo Empire was about to become the busiest it had ever been.

 

---

 

Heian moped sullenly, resting her head on Eui’s lap as her mother gently brushed her hair. Real hair! She couldn’t even enjoy it properly.

“I’m sorry. I should have been there.”

Eui smiled softly and shook her head.

“It’s not your fault, sweetie. Everyone gets exhausted after a breakthrough like that. Besides, after you worked so hard to get your own soul realm, are you really planning to go back to managing mine?”

“I can do both. My spirit form and my body are always together and always apart. I can stay in your soul and out here at the same time.”

Her mother chuckled.

“Your domain is even weirder than mine. I can be in multiple places at once because there’s four of me—but there’s only one you.”

Heian preened happily.

“I’m my mother’s daughter, after all. I should be able to do at least that much.”

Eui laughed.

“That’s quite a high bar to set for your future siblings.”

Heian rolled over to look up into Eui’s eyes.

“You’re planning to make more sisters?”

“Not planning, per se, but it would be nice to have some children one day. Kaede at least seems interested. Also, you never know—it could be brothers.”

She rolled back onto her side.

“No thanks. Sisters are better.”

Eui snorted.

“Somehow, you’re way more childish now that you look like an adult.”

“Mn. I have a mind now. Still getting used to it.”

“Uh huh. Sounds like a convenient excuse to act like a spoiled brat for a while.”

Heian stayed silent. Eui couldn’t prove anything if she never admitted it.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door before Seong Eunae let herself in and joined them in the cozy little sitting room they’d found tucked away in a distant corner of the guest house.

“Pardon the interruption. I heard that Heian was awake again—how are you feeling?”

Heian reluctantly sat up—it was too embarrassing to cuddle with her mother in front of a guest now that she was fully grown. She stretched and yawned.

“Fine. A little sore, and still getting used to all these new sensations, but I feel good. Sorry I broke things.”

“Think nothing of it! Nothing critical was damaged, but it will take some time to get everything back in order for my own breakthrough. Congratulations on your ascension!”

Eui clicked her tongue and sighed.

“Tsk. Your family is really milking my offer to repay the damages. There’s no way they were using a neutral mana crystal before.”

Eunae smiled apologetically.

“Sorry about that! You should know better than to offer such open-ended favors, but if it’s any consolation, I’ll make sure that none of the resources you provide are siphoned off for other purposes. They’ll all go into my preparations.”

“That does make me feel better, actually. I don't care about Goryeo trying to steal techniques that we’ve promised to eventually share anyway, as long as they’re not hurting you in the process.”

“As always, your outlook on the world is both strange and refreshing. I’ll try to make the most of your gifts.”

Eui nodded, then sat back and crossed her arms.

“I think we do need to talk about your breakthrough, though. There have been a few developments, and I’m starting to get worried.”

“Oh?”

She cast a privacy spell to ensure that nobody eavesdropped on them—not that anyone could without either Yoshika or Heian noticing.

“Sovereign Shen Yu visited Jiaguo. I’ve managed to secure a truce with him for now, but he said a few things that left me concerned.”

Eunae cocked her head.

“About me?”

“Not directly, no. He alluded to the fact that the ability to return from death is a prerequisite for deities, and he wasn’t happy about the fact that Heian and I have met it. More importantly, though, he said it’s in our best interests if any other such beings ‘stayed dead.’”

“Implying that their revival remains a possibility. I see. You’re worried about Do Hye? Misun is quite confident that she circumvented his reincarnation.”

Eui chewed on the inside of her lip and flicked the end of her tail idly.

“Yeah, but now I’m not sure how much we can trust her. Dae thinks there’s something fishy about how much she’s been able to glean from Do Hye’s notes, and I think she knows more than she’s letting on. Besides, he’s not the only former deity interested in revival.”

Eunae's eyes widened.

“The Kumiho? I thought we already established that my fragment isn’t a risk.”

“We did, but yours isn’t the only one around. There’s a half dozen of them to worry about, and in theory any one of them could be a threat.”

“Not that my family hasn’t earned that sort of paranoia, but who would it even be?”

Eui frowned.

“I think we can safely rule out Haeun. She’s got a strong affinity, but she hasn’t cultivated it enough to even awaken her inner spirit. It would be weird for Misun or your mother to ask me to look into this if it was them—that doesn’t rule them out, but it does make them far less likely.”

“And it certainly isn’t me, so then that just leaves Cousin Min and the queen.”

“I don’t see it being Min, honestly. She’s too focused on her current position—too driven to give it up in pursuit of resurrecting your ancestor.”

“And so we’re left with only the most troubling and difficult option.”

Heian rubbed her eyes sleepily. She was having a hard time following all the intrigue and political maneuvering, but there was one thing that did stand out to her.

“Do you think that’s why they want the mana crystal? I just showed them how to make a soul core out of it, so maybe she wants to do that.”

Eui and Eunae stared at her blankly for a moment before Eui’s eyes went wide.

“Ancestors! Heian, you’re a genius!”

She puffed out her chest with pride.

“Hehe, yeah I am! Um...why?”

“If someone is trying to revive the Kumiho as a great spirit, then of course they’ll want to use the tried and true method that they just witnessed! We don’t need to know who it is if we already know how and when they’re going to do it!”

“Uh, yeah! That’s what I was saying.”

Eunae covered her mouth and giggled.

“Are you suggesting that we should use my breakthrough to set some sort of trap?”

Eui hesitated, her sudden enthusiasm draining slightly at that.

“Well, it’s a bit risky, I guess. So only if you’re okay with it. I’ll be right there with you in case anything happens.”

“I can’t think of a better way, and it would be far more dangerous to ignore it. What did you have in mind?”

Heian quickly lost interest as they began plotting and preparing, letting herself curl up into a ball and sleep, enjoying the feeling of real warmth on her real skin as she slipped into peaceful rest. In her dreams, her spirit self got back to work protecting her mother’s soul realm from threats like Shen Yu.

The world only needed one goddess, and that was her mother. The rest would have to go through her first.