I am the Heroine’s Master?

Shen Jinglan spread the scroll across the table, unrolling it until it stretched from one end of the polished wood to the other. With a casual flick of her fingers, a thread of qi slipped from her hand and pinned the corners in place.

The moment the scroll settled, the map upon it awakened, revealing a living reflection of the empire itself. Rivers shimmered and flowed across the parchment, their waters glinting beneath invisible sunlight as they wound through valleys and plains, while forests rippled in unseen winds, millions of tiny emerald canopies swaying in gentle waves beneath drifting clouds. Grasslands rolled like green seas, mountain ranges rose in jagged ranks of brown, grey, and snow-capped white, and roads crisscrossed the continent like veins through a living body.

Along those roads crawled countless miniature figures no larger than grains of rice. Merchants urged wagons beneath colorful awnings, travelers rode spirit bulls or drifted aboard flying boats through lonely stretches of wilderness, and lines of soldiers crossed the skies on clouds in disciplined formations with banners streaming behind them. Enormous spirit turtles and paper lotuses glided across rivers while simpler fishing boats bobbed upon lakes and sheltered coves, every movement rendered in impossible detail.

The cities were the most mesmerizing of all. Tiny streets bustled with life as crowds flowed through marketplaces packed with bright awnings and stalls, incense smoke curled from hanging braziers beneath elegantly curved eaves, and temple bells swayed silently above tiled rooftops. In the largest metropolises entire districts seemed to pulse with energy, every avenue – and half the sky above it – crowded with people, carts, flying mounts, and beasts of burden moving in intricate patterns that never appeared to cease.

Color saturated every corner of the map. Verdant forests spread like spilled jade while golden farmlands patchworked the countryside; mountains stood stern and ancient in shades of granite and ice, marshlands oozed in sickly greys and greens with stagnant waters gleaming beneath a murky sheen, and deserts burned with ochre and gold as dunes shifted beneath phantom winds. Beyond them lay the seas, their waves rising and crashing in endless motion, whitecaps foaming across deep sapphire waters as sunlight scattered across the surface in shifting mosaics of silver, blue, and iridescent color. In one corner of the map, a dragon burst from the ocean depths. Though no larger than a finger joint, it coiled skyward through clouds of sea spray before plunging back beneath the waves, scattering glittering droplets across the parchment and sending ripples racing outward through an inch of ocean that somehow conveyed the vastness and depth of an entire sea.

No sun appeared anywhere upon the scroll, yet its presence was unmistakable. Light and shadow drifted across the miniature world in a slow, ceaseless dance as clouds cast moving shadows over mountain slopes and rivers flashed like molten silver beneath the light. Some farmlands basked beneath warm golden sunshine while others lay beneath passing cloud cover, dawn touching one edge of the empire even as dusk settled upon another, faithfully mirroring the passage of time across thousands of miles.

The entire empire lay displayed before them in impossible detail, alive and moving beneath their gaze. It was as though a god had plucked the world from the heavens, shrunk it to the size of a tabletop, and laid it bare upon the scroll.

Even the Tiger General praised it. “You are wasted as a handmaiden, dear,” he said admiringly. “A map like this is more useful in the army than attending a princess. How about you join the Tiger Army? I'll divert enough resources your way that reaching Core Formation within a century should not be unreasonable.”

The princess was not amused, though Shen Jinglan certainly was. She discreetly lowered her head, hiding a smile.

“It would be just as useful at court as in the army, uncle, so stop trying to poach her.” Then, turning to the others, she added, “I'll let Jinglan give the overview since the World Bearing Scroll belongs to her.”

Mo Jian and Bai Ning, seated attentively, nodded.

Shen Jinglan briefly wondered whether she should clarify that the scroll did not technically belong to her. She had not made it, nor did she possess the knowledge or the power to attempt such a feat. It was a Nascent Soul artifact, gifted to her by the princess's father back when Muxue had been a troublesome child who refused to learn geography properly. He had labored over the scroll for an entire year, crafting something that was simultaneously an amusing toy and one of the most up-to-date living maps of the empire, before entrusting it to Jinglan to ensure the princess learned about the lands she would one day rule.

The gift had seen some use here and there, but children were children. Few who knew the princess now would believe it, but Jinglan had been with Muxue since childhood, and so she knew how the princess had thrown tantrums over geography lessons for nearly a month, only to forget everything a week later, so by the time the map had been completed, it had proven of little use.

The Prince had shed comical tears while Muxue laughed as he quizzed her.

“How many cities are in the empire?”

“Where does the Purple Snake Venom Forest lie?”

Each answer had been met with dramatic despair as he bemoaned how his carefully crafted gift was useless to his genius daughter. Muxue, spoiled as children often were, had boasted that she already knew [about] everything in the world save the moon, which she promised to learn about by tomorrow. From then on, she had become his little moon. It was one of many silly stories and cherished memories she carried with her, moments that for years had felt so distant they might as well have belonged to someone else's dream. Yet now, little by little, those days – or perhaps the Muxue of those days – were returning.

But this was not the time to dwell on old memories, no matter how sweet they might be.

Shen Jinglan banished the thoughts and instead gestured to the scroll. “Since we will be heading to the northern border soon, the Princess thought it best that we familiarize ourselves with both our route and the region we'll be traveling through. I believe we're all familiar with the map, but please take a look and let me know if you have any questions. It doesn't display everything, but it shows a fair amount. And you can-” Rather than explain, she bent down and dragged a finger across the scroll's surface. The landscape moved beneath her touch, revealing new terrain as the old slid away. Ahead, the map reached the edge of the scroll and vanished into it, as though the world it depicted was far too vast to fit within the parchment and could only be viewed through the window it provided. “Also,” she continued, “you can do this.” Again, demonstration proved easier than explanation. Pinching the section around the Entwood Enclaves, she compressed vast stretches of forest and grassland into a green smudge. Then she spread her fingers apart, and the image expanded until every blade of grass and stalk of reed was as clear as if they were viewing the Enclaves through a Mirror type treasure.

“This is amazing,” Bai Ning gushed, her smile lighting up her entire face as she leaned forward with undisguised interest. “You can use this to keep an eye on the whole empire?”

“It has limits,” Shen Jinglan cautioned, even as the Tiger General began playing with a corner of the map, poking at a flock of Kun Pengs roaming the clouds and scattering them. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes; the man did his best to play the childish fool whenever the opportunity arose.

“You can't use it to see inside houses or track people, and it only shows the movements of those who don't bother concealing themselves. The capital is almost impossible to parse – even this map can't depict it with any real accuracy – and major events often appear late or distorted. In the end, it's far better as a map than as a spying tool.” Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Mo Jian already – and there was no better word for it – scrolling through the map, stopping here and there before zooming in on whatever caught his interest. The ease with which he did it made those strange terms spring to mind unbidden. It was a reminder that, for all his easygoing nature, he was still a genius and a Nascent Soul senior, not someone she could measure against her own abilities.

Bai Ning began experimenting with the scroll as well, though it took her longer to reach the same easy familiarity as her teacher. Before long she had effectively taken over the table, ignoring Tang Huwei and nudging Mo Jian aside whenever he occupied the section she wanted. He yielded with good grace as she slid the map across the scroll. Eventually she stopped at the southern edge of the empire. Half the scroll now showed the seas beyond its borders, while the remainder depicted the empire itself and a narrow slice of the lands beyond the Wall. In short, nearly all the territory the Empire claimed as its own lay before them.

The Great Xiang Empire – though the name was used only in official documents – was roughly oval in shape, wider than it was long. It was divided into five major regions, though those divisions did not correspond neatly to noble territories: the north, south, east, west, and the central territories that occupied the heart of the empire. Its southern edge looked as though a great ceramic plate had been dropped and shattered. Instead of a smooth coastline, countless fragments of land spread across the sea in a vast archipelago. These were the Thousand Shattered Islands, the southernmost lands of the Empire and the homeland of both Bai Ning and Mo Jian.

Bai Ning's enthusiasm was in full swing. “Master, look,” she exclaimed, pinching open a stretch of ocean before swiping furiously across the map until she reached an unremarkable island ringed by five mountain peaks, like a valley cradled in a giant hand. “Cloud Veil Ridge still appears on it. And-” Her fingers swept across the scroll. “-so does the Greater Dharma Sect. Though only the island, and nothing else,” she added with a dissatisfied grumble.

Mo Jian hummed pleasantly, as if to say, Oh? Really? That's good. Carry on.

Bai Ning shot him a look of profound disappointment. “That's your reaction?” she demanded. “Hmph.” With an exaggerated sniff, she turned away and washed her hands of him entirely.

Shen Jinglan had to lower her head again to hide a smile, while the Princess grinned openly and General Tang continued studying the Great Wall displayed on the map. If nothing else, the exchanges between those two were always entertaining. Mo Jian responded by giving Bai Ning a small glare before rolling his eyes at the Princess. Right – this was another source of concern. Weren't those two becoming rather close rather quickly?

Ignoring his former disciple with what Shen Jinglan assumed was meant to be great dignity, Mo Jian returned his attention to the scroll. Shen Jinglan did the same, though her gaze drifted across the broader shape of the empire rather than lingering on any one place. To the east and south, the seas stretched beyond the limits of the map, endless expanses of deep blue broken only by the tiny silhouettes of some spirit beasts breaching the surface of the sea or scattered islands. Most people assumed the oceans had no end, and even if they did, nobody living had ever reached that end or returned with proof of it, making the distinction largely academic.

To the west lay another ocean, though this one was forbidden by decree of the Immortal Emperor himself. On the map its waters appeared calm, almost inviting, but Shen Jinglan knew better. Thousands of years ago, a chain of Sky Cities had floated far off that coast, suspended above the sea several thousand leagues from shore. Then came the Shattering, and now those same cities lay broken and fallen, their colossal ruins forming a jagged barrier across the waves. The wreckage stretched so far and so densely that it resembled a second coastline, one built not by nature but by catastrophe. Worse, it had become the domain of the Immortal Rahu, and now anyone who ventured too close was eaten. That simple fact had strangled western exploration before it could truly begin.

Her eyes moved north. The empire narrowed there, its broad territories gradually constricting until the map resembled the neck of a vase. Across that narrow span ran the Great Wall, a colossal line of stone dividing civilization from the northern steppes and standing as the Empire's shield against the Yuan hordes. Beyond it stretched an ocean of grass, the steppes themselves nearly half as large as the Empire, endless plains of green and brown where rivers wound through rolling hills and great herds of qilins wandered beneath open skies on flaming hooves and talons. Further north, the colors faded, as grass gave way to frost, frost to snow, and snow to a world of white. Deeper and deeper the cold intensified until it became something almost unreal, a force as much as a climate, until the land could have no name but the White Wastes. Even on the scroll, the region looked barren and hostile, a vast expanse of ice and snow that seemed to swallow all color around it. It was the domain of Madam Feng, who was said to hate the Great Xiang Empire with every fiber of her being.

To the east of both the steppes and the White Wastes ran the Sable Sea, a long, narrow ribbon of water so black that it appeared like a crack drawn across the world. Beyond it lay the Dead Lands, a region that was deliberately absent from the map. The scroll showed only an empty blur where the territory should have been. According to the palace records, several immortals had fought there four thousand years ago. Whatever techniques they had unleashed had scarred the land so thoroughly that it had never recovered. Nothing grew there, nested there, or even survived there for long. The place was dead in the most literal sense of the word. Unlike the western sea, no imperial decree forbade entry into the Dead Lands, since common sense alone accomplished the same thing.

“Right,” Muxue said once everyone had a chance to familiarize themselves with the map. “Our route is fairly simple. We'll leave the capital and head directly for the Great Wall on flame wheeled carriages. Though he isn't here – and arguably shouldn't be, given that he isn't part of our confidence – Minister Shi Pao from the Ministry of External Affairs will be joining us.”

She tapped the route lightly on the scroll. “Chengxuan has managed to convince the court to send as few reinforcements and supplies with us as he could realistically argue for, which means we'll be traveling almost alone, aside from whatever assistance we can provide ourselves. And-” A trace of irritation entered her voice. “General Tang has been expressly forbidden from sending soldiers with us or accompanying us himself, though that part should be obvious. The Horse Army is responsible for the Wall, and apparently it would be a gross overstep for the Tiger General to involve himself there.” The final sentence was delivered in a tone that made it abundantly clear those were Chengxuan's arguments rather than her own.

She looked around the table, inviting questions and suggestions.

General Tang took the opportunity immediately. “While I can't come personally or officially provide aid, I am pulling a few strings to make sure your journey goes smoothly.” He ran a hand through his hair, expression growing more serious. “I won't promise anything until I hear back from my contacts, but I should at least be able to get you safely to the Great Wall.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “As for help beyond that, I can't circumvent the Emperor’s command. I have, however, already thrown Miao Bu out of the army for his grave transgressions against fashion, which conveniently leaves him free to accompany you.”

He shot the Princess an apologetic look. “I wish I could assign one of the Hundred Thousand Man Commanders to your party. They're all Nascent Soul cultivators, and any one of them would be a tremendous asset. Unfortunately, the moment one leaves their post, the Emperor will take notice. This is the best I can do.”

Everyone around the table nodded. Some looked faintly grim, others merely accepting, but no one voiced any objections. As far as Shen Jinglan was concerned, Miao Bu alone was already a considerable concession. She had met the man several times by now, and though he possessed the rough, dangerous air of a predator wearing human skin, neither his strength nor his loyalty had ever been in doubt. With him accompanying them, she felt considerably safer already. Besides, General Tang's promises, childish behavior notwithstanding, were usually worth more than most people's oaths.

Mo Jian chose that moment to speak. “As for who we can bring along, we will have another Nascent Soul cultivator joining us at the very least: Wei Shentong. He used to oversee one of the districts in the city – perhaps he still does, for all I know – but I promised him a place in court in exchange for his temporary loyalty. He should also be bringing several promising Core Formation juniors with him, so we will at least have the foundation of a respectable fighting force should things come to that.”

Shen Jinglan knew that name. Bai Ning had mentioned it during her inspection of the Kanci Mine as the old overseer and magistrate responsible for both the mine and the district surrounding it. She had to suppress a frustrated sigh. Everything she had heard about Wei Shentong from her painted him as... complicated, to say the least. Dangerous was perhaps a better word. And now they were bringing him along while the Princess was present? Still, she kept her concerns to herself. They needed every capable hand they could gather, and more importantly, Mo Jian possessed the strength to keep him in check.

“There is Duan Cheng as well,” Bai Ning said from the side, thinking aloud as she spoke. “During our duel, he showed some familiarity with warfare. With the right incentive, I believe I can convince him to come along.” She paused briefly. “A skilled and intelligent man like him-” The reluctance in her voice was unmistakable. “-will be useful.”

Muxue looked thoughtful. “Two Nascent Soul cultivators and several Core Formation cultivators. It does not even amount to a quarter of the strength an Imperial Army can muster, but it gives us a group capable of standing its ground.” Her gaze shifted briefly toward Mo Jian. “And with some of the hidden advantages we will be carrying…”

Mo Jian gave a small nod.

Muxue nodded back. “It should be enough. No. I will make it be enough.” Her voice carried a quiet certainty. “Whatever impression we may have given the court, we are not going to the Wall to wage war or negotiate. Neither approach will work, not quickly, at least.” She looked down at the map. “No, we will do what we did here. We will overturn the entire situation and make what was previously impossible become possible.”

Her fingers tapped lightly against the edge of the scroll. “And we have to do it quickly. Remaining away from court for too long is dangerous. A victory that takes years to achieve may still become a loss if, by the time we return, Chengxuan has consolidated his position and erased every trace of my influence from the court.” She raised her eyes. “This cannot become a long campaign. Ideally, we finish within a month. Realistically, we cannot allow it to take more than half a year.”

“Not to mention,” Tang Huwei added dryly, “a shorter campaign makes it easier to ensure that you don’t get assassinated. That would be Chengxuan's preferred solution to this entire problem.”

Muxue waved the concern away like an irritating fly. “Yes, yes, that too.”

“Now,” she continued, turning her attention back to the map, “here is what I was thinking in terms of overall strategy. Of course, most of this will need to be modified once we reach the Wall and have a clearer picture of the actual situation, but there are certain elements we can decide beforehand. For one, the position of the Grey Horde and Tayang Khan…”

Shen Jinglan listened, or at least, she tried to. The conversation quickly moved into the details of strategy, Yuan politics, possible negotiations, and the countless variables involved in approaching a frontier where a single mistake could cost thousands of lives. Muxue spoke with confidence, occasionally pausing to ask questions, reconsider her assumptions, or adjust her plans based on another person's perspective. Mo Jian offered his thoughts when needed, Bai Ning added her own observations, and General Tang occasionally interrupted with a practical concern that dragged everyone back from theory into reality.

Slowly, however, Jinglan found herself paying less attention to the map and more to the people gathered around it, specifically, the Princess. This was the same child who had once thrown a tantrum over learning the names of provinces, the same girl who had proudly declared that she knew everything in the world except the moon, which she promised she would learn about tomorrow. That child was still there but she had grown into someone who could stand before a table of Nascent Soul cultivators and speak of changing the fate of an empire as though it were simply another problem to solve.

It was a strange thing to witness. For years, all Jinglan had wanted was a quiet life for them both. A day that passed peacefully, without humiliation or worry, without having to endure noble ladies asking after Muxue while hiding their laughter behind their fans. A life where nothing extraordinary happened, where they could simply exist without constantly being pulled into something larger than themselves. That wish felt impossibly distant now. In two days they would leave the safety of the palace and head north toward the Wall, to a future none of them could yet see.

And strangely, for the first time in a long while, Jinglan found that she did not long for peace. I want to win this war and return to those days, she thought. Not because I want things to go back to the way they were, but because I want to see what comes after.

The realization should have frightened her. Instead, it was comforting.

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