Qi Like Tar

They almost made it out of the boys' housing complex. If anything, it had been surprisingly quiet. Paike was half expecting to get attacked when he first stepped out of his door. He had been braced to prove himself, but had to put on a good show.

The show had gone on long enough that he had actually gotten confident without having to act in the slightest.

So when a group of five young boys stepped in front of them, it was almost a relief. He wasn't going to have to go looking for trouble to show that he wasn't to be accosted. They came here to let him get it out of the way.

Their leaders stepped forward. "I apologize for blocking your way, but I don't believe we have records of your tax to..."

Paike tuned out the thin veil of an excuse that they wrapped their shake-down or intimidation in. It didn't matter to him what they said. Instead, he scanned the faces. For the most part, he knew them from either his year or just people he had seen around the sect but hadn't interacted with.

His eyes caught on one familiar face, though. Han Saiyan stood at the end and was looking quite uncomfortable. He refused to meet Paike's gaze, but Paike wasn't going to let him get out of this with his face intact.

"Han Saiyan," Paike called, cutting off the spiel to the leader. He wasn't worried about him. The leader seemed barely in Topaz, but his cultivation felt wrong. Paike wouldn't be surprised to find out that he would never advance again. He was likely some lackey put in charge of even weaker cultivators. Apparently, some of the new year had already joined up with this group. "I didn't expect you to be crawling for patronage so fast. Where is your pride? You so eager to be someone's dog?"

The provocation should have sent the arrogant young master spluttering in rage, not even a week ago. However, it seemed that the boy had learned some self-preservation skills in the meantime. Paike supposed it was unfair of him to think that he was the only one growing and changing here.

It was enough of a distraction that the cultivators were taken aback that Guan Li was able to slip away into an alleyway. Paike was going to give him a little more time to get into position.

The leader, who must have been Tao Zhong, threw out a hand, cutting the Late Ruby cultivator off. "They have to pay. Lord-- Wait, where did the other one go?"

Paike stepped forward, spinning his staff. Apparently there was some hierarchy in the outer sect among the older disciples. It was something he had heard was a possibility. Such things would never last; either their leaders would get into the inner sect the next year, and it would fall apart, or someone strong would come in and shatter it.

That was Paike's plan. Well, sort of, he would only bother if they pressed him, but he thought that would be the case.

There was enough confusion that he managed to reach them before any of them were properly ready. Most of the boys were scrambling for weapons. The older ones who had been in the sect had clearly fought before, but these were the bottom of the barrel. They were running around on patrol trying to shake down younger members.

The real elites would never be caught dead doing this. So these lackies clearly didn't have real combat training. Not like Paike.

He had to hold back rather extremely. He couldn't risk using the technique he was working on lest he kill them. His goal was to teach them a lesson, not slaughter kids.

So he closed the gap with Unstoppable in His Goals, smacked aside the leader, and summoned a Transient Shield Formation to block the pair of ranged attacks coming at him. He then let the shield go, and it rocketed into the three boys starting to charge, scattering them like pins.

He turned to find Han Saiyan backing away with his hands held up in surrender. "I'm sorry, this wasn't my idea!"

Paike threw a look over his shoulder and found Guan Li sitting on the leader's chest, a knife held to his eye. The other three lay on the ground, but Paike was pretty sure they would survive.

He let out a suffering sigh. "Run, go tell all your new friends what happened here. Next time I won't spare you."

Han Saiyan dashed off. Paike told Guan Li to knock the leader out, and they quickly took all the pouches of money and cultivation resources off the four. They had quite a lot. Apparently they had been rather successful in their grift. It was several times Paike's monthly allowance from his family, and it would help him and Guan Li a lot.

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Looting defeated enemies was a time-honored cultivator tradition, and no one could complain that he had done it. Paike did expect someone to follow up with this and try to teach him a lesson. They would be one of the elites. Or more than one. Perhaps he wouldn't have to hold back.

Leaving their defeated enemies behind, the two of them made their way to the market.

It was rather empty compared to what Paike was used to. Apparently, many of its usual customers were sheltering for the time being.

Guan Li stopped a young girl and asked after Liming. Paike thought it was odd, but the girl gave an intense nod and darted off like she was on a mission. Apparently, she knew where Liming was.

Paike found a small tea house and the two of the relaxed while they waited. He resisted starting any cultivation. It would be too much temptation to get lost in that while his focus was needed elsewhere.

There was something he could do that wouldn't take much focus. He nudged the flow of his qi out ever so slightly. He wanted to see if he could expand the size of his dantian yet. A flare of pain around the anchors of the latches made him quickly reverse course and tighten the spinning mass of qi back away from the dantian membrane. Apparently, he needed to wait for it to heal fully before trying that again. And he needed to unlatch his cover first.

It wasn't long before Liming stepped into their private room. The first thing he noticed was that she was now at Peak Ruby, pushing up against the edges of Topaz. But then he took in the rest of her appearance.

"Brother!" She exclaimed with a smile. The joy in her voice and face wasn't matched by the rest of her appearance. She was practically disheveled. Her hair was out of place, and there were smudges of what Paike thought was blood on her robes.

He was on his feet before he registered moving; he barely stopped short of embracing her, such was his concern. But he wouldn't do that to her with an audience. So he settled his nerves by patting the hair that was slightly smoking. It was still hot to the touch, but he had practiced fixing these things and got it back into place while Liming tried to ward him off.

"What happened to you?" He asked, his voice tightly controlled. No one was going to hurt his little sister.

"It's not a matter of much concern," Liming brushed off his concern. "I just had to demonstrate that I wasn't going to be pushed around. How much do you know about the political situation of the outer sect?"

"Not much," Paike said. "I haven't really been thinking about it at all. Too much focus on my own cultivation."

"Hmph," Liming sniffed. "And you were always the one telling me I needed to pay more attention to these sorts of things."

Paike rubbed his head, embarrassed. "That is a fair critique."

He did remember scolding her about not knowing who Han Sayian was on their first day in the sect. But he hadn't listened to his own counsel. He supposed he had been relying on the profiles his family had and hadn't learned anything on his own.

"Still, I didn't expect you to be one to start listening to rumors," He challenged.

"That's because I didn't. I just paid a couple of people to compile reports on everyone important for me." Liming bragged.

"Smart," Guan Li commented. This made Paike remember that he was also in the room, so he retook his seat and gestured for Liming to join them.

It was good to see Liming growing. Their family had always preached the virtues of delegation, and it seemed that she listened well. He hadn't even considered it. Here he was being all cocky when he didn't even know what he was up against. That was far too arrogant.

"So who do we have to worry about?" Guan Li asked.

"There are four major factions," Liming started to explain. "Each is led by a Middle Topaz. As far as I can tell, they aren't the only Middle Topaz, but the others are either loaners or crafting focused."

Paike nodded along. That was manageable. He was worried. But anyone who was truly exceptional would have made it into the inner sect. Likely most of the ones from last year's new disciples who had reached Topaz in a year had made it, with a few of the most powerful legacy outer sect disciples also getting through. That left a few disciples who either were crafting but not good enough to advance on their own with that or those who barely made it to Topaz.

That any had advanced to Middle Topaz was impressive for an average cultivator. But if they were to compare them to someone like Liming or Guan Li a year from now, it wouldn't even be close.

Someone like Li Feng wouldn't even be pressed by them now, Paike thought. Maybe if they had enough support by early Topaz, they could be a problem. But how many of those were there?

Liming started to tell them more about the factions, but Paike motioned for her to wait.

"What do you want to do about them?" He asked.

"Me?" Liming sounded surprised that he would ask her. Which was silly, as he was supposed to be watching over her and supporting her, had she learned to lead and rule. Just because he had gotten stronger didn't mean he was going to leave her behind.

Besides, it turned out he didn't really have any interest in sect politics. Even the idea of trying to navigate it sounded irritating. He was far too invested in his own cultivation and research. All it took was for him to get a bit of personal power and growth, and his interest in overarching strategy had waned. He didn't know his future, but Liming was likely going to be a family elder someday. She had been groomed for it for years. If her cultivation kept up, she had a role.

He would figure himself out after she had moved on. Supporting her while she worked her way through the grand sect sounded actually fun now that he wasn't resigned to being passed by. Before, it had been his duty to the family, helped along by his affection for his favorite little sister, that had driven him. Now he just wanted to see her do well. And if he wasn't in charge, he could focus on other things.

He still suspected their paths would diverge eventually, but it would be as they each pursued their own destinies rather than him failing to keep up.

"Of course," Paike answered. "You've done all this planning and work. I'm not going to snatch all this from you."

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