Chapter 85 - In the Dark, In the Rain

The sun had long set and most mortal residents of Turning Leaf town had begun to turn towards their beds, allowing the soft pattering of rain on tile rooftops to lull them to a peaceful sleep. The atmosphere in the Feng Residence, however, showed no signs of anyone turning to rest. Lights glowed from many windows and household servants bustled about many tasks, awaiting the return of Madame Ye and Young Miss Feng following the explosive revelations that Master Feng Lieren had been poisoned for many years. 

In one room, two men, one young, the other much older, sat over tea while a nervous attendant stood watch over their conversation. Dragon Soldier Long Ma had shown up along with Tang Jin when the young man sought out Feng Xi and Ao Wen to discuss what to do about the Mo family.

"There's nothing wrong with embracing the hot blood of youth Young Friend Tang," Long Ma said in the tone of a wise elder guiding a junior. "You've just broken through to become a Soldier. Now is the time to fight for your family. Embrace the opportunity to see them rise! My Long family once sat in a position very similar to your Tang family you know," he continued, stroking his long beard and mustache. "Until I'd broken through, no one truly respected the power of a Flood Dragon. Now, it isn't just me enjoying the benefits of my rise, a true rising tide lifts all ships," he explained. "But if you hold back on your power, your family's enemies will never fear you. If they don't fear the reprisal of your wrath, how can your family truly rise?"

"It isn't that I don't want to tear the Mo family limb from limb," Tang Jin said, repressing a snarl. He'd insisted on speaking to Ao Wen and Feng Xi instead of following Long Ma off to confront the Mo family immediately. No matter what Long Ma said about the might of two Soldiers, right now, the person Tang Jin trusted least was himself. His parents had yet to be released. He could feel his anger threatening to boil over. One memory kept him in check. "I want to, but just because I want to doesn't mean I should." Images flashed through his mind of Ao Wen bringing Blinding Light back to him after he'd tossed it aside to tear into Thunderclap Black Bear with his own claws… the wounds he'd suffered needlessly because he couldn't restrain his anger, the danger he'd put others in because he'd lost himself in the fury… "If we really need to fight the Mo family, having help from Sister Xi and Sister Wen is a good idea," he insisted for what must have been the tenth time. 

"You're underestimating your might as a Soldier young friend Tang," Long Ma said, straining to keep frustration out of his voice. This brat placed too much faith in a pair of silly girls! How could this boy consider himself a man if he traded in one set of apron strings for another? "Are you a Mountain Lion or a house cat?" Long Ma challenged, changing his approach in the hopes that a bit of shame would force the brat to listen. 

"He's a Mountain Lion, of that, Soldier Long need not doubt," Feng Xi said from the doorway, omitting the honorific "Dragon" that Long Ma had asked others to append to his title. Between what she'd seen from Ao Wen personally and Wen's stories about her True Dragon adopted mother, Feng Xi increasingly felt that Long Ma clung to an honor that wasn't truly his. 

"Understudy Feng," Long Ma said stiffly as he stood. "I heard that you had gone with Brawler Ao to the City Lord's manner in the company of Young Lord Zhang Bai, I hope everything is well," he inquired with a well-practiced polite tone that concealed his frustration at being interrupted. 

"My father has been poisoned," Feng Xi said flatly. Feng Lieren had warned her to never entertain Long Ma unless no other option existed. While her father had never found evidence of wrongdoing, he'd found a good many suspicious coincidences surrounding the other late-stage Soldier in Turning Leaf town, and given their relationship as competitors for the position of Deputy City Lord he'd never felt it wise for Feng Xi to be left somewhere vulnerable around the powerful 'Dragon Soldier.' "Thankfully, my sworn sister has captured the poisoner and hauled him before the City Lord for justice. I'll be returning in the morning to see the City Lord hand down his judgment." 

"Your father was poisoned? Who would dare?" Long Ma asked smoothly, repressing any reaction that might betray what he knew. "I would expect that Alchemy Novice Mao would have detected any attempt to poison your father long ago!"

"So Soldier Long Ma thinks my father was poisoned long ago?" Feng Xi asked carefully. Long Ma's superior cultivation made it difficult to pull clear notes from his heart. It felt more like listening to muffled chords plucked underwater, his Flood Dragon aura muffling her senses. Still, as an Understudy, her senses were keen enough to detect a trace of… wariness? Apprehension? 

"Forgive this dragon for long-holding suspicions," Long Ma deflected, arrogantly referring to himself as 'this dragon.' "Your father's illness lingering for so long, the poisoner must have been someone close to your family no? Or was it simply the sudden turn his health took while Alchemy Novice Mao was away that was caused by foul means? Perhaps someone was afraid that Alchemy Novice Mao would catch them in the act and waited until he left to rescue your beautiful self before striking?" Long Ma spoke at a slow, measured pace as though it were idle chatter over tea, his pulse as calm as the still sea while fierce currents raged underneath. He had to know how much they knew! Did they know about the Blood Iron Dust? Did they know he provided it? If they knew, he could claim that he provided it to Mao Ailum as a resource for the alchemist's own cultivation. After all, one of the reasons he'd selected this toxin was to pin the blame on Mao Ailum for using a resource he could have used on himself to instead strike at Feng Lieren. "Since you seem so certain of City Lord's justice, I assume the vile fiend responsible has confessed," Long Ma continued, trying to fish for more details. 

"Soldier Long seems deeply interested in this matter," Feng Xi said, her face impassive, her heart still as an unstrung zither. "Perhaps it would be wise to prevail upon the City Lord's manor yourself for the answers to your questions. The night is late to entertain guests," she added with a slight furrow of her brow before she turned to Tang Jin, flashing the young man a gentle smile. "Jin, I have good news. We brought your parents home with us. They're taking the time to wash up after being imprisoned but they're both well. I know things are a mess for your entire family at the moment, but you and your parents are welcome guests of the Feng family," she said with a smile. "Let me take you too them." 

"Truly?" Tang Jin said, leaping from his chair as excitement at seeing his parents freed washed away the simmering rage of knowing who schemed against them. "Fellow Cultivator Long," he said, cupping his hands towards the older man. "I'll discuss your matter with my parents and with my friends. We can speak again tomorrow."

"As you wish young friend Tang," Long Ma said, allowing disappointment to color his voice. "But doing so may cost you the opportunity."

"If it does then I will make another," Tang Jin said as though that were the end of it. Truthfully, Long Ma had made him uncomfortable and it seemed impossible to get his fury under control when the older man was around. He wanted nothing more than to escape his presence and ask Feng Xi for help calming his heart when he reunited with his parents and discussed the news Long Ma had given him. 

Nodding to both Tang Jin and Feng Xi, Long Ma swept from the room and into the dark rainy night. It wasn't until he'd moved several blocks away from the Feng residence that he allowed a snarl of fury to escape his lips. Gathering his martial energy around his body he took in the rain that held the promise of a slow flood if it continued long enough and launched himself into the night, feet gliding along the wet ground like a boat on a river. From block to block he raced until he came to a stop atop a hill overlooking the Mo family. Already he could see the signs of the family's hasty withdrawal from Turning Leaf town. A line of carriages loaded with trade goods, taels of gold and silver and all manner of other things could be seen steadily exiting the manor. Without a doubt, the cultivators of the Mo family were at the head of the line or already long gone down the road. While Tang Jin had bellyached in indecisiveness the opportunity to strike had been all but lost!

Long Ma's hand slashed out in anger, a whip of water forming in it's wake, tearing a nearby tree from it's roots like a surging river flood. Tang Jin refused to come under his sway, Mao Ailum had likely been captured and would expose him soon enough. The Alchemy Novice was too much a coward to protect his coconspiritor. He could savage the Mo family but if he only struck their mortal servants and vassals then he would be guilty of using his powers as a cultivator against mortals and would gain no merits to advance his efforts. 

"I've been too gentle for too long," he said softly to the rain. He could give up on the plans that would advance him to the position of Deputy City Lord. He still had more than a decade to bring Turning Leaf town under his thumb before the Clan called his debts due. The plans of cultivators weren't measured in weeks or months but decades and centuries. He had time enough, even if it meant giving up all of his current plans. What he couldn't give up was the Dragon Core in Ao Wen's chest! That core would ensure he became a third stage cultivator and strength alone could secure him the position he lacked. What did it matter if the people of Turning Leaf town feared him as a tyrant? So long as they obeyed his orders and delivered what the Clan demanded, nothing else truly mattered! "It's time for this dragon to make a move," he said fiercely, sliding again into the darkness of the night.