I held my breath as Lieutenant Lin scanned me again, this time more slowly and then she looked down at the Soul Mirror as if she was reading something. Her brow furrowed and looked as if she were about to speak. I tensed, ready to bolt if necessary.

  Captain Xie glanced over, his weathered face creasing with impatience. "What's the hold up, Lieutenant?"

  "I'm not sure sir, there's something not quite right here." Her eyes continued to flicker between me and the Soul Mirror.

  Captain Xie sighed and snatched the Soul Mirror out of her hands. I felt a second, much stronger, spiritual scan pierce through me. This one was different, more precise, it was clear that this Soul Mirror's ability varied depending on the user. Where Lieutenant Lin's probe had been that of a finger prodding at my skin, the Captain's was a blade that cut me to the bone.

  His scan laid me bare as he searched for cores that I didn't possess. My teeth clenched against the invasion and I fought down the instinct to push back against it. The role of an untalented slum dweller was my best protection.

  Then the probe was gone and the Captain glanced at the Soul Mirror then turned to his subordinate. "Why are we here, Qiara?"

  She blinked, momentarily thrown. "I'm not sure I understand the question, Captain."

  "I'm not asking an existential question, Lieutenant." His voice carried the weariness of a man who had repeated himself too many times already. "I am asking you what it is that we're doing in this part of town. Who are we looking for?"

  Lieutenant Lin snapped to attention, her spine straightening. "We're looking for a powerful criminal who is meant to have arrived in the province in the last day, sir."

  "Well quite, Lieutenant." Captain Xie's tone sharpened. "And how many cores have we been told to expect this criminal to have?"

  "Three, sir."

  Xie gestured toward me with a dismissive flick of his hand. "Three, sir. Exactly, sir. And, Lieutenant Lin, how many cores does this unfortunate have?"

  "But he has reached the Breakthrough Stage."

  "I know that Lieutenant, but forgive me if that does not leave me shaking in my boots. Now answer the question: How many cores does he have?"

  "None, sir." A flicker of doubt crossed her face, and her voice had lost some of its certainty.

  "Well done, Lieutenant." The sarcasm in his voice could have stripped paint. "Now riddle me this: Is there any evidence of core shielding going on?"

  "No, sir."

  "Correct again, Lieutenant. You're on a roll." Captain Xie's patience was clearly wearing thin. "So, no cores, no shielding. Case closed, wouldn't you say, Lieutenant? Why are you wasting my time? There is no possibility that he's the criminal we're looking for. If we pause at everyone who is at Breakthrough stage we'll never get this done. It's already almost dark and we've got several more hours to spend on this fool's errand from the Emperor before we finish for the day, so let's get a move on."

  "But, his meridians…"

  Xie whirled round to glare at her. "What Qiara? Do you have a precise concern to share with me? We're looking for a criminal with three cores, not a no-name cultivation project at the Breakthrough stage. I agree that there's something strange with his meridians but, frankly, I don't care. This is a port, sailors come through here from all over the world. I've never heard of the Tidesworn Pillars but that's because it will be the name that this degenerate's backwater tribe give to their meridians. We have one job here. Are you suggesting he's faking having no cores?"

  Lieutenant Lin subsided. "No, sir."

  Captain Xie tossed the Soul Mirror to Lin then turned to leave, calling over his shoulder. "Mark him clear and let's go."

  Lieutenant Lin hesitated, gave me one last look, then marked something on her list with a troubled frown on her face. She hurried after her captain, and the marines scrambling to follow.

  I exhaled slowly and watched the soldiers move off, my pulse gradually returning to normal. Well, that was more exciting than I had anticipated.

  The scan from the Soul Mirror had cut too close to the truth. Something about my cultivation had caught Lieutenant Lin's attention, despite my lack of cores. It was unfortunate for me that she was so observant. Without training she must have detected the oddity of my freshly opened meridians but didn't have the ability to work out what it meant.

  As for the Captain, even if he knew he didn't care. He had his orders and he was going to follow them, I had commanded hundreds of officers just like him, and much of the time that was exactly the sort of blunt tool that you wanted following your orders. That had worked in my favor this time.

  I waited until the patrol disappeared, then turned to Mistress Cao who was looking at me speculatively. "Well it turns out that you are more full of surprises than I would have thought Master Shen. I enjoyed talking to you, feel free to come to see me any time. Oh," she nodded at my hand where I still clutched the pot of healing ointment, "and feel free to keep that cream. It's on me."

  She headed back into her shop and I watched the door of her shop shut behind her. Much as I would have loved to find out what was going on with her, my desire to check on Sarei and Kaelen won out. As I headed home my mind was churning with the implications of what had just happened.

  Coincidence? Impossible. Imperial forces sweeping the city for a rogue cultivator a mere day after I had arrived in this body reeked of a meticulously laid trap. They weren't hunting Shen Taros, the drunkard, of course. They were hunting the Emperor of the Tidebound Seas.

  My failed ascension ritual must have created ripples powerful enough that the backwater Emperor who ruled this place had dispatched soldiers to find me. But I had no sense of whether the seekers were allies or enemies. Friends seeking to rescue me, or foes hoping to finish what they had started.

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  How the Vanguard and his cultivators who had attacked me when I first awoke fitted in also confused me. I could not tell if they were working with the imperial forces or against them. They may have been hired muscle, opportunists or, worse, sworn servants of my enemies in this place.

  Too many unanswered questions.

  I paused at a crossroads, allowing a pair of ox-drawn carts to slowly rattle by as I leant against a wall. One thing was clear: I needed to remain hidden. The identity of Shen Taros, the drunkard from the slums, provided perfect cover. No one would look twice at a fish-porter with only breakthrough stage cultivation. I could rebuild my strength in obscurity while gathering information.

  It wouldn't be possible for me to keep my strength hidden forever. It wasn't practical once I reached even the higher stages of the Awakening Realm. With what I was planning I fully expected to have to face tribulations from the heavens on my path and there would be no hiding that.

  But more fundamentally, humility was a virtue for lesser beings. Concealing myself chafed against my very essence, yet I was no fool. For now, I would endure this charade. I would quietly create a core, one stronger and more resilient than before, while stripping this world of its secrets and resources.

  And, most importantly, I would cultivate. With a whisper for now, but soon with a defiant roar that would shake the very heavens.

  Oh, and I suppose that I should also discover who was hunting me. I would either find myself an ally or, more likely, have to destroy an adversary.

  The carts had long since rumbled around the corner so I pushed off from the wall and continued homeward. Busy, busy, busy. But, for now, dinner.

  * * *

  I retrieved my sack from behind the stack of empty barrels where I had hidden it earlier. With one last glance at the darkening streets, I headed home.

  The door to our hovel creaked as I pushed it open. Sarei sat at our table, dabbing at the gash across her cheek, while Kaelen paced the confined space, the knuckles on his clenched fists white with fury.

  "…can't just let them treat us like animals," Kaelen's voice was thick with anger.

  "What choice do we have?" Sarei winced as she touched her injury. "It's not like…" She stopped when she noticed me in the doorway. "Taros! Where have you been?"

  I set my sack down carefully. "Got stopped by some marines on my way back. They're stopping everyone."

  They both nodded, unsurprised.

  Are you alright?" I placed the healing ointment from Mistress Cao on the table in front of Sarei. "Use this, some alchemist gave it to me, it may help."

  I expected Sarei to react to the fact that I was walking around with an ointment from an alchemist but she just opened it and started to dab it onto her wound. If I was wondering about whether she was alright, the lack of comment suggested that she really wasn't. Kaelen's shoulders slumped as his anger deflated into resignation.

  "Happens every few months," he muttered. "Someone entitled loses something, and suddenly we're all thieves."

  "Or whenever the Emperor wants to remind us of our place," Sarei added bitterly.

  Their casual acceptance of such treatment ignited something in me again. In my former life, I had executed officers who hadn't respected those under my protection. The reason I had done it was precisely to prevent situations like this.

  Cruelty becomes policy when unchecked by conscience or consequence. This rot came from the top. Whoever sat on the throne of this realm didn't understand what it meant to bear the mantle of Emperor. The title was more than just power, it was a responsibility, a sacred duty. In due course I would have more than words with the person who so thoroughly dishonored the title of Emperor.

  Before my righteous anger could fully form, Sarei glanced at me with a raised eyebrow and flicked her eyes to my sack.

  "So," she said, changing the subject, "what about that dinner you promised?"

  I smiled, grateful for the distraction, and reached into my sack with a flourish. "Ah yes, about that. It's not much but I hope it will do."

  I unwrapped the large clay pot of noodles with deliberate slowness. The leaves around the pots combined with the boiling broth meant the meal was still hot despite the distractions on my way home.

  As I broke the seal, the cramped hovel transformed with the aromas of simmered chicken, fermented bamboo shoots, and a five-spice blend. The fragrance cut through the room's scent of fish, brine and mud.

  I savored a deep breath of the noodles and broth, then reached back into the sack and placed the bread, cheese and fruit on the table as well. "Oh, I thought I'd pick up some breakfast for tomorrow as well."

  Sarei's mouth fell open, her eyes wide with disbelief. She shot a wary glance at Kaelen, who mirrored her confusion with a hesitant shrug.

  "Taros…how did you afford this?" Her voice was laced with suspicion and her slight frame tensed as if ready to bolt.

  "I worked hard today." I met her gaze steadily but couldn't keep a flicker of amusement from dancing in my eyes. "And I kept back a little from what I gave you earlier." Not exactly a lie, but certainly not the whole truth about Jin Duyi's purse.

  Kaelen had been eyeing the food with increasing intensity and he broke the tension with a rumbling laugh.

  "I can't remember the last time I had anything other than bread and dried fish." He pulled up a chair. "Who cares where it came from? What matters is eating it before it gets cold. If the kid stole it then we need to destroy the evidence before the marines come back."

  I watched with satisfaction as Sarei and Kaelen attacked their food. The clay pot emptied rapidly as we filled, and refilled, our bowls. I have to confess I took two bites for each one of theirs. In my defense it wasn't pure greed. The ki coursing through my meridians needed physical as well as spiritual sustenance to rebuild my muscles.

  "This is incredible," Kaelen mumbled through a mouthful of noodles. "Been months since I've had chicken."

  Sarei nodded, too busy eating to speak. The cut on her cheek seemed less angry now, her face relaxed as she savored each bite.

  When we finally finished, I reached for the small jug of rice wine I had purchased and poured the last of it into their cups. If I was going to make my assignation with Lian at the eighth bell I needed to get going.

  Kaelen's brow furrowed. "No more for yourself?"

  I shook my head and stood. "No, I need to keep a clear head. I'm meeting someone soon. I'll be a while, so don't wait up."

  Sarei's eyes narrowed, and I could see the lecture forming on her lips. I raised my hand to stop her.

  "Before you start. Yes, I know I have to be at work before dawn, and no, I won't be late." I patted my pocket. "And before you ask, I haven't taken any of your money. I'm not planning to drink tonight," I paused, "well not much anyway, so you can stop worrying."

  Her mouth closed, surprise joining the suspicion in her eyes.

  "Oh, and one final thing." I reached into my sack and pulled out the bundles of clothes I had bought for them. With a nonchalance that belied my anticipation, I tossed one to Sarei and the other to Kaelen.

  They untied the packages with the caution of those unaccustomed to gifts to reveal the simple tunics and trousers I had got at the market. Their expressions shifted from confusion to disbelief.

  Kaelen ran his calloused fingers over the sturdy cloth. "This is…new?" His voice caught on the word as though it were a foreign concept.

  Sarei just stared, speechless for once.

  I slipped out the door before either could say more, savoring the memory of their shocked faces. A flicker of satisfaction warmed me as I stepped back into the night. Small gestures, but it felt good to make their lives a little better. This was just the beginning, and meeting Lian was the next step.