Hearty laughs filled Taoyi’s residence. It would have been the first time, but they were fake like all the times before, both laughs were.

  The two of them were back on a similar page. Of course, not really, Taoyi’s heart stung. Elder Mo knew his plans could lower the potential profit of the many trades he spent years setting up.

  He couldn’t make the Fourth Elder mad. The man was his most valuable customer on many levels, and the deal they had right now was worth more than an Elder position.

  “You do not have to worry much, I won’t interfere with your many plans, I don’t care about most of them. But I will give you a warning. This boy, disciple, you would do good by yourself if you kept him as far away as possible. Old Fifth, the wild dog is smart. He is the most familiar with forces outside of the Sect—he has taken that kind of business, personal, let’s say, for a lot longer than I have been around.”

  Elder Mo paused, placing a hand on one of his crossed knees. “He will take notice if a group of bandits and slave traders suddenly moves around the mountain.”

  There was food out on the table. It was Taoyi’s favorite table, carved of the Red-Tailed Stallion bones, burnt black, crushed to a powder, then stuck together with glue from the same beast and polished.

  Elder Mo hadn’t glanced at it once. That hit Taoyi in the pride a little, almost as much as the lecherous Elder taking a bright green fruit out of his space ring and biting into it while there was a blue-crested crane he raised and killed himself, lying out between them.

  Taoyi leaned forward and pooled Qi at his fingertips. He sliced down the breastbone of the beast, which made it spill open in a fountain of buttery fat and swollen white meat. The smell was overwhelming. Sweet nectar like fat, yet at the same time, it was gamey, with a strong bloody scent. It would make a wolf gag.

  “I know what you say is correct, Elder Mo, but I can’t help but think that the Fifth has worn himself thin with worry. I heard a rumor that he partakes of poisonous leaves and rarely leaves his pagoda. His disciples have taken over his post and do his job—” Taoyi went silent when Elder Mo raised his hand.

  The invisible wall that sealed off the space disappeared. Sounds of the wind brushing grass and mountain stone mix with bird calls as smoke floated from incense, flickering as orange embers grew bright again.

  Elder Mo nodded, “You went silent… You know why?” He flicked the crane, its skin cracked like sugar glass, “Even a fool knows not to underestimate someone who rose to the position of an Elder, especially old vigilante Fifth. If he were to investigate and find anything, you would be torn apart until you were stuffed into the ground, and I would be jeopardized. Be smart about this. SSssslow.”

  Taoyi felt his heart in his stomach. Then it went away. He knew what he was doing with his business, but a smile was just a smile, and he had to keep it on.

  “Elder, you don’t need to worry, our business is separate from this. Less than ten people remember that this girl exists,” Taoyi nodded to the servant still lingering like a puppet held up by strings at the table’s side.

  “Here, I will show you more of what the spell can do,” Taoyi said. He let his cup go, now seeing how tight a grip he had on it. His hand jumped over to a bell, black as obsidian with a reflective red sheen like a drop of dried blood. With a tap, it made a shallow ring.

  The sound of the wind and birds had returned, but she could not hear it; her eyes were open, but she could not see; her breath passed through her nose, but she could never open her mouth unless told to do so.

  Still, the bell rang, and so she made more tea. Not a misstep or slip, no remark when hot water splashed her, and when she poured, not a drop missed the cups.

  Elder Mo took his hands off his knees. “Truly, a good technique.”

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  He lifted his cup, sipped, and tapped the bell in the same way, not bothering to hide his actions as he gripped the girl’s ankle again. His thumbnail went right back into that wound.

  It left Taoyi unsettled. Blood ran down her leg onto his floor and smeared into the Elder’s palm. Perhaps that was the whole point of leaving him unsettled, but he had done worse things while standing in this very room.

  “I hope she is worth as much as you claim,” Elder Mo whispered.

  “I didn’t lie about her blood. Her grandmother is a dancer, old and out of practice, but blood is blood. In the worst case, she still has more value than most.” Taoyi said, pointing at her.

  It seemed like a switch was turned in his head, and he felt a need to talk up her value, even though it was early. “I think we both know that well enough. There is no need to think about it at all, in fact. She was born with the potential to cultivate that both her mother and grandmother lacked, and she has her grandmother’s bloodline. I am certain she will have the abilities of a dancer.”

  That seemed to do the trick.

  Elder Mo’s eyes lit up, he let go of her ankle and clapped his hands together. “Good, good!” His eyes never stopped scanning her, up and down.

  “You mentioned the Grandmother a few times now, she is the dancer, you are lucky to have found her, what is she worth?”

  Taoyi wished he hadn’t asked. At least that disciple wasn’t here to blow his top when he heard that half-possessed child would die trying to kill everyone in this room. He held in a sigh.

  “Her bone age is too high to be of any real value. And her vital essence is weak. Finding them was both good and bad luck. Her potential as a dancer was waning as she was pregnant, but if she were not, I would have never found her.”

  “Pregnant, that explains why she was wandering somewhere you could find her, probably cast away from whatever cave the dancers hide in.” Elder Mo interjected and looked on, waiting to hear more.

  “... Right. I had a descendant at the time, a middle-aged mortal man. I had no interest in the thing or his strange hobbies. But I left behind a token that could reach out to me. The last time it was used was a few minutes after he was stabbed, just before he died.”

  Elder Mo was getting interested, leaning forward with an elbow on the table, “You let him bleed to death?”

  Taoyi got lost in the memory as he told it. “Yes, well, I stomped him dead because of something far more important. A woman in labor with the knife that stabbed him in her hand. Yin Qi, not cold, pure and comforting, swirling and dancing around her belly. I posed as their ancestor, appearing to save them in a time of need, helping the woman have the child… taking care of them in the background, and in the end, the daughter was smart, but ended up not having the potential, just being a mortal through and through, a shame, truly a shame…”

  Taoyi shook the disappointment off his face.

  “A shame indeed, but now we have this one, and we will know if she has the gift by the end of next summer.” Elder Mo said, rising to stand.

  Taoyi stood along with him. “Elder, you can do as you please with her until then. I just hope you leave her intact until her potential blossoms.”

  “I’m not a fool.” Elder Mo pushed the girl away and stepped around the table. “Everything we talked about earlier is fine, but keep her here; there could be mishaps, others spotting her.”

  He placed a hand on Taoyi’s shoulder. His tongue swiped his bottom lip before he continued, “There are other things we need to discuss too… I am not interested in the children that may come from any of our arrangements, unless they also have potential. I have enough illegitimate, mediocre sons and daughters.”

  Taoyi looked up, stunned, and uncomfortable to say the least. “If they have potential…” he asked, not wanting to hear the answer.

  Sure, this man doesn’t mean to dual Cultivate with his own children? Taoyi pushed the thought out; if he lingered on it, second thoughts about this deal would bubble to the surface. He was too deep to run.

  “Haha. Don’t worry about details, but if you happen upon any more potential dancers, if you raise them, I’ll buy them.” The Fourth Elder of the Drifting Stream stared at the girl he planned to take ownership of before winter arrived the next winter.

  Taoyi went silent. He had nothing more to say, just looks to give, his eyes meandering over to the girl, her name Penqi, a child he helped raise, and not purely with vile intentions. She looked like her mother but had her grandmother’s stature; all three had eyes like pale jade and sea-foam.

  Then back to the Fourth Elder. Taoyi took a step backwards, away from the man. All he could do was smile and not mention the heart demon that was worse than the discipline that the old man was succumbing to.

  Hao was it, that disciple’s name, he should be halfway up the Fifth Peak by now.