Chapter 848

“Well... I’m not agreeing to it as a Contract just yet... but... I’ll admit I’m more interesting this time. When you summoned me before, I only really went along because I NEEDED to finish one more Contract. This time I’m under no such obligation but I am already more interested in seeing it through. That being said...” Kat paused letting her words hang.

“This also sounds a lot more complicated,” *because sure I can break her out without too much trouble. The real issue is keeping her safe in the immediate aftermath.* “so I’d still like some more details about what to expect.”

“Um... I... I can try?” offered Xiang. “Truthfully I’m mostly operating on rumours and hearsay when it comes to the endless rain of immortal ice sect. It’s known as ‘the hidden power’ of this area. A lot of other sects try to branch out as they grow larger and more powerful. They didn’t. Instead they simply concentrated their talent further and further in their domain.

“They claim a rather large mountain range as their own and the patriarch is a stage four practitioner and one of the oldest people on the continent. Frankly, we cannot afford to fight him,” seeing Kat’s frown, for he was an ICE cultivator after all, no major threat to her in theory, “I’m not saying you couldn’t beat him,” said Xiang as he threw up his hands in surrender, “it’s just that...

“Well, the issue is... he is known to specialise in wide area battlefield control tactics. Unless you have some new trick up your sleeve you won’t be able to contain his wide area attacks. Even if you could keep him in place, apparently he has the strength to cover a whole town in an blizzard in under ten minutes. I fear we’d be slowed drastically at best, or killed with that kind of skill at worst,”

Kat gave a reluctant nod of acknowledgement. It really did seem like a step too far for her. Perhaps if she was Rank 3 it would be possible to fight him, force the patriarch away from her allies... but at Rank 2 really all she had the chance of was surviving such an onslaught. Xiang seemed to have some idea though, “So how do we avoid him?”

“His son,” Kat raised an eyebrow, “Er... right... so. He’s still looking for that cure right? He’s travelling around quite a bit at the moment looking for ingredients or high quality medicine to heal him... so as long as we make our play when the patriarch is away things should be much simpler. He is the strongest in the sect by far and if we can avoid getting caught it will be even simpler,” explained Xiang.

.....

“Well... plan for the best hope for the worst I suppose... what are the chances the patriarch catches us though? How will we know if he’s in his base or not?” asked Kat.

That’s where Xiang winced. “Right... well... he has a special relic known as ‘The boat that rides the sunrise’ and it’s a flying boat the size of... well I’ve heard it’s the size of a Carrack but I’ve never seen a boat in my life, not a flying one, and not one that floats on water. One of Xuena’s family members said it was that size... but I don’t really know what that means. I think it’s large though right? I think we can just wait and watch for the ship leaving, or maybe ask around about it.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Wait... if he takes a boat... how far away are these mountains?” asked Kat warily.

Xiang winced again, “Yeah... that’s the thing... I mean... the patriarch takes his boat everywhere... but... um... running without stopping it’ll still take us at least a week... and with breaks included... probably longer...”

*A WEEK! That’s... that’s already making this one of my longer Contracts and that’s just to get to the mountains! It’s also IF we don’t stop. If the range is large it might take us even longer just to get to the main base of the sect or wherever they are holding Xuena. Dammit. Huh... hmm... well... I’ve got you with me Lily but I’m not exactly pleased with this. Are you going to be ok?*

[I... I think so? I mean... I’m not super happy about it necessarily but I’m not too annoyed. I can sleep in Memphis form on you. That’s just as comfortable to me as my bed if not more so. Food might be a concern but Xiang and Yang will clearly need food as well so it might not be an issue. Um... hopefully I can figure out my spells? If I sleep while your running I can practice while we rest.]

[Which... probably makes this something I’m willing to do. Assuming that I can cast spells considering this is a Qi world. Even if I’m not good at it or able to cast useful spells... if I can get practice I think I’ll be ok with however long this takes. Well, not however long but... a week or two is more than fine. Though... I will send a message to Vivian to let my parents know. Just in case.]

“That is... quite a while but not unacceptable,” said Kat.

Xiang gave a surprisingly sincere bow. “Thank you.” Kat nodded in return, “If that’s all fine... I don’t think there’s anything else? I mean... if there is I don’t know it... Xuena has been kidnapped... long way away... strong cultivator guarding her... um... it’ll probably just be the three of us?” Kat nodded again, “right I’m glad you assumed that. Hmm... I guess it’s just wording... um...”

Xiang thought back to the first time this happened. His wording was horrible and Kat pressed things in her favour pretty hard so that she had a way to back out. He didn’t want to leave any large loopholes... but he also didn’t want to encourage Kat to push back at all because he felt that would probably set back a lot of their progress in terms of civility. Something he was pretty sure they’d need in the comings days because while Yang wasn’t an issue right this moment... that would change very shortly.

Still he thought it through for a full minute, time Kat and Lily gave him. Xiang honestly didn’t know where to draw the line. It was easy to say ‘get Xuena out of the compound’ but that was a completely threadbare as a binding. Kat could just throw Xuena out without care of how she lands or how many chase after her. He didn’t want to think Kat was that bad... but he also wasn’t willing to risk Xuena’s safety to that degree. Some trust was necessary but that seemed to be too far.

So that was out. The other easy answer was ‘help us free Xuena and escort her back to her parents’ but if Xiang thought about it for a few more moments, something Xiang had sort of been doing for the weeks it had taken to find this place and summon Kat, he knew that taking Xuena back to her parents was in fact a horrible idea. If they could plead innocence successfully the patriarch probably wouldn’t punish them... because if they’re smart they could argue she was under his ‘protection’ and thus he shamed them not the other way around. No Xuena could not go back.

Truth be told... Xiang was pretty sure the best course of action would be to hire a ship to another continent or find a hidden realm to train in. Somewhere out of the way and remote. After this... if he was connecting to both events... he’d be wanted by two of the top 5 sects on the whole continent. It probably wasn’t the smartest idea to stick around regardless of how clean things worked out.

‘Out of the compound and away from pursuers’ seemed better but if one wanted to get technical he’d be a wanted man twice over. They might not be actively pursuing him, but passively? Certainly. Kat would probably fight such a Contract, or so he thought. In truth Kat probably wouldn’t, not really thinking out the intricacies for it... but Xiang didn’t know that and Kat had played things fairly close to her chest last time. Xiang didn’t really know Kat well enough.

A time limit seemed the best compromise. ‘Xuena out of the compound and no fights with pursuers for X days’ Xiang just had to work out exactly how many days felt right. A week... was a lot. It’s what he wanted to go for... but that meant a Kat would be stuck here for at least two, probably three, maybe a month of more depending on how long the infiltration and scaling of the mountain took. Probably too long. “I, Xiang do Contract Kat to help with the safe extraction of Xuena from the endless rain of immortal ice sect. The Contract will conclude when three days have passed without an attack by pursuers, and Xuena is no longer in custody.”

[Sounds good Kat]

“I accept”