The lift locked, and the door opened. Now that the guardhouse down below was out of sight, Prince Shen turned to Cha Ming and handed him a storage ring. Cha Ming inspected its contents and noticed two objects. One was a core-transmission jade, a much smaller one than he was used to seeing. Another one was a golden seal. It radiated a powerful aura of karma. Cha Ming had never seen its like before.
What happened to you was unfortunate, Prince Shen sent silently. And it happened at an unfortunate time. These two items should ensure that our progress remains unimpeded in the foreseeable future.
The prince flew off the wall, and Cha Ming followed. Using Prince Shen’s authority, they flew through the streets much higher than anyone else dared, completely bypassing normal traffic as they made their way to the Blackthorn Conglomerate.
What happened? Cha Ming asked as they rounded a street corner. A few lesser-core-formation cultivators who happened to be flying in the streets ducked out of their way.
Our timeline has shifted, Prince Shen said. We have six months now, and I have a feeling it might shift again. The Breaker must be completed by the time the grand vizier arrives, or all our heads will be served to him on a platter.
Boss Tian and the others? Cha Ming asked.
Those incompetent fools might be decent craftsmen, but they are terrible innovators, Prince Shen said. If they were in Haijing, like so many of the professionals in our kingdom were until about a year ago, they would have access to more resources and time essence to mask their incompetence. But here in the South, we do not have such luxuries. This project is much too sensitive in nature to send them there, especially given recent events.
It all made sense to Cha Ming now, the rush for innovation. In the past, making the Breaker would have been far less challenging. It seemed he’d damaged them far more than he’d realized. Not only had the attack on Beihai been botched, wasting many resources in the process, but he’d personally killed the Obsidian Syndicate’s greatest minds. As such, they had to scramble to reinvent the wheel. Furthermore, they had to attack quickly, as the North’s advantage would be widening with every passing day. That explained the ever-shifting, ever-dreadful deadline.
What about the blood masters? Cha Ming asked as they entered the Blackthorn Conglomerate headquarters. Staff scrambled out of their way as they flew through the building toward the main office.
Your employer threw money at them, of course, Prince Shen said. Here in the Ji Kingdom, it’s the best form of apology. They reverse engineered many of your improvements, creating a weapon that increased performance by ten percent in short bursts, with no risk of mental instability past one hour of exposure every twenty-four hours. This time, they had the good sense to insist on testing.
Cha Ming nodded. He wasn’t happy that they’d modified his work, but the results he’d obtained in exchange had been worth it. He’d also gained an understanding on how grudges were settled in the South: with money and blood. If he wanted to set up an irreconcilable grudge, he’d need to cripple the Blackthorn Conglomerate’s finances.
They flew up the steps in the corporate office and walked down the hall to the conference room, where Director Yong was holding a meeting. The moment he saw them, however, his body language changed. He stood up and began ushering grumbling cultivators out the door. The grumbling stopped the moment they saw the prince.
“Come in. I’ve already called for Tian Zhi to come upstairs,” Director Yong said. He smiled and turned to Cha Ming. “It’s so nice to see that you’re safe and sound. We worried about you greatly.”
“Thank you for your worries,” Cha Ming said. “I’m just happy to be back home and am itching to get back to work. The Shattered Lands are a dreadful place. Very boring, and not a forge to be seen.”
“We’ll make sure you get an upgrade to your forge,” Director Yong said. “I see that your cultivation has increased.”
“I had some fortuitous encounters in the Shattered Lands,” Cha Ming said. He didn’t elaborate. They took a seat in the boardroom, and as Director Yong fiddled with a jade treasure that projected an image on the wall, Tian Zhi ran in. He relaxed visibly when he saw Cha Ming safe and sound.
“Let’s get right to it,” Prince Shen said. “There’s not a moment to waste.”
The image on the wall shifted as Director Yong spoke. “As you all know, Project Breaker has been in the works for around ten months. Due to unforeseen events in the North, we’ve been tasked by Grand Vizier Zhou to construct a device capable of breaking a transcendent-grade wall. Though the hope is to completely destroy the treasure, shattering a portion of it and allowing our troops through is also acceptable.”
The image shifted. To Cha Ming’s surprise, it showed a replica of Southhaven Wall, one of the least-important battlefields in the entire North.
“Though the goal is to be able to break through any section of the wall, Southhaven Wall is the true target. This wall is also stronger than most.
“It’s difficult to say exactly what the wall can handle. We speculate that it’s an initial-grade-transcendent treasure due to its size and length. The plane can only bear so much strain, and sending too great and too large a treasure would be met with fierce resistance from competing transcendent powers.”
The image changed again. This time, it showed a broken wall.
“To facilitate our testing, three pieces of ancient wall we obtained in previous wars have been transported to Bastion. Two are here in the Blackthorn Conglomerate, and one is in the royal palace for final testing. We’re hoping for the attack to take place a year from now.”
“Unfortunately, Grand Vizier Zhou is insistent on his newest deadline,” Prince Shen said.
“How long do we have?” Tian Zhi asked.
“Six months,” Prince Shen said. “And I have a
