He summoned a third shadow behind them. “The third figure is Grand Elder Wang. He’s the family’s transcendent, the core pillar of our family. He isn’t very active in our affairs, and mostly lets his will be known through Wuling.”
Cha Ming took in a deep breath. “And you still want me to kill your brother? Is that still necessary?”
Mistress Huang, who’d been calmly playing the zither, missed a beat in her song. Cha Ming raised an eyebrow to Wang Jun, who reassured him it was all right. Cha Ming shrugged. For the most part, he wasn’t worried about a single transcendent trying to act out against him.
“If only that was all it took,” Wang Jun said with a light laugh of exasperation. “My family’s problems run much deeper than a single person. These three people, the heads of our family, are currently entangled in dark business with the South.”
“How dark are we talking?” Cha Ming asked.
“Have you heard of the soul trade?” Wang Jun asked.
“I can’t say I’ve heard of it,” Cha Ming said. “Though I don’t like where this is heading.”
“The Spirit Temple doesn’t usually do this kind of business in the North,” Wang Jun explained. “So your ignorance is not surprising. In theory, they’re even stricter in the Golden Kingdom. The process of extracting a soul is quite gruesome, so I’ll skip those details. The end result, however, is that they capture tens of thousands of resentful souls. They do this by inflicting unspeakable horror on innocents then capturing their spirits before they enter the Yellow River. They use them to feed other evil spirits in the Spirit Temple, or they make them devour each other in competition, like gu in a jar. The winner becomes a proud member of the Spirit Temple, and the losers are wiped out from existence, never to reincarnate.”
The chair in which Cha Ming had been sitting cracked as he accidentally crushed the wooden armrest. He looked to Mistress Huang in apology but realized the wood was enchanted. It slowly began repairing itself without any outside intervention.
“That’s atrocious,” Cha Ming said hoarsely. “And the Church of Justice is fine with it?”
“Officially, they don’t do it in the North and focus on their soul communion and assassination businesses,” Wang Jun said. “Their contract business isn’t very popular in the North since the Church of Justice officiates most documents here. The Spirit Temple does a damn good job of convincing the Church of Justice they don’t trade in souls in the North, so they’re left alone.
“Regardless, they’ve been culling souls in secret over the past ten years. Wang Ling has been facilitating shipments for tens of thousands of souls. I’d love to expose him, but my entire family would get caught up in an inquisition. I’m in a very delicate position, and the Church of Justice isn’t exactly on good terms with me.”
“Then what can I do for you?” Cha Ming said. “You’d be hard-pressed to find a better formation artist, talisman artist, or alchemist on the plane.”
“If making money was all it took,” Wang Jun said, “I’d have already solved the problem.”
Cha Ming nodded. “Not only do you need to win this competition, but you need to disentangle your family and the Spirit Temple.”
“And I’d prefer to do it without a mass slaughter,” Wang Jun said. “I can definitely identify those responsible—and trust me, I’ll be doing my best to give them an untimely ending—but that’s not enough. I need the Spirit Temple to be enemies with my family. Only with open hostilities between our two organizations will the Church of Justice be convinced of our sincerity after this is all over.”
“Can’t I just destroy the Spirit Temple in Gold Leaf City?” Cha Ming asked. “I doubt their transcendents could do much about it. Besides, we’re in the North.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Wang Jun said in bemusement. “You and Huxian wouldn’t be at risk. Neither would I. You have a transcendent soul, so you’d be immune to most of their attacks, while Huxian is a Godbeast. I could hide indefinitely from them. But tell me, what about the people we know? Our roots? It wouldn’t take much for them to find out where you’ve been, where you’re from, and who you know. They’re assassins, Cha Ming, and there’s a good reason the Church of Justice hasn’t uprooted them. More to the point, you’d have trouble seeing most of them. Your strong soul will help, but many would still escape your detection.”
Cha Ming clicked his tongue. “That’s quite the problem.”
“Yes, and it’s not one that can be solved in Gold Leaf City,” Wang Jun said. “Which is why I want you to go south of the border.”
“Wait, what?” Cha Ming said. He’d expected something in their area of influence. But in the South? How could he possibly do anything there undetected?
“We have an unofficial family branch in the Shattered Lands,” Wang Jun explained. “It’s run by my brother Wang Qian and makes him quite a bit of illicit money.”
“So, instead of destroying your family’s relationship in the North, you want to do it in the South,” Cha Ming said slowly. “I’m not sure I’m the right man for the job.”
“Oh, I think you’re exactly the man I’m looking for,” Wang Jun said. “My teacher spoke quite favorably of the technique you practice, the Seventy-Two Earthly Transformations. It seems a monkey used it to cause quite a bit of chaos in the Seven Heavens and the Seven Hells.”
He’s right,
