Voidlight Rising (A Xianxia Cultivation Adventure)

Demonic Sects. A select few sects can claim such a title, though few would ever do so willingly. Only sects who follow one of the Five Demons of Devastation, or have otherwise committed their path to the goals of those wretched villains, can be classified as Demonic Sects. The rest are simply clusters of villains who will someday be wiped out by the first righteous sect who can stand their filth no longer. -Qi Simei, defector of the Heaven's Blade Sect, three years after it was formally classified as a Demonic Sect

Lin stared down at his ledger, mentally running sums. The last innkeeper had left quite the storehouse behind. Since she wouldn't be needing them anymore, he and Yoru were content to help themselves. It was hardly anything grand or extravagant, certainly nothing that would have graced the Lunar Prince's plate back when he was ascended, but it was enough. They had a small bit of money to help pay for Xinya's medicines, and enough food to put on the table for themselves and their guests.

But that was soon to run out. Lin had risked doing minor shopping trips in the last few weeks, just to make their resources stretch as far as they could, but he was rapidly reaching the point where he wouldn't be able to serve Miss Ishida and Xiaolong their mid-day meals if he didn't find a permanent supplier soon.

He leaned back in his seat, setting down the ink brush. In the end, running an inn wasn't unlike running a town, albeit on a smaller scale. Supplies still had to be procured, the halls and rooms needed to be maintained, and guest complaints still had to be tended to. Lin worked tirelessly to make sure everything was up to his standards. They didn't have anyone booking any of the rooms, save for the one he, Yoru, and Xinya used, but each room was spic and span, ready for the first person who might need it. In the small tavern below, alcohol flowed smoothly to their meager list of guests, and most of them paid their tabs. Even Satoro, who had originally seemed the type to leave a tab unpaid, was completely up to date. A few patrons, such as Miss Ishida, would order meals with their drinks, and when they did, Lin would prioritize making the simple dishes.

He was no master, but even he could make a simple bowl of rice and a peanut sauce. No one else was allowed in the kitchen but him. Lin didn't trust Yoru or Xinya not to accidentally poison anyone. It was as if neither one had ever been in a kitchen before. He gave it good odds that Yoru would set the building on fire if he tried, and Xinya's meals always came with a mountain of red-hot spice, even when Lin was certain that there was none around for her to use. Compared to that, even the tired administrator was a preferable option. After all, he'd watched Hanako make meals, and there was no one better at cooking than her.

Lin's shoulders drooped. Remembering his wife was always hard. Now, more than ever, he wished she was at his side. She would have loved running the kitchens in a small business like this. Lin could just imagine her scolding Yoru for lazing about during the day or chasing him around the kitchen with a sandal for stealing a dumpling.

Heavens above, he missed her. Her laughter, her smiles…the way she would smack him with a sandal when he was being foolish before sitting down and helping with the problem. He missed how, every morning, she would wink at him and tell him if it was going to be a good day, or if he should watch out for the most random, common-place items like falling mugs or loose cobblestones. He missed how she would gracefully deflect questions from his mother about when she would be pregnant. That coy smile, the mischievous look that said she knew something no one else did…

Lin still remembered how he'd held her in his arms on the day she died. At the time, he'd been aware of flames crackling all around them, but his mind could only remember the blood that matted her hair and soaked her dress, the touch of her cold, trembling fingers as she reached up and touched his face for the last time, and the far-off look that coated her eyes as her last breath escaped her lips. He had stayed with her, even after she was gone.

He had begged her to come back to him…

Even now, Lin wasn't quite sure how to keep going without her. Though Hanako had been his wife, they'd been friends long before. In their childhood, Tenri Lin and Zhao Hanako had been thick as thieves, running all over town with Hanako's sister, Zhao Jaili, and Lin's cousin, Zumi, trailing behind. Back then, Hanako had been the one to plan all the crazy pranks. She led them to play tricks on the master of the Fisher's Guild and make the lighthouse keeper think the tower was haunted. The only one they hadn't pranked was Old Administrator Pei because he was a cultivator, and their parents all warned to stay out of his way.

When that same Administrator was sick and dying at the ripe age of ninety-four, it was Hanako who urged Lin to search through his grandfather's old things. She helped him find the manuals that he left behind. Only with her help had Lin become a cultivator at all.

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But now…

What did he have left?

Shen Tori was dead. Lin's vengeance had been sated, thanks to Yoru. Erasing the Silver artist from the face of the earth was a fate too good for him, as far as Lin was concerned, but what else could be done? The man was dead, and his only remaining son had convinced Xinya and Yoru that he was a decent person, a belief to which Lin, himself, did not ascribe.

That rat, Shen Taihua, had tried to convince everyone that some other mastermind was responsible for Hanako's murder. For some reason, Yoru seemed to believe it, even though the moon artist himself saw the badges of those who burned Lin's house to the ground with his wife and parents inside. Who else would order cultivators with Lunar Hunt insignias to attack them, if not for Shen Tori and his sons?

It doesn't matter, though, he reminded himself. That drama played out on the Moon-Soaked Shore, worlds away from where you are now.

Even if there was a mastermind, he was in no position to find and kill them. He was trapped here, far away from everything he knew, and nearly everyone he'd ever loved was dead. What was there left for him, now?

Lin shook his head. The ledgers wouldn't balance themselves, and he needed to focus on that. After the ledgers were balanced, maybe he'd clean the rooms again. Anything at all to keep his mind off things.

Lian Liu's head snapped to the side, forcing his neck to cry out in protest. He gasped in pain, immediately cycling his healing qi to his spine and throbbing cheek to ease the pain of the slap.

He didn't dare complain, not to the woman who loomed over him. Instead, he lowered himself fully to the ground, kowtowing several times before her.

"This lowly disciple knows what he did wrong, Sect Leader," he said. "This Lian should have signaled sooner, perhaps the Sect Leader could have arrived in time to intercept the Demon of Misfortune."

Sect Leader Takya Hanako was widely renowned as the second most beautiful woman in all the world. She was the perfect picture of a refined and gentle young woman, despite the fact that she was several hundred years old. Her kind of beauty was something only the heavens could bestow, and no amount of cultivation could improve it any further. Her ethereal nature and the wisps of starlight that sparkled in her hair and eyes made her seem like a true goddess of the night.

But, to someone in her own sect, she was about as gentle as a howling blizzard. Sect Leader Takya did not tolerate failure, and the pitiful disciple before her had failed rather spectacularly. To successfully track down the Darkened Moon after millennia of searches conducted by those far more skilled at tracking down myths than him was a feat worthy of the highest accolades. Had he successfully kept track of the elusive legend, then he would have been rewarded by Lady Yi herself. However, the Demon had slipped his grasp during the chaos and disappeared into the one place they could not follow: The Black City.

"The wards will prevent us from reaching him until he comes out from hiding," she mused aloud. "Does he know we're tracking him?"

"He knows I…this disciple…works for the Chained Demon Sect, but he doesn't have a good grasp on the current political landscape. This one doubts that Tsuyuki knows anything of her Ladyship's intentions." Lian kept his head to the ground, still trying to assess the Sect Leader's mood.

She was silent for a long moment. "That won't last long, I'm sure. Another of the Demons has also been tracked to the City, and I have no doubt they'll meet before long, and the Demon of Misfortune will be made aware of our goals."

Lian raised his head, unable to resist the mention of another legend so close by. "You don't mean the-" He was silenced by Sect Leader Takya's beautiful, but razor sharp, glare.

"Speak not of what you know nothing of," she scolded.

"Yes, Sect Leader. Forgive this disciple for speaking out of turn."

She sighed. "I'll inquire with the Philosopher regarding his plans to finally topple that wretched, lawless den of monsters. Knowing him, though, he's a hundred years from that plan taking shape, and that's if we're lucky."

Seeing no further need to remain, the Star artist turned and began walking away. Lian chanced raising his head slightly. She hadn't punished him, but…

"Sect Leader!" he called, pressing his head to the ground once more. "Forgive this disciple's boldness, but you promised that I'd be allowed to return to the sect if I found him. I did find him, even if he escaped." It was a grave risk, especially as irritated as she was. Sect Leader Takya was a lesser Ascendant in her own right. It would take less than a snap of her fingers for him to be wiped off the face of reality.

But, for Lian, that was a risk he would have to take. Even as sweat gathered on his brow and his whole body trembled with anticipation, he did not regret his words. He'd been abandoned by the Sect for so long. He'd have given anything, even his own life, to be welcomed back into the family that raised him. The Sect was all he knew, and he couldn't bear the shame of his expulsion even one day longer.

"I suppose you did find one of the Five," she mused, tapping her chin in deep contemplation. "You might not have earned our Lady's praise, but returning to your place within the sect should be enough." She turned to look at the kneeling disciple. "Just don't let your previous mistakes happen again. There is no room for mercy when it comes to dealing with monsters."

"Yes, ma'am," he answered dutifully, his heart soaring in gratitude. Without a second thought, he stood and followed his Sect Leader away from the Moon-Soaked Shore.