Xie Yong was enjoying the feast. As Su Jin poured more liquor and asked more questions, Xie Yong grew eager to teach him.
Even when Su Jin asked things a child should know, Xie Yong gave careful answers after a little teasing.
A picture of this society gradually took shape in Su Jin’s mind.
His face grew still as he watched Xie Yong gesture. His thoughts had gone elsewhere.
This world had serious problems. Its crisis had begun centuries ago.
Demon Springs erupted from the ground and ate away at the space where living things could survive.
Nothing grew where they spread. Leftover water became poisonous swamp creatures; a touch could drive someone mad and kill them.
Two of the five great nations had fallen. The other three had formed the Disaster Phenomenon Chart Bureau to study and resist the danger.
The Suyuan Dynasty, where he was now, combined imperial and religious power. Two institutions wielded its force.
Tanyu Temple practiced the Way of Arts, while the Xuanjia Army practiced the Martial Way.
A person’s strength was recognized by the patterns on their clothing. Seven Veins was the highest rank. Practitioners were far stronger than ordinary people.
Both groups fought the Demon Springs, suppressed rebellion, and hunted Suzai.
And the Suzai, as far as Su Jin could tell from Xie Yong’s tangled account, were simply women born with unusual powers.
Tanyu Temple regularly held Burning Rites, sacrificing Suzai to heaven to suppress the Demon Springs.
"Sigh..." Xie Yong went on talking, but Su Jin rubbed his face and sighed.
Xie Yong knew a little history. A century ago, Suzai had been called Spirit Girls.
In recent decades, as the Demon Springs weakened, those Spirit Girls had instead been branded as disasters.
Organizations did not do things for no reason. Perhaps the persecution strengthened both religious and imperial rule.
Or perhaps killing Spirit Girls helped practitioners grow stronger. That seemed more likely.
There were plenty of other ways to maintain power. Hunting people with rare abilities would be a costly choice otherwise.
The Spirit Girls had been needed when the Demon Springs raged a century ago. Now they were discarded. It was like a witch hunt.
But there was a more immediate problem: Su Jin was eighty percent sure the Demon Springs were central to the coming apocalypse.
The disaster everyone thought was fading might merely be gathering strength for something far worse.
If Demon Springs flooded the whole world...
The right time, place, and people. Shen Yufeng seemed to have the first: he was well regarded as both capable and virtuous. Su Jin could leave that aside for now.
He could work on support from other people. But the right place? The land itself might be gone.
This mission was terribly hard.
Su Jin felt anger rising. He drained his cup of liquor and asked, "Brother, I thought I saw a mountain in the sky. What is it? Was I seeing things?"
"You really can’t hold your drink. Even drunk, I’m clearer-headed than you. Why ask what everyone knows?" Xie Yong laughed. "That’s Tanyu Temple—Tanyu Mountain!"
There might be a way forward.
Su Jin brightened. "How does Tanyu Temple get along with the Zhenguo Estate?"
"Tanyu Temple and the Xuanjia Army never get along. Both want to catch the Suzai. The Zhenguo Estate has deep ties to the army. What do you think their relationship is like?"
"Is Tanyu Mountain the only place that floats in the sky?"
"Yes. The whole nation’s resources went into creating it. His Majesty even holds ceremonies there to worship heaven."
"How does it work? Why can a mountain fly?"
"No idea. Who would study that?" Xie Yong tilted his head, picking at his teeth as he pondered it.
Su Jin looked away in frustration.
He could learn no more about that, but the floating mountain might offer a way to survive.
"Brother, I want to do business elsewhere, perhaps in another country. Can I travel without papers or a permit?"
"What are you thinking?" Xie Yong slapped the table. "Your parents already have a business. Why not work with them?"
"I want to see what I can do while I’m young."
"I thought that too. And I’m still working the forge! Take it from me: the Demon Springs aren’t a problem now. Better days are ahead..."
"Enough. Just tell me whether I can go!" Su Jin interrupted.
Xie Yong’s face darkened. "Of course you can’t! Without travel papers, you won’t even get out of the city. They’ll detain you at the gate!"
"Then where can I get them...?"
Before he could finish, the door was kicked open.
Two soldiers with spears rushed in, with the waiter behind them.
Hands on his hips, the waiter said, "Officers, it’s them. They brought their own liquor. Our restaurant had nothing to do with it!"
"How dare you defy the court’s ban on alcohol?" The lead soldier pointed his spear at Su Jin. "Get up!"
Su Jin froze in shock.
A ban on alcohol? No wonder Xie Yong had acted so strangely.
The bastard had thought Su Jin knew and said nothing.
Su Jin pointed at Xie Yong without hesitation. "Officers, I didn’t drink. He drank it all! I’m perfectly sober. Not a drop!"
Xie Yong had broken into a cold sweat when the soldiers entered.
Hearing Su Jin blame him brought him to his senses. He pointed back at Su Jin.
"Wu Zihao, you bastard! You gave me the liquor! Officers, let me explain..."
"Anyone at a drinking party is guilty, whether they drank or not. Take them both away!" the soldier ordered.
The other bound their hands with rope. "First offense: three months in custody. Second: twenty strokes and six months. Third: death. Lie to the magistrate and the sentence grows worse. Move!"
Dazed, Su Jin was led out with Xie Yong.
At the door, one soldier handed the rope to the waiter and returned to the room.
Seeing his companion check the wine jar, he whispered, "Any left?"
"Not a drop. We came too late. With a smell that strong, it must have been good liquor."
"Greedy bastards!"
...
"I’ve been wronged! I’m innocent!"
In a dark jail, Su Jin knelt by the wooden bars and cried out.
"I have a grievance to report!"
"So do I!" Other prisoners began shouting after him.
Three guards appeared in the corridor, carrying short clubs.
Su Jin pressed his face toward them. "Wait, listen to me. I’m innocent..."
"I’m innocent too!" cried a man across the corridor. "I ate some rotten fruit and they accused me of drinking. Everyone knows I’m a beggar. How would I buy black-market liquor?"
"Guards, I just met the magistrate..." Su Jin tried again.
"The magistrate was my teacher! I only had one sip. Lord Chen won’t forgive you for treating me this way!" another prisoner shouted.
"You dare drag the magistrate into this?"
The head jailer led the others into the man’s cell and beat him.
They came back into the corridor carrying bloodied clubs.
"Anyone who shouts again won’t get dinner. Keep arguing, and you’ll lose a leg!" the head jailer warned.
The jail fell silent. He stopped before Su Jin and tapped the bars with his club. "You shouted loudest. Anything else to say?"
"Sir, I really am innocent. I admit I wanted to drink, but I hadn’t even managed to buy any." Su Jin held out some silver.
The guards smiled. The head jailer took it. "Wanting to drink is a crime too. And bribing an officer is another. But since you repent, and the offense wasn’t completed, we’ll confiscate the money and take ten days off your sentence."
Su Jin thanked him and retreated to a corner to think.
One bad thing followed another.
It was too late to bribe his way out. These men would never be satisfied, and he could not explain where all his silver came from.
The soldiers who arrested him were ordinary men, but fighting them in the street might have drawn powerful practitioners.
The prisoners here had minor offenses. The guards were ordinary too, and he had noted the layout and defenses on his way in.
If low-ranking officials behaved like this, their superiors were unlikely to be better.
Travel papers would probably take too long and be too difficult to obtain. He would do without them.
Once everyone was asleep, he would find a way to escape.
(Today is the Dragon Boat Festival. Banmian wishes everyone a happy holiday! I could only bring this new book this far with your support and ideas. Your comments and calls for more chapters make me happy. Have a wonderful festival!)