There were several days that stand out in my memory, large against the vastness of time. Some might call them core memories. I wouldn’t go so far. They aren’t all treasured memories. I remember my first daughter’s birth and the love I felt then. It was a special time.

  The second was just as special, but I knew what to expect, so a different kind of happy. I also distinctly remember worrying about childcare for the first one while she was two and the other one was a newborn. That sticks out a lot for me.

  My day with the emperor stood out as he decided that this was the day that he would personally use his path to identify which of his high-level enforcers were a part of the red fang.

  It turned into a pretty big fucking problem.

  ---

  “You and I both know the real power behind the empire is power,” assistant to the regional security officer Li said, his face entirely sweating under the glare of the emperor.

  The man was two steps removed from the previous head of security, as the emperor has taken me personally to meet with them to make sure that this man was not a double agent. Safe to say that he was not. Despite my objections to the fact that he was missing the mark, the emperor himself still tested his cultivation personally.

  “The power of the empire is a force of nature. We must shape and mold it into our will. A series of bonds and pacts created the empire. Somehow, this sect has infiltrated our ranks. I’ve already killed ... How many was it?” The emperor said.

  “You’ve killed five,” I said nonchalantly. “Heck, you killed five before lunch.”

  There were only so many times that the people in your top secret security organization could be double agents. I felt like we had hit the limit a while back. It was also pretty clear he wouldn’t be killing me for talking to him casually. If anything, he was getting way too familiar with me.

  “Understandably so,” he said. “I cannot stand someone subverting the system for their own gain. We must not tolerate these leeches who prey on the common man.”

  Li shuddered as if he was going to be the sixth person killed by the emperor’s own hand that day. He wasn’t because someone had to do the dirty work. Following the emperor’s slaying of the second official, he changed from his ceremonial robes into utility robes. The black hid the blood exceedingly well. Of course, the emperor’s robes would. He would have access to the best tailors.

  “Your majesty,” Li said. “The blue robes have been subject to what had to be a generation of internal subversion. Several of my predecessors were in position for over thirty years and this man...”

  He gestured to me. The matte marble floors and walls glinted. I was once again reminded that it wasn’t even dinnertime yet. I was compelled to follow the emperor around. It was like watching insanity sprout spontaneously as the emperor had to reshuffle every single person in his employ around the ones that had been in there for a long time.

  It also brought to mind that they had some big plan. There was a generational plan being pushed that each one of those men and women has been an integral part of. On their path, officials tested each new security force member once, at the beginning of their service. It wasn’t even common for them to test the cultivators that could identify the demonic pathways.

  “Your majesty,” I said. “We should probably work on those that do the testing at the lower level. Everyone that they tested is now suspect as well.”

  The emperor blinked, momentarily dropping his mask. There, underneath the makeup and the propriety was a tired old man. The old man himself looked ready to kill the entire eastern half of this continent.

  “First Rahelish appears on the northern continent, and now this?” He muttered. “Deputy Li, take me to the bureaucrats in charge of testing new recruits on their path.”

  I could tell that the man desperately needed some good coping strategies. The mask fully slipped. He was now scowling.

  “Yes, your majesty,” he said and began walking with a purpose.

  Two turns and three staircases later, and we were in a large office full of functionaries. True to form, none of them looked up.

  The emperor turned to me, beckoning me to continue my work.

  It made me sick, but these people were going to do terrible things. They had opted into the game.

  I needed to get past that. It was like going down the galley of a ship where everyone was rowing the boats, except instead of rowing; they were all filling out forms in triplicate. Or their reading forms in triplicate and then deciding that they needed it in one more form before they would actually respond to whoever was sending the form.

  I pointed out five men and three women.

  “You all,” the Deputy said. “Come to the front.”

  As I pointed to them, the newest deputy on the block showed for them to come up to us. There was nothing to show that the emperor himself was anyone other than a bureaucrat based on his vibes. But at that point in time, they realized they were approaching somebody whose cultivation they just could not sense. Every single person who came up was at least in the second or third realm. So they did the normal thing where they tested the limits of the person just by reaching out with their senses.

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  They came up short.

  The first woman to arrive immediately looked stricken and then, after looking directly at the emperor’s face, looked like she’d given everything up. It wasn’t like they were sharing notes that fast.

  There was no WhatsApp group for young and hungry sect members on their way up. They probably missed all the management changes.

  “We’re going to need all of your records,” Deputy Li said once the last one arrived.

  Thankfully, they immediately accepted the situation because the man was a higher realm cultivator and each one returned with a stack at least two feet high.

  “Thanks. This makes the next part easier,” he said. “Your majesty?”

  Upon hearing those words, each one of them prostrated themselves onto the ground. And then in the worst game of duck duck goose ever to exist, the emperor went around touching each one on the head.

  Each time, he was sentencing the person to death. I was hoping that he would say something, but no. He found out they were all part of the red fang, he crushed them under his nascent soul.

  The former assistant to the regional security officer promptly threw up. Whether it was the pressure or just seeing several people just be killed summarily, he was about to have a rough time of it.

  Heck, I was wondering how he had gotten to such a position and if I was in his place? My resignation letter would be formulated at that exact moment.

  The rest of the room gaped at the former cultivators.

  “Your majesty... if I may...” Deputy Li said on between dry heaves. “We may... want to... question some of these people.”

  “That is an excellent point!” The emperor said. “You had better ask questions faster than!”

  I liked this guy more and more. It was like he had intentionally set up the system to be all formal up to a certain level and above that he just didn’t give a fuck.

  Mood: whatever he was on, though it was probably pills.

  Min was cowering in my dantian all day. I could feel her testing how things were going and then immediately turn off. She wanted none of this. Xueyie, Egiya and her father were linking up with our Moon Fei and Xiran.

  At least that’s what I had gotten from their talk with Min. The emperor just needed me to help clean house. I was terrified by the emperor’s power, Min just accepted their impending death.

  “I believe you can take it from here, deputy Li,” the emperor said. “Please do great things for the empire.”

  He waited a tense ten seconds before leaving us with a mess that I had no way of untangling.

  “Hey, how are you doing?” I asked the new deputy.

  “I... this has been a hard day.”

  The soul pressure of the emperor stayed for an inexcusable amount of time after he left, as if to remind us how far above us he was.

  “It’s going to be an arduous week,” I said. “Min, are you ready to head out?”

  The room returned to its normal state as half of the employees looked shocked and the other half looked like they were hoping to get off early. I guess everyone has a different view of that sort of trauma.

  “So before this all was supposed to happen, I was going to speak with the former head of security. His grand plans probably involved nothing actually concrete after killing me,” I said. “With that in mind, would you like to speak with our own double agent?”

  “That ... I guess I need to confer with the remaining staff. Though I suppose I need to keep this place up or face the wrath of the emperor,” Deputy Li said.

  I swear that he had had no gray hair before, but this day might have changed that significantly. Either my eyes were playing tricks on me or he, too, had dropped his facade. The damn fool had to have a cultivation pathway that let him disguise his hair color, because, of course, that made sense. It was probably one of the commercial off the shelf styles that you could learn anywhere for five waan.

  Not that I could blame the man for being vain. If I had gone grey, I might consider dying my hair. I probably wouldn’t, but I might if my lady friends told me to do so. There was only so much that I could let slide. This wasn’t it.

  “I can go, or I can stay. Either way I’m willing to do whatever it takes to have peace,” I said.

  “That’s reassuring,” he said.

  They definitely hadn’t groomed him for this role. The reluctant deputy was doing it because he had to. There had been so many of them at the top of the command structure. With a fifth realm cultivator on my side, I could do a lot. Like avoid taking steps to the next realm myself.

  I definitely was not sand bagging my progress to let my friends catch up. Noooo.

  “First time dealing with a demonic cultivator incident?” Min said.

  “We all have to start somewhere,” I said. “He just... Deputy Li, do you need a minute?”

  “That would be great, thanks,” he said.

  I was thinking that he was ready for a nervous breakdown, so I went to talk to his staff. “I believe Deputy Li will ask you all to wait outside for a few moments. I would appreciate it if you all would leave the area for a short time.”

  “Is the deputy okay? What about all our coworkers?” A woman’s voice rang out.

  She had to be very early in her cultivation. She looked like a teenager at best. Either she was a young prodigy or she had been a nepo hire.

  “That’s a good question. Yes, he is okay. He has just had a meteoric ride to the top of the empire’s security office. Your coworkers...”

  They weren’t part of the game. They hadn’t signed up to be enforcers, though they were the equivalent of detectives. I didn’t know how they got into their careers, but I’ll bet it was through connections with the blue robes. Maybe their brother or sister was in, and this was a family thing. I didn’t know.

  There were several dozen left that didn’t bear the mark. They all filed out after being dismissed for the day.

  “I don’t even know how I’m going to clean this up,” he said.

  “You have a staff, Deputy Li. Use the staff. They work for you,” I said.

  Until a few hours ago, he had been a small part of someone else’s staff. It was through sheer force of will that he could keep his position and move up. That and the people above him had all decided to be on the other side.

  “What now?” I said.

  “Deputy Li must assume that whatever we knew, they know. Until this moment,” Min said. “Whatever we do now, we are shooting into the dark. They will respond eventually.”

  “The red fang will have a suitable response once they get their act together. No questions about that,” I said. “We just need to be ready. My team is ready to lead your people to wherever we think the next group is.”

  I then remembered the man who had gotten the award before me, but I could not for the life of me remember his name. It was like the idea was just plucked out of my head.

  “Hey Min, do you remember the cultivator who got the award before me?” I said. “The prestigious one?”

  She looked at me like I had three heads. I didn’t. That shouldn’t have set her off so much.

  “I don’t remember anyone before you getting anything, Joe. Are you feeling alright?”

  I began to sweat.

  I couldn’t remember what I was trying to think about.

  “Nevermind,” I said. “It can’t be that important, can it?”

  “What are you on about?” Deputy Li said.

  I turned to face the man. We needed to make a plan to go after... Something.

  “We need to get with my team, but I’m feeling a bit off,” I said. “Shall we depart this location?”

  “Yes, let’s,” he said.

  Leaving the room, we found our way back into a hallway that I was sure I had never been through before. We were probably taking a different route. I was sure that this was going to work out well. After all, there had been a few things that had gone right in the middle of this cold war.

  It always did, right? Right?