Master Ienaga unfurled a map across the large table as Jia and the others took their seats. Jia investigated it curiously, but quickly discovered that she actually had no idea how to read a map—it was just an incomprehensible set of lines and squiggles to her. At least she could see a few useful locations labeled, such as the base they were currently in, marked near one of the edges.
“This is the area north of Okou, roughly covering the entire patch of disputed territory between here and Nanmen, the nearest Qin outpost.”
Ienaga pointed at another labeled location on the opposite side of the map from Okou. There was a lot of map between the two locations, but Jia frowned as she tried to find anything indicating a border between the two nations.
“Where does Qin’s territory start?”
Ienaga sighed at Jia’s question.
“There are a lot of ways to answer that question. Unofficially, Okou marks the edge of Yamato territory while Nanmen marks the edge of Qin. The space in between is disputed—both nations lay claim. On our side, Yamato officially draws a border along this river—”
She pointed at a long meandering line.
“—but Qin doesn’t recognize that claim. In fact, officially, Qin doesn’t recognize any foreign borders. While they do respect our sovereignty, Qin’s official stance is that the entire continent belongs to them by divine mandate.”
Eui frowned.
“I specifically remember Elder Qin Zhao bringing up some kind of jurisdiction thing with Yan Hao back when we were being accused of murdering Yan Zhihao. How would that work if they think everything belongs to them?”
“It’s complicated. A lot of Qin policy is...confusing. Any given issue could have as many as three different systems of law applying to it, and those laws are often contradictory. Imperial law is the highest and usually overrides the others, the great sects have provincial territories assigned to them and dictate provincial law, then any smaller sect can determine the laws for themselves and any mortal settlements under their protection.”
Jia blinked. It was a lot, but she understood the idea at least.
“So...those different sets of laws don’t agree on where the border is?”
Master Ienaga made a so-so gesture with her hand.
“Yes and no. The ‘divine mandate’ is imperial law—they cannot recognize foreign borders. However, imperial law makes no mention of the sovereignty of foreign states. I won’t even attempt to try to unravel the legal theory behind it, but the ultimate result is that a Qin diplomat knows when they are in another sovereignty, but cannot tell you where Qin ends and the other nation begins.”
Eui crossed her arms and grimaced.
“That’s so stupid.”
Seong Misun rolled her eyes.
“That’s not even the start of it. Trust me, it gets worse.”
Ienaga nodded.
“Indeed. Lady Hayakawa’s orders are clear, but actually executing them is going to be a challenge. The greatest hurdle any diplomatic mission to Qin must overcome is this—their borders are closed. It’s illegal by imperial law for any foreign national to enter the country.”
Rika furrowed her brows.
“Wait, wait. So it’s just impossible? That doesn’t make any sense! Eun-Eun, did you know about this?”
Eunae nodded slowly.
“Yes, but there’s more to it. They had to cooperate to create the academy, and Do Hye was known to visit Qin quite often. It’s—”
Eui put her face in her hands and groaned, cutting Eunae off.
“Complicated. Ancestors, I fucking hate this.”
Master Ienaga smiled sympathetically.
“This is what Princess Seong and I were disagreeing about earlier. The manner of your entry is crucially important to the mission. It’s my opinion that you’ll get the best result by bypassing Nanmen entirely and sneaking through the border undetected.”
Misun shook her head.
“And I’m telling you that we should make a show of force. Call their bluff! They’ve recognized diplomats before, so we force them to recognize us as well.”
“There’s limited precedent for it, yes, but I doubt that such a method will ever work again. More likely you’d throw our nations into a state of total war.”
“And how is that any different from the current state of affairs? I hear you’ve been quite busy over the last few years, and those so-called ‘demon hunters’ have been quite busy in Goryeo’s territory as well.”
It sounded like the earlier argument had returned, and before Master Ienaga could respond Jia raised a hand to preempt its escalation.
“Um, what is the precedent? I’m sure Princess Seong Misun has a reason for thinking it will work.”
Misun’s eyes widened a fraction in surprise, not expecting to have any support for her side of the argument. Ienaga sighed.
“In times of great strife, there are records of Qin accepting diplomatic parties that consisted of some of the most powerful cultivators from each nation meeting to arrange a ceasefire. In such cases, the conflict of denying them would have been too devastating—a form of mutually assured destruction. With respect, Your Highness, you don’t have that kind of power.”
Princess Seong grinned smugly.
“I’m a powerful mage in my own right, and while I may not compare to those old monsters, the Qin empire values precedent. So we use that precedent.”
Ienaga stared flatly for a moment before responding.
“That precedent has since been overwritten. Forgive me if I’m being presumptuous—but you are aware of who is responsible for that change, are you not?”
Misun hesitated.
“Um...I might have missed that particular history lesson. What does it matter? Surely one exception isn’t enough to completely overturn centuries of—”
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“It was Seong Heiran.”
Eunae’s voice cut her sister off. All eyes fell on the younger princess, who stared down at her own lap, turning a bit red under all the attention.
“Our great grandmother, the so-called ‘Fox Princess’—though I’ve always found the moniker both distasteful and impractical—used that same precedent to gain admittance to the territory now known as Kucheon under the pretense of political negotiation. She went alone to a meeting with nearly half a dozen xiantian spiritualists from Qin.
“By the time she left, the city had fallen, and those same cultivators began laying waste to the surrounding territories as her thralls. The imperial forces were unable to stop the onslaught in time to prevent a new shield formation from being created around the city, and eventually they had to give up on it entirely. It was the only time in Goryeo’s history that our territory expanded. You of all people should have known about this, Misun.”
Seong Misun’s face turned scarlet as she snarled at her sister.
“I knew most of it, you arrogant little brat! This is just the first time I’ve heard that she’d been allowed in on peaceful pretext. Fine, so we sneak in—how does this prevent them from declaring war on us? You’d think after that they’d do it on sight of either of our faces—especially Eunae’s.”
Ienaga nodded.
“It will be a risk. Sending envoys from the Seong family is a very strong message, especially Miss Eunae. Given the orders, I can only assume it’s the message Queen Seong and Lady Hayakawa intend to send. In this case, we’re relying on another of Qin’s strange loopholes. There are a number of cases in which it’s legal for foreigners to be within the country—as prisoners, for example.”
Jia shuddered, recalling that the Awakening Dragon sect had wanted to drag her and Eui back to Qin in order to be held accountable for crimes they hadn’t committed. Rika shook her head and smiled sardonically.
“That’s not how we’re going to be doing it, I hope?”
“No. You’ll be relying on a much more complicated loophole. There’s no imperial edict for enforcement of their borders beyond the fact that anyone found entering is to be summarily executed. As such, that enforcement is left to the sects. As long as you can make it to the territory of a friendly sect undetected, you should be fine.”
Eui grimaced.
“Should be? No offense, Master, but you don’t seem all that confident.”
Master Ienaga shook her head.
“I’m not. This entire plan seems unhinged to me. The risks are enormous and I don’t understand what any of you hope to accomplish. I understand that Yan Yue is your friend, but a political marriage has been her destiny from the moment she was born. I think you should give up and accept that.”
“No!”
Jia’s shout drew everyone’s attention, and she stood up, shaking her head vehemently.
“Destiny?! Fuck that! Destiny would have had me die as a nameless orphan in the streets! Destiny would have gotten Eui eaten in the wilderness, or let my sister waste away after the brothel used her up and threw her away! What about your destiny, Master? Were you always born to be the strongest? Or was it something you fought and worked for every day until you reached the peak? The only destiny I believe in is the one I make for myself, and that goes for my friends and family as well!”
After a moment of silence, Jia started to blush, embarrassed by her own outburst. Finally, Ienaga smiled softly and sighed.
“It’s good to see you haven’t changed, Lee. Your conviction does you credit, but I have to reiterate this is an incredibly dangerous mission with very little hope of success. Even if you manage to make it through hostile territory undetected, even if the Flowing Purewater sect chooses to harbor you, then what? Are you just going to kidnap Yan and abscond with her?”
Eui snorted.
“If we have to. Not like it’s possible for us to make the Awakening Dragon any more angry with us. If anything, pissing them off one more time would be icing on the cake.”
Seong Misun rolled her eyes.
“Ostensibly our mission is to try to engage Qin in a temporary truce. The demonic enclave residing in the former academy grounds is a plague on our continent—we can all agree on that much. There’s something else, too—I suppose this is the part where we fill you in about the divine artifact.”
Master Ienaga’s posture shifted as she listened intently to an abbreviated version of everything that Jianmo had told them about his master’s tomb.
“Let me make sure I have everything straight. A fallen deity hid his tomb somewhere in our world, where it houses an artifact that—among other things—contains a limitless supply of divine essence. The gods that descended three years ago are after that artifact, but due to a seal that cuts us off from the divine realm, our world will collapse if that artifact is removed.”
Jia nodded to confirm Ienaga’s words, and the martial arts master went on.
“In order to open the tomb, two of the three keys are required, and in order to enter one must not have reached the xiantian stage. One such key is currently in the possession of the divine immortal faction led by Sovereign Shen Yu, another is held by the demonic sect occupying the academy, and the last is presumably held by the dragon gods, who have yet to make their presence known. Finally, the actual location of the tomb is a secret known only to you. Did I miss anything?”
“Well, it’s actually Jianmo who knows, but they’ve left us with a copy of themself that can guide us. We haven’t seen the real one in quite a while, actually.”
Eui scoffed.
“Some teacher they turned out to be. After all that bragging, too.”
Master Ienaga tapped her chin thoughtfully.
“It seems that this Sovereign Chou has taken great pains to ensure that his legacy would be fought over. Or perhaps that enemies would have to come together in cooperation. So then am I to assume that your plan is to try to convince Qin—and, by extension, the divine immortals—to join forces with us against the demons, acquire their key, and then find and open the tomb?”
Seong Misun shrugged dismissively.
“That’s the gist of it, yes. Though I’m pretty sure we’re expected to fail, especially since the real reason these idiots are going is an ill-advised attempt to rescue their friend from the horrors of matrimony.”
“I see. Would you give me a day to consider? This changes a great deal, and I’ll need to rethink our approach.”
Misun raised an eyebrow.
“Oh? What does it change, exactly?”
“Well, for one thing, it means that you’re going to need to treat with more than just the Flowing Purewater Sect. You may be on friendly terms with the Xin clan, but Yan and Bai are going to be problems.”
Jia’s face darkened at the thought of Bai Lin, the woman who had gleefully mutilated Eui in an attempt to force her to succumb to demonic hunger during the academy tournament. There were few people in Jia’s life that she truly hated, but Bai Lin was on a very short list of people that she would kill at the slightest opportunity.
Ienaga went on, ignorant of Jia’s inner turmoil and snapping her out of it entirely with her next words.
“For another, I’ve decided to go with you.”