Gin made a sound somewhere between a strangled rabbit and a broken kazoo. "Kai! You can't be serious!" He threw himself forward, grabbing at Kai's robes with desperate hands. "Think of all we've been through! The night hunts! The drinking games! That time we fought off those monsters at the—"

  "None of that stuff happened. I've literally only known you for fourteen days," Kai deadpanned, prying Gin's fingers off his clothing.

  "Pleasseee!" Gin dropped to his knees with enough force to crack the floorboards, his forehead nearly touching Kai's boots. "The Righteous Alliance will execute me! They'll chain me to an alchemy furnace and make me refine spirit stones until my bones turn to dust!" His voice cracked. "They call it 'penitent labor' but everyone knows it's just slow execution!"

  Kai's sword hand froze. The image flashed unbidden in his mind - Gin, once annoying and loud, reduced to a hollow-eyed skeleton shoveling coal into some sect's furnace. The cultivator world was ruthless, yes, but this...

  His fingers curled into fists. This was exactly the kind of cruelty he'd sworn to reject when he left the Ember Sword Sect. The kind of systemic brutality that turned living beings into resources to be consumed.

  "Damn it," Kai muttered, dragging a hand down his face. When he spoke again, each word came out like pulled teeth: "Fine. But you're going to have to do a lot to make up for this." His eyes burned with barely restrained fury. "You're going to tell me everything. No more half-truths, no more 'forgetting' important details. And if I so much as suspect you're lying—"

  "Yes! Absolutely! I'll be an open book!" Gin's entire body sagged with relief, his forehead actually touching the floor now. "I'll even give you two of my last three bottles of Five-mountain dew wine!"

  From the bed, Lulu let out an exaggerated sigh. "Ugh, this got boring quick." She wriggled against her bonds. "Though if we're all being honest now..." Her smirk returned, sharper than ever. "I can't collect that bounty either. Rogue cultivator, remember?"

  Kai's head snapped up. The realization hit like a lightning strike - she was right. The same restrictions that prevented him from claiming Gin's bounty would apply to her. The Righteous Alliance didn't pay out to unaffiliated cultivators.

  Kai’s eyes narrowed. "Then why hunt him?"

  Lulu's smile didn't waver. "Who said anything about hunting him?" She tilted her head. "I don’t care about Gin, I just wanted his wine.”

  A beat of stunned silence filled the room.

  "This was all... for his wine?" Kai repeated slowly, as if the words might make more sense the second time.

  "Not just any wine," Lulu purred, straining against her bonds with sudden enthusiasm. "A brew strong enough to make an elder's son insult the Blue Storm Crane Sect Leader to his face during the Grand Celestial Banquet!" Her tongue darted out to wet her lips. "Do you have any idea how many cultivators would kill for a taste of something that potent?"

  Kai's stomach dropped as he turned to Gin. "Is that why there's a two-thousand spirit stone bounty on your head?"

  Gin shuffled his feet like a scolded child, his eyes darting anywhere but at Kai. "Well... yeah. Young Master Su's father kind of... took it personally when his heir called the sect leader a 'pompous windbag with the spiritual insight of a blind toad' in front of visiting allies." He winced at the memory. "Basically ruined Su's life too - last I heard they'd confined him to meditation caves for a decade. Su's father put up the spirit stones himself for the bounty."

  Kai's eyebrow arched. "What kind of insane brew did you make that could put someone in such a stupor they insult their own sect leader?"

  "It's not insane!" Gin protested, genuine offense cutting through his usual drunken bravado. "It's art! The finest spirit grape harvest in eighty years combined with a touch of—" He caught Kai's expression and deflated. "Look, I didn't force the cup to his lips. I just made it."

  Kai massaged his temples where a headache was forming. The absurdity of it all would be laughable if not for the very real consequences. Two thousand spirit stones. Enough to turn friends into enemies and sects into hunting parties. All because some spoiled young master couldn't hold his liquor.

  "Some cultivators really are that petty," Kai muttered, more to himself than anyone else. The words tasted bitter on his tongue. He'd seen firsthand how the so-called righteous sects could hold grudges that spanned generations over slights far smaller than this.

  Kai's fingers tightened around his sword hilt as he leveled a withering glare at Lulu. "Let me get this straight—you're not some elite bounty hunter. You're just a thief."

  "I would have traded fairly if given the chance." She gestured with her bound hands toward Gin. "But getting a Drunken Master to part with his private reserve? Might as well try to convince a mother dragon to give up its eggs."

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  "I have heard of drunken masters who'd take their wines to the grave rather than share a single drop," Kai mused, recalling dusty scrolls from his sect days that spoke of brewers who'd faced down armies rather than surrender their casks.

  "Exactly!" Lulu's binding went taught as she leaned forward eagerly. "The Classic of Fermented Wonders tells of Master Liu who drowned himself in his own vat when the Immortals demanded—"

  "That still doesn't justify kidnapping!" Kai's voice cut through her historical tangent like a blade.

  Lulu rolled her eyes. "Must you be so dramatic? I wasn't going to leave him destitute." She nodded toward a small silk pouch on the floor that none of them had noticed before. "That contains three rare spirit herbs from the Southern Isles, a manual on advanced pressure point techniques, and—most valuable of all—The Manual of The Intoxication Path."

  Gin's head whipped around so fast his neck cracked. "Bullshit! Even Su couldn’t get his hands on—"

  "Check for yourself," Lulu interrupted, her voice dripping with smug satisfaction.

  As Gin scrambled for the pouch while Kai continued his discussion.

  "There's still the matter of what you planned to do to Gin if he didn’t cooperate," Kai said, his voice low and measured

  "I'm a pacifist," she insisted, through her eyes darted away for the briefest moment. "I was going to use The Earthly Illusionary Delights technique to put him in a dream-like state and... loosen his inhibitions. Make him more amenable to answering questions about where his wine is."

  Kai's eyes narrowed sharply. "That's a dual cultivation technique from Jinsu City," he said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "Are you from Jinsu?"

  The room seemed to grow colder at the mention of the infamous city. Even Gin, going through the pouch, froze mid-reach for another scroll.

  Lulu's lips curled into a smirk that didn't quite reach her eyes. "You're surprisingly well-informed for a rogue cultivator."

  "I've studied a lot at one point to advance my cultivation," Kai replied flatly. "Now answer the question."

  With an exaggerated sigh, Lulu relented. "Yes, it's a dual cultivation technique, though a benign one. All it requires is physical contact with the forehead to induce the illusion." She held up her bound hands in a placating gesture. "And no, I'm not from Jinsu. I learned it from a manual."

  Kai's breath caught in his throat. "The Jinsu Fairies don't write their techniques in manuals. Their arts are passed down orally, from mistress to disciple. The only way you could have—"

  "Well, it's fortunate for me that the Night Ladies don't know about that particular manual, isn't it?" Lulu interrupted, her voice dripping with false sweetness.

  Gin let out a low whistle. "That's... incredibly bold of you to admit," he said, his fingers nervously tracing the spine of another scroll. "Stealing from one of the Great Eight? That's a death sentence in any alliance territory."

  The weight of Gin's words hung heavy in the air. The Jinsu Fairies—sometimes called the Night Ladies—were indeed one of the ruling Great Eight of the Righteous Alliance. Their dominion over the sunless city of Jinsu was absolute, their reputation fearsome. While they publicly claimed to specialize in dual cultivation techniques, rumors spoke of far more unusual arts and activities: luck cultivation that drained fortunes from entire bloodlines, bounty hunting operations that spanned the continent, and rumor had it, even techniques that could change a person's very destiny.

  "Stealing from one of the Great Eight..." Kai’s voice was low and dangerous. "Now we know why you're hiding in Zan."

  Lulu waved a dismissive hand. " I didn't steal anything. But believe what you want," she said in a casual tone.

  "Sure," Kai drawled, the single word dripping with skepticism. He turned his attention to Gin, who was hunched over in the corner like a protective mother dragon, cradling the scroll against his chest with trembling hands.

  Gin’s fingers traced the edges of the parchment with reverent care, his calloused fingertips barely touching the surface as if afraid it might disintegrate.

  "By the heavens..." Gin's voice was barely audible, cracking with emotion. "It's authentic. The real Manual of the Intoxication Path." He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing visibly.

  Lulu leaned slightly forward with a conspiratorial smile. "And if that manual didn't impress you," she purred, "I had dozens more I could've offered after putting you under my charm. Rare texts from sects that no longer exist. "

  Kai's eyes narrowed. "Do you just carry around cultivation manuals like some traveling library?"

  "Oh darling," Lulu laughed, the sound like silver bells, "I have access to more knowledge than you could comprehend."

  A sudden realization struck Kai like a lightning bolt. His mind flashed to Lu Bu - the boy was progressing faster than anticipated. Already, Kai could see the limits of his own teachings approaching. Without proper guidance, the boy's potential would be wasted. And here was this infuriating woman, casually offering exactly what he needed...

  "Body refinement and qi gathering manuals," Kai said abruptly, his voice tighter than intended. "Do you have the Falcon Rock Crushing Movement? The Twisting Winds Rotation?"

  Lulu blinked. "How mundane. But yes, I have those simple techniques." She tilted her head, eyes full of boredom. "Along with the Drifting Palm Snap and Bamboo Puncture methods that naturally follow."

  Kai's breath caught. She knew the progression. Not just random names, but the actual sequence of training methods used by his sect. His pulse quickened as possibilities unfolded before him - with those manuals, Lu Bu could advance properly without relying on Kai's spotty memory of his own sect's teachings.

  The decision crystallized in his mind with sudden clarity. He'd been prepared to leave Lulu unconscious in this town, but now...

  "That wine that got Gin in trouble," Kai said slowly, watching her reaction. "I have a jar. I'll overlook tonight's... misunderstanding and give you that jar in exchange for all your body refinement and qi gathering manuals."

  "Forget the wine." Lulu’s gaze slid to where Soma was perched on the nightstand. "Give me the rabbit!" She yelled with a crazed look.

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