Chapter 292 — Seven in Ten

CHAPTER 292

Seven in Ten

On the seventh morning the ache in his stomach finally dropped from a roar to a mutter, and Shi Feng climbed Thunder Cliff to look at his chamber.

The cliff stood at the back of Thousand Forge Peak. It was a black wall of rock, scorched in long streaks, with a flat ledge at the top where lightning had been striking for longer than the sect had existed. No grass grew there. Even the crows stayed away.

Halfway up the stone steps, he heard voices and stopped.

Li Changyuan stood at the edge of the ledge with his hands behind his back. He wasn't holding his broom. Lin Langtian stood beside him, and his hands were empty too. There was no sweet potato in them.

That was strange enough that Shi Feng stayed where he was.

“Seven in ten,” Li Changyuan said.

“Last week you said eight,” Lin Langtian said.

“Last week the sky was quieter,” Li Changyuan said.

Lin Langtian didn't answer. He tilted his head and looked up. The morning was perfectly clear. There was one thin cloud near the horizon, and it wasn't going anywhere.

Li Changyuan glanced at Lin Langtian, but neither explained the number. The silence worried Shi Feng more than their usual jokes. Both men were empty-handed and watching a perfectly clear sky.

Seven in ten, Shi Feng thought. That must be his chance of surviving. Seven in ten.

Shi Feng wasn’t frightened by seven in ten. The physicians in Qingshi Town had given him no hope at all. This was a chance he could prepare for. He coughed to announce himself and continued up the steps.

He coughed, politely, and climbed the last steps.

“Junior Brother!” Lin Langtian called, turning with his familiar grin. “You’re walking again. Old Soot had you dead of iron by now. I’ll have to pay him.”

“Old Soot can't talk,” Shi Feng said.

“He has a very expressive face.” Lin Langtian slapped him on the shoulder. “Ah. You're still walking like a rusty gate. You're not ready yet.”

“I'm ready enough to look at the chamber,” Shi Feng said.

Li Changyuan turned around. His patched robe was the same as always, and so was his bored face. He gave Shi Feng one long look, from boots to collar, as if checking a crack in a pot.

“Walk,” Li Changyuan said.

Shi Feng walked three steps. Li Changyuan watched his gait.

“Hm,” Li Changyuan said. “Still leaning left. Is it the ore?”

“It's the ore,” Shi Feng said.

“I told you to give it to a smith,” Li Changyuan said.

“It was a good ore,” Shi Feng said.

“It was a Martial Palace ore,” Li Changyuan said. “Every ton of it cost them a bad temper. It was worth more as a story.”

“It was worth more in my stomach,” Shi Feng said. He took a breath. “Sect Master, one question about the chamber.”

“Ask,” Li Changyuan said.

“What's the fee?” Shi Feng said.

For a moment nobody spoke. The wind blew some ash across the ledge. Lin Langtian made a small noise, as if he'd swallowed something wrong.

“The… fee,” Li Changyuan said.

“For a month on sect land,” Shi Feng said. “The chamber, door, and formation stones. Tell me the rate before I go in. I don’t want to argue over it after the lightning.”

“Junior Brother,” Lin Langtian said. His voice shook. “You're asking the sect master for the price of his own cliff.”

“I'm asking the person who sets the price,” Shi Feng said.

Li Changyuan opened his mouth, closed it, and appeared to do a sum.

“Two stones a day,” Li Changyuan said.

“Three,” Lin Langtian said at once. “Plus repairs.”

“Repairs?” Shi Feng asked.

“Lightning,” Lin Langtian said. “It does a lot of damage.”

“Lightning is the sky's,” Shi Feng said. “It isn't mine. If it breaks your cliff, send the bill to the sky.”

“Does the sky pay?” Li Changyuan asked.

“Does it?” Shi Feng asked.

Li Changyuan looked up at the clear morning with real hatred.

“No,” Li Changyuan said at last. “It never does.” He scratched his neck. “Two stones, then. Two, with no repairs, and I'll write it into the book myself. You pay after the month.”

“If I'm alive,” Shi Feng said.

Nobody laughed. Li Changyuan stopped scratching his neck, and Lin Langtian looked away across the ledge. Shi Feng had named the risk both had been avoiding.

“Then you'll pay,” Li Changyuan said, quietly. “Plans are made by men, success is decided by heaven. Seven in ten.”

“I heard,” Shi Feng said.

“Good,” Li Changyuan said.

Shi Feng went to look at the chamber. It was a squat cell cut into the foot of the black wall, with an iron door as thick as his forearm and runes running around its frame. Inside, the floor was bare stone, smooth and cold, and a faint smell of rain hung in the air. There was nothing in it but a stone pillow and a niche for the three materials.

It was a plain, good room. He liked it.

On his way back down, he looked over his shoulder once.

Li Changyuan and Lin Langtian stood side by side at the edge, looking at the cloudless sky. Neither of them was talking.

It was the first time Shi Feng had ever seen Lin Langtian stay quiet that long without a joke.