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The best lies are borne from the truth. But for people like us… who have been lied to so many times… it can still hurt when we have to do what we do… so how can we get by? Lying by omission. It lets the receiver of incomplete information form their own truth.
Ugh! So many words. Yin Yu had taken a copious amount of notes during Black Water’s rather long-winded lecture about the construction of the best, most convincing types of lies, but it still made no sense how he was supposed to implement such a thing and put it all into practice. Why?... and when would he need such a thing? He thought to himself as he looked out the window of his room at Paradise Manor.
From here, he had a view of Ghost City. During the day, it was quiet, but during the night, full of life as the dead and the living came for an escape from whatever hell they were stuck in. It was a place of debauchery where from behind a mask, everyone could shamelessly act however they pleased. Those who came, weren’t always the brightest beings to begin with, so when would they even need to be deceived?
“I hope you were listening,” a voice behind Yin Yu sounded.
He spun on his knees only to find Black Water pouring tea at the low table in the reception area of the room.
How long had he been sitting there? What did he say? Was he even talking? Yin Yu would have noticed!
He felt something nibble at his hand and looked down to find a small silver fish swimming in the air, investigating his notes.
“Impressive.” Black Water thought out loud. “As expected of the Waning Moon Officer.”
“I’m really not—” he began to protest.
“You’re coming with me to Heaven.” He Xuan cut him off.
Yin Yu’s hand jerked and hit the ink stone, spilling black all over his notes. He sighed.
“Eventually, I’ll need a second set of eyes on something— a set of eyes I can trust.”
“My Lord, isn’t this why you’ve made yourself an army of autonomous clones?” Yin Yu asked, standing to get himself a rag to mop up the mess he made of his desk.
Before he could even go, Black Water waved a hand and that little silver fish started eating the extra ink right off the page, restoring the notes Yin Yu so meticulously made. How nice it must be— to be able to so casually fling around spiritual power on little things like this.
“The clones are helpful,” Black Water admitted, “but they’re still just versions of me… things I would overlook, they could never see.”
It made sense, Yin Yu realized. And if their recent spar taught them anything, it was that their strengths, and weaknesses were very different. In work, they would compliment each other nicely.
Yin Yu relaxed his shoulders a little and looked up at the ceiling, stretching his neck after sitting for so long studying. Finally, he left the study area and joined Lord Black Water for tea.
“What is it exactly that you need, that can only be found in Heaven?”
“Information.” Black Water replied, leaning an elbow on the table, looking down at his cup.
Naturally. Hua Chengzhu’s library was extensive, but even it only went back a few hundred years before his own time. Their source of information was a combination of what they stole from the imperial libraries of fallen dynasties (before all the records were burned) and the memories of the ghosts they conquered. The library maintained by the palace of Ling Wen should have information back a few millennia.
“But, you’re useless in Heaven if you can’t lie properly, so I thought I’d find some opportunity for you to practice.” Black Water continued.
“Wha— what?”
“We’ll start off easy. You’re going to lie to someone that’s very easy to fool and work your way up to the Head Mistress.” Black Water decided.
“Sir!” Does such a person even exist? Yin Yu couldn’t believe it. Someone so easily manipulated shouldn’t have lasted more than a day in that cesspit they called Heaven.
Black Water lifted his eyes from his cup and pierced Yin Yu with that look that made ghosts fall to the ground prostrating, begging for mercy. It was the look that reminded one how no matter how fast they ran, how well they hid, they could be hunted if Black Water Sinking Ships wished it.
It was a look that left no room for protest, a look that allowed no opposition.
He blinked and that look was gone. A bit of color returned to the ghost’s usually pale, nearly translucent skin and his eyes darkened.
He looked at Yin Yu’s still full teacup.
“Finish so we can go already. It’s not good to waste.” He commanded with a bit of sadness in his eyes.
Yin Yu nodded and drained the cup.
While Hua Chengzhu needed a spiritual device engraved with a billion transportation arrays he could activate and manipulate with spiritual energy, Black Water needed nothing. He had every array so well practiced, that as long as he could visualize it perfectly, he could conjure it from nothing.
In an instant, them, and their table had been transported to the hall of a palace in heaven.
Lord Black Water’s fine black silk robes with silver embroidery were swapped for more plain cotton and leather in various shades of black that had faded to gray in places.
And Yin Yu, wore the uniform of a servant.
“I don’t come here often,” Black Water began, “but when I do, there is this guy that always comes. You’ll tell him a simple lie: I’m not here.”
Before Yin Yu could even nod his head to acknowledge, there was the sound of someone banging the knocker on the front gates.
With a wave, Black Water sent him to deal with it.
Yin Yu wanted to scream— he didn’t even know the layout this palace! He knew Lord Black Water had a place in Heaven but he didn’t realize it would be — he looked up at the high ceilings and ornate, yet subdued decorations— in the upper court! Upper court gods were strong AND powerful! To be able to imitate one took immense amounts of spiritual energy and skill. It was almost impossible to perfect that Heavenly Aura and yet— Black Water managed it.
As expected of a supreme!
Yin Yu steeled his nerves. The least he could do was not fail this mission, lest it jeopardize Lord Black Water’s whole place in Heaven.
When the door opened, a Lady almost crashed into him before realizing he wasn’t who she was expecting.
“Oh! My apologies, I didn’t mean to intrude!” She bowed to him— surprisingly low for a god to bow to a servant. “Are you — a new deputy of the Lord Earth Master?”
“I am,” Yin Yu confirmed stiffly.
“Forgive me, I haven’t seen you before. May I know your name?”
He couldn’t use his real name since— everyone in Heaven would know it. Despite his plain, unmemorable face, the way he fell from grace was etched into the very stones that paved this floating city.
“Jin Yu” Yin Yu answered. He wasn’t the fastest, nor the most creative at coming up with false identities.
“Jin Yu! It’s nice to meet you! May I know if your master is in today?”
“He’s not.” Yin Yu lied. Maybe— maybe it wasn’t a lie since the real Lord Earth Master didn’t ever make it to the Heavens. It was only a Supreme Ghost King.
“Oh! That’s odd. I thought I could feel his presence returning…” the woman mused.
“Perhaps it is just a trace of the spiritual energy he used to send me,” Yin Yu proposed.
“It is possible…” the lady thought about it. “Ming-Xiong’s transportation arrays always seem to appear with a bang! They’re so powerful! Much more powerful than Nan Yang’s arrays. And half the time, he doesn’t even need to draw anything!”
Hm… that required a skill that even exceeded that of most Heavenly Officials. Had Lord Black Water been so brazen before this one, to let that skill be known?
“I’m sorry, I can’t stay long. The Lord Earth Master only asked me to fetch something before returning to him down below. Is there a message you’d like me to take along?”
“I’m afraid not one fit for a messenger,” the lady replied with a cheerful, yet mischievous grin. She leaned up close to Yin Yu’s chest and whispered in his ear. “Tell him, that next time he comes to heaven, I won’t give him the courtesy of knocking.”
Yin Yu jumped back with shivers running up and down his spine. He wanted to vomit. Just what was the Lord Black Water doing up in Heaven? Was this a colleague or a mistress? This—
She laughed and snapped open a fan with the word “feng” painted on one side and gales of wind on the other.
The Lord Wind Master?!
“Ming-xiong-a!” she called past Yin Yu. “I appreciate your efforts, I really do! But don’t underestimate this Wind Master especially when she misses you!” She turned back to Yin Yu who still stood a few feet away, thoroughly startled. “Well, until next time, Jin Yu!” She folded her hands together, bowed and then left.
Yin Yu watched her leave the palace grounds, pass the front gates and make her way well down the grand martial avenue before finally closing the door and releasing a breath he’d been holding since that lady whispered in his ear.
He doubled over and dry heaved.
Awkwardly, a hand patted him on the back, and in a second, they were back in Yin Yu’s own room at Paradise Manor.
“Lord Black Water, I can’t do this. You said she was easy to deceive and yet she was able to see right through me.”
“That is no fault of your own. It’s me she doesn’t believe. She could feel my energy in the palace. And she knows I actively avoid her. It’s her own persistence that’s unyielding. Don’t worry. You did rather well~”
“In what way?” Yin Yu asked. He wasn’t fishing for complements. He genuinely wanted to improve, he needed to, or else he’d stay pathetic and useless to the two Supreme Ghost Kings and disappoint Hua Chengzhu.
“You thought of a fake name fast enough, you didn’t break — until the end anyways, and conveyed the message with a straight face. Let me guess— you justified it to yourself with syntax. Of course the Lord Earth Master is not here, but the Lord Black Water is. It’s a good tactic. Continue to use it, okay?”
“Yes, Sir.”