Chapter 280
Among Mistborn City Lords, the strength glimpsed in occasional skirmishes was only ever a fraction of what each truly held in reserve. Without an all-out clash, no one could know the full depth of another's power.
After all, with lifespans measured in millennia and the resources of an entire region at their command, there was no telling what trump cards they might have cultivated.
The precedent was infamous: an unremarkable Mistborn City Lord who had spent over two thousand years in quiet, dutiful obscurity had, when finally cornered, unleashed a fury that felled thirteen invading Mist Gods in succession—a power that surpassed even Xie Chang'an's.
"What's your read on this?" Liu Xiao asked, glancing at Lin Hui.
"No need to worry. Lin Xiaoliu has a special Relic the old man gifted her, and I've arranged protection around her at all times. It's nothing we can't handle," Lin Hui said with a smile. "More to the point, this is good tempering for her. She's ten—it's past time she started facing certain things on her own."
"Yeah... you're right," Liu Xiao nodded. "The Mingxin Society is keeping very quiet lately. Until we understand their intentions, it wouldn't be wise to get rashly involved."
"Agreed," Lin Hui nodded.
The two drifted into idle talk about recent shifts in the political landscape. Liu Xiao had always been unusually career-minded, more given to strategy and ambition than to the softer concerns that occupied most women of her station. Lin Hui had secured her a well-paid, undemanding post, yet she still spent her free time turning over larger questions of power and circumstance.
As the conversation wandered toward the current external war, the two were speaking openly—no sound-sealing technique to mask their words—and soon drew the notice of a man and a woman sharing the nearby deck, also bound for the earth-fire hot springs.