Long Tao's Fun Adventure (II)
"What's your name?" Long Tao asked, taking a bite of a recently cooked rabbit leg.
The captured old man was sitting politely on his knees, back upright, a look of wonderment and terror on his face.
"This lowly one's name is Hou Lan, o' Great One!" he all but shouted, prompting Long Tao to frown.
"Quiet down."
"Yes, the Great One!"
"Why were you following me?"
"Orders, the Great One!"
"Whose?"
"Sect Master's!"
"Sect Master of the Fire Sun Sect?"
"Yes!"
"Hm," Long Tao took another bite, eyeing the man's expression for a moment before continuing. "Why the hell is he ordering you guys to tail kids?"
"I... I'm not sure," Hou Lan said. "I've heard... rumors."
"What rumors?"
"You may not know this, O 'Great One, but the core cultivation method of our Sect, though amazing, comes with some... side effects. The higher one's cultivation realm, the more prominent they are."
"..." Long Tao remained silent for a moment, considering. He didn't actually know what method they practiced, but he had enough experience to stitch together an approximate--an ostensibly Yang cultivation method without a counteractive force was a death sentence for practically everyone without a special physique. Ordinarily, due to the low ranks of methods like these, side effects tend to peak at the 'bad temper', but if the method is pushed further... "Go on."
"Ever since our Sect Master broke through to the Void Transformation Realm, he's... changed."
"Changed how?"
"I, I only heard this from some of my seniors," Hou Lan's voice, strangely, turned into a whisper, as though he was divulging the world's greatest secret. "Sect Master has always had a... taste for women. However, ever since his breakthrough, all women that go in... don't come out."
It wasn't odd; even if the man wasn't consciously killing them, copulating while cultivating a method that one lost control over was purely animalistic behavior.
"The rumor is that, uh, it helps him stay calm." It tracked still. Excess fire energy was expelled temporarily--however, that was also easily achievable by just soaking oneself inside a Yin bath.
"That still doesn't explain why he ordered you to follow us. For starters, despite my heavenly looks, I am not a woman."
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"That... is why we followed you..." The man's voice turned strangely melancholic as he hung his head low, prompting Long Tao to frown.
"Meaning?"
"... it would buy us time," he said. "Our plan was to claim you dressed as a woman to sneak out of the sect, but when we caught up to you, we realized you were a boy. Not knowing what to do, we decided to deliver you to the Sect Master for judgment."
"Ah," Long Tao understood, feeling even a twinge of sympathy toward the man. Though the world of cultivation was one of vile monsters and rancid souls, there were still things the vast majority of the cultivators were unwilling to do.
He still didn't feel too much sympathy--there was no doubt that the Fire Sun Sect Master would have killed him, and they probably knew it. They selfishly chose to sacrifice who they thought was a fourteen-year-old boy just to buy a few days to weeks worth of time where they wouldn't have to be on the lookout for girls and women leaving the Spirit Sword Sect.
"Is that why you guys instigated the war?"
"Officially, no," Hou Lan shook his head. "But my seniors did imply it. Apparently, mortal women aren't enough... anymore... and, recently, there are rumors about some low-level disciples disappearing from the sect. The only reason I know is because I was a servant myself once and still have some connections there."
"Hoh," Long Tao sighed, finishing off the rabbit's leg and wiping his lips.
None of this had anything to do with him, not really.
He was not a good man, nor did he feel particularly compelled to do anything with the information he learned. And yet, he paused; had it been him before he met that sore influence he called a 'Master', he would have heard the man out, promptly beheaded him, and then just... ignored it.
There were so many monsters doing far worse things across the countless realms that if he busied himself with killing them all any time he heard about them, he would never have the time to cultivate.
And yet... he paused.
"How many of you are stalking the outside of the Spirit Sword Sect?" he asked.
"I... I don't know."
"...?"
"Honestly! Honestly!" he quickly bowed. "I'm just an Outer Elder! The only reason I even know any of this is because it's been happening so often that it's almost impossible to keep it a secret anymore! I just know about a few other groups with elders of my rank in them, but as for the others... I'm not sure."
Long Tao didn't hear anything about an uptick of disappearances of the Spirit Sword Sect disciples, at least not anything outside the two incidents that prompted the sect to consider a war. Then again, it wasn't entirely impossible. Missions often took at least a month or so to complete at the very least, and most Outer Disciples would stay out for a while on their first mission, as it was likely their first time leaving the Sect in over a decade.
So, it was entirely possible that there were disciples who were captured, but their disappearances haven't yet been discovered as it hasn't been enough time.
He glanced sideways at the cliff and sighed--he had to go back.
It wasn't so much a logical decision, but one of his Dao Heart. If he stayed to decipher the Array, a subtle demon would be born. It probably wouldn't have any impact for centuries and would go entirely unnoticed, but it was precisely these tiny little things done at the very start of the journey that ultimately become nails in one's race toward Immortality.
He had to go back and inform that sordid man who changed him about all of this.
It was a shame, but it wasn't a complete loss. He did rip that Elder Zh-whatever his name was for all he had and only had to give his Master half of it... which he now realized he couldn't do.
His Dao Heart was telling him to give everything.
"Ho ho, this is getting annoying," he grumbled outwardly.
"T-The Great One?"
"Thank you for your cooperation."
"A-ah, no problem, no problem! So... can, can I go?"
"Of course."
"Really?!"
"Off you go."
A flash of the sword's edge later, there was a head rolling by the roaring campfire, eyes still hopeful. Yet, within that hope, there was venom--venom formed from humiliation.
Long Tao may have softened a bit, but that was akin to saying that a vast desert was now a bit lighter after losing fifty pounds of sand.
He stood up after a moment's thought, flicked his fingers, and burned the body and the head to ashes.
One last wistful look at the cliff later, he spun and pushed Qi to his feet, turning into an invisible blur, fading into the darkness of the night, as though he was never there.
Internal Rot (I)
Days fluttered by like leaves in the wind.
Okay, my rather poor attempt at poetry aside, they sure do not fly when you've got almost nothing to do.
No, seriously, it's gotten so bad that I've started exercising. That's right, EXERCISING. I haven't exercised since I was 17 and the coach booted me off the team 'cause I went out on a date with his daughter.
And yet, here am I, running around the mountain peak, doing pushups and handstands and crunches and squats, feeling sore all over my body but refusing to use Qi to heal it because I'm unsure whether it'll undo my hard work.
This body is utter crap; I can attest to that much. Even without having exercised in decades, I was in better shape back on Earth--perhaps the most depressing fact of them all. In Lu Qi's defense, he didn't exercise either, and he drank about twenty times more alcohol than I did, chugging wine like it was water.
Anyway, my workout sessions would occasionally be interrupted by Light swinging by and asking why I was making a fool of myself yet again, or Xi Zhao asking to be guided on that art that I gave him and me coming up with a whole new excuse as to why I can't help him, or Dai Xiu following me around with a bucket of water and a towel, never even being short of breath.
Tsk.
What of my image as a Master? Am I really content just being a produce factory for martial arts for the rest of my life?
... oddly, no. Honestly, I thought my first instinct would have been to scream and shout 'Yes', but when I asked myself that question, it turned out... no, I want at least a bit more than this. Isn't it a fantasy, after all? You don't dream of becoming a superhuman of some kind just to hide yourself in some village and write books all the live-long day.
So, I don't want to either.
Not like my aspirations are to become the strongest or anything of the sort, but getting to at least strong enough, in that I can pluck a mountain and chuck it at someone I don't like... hey, I can see it.
Anyway, while I was having a fairly unfruitful few days, that wasn't the case for Hua. The 'mute boy' had busied himself rather much, coming and going from the mountain at least thrice a day. It seemed odd, but I just let him be--a monster like that has plans of his own, after all--until precisely today, and even more precisely now, when I saw him standing at the doorframe, wildly gesturing with his arms.
I think the gist of it is, Follow me... you old fart.
Okay, I added the 'old fart' part, but the first portion did seem to be true.
"You want me to follow you down the mountain?"
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"!" he nodded, and just as I was about to ask 'Why'... I stopped myself.
He wouldn't invite me for no reason, and it wasn't like he was going to disclose it directly to me. Thus, I stayed my lips, uprooted my legs, and followed behind him as we descended the mountain.
The atmosphere within the sect was... heating up, to say the least. Ever since the declaration of war was spread, more and more competitions were being held almost on a daily basis, winners blessed with increased fortunes and cultivation materials.
The Sect Master truly wasn't holding back--pills responsible for breaking through, increasing mental power, providing a chance at Enlightenment, and then martial arts whose requirements were all lowered by one level...
It was quite reminiscent of the 'war economy' back on Earth, where every 'industry' seemed to orbit that one defining thing.
The number of stalls at the public market exploded--there was legitimately no room to even sit, and crowds had to squeeze by each other just to move an inch... and that was precisely where Hua was leading me.
Hm? Is this really it? Is he just too broke to buy something, so he'll have me buy it? That can't be it, right?
Anyway, he first led me to the stall of a fairly young woman selling some random knickknacks, none of which seemed particularly impressive. And while Hua was broadly gesturing toward one particular trinket, a skull embedded atop an incense stick, it looked more like he was gesturing toward... the woman.
Hell. Can't hurt to check, right? So, I did.
[--Creator's Eyes Used]
[Target: Shen Jun]
[Age: 28]
[Current Realm: Early Foundation Establishment]
[Cultivation Method: Spirit Sword Harmony (False); Hellfire Mantra, Second Form]
[Martial Arts...]
[Talent: Peak-Mortal]
[...]
[Traits]
[Violent (Common) -- prone to outbursts of violence, channeled fully due to the unstable cultivation method]
[...]
Huh.
Would you damn well look at that?
I side-eyed Hua stealthily while taking out the ten low-grade Spirit Stones to purchase the trinket. The woman thanked us with a smile as he led me further out, stopping by eight stalls in total.
I only had four uses, but since all four turned out to be the Fire Sun Sect spies, I figured the remaining four were too. Of the eight, only two actually caught my eye--the remaining six were mostly just ordinary disciples at either Qi Condensation or Foundation Realm, but the other two were different.
Well, one of them was definitely different, and I just assumed the other one was, too.
The one I managed to check out was a deeply hidden Elder of the Fire Sun Sect at the peak of the Spirit Manifestation Realm.
Unsurprisingly, they all had the same trait--'Violent', ranging anywhere from 'Common' to 'Epic'. It's a miracle, honestly, that the Fire Sun Sect is somehow still around if you ask me, considering all its members are prone to just going mad.
Anyway, it wasn't surprising that our sect had spies--I'm pretty sure we had spies in theirs, too—but it was surprising just how... rooted all these people were here. Ordinarily, even grooming one spy of their rank would be considered an achievement, yet there are at least ten, it seems, just on the surface of it, including Elder Zhang.
After spending about 50 low-grade Spirit Stones pretending to buy random crap just so this here 'mute' can tell me something he could have just used his words for, we left the market and started ascending up the mountain. I had to let him know somehow that I figured it out, but I couldn't really just outright say it.
... or could I?
No, no, I couldn't.
"Any of those stall owners appear a bit strange to you?" I said, continuing immediately after. "I don't know. I got this strange, fiery sensation from them, if it makes sense. Haah, it could be just my mind making stuff up again, but it reminded me of how I felt when I saw Dai Xiu for the first time. Rather than a 'fiery' sensation, I had a 'prickly' one. And it turned out that she was poisoned! So, maybe there's something to them, too?"
"..." It's exhausting, honestly, trying to maneuver all these monsters and whatever pointless quirk they've taken upon themselves.
"With the war approaching, I guess we can't take any chances. I'll have Elder Qin get someone to take another look at them. Let's just hope I'm wrong..."
You know, maybe being bored isn't the worst thing in the world...
Internal Rot (II)
About ten days after he left, Long Tao returned.
It was actually a bit faster than I thought. Originally, I anticipated that he'd be gone at least a month, and yet, my eyes weren't lying. There he was, seeming rather exhausted and climbing up the remaining part of the mountain.
He only said one word to me, "Inside.", and did so before I could question anything. Shrugging my shoulders, I spun around and followed him and then watched as he guzzled--no, that's not the right word. Inhaled, yes.
I watched as he inhaled two buckets of water like he was a rooted plant getting the first rainfall after a month's drought.
"You... okay?" I asked, wondering just what kind of hell he stumbled into to become like this.
"I ran without sleep for three days," ah. So, there was some demon chasing him?
"Why?" I was courteous enough, still, to ask rather than just assume.
"Because I learned something I thought you needed to know."
"..." Wow, what a twist. Wait--I can't buy into it! This is the guy who sold me out in a heartbeat when he beat that kid black and blue! "... what?" I asked cautiously.
"On my way out," he said. "I had a group follow me. And follow me they did all the way to the Desolate Cliffs, where they tried ambushing me."
"Poor guys..."
"What?"
"Khm, I mean, poor you. That must have been really scary..."
"Yes, it was all kinds of terrifying," he rolled his eyes, taking another sip of water. "But save the sympathy for some other time. The reason I ran all the way back is because of something I learned from them."
"What did you learn?"
"They weren't the only ones."
"..." I frowned immediately, picking up on the issue--it simply meant that they weren't the only group stalking the Spirit Sword Sect and following the disciples who leave.
It'd be one thing if I learned this info from anyone else, as I'd consider it somewhat inconsequential at the moment. While, yes, it was worrying to have fire ants at your doorstep, the Sect had already sent out a writ forbidding disciples from leaving.
... but what of those who left before the declaration?
"What do they do to them? Did you learn?" I ask quickly.
And thus began the tale of the Fire Sun Sect Master that I wish I could promptly erase from my mind... but I can't. It's seared in there, almost like that time I was supposed to recite a poem in front of the class and all the parents but then got up on the stage, saw the crowd, froze, forgot all the text, and promptly ran off the stage in tears.
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"... any, any chance that he was lying?"
"None."
"..." I sucked in a cold breath, feeling the blood in my veins freeze. While I already knew that there was something truly wrong with the Fire Sun Sect's main mantra, I honestly thought that Elder Zhang was the worst-case scenario—someone explosively prone to violence who has trouble controlling his emotions.
But, as it goes, the worst of humanity... is always merely a child of something even worse still.
"And he didn't know how many others there were?"
"No."
"Haah," I sighed, feeling blood rush into the space between my brows. As I massaged the bridge of my nose, a thousand thoughts swirled.
There were enemies everywhere--embedded deep into the sect and right at our doorstep, and God knows how many kids they've already captured for that depraved lunatic. It'd be one thing if I didn't know anything, but now that I do...
I stealthily glanced at the dirt-smeared face of a fourteen-year-old boy that wasn't quite fourteen. He came back as soon as he learned the information and did so without stopping.
Perhaps, of all the things that I've learned since coming to this world, this... is the most shocking. Was he truly 'apathetic,' as the system claimed? A monster of his rank, likely thousands upon thousands of years old, I severely doubt he gives more than two shits about this place.
In the history that he's making, this little corner will become a footnote; he will remember two things of it in the future. And yet, he prioritized coming back and telling me this instead of improving his strength.
He cared.
Whether he cared for the sect or perhaps me, or maybe something else entirely that was outside of my scope of understanding, it didn't matter, frankly. All that mattered is that I know now I can count on him.
"I took a stroll today," I said. "And may have discovered more spies embedded in the sect. By the way, thanks to you, Elder Zhang lost his mind and was probably killed, though info was never shared with the rest of the sect. Instead, Spirit Sage immediately sent the Declaration of War."
"Oh. I missed out on some fun."
"Before the war starts," I said. "We need to... clean this place up."
"We?"
"Hmm," I smiled. "Fine. You go and tell Elder Qin everything you told me, and then they can do the clean-up."
"Oooh, yes, we do need to clean the place up." I silently rolled my eyes as my fingers started rapping against the table.
"If we suppose that Elder Zhang was the deepest embedded one," I said. "It stands to reason to start scrutinizing those around him. But--"
"--the Sect is probably already doing that."
"Precisely. However, they don't know what we do about the Fire Sun Sect's cultivation method."
"That its practitioners are prone to violence? All cultivators are prone to violence," Long Tao shrugged.
"Yes, but there are differences," I quickly added. "Calculated versus instinctual violence."
"... what do you mean?"
"Our sect has the Records Hall," I said. "Where we store information on all the past incidents. I'll head over there tomorrow and start perusing all violent accidents from the past fifty-ish years."
"There will be tens of thousands of them."
"Possibly, yes. But, in the sea of unrelated things, I may be able to spot a few ones that stink of the fire."
"..."
"As for you," I continued. "I need you to figure out if there are still channels of communication between the spies and the Fire Sun Sect. Just because the sect has forbidden the disciples from leaving doesn't mean they don't have any other methods of leaking information. I'll give you the names of the people I suspect are spies, and you'll use that fancy cloaking art of yours to stalk them for a few days and figure out if there's anything suspicious."
"..." That was my first time even subtly ordering that he do something. Well, it wasn't so much ordering, but it was borderline... which was already scary enough. I took a gamble, and seeing him sigh in resignation, it seems to have paid off. "Master."
"Hm?"
"While your trying all these things is noble," he said, standing up slowly. "Allow me to offer you a warning: any sect that can have its Elder ranks infiltrated is not meant for this world much longer. Once the heart of the domain grows corrupt and vile, it infects all other parts in equal measure; while you may intercept the fallout this time, it would simply be like bandaging the wound without actually cleaning it. You're not healing it; you're just hiding it before it overwhelms you."
... Is he saying what I think he's saying? As though reading my mind, he confirmed my suspicions immediately.
"Spirit Sword Sect won't last," he said. "And you will have to make a choice soon; will you stand by its side as it burns to ashes and join it... or will you leave it to its inevitable fate and venture out into the vast world where you belong?"
Long Tao's words... shook me.
And no matter how desperately I tried denying them... they were like a cockroach, surviving whatever damn hell I threw at them. Honestly, I did occasionally think about leaving this place, but only because I thought about exploring the world a bit. I figured it would happen naturally as the entire sect grew stronger and eventually 'migrated' to a 'higher realm'.
But...
The rot was undeniable.
It wasn't just Elder Zhang, after all; there was still Spirit Sage and Light, and even if they had no inherent desire for the sect's destruction and were mostly using it as a hiding place, it spoke volumes of the sect's inner instability.
Having some low-level disciples as spies? Perfectly normal.
One of the most Senior Elders and the Sect Master himself? An imminent sign of a collapsing system.
Perhaps, on some level, I've always known, which is why I never thought about it too deeply. Well, always is a strong word--it wasn't until Light showed up here that I began... doubting.
But Spirit Sage has shown no reason for me to doubt him--while he was harboring a Demonic Inheritor, nowhere in my memories can I find any act of his that went against the Sect.
"Ugh," I grunted. I'd rather he never said anything, to be honest; now that it was out in the open, it was like a sign from him. No, not a sign--a prediction.
Long Tao was leaving this place. When or how are still indeterminate, but it wouldn't be too long; otherwise, he wouldn't have brought it up. And, judging from his words, he wanted me to come with, too.
And if I went, Dai Xiu would go too... as would Hua, who would follow her. Xi Zhao was also likely to follow me, if his incessant proclamations of loyalty were anything to go by.
That left Light.
I don't know whether she'd come... or even if I want her to come. Travelling the world alongside a Demonic Inheritor? Wasn't that the most obvious planted flag for inviting countless troubles?
Haah.
I brewed myself a cup of tea, incapable of escaping the thoughts. Just as the water began to boil, a guest that had been missing for a few days arrived--Elder Qin.
Truth be told, I had little love for the sect itself; I had no attachments to it or most of anyone inside of it... save for this aged man greeting me with a smile.
Even Spirit Sage seemed, at best, wholly indifferent to me, while the rest of the Elders hated my guts. Everyone except for him. If I left, I'd be leaving him to a certain death. And if I asked him to leave with me? Hah. As if.
He'd already given me the green light, too, to leave should such a day ever come. To take the kids and disappear.
"What's got you looking so sour?" he asked as he started setting up the chessboard.
"... nothing," I couldn't bring it up, the idea of him leaving. "You haven't visited for a few days."
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"Ah, yes, I've been a bit busy. I hope you didn't let Xi Zhao slack."
"Let?" I chuckled. "All kids here seem bedeviled with hard work, truth be told. They make me feel guilty for not cultivating day and night myself."
"Your turn to play first," he said, spinning the board. "Have you ever considered it?"
"Considered what?" I asked, pushing the pawn forward.
"Cultivating more seriously."
"Me and what talent?"
"... heavens aren't unfair, Elder Lu," he replied, pushing the pawn as well. He'd learned a lot from me and stopped playing those insane corner-pawn openings, at least. "They reward those who work hard."
"... if they weren't unfair," I said. "There wouldn't be those who needed to work hard, Elder Qin. Or those would be the only ones around."
"..." He stayed silent for a moment, his eyes darting between mine and the board beneath us. "You sound angry at them."
"No," I said. "Just making an observation. Everyone has good and bad hands in life; though I wasn't blessed with any particular talents, I was still blessed, was I not? Most people with my talent never embark on the journey of cultivation, and yet here I am, an Elder in the Spirit Sword Sect."
"Ho ho. Rather broad-minded," he chuckled as he made a rather stupid move, losing his queen.
Despite that, he didn't surrender. Or, rather, Elder Qin never surrendered--he always played until the checkmate, no matter the game's state.
As our little duel came to an end, he sighed in resignation, removed all the pieces and stored them inside a small box, which was then further stored into the spatial ring, and stood up, ready to leave.
"I have made arrangements."
"Hm?"
"Come with Light at my peak tomorrow before dawn."
"Oh."
"No matter what happens," he added. "If someone asks, put the blame on me."
"Nothing will happen."
"... promise me."
"..." Why? Why was he so adamant about helping me? No matter how much I stared at his eyes, I couldn't discern the depths of his motives, so I simply nodded my head and agreed. "I promise."
"Good. I will see you tomorrow, then."
He left as silently as he came, leaving me even more rattled.
I am not made for juggling too many things at once. That was why I struggled in college and why I eventually settled on being a small-time pharmacist filling out prescriptions.
But unlike on Earth, where I could notably escape my shortcomings and my woes, here... it seemed impossible. The matter of spies within and without the sect, the matter of war, the matter of the Demonic Inheritor, the matter of leaving the sect behind... they were like anchors chained to my limbs, pulling me down any time I tried to leave.
Shaking my head, I stood up and quested around for a moment, looking for Light.
She was way in the back, 'assisting' Hua with putting some finishing touches on the project.
Was it the right choice, even, to send her there? Perhaps it was the right choice for Long Tao, but the way he viewed the world and the way a six-year-old would view the world... did they not differ vastly?
But if there was a chance to help her, to prevent her from experiencing the same fate her father did... how could I deny it?
Ugh.
"Light," I called out to her and watched her promptly stand up and run over toward me, wide-eyed and smiling.
"What is it, Elder Lu?" Ever since our little talk a few days back, she'd... changed. It was a subtle change, the ilk that others probably even haven't picked up on. But she no longer seemed as cold, and a simple glance at her status showed why--her Apathy (Epic) was actually downgraded to Apathy (Rare), something I'd never experienced before.
"... I've arranged a special training with Elder Qin's help for you for tomorrow," I said. "So we'll have to leave the mountain before dawn. Are you willing?"
"Yes!" she smiled, agreeing without hesitation. "What kind of training is it?"
"I'm... not too sure, either," I said. "All I know is that it's perfectly tailored for you. I'll be there throughout, however, and if at any point you want to leave... we'll leave immediately. So don't be worried."
"I'm not," she grinned. "I just hope you don't cry when I become stronger than you, he he~"
I smiled silently and patted her head for a moment before she spun around and joined back up with Hua, aggressively bothering him about something or another.
I've been afraid a lot of times in my life, both on Earth as well as here; rather, I've been afraid most of the time I've spent in this world. Afraid of being discovered, afraid of being randomly killed, afraid of the monsters hiding on my peak...
But I don't think I've ever been quite so terrified as I am right now. Terrified that I can no longer 'go with the flow' and simply react to the world around me. Terrified that it was up to me to make a choice and live with all the possible consequences of that choice. There would be no blaming anyone but me, no matter how wrong things go. And knowing me and my history of making choices? Oh boy, will things go wrong. So, so wrong.
Fragments of Lives Gone (I)
Light insisted on holding my hand (well, my finger, really) as we descended the mountain, and I obliged.
There truly was something magical about earning the trust of a child; it's sort of like when you're feeding a stray cat for almost a year and it finally lets you pet it.
... did I just compare a kid to a cat?
Yikes.
Anyway, the sect was rather... different before the sun emerged on the horizon. There was a serene stillness and quietness to it, dark shadows embossing the slanted frames of the rooftops, the invisible tendrils of nothing holding it all together. The sounds of our footsteps were exceptionally loud, or at least appeared to be so, and I realized I really didn't like being out at night.
It made sense--this was wilderness, after all. While the mountain path may have been rather bereft of the greenery, it was still a mountain and not an actual road. There were critters hiding in the stray shrubberies, countless tiny lizards crawling between the rocks and hiding in the gaps, and insects galore just waking up.
I held it together, of course, for her, but... it didn't seem like she needed it. Chances are that she genuinely didn't care, as she hummed an unfamiliar tune with a rather jubilant expression (well, jubilant for her) as we descended.
The sect got even creepier as we left the mountain and entered the valley; the usually busy hubbub that was the market was nowhere to be found. There were no disciples anywhere, and it legitimately looked like we stumbled into some creepy, abandoned horror show and that we were a few hours away from being devoured by some demon--
--hey, she's a demon. She's not gonna devour me, though, right?
Khm.
Jokes aside, I adhered to Elder Qin's instructions and met him at the bottom of his peak, where he was waiting for us. Rather than taking the same route we did the first time I went to the Antechamber, he led us... elsewhere. Deeper and deeper into the recess of the sect, the small, narrow passages between the mountain slopes, and then into a broad opening in the side of a cliff.
Great, from one dark thingamabob into an even darker one.
Luckily, with a flick of a finger, Elder Qin summoned a luminous sphere that stayed floating above our heads, illuminating the surprisingly broad passage.
"According to the Founding Master's journal," Elder Qin broke the silence. "This passage was already there when he and his disciples chanced upon the mountain."
"... it's clearly manmade." I said, noting the beams holding it up.
"He didn't think so," Elder Qin said. "The beams and the poles supporting the passage are new. When he found it, it was being held open by invisible tendrils of strange Qi that he'd never experienced before. Dark and ominous, yet light and forthcoming, as though someone had taken Demonic Qi and Ordinary Qi and married the two."
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Hmm? Wait... isn't that exactly what probably happened? Long Tao did mention that the Antechamber was designed to take Demonic Qi and purify it, so it's entirely possible that his passage was made by one or another creature that went into the Antechamber. Maybe even several times, which was why there was such a paradoxical mix of Qi.
"He supposed that, a long time before his arrival, there existed a Mythical Beast among these mountains, and that the passage was made by it in its infancy." Well... he's not completely wrong.
"I didn't know about this place," I said after scouring Lu Qi's memories.
"Few do, actually," Elder Qin said. "The original entrance is hidden by a rather complex array. Only the most Senior members of the Sect know about it... and now you, I suppose."
"..." Ignoring the jab, I simply further examined the jutting, sharp rocks from the sides and wondered... how did the passage survive for so many years? As far as Lu Qi's memories went, Spirit Sword Sect was only about eight to nine hundred years old, give or take, and Long Tao disappeared ten thousand years ago. And that was 'disappeared'--who the hell knows how long before that he made this place.
It was still rather difficult for me to wrap my head around the notion of things like dynasties and sects and things existing in almost uninterrupted states for hundreds of years, yet now the timeline is already being pushed to thousands, if not even more than that.
To them, though, it probably wouldn't be unusual; it'd be sort of like discovering a city somewhere on Earth in the jungle that was built in 400 BCE. Sure, it'd be an amazing discovery, but not exactly world-shattering. Now, finding evidence of a man-like primate riding a T-Rex into battle? Would have made for a fun children's story.
The walk lasted about half an hour before we broke into a familiar little scenery--the Antechamber stood as lit up as it did the time before, the winds shaping the maelstrom of Qi at the center into a rather breathtaking vista.
"We're here," Elder Qin stated the obvious. "I'll ask again: are you absolutely sure about this?"
Was I?
Honestly... there were some doubts. While I did trust Long Tao, it was also quite possible that he made up the entire thing because he figured out Light's identity and wanted to kill her before she became a threat.
Rather, if I were a deeply paranoid and distrustful person hellbent on surviving in this world by any means necessary, I would devoutly believe that version over any other. However, the fact that he came back to inform me of something that yielded him no benefit... it forced me to reexamine the monster I thought I knew, ever so slightly.
"I am," I replied. "Okay. Light," I crouched down to her eye level. "You'll cross that bridge and go into that big sphere over there. Don't be afraid, okay?"
"... can you come with me?"
"Uh, I'm really not--"
"--I want you to come with me."
"I'm really not supposed to--"
"--I won't go if you don't come with me!"
Huh.
I am suddenly reminded why I wasn't fond of kids back on Earth. It was precisely this--these occasional bouts of unyielding stubbornness where they throw epic tantrums if they don't get their way. My mom had a rather funny way of solving it, which involved any one random object she could reach and throw at me.
"You should go," eh? I aggressively spun my head toward Elder Qin to see if he was making some sick joke, but based on his expression... he wasn't. Rather, there was... a strange sense of serenity within his eyes, and it finally hit me.
"... I should, huh?" I stood up, meeting his gaze squarely.
This was a test.
Through and through.
His way of finalizing whether he could trust me or not.
"You'd never been before," he said. "And I'll be right here, in case something goes wrong."
"..." I stayed silent, enduring the eyes that seemed deeply apologetic. He wanted to trust me, but the sin of human nature was the doubt. The enduring trait, ever a worm.
"So, you'll... come?" Light squeezed my finger tightly and pulled my attention away. Well, now I kind of have to. If I refuse, even if Elder Qin doesn't kill me on the spot, he won't help me ever again.
"... I'll come," I said, mentally preparing for the onslaught of demons that weren't even my own.
Fragments of Lives Gone (II)
The walk toward and over the bridge was unsettling, to say the least. I could feel the pessimistically apologetic eyes of an old man uncertain of his choices on my back and could barely feel my finger anymore, as Light had squeezed all the blood out of it.
Dammit, you two! I have enough demons of my own to face without you two saddling me with yours!
The closer we got to the center of the 'island,' the colder the air became. No, that's not quite right; it wasn't so much colder as it was cooler. It was sort of like going from a city to a mountain and suddenly learning what it actually means to 'breathe fully'. Except this one went even beyond that.
It wasn't just that I could breathe more easily; it was even my Qi--the gunk-addled monstrosity that cruised through my meridians—loosened up ever so slightly, and I felt that if I stayed here, I could do one circulation in approximately 4 minutes, a full two minutes quicker than I can elsewhere in the sect.
Here, I am almost... average.
And yet, the terror would not go away.
We paused for a moment at the very edge; it was... odd to bear witness to it from up close. The way the world almost bent alongside the rotating twirls of Qi was enlightening. It was sort of like imagining how a black hole warps space around itself, though not to such an extent, of course.
I glanced down and saw a young, scared girl gnashing her teeth together in a bid to muster courage, and felt all the cowardice of my own fade. Squeezing her hand, we took a leap of faith inward.
Darkness swelled as all light vanished. I tried mustering Qi into a similar bulb of light to Elder Qin's but found it impossible to conjure up even a strand.
"Elder Lu...?" she whimpered.
"I'm here. Don't be scared."
The silence and the darkness lasted for a moment longer before I could hear the distant hums churning. Like deep-bellowing drums being pounded by something immeasurably tall, the sound carried over and under, yet I could not feel any vibrations.
It grew neither louder nor quieter, perfectly static in its pitch.
About thirty seconds later, I noted a mote of light emerge from the endless darkness; at first it was murky, like a globe of swamp water being rolled, but as it grew larger--no, as it grew closer—the image became clear: it was of the two of us, her tiny hand squeezing my finger, staring off into nothingness.
It didn't move toward me but rather toward her; before I could react in any capacity, it drilled between her brows, and the darkness around was interrupted by a sudden burst of light.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Her skin began to glow in a rather spectacular fashion as her fingers loosened the grip on mine. In the same breath, her body began to hover, lifting up as her eyes widened and beams of light shot out of them.
Holy shit! What the hell am I even seeing?! My jaw must be kissing the floor right now 'cause... well, goddamn.
All the endless Jesus imagery that the movies just love being subtle about? Well, I get to live it out!... not quite, actually.
She spun and rolled forward a few times before remaining suspended midair at the seeming center of the room, limbs splayed out, head craned slightly back, her hair rather magically moving as though in water, strands trouncing about like tendrils.
At the same time, hundreds of motes of light emerged from every which corner of the place, all converging toward her in arcing streaks.
I caught brief glimpses of some of them--she was riding on the top of someone's shoulders, laughing; in another, she was half-asleep, being carried to her bed; in yet another, she was crying while a torn-up arm was gently patting the top of her head... it was like I was catching fragments of her life captured in still images, telling the story of a life gone.
And then, I caught a glimpse of something... else.
It was a teenage boy, backpack slung across his back, hands in pockets. Then there was another, that of a young man singing at the top of his lungs, surrounded by a sea of people coated in shadows.
It was me.
My life.
That time I fell off the bike and scraped my knee so bad I had to go get stitches.
And that time I kissed Yas for the first time and hiccupped in the middle of it, causing her to laugh harder than I had ever heard anyone laugh before or since.
And then that time we went to Barbados after saving for almost four years, and I got food poisoning the very first day there, so she spent the next five sitting by my bedside, taking care of me.
Fading fragments of a life were festering into motes of light that curved slightly toward me before being pulled elsewhere. And with each one of them, I felt my heart lightening. It was as though the young girl lying suspended midair was taking away the things that used to devour me.
They weren't memories, not really--it was just still images, and if someone were to see them, they would probably have no idea what is happening.
Why is that guy sitting on a couch, late at night, with no lights on, staring at the TV that wasn't on? Maybe he's sleeping with his eyes open? Or maybe he's easily entertained?
That was actually about fourteen seconds after the hospital called and told me she was gone. I stared at that TV for almost an hour before Yas' mom called me to ask me where the hell I was.
All that I can remember of that night is precisely that moment--sinking into the just-recently reupholstered couch, feeling as though an invisible hand had reached into the depths of my soul and yanked whatever was in it out. Everything else... is a blank.
The entire ordeal lasted for about a minute, give or take, before the motes of light subsided. At the same time, shadowed tendrils began to pour out of the pores of her skin, wiggling about like corals in the faint current. They were leaning towards her as though begging to come back in, yet some counteracting force pushed them further and further out... until she shed them like the snakes shed their skin.
Darkness surged yet again, and all I could hear was the soft sound of the beating heart. Before long, I braved the step forward and then another, quickly reaching the center just in time to see her open her eyes.
They were exactly the same, if slightly lighter in hue, as was her expression. It was as though nothing changed, and taking a peek at her status told the same story: there was literally no difference.
No, wait, there is one.
[Boon of Blood (???) -- an untold force remade the ancient festering curse in a manner unknown; now, dormant in the depths of the living shell, resides a force capable of forging and annihilating the worlds. Seek '????' for answers]
Woven (I)
"Uh... what happened?"
Light's first words shook me up a bit too, as, well, I didn't really have an answer either. What did happen? She flew up and out to the center, ate up a bunch of rather painful reminders of my past life, reversed her 80,000-year-old curse into a boon, and now she was awake, asking what happened.
"Do you feel any different?" I asked.
"No, I don't think so."
"Try circulating Qi."
"... ah!" She briefly closed her eyes and exclaimed quickly after, her expression tightening into a rather odd one. It was as though she was suppressing excitement and horror all at once.
"Don't mention it to anyone," I warned. "When Elder Qin asks, just say that when you tried cultivating, your mind was five times clearer than before."
"A-ah, okay," she nodded somewhat hesitatingly.
"Come on, let's go." She grabbed my finger yet again as I pulled her up and led her outside.
Right at the edge, I glanced back one last time at the place, bidding farewell to it as I simply wasn't coming back, no matter what. Were it not for Light, I'm afraid those memories... might have caused some damage.
As the two of us emerged, we first noticed the panicked Elder Qin pacing back and forth right on the opposite side of the bridge. Just as we saw him, he also saw us, and his rather worried expression alighted, and an aged, weathered smile came up.
"Is everything alright, you two?" he asked us as soon as we crossed the bridge.
"Everything is fine. How long have we been inside?" I queried.
"Almost an hour..."
"Wow." It didn't really feel like an hour, but then again... what the hell even is time?
"So, you really are alright?"
"Yeah," I nodded, smiling as well. "Don't worry; neither of us has gone mad. I mostly just observed while our precious little one here underwent a bit of a Nirvana."
"..." Though he seemed tempted to ask, he paused and stopped himself. I really did want to spill my guts out and tell him everything, but... couldn't. No matter how much I trusted him, there was the pre-written 'arrangement', almost, that we'd soon part ways. "Very well. All is good if you two are alright. Come on; let's go back. It's time for the sect to wake up."
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
He led us out through the same tunnel we came in, though at a more accelerated pace. At some point I even had to pick Light up as she was unable to keep up. We went our separate ways as soon as we emerged at the valley, with him pulling me to the side and offering a single sentence of advice: "Tell no one, even unto death."
Well, that wasn't ominous, not at all.
As we watched him leave, Light grabbed my finger yet again and squeezed against my leg, her eyes worriedly looking at the fading figure of the old man. I sighed and pulled her with me up the mountain, returning right as the morning bell hawked throughout the sect.
Halfway up the mountain, I had to pull the girl up to my shoulder, where she promptly fell asleep and was still far off in dreamland even throughout the ringing of the bell.
I gently carried her over to the bed under the questioning gazes of Dai Xiu and Hua before walking back to my home, going upstairs into my bedroom, opening it, and bearing witness to something that caused my heart to nearly leap out of my chest.
Long Tao was sitting on the corner of my bed, reading something--nothing strange so far, sure--while one of his feet was pinned against the throat of a man lying prone on the ground, squirming violently, purple in the face.
... Hey, wait a second--I know that guy! It's that spy elder that I identified, what was his name? Uhh.. Zhu, Zha--no, Jiang Dong!
"Welcome back, Master," Long Tao said rather disinterestedly. "I trust you had a good excursion to the ancient little alcove."
"Yeah. We sang, we danced, and we had a great deal of fun--could you please give context to, well, all of this?"
"This guy's a spy."
"... yes, I know. It was me who told you about him!"
"Well, last night I was feeling a bit bored, so I went out to check on them. Stumbled upon this guy doing something shady, followed him, and watched him get a message through a Firebird from his sect."A Firebird? What the hell's a Firebird? "A bird made out of fire."
"... huh. Okay. So, why bring him to my bedroom?"
"I thought you'd want to question him. I've already sealed his meridians and activated the soundproofing array. No matter what happens, not a soul will hear it."
Huh.
I think delegating a task to Long Tao may have been a mistake. No, it was definitely a mistake; the way an old monster like him handled things and the way I would handle them are so contrasting they may as well be--just wait a goddamned second, wasn't this guy at the Peak of Spirit Manifestation Realm?!! How the hell did he get captured?!
I always knew that the kid could probably kick my ass with ease, but I always chalked it up to the fact that Lu Qi wasn't really a Spirit Manifestation Realm cultivator--he was merely a fake. But now... was the guy having his neck stomped on also a fake? Well, to Long Tao, most of us may as well actually be fakes...
"Alright. Let him breathe, for crying out loud," I said with a sigh as the old monster pulled his leg back. The old man began to cough violently, scurrying up and against the wall while his gaze darted between the two of us. I'd have to be blind not to see the cogs spinning in them, and I actually grew quite curious as to what kind of a story he would weave.
"Elder Lu, what is the meaning of this?!" He finally managed to speak after almost a minute, his voice hoarse and shattered, as it were. Huh. So he's going with 'ignorance'. "Were you displeased with our transaction? You could have just returned the trinket! Isn't this too much?!"
"His ability to pretend he didn't hear a word of our conversation," I said. "Quite impressive."
"Let me know what you learn," Long Tao said as he stood up and moved toward the doors.
"You're not going to stay?"
"I'm just a weak, scared little disciple. This is a business meant for seniors of our sect."
"..."
I want to smack him, honestly, but instead... I just smile.
"Ah, but don't worry," he added just before closing the doors behind himself. "I'll be back for cleanup. He he. I would never miss the cleanup."
Shivers.
Goosebumps.
Chill in my veins.
Call it what you will, that little freak scares the bejesus out of me. I exhaled in solidarity with the old man who shuddered as the doors closed, meeting his gaze and wondering...
What the hell do I do now?!
Woven (II)
Do I have any experience interrogating people?
Yeah. There was that one time I interrogated Jim about his date with Donna. It did not go well.
Though I have no actual experience trying to squeeze info out of the perps, I did spend a considerable number of hours wolfing down the procedural cop shows. An unhealthily considerable number of hours. Honestly, I'm kind of ashamed.
But it seems that all of it is finally being paid off!
... am I really going to use 'tactics' I saw in TV shows on an actual, real, live person?
Yeah, I really am.
"Jiang Dong," I said, pouring myself a small cup of water. Not because I was thirsty, but because I always imagined myself as one of those guys pouring a glass of scotch or whiskey as he interrogates people. "187 years old. Peak of the Spirit Manifestation Realm. Do you know him?"
"... I--I don't, I don't know." Wow. I am good! Just a pair of lousy sentences and I've already got a man squirming! Maybe I should have become a cop? Nah. I'd have a career of constantly clashing with my superiors because they'd never believe my amazing theories.
"Really? You don't?" I turned around and smiled, walking over to the chair pressed against the cupboard and pulling it out, sitting down, cross-legged, and staring straightly at the man who was avoiding my gaze. "That's odd. I was certain you knew him."
"Y-you're, yeah, you're mistaken. Is that why you did this? I, I will overlook it and not report it if you just let me go--"
"--ah, come on, Dong," Yes, I was going to call him Dong. I may be mature, but my sense of humor stopped maturing at around the age of nine. "This is the part of being caught when you try to bargain for your future. You know? Promise you'll tell me all I want to know, but in turn I have to spare your life. Or cackle like a madman and throw yourself at me in a desperate bid to die, as you're unwilling to divulge any info about your true home.
"Anything cool besides whimpering out a half-cooked denial." I took a sip of water in the coolest way I could think of... and then had to use every one of my muscles not to gag.
Oh my God, it's so disgusting!
It's not only strangely lukewarm, but it also has, like, I don't know, a texture?! I can't even describe it, but water is not supposed to have this kind of a texture! At least not the water I put in my mouth!
I professionally put the cup down out of my sight and strained myself to just stare in silence, hoping my professionally inquisitive glare will be enough to rattle him further.
"Heh. Throw myself at you? Despite how pathetic you are, I am now just a mortal. Though, I suppose there's a higher chance of you being incapable of killing a mortal than of you somehow figuring this all out. So, who told you? Who is behind all of this?"
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Hey, look, it worked! While I'm not happy about being shat on, at least we're getting somewhere.
"What was the message?"
"Huh?"
"The message that the Firebird delivered," I said. "What was in it?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
"Uhm, I would. That's why I'm asking you."
"And you think I'll just tell you?"
"... I can always bring that kid back in. Would you like that?" Huh? Look at that shudder. He's terrified! I mean, of course he is--I am terrified, and I'm technically that monster's 'Master'.
"Who the hell is that kid?! What kind of a monster are you hiding on your peak, Elder Lu?!"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" I said with a grin, almost subconsciously reaching for that cup of water yet again before stopping myself just in time, gagging for a second. "But I'll tell you this: of the two of us, only I ask questions. At least, ask them politely enough."
"Just kill me," he said, closing his eyes. "You are all too late, anyway. Your sword shall burn, and with it the mountains shall crumble. It cannot be avoided."
... well, if that ain't foreboding.
Was I going to kill him? No. Not in the slightest.
Look, I am desperately aware that I won't be able to avoid it forever, but dammit, I'll avoid it for as long as I possibly can. It's a good thing that I got a 14-year-old to offload all this garbage to.
Hmm.
I really hope nobody is reading my mind at times like these. I do not come off well.
"What makes you certain it will fall?" I asked. "Elder Zhang is either dead or captured. You are here with me. We are aware of most of the rest of you. We know that the entire war is caused by your sect master, who had gone perfectly mad after his breakthrough. The only thing we don't know, really," I said as his expression grew more and more horrified with each revelation. "Is why you all still obey him. Overlooking an occasional transgression of the strongest person in your sect? I can understand that, in a 'see no evil, hear no evil' sort of a thing.
"But consciously participating in those transgressions? Sacrificing your life for a monster that will forget your name a day after your death, if he ever knew it at all? I don't understand that."
"Then you don't understand loyalty!" he barked. "Or honor! What the hell do you know of Sect Master?! You dare call him a monster?! Hah! For whatever he is, at the very least he's not a Demonic Cultivator."
I frown at the words, heartbeat quickening for a moment.
They know? How?
"... how do you know that?"
"Wait, you know too? Ha ha ha! You know, and you dare lecture me about transgressions? HA HA HA!"
"How do you know?" I ignored his laughter and pressed. It's one thing if nobody knows, but if they are already aware... no, wait, do they know about Light, too?
"How can we not know? An entire coalition of Holy Lands came together to stop the rise of the Demonic Sect, bleeding and dying by the thousands. Yet, at the heart of the sect, they didn't find the one person they were desperate to find--the inheritor. The monster had run off," shit. So, they know about Light. This is bad. "And not a week later, the Sect Master of this godforsaken hellhole just so happens to break through to the Void Transformation Realm?
"You call my Sect Master a monster? Yours, you absolute scum, is a literal monster! You're all following an inheritor of the Demonic Arts, a creature the entire worlds have loathed for tens of thousands of years!"
... ah. So they don't know about Light.
Rather, they don't even know that he's a Demonic Cultivator, they just... guessed. Because it was easier than accepting there was somebody more talented than their Sect Master.
Chances are that it's just a story the old monster tells them to 'excuse' his shortcomings. A pure shot in the dark that just happened to land at the valley of truth... or, at least, thereabouts.
"Next thing you'll tell me is the reason you guys wanted to start a war is because you wanted to, justly, of course, kill the inheritor of the Demonic Arts."
"Ha ha ha, you've finally got it! Now you understand! Understand how foolish your endeavors are! Your little sect will burn, and you will all burn with it! Ha ha ha!"
Goddamn, this guy loved to laugh.
More to the point though... aren't we kind of screwed?
Woven (III)
Six bodies lay sprawled across the floor, discarded like used tissues, life within them snuffed. At the same time, a young-seeming man was putting on crimson dragon robes with the help of a young girl; she was shaking and whimpering, her hands just barely holding on to the silk as she carefully pulled the Master's arms through the sleeves.
"You've made a mess of things again," an aged voice broke the heavy silence as the void itself tore open just to the side of the bed, with a well-dressed and groomed middle-aged man stepping through casually, hands behind his back. "Get out." He flicked his finger, causing the young woman to abruptly fly sideways and out of the room, tumbling on the hardened carpet outside just as the doors to the bedroom closed.
The young man frowned and glared silently at the old one for a moment, finishing dressing himself on his own.
"These impromptu visits are getting old," he complained.
"And my patience is wearing thin," the other responded in kind, flicking his fingers yet again, his azure-blue eyes shining in a strange glint. A moment later, the six corpses faded as though they were never there, leaving behind only a fading scent of a chrysanthemum. "Where is the girl?"
"I told you I will deliver her to you personally... in time."
"There is no time left."
"It's not so simple! Even if they are just a third-rate irrelevant sect, they still hold the Holy Rights to those mountains! It was brilliantly clever for that old servant of hers to drag her there of all places..."
"You are growing ever bolder, little one." The young man suddenly found himself floating against his will, feeling the pressure of the fingers digging into his neck as he found it harder and harder to breathe.
The majestic dragon robes fluttered wildly as he rocked his legs in any which direction he could, trying to gasp for breath.
"Not five years ago, you came to me on your knees, begging and crying to help you. And look at you now--daring to talk back, to quip, to praise the filth-blooded before my very ears. Because of you, because of how long we've waited, the word has already gotten out. All the Holy Lands are aware that the Soul Dao Seed is somewhere in the Lesser Lands.
"While they may not know precisely where just yet, it is only a matter of time. The time we don't have. So, you have a month, young pup. Go to war, and get me the Seed by any means necessary, or I will do unto you what your body would have already done without me... but much, much, much worse."
"HAAAAH!" the young man gasped for breath as he fell to the ground, thudding against the rock-hard floor, feeling bruised.
By the time he turned around and looked up, the old man was gone, leaving behind a lingering scent of death.
"Dammit," he cursed under his breath, massaging his neck. A month... wasn't enough. And yet, he had no other choice. "Just what in heaven's name is the Soul Dao Seed?"
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
**
What happened to Jiang Dong?
Hell if I know.
After my 'interrogation' came to an end, I went out for a nice little walk, took in the sights of a slightly overcast day with the scent of rain on the horizon, and by the time I came back... he was gone, my bedroom empty as though he were never there.
Where was he ushered off to? I don't know, and I am far too afraid to ask.
Besides, something about what he said stuck with me and made me ponder the depths of Lu Qi's memories.
Light was six--so, the assault on the Demonic Sect or wherever she was had to have happened in the last six years. However, Spirit Sage was well over 400 years old, at least. Jiang Dong believed that the inheritor escaped and then took over Spirit Sage's body, but since I know that's not the case (since the inheritor is a young little girl that gets excited talking about chalk), how did Spirit Sage come in contact with her?
Was he always a Demonic Cultivator? Maybe a former member of the cult who'd run away? Or maybe he was planted as a spy?
Yeah.
I could spin a hundred and two theories about it, but it's actually rather dangerous; I'm becoming less and less convinced that this is some tiny random sect nestled in a random, forgotten corner of the world where nothing ever happens.
While I can chalk up one or two monsters appearing here to just 'fate', it's not just one or two. For a rather low-rank sect, it housed some people that vastly outpaced it. And I'm starting to think they're not here for no reason.
I'm pretty sure, actually, that Long Tao is the only one here by random happenstance. But he was also the cog driving the current circumstances forward.
... I could have been reborn in some silent corner where nothing ever happens, and I could have just quietly reared a few kids slowly and steadily, but nooo, here I am, about to get caught up in a war that has about six layers to it, five and a half of which I can't even see through.
Ultimately, whatever I can think of isn't going to be true due to one simple reason: Lu Qi's memories and knowledge in general are completely unreliable. They'd already bitten me in the ass a few times, and relying on them for something as spectacularly monumental as a war would likely cost me dearly.
There's probably one person in the sect who knows the truth behind everything--Hua.
While I could break this silent understanding we have with each other, if he thought I should know, he would have probably found a way to tell me.
No, wait, maybe he did tell me something--with the spies.
Inspired by a silent revelation, I quickly descended the mountain and found myself standing at the entrance of the market. I dug into my memories and slowly found all eight stalls that he dragged me to; it might be nothing, it might be my conspiratorial brain just doing conspiratorial brain things, but it could be... something.
The way the stalls in question were arranged was a bit... odd. They were all lined on the right side facing away from my mountain, curving out and then back in like a spline. The pattern seemed truly random--it wasn't a letter or a word or a sign, nor was it an array or a formation or anything of the sort.
It looked just like the normal shape of a curve--shape! Yes, its shape is kind of like an arrowhead? If I squint hard enough!
And it's pointing to the place beyond the market, somewhere I hadn't actually gone in quite a while--Outer Sect Wasteland.
... no, that can't be right.
Why the hell would he be telling me to go to the place where a whole bunch of kids die on the weekly? Wait, maybe he's telling me to go die? Heh.
There goes my conspiratorial brain again, just making shit up.
Haah.
I just want to make martial arts, eat nice food (with spices), take my naps, and read books... ah, and become like the 7th strongest person in the world, nothing too ambitious. Is that really too much to ask?
I wanted to forget it all, but there is my gut. My big, juicy, stupid gut. And it's telling me that there is something afoot. What? No idea. Not even an idea of an idea. But any time in my life I ignored my gut, I came to regret it. Especially that time I ate those oysters 'cause I wanted to impress the guys.
Oh boy, was my gut angry. Now, though, it's not angry... so much as it's anxious. And, if you ask me... I'd honestly prefer if it were just angry.
Whole (I)
What's a man to do in distress but distract himself?
Thus, here I am, atop my freshened bedding, stomach pressing against a mattress that may as well be a month-old loaf of bread with how hard it is, playing around with my toy.
Ever since I learned the fancy ways of Endless Shadow Steps, I realized that I didn't necessarily have to wait for my body to be fully purified to use most of these things.
For instance, while Heart-Stitching Art didn't really have nearly as much of an effect on me as it did on someone like Long Tao, it did do a magical little thing when I used it just a little while ago--it calmed my anxious gut! Something that was only possible with a bottle of te--never mind.
The Shadow Steps also inspired me to want more, as they were the first time I truly felt magical in this world. Yes, it was quite wonderful, being able to use Qi as this fantastical energy otherwise unfound, but the scope within which I could do it was so minimal it didn't feel that special.
It was a double-parter, too: on one hand, there was me, an Earthling with no experience using Qi and fearful of misusing it and costing myself the future; on the other hand, there was Lu Qi, who had less than no interest in becoming a master at wielding his namesake and never bothered learning much past the basics.
Take those two together, mush 'em up, and you get the scaredy little cat called me.
Shadow Steps, though, opened new doors for me, but I'm still unwilling to make an art specifically for me, as it'd be such a waste. Windfalls of Creation Points like the ones I got recently won't be a frequent thing, after all--
[Monthly (Locked) Quest Completed -- Help your disciple, Dai Xiu, reach the 7th stage of the Qi Condensation Realm within 1 year]
[Reward: 100 Creation Points]
[Bonus Reward for quick completion: 100 Creation Points]
--aaaand I just bit my tongue.
Hm.
As I was saying, windfalls of mythological-level wealth are impossible to just chance upon randomly in this world, after all...
...
Nothing?
Tsk. And here I thought I had the magic touch to conjure whatever damn well I wanted. Guess not.
Okay, so, Dai Xiu reached the 7th stage, and Long Tao is--wait, when did that bastard reach the middle of the Foundation Establishment?!! Are you breaking through by just BREATHING, you bastard?! Do you know that most people spend literal decades breaking through to the mid stage?!
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Ah, whatever. It's not worth the blood pressure.
I close my status window and descend the stairs; unlike before, they don't creak. That old monster Hua has been hard at work fixing a whole bunch of things and apparently did the stairs too.
No, seriously, just how many people in the world can say they have a freakin' Demigod repairing stairs for them? I may legit be, like, one of the four, right?
Just as soon as I descended, a young girl came streaming in from the outside, a wide smile hanging on her face.
"Master, I broke through!" Dai Xiu exclaimed, her hair whipping backward. Once more she seemed bound to hug me but stopped herself the last second and patiently waited for praise, I'm assuming. Which was free to offer, thankfully.
"Ho ho, is that so? Congratulations! If you keep at it, you'll drive your old Master bankrupt with how many parties I have to throw each time you do it."
"A-ah, I'm sorry--"
"--just joking, just joking," haah, she really hasn't picked up on my sense of humor and seems keen on taking everything I say quite seriously. "Your Master is a very wealthy man!" I thought I was a very wealthy man... "So, just keep breaking through!"
"Yes!" she beamed.
"Here," I tossed her a satchel with about a hundred low-grade Stones or so. "You can go down the mountain and buy us all a nice dinner. Take Xi Zhao with you."
"Yes, Master!"
Speaking of Xi Zhao, I'd asked Elder Qin to look into the boy's woes, but it's been almost a week now and I haven't heard anything back. Hopefully it wasn't anything serious, but considering that Xi Zhao had overcome his hurdles and become a protag... I have my doubts.
I left the house for some fresh air and was on my way to my little hamlet when I ran into Hua, who was... well, he was doing something. I think he was taking measurements for laying down a proper path, though I honestly didn't know.
He greeted me with a bow, but before we parted ways, I stopped him.
"Hey, wait for a moment," I deliberated for a long while on whether to do this, but with the war approaching and, far more importantly, its undercurrents seemingly encroaching on the sect's lands, and Hua's willing interference with the spies, I figured... I'd take another leap of faith. "Here, a reward," I tossed him the tome for Heart-Stitching Art, and he caught it quite nimbly. "I confided in Elder Qin, and with his help we figured out a number of spies in the sect, and it was all because of you. Even if you didn't intend it, we'd have never found them otherwise. That's a small art I picked up a long time ago--it won't increase your cultivation or change your fate overnight, but I found it rather good for keeping a steady mind. If you find it confusing," psh, as if. "Look for Long Tao; he's also been practicing it."
I made my cool exit, sweat drenching my back, hoping there won't be a stiletto protruding through my throat.
Thankfully, I wasn't stopped and was allowed to leave for my little hamlet. Didn't even turn to scrutinize his expression.
Haah.
Such bedeviled ways of living with monsters in isolation. Every move could be my last, every decision one of life or death... okay, I'm being a wee bit melodramatic here--truth be told, had it not been for the system, I wouldn't be thinking any of these things.
None of the people here, not even Hua, had ever given me any indication they'd divorce my head from my neck. Not to say that they potentially didn't consider it, but as far as I'd be aware... well, I'd be blissfully ignorant.
Which wouldn't be all bad.
I finally reached my little sanctuary and sat by the edge, tossing my legs over and dangling them. At first, I found it terrifying—the fall was over a mile long, not to mention various jutting spikes that would likely leave massive holes in my body should I fall—but now... I don't know. I almost liked that there was no ground beneath my feet. Made me believe I could fly, childish though it was.
Even if--
[--a Servant has mastered Heart-Stitching Art]
[...]
[Reward: 200 Creation Points]
[Bonus Reward: you can freely imbue the 'Calming' effect to a cultivation method]
[...]
[A Servant has used the mastery of Heart-Stitching Art to faintly undo his curse, allowing him to create temporary respite and use a greater part of his cultivation in short bursts]
[Note: the Servant will fall severely ill for weeks or months, even, after the use. If overused, there is a threat of death]
Huh.
Yo, dude, didn't I give it to you literally five minutes ago?!! What the hell, man?!