The servant library.
No, to call it a library might be an exaggeration. It was a simple brick shack rarely visited by anyone, one of the few recreational facilities of the servant sector. Inside, dozens of old shelves were lined neatly, dust and cobwebs lining their tops.
Half the books here were related to servant activities, including books on efficient harvesting and crop formations. But the rest were books discarded by disciples of the sect, collected by none other than the resident light spirit.
Baiyun sat on one of few available seats in the meagre library with a lantern on the table close by, holding a book in hand.
Close by, the spirit in question floated above him, looking through the pages as well. For whatever reason, it had taken interest in him in the past years and would visit him whenever it felt like it.
"The great immortal reincarnates as a dragon."
That was the title of the book in his hands. It was a shallow read, but it was an opportunity to ask a question he wanted to ask for years.
"Hey hey, miss spirit! Do you think it's possible to reincarnate like this book says?" Baiyun asked innocently.
"Reincarnation? Hmm... I think I've heard the elder spirits talk about it in the past." the spirit mused. "Something about a new heavenly law about reincarnation being passed down? But I'm not sure."
"It's real?" Baiyun looked up with eyes of child-like excitement. "Then, in my next life, can I be reincarnated as a cultivator?"
"Huh? O-oh, maybe?" the spirit stumbled over her words in a fluster. "But as far as I know, people reincarnate without their memories. You probably won't remember this life."
"Aww..." Baiyun pouted.
But he recovered quickly. With excited waves of his arms, he spouted question after question endlessly. The light spirit seemed troubled by the naive questions of the child.
Baiyun was equally pained by how he had to put on the facade of a clueless child; it was both embarrassing and tiring. If anyone from his past life saw him like this, he felt like he would bury himself in a hole for a hundred years. But tonight was a rare night the spirit had time to spend with him, he wouldn't let her go without asking his fill of questions so easily.
The questions continued for a good few minutes, before he could finally ask the question he wanted. After all, a young child wouldn't know what a heavenly law was.
"-and boom! A brillant flash of light!" the spirit said.
"Ohhh! So it shines with a golden light when they announce a new law! That's so cool! How does it happen? I want to see it!" Baiyun was practically jumping in excitement.
"The heavens don't just pass down laws so casually. Those laws were passed in the 27,980th year, and this year is the 28,088th so that's um..."
"A hundred and eight years later! That's so long!" Baiyun exclaimed.
"Yeah... haha."
The light spirit dimmed, seemingly ashamed of itself.
Baiyun sweated a little. He had answered that reflexively... Even if he was posing as a bright child, perhaps it was a little too much for him to be faster at simple arithmetics than a spirit of unknown age.
108 years, huh? He felt a deep melancholy.
His soul had been in suspension for that long? Baiyun thought he had been reincarnated instantly, but it made sense it took time for his soul to be transported this absurd distance.
As he had suspected, reincarnating with intact memories was not normal. Not everyone would think to keep it hidden, and there would be a lot of chaos if many children were born with knowledge of their past lives. Would his memories be erased if the heavens found out about this error? Baiyun could not help but worry.
If he continued to cultivate, the chance the heavens would find out would grow. But the thought of spending the entirety of this life as a servant was worse. Even if his life was put on the line, he knew he couldn't give up.
Baiyun shut the book in his hands, a faint puff of dust floating into the air.
"Miss spirit!" he said suddenly. "I'm bored, so tomorrow I want to go to the mushroom chamber!"
"What?!" The light spirit practically jumped. "Why would you want to go there?"
"When you took us there last time, I thought the glowing mushrooms were cool!" Baiyun put on the look of a smug child. "I have a lot of contribution points anyway, so what's wrong with taking a break for a day?"
If a servant did well, they could spend their contribution points to get a request of theirs fulfilled.
The two of them bickered for a few minutes before the spirit finally relented, letting out a sigh.
"Fine... I know I can't change your mind when you're like this. But be careful! I'm not allowed to go down with you. And the earth spirit supervising the chambers isn't as caring!"
The spirit spent the 10 minutes nagging and drilling him with safety protocols. Baiyun could only sweat.
"I'll sleep early since tomorrow is big!" he said, desperate to flee.
He practically rushed out of the library with a book under his arm, hurrying home. He ran down a stone road and made a few quick turns, before arriving at a small brick house.
Baiyun quickly pulled the door open only for his eyes to twitch at the sight before him. His brother was hunched over the bamboo box full of delicacies the chefs had given him, eating a bowl of shaved iced leisurely by the spoonful.
"Ah! You thieving rat!" Baiyun yelled.
"Hah! You thought I wouldn't find it if it was under your bed? Blehh!" the kid stuck out his tongue.
Baiyun flung the book in his hands, smacking him right in the head. He would have kept the bamboo box in the storage bag the sect had given him, but it was of low quality and items inside had a tendency to tumble around and flip over.
"Ow!"
Well, not that he really was angry, he told himself. He was just acting as a child, after all. He fought his brother off and ate the rest of the delicacies before heading off to bed, hugging the book to sleep.
"The Fundamentals of Earth".
It was a cultivation related book, not one a child could be expected to understand. Baiyun didn't want to explain to the spirit why he was flipping through such books, so years ago, he figured out an convenient excuse.
"If I sleep with the books, maybe I'll absorb their knowledge!"
That was what he declared to her years ago, much to her speechlessness. In the end, the spirit still catered to his childish demands and handed him a few old cultivation books she found lying around.
Hugging a book to sleep was an easy way for him to read books with soulsense while his body rested. They were far from as refined as the techniques his old sect had, but Aoyang did not like spending the night idling til his body woke. Even if they weren't particularly refined theories, he still enjoyed pondering them from time to time.
Hours, followed by the night passed as the soul read and contemplated each and every page. Baiyun opened his eyes to the light of dawn and put the book aside. He did not wake his brother today and simply left. It wasn't his problem if that kid overslept.
The light spirit flew over, holding a giant bag.
"Here, wear this!"
Baiyun squirmed as she tied a helmet to his head and stuffed him into a thick coat. At the helmet's front, a small qi stone was embedded, shining with a faint light.
"You don't need to go that far..." Baiyun sweated. "I'll be fine."
He wasn't sure how he felt about the spirit acting like an overprotective mother. When had she gotten that attached to him? But it was precisely that very care that made it difficult for him. Too much attention only made it more difficult for him to act discretely.
"Repeat the safety protocols from yesterday!" the spirit said sternly.
"Okay, okay!"
Only after confirming he remembered the protocols did she nod and let him off. Baiyun took off his helmet briefly to adjust his hair, staring at the qi stone wistfully. How easy would it be if he could just eat it to advance his cultivation?
For a moment, he was tempted to gobble it up on the spot and pretend it was just the impulse of a weird child, but he held back.
"Bye miss spirit!"
Baiyun waved goodbye to her before heading off.
He followed long winding paths and made his way to the nearby mountains, where caves reached far down. Other servants were on their way as well, but they did not look as prepared. They did not have coats and merely put on a few layers of clothing. They did not have the luxury of a miner's helmet, instead holding large oil lanterns.
Most of them were adults, so quite a lot of them were staring at the child joining them in puzzlement. But they minded their own business and did not ask.
Before long, the gaping maw of a cave in the midst of the mountain revealed itself. Baiyun followed the servants as they descended the dark caves, entering the bowels of the earth.
The slow trek downwards began. The servants did not seem in the mood for talk, though they let out slow laboured breaths as the air grew colder. Baiyun felt a little bad and offered the least dressed servant a large rag as a makeshift coat. She nodded in thanks, no words exchanged.
An hour of walking passed before they entered the mushroom plantation. The servant handed the rags back to Baiyun, and he finally nodded back in response.
The other servants did not pay the slightest heed to him, dispersing in every direction. They pulled out pickaxes with axe heads on one end and got to work immediately.
Baiyun looked around and took in the sight.
Even deep underground, the caverns were far from lifeless. Massive roots from a strange woody plant dug into the stone walls, countless mushrooms infesting them. Save for the light of lanterns and some luminous mushrooms, the caverns were darker than night.
The faint sounds of grinding and clacking could be heard as servants slowly dug into the stone walls, tending to the roots and harvesting the ripe mushrooms.
Baiyun did not lie to the light spirit about finding the mushroom caverns "cool". He thought there was a certain beauty to the atmosphere here.
He recalled something from a few years back.
Back when he was 6, the light spirit rounded up the young servants and brought them here to visit. To them, it was dark, freezing cold and the still air felt suffocating. Who would enjoy digging into stone walls in such conditions for hours? They were told if they did poorly at their jobs, they would be sent here to work for the rest of their lives.
The scare proved effective and the very next day, the young servants worked with tenfold effort.
But Baiyun did not come here to get any work done.
He walked past the many servants hard at work, as well as those merely idling around listlessly, their eyes dulled by boredom. Baiyun shook his head; it was as the light spirit said.
The earth spirit supervising them simply did not care. It would merely note down the contribution of the servants and kept the caves sturdy with new reinforced pillars. If any underground beasts appeared, it would slaughter them. The servants who chose not to work were only making it worse for themselves; it meant they would have to put up with the suffocating cavern for yet more hours.
Baiyun touched the walls silently and mused to himself. They were not artificial caves, but part of a large underground network of natural caverns. The earth spirit had a radius it marked as the "safe zone". If any servant ventured beyond that point, they would no longer be under its protection.
He walked deeper and deeper into the caverns. The servants around him grew fewer and fewer, until it was only him alone.
The edge of the safe zone was now in sight, marked by a faint yellow light. He hesitated for a moment and took a deep breath. Then, he walked past the light.
Free of surveillance, at last! Baiyun laughed in silence, then focused for a moment and opened his mouth.
A thin thread of qi sense entwined with soulsense shot out. Soulsense was to draw upon the senses of one's soul. Qi sense was to use external qi to sense the surroundings. To combine them both was the art of divine sense.
With how he lacked external meridians, he had to use qi directly from his stomach.
Now that he was in the 1st stage of Qi Gathering, he could extend a tiny fragment of his soul safely. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough for him to sense danger 3 metres around him. Along with that, his lack of external meridians would help him stay hidden from spirit beasts. There was no qi wafting off his body to give him away, nor would his body take in the surrounding qi.
He put his helmet back into his bag wordlessly. The last of the helmet's light peered out of the bag, before being engulfed, plunging the surroundings into pitch darkness. Baiyun had no choice. Light was far too dangerous.
With soundless footsteps, he ventured.
The silence was suffocating. All he could hear was faint winds whispering through the caves. Every now and then, he could hear distant creatures scuttling about. But just as abruptly, the deafening silence would return.
Inside the caves, he was not the only one trying to hide.
This was nothing. He had gone through far worse in his training against inner demons; such a small thing could not frighten him.
But Baiyun clutched his chest, alarmed by the sensation within him. Why was his heart pounding so fast? Why was his breath shaky? He did not realise, or perhaps chose not to realise, but being reborn in this young body had changed him.
He took deep breaths and steadied himself before continuing onwards.
Minute by minute, step by step, an hour passed. How far away was he from the safe zone now?
On his way here, he felt the qi sense of spirit beasts sweeping their territory many times. Each time, he could only leave quickly, changing the route he took in the darkness. His divine thread might have a small effective range, but it was far quicker than qi sense, darting out before they could sense him in return.
Though, if he tried to use divine thread under the surveillance of the sect spirits, he was certain they would out him in an instant. They were not simple beasts after all.
Baiyun's thoughts paused as his divine thread chanced upon a faint qi in the darkness. His breath quickened as he walked towards it slowly.
A large grey fleshy lump coated in foul black ooze stuck out of the cavern walls. It was a spirit fungus of sorts. Baiyun reached to it with divine sense and analysed it, reaching the unsurprising conclusion that it was a very poisonous mushroom.
That was only natural. If it was a free treasure for the taking, a spirit beast would have eaten it long ago.
Baiyun took a hand scythe from his bag and spent the next minute sawing it off, a fork in his other hand. As the fungus began to wobble, a sliver from being cut off from the wall, he stabbed the fork into it and plucked it off. If he let it fall to the ground, the sound might attract unwanted attention.
How ironic, to hold what was inedible on a fork. Baiyun wasn't in the mood to appreciate that little thought. He rolled the fungus in a pile of rock dust to stop the dripping of the ooze, then began his journey back to the safe zone. It was far too dangerous to process the mushroom here.
The memory of a Transcendent expert's soul was not to be sneezed at. Even if it was a week later, he would still be confident in finding his way back.
He continued in the darkness for half an hour, but suddenly halted.
Something's qi sense was blocking the path back.
Chapter 0003: Pitch Black
Baiyun told himself it was fine.
In fact, it was something he had half expected to happen from the start. Spirit beasts weren't motionless statues, after all.
If the path he took was blocked, all he needed to do was to route around it and hope no walls of rock blocked the way. And if that was truly the only way back, he could wait until the spirit beast moved out of the way.
His hands grew clammy, so he tightened his grip on the fungus fork and scythe he held in each hand. After noting the poisonous goop clinging to the farming implement, he figured it might be an effective weapon.
It was fine, he told himself again.
But he suddenly froze as an indistinct sound entered his ears. If something was close by, he would remain motionless until it passed.
The sound grew clearer and clearer until he realised it was a rustle from the ceiling. Baiyun's eyes constricted. That was the closest anything had been to him! He frantically swung his divine thread upwards.
Instantly, the thread sensed a beast falling from the ceiling towards him.
Time seemed to slow.
No, there wasn't any time to dodge! How had it gotten this close to him?
Baiyun strained himself to his limit, letting go of the fork and reaching out to shove the unknown beast away. With his other hand that held the poison-stained hand scythe, he tried to slash the beast, but was far too slow.
It crashed onto him, sending pain coursing through his body. His hand pushed the creature's head aside and he heard a long clack as its mandibles snapped shut beside his face. A chill went down his spine. If he had been a moment slower, his face would have been mangled!
He finally realised it was a massive spider, one just as big as him.
The spider seemed just as confused as him after missing its attack, so Baiyun hurriedly kicked the spider off him and rolled onto his feet in a hurry. He breathed heavily and clutched his painfully throbbing chest. He could sense a few cracks in his ribs, but thankfully the impact broke no bones.
He cursed himself, thinking he should have known better. He thought his divine sense would keep him safe by being a step ahead of qi sense, but he forgot to fully account for the basic senses!
Of course. Spirit beasts could rely on their hearing and touch as well to navigate the dark caverns. In his old world, the beasts he faced had ludicrous qi fields that could stretch for kilometres, so it was easy to forget that.
To some extent, he did realise it from the beginning, from how he extinguished light and walked in silence. But he forgot hearing could be used for more than sensing distant threats; it could also be used to directly seek prey! He finally realised the mortal world worked by a different logic.
The spider scuttered away at inhuman speeds, fleeing the range of his spirit sense in an instant. Baiyun cursed under his breath. Foul creature...
Ambush predators were cautious creatures by nature, so it did not stay to fight. It was most likely only retreating for now, and would look for another opportunity to get the jump on him.
But Baiyun sweated as he realised the bigger problem at hand.
Since the spider was not using qi sense, it meant the field of qi sense blocking his way was from a different beast. And it had certainly heard the commotion.
The field of qi suddenly expanded, its aura washing over him! The worst had come to fruition. Unable to tell what it was, Baiyun could only hold out his scythe in its direction.
He could hear the creature glide across the ground in pitch darkness, roughly 6 metres away; too far for his divine thread to sense. It did not approach, but circled him cautiously. Baiyun continued to turn and face its direction, holding out his scythe towards it. Cold sweat dripped from his face.
The desperation he worked so hard to be rid off now returned tenfold.
Think! He had to figure out a way to survive before the creature attacked.
A moment passed, and a risky thought came to mind.
He closed his eyes. With a swift motion, he reached into his bag and pulled out the helmet. In the endless darkness, a faint light peeked out of the bag, revealing the endless ocean of rock around him! It was not a bright light, but in endless darkness, it was as radiant as the sun.
"Ssssssss!"
A loud hiss of pain echoed as the creature flinched. It revealed itself as a giant snake as long as several grown men lying flat.
"!"
With his eyes still shut, Baiyun placed the helmet upon his head and charged at the creature, leaping into the air! His divine thread finally entered its effective range and gave him "sight", so he slashed his scythe towards its eyes.
The serpent swerved to the side, but the weapon still landed. With a clang, the scythe glanced off its tough scales, leaving a mere scratch and a small splotch of poison. It slithered away from him, baring its fangs threateningly and hissing.
It was still too bright to open his eyes entirely, but Baiyun squinted with his left eye and managed to look around. No other spirit beasts were in sight, but the spider was now on the ceiling, having jumped up silently.
The snake turned its back towards him, seemingly quite bothered by the light. It struck the ground with its tail and sent a small chunk of rock into the air, raising its head towards it. With a burst of qi, the earth softened and wrapped around its eyes.
The serpent approached him, its head raised as if proud of itself.
Baiyun's eyes twitched. What a stupid animal, making a blindfold just because its eyes hadn't adapted to the light yet!
He walked backwards slowly. Seeing the fungus fork he dropped from the corner of his eye, he squatted down to pick it up with his other hand.
At that moment, the snake lunged at him, shooting through the air with its mouth wide open! Baiyun threw the fork towards its mouth and ducked.
"Kraaahhh!"
The snake let out a guttural cry as it choked, followed by wretched gagging sounds. It began to puke piece after piece of the fungus up, along with a bloodied fork.
Its heavy body crashed onto one of Baiyun's legs, but he managed to squirm away and got onto his feet, running away as fast as he could!
But a sudden chill struck him as a familiar rustle entered his ear; he quickly rolled to the side!
At the very next moment, the spider launched itself from the ceiling and slammed onto the snake's neck, biting viciously into it! With a horrific crackling sound, the tough scales were crushed instantly, and its fangs sunk into the snake's flesh.
"SSrragghhh!" the snake hissed in pain.
Baiyun was stunned for a moment as he got up, patting the dust off his robes. Then he laughed to himself silently. To think the spider would unwittingly help him!
With a quick motion, the snake swung its head backwards and slammed the spider into the ground with all its might. A loud cracking sound rang out as the spider went motionless. The snake's wound deepened and blood dripped to the ground, but it ignored its injury and pushed the stunned spider to the side.
The serpent tilted its head and wound up its body into a coil. Then it unleashed the trapped force in a single go, sending its body into a violent whirl and smashing its tail directly onto the spider's head with the full might of its body weight!
A loud crunch echoed through the caverns. The spider slumped to the ground, its legs spasming.
Bleeding profusely from its neck and dribbling from its mouth, the snake turned to give Baiyun one last hateful look. Earth rose from the ground, seeping into its wounds and stopping its bleeding as it slithered away. Wild animals were rarely willing to fight to the death after all.
As the threat slid into the darkness, Baiyun finally sighed in relief. He stashed all his clothing into his bag before running over to the spider. It was still twitching... was it still alive or an involuntary reflex? Baiyun didn't care.
Without mercy, he slashed his scythe towards its head. The blade glanced off the dented carapace, leaving only a shallow cut, but he continued to attack relentlessly. Again! Again! His hands hurt and began to blister, but he did not stop.
It was only after minutes of violence when the spider finally stopped twitching, definitely dead. Baiyun breathed heavily as he fell backwards toward the ground. His body was covered in the blue blood of the spider.
At last, it was over...
What once was the head of a spider was now a mangled mess of blue blood, a faint orb glimmering in its midst. He reached for it and ripped it out.
A beast core, covered in scratches.
It was many times more useful than the poisoned fungus, but he did not feel any joy. This excursion had been far too risky. He had baseless confidence in his divine sense and forgot a mortal world worked differently from the divine worlds above. He barely escaped with his life!
He laughed bitterly. In his past life, did he not die to impulse as well?
He had not been a fighter in his past life. Safe within the protection of a sect, his days were peaceful and free of combat. If it had been Taikong, a combat elder from his past sect, he was sure the man would have won against the spider or the snake in a direct confrontation, even with a servant's weak body. But an inexperienced alchemist like him? With a little less luck, the corpse on the ground would have been him.
Baiyun resolved himself. He did not enjoy combat, but he would have to hone his skills in this life. There wasn't an almighty sect that could keep him safe from harm in this life.
The WanLing sect was unlikely to ever accept a servant as a disciple. If anything, he was more likely to become a subject of human experimentation if they realised he could cultivate.
Baiyun took out a gourd of water from his bag and poured the liquid over his body, enduring the cold. The blue blood of the spider washed off him. It was hardly dignified, but he did not want to explain why his clothes were stained by the blood of a spirit beast. Baiyun thought to himself that he must have resembled a savage from the wilds, attacking in a frenzy while unclothed.
After shaking off the water, he put his clothes back on and left, leaving the spider's corpse behind. It was a shame, but if his bag was inspected for whatever reason, he had no way to explain the corpse.
Step after step, he continued to retrace his way in the darkness. The journey was thankfully uneventful, free from beast attacks.
Baiyun stopped about 50 metres away from the earth spirit's safe zone, beside a large pit. While still outside the barrier, he was sure few spirit beasts would venture near a dangerous spirit's "territory". He took out a pot and several pieces of firewood and attempted to light the wood with a flint.
The sound of clacking could be heard as he struck the flint repeatedly, but not a spark was made. It seemed the air was too full of ice qi to start a proper fire.
Baiyun clicked his tongue in annoyance. Shaking his head, he took out a knife and began to hack at the core instead, breaking off small fragments into the pot. He picked one of the chunks and swallowed. How undignified, he cursed.
If he had eaten the core whole, his frail body would have been poisoned to death by qi overdose. It would have been easier to absorb the qi if the core had been boiled, but he had no choice in the matter. Baiyun missed his old alchemic tools.
Hours passed as his soul carefully refined qi from the fragments. The will of the spider within the core fought back, but it was quickly subdued by his soul, entering a dormant state.
Slowly, his cultivation level rose.
The first breakthrough happened. 2nd level of qi gathering!
Baiyun suppressed his emotions and continued to absorb the rest of the qi. Finally, with the last of the core fragments, he reached the 3rd level of qi gathering.
At last...
His face practically blue, he retched, vomiting out the remains of the core into the chasm beside him. Then he let out a ghastly burp of blackened qi.
Urgh. He felt nauseous. He felt so queasy, he barely felt the joy of breaking through. The sheer amount of impure qi within rendered most of the core useless, and he had to focus his soul to prevent his stomach from absorbing it.
Baiyun had a moment of doubt. Risking his life for just this, was the journey down here even worth it? Why did he get so far ahead of himself for just entering the 1st level of Qi Gathering?
He cleaned up his tools with water before returning to the barrier.
As he stepped back into the boundary, a powerful presence seemed to gaze at him. Something crushed upon him as it peered into his bag, Baiyun sweating as it searched.
It left moments later, the overbearing presence finally gone.
Phew... he let out a sight of relief. At least for now, he was in the clear.
He didn't know what time it was, but he spent the rest of the day gathering mushrooms with the other servants as a cover.
Only a few hours of work remained. Before long, he followed the servants as they returned to the surface.
Ah. Baiyun stared towards the night sky in silence. Pitch black like the caverns beneath, yet infinitely more beautiful.
"Baiyun!" the voice of the light spirit snapped him out of his trance.
It seemed she had been waiting outside. Baiyun waved to her unenthusiastically.
"Hah... you look so glum! Why did you decide to go there anyway if it was going to make you so miserable?" she patted him on the shoulder. "Come, some proper food should cheer you up!"
Baiyun nodded, following her to the servants' canteen.
...
The sect spirits did not have names, but some had taken the liberty to name themselves. The earth spirit, who dubbed himself Earthquake, was one of the few.
He took great amusement in naming the other spirits ridiculous names that contrasted his mighty name. Truly, the majesty of the name "Earthquake" was hard to rival! Though naturally, he did not tell anyone what he had named them in secret.
Speaking of which, yesterday, a little spirit he dubbed "Shine" approached. Shine was annoyingly shiny as usual, rambling something about keeping a servant named "Bai Yu" or something safe. What a ridiculous request. Who would get attached to a short lived servant when they would die within a measly hundred years?
Earthquake shooed off Shine with a few affirmations, not wanting to be bothered. He spent the rest of the night and day resting.
Hm. It seemed it was time.
Earthquake watched in boredom as the servants of the sect arrived. Immediately, he could tell who "Bai Yu" was. A young boy with a miner's helmet and a coat, not luxuries most servants had. Even if he had fallen asleep, he would be able to figure out this was the human Shine favoured.
The human, contrary to Shine's bragging, did not get to work immediately.
Instead, he walked aimlessly, further and further away from the work. Hah. Earthquake nodded. Running all the way down here to get a chance to fool around and rest! In the end, even a hard worker would get tired. Earthquake did not mind and was merely amused.
Wait...
That boy was walking further and further away!
What in the world? Earthquake watched as "Bai Yu" left his barrier, now out of sight. The spirit shook his head.
To think Shine had gotten attached to a suicidal servant of all things. It made sense now, why he wanted to come to this miserable cave.
Earthquake hesitated for a moment but steeled himself, deciding not to interfere. Shine was far too naive and would need to learn nothing good would come from attachment to those with short lives. If "Bai Yu'' died of old age or injury decades later, it would hurt far more.
Hours passed.
Something re-entered its barrier.
It was "Bai Yu''! Earthquake was stunned.
The servant looked fatigued, but was otherwise unharmed. Most jarring however was how he left the barrier without the helmet, marching into pitch darkness; even upon his return, he did not put it back on! Did he lose it somehow?
Earthquake took a quick peek into the boy's bag, seeing the hat was still there. It was clear the servant deprived himself of sight intentionally.
The spirit could not help but get increasingly curious.
He waited impatiently until the servants finally left, their work done.
Earthquake dispelled his barrier and flew into the darkness. He could see faint footsteps "Bai Yu" had left in the dust, leading somewhere. He thought the boy must have been lounging near the outside of the barrier to have returned safely, but this was clearly not the case.
This boy… he had ventured way further than he expected!
Spirit beasts fled in terror as they felt the presence of the spirit. He came across the corpse of an Assassin Jumping Spider, its flesh nibbled away by cave rats. But Earthquake could tell its body was mangled not by beasts, but by repeated attacks from a curved blade.
This servant ventured out in pitch darkness, survived an encounter with an Assassin Spider, killed it and returned unscathed?
"Bai Yu".
How interesting.
Earthquake would remember this name.