Shengyuan floated over the river and landed ceremoniously in front of Yuanchen. He placed his finger on Yuanchen's forehead, much to the dismay of the latter and his internal musings of skepticism in regard to the action taken.
Yuanchen felt his head burn and immediately retreated back. "What are you trying to pull here?" he asked, clutching his forehead.
Shengyuan's hands returned to their position behind him, and he hovered back to where he stood. "Nothing really. Since I cannot use your body, I might as well train your body here. In this place, I reign supreme, and the laws of time move differently, so it is the perfect place to train your mind and body."
Yuanchen couldn't understand why Shengyuan was going to such lengths to train him. In Shengyuan's eyes, he was but a vessel — that he understood — but for him to go out of his way to train him?
That was highly suspicious.
He narrowed his eyes as he gazed at Shengyuan. "What is in it for you?"
Shengyuan closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. "For someone with technological ingenuity, you are certainly dumb... It's simple: at the level you are at, you cannot survive any threat like Yakeen without my help, and since your implants' damage has reached your core, I cannot force my Qi through you either. In simple terms, without my help, you will die, and when you do, I will also perish."
Yuanchen blinked, then fell to the ground clutching his stomach. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes and his mouth was wide open; he was laughing as hard as his body could allow. After a few minutes, he composed himself and looked at the stoic face of Shengyuan. "You weren't kidding? I thought since you are this all-powerful entity, dying was not something you concerned yourself with."
"Then you are mistaken. Your body is tethered to the earthly attachments; you are by no means immortal, and if you die, your soul will perish, and it is bound to mine."
"Oh, I understand now!"
"Good, I don't have to repeat myself."
The scenery changed into a meadow of blades that stuck from the ground. Around each blade was a ribbon made from Qi and Neuro-Qi, and another source that blended all of them together — something Yuanchen found intriguing.
"What is this place?" he asked as he got up and dusted his torn clothes. Remind me to get some clean clothes.
Shengyuan's feet were perfectly balanced on one of the many blades, and another hovered to his hand. He held the shining black sword in his dominant hand and pointed the tip at Yuanchen. "This is a graveyard of swords. As part of the sword scripture, you have to allow yourself to be called upon by the sword that is tied to your will."
Tied to my will? Pfft. Yuanchen chuckled to himself and focused on the will aspect that Shengyuan was telling him about.
Like a ripple, it happened.
A tugging feeling established a connection.
A thread intertwined between wills, and the intensity of it burned Yuanchen's very core, forcing him to snap out of his trance.
He looked down at his hand, as it felt heavy, and in his palm was a sword that had a round handle with black-colored cloth, an open guard design, and a royal blue edge with a wave pattern — even he had to admit that the sword was pretty.
But before he could marvel at the weapon any further, Shengyuan was in front of him with his sword, and Yuanchen was forced to parry the attack. The act of deflecting the attack from Shengyuan tilted his center of gravity, and a foot slammed into his stomach, sending him flying into the distance where he crashed with a thud.
Yuanchen got up and coughed. "You caught me off guard, but no more."
---
Yuanchen's eyes snapped open to the real world, and pain flooded through his body. He looked out the window and saw the rising sun in the distance. "I trained all night?" he mused and got out of bed, wincing at the pain that returned.
The entire night, he had spent trying to perfect the basics of the sword scripture within his mind, and throughout that, he was repeatedly attacked by Shengyuan.
Thinking back on the drills made Yuanchen shudder; the man was a slave driver and worked him to the bone.
Yuanchen cast one last look at Lia and her brother, then left the hotel; he had a few things to do, and repairing his implants took priority, for when the threats came, he needed to be at his finest.
Yuanchen walked through the empty square, his eyes wandering across the opening shop. He was looking for the man that had approached him and Lia the previous day regarding his creation; to him, the man was just the right person to go to in order to find aid on where he could get the necessary help.
And it did not take him long to find Silas.
Silas noticed Yuanchen coming up to his store, and he waved. "Young lord! Come inside."
Yuanchen nodded and entered the store behind Silas. He walked over to the counter and was about to talk when Silas reached underneath the counter and placed on the table a large sack.
Yuanchen raised his eyebrow. "What's this, Silas?"
Silas chuckled. "This, young lord, is the amount of money I made after I sold the core you entrusted to me. I already took my cut from it, and the remaining one is your cut."
Yuanchen opened the sack, and his jaw dropped. His eyes returned to Silas. "You are kidding, right? There's no way that core sold for this much in a day."
Silas just shook his head. "I am not, young lord. 16,000,000.00 lumina is what it sold for, and I took my percentage share. In that sack is 10,000,000.00 lumina. Apologies for compiling it in such a hasty package; I couldn't seal it within capsules nor transfer it to your account."
"This is amazing, but that aside, do you know where I could find someone with knowledge on implants?" Yuanchen asked as he took the sack and pocketed it in the inner pockets of his robes.
Like a true merchant, Silas nodded. "I had a hunch you would ask that. There's an old acquaintance of mine living in another region that's three days' travel from here. She has knowledge of implants, and she can help you with your damaged ones."
For the umpteenth time that day, Yuanchen's eyes widened yet again. "How did you know?"
Silas grinned. "I am a merchant with an eye for appraisal; I know a thing or two. Also, there's a transportation gate that leads outside of the city. Come."
Yuanchen did not question Silas; the man knew way too much regarding him for him to even doubt the claims.
And as Silas had said, behind the huge shelves in his store was a mechanical construct brimming with Neuro-Qi conductors.
"If you step through this gate, you will appear on the other side of the city and make your way north from there."
Yuanchen nodded and offered Silas his gratitude. He stepped into the empty space between the pillars that made up the gate, and in a blink of an eye, his scenery warped. He was no longer within the store, but he was now outside in the desert, surrounded by heaps of trash and discarded things from the heavenly cities.
Taking a deep breath, Yuanchen began making his way up north.