Unforgiven (IV)
He was... handsome? I think?
Sharp jaw, thin, star-like eyes, with flat and low noise hanging over unhealthily blue lips. The head was resting against comically large paws, its eyes staring at us silently. The fur was a mix of muddy brown and moon silver, with one extra oddity besides the human head: it had two tails, one fully black and one fully silver.
"... what the hell?" Lao Shun mumbled, at a loss for words.
The rest of us weren't any better off, especially me.
I'd expected to find pretty much anything in this place, but certainly not this. A massive, fleshy amalgamation of growths and tumors pretending to be a sentient life that's hellbent on consuming all life to just grow? Sure.
A mad scientist or something that's been creating these monsters in an attempt to create a cure for death because his beloved wife is dying from some incurable disease? Of course.
A toxic spill gone bad--okay, I'm just rehashing superhero origin stories at this point.
Though, I suppose, I should have expected it. An idea immediately came to my head, one that sort of explained a good number of the seemingly incomprehensible things that we've seen in this place.
"Stay here," Long Tao said as he stepped forward.
The ground beneath us was dead--dry, cracked, and bereft of life. Each one of his steps kicked up a few pebbles, though not much else.
The kids lined up around me and watched with expectant looks in their eyes, and even I couldn't help but wonder what his approach to this would be; if my guess about this place is true, the correct course would be to try and 'communicate' with the beast--
--and he swung his sword.
It was a sharp swing, one that I barely caught the tail end of; the human-faced wolf raged out with a howl that shook the world as it stood up, towering over eight feet, at the very least, and bending sideways, using his black tail to deflect the sword array.
Long Tao didn't stop, though; he became a ghost, shooting forth and causing a strong wind to whip up behind him, the sheer propulsion of his movement enough to leave an indentation in the ground.
He appeared by the wolf's head--or, well, by the human head—and took a stab toward the latter's eyes. A white sheen interrupted it, and he used it by kicking his leg against it, propelling himself back and avoiding a swipe of a massive paw that caused such a strong wind that I actually had to use a bit of Qi to stabilize myself.
Long Tao landed squarely, though, without skipping a beat, and moved forward immediately.
I'm a bit confused, as well as shocked, that I'm capable of following it so clearly. Whether it's because I've grown that much stronger, or because Long Tao was holding back a bit to show off, or because of some entirely different reason... I don't know.
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Well, I do know. As soon as Lao Shun opened his mouth, I knew.
"Uh, can anybody see where that kid is?"
With all the kids replying 'No', it was then that I realized he was, somehow, only showing this to me. Perhaps to assuage my fears and to tell me that his ability to handle things far outweighs what I think of him.
[--Creator's Eyes used]
[The host's cultivation isn't enough to see the target's status. Spend 100 CP to unlock it?]
In the midst of their back-and-forth, I remembered to use my eyes and spent the required points in a heartbeat. In part to see just how strong he really is, and in part to see whether my theory is correct.
In the meantime, Long Tao shuffled sideways, using the 'worse' version of Shadow Steps so perfectly it made my improved version look a little bit like a joke. He darted between three set positions expertly, dodging swipes and bites and making it seem as though the gigantic man-faced beast was fighting air itself rather than someone.
Each time he'd appear from the shadows, he'd swing his sword acutely at one exact spot, I've noticed--the beast's neck. The fur was rather thick, and he didn't seem to be able to get a clean hit in, so he'd position a few feints before slashing at the beast's neck.
It stopped falling for it soon enough, and it slowly began adjusting to his breakneck speed, even forcing him to deflect once rather than dodge. I say deflect and not block since he let himself go with the flow of the swing, basically--taking in the energy and rather than trying to block it all at once, he let himself be flung some forty feet back, dispersing it all over the course of the flight.
Seeing my moment of temporary peace, I quickly glanced at the rather thin-seeming status window.
[Creator's Eyes used]
[Target: Nameless]
[Age: 83,093]
[Talent: N/A]
[Cultivation Realm: Early Void Transformation (Quasi-False)]
[Cultivation Method: None]
[Cultivation Arts: None]
[...]
[Traits]
[Chimera (???) -- a forsaken creature, abhorred by the very Heavens who created it, is a bizarre concoction of at least two species. Though it lives, it was never alive]
[Progenitor (???) -- a creator of its own species, it stands tall as the leader of the innumerable]
[Dying (???) -- in a perpetual state of dying, though never able to die]
[Grudge-Bearer (???) -- within its misshapen heart resides hatred that pumps the blood through its veins. Extreme chance of becoming a Malignant Spirit upon death]
[...]
[Assessing Suitability...]
[...]
[Anomaly Detected]
[Revising...]
[...]
[Chimera (???) --> Death-Made Chimera (???) -- a failed experiment of '???'; was once a human in the Divine Court]
[Special Physique Detected: Death-Touched (???)]
[Death-Touched (???) -- as a creature that has been experiencing death for tens of thousands of years, it has developed a physique thought of as impossible. The creature's comprehension of the Laws of Death borders on unnatural, but it can never be utilized to command the Laws of Death; understanding of Life is necessary]
[...]
[Recommendation: put the creature out of its misery]
[...]
[Final Assessment: a reviled creation hidden away from the eyes of the world, where millions of lives were sacrificed in pursuit of artificial perfection. Where tens of millions failed, the creature marginally succeeded; however, its success only revealed the depths of malignance that lie at the end of the pursued path. It endured the longing for nothing, all so fueled by the hatred toward its creator, '???']
[...]
... huh.
Huh. Huh. Huh.
Okay, so, I was partially correct, at least--I did figure that this was a chimera, but I didn't really think of much beyond it.
And yet, despite that, the cogs in my brain worked overtime to connect yet another unsaid dot--there were a lot of question marks where names and identities ought to be, and considering the sheer span of time and perhaps the strongest-worded window system ever produced, it just as strongly leads me to believe this is connected to one of the Seven Divine, of whom I know next to nothing.
Which also means...
It's deeply connected to Long Tao, one way or another.
Long Tao's gaze was hollow--there was neither anger nor pity contained therein, as though wind had swept all his emotions away.
The beast struggled, roaring and growling and whimpering, all while the wounds began to stack. For all his prowess, this was actually the best he could do at the moment--even if fallen and at the cusp of dying, it was originally a quasi-Divine Chimera. Though all its Innate Divinity had long since been sapped, its mind likely recalled the sensation nonetheless.
How many of the maligned monstrosities like this had he killed during the hunt? Millions, at the very least, he wagered. There once was a time when seeing them made him angry, though he could seldom remember those days at this point.
He dodged yet another swipe of the paw, ducking underneath it and swinging the blade upward and over in a singular motion, opening up yet another shallow wound.
What angered him now was just how weak he was--not a year ago, he had the ability to end the concept of time itself with the swing of his sword, and he was now struggling to just barely create a flesh wound on some malformed creature that was one breath away from dying regardless.
Here and there, he'd glance over at the odd Master of his, though the man never showed much of a reaction; Long Tao suspected that the man knew, at least broadly, that he'd reincarnated. However, he'd still been underestimating him, for one reason or another.
This was supposed to be a show of force, but...
He couldn't help but sigh, turning his attention back to the creature.
There were many, many, throughout history who played with the concept of chimeras--creating a perfect thing from two flawed ones. Or three. Or fifty, in some cases.
There had never been a success, not really; the most successful Chimera, by his estimates, had to have been that quarter bull, quarter dragonfly, quarter serpent, and quarter human thing that managed to endure six strikes of his before capitulating.
But 'success' wasn't really the right word; that thing was in as much pain as this here one was. They weren't alive; they were merely... existing, and doing so against their wills.
None could ever speak, yet Long Tao knew they could understand. They could think. They could feel.
Which always made Long Tao wonder--why did they all struggle? Why did they all fight until their last breath? Perhaps the instinct to survive was so overwhelming that even the bone-boring pain wasn't enough to dissuade one from trying to live?
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He dodged yet another tail swipe, rolling sideways in the air and cutting with the sword, managing to draw a bit of blood. It yelped yet again, retreating for a moment and staring at him with those eyes--there were thoughts behind them, though how many and what kind, he couldn't tell.
A bit of rage swelled up inside of him--not due to the creature's fate, but because it reminded him of the Emperor of Death, the very man who licked his boots for thousands of years, picking up his scraps, begging him to come along, only to betray him on the very day he was crowned an Emperor.
Betrayal wouldn't have been the worst thing--Long Tao knew precisely four people in his life that would never betray him, and he wasn't one of them--but what became the fire were his acts after the fact.
Any time they'd catch somebody loyal to Long Tao, they wouldn't merely kill them--they'd capture them and try and turn them into a chimera, not unlike the one in front of him.
None of those chimeras were marginally strong but were simply a mockery and a warning: stand by the Divine Blade, and you'll find your flesh desecrated in the worst ways imaginable.
How many of his friends had he slain because they'd been turned into beasts? Maybe a dozen, at most, because once the word spread... he no longer had any friends.
This wasn't the act of the Emperor of Death--he was far too young to have caused this. It was likely one of the ancestors of the School of Death. The entire forest was likely once a massive structure spanning miles on end, with hundreds of pavilions, each trying to perfect the creation of chimera.
The greatest mockery of them all was how they imprinted the bodies into preserved solution, morphing their expressions into ones of serenity and calm, as though they wanted to be there.
As for how the forest came about? He couldn't really tell--perhaps it was a Saint or a Saintess who unearthed the atrocities and made the forest in a desperate bid to hide all of it, though it was entirely possible that the forest itself was alive, as it did have a few indicators of it.
He dodged yet another bite, though he noticed that the pup's speed had slowed down.
The battle was winding down, as was his own estimate of himself--they were far too weak to go after the Sages and would be for quite some time. It was one thing to face off after the nameless, faceless sources of Life Qi that they'd reared specifically to die, and entirely another to face someone who was actually an important member of the Sect.
If that one that visited the city was any indicator, he'd have to at least become a Demigod in order to stand a chance.
He pressed forward, taking the chance given to him to quickly end the fight--he'd put on a bit of a show for the Master and had expended far more Qi than he should have and was even running a bit low. Increasing his speed, he kept darting between the beast's blind spots, cutting and stabbing as frequently as he could.
One wound after another piled on, and before long, the beast was whimpering and lying on the ground, a massive pool of blood beneath it. Its eyes still revealed no trace of fear or indignation--just... anger.
Long Tao pulled back and stared at the beast, occasionally glancing toward the white mist, which would cause the beast to immediately try and get up. Whatever was contained therein was something far more worth to it than its life.
It had nothing to do with him--whether it was a treasure or perhaps its child, as it was a Progenitor, the beast would have no say in what was to happen. Its fate was to finally die, after so many thousands of years of suffering and enduring.
He walked up and drew his sword, charging it fully with Qi, while the beast suddenly stood up, its head slightly lowered, and did something that fundamentally changed how Long Tao saw the world.
It spoke.
"P-p-protect... pr-protect..."
That thing...
It just spoke, right?
Oh my God, it just fucking spoke!
I whipped my head to the side, where I saw everyone's faces adorned with the exact same expression: abject shock. From Lao Shun to Light, regardless of their age, they were as equally shocked as I was.
And then I looked at Long Tao and, perhaps for the first time since coming to this world, saw him share the exact same expression as the rest of us: that of shock. He, too, hadn't expected it, which means that this is unequivocally one of the most insane things to have ever happened, as that gremlin had all but perfected the 'poker' face.
"Did... did it just speak?" Lao Shun said. "Somebody tell me it spoke, and it's not me going mad!"
"No, it spoke," I said. "You are mad for entirely different reasons."
"A chimera spoke..." he mumbled absentmindedly.
"Protect what?" Long Tao spoke up as well, stopping his attack as his curiosity seems to have been ignited. "That kid in the mist? What makes you think we'd do anything to it?"
"--b-b-bad humans," it spoke; its voice was rather... strained, almost like someone trying to speak after belting out their soul at a concert the night before. "K-kill my, my ch-child-dren..."
"Your children? Oh. Those things that attacked us?"
"T-they n-n-not attack! They p-p-protect!"
To be honest, even if the thing speaking would have freaked me out a bit, I have a feeling it shocked these guys about a million times more than it shocked me. I'd have just chalked it up to the magic of the world, where some innately sentient animals could speak--and if they could, why not an amalgamation that's at least partly human already?
But from their reactions, this chimera speaking might be a far greater deal than I could possibly conceptualize at the moment.
Especially Long Tao's reaction to it.
"... if you tell me who created the forest," he said. "I'll swear not to harm the kid."
"L-liar! Human liar!"
I don't know how it was talking, as its, uhm, lips? Well, whatever they were, the mouth thingies, they weren't moving. By now, its legs were trembling, and it looked like the faintest gust of wind would knock it over... and yet, it still stood resolutely.
Whatever kid was within that white haze, it really must care for it greatly.
"What if we promise to take the kid in?" Hm? Why does that sound like something I'd say? I mean, it does, but I definitely did not say it.
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... Long Tao, you bastard!!
I whipped my head to the side to see the indignant reactions of the others, but there were none. Rather, it was as though all of them were saying, 'Yes, indeed, Master would do that exact thing!'
We're broke!
We're fucking broke, you dimwits! We have no money left! And you want to invite another monster in?! You really think some random kid being guarded by a chimera that can talk is just gonna be a nobody?!
Hoooh.
Calm down. Just calm down.
They don't know any better. To them, money is just a thing they use to cultivate.
We can always earn more.
... no, wait, don't I have an Alchemy bank right here? I stealthily glanced over at Lao Shun, who shuddered; I mean, I can borrow a few... million... and, uhm, I don't know, figure it out later. He for sure had millions lying around in his spatial ring; he was an Alchemist! Don't these guys usually have Spirit Stones spilling out of their pockets over how much they're packing?
"My Master is extremely kind and benevolent," Long Tao continued. "He'd taken us all in when we had nothing, and he'd been taking care of us since."
... wow.
Holy shit, wow.
While the rest of the kids were nodding away like bobbleheads, that guy's ability to just lie through his teeth may just match mine. There wasn't a pause in his voice, there wasn't a crack, nothing. Aren't you proud? Aren't you some kind of a god, having to mingle with the mortals yet again? How come such lies just spill from your tongue so naturally?
Or, wait, does he actually mean it?!
... yeah, right.
"Besides," he continued. "You should know that you will die here regardless, and that we can then do whatever we want. I'm merely offering you this because you spoke, and that can't have been easy."
"... y-y-you pro-promise... to... to keep h-him, him safe?"
"Master, do we promise?" He spun toward me and asked with that shit-eating grin.
One day.
A day shall come when I take a baseball bat to his knees and then run away.
... not today, though.
"I promise," I said, resigning. "I swear upon the Heavens I won't treat the kid any differently than I do any of my Disciples." I tossed out an Oath too, which prompted oohs and aahs from the kids as they looked at me... well, honestly, like a cult leader.
I've made my peace with it--one day, I will have a lot of Disciples who will merely treat me as their Master. They'll learn from me, and I'll siphon Creation Points from them, and it's all going to be beautiful.
These ones, though? Lost cause. A complete, utter lost cause. I'm fairly certain if they saw me purposefully kicking a puppy into the flames for no discernable reason, they'd jump at me to make sure I didn't hurt my feet kicking it too hard.
So, whatever. Let them stare at me as though I've said something utterly incomprehensible and not just the most basic level of common human decency.
--hm. Wait. What if the 'kid' turns out to be some psychotic killer that I've sworn to treat no differently than the rest of my Disciples?!
No, wait, can't Long Tao just kill him, then?
Huh.
This swearing an Oath thing sure has a lot of convenient loopholes... almost like tax laws back on Earth... hmm...
"You heard him," Long Tao said, turning to face the creature yet again. "Keep struggling for no reason, or die with at least a bit of your dignity still intact. It's your choice."
It mulled over it for a good minute, the silence weighing like an anchor. It's not like I could put myself in its position--it's been alive for literal tens of thousands of years. It's almost been alive for as long as modern man has evolved.
I'd sympathize with it if it'd spent, like, fifty years in this dreaded place, but past a certain point, years really cease meaning much to me. One day, should all the stars align and I'm some one-million-year-old grandpa... well, there's still going to be those who are tens of millions of years old who'd dwarf me.
And even that, in the span of all time, is just... nothing.
Huh.
Kind of depressing, actually?
In the end, the beast said nothing but instead closed its eyes and laid back down, head resting on its paws.
That human head, which had remained eerily expressionless and unmoving, mellowed out as its features began to sag.
Within a moment, its expression mirrored the ones of all the people we've seen in the forest--one of utter serenity, calmness, and content.
Was it an inevitable result of its existence?
Or was it a choice of its own?
... I'll choose to believe the latter, no matter the truth.
Unforgiven (VII)
It seemed as soon as the beast drew its last breath, the white haze began to dissipate.
It revealed a scorched little square with only two signs of life anywhere: one being the kid we were expecting, and the other being a flower we were not.
We approached cautiously and slowly, though the kid was fast asleep. Better safe than sorry, as it were.
[--Creator's Eyes used]
[Target: Xing Feng]
[Age: 10]
[Talent: Mortal]
[Cultivation Realm: None]
[Cultivation Arts: None]
[...]
[Traits]
[Lucky (Rare) -- has somewhat unnatural luck]
[Quiet (Common) -- a naturally withdrawn countenance]
[...]
[Assessing Suitability...]
[No special physiques or bloodlines discovered]
[...]
[Recommendation: a completely ordinary mortal with less than stellar talent for cultivation. Their somewhat lucky disposition, however, has ties with the nature of existence itself. Host is recommended to remold the target's lackluster talents and take him in]
[...]
[Final assessment: a blank slate seedling with no prior exposure to any manner of Qi. Silently perfect for forging a unique Physique and grafting an unnatural set of Roots]
... hmm.
What?
No, seriously.
WHAT?
All this... for a literally slightly lucky kid?!
Where is my monster?! Where is the heaven-defying talent that can one day become an Emperor?! What is this absolutely ordinary kid doing here?! And how the hell is he even here?!
Wow.
Just... wow.
Supremely wow.
So much anticipation, so many expectations, and it's a dud.
... this world really did change me. I just thought of a completely innocent kid as a dud. Hey, at least it's not a psychopath, and--wait, the system is telling me to take him in and remold him.
Oh!
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Is it finally the time?
I've been packing two rather neat tools in my spatial rings for a while, with nowhere to use them. The custom Jade-tier implant that grants someone the Martial Body physique and the more recent Talent Imbuement, which turns an ordinary person with no discernable talent for cultivation into a Heaven-tier one.
Is that what it's implying? That I should blow both of them on this one kid?
... just because they're lucky?
To be fair, the only person I've ever inspected that had the remotely similar description was likely Long Tao, under the 'Heavenly Chosen' mantle, where it indicated the world favors him in the outcomes.
It's all intangible, at least to me, but though I just assumed that other kids also had something similar, the system never explicitly said that they did.
This kid, even if it's just 'Lucky', I suppose it's rare enough of a trait that it warrants investing? I don't know.
Regardless, I may as well use them--it's not like I was saving them for anything special or particular. There was also my ability to put one of my Disciples into the state of Enlightenment that I got a while back and hadn't used (partly because I don't really have a good explanation for it, and partly because I didn't know what it specifically entailed), so I can use the newcomer to test it.
Hooh.
All kinds of things are spilling out of me today, like a tidal torrent that I've forgotten to dam up.
"He's waking up," Dai Xiu warned.
"Don't crowd him," I warned. "Give him space."
The kid slowly woke up, yawned, stretched, and stood up, practically ignoring us as he went over to the flower, crouching next to it, and mumbling something.
After a little while, he started seemingly looking for something, his expression turning strange as he couldn't find it.
"Uh, Mr. Ghosts, did you see anyone drop some food here?"
Ghosts? There are Ghosts here?!!
--no, wait, you idiot! He means us, clearly! Oh, thank God I kept my mouth shut, or I would have never lived to hear the end of it.
"We're not ghosts," I said.
"What are you, then?" he asked.
"People, like you."
"Impossible. Grandpa said there would be no other person here, and Grandpa never lies."
"Well, we weren't here before, but we are here now."
"Prove it."
"... prove what?"
"Prove that you are here."
Hey, system, you bastard, didn't you say that this kid is 'Quiet'? How come your assessment of people's personalities tends to be quite off-base?
"Alright," I walked up to him and flicked his brow.
"Auu!" he yelped and pulled back, his annoyed expression quickly turning into one of horror.
"Y-y-y-ou are... here..."
Yeah.
I mean, we did find the kid in one of the most inhospitable places I've seen in my life, guarded by a creature that's tens of thousands of years old, who basically died trying to protect him.
Which begged the question... why?
Why did the chimera care?
No, wait, maybe the kid was nice to it 'cause he thought it was a ghost. He did seem to take it better when we were dead rather than just ordinary people.
"We are. And we've come for you," I spat out a lie.
"You... did?"
"Hm. Your friend called for us to come and take you."
"My friend? The one who gave me food?"
"Hm, that one," I nodded. "He's gotten... tired and can't give you food anymore, which is why he called for us."
"Are... are you his friend, too?"
"Of course. We once peed into a river together!"
"Aah! I--I did that with my friends, too!"
"It's so much fun, isn't it?"
"He he, so much fun~"
... alright.
You know what?
This isn't so bad. He's a completely normal, ordinary ten-year-old boy. He's not like my other 'kids,' who behaved as such only when it suited them.
"So, will you come with us?"
"Uhm... you... you will not eat me, will you?"
"Oh? I look like someone who eats kids? Aah, I'm so hurt... to think I look so ugly..."
"N-no, that's not it! I didn't mean it; I take it back!"
"Master, don't be mean," Wan Lan added from the side. "Everyone knows you sound like you eat kids, not that you look like it."
"..." Hey, Wan Lan, weren't you the sensible one? The one that's always on my side?
"Wan Lan, don't be mean!" That's right, Dai Xiu! You tell her! No, wait this-- "Master smells like he eats the kids, not sounds!"
"Dai Xiu, you are wrong. He--"
"Okay, that's enough out of you," I interrupted Light, as I'm sure hers would have hurt the most because I know the other two held back somewhat, at least. "Do you want to give your Master permanent heartache?"
"Big Sisters, is... is your Master nice?"
"..."
Yeah.
Those squeals were rather nostalgic, I gotta say. Whenever my sis would bring her friends home, and they'd chat about one or another hot celeb of the week, they'd squeal like that. Or whenever they'd see a cute cat.
Or a cute rat.
Or whenever one would show off a text from one of the boys in their class.
... now that I think about it, was there an event in which teenage girls didn't squeal, one way or another?
Dai Xiu, Wan Lan, and even Light bolted over like bullets and started doting on the boy.
Hm.
Normal.
Everything is completely normal.
... though, I might be the insane one.
We settled down inside the clearing, as there was no way in hell we were leaving any time soon. Even if there weren't any more threats, we were tired, the kids were hurt (as was I, to be fair), and we just... well, needed a few days to be. No fighting, no threading through the darkness, no horrors.
Just peace and calm.
The girls have quickly taken to the young boy, and he has quickly taken to them, seemingly enjoying the shower of attention.
He didn't really open up as far as I could tell, though I am really curious just how he ended up here of all places. Did he wander into the forest somehow, and the chimera chose to save him?
Maybe?
But I have a sneaking suspicion that's not it.
Plus, today's finally the day where I'll convert his talents, which will elicit no small amount of scrutiny from two guys: the alchemist and the old guy. I don't really have a ready excuse, but we'll see how it goes...
"Xing Feng," I called him out as we all sat down to eat a pot of stew.
"Y-yes, Master?" He'd taken to calling me that, too, in the span of just fifteen hours or so, though he was probably just copying everyone else.
"Do you want to become a cultivator like your big sisters?"
"E-eh? Really? I can?" he exclaimed. "But... Grandpa said I don't have any talent for cultivation..." He'd mentioned the grandpa character a few times, and I imagine it's someone from outside the forest, though who... well, maybe one day he'll tell us.
"If you really want to, Master may have a way..." I said, and immediately felt three pairs of eyes immediately hone in on me like freakin' missiles--Lao Shun, Long Tao, and Wan Lan.
"Really?! Master has a way?" He looked at me with rather wide eyes, but nowhere near as wide as those three. If I say yes here, I can kiss any sense of normalcy goodbye, I fear.
"Hm," I nodded in resignation. "Before he passed, my great-grandfather left my grandfather an heirloom, and before my grandfather passed, he left behind another heirloom on top of the first. And when my father passed, he left yet another heirloom, and that's how I have a way to help you."
Nope.
Nobody was buying this shit.
Even Xi Zhao looked at me with a rather apologetic gaze, as though saying, 'Master, I do want to trust you, but that's the stupidest thing anyone has ever said'.
"He he, little Feng, don't be so shocked!" Dai Xiu, ah, sweet, dearest Dai Xiu... only you still have full faith in me... "Master's ways are not of this world! He can do anything!"
"Wow! T-then... I, I'd like to cultivate..."
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"Very well; turn your back towards me and lift your shirt up."
Everyone gathered in a circle around us, their eyes as wide as saucers, as I began; the first thing I did was imbue the Heaven-tier talent.
As an item, it was a mote of light that appeared above my palm--bright, cyan-colored, with plumes of white dancing just beneath its glossy surface.
I instinctively knew how to use it and, as such, gently pressed my palm into the boy's back, just below the nape--he shivered for a moment as the mote abruptly exploded into a cloth-like shower of light that wrapped his entire back in a glossy sheen before submerging under his skin.
I stood up and backed away, with the others doing the same, as the boy began to rise from the ground, light shooting from him like fireworks.
... holy shit, am I glad to be doing this here!! If we'd done it on the outside, we'd be practically telling everyone within hundreds of miles that there was something special being done!
Despite how blindingly bright and flamboyant the entire thing was, the light never broke through the clearing. Though there was no canopy of trees above, there was this invisible layer of... something that contained the entire 'show' within itself.
And boy, was it ever a show.
Colors beyond my ability to really understand them were spat out from his back repeatedly, bouncing around like spirits--or, well, they may really have been actual spirits. We all stared in awe at the entire thing, Long Tao included (I'm fairly certain he's been more shocked today than all the other times we spent together combined), as Xing Feng stopped rising at about fifteen feet off the ground, his limbs splayed.
All lights abruptly converged into a singular array that spiraled around him and above his head, converging into a ball-sized orb before descending as a massive pillar shooting directly between his brows.
His skin began to glow and looked as though it would shatter, veins visibly throbbing.
At that point, I had to close my eyes, as I felt I'd go blind if I looked at it any longer.
Sensing it calm down, I opened them back up and saw the young boy had already descended and was standing with a somewhat curious look in his eyes.
"Is... this Qi...?" he asked with a soft voice, lifting up his hand and grabbing toward the spattering of Qi around him.
Inspecting him again, it really did change--his talent went from being 'Mortal' to 'peak-Heaven'. Technically, he was now my second most talented kid.
Lao Shun walked up and crouched next to the kid, grabbing his arm and inspecting his pulse; Xing Feng winced a bit but didn't pull back, letting him.
A mere moment later, the old alchemist turned toward me and looked at me as though I were the monster of the monsters.
"Your great-grandfather's means were truly... incomprehensible..." he said, playing along.
"Oh," I said. "That wasn't my great grandfather--that was my grandfather."
"... hmm?"
"My great-grandfather left me something... else..."
The 'Martial Body Implant' wasn't a physical item, not as far as I could tell--it was a 'will' of sorts, where I commanded it into somebody, and then... well, I have no clue, not really.
"Xing Feng, sit down in a lotus position," I said as I walked up to the boy yet again, with others staring at me even more intensely.
"Y-yes, Master!" the boy obeyed, sitting down.
I pressed my hand into his chest this time around and simply 'willed' it.
I felt my palm sear up like a hot plate as Qi rushed from the depths of my dantian--the purest Qi I could currently muster. Like a tidal wave, it beat against my palm for a few moments before the 'dam' opened and it flooded forward.
[--Martial Body implementation commenced]
The system informed me of something I'd already kind of figured was happening, and I was somewhat fearful that more info was coming... but there was none.
I kept my palm on him and felt Qi swirl between us in ways that I have never seen or experienced before, before spattering throughout his body like tendrils carving their way into stone.
His eyes began to shift, their hue turning more brilliant and colorful, as something red began to ooze around his neck. At first I feared it was blood and I was somehow killing him, but a closer look revealed it was more like ink rather than blood--and instead of flowing down, it flowed back up and started shaping itself into a tattoo.
It was like a choker, rounding his entire neck, with a flat design and sharp angles, symmetrical across four faces--on either side, or toward the nape or the Adam's apple.
And, just like that... it was over.
As was I.
Holy shit, I'm so fucking tired!
... night-night, I guess...
Long Tao stared silently at his happily snoring Master, turning his gaze over to the young boy next to him who was also happily snoring.
... it was impossible.
While changing one's talents and even physique wasn't particularly difficult, it should have been outright impossible in this particular realm, as the Laws of Heaven were impossible to dispute here.
And yet, the man had done it.
He'd reforged an ordinary mortal body into a Martial Body, a physique that wasn't rare, per se, but was incredibly versatile. On top of that, he'd also reforged the boy's ordinary roots into Heavenly ones. While not as exceptional as natural Heavenly Roots, they still were Heavenly Roots, too.
Someone who would have died without ever even knowing what Qi felt like now had the ability to become a Demigod, at the very least.
His gaze once more turned toward the man who seemed to always be capable of doing the impossible. Great-grandfather? Grandfather?
None of those were true, of course.
Long Tao had investigated 'Lu Qi' as soon as he noticed a few oddities with the man. Lu Qi's father was the Spirit Sword Sect Master, and that man had no ability to produce anything of this level. If he could, he wouldn't have died the way he did.
Beyond that, he had no connections, no friends, no loved ones--he was a 'stain' upon the Sect's image, with no positive qualities.
It was certain that somebody possessed the original body, not unlike how Long Tao himself possessed this one, though who... he could never come up with a plausible answer.
The initial instinct was that it was somebody like him--an old, ancient monster who'd already walked the path of Immortality—but that wasn't the case. His Master was far too ignorant of the world to have been an Immortal in any meaningful capacity.
The second instinct was that he was a child of an Immortal who, in his previous life, had one or another Null Physique and couldn't cultivate. Despite that, he wasn't discarded and was instead taken care of, which was where he picked up on so many things, but that wasn't... adequate enough of an explanation.
His Master could create things, conjure them up out of thin air--he'd seen things like this on occasion before, but never to this degree.
And now, it went beyond simply creating arts and methods.
No, Long Tao shook his head.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
His Master didn't create either of the imbuements--they were natural; he could discern that much. Wherever he got them from, they were made by nature.
Just the fact that he had them, however, suggested that the web of complexity surrounding this meek little Master of his was... massive. Perhaps as grand as the Divine Conspiracy itself.
Though it was fun to think about it, Long Tao wasn't truly bothered by the fact he didn't know--if things he didn't know could stack, it'd be an infinity. There was no soul alive or dead to have ever known everything, despite what many self-proclaimed prophets claimed.
Even in his past life, when he was roaming untethered, he'd come across things he was never able to explain--a river that would flow only when somebody was looking at it, an entire village that never experienced passage of time, a hummingbird whose song could put even Emperors into a state of perpetual sleep...
As much of an anomaly as the man was, he wasn't unique in that aspect, at least.
Long Tao sighed, seeming visibly tired; today was simply one of those days, he reckoned. For all his knowledge and understanding of the world, seeing Chimera talk and seeing his Master conjure up such heaven-defying tools from seemingly nowhere drained him.
Before joining Spirit Sword Sect, he'd laid out a clear plan in his head--practically dotting every one of his movements for the next few centuries. Which places he'd visit, where he'd go to take back the items he left behind, and even the order in which he'd kill his enemies.
... all of that had been thrown into a chasm, as his plans hadn't really mattered ever since the master gave him Heart-Stitching Art. It accelerated things well beyond his initial estimate, and ever since then, the shocks and surprises hadn't stopped.
He also overestimated his capabilities and regretted challenging the Sages a bit, at least doing so this early. Even if they couldn't really tell who it was, it was a risk he didn't need to take.
He'd thought they were merely a fallen-off group with middling strength, but from all the signs that he'd seen so far, they may really be one of the strongest forces of the continent. Even if the public viewed 'Holy Lands' as the behemoths, having seen firsthand their rough potential, they didn't quite measure up.
Master was the first to wake up, about three hours after passing out; he appeared momentarily confused as Dai Xiu, Xi Zhao, and Light climbed all over him to make sure he was fine.
"Ah, it succeeded. That's good..." he mumbled after glancing at the boy, nodding.
Though Long Tao was deathly curious and wanted to ask, he knew better than to; in the same vein that his Master never asked him certain questions, he had to pay back the same courtesy.
It wasn't long after that the boy woke up too, seeming in equal measure shocked and in awe of the strange new Master of his.
"Let the Master teach you your first cultivation method." It was the very basic one from the Spirit Sword Sect, and the boy listened to the 'lesson' without blinking, trying to soak up every word.
Long Tao tuned out, wanting to relax for a bit at last and rest, too. Though he'd never show it, he was tired and practically out of Qi.
It would have all gone according to plan if that annoying Master of his hadn't gone and done yet another annoyingly impossible thing.
Just after the lesson, it felt, he told the boy to close his eyes and then pressed a finger between his brows and chanted something--a moment later, a golden halo appeared behind the boy's head and began to spin, golden jets of liquid shooting out.
Long Tao's jaw slackened, as did Lao Shun's, while the others merely looked at the phenomenon with the look of awe, since they didn't quite understand what that golden halo entailed.
He turned to the side and faced Lao Shun, who looked back at him, and the two men stared at each other for a few seconds, happy to have found a kindred spirit to this madness.
Was there anything his Master couldn't do? Long Tao pondered.
Putting somebody forcefully into the state of enlightenment...
Long Tao sighed and looked up to the sky. With each passing day, he felt that all his previous years of life were worthless, as he kept being shocked by a seemingly ordinary man who didn't even know how amazing his abilities truly were...
Enduring Eternity (I)
Xing Feng's status window certainly changed quite a bit in the span of perhaps fifteen hours or so.
[Target: Xing Feng]
[Age: 10]
[Talent: Peak Heaven]
[Cultivation Realm: Fourth Stage of Qi Condensation]
[Cultivation Method: Spirit Sword Harmony, First Volume]
[Cultivation Arts: None]
[...]
[Traits]
[Lucky (Epic) -- uniquely lucky; favorable things happen for seemingly no reason]
[Quiet (Common) -- a naturally withdrawn countenance]
[...]
[Special Physique Detected: Martial Body (Jade)]
[...]
[Martial Body (Jade): a physique that alters one's perception of reality when they wield any weapon or use the equivalent weapon art; it shines the brightest once the person masters dozens of weapon arts, using them interchangeably and at will to dominate any battlefield]
[...]
[Recommendation: A mortal remade, Host is recommended to simply give his Disciple a bit of time to fully realize the newfound talent and physique. Once the target breaks into the Foundation Establishment, you may teach them specific Weapon Arts]
[...]
[Final assessment: from null potential to one of the heavens, though the end path is limited due to the artificial nature of the roots, it is only so when compared against the utterly unique, heaven-loved, of which there are staggeringly few in all of the worlds]
For my own sanity's sake, everyone kept their mouths shut--even if they knew what I pulled off wasn't exactly normal, they at least didn't get into my face about it.
Especially Long Tao.
Because, and I feel this strongly, the only reason Lao Shun isn't currently barraging me with questions is because he's following Long Tao's example.
Great news for me--at least for now.
"No, no, Zhao! Attack me from this side!" Dai Xiu ordered the somewhat tired-seeming Xi Zhao. "And don't hold back, okay?! If you do, I will yell at you!"
They weren't sparring, per se, and it was more Dai Xiu trying to iron out the few weaknesses she picked up. Namely, she was most often hurt by somebody attacking from her left side; she favored her right quite a bit, and it, I guess, passively impacted the way she perceives things. Her ability to react to attacks she doesn't see coming, according to her, mind you, is abysmal, and she needs to fix it as soon as possible.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
As such, she employed the whetstone she now started calling Zhao, telling him to attack her with all he's got from the blind spot.
He, of course, held back as he'd most certainly injured her; she got mad, yelled at him, and they've been at it for at least an hour now.
"They... hate each other?" Xing Feng voiced.
"No, no, they don't hate each other," Wan Lan explained. "It's just... that's how they show they like each other, okay? But--they're a special case! Don't be like them!"
The young boy nodded fervently, all while Light stared at him curiously for a moment before turning toward me.
"I'm still the youngest," she said.
"... uhm. Yes?"
"Hm. Good." She smiled stealthily and looked away, and I was left wondering what exactly she meant.
Maybe she means we'll keep spoiling her because she's the youngest? Or... maybe she's already worried about growing old and likes being the youngest?
... yeah.
If I knew what the hell kids thought, I'd have gone into child psychology.
Besides that, one more thing of note happened: the flower that was here, the system actually told me what it is.
Well, I use told very loosely here, as I don't have an iota of an idea what it does.
[Mirror-Flower (???) -- reveals the truth]
Perfect.
... what truth? Who the hell knows...
The funny bit was that neither Lao Shun nor Long Tao seemed particularly interested in the flower--they examined it, sure, but it seems both concluded it was just some random, worthless thing and gave up on it. Even though the system is being extremely vague, the fact that its rarity is considered unknown tells me that this thing is far from ordinary.
How unordinary it is, I guess time will tell.
I turned my gaze to the side and saw Long Tao stirring the pot full of food--he'd become quite committed to cooking, though, to be honest... he was not good. I mean, he made mostly edible things, but I was able to cook better than him when I was like 14, and I could not cook when I was 14.
"... in some ways, you are far more monstrous than any of your Disciples," Lao Shun sat down next to me and said rather abruptly. "I suppose that's why they're your Disciples. I've committed a grave error in judgement when I chose to follow you, did I not?"
"Oh, the gravest," I said as he smiled, turning his head toward me. "And the stupidest, too. Can't leave that out."
"Certainly cannot. Oh well. Legends are not made by the chairbound alchemists who never leave their gilded towers. If I must suffer to see the myths being written... then suffer I shall. What are your plans now?" he asked, and I really didn't have a ready answer.
What were our plans?
I thought it was going after Sages, but I get this distinct impression that Long Tao had cooled on the prospect, likely realizing we were nowhere near strong enough yet--and that's with him already recognizing that (partly) back in the city.
But I also don't know where else to go; my initial plan, when we were running from the sect, was to eventually round down south and then move eastward. All the books and pamphlets and tomes I'd read in the sect's library indicated that the land east of the Heaven-Piercing Peaks was abundant with resources and opportunities. I mean, the texts are probably exaggerated to a degree, but if there wasn't a nugget of truth in there, most of them would not be saying it.
But we are almost as far away from the east as we can be.
We could turn south and retreat, but it'd likely take months longer, not to mention how boring it'd be.
"If you don't, or if your plans changed," he said. "I may have an idea."
"Oh?" I looked over at him, feeling glad that I'd taken him in for the first time, practically.
"Are you familiar with the Moon Lake?"
"... vaguely."
"So, you aren't," he grinned rather cheekily. "One of the reasons why I accepted the Madame's invitation to come here was because the symptoms sounded familiar to that of the parasite, but another was because there was something else here that I wanted to attend after: the Moon Festival. It happens once in a while, from what I recall, and the scheduled date for it is in about a month."
"What is it?" I asked since he literally shut his mouth until I did. And, of course, he grinned at my question. I mean, he must be enjoying it slightly, at least, this tiny sense of victory after being repeatedly shocked ever since joining us...
"It's a hunt," he said. "Well, a competition--but also a hunt. Supposedly, at the bottom of the lake resides an ancient Flood Dragon who failed to evolve into a full Dragon; ashamed, it rooted itself in the lakebed and died there, leaving behind an entire, intact corpse."
"You believe it?"
"Of course not," he shrugged. "If there ever was a full, intact corpse of any kind of dragon in there, it's been taken a long, long, long time ago. No, the dragon is mostly just an excuse that allows us to roam free in the lake's waters. And though there are no dragons there, there still are things worth visiting for.
"Namely, Red Lotus, a key ingredient in concocting the Six-Flower Pill, something all your Disciples could really use..."