Silent Sage (II)
Long Tao disappeared shortly after his rather... hmm, let's call it passionate, rambling over the old leader of this place.
I'm a bit scared over what he'll do, but I don't really think it's gonna happen anytime soon. Despite being a legendary monster, he's ultimately still nowhere near strong enough to directly face that other monster; as such, his chance will come from long-term preparation, and since we've just come here, such a thing should take a while.
Until then, we should be fine.
Should.
As the day passed, I saw kids streaming in and out of the house rather consistently--they always left in pairs, at least, often going as three. I also noticed that Rayce always seemed to give them something just before they left, and after the third time, I walked over to their room and saw him hunched over a table, drawing something onto a parchment.
"A-ah, Master!" he saw me just as he finished, yelping and jumping a bit. "Forgive me! I didn't notice you come in!"
"Really? You didn't notice someone who purposefully made as little noise as possible so as to not disturb you? Hmm, Rayce. How could you?"
"He he," he smiled sheepishly, scratching the top of his head.
"What are you doing?"
"Ah! Yes, I've been drawing as many of Breathless Words as I can," he said.
"Aah. That's what you've been giving them?"
"Hm. If they rip it, it allows them to stay underwater for up to three or four hours. It's, it's my first time drawing this word, so it's not that efficient yet."
"That's amazing." Honestly, it really was. I can hold my breath for just about twenty minutes, give or take a few, and the kids are somehow at about half of that. Buying them hours under there? "Why don't you join them?"
"Ah, no, I'm best suited to stay here," he said. "Drawing Words for them. I learned in the forest that I'm not a fighter. When I saw others having to get hurt over and over again just to cover for me... I felt so helpless. All I could do was rip a few Words, and buy a few seconds of time."
I don't really remember it being that way; I instead remember him covering and putting out fires wherever he could. He obviously isn't anywhere near as good at fighting as anyone else, but he's got a good head on his shoulders, perhaps more so than anyone save for Long Tao.
"That's when I swore to myself," he continued. "That I will never leave us that unprepared again. This is just one of the Words--I've also given them a Propelling Word that will allow them to quickly move in the water for a little while."
"... I've never really asked you," I said, sitting down on a nearby chair. "But how are you doing?"
"A-ah?"
"We never talk about it," I said. "What happened back on the Eternal Range."
"..."
"We don't have to talk about it, of course. I mean, we did, once, very briefly. I just know that, if I were you, especially if I was back to my stupid sixteen-year-old self, I'd... be haunted by it. In fact, I once made a fool out of myself in front of a Young Lady as well as her friends--am still haunted by it. And, comparatively, that's a fart in the wind."
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"Heh," he chuckled, lowering his head.
"If you don't want to--"
"--no, it's fine," he said. "I... I'd be lying if I said it's perfect. Sometimes, I wake up thinking I'm still there, trapped in that place, and you... never came. I'll get better, I know. I just... need time."
"Any dreams where I do come like a dashing hero to help you?"
"Pfft."
"Huh? No dreams like that? Hooh. Maybe I need to work on my entrances?"
"Ha ha ha," he burst into laughter as I smiled gently, ruffling his hair almost by instinct.
"Take all the time in the world, Rayce. And if you ever need anything, I'm always here. Not just me. All of them."
"I know," he smiled. "Thank you, Master."
"Hm. Alright, get back to work, then. I'll go and sightsee the lake a bit. Feng'er, want to come with Master to the lake?"
"Yes, yes I do!" he peeked from behind the doorframe rather comically.
"It is rude to eavesdrop, Feng'er."
"A-ah...!" His expression dropped rather quickly into one of guilt as I watched Rayce stifle his laugh.
"It's alright, Master; I told him he can listen," Rayce said, smiling stealthily.
Xing Feng looked at the young man with awe in his eyes, and even I just barely held back from laughing at it.
"Alright, let's go." I stood up and walked out as the young boy grabbed my hand.
More of him was coming out, but he still remained largely withdrawn and silent; unsurprisingly, he mostly just shadowed Light, trying to get her attention any way he could. While he did seem to enjoy being doted on by Wan Lan and Dai Xiu, he mostly either still hung around me or stayed silent in their midst.
We made our way to the lake rather slowly, navigating through the sea of people coming and going in the same direction--some had excited expressions, some sour, some were wounded, and some were so pristine you'd think they were just on a walkway.
The lake's shore was absolutely brimming with audience--that's right, audience. It turns out, most people who come here, apparently, don't come for the treasures and such--they come to be little observers.
Just as I thought there'd be no room for us, the crowd started to... well, part. I really can't explain it, but it kind of looked like they recognized my celebrity status and just gave way--which is bull, of course; none of these could have known who the hell I was, which further begged the question of why they did it.
I don't know why, and from the looks of their expressions, neither did they.
I took the opportunity, though, and walked all the way to the front, just up against a railing on top of a platform slightly overlooking the lake. At the same time, I picked Xing Feng up and hung him on my back while trying to look for the kids.
It was difficult to see anything, really, as the water had twinges of scarlet and was in a constant flux; every thirty seconds or so, somebody would jet out of it, either wounded or running for their life. A few among them would be cradling something against their chest, and even fewer would immediately jet out of the city completely.
Those that did, however, would immediately cause dozens upon dozens of the audience members to follow them--I imagine if they were caught, they would also die.
Pretty diabolical, but hey, what isn't in this damn world?
The first of the kids that I saw was Xi Zhao--he emerged from the lake rather casually, unlike most others who flew out. Despite the fact that he was practically strutting, nobody attacked him from within the lake.
He must have seen me at some point, as his quite dark and threatening expression softened into a beaming smile, and he sprinted over like a bolt of lightning, bowing and stretching out his arms while presenting a strange, shimmering rock to me.
"Master, I got this!" he said. "I don't know what it is, but a bunch of rabid dogs tried to steal it from me, so it must have some value! Please accept it!"
... no.
Just, no.
I refuse to believe they are this socially stupid.
Forget cultivation, I need to lock these bastards up for a few months and teach them some goddamn basics of surviving in this world.
I could only sigh and take the stone, as he would otherwise undergo an existential crisis--my fault, really, since I didn't do that much to combat their ever-increasing zealotry--which, judging by the fiery expressions of everyone around me, must have some value.
Haah, Xi Zhao--oh no.
No, Dai Xiu, don't look this way.
Goddammit!!
... Light, please don't. Please, please--
Hm.
Why did I, for a second, think we could remain low-key?
No, seriously, why? Is there something profusely wrong with my brain? Did coming over to this world result in me becoming even stupider than I was?
... or was I always this stupid? Ooh, that's a scary thought.
Almost as scary as these three handing over glistening things to me in public, in front of hundreds of pairs of eyes, and doing it all so casually you'd think they were pebbles they picked up at the side of the lake.
Haah.
We became kind of like celebrities following the kids' cute little performance on the lake--everywhere we went, people recognized us, and just based on 3-4 rumors I've heard, they seem to think we're some kind of an Ancient Clan that has come out to the surface.
... kind of the same story we told a certain chatterbox, which leads me to believe he's the man behind the rumors. I think he thinks he's genuinely helping us, but if I knew where the bastard went, I'd run him down and beat him with a spoon.
Thanks to that, I rarely left the house for the next few days, while the kids kept going out, bringing more and more shit on the daily. Within a week, I had enough ore to build a house, let alone a few weapons, while I kept offloading all herbs onto Lao Shun, who kept concocting newer and newer pills, or helping Rayce create a better kind of paper, which led to even more Words being written, which--
--it was all just a big, cyclic spiral of success.
Though I was happy, as the kids were having fun, I also knew we pretty much won't be able to avoid getting tangled up with the Sage, probably even sooner than I'd want.
I couldn't even begin to tell where that jackass Long Tao was, as he'd only show up around dinnertime and promptly disappear for the rest of the day and night. The only people who consistently stayed inside the house were Rayce, Xing Feng, and me. Even Lao Shun took off a few times, wanting to test his luck in the lake.
Also, I'm pretty sure I'm being haunted.
Why?
Because I keep finding random crap next to my bed every morning.
And it all looks old. They're not treasures, not really--I mean, they would be if this was back on Earth, as all these things looked to be about 200,000 years old, but beyond their age, there wasn't anything impressive about them.
I once even stayed up alert, keeping up my Divine Sense up all night long, and sensed nothing--yet there was a wooden, weathered spoon next to me come morning.
Since the old woman wasn't reacting, and even Long Tao wasn't saying anything, I'm pretty sure neither are aware. Which leads me to my conclusion: I'm being haunted.
By what?
I had a guess.
But I kept it so deep down in my soul, as I felt acknowledging it would ripple out like a sonic wave throughout my body, rendering me catatonic.
As such, I just took the gifts and kept silent, wondering if it would get bored and leave me alone.
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"Master," Xing Feng came up to me just before breakfast. "I, I want to go to the lake, too, with Brothers and Sisters..."
He was squirming in place, avoiding my eyes.
"I--I won't go in, I promise! I, I'll just stay on the side and watch!" he added after I fell silent. Just then, Rayce appeared as though he were listening (because he was).
"How about I take him? I want to see what it's like, too."
"Very well," I nodded. These two weren't exactly known, especially Rayce, so it shouldn't be that bad. "Stay safe, and don't take anything anyone gives you."
"Yes, Master!"
As the two were leaving, I could hear Xing Feng's voice softly echo out.
"Thank you, Brother Rayce! I, I'll buy you candy! Sister Xiu bought me one yesterday, and it was really tasty!"
"Really? Can I choose which one?"
"Of course!"
"We can buy two, then. One for you and one for me."
"Yaay!"
I smiled faintly and shook my head before retreating to the central quarters, where I realized I wasn't alone--the old woman was here, too.
She seemed a bit surprised to see me, too, and seeing as I'm physically incapable of silence, despite knowing she couldn't understand me...
"Hello. How are you doing? The kids all went to the lake today, some to treasure hunt and some to sightsee. Am I bothering you? I can leave, too--but I don't know if you know, I get accosted all the time. They keep asking me which clan I'm from and what training methods I used on the kids... aah, it's terrible! I wouldn't mind if they were simply chatty, but they try to drag me into this shop or the next, or they keep trying to sell me 'heavenly pills that will take my disciples to the next level'. Do I look like I'm four years old? Or a moron? Or like I had an anvil dropped on my head when I was a baby?"
"Pfft."
"Hm?"
No.
No, no, no, no.
It was minute, as in closer to a fly buzzing a hundred yards from me than a snort, but I heard it... because it ripped like thunder in my ears. My entire body froze up, and all I could do was stare at her with my jaw agape.
"Oh, relax," she spoke, very much in the language I spoke, too. "It's not the end of the world."
"..."
"Let me make something I used to make my grandson when he was feeling anxious," she said. "All while you tell me more about how they think you look the part of a moron."
... wow. It's really true, I suppose, that I ought to keep an eye out on old people in this world, as those not cunning enough just straight up die young. It's on me, to be fair; why did I, even for the remotest second, think that a woman that's almost 1700 years old wouldn't have simply learned more than one language?
Shit, I knew like two and a half languages back on Earth, and I didn't even make it to half of a century.
Hey. Maybe I really am a moron?
Nonetheless, I followed her into the kitchen, where I saw her tearing apart a mango-like fruit as the juices spilled out into the bowl below.
"That Art you gave me," she said. "It really did help my Heart."
"Oh. That's, that's good."
"Was it true?"
"What?"
"That you can discern when someone has trouble with their Heart?" She eyed me sideways, likely using some art or another to see whether I was lying--but, thank God, I really wasn't. System is a part of me, so, in kind of a way, I do have that ability.
"Yes, yes, it was," I nodded. "My first Disciple, the one that shows up to dinner and then disappears like a ghost, I noticed it with him for the first time."
"Hm. Truth be told, I've developed an eye for Heart-issues myself," she said. "And that Disciple of yours... whatever it is, even I want to run from it."
Well, yeah. Even to this day, Heart-Poison Curse remains with the exact same wording it did on the first day I met him:
[Heart-Poison Curse (???) -- the curse from his past life persists, making it seem as though he is a waste without talents]
Over a year with him constantly practicing it, and improving his own cultivation in ways I couldn't even fathom... and nothing's changed. It begged the question: just what in God's name even was it?
She made a smoothie.
Okay, not literally. She didn't shove a bunch of chopped-up fruits into a blender, press a button, and watch the magic happen. She squeezed juices out of some, she smushed others with her hands and fists, and some she just tossed in there and they melted, but the end product both looked and smelled an awful lot like a smoothie.
There were some visible chunks still, here and there, but it was more liquid than it was firm.
"My grandson called it fruit assault," she smiled faintly. "Said it helped calm him down. Have a taste."
I obeyed, picking up the bowl and taking a sip--and, well, I kinda agree with her grandson, to be honest. The taste was... overwhelming, to say the least. It wasn't sugary, however, but more so that so many flavorful fruits seem to be fighting to be the one to be tasted that it just sears the taste buds a bit.
"It's good." I didn't lie; though it was a bit overwhelming, it was also super tasty. I don't know if it made me any less anxious, but, to be fair, sometimes even modern medication failed to do that, so... you know... it did its best, I suppose. "Really good."
"Glad you like it," she said as she sat down on the table, too, just to my left. "The Art has helped me, tremendously. So much, in fact, that I'm ravaged with guilt that I got it for free."
"No, no, it was a gift! A thank you for letting us stay here and cooking us--"
"--yap, yap, yap. The old alchemist already paid for all that. Hmm. I think I may have a way to repay you."
"..." I stayed silent. I really, really, really didn't want anything from her, because I have this dreadful feeling it will trigger some flag that will lead to something larger-than-life happening in the future, but it's not like I can say no, either.
"Well, partly, at least. Lu Yuhan, the bastard leader of this city," she said, her voice rather rife with loathing. "He no doubt has taken notice of your kids. And, if I know him in the slightest, he'll want them."
"... want them?"
"Of course. He'll goad them with all the riches under the sky until they say yes and renounce themselves as your Disciples."
Yeah.
Honestly, of so many things in this world that I worry about, somebody 'thieving' away the kids by offering them stuff? Not even remotely near the top hundred.
"You don't seem worried."
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"I'm not."
"Do you trust them that much?"
"Hmm," I mulled for a moment before replying. "I do, but it's not even that."
"What is it, then?"
"..." What I really wanted to say was, 'There's perhaps 3 people alive that can offer them things I can', but there's no way in hell I could utter something so narcissistic, even if true. "What worries me if he approaches them that way isn't them accepting it, but getting riled up on my behalf and saying things that are... not appropriate."
"Ho ho. Quite boastful," she smirked for a moment. "Even so, he's not the man to give up just because somebody rejected him."
"I figured."
"If he ever does," she said. "I'll intervene on your behalf. Hopefully, he still holds a shred of respect for me and will give me face."
"... I appreciate it, but there's no need," I said.
"Oh? Are you even aware just how strong he is?"
"To a frightening degree, yes," I smiled bitterly. Of course I knew. I bore witness to a 'mere' Demigod blowing up an entire set of mountains and flattening them into a plateau, and the old monster was two--no, even three—major realms stronger than that.
We couldn't defeat him, not even in the slightest. There were only two trump cards that might work: the little tortoise and the 'Eternal Sacrifice' martial art. I'm not even sure to what degree they'd work, if at all, but I'm also not willing to put my trust in them.
What, then? Long Tao.
He should know, too, just how strong the man was--yet, he remained his indifferent (if slightly petty, grudge-bearing, and angry) self. I don't think he has the means of killing the man, but I do think he has the means of keeping us safe.
"... hmm. Even if you do have the means of handling him, don't. He's the man of many connections, but more than that, he's a central figure bound to so many Ancient Clans I'd run out of breath naming them all. Should he die under remotely suspicious circumstances, there's a chance the entire Eternal Continent might descend into a war."
"Oh?" That's a bit surprising, but not impossible. I mean, we have had quite a few similar things happen back on Earth, where the death of one person did technically kickstart a war. Obviously, though, the war would have happened regardless, and that was merely the last straw, which I imagine is the scenario here, too.
"Don't worry about it; simply, if at all possible, stay away from him. And if he tries to do something, I'll help you."
She stood up, refusing to even hear my rejection, and left.
I find it a bit annoying, honestly, that we're already getting tangled up with stuff like this. No... we've gotten tangled up with it from the day Long Tao challenged the Sages back in the Silvercrest City. Perhaps even earlier than that, when we first came across the parasitic vine.
... or perhaps even earlier than that, when our sect got invaded and flattened.
Though it's not so obvious on the surface, I suppose, it all dictates a certain connection--from the Fire Sun Sect's initial instigations all the way to now, where we're wrestling with an old, greedy monster that's hiding his true identity so deeply I'm pretty sure only Long Tao and I are aware of it.
But, strangely enough, I'm not afraid.
I think it's because I've started to understand Long Tao's insistence on constant challenging of things--my cultivation has... stagnated. Not to the point of it being impossible, but compared to when I'm fighting for my life and struggling to survive, it truly feels much worse. And if I feel that way, then I can only imagine what it's like for monsters whose talents dwarf mine.
And so, even if he's just a bit above what I'm comfortable 'dealing with', perhaps that's precisely where he needs to be--the kids are an untamed fire roaring across the world, and in order to burn even brighter, forests need to become larger and larger.
"HOW DARE YOU REJECT MY PROPOSAL!!!" a voice roared so loudly it shook the house. "I WILL KILL BOTH YOU AND YOUR MASTER RIGHT THIS INSTANCE!"
... hmm?
Wait.
No, no, there are a lot of masters to go around. For every disciple, in fact, there's a master.
... yeah.
Haah.
At least it wasn't the voice of that old monster. At least.
Silent Sage (V)
I sped out of the house and headed over to the source of the roar; it was quite easy to spot since there was a fair bit of audience crowding it, forcing me to shuffle between them to get to the front. I got quite a few elbows into my ribs as a protest, but I endured it.
Once there, I could only sigh: Wan Lan and Xi Zhao stood on one end, with six men standing opposite of them, led by a younger one who seemed to be Wan Lan's age.
He wore rather garish jewelry and, on top of the quite flamboyant robe, made it so he looked less like a person and more like a walking ad. Wan Lan was holding a few gemstones, while Xi Zhao was holding a few plants, as though flaunting them on purpose.
... which was probably what they were doing.
"Are you deaf?! I told you that if you don't sell it to me, I'll hang you all for the entire world to see! Do you not know who I am, huh?!"
"... should we?" Wan Lan replied dismissively.
"Y-y-you brat! I'm a Core Disciple of the Jade Meridian Sect, Zhu Ning!" he proudly proclaimed, though to the backwater bumpkins like the kids and me, the name really didn't mean anything. "Hah! Are you scared? Humph! Because you angered me, now I will only give you twenty mid-grade stones instead of forty!"
Wow.
Wooooow.
Talk about shameless.
Though I wasn't looking forward to conflicts like these, I knew they were inevitable--more so ever since the kids 'showed off'. I mean, they're walking disasters with a protag aura so thick you could see it from outer space (I assume). It's a miracle this exact scenario isn't being played out every day.
"Hm? Ah, Master, you're here!" Xi Zhao called out, his dour expression turning bright. The two completely ignored the man as they walked over and handed me their findings, once more causing quite a few eyes to look at us... well, "greedily" is a nice way of putting it. "Apologies," he continued. "We would have gotten more if some barking dogs didn't keep bothering us."
"..." wow. You look innocent enough, but you sure spit out some heinous fire. He spoke it just loudly enough for basically any cultivator in a radius to hear, including the flamboyant--wait, what's his name? Oh my God, didn't he say it just fifteen seconds ago or so?!
"Y-y-you! How dare you! That's it! Even if the King Yama comes, he won't be able to save you! Kill them!"
"You are rather quick to disregard the rules of the city," I said, glancing over at him. "Or, are you saying that you are so important you get to disregard them?"
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"... hah. What a coward. If you're a man, come outside and face me!"
"Did my disciples steal this from you?" I asked.
"What?"
"I'm asking whether they stole this from you."
"We didn't, Master," Wan Lan quickly responded. "We found it just like we found other things before."
"So they say."
"So what? What does that have to do with it? I wasn't stealing them--I offered to buy--"
"--oh, shut the hell up," I groaned, somewhat tired. "Do you think everybody here is three years old and has never heard of a Spirit Stone before? You may as well have taken a shit and thrown it directly at their faces. You say you want to face us? Xi Zhao, go out with them."
"Master...?" he tilted his head.
"Do whatever you want," I said; though I considered just letting it go, I also understood that if I did, these incidents would just keep happening. No matter how glib a tongue I have, it ain't glib enough for this world; only raw violence can carve things in their stubborn stones. "Kill them, maim them, humiliate them, hell, for all I care, use them as marionettes to put on a play. Just, whatever you do, do it so loudly that the world hears."
"... understood, Master," he smiled faintly in acknowledgement.
That man, as well as his entourage, weren't weak--in fact, the weakest was in the middle stages of Spirit Manifestation, while the strongest was in the mid stages of Revolving Core Realm.
So, why was I sending a Foundation Establishment brat to fight them? Because I decided to trust the kids' judgment when it came to these things. He looks unbothered, and so I will pretend to be unbothered, too.
I still haven't passed on the Single Severance, though at least now I had a specific target I was waiting for rather than some vague notion: for his Draw Master trait to evolve into the Endless Draws trait. Is it a realistic thing to expect, especially since the system mentioned that only the pathway was opened rather than it was a certainty? No, of course not.
But I've also made my choice to not give it to him until or, yes, if, he eventually gets it.
Regardless, he was plenty strong without it, and it ought to be a good chance to gauge just how strong he was.
"... you're sending a child to face me? Hah. Funny. Fine, let us go." He didn't seem bothered, but after a second of thought, I kind of understood why.
He likely thinks this is my way of 'apologizing', by 'giving' the disciple away to be punished. Meh. He can think whatever he wants.
Judging from the crowd and how the way they looked at me changed, they probably thought the same.
"Master, is Brother Zhao going to be okay?" At some point, everyone except for Long Tao joined me as we started walking toward the edge of the city, with quite the sizeable crowd at our heels. This was also when Xing Feng asked, seeming rather worried.
"Do you believe in your brother?" I asked back with a faint smile.
"Hm! Of course! He's the strongest!"
"Then why wouldn't he be okay?"
"Ah!"
"Even if he does somehow defeat them," Lao Shun spoke directly into my head, using the transmission technique. Right. I have to ask the bastard to teach me. "Is that even a good thing? We're already being watched closely, and after this... they'll probably send people to watch us in our bedrooms."
I glanced over at him and shrugged; I mean, that was probably already the case. That old monster has a legendary paranoia; he likely investigates anything that remotely falls out of normalcy, and we fall so far out I'd be more shocked that there aren't spies in our bedrooms. Who knows? Maybe it's a ghost employed by him that's leaving those things next to me, trying to scare me into leaving this place or something.
So, Xi Zhao wiping the floor with some third-degree-nobodies? Probably matters squat in the grand scheme of things. It will at least help with the general crowd and them leaving us alone, for better or worse.
As for the rest?
... well, I'll deal with it when the time comes.
Lu Yuhan leisurely grabbed toward a porcelain bowl sitting on the table, taking a single blood-red cherry from it and popping it into his mouth, biting down hard enough to tear through the seed.
His lazy eyes wandered from the city over to the edge beyond the border, where he noted the crowd gathering a few moments back.
What for?
A fight, most likely.
It wasn't a rare occurrence--every year, he'd bear witness to hundreds of fights like these, where the opponents swore up and down that one duel would decide who was the rightful owner of whatever garbage they managed to unearth from the lake. It rarely ever ended the dispute, though at least the show they'd put on would occasionally be fun.
This time, though, it looked unlikely; the challenger was some brat in the Foundation Realm, and his opponent looked to be in the Revolving Core Realm.
"Father," the doors to the room swung open as his light came through, his expression immediately alighting.
"Ah, Yawen, come, join your father for a drink." He sat up and plumped the few cushions on the long sofa rammed against the wall. She nodded faintly and sat down while he poured them both some red wine into gilded, golden goblets. "What did the Shaman say?"
"No changes," she said. "None of the Words revealed anything."
"Tsk," Lu Yuhan clicked his tongue; he didn't expect much, yet was still disappointed nonetheless.
"It's still early," she comforted, though didn't sound particularly confident either.
It made sense--he'd been trying for almost four hundred years to discover the 'Guardian's' identity. He'd invited array masters, alchemists, formation experts, and even a Senior at the Nirvana Realm, but it was for naught. None were able to find anything out of the ordinary within the lake.
The 'treasures' themselves and their origin were easily discerned--seven rivers wash down into the Moon Lake in total, though only one of them mattered: Time River. It was a split of the massive, area-spanning Void Abyss River, and whatever treasures came into the Moon Lake came that way.
It wasn't odd; he himself had once discovered a divine Phoenix Plume in the Void Abyss River, as whoever dared actually enter it had a good chance of finding something. The issue was surviving and getting out.
The treasures themselves were inconsequential; even an occasional higher-tier piece wasn't enough to stir anything within him, but the Guardian's identity... it kept him up.
His last resort was summoning a Shaman--it was beneath him, as he considered the wretched things subhuman, resorting to inscribing Will of the Heavens onto the piece of paper, an act so sacrilegious they were deemed heretics among his brethren. And yet, he was that desperate.
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"What's happening over there?" Yawen asked.
"What always happens," he said, taking a sip of wine. "Pride got in the way of wisdom, and now somebody was going to die."
He was happy when people died--of course he was. After all, with each death, he was coming closer and closer to paying off his sins; if he somehow did manage to grow the Black Vine from infancy to full bloom, there was a good chance he would be Reborn.
"A kid is fighting?" Yawen said, prompting him to glance at her; he loved her dearly, but his daughter was not made of his kin. He had no heart to drag her into the other matters, as he fully intended to leave her the city once it was time to go, but he did wish she was at least a bit more... callous.
"Do you plan on stepping in?"
"... shouldn't I?"
"All cultivators write their own stories, Yawen," he said. "That boy chose to fight--for what reason, we do not know. But he chose it of his own will."
"That doesn't mean he needs to die. I've made many mistakes before, too, Father, and I was always saved."
"..." He didn't want to argue with her, as it was an argument he would never win. Not because he was wrong, but because Yawen was thrice as stubborn as her mother, a woman who chose death over staying silent.
"They're starting." She stood up, Qi pooling underneath her feet.
Lu Yuhan lazily glanced over toward the field, wanting to see just what gave the boy courage. Almost immediately, his mind froze.
While his opponent(s) (as it turned out, six men attacked him all at once) flashed forth like a bolt of lightning, he unsheathed the sword from the scabbard with such weight that Lu Yuhan himself felt the blade's resonance all the way here--spacetime around him crashed and crumbled as the sword fell... except it didn't.
It fooled even his eyes, though just briefly--for his attackers, though, it was akin to cleaning their necks and accepting their doom.
The sword strike fell like a bolt, and it poured out such immeasurable quantities of the purest Sword Qi Lu Yuhan had felt in over a thousand years that he shot up to his feet, too.
The array of energy carved out a gash over a mile long, decorated with the blood and shattered bits and pieces of six men who attacked him. It was so impossibly mind-altering that his heart stopped; it wasn't possible. He refused to believe it.
"What... just happened?" Yawen uttered what he was thinking, as she appeared even more flabbergasted than he was. "Did... did that boy just kill them all?"
No. He didn't just kill them. He annihilated them.
He frowned, realizing something--looking back at his own journey of cultivation, he realized he would have had to reach Void Transformation Realm just to endure that attack.
Against some brat in the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Heaven's Chosen!
It was rarer than most other things in the world, especially here; Heaven's Chosen were as vaguely defined as anything else, but his Master's words deeply resonated within him:
"You will see something that will not make sense in any capacity, yet it will be more real than all your other experiences combined."
As the dust settled and the gash became even more apparent, the sound of the boy putting away the sword into the scabbard was so loud it echoed throughout the entire city.
... no, it wasn't the sound that was loud--it was that the city was so silent, it was as though there was nothing and no one in it. It felt as though everyone present held their breaths in a collective prayer and a plea that they not be the next target of it.
"Wow," Yawen exclaimed; the light in her eyes were that of stars, and Lu Yuhan immediately realized she had fallen for the boy.
Yawen had fallen for a lot of men and women in the past, but none of it ever amounted to much, as she would crush them all without breaking a sweat.
Except, Lu Yuhan knew better than anyone that if that boy used that attack--or gods forbid, an even stronger one--on his daughter... she would be bedridden for months after.
"Father," she turned toward him, beaming. "I wish to meet that boy, no matter what. Please, make sure to protect him while I investigate who he is!"
Secrets of the Lake (I)
Holy shit.
It truly is the most appropriate reaction to what I'd just seen.
Lao Shun's jaw was agape, yet again (he really should stop hanging out with us just for that alone), Xing Feng was in awe, and Rayce had a rather complicated look on his face, while the others... well, they looked like they expected it.
I didn't.
I mean, I did expect Xi Zhao to win--but I expected it to be a brutal, long, bloody fight in which he just barely ekes out a victory just as everyone was ready to write him off. I expected to hear a lot of tender commentary from the audience, ranging from 'Hah, that kid doesn't stand a chance!' to 'Oh, he might actually do it!' and 'No, X now used Mega-Giga Strong Art; that kid is doomed!' and then, after all that, for him to just barely win.
... but what was this?
The audience didn't get a single word in.
There was no commentary saying how stupid the boy was being, or how he let his pride get the better of him and now he would pay the ultimate price; there was... well, nothing, honestly.
Just silence so deathly I could hear my colon moaning about yesterday's beans.
How is he this strong? I try not to underestimate any of the kids, as I'm keenly aware that they're main characters of this world, but still, shouldn't there be some limit to this bullshit? He just annihilated six people, four of whom were in the Spirit Manifestation Realm, while two were in the Revolving Core Realm.
Shit.
Doesn't this mean that, even as they are now, all the kids can just wipe the floor with me?! No, no, no, I have my tortoise! Hah! I'm safe... for a little while longer.
"JUST WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU FEEDING THE KIDS?!" That was Lao Shun screaming in my mind, but I couldn't answer him... because I wanted to scream the exact same thing.
I'm feeding them nothing. In fact, it's less than nothing, as I've, once again, run out of the Spirit Stones.
"Master, I've obeyed you!" Xi Zhao walked back over to me, sword in scabbard, and bowed with a smile.
Haah.
"Good job," I smiled as well, wondering just how crazy strong these monsters will actually become if they're already turning hundreds of people mute in the span of a few seconds. "Let's go back."
I kind of expected it, but still, the way the crowd parted was somewhat comical; they were pressing into each other at the edge of the lake, just inches from falling--never mind. It was like dominos--one by one, they fell, water splashing about as yelps created a song.
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I managed to hold back from laughter, though scant few others did--especially those who parted on the opposite side of the lake.
And thus it became our escort, the combination of laughter and people splashing in the lake's waters.
"That was a nice attack," Dai Xiu commented. "But you curved it a bit toward the end."
"Hm, I know," Xi Zhao said, and it broke me a bit. "I've been practicing hard, but the more I try to stabilize the first draw, the more pushback there is toward the end."
"Pushback?"
"Hm. It's like drawing a bow," he said. "There comes a point where your arms start shaking, and pushing further just destabilizes the aim. It's kind of like that for me--if I try to push it past the limit, the sword stops...obeying me, if that makes sense. They were weak, so they couldn't dodge it either way, but if I'm against someone stronger..."
"Senior Brother Tao, do you know of the solution?" Wan Lan asked.
"Of course."
"..."
"..."
"... can you tell me?" Xi Zhao asked, his lips twitching.
"Now, where's the fun in that?" Long Tao grinned as the others groaned. "Besides, the mark of a true swordsman is made by overcoming challenges. If others cleared up every one of your doubts, you would never carve out your own path. If you want to end up mediocre and washed, I'll gladly tell you the answer."
"No, no, that's alright. I'll figure it out myself," he said, sighing.
I passively listened to them, realizing something rather crucial: haven't I been... kind of a shit Master? I mean, sure, I've given them arts and methods aplenty, and I've fed them stones and pills and such, but I genuinely never gave them advice about cultivation.
Not that I could, of course, which is probably why they never even asked me. Because they know I wouldn't be able to tell them.
Ugh. That hurt. Cut quite deep.
"We'll probably get a lot of people following us now," Wan Lan said. "So, never go out alone, and especially never go out of the city."
"I'll write a few Scrying Words; rip them before you leave the house, and keep the pieces on you. I'll gather them after a few days and see who was following you the most," Rayce said.
"Ah, Junior Brother, don't tell me you'll lock yourself up in the house again?" Dai Xiu asked. "You'll become as pale as a ghost!"
"Don't be mean, Xiu'er," Wan Lan said. "Or I'll have Master lock you up in a room, too."
"Humph. Do you like him or something? Why do you always defend him?"
"Because he's too nice to do it himself," Wan Lan said, just barely stopping herself from rolling her eyes. "Some people like being inside, and some people don't. You don't get to choose for them."
"She's just worried for me," Rayce chuckled faintly. "But it's true that I like staying inside. To me, writing Words and knowing they're being of help to you is extremely fun. I promise, though, to come out with you guys at least once every two days."
"He he, okay! I'll take you to this sweet restaurant I found! They have fresh fish on a skewer!"
"They all have fresh fish," Wan Lan said. "Because we're right next to a lake."
"T-this one has the best fish!"
"Oh? You went to all of them and tasted their fish?"
"N-no..."
"Then how can you know that yours has the best fish?" While Wan Lan smirked and Dai Xiu pouted and others stayed all the way out of it, I realized that I often lock myself up inside my own head and miss moments like these.
When they're just being kids. Who occasionally say some truly outrageous stuff, yes, but mostly just kids.
"Master, somebody's watching us." Light suddenly said as she crawled up onto my shoulder.
"A lot of people are watching us, Light."
"This one is annoying. It's trying to look inside." oh. It must be the Sage.
"Are you afraid?"
"Nuh-uh," she said. "Why would I be afraid? You're right here."
"..." Oh, kiddo.
How that fills my heart both with pride and a bit of pity.
Oh well. Kids are stupid; they'll believe just about anything.
... The bad part for me is that I have to live up to it now. No, seriously, I'd sooner die than disappoint this little gremlin riding my shoulders.
The word must have spread, as, from what I could pick up from the kids, nobody bothered them since Xi Zhao demonstrated his blade. Not necessarily because he truly was that strong, but because everyone just sort of assumed that only some super-duper ancient power could properly rear someone so young to be so strong.
... would their brains fry if they knew it really was just me? Well, it was the system, but they don't know about that.
Regardless, even with the free rein, they stopped going to the lake by the time a week had passed since the 'festival' started--there really were just some random knickknacks in there, and not much else. Though to me they all mattered as I kept selling them for the Spirit Stones, the kids were, well, kids. They didn't really particularly care about the value of anything, just that it got boring to do.
As such, they all locked themselves up in their rooms and started cultivating, preparing for the competition.
In the meantime, my 'being haunted meter' is sort of shooting off the charts; yesterday, I kept slipping on a piece of seaweed that kept following me around. Rational thought was that it wasn't seaweed, that it wasn't the exact same piece, and that it wasn't following me around--but I'd tossed out rational thought about seven hauntings ago.
Then there was the chair incident--I was just minding my own business, happily nibbling away at some fruit, when my chair squirmed. As though alive.
But as I yelped and shot up, and others came in with worried expressions, I couldn't really outright say that I felt my chair move--so I just made up a lie that I was testing their reaction times.
... not that they bought it, of course, but they at least pretended. Which was good enough for me.
Which brings me to now; there's a plant on the bedside desk that wasn't there yesterday. It's reminiscent of a sunflower, and I'm pretty sure it's looking at me.
Will I acknowledge it? Only in my most paranoid depths.
Who knows? Maybe I am going nuts, for better or worse, and this is just the first step of it.
Aah.
On the ninth day, there was a succession of breakthroughs--Xi Zhao reached late Foundation Establishment, after which Dai Xiu reached the peak of late Foundation Establishment, and lastly Xing Feng reached the Eight Stage of Qi Condensation.
I got nothing for any of them, once again, but the kids beamed with pride, so I tried digging around for something in the spatial rings to reward them with. Truthfully, there wasn't much; just random pills and pastes and some herbs and ores, but nothing that they would value all that much.
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The only thing left was creating Arts for them, or one for them all, but I'm kind of stumped at the moment and not sure what to create.
I don't think I can afford to create one for each of them individually, as even with over 3,000 points that I have at the moment, I really can't afford to ever go back to 0, as that was miserable.
--hey, the Quests! I'd completely forgotten about them! Maybe there's something there?
As it turns out, there actually is--most of them were kind of garbage, in that they were either monstrously difficult (have 1 Disciple reach Demigod Realm within 3 months), or just outright made no sense as they would require me to travel tens of thousands of miles just to get to them.
Two, however, were appropriately located and weren't too difficult, but as both cost 1,500 points to purchase, I could only 'afford' one, so I settled on the more difficult one.
[Secrets of the Lake]
[Difficulty: ???]
[Context: powers behind the city have spent centuries trying to locate the ever-mythical Guardian of the lake, never making any true progress. They have long since ascertained the Guardian exists, as its effects are clearly visible, but even after scouring every inch of the lakebed, they've never found a single trace of it. The quest can be completed in two ways: one, locate the Guardian yourself and confirm its identity, or two, interfere with their attempts and ensure that the Guardian's identity and location remain a secret]
[Cost: 1,500 CP]
[Rewards]
[Reward 1: 6,000 CP]
[Reward 2: A Favor (Depends on your choice)]
[Hint: Purchase the quest to reveal the hint]
[--Quest Purchased]
[Hint: You have already met it]
... no.
No, no, no, no, no.
No.
Just no.
System, go fuck yourself.
You, you want me to go against something that costs a literal billion points to identify?! Oh wow! Evil, pure, unbridled evil!
There's no way in hell I'm even remotely considering locating it or helping the Sage prick. I mean, I was already leaning in that direction, 'cause the idea of fucking with him sounds kind of appealing, but, honestly, does any of it matter? That thing can likely sneeze and obliterate this entire continent.
It's also time, I think, for me to acknowledge something: if I am being haunted by anything, and it's not all in my head, it's most likely that thing. I'm pretty sure it realized I saw it, and that was something that nobody else did because, well, who the hell would take a second look at some random piece of whatever lying around? And now that he's found me, he's curious.
Sort of like Long Tao.
It's a bit of a realization for me, too--the strong, no, the truly strong, have a mindset completely different from the rest. When they encounter something they can't explain, rather than becoming defensive and aggressive, they just become... curious.
And, well, possessive. I'm pretty sure Long Tao would sooner kill me than let me 'fall' into another person's arms. Is this any better? Of course! It's the reason I'm still alive.
Alas, my hope is that this little ghost haunting me isn't overtly mean, and is doing all this just because it's curious.
"Ah, Feng'er," I saw the young boy leave the room for a moment and called him over.
"Yes, Master?" he quickly bolted next to me, looking up with rather wide eyes.
"Could you call for your Brothers and Sisters? I have something to tell you all."
"Yes! At once!" As though super happy to have received a task, he ran over to the hall where the rooms were and... well.
"Senior Brother Tao, Senior Sister Xiu, Senior Brother Zhao..." he started calling them out, one by one, in the 'order of seniority'. And when I say 'calling', I mean shouting. He was like a little private at a military camp doing a roll call or something.
Kind of funny.
As they all came out, they looked at the boy rather oddly before shuffling over to the central table, appearing quite curious. I don't have the habit of calling for them all, so I suppose it makes sense.
"Thank you all for gathering so quickly," a few stifled laughs rang out. "Master has a rather important task for you."
"Oh? What kind of a task, Master?" Dai Xiu asked.
"The kind that will ruin a bad man's day. Nay, it will ruin his week, even."
What was its purpose?
For the longest while, it did not know--it was born into the world so long ago that it had forgotten the years, to no parents, as though the world itself gave it the first breath.
Ever since, it had roamed the realms haplessly, searching for its purpose; sometimes it was imprisoned, tortured, and dissected, and sometimes it would reveal itself and offer the struggling humans a path forward. But... it could foresee it all.
Every moment was dull, for, to it, it had all already happened--the past, the present, the future... they weren't separate concepts, experienced and understood as such; they were one and the same, in eternal dance of union it experienced.
All things would unfold before it--all intentions, all actions, all desires, whether they were manmade or natural. It would never rain unless it already had; it would never snow unless it already had; there was such dullness to it all that it understood its purpose was to suffer.
This was its hell--in its past life, it was something wholly unrepentant and evil, and gods came together to form appropriate punishment for it. To always know cause and effect, to always see everything before and after it had happened.
That was its destiny: eternity spent roaming endless plains of heaven-scourged lands, in pursuit of penance that seemed to never come.
It was so until one day when it got hit by something. No, not something, someone. A foot of a man landed against it, and it felt pain. A most beautiful sensation, beyond all others.
And, beyond it, it realized... it didn't see it. Not the man, not the action, not what it had always seen. There was only darkness around, as though the man was cloaked by a membrane of laws that nobody else had. The most beautiful of things, shorn of color, was right there, right before it.
Not a moment later, and the man saw it--the eyes, brilliantly gemmed like stars hanging on the canvas of the sky, saw it. Not like how others saw it, as planks of wood or stray fish or seaweed or even a person, no--the man saw it. The soul hidden in the ever-changing objects.
It had stayed with the man for all the moments since and was cloaked in darkness all the while. For days, it was stomped on, hit, scraped, and kicked, and it could see nothing.
All others remained the same--existing on the flux of colors and shapes that told their past and present and future in the singularity—but the man... the man was as black as the void, shorn of light. The most beautiful of them all.
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He ignored it, pretended not to see it, and played a game--and it enjoyed it. Every day, it'd become a different object and see if the man could recognize it--sometimes he did, sometimes he didn't, but every day was fun.
He had now gathered all his children into the room, and it stayed to listen, curious.
"The reason I summoned you all is because I have an important task. First, some background: the Lord of the city, the man who held the speech, is actually one of the Sages."
"Whoa!"
"Really, Mater?!"
"Like that man who yelled above the city?"
"That means that there's a vine in this place, too?"
"Yes," the man said. "But that's not our goal."
"No?"
"No. Besides the vine, the city lord's most important mission lies elsewhere: it's in locating the Guardian of the City."
"But the way he talked about him..."
"That's just a cover; I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that he doesn't know the Guardian's location."
"So, Master, you want us to locate the Guardian?"
"H-huh? No, no--I will say this once: if any of you so much as contemplates looking for the Guardian, I... I will badmouth you to your face for four hours straight!" To it, it didn't sound like a particularly cruel punishment; and yet, as it looked around the table and at the faces of the children, each looked more horrified than the next, as though he said that he would chop their heads off.
"M-Master, please don't!"
"We'll do anything you ask!"
"Anything but that! I'd rather die!"
"..." the man's eyebrows twitched for a moment before he continued. "All you have to do is not look for the Guardian. Instead, your job will be simple: disrupt the city lord's attempts at finding the Guardian. As you're exploring the Moon Lake, if you see anyone that stands out, follow them and see what they're doing. If they look like they're ignoring all other treasures--stones, herbs, and ores—they might be looking for the Guardian. Rayce, do you know some word that would help us track them?"
"Of course, Master; it's not perfect, but I assume none of the people looking will be anywhere as strong as the City Lord. It's just..."
"What is it?"
"For each person I track, I have to reserve some of my energy. Right now, I... I'm ashamed to say I can only track up to three people."
"Hmm. Maybe I can help? I, uh, I think my uncle, who was once a good friend with a Shaman has perhaps left behind something. Let me dig around for a bit and see if anything pops."
"Oh."
"Hm."
"Yes."
Why were they looking at him that way? Didn't they call him Master? Why did it look like none of them trusted him at all?
What an odd group! Any other time it saw a Master and Disciples, the latter would have nothing but utmost fear and respect! They would have never looked at their Master like this, and yet... he didn't seem to mind.
"Khm. Anyway, for now, simply be on the lookout; we must prevent the city lord from discovering the Guardian."
"Why, exactly, is that, Master?" one of them asked. It had felt a strange tingle whenever it would look at this boy--though he, too, was colorful, his past and future were... a mess. A tangled web of changing and distorting events that seemed beyond discordant.
It had seen it a few times before, which meant that the boy was likely one of those who had eluded death in some way--a monster in his own right.
"If you don't know already, then you aren't meant to know," the man said, and something strange occurred; the live-again boy's eyebrows twitched while everyone else around the table just barely held back from laughter.
The odd atmosphere persisted for a moment before the live-again boy sighed, stood up, and left--after which everyone else did burst into laughter.
Why?
It didn't know.
But... it also didn't care.
Because, for the first time in its seemingly eternal life, it had found its purpose.
And its purpose was the strange, beautiful man shorn of all colors, whose ends and beginnings did not intersect, and whose life could not be seen.
There was only darkness, and it was perfect.