Chapter 609 - Shard of Divine (XXIII)5 days ago
"What the hell is he?" Master had just barely left the room before Shufen's voice came out, preventing Long Tao from leaving as well. He sighed, turning around and facing her. Just a moment ago, her expression was that of utmost respect, and now... now it was just pure loathing.
"Your new Master... apparently," Long Tao said. "You're smarter than I thought, latching onto him like that."
"Even if I was the stupidest woman alive, I would have still done it," she shrugged, walking over to one of the nearby cupboards and opening them. The wood creaked as though it hadn't been touched in decades, and the cobwebs behind simply confirmed it. She fetched an aged, glass bottle of wine from within, uncorked it with her finger, and took a swig straight out of the bottle. "There is no way he's just some ordinary human," she added. "He did something that I'm fairly certain even you at your peak would have struggled with."
"... Master's a man of many mysteries, indeed," Long Tao said. "But I can guarantee that he's really, truly, indubitably an ordinary human at his core."
"Hah, you really do must think I'm the stupidest woman alive," she said, wiping the corners of her lips. "If he's an ordinary human, then you were just an ordinary Emperor. Haah, I forgot how good the wine tastes."
"How long has it been--"
"--eight thousand and two-hundred and forty-four years, seven months, and eleven days."
"Wow."
"... what is your purpose?" she suddenly asked. "I mean, I imagine it's going up there and killing them all. But... beyond that. Even if the man is made out of miracles, I imagine you would have been faster on your own."
"Hardly," Long Tao shrugged. "You haven't realized it yet because you haven't started cultivating, but... ah, why spoil the surprise?"
"You're supposing I should learn the stuff he gave me?" she had already put it on the bed, Long Tao noted.
"I suppose nothing. Just read them over."
"... hm?" she frowned, putting down the bottle and walking over to the pile of tomes, picking out the thinnest one--Harmonized Heart Sutra, Long Tao's personal heaven. "Harmonized Heart Sutra... to be of heart is to be with heart, a greater projection of self..." she mumbled initially but soon fell silent, prompting Long Tao to walk over to the bottle and take a swig of his own. It was good wine, he mused, and looking at the six or so bottles still in the cupboard, he swiped one to give to Master.
Shufen took about ten minutes before she managed to yank herself out of a trance. She took a deep breath, the way she looked at the tiny booklet having done a complete one-eighty. Back was the reverence and respect in her eyes.
"... seriously. Who the hell is he?" she asked yet again, glancing over at Long Tao. "And if you say an ordinary human, I'll tell him all about you."
"An extraordinarily ordinary human."
"Haah. Are they all like this one? There's no way, no?" she asked.
"Forget that, for a moment. What are your plans now?"
"I've none," she shrugged. "Though I've restored my body and regained ability to cultivate, what of it? It will still take me thousands of years to even regain my previous peak. Until then, I should just become someone new. A woman traveling with her Master and his posse of children."
"What of this place?" Long Tao asked.
"Hm. I've groomed enough girls as successors," she said. "One of them can take my place."
"How are you even maintaining this?" he asked. "What'd you give them for protection?"
"Ah, some random Heaven-tier art," she shrugged. "Periodically they'll send some children that study some of the arrays I'd set up, and they ask me to look over their formation every few centuries just to make sure it's not broken."
"Hoh? So, you know it inside-out?"
"Easy there, Golden Thief," she cackled for a moment. "No matter your miracles, this place is a bit too much even for you. But... there might be an opportunity, I suppose."
"Opportunity?"
"Some of my little eyes had seen certain figures moving on the outside," she said. "Carrying the same scent of that flower in their Bladed Garden." Long Tao frowned. "What's wrong?"
"Since when was that flower there?" he asked.
"Not for long. Maybe a few decades, now? I wouldn't worry; though it saps some Life Qi, it's primary function is to hide the spying array underneath."
"And you never bothered to tell them?"
"They never asked."
"Hah."
"You sound familiar with their sort," Shufen said, eyeing him oddly for a moment. "Just what did they do to make you angry with them so much?"
"They call themselves Sages of the Abyss. You ever heard of them?" Long Tao asked. She mulled for a moment, an index finger against her lips.
"Should I? I mean, especially in this world, everyone and their mother calls themselves Sages or Immortals or Heavenly. Though, they do remind me of that occult legend Father used to talk about on occasion, about how there once was a Sage who thought himself above the world and was cast out, forming the inverse of Dao--the Abyss. Maybe it's that?"
"Well, Master's not too pleased with them, either," Long Tao said. "So you might want to think a bit harder about it."
"... speaking of people not being pleased," she said, suddenly changing the topic. "Do you feel it?"
"Feel what?"
"A part of you. Here, deeper in this place."
"... what are you talking about?"
"Huh. Maybe it's a fake." she said. "I've heard rumors that a chipped blade of the once-legendary Divine Blade was being auctioned off."
"Oh. That." Long Tao said. He did actually feel a faint resonance, but it wasn't all that out of the ordinary; he'd felt something like it eleven times since being reborn. He'd used many things and been to many places in this world, and it wasn't all that strange for his soul to recognize his own past Qi. "It's just a toy that broke down when I was young. Who is selling it?"
"Dao Companion of the Heavenly Sword," she said. "Sect Master of the place. A rather ordinary figure, if the stories I've heard are to be believed. Funnily enough, he shares his surname with you."
"..." Long Tao looked at her for a moment before shrugging. Was it possible that the boy was a distant descendant? Entirely. Per Ju'er's words, he was succeeded by many grandchildren. While it's impossible for the original lineage to have survived, a single drop of blood binds souls across eons, after all. "How many Spirit Stones do you have on you?"
"Hm? Why?"
"Beyond that little toy of mine, I've sensed something else in this place," Long Tao said. "Something that we must own. Now, according to you, I'm woefully ill-equipped to thieve it, so I must buy it. Alas, my pockets are empty, and Master's... well, Master's woes with Spirit Stones will become something you're intimately familiar with soon enough. As such, I ask, how many stones do you have on you?"
"... enough to buy whatever it is that you need to buy," she said. "But only if you tell me what and why."
"... it's a dormant Dimensional Seed," he said. "If we can correctly groom it, everyone will get at least the partial-world breakthrough into the Inner World Realm."
"Oh. Great Divine Blade... is thinking of others? How the mighty have fallen."
"... whatever smidgen of guilt I felt towards you has been vanquished by Master giving you a new lease on life," he said, his voice chilling somewhat as he spun around towards the door, leaving. "You only get so many insults, little Shufen. One too many," he glanced back at her, his gaze sharp. "And back to the troves of death you go. Study those well," he added, her figure having frozen on the bed, back soaked in sweat. "They'll offer you a glimpse into the world beyond your wildest comprehension."
Chapter 610 - Shard of Divine (XXIV)New4 days ago
Ah, fresh air.
I stepped out of the nightmarish interior only to be faced by the nightmarish exterior. Not for long, though, as I walked over to the edge and looked at the sprawling city fanning out in every direction.
Another disciple.
Haah.
It seems I'll have to actually use that damn mountain much sooner than I thought. At the very least, Shufen isn't a kid that I have to raise and slowly guide. I imagine she'll be a lot like Long Tao or Lao Shun, or maybe even more independent than those two. I'd honestly prefer it that way, as well.
Regardless, that unsettled part of me awoke, as it felt a bit scared. While I'm likely to be flush with Spirit Stones soon enough, how long will that last? I can't badger Lao Shun to make pills all the time just so we can sell them, nor can I take shit that the system gives me and sell it off when it's better off used for the kids.
There's that Spirit developing still, but it's nowhere near ready. Maybe if I 'plant' it on the mountain?
I walked over to a short boulder nearby and sat down, taking out a gourd of wine, uncapping it, and finally bringing forth the many notifications that had swarmed me. Luckily, the system had actually categorized them into two sections: my feat and my new Disciple.
[--congratulations, Host, on achieving an unprecedented feat]
[Using a Mortal Body and a Will, you managed to subdue an Imperial Spirit, and use its remnant True Qi to reconstruct a body destined for death into a near-perfect vessel. As you are the first to have ever achieved anything like this, special reward has been generated]
[You have endured persistent destruction of the body, using Surging Spirit Art and Protean Song of Eternity in a perfect union. Mastery of both has advanced by one level]
[...]
[Host has restored a dilapidated, mortal body, forming a perfect vessel for cultivation. Extra rewards have been generated]
[...]
[Rewards]
[Reward 1: Path Conviction (Dao Trait)]
[Reward 2: Host's CP has been set to 0]
[Reward 3: Shufen will be eternally loyal to you]
[Reward 4: Veil of Shadows (???)]
[Reward 5: Stalking Disharmony (Epic Trait)]
[Reward 6: Shufen's Father has left behind Legacy of the Night that is yet to be discovered. Perhaps a hint towards its location resides in the destroyed palace]
[...]
[Extra reward has been generated]
[...]
[CHOOSE]
[While 3 or more of your Disciples fight together, they will be greatly empowered. Potency and reserves of their Qi will be increased, their Arts will be executed as if a level higher, and their will be partially immune to a majority of Curses. Degree of empowerment scales with the number of Disciples, capping at 10. Note that if your Disciples fight in pairs or alone, the empowerments will be inversed]
[OR]
[While your Disciples fight alone, they will be immensely empowered. They will gain a complete immunity to Curses, Illusions, and all Debilitating effects. Their Qi reserves and potency will be as though they are one major realm higher, and their Arts will be executed as if two mastery tiers above their actual one. Note, however, if they are in any way, shape, or form aided by another one of your Disciples during a battle, they will suffer the inverse of the empowerments]
[OR]
[While your Disciples fight alongside you, you will be immensely empowered. For every Disciple, your Qi potency, reserves, and utilization mastery will be increased, and your Arts will execute as if one mastery higher, up to Perfected. If you fight without any Disciples by your side, however, the empowerments will be reversed to match fighting alongside 20 Disciples]
[OR]
[Gain 50,000 CP]
... wow
Just... wow.
All other rewards notwithstanding, the last one's a big ol' curveball. It's a genuine choice that I have to make that would essentially shape the 'composition' of how we traveled in the future.
Luckily, I don't have to choose yet, but I'm just about 99.83% sure I'm just going to pick the points. While it is fairly lame, and any of the three choices are clearly 'valued' at way, way, way more than that, they are also so restrictive that I don't even know how we'd function as a group. The one that empowers me is probably the safest, but it essentially means I can neverbe without a Disciple. And while that might be the case for 99.99% moments of my existence, what if we venture into another hidden realm and we're separated, and I don't luck out into being with one of the kids?
Either of the other two, though, are kind of... non-starters? There will likely come a point where most, if not all, of the kids will leave me to start doing their own thing. But what about up until then? What about any future Disciples I might take in? Being empowered while fighting alone sounds great in some truly optimal scenario, but life is never optimal, I've learned.
Which just leaves the boring ol' points. At least it'll allow me to finally create some freakin' arts as it has been some time since I've done it, outside of those freebies the system gave me. I've yet to even make one for Xiu'er, which should come first as it'll trigger a bunch of bonuses for her.
Haah. I'll really have to sit down some of these days and organize everything yet again.
Since I didn't have to choose just yet, I elected to defer it for now, pulling up the other set of windows that was a fair bit thinner.
[--congratulations, Host, on obtaining a new Disciple, Shufen]
[Due to the vast age discrepancy, this achievement is considered quite impressive and, as such, has triggered an extra reward]
[...]
[Rewards]
[Reward 1: 1,000 CP]
[Reward 2: Master's Favored (Epic Trait)]
[...]
[Master's Favored (Epic) -- your newly ordained Disciples, for the first 10 days of being under you, gain double cultivation speed, comprehension speed, and breakthrough success and quality]
... eh? That's... pretty good? Like a nice little catch-up mechanic, I suppose. It is woefullyunbalanced, actually. Can't I just exploit it by not taking in someone as my Disciple until they're like, what? Almost near a difficult breakthrough? And then, bam! All their stuff is doubled.
Though, if I think about it a bit deeply, if they have 0.01% chance of breaking through, isn't that just doubling it to 0.02%? Sort of like how people exploiting statistics used to market shit back on Earth.
With this new never-before-heard-of-APP, your FPS in games will double! It will go from 3 all the way to 6!
Best I can tell, it will help those who are just embarking on the journey of cultivation to establish solid foundation much more quickly. And even those with, uh, 'not great' talents will stand a better chance of greater achievements in the future.
And, lastly, 10 days... the length sort of 'shortens' the further along the cultivation path somebody is. For a Qi Condensation kid, it's a decently long time. For someone even at my realm, ten days isn't really that big of a deal. And I imagine that once realms get super high, it's a literal blip.
Anyway, I should probably check out the rest of those other rewards, too, even if I don't have to choose the 'main' one just yet.
Chapter 611 - Shard of Divine (XXV)New3 days ago
The system hit a nice lil' homerun right off the bat, if I say so myself.
[Path Conviction (Dao) -- your Disciples will never waver from their Dao Path once they embark on it]
A very simple, non-confusing little thing that has be a bit giddy. Zhao'er, especially, will benefit from this, I feel. My biggest worry with him was that he'd perhaps encounter a string of losses or things not going his way for some time, and that he'd crumble under it, alongside his Path.
[Veil of Shadows (???) -- a cloak woven from the bodies of wangliang. Whilst the wearer is inside any shadow, they become wholly imperceptible to everyone and everything outside of it, with the exception of Dao. Doing it for a prolonged period of time, however, runs the risk of the being corrupted by the remnant thoughts within the cloak. The wearer, if of a feeble mind, will hear child-like voices telling them to embrace the shadows, but if they do, their minds will be forever lost]
... alright, foreboding stuff notwithstanding, that's actually pretty cool, and it kind of fits... me? I mean, I've no idea what fits me, not yet anyway. I use Endless Steps to dance around the battlefield, but I also have that little Song that can obliterate miles of the world around me. Maybe they work in concert? I hide in the shadows, channel that thing, and just surprise everyone with an imminent volcanic eruption?
I guess I'll find out.
[Stalking Disharmony (Epic) -- you will always feel if you are being followed or observed, though not from where or by whom]
Alright. Ending on a bit of a boring note, and something that I'm not actually all that happy with. No, I guess it depends on what 'feel' means in this context. I've just barely begun conquering my paranoia, but if this trait fuels it further, won't I just be constantly looking over my shoulder? It does say always--so, even if it's some random guy who has no ill intention towards us, and just observes us from afar, this thing will trigger.
Uh-oh.
Let's just hope the feeling's not too intense, or that I can temporarily shut it down.
Outside of that, Shufen's loyalty as well as the hint towards her becoming an Empress of the Night were the last two left. Another one of those rewards that I'll likely take decades, if not centuries, to manifest.
Though, to be fair, when I first got the 'Golden Pill' quest way, way, way back in the day, I was deeply convinced that one would take me centuries to get around to, as well. And yet, here we are, on our way to a place that can possibly help me solve it.
So, maybe, just maybe, it'll only be a few years, and not a few thousand.
"Master, what are you doing here?" man, how the hell did he time it this perfectly?
I spun and saw Rayce walk up to me. He'd... changed a great deal since we first met. He'd gotten quite taller, breaking seven feet, and was becoming quite a handsome young dude.
Despite that, though, there was a gentleness to his appearance that was rather striking. The kind of 'aura' a person had where you felt comfortable confiding in them. People like that, in my experience, were either saints or conmen.
"Just needed some fresh air. What about you?"
"Same," he said, sitting down next to me. "Inside--beyond the meaty parts--is beautiful, but mostly for cultivators."
"Hm. I'm sorry," I said. "We never got around to going anywhere a Shaman might go."
"Oh, we have."
"... we have?"
"Any Shaman of any wisdom would want to go anywhere you're going, Master."
"Haah. Xiu'er has corrupted you all."
"Ha ha ha, a little bit," he laughed rather merrily. One thing I envied this world more so than most other things, I feel, was the complete and total lack of dental degradation among the cultivators. Everyone and their mother seemed to have two sets of pearly whites, and not the fake, veneer kind, but their own. "Can I ask you something?"
"You can ask me anything."
"Would you be mad if I took in a Disciple?"
"Why would I be mad?" I asked, a bit surprised.
"I heard it's a custom among the martial artists," he said. "That one must seek approval of their Master to take in a Disciple of their own."
"Oh. And the years we've spent together convinced you that I follow customs of martial artists... how?"
"... indeed," he smiled somewhat gently, looking away and toward the city. "It's a custom, in Shamanic Discipleships, to have something we call Laws of Innate Inheritance. We are mortals, at the end of the day, so we have to share our knowledge. In fact, we are encouraged as early as becoming a 3-Circle Magi to foster a Disciple and teach them all we know.
"Beyond even that, however, after spending time with you, and learning from you, and learning from myself, I've realized just how... misaligned everything I was taught was. And the thought haunts me, that there are thousands of little boys and girls being taught those things, over and over again. That they are limiting their future potentials as Shamans simply because our collective understanding of it hasn't evolved at all."
"And you want to course-correct it?" I asked.
"I just want to give them a chance," he said, twisting his neck and looking at me again. "Like you gave me one. But... I cannot leave."
"Huh?"
"Unlike others, I won't be able to spend thousands of years with you, Master," he added. "For what little time I was given to live, I wish to spend as many of them with you as I can, so that I can learn as much as possible, and advance Shamanism beyond the little slice we've made. And I want to raise other Shamans that will carry on my will, and help you survive in this cruel world even long after I'm gone. We all have a legacy to leave behind," he added, his voice deep yet strangely soft. "And I wish for that to be mine."
"..." I never considered it--well, not never, but not in a while, at least--that Rayce isn't different just because he's a Shaman. He's also a mortal, and has a mortal body. I mean, he's never gotten a cold or anything like that, as healing pills work just the same on him, but still...
I whipped out something that's been sitting in a spatial ring for many years now: Pill of Eternity. Ironically, I actually got it way back when we freed him from that demon.
I've always internally designated it for him, but also never felt the need to actually give it to him as he's just barely inching toward mid-twenties. However, spending time with others who will possibly live for tens of thousands of years must have been... alienating, to say the least, and he must have been silently struggling all this while.
The little ensemble of kids (and some oldshitters) has grown considerably, so much so that I find my attention slipping from them individually. And I hate it. So, so, so much.
"Rayce," I said, extending my hand over and giving him the pill. He took it with a curious expression, inspecting it. "I don't know about the rest of the world, but I will not let you live a mortal's life. Even if I have to change the laws of existence, you won't die some ninety-year-old man who spent his entire life with his Master. That's the Pill of Eternity; it only extends a natural lifespan by 25 years, but it's a start. If you want to take in a Disciple, or a hundred, take them. Not because you want to raise an army for little ol' me, but because youwant to raise a Disciple.
"Master promises you, from the bottom of my soul, I'll find a way. And if I can't find it, as I said, I will make it. So, live your life as if you areone of those freaks inside who will live for thousands of years. You may all be my Disciples and kids, but that should alwayscome secondary to being your own people. Remember," I gently tousled his hair, despite him probably being quite a few years too old for it. "Don't be locked in your own head. If you're struggling with anything, find me. I'll send those other buggers away, open a bottle of semi-expensive wine as I well and truly can't afford a more expensive one, and we'll have a chat. Long, beautiful chat about anything.
"Life, death, pain, suffering, fears, family... whatever comes to mind. Alright?"
"... yes, Master," he said, hiding his face. "Thank you. I, uh, I'll go to my room and eat the pill..."
"Very well. Good luck."
In the end, I did sympathize with him the most. Maybe I'm 'immortal' now, but I lived one full life of a mortal. That gnawing fear of death, that uncertainty... I'm intimately familiar with it. And I'm intimately familiar with how destructive it can be if you let it fester. So, I just won't let it fester.
Not for him, or any of the other kids. It's high-time I started talking with them. They're all growing up, and though they seem well-adjusted enough on the surface... aah, who's to say? I guess I'll see.
Chapter 612 - Shard of Divine (XXVI)New2 days ago
I must have spent a whole hour just sitting, and at least half of that not even thinking. Just staring at the city that had been growing dimmer by the second, but was not alight with stars--or, well, windows with some source of light inside the buildings.
Standing up, I stretched and turned around, wincing as my eyes met the grotesque 'hotel'. I'd kind of forgotten just how goddamn disturbing this thing is, though the fact that nobody else approached this place for the full hour that I'd been sitting outside of it should have been a good enough of a reminder.
Just how the hell did that old alchemist even know to come here?
Oh well.
Once inside, I made my way up the familiar set of stairs and corridors until I wound back inside my little paradise. Lao Shun was already there, reading some book and nibbling away at some grapes.
"Oh, you're back. Everything alright? You've been gone a while."
"A good Disciple would have gone to check up on his Master," I said, joining him at the table.
"An even better Disciple would understand that if there existed something that could harm his Master, then he stood no chance and was better off spending the last few hours of his life in leisure and luxury."
"... clever."
"So I've been told."
"Anyway, should we go to the auction house tomorrow or?"
"We can go now," he said.
"It's late."
"You still think as a mortal. That's adorable, in a way," he said with a chuckle. "I have already made arrangements for us to meet with one of the auction house's Elder's and an appraiser. Though I did think I'd have to reschedule for a while there."
"... when did you even do it?"
"When we entered the city," he shrugged. "Though you and those bastardly kids look at me like some decrepit, pill-making old man, I am an Alchemist of some regard in the wider world, and the reputation I've built over the centuries does matter."
"I'm proud of you, Disciple."
"Haah. Between you and the kids, maybe you're the bastard?"
"Calling your Master a bastard? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Kids these days have no respect for their Elders."
"Ugh, shut up. Let's go before the vein in my head pops."
I chuckled as we stood up and headed over to the room's exit, flinging the door open. Lao Shun was the first and he yelped in a rather peculiar way, prompting me to glance over his shoulder and see Long Tao standing there, as if he were waiting. Which he probably did.
"Going someplace, Master?" he asked. Lao Shun, at least, seemed thankful that we seemed to have moved on from his little yelp.
"To deposit stuff for the auction," I said. "You should join us, see a bit of the city. It will be good for your developing mind."
"..." his eyebrows twitched for a moment. "Let's go, then. I'll take the front. Somebody needs to protect that scaredy cat."
It was turn for Lao Shun's eyebrows to twitch, and for me to be further delighted.
We left the place without interruptions. I've no idea where the kids were or what they were doing, though one of my Disciples did wait for us on the outside.
"Going someplace, Master?" she asked in practically the same tone as Long Tao.
"To deposit stuff for the auction," I said. "You should join us, see a bit of the city."
"Let's go, then," she said. "I'll keep an eye out on the kids while you explore the place."
It was kind of beautiful, indeed, how both pairs of eyebrows danced in perfect unison. Long Tao's due to annoyance, no doubt, and Lao Shun's due to confusion. As she took the front, he leaned into my ear until he was practically spitting into it and asked, "Who is that?"
"My new disciple, I guess," I said. "You should be respectful of her. She's like a hundred thousand years old."
"Master," she glanced over and eyed me. "It is impolite to openly discuss a woman's age."
"Don't worry. You don't look a year over fifty thousand."
"..." and now her eyebrows were twitching.
Aah.
Why do I feel chagrin whenever I get to annoy these old monsters? Is it the fact that my practically infantile wit is enough to arouse their ire? Or maybe it's something far simpler than that? Ah, who's to say? I'm just going to enjoy it.
Though we looked like a fairly... normal-ish, I wanna say, group from the outside--with me and Long Tao probably looking like the 'disciples' of the group and whatnot--I wonder how the world would react if they knew, well, even a smidgen.
Probably not well.
As we made our way back through the 'dilapidated' parts and towards the more opulent ones, I did notice some shadows being disappeared from the corner of my eyes. At first, I thought that I'd finally gone insane, but before long I realized those were likely thieves being taken care of by Shufen.
What taken care of stood for in this context... well, I just hope their deaths were swift and painless.
I hardly think they deserve to die just because they decided to rob us, but I've gotten scarily indifferent to it over the years. Death was a... loose concept, to say the least, where attachment to it seemed flimsy at best.
Once we were in the 'opulent' parts, the streets became a bit of a nightmare to navigate. There were people everywhere, and there were performances everywhere, from men and women eating flaming swords to literal plays being performed.
One of them caught my sight and I stopped my little hoofs immediately and stared at it. The scene being depicted--some five or six children battling some folk in loose, black robes--was eerily familiar. It tingled something in the depths of my mind, but I wasn't quite sure what exactly.
"Master? What's wrong?" Long Tao asked.
"Say, does that look familiar to you?" I pointed towards the elevated platform that was some twenty yards from us. There were rows and rows of people between us and it, and a stream of others walking in-between, and there were folk in the buildings around us on terraces looking at it, too. The hubbub of it all made it a bit difficult to focus, but with some 'filtering', as it were, I could hear the actors.
"Yes, it's some kids putting on a play. Have you never seen a play before, Master?" oh, Long Tao. How I yearn to smack you behind your ears. "One must first write words to be performed--"
"--another word, and I'll withhold it for twomonths."
"..."
"I don't mean the play, but the contents. Aren't they kind of... familiar?"
"Oh, isn't that the kids back in Silvercrest City?" that was Lao Shun who joined us. At some point he'd gotten some kind of a sticky substance on a stick and was licking it like it was a lollypop.
"Hm? You think so?"
"Sure. Those silver boards are likely buildings. And they, uh, kind of got the kids right. That little one beating up on that poor old guy, no, it's probably little Xiu. And that boy holding the dull sword cutting six of them, that's little Zhao for sure."
"..." what the heck, though?! Why are people performing plays about something the kids did a few years back?!
"Interesting how little Tao is nowhere to be found," Shufen added, and I could practically hear the grin in her voice. "I wonder what was he doing? Maybe hiding?"
"Haah," Long Tao sighed. "Where'd you get the sharmin candy?"
"That stall over there."
"Go buy us some." he said to Shufen, with a tone of the voice that didn't allow for a 'No'.
I only paid attention to their little 'fight' with about tenth of my focus, with the rest being deciphering just how well the story of the kids was known. If some bard compiled what happened back in Silvercrest City, and then Moonlake City, and then Spirit Vein City, and then the Hidden Phoenix Realm... holy shit, won't the entire freakin' island know who the kids are just from watching them fight for a second?!
... by the way, is there a copyright law in this world or something? Can't I sue that playwright bastard and get some of the Spirit Stones they've earned profiting off of the kids?
Aah.
Just get to the auction, Jake. Your evil is leaking...
Chapter 613 - Shard of Divine (XXVII)NewYesterday
Li De was rather bored, his right leg crossed over the left and lazily swinging like a clock's arm. His eyes peered outside the window and at the webbed streets fanning out from the House. There were precisely nine streets that converged here, all from various parts of the city and the inner sect part, and despite that... he was bored.
He'd been one of the House's Elders for just shy of 4,000 years now, and had seen many-a-thing in all these years. Twice, even, he'd seen a Divine Stone put up for sale.
He'd seen various heavenly swords, spears, halberds, and heavenly helmets, armors, and greaves, as well as heavenly herbs, poisons, and scrolls be bought and sold, time and again, and he'd gotten entirely numb to it. This auction, especially, despite being lauded as the greatest one in centuries, he felt was simply... dull.
Perhaps in the quantity of quality treasures it indeed was, but he yearned for more unique, strange, and esoteric things. He yearned for pills of unmatched quality, for trinkets with effects that had no practically use--such as fertilizing the soil for the use of mortal plants--and yearned for strange martial arts that only bored fools such as himself would even bother learning.
"Ah, Elder, you're already here," he glanced over his shoulder and saw young Na walk through the large doors. He'd worked with many appraisers over the years, and learned to appreciate her type--she was silent, no-nonsense, and quick working.
She immediately headed toward the central desk and started cleaning it up while assembling her own equipment. Though neither were scheduled to work today, and especially accept appraisement this late, it was a favor directly from the House's Third Miss, a true rarity among rarities.
Because of that, despite his boredom, he wasa slight bit curious.
"Do you know what grand guest we'll be welcoming this late at night?" he asked.
"No," she replied somewhat curtly. Those who didn't know her might think it was her being rude, but that was simply how she was--no rudeness intended. "It must be someone important if Third Miss asked you to attend, Elder."
"Who was on the job today?"
"Elder Ya," she said, fishing out the last tool in her set. Li De quite admired appraisers, largely because the difference between a good one and a bad one was even greater than the difference between a good alchemist and a bad one.
"Ah, no wonder. That boy's barely fit to welcome beggars and thieves, let alone much else."
"You know I do not appreciate trite gossip, Elder."
"Ha ha, yes, yes, forgive me, sweet little Na."
"Nor do I appreciate being patronized."
"Haah, so demanding," he sighed, looking back out the window and spotting something... strange. Well, rather than something, it was four someone's. He casually extended his Divine Sense out of curiosity but it got burned before it reached ten yards around them.
At the same time, the youngest among them--a boy who wasn't even twenty yet--looked up and met his gaze.
Impossible!
Li De shrieked inwardly and stumbled backwards, falling out of his chair. His heart was beating rapidly and beads of sweat condensed on his back.
He wasn't wrong. That boy saw him.
Despite there being literal hundreds of concealment arrays all around the House, making it appear like a windowless structure, that boy looked straight at him. Not to mention that his Divine Sense was obliterated with such ease that he didn't even suffer a backlash.
Only someone that completely and utterly trumps his understanding of Dao would be able to do that.
"What happened?" young Na walked over somewhat casually and asked, appearing more curious than worried.
"... I may have angered our esteemed guests a bit," he chuckled bitterly, standing back up.
"Oh? They're esteemed?"
"Indeed," he nodded. "Be very careful, Na'er. Very careful."
"Hm."
She nodded and walked back to the desk, swapping out some of the more worn-out parts of her ensemble with newer, prettier looking tools. At the same time, Li De quickly changed out of his shambled robes and into more opulent ones, the ilk that Elders only ever wore in the presence of Sect Masters and such.
He also took a quick look around the room and frowned--though it wasn't ugly, per se, it wasn't exactly inviting, either. The room stretched for about twenty yards length and some two-thirds of that in width, with the walls being dominated with shelves full of random things and closest full of even more random things.
While there were many gems embedded in the walls and ceilings that provided warm, gentle light, it still felt a bit too dark so he fashioned yet another source of light and shoved it between the cracks in the wall.
Finally satisfied, he peppered the table and the chairs with various drinks and snacks, hoping deeply that his former transgression would be forgiven.
It was some ten minutes later that the knocks startled him out of the temporary haze. He shot back up to his feet, fixed the robes, and waited as Na joined him before welcoming the guests.
"Please, come in," as soon as he said it, four people came through--two men, a woman, and that boy.
Though he didn't dare use Divine Sense any longer, he could broadly sense that they didn't seem particularly strong. That woman was a mortal, the boy was in Spirit Manifestation Realm--supposedly--one of the two men was in Revolving Core Realm (supposedly, again), and the last one, the one with the scent of herbs on him, was at the Peak of Inner World Realm... supposedly.
On the surface, none of the four seemed all that dangerous. If anything, the man who was seemingly leading them looked to be a friendly, bubbly sort, but Li De would sooner believe dung beetles had learned to talk than he would that these four were 'ordinary'.
"Welcome, esteemed guests," he put on a bright smile and bowed with clasped hands. "This humble one's name is De, and I shall be your host tonight."
"Welcome, esteemed guests," Na followed in his footsteps, though despite trying to sound respectful, she mostly just sounded... awkward. "This humble one's name is Na, and I shall be your appraiser tonight."
"Greetings," the 'bubbly' one spoke up first, bowing with clasped hands as well. "Thank you so much for seeing us on such a short notice. I hope we aren't inconveniencing you too much."
"No, not at all!" Li De was... confused, more so than anything else. The man seemed genuinely apologetic. "It is our honor to be here. Please, come in. We have prepared some refreshments."
"Oh, thank you. Ah, right--my name is Qi," the man introduced himself. "That kid's Tao, this bigger kid is Shun, and the biggest kid is Shufen."
"..." Li De watched the three pair of eyebrows dance uncomfortably, while the man grinned from ear to ear.
... just who was he to have that boy who made Li De's soul shudder stay silent?
"Oh, this is more than some refreshments, Fellow Daoist De," the man said as they settled around the table. "You really shouldn't have."
"Ah, merely a surface fancy, Fellow Daoist," Li De surrendered to the flow, deciding to simply follow the man's lead. "If you don't mind, I can run down the course of action for you."
"Yes, of course. Please."
"Hm. Our House prides itself on accuracy and high standards," he said. "As such, all our Appraisers are of at least Fourth Seat. Daoist Na here is the Third Seat, even. In a case, however, in which an Appraiser fails to accurately asses the item, be that due to the damage to the item, complexity of its structure, or any other reason, we offer customers the Council Appraisal. Unfortunately, as it is so close to the auction's date, we will not be able to enact that in time, so I hope you'll understand in the unlikely scenario it happens."
"Hm." the man nodded, taking a sip of siwa wine.
"The limit per customer is six items. However, for our esteemed guests, we have raised it to ten," though the limit was six, broadly speaking, as an Elder he had the power to go as far as double that number. "Once Daoist Na appraises the items, they will be sealed within our personal vaults. In an extremely unlikely scenario that they are stolen, our House will reimburse the full expected price of all of them directly.
"They will only be brought out on the day of the Auction, and you will be there when we unseal them for the Auctioneer so you can confirm that all items are there. Do you have any questions?"
"Just one."
"Ask me anything, esteemed guest."
"Do you guys sell this wine?"
"..."
Oh.
He was one of those, Li De recognized.
A weirdo.
Chapter 614 - Shard of Divine (XXVIII)NewAn hour ago
Na found the newcomers quite delightful.
Well, not all of them--just the man who spoke. For most of the days, and most of the years she'd spent as an Appraiser, all she ever met were stuffy old men, most of whom would 'graciously' offer her a place as their concubine, and then get enraged when she'd politely decline.
The man in front of her was conspicuously unpretentious, lacking in detailed manners of those who've been hardened by the world of sect politics, and speaking like a common ruffian rather than someone of opulent background. However, he carried all of it with a sense of pride that seemed to run deeper than even the 'noble blood' those old fools would brag about.
Na always found it odd, indeed; why brag about something you had nothing to do with? She, too, came from a 'noble' parentage, undoubtedly nobler than theirs, but she never considered that a point of pride.
"... Do you have any questions?" Elder De asked.
"Just one." the man said.
"Ask me anything, esteemed guest."
"Do you guys sell this wine?"
"..."
Silence like a hammer slammed down, and Na had to focus all her energy into containing herself. While Elder De and she were uncertain as to what to do, the other three who came with the man had quite... similar reactions.
"Haah," that was the boy sighing as though he were an old man experiencing the change of eons once more.
"It's like going out with a kid, isn't it?" that was the man who smelled of herbs and pills, leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms.
"I shouldn't have come," that was the woman, who looked away.
"What?! It's by far the best wine I've ever had! Screw you, guys. I'm tired of drinking sludge. What's wrong with asking?"
"..." Na wanted to laugh so badly that she shuddered and shivered in place. She was often told, from birth, that she'd lacked that humorous bone in her body--for she seldom laughed at anything, if at all.
"W-we do, khm, we do sell it, esteemed guest," Na's respect for Elder De shot quite far up, for the man recovered extremely quickly, his tone of voice barely any different. "Unfortunately, as it's made of special grapes with limited annual production, we do not make that many batches. Best I know, with my limited influence, I may be able to procure two bottles for you."
"I'll take them," the man said immediately, grinning. "Anyway, do you mind if we started? I'm fairly certain neither one of us wishes to spend the entire night here."
"Of course, of course. If you would follow us," Elder De stood up and Na followed, walking over to 'her' desk.
She'd finally recovered, containing the lungful of laughter inside of her.
"What items would you like appraised?" Elder De asked.
"They're all here," the man said, taking out a rather ordinary-seeming spatial ring and handing it to Elder. The latter grabbed it, inspected it for a moment--his brows furrowing--and handed it to Na.
The ring was quite old and worn down, lacking any defensive arrays, and looked the sort that the sect masters of lesser, poor sects used. Nonetheless, Na treated it with care, settling it down on the desk as she prepared the light, the knife, and the lens.
At the same time, Elder De took out a thin parchment, sat opposite of her, and began writing as she began dictating.
"Tenth day of the sixth month; Third Seat Appraiser, Na, and Secondary Elder De are assessing a set of items for an upcoming auction. Item one," she said, randomly sweeping a small bottle of pills from the ring. It was an ordinary, glassed container with a perfect seal as to not let the medicinal aroma leak, containing within a set of ten rather simple-seeming yet... perfectly smooth pills.
Na frowned, too. Though pill assessment wasn't one of her specialties, she was more than qualified enough to appraise pills even made by Tri-Aspects Rank Alchemists. But these... these were odd.
She recognized them at the first glance--it was a set of ten Qi-Gathering Pills, something that every martial artist world-over used quite regularly. Those poorer used them during breakthroughs, and those richer used them regularly.
The way to qualify the tier of a Qi-Gathering Pill is by its glossiness and smoothness; lower-tier pills were rugged, full of tiny creases which form 'shadows'. Low-quality pill contained no more than 10 shadows, as any pill with more than that was considered a waste.
The highest quality Qi-Gathering Pill she ever examined had three shadows, the only one in its batch, and was sold for 50,000 high-grade Spirit Stones.
"Daoist Na?" Elder De's voice snapped her out of her thoughts as her fingers began to tremble. She realized it--these pills had no shadows.
"F-first item is a set of ten Qi-Gathering Pills," she said. "Opening the container." she uncapped it as the scent of medicine burst out like an explosion. She felt her meridians be purged of filth in that one instance, immediately closing the cap, gasping for breath.
Even Elder De shot up to his feet, his expression haggard, eyes wide open.
"B-by my estimates," she spoke through a parched throat, stealing a glance at the man who was casually standing at the side of her desk. He seemed... unbothered, talking with the boy about what they would have for breakfast tomorrow. "All, all ten pills within the container are... are Pure."
"!!!" Elder De's shocked expression evolved into an even more shocked one, his jaw slacking.
"Zero shadows, no creases, perfect smoothness, uninterrupted glossiness," despite his shock, he wrote everything down, word for word, as she dictated. "It is impossible to estimate the price as there is no record of such items being sold at the House previously." she put away the container and started going through the other items in the ring.
Luckily for her psyche, the next few, though extraordinary in their own rights, were nowhere near the level of the first. Batches of pills that were clearly concocted by the alchemist next to Daoist Qi, whom Na ascertained was most-likely a Tri-Aspects Rank Alchemist.
Though she'd assessed pills made by those figures before, she had never met one, for they were as rare as qilin horns and phoenix feathers.
"A batch of ten Soul-Enhancing Pills," she voiced out. "By my estimate, six of the ten pills meet the threshold for high-tier, three are of average-tier, and one is of perfect-tier. Expert craftsmanship, no signs of medicinal leakage, and evenly distributed medicinal materials. I estimate that the entire batch is going to be sold for at least 100,000 high-grade Spirit Stones."
Her heart had finally settled down somewhat after the initial shock; these four were likely to make out like bandits during the auction, that much was certain, but at least she wasn't at the risk of going insane.
Well, she wasn't, at the very least.
She pulled out a container that looked an awful lot like the first one--glassed surface with a perfect cap on top, containing ten pills. She recognized the pill type immediately as they were the most common pill type among cultivators: Qi-Restorative Pills.
Across the world, Na wagered, there was no other pill type that was produced, used, and sold more. As such, she had extensive background in assessing them, which was why she found herself short of breath immediately.
They were prefect.
So, so, so perfect that she wasn't even certain they were real. All alchemists, even those legendary Dao-Rank ones who left behind world-shattering legacies, agreed on the fact that Qi-Restorative Pills could not be Pure. Some wastage had to happen, as only Dao itself could contain Qi without any toxins inside a pill.
... until now.
One.
Two.
Five.
All ten.
Again.
All ten were Pure.
No blemishes. Perfectly shaped. Qi of such purity that merely looking at them through the glassed barrier stirred her dantian, almost like a perfect melody.
Elder De seemed to have realized it, too, likely from her expression; gone was the shock from his face, replaced wholly by terror. For they both recognized the simple truth: not even their Sect, let alone the House, cast the canopy wide and thick enough to contain these four. They've invited harbingers of impossible under their roofs, and would suffer the price for it.