Lieutenant Terra Firma: Part One [Cosplay Cultivator Chap 82]
Lieutenant Terra Firma: Part One [Cosplay Cultivator Chap 82]
"If you're asking that because I am from a different sect than yours - I have long since disregarded such things. My only goal is to teach the most talented - and so long as you have proven yourself, it is all the same to me," Su Ruo said. "I would gladly teach someone from a different sect if they're capable, and if they are incapable, I would not teach even someone from my own family let alone my own sect. Hmph! I wish to find the best pupil in all of the Raswatian Empire - if that is the case, how could I let boundaries such as those between sects stop me?" It was one of the very few times that Tang Ze had heard something like that - the sects basically had a stranglehold when it came to cultivation in the Raswatian Empire, and unless you were part of the Imperial Family it was very hard to bypass their influence. As such, for many cultivators, sect identity was everything! Even if they were not devoted to their sects, they would still at the very least pretend to toe the sect line, that was simply human nature.
The only other person whom he had met who was somewhat like this was Xian Yue, who also had no care for the sect system anymore. But she was a rather odd case, and was also technically dead.
"I see but..." Tang Ze trailed off.
"Ah, if you're wondering whether or not I care about you beating those whelps from my sect - I care not. If anything, they had it coming, as I gather?" Su Ruo asked and chuckled. "Ah, in my younger days, I often thrashed the other disciples until they were black and blue for one reason or the other... hehe, no, that is not a problem whatsoever."
Whatever technique she had mastered, it was clearly quite powerful and valuable if she was able to cross the sect system like this, and for even the Imperial Family to seek her out.
Su Ruo turned towards the martial arts instructor. "I had perfected an martial ultimate technique - the [Lotus Palm] and I merely wished to find the ultimate pupil for the same. Apologies, but that means that this elder will be taking your star student away for some time."
The martial arts instructor sputtered. "H-He isn't my star student or anything! I just wanted to make sure that he didn't get lax is all after his victories, that's why I wanted to keep giving him private lessons - take him if you want to!"
While it was true that Tang Ze was his most successful disciple up till now, he was also simultaneously his most problematic student as well.
Su Ruo chuckled as the martial arts instructor left.
And so, Tang Ze would spend time with her learning the [Lotus Palm]. There was a stronger version of the technique called [Thousand Lotus Palms], though Su Ruo told him that even if he was strong, he wouldn't be able to use that until he was at the Golden Core realm.
The [Lotus Palm] took advantage of one's innate strength and required very little Qi or Qi mastery to use - making it the perfect technique for him.
Or, to be put more accurately, Tang Ze was the perfect pupil to teach this technique to - which is why Su Ruo had sought him out.
Before he could learn that technique though, he needed to master the basics first.
After Tang Ze's performance in the Novice Tournament, he was held in far greater regard within the sect.
With that, people began to become somewhat curious about the characters he was dressed up as.
Tang Ze began telling them stories about them from back on Earth, and before you knew it, once a week, 'Storytime with Tang Ze' became a regular thing within the sect division ever evening.
As it was, two more people had managed to have breakthroughs hearing Tang Ze's stories much like how Zhang Long had, and so, soon quite a large crowd gathered to hear him speak, hoping that they too, might get some kind of profound insight into cultivation, if not just entertained for a while.
"So, then, somehow, the evil space emperor returned," Tang Ze said.
"Wait a moment," a voice interrupted from the crowd. "Didn't you say that the evil space emperor died earlier?"
"Yes," Tang Ze said. "But then, somehow, he returned."
"How?"
"Like I just said, somehow. He returned somehow."
"That doesn't make any sense!"
"Look, that's what the story is like back where I come from - it's not like I personally wrote it or anything," Tang Ze said. He then saw Yin Tiang motioning to talk to him from the back of the crowd. "Okay then, we'll talk about some other story next week then."
"What's going on?" Tang Ze asked Yin Tiang as they returned to their living quarters. "Whatever it is, I'm not dressing up as a woman again."
Yin Tiang had gone ahead with experimenting with Jin Zhen's cooking, trying to extract what made it so toxic. He had initially tested his concoctions on a wide variety of animal subjects - all of whom died agonizingly (Tang Ze was sure that this would be classified as animal cruelty back home, but this was actually common practice among alchemists in this world).
Once this initial phase of animal testing had shown results, Yin Tiang now needed human subjects. Naturally he could not find any, so he only had himself to experiment upon.
This resulted in him becoming so sick he had to be healed by Tang Ze three times.
"No, it's not about that," Yin Tiang said. "I have another issue, and I was just wondering if you had a way to solve it."
Yin Tiang's hometown was near a large forest inhabited by wood nymphs. The humans and the wood nymphs had a cordial relationship - occasionally, in the case of people like Yin Tiang's grandfather, it could be said that their relationship went beyond mere friendship.
This relationship though, had become somewhat strained as of late. Their town was inhabited by a number of alchemists, and one could not do alchemy without generating some amount of waste. Such waste was usually quite toxic, though the humans and the wood nymphs had reached an agreement on how and where to dispose of such waste.
However, in the recent months the trees near the town were dying out, and the soil, as per the wood nymphs, was becoming rotten. They also said that the river water was now significantly contaminated, and they were blaming the town for such.
The townsfolk, for their part, said that they hadn't changed anything at all and that they weren't the cause of the problem.
This resulted in the relations between the two sides becoming quite strained - it hadn't come to blows as of yet simply because
"I… actually do have a costume for the situation," Tang Ze said, mulling over the situation in his head.
Over the next few days, he worked on a new costume and when it was ready, the two of them headed out for Yin Tiang's village - they were still excused from the usual sect work so it wasn't hard to get their request to leave for a few days approved.
The two of them took a pegasi carriage to Yin Tiang's hometown (Yin Tiang still refused to teleport alongside with Tang Ze) so they managed to get their by sunset.
"Welcome back!" Yin Tiang's father greeted him when they arrived at his home. "And I take it that this is your friend from the sect? The one who has strange powers?"
"Yes, I am Tang Ze," Tang Ze said, introducing himself. Yin Tiang's father had more of wood nymph blood within him, which is why he had a slight greenish tinge to his skin, which Yin Tiang had assured Tang Ze was completely normal and not a sign of sickness. "And, I think that I might be able to help."
Tang Ze had seen a city before, as well as a village, but it was his first time entering a somewhat medium-sized town. A river ran by the east end of the town, and there was an expansive forest nearby. The town was surrounded by a wall about ten feet high except at the side that bordered the river.
Although the forest was expansive, the wood nymphs usually guaranteed that dangerous animals did not gather in large numbers, so the town did not need to fear something like a beast tide approaching him.
The town itself wasn't that large, but seemed to be moderately wealthy given its proximity to the forest that had some important alchemical herbs as well as having a higher than average concentration of alchemists within its walls. As such, the roads were mostly paved within its walls, most of the houses were either made of bricks or wood, and a significant portion of the population was involved in professions not related to agriculture.
When one looked closely at the forest edge near the town, one could see that the trees were sparser there. It did look like it was suffering from the side effects of something that was making it hard for the trees to grow. As for the river, Tang Ze couldn't 'see' any kind of pollution or signs of such like dead fish, though it was possible that the signs of the poisoning were more subtle than that.
Yin Tiang showed Tang Ze how the alchemical waste was usually disposed of before they started investigating further.
The waste was divided into normal waste - things like fruit peels and the like, which did not need to be treated before it could be disposed of; and alchemical waste that was the residue of experiments and could occasionally be quite toxic.
The alchemical waste had to be treated before it could be disposed of - some of it was filled into large containers which were buried deep underground, and the toxicity would slowly deteriorate with time. Things which were less toxic were dumped into the river.
As the two of them went towards the forest, their path was interrupted by a wood nymph.
The wood nymphs knew of Yin Tiang, despite the fact that his wood nymph bloodline was diluted compared to someone like, say, his father's. Normally Yin Tiang would be more than welcome to wander the woods, but with recent events, even someone like him was put under suspicion.
Actually, it was because Yin Tiang and his father were known to be alchemists that they were coming under such scrutiny, as the wood nymphs blamed the town's alchemists in particular for their predicament.
That said, it wasn't like they would attack Yin Tiang on sight.
"Relax," Yin Tiang said. "We're only here to investigate what's going wrong with the forest."
"I think it's clear what is going wrong with the forest," the wood nymph snorted, but he didn't chase them off. He then turned to Tang Ze. "And who is this?"
Tang Ze was dressed up as Lieutenant Terra Firma - he was a cartoon character from Earth who starred in a show by the same name. The show was designed to teach children about the importance of nature and preserving the environment, and had strong anti-pollution themes as it tackled issues like global warming, overpopulation, and the harmful effects of pesticides.
The costume involved Tang Ze wearing two tree branches atop his head - they were lemon branches and not olive branches, but he had been unable to find any olive branches and so had to make do. His clothes were covered in a thick layer of leaves which he had gathered from the surroundings near the sect. Next, he had caked his face in green face paint speckled with spots of blue.
His costume was about half accurate, as per his talent.
While the wood nymph was looking at Tang Ze with curiosity, Tang Ze was doing the same.