Chapter 89
Virtues of a Master (IV)
I ca back down, staring at the glazed eyes lost in a dream before the fade.
It was the sa as I rembered it being and why I stopped coming here in the first place: depressing. No... that's selling it short, honestly. Unlike your standard fare brutality of the world that I'm (sowhat) accustod to, this here reeked of sothing deeper. Not necessarily sinister, as it were, just... colder.
I used all my Creator's Eyes charges, but they yielded little besides what I already expected: four kids, aged between eleven and sixteen, each a few days away from dying.
There was a difference, however, from the last ti I was here. Not about the place, but about . That haze, that abject elusiveness, almost, that I noted above the town... I sensed it here, too. But it was far too vague to make anything of it. It'd be like identifying a killer by saying, 'He slled sowhat familiar to the scene of the cri'.
Perhaps it was my mind playing tricks on , feeding what I maybe wanted to believe. Because, if the Seed were sowhere here, a lot of things would fit into a puzzle that I only ever got glimpses of.
I spun and left before the shadows swallowed up, too.
Perusing the market for a little while yielded little to no news, so I headed over to a peak I'd never visited before, strangely: Elder Qin's.
Though it wasn't as vastly wealthy as the Spirit Sage's Peak, it was still leagues above my own. Plus, there were far more kids--hundreds, in fact--rushing about everywhere. Dostic pavilions lined the uphill climb, courtyards decorated in unique ways, with trees casting shade rather symtrically on both sides.
Most disciples looked at oddly for a mont, though, strangely, they all greeted ... and did so politely. Not that I think they respected , but more that these were the ways of a man who taught them.
Once at the peak, a steward approached and guided to a small hall to the left, round and pleasantly scented. It was jasmine, or an ersatz scent of it, and before I knew it, I was served a spirit tea. Far more pleasant and tantalizing than the mildew tea I've been drinking all this while.
I patiently waited for about half an hour before a tired figure ca through the doors, his face seemingly having aged another decade since I last saw him not a few hours ago.
"I hope you haven't waited for long," he said, pushing out a smile.
"... it must be infernal."
"Hm," he sighed, sitting down, creases in his forehead quite a bit deeper than I rembered them being. "You could say."
"Anything I can do to help?"
"Just rember all I ever said to you," he smiled deeper this ti, and I bit back my words. "I should rest for a little while."
"Ah, yes. Of course. Forgive for disturbing you."
So... I learned nothing.
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Hm.
It's a bit frustrating, being kept in the dark. I an, he probably did it with good intentions, and perhaps for a good reason, too, but still... damn is it frustrating.
By the ti I ca back ho, the sun had already set. Sobody had gone down the mountain to the restaurant and picked us up a dinner, and thus we all sat in a circle to eat.
Unlike , who was wrecked with worries, the others chattered rather freely. Well, 'others' really ant only three--Dai Xiu, Xi Zhao, and Light on occasion. Long Tao and Hua remained the silent oaks they'd always been, appearing disinterested in everything.
The war's in fifteen days... which ans, in all likelihood, we'd be departing the Sect soon enough, too. But I'm not ready. Nowhere near ready, in fact.
I don't even have a functioning map of this world, for crying out loud! I don't know where to go, what to do, or how to do it... I an, I have an okay-ish vault of wealth, but how long can it realistically support these little monsters around ?
And then there's --I cannot protect them on the outside. The best I can do is take a 'bullet' for them a couple of tis thanks to that Tortoise reward the system gave . I'd hoped that I'd be able to stay safely in the sect until I'd purified the body and finally started getting accustod to using Qi.
But I'm nowhere near that.
I glanced at Long Tao and at Hua. The latter would be our last resort--if he temporarily lifts his restrictions, then he'd probably be the strongest person around. But that's like counting on winning the lottery to absolve you of debts.
Unrealistic, to put it mildly.
Long Tao, on the other hand... I'm not sure, honestly. I imagine he'd drag us to Desolate Cliffs first, but what after that? Would we just beco his entourage as he digs up old tombs and robs them of artifacts?
... hey, that doesn't sound half-bad, honestly.
1,000 points. My final 'cheat' before the unraveling of everything.
What should I create? The ultimate defensive art? Or the opposite? Or sothing else entirely?
I don't know. I decided on it being useful to everyone, so there was really only one place I could go to in order to figure out what would be useful to everyone--that old monster seeming disinterested in everything.
"Master?" He seed a bit surprised to see enter his tiny little 'house'. Wow, I really did cheap out on appropriate housing. Here I am bitching and moaning about 'comfort', yet I have these monsters living in a cube that's, like, 3x3x3.
"What would be good for everyone?" I gritted my teeth and asked.
My heart ached ever so slightly as I watched his face contort into a strange grin.
"... I thought you were tapped out."
"Pretend that I'm not."
"Hm," he chuckled, sitting down cross-legged. "If I'm not wrong," he added. "Before war is over, we'll be long gone from here."
"..."
"The world is... blazingly unforgiving. Maws gape around every corner, their hunger burning." Wow, what a poet. "And even if we run, we'll be branded. Hunted. Bounties put on our heads. Even if we may not know anything, those profiting would not dare risk it."
"Hm," okay, so... what? I need to create another cloaking art, but this ti around for everyone? No... he wouldn't suggest sothing like that.
"You've made a ans of hiding from the world," he said. "Undisputed one, too. But even I cannot hide for too long. Besides, there is no life when shadow is where we exist. My father ntioned that, among the arts under the heavens, one that even the Immortals pursued the most was the mythological and long-lost way of Alteration. Bone-nding. Face-Changing."
"..." This guy's asking to create the damned MI stitch?! Hey... isn't that actually a pretty good idea?
"Perhaps your father accidentally left it lying around and you picked it up at so point. It would be rather useful to all of us."
Honestly, I didn't even consider face-changing, as I thought it would be a relatively common thing that virtually anyone slightly more skilled could use almost innately. And yet, by the sounds of it... the technique didn't even exist. If Long Tao himself considered it a freakin' myth, though, is it actually that smart of a thing for to create it?
Would that not just completely expose the fact I can birth arts into existence? No, I can't just make it seem like I can make things out of thin air.
"I suffered the loss with your art," I said, smiling faintly. "But my father's vault of wealth would not be able to... help locate that specific art."
"They know not of the little gift the Elder gave us," he shrugged, closing his eyes. "Maybe that gift will be enough? If not... it will be a rather arduous journey anywhere, I gather."
Yeah.
There will co a day I can smack this guy over his head just to vent out, right? Otherwise, I might explode.
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