Ma Yuan who had thought he already had his mind made up for where they would start over couldn’t help but waver now.
As soone who had lived his life as a rogue cultivator, unaffiliated to any organization and his recent experience with his wife and the Ice Erald Sect, he would be lying if he said he didn’t have reservations about associating himself with a large organization be it sect or kingdom.
The White Baobab Kingdom certainly appealed to him if it was indeed true, that they had a loose system that was accommodating of all who walked through its doors, then there was also the guarantee that Yang Qing gave him.
In his current state, even with the training he has been doing, and the gains he has been making as a result of it, he was still a cripple, and as such he was limited in what he could accomplish by himself.
At his rate of improvent, the best he could hope for at the end of it is maybe fighting a third or fourth-stage core formation expert to a draw, but even then it would be dependent on the type of core said core formation expert had.
Having had a blue-grade core himself, he understood deeply that if he were to face a cultivator with a blue core, leaving with his life from such a fight would be a foregone conclusion. With his current abilities even fighting one who has just freshly broken through to a draw was about the best he could accomplish and even then, he was likely to leave that fight with grievous injuries.
He knew he needed help to help protect Ma Yuan, even if he hadn’t been crippled back then, his thoughts would have still been the sa. Up until you gained enough strength to solely rely on yourself, you needed a community, a support system to help protect the things you held dear.
He still replayed the scenes from that night seven years ago, though not obsessively, he still wondered from ti to ti whenever the ebbs and flows of grief and regret hit him. Whenever those thoughts hit his mind one of the things he did other than apologize to his departed wife’s spirit, and bemoan his lack of strength, one of the other things he did was think about what he could have done differently.
One of the things he thought about was how if they maybe had a few neighbors or friends around who were also in the core formation realm maybe what happened that night could have been prevented.
Yang Qing’s promise that the White Baobab Kingdom would accept and treat them like one of their own was sothing that stuck a chord with him and it was the biggest reason as to why he was hesitant on where he should start over.
Sumrfield Kingdom or White Baobab Kingdom?
Seeing his dilemma, Yang Qing said,
"There’s no need to choose now, you can choose later or if you’re still indecisive, you can just choose both. Try one place first, and if it doesn’t feel right you can move to the other."
Ma Yuan’s eyes lit up as he said," Yes, yes, I could do that.."
Ma Yuan smiled as he exhaled in relief as he felt like a huge weight had been removed from his chest. Once settled, his heart was once again filled with emotion as he bowed his head low enough to touch the ground.
"Thank you, Yang Qing, thank you truly for everything you have done for since that night."
"There’s no need for this," Yang Qing softly said as he helped Ma Yuan up, whose eyes had already reddened slightly.
"No, there is, you gave so much. All you have given is no different than giving a new chance at life. That night I had forsaken it all, and if you had not stepped in...."
Ma Yuan had left the next words unsaid, but both he and Yang Qing knew what would have likely happened if Yang Qing had not decided to pull him out of that yin river, listen to his story, and actually follow up on it.
The Ice Erald Sect would likely be around today, Ma Yuan likely wouldn’t and who knows what would have beco of Ma Ling with the mory gu in her. Maybe she would have turned into the people her mother ran away from. Doing the things the higher-ups of the Ice Erald Sect had been doing for the past 10,000 years or more.
Oddly enough, imagining that scenario eased Yang Qing’s heart a bit.
"Well the biggest thank you you can give is you and your daughter living a full life and maybe a few hundred bags of your finest products once you settle down and start farming.." Yang Qing said with a cheery smile.
"Forget about a hundred, you can have a hundred tis that," Ma Yuan said with a spirited laugh eager to take the challenge.
"Fine ten thousand bags of Ma Yuan’s finest produce," Yang Qing said as he stretched out his hand toward Ma Yuan.
"Ten thousand," Ma Yuan said as he and Yang Qing clasped each other’s forearms signaling the sealing of the deal.
"It’s a deal then," Yang Qing said with a light smile.
"Now then, I guess we need to prepare you as much as we can for the next phase of your life," Yang Qing said as he stood up.
"Care to go for a round and see how far you have progressed in the Mortal’s path to transcendence?" he added as he made his way to the area around the green fla tree which had been converted to their sparring area.
Yang Qing’s courtyard had a region for sparring but he never used it almost always preferring to spar beneath the green fla tree, owing to the tree’s restorative properties. The green fla tree had the passive effect of revitalizing the body and the soul which enabled one to spar longer as a result, and for soone weakened like Ma Yuan, there was no better place. The concoctions that he has been consuming and part of the alchemical baths his grandfather and the rest had cooked up, part of the key ingredient used had been the sap of the green fla tree.
Yang Qing gently placed his palm on its stem which elicited a reaction from it. It was a gentle rustle of its leaves and a slow flicker of its flas. Yang Qing via his palm could feel its emotions through the subtle action.
" too, too," he said softly with a smile as he sighed in gratification.
"You’ve grown a lot since then," Yang Qing added with a nostalgic sigh as he raised his head slightly taking stock of its height, the flourishing canopy and the vibrant flaming leaves, and the warm feeling and refreshing breath of vitality it released.
The green fla tree was sothing he received from Ren Shu, the deputy hall master of the dical Valley. He had gotten it from him after he passed the purple grade test. When Ren Shu handed it to him, he had said he gave it to him because they were fated.
Back then it was just a tiny grey sapling about the size of his palm, and it had an unappealing look. It was just a grey withering stick, with a tiny grey needle-like leaf. It was nowhere near the splendor it had today, but even then, the mont he laid eyes on it, Yang Qing knew it was special and understood why Ren Shu said they were fated.
To date, there is nothing he has ever felt such a deep attachnt to other than the green fla tree, well maybe the duality tree, but when it ca to the duality tree he had a different tree to it when compared to the green fla tree.
When it ca to the green fla tree, it felt like a sibling but the duality tree even though there was that sense of close kinship he felt towards it, the duality tree felt more like a senior to him. He even subconsciously watches his step around it, afraid that it would scold him.
He wasn’t the only one who felt that way, as he could tell the green fla tree seed to treat the duality tree the sa way too, like a younger sibling in front of their elder while when it ca to the other plants around the area, they all gave the duality tree a wide birth.
Ma Yuan had tried to plant a few plants and herbs a few hundred ters away from it, but they all withered, and it wasn’t due to lack of nutrients or because the duality tree did anything. Those plants and herbs just couldn’t handle the inherent pressure the duality tree had. Even Ellie with her nature, always avoided it.
About the only plants that could handle being around it were the green fla tree, and the mother stalk of the purple lightning bamboo tree, and the latter seed more at ease with the duality tree. From what Yang Qing picked up, the duo treated each other like peers.
"I wonder how long it will take for them to fully form their spirits," Yang Qing murmured as his eyes fell on the three plants.
They have all been with him since his days at the Institute. It could be said that they have seen him grow, and he has seen them grow, well except the duality tree. He always felt like a junior before it but regardless, the three plants had seen him in various phases of his life, they were no different than family to him, which was why he couldn’t help but be anxious about when they would fully awaken their spirits.
When it ca to ability, all three plants had the capabilities of a palace realm expert, with the duality tree and the mother purple lightning bamboo even being stronger than him, yet their spirits still seed to be in the nurturing phase, like a small fla that hasn’t fully caught on unlike what was expected of spiritual plants that had reached the palace realm.
But even then, even without their spirits fully ford, they still acted sentient, and Yang Qing wasn’t sure how, but he could always tell what they were thinking even when he was just a puny foundation establishnt cultivator, and their intents only beca clearer as he grew stronger.
Full of nostalgia, Yang Qing couldn’t help but murmur toward the green fla green tree,
"You have grown,"
The green fla tree’s response was another rustle of its branches which released a single leaf that gently glided downwards circling Yang Qing’s head with a green streak following its path.
"I guess I have grown too," Yang Qing said with a light chuckle as he saw the green flaming line on the green flaming tree’s bark that matched his height.
Ma Yuan who was walking over couldn’t help but look behind him in surprise when he felt sothing change in the air, and when he did, he was greeted by dazzling purple light streaming from the area that was filled with purple bamboos.
Before he could register what was happening, another strange thing happened. He felt a power that he could have sworn was the manifestation of the heavens itself as it fell down on him. He wasn’t sure whether he was seeing things, but he felt day and night shift within an instant before it beca dusk again.
"What was that?" he muttered wearily as he looked around him in confusion and evident fear. His attention went back to Yang Qing, whose reaction left him even more baffled. He was half expecting Yang Qing to be just as startled, but instead found Yang Qing wearing a gratified smile with his eyes looking behind him which prompted Ma Yuan to look behind him once more, where he found the purple light that was soaring to the heavens had disappeared.
Ma Yuan sighed as he turned his attention back to Yang Qing, choosing to not think too much about what had just happened and just go with it.
"We have all grown," murmured Yang Qing bringing his eyes back to Ma Yuan.
"Let’s start, shall we?"
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