Chapter 16 - 58-64

Chapter 58: This Young Master Will Do What It Takes

Chen Haoran didn't hesitate.

He cycled all the qi he could spare to his Crouching Tiger Earrings and an invisible wave of qi burst out with a Tiger's roar. All the Lan cultivators stiffened in fear. That was all the time needed for a river of blue energy to sweep away the Ninth-Layer before they could recover. The rest of the group watched in stunned disbelief as their leader and the ground he stood on was erased. The salamander had no such issues, quickly recovering from its fear-induced paralysis and locking its jaw around a Seventh-Layer's leg, crushing it with an audible snap.

"Save him," snapped the Eighth-Layer, before rushing toward Chen Haoran.

The two remaining Seventh-Layers looked between themselves. Through silent agreement they split up, one going to save their fellow Lan from the salamander's death roll while the other raised his sword to assist the Eighth-Layer in fighting Chen Haoran.

It was their last mistake.

Chen Haoran leaped above the heads of the two rushing combatants and came down like a stone on the left alone Lan in the rear. Dropping one of his swords he grabbed the back of the man's neck and threw him to the ground. The Seventh-Layer's breath left his lungs and Chen Haoran grimaced before slamming his foot down onto the cultivator's elbow, snapping it with a sickening crunch. He screamed and bucked as Chen Haoran sank his sword into his other arm, pinning him to the earth.

Chen Haoran picked up his dropped sword in a hasty block as the Eighth-Layer slashed his sword at him with a furious roar. The Lan looked back at the last Seventh-Layer. "Go!" he roared. "Inform Elder Xiaobei!"

Chen Haoran leveraged his superior cultivation and forced the Eighth-Layer back with strength. It was too late however as the Seventh-Layer disappeared into the steam in a dead run.

The last standing Lan snarled at him, swinging his sword in a wide arc. "You will die this day."

Chen Haoran battered it aside and bared his teeth as he cast his sense into the mist. "Someone's going before either of us."

Confusion flashed across the Eighth-Layer's face before transforming into horror after his sense informed him. Chen Haoran took this moment, for a brief moment his scimitar became a river. The Eighth-Layer faltered and a thin red line split across his neck before his head fell over. Chen Haoran breathed out. His first use of Harmonization in combat, while only a split second, had succeeded.

Phelps came tumbling in a floating roll from where the Seventh-Layer had run into the steam. One of his claws dripping red. With the front secured Chen Haoran looked toward the salamander only to find it wringing a dead Lan cultivator by the neck. The salamander eyed him with a single, marble black eye before moving closer to the pinned Seventh-Layer. Chen Haoran snorted and cycled qi to his earrings for another pulse of tiger qi. This was less effective than the first use but his message had been conveyed. The salamander backed away into its pool, dragging the corpse in its mouth with it beneath the water.

Chen Haoran turned to the groaning Lan cultivator beneath him. This was the part that would suck. He pinned the man's legs with his knees and checked his eyes, glassy and unfocused. He slapped the man across the face, making sure to infuse every hit with stinging qi. Clarity soon returned to his eyes and he glared at Chen Haoran with anger and wild fear.

"What is your name?" Chen Haoran asked.

"Fuck you!"

"Wrong answer." He wished it wasn't. Chen Haoran stabbed his second scimitar into the same arm as the first. "What is your name!" he roared at the man.

"La-Lan Aoki," he stuttered.

Chen Haoran removed one sword. "How do I get out of this cavern, Lan Aoki?"

"Dispense with this pretense and kill me," he said, growling in pain. "May you rot in these depths."

Chen Haoran gripped Lan Aoki's jaw and stared into his eyes. "If I was going to kill you I would have crippled your legs first." He dug his knee into the man's leg for emphasis. "I need you to walk."

Lan Aoki stubbornly remained silent. Chen Haoran reached out and squeezed the man's snapped elbow, shuddering in revulsion at the feel of its saggy skin and sharp bone. Lan Aoki hissed in pain and he hissed with him. "I take no pleasure in the pain I'm causing you, Lan Aoki." He let go of the man's elbow and scrubbed his palm against his leg. "Tell me how to get out of here and lead me through the dangers in this cavern and you might see sunlight again."

Lan Aoki rasped out several long, painful breaths. Chen Haoran kept his gaze till his vision blurred with tears.

Finally, Lan Aoki exhaled. "Follow the river upstream." Chen Haoran nodded and removed the grip on his jaw. "There is a waterfall, cross it and you will be able to leave."

"There is another camp at that waterfall?" he asked.

"Yes," Lan Aoki said. "They are responsible for transporting supplies in and out of the cavern."

"Okay." Chen Haoran leaned back. He cycled his qi, the warm vitality soothing his nerves. "Thank you. I mean it."

His qi-enhanced fist snapped the man's neck.

"I'm sorry," he said to the man's forever-frozen eyes. Chen Haoran closed the Lan cultivator's eyes before rolling off his body and collapsing to the ground. "Fuck." He looked at his bloody fingers. They curled and he clutched his chest with them. "Fuck."

Phelps slowly floated over and settled at his side, softly crooning. Chen Haoran vigorously rubbed his non-bloody hand into the sloth's fur. Fur was good, better than skin and broken bones.

He pressed his face into Phelp's fur. "The things I do to live," he mumbled. "The things I do to fucking live."

Eventually, he picked himself up. A pulse of qi ran down his hand and wicked the blood off his fingers. He breathed deeply and centered himself before going to pat down the bodies. He'd destroyed everything the Ninth-Layer was carrying so the real harvest came from the Eighth-Layer though to call it a harvest was a stretch. Beyond some medicinal pills and monster cores the only thing of note were two strips of paper painted with a red fire burst-shaped pattern. The Seventh-Layers had much the same as the Eighth-Layer, just less quantity, and he collected two more painted papers. From his sense he could feel some type of dormant qi within the paint. He wasn't in the mood to try testing them out however.

He fed some of the cores to Phelps and patted his head. "Good thing you were there huh, my little ninja sloth? We woulda had a rough time if he'd called for help." Phelps squealed at him. "Here I was thinking you were the cavern version of Lan Fen, maybe you're the cavern version of Song Yuelin instead?"

Slowly the small smile he'd managed to form faded. "The Lan family huh?" Of all the people he would have thought he'd meet down here, they were the last ones on his list. "I thought I'd see Song fucking Yuelin before even dreaming of meeting the Lan family."

In fairness, he thought he'd left them all back in Clearsprings City. Who would have thought they'd make like moorlocks and spread underground too? It was obvious why though. The abundant Water energy was far above anything that could be found in Clearsprings City and since Water nourished Wood, as a primarily Wood-element focused clan the only ones who'd benefit more than them from the caverns were Water spirit roots like Chen Haoran.

And Metal.

Like Lan Fen.

The Lan family was here. Was Lan Fen unaware of this? She had never mentioned it in her plans before. There was no way she wouldn't try to destroy it if she knew about it. Had her plan been successful and the Lan family was chased out of Clearsprings City the Spa Caverns would be the perfect place for them to retreat to.

He tried to imagine for a moment that Lan Fen did not, in fact, know that her family had access to such a large and precious territory that stood to ruin all her plans.

Chen Haoran found that he could not, in fact, imagine such a thing being possible.

That still didn't explain why she never made any attempt to come here. At the very least seeing as how he entered the cavern with none the wiser it didn't seem that difficult for Lan Fen to sneak in, especially since with her Metal Spirit root she'd benefit from the Water Attribute energies as well. Why then had she not come here after reacquiring some of her cultivation?

Chen Haoran frowned. "Confidence," he spoke into the empty air.

He ran over and slung Phelps over his back who squealed at Chen Haoran for interrupting his meal but acquiesced to the sudden motion. Ignoring his irate sloth, Chen Haoran gathered the bodies and quickly tossed them into the salamander's pool before rushing off into the steam.

Lan Fen never did anything she was not completely confident in. If she was not confident in coming to the Spa Cavern then what would stop her? A Liquid Meridian realm obviously. The Lan family didn't have that many to begin with however, and with her sensing it would be trivial to avoid them given the size of the cavern and with the chaos Lan Fen had been causing the majority would be in Clearsprings City holding down the fort with the Patriarch-

Chen Haoran felt a thunderbolt race down his spine. He felt less shocked when he grabbed lightning with his hands.

"Patriarch Lan is in this cavern."

Chapter 59: This Young Master Isn't Surprised

The Earth-rank method that had made the Lan family so threatening was Wood attribute. The Patriarch was practicing it. Why would he do it in Clearsprings City when the Spa Cavern was superior in every way? Especially when he had to shorten the time it took for him to return to his old cultivation level by any means possible.

Where was Lan Fen in all this then? What was she doing? Her previous schemes took on a new light now. Not just exposing the Patriarch's cultivation. It was to expose that he wasn't even there. Attacking the Lan family wasn't just to weaken them in the eyes of the other families. It was to force the Patriarch to come out of seclusion and back to the city. Was that where she planned to deal him the killing blow? The Lan family having an Earth-rank method was one thing. The Lan family having an Earth-rank method and a cultivation paradise? That was something else entirely.

Chen Haoran shivered. If it weren't for that prince giving the major families a reason to rally together, Lan Fen's plan could have spelled the end for the Lan family. It still might. The Lan family didn't seem keen on sharing the secret of the Spa Cavern after all.

Regardless, the danger of the cavern had rocketed up several levels. He was potentially in the same area code as the second strongest cultivator in Clearsprings City who would probably like nothing more than to skin him alive. Perhaps he'd run into one of the other Lan family Elders first before that happened though? Or if he was lucky he would become chow to some passing Liquid Meridian beast. Or maybe the powder keg that was Clearsprings politics would blow up and multiple factions would duke it out within the cavern.

"You know Phelps if surviving difficult situations was a school assignment my report would be marked up in red pen." He'd get a passing grade for the sheer fact he was still alive despite it all but much like his old math teachers, he'd be getting points off for not showing how his equations actually lead him to that conclusion. Naturally, the solution to this was the same way he passed high school engineering.

Copy the smarter student.

Once again he would have to peek at Lan Fen's cheat sheet to survive. So if he were Lan Fen, where would he be right now to maximize his chances for revenge?

"Here," Chen Haoran sighed. "She would be right here." He looked up towards the cavern roof. "Lan Fen if you're in here then you better find me or I'm going to be so pissed."

Actually calling to the sky wouldn't work. Listening in on words from a far distance was impossible even for Lan Fen's incredible sensing ability. If Lan Fen wanted to find him then it would be her choice in the end. It did make Chen Haoran feel a little better to say it out loud. If she found him then he was manifesting the future. If she didn't then he was frontloading his outrage.

Win-win really. So long as he was still alive.

He followed the river upstream to its waterfall source. Now that he knew Lan family boats regularly traveled down it however he kept far away from the banks and hidden within the steam. Only venturing near the river to orient himself and make sure he hadn't wandered off too far from its course. The camp by the waterfall entrance was most likely the main Lan family base for their cavern operation. Whether the Patriarch was there remained to be seen but it was guaranteed that at least one Liquid Meridian would be stationed there. Not that it really made much difference to him which flavor of Liquid Meridian was playing house. He was screwed either way as soon as they got their hands on him. Chen Haoran wasn't fool enough to believe for a second that the repeated ass-kickings he experienced at the hands of Song Yuelin were enough to square up against a serious Liquid Meridian.

Not that he had much of a choice when it came to throwing himself into the Lion's Den.

Every so often he would spot hunting groups. They would roam around the edges of the shoreline hunting monsters for cores and gathering spiritual herbs as well as, surprisingly enough, the glowing moss. What use they had for it was unknown but the few times he was brave enough to spy he saw they carried it away by the barrel full. On bad days Chen Haoran feared that these hunting groups were personally scouring the cavern for him after his act of annihilating a hunting party. On his good days, he recognized them for what they were. Cogs in the machine to fuel the Lan family's power and, more importantly, the Patriarch's power. Whether the collected materials were all for Patriarch Lan was unknown but he was almost certainly taking a significant chunk.

If the Patriarch was anything like Chen Haoran then he'd be running into bottlenecks thanks to the overabundance of cultivation materials. If he was like Lan Fen in talent instead then Chen Haoran hoped she had a real killer move in reserve.

Assuming she was even here.

If he got out of this cavern alive he would have to find more Liquid Meridian cores. Surely not every Liquid Meridian realm would be as invincible as Song Yuelin when it came to being blown up?

It was mostly thanks to the cavern's steam and rock formations that he was able to avoid being spotted by the Lan family hunting groups. His qi sense had revealed its true strength in this situation. It was perhaps the most mysterious benefit of his becoming a cultivator. How it worked was beyond him to explain and with how instinctual its use was he eventually took its magical effect for granted. Here though where only sound and the qi-sense were able to protect him he began to truly notice its properties.

To begin with, not every qi sense was equal. Lan Fen's insane range was evidence enough of that but given how ridiculous she was in general he discounted anything about her being in the range of standard or explainable. Deep in the steam he received a more reliable example of this in action, from when he ambushed the first hunting group to the various foraging parties he was now avoiding he noticed them with his qi-sense before they did every time. It was clear that his range was greater than that of the Lan cultivators. Cultivation was the cause of it, with every Layer he grew so too did his sense. Layer alone wasn't enough to explain everything. Barring any personal talent or genetic dispositions for sensing the biggest reason could only have been the quality of his qi. His Earth-rank cultivation method had helped him crush many cultivators who were otherwise his equal in level.

For now.

The journey upriver thus passed in a safe but much too tense manner for his liking. The only good thing was that the patrols confirmed he was getting closer to his goal of escape. He didn't dare go near the river anymore for fear of discovery and could only hope he hadn't veered too far off course in the steam. He didn't dare wish for visibility however. A clear view would spell his death and he was dreading the next cold snap.

His efforts bore fruit in the end. The roar of water grew louder than ever, such that he could feel the vibrations through the stone beneath his feat. With the utmost caution, he slowly swung back around to the river. As if pushed away by the force or by some other method the steam thinned to the point he could see a waterfall two hundred feet in height bursting out of the sheer wall of the cavern like a spout. Rising equal in height alongside it was a tree, bent and sloped like an organic ramp, its branches were woven into railings. One end was buried in the ground, the other end speared into the stone next to the top of the waterfall.

Thick boxes suddenly appeared out of the waterfall and fell into waiting nets at the base where workers quickly scrambled like spiders on the web to remove them. On top of the tree, men picked up barrels and crates and slung them at the top of the waterfall where they disappeared without a trace.

The Lan family camp was enclosed within a semi-circular stone wall that enveloped the base of the ramp tree and the waterfall and met with the river in the center where a chain net rose out of the water. Two tall watchtowers sat on either shore. If Chen Haoran wanted a better view he needed to reach a higher elevation. Unfortunately, there were no pillars or hills near enough for him to climb. He'd probably be spotted had he attempted such a thing anyway.

He would have to ask someone else.

He turned to look at the presence that deliberately revealed itself behind him. "I have some questions for you."

Out of the steam, as if she were some dead warrior's ghost, appeared Lan Fen.

Chapter 60: This Young Master Now Knows

"Chen Haoran."

"Lan Fen."

"You have advanced."

"As have you."

She looked the same as when he last saw her. Vibrant white hair and golden eagle eyes. A face that looked better suited for staring down at someone from a glorious war memorial. She had changed from her dress to armor. The Wintersteel Scale Armor he gave her in fact, from which he was rewarded the Profound-rank Wintersteel Plate. Chen Haoran found there wasn't much a of difference in Lan Fen whether she wore cloth or metal. He reached out with his sense, Qi Realm Ninth-Layer. It wasn't altogether too surprising that she reached the Ninth-Layer before he did, it was always going to be easier for her than for him. What did draw his attention was the unfamiliar sword strapped to her side. He felt nothing from it and yet almost unconsciously his sense lingered over it.

Phelps squealed.

He hooked a thumb at his back. "Lan Fen this is Phelps." Lan Fen looked at the sloth, who stared back at her with large, dopey eyes. "Phelps this is Lan Fen."

"When Song Yuelin told me he had lost you I never thought you would end up here of all places," Lan Fen said. "Perhaps I should have expected it."

"So you've known about the cavern for a while." Given her strength she had almost certainly explored it before under the Lan family.

"Bathhouse."

"Excuse me?"

"Bathhouse," Lan Fen repeated. "That is how my family refers to it. That is what it is."

Chen Haoran's thoughts ground to a halt. A bathhouse? With all the heated pools it made some twisted sort of sense but… a bathhouse? The density of energy, the sheer size, the abundant treasures, and the monsters that guarded them. If this was some training ground or sacred space he would accept but to hear that it was nothing more than a bathhouse?

Madness.

"All of this?" He couldn't hide the disbelief that colored his voice. There was no reason for Lan Fen to exaggerate but he couldn't help but question her.

Lan Fen nodded. "The ruins of an ancient superpower. A relic from a much grander past. This secret realm was used by the disciples of the superpower to rest and maintain their condition."

It made sense and yet none at all. All of this?

"You said secret realm, is that a specific term?"

Lan Fen hooked her finger and motioned him to follow. "This is not a safe place." She disappeared into the steam and he followed after her. In a way it was much like the night he followed her to attack the Lan family's spiritual garden. Surefooted Lan Fen, who possessed a clear view forward, and Chen Haoran who followed after her like a moth to light, all but blind save for his qi sense.

She led him to a hole in the ground covered by a large boulder, with the only opening barely being enough to squeeze through. Inside was lit blue with glowing moss that grew beneath the boulder and filled with lukewarm water. Besides the cold snaps, it was the coolest temperature he had experienced in this 'bathhouse.' They settled in the waist-high water and stared at each other.

Phelps squealed and splashed around, happily burbling at Lan Fen. She looked amused at least. Two people and a sloth sharing a pool. It wasn't the kind of service available in Clearsprings City hot spring that was for sure.

Chen Haoran laughed. Seeing Lan Fen raise an eyebrow he elaborated. "Song Yuelin wanted us to go to a bathhouse together. I doubt this was what he had in mind though."

"Meddlesome man," Lan Fen muttered. She rested her back against the stone and propped her arm on her knee. "To answer your previous question a secret realm is a pocket of expanded space separate from the world."

"Like a storage bag?"

"Vastly more complex than that but they are related. Secret realms vary in their terrains and resources but all are usually more spiritually dense than the surrounding area."

It was somehow easier to accept he had accidentally stumbled into a new dimension than the fact that said dimension was just a bathhouse. It did help explain how such a large open area underground could exist without affecting any of the lands above.

"I don't recall going through a portal or anything to get here though," Chen Haoran said. "I was brought here by a river."

"Did I not tell you before? The waters of the Clearsprings Mountains run deep." She nonchalantly waved her hand. "They all pass through here eventually, you would not be the first carried with them."

"So how does the water leave then?" Not through the waterfall that's for sure. It would be ideal if he could use another exit besides the waterfall.

Lan Fen seemed to read his thoughts. "Not in a way survivable by you."

He clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Is that waterfall really the only way out then?"

"It is the only reliable doorway mastered by the Lan family," she said. "If there are other ways to leave I do not know them."

Of course. It would be too easy otherwise.

"What's the plan then?" he asked.

Lan Fen blinked. "Pardon?"

"There's probably a Liquid Meridian realm in that camp right?" The question was rhetorical, of course there was, he'd be too lucky otherwise. "There's no way I can get out without dealing with them and that's not happening without you."

"Is that so?" Lan Fen frowned. "I recall it was not too long ago that you had an issue being involved with killing."

Chen Haoran sighed. "There's clearly some kind of disconnect between what you think I meant and what I actually said."

"Enlighten me then."

"What's there to enlighten? The people in this cavern want to kill me and will inevitably try to, of course I'm going to kill them to live."

"That is not what you said before."

"They weren't trying to kill me back then."

"They were always trying to kill you. Do you think yourself nobler for letting them strike first? The result is the same in the end, just with more sophistry."

"The sophistry is important to me." He sighed and massaged his head. "I'm not out here to claim some moral high horse, at the end of the day I'll do anything to live."

"Clearly."

Chen Haoran narrowed his eyes. "How long were you watching me?"

"You've been within my range since you ambushed the foraging party." She paused for a few seconds. "I did not take you for the type."

He grimaced. They both knew what she was talking about. "Neither did I."

They fell into an uncomfortable silence. Even Phelps ceased his splashing and paddled over to Chen Haoran, softly crooning.

"Why didn't you say anything about the cavern before?" he asked. It was a question with an obvious answer as soon as it was revealed that Lan Fen wasn't ignorant of the cavern's existence. He just needed something to fill the silence.

"It was not necessary." Came Lan Fen's curt and expected answer.

"Back when we separated you could have told us about this place," he said. "We could have come to hide here. I would have never been at risk of being taken back to the Chen family."

"You saw for yourself Song Yuelin's behavior." She frowned and bowed her head. "I am sorry."

Good enough. How could either of them expect Song Yuelin would be so spooked that he'd try to flee all the way back to the Chens?

"Are you saying you didn't want him to try and claim it? Are you trying to monopolize the cavern?"

"I do not have the strength to do such a thing as of right now," Lan Fen slowly said. "But I did not think letting the Chen family know the existence of the Bathhouse was in my best interests."

Chen Haoran looked at her. "Lan Yao found the Earth-rank method from here," he stated. "You found your storage space here too."

Lan Fen looked startled before huffing a laugh. "Once again I am equal parts impressed and annoyed with your ability to string knowledge together."

"That's why she sent you to me. This is why she wanted to kill you."

"Lan Yao has many reasons for wanting to kill me but yes."

"Did you intend to settle the score in the cavern from the start?"

"I was aiming to have the other families slay the Patriarch once I had drawn him out of his hole." Lan Fen shrugged. "The plan has unfortunately changed as they are wont to do."

"Is the Patriarch in the cavern now?"

Lan Fen viciously smiled. "For now he will be stuck in the city for a few more days. The City Lord and the other families will not let him leave so quickly."

"You leaked information about the cavern."

"Just its existence. The Patriarch will be bogged down navigating that situation for the time being."

"Giving you time to set the stage eh?"

Lan Fen raised an eyebrow. "You have fought a Liquid Meridian realm. How do you feel about killing one?"

Chapter 61: This Young Master Versus the Liquid Meridian

"Besides Patriarch Lan, there is only one other Liquid Meridian realm stationed within the Bathhouse. Due to the delicate situation over there, the others will not be able to leave Clearsprings City. Thus, once the Patriarch can extricate himself he will come here alone. If you want to leave the Bathhouse then the other Liquid Meridian realm Elder must die before he arrives."

"So the Patriarch is already a Liquid Meridian realm again?"

"The Fifth-Layer."

"So basically a Seventh-Layer with the Earth-rank method. You're sure you can deal with that?"

"It's barely within manageable range."

Chen Haoran slapped his forehead. "Those aren't really my favorite odds."

"It is what it is," Lan Fen said. "Blame Lan Yao. Had she betrayed me sooner I would have killed the Patriarch while he was in the Qi realm."

"Had she betrayed you sooner then you'd have been dealing with the original Chen Haoran," he pointed out.

"I would have overcome it with time."

Given what he knew about his predecessor, Lan Fen's answer had several different layers of horrible meaning woven into an otherwise innocuous sentence.

"Tell me this Elder is weaker than the Patriarch at least."

"Elder Qianbei is a Second-Layer Liquid Meridian and the last Elder of any strength left in the family."

Chen Haoran looked at Lan Fen in askance. "The Lan family has to have more Elders than that. What about the guy we met at the tournament?"

"Dead," she said.

"You killed him?" Chen asked, eyes wide.

"Song Yuelin did it."

He raised an eyebrow. That was unexpectedly helpful of him. Lan Fen saw his look and paused.

"I had to push it a little," she admitted.

That made more sense.

"Moving on," Lan Fen said. "Elder Qianbei is an arrogant, obnoxious man. Provoking him to leave the camp will be easy. I have a trap prepared to deal with him."

"So we lead him out and lure him in. Simple enough."

"I will be the one doing it. You will stay here."

"But-"

"You do not have a movement technique," Lan Fen interrupted. "Once he is properly chasing us you will be the first one he catches. Only I can keep ahead of him."

"Well, it's not like I mind sitting on my ass and doing nothing."

"Do nothing?" Lan Fen smirked. "You will be destroying the camp after I lead him away."

Chen Haoran stared at her.

Lan Fen calmly looked back at him.

"There's got to be a hundred guys in that camp," he said.

"There are 30. The others have gone to the downriver camps to prepare for the Frost Storm."

"I'm still 29 people short of being able to fight those guys."

"I would not tell you to do it if I did not believe you were capable of it and when you succeed you can leave without having to wait for me. The camp on the surface is far weaker and less fortified."

"So you… believe in me?"

"I do," Lan Fen confidently said.

It was perhaps the most validating thing she had ever said to him in the time he had known her. There was a tingly feeling inside his chest. He looked at Lan Fen in a new light.

He opened his mouth.

"That means jack shit."

Lan Fen glared at him, unamused. Chen Haoran matched her look before eventually rolling his eyes. "I'll figure something out. You just expect me to do some damage and dip until you're done with the Elder anyway."

"I do think you have the ability to do it," she huffed.

"And yet, you haven't denied my words."

Lan Fen shook her head. "You've gotten ruder since I've last seen you."

"That's because I've replaced you," he said, pointing to Phelps. The sloth was currently floating in the air, trying to scrape the glowing moss off the boulder.

"With a sloth?"

"A genius sloth. Smartest sloth in the whole cave."

Lan Fen sighed. "You have been down here too long."

"Now that's something we can both agree on," Chen Haoran said, chuckling. "Have fun being bait."

"I will be scoring your efforts when I return." Len Fen flashed him a small smile. "Try not to get yourself caught."

Easy peasy.

"Damn you Lan Fen!" Roared Elder Lan Qianbei. Chen Haoran didn't know much about his and Lan Fen's relationship, but he could swear he heard something personal in the Elder's tone. However, she ended up getting his attention it worked. The force of the Elder's qi-enhanced shout disturbed the steam near him, as far away as he was. Another wordless roar followed as the Elder rocketed off after Lan Fen.

That was his cue.

The chittering around him got even louder as more crickets were attracted by the Elder's thunderous shouts. Chen Haoran banged his swords together and whooped out a few screeching cries to focus their attention on himself as he imitated in real life the most noble skill of video games.

The sacred art of kiting the enemy.

Whatever Lan Fen might have thought about him, he was not her. Just ambushing five enemies had taxed him mentally, let alone trying to solo 30 cultivators at once. So he wouldn't. Even if he could, it just wasn't his style. When it came down to it he had always been a quantity-over-quality type of guy.

The crickets were the obvious pick. There was no other monster in the cavern as numerous and single-minded as they were. He still remembered when he had been chased by a hundred crickets. Now he was amassing double that number. His sense was in full bloom, and he was cycling all the qi his legs could bear. In a way, he was thankful for Lan Fen and Song Yuelin throwing herds of wild monsters at him. At least he was experienced. He still took more than a few blows from the crickets just due to their sheer numbers. Nothing that truly hurt but getting slapped around by a giant bug would definitely be haunting his dreams after this. Phelps had been directed to float up to the cavern roof for safety. With all the jumping and tumbling he was doing the poor thing would have been ripped off his back and torn to shreds.

"Let's go!" he shouted, qi-pitching his voice. Every cricket's bulbous eyes riveted on him. He quickly took off in the direction of the camp, the last bits of lightning-refined qi flowing through his legs and easily putting him ahead of the horde. He cleared the steam layer and entered the sight of the watchtowers. Almost immediately a horn sounded and the entire camp was alarmed to his presence. When the mass of crickets lunged out after him another much more panicky alarm was heard. An arrow whizzed by his head and skewered a cricket behind him. Another soon followed. There was an archer on the watch tower and more mustered on the walls.

After judging he was close enough to the walls he burst a wave of qi to his legs and flung himself backward over the horde. He had a moment before the crickets could reorient themselves. His sword glowed blue.

Canyon Carving Sword

Blue energy flowed like a river through the air above the crickets. He couldn't let too many die; they were another tool for him to carve with, after all. The Lan cultivators on the wall panicked and jumped off as the blue torrent touched the bricks and tore through them, knifing through the wall like it was so much air and scything through the base of the watchtower. The tower dropped, then tipped over and ripped apart under the force transmitted through the attack.

Chen Haoran cycled qi to the Leaping Tiger Earring. An invisible wave of qi carried the king of beast's roar to drive fear into its lessers. It didn't get every cricket but enough were influenced that the rest were carried into their desperate flow to escape and with Chen Haoran behind them, there was only one place to go. The gaping hole he created in the wall.

The crickets poured into the camp, overwhelming the guard's hasty attempt to secure the breach. The crickets were a lower cultivation Layer on average, compared to the Lan cultivators, but with numbers and shock the high layers were immediately put on a desperate footing. Not everyone could be as durable as him, after all.

Chen Haoran leapt into the camp and spread out his sense. His first target was found, a Ninth-Layer heading the defense of a squad formation in the mob of crickets. Another leap sent Chen Haoran soaring through the air and he came down on the Ninth-Layer like a stone, crossing the Swiftwind Scimitars as he did and immediately crushing the man's attempt to block. After cutting the leader down he didn't bother with the rest and took off looking for the next high-layer. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Phelps dropping down from the ceiling onto the watchtower across the river. The good boy was definitely earning his treats.

Chen Haoran barreled through crickets and through superior cultivation and his Profound-rank weapon cut down three more Ninth-Layers. With him targeting their leaders whatever formation the guards here had left quickly broke down as they were surrounded and buried under the mass of crickets. In the back of his head, from a rather dark place, he wondered what kind of score Lan Fen would give him.

He paused for only a brief moment when his qi sense was overwhelmed with a sudden nexus of energy. It was the only warning he had before he was picked up by the throat and lifted into the air with crushing force. His vision swam, turned black, and flashed with stars all at once as he gasped for air. He had lost his grip and dropped his scimitars during the sudden attack. Not that they would have done him any good against his assailant.

The man strangling him didn't look a day over 40. His white hair was pulled back into a tight topknot and his golden eyes looked at Chen Haoran indifferently as he sneered. The threat from his qi-sense finally registered far, far too late.

Liquid Meridian Realm.

The Liquid Meridian Realm looked around at the horde of crickets and scowled. Liquid green qi flooded from his body in a wave and crushed the surrounding crickets into paste. The stragglers scattered in every direction while the few surviving guards picked themselves up.

"You and that bitch must think you're so clever. As if I couldn't be alerted in case the camp came under attack." He sneered at Chen Haoran. "It was my personal development. It's only natural that traitor wouldn't know about it."

Elder Qianbei. Had he turned around when he learned the camp was under attack?

"This is far too much damage, however," Elder Qianbei said, glaring at the ruined camp. "You're just as poisonous as your wife." He flicked his free hand four times, and Chen Haoran's vision exploded into searing white pain as the Elder effortlessly shattered all four of his limbs. His agonized scream was choked in his throat by Elder Qianbei who tightened his grip as he carried Chen Haoran over to the wall.

"Be grateful that you've been allowed to live for a few more minutes," the Elder casually lifted Chen Haoran while he spoke as if he weighed no more than the air he was held up in. "I hope your wife loves you, Chen Haoran. This farce will be over much faster if she does."

Chen Haoran spasmed in the Elder's grip. Deep pain pulsated like four drumming hearts in each broken limb. Fire and lightning raced up his spine, and his vision alternated between white and color. He had to speak. Beg, threaten, cajole anything. Cultivators respected power, didn't they? He would tell him about the Chen family. About Song Yuelin, who cuts through Liquid Meridians like grass. About his father, Chen Qitao who even the City Lord feared. He would open his mouth and tell Elder Qianbei to let him go or face their revenge.

He couldn't. Not because he didn't want to. Tears streamed down his cheeks and his face flushed a violent red before receding to a deathly pale. His lips moved but his tongue sat heavy in his mouth like a lead weight and his throat was strangled by fire and lightning.

Song Yuelin. Chen Qitao. He wanted to say.

Wordless gargling were all that came out.

The pain was too much. He couldn't. He tried to call his qi and banish the time away. Instead of its normal water-like flow it came in awkward fits and spurts. Where his qi left his chest and entered his crippled appendages it snarled in the twisted and torn meridians, spilling out uselessly into his broken flesh and bones. Instead of relieving it only hurt him worse, as if his pain had become a cultivator and was absorbing his qi to become a greater pain than before. His world went dark. Foreign qi blasted into his skull and denied him even the relief of unconsciousness.

"She certainly has learned some interesting tricks," Elder Qianbei mused. "That movement technique and whatever she used to detect my presence at such a distance." He snorted. "She really looked down on me. I wonder what the look on her face was like when her own trick was turned against her." The Elder shook Chen Haoran and he groaned. "Not that she can actually save you. I just need her to stand in one place so I can kill her."

Death. He was going to die. It wasn't to be a sweet relief either. He was going to die an agonizing death. A horrible, terrible death. He saw it now. It was in his eyes. Screaming and yelling and cursing. That was how he would die. Did die? Has he died before? It wasn't like this. This was not his death.

"Oh there she is," Elder Qianbei said in a pleasantly surprised tone. "She really is quite fast. It's good that she never advanced to the Liquid Meridian realm." The Elder turned Chen Haoran away from Lan Fen's direction to face him. A final, casual cruelty.

Liquid Meridian. Liquid Meridian was powerful, far stronger than him. He needed Liquid Meridian to beat Liquid Meridian. He had done that before with a core. He didn't have a core. He couldn't use a core. It couldn't blow up. He had no core. He had no Liquid Merid-

Golden words burned across his eyes: Everlasting Hundred Blessings Charitable Prosperity. Their unnatural stability gave him something to anchor his whirling vision on. With that anchor came absolute clarity through the pain for one brief, shining moment. He didn't have a Liquid Meridian core.

Phelps fell from the ceiling. Not like a stone or meteor. He fell silently like an owl in flight and dropped atop Elder Qianbei's head, slashing out at his eyes and neck with his claws.

"Impudent wretch!" It was in vain. Song Yuelin had once told him that even if he hit him directly with the Canyon Carving Sword, he would survive. Phelps's natural weapons and cultivation were too weak to allow him to do anything more than superficial damage to the Elder's vital points.

What if it were a superior natural weapon though?

Chen Haoran called his last hope to his mind. In the space between him and Elder Qianbei a mammoth's tusk appeared all 45 feet of it, glowing like polished marble. Angled downward, the flat end rose high into the air while the point speared through Elder Qianbei's chest and into the stone beneath them.

The Elder's eyes went red with shock and fear. "Impossible," he choked, blood gushing from his mouth. His steel grip slackened and Chen Haoran fell. Phelps leapt after him. Elder Qianbei's eyes shone with light.

Lan Fen arrived riding lightning and caught them just as the world turned green.

Chapter 62: This Young Master Meets A Ghost

The world was pure white and filled with mist.

In his delirium Chen Haoran thought he arrived in heaven.

"Shit, Chen Haoran!" Lan Fen's face appeared and he realized it couldn't be heaven. He was thankful. It was embarrassing to make a mistake like that. "Shit." Her voice was odd, as if she were speaking to him from the other side of a fishbowl. He couldn't tell who was the fish though.

"You brat, why did you bring the moron in here!" Another face appeared. Pure white and translucent, like a ghost. He was a sharp-looking man with severe eyes. A white crown sat on his head. "Are you a fool!" His voice didn't have the same fishbowl sound as Lan Fen. Off to the side, Chen Haoran heard screaming. It was familiar though. Phelps was really showing off his lungs. "What could have compelled you to-"

"Shut the fuck up!" Lan Fen roared at the ghost man. Chen Haoran wanted to ask where Lan Fen learned that kind of language from but his lips wouldn't move. Oh well, he would just have to try harder. Cool, electric fingers touched his head. Ten different stimulating points sent a pulsating wave of qi into his head. It bounced around before eventually settling as a low, constant background noise in his brain. "Stay awake. Do not close your eyes."

It was different than Elder Qianbei's brutal invasion that forced him awake. This one, while still foreign, assisted his own qi's natural function rather than forcing its own way in his body. Clarity of vision and clear thought were restored to Chen Haoran. He opened his mouth, breathed deep, and screamed his lungs out.

"We could have avoided this if you didn't expose your biggest trump card," the ghost man said, covering his ears.

"He already knew about the uses of the ring if you didn't want him to know about you then you should've hidden," Lan Fen snapped.

"You should have never revealed it to begin with," the ghost man snapped back. "And I am the White Tyrant. I do not hide. Especially not in my own domain!"

"If you're not going to be useful then be silent!" Lan Fen brought a pill to Chen Haoran's mouth. It was red and smelled like cinnamon and blood. "You have to eat this."

The White Tyrant snorted. "As if a Profound-rank pill will do him any good now."

"He just needs to be stabilized. I'll take the trial and get better medicinal pills later."

Even though he was screaming there was a part of Chen Haoran that was still thinking. It wanted some silence so he forcibly took what qi he could and blocked his lungs. He coughed and sputtered and flecks of blood sprayed out but he stopped screaming for the moment.

"Eat it," Lan Fen urged him.

The White Tyrant said it wasn't enough. Lan Fen said it would stabilize him. His arms and legs were broken. He couldn't wait.

"Pu-Put it in my hand."

"Chen-"

"Please," he wheezed.

"Oh just let him do it," the White Tyrant said. He reclined in the air as if laying on a couch. "I want to see what pathetic logic this is."

Lan Fen frowned but moved the pill out of sight. He couldn't feel his hand so he could only trust she put it there.

"Phelps."

The screaming stopped. He heard shuffling and a wet nose brushed his cheek.

"Phelps you ne-need to eat what's in my hand."

"A bleeding heart to go with a bleeding body a truly unrivaled Heavenly Physique," The White Tyrant said.

Chen Haoran ignored him. "You must have gotten hurt too when you attacked that guy. Please eat."

Phelps squealed. It was low and cautious sounding.

"He said to eat it," Lan Fen ordered.

"Stop." Even as he spoke he felt his heart tighten. Lan Fen was intelligent. She had observed him enough that she'd be able to figure out the rest of his power with this. There was no other choice. "He has to do it himself." Lan Fen said nothing and continued to cycle her qi to his head. "Phelps please."

Phelps seemed to have gotten it. Snuffling he retreated from Chen Haoran's side. There was no sensation to be felt but eventually, the sound of Phelps chewing could be heard.

Please. Please.

Received Hundred-Fold: Earth-Rank Salamander Reconstitution Pill.

With a thought the pill appeared in his mouth and he swallowed it. He heard an intake of breath from Lan Fen and a shouted expletive from the White Tyrant. He couldn't make out anything else however as the stress finally caught up and he fell into darkness.

When he woke up he was still in the world of white. His head was much clearer than before so he didn't make the same mistake of thinking he went to a good afterlife. His body was still in pain but compared to before it was far less excruciating. A reflexive attempt to lift his body quickly dispelled the notion of actually going through with it. He lifted his head to see his arms and legs bandaged and set with splints. He set his head back down and felt something soft underneath him he craned his to and found… dresses? Had Lan Fen used her clothes to make a pillow for him?

He turned his head as far as he could to observe his surroundings. The white space seemed to stretch on endlessly, not helped by the mist that billowed all over and messed with any sense of distance. Not far away he could see Phelps floating in the air and doing somersaults around the ghost man, The White Tyrant?

"A floating sloth," The White Tyrant mused. "I'll give you a ten out of 1 million on a scale of interesting things I've seen. I never thought this planet would have something beyond a five."

Phelps squealed at The White Tyant and twisted in the air, locking eyes his Chen Haoran as he revolved. Phelps squealed in joy and doggy-paddled through the air to him. Nuzzling his cheek and happily burbling.

"I'm glad to see you too buddy." Chen Haoran smiled. "Thanks for your help."

"You dare show gratitude to an animal before you thank this master? You must have a death wish." The White Tyrant casually floated over to Chen Haoran and looked down at him. His eyes roamed across his body and narrowed into slits. "You will explain yourself and I might let you live."

"Excuse me?"

"Whatever principle it was that you summoned that pill yesterday and that tusk now that I recall it. How was it possible for you to do that without any spatial fluctuations?"

"Excuse me but who are you and where is Lan Fen?"

The White Tyrant reared back as if he'd been slapped across the face. His arrogant look somehow became even colder. "Ignorant ant. I have conquered ten Solar Realms and forged their crown jewels into my royal regalia. My legion has decimated billions and the fortress I rule from is the despair of civilization. Countless seek my wisdom in the Way of Metal and countless more seek defeat in front of my power. Not even death was enough for the Heavens to take my spirit. I am the White Tyrant, the greatest cultivator born in the history of this miserable planet!"

So Lan Fen was carrying around the spirit of a powerful cultivator in her Inventory space. This… explained a lot. "Hello White Tyrant, I'm Chen Haoran."

"Do I look like I care what your name is?"

Is being a dick some sort of requirement for powerful cultivators?

"As much as he complains about it he is also the direct cause for why the world has become so miserable." Lan Fen suddenly appeared out of thin air. Various crates and bags appeared with her. "He is both my boon and bane." She approached Chen Haoran and knelt beside him, brushing her hands over his limbs. He could feel the lightning tingle of her qi. "Just try to ignore his nonsense."

The White Tyrant coldly snorted. "Brat you have been dangerously testing my patience in this period."

"How do you feel?" Lan Fen asked him.

"Alive," Chen Haoran replied. A nervous shudder ran through him. Luckily, he silently amended.

Lan Fen searched his eyes before placing her hands on the ground and bowing her head. It wasn't low enough to be called a dogeza, her head was still well above the ground, but it was the lowest bow he had ever seen her give.

"I deeply apologize. It was because of my negligence that this occurred. Had I been less arrogant and more respectful of my opponent you would not have been placed in such danger."

Chen Haoran didn't say anything and let Lan Fen sit there. He just stared up into the misty depths of the Inventory space. For all the risks to his life he had so far faced, none had ever come so tortuously close as this one. Had Elder Qianbei not wanted to use him as a hostage he would have died right then and there. If he hadn't thought to use the Earth Mammoth Ivory then he still would have died. So long as Lan Fen got within the Elder's range he had no more use, killing him would be a simple snap of the neck.

He sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if choosing you was really the best choice for me."

Lan Fen accepted the criticism in silence. She didn't ask for forgiveness and he didn't offer any.

Still, she saved his life in the end. He wouldn't have survived the aftermath of Elder Qianbei's death. "Thank you."

Lan Fen lifted her head and nodded.

"How are my injuries?" he asked

"Much better after you took that Earth-Rank pill. While I am not a specialist you should be able to recover functionality in a month."

Even after taking the pill, it would take him a month to recover. It hammered home just how serious his injuries had been. Without the pill how long would it have taken him to heal? Would he have been permanently crippled?

Lan Fen seemed to read the distress on his face and took out a small jade bottle. "I still have two Salamander Spirit Pills if you'd like to use them."

He had to give Lan Fen credit for stepping around the elephant in the room. He nodded and she placed the pills in his hand. Phelps, it seemed had learned from the first time and immediately ate both pills after permission from Chen Haoran.

Received Hundred-Fold: Earth-Rank Salamander Reconstitution Pill.

A thought placed the pill in his mouth and he swallowed it. As soon as it entered his core he felt the qi in the pill turn into a powerful heat. Lan Fen immediately put her hands over his core.

"For medicinal pills like this it helps to deliberately distribute the effect," she said, answering his silent question. Under the care of her qi the medicinal effect flowed to his limbs. He traced the path with his own qi and observed her control. When the fiery qi entered his limbs he watched it flow through his broken meridians and rather than spill out wastefully it sank into his flesh and began to knit together soft tissue, reconnect bones, and repair his meridians. He could feel his arms and legs heat up and itch but he ignored it and focused on Lan Fen's technique. Soon he was using his qi to take over more and more until Lan Fen removed her hands and he directed the last of the pill's energy by himself.

He slowly lift up one arm, then the other, and did the same for both legs. After that, he gingerly sat up. Lan Fen removed his splints and redid his bandages. With her assistance, he stood up to Phelps's joyous squeals. He was still a bit shaky and lacked strength but it was otherwise a miraculous recovery. Once he took the third pill he'd be as good as new.

"Don't even think about it," The White Tyrant said, startling Chen Haoran.

"Excuse me?"

"I know that look." He snorted in disdain. "You've already taken two pills back to back and built a resistance. Taking the third one now is just a waste. Just let your qi's recovery ability do its work and you'll be fine in the next few days."

"I see." He remembered Lan Fen mentioned being resistant to certain pills earlier. "Thank you."

"Do I need such paltry gratitude? You know what I want." Lan Fen frowned. The White Tyrant sneered at her. "You're curious too brat, don't deny it."

"I will not standby and watch you force him however," Lan Fen said.

Chen Haoran held up a hand before they could argue again. He looked at Lan Fen. "I know you've already grasped the gist of my secret just like I have yours. It'd be ridiculous to keep up the pretense at this point."

Lan Fen hesitated but nodded in agreement in the end.

"Does the name Everlasting Hundred Blessings Charitable Prosperity mean anything to you?"

Chapter 63: This Young Master Suffers Emotional Damage

The White Tyrant crossed his arms. "It sounds like some made-up bullshit."

Chen Haoran looked at Lan Fen. "Is he…?" He waved at the White Tyrant.

"Yes," said Lan Fen without a shred of hesitation.

"Right, well, whatever it is, it's the power I somehow found myself with. So long as I select a suitable being to connect to, then whatever I give them as a gift, I will receive back a hundred times better."

There was a pregnant pause in the air. Chen Haoran couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Lan Fen would have already guessed the broad strokes of it, and by this point, he trusted her enough to tell her, but he was still laying bare his greatest trump card. It was hard not to feel a little nervous.

The White Tyrant folded his arms and drummed his fingers along his bicep. "That's it?"

"What?"

"Is that all it does?" he demanded.

"Oh… well, it also stores the rewards so that I can summon them whenever I want."

"And this power was the reason you were acting like a moron," the White Tyrant mused. He gave Chen Haoran a once-over. "Well… 25% of the reason, I suppose."

Chen Haoran looked at Lan Fen. "Does he..?"

"Yes," Lan Fen said, with an air of long-suffering. She sat down in a meditative pose. "It explains how you kept acquiring so many resources. I had assumed you found an old cultivator's inheritance or a storage treasure that required some sort of exchange before you could take out the items within. Am I correct in saying I was your original connection?"

"Yes, ever since our wedding."

Lan Fen hummed. "So our marriage created the bond, and the divorce dissolved it." She looked at Phelps. "So you married the sloth?"

Chen Haoran choked.

The White Tyrant gave Lan Fen a serious look. "No discrimination."

They stared at the White Tyrant in disbelief.

"The universe is big enough for everyone," he said. He paused and cocked as if ruminating over what he just said. "Except for you people. Stay here and turn into dust, for all I care."

"Right… well," Chen Haoran said. "I didn't marry the sloth. He's my pet. He's got a collar and everything."

"I see," Lan Fen slowly responded, her eyes practically drilling holes in the White Tyrant.

"Do you have a problem?" The White Tyrant asked, completely ignoring Lan Fen.

"Well, no, it's just… I thought there would be more… I dunno shock?" He'd been expecting surprise, outrage, disbelief, not… this non-reaction. Lan Fen he could understand. She'd already guessed the basics of it long ago and was really only confirming her suspicions. Phelps was a sloth. It would be weirder if he did have a reaction. The White Tyrant… well, he seemed genuinely curious and pushy about it. "It's a pretty powerful ability, after all, isn't it?"

"Do you realize how pathetic you sound?" The White Tyrant asked. "Look here, moron, I'm 30 thousand years old. When I had a body, I was among the second highest realm of cultivation. I destroyed solar systems for a living. I've seen too many talents and special abilities in my lifetime. I'll give you power points for uniqueness but compared to destroying planets or breaking the limits of cultivation, you're just…" He waved his hand. "An up-jumped merchant by comparison? A resource collector? You have a power that's good at turning trash into decent trash, and that really only shows its worth when you get your hands on the resources everyone else is already competing for. I'll admit that being able to quantify the value of materials is a bit interesting, though."

Chen Haoran felt his head like his head was spinning. Was his power actually weak? It was impossible. There were plenty of people who'd kill to have it. What was wrong with having a lot of resources? And what about blowing up a planet? He could make a treasure that could only destroy one planet and destroy a hundred! As a matter of fact, who wanted to even destroy planets anyway? That was so wasteful. He felt unsteady on his feet. Lan Fen came to help him sit down.

"Can stronger cultivators cause mental damage just by talking?" He asked when he was sitting and feeling steady again. "Or is that just the near-death experience talking?"

"Do not mind him. You have a very envious power," Lan Fen assured him. "The White Tyrant has always spoken like this ever since I awoke him the night the assassins attacked."

Chen Haoran frowned. That was far too specific a reference to be made off-hand. It did fit, though. That was the first day Lan Fen displayed her Inventory space. Now that he thought about it, The White Tyrant was probably the one doing Lan Fen's insane feats of sensing. What was she getting at, though?

He turned to Lan Fen in shock. The White Tyrant was only talking about resources. He didn't know his power could improve techniques as well. After all, he wasn't awake when he gave Lan Fen the manuals the first time. Lan Fen winked at him and smiled mischievously. It was a look he'd never seen on her before. Just what had the White Tyrant put her through?

Should he say something?

He looked at the bragging White Tyrant.

He would wait—no reason to waste Lan Fen's help keeping that aspect of his power a secret right now.

—————

Over the next few days, he stayed in Lan Fen's Silver Ring space, as he had taken to calling it after learning where it came from. Because of his injuries, it was too much of a risk for him to enter the cavern until he recovered completely. Unsurprisingly being trapped in a pure white space with only a sloth and a crank old ghost man for company wasn't really the most stimulating activity. Phelps was, of course, a joy if a bit sad he had no water to swim around in, but the White Tyrant certainly lived up to his name. After 30 millennia of living, he had certainly refined his sharp tongue into a lethal technique of its own.

Even after the rather terrible first impression, Chen Haoran thought he could glean some more information about the cultivation world from the superior cultivator. The hints the White Tyrant had dropped about the wider universe were especially tantalizing. Unfortunately, he had underestimated the stubbornness of a 30 thousand-year-old man. Trying to get the White Tyrant to talk about anything useful was like trying to squeeze blood from a rock if that rock could also open its mouth and start yelling profanities about your mother.

Some jokes were truly multiversal.

It wasn't like he was trying to have the man teach him or anything, either. Although, admittedly, he tried. Lan Fen had confided that even after shocking the White Tyrant with her talent on multiple occasions, it still wasn't enough for him to tell her the higher secrets she craved. She was left with raising her cultivation level and competing in various trials hidden within the mists of the Silver Ring space that the White Tyrant had created before dying.

When Lan Fen wasn't around, she was wandering the cavern, destroying the Lan family camps and killing as many cultivators as she could before Patriarch Lan appeared to prepare her killing stage. For safety, he didn't want to be anywhere near Patriarch Lan when he entered the cavern. On the other hand, he was truly curious to see what Lan Fen had prepared that gave her so much confidence in facing her grandfather. Now that he knew she was training under a super-ancient cultivator and equipped with various Heaven-rank techniques, he realized his estimation of her strength was way off.

Of course, it was a shame that he couldn't gift the techniques to Phelps, and it wasn't just because Phelps wouldn't see it as a gift.

In an effort to not alert the White Tyrant, he had attempted to ask through elaborate hand gestures and sheer force of will if Lan Fen could share the technique with him. Even if he couldn't use the cultivation method her other techniques were well within his ability to use. By some miracle, Lan Fen had perfectly understood what he was asking for and merely shook her head.

"Do you think that man would let his techniques be so easily transmitted?" she asked.

He had the feeling she didn't just mean the White Tyrant would physically stop her from doing that. He knew Lan Fen well enough that she would have been the first to suggest Gifting his techniques were it possible.

That night the White Tyrant flashed him a particularly disdainful sneer, so Chen Haoran introduced him to his preferred sign language back on Earth. Thankfully, by that point, he had recovered enough to finally leave the Silver Ring space because he was sure the White Tyrant would do his best to burst his eardrums with his roaring. Now to avoid one dangerous old man, he had to do his best to survive a different one.

Patriarch Lan had returned.

Chapter 64: This Young Master Is Almost A Cultivator

Chen Haoran wandered the first Lan family camp he discovered in the cavern. He had decided against trying to attack it himself before. Lan Fen had no such compunction and had blitzed through the place like a whirlwind of steel while he was busy recuperating. The Lan family only established three camps in the cavern so far, both due to safety reasons and because they lacked manpower. The forces stationed in the cavern mostly consisted of the elites in the Lan family both to safely exploit the resources within and defend against monsters and to further the training of said elites. Because their development of the cavern was so secretive, it was impossible to dedicate too much of their forces here at once. However important it was, it was only one piece of their business, and such a large movement of fighters would be noticed no matter how careful they tried to hide it. Suffice to say, if Lan Fen had only attacked the cavern, and did nothing else then her actions here would be a grievous blow to the Lan family that would take years for them to recover from. Combined with her previous sabotage?

It was a death knell.

The ruins of the river island camp were an interesting affair. When Lan Fen had called the caverns a bathhouse, he found it hard to wrap his head around it. There were heated pools in abundance, yes, but how it was clearly a cave through and through and lacked any other conveniences one would expect to come with a place of rest and relaxation. Amongst these ruins, however, he could almost see it.

What looked like a fort to him on the outside was, in fact, an irony of ironies, a bathhouse. A bathhouse within the Bathhouse, so to speak. It did pose the question. Why, of all places, would they build a bathhouse in the middle of a flowing river when there were so many other pools to choose from? Well, first of all, they didn't. According to Lan Fen there was never a river here when the bathhouse was built. It came later and the rock the ruin was built on was tall enough to avoid flooding, unlike many other low-lying buildings they had discovered the remains beneath the water. It was an interesting study of the changes that occurred over time in the secret realm ever since it became abandoned. In the end, however, it still led to the same question. Why build a bathhouse in such a location? There was only one answer.

There was something special about the water.

Emphasis on the was. In the entire ruin, there was only one pool, the whole facility seemingly dedicated to it alone. A circular thing twice the size of an Olympic swimming pool and deep enough that if Chen Haoran stacked four of himself one atop the other, his head would still fall short of clearing the edge. There was no doubt bathing in its waters was a privilege. The pool was unfortunately long empty, however, leaving only a basin and the indecipherable carvings around it. Lan Fen said that they were formation marks, a craft in which a person channeled the ambient energies of the world through what Chen Haoran charitably called a magical circuit, otherwise known as a formation. What power the carvings might have held was now long lost with its builders, for there were as many styles of formation as there were cultivation methods.

Well… it was almost long lost.

Still, there was something about standing inside this ancient pool that made Chen Haoran feel sentimental. When he closed his eyes it was almost as if he could hear the laughter of the ancients playing within the sacred waters of this bathhouse, growing in might even as they frolic.

"Do you really?"

Chen Haoran opened his eyes and looked up at Lan Fen, who had seated herself at the edge of the pool and dangled her legs in the open air.

"Of course, I don't."

"So you were making it up." She quirked an eyebrow. "And here I thought you had gotten yourself some new ancestors as your reward."

"If I got new ancestors, I would make sure they were the strongest in the universe, at the very least stronger than that crusty old ghost you call teacher."

"I hope you share some powerful ancestors with me if you ever receive some." Lan Fen sighed. "I, too, wish to say 'You dare!' and have my grandfather's grandfather come and slay my enemies."

"Are you speaking from personal experience?" It sounded a bit too insane, even by the new standards he'd been subjected to.

"No, the furthest I got was a great-aunt."

Chen Haoran decided to not interact with that statement, instead cycling qi to his legs and leaping up next to Lan Fen.

"I didn't know you liked ancient ruins so much," Lan Fen said.

He puffed up his chest. "I'll have you know I'm from a people who have a history full of old ruins."

"Will you tell me about it then? About the place you came from?"

Chen Haoran deflated as if punctured by her words. He looked up to the cavern roof through the broken dome roof. "There's nothing much to talk about. As much as I say, my people, I don't really have much of a connection to them, just a name and a barely fluent language. My home doesn't have cultivators either. The pursuit of power isn't quite so literal."

"Still, I am interested."

He smiled. "Maybe I'll tell you someday then." He looked down from the ruined dome and back at the pool. "This place is special."

"Did your bloodline connection tell you?" Lan Fen teased.

"There's no water in the pool despite the massive hole in the ceiling." He pointed out. "There's no drainage either to take water away. I was standing right in the middle of it, but somehow I'm wetter up here than down there."

Lan Fen frowned and cast a considering glance at the carvings that lined the basin.

"Plus, the roof," he continued. "It's broken, but there are no pieces of debris inside the pool or the room. Either something moved them or-"

"It was broken from the inside," Lan Fen finished. She looked at him. "As I have said before, your awareness will become the greatest tool in your cultivation journey. Keep it honed and your path will only ever become wider."

"I think I have a pretty wide start, to begin with," he joked.

Lan Fen shook her head. "No matter how valuable the resources, how divine the technique, or how powerful the weapon, their worth all stems from one person. Never forget." Her serious look morphed into a smug smile. "Or do you think that you, o' Master of Gift-Giving, have surpassed me?"

Chen Haoran rolled his eyes. "What an unfair comparison."

They settled into a companionable silence; there was no turn to awkwardness. No desperate need for him to fill the void in the air.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"About?" Although he already knew.

"You've put up with it well but there are some things only cultivators can properly deal with alone."

"Am I not a cultivator?"

"Almost."

He sighed. "It made me remember some things I'd rather forget. And it's certainly given me new things I'll never forget."

"You are more relaxed," Lan Fen said, suddenly changing the topic.

"I am." It wasn't a question. "This is really what I wanted in the end. Not having to worry about what I say or who I say it around." He paused. "Minus all the killing of course. I can still do without that." He hesitated and mouthed the words he wanted to say several times. He felt like a cow chewing cud for how many times his words went up and down his throat. "I'm glad you're here, Lan Fen."

"I'm going to break Song Yuelin when I see him," Lan Fen promised.

"Step aside. I've already called dibs."

They shared a laugh before Lan Fen turned serious. Chen Haoran felt the emotion bleed out from his face.

"He is coming," she said. A vicious scowl flashed. "Lan Yao and a squad are with him."

"That wasn't in your plan. Are they coming together?"

"They brought a boat from the outside. There must have been one hidden there."

"What are my odds of getting out of here while you duke it out?"

"I didn't expect he would bring Lan Yao," She pursed her lips. She looked… guilty? "I apologize once again for involving you when there is no more need to. I could have taken you outside-"

"Don't apologize for things we both know you wouldn't do," Chen Haoran interrupted. "You wouldn't have let anything take you away from hunting the other Lan cultivators and preparing. It's not like I would have been safer out there than in your ring space while I was still recovering."

"I still think you should hide in there."

"And what?" Chen Haoran bitterly smiled. "If that old ghost could leave the space ring at will, he would've never needed you to awaken him. I refuse to risk being trapped forever on the off chance you fail."

"You could always become the White Tyrants successor after me. I'm sure he'd approve eventually with your power."

"That stubborn bastard would sooner watch me rot away into dust than let me inherit."

"Chen Haoran," Lan Fen smiled. "Do you not have any confidence that I will win?"

"Not anymore."

Lan Fen's fake smile went away as quickly as she plastered it on. There was only grim approval now. "That is the mind of a cultivator."

"Is that so?" Chen Haoran took one last look at the cavern roof. Phelps slowly floated down and wrapped himself around his back. He could feel the sloth's Seventh-Layer cultivation humming through his clothes.

"How did you learn that?"

"When my father promised that I would lead the Lan family."

"You'll have to tell me about him sometime."

"Someday."

They stood there, staring off in the direction of Patriarch Lan, the air biting with coming cold.

Interlude: The Valkyrie IV

They came suddenly. The longship speared through the steam-covered river and set a reckless course to the island. There was no steering to avoid crashing nor any attempt to slow down. The Five figures on the boat stood utterly still as if they truly had no care in the world that they would destroy their boat and be buried under the river. Right as the prow of the ship was about to touch the rocky base, the wizened old man standing at the head of the group made his move.

Bright, emerald green qi flooded out in a ring and spilled over the edge of the boat into the water below. From the depths, emerged large roots that broke the surface of the river and wrapped around the boat, completely halting its momentum and anchoring it in place. An ostentatious show of control. The meaning from her grandfather was clear. The riskiest outcomes with the thinnest of margins were all still well in his hand.

It was a message for her.

She tightened the grip on her sword. The reward she had received from the first of the White Tyrant's trials. She could not unsheathe its edge, not yet.

Chen Haoran let out a low whistle next to her. He was different since his near meeting with the kings of hell, relaxed and dark at the same time. He had become like those cemetery watchers who wandered between the tombs, singing tunes even when wandering around death and searching for the next cause. Whether it was because he was changed by the experience or it exposed something he had kept buried was unclear to her. It was frustrating because of her culpability in the matter. Had it been at the hands of the camp guards, she would not feel this way. That was just the gamble of life, one that he had lost. Instead, it was because her foe had taken advantage of her complacency, and Chen Haoran was forced to pay the price. She was both grateful and aggrieved when he killed Lan Qiangbei. Grateful because she had almost drawn her blade right then and there and almost ruined her plans. Aggrieved because it had once again stacked more debts toward him into her hands.

"I don't remember Lan Yao being able to do that," Chen Haoran said.

Lan Yao, oh Lan Yao, that peerless thorn. Down below, beside their grandfather she could see her cousin's venomous glare. A snake would have suited her more than a flower. Had she been forced to expose her schemes to their grandfather? It was without doubt that the answer was yes. After she began doing real damage to the Lan family, their grandfather would have forced Lan Yao to confess to all of it. While he might not always know what had plotted, it did not mean he did not know who was doing the plotting within his domain. Lan Yao always hated it when her plans were forced into their grandfather's eyes. He never said anything, which was the closest thing to mercy she'd received. Just her subterfuge being in his eyes was enough punishment itself.

Lan Yao. Lan Yao. The beginning did not start with her, but the ending certainly would not have begun without her. Yet Lan Yao's ending was not with her. No matter how much she wanted to pluck that thorn herself, she could never. Not when the gardener himself would be watching behind the vicious flowers he raised.

"An effect caused by the condensation of the Earth-rank methods qi," she said. "You should look forward to your own when you reach Liquid Meridian realm."

"Fascinating," he answered, but if he were still referring to her grandfather's power or his own future, she could not tell.

"Chen Haoran." He looked at her. Chen Haoran, the new, looked at her with the face of Chen Haoran, the old. What a story for the ages! Never would she have imagined that her hated parasite would one day stand next to her on the eve of her most important battle. Though it shamed her to admit it, even now, she wondered if it would finally be time to peel away this mask he had put on and revealed himself to be the same scum that had so dogged her heels. That would be no more after today. "Please help me."

He looked at her, surprise blooming on his face. He would fight, they had discussed it. If the others intervened and forced her to expend her energy then she wouldn't survive fighting her grandfather. For all that the White Tyrant implied otherwise he would not let her die. If that meant pulling her out before her grandfather was killed and leaving Chen Haoran to his fate then so be it. That didn't mean Chen Haoran would have fought all of them, however.

She could see the strings connecting in his eyes. She knew what he was thinking. In the beginning, she needed his help to start her battle. In the end, she needed his help to finish it.

"Even Lan Yao?"

"Especially Lan Yao."

Another debt to him she would have to repay, but this one would be unfair to Chen Haoran because she would hate him in her heart after this. Not totally, not even viciously. It would be a quiet piece of her heart that she would lock so far away that even she might forget about it in time. But it would be there, seething.

She should have killed Lan Yao before this, but there was never an opportunity, and she had been faced with more pressing concerns. She couldn't just kill her after killing their grandfather, either. Killing Lan Jiang would be the end of this. If she killed Lan Yao afterward, it would only be hollow, and that was far more unacceptable than letting her die at someone else's hand.

"Fen'er, will you not speak with your grandfather?" The diminutive pressed against her ears and tried to strangle her. No matter what victories she acquired, what titles she accrued, or the level of her martial excellence, her grandfather's address to her would not change. It was his way of pruning. The Lan family was a garden of orchids, and he was their gardener.

Her grandfather sighed. "Who taught you to be this rude?" He flexed his qi, Liquid Meridian realm Sixth-Layer. She gripped the hilt of her sword tighter. He had broken through. Manageable but just verging into her grandfather's preferred realm of thin margins.

Chen Haoran looked at her. She nodded back at him. He shrugged and hurled himself off the island, falling parallel to her grandfather rising up. Lan Jiang arched an eyebrow at the person who was, without a doubt, the strangest participant in all this diving into a fall that was typically fatal for Qi realms.

Other Qi realms.

Her grandfather crested the top of the island and scarcely settled on the ground when a thunderous crash of wood sounded from below. Shouts and the accompanying noises of combat soon followed, along with the groaning of the ship. Her grandfather did not look back. She turned around and entered the bathhouse. She did not need her sense to know her grandfather followed her. The size of the exterior belied the fact that the inside of the building was just a single giant room. The empty basin sat as a shadowed crevice.

"I must say, Fen'er, while I knew we would one day face each other like this, the way you have arrived here has exceeded my expectations." Lan Jiang spoke kindly as if he were a normal grandfather and not the gardener. It was both a farce and truth. The gardener only spoke kindly so that the flowers would grow. "Do you have anything to say to me?"

"I will slit your throat and drain your liquid qi into this pool."

Her grandfather clicked his tongue. "Still so rude. You were much more precise with your words before." He half-turned his head behind him to where Chen Haoran and Lan Yao were fighting. "Was it that boy?" The threat was clear, but her grandfather would not go after Chen Haoran.

Not while she was standing.

She let go of her sword. The motion isn't hidden from her grandfather. It was hard for the petals to distract the man who planted the soil and nourished the roots. Every child of the Lan family was taken from their families for two years to be trained by her grandfather. The good became great; the mediocre became useful. All became the gardener's flowers.

Tyrant's Progress

She rode lightning and appeared before her grandfather in a flash.

Heaven Splitting Claw

Her two most powerful combat arts, backed by a Heaven-ranked Ninth-Layer Qi realm cultivation. It was Lan Fen in her strongest state. Were the old her set in front of her, the current her would be able to kill five. For her, it was possible to attack that legendary stage, to defy the heavens and cross one realm to do battle in the next. This was the peak strength of the warrior Lan Fen.

The gardener flashes his emerald liquid qi. Her attack tears into the jungle that suddenly appeared and disappeared into its depths, never to be seen again. The emerald qi disappeared, and her grandfather was standing in front of her with a smile on his face. The absolute strongest of one realm was little better than the weakest of the next. Her grandfather was not weak.

"Well done, Fen'er." Her grandfather applauded her. "I see now why your father was so obsessed with you." Kind words pruned even the most stubborn stems. Her grandfather had never used a blade, and yet he had always carried one in his mouth. "I have seen your growth, and your efforts have exposed many weaknesses in the Lan family. We have much to go over when we return."

She knew he would say this. Knew this, and yet she let out a startled laugh all the same. "You would still take me back after the harm I have done to the family?"

"Every garden requires some care so that it may grow stronger than before." He was still smiling kindly.

The wind shifted. The steam rumbled. Cold air blasted Lan Fen's face and whipped her hair.

"Fascinating, is it not?" Her grandfather mused, unbothered by the change in weather. "When I led the last expedition to discover the source of these sudden Frost storms, do you know what we found?" He didn't wait for her answer. "A pool." His voice grew thick with wonder. "A cold pool, the coldest place in the cavern, perhaps the coldest place in all the Clearsprings Mountains. Surrounding it is a snowstorm that only ever ceases once the pool releases all the cold qi it has built up. A very beautiful, very dangerous place." He held out his hand to her. "I will take you there one day." A myriad of promises twisted into a single bouquet of a sentence.

"I will go there myself." The Frost storm was an accident in her favor. A trick of fate sending her favorable weather. Even her grandfather would not want to be caught in the Frost storm despite his new power. In the ruined bathhouse, the only shelter was down, but the river was too far from them to dive deep enough. That only left the pool.

Except she didn't need the Frost storm to lure her grandfather in.

She gripped her sword and fell back into the darkness of the basin. "You didn't grow this flower," she whispered.

It was too loud for her grandfather's ears because he was gone and replaced with the gardener, who reached out to her with a claw-like hand.

In the garden that was the Lan family, all the flowers were raised by the gardener for two years. Those flowers who were green just like him become his greats. Those red, blue, and yellow flowers become useful. One year there was a white flower. The gardener took one look at the thorns of this plant and deemed it a weed. He had no time for it because he had just welcomed the most beautiful green flower to his garden. After two years, this white flower left the garden and, under the care of a tall green tree, bloomed. The tree had become a gardener, too, with his little white flower. There was only room for one gardener in the Lan family.

The day Lan Fen beautifully bloomed and defeated Lan Jiang's prized Lan Yao was the day her father died.

Lan Jiang stepped into the basin, and Lan Fen spat out several long dead words. The carvings lining the basin lit up red and began to bleed light.

"What have you done?" Lan Jiang cautiously asked.

"You have lived in the Bathhouse for so long now. Have you not wondered about the origin of these pools?"

The bleeding red light dripped into the air and covered the top of the pool with a crimson film. Lan Jiang immediately tried to jump out but was rebounded by the crimson barrier. He slammed to the ground and bound up without a scratch but much warier.

"Right where we are standing, old Liquid Meridian realms would fight to the death and become Mourning pools within this basin." Lan Fen sneered. "I just so happened to meet an old ghost here who knows how to use it."

Lan Jiang looked horrified. Lan Fen savored it. Then she pulled out her sword, and the world turned white.