Chapter 65: This Young Master Slugs It Out
I help in the beginning, and I help in the end. Chen Haoran couldn't help but have these thoughts as he hurtled down to the boat below. Patriarch Lan, a rather kindly-looking old grandfather, made his jump look like an elegant walk compared to Chen Haoran's own undignified fall. The rising angel and falling ape locked eyes for a single second before their trajectories took them away from each other. Phelps squealed in glee at the rush of wind before letting go of his back and free-floating in the air. He didn't pay much more attention to Phelps. He knew how to take care of himself. Instead, Chen Haoran cycled qi to his limbs and braced for impact.
He had easily jumped down from a height of a hundred feet. For Qi realms, this was still a fall that would seriously injure, if not outright kill them, if they took it the wrong way. For Chen Haoran, he didn't have too many wrong ways to worry about anymore.
He hit the boat like a cannonball and smashed through the top deck into the hold below. Lan Fen had said there were only four people, all Ninth-Layer Qi realms, with Lan Yao being the most dangerous.
No pressure.
He gripped both of his Swiftwind Scimitars and with a flex of his qi, burst out the hole he had made. The power within his blades activated but rather than cross them, he spun around, whirling his swords at anything near. Immediately he was rewarded with a cry of pain and a blood spray. Then he was hit with the pressure of four different cultivators crashing on his shoulders. He rallied his own qi and turned to stare at Lan Yao, whose own eyes were practically glowing with murder.
"Hello there," he said, waving at her.
"You," she growled. She clutched her spear in a white-knuckle grip. With a vicious shriek, she leapt at him, swinging the spear with all her might. He caught the haft of the spear on his swords. Lan Yao planted her feet with a roar and pushed the swing through, sending Chen Haoran careening towards the railing of the ship and cracking it in half when his back slammed against it. The other Ninth-Layers rushed at him, weapons screeching with qi, and chopped the rest of the railing to pieces as he rolled out of the way and slashed his scimitars at their feet. They hastily avoided it by leaping into the air. Phelps dropped on the head of an older Ninth-Layer, and the man and sloth screamed and tumbled into the water together.
Lan Yao thrust her spear to run him through. His eyes widened with a warning from his qi sense, and he dodged rather than block the blow. He could practically feel the wind rushing past him from the spear's force. Lan Yao came equipped with a Profound-rank weapon.
Chen Haoran skipped backward to give himself breathing room. His sword glowed blue. The other Ninth-Layers didn't give him time, and he was forced to duck, an axe to his head. These two Lans seemed to be twins; one used an axe, and the other wielded a mace. Their teamwork was impeccable as they alternated attacking high and low. His back pressed against the cabin of the boat while the twins closed on his left and right, allowing Lan Yao to prowl down the center.
"You," she said.
"We've established that already, I think."
"This is all your fault."
Chen Haoran blinked. "Pardon?"
Lan Yao ground her teeth. "If it weren't for you, none of this would have happened. I had everything planned perfectly, and because of you, the Lan family has been pushed to this point!"
"Hey, now that's taking away a lot of agency and responsibility from Lan Fen," he said. Still, despite his protests, Lan Yao wasn't that wrong. Without him in the picture, things would probably be significantly different, although… "Aren't you overestimating the Lan family too much?"
Lan Yao and the twins attacked all at once, and he narrowly avoided Lan Yao's insane spear thrust by leaping to the roof of the cabin. Lan Yao was quick to follow, and another thrust came down like a ballista bolt, just barely missing his shoulder and burying into the cabin roof. Chen Haoran quickly dropped his sword and held the spear handle firmly. Lan Yao cycled her own qi to desperately rip the spear away but was forced to let go when he swung the other scimitar around. She backed away and glowered at Chen Haoran; her palms glowed emerald green.
"I remember the last time you slapped me with your palm," he said. "That was quite the mistake back then."
"I should have killed you in that restaurant. This time I'll carve it into your body!"
Lan Yao took a step forward when Chen Haoran suddenly reached into her storage bag and pulled out a slip of qi-infused paper he had looted before. Her footwork faltered as she recognized it. Chen Haoran shut his eyes and channeled qi into what Lan Fen informed him was a Talisman. A sort of pre-prepared technique stored within an object. The Lan Family used this particular one as a flare. Heat and light bloomed in his hand and Lan Yao cried out in pain. He navigated with his sense and shot toward her, slamming his palm into her stomach. With the burst of qi, Lan Yao was sent flying off the ship, clipping a railing and skipping out into the water.
Chen Haoran wrung out his hand and opened his eyes. That was surprisingly cathartic.
The twins shouted battle cries and leaped up to the roof. The Mace-wielding jackass kicked his scimitar into the river.
"You jackass, I was just getting the hang of these fucking things, too!" Chen Haoran cursed. He rushed for the Axe twin and caught the axe along the flat of his blade. Using his superior cultivation, he forced the man back with strength. Without his other blade, the mace twin took advantage of his exposed right. Chen Haoran gritted his teeth and cycled qi to his right arm, and blocked the mace. Rather than snapping in half, his arm held strong, and Chen Haoran grabbed the mace head with his palm and wrenched the man's guard open. The Axe twin shouted, but Chen Haoran slashed his scimitar through the Mace twin's neck, decapitating him.
The Axe twin roared with rage and swung wildly. Chen Haoran grasped the mace by the handle and cycled qi into it before swinging it fully onto the axe and shattering it to pieces. The Axe twin pressed on, but he sank his scimitar into the man's chest and pushed him to the ground. The Axe twin tried grasping the blade, but Chen Haoran twisted the sword until the light died in his eyes.
Chen Haoran yanked the scimitar out of the corpse and flexed his right arm. There was a throbbing pain that was sure to leave a nasty bruise, but he'd take it over a broken bone.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," he murmured. He hadn't noticed any differences after his limbs had healed, but who knew if the Stygian Lotus's enhancement would become stronger after the ordeal? He wasn't insane enough to test that quite yet, though. He scanned the river for any sign of Lan Yao or Phelps and the other Ninth-Layer. He stretched out his sense in search of Phelps's qi before sensing him on the side of the boat. He rushed over and leaned over the edge only to curse when he found the glassy-eyed stare of the last Ninth-Layer staring at him. The man's hands were buried in the hull of the ship as if he were trying to escape the water. Phelps sat on the man's back, his claws piercing into his spine. He tiredly squealed in victory.
Chen Haoran shuddered but smiled. "Good job, buddy. Just never do that to me." He was about to go down to help Phelps up when the water below stirred, and Lan Yao shot out of the river with emerald green palms. Chen Haoran stumbled back, but Lan Yao was unerring and hammered his chest.
He had been hit with the Scattering-Petal Palm quite a few times before. So he had grown somewhat adjusted to it.
Those were like kiddie slaps compared to Lan Yao's.
Where other Scattering-Petal Palms relied on subterfuge and sleight of hand to create a dizzying and hard-to-predict palm art, Lan Yao's was far more direct. Every single green palm was real and hit with crushing force. Chen Haoran quickly covered his head and kicked out to push Lan Yao away. She let the kick fall uselessly on her leg and slammed two final green palms into his chest, sending him tumbling across the deck, where he landed heavily on the opposite railing and snapped it in two.
Chen Haoran cycled qi to his chest and winced. Massive bruising, bleeding, and more broken ribs than he'd ever want to see. He swung a hand over the snapped railing and tried and failed to stand. Every breath was painful, and he hacked a bloody cough.
Lan Yao looked like a drowned ghost. Her skin was pale, and her eyes were bloodshot. Her left cheek was swollen, and her nose was broken at an awkward angle and pouring blood. "I'll kill you. I'll kill you." She kept repeating it as if it were a mantra.
Chen Haoran was freezing cold and couldn't tell if it was from fear or blood loss until he saw the steam blowing. Then he smiled. "Got your nose."
Lan Yao screamed and rushed him, fingers arcing like knives directly for his throat. He grabbed her wrists and fell back onto the railing, which fully gave way under both their weight and sent them falling into the river.
The water made Chen Haoran feel alive again, and he quickly sought out Lan Yao. She was of the same mind, and her palms glowed a sickly green underwater. This time, he was faster. Water attribute qi let him land a heavy punch on her broken nose. A blood cloud bloomed and blinded Lan Yao, and he landed blow after blow on her unprotected body. Lan Yao responded with a brutal rib blow that landed on one of his cracked ribs, forcing a roar of pain from him. He responded with a hammer blow to her eye, and they exchanged blow after blow until they were forced to dive deeper as the cold snap rolled in and the river surface froze. With his superior mobility, he swam around behind Lan Yao and wrapped his arms around her neck, forcing all the qi he could into his arms to snap her neck. Lan Yao thrashed and clawed at his arms, but Chen Haoran only squeezed tighter. Lan Yao suddenly went limp, and he made one final attempt to choke the life out of Lan Yao. As if reading his thought, Lan Yao burst into a final frenzy of motion and sank her finger deep into the skin of his thighs.
They both broke away from each other and scrambled for the surface, punching through the ice and pulling themselves up onto the frozen river. They lay there gasping for air until he looked at her, and she looked at him. Slowly, they picked themselves up. Lan's breathing was unsteady, and the color of her neck bloomed a myriad of ugly purples. Chen Haoran, meanwhile, couldn't lift his legs anymore. He clawed at the ice instead, water attribute qi flowing and bonding with the solid water until he pulled out a wickedly pointed icicle.
Lan Yao slowly shuffled over, her palms blooming green light. Chen Haoran focused.
The ruins behind them exploded. A skyscraper-sized tree rose out of the island and into the air. A white light flew into the sky after him.
"You mongrel, don't tell me a storage bag is all you have, you broke bastard!"
"White Tyrant?" Chen Haoran sputtered. He looked into the sky. It was Lan Fen, except it wasn't because she was flying, and her hair and eyes were glowing white.
"Come on, you bottom-feeder," The White Tyrant jeered with Lan Fen's body. "The least you can do is entertain me while I'm still here." He snorted in disgust. "To think I have to spend energy to fly, what a disgrace."
"Lan Fen," growled Patriarch Lan. "Do you think letting yourself be possessed by a demon will be enough to defeat me?!"
"Hey, Junior, pay your respects," barked the White Tyrant. "I've eaten more salt than you've ever had rice."
"You're only in the Qi Realm," Patriarch Lan hysterically shouted. The leaves on his tree glowed bright emerald green and whipped around like a giant snake. His eyes suddenly widened. "Are you breaking through to the Liquid Meridian Realm?!"
"As above, so below," the White Tyrant said. He glanced down and noticed Chen Haoran. "Hey, moron." Although he was hundreds of feet in the air, it felt as if the White Tyrant were speaking right next to him. "I'm too skilled with my actual techniques, so I can only use this garbage. Consider yourself lucky and burn it into your memory."
"Die!" Roared Patriarch Lan.
The White Tyrant's sword glowed blue-white. The world flashed white in Chen Haoran's eyes, but he couldn't look away. A white line rapidly split down the length of the tree, and it began to dissolve into white light.
"No, no," moaned the Patriarch even as he began to glow Emerald green around the white line that split him in half.
The White Tyrant lazily balanced his sword on his shoulder, staring up at the split in the clouds that had been formed.
"Canyon Carving Sword, what trash." He spat and looked down at Chen Haoran. "What kind of cultivator settles for a canyon? Even if you're trash, you should at least aim to split a planet."
The White Tyrant disappeared. Chen Haoran looked down at his icicle. He could see the white particles reflected in it like stars.
"No," Lan Yao said as she watched Patriarch Lan become a rain of emerald liquid qi. "No. No. No."
No had become the only thing she could say in front of the horror she witnessed. Even so, she still walked toward Chen Haoran. The green light in her palms became brighter. When she stood in front of Chen Haoran, she didn't even look down at him, even though she slapped down with her palms.
Even though Lan Yao stood in front of him, he didn't even look up at her and focused on the icicle in his hand.
He swung once.
The green light disappeared. Blood spattered, and a long line opened up diagonally across Lan Yao's body as she died. The icicle shattered into fragments and dissolved. The ice in front of Chen Haoran brok.
Chapter 66: This Young Master Leaves
In the ruins of the island bathhouse, the once-empty basin was now filled with a bright emerald pool. It filled the originally drab room with a vivid glow and a vigor that could be felt even standing feet away.
Lan Fen sat by the edge of the pool wearing a soft, peach-colored dress. A shawl was wrapped around her shoulders. Her originally vibrant white hair had dulled to the color of spider webs, and her golden eyes had become a pale, sickly yellow. Every so often, a cough would wrack her frame, and she would cover herself with the shawl till they subsided. Despite this, she wore a small smile on her face. A pile of books was stacked next to her. She dipped her legs in the pool and swished them around in the emerald liquid.
"Why does it look like you're playing more than you are recovering?" Chen Haoran asked. Unlike Lan Fen, he looked unscathed compared to where he was a week ago.
"It should be a crime how quickly you recover," she enviously said.
Considering he didn't use himself as a vessel to channel what was essentially a god through his mortal body, he got off comparatively light compared to Lan Fen. As it turned out, the most touch-and-go part of her plan ended up being whether she would survive after allowing the White Tyrant to possess her. He ended up using the last Salamander Reconstitution pill as soon as he got to her. Thanks to the White Tyrant nabbing Patriarch Lan's storage bag before killing him, they had plenty of other medicines to use as well after they had been filtered through Phelps and turned into superior reward versions. Even with all that, it had still been a tense week. Even the White Tyrant had been uncharacteristically serious until Lan Fen finally woke up. Unfortunately, the medicine was only helpful in getting over the worst of it. To recover from being possessed by someone as spiritually dense as the White Tyrant could only be done with time.
He reached out to Lan Fen with his sense. What greeted him was a dull ember of qi, far from the power she had commanded before. Once again, Lan Fen was forced to start from zero with her body in an even worse state.
A ghostly finger flicked his forehead. "Are you looking down on her, moron?" The White Tyrant demanded.
Now that he was incorporeal again, the flick didn't hurt, but Chen Haoran still rubbed the spot. Ghosts felt weird, after all.
"I'll have you know, I ended up condensing a drop of liquid qi while I was fighting that broke tree bastard. Once the brat is back to cultivating with her double foundation plus my experience, she'll be a Liquid Meridian in no time while you'll—"
"Yeah, yeah," Chen Haoran said, waving the White Tyrant off. After the possession, he had gotten oddly defensive regarding Lan Fen. Not that it was his problem if the stubborn bastard acted a little kinder to her.
He looked down at the emerald waters of the Mourning Pool. If Lan Fen had any issue swimming in the energy of her dead grandfather she didn't show it. Not that he would have any issue with it either. He flexed the power of his new Ninth-Layer cultivation. Not disrespecting a mourning pool was one thing, but Lan Fen's grandfather was an asshole so he had it coming.
"What will you do now?" he asked.
"Once I have recovered my cultivation, I will be joining the Palace School."
"Still?"
Lan Fen nodded. "For cultivators without a strong backing, proving yourself in the Palace School is the easiest way to acquire resources."
"That requires joining the Empire. I didn't think you liked them."
"It is not a matter of liking. Sometimes our interests clashed, so I was wary. Now I intend to get benefits from them."
"Typical pragmatic Lan Fen." Chen Haoran shook his head.
"And you?" Lan Fen asked.
"Who knows?" He shrugged. "At the very least, I'll have to lay low from my family. No need to get involved with them ever again."
Lan Fen frowned. "I must warn you, the Chen family may be more powerful than you or I imagined."
"What?"
"When I went to annul our marriage, I asked the City Lord about the Chen family. Even with our previous relationship, he didn't tell me much, but he did tell me this: Bagmar Republic."
"Another country?"
"Another superpower," Lan Fen emphasized. "As powerful as our own Empire. Both polities heavily resist the influence of the other. If your family has connections to both, then they could be very dangerous."
"I see." He bowed his head. "Thank you, Lan Fen."
Lan Fen gave him a knowing smile. "You are leaving."
He awkwardly laughed. It wasn't like he was hiding it, but it was still embarrassing to be found out. "Yeah."
"Why?" She sounded genuinely curious. "This cavern is very conducive to your growth. You should stay until you reach the peak of the Ninth-Layer, at least."
"And then I'll stay until I reach Liquid Meridian, and then until you recover your cultivation, and then we'll just leave together, and so on and so forth." He waved his hands around for emphasis. "I'll just keep coming up with more excuses to stay, and at that point, when will I actually leave? I can't just keep riding your coattails forever."
"I understand."
"You do?"
"Yes."
"Then you don't mind if I leave today, right?"
Lan Fen shot up. "Chen Haoran!"
"Oh, come on." He laughed. "You said you understood! Plus, it's been forever since I've seen the sun. Look how pale I'm getting."
"What about Phelps?"
Chen Haoran motioned to the sloth silently sitting on his back. Phelps raised his head and revealed the black silk bandana he had tied around him in lieu of proper sunglasses.
She sighed. "You're doing this on purpose."
"Absolutely."
Lan Fen held out her hand, and two scrolls appeared in her arms. "Take these then before you go."
Chen Haoran gingerly picked them up and read their titles. Scattering Petal Palm and the Great Rainforest Method. The signature of the Lan family and the Earth-rank cultivation technique they tried so hard to protect. "Thank you." He placed them in the new storage bag taken from Patriarch Lan. "I'll treasure them." He bowed. Then he looked up and smirked. "I hope you don't mind if I—" He waggled his eyebrows for effect.
Lan Fen rolled her eyes. "I expected you would."
"Expect what?" demanded the White Tyrant. "What is he going to do?"
Chen Haoran was going to tease the old ghost when Lan Fen suddenly hugged him. He stood there, shocked. Then he hugged her right back. They held the hug and didn't say anything. Even when the White Tyrant snorted in disgust, and Phelps started to squeal.
When they finally separated, Lan Fen smiled at him. "I owe you so many debts at this point. I may as well become your real wife."
Chen Haoran froze.
The White Tyrant burst into rage. "Absolutely not! I do not allow it!"
Only when Lan Fen started laughing, did he realize he'd been played. Chen Haoran snorted. "The day someone as ambitious as you settles down is the day I run for the hills because the world is gonna end."
"Safe travels, Chen Haoran."
"Good riddance!" roared the White Tyrant.
Chen Haoran waved them away when the White Tyrant called out to him.
"You better not forget that Harmonization for the rest of your miserable life."
"Be nice to Lan Fen, Daddy Tyrant."
"What in the nine hells did you just call me you little shit?!"
The White Tyrants cursing followed him all the way off the island. Chen Haoran could have sworn he still heard it when he approached the waterfall exit. The old Lan base camp had fallen into disarray thanks to the local wildlife. The ramp tree still stood sturdy alongside the waterfall.
Chen Haoran very consciously did not look at the wall that Elder Qianbei had dragged him on. Instead, he looked at the waterfall. He tapped his one scimitar. In the next moment, he slashed out with the blade. After sheathing the sword, he started to climb the ramp tree. As he walked, a deformity occurred. Starting from the base of the waterfall, a line parted the water till he reached 50 feet up before finally returning to normal.
"Not even a quarter, huh? Oh well."
Finally, at the top of the tree, he patted Phelps on the head. "Look alive, buddy, and don't look directly at the sun." After warning Phelps, he flexed his qi and jumped, falling into the waterfall and disappearing.
Interlude: The Laughing Monk II
Good luck was something Song Yuelin never put much stock in. It wasn't good luck that saw him enter the service of the Southern Dragon King, nor was it good luck that his skills were appreciated by that man who raised him to higher heights and higher duties. Good luck did not have him stumble across lost treasures; he did not stumble. If he found something lost, it was because he knew where it was. Good luck certainly never helped him accomplish his missions, or refine the lethality of his powers.
Nor did Song Yuelin place any blame on bad luck. There were faces for his failures. It was his enemies' exceptional cunning or overwhelming force that defeated him. It was the incompetence of his planning and staffing that bungled his schemes in the dark. It was his own limits that threw him into qi deviation or forestalled his progress.
That wasn't to say Song Yuelin did not acknowledge luck. For himself, it had no bearing, but even he could see when others were affected by the best and worst of it. He had seen the pathetic rise and mighty fall by the merest of margins. He had seen genius bloom, wilt, then rise again as phoenixes. Heavenly phenomena that brought paradise and desolation through little but the movements of the stars. Every member of his lord's family who was blessed to share his blood.
Indeed for all that he himself did without it, Song Yuelin had lived well enough to see many examples of fortune and its opposite. Despite this detachment from Heavenly Chance, however, there were still moments when even Song Yuelin himself could not but say he was favored by fate.
The first instance was when he was born, for that was when a man will spend most of the luck he will ever receive.
The second instance was when a certain rat-faced manager sent a letter detailing the strange behavior of Lord Chen's youngest. While he did have authority over such letters, the fact it ever reached him to be read was such a twisting feat of bureaucratic mystery that he scarcely imagined it could ever be replicated. That it led to him discovering two individuals blessed by sheer astronomical fortune could perhaps be its own separate luck, but Song Yuelin preferred not to quibble over details like that.
The third instance was quite embarrassing for Song Yuelin because it hadn't happened yet. It was a little bit of fortune he was hoping would be pushed toward a later date in the future if fate would be so kind. He wouldn't argue too much about when in the future, though. Song Yuelin was nothing if not accommodating.
These three instances would all be considered good fortune in Song Yuelin's own humble opinion. Had they been the end of it, he would be a rather content man. The Heavens did like to play their tricks, however, and so Song Yuelin was sent a fourth instance of luck. Although, this one he could confidently say was quite rude and perhaps not so good. Had he the means, he would certainly file a formal complaint to the Heavens for this. As it stood, he was charging this bit of bad luck to Young Master Chen's and Lady Lan Fen's accounts.
After ruminating on the nature of the luck in his life, Song Yuelin pushed away the fiery skeleton of what had once been a barracks that he had been buried under. The soldiers who once occupied it had long since vacated the burning building, though many of those soldiers soon found themselves vacating their mortal coil with the help of the Empire's elite Cloud Dragon Guard.
Each Guard was an expertly trained Liquid Meridian weapon, screened for their talent and loyalty, and taught the secret cultivation methods of the Imperial family. The Cloud Dragon Sutra they practiced turned their qi into fluffy white clouds that allowed them to fly under their own power without the use of a treasure and far before the Star Core realm. This cloud qi could also be easily combined to create a variety of useful cloud formations. For the birthdays of young princes and princesses in the Imperial Capital, these cloud formations would take the form of a bunny or a particularly ugly dog.
Unfortunately for the Not-So-Secret-Anymore Secret Chen Family Port, the Cloud Dragon Guard was in a less festive mood when visiting and instead flew in as a literal Cloud Dragon that dropped flaming meteors on their first pass around the port, setting alight their defenses and, most importantly, the ships they were meant to escape on. On the second pass, the cloud dragon dropped the contingent of Guards within its belly who flew down with clouds beneath their feet and used their silver spears to skewer the twice-disadvantaged land-bound sailors of the Chen family. On the third pass, the white dragon became a stormy grey and struck with blue lightning any defender getting uppity about not dying. The skilled Liquid Meridians would die and could hope they might bring an enemy down with them. The unskilled Liquid Meridians would be captured alive, bound in clouds, and carried into the cloud dragon so that they may donate their liquid qi for the prosperity of the Empire.
Song Yuelin naturally would not stand around and do nothing while all this occurred. This was the Empire, after all, not the Lan family. Dealing with so many Cloud Dragon Guards would be a difficult task even for him, so he instead set his sights on dismantling the cloud dragon. It wouldn't be a permanent solution, but while the Guard was reforming a new one, it would give time for their men to flee, either to the mountains or sea, depending on their preference.
Of course, by the time he slit the throats of a half-dozen Cloud Dragon Guards who thought they lived for too long and reached the cloud dragon, the bad luck that orchestrated the Chen family's biggest accounting error in 40 years revealed himself by shooting out of the cloud dragon like some demented falcon and slamming Song Yuelin into the barracks he was now picking himself out of.
For once in Song Yuelin's life, failure and misfortune shared the same face.
"Greetings, Chen dog," Prince Shen Jianyu said. A luxurious red feathered cape drifted behind him, keeping the Imperial Scion afloat in the air. His hands casually in his pockets, he gave Song Yuelin a toothy smile. For all that he looked washed out, Shen Jianyu was handsome. Unfortunately, he had an ugly smile, which even being handsome could not awkwardly smooth over.
"If I say goodbye, will you politely leave?" Song Yuelin asked, brushing the char off his head.
"I do believe the Imperial family has said goodbye to the Chen family multiple times now." Shen Jianyu clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"Well, when you do it, there's more killing and fire involved. Maybe if you were more agreeable about it, there'd be better results."
"I don't think Chen Qitao and the word agreeable have ever co-existed."
Song Yuelin conceded the point and flashed his daggers to his hands, their cruel edges dripping with liquid shadow.
"Speaking of Chen Qitao, was that really his spawn you were with?"
Song Yuelin furrowed his brows. "You were following us."
"I've been observing you ever since you left the city like a frightened squirrel, yes." Shen Jianyu nodded. "I saw you lose your little charge, too. It was the funniest thing I've seen all year."
"It seems I've fallen prey to a simple flush and catch." Song Yuelin sighed. Even if it were Shen Jianyu, he wouldn't be able to defend himself in front of Lord Chen when he returned. "Appearing to temporarily cancel the Exams was just your way to scare us out."
Shen Jianyu cocked his head. "It's permanent, though? As soon as I was told to hunt you rats down in this place, I was planning to cancel the Exams."
"You would cause so much aggrievement amongst your subjects just to hunt us?"
"Don't flatter yourself." Shen Jianyu chuckled. "If I just did as I was told without causing trouble, then other annoying people might start getting the idea I can be used."
"I see," Song Yuelin said. "To borrow a phrase from my Young Master—" His knives hummed and began to flitter. "You're a dick."
"You can post your complaint to a sword and send it to the neck that wears the crown. I couldn't care less." Shen Jianyu's liquid qi dripped from his body like blood and formed hundreds of red spheres that fanned out behind him. "I have to thank you for being incompetent enough to lose your little master. If I capture a child of Chen Qitao, my Imperial Father would be happy." The blood-red spheres shuddered and opened to reveal eyes containing ghostly white pupils. Hundreds of eyes blinked simultaneously at Song Yuelin. Shen Jianyu did not remove his hands from his pockets.
Song Yuelin set a small goal for himself to force his hands out first. Liquid shadow spilled out and engulfed him.
"So much for my vacation," he sighed.
Chapter 67: This Young Master Is Lost
Chen Haoran left one world filled with water and entered another world filled with water. He opened his eyes and saw streaks of sunlight play across the water's surface. Phelps immediately released his grip and swam up. Chen Haoran closed his eyes and swam after him.
Man and sloth emerged and took in deep, greedy breaths. He could feel the warmth of the light on his face and slowly opened his eyes. They stung, and colorful stars exploded across his vision. Cursing, he cycled qi to his eyes, not to enhance but to soothe. After a few minutes, he could see properly again. Phelps was paddling around him too and fro and burbled. Chen Haoran grabbed the restless sloth and swam to the bank. After climbing out of the water he looked back. It was just an ordinary pond. No rushing water or anything that would imply it connected to a huge waterfall.
Phelps was constantly sniffing the air and ground. Chen Haoran refastened the blindfold tied around his eyes and dried it off with a quick flash of qi. "Don't lose that for now bud." Phelps had an advantage over other underground creatures in that the cavern wasn't devoid of light. The glowing moss wasn't the sun though, and Phelps's species had been down there for who knew how long. Better to take it safe and slowly let him adjust so as not to damage his eyes.
He picked Phelps up and placed him on his back. Phelps squealed and Chen Haoran felt his grip was tighter than usual. "It's okay," he cooed and rubbed Phelps's head.
The pond they had been deposited at was nestled in some forested valley in the Clearsprings Mountains. There was originally supposed to be a Lan family camp nearby as well but Chen Haoran couldn't see any sign of it. Lan Fen had cleaned up well.
He looked back at the pond. Lan Fen would be fine in the secret realm even without her cultivation. The island was safely separated by the river, and she had her Silver Ring space to fall back to should something dangerous arrive.
"It would be pretty funny if I said I was leaving and went back wouldn't it?"
Phelps burrowed into his shoulder. He awkwardly laughed.
He couldn't stay by Lan Fen forever. It wasn't even about being his own person. Having someone else take care of your problems for you was the best. It was obvious from back in Clearsprings City though that he wouldn't be able to keep up with Lan Fen, not in cultivation but in ambition. Chen Haoran wanted to be strong but Lan Fen wanted to be the strongest. He didn't need to be a prophet to know that her future path would be just as bloody as her revenge was. He was almost swept away because of it once. He wasn't going to do it again.
Chen Haoran sighed and walked off into the unfamiliar valley. He didn't think their paths would cross again. Not if he had anything to say about it at least. He had the feeling she knew that too.
He turned his thoughts away from her and focused on the present.
"Where the hell do I go now?"
He had packed a lot of things in his storage bag in case he had to bug out. Rations, water bottles, extra clothes, blankets, firestarters, he managed to fit quite of bit in there. It was too bad his experience came from packing for international travel and not for camping.
"I forgot the map."
After fruitlessly searching through his storage bag for the third time Chen Haoran finally gave up hope that past him had been kind enough to pack it. It wasn't all that bad though, Lan Fen had told him that Clearsprings City was East of the cavern entrance. So he at least had that as a frame of reference. Not that he was going to go anywhere near the city. While Lan Fen had said Song Yuelin and that prince Shen had left there was no reason to chance it, and who knew what the City Lord would do. There was no reason for him to go back now.
He looked to the sky. The sun rose in the East and set in the West so it would be easy to orient himself. He carefully judged the position of the sun and used his hand to measure out precisely where-
"I have no idea what I'm doing."
Phelps squealed when the leaves of a low-hanging branch brushed his fur.
North? South? How did one tell those? He'd never been camping and the closest he ever came to a scout were the cookies. He faintly recalled something about observing which side of a tree moss grew on from a tv show but he couldn't remember if that was to find direction or water. He looked at the trees. They were covered in moss.
"Not very helpful." He pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. Phelps squealed at a bee that buzzed near his head and accurately swatted it out of the air. Chen Haoran could feel a headache building up.
It wasn't his lack of orienteering skills that was the problem, at least not his biggest one. He just… didn't know where to go. He hadn't thought that far. He only packed a bug-out bag just in case. If he was ever put into a position where he was forced to use it he figured he'd have more immediate, lethal, concerns.
He placed Phelps down and the sloth shuffled over to the dead bee. Chen Haoran sat down beside him and kept an idle eye while thinking. He had no direction and no goals currently. Survive? Something that obvious didn't need to be said. Get stronger? For safety reasons, it was an intelligent decision but that didn't really give him a goal or direction now did it?
He flexed his qi and felt it flow through his meridians in a steady cycle. Puffs of ambient qi entered his body with every breath and were swallowed into its flow. He wasn't cultivating and the qi he naturally absorbed was so minuscule as to be irrelevant but it was calming. The yellow dragon was nowhere to be seen, figment of his mind that it was, but Chen Haoran could imagine it slumbering within the river of his qi. He hadn't expected to reach the Ninth-Layer so soon.
Dipping in the Mourning Pool of Patriarch Lan was a far different experience compared to a monster's Mourning Pool. Both were vibrant, but where the monsters felt like a condensation of the worlds natural energies, Patriarch Lan's was like someone had liquefied the essence of a forest. The wood-attribute liquid qi flooded his meridans and eagerly accepted the nourishment of his water-attribute qi, letting itself be dyed in his color and becoming his own. If anything it was easier to absorb the liquid qi of Patriarch Lan's Mourning Pool than the ambient water energy of the cavern. It made sense too, it was qi that had been processed by a human before. Now that it was ownerless, it wasn't difficult for another human to claim it.
"A Liquid Meridian realm is a walking flood. Both in its destructive potential and the life-giving benefits left in its passing." Song Yuelin's words echoed in his head.
There was more buzzing. Phelps tried eating the bee and spat it out in disgust.
Liquid Meridian realm. He had just assumed he would reach it one day but now he was closer to it than ever before. He drummed his fingers along his leg. For now getting to the Liquid Meridian realm was a good enough goal. For that, he would need resources. He'd have to go to another city. Somewhere larger than Clearsprings and far away so that he wouldn't have to worry about someone from the city recognizing him. He'd need to get a house, with servants and cooks. He'd tasted the good life and he wasn't about to give it up so easily. He'd stuff Phelps with all the cultivation resources till he became a Liquid Meridian; he'd figure out what to do next afterward.
Plan in place he immediately looked back at the sky to determine his direction and-
Nothing. He still didn't know what he was doing. No goals? Lacking a plan? Who was he kidding, it's not like he was any closer to finding civilization if he had those.
Chen Haoran sighed. "This is the cavern all over again. Past me should have packed that damn map."
He stood up. He could figure out where East was probably, he just had to find Clearsprings City and then follow the roads out of the territory. The buzzing got louder. Chen Haoran frowned and looked over to where Phelps was swatting at another bee. The buzzing was too loud for it to come from just one bee and the sound was getting closer. Did Phelps attract a swarm after he killed the first one? Did its hive sense that? He ran over to Phelps and threw him across his back.
"Phelps you better pray these aren't cultivating bees." He pulled his sword out and stretched his sense. The source of the buzzing immediately rushed into view. It was neither a swarm nor a bee.
A glossy black, fist-sized beetle flew in front of Chen Haoran. He warily held out his blade and cycled his qi. The beetle hovered, the buzzing coming from the beating of its wings. He could clearly sense the qi within it but he couldn't pin down was level it was at. Just as he was about to make a move a voice in the distance called out.
"Brother Chen!"
Was that…
"Xie Jin?"
Chapter 68: This Young Master Meets The Weirdos
"Brother Chen!" Xie Jin emerged from the woods, followed by a girl with steel-blue hair. The beetles that had been hovering in front of Chen Haoran flew over and landed on Xie Jin's shoulder.
"What are you doing here?" Chen Haoran asked, bewildered. What were the odds that he'd meet Xie Jin of all people in this patch of the mountains?
"Looking for you," Xie Jin said. "Why else would I trudge my way through these damn mountains."
"Looking for me?" How? Why? He had so many questions.
The girl took this moment to step forward and curtsy. "Hello, Master Chen."
He frowned. She looked familiar. Blue hair wasn't a common color either. "You're Lan Fen's maid?" It took him a moment to recall but he had seen her before once when he and Song Yuelin trained in front of Lan Fen. The day before that disastrous night raid. He had never spoken to her or seen her since, though. The girl was as much a ghost as Song Yuelin was. "I'm sorry, I don't know you're name."
"That's good," the girl said cheerily.
Chen Haoran lifted an eyebrow. Was he just insulted?
"Don't mess around Two-Shadow," Xie Jin snapped. He looked at Chen Haoran, aggrieved. "Your wife sent us to track you down after you got lost." He heaved a sigh of relief. "I'm glad I finally caught your scent today. This girl was driving me crazy."
"You've been looking for me all this time?" It had to have been weeks at least. Xie Jin was only here to take part in the Palace Exams, he had no reason to stay that long once they were canceled.
"A man who feeds me is a brother for life," Xie Jin said with a serious look.
"He was too poor to go back home," Two-Shadow said. "My Lady decided to make him do something useful."
"Hey!" Xie Jin pointed a finger at the maid. "I did this to help Brother Chen, not you and not her either."
"How did you even find me?" Chen Haoran interrupted. He cast a curious glance at the giant beetle. It sat motionlessly on Xie Jin's shoulders like a statue.
"Oh well-" Xie Jin's eyes flickered from the beetle to Chen Haoran. He weakly shrugged. "You know what they say about Southern barbarians."
"No," Chen Haoran said. "I don't."
"Oh." Xie Jin looked flustered and the boisterous cultivator for once seemed speechless.
"It's his Southern magic," Two-Shadow said. "Their shamans use it to track down their mortal foes."
Chen Haoran blinked.
Xie Jin scowled. "It's called a Gu and we use them for more than that." He reached up and the beetle disappeared into the folds of his sleeve. Whatever trick he used it was impossible to see he had hidden a fist-sized bug in there. Had he been carrying it this whole time?
"Poisoning, cursing, sabotage, revenge." Two-Shadow counted with her fingers as if she were seriously answering Xie Jin.
"Can you go now?" Xie Jin growled.
"My master ordered me to accompany Master Chen after finding him. He's been sheltered for many years and ignorant of basics. Lady Fen was worried he'd be taken advantage of."
"You think I'd take advantage of him?" Xie Jin sounded outraged.
Two-Shadow tilted her head. "Haven't you?"
While they began to bicker Chen Haoran put together the picture of events. It seemed Lan Fen had predicted he wouldn't be returning to Clearsprings after separating from Song Yuelin and sent these two to help him leave the province. Of course, she didn't predict he'd been swept into the Spa Caverns, it seemed however Xie Jin tracked him the secret realm blocked it. Two-Shadow while weird was clearly trusted by Lan Fen to send her as his guide. With them here his immediate problems were solved-
"You think I won't choke a woman?" Xie Jin shouted.
Two-Shadow looked at him like he was particularly dim. "I know you will. I watched you do it."
At least they would be when he got them to stop arguing.
He loudly clapped his hands and got their attention. Xie Jin thankfully dropped the argument but for some reason didn't look him in the eyes. Two-Shadow just looked at him curiously. "Whatever the reason I'm glad you guys are here. I have no idea where I'm going. I'll be relying on you in the future."
"I'm not going with you though?" Two-Shadow sounded genuinely confused.
That brought Chen Haoran up short.
"Didn't Lan Fen want you to help me?" He didn't think Lan Fen would tell her maid his secret but she had to know he needed someone knowledgeable by his side.
Two-Shadow nodded. "She did. I don't want to though."
"Then what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to look for Lady Fen. A servant must not stray far from her master."
Well… he'd give her points for loyalty. "Do you even know where she is?"
Two-Shadow brightly smiled. "I'll just wander the mountains until I find her."
What was it with ostensible servants being the biggest weirdos? He was two for two now. Were Song Yuelin and Two-Shadow part of some kind of theme? Was there behavior just a piece of local culture he was unaware of?
"If you're going to leave then hurry up and go," Xie Jin snapped.
"Excuse me then." Two-Shadow curtsied to him then to Xie Jin. "I enjoyed traveling with you."
"I didn't." Despite that Xie Jin still cupped his hands and offered a bow in return.
Chen Haoran waved Two-Shadow over before she could go and leaned in to whisper in her ear. As he did so Phelps leaned over his shoulder and sniffed her hair. "Follow my path and you'll find a pond. Follow the water and that's where you can find Lan Fen." He didn't know the full extent of her relationship with Lan Fen but if she was serious about looking through the whole mountain for her then she would find her eventually with this hint.
Two-Shadow nodded, a serious expression firmly set on her face. "You shouldn't whisper in girls ears like this Master Chen. You look okay enough that someone might misunderstand."
Chen Haoran stared at Two-Shadow, flummoxed. Until she curtsied again and turned to leave. Phelps squealed at her and she stopped, turned around, and curtsied toward him as well before walking off into the forest.
"Okay enough?"
Xie Jin choked. He sputtered into full laughter when Chen Haoran leveled a glare his way. "Don't mind her Brother Chen." He wiped a tear from his eye. "She's a strange one."
"Yuck it up you bastard," Chen Haoran said. "Are you gonna leave too or what? Give a guy some directions before you do."
"That depends on where you want to go. I assume you don't want to return to Clearsprings City?"
"A city far from here with the resources for me to break through to Liquid Meridian."
"In that case you can go to almost any city in the Central region."
That said a lot about how wealthy the core of the Empire was. "What about the capital?" He recalled the name from the books in his manor. Last Light.
Xie Jin snorted in derision. "There are more snakes there than a king's courthouse. You'll find every treasure and pleasure in the world there but honor is in short supply." He hesitated. "I don't think going there would be safe for you."
Right. Xie Jin was there when Song Yuelin got scared off by the prince. "I wasn't planning on going there. I was just curious."
"Does… your family have enmity with the Imperial clan?" he asked.
Chen Haoran sighed. "Your guess is as good as mine. Does the Chen family mean anything to you?"
"Should it? There's a lot of Chens."
Well at least his name wouldn't cause him any issues if that were the case. It was probably best to avoid the Central region though. Song Yuelin assumed that Shen Jianyu didn't come to Clearsprings City for them but who really knew. In any case he was better off avoiding even peripheral contact with people related to the Imperial family.
"Thanks for coming to find me," he said. "I won't ask you to guide me but if you could point me to the next city I would really appreciate it." He paused. Xie Jin had spent weeks looking for him. He cupped his hands and bowed. "Brother Jin."
"No no no." Xie Jin rushed to stop him. "Brother Chen you're my benefactor. I can't think of anyone who'd so freely feed a Southerner like you did for me." He clasped Chen Haoran's arms. Phelps squealed at the sudden motion and his claws dug into his sides. "Where will you go though?"
"Somewhere far from the Imperial family at least. As long as I can cultivate there it doesn't matter where I am." The first thing he'd have to do was find a map. He couldn't be so blind in the future.
Xie Jin bit his lip and looked down at his bone arm rings. He must've seen something in them because the uncertainty in his eyes disappeared.
"Do you want to come south with me?"
Chapter 69: This Young Master Is Nice
"South?" Chen Haoran looked at Xie Jin in surprise.
"I'm going back home anyway," Xie Jin said. "Why not come with me? There hasn't been a royal in the jungles since the Sunset Emperor."
Chen Haoran could come up with several reasons why he wouldn't want to go with himself anywhere. For all that Xie Jin seemed like a straightforward personality, there was no way he didn't recognize that.
"I don't know…" Xie Jin might have done him a favor by searching for him but the fact of the matter was he still didn't know him all that well. "Why invite me?"
"I'm returning home with nothing right now. No success in the exam and no position in the Palace school." Xie Jin had a longing look on his face. "At the very least I could return with a friend. My trip here wouldn't be completely worthless. Attitudes aren't very kind toward the Empire down south anyway, and there are plenty of wood and water treasures and-" Xie Jin's words spilled out in a rush and Chen Haoran couldn't tell if the boy was trying to convince him or himself.
He held up a hand and interrupted the word vomit. Xie Jin shut his mouth and looked at him with hopeful eyes. He hesitated. It wasn't like he had any better options, and it would be nice to have company.
"If you'll have me," he slowly said.
"It'll be an adventure," Xie Jin promised.
They didn't waste any more time after Chen Haoran agreed with Xie Jin leading the way they quickly made their way out of the valley and in the direction of the single road that connected Clearsprings City to the rest of the Empire. Xie Jin regaled Chen Haoran with all that had occurred in the city after he left and spent plenty of time complaining about Two-Shadow and the fruitless searching he'd done while looking for Chen Haoran.
When night fell they laid out their bedrolls and made camp in the open air. Phelps crept down from Chen Haoran's back and poked his snout around the leaf litter scattered around the forest floor. Xie Jin waved his sleeve and his Gu beetle swept out from the much too small space. It hovered in complete silence, a stark contrast from its loud wingbeats before, before flying out into the waning light at some silent command.
"For the night watch," Xie Jin said after seeing his look. "Its senses are much better than ours so we won't have to worry."
"The more I hear about your beetle the more convenient it seems." It almost made him want one of his own. He brought a hand down and patted Phelps's head. His pet was still more useful though.
"What even is that anyway?" Xie Jin asked.
"This is Phelps."
"What's a Phelps? I've never heard of a beast that goes by that name."
"No." Chen Haoran laughed. "Phelps is his name. He's a sloth. Have you really not seen one before?"
"I've seen monkeys," Xie Jin mused. "But there's nothing in the jungles that looks like that."
"I can say the same. I've no idea what a Gu is. What's its name?"
Xie Jin did a double take. "Name?"
"Does it not have one?"
"Gu aren't really-" he paused and considered his words. "They're not something we just name."
"Are they special or something? Two-Shadow said something about shamans." Chen Haoran squinted and looked Xie Jin over with doubt.
"What's that look supposed to be?"
"No it's just-" He waved his hand at Xie Jin. "When I hear the word shaman I picture someone a bit more serious looking than you?"
"Are you saying I'm frivolous?"
"Not frivolous, just not serious."
"Bastard. I should leave you in this forest." Xie Jin flicked two fingers as if they were claws in Chen Haoran's direction. Whatever the hand gesture meant he was sure it was one of respect and acknowledgment.
He laughed while Xie Jin grumbled. The boy stared into the direction his Gu left in and absentmindedly touch his bone arm ring. "Gu are special." Xie Jin said. "They have a long history in the traditions and folklore of my people. Naming them isn't something lightly done."
"Are they dangerous or something?"
Xie Jin smiled. "You really don't know anything about the South huh?"
"I know those bone ornaments you wear are some kind of rite of passage but that's about it."
"You interested in them." Xie Jin flexed his arms and preened. After Chen Haoran had been disgusted enough he turned to show off the two black bone rings wrapped around his arms. Carved all around into the bone were some scripts of unknown meaning. "The south is filled with boneyards. Great skeletons of long-dead beasts scattered across the jungle, some big enough that you could walk for days from the head and still not see the tail." Xie Jin's voice was warm with remembrance as he spoke. "For the youth of Zumulu, these bones represent their first glory. Receiving your bones is to be recognized by your elders as a worthy addition to the clan."
"Are those markings decorative or do they mean something?" Chen Haoran asked.
"A motto," Xie Jin said. There was some mysterious emotion in his voice. "An expectation."
"They're pretty cool."
Xie Jin blinked at him, then smiled. "They're super cool." He started wildly waving his hands around. "That's not the only cool thing about my homeland though, the jungle and waters are absolutely teeming with life! There have been so many powerful water cultivators who were raised by the rivers and lakes. Resources and rivals abound and-"
Chen Haoran listened while Xie Jin excitedly extolled the virtues of his home. Phelps had settled himself into his lap and rested his head along his leg. He brought out a piece of glowing moss and fed it to him. The sun dipped below the horizon but there was no moon to light up the night after it. Without his qi-enhanced vision he wouldn't be able to make out Xie Jin's form at all.
"Ah damn," Xie Jin said when he realized he couldn't see. "Sorry, Brother Chen I got too absorbed. I'll start the fire now."
"Hold that thought," Chen Haoran said. He looked up into the starry night sky. A practical ocean of stars twinkled down at him. Clearsprings City couldn't be compared to the light pollution of a modern Earth city but it was still no place for observing stars. Here in the depths of the mountains, however he was blessed with a sight he could never see back on Earth.
There were more than just stars in the sky, however.
"Do you know anything about the higher realms of cultivation, Brother Jin?"
"You mean the Star Core realm?"
The White Tyrant wasn't just Star Core that much he knew in his soul. He had said he was at the second highest realm of cultivation. Just how far above him was that? How many others out there in this new universe were at his level? The White Tyrant had hinted at it. Somewhere far above him there was life, cultivating life, at a far higher level than this world. His fingers twitched towards his scimitar. He fought the urge to pull it out and snorted. Just the planet was already more than enough for him. He'd leave dreaming about space to Lan Fen.
"Every cultivator wants to reach the Star Core realm," Xie Jin said. Blithely unaware of his thoughts. "With that level of power, even the Empire has to show you respect. You live for hundreds of years. Heaven and Earth open up to you and you can travel wherever you want. They boil seas and rupture land just as an aftershock of their power."
Chen Haoran could hear the yearning in Xie Jin's voice. He had to admit he was a bit enthralled himself. The picture he was painting was an envious one. What would he be like if he ascended to that level? The longevity alone was tempting enough. He half wanted to stop what he was doing and start cultivating right now.
"Are there Star Cores in the south?" He asked.
"There were," Xie Jin said, frustrated. "We might still have some. I don't know though."
"What do you mean?"
"Zumulu–no." He shook his head. "The world isn't so bright anymore." He cast a longing look to the sky above. "And no matter how strong the Star Core they never stay."
It didn't sound like he was just talking about death.
"Where do they go?"
Xie Jin pointed to the sky. "Up."
Phelps squealed.
Chen Haoran flinched. "Sorry, bud. I haven't forgotten about you." That was a lie. He almost did forget. He pinched the knot of Phelps's blindfold and loosened it. The strip of silk fell, and Phelps slowly opened his eyes. He blinked them rapidly, but that didn't stop him from swinging his head back and forth. Finally, he cast wide eyes to the stars. Phelps squealed; he hooted and bounced and rolled.
"Excitable fellow huh?" Xie Jin's laugh became strangled, and he watched with shocked eyes when Phelps started floating in the air. "He can fly?"
Phelps rose higher and cleared the treeline. His gaze was riveted on the stars, and a nervous part of Chen Haoran thought that Phelps would keep rising till he could grab them. He smothered that worry and watched when Phelps finally stopped and floated in the air. The sloth seemed uncertain and, rather than keep going, floated back down to the earth and settled on Chen Haoran's shoulders, where he loudly squealed in his ears.
"Welcome to the world Phelps."
Chapter 70: This Young Master Feels Something
From then on Chen Haoran took off Phelps's blindfold every night after the sun fell and made sure he was awake to watch the first light of the sunrise before putting the blindfold back on. He would gradually let the sloth watch the mornings until he was sure his eyes were adjusted. Until then Phelps contented himself watching the shifting phases of the moon. It was to the extent that he wondered if Phelps would have been a wolf had he not been a sloth.
On the eve of the full moon, they finally broke out of the forests and found the road leading to Clearsprings City. Although it was popular for its hot springs the city was otherwise alone amongst the mountains. Here they finally met other travelers, merchants, tourists, and caravans. For those coming from the city all they spoke of was the Lan family. It seemed that rather than offer any explanation to his erstwhile allies Patriarch Lan slipped out of the city instead. After not appearing in the following weeks the City Lord seemed to realize something and came down on the remaining Lan family with thunderous force following some kind of trumped-up charge. Without Patriarch Lan being in contact and looking more like he had run off every day the Lan family's erstwhile allies didn't intervene at all and indeed joined in on scavenging what remained of the Lan family's business.
"Crazy how quickly things changed isn't it?" Xie Jin had said after hearing the story from someone who claimed to deliver spirit herbs to the Lan family. "You'd think they'd have more caution."
"How so? The Lan family was defenseless. I was led to believe this is pretty in character for them."
"Who can guarantee the Patriarch won't return and exact revenge? These people really must be fearless to go and destroy his family."
Chen Haoran could only awkwardly smile. "I don't think they're too worried about him."
Lan Fen had probably dropped the City Lord a hint before she left, and he probably informed the other families of the Patriarch's likely fate.
"Is something like that a common concern?" Chen Haoran asked Xie Jin later that night around their fire. Phelps, following some ancestral instinct perhaps, had hung himself on the branch of a nearby tree and gazed at the full moon in a trance.
Xie Jin shrugged. "It depends? There are plenty of stories of some minor relative growing into a powerful cultivator and avenging their families but that's really all they are. Stories. If people were really scared of some unknown weakling becoming strong and coming for revenge, then it wouldn't be long before everyone killed each other."
"Isn't that possible though? Say someone finds a treasure trove or the inheritance of a powerful cultivator?"
"That's just luck at that point," Xie Jin said. He poked a stick around the smoldering coals of the flame. "The strong are only concerned with the strong. A Liquid Meridian elder like the Lan Patriarch is far more deserving of caution than Qi realms like us."
Chen Haoran flexed his fingers on the hand he used to spear a Liquid Meridian to death. Would he not be one of the only Qi realms to kill a Liquid Meridian? It was a pointless thought. Xie Jin's point still stood and Chen Haoran could justify it with every futile effort he put up against Liquid Meridians prior.
"I really have to advance," he said, sighing.
Xie Jin snorted. "You and every other cultivator."
Outside of the Clearsprings province, they traveled across blessedly flatter ground and started coming across villages along the road. Xie Jin proved to be a worldly traveler and they could at least get a roof over their heads every night till they reached a large town. It was a much humbler affair than Clearsprings City. Smaller buildings, smaller walls, more dirt roads. The place was more pitstop than anything else accentuated by the fact that it seemed like almost every other building was an inn or bar of some sort. The one notable feature was the coursing yellow river the town bordered. Riverboats arrived and departed from the wooden quays built into the water while fishermen pulled in the last of the day's catch in their nets.
Chen Haoran felt a hitch in his qi when they approached the river looking for a boat. While Xie Jin was haggling for a ride with a tanned captain dressed in simple leathers, he stood at the end of a pier and stared into the muddy water. Phelps sniffed the air curiously from his shoulders and squealed at the new scents.
Chen Haoran stretched out his sense. The river wasn't any more spiritual than the air around him. Nothing about it particularly riveted his attention or unconsciously drew his eye. It was just a river, the whole of it couldn't compare to even a single pool in the Spa Cavern.
Even so, his qi had a reaction here it did not there.
He cycled his qi but both it and the river flowed as usual. Just as he was about to sit down and meditate, a hand slapped his back.
"Water roots will really swim anywhere huh?" Xie Jin asked.
Chen Haoran was grateful for the interruption. This was no place to cultivate. "What is this river called?"
Xie Jin rubbed his chin in thought. "Does it have a name?"
"It's a tributary, young lord," said the captain Xie Jin had spoken with. He stepped away from directing the crew of a nearby boat and approached them. "Folks around here call it the Goldwater; it feeds directly into the Machu river. Us river men call them the Dragon's Veins though."
"Dragon Veins?"
"You'll see it properly once we ship out," Xie Jin said after the captain returned to work. "The Machu river is the biggest in the Empire. We'll stay the night here and set off tomorrow morning."
Ah right. The boat.
"Is there a place to sell jewelry here?" Chen Haoran asked. "I don't have any money on me right now."
Xie Jin scoffed and waved him off. "Brother Chen don't think me a poor man; I had my own fortuitous encounter." He pulled off the thick satchel on his back and opened it to reveal that it was filled with gold taels. "When I was searching for you I found this mountain of gold just lying in the mountains. We won't have to worry about money with me here."
Chen Haoran slowly shifted his gaze from the taels to Xie Jin's proud face. Briefly, he considered telling him the truth but decided against it. No need to spoil his good mood. Instead, he cupped his hands. "I'll be in your care then Brother Jin."
"That's the spirit!" Xie Jin cheered. "Let's go drink!"
They didn't go far. Xie Jin, out of consideration for him, was initially going to go to the nicest inn in town. Chen Haoran hadn't wanted to go far from the river however and so Xie Jin settled on the place that had the best drinks in town instead. They toasted saucers of warm milky rice wine surrounded by rowdy sailors and fishermen. A plate stacked with steaming pork cutlets sat between them. Phelps had his own chair and chowed on a plate of greens and glowing blue moss. Chen Haoran traced the wine's warmth with his qi as he drank and felt the heat spread through his core. It was a relaxing drink after a long day's travel.
"It won't be long now," Xie Jin said. "We'll be traveling by boat through the Central region till we reach Whiteridge City from there it's a straight shot down the official road into the south."
"Looking forward to it," Chen Haoran said. He cupped his saucer between both hands and traced the rim with his finger.
"Did you sense something when we were at the river?" Xie Jin asked.
Startled, Chen Haoran nearly dropped his saucer. Had he been that obvious? Xie Jin looked at him with concern and he forced a smile to his face."I'm fine. Just thinking." He grabbed the bottle and poured more wine for them both. "Is there something special about the Machu river?"
"So I was told," Xie Jin said, bringing the saucer to his lips. "I heard it was unlike any river in Zumulu and not just for its scale, although I don't know much more than that. I thought that you might have felt something because of your affinity."
Chen Haoran swirled the wine around before raising the saucer and downing it in one go. "Do you know how cultivation techniques are made?"
"Are you trying to be a sage or something?" Xie Jin joked and reached for the bottle. "They're made the same way anything is. Based on something greater than ourselves." He was just about to refill Chen Haoran's saucer when he suddenly stopped.
Chen Haoran sighed and looked down at his plate. Things seemed to always go wrong when he ordered pork.
Ten men rose from where they had been watching the two drink and surrounded their table. The lowest among them was a Sixth-Layer. The strongest, an Eighth, pulled out a chair and rudely sat himself down. He leaned back and leered at Xie Jin. "Lo traveler. Could you kindly spare some poor brothers a few taels?"
Chapter 71: This Young Master Does A Powermove
Chen Haoran looked at Xie Jin. "Am I not a Ninth-Layer or something?"
"No, you're definitely a Ninth-Layer," Xie Jin said.
"Then what's this guy's deal?"
"Clearly, he thinks he can take you."
"Do I really look that weak?"
"Like a stiff wind would blow you over. You have to be more intimidating like me. They would have never come over here then."
"Isn't that just a roundabout way to say your low cultivation makes you a non-threat?"
"You fuc-"
"Do you bastards think I'm a patient man?" the lead thug interrupted.
"Clearly we're not taking you seriously," Chen Haoran said. "Take a hint and back off. You're not that guy."
To his credit the thug really seemed to consider it. His eyes flickered from Chen Haoran to Xie Jin as he measured them before settling on the bag full of gold taels Xie Jin had placed under the table. Chen Haoran sighed. He could see the dollar signs in the thug's eyes the exact second he made his decision.
"Let's be honest; we're all gentlemen here so let's compromise. Share some of what you got, and we don't have to cause a scene here. I'm sure you'd prefer it that way. No need to let everyone know about ill-gotten gains, am I right?"
"Ill-gotten gains?" Chen Haoran asked, bewildered. Did he think they stole the gold? Xie Jin scoffed with disdain, an ugly look settling across his features.
The thug smiled in a relaxed way that invited one to punch his face in. His wavering confidence had returned after he seemingly had Chen Haoran and Xie Jin pegged. He leaned in to whisper. "I'm sure whatever unfortunate soul you got that money from is now six feet under and poor, so let's deal. You take enough for you to live on and we take enough for us."
For a moment neither of them said anything. There was a brief lull in the noisy bar. Chen Haoran could feel people's attention on them. Phelps licked the last of the moss from his plate. This wasn't going to be resolved peacefully.
Xie Jin slapped the table and leaned back. "The things you say make me sound like a scary guy." He shook his head in disappointment as if he were some elder facing unruly children. "And yet you came over here despite that. Why don't you get out of my sight before this barbarian breaks your legs?"
The men scowled and reached for knives and clubs. The leader's qi flared as he narrowed his eyes. "You're making a mistake skeleton."
Chen Haoran stood from his seat before Xie Jin did anything else. He debated flaring his own qi. Even if he was a greedy idiot the thug should realize he was outclassed if he did that. He held himself back, though. He wouldn't be satisfied with just scaring them off. Not after he realized why these men considered them targets.
"We'd break too many things if we started fighting here," he said to Xie Jin. "We still need a place to sleep after all." He turned to the lead thug and motioned him over with a finger. "Let's settle this quickly. I'll even let you take the first shot." He folded his arms behind his back.
The man visibly hesitated but under the gaze of his fellows he stood up and faced Chen Haoran. Another glance at the money bag replaced his hesitation with a vicious determination. "So you'll give us the money if I take you down you say?"
Xie Jin snorted. "Even if you knock his arrogant ass out you'll be prying these taels out of my cold, dead hands."
The man frowned and a quick look to his group had them surround Xie Jin. The bar was silent. The patrons barely lifting their voices above a whisper as they noticed a fight was about to break out.
Chen Haoran cycled his qi and raised an eyebrow. "Well?"
The lead thug flushed red and gritted his teeth. He went to scratch his head but before he did his hand was suddenly surrounded in swirling air and shot out like a bullet. What Chen Haoran was doing right now was the height of foolishness. While this man was clearly uninformed he had to have some confidence in himself to challenge a Ninth-Layer. He could feel it now as the man's fist slammed into his jaw. A technique to quickly land a powerful but accurate strike before one could react, backed by a Profound-quality cultivation. He was about the same level as some of the stronger Lan family cultivators he'd fought. He was probably a strong cultivator in this area.
The thug's fist stopped. Chen Haoran was unmoved and looked the man in the eye.
Xie Jin said he was being arrogant. He really was. Had he tried to pull something like this in front of Lan Fen or Lan Yao they would have killed him six times over. This thug wasn't like those geniuses however. Chen Haoran knew nothing about him and yet he could see how he lacked compared to them all the same.
The thug widened his eyes in surprise and immediately launched another wind-coated fist into Chen Haoran's face. Then another. Then to his chest. Then a kick. The thug threw out a flurry of attacks all while Chen Haoran stood still and continued to stare him down. The thug stepped back after his wild flailing and found Chen Haoran to be unmoved and unharmed. His hand reached down to the knife handle at his waist.
A slow, mocking smirk, wormed its way across Chen Haoran's face.
The thug let go of the knife and dropped to his knees, lifting his arms in surrender.
Xie Jin whistled. The other men watched with pale-faced shock.
"Well," Chen Haoran said to them. "Line up."
—————
Chen Haoran and Xie Jin toasted saucers of warm rice wine in a subdued bar. Between them were a plate of cooled pork cutlets. Phelps had his blindfold removed and looked around the bar with curious eyes. To their side were ten kneeling men with red, swollen faces, who had their arms raised in the air.
"To my mighty Brother Chen!" Xie Jin cheered. "Now that I've seen it again you really are impressive." He let out a bellyful laugh. "If you did that in my homeland you'd be swarming with women right now."
"I'm glad you were able to vent your frustration," Chen Haoran said.
Xie Jin flexed his hand and looked toward the erstwhile muggers. He swung forward as if to slap them again and all ten flinched. "Yeah. I'm very relieved. How did you scum know about the money though?"
"Probably when you talked about it at the docks," Chen Haoran said.
"I know there was no one around us when I did that." Xie Jin frowned and looked at the silent thugs. When no one spoke up he raised his fist and they all flinched.
The leader painfully confessed through swollen lips. "I have a technique that lets me hear a bit further out."
Xie Jin rolled his eyes. "Of course." He waved his hand. "You can leave now you big-eared fuck. I don't want to see any of you for the rest of the time I'm here."
The thugs all stood. Bowed. Then immediately turned tail and scrambled out the bar.
"Is something like that common?" Chen Haoran asked.
Xie Jin laughed and refilled their saucers. "Men will die for money just as birds will die for food. You'll find greedy fools like them everywhere."
"That's not what I was asking."
Xie Jin grimaced and downed his wine without waiting. He watched on while Chen Haoran refilled his saucer and quirked his lips when Chen had to pull the bottle out of Phelps's reach. When he finished off his wine again however it was his turn to have the bottle pulled away. He frowned at Chen Haoran who blandly returned his look and shook the bottle in front of him.
Xie Jin sighed. "You don't need to defend me. I'm more than capable of protecting myself. It'll only be more common in the Central region anyway. We can't afford to make a big deal out of every problem."
"If I don't say anything then people will go on thinking those are acceptable things to say," Chen Haoran countered.
Xie Jin huffed a laugh and smiled. Compared to his usual bravado it was a sincere emotion. "Thank you, Brother Chen."
"You bought me food and drink." Chen Haoran lifted his saucer in a toast. "He who feeds me is a brother for life no?"
"Something like that is done with better alcohol." Xie Jin raised his own and they clinked the rims together. "I'll show you what a real man drinks in Zumulu."
"I don't actually like drinking that much," Chen Haoran admitted.
"What?!"
"I prefer doing it with friends, however."
"I was about to say." Xie Jin rested a hand on his heart as if he'd been stabbed. "What kind of cultivator doesn't drink?"
There was a clatter at the edge of the table. Chen Haoran and Xie Jin whipped their heads around only to find Phelps cradling the open wine bottle between his claws and lapping up the spilling alcohol."
"Phelps no!"
Chapter 72: This Young Master's First Time Sailing
All of Chen Haoran's hard work avoiding damaging the inn was for naught when a drunk Phelps broke a hole through its roof and Chen broke a bigger one going after him. After finishing off the bottle of wine Phelps proved to be the worst case of curious drunk as he decided to make one small leap for sloths, one giant leap for sloth-kind and fly to the moon. It had taken Chen Haoran throwing Xie Jin into the air, the use of his Gu, and a stolen fishing net, to stop Phelps from changing his name to Armstrong.
Suffice to say they stepped onto the boat the next day very tired and with dark rings around their eyes. Xie Jin had a long red scratch mark going up one arm. A happy Phelps squealed at the new scents he was exposed to on the boat. Chen Haoran had an iron grip on the silk cord he had attached to the sloth's collar.
The captain took one look at their bedraggled forms and shook his head. "That ruckus last night you boys?"
"Is there a problem?" Xie Jin demanded.
The captain shrugged. "Not the worst omen to have before setting sail."
He escorted them to a small cabin with two simple beds and left to oversee the crew. Other passengers sorted themselves in nearby cabins and they got more than a few strange looks as they stumbled into their own.
Xie Jin slumped over onto the bed and groaned. Chen Haoran dropped Phelps onto his own bed and had to slap his claws away from tearing up the mattress. After warning Phelps to not break anything Chen Haoran collapsed.
"Where in the world did you find that little monster?" Xie Jin asked, slurring his words.
"The depths of hell apparently."
Chen Haoran felt the heavy hands of sleep pull him. A single thought ringing out before he lost consciousness.
He was never letting Phelps near alcohol again.
When he awoke he was sore all over. The bed wasn't the most comfortable thing he'd ever slept on. They hadn't wanted to stay in the town too long so Xie Jin booked the boat that was sailing the soonest, quality hadn't been the biggest concern. Chen Haoran was regretting being so hasty as he massaged the cricks in his neck. He missed his mansion. His bed had been the most pleasant sleep he had in both worlds. He had to pawn off the jewelry he'd been rewarded as soon as possible. He wouldn't accept living anywhere but the best.
Phelps had curled up into a ball at the corner of the bed and was sound asleep. Xie Jin was still messily sprawled over his own bed and loudly snored. His Gu beetle sat on top of his bag like an onyx statue. It didn't so much as twitch while Chen Haoran rose and changed his clothes and yet he could swear he felt it staring at him. It was still an amorphous blob of qi to his sense. Proximity to it hadn't helped him figure out its nature either. Unless he had a use for it Xie Jin never exposed the bug in front of others. He and other people treated it with significance, but that just begged the question. What about this bug made people who could casually split rocks and throw fire give it the side-eye?
Chen Haoran quietly crept out of the room and closed the door shut behind him. He stood at the door. The feeling of being watched didn't leave. As he walked away from the cabin the feeling finally receded and he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.
Right. He was beginning to understand.
He stepped out onto the deck and shielded his eyes from the light of the evening sun. While he'd been knocked out the boat had taken off and the town was now far behind them. Sailors walked about the deck, checking rigging and mending sailcloth. Other passengers, fellow travelers, and merchants conversed in groups or stood and idly observed the scenery. He stretched out his sense. There were other cultivators but none of them came near Xie Jin's Eighth-Layer cultivation let alone his.
Every cultivator on the deck looked over when Chen Haoran appeared. Some were open about it and made their attention obvious; others were subtler and peeked at him with furtive glances. None of them ignored him, and when he looked around they all averted their eyes. There was some indescribable feeling in his chest. To these people, he was one of the strong, someone to be wary of. They didn't know anything about his techniques or his experience; just his cultivation was enough to know he was beyond them. He turned away and walked over to the side of the ship.
He did not feel proud. He was a small fish running from his pond. Just because he looked larger to them didn't mean he should treat that as a true reflection of himself. Would it have helped him stand up to Song Yuelin? Would it help him mask his ignorance? No. He couldn't afford to let himself be arrogant. He needed to reach the Liquid Meridian realm. Only then could he start having a bit of peace of mind.
He peered over the edge of the ship into the yellow river. There was no hitch in his qi like before, no sudden enlightenment or change now that he was on the water proper. He almost thought he had hallucinated the feeling but too many things had lined up for him to doubt himself like that. A yellow river. Dragon veins. The connection with his cultivation method was there. It had been a long time since he had thought about the Yellow River Refinement, it was just a Profound-rank technique his predecessor had practiced. Picked because it was the best he could use if he still wanted to quickly advance with his Low-Grade Spirit Root. What did the connection mean though? Was the reaction something inherent to the original technique or was it new to his improved one?
It begged the question of just how his Gifting power created new techniques. Yellow River Refinement improved a hundred times became the Yellow Dragon River Refinement. How was a new name made? On what basis? The river he was on was called a Dragon's Vein. Did the power take the name from that or did it give him an already existing technique? At the very least Song Yuelin had never heard of his improved techniques when he had shown them to him but that didn't necessarily mean they weren't.
Chen Haoran sighed. Whatever the means he wouldn't find the answer by staring into the water. He sat down cross-legged and cycled his qi.
Over the next several days Chen Haoran would come to the deck and cultivate. Sometimes he would bring Phelps who would sit in his lap and enjoy the air and fresh scents of the river. Xie Jin would occasionally come out of the cabin and lounge around as well. He was the only Southerner on the ship but that didn't stop him from inserting himself into the crew's circle, joining them for drinking and gambling with dice. Sometimes he sat by Chen Haoran while he meditated, silent and gazing at the sky or throwing a fishing line over the side.
"I'm amazed you can cultivate here at all," he said. His eyes were glued on the water surface where his lure bobbed.
"Can't really call it cultivating," Chen Haoran replied. The ambient qi was too thin for him to have any real gains. It wasn't because he was spoiled by the Spa Cavern either. Even Clearsprings City had higher qi levels.
"I mean around so many other people. Once we're in the Central Regions proper you'll notice the qi level rise."
"Well, it's not like we're being bothered so why let others get in the way?" Whether it was because of their strength or Xie Jin's origins the other passengers had kept their distance.
"I guess someone like you can be fearless," Xie Jin said.
Before Chen Haoran could ask him what he meant there was a call from the top of the ship. "Machu ahead!"
The crew burst into activity, quickly securing any loose item and dragging out bottles of wine and rice. The captain brought a pig out onto the deck and slaughtered it with a clean swipe of his knife.
"What are they doing?" Chen Haoran asked.
"Sacrifices to the river," a nearby merchant answered. "The Ministry of Rites does its best to appease it but it's good luck for a ship to offer its own."
The merchant then went on to follow the other passengers to crowd near the prow of the ship. He and Xie Jin joined them and they all watched as the boat approached a larger river.
A much, much larger river.
Chen Haoran stared in stupefied shock as the captain guided the ship onto the Machu. He cycled qi to his eyes and stretched his senses to their limit in search of the opposite shore but all that was visible was golden water stretching on endlessly. The muddy yellow water of the tributary disappeared into the Machu, which flowed with yellow water as clear as his own qi. Right as they crossed onto the river proper the crew opened up the wine and rice sacks and tossed them and the dead pig into the water.
Chen Haoran felt a familiar dragon roar rise from within him.
His qi flared out and the crowd around him stepped back in shock. He could hear Xie Jin whisper a concerned question. He ignored all of that though and sat down to focus on his qi. Almost without prompting his yellow qi began to flow through his meridians like the Machu in miniature. The yellow dragon did not dance while racing around his body like usual. Instead, it hung in his head and twisted and coiled while roaring in triumph as if it were returning home. Chen Haoran could practically feel the roars echo out from him and into the river below. It felt so close it was like he could reach his hand out to grab it.
"Brother Chen!" Xie Jin roared.
He opened his eyes.
A tendril of gold water hovered in front of the boat. Xie Jin stood in front of him facing the tendril, the Gu beetle hovering above his shoulder and glowing a poisonous purple.
Chen Haoran felt the dragon roar.
He waved.
The tendril waved back.