Contrary to Mark's expectations, his new life in the land of the cháns as a member of the seer clan was just as boring and uneventful as his previous life. The only difference was that not everyone here thought he was crazy. In this place steeped in miracles, no one paid any attention to him. The disciples of the seer clan were as if they were always in the clouds.
Of course, he was aware that the others, like him, were busy on the path to immortality. However, this did not help the boy's loneliness. So Mark developed his abilities alone and over the decades he rose higher and higher. So high that he soon stepped among the immortals. To the higher plane of existence that every chán cultivator aspires to.
However, unlike most, Mark was disappointed by what he found in the field of the immortals. Based on the knowledge he had gathered over the years, there should have been gods here, but here there were only cultivators. No gods, not even the Onegod. And the man from the west was just as alone here as before.
He felt like he was nothing more than a simple shadow, and with that realization, came an other one. In the realm of the immortals, time and life have no meaning. On that higher plane of existence, a cultivator gains all the knowledge he has ever acquired in any life. And when that happened with Mark too, the man decided that he did not want to remember his previous life's knowledge.
The irony of fate was that here among the immortals, he finally understood why everyone had always feared him, how he knew how to use a sword, how he had always been able to hide from everyone, why he had always dreamed of painful murders and the gray mist. The stains cleared, he remembered that he was the last Vietryk of the Immortal Mist.
He remembered how he had died, how a sword had been pierced through his chest. He heard his own voice asking for one thing after his death. "I just want to remember the skills I learned." This was the reason for all the problems that young Mark had to face. And Mark, who was already over eighty years old at the time, knew that this would be the reason that he would never be able to truly connect with people.
The Immortal Mist had always operated as a closed system, these ideas were ingrained in his soul. He could not have eradicated them from himself even if he had wanted to. However, Mark had already accepted that he would be left alone. So he decided to take advantage of the skills that he knew thanks to the Immortal Mist and learn everything there was to know about everyone.
That was why he began to explore the world. He traveled to every place he could, and then decided to get to know the clans of the cháns more seriously. As part of this plan, he visited a different clan every week and tried to gain as much knowledge from them as possible, until that certain day.
"I hope you two will get along well." That was the only sentence that the leader of the seer clan, the man who had brought him east, Weruh Sesanti, had said to him that morning. The man had that annoying wide grin on his face that Mark had never been able to deal with. When Weruh was like this, he could do nothing but try to ignore him.
Therefore, he had no idea that on the particular day that he had decided that the next clan he would visit for observation would be the Mo clan, his life would change. Apart from Weruh's words, there was no sign that anything was going to happen, the sun was burning one's head just as it had been the previous days, the wind was blowing and shaking the leaves just as it had been for days. In short, there was nothing unusual that would have indicated that something was wrong.
"I have never seen a Westerner like you, who could enter our clan." Mark immediately drew his sword upon hearing the sudden unfamiliar voice and pointed it at the stranger's throat. The cultivator, who surprised him, must have been about half his age, had a wide grin on his lips, his hands resting on his hips and not even paying attention to the sword pressed to his throat. "I'm She Tao. What's your name?" He asked the question.
"Mark..." Here the man sighed. He never had a family name, but Weruh always called him his son, so it was logical for him to use his name. "Mark Sesanti." He introduced himself.
"Sesanti? Like the clan leader of the Seer Clan?" The chán boy's eyes widened enthusiastically.
"Yes." Mark lowered his sword. "Sorry about the sword. You surprised me." He confessed.
"Come on, it's okay. If I were you, you wouldn't have half your ear." The boy chuckled. "What are you doing here?" He asked curiously.
"I would like to learn from you." Mark began his usual rhyme, but before he could really get into the story, She Tao snorted.
"Okay, let's start over and tell me honestly. What are you doing here?" The boy looked deeply into Mark's eyes. At that moment, the man from the west felt as if some phantom hands were tugging at his hair and trying to to extract the answer from him through his scalp and skull.
"You're a half-demon." Mark grinned broadly, before the phantom hands disappeared and She Tao stepped back with a frightened look, as if he was about to flee.
"Very funny..." The chán boy began to rant, but Mark grabbed his right wrist.
"I don't care what kind of blood flows in your veins, but if you want honesty from me, I expect it from you too." He said in a threatening tone.
"How did you know?" The chán boy hissed the question.
"A person learns a lot when he's bored. And I'm terribly bored." Mark shrugged.
"Have you ever played shogi?" She Tao asked the question with a faint smile on his lips.
"I've never had an opponent who could last long." Mark smiled too.
"Challenge accepted." The chán boy laughed. "Come. You won't learn anything exciting from my clan, but I can guarantee a good game." He said with a wide grin on his lips.
"I'll take you at your word. Show me the way." Mark motioned, and the young boy set off on the floating rocks towards a small house, with the Western cultivator at his side.
To Mark's greatest delight, the day passed with a particularly exciting board game, which didn't even end with sunset, and as such, he and She Tao agreed to continue the game as soon as possible. When Mark returned to the seer clan, he found himself facing a broadly grinning Weruh.
"As I see it, you two had a good time. I'm very glad of that. But refrain from getting to know each other more intimately until he's sixty." The clan leader chuckled, which only made Mark throw a pebble at him.
"You are bastard, I hope you know Weruh!" He grumbled and simply left the clan leader without an other word.