Plutusauthor

Interlude: The Centipede Princess

The Liquid Meridian Realm. In days of yore, before a great power shifted their hand and tied the tongues of the world together, there were many names for the Second Realm. Each of them a unique expression shaped by a cultivator’s experiences on the dark and endless road they traveled and the world around them. According to oral tales passed down in Zumulu through ages golden and cataclysmic and regaled onto a young Bao Si sitting at the knee of Grandpa Xie, their people’s name for it was the River Realm. It was a poetic name. One that attached their home and identity to a Realm that was doubtlessly only discovered after much hardship and loss. Calling it Liquid Meridian Realm was practically stale by comparison.

That is all it was, though, in the end—liquid qi in meridians. Even as she felt power course through her body, improving every single thing about her in every single way. Bao Si was only impressed, not awestruck. She had long set her sights on higher places than a mere Liquid Meridian Realm.

The Rattan Armor Soldier stood respectfully to the side while Bao Si inspected the changes her advancement had brought. Two Liquid Meridian Centipede Gu curled around her shoulders and snapped their mandible menacingly at the soldier. One was clearly older and larger than the other, who still spilled miasma occasionally as it adjusted to its new realm. Around them was the aftermath of her battle with the Gu Department Shaman. The ground was poisoned black, and several trees were slowly dissolving from the intense miasma they’d been infected with. The shaman and his Gu had long been devoured and transformed into energy. It was a benefit that was afforded to all Black Bone Shamans, born from the risk they took personally ingesting the poison used to create their Gu. Few other shamanic traditions in Zumulu could boast the same, and none could do so as easily as the Black Bones could.

“Two Gu,” the Rattan Armor Soldier said. Bao Si could hear the respect in his voice. “You are no ordinary shaman.” The vines making up his helmet splayed open like a booming flower and revealed a young man’s face.

He was fine-featured and delicate of complexion. A frivolous thought arose in Bao Si to ask for his skincare routine before she banished it. The man’s appearance was quite a shocking departure from his earlier actions. He did not look like the type who would brutally murder someone. Bao Si wouldn’t let herself be fooled however, after all, many had thought the same about her before being taught an unfortunate lesson.

The Rattan Armor Solider pressed a fist against his chest and bowed. “I am Qiong Qi. May I have the honor of knowing your name?”

Bao Si briefly considered hiding her real identity but decided against it. It was pointless, given how tied she was to Xi Wangmu’s rebellion now. It wouldn’t take long for Qiong Qi to discover who she was and reveal the lie. At that point, she would have offended a Ninth-Layer Liquid Meridian for no reason.

“A talented Ninth-Layer Liquid Meridian,” she mentally added.

A youthful face was no real indicator of age amongst cultivators. Advance quickly enough, and any cultivator could retain their youth for decades. From Qiong Qi, however, her Gu could taste vitality that only the young could have. That he reached this level of cultivation at such a young age spoke to his talent and his future prospects.

As counterintuitive as it sounded, cultivators’ increased lifespans only added to the importance of youth. So long as one advanced as quickly as possible, then they would have plenty of time to cultivate for when they reached true bottlenecks. There were some older cultivators who would say that compared to their total lifespan, they were teenagers. Those sorts of people were delusional. Old was old. There was a world of difference between a twenty-year-old Liquid Meridian and a 100-year-old one.

“Not to mention those lotus flowers.”

If she was not wrong in her assessment, then the pant wrapped around Qiong Qi’s shoulders was the Bewitching Lotus of Ice and Fire. Among spirit plants, it was particularly rare and highly ranked. Even better than the Rattan Vine Armor he was wearing. Controlling the Lotus would allow a cultivator to use strong Ice and Fire powers and create a large number of tough vines to trap foes. For those who could subdue it, the Lotus was practically equivalent to a Top-Grade treasure. One that would only grow with time. Possessing it was a mark of ability. The Bewitching Lotus of Ice and Fire had a strong spirituality that was difficult for the average cultivator to suppress. It was also a mark of status. To be able to keep and openly use a plant that even Crystal Transformation Realms would covet meant this Qiong Qi had a background.

Bao Si raised a hand to calm her Gu. They settled down reluctantly, one invigorated by its advancement, the other for its release from its seal. She brought her hands together in a bow. “Bao Si.”

Qiong Qi’s face morphed into surprise. “Bao? Of the royal house?”

Bao Si nodded. “The same.”

“I’ve been disrespectful then, Princess Bao.” Qiong Qi took on a look of consideration. “So the Queen Mother has also gotten her hooks into the Black Bones.”

“That’s quite the thing to say about Xi Wangmu. She is your leader, no?” No matter how dissatisfied Bao Si was with her master selling their people to Xi Wangmu, one did not reveal the workings of one’s home to strangers.

Qiong Qi shrugged. “It’s not as if we’re here with her permission.”

That was…. concerning. Both for her and the other’s current safety and for her people as a whole in this rebellion. The irony was not lost on her that Xi Wangmu had just recently complained to her about the fractious relations between Zumulu’s various tribes.

“That’s quite the thing to admit to someone you just met,” Bao Si said.

“Seeing that we’re standing on the same line now, who can call you a stranger?” Qiong Qi retorted.

“And yet I am tied to Xi Wangmu, and you are not.” It was a dangerous topic to bring up. Sleeping dogs were left to lie for a reason, but the dangerous questions often revealed the most answers.

“Who says I’m not?” Qiong Qi asked.

Bao Si raised an eyebrow and daintily waved her hand. “Your actions? This situation? I scarcely think Xi Wangmu would consider you hers after this stunt.”

“She doesn’t have a choice,” Qiong Qi said. “She needs everyone she can get to fight the Empire. The same is true for us.”

“And yet you decide to go against potentially centuries of planning for what? Because she is a Peach River Cultivator?”

Qiong Qi folded his hands behind his back. He cut a striking figure with his cultivation and the blooming red and blue lotus flowers on his shoulders. “I won’t lie. That may be a strong consideration for many of the cultivators participating in this ambush. It is not the only one, however, and it’s not mine.”

“As you say.” Bao Si slandered Qiong Qi’s posture in her heart even as he noncommittally responded. Only old men could pose like that and make it look refined, like Grandpa Xie.

“I sense a lack of faith from you, Princess Bao.”

Of course, she had none. With allies like these, who needed enemies? “I met Xi Wangmu herself and wasn’t impressed with her ability to face the Empire. I apologize if I have even less faith in you.”

Qiong Qi chuckled. “That’s fair. These sorts of politics aren’t something a nascent rebellion can afford can it? I suppose that’s why the Queen Mother brought you in.”

He was well-informed. Talented. Holding strong treasures. Knowledge of key information involving several higher realms. This Qiong Qi…. his backing may not be any less than her own.

“What backing?” A bitter part of her mind mocked. If the tall tree had no leaves, then what use was its shade? An unreliable backer was little better than having none at all. Worse even. At least with no backer, you had no one to dash your hopes. Her Master’s decision to align the tribe with Xi Wangmu without so much as a by-your-leave from the other Elders would not just cause waves among their people. It was completely anti-ethical to her position as Grand Shaman. She could already foresee what would happen when she returned home and the result. Her begging her Master for answers and not receiving any.

Bao Si felt very, very tired. A light of understanding crystallized. Given who Xi Wangmu was, it was really the only option.  “I suppose you also have issues with the higher realms.”

Qiong Qi carefully observed Bao Si and made a sound of understanding as he seemed to realize something. “The Queen Mother is an old cultivator. Ancient when our ancestors were young and will only get older. She is very patient. Too patient, perhaps. She will plot, plan, and wait for the perfect moment to strike, no matter how long it takes. For us who have been waiting 400 years, however? How much longer can we wait? My Grandfather and Father both ran out the lifespans of the Liquid Meridian Realm, chanting Zumulu’s freedom on their lips. How much longer will she wait? Until I return to the waters as well?” He shook his head and continued without waiting for an answer. “What’s perfect for her is not perfect for us. She would hold us in suspense that we might at any time fight for our lives and freedom and keep that play going up until we die.”

“You could just pass it on to the next generation,” Bao Si said.

“Pass what?” Qiong Qi asked. “For the Star Core Realm, 400 years may be a blink of an eye, but what about us? Since the annexation, the embers smoldering in the people of Zumulu fade with each passing year. If we don’t do anything to light them now when they’re still there, then what price will have to be paid to light them in the future?”

“And you think your efforts here will be enough?” Bao Si asked.

“At the very least, what we have done here will remind those above us that our lacking cultivation compared to them does not make us puppets to be directed however they please.” He looked directly at her. “Perhaps we might find a common cause even.”

There was only one thing Bao Si could say to that.

“You will die.”

They were three short, simple words. Yet they were the truth. What Qiong Qi and his conspirators were doing was madness. They would be lucky to die in the trial compared to what Xi Wangmu or the Star Core Realms following her would do.

Qiong Qi had the nerve to chuckle. “We’re cultivators. If we don’t clench death between our teeth, then what’s the point?”

“Living, I imagine,” Bao Si sarcastically said.

“Well, that’s a question for the philosophers,” Qiong Qi airily replied. He looked over his shoulder at the barrier. “In any case, I have duties to attend to. There’s a particularly dangerous Formation Specialist in there I have to kill. For the sake of safety, I advise you to stay here until I can escort you to the Central Circle. We’ve already harvested the majority of the treasures outside the Trial Pyramids.”

“Wait,” Bao Si said. “I came in here with two others, another Black Bone shaman and our guard.” She had hesitated a moment to reveal Chen Haoran’s identity, but…. it was perhaps best not to. Chen Haoran was not so weak that he needed the special care of the Rattan Armor Soldiers to survive. Given how private he was about his affairs, she would only offend him by spreading it around.

“Ah, that’s simple.” Qiong Qi pulled out a Communication Jade and relayed Bao Si’s descriptions of her idiot and her new mistake. “They’ll be taken care of so long as my men find them.”

“You sound far too casual for someone ambushing the Garrison,” Bao Si said.

Qiong Qi waved her off. “We have our own means. The Garrison has all been separated, and we collected half of them in the killing zones we set up.”

“I repeat. That sounds far too casual for someone ambushing the Garrison.”

Qiong Qi shrugged. “There was only so much we could do. In the first place, we don’t have complete control over the Trial’s formations. If we altered too many things, then the Garrison would have been spooked. Tricking them into thinking the Trial was a single entrance and not a random teleport was already our limit.”

“Just how did you get access to the formations? I doubt you could have gotten it from Xi Wangmu.”

Qiong Qi smiled mysteriously. “That, Princess Bao, is a question better left to those above us to deal with.”

Right. One of these assholes. Unfortunately, Bao Si was in no position to force an answer from him.

Qiong Qi, the smug ass, continued speaking. “I assure you, Princess Bao, no matter how frivolous we might appear, we are taking this seriously. Our plan is foolproof, at the very least.”

Almost as soon as the words left Qiong Qi’s mouth, his Communication Jade crackled with qi.

“Requesting reinforcements to Barrier A! Garrison Resistance higher than anticipated. Captain Aing has fallen, and we’ve suffered significant casualties.”

Qiong Qi frowned and fed qi into the jade. “This is Captain Qiong. Report.”

“Captain! A Second-Layer Liquid Meridian suddenly revealed a wide-scale Metal Element Technique and broke our battle formation. Captain Aing and our skirmishers were lost in the retreat.”

Qiong Qi remained calm as he spoke. “Confirmed. I’m sending the Jungle Team over to you now—”

His words were lost as a pillar of white light lit up the Secret Realm. They whirled around to find a barrier revealed in its entirety, shining with white light and rumbling like a choppy sea. Then it broke into pieces, shards of light falling apart like the barrier was made of sand.

Bao Si turned to Qiong Qi. “Foolproof?”

“I did not say we were dealing with fools,” Qiong Qi retorted. Despite the large upset to their plans, his expression did not change, and he raised the Communication Jade. “Jungle Team, proceed to Barrier A and—”

The jade crackled with qi, and a whisper interrupted him.

“Reporting. Lu Aotian has been discovered. Location Central—” The message immediately cut before it could finish. Qiong Qi fruitlessly tried to re-establish contact and gave up after a few attempts. Before he could say anything else, another message came in.

“Reporting to Captain Qiong! The Formation specialist was just a decoy!”

Qiong Qi frowned. “So we don’t know where he is?”

“We’re searching for him now, sir—”

“Don’t bother,” Qiong Qi said, his face now carefully blank. It seems he also took etiquette classes. He was staring at the barrier next to them that was now slowly fading away. When it was gone entirely, he turned to Bao Si.

“Shall we make our way to the Central Circle?”

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So. The chapter was late. A bit of a crappy way to end the week. Thank you all for your patience. Multiple all nighters this week just ended up taking their toll, combined with writers block and trying to get Bao Si's POV right which I'm still not entirely satisfied with. I would appreciate your thoughts in the comments for future editing purposes. For now I'm going to rest over the rest of the weekend and re-evaluate my writing process so that we can come back stronger on Monday. I hope you enjoy the chapter and have a good weekened.

Chapter 147

When gambling, no matter how well you stacked the odds in your favor, the old adage always rang true. The House always wins. Unfortunately for Zumulu and the rebels, the Empire had been the House in the south for the last 400 years. It wasn’t that he didn’t think Xi Wangmu didn’t have a long and carefully prepared plan to fight the Empire. He just put more weight on Lan Fen’s and Song Yuelin’s opinions than he did her planning. They had impressed the simple rule upon him about attracting the Empire’s attention.

Don’t.

So he wouldn’t. He would help the Garrison. Get Xie Jin and Bao Si out of here. Then hightail it out of Zumulu. It was a simple plan, but simple was good. He’d had enough of the complicated stuff. Perhaps it was a bit wishful, but Chen Haoran would take what he could get at this point.

He and Jiang Aiguo made their way back to the Garrison. Along the way, they ran into fleeing Rattan Vine Armor Soldiers. Or rather, the soldiers ran into them. More accurately, they ran into Chen Haoran. Though their faces were obscured just going by the way the soldiers flinched in the opposite direction, Chen Haoran could tell they were going through the worst case of being caught between a rock and a hard place in their lives.

Chen Haoran opened his mouth to speak, but Jiang Aiguo had already drawn his blade and was striding toward one of the soldiers. “Leave this one to me, sir.”

Naturally, the soldiers attacked.

Phelps flew off his shoulder and barreled into another one. Vines whipped out of the soldier’s armor like pythons and sought to wrap around Phelps, only to bounce uselessly off his liquid qi. The soldier only had time for a single startled shout before Phelps crashed into him.

That left three for Chen Haoran. Unlike their previous tight formations, they spread out spears and shields at the ready. Three floods of green liquid rushed toward him.

Chen Haoran sighed.

In one motion, he pulled out his sword, and a flurry of cutting blades flashed and diced the soldiers and their liquid qi to pieces. Final Floods erupted and the struggling vine armors turned on their owners and rapidly devoured the qi to grow and carpet the ground in a blanket of vines. To his right, Phelps sank his claws through the Rattan Soldier’s helmet and into his eyes before flipping away into the air as the soldier exploded into a mess of vines. To his left, Jiang Aiguo had broken through his target’s blue liquid qi with a single powerful blow before flooding his own peach-colored qi into the gap and overwhelming the soldier. The soldier tried to struggle, but Jiang Aiguo seized him with his liquid qi, ripping away his armaments and his balance. Peach qi glowed along Jiang Aiguo’s sword and neatly pierced the soldier’s throat before swinging his blade and removing his head entirely.

Chen Haoran watched both masses explode into vines, noting the black marks on the surface of the vines after Jiang Aiguo pulled his liquid qi away. “I know they’re not really on our side, but you’re still pretty…. decisive.”

Jiang Aiguo shrugged and sheathed his sword. “It’s not like I knew they existed before this—compartmentalization of information and all that. It doesn’t bother me too much. Fighting Rattan Armor Soldiers is practically tradition for Peach River Swordsmen.”

Chen Haoran raised an eyebrow. “Really? The Peachbloods never used them?”

“We can’t,” Jiang Aiguo said. “Our qi is too caustic to use the vines properly, and they were never able to take to the Peachwine’s water and soil for us to grow our own.”

“I’m surprised you guys weren’t called forward to fight earlier,” Chen Haoran said. “I think I remember there being a few more Peachbloods.”

Jiang Aiguo pointed at the black marks along the vines. There were a few of them, but they were surface level at best and even now were healing. “Peach Qi isn’t much better at fighting Rattan Vines. When I say our qi is too caustic, I meant for infusion. The vines can still resist us on the surface. The other River Kingdoms wouldn’t have invaded us so much if we could kill Rattan Vines that easy.”

“It would have been better than nothing,” Chen Haoran said.

“Well, that’s the Empire for you. Their training focuses on their experiences with the Rattan Armor Soldiers, not my people’s. I’m surprised they mention it at all. They’ve got more current enemies they need to study.”

Phelps floated over to Chen Haoran with a squeal and bloody claws. Chen Haoran coated his hand with qi and proceeded to clean them before letting Phelps nibble on his bamboo stick as a reward. Meanwhile, Jiang Aiguo picked up the mass of vines that used to be a severed head.

“We have to split off here,” he said. “Captain Pan is too observant, so it’s better if we don’t return together.”

“Well, you’re the experienced one,” Chen Haoran said.

Jiang Aiguo flashed a smile and hooked a thumb toward himself. “Don’t worry, sir. I may not be the strongest spy in the Garrison right now, but if I called myself second in skill, no one else could claim first.”

Chen Haoran was suddenly assaulted with a strong feeling of deja vu. Those words were familiar. When he finally recalled where he had heard them before, he shook his head and chuckled. “You remind me of Jiang Lei. He said something like that before.”

Jiang Aiguo brightened. “Thank you, sir. It’s an honor to be compared to Senior Brother Lei.” He clasped his hands in a bow. “I’ll be off, sir.”

Chen Haoran mimed a salute. “Godspeed, soldier.”

Jiang Aiguo looked confused but accepted the salute in the spirit it was given and took off. Chen Haoran waited until he could sense he was out of the range of his sense. Then waited a few more seconds on top of that. Then he hung his head back and sighed.

“Complicated.”

—————————

The Garrison was cleaning up the battlefield when he returned. Two Metal Root soldiers, the only two surviving ones, and an Earth Root with a Metal Technique were going around and chopping the tangles of vines into more manageable pieces. The vines were then taken and burned in piles with Fire Qi or buried deep in the earth by Earth Roots. A group of Peachbloods were off to the side, Jiang Aiguo among them. They were wrestling with something covered in Peach-colored qi that Chen Haoran soon realized was a living Rattan Armor soldier. The Peachbloods were holding him down and attempting to pry his vine armor off.

“Friend Song!” Pan Gong’s voice boomed, drawing his attention.

Chen Haoran nervously watched Pan Gong and Captain Liu approach him. Jiang Aiguo said that there was no search warrant for Chen Haoran, but what if he was wrong? Or worse, what if he was lying?

Pan Gong stopped in front of him and gave Chen Haoran a thumbs-up. “Nice! Very handsome.”

“Super handsome,” Captain Liu added, giving his own thumbs up.

“What the fuck?” Chen Haoran would admit that being complimented by two extremely buff men was incredibly validating but seriously. What the fuck?

Pan Gong saw the confusion on his face and laughed. “Sorry, we assumed you’d be uncomfortable after having your mask destroyed. It was either we compliment your face or your manhood. I will say, though, rushing to fight 200 men alone does require a very large pair.”

“There’s a saying in my town. ‘The Empire has as many heroes as there are stars in the sky,’” Captain Liu said. “You’ve opened my eyes to that saying today. Who would have thought we’d be lucky enough to have a friend with such a strong Metal Element Technique when we needed it most.”

“Right….” Chen Haoran slowly said. “How goes it over here? I ran into a few soldiers on my way back.” He cast his sense around, but it was hard to get an estimate of the fallen Rattan Armor Soldier.

“We killed eighty,” Pan Gong said. “A good portion of that being yours. The vines of the dying got in our way and gave the rest of them time to flee. Since this whole area was trapped, we decided it would be safer not to give chase.”

There was a scream of anguish and rage. They looked over and saw the Peachbloods jumping back from a grasping shamble of vines. The Metal Elements rushed over and cut it to pieces before it could grow too far.

Ji Aiguo conferred with the other Peachbloods, then walked over to them with his head hung low. “Sir, the prisoner self-detonated before we could remove his armor.”

Pan Gong nodded, and Jiang Aiguo retreated. Captain Liu sighed. “What a shame. It would have been useful to get a complete suit.”

“Losing the armor isn’t a complete loss,” Pan Gong assured him. “I’m sure the Imperial Academy will be more interested in the vines anyway.”

“It’s not like there won’t be more opportunities once the other Rattan Armors regroup,” Chen Haoran said.

Captain Liu grinned. “They can regroup all they like. Captain Pan and I beheaded most of their elites.”

“And I plan for us to be long gone before they have them time to regroup,” Pan Gong said. He waved for Chen Haoran to follow him and then to the other Metal Roots, and they all walked over to the Emission Node. “Song Yuelin, can your Metal Element Technique be focused on a point?”

“It can,” Chen Haoran confirmed.

“Good. That makes this more feasible then.”

“This being?”

“When you used your pupil technique on the barrier before, you saw it absorbing Water and Wood Qi, correct?” Pan Gong asked.

“Yes.”

Pan Gong punched the white energy pillar in the corner where the barrier emerged with a hand wreathed in liquid qi, sending ripples across its smooth surface. “The barrier is Metal Element. It’s not complicated as formations go, but it utilizes the ambient energies of the Secret Realm effectively, which means even if we bombard it with Water and Fire Qi, we’ll be here all day before it finally goes down.” He turned to Chen Haoran. “With you and the other Metal Roots all focusing your Metal Qi onto this point, then we can resonate with the Metal Qi of the barrier and open a hole to escape. What say you?”

What could he say?

“I will be getting paid, right?”

Pan Gong paused, then chortled. “I’ll pay out out of my own funds if I have to.”

“Works for me.”

Chen Haoran stepped forward and drew his sword. Pan Gong and Metal Roots stepped back as white sword shadows cut across the ground before them. Chen Haoran gripped the hilt of his sword with both hands and cycled his qi. Ever so slowly, less and less cutting energy escaped from his sword, and it grew brighter and brighter. The Yellow Dragon continuously drew in more qi to replace what Chen Haoran was expending to point, not control, point the White Tyrant’s Harmonization. Phelps encouragingly squealed at him from his back.

The Metal Roots flinched. Pan Gong frowned. “This isn’t a Technique.”

Chen Haoran ignored him and pushed his sword into the Emission Node. The tip of the sword pressed against the barrier.

The energy pillar rumbled.

Chen Haoran flexed his qi for dear life as a vibration ran through his sword and threatened to fling him away. His liquid flooded around his arms and legs to hold them steady even as Phelps was flung off his back with a startled screech. Chen Haoran could feel the sword shifting across the surface of the barrier despite his attempts to keep it in one place. The calm surface of the pillar was now a stormy sea of rippling energy in every direction as Chen Haoran fought to keep the White Tyrant’s Harmonization condensed and focused on the pillar. Two large hands landed on his back and pushed him forward, applying enough pressure to barely keep the sword still.

“Change of plans,” Pan Gong said from behind. Yellow Liquid qi spilled from his hands and pushed against Chen Haoran. The Yellow Dragon was quick to react, releasing liquid qi across Chen Haoran’s back. Where Pan Gong’s qi met his own, it was seamlessly absorbed into Chen Haoran’s body and into the Yellow Dragon’s waiting maw.

Pan Gong grunted. “Five Elements Formation,” he commanded with a deep voice.

Through his sense, Chen Haoran could feel the other Garrison soldiers rush over. More hands were placed on Chen Haoran’s shoulders, more still were pushing Pan Gong, and further beyond that were soldiers pushing them. What was peculiar however was the order they did it. Directly behind Chen Haoran were the Water Spirit Roots. Behind them came the two Metal Spirit Roots. After that were the Earth Spirit Roots. Captain Liu led the Fire Spirit Roots to push them in turn and at the very end were the Wood Spirit Roots. The only ones who didn’t assemble were the Peachbloods, who stood on guard around the perimeter.

“Push,” Pan Gong bellowed.

The Wood Spirit Roots flooded their qi, which fed the Fire Spirit Roots, who flooded their qi to bolster the Earth Spirit Roots, which then flooded forward to push the Metal Spirit Roots, which then heightened the Water Spirit Roots, who all pressed Chen Haoran. The sword stopped moving. Then it pressed into the barrier. Barely a millimeter, but it was movement, and they all sensed it.

“Push.”

Another millimeter.

“Push.”

Phelps dropped down onto Chen Haoran and added his own liquid qi to their efforts.

“Push.”

The tip sank in.

“Push.”

The Emission Node was trembling, the whole pillar disturbed and rippling with energy. Chen Haoran’s sword was shaking as if it had become a giant tuning fork, and he started to worry that he would be ruining another weapon. The White Tyrant’s Harmonization wasn’t making things any easier. It bucked and raged at Chen Haoran’s control, offended that he dared try to direct it. It would break through the barrier, or it would break through him, and it didn’t care which happened first.

“Push!”

Phelps squealed.

The Garrison soldiers shouted.

The Yellow Dragon, now fat on Pan Gong’s qi, squeezed itself into Chen Haoran’s arm and lent its power. Its roar carried with it a sense of natural kingship, a wordless command that to hear its voice was to obey, and that refusal was blasphemous. The proclamation rang through Chen Haoran’s arms and led his qi in a battle charge into his sword.

The White Tyrant’s Harmonization stilled.

For some reason, Chen Haoran pictured the time the White Tyrant turned his head and looked in disbelief at something Lan Fen had said.

Then the Harmonization exploded with anger. His sword sank into the Emission Node up to the hilt, causing Chen Haoran to stumble forward. He instinctively pulled back, raising the sword as he did so. Cutting energy flashed, and the barrier easily parted before the blade. A long, metal-white crack ran up along the pillar, stark even on the white background.

“Brace!” Pan Gong shouted.

The Emission Node exploded.

Chapter 146

Notification Of Change: Because I decided it would be funnier. Chen Haoran's fake name he gave to the Garrison will now be Song Yuelin from hereon instead of Lan Junjie.

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Chen Haoran pumped as much qi as his legs could bear and put as much distance between himself and the Garrison as he could. He crashed through trees and deadly leaf rain, the damn archer groaning as Chen Haoran had no hesitation in using his body to do the breaking. He was a Liquid Meridian. He could take it.

Chen Haoran eventually stopped when he realized just how much blood and liquid qi the archer was bleeding. He released his chokehold and threw him against a tree hard enough to crack it. The tree immediately dropped its whole canopy of knife leaves. Chen Haoran waved his sword and the leaves and top half of the tree evaporated into white light, along with the tops of several other trees around them. When he brought his sword back down, the arc threw out a ghost-white aura that carved a trench into the earth behind him, extending back from where he came and swallowing more trees.

He’d held off using the White Tyrant’s Harmonization for the longest now for lack of a good weapon and a worry that it would be too destructive. His concern was justified. Chen Haoran had theorized before that he was the one holding the back the power of the Harmonization. He could confidently confirm now that his theory was correct. It was less that the Harmonization grew stronger and more that Chen Haoran was more worthy of wielding its power. Only barely however. Even now, he had to keep a firm grip on the hilt lest his sword be bucked out of his hand by the energies flowing through it. He was grateful the Hundred-Thousand Refinement Iron Essence Sword focused on toughness above all else. He would be worried it might crack within a few uses otherwise.

The archer groaned again and drooped forward. Chen Haoran harshly grabbed his head and yanked it up so that they locked eyes. He clicked his tongue in annoyance when he found the archer’s eyes dilated and unfocused. Good thing he had personal experience with this. Chen Haoran’s hand glowed with yellow qi and sank into the archer’s head. Clarity returned to his eyes, and Chen Haoran watched them fill with shock, confusion, fear, and anger.

The archer let out a wordless howl, raised his amputated wrists toward Chen Haoran, and blasted liquid qi from them like water cannons. The Yellow Dragon roared. Liquid qi burst from Chen Haoran’s chest to block the attack while the roar traveled through Chen Haoran’s arm and into the archer’s skull. The archer lost control of his qi, and his eyes rolled up into his head. He was lucky Chen Haoran still needed answers and had the Yellow Dragon tone it itself down. It could have been worse otherwise. Chen Haoran flexed his qi and raked it across the qi in the archer’s head, bringing him back to consciousness through the searing pain it caused.

“What’s your plan for if the Garrison escapes the trial,” Chen Haoran demanded.

Pale and sweating, the archer spat blood in his face. “Rot in the Green Hell.”

Chen Haoran didn’t react to the insult or the blood. He could see he wouldn’t have long to ask questions. He needed something that would get the archer to start talking. A quick judge of the archer’s qi revealed it was Profound-Rank. Not the best, but given he still nearly killed Chen Haoran, it wasn’t the worst either. With a Seventh-Layer cultivation base on top of that, he couldn’t be that unimportant.

“Does Xi Wangmu know what you’re doing?” Chen Haoran coldly asked. “Do you even know who you were shooting, you dumb bastard?”

The archer’s eyes went wide. “How do you know that name?”

Chen Haoran sneered. “Because I just had a meeting with her last week. This fucker. Of all the people here, you just had to shoot me. Were you told nothing?”

“No,” the archer mumbled. He was shaking now. “No, you’re lying! If she sent you here, then everything would be in the palm of her hands!”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Chen Haoran asked. Genuinely. What the hell was he talking about? “This whole rebellion is led by Xi Wangmu. It’s all in her hands.”

It was the archer’s turn to sneer. “There are more rivers in Zumulu than the Peachwine.”

Chen Haoran shook him. “Forget that nonsense. How do you plan to escape from this mess? You couldn’t have made all these plans just to throw your life away.”

The archer laughed. Chen Haoran could feel his fading pulse through his grip. “That’s what you and the Queen Bitch will never understand. The both of you can…. go to hell…. everything…. for Zumulu.”

Chen Haoran stepped back in disgust as the light left the archer’s eyes. His body exploded in a torrent of liquid qi a scant second later. Chen Haoran slashed his sword and a scythe of metal-white energy tore through the Final Flood and annihilated both it and the jungle before him.

Chen Haoran let out a long breath. He hadn’t learned what he wanted, and what he did learn was a problem. From the archer’s words, Xi Wangmu didn’t know anything about what was happening here. Was that really true? She was clearly involved with the Rattan Armor Soldiers if her learning about the operation here would be a problem. The whole trap involved who knew how much time of work and setup, plus the involvement of Garrison officials with enough pull to have almost the entire Reservoir Town officer corps be lured into it. It was a massive operation on every level down. One that would, at minimum, put the Garrison on high alert if not completely expose whatever veil of secrecy the rebellion had been operating under, along with the extent of their infiltration into the highest levels of the government and military. Could Xi Wangmu truly be unaware of such a massive operation? Or were the planners so careful that it was even hidden from her?

Chen Haoran sighed. “Factionalism and revolution. Name a more iconic combo.” He dragged a hand across his to wipe off the blood and came away with strips of skin. He stared at it, stupefied, until the adrenaline died, and he realized his face felt weird. A quick sweep of his sense revealed his Human-Skin Mask was in tatters and next to useless. The arrow to the head he’d taken must’ve damaged it. He tore off the mask with a sound of frustration. “Damnit.”

A distant squeal came from the air. Chen Haoran looked up in relief to see Phelps floating down. Suddenly Phelps accelerated his descent and fell into the jungle. Chen Haoran narrowed his eyes as his sense picked up Phelps and a peach-colored qi that wasn’t there before rapidly approaching. The Peachblood Soldier Jiang sprinted into the clearing Chen Haoran created with a growling Phelps chasing him. He skidded to a stop when he saw Chen Haoran. He cast a worried glance behind him at Phelps, practically drooling liquid qi, the back to an expressionless Chen Haoran.

Soldier Jiang held up his hands. “Sir… Song Yuelin?”

“How long have you been there?” Chen Haoran asked. A white shadow split off from his sword and opened another trench within the trench he made.

“In peach blossom valley there is a peach blossom cottage,” Soldier Jiang said.

“What?” Chen Haoran turned the random sentence over in his head, trying to make sense of it. Unfortunately, there was no sense to be found in it. Some poem, maybe? Chen Haoran flicked his sword. A shadow of energy flew above Soldier Jiang’s head and took off the tops of twenty trees behind him. “I don’t have the energy or the care to play twenty passwords with you. If you’re with Xi Wangmu, then speak before I bury you here.”

“I am, I am,” Soldier Jiang hastily said.

Chen Haoran sheathed his sword and motioned Phelps to be at ease. “Do you know what’s going on here then?”

Soldier Jiang cautiously lowered his hands. “I’m afraid I don’t…. sir. May I know what your position is?”

Chen Haoran took one look at Soldier Jiang’s reserved appearance and mentally sighed. “Jiang, was it? Are you related to Jiang Lei at all, or do you just have similar names?”

A look of joy crossed Soldier Jiang’s face, and he visibly relaxed. “You know, Senior Brother Jiang?”

“We became acquainted,” Chen Haoran said. “I take it your not family then.”

“Oh no, we’re both part of the Jiang Generation of Peach River Swords, so we just happen to share a name.” He clasped his hands and bowed. “I apologize for my earlier rudeness, sir. My name is Jiang Aiguo.”

Chen Haoran waved off his apology. “Don’t worry about it. You really don’t know anything?”

Jiang Aiguo shook his head. “I’m as clueless as you are, sir. I received no orders about this. My best guess is that certain factions decided to…. take matters into their own hands.”

Chen Haoran snorted. “Understatement much?”

“Well, that’s just peachy,” Chen Haoran said. Phelps floated over to him, and he tucked the sloth into his arm and turned to leave. “Well, best of luck. Hopefully, we can make it out of here alive.”

“Sir? Where are you going?”

“Away. I’m going to hide until this barrier comes down, then go find my people. If you happen to run across two Black Bone Shamans, make sure you protect them. They’re very important.”

“Excuse me, sir, but do you think all of the independent cultivators in this trial won’t be detained and investigated after the exit is triggered? If you help you’ll have less suspicion directed toward you.”

Chen Haoran paused and looked back at a serious Jiang Aiguo. “Are you implying the Garrison will actually get out of here?”

“The best talents in the entire Garrison are gathered here,” Jiang Aiguo said. “From what I’ve seen so far, I can’t say the best of the Rattan Armor Army has been sent here. If they planned to rely on superior numbers and preparation to win, then the Garrison has a real chance to turn things around once they rally together.”

“Do you really think talent alone is enough to make up for the disadvantage they’re at?” Chen Haoran asked.

“With all due respect, sir, are you yourself not that example of that?”

That brought Chen Haoran up short. Was he? He didn’t think so. What he was doing couldn’t really be called talent. He was just souped up on magical super steroids. If it weren’t for the Gifting Power, then he would have never made it as far as he had.

“At the very least,” Jiang Aiguo continued. “Captain Pan is a student of the Palace School. He absolutely has cards he hasn’t played yet, and I know Captain Lu has a treasure that can ward off Crystal Transformations for a short time.”

“Aren’t you part of the rebellion?” Chen Haoran asked. “Why do you seem so deadset on helping the Garrison now?”

“Ah, well.” Jiang Aiguo rubbed his neck. “Sure, I’d give my life for my home, but I’d like for it to have some meaning, you know? I feel like I can still be of service as an informant anyway. My scouting skills are valued by several Captains. Plus, I don’t really want to take my chances on switching sides and trusting that a rogue element that’s already proven unreliable won’t kill me.”

Chen Haoran…. couldn’t say he wasn’t moved by Jiang Aiguo’s words. Sure, technically, he and the rebels were on the same side, but going with them would make it inevitable that he’d run into someone who recognized him and ran the risk of the Chen Family getting word of his whereabouts. Helping the Garrison ruin their plan didn’t wasn’t a good look either, however, if he were unlucky enough to run into Xi Wangmu again. Or was it? He could potentially turn it around into Xi Wangmu’s lacking leadership that saw him attacked by her own people. He just really, really didn’t want to get close to anything or anyone connected to the Chen Family.

“That sounds good and all,” Chen Haoran slowly said. “But there’s still the issue of…. this.” He motioned to his face.

“No one will be too surprised that you were wearing a Human-Skin Mask.” Jiang Aiguo said. “It’s not uncommon for these sorts of places.”

“No, I mean my face,” Chen Haoran corrected. “They’ll recognize my face.”

As soon as Chen Haoran saw the look of perplexion on Jiang Aiguo’s face, he knew something was wrong.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I’ve never seen you before.” Jiang Aiguo actually sounded embarrassed as he said it. “Is there a reason the Garrison would recognize you?”

“Is there no wanted poster for me?” Chen Haoran said. “No details of my description or my pets? No orders to watch the roads leaving Zumulu?”

Jiang Aiguo shook his head. “I’m a jungle patroller, and I’m friends with many who patrol the Peachwine and the official road. I’ve never heard about any warrant like that.”

“Nothing?” Chen Haoran asked again. “Not from the higher-ups to be on the lookout for a fugitive with a Heaven-Ranked Technique? Not anything from— what were their names?” Chen Haoran snapped his fingers repeatedly. “Commanders Lu and Han! Nothing from them or their subordinates?”

Jiang Aiguo looked at Chen Haoran strangely. “Sir, Commander Lu is stationed in Stonebridge, and Commander Han is even farther away in Piranha Lake. Reservoir Town is beyond their remit. Commander Lu’s son is here, but that’s because he’s a captain attached to Headquarters. If they tried to do anything like that, then the Garrison Commander would be the first person demanding an explanation.”

Chen Haoran…. didn’t know how to process that. Could it be that Jiang Aiguo just hadn’t noticed it? It didn’t sound like he was lying, though. If there were a search being done around Reservoir Town, then surely the soldiers stationed there would have heard about it. If he was telling the truth, however, then just what were those Commanders doing? What had he been running and hiding from all this time? Surely they were hunting the Heaven-Rank technique. Did they take it upon themselves to personally search for it? No, that didn’t make sense either. That would probably be even more noticeable than just having their subordinates do it. Was the search just centered in the area near Stonebridge? Maybe? But then again, he didn’t remember the security being particularly tight or stringent when he returned.

Chen Haoran pressed a hand to his suddenly throbbing forehead. “Were they even looking to begin with?”

Interlude: The Silkworm/The Centipede Princess/The Damned Archer

Hello. It's me. Plutus. He who cultivates the Dao of Delays. I'm sorry for this week and this chapter in particular given how long its taken. This arcs chapters have taken longer to write as I have a vision I'm trying to make sure fits together. Added to that, this chapter is longer than usual, adds Bao Si's POV for the first time, and is also the first Multi-PoV that I've ever done so it took longer. Went back and forth a bunch. Please let me know what you think in the comments. Also if anyone ever wants to keep up to date with news or Delays then check out the Discord, although you'll need to connect your Discord to Patreon if you want to access the Patreon only channels. Anyway thanks for your patience this week. Cheers!

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Friends. Fame. Fortune. What more did a man need in life? They weren’t necessarily things that required one to travel and adventure to retrieve. If Xie Jin holed up in the Basin and quietly cultivated till he became a Crystal Transformation, then all three of those things would inevitably flock to him.

But what was the point of a life lived like that?

There was a whole world out there. Places far and near that occupied the same threads in the tapestry of history as Zumulu did but wove entirely different pictures from them. There was so much amazing depth to their home that many declared they would never leave it and were not interested in any other place. Xie Jin had butted heads with these elders more than once. Who in their right mind would stand in front of art and only look at one corner of it rather than the whole? Zumulu was so amazing already. What of the rest of the world? His grandfather had chided him on his opinion before, that he wasn’t seeing the trees for the jungle. Xie Jin would counter that even in colorful Zumulu with its myriad flora, fauna, and forms. The trees still looked the same.

Though he had to admit, it could still surprise him every now and then.

It had been a rough start to the Trial. The forests were lethal, and the air poisoned the lungs. Brother Chen and Bao Si were nowhere to be found. That Garrison bastard had really misled them. It wasn’t surprising, really. Trust the Empire not to know how to interpret his people’s ruins. For any other Qi Realm, it would be a bad situation. Fortunately, Xie Jin was far from being a normal Qi Realm. This place was almost like a second home. He breathed worse poisons while cleaning his grandfather’s sheets. As for the trees, knife leaves? Hardly unique. Teeth leaves were worse. He’d collected two interesting durians he’d found. Their chemical gas was okay. He’d made similar during his etiquette classes when he was younger. They’d make good makeshift bombs once he infused Gu poison into them.

He would need it. There were too many Liquid Meridians crawling around. The bastards were practically occupying the pyramids. Besides observing how they worked at a distance, Xie Jin steered clear from them. He would just find some closer to the center. He doubted those high and mighty Garrison bastards were paying attention to the pyramids anyway. If they did then they’d know that where the stone oroboros’s heads met tails represented North and South. Using that combined with his Gu and it didn’t take Xie Jin long to figure out the direction the center of the trial was in. He did run into a weird barrier on the way but it wasn’t blocking him. Probably another feature of the trial, he’d leave it to the Liquid Meridians to figure out. He made his way deeper into the trial grounds and luxuriated in the rising ambient qi.

There were way more available pyramids here. Conversely, that meant he had no one to challenge to complete them quickly. Waiting them out wasn’t entirely bad, at least until his Gu alerted him to an approaching Liquid Meridian, and he was forced to bug out. He was fortunate enough to wait out the timer on a few pyramids, however, and got some decent rewards. The edibles were eaten immediately for his advancement push. The non-edible and not immediately useful were stored away. It would hurt to be forced to give them up to the Garrison once he left the Trial, but it was a trade-off he was willing to accept. They weren’t that good anyway. The best rewards would come from actively challenging people, not waiting. In a way, it was representative of Xie Jin’s own beliefs. Truly the ancients were wise.

Hopefully, Brother Chen and Bao Si were faring better than him. With their strength, they were in a better position to benefit from the Trial than he was. It was a bit frustrating that he’d have to scavenge his way between stronger cultivators so that he could advance, but such was life. He could only blame himself for the sin of being weak when he needed to be strong. Fortunately, Lady Luck still loved her weaklings. He found an occupied pyramid and, miracle of miracles, it was occupied by a Ninth-Layer Qi Realm.

Perhaps he, too, was the first Qi Realm the woman had seen thus far because she seemed relieved at the sight of him ascending the pyramid. Her bones marked her as a native. The butterflies decorating it spoke to her being from the Eastern jungles. Her stance and butterfly swords marked her as a warrior. Xie Jin would oblige her. His sleeve glowed purple. The women lunged, feathery blue qi dancing its way up her blades. Xie Jin leapt, his hand swinging. They met in the air for a brief before their jumps carried them past each other. Xie Jin adroitly landed at the top of the pyramid. The woman’s body landed heavily on the steps, covered in a swarm of purple insects, and rolled down. Her blade work was fine, but it was no match for his Swarm Control Skill.

Xie Jin turned his back on his fallen foe and went in to claim his prize. The light pillar collapsed unto itself, and the silver light collected around the altar. Xie Jin’s breathe hitched as a perfectly round, glass-like fruit with five perfect leaves materialized.

“Liquid Core Fruit.” He couldn’t keep the awe out of his voice.

This was it. His big break. He would become a Liquid Meridian and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Brother Chen. He could hold his head high in front of his grandfather and say his way was not wrong—look at how he advanced. He gingerly took the fruit in hand.

The warning of his Gu came too late.

Not that it didn’t sense the incoming presence in time. It absolutely did. It just didn’t matter. By the time his Gu warned him, the cultivator had already closed the distance and appeared atop the pyramid. A vicious, animal-like qi washed over him, causing every single nerve to stiffen and every sense of his to scream at him to run.

The Ninth-Layer Garrison cultivator smirked and crossed his arms. “I thought I smelled something good, and I was right.” He sniffed the air. “Not you, though. Poisonous little bugger, ain’t you. Really did a number on that bird outside.”

Xie Jin quietly ordered his Gu to slink away while he adjusted his grip on the Liquid Core Fruit. The Garrison monster’s eyes were riveted on the fruit. Fat drops of red liquid qi dripped from him as if he were salivating, falling on the stone bricks and hunting for prey before turning on themselves.

“I am Captain Lu Aotian,” the Liquid Meridian suddenly declared.

Xie Jin struggled not to gulp. “In these sorts of situations its a bit suspicious to declare your name first. Someone might think you’re going to kill me.”

Lu Aotian nodded. “I am.”

Xie Jin measured the distance of his Gu. “But why?” he asked. “I haven’t done anything. If it’s the fruit you want, I have other things to exchange for it. If you let me refine it in peace, then I promise to be like a dog and horse for you throughout the entire trial.”

“You misunderstand,” Lu Aotian patronizingly said. “I’m not going to kill you for the Liquid Core Fruit. I’m going to kill you because you’re going to run and make me chase you. Don’t even lie to me. I can see it in your eyes. Rats like you all have the same face. I’m just saving myself a few seconds by getting it over with."

He took a single step.

“I’m a Black Bone Shaman,” Xie Jin blurted out.

Lu Aotian paused. A real look of consideration crossed his features. “A Black Bone Shaman? Interesting.” He took another step. “I’ll just have to kill your Gu first, then. Call it out.”

Xie Jin forced himself not to move. Just a little bit more…. “If you don’t leave me any room for escape, then I’ll just kill myself and curse you. You’re Trial will be ruined, maybe even your life.”

Lu Aotian took another step. “You said so yourself. Maybe. If it were any other Liquid Meridian, then I’m sure they’d be scared, but our power difference is too high for you to be sure. I’m a cut above the common rabble, you see. My father is Commander Lu of Stonebridge.”

Beast Disaster Lu, the Crystal Transformation Realm. No wonder he was taking his time. The son was just as much an animal as the father.

“Well? What is it you want to say?” Lu Aotian asked.

His Gu was ready. Purple miasma bloomed around Xie Jin, and he raised his middle finger. “Fuck you.”

Lu Aotian accelerated, but his hand clawed through nothing but air. Xie Jin appeared outside the pyramid and immediately started running away. Through his connection with his Gu, he could feel the danger it was in as it avoided Lu Aotian’s angry liquid qi and fled. The Substitution Technique was an advanced and little-utilized application of a Gu’s theft ability but just like any other Shaman skill once the right moment was found it was impeccable.

Unfortunately, he was too weak, or else he would have been able to fling himself a greater distance. It was only a matter of time before Lu Aotian found his trial and caught up to him. At that time he’d be well and truly screwed.

He looked at the Liquid Core Fruit.

He needed to advance.

——————

Age. The only thing that killed more cultivators than cultivators themselves. It hung like a heavy chain around every neck, and each new year only added another link. Cultivating to higher realms allowed a cultivator to carry that weight far easier than someone who hadn’t stepped foot on the path. Being able to bear that weight, however, did not make it any less heavy. A cultivator’s lifespan was a hard-earned reward given upon their reaching new heights of power. The stronger the qi, the longer the life—100 years for a Qi Realm, 200 for Liquid Meridan, 500 for Crystal Transformation, and 2 thousand for Star Core. Those were averages, however, not absolutes. Injuries and quality of qi had the final word on how long a cultivator lived, and certain natural treasures and powers could see a cultivator’s lifespan drastically increase.

Like Xi Wangmu’s Longevity Elixirs.

At Grandpa Xie’s behest, Bao Si had sat in the meetings between the clan’s elders as they conferred regarding the Peach River Sword School’s invitation to meet. The junior River Swordsmen who had relayed the message had been vague on the specifics as to why they were invited, but the identity of the sender was enough for them to guess. For the face of Xi Wangmu and the history of the Peach River Sword School, they were compelled to meet with them. Grandpa Xie had been very clear however, there were to be no deals to be made, especially with her Master being incommunicado, even if the Peach River Sword School offered a longevity elixir. Grandpa Xie, in his wisdom, had foreseen what they would say in advance as well as the means they would use to convince her.

Unfortunately, it was for the sake of that wisdom that Bao Si ignored his warning and sat down to negotiate with Xi Wangmu. Grandpa Xie was approaching the end of his life. How many years he had left she couldn’t say. Everyone knew it was coming however, and everyone was dreading and preparing for the day it did. Grandpa Xie had served as a source of sage wisdom and stability in the tribe for centuries. Without him, their recovery after the Empire’s invasion would have been nowhere near as smooth. Losing him now would mean losing a top combat power and font of experience, a serious blow to the tribe’s strength. There were also emotional reasons, of course. Grandpa Xie had raised her since she was a little girl and taught her what he knew. Any moment she could buy for him was incomparably precious. Emotional reasons alone, however, were no way to make decisions for the tribe. He had taught her that.

She was beginning to see his point. She’d made too many emotional decisions recently, and now look where it got her. She was going to wring Xie Jin’s neck once she found him. The fool was probably having the time of his life right now. Gallivanting across the Trial and pretending he actually shared anything in common with a dead culture on the opposite side of Zumulu. He was probably even risking his life exploring those damned pyramids. It was him. Always him that she had to worry about. After all, Grandpa Xie would be sad if something ever happened to him. At least she knew Chen Haoran could take care of himself. Ever since he’d gone from something fun to something serious his strength had been a concern. In these circumstances, however, he was more reliable than Xie Jin would be. Linking up with him was a priority.

At least, it was until she ran across a barrier. It was suspicious. Incredibly so. They were already in a Secret Realm. Why the need for an additional barrier cordoning off a separate area? She sent her Gu out to scout further down and found that the concentration of ambient qi grew higher further away from the barrier, so it wasn’t like it was in a particularly powerful area. Her question was soon, unfortunately, answered when a wounded Garrison Liquid Meridian appeared on the other side of the barrier. When he saw Bao Si, he seemed to see salvation, and he ran over and began pounding on the thin energy pane.

“Help me!” he urged. “Go find the other soldiers. Tell them its a trap—”

Bao Si looked coldly on as the soldier’s chest burst open and splattered blood and viscera across the barrier. A long, thick vine trailed from his chest and back into the jungle, where his killer revealed himself. He was covered head to toe in vine-woven armor. Atop the armor were even more vines wrapped around it, stemming from two lotuses that sat atop his shoulders: one ice blue, the other a fiery red. His Ninth-Layer Liquid Meridian cultivation did not target her but his using of qi weighed on her shoulders all the same.

Bao Si’s Gu slid out from her sleeve and hovered in front of her protectively while her tattoo writhed.

“Oh? A Black Bone Shaman?” The impossible vine man said. He pressed a fist to his chest and bowed his head. A Southern Jungle tradition. “It is an honor to meet a shaman from such a prestigious order. I must profess I did not expect to meet one here today.”

“Nor did I expect to meet a Rattan Armor soldier,” Bao Si neutrally replied.

How could she? If three things could be said to be unique to Zumulu, then it would be the Tenth Green Hell, Gu, and Rattan Armor Soldiers. The method of crafting the armor was a technical affair, part Technique, part real skill, with the craftsmen also growing and harvesting the Rattan vines used. This knowledge was precious, only passed down within families from parent to child, all to create a class of soldiers that could overcome the biggest strategic issue in mobilizing Liquid Meridians and create proper armies of them again rather than small warbands and loose, scattered formations. They were the highest standard of soldiery in Zumulu, even at times bringing the overmighty Orchard cities of the Peachwine to heel.

Naturally, the Empire made sure to kill every last one, loot their armor, steal the secrets of their crafting, then kill anyone else who knew how.

So why was one standing in front of her?

It was a question with an obvious answer.

“How are you related to Xi Wangmu?” she asked.

“Did the Queen Mother send you here?” The Rattan Soldier suspiciously asked before shaking his head. “No, impossible. She would have stopped this if she knew.”

“What?”

Knife trees rustled behind her followed by the sound of leaves sinking into the earth. Bao Si turned around to find a red-clothed Third-Layer Liquid Meridian emerge from the jungle. A cat-sized Mosquito Gu buzzed in the air around him.

“To think there was another fellow shaman so close to me. Should I count myself luck—” He stopped dead in his tracks and stared with wide eyes at the Rattan Armor Soldier and the bloody corpse at his feet. He then looked at Bao Si’s Gu. “You—you….”

“Ah. My apologies.” The Rattan Soldier easily passed through the barrier. “I’ll take care of this now, Lady Shaman.”

Bao Si pinched her brow. “Don’t say it like that. He’s going to misunder—”

“Murderers!” The Gu Department Shaman bellowed. He fiercely glared at Bao Si. “Is the Black Bone Tribe rebelling against the Empire?”

Well. Not a complete misunderstanding, really. Bao Si sighed. Her centipede tattoo writhed and crawled up and down her neck.

Then it peeled itself off.

Ink filled in and expanded into black carapace. Tiny etching of 177 pairs of legs lengthened and dagger-sharp. A metal-like gleam shined through sharp mandibles and an unearthly purple glow filled its tattooed eyes. The centipede released an ear-grinding screech that no bug should ever be able to make, and its aura rose, blowing away dust and dirt around her.

The Shaman paled. “How—how can you control a Liquid Meridian Realm Gu!?”

“Lady Shaman?” The Rattan Soldier said. Curiosity, not fear, was clear in his tone.

“Stay out of this,” Bao Si ordered him.

Despite having no reason to do so, the soldier nodded his head and stepped to the side.

The Shaman paced backward. His Mosquito Gu’s proboscis elongated to the length of a lance and dripped with blood. “Do you really think you can cross realms and fight?”

“I don’t plan on crossing realms,” Bao Si said. “I plan on advancing.” She pointed to the Shaman.

“Devour.”

——————

No matter what anyone had to say about the matter. Duan Ye would maintain with his dying breath the truth and nothing but.

He had shot him.

As a Seventh-Layer Liquid Meridian he was not like the lower layers that were made to drill and march in formation. His strong cultivation and arrow technique had seen him join the skirmishing force to pick off the critical Metal Element users and harry the high-layers of the Garrison while the regular forces ground them down. At first it had been going well, critical Garrison personnel had been dropping like flies and were fleeing like the dogs they were. He’d heard some soldiers gleefully exclaiming that they were successful beyond their wildest imaginations. Duan Ye allowed them their idiotic statements for the sake of morale. Their success was not a surprise. It was expected. Only fools and amateurs allowed themselves to be that surprised. They were merely reaping the benefits of a well-laid plan, nothing more, nothing less.

He was not lucky enough to slay the formation expert, but Duan Ye was proud to say that it was his arrows that laid low two Metal Spirit Roots. It was by happenstance afterwards that he loosed an arrow at the fleeing back of a random unaffiliated cultivator. He was an easy spot against the red uniforms of the Garrison and he’d recalled the Second-Layer had somehow noticed their presence at the last moment when they first ambushed the group. That sort of scouting ability could prove annoying even in the hands of a trifling ant so getting rid of him would be further credit. Duan Ye had already moved on after watching the arrow hit its mark and it was only after one of his fellow archer and competitor for glory ribbed him over not checking his marks that he realized the ant had survived and escaped, which was ridiculous to Duan Ye.

He had shot him.

It was a minor irritation all things considered. The ant would end up dead either way under their encirclement but him not dying was an affront to Duan Ye’s skill. The other archers might not have dared say anything where he could hear them but their mocking thoughts couldn’t be hidden from his keen eyes. Every arrow they fired after the ant during the chase had been an insult toward him. He was thankful the ant’s strange spirit beast blocked their arrows and dispelled their attempts to steal his prey from right in front of him. Duan Ye scoffed at them for their failure. The more difficult the ant was to kill the better he looked, lessening his own failure and magnifying his triumph when he finally killed the ant.

Once they’d trapped the Garrison dogs against the barrier it was only a matter of time. Their futile attempt to stall for time were brushed off by their superior soldiers. Duan Ye’s had to pick his shots carefully, he’d sent one to the ant and focused the rest on the stronger cultivators assaulting the emission node. No reason to let the enemy potentially escape. He found the ant still standing so he sent another. Then another. He’d underestimated the damn spirit beast’s liquid qi. It was really quite an annoying defense. The first snicker from the fools he’d just insulted was the last straw. He flooded qi to his arrow and engaged his Hidden Dragon Arrow Technique. Seeing it shoot across the battlefield and nail the ant in the head and carry him back into the barrier was cathartic.

At least it was.

Why did the ant get back up again?

He had shot him.

Duan Ye’s eye’s stung as the world flashed white.

His temporary blindness only enhanced the screams and bone-chilling sound of falling bodies and when Duan Ye cycled his qi and restored his vision he was treated to the horrifiying site of their vineshield wall chopped to pieces and the front line of their formation decimated.

The ant. Ant? Was charging toward them wielding a pure white sword. Why was he fast? The fallen front line began dying and losing control of their qi. Their Final Floods were absorbed by their armor and fueled the growth of masses of grasping vines that formed a new wall. The cultivator raised his sword and sword shadows scythed the earth and vines like they were naught but air. Their Water Spirit Roots flooded their liquid qi to form a barrier to block the clearly Metal Element attack. Why was it so strong? They had two hundred Liquid Meridians. The enemy was only a Second-Layer Liquid Meridian Realm. Even if his power was exaggerated beyond belief, alone there was no way he could defeat them.

He wasn’t alone.

Dogs that they were, the Empire’s soldiers were much like their masters in that they never let go of opportunity once they had it in their jaws. Their Earth Spirit Roots were quick to flood their own liquid qi, not enough to overwhelm their shield but enough to disrupt it in certain places. The cultivator was quick to capitalize on the opening, swinging his sword down like an executioners blade and releasing a long scythe of white energy that cleaved through liquid qi and armor alike. The cultivator dove into their ranks without care, surrounded by white shadows that obscured his face.

“Kill him!” His rival roared, drawing his bow back to its limits.

Their archers were impeccable. Their aim beyond reproach and their speed such that every second they released three arrows. Their Rattan Armor soldiers were brave and disciplined comparable to their forebears whose heavy legacy they shouldered. In the face of the incomprehensible they raised their spears and stepped forward to slay it.

White sword shadows flashed and split their archer’s arrows. Their soldiers spear fell on his flesh and broke. His pace did not stop in the face of man or vine. Where his sword swung a farmers harvest was reaped and the proud Rattan soldiers were like so much wheat. The Ninth-Layers around Duan Ye cursed and abandoned their bows to move in and deal with the cultivator personally. They were met by the Ninth-Layers of the Garrison. A bear-like man and one of pure fire flanked the cultivator, behind him the Garrison rushed into the gap and tore into the Rattan Armor Army with techniques.

“Duan Ye!”

Duan Ye instinctively knocked another arrow and filled it with qi.

Hidden Dragon Arrow

It flew like a green blur, invisible to the naked eye. Duan Ye had never shot a finer arrow in his life.

The cultivator twitched his sword and his proud arrow was split in twain. Both halves flying off and digging trenches in the earth behind him. The cultivator snapped his head over and his ruined face locked eyes with Duan Ye. His sword flashed and there were suddenly no more soldiers between them.

“Duan Ye! Shoot him!”

“I shot him,” Duan Ye said. He knocked another arrow.

The cultivator sprinted over, liquid qi pouring off him like a writhing dragon. A dragon’s roar filled Duan Ye’s ears and his grip slipped. A sword shadow flashed in front of him. His Profound-Rank bow was sliced cleanly in half. The hands holding it fell from his wrists. Duan Ye stumbled back, liquid qi and blood bleeding freely from his stumps that, for some unholy reason, he could not stop. The cultivator pounced and grabbed Duan Ye’s throat carrying them into the jungle in one bound. Behind them, Duan Ye could see his rival’s headless corpse. Why? How? As the Rattan Army and the Garrison disappeared from view, he could only wonder how this was possible.

He had shot him.

Chapter 145

Sorry for the delay yet again. Big action scenes aren't really my strong suit and this chapter was my attempt at such. It is also coincidentally the longest chapter I've written for the story so far. Thank you once again for your patience. Cheers!

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Among the injuries any military force could suffer, a strike against morale was a most lethal blow. Learning that you were sold out by some high-ranking official and led into a trap for the express purpose of killing you all would leave even the most cynical soldier feeling rattled. Sure, perhaps power-wise, every single Liquid Meridian here could be replaced with a few Crystal Transformations, but the middle officers were what kept things moving. Losing so many of them at once would be a grievous blow to the Garrison and Reservoir Town.

The fact that someone had led the officer class of the Garrison into a killing field wasn’t the worst part to Chen Haoran. The real dread for him came from thinking about what would follow it. Or rather, what might be happening right now. This was too big an action not to follow up on. What sort of world would he be going back into once he escaped from the secret realm? He’d severely underestimated just how far along Xi Wangmu was in her plans.

Pan Gong clapped his hands. The sound was like a gunshot going off. “Look on the bright side, at least we’re not Navy.” His joke was met with laughter that proved yet again that two things were truly certain in life: Taxes and Interservice rivalry. “I don’t know about you all, but personally, I’m looking forward to how good this is going to look on my annual evaluations. We might even get a raise.”

There were a few groans and low chuckles from the assembled soldiers. Even Chen Haoran huffed a small laugh. Hating yearly evals and performance assessments was truly multiversal, it seemed.

Pan Gong allowed the chuckling to go on for a few more seconds before clapping again. “Alright, let’s get a move on. Our priority is to break through the barrier and rush for the Center Ring as quickly as possible.”

“Do we have a means to break through it?” The Eighth-Layer asked.

Pan Gong clenched his fist. “We have our means right here. My knowledge in formations isn’t as extensive as a specialist but it will suffice. We’ll target the emission node. Those are more prone to failure, especially once enough pressure is applied.” He turned to Chen Haoran. “How far can your technique see.”

“As far as the eye can see,” Chen Haoran answered. “But these jungle blocks it for the most part. These trees are all filled with qi. The enemy’s vine armor blends in too well for me to spot them. I only caught them before because they were literally right in front of us.”

“Any other limitations that will hinder us?” Pan Gong asked.

Chen Haoran took a moment to consider. “It can be disorienting to use it for a while and stop. I can’t fight effectively while using it either.” It wasn’t entirely a lie, but it wasn’t quite the truth either.

Pan Gong nodded. “We can work with that. Pack it up. We’re moving out.”

The soldiers stood up, their anxieties and frowns peeled off and replaced with masks of professionalism and stern lips. They arrayed themselves behind Pan Gong and under his lead, entered the jungle. Say what he will about the quality of character someone like Li Mou had, but the Garrison soldiers weren’t a slack force by any means.

Chen Haoran had been placed in the center of the group. Ostensibly being one of the weakest here, just looking at his cultivation level. Patriarch Qi, the actual weakest person here, was relegated to the flank. Not quite outside the group but clearly far too open to danger than the good Patriarch would have preferred. Such was the reality of being weak; however, the people with power didn’t care for you or for what you wanted.

They were silent but quick as they traversed the jungle. It was impossible for them to be truly stealthy. The knife trees were too sensitive and quick to drop their dagger canopies for that to be the case, so they dispensed with the pretense altogether. Plus the enemy had obviously been here long enough to know the terrain better than them. It was only a matter of when they were discovered, not if. Chen Haoran regularly scanned the trees, or rather the Yellow Dragon did. It grumbled a fair bit at the constant work interrupting its cultivation, but even it knew the seriousness of the situation. Phelps hung off his shoulders, stiller than a statue. Chen Haoran could feel his qi thrum like a coursing river, however, and he knew that Phelps was using all his newly enhanced senses to watch his back. It was a comforting reassurance.

They still weren’t prepared when the trees exploded.

Three blew up in front of Pan Gong, and he disappeared in a storm of fire, and knife leaves turned shrapnel. Two more exploded on either side of the group, the force strong enough to throw the Liquid Meridians to the ground. Chen Haoran dropped, pulling Phelps underneath him and covering him with his body. Knife leaves and wood shards zipped overhead, one scoring a line through his robes across his back. It didn’t break his skin, but it did break his heart. These were nice clothes.

Liquid qi surged up from multiple soldiers and covered the group in a hasty swirling shield as the different qis collided.. They stayed low, weapons clutched and techniques building, but there were no follow-up explosions. Chen Haoran craned his neck in every direction and saw nothing but trees.

“Clear,” Chen Haoran said, slowly rising with Phelps clutched to his chest. “No enemies.”

They slowly rose, the qi shield stabilized as the soldiers balanced their qi out. They looked toward the front, still obscured with black smoke. The explosion there had been strong enough that the Eighth-Layers following Pan Gong were thrown back and freely bleeding. One glowed green with Wood qi and their wounds disappeared. Another soldier ran up to the other and performed a Wood element healing technique.

“Captain Pan,” the Third-Layer Peachblood called, crawling back to his feet. He wasn’t much further behind the Eighth-Layers. “Are you alright?”

The smoke shifted and was blown away from within, revealing an unscathed Pan Gong save for a few scratches in his uniform. “I’m alright. Status?”

“We’re alright,” the Eighth-Layers said. There were other sound-offs as injuries were reported. Overall, however, there was nothing serious. Liquid Meridians were a hardy lot. What would have crippled a normal unit back on Earth just caused minor injuries here.

Pan Gong brushed soot off his shoulders. “Lan Junjie, was there anything different about those trees?”

Chen Haoran shook his head. “They were normal when I looked at them.”

Pan Gong sneered. “These bastards have prepared for a long time. We’ll have to assume all the trees are compromised.” Liquid qi burst out from him and swept all the nearby trees away. Two more trees exploded, their force absorbed by Pan Gong’s flood before they could harm the group. “Clear out all the trees. I don’t want any within a hundred feet of us.”

Pan Gong pulled his qi back and directed it in front of him, barreling into the forest like a human bulldozer. Liquid qi in all five colors erupted one after another, and they became akin to a walking multi-colored tsunami flooding across the jungle. Trees were felled by the hundreds, knife leaves and chemical gas durians fell uselessly across the wave. Chen Haoran kept his focus on the trees and really couldn’t see what had been done to them to cause them to blow up. One moment they were normal; the next moment, they were bombs. For the sake of conserving energy, there was no liquid qi covering their heads, and so detritus and shrapnel was flying overhead. High enough to not put them in harm’s way, low enough that Chen Haoran and Patriarch Qi instinctively ducked regardless.

Chen Haoran was thankful he’d connected his vision with the Yellow Dragon, seeing things in qi was easier on the eyes than the flurry of carnage everyone else was squinting through. He kept Phelps tight to his chest and focused his attention in the other directions. Pan Gong was more than capable of responding to anything they might run into. The Yellow Dragon swirled around in his core. It seemed not being able to see the traps had bruised its pride because now it diligently scanned the jungle without a fuss.

The Yellow narrowed its eyes.

Chen Haoran looked behind him and did the same.

There. On the track, they’d cleared out. Green figures flitted out from the trees, one group ran along the cleared path. The others Chen Haoran, could only scarcely make out as green on green movement in the jungle.

“Enemies coming in behind,” Chen Haoran called. “At least twenty.”

“Speed up,” Pan Gong ordered. “Lan Junjie, warn us if they catch up.”

“There’s a pyramid ahead,” Chen Haoran said.

Pan Gong grunted in acknowledgment.

Their pursuers kept a steady pace, not approaching too close, but not falling too far behind. They were sitting in the Goldilocks zone of pressure, always near enough for them to feel their presence but never close enough for them to do anything about it. It was the type of action that had a purpose behind it. Chen Haoran wasn’t looking forward to finding out what the purpose was.

When they broke into the pyramid clearing the Wood Element Eighth-Layer looked at Pan Gong. “Do we ambush them?”

The Yellow Dragon glared up at the green qi that emerged from within the pyramid.

“Ambush!” Chen Haoran shouted.

“Talisman!” Roared keen-eyed Pan Gong. His liquid qi flew into the air and doubled in size. The other Eighth-Layer covered himself in yellow Earth qi and took out a small shield from his storage bag that expanded and chased after Pan Gong’s liquid qi.

Bright red qi bloomed atop the pyramid like a small sun before falling down atop their heads. Pan Gong’s liquid qi boiled and evaporated. The shield glowed brightly and caught the flames on its face. The world went painfully bright, then terrifyingly dark, as Chen Haoran was thrown off his feet by the explosion that followed. He blinked open dizzy eyes, normal colors restored to him. The Yellow Dragon released an invigorating roar that saw him back to his feet in time to receive the first volley of arrows from above. He flooded liquid qi to raise a cover over himself. The soldier next to him flooded metal white liquid qi at the same time that collided with his and rose higher. Chen Haoran followed the flow. Water and metal qi rose and exchanged energy, stretching to cover the entire group and blocking the arrows.

The soldier nodded to him. “Good jo—”

A six-foot-long arrow shot out of the jungle behind them and pierced through the back of the soldier’s head and out his front, splattering Chen Haoran with blood. He only had an instant of horrified reaction to turn his back and jump away as the corpse exploded in a deluge of white liquid qi.

Chen Haoran was sent tumbling as the edge of the flood clipped his back. Phelps’s qi swept out and covered them, halting his roll. When Chen Haoran stood up again, he found their entire formation had been thrown into disarray from the Final Flood. The archers in the jungle were vicious, their arrows targeting those whose deaths would cause the most chaos and scatter the soldiers further. The other Metal Root soldier roared and sent a long blade of metal energy careening into the jungle. His response was a bright green arrow that punched a hole through his shield of liquid qi and took off his arm at the shoulder. As he fell, two more lodged themselves in his chest.  Another man took an arrow to the neck. The woman next to him flooded her qi and threw him to where the arrow came from. Another soldier threw a wave of liquid qi and erected a rock wall between them and the jungle while the man exploded.

In front, the Wood Root Eighth-Layer opened his palm and tossed a whole tornado of crushing wind up the pyramid, forcing the archers atop it back. A dusty Pan Gong flooded out more qi and charged toward the jungle.

“With me!” he thundered.

The other soldiers sprinted after him, casting long walls of rock and wood to block the archers’ line of sight. Patriarch Qi scrambled past him.

Chen Haoran gripped his sword and cast his eyes in other potential directions. He wasn’t dead set on helping the Garrison. He was nominally on the Rattan Vine Soldiers’ side, given who was leading them. Technically it was them he should be helping. Assuming they knew that and believed him, that is.

Chen Haoran let go of his sword and ran after Pan Gong. He only took a few steps before an arrow broke against his back with the force of a cannonball and sent him sprawling. The fleeing Patriarch Qi was immediately by his side. One hand went to his back and brushed over where the arrow hit him. The other went to Chen Haoran's storage bag and froze.

“You’re alright?” He blurted out.

Chen Haoran rose and pushed him away. “Move.”

He sprinted into the jungle. Another arrow was sent his way, but this time the Yellow Dragon was ready and deflected it with a rush of liquid qi. A pillar of yellow liquid qi rose into the air before disappearing, and Chen Haoran reoriented and ran toward it, Patriarch Qi hot on his heels. When they caught up to Pan Gong, there was an obvious difference in their number. They lost five people in less than the same number of minutes.

“Set a fire,” Pan Gong ordered.

The Fire Root soldiers bloomed with burning qi and set the trees behind them ablaze. They continued doing so for the better part of three miles before stopping to conserve qi.

“Lan Junjie, where’s the next pyramid?” Pan Gong asked as he cleared a path.

“Directly ahead of us.”

“We’ll go around it.”

Chen Haoran scanned the pictures the Yellow Dragon sent to him carefully for even a hint of movement from the Rattan Vine Soldiers. It made the colorful and not green qi that suddenly came into view all the more stark against the jungle’s background—particularly a red qi just as large as Pan Gong’s.

“People on our right. At least ten. They don’t look like Rattan Armor.”

“Are they approaching us?”

“No, but our paths are going to merge.”

Everyone tensed, weapons held tightly in white knuckle grips. Pan Gong frowned and peered into the distance. Chen Haoran mentally counted down the seconds as both groups drew nearer to each other. Crashing sounds of trees being pushed away and traps being triggered came closer and closer.

Pan Gong relaxed and raised his hand. “Hold. They’re one of us.”

A palpable sense of relief could be felt throughout the group. Soon enough, ten worn down Garrison soldiers led by a bedraggled Ninth-Layer appeared.

“Captain Pan,” greeted the Ninth-Layer. “For once, I’m glad to see your ugly mug.”

Pan Gong nodded in return. “Captain Liu. I’ll be blunt. Do you have any Metal Roots?”

Captain Liu scowled. “Look at me. Does it look like I have any? The bastards are targeting them. I’ve been chased from damn near one end of this place to the other.

Pan Pong frowned. “We’re being funneled.” He snapped to Chen Haoran. “Lan Junjie, can you see the end of the barrier from here?”

Chen Haoran could, in fact, see another barrier wall directly in front of them and informed Pan Gong of such. Pan Gong made the immediate decision to begin veering left, straight to the corner of the barrier and where he’d estimated the emission node to be. Along the way, they met up with more fleeing Garrison soldiers, each with their own harrowing tales of ambushes and relentless pursuit. They numbered up to fifty now. Who knew how many had been lost before this point, however? The lack of any independent cultivators was also telling, a fact that had Patriarch Qi much more grateful that he’d chosen to throw his lot in with the Garrison.

Their change of direction allowed them to avoid any more ambushes from the front, but the hounding from the rear only intensified. As the Garrison soldiers gathered, so too did the hunters chasing them. Arrows whizzed past their heads even as they blindly and futilely returned fire with techniques that had no target but direction. Phelps wreathed Chen Haoran and himself in blue liquid qi. The floating energy attached to it greatly negated the force of the three arrows that struck Chen Haoran and rendered them harmless. They continued this back-and-forth exchange for a while, fortunately avoiding casualties but inevitably being forced into a literal corner.

The emission node of the barrier was a giant pillar of swirling white energy. White energy left it in a constant flow, the currents and ripple visible at the places closest to the pillar before evening out further away. Pan Gong and the strongest officers laid into the pillar with a combined force greater than any artillery barrage. Meanwhile, Fire Spirit Roots were setting the jungle alight, and Earth Spirit Roots were opening deep trenches in the earth, all in an effort to delay the Rattan Vine Army for even a second more. They did not get those seconds they wanted.

From the burning jungle appeared rows upon rows of Ratter Armor Soldiers as if from thin air—200 strong to their 50. The flames licked their calves but crawled no further. Vines sprouted across the trench and created a living bridge for them to cross. As one, they locked their shields together, and a vine wall grew and absorbed the fire, water, wood, and earth the soldiers threw at it. Glinting spearheads stuck out through the vine wall like nails in a board. They marched, a solid wall of spears and vines, while volleys of arrows harried the defending Garrison.

The Garrison soldiers gritted their teeth and flared their qi. Patriarch Qi clutched his little bone charm bracelet and muttered hushed prayers. Captain Liu pulled away and stood in front of the troops, fire climbing across his arms. Pan Gong kept hammering the emission node.

Chen Haoran clutched his sword. His options were few. Run and hide? So long as the barrier remained a problem, that was impossible. An arrow clipped his shoulder and bounced off of Phelps’s qi. Either the Garrison had to break it, or the rebels had to take him through it. Two choices: the Garrison who were hunting him or the rebels the Chen Family was bankrolling. He flexed his qi and slapped another arrow aiming for his chest to pieces. The rebels were clearly winning now, but that was only in the secret realm. The world outside belonged to the Empire. If Chen Haoran left this place, would an Empire army greet him? There were still two potentially very angry Crystal Transformation Realms to consider. Did the rebels have a plan to deal with that? An escape route? Were they sacrificial pawns? He also had to consider Xie Jin and Bao Si’s safety. His decisions would undoubtedly affect them even more. A too-fast arrow bounced off his chest.

Should he take the risk and put on his armor now? His decision on who to choose would be a lot easier to make if it weren’t for these annoying arrows—

It was a green blur. Blisteringly bright. It displaced air as it flew, and Chen Haoran heard the sound of it before it actually hit him. Phelps’s liquid qi was pierced through like a hot knife through butter. Chen Haoran’s vision was filled with green light and intense pain. He could feel his neck wrench so far back there was a cracking sound. Phelps fell out of his arms with a heartrending squeal as his feet left the ground, and he was tossed through the air and into the pillar hard enough that ripples spread out from his impact in the hundreds. He slid down the pillar into a heap on the ground.

Pan Gong rushed to his side and quickly sat him up. “Lan Junjie? Lan Junjie!”

Chen Haoran dazedly gazed at Pan Gong’s concerned face. Despite the fact his eyes were working, it felt like what he was looking at wasn’t real at all, as if he were looking through a screen. Pan Gong, leaned him against the pillar, one arm steadying his shoulder because Chen Haoran scarcely had the strength even to sit right, let alone move. Something was sticking out just in front of his nose. It was a bit hard to figure out what it was given the awkward angle it was set at, but he could just barely make out…. feathers? The Yellow Dragon roared. Chen Haoran’s arms found strength again, and he grabbed the feathers.

Pan Gong grabbed his wrist. “Wait. Don’t try pulling it out.” He looked behind. “Healer!”

The Yellow Dragon roared.

Pan Gong let go of Chen Haoran’s wrist like he’d been electrocuted.

Chen Haoran pulled the arrow out of his head.

Blood ran down his face. He cast his sense to the wound and found that the tip of the arrow had just barely cracked open a gap in his skull. His qi set to work at once, closing the skin and filling the bone until it grew over smoothly. Chen Haoran watched the process in silence. If he didn’t have the Stygian Lotus. If he didn’t eat the Banquet Peach. If Phelps’s qi hadn’t absorbed some of the force.

Chen Haoran grabbed his hilt.

For the second time since becoming a Liquid Meridian, he drew his sword.

Chapter 144

Hey all. Sorry this chapter is so late. Just took a long time to write for whatever reason. Thank you for your patience.

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“Damn you!” Pan Gong roared. Admirably or foolishly, depending on how you looked at it he didn’t halt his charge when one warrior became a hundred.

The Vine warrior flicked his spear and sent the body of the formation specialist soaring toward Pan Gong. The specialist’s body exploded with a wave of liquid qi. Rather than dodge, Pan Gong weathered the Final Flood directly by wrapping himself in liquid qi. Even so, he was delayed long enough for the rest of the Vine Warrior army to cross through the barrier. They marched with military discipline, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a block formation. Small circular vine shields wrapped around their left arms, and in their right hands, they clutched short spears. Not a single face could be seen, their heads completely covered in vine helmets fashioned to look like grimacing faces and with two unearthly green lights glowing from where there should have been eyes.

Through the Yellow Dragon’s sight, Chen Haoran could see the barrier part before the warriors touched it. The warriors themselves were all a uniform, twisting green mass of qi. Some, however, were a touch brighter shade, and others had blue undertones Chen Haoran recognized as water qi. Despite these minor differences, Chen Haoran recognized the qi of the warriors as the same variety as the killers the Yellow Dragon had drawn his attention to before.

Chen Haoran felt cold. He grasped the hilt of his sword in search of security.

Pan Gong growled like a lumbering bear, and a tsunami of yellow liquid qi burst out and swept toward the Vine warriors. With soundless cooperation, the Vine warriors in the front ranks held their shields forward and allowed the giant wave of qi to crash upon them. They were not swept away. They didn’t even step back. Instead, the wave of qi grew smaller and their shields grew larger, sprouting more vines as they absorbed qi and interlinking to become a single wall of vines.

Pan Gong immediately pulled his qi back with an ugly look and leapt backward. The wall of vines shifted and began moving closer. The sound of lockstep marching beat Chen Haoran’s heart like a drum.

“Fire Qi!” Pan Gong roared.

Seven Liquid Meridians stepped forward at Pan Gong’s call, and Chen Haoran was left abruptly breathing dry air as they erupted with red and orange liquid qi. It was a good call. Of the Five elements, Wood fed Fire, like how Water fed Wood. It was the same principle as what the Vine warriors used to turn Pan Gong’s liquid qi against him. Now it was turned back on them.

At least. That’s how it should have gone.

The burning liquid qi fell on the vine wall and scorched it black, but the warriors did not stop. Acrid black smoke rose but failed to hide the fact the wall was still moving toward them. The Garrison soldiers weren’t slow on the uptake and immediately manipulated their liquid qi to flow around the wall. Chen Haoran looked through the smoke and fire and found that the warriors on the flanks filled their shields with qi and blocked the liquid qi flames with more vine walls.

“Metal Element!” Pan Gong bellowed.

Chen Haoran clutched his sword tightly but didn’t pull it out. Phelps clutched Chen Haoran’s side as if telling him not to go. He didn’t. Chen Haoran stayed in place while two soldiers stepped up behind the Fire Qi soldiers. At an unseen cue, the middle soldiers cut off their liquid qi, and the Metal qi soldiers immediately released two thin streams of white liquid qi that blasted toward the vine wall like cannons. Blue liquid qi seeped from the vine walls and pushed forward, pushing the fire liquid qi away and meeting the metal liquid qi in a stalemate. Metal beats Wood. Metal boosts Water. It was a game of elemental rock paper scissors, and they were losing—a fatal disadvantage on top of the number disparity.

Pan Gong recognized the poor situation for what it was and raised a closed fist. “Retreat.”

Patriarch Qi looked ready to bolt as soon as the words left Pan Gong’s mouth, but he glanced at Chen Haoran, who had yet to move and paused. Smart man. The deadliest part of the battle was always the rout. The Fire and Metal soldiers calmly walked backward while still flooding their qi, the rest of the Garrison stepped back at the same time, and Chen Haoran and Patriarch Qi followed them.

Pan Gong raised his hand. “Earth.”

There was no visible flood of liquid qi, but Chen Haoran could see the qi in the ground spike and move as a single mass toward the vine wall.

Pan Gong slashed his hand down. “Cut.”

The soldiers ceased their floods at once. Blue liquid qi rushed forward from the Vine warriors but a towering wall of earth rose from the ground and intercepted it.

“Go!” At Pan Gong’s order, they turned their backs and sped off into the jungle. The Earth qi soldiers served as rear guards, raising another wall of earth behind them. The Fire qi soldiers set the jungle on fire for good measure to hamper the Vine warrior’s advance.

Chen Haoran cut his connection with the Yellow Dragon. Using it while running was just too much for him. Phelps clutched Chen Haoran tightly, finally giving up his bamboo to be put in Chen Haoran’s storage bag. They ran and ran, and given that they were a whole group of Liquid Meridians, the answer to how far was a safe distance was quite a bit different compared to Qi Realms. Eventually, after what felt like an hour, they approached another pyramid. It wasn’t quite a defensible position. At least not if you were planning to survive the battle. It did, however, offer a line of sight with a perimeter of open space not overgrown with trees. Pan Gong raised a fist, and they halted at the base of the pyramid. It served as a cue for the Garrison soldiers to finally break ranks and voice their burning questions.

“What in nine hells was that?”

“Did anyone recover the Formation Compass?”

“Those vines weren’t fire element. I’ve never seen non-fire plants resist fire qi like that.”

“The damn communication talisman still isn’t working.”

“They let us go too easily.”

A core of the strongest and presumably highest-ranking soldiers gathered around Pan Gong.

“They might have been a defense mechanism of the secret realm,” one of the Eighth-Layers said. “Some kind of Puppet.”

“Impossible,” The other Eighth-layer said. “That many? That organized? Without a visible controller?”

“That’s why I think there could be an Artifact Spirit, like I said before.”

“How much qi does it take to support both of those things? You saw the array map. There was nothing that could support defenses that complex.”

“There was nothing about a barrier either, and yet, there it is. You heard the specialist. The barrier isn’t directly connected to the secret realm. The same is probably true for the Puppets as well. It’s no wonder we missed it.”

“Even if they only rely on the ambient qi, they would still have maintenance costs. Given how large they are, there should have been an obvious concentration of qi in the Outer Ring.”

Pan Gong remained silent as his fellow officers debated and theorized. His face had been stoic ever since the retreat. His eyes stared off into the air, deep in unblinking contemplation. Chen Haoran was thinking too. Stay or go? He already didn’t care to help the Garrison, and he’d gotten the answers he wanted. His priority right now was finding Xie Jin and Bao Si, not fighting random tree people.

Pan Gong blinked. “They were men. At least the one who killed Officer Fu was.”

“Could it be a lost tribe?” a Seventh-Layer Earth user asked. “Wouldn’t be the first time a secret realm had its own natives.”

Pan Gong looked at Chen Haoran. Their gazes met. “Lan Junjie, did you see anything?”

Twenty presences fell on Chen Haoran’s shoulders as agitated soldiers turned their full attention to him. Patriarch Qi quailed while Phelps clutched Chen Haoran’s shoulders tighter. Chen Haoran weathered the presence as best he could. They weren’t really what bothered him, actually. The stares they represented did. Even with as strong as he’d gotten, having a bunch of people putting all their focus on you was unnerving.

Chen Haoran mustered all the grace he had and didn’t let his nervousness show as he walked over to Pan Gong. “They all looked similar, but that might have been due to the armor. I didn’t see anything that connected them to the secret realm or implied they were controlled from somewhere else.”

Pan Gong nodded. He didn’t look surprised. “When we first found the barrier, you saw something before we left. What was it?”

Chen Haoran started. Pan Gong had noticed that? Chen Haoran had originally intended to keep it to himself. He couldn’t exactly refuse to answer now, however. “I saw people fighting on a pyramid. I could only see their qi, but the killers looked exactly like the Vine warriors that just attacked us.”

Pan Gong hummed. “So there are more warriors outside the barrier hunting the other trialists.”

“Do you think the others are trapped inside barriers, too?” One of the Eighth-Layers asked.

“It would be stranger if we were the only ones stuck behind a barrier,” Pan Gong said. Suddenly he sharply turned his head. “Soldier Jiang. Are you feeling well?”

Chen Haoran followed Pan Gong’s gaze and found him staring at the Third-Layer Peachblood who’d accompanied them to study the barrier before. The Peachblood was pale, becoming all the more paler as the attention that was on Chen Haoran was shifted to him instead.

He quickly clasped his hands and bowed. “Captain Pan, I believe I know the origin of our attackers.”

Pan Gong nodded. “Go on.”

“I believe they’re Rattan Armor Soldiers.”

Pan Gong frowned. “That’s a name I never expected to hear outside my strategy classes.”

The majority of the group hissed and nodded in recognition of the name which surprised Chen Haoran. Patriarch Qi and the weaker Liquid Meridians looked confused. Pan Gong swept his eyes over them and elaborated. “The Rattan Armor Soldiers were the Southern Regions’ premier military force 400 years ago. Studying their battles is a mandatory part of the officer curriculum.” He glanced at Soldier Jiang. “However, it was my understanding that they were dissolved after the war ended, and the techniques to create their arms and armor were lost.”

Translation: The Empire killed them all and buried them in history.

Soldier Jiang didn’t raise his head. “This is just my theory based on the stories I’ve heard, sir. I’ve never seen a Rattan Armor Soldier myself.”

Pan Gong shook his head. “No, I’ve long heard of the Rattan Army’s legendary vine armor, and what we saw today matches their appearance in the Palace School’s books. Although resisting fire is a new one.”

Chen Haoran’s heart fell. A famous force thought destroyed in Zumulu’s conquest. Appearing in ruins abandoned for 2 thousand years. All while a rebellion was brewing throughout the region led by another ancient legend of Zumulu. Coincidence? Impossible. Would he be recognized? Would he be spared if he was? Did Xi Wangmu know he was here? Was she here?

What had he gotten himself involved in?

Chen Haoran kept his face blank. Pan Gong was far too keen-eyed, and he didn’t need to be grilled while surrounded by so many Garrison soldiers. Needless to say, if his identity were revealed, the Garrison would quickly become his enemy. That didn’t mean the Rattan Armor Soldiers were his friends, though. Should he shout his identity to them? Would that make things better or worse? He resisted the urge to reach for his sword.

“Maybe they’re a remnant placed here to serve as trial guardians?” A Metal Qi Liquid Meridian asked. “It would make more sense than them being survivors of the Southern Suppression War.”

“It does not matter what they are or how they got here,” Pan Gong forcefully said. “What matters is that we have an unknown amount of enemies hunting for us in prepared terrain. Our objectives have changed. We need to break out of this barrier and rush to the Center Ring to end the trial as soon as possible.”

An Eighth-Layer frowned. “That’s too drastic, no? While the situation is unfavorable, it’s not beyond our ability to salvage so long as we rally the others. If we leave like this, our superiors and peers will both be dissatisfied.”

Pan Gong “If it comes to that, then I alone will shoulder the blame. I stand by my words. We must end the trial now.” He looked at the two Metal qi users. “Do either of you have any large-scale metal techniques?”

“No sir, only single-target,” the soldiers answered.

Pan Gong asked the same question to the Water and Earth spirit roots but didn’t get the answer he wanted. Chen Haoran didn’t so much as even twitch toward his sword. Finally, Pan Gong turned to Chen Haoran. “Lan Junjie, your eyes will be invaluable for scouting and breaking the barrier. I will make sure you’re properly rewarded for your efforts.”

Chen Haoran noted that Pan Gong left him no option to say no. Typical. He would have to make it work. He plastered a fake smile onto his face. “I’ll follow your command, of course, but I have a question.” A very, very important question. “Are there a lot of officers participating in the trial? Or did we luckily find most of them?”

Pan Gong said that the Rattan Vine Army was taught in the officer curriculum, but most of the Liquid Meridians here recognized the name, and all of them were Sixth-Layer and above.

Pan Gong, at first, acted as if he hadn’t heard the question, but he couldn’t stop the reactions of the other officers. The Eighth-Layer visibly paled and shook as realization dawned on him, and a domino effect soon followed as the others began to put the pieces together.

Pan Gong sighed. “More than there should be given the circumstances.”

His words served to confirm the worst thoughts everyone was holding, and the atmosphere became heavy. Chen Haoran imagined it couldn’t be easy for the soldiers. He didn’t feel any better than they did, knowing his fears were correct. That was probably why Pan Gong had been holding onto his suspicions rather than voicing them. It would have come out soon enough, however, once they gave some thought to it.

This was a trap for the Garrison.

And someone in the Garrison threw them right into it.

Chapter 143

Sorry for taking so long. A bit of a longer chapter today.

---------

Foot. Insert mouth. At times like these, Chen Haoran was grateful at how consistent he was at saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. At least he had enough experience to fall back on rather than flail around in panic. Phelps stopped his chewing and clutched the metal bamboo tighter in his grip.

Ignoring his pounding heart, Chen Haoran waved to Pan Gong. “Fancy meeting you here, Officer Pan. You’re just the man I was looking for.”

Pan Gong looked amused. “So you could beat me for answers?”

Chen Haoran relaxed his shoulders and shrugged. “Whatever do you mean by that? I clearly said I had peaceful intentions.”

Pan Gong raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying that I didn’t hear you threaten to beat my fellow soldiers?”

“If you thought it was a threat, then I’m sorry,” Chen Haoran said. “Given the circumstances, though, I think I can be forgiven for a bit of stress. Surely the Garrison won’t punish someone asking for help.”

The two soldiers bristled, but Pan Gong overrode whatever they wanted to say with a booming laugh. “Shifting the blame to us, eh? That’s quite the strategy you picked, Friend Lan.”

Chen Haoran innocently tilted his head. “What do you mean? How could I have a strategy? I’m just presenting myself to the Garrison. The Crystal Transformation outside specifically recruited me to assist the Garrison’s operation in the Secret Realm.”

Pan Gong chuckled. “Are you sure you don’t want to join the Palace School? You certainly have the tongue for it.”

“You flatter me,” Chen Haoran replied.

“Seeing as how you’re ‘presenting’ yourself to the Garrison,” Pan Gong said, the air quotes in his words obvious to all. “Have you met any other soldiers?”

“Nope,” Chen Haoran said. “I’ve only met other unaffiliated cultivators.”

Pan Gong didn’t react, but the Sixth-Layer soldier sighed.

“While we’re on the topic. Have you seen the Qi Realms I was with?” Chen Haoran asked.

Pan Gong shook his head. “I have not.”

Chen Haoran slumped. “Great.”

“I’m sure they’ll turn up eventually,” Pan Gong said. “Though if they have any sense, they’ll stay away from the Trial Pyramids.”

Well. That was true. Searching the pyramids like he was wouldn’t help him find his friends. There was no way they’d risk confronting a Liquid Meridian like that….well, at least Bao Si would. He was 50/50 on Xie Jin.

….actually, he wasn’t sure about Bao Si either now that he thought about it.

The worry must have shown on his face because Pan Gong tried to comfort him. “They shouldn’t run into any problems from the other Liquid Meridians so long as they don’t treasure something above their station. Most everyone should be busy looking for treasures.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Chen Haoran pointed to the silver light pillar. “Speaking of treasure, are you gonna take that?”

“If you want it, then my previous offer still stands,” Pan Gong said.

Chen Haoran held up his hands. “I didn’t say I wanted it.” He did. “Just curious.”

“We’re letting the time run out so that other soldiers can find us,” Pan Gong said. “It lowers the reward you get from the pyramid, but I wasn’t interested in what the outer ring had to offer anyway.”

“Outer ring? Are you say—”

Chen Haoran looked over his shoulder at the same time the other two soldiers stretched out their senses. Pan Gong’s presence weighed down from above, and four different pressures converged on a single tree causing the wood to groan.

The elderly Patriarch Qi sheepishly stepped out from behind the tree, trying and failing to hold his staff behind his back. “Greetings, Young Heroes.”

The Sixth-Layer groaned. “It’s just another nobody.”

“Didn’t expect to see you again, old man,” Chen Haoran said.

“Nor did I,” Patriarch Qi said with a pinched expression.

“You know him?” Pan Gong asked.

“He’s the leader of the Qi Family in Reservoir Town,” Chen Haoran said.

“Never heard of them.”

“I would be honored if you heard of a miserable family like mine,” Patriarch Qi said, stowing away his staff in his storage bag when he thought they were distracted, but they totally saw him do it. “My apologies for disturbing your conversation, I’ll just see myself out.”

“Why are you even here?” Chen Haoran asked. “I threw you in the opposite direction.”

Patriarch Qi clasped his hands and bowed. “I didn’t want to disturb you, so I tried going as far away as possible, but I was stopped by the barrier. So when I saw the light pillar was still here—”

Pan Gong came crashing down in front of Patriarch Qi, hitting the ground hard enough that the elderly Liquid Meridian almost lost his balance from the force.

“What barrier?” Pan Gong demanded. “Show me.”

——————

Chen Haoran, Phelps, Pan Gong, and the Peachblood soldier followed the nervous Patriarch Qi. The Sixth-Layer had been left back at the Trial Pyramid in case other soldiers showed up. They passed the pyramid Chen Haoran had thrown Patriarch Qi from and, after only a few minutes of running, found the barrier he had been talking about.

A long white pane of energy cut through the jungle. The higher Chen Haoran looked, the thinner the barrier became until it disappeared entirely. He wouldn’t make the mistake, however, of thinking that because he couldn’t see it that it was gone. Back on the ground, there were several fallen trees on either side of the barrier. One had even been split straight in half.

The Peachblood crouched and ran his hand over one of the trees and glanced at its cracked stump. He looked at Pan Gong. “These are fresh breaks. The barrier should have been activated when we entered the secret realm.”

Pan Gong hummed and yellow liquid qi spilled from his feet and dug out the dirt in front of the barrier. After going about three feet down and still seeing white energy Pan Gong stopped. Then to everyone’s horror, he stepped forward and knocked directly on the barrier. Ripples appeared in the still pane and spread outward from where Pan Gong hit it but other than that there was no reaction.

“Pure defense.” Pan Gong thought aloud to himself.

Chen Haoran cast his sense out, and to his surprise, it passed through the barrier easily. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary on the other side, at least, nothing stranger than what he’d already experienced so far. All he found were the same trees and the same poisonous air. Even the ambient qi wasn’t much different.

“If I may be so bold to offer my opinion,” Patriarch Qi said. “I assume this barrier is another test by the trial. Perhaps it will open after we meet its criteria.” He deliberately glanced toward Pan Gong when he said this. His intention to fish for information was clear.

Good thing Chen Haoran had the same idea. “I’m no specialist, but usually, when you think of barriers in trials, it’s to separate different levels. Now I dunno about you guys, but I, for one, can’t see how that side is any different from this one.” The Peachblood and Patriarch Qi frowned in contemplation. Pan Gong’s face remained unmoved. “Officer Pan, you were saying something about an outer ring earlier. Do you know if this direction leads out of it?”

“No,” Pan Gong slowly said. “It doesn’t. I’d wager to guess the direction to the inner rings is blocked as well.” He dragged his hand across his face and let out a long, drawn-out sigh. “Someone is getting demoted for this. Hopefully we get lucky and one of our formation specialists is nearby. See if they can find a way around this. We’ll have to map out the extent of the barrier, too, find the nodes, and—ugh. What a waste of time.”

Going by Pan Gong’s genuine dread, it sounded like the work ahead of them would be long and suck. Two combinations of things that Chen Haoran wanted no part in. Being trapped on the wrong side of a wall was definitely not a position he wanted to be in either. He drummed his fingers along his thighs in thought. Phelps observed the barrier curiously. He shuffled his bamboo between his claws poked used it to poke the barrier, happily squealing as it rippled.

“Yellow Dragon.”

The Yellow Dragon opened closed eyes. Chen Haoran blinked and opened his eyes to swirling qi. Connecting his eyes to the Yellow Dragon allowed him to see the abundant water qi in the secret realm. It mixed with noxious green gases to create cloying poisonous air. It interacted with the qi of the trees and was absorbed, increasing their auras by the slightest increments. It wasn’t just the trees that absorbed it. The barrier had become a flowing white river to Chen Haoran’s eyes. Blue water qi and green wood qi were drawn from the air into the white river and dragged along its current to somewhere unknown. Even if the Yellow Dragon saw the world in terms of energy, it was still limited by distance. What Chen Haoran saw was enough, however. He looked past the barrier into the area it separated. Like he thought it wasn’t different at all.

“The qi in the barrier is flowing in one direction,” Chen Haoran said.

Pan Gong’s head snapped to him. “Where?” he barked.

Startled, Chen Haoran met his gaze. Through the Yellow Dragon’s vision, the vast ocean of Pan Gong’s yellow liquid qi was exposed. The Yellow Dragon snorted. The ocean briefly froze, and Pan Gong looked away.

“Can you see which direction?” Pan Gong asked.

“To the left,” Chen Haoran said.

Pan Gong pursed his lips and looked down the barrier. If he saw something, he didn’t let it show on his face. Despite his looks, Pan Gong was not nearly as boisterous and talkative as one might expect. “Let’s return. This is a problem better solved with more heads.”

Chen Haoran nodded, but his vision suddenly morphed. He connected his eyes to the Yellow Dragon but that didn’t mean it was using them. It was just polite enough to look in the same direction Chen Haoran was. Now it swiveled and Chen Haoran experienced a brief vertigo as he ‘saw’ in one direction while his eyes were pointed in a completely different one. Past the barrier, past sight obstructing air, were seven energies: five bright green, one red, one brown. They were standing atop a pyramid pulsing with silver light. His confusion at what exactly the Yellow Dragon wanted him to see was soon cleared when the five green qi’s surrounded the other two and snuffed them out.

The connection cut.

Chen Haoran rapidly blinked and rubbed his wet eyes.

“Are you alright, Lan Junjie?” Pan Gong concernedly asked.

Chen Haoran waved off his worry. “I’m alright. Just not used to the technique yet.”

Pan Gong nodded. “Pupil Arts are some of the most difficult to learn and use. That you  wield one is proof of commendable talent.”

“Thank you,” Chen Haoran said.

“Thank you too,” he thought.

The Yellow Dragon huffed and closed its eyes as it continued drifting through his meridians.

“Come on then,” Pan Gong commanded. The Peachblood nodded, and even Patriarch Qi fell into step behind Pan Gong.

Chen Haoran cast a glance back toward the murder he just watched before he turned around and followed them.

————————

When they returned to the Sixth-Layer they were greeted by three more soldiers who’d seen the beacon. Following the high spirits of their plan succeeding, Pan Gong led the group to other pyramids in the direction of the inner ring and repeated the process. Over five pyramids, they variously stuck out and got lucky. Sometimes no one showed up, and the reward was wasted. Other times it was only unaffiliated cultivators who quickly ran off after seeing them. A few times, they had soldiers appear in ones and twos. They found five more soldiers this way and then got even luckier on the way to the sixth pyramid when they ran into a group of five led by two Eighth-Layers.

Chen Haoran and Patriarch Qi were the odd ones out, being the only non-Garrison cultivators. It wasn’t really to Chen Haoran’s interests to give up so many potential rewards by traveling with the Garrison but they were the ones with all the information and so he followed along. Patriarch Qi was the real oddity. He didn’t look like he wanted to be there at all, especially as the other Eighth-Layers showed up and his nature as a paper tiger was on full display. Yet he also couldn’t seem to work up the courage to actually leave. In an amusing twist of fate, he actually stuck close to Chen Haoran despite his earlier beating. Chen Haoran had to admire just how thick-skinned the old man was.  He was a good conversationalist to pass the time. What Patriarch Qi’s long years, all 120 of them, hadn’t given him in strength, they’d provided him ample experience. He was actually born in Zumulu, shockingly enough, a fact he revealed with a small and nigh unnoticeable bone bracelet hidden under his sleeve. Their branch of the Qi Family had migrated from the Central region to the South a hundred years after the conquest.

Pan Gong also made sure to keep company with Chen Haoran when he wasn’t busy privately conferring with other officers. There’d been more than a few side-eyes for it, but as the highest ranking and most powerful person in the group, no one had decided to comment on it. It allowed Chen Haoran to finally grill him for the answers he wanted the most.

“Officer Pan, how are we supposed to get out of the trial? Is there a time limit or a gate or something?” Chen Haoran asked. Pan Gong started walking next to him after they left pyramid six. Behind them was the almost twenty-strong group.

“Unfortunately, the only way out is by finishing the trial,” Pan Gong said. “In the center ring, there’s going to be a final pyramid that will open up after a few days. From what we gathered, the top talents will all gather there to compete for the reward inside, and once it’s claimed, the secret realm will teleport everyone out.”

“And that’s confirmed?” Chen Haoran cautiously asked.

Pan Gong laughed. “I’ve lost my credibility eh?” He silenced Chen Haoran’s attempt to make excuses. “You’re right to be concerned but don’t underestimate the Empire’s means. Before we entered our Formation experts mapped out the secret realm and its arrays in their entirety. After cross-referencing it with the records we’ve dug up at the site along with previous finds we were able to confirm the existence of the exit and the nature of the trail. We would have never entered here otherwise.”

Chen Haoran started. “Really? That detailed?”

“We have tools and techniques today that the people who built this secret realm could never imagine,” Pan Gong said with a smile. “It’s not the sophistication of this secret realm that’s stymied us—just the age. Formation styles are always rising and fading away, but what we have now is far superior to what they had then. The ancients weren’t better than us. They were just first.”

“That’s…. surprising,” Chen Haoran said. On the one hand, the words made sense. On the other, he knew a cranky old ghost who would homicidally contest Pan Gong’s point.

“Why be surprised?” Pan Gong hooked a thumb toward a middle-aged man with middle-ranked cultivation of the Fifth-Layer. “You’ll be able to see for yourself.”

Beyond their expectations, they actually had managed to find one of the Garrison’s Formation specialists who’d entered the trial. Now they were headed for the Inner Rings, and soon enough, as Pan Gong had predicted, the barrier stretched all the way to here and blocked them from leaving. On the other side of it was more jungle, though this now it was denser and infested with thick vines that would have served as an impenetrable natural wall were it not for the unnatural impenetrable wall in front of it.

The specialist pulled out a golden compass from his storage bag that bloomed with various lenses and intricate whirling clockwork pieces when he opened it. He held it up to the barrier like a scanner, and it flashed with golden light. No one said anything, and made sure to be out of that way as the specialist paced up and down the length of the barrier frowning at whatever he saw in his compass. Finally, he stopped and turned to face Pan Gong.

“Your judgment was correct, Captain Pan. This Formation isn’t part of the secret realm. It was overlayed and kept unconnected to the qi pathways we observed, which was why we never noticed it.”

“Which means something or someone connected them as soon as we entered,” one of the Eighth-Layer officers darkly said.

“An Artifact Spirit?” another one theorized.

“Is there any way you can open it up?” Pan Gong asked the formation specialist.

The man shook his head. “Not from here. The barrier’s flowing qi will make any such opening energy intensive and nigh impossible to maintain. We’ll have to find the emitting node or the receiving node. I’ll be able to properly break it from there.”

More walking. Great. Chen Haoran sighed, but what could he do? Although, now that they were facing the inner realm…. He prodded the Yellow Dragon to connect his vision. The Yellow Dragon opened its eyes and—

Roared.

Chen Haoran felt a chill run deep into his bones as their eyes became one. “Get away from the barrier!” he roared.

Pan Gong reacted instantly and rushed to the Formation specialist. The specialist looked dumbly at them all as if he couldn’t understand what they were saying. His golden compass slipped from his hand. The specialist looked down at the bloody spear point protruding from his chest. The question of why there was a spear in his chest when his back was facing the barrier was obvious on his face. He tried to grab for the spear, but his hands fell away as he was raised into the air. From the jungle behind him emerged a man covered in vines shaped into armor. The vine armor man raised his spear, and the impaled specialist with it and stepped through the barrier.

Then the vines in the jungle receded and revealed the army waiting for them on the other side.

Chapter 142

Chen Haoran picked a random direction and hoped for the best. He didn’t really have the means to orient himself in the secret realm. The Trial Pyramid didn’t have any useful information in that regard. Where was he? How big was the secret realm? Was it a circle? Was he going toward the center? These were all very important questions that he had very few answers to, which was quickly becoming a running theme in his life. At the very least, he could guess the secret realm shouldn’t be too big. Assuming Pan Gong had been correct that it was a place where promising cultivators came to train and compete, then it couldn’t be too big. The Trial Pyramids were added evidence, that they required defeating another trialist to receive a reward quickly and actively became a visible beacon to everyone around would be pretty moot if it took the contestants days to arrive.

Chen Haoran’s thoughts froze.

…How did Li Mou know how the Trial Pyramid worked? Not only know how it worked but the specific ways one could receive a reward.

Did he discover it himself? No, impossible. It was too short a time for him to have hit multiple pyramids before meeting Chen Haoran. He wasn’t lying either because the pyramid worked exactly how he said it would. So how did he know? Chen Haoran’s best guess was that he was informed by the Garrison, but if their information was so specific that they knew about the inside of the Trial, how could they have gotten the means to enter it so wrong?

Chen Haoran sighed. “I’m going to need to find another Garrison soldier.”

————————

Knife tree. Knife tree. Knife tree. Knife— oh, fruit. Seeing the spiky fruit was such a breakup in the usual monotony of the jungle that Chen Haoran stopped to observe it. It reminded him a bit of a durian—

The fruit fell.

Chen Haoran erected a shield of liquid qi just in time to block the immediate explosion as the fruit hit the ground. What he couldn’t block, however, was the most godawful smell of rotting meat. He gagged as the scent easily penetrated his liquid qi and flew into his nose and mouth. As soon as it entered his throat and lungs, the putrid smell liquefied and began dissolving his flesh and organs. Phelps hissed and erupted with blue liquid qi. Chen Haoran let his useless shield fall and allowed Phelps’s to cover them. Immediately their surroundings became better smelling as Phelps filtered out the foul odor. Chen Haoran hacked a cough as his qi went to work to neutralize the poison gas. He massaged his throat, and, after a few moments, swished around his tongue and spat out a glob of sickly yellow spit that started smoking as soon as it hit the dirt.

Chen Haoran wiped his mouth with a look of disgust. “What the hell.” He reached back to rub Phelps’s head. “Good work, bud, that stuff was rank.”

Phelps squealed and ducked his head when Chen Haoran tried to pat him. As soon as Chen Haoran shook his head and tried taking his hand back, however, Phelps did a complete 180 and stuffed his head into Chen Haoran’s palm.

“Needy little shit,” Chen Haoran said with a chuckle.

A pillar of silver light bloomed in the distance.

“Well, not quite what I’m looking for, but I’ll take it. C’mon, Phelps.”

Chen Haoran raced through the jungle, using less than half the qi he’d have used to achieve similar speed before eating the Banquet Peach. Before long, the Trial Pyramid came into view, yet again identical to the previous Trial Pyramid. Whatever civilization built this place wasn’t really interested in spicing up their venues, it seemed. Perhaps their decoration budget was spent on the death trees.

Like with Li Mou before Chen Haoran arrived just as the cultivator who activated the pyramid exited it. To his disappointment however, she wasn’t wearing the Garrison’s red uniform. Just a random Liquid Meridian cultivator then, and judging by the lack of bone decorations on her, she wasn’t even a native.

Chen Haoran sighed. Oh well. Maybe he’d get lucky and she’d have the answers she wanted. “Excuse me, miss. I’m looking for my friends.”

The woman didn’t speak. Instead, black mist gathered around her feet, and she swept down the pyramid like a phantom. Black lightning danced between her fingers and transformed them into claws. Chen Haoran sighed again and, when she slashed her claws down, flexed his qi and punched her back up the pyramid. The woman spun wildly through the air like a ragdoll, clipping the stone stairs and disappearing into the altar building.

A bit disappointing. Hopefully, this wouldn’t happen again.

——————————

“Hello, sir. Have you seen these Qi Realms—”

“The treasure is mine! Thousand Pound Sword!”

————————

“Pardon me, but I’ve lost my friends. Would you happen to know—”

“Meet them in hell! Death Point Strike!”

——————

“Have at thee!”

“Wait! Wait! Before you attack, I’m looking for two Qi Realms.”

“Oh? What a coincidence. I met two Qi Realms looking for a Liquid Meridian too.”

“Really?”

“Dog-Beating Staff!”

—————————

Received Hundred-Fold: 40-thousand-year-old Blood Nut Seeds

Received Hundred-Fold: Five High-Grade Spirit Stones

Received Hundred-Fold: Two Top-Grade Spirit Stones

Chen Haoran sighed. He’d gotten some nice rewards from the Trial Pyramids that had been promptly fed to Phelps. Unfortunately, the answers he was looking for were in far shorter supply. None of the cultivators he’d met and beaten up were Garrison soldiers. The only thing of note that he learned was that the trial rewards were randomized. Nothing about the strength of the trialists involved seemed to affect the rewards in any way.

Chen Haoran looked at the red-faced Eight-Layer Liquid Meridian he was holding by the collar of his robes. He was an elderly-looking man who could have been anywhere from 80 to 120 years old, given cultivation life extension nonsense. His white beard was stained with blood from his split lip and one eye was very visibly swollen. It was an exaggerated reaction considering swelling that bad typically took hours to form, but then again, Chen Haoran had punched him hard enough to cave in a normal man’s skull, so it wasn’t really the weirdest thing about this situation. The man’s metal staff lay twisted and bent beneath him after his sneak attack failed. Despite his Eight-Layer cultivation base, it was only Mortal-Rank quality making him by far the weakest cultivator Chen Haoran had fought in the secret realm so far. Just one punch had been enough to convince the man to stop all resistance.

Chen Haoran shook him. “The Dog-Beating part of that technique wasn’t literal, was it? Because I’m going to have to punch you harder if it was.”

The old man quickly shook his head, his beard swinging with the motion. “I swear it is not so, Young Hero. I, Qi Dong, have never beaten a dog in my life. On my family’s honor, I haven’t.”

Chen Haoran squinted. Qi? Something about that name was familiar, and as Chen Haoran gazed at the old man’s features, he felt a striking sense of deja vu. “Are you related to the Qi Family of Reservoir Town?”

Qi Dong woodenly smiled. “This foolish old man is embarrassed enough to be the Qi Family’s leader.”

Chen Haoran raised an eyebrow. “You’re the Patriarch? That tracks, I guess. You should teach your kid not to be an ass.”

Ugly recognition dawned on Qi Dong’s face. “Ah. To think I would accidentally insult the great benefactor who taught my son a lesson. Do not worry, Young Hero, I’ll make sure to beat some sense into that brat when I return.”

“Well, I don’t think child abuse is the answer either, but you do you man,” Chen Haoran said. “Anyway, just remember what I said. If you find who I’m looking for, then I’ll make it worth your while.”

Qi Dong rapidly nodded. “Of course, of course. I won’t allow my eyes to blink the entire trial until I set eyes on them.”

“There’s no need to go that far,” Chen Haoran said.

“As you wish, Young Hero,” Qi Dong said. “May I be let down now? I need to take my antidote pill soon.”

Chen Haoran snorted. “Yeah, let’s get you on your way before you get the courage to use that knife in your sleeve.”

Qi Dong paled. “I would never dare, Young Hero! That knife is there so I can disembowel myself for disrespecting you!”

“Whatever you say.” Chen Haoran winded his arm back and held Qi Dong above his head. “Be grateful I’m not a thief, and let you keep your storage bag.”

“Young Hero!?” Qi Dong croaked.

“The punch was for the sneak attack,” Chen Haoran explained. “This is for lying.” Chen Haoran flexed his qi, and his arm cracked like a catapult’s release as he pitched Qi Dong out of the pyramid and clear into the jungle. Phelps squealed in glee and clapped his claws together.

Chen Haoran rubbed his head. “Thank you.”

He covered Phelps’s eyes as the rune circle around the altar flashed behind them before dimming. Floating above the altar, ensconced in a cocoon of silver light, was a three-foot-long stalk of golden bamboo. When Chen Haoran grabbed it and dissipated the protective light, he was surprised by how heavy it was—far more than what he’d expected from bamboo. Its golden coloring had a distinctly metal sheen to it. Static buzzed through his hands as he held it, and when Chen Haoran flicked the stalk with his finger, it rang like a bell.

“Interesting,” Chen Haoran said, voicing his thoughts aloud for his audience of one. He passed the bamboo over to Phelps. “What do you think, bud?”

Phelps grasped the bamboo with greedy claws, fumbling for a moment with the weight and size given his awkwardness with his newfound strength. Soon enough though Phelps had the bamboo in a comfortable hold and started gnawing on it. Sparks flashed where his teeth scraped against the stalk, but not a mark could be seen despite Phelps’s Liquid Meridian cultivation. It looks like he’d gotten quite the good thing from the Trial this time.

“Okay, bud, hand it back, I’ll hold it for you till you can actually bite into it.” Chen Haoran reached to take the bamboo back and paused.

Received Hundred-Fold: Ninthgold Sword Bamboo

“Never mind. That’s helpful. But do you think it’s a toy or food?”

If it were the former, then Chen Haoran’s options would open up significantly. As he watched Phelps futilely chew on the Sword Bamboo the silver light pillar above them crashed back into the pyramid. Right as it did, another pillar lit up the sky not far away.

“Fifth times the charm, I guess,” Chen Haoran said. He looked at Phelps, who was contentedly gnawing and hesitated. Maybe it would be okay to put the stalk in his storage bag. He wasn’t taking it from Phelps, just holding it for him. On the other hand, he didn’t really want to play around with his power on the off chance Phelps got moody if he took the bamboo, and the Gifting Power responded to that. He couldn’t very well let Phelps keep holding the bamboo on his back, however.

In the end, Chen Haoran compromised and tucked Phelps into his arm like a football, positioning the bamboo such that it was like a lance, albeit one that extended backward instead of in front of him. Package secured, Chen Haoran sped off once again to the next Trial Pyramid. If he were lucky, he’d finally find some Garrison soldiers. If he were super lucky, he’d find out where Xie Jin and Bao Si were. If he were even luckier, then he’d find both and get the Trial Reward on top of it too. Thoughts abuzz with hope, he flooded a bit more qi to his limbs and accelerated to top speed, crashing through the jungle in a straight line, ignoring knife leaves and bomb fruits. He dug in his heels and skidded his way into the pyramid clearing, smashing directly through a tree and turning it to kindling.

Two red-robed Garrison Liquid Meridians standing at the base of the pyramid immediately swerved to face him. One Third-Layer with a peach tree medallion carved from bone hanging at his waist. The other a Sixth-Layer.

“Finally.” Chen Haoran thought. He placed Phelps down and left him to his business, and approached the soldiers with a spring in his step. “Hello! I come in peace, and I hope you do too because I’m not above beating you up to get the answers I want.”

The soldiers frowned, but before Chen Haoran could get any closer, a booming laugh from the top of the pyramid stopped him dead in his tracks.

“I’ve been party to many bold statements before, many of them said directly to me even. But this is the first time I’ve seen someone openly threaten my soldiers in my presence.”

Pan Gong emerged from the altar-building and crossed his arms. “Friend Lan. If you want to exchange beatings for knowledge, then you may as well come up here. We’ll see how far your coin stretches.”

Chapter 141

Chen Haoran thought he was being funny, imagining what Xie Wangmu’s face would be if she knew the level of Banquet Peach he was eating. Now he had a good idea of what that face might look like. He’d returned to the top of the pyramid and left Phelps on guard outside while he prepared himself to take the peach. Only after he took the first bite did he realize the thing he should’ve watched out for wasn’t the fruit’s energy but its taste. What felt like 80 thousand years worth of sour decided to violate the Geneva Conventions on his taste buds. Did the 800-year one taste this bad? Phelps didn’t give any indication it was any sour. Was he tough, or was Chen Haoran just weak? No, that didn’t matter. What mattered was that the sour taste screwed his mouth more shut than if he tried to throat two packs of saltines dry.

Then the kick hit.

Peach-gold energy rushed into his core and exploded throughout the rest of his body. Just one bite flooded him with more energy than all the pills and cultivation supplements he’d taken since he entered the Liquid Meridian Realm. Through his sense, he could feel his entire body dyed the color of peach, and he still had more of the fruit to go.

Chen Haoran took a deep breath, flooded qi to his mouth, and wrenched his jaws open. The second bite was no better than the first in terms of taste, even worse actually. He could taste blood on his tongue. An equal amount of energy poured into his body like before, filling him up till, to his sense, he looked more like a blob of peach liquid than a human. He could feel the Banquet Peach’s energy take up every available space it could find and, when there was no more to be had, start seeping out his pores into the air. He could feel even more leaving the peach itself in his hand. This was untenable.

“Yellow Dragon.”

The Yellow Dragon had been leisurely swimming within the peach energy. At Chen Haoran’s call, however, it seemed to wake up from whatever relaxed stupor the energy had put it in and roared. Yellow liquid qi-tinged peach flooded out from him and wrapped around the Banquet Peach to arrest the escaping energy. Chen Haoran immediately brought the peach back to his mouth and he and the Yellow Dragon bit as one. There was no sour taste this time. There was no peach either. All that was left was the Yellow Dragon, or maybe Peach Dragon would be more appropriate now, considering it was glowing the color like a lamp.

The Yellow Dragon roared and began to dance a cycle around his meridians. As it did, the energy within his body began to swirl. Instead of pressing outward, it now turned inward, centered around his core. As the Yellow Dragon completed its revolutions around his body, the peach glow around it began to fade and be replaced with bright yellow. Another revolution saw yellow qi emerge further. The revolution after that saw the Yellow Dragon leaves behind a thin trail of yellow qi. Amidst the overwhelming ocean of peach-colored energy, the contrast of the yellow trail was stark, and Chen Haoran watched the Yellow Dragon trace it all around his meridians before connecting the ends together. Even so, it was not done and followed the trail it had laid out unerringly, letting it grow wider and brighter with each revolution.

There was something hypnotic about watching the Yellow Dragon at work. It was far from the first time Chen Haoran had seen it cycling through his meridians, and yet, seeing the outline of yellow qi, it had made felt like he was seeing it again for the first time. It wasn’t. Even the trail wasn’t. The Yellow Dragon had done it when he’d advanced to the Liquid Meridian Realm after all, and yet. Something just felt different. Chen Haoran lent his will to his qi and followed the path the Yellow Dragon laid out, adding his own efforts to refining the Banquet Peach’s energy. He quickly found himself lapped by the Yellow Dragon. It was a uniquely embarrassing feeling to be left to bite the dust in his own arteries. Chen Haoran doubled down his focus, clinging to the trail like it was a lifeline and using it as a crutch as he directed the attention he’d usually spare on visualization to speed. It worked for a time. He did indeed go faster, then the Yellow Dragon twisted and coiled and danced another lap around him despite his effort. The Yellow Dragon cast an arrogant eye backward and huffed, Chen Haoran has the distinct impression it was mocking him.

He was doing something wrong. Even if the Yellow Dragon was a living fragment of his cultivation technique, it was still his body. Being this much better than him was ridiculous. He had kept pace with the Yellow Dragon before. How? The Yellow Dragon, unfortunately, didn’t seem keen on answering him and ignored Chen Haoran’s attempts to merge their presence’s, deftly dancing around him and speeding off.

It was….wait….

….dancing?

Chen Haoran didn’t quite know what kind of realization he had at that moment, but he began to wiggle to and fro in an awkward attempt to ape the Yellow Dragon’s graceful movements. Immediately he faltered, and his speed dropped to a standstill. It was hard to envision. How did one imagine themselves tap dancing inside their own veins? Worse, in this case, he wasn’t really dancing. It was more treating his meridians like a twisting waterslide he was sliding through. That wasn’t quite right either, though.

The Yellow Dragon snorted, perhaps tiring of Chen Haoran’s fumbled copying, and abruptly merged with his will. In that moment, Chen Haoran had the feeling the Yellow Dragon was exasperated with him, but before he could explore the feeling further, the trail of qi they’d been feeding finally filled his meridians. After a period of buildup, his qi seemed to reach some kind of critical mass because when the Yellow Dragon roared, his qi broke the banks of his meridians and spilled into the rest of his body—drowning and mixing with the Banquet Peach’s energy.

When Chen Haoran had eaten the Stygian Lotus, he’d experienced two things. First, it tasted like dirt. Second, its energy made him feel like he was scraped raw with a physician’s scalpel. Now the Banquet Peach tasted even worse, but its energy was…. intoxicating. It felt like waking up after the most comfortable night’s sleep, like doing shots of energy drinks and shooting caffeine up your veins. It felt like the spurt of energy that came when you imagined doing something productive but really wouldn’t. It was energy. It was life. It didn’t insert itself into his cells like a knife. Instead, it covered them like a peach-scented balm and slowly, inexorably, worked itself in.

Chen Haoran shivered from head to toe and shot up from his meditative position. His sudden movement saw him fly into the air and bash his head against the ceiling. It didn’t hurt, however, not even when he landed in a heap rather than trying to land properly. He felt itchy. So very, very, itchy. He rolled along the smooth stones of the floor in an attempt to scratch himself but found no relief. His hands fumbled at his robes, gently trying to remove them, but despite his efforts, ripped the silks clear off. With the effort wasted, he ripped the robes off entirely and dragged his fingers across his skin. It peeled away in layers, and beneath it was new, flawlessly smooth skin. It wasn’t the only thing growing either. Chen Haoran bit off six-inch fingernails and used the stone floor to grind down toenails the same length. His long hair became a veritable mane and went all the way down to his feet.

It was too much. He needed to move. Chen Haoran bent his knees and leapt for the doorway. Even without putting qi into the movement, he went flying off the pyramid and into the jungle, startling Phelps something fierce as it was now Chen Haoran’s turn to soar overhead. Chen Haoran crashed into the ground feet first and sank at least a foot into the dirt. Disturbed by his landing, the trees rained down a hail of knife-like leaves onto him. Liquid qi burst out of Chen Haoran like a cannon and cleared a 200-foot radius around him. It still wasn’t enough, though. He needed more.

Phelps floated over, and Chen Haoran’s eyes lit up. He beckoned Phelps with an outstretched hand and flexed his qi. “Phelps, attack.”

Perhaps it was because Phelps always wanted to stretch his muscles, but he instantly responded, sending a wave a blue liquid qi down on Chen Haoran’s head. Chen Haoran clenched his fist and flooded qi to his arms. First, it was just the qi already in his arm. Then it was the qi from his shoulder stretching to his other arm. Then it was qi from the upper half of his torso. Chen Haoran’s arm bulged as he filled it far beyond what would have been safe for him before. Phelps’s liquid qi was only a hairsbreadth away.

He swung.

There was a loud crack as the air was displaced, and Phelps’s liquid qi was blown away. Phelps himself tumbled wildly through the air from the aftershocks. Chen Haoran stood still, his arm trembling. He stared at his fist and whistled.

“Thank you Xi Wangmu.”

————————————

Stronger. Tougher. More alive. Chen Haoran took stock of the various changes in his body. He flexed his arms and gazed down at his chest. The Stygian Lotus had cut out fine lines of muscle and left him lean. The Banquet Peach filled him out. His chest was broader, his arms thicker, and his back…. well, he couldn’t see it, but he felt cool when he flexed, so it must be good. He now looked like he could actually tank the hits he’d been tanking. Inside, his meridians shone brightly to his sense. They showed no sign or strain from the intense energy that had been flowing through them moments before. His body felt fresh and alive beyond what qi could already do. He had yet to really test the recovery ability Xi Wangmu said the peach would give, but he could take a guess.

Phelps hissed at Chen Haoran from a distance away, turning around with a pointed huff when Chen Haoran turned to pay him attention. He hadn’t quite liked being sent flying. Strange, given he had no problem doing it drunk. Perhaps it was an ingrained Liquid Meridian pride?

Chen Haoran ignored his sulking pet and ran through some simple exercises: pushups, jumping jacks, squats, and lunges. They weren’t for actual training. Workouts like these hadn’t done anything for him since he was a Qi Realm, but they were an effective way to adjust to his new changes. He tried lightly jogging over to a nearby tree and left furrows in the dirt as he skidded to a stop in front of it. He flicked the trunk with his finger, and the entire tree shook, dropping its knife leaves on his head.

Blossom-Picking Palm

Chen Haoran’s palms glowed green, and he plucked three hundred of the leaves from the air before letting his liquid qi vaporize the rest. He carefully jumped up to grab a low-hanging branch and proceeded to alternate between chin-ups, pull-ups, and swinging himself over the branch like a gymnast. After doing a hundred of each, he was finally satisfied and began to clean up. A quick flush of liquid qi removed the rest of his dead skin. His ungainly hair was roughly chopped to a more reasonable length. His nails were carefully filed using Li Mou’s shitty Profound-Rank sword. He mournfully gathered the scraps of his torn robe and put them in his storage bag before putting on a new red one.

After making himself presentable, he finally remembered Li Mou’s storage bag. Given the quality of his cultivation and his weapon, Chen Haoran wasn’t expecting much, and he was right. Inside the storage bag were just spare uniforms, some books, pills, of which some Chen Haoran recognized and others he didn’t and would thus not be feeding to Phelps, and a red and white eagle medallion. Besides the books, Chen Haoran wasn’t interested in anything else. The medallion, at least, he recognized as being the symbol of the Garrison. Perhaps it was for communication? He dumped the medallion onto the ground and pressed it into the earth till it was out of sight. The clothes were shredded and dispersed, and the rest of the things were transferred to his storage bag. He did have the idea to try and put Li Mou’s storage bag inside his own, but unfortunately, they seemed to have some kind of repulsive force that pushed them away from each other, sorta like magnets.

Oh well. Li Mou had said he was a son of the Li Family, not the son. Whatever status he thought he had in the Garrison obviously wasn’t enough to actually furnish him with some decent wealth.

“Man,” Chen Haoran said. “What a fucked up thing to think after killing someone.”

Not that Chen Haoran was overly bothered by it. Phelps floated over and perched himself on his back as per usual, finally having gotten over— oh, nope, he was still sulking. Phelps refused to lay his head on Chen Haoran’s shoulder. Chen Haoran helplessly sighed. “I’m sorry okay? Don’t be like this forever. I need you in top condition.”

Because try as he might, Chen Haoran didn’t think today would end without him killing a few more people.

He pushed aside those thoughts and moved toward the jungle. “Come on, bud, let’s go find our friends.”

Phelps grunted and tightened his grip.

Chen Haoran shook his head and continued on before suddenly pausing.

“I forgot to ask that asshole how we’re supposed to leave.”

Chapter 140

Li Mou didn’t have time to react before Chen Haoran crushed his skull. It was the only mercy he was given. Following his final breath came a flood of burning orange qi. Li Mou’s body was vaporized to ashes as his liquid qi became out of control. For a Liquid Meridian, death was their most dangerous moment. Chen Haoran had plenty of experience in that regard both from observation and personally killing a Liquid Meridian himself. As a Qi Realm, Chen Haoran had to rely on others’ help to escape the range of the Liquid Meridian Realm’s death throes. Now facing a Final Flood yet again, he calmly reached out with a hand wreathed in liquid qi and smothered the escaping qi with a dragon’s roar, grabbing Li Mou’s storage bag before it could be burned to ashes. He smoothly retreated after securing the bag to avoid the worst of the flood.

Li Mou’s last gasp crashed against the stones of the pyramid and fell down its slopes in a wave. The Yellow Dragon growled, and a shield of yellow qi flowed in front of Chen Haoran that deftly swept the orange qi to either side of him. After a few seconds, the last of Li Mou’s qi dissipated into the air, and the shield of yellow qi fell back into his body. Chen Haoran stood there unscathed and curiously observed the pyramid. While their fight may have been brief, it was no less intense for it. Yet despite their battle and Li Mou’s Final Flood, not a single mark was to be seen on the pyramid. The pillar of silver light shuddered and collapsed in on itself, falling back down and disappearing into the building atop the pyramid.

Phelps squealed and came floating over, cradling Li Mou’s cast of sword. Chen Haoran smiled. “Thank you, Phelps.” Chen Haoran reached out to pat his head but paused when he saw his bloody hand. A brief flash of qi scoured the blood from his hand, but he still swapped to his other to pat Phelps’s head.

He wouldn’t lie. Killing Li Mou had been cathartic, and it wasn’t even because he was an ass. After having his body puppeted by that Crystal Transformation Realm, he felt like a fighting bull seeing the red uniforms of the Garrison. His anger had uselessly paced inside his chest like a caged animal, but there was nothing he could do to the shaman. His subordinates, on the other hand….

“Zhang Yong, huh?”

It was wrong, admittedly. Just because they were part of the same force didn’t make the Garrison soldiers responsible for their leader’s actions. Chen Haoran wanting to hurt them was just him trying to find a weaker scapegoat he could take his anger out on. It was a thought worthy of giving him pause. Was that what was going on in this world? People couldn’t do anything when they were bullied by cultivators stronger than them, so they took their anger on those below them instead. Well, the idea sounded a bit simplistic, but it was something to keep in mind. Perhaps it was just another reason of various ones that he was only now just discovering firsthand for himself.

That was neither here nor there, however. The state of the world wasn’t really important to the situation at hand. Assuming Li Mou wasn’t lying, then the Garrison was as caught off guard by the random teleport as Chen Haoran was. That was worrisome. When it came to the ignorant, they were never wrong about just one thing. If the Garrison was wrong about how to enter the trial ground, then they might be wrong about other aspects of it, too, like that danger.

….no. The real issue wasn’t what else the Garrison was wrong about. It was why. The Garrison had sent nearly six hundred Liquid Meridian Realms to these ruins, including talented and powerful individuals like Pan Gong. How many cultivators like that did they have in Reservoir Town? Surely not enough to let them deploy so many into a situation of unknown danger and potentially high loss. Pan Gong had caved in Li Mou’s chest for damaging a wall just because it might have contained something useful for their researchers. That didn’t sound like an organization that would go into a situation half-cocked. The Garrison was confident about the ruins. That much was clear. Yet despite this confidence and the professionals they had studying the ruins, they were wrong. Why?

“This is gonna suck,” Chen Haoran mumbled to himself. He took Li Mou’s sword from Phelps and let the sloth clamber on his back. “Come on, bud. Let’s see what this reward is all about.”

Chen Haoran entered the top of the pyramid, wreathed in a protective covering of liquid qi. The inside was a carbon copy of the pyramid outside, just smaller in scale. There was even another circle of silver runes though this time it was on the floor surrounding what looked to be a stone altar. The runes flashed in succession before light flashed on the altar, and a transparent, glass-like fruit appeared on the altar. It was perfectly round, unnaturally so, only broken up by a stem surrounded by five leaves on its top and seemed to be filled with water. Chen Haoran was still not versed enough in this world’s supernatural fruits and plants to identify the majority of them on sight. This particular one, however, was extensively detailed to him by Xie Jin on their way here, given its importance.

Liquid Core Fruit.

Chen Haoran cautiously approached the altar, stopping just a few paces away from it. He mentally prodded the Yellow Dragon, who grumbled at being disturbed for something it considered beneath it, but nevertheless complied with his request. A thin tendril of liquid qi stretched out and delicately wrapped around the Liquid Core Fruit before pulling it away from the altar and bringing it to Chen Haoran’s waiting hands. The silver light dimmed, and the rune circle disappeared. After a few tense seconds of waiting, there was no further reaction, and Chen Haoran finally relaxed.

“Thank you.”

The Yellow Dragon huffed and returned to gathering ambient qi. Chen Haoran didn’t mind its sass. It was far more skilled at manipulating liquid qi than he was. It was why he could so easily overwhelm Li Mou. Four hands were always better than two in a fight.

He played around with the fruit in his hand. It was surprisingly squishy like he was holding a water balloon instead of an actual fruit. Phelps leaned over and sniffed the fruit curiously. According to Xie Jin, the Liquid Core Fruit did everything a Heavy Core Pill did but better, and unlike the pill, it could be used by cultivators of any element.

Even animals.

Maybe it was a good thing that they were separated. Xie Jin would kill him if he knew what Chen Haoran was about to do.

“What do you think, Phelps?” Chen Haoran asked, holding the Liquid Core Fruit toward him. “Fancy a level up?”

Phelps squealed and fell from his back. Chen Haoran placed the Liquid Core Fruit on the ground before him and stepped back to guard the entrance. Staying at the pyramid was a bit of a double-edged sword. It was safer than being out in the jungle, but at the same time, there might be other people on their way after seeing the silver light pillar. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing for more people to come.

Phelps looked at Chen Haoran, then at the Liquid Core Fruit. There was no more hesitation. He snapped the fruit up in one bite.

Received Hundred-Fold: Liquid Crystal Fruit

Interesting. He had noticed it before, but there was a clear difference between certain spiritual herbs. Some, like his Stygian Lotus and the Banquet Peach, had their age improved but otherwise remained the same. Others like this Liquid Core Fruit and the Monk Flowers from the Spa Cavern were turned into new varieties entirely. It was something due for investigation in the future. Now, however, Chen Haoran crossed his arms and focused his sense on Phelps.

There was no change initially when he ate the fruit. Phelps laid down and steadily breathed. Then he shuddered, and his qi began to spike. Chen Haoran tried to observe Phelps’s changes with his sense but failed to get an accurate picture. He mentally poked the Yellow Dragon again, and this time, it didn’t grumble as much as it peered curiously through his body at Phelps. Chen Haoran’s vision blurred, and the world became split between water and not water. Fortunately, Phelps aligned with water element energies and, under his shared vision, lit up into a diagram of meridians coursing with blue qi. They were different compared to a human’s meridians. A little less in number but wider and thicker.

In an ephemeral space by Phelps’s stomach was a growing sphere of clear qi. Some of the energy escaped into his meridians and filled them to the brim. The majority of it was trapped in his core and soon became tinged with the blue color of Phelps’s qi. It spread across the sphere like wildfire, and the originally clear qi now shone brightly like a blue star. Then it collapsed. Chen Haoran flinched in surprise at how sudden it was. The sphere contracted violently and condensed into a droplet in a single motion. It was far faster and even more reckless than when Chen Haoran himself condensed his first drop of liquid qi.  It didn’t stop there; however, only the sphere was condensed. There was still more energy in Phelps’s meridians. Chen Haoran looked on in concern as Phelps’s qi madly rushed to his core. He canceled the shared vision for a moment and observed Phelps’s condition.

He was asleep.

Chen Haoran looked incredulously at his pet. He knew beasts cultivated differently compared to humans, but sleeping while advancing was a bit ridiculous. Still, ridiculous or not, as he switched back to the shared vision, he couldn’t deny the facts in front of him. Phelps’s qi gathered around the drop of liquid qi in his core and easily merged with it. The droplet grew larger, far larger than what Chen Haoran condensed during his own advancement, until there was no more qi left. Slowly, inexorably, it fell from Phelps’s core and into his meridian. From there, it drifted along the natural qi cycle through his body. Around the droplet, gaseous qi drawn from the outside began to gather. As the droplet grew, it attracted more and more qi. It was a slow, steady accumulation. After what felt like half an hour, however, there was a shift in the air.

The droplet had become a flowing stream of liquid qi and now reached critical mass. The air began to distort as a large amount of ambient qi suddenly moved all at once. The liquid qi within Phelps expanded exponentially, rushing throughout his body until both ends finally met and created a continuous whole. Phelps’s eyes flew open, and he rose with a shriek. His body bulged, and he grew nearly twice in size while his aura spiked. That wasn’t the end of it. Phelps flexed his qi once, twice, before finally releasing a flood of blue liquid qi.

Chen Haoran laughed as the Yellow Dragon directed his liquid qi to block Phelps’s sudden flood. To his surprise, his qi began to float out of control as soon as it collided with Phelps’s. Even the Yellow Dragon was briefly startled before narrowing its eyes and letting loose a roar that saw his qi return back to his control. Phelps, in the meantime, seemed to realize what he had done and squealed. His liquid qi halted its flood. Phelps grunted, and the deluge of qi was slowly drawn back to his body, ebbing and flowing like ocean waves before he finally reabsorbed it all and shrunk back down to his original size.

Chen Haoran sighed in relief, both for Phelps’s successful advancement and that his size increase was a temporary thing. He didn’t know how he would lug a 5-foot sloth around. The fact Phelps learned to release liquid qi directly after becoming a Liquid Meridian Realm was a surprise. He remembered Song Yuelin saying it wasn’t something they instinctively knew how to do the way humans did. It just proved more that Phelps was a genius. The smartest sloth in the world, if Chen Haoran said so himself.

“Good job, Phelps. I knew you could do it.” Chen Haoran opened his arms for a hug, and Phelps squealed in joy upon seeing it. Unfortunately, Chen Haoran only realized something was wrong too late when Phelps shot like a cannonball through the air and tackled into his chest. Before he could react, he was swept off his feet, and man and sloth when tumbling down the long flight of stairs together. They were halfway down when Chen Haoran finally had the sense to cancel his momentum with a wave of liquid qi. He lay splayed across the steps, Phelps in his arms, while he waited for the world to stop spinning.

Chen Haoran laughed. “Damn, if I shouldn’t have expected that.”

Phelps squealed and started licking his face, leaving Chen Haoran covered in slobber.

“Enough. Enough I said!”

Chen Haoran pushed Phelps’s head away and laughed again. Phelps finally settled down and seemed content to just lay on his chest. They spent of a brief moment like that. Chen Haoran staring at the skyless sky of the secret realm while Phelps softly crooned.

He sighed and stretched out a qi-covered hand.

“I guess I should eat my fruit too.”

A rich, dense peach smell filled the area, even through the isolating cover of his liquid qi. Sitting in his hand and shining like a bright sun to his sense was a full and ripe golden peach.

He wondered what kind of face Xi Wangmu would make if she knew she effectively handed him an 80-thousand-year-old Banquet Peach.

Chapter 139

Hello everyone. Thank you for your patience. I am doing well and luckily managed to avoid any real damage from the fire. With any luck we won't have another chapter be delayed like this from a fire.

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First came silver light. Then came a mouth full of sickly sweet, bitter death. Chen Haoran unconsciously inhaled, and his lungs were filled with stinging air. As soon as he started to feel the burn, his qi adjusted, and the feeling vanished. The burning did not go away; however, instead of poison, it was adrenaline that now set his lungs aflame. Chen Haoran’s hands flew to his empty back, and he whirled around to find Phelps fallen on the ground behind him. A single panicked thought called an antidote pill to his hand, and Chen Haoran fell to his knees, trying to feed the pill to Phelps.

It was in vain.

Phelps was perfectly fine.

Through his sense, he could feel the shifting of poisonous air as Phelps breathed. Just before it entered his body, the air met a film of his qi serving as a filter; the heavy poisonous elements were lightened and separated from the air before he breathed it in. It was an intricate working of Phelps floating power that required a deft and deeply ingrained control of qi to have it constantly operate.

Phelps blinked hazy eyes at Chen Haoran and haphazardly swung a claw. Chen Haoran allowed the blow to hit him to no effect and stuffed the antidote pill into Phelps’s mouth. He saw the problem in an instant, as instinctual Phelps reaction to filter out the poisonous air was he still breathed in some of the poison. Honestly, that made his feat all the more impressive. Chen Haoran knew he was talented, but this was a bit ridiculous. Had he always been like this? Were it not that he was so focused on Phelps with his sense, he might not have even noticed what he was doing.

Clarity returned to Phelps’s eyes as the antidote did its work, and with it came recognition. An aborted squeal became a raspy cough, black gunk being spat out with every heave, the remains of the poison after being neutralized. Chen Haoran flipped him over and patted his back, softly encouraging Phelps and, at the same time, finally observing their surroundings.

They were surrounded by trees, of the same kind as the jungle outside but more wretched in appearance. Their bark was dark, and their trunks twisted, their branches grasping claws festooned with sickly green leaves with dropping pointed ends like a canopy of knives hung overhead. There was no underbrush or plant life growing beneath these trees. Theirs was a choking shade, not a shield, and the ground was rough and broken through with large roots that seemed to want to strangle each other to death with how inter wrapped they were. The air was thick and unpleasant with a subtle green tinge. It was heavy to breathe and opaque enough at a distance to make even his Liquid Meridian vision little better than a normal man’s. For a place that presumably drew energy from the Green Hell, however, the poisonous air was remarkably less deadly than he’d thought.

Chen Haoran had scoured the area for danger with his sense and found none, which was why he was able to focus on attending to Phelps. Actually, setting eyes on the place, however, instilled a creeping sense of dread in his heart. No matter how much his sense told him there was nothing threatening around them, the jungle did not inspire any sort of safety.

His observing the area also made another thing clear.

Xie Jin and Bao Si were gone.

Despite being right next to him when the silver light bloomed, they were now nowhere to be seen. Was Phelps here then because he was clinging to Chen Haoran? Would Xie Jin and Bao Si be here with him if he had been faster? If he had been at a higher Layer? There were other possible answers. Perhaps Phelps didn’t count towards whatever criteria the silver light used to teleport them. Despite other potential answers, however, there was always an inexorable attraction to the one that made everything your own fault.

Phelps hacked up one final wad of black gunk and squeaked at him with a scratchy voice. Chen Haoran picked Phelps up and wiped his mouth of black residue. “Not gonna lie, buddy, this place reminds me of the Spa Cavern in all the worst ways.”

Unexpected entrance into a mysterious secret realm? Check.

Hostile environment? Check.

Visibility shot to hell? Check.

Being used to mysterious ends by local power? Well, that remained to be seen.

Pan Gong had confidently told him the trial entrance would be a gate they’d take turns walking into, not a teleport. He didn’t think it was a lie. At least, there was no reason for Pan Gong to lie to him. He didn’t think this was some plan by the Garrison to exploit them either. Or rather, the Garrison was definitely planning to exploit them. They just didn’t need to be sneaky about it. The Crystal Transformation Shaman certainly wasn’t when he press-ganged Chen Haoran into service.

Chen Haoran slapped his cheeks. “Save the reasoning for later. Find Xie Jin and Bao Si first.” He pulled Phelps onto his back. The sloth wrapped his arms around his neck and finally found his voice again, squealing loudly directly into Chen Haoran’s ear. Fortunately, qi was the best protection against tinnitus. Chen Haoran scratched Phelps’s chin. “Let’s hope we can find them soon, buddy.”

——————————

Chen Haoran took a moment to amend his previous statement. To find someone ‘soon’ would necessarily require one to know an approximation of time with which they could compare the word ‘soon’ against to judge whether or not someone was, in fact, found ‘soon.’ To have such an approximation of time, however, required one to have a means of telling the time. Means that Chen Haoran was sorely lacking when the secret realm had no sun, moon, or stars in its sky and instead was just naturally bright from light that emitted from who knew where.

Lacking the ability to tell the passing of time wasn’t the only thing that hampered his search. The environment proved itself to be in no way helpful at best and downright lethal at worst. It wasn’t even the air. His creeping sense of danger was proven valid when he accidentally stepped on a tree root and snapped it, causing the suspiciously knife-like leaves to fall atop his head like actual knives. Their serrated edges were proven to not be for show when they acted more like a living poisonous trap than an actual place of rest. As if to add a final topping to his crummy cake, his compass didn’t work either.

Granted, his ‘search’ for Xie Jin and Bao Si was more reliant on them finding him than any potential success on his part. If only one of their Gu caught a whiff of his scent, then they’d be able to track him or send a signal for him to find and would make finding the other much easier. It was something far more likely to occur than him randomly finding them by wandering aimlessly through the endless sea of trees. Such aimless wandering was the best he could do when presented with an area of unknown size. There was a complete lack of any and all significant landmarks that he could use to orient himself. He couldn’t even leave marks on the trees, given how sensitive they were and how readily they would drop their thousands of leaves atop his head at the slightest disturbance.

They honestly made him miss the Spa Cavern’s monster crickets. The only saving grace was that his Liquid Qi served as an effective shield against the leaves. He was always left with a constant feeling, however, that he’d yet to find the proper danger of the secret realm. It was intended to be a trial, after all, and besides some ornery trees, he hadn’t found a speck of other life or sign of testing.  Or treasure, for that matter. For a place that had been untouched and left to accumulate energy and resources for at least two thousand years, it was bare of both. Chen Haoran was just waiting now to learn that the damn trees had sucked the life out of everything else in the trial, which would be both relieving and disappointing. It would suck to experience so much suck in so short a period of time and have nothing to show for it in the end, but at least he knew the trees couldn’t hurt Xie Jin and Bao Si.

The other thousand Liquid Meridians, on the other hand….

Chen Haoran redoubled his pace.

Depending on where they were teleported and who they might be near, things could go so very wrong for his friends, and he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. He cast his in every direction in search of a sign, any sign, of anyone at all—anything he could use to learn where he was. Phelps, seemingly feeling his urgency, stretched his nose in the air and sniffed like a dog. It was an admirable effort, one that Chen Haoran appreciated, even if an actual dog would be more useful for tracking than Phelps was.

Phelps squealed and leaned over his shoulder in a direction his fancy hundred times improved compass said was every cardinal direction at once.

A pillar of silver light shot out into the sky where Phelps was looking.

Chen Haoran’s reaction was instant, qi flooding his legs and pushing him forward and through the gnarled trees. Liquid qi flooded out and surrounded both him and Phelps in a protective shield that battered down the trees in their way and insulated them from the deadly leaf storm Chen Haoran’s sudden acceleration created. The silver light pillar swayed and shifted as if being pushed by some invisible wind, its height reaching into the pseudo-sky of the secret realm and beyond, disappearing from view. In a matter of moments, Chen Haoran discovered the source of the light—a pyramid, like the one outside but in miniature. Miniature in that rather than rivaling skyscrapers, it was much more reasonable two hundred feet in height. Like the outside pyramid there was a room at the peak, of which from the roof rose the pillar of light. Chen Haoran skidded to a stop at the base of the pyramid right as the person who activated the light show exited the room at the top.

Logically, despite knowing it would be nigh on miraculous for it to be one of his friends, he was still disappointed when he saw a red uniform instead. Less disappointing, however, was that he recognized the owner of the uniform.

Li Mou stopped and did a double-take when he saw Chen Haoran. A slow, ugly smile filled his face, halfway between a smirk and a grimace. “Well, well, what do we have here.”

Chen Haoran scowled. Li Mou was nowhere near him when they teleported. That face he was here meant the silver light had truly flung everyone in random directions. Xie Jin and Bao Si could be anywhere.

Li Mou continued speaking. “Heaven must have decided to be kind to me today after being humiliated. To think it would present you to me after I’ve fully recovered.”

Chen Haoran started walking up the stairs. Phelps detached himself and floated away to a safe distance. “I have questions. If you answer them honestly, I won’t bother you anymore.”

Li Mou chuckled. It was a grating, nasally sound. He walked down the stairs. “Oh, after I’m done with you, you’ll never bother me again. Pan Gong isn’t here to save you anymore.”

“I’m thankful to you,” Chen Haoran suddenly said.

Li Mou paused. Arrogance briefly replaced by confusion. “Begging for mercy already?”

“I’m glad that out of all your infinite possibilities, you chose to be a piece of shit. I was looking for an acceptable target.”

“You dare—!?”

Chen Haoran surged up the steps in a torrent of liquid qi. Orange qi like liquid fire flooded out from Li Mou in the same instant, and the forces collided. A feeling of weight pressed on Chen Haoran’s chest as the two qi’s crashed and enveloped the other. In the clash, he sized up Li Mou in an instant. Profound-Rank.

Li Mou sneered as he simultaneously studied Chen Haoran. “Do you think I am a fool? As if I could not recognize from your confidence that you had some means. You’re mistaken to think I can’t deal with an Earth-Rank.”

Li Mou flexed his qi, and it surged out in every direction and threatened to surround Chen Haoran. Yellow liquid qi flooded out from him in every direction and scattered the orange qi out of Li Mou’s control, where it fell like a rain of fire on the pyramid’s stones. In terms of quantity of qi Li Mou just barely edged him out. It was a minute difference made irrelevant thanks to the advantage of Chen Haoran’s water element to Li Mou’s fire. Li Mou frowned and gathered his qi into a solid orange wall that he held firm. His qi flared like real flames and obscured him from view.

“Yellow Dragon.”

Chen Haoran’s silent call received an answering roar, and he surrendered control of his liquid qi. Divorced from his guiding his hand, the liquid qi condensed and narrowed into a wedge. The Yellow Dragon roared, and the wall of orange qi was wrenched open. Li Mou was revealed with a look of triumph, his sword glowing bright with flames.

“Die!” he roared. As he swung his sword, he slammed his qi into Chen Haoran’s own with brutal force. Li Mou’s burning sword cut through his yellow qi like butter and swung toward his neck.

Blossom-Picking Palm

The reversal was instant. Yellow qi fell back onto itself, absorbing the force of Li Mou’s sword and diverting it ever so slightly that the flames barely grazed Chen Haoran. In the same instant, Chen Haoran stepped forward with green palms. Twenty-five hits. One to break the wrist of Li Mou’s sword arm, the other twenty-four to break every single rib.

Li Mou’s sword flew off into the distance, and he was flung into a wall with a ghastly expelling of the air in his lungs. To his credit, he immediately rose to stand, but Chen Haoran was there in the next moment, grasping his head in his hand and smashing the back of his skull into the pyramid’s stone bricks until they were red with blood. Li Mou still strained against his grip despite that, orange qi bubbling along his skin. Liquid qi spilled from Chen Haoran’s palm and rippled with a dragon’s roar. Li Mou’s qi scattered. He groaned as blood rushed from his eyes, nose, and ears. His broken chest bulged up and down in unnatural waves, and he coughed out a river of blood and bits of flesh.

“Don’t,” Li Mou croaked. His bloodshot eyes were wild with fear. “I am a son of the Li Family. If you kill me, you’ll be hunted down by the Garrison forever.”

“Did the Garrison know everyone would be teleported?” Chen Haoran coldly demanded. His voice boomed, backed by the echo of a dragon’s roar that trailed after every word.

Li Mou shivered—even the echo wracking him with pain. “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

Chen Haoran squeezed, and his fingers dug into Li Mou’s head.

“Stop, stop!” Li Mou begged. “We didn’t expect this to happen. This wasn’t in our briefing.”

“Where are we now?”

“A Trial Pyramid.” Li Mou practically breathed out every word in short, panicked spurts. “As long as you defeat another trialist or wait long enough, then the prohibitions inside will open, and you can receive a reward.”

Chen Haoran remained stone-faced. “What else do you know?”

“I don’t know anything else. I swear. I haven’t been able to contact any of my co-officers.”

Chen Haoran stared at the hand holding Li Mou’s head. “The Crystal Transformation Realm Shaman outside. What’s his name?”

Even in the situation he was in, the question was enough to give Li Mou pause. “Are you talking about Lord Zhang Yong?”

Chen Haoran growled. “Is that his name?”

“Yes, yes, he’s a shaman with the Gu Department. I don’t know why he’s here. He just suddenly showed up.”

“I see,” Chen Haoran said. His voice was abruptly empty of emotion and dragon echo. “Remember that name.”

He crushed Li Mou’s skull.

Chapter 138

Standing next to Pan Gong made Chen Haoran feel small, and it wasn’t just because of his superior cultivation. If there were ever a case to be made about cultivators being greater than normal men, then Pan Gong would be the visual proof of it. Eight feet tall in height with muscles fit for a Greek statue and a voice that boomed like his words echoed in his chest before leaving his mouth. That his poor uniform wasn’t torn to shreds from the obvious strain it was under was surely a miraculous working of qi. Draped across his shoulders was a gray bearskin. The head of the which rested on Pan Gong’s shoulder like the world’s angriest-looking pauldron. A large and well-combed beard framed a surprisingly kind and jolly-looking face, given how intimidating the rest of him was. It was like Santa Klaus was crossed with a big game hunter.

Pan Gong fell into step with Chen Haoran on his left. Xie Jin and Bao Si immediately placed themselves on Chen Haoran’s right and followed a step behind them. Pan Gong didn’t glance twice at them. A fact that Chen Haoran was grateful for, although he mentally added a demerit to his impression of Pan Gong for it. People who ignored his people weren’t his type of people.

“May I ask what brings you to the South, Friend Lan?” Pan Gong asked.

“For peace and fortune,” Chen Haoran blithely replied.

“Those are often mutually exclusive,” Pan Gong pointed out.

“I aware,” Chen Haoran dryly replied. “I haven’t been able to find any peace, so I came to try my hand at fortune instead. How about you, Friend Pan? I’ve heard about the prestigious Palace School graduates. Forgive me for saying this but I can’t say I expected to meet someone like you here of all places.”

Bao Si softly coughed behind him, but before Chen Haoran could parse her meaning, Pan Gong chuckled. “No, thankfully, I am only here for experience before I have to return to the school. If I ended up a petty Garrison officer after working myself to death for so many years, I would save myself the shame and end it early.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Chen Haoran said. “I’ve heard that the Palace School only takes the most talented to train into high-level officials for the Empire. Is it true you can get a Heaven-Rank technique from there?”

It was a bit nerve-wracking, admittedly, to be speaking with such a high-ranking Liquid Meridian. There was still the threat he would be recognized. That being said he was curious about the Palace School. His current situation was terrible anyway. A few questions wouldn’t make it worse. The worst that could happen is that he’d die.

Pan Gong wistfully smiled. “You heard correctly. Should you prove yourself worthy, then Heaven-Rank techniques of all sorts are within easy reach. Resources, knowledge, mentors, anything and everything the ambitious would want is there for the taking. The Palace School is a place where dragons go to swim, however. It’s not easy to prove yourself when you have the collective talent of the Empire trying to do the same.” Pan Gong glanced at Chen Haoran. “Are you interested in joining? You would have a bigger advantage than most.”

Chen Haoran shook his head. “I’m just lucky, is all. I have a much more talented…. friend who wants to join the Palace School. I was just curious what she’d find there.” As it turned out, everything she could have hoped for and then some. “Best of luck with your studies. I’m sure there’s a high-up position waiting for a strong cultivator with a Machu River cultivation like you.”

Pan Gong smiled helplessly and rubbed his head. “Those are auspicious words from a River Blessed, but I’m afraid I’ll need more than luck. Posts along the Machu River are prestigious, and there are so many Yellow River cultivators competing for them. I’d be lucky to be within a hundred miles of the river.” He peered at Chen Haoran and reached out with a cursory brush of his sense. The Yellow Dragon grumbled and gently pushed the sense back. Pan Gong blinked. “Are you affiliated with the Ministry of Rites at all, Friend Lan?”

“No,” Chen Haoran said. If he were, then he’d probably get yanked around less. Surely being the Machu River’s PR person would bring him some respect. “It hasn’t been long since I got….well,” he waved a hand over himself, “….this.”

They arrived at the base of the pyramid. They didn’t have much of a chance to admire it, however, as Pan Gong ascended the steps without pause, and they were forced to hurry up to keep pace. Well… Chen Haoran was, at least. He was pretty sure Xie Jin and Bao Si wouldn’t have minded an excuse to separate from Pan Gong. Actually, stepping on the pyramid reminded Chen Haoran of the absolute unknown they were walking toward.

“Has there been anything discovered about this trial?” Chen Haoran asked.

“Maybe,” Pan Gong said with an air of idle musing. “I’m not much one for theory, unfortunately.”

Without missing a beat, Chen Haoran reached into his storage bag and summoned a flask to his hand. He handed it to a suddenly bemused Pan Gong. “I haven’t thanked you yet for helping us back there. It’s not much, but I hope you like it.”

Pan Gong accepted the flash and raised an eyebrow when he felt its quality. Not quite Mortal-Rank, but way better than just a regular drinking flask, the Gifting Power’s improvement striking again. One eyebrow was soon followed by the other when he popped open the cork and got a whiff of high-grade Machu River water.

“A good drink.” Pan Gong drank deeply from the flask and then wiped his mouth with a satisfied sigh. “To think I would be able to drink Machu Dragon water in the South. Today is a good day.” He looked at Chen Haoran with a much more appreciative look. “I underestimated how much the Machu River values you.”

“I just caught it on a good day,” Chen Haoran denied. “If it really liked me, I wouldn’t be down here looking for riches, would I?”

“Perhaps you might yet find some,” Pan Gong mused. “The Ministry of Culture employs some terribly bright minds. From what they’ve told me, this pyramid focuses the ambient energy into a connected Secret Realm. The power that built this place used it to temper their younger generation and harvest resources while they were at it. Initial estimates say it’s been abandoned for at least two thousand years.”

“There must be quite the harvest built up,” Chen Haoran faintly said. Or at least there might be. Two thousand years was long enough for things to go wrong after all.

They crested over the top of the stairs in no time at all, turning something that would have been a 20-minute walk back on earth into less than five minutes. The top of the pyramid was a building or perhaps an altar. After walking past the guarding snake statues, they entered a room filled with cultivators. The red-clothed Garrison soldiers were in the majority and clustered near a wall with a series of runes carved in a circle on its surface. Half of them glowed bright silver, and before Chen Haoran could blink, another rune lit up with the same light. The unaffiliated cultivators hung near the entrance, not daring to cross the invisible divide between both groups.

Pan Gong pointed toward the rune circle. “Once the activation requirements are met, that circle will create a gate for us to pass through into the secret realm. The Garrison will go in first, and the rest will be coming after us.”

“Is the Garrison that confident?” Chen Haoran asked him.

Pan Gong laughed. “Our culture and Formation experts have been working nonstop to identify any potential issues. I won’t dare say we know everything going on inside, but we’re fairly sure of its danger level.” He patted Chen Haoran on the shoulder, almost sending him stumbling with the force. “Being able to meet a River Blessed makes this a lucky day for me. Once you’re inside, you can follow me. Perhaps we might find some real treasure together.”

“I’ll thank you in advance then,” Chen Haoran said.

Pan Gong casually waved the water flash. “Don’t mention it.” Just before he walked away, however, he stopped and turned to Chen Haoran with a serious look. “A word of advice from one man of the river to another. Don’t return to the Machu River without meeting the Ministry of Rites. For all that it lives and thinks, the Machu River isn’t human, nor is the pieces of itself that it gives away. If you’re not careful, then they’ll do as water does and merge together.”

Well. That wasn’t ominous at all.

“Thank you, Friend Pan,” Chen Haoran said, bowing his hands.

Pan Gong waved his hand and walked into the crowd without another word. Chen Haoran watched the sea of cultivators part for him. Even with so many people here, it was impossible for Pan Gong to be anything but noticeable.

“What did I do wrong?” Chen Haoran suddenly asked.

“You were too casual,” Bao Si immediately replied. “He is your superior in cultivation and thus your social superior. You have to speak to him more formally. Being as casual as you were implies either thoughtlessness, arrogance, or background.”

Ah. Right. That could be a bit of a problem in the future, especially when he was interacting with strangers. On the other hand, he really didn’t want to treat every random cultivator he met like they were his retail customers.

“Forget that,” Xie Jin, the other person who spoke to stronger cultivators way too casually, interrupted.  “Have you noticed it?”

Bao Si gravely nodded. “There’s too many Liquid Meridians.”

Chen Haoran was briefly confused. He figured that was largely the point of the trial? It was only when he cast his sense out did he realize what they meant. It wasn’t that there were no Qi Realms. There were plenty among the unaffiliated cultivators. There were none among the Garrison. A brief head count brought the total number of cultivators in the room to a thousand, of which the Empire made up six hundred. The ratio of the groups didn’t stay consistent either. The Garrison’s side grew larger while the unaffiliated side grew smaller as more Liquid Meridians came in and threw out the weaker cultivators to ensure the total number in the room remained a thousand. There was a bit of surprise on their side when Li Mou walked in. He was clutching his chest and wincing, but the fact it wasn’t caved in anymore and that he was walking again after accidentally running into Pan Gong’s fist was a miracle. The Garrison had some good healers on staff.

Li Mou glared in their direction a bit before stalking off to join the Garrison’s side. There were a few rogue cultivators who had some designs on Xie Jin and Bao Si given they were a part of the quickly shrinking group of Qi Realms, but Chen Haoran only had to fold one Liquid Meridian across his knee for them to take a hint. Not long after Li Mou walked in, there was a sudden upsurge in yelling and commotion outside. From the sound of it word had spread to the cultivators still outside about the time limit approaching. Just as the noise reached a crescendo, there was a sudden surge of power outside that could be felt even ensconced within the pyramid as they were. All conversation, both Garrison and non, died as a Crystal Transformation Realm flexed their strength.

“There is no need for any more participants,” an unfamiliar voice spoke, each word a booming thunderclap. “Leave now or be left here forever.”

Chen Haoran offered a prayer of pity to those poor souls outside. He’d had quite enough of Crystal Transformation Realms himself these days. He felt Phelps tighten his grip around him, and Chen Haoran rubbed his arm through the cloak. In the silence that fell in the wake of higher powers, the rune circle lit up completely with silver. There was a ripple of tense thrill that passed through the gathered crowd. Perhaps they thought about riches or danger. Chen Haoran thought about Pan Gong telling him the rune circle would open a gate in the wall.

So when the circle dimmed, and bright silver lines opened up beneath everyone’s feet, Chen Haoran immediately had a sinking feeling that something was not right.

“Brace!” Pan Gong roared from the front.

Bao Si shot toward Xie Jin. Xie Jin shot toward Chen Haoran. Phelps’s grip became crushing. Chen Haoran tried to gather up all three in his arms.

Silver light bloomed, and Chen Haoran grabbed nothing as he disappeared.

Chapter 137

Chen Haoran slowly rose. A single step carried him out of a hole taller than three men. He followed the Yellow Dragon’s glare into the sky and cycled qi to his eyes. Of the two Crystal Transformations in the air, only one had butterfly wings. He was clothed in purple like ancient royalty might wear and over that laid the red official uniform of the empire like an overcoat. A purple-gold circlet of interlinked scorpions sat on his brow. Rows of small bone butterflies hung from thin threads attached to his sleeves. He wasn’t paying them any attention.

Phelps dropped Xie Jin and Bao Si back to the ground, and Chen Haoran rounded on them. “What the fuck was that!”

Xie Jin cast his eyes toward the sky. “A Crystal Transformation Realm Shaman.”

The dirt at Chen Haoran’s feet was blown away by an unseen force. “And they can just do that? Steal my voice? My body?”

“A Golden Silkworm can,” Bao Si answered.

“It was a scorpion. Not a silkworm,” Chen Haoran said. He touched his mouth and then cursed loudly. Angry was good. Loud was good. The louder he cursed, the more it felt like his voice was still his own, that it was actually him speaking and not a body-snatching cultivator.

The thought drew him up short. Did he not technically qualify as a body snatcher himself? The body snatcher got body snatched. It was such a ridiculous idea that it actually drew a laugh out of him. He spun and kicked a fallen tree with a trunk wider than he could wrap his arms around and sent it careening into the tree line in a cacophony of shattered wood and the groaning fall of yet more trees. “Fuck!”

Chen Haoran stepped on another tree trunk and crushed it in half. He flexed his qi, and the air around him visibly pulsed and fled outward with a sound akin to a whip crack. He raged amongst the wreckage he’d created, flinging trees and cracking the earth with every step. The commotion he made did not go unnoticed, and soon enough, he felt two Second-Layer Liquid Meridians approaching the hill. Unfortunately for them, there was no treasure to be had on this hill, just one angry Chen Haoran.  When they dared to reach over with their senses and try to spy, he turned on them. “What do you think you’re looking at!?” Qi flooded his voice and pitched his words that they became a roar worthy of the Yellow Dragon, shaking the leaves off standing trees. Through his sense, he felt the two Liquid Meridians spike their qi to brace themselves, then turn and flee.

Chen Haoran’s chest heaved with every breath, and he dragged his hands across his face. Bao Si and Xie Jin remained silent as he raged and made no move to come closer. Phelps floated to and fro between them. Chen Haoran breathed once. Then twice, then pulled his hands from his face. They came away shaking, and Chen Haoran stared at them as if it were the first time he’d ever seen them before. He exhaled. “Fuck.”

Phelps let out a soft bleat behind him. Chen Haoran turned and opened his arms up to the sloth. Phelps floated over and Chen Haoran enveloped the sloth in a crushing hug.  “Sorry. I’m sorry.” He buried his face into Phelps’s fur. “Sorry.”

“Putting aside how you were able to discern that,” Bao Si finally said after a moment had passed. “A Golden Silkworm isn’t a literal term, at least not anymore. It refers to a powerful type of Gu. One with far more exaggerated abilities than the norm.” She glanced at Xie Jin with a none-to-kind look. “As soon as we got here, we were outed and remembered by a Gu Department official with a Golden Silkworm. I hope you’re happy, Xie Jin.”

Xie Jin frowned. “Get off my back. We expected there to be shamans here. How was I supposed to know a crazy freak like him would be here? Since when did the Gu Department even have Golden Silkworms.” His eyes flickered to the Crystal Transformation Realm. He didn’t dare let them linger for longer than a second, however. “I don’t recognize him. Do you?”

Bao Si mimicked Xie Jin’s actions. “I don’t.”

“There’s no way someone crazy like him is unknown,” Xie Jin said. “It’s impossible.”

“What’s the significance of the Gu Department having a Golden Silkworm?” Chen Haoran didn’t raise his head when he asked the question.

“It’s….well,” Xie Jin hesitated.

“The Golden Silkworm is the best possible Gu you can create with the Poison Jar Ritual,” Bao Si interrupted. “In them, all the characteristics of a Gu, both good and bad, are magnified. With regular Gu, a shaman being devoured is a potential risk. With Golden Silkworms, it is a daily battle.” She side-eyed Xie Jin. “And as I told you before, selfish shamans raise selfish Gu. Creating such an example for such a dangerous Gu to follow can only be called insane.”

Chen Haoran took one last huff of Phelps’s fur and raised his head. “How does a Black Bone Gu compare to a Golden Silkworm?”

Xie Jin ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “The best shamans in Zumulu are the Black Bones. The best Gu are the Golden Silkworms.” He spoke as if he were reciting the words from a distant memory.

Something nasty welled up in Chen Haoran—a final ember from the dying fire of his anger. “Clearly, the former isn’t true if the latter is.” He immediately regretted the words as soon as they left his lips. Being angry was justified. Taking it out on his friends wasn’t.   “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Xie Jin grimaced. “It’s not wrong in the end. Black Bone Shamans and Golden Silkworms don’t mix well. Our ritual is already dangerous enough that trying to reach the standards to make a Golden Silkworm is almost always fatal. We did have one shaman successfully do it, and he was one of the best in history but….” His eyes flickered to Bao Si.

“He killed himself 400 years ago,” Bao Si said with a blank face. She brushed sawdust and wood chippings off her dress. “Come on. We’ve wasted enough time. We need to enter the pyramid.”

“Fuck the trial. I just want to leave,” Chen Haoran said.

“As do I,” Bao Si replied. “If it were any other Crystal Transformation, we might have even had a chance.”

Chen Haoran turned his gaze back to the shaman in the sky. Unlike Xie Jin and Bao Si he did not care to look away. Despite that, the shaman still did not pay him any attention.

“Make sure you find out who he is,” Chen Haoran said.

Because while it might not be now, and it might not be soon. He was going to rip that bastard’s jaw off.

———————

Chen Haoran pulled his cloak around him tighter, and Phelps took the hint and remained as still and silent as he could be. All around them were rushing cultivators, and while they did try their best to avoid the majority, the sheer number in such a small area made it impossible to completely avoid every cultivator on their way to the pyramid, especially since many were going in the same direction as them. Fortunately, even the soldiers were none too keen on observing them with their senses. It could have been out of an ingrained cultural aversion to openly doing so, or it might have been because Chen Haoran’s qi was poised like an animal ready to lash out.

Xie Jin scanned each and every relief and engraving they passed with a rigorous focus, quite the opposite of how he usually acted. Bao Si meanwhile pinched a leaf off a bush as they passed by it and chewed on it.

“It’s faint, but there’s poison in it,” she said.  She screwed her face and spat it out. “Only the Green Hell could be this bitter.”

“That’s a normal bush, no?” Xie Jin asked, turning his attention away from the ruins.

“It is,” Bao Si confirmed. “I can see why the Empire is so interested in this place if even the ordinary plants can adapt to the Green Hell’s miasma.”

Xie Jin rubbed his chin. “This valley is directly connected to the Tenth Green Hell. The whole thing is like a huge channel for miasma. It was definitely made by one of the Greater River Kingdoms.” He pointed to the ouroboros carving atop the pyramid. “The Snake King probably even built it himself.  I don’t think any of his successors and pretenders would have the strength to build a place like this.”

“There’s probably some fascinating history here,” Chen Haoran said. Ruins this large and this complete would have been a huge deal back on Earth. While he didn’t quite have the mood to appreciate them now, they still helped calm his mind. It was just a shame there were so many treasure hunters rather than archaeologists here. There was a faded fresco of a red dragon that caught his attention in particular. The edges were time-worn and damaged, but he could just make out a row of kneeling human figures with spears laid flat in clenched hands.

Then the wall broke.

A red-clothed Fifth-Layer Liquid Meridian stepped the rubble of the fresco and onto the main road, dusting off his shoulders as he did. He absently stepped on the intact eye of the red dragon and crushed it. Chen Haoran froze. Then he gritted his teeth.

Xie Jin grabbed his arm with lightning speed and pulled him away. His eyes were steely and aimed toward the pyramid. “Don’t, Brother.” Despite his words, Chen Haoran could hear how he ground them out.

Right. They’d already gotten in trouble with a super shaman. No matter how much While Chen Haoran would have liked nothing more than to beat someone’s face in to reclaim some of his lost feelings of control, it wasn’t the best idea to do so now. He couldn’t just fight every random asshole.

The thing about assholes however was that they never let it stop at just one thing.

“What do you think you’re looking at? Got a problem, you trash?” The Liquid Meridian’s eyes lit up as they settled on a veil-less Bao Si. “Oh? A beauty?”

Chen Haoran didn’t even have to pull his arm to convince Xie Jin to let him go.

The Liquid Meridian sneered. “What? You want to start something?”

“Back off.” Chen Haoran’s tone was flat. “I won’t say it twice.”

A flare of qi was his answer. “More flies that don’t seem to understand the immensity of Heaven. This isn’t a place you can run wild in. I make the rules here.”

Chen Haoran glanced up at the Crystal Transformation Realms. By some unholy miracle, the shaman finally deigned to look his way. They locked eyes. The shaman smiled and nodded. Chen Haoran shivered and looked down.

Connection: Negative

The dumbass across from him clearly misinterpreted it. “Know your place, worm. Nowhere in the Southern Region is safe for you if you offend me, Li Mou.”

Chen Haoran’s palms glowed green. “The only reason you’ll walk away alive today is because of those two in the sky. These ruins didn’t survive the march of time to be destroyed but a piece of shit like you.”

“Well said.” The interrupting voice was deep and powerful. Before any of them could react, a tall, barrel-chested bear of a man wearing a red Garrison uniform appeared next to Li Mou. The man flared his qi, Ninth-Layer Liquid Meridian, and hammered the back of his fist into his comrade’s ribs. The vandal’s chest caved in, and he collapsed to the ground like a puppet with cut strings. Despite the terrifying injury, Li Mou was still alive. It was a testament to the incredible vitality of the Liquid Meridian Realm that he remained conscious enough to have fear in his eyes. The man loomed over him.

“Fool. If it weren’t me, it would be the team from the Ministry of Culture. How much knowledge has been lost in these ruins? How precious is every scrap of pottery and chipped brick? That wall could have held the key needed to control this trial ground, and now we’ll never know because you were too lazy to jump over it.” The man spat on Li Mou and waved over some nearby soldiers. “Get this idiot out of my sight before I kill him.”

As the soldiers carried away the once proud form of Li Mou, the bear-like man turned toward them. Chen Haoran dispersed the qi gathering at his palms but held them at the ready. It wasn’t danger that he felt from this man, however. It was more akin to…. kinship?

The Yellow Dragon crooned for once, taking interest in the outside on its own initiative.

The man smiled. “A fellow cultivator of the Machu River. Who would have thought I would have met another of the same kind so far from our mother river? Friend, may I know your name?”

Chen Haoran briefly considered the merits of answering or not. In the end, it was an easy choice. He clasped his hands in a polite bow. “My name is Lan Junjie. A wandering cultivator.”

The man returned the bow. “I am Pan Gong. My name is not worth much, but I am fortunate to call myself a student of the Palace School.”

The Palace School. The place Lan Fen had felt so called to in order to further her cultivation. Where the future officials of the Empire were molded, and Heaven-Rank techniques could be claimed by the worthy. This Pan Gong in front of him would no doubt become someone important one day.

Connection: Negative

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Chen Haoran couldn’t find it within him to care anymore. He was tired of meeting important people and tired of meeting self-important Crystal Transformations.

He really needed to leave Zumulu.

Chapter 136

I apologize for how long it took for this chapter to come out. I caught a fever over the weekend and gave me a headache as a parting present which interrupted my workflow something fierce, which is a problem because I'm already a slow writer as it is. I'm mostly recovered now, thankfully, Monday was just a bad day. Wednesday's chapter will remain on schedule. My apologies again for the delay.

-------------------

They had ascended atop a wooded hill and, from the cover of the brush, looked down on the trial grounds that Xie Jin had been so adamant about bringing them to.

On his hands and knees, Xie Jin looked toward the ruins with awe. “It’s beautiful.”

As a fellow enjoyer of architecture that had been dipped in time and left to dry in the seasons, Chen Haoran had to agree with him. Nestled within a valley was a large gray step pyramid, tall enough that clouds gathered around its top. Each layer had been coated with beds of moss, small trees, and crawling vines that bloomed with pink flowers. The layers were perfectly divided in half by a long unblemished staircase of green marble that led all the way to the top of the pyramid, where an open door flanked by two curling snake statues awaited. Cresting the edges of the pyramid’s square peak were two stone snakes devouring the tail of the other.

Around the pyramid were the remains of lesser buildings, both in scale and resiliency. In its shadow, whatever accent they were to be to the pyramid’s glory was instead a faded, forgotten thing. Now the remnant masonry and reliefs stood thrice hollow: by the people who abandoned them, by the jungle that invaded and stole away their furnishings, and by the march of time that had taken the rest. The air cracked intermittently with shards of rainbow color like the whole site had been covered in a dome of it that had now been shattered.

The decay was not a damning thing, however, instead, it added a decadent historicity to the near-untouched pyramid. The contrast in conditions created a tempting invitation to all who sought to satisfy their curiosities of times long past. It was old. It was awe-inspiring. It was beautiful.

“It’s occupied,” Bao Si dryly noted.

It was crawling with soldiers.

The Garrison had taken to the pyramid like ants to their ant hill. Red-clothed soldiers scurried amongst the ruins and the steps of the pyramid. Whatever they found growing on or around the pyramid was marked and guarded till dedicated personnel covered head to toe in silk coverings came and collected it. There were other less uniform masses of bone-wrapped Southerners and foreigners alike who scrounged the periphery like scavengers picking a clean corpse. In front of the Garrison troops, the cultivators were cowed and leery of engaging. When a meal was on the line, however, even a scavenger was willing to swipe at a lion. There were some collisions between soldiers and cultivators when a treasure of some kind had been discovered, often leading to short exchanges of flashy techniques until one side decided the trouble wasn’t worth it. It was less fighting and more like birds showing off their feathers. There were some deaths, however, unilaterally on the cultivator’s side when some hotshot overestimated their ability.

“But look,” Xie Jin said, pointing. “They’re letting anyone walk into the pyramid.”

It was true. Soldiers and unaffiliated cultivators alike ascended the stairs and entered the top of the pyramid without obstruction. Chen Haoran observed the back and forth of the treasure-seekers outside the ruins and the scramble of non-Garrison cultivators to enter the pyramid like it was a train on last call. He frowned. “It’s unorganized.”

Not the soldiers, of course. They moved with a discipline he viscerally recognized from the way his body flared with phantom heat. It was the situation itself that was a mess. Having been subject to the Garrison’s various curfews and checks his entire stay in Zumulu, he was surprised to see them allow such a disorganized state of affairs.

Phelps trilled softly, and he pressed himself flush to Chen Haoran’s back, claws digging into his shoulders. Chen Haoran had long drawn a cloak over him in an effort to hide the sloth, and evidently, Phelps decided it wasn’t enough as he became unnaturally still.

Chen Haoran looked up.

There were two men flying in the air. One stood ramrod straight with folded arms upon a sword. The other was wrapped in twirling purple and green silk streamers that flared out behind him in an artistic impression of butterfly wings. They were too high up in the air for Chen Haoran’s sense to judge their level, but he did not need it: Crystal Transformation Realms, the both of them.

Bao Si clicked her tongue. “What sort of checks do they need with two Crystal Transformations watching over? Once the trial is over, we’ll be lucky if they let us keep our storage bags, let alone anything we might gain inside the ruins.”

“They won’t go that far,” Xie Jin said. Hearing him, of all people, defend the Empire was a shock. “The Garrison still uses levied cultivators to explore other ruins and unknown areas. Who will work for them if they’re so openly robbed? They’ll take a cut of what we gain at most.”

“They’ll take the river and leave us a well more like,” Bao Si retorted. “We’ll go in and potentially risk our lives for a pittance to bring back to the tribe.”

“Then we just have to use the good things we find while we’re inside the trial,” Xie Jin said. “So long as we get stronger, it’s not a total loss.”

Bao Si scoffed. “So we just waste effects that could have been amplified from being turned into pills and medicines. No matter what, we’ll be suffering a loss.”

Xie Jin’s frustration was plain on his face. “What did you expect? This is the Empire. The fact we have the chance to get anything at all is a blessing.” He was bitter as he spoke. “Do I have to remind you that you chose to come along?”

“No,” Bao Si’s voice was low. “You don’t.”

Chen Haoran ignored them and weighed his options. Having to hand over what he gained wasn’t a real issue for him. It’d be impossible for anyone to find his real Rewards so long as they were in his Gift Space. That being said, how he would gift the resources he might find was the issue. Taking Phelps into the pyramid in front of so many Garrison soldiers ran the risk of someone recognizing him.  It wasn’t like there many other cultivators carrying around sloths, after all. Even if the Crystal Transformations didn’t know who he was, it just took one observant soldier who knew about the Stonebridge Auction to inform them. There was also the matter of the trial itself and whether it would even allow him to bring Phelps in. Even if he could bring him, depending on what sort of test these ruins contained, would he even have a chance to give Phelps anything? What guarantee was there that the rewards he’d get were even edible?

Leaving Phelps outside was an option, at least. The area was safe enough, and Phelps was smart enough to avoid danger. Chen Haoran could go in and hope that whatever he had when he came out was worth it after Gifting. If there was something in there that he desperately needed, then he could hire someone to fill his second Connection slot and gift it to them. That way lay potential future issues and pointed questions, however.

Well, worst comes to worst. He could probably get some decent Rewards from the plants in the area. Safety first, though. If he could get enough privacy to eat the Banquet Peach, it would be ideal.

“Alright,” Chen Haoran said. “Let’s fall back for now and do some scouting and try to find out more about the trial. If it’s worth it, then we can try. If it’s not, then we can see if we can’t get lucky and find something good outside.”

“Ah, juniors of the Black Bones.”

The three of them shared a sluggish moment. Xie Jin and Bao Si stared, and he watched their faces morph into frozen horror. Meanwhile, Chen Haoran was questioning himself on why he said something like that.

He didn’t.

“As the senior Shaman, allow me to extend my heartfelt thanks that you are joining us on this fine endeavor.”

His mouth moved anyway.

Phelps screeched in terror and flung himself backward before Liquid qi flooded out of Chen Haoran. The raging torrent doubled over and wrapped around him in a single coursing stream. The Yellow Dragon was roused from its cultivation stupor in an instant. Sensing the invasion, it let out a low, murderous growl that shook his body far more than any of its roars had done. It leapt directly out of his meridians, traveling straight through all his sinew and organs to his throat. Chen Haoran cast his wildly flailed his sense to find any hint of invasion or instruction in his body even as he flooded more liquid qi both to surround him and fill his head. He found nothing. His qi moved at his command. He could move all his limbs and feel through all his senses.

Yet his mouth still moved at a command that was not his own.

“I believe you will be more useful than most of the riffraff nipping to get a lick of wealth here— oh?”

The Yellow Dragon coiled around Chen Haoran’s throat and squeezed, abruptly cutting off the invisible invader. It glared toward the sky, and Chen Haoran’s vision blurred as a world of water and not water opened up to his eyes. There amidst natures roving currents on water qi was a noxious green crystal statue of a man. Behind him floated massive butterfly wings draped around his carved soldiers like a cape, each thread a poison made solid and woven. A golden glow emanated from the man statue’s chest where a golden scorpion sat atop his crystal heart and returned the Yellow Dragon’s glare with twelve indecipherable red eyes.

The crystal statue looked amused, and despite the Yellow Dragon’s efforts, Chen Haoran’s unnaturally voiced words not his own.

“Interesting, I figured you to be the easy one. While I do not mind being wrong, I would like to finish speaking. Behave.”

Chen Haoran clamped a hand around his mouth. Despite shutting his mouth, Chen Haoran’s voice somehow still escaped in the form of a sigh.

“Ah, the arrogance of youth. Young man, I have to admire your moxie. That being said….”

Chen Haoran’s jaw twitched open and then slammed shut hard enough that his teeth sounded like a sharp chime when they clashed together. There was a split second of numbness, and Chen Haoran finally opened his mouth under his own power—

—and screamed.

He bent over and fell to his knees, his liquid qi turning over in choppy waves as his control wavered. When he opened his mouth, coughing and howling, blood poured out into a puddle, and half of his tongue fell in the middle of it. The sight of stupefied Chen Haoran, enough that he even forgot his pain for a brief moment. His cocoon burst. Liquid qi flooded toward the frozen forms of Xie Jin and Bao Si. In the moment Chen Haoran failed the Yellow Dragon took over the reins, reasserting control of the out-of-control liquid qi and pulling it back into his body. It coldly glared at the crystal statue all the while.

“As I was saying.” Despite the grievous trauma, Chen Haoran’s voice still came out normally. “Consider yourselves conscripted. Cooperate with the Garrison inside the trial, and you’ll be allowed to keep 30% of the total number or value of what you may find inside.”

Xie Jin and Bao Si, now evidently frozen by something beyond fear given the lack of reaction on their part, said nothing and yet still gave the speaker that stole Chen Haoran’s voice an answer anyhow.

“Excellent! I recommend quickly entering the pyramid. While the Concealment Formation has been broken, the others are very much operational. Soon enough, the trial ground will attract the miasma from the Tenth Green Hell and fill the entire valley. I imagine it will be quite the stampede to join the trial once we inform hangers-on. Best of luck.”

With the presence’s final words Xie and Bao Si were released from their spell and they rushed to Chen Haoran.

“Brother Chen!”

“Chen Haoran!”

Chen Haoran sat numbly on his knees, pale and sweating bullets. He didn’t, couldn’t respond to them. His qi blunted the effects of the pain before long and almost immediately halted the bleeding, but it could not regrow a tongue for him. He needed his other Rewards for that and yet he couldn’t find the will to do so at all.

Bao Si dropped to her knees in his blood without caring how it ruined her dress. She scooped up his tongue with hands wreathed in purple miasma that turned an earthy yellow and covered it with both palms.

“Xie Jin,” she barked. “Revitalization.” Xie Jin’s own hands first glowed purple, then turned a spring green, and he wrapped his hands around Bao Si’s. The two miasmas mixed and combined into a dull yellow-green before Bao Si ripped her hands away and revealed a yellow-green tongue clenched between her fingers. She turned to Chen Haoran. “Open your mouth.”

Chen Haoran obeyed the order, and Bao Si stuffed his tongue back in, wiggling it around to ensure it was in place. The miasma they covered the tongue with spread throughout Chen Haoran’s mouth and the other half of his tongue. It was no longer poison, however. Now it was medicine. The Yellow-green miasma jumped from one half of his tongue to the other, and through that bridge, his qi surged and bolstered the framework the miasma created.

After an agonizing moment, Chen Haoran opened and closed his mouth. He swished his tongue around his gums and across his teeth. He licked his lips. He tasted blood and spat it out. In the span of minutes, Bao Si and Xie Jin reconnected his tongue like it had never been lost.

Bao Si and Xie Jin stepped back a few paces. Phelps slowly floated over to their side, his fur a bit singed but fine.

“Brother Chen?” Xie Jin quietly called.

Chen Haoran raised his arms and slammed them into the ground. The earth cratered, blasting away the brush and exposing long-buried roots of trees that now had no purchase and were sent tumbling over. Phelps reacted instinctively, pinching Xie Jin and Bao Si’s collars with his claws and floating them all away as the ground beneath them gave way and crumbled. Chen Haoran exhaled heavily with such force that the clouds of dust kicked up in the aftermath were blown away. He leaned back on his haunches, alone in the depression of earth he created.

“Fuck!”

Chapter 135

The only thing worse than someone who doesn’t make plans for traveling is someone who makes plans to travel at the very last minute. Thanks to the bomb that was Xie Jin’s last-minute announcement, they were forced to scramble to the carriage and rush out of the city. Naturally, Chen Haoran and Bao Si weren’t too pleased with being suddenly placed on a tight schedule. Fortunately, the checks to leave the city weren’t nearly so stringent. In fact, they were nonexistent. The guards didn’t even take that fancy permission slip he’d been handed when he’d entered the city previously. Just one glance and they were waved on through. Chen Haoran didn’t even need to bribe anyone. It was a little disappointing, really. Using money to control people’s minds and actions was more intoxicating than he’d expected.

It wasn’t as good a feeling as finally getting out of Reservoir Town was, however. As soon as they crossed the gates, Chen Haoran felt like a huge weight had fallen of his shoulders. By the way Bao Si and Xie Jin relaxed it seemed they shared the feeling. The further away they got from Reservoir Town, the lighter he felt. It wasn’t even the Empire that had pressured them. Even if it was their city, it was Xi Wangmu’s presence in it that they truly dreaded now. The more distance they put between themselves and her, the better.

They didn’t travel along the crippled Peachwine this time and instead headed in the opposite direction. For whatever natural or unnatural reason the Peachwine was the closest river to the Tenth Green Hell. Perhaps that closeness influenced the river’s toxic properties. Reservoir Town was thus the closest inhabited point to the Green Hell, which was the only reason they even had a chance to get to the trial ground before it closed itself. Even then, however, they were still looking at a week’s journey through the Deep Jungle. Unexpectedly for Chen Haoran, however they didn’t immediately hit jungle after leaving the vicinity of the Peachwine and were instead greeted with flat land.

Chen Haoran peered out the window of the carriage, and instead of jungle, he saw endless fields of grass and golden wheat. Large cows, Aurochs as he had now learned, the same ones he saw the caravan driving as he and Xie Jin left White Ridge City, grazed while cultivators riding horses steered them away from the farms. More cultivators, Peachbloods, and other bone-decked southerners tended to the wheat fields, the planting season in full swing as they scattered seeds that glowed with five-color light.

Channeling qi to his eyes, he saw beyond the fields to where the plantations met the jungle. People were chopping down the trees and vegetation before another group summoned a stream of fire from their hands and set the cuttings alight.

“The Pacification Committee’s policy,” Bao Si explained. Where before she might have pressed up against him, she now sat across from him. Her legs were crossed, and she propped her head on her hand as she observed the passing farms. “King Meng said it was to help bolster Zumulu’s economy, but in reality, the closest the locals get to these plantations is as workers. All the produce you see is shipped to Reservoir Town before being shipped upriver and taken out of Zumulu through the Imperial road.” She pointed to the smoke drifting up over the trees. “They cut down the trees to make room and burn them to enrich the soil. The nutrients don’t last long, however, and so they’re constantly clear-cutting more and more jungle to expand.”

A man-sized praying mantis suddenly emerged from the fire, burning much the like the wood it had been hiding in. Unlike the plants, however, it could fight back and bisected an unfortunate man who hadn’t been quick enough to avoid its manic charge. It was quickly put down, but unfortunately for the unlucky workers, they had hardly finished it off before a butterfly escaped the flames and dropped six inches of iridescent power atop them. The workers screamed as their skin boiled over and sloughed off, and Chen Haoran turned his gaze away.

Bao Si’s smile was grim. “The jungles of Zumulu are not so easily exploited. A fact the Empire learned the hard way. Unfortunately, they were quick to push the price of that onto us instead.”

“Doesn’t the Empire recruit shamans?” Chen Haoran asked. “It’d be much easier to have one on hand to help deal with the insects, wouldn’t it?”

“Most of the Gu Department is deployed elsewhere in the Empire. Their numbers aren’t actually that large compared to how many places want them. The ones left in Zumulu are here to assist the Pacification Committee and the Garrison in their duties. For those people, the human cost is a much cheaper price compared to letting shamans sit here.”

“But wouldn’t at least some shamans want to help? It’s what they’re for, isn’t it?”

Bao chuckled. “You met a shaman of the Gu Department. Do you think he would do that?”

Chen Haoran recalled that shaman and grimaced. The man had been very clear with Jiang Lei about what his priorities were. “Are they all like that?”

“The shamans who join the Gu Department are those who were already partial to serving the Empire. They’re only interested in more resources to feed their Gu and grow their own power. Not every shaman in Zumulu is as conscientious about serving their tribes as the Black Bones are. For some, their tribes are merely a means for them to extract as much wealth as possible before leaving in search of more resources.” Bao Si leaned back against the seat. “Fortunately for Zumulu, while rogue shamans have been a constant cancer, they’re a rather self-correcting problem. A selfish shaman raises a selfish Gu, and a selfish Gu is not a very patient spirit. Wouldn’t you agree, Xie Jin?”

“Wouldn’t know,” Xie Jin grunted from his position at the head of the carriage. He cracked the reins and spurred the horses to move faster.

Chen Haoran sighed. Forget his relationship with Bao Si cooling. Whatever tether of respect there had been between Xie Jin and Bao Si seemed to have well and truly snapped.  Granted, it wasn’t like there was much of it, given the way they normally argued and insulted each other, but there was still a smidgen of it, thanks to their long friendship and understanding. Now even that was gone.

Was this what Song Yuelin felt like watching Lan Fen and him? Chen Haoran had the thought and promptly discarded it. Unlike Song Yuelin, he wasn’t an asshole, probably. Still, this was incredibly awkward. Drama was only fun when it happened to people he didn’t care about. There wasn’t much he could do to try and alleviate it, however. He bounced his leg as the carriage fell into silence, occasionally broken by the thunderous grunts of Aurochs or the vicious sounds of Man against Nature.

“So….” Chen Haoran said, pausing to find his words when Bao Si turned her attention to him. “You said you heard of the Southern Dragon King before. Will you tell me what you know about him?”

Bao Si frowned. “So now you don’t even know your own father?”

Well, yes, but he wasn’t going to just say that.

Chen Haoran drummed his fingers along his leg. “I never said I didn’t know him, but I did tell you I was sent away as a hostage. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that man’s face. The closest I’ve gotten to him these past years was when his personal assassin came to pay me a visit. Make of that what you will.”

Bao Si frowned—no doubt parsing the implications of his last sentence. It was a bit of a fib on his part. He wasn’t lying per se, but he was deliberately leading her to the answer he wanted her to think.

“Plus,” Chen Haoran continued. “I’m curious what an outside perspective of my father is like.”

Bao Si gave him a calculating stare that made him feel as if she would peel away layers of his skin to study what made him tick if she could. Fortunately, she decided to answer him. “I don’t know much. I only went to the Splintered Lands a few times myself to meet my Master, and she didn’t mention much. For a Star Core like herself, a Ninth-Layer Crystal Transformation wasn’t worthy of her complete attention. At least among the warlords squabbling over those broken islands, she regards him as the most talented. It takes a certain kind of man to wear the title of Dragon so openly, after all. His advancement to the Star Core Realm is greatly anticipated.”

He’s fucking what?

Chen Haoran kept his face neutral, but inside, he was full of surprise and confusion. Peak Crystal Transformation? It was a realm of power so far above Chen Haoran he couldn’t even conceive it, and yet…. that was it? Compared to what he knew about Chen Qitao and the Chen Family, it felt…. weak, at least when compared to the Empire. In Zumulu alone, they had three Star Core Realms. Who knew how many they had elsewhere? Yet the Chen Family was enough of a thorn to them that Song Yuelin instantly thought the appearance of Prince Shen Jianyu in Clearsprings City was specifically targeting the Chen Family. Could a Crystal Transformation do that? He recalled Lan Fen’s warning. Baghmar Republic. Chen Family. Empire. Rebellion in Zumulu. Someone was playing politics, it seemed.

Even so, Chen Haoran couldn’t help but feel something was wrong. He’d seen the reactions other cultivators had toward Chen Qitao’s name before. The Clearsprings City Lord could be discounted. The man was weak. Could a mere Ninth-Layer Crystal Transformation force powerful cultivators like Gold-Eater and Xi Wangmu to pay their respects the way they did? Xi Wangmu was the egregious case here. A 4 thousand-year-old living legend, she had enough pull to make Bao Si’s Star Core Realm Master fall into line, yet even Xi Wangmu had to bow her head when Chen Haoran bludgeoned her with Chen Qitao’s name with all the grace of a bull in a china shop. He didn’t think Bao Si was lying to him, but her words just weren’t adding up.

Chen Haoran wasn’t given much longer to think about it when the carriage abruptly stopped. The fields outside had long disappeared. Xie Jin poked his head in through the window. “We have to go on foot from here if we want to make it to the ruins in time.”

Right. More jungle traveling. His favorite.

——————————

After abandoning the carriage, they actually made faster time—each of them alone worth a team of horses with regards to speed and hauling ability. With two shamans using their Gu to lead the way, they easily penetrated into the Deep Jungle. Like all the different regions of Zumulu, the Deep Jungle bordering the Tenth Green Hell had its own characteristics—namely, the Hell Bugs. The concentration of them was higher here than anywhere else in Zumulu he’d traveled through. Stronger too. Liquid Meridian monsters abounded, and those that couldn’t be scared off with the combination of his liquid qi and the Gu’s deterrent had to be put down by him.

Not that Xie Jin and Bao Si didn’t pull their own weight. Once again, they proved invaluable in navigating the jungle, and despite their lower realm, they were not completely useless fighting Liquid Meridian Realms as Chen Haoran would have been. A strong poison was a great equalizer even in the hands of the weak, and Gu poison was stronger than most. What couldn’t be killed instantly by the Gu poison due to the difference in realm was at least debilitated to make it an easy mop-up for Chen Haoran. Yet again, he had underestimated just how powerful Gu were when they played to their strengths.

Thankfully there weren’t that many Liquid Meridians to fight and slow them down with after the first day of traveling. Common sense dictated that when you go to a dangerous area, it would gradually become more dangerous until you actually got there. Traveling to the Tenth Green Hell was a study in the opposite. The closer you came to it, the less dangerous the surrounding forest was because all, the stronger beasts wanted nothing to do with living so close to the Green Hells borders. It made for smooth traveling on the third and fourth days traveling as the dangerous monsters effectively disappeared around what Chen Hoaoran was calling the middle ring surrounding the Tenth-Green Hell. It meant that with the aid of the shamans and some strategic carrying by Chen Haoran, they actually made it to the trial ground ruins with time to spare.

Neither he nor Bao Si appreciated the rush, however, and so when Xie Jin took one look at the ruins and nearly fainted in joy, they didn’t make any move to stop him from falling to the ground.

Chapter 134

Thanks to the buzz of activity that enveloped the entirety of Reservoir Town and the Garrison, they were forced to postpone their leaving out of caution. They didn’t stay in their original inn. However, instead moving to another out-of-the-way inn favored by merchants and far away from where they met Xi Wangmu. It wasn’t a complete guarantee that they were hidden from the Peach River Sword School’s prying eyes. It was unknown just how much they’d penetrated the ranks of Reservoir Town, but it offered them peace of mind at least.

Chen Haoran and Bao Si had stayed holed up in the room for the most part, sometimes descending to listen in on the gossip of the merchants. Xie Jin, on the other hand, was out in the town trawling for information on the fight that had occurred. The details came to light in the following days. A group of Liquid Meridians had successfully discovered an old ruin in the jungle and walked away with a fortune. They’d gone to have a party when a disagreement had flared up amongst them about the distribution of loot which had attracted the attention of less-than-savory listeners who’d been dining and some Imperial officers. The flare-up left twenty people dead and resulted in the entire dining pavilion being burned to cinders.

Chen Haoran was content to leave sleeping dogs lie while he waited for an opportunity to leave Reservoir Town. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best idea to test the attentiveness of law enforcement in the wake of a large incident like this. Xie Jin meanwhile became possessed with some manic energy that saw him leave early in the day and return late at night. He didn’t spare a word to Chen Haoran or to an increasingly frustrated Bao Si. The allowance of patience she decided to give him in the aftermath of their fight eventually ran out.

“Xie Jin,” Bao Si said through gritted teeth as Xie Jin burst into the room with tired eyes and ink blotches on his cheeks. His arms were full of rolled-up papers. “If you can’t give me a good explanation for staying here, then don’t blame me when I stop being nice about it.”

Xie Jin blinked. Despite how red his eyes were, there was a liveliness to them that couldn’t be hidden. Chen Haoran hadn’t seen him this excited since their journey to Zumulu. “Do you understand what’s been happening in Reservoir Town the past few days?” Xie Jin asked her.

“I know that it’s none of our business,” Bao Si snapped. “We have to return and report back what’s happened here to Grandpa Xie and the Elders.” She narrowed her eyes. “Or have you forgotten that?”

Xie Jin brushed off her accusation. “The Grand Shaman obviously wasn’t contacting the tribe at Xi Wangmu’s behest. Now that the meetings have been had, how long do you think she’ll remain out of contact? We might go back and find out they’ve already been told about the situation.”

“What they might learn from my Master and what they might learn from me are—” Bao Si took a shuddering breath. “—two different things now.”

“Do you want to return empty-handed?” Xie Jin speared Bao Si with bright eyes and halted the rest of her argument. “Is bringing back bad news the only thing you want to do.”

Bao Si grimaced. “It’s not only bad news. At least Grandpa Xie will get a Longevity Elixir.” Despite saying that, she didn’t look very pleased. She shook her head. “Anyway, what are you implying? What have you been doing these past days?”

Xie Jin walked past her and spread the papers he’d been carrying across the table. “Okay, so a new ruin was discovered, right? The location was leaked after the original explorers fought. Wandering cultivators and Garrison soldiers have been rushing from Reservoir Town to it the last few days.”

“What does this have to do with us?” Bao Si asked. “If there were real value in those ruins, then it’d be monopolized by Crystal Transformation Realms. There’s no place for us to intervene.”

“You would think that,” Xie Jin said, spreading open a map of Zumulu and using a curious Phelps to weigh down one side of it. When Chen Haoran peered over to look at it, he found a complicated jigsaw of what looked like tribal boundaries and the Empire’s zones of control. “Except we’ve already gotten word back from the Crystal Transformations that got there first. The whole ruin is surrounded by a formation that prevents any cultivator above the Liquid Meridian Realm from entering.”

“So instead of the Crystal Transformations, it will be the Empire that monopolizes it. What’s your point?” Bao Si’s tone was sardonic.

“Except they can’t,” Xie Jin said. He pointed to a black circle on the map. Next to the circle was a large shaded area that Chen Haoran couldn’t make heads or tails of. “Because it’s here.”

Bao Si frowned, obviously, the map made more sense to her. “You mean to tell me it’s right next to the Tenth Green Hell?”

“They can’t do anything to the formation because if something goes wrong, it could trigger a reaction from the Green Hell,” Xie Jin excitedly said.

“So what if they can’t break it?” Bao Si scathingly replied. “All they need is one or two Crystal Transformations to keep watch, and it will be out of our reach all the same.”

“If it were just some tomb or the remains of a school, then yes,” Xie Jin agreed. “But it isn’t. It’s a trial ground, and it won’t open up without a minimum number of participants. The Empire can’t devote that much power that deep in the jungle for too long, and when the trial ground was discovered, it activated a countdown. They don’t have time to call up troops stationed in other cities. If the Empire wants to get in, they need other cultivators to make up the number.” Xie Jin spread another roll of paper across the map. A red peacock symbol was stamped on the bottom left corner. “I talked up a clerk who copies letters for the Pacification Committee, and she gave me this. This notice is being sent out to friendly forces and allies in Reservoir Town to gather at the trial grounds.”

Xie Jin spoke with such forceful exuberance that Bao Si could only pause to collect her words. Chen Haoran took this time to finally interject. “Xie Jin, that’s all well and good, but you haven’t explained why we’d want to get involved in this.”

Xie Jin locked eyes with Bao Si. “Those Liquid Meridians who first found it only explored the outer edges. They never went into the trial grounds, but they came back with Liquid Core Fruits.”

Bao Si’s breath hitched.

“What are those?” Chen Haoran asked.

“Remember the Heavy Core Pill you used before? Liquid Core fruits are the natural version and better in every way. They’re not limited by element and increase your qi while condensing it to practically guarantee advancement to the Liquid Meridian Realm.” Xie Jin ground his fist into the circle mark on the map. “And those were just what was found around the perimeter. What’s inside has to be even better.”

The look of temptation Bao Si had disappeared. “Is this your sense of adventure speaking, Xie Jin? Our tribe is facing an impending crisis, and Chen Haoran has to leave Zumulu, and you want to go galavanting for treasure?”

“I’m doing this because I’m weak,” Xie Jin said with a serious look. “Do you think we’d have suffered like we did meeting Xi Wangmu if we were at all stronger? Especially now that the tribe is in danger. Can we afford to remain weak anymore?”

“We don’t need to risk our lives for treasures,” Bao Si bit out.

“So you’ll get the resources you need to advance from your master?” Xie Jin rebutted. “So I should take more resources from the tribe that others could use? If we advance on our own and bring treasures back to the tribe to help strengthen the others, then why shouldn’t we do it?”

“If,” Bao Si emphasized. “Not only does this require Chen Haoran and I to agree for you to have a chance at getting any treasure, but even if we are lucky to find something valuable, we’ll have no guarantee of being able to leave with it.”

“Bao Si,” Xie Jin said, “I know what you think about me, and you’re right. Going into a forgotten ruin of our history is something that has me giddy from head to toe. For me, this is an adventure, but it’s also me wanting to repay the tribe for everything it’s done for me. If we’re lucky, we might even find something grandfather can use. You know a Longevity Elixir alone isn’t enough to make up for all the time he’s lost.”

“Repay? Xie Jin, stop treating the tribe like you’re in some kind of contract. You can’t just give some payment and call it even.” Bao Si’s words had bite, but there was a distinct lack of venom in them. It was obvious the picture Xie Jin was painting was tempting her.

Chen Haoran couldn’t lie, even he was feeling a little tempted. If the ruins limited entrance to the higher realms, then that had to mean there’d be something good for Liquid Meridians in there, right? There might even be something in there to help Phelps advance. At least those Liquid Core Fruits sounded like they could do it.  He glanced at his gluttonous pet, who’d decided Xie Jin’s papers were boring and curled up into a ball on the table. To his sense, Phelps was absolutely filled to the brim with qi. It was honestly a surprise that he hadn’t advanced after eating the Banquet Peach.

“This is our moment Bao Si,” Xie Jin pressed. “We won’t have another one better than this. With how close the trial ground is to the Green Hell, there’s bound to be a poisonous environment in there. We’re two shamans, and Brother Chen can punch ridiculously above his level. We have the perfect group to get in there and get out. Even if we have to pay a tithe to whoever the Empire has stationed there, the trip will have been worth it.”

“Forgetting something?” Chen Haoran motioned to his face. “I’m a little screwed if a Crystal Transformation is there.”

“You wouldn’t be the only one wearing a Human-Skin Mask there,” Xie Jin said. “It’s just good sense. We’ll wear them too. There’s no way a Crystal Transformation Realm will unmask everyone for something as small as this.”

Chen Haoran drummed his fingers against his leg as he weighed the pros and cons. Bao Si bit her lip as she did the same.

Xie Jin sighed. “I know it’s risky. But we’re cultivators. Would we have come as far as we have today without taking risks?”

“Easy for you to say,” Bao Si darkly muttered.

“Don’t think you’re that much better,” Xie Jin rebuked. “You’re the one who barged into the Elder’s council to demand the Grand Shaman take you as her apprentice.”

“It was already a done deal. It was a calculated move on my part to show the Grand Shaman who I was.”

“I’m sure being made to stand facing a corner for three days as punishment afterward was also calculated.”

Bao Si flushed. Chen Haoran stood there in disbelief. It was a reaction he’d never seen from Bao Si before. It seemed even she wasn’t immune to embarrassing childhood memories.

Xie Jin gathered up his maps. “Listen. I know you guys are interested in this. Let’s do it this way. We’ll go to the ruins and scout them out. If the situation looks good, then we can go in, and if it doesn’t, then we’ll just leave. At the very least, we should scout it out and make the decision ourselves rather than let time do it for us.”

In another life, Xie Jin could have been a salesman.

“Okay, I’m in,” Chen Haoran said. “I’m a little nervous now to leave on the official road anyway.”

Bao Si looked between Xie Jin and Chen Haoran before sighing. “Fine. We can scout it out. However, I will be the one deciding if we go in or not.”

Xie Jin smiled brilliantly. “Trust me. I’m a history genius. Once I see those ruins for myself, I’ll probably find some ancient secret that’ll let us run away a mother lode.”

Bao Si buried her face in her hands. “I’m already regretting my decision.”

“Right,” Chen Haoran said. “You said the trial has a time limit, right? How long do we have to get there?”

Xie Jin’s smile immediately became sheepish. “Ah…right.” He held up his hands placatingly. “Now, don’t be startled, but…”

Ah, his bad feeling indicator. Chen Haoran had wondered where that went.

“…we should probably leave right now.”

Chapter 133

Drinks. Drunk. Moment. Had. Tip. Twenty Percent. Chen Haoran and Xie Jin walked down the stairs to the bottom floor, followed by the incessant praise of their server.

“You almost made my heart stop, you little shit,” Chen Haoran said.

“Thank you. I did it intentionally.”

“You ruined the mood is what you did.”

“Ruined the mood? Let me tell you what would ruin the mood. If one day, a hundred years from now, I think back fondly on the memory of our meeting, and I have to remember it was done in a random bar with alcohol worth less than a gold tael in Reservoir Town of all places, I’m going to cry. If we’re going to swear brotherhood, we’re going to do it right, with better alcohol, and a better vista, and so, I can give you an actual return gift. It’s going to be a ceremony, damn it.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever you say,” Chen Haoran said past his annoyance for Xie Jin scaring him like that. He was relieved. Xie Jin wasn’t refusing. He was just being dramatic. In terms of getting a new slot for his Gifting Power, it could be considered a loss, but Chen Haoran still wasn’t sold on making Xie Jin a connection anyway. Employees were the way to go. However, he’d have to figure out how to avoid the golden light being depleted. Perhaps a term of service? Or maybe he’d have to find someone who’d only be interested in working for a short time. His thoughts turned to his second Gifting Slot, and in his mind’s eye, he could see it surrounded by a golden aurora. It had almost completely recovered from the depletion caused by his stunt with Lin Nine. Presumably, now it would only keep going though he didn’t know if the golden light would have any other effects other than keeping his Gifting Power running. Was it even fuel? He didn’t think so. If he were spending golden light to create his Gifting Rewards, then he would have seen it before now.

The doors ahead of them opened, and in walked another group of cultivators—two Fourth-Layer Liquid Meridian Realms followed by three Qi Realm servants. In the interest of breaking their bad track record of getting into fights in dining establishments, he and Xie Jin stepped to the side and let the group pass them.

One of the Liquid Meridians. A young-looking man side-eyed them as he passed. Glazing over Chen Haoran and settling on Xie Jin, his gaze falling on the white bones around his forearms. He shook his head and nudged his companion. “They really will let anyone in here—” He stopped dead in his tracks. The Liquid Meridian looked down at the arm that had been thrust in front of his chest. He raised his head and glared at Chen Haoran. “Excuse you.”

His companion. A wizened man, perhaps an older relative, looked over sharply. “Is there an issue?”

“Brother,” Xie Jin warned.

“Are you telling me to stop?” Chen Haoran asked him, ignoring the Liquid Meridian in front of him, much to his consternation.

“No, I’m saying we don’t know his background. You can’t be too forceful.”

“Ah, right. No need for a repeat of last time.” He looked over to the suddenly nervous server backed up against the wall. “My good man. Do you recognize this bastard?”

“How dare you!” The Liquid Meridian exploded with rage and swiped his arm at Chen Haoran’s head. Before the hand, there was a large crack, and the Liquid Meridian flew away and crumbled into a heap. Chen Haoran left his fist in the air where he’d clocked the cultivator in the jaw and waited for the server’s answer.

“Th-the Qi Family,” the server stuttered. “Their patriarch is an Eighth-Layer Liquid Meridian.”

“Only Eighth-Layer?” Chen Haoran asked.

“Bastard! What do you think you’re doing?” The elder Liquid Meridian roared and was inside Chen Haoran’s guard in an instant. His fists fell like heavy iron hammers on Chen Haoran’s chest. In the span of three seconds, he’d struck Chen Haoran a hundred times, each blow creating a heavy thump as if a giant drum were being played. Before he could hit him with punch 101, Chen Haoran’s hand came down on the man’s shoulder. It audibly popped, and he was sent to his knees, cracking the floor beneath them. He looked up at Chen Haoran in horror.

Chen Haoran paid him no mind, however, as the little shit he’d sent flying before picked himself up and rushed over. “Unhand my uncle, you beast!”

“Will you die if you can’t open your mouth?” Chen Haoran asked him.

The younger Liquid Meridian growled and feinted to the side, aiming a sharp hook at Chen Haoran’s temple. Just before his fist landed, it burst into flames. The vicious look in the little shits eyes were replaced with bug-eyed shock as Chen Haoran clamped his hand around his throat and shook him around like a rag.

Xie Jin let out a low whistle while the Qi Realm servants watched Chen Haoran with pale-faced fear.

“Three minutes, pretty impressive, Brother,” Xie Jin said.

“Is it?” Chen Haoran asked. He shook the younger Liquid Meridian again and judged the resistance of his qi. “Mortal-Rank?” He squeezed the elder Liquid Meridian’s shoulder while the man did his best impression of a statue. “This guy too? This is my first time seeing such weak Liquid Meridians.”

“That’s because the Liquid Meridians you’ve met before were all unreasonably strong,” Xie Jin pointed out. “These guys are more typical cultivators.”

Typical, Xie Jin said, and yet if Chen Haoran were still a Qi Realm, he would have had to be afraid for his life if he incurred their ire. Now though he was… what was it again? One Profound-Rank Layer was worth two Mortal-Rank Layers, and one Earth-Rank was worth two Profound-Rank. So he was essentially a whole four Layers of strength above these guys.

“Young Master,” the elder Liquid Meridian said. “Please accept our sincere apologies if we offended you in any way.”

“If you offended me?” Chen Haoran asked. He shook the little shit for emphasis. “You did offend me. Did you think you could say whatever you wanted about my friend like that?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please forgive me, foolish nephew, for his words.”

Chen Haoran looked over at Xie Jin. “What do you think? How do you want to do this?”

Xie Jin looked amused. “Seeing that I’ve already gotten such a good show, I’ll take an apology and call it even.”

Chen Haoran shook the little shit again. His hands clenched around Chen Haoran’s grip in an effort to escape as he gasped for air. Chen Haoran thought he was overreacting a bit. Even if he was weak, he was still a Liquid Meridian. A little choking wouldn’t hurt him that much. “Well?” He lowered him to the floor. “Will you apologize?”

The young Liquid Meridian, Qi-whatever, looked at Chen Haoran. “I’m sorry.”

Chen Haoran wrenched his head toward Xie Jin. “Not me, him.”

“My father will—”

Chen Haoran slammed his face through the floor. “That’s not what I want to hear.”

The young Liquid Meridian struggled, his face twisting into something ugly. His uncle’s eyes went wide. “Don’t—!”

Red liquid qi spilled from him in a flood before anyone could react and just as quickly collapsed and receded back into his body. Yellow liquid qi covered Chen Haoran’s hand and carried a dragon’s roar through the rude cultivator’s body. The young Liquid Meridian coughed up a wad of blood and looked much more afraid than he was before.

He bowed his head to Xie Jin. “I’m sorry.”

Chen Haoran released them. The young man fell to the floor and didn’t get up. His uncle didn’t move any further than to clutch his dislocated shoulder.

“For the record,” Chen Haoran said. “If he didn’t try to fight first, I would have been a lot more reasonable about this.”

Xie Jin snorted. “You think he would have apologized without a beating?”

Chen Haoran considered it. “No, you’re right. Oh well, I don’t feel so bad anymore.” He looked down at the uncle. “If you somehow track me down to have your Patriarch try to get revenge or something, I’m going to be very mad. You understand?”

The uncle nodded so quickly that it seemed his head would fly off. “Yes, yes. We wouldn’t dare dream of it. We are completely at fault.”

“Right. Skedaddle.”

“Thank you for your mercy, sir.” The uncle bowed, then had the servants pick up his rude nephew, and together they scurried out of the bar.

Chen Haoran cracked his neck. “Won’t lie. That felt kinda good.” He pulled out a roll of gold taels from his storage bag and handed them to the shivering server. “For the damages. Take some as a tip as well. I appreciate the service.”

“Th-thank you, sir.” The server took the money with trembling hands and retreated further into the bar. Chen Haoran took stock of three senses that locked onto him while he was fighting, then proceeded to ignore them once he made sure they were Liquid Meridian Realms. Probably bouncers hired by the bar. That they didn’t come out to stop him was evidence enough of their level.

“You didn’t need to do that,” Xie Jin said as they walked out the door. “We could have just ignored them. It’s not like the words of bastards like them can bother me.”

“Well, I didn’t want to ignore it,” Chen Haoran said. “What did I tell you before? I don’t want people to think that’s an acceptable thing to say, and for once, I had the power to do something about it.”

“Thank you, Brother Chen.”

“Plus, I already saw what level of force I’m allowed to use before the guards get involved. We won’t get into any trouble.”

Right as he said that, the crowd parted like an ocean, and from them came a running group of red-clothed Garrison soldiers. Chen Haoran and Xie Jin froze as the group headed by two Liquid Meridian Realms approached them just as Chen Haoran was about to pull out his secret Heaven-Rank Bribery technique, the guards passed by them with nary a glance and rushed further down the street.

“Not going to get in trouble, huh?” Xie Jin drawled as they watched the guards leave.

“Shut up. They weren’t coming for us.”

“I just want you to recognize how much you were tempting fate there.” Xie Jin frowned and cast a curious glance down the street. “I wonder what they were rushing to.”

“Another fight, maybe?” Chen Haoran guessed.

“Impossible,” Xie Jin said. “Since when are the guards ever on time when you actually need them?”

“Well…. fair enough.” He couldn’t really argue with that logic.

“I’m gonna go check it out,” Xie Jin said.

“Xie Jin? Are you crazy? Xie Jin!”

Helpless in the face of Xie Jin’s curiosity Chen Haoran instead switched to cursing him out with every word for dumb under the sun. The patrol didn’t go that far ahead. They ran into a dining pavilion. Chen Haoran frowned as he recognized it was the same one the group of Liquid Meridians from earlier went into. His worries were confirmed a moment later when liquid qi exploded through the roof of the pavilion. The streets instantly became a cacophony of screams and movement as the pedestrians scrambled away from the pavilion under a hail of splintered wood and shingles. Within the pavilion, cultivators broke through the windows to escape while more patrons ran out the doors like mad beasts. The street instantly became a chaotic ocean of bodies and qi, and it was only thanks to the anchor that was Chen Haoran’s cultivation that he and Xie Jin didn’t get swept up in it.

With Chen Haoran covering him, Xie Jin ignored the fleeing people and honed in like a hawk at the patrons fleeing the dining pavilion. He grabbed one running woman. “What’s going on in there?” She babbled something incoherent, and Xie Jin released her and grabbed another instead. After a few more fruitless attempts, along with weathering some slapping from the more panicked cultivators, he eventually grabbed a waitress who had the answers he was looking for.

“A ruin,” she said, breathless. “They found a ruin in the jungle.”

Chapter 132

Bao Si naturally chose the emotional support sloth, so Chen Haoran was forced to go searching for Xie Jin bereft of his furry backpack. He was being dramatic in truth. He was going to leave Phelps in the room anyway. Walking around Reservoir Town with the sloth on his back was just tempting fate. His search for Xie Jin was exaggerated as well because when Chen Haoran walked down to the dining floor of the inn Xie Jin was standing by the door waiting for him.

They said nothing and left the inn. The light was fading into a purple dusk and lamplighters moved from light pole to light pole, screwing on glass jars filled with fireflies that glowed like lightbulbs. Unlike in Stonebridge, the streets of Reservoir Town bustled at all hours of the day. A curfew was apparently too hindering for merchants that arrived and left, whether day or night. With Reservoir Town being the center of the Pacification Committee and the Garrison, the Empire could afford to lapse on this bit of control. It meant that Reservoir Town was the first city in Zumulu that Chen Haoran had found to have a proper nightlife.

He and Xie Jin wandered the hustle, watching workers go to worker bars, soldiers go to soldier bars, and the merchants, depending on their means, split between merchant bars for the poor and finer dining pavilions for the well-off. It was one of these finer establishments that they went to. Chen Haoran dropped a wad of gold banknotes for a private room with a view of the streets and a bottle of Mortal-Rank Rose Wine that was apparently popular in the Central Region.

Xie Jin drank heavily from his cup without so much as a toast and grimaced. “I feel like I’m drinking perfume. How the hell can those Central Region posers stomach this?”

Chen Haoran took a sip and had to agree. It tasted like his rose baths smelled. Altogether he’d probably appreciate the bottle more if he dumped it over his head. Chen Haoran glanced over the menu and passed it to Xie Jin. “You see anything better?”

Xie Jin scanned the menu, and his eyes lit up. After spending a decidedly less amount of money compared to the Rose Wine, the server brought up a new rice wine in a clay jar. Xie Jin filled Chen Haoran’s cup, then his own, and they toasted each other. It was normal as far as alcohol went. For a regular person,  it would be considered strong. To Chen Haoran, he could drink it like water he so so chose. It was far behind the Ranked wines he’d partaken in every way. Yet it was pleasant. Bitter but in a way that enhanced rather than detract.  Chen Haoran enjoyed the taste and the moment he shared with Xie Jin drinking it.

Chen Haoran paused as he savored the wine. The flavor struck a chord of familiarity within him. “We’ve had this before, didn’t we? When we first entered Zumulu with that cattle driver.”

Xie Jin hummed a note of agreement. “The same. That guy had good taste. This is a wine straight out of the South. The bitter flavor comes from the poisonous plants used to brew it.” Xie Jin wistfully looked to the ceiling while nursing his drink. “Not that it’s actually poisonous. It’s only made with the weakest plants, and the toxins are neutralized during the fermenting. It’s so common here that it’s usually the first drink we offer to visitors. You’d think we were giving them actual poison, though, from the way they act about it. You’re the first I met who didn’t hesitate to take a drink from a Southerner.”

Well, that was born out of his complete ignorance, but he wasn’t going to spoil Xie Jin’s mood by saying that out loud. On the other hand, it seemed he didn’t need to say anything. The mocking smile Xie Jin wore faded into a thin line as he stared into his cup. As if the drink had somehow personally insulted him. They sat there in silence, nursing their drinks, watching tired new arrivals tug their carts to depots so that they might finally rest while teams that would depart in the morning had one last celebration before the hard journey ahead.

A group of excited Liquid Meridians in the middle and late stages brushed through the crowd without care and loudly entered an expensive-looking restaurant. A team of soldiers patrolled the street, breaking up fights should cultivators decide to escalate into more than something physical. They did not lack work. The friction created by power and alcohol meant tempers flared up more often than not. However, even those in the Liquid Meridians stopped short of actually releasing their qi or techniques. The one man bold enough saw himself taken down with furious force by the soldiers.

Xie Jin watched it all with such focus that he didn’t realize he’d finished his wine till he’d tried to drink twice and came back empty. When he tried reaching for the bottle Chen Haoran took it first and refilled his cup.

“Bao Si tried to tell me about your history,” Chen Haoran said. He ignored the way Xie Jin involuntarily tensed and refilled his own cup. “I told her I would hear about you from you directly. Will you tell me?”

Xie Jin stared at his cup with a faraway look. Chen Haoran folded his hands and patiently waited. Whatever wanted to be said would come on its own time in due time, even if that time wasn’t now.

“The process of creating Gu is called the Poison Jar Ritual,” Xie Jin finally said. “The most venomous Hell Bugs in Zumulu are gathered and sealed into a closed space where they devour each other until only one is left. All the toxins concentrate in that survivor, who’s then fed to silkworm larvae until again only one is left. That larva is typically raised into a Gu on its own or then fed to another desired host to become a Gu. There’s more to the ritual than that. Chants and spells and other traditions to fully complete the transformation, but that’s the gist of it. At least in the rest of Zumulu.”

“But the Black Bones are better,” Chen Haoran said.

A small smile graced Xie Jin’s dour face. “Yeah. The Black Bones are better. Once you have the last silkworm larva, the process is basically done. Feed it or raise it. The choice varies depending on the tribe. That’s not enough for us Black Bones though. Once we have the last larva we eat it.”

Chen Haoran blinked. “You what?”

“We eat it.”

“The super venomous larva. You just eat it?”

“Yes.” Xie Jin saw the look on Chen Haoran’s face and laughed. “It sounds insane, and it is. But by eating the larva and then feeding our infected blood to our chosen avatar, we create a much closer connection to our Gu. It allows a Black Bone Shaman to share in the cultivation of their Gu and vice versa.  More vice than versa, though. Of course, it’s an incredibly dangerous and painful process. The Gu poison immediately starts rotting the blood. That’s what gives our Gu their black color.”

Chen Haoran let out a low whistle. “That’s pretty metal.”

“I’ve never heard that expression before,” Xie Jin said.

“It means something intense or hardcore.”

“Metal, huh?” Xie Jin sounded out the word. “Yeah. I like that. It is pretty metal. Without the support of an experienced shaman and the tribe, the process is a death sentence. Everyone comes together to help save the newborn shaman.”

“And the shaman returns the favor by helping the tribe.”

Xie Jin nodded. “Precisely. You won’t find shamans as loyal to their people as a Black Bone is, nor Gu. A Black Bone Gu doesn’t return to the Tenth Green Hell after the death of its shaman. Instead, it sacrifices itself to cast a curse strong enough to lay low a cultivator an entire realm above you. We call it the Death Curse. If a Black Bone Shaman has resolved themselves to die, then it’s almost inevitable that they will not be dying alone….”

Xie Jin trailed off into silence after speaking. He hunched over the table. Peering into some past memory within his cup. Chen Haoran left him to it. He had the feeling Xie Jin’s Gu lesson was more for than just pride.

“Brother Chen,” Xie Jin said, not looking up. “Do you ever feel like you were born in the wrong place?”

Chen Haoran breathed in heavily. He calmly took the wine bottle, refilled his cup, and downed it in one go. He gently slammed the cup against the table, startling Xie Jin. “All the time, brother.” He refilled Xie Jin’s cup. “Tell me about it.”

“I’m not my grandfather’s actual grandson,” Xie Jin slowly said.

Chen Haoran frowned. “He still raised you, though, didn’t he? And from what I’ve seen, it seems he cares for you. What difference does it make if you’re not his actual grandson?”

Xie Jin looked at him gratefully. “Thank you, Brother Chen, but not being of his blood mattered to me. Compared to Ren, who’s his actual grandson and has a High-Grade Spirit Root, and Bao Si, who’s well…. herself. I was just some orphan my grandfather adopted after whoever my parents were sent me back to the Basin before dying.”

Chen Haoran held up his hand. “Wait, I’m sorry, Ren is Xie Ling’s grandson?”

Xie Jin huffed a laugh. “Ren is…. a bit strange. He’d rather walk around the perimeter of the Basin all day on patrol than do anything else. It’s why Grandfather raised Si as his heir. Of course, I was there too. Always learning less and being taught less than what she was.” Xie Jin’s grip on his cup tightened. “She was everything I expected a cultivator to be. Talented, valued, respected, and free to go wherever she pleased whenever she wanted. She was on track to be the youngest shaman in the Basin’s history. Meanwhile, I was never meant to be a shaman. Ever since I was young, everyone knew I wasn’t fit for it. Everyone except me, that is.”

Xie Jin took a long draw from his cup. Uncaring of the way the wine spilled and stained his shirt. “It’s the typical story. A young and ignorant boy wants to earn respect and make his dreams come true, so he goes and does something completely reckless without caring about the consequences.”

“The Poison Jar Ritual,” Chen Haoran said.

Xie Jin smirked. “Si is the second youngest shaman now. I don’t think she ever forgave me for that.”

“You did it on your own?” Chen Haoran asked.

“Unless you don’t count stealing the collected knowledge of my tribe, then yes, I did it on my own.” Xie Jin said. “I collected all the Hell Bugs and distilled the best poison I could on the slopes of Stake Mountain, then ate that larva whole. It’s a miracle I survived.”

Chen Haoran thought back to how Xie Jin began this conversation. It wasn’t purposeless. “You weren’t saved.”

“No,” Xie Jin sadly said. He touched his sleeve. “I woke up alone with my Gu. To this day, I can’t tell you what happened on that mountain or how I didn’t die. No one else knew what I had done until I walked back into the village, Gu in hand. That’s when I learned why no one wanted me to be a shaman. Even back then, I wanted to go out into the wider world. See all the sights that were to be seen and experience everything there was to be experienced. I only realized too late what kind of chains I wrapped around myself. A shaman who’s not there for his tribe is no shaman at all.”

“Even if you used your tribe’s knowledge, you still did all the other steps by yourself,” Chen Haoran pointed out. “That had to count for something.”

Xie Jin bitterly laughed. “Toward my execution, yes. I’m not well-liked by the other shamans, you see. They didn’t want our ancestral teachings to be used to create a potential rogue shaman. It’d be an insult to our tribe’s millennia of inheritance—a shame on the name of the Black Bone Shamans. Grandfather and Si had to fight like hell to save my life, and even after I was officially inducted, the tribe didn’t like the thought of supporting a shaman who might abandon them at any time. Of course, they were right to be wary. I was, in fact, planning to abandon them.”

“And that’s what led to you taking the Palace Exam?” Chen Haoran asked.

Xie Jin shook his head, his face a mess of helplessness and self-mockery. “I don’t know why I even bothered doing that. Si was completely right to call me out on it. I guess I wanted to see if more power could give me more answers. Do I betray my people and everything I was raised to believe in, or do I follow my heart? In a way, it was a good thing for that peacock prince to cancel the exams. He stopped that reckless boy within me from another terrible decision.” Xie Jin raised his cup to Chen Haoran. “Well, not completely terrible. I got to meet you, after all, Brother Chen.”

Chen Haoran didn’t raise his cup. He drummed his fingers on the table in thought. He’d been thinking a lot lately about many things: the world, Zumulu, the Chen Family, his Gifting Power, Bao Si, Xie Jin. Perhaps he was thinking too much, though. Maybe he, too, needed to let the reckless boy in him out.

“I was told before that when you advance in strength, a world of advantages opens up to you,” Chen Haoran said. “Speaking as someone lucky enough to have grown in power, I don’t believe it really gives you answers at all. In fact, I think the same questions that were beyond me as a Qi Realm are beyond me as a Liquid Meridian. Maybe even as a Crystal Transformation. We’ll have to see, though.” Chen Haoran reached into his storage bag and summoned a glossy green scroll to his hand. He placed the scroll on a table in front of a suddenly wary Xie Jin. “All that is just my experience with power. Maybe yours will be different.”

“Brother Chen,” Xie Jin cautiously said. “What is this?”

“You’re a Wood Spirit Root, right? This is the Depths of the Cloud Jungle Sutra, a Heaven-Rank cultivation method.”

“A Heaven-Rank….” Xie Jin’s voice was scratchy. He looked from the scroll to Chen Haoran with wet eyes. “Brother Chen, I can’t.” He covered his eyes with his hand. “Brother Chen, take it from my sight. I can’t. I can’t. Please. Don’t do this to me.” Xie Jin did an admirable job of hiding it, but his hand could not catch all his tears, and his words could help but hitch. “Brother Chen, I have nothing to give you. Please, take it back.”

Chen Haoran left the scroll on the table and instead emptied the last of the wine into their cups. “You’re a liar if you say you have nothing to give me because you’ve given me something I could exchange all my wealth for and still never receive—a good friend.” Chen Haoran raised his cup. “Xie Jin, I consider you to be the first real friend I’ve made in this world. If there’s anything you could give me, it would be the honor to keep being friends with you. Maybe even… sworn brothers?”

Xie Jin’s hand fell from his face and while his eyes were red and his cheeks still wet, it did nothing to stop him from giving Chen Haoran an incredulous stare. Chen Haoran awkwardly coughed into his hand. “Yes, well, um. I’m not really familiar with this, so I don’t know the etiquette involved. I don’t mind, though. Being sworn brothers with you. Unless you mind, of course. Which is totally okay if you do.”

“Brother Chen,” Xie Jin interrupted. He was laughing hard enough that fresh tears streamed down his face. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Trying my best,” Chen Haoran said. He shook his cup. “What do you say, Brother Jin?”

“What else could I say when you ask me like that?” Xie Jin lifted his own cup.

Chen Haoran went in for the toast….

….and hit nothing but air.

“No.”

Chapter 131

Sorry for the chapter delay. My family got a new puppy recently and watching it while writing is an inefficient combo. Plus, this is a longer chapter.

Note: For those who aren't aware Chapter 125 was changed to reflect Chen Haoran holding copies of the Heaven-Rank technique.

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Chen Haoran let Xie Jin and Bao Si go as soon as they reached the underground tunnel. No one said anything as Jiang Lei opened the way for them to go back to their own inn. Xie Jin and Bao Si marched up into the room in lockstep. Chen Haoran hung back on the stairwell and watched them go. Best to let them talk among themselves first. Today had been a day of revelations, and Chen Haoran’s wasn’t even the worst. Jiang Lei awkwardly stood next to him, looking as if he wanted to say something but failing to find the words.

It was striking how quickly things could change, and roles could reverse. A few months ago, Chen Haoran had been forced to watch his words and step lightly around Jiang Lei. Now they stood as equals in cultivation, and it was the unflappable and carefree Jiang Lei who was now forced to weigh his words carefully in front of Chen Haoran.

“What’s up?” Chen Haoran asked. “Cat got your tongue?”

“No, my apologies—” Jiang Lei hesitated. “—sir?”

Chen Haoran huffed and waved off the respectful address. “Don’t call me that. It’s just awkward hearing it from you.”

“My apologies.”

Chen Haoran rolled his eyes. “Bet you didn’t see this coming when you decided to follow me that night.”

“No,” Jiang Lei said. “I can’t say I could have ever imagined this.”

That made two of them.

“Well, you were the one who was always confused about my background. Now you know,” Chen Haoran joked.

“I’m still confused,” Jiang Lei immediately retorted. “Your background is clear, but you’ve become even more inscrutable.”

Chen Haoran felt amused. “Honest now, aren’t we?”

Jiang Lei’s face twisted as he apparently judge his words were too informal. “I’m sorr—”

“Can it,” Chen Haoran interrupted. He reached into his storage bag and pulled out a flimsy book. “Here. This is for you.”

Jiang Lei gingerly took the book with wary eyes and, under Chen Haoran’s urging, opened to the first page. His eyes went wide. “This is—”

“My handwriting isn’t great, but I did my best to make it legible. I’d give you the original, but you know it’s not really mine to give away.”

Confusion was writ large across Jiang Lei’s face. “This is the Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs.”

“Yes,” Chen Haoran confirmed. “What about it?”

“Why are you giving this to me?”

“Why not? I said you could learn it too, didn’t I.”

“But that was….” Jiang Lei didn’t finish his sentence, but he didn’t need to. There were plenty of reasons to insert.

“Well, at least you can recognize what you were putting me through,” Chen Haoran said. “At the end of the day, I said you could learn it, and you saved my life. Take it.”

Jiang Lei gripped the book tightly. There weren’t words to describe the various emotions he cycled through in that instant. Eventually, he settled on gratitude. “Thank you, Young Master Chen.”

Before Chen Haoran could reply, a flash of golden light appeared in his mind, and when he cast his thoughts toward it, he found that the golden light surrounding his second gifting slot was brighter than before.

Chen Haoran masked his surprise with a grimace. “Don’t call me that. You remind me of another asshole. Besides, you saw my relationship with Xi Wangmu. It’s not exactly something you can call close.”

“Your family is still one of our major backers,” Jiang Lei said. “Etiquette demands I address you with respect.”

Chen Haoran raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Were you already aware of my family’s involvement? Xi Wangmu must value you a lot.”

“It’s just a little talent that’s caught the Queen Mother’s interest,” Jiang Lei not so humbly said. “Even I wasn’t aware of the nature of the relationship.”

“Well, that’s Chen Qitao for you,” Chen Haoran casually said.

Jiang Lei nodded. “Yes, the Southern Dragon King is mighty indeed.” He glanced at Chen Haoran. “His son doesn’t seem far off either.”

Chen Haoran snorted and clapped Jiang Lei on the back. “Flattery will get you nowhere. Now get. The longer I stay here, the more annoyed that old bat will be.”

Jiang Lei shook his head in exasperation. “Only you could be so bold, Chen Haoran.” He walked down the stairs and paused at the bottom, looking up at Chen Haoran and nodding. “Until we meet again.”

“Oh believe me,” Chen Haoran thought. “The next time we meet will be too soon.”

————————

Chen Haoran had yet to hear any shouting or any discussion at all as he approached their room. Despite knowing better, he still had the thought that things weren’t as bad as they seemed. This thought lasted until he actually opened the door, and the sounds that had been blocked from escaping assaulted him in full force.

“—do you not understand the implications!”

“I do! Stop treating me as if I’m a fool!”

Bao Si and Xie Jin cut their shouting short when Chen Haoran entered the room. Their Gu, no doubt the cause of the noise being trapped inside, hovered protectively by their sides. Phelps peeled himself off the bed where he’d pressed himself flat and floated into Chen Haoran’s arms with a distressed squeal.

Chen Haoran patted Phelps’s head. “Easy there, buddy.”

“Chen Haoran,” Bao Si said. She did not glare or narrow her eyes at him. She did not look angry at all. Yet she did not look happy either. The teasing look in her eyes that he’d grown so used to seeing was gone. Her centipede Gu wrapped itself around her arm, and Chen Haoran mourned the precaution.

“Before you ask anything. I can’t give you the answers you want,” Chen Haoran said.

“Can’t or won’t?” Bao Si demanded.

Well. Both honestly, but if Chen Haoran said that, he had no doubt things would go from bad to worse. He didn’t know enough about the Chen Family or their deal with Xi Wangmu to satisfy Bao Si’s questions, and he certainly wasn’t going to reveal his total lack of knowledge. Not when there was a chance the information could make its way back to Xi Wangmu. Especially since there was no telling if she could listen in to them.

“I’m sorry about the Heaven-Rank,” he said. “I didn’t know it was that politically charged.”

“Is that all you didn’t know?” Now Bao Si narrowed her eyes. “That day, we were wary of the Peach River Swordsmen’s methods to enter the Basin. Perhaps we should have been paying more attention to yours.”

Xie Jin stepped between them. “Wait a minute. There’s no way Brother Chen could have come to us with ill intentions. He was already living in the north long before I ever arrived, and I was the one who approached him.”

Bao Si’s face became terrifyingly blank. “Yes. You were.”

Xie Jin frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean.”

Chen Haoran slowly edged over to the corner and tucked Phelps’s head into his shoulder. His drama senses were telling him this was going to get ugly.

“You were the one who approached him.” Bao Si said.  “You were the one who brought him to Zumulu. You were the one who fought to keep him in our home. Now he’s turned out to be in the same bed as the bitch who’s dragging our people into a bloody rebellion.”

Shock colored Xie Jin’s features before quickly turning into a scorching glare. “Are you implying I’m trying to harm our home? Do you think I’m some kind of traitor?”

“Can’t I?” Bao Si sneered. “Even my Master has decided her interests supersede the tribes. If the Grand Shaman can do that, then why not a maverick like you?”

“Bao Si how dare you—”

“How dare you!” Bao Si shouted. Her centipede tattoo writhed as if it were alive. “Xie Jin, you dare act indignant? You dare claim you have the tribe in your heart? You? A shaman that pays no heed to his duties? That wanders away from his village more than the rogues in the Gu Department do? You still have not told us why you left Zumulu and went up north, yet you demand our trust and faith? Xie Jin! ”

“The Palace Exams!” Xie Jin roared. He let out a heavy exhale, like an angry bull, in the silence following his outburst. “I went to take the Palace Exams.”

Bao Si froze.

Then she erupted with incandescent rage.

“The Palace Exams!” Bao Si’s voice shook with force and emotion that she had not displayed even when Xi Wangmu strong-armed her with her own Master’s permission. “Xie Jin! What were you thinking? Joining the Empire? You would really sell your Gu to the faithless bastards of the Gu Department? Is that why you became a shaman?”

“I was never going to join the Gu Department!” Xie Jin protested. “I was going to join the Palace School with my own skill. I would never use my Gu to help the Empire.”

Bao Si sneered. “You think you could join the Palace School without them realizing what you were? How much of a fool can you be? Is that how you’d explain yourself in front of your grandfather? You unfilial bastard, is this how you treat Grandpa Xie’s care for you?”

“Bao Si, don’t you dare bring my grandfather into this.” Xie Jin’s Beetle Gu released a low chitter akin to scraping knives.

“Who else will? You? Why do you care now when you never have before? Is it because you’re ashamed? Good! Be ashamed! That poor man is always placing his faith in you, and all you do is disappoint him at every turn!”

“You fucking bitch!”

Chen Haoran flared his qi and quickly stepped between Xie Jin and Bao Si. His qi was like a bucket of water atop their heads, dousing their rising qi and emotions. They both shook and stepped back but did not relent in their ugly stares.

“Let’s take a step back, okay?” Chen Haoran asked. “Don’t forget where we are right now.” He turned to Bao Si. “Listen. The Palace Exams were canceled before anyone could take them, and Xie Jin’s only thought was of home. Even if he did pass them, he’d never join the Empire. There’s no way he’d abandon the Basin for the Palace School.”

Bao Si’s face had returned to being expressionless, and she addressed Xie Jin directly. “Xie Jin, answer me honestly. If the conditions here permitted, were you going  to leave Zumulu with Chen Haoran?”

Xie Jin’s silence was loud in the quiet room.

Bao Si shook her head. “There were other shamans available. I even argued with Grandpa Xie not to bring you. He wanted to test you, though. It turns out he was right too.” Bao Si laughed. It was a hard, bitter sound. “I can’t believe I ever thought I could marry you. Why did you even become a shaman if you hated it so much.”

Xie Jin stood there, his face a twisted mask of grief and smoldering anger. “Because I wanted to be like you,” he whispered. His Gu flew into his sleeve, and he decisively turned and left the room, slamming the door so hard it rattled in the frame.

Chen Haoran watched him go, tracking his direction with his sense. Bao Si said nothing, and instead collapsed onto the bed and buried her face into her hands.

“Chen Haoran,” she said. “Who are you?”

“Well, maybe a little can’t hurt.” He sat down on the bed next to her and set Phelps next to him. “Do you know who the Southern Dragon King Chen Qitao is?”

“Southern Dragon King,” Bao Si murmured. She looked up from her hands with dry, clear eyes. “I’ve heard that title. My Master had mentioned it before. She said it belonged to a powerful warlord in the Splintered Lands.”

Again with the Splintered Lands.

“What are these Splintered Lands you keep talking about?” Chen Haoran asked.

Bao Si was not amused. “Will you continue playing a fool Chen Haoran?”

He really wasn’t. This was a pure, authentic fool. He couldn’t help asking. He’d heard the term bandied about far too often to keep being ignorant of it. Thankfully Xi Wangmu had given him the perfect excuse.

“I was sent as a hostage to Clearsprings City when I was young by my father,” Chen Haoran somberly said. “I was weak and otherwise useless to him. I didn’t stay that way forever, thought.” He placed a hand over his heart. “You heard Xi Wangmu talk about the foreign spirit in my body. Thanks to it, I was able to become a Liquid Meridian Realm. But… sometimes it feels like this body isn’t my own.” He tapped a finger against his head. “Sometimes things I should know, I don’t.”

Bao Si searched his face for any sign of falsity. For any hint that he was lying to her. Unfortunately for her, there wasn’t, and he wasn’t. His poker face was the one born out of long hours spent in retail and customer service, and what sort of lie could she find when he didn’t speak any?

“The Splintered Lands are the shattered remains of territories and kingdoms that lie between the Empire, the Baghmar Republic, and the Eastern Lightning League. They’re lawless places that only served to be exploited by the superpowers and used as buffer states. There the only rule is by the fist.”

“I see. Thank you.”

“If you really wanted to thank me, you would tell me what sort of danger my people are in,” Bao Si said.

“It’s not completely bad,” Chen Haoran said. “At least Xi Wangmu values you and isn’t planning to use you as some soldier. Plus, she can’t be too disrespectful now that she knows I’m involved.” Granted, that was relying on Chen Qitao’s prestige more than anything Chen Haoran himself did, so it wasn’t the sturdiest threat, but for Bao Si, anything was better than nothing.

“So is that it? I must choose between you or her?” Bao Si straightened. Her centipede tattoo rippled even has two eyes not unlike Xi Wangmu’s, threatened to draw Chen Haoran in and throw in down into the abyss. “I do not like being forced to do what I do not want to do. Nor do I appreciate being sold.” Her eyes narrowed to snake-like slits. “By my Master or you, Chen Haoran.”

“Oh, sorry about that.” Chen Haoran said. “In my defense, though, you’ve seen that old coot. If I rejected her, then things would have gotten worse before they got better. That does remind me, though.” He pulled out the jade box, took the Banquet Peach, and held it invitingly in front of Phelps. “Here, buddy. Snack time.”

Phelps took one sniff and his face turned a rosy pink even through his fur. The peach quickly disappeared from his hand, core and all.

Received Hundred-Fold: 80 thousand-year-old Banquet Peach

Bao Si’s face featured yet another one he had yet to see, this one of open-mouthed shock.

“What?” Chen Haoran asked. “You didn’t think I trusted her? Did you?”

Bao Si slowly shook her head. “I don’t know what to make of you anymore.”

“You never knew what to make of me,” Chen Haoran pointed out. “Now, would you like a hug or an emotional support sloth before I go find Xie Jin?”

Chapter 130

The room fell into silence. Xie Jin, Bao Si, even Jiang Lie quailed and froze like deer in the headlight. The meeting having taken a turn none of them could anticipate. Chen Haoran’s mind furiously raced. Xi Wangmu was a valid connection. Why? The obvious answer immediately presented itself—the Chen Family. What kind of connection was it, though? She had seen his face before. She knew him by name. Had they met before? Had they spoken? How well did she know his predecessor? He had a connection to her, which meant they had some kind of official relationship. Was she his servant? Or his Master, perhaps? He immediately ruled those out. She was too disrespectful seeing him. Even Song Yuelin, menace that he was, never directly referred to him by name as Xi Wangmu did.

He noted just how long it took for her to connect his face and name. She had known his name but didn’t associate him with the Chen Family until she saw his face, and even then, it took her a minute. That boded well for Chen Haoran. Whatever the nature of their connection, it didn’t seem to be a particularly close one.

Xi Wangmu sneered. “Of course, I should have known Gold-Eater wouldn’t give the technique to any random junior. Why are you here?”

What else could it be? Sworn friends? Allies? No, it’d be impossible for her not to immediately recognize him if they were that close.

There was a sudden chill in the air. “I asked you a question, Chen Haoran.”

Right. Time to channel his inner Song Yuelin.

Chen Haoran casually met Xi Wangmu’s gaze. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was me you were speaking so rudely to.” He sauntered over to the table and stared down at her. “Since when was I someone you could be rude to, Xi Wangmu.”

Xi Wangmu raised an eyebrow. The cold fingers of her sense pierced through his chest. The Yellow Dragon roared in anger at the invasion. Xi Wangmu disdainfully smiled. “So you decided to play with fire and let a foreign spirit in your body, and now you think you’re worthy of respect. Am I supposed to be impressed?”

Chen Haoran ignored her. “How long are you going to keep me standing?”

Xi Wangmu pursed her lips and waved at the chair. “Sit.”

He kicked out the chair and fell into it, leaning back and crossing his legs. The abrupt noise caused the other three to flinch. When Bao Si had been sitting in this chair, she’d had a perfect straight-backed posture, a diplomat at work. Chen Haoran, on the other hand, looked like a gangster who had wandered into a UN meeting.

“You must really think you’ve done something special,” Xi Wangmu said. “I admit, it’s a bit surprising to see you’ve reached the Liquid Meridian Realm. You’ve gone from being a major disappointment to your father to an ordinary one. Congratulations.” She finished off the last of her tea. “Now. What brings Chen Qitao’s dog son to Zumulu? I believed you were left to rot in the north, no?”

Her insults went in one ear and out the other. The man who would have been insulted by them was long gone now. Instead, he analyzed them. Compared to how she insulted Bao Si by treating her as a child, Xi Wangmu’s insults toward him were of a much more pointed nature. It highlighted just how different his status was from Bao Si in Xi Wangmu’s eyes.

Chen Haoran snapped his fingers over his shoulder at Jiang Lei. “Tea.”

Jiang Lei paused, cautiously looking at Xi Wangmu before slowly bringing the tea cart over and setting a new cup for him. Chen Haoran ignored Jiang Lei’s intense scrutiny. He ignored the holes Xie Jin’s and Bao Si’s eyes were boring into him. He ignored Xi Wangmu’s question once again. When Jiang Lei finished pouring the tea, he grabbed the cup and downed it like it was cheap swill. He didn’t even need to channel any qi to avoid scalding his tongue. A dense peach flavor spread throughout his mouth, and a peach-pink qi washed over his meridians, easing the strain they had accrued from the Yellow Dragon’s autonomous cultivation.

“Not bad,” Chen Haoran said, smacking his lips. He took the teapot from a perplexed Jiang Lei and stood to fill up Xi Wangmu’s cup. Xi Wangmu regarded him calmly as he poured.

And poured.

Her calm expression fell away to a frown, and there was a collective hitch of breath in the room as Xi Wangmu’s cup ran over and tea spilled onto the table. Before the tea could reach the edge of the table and fall in her lap, Xi Wangmu’s qi spiked. The tea immediately evaporated. Her cup and the teapot Chen Haoran was holding shattered into pieces and disintegrated.

“Boy.” Xi Wangmu’s voice was dangerously low. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Chen Haoran cocked his head. “I thought we’d already decided to dispense with face? Why are you getting so mad?”

Xi Wangmu’s qi did not stir or rise in any way, and yet Chen Haoran felt something akin to hundreds of cold blades touching his skin. The Yellow Dragon roared, and Chen Haoran let it fill him with the courage needed not to flinch. He was playing quite a dangerous game here. That was okay, though.  It was impressive seeing the things a person unconsciously revealed when they were angry. He was learning a lot, especially since he had Xi Wangmu’s meeting with Bao Si to compare.

“Since when did I become someone you could be so rude to?” Xi Wangmu said, parroting his earlier words. “Do you think that selling your soul and achieving a little success in cultivation means anything in my eyes? I was ruling the Peachwine when your ancestors were suckling their mother’s milk.”

“Yes, yes, you’re very old.” Chen Haoran said, ignoring the invisible blades. “Forgive me, though for thinking my ancestors got the better deal in the end.”

Xi Wangmu narrowed her eyes to slits. “You are testing my patience Chen Haoran. Do not think you are so valuable to your father that I won’t kill you right now.”

So if he were valuable to his father, then Xi Wangmu couldn’t do anything to him?

“Why so threatening? I was just giving you a reminder.” He placed a hand on the table and loomed over her. “Even the dogs of the Chen Family can’t be insulted by the likes of you, Xi Wangmu. Kill me? Have you asked my father’s permission? Do you really think a mere Crystal Transformation Realm is enough to make Chen Qitao take you seriously?”

Behind him, he felt three separate qi freeze in terror. Chen Haoran couldn’t blame them. What he was doing was worthy of death. He didn’t think a cultivator as old as Xi Wangmu would have many compunctions about killing someone for annoying her. Briefly, he thought about taking a step back but discarded the thought soon after. The more he controlled this conversation, the less likely it was that he’d be forced to answer something ‘Chen Haoran’ should have known. On his own, he wouldn’t have been able to do it. Xi Wangmu wasn’t wrong to say he had nothing worthy of her respect. Fortunately, he wasn’t alone. While he didn’t know as much as he would have liked about Chen Qitao, he knew enough to be willing to bet that his name would deter her as it did the City Lord.

Thankfully for Chen Haoran’s not-dying plan, Daddy Chen was indeed built different.

Xi Wangmu scowled at him but didn’t kill him for the affront. Chen Haoran took the opportunity to retreat and sit back down. His mind turned to the connection once again. Xi Wangmu was close to the Chen Family. If her foreign support was the Baghmar Republic, then the Chen Family was also probably supporting her plans in Zumulu. Her attitude toward him eliminated the majority of possible relationships she could have with him. He also eliminated the horrifying thought that they were married. No matter how ridiculous cultivators made things in this world, letting a 20-year-old marry someone in their four thousands was too far. Whatever their relationship was, it wasn’t something she and his predecessor negotiated themselves. That only left….

Chen Haoran leaned back in his seat and held up his hand in mock surrender. “Now, now, I didn’t come here to fight. We’re family, after all.”

If anything, Xi Wangmu scowled even further. “You are no child of mine.”

There was a strangled gasp that could have been Bao Si but more likely belonged to Xie Jin or Jiang Lei. Chen Haoran didn’t have the mind to figure out who, though. He was rather more preoccupied with the fact he was probably sitting in front of his stepmother, of all people.

“Chen Qitao, you wild asshole. What the fuck?”

Chen Haoran didn’t let his discomfort show on his face. Thankfully Xi Wangmu took a page from the shitty stepmother playbook. Things could have gone very wrong very fast had she and his predecessor been at all closer.

“I tire of your nonsense, Chen Haoran,” Xi Wangmu said. “Has Chen Qitao sent you here?”

He grimaced. It wasn’t an expression he had to fake.  “I’m not here by choice. Song Yuelin and I had a run-in with Shen Jianyu. Our operations up north have gone to waste now because of him.”

“Shen Qi’s son, was it?” Xi Wangmu pinched the air. The purpose of the motion was lost on Chen Haoran, however. “He’s considered talented among the current crop of imperial scions despite his low cultivation base. You weren’t wronged by being run off by him.”

Right. It seemed that his breaking away from Song Yuelin wasn’t common knowledge in the Chen Family yet. That was good. It saved him from several awkward questions. Unfortunately, Xi Wangmu had more to ask.

She pinned him with her stare. “That doesn’t explain why you’re interfering with the Basin.”

Chen Haoran shrugged. “When have I ever needed a reason to do what I do? I just found some interesting things to occupy my time.” He turned his head to spy on his friends. Jiang Lei was stupefied. The revelation of Chen Haoran’s relation to his Schools Founder apparently being too much for him. Bao Si and Xie Jin both stared at him like they were seeing him for the first time. Chen Haoran’s heart sank. He wasn’t looking forward to dealing with that conversation.

“What do you want?” Xi Wangmu bluntly asked, drawing his attention.

Chen Haoran blinked. “What ever do you mean?” No really. What did she mean?

“What will it take for you to not get in the way anymore?” Her eyes flicked to Bao Si.

It seemed she really did value Bao Si. Well, she’d have to if she wanted to install Bao Si as the ruler of Zumulu. Or maybe Xi Wangmu was that worried about him, or rather, who he represented. Xi Wangmu had asked if Chen Qitao had sent him here as if that was a bad thing, and Gold-Eater had also seemed to think Chen Haoran’s presence was some plan of his father. Was the Chen Family not as involved in Zumulu as he thought? Or was Chen Qitao being too involved the issue? Xi Wangmu was planning a rebellion. What rebel wouldn’t be worried about their foreign allies having too much influence in the new government they fought so hard to establish?

Chen Haoran made a show of considering Xi Wangmu’s words. His eyes slid over to Bao Si and caught her gaze. Her face was unreadable. He turned away. “I’ll leave that to you,” he said. “I’m sure you’ll come up with something satisfactory.”

Xi Wangmu didn’t look pleased, but it was hardly the worst thing he’d said to her so far. She flipped her hand, and a jade box appeared in her palm. She pushed it across the table. Chen Haoran casually lifted the lid and was immediately blasted with a fruity smell. Inside the box was a perfectly round and rosy peach.

“An 800-year-old Banquet Peach.” Xi Wangmu said. “Consuming it will make the body light and strong and will enhance vitality. If you want to be more than a disappointment to your father, then you’ll need this.”

Jiang Lei’s qi fluctuated when Xi Wangmu took out the peach, confirming that it was something valuable. Chen Haoran dropped it into his storage bag without a second glance. “A pleasure doing business with you.”

Xi Wangmu snorted. “Leave. The longer I see your face, the more my mood gets spoiled.”

Chen Haoran pushed away from the table. He didn’t need to be told twice. “Far be it for me to keep disturbing you then.” He threw his arms around Xie Jin and Bao Si. Even when they flinched, he didn’t remove his arms, just mourned and pulled them to the door.

Unfortunately, Xi Wangmu wasn’t finished. “Bao’er, you’ll receive your instructions soon. You may ask your master for more details.”

He could feel Bao Si tense under his arm. A feeling he wished he could replicate when he felt Xi Wangmu’s sense sink into his body again and hover over the snarling and snapping Yellow Dragon.

“Leave Zumulu before you lose control of that thing, and it kills you,” Xi Wangmu said. “It will trouble my daughter if I have to explain why you died in my territory to your father.”

Chen Haoran paused. The Yellow Dragon roared.

“Noted.”

Chapter 129

Awkward. That would describe how the day had been thus far. Meeting Jiang Lei was awkward. Chen Haoran’s attempt at small talk had gone nowhere in the end. He’d thought at least they could start a conversation seeing as they found themselves once again walking through a dark tunnel to avoid attention. He’d thought too much, apparently. Maybe he should have brought Phelps along. Pets could always get a conversation going.

Things hadn’t gone much better when they met Xi Wangmu. At the very least, she lent evidence to the old factoid that an organization’s attitudes were the sum total of its leader’s shitty personality. It would have been too much to wish that this world would be better than Earth, but was it too much to ask for it not to share the same failings? Of all the things that could be proven universal, why did it have to be powerful people not caring about the little guy? Except it was worse here. At least back on Earth, a CEO or politician couldn’t kill someone with an angry look.

Well… maybe Xie Jin wouldn’t have died, but he probably felt like he was. Chen Haoran’s first direct attempt to resist a Crystal Transformation Realm had only succeeded because Xi Wangmu hadn’t been kidding when she called it a look. It was all form and no substance. Whatever Xie Jin had been feeling to Chen Haoran’s sense his own body had sent him into shock. Perhaps the sheer difference in power triggered an extreme fear response? Chen Haoran certainly felt his spine crawl, and he wasn’t even the focus of Xi Wangmu’s attention. Honestly, if Xi Wangmu had decided to press her assault, he wouldn’t have been able to stop her at all. Fortunately, she did. Unfortunately, the discussion then shifted to something even more dangerous. Politics.

Chen Haoran couldn’t help but note that Bao Si sitting down at the table at all was a loss in a way. It was obvious the temptation of getting the Longevity Elixir for Xie Ling was too much to pass up, even for her. Xi Wangmu had them by the balls and, worst of all, was aware of it. She probably knew it for a while now too given how rude she was in the beginning. It was a simple and brutish power play. The type a person could only do when they were confident in the strength of their position. Xi Wangmu had made it clear that she was not the one striking a deal with them. They were the ones who had to make her an offer.

Well. In the end, it wasn’t his place to do anything. He’d just leave it up to Bao Si and her incredible poker face.

Xi Wangmu smiled kindly at her as she sat down. It was a textbook political smile doubtlessly mastered after countless hours of practice. Spoiled only by dark eyes backed by 4 thousand years of apathy. “A wise decision Princess.”

“I will be the judge of that,” Bao Si replied. “Shall we begin with the purpose of this meeting?”

“Does it need explaining?” Xi Wangmu asked. “You’re a smart girl. I’m sure you can figure it out.”

Bao Si folded her hands primly. “You’re planning rebellion.”

Xie Jib breathed in sharply beside him. Chen Haoran slowly exhaled. Rebellion. He wasn’t surprised. He was pretty sure they all had been nursing the idea for a while. He certainly had. Xie Jin and Bao Si apparently found evidence in the spirit stone. As for himself…. he met Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao while they were hunting criminals. At the time, he had only known they were part of an organization doing a job the government should have been responsible for creating a good image for themselves and establishing legitimacy among the populace. In the beginning, it had been an outrageous guess that slowly grew firmer as he found more supporting evidence. How many times was this now? He really had to start a coin jar for this sort of thing.

“Is it rebellion?” Xi Wangmu idly questioned, as if the answer held no meaning for her. “There was never an official end to the war, after all. The people did not accept the Empire. Even now, there are remnants resisting in the Splintered Lands.”

Bao Si sniffed with disdain. “The people’s acceptance changes nothing—the Empire rules to say otherwise is just quibbling over the semantics. A bunch of petty warlords fighting for the scraps the superpowers left in the Splintered Lands will make no difference.

Xi Wangmu chuckled. “You’re correct, of course, Princess Bao.”

“That word. Why are you using that word? I’m not a princess. The Basin hasn’t had royalty in 400 years.”

“Ah yes,” Xi Wangmu mused. “Not since your ancestors Bao Ji and Bao Jia handed over their crowns and were forced by the Sunset Emperor to commit suicide.” She sighed. “What a shame. I knew them well.”

“I’m sure,” Bao Si dryly replied. If Chen Haoran’s translation was correct, then what Bao Si actually said was: I don’t believe a word you said. It was hard to tell if Xi Wangmu was really bullshitting them or not, given how old she was supposed to be. “You are aware that the Empire considers rebellion worse than war, correct? You already failed to defeat the Empire when they invaded. Forgive me for not being confident in your odds of success now that they’ve established themselves within the country.”

Damn. Chen Haoran would’ve whistled if it wouldn’t have been wildly inappropriate. Bao Si wasn’t taking prisoners. Whatever her confidence was based on must be reliable if she was this aggressive. At least, he hoped it was.

Xi Wangmu smiled. “Why do you think Zumulu lost 400 years ago, Princess Bao?”

Bao Si narrowed her eyes, and Chen Haoran hoped she could see something in Xi Wangmu’s expression because he certainly didn’t. “They were weak, and fragmented compared to the Empire’s superior soldiers and better-organized army.”

Xi Wangmu nodded. “They were too independent.”

There was a pause in the air. They waited for a followup to that sentence that never came. Instead, Jiang Lei wheeled over a tea cart and set a cup in front of Xi Wangmu and Bao Si before filling them up with a steaming tea that smelled like a fresh peach harvest. Xi Wangmu completely ignored Bao Si in favor of her tea, while Bao Si frowned in contemplation as she turned over Xi Wangmu’s words.

Her eyes flew open. “You’re receiving another superpower’s support. The Baghmar Republic? The Eastern Lightning League?”

Chen Haoran stilled. Baghmar Republic. The nation Lan Fen had warned him the Chen Family had some kind of connection to. His mind invariably went back to the Golden Lily Association. The Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs came from there.

Xi Wangmu slowly clapped. “Well done. Yes. Unlike before, there is significant foreign support.”

With a shaky hand, Bao Si raised her teacup to her lips. It was the first real flaw he’d seen from her so far. He quickly glanced at Xie Jin but found that while he looked even more shaken by the news than Bao Si, he wasn’t looking at her with concern. He looked back at Bao Si, and from his position behind her, Chen Haoran could see she didn’t drink the tea at all.

Bao Si set the teacup down. “You seem to have all the support you need. Is there any reason for my Basin to join?”

“You’re not wrong,” Xi Wangmu said. “Your Black Bone Tribe is useful, but their alliance isn’t a necessity.” Her eyes pinned Bao Si. “You, on the other hand, are much more valuable in my eyes.”

Bao Si pushed her cup to the side. “What do you want?” She warily asked, dispensing with the pretenses.

Xi Wangmu calmly sipped her tea. “I believe Zumulu is due another King of the Rivers and Lakes, or rather, a Queen.”

Xie Jin hissed, and Chen Haoran stepped closer to him lest he attracted Xi Wangmu’s attention again. It was a useless move as she only had eyes for Bao Si now. Bao Si had become even more eerily calm after listening to Xi Wangmu’s proposition.

“On what basis are you making this claim?” she asked.

“Tell me, girl, what was the fate of the River Kings of Zumulu when the Empire took over?”

“Self-exile to the Splintered Lands for those who could escape, extermination up to nine relations for the rest.”

Xi Wangmu nodded. “Correct. Now as you so aptly put it, what sort of legitimacy and face do you think those exiles who’ve spent 400 years fighting over scraps in the Splintered Lands will have once they return home?”

Xie Jin mouthed the words at the same moment Bao Si spoke. “None at all.”

“Precisely.” Xi Wangmu traced the rim of her teacup. “Zumulu cannot be left to fracture as it has so often done before.”

“The Black Bone Royal family is no different from those exiles,” Bao Si said, despite herself she couldn’t hold back the bitterness in her voice. “Worse even. My ancestors abolished the monarchy themselves.”

“Do not discount your heritage so quickly, girl,” Xi Wangmu chided. “Of the remaining royal descendants in Zumulu, only the Basin has maintained any sort of power and respect. In addition, the sacrifice of the King and Queen of the Black Bones is well remembered. Were it not for them taking the lead in offering their crowns to the Sunset Emperor and stalling him, there would not have been a chance for the other River Kings to flee at all. There are some that even say it was their Death Curses that forced the Emperor to stop.”

Bao Si scoffed. “The Three Killers couldn’t slay the Sunset Emperor. If a mere Death Curse could harm him, he would have razed the Basin to the ground. Besides, Meng Huo had already surrendered to the Sunset Emperor by the time my ancestors did. The only reason he didn’t hunt down the surviving River Kings was because he considered them no longer worth the effort.”

Xi Wangmu chuckled. “Who will care? So long as you take the lead, then the people under you will make whatever lie you wish into the truth. For the Exile kings following the resurgent Queen of the Black Bones to reclaim their homeland is a type of legitimacy they can only dream of.”

“Is that what you wish to do then?” Bao Si asked with a snake-like gaze. “Turn me into another Princess Cicada?”

Chen Haoran recognized that name. It was a story Xie Jin had told him while they lazed about one day in the Basin. Princess Cicada was a princess of a large Peach River Kingdom when her uncle assassinated her father, forcing her to escape with the help of loyal courtiers. Eventually, Princess Cicada resolved to take back what was rightfully hers and sailed up the Peachwine singing a song so beautiful the other Peach River cities declared for her and even the Peach River Swords took up their swords and helped overthrow her uncle and restore her to her rightful throne. It was a nice story.

Xi Wangmu laughed. “Do you think I’ll marry you and take your power like Princess Cicada’s husband did?”

….Xie Jin didn’t tell him that part of the story.

“Girl Bao—no Bao’er, if I wanted to become Queen of Zumulu, I would have done it a long time ago.”

Bao Si and Xie Ji frowned. Chen Haoran couldn’t blame them. The last time he hear that kind of appellation was from Lan Fen’s grandfather. Apparently, it was a term of address mostly used for younger children. It dawned on Chen Haoran that throughout this whole conversation, Xi Wangmu had been treating Bao Si more like some intelligent grandchild than with any actual seriousness. Bao Si seemed to realize it as well, going by the look on her face.

Xi Wangmu, on the other hand, seemed to pay her expressions no mind. “In return for your cooperation, I will give Xie Ling two Earth-Rank Longevity pills—enough for 200 years of life and make sure your royalty will be restored. What say you, Princess Bao?

Bao Si stared long and hard at Xi Wangmu and remained silent. Chen Haoran and Xie Jin became unnaturally still. Whatever Bao Si said right now would doubtless have ramifications that would affect the Basin for years to come.

Bao Si stood up from her seat.

“My apologies, Senior Wangmu,” Bao Si said with a smile that could only be described as politely rude. “But before I am a Princess, before I am even a Bao, I am a Black Bone Shaman. I will take your words back to my Master and the Elders so that they may decide on them.”

Xi Wangmu sighed. “I was right—you’re the only one worthy in your generation. What a spine. You’re wasted on your master.” She set aside her cup and took out a rectangular green jade from her sleeve.

“What is that?” Bao Si asked with furrowed brows.

“You’re master never communicated with you since you relayed the situation to her, has she not?” Xi Wangmu met her question with a question. “It’s curious, isn’t it? The message was sent, and she is aware another Star Core Realm is involved, but she has relayed no instructions, not even to her only apprentice, who is being sent as a messenger.”

Bao Si clenched her fist, and Chen Haoran saw Xie Jin pale more than when he’d suffered the brunt of Xi Wangmu’s presence.

“What are you implying,” Bao Si demanded.

“You cannot speak to your Master in the Splintered Lands.” Xi Wangmu pushed the jade forward. “Would you like to try from here?”

Bao Si staggered back. Chen Haoran and Xie Jin rushed to steady her. Her eyes were riveted to the jade.

Xi Wangmu threaded her fingers together. “I said before that the Black Bone tribe’s alliance isn’t a necessity. That is because I’ve already received an answer from the only opinion that matters.”

“Master,” Bao Si whispered.

“Not that it matters,” an uncaring Xi Wangmu continued. “No matter what, after the Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs was brought to the Basin, it was inevitable you’d be implicated. Thought admittedly, that was a curious happenstance. The original plan was to create chaos among the Empire’s Crystal Transformation Realm loyalists and divide the Garrison’s attention.”

Xi Wangmu turned her gaze to Chen Haoran, and rather than a human, Chen Haoran felt like he was staring at a towering tree. “On that note. I am very curious as to why that cheapskate Gold-Eater decided to give the technique to you. It’s a bit rude to keep wearing a mask, no? This old woman is so honest that she didn’t even put on any makeup and came to meet you with a bare face. Will you not extend the same courtesy, Chen Haoran?”

The request sent shivers down Chen Haoran’s spine. No matter how politely she worded it, all he could hear was the implied threat behind every single syllable. Slowly he reached up and peeled away his mask. Xi Wangmu placidly observed him until the mask was off in its entirety, and he stepped forward to shield Xie Jin and Bao Si. Xi Wangmu blinked.

Then, to his horror, she frowned.

“Chen….Haoran.” She slowly repeated his name as her sense brushed across his face. Throughout the entire meeting, no matter the expression she molded her face into, Xi Wangmu’s eyes remained as voids carved from an apathy born of 4 thousand years of living. Now those voids bloomed with a horrible light.

Recognition.

“Chen Haoran.” Xi Wangmu sneered.

Instinctively he reached for his Gifting Power, and for once, wished he hadn’t.

Connection: Valid

Interlude: The Silkworm III

Xie Jin scowled. Of all the people the Peach River Sword School had to send, it had to be him. It didn’t matter that his grandfather received him in the end. His attempt to enter the Basin by using Brother Chen’s relationship with him was an insult. Did they mean to insult them? The bastard even had the audacity to ignore Brother Chen’s greetings.

“Princess Bao,” Jiang Lei said with a slight bow. “I am here to escort you. Do you need time to prepare?”

Si’s face was politely neutral, a product of her etiquette lessons and experience. She couldn’t hide from Xie Jin, however. He’d been in those same etiquette lessons even if he never took them seriously, and he had known her even longer. If she didn’t have an appearance to keep up, she’d be frowning. That was fine, though. Xie Jin would frown enough for both of them and some for Brother Chen too. Calling her a princess from the get-go…. these Peach River Bastards were bold.

“No, I’ve had plenty.” Si gestured for Jiang Lei to lead the way. “Please.”

He and Brother Chen fell into step behind Si. His Gu surreptitiously sensed Jiang Lei and passed back its findings. Liquid Meridian Second-Layer. The time since they’d last seen each other had been kind to Jiang Lei. It grated Xie Jin to no end that the bastard had advanced a whole-layer while Xie Jin hadn’t advanced at all. The Earth-Rank Pill Brother Chen gave him was enough to put him near the peak of the Ninth-Layer, but he still required polishing before he could attempt Condensation. It was frustrating, but there was no helping it.  He had to cultivate enough for two.

Jiang Lei briskly walked ahead of them, close enough to be considered leading them but far enough to be impersonal. Bao Si tried to engage him in small talk to wheedle out information and received eloquent sentences full of absolutely nothing. Xie Jin didn’t know how Brother Chen tolerated the man. This was only the third time he’d met Jiang Lei, and he’d already had it up to here with him.

Jiang Lei brought them down to the first floor, past the bar, into the kitchen where none of the bustling cooking staff noticed them, and down a root cellar. Jiang Lei placed his hands on one of the shelves and spiked his qi. Formation symbols flared to life on the wall behind the shelf, and the whole wall fell away to reveal a tunnel. Jiang Lei held up a small light and waited for them all to pass through before sealing the entrance and continuing on. Xie Jin’s Gu vibrated with another warning. The tunnel walls were lined with qi, a formation, capable of blocking even its senses.

“Your people are well prepared,” Si praised.

“We tried our best to prepare for Princess Bao’s arrival,” Jiang Lei politely but coolly replied. “We’re just embarrassing ourselves in front of your highness.”

Si tittered. “Oh, there’s no need to call me that.”

There really wasn’t. Nobody called her that, and not even because she couldn’t act like a princess if she ripped one’s skin off and wore it like a suit. She was the last heir of the Black Bone Royal Dynasty. She was of royalty, but that didn’t mean she was royalty. The Basin hadn’t had a royal for 400 years since the last King and Queen handed over their crowns to the Empire before being killed. Even for people like his Grandfather and the Grand Shaman, 400 years was a long time. Long enough for peoples’ opinions to shift, especially if cultivators like them shared those opinions.

Brother Chen ran his hand along the wall and rubbed the dust from his fingers. “Back then, the attack you used. Was that what the Peachwine used to look like?”

Jiang Lei missed a step. The first mistake he made so far. Just when Xie Jin thought Jiang Lei wouldn’t say anything— “Yes. At least, that’s how it was relayed to me. I was born far too late to see my home at its height.”

Trust Brother Chen to do what Si couldn’t. They didn’t know what this attack was, but if it looked like the authentic Peachwine and if it was a visualization Jiang Lei was shown, then it meant whoever passed it down was, at a minimum, a Crystal Transformation Realm if they’d seen it themself. It wasn’t much, but it at least gave them a bit more context for the strength this remnant of the Peach River Sword School possessed.

Si hummed, no doubt piecing together more than Xie Jin could. She was always infuriatingly better informed and better able to make sense of what she was given. The latter wasn’t something Xie Jin could make excuses for. She was just that much better than him. It was why he’d always worked so hard to earn the same secrets she received in confidence.

At the end of the tunnel was another false wall that Jiang Lei opened, and they were ushered into another basement. Xie Jin mentally mapped their walking direction and matched it to the city above. The tunnel ran directly under the plaza and connected to one of the homes on the opposite side. It was a bold construction. Especially considering how close it was to the Dispensary Fountain.

“This way,” Jiang Lei said, motioning to the stairs. The house was well-appointed but empty of any people. His Gu made sure to inform him it was scrupulously clean… too clean. No dust, no foreign presences, no lingering qi, nothing but the stench of another Gu that only another of its species could recognize. Xie Jin felt his heart tighten as Jiang Lei stopped in front of a door and cautiously knocked. Brother Chen frowned, his hand twitching. Xie Jin had seen the habit enough to recognize he wanted to reach for his sword.

“Enter.” A woman’s voice leaked through the seams of the door, carried with qi, and washed across them. Jiang Lei opened the door and respectfully stood to the side. Inside was a large round table with two chairs set. A woman with a youthful face and a head full of gray hair sat watching them between interlaced fingers. His Gu shuddered. Its judgment was instant. Peachblood Crystal Transformation Realm Ninth-Layer.

Si proved her bones by not hesitating to walk in. Xie Jin was quick to follow her. Only Brother Chen lagged behind, locking eyes with Jiang Lei for a brief moment before coming to stand at their side.

“Princess Bao. Apprentice of Wu Lingyue. On behalf of the Peach River Sword School, I welcome you.” The Crystal Transformation Realm stretched out her hand to the empty chair. “Please, sit.”

Xie Jin bristled. Not standing to greet them was an insult. Introducing Si first before herself was an insult. Not stating her title as an apprentice first was the final straw. Si was the apprentice and the face of a Star Core Realm. Disrespecting her was directly disrespecting their Ancestor. At the same time, Xie Jin was unsettled. It was one thing for an escort to call Si a princess. For the faction’s representative to say, it was another thing altogether.

Si didn’t let anything show on her face.  Si was someone who only got more dangerous the more time you let her have, and she’d been preparing herself for this meeting before they ever left the Basin. She pinched her dress and dropped into a picture-perfect curtsy. “Apprentice Bao greets the delegate of the Peach River Sword School on behalf of her Master.”

The woman quirked her lips. “Will you discount yourself so? In my eyes, your own identity is no less important.”

“This little girl can only make the delegate laugh. She is only here as a messenger for the Elders.”

“The Elders only? Is Wu Lingyue so busy in the Splintered Lands that she can’t speak to her only apprentice?”

Bao Si pursed her lips. “My Master, Grand Shaman Wu, isn’t someone who needs to be bothered with minor affairs.”

“Minor, hm?” The woman’s eyes were clearly level with them, and yet Xie Jin felt she was staring down at them from atop a mountain. “You have quite the pretty tongue. I’m sure that girl Wu takes pleasure in hearing your voice. She was always vain like that.”

“Who are you?” The voice was filled with indignation and hesitant confusion, and it wasn’t until the woman turned her gaze to him that he realized it was his own voice that spoke.

Xie Jin went from being stared at from a mountain to feeling as if he’d been dropped to the bottom of an abyss. Whatever amusement she treated Si with clearly wasn’t extended to him. A sickeningly sweet peach scent forced its way up his nose and down his throat. His Gu stirred, but it was sluggish, and Xie Jin would drown in the scent of peaches before it broke free quickly enough to help him. Just as black started creeping at the edge of his vision, an arm roughly grasped his shoulder, and a dragon’s roar shook the peach scent enough that he could breathe.

Brother Chen fearlessly matched gazes with the Crystal Transformation Realm. The woman raised a curious eyebrow and drew back the rest of her presence. Xie Jin gasped for air and stilled his Gu from instinctively lashing out. Even if he died right now his Death Curse wouldn’t be strong enough to bother this woman for more than a day. Maybe even less.

Si, as expected, hadn’t even blinked the entire time he was suffocating. She looked at the woman with indifferent eyes. “In the time since we have arrived, you have insulted our Master, our Elders, and our people. If you do not give us a satisfactory answer, then I’m afraid there’s no purpose in remaining here.”

The woman chuckled. “My apologies. I did not expect a casual glance would cause such an adverse reaction.”

Xie Jin flushed. She was calling him weak. Brother Chen’s hand squeezed his shoulder reassuringly, but he could barely feel it. He knew he was weak, but to be so openly pressed down and called out filled him with difficult-to-suppress shame. Would anything have changed if he were a Liquid Meridian right now? Could he have resisted? At the very least, he wouldn’t have had to rely on Brother Chen.

He needed to advance.

“I believe we are done here,” Si declared. She took a sealed letter from her storage bag and placed it on the table. “Our Elder’s have deliberated, and this is their answer.”

“Oh, I don’t seem to have introduced myself.” The woman spoke with a note of realization. As if she truly had just remembered not mentioning it rather than being deliberately rude this entire time. “I am Xi Wangmu.”

Impossible. Xie Ji couldn’t keep the surprise from his face. Even Si had a ripple of emotion. Brother Chen, on the other hand, didn’t even blink. He kept his words to himself this time. Si would ask his question anyway.

“Xi Wangmu is a Star Core,” Si said.

Not just a Star Core. Xi Wangmu was old. As in, she looked old. She was called the Old Lady of the River for a reason. Qi did a lot to help a cultivator keep a youthful appearance throughout their life, especially if they advanced quickly into the higher realms. Xi Wangmu, however, was old enough that even qi couldn’t hide the weight of her years. All the artwork and stories, many of them straight from his grandfather, painted the same picture of her as wrinkled and hunched over. This woman calling herself Xi Wangmu, didn’t look a day over twenty even with gray hair. Even if he had wildly theorized that Xi Wangmu might be behind the resurgence of the Peach River Sword School

“Sacrifices must be made when you face a man of the Sunset Emperor’s caliber.” The woman’s face was desolate and Xie Jin was reminded that Xi Wangmu was as much the Queen of the forbidding Western mountains as she was of the river that sprung from them. The air in the room shifted. Xie Jin had grown up next to Crystal Transformation Realm cultivators his whole life and felt their power for himself so many times as to be uncountable.

And yet….

He was reminded that even his grandfather had people he had to look up to.

“Be that as it may,” Bao Si said, unruffled. “Whether you are claiming her name or are truly the Queen Mother of the West, we do not wish to partake in any dealings. Our delivering a message is only to show face to the once exalted Swordsmen of the Peach River.”

“I suppose Xie Ling is the one responsible for that sentiment,” Xi Wangmu mused. “He was a smart man. It’s a shame he let himself get distracted by lesser matters and allowed his cultivation to fall to the wayside.” She sighed and almost sounded like she meant it too. “He’s getting rather up there in the years, is he not? I should visit him to catch up on old times, and see if he’s gotten any better at Alchemy. I remember him being so curious as to the method of my Longevity Elixir and—” Xi Wangmu covered her smile with her hand. “Excuse me for getting ahead of myself. I can’t very well go before our meeting is over now, can I?” She motioned again to the chair. “Please, sit.”

Xie Jin had known Si for a long time. Time in which he had shared many experiences with her. Some of them good. Most of them irritating. During that time, he learned how to read Si even when she left nothing to be read. He’d been there when she’d been trained to remove those ticks, after all. For this whole meeting, Si had been like a boulder amidst the waves, and for all that she could annoy him sometimes, Xie Jin was grateful to her for that. Even in front of a Crystal Transformation Realm, she could keep things under control.

So when Si gripped the back of the chair and forcefully pulled it out to sit down, something that she would have and that he had been punished for by their etiquette instructors so long ago, he couldn’t help but feel things were starting to spiral out of control.

Chapter 128

Reservoir Town was in many ways even busier than Daqing. The streets were packed with carriages and people from local laborers to merchants from far afield. Warehouses, depots, and markets were hives of activities. Trains of carts strained under heavy loads of cereals, fruits, and exotic goods native to Zumulu. Cattle drivers herded ten-foot-tall cows into pens to be allotted and prepared for shipping up the Peachwine. Patrols of red-clothed soldiers stood at what seemed like every other corner. They stood and casually conversed, but vigilant eyes and senses regularly swept over the crowds.

Outnumbering everyone were the Peachbloods. Like the rest of Zumulu, they decorated themselves in bones. Peaches were a predominant motif, either carved into medallions or small charms that dangled from bracelets and earrings. Some even thread small chains of peach blossoms around their bones. To Chen Haoran’s sense, their qi was incredibly uniform. Oh, there were differences, of course. Some larger, some smaller. Some firm. Some shaky. No two cultivators qi could be exactly alike. Their shared roots were obvious, however, all around him was peach-colored qi as far as his sense could stretch.

Bao Si had Xie Jin bring the carriage around to an inn a bit away from the main roads and business districts. It was a place not frequented by foreign visitors to the city and was much closer to local housing. They didn’t speak until the horses were put up in the inn’s stable, and they closed the door of their room. Chen Haoran swept the room with his sense as Xie Jin and Bao Si did the same with their Gu. Only after making sure it was all clear did they finally relax.

“I hate this place,” Xie Jin muttered, collapsing onto the bed. “All these people and not a speck of life.”

Chen Haoran let go of Phelps, who flew to claim the other end of Xie Jin’s bed while he wandered over to the window and peered outside. In front of the inn was a fountain guarded by several soldiers. A long line of people had formed, all holding the same canteens and quietly waiting. Suddenly the fountain began spouting with peach-colored water. The line stirred and, following the soldiers’ sharp command, began to step up one by one to present papers to the soldiers. The soldiers carefully scanned the documents before stamping them and allowing the people to fill their canteens.

“The Peachwine is both a blessing and a curse to the Peachbloods,” Bao Si said, joining him at the window. “For them, there is no better cultivation supplement. At the same time, it is their only one.”

“It’s the reason the Peach River Kingdoms never expanded very far,” Xie Jin said, not bothering to get up from the bed. “They had the biggest and most organized armies of cultivators to conquer whatever they wanted but could never actually secure them. The price to convince an army of Peachbloods to stay away from the Peachwine and hinder their cultivation for longer than a year was just too expensive.”

Down below, the soldiers evidently weren’t satisfied with whatever they saw in the document an older man had given them. The leader ripped the document before the man’s horrified eyes and, heedless of his pleading, motioned his subordinates to beat the man back to the line with the butts of their spears. Being among his fellows didn’t prove any better for the man, though, as the next people in line quickly seized him by his collar and tossed him away, shouting and cursing as they ran the man out of the square. One of them picked up the man’s fallen canteen and, after receiving a nod from the leader, filled both under the envious eyes of the others.

Bao Si watched the drama without pity. “No price but their cultivation itself. It’s not as if it’s a new idea. Some of the bloodiest wars in Zumulu’s history were fought between the Orchard cities trying to control the flow of the Peachwine. The Empire just successfully put to practice what the warlords could only dream of. There are more watchtowers and formations all along the Upper Peachwine. No Peachblood is allowed to come near the river and can only receive a water quota.”

“I take it some people get a bigger quota than others,” Chen Haoran said.

“Yes,” Bao Si said. “Effective, isn’t it? Putting Peachblood against Peachblood, then putting both against Zumulu. Say what you will about the Empire. They don’t do things by halves.”

Xie Jin made a disgusted sound. “So when are we meeting these people.”

Bao Si removed her veil and sat on the other bed. “They said they would find us.”

“Great, and how long is that going to take? I don’t want to stay here any longer than we have to.”

Chen Haoran leaned against the window. “Probably until they decide their point has sunk in.”

Xie Jin looked at him with confusion. “What?”

Chen Haoran hooked a thumb over his shoulder at the water line. “Even if this inn isn’t associated with Jiang Lei’s group, which I doubt, it was chosen for a reason.”

“You think they want us to pity the Peachbloods?” Xie Jin asked.

Chen Haoran shrugged. “Maybe. But this whole situation reeks of being a display of power. The resources are being controlled, and the whole city and being monitored by the Empire, and yet here we are. Having a meeting with a group whose members should have been totally dependent on the Empire’s subsidies right under its nose. The longer we stay here, the more we’re going to think about that.”

Bao Si looked at him approvingly. “Well said, Chen Haoran. It’s nice to know there’s someone else here who can use their head.”

“Are you going to be alright?” Chen Haoran asked her. “Whatever they ask you will probably be pretty heavy.”

Bao Si smiled. “Do not worry. Behind me is my master and the whole of the Basin. No matter what happens, there are taller shoulders to hold up the sky.” She leaned back onto the bed and held her hands out invitingly. “What you should be more concerned with is which bed you’ll be sleeping in tonight.”

Xie Jin perked up with a far too serious look for the ridiculous topic. “We’re here for business, not pleasure. Obviously, Brother Chen should bunk with me.”

“You move too much in your sleep,” Bao Si said, with a teasing smile. “He’ll be much more comfortable with me.”

“Can’t we just get another room?” Chen Haoran asked

“Do you really want to be separated here?” Bao Si asked. “Even if only by a wall?”

Chen Haoran didn’t have an immediate response to that. She wasn’t wrong, but he didn’t want to say she was right either.

“Brother Chen, she’s lying to you about being comfortable,” righteously said. “I napped with her as a child. She wraps around you and practically suffocates you when she’s sleeping. I swear to you she hasn’t changed.”

“Is that a bad thing?”—is a thought Chen Haoran absolutely didn’t have. Instead, he was left torn and besides himself with having to choose between his two friends and—

“Bao Si, move over.”

“Brother Chen, you traitor.”

—————————

They were left waiting over the next three days with nothing to do but keep up the pretense of their being in Reservoir Town. Chen Haoran. The shops weren’t actually all that useful, being smaller and more directed at serving the residents of the city itself. The real interesting items were in the hands of agents who bought them directly from producers and gatherers across Zumulu on behalf of foreign merchants who then picked them up in Reservoir Town. That meant a lot of haggling with various agents and merchants just to get access to any excess they might have on hand.

Fortunately for Chen Haoran, he was quite flush with cash on hand, which proved once again that money was his greatest superpower. Through it, he filled his new storage bag with heaps of cultivation supplements. The good stuff, not the weak Qi realm herbs he’d been using before. The kind that required him to be led to a backroom before the dealer would bring out their product….

….when put like that, it sounded as if he was doing drugs. It wasn’t quite the same, though. He was taking plant-based substances in order to benefit from a specific effect that arose from imbibing them. That they happened to be in the form of pellets and pills was coincidental. Chen Haoran ran with that train of thought up until he was handing over a stack of golden banknotes to purchase a plant whose smoke would relax one’s meridians once breathed in.

“Is this world making me a drug addict?”

That aside, his shopping had more uses beyond satisfying his cultivation high. There would be no one that knew the state of the official road better than the people who traveled it regularly. Fortunately, for his odds of leaving Zumulu safely, none of the merchants he spoke to mentioned any increases in the security of the road. It was a bit of a risk of course to leave by the official road, but the Snake’s Mouth had few enough travelers that it would be easy for the Garrison to monitor. Likewise, trying to travel through the jungle and cross the border risked running into border guards who’d no doubt have some very pointed questions for him.

The market districts also illuminated the facets of Imperial rule in Zumulu. Peachbloods filled various labor roles, loading and unloading goods, moving crates, and herding cows. That wasn’t the only thing they did. Chen Haoran saw a surprising number serving as guards. Not only that, despite what he assumed, there were plenty of Liquid Meridian Realm Peachbloods, more even than he had seen in Daqing.

“Does the Empire have to fear Liquid Meridians?” Bao Si told him when he asked after they returned to the inn. “Not only Liquid Meridians, there a Crystal Transformation Realms as well. The higher realm cultivators are what make this operation worth it. The Empire would have to invest far more resources than they currently do to administrate Zumulu otherwise.”

“Without Peachblood enforcers and overseers, the Pacification Committee would be even more of a paper tiger than it already is,” Xie Jin muttered.

“When you say Pacification Committee…” Chen Haoran trailed off.

“Local allies of the Empire charged with fostering good relations with the various powers, creating policy to boost the economy following the war, and ensuring the smooth transition of Zumulu into the Empire.” Bao Si punctuated every point with a heavy sardonic tone that revealed her real thoughts on the matter. “Zumulu isn’t actually an official province. It’s a ‘Special Autonomous Zone’ administrated jointly between the Military and Pacification Commissioner.”

Xie Jin sneered. “In reality, Meng Huo would sooner let the Military Commissioner use his crown as a toothpick than actually stand up to him.”

“Crown? Is he a king?” Chen Haoran asked.

“He was a king,” Xie Jin said. “Before the Sunset Emperor broke his army and his pride, and had him bend the knee.”

Bao Si rolled her eyes. “He is a king still. The King of Southern Tranquility.”

“According to the Empire, maybe. He’s no real Southern king.”

Bao Si snorted but didn’t contest the point. “Regardless, he’s still a Star Core Realm. One of the two in the South.”

“The other being the Military Commissioner,” Chen Haoran said.

“Catching on quick, are we?” Xie Jin sarcastically asked.

Chen Haoran flipped him off and looked at Bao Si. “That being the case. How the hell do these people expect to stand a chance?”

Bao Si’s smile became sharp with politeness. “A very good question. Shall we ask them?”

All three of them turned to the door. A knock sounded once. Twice. Three times. Then the visitor opened the door. He was decked in a pure white robe with a sky-blue scabbard at his waist. He returned their gazes, expressionless.

Chen Haoran folded his arms across his chest.

“Hello, Jiang Lei.”

Chapter 127

Chen Haoran had some expectations for the Peachwine River. He’d expected something grand from what he’d been told of it. Something special even among the unique phenomena of Zumulu. A scenery worthy of a river whose poisonous waters cultivators supped for power. What he found instead was dry, cracked earth lined with the twisted corpses of grey trees. Clouds of dust were blown up by the wind and sent hurtling down the dead highway. Surrounded by all the water of Zumulu, the Peachwine was a long parched scar among the lush green jungle.

“Surprised?” Xie Jin asked. His gaze was somber.

“This… isn’t what I was expecting,” Chen Haoran admitted. “This is the Peachwine?”

The wind shifted and blew a dust cloud directly into his face, coating him entirely. Behind him, Phelps continuously sneezed.

“From the western mountains to Dawn Lake,” Xie Jin said. “That’s a quote, by the way. In its heyday, it described the breadth of civilization along the river. Now… well, you’ll see it soon enough.”

They followed the desiccated riverbed in the direction that would have once been called upriver had water still flowed through it. It wasn’t long before Chen Haoran discovered exactly what Xie Jin had been referring to—a city. Straddling both sides of the Peachwine, its organized stone foundations, and fine brickwork impressed on him a sense of timeless grandeur the same as Daqing. The city would have been a considerable metropolis at its height. Would have been, at least. Now it was as much of a husk as the Peachwine was. Two sets of grand walls were shattered to their bases. Homes from the grandest mansions to the humblest hovel were smashed and burned out. Out of the remaining walls and ruins that still stood, none were unmarred, gouged with blades, and black with scorch marks. As Chen Haoran’s sense touched the rubble, something contained within them reached back out, and his head was suddenly filled with blood.

Phelps squealed in surprise as Chen Haoran recoiled. His mind went red, and he struggled for air as his nose and mouth were filled with the taste of iron. No matter how much he coughed and spat, however, no blood left him. The Yellow Dragon roared, and the cloud of blood in his mind dissipated. Chen Haoran marshaled his qi to flush out the lingering blood sensation and looked at the city in horror.

“Are you alright?” Bao Si asked.

Chen Haoran wiped his mouth and stepped back. “What the hell happened here?”

“The Empire cleaning up loose ends,” Xie Jin grimly answered.

Chen Haoran grimaced. The answer was obvious. The Empire had conquered Zumulu. He knew that. The fact there would be places that never recovered was also something he knew. He’d seen the state of Snake’s End, after all. It was not as bad as here, however. What sort of massacre occurred in this city to make even the stones remember the carnage?

“The Peachwine was home to the first cities in Zumulu,” Xie Jin said. “At one point, it actually had the densest population of cultivators in the world. Even the Central Region paled in comparison.”

Bao Si sighed. “Here we go.”

Xie Jin shot her a dirty look but continued. “The Peachwine actually has another name—the Kingmaker. The Peachblood tribes have created many powerful Peach River Kingdoms and served as the backbone for many others. There wasn’t a city on the river that hadn’t been a royal capital at one point or another. Even the Snake King had another capital here. It’s not wrong to say that if a king wanted to rule Zumulu, he had to have the support of the Peachbloods.”

“He does this a lot, you see,” Bao Si explained. “Always going onto history tangents. It would be cute if he did it because he liked it, but he just does it to feel special.”

Xie Jin glared at her. “Do you mind? And I actually like history, thank you.”

“You only like the parts that make you feel good,” Bao Si said. She yawned. “Anyway, get to the point.”

“I am explaining the context to Brother Chen,” Xie Jin said through gritted teeth. “As I was saying. Rulers needed the Peachbloods, and the Empire was no exception. The Peachblood tribes were at the center of the resistance against the Empire’s invasion, and so they suffered the brunt of its retaliation. Their cities were all leveled, and their populations were forcibly relocated to Reservoir Town. And the Peachwine…” Xie Jin waved his hand across the dry riverbed. “You can guess what happened.”

“Yeah,” Chen Haoran said. “I can guess.”  Reservoir Town implied the existence of a reservoir, and where there was a reservoir, there was a dam.

Traveling up the ruined Peachwine was already a mood-killer. Running face-first into the remnant grievances of a 400-year-old mass murder pretty solidly put a block on any good feelings Chen Haoran had left. Their travel only revealed more devastation. Whole forests of peach trees that would have once filled the Peachwine with their petals now stood dead, killed by thirst for water that no longer flowed. Indeed whatever the Empire did to block the Peachwine blocked any water at all from touching it. Even when it rained, the riverbed remained dry and cracked while the water disappeared. Worse still were the skeletons of burned-out cities, some similar in size to the first one they discovered. Others were far larger than Daqing. One city was so big that it took them an entire day of running before they left its limits.

All of the ruins screamed with blood under Chen Haoran’s sense. Before the war, they would have been filled with more cultivators than non-cultivators. Regular imbibing of the Peachwine’s waters ensuring even the poorest had some form of cultivation. It meant that each city was built with thousands of hands far beyond mundane tools. Unfortunately, it also meant that when so many died in such a short time at once, their desperate qi sank into the earth and never quite left.

Traveling the Peachwine was, in all, a sobering experience, almost as sobering as his arrival to this world.

Somehow it still didn’t prepare him for Reservoir Town.

————————

They didn’t go directly to Reservoir Town. Under Bao Si’s direction, they took a detour and swung around it to a nearby town, where they washed away the dust from their travels and purchased a carriage. Bao Si and Xie Jin also took this time to remove their bones and swap them for plain white bone bracelets. Bao Si had been well-prepared for this, having forgone her black hair beads for a while now and slipped off her bracelets and bangles. Xie Jin had much more hesitation in removing his armbands but eventually did and, in a move that shocked him, actually handed them over to Chen Haoran to keep in his storage bag.

“It’s either you or Si. It’s not much of a choice,” Xie Jin joked. Despite that, Chen Haoran knew enough about how important the bones were to recognize how significant Xie Jin’s action was.

Connection: Negative

As per usual, the Gifting Power didn’t agree.

“Be prepared,” Bao Si warned. Xie Jin’s bone handover had led to a look of surprise from her that she quickly schooled. “Chen Haoran, you will be taking the lead. They don’t scrutinize foreigners here as heavily. You will be a well-off visitor coming to sample the shops here. Jin and I will be your servants.”

“You’re not going to be wearing Human-Skin Masks?” Chen Haoran asked. “Xie Jin is fine, but you’re pretty unforgettable.”

Xie Jin laughed. “Hear that, Si? Whose looks are causing problems now?” He laughed again before frowning as realization dawned. “Wait.”

Bao Si smiled and shook her head. “Thank you for the compliment, but it’s an unnecessary risk. We won’t be able to hide from a Liquid Meridian’s perception. Besides, I’m a beautiful woman accompanying a more powerful man. Who do you think people will remember?”

Chen Haoran conceded the point. “You are sure that a Liquid Meridian won’t see through my mask, right?”

“You’ll be fine,” Bao Si said. “We can’t because we’re in the Qi Realm. You, on the other hand, can hide from a Ninth-Layer Liquid Meridian.”

“What about a Crystal Transformation Realm?”

“The mask won’t help. It’s not really a problem, though. If a Crystal Transformation is studying you closely enough to discover that, then things have devolved enough that being discovered is irrelevant. Fortunately, a Crystal Transformation Realm has better things to do than monitor duty.” Bao Si donned a veil of black silk and entered the carriage. “Jin, you’ll drive.”

Chen Haoran and Xie Jin shared a look.

“You do know how to drive a carriage, right?”

“Shut up and get on.”

————————

Chen Haoran’s first thought seeing Reservoir Town was that someone must have had a lot of fun with the name. Reservoir Fortress would have been more appropriate. A city-sized fortress, in fact. He cycled qi to his eyes and could see two tall and thick walls circling the city. One short and another taller one behind it. Along the walls patrolled red armored soldiers with glinting weapons. More were arrayed below around the gates where a long line of people and carriages had formed.

Somehow though, Reservoir Town was the least interesting thing about itself. Just next to it and the line of people was a pyramid of silver skulls. Chen Haoran wasn’t close enough to use his sense to count just how many skulls made up the pyramid, but even if he was, he doubted he could. The pyramid was larger than the range of Chen Haoran’s sense at its base and taller than the tallest wall of Reservoir Town.

“The Sunset Emperor’s work,” Bao whispered, the disgust clear in her town. “He wanted to add his own skeleton to the boneyards of the South. At least a million skulls were gathered and dipped in molten silver to create that monstrosity. The Sunset Emperor personally erected it such that normal means can’t destroy it.”

Chen Haoran turned away from the macabre monument and got his first look at the Peachwine River or rather, Peachwine Reservoir. It was a soft pink color with a reddish undertone, as if the whole river was one ripe peach. He could smell the scent of peaches in the air as if he’d wandered directly into an orchard though there was nary a peach tree in sight. The Reservoir itself was better compared to a great lake, ringed on all sides by tall watch towers.  More watch towers could be seen in the distance up river, as if the Empire was guarding the entire Peachwine against thieves.

The dam was at once a dam and not. It certainly did its part in preventing the flow of the river and creating the reservoir but at the same time it was not at all what Chen Haoran knew a dam to look like. Where he had been expecting something like the Hoover or Three Gorges dam he instead found himself incomprehensibly staring at a massive stone hand. Rather than built it look as if some titanic statue had chopped the Peachwine River in half and cupped the reservoir. That in itself wouldn’t be so bad if Chen Haoran didn’t recognize the hand. It hadn’t been that long go since he’d been stunned by one just like it.

“The Mountain General,” Chen Haoran said.

“You saw his work at White Ridge yes?” Bao Si asked. “The Sunset Emperor had no general more loyal. All his most important tasks fell the Mountain General. The taming of Zumulu was just one of them.”

It was no wonder Xie Jin said the Mountain General was so hated in Zumulu for so long. With such a constant reminder staring people in the face, it was no surprise they’d still be nursing that grudge 400 years later.

Under the shadow of a million staring skulls they slowly advanced through the line until it was their turn to be inspected. Two Seventh-Layer Qi Realms approached the carriage and Chen Haoran could feel their senses inspect Xie Jin and the body of the carriage. Another more powerful sense descended as they did, and Chen Haoran forced himself not to tense. As a Qi Realm, he discovered Jiang Lei’s sensing based on a feeling. After his advancement to Liquid Meridian Realm, that feeling became a proper way to discern the senses of others. If he had to describe it, then it would be like how one could sometimes feel another person staring at them even when one wasn’t looking. If a cultivator sensing him was bad at it or lacked subtlety, then Chen Haoran could notice it. If they were actually good at watching without being spotted and looked away before he could sense them, then it would be much harder for Chen Haoran to find them.

The Liquid Meridian sensing the carriage, made no attempt to hide what he was doing or that he was focusing on Chen Haoran. Eventually, however, the guard’s sense fell away. Before Chen Haoran could breathe a sigh of relief, there was a knock at the carriage door.

Bao Si opened the window, and the Qi Realm guard peered through. Feeling Chen Haoran’s cultivation, he became more respectful and saluted. “Greetings, senior. May I ask what the purpose of your visit is and how long you plan to stay?”

“I’m here to purchase cultivation materials and attend some exchanges. I’ll be staying for the week,” Chen Haoran said.

“I see,” said the guard. Behind him, his partner was jotting down on the pad of paper in his hand. The guard cast a cursory glance at Phelps, then looked up at Bao Si and frowned. “Remove your veil.”

Bao Si glanced back at Chen Haoran. He nodded his assent. When she removed the veil, the guard whistled. “What a beauty.”

Chen Haoran frowned and leaked a little bit of qi. “Where do you think you’re looking?”

The guard paled and stepped back. “My apologies, senior.”

Chen Haoran snorted, and Bao Si put her veil back on. “Don’t think I’m bullying the weak.” He snapped his fingers.

Xie Jin took out a small pouch and tossed it to the guard. The guard weighed it, and after opening it up and finding it all gold taels, grinned. “Not a problem, sir. I’ll get you out of here quickly.”

True to his word, the guard had their entry pass stamped and brought over with the length of stay and their party number all filled in. They would need the pass if they wanted to smoothly leave Reservoir Town in the future. The inspection finished, they were waved through, and Chen Haoran sank heavily into the seat.

“Well done,” Bao Si quietly said.

“Thanks,” Chen Haoran said.

A pungent smell broke over the scent of peaches, and Chen Haoran looked out the window to see six swinging corpses hanging over the wall inside Reservoir Town.

He’d just been having all sorts of wonderful first impressions today.

Chapter 126

Lin Nine’s reaction was a delayed one. He looked between Chen Haoran and the torn contract. He was still processing what had happened when liquid qi spilled from Chen Haoran’s hands and eviscerated the rest of the contract.

Lin Nine flinched and held the storage bag in a white-knuckled grip. “Sir? I don’t understand what’s going on.”

Chen Haoran shook away the paper scraps and let them drift to the floor. “What’s there to understand? I said you’re fired.”

Line Nine fell to the floor and prostrated himself. “I sincerely apologize if I displeased you in any way, sir! Please give me another chance!”

Despite ripping up the contract, there wasn’t any change in the Connection’s status. Chen Haoran shook his head. “It’s not meant to be. I didn’t notice before, but you have the same name as my last weasel of a manager. Looking at you and I only see his rat-like face. Don’t hold any hope of being my servant anymore.”

“Sir, please!”

Chen Haoran flexed a bit a qi. It was nowhere near the full extent of what he could bring to bear, less even than what he mustered as a Qi Realm, but just the promise implied in raising his Qi was enough to make Lin Nine turn several different shades of pale.

Lin Nine trembled and pressed his head to the floor. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He pushed the storage bag forward. “Please spare me.”

The golden light around the second slot dimmed further, and the Connection finally broke. The light was definitely new, or a least this was the first time he did something that affected it. It certainly hadn’t appeared when he and Lan Fen annulled their marriage. It was easy to figure out why. She wanted to do it and took the initiative in dissolving the relationship, not him.  What he could tell right now was that if he did things that went against the nature of the Gifting Power or against the wishes of the Connection then he’d lose gold light. The consequences of that were unknown, however. When he tried to focus on the slot, he couldn’t feel anything different about it. He could, on the other hand, feel an almost animal-like instinct telling him that running out of the golden light wouldn’t be good for it.

“Keep it,” Chen Haoran said. Now wasn’t a time to theorize. “I’m not so poor that I need to take gifts back.” He turned and walked out the door, pausing just long enough to look over his shoulder at the still-prostrate Lin. “Word of advice. Pay off your debts and skip town.”

“Thank you, sir. Thank you.”

Chen Haoran shut the door behind him, but he could still hear Lin Nine’s repeated thanks. This was the reality of a higher realm interacting with a lower one. Any and every innocuous action he took was treated as a matter of life and death by Lin Nine. Chen Haoran’s lips twisted into something that was at once ironic and self-deprecating. Even if it had been to help his act and ensure everything went smoothly, he had still become a cultivator of the like that had been constantly terrorizing him. Without his Gifting Power, he had no doubt he’d still be like Lin Nine right now. Perhaps even for the rest of his life. No, perhaps he was still no different than Lin Nine.

In the face of higher powers, Chen Haoran would be bowing right next to him.

—————————

The ferry they would use to travel up the Skyspear was much larger than the one he and Xie Jin used to travel the Machu River. Four hundred feet from bow to stern. Chen Haoran couldn’t find it in himself to admire it, though. Especially now when he was confident he could break the boat over his knee. At least Phelps seemed to enjoy it though he liked everything he’d never seen before. It was an honest, admirable curiosity.

Chen Haoran ran his hand along the silver-grey fabric of his new storage bag before opening it up and pretending to pull a Fathomless Pond pill from it to pop into his mouth. The Yellow Dragon was quick to snatch up the pill and began refining its energy without any further input from Chen Haoran, allowing him to leisurely gaze out at the mirror waters of the Skyspear while his cultivation grew.

“You alright, Brother Chen?” Xie Jin asked. He had come back from placing his luggage in their shared room. An issue Chen Haoran never had to bother with again now that he was effectively carrying a house-sized storage locker on his hip.

“I’m alright,” Chen Haoran said. “Is it that obvious?”

Xie Jin leaned over the railing. “A little bit. It doesn’t seem you enjoyed your alone time.”

“Well. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t fun either.”

“Bao Si tried following you,” Xie Jin said. “I stopped her, though.”

Chen rubbed Phelps’s head. “Did she now?”

Xie Jin frowned. “You’re not bothered by that? You wanted to be alone.”

Chen Haoran shrugged. “I left on my own to do something I wouldn’t elaborate on while we’re traveling to deliver an important message. Checking to see what I’m doing is just being responsible, especially since Bao Si is being groomed for leadership. I’m not surprised she would.”

“I figured you would be upset,” Xie Jin said.

“I try to look at things from other people’s points of view.” Chen Haoran raised his eyes. “Did you want me to be upset?”

“No! That’s not— I mean.”

Chen Haoran clapped Xie Jin on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure I’d be singing a different tune if I actually found her following me. I can be this casual about it now because you stopped her. Thank you.”

“Talking about me?” Bao Si rested her chin on Chen Haoran’s shoulder. Her breath tickled his ear. “All good things, I hope?”

Xie Jin sneered. “Is there any good thing to say about you?”

“Plenty of things,” Bao Si said. She passed her arm under Chen Haoran’s own and began ticking off her fingers. “I’m talented, powerful, of good background, beautiful and beautiful.”

“You repeated yourself,” Xie Jin said.

“Good things come in pairs,” Bao Si quipped.

A small laugh escaped Chen Haoran.

Bao Si smiled. “See? Someone gets it.”

Xie Jin shook his head in disappointment. Bao Si wrapped her arms around Chen Haoran. “I hope I didn’t offend.”

“What will you do if you did?” Chen Haoran asked.

“I wonder,” Bao Si mused. Her hand slid up his chest while her lips pressed close to whisper in his ear. “I decided to make a nightgown out of the Moon Moth Silk. I brought it along if you’d ever like to see it.”

Chen Haoran chuckled and took her hand in his own. “The walls of the boat are too thin for something like that.”

Xie Jin, who had clearly heard every word of what had been said, turned green. “I’m going to be sick.”

Bao Si sighed. “We really let a child come with us, didn’t we? I should have tried harder to convince Grandpa to keep you behind.”

Xie Jin scoffed. “As if that would have stopped me. You think I would have let you guys go without me.”

Bao Si narrowed her eyes but held her tongue.

“By the way,” Chen Haoran said. “I think Granny Jiang was telling the truth about that statue being carved from dragon bone. She’s not someone who would lie like that.”

Xie Jin drummed his fingers along the railing. “Like I said before, there is no dragon skeleton in the Basin. And the Basin is the only place you can find black bones.”

“There’s not even legends or anything like that?” Chen Haoran asked.

“Not in the Basin,” Bao Si said. “Or anywhere else, for that matter. True Dragons haven’t been seen in the South for millennia. They were hunted to extinction long ago. Around the same time as the Cavalry Spiders, I believe. They’re just too valuable.”

Xie Jin shook his head. “You’re wrong. The Snake King killed one.”

“That was a Flood Dragon, and it wasn’t even a native one. I would hardly count it.”

“A Flood Dragon is still a dragon. It’s not a Dragon-blooded beast you just pick up on the road.”

“Still—”

Chen Haoran tuned out the resulting debate. He didn’t think Xie Jin and Bao Si were lying, but they clearly weren’t right either. He had the evidence in his Reward space. Either there was a dragon skeleton in the Basin that neither knew about, or else there were other black bones in Zumulu. A part of him itched to pull out the dragon keel to see how the Yellow Dragon reacted to it, but he held back. Not only was this not the right place, but he also didn’t think something as prideful as the Yellow Dragon would tolerate another dragon very well.

All in due time, he supposed. He had plenty of other Rewards to play with in the meantime.

“Wait, Bao Si, what the fuck is a Cavalry Spider?”

“Well, it was a giant horse-sized spider.”

Oh hell no.

——————

The Skyspear was thankfully a much less eventful trip than going down the Machu River was. That did not mean nothing happened. That would be too strange for Zumulu where normal where transparent jellyfish, the color of the sky floating out of the water to surround the ship, were treated as a minor inconvenience. Where passing by a spike-covered tree impaled with screaming fish while the Kingfisher Bird responsible looked upon its butcher work with a grim eye was considered a passing curio. Of course, one couldn’t just sail a jungle river without mentioning the swarms of flying feathered piranhas. The new insane creations of nature made Chen Haoran quite glad for the times they met the insanities he was used to, like Hell Bugs.

Compared to the Machu River, however, it was smooth sailing. The Skyspear made no indication that it would suddenly come to life and want to speak to him. On the scale of sentient river, things like unique fauna and flora was barely worth mentioning. When Chen Haoran didn’t want to wait for the professionals aboard the ship to deal with various situations, he just flexed his qi and solved it himself. Otherwise, he just popped his pills and watched the sailors do their work, and Xie Jin rob them of the wages from said work through dice games.

While the Yellow Dragon processed the last of his Earth-Rank pills, he began switching over from the Scattering Petal Palm to the Blossom-Picking Palm. He passed the days away in this manner until the boat finally docked at Bendwater. The name was an interesting one in that it wasn’t interesting at all. The town was built at the bend in the water. That was it. There wasn’t much to say about it and even less reason to stay in the town, so as soon as they made the necessary resupply, Bao Si drove him and Xie Jin into the jungle.

Outside, the town was far more interesting in that it was the first time he had seen the jungle cower. Large areas had been clearcut to open up farmland of barely oats and turnips. It was the largest open flat space he’d seen in Zumulu at this time. Xie Jin quickly informed in of the reason why. The jungles around this part of Zumulu were considered temperate. Not for its temperature, it was still the same blistering humid heat, but for its nature. The Deep Jungle this place was not, and the danger was considerably lowered as a result. It was due to this that they traveled through it even faster. Shamans and Liquid Meridians made a potent combination for travel.

It was in this way that Chen Haoran finally laid eyes on the graveyard that used to be the Peachwine River.

Chapter 125

The inside of the Qi Realm’s house was sparse, filled with worn down and simple furniture. It was far lacking compared to the warm and colorful homes he’d been in before. The only inkling of nature was a single drooping flower in a dirty glass vase.

After being ‘invited’ inside, Chen Haoran claimed the only chair in the single-room home and watched the trembling Qi Realm before him. It was a fair reaction on his part. A strange Liquid Meridian Realm knocked on your door and barged into your home. Chen Haoran personally would have been terrified if that happened to him. Was, in fact, terrified when it happened to him more than once. Now the shoe was on the other foot for once and Chen Haoran was the higher realm instilling the fear of god into someone weaker than him through his presence.

The Qi Realm steeled his nerves just long enough to finally speak. “Can I help you with something, sir?”

Chen Haoran observed him. Red eyes from lack of sleep. Thin and bony arms. Even his hair was thinning and falling out. Even for a Qi Realm of the Second Layer, to be worked into such a state required severe amounts of stress to overcome Qi’s nourishing effects. He was only 32, according to Chanchu. Not that much older than Chen Haoran, and yet the difference between them was stark.

“Lin, right?” Chen Haoran said. And wasn’t that a surprise? He felt an odd sense of irony that the Qi Realm shared a surname with his treacherous old manager. “Like I said. I was wondering if you were interested in a job?” He pushed the contract forward. “You can read it yourself.”

Lin took the paper in hand and quickly ran down the terms, fearfully flicking his eyes to Chen Haoran after reading a paragraph until Chen Haoran finally told him to focus and read it slowly. After taking a deep breath and carefully reading through the entire contract, the Qi Realm put the paper down and looked at him with confusion and apprehension. It made sense. The contract was a standard employment agreement adapted from Chanchu’s own hiring contrast with just a little change to fit Chen Haoran’s specific requirements. It wasn’t anything more than that—however, no outrageous terms or slave-like conditions. The compensation was actually rather hefty.

“I’m sorry, sir. I don’t quite understand. Why did you ask me?”

“Why do you think?”

Lin seriously considered his answer. “Because… you saw a hidden talent within me? Or recognized my efforts.”

“No, I didn’t know who you were before today,” Chen Haoran bluntly said. “I’m in the market for a new servant. My last one had some personality issues. I’m looking for someone desperate and down on their luck who needs a big break. Is that you, I wonder?”

Unfortunately, despite the fact that it was possible to buy prisoners outright, it wasn’t something that could be done immediately, even with Chen Haoran’s wealth and Chanchu’s connections, not if he wanted to make it on the boat tomorrow. Chen Haoran was honestly a bit thankful for that. He was a little disgusted with himself for seriously considering the option, to begin with, as well as the question he wanted to answer doing so. Even if he got someone who deserved it, it toed the line of human experimentation just a bit too much for him. He didn’t want to bloody his hands so pointlessly. So instead, he searched for the closest thing to a prisoner—a poor person.

“I’ve had a bad experience with my previous employees, and I need someone I can trust. Someone who owes everything to me. I’ve been told you’re someone who could use such a thing, Lin… sorry, I never got your full name.”

“Lin Nine, sir.”

“Nine? That’s an interesting name.”

Lin Nine awkwardly smiled. “I’m the last of nine brothers.”

Lin Nine was a cultivator too weak to really make a living in a city where the average level of cultivation was the Fifth and Sixth-Layer. He was too poor to leave for greener pastures and too deluded to realize he didn’t have a future here. Chen Haoran’s request to Chanchu had been simple. Someone weak. Someone greedy. And desperate. Who had a Wood Spirit root. Chanchu had brought him to Lin, who’d done work for him before in various capacities as a contract worker. Chanchu’s reluctance to hire him full-time was for multiple reasons, his lack of people skills, his inflexibility when it came to picking up new skills, and most importantly, Lin Nine’s incessant gambling. Apparently, little Lin Nine thought he could change his life in the casino and instead accrued a rather heavy debt instead.

Chen Haoran could at least commiserate with him on that front. He, too, once tried to strike it big in a large gambling game. It was a little-known racket that went by the more official-sounding name of Stock Market. Still, Lin Nine’s terrible personal situation and reactions to said situation were perfect for Chen Haoran’s needs.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to. I’m only looking for willing people.”

Lin Nine looked down. “Could I know the specifics of what I would be doing, sir?”

“You’ve read the contract, haven’t you?”

“With all due respect, sir, paper is paper, and power is power.”

Chen Haoran raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected the actually had the courage to voice those words. “Paper is paper, and power is power. Those are good words. They remind me of a similar situation I was in before.”

He would have been better off hearing those words when he thought a deal with Song Yuelin was enough to actually have the man on his side. Or that he would honor the annulment papers he signed with Lan Fen.

Chen Haoran crossed his legs and settled his hands in his lap. “Essentially, you’ll be my direct servant. A butler, if you will. You’ll be responsible for various miscellaneous tasks and will be the only one responsible for them. I don’t expect you to fight or anything. Just handle  day-to-day affairs.”

Despite explaining it more, Lin Nine didn’t look reassured at all. Chen Haoran shrugged and stood to leave. “If you don’t want to, that’s fine. Have a nice day.”

“Wait!”

Chen Haoran deliberately kept his face blank when he turned back around. The fear of missing out was the oldest trick in the book for a reason. “Have you come to a decision?”

Lin Nine gritted his teeth and fell to his knees. “Yes. Please let me sign it, sir! ”

Chen Haoran produced the ink and brush from his storage bag and handed them over. While Lin Nine was hunched over, he also took out a clothbound book.

Connection: Negative

Lin Nine signed the contract with the neatest strokes possible and, when finished, looked up at Chen Haoran with desperate eyes. Chen Haoran took the contract in hand and pretended to look it over. His eyes were reading much brighter letters, however.

Connection: Valid

With a thought, his empty second slot was filled.

Everlasting Hundred Blessings Charitable Prosperity

Pet Phelps

Servant Lin Nine

Chen Haoran smiled. “Welcome aboard, Lin.”

Lin hesitantly smiled back. “It’s an honor to serve you, sir.”

“Well, you haven’t gotten to that point yet.” Chen Haoran pointedly looked Lin Nine up and down. “You’re a bit lacking in several respects.”

Lin Nine’s relief quickly turned into horror, and he threw himself at Chen Haoran’s feet. “Sir! I may not be much, but I can work! Please drive me like an ox and horse. I won’t complain!”

Chen Haoran’s smile faded, slain by a rather unpleasant feeling building up in his chest that was stoked by Lin Nine’s earnestness. For Chen Haoran, Lin Nine was just a quick power-up. For Lin Nine, Chen Haoran was a life-altering change. He wasn’t used to being the one who could casually change the trajectory of a person’s life on a whim. He shook the extraneous thoughts away.

“Don’t worry about it,” Chen Haoran said. “No person of mine will suffer from a stagnant cultivation. That being said, it would be better for you to improve sooner rather than later.” He stroked his chin as if deep in thought before snapping his fingers and handing over his storage bag. “Consider this a welcoming gift.”

Lin Nine took the storage bag with trembling fingers. The bag alone was probably worth more than all his possessions combined. At Chen Haoran’s urging, he opened the storage bag and gaped like a dying fish.

“S-sir,” Line Nine stuttered. “I think there’s been a mistake.”

Chen Haoran didn’t bother looking at Lin Nine, instead casually buffing his nails. “There’s been no mistake.”

“B-but, this is too much!”

Chen Haoran leveled Lin Nine an unamused look, and the man paled in terror. “Too much? Lin, do you know who I am?”

Nervous sweat beaded along Lin’s brow. “Y-you haven’t told me your name, sir.”

Chen Haoran blinked. “Did you not see it in the contract?”

“Oh! I, uh, wasn’t paying attention to that part.”

Chen Haoran rubbed his temple. “My name is Song Yuelin. Have you heard of the Song Family before?”

“No, sir.”

“I would be surprised if you did. They’re so far above you that the average person isn’t even worthy of hearing their name.” Chen Haoran pointed to the storage bag. “To you, that may be a lot. You should disabuse yourself of thinking like that right now. Around me, things like that storage bag are chump change. I have things a hundred times better than that garbage.”

“Bu-But—”

“No buts. It’s a gift. A small one, in fact. That will be the least of what you can get by following me.”

Lin Nine looked between Chen Haoran and the storage bag. With each passing glance, the desire in his eyes grew stronger until he finally bowed toward Chen Haoran. “Thank you, sir!”

No, Chen Haoran thought. Thank you.

Burning golden words filled Chen Haoran’s eyes, and with every notification that burned itself out and faded away, another appeared to replace it.

Received Hundred-Fold: Earth-Rank Space-Expansion Storage Bag

Received Hundred-Fold: 10 million Gold Taels

Did that include the paper money? The number was a bit smaller than he was expecting.

Received Hundred-Fold: Spirit Paper

Chen Haoran really hoped that wasn’t the paper money.

Received Hundred-Fold: Pure Gold Essence

From the numerous copies of that sentence, he could guess the Essence Gold came from the Gold Taels. That was a bit interesting. It only highlighted the Gifting Power’s interaction with money. One silver tael became a hundred gold. One gold became gold essence. It didn’t seem like there was any higher currency than gold.

Received Hundred-Fold: Numinous Pearl

Received Hundred-Fold: Ninth-Layer Liquid Meridian Sacred Elephant Tusk

Received Hundred-Fold: Earth-Rank Blossom-Picking Palm

Received Hundred-Fold: Heaven-Rank Depths of the Cloud Jungle Sutra

Received Hundred-Fold: Heaven-Rank True Reflection Mysterious Mirror Armor

Heaven-Rank. Chen Haoran tampered down his desire to immediately pull out the armor. By contrast, he was less interested in the improvement of the Lan Family’s Great Rainforest Method. For him, something he could actually use, like the Earth-Rank version of the Scattering Petal Palm, was far more valuable to him.

Received Hundred-Fold: Earth-Rank Earthsplitting Axe

Received Hundred-Fold: Earth-Rank 100-thousand-refined Iron Essence Sword

The weapons he looted from the Empire soldiers who ambushed him were even more welcome than the armor. The axe, not so much. Despite his efforts, he just couldn’t get the hang of it. It just felt awkward in his hands. The sword, though. How long had it been since he had a good one-handed sword? How powerful would the White Tyrant’s Harmonization be when he combined such a good sword with his improved cultivation?

More Rewards messages flashed by, and he could feel his Reward Space become filled with improved cultivation resources, food, camping gear, and all the little knick-knacks he’d acquired and stuffed into his storage bag prior to this moment.

Received Hundred-Fold: Heaven-Rank Seven Luck Strides of Rainbow Heaven

Received Hundred-Fold: Heaven-Rank Seven Luck Strides of Rainbow Heaven

Received Hundred-Fold: Heaven-Rank Seven Luck Strides of Rainbow Heaven

Chen Haoran frowned. Fortunately, Lin Nine was too absorbed in his newfound wealth. The skittish man would have probably fainted had he been paying attention. Chen Haoran couldn’t help it. A Heaven-Rank improved a hundred times still remained a Heaven-Rank? Did this mean that he’d reached the limit for the quality of techniques? Or was it a situation like with cultivation realms, where the next level was so far above that a mere hundred times improvement couldn’t reach it?

Received Hundred-Fold: Ninth-Layer Star Core Cinnabar Dragon King Keel

Well… Granny Jiang hadn’t been lying when she said her statue was carved from a dragon bone after all.

“Thank you so much, sir,” Lin Nine said, bowing once more.

“Don’t mention it,” Chen Haoran airily replied. He reached into the storage bag and pulled out the original Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs and an extra he’d copied down. “I just remembered—I need these two books. You can keep the last one.”

“Of course, sir.” Despite his words, the reluctance was clear on Lin Nine’s face as he took the techniques back.

“Don’t look too sad. I’ve got something else for you.” He handed over the clothbound book. The words Canyon Carving Sword scrawled along the front. It had been a bit of a hassle to rewrite it from memory, but having practiced the technique for so long the words seemed to spill onto the paper on their own.

As soon as the book exchanged hands, Chen Haoran’s awareness of two of the Seven Luck Strides of Rainbow Heaven in his Reward space disappeared. As it did, a golden light flashed behind his eyes that he instinctively knew belonged to his second slot. The light shined like a sunbeam before shrinking and visibly dimming. That was new. Now he knew he couldn’t just take back the Gifts he gave. However, that golden light that surrounded his second slot was a bit concerning. There was no notification for an improved version of the Canyon Carving Sword either. As he’d expected, the information was the important part, not the method by which it was passed on.

“What will we do now, sir?” Lin Nine asked.

“Now?” Chen Haoran put the book to the side and picked up the contract. He read it over a final time before meeting Lin Nine’s eyes.

He ripped the contract in two.

“You’re fired.”

Chapter 124

“Thank you for your time, Granny Jiang,” Chen Haoran said as he and Bao Si got up to leave. They hadn’t learned much from her about Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao but it was better than nothing.

“Begone with you then,” Granny Jiang said. “I’ve no interest in guests who don’t stay for dinner.”

“We’ll. I’ll visit again if I’m ever in the area.” Chen Haoran was out the door and shook his head in the negative when Xie Jin looked over.

“Wait,” Granny Jiang called after him. There was the sound of shifting bones, and when she came outside, she was holding a black bone dragon statue. Xie Jin and Bao Si both frowned when they saw it.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t give this to me?” Chen Haoran said.

Granny Jiang huffed. “I said I wouldn’t sell it to you. I said nothing about giving it.”

Chen Haoran was touched. The statue was honestly a minor thing, but receiving a gift was always nice. “Thank you,” he said as he reached to take it. “I appreciate it.”

Granny Jiang pulled the dragon statue away. “What are you doing?”

“I can ask you the same thing,” Chen Haoran said. “Weren’t you giving it to me?”

“I never said anything about giving it to you. I said I wouldn’t sell it. Now I am.” She held out her hand. “A hundred gold taels.”

Chen Haoran laughed in disbelief. “That’s extortion.”

Granny Jiang glared at him with blind eyes. “So it’s okay for you to extort a weak old woman like me but not the other way around, is it? Typical cultivator.”

Chen Haoran shook his head but forked over a golden banknote anyway. He’d learned long ago that arguing with Granny Jiang was pointless. Plus, he wanted the statue. He cast his sense across it, and despite his hopes, it was indeed just a normal bone statue.

“Don’t think I’m robbing you,” Granny Jiang said. “This statue is carved from a dragon skeleton. Its value is beyond compare.”

“This is a black bone.” Xie Jin said, staring at Granny Jiang. “There’s no dragon skeletons in the Basin.”

“Oh, is there not?” Granny Jiang sounded as if she hadn’t the faintest idea that was the case.

“Well, appreciate doing business with you anyway,” Chen Haoran said. He idly stretched his sense over Granny Jiang once last time. Doing it as a Liquid Meridian revealed just as much as when he was a Qi Realm. Mortal and nothing more than that. “Take care of yourself.”

Granny Jiang scoffed and shooed them away. “I don’t need you to tell me that.”

As they walked away, Bao Si leaned in and started whispering. “She’s strange.”

“How does a mortal get a black bone? We don’t sell them,” Xie Jin whispered back.

Chen Haoran held up the dragon statue and poked the Yellow Dragon.

What do you think? I’ve been meaning to get this for you. Well, the bigger you.

The Yellow Dragon paused in its dancing to peer at the statue. Evidently it didn’t think much of what it saw because it growled and continued dancing.

Well, maybe the Machu River would like it.

“What do you think, Brother Chen?” Xie Jin asked.

“What?” He hadn’t been paying attention to their conversation. What were they talking about again? “Oh, Granny Jiang? She makes some pretty good pork broth.” Honestly, he didn’t even know why they were discussing it. It was obvious something was weird about her, just as it was obvious it wouldn’t be good for their health to find out exactly how weird she was. He didn’t lower his voice either. It wasn’t like whispering would really hide their discussion.

They both looked at him.

Chen Haoran stared back. “Is now a bad moment to ask for some alone time.”

————————

The Ever Spring Pavilion had not changed much since the last time Chen Haoran visited it save that its shelves seemed fuller than they had been before. He had removed his Human-Skin Mask prior to entering so that when he entered, Chanchu immediately stopped what he was doing and walked over.

Before Chanchu even opened his mouth, he paused and solemnly clasped his hands. “Congratulations on your advancement, sir. It seems your time away has served you well.”

“Well. It’s alright.” Chen Haoran said. “Shall we?”

“Right this way, sir.”

Chanchu brought him directly to the private reception room and pulled out his fancy River King’s Conquest tea and qi-rich spirit fruits as snacks.

Chen Haoran sipped the tea and hummed in approval. “The tea is still good. I’ll have to buy some from you.”

“Please, sir, let me give you a few bricks to celebrate your advancement.  I wouldn’t have been able to afford this tea without your invaluable support in any case.”

Chanchu was laying it on a bit thick. While Chen Haoran’s resources might have helped, it wasn’t to the extent that the Ever Spring Pavilion relied on him exclusively to be successful. It was obvious why Chanchu was doing it, though. A merchant through and through, he wouldn’t pass up the chance to have a close relationship with a Liquid Meridian Realm.

“I see business is doing well,” Chen Haoran said. “I was worried you got caught up in that unfortunate business a few months ago.”

Chanchu gently cradled his teacup. “Well, it was certainly scary, but Senior Gold-Eater, fortunately, didn’t target the city, and there was only incidental damage from the aftershocks of the battle. I did have to spend a pretty penny to replace my windows.”

“You know who that Crystal Transformation was?”

“Well, the Golden Lily Association is famously secretive. Senior Gold-Eater is one of their more famous executives. As the name might imply, he’s obsessed with wealth. He can never pass up an opportunity to make money. He’s more well-known in the Central Region, however. I myself only learned about him from my associates with partners in the Imperial Center.”

Chen Haoran furrowed his brows. “Do you know why he’d cause such a commotion in the city? I was told the Empire doesn’t appreciate that sort of behavior.”

Chanchu shrugged. “Apparently, the Garrison was breaking up a large-scale black market auction. With the Commanders themselves making a move, I imagine Senior Gold-Eater was desperate to get away.”

Chen Haoran thought back to Gold-Eater’s confident posture throughout the fight with the Garrison Commanders. Desperate wasn’t quite the word he’d use to describe the situation back then. Knowing that he was famous for making money helped ease Chen Haoran’s worries a tad. It was more likely now that Gold-Eater gave him the Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs because he had some future profit in mind. While   Chen Haoran didn’t know what kind of profit the Crystal Transformation Realm was expecting or how he was meant to pay it, it shouldn’t be life-threatening.

He stopped and considered all that had happened since Gold-Eater gave him the Heaven-Rank technique. He sipped his tea and amended his thought. It shouldn’t be much more life-threatening, at least.

It was interesting to learn Gold-Eater was famous in the Central Region. If that was his normal area of operation, then it made his appearance in the South all the more curious.  As well as his connection to Chen Haoran.

He sighed. “Why can’t those stronger cultivators leave little guys like us alone.”

Chanchu tiredly laughed. “It’s the price of doing business in the Empire. Little people like us just have to do our best to keep our heads down.” He set his cup down. “I don’t think you visited today just to gossip, sir. How can the Ever Spring Pavilion help you today?”

“On the contrary. That gossip is what I’m interested in the most.” He took out a jade box and lifted a lid, savoring Chanchu’s wide-eyed shock when he recognized the Earth-Rank Meridian Cleansing Pill within it.

“I wonder if you can tell me what the price of a human life is in the Empire?”

———————

Everlasting Hundred Blessings Charitable Prosperity

It was quite the mouthful. Gifting Power was much easier to say. Despite his desires, however, the burning golden words did not rearrange themselves into his clearly superior name.

Without the Gifting Power, Chen Haoran would be nothing. It was the only thing that let him stand apart in this world and the only thing that let him stand as a part of this world. Saying he was nothing without it wasn’t perhaps accurate. Without the Gifting Power, he would be dead, plain and simple. It was his most important power and the one he knew the least about.

Who created it? What was its purpose? Where did it come from? When did he get it? Why did he have it? All were questions Chen Haoran didn’t have answers to and perhaps never would. He dearly wished he did, though. If, in exchange, he never learned a single thing about the identity of his predecessor and instead learned even the basic rules of the Gifting Power, he would take that trade every time.

After hearing what Chen Haoran was looking for, Chanchu took the Earth-Rank pill and exchanged all the loose silver he had in his store upon Chen Haoran’s request and made up the difference with banknotes. He and Chen Haoran then stole away from the Ever Spring Pavilion after a short discussion.

Lacking any sort of instruction manual meant Chen Haoran had to figure out the specifics of his power on his own. Unfortunately, the nature of the Gifting Power didn’t make studying it easy. He needed a Connection to Gift, and he needed an official relationship to Connect to. That wasn’t too much of an issue on its own. The biggest one was trust. Attempting to explore the details of the Gifting Power to the fullest would risk exposing it to the person he Connected to. That in itself was also something he wanted to try, but without the right person, it was an unnecessary risk.

When he first woke up in this world, he didn’t have much other choice when he Connected with Lan Fen. It had been the best of a bad situation. Phelps was admittedly a rush decision on his part, but it was one he didn’t regret, and it wasn’t like Spa Cavern offered him the opportunity to find a better Connection. Now that he had a spare Connection and comparatively less pressing circumstances, he could be much more selective. That had been the plan, at least. Time was pressing, and the future was unknown. Chen Haoran would rather have power in hand now. That meant he needed a Connection now. One where he could dump all his stuff for Rewards while also testing the Gifting Power without worry. Someone he could dispose of to free up the slot for a more worthy Connection in the future.

Chanchu led him to the Snake King’s Court of Scales. When the Empire had taken over the courthouse, they also took the prison attached to it. Chanchu had been frank in the face of Chen Haoran’s questions. Life was cheap in the Empire. Prisoners even more so. While it wasn’t anywhere near official, it was, in fact, possible to buy the lives of less important death row criminals so long as the price was right. Chen Haoran didn’t really want to think of the type of demand that drove sales like that. Considering what he had been thinking of doing, however, he didn’t really have the right to throw any stones.

They did not go to the Court or the prison. Chanchu ignored them entirely and brought Chen Haoran to a neighborhood where the weighty history of Daqing crushed rather than refined. The houses were the same, but the scene was of disrepair, not timelessness. Even the waters of the Skyspear failed to reflect the sky here, running sluggishly through channels and sluices choked with trash. Chanchu stopped in front of a blocky house small enough to fit in the courtyard of Chen Haoran’s rented home.

“Is this the house?” Chen Haoran asked.

“Yes, sir,” Chanchu said. “If he’s not to your liking, then you can go to any house in this neighborhood. They all have the same circumstances.”

“Alright. Thank you. I’ll stop by the Ever Spring Pavilion again if I ever have time.”

“I will look forward to it then. Would you like me to make an introduction?”

“No need. You can go back.”

Chanchu clasped his hands and bowed. “A pleasure doing business with you again then, sir.”

As he walked away Chen Haoran whistled to get his attention and held a finger to his lips. “Mum’s the word, right?”

Chanchu tilted his head. “I wonder what that sound was? I should finish my walk and get back to work.”

“Good man.”

Once Chanchu was out of sight, Chen Haoran pulled on his Human-Skin Mask and knocked on the door of the hut. A Second-Layer Qi Realm opened the door and froze stiff upon seeing Chen Haoran.

“Hello.” Chen Haoran held up a contract he had Chanchu help write up. “Can I interest you in a job?”

Chapter 123

A plain round face stared back at Chen Haoran in a mirror of polished copper. He brushed his hand through short, dark brown hair and squinted brown eyes. It was a face he never thought he’d see again. Or rather, it could have been. No matter how well he explained what he wanted to Bao Si, it was impossible for her to completely recreate the details as he remembered. No matter how well he remembered, how could he possibly get the details right himself? He could certainly recognize his own face on sight, but could he actually imagine his face? How did one reference something when the reference itself was no longer there? As he roamed over imperfections and features that were just not right, he could only wonder if they were Bao Si’s misinterpretations or his own false recollection.

Still, even if it wasn’t his face, there was still enough familiarity in it that he could pretend it was. He thumbed the base of his neck where the Human-Skin Mask blended so perfectly into his skin as to be seamless. Then he pulled, and the false skin peeled away and revealed Chen Haoran’s face.

“Is there something wrong with the mask?” Bao Si asked.

“No,” Chen Haoran said. “It’s perfect. I’m just admiring how useful it is. I didn’t think a Mortal-Rank artifact would be this advanced.”

Bao Si frowned and searched his face, but any possible hints she could glean from him would be made useless from lacking so much context. Context that she would never have. Only one person in this world knew about his origins, and that was enough.

“Do you think you could teach me how to make this ?” Chen Haoran asked.

Bao Si nodded and dropped her gaze. “Yes. I’ll make you a copy, but it’s a complicated recipe.”

“That’s fine—”

The door crashed open with a bang, and a kitted-out Xie Jin waltzed into the with a large bag strapped to his back. “Who’s ready to go? Come on, people, we’re burning daylight!”

The happier Xie Jin looked, the less Bao Si did. “I am the one who decides when we leave. You are far too happy to leave.”

Xie Jin held up his hands. It looked more like a pose, though, than him trying to placate her. “How can I be happy to leave? I’m just happy to spend some time with Brother Chen without you sending me away with some excuses.”

“Those excuses were your job, just as this one is. It’s not a day trip.”

“It’s a multiple-day trip,” Xie Jin corrected.

Bao Si’s face quickly turned murderous, and Chen Haoran carefully put himself between them and looked for his errant sloth. “Xie Jin, where’s Phelps? I thought you had him?”

Xie Jin raised his arms even higher. “Behold.” Phelps’s popped out from behind his bag. A multicolored silk hat was perched on his head and secured by two strings tied under his chin. “What do you think? I found some silk scraps and made him a travel hat.”

Chen Haoran looked at Phelps, who squealed at him. It sounded like a happy squeal. He looked back at Bao Si and shrugged. “It’s a nice hat.”

Whatever string a control Bao Si was holding onto snapped, and she buried her face into her hands. “Just get ready, and let’s go.”

—————-

Chen Haoran had entered the Basin on a bone, and he was leaving it on an elevator. He stared at the contraption, partially dug into the rock walls of the Basin to hide it from view. A team of Qi Realm cultivators pushed the winches that pulled the ropes that dragged the wooden platform they were standing on straight to the top of the cliffs to a  hollow mound of dirt, stones, and selectively placed trees. It was actually pretty close to the femur bone that Jiang Lei, Wang Xiao, and he used to descend into the Basin.

Xie Jin saw his surprise and elbowed him. “You didn’t seriously think we used the bones to get in and out, did you?”

“Can you blame me?”

“Yes,” Bao Si said, walking past him. “Moving supplies would be so much more tedious if we did that.” Her Centipede Gu crawled out her sleeve and flew ahead of her. “Keep up. The sooner we get to Daqing, the sooner we can be on our way to Reservoir Town.”

With that said, she dashed into the jungle. Xie Jin hopped after her with his Beetle Gu, mouthed something inaudible after he caught up and shot ahead. Whatever he said must’ve worked because Bao Si’s qi spiked, and she raced after him. It didn’t look as if she were content with merely passing him once she caught up, however.

Chen Haoran sighed. Phelps leaned over his shoulder and burbled. “You better stay cute, buddy,” he said, scratching Phelps’s chin. “Because if something happens, I’m throwing you in to defuse it.”

Phelps squealed, and Chen Haoran shot off after his friends.

————————

Chen Haoran quickly discovered that without meaning to he had developed some contempt for the Qi Realm. It was unintentional, born out of the instinctive thought of superiority everyone had and kept to themselves when they recognized they were better than someone else. It wasn’t a mean thing, but he unconsciously looked down on Xie Jin’s and Bao Si’s little race. Why not? He could easily catch up whenever he wanted to, after all. Thankfully, in short order, he was forced to recognize that contempt, backtrack it to its source, then take it around back to be shot.

The jungles of Zumulu were unforgiving to those who did not know how to navigate them. This was true when Chen Haoran was in the Qi Realm, and it remained true after he advanced to the Liquid Meridian Realm. Despite the time he had spent in the country, he had not gotten any better at moving through the brush. So while it was true that he could easily catch up to and surpass Xie Jin and Bao Si, he would look far less elegant than them doing it and end up far more covered in plant matter. So it was with a realization of his limitations that he followed behind Xie Ji— Chen Haoran looked at Xie Jin’s back, replete with large backpack, then looked at Bao Si’s back. He shifted over and followed her instead.

So it was with a realization of his limitations that he followed behind Bao Si and put aside his inflating ego. Their skill in crossing the jungle was simply superior to his own. It was to the extent that they were actually traveling faster than when he traveled through the Deep Jungle with Jiang Lei. Two Liquid Meridian Realms couldn’t make up for the sheer utility two Qi Realm Shamans provided. It was a humbling thought, especially because it shouldn’t have been. Then again, it wasn’t like the desire for power was that much different between worlds—just the form of it.  A down-and-out modern person and a down-and-out cultivator were pretty similar once you got down to it. The only thing that separated them was qi… well, a bunch of other stuff too, but qi was the most important.

Multidimensional societal musing aside, the journey was smooth. No bothersome bugs, no predatory flora, and he only had to fight two giant gorillas before Daqing’s rough-hewn walls came into view. Chen Haoran was a bit nervous as he passed through the gates, but under the Human-Skin Mask, the red-robed guards only spared him a glance and waved them along. Still, he felt much better once they were merged with the crowds. Tried to merge with the crowds at least.

As soon as they entered the city, Xie Jin and Bao Si switched positions, falling back to flank Chen Haoran and following him instead. For good cause, too, because as soon as the other cultivators sensed his cultivation, they stepped aside and didn’t dare brush shoulders with him. The regular folk, from experience born of years surrounded by cultivators, were quick on the uptake and moved with them so that no matter where Chen Haoran walked, he was surrounded by space.

“This… is different,” he said.

“This is the respect that power brings you,” Xie Jin said. He walked with his chest puffed out, taking far more pride in this situation than Chen Haoran.

“Respect.” Chen Haoran tested the word on his tongue and looked around to find ducked heads and averted gazes. “Is that what this is?”

“You should get accustomed to it now,” Bao Si said. She wasn’t as ostentatiously proud as Xie Jin, but she also moved with ease and ignored the people around her as if their making way was something natural. “It will only grow more pronounced as you reach the later Layers of the Liquid Meridian Realm.”

“What makes you think I’ll actually get there?”

Xie Jin and Bao Si scoffed in sync, realized what they had done, shared a distasteful glance, and looked away.

“Did I say something funny?” Chen Haoran asked.

“For you, it’s a matter of when, not if,” Bao Si said.

“Brother Chen, if you can’t become a Ninth-Layer Liquid Meridian, then there’s no hope for us,” Xie Jin added.

Bao Si sneered and looked down her nose at Xie Jin. “No hope for you, perhaps. I won’t be lumped in with the likes of you.”

“If you want to fight, then go ahead. I’ll meet you any day.”

Their bickering continued all the way up until they got to the docks, and Bao Si separated from them to find a boat. When she returned, it was with an ugly expression. “The next boat leaves late tomorrow. We’ll have to spend the night in the city.”

“That’s not too bad,” Chen Haoran said.

Bao Si shook her head. “I wanted to leave the same day.”

“So what,” Xie Jin said, hands behind his head. “We’ll just have to bother Brother Ang and Sister Jia for the night.”

“Stock up on the supplies we used first,” Bao Si ordered. “I don’t want to waste any time tomorrow.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Xie Jin waved her off and turned to Chen Haoran. “Si can go say hi to Brother Ang. We can go get the supplies, right Brother Chen?”

Chen Haoran awkwardly smiled. “Sorry, but there’s someone I wanted to meet while we were here. You’ll have to go on your own.”

“Are they important?” Bao Si asked. “You’re a Liquid Meridian now. You have to take your face into consideration.”

She was saying one thing, but Chen Haoran knew her real meaning. If they aren’t important, then don’t go revealing your identity.

“Well, she’s pretty important,” he said. “Plus, she gave me a meal last time I was here with my friends. I’m gonna go catch up with her.”

Bao Si brightened and looped her arm through his. “May I accompany you then?”

“Wait, then I’ll go with you too!” Xie Jin said.

“Well, you can all come along,” Chen Haoran said after giving it some thought.

Granny Jiang would probably enjoy the company.

———————

Chen Haoran knocked three times on a vivid red door. After waiting a moment he knocked on the door again, this time four times—

“Patience, you brute!” An irate-looking Granny Jiang opened the door and glared. “Rushing an old woman like me. Have you know shame?”

“Hello, ma’am,” Chen Haoran said. “I see you’re still in good health.”

Granny Jiang paused and squinted blind eyes. “So it’s you. I was wondering who could be so rude. Now it makes sense.”

“Come on. I was pretty polite last time.”

Granny Jiang snorted. “And Granny Three Worm is forever young. Well, come in then. I was just about to finish dinner.” She sniffed the air and coughed. “Except for the animal. I won’t have it in my home.”

Chen Haoran paused. He couldn’t really ask her questions if Phelps was actually bothering her. He cast Xie Jin an apologetic glance. “Could you watch Phelps, please? We won’t be staying long.”

Xie Jin sighed. “Well. Better than repeating what happened the last time we left him alone. We’ll be by the door.”

Chen Haoran nodded in appreciation and entered the house with Bao Si. It looked the same as when he was last here, but it looked…. lonelier. The sat at the table, empty save for a plate and utensils set for one.

“It’s good to see you’re still doing well, ma’am,” Chen Haoran said. “I was worried. The city got a little crazy after we left.”

Granny Jiang slapped his shoulder as she set cups of hot water in front of them. “Lying brat. Don’t even mention that bastard Crystal Transformation Realm to me. Not only did he wake me up from my nap, he ruined a perfectly good pot of congee. I was up all night thanks to the racket he caused.”

Bao Si caught his eyes. “Normal?” she silently mouthed.

Chen Haoran smiled and nodded.

“Introduce your friend, you mannerless brat.” Granny Jiang said.

“Hello, Elder,” Bao Si said. “We came today to ask if you knew anything about some guests of yours.”

“You mean the Peach River boys,” Granny Jiang said. “I’ll have to disappoint you. I don’t know anything involving your cultivator business.”

Bao Si’s eyes narrowed. “Saying you don’t know anything requires knowing what we want.”

Granny Jiang hummed. “Girl, you have a beautiful voice. Will you do a blind old woman a favor and let her know your face?”

Bao Si stared hard at Granny Jiang, and through his sense, he could feel her qi tense in wait like a predator prepared to lunge. “You may.”

Granny Jiang reached over and cupped Bao Si’s face in her hands. With feather light touches she traced her fingers over Bao Si’s eyes, nose, and lips before falling lower to her neck. Chen Haoran had to respect the way Bao Si didn’t flinch or tense at all. Granny Jiang paused when her hand touched the head of Bao Si’s centipede tattoo.

“A Black Bone Shaman.” She exhaled heavily. “So even you nurtured hopes can bear to leave your people.”

Shock bloomed on Bao Si’s face, pure shock, even more than when Chen Haoran had shown her the Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs. That was… interesting.

Granny Jiang sighed. “In fractious Zumulu, the Peach Bloods have always been a source of unity and stability. What the Empire has done to them is tragic. That scar runs deep in those boys.” She unerringly turned to Chen Haoran. “Boy Jiang and his horrible junior stayed with me for a day before leaving again. I don’t know what occurred between you, but I advise you to mend bridges with Boy Jiang. He is a good young man.”

“You trying to say I’m not?” Chen Haoran asked.

“Who cares about you?” Granny Jiang retorted. Even so, she looked solemn. “Be careful traveling to the Peachwine. It has become a twisted version of what it once was, and the Empire is its twisted master. You would do well to have a good young man there.”

Granny Jiang’s words watered a seed of thought Chen Haoran had planted back when he was first asked to go to Reservoir Town. He didn’t discount her advice. Maybe he would need a good man to help him in Reservoir Town. His mind flickered to his empty connection slot.

Maybe he would have to be a bad man to help himself right now.

He had to see Chanchu.

Chapter 122

When Xie Ling said Bao Si would explain how he’d avoid the Garrison’s detection, Chen Haoran didn’t expect it would involve him sitting in a chair with her on his lap facing him.

“The Human-Skin Mask is a premier method of disguise. To create one requires immense technical skill,” Bao Si said. She held Chen Haoran’s face between her hands and softly rubbed his cheeks. “Each one has to be custom fitted to the wearer in order to seamlessly blend in with the rest of their body. Any defect in the creation process would make the false face obvious to a cultivator’s sense. When made properly, however, the Human-Skin Mask is imperceptible even to those in the same realm of cultivation.”

“Just so we’re clear. It’s not actually made of Human-Skin, right?” Chen Haoran asked.

Bao Si’s hands drew up and caressed his temples. “They were in the beginning. Back then, a Human-Skin Mask was synonymous with murder. The face had to be freshly peeled off the corpse. However, there were some methods that called for taking the face off a still-living person.”

“Lovely,” Chen Haoran dryly said.

“Don’t worry. The art has advanced considerably since then.” Bao Si threaded her fingers through his hair and massaged his scalp. “The Refining Technique we use only needs to mix various herbs and pig skin. It’s more expensive, but we can customize the face however we like and don’t need to worry about it being recognized. There was a famous story about a Crystal Transformation Realm’s son being killed. His killer harvested his face to make a mask and sold it for a quick profit. Needless to say, the unfortunate customer didn’t have a good time when he openly wore the mask in a cultivator gathering the father was attending.”

That story was all well and interesting, but it was what she said earlier that really caught his interest. “I don’t know much about Refining Techniques. Will you tell me about them?”

Bao Si tugged his head back so their eyes met and looked at him with disbelief. “Really? You’ve never heard of them? You?”

Chen Haoran shrugged. “Do I look like someone who’s ever made something for himself?”

Bao Si hummed. “A fair point.” Her hands brushed through his hair and down to the back of his neck. “Well, on the face of it, Refining Techniques are no different than any other techniques. They’re divided into the same ranks, need qi to be cast, and require practice before being mastered. Of course, you can’t just use a Refining Technique as you might the Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs. Whether it’s a pill, artifact, talisman, or formation, you need materials to actually make them and, barring a high level of mastery, the proper tools.”

“So everything has its own Refinement Technique?”

“Yes.”

“Sounds like a pain in the ass.”

“Only if being a craftsman is your life goal.”

“And yet you learned one on top of everything else you’re doing. You’re pretty amazing.”

Bao Si huffed. “Flatterer.” Her fingers trailed across his neck, and he shivered in… excitement? Perhaps. Remembrance was more like it. It wasn’t the rough hand that choked his life away that he remembered, however, but delicate fingers that had settled on his neck like knives.

Bao Si yanked him forward, leaning down as she did. Her hair tickled his face. She smelled like azaleas. “You compliment me when you’re thinking about a different woman.” She smiled, but it was not a smile. “I don’t like men who do that.”

Chen Haoran didn’t bother with excuses or backtracking. Instead, he looked at Bao Si with honest curiosity. “How did you know?”

“You have the same look as Jin when he did it.” She sighed. “You two really are brothers.”

“That’s pretty impressive,” Chen Haoran praised. “I don’t think I could read people like that.”

Bao Si scoffed, but her smile stopped being scary and turned exasperated instead. “You know, Chen Haoran, you ask so many questions of me but do so little explaining yourself. It’s enough to make a girl feel put out.”

Chen Haoran smiled back. “What’s wrong with asking questions? I like hearing your voice.”

“You flirt.” Bao Si traced her thumbs across his lips.

“I really will die if I have to watch any more of this,” a grumpy voice sounded.

Chen Haoran and Bao Si looked over to where an unamused Xie Jin was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

“Be quiet,” Bao Si said. “I’m working.”

Xie Jin sneered. “If that’s what they’re calling molestation now, then yes, you’re working very hard.”

“I’m taking his measurements,” Bao Si said. “It’s very important that I don’t mess this up. I know you were born allergic to patience, but please suffer in silence for all our sakes.”

“You can touch Brother Chen all you want later,” Xie Jin said. “We still need the details on the mission.”

“Oh, that,” Bao Si said, sounding entirely too dismissive for what seemed to be an important mission. “As soon as I’m done with the Human-Skin Mask we’ll go to Daqing and take a boat up the Skyspear to Bendwater. Then go to Reservoir Town from there. There’s really nothing complicated about it.”

Xie Jin snorted. “Brother Chen, pay attention to this. Whenever Si doesn’t want to take about something, she dismisses it.”

Bao Si frowned. “If you know I don’t want to talk about it, then why do you insist?”

“Because it’s always the important things you don’t want to talk about. What’s this message were delivering?”

“You don’t need to know right now”

Xie Jin raised an eyebrow. “There’s no way you’re meeting the Peach River Sword School without us. We’ll find out then, anyway.”

“Let me remind you that you are accompanying me as a guard, not a representative, Jin.” Bao Si’s voice was icy cold. “The message is need-to-know information, and you do not need to know.”

“That’s why I’m saying we’ll find out anyway—”

“No,” Bao Si shut him down. “End of discussion.”

Xie Jin looked sullenly at her but did not ask again. Bao Si nodded in satisfaction and turned back to Chen Haoran. “And what are you so deep in thought about?”

“How I’m going to be sad when you finally get up,” Chen Haoran blithely replied. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the complete truth either. His mind was on Daqing.

Bao Si easily saw through his half-hearted lie and tweaked his nose but didn’t press further. “I’ve got your measurements now. I’ll get started on the Human-Skin Mask right away. Is there any specific look you’d like? Hair? Eyes?”

Chen Haoran fell into thought. If the mask could really be customized to that extent, then he had a face in mind. The only face in mind.

“Yeah. I do.”

————————-

Despite Bao Si’s allusions to Xie Jin’s impatience, he admirably held his grievances back long enough for Chen Haoran to relay his instructions to Bao Si, return home to collect Phelps and change into his New Year’s suit, and go to the training grounds before blowing up.

“Fucking Si,” Xie Jin bitterly cursed. “I’m a shaman too, you know.”

“Easy there, Brother Jin,” Chen Haoran soothed him while he practiced the Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs. “It’s just information security. There’s no need to be so torn up about it. Like you said, we’ll find out when we get there.”

“But don’t you want to know now, Brother Chen? We’re going to the seat of the Empire’s power in Zumulu to meet what should have been an extinguished foe right under their nose. Don’t you want to know how that’s possible? Gramps and Si clearly know more about the Peach River Sword School, but they’re not telling us.”

“Why are you so interested?” Chen Haoran asked. “You were calling them a remnant not too long ago.”

“Because everyone else is taking them seriously,” Xie Jin said. “They at least have a Star Core Realm leading them. No matter what, they’re not weak.”

Chen Haoran stopped his practice. “How do you know they have a Star Core?”

“Because Bao Si is being sent as a messenger,” Xie Jin rushed to explain. He looked eager to share his thoughts. “She’s the apprentice of a Star Core Realm. With the Grand Elder not around, Bao Si is her representative. The Peach River Sword School has to send someone of equal standing to meet with her. It might even be Xi Wangmu.”

Bao Si’s teacher wasn’t in the Basin? That did help explain why he hadn’t seen hide or hair of them after…. getting somewhat close to their student. “What do you mean the Grand Elder isn’t around? Are they on a trip or something?”

Xie Jin’s eager expression collapsed so quickly that Chen Haoran almost regretted asking. Xie Jin realized the bad look he was sporting and waved his hand to reassure Chen Haoran. “Sorry, Brother Chen. It’s not your fault. It’s just… bad history. The Grand Elder left Zumulu for the Splintered Lands after the war as part of the settlement. All of Zumulu’s surviving Star Core Realms did, those that didn’t sell out to the Empire at least. Even the ones that ascended after the war left Zumulu to do it.”

Phelps floated over to Chen Haoran and buried himself in his arms. Chen Haoran patted the sloth while in thought. If the Peach River Sword School just had a Star Core’s apprentice meet Bao Si, then it would make sense for the Black Bone tribes to take them seriously. That would be all, though. If an actual Star Core cultivator met with her, however, when there shouldn’t have been a ny in Zumulu, then that would change things entirely. Chen Haoran frowned. Did Xie Ling think the Peach River Sword School had a Star Core hidden? He couldn’t help but think of the reasons Xie Ling wanted him to travel with Bao Si. A situation full of unknowns, he had called it. Did he have a reason to suspect something?

“That person you just mentioned. Xi Wangmu. Your grandfather mentioned them as well after he met Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao. Who is she?” Chen Haoran asked.

“A living legend,” Xie Jin said. “Xi Wangmu was the Queen Mother of the Peach River Sword School—the Master of Peach Blossom Island. She was the oldest Star Core Realm in Zumulu, one of the oldest in the world, in fact. It was said if you got her blessing, then she would make a pot of Longevity Elixir for you. There were countless experts vying for her favor and joining the Peach River Sword School.”

“Was?”

Xie Jin nodded. “The Empire would never let her go. She and the Sunset Emperor fought a huge battle, and she was never seen again. Most people think she died. Some others say the Sunset Emperor captured her to be his concubine or enslaved to refine medicine for him. There are still the die-hards that think she escaped somehow and went into hiding. No one knows for sure, though.”

“What makes you think she’ll show up to meet Bao Si after being missing for so long? It could just be another Star Core Realm.”

“You’re not wrong,” Xie Jin said. “Honestly, I don’t have any proof. It’s just…” He shrugged. “For as much as I give the old geezer shit, he’s still the strongest Crystal Transformation Realm in the Basin. If his first instinct is Xi Wangmu, then there’s probably a reason for it.”

Chen Haoran couldn’t really refute his logic. Xie Ling had made it sound like he personally knew the head of the Peach River Sword School, too. If anyone would know her fate, wouldn’t it be him? The whole thing started making sense, and the more it did, the uglier Chen Haoran’s expression became. This… didn’t seem like it was going to be so simple.

“I’m beginning to think we’re a bit understaffed for this mission. Aren’t there some Ninth-Layer Liquid Meridians in the Basin who can help? Or even Crystal Transformations? If something goes wrong, I might not be able to handle it.”

“This is meant to be a secret, after all. Sending people who are too strong will inevitably draw eyes.” Xie Jin bitterly smiled. “Plus, if something goes wrong, then if the other party has a Stare Core Realm, it doesn’t matter how many people we send. It shouldn’t come to that point, though. If the Elders weren’t confident, then they would never risk us.” He paused. “They wouldn’t risk Bao Si, at least.”

“Was that correction really necessary?”

“What can I say? I fancy myself a realist.”

“Let’s hope everything you just said turns out to be a fantasy then.”

Privately though, Chen Haoran still couldn’t help but be worried. He felt for his second connection slot.

He would have to prepare some things in Daqing.

Chapter 121

The Blue Shadow Viper was a common serpent in Zumulu. Apparently, they had been a favorite of the Snake King, and his favor and the species’ propensity to lay large clutches meant they soon spread all across the South. Of course, the reason the Snake King preferred them was thanks to their venom. On its own, Blue Shadow Viper Venom only killed the cells in the lungs and forced a person’s whole respiratory system to shut down. That was when it was only used by itself. Apparently, the venom was easily mixed with other toxins. So easy, in fact, that it was used in damn near every recipe that called for more than one poison because why not? Take whatever poison you wanted, add Blue Shadow Viper venom, and you had baby’s first complex poison.

Chen Haoran eyed the small finger-sized vial of smoky blue venom in front of him. It was the first time he’d ever held snake venom before in either life. It was a bit strange knowing he could right now take the vial in his hand and go an make a toxic cocktail that could kill a man. It just seemed too simple.

He uncorked the vial and drank it in one gulp.

“Well, how is it?” Xie Jin asked.

Chen Haoran smacked his lips. “Tastes like blue Gatorade.”

“I mean how you feel, not how it tastes. What the hell is Gatorade anyway?”

He looked inward and followed the venom’s circulation within his body. It entered his lungs and settled, but he didn’t feel any discomfort. Instead, he watched the venom be slowly broken apart and absorbed.

“Looks good.” He burped. “Not even a tingle.”

After his dip in the Mourning Pool, Chen Haoran had taken a few days to consolidate his cultivation and let the effects of the pool settle in. He and Xie Jin then went over to the training ground so that Chen Haoran could work his way through a liquor cabinet’s worth of poisons and venoms in order to test his new immunity.

The verdict: He was pretty immune.

“Just so we’re clear, when your grandfather said I’d get Immunity to a Hundred Poisons, he wasn’t being literal, right?” Chen Haoran asked.

“No, that’s just a shorthand,” Xie Jin said. “It’s a lot more than a hundred. Most of the simple stuff won’t affect you anymore. If someone wants to harm you with just one poison, it’d have to be something pretty special or from a much higher realm.”

“Does that mean someone can still hurt me with more than one poison?”

Xie Jin waggled his hand. “Sort of. The shoddily mixed stuff won’t do much, but poisoning is a refined craft in Zumulu. We’ve had a long time to figure out how to get around Hundred-Poison Immunity, and it’s only effective against animal and plant-based poisons. If it’s a metallic poison, you’ll be out of luck.”

“What about a Gu’s miasma?”

Xie Jin looked at Chen Haoran as if he had asked something particularly dim. “Gu poison is one of the best to come out of Zumulu. Even Thousand-Poison Immunity would only give you a little resistance. Don’t let the word Immunity go to your head. You wouldn’t be the first to die because of it.”

Chen Haoran accepted the warning for what it was. “So, just how good is the Stainless Purity Lotus in this situation?”

“Well, whatever the Hundred-Poisons Immunity can’t resist, the Stainless Purity Lotus will solve it.” Xie Ling rubbed his chin in thought. “You’ve basically got the most complete protection against poison as there can be in Zumulu. The types of poisons that can overcome a Stainless Purity Lotus, especially one as old as you have, are rare even here. Of course, if someone is really using something on the level of the Green Hell’s Three Killers on you, then you’ve got other problems.”

“You’re not just gonna drop that and not explain it are you?”

“Maybe.” Xie Jin rubbed his fingers together. “For a price.”

Chen Haoran pretend to reach into his storage bag, summoned a blue pill from his reward space, and threw it to a surprised Xie Jin.

“I was joking—” Xie Jin began before widening his eyes. “An Earth-Rank Pill?”

“Oh, you could tell?”

He pointed to the faint mist wrapping around the pill. “Does this look normal to you? Why do you have—no forget why, take this back.”

Well, nothing really looked normal to Chen Haoran in this world, just different degrees of weirdness. Whether it was Earth-Rank Fathomless Pond Pill or the Profound-Rank Deep Well Pill it was improved from, they were both weird to him.

“Keep it,” Chen Haoran said. “I still have nine more from the auction.”

Well, right now, he only had six left. But he did have nine at one point, so it wasn’t completely a lie. He used three for himself in the days following his advancement to the Second-Layer.

“I was planning on giving it to you anyway,” Chen Haoran continued. “Hurry up and advance, I need a punching bag.”

Xie Jin’s face went through a plethora of interesting expressions before settling on determination. He clasped his hands and bowed. “I won’t let you down, Brother Chen.”

Chen Haoran scratched his head. Xie Jin was beginning to sound a lot like Lan Fen now.  The gratefulness wasn’t a bad thing, but the mentality of being in his debt would make it that much harder to Gift things if he chose to connect with Xie Jin. “Don’t worry too much about it. Who else was I going to give the pill to? Phelps?”

“With what I’ve seen you feed him, yes,” Xie Jin said. “In fact, it kind of bothers me that I’m so happy to be treated the same way your pet is. Where is he, by the way?”

“Oh, he’s….”

Received Hundred-Fold: 30-thousand-year-old Stainless Purity Lotus

“….sleeping. So about that three Green Hell Poison.”

Xie Jin laughed. “It’s Green Hell’s Three Killers. Not many come back from the Green Hell, but those that do always bring back treasure. The Three Killers are powerful poisons only found in the Green Hell: Prince Killer, Nature’s Exile, and Trial of the Heart. Not many samples have been brought back, but every time they’ve been used has caused a storm in Zumulu.”

“So if they’re too strong for a 300-year-old Stainless Purity Lotus, what about something older? Say… a 30-thousand-year-old lotus?”

Xie Jin shook his head. “You’d have to find one that old first. You can’t just grow plants like the Stainless Purity Lotus with time. Every single lotus needs to grow in a toxic place. If the environment isn’t poisonous enough, it just stops growing. Even in Zumulu, it’s not easy to find places like that. At least the Basin doesn’t have any.” He opened his hand and stared at it as if there was an actual flower sitting on his palm. “But if you actually had a lotus like that, then I can’t imagine ever being afraid of any poison ever again.”

Right. So don’t show the one he just got until absolutely necessary. Chen Haoran did find it a little funny how he’d assembled a pretty complete means of self-preservation. Toughness with the Stygian Lotus, healing with the Paradise Pomegranate, and now a complete means of protection against being poisoned. He was turning into quite the cockroach now.

“Brother Chen, if that’s the sort of face you make when you’re happy, then please do the world a favor and stay miserable.”

“Motherfu—”

A black snake poked its head out of the ground between them and spoke to them with Xie Ling’s voice.

“Boys, I would like a word.”

—————-

Xie Ling was waiting for them in the temple sitting in his usual seat. Behind him was a blank wall where the doorway leading to the Mourning Pool had once been. With him was an unassuming, brown-haired girl that Chen Haoran had never seen before. She stood respectfully to the side of Xie Ling and, as they entered, nodded and smiled toward Chen Haoran. He nodded back and racked his brain to find if he had met her somewhere before, but came up empty.

Xie Ling gestured to the cushions in front of him. “Sit.” His eyes roamed over Chen Haoran. “I see you’re adjusting well.”

Chen Haoran bowed. “It’s all thanks to the tribe’s Mourning Pool. I’m incredibly grateful.”

Xie Ling waved him off. “It was an equal exchange. There’s no need to feel indebted.”

“Are you going to tell us why you called for us or not?” Xie Jin impatiently said.

“Perhaps I should ask Ren to come here instead.” Xie Ling stroked his beard and looked up as he talked to himself. “It’s not like my ungrateful grandson would be interested in taking  a long trip outside the Basin.”

Xie Jin scowled. “I get it. I get it. Sorry.”

“Better.” Xie Ling’s small smile faded. “I trust you remember the visit those two little Peach River Swordsmen paid us.”

Chen Haoran immediately became uneasy, and his worries were quickly proven valid with Xie Ling’s next words.

“They left a question for the Black Bone tribes that requires an answer. I’ve already conferred with the other elders. Bao Si will be taking our response to Reservoir Town and meeting with their representatives. I would like the two of you to join her.”

Xie Jin frowned. “I understand why I’m going, but why Brother Chen? Why not Ren?.”

Chen Haoran was glad Xie Jin asked because he wanted to know too.

“For safety’s sake, I would prefer a Liquid Meridian to accompany you. I would send Ren, but he still has his duties here, and I don’t believe Friend Chen here is worse than him in terms of protection.” Xie Ling locked eyes with him. “You have also spent the most time with the Swordsmen and can be said to have a relationship.”

“No offense, sir,” Chen Haoran said. “But it wasn’t that much of a relationship, and we didn’t exactly part on good terms.”

“No matter how incidental it was, you still know more about them than anyone else I could send. There is still much we don’t know about the resurgence of the Peach River Sword School. An old man like me has to look for any assurance he can in a situation full of unknowns such as this.”

Chen Haoran hesitated. “It’s not that I don’t want to, sir, but I’m still a wanted man. Things would just be unnecessarily difficult if I go.”

“I would not be too worried in that regard,” Xie Ling said. “I’ve had the tribesmen outside keep an eye out. There’s been no bounty announced and no pictures of your likeness circulating. I believe for the sake of not creating more competitors for themselves. The Garrison has kept your information to themselves and their subordinates. If you believe the conditions are right, then after meeting the Peach River Sword Sect, you can leave Zumulu through the official road.”

Well, wasn’t that just perfect? He only had the occupying military force pursuing him instead of the entire region, and if he were lucky, he’d be able to leave on the road no doubt full of checkpoints that would know what he looked like. He wasn’t fool enough to voice those thoughts to Xie Ling, however.

Old retail instincts kicked in, and he put on a polite but professional smile. “I’m sorry, sir, but the risk of my face getting recognized is still too high, especially since I’ve been told Reservoir Town is the center of the Empire’s operations in Zumulu. Xie Jin and Bao Si would be put at too much risk if I went.”

Xie Ling snorted. “Despite what my fool grandson may tell you, I’m not senile. I wouldn’t have mentioned it if there weren’t a way to deal with that issue.” He stood up and walked toward the wall behind him. “Bao Si will explain and fill you in on the rest of the details.”

Xie Ling walked straight through the wall and disappeared, leaving Xie Jin and Chen Haoran alone with the brown-haired girl.

Chen Haoran frowned and cast his sense out. There was no one else in the room. He settled on the brown-haired girl. Qi Realm Ninth-Layer. “Excuse me,” he asked. “Do I know you?”

The girl giggled. “You may not remember, Young Master Chen, but I have not forgotten.” Her voice was low and mellow, and Chen Haoran knew it was the first time he ever heard it.

Xie Jin loudly sighed. “Hurry up and take that off.”

The girl pouted, and her voice changed into one much more familiar to him. “You’re no fun, Jin.” She grabbed her face and peeled it off.

“Surprise,” Bao Si said.