Plutusauthor

Pay-To-Win Patriarch Chapter 1 (First Draft)

For those who've been paying attention to the the story poll pinned to the top of the page you might recognize this story from nowhere because it's not one of the options. This idea came to me as a spur of inspiration and I'd like to know your thoughts. Cheers!

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Gamers beware. If you rage too much at your game, the game might just take offense to that.

For Jasper Cropsey, it had been a typical day. Go to work. Die a little more inside. Come back home and indulge in sin to let the walking corpse that was his body rest. Repeat. Jasper’s vice of choice was video games, specifically of the mobile variety, because he hated having money, apparently.

Miraculous Refinement Sim dressed itself up as a management game where the player slowly built up a school and recruited students to raise them into fine scholars of culture and combat. In practice, however, all the player did was turn normal, well-adjusted people into homicidal maniacs. Or maybe they were always homicidal maniacs, and the player just enabled them? Whatever the truth was, the reason Jasper spent his evenings raising loot goblins for profit was thanks to a skeevy ad he found on social media. He couldn’t remember what exactly the ad was about but it had to have been very convincing because he’d downloaded the game straight after and regretted that decision ever since.

The game called his students things like Outer Disciples and Inner Disciples, and as a whole, they were called Martial Artists. Jasper called them ADHD crows on crack. Unlike in other management games where you ostensibly had some control over the NPCs you oversaw, in Miraculous Refinement Sim, your students were always after the next shiny thing and woe to anyone who got in their way—especially the player. If the school’s growth didn’t satisfy the needs of the disciples, both real and imagined, then they were liable to abscond with the treasury or sell out the school to rivals. These little bastards would tolerate no slight, either.

If the lowest Outer Disciple with a Trash-Tier talent who fancied himself a Heavenly Emperor didn’t receive the schools targeted training and the hand of the most beautiful inner disciple in marriage on the first day he joined, then he was likely to consider it an insult and betray you at a critical moment or worse, actually be a Heavenly Emperor who’d be none too pleased he wasn’t catered to hand and foot. Of course, on the flip side, it was more than likely that if you did as the Trash-Tier wanted, they would live up to the name and waste everything invested in them. They’d probably even run away, too, leaving the school poorer and with more offended disciples than before.

Offensive. That was the best way to describe the game. Everyone was offended all the time and then went to offend others because they were offended, only to be offended when the people they offended offended them back. It was offensive squared. A circle of offense. A living creature that endlessly offended and was offended in turn to the point the question of the chicken and the egg became moot because the chicken killed the egg’s dog when the egg refused to be an omelet after calling the chicken’s mother a factory hen.

More than once, he’d had a game end when one of his idiot disciples went off on an adventure, killed someone’s uncle’s nephew’s grandson, and brought the resulting blood feud back to the sect because they suddenly remembered that sharing is caring. The only consolation to those losses was the end screen, where any surviving disciples swore to avenge the school. Funny how none of them seemed to think of the sect before they went and got it destroyed.

That wasn’t the only way to see all of one’s hard work lost in an instant. Monster invasions, wars, random natural disasters, disease, the Netherworld expelling their unionizing ghosts back to the living, a disciple who secretly assassinated their senior right before an important tournament that would decide ownership of the sect because he was jealous that he didn’t get the nicer room that had three windows instead of one…. that last one was admittedly just Jasper being bitter. Pettiness was the name of the game, unfortunately. Once, he’d rejected an Inner Disciple’s request for a precious one-of-a-kind material she needed because he needed it to build a Wonder that would better benefit her and the school in the long run. That Inner Disciple hadn’t done anything then and quietly trained until Jasper eventually forget he denied her in the first place. Then on the eve of the Wonder’s completion, she revealed she became an Immortal, opened his build menu, and canceled his construction before flying off.

It was a bad time to have been playing his game while on the job. His blowup in the furniture department was so loud that a quarter of that year’s customer complaints came from that day alone. Whoever designed this game was deeply disturbed and evil and had a special place reserved for them in hell as Employee of the Year.

Anyway, Ten out of Ten. Game of the Year.

He was kidding, but also not. He’d probably have better feelings for the game though if it weren’t such a blatant cash grab. Oh, they said it was free to play and that you could collect the cash shop currency in-game, but that bullshit excuse was never true. If you just relied on what you collected in the game, then your school had the chance to be better than mediocre. If you actually wanted to feel like your suffering had any meaning then you had to be prepared to fork over cash for the Spirit Stones the shop used as currency. Talent boosters, quality disciples, treasures, guardian beasts, and a suspiciously creative variety of highly-priced Heavenly Punishments that a player could rain down whenever their disciples pissed them off, which was always. After that pissant Immortal canceled his build, Jasper had forked over a solid hundred to blast his whole sect to ashes with lightning, brought them all back to life, burned them, brought them back again, then sentenced them to eternal damnation with a strongly worded letter to the Underworld judges.

Money well spent, in his opinion, if he ignored the bloody tears his bank account cried and the way his wallet begged for mercy. His credit cards didn’t seem to have an issue, at least.

Still, Jasper tried to avoid whaling like that often since he still had to pay for the unfortunate necessities of life like this month’s rent, food, and next month’s rent. That didn’t mean he stopped playing. Oh no, that would be healthy. Jokes aside, though, Miraculous Refinement Sim was a game where the good parts made you wish it was better, and the bad parts made you wish there was something else. Unfortunately for him, Miraculous Refinement Sim was the only game of its kind that scratched his specific itch of wanting to ride herd on a bunch of super-powered cats that hate you. Until a company recognized the massive value in pleasing him specifically, he wasn’t likely to get another game like it in the near future.

Today he was in a good mood, though, and he wasn’t trying to test it, so when he opened up the app, he resolutely ignored the sandbox mode and selected the scenarios instead. The scenarios of Miraculous Refinement Sim were developer-created missions where the player had to fulfill specific objectives and criteria in return for Spirit Stone rewards and cosmetic trophies. Depending on the month, there might be something easy, like defending the last bastion of humanity against the endless invasion of hell, or more difficult things, like reconciling two schools fighting over a treasure they claimed the other stole.

“Oh? Is this my lucky day?” The scenarios had been refreshed, and three new banners unfurled like scrolls across his screen, Junior You Dare, Toad Lusting After Swan Meat, and Immortal Ozymandias Seeking New Manager. He resolutely ignored the first two dumpster fires and selected on the third. It was the first time he’d seen an Immortal scenario before.

Immortal Ozymandias has created and led Forever Eternal School for a hundred years. The school has been the focus of the Immortal’s undivided attention, and he’s focused all his efforts on ensuring the facilities are state-of-the-art and creating a positive learning environment for all the talented disciples the school is proud to call its own. Immortal Ozymandias is now seeking a new manager to help realize his vision for the school and to take over the day-to-day affairs so that he may pursue other his other interests. Those interested, please apply below.

“Is this a scenario or a solicitation?” For something involving an Immortal, it sounded… mundane? Corporate even. Were the developers having a lark? On the other hand, he’d never seen an Immortal School before. He chose not to accept the job offer and took a peek at Junior You Dare.

You have killed Martial Emperor Million Death Slaughter’s wife’s pet Nine-Headed Cat—

Yeah no. Job it is. Jasper pressed the large gold Apply button, and soon after, another scroll unfurled across his screen, saying Hired beneath which was a loading bar.

He snorted. “At least this guy actually has the openings he says he does.”

The loading screen quickly cleared, and a cutscene began. Immortal Ozymandias was the first thing the camera zoomed in on. He was an imposing man, as if someone had taken the most severe and crotchety teacher Jasper ever had in school and turned them into a Confucian scholar from a Hong Kong martial arts flick. He was a seven-foot man with a six-foot beard. He sat midair atop a mountain peak, his legs folded in a meditative pose, and he ran a hand down his snowy white beard as he looked grandly looked down upon the world. The camera slowly panned out and revealed the mountain in its entirety and the small collection of buildings erected on its slope.

“Look upon my works ye mighty, and despair,” Immortal Ozymandias spoke.

Well, Jasper looked, and he was more underwhelmed than despairing. The Forever Eternal School wasn’t as grand as he’d been expecting it to be, and unless those buildings were bigger on the inside, it didn’t look like there were that many students. Maybe this Immortal preferred being lowkey? The cutscene faded, and the familiar interface appeared along with his objectives:

1. Grow the Forever Eternal School to become one of the Top Ten Schools in the World.
2. Nurture Five Immortal Disciples.

The camera panned back up to Immortal Ozymandias, who sagely nodded his head at the screen. “Good luck, manager. I have high expectations for you.”

Jasper ignored him and went straight to the resources tab. He had to plan and use what he had very carefully if he wanted to have any chance of beating—

He froze. He tabbed out of the resource menu and opened it again. He rubbed his eyes and sank back into his bed. Nothing. There was nothing. The treasury was empty. No gold or treasures greeted him. The store room was the same. It wasn’t even maxed out on the most mundane wood and stone, let alone the more valuable materials like jade bricks and Phoenixwood.

He opened the buildings list. “Why the fuck does an Immortal School have Tier 1 buildings?”

He opened the geomancy map. “Deadly Feng Shui? Did you do this on fucking purpose?”

He opened the disciple menu. He was immediately greeted by 12 sick and dying disciples thanks to the Deadly Feng Shui modifier. “Two inner disciples in the Martial Apprentice Realm? And none of the Outer Disciples are close to finishing the Foundation stage? And they’re all Trash-Tier? How the fuck does an Immortal not have any S-Rank disciples?”

Fearing the worst, he opened the School’s Reputation ranking. “999,999!?”

Jasper looked back at the objectives, then back to the school. A notification popped up.

New Event: School Guardian Beast.

Stone-faced, Jasper pressed the notification, and the camera zoomed over to a mangy yellow dog lying in front of the school’s gate. Its ribs were clearly visible through every heave of its chest. The dog breathed once, twice, three times, and then fell still.

Disastrous Event: School Guardian Beast Dies.

He pulled the camera back to Immortal Ozymandias and tried selecting him. Despite his furious tapping, the only thing that changed was the Immortal looking annoyed.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me. How the hell is this supposed to be winnable? I wasn’t expecting an easy start, but I was at least expecting something.” He knew the developers liked to trigger their players, but this was too much. The only possibility was that he was supposed to rely on Ozymandias’s help to fix the school. He waited and let the time tick by for the Immortal to do something, anything, to help give him a fighting chance.

Disastrous Event: Disciple Died of Illness

Disastrous Event: Disciple Suffered Mana Deviation And Burned To Death

While he waited for Immortal Ozymandias, he went and readjusted the Feng Shui. Depending on how buildings and the furniture and decorations within them were arranged it would create positive or negative effects on the energy contained within and affect the School overall should it get too bad. This meant making sure the Five Elements of Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood were in balance and properly arranged in the directions of North, East, West, and South. Unfortunately, Immortal Jackass decided to place his disciple’s Dormitories facing the south and filled them with so many Fire aspected decorations that the disciples were literally burning to death in their sleep.

Disastrous Event: Disciple Died of Exhaustion

Disastrous Event: A Plague Has Broken Out In The School

Disastrous Event: All Disciples Have Died

Failure

The camera panned back up to the disappointed face of Immortal Ozymandias. “I expected more from you. Is this how you manage a school?”

“Man fuck you. Useless sack of shit. Don’t bitch at me when you don’t know what you’re fucking doing.” He should have just gone to sandbox mode. At least he’d only have to deal with his own fuck-ups. “Stupid fucking scenario.”

Immortal Ozymandias reddened with anger, and a vein popped on his temple. “Do you think it’s so easy, you little bastard?”

What the fuck?

Jasper instinctually pressed the screen again, right on the Immortal’s face.

“You little shit!” Immortal Ozymandias grabbed the screen, and Jasper’s phone deformed and rippled like disturbed water as an entire arm reached through his phone and grabbed him by the neck.

“Fuc—” He dropped his phone and clutched the arm choking him, but his phone did not fall, and the arm did not budge.

Through the portal, across a distance that could only be called dimensional, Immortal Ozymandias locked eyes with him and sneered. “I’d like to see you do better, bastard.”

Jasper Cropsey, gamer, retail worker, and debt-laden college graduate, was dragged through a portal to who-knew-where by who-the-fuck-knows and disappeared.

Chapter 120

The temple Xie Ling resided in was both the spiritual and material heart of the village. It was where their major ceremonies were observed and where the collected archives of the village were housed. It was the seat of the shamans and was where they distributed tasks and provided healing to the sick and injured. It was also where the foodstuffs and products the village produced were stored for times of need. Chen Haoran only knew all that from being told. Despite his friendship with the tribe’s shamans, the temple was the one place he never spent much time in. Today was only his second time entering it.

Now he was going beneath it.

Walking behind Xie Ling’s seat and into a doorway of beaded curtains that Chen Haoran could swear wasn’t there before, there was an abyss. Or maybe it wasn’t? Chen Haoran couldn’t tell. Whatever was behind the door was so dark that even as a Liquid Meridian, he was left blind. Not even the light from the temple behind him seemed to want to enter the space, as if whatever was there said ‘Do Not Enter,’ and the light took the hint and didn’t. Chen Haoran cast his sense out, and it was swallowed up as soon as it entered. Right. He’d seen horror movies and came away wiser from them. Being the first one to walk into a scarily dark place was never a good place to be.

Fortunately, Xie Ling was here to lead the way, casually stepping into the void and finding purchase rather than falling down. Purple qi sparked where his feet landed and spread to outline the first step of a long stair down. By the time he descended to the second step, Chen Haoran calculated who between Xie Jin and Bao Si he was going to force to go next, decided he couldn’t choose, then entered the stairway himself following the purple qi Xie Ling left behind as he walked. He reached out a hand to the wall to balance himself and was both relieved and not when his hand actually met a cool, oily surface. It was a good thing he wasn’t claustrophobic. He still hated every second of this, though.

Xie Jin’s hand clasped his shoulder and steadied him. “This thing’s a pain in the ass, isn’t it? Always hated coming down here.”

“Is it supposed to be accommodating?” Xie Ling’s voice sounded ahead of them, sarcasm lacing every word. He hadn’t gone that far ahead, but even with the light the purple qi provided, he was barely more than a silhouette. “Perhaps I should hang some candles? Lay out a carpet? Put in a banister? Let’s make it more inviting, why don’t we? It’s not like it leads anywhere important.”

“A banister would be nice,” Xie Jin mused.

Chen Haoran descended, purple qi licking his heels. “Is this the same stone the houses are made of? It feels similar.”

“Similar,” Xie Ling said. “The stones are all quarried from Stake Mountain, the one impaling the Screaming Giant. The ordinary stones are used to build our homes. The ones you see here are richer in qi and have a more exaggerated effect on light and a cultivator’s sense.”

Exaggerated was putting it lightly. Chen Haoran tried reaching out with his sense again and had to pull it back when it told him he was floating in a void even as he was walking on the stairs. He didn’t even know how long they’d been walking until he almost ran straight into Xie Ling’s back. Unfortunately, Xie Jin didn’t give him the same courtesy and barreled into his back. Chen Haoran instinctively flexed his qi to steady himself. It was probably unnecessary with his enhanced strength, but he wouldn’t take any chances. That meant that when Xie Jin’s chin slammed onto his shoulder, he was hitting the equivalent of a steel statute.

Xie Jin hissed in pain, and his arms wrapped around Chen Haoran for support. “Fuck! Bao Si!”

A far too innocent giggle followed in reply.

“Stop playing around you brats,” Xie Ling said.

“She pushed me down the fucking stairs!”

“Push?” Bao Si said. “I only gave you a little nudge.”

“Oh, I’ll give you a little nudge when I break my foot off in your ass.”

“Watch your language in front of our fucking guest,” Xie Ling barked. “You two used to have such a good relationship. Where did that go?”

The sudden groaning of stone sliding across stone filled the stairway, and the space in front of Xie Ling bloomed with green light. They spilled out into a large cavern. The rough stone walls were covered in glowing green script. The real source of the cavern’s light came from the massive Mourning Pool of green liquid qi dominating the center. More green script circled its edge. Chen Haoran released his freed sense toward the pool and…

Could this be called a Mourning Pool? The pool he saw was shallow but with his sense, he could feel the hole in the middle of it, feel how dramatically the space expanded underneath them, how it was completely filled with liquid qi. It was far bigger than either of the Mourning Pools he’d used before. Far bigger than him. How many of himself would he need to create a Mourning Pool this size? A hundred? A thousand?

“This is a Mourning Pool, right?” he hesitatingly said. “Not a lake?”

Xie Ling chuckled. “Impressive isn’t it? What you see before you is the accumulation of centuries of our tribe’s Liquid Meridians. For those lucky enough to be in the village for their final moments, they come here and leave their qi behind for the future generations”

“I thought Mourning Pools could only be formed by chance?”

“Natural Mourning Pools, yes, their creation is a miracle.” Xie Ling pointed toward the glowing green script. “With the power of formations, however, natural miracles become a commonplace man-made craft.”

Xie Jin and Bao Si, still bickering, walked over to a storeroom and pulled out baskets of plants and animal parts that they began emptying into the pool. Phelps, curious as ever, wanted to get nearer to explore the pool only for Chen Haoran to quickly pull him back.

“Have you ever used a Mourning Pool before?” Xie Ling asked.

“Yes, twice.”

Xie Ling paused. He coughed into his hand. “Well, there won’t be many impurities to expel then. That’s not the real benefit of our Mourning Pool, however. By mixing in various poisons and venoms, those who bathe in our pool can gain immunity to a hundred poisons.”

Chen Haoran watched Xie Jin drop a bright blue frog into the pool. It bobbed up once, flailing for its life, then sank and disappeared. “This… is safe, right?”

“Of course,” Xie Ling said. “I will be presiding over it myself.”

Bao Si brought over a set of clean white robes. Chen Haoran hesitated before taking them. “Is it okay for me to be using this? This is a grave, after all, and I’m not from the tribe.”

Xie Ling looked surprised before kindly smiling. “Do not worry. The Heaven-Rank technique you’ve given us will be a treasure of our tribe for generations to come. You’re more than worthy of using this pool. I’m sure the ancestors will take no issue with it.”

Well, if the head honcho was telling him it was okay, then how could Chen Haoran refuse? He handed Phelps over to Bao Si and took the robes. A quick glance revealed nowhere in the cavern to change. He looked at Bao Si, who made no move to look away.

He raised an eyebrow. Not going to turn around?

Bao Si’s small smile spoke volumes. Do you want me to?

Whatever. Chen Haoran shrugged off his robes, and Bao Si’s wandering eyes, and put on the prepared ones. Still silk. The tribe really used it everywhere. He stepped to the edge of the pool, where Xie Jin gave him a dull green pill and a reassuring clap on the arm.

“For processing the poison, otherwise you’d just die,” Xie Jin explained. “It would be excruciating too.”

His grandfather slapped his head. “The only thing in Zumulu more poisonous than Gu is your mouth.”

“Yeah yeah,” Xie Jin said, rubbing his head. “I was just trying to help him relax.”

“Slap him again, please?” Chen Haoran politely asked.

Xie Ling slapped him without hesitation and shooed his grandson away. Xie Jin shot Chen Haoran a betrayed look as he went to stand beside a giggling Bao Si.

“This will be a long process, and there will be some discomfort,” Xie Ling said. “Are you prepared?”

Chen Haoran exhaled. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Let’s begin then.” Xie Ling placed a hand on his shoulder, and a ray of purple and green qi covered him with a thin film and entered his body.

The Yellow Dragon was none too pleased and made its displeasure vocal.

Curiosity flashed across Xie Ling’s face. “Oh?”

Chen Haoran calmed the Yellow Dragon with a pulse of qi and, under Xie Ling’s guidance, swallowed the pill and entered the pool. Xie Ling made him sit down, letting the liquid qi cover him up to his waist. The entire lower half of his body was immediately enveloped with a feeling of pins and needles, as if everything below his waist had fallen asleep. This was with a Crystal Transformation Realm protecting him, Chen Haoran couldn’t imagine what would happen if he tried relying on his own power to protect him.

“Breathe,” Xie Ling ordered.

Chen Haoran did, and the stinging sensation immediately began spreading through his entire body as he began absorbing the liquid qi. If someone took the moment, a doctor administered a shot, multiplied it a thousand times, distilled it into a drink, and downed it in one go, then that would be approximately what Chen Haoran was feeling seep through his arteries and meridians. If that was all, then Chen Haoran could bear with it. Syringes came with injections, however, and with the liquid qi came a war crime worth of poison. He couldn’t even begin to count the amount of promised death and contained within the pool’s liquid qi. All the various ways to kill a man acted all at once such that they blended into one feeling of impending doom.

The Yellow Dragon roared, and the antidote pill he swallowed shattered. Medicinal energy flooded out and was carried through his meridians by the roar. When the energy met the poisonous liquid qi, it mixed into it, and the feeling of sudden death immediately subsided. Xie Ling took that moment to seize control of the liquid qi and directed its flow out of his meridians and into his body. Chen Haoran’s directed his own qi to follow Xie Ling’s and help the best he could. Under both of their urging, Chen Haoran’s muscles and organs were washed with the poisonous qi. It was a process that painfully reminded him of the Stygian Lotus’s enhancement. In fact, he could even feel his cells being tempered a bit, due to the poison. It was minuscule, barely worth mentioning even, thanks to the prior tempering his body had gone through. If Chen Haoran had to guess, it would normally be much more effective if it were anyone else.

The Yellow Dragon roared. While he and Xie Ling were guiding the liquid qi, it sped up its revolutions around his body and drew in more liquid qi to devour. This qi proved tougher than its usual fare, however. Every chunk it bit into saw the Yellow Dragon chew the qi like it was stringy meat, forcefully swallowing it down before it was completely refined. Xie Ling made a noise of interest and brought his qi over to the Yellow Dragon.  The Yellow Dragon eyed the foreign qi with disdain an accelerated again. Xie Ling’s qi raced after it, and Chen Haoran was left with the uncomfortable sensation of falling behind in his own body among the other uncomfortable sensations he was dealing with at the moment.

“Come on now. Work with me,” Xie Ling coaxed.

Work with him, please? Chen Haoran begged.

The Yellow Dragon bared its teeth and shook off the purple qi a few more times but eventually relented. Xie Ling’s qi quickly wrapped around its body like armor. The next time the Yellow Dragon plunged into the poisonous liquid qi, all resistance it faced before vanished, and it devoured the qi like water. Chen Haoran quickly merged with the Yellow Dragon and brought their cycling in tune.

The Mourning Pool stirred.

Chen Haoran’s rate of absorbing qi doubled. Xie Jin’s and Bao Si’s quiet exclamations of shock rang loud in his ears as the liquid qi in the Mourning Pool began to swirl in a vortex with him as the center. Within his body, another vortex was being formed. In one cycle, the Yellow Dragon danced, and Xie Ling pulled a wave of poisonous qi to crash through his body. In the next cycle, that same qi was dispersed with a roar, refined, then replaced with another wave. This happened for five cycles, ten, twenty, and on the thirtieth cycle, a change finally occurred. Chen Haoran hit the ceiling.

Xie Ling exuberantly laughed, and his other hand slapped Chen Haoran’s back. “Boy, what do you say? Do you dare advance?”

What sort of question was that?

The Yellow Dragon roared. It fell down to his core and coiled upon itself nine times as it condensed qi.

Go.

The Yellow Dragon soared from his core to his head. Then it soared even higher. Yellow liquid qi flooded from Chen Haoran and shot into the air. It doubled over on itself and thinned into a snake-like body. Golden scales were pressed out of liquid qi. Two thin tendrils grew and became three-clawed arms. The head of the raging liquid qi split open and revealed rows of sharp teeth. Two antler-like horns burst from a newly defined skull, and just below them, two golden eyes blinked open and looked down upon the world with pride. Xie Jin, Bao Si, and Xie Ling all watched as a Yellow Dragon of liquid qi roared dominance above their heads, shaking the green formation script with its force.

Chen Haoran advanced to the Second-Layer under a dragon’s roar.

Chapter 119

The New Year began with all the villagers of the four tribes watching a Liquid Meridian Realm trying to fly. Unfortunately for Chen Haoran, Phelps’s seemed to float even faster after drinking and, with no ceiling to obstruct him combined with his head start, quickly outpaced the distance Chen Haoran could reach even with his fully powered jump. So it was that Chen Haoran pitched headfirst into the brackish waters of the Screaming Giant’s Lake while Phelps ignored him on his way to the moon. A laughing Xie Ling had taken to the skies then and easily took Phelps in hand, bringing his drunk sloth back to the ground.

After thoroughly embarrassing himself, Chen Haoran drowned himself in a different type of water and competed with Xie Jin, Ren, and even Xie Ling in various drinking contests until he woke up the next day with a Liquid Meridian Hangover.

Chen Haoran groaned and rubbed his eyes. His head and chest felt heavy, though one was because of the hangover, and the other was his little shit of a wannabe astronaut sleeping on his chest. He gently placed Phelps to the side before sitting up and swinging his feet over the side of the bed, throwing Xie Jin, who had been sleeping on his legs, to the floor. He woke up sputtering a thousand different curses to just as many hells and gods. Chen Haoran ignored him in favor of the growing headache building in his head.

Yellow Dragon?

He received a roar in answer. His nascent headache was dispersed with a rush of qi, and the roar carried to the rest of his body, re-energizing his tired cells and waking him up completely.

Thank you.

The Yellow Dragon roared in acknowledgment and continued on its cycle through his meridians.

Chen Haoran sighed in relief and stretched his back as he looked around his room. He didn’t remember exactly how he got back last night. Did he carry Xie Jin, or did Xie Jin carry him? A soft snore revealed the real answer. Ren was slumped against the door, dead asleep. Evidently, he’d brought the both of them back but failed to get back home on his own.

“Bastard, you could’ve just woken me up,” Xie Jin grouched, nursing his head as he rose.

“Get over it,” Chen Haoran told him. He paused, scattered memories coming together and forming a hazy picture. “You deserved it, I think? Did we get into a fight last night?”

“Get your head checked. Would I still be alive if he fought?”

It was a rhetorical question. The answer was no. Chen Hoaran pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to recall the events of last night. His memory from the heavy drinking was fine for the most part. No amount of normal alcohol was enough to drastically affect him now. The place where his memories blurred was when Xie Ling brought out a Profound-Rank wine that tasted like an orchard of green apples.

“Who the hell did I fight then?” He remembered getting into some kind of duel, even if he couldn’t remember the face of his opponent. He won pretty handily too. It was hard to win a fistfight when your opponent had skin comparable to steel.

Xie Jin’s face pinched as if the mere act of trying to remember was painful. “He was a Liquid Meridian Realm from one of the other tribes. Sable Skull, I think?”

“You’re right,” Chen Haoran said, the image in his mind becoming clearer. “I think he was watching Bao Si and me dance? Dunno what I did to piss him off, though.”

“Not what you did, who you did. Idiots like those are why I’m glad I’m rid of Si.”

Chen Haoran frowned. His memory of Bao Si from last night was a blur of red and a phantom sensation of his hand on her tattoo. “I didn’t do anything to Bao Si. I would remember that.”

Instead of answering, Xie Jin reached over and ran his thumb on the side of Chen Haoran’s mouth. When he pulled it back, it was covered in red. He gave Chen Haoran a singularly unimpressed look.

What the fuck? Chen Haoran rubbed his mouth and looked at the bright red smudge on his hand. Xie Jin passed him a hand mirror, and in the polished copper, Chen Haoran found that not only were his lips smeared red but that his cheeks and neck were covered in lipstick marks.

“I don’t remember her wearing lipstick,” Chen Haoran faintly said.

“You kissed her first, and that started the fight,” Xie Jin said. “The rest came after you won when the other girls started coming up to you. I only remember because of how disgusted I was.”

Did he really mack on the tribe’s princess in front of all the Basin and Elders? What the hell had been in Xie Ling’s wine? Even at his drunkest, he’d never been that uninhibited before.

“I’m not going to be run out of the village by your grandfather for this, am I?” Chen Haoran nervously asked. The classic scenario of the outsider being run off for being too close to the local’s golden girl rang through his mind.

Xie Jin shrugged.“If any of the other shamans really cared, they would have stopped it last night. Even if they did, they’d have to ask Si for permission.”

Chen Haoran stared. He’d known Bao Si was respected by the Onyx Arms but those were Crystal Transformation Realms they were talking about. For them to give her that much consideration… “Xie Jin, just how important is Bao Si?”

“Do you want to start from her being the last heir of the Black Bone’s only royal dynasty or the fact she’s the sole apprentice of our only Star Core Shaman?”

Chen Haoran fell back onto the bed. Perhaps he could just sleep in for the rest of his life.

Xie Jin had no such mercy for him and kicked him off. “Let’s go. I need breakfast.”

————————

As he walked through the village with Xie Jin, Chen Haoran was subject to the strange eyes of the villagers. The respect was still there, of course, and they still spoke politely to him, but it couldn’t disguise that each and every one was looking at him differently than before. Even the kids ran past laughing while making puckering noises. Xie Jin endlessly ribbed him for it while they ate, and Chen Haoran could only half-heartedly defend himself. For the sake of his sanity, he bid a hasty retreat to the training grounds and resolved to spend the next month practicing before he showed his face again.

Step. Pause. Step. Pause. Wait. The motions of the Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs were a welcome distraction from the embarrassment that would be his constant companion in the near future.

“I still don’t understand why they’re here, Brother Chen.”

Too bad it couldn’t distract him from his other companions.

Xie Jin, Bao Si, Ren, and Phelps were all seated around a rock with the Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs laid open between them. While Chen Haoran practiced, they would call out some new piece of advice from their reading, at least when they weren’t bickering about said advice.

Bao Si smiled at Xie Jin. Her lips were bright red, and she had a green silk handkerchief covering her throat. “We’re here to help Chen Haoran learn, of course. Don’t be annoyed just because you’re the least useful.”

Unfortunately, even after he brought Xie Jin on board, they hadn’t been able to puzzle out the trick of the First Step. Two heads were not that much better than one in this case, much to Xie Jin’s embarrassment. So they brought in three heads instead. Bao Si had been just as shocked, if not more so, than Xie Jin that Chen Haoran would so readily share a Heaven-Rank technique. With her inclusion, they actually started making appreciable progress.

The thing about these techniques was that they were as much poems as they were medical textbooks. Not only did they have to interpret the visualization of the First Step they had to simultaneously flow their qi through the specific meridians detailed by the book in the exact pattern required before the qi could interact with the visualization conjured up by the cultivator. Suffice it to say there was a lot of arguing over what exactly kind of rainbow to visualize, the effects of channeling red light into movement, and what a rainbow even was in this context.

It reminded Chen Haoran so much of the literary analysis he’d done in his literature classes back on Earth. An experience he was thankful to have now, even though he was never good at them. Bao Si had been a font of insight in that regard, and they eventually pulled in Xie Jin’s cousin Ren to help as well.

Xie Jin scowled but conceded the point. He cast a fierce look at Ren. “That doesn’t explain why he’s here.”

Ren stared at the technique without acknowledging the accusation, and Chen Haoran answered in his stead.

“He’s another Liquid Meridian Realm. His judgment is invaluable.”

“His judgment is the exact thing in question here,” Xie Jin bit out and pointed an accusatory finger at his cousin. “He’s the one who gave Phelps the bottle!”

Phelps squealed.

Ren looked up. A hint of embarrassment showed through on his otherwise stoic face. “He asked. I was only being polite.”

Xie Jin held out a hand toward Ren and gave Chen Haoran a look that practically screamed, ‘See?’. Chen Haoran agreed with him on that issue. Who in their right mind would give alcohol to an animal? Still, Ren offered a grounded view of the intricacies of the Heaven-Rank technique in a way the others couldn’t as Qi Realms and helped temper Xie Jin’s and Bao Si’s more outlandish theories.

Step. Pause. Step. Pause. Wait.

Nothing.

“Like I said, Brother Chen. You have to rainbow, or else it’ll be pointless.”

Step. Pause. Step. Pause. Wait.

“Brother Chen, remember rainbow.”

Step. Pause. Step. Pause.

“Rainb—”

Chen Haoran’s patience snapped. “And just how the hell am I supposed to rainbow?”

Xie Jin shook his head. “Not how to rainbow. When to rainbow.”

Bao Si clicked her tongue disapprovingly. “You mean what to rainbow.”

Ren placed a finger on a passage in the book. “I believe it is proper to consider where to rainbow.”

Phelps squealed, begging for treats.

Chen Haoran cursed. Whatever tangent they were on this time must’ve been cultural because he couldn’t follow them at all.

Step. Pause. Step. Pause. Red—

Red?

Red light flared at Chen Haoran’s feet and all the arguments stopped as he suddenly accelerated….

….face first into a tree. Bark broke beneath his hands as Chen Haoran pushed himself out, spitting splinters and leaving behind a two-inch deep impression of his face in the wood. He ignored the sawdust and woodchips in his eyes and quickly assumed the stance of the First Step once more.

Step. Pause. Step. Pause. Wait.

Nothing. Chen Haoran wryly smiled. Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy. It was okay, though, now that he had a reaction, proficiency would come in time.

“You alright there, Brother Chen?” Xie Jin asked.

Chen Haoran grinned. “Don’t worry. It’ll take more than a tree to put me down.”

“If you’d like, I can kiss it better,” Bao Si teasingly said.

Chen Haoran’s eyes involuntarily went to her red lips. “I’ll pass. I want to show my face in the village.”

Bao Si rolled her eyes. “At least mine can be washed off.” She pulled down her handkerchief, exposing the hickeys on her neck. “You left quite a few hard-to-remove ‘presents’ of your own.”

Chen Haoran snorted. “As if you can’t heal those. I know you kept them just to mess with me.”

“I’m just a little Qi Realm girl. How could I possibly heal the place a Liquid Meridian brute marked me?”

“Keep being cheeky, and I’ll put them in other places.” The sentence came out so naturally that Chen Haoran didn’t realize he said it till he saw Bao Si’s cheeks tinge with faint color. He froze as he processed the sentence that his brain somehow thought was a good idea to leave his mouth.

Xie Jin gagged and stood up. “I’m going to be sick. Move aside. It’s my turn to run into trees.”

“Hold that thought,” Chen Haoran said as he rubbed his head. Was that Profound-Rank alcohol still lingering? “I want to get another opinion about the technique.”

“Like I said, you have to rainbow. I’ll show you right—”

“Not you,” Chen Haoran interrupted.

“Your grandfather.”

———————

Xie Ling’s eyebrows rose higher than Chen Haoran had ever seen on a person before. He wondered if it was a Crystal Transformation thing. Xie Jin’s grandfather carefully flipped through the Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs his face alternatively cycling between shock and consideration. He closed the book and looked up at the five of them.

“You’re letting them learn this?”

Chen Haoran nodded. “You can too if you’d like, sir. I’d appreciate whatever pointers you can offer.”

Since they already included four heads, why not five? He’d passed it around so much already. He might as well add Xie Ling while he was at it. The perspective of a higher realm couldn’t hurt.

Xie Ling looked at Chen Haoran as if he’d grown another head before suddenly laughing. “Never before have I felt so ashamed in front of a junior. I suppose it’s true that the younger generation will surpass the old in time.”

“Cut the crap, old man.” Xie Jin said, ignoring how Bao Si elbowed him. “Just say you want to learn it.”

Xie Ling glared at his impudent grandson but ignored his provocation and turned to Chen Haoran. “I won’t put on any airs. I’m very interested in learning this technique. I’m not shameless enough to learn it for free, however.” He stroked his beard in thought before pulling out a white lotus flower.

At first glance, it looked like the Stygian Lotus that Chen Haoran had eaten back what felt like so long ago now. Upon closer inspection, however, the differences were revealed. Its color was white, like metal instead of bone. Its leaves were a vibrant green, full of life instead of poison like what he’d been seeing recently. A faint white glow surrounded the plant and gave off an almost holy feeling compared to the White Tyrant’s overbearing one.

“This is a 300-year-old Stainless Purity Lotus. Do not look down on its age. This is a plant that survives in the worst toxic sludge that collects in the Basin, yet it remains free of any poison. Even the most complex toxins and venoms can be cured by consuming the plant or its seeds, and just holding it lessens the dangers of any airborne poisons.”

Chen Haoran wasn’t about to refuse something that’d soon become a 30 thousand-year-old plant. He accepted it gratefully. “Thank you.”

“As to your prior question. While I will have to properly read through the text, seeing as how the First Step is referred to as the Red Step of Good Fortune, it might be useful if you were to practice while wearing your New Year’s suit.”

Chen Haoran clasped his hands. “Thank you for the advice. I’ll go back and try that immediately.”

Xie Ling waved off his thanks. “Don’t be in a hurry to go yet. I still have something I’d like to say. It is shameless of me to ask this, considering you’ve allowed my younger generation to learn it, but I still must ask. May I create a copy of this technique for the tribe’s archives? I will make sure you—”

“Yeah, sure,” Chen Haoran said.

Xie Ling stopped and stared at him.

“Oh, uh, I didn’t mean to interrupt you. Sorry.”

Xie Jin started coughing behind him.

“I can’t give you Bao Si,” Xie Ling abruptly said.

“I… don’t want her?” Chen Haoran slowly said.

Xie Jin wheezed only to yelp in pain.

“I mean for marriage,” Chen Haoran quickly clarified.

“I’m aware,” Xie Ling said dryly. “You made quite the show of the other ways you want her.”

Chen Haoran couldn’t help the heat from rising to his face. No matter the world, it was still embarrassing when someone older than you started talking about your love life.

Xie Ling laughed after seeing the look on his face and stood up. “For such an important heritage, I will not let you suffer.” He looked at Bao Si and Xie Jin, who paused their childish tiff.

“Prepare the Mourning Pool.”

Chapter 118

Not really satisfied with this chapter but it took a while to write and I'm tired so here it is. Been trying to make the chapters bigger than bite-sized recently. So expect more 2k and up chapters in the future. Cheers!

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

The new year was a cause for great celebration in the Basin. The whole village came to life with renewed energy as homes were cleaned from top to bottom in preparation for the week of festivities. Tapestries of red silk were hung out over the walls of homes and embroidered with images and sentences depicting the happenings of the family over the year: births, marriages, progress in cultivation, successful hunts, and proud achievements. All those and more rolled down the tapestry, each family’s telling a different story, but all ending with the same words: Be at peace. We are living well.

Red paper lanterns and long strips of red silk were draped over the low-hanging branches of the trees and wrapped around their trunks. Poles were erected all around the village, painted red, and hung with cages of singing crickets. Children ran from home to home waving small flags emblazoned with cicadas. Cultivators carried enough tables, chairs, and logs to seat a small army down to the central lake to prepare for the joint celebration with the other tribes.

Soon enough, however, the time had come. The villagers donned their finest clothes, washed and scolded their children into behaving, carefully took down and folded the banners, and made their way to the village temple where the Chief Shaman Xie Ling resided. From what Xie Jin had told him, they would burn the tapestries so that their ancestors would be able to learn of what had happened to their families and soothe their worries. Notably, Xie Jin was the only one who did not put out a tapestry. It wasn’t a shaman thing, either. He’d seen the others putting out their own, although he didn’t see Bao Si’s either for the sole reason that he didn’t actually know where she lived.

Chen Haoran couldn’t contain his curiosity and asked about it. Xie Jin graced him with a small smile and shook his head. “I have no one to tell.”

Despite not having a tapestry, Xie Jin was still required to be present at the temple as a shaman. As such, Chen Haoran found himself a bit out of place. Guest that he was, it would be a bit awkward to shoehorn himself in while the village was honoring their ancestors. So it was that while the entire village was converging in the temple, Chen Haoran wandered off with Phelps to the training ground to practice.

He had to start the new year off strong, after all.

———————

The Screaming Giant’s Lake was fed by numerous hidden rivers that themselves were fed by the waterfalls dropping into the Basin. It was, in fact, quite the miracle to Chen Haoran that the Basin wasn’t more flooded than it was. According to Xie Jin, despite so much water entering the Basin, just as much left it through various underground rivers connected to the lake.

After sending off their well wishes to their ancestors and fallen, the tribe carried large baskets full of food and drink and met their cousins from across the Basin at the shore closest to the skeleton’s drowning skull. Large bonfires roared and lit up the shore under the day’s waning light. Round tables were scattered around the fires, each one belonging to a different family. Relatives from different tribes all came together to feast at the same table. Chen Haoran couldn’t see much of a difference between the four tribes of the Basin, especially now that they were all garbed in red and accented with black bone ornaments. The tribes freely mixed as they met with friends and acquaintances and exchanged gifts of apples, oranges, and small gold cicadas.

Chen Haoran himself was dressed similarly in a red and gold robe. Two horned snakes worked in gold thread coiled around his sleeves, their tails starting at his shoulders before ending at his cuffs, poised to strike. Another golden snake patterned his belt, cleverly designed such that it looked like it was eating its own tail while the belt was clasped. Bao Si had come through on those silk robes she promised, and among the many outfits she prepared, she had the foresight to include one for the new year.

He was seated together with Xie Jin, Ren, and Xie Ling, Phelps and a large pile of food, taels, fine silverware, and precious gems. It wasn’t for them; however, and Phelps was sorely disappointed by that fact, Xie Jin’s Beetle Gu and Xie Ling’s Snake Gu were still as statues as more food and treasures were stacked before them until, at the silent command of their shamans, they ravenously pounced on the piles and devoured them.

“This is the price of raising Gu,” Xie Jin explained when he saw Chen Haoran’s curiosity. “In exchange for their obedience, the shaman must ensure they’re well rewarded or else… well, nothing good will happen. The tribe collectively supports the price of all Gu in return for the shaman’s work.”

Their Gu weren’t the only one feasting. It seemed like every shaman in the Basin turned out today. Chen Haoran counted 32 different Gu chowing down on offerings.

“And what would you know about that, you brat?” Xie Ling downed his saucer of wine in one go. “I should beat you silly for all the work you’ve skipped over the years.”

Xie Jin sneered. “Just wait until I’m a Crystal Transformation Realm, old man.”

Xie Ling helplessly looked up to the sky. “Youth today. What is wrong with them? Threatening their own grandfathers. If it weren’t for the other tribes being here, I would toss you into the lake for that cheek.”

Ren ignored the quibbling between Xie Jin and Xie Ling. In fact he didn’t seem interested in any of his surroundings. The man was frightfully reserved. Chen Haoran couldn’t get a read on him at all. That being said, he did notice how Ren was on his sixth cup compared to everyone else’s three. It seemed even stoics had their vices.

Familiar laughter drew his attention to the bonfires. Bao Si was there surrounded by other youth from the various tribes. A net of black bone beads was woven into her hair. Her short red top exposed her midriff and revealed another portion of her centipede tattoo running up her side. The hem was embroidered with a golden snake like on his own robes wrapping around it, chasing its own tail. Her long red skirt was plain by comparison but not in effect. Standing by the firelight and watching how it played across every flutter of her dress made her look like a phoenix in bloom. Chen Haoran was not blind to the fact her dress and his robes looked like a matching pair.

“See something you like?”

Startled, Chen Haoran turned and looked at an amused Xie Jin. A streak of awkward guilt at being caught staring flashed through him.“Xie Jin, about Bao Si—”

“Let me be clear, Brother Chen,” Xie Jin interrupted. “I do not care what you do with Bao Si. Tie her up and run off with her. I’ll pay for her dowry, and thank you.”

Xie Ling slammed his saucer into the table. “Brat, what do you think you’re saying right in front of me?”

Chen Haoran flinched. Xie Ling hadn’t flared his aura at all, but that was no reason not to be worried when a higher realm got annoyed. He’d been careless. Why would he have this conversation about Xie Jin’s fiancee right in front of the man who most likely arranged it?

Xie Jin meanwhile calmly sipped his wine. “Don’t get so worked up about things that are long dead. It’s bad for your heart.”

Xie Ling sighed and covered his face with his palm. “I’ve raised something useless. How is it that you always put down the jade I give you and pick up bricks instead?” He stood up and ruffled Xie Jin’s hair, messing up what Chen Haoran knew to be an hour’s worth of work. Xie Jin cursed and ducked. Futilely trying to slap away his grandfather’s hand but only hitting air as he’d already moved on.  “I’m going to meet the other old bastards now. Don’t let Ren drink too much.”

“Too late for that,” Xie Jin muttered.

Chen Haoran turned and found that in the time he hadn’t been looking, Ren had emptied two more bottles all by himself. The only indicator that Ren was affected by it at all was a faint red tinge to his cheeks. Phelps squealed and curiously sniffed at the bottles.  Chen Haoran and Xie Jin automatically placed the bottles out of his reach. They weren’t repeating that mistake anytime soon.

“I see Ren has already started having fun.” Bao Si walked over as soon as Xie Ling had left. Rather than sit at the chair Xie Ling vacated or take Phelps’s, she instead walked around and dropped herself on Chen Haoran’s lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned over to Xie Jin. “What were you talking about?”

“How you’re a pain in my ass,” Xie Jin said, downing the rest of his wine.

“Come now, Jin,” Bao Si chided. “As fellow shamans, we should at least get along today if no other.”

Xie Jin dug into his pocket and flicked out a red card that Bao Si deftly caught between her fingers. A cicada was stamped on it, and the other side had the word ‘Greeting’ printed on it and nothing else. “There. Happy new year.”

Bao Si sighed and pulled out a red card exactly the same as the one Xie Jin had given her and threw it to him. “Women would like you more if you learned from Chen Haoran. He won’t just give a card like you.”

“I’m plenty popular with women. You know that.”

Bao Si’s smile turned ugly as Xie Jin apparently hit a sore point for her. Chen Haoran just wished he hadn’t done it while she was sitting on his lap. His last experience with an angry woman with her arms around his neck didn’t end so well for him.

Bao Si looked at Xie Jin with disdain and immediately pivoted to Chen Haoran with a charming smile. “I gave you your gift in advance, so don’t hate me for not giving you another now.”

Chen Haoran froze. “The robes? I paid for them, though.”

“You paid for some of them.” She dragged a finger down his chest. “Not this one.”

He put up an admirable front of calm despite swearing internally. He should have gotten a clue from everyone exchanging gifts and prepared one. Now he was caught out with no idea what to give her. Thankfully Xie Jin came to the rescue.

“He’s married, you know,” Xie Jin snidely said. He poured out the last of his bottle. “She’s pretty scary too. Personally, I wouldn’t get on her bad side.”

Atop him that she was, Chen Haoran could feel Bao Si pausing. “When has that ever stopped you,” she retorted. Even so, she pushed herself off his lap and stood up.

Chen Haoran caught her wrist. “I’m not married anymore.”

Xie Jin choked and spilled his wine while Ren looked on mournfully. “What? You divorced her? That scary woman? And you’re still alive?”

“We didn’t get divorced,” Chen Haoran corrected. “It was annulled. We both wanted it.”

Bao Si fell back into his lap with a smile. “It sounds like quite the story.”

Chen Haoran shrugged. “We were only together until she finished destroying her family. There was no point in being married after that.”

“Wait, that was you!?” Xie Jin reared back, shocked.

Bao Si’s smile, if anything, became deeper. “Now that sounds like quite the story.”

“No, before that—”

Xie Jin’s question was interrupted by the beat of drums. The laughter and talking died down as four powerful presences filled the air. Xie Ling stood ankle-deep in the lake facing the giant skeleton with three others, two women and one man, the Chief Shamans of the other tribes presumably. Each one held a bottle of alcohol, and together they poured the contents into the water. Lesser shamans rushed up to collect the empty bottles, and another handed a sack stuffed with choice meats, sweets, and more alcohol over to Xie Ling.

Xie Jin’s grandfather raised the sack above his head. “To you who has come before and seen much, we hope that you continue to watch those who come after us and see more. We offer these refreshments and ask you to watch our descendants for a thousand years.” Finished, Xie Ling stepped back and threw the sack across the lake and directly into the drowning skeleton’s half-submerged mouth. Once the sack disappeared beneath the water, Xie Ling turned around and addressed the crowd. “Our ancestors have been informed, and our descendants have been arranged. Drink and make merry now. You have all worked hard this year.”

A large cheer rose up from the tribes, and soon enough, a band of musicians gathered together and began to play a tune.

Bao Si’s eyes lit up, and she jumped up, pulling Chen Haoran as she did. “Let’s dance.”

“I don’t know how.”

“I’ll teach you. If you think I’ve earned your arms, that is.”

What else could Chen Haoran say to that? He let Bao Si pull him up and drag him away, calling over his shoulder to Xie Jin. “Watch Phelps, please.”

He didn’t hear Xie Jin’s reply as Bao Si brought him over to the bonfires where hundreds of couples had already begun dancing. She took his hands in her own, and soon enough, they were whirling amongst the dancers. Bao Si took the lead and Chen Haoran quickly discovered how useful a Liquid Meridian cultivation was for mirroring her movements and catching himself before he blundered. Matching clothes as they were, and with him not stumbling all over himself, he even dared to think they looked good.

So why was he feeling so many unkind stares?

He cast his sense out and found the culprits, various young men and a few women, most of whom had been surrounding Bao Si before. “I getting quite a few evil eyes right now.”

Bao Si laughed. “It’s because you’re dancing with their dream girl. How does it feel?”

In lieu of a response, Chen Haoran placed a hand on her side, right over her centipede tattoo, and felt the jealous stares spike. “So it’s really a full-body tattoo. That’s pretty cool.”

“Would you like to see more of it?”

Chen Haoran leveled her an unimpressed look. “You’re not trying to use me to get out of some kind of forced marriage, are you?”

“There’s no one in this world, alive or dead, who can force me to do something I do not want to do,” Bao Si declared. “Don’t worry, though. I’m not trying to marry you, either. If you were from Zumulu, it might be a different story.”

“Why would I be worried about a beautiful woman trying to marry me?” Chen Haoran asked. “I should feel disappointed that you won’t”

“But you’re not.”

“How do you know that?”

“Consider it a woman’s intuition.”

Well, it would be a lie to say he didn’t feel a little disappointed, but this feeling came from a dumber, instinctual part of his mind. The rational side was feeling quite relieved, as Bao Si had said. He wasn’t looking to get married again anytime soon.

“Can I ask if you got that intuition from your investigation?”

It was Bao Si’s turn to look impressed. “So you found out after all.”

“I didn’t, actually, which I commend you for. I didn’t notice anything at all.”

“So you guessed?”

“I like to call it a reasonable prediction.”

Bao Si rolled her eyes. “So you guessed.”

“Moon moth silk isn’t enough to make someone like you all touchy-feely like that.”

“Maybe a talented Liquid Meridian Realm is.”

This time Chen Haoran rolled his eyes. There really wasn’t a need to compare talents with a Qi Realm who studied a Liquid Meridian Realm with them none the wiser.

He stopped and spun Bao Si. Her skirt fluttered in a circle of red, high enough that Chen Haoran caught a flash of her leg. A leg that was soon pressed up against his side as Bao Si spun into his embrace. “Will you tell me what you found?” he asked.

Bao Si hummed and then fell back. Chen Haoran followed her, one hand grabbing her leg, the other holding the small of her back and her fall was turned into a low dip. He pulled her back up and spun her in the opposite direction.

“You’re not what you seem,” she said. “Mid-grade spirit root and you have a strong mother. Jin said you had a Liquid Meridian servant so everything points to you coming from a powerful clan. I can’t imagine that Xie Jin just so happened to meet someone like you in a weak place like Clearsprings.”

Oh, he was a Mid-grade? That was good to know. It cleared up some questions he had about his improving qi absorption. Turns out his predecessor really was a waste. What the hell did Bao Si sense to say he had a strong mother, though? He would have to ask Xie Jin about it.

“That’s quite specific,” Chen Haoran said.

“Healing is just another of a shaman’s duties, although Jin has never paid attention to the art. You have a body similar to other clan cultivators I’ve treated before. Yours is better, though.”

Interesting. In both senses of the word. Given that anything good about his body would have come from the Chen Family, it meant the better he was, the better they were. “So now that you’ve investigated, what’s the verdict?”

Bao Si made a sound of disgust and pushed Chen Haoran away. There was no qi behind it, and even if there were, it wouldn’t have actually moved him. Instead, she pushed herself away. “Why ask when you know the answer? If there were anything wrong with you, you wouldn’t be here pawing me.”

Chen Haoran chuckled. “So, as soon as you get my arms, they become paws? How cruel.”

“When did I say that was a bad thing?”

“So it’s a good—”

“Brother Chen!” Xie Jin’s anxious voice carried over to the dance floor.

Chen Haoran whirled around, his heart beating a mile a minute in his chest. Ren was slumped over the table, surrounded by bottles and two kegs. Xie Jin was standing atop the table with horrified eyes turned heavenward. Phelps was nowhere to be seen. Chen Haoran looked up and found his worst fears made reality. Phelps was soaring toward the moon with a bottle in claw.

“Goddamnit, not again. Phelps!”

Chapter 117

The passing of time was strange in Zumulu. No matter how much action and change was actually occurring at any given moment in the region, the trees and dense flora remained the same. The days blended together, stretching out so that even day and night seemed like one continuous whole, like a long video left unpaused. It didn’t help that there weren’t seasons as he knew them in the south: no yellow autumn, no white winter, fresh spring, or sunny summer. No, when it came to seasons, Zumulu only had two. Wet and less wet.

Chen Haoran had arrived at the end of the ‘dry’ season where it ‘only’ rained every other day. Now during the wet season, the sky could be a clear blue as far as the eye could see before clouds would suddenly spontaneously form, drop a deluge on your head, then vanish. Those were the more mundane of Zumulu’s weather phenomena. Some clouds rained hot water. Others rained in reverse, drawing up water from the ground before falling and popping like giant water balloons. There were clouds that caught the light of the sun quite literally, somehow absorbing the rays of the rising or setting sun and becoming so agitated that they raced across the sky, leaving behind streaks of orange, red, and gold. Some days the clouds blotted out the sky and churned with waves like an ocean in storm had been flipped upside down. On other, more dangerous ones, the clouds grew fat and green with poisonous water and punished the jungle below with it.

On those days of poisonous rain, he saw for the first time shamans acting in their official capacity. The insects of the Basin were spurred to ferocious life, ignoring the pressure of the Gu, invigorated under what others called the Green Hells Punishment. All the hidden hunters and silent killers that normally acted so cautiously screeched with voices insects should not have and burst out with a noxious aura no less harmful than the rain. They rose in a cloud of their own and drowned the Basin with their numbers.

The shamans rose to meet them. The Onyx Arm tribe had three other shamans besides Xie Jin, his grandfather, and Bao Si. Two Liquid Meridians and a Qi Realm. They all followed Bao Si’s direction, however. One end of her Centipede Gu extended like a living whip, and 177 pairs of knife-like legs diced apart countless bodies, splitting apart swarms for the other shamans to annihilate piecemeal. The other end morphed into another head and hunted the stronger beasts using the weaker ones as cover. Every time it found one it struck like lightning, instantly killing anything at the Ninth-Layer and marking the Liquid Meridian Realms for a Liquid Meridian Gu to slay.

Xie Jin acted separately. A swarm of wasps made of purple miasma flew from his sleeves and created a living shield that protected him from the smaller insects of the swarm. His Beetle Gu flew overhead, spitting out miasma that turned all it infected into living bombs that exploded with more purple miasma that went on to infect even more in an endless cycle. Entire swarms erupted into masses of purple miasma that his Gu then manipulated to cover an even large area. Chen Haoran was there with him, liquid qi covering him in a dome of uncrossable arrogance. While the insects may have been able to ignore the Gu’s coercion, they dared not ignore a dragon’s, and so Chen Haoran walked untouched amongst the venomous vermin and ruinous rain and became the anvil to Xie Jin’s hammer. His liquid qi flared out to the side like great horns and swept mass after mass into the path of Xie Jin’s miasma.

The other Liquid Meridians of the tribe covered the ring homes in shields of liquid qi to protect the weaker cultivators inside. The insects that made it past Chen Haoran and the shamans were easily within their means to deal with now that the pressure had been lessened. The only one who had yet to make an appearance was Xie Ling. It wasn’t a long wait, however. As the stronger presences within the Basin stirred from their holes, a single black snake flew from the village’s temple. It quickly expanded in size, doubling upon doubling until it was long enough to wrap around the village entirely and large enough to swallow elephants whole.

It was not the only one. The Onyx Arms were not the only Black Bone tribe to reside in the Basin. From the other cardinal directions centered around the Screaming Giant’s Lake rose three other massive Gu. A grim black dog from the Shadow Legs in the west. A pig more muscle than fat from the Seven Black Ribs in the east. A towering worm that looked better suited for a desert than the middle of a jungle from the Sable Skulls in the north.

As one, they released their presence, and the riotous swarm abruptly silenced. The strongest quickly sobered and fled. The weak and the slow died. Corpses rained, carpeting the jungle floor and building up in mounds. While the poisonous rain gave the insects the courage to rebel, it didn't change the fact the Gu were their kings. In the face of unruly rebellion, they crushed it like they did so many others.

Chen Haoran watched all this from the safety of his cover of liquid qi. He turned to Xie Jin next to him. “Forget owing you a drink. You’re buying me one.”

Xie Jin awkwardly laughed. “Welcome to Zumulu?”

And that was how the first week of the wet season ended.

———————

Crazy weather aside, life in the Basin was… enjoyable. Which was a word Chen Haoran didn’t expect he’d use to describe a place that was by all accounts a death hole. That was what it was, though. Everyone knew everyone else. It was common for families and friends to share meals and come together to pass around bowls of wine. Chen Haoran, despite being the only outsider within the village, was no exception, thanks to his prior performance and relationship with two of the village’s shamans. Granted, their cuisine was…. unique. He’d already had an issue with the spices so common in the South’s recipes. Now he had to deal with the abundant amount of bugs they included. In hindsight, it should have been obvious. In practice, Chen Haoran got very acquainted with spiced crickets, roasted tarantulas, and candied scorpions.

Xie Jin made fun of him for his weak tongue. Chen Haoran had no pity for him after that when Bao Si stayed true to her word and saddled him with so much work he didn’t see Xie Jin for weeks despite living in the same house as him. Of course, he wasn’t spared from Bao Si’s jokes either. Particularly when she set him and Xie Jin up for some ‘alone time,’ clearly taking his last question for her the wrong way. Of course, she made sure to spend ample time with Chen Haoran herself when she wasn’t busy with her own duties. He’d underestimated just how important she was. At least in the village, if Xie Ling was number 1, no one seemed to argue with Bao Si being number 2.

Still, overall Chen Haoran was living well in the Basin. Even the threat of being hunted by the Crystal Transformation Realm Garrison Commanders seemed so far away now. Not everything was perfect, though. Life in the village was a bit meaner than in Stonebridge, what with all the poisonous insects. His resource collection also slowed down considerably. Not that there were no treasures in the Basin, but there weren’t many he was willing to feed to Phelps. It was just one of the limitations that came when his main method of gifting was Phelps’s ability to eat it. He couldn’t just give the sloth poison after all. There was also his new armor, the Scattering Petal Palm, the Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs, and more just sitting around and impossible to gift.

He didn’t regret making Phelps a Connection. His reasoning still stood. It was good to have someone he could constantly give gifts to without rousing too many questions. Phelps ate every day, and thus Chen Haoran could get a constant stream of Rewards from him no matter what. The fact that he wasn’t getting as many Rewards right now was a failure in his ability to provide, not Phelps. Even if he never opened a second connection slot, Chen Haoran wouldn’t have changed his mind.

That being said, his new slot represented an opportunity to bring his Gifting to another level. He could give Phelps all the consumables and give whatever Phelps couldn’t eat to the second Connection. Just the thought of improving the Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs was intoxicating, not to mention potentially getting his hands on Heaven-Rank armor. He was in no rush to choose, however. Right now, under the protection of Xie Ling and his own advancement to the Liquid Meridian Realm, Chen Haoran felt more safe and secure than he’d ever been. He could afford to hold off on his second Connection right now and focus on picking the right one.

Ideally, it would be someone weak, and willing to accept whatever he gave them. He’d learned his lesson with Lan Fen. She was talented enough to outgrow what he could give her and prideful enough to reject gifts that would be useful to her. Thankfully now that he was a Liquid Meridian, there were a lot of people weaker than him now. The real issue, though, was what sort of connection to make. The Gifting Power required an official relationship for it to consider a potential Connectee valid. Marriage and Pets, he knew for a fact, worked. Personal servants directly under him ala his old Manager Lin were also possible. Using those as standards, he could guess that things like adoption, family members, and maybe students worked as well. Bao Si had also told him of something called sworn brotherhood, a sort of formal best friend, the swearing of which often came with some small ceremony. Assuming that worked, then Xie Jin would be an obvious choice.

Chen Haoran had no doubt that if, a little while later, he floated the idea of sworn brotherhood with Xie Jin that the latter would accept it. In a way, Xie Jin was the perfect candidate. He was a Realm lower and was someone he could trust, and with Phelps around to eat the bulk of the gifts, Chen Haoran could space out any gifts he gave Xie Jin to lower any suspicion or reluctance. It was just…. if he went through with making a Connection with Xie Jin, he would be adding a transactional element to their friendship, and Chen Haoran didn’t know if he was ready to turn his friend into a vending machine.

That was the crux of the issue. Sworn brotherhood was apparently a big deal and only done between close friends who chose to share life and death. Except Chen Haoran would be doing it for Rewards, not brotherhood, and he couldn’t, and wouldn’t, lie to himself and say it was for both. It would be the same with the others. If he married, it would be for Rewards, his wife irrelevant beyond that. If he adopted, notwithstanding the fact he wasn’t ready or willing to raise a kid, he would be doing it specifically to milk them for Rewards. The irony of his Gifting Power was more apparent now than ever. Encourage him to be charitable and generous but only for the chosen few and only for the benefits.

With Lan Fen, it was one thing. Their relationship had been transactional from the start despite his later misconceptions. But Xie Jin wasn’t like that. He stood up to the Lan Family when he barely knew Chen Haoran. He bowed his head to let Chen Haoran stay in his home even though it might lead to conflict with the Empire. Hell, he was ready to square up with a sentient river for his sake. Chen Haoran would repay all that by doing what? Turning him into a treasure printing machine? Giving him gifts only because he had an incentive to do so?

Not to mention, becoming sworn brothers would be something permanent. As cynical as it was to say it, there was no telling what might happen in the future. If something were to go wrong, he couldn’t just break off his brotherhood with Xie Jin or get rid of the child he adopted, and while he could divorce his wife, marrying someone and then divorcing them when they weren’t useful anymore was so scummy that just the thought alone revolted him. So sworn brothers was out, as was marriage and adoption. The last thing he wanted to do was meet any family, and getting another pet would be superfluous. The best Connection he could make right now was some kind of servant or employee. Someone with a contract he could easily dissolve should things not work out.

Unfortunately, the Basin wasn’t the right place to find a servant right now. It would be too eye-catching to hire one and give them gifts. Not to mention he was a guest. It would be a bad look for Xie Jin if Chen Haoran went around hiring and firing tribesmen while he ironed out a contract that met the conditions of the Gifting Power. He could only put it on hold until he could go to a city again.

Until then, Chen Haoran peacefully, barring the odd insect invasion, whittled away his days in the Basin until the New Year was upon them.

And, of course, as with everything else in this new world. The New Year came with a fight.

Chapter 116

Chen Haoran had tried to use the bare minimum he thought he needed to reach the top of the tree. As it turned out, he still underestimated how much power his advancement brought. His leap brought him high into the air and almost through the canopy entirely. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and grabbed a branch before he flew too high and swung himself onto the tree.

At the very top was an open space, enough for two people to sit in. The branches and leaves grew up and away from this space, covering it from view from both above and below save for one side that opened up directly facing the center of the Basin and its impaling mountain.

Bao Si took her time in climbing after him, giving Chen Haoran enough time to bury his face in his hands and cringe. ‘Earn his arms.’ Did he really say that? Why? There wasn’t enough water in Zumulu to drown him as badly as he wanted to right now.

Chen Haoran schooled his face back into indifferent calm when Bao Si finally arrived, Phelps floating them both to the top. She alighted onto the tree and took Phelps in hand off her back, giving him a few chin scratches as she did. Phelps squealed and allowed it before shrugging her off and floating to Chen Haoran, settling on his back as was his proper place.

“You’ve tamed quite the beast,” Bao Si said. “I’ve never seen its like before. Where did you find him?”

Something about her had changed in the time it took for her to climb the tree. There was something different about her features. Something predatory. Chen Haoran felt like a slab of meat being stared at.

“It was a bit of an adventure. What did you want to show me up here?”

Bao Si pointed toward the mountain and its impaled skeleton. “That, of course. Sit. This tree has the best view of the sunset.”

They shuffled around a bit. Two people and a sloth made for crowded company up here. Eventually, Chen Haoran settled Phelps into his lap and sat side by side with Bao Si to watch the evening light fade. A cool breeze brushed across his face. The humidity of the Basin lost some of its strength as high up as they were.

“What is it you want from me?” he finally asked.

“Simple curiosity, really,” Bao Si said. She was flush against his side, and he could feel every small movement she made as she made herself comfortable. “We found the Gu you fought. It still hadn’t recovered from the injuries you gave it. Given their powerful vitality, it’s rare for them to suffer such lasting injuries. It was a first for me.”

Was that it? If so, then Chen Haoran was relieved. This, at least, was easy to deal with. He wasn’t surprised to hear the Gu was still injured. Compared to what the White Tyrant could do, it was child’s play. “It’s because of my Harmonization. It’s a bit special.”

Bao Si’s interest was piqued. “It must be quite the technique if the Harmonization alone is so powerful.”

To be perfectly honest, Chen Haoran didn’t know if the Canyon Carving Sword even was a technique anymore. It certainly had never been the same since the White Tyrant’s image basically infected it. If he didn’t know any better, he would have considered them two different techniques.

“You can see it for yourself,” he said. “I just need a place to practice it. I don’t think people will be too happy if I start cutting down trees.”

“That’s no issue. Just go to the lake. Plenty of the tribes’ cultivators practice their more destructive techniques there.”

“Right the…. lake. I don’t suppose you know anything about that giant skeleton.”

“As much as anyone else does about Zumulu’s bones. Some theorize there was once an ancient battle here and that these skeletons fell during it. The Screaming Giant is considered as the obvious evidence.”

Screaming Giant. What an appropriate name.

Bao Si seemed to read his thoughts and chuckled. “To answer your actual question, every bone on that skeleton matches a human one. The only difference is in scale.”

“Somehow, that’s even scarier than the Snake’s Mouth,” he said.

If it looked human, did it think like a human? Something that big with a fully sapient mind was disquieting. Whatever killed something like that, even more so.

“Jin took you through the Snake’s Mouth, did he? Why am I not surprised? That’s so like him.” Bao Si quietly laughed under her breath, faint as it was though it sounded clear as day to his ears. Though this was less due to his enhanced senses and more to just how close she was to him. “The Screaming Giant isn’t the only one of its kind. There are other bones across Zumulu identified as human. The Screaming Giant is the most complete skeleton, however.”

The sun began its descent over the horizon, and the jungle canopy was bathed red and gold. Bao Si curled up to his side and rested her knee on his thigh. Chen Haoran locked eyes with her. Bao Si’s black eyes were the type to draw one in. If he were poetic, he’d say they were limpid pools. Chen Haoran wasn’t a good poet. Her eyes were attractive, the same way an abyss was. He placed a hand on her knee…

…and pushed it off.

“What do you want now?” he asked.

Bao Si huffed indignantly, but a small smile played across her face. “I’d like to hear how Jin met you.”

“I bought him a meal.”

She waited for him to continue and puffed her cheeks when he didn’t. She grabbed his sleeve. “I need details Chen Haoran.”

“I’ve answered your questions. Answer mine now.”

Bao Si poked his shoulder. “I’ve answered your questions too.”

“A host should be gracious.”

She rolled her eyes. “Ask away then.”

“What, specifically, is a Gu capable of?”

“Oh?” Bao Si looked surprised before morphing into a cat-like grin. “Jin didn’t tell you. He probably spent more time talking about famous cultivators and battles and perhaps a dash of hating the Empire to keep things interesting.

Chen Haoran grimaced. She’d hit the nail on the head.

“That’s normal for him,” Bao Si continued. “However, he might act at the end of the day he hates Zu—”

“Stop.”

Bao Si blinked.

Chen Haoran gave her a flat look. “I didn’t ask you that.”

“Are you not curious?” Bao Si asked. It was the most genuine he’d heard her be all day.

“Whatever his business is, I’ll hear it from Xie Jin. Not you.”

Bao Si’s eyebrows rose before she suddenly sighed. “If there’s anything I envy about Jin, it would be his luck. He’s so lucky it’s absurd. It’s a good thing I’m amazing. If I were any less myself, I would feel bad.”

“So about Gu—”

She slapped his shoulder. “I’m getting there.” She paused to collect her thoughts. “You’ve been in Zumulu for some time now. Have you seen the insects?”

“No, he conveniently didn’t see any bugs in a place full of them.” Chen Haoran tamped down his urge to say something sarcastic. It was obvious Bao Si was talking about a specific kind.

He nodded. “Some of them have the same amorphous qi that Gu do. I killed a giant beetle like that when I was with Xie Jin.” Among the others, he had seen while on his to the Basin.

“We call those insects Hell Bugs. They are completely unique to Zumulu and the reason why we have Gu while other, stronger, insect environments do not.”

Hell. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard that word come up. “Do they have anything to do with the Tenth Green Hell?” he asked.

Bao Si smiled indulgently as if Chen Haoran scored well on a test and was due a reward. “Correct. The Tenth Green Hell is the source of the energies that mutate insects into Hell Bugs and the place all Gu return to after their contract is dissolved.”

“Dare I ask what hells One through Nine are?”

Bao Si shrugged. “That’s a question for the monks. In the south, though, we have a saying: There are nine hells, and the Green Hell is the tenth. It’s the most forbidden zone of Zumulu and filled with poisonous fog and wild Gu. The monsters that have crawled out from that place have made for themselves a bloody page of destruction in Zumulu’s history. Only the strongest and most experienced warriors and shamans enter the Green Hell, and only the lucky come back out alive. Even the Sunset Emperor was forced out when he tried exploring it, and he lost a whole detachment of his Royal Guard doing so. It was the only loss he ever suffered in Zumulu.”

The Sunset Emperor. It was a name he’d read about in his history books back in Clearsprings—the Founder of the Empire and, to date, its greatest ruler. The man who singlehandedly conquered the entire continent and painted it his color. From the tone of his books, the following rulers only managed what the Sunset Emperor built and could never add to it. It was surprising to read something so critical of the highest authority in a land that didn’t seem to brook any disrespect but given that it was comparing them to their exalted ancestor, maybe that sort of rhetoric was given a pass. The Sunset Emperor ruled for a hundred years, then abdicated the throne to his son and vanished one day. It wasn’t said what happened to him, but considering that Xie Jin’s grandfather was over 400 years old and still kicking, the Sunset Emperor should be alive too.

Chen Haoran paused. Xie Jin’s grandfather was 400 years old. Obviously, this was the result of his Crystal Transformation Realm cultivation. The act of cultivating was a comprehensive improvement of a person; of course, the lifespan would be included. Chen Haoran had just never given it much thought however. It was just one of those details that fell to the side while he focused on the strength of the realms. But if a Crystal Transformation Realm could live for at least a hundred years….

Chen Haoran looked down at his hand and flexed his fingers. “How long does a Liquid Meridian Realm live for?”

Bao Si stopped and looked at him in disbelief. “Are you serious?”

“Pretend that I am.”

“I thought you wanted to know about Gu.”

“I can learn more than one thing at once.”

“Well, I can’t teach more than one thing at once.” Bao Si placed the back of her hand on her forehead and mimed fainting, leaning heavily into Chen Haoran as she did. “Not unless you can do something for me. I’ve been talking a lot. I deserve a reward.”

Chen Haoran sighed. “What do you want?”

Bao Si’s eyes slowly fell down his body and below his belt. His heart did not skip a beat as she did. It was just the Yellow Dragon that passed too close to it while it cycled. Phelps blearily looked up from atop his lap and sleepily burbled at Bao Si before curling up

“I’d like a place to rest my tired head as well,” she said. “Surely I’ve earned your lap if not your arms.”

It was his lap. Chen Haoran would have breathed relief if Bao Si wouldn’t have immediately noticed it and no doubt teased him more for it.

“No,” came his instant response.

“Please?” Bao Si tilted her head down and batted her eyes at him.

“Phelps is trying to sleep. Don’t disturb him.”

“Is there no more room in your heart for one more?”

“No. I can just ask Xie Jin.”

Bao Si clicked her tongue. “You’re no fun. It’s 200 years, barring any accidents.”

The number hit him like a truck. Double a human lifespan. Even if he didn’t reach the maximum, he’d still be living well beyond even the oldest human back on Earth.

“To finish answering your question,” Bao Si said, stirring him from his thoughts. “A Gu can be considered a living cultivation technique. Their miasma is their most used weapon, but many cultivators have died for thinking it’s their only one.”

Chen Haoran scratched his chest where there was once burned skin. “The Gu I fought stole the armor off my body and dropped a horde of insects on my head.”

“Gu are the embodiment of greed.” Bao Si curled a strand of her hair around her finger as she spoke. “Their special qi is used to power arcane and hard-to-resist abilities. They can steal the clothes off your back with a thought, the weapons out of your hands, even your cultivation if you allow yourself to be overwhelmed. Their miasma is one of the most poisonous substances in Zumulu and can be used in every way poison can be used. They can enslave and seduce people. Turn them into evil spirits and control them. Sense wealth and draw it toward their owner. Their vitality makes them incredibly difficult to kill by anything short of total annihilation. Their qi makes them harder to detect. And, of course,  they can command other insects.”

Chen Haoran’s heart fell more and more as Bao Si listed one power after another. More than ever now he was beginning to regret coming to Zumulu. “How the hell did I survive fighting one?” Knowing what he did now, he couldn’t believe he actually won that fight.

“A Gu is versatile, but it’s not all-powerful,” Bao Si said. She yawned and stretched her back, a motion that did very interesting things to her front, particularly with her being as close as she was to him. “Their means of direct at are weak, and the majority of their abilities require preparation to be used effectively. You can consider a Gu to be another type of poison; they both share the same limitations. On top of that, while their vitality is strong, doing enough damage to them will have them exact a greater price from their shaman in return. In addition, every Gu is vulnerable to fire, boiling water, and lightning, as well as just being overwhelmed by power in general. Even a Gu is helpless in the face of someone who can destroy them in one blow.” Bao Si waved a hand over herself. “And, as always, the shaman is the weak link. If you kill the shaman, then while the Gu will still be a problem, it will act far more instinctually and lack the same deadly precision they do while controlled.”

It was still a lot to take in. Even if he could beat a Gu in a direct fight there was no telling what would happen to him if he was caught unawares. He was lucky the shaman he fought had been so crudely forward with his Gu. That fight could have gone so much more differently if he hadn’t been. Chen Haoran pushed those thoughts away and distracted himself by watching the sun disappear from view. Bao Si, in the meantime, twisted so that her legs laid across his shins. Her dress rode up a bit while she moved and exposed the centipede tail on her knee once more.

“Hey,” Chen Haoran said, resolutely ignoring her antics. “Everything you said is about normal Gu. What makes a Black Bone Shaman so special?”

Bao Si laughed.“Isn’t that obvious?” A slow, superior smile grew on her face, and Chen Haoran was struck by just how much it looked like the one Xie Jin so often sported. “We’re the best.”

Pride was universal to a Black Bone Shaman, it seemed.

“Do you have any more questions to ask?” The last light of the sun covered Bao Si’s face in a golden glow. Only her eyes remained dark.

“Just one.” The most important one.

“How do friends become official?”

Chapter 115

Bao Si languidly waltzed into the clearing. She traded in her tight-fitting dress for a looser one of mossy green silk. A slit on one side revealed a toned and powerful leg. His Liquid Meridian enhanced sense of smell treacherously had him notice she smelled of flowers. Chen Haoran’s eyes weren’t deceived, however. Her gait was effortless, all liquid predator. So tightly controlled that it looped right back around into looking relaxed. Most people would see her and be fooled. Not him.

He knew a girl who moved the same way.

Chen Haoran nodded in greeting. “Good afternoon.”

Bao Si smiled back. “Good afternoon, Chen Haoran.”

Phelps squealed at her.

“Good afternoon to you, too,” she said.

Her eyes raked over him, and Chen Haoran became uncomfortably aware of the fact that he was all sweaty and dirty from training. Even a Liquid Meridian Realm wasn’t spared from Zumulu’s humidity. Let alone the Basin’s.

“Sorry, I’m a bit of a mess,” he hurriedly said as he pulled out a towel from his storage bag.

“Don’t apologize,” Bao Si said. “So many cultivators decide to coast on their success once they enter the Liquid Meridian Realm and ruin their future. I admire how hardworking you are.”

Chen Haoran blinked. “Oh, uh… thank you.”

“Congratulations on your ascension to the Liquid Meridian Realm, by the way. Achieving it at such a young age is to be commended.”

“Right. I, uh, appreciate it.”

Chen Haoran wasn’t ashamed to say Bao Si caught him flat-footed. He had an idea why she was here. In the end, the only interesting thing about him in Zumulu was Xie Jin. He couldn’t exactly treat her like he did Jiang Lei, though. In fact, he didn’t know how to treat her at all. Whatever was going on between her and Xie Jin was their business. He could only hope she wouldn’t drag him into it.

He mentally apologized to Xie Jin for what he was about to do. “Brother Jin isn’t here right now. I think he said he was going home.”

Bao Si sniffed disdainfully. “He can do what he wants.” She brushed her hair away, revealing the centipede tattoo crawling up her neck. “I’m here for you.”

“Can I help you?”

“On the contrary. I’m here to help you.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’ve yet to be given a tour of the village, no? As a shaman and representative of the tribe, it’s my duty to guide you.”

“You don’t need to go that far. I can get Xie Jin to do it.”

Bao Si raised a delicate eyebrow. “If Jin were going to do it, he wouldn’t have left you here alone now, would he? How many days have you been here now? It’s irresponsible that it’s been put off this long.”

Chen Haoran struggled to find a reply, and Bao Si capitalized on his moment of hesitation and threaded her arm through his.

“Allow me the honor? My home is beautiful.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “It’s people even more so. I want to show you everything.”

In the end, Chen Haoran had nothing to say.

“Okay.”

Just a tour should be fine.

———————

It was not fine.

He had at least been able to beg for a quick stop at the lodgings he shared with Xie Jin to clean up and change clothes. Unfortunately, Xie Jin was nowhere to be found in his time of need. And so, Chen Haoran found himself given a tour of the village arm in arm with Bao Si.

At least Phelps seemed to be having a good time.

“The style of these homes is a holdover from the tribe’s early days in the Basin,” she said. “Extended families all live around the same tree. We’ve even given them names. The one you’re living next to right now is called Proudtree.”

“Any reason for the entrance being on the roof?” he asked.

“It’s not an uncommon feature in Zumulu,” Bao Si explained as they approached a ring house. “Particularly in tribes located in the Deep Jungle. The added difficulty helps keep out pests and predators. My people carried the tradition with them when they migrated to the Basin.”

Bao Si grabbed the ladder and slowly climbed up. Chen Haoran quickly averted his eyes as he waited out the agonizing seconds.

“What are you waiting for,” she called, her voice playful. “Come on up.”

Chen Haoran bent his knees to jump but paused. It hadn’t been that long since he advanced. He was 50/50 on whether this simple jump would either take him to the roof or the air. Out of a desire to minimize embarrassment, he chose the ladder. Despite this, Bao Si had a knowing smile on her face.

“Come here,” she beckoned and brought him over to an open trap door.

Inside was a world of swirling fabric and wooden looms. Men and women fed bundles of gossamer cloth in a variety of off-white and natural colors through looms and gossiped while creating fine threads out of it. When Chen Haoran leaned over, they looked up and sent a wave of greetings to Bao Si without pausing their work.

She waved back. Her shoulder bumped his. “In terms of insect products, Zumulu has no peer, especially silk. While we can’t compare to the Central Region in output pound for pound, our quality is superior. The jungle raises fiercely proud silkworms on its leaves.”

“Do you use Gu to help with this too?” Chen Haoran recalled the scene of the Dragonfly Gu commanding hundreds of thousands of insects to die. A few silkworms would be simple compared to that.

Bao Si’s face lit up. “We do. When a shaman is involved, the silk is even better.” She waved a hand over her dress. “I made this myself.”

“It looks very good,” Chen Haoran politely said.

“Thank you,” Bao Si beamed. “Wild Silk is my favorite material. Its softness is without peer. Here, feel it.” Then, instead of doing something reasonable like offering him her sleeve, she lifted the hem of her dress and placed it in his hands, exposing her legs in the process. Chen Haoran’s eyes fell on her black bone ankle bangle, then drifted up. The tail of her centipede tattoo ended at her knee.

“What do you think?” she asked.

Chen Haoran flinched and met Bao Si’s eyes. She was smiling. He flushed at being caught staring. It was a careless mistake.

“It’s nice,” he awkwardly said, dropping her hem like it burned. “Soft.”

“I had to gather the silkworms for this dress outside the Basin. While I love the silk we make, the leaves here make the worms’ silk transparent. I only use it for my nightgown.”

Chen Haoran felt his mouth dry. Nightgown?

“I plan to use the Moon Moth Silk to make a dress as well. I can’t thank you enough for that. It’s so beautiful. I’m not sure what to make, though. What do you think, Chen Haoran? Should I make a nightgown or a cheongsam?

What did he think? Nightgown or cheongsam?

“I think you have a better eye for this stuff than I would,” he answered. “This silk is really good. I should get some robes made with it.”

Chen Haoran knew he had made a mistake as soon as he saw the glint in Bao Si’s eyes.

“Of course, you should get some!” She cheered and wrapped her arm around his, dragging him through the trap door. “Come on, I’ll measure you myself.”

“Wait, I’ll just make an appointment!”

——————————

Chen Haoran had been fortunate enough since he arrived in this world that while he may not have been the strongest, strong people had his back. Now he found himself on the other side of that equation. Xie Jin had vouched for him to stay in the Basin. Chen Haoran wasn’t going to make him look bad by being rude. At the same time, Bao Si was also a shaman and an important character in the village, and Xie Ling was standing behind her. As a guest in her home, Chen Haoran couldn’t easily refuse her as she dragged him around the village.

The worst part was that she was fun. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t enjoying her company. Even Phelps was won over with a shower of treats and head scratches. She was informative too. Like Xie Jin, she had an expansive knowledge of Zumulu’s and the Basin’s history. Still, she had approached him with an agenda in mind. Chen Haoran was glad when Xie Jin finally found them by the tallest tree in the village and the only one with no house or building of any kind around it.

“There you are,” Xie Jin said. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“It took you long enough,” Bao Si airily replied.

Xie Jin gave her a stern glare. “No thanks to you. Was it really necessary to erase his tracks?”

What? Cold shock ran down Chen Haoran’s spine like ice water. When had she done that? He cast his sense out but found no sign of any Gu.

Bao Si smiled sweetly. “How could Chen Haoran ever get a proper look at our home with you and your boastful mouth around? I simply wanted him to have a complete experience.”

Dangerous. His initial read of her hadn’t been wrong. A Qi Realm to his Liquid Meridian, and she did that without him noticing.

“Complete experience, my foot,” Xie Jin groused. He shooed her away. “Begone with you.”

“Now, now, Jin,” she chided. “I’m showing Chen Haoran around. You have other duties.”

“Chen Haoran is my guest. Showing him around is my job.”

Chen Haoran gently tugged his arm. “Thank you for today, Bao Si. I won’t take any more of your time.”

Bao Si didn’t let go. “Jin here doesn’t have any time either. He has to go to the Healing Hall.”

Xie Jin frowned. “Since when?”

“Since this morning. Grandpa is the one who ordered it. He should be there right now, in fact. You shouldn’t keep him waiting any longer. I imagine he’s already quite cross with you.

Xie Jin paled. “And you’re only telling me this now?”

It was Bao Si’s turn to narrow her eyes. “I am not a messenger. Nor do I exist to make things convenient for you. The duties are posted right there in the temple. You would have known had you decided to show up for the morning report.”

“Si—”

“Don’t you Si me. It’s not my fault you didn’t go. Nor is it my fault you didn’t think to check on your own. I brought you your tasks because I wanted to, not because I needed to. My kindness is not a job.”

Xie Jin gritted his teeth and looked as if he were about to say something until he glanced at Chen Haoran. Xie Jin held back his words and pointed at Bao Si. “We will have words about this. Brother Chen, I’ll see you later.” With that, he ran off before Chen Haoran could even say bye.

Bao Si smiled at him. “Shall we continue?”

Chen Haoran gently but firmly pushed her arm away. “Thank you, but I have to go now.”

Bao Si smirked. “Because of Xie Jin? How loyal.”

Chen Haoran did not frown but couldn’t hide his disapproval anymore. “Whatever it is you want from Xie Jin, you won’t get it through me. Please stop now.”

Bao Si laughed. It was a sharp but pleasant sound. “Wanting something from Jin requires him to possess something worth having. I had hoped his travels had changed something, but alas.” She sighed long and heavily. “I’ve given up on him a long time ago. The only one who expects anything of Jin anymore is Grandpa Ling.”

Now Chen Haoran frowned. “What do you want from me then?”

“Would you like to know?” Bao Si asked, sing-songed. She pointed up toward the top of the tree. “Shall we discuss it up there? It’s the last place I wanted to show you today.”

Chen Haoran briefly considered rejecting. A cursedly familiar mantra echoed in his mind. If not, this. Something else. Better to try and get a straight answer now when he could. He was getting tired of the vagueness surrounding him.

“Okay,” he said.

“Excellent!” Bao Si said. She held out her arms. “Up we go then.”

Chen Haoran looked at her. Phelps yawned over his shoulder. Bao Si stood perfectly still like a marble statue or a snake in ambush, a small smile playing across her face. If she felt any awkwardness, it didn’t show.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

She cutely tilted her head to the side. “How else am I going to get up there? You’re faster than me. You wouldn’t rush ahead of a lady like that now, would you? Or do you want to climb behind me instead?”

Inside Chen Haoran’s soul, there was a thirsty, dog-like portion of him that would have been perfectly quenched by either carrying her or having her climb ahead of him. Fortunately, Chen Haoran was human and not a dog. He only sometimes let his baser instincts get the best of him.

Bao Si wanted Chen Haoran to take her into his arms. What she got instead was a sloth. She looked down at Phelps. Phelps looked up at her and squealed. Her ever-confident composure finally broke, replaced with open confusion.

“You have to earn my arms,” Chen Haoran said.

He cycled qi to his legs and leapt into the air.

Chapter 114

Hey all. Despite what it may look like this is not a repost. I was tired and marked the chapters wrong. Last chapter was a Xie Jin interlude and is now appropriately titled. This is the real chapter 114. Cheers!

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

Chen Haoran stepped and paused. He stepped again and paused again. He waited.

And waited.

He began anew.

Step. Pause. Step. Pause. Wait.

Nothing.

Chen Haoran sighed. Back to the books it was. He had asked if there was a place to practice in privacy and was shown a place he was told Xie Jin personally used. Here the trees grew far enough apart to create a spacious clearing, while their canopies grew wide enough to still cover the ground from view. He paced over to the light-dappled rock on which he’d set the Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs. Heaven-Rank was an apt name because trying to learn the technique was like staring into Heaven and hoping to spot an answer among the stars. He had initially thought he’d have an advantage in learning within the Basin. The whole place was covered with shifting rainbows, after all. Surely this place would be the ideal environment for visualizing rainbow-based movement.

Naturally, it was not that easy. Whatever he had done to comprehend the Scattering Petal Palm just wasn’t clicking the same now that he was practicing a technique two whole levels above it. He re-read the relevant passage and turned back to the rainbows scattered across the ground. The sunlight dimmed, a passing cloud briefly obscuring the sun above, and the rainbows receded. Chen Haoran followed them.

Red Step of Good Fortune.

Nothing.

Chen Haoran sighed.

The First Step alone was already so difficult, and according to the book, each consecutive step would only add more complexity. It had been an ugly shock to realize just how beyond other techniques the Rainbow Stairs were. Unlike the Canyon Carving Sword and the Scattering Petal Palms, which were singular methods of attack, the Rainbow Stairs were best described as several interrelated techniques combined into one book. While they shared the same base, each Step held its own twist that was unlike any of the other seven.

At this time, he missed Lan Fen. In such a short period of time, she mastered three Heaven-Rank techniques. Given the White Tyrant’s ego and power, there was no doubt they were top-of-the-line Heaven-Ranks as well. Now that he had one himself, he could appreciate just how monstrous her talent was to accomplish such a feat. If she were here, he had no doubt she’d get to the crux of the issue in an instant. She wasn’t here, though. He was. By choice, at that. He would do this. He could do this. Come hell or high water, he would learn this technique.

Not that any of that mattered if he couldn’t get over the hurdle of the First Step. He slowly breathed in and centered himself. The cloud passed, and the jungle bloomed with light once more. A wave of rainbows raced up one side of Chen Haoran and down the other in a long memorized pattern. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, Violet. Although to be perfectly honest, the cyan looked more like indigo to him. He wasn’t quite why the book called it cyan. Perhaps it was a local perspective? Either way, if the book called it cyan then Chen Haoran would too if that made it easier to learn; and if it didn’t, well… he’d cross that bridge later. For now, he just focused on the pattern.

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, Violet.

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, Violet.

Red—

Amorphous qi lunged toward Chen Haoran, and his liquid qi reflexively flooded out his body and covered him. He wasn’t the target, however. He quickly leaped away and looked behind him. Xie Jin’s Beetle Gu was there, sinking its mandibles into the air. Then the red spot of light moved, and a flat red bug was revealed where Chen Haoran’s leg had been. The bug struggled desperately, but a quick burst of miasma saw it devoured.

“A Red Light Assassin bug,” Xie Jin said as he stepped into the clearing. “It’s a species unique to the Basin. If it’s in red light, it might as well not exist, and its poison strips away all color from a person’s eyes but red. It’s one of the deadlier killers here.”

“First, thank you,” Chen Haoran calmly said. “Second, what the fuck.”

Xie Jin shook his head. “No need to thank me. There are other protections that would have stopped it anyway once it got close. I just did it a bit earlier.”

“Xie Jin, that thing was right next to my heel.”

“As I was saying.”

Chen Haoran shook his head in exasperation. Xie Jin was deliberately being a bastard, but he could appreciate him trying to divert his attention. The Red Light Assassin bug didn’t appear that strong to his sense. The issue was it didn’t appear to his sense at all. He cast his sense suspiciously across every single patch of red in the clearing, any number of them potentially containing another lurking predator.

“Don’t worry too much about it. You won’t find that many of them. Outside of red light, they’re so fragile a stiff breeze could knock them over.”

“I’m not worrying about them. I’m worrying about the crazy bastards who live next to them.”

Xie Jin showed a toothy smile. “Would you believe me if I said the Basin is the safest it’s ever been?”

“Not at all.”

Xie Jin laughed, and Chen Haoran fought to keep the smile off his face.

“It’s true, though,” Xie Jin continued after. “What you see now is the result of generations of work to make the Basin a safer place. Back in the old days, people never came back out after entering.”

“And your tribe figured that murder nest was free real estate?”

Xie Jin tilted his head in confusion. “Well, it wasn’t a fake estate.”

“That’s not—” Chen Haoran sighed. “Oh, never mind. How did your trip go?”

Xie Jin waved his hand. “Without a hitch. Anyone trying to find you now, won’t, and anyone who tries will find themselves hunting for ghosts in the jungle.” He frowned. “I heard those Peach River bastards left before I returned?”

Chen Haoran awkwardly smiled. Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao were brought to meet Xie Ling the same day Xie Jin left. Whatever was said in that meeting, he didn’t know, but Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao didn’t stay in the Basin after it ended and immediately left. It was the last Chen Haoran had seen of them. Jiang Lei, in the end, didn’t speak to Chen Haoran or seek him out. It was comforting in a way. Worrying in another.

“They met your grandfather and left the same day,” Chen Haoran said. “I don’t suppose he’s told what they wanted?”

Xie Jin scowled. “That geezer never tells me anything. Even Si can’t get it from him.”

Chen Haoran shrugged. “I guess we’ll never know.”

Xie Jin looked like he was about to say something but hesitated. Out of some reflex, he looked behind him as if to check for eavesdroppers and then leaned forward. “It was a good thing you got rid of the spirit stone they gave you.”

A cold, creeping feeling of fear grasped Chen Haoran by the neck. He had fed the spirit stone to Phelps. He couldn’t help but feel cold terror that he had given the sloth something dangerous. Reason quickly reasserted itself and slammed that fear back, however. If the spirit stone was bad, then Phelps would have already shown side effects. Moreover, while he didn’t know him for long, he at least knew Jiang Lei well enough that he wouldn’t have given them something faulty like that.

“What was wrong with it?” Chen Haoran whispered.

Xie Jin grimaced. “It’s just suspicious. I’m sorry. I can’t say more here.”

Chen Haoran remembered the Xie Ling’s warning. He could commiserate.

“Well, enough about that,” he said, forcing a smile to his face. He waved Xie Jin over to the book. “I’ve been trying to learn this technique, but I’ve been having trouble. Help me figure it out.”

“And what if I learn it too?” Xie Jin puffed out his chest with pride as he walked over to the book. “I’m quite the genius, you know.”

“Be my guest. Just make sure to teach me too.”

Connection: Negative

Xie Jin picked up the book and lazily scanned it. “You’ll have to kowtow nine times and call me master then— Chen Haoran!” Xie Jin’s voice pitched so high it was like a squeal. “This is Heaven-Rank!”

“Yeah, so make like a genius and figure it out.”

Two heads had to be better than one. Right?

——————

Wrong. Two heads were not better than one. In fact, the addition of Xie Jin’s head made it worse. If learning this technique was an equation, then Xie Jin’s genius was an imaginary number. It just made things complex. No amount of exuberance on Xie Jin’s part that Chen Haoran would so readily share with him a Heaven-Rank technique would change that fact. Though as Xie Jin ran off to get his books and theory scrolls to cross reference, he swore to figure it out. In the end, Chen Haoran gave it up as a bad deal and called it a day. He still had other things to train, like basic combat.

Having combat experience in the Qi Realm did not prepare a person to fight in the Liquid Meridian Realm. While Jiang Lei had been an asshole about it when he stalked him that night, he was right when he said that rising in strength opened up a world of advantages. Now Chen Haoran had to train to make use of the new advantages that came with being a Liquid Meridian Realm. If he still thought and fought like a Qi Realm, then someone as talented as Jiang Lei or Lan Fen would inevitably capitalize on that.

That meant he had to control the flood.

Song Yuelin hadn’t been euphemistic when he called the Liquid Meridian Realm a walking flood. Liquid Qi surged through his meridians as if they’d sprung from a dam. It did this constantly, relentlessly. It pressed his meridians and expanded them to their fullest, enhanced them, then expanded them again. The only thing separating all this qi from rushing out and destroying everything in the surroundings at any given moment was a wall of meat and skin and an iron control imposed by his will. Even so, accidents could happen if he wasn’t careful. For a Liquid Meridian alone, there was no doubt they’d have an accident eventually as their control slipped.

Good thing Chen Haoran wasn’t alone.

The Yellow Dragon roared, and yellow liquid qi erupted from Chen Haoran before immediately condensing and surrounding him like armor. He tried moving, and the armor of liquid qi slipped from his grasp and expanded into a bubble. Chen Haoran transmitted his intentions to the Yellow Dragon and received a roar of agreement. The liquid qi condensed again. Chen Haoran brought his arm up and punched. The armor broke. Chen Haoran quickly slammed shut metaphorical flood barriers and cut off any more liquid qi from escaping. The remaining liquid qi outside his body spread out in all directions and scraped a layer of earth off the clearing before dissipating into the air.

The Yellow Dragon roared its grievance.

“There there,” Chen Haoran soothed it. “Practice makes perfect.”

If he needed evidence that the Yellow Dragon wasn’t the spirit of the Machu River in full, then this would serve. He had a feeling if it was actually the Machu, it would have no trouble controlling his liquid qi. While it may have been born of the Machu, it wasn’t the same. Still, the fact it was effectively another Liquid Meridian Realm within him was a gift so precious he didn’t know how to ever repay it.

Gift….

He turned his gaze inward and looked at the Yellow Dragon.

Connection: Valid

He wasn’t surprised and yet at the same time a surge of giddiness rose within him from seeing a Valid connection once again. Two slots. He had given up trying to figure out how to expand his Connections as fruitless. Now he knew how. So long as it wasn’t a one-time fluke, then Chen Haoran could expect to get a new Connection slot with every major Realm he advanced. That was far in the future, however. Now he had to decide his next Connection.

“So this is where you’d hid yourself,” a teasing voice called out.

Despite himself, Chen Haoran gulped.

“Hello, Bao Si.”

Interlude: The Silkworm II

The first principle of a shaman is responsibility. Their duty is sacred, and their roles are many, from serving as the spiritual guides of the tribes and bringing prosperity to expelling poisonous insects from homes. A shaman is responsible for all that and more. The act of rearing and controlling Gu demanded no less.

Xie Jin kept reminding himself of this principle as he trawled through the jungle with Ren and Bao Si. He knew why his grandfather had assigned him to this task with these people, but that didn’t mean he was pleased with it.

Chen Haoran had been left back at the village. While Xie Jin would have enjoyed his company, his presence would have just created more traces they’d have to erase. Xie Jin wasn’t quite comfortable with leaving Chen Haoran alone while those Peach River bastards were still there, but there was no helping it. Grandfather wouldn’t let anything happen anyway.

Xie Jin abruptly shook his head. Why did he have to worry about Brother Chen? He was a Liquid Meridian Realm now, while Xie Jin was still only on the Eighth-Layer of the Qi Realm. He knew Brother Chen had been near the peak of the Ninth-Layer before, but he’d only been in Zumulu for barely two months. What had he missed while he was gone? While Brother Chen had explained it, he wasn’t a very good storyteller, and Xie Jin mourned the lack of details.

“Jin,” Bao Si’s melodic, poisonous voice drifted to his ears. “Why did you have to pull me away so quickly? I didn’t even have the time to greet Chen Haoran.”

“Grandfathers orders,” Xie Jin tersely replied.

“Oh well. I’ll meet him when we return. I have to repay him for the Moon Moth Silk after all.”

“Don’t play any tricks,” Xie Jin warned.

Bao Si’s infuriating giggle was the only answer he received.

Ren, who had been silently trailing behind them, suddenly spoke. “Cousin, what is the background of your friend?”

Xie Jin very nearly stumbled over a tree root. His relationship with Ren was, in some ways, an even more complicated issue than Bao Si’s. Even so, he knew his taciturn cousin well enough to recognize how out of character such a question was for him. Ren didn’t take interest in people. Period.

“He’s from the Chen Family. He was living on his own when I first met him, though.”

“Like the pirates?” Ren asked.

“I don’t think so. I met him in Clearsprings, after all.” Xie Jin narrowed his eyes. “You don’t still think he’s suspicious, do you?” A note of warning came into his tone. He’d vouched for Brother Chen. To doubt him was to doubt Xie Jin.

Ren shook his head. “When I sensed him, there was something staring back.”

What? Xie Jin quickly recalled their meeting. Brother Chen’s qi was vast and filled with vitality to his sense like he’d taken a piece of the Machu River and replaced his qi with it. His Gu felt it even more finely. Its instincts warning Xie Jin of the threatening aura lurking within the depths of his qi. He couldn’t recall any sort of feeling of being watched, however. He didn’t discount Ren’s words; however, whatever his opinions, his cousin was a responsible and dutiful warrior. Perhaps it was something only a Liquid Meridian Realm could observe. While a Gu was finely tuned for tracking even the barest of traces, it did not mean their sensory abilities were superior overall to a cultivator’s.

“How interesting,” Bao Si cut in, her voice dripping with curiosity. “Your trip to Clearsprings seems to have been worth it since you came back with such a friend, Jin. We’d all dearly like to know how your trip around Zumulu turned into an adventure abroad. Tell us the story sometime.”

Xie Jin grimaced. “Pick up the pace. We need to get this down before more scouts are sent.”

His Beetle Gu and Bao Si’s Centipede Gu quickly picked up on the path Brother Chen and the Peach River Bastards took. From there, it was simple to retrace their steps and erase all the tracks they left as they traveled. Not that there were that many left For better or for worse, Xie Jin had to admit those Peach River bastards were pretty good at erasing their tracks. Just because there weren’t many, however, didn’t mean there were none.  While the jungle did its part in obscuring the remainder, that only meant their Gu had to spend a moment to find traces rather than an instant.

Scent was the obvious one. Among all the beings between Heaven and Earth, it would be easier to list ones that didn’t have some kind of smell. In this, a cultivator and a non-cultivator had no differences. One didn’t even need a Gu to track something by smell. While Gu were the best at it, there were other spirit beasts and even cultivators who could do the same. This ubiquity also meant there were just as many ways to obscure those scents. In the spirit of thoroughness, they used both miasma and specially prepared herb satchels to erase and scatter any scent markers left behind.

Less obvious than scent and more damning to any cultivator who trying to flee from a shaman were the imprints of qi left in the wake of a cultivators passing. It wasn’t an intentional thing a cultivator did, qi was just such an omnipresent part of a cultivator’s life that it was inevitable they’d release minuscule amounts of it as they went about their business. This qi would be absorbed back into the environment eventually, but until then, it would retain the unique identity of the cultivator. The means to track by way of qi imprints was rare, a skill belonging to special organisms and powerful techniques. Methods to avoid leaving those imprints were even rarer, belonging to the most advanced levels of stealth techniques. Gu possessed both.

The qi imprints left behind by Brother Chen and his group were already in the process of being absorbed into the environment. That bastard Wan Xiao’s was already so faint that it was covered by Brother Chen’s and Jiang Lei’s imprints. As Liquid Meridians, they were greater in every way compared to a Qi Realm. This included the traces they left behind. For these traces, no amount of herb satchels would obscure them. Instead, as their Gu identified their locations, they would flash purple and devour the remnant qi on the spot.

In this way, they destroyed all the evidence of the direction Brother Chen escaped in until they finally reached the site where Brother Chen was ambushed by the Empire. Xie Jin frowned as his Gu flew around and fed back what it observed. Fighting had a way of leaving echoes that existed for long after the battle itself was over, and that fact was in full force here. An atmosphere of peaches, dragons, and death pervaded. Fallen trees were cleanly cut and covered with a fine layer of saw dust. Gouges in the earth, no doubt left by Chen Haoran, were already sprouting with green plants. Xie Jin frowned as his Gu hovered over a spot dense with qi. He stood atop the yellow-bright spot that was clearly Brother Chen’s. Around it was a peach-pink one that was clearly Jiang Lei. Around even that was death.

Xie Jin closed his eyes and sorted the information his Gu sent him. Thirteen Qi Realms, one Liquid Meridian, and one shaman. There was the spot Jiang Lei fought the shaman and Liquid Meridian. Over to the right, Wang Xiao’s qi was heavily mixed with the enemies. Over to the left was Brother Chen’s. Almost everywhere was a sharp white energy, Brother Chen’s Harmonization. Comparing the intensity of qi made clear that Xie Jin was standing on the spot where Brother Chen became a Liquid Meridian Realm. Advancement in battle. Even children’s stories were careful about making up such a thing. It was insane by any standard, and yet he called the living proof of it, brother.

And I wasn’t there to see it happen.

“I can’t find any corpses, not even blood spatter,” Bao Si said, wrinkling her nose. “Corpse Dissolving Solution.”

Xie Jin frowned. Corpse Dissolving Solution wasn’t easy to make, or acquire. Merchants tended not to advertise that sort of thing. Using it effectively enough to obstruct a Gu also required experience. It wasn’t something a person did first try.

“Those bastards get more and more suspicious,” Xie Jin said.

“A Peach River Swordsmen using a murderer’s methods.” Bao Si smiled. “How ironic.”

Xie Jin sneered. “I told you they weren’t real swordsmen.”

“Grandpa thinks they are,” Bao Si said.

Xie Jin shook his head. Whatever they were, Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao were far from the Peach River Swordsmen of the stories. They weren’t the noble swords that brought criminals to justice and defended the people from monsters and evil spirits. He couldn’t find in their tricks the stalwart guardians that rallied to Princess Cicada’s cause as she sang the song of revolution. Whatever remnant legacy of the Peach River Sword School that managed to escape the Empire’s purge failed to preserve the spirit of their honored predecessors.

“It makes you think, though,” Bao Si continued. “Even if they are a remnant. How could they cultivate? The Empire wouldn’t allow their revival. I wonder who’s supporting them.”

A surge of wariness rose in Xie Jin’s chest and gripped his heart. He pulled out a low-grade spirit stone from his bag. “When I first met them, they gave me a spirit stone.”

Ren was by his side in a flash, and Xie Jin handed the stone to him. He turned it over in his hands and closely observed it. He handed it back to Xie Jin with a frown.

“This isn’t cut to Imperial standards.”

Bao Si’s nonchalance faded away. “If they didn’t get it through Imperial channels then…”

She didn’t finish. It wasn’t necessary. The first thing the Empire had done after conquering Zumulu was appropriate every spirit stone mine in the region. Their monopoly over spirit stones was ironclad; violating it was one of the few things that would truly rouse the ire of the Emperor.

A solemn air shrouded them, and Xie Jin bit his lip. Illegal spirit stones. Peach River Swordsmen reappearing from the dust of history and seeking audience with his grandfather. It spelled trouble, and yet none of them could muster the courage to speak their thoughts aloud.

It was Ren who broke the silence. “Whatever happens, Elder Xie will be there to calm the waters. Let us finish our work here.”

With that said Ren placed his hand on the ground, and the earth turned liquid. The gouges and overt damages quickly smoothed out and became natural. Bao Si directed her Centipede Gu to begin absorbing the qi imprints around them. Xie Jin sighed, cast aside his useless thoughts, and ordered his Gu to follow suit. The work proceeded without disruption until his Gu tried to devour the white metal qi of Chen Haoran’s Harmonization.

Xie Jin frowned as he watched his Gu spit out the energy and transmit a feeling of rejection. Before he could do anything, the white qi folded over, cut itself in half and disappeared. As if by some cue, the rest of the white qi did the same and vanished entirely to his Gu’s senses.

“Brother Chen, what the fuck.”

Xie Jin was finally struck with the realization that he knew far less about Chen Haoran than he would have perhaps liked. Just as soon as the thought came, he squashed it. Some things a Qi Realm couldn’t ask, even if they were friends.

First Ren, then Bao Si, now Brother Chen. Xie Jin balled his hands into fists.

He was being left behind.

Thankfully an outlet to vent his frustration revealed itself. A Dragonfly Gu awkwardly flew into view. Or rather, two halves of it did. Seeing such a sight wasn’t strange to Xie Jin. A Gu’s unique physiology let them survive such extreme damage. The strange thing was why it hadn’t healed.

His Gu passed on a feeling of familiar sharp qi.

“I’ve never seen such lingering wounds on a Gu before,” Ren noted.

“It must have lingered in the area after it realized it couldn’t heal,” Bao Si said. “How interesting. I really must lay down and speak with Chen Haoran.”

“Get in line,” Xie Jin said.

Bao Si smiled sweetly. “Go suck a snake’s fangs, Jin.”

Xie Jin snorted. “I’ll take the left half, you take the right.”

“What a gentleman.”

As one, their Gu shot out. The Dragonfly Gu burst out with green miasma, but even if it were whole, it paled compared to true hunters. The Centipede Gu unnaturally extended and pierced through the miasma and clench its mandibles through the right half’s thorax and rip it away. The left half stumbled at the sudden separation and was brought to the ground by the Beetle Gu. A thick purple miasma quickly overwhelmed the Dragonfly Gu, and it released an unnatural scream as it was consumed.

The purple miasma collapsed and was absorbed by his Beetle Gu. A purple aurora flashed across its black carapace, and Xie Jin could feel thrumming satisfaction through their bond. His Gu slowly flew back over and spat a dense cloud of miasma over him. Xie Jin closed his eyes and breathed in. The miasma seeped through his skin and entered his meridians, where it was seamlessly absorbed by more gaseous purple qi. A storm was set off within his meridians as his qi expanded and touched an invisible ceiling.

Xie Jin breathed out.

The ceiling broke, and his qi spiked as it spilled over its prior limits.

Qi Realm Ninth-Layer.

Quiet clapping accompanied his rise. He opened his eyes and saw Bao Si had roped Ren into joining her clapping. Her Centipede Gu was draped over her shoulders, flashing purple.

Xie Jin rolled his eyes and raised his middle finger. “Back to work, you bastards.”

Chapter 113

Xie Jin’s home could be considered the end of the rainbow. End in the sense that the rainbows scattered by the last light of sunset died when they fell within the boundary of the village. Here alone the light separated by the prism-like leaves became whole once more. It was a startling bleak contrast compared to the colorful jungle surrounding it.

The village itself was a compact affair. Blocky houses of oily black stone pressed right against each other and ringed around the tall trees whose canopy obscured the village from above.  It was the black stone that seemed responsible for the village’s lack of rainbows. Chen Haoran could just barely make out a seven-colored outline dusting the corners and edges of the homes before disappearing. The houses lacked any sort of doors, looking more like little ring forts protecting the trees than a place people lived. Villagers climbed ladders to access the roofs and then disappeared down holes leading inside. Other villagers set up small fires on their roofs to cook, and more than once, an adult or child walked across the roofs with a basket of food to offer down to their neighbors.

These ring houses could be found around every tree. Jiang Lie and Wang Xiao were taken to one by Xie Jin’s cousin Ren. Jiang Lei met Chen Haoran’s gaze one final time before leaving. It was said that the eyes were the windows to the soul. If that were the case, then Jiang Lei’s may as well have been tinted. He turned away, expressionless. It left Chen Haoran feeling complicated. He truly wouldn’t have minded being friends with Jiang Lei if it weren’t for the clear ulterior motives the man had. Perhaps he wasn’t the only one?

“I still can’t believe you’re here,” Xie Jin said, stirring him from his thoughts.

“You make it sound like I would never come here. What? Didn’t want to give me a tour?”

An indescribable emotion flashed on Xie Jin’s face and disappeared just as quickly. “I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon.”

“You should have brought him with you when you came back,” Xie Jin’s grandfather spoke.

Xie Ling had descended from the air and led the way. As they passed various homes, the people atop the roofs would stop what they were doing and pay their respects. Xie Ling smiled and waved, occasionally stopping and having a short conversation about foraging grounds and hunting with the cultivators.

“Easy for you to say,” Xie Jin muttered. Before he could even finish the sentence, his sleeve bulged, and his arm, under a force not his own, rose to slap him in the head.

“Thank you,” Xie Ling spoke without turning around.

“Whatever,” Xie Jin said, rubbing his head. “Still to think those guys were Peach River Swordsmen, of all things.”

“Can you explain what that is?” Chen Haoran asked. “I only know the name and that they’re apparently extinct.”

Xie Jin narrowed his eyes in the direction Jiang Lei went. “They should have been. They’re a legend.”

“Don’t make things up just because you’re too young to have experienced it,” Xie Ling interrupted. “I’ve met plenty of Peach River Swordsmen in my day. If they’re a legend then what does that make me?”

“A fossil,” Xie Jin quipped. His sleeve bulged, but this time he was ready and held it down with one hand. What he wasn’t ready for was for his grandfather to turn around and slap him upside the head instead. “Damn geezer,” he hissed through gritted teeth.

Chen Haoran smiled awkwardly at the by-play. It was tough to be relaxed in the presence of a stronger cultivator. Much less when you were reminded that they were over 400 years old. It was a mind-boggling number to ascribe to a single person. There were countries on Earth that weren’t that old. Whole generations would be born, grow up, and pass in that time. Of course, the White Tyrant was even older, but seeing as how he was a ghost and, well… himself, it was easy to overlook.

“To answer your question,” Xie Ling continued. “The Peach River Swordsmen represent the Peach River Sword Sect. It is a famous institution in Zumulu’s history, and many of its students became notable figures in their own right.”

“Not just notable,” Xie Jin excitedly took over. “Peach River Swordsmen are a byword for honor and justice. Anywhere the Peachwine flowed was within their swords’ reach. If a warrior proved himself, then he’d be allowed a sacred peach from their grove.” He paused, then scowled. “I can’t believe those bastards are Peach River Swordsmen, though.”

“The Peach River Sword Sect is just another power like any other,” Xie Ling gently chided. “They had their own goals that happened to help people, and it became such that continuing to do so was beneficial for them.”

Xie Jin grunted. “Whatever. It didn’t matter in the end. The Empire did the same to them what they did to all our pillars. I’m surprised there’s enough inheritance left to train those posers.”

“Oh, I’m sure it’s a fascinating story,” Xie Ling said. He brought them to the only building in the village that stood alone, built into the largest tree rather than around it. It was still constructed of the same oily black stone, but where the other homes were blocky, this one was rounded with flaring arches and wide steps leading to a simple reddish-brown door.

Xie Ling placed a hand on the door and looked back at Chen Haoran. “As I’m sure yours is.”

He opened the door. What he thought was a home proved to be a temple of some sort. Or a throne room? Green silk patterned with silkworms and dragonflies hung from the ceiling. Smoke lazily drifted from two incense burners placed in the corners, filling the air with a deep, warm scent of amber and wood. At the end of the hall was a raised dais with two cushions set before it.

Atop the dais sat another Xie Ling.

Chen Haoran paused at the entryway and stared at both Xie Lings in confusion. The one waiting for them inside was a carbon copy of the one that led them here but had an unhealthy pallor to him. Even so, the more Chen Haoran looked at him the more lifelike he seemed. The Xie Ling that they had been following, however, look more and more uncanny, like a perfect doppelganger that only revealed its imperfections when directly compared to the original. His thought was proven accurate when the Xie Ling he’d been speaking to melted into purple miasma. A small black snake slithered over to the seated Xie Ling and disappeared into his sleeve.

Xie Jin bumped his shoulder as he passed. “What are you waiting for?”

“I thought Gu had to be insects,” Chen Haoran blurted out.

Xie Ling smiled. “Gu indeed have their origin in the unique insects of Zumulu. They can take many forms, however.”

Xie Ling’s voice had a noticeable rasp to it that hadn’t been present in his avatar. Despite that there was a warmth to it that was completely lacking in his copy, no matter how kindly it spoke. It was… comforting.

Chen Haoran slowly walked up to the elder cultivator and clasped his hands in a bow.  “Hello, sir.”

Xie Ling nodded and motioned him to sit. “I am Xie Ling. Chief Shaman of the Onyx Arms and grandfather to that unruly whelp.”

Xie Jin sneered.

Chen Haoran huffed a laugh. “My name is Chen Haoran. I was lucky enough to meet Xie Jin and become friends with him.”

Xie Ling stroked his beard. “Chen? Like the pirates?”

“No sir, not like the pirates.”

“Shame.” Xie Ling even looked regretful as he said that. “Regardless, welcome to our humble home. While I have an idea as to why the Peach River children are here, I’d like to hear yours.”

“Right,” Xie Jin echoed. “What happened to settling in Daqing?”

Chen Haoran sheepishly smiled.

————————

“How?” Xie Jin asked.

“Like I said, it was a series of unfortunate events.”

“I was gone for a month.”

“A lot can happen in a month.”

“You—” Xie Jin massaged the bridge of his nose and sighed.

Admittedly, even over the course of a month, it was quite a lot.

He looked toward Xie Ling, who had remained silent throughout his entire recounting and clasped his hands again. “I’d like to ask if you had any advice, sir.”

Xie Ling stroked his beard in thought. Finally, he sighed. “It’s a heavy request to shelter you here. While it is true the Empire doesn’t approach the Basin lightly, it is not for lack of ability. Just desire. Should those Commanders decide it is worth the risk, then they will pursue you no matter what.”

Chen Haoran’s heart fell. Even though he only came here because of Jiang Lei, he still had some hope that Xie Jin’s home would provide a solution to his issue. It was understandable, though. Who’d be willing to offend the Empire for someone they barely knew?

Xie Jin immediately threw himself to the floor. “Grandfather, please.”

Chen Haoran was startled. “Xie Jin?”

Xie Ling watched his grandson but said nothing.

“Chen Haoran is a good man and a good friend. I beg of you, let him stay.”

Xie Ling hummed. “So you say, but you are the only one who knows him, and not for very long at that. Compared to your friend, I consider the Peach River Swordsmen more trustworthy.”

“I will take full responsibility,” Xie Jin said, his head still bowed.

“There’s no need to go this far,” Chen Haoran said, placing a hand on Xie Jin’s shoulder. “If you could just point me to a way to leave the region, I would be grateful.”

Xie Ling waved him off. “If my grandson is asking me so earnestly, how could I, his grandfather, deny him?”

Chen Haoran and Xie Jin looked up in shock. Xie Ling smiled. “I do not know you, Chen Haoran, but from what I have seen, you are not someone who forgets his relationships. In troubled times a loyal man is worth more than a mountain of gold. You may stay here until your trouble has passed.”

Chen Haoran held in his relieved sigh. “Thank you.”

“Thank you, grandfather,” Xie Jin excitedly said.

Xie Ling snorted. “Don’t look too excited. You said you would take responsibility. Take Ren and Bao Si and go erase their tracks. No reason to let the jungle do all the work.”

Xie Jin’s face fell, but he still nodded. “Understood.”

“So long as you do,” Xie Ling said. “Go situate your friend and head out at first light.”

Chen Haoran and Xie Jin rose and bowed to Xie Ling again before leaving the hall. Chen Haoran sighed in relief after the doors closed.

Xie Jin shook his head. “You better appreciate this, Brother Chen. I’m going to be doing a lot of extra work now with the last people I want to be around.”

Chen Haoran clapped Xie Jin around the shoulders. “Brother Jin, you have no idea how grateful I am.”

Xie Jin laughed. “I accept good alcohol as payment.”

“I’ll buy enough for you to swim in.”

“Good. Much better than those other bastards.” Xie Jin twisted his lips in distaste. “Who knows what they’re up to by coming here?”

“Your grandfather seems to have an idea”

Xie Jin scoffed. “That geezer likes to pretend he knows everything just because he’s old. He’ll spit blood before he admits he doesn’t know something.”

Well, it wasn’t like Chen Haoran didn’t have his own ideas as to Jiang Lei’s and Wang Xiao’s purpose. “Well, I—”

“Some thoughts are best kept to oneself, child.”

Chen Haoran shuddered as Xie Ling’s voice seemed to whisper directly in his ear. When he turned around, however, the doors were still shut. Xie Jin continued speaking, heedless of the warning Chen Haoran just received.

He nodded for lack of any better response.

“Were you saying something, Brother Chen?”

“I think I need a drink.”

Chapter 112

That got attention. The air shifted with the sudden flaring of qi as the warriors pulled out their weapons. The black-eyed warrior locked onto Chen Haoran and finally revealed his cultivation level. Liquid Meridian Realm Third-Layer. Just as suddenly as it shifted, the air unnaturally stilled. A deadly tension hung over their heads.

“Please stay calm,” Jiang Lei said to the warriors, as he raised his hands placatingly. He and Wang Xiao took several steps back. “Chen Haoran, what are you saying?”

He could hear the faint outrage in Jiang Lei’s voice. Chen Haoran had to admire Jiang Lei’s composure. It was what made him reliable in times of danger and, at the same time, so difficult to read. Wang Xiao was far beneath his Senior Brother in this regard, visibly purpling with anger. He had enough sense not to speak, at least. Had their positions been reversed, Wang Xiao would have no doubt let the situation come to blows immediately.  Though, violence wasn’t completely out of the equation just yet.

“Chen Haoran,” Jiang Lei said. “I’m not sure what you’re misunderstanding here, but it’s not helping.”

“Misunderstand what? That you wanted me to bring you to the Basin and use my friendship with Xie Jin to bring you inside?”

“That’s not—”

“I’m sure you would have convinced me to come here eventually after you lowered my guard,” Chen Haoran interrupted. He sighed. “If you didn’t get greedy and rush me here, I might have even believed in you.”

Jiang Lei pursed his lips and fell silent. It was all the confirmation Chen Haoran needed. He sighed again. He didn’t even have the heart to enjoy being right.

Jiang Lei’s talk of wanting to study his Harmonization had always been a crock of shit. A powerful Harmonization alone wasn’t enough to want to become friends with someone you just met. It didn’t warrant giving them valuable spirit stones on their first meeting. It wasn’t more valuable than the wealth Chen Haoran carried on his body and openly showed. It certainly wasn’t enough to make a Liquid Meridian Realm want to ingratiate a Qi Realm to them. Chen Haoran had done nothing and shown nothing to Jiang Lei during their first meeting to warrant a reaction like that. Jiang Lei didn’t do it because of the Chen Family either. It was clear that Jiang Lei knew nothing about Chen Haoran, yet he wanted to be connected to him. There was only one possible answer.

Xie Jin.

Chen Haoran wasn’t special, but he was traveling with someone who was. Shamans were a special existence in Zumulu, both valued and treated warily by the locals and the Empire. The abilities their Gu possessed made them dangerous and hard to deal with for the average cultivator. Xie Jin was not just a shaman; however, he was a Black Bone Shaman. Chen Haoran still wasn’t sure what that distinction meant, but it was clear that the label was a significant one. If it was for his friendship with Xie Jin, then Jiang Lei’s actions began to make sense.

Still, all that had just been a suspicion until Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao convinced him to seek safety in the Basin. Chen Haoran could recognize a good cop bad cop routine when he saw it. Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao wanted an in with the Black Bone tribe. They wanted Xie Jin to be that in, and Chen Haoran would be the bridge that connected them.

“Bastards,” Xie Jin growled. His Gu dripped purple miasma that withered the ground where it fell. The Black Bone warriors were poised with promised violence

“We do not mean any harm,” Jiang Lei said. “I assure you we did not come here with ill intent.”

“They’re Peach River Swordsmen, apparently,” Chen Haoran said.

It was like he threw a boulder into still water. The Black Bone warriors carefully controlled qi fluctuated in surprise. The black-eyed warrior stepped around Xie Jin and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Chen Haoran.

“Impossible,” Xie Jin whispered, wide-eyed.

Wang Xiao could hold it in no more. “Chen Haoran, you dare!” He pulled out his sword.

There was a screeching of steel as the warriors drew their weapons as one. The black-eyed warrior unsheathed a wicked-looking obsidian blade. Xie Jin’s sleeves glowed purple. Phelps hissed.

Jiang reacted instantly and firmly pressed Wang Xiao’s hand down. “Stop, you fool. You’ll only make this worse.”

“Don’t stop me,” Wang Xiao roared. “This bastard doesn’t know the meaning of gratitude.” He glared murder at Chen Haoran. “How dare you. How many times has my Senior Brother saved your life? Is this how you repay him, Chen Haoran!?”

Xie Jin lunged forward. “Bastard! See if I don’t rip your mouth off!”

Chen Haoran’s arm came up and blocked Xie Jin short at the same time Jiang Lei pulled Wang Xiao further back.

“Answer me! Chen Haoran!”

“Jiang Lei saved my life. I owe him,” Chen Haoran answered. It was the simple truth. No matter what, without Jiang Lei he would have died when the Shaman ambushed them. Maybe even died in the auction hall before that. Even so. He locked eyes with Jiang Lei.“It’s a debt that I will repay, but it’s mine alone. It’s not for Xie Jin to be involved with. I won’t let you do that.”

Jiang Lei somberly stared back. “Chen Haoran, are we not friends? Will you not trust me?”

Connection: Negative

Chen Haoran slowly shook his head. “We were friends when I was weak. We’re equals now. Don’t speak of things that were never there.”

Jiang Le’s face fell, and a long, sad sigh escaped him. “Alas.”

“I owe you a debt, Jiang Lei,” Chen Haoran said. “Whatever it is you want to do here. Please turn back. I don’t want to fight.”

“That is not your decision to make, outsider,” the black-eyed warrior spoke. “They bear the name of a dead sect and come with suspicious intentions. They must be detained.”

“Let them leave, please. Fighting here will do no one good.”

“This is our territory. Respectfully, we will be the one’s deciding.”

“Cousin Ren—” Xie Jin started to speak but hesitated.

Chen Haoran frowned. He didn’t want to fight, in all honesty. Jiang Lei’s peach blossom storm was still vivid in his mind. Should it come to a battle, then even nine against one Chen Haoran wouldn’t expect it to be easy. Not just that… even if it was specifically to ingratiate himself to him, Jiang Lei still helped Chen Haoran quite a bit. Training with him, saving him from the Empire’s sneak attack, putting out the fire burning him even while he was fighting. Chen Haoran hadn’t been lying earlier when he said he would have believed in Jiang Lei if he just waited.

…no. He was already burned once being friends with a Liquid Meridian Realm. No reason to repeat that mistake. He pulled out a sliver of his sword, and white energy began to scratch the earth. Jiang Lei placed a hand on the pommel of his sword. Wang Xiao pulled out his own sword with a shriek of qi on metal.

“Let this matter end here,” spoke a voice that came from every direction at once.

Chen Haoran felt his skin crawl as he wildly cast his sense out to find the source of the voice. Nothing. From where then?

Phelps squealed.

Slowly, he raised his head and looked up. A man stood there, standing in the air unsupported as if it were ground. He was tanned, with short black hair and a large beard streaked with white and braided with small black bone ornaments. Over his black robes was a mantle of colorful bird feathers that shifted colors like a dozen chameleons. On both arms were black bone rings.

“Grandfather,” Xie Jin called out in surprise.

Xie Jin’s cousin Ren and the other warriors bowed their heads. “Grand Elder.”

Chen Haoran reached out with his sense and couldn’t feel any qi from the man. Despite that, by his casual appearance in the air, his realm was obvious.

Crystal Transformation.

Xie Jin’s grandfather nodded at them and looked at Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao. “Peach River Swordsmen. To think it’s been 400 years since I last saw your kind.” He stroked his beard as he mused. “That old bat Xi Wangmu has worked hard, it seems.”

Jiang Lei’s composure slipped, and Chen Haoran, for once, saw him genuinely flustered. He and Wang Xiao quickly clasped their hands and bowed to Xie Jin’s Grandfather. “I have seen Senior Xie Ling. Disciple Jiang Lei pays his respects.”

“Disciple Wang Xiao pays his respects.”

Chen Haoran quickly found himself to be the odd one out. Did he bow as well? Would it be awkward if he did? Xie Jin’s grandfather was floating directly above him. Would it be a bad look if he got into a better position to bow?

“I wonder what brings you little ones to this old man’s home.”

Jiang Lei hesitated. “This… Senior….”

Xie Ling sighed. “Well, since it’s been so long since an honorable sword of the river has visited, I will hear you out.”

Jiang Lei immediately brightened. “Thank you, Senior,” he excitedly said.

“Not today, however,” Xie Ling said. “Ren’er. Take these two and give them lodgings for the night.”

“Yes, Grand Elder.”

Chen Haoran relaxed now that the situation seemed to be settled. Whatever happened from this point on was out of his hands. His relaxation was short-lived, however, when Xie Ling’s eyes drifted over to him.

Chen Haoran floundered for a moment before clasping his hands together and bowing. “Hello—” He quickly coughed. “This… Junior has seen the Senior.”

Xie Ling observed Chen Haoran for a single uncomfortable moment that felt like an eternity. Chen Haoran shivered. It was not pleasant to know you were under the eyes of someone stronger than you.

Finally satisfied with whatever he’d seen. Xie Ling nodded.

“You, come with me.”

Chapter 111

When Xie Jin had said his home was much lower than other places in Zumulu, Chen Haoran should have perhaps expected the understatement. The Basin was an apt name; from above, it looked like someone had buried a bowl into the earth and dropped a jungle into it. Waterfalls spilled over the sheers cliffs surrounding the Basin and were swallowed into the dark jungle below. The dense, dark green treetops obscured their direction from further view but from the cliffs it was obvious where the water ended up going.

Like a bowl, the contours of the Basin sloped downward and at its lowest point was a lake that glinted like black onyx under the sun’s light. A mountain protruded from the lake, or perhaps it was the lake that formed around the mountain? Whatever the case, it struck up into the sky like a thorn. It was not the only giant feature in the Basin. Black bones struck up like skyscrapers all across the jungle. The remains of rib cages towered over trees like black spiders. Spines, femurs, skulls, all black as night and titanic in scale and strewn like a careless undertaker tossed them from the coffin. It was the black skeleton on the mountain that truly pulled Chen Haoran’s attention, however.

Well… it was wrong to say it was on the mountain. Over it, perhaps? Through it? In the simplest terms, it was impaled. The mountain speared straight through the skeleton’s chest and made its ribcage a mess of splintered bone. Its four limbs were splayed outward in an immortal dying gasp. Its half-submerged skull faced the sky, drowning even in death. There was some all too human ancient tragedy behind this skeleton, which alone would have been enough to enthrall him. Instead, Chen Haoran observed it in closed-mouth horror. It was all too human, from its skull to its thumbs, as if a regular skeleton were blown up to immense proportions.

“Unsettling, isn’t it?” Jiang Lei spoke beside him. “Even for us born in Zumulu, the Basin bones are unnerving. For all that we don’t know anything about the regular skeletons, we know even less about the Black Bones.”

“Hyperbole much?” Chen Haoran asked.

Jiang Lei shrugged. “Not really. We have a thousand more questions about the Black Bones, and so lack a thousand more answers.”

Chen Haoran refrained from pointing out that was still hyperbole. He peered over the edge of the cliff and judged the precipitous drop. While he had a little experience with falling from high places now, this fall would have killed him were he still a Qi Realm. Now though?

“I could probably make that.”

Phelps nipped at his ear.

“We could make that,” he corrected.

“No making anything,” Jiang Lei said. “There’s a way down.”

“Where?”

Jiang Lei raised his hand toward the sun in lieu of an answer. He squinted as he used his hand as a measure. Chen Haoran had a thought watching him and looked directly at the sun and— Nope. Chen Haoran blinked the colors out of his eyes. Looking at the sun was still a bad idea, even for a Liquid Meridian.

Jiang Lei finished his analysis and looked left and right. He turned to Wang Xiao with a serious look. Wang Xiao shrugged and shook his head.

“Right,” Jiang Lei said. “It’s somewhere.”

Chen Haoran sighed.

—————

They eventually found a way down after a bit of back and forth. A giant slanted leg bone, its top half buried into the cliffs, served as a natural ramp down into the Basin. Walking down it was a halting mixture of walking and sliding. Despite however many millennia it had been since its owner fell, the bone was smooth, with a polished slickness. Deep, bell-like echoes thrummed within the bone’s hollow with every step. Once they got far enough down they leapt from the bone straight to the ground. Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao landed with practiced elegance. Phelps squealed in his ear and took ahold of them with his power, and Chen Haoran gracefully floated down.

The jungle in the Basin was yet again another change in what were otherwise the same trees. It was a dark jungle, but not for lack of light. This was a wet dark. The kind that only water could make when it was spilled and left alone. The trees looked like they’d been soaked and never had the chance to dry. Water dripped from their dark green leaves. The smell of wet earth was ever present.

“It’s quiet,” Wang Xiao said.

It was. There were no bird calls, no chittering of insects, no howls of monkeys or roars of far-off predators. It was such a stark difference compared to the jungle above that Chen Haoran seriously considered if there was a Silencing Formation set up around them.

“The ecology in the Basin is rather unique as far as I know,” Jiang Lei said.

“Master told me all the poison in Zumulu collects here,” Wang Xiao said.

“That’s an exaggeration,” Jiang Lei denied. “Although there’s a higher density of poisonous creatures here than anywhere else. Do be careful.”

“And you said this place is safer?” Chen Haoran asked in disbelief.

“When you’re friends with a Black Bone Shaman, there’s nowhere safer.” Jiang Lei paused. “You wouldn’t happen to know which tribe your friend is from, would you?”

“I don’t.” He didn’t even know there were multiple tribes here. “Would you even know what to do with that information?”

“I wouldn’t, but it’d be nice to have a name so we can be pointed in the right direction.”

“Who would we be asking? The trees?”

“I’m sure the Black Bones will find us eventually.” Jiang Lei took the lead and entered the jungle. “We can only stomp around in their home for so long until we’re discovered.”

The jungle was eerily silent. The only sound accompanying them were the crunching of the leaf litter beneath their feet and the wind swaying through the branches. The canopy above them still had that translucent quality that allowed sunlight to pass through, but the brightness had been sapped from it. The Basin was a waning day compared to the morning quality of the jungle above. What the leaves took in brightness, however, they added in color. Each wet leaf became a prism, and with the millions of leaves refracting light, the whole jungle was carpeted in rainbows.

Xie Jin had told him about this. About how colorful the Basin became during the day. Compared to seeing it in person, however, his stories fell far short.

Phelps hummed and relaxed on his back. Chen Haoran wondered if he was reminded of home. The wetness of the Basin was similar to the Spa Cavern in that regard. The sloth rested his head on Chen Haoran’s shoulder and silently stared at each shifting rainbow as they placed across tree bark and branches.

Chen Haoran stretched out his sense as they walked and frowned when he saw the area was remarkably empty. No animal, big or small, no birds, what insects he did find were the simplest kind. It would have been fine if it weren’t for the strange flashes of qi he felt. They were quick, and whenever he tried to focus on them immediately vanished as if they were never there. His hand slowly crept to his looted sword.

Jiang Lei gave Chen Haoran an amused look. “Sensing something?”

“What are they?”

“Gu, insects beasts, some combination thereof. Who knows.”

“They don’t feel like Gu.”

“Don’t take the shaman from before as an example. Gu are excellent at hiding. We were lucky that he, to borrow your words, sucked at stealth.”

“Is that your new favorite phrase or something?”

They bickered as they walked. Chen Haoran still kept his hilt firm in hand. Nothing came of the hidden qi, however. Soon enough, their conversation dwindled away as the rainbows drifted and the sun set, casting the jungle a dark orange. They had yet to find even a hint of another person.

Jiang Lei looked solemn.

“Should we make some noise?” Wang Xiao asked. “Surely, they’ll have to answer us.”

“I don’t believe that will leave the best impression,” Jiang Lei said. “We may have to turn back—”

Chen Haoran’s qi flared.

Even his presence took on a new layer of weight with his advancement to the Liquid Meridian Realm, and it stirred up a storm of leaves and rustling branches.

“What are you doing?” Jiang Lei demanded.

Chen Haoran pushed his flaring qi for a minute, then cut it. He waited. The jungle was unnaturally still. “Huh, when Song Yuelin did this—”

The jungle struck. A wave of creatures simultaneously attacked from every direction, from places that were very much empty to his sense right before they moved. Colorful frogs lashed out with arrow-tipped tongues, a silent cat-sized mosquito fell on them from above, a scorpion rose from beneath his feet with three dripping stingers.

Chen Haoran’s qi surged through his meridians and spilled their banks. The Yellow Dragon roared. Liquid qi flooded out and swept away their ambushers. The dragon pride inherent in his qi crushed all thoughts of defiance, and the jungle came alive with yellow light and the rush of movement as every hidden creature in the vicinity fled. Direction Liquid Qi was much like using a third hand. While it was instinctual and felt natural to use, there was still a sense of awkwardness as he got used to it. The best he could do was avoid releasing qi from his back and hitting Phelps. Jiang Lei on the other hand was forced to cover himself and Wang Xiao with his own liquid qi.

Chen Haoran pulled back his liquid qi and scratched Phelps’s chin when the sloth angrily squealed at him. Jiang Lei dispersed his own and for once looked quite annoyed with Chen Haoran.

“May I ask what it is you think you’re doing?”

“I liked Wang Xiao’s suggestion,” Chen Haoran replied. “I don’t want to wait the whole night either.”

And they wouldn’t be.

Qi flashed, and from the shadows appeared several armored forms. Whatever technique they used to hide from his sense was impeccable. Even now, when they were standing in front of him, he could barely sense their qi. Their armor was as black as the bones they decorated it, looking less like metal and more like they had ripped the carapace off a massive bug and fashioned it into armor. Or perhaps that was exactly what they did.

One man took the lead. His qi was faint enough that Chen Haoran couldn’t guess at his Layer, yet it held a weight all too familiar to him now. Liquid Meridian Realm. He was not the only one either, there were at least three others.

“You’ve made your presence known, foreigner,” the man said. His eyes drifted over to Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao, and his face flashed with disgust. “Peachbloods. State your business.”

“My name is Chen Haoran. I’m here to find my friend Xie Jin.”

The man’s black eyes narrowed before they turned away. “He will confirm that.”

Chen Haoran stretched his sense to follow the man’s gaze and lit up in joy when he sense familiar qi. A familiar voice soon followed it.

“Hold. Hold damn it!”

A black beetle, Gu burst into the scene, and hot on its tail was Xie Jin. “Let me check the situa—” He ground to a halt when he saw Chen Haoran. Confusion writ large across his face. “Brother Chen? It really was you?”

“Brother Jin!” Chen Haoran crossed over to him, ignoring how the qi in the air tensed, and how the black-eyed warrior defensively loomed behind Xie Jin. Chen Haoran clasped Xie Jin’s arm. “It’s good to see you.”

“You advanced?” Xie Jin asked in disbelief. “No, before that. Why are you here?” He suddenly looked over Chen Haoran’s shoulder and scowled in recognition at Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao. “You. Why are you here?”

Jiang Lei raised his hands placatingly. “We coincidentally met with Chen Haoran and, due to certain circumstances, escorted him here. This would perhaps be a discussion best done indoors, however. May we have the honor of lodging with your tribe?”

Xie Jin visibly hesitated. The black-eyed warrior calmly watched him and made no move. The other warrior stood so still that they seemed to blend back into the shadows. The struggle was clear on Xie Jin’s face when he looked back at Chen Haoran.

“Even if it’s because of you, Brother Chen. I can’t just allow them in.”

“That makes things easier then,” Chen Haoran calmly said. “Because they’re not here for me.”

He grabbed the hilt of his sword.

“They’re here for you.”

Chapter 110

What followed was cleaning up the scene, gathering up the strewn pieces of his Clear Heart Mirror Armor, and taking count of their spoils. Unfortunately, Chen Haoran’s hopes that he’d find a treasure or a technique were dashed. Some rations. A few silvers and gold in tael and banknote form. Other sundries and camping gear. As it turned out, soldiers didn’t carry any extraneous supplies when out on a mission. Neither did they have any storage bags. Even for the Empire, equipping all its soldiers, even its skilled ones, with their own storage bags was too much of an expense, apparently. Luckily the Liquid Meridian Jiang Lei had killed did have a storage bag. What was in it, he didn’t know. Jiang Lei merely peeked inside it and dumped the contents of the storage bag into his own before shredding it to pieces.

Chen Haoran looked on mournfully. He wasn’t shameless enough for a portion. Even if Jiang Lei didn’t kill the Liquid Meridian without him holding them off, Chen Haoran would have died several times over. Even so, it hurt seeing him destroy the storage bag.

Jiang Lei noticed him watching and smiled helplessly. “You can never be too careful with storage bags. It’s not uncommon for them to have some means of tracking. Better to minimize any risk since we’re dealing with shamans.”

Chen Haoran was beginning to realize just how paranoia-inducing it was when one was on the wrong side of a Gu. “Does that mean we can’t take anything?”

“It should be fine. The storage bag is one thing but for the others, time and distance will take care of any trace. Take whatever you want.”

“Not like there’s much to take. Damn, Gu.” When the Gu devoured the shaman’s corpse, it also took his storage bag and left behind nothing for Chen Haoran to loot.

Jiang Lei laughed. “That’s just the nature of the Gu. Seeking treasure is second nature to them, and taking it is an instinct.”

“Like how it stole my armor?” Chen Haoran shuddered. It had been a long time since he had been so caught off guard. Thankfully Jiang Lei had been quick to put out the flames. He’d rather have all his limbs broken again instead of burning to death.

“Just one of their many abilities, I’m afraid. If the Shaman weren’t so focused on killing us, then there would have been little we could do to stop him from taking your storage bag.”

Chen Haoran picked up a soldiers sword and tested the edge.“I knew they were powerful, but I didn’t expect Gu to be so ridiculous.”

“There’s a reason shamans are as respected as they are feared. A single Gu has a variety of difficult-to-counter abilities available to them.” Jiang Lei hefted the axe of the dead Liquid Meridian and tossed it to Chen Haoran. “Use this. It’s at least better than those Mortal-Rank swords.”

Chen Haoran easily caught the axe by the handle and casually swiped it through the air. Channeling qi through the weapon had its edge glow metal white. A Profound-Rank weapon. “I won’t be able to use my Harmonization through this.”

Jiang Lei raised an eyebrow. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. Take one of the swords as well, just in case. You’ll want to upgrade to something better soon, though. Your Harmonization seems to have only gotten fiercer with your advancement.”

“Fair enough,” Chen Haoran said as he hung the axe at his waist.

The sound of sizzling filled the air, and he wrinkled his nose as the smell of burning meat assaulted him. He looked over to find Wang Xiao sprinkling a white powder over the corpses. As soon as the powder touched the skin, it began to bubble, and Chen Haoran watched with horrified awe as the body was reduced to an unrecognizable black sludge in a matter of moments.

“Bone Dissolving Solution,” Jiang Lei said. “It’s a southern specialty. Apparently, its creator intended for it to be an ingested poison, but it was too obvious for that. Some creative souls then realized how useful it was for disposing corpses and repurposed it.”

“You guys are pretty professional,” Chen Haoran faintly said.

Jiang Lei gave him a toothy grin.

“In Zumulu, this is the bare minimum.”

———————

They didn’t stay long after disposing of the corpses and quickly set off into the jungle, only stopping briefly at a stream to wash off their blood and sweat. The entirety of the next day, they didn’t stop to rest at all until well into the night. It was a punishing pace, but for Chen Haoran it may have well been a slightly longer run. Compared to a visibly exhausted Wang Xiao, Chen Haoran was barely winded. He felt like he could run for days, and in fact, he could.

Jiang Lei pushed them to run without stopping over the next few days and Chen Haoran began to come to terms with the new physical realities of the Liquid Meridian Realm. Lan Fen had been right to call the gap between realms a chasm. While knew from prior experience just how overwhelming a Liquid Meridian Realm was, becoming one revealed the full extent of the depths he only ever saw the surface of.

He was faster, stronger, tougher, more perceptive, more everything. To lift a phrase from back home, he floated better than butterflies, and as for his sting… well, when he placed his hand to lean on a tree after running for four days straight, he accidentally pushed the whole thing over, roots and all.

Suffice it to say he was extra careful with how he moved until he fully adjusted.

All this stemmed from the liquid qi now coursing through his meridians. Over the days, the Yellow Dragon had ceaselessly absorbed and refined qi for him till the trickle he’d begun with became a river. The Yellow Dragon. He still wasn’t quite sure what to make of the Machu’s gift. Was it the Machu River itself? Or a separate entity? It certainly acted more like the Yellow Dragon he’d visualized all this time than the Machu River. It was a bit uncomfortable to know there was an intelligent mind living within his body now. On the other hand, the benefits the Yellow Dragon provided were too good to give up.

Automatic cultivation while he focused on other tasks and double the efficiency when he cultivated himself. These alone were enough to make him forever satisfied, and he was sure they weren’t the only things the Yellow Dragon was capable of. Any other uses would have to be explored in the future, however. The company he was keeping, and the environment they were in weren’t really conducive to training with the sentient water living in his meridians.

After running for five consecutive days straight, Jiang Lei was finally satisfied with their distance from the battle site. Their journey, while still hurried, wasn’t nearly so frantic now. It was a welcome relief to Wang Xiao, who now found himself the weakest link. He’d not said another word, untoward or otherwise, to Chen Haoran ever since the fight. Every so often, however, Chen Haoran found him staring at him with complicated eyes. It seemed his advancement did more of a number on Wang Xiao than their duel did.

Jiang Lei, for what it was worth, didn’t treat Chen Haoran any differently than before. They still reviewed the Seven Steps of the Rainbow Stairs together, and between struggling to get the technique started Jiang Lei would regale him with some anecdote from his own training or a local legend he’d grown up on. He wasn’t sure how to feel about it, in all honesty. Was it good? Bad? He didn’t know. What Chen Haoran did know was that now that they were on the same level, he could finally face Jiang Lei with confidence. Even the skill Jiang Lei had shown in the fight wasn’t enough to press Chen Haoran the way being a Qi Realm to his Liquid Meridian did. Becoming stronger was quite the balm for the mind. Who knew?

Chen Haoran didn’t dwell on those sorts of thoughts too much. Most of his attention was split between learning the First Step of the Rainbow Stairs and experiencing the jungles of Zumulu. One was far more stimulating and immediately rewarding than the other. Chen Haoran had thought he’d gotten his taste of the jungle when traveling with Xie Jin. As he quickly learned, the sea of trees that comprised the jungle of Zumulu were only superficially similar to each other depending on where one was.

Here in the ‘deep jungle’ as Jiang Lei called it, Zumulu, as the natives knew it, was in full bloom. The jungle trees lost whatever restraint they had in the periphery of Zumulu and rose to over 200 feet in height. The foliage grew so thick between them that Chen Haoran did not have to worry about the hot southern sun burning him because the leafage blocked any few of the sky period. That did not mean they traveled in darkness, no. Rather than block the sun’s rays, the leaves of the giant trees had a gem-like luster and filtered the harsh sunlight into a softer, gentler form. The type of light that might shine through a window on a lazy day. It lent an ethereal quality to the world underneath the jungle. Particularly in the way the light mixed with the ever-present water vapor and wrapped around branches and trunks like a heavenly drape.

Too bad the wildlife didn’t seem to get the memo.

Slavering monitor lizards the size of sharks with none of the reservations. Giant rolling nuts that popped open to reveal wooden scorpions hiding within them. Dog-sized dragonflies and the man-sized mantises that fed on them. Other insects big and small. All blurred to Chen Haoran’s qi sense in a way similar but not quite exactly like Gu. They detoured a small but hilariously lethal tree that released a zone of fine hairs that burned the lungs if breathed in. They did battle with a troop of snake-tailed monkeys that wielded their serpent appendages like lassos. Chen Haoran woke up one night and found Jiang Lei having a staring contest with what he swore was King fucking Kong.

Chen Haoran had to wonder if looking beautiful was the environment’s way of apologizing for what lived in it. It was an act of sheer will that he walked with his own two feet back into the jungle after their brief forays into towns for supplies. When Jiang Lei finally, blessedly, said they were near the Basin Chen Haoran felt relieved.

He really should have known better.

Chapter 109

Chen Haoran opened his eyes and looked at the swarm that surrounded them. Large patches of green miasma ate away at Jiang Lei’s liquid qi dome. Jiang Lei swung his sword. A glowing blade of qi crossed through the barrier and annihilated a hole in the swarm to the outside. It was only exposed for a moment, however, before the swarm shifted and more insects closed the gap.

Chen Haoran blinked once, and the world took on new colors as Liquid Qi enhanced his vision. He watched a green beetle with a subtle purple gloss on its shell land on the peach qi dome. He picked out the scars Jiang Lei’s corrosive qi left on its carapace before it burned away completely. He immediately began tracking the next insect with such clarity he could individually identify their species, even surrounded by a million others. Was this how eagles looked at the world?

Under the enhancement of his growing Liquid Qi, his other senses rose to match the level of his vision, and he marshaled his qi to dampen the nausea it caused. He still needed to grasp the situation. His qi sense flooded out with him as the center stretching ten meters, twenty, thirty, before finally stopping. Within the zone, he could see the swarm rising upward in a single massive column. The insects, all 5,972,451 of them, rotated as they pressed down on the dome like a living drill. Beyond the column, he could sense the connected energies of the Shaman and his Gu. The amorphous energy of the Gu was as normal, but to Chen Haoran’s sense, the Shaman’s green qi blurred and took on several points of similarity to his Gu’s qi.

As he was inspecting, he was observed in turn. What felt like three pairs of ghostly eyes scanned him and were startled by what they saw.

“He succeeded?” Wang Xiao whispered in disbelief. His emotions whipped his gaseous Peach-colored qi into a swarm.

Jiang Lei laughed and shook his head.“Chen Haoran, you crazy bastard.” His lake of pink qi surged as he pushed back the dome.

“Impossible!” The Shaman shouted. The blur over his qi fell as the reality of Chen Haoran’s successful advancement caused a ripple across his own lake of noxious green qi. The Dragonfly Gu’s energy spiked and the swarm flashed with miasma and doubled its efforts.

Chen Haoran wiped the blood from his face. “Jiang Lei, cover them.”

Startled, Jiang Lei immediately grabbed Phelps and Wang Xiao. Within his body, the Yellow Dragon threaded a line of liquid qi throughout his meridians and then accelerated toward his head. Chen Haoran took a single step and bounded through the dome and into the swarm. A million crawling bodies tried to bury themselves in his skin. The Yellow Dragon roared. Liquid Qi flooded out of Chen Haoran. The swarm scattered.

Xie Jin had said that among insects, the Gu was king. The Dragonfly Gu had more than lived up to those words with the immense swarm it commanded. Even now, as the swarm threatened to break completely under Chen Haoran’s flood, it reasserted its dominance and directed the swarm to crush him. It was an admirable, if futile, attempt.

After all, what was a Dragonfly to a Dragon?

Liquid qi surged and carried the Yellow Dragon’s roar. Where before, the insects didn’t hesitate to sacrifice themselves to Jiang Lei’s corrosive qi, they now reeled back as soon as they touched the dragon’s arrogance. Chen Haoran raised a hand, and his liquid qi followed the motion, flooding up to the air like a spear and breaking the swarm from within. The liquid qi stopped before it could go more than halfway up. He had just broken through, he didn’t have enough qi to let it flood as he wished. Even as the thought occurred, the Yellow Dragon breathed in more qi and devoured it, feeding the flood while Chen Haoran directed it.

The Shaman cursed, and a silent command to his Gu had the swarm drawn into the air away from Chen Haoran. He glared murder at Chen Haoran and slapped his storage bag, a green beast core flew out of it. “I’ll refine your bones into a puppet! I’ll torture your soul and make your ghost a slave for a thousand years!”

The Shaman tossed the beast core to the Gu. The Dragonfly Gu covered it with miasma and tore into it with a savageness Chen Haoran had never seen before from the otherwise robotic Gu. Before his eyes, the core shrunk and scattered to dust as the Gu devoured its essence. The Shaman waved his hands, and the Dragonfly Gu’s eyes shined with green light. Above them, insects and miasma converged into a sphere. Miasma leaked from within the insect planet like toxic vents. Behind him, Jiang Lei’s qi spiked in preparation.

Chen Haoran calmly watched the formation of the poisonous planet. His hand drifted to his scimitar, and before he drew the blade, he was struck with a sudden sense of nostalgia. A strong Liquid Meridian. A final giant attack. The green qi.

“You mongrel,” Chen Haoran said with a laugh.“Don’t tell me a storage bag is all you have, you broke bastard.”

The Shaman was not amused. “Die,” he coldly said.

The toxic planet fell.

“As above, so below,” Chen Haoran murmured. He had to give the White Tyrant credit; the scenery of that day was burned into his mind alright.

Chen Haoran pulled out his scimitar and slashed. The jungle lit up with white light. The earth ruptured and parted open. Towering trees fell and became sawdust before even touching the ground. The toxic ball of insects and miasma was split down the middle, and then those halves were themselves split down the middle. White blades of light cut away insects and miasma into fine dust. White lines of metal energy cracked across the Swiftwind Scimitar, and it shattered into pieces.

“Damn,” Chen Haoran sighed. His legs buckled, and he dropped to a knee. The liquid qi within his body dimmed, and the Yellow Dragon hastily drew in more qi to restore it. He’d overdone it with that last attack. He gazed at the broken hilt of his blade. “I wonder what you felt back then.”

The Shaman stared at Chen Haoran with frozen, terrified eyes. A thin red line trailed from his head down vertically on his body, and he split into two. The Dragonfly Gu followed its master’s fate and split in half down the middle but remained floating in the air. Chen Haoran frowned as the halves of the Dragonfly Gu awkwardly reattached themselves. They didn’t heal like how the Auctioneer reattached his arm, however. They just stuck together, and when the Dragonfly Gu flew to its master’s corpse, the halves slid apart and readjusted themselves. The Dragonfly Gu spewed miasma over the Shaman’s corpse. After a moment, the miasma turned blood red, and when the Gu swallowed it back, all that was left was the Shaman’s scarlet uniform and bone necklace. Before Chen Haoran could do anything, the Dragonfly Gu turned and disappeared into the jungle.

“So fucking weird,” Chen Haoran muttered.

“On that, we can agree,” Jiang Lei said, slapping Chen Haoran on the back. “Although in my eyes, you’re not much better. I’ve met berserkers less crazy in battle than you are.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Are you alright?”

“Tired and in pain. I’ll live, though.” Even after getting it in what felt like every cell in his body, the fact that he could stand and talk right now was a testament to the exaggerated physique of the Liquid Meridian Realm. His injuries were still there, but under the enhancement of Liquid Qi, they were far less serious an issue than when he was a Qi Realm. This wasn’t even the end of it. Even as they spoke he could feel his liquid qi settling into the corners of his body. Given time to accumulate qi and adjust his body would know doubt be even more ridiculous. Chen Haoran couldn’t even imagine what effect Liquid Qi would have on the Stygian Lotus’s durability.

Jiang Lei clicked his tongue. “I’m sure the Heavens are just as surprised as I am about that. What were you thinking?” He offered a hand.

Chen Haoran grasped it and let Jiang Lei pull him to his feet. “Like I had to advance. Someone had to save the day after all.”

“I was working on it. I was in the middle of considering the options when you pulled that stunt.”

“It worked. That’s all that matters.”

Phelps floated over from behind Jiang Lei with a squeal and buried himself in Chen Haoran’s chest. Wang Xiao followed after the sloth with an expression Chen Haoran could only describe as complicated.

“Will that Gu be a problem? It won’t warn another shaman or something, will it?” Chen Haoran asked.

Jiang Lei shook his head. “The death of the shaman is the end of the contract between them. It’ll wander around for a bit as a free spirit before making its way to the Tenth Green Hell.”

Chen Haoran put a lid on his desire for Jiang Lei to expand on that last sentence. “So we just have to worry about the next shaman that comes after us instead.”

“We should be fine. The Empire deploys the majority of the Gu Department outside of Zumulu. That shaman should have been the only one in the area. It will take time for another to get here. So long as we clean up well, there won’t be any traces left for them to track.” Jiang Lei turned his gaze to the ruined battlefield. “Not that there’s much cleaning up to do. You seem to have understood something about your Harmonization.”

“Maybe,” Chen Haoran said. “Or else it’s more of the same, but stronger.” He would have to get a new sword, one that wouldn’t break under his new power, to really see.

“On that note, congratulations on your advancement to the Liquid Meridian Realm.” Jiang Lei clasped his hands in respect. Wang Xiao looked like he was sucking a lemon but he also clasped his hands. “How does it feel?”

Chen Haoran considered the question. He felt strong. Stronger the ever. He felt safe. Safer than ever. He felt empty. Empty like he hadn’t felt since the Spa Caverns. Like a space had opened up that just waited to be filled.

Everlasting Hundred Blessings Charitable Prosperity

Pet Phelps

He looked at Jiang Lei.

Connection: Negative

Chen Haoran smiled. “A hundred times better.”

Chapter 108

When Chen Haoran first saw the Heavy Core Pill he had been intimidated by its size. So his first reaction when he easily downed it was surprise. The Heavy Core Pill sank like a stone to his core, leaving a spicy grass taste on the back of his tongue. Chen Haoran exhaled and smelled spring in the air. He could feel the aroma of the Heavy Core Pill spread thickly throughout his whole body and as he waited for it to take effect.

He did not wait long.

As if it had caught the scent of something delicious, his qi began to scramble madly toward his core. Chen Haoran quickly sat on the ground to focus, or rather, he was forced to. When Jiang Lei had told him the Heavy Core Pill was an aid in attracting qi, he underestimated just how effective it was. It wasn’t just the qi freely flowing in his meridians that rushed to his core; it pulled out the qi that had seeped into his body. It pulled qi from places he didn’t even know had qi, and from where it took Chen Haoran felt empty. Not low. Not sluggish. Empty. Even in his worst qi exhaustion, there was still qi flowing evenly through his meridians. Now there was nothing.

His limbs sagged as he was assaulted with a profound sense of weakness, and it became a struggle to even sit up straight. Without the passive enhancement of qi, he was forced to use the strength of his muscles instead. The difference was stark. It surprised Chen Haoran that he was surprised at what being normal felt like. He had unconsciously grown so used to being a cultivator that he forgot he was once a man.

He let out a shuddering, spring-filled breath and put those thoughts to the side. The Heavy Core Pill did the majority of the work condensing his qi but not all of it. He had to focus.

The Yellow Dragon roared as it danced through the deluge of qi. It sank to his core and coiled around the shining green Heavy Core Pill at the storm’s center. Surrounded by the swirling mass of qi, it possessively roared as if it were claiming a treasure hoard. Qi pressed down on it and covered the pill until not a speck of green light could be seen. Chen Haoran tried to grab ahold of his qi and create some sense of order but found it ripped away by the irresistible attraction of the pill’s dense wood energy.

Fine then. There was no need to be delicate.

The Yellow Dragon roared and squeezed the pill. The qi within his core immediately contracted simultaneously as if it were being squeezed by a giant hand. The Dragon roared again and tightened further. His qi condensed. Under Chen Haoran’s direction his qi slowly and steadily condensed into a smooth sphere with the Yellow Dragon as its center. At the same time the Yellow Dragon’s form drew together tighter and tighter as it crushed the Heavy Core Pill into an even smaller mass. Empty space gradually grew within his core as his qi contracted until, eventually, only the Yellow Dragon remained.

It sat alone within his core, glowing golden bright. Its proud head was pressed flat against its coiled-over body. Its roars were long silent. Chen Haoran would not make the mistake of thinking they stopped, however. Its arrogance was still there, just turned inward and pressed like his qi. The Yellow Dragon was on the verge of transformation now, but it still wasn’t enough.

Chen Haoran weakly raised his hands and pressed them together. Between them, he imagined the Yellow Dragon. He squeezed, and the Yellow Dragon grew smaller. Chen Haoran wordlessly shouted and pressed his hands harder. The Yellow Dragon shrunk and grew even brighter. Chen Haoran squeezed until he felt pain in his hands. Squeezed until he felt something crack. The Yellow Dragon shrunk to a pin prick and glowed so bright he could barely see the outline of his form. He roared and pressed one last time. The Yellow Dragon blurred.

A drop of golden water appeared.

In his head. Not his core.

From where it appeared, he did not know. How it appeared when every scrap of qi had been dragged from his cells was obvious. It was not his. He had forgotten about the water drop the Machu River made him absorb after deeming it harmless. Now Chen Haoran was forced to watch in disbelief as the Yellow Dragon raised its head and roared. The golden water drop fell straight from his head to his core. Water met Dragon.

Chen Haoran lost control.

An explosion of qi knocked him out of his visualization. The dense sphere of qi he had so painstakingly formed broke like a breached dam. His qi ran wild as it sought to fill in every empty space within a body unprepared to handle the force. Like a stampede of beasts, his qi trampled over every organ, bone, and vein in his body. Chen Haoran tasted metal in the back of his throat, and he suddenly coughed up blood. His arrow wound burst open with a spurt of blood. Yet more pressure built up in his skull, and blood freely ran from his nose and eyes. His qi ran out just as freely through his wounds, and every breath he took was followed by a heavy exhalation of qi.

“Chen Haoran!” Jiang Lei shouted. “Junior Brother, the healing pill!”

Wang Xiao was by his side in a flash and placed a hand on his back to hold him upright. Wang Xiao pulled a pink pill from his storage bag and forced it into Chen Haoran’s mouth. It tasted like peaches. Healing energy quickly flowed, but most of its power was wasted fighting against his wild qi before it could heal him. Phelps screeched in distress and placed himself at Chen Haoran’s feet. Alternately pawing at him and clawing at Wang Xiao defensively.

The Shaman’s wild laughter sounded above them. Carried through the swarm such that the raucous buzzing rose and ebbed as if it were laughing as well. “You’ve given me a good show. In all my years, I’ve never met a fool like you. You may not be a Heaven’s Chosen, but in boldness, you have no equal!” As if to punctuate his point the swarm suddenly reared back and slammed into the dome. Toxic green energy drilled into Jiang Lei’s liquid qi like veins.

“Damn fool,” Wang Xiao cursed, pushing his qi into Chen Haoran to guide the healing pill. “If you want to die, at least die fighting.”

“Chen Haoran, stay down. I’ll get us out of here,” Jiang Lei promised. His sword flashed with a peach glow.

Chen Haoran ignored them all. Within his meridians right now, a drop of golden water was dancing. Where it passed through his rampaging qi, it left a calm current in its wake. It did not devour, it did not hunt, and yet his qi was pulled to the droplet regardless. It danced in an all too familiar cycle around his body as it made orderly his out-of-control qi.

It was a gift from the Machu River. Of course, it wasn’t meant to harm him. He was just the fool who got distracted at the critical moment.

Chen Haoran pushed away Wang Xiao and, with an effort only made possible through qi, stood up.

“You dumb bastard,” Wang Xiao said. “You’re in no condition to stand.” He went to force Chen Haoran back down, but then the truth of his words hit him. He pulled back and regarded Chen Haoran with wary eyes.

“Chen Haoran?” Jiang Lei worriedly called.

“I’m not done yet.” Chen Haoran wanted to say. Instead, he coughed more blood onto Wang Xiao. Whatever, it didn’t matter. He was bruised, cracked, and bleeding. Not broken.

The Yellow Dragon roared. It emerged from the depths of his core with a vengeance. Chen Haoran cycled his qi, and the Yellow Dragon took off chasing after the Machu water drop. Qi entered his body and was devoured by the Dragon, increasing its speed until it caught up with the dancing droplet and swam straight into it.

Despite what it seemed at times, the Yellow Dragon was no more real than the phantom Lan Yao he sparred with to learn the Scattering Petal Palm. It was a figment of his mind, a useful mnemonic to help him use the Yellow River Dragon Refinement. When the Yellow Dragon met the Machu water drop, it should have passed right through it.

Instead, they merged.

The Yellow Dragon did not devour the water drop, and yet it absorbed it better than it ever did any qi. Spectral scales gained solidity, imaginary eyes glowed with sharp light, an invisible roar gained real force. Before Chen Haoran’s eyes, the dragon he had only ever pictured came to life. It opened its jaws and roared, and he felt the vibrations drum through his meridians and match the beat of his heart. When Chen Haoran’s thoughts descended to the Yellow Dragon, another mind rose to meet him.

The Yellow Dragon waved hello.

Chen Haoran response was brief.

He needed to advance.

The Yellow Dragon roared in approval and shot off. With the merging of the droplet, the qi the Dragon once had to chase now willingly threw itself into its maw. With the merging of the Dragon, the qi did not pass through like with the droplet but stayed. The Yellow Dragon danced and devoured, and as it did, it glowed with golden light as all the qi in Chen Haoran’s body was absorbed within its form. After completing an entire revolution through his body, he was again left empty. Strangely enough, he didn’t feel weak this time. Not when the Yellow Dragon was still dancing through his meridians.

Chen Haoran breathed.

The Yellow Dragon breathed with him.

Yellow River Dragon Refinement.

Qi surged into his body and was devoured by the Yellow Dragon. After refining it all, he breathed again and took in even more qi than before. Devour, refine, breath. In this way, each successive breath was larger than before until even the air around him was disturbed by the intake of qi. The golden glow around the Yellow Dragon intensified until it became a liquid and trailed from its body as it danced through his meridians.

Liquid Qi, the mark of the Liquid Meridian Realm.

He advanced.

--------

Sorry for the cliff. The chapter was getting a bit too long for everything I wanted to include.

Chapter 107

The Stygian Lotus was a spirit plant that improved a cultivator’s overall durability in every aspect. While Chen Haoran wouldn’t make the mistake of calling himself invulnerable to harm, he had relied on his body to resist all sorts of sharp edges and blunt force.

No amount of durability would protect him from fire, however.

Chen Haoran scarcely had the time to react when the fire lances set him alight. Just as quickly as the flames seared his skin, he was drowned in a rush of peach-scented liquid qi that put out the flames. It was not the respite he was hoping for. The liquid qi’s caustic nature scrubbed over his burns and only magnified the fiery pain he felt from them. Chen Haoran screamed. His qi cycled in a furious torrent, and the Yellow Dragon roared as if to overpower his pain. He focused on the dragon’s roar and let it fill his head. His qi shuddered like a struck bell and passed the sound of the roar throughout his whole body. He couldn’t afford to lose his mind here.

Chen Haoran covered his face with his hand. With a thought, a gush of golden water fell from his hand and soaked him. The Dragon Water of the Machu River was full of vitality and seemed to wash away the pain where it passed. The Yellow Dragon roared in relief within him, and the Dragon Water clung to him and was absorbed into his skin rather than wastefully falling to the ground. The pain did not completely go away, the Dragon Water was no healing pill, but rather than unbearable agony, he felt a dull heat like smoldering embers.

Chen Haoran rolled out of the way of the soldier’s follow-up attacks. The heat of the fire lances seared his back, and he raised his scimitar to cut away a net of fire that sought to tangle him. Above him, the Gu dropped his Clear Heart Mirror Armor. Chen Haoran quickly glanced at Jiang Lei’s fight but found the liquid qi still crashing like a sea in storm. Was the Shaman so confident in holding off Jiang Lei to send his Gu here?

Chen Haoran banished the thought and whipped his scimitar at the insect. It gracefully dodged the sharp energy blades and spewed a toxic green miasma down on him. Chen Haoran quickly backpedaled and scattered the gas with the White Tyrant’s Harmonization. His face pinched into something ugly. It had stripped him of his Earth-Rank armor, and he couldn’t resist it at all. His grip on his scimitar tightened. Whatever strange power it used to steal his armor left his blade alone, but who was to it wouldn’t come for that too? If he lost the White Tyrant’s Harmonization now, he’d be a dead man.

The soldiers quickly rallied under the Gu’s support and closed in on Chen Haoran once more. His situation was even more desperate compared to when he was fighting six. The Gu’s miasma was potent enough that even when he scattered it, he had to move to avoid the remnants. The soldiers, after being so close to death, were even more relentless in their attacks. Exhaustion crept into Chen Haoran’s limbs. Powerful enough that even his keep couldn’t keep it at bay anymore. Qi that was beginning to run dangerously low. After so many heavy attacks and so much damage taken, even his powerful reserves were starting to struggle.

He couldn’t allow them to keep the initiative.

With a wordless shout Chen Haoran darted toward the soldiers. The Gu immediately went to intercept him with a burst of miasma. Chen Haoran whipped up a storm of white blades and forced the Gu to fly higher into the air to avoid them. Phelps dove down from the sky with an unearthly scream at that moment and slammed into the Gu. They tumbled through the air and Chen Haoran closed the distance with the fire-throwing soldiers in a burst of speed.

Flames licked their calves as their movement techniques carried them away from Chen Haoran. In their haste, however, they fled in the same direction and didn’t separate.

Chen Haoran slammed his heels to a stop, and a heavy green core appeared in his hands. The Ninth-Layer Qi Realm Painted Turtle Core that he’d received from the Machu River appeared in his hand, and he twisted and pitched it toward the two soldiers.

Their eyes widened when a blade of metal white energy sliced through the core a moment later, and they were engulfed in an explosion of qi. Two bodies rolled out of the smoke. Whether they were dead or not, Chen Haoran didn’t know. He wasn’t leaving anything to chance, however, and with a wave of his scimitar, the bodies were chopped into chunks.

A high-pitched squeal from Phelps was his only warning before his scimitar was suddenly enveloped in amorphous qi. His blade flashed white, and the qi burst apart. The Dragonfly Gu suddenly appeared beside him, reeling away from his scimitar. Chen Haoran whirled and sliced at it. A cloud of miasma had him clumsily throw himself back at top speed.

“Bastard!” roared the Shaman.

When the green smog cleared, the reason for the Shaman’s anger was known. The Dragonfly Gu was missing one of its crystal wings. Despite that it still floated in the air with seemingly little issue.

The clashing tides of liquid qi suddenly boiled as a noxious green liquid qi suddenly pulled away from the battle. Bereft of its ally, the other burning red liquid qi was forced back by Jiang Lei’s liquid qi. Suddenly, the liquid qi’s collapsed and revealed the Liquid Meridian Cultivators. The Shaman’s face was twisted in incandescent rage but he looked none worse for wear. There was a shallow cut on the shoulder of the other Liquid Meridian. Jiang Lei was unharmed but breathing heavily.

The Shaman glared at Chen Haoran with murder in his eyes. “You dare!? Die for me.”

The Shaman leapt at Chen Haoran, his fingers stretched out into vicious claws. Jiang Lei lunged to block him but was intercepted by the other Liquid Meridian. Chen Haoran raised his hand up, the Liquid Meridian Tusk only a thought away from summoning.

The world turned pink.

Jiang Lei’s liquid qi flooded from his body. Chen Haoran stumbled as his feet were suddenly submerged in peach-colored water. Peach blossoms spilled from Jiang Lei’s body by the thousands. In an instant, the jungle was gone and was replaced with a world of falling peach petals. Jiang Lei’s sword glowed with peach light, and he disappeared in the rain of peach blossoms. Chen Haoran blinked, and when he opened his eyes, the Shaman was desperately fleeing. Blood ran down his arm, and his Dragonfly Gu somehow appeared next to him with a long crack running down its body. The other Liquid Meridian fell into the peach water with blood spurting from his neck. Behind him were two thumps. Chen Haoran didn’t need to look to know it was the soldiers he had been fighting. The liquid qi receded, and the peach blossoms dissipated. The pink world became dark jungle once more.

The Shaman looked at Jiang Lei in horror. “A Peach River Swordsman? Impossible. Your sect was destroyed!”

Jiang Lei’s face was stone. “Die.”

His sword glowed and burst forward with unstoppable momentum. The Shaman gritted his teeth and then slammed a fist into his own chest. He coughed out a spurt of bright blood onto his Dragonfly Gu. A horrible cacophony rose from the jungle.

Jiang Lei’s charge forward became a hasty retreat. “To me!” he called.

“Phelps!” Chen Haoran shouted even as he shot to Jiang Lei’s side.

Wang Xiao was there first. A nasty cut across his chest and a smaller one crossing the bridge of his nose. Phelps reached them next from the air. A few patches of hair missing but otherwise unharmed. When Chen Haoran got near enough Jiang Lei slammed a dome of Liquid Qi over their heads.

Then every insect in the jungle slammed down on the dome like a hammer of god.

The dome bulged, and Jiang Lei flooded out with more liquid qi. Any insect that touched his liquid qi died and were replaced by countless more. The Gu’s noxious green miasma spread over the insects like poisonous armor, and they buried into the liquid qi. Jiang Lei grunted, and the dome condensed around them and became thicker. Insects died by the hundreds of thousands, but what use was that when they were surrounded by millions?

“I don’t know how a remnant of the Peach River Sect survived, but today will be your end,” said the Shaman, his voice clear even through the thunderous racket of buzzing and wing beats.

“Must you go this far?” Jiang Lei asked. “Are we not of the same home?”

The Shaman’s shrill laughter seemed to echo through the swarm. “What meaning does home have in the face of benefits? Do you think such a trifling thing will make me spare you? You will not die easily. At the very least, your blood will appease my Gu!”

Chen Haoran sheathed his scimitar before his Harmonization could disturb Jiang Lei’s barrier and kill them all. “Jiang Lei, what’s the plan.”

“Senior Brother,” Wang Xiao said through harsh breaths. “You’ve already revealed the Peach Blossom Sword.”

Jiang Lei remained silent. Sweat beaded on his brow as he condensed the dome once again and made the walls even thicker. The insects chewed through the layers of liquid qi as fast as Jiang Lei could replace them.

“Jiang Lei.”

Jiang Lei still did not speak. He reached into his storage bag and ate a pill. A spike of qi emerged as he replenished his stores.

Chen Haoran cursed and summoned the Middle-Grade spirit stone. He could feel the dense qi within it seep through the palm of his hand and enter his meridians. If he were to cultivate with it in hand, he was sure he could perfectly absorb the qi within the crystal. Too bad he didn’t have that time.

Wang Xiao’s eyes lit up. “If you give that to Senior Brother—”

Wang Xiao’s words were strangled when Chen Haoran put the spirit stone in his mouth.

“What are you doing!”

Chen Haoran breathed, and an immensely pure qi escaped from the spirit stone and entered his body. Each breath successively drew in more qi and refilled his expended reserves. Right here, right now, he couldn’t care about anything else but survival. He reached into his storage bag and tightly clutched a jade box. The Shaman was beyond anything a mere Qi Realm could deal with. He had no options.

The light of the spirit stone dimmed. Chen Haoran shattered it between his teeth and swallowed the shards. A deluge of pure qi rushed into his core. The Yellow Dragon roared and followed it.

He had to advance.

The lid of the jade box fell off, and a dense woody smell escaped.

Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao jolted.

“Chen Haoran, don’t!”

Chen Haoran swallowed the Heavy Core Pill.

Chapter 106

The hollow collapsed as the tree uprooted itself and dropped its entire weight on top of their heads. Three different lights of peach pink and metal white flashed and split the tree from the bottom to the top in a rain of kindling.

Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao stood together with their swords drawn. A scent of peaches filled the air. Chen Haoran stood a ways away from them to the side. Phelps clung to his back and continually hissed. White energy scoured the ground around them.

The Gu hovered in front of them. A hawk-sized dragonfly. Amorphous qi emitted from its body in intermittent waves. Two topaz-like eyes seemed to stare at him from every direction within their hundreds of facets.

A slow clapping filled the air. From the darkness of the jungle emerged a man clad in the scarlet uniform of the empire. A large bone snake curled into a spiraling pattern hung from his neck. Chen Haoran reached out with his sense and his heart fell. Liquid Meridian. The man did not emerge alone from the jungle. A dozen other scarlet-clad soldiers followed him and surrounded them, the lowest being Qi Realm Eighth-Layer.

The man whistled, and the Gu fell to perch on his arm. “Your senses are better than I expected. I was hoping to end this in one fell swoop.”

Jiang Lei pointed his sword at the Shaman. “Simply put. You suck.”

Chen Haoran chuckled in disbelief. Did Jiang Lei really have to steal his lines like that?

The Shaman’s smile thinned. “Rude bastards, aren’t you.” He exaggeratedly sniffed the air. “Peachbloods, eh? How about I cut you a deal?” He motioned to Chen Haoran. “Step aside while we apprehend him.”

“I will have to refuse,” Jiang Lei said.

The Shaman raised an eyebrow. “You, of all people, should know the price of defiance. You’ve stepped into the Liquid Meridian Realm at such a young age. It’d be a shame if you never advanced again.”

“I believe I will be fine.”

Chen Haoran frowned as he looked between the shaman and the other soldiers. They were talking too much. He took a step closer to Jiang Lei. At that moment, his senses screamed at him. He dropped to the ground even as the clash of metal sounded behind him. Jiang Lei blocked the axe of the second Liquid Meridian that tried ambushing them while they were distracted. With his other hand, he cast a wave of peach-colored liquid qi over Chen Haoran’s head and toward the Shaman. The Dragonfly Gu interposed itself between its master and the wave and dispersed the liquid qi with a beat of its wings.

Chen Haoran cycled his qi and rolled away from Jiang Lei and the Liquid Meridian. Phelps squealed, and Chen Haoran looked up in shock as the Shaman was suddenly there and reaching for him. Jiang Lei’s sword carved a wall of liquid qi between him and the Shaman. Another burst of liquid qi pushed Chen Haoran away from the battle. The Shaman and his fellow shared a look, and they attacked Jiang Lei simultaneously. Chen Haoran didn’t have the time to pay attention to their battle as he was assailed by the other soldiers.

A sword filled his vision, and he slashed his scimitar wildly. White cutting light flew out, and the soldier hastily retreated with a burst of flames to avoid the edge. Chen Haoran sensed five other qi circling him, and he whirled his blade in a circle of white light. The soldiers all backed away, and Chen Haoran cursed when he realized they all had some form of movement technique.

With the temporary breathing room he created, he glanced over at the others. Jiang Lei and the Liquid Meridians forms were obscured by the waves of liquid qi crashing against each other. On the other side of that, he could see Wang Xiao skating around the other six soldiers and fighting them all at once. With the Liquid Meridians’ in the way, they wouldn’t be able to link up unless they could go around.

Phelps squealed, and Chen Haoran spun and smashed a lance of fire into sparks with a flash of white light. The soldiers’ weapons and hands glowed with qi as they switched up their mode of attack. Another lance of fire came from behind him. A net of fire fell from the front. Beneath his feet rose a snake of quicksand. Two vines studded with thorns whipped from his left and right.

His scimitar flashed white, and he buried it into the earth, annihilating the quicksand snake. A storm of white blades erupted with him as the center and diced the techniques to pieces. His control of the White Tyrant’s Harmonization hadn’t necessarily improved in his short time training with Jiang Lei, but he at least learned something.

When in doubt. Feed it more qi.

He cycled more qi into the scimitar, and a wall of cutting light swept toward the soldier who summoned the quicksand. The woman released a shout, and the earth beneath her feet sank. She took a step to the right, and the earth rose back up again and propelled her to safety. Chen Haoran tried to follow her, but a lance of fire shot toward his side, and he was forced to defend himself.

The battle fell into a stalemate. The soldiers struck at him from one direction with techniques. Chen Haoran destroyed those techniques and counter-attacked. The soldiers then attack him from the other direction while their comrades dodged. The soldiers couldn’t get near Chen Haoran thanks to the White Tyrant’s Harmonization, but they were too nimble for him to actually hit. It was a battle of attrition now, and while he was still confident in winning even six qi reserves to one, he couldn’t shake the feeling the soldiers were like wolves circling prey. Being the ostensible bigger animal in this situation didn’t comfort him much. It would only take one opening.

And the soldiers just found it.

A lance of fire flew toward his back, and as he turned to block it, a vine whipped at his back from the other side. He chopped both attacks apart with a large swing of his scimitar, but even as he did, another attack fell upon his back, and he was forced to turn again. They were targeting Phelps. The sloth had done well to keep his head down during the fight, but even so, his position on Chen Haoran’s back was too obvious a weakness. Chen Haoran reached back to pull Phelps to his chest. As soon as he did, the soldiers simultaneously attacked him from six directions.

“Fuck.” Chen Haoran cycled qi to his legs and leapt into the air. As if waiting for that exact moment, an arrow shot out of the jungle and buried into his shoulder. Chen Haoran cried out in pain. Phelps squealed in distress, gripped Chen Haoran tightly, and flung them further into the air under the power of his floating ability.

From the jungle came another arrow. Chen Haoran raised his scimitar, but Phelps jerked them out of the way. The avoided arrow twisted in the air like a fish and fell back down on them. Chen Haoran properly broke it with a wave of his scimitar, then tracked its trajectory back to the source. A chunk of qi disappeared into his blade, and when he swung it, a single beam of white light turned the jungle to powder. He couldn’t tell if the archer was a part of the powder before Phelps squealed and pulled him to avoid two burning lances from below. Chen Haoran rained down blades of cutting light like rain and the soldiers scattered to avoid it.

This wouldn’t do. It was just more of the same from up high. He grabbed the arrow shaft, cycled qi to his shoulder, and pulled out the arrow with a drawn-out hiss of pain. The wound bled freely before his qi set to work and forced his blood to clot and halt the worst of it. Casting away the arrow, he reached into his storage bag and brushed his fingers over smooth metal. A pulse of qi brought the metal alive as it began wrapping around his hand.

“Let go, Phelps. Go up.”

Phelps squealed and floated further up, but he didn’t let go of him. Chen Haoran flexed his qi and shrugged out of Phelps’s grip, ignoring the sloth’s squeals as he fell through the air and pulled the rest of the Clear Heart Mirror Armor out of the storage bag. The Earth-Rank artifact looked like someone had taken a glass mirror and shaped it into plate armor. It was far from being as fragile as it looked. When the helmet finally slipped itself on over Chen Haoran’s face, he crashed feet-first onto the ground and barely felt a jolt.

The soldiers were on him in an instant with an onslaught of techniques. In that same instant, they were forced to dodge as their techniques touched the mirror armor and were immediately reflected back. Chen Haoran cycled qi to his legs and shot forward in a dead sprint toward the nearest soldier. Even when he chased them, their movement techniques would keep them ahead. He didn’t need to reach them, however.

He just needed to get closer.

The soldier summoning vines fell down with a cry of pain as he couldn’t dodge fast enough and was clipped in the side by a blade of metal energy. The glancing blow was enough to nearly cut clean through his leg, and he couldn’t avoid the next blade that cut him clean down the middle.

Curses and attacks rained down on Chen Haoran, but fell uselessly on his armor. He lunged for the next soldier whipping up a constant barrage of white blades when the soil beneath him became quicksand. He sank up to his chest and quickly located the woman responsible. Her hands were glowing with yellow qi, and when she clapped them together, the quicksand around him rose and became a giant jaw. Chen Haoran plunged his scimitar into the ground, and the quicksand jaw split apart as white blades of light parted the earth like water. The earth sank beneath the woman but rather than rise back and propel her to safety like before, it opened up entirely, and the startled woman fell through. White light flashed and tore up the ground until it was a mess of blood and loose soil.

Chen Haoran lifted himself out of the pit with a burst of qi and faced the remaining soldiers. They quickly backed away with solemn expressions, and he trailed after them, dragging his scimitar against the ground.

“That’s two,” Chen Haoran said.

The soldier’s qi soared as they charged their techniques. Chen Haoran walked forward and cycled his qi as he considered his next target. The techniques flew, Chen Haoran charged toward them.

Amorphous qi appeared above his head and covered Chen Haoran before just as abruptly vanishing, leaving him feeling exposed. He halted and looked upward at the Dragonfly Gu that suddenly appeared. The night breeze was cold across his neck.

Why was it holding his armor?

It was Chen Haoran’s last thought before he burst into flames.

Chapter 105

Naturally, they ran even further after seeing a pillar of light pierce the sky.

“What was that?” Chen Haoran breathlessly wondered. It was a rhetorical question. The fact that the Auctioneer was most likely the one responsible for the pillar of light was obvious.

Jiang Lei answered him regardless. “It looks like the Golden Lily Association Supervisor stopped holding back.”

Chen Haoran couldn’t contain his shock. “That whole fight in the Auction Hall wasn’t even them being serious?”

“It’s wrong to say they weren’t being serious,” Jiang Lei said. “But they weren’t going at it with their full force either. The city would be put at risk if they used too much power. It’s a bit shocking that the Supervisor would go this far. The Empire doesn’t take that sort of behavior lightly.” He looked at Chen Haoran with curious eyes. “Though I can guess why he may have done so. The Garrison Commanders will have no time to look for us while they’re chasing him.”

Chen Haoran felt uncomfortable. Another favor from the Auctioneer to help him escape. On top of giving him a Heaven-rank technique. Chen Haoran wasn’t foolish enough to believe he was doing it out of the goodness of his heart. There was a price for these actions, and he could only wait in fear for the day the Auctioneer came to collect. He touched the technique book and felt the golden lightning arc between his fingers. It was only a visual effect. Not a smidgen of the qi made it into his body. Was there less lightning than before? Or was it a figment of his desperately wishful imagination?

Even if he covered up the book, he wouldn’t feel safe until he could finally take it off and hide it. He had something worth of mountain of gold stuck to his chest, and he could practically feel that weight now. It was something even Crystal Transformations competed for. For the cultivation realms below that, there was no doubt they’d swarm him like sharks if they caught a whiff of it. He couldn’t trust anyone he met so long as the book stayed stuck to him. He glanced between Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao.

Especially not the one’s around him now.

Jiang Lei’s goals were more valuable to him than a 30-thousand-year-old Moonflower, but were they more valuable than a Heaven-Rank technique?

It was a question Chen Haoran didn’t want to be answered anytime soon. He had until the Auctioneer’s qi dissipated to come up with a plan. There was only one.

He had to advance.

Chen Haoran felt the book slipping beneath his hand, so he readjusted his grip to hold it firmly. Even with the danger that came with it, he would be lying if he said he wasn’t excited at the chance to learn the Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs. There was also the chance he could gift it—

Chen Haoran abruptly frowned.

The book… slipped?

He slowly lowered his gaze to the book and his hand holding it by the spine. He pulled his hand away from the chest, and the book came free. Not a single spark of golden lightning was to be seen. He tripped over a root and stumbled.

Wang Xiao looked over and sneered. “Watch your step.” His superiority satisfied he turned and ignored Chen Haoran… only to whip his head back in the next second and stare with wide eyes. “What—?”

Jiang Lei looked back at them upon hearing the commotion, and when he saw Chen Haoran holding the book, he stopped dead. His feet skidded through the dirt and smashed clean through a tree root.

Everyone stopped.

Phelps leaned over Chen Haoran’s shoulder and sniffed the book.

“Looks like the Auctioneer isn’t a complete asshole,” Chen Haoran weakly laughed. He was so full of shit he didn’t even believe his own words. He held the book toward Jiang Lei. “Wanna learn it?”

Jiang Lei did a double-take. “What?”

Chen Haoran shook the book. “I mean, it looks like the restriction is gone.” He opened the book and thumbed through a few pages. Both Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao flinched. Wang Xiao looked like he was about to rush over and rip the book out of his hands. “Yep, looks free to read now.”

“You…” Jiang Lei’s voice was filled with confusion. “You do know what that is? Correct? That’s a Heaven-Rank technique you were given, and you’re just letting me read it?”

Chen Haoran shrugged. “It’s knowledge. It’s not like the words will disappear after you read them.” At least, he hoped that wasn’t the case. Then again, would it have really been that valuable if only one person could use it? Whatever the case, he wouldn’t regret it even if it were a one-time use. “I don’t see the harm in sharing it.”

He saw a lot of harm if he didn’t, though.

Jiang Lei seemed to struggle for words. “Are… are you sure?”

“Yes,” Chen Haoran said. “I’m sure.” He paused, then looked at Wang Xiao. “Not you, though.”

“What!” Wang Xiao said, outraged.

“You still haven’t apologized to Phelps,” Chen Haoran said. “Plus, you’re a dick. I only share with my friends.”

He emphasized the word as he looked at Wang Xiao, but it wasn’t him he was speaking to. Wang Xiao had an ugly look on his face, and he looked toward Jiang Lei. Chen Haoran looked over as well. His hand hung relaxed next to the hilt of his scimitar.

“Friends.” Jiang Lei seemed to test the word. He smiled. “Yes. Thank you, my friend. But we’ll have to table this discussion until we make camp for the night.”

Wang Xiao scowled and ignored them. Chen Haoran very carefully did not sigh in relief. He was safe.

For now.

————————

Chen Haoran didn’t know how far they ended up traveling, but with a Liquid Meridian clearing the way, they had few obstacles. He did notice though that compared to Xie Jin’s navigation skills, Jiang Lei was lacking and relied more on his cultivation to lead them through the jungle.

They eventually stopped and took shelter in the hollow of a large tree. Though, calling it a hollow was a bit misleading, seeing as how it was big enough for all of them to stand in and have their own corner. Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao pulled out their bed rolls as well as netting and poles that they set up over their rolls. Chen Haoran stared for a minute before a mosquito flew by his ear, and he realized their purpose. He cursed himself for not getting something to deal with bugs. When he traveled with Xie Jin, it hadn’t been an issue, his Gu kept any and all pests away while they rested. Hopefully, Jiang Lei had a spare, or he’d be pestered for the whole trip.

The mosquito landed on his wrist and tried to bite him. Its proboscis bent in half when it met his skin. Chen Haoran stared in wonder, then ended the bug’s misery.

“Do you need a net as well, Chen Haoran?” Jiang Lei asked.

“I think I’m fine,” Chen Haoran faintly said. “I’ll take one for Phelps, though.”

“How caring,” Jiang Lei said with a smile as he brought the net over. He helped set it up, and Chen Haoran had to bat away Phelps’s curious claws before he could tear the netting. Jiang Lei laughed before his eyes drifted to Chen Haoran’s storage bag. “About before…”

Chen Haoran pulled out the book before he could finish. “Do you mind looking at it together first?”

Jiang Lei laughed. “How could I?” He flopped to the ground, a move quite at odds with his otherwise elegant looks, and motioned Chen Haoran to sit next to him.

Phelps crawled up and rested his head on Chen Haoran’s thigh as he cracked open the book, and they reviewed its contents. While Wang Xiao didn’t come near them and seemed content to count the grooves in the tree bark, Chen Haoran could feel him peeking over every so often.

The Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs manual was a dense affair. It was part philosophy book, part medical textbook, and a large portion of it seemed dedicated to an epic story recounting the origin of the technique. All of it was essential reading to comprehend the necessary qi movements and visualization required to practice the technique. For the first look through, however, the most valuable paragraph to Chen Haoran was right in the beginning.

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, Violet. Seven colors. Seven steps. One step beyond beasts. Four steps beyond men. Seven steps beyond the world. Master the Seven Meanings, and while men may see your first step, only Heaven will know your last.

Chen Haoran couldn’t help but shiver as his imagination spun him away to a future where he mastered the  Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs in full. Even if it was just ostentatious boasting and the technique fell short of what the book promised, who was to say it wouldn’t become true if it became a hundred times better?

Jiang Lei sighed in awe. “Learning this is a complete transformation.”

“It won’t be easy, though,” Chen Haoran said. He struggled to try to learn the Scattering Petal Palm from scratch, and that was only Profound-Rank. A Heaven-Rank would be a whole other beast.

“It’s a good thing we can compare notes then,” Jiang Lei said, smiling.

Despite himself, Chen Haoran couldn’t help but like the sound of that.

Phelps hissed and slapped the ground with his claws.

Chen Haoran leaped to his feet in an instant. His hand went to his scimitar. He’d never heard that type of reaction before. His sense stretched out in all directions while Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao warily reached for their own weapons.

“Chen Haoran?” Jiang Lei cautiously even as he cast his eyes around.

Chen Haoran didn’t answer. He couldn’t sense anything. Phelps was still hissing at the entrance of the hollow. He focused entirely there and found nothing. Still, he didn’t relax. Something was bothering his sense. Like something small had gotten into his eye and irritated it.

There.

An amorphous blob of qi focused into sharp relief to his sense. He’d seen it’s like before.

“Gu!” Chen Haoran shouted. He pulled out his scimitar and the hollow filled with cutting light. Jiang Chen and Wang Xiao shot outside.

The tree above them twisted into life and fell atop their heads.

Chapter 104

Who knew a Heaven-Rank technique would make such a good flashlight? While the tunnel had some light coming from the glowing green talismans placed along its walls, they were few and far between enough that they served better as markers rather than illumination. That was the only comfort Chen Haoran had as they raced down the escape tunnel.

His first instinct had been to rip the technique manual off. While he had wanted to get his hands on the Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs, there was a clear difference between buying it and having it nailed to his chest by the Auctioneer. Unfortunately, the golden lightning had completely fastened the book to his chest and remained put despite his pulling. He quickly gave up after his first attempt failed. He didn’t have the time to spare while they were still in danger.

He did have plenty of time, however, to wildly guess as to what just happened in the Auction Hall. One thing was clear, the Auctioneer recognized who he was on sight. Such a thing would chill Chen Haoran’s heart even if it weren’t a cultivator two realms above his own doing it. It had to be the Chen Family. He had no other reason that could explain the Auctioneer’s reaction. What was their relationship, though? For him to give Chen Haoran the Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs meant it couldn’t be something simple. He had called it an interest-free loan. Was he expecting something in return? Was he being truthful when he said it had already been paid for? Or was he expecting something in return? From him? From the Chen Family? From whoever the Dragon King was?

“Fuck.” He couldn’t help the curse. He had come to Zumulu to avoid his family and anyone else who might know him only to run into them once again in the worst way possible. Was this karma? Was he being punished for accidentally screwing over Xie Jin? He cursed again.

“Dare I ask what your relationship with the Golden Lily Association is?” Jiang Lei asked.

“Fuck if I know,” Chen Haoran sighed. He shifted Dreamwater on his back. “Maybe he rewarded me for going back for her.”

“I will eat my sword if that’s the reason,” Wang Xiao interjected.

Jiang Lei nodded in agreement. “Your background becomes more and more mysterious, Chen Haoran. I’m starting to worry about what I’ve gotten myself into.”

If Chen Haoran weren’t currently running for his life, he would have come to a full stop right then and there and picked a fight with Jiang Lei for the outrageous bullshit he just spouted. Fortunately, before his mouth could write a check his body couldn’t cash, Dreamwater stirred.

Chen Haoran slowed down as Dreamwater groggily rose and looked around with unfocused eyes.

“Dreamwater?” Chen Haoran tentatively called.

Her blank gaze immediately sharpened and in a strange display of priorities, her hands first went to her mask, then to the bleeding wound on her head. She pulled a small pill from out her sleeves and downed it. Immediately the bleeding stopped, and color returned to her pale skin. “What happened?” She asked.

“We got caught in the crossfire of the fight,” Jiang Lei said. “Chen Haoran pulled you out of danger. We’re in the escape tunnel now.”

Dreamwater let out a sigh and marginally relaxed. “Thank you for your aid, Young Master Chen. You can let me down now.”

After seeing the effects of her pill, Chen Haoran didn’t argue and let her down. As soon as she saw the book stuck to his chest, her eyes went wide.

“What—”

“I don’t know,” Chen Haoran interrupted her. “In fact, I have to ask, who the hell is that Auctioneer or Gold-Eater or whatever his name is?”

Dreamwater hesitated. Her eyes flickered between him, Jiang Lei, and Wang Xiao. “I am not allowed to disclose that information.”

“Nevermind,” Chen Haoran said. “A second Commander from the Empire showed up. Can the Auctioneer handle it?”

“The first rule of the Golden Lily Association: All auctions must be hosted by a Supervisor capable of suppressing the local forces.” Dreamwater recited it as if she were reading directly from the book. To Chen Haoran, however, it sounded like she was saying it more to reassure herself than him.

“Just another reason to get out of here as soon as possible,” Wang Xiao said.

For once, Chen Haoran agreed with him.

—————

In the depths of the jungle, a square of earth suddenly vanished as if into thin air and revealed a dark hole. From that hole leaped out Jiang Lei, who, after briefly surveying the area, whistled out an all-clear. Wang Xiao immediately emerged from the hole, followed by Dreamwater, then Chen Haoran.

Jiang Lei turned to Dreamwater. “I must say. I’m quite impressed with the Golden Lily Association’s thoroughness.” He paused in thought. “I don’t suppose I can still purchase that Ambush Insurance?”

“I am afraid it’s too late for that, honored guest,” Dreamwater blandly replied.

“Pity.” Jiang Lei actually looked sad as he said it too.

“Where are we?” Chen Haoran asked.

“Just outside the northern side of the city,” Dreamwater said. “While we are out of view of the walls, if they send any patrols, there’s still a chance we will be found. I recommend leaving soon. On that note, I will part ways with you here.” She pinched her dress and curtsied. “We of the Golden Lily Association thank you for purchasing with us today. We look forward to your business in the future.”

Without letting them get a word in edgewise, Dreamwater palmed a talisman and, with a spike of qi, disappeared in front of their eyes.

Taking a cue from Dreamwater’s speedy escape, they quickly shot into the jungle. Under Jiang Lei’s lead they navigated the wilderness at a dead sprint. Cycling their qi to the extent that their bodies became a blur as they put as much distance between themselves and the city as they could. Eventually after running for what seemed like hours they stopped and took shelter under a large tree to catch their breaths. Phelps, perhaps finally sensing the danger had passed, distressingly squealed at Chen Haoran.

Chen Haoran patted Phelps head with a wan smile but he couldn’t give the sloth much attention when he still had a problem to deal with. He looked down at the glowing book stuck to his chest.

He grasped the edges of the book, cycled his qi, and pulled.

Nothing.

He pulled harder.

Still nothing.

The dragon roared in his chest.

The book didn’t budge.

He tried taking his robe off, but that failed too. The book was pressed so tight to his chest that it pinned the fabric there. He’d sooner tear off the rest of his garment before he would slide a centimeter of the cloth underneath the book out.

“Damnit. Jiang Lei, help me pull this off.”

Jiang Lei raised an eyebrow. “And trigger a defensive response from a Crystal Transformation Realm’s qi? No, thank you.”

Chen Haoran paled and let go of the book as if it burned him. Did he have an actual bomb strapped to his chest and not just a metaphorical one? “Can it really do that?”

Jiang Lei shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m in no hurry to find out. It can’t last forever, though. I’m sure it will wear off eventually.”

There were five stages of grief, and Chen Haoran fast-forwarded all the way to acceptance. “There’s no helping it then.”

“There’s a bigger issue at hand,” Jiang Lei said, frowning. “The Garrison Commanders saw your face.”

A line of fear raced down Chen Haoran’s spine. He’d been blocking acknowledging that fact. Even if the Commanders didn’t recognize he was from the Chen Family like the Auctioneer did, the consequences of them knowing he had the Heaven-Rank technique were obvious.

“What’s the punishment for people caught buying from the Golden Lily Association?” Chen Haoran weakly asked.

“Heavy fines usually. Sometimes harsh labor.” Jiang Lei’s mouth was set in a grim line. “I don’t think it needs to be said that your ending won’t be as merciful as those if the Commanders catch you.”

Chen Haoran’s conclusion was instantaneous. “I need to leave Zumulu.”

Wang Xiao snorted disdainfully. “With that light stuck on your chest? You’ll cross the jungle and avoid the soldiers the Commanders will have searching for you? You?”

“The fuck else am I supposed to do, asshole?” Chen Haoran snarled.

Jiang Lei forcefully placed himself between them. “That’s enough, Junior Brother. He won’t be helped with those sorts of comments.”

“I’m not wrong, though. He can’t do it. He’ll be caught in an instant.”

Chen Haoran forced himself not to grab his scimitar. Much as he hated to admit it, Wang Xiao had a valid point. He couldn’t even sneak past the city guards, let alone the professionals a military commander would have on hand. Even if the military didn’t find him, anyone who knew he had a Heaven-rank technique on him would start hunting him down. Was that the Auctioneer’s plan? Was he trying to screw him over instead of helping?

A heavy hand landed on his shoulder and startled him out of his spiraling thoughts. “It’s not like there’s no hope,” Jiang Lei said. “Your shaman friend, Xie Jin. He’s returned to his home, am I correct?”

Chen Haoran hesitated but eventually nodded. “Yes.”

Jiang Lei smiled. “That’s where we’ll go then. No matter how far the Commanders may stretch their fingers in Zumulu, the Basin is one of the few places even they cannot lightly enter. If you hide there, then you won’t be easily discovered.”

Chen Haoran felt hope bloom in his chest, but reality quickly settled in. “I don’t know how to get there.” And even if he did. Would they really let him hide there? Could he ask that of Xie Jin?

Jiang Lei patted his back reassuringly. “Do not fear. We shall take you there.”

Chen Haoran narrowed his eyes. He looked from Jiang Lei to Wang Xiao. “You would do that?”

“Of course!” Jiang Lei laughed. “My favorite thing to do is screw over the Empire. My second favorite thing to do is help my friends.” He stretched out his hand to Chen Haoran. “This just combines my favorite things. We’ll be sharing drinks with your friend Xie Jin in no time at all.”

Chen Haoran looked down at the outstretched hand. Slowly he raised his own to grab it. Jiang Lei’s smile grew even wider.

Then the light of day turned to gold. In the distance, a golden pillar of light emerged from Daqing and shot into the heavens.

Chapter 103

Move

Chen Haoran willed his qi to cycle. After one revolution, he felt his head clear. After another revolution, he could move his fingers. After the third revolution, a dragon’s roar sounded out from his chest, and he picked himself up—

—Only to fall to his knees when two terrifying presences took notice of him. Chen Haoran paled, and his breath came up short. The talisman. He had dropped the talisman. They could see him.

The rubble of the stage exploded, and Chen Haoran was spared from the attention of the Empire’s Crystal Transformation Realms. The Auctioneer rose out of the wreckage. The sneak attack he suffered had blown his cloak to pieces to reveal a surprisingly normal-looking old man. He was small, with a bald head and a bushy white beard. To Chen Haoran’s horror, his arm was missing up to the elbow, but instead of blood, the stump leaked yellow light. The Auctioneer noticed his lack of arm when he tried to brush the sawdust out of his beard. He snorted, and in the next moment, hundreds of yellow crystals flew from around the auction hall as if drawn by magnets and reassembled into a crystal arm. He flexed his new arm as easily as a real arm, and as he did, the yellow crystal faded away into normal skin. In the span of a few moments, it looked as if he had never lost an arm at all.

“Commander Han,” the Auctioneer greeted the new Crystal Transformation Realm. “The Garrison Authority must really not want to give my Golden Lily Association a way out if they deployed the both of you.”

Commander Han chuckled and balanced his sword on his shoulder. “How do you say it? This is just the cost of doing business.”

The Auctioneer sighed. “So it seems. You’re really making me work for my profit today.”

The Auctioneer waved his hand, and Commander Lu was suddenly surrounded by golden lightning. With a startled shout, the Garrison Commander flew to the ceiling and was nailed to the golden barrier stretched across it. In the same motion, the Auctioneer pulled out a silver sack and opened it. Countless gold taels spilled from its depths and assembled themselves into a sword that shot toward Commander Han. The old soldier easily shattered the tael sword, only for the pieces to reform and strike him again.

Chen Haoran rushed qi to his legs and stood up with the encouragement of a dragon’s roar. “Phelps!” he shouted. “Phelps!”

His words were drowned out by an angelic chorus. Commander Han whirled his sword, each swing a different direction for some unseen orchestra, and the tael sword broke into fine gold dust. The Auctioneer upended his silver sack and flung out another larger tael sword.

Chen Haoran desperately cast his eyes across the ruined stage, looking for Phelps. They were running out of time. Despite the Auctioneer’s prior good showing, it wasn’t a guarantee he could really defeat the two military officials. If, at any moment, the Auctioneer decided to cut his losses and leave, then Chen Haoran would be left at the mercy of the Crystal Transformation Realms.

“Phelps!”

There was an answering squeal. The rubble moved, and Phelps floated out unharmed. Chen Haoran’s flooded his legs with qi and was at Phelps’s side in a moment and bundled the sloth into his arms.

“Chen!”

Chen Haoran turned and found Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao at the back of the stage, beckoning him. He sprinted over and was halfway to them when he remembered Dreamwater. He looked behind him and scanned the stage, quickly spotting her slumped form 15 feet behind the Auctioneer.

“Fuck.” It was too dangerous. Chen Haoran spun on his heel and shot toward her, his qi pumped furiously through his meridians, and his legs became a blur, and he pushed his body to its limits. He fell to his knees and skidded in front of Dreamwater. Her head was freely bleeding. She had taken the impact the worst out of all of them. There was no time to be gentle however, he scooped her up onto his shoulder and—

Froze.

Gooseflesh prickled down his neck and arms. Phelps became extraordinarily still. Chen Haoran turned his head. The Auctioneer was watching him. Their eyes locked.

The Auctioneer blinked first.

“Why are you here?” The Auctioneer asked. He shook his head and suddenly laughed. To Chen Haoran’s ears, however, it sounded helpless. “Dragon King, you scary bastard. Is this fate?”

Chen Haoran’s brief confusion became pale terror when he realized he couldn’t feel his mask. His heart fell, and he didn’t even have the time to wonder what those words meant when the Auctioneer pointed his hand at him. He desperately grabbed his scimitar, but when the realms were this different, even the microseconds it took to think of the action slowed him enough to damn him.

“Young one, this is the second interest-free loan of my life.” A golden light shot out of the Auctioneer’s sleeve and hammered into Chen Haoran’s chest.

His precious breath left him once again as the light picked him up off his feet and sent them all hurtling across the stage. Phelps squealed and tried to cover them with his energy, but every attempt broke when it touched the golden light. Chen Haoran rallied his qi to brace for the impact. His back hit something hard, and Chen Haoran heard a grunt as arms filled his vision. Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao caught them, and he felt their qi rise. There was a sound of breaking wood as they all skidded back for a few seconds before Jiang Lei planted his feet and halted their momentum.

They had scarcely caught their breaths when an overwhelming presence washed over them. Commander Han fell on them like a diving raptor. He reached out his hand to grab them, and though it was a regular-sized hand at that moment, it felt like he would scoop them all up in his palm.

That moment never came to pass. The Auctioneer came in between them and forced Commander Han back with a storm of golden energy. “Now, now, Commander Han. I heard you treated your juniors with kindness. Why bother them when this old man is in front of you?”

“That’s why it was my hand and not my sword,” Commander Han said. He sliced apart the golden storm, but when the lightning sought to wrap itself around him like it did Commander Lu, it was mysteriously chopped to pieces. “What about you Gold-Eater? Since when did you give things away for free?”

The Auctioneer waved his hands dismissively. “Who said it was free? It’s been properly paid for.” He snapped his fingers, and a golden barrier shimmered into place in front of Chen Haoran and the others.

Jiang Lei pulled Chen Haoran back and held out his hand. He had somehow found the talisman after Chen Haoran lost it in the commotion. The blue light washed over them and hid them from view.

“We have to leave,” Jiang Lei urged.

There was a roar from above. Commander Lu erupted with scarlet light and shattered a hole in the golden barrier covering the ceiling. The scarlet cloud rushed through the newly made opening, and Commander Lu dragged down with him as he hurtled like a meteor atop the Auctioneer’s head. Commander Han struck simultaneously, whipping his sword and stirring up a killing elegy.

The Auctioneer laughed and faced them head-on. He pointed a single finger to the ground, and a large golden toad statue rose beneath his feet. Standing on the head of the toad, he slammed his foot down, and the statue opened its mouth to reveal a gullet crackling with endless golden lightning. The two commanders expressions shifted, and they flung themselves back. The toad breathed in, and a storm was born. The scarlet cloud, the killing music, the debris, the building, anything, and everything was drawn into the golden toad’s mouth and disappeared into its stomach. Even the ambient qi visibly rippled and was sucked in. Commander Han and Commander Lu flew back to the edges of the auction hall and resisted with their qi but still couldn’t completely avoid the pull of the vortex.

Even though they were behind the storm and protected by the Auctioneer’s barrier, Chen Haoran felt his feet slip toward the toad. He cycled his qi and firmly planted his feet. Even so, he could feel slips of his qi being dragged out of his body and absorbed by the toad. Spikes of ice-cold fear ran down his spine. This was the technique of a Crystal Transformation Realm?

Jiang Lei pushed Chen Haoran and Wang Xiao and dragged them away from the toad, into the back of the stage, and out of sight of the battle. They didn’t stop for even a moment, rushing through the halls until the talisman flashed blue.

“This way,” Jiang Lei said, and under the direction of the talisman, a bright blue rectangle was opened up in an otherwise blank wall. They dove in without hesitation and entered a square tunnel lit with gold light and green light.

Chen Haoran sighed in relief. “Safe.”

“Chen Haoran,” Jiang Lei gravely said.

“I know, I know, not safe till we’re out of the city,” he replied. He shifted Dreamwater into a more comfortable position on his back. “But it’s safer here than the auction hall, that’s for sure.”

“No,” Jiang Lei said. He pointed at his chest. “Chen Haoran, what is that?”

What? Chen Haoran looked down, and his heart stopped.

The tunnel wasn’t lit with gold light. He was. There on his chest, stuck to it with golden lightning, was a book. Even looking down from above, he could see the title printed with colorful ink.

Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs.

Chapter 102

“The Garrison Commander,” Jiang Lei whispered. He and Wang Xiao shot out of their chairs. Chen Haoran held Phelps close to him.

Above them the Garrison Commander had placed himself between the auction hall and the light spilling through the hole in the ceiling, standing in the air he looked like a bloody angel descending. Scarlet light coalesced around his halberd and dripped to the floor, melting anything they touched. One large drop fall atop a tent and dissolve it instantly. It’s occupants ran out screaming, red light eating their limbs away. Chen Haoran watched them dissolve into nothingness. Even their blood wasn’t spared. The only evidence there was once something there was the gouges where the red light ate pieces of the floor.

The Garrison Commander raised his axe and swung. The red light fell.

There was a sigh.

On the stage the Auctioneer raised his hand. The falling red light stopped and, like it had met an opposite force, flew back up. The Garrison Commander did not move as the red light washed over him to no harm and chewed away the entire roof. The dark auction hall was immediately exposed to the daytime sky. The abrupt change had Phelps squealing in pain and Chen Haoran blinking stars out of his eyes.

The Auctioneer held his other hand out to the Heaven-rank technique and the book flew into his sleeve. An aura rose from him, it was understated and less overbearing compared to the Garrison Official’s but no less powerful. Chen Haoran found he could breathe again. He didn’t even realize he wasn’t.

“Commander Lu,” the Auctioneer said. “Have you come to participate in today’s auction?”

The newly named Commander Lu snorted derisively. “The Golden Lily Association stands accused of smuggling illegal contraband and cooperating with foreign influences to disturb the Emperor’s Peace. The punishment for both is the same: death.”

Commander Lu pointed his halberd to the air. The scarlet light banished from the Auction Hall gathered into a cloud and fell back down, stopping where the roof used to be. Or rather, was stopped. Flashes of gold lightning sparked above them as the red cloud of light tried to press down and devour them all.

“Come now,” The Auctioneer said. “It’s just business.”

Commander Lu grunted and swung his halberd down. The Auctioneer flew into the air and pulled from his sleeve three gold coins. He threw them forward and they met the halberd head on. Rather than be knocked away they stuck to the halberd like magnets and stopped it’s momentum dead. Under the coins gold light the scarlet light covering the halberd receded and vanished. The Auctioneer flicked his hand left and the coins followed the motion, dragging the halberd with them.

Commander Lu let go of his weapon and let it fly away, he looked at the Auctioneer with a dignified expression. “The Treasure-Defeating Coins. So its you, Gold-Eater. I’ve caught a big fish today.”

“Unfortunately, here you have to pay before eating.” Auctioneer Gold-Eater took a casual step and ascended into the air. “All guests please calmly make your way out of the building. Our employees are available for directions if you require them. Thank you for attending today’s auction and we look forward to your business in the future.”

“Money grubber,” Commander Lu said. He opened his hand and scarlet light gathered and shaped itself into a halberd. He flipped it around in his hand and the light snarled and snapped at the air like a beast. It was accompanied by a chorus of roars like a horde of monsters had suddenly dropped into the hall. It reverberated in Chen Haoran’s chest like all loud sounds did and stayed there, circling around his heart like predators did prey.

Suddenly several other auras filled the hall and it took Chen Haoran a minute to realize that there had been other Crystal Transformation realms in the hall. Would they intervene? They were here for the Heaven-rank technique after all. Them taking action would at least let a little guy like him escape but Chen Haoran wasn’t looking forward to the potential free-for-all. Escaping under the cover of chaos was all well and good until a stray attack evaporated him.

“You have five seconds,” Commander Lu said.

The auras vanished.

Chen Haoran blinked. His sense which had been pressed up against the immense presences now floundered like the rug had been pulled beneath it. “They ran?”

“We should learn from our seniors,” Jiang Lei said, pulling him to his feet.

Right. Focus. Chen Haoran cycled his qi and felt his head clear. He turned to Dreamwater. “Where—”

The Auctioneer and Commander Lu clashed. The window shattered and the building shook so hard Chen Haoran was nearly thrown off his feet.

“The exit!” he roared at Dreamwater.

She pointed to the auction hall. “Down there!”

“And go through that fight?” he asked, dumbfounded.

“Senior Brother,” Wang Xiao urgently called. His ear was pressed to the door. “There’s fighting in the hall.”

“We don’t have time,” Jiang Lei said, taking command. “The building is most likely surrounded. We have to chance it. Follow me.”

He leaped out the window followed by Wang Xiao. Chen Haoran cursed and held Phelps close to his chest as he jumped after them. He landed heavily on his legs and dispersed the force with his qi. He cast his eyes up to see Commander Lu slam his screaming halberd onto a gold lightning storm the Auctioneer summoned. The storm shattered into light sparks wrapped around his red armor. Before Commander Lu could chop the Auctioneer in half the gold sparks flashed. The Auction twisted his hand and Commander Lu was thrown away by some invisible force. He snarled and flushed the gold sparks away with scarlet qi and avoided another golden storm.

Even though he was closer to the fight in the box being underneath them only intensified the pressure he felt. Chen Haoran let out a shuddering breath and flinched when Dreamwater landed next to him.

“Where now?” he asked her.

“Use the talisman,” she said.

Right. Chen Haoran fumbled through his storage bag and pulled out the talisman Dreamwater handed him before the auction and quickly channeled qi into it. A dark blue light flashed from paper and covered the five of them. The bright auction area changed once more before Chen Haoran’s eyes, the whole hall taking on a dark blue tint. Glowing blue lines covered the entire floor beneath their feet.

“It’s an Obscuring Formation,” Dreamwater explained. “We won’t be seen so long as we stay near the talisman.”

“Incredible,” Chen Haoran said, he meant it with every fiber of his being. “Where’s do we go now?”

Dreamwater pointed to the stage. The stage that was across the auction hall from where they were at.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Did I really pay money for such a shitty exit?”

“You didn’t pay anything,” Dreamwater snapped. Her professionalism cracking. “It’s a service we offer to paranoid guests afraid of being robbed.”

“Should we look for an alternate way?” Wang Xiao asked Jiang Lei.

“Where does that escape route lead?” Jiang Lei asked.

“Directly outside the city,” Dreamwater said.

“We’ll have to cut our way through if we go outside anyway else,” Jiang Lei finally said. “If they bring the Gu Department then we’ll never escape. That exit is our best bet.”

Chen Haoran’s curse was cut short when the air itself shook from the clash going on above their heads.

Damn it all they didn’t have the time. “Go,” Chen Haoran said. “While the Auctioneer is still in control.”

With Chen Haoran as the center holding the talisman they rushed as quickly as they could across the auction hall. Around them cultivators of all sorts fled in every direction from their tents. The air was awash with qi from techniques and treasures being activated. Across the hall Chen Haoran could see other people glowing completely blue in his eyes. His fellow Gold Token members using their own talismans most likely. Above them the battle raged on. Under the Auctioneers golden light however its aftershocks were kept mostly in check though he even couldn’t completely stop Commander Lu’s scarlet light from raining down on them between attacks. Every droplet of light splashed out like a ravenous beast and devoured anything it fell on.

A large droplet fell directly onto an unlucky cultivator right next to them. As the man fell to the ground screaming the scarlet light leapt directly to them despite their invisibility. Jiang Lei’s peach-colored liquid qi surged and drowned the scarlet light. Before even an instant passed the beastly light had already eaten through it.

“Move!” Jiang Lei roared as he sacrificed more liquid qi to the light.

They leapt to the stage. Dreamwater was leading the way to the back. They were almost out. Chen Haoran couldn’t help but spare a glance back.

“I’ll be billing you for the damages,” the Auctioneer said. Golden lightning crackling in his hands. “For your sake I recommend keeping them down.”

“You can send your invoice from hell,” Commander Lu snarled.

The Auctioneer raised his hands to throw more golden storms when a red blur broke through the wall a shot toward him. The Auctioneer hastily brought his up to block as the red blur slammed into him and sent the Auctioneer shooting down into the stage.

Chen Haoran didn’t even have time to cry in alarm before the stage was blown to pieces. One moment he was on the ground. The next moment he found himself tumbling wildly through the air. He felt Phelps’s qi cover him in an attempt to cancel their momentum but the force was too much. Phelps was flung out his hand and Chen Haoran crashed into the ground. The breath fled out his lungs and it almost felt like his qi flew out with it as it absorbed the shock of his fall. His head spun and his vision alternated between normal and pitch black. His only stable sense was the feeling of his qi rushing to return his body to normal. Even so, he was aware enough when the red blur that knocked the Auctioneer out of the air spoke.

“Can an old soldier get a veteran’s discount?” The second Imperial Crystal Transformation Realm asked.

Chapter 101

The bids fell like rain.

“8 million,” the Auctioneer said in a cold robotic tone. “8.7 million. 9 million.”

Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao watched in stupefied silence as the price of the Moonflower was jacked up by the hundreds of thousands and millions. Chen Haoran was similarly impressed, but he’d quite literally dropped bigger numbers before, so the price wasn’t so shocking to him.

“14 million.”

Chen Haoran frowned, and he waved Dreamwater over. “What’s going on with these jumps in prices? He didn’t announce the bidding increments.”

Dreamwater made a sound of realization. “You must have attended an auction in a…” She took a moment to find the words. “…financially challenged area. The Golden Lily Association uses bidding increments in those places to better ensure an item hits its projected sale price. For wealthier places like Daqing—”

“20 million.”

“—such measures don’t typically need to be taken,” she finished.

“I see,” Chen Haoran said. When the clientele had oodles of cash they were willing to throw out at a moments notice then it was indeed better business to let them do so. He had to admit though, given the how much he ended up spending at the Clearsprings Auction it made his eye twitch to hear it called a ‘financially challenged area.’

“30 million.”

Chen Haoran picked a fruit off a platter prepared by Dreamwater and bit into it. Phelps stuck his head out of his cloak and Chen Haoran fed him a few fruits. Wang Xiao looked over, saw how casual Chen Haoran was being, scowled, then schooled his own features into faux nonchalance. Jiang Lei meanwhile was calculating under his breath the taels he’d be getting from his one percent share with every increase in bid. Chen Haoran had to wonder if it was really that big a sum for him or if the Liquid Meridian was just that money obsessed. He couldn’t forget how easily Jiang Lei had given him and Xie Jin spirit stones when they first met. In the month he’d spent in Daqing he’d yet to see even a low-grade spirit stone being sold.

“40 million.”

Now that he had a good ideas as to his funds he could properly plan what items he was going to purchase. Chen Haoran snapped his fingers at Jiang Lei and wordlessly held his hand out to the auction pamphlet in his hands. Whether he was deliberately ignoring him or was truly that focused on counting his money Jiang Lei didn’t respond. The point was made moot when Dreamwater proffered another pamphlet she had pulled from who knew where. He would really have to tip her when all was said and done.

Chen Haoran scanned the pamphlet and picked out the items that caught his eye. Things he could use right now. Things he could feed to Phelps for better returns. Of course, he’d have to reserve some of it to bid on the Heaven-Rank technique. And then keep extra to move to a better villa.

“50 million.” The Auctioneer paused. “Once. Twice. Sold for 50 million gold taels.”

The declaration of sale returned the breath back to Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao. Jiang Lei smiled at him. “Congratulations.”

“I’m a little sad it didn’t go higher,” Chen Haoran said, leaning back into his chair.

“It’s a good price for this area,” Dreamwater said. “While the Moonflower is a powerful Yin treasure there are other Yin spirit herbs superior to it. If you were to auction the Moonflower in the Central Region or the Capital it would not go for nearly as much.”

“She’s not wrong,” Jiang Lei added. “The stronger spirit herbs aren’t circulated as much in Zumulu anymore since the occupation. It was probably purchased by a force that lacks the background to source high level spirit herbs.”

“Interesting,” Chen Haoran murmured. Dreamwater poured a glass of qi-infused water and offered it to him. Chen Haoran swirled it around as the Auctioneer introduced the next item.

“Vermilion Flame-Patterned Steel. 150 thousand taels.”

It was quite the drop compared to the opening. Jiang Lei perked up when he saw it. He held his hand over the bidding crystal and paused. He glanced at Dreamwater.

“You can directly state how much your bidding after inserting your qi,” she said.

Jiang Lei smiled. “Perfect.” He placed his hand on the crystal. “10 thousand taels,” he declared.

“160 thousand taels,” the Auctioneer simultaneously said.

“That’s both cool and creepy,” Chen Haoran said.

Dreamwater nervously laughed. “Thank you, honored guest.”

Jiang Lei continued to bid and eventually looked at Chen Haoran with a pleading expression. “My good friend, could I borrow some taels?”

Chen Haoran snorted and turned to Dreamwater. “Pull 500 thousand taels from my earnings and give it to him.”

“Right away, honored guest.”

“So about those taels,” Jiang Lei said.

“Be happy with your one percent.”

“Damn,” Jiang Lei swore.

Jiang Lei eventually purchased the Flame-Patterned Steel for 230 thousand taels. After being taken down from the main stage it and the gold taels were brought directly to their box. Just another convenience for a Gold Token member. Chen Haoran could get used to it. They watched several items go by. Jiang Lei and even Wang Xiao placed bids on various things that caught their interest.

Then it was Chen Haoran’s turn.

“Profound-Rank Deep Well Pills. Sold”

“Profound-Rank Meridian Cleansing Pills. Sold.”

“400-year-old Paradise Pomegranate. Sold.”

“Ninth-Layer Liquid Meridian Jade Elephant Tusk.”

“Earth-Rank Clear Heart Mirror Armor. Sold for 12 million taels.”

Chen Haoran removed his hand from the bidding crystal with a pained expression. He didn’t regret his purchases. Everything he chose was a necessity. That didn’t make spending near 15 million taels any easier though. The level of this auction was certainly higher than that of Clearsprings City that was for certain. There was nary a Mortal-Rank in sight. The worst thing on offer was Profound-Rank at minimum and even then they were several times more expensive than the Profound-Rank’s he’d purchased back then. Chen Haoran didn’t think it was a matter of smuggling markup either. Going by the descriptions of the items in the pamphlet they were on a whole superior despite being the same rank.

It created some interesting questions. Were there quality differences within the ranks themselves? That seemed self-apparent now. It led him to wonder about the ranks more. If cultivation methods and techniques were created by visualizing some greater scenery did the same hold true for artifacts and pills?

He was distracted from further thoughts when a Heavy Core Pill finally showed up. Chen Haoran cycled qi to his eyes and the red pill showed up in sharp relief. It was a Fire-attribute pill, not for him then but there were several other Heavy Core Pills up for auction tonight. Just from the sight of it he could see it was a large pill bigger than any he had seen before. It was a bit intimidating to look at in all honesty. He wasn’t looking forward to scoffing down that choking hazard.

The Fire pill was quickly sold and was followed by a spate of Heavy Core Pill. Chen Haoran half-heartedly bid on a Metal-attribute one but gave up on it in the end. Metal was good but given he was practicing the Scattering Petal Palms now he wanted a Wood-attribute. If he was lucky it would help him improve his use of wood qi. The Wood Heavy Core Pill he wanted came next and Chen Haoran fiercely bid for it, the price shot up all the way to 1.2 million taels before he finally secured it.

Chen Haoran slumped in his chair. “What the hell.”

Jiang Lei laughed. “You didn’t think they’d be cheap did you? The qi density in those pills use some expensive materials to make. On top of that Wood and Water spirit roots are incredibly common in Zumulu, so you’re competing against a lot of people.”

Jiang Lei’s point was proven as the heavy bidding continued for the several Metal and Wood Heavy Core Pills that appeared after. Chen Haoran took one look at the prices and gave up on trying to purchase another one.

He sighed. “There’s no way I’m getting that Heaven-Rank.” Even if he didn’t spend a single tael it was clear he wouldn’t have enough.

Wang Xiao sneered. “As if you ever had a chance.”

Chen Haoran ignored him and instead focused on Dreamwater. She walked to the door and returned pushing a cart with his purchases. He zeroed in on the jade box holding Heavy Core pill and opened it. He was immediately assaulted with a heavy spicy sent like someone had made a concentrate of lawnmower clippings. Just by smelling it he could feel his qi begin to turn to his head. He quickly corked the bottle and stowed it away. He debated feeding it to Phelps but decided against it. Beyond how suspicious it would look to everyone, he wasn’t sure if eating the pill would hurt Phelps or not. He put away the armor and the tusk in his storage bag and took the Paradise Pomegranate in hand. It’s seeds were used a main ingredient in various high-level healing pills and could even be consumed in place of one in a pinch.

He split the fruit open and gave it to Phelps. He took one sniff and immediately stole it from Chen Haoran’s hands with a speed entirely inappropriate for a sloth. The other occupants of the box watched with barely disguised shock as Chen Haoran fed the expensive fruit to Phelps. Even Dreamwater’s professional comportment slipped as she stared wide-eyed. Chen Haoran ignored them all and patted Phelps’s head, occasionally feeding him Meridian Cleansing Pills to help him digest the pomegranate’s qi.

Received Hundred-Fold: 40 thousand-year-old Paradise Pomegranate

Received-Hundred-Fold: Earth-Rank Meridian Purification Pills

Jiang Lei shook his head. “You are definitely some poor family’s profligate scion.”

Chen Haoran smirked. “Sounds like something poor people say.”

Jiang Lei sighed and Wang Xiao’s scowl got even deeper.

The Auctioneers cold voice overwhelmed them all. “Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs. Five-Elements Heaven-Rank. Starting bid 10 million taels.”

It was like blood being dropped into shark infested water. Immediately several auras flared and the air was filled an oppressive presence all too familiar to Chen Haoran.

Crystal Transformation Realm.

He would never forget feeling the Clearspring’s City Lord’s presence weighing down on him like a mountain when they first met. He was a kitten compared to the tigers that were eyeing the auction stage now. Even when they weren’t the focus of their attention Chen Haoran and the rest felt their breathing stifled. Ridiculously the Auctioneer looked unaffected despite being at the forefront of the storm and calmly called out bids.

“20 million. 30 million. 50 million. 80 million. 120 million. 200 million.”

In a matter of moments there was more money dropped on the technique than what Chen Haoran had dropped on Song Yuelin’s head and it was still rising. The Auctioneer was reading the bids so fast that he scarcely finished one before the next came in. The auras of the Crystal Transformation’s grew so intense that Chen Haoran wouldn’t be surprised if at any moment they shattered the windows of their booths and yelled their bids directly.

That was when the ceiling caved in.

Another metal fanged aura sank its teeth into the auction hall as light spilled in and illuminated the shadowed hall.

“Criminals of the Golden Lily Association!” Boomed a powerful voice. The glass window in their box cracked. “How dare you flout the Emperor’s word in my territory!”

A man clad in scarlet armor flew down from the hole he’d made. A wicked halberd was clutched tightly in his hand. He waved it once and the auras of the other Crystal Transformations were scattered to pieces.

“Perish in the name of the Empire.”

Chapter 100

Five-Gold Market. Noon.

The golden words vanished from the Golden Lily Token, and Chen Haoran put it away.

He heaved out a sigh. “Daytime, huh?”

It made sense. With Daqing’s curfew, it would be much more suspicious for people to move around at night. He stopped training and went inside to gather his things. Laid out on the table was a stack of golden banknotes. He counted all 200 hundred thousand taels of his accrued funds and placed the banknotes in his storage bag. It was a paltry sum compared to some of the items up for auction today, but it was more than respectable for a month’s work. Well… not that he was the one working.

When he went back outside, Phelps landed on his back, and Chen Haoran stumbled.

“Damn, you’ve gotten heavier.”

Phelps squealed.

Not just heavier. He grew bigger too. The arms wrapped around his neck were corded with muscles he didn’t think a sloth should have, and even his claws seemed sharper somehow.

Chen Haoran poked Phelps on the nose. “If you still want to ride on my back, you need should stop growing.” He didn’t want to try carrying an SUV sizes sloth anytime soon.

Phelps squealed in annoyance, and Chen Haoran felt a slight wave of qi escape him. It was a lapse of control he didn’t often see from Phelps. He could feel the warmth of Phelps’s new Ninth-Layer cultivation through his back. Feeding Phelps, the 300-year-old Moonflower from Chanchu had seen Phelps finally break the limit and soar ahead into the new Layer. Although it seemed the only thing that really advanced was the sloth’s stomach. Like the gluttonous little trooper he was, Phelps ate every spirit herb Chen Haoran could stuff him with and then asked for seconds.

“Thanks for all the hard work bud,” Chen Haoran said, scratching Phelps under his chin. “I’ll get you something nice from today’s auction. I’m gonna need you to get off now, though.”

He waited.

Phelps didn’t move.

He shook Phelps’s arms. “Bud?”

Phelps yawned, but he still didn’t move.

He tried nudging Phelps with his elbow but only got an irritated squeal directly in his ear.

Right. The hard way it was then.

What followed was an exercise in futility. Chen Haoran laid on his side. He sat down. He flipped into a handstand. He spun. He did jumping jacks. He hugged the willow tree. All to no avail. Eventually, he was able to pry off Phelps’s arms through superior cultivation. Chen Haoran’s joy only lasted for a moment before Phelps activated his floating power and, like a snake, twisted around and grabbed Chen Haoran from the front instead. Phelps’s head nuzzled his chin.

Chen Haoran looked up to the sky in despair. “Phelps, I have somewhere to be. I really can’t take you with me.”

He didn’t want to leave Phelps behind, but bringing him along would be too recognizable. It wasn’t like there was anyone else going around with a sloth on their back. It was why he didn’t bring Phelps with him when he was buying spirit herbs. Perhaps that was the issue? He’d been spending a lot of time apart from Phelps recently. For all that Phelps had adjusted well to leaving the Spa Cavern, he was still being dragged from one unfamiliar place to another.

Chen Haoran sighed. “Let’s do it like this, then.”

——————

“That’s not what I think it is, is it?” Jiang Lei asked. He looked dubiously at Chen Haoran’s bulging cloak.

He met up with Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao and the three of them made their way over to the Five-Gold Market. Chen Haoran didn’t bother answering his question. Unfortunately, the subject of his question popped his furry head out of Chen Haoran’s cloak. Phelps swung his head around. When he saw Jiang Lei, he squealed. When he saw Wang Xiao, he hissed.

Chen Haoran pushed his head back down. “Back inside.”

Jiang Lie huffed. “Dare I ask why?”

“When you take in a pet, you have a responsibility,” Chen Haoran said.

“How illuminating,” Jiang Lei chuckled.

Wang Xiao clicked his tongue in annoyance. “I don’t even know why I’m here.”

“Ask your Senior Brother,” Chen Haoran said.

Jiang Lei blinked in confusion. “I didn’t ask you to bring him. You’re the one who offered.”

“I knew you’d want to bring him along.”

“I appreciate the thought, but if you didn’t want my Junior Brother to come, I wouldn’t have forced the issue,” Jiang Lei said.

So he was being uselessly considerate? Chen Haoran sighed. He couldn’t just shoo Wang Xiao away now, either. That would be too rude…

Chen Haoran frowned. Why did he care about being rude? He looked at Wang Xiao. “Shoo.”

Wang Xiao impressively went through five different stages of disbelief before settling his face into a sneer. “I will be accompanying my Senior Brother.”

“Damnit.”

“So,” Jiang Lei interrupted. “Where is that attendant from last time?”

“I don’t know. Give me a minute,” Chen Haoran said. He pulled out the Golden Lily Token. Golden words burned.

Red carriage. Lion.

“It’s a red carriage,” he said, looking around the bustling market.

“There,” Jiang Lei said, pointing.

Chen Haoran followed where was point and found the carriage sitting at the entrance of an alley. The sides were painted with bright silver lions.

“Game face, gentlemen.” He pulled on his mask and soothed Phelps. “…and Wang Xiao.”

Wang Xiao grumbled something under his breath as he and Jiang Lei put on cloth masks. When the arrived at the carriage, the door swung open on its own. Dreamwater was already inside and bowed as they entered.

“It’s nice to see you again, honored guest.”

The door closed automatically when they sat down, and the carriage was immediately isolated from the outside world. The only thing that even indicated they were moving was the occasional bump in the road.

“You wouldn’t happen to be tracking me through this token? This level of preparedness is a bit scary.” He didn’t think they did. Lan Fen would have made him get rid of the token were that the case.

Dreamwater laughed. “Of course not. With how varied and talented our clientele is, it would only be a matter of time before such a thing was discovered. The Golden Lily Association has no reason to ruin its own reputation like that. The tokens are strictly one-way communication.”

“So, what’s the situation with the Moonflower.”

“It has been accepted, of course,” Dreamwater said. “Would you like to know the price now, or would you prefer to wait until we arrive?”

“I have a question before that. When the Moonflower is sold, can I use that money to buy other items?”

Dreamwater nodded. “You may. As a Gold Token holder, you are afforded certain liberties the Association wouldn’t give others.”

That was good. It did mean the time he spent collecting funds was a bit wasted but he could always use the money for something else.

On the topic of those liberties, your escape route has been prepared.” She pulled a slip of paper with a golden pattern drawn on it from her sleeve. “This talisman will be your key. I will lead you to the exit whenever you desire.”

Chen Haoran took the talisman. “I don’t suppose I can still give you things to auction?”

“While the Golden Lily Association appreciates your business, I’m afraid it is too late.”

“I figured.” Not that he had anything else to auction anyway. Nothing else came close to the Moonflower in value. “So about the Moonflower-”

The carriage ground to a halt.

Dreamwater gracefully rose, and the door opened. “We are here, honored guest.”

Already? It hadn’t been that long since they were picked up. When he stepped out of the carriage, there were naturally no details of where they were. A fabric tunnel had been set up to isolate him. All he could tell was that wherever they were was much cooler than outside.

“The Golden Lily Association’s thoroughness lives up to its reputation,” Jiang Lei said.

“Thank you for the compliment, sir. Have you done business with us before?”

“No, I’m beginning to regret that.” Jiang Lei’s tone sounded regretful, at least. “The last auction I went to, I got ambushed.”

“The Association offered Ambush Insurance if you are interested.”

What the hell?

“I will have to decline,” Jiang Lei demured. He smiled at Chen Haoran. “I already have someone who will reimburse me anyway.”

“The hell you do.”

Dreamwater led them through an environment carefully obscured with sheets and portions to allow not even the tiniest detail to be exposed. It was a familiar sight for Chen Haoran. What wasn’t familiar was when Dreamwater brought them to a box instead of a tent like his last auction. Three plush chairs were lined up, facing a large window. Two small tables were placed between the chairs, and another table laden with pitchers and platters of fruit and small snacks sat on the side. Three stands with a blue crystal for bidding stood before each chair. The space outside the window was dark save for lines of light down below that illuminated tents much like the one he stayed in during his first auction.

“Your catalog, honored guest.” Dreamwater handed over the pamphlet he had flipped through last time. Chen Haoran passed with to Jiang Lei without another glance.

In the time it took for them to sit down and Dreamwater to present them with drinks, the space before them was lit with spotlights centered on a large stage. It was a theater, Chen Haoran realized, albeit one far large than he’d ever seen back on Earth.

On the stage was a cloaked figure, and beside him was a large table with a small jade box atop it.

“Welcome, honored guests,” the cloaked figure said with a monotonous, almost robotic voice. “We will now be beginning today’s auction.” He waved his hand over the jade box and opened it. A bright blue flower bloomed out and spread a thick blue mist over the table. “30-thousand-year-old Moonflower. The bidding will begin at 7 million gold taels.”

“About the Moonflower,” Dreamwater said in the ensuing silence. The damn woman sounded cheeky. “We did eventually figure out a price.”

Chapter 99

“How in the world did you get your hands on something like that?”

Those were the first words Jiang Lei said to him after they had left the inn and gotten far enough away. They weaved between various alleys and into and out of crowds. While Jiang Lei said they weren’t being followed, it was still best to be careful.

Chen Haoran stashed his cloak in his storage bag while Jiang Lei still struggled to process what he’d seen. “In all my life, I’ve never seen someone just casually pull out a 30-thousand-year-old spirit plant like that.” Jiang Lei’s friendly older brother facade was gone now in favor of open shock.

“So what I gave her was pretty valuable, huh?” Chen Haoran asked. He left the Moonflower with Dreamwater. Despite being ‘fully trained’ in appraising, per her words, she couldn’t quote him a price for the spirit plant then and there and would have to refer it to her seniors. He’d get the starting price the day of the auction.

“Pretty valuable?” Jiang Lei sputtered. “Do you really not know the value of what you handed over?”

Chen Haoran waved his hand in a so-so motion. “I know theoretically that it’s worth a lot, but not specifics.”

“So you don’t know what it’s worth, and you still handed it over? Are you not afraid the Golden Lily Association will steal it?” Jiang Lei asked.

He shrugged. “If they do then that’s that. It’d be a shame, but I’d just move on. Besides, I’d assume the Golden Lily Association wouldn’t ruin their reputation like that. They make more money than what they’d get taking that flower.”

“And what if I decided to steal it then?” Chen Haoran paused and looked at Jiang Lei and merely smiled at him. “Now that I know you have something that good who’s to say what else you have? I am the stronger of the two of us. It would be trivial for me.”

It was a good question. Jiang Lei was essentially a stranger to him. At any time he could decide to rip Chen Haoran’s storage bag off his waist and there’d be nothing he could do to stop him. But…

“I know you wouldn’t do that,” Chen Haoran said.

Jiang Lei raised an eyebrow in askance.

“We’re friends, aren’t we? Friends don’t rob friends. And if you really wanted to rob me you wouldn’t be going through the potential risks with me.”

Jiang Lei was silent for a moment as he studied Chen Haoran. In the end he laughed and threw an arm over Chen Haoran’s shoulders. “Of course we’re friends.”

Chen Haoran, thankfully didn’t flinch. Of course, every word he spoke was a damn lie. Rather than betting on this nonsense friendship Jiang Lei was pushing, he placed his faith that Jiang Lei’s other objective, which had him sticking near Chen Haoran, was more important. In a way, his inviting Jiang Lei to meet the Golden Lily Association attendant was part for security and part test. He might not know the true value of a 30-thousand-year-old Moonflower but he at least knew it wasn’t worth enough for Jiang Lei to break face with him.

He was stirred out of his thoughts by Jiang Lei’s finger poking his chest. “Are you really sure about selling it, though? Most would consider using a spirit herb that powerful for themselves.”

Chen Haoran grabbed his finger and pushed it away. “Use it for what? I’m already at the peak of the Qi Realm. In any case old or not it’s just a Moonflower. I was in the mountains picking flowers like those for the girl I liked. Whatever benefit it has comes more from its age than the flower itself.”

“For someone who says he doesn’t know the value of what he sold, you seem to have a pretty good idea of what it’s worth.”

Chen Haoran rolled his eyes. “Just the basics. What do you think? I don’t know much about spirit herbs.”

“Well, natural spirit herbs that old are impossible to find. You’d be lucky to find anything over a thousand.” Jiang Lei pursed his lips in thought. “Almost impossible. There are stories of cultivators who ventured into the forbidden depths of the jungle coming back with plants that old, but that was a long time ago. The majority of powerful spirit herbs on the market are grown now.”

“Damn, they really wait 30 thousand years for plants to grow then?” It said something about cultivators’ long-term planning if that were the case.

“Heavens no. That’s insane. There are techniques and formations to help them grow. Some secret realms as well are beneficial for growing spirit herbs.” Jiang Lei looked at Chen Haoran in surprise. “You didn’t think the age was literal, did you?”

“I told you I don’t know anything about them.”

Jiang Lei shook his head. “I really don’t know what to make of you. One moment I swear you’re from some great power, and then the very next moment you sound like some backwater cultivator.”

Chen Haoran snorted. “That’s precisely what I am.”

“Backwater cultivators don’t have strong Earth-rank cultivation methods or pull out insanely old spirit herbs. I swear on all the water in Zumulu you’re more important than you’re letting on.”

Well… he wasn’t wrong per se. Chen Haoran considered and decided it was worth the shot to ask. “Have you heard of the Chen Family?”

“No,” came Jiang Lei’s instant response. “Should I? There’s a bunch of Chen families.”

Chen Haoran felt a sense of deja vu. On the one hand he expected it. On the other hand he didn’t know how to feel about Jiang Lei and Xie Jin having nearly the exact same answer. He was a bit sad Xie Jin wasn’t here to meet Jiang Lei now.

“Oh wait! Are you from that Chen Family?”

Chen Haoran froze. Did he really know them?

Jiang Lei continued, oblivious. “I think I remember a Liquid Meridian pirate gang down south calling themselves that.” He narrowed his eyes at Chen Haoran. “You’re not a pirate, are you?”

Chen Haoran’s rush of emotion deflated. He thought back to the Crystal Transformation City Lord quivering in fear of his father Chen Qitao’s name. He thought of Song Yuelin. Pirate didn’t seem to cut it. “No,” he sighed. “I’m not a pirate.”

“Good,” Jiang Lei cheered. “I would have to arrest you if you were.”

“Right,” Chen Haoran dryly said. He shrugged off Jiang Lei’s arm. “I’ll let you know when the auction is and you can bring Wang Xiao with you.”

“Wait a minute.” Jiang Lei grabbed his arm. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Chen Haoran frowned. “To make money?”

Jiang Lei pointed at himself. “What about my money?”

Ah, right. He almost forgot about that. He thought for a moment and held up one finger.

“One hundred thousand? Barely acceptable, I suppose.” Jiang Lei didn’t even blink, quoting such an outrageous number.

“One percent of whatever the final bid of the Moonflower is.”

This time Jiang Lei did blink. “Well, I’m not averse to being handed more money.”

“For your sake, I hope it gets a good price.”

“Oh, it will absolutely. I’m already looking forward to it.”

“Enough to buy that Heaven-rank technique?”

Jiang Lei hesitated. “That… you have a big appetite. As you said, it’s only a Moonflower.”

“I take it that being Five-Elements attribute makes the technique insanely valuable?”

Jiang Lei once again looked at Chen Haoran with disbelief. “It’s the Five Elements,” he said slowly as if he were a teacher explaining it to a child. “It means that it’s not restricted affinity and can be learned by anyone.”

Chen Haoran let out a low whistle. “I’ll have to work harder then.”

“You’ll be competing with every major power in the city then. Perhaps outside it as well. I don’t think I have to tell you that Crystal Transformation Realms will be participating.”

“The Golden Lily Association really pulled out all the stops, huh?” Chen Haoran considered competing, but if the Moonflower couldn’t get him the funds he needed, so be it. Even for him, it would be a bit too much to show up with another 30-thousand-year-old plant to auction.

“I’ve never heard of anything like this before,” Jiang Lei said. “This might end up being the biggest auction in Zumulu. I just don’t know why such a powerful Heaven-rank technique showed up.” He furrowed his brows. “We’re lucky it’s just a movement technique. There’d be a bloodbath if it were a cultivation method.”

“Bloodbath, huh?” He couldn’t help but recall the last Golden Lily Auction he’d participated in. In a way, that auction involved a bloodbath as well. Lan Fen had auctioned a powerful wood treasure to feed the paranoia against the Lan Family. “Political, maybe?” he muttered subconsciously.

“What was that?”

“Forget it,” Chen Haoran said, shaking his head. At the end of the day it didn’t matter what the reasons were.

He just had to prepare for the auction.

Chapter 98:

The Liquid Liquor was a humble hole-in-the-wall wedged directly next to the river between the docks and warehouses. It was a place for laborers, sailors, and the working folk of Daqing who kept the industry flowing. It was also a place visited and patronized exclusively by locals.

Chen Haoran felt eyes on him as soon as he entered the bar. Even though he wrapped himself in a large cloak and concealed his face under its hood, he felt exposed as the foreigner he was.

“You know, wearing something like that in a place like this doesn’t really help you go unnoticed,” Jiang Lei said. Unlike Chen Haoran, he made no move to hide his face and boldly looked around the bar. The few cultivators in the room quickly paled and lost themselves in their drinks rather than lock eyes with him.

Between the two of them, he considered Jiang Lei to be the more eye-catching one “Being noticed is fine so long as I go unrecognized.”

They made their way to the bar, where the bartender looked decidedly unfazed at seeing two powerful cultivators enter the establishment. “What’ll it be?” he gruffed.

“Dreamwater,” Chen Haoran said.

The bartender gave him a once over, and Chen Haoran flashed the Golden Lily Token from his cloak.

“Up the stairs and to the left.”

“Thank you.”

As they ascended the steps, Jiang Lei couldn’t hold his curiosity back. “You told me I could make some easy money. I wonder how you plan to do that here?”

“Don’t worry,” Chen Haoran said when they reached the top. He knocked on the door.

It silently swung open. Behind it was a woman wearing a well-fitted robe cinched with a white sash embroidered with yellow lily pads. A golden cloth mask obscured the upper half of her face. A quick glance with his sense revealed a Ninth-Layer cultivation. “Welcome, honored guest. I am Dreamwater.” She stretched a hand to the simple table within the windowless room. There was no other furniture save for a few simple candle stands scattered around the room for light. “Please.”

Chen Haoran brushed passed the attendant without a word and sat himself down. Jiang Lei remained next to the door. He offered Dreamwater a cheeky smile as she looked between the two of them. Chen Haoran wasn’t surprised. It was a special situation where the weaker cultivator took the lead. Dreamwater gingerly sat across from Chen Haoran and pleasantly smiled at him. Another professional. He was meeting a lot of those lately.

“How may I help you today, honored guest?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Chen Haoran said. He leaned back into his chair and causally tossed his token on the table. “You tell me.”

“Is this your first time doing business with us?”

“One of your people gave me this thing after I purchased a few knickknacks. I didn’t bother getting an explanation then.” It wasn’t entirely a lie either, although more because he wanted to get out of there than ignoring the Association.

“Allow me to introduce myself once again, then. I am Dreamwater. I am here to assist you and see to your needs for the duration of the auction in Daqing.”

“Such as?”

“If you desire your purchases to be sent to a specific location then I can help arrange that. If you require an unobserved exit from the city, I can also help you with that.”

“Can you tell me about the auction itself?”

She shook her head. “You will be notified of the auction date and your pickup location through your token. At that time, I will meet with you and bring you to the venue.” Her eyes drifted to Jiang Lei. “Shall I prepare two chairs?”

“Three,” Chen Haoran said. For safety’s sake, he wanted to bring Jiang Lei to the auction as well. Although he was sure that if he didn’t invite him the Liquid Meridian would pester him until he did. To that end, he may as well invite Wang Xiao as well and head off Jiang Lei’s inevitable asking. It would win him some brownie points, at least. He drummed his fingers along the table. “What about the items to be auctioned.”

Dreamwater smiled, pulled a cream-colored pamphlet from the folds of her robe, and handed it to Chen Haoran.  He could feel the quality of the paper beneath his fingers. The pamphlet was elegantly handwritten with gold ink, and each item came with a simple description of its effects, where it was sourced, and its starting prices. He’d sigh in amazement if he weren’t putting up an act right now. The Golden Lily Association’s reputation for quality was well-earned.

“I will have the pamphlet prepared on the day of the auction for you to peruse as well. If I may draw your attention to the top of the list, you will see our highlight for the auction, a Five-Element Heaven-Rank technique.”

Jiang Lei’s sharp intake of breath told Chen Haoran plenty about how valuable the technique was. His eyes traced over the golden name of the technique and its following information.

Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs

Baghmar Republic

Starting Price: 10 million Gold Taels

It was a movement technique. Each of its seven steps corresponded to a different color, and when mastered in full, any attack on the user would be as futile as finding the end of a rainbow. It was quite the ostentatious claim, but given its 10 million gold tael price tag, he had to assume there was some truth in it. It was already double the price of the Stygian Lotus back in Clearsprings. The final cost would no doubt be enormous. Already his head was swimming with questions. What did it mean for it to be Five-Elements? Did it require someone to have all five before using it? Was acquiring all five even possible? Not just that but…

“Why is the Golden Lily Association Auction selling something like this?”

Dreamwater smiled in the way a retail employee did when a customer asked something they wouldn’t answer. He shouldn’t have bothered asking. There was no way an attendant wouldn’t know. His estimation of the Golden Lily Association rose higher. How powerful were they that they would sell a Heaven-rank technique rather than keep it for themselves? By all accounts, Heaven-rank anything were vanishingly rare. Techniques and cultivation methods, especially, were things jealously guarded.

Well, his speculation was all meaningless anyway. Whatever the Golden Lily Association’s intentions, he was far removed from them. Still, at least from the prices involved, he could see that Daqing had money. That was good. It was exactly what he wanted.

He tossed the pamphlet on the table. “Arrange one of those exits for me.”

Dreamwater gracefully bowed her head. “Of course, sir. I’ll inform you of the specifics when we next meet. Is there anything else I can assist you with?”

“I want to enter something into the auction. Are you able to arrange that?”

Dreamwater’s smile became even more professional. Chen Haoran recognized it at once. It was the ‘Prepared to gently let down the customer’s ridiculous demand and get yelled at for it,’ smile. It seemed that the language of customer service was universal no matter the time period or, indeed, the world.

“If you desire to enter an item, I am trained in the appraisal arts and can evaluate it right now if you so wish,” Dreamwater said. “However, I must warn the honored guest in advance that while we do evaluate submissions, we may not accept them.”

Translation: ‘If your shit isn’t valuable, we don’t want it.’

Chen Haoran reached into his storage bag and pulled out a deep green jade box. Its surface was etched with images of spring in bloom and thrummed with vital qi. A single leather band was tightly wrapped across its top with a brass latch closing it. He had purchased it from Chanchu for a pretty penny, and even then, the merchant had been reluctant to part with it. Dreamwater’s professional mask turned into genuine interest.

Chen Haoran looked around the room with an air of indifference. “How private is this room?”

Dreamwater observed his expression and looked back down at the jade box. If she were as professionally trained appraisal as she purported herself to be, she would have recognized the box was meant to contain and preserve the energies of delicate spiritual materials. After a moment, her hands disappeared into the sleeves of her robes, and her qi flared. The walls around them lit up with complex patterns and scripts, and the air in the room shifted. Chen Haoran could feel the ambient qi in the room rapidly scatter before becoming unnaturally still when the patterns on the walls disappeared. Chen Haoran cast his sense to the wall in search of the formation and found nothing.

“Nothing will leave this room, honored guest,” Dreamwater said.

Chen Haoran placed a single finger on the leather band’s brass latch. It opened with a pulse of qi, and as soon as the box lid loosened, a faint blue mist started seeping from its seams. When he removed the lid, the mist poured out in a flood, covering the table and spilling to the floor. The room suddenly became cooler, and what light the candles gave off was devoured by the mist. However, it did not become darker because after devouring the candlelight, a soft white light emerged from the mist itself as if it were backlit by the moon. Accompanying the mist was a faint floral scent. Chen Haoran breathed deeply and smelled a wet, moonlit night. The scent sank into his meridians, and despite him being at the peak of the Qi realm and having no more space for energy, it still found corners and crevasses to fill in.

The blue flower that was the source of the phenomena lay in the jade box, giving off the impression of frailty and softness, yet at the same time looking as still and unmoveable as a mountain. Chen Haoran chalked the strange feeling up to the wondrous nature of qi. He slammed the lid back down onto the box and broke the beautiful scene. Jiang Lei and Dreamwater looked at him with shocked silence.

He couldn’t help it. He smirked. “30-thousand-year-old Moonflower. Please appraise it.”

Chapter 97

He’d give Jiang Lei this: he was a far more pleasant training partner than Song Yuelin was. Chen Haoran hadn’t realized it until they started but he’d half expected Jiang Lei to make him eat dirt once they started practicing. As it turns out that wasn’t a universal practice and Song Yuelin was just being an asshole. In all honesty, he should have realized that sooner. Despite both being rather weird Liquid Meridian Realms they couldn’t be any more different. His eccentricities beside, Jiang Lei was far less infuriating to deal with.

They had fallen into a rhythm over the coming days. Jiang Lei would grab him and they’d go find a secluded place outside the city to train, switching locations every few days so as to avoid prying eyes. Chen Haoran would do his best to gut Jiang Lei with his Harmonization while Jiang Lei casually engaged in small talk while avoiding said gutting. It wasn’t the worst thing he could do all things considered although it was a bit strange to talk about the weather while sundering the earth beneath them. It beat getting slapped in the face at least.

It was during this training that he finally learned Jiang Lei stood at the First-Layer of Liquid Meridian. He had his suspicions about it before but couldn’t confirm it with his sense. Despite being used to sensing Liquid Meridians now it didn’t mean he could discern which Layer they’d cultivated to. When one stood along the coast, all oceans looked the same size.

After being reprimanded by Jiang Lei that day, Wang Xiao never brought up dueling again. He didn’t speak much or even show up beyond a few rare appearances. Chen Haoran didn’t know what he was getting up to all he knew was that whenever he came to the training sessions he watched Chen Haoran’s Harmonization like a hawk. Perhaps he was trying to figure out how to defeat it? Or learn for himself? Either way, he barely interacted with them. It honestly made Chen Haoran curious as to what sort of organization they belonged to that it could nurture two people so opposite of each other. There were things he could infer from their interactions and what he’d seen so far but those were all merely guesses.

The one thing he was no closer to figuring out was what Jiang Lei wanted from him. It really looked like he was interested in his Harmonization but Chen Haoran couldn’t— no he refused to shake the feeling that some other purpose was afoot. He just didn’t know what. He was once again mourning the loss of the White Tyrant’s sensory abilities, such an immensely useful tool for information gathering. The only downside was the personality that came with it.

He didn’t let up on his other training while practicing his Harmonization. On the days Jiang Lei didn’t show up he practiced the Scattering Petal Palm within the confines of his courtyard. He set a small goal for himself to reach Lan Yao’s level of skill before the year was over. It was cathartic practicing the Scattering Petal Palm. It was the one technique where he could see noticeable progress day by day. Far more than his Harmonization control and his cultivation.

It was depressing how futile his attempts to break through to the Liquid Meridian Realm were. In theory, it was simple. However, as Jiang Lei had so eloquently put it, simple did not equal easy. He wasn’t starting completely from scratch, at least. His Harmonization training also required him to gather and hold the surging qi of the Canyon Carving Sword steady. It was so similar to trying to create a drop of liquid qi that Chen Haoran had to wonder if this was Song Yuelin’s true purpose in introducing the skill to him. Similar was all it was however, trying to advance to the Liquid Meridian Realm was a whole order of magnitude higher. Just condensing his qi into a liquid form required him to manipulate practically all the qi in his body and hold it in an iron grip. It was an act that strained his control and ability to multitask to the limit. His limit was far short of what he required to succeed.

He needed help.

————

“Something that can help you advance to the Liquid Meridian Realm?” Jiang Lei asked. They were once again training outside the city. This time they had gone farther from the city to a picturesque gorge with trees that grew horizontal on its sheer rock walls. The sky-blue water of the Skyspear calmly flowed beneath them.

“If there’s a certain trick or technique I can use,” Chen Haoran said. “Or if there’s a pill or something.”

He doubted he was the only person who struggled to break through to the Liquid Meridian Realm. With how much power the next realm offered there had to be research done to help cultivators advance.

Jiang Lei rubbed his chin in thought. “Well, you’re already ahead of other cultivators. You’re young, and despite your issues using it, you have mastered Harmonization. Just those means you’ll have an easier time condensing your first drop.”

“Is that it then? Time.” Chen Haoran couldn’t keep the disappointment out of his voice. It made sense that was all he needed but for his safety the sooner he broke through the better.

“I’m not finished yet,” Jiang Lei said, laughing. “What you want is a Heavy Core Pill.”

“Heavy Core Pill?”

“It’s hard to condense your qi into a liquid. The Heavy Core Pill is meant to attract your qi to a single point and serve as a focus. It won’t do all the work on its own, but it at least makes it easier to gather your qi. I used a Wood-attribute Heavy Core Pill to advance.”

Relief flooded through him. So there was a way. His attention was pulled towards Jiang Lei’s last words, however. “Wood? Not water?”

“ A Heavy Core Pill is essentially dropping a super dense chunk of qi in your meridians. If you’re using the same element, then it’s no different than a stronger cultivation pill. If it’s a beneficial element, then the difference in density turns it into a qi magnet.”

So he needed a Wood or a Metal attribute Heavy Core Pill then. “Do you know anywhere I can get one?”

Jiang Lei’s smile turned sheepish. “They’re ah, controlled substances.”

Chen Haoran’s heart fell. They were illegal? “Are they harmful or addictive or something?” If they were then he’d have to give it up. He wanted to advance, but he didn’t want to hurt himself doing it.

“Not that kind.”

“Then wha—” Realization washed over him. He’d forgotten where he was. “The Empire?”

Jiang Lei nodded. “You can get still get them in Zumulu but the official channels will make you run rings and the unofficial ones are…” He considered his words. “Not so inclusive.”

“But they’re sold?” Chen Haoran asked.

“They are.” Jiang Lei raised an eyebrow. “You seem to have an idea.”

More than that. He had an invitation to a place that specialized in big-ticket smuggled goods.

“I’m gonna have to have my wallet ready.”

————

“Welcome back, sir,” Chanchu said. As soon as Chen Haoran entered the shop he rushed over with two employees and greet Chen Haoran with a bow.

Chen Haoran nodded. “I trust you’ve been well.”

“Every day is a good day when you grace our store, sir.”

That drew a laugh out of him. “I would hope so.”

Chanchu smiled. “Will it be the usual today?”

“Yeah. Phelps enjoys your product. I want to look through your catalog too.”

“Right this way then, sir. I’ll have tea brought to the room.”

Ever since his first visit to the Ever Spring Pavilion, he continued to purchase spirit herbs from them. It wasn’t the only place he did so, he made sure to buy resources from every shop he sold to. However, he made the bulk of his purchases at the Ever Spring Pavilion.

Chanchu handed over the inventory catalog and personally poured tea for him. The room was filled with a strong fruity smell from the steaming amber tea. “This tea is called River King’s Conquest, it’s said that in ancient times a warlord invaded just to control the territory this tea is grown in. Please enjoy.”

“Getting fancy now huh? You didn’t have this before.”

“It was a recent purchase. I was fortunate enough to acquire some.”

“With my money, no doubt.”

Chanchu laughed. “That’s why I’m giving you the first taste.”

Chen Haoran huffed and smiled. Perks of being a V.I.P. He was surprised to find the tea was filled with qi the flavor was practically infused into the energy. “It’s good tea,” he said, smacking his lips. “I’ll have to add to my order from you.”

Chanchu folded his hands and flashed a professional smile. “Perhaps our Ever Spring Pavilion could place an order with your instead, sir?”

Chen Haoran paused. He set the cup down and leaned back in his chair. “Oh? Has word been spreading?”

“Naturally not, sir. I’m merely friends with one of the merchants you’ve sold to.”

Chen Haoran hummed and drummed his fingers along his leg. He’d been making sure to spread out his purchases between shops, but it was inevitable someone would notice. If he hadn’t been in a rush to acquire funds then he could be more low-key with his sales. Perhaps a trip to the shops across the river was in order.

“I’m surprised you’re in a rush to give me my money back,” Chen Haoran said.

Chanchu smiled helplessly. “As you’ve perhaps noticed, my humble shop doesn’t have much in the way of higher rank materials. My Ever Spring Pavilion is willing to buy however much you’re willing to sell.”

Chen Haoran was considering his options when he felt a spike of qi from his pocket. His hand instinctively gripped the Golden Lily Token, he didn’t pull it out, however.

“Chanchu,” he said. “Turn around.”

Chanchu didn’t hesitate at all and immediately left his seat and faced the wall. Chen Haoran’s appreciation of the merchant raised several notches and he pulled out the token. Tiny golden letters burned across it.

Auction Assistant: Dreamwater

Liquid Liquor Bar

Interesting. Was it a benefit of having a Gold token? He didn’t think they’d arrange a meeting before the auction itself. He played with the token. The room was silent.

If he was going to meet an auction employee, then he should try to bring something. If Lan Fen could put something up for auction, then there was no reason he couldn’t. What though? He cast his mind through all the Rewards he’d acquired. His eyes landed on Chanchu’s back.

An idea bloomed.

“Chanchu my friend. How much are you selling that 300-year-old Moonflower for?”

Chapter 96

“I have no idea what the issue is,” Jiang Lei said.

Chen Haoran looked at him. He squinted and tried to find any sign of falsehood in his face. He drummed his fingers as he pondered over his observation and came to the conclusion that no, Jiang Lei was not lying to him. That, in all honesty, made it worse.

“Didn’t you say you could help me?” Chen Haoran asked. “Something about being the second-best swordsman in the city?”

“Actually, I was humbly calling myself the best. In any case, that’s for swords, not Harmonization. If you wanted an easy answer then maybe you should have considered having a less complicated problem.”

“Are you victim-blaming me?” He asked in disbelief.

“I’m not quite sure how you’re a victim in this situation.” Jiang Lei ruffled his hair and sighed. “I originally wanted to help you by dropping some cryptic hints that would lead you to solve your issue on your own.”

Chen Haoran put aside his immediate question of why that, of all things, was Jiang Lei’s first idea. “What’s the plan now, then?”

Jiang Lei stood up and drew his sword, three-feet of narrow double-edged steel. “Now we have to actually work for enlightenment. Draw your blade, Chen Haoran.”

Chen Haoran sighed but obliged him. His scimitar flashed white as he pulled it out. Jiang Lei swept his sword and casually brushed away the white energy that flew his way. Above them in the tree came Phelps’s encouraging squeals.

Chen Haoran lightly swung his sword and white energy flashed through the air like rain. Jiang Lei had a measured look as he parried the energy with his sword.

“So it varies between dispersed energy blades and a single beam, defaulting to energy blades when you’re not concentrating.” He hummed. “Was the last attack you used on my Junior Brother your maximum range?”

“About Fifty-feet yes.”

“And whenever you draw your scimitar, it releases cutting energy?”

“Yes.” Chen Haoran had a good guess as to why as well. With how much lip the White Tyrant had given to Lan Fen for even the most basic of assistance, he wasn’t surprised the Harmonization based on him wouldn’t deign to be casually used. Chen Haoran was half-afraid that if the Harmonization stopped causing problems, it would stop working entirely.

“Okay.” Jiang Lei tapped his chin in thought even as he was waving his sword around. It honestly rankled Chen Haoran a little bit to see how casually the strongest tool in his arsenal was being treated. “Right. Here’s what you should do.”

Chen Haoran pricked his ears up and gave Jiang Lei his full attention. Despite his eccentricities, Jiang Lei was still a Liquid Meridian Realm cultivator. His experience far exceeded his own.

“Just stop letting it do that.”

Chen Haoran blinked. “Stop what?”

Jiang Lei pointed at the white scimitar. “That. Stop doing that.”

He looked at Jiang Le with confusion and proceeded to sheathe his blade.

“Why are you putting it away?” Jiang Lei asked, looking equally confused.

“You told me to stop it?”

“You have to learn to control your blade when it’s drawn. Not while it’s sheathed.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?”

“I told you. You have to just stop it?”

“Are you fucking with me? I thought you said you weren’t doing the cryptic advice thing?”

Jiang Lei cocked his head. “Was that cryptic? I can’t make it any simpler, though.”

“You do understand how unhelpful that is, correct?” Chen Haoran swung with some force, and a particularly large crescent of energy scythed out.

“That was my best advice, though?” Jiang Lei batted it away with his sword, and the crescent careened into the jungle and sliced vertically through a tree.

Chen Haoran sheathed his scimitar. The annoyance that had slowly been building within him since the beginning of this conversation peaked. “If this is the best you can do, then there’s no point continuing. I agreed to this because I thought you could actually help me.”

“You have a Water Spirit Root. You only learned how to wield a sword this year. Your sword instructor had a Metal Spirit Root.”

“What—?”

Jiang Lei raised an eyebrow. “Have I proven my ability?”

Chen Haoran clicked his tongue but conceded the point. “How did you even figure that out?”

“By how you wield your sword, of course. For sword masters, crossing blades is the truest expression of oneself.”

“Really?”

“No, but don’t you think it’s poetic?”

Jiang Lei motioned for Chen Haoran to sit down and crossed his hands behind his back. Phelps floated down from the treetops and landed in Chen Haoran’s lap. The sloth patted around his pants legs like a cat before curling up and yawning.

“I wasn’t being entirely facetious.” Jiang Lei paced in front of them, his chest out and his shoulders raised high. It was an instructor’s pose, yet he looked more like he was copying it from memory than assuming it naturally. “A Spirit Root is an integral part of our bodies. Their elemental alignment thus makes that element an integral part of our bodies as well. Theoretically, at least. Our affinities are useless without the correct technique, but they shine through in minor ways.”

“Like through swords,” Chen Haoran said.

“Through all weapons, really. It’s almost instinctual. When you were fighting, I could see the same fluidity in your movements as my own.”

Chen Haoran nodded. That made sense, and given Jiang Lei’s superior experience, he could even believe him figuring out how long he’s used a sword. “That doesn’t explain how you figured out my teacher’s spirit root.”

Jiang Lei shrugged. “It’s the same principle. You learned your movements from them, and that’s reflected in your swordsmanship. I imagine they’re the same ones who taught you that ridiculous technique of yours. I almost pegged you for a Metal attribute with how well you copy them. I believe that’s where the crux of the issue lies.”

“That my Harmonization doesn’t match my element? I was told different affinities are only a problem for cultivation methods, not techniques.”

“Yes and no,” Jiang Lei said. “It all comes down to the name. Harmony. Between cultivator and technique, there is an imbalance. To Harmonize requires one to equalize these two forces.” He looked at Chen Haoran with incredulous eyes. “In your case, you clearly haven’t done that but Harmonized anyway. I don’t suppose you’d tell me how you did that?”

“Not a chance.” It was a wild enough story that he wasn’t sure he’d be believed anyway.

Jiang Lei chuckled. “I figured. In any case, going back to what I said before, the simplest method to control your Harmonization is just that. Control it.”

Chen Haoran sighed. “I’ll respect your knowledge but doing that isn’t as easy as you make it sound.”

“I said it was simple, not easy.” Jiang Lei held his sword straight and assumed a stance. “Observe.”

At this moment, Chen Haoran realized he had yet to see any hint of Harmonization from Jiang Lei. Right at this thought occurred to him Jiang Lei’s aura changed. He was just as casual and relaxed as before but this time his sword gracefully flowed through the air with an ease Chen Haoran would be hard-pressed to replicate. As Jiang Lei shifted from one form to the next, Chen Haoran was reminded of sparring with Lan Fen after she Harmonized. They both shared the same water-like movement but where the Canyon Carving Sword sought to open a path no matter the obstacle Jiang Lei’s sword gave the impression of dancing on the water. Just as suddenly as he began, he stopped, and his Harmonization vanished. Chen Haoran squinted and stretched out his sense but he couldn’t detect any trace of it even though Jiang Lei still held his sword.

“I thought Harmonization was supposed to be a part of you. How did you turn it off?” If he could learn how to do that, he could at least wield a sword normally again.

“If you’re not in harmony with your technique, can you use Harmonization?” Jiang Lei rhetorically asked. “I intentionally introduced an element of disharmony, and so I was no longer Harmonized.” Jiang Lei’s Harmonization appeared again. “And just as easily, I can Harmonize again.”

“How, though?” Chen Haoran eagerly leaned forward, as if getting closer would help him divine the secret behind the method.

Jiang Lei held his sword across his shoulders and smiled.“Just do it.” He held out his hand to forestall Chen Haoran’s objections. “Harmonization is a matter of the mind and will. I know what I’m saying frustrates you, but please look at it from my perspective. How am I supposed to tell you how to breathe? Or how to open and close your hands?”

Chen Haoran let out a long sigh and stood up. Phelps grumbled but obliged and floated in the air beside him. “So what you’re saying is that this is gonna be a huge pain in the ass.”

Jiang Lei laughed. “I did say we’d have to work for enlightenment. Now, all we can do is have you use your Harmonization enough until it truly becomes your hands and feet. Currently, too much of its power is dispersed and can’t show its full potential. When it does…” Jiang Lei’s eagerness was clear in his voice and infectious. Chen Haoran found himself drawn by the energy and couldn’t help the rush of anticipation. “…well, who knows.”

There went his anticipation. “You’re a killjoy, you know that?”

Jiang Lei shrugged. “I am what I am. In any case, the day is still young.” He pointed his sword at Chen Haoran. “Attend.”

Chapter 95

Apologies for the late chapter. Mistake on my part. As an apology, there will be two extra chapters this week.

------

If they had decided to fight then and there, Chen Haoran would be the first to object. He’d already paid the house rent for a year. Even if Jiang Lei put a sword to his neck, he wasn’t going to waste his deposit by wrecking the place.

Fortunately, Jiang Lei defied his expectations and reasonably led him and Wang Xiao outside the city and into the jungle. It was a bit of a risk to leave the safety of the city given what he knew and, more concerningly, didn’t know about Jiang Lei. Granted if the Liquid Meridian wanted to do something to him he would have done so already. Being in the city or outside didn’t make much of a difference in that case. It was times like these that he missed Song Yuelin. While that snooping bastard was infuriating on a good day his presence was still useful in warding off other Liquid Meridians.

They traveled into the jungle and away from the main roads until they entered a clearing shaded from the sky by a dense layer of branches. It was far enough away that their training wouldn’t disturb anyone with their training but close enough that one could still see the city if they jumped above the trees. Phelps wasted no time in flying off his back and exploring the new trees. Chen Haoran let him do as he pleased although his heart did leap into his throat when one of the tree branches revealed itself to be a snake that twisted and struck at Phelps. He was worried for naught when the snake had its head speared through by Phelps’s claws. The sloth’s cultivation had taken another huge leap forward with how well he’d been eating. It was only a matter of time before Phelps entered the Ninth-Layer.

Jiang Lei tracked Phelps with interest as he floated up to the tree and whistled in appreciation upon seeing him practice self-defense. “I can see why you keep him around now. That’s quite the interesting pet you have.”

He didn’t know half of it.

Jiang Lei clapped his hands. “Alright. I hope you two are ready.”

Wang Xiao had turned his back to them and was kneeling on the ground with his sword laid across his lap. At Jiang Lei’s words, he awoke from whatever pre-duel ritual he was doing and spun to face Chen Haoran with a flourish.

“You do know this is a bad idea, right?” Chen Haoran asked.

“Don’t worry,” Jiang Lei cheerfully said. “He’s tough enough that I can save his life with little issue. Feel free to go all out.”

Chen Haoran shrugged. If he was that confident, then there was no reason to refuse. Besides, he would be lying if he said he didn’t want to properly beat down Wang Xiao for what happened last time. Now that he had an excuse?

“You caught me off guard last time,” Wang Xiao said, sneering. “I’ll properly educate you of the difference in our standings.”

Oh, he was going to enjoy this.

Chen Haoran raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you wait until after you lose to start making excuses?”

Wang Xiao scowled. “Senior Brother, start the duel.”

“Let’s have a productive and educational spar now,” Jiang Lei said. He raised his hand in the air.

Wang Xiao fell into a stance. Chen Haoran twitched his hands. He considered using the Scattering Petal Palms. He looked at Wang Xiao’s tight grip on his sword and decided against it. Facts had proven Wang Xiao could cut him. There was no need to risk losing his fingers by fighting him barehanded. He grabbed the hilt of his scimitar.

Jiang Lei’s hand fell. “Begin.”

Water-like ripples spread from Wang Xiao’s feet, and he skated forward. He drew his sword in the same motion. Chen Haoran pulled out his scimitar in full and the ground split beneath his feet. He slashed the blade, and Wang Xiao’s face morphed into shock. He immediately turned, and dove out of the way as white energy tore through his water ripples like tissue paper.

“I warned you not to underestimate him,” Jiang Lei said. A careening blade of white energy flew over to Phelp’s tree. Jiang Lei placed himself in its way and protected the tree with a wall of liquid qi.

Wang Xiao’s shock expression quickly gave way to a scowl. He stomped on the ground and the water ripples spread from he feet like a wave. He shot off faster this time. Chen Haoran stood in place and sent slice after slice of white energy at him and everything around him. He was less aiming and more deciding everything in a certain direction deserved to be cut. Large gashes were opened in the earth, small cuts appeared on Wang Xiao’s robes, and trees fell in mass and scattered their leaves in the air. Wang Xiao quickly adapted and used the fallen trees to try and interrupt his attacks. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t get close to Chen Haoran. On the flip side, Chen Haoran couldn’t hit him.

“It looks like you don’t have a movement technique,” Jiang Lei said. “I’m a bit surprised you don’t. You struck me as someone who had a power behind them.”

Chen Haoran frowned. That explained what that ripple technique was. He was wondering why he didn’t have something like that. Surely a movement technique wasn’t beyond the Chen Family’s means to acquire. Was his predecessor so useless he didn’t even attempt to practice something so useful?

Absorbed by his thoughts, he stopped waving his scimitar. While the white energy didn’t completely disappear and continued to emanate from the blade, it had grown weak enough that Wang Xiao found an opportunity to break through.

“Fall!” Wang Xiao roared. His sword thrummed with qi.

Chen Haoran raised his scimitar in an almost puppet-like motion. A feeling that was both deeply personal and extremely unfamiliar came over him. In his mind, the image of the White Tyrant using the Canyon Carving Sword perfectly overlapped with his current pose. No matter how flawless his mimicry the result was so much lesser than what he witnessed that day. His Harmonization was a spark compared to the sun. The scales were so hilariously different that comparing them was a hopeless endeavor.

Nevertheless, even a spark from the sun was enough to burn a forest to ash.

Wang Xiao’s eyes widened, and a peach glow spread across his sword. Chen Haoran swung his scimitar down with cloud-splitting force. Jiang Lei suddenly appeared, grabbing Wang Xiao’s head and throwing him face first to the dirt. The peach qi along his sword dissipated.  A white beam of metal white energy passed five feet away from them, parting the earth beneath it with its presence alone and flying into the jungle. Trees fell like dominoes and broke apart in a rain of wood. Birds and insects madly fled into the air while the slow ones were turned into blood mist. The destruction continued for fifty feet before abruptly ceasing.

Chen Haoran warily observed Jiang Lei as he stood over Wang Xiao. While he tried to his best avoid aiming directly at Wang Xiao he wasn’t surprised Jiang Lei decided to intervene. Except, Jiang Lei didn’t bother carrying Wang Xiao to safety at all.

Wang Xiao lifted himself up, spitting dirt. “Senior Brother-”

“You’re testing my patience, Junior Brother,” Jiang Lei quietly said.

Wang Xiao froze.

“Senior-”

“Just dodge, you fool. Or better yet, just get hit and die.” Jiang Lei crouched and cupped his Junior Brother’s cheek. “Is this you rebelling? Did you ask me for permission first?”

Chen Haoran shivered. He couldn’t see Jiang Lei’s face from where he stood and that made his calm admonishments even more. Judging by how pale Wang Xiao had gone, it was perhaps a good thing he couldn’t see. He silently took a step back.

Wang Xiao, for the first time since Chen Haoran had met him, had a look of real fear on his face. “I- I’m sorry, Senior Brother. I was not thinking.”

“Oh, you were thinking alright. Perhaps too much.” He patted Wang Xiao’s cheek and stood up. “Go freshen yourself up. You’re filthy.”

“Yes, Senior Brother. Right away.” Wang Xiao shot up and scurried away, disappearing into the jungle.

Chen Haoran watched him go. What had happened? It was Jiang Lei’s idea to have the duel, yet he ended it just like that. It clearly had nothing to do with safety, at least not Wang Xiao’s. Was it for him? He could only think of the peach glow on Wang Xiao’s sword. Was it dangerous? Did Wang Xiao plan to kill him? It hadn’t seemed that dangerous to him at the time. He narrowed his eyes. It didn’t make sense. If Wang Xiao were truly that strong, he wouldn’t have panicked so much seeing Chen Haoran’s Harmonization. There was nothing else he could think of however, Jiang Lei only intervened once Wang Xiao started using whatever that technique was.

Jiang Lei turned around, and Chen Haoran banished his thoughts. He lacked the context to make a real guess at this time.

“Apologies for that,” Jiang Lei said. He softly smiled and motioned over to Phelp’s tree. “Let’s discuss the issues of your Harmonization now.”

Chapter 94

Perhaps unsurprisingly, no matter how extortionate the city guards were, causing property damage had them rushing to do their jobs. What was very surprising was that Jiang Lei was much better at running away than he was at sneaking up on someone. After the guards turned night into day with their flares, he bundled up Chen Haoran with his liquid qi and sped off.

Despite being carried on marginally better terms now, Jiang Lei’s liquid qi was just still just as caustic to his skin and left him feeling as if he’d been scrubbed raw with steel wool. Chen Haoran chalked it up to being a property of Jiang Lei’s cultivation method. Xie Jin did mention the Peachwine River was poisonous, and given its coloring and peach scent he’d bet dollars to donuts that Jiang Lei’s cultivation method was based on the river. It was still better than when Song Yuelin had carried him. At least this time, he was aware of his surroundings outside the liquid qi even if it stung. He’d take pain over sensory deprivation any day. At least it smelled nice.

Thankfully Jiang Lei soon put him down. Chen Haoran breathed deeply of the fresh air. Even if he liked smell of peaches there was such a thing as too much.

“I’m quite thankful that my liquid qi doesn’t bother you,” Jiang Lei said. “This would be a mite more difficult if it did.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m not bothered,” Chen Haoran said, coughing.

Jiang Lei shrugged. “If you’re not suffering burns, then you’re fine.”

He wasn’t sure if being so casual about terrible wounds was a cultivator thing or something unique to Jiang Lei.

“Are we safe now?” he asked.

“Well, the guards will keep searching for a few hours. So long as we don’t cause any more trouble, they’ll give it up. We only tore up a street, after all. They’re not going to invest too much energy. ”

“What are we waiting for then?”

“I don’t know where you’re staying.”

Chen Haoran stared at him. “Why would I tell you that?”

“If you’d like to try getting back by yourself, I won’t stop you. With the search going on though, you’d be pulled in for questioning if you get caught. I would assume you’d like to keep the rest of your money.”

“You make it sound like I can’t avoid the guards.”

“In a word: You suck.”

Chen Haoran grimaced. He had a point there. “Would they really take the rest of my money?”

Jiang Lei raised an eyebrow. “Can you prove your money wasn’t going to commit a crime?”

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“Considering our reset relationship, I don’t believe we’re close enough to joke quite yet.”

“We were never close enough,” Chen Haoran corrected. He sighed. It wouldn’t be a complete loss if he lost all the money on him. He still had Gift rewards he could sell. Spending time in the cultivator version of lockup didn’t sound like his idea of a good time, though. Who knew how long it would take for him to get out? There was no helping it. “I’m in the north.”

Jiang Lei smiled. “Perfect. Hold on.”

———

Miracle of miracles. They safely returned to his house and only had to knock out six guards on the way. When they landed in his courtyard, they were assaulted by a foul smell that had not been there when he’d left.

“Ah,” Jiang Lei said, pinching his nose. “And this is why I don’t have pets.”

Phelps, little trooper that he was, finished the entire pile of pills and spirit herbs while Chen Haoran had been away. After completing his monumental task, he’d promptly rolled over and, true to his nature as a sloth, didn’t move from that spot for the rest of the day. Chen Haoran gagged.

Even to use the bathroom.

“Come on, Phelps. This is nasty.”

Jiang Lei looked green. “Well, I was going to ask to stay for the night, but I think I’ll take my chances getting arrested instead.”

“Get out of here already.”

“I’ll be off then.” Jiang Lei jumped over the courtyard wall. Chen Haoran stared at where he had left. Jiang Lei’s head popped over the wall. “I’ll be seeing you for training tomorrow Chen Haoran.” Thus finished he disappeared again, only to pop back up a moment later. “Also, I’ll be bringing my Junior Brother along with me.” He ducked down again. Then popped up once more. “Oh and—”

“Go before you bring the cops here,” Chen Haoran demanded.

“Alright, alright. Good night, Chen Haoran.”

“Good night.”

Jiang Lei left for what was hopefully the last time. Chen Haoran searched for his presence with his sense and found nothing.

He sighed in relief and held a hand to his head. “What a night,” he groaned.

There was a sound like hissing air behind him, and Chen Haoran soon discovered how much qi could enhance gas.

He carefully pushed down his nausea and leveled a glare at his snoring pet biohazard.

First. Potty Training.

————

Jiang Lei made good on his promise and showed up bright and early at his front door the next day with Wang Xiao in tow.

“Good morning!” Jiang Lei cheerfully said. Wang Xiao scowled at Chen Haoran from behind him.

“Did you really have to bring this guy to my house?” Chen Haoran asked.

“I did say I was bringing him,” Jiang Lei pointed out.

“I would have figured you’d had enough sense not to bring him here.”

Wang Xiao bristled. “You dare?”

Jiang Lei held a hand before him. “At ease, Junior Brother.”

“You expect me to hold myself back when he insults you to your face.”

“This is what friends do,” Jiang Lei said. “Chen Haoran and I are friends now.”

“I object,” Wang Xiao and Chen Haoran said at the same time. They shared a look. Wang Xiao pursed his lips in displeasure. As if the mere act of agreeing with Chen Haoran on anything was painful to him.

Chen Haoran couldn’t help but agree. He looked past Annoying Things 1 and 2 at the street. A few pedestrians and neighbors were looking their way. They weren’t doing anything suspicious, but a Liquid Meridian Realm would always attract attention. He doubted they’d put two and two together and report them to the guards for last night’s disturbance, but there was no reason to chance it.  He held the door open. “Come in before you draw more attention.”

“Thank you, Friend Chen.”

Now that he thought about it, Xie Jin was also like this when they first met. Was it something in the water? The courtyard was far more decent now compared to last night. Every bit of waste and detritus was judiciously gathered up and eradicated from existence. It was a good thing the White Tyrant wasn’t here. He was sure the ghost would strangle him for using his Harmonization to clean up shit. Unfortunately, the smell wasn’t so easily gotten rid of.

Jiang Lei wrinkled his nose and waved his hand. A thin layer of peach-colored qi swept out from his feet and swept over the courtyard in a thin film. The smell of Peaches wafted through the air. Jiang Lei waved his hand again and recalled his qi. “Much better.”

“Thank you.”

“Of course! What are friends for?”

Chen Haoran wasn’t really sure about that. He had less annoying air fresheners.

Wang Xiao looked around the courtyard with narrowed eyes. “Where is the shaman?”

Chen Haoran deliberately did not reach for his scimitar. “He’s out.” That was all they would get from him. He would have preferred to hide that Xie Jin wasn’t here, but he could have only kept up the pretense for so long.

“And your pet?” Jiang Lei asked. “I don’t see it anywhere.”

Chen Haoran pointed to the corner of the yard at a shoddily made outhouse. It was so poorly done that he’d accidentally broken the latch when trying to open it before. As if on cue, the door creaked open thanks to the lack of lock and revealed a grumpy Phelps sitting hunched over inside. He took one look at the gathered people and squealed unhappily.

“What a responsible owner,” Jiang Lei said.

“Enough of that.” Chen Haoran said. “You promised me training. What’s the plan.”

“First—”

“I challenge you to a duel!” Wang Xiao demanded.

Jiang Lei brought his fist down on Wang Xiao’s head.

“Senior Brother!”

“No interruptions,” Jiang Lei chided. “I’ve learned much from Elder Jiang. Do not make me use it.”

“But—”

“No buts.”

Wang Xiao bit his tongue and snarled at once again being denied his duel. Jiang Lei looked at him approvingly. As if Wang Xiao looking like a kettle ready to boil over was a settlement of the issue and turned back to Chen Haoran.

“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted.” He placed a hand on Wang Xiao’s back and waved his other hand over him.

“First, you duel.”

Chapter 93

Jiang Lei caught his scimitar with his hands. Chen Haoran’s whole being thrummed with the White Tyrant’s image, yet Jiang Lei caught his sword despite that. It was not a mark against the power of the Harmonization. It was Chen Haoran who was the issue. Could he even call it Harmonizing when his half made the White Tyrant’s so much less?

Even so. The White Tyrant would bite his head off if he learned he let someone just catch his sword.

His scimitar flashed bright white as if bolstered by his imagining of the White Tyrant’s anger. Jiang Lei’s eyebrows rose high, and he quickly let go of the sword. Chen Haoran could hear the metal of his weapon scream as swung to recreate an image he wasn’t worthy of. Jiang Lei’s peach-colored liquid qi split like clouds, and the cobblestone street parted beneath them as if they were making way for a royal procession. Even as a memory, the White Tyrant would accept nothing less.

Despite this, Jiang Lei was not affected. His liquid qi fell off the buildings in a large wave, swallowing Chen Haoran whole. The peach qi burned his skin, and he immediately wielded his Harmonization to cut himself out. Jiang Lei suddenly appeared in that moment and placed his hand on Chen Haoran’s chest. The next thing he knew was whiplash as Jiang Lei sped up far faster than he could perceive.

The world became streaks of grey and black until it abruptly stood still. Chen Haoran’s back slammed into the ground, and the air was knocked out of his lungs. A galaxy of stars in the night sky was put in sharp relief, and he admired them until his wits returned. He tried to roll, but Jiang Lei was there again, kicking his scimitar out of his hand so hard he could hear the bones crack.

The scimitar flew away and Chen Haoran’s Harmonization flew with it. He completed his roll and stood up, but he might as well not have moved. He’d forcefully been turned back into himself, and he was left all the worse for it. His eyes flicked to where his scimitar fell and sank blade first into the earth. The thought of sprinting for it arrived quickly and was just as quickly discarded. Jiang Lei would not let him grab it again, he’d lost as soon as he let go. He quickly looked around the area for any potential escape and found none. Jiang Lei had brought him to an empty park. Even if he caused a commotion, he’d be dead before any help could arrive.

Chen Haoran’s palm glowed green as he assumed the Scattering Petal Palm’s stance. He ignored the shooting pains in his left hand. This was it then. His last stand.

Jiang Lei held up his hands. “My apologies for startling you. This isn’t how I intended for this to go.”

“Come,” Chen Haoran tersely said. He did not leave his stance.

Jiang Lei sighed. “I admire your determination, but do you really think you could change anything by fighting right now?”

“No.” He had nothing left to resist a Liquid Meridian Realm. He was dead. Even so, he would at least die standing. “There’s someone who’ll avenge me. I’ll see you in hell, bastard.”

“The Black Bone Shaman, right? Don’t you think that’s a good reason for me not to kill you?”

Chen Haoran still didn’t know what a Black Bone Shaman really was but even if he did it wasn’t Xie Jin’s face that appeared in his mind. He dared to say they were friends, but he couldn’t with confidence say Xie Jin would seek vengeance for him. It was Lan Fen he thought of. She would hunt Jiang Lei and kill him. He knew she would. The White Tyrant would do the same because he’d be offended that someone got the better of his Harmonization. A vicious smile crossed his face at the thought.

“Kill me if you dare,” he taunted.

“I feel like we’re having two different conversations here,” Jiang Lei said.

“What do you expect me to believe when you attack me at night?” Chen Haoran demanded. “Can I really expect to survive once you’ve gotten whatever it is you want from me?”

“Not with that attitude, you won’t,” Jiang Lei grumbled. He sighed in aggravation when Chen Haoran tightened his stance further. “No, I didn’t mean it like that; I-” he sighed again and sat down on the ground. “I just wanted to talk to you. We couldn’t really have a conversation with my Junior Brother staring daggers at you.”

“And so you sneak up on me?”

“My apologies. When you advance in strength, a world of advantages is opened up. When something is effortless to do, one doesn’t normally think twice about doing it.” Jiang Lei grimaced. “Even if that effortless action can negatively affect someone else.” He placed his hands on his knees and bowed his head. “I am sorry. It hasn’t been that long since I ascended to the Liquid Meridian Realm myself, and yet it seems I’ve already forgotten what it was like to be powerless.”

Chen Haoran stared at Jiang Lei. It… didn’t seem like he was lying? Bowing like that wasn’t easy for any cultivator. Particularly for those in higher realms. He was reminded of Lan Fen again, this time for different reasons. His eyes flicked one more to his scimitar.

“You can pick it up if that will ease you,” Jiang Lei said. “I apologize for knocking it away so forcefully. I couldn’t manage your power nearly as well as I believed I could and wanted to avoid further destruction within the city.”

Keeping Jiang Lei in his sights, he slowly backed over to his scimitar and picked it up. The blade flashed white, and Chen Haoran sheathed it before his Harmonization could do more than cut marks into the ground. Even though it would make no difference to the end result, he still felt safer in front of Jiang Lei with the sword in hand.

With his hand firmly clenched on the hilt, he gave Jiang Lei a hard look. “What do you want?”

“Would you believe me if I said I wanted to be friends?”

“Not a chance in hell.”

“Right. I’d say I’ve ruined my first impression rather thoroughly.”

Chen Haoran had to wonder what world Jiang Lei was living in if he thought his initial impression was at all good to begin with.

“How did you even notice I was behind you?” Jiang Lei asked.

Chen Haoran was wondering that himself. He couldn’t say it was anything he did or realized in the moment. Just… “You suck.” If Song Yuelin was a shadow on the wall and the White Tyrant a spy satellite then Jiang Lei was the equivalent of breathing down someone’s neck. It would be stranger if Chen Haoran didn’t notice him.

Jiang Lei seemed to be slapped in the face by Chen Haoran’s words. As if he hadn’t expected that it was his lack of skill that was the issue. “Ah, I seem to have overestimated my abilities in that case.”

“If you’re going to beat around the bush and not tell me what you want, then let me go and leave me in peace,” Chen Haoran said.

“I really did want to get to know you better.” Jiang Lei nodded to his scimitar. “Even more so now. I’ve never seen anything like it, but that’s Harmonization, no?”

“What business is it to you?”

“Simple curiosity and a desire to learn. Perhaps I could improve my own Harmonization by observing yours.”

Chen Haoran remembered what Xie Jin said. Jiang Lei must have noticed something off about him before when he first fought Wang Xiao. Did that mean he would believe him? No. If Jiang Lei really wanted to compare notes then he would have offered it when they first met. It wasn’t his Harmonization that had the Liquid Meridian follow him tonight, that was for sure. He doubted he’d get a clear answer either. Still, the fact that he didn’t kill him or kidnap him meant it wasn’t something immediately detrimental to his safety.

“If you’ve observed enough, I’ll be going now.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Jiang Lei said, holding up his hand. “I don’t do one-sided transactions. Perhaps I could give you something in return?”

He frowned. “Like what?”

“A sparring partner, perhaps? And some advice.” He tapped the sky-blue scabbard of his own sword. “You don’t prefer using single-edged blades like what you’ve got now, am I right?”

“You saw that?”

Jiang Lei smiled. “I may not be the strongest swordsman in the city right now, but if I called myself second in skill, no one else could claim first.”

Chen Haoran lifted a brow. “That’s some arrogance.”

“Unlike most, I am prepared to back up my words if need be. Your Harmonization is strong, but if it weren’t for my liquid qi blunting its effects, there would have been plenty of collateral damage tonight. While I don’t know how you came to develop it, I know it shouldn’t be running out of control like that.”

Chen Haoran was torn. On the one hand, he could recognize the attempt to stick close to him for what it was. On the other hand, Jiang Lei was right. His Harmonization should have become a main part of his combat style. Instead, it was a last resort because of its destructiveness.

He observed Jiang Lei’s earnest look and sighed. If not this, then something else. “As long as you’re better at teaching than you are at stealth,” he said.

“Brilliant!” Jiang Lei said with a bright smile. “With that out of the way we should probably run now.”

“Excuse me?”

Chen Haoran got his answer when several flares shot into the sky and turned night into day.