Chapter 133: This Young Master Questions First, Punches Later
Drinks. Drunk. Moment. Had. Tip. Twenty Percent. Chen Haoran and Xie Jin walked down the stairs to the bottom floor, followed by the incessant praise of their server.
"You almost made my heart stop, you little shit," Chen Haoran said.
"Thank you. I did it intentionally."
"You ruined the mood is what you did."
"Ruined the mood? Let me tell you what would ruin the mood. If one day, a hundred years from now, I think back fondly on the memory of our meeting, and I have to remember it was done in a random bar with alcohol worth less than a gold tael in Reservoir Town of all places, I'm going to cry. If we're going to swear brotherhood, we're going to do it right, with better alcohol, and a better vista, and so, I can give you an actual return gift. It's going to be a ceremony, damn it."
"Yeah yeah, whatever you say," Chen Haoran said past his annoyance for Xie Jin scaring him like that. He was relieved. Xie Jin wasn't refusing. He was just being dramatic. In terms of getting a new slot for his Gifting Power, it could be considered a loss, but Chen Haoran still wasn't sold on making Xie Jin a connection anyway. Employees were the way to go. However, he'd have to figure out how to avoid the golden light being depleted. Perhaps a term of service? Or maybe he'd have to find someone who'd only be interested in working for a short time. His thoughts turned to his second Gifting Slot, and in his mind's eye, he could see it surrounded by a golden aurora. It had almost completely recovered from the depletion caused by his stunt with Lin Nine. Presumably, now it would only keep going though he didn't know if the golden light would have any other effects other than keeping his Gifting Power running. Was it even fuel? He didn't think so. If he were spending golden light to create his Gifting Rewards, then he would have seen it before now.
The doors ahead of them opened, and in walked another group of cultivators—two Fourth-Layer Liquid Meridian Realms followed by three Qi Realm servants. In the interest of breaking their bad track record of getting into fights in dining establishments, he and Xie Jin stepped to the side and let the group pass them.
One of the Liquid Meridians. A young-looking man side-eyed them as he passed. Glazing over Chen Haoran and settling on Xie Jin, his gaze falling on the white bones around his forearms. He shook his head and nudged his companion. "They really will let anyone in here—" He stopped dead in his tracks. The Liquid Meridian looked down at the arm that had been thrust in front of his chest. He raised his head and glared at Chen Haoran. "Excuse you."
His companion. A wizened man, perhaps an older relative, looked over sharply. "Is there an issue?"
"Brother," Xie Jin warned.
"Are you telling me to stop?" Chen Haoran asked him, ignoring the Liquid Meridian in front of him, much to his consternation.
"No, I'm saying we don't know his background. You can't be too forceful."
"Ah, right. No need for a repeat of last time." He looked over to the suddenly nervous server backed up against the wall. "My good man. Do you recognize this bastard?"
"How dare you!" The Liquid Meridian exploded with rage and swiped his arm at Chen Haoran's head. Before the hand, there was a large crack, and the Liquid Meridian flew away and crumbled into a heap. Chen Haoran left his fist in the air where he'd clocked the cultivator in the jaw and waited for the server's answer.
"Th-the Qi Family," the server stuttered. "Their patriarch is an Eighth-Layer Liquid Meridian."
"Only Eighth-Layer?" Chen Haoran asked.
"Bastard! What do you think you're doing?" The elder Liquid Meridian roared and was inside Chen Haoran's guard in an instant. His fists fell like heavy iron hammers on Chen Haoran's chest. In the span of three seconds, he'd struck Chen Haoran a hundred times, each blow creating a heavy thump as if a giant drum were being played. Before he could hit him with punch 101, Chen Haoran's hand came down on the man's shoulder. It audibly popped, and he was sent to his knees, cracking the floor beneath them. He looked up at Chen Haoran in horror.
Chen Haoran paid him no mind, however, as the little shit he'd sent flying before picked himself up and rushed over. "Unhand my uncle, you beast!"
"Will you die if you can't open your mouth?" Chen Haoran asked him.
The younger Liquid Meridian growled and feinted to the side, aiming a sharp hook at Chen Haoran's temple. Just before his fist landed, it burst into flames. The vicious look in the little shits eyes were replaced with bug-eyed shock as Chen Haoran clamped his hand around his throat and shook him around like a rag.
Xie Jin let out a low whistle while the Qi Realm servants watched Chen Haoran with pale-faced fear.
"Three minutes, pretty impressive, Brother," Xie Jin said.
"Is it?" Chen Haoran asked. He shook the younger Liquid Meridian again and judged the resistance of his qi. "Mortal-Rank?" He squeezed the elder Liquid Meridian's shoulder while the man did his best impression of a statue. "This guy too? This is my first time seeing such weak Liquid Meridians."
"That's because the Liquid Meridians you've met before were all unreasonably strong," Xie Jin pointed out. "These guys are more typical cultivators."
Typical, Xie Jin said, and yet if Chen Haoran were still a Qi Realm, he would have had to be afraid for his life if he incurred their ire. Now though he was… what was it again? One Profound-Rank Layer was worth two Mortal-Rank Layers, and one Earth-Rank was worth two Profound-Rank. So he was essentially a whole four Layers of strength above these guys.
"Young Master," the elder Liquid Meridian said. "Please accept our sincere apologies if we offended you in any way."
"If you offended me?" Chen Haoran asked. He shook the little shit for emphasis. "You did offend me. Did you think you could say whatever you wanted about my friend like that?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please forgive my, foolish nephew, for his words."
Chen Haoran looked over at Xie Jin. "What do you think? How do you want to do this?"
Xie Jin looked amused. "Seeing that I've already gotten such a good show, I'll take an apology and call it even."
Chen Haoran shook the little shit again. His hands clenched around Chen Haoran's grip in an effort to escape as he gasped for air. Chen Haoran thought he was overreacting a bit. Even if he was weak, he was still a Liquid Meridian. A little choking wouldn't hurt him that much. "Well?" He lowered him to the floor. "Will you apologize?"
The young Liquid Meridian, Qi-whatever, looked at Chen Haoran. "I'm sorry."
Chen Haoran wrenched his head toward Xie Jin. "Not me, him."
"My father will—"
Chen Haoran slammed his face through the floor. "That's not what I want to hear."
The young Liquid Meridian struggled, his face twisting into something ugly. His uncle's eyes went wide. "Don't—!"
Red liquid qi spilled from him in a flood before anyone could react and just as quickly collapsed and receded back into his body. Yellow liquid qi covered Chen Haoran's hand and carried a dragon's roar through the rude cultivator's body. The young Liquid Meridian coughed up a wad of blood and looked much more afraid than he was before.
He bowed his head to Xie Jin. "I'm sorry."
Chen Haoran released them. The young man fell to the floor and didn't get up. His uncle didn't move any further than to clutch his dislocated shoulder.
"For the record," Chen Haoran said. "If he didn't try to fight first, I would have been a lot more reasonable about this."
Xie Jin snorted. "You think he would have apologized without a beating?"
Chen Haoran considered it. "No, you're right. Oh well, I don't feel so bad anymore." He looked down at the uncle. "If you somehow track me down to have your Patriarch try to get revenge or something, I'm going to be very mad. You understand?"
The uncle nodded so quickly that it seemed his head would fly off. "Yes, yes. We wouldn't dare dream of it. We are completely at fault."
"Right. Skedaddle."
"Thank you for your mercy, sir." The uncle bowed, then had the servants pick up his rude nephew, and together they scurried out of the bar.
Chen Haoran cracked his neck. "Won't lie. That felt kinda good." He pulled out a roll of gold taels from his storage bag and handed them to the shivering server. "For the damages. Take some as a tip as well. I appreciate the service."
"Th-thank you, sir." The server took the money with trembling hands and retreated further into the bar. Chen Haoran took stock of three senses that locked onto him while he was fighting, then proceeded to ignore them once he made sure they were Liquid Meridian Realms. Probably bouncers hired by the bar. That they didn't come out to stop him was evidence enough of their level.
"You didn't need to do that," Xie Jin said as they walked out the door. "We could have just ignored them. It's not like the words of bastards like them can bother me."
"Well, I didn't want to ignore it," Chen Haoran said. "What did I tell you before? I don't want people to think that's an acceptable thing to say, and for once, I had the power to do something about it."
"Thank you, Brother Chen."
"Plus, I already saw what level of force I'm allowed to use before the guards get involved. We won't get into any trouble."
Right as he said that, the crowd parted like an ocean, and from them came a running group of red-clothed Garrison soldiers. Chen Haoran and Xie Jin froze as the group headed by two Liquid Meridian Realms approached them just as Chen Haoran was about to pull out his secret Heaven-Rank Bribery technique, the guards passed by them with nary a glance and rushed further down the street.
"Not going to get in trouble, huh?" Xie Jin drawled as they watched the guards leave.
"Shut up. They weren't coming for us."
"I just want you to recognize how much you were tempting fate there." Xie Jin frowned and cast a curious glance down the street. "I wonder what they were rushing to."
"Another fight, maybe?" Chen Haoran guessed.
"Impossible," Xie Jin said. "Since when are the guards ever on time when you actually need them?"
"Well…. fair enough." He couldn't really argue with that logic.
"I'm gonna go check it out," Xie Jin said.
"Xie Jin? Are you crazy? Xie Jin!"
Helpless in the face of Xie Jin's curiosity Chen Haoran instead switched to cursing him out with every word for dumb under the sun. The patrol didn't go that far ahead. They ran into a dining pavilion. Chen Haoran frowned as he recognized it was the same one the group of Liquid Meridians from earlier went into. His worries were confirmed a moment later when liquid qi exploded through the roof of the pavilion. The streets instantly became a cacophony of screams and movement as the pedestrians scrambled away from the pavilion under a hail of splintered wood and shingles. Within the pavilion, cultivators broke through the windows to escape while more patrons ran out the doors like mad beasts. The street instantly became a chaotic ocean of bodies and qi, and it was only thanks to the anchor that was Chen Haoran's cultivation that he and Xie Jin didn't get swept up in it.
With Chen Haoran covering him, Xie Jin ignored the fleeing people and honed in like a hawk at the patrons fleeing the dining pavilion. He grabbed one running woman. "What's going on in there?" She babbled something incoherent, and Xie Jin released her and grabbed another instead. After a few more fruitless attempts, along with weathering some slapping from the more panicked cultivators, he eventually grabbed a waitress who had the answers he was looking for.
"A ruin," she said, breathless. "They found a ruin in the jungle."
Chapter 134: This Young Master Gets Sold On Adventure
Thanks to the buzz of activity that enveloped the entirety of Reservoir Town and the Garrison, they were forced to postpone their leaving out of caution. They didn't stay in their original inn. However, instead moving to another out-of-the-way inn favored by merchants and far away from where they met Xi Wangmu. It wasn't a complete guarantee that they were hidden from the Peach River Sword School's prying eyes. It was unknown just how much they'd penetrated the ranks of Reservoir Town, but it offered them peace of mind at least.
Chen Haoran and Bao Si had stayed holed up in the room for the most part, sometimes descending to listen in on the gossip of the merchants. Xie Jin, on the other hand, was out in the town trawling for information on the fight that had occurred. The details came to light in the following days. A group of Liquid Meridians had successfully discovered an old ruin in the jungle and walked away with a fortune. They'd gone to have a party when a disagreement had flared up amongst them about the distribution of loot which had attracted the attention of less-than-savory listeners who'd been dining and some Imperial officers. The flare-up left twenty people dead and resulted in the entire dining pavilion being burned to cinders.
Chen Haoran was content to leave sleeping dogs lie while he waited for an opportunity to leave Reservoir Town. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best idea to test the attentiveness of law enforcement in the wake of a large incident like this. Xie Jin meanwhile became possessed with some manic energy that saw him leave early in the day and return late at night. He didn't spare a word to Chen Haoran or to an increasingly frustrated Bao Si. The allowance of patience she decided to give him in the aftermath of their fight eventually ran out.
"Xie Jin," Bao Si said through gritted teeth as Xie Jin burst into the room with tired eyes and ink blotches on his cheeks. His arms were full of rolled-up papers. "If you can't give me a good explanation for staying here, then don't blame me when I stop being nice about it."
Xie Jin blinked. Despite how red his eyes were, there was a liveliness to them that couldn't be hidden. Chen Haoran hadn't seen him this excited since their journey to Zumulu. "Do you understand what's been happening in Reservoir Town the past few days?" Xie Jin asked her.
"I know that it's none of our business," Bao Si snapped. "We have to return and report back what's happened here to Grandpa Xie and the Elders." She narrowed her eyes. "Or have you forgotten that?"
Xie Jin brushed off her accusation. "The Grand Shaman obviously wasn't contacting the tribe at Xi Wangmu's behest. Now that the meetings have been had, how long do you think she'll remain out of contact? We might go back and find out they've already been told about the situation."
"What they might learn from my Master and what they might learn from me are—" Bao Si took a shuddering breath. "—two different things now."
"Do you want to return empty-handed?" Xie Jin speared Bao Si with bright eyes and halted the rest of her argument. "Is bringing back bad news the only thing you want to do."
Bao Si grimaced. "It's not only bad news. At least Grandpa Xie will get a Longevity Elixir." Despite saying that, she didn't look very pleased. She shook her head. "Anyway, what are you implying? What have you been doing these past days?"
Xie Jin walked past her and spread the papers he'd been carrying across the table. "Okay, so a new ruin was discovered, right? The location was leaked after the original explorers fought. Wandering cultivators and Garrison soldiers have been rushing from Reservoir Town to it the last few days."
"What does this have to do with us?" Bao Si asked. "If there were real value in those ruins, then it'd be monopolized by Crystal Transformation Realms. There's no place for us to intervene."
"You would think that," Xie Jin said, spreading open a map of Zumulu and using a curious Phelps to weigh down one side of it. When Chen Haoran peered over to look at it, he found a complicated jigsaw of what looked like tribal boundaries and the Empire's zones of control. "Except we've already gotten word back from the Crystal Transformations that got there first. The whole ruin is surrounded by a formation that prevents any cultivator above the Liquid Meridian Realm from entering."
"So instead of the Crystal Transformations, it will be the Empire that monopolizes it. What's your point?" Bao Si's tone was sardonic.
"Except they can't," Xie Jin said. He pointed to a black circle on the map. Next to the circle was a large shaded area that Chen Haoran couldn't make heads or tails of. "Because it's here."
Bao Si frowned, obviously, the map made more sense to her. "You mean to tell me it's right next to the Tenth Green Hell?"
"They can't do anything to the formation because if something goes wrong, it could trigger a reaction from the Green Hell," Xie Jin excitedly said.
"So what if they can't break it?" Bao Si scathingly replied. "All they need is one or two Crystal Transformations to keep watch, and it will be out of our reach all the same."
"If it were just some tomb or the remains of a school, then yes," Xie Jin agreed. "But it isn't. It's a trial ground, and it won't open up without a minimum number of participants. The Empire can't devote that much power that deep in the jungle for too long, and when the trial ground was discovered, it activated a countdown. They don't have time to call up troops stationed in other cities. If the Empire wants to get in, they need other cultivators to make up the number." Xie Jin spread another roll of paper across the map. A red peacock symbol was stamped on the bottom left corner. "I talked up a clerk who copies letters for the Pacification Committee, and she gave me this. This notice is being sent out to friendly forces and allies in Reservoir Town to gather at the trial grounds."
Xie Jin spoke with such forceful exuberance that Bao Si could only pause to collect her words. Chen Haoran took this time to finally interject. "Xie Jin, that's all well and good, but you haven't explained why we'd want to get involved in this."
Xie Jin locked eyes with Bao Si. "Those Liquid Meridians who first found it only explored the outer edges. They never went into the trial grounds, but they came back with Liquid Core Fruits."
Bao Si's breath hitched.
"What are those?" Chen Haoran asked.
"Remember the Heavy Core Pill you used before? Liquid Core fruits are the natural version and better in every way. They're not limited by element and increase your qi while condensing it to practically guarantee advancement to the Liquid Meridian Realm." Xie Jin ground his fist into the circle mark on the map. "And those were just what was found around the perimeter. What's inside has to be even better."
The look of temptation Bao Si had disappeared. "Is this your sense of adventure speaking, Xie Jin? Our tribe is facing an impending crisis, and Chen Haoran has to leave Zumulu, and you want to go galavanting for treasure?"
"I'm doing this because I'm weak," Xie Jin said with a serious look. "Do you think we'd have suffered like we did meeting Xi Wangmu if we were at all stronger? Especially now that the tribe is in danger. Can we afford to remain weak anymore?"
"We don't need to risk our lives for treasures," Bao Si bit out.
"So you'll get the resources you need to advance from your master?" Xie Jin rebutted. "So I should take more resources from the tribe that others could use? If we advance on our own and bring treasures back to the tribe to help strengthen the others, then why shouldn't we do it?"
"If," Bao Si emphasized. "Not only does this require Chen Haoran and I to agree for you to have a chance at getting any treasure, but even if we are lucky to find something valuable, we'll have no guarantee of being able to leave with it."
"Bao Si," Xie Jin said, "I know what you think about me, and you're right. Going into a forgotten ruin of our history is something that has me giddy from head to toe. For me, this is an adventure, but it's also me wanting to repay the tribe for everything it's done for me. If we're lucky, we might even find something grandfather can use. You know a Longevity Elixir alone isn't enough to make up for all the time he's lost."
"Repay? Xie Jin, stop treating the tribe like you're in some kind of contract. You can't just give some payment and call it even." Bao Si's words had bite, but there was a distinct lack of venom in them. It was obvious the picture Xie Jin was painting was tempting her.
Chen Haoran couldn't lie, even he was feeling a little tempted. If the ruins limited entrance to the higher realms, then that had to mean there'd be something good for Liquid Meridians in there, right? There might even be something in there to help Phelps advance. At least those Liquid Core Fruits sounded like they could do it. He glanced at his gluttonous pet, who'd decided Xie Jin's papers were boring and curled up into a ball on the table. To his sense, Phelps was absolutely filled to the brim with qi. It was honestly a surprise that he hadn't advanced after eating the Banquet Peach.
"This is our moment Bao Si," Xie Jin pressed. "We won't have another one better than this. With how close the trial ground is to the Green Hell, there's bound to be a poisonous environment in there. We're two shamans, and Brother Chen can punch ridiculously above his level. We have the perfect group to get in there and get out. Even if we have to pay a tithe to whoever the Empire has stationed there, the trip will have been worth it."
"Forgetting something?" Chen Haoran motioned to his face. "I'm a little screwed if a Crystal Transformation is there."
"You wouldn't be the only one wearing a Human-Skin Mask there," Xie Jin said. "It's just good sense. We'll wear them too. There's no way a Crystal Transformation Realm will unmask everyone for something as small as this."
Chen Haoran drummed his fingers against his leg as he weighed the pros and cons. Bao Si bit her lip as she did the same.
Xie Jin sighed. "I know it's risky. But we're cultivators. Would we have come as far as we have today without taking risks?"
"Easy for you to say," Bao Si darkly muttered.
"Don't think you're that much better," Xie Jin rebuked. "You're the one who barged into the Elder's council to demand the Grand Shaman take you as her apprentice."
"It was already a done deal. It was a calculated move on my part to show the Grand Shaman who I was."
"I'm sure being made to stand facing a corner for three days as punishment afterward was also calculated."
Bao Si flushed. Chen Haoran stood there in disbelief. It was a reaction he'd never seen from Bao Si before. It seemed even she wasn't immune to embarrassing childhood memories.
Xie Jin gathered up his maps. "Listen. I know you guys are interested in this. Let's do it this way. We'll go to the ruins and scout them out. If the situation looks good, then we can go in, and if it doesn't, then we'll just leave. At the very least, we should scout it out and make the decision ourselves rather than let time do it for us."
In another life, Xie Jin could have been a salesman.
"Okay, I'm in," Chen Haoran said. "I'm a little nervous now to leave on the official road anyway."
Bao Si looked between Xie Jin and Chen Haoran before sighing. "Fine. We can scout it out. However, I will be the one deciding if we go in or not."
Xie Jin smiled brilliantly. "Trust me. I'm a history genius. Once I see those ruins for myself, I'll probably find some ancient secret that'll let us run away a mother lode."
Bao Si buried her face in her hands. "I'm already regretting my decision."
"Right," Chen Haoran said. "You said the trial has a time limit, right? How long do we have to get there?"
Xie Jin's smile immediately became sheepish. "Ah…right." He held up his hands placatingly. "Now, don't be startled, but…"
Ah, his bad feeling indicator. Chen Haoran had wondered where that went.
"…we should probably leave right now."
Chapter 135: This Young Master's Carriage Travel Could Be Better
The only thing worse than someone who doesn't make plans for traveling is someone who makes plans to travel at the very last minute. Thanks to the bomb that was Xie Jin's last-minute announcement, they were forced to scramble to the carriage and rush out of the city. Naturally, Chen Haoran and Bao Si weren't too pleased with being suddenly placed on a tight schedule. Fortunately, the checks to leave the city weren't nearly so stringent. In fact, they were nonexistent. The guards didn't even take that fancy permission slip he'd been handed when he'd entered the city previously. Just one glance and they were waved on through. Chen Haoran didn't even need to bribe anyone. It was a little disappointing, really. Using money to control people's minds and actions was more intoxicating than he'd expected.
It wasn't as good a feeling as finally getting out of Reservoir Town was, however. As soon as they crossed the gates, Chen Haoran felt like a huge weight had fallen off his shoulders. By the way Bao Si and Xie Jin relaxed, it seemed they shared the feeling. The further away they got from Reservoir Town, the lighter he felt. It wasn't even the Empire that had pressured them. Even if it was their city, it was Xi Wangmu's presence in it that they truly dreaded now. The more distance they put between themselves and her, the better.
They didn't travel along the crippled Peachwine this time and instead headed in the opposite direction. For whatever natural or unnatural reason the Peachwine was the closest river to the Tenth Green Hell. Perhaps that closeness influenced the river's toxic properties? Reservoir Town was thus the closest inhabited point to the Green Hell, which was the only reason they even had a chance to get to the trial ground before it closed itself. Even then, however, they were still looking at a week's journey through the Deep Jungle. Unexpectedly for Chen Haoran, however they didn't immediately hit jungle after leaving the vicinity of the Peachwine and were instead greeted with flat land.
Chen Haoran peered out the window of the carriage, and instead of jungle, he saw endless fields of grass and golden wheat. Large cows, Aurochs as he had now learned, the same ones he saw the caravan driving as he and Xie Jin left White Ridge City, grazed while cultivators riding horses steered them away from the farms. More cultivators, Peachbloods, and other bone-decked southerners tended to the wheat fields, the planting season in full swing as they scattered seeds that glowed with five-color light.
Channeling qi to his eyes, he saw beyond the fields to where the plantations met the jungle. People were chopping down the trees and vegetation before another group summoned a stream of fire from their hands and set the cuttings alight.
"The Pacification Committee's policy," Bao Si explained. Where before she might have pressed up against him, she now sat across from him. Her legs were crossed, and she propped her head on her hand as she observed the passing farms. "King Meng said it was to help bolster Zumulu's economy, but in reality, the closest the locals get to these plantations is as workers. All the produce you see is shipped to Reservoir Town before being shipped upriver and taken out of Zumulu through the Imperial road." She pointed to the smoke drifting up over the trees. "They cut down the trees to make room and burn them to enrich the soil. The nutrients don't last long, however, and so they're constantly clear-cutting more and more jungle to expand."
A man-sized praying mantis suddenly emerged from the fire, burning much the like the wood it had been hiding in. Unlike the plants, however, it could fight back and bisected an unfortunate man who hadn't been quick enough to avoid its manic charge. It was quickly put down, but unfortunately for the unlucky workers, they had hardly finished it off before a butterfly escaped the flames and dropped six inches of iridescent power atop them. The workers screamed as their skin boiled over and sloughed off, and Chen Haoran turned his gaze away.
Bao Si's smile was grim. "The jungles of Zumulu are not so easily exploited. A fact the Empire learned the hard way. Unfortunately, they were quick to push the price of that onto us instead."
"Doesn't the Empire recruit shamans?" Chen Haoran asked. "It'd be much easier to have one on hand to help deal with the insects, wouldn't it?"
"Most of the Gu Department is deployed elsewhere in the Empire. Their numbers aren't actually that large compared to how many places want them. The ones left in Zumulu are here to assist the Pacification Committee and the Garrison in their duties. For those people, the human cost is a much cheaper price compared to letting shamans sit here."
"But wouldn't at least some shamans want to help? It's what they're for, isn't it?"
Bao chuckled. "You met a shaman of the Gu Department. Do you think he would do that?"
Chen Haoran recalled that shaman and grimaced. The man had been very clear with Jiang Lei about what his priorities were. "Are they all like that?"
"The shamans who join the Gu Department are those who were already partial to serving the Empire. They're only interested in more resources to feed their Gu and grow their own power. Not every shaman in Zumulu is as conscientious about serving their tribes as the Black Bones are. For some, their tribes are merely a means for them to extract as much wealth as possible before leaving in search of more resources." Bao Si leaned back against the seat. "Fortunately for Zumulu, while rogue shamans have been a constant cancer, they're a rather self-correcting problem. A selfish shaman raises a selfish Gu, and a selfish Gu is not a very patient spirit. Wouldn't you agree, Xie Jin?"
"Wouldn't know," Xie Jin grunted from his position at the head of the carriage. He cracked the reins and spurred the horses to move faster.
Chen Haoran sighed. Forget his relationship with Bao Si cooling. Whatever tether of respect there had been between Xie Jin and Bao Si seemed to have well and truly snapped. Granted, it wasn't like there was much of it, given the way they normally argued and insulted each other, but there was still a smidgen of it, thanks to their long friendship and understanding. Now even that was gone.
Was this what Song Yuelin felt like watching Lan Fen and him? Chen Haoran had the thought and promptly discarded it. Unlike Song Yuelin, he wasn't an asshole, probably. Still, this was incredibly awkward. Drama was only fun when it happened to people he didn't care about. There wasn't much he could do to try and alleviate it, however. He bounced his leg as the carriage fell into silence, occasionally broken by the thunderous grunts of Aurochs or the vicious sounds of Man against Nature.
"So…." Chen Haoran said, pausing to find his words when Bao Si turned her attention to him. "You said you heard of the Southern Dragon King before. Will you tell me what you know about him?"
Bao Si frowned. "So now you don't even know your own father?"
Well, yes, but he wasn't going to just say that.
Chen Haoran drummed his fingers along his leg. "I never said I didn't know him, but I did tell you I was sent away as a hostage. It's been a long time since I've seen that man's face. The closest I've gotten to him these past years was when his personal assassin came to pay me a visit. Make of that what you will."
Bao Si frowned—no doubt parsing the implications of his last sentence. It was a bit of a fib on his part. He wasn't lying per se, but he was deliberately leading her to the answer he wanted her to think.
"Plus," Chen Haoran continued. "I'm curious what an outside perspective of my father is like."
Bao Si gave him a calculating stare that made him feel as if she would peel away layers of his skin to study what made him tick if she could. Fortunately, she decided to answer him. "I don't know much. I only went to the Splintered Lands a few times myself to meet my Master, and she didn't mention much. For a Star Core like herself, a Ninth-Layer Crystal Transformation wasn't worthy of her complete attention. At least among the warlords squabbling over those broken islands, she regards him as the most talented. It takes a certain kind of man to wear the title of Dragon so openly, after all. His advancement to the Star Core Realm is greatly anticipated."
He's fucking what?
Chen Haoran kept his face neutral, but inside, he was full of surprise and confusion. Peak Crystal Transformation? It was a realm of power so far above Chen Haoran he couldn't even conceive it, and yet…. that was it? Compared to what he knew about Chen Qitao and the Chen Family, it felt…. weak, at least when compared to the Empire. In Zumulu alone, they had three Star Core Realms. Who knew how many they had elsewhere? Yet the Chen Family was enough of a thorn to them that Song Yuelin instantly thought the appearance of Prince Shen Jianyu in Clearsprings City was specifically targeting the Chen Family. Could a Crystal Transformation do that? He recalled Lan Fen's warning. Baghmar Republic. Chen Family. Empire. Rebellion in Zumulu. Someone was playing politics, it seemed.
Even so, Chen Haoran couldn't help but feel something was wrong. He'd seen the reactions other cultivators had toward Chen Qitao's name before. The Clearsprings City Lord could be discounted. The man was weak. Could a mere Ninth-Layer Crystal Transformation force powerful cultivators like Gold-Eater and Xi Wangmu to pay their respects the way they did? Xi Wangmu was the egregious case here. A 4 thousand-year-old living legend, she had enough pull to make Bao Si's Star Core Realm Master fall into line, yet even Xi Wangmu had to bow her head when Chen Haoran bludgeoned her with Chen Qitao's name with all the grace of a bull in a china shop. He didn't think Bao Si was lying to him, but her words just weren't adding up.
Chen Haoran wasn't given much longer to think about it when the carriage abruptly stopped. The fields outside had long disappeared. Xie Jin poked his head in through the window. "We have to go on foot from here if we want to make it to the ruins in time."
Right. More jungle traveling. His favorite.
After abandoning the carriage, they actually made faster time—each of them alone worth a team of horses with regards to speed and hauling ability. With two shamans using their Gu to lead the way, they easily penetrated into the Deep Jungle. Like all the different regions of Zumulu, the Deep Jungle bordering the Tenth Green Hell had its own characteristics—namely, the Hell Bugs. The concentration of them was higher here than anywhere else in Zumulu he'd traveled through. Stronger too. Liquid Meridian monsters abounded, and those that couldn't be scared off with the combination of his liquid qi and the Gu's deterrent had to be put down by him.
Not that Xie Jin and Bao Si didn't pull their own weight. Once again, they proved invaluable in navigating the jungle, and despite their lower realm, they were not completely useless fighting Liquid Meridian Realms as Chen Haoran would have been. A strong poison was a great equalizer even in the hands of the weak, and Gu poison was stronger than most. What couldn't be killed instantly by the Gu poison due to the difference in realm was at least debilitated to make it an easy mop-up for Chen Haoran. Yet again, he had underestimated just how powerful Gu were when they played to their strengths.
Thankfully there weren't that many Liquid Meridians to fight and slow them down with after the first day of traveling. Common sense dictated that when you go to a dangerous area, it would gradually become more dangerous until you actually got there. Traveling to the Tenth Green Hell was a study in the opposite. The closer you came to it, the less dangerous the surrounding forest was because all, the stronger beasts wanted nothing to do with living so close to the Green Hell's borders. It made for smooth traveling on the third and fourth days traveling as the dangerous monsters effectively disappeared around what Chen Haoran was calling the middle ring surrounding the Tenth Green Hell. It meant that with the aid of the shamans and some strategic carrying by Chen Haoran, they actually made it to the trial ground ruins with time to spare.
Neither he nor Bao Si appreciated the rush, however, and so when Xie Jin took one look at the ruins and nearly fainted in joy, they didn't make any move to stop him from falling to the ground.
Chapter 136: This Young Master Is Not A Puppet
They had ascended atop a wooded hill and, from the cover of the brush, looked down on the trial grounds that Xie Jin had been so adamant about bringing them to.
On his hands and knees, Xie Jin looked toward the ruins with awe. "It's beautiful."
As a fellow enjoyer of architecture that had been dipped in time and left to dry in the seasons, Chen Haoran had to agree with him. Nestled within a valley was a large gray step pyramid, tall enough that clouds gathered around its top. Each layer had been coated with beds of moss, small trees, and crawling vines that bloomed with pink flowers. The layers were perfectly divided in half by a long unblemished staircase of green marble that led all the way to the top of the pyramid, where an open door flanked by two curling snake statues awaited. Cresting the edges of the pyramid's square peak were two stone snakes devouring the tail of the other.
Around the pyramid were the remains of lesser buildings, both in scale and resiliency. In its shadow, whatever accent they were to be to the pyramid's glory was instead a faded, forgotten thing. Now the remnant masonry and reliefs stood thrice hollow: by the people who abandoned them, by the jungle that invaded and stole away their furnishings, and by the march of time that had taken the rest. The air cracked intermittently with shards of rainbow color like the whole site had been covered in a dome of it that had now been shattered.
The decay was not a damning thing, however, instead, it added a decadent historicity to the near-untouched pyramid. The contrast in conditions created a tempting invitation to all who sought to satisfy their curiosities of times long past. It was old. It was awe-inspiring. It was beautiful.
"It's occupied," Bao Si dryly noted.
It was crawling with soldiers.
The Garrison had taken to the pyramid like ants to their ant hill. Red-clothed soldiers scurried amongst the ruins and the steps of the pyramid. Whatever they found growing on or around the pyramid was marked and guarded till dedicated personnel covered head to toe in silk coverings came and collected it. There were other less uniform masses of bone-wrapped Southerners and foreigners alike who scrounged the periphery like scavengers picking a clean corpse. In front of the Garrison troops, the cultivators were cowed and leery of engaging. When a meal was on the line, however, even a scavenger was willing to swipe at a lion. There were some collisions between soldiers and cultivators when a treasure of some kind had been discovered, often leading to short exchanges of flashy techniques until one side decided the trouble wasn't worth it. It was less fighting and more like birds showing off their feathers. There were some deaths, however, unilaterally on the cultivator's side when some hotshot overestimated their ability.
"But look," Xie Jin said, pointing. "They're letting anyone walk into the pyramid."
It was true. Soldiers and unaffiliated cultivators alike ascended the stairs and entered the top of the pyramid without obstruction. Chen Haoran observed the back and forth of the treasure-seekers outside the ruins and the scramble of non-Garrison cultivators to enter the pyramid like it was a train on last call. He frowned. "It's unorganized."
Not the soldiers, of course. They moved with a discipline he viscerally recognized from the way his body flared with phantom heat. It was the situation itself that was a mess. Having been subject to the Garrison's various curfews and checks his entire stay in Zumulu, he was surprised to see them allow such a disorganized state of affairs.
Phelps trilled softly, and he pressed himself flush to Chen Haoran's back, claws digging into his shoulders. Chen Haoran had long drawn a cloak over him in an effort to hide the sloth, and evidently, Phelps decided it wasn't enough as he became unnaturally still.
Chen Haoran looked up.
There were two men flying in the air. One stood ramrod straight with folded arms upon a sword. The other was wrapped in twirling purple and green silk streamers that flared out behind him in an artistic impression of butterfly wings. They were too high up in the air for Chen Haoran's sense to judge their level, but he did not need it: Crystal Transformation Realms, the both of them.
Bao Si clicked her tongue. "What sort of checks do they need with two Crystal Transformations watching over? Once the trial is over, we'll be lucky if they let us keep our storage bags, let alone anything we might gain inside the ruins."
"They won't go that far," Xie Jin said. Hearing him, of all people, defend the Empire was a shock. "The Garrison still uses levied cultivators to explore other ruins and unknown areas. Who will work for them if they're so openly robbed? They'll take a cut of what we gain at most."
"They'll take the river and leave us a well more like," Bao Si retorted. "We'll go in and potentially risk our lives for a pittance to bring back to the tribe."
"Then we just have to use the good things we find while we're inside the trial," Xie Jin said. "So long as we get stronger, it's not a total loss."
Bao Si scoffed. "So we just waste effects that could have been amplified from being turned into pills and medicines. No matter what, we'll be suffering a loss."
Xie Jin's frustration was plain on his face. "What did you expect? This is the Empire. The fact we have the chance to get anything at all is a blessing." He was bitter as he spoke. "Do I have to remind you that you chose to come along?"
"No," Bao Si's voice was low. "You don't."
Chen Haoran ignored them and weighed his options. Having to hand over what he gained wasn't a real issue for him. It'd be impossible for anyone to find his real Rewards so long as they were in his Gift Space. That being said, how he would gift the resources he might find was the issue. Taking Phelps into the pyramid in front of so many Garrison soldiers ran the risk of someone recognizing him. It wasn't like there many other cultivators carrying around sloths, after all. Even if the Crystal Transformations didn't know who he was, it just took one observant soldier who knew about the Stonebridge Auction to inform them. There was also the matter of the trial itself and whether it would even allow him to bring Phelps in. Even if he could bring him, depending on what sort of test these ruins contained, would he even have a chance to give Phelps anything? What guarantee was there that the rewards he'd get were even edible?
Leaving Phelps outside was an option, at least. The area was safe enough, and Phelps was smart enough to avoid danger. Chen Haoran could go in and hope that whatever he had when he came out was worth it after Gifting. If there was something in there that he desperately needed, then he could hire someone to fill his second Connection slot and gift it to them. That way lay potential future issues and pointed questions, however.
Well, worst comes to worst he could probably get some decent Rewards from the plants in the area. Safety first, though. If he could get enough privacy to eat the Banquet Peach, it would be ideal.
"Alright," Chen Haoran said. "Let's fall back for now and do some scouting and try to find out more about the trial. If it's worth it, then we can try. If it's not, then we can see if we can't get lucky and find something good outside."
"Ah, juniors of the Black Bones."
The three of them shared a sluggish moment. Xie Jin and Bao Si stared, and he watched their faces morph into frozen horror. Meanwhile, Chen Haoran was questioning himself on why he said something like that.
He didn't.
"As the senior Shaman, allow me to extend my heartfelt thanks that you are joining us on this fine endeavor."
His mouth moved anyway.
Phelps screeched in terror and flung himself backward before Liquid qi flooded out of Chen Haoran. The raging torrent doubled over and wrapped around him in a single coursing stream. The Yellow Dragon was roused from its cultivation stupor in an instant. Sensing the invasion, it let out a low, murderous growl that shook his body far more than any of its roars had done. It leapt directly out of his meridians, traveling straight through all his sinew and organs to his throat. Chen Haoran wildly flailed his sense to find any hint of invasion or instruction in his body even as he flooded more liquid qi both to surround him and fill his head. He found nothing. His qi moved at his command. He could move all his limbs and feel through all his senses.
Yet his mouth still moved at a command that was not his own.
"I believe you will be more useful than most of the riffraff nipping to get a lick of wealth here— oh?"
The Yellow Dragon coiled around Chen Haoran's throat and squeezed, abruptly cutting off the invisible invader. It glared toward the sky, and Chen Haoran's vision blurred as a world of water and not water opened up to his eyes. There amidst nature's roving currents of water qi was a noxious green crystal statue of a man. Behind him floated massive butterfly wings draped around his carved shoulders like a cape, each thread a poison made solid and woven. A golden glow emanated from the man statue's chest where a golden scorpion sat atop his crystal heart and returned the Yellow Dragon's glare with twelve indecipherable red eyes.
The crystal statue looked amused, and despite the Yellow Dragon's efforts, Chen Haoran's unnaturally voiced words not his own.
"Interesting, I figured you to be the easy one. While I do not mind being wrong, I would like to finish speaking. Behave."
Chen Haoran clamped a hand around his mouth. Despite shutting his mouth, Chen Haoran's voice somehow still escaped in the form of a sigh.
"Ah, the arrogance of youth. Young man, I have to admire your moxie. That being said…."
Chen Haoran's jaw twitched open and then slammed shut hard enough that his teeth sounded like a sharp chime when they clashed together. There was a split second of numbness, and Chen Haoran finally opened his mouth under his own power—
—and screamed.
He bent over and fell to his knees, his liquid qi turning over in choppy waves as his control wavered. When he opened his mouth, coughing and howling, blood poured out into a puddle, and half of his tongue fell in the middle of it. The sight of it stupefied Chen Haoran, enough that he even forgot his pain for a brief moment. His cocoon burst. Liquid qi flooded toward the frozen forms of Xie Jin and Bao Si. In the moment Chen Haoran failed the Yellow Dragon took over the reins, reasserting control of the out-of-control liquid qi and pulling it back into his body. It coldly glared at the crystal statue all the while.
"As I was saying." Despite the grievous trauma, Chen Haoran's voice still came out normally. "Consider yourselves conscripted. Cooperate with the Garrison inside the trial, and you'll be allowed to keep 30% of the total number or value of what you may find inside."
Xie Jin and Bao Si, now evidently frozen by something beyond fear given the lack of reaction on their part, said nothing and yet still gave the speaker that stole Chen Haoran's voice an answer anyhow.
"Excellent! I recommend quickly entering the pyramid. While the Concealment Formation has been broken, the others are very much operational. Soon enough, the trial ground will attract the miasma from the Tenth Green Hell and fill the entire valley. I imagine it will be quite the stampede to join the trial once we inform hangers-on. Best of luck."
With the presence's final words Xie and Bao Si were released from their spell and they rushed to Chen Haoran.
"Brother Chen!"
"Chen Haoran!"
Chen Haoran sat numbly on his knees, pale and sweating bullets. He didn't, couldn't respond to them. His qi blunted the effects of the pain before long and almost immediately halted the bleeding, but it could not regrow a tongue for him. He needed his other Rewards for that, and yet he couldn't find the will to do so at all.
Bao Si dropped to her knees in his blood without caring how it ruined her dress. She scooped up his tongue with hands wreathed in purple miasma that turned an earthy yellow and covered it with both palms.
"Xie Jin," she barked. "Revitalization." Xie Jin's own hands first glowed purple, then turned a spring green, and he wrapped his hands around Bao Si's. The two miasmas mixed and combined into a dull yellow-green before Bao Si ripped her hands away and revealed a yellow-green tongue clenched between her fingers. She turned to Chen Haoran. "Open your mouth."
Chen Haoran obeyed the order, and Bao Si stuffed his tongue back in, wiggling it around to ensure it was in place. The miasma they covered the tongue with spread throughout Chen Haoran's mouth and the other half of his tongue. It was no longer poison, however. Now it was medicine. The Yellow-green miasma jumped from one half of his tongue to the other, and through that bridge, his qi surged and bolstered the framework the miasma created.
After an agonizing moment, Chen Haoran opened and closed his mouth. He swished his tongue around his gums and across his teeth. He licked his lips. He tasted blood and spat it out. In the span of minutes, they'd reconnected his tongue like it had never been lost.
Bao Si and Xie Jin stepped back a few paces. Phelps slowly floated over to their side, his fur a bit singed but fine.
"Brother Chen?" Xie Jin quietly called.
Chen Haoran raised his arms and slammed them into the ground. The earth cratered, blasting away the brush and exposing long-buried roots of trees that now had no purchase and were sent tumbling over. Phelps reacted instinctively, pinching Xie Jin and Bao Si's collars with his claws and floating them all away as the ground beneath them gave way and crumbled. Chen Haoran exhaled heavily with such force that the clouds of dust kicked up in the aftermath were blown away. He leaned back on his haunches, alone in the depression of earth he created.
"Fuck!"
Chapter 137: This Young Master Is Frustrated
Chen Haoran slowly rose. A single step carried him out of a hole taller than three men. He followed the Yellow Dragon's glare into the sky and cycled qi to his eyes. Of the two Crystal Transformations in the air, only one had butterfly wings. He was clothed in purple as ancient royalty might wear, and over that laid the red official uniform of the empire like an overcoat. A purple-gold circlet of interlinked scorpions sat on his brow. Rows of small bone butterflies hung from thin threads attached to his sleeves. He wasn't paying them any attention.
Phelps dropped Xie Jin and Bao Si back to the ground, and Chen Haoran rounded on them. "What the fuck was that!"
Xie Jin cast his eyes toward the sky, then back down just as quickly. "A Crystal Transformation Realm Shaman."
The dirt at Chen Haoran's feet was blown away by an unseen force. "And they can just do that? Steal my voice? My body?"
"A Golden Silkworm can," Bao Si answered.
"It was a scorpion. Not a silkworm," Chen Haoran said. He touched his mouth and then cursed loudly. Angry was good. Loud was good. The louder he cursed, the more it felt like his voice was still his own, that it was actually him speaking and not a body-snatching cultivator.
The thought drew him up short. Did he not technically qualify as a body snatcher himself? The body snatcher got body snatched. It was such a ridiculous idea that it actually drew a laugh out of him. He spun and kicked a fallen tree with a trunk wider than he could wrap his arms around and sent it careening into the tree line in a cacophony of shattered wood and the groaning fall of yet more trees. "Fuck!"
Chen Haoran stepped on another tree trunk and crushed it in half. He flexed his qi, and the air around him visibly pulsed and fled outward with a sound akin to a whip crack. He raged amongst the wreckage he'd created, flinging trees and cracking the earth with every step. The commotion he made did not go unnoticed, and soon enough, he felt two Second-Layer Liquid Meridians approaching the hill. Unfortunately for them, there was no treasure to be had on this hill, just one angry Chen Haoran. When they dared to reach over with their senses and try to spy, he turned on them.
"What do you think you're looking at!?" Qi flooded his voice and pitched his words such that they became a roar worthy of the Yellow Dragon, shaking the leaves off standing trees. Through his sense, he felt the two Liquid Meridians spike their qi to brace themselves, then turn and flee.
Chen Haoran's chest heaved with every breath, and he dragged his hands across his face. Bao Si and Xie Jin remained silent as he raged and made no move to come closer. Phelps floated to and fro between them. Chen Haoran breathed once. Then twice, then pulled his hands from his face. They came away shaking, and Chen Haoran stared at them as if it were the first time he'd ever seen them before. He exhaled. "Fuck."
Phelps let out a soft bleat behind him. Chen Haoran turned and opened his arms up to the sloth. Phelps floated over and Chen Haoran enveloped him in a crushing hug. "Sorry. I'm sorry." He buried his face into Phelps's fur. "Sorry."
"Putting aside how you were able to discern that," Bao Si finally said after a moment had passed. "A Golden Silkworm isn't a literal term, at least not anymore. It refers to a powerful type of Gu. One with far more exaggerated abilities than the norm." She glanced at Xie Jin with a none-to-kind look. "As soon as we got here, we were outed and remembered by a Gu Department official with a Golden Silkworm. I hope you're happy, Xie Jin."
Xie Jin frowned. "Get off my back. We expected there to be shamans here. How was I supposed to know a crazy freak like him would show up? Since when did the Gu Department even have Golden Silkworms." His eyes flickered to the Crystal Transformation Realm. He didn't dare let them linger for longer than a second. "I don't recognize him. Do you?"
Bao Si mimicked Xie Jin's actions. "I don't."
"There's no way someone crazy like him is unknown," Xie Jin said. "It's impossible."
"What's the significance of the Gu Department having a Golden Silkworm?" Chen Haoran didn't raise his head when he asked the question.
"It's….well," Xie Jin hesitated.
"The Golden Silkworm is the best possible Gu you can create with the Poison Jar Ritual," Bao Si interrupted. "In them, all the characteristics of a Gu, both good and bad, are magnified. With regular Gu, a shaman being devoured is a potential risk. With Golden Silkworms, it is a daily battle." She side-eyed Xie Jin. "And as I told you before, selfish shamans raise selfish Gu. Creating such an example for such a dangerous Gu to follow can only be called insane."
Chen Haoran took one last huff of Phelps's fur and raised his head. "How does a Black Bone Gu compare to a Golden Silkworm?"
Xie Jin ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "The best shamans in Zumulu are the Black Bones. The best Gu are the Golden Silkworms." He spoke as if he were reciting the words from a distant memory.
Something nasty welled up in Chen Haoran—a final ember from the dying fire of his anger. "Clearly, the former isn't true if the latter is." He immediately regretted the words as soon as they left his lips. Being angry was justified. Taking it out on his friends wasn't. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it." Xie Jin grimaced. "It's not wrong in the end. Black Bone Shamans and Golden Silkworms don't mix well. Our ritual is already dangerous enough that trying to reach the standards to make a Golden Silkworm is almost always fatal. We did have one shaman successfully do it, and he was one of the best in history but…." His eyes flickered to Bao Si.
"He killed himself 400 years ago," Bao Si said with a blank face. She brushed sawdust and wood chippings off her dress. "Come on. We've wasted enough time. We need to enter the pyramid."
"Fuck the trial. I just want to leave," Chen Haoran said.
"As do I," Bao Si replied. "If it were any other Crystal Transformation, we might have even had a chance."
Chen Haoran turned his gaze back to the shaman in the sky. Unlike Xie Jin and Bao Si he did not care to look away. Despite that, the shaman still did not pay him any attention.
"Make sure you find out who he is," Chen Haoran said.
Because while it might not be now, and it might not be soon. He was going to rip that bastard's jaw off.
Chen Haoran pulled his cloak around him tighter, and Phelps took the hint and remained as still and silent as he could be. All around them were rushing cultivators, and while they did try their best to avoid the majority, the sheer number in such a small area made it impossible to completely avoid every cultivator on their way to the pyramid, especially since many were going in the same direction as them. Fortunately, even the soldiers were none too keen on observing them with their senses. It could have been out of an ingrained cultural aversion to openly doing so, or it might have been because Chen Haoran's qi was poised like an animal ready to lash out.
Xie Jin scanned each and every relief and engraving they passed with a rigorous focus, quite the opposite of how he usually acted. Bao Si meanwhile pinched a leaf off a bush as they passed by it and chewed on it.
"It's faint, but there's poison in it," she said. She screwed her face and spat it out. "Only the Green Hell could be this bitter."
"That's a normal bush, no?" Xie Jin asked, turning his attention away from the ruins.
"It is," Bao Si confirmed. "I can see why the Empire is so interested in this place if even the ordinary plants can adapt to the Green Hell's miasma."
Xie Jin rubbed his chin. "This valley is directly connected to the Tenth Green Hell. The whole thing is like a huge channel for miasma. It was definitely made by one of the Greater River Kingdoms." He pointed to the ouroboros carving atop the pyramid. "The Snake King probably even built it himself. I don't think any of his successors and pretenders would have the strength to build a place like this."
"There's probably some fascinating history here," Chen Haoran said. Ruins this large and this complete would have been a huge deal back on Earth. While he didn't quite have the mood to appreciate them now, they still helped calm his mind. It was just a shame there were so many treasure hunters rather than archaeologists here. There was a faded fresco of a red dragon that caught his attention in particular. The edges were time-worn and damaged, but he could make out a row of kneeling human figures with spears laid flat in clenched hands.
Then the wall broke.
A red-clothed Fifth-Layer Liquid Meridian stepped over the rubble of the fresco and onto the main road, dusting off his shoulders as he did. His foot absently fell on the intact eye of the red dragon and crushed it. Chen Haoran froze. Then he gritted his teeth.
The defacer saw him and laughed. "What do you think you're looking at? Got a problem, you trash?"
Xie Jin grabbed his arm with lightning speed and pulled him away. His eyes were steely and aimed toward the pyramid. "Don't, Brother." Despite his words, Chen Haoran could hear how he ground them out.
Right. They'd already gotten in trouble with a super shaman. While Chen Haoran would have liked nothing more than to beat someone's face in to reclaim some of his lost feelings of control, it wasn't the best idea to do so now. He couldn't just fight every random asshole.
The thing about assholes, however, was that they never let it stop at just one thing.
"Did I say you could leave? You think you can glare at me however you want without an apology?"
Chen Haoran didn't even have to pull his arm to convince Xie Jin to let him go.
The Liquid Meridian sneered. "What? You want to start something?"
"Back off." Chen Haoran's tone was flat. "I won't say it twice."
A flare of qi was his answer. "More flies that don't seem to understand the immensity of Heaven. This isn't a place you can run wild in. I make the rules here."
Chen Haoran glanced up at the Crystal Transformation Realms. By some unholy miracle, the shaman finally deigned to look his way. They locked eyes. The shaman smiled and nodded. Chen Haoran shivered and looked down.
Connection: Negative
The dumbass across from him clearly misinterpreted it. "Know your place, worm. Nowhere in the Southern Region is safe for you if you offend me, Li Mou."
Chen Haoran's palms glowed green. "These ruins didn't survive the march of time to be destroyed by a piece of shit like you. The only reason you'll walk away alive today is because of those two in the sky."
"Well said." The interrupting voice was deep and powerful. Before any of them could react, a tall, barrel-chested bear of a man wearing a red Garrison uniform appeared next to Li Mou. The man flared his qi, Ninth-Layer Liquid Meridian, and hammered the back of his fist into his comrade's ribs. Li Mou's chest caved in, and he collapsed to the ground like a puppet with cut strings. Despite the terrifying injury, Li Mou was still alive. It was a testament to the incredible vitality of the Liquid Meridian Realm that he remained conscious enough to have fear in his eyes. The man loomed over him.
"Fool. If it weren't me, it would be the team from the Ministry of Culture. How much knowledge has been lost in these ruins? How precious is every scrap of pottery and chipped brick? That wall could have held the key needed to control this trial ground, and now we'll never know because you were too lazy to jump over it." The man spat on Li Mou and waved over some nearby soldiers. "Get this idiot out of my sight before I kill him."
As the soldiers carried away the once proud form of Li Mou, the bear-like man turned toward them. Chen Haoran dispersed the qi gathering at his palms but held them at the ready. It wasn't danger that he felt from this man, however, it was more akin to…. kinship?
The Yellow Dragon crooned, for once taking interest in the outside on its own initiative.
The man smiled. "A fellow cultivator of the Machu River. Who would have thought I would have met another of the same kind so far from our mother river? Friend, may I know your name?"
Chen Haoran briefly considered the merits of answering or not. In the end, it was an easy choice. He clasped his hands in a polite bow. "My name is Song Yuelin. A wandering cultivator."
The man returned the bow. "I am Pan Gong. My name is not worth much, but I am fortunate to call myself a student of the Palace School."
The Palace School. The place Lan Fen had felt so called to in order to further her cultivation. Where the future officials of the Empire were molded, and Heaven-Rank techniques could be claimed by the worthy. This Pan Gong in front of him would no doubt become someone important one day.
Connection: Negative
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Chen Haoran couldn't find it within him to care anymore. He was tired of meeting important people and tired of meeting self-important Crystal Transformations.
He really needed to leave Zumulu.
Chapter 138: This Young Master Really Should Have Left
Standing next to Pan Gong made Chen Haoran feel small, and it wasn't just because of his superior cultivation. If there were ever a case to be made about cultivators being greater than normal men, then Pan Gong would be the visual proof of it. Eight feet tall in height with muscles fit for a Greek statue and a voice that boomed as if his words echoed in his chest before leaving his mouth. That his poor uniform wasn't torn to shreds from the obvious strain it was under was surely a miraculous working of qi. Draped across his shoulders was a gray bearskin. The head of the which rested on Pan Gong's shoulder like the world's angriest-looking pauldron. A large and well-combed beard framed a surprisingly kind and jolly-looking face, given how intimidating the rest of him was. It was like Santa Claus was crossed with a big game hunter.
Pan Gong fell into step with Chen Haoran on his left. Xie Jin and Bao Si immediately placed themselves on Chen Haoran's right and followed a step behind them. Pan Gong didn't glance twice at them. A fact that Chen Haoran was grateful for, although he mentally added a demerit to his impression of Pan Gong for it. People who ignored his people weren't his type of people.
"May I ask what brings you to the South, Friend Song?" Pan Gong asked.
"For peace and fortune," Chen Haoran blithely replied.
"Those are often mutually exclusive," Pan Gong pointed out.
"I'm aware," Chen Haoran dryly replied. "I haven't been able to find any peace, so I came to try my hand at fortune instead. How about you, Friend Pan? I've heard about the prestigious Palace School graduates. Forgive me for saying this, but I can't say I expected to meet someone like you here of all places."
Bao Si softly coughed behind him, but before Chen Haoran could parse her meaning, Pan Gong chuckled. "No, thankfully, I am only here for experience before I have to return to the school. If I ended up a petty Garrison officer after working myself to death for so many years, I would save myself the shame and end it early."
"Ah, that makes sense," Chen Haoran said. "I've heard that the Palace School only takes the most talented to train into high-level officials for the Empire. Is it true you can get a Heaven-Rank technique from there?"
It was a bit nerve-wracking, admittedly, to be speaking with such a high-ranking Liquid Meridian. There was still the threat he would be recognized. That being said, he was curious about the Palace School. His current situation was terrible anyway. A few questions wouldn't make it worse. The worst that could happen is that he'd die.
Pan Gong wistfully smiled. "You heard correctly. Should you prove yourself worthy, then Heaven-Rank techniques of all sorts are within easy reach. Resources, knowledge, mentors, anything and everything the ambitious would want is there for the taking. However, the Palace School is a place where dragons go to swim. It's not easy to prove yourself when you have the collective talent of the Empire trying to do the same." Pan Gong glanced at Chen Haoran. "Are you interested in joining? You would have a bigger advantage than most."
Chen Haoran shook his head. "I'm just lucky, is all. I have a much more talented…. friend who wants to join the Palace School. I was just curious what she'd find there." As it turned out, everything she could have hoped for and then some. "Best of luck with your studies. I'm sure there's a high-up position waiting for a strong cultivator with a Machu River cultivation like you."
Pan Gong smiled helplessly and rubbed his head. "Those are auspicious words from a River Blessed, but I'm afraid I'll need more than luck. Posts along the Machu River are prestigious, and there are so many Yellow River cultivators competing for them. I'd be lucky to be within a hundred miles of the river." He peered at Chen Haoran and reached out with a cursory brush of his sense. The Yellow Dragon grumbled and gently pushed the sense back. Pan Gong blinked. "Are you affiliated with the Ministry of Rites at all, Friend Song?"
"No," Chen Haoran said. If he were, then he'd probably get yanked around less. Surely being the Machu River's PR person would bring him some respect. "It hasn't been long since I got….well," he waved a hand over himself, "….this."
They arrived at the base of the pyramid. They didn't have much of a chance to admire it, however, as Pan Gong ascended the steps without pause, and they were forced to hurry up to keep pace. Well… Chen Haoran was, at least. He was pretty sure Xie Jin and Bao Si wouldn't have minded an excuse to separate from Pan Gong. Actually, stepping on the pyramid reminded Chen Haoran of the absolute unknown they were walking toward.
"Has there been anything discovered about this trial?" Chen Haoran asked.
"Maybe," Pan Gong said with an air of idle musing. "I'm not much one for theory, unfortunately."
Without missing a beat, Chen Haoran reached into his storage bag and summoned a flask to his hand. He handed it to a suddenly bemused Pan Gong. "I haven't thanked you yet for helping us back there. It's not much, but I hope you like it."
Pan Gong accepted the flask and raised an eyebrow when he felt its quality. Not quite Mortal-Rank, but way better than just a regular drinking flask, the Gifting Power's improvement striking again. One eyebrow was soon followed by the other when he popped open the cork and got a whiff of high-grade Machu River water.
"A good drink." Pan Gong drank deeply from the flask and then wiped his mouth with a satisfied sigh. "To think I would be able to drink Machu Dragon water in the South. Today is a good day." He looked at Chen Haoran with a much more appreciative look. "I underestimated how much the Machu River values you."
"I just caught it on a good day," Chen Haoran denied. "If it really liked me, I wouldn't be down here looking for riches, would I?"
"Perhaps you might yet find some," Pan Gong mused. "The Ministry of Culture employs some terribly bright minds. From what they've told me, this pyramid focuses the ambient energy into a connected Secret Realm. The power that built this place used it to temper their younger generation and harvest resources while they were at it. Initial estimates say it's been abandoned for at least two thousand years."
"There must be quite the harvest built up," Chen Haoran faintly said. Or at least there might be. Two thousand years was long enough for things to go wrong after all.
They crested over the top of the stairs in no time at all, turning something that would have been a 20-minute walk back on earth into less than five minutes. The top of the pyramid was a building or perhaps an altar. After walking past the guarding snake statues, they entered a room filled with cultivators. The red-clothed Garrison soldiers were in the majority and clustered near a wall with a series of runes carved in a circle on its surface. Half of them glowed bright silver, and before Chen Haoran could blink, another rune lit up with the same light. The unaffiliated cultivators hung near the entrance, not daring to cross the invisible divide between both groups.
Pan Gong pointed toward the rune circle. "Once the activation requirements are met, that circle will create a gate for us to pass through into the secret realm. The Garrison will go in first, and the rest will be coming after us."
"Is the Garrison that confident?" Chen Haoran asked him.
Pan Gong laughed. "Our historians and Formation experts have been working nonstop to identify any potential issues. I won't dare say we know everything going on inside, but we're fairly sure of its danger level." He patted Chen Haoran on the shoulder, almost sending him stumbling with the force. "Being able to meet a River Blessed makes this a lucky day for me. Once you're inside, you can follow me. Perhaps we might find some real treasure together."
"I'll thank you in advance then," Chen Haoran said.
Pan Gong casually waved the water flask. "Don't mention it." Just before he walked away, however, he stopped and turned to Chen Haoran with a serious look. "A word of advice from one man of the river to another. Don't return to the Machu River without meeting the Ministry of Rites. For all that it lives and thinks, the Machu River isn't human, nor are the pieces of itself that it gives away. If you're not careful, then they'll do as water does and merge together."
Well. That wasn't ominous at all.
"Thank you, Friend Pan," Chen Haoran said, bowing his hands.
Pan Gong waved his hand and walked into the crowd without another word. Chen Haoran watched the sea of cultivators part for him. Even with so many people here, it was impossible for Pan Gong to be anything but noticeable.
"What did I do wrong?" Chen Haoran suddenly asked.
"You were too casual," Bao Si immediately replied. "He is your superior in cultivation and thus your social superior. You have to speak to him more formally. Being as casual as you were implies either thoughtlessness, arrogance, or background."
Ah. Right. That could be a bit of a problem in the future, especially when he was interacting with strangers. On the other hand, he really didn't want to treat every random cultivator he met like they were his retail customers.
"Forget that," Xie Jin, the other person who spoke to stronger cultivators way too casually, interrupted. "Have you noticed it?"
Bao Si gravely nodded. "There's too many Liquid Meridians."
Chen Haoran was briefly confused. He figured that was largely the point of the trial? It was only when he cast his sense out did he realize what they meant. It wasn't that there were no Qi Realms. There were plenty among the unaffiliated cultivators. There were none among the Garrison. A brief head count brought the total number of cultivators in the room to a thousand, of which the Empire made up six hundred. The ratio of the groups didn't stay consistent either. The Garrison's side grew larger while the unaffiliated side grew smaller as more Liquid Meridians came in and threw out the weaker cultivators to ensure the total number in the room remained a thousand. There was a bit of surprise on their side when Li Mou walked in. He was clutching his chest and wincing, but the fact it wasn't caved in anymore and that he was walking again after accidentally running into Pan Gong's fist was a miracle. The Garrison had some good healers on staff.
Li Mou glared in their direction a bit before stalking off to join the Garrison's side. There were a few rogue cultivators who had some designs on Xie Jin and Bao Si, given they were a part of the quickly shrinking group of Qi Realms, but Chen Haoran only had to fold one Liquid Meridian across his knee for them to take a hint. Not long after Li Mou walked in, there was a sudden upsurge in yelling and commotion outside. From the sound of it, word had spread to the cultivators still outside about the time limit approaching. Just as the noise reached a crescendo, there was a sudden surge of power outside that could be felt even ensconced within the pyramid as they were. All conversation, both Garrison and non, died as a Crystal Transformation Realm flexed their strength.
"There is no need for any more participants," an unfamiliar voice spoke, each word a booming thunderclap. "Leave now or be left here forever."
Chen Haoran offered a prayer of pity to those poor souls outside. He'd had quite enough of Crystal Transformation Realms himself these days. He felt Phelps tighten his grip around him, and Chen Haoran rubbed his arm through the cloak. In the silence that fell in the wake of higher powers, the rune circle lit up completely with silver. There was a ripple of tense thrill that passed through the gathered crowd. Perhaps they thought about riches or danger. Chen Haoran thought about Pan Gong telling him the rune circle would open a gate in the wall.
So when the circle dimmed and bright silver lines opened up beneath everyone's feet, Chen Haoran immediately had a sinking feeling that something was not right.
"Brace!" Pan Gong roared from the front.
Bao Si shot toward Xie Jin. Xie Jin shot toward Chen Haoran. Phelps's grip became crushing. Chen Haoran tried to gather up all three in his arms.
Silver light bloomed, and Chen Haoran grabbed nothing as he disappeared.