Chapter 140

  Northward (II)

  Perhaps the neatest thing of all about the tent is how easy it was to pack--just press a button! Well, it wasn't really a button, per se, but more a spot in the central array. It 'sucked' itself inside a small bag that I could either toss into the spatial ring or hang off my belt.

  I actually liked how it looked--it was made of some sort of black material with almost glitter-like, golden etchings that seemed to sparkle under the sunlight. Though I did want to hang it off my belt, I also didn't want an item on me that screamed, 'Hey, come rob us, we're rich!' so I tossed it into the ring.

  We first ate breakfast--plain rice, which, once again, made me sullen--and departed about an hour past the dawn. Wan Lan took the role of the guide once again, now with a new destination in mind: North. More specifically, Eternal Range--a truly massive span of mountains that I did read about a bit. Supposedly, one of the peaks actually reaches 30,000 feet at its highest, which, I'm fairly certain, would make it taller than even Everest.

  Then again, my knowledge from back on Earth isn't exactly stellar, so I might be wrong. Though I do not remember ever associating thirty thousand feet with any mountain.

  "No, no, the ghost is the young girl," Dai Xiu's strange words pulled me out of my own thoughts. She and Xi Zhao seemed deeply engrossed in some debate.

  "Forgive me, Senior Sister, but you are absolutely wrong!" Xi Zhao said. "The ghost is the dog. That's why the story ends with, 'A growl thus echoed into the night, becoming death'."

  "Are you saying that girls can't growl?"

  "Not as well as dogs."

  "You're a dog!" Honestly, I kind of wanted to laugh, but also, the debate seemed... kind of serious? I mean, I have no idea why, but hey, maybe the truth behind some random story is really important to these two.

  "Hah! You know you're wrong!" Xi Zhao didn't react to it, rather seeming quite proud to be called a dog.

  "Master, tell Junior Brother that he's wrong!" She turned toward me with those dog-like, wide eyes, pleading.

  "Both of you are wrong," I randomly spat out. "There are no ghosts."

  "Then... who growled?" they both asked, falling back toward me, looking up at me rather curiously.

  "The... wind..." I replied somewhat uncertainly, but it looked like it worked.

  "Right! Of course!"

  "The wind! How did we miss it? He he, of course the Master would know the truth. We should have asked him from the start."

  "Then, Master, are you good at riddles?" No. Hell no. They just stress me the hell out. But looking at those eyes looking back at me with such grave anticipation... I'd sooner sink myself into an active volcano than say no.

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  "What riddles?" I asked, putting on a smile and praying it'd be something simple.

  "Oh, oh, I have a good one!" Dai Xiu said. "What comes down but never goes up?" Hey, I know this one. I mean, I'm pretty sure everyone knows this one.

  "Rain," but also snow, sunlight, and dead birds.

  "Wow! Okay, okay, how about this: I am easy to lift but hard to throw. What am I?"

  "A feather..."

  And thus began possibly the longest 30 minutes of my life, during which they besieged me with one riddle after another. I had to take like fourteen sips of water, and yet, they didn't.

  In the end, my accuracy rate wasn't actually bad--perhaps around 60%, give or take. Midway through, Wan Lan and Light joined in, both with riddles of their own as well as trying to answer the presented ones, and in the end, even Long Tao offered one answer and one riddle.

  It's as good a way to pass the dull hours as just walking through the forest.

  We'd already devised a system that would work perfectly--walk early on in the day, continue walking if the midday weather is nice, otherwise camp and cultivate until evening, and then walk until the night fell and we couldn't walk through darkness.

  It's not like we were particularly in a hurry to get anywhere north; rather, it's far more important that they keep improving their cultivation and, hopefully, break through one by one.

  Not just for themselves, but also me--I desperately need points as well as 'bonuses', now more so than ever, since there really is no way for me to quickly earn them.

  This month's quests, for instance, were all awful--recruit a disciple, once again, study a wind-related art, and pass on Spirit Stone Augmentation art to someone.

  As luck would have it, I hadn't yet actually passed it to Wan Lan, but still, it only yielded 20 points. Which is basically nothing.

  Thus, I'd much rather we move at a slower pace and arrive a bit late while they all break through than rush over without points or treasures or anything of the sort.

  I only have one use of the little tortoise left, and I'd much rather keep it, as it's a pretty nice comfort.

  "Master," Xi Zhao turned toward me as we sat down to rest in the shade of the trees since today was rather hot. "Can you teach me to play chess?"

  "Hm? You want to learn?" Coincidentally, there actually was a chessboard in one of the rings that Elder Qin handed me.

  "Yes. I watched you and Elder Qin play it, and it seemed interesting."

  "Sure," I nodded, taking out the board. "How about everyone come over and you can all learn together? I might pit you against each other for some rewards someday in the future."

  Nothing like the little implied competition to get their spirits rowing--even Wan Lan walked over, appearing curious. The only one standing on the outside was Long Tao.

  "Tao, come over too," I called him.

  "That's alright, Master. I already know how to play."

  "Oh? You do? Then how about you and I play and teach the kids about it while we do?"

  He just barely held himself from rolling his eyes, I'm sure, but still walked over and sat opposite of me. I quickly settled the board, the kids gathered, and it was the beginning of a game that would leave its mark in history.

  ... yeah.

  He sucks.

  Oh my God, he sucks.

  I mean, he's better than Elder Qin, but he just sacked his queen because he didn't realize my knight was pincering it.

  I could have mated him legit in like 15 moves, and then every other move after that, but I kept delaying it because I didn't want to piss him off or miss the opportunity to teach the kids.

  Eventually, though, it was impossible to delay, and we'd taught them well enough for now.

  "... checkmate," I said as he kept hollowly staring at the board. He stared at it for a long while, and nobody said anything, as we all held our breaths as to whether he'd lose his shit or calm down.

  "Again," he eventually said, putting the pieces back onto the board.

  "Huh?"

  "We go again."

  ... Why do I have a feeling I've made one of the biggest mistakes of my life insisting that he play with me? Oh boy. Me and my big, fat lips...

  End of Volume II

  --

  As with 'Volume I', it's really mostly for me to sort of segregate the big chunks of the story into more digestible parts. The story will resume as normal tomorrow (with, perhaps, a bit of a time skip? big rewards incoming!)