Chapter 126

  Echoes (II)

  "Pfft," somebody snorted almost as soon as I stopped talking.

  I glanced over and saw a young, inconspicuous-looking woman shift her head sideways, though the jumping shoulders still betrayed her. A quick overview of their robes revealed, luckily, that they didn't all belong to the same power--rather, there were precisely four present, split evenly with two each.

  The man who spoke up, naturally, was one of those who wore the same robes as the dead body. The other six (besides the one he was with)? I couldn't really recognize.

  "H-how dare you?! You deserve to be put to death--"

  "--oh, would you calm down, old fart?" It wasn't me this time, though it did sound like something I'd say. Rather, it was one of the guys from the other powers--a middle-aged-seeming fellow with long, black hair and a rather handsome face. His eyebrows were pressed together too, it seems, in an attempt not to laugh. "If you hadn't come out with accusations, our friend here wouldn't have had to repel you. Was he a bit... unorthodox? Perhaps. But to live is to forgive."

  "Forgive? Hah! Fancy lecture from a bastard who hunted down the man his wife entertained across twenty thousand miles!"

  "Huh?! How dare you?! You deserve to be put to death, you old fart!" Hey...

  "Not again, you two. Stop embarrassing yourselves in front of so many children..."

  "What are you yapping about, halfwit? The only embarrassing thing here is that robe you're wearing! A grown man flaunting a shaved chest! Bah!"

  "Huh?! How dare you?! You deserve to be put to death, you old bastards!!"

  ... okay.

  What the hell?

  What are you people doing? Is this a play? Are you a theater troupe and you're putting on a show? Because, I gotta say... I'm freakin' loving it! They continued to shout and scream at each other while the remaining two who hadn't yet participated walked up to me. It was the first young girl who nearly laughed and an older man who merely nodded toward me before crouching next to the body.

  "It's the Hollowers." His words stopped the fight happening in the background almost immediately as they all seemed to come to their senses, speeding over.

  "Are you certain?"

  "Yes. The same wound, the same remnant Qi. Unless our friends here have un-Demonized themselves, something that nobody has managed to do since the dawn of Heavens, they were falsely accused, I'm afraid."

  "... apologies," the guy actually apologized--and bowed, at that! Wait, that doesn't track; shouldn't you be humiliated even more now that your face has been slapped and hold a deep grudge against me and send assassins after me? "We have been on the edge the past few days, and I took it out on you."

  "No, no, it's understandable; I apologize, too. My words were overly harsh when you were just worried about your... disciple, I presume?"

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  "Yes," the old man sighed, walking over to the body and crouching down, his expression contorting into one of pain. "Ping'er. He was also my grandson."

  "... I am very sorry for your loss." I said. This entire affair is rather odd; from the looks of it, they all belonged to quite important sects, and they must have realized by now that we are not particularly strong, ergo we are not all that important.

  "New friend, would you mind telling us how you came upon the body?" the guy who never fought asked. He had rather colorful eyes, as they seemed to dance between five or six colors depending on how light hit them, and he wore deeply twilight robes with strange markings etched across.

  "Like this, actually," I said. "As far as I could tell, it was buried shallowly, but the animals managed to discover it in the meantime. We arrived here no more than five minutes ago, either."

  "Ah. Most unfortunate, Old Chun," he turned toward the grieving old man. Well, 'grieving' was a strong word--the man seemed more pissed than sad, to be honest. "Looks like we will have to tighten the site's security."

  "They'll have to pay, Old Zemin," he said. "With their blood."

  "And pay they shall. Bring back his body; we will hold proper funeral rites tonight."

  "Hm." Thus, the guys with the strange star symbol etched into their robes left, leaving the other three groups.

  "What brings you this far into the Grove, friends?" Ah, the question. It's not like I can say, 'So, yeah, I'm going where you guys are to disrupt your plans', and now that they've seen us... getting there will be even trickier.

  It was one of the guys with a sword symbol etched into their robes that asked--the older one, with a rather sharp jawline (I mean, you could genuinely cut stuff with it). He also appeared somewhat... sickly; his skin was a bit yellow, as were the whites of his eyes, as though he had jaundice. Can cultivators get jaundice? I doubt it.

  "Uhm..." I forced myself to shuffle awkwardly in place, as though hesitating.

  "Speak, friend," the third old guy, the one with the spear symbol, said.

  "My kids, uh, they heard some rumors in town... about the Grove. How there's a ruin full of treasures. We, uh, we've never experienced anything like it, so I wanted to bring them to see it. Just see it!" I quickly added. "I had no intentions of participating in any capacity!" I chose my words rather carefully, as I didn't know whether these guys were human lie detectors.

  Fully technically, I didn't intend on participating in the slightest. That's why I deliberately used 'I' instead of 'We'. I just hope they take it as me saying 'I' means the same as if I said 'We'.

  "Ho ho, I understand--it is tempting. But this place is dangerous, even just for sightseeing. It's best that you turn around and leave, for the sake of your kids." the sword guy said.

  "Old Luo said it well," the spear guy added. Haah. Looks like our plans will have to change again, through no fault of my own... "That place is no good for young kids like them." It made sense; they all hid their cultivations, with it appearing that Wan Lan was actually the strongest--but even she got taught the art to hide her actual realm and appeared to be 'just' at the peak of the fifth stage.

  "I understand. Thank you for your help and advice," I said, putting on a smile and bowing.

  "We're leaving, Zemin. Are you coming?"

  "You go; I'll try and see if there are any clues about the attackers nearby."

  "Very well." Either they bought the excuse or just didn't care, but they really did just leave.

  ... hey. Maybe they left because they know this old guy will now 'take care' of us? Hoooh, all that false niceness! These bastards! Luckily, the moment they appeared, I'd taken out my little tortoise. If I'm going down, you're going down with me, you bastard!

  "Relax," it wasn't the old guy who spoke but rather the young woman by his side. She appeared quite tomboyish, with short, oily hair and slightly slanted eyes. Her nose was long and thin, though her lips were oddly full, a strange mishmash of shapes. She stood quite tall, nearly six feet, and had eyes similar to the old man's, colorful and odd. "The old guy here may look mean and deadly, but he's just awkward."

  "Yahui, is that really a proper way to address your Elder?" The old man sighed, almost in resignation. "Especially in front of strangers?"

  "What's wrong with calling you an old guy? I mean, you're old and you're a guy."

  "Makes sense to me," Light commented from the side, and I nearly facepalmed myself.

  "Ha ha ha, yes! Little sister understands!" The young woman was about to pet Light when the latter skillfully evaded it and hid behind me.

  Dammit, kid!

  The glint in their eyes shifted immediately, and I knew... we are once again getting entangled in something we probably shouldn't.