Chapter 144

  Aegis of Infinity (II)

  To Wan Lan's credit, she kept getting up.

  And kept getting up.

  She'd rush in, fists and feet flying about, and would get rebuffed within a breath and sent flying backward. The saddest bit? Long Tao never drew his sword.

  No, scratch that--he never even used an actual art.

  Within two minutes, there were about a few dozen scratches and gashes that were bleeding; within four, her left eye had swollen so badly I'm pretty sure she didn't see a thing through it; by the fifth minute, she couldn't get up any longer.

  Again, to give her credit, no other kid could last remotely as long against Tao--then again, he did just use his arms rather randomly, so...

  "You saw enough?" Long Tao said more so as a comment while he passed me by than as an actual question. I silently rolled my eyes and walked over to Wan Lan, who was lying sprawled on her back, limbs splayed, breathing heavily, covered in wounds.

  Crouching next to her, I could see confusion still reeling in her gaze.

  "Don't think too deeply about it," I said, fetching a few healing pills from a spatial ring and handing them over. Realizing, though, that she could not use her arms, I gently put them on her mouth, and she swallowed them hungrily--all three of them.

  Speaking of healing pills, one of these days I'll have to figure out the magic of the pills. Look, despite being an anti-doping sort of lad back on Earth when it came to sports, this world isn't really about sports. And, from what little I do know about the pills (and pastes), they aren't just 'helpers'; they outright become a necessity.

  I mean, you can see their magic just based off of this body alone--a complete waste, utter trash, was somehow raised into a Spirit Manifestation Realm cultivator. Yes, it was a false realm by all accounts, but still... the magic of the pills is very much real.

  It's just that I barely knew any--in fact, the way Elder Qin arranged the pills in the ring was by categories and not names.

  'For healing external wounds', 'For healing internal wounds', 'For supplementing cultivation', 'For breaking through X realm'...

  He knew that I knew nothing.

  But I'll have to learn. Or... well, maybe not? If I fetch myself a nice kid with some crazy alchemy potential, I can still just keep being a bank for the monsters and their resources.

  ... haah. What does it say about me that I'm so willing to offload any remotely 'annoying' task on some random, imaginary kid?

  Anyway, I could actually see her wounds regenerating in real time. It was... well, terrifying. To think that even with the best treatment on modern Earth, she'd still probably be hospitalized for at least a week and wouldn't heal for months, and here... it's just a pill. Or, well, a few of them.

  "He's strong," she said.

  "Hm."

  "No," she repeated. "He's... strong. Not just for this area. Madame told me about the larger world," she continued. "Places where kids break through into Demigodhood before they turn ten. She told the stories to me as a form of a warning--to always recognize that there are mountains far taller than I. I... I never really considered myself any worse than those monsters. They just got lucky, that's all. Lucky that they were born in a place where they could be discovered young.

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  "But he... he wasn't." There was anger in her voice, but there was also... bitterness. And hatred. But that hatred... it wasn't aimed externally. "He was born in the same rut that I was. And he's younger than me, too. And he... he barely even did anything."

  "I'll stop you right there," I interrupted as I saw tears well up in her eyes. "You aren't any worse off than those lads and gals from the Madame's stories, I guarantee you. However, Long Tao... he's a bit... different," I said, trying to be as vague as possible, yet also as comforting as possible. "You can reach those skies you've always dreamed about, I promise. And, there may even come a day when you'll be able to stand up to him. And--"

  "No, it's fine," she said, wiping her eyes as she forced herself to sit up, irritating a few wounds that opened up yet again, bleeding. "It's... fine. I can just become stronger through sparring with him."

  "..." it wasn't fine, however; this whole time she's been with us, Wan Lan has mostly just been... soft, which is perhaps the best word to describe her. There wasn't anything about her that outwardly stood out. She'd engage in occasional conversation, she'd smile politely, she'd cultivate in silence... by all accounts, she was ordinary.

  But she wasn't.

  None of these monsters were.

  She was hungry. No, she was desperate. I don't know what was the cause of that desperation, but it permeated her. And beneath it was an inferno of anger--likely at the world itself, in some capacity, but also at herself.

  I've no doubt in my mind that she likely thought herself the strongest of the group from the moment she joined. She probably even had plans of leaving us eventually. Her entire world has been encased within knowing that she herself was no less talented than anyone else--only more.

  Something--or someone--coming along and destroying that worldview... nobody's 'fine' after that.

  Sort of like how I spent a good chunk of my early childhood being called 'gifted', only to crash and burn like a freakin' comet the moment I left that stonewalled corner of nothing in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly, I was surrounded by hundreds of 'gifted' young people, and some of them... well, yeah. They were 'gifted' even among the 'gifted'.

  That kind of thing breaks you--at least, it broke me. What ended up helping me?

  Time, mostly.

  Once I grew a bit older, I recognized that none of that truly matters. There isn't so much a division between 'gifted' and 'not', as there's a vast spectrum, and billions of people populating every inch of it.

  "Ten years from now," I said just before she stood up to leave. "Where do you see yourself?"

  "H-huh?" She turned back toward me, seeming confused.

  "When you picture your life ten years from now," I repeated. "Where are you? What are you doing?"

  "Uhm, I, I'm with you guys--"

  "--close your eyes," I said. "And describe the picture to me. Honestly. I won't get mad even if it's a picture of you leaning over my dead body and spitting on it."

  "It-it's not! Of course it's not! I would never!"

  "Ha ha," I laughed at her panicked response for a moment. "Tell me. Just be honest."

  "... I, I see myself reviving the Demonic Cult," she said, lowering her head as her cheeks flushed red. "And proving to the world that we aren't evil just because we are different."

  "..."

  "I see myself reaching towards the heavens," she continued after a brief silence. "Proving to myself what I always believed to be true: that I am worthy of being an Empress. Well... at least, that's what I used to think..."

  "It's a lovely future," I said. "I see myself surrounded by even more kids, as they all straddle me left and right to put out fires, constantly moaning inwardly about how I never get any rest... and yet, I keep answering their calls. But... who can say what happens ten years from now? Who can say what will happen a week from now? Life, even for us cultivators, is vastly too short to spend chunks of it mulling over our perceived shortcomings.

  "You are worthy of becoming an Empress," I added. "No, scratch that. You will become an Empress. And, for all you know, Long Tao will piss off some Immortal and get himself killed. You know how he is," oh do I pray to God he isn't listening. She laughed briefly at the comment, quickly stopping herself. "I know you won't suddenly stop doubting everything. That's not how minds work. But I want you to know something: I am always here, Wan'er. If it's to badmouth Long Tao together, or to just scream at the sky, or even to just drink in silence... I'm here. I may not be the kind of Master that can teach you about the correct ways of cultivating to become an Empress, but I am the type that will never, ever, not for a second doubt you. Or any of my disciples. To me, you are all heavenly in equal measure; I promise you that much."