Chapter 157

  Sages of the Abyss (I)

  The poor thing conked out within a minute of crying so loudly that my eardrums burst. Before long, she was happily snoring as I picked her up.

  The 'world', if you could even call it that, around us began to rapidly dissolve, like colors smeared across the canvas by water. Within moments, we were back in the orchard, though... it was different.

  The strange, misty haze seemed to have been lifted, with colors suddenly bursting as though someone finally undid the 'desaturate' filter that the entire thing had going for itself.

  It was then that the birds suddenly started appearing, which also made me realize that they weren't there before. Kind of odd, isn't it? To not notice something's missing until it comes back?

  They began to sing, hem and haw, and I enjoyed myself for a moment. The tiny fingers clutched at my robes and held so tightly I could see the seams of the fabric coming undone, and the birds sang a rather pleasant melody, and the winds began to blow, scattering with them the scent of plums and these odd grapes that somehow grow on trees.

  By the time I reached the edge and the other kids, the orchard seemed to be almost in full bloom--there were flowers hanging off its branches, indicating a rather bountiful harvest to come.

  "Master!"

  "Master, you're back."

  "Welcome back, Master!"

  The kids greeted me--well, save for Long Tao, who seemed to already be half-asleep--rushing over and stopping a few feet away, jittery.

  "I'm back," I announced rather pointlessly, smiling.

  "Oh, Venerable One! Thank you! Thank you so much!" The old man started bowing too, rather thick tears streaming out of his eyes.

  ... hey. It doesn't feel that bad, you know?

  I mean, I didn't do anything--it was all done by the kids--but, somehow, he was thanking me. Oh well.

  "Let's go eat that meal, then."

  "Yes, let's!"

  I figured we'd stay for the night here and depart tomorrow. It was a nice little break (well, nice might be stretching it), but there were greater places to be, especially now that Dai Xiu and Xi Zhao were approaching the Foundation Establishment. The former had gotten to the eleventh stage, while the latter was at the peak of the tenth. Per my estimates, it should be about two to three months before they've both broken through.

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  **

  Long Tao stared up at the night sky; the stars were innumerable, yet also strangely absent. He'd seen countless night skies in his life, some more adorned than others, but this one in particular seemed... empty. He didn't think it was for any particular reason other than the fact that this corner of the world simply happened to face an empty part of the sky.

  He sat on the edge of the village, cloaked in the shade of the cracked eaves, silent and unmoving.

  If one didn't know any better, they'd think he came to sleep under the open sky, embraced by nature--but the true purpose of his wait revealed itself about an hour past the tick of midnight. Though there was no bell to ring the correct time, he'd been able to instinctively know the exact minute and the exact hour by the position of either the moon or the sun ever since he was nine years old.

  A silhouette emerged from the village, taking to the shade, too, trying to remain invisible. The steps were hurried yet careful, not even making a sound.

  Even Long Tao was a bit impressed--had he not been on the lookout for him, it was entirely possible the man would have sneaked out.

  "Going somewhere in a hurry, village chief?"

  "Aah!" the man let out a startled cry as the light of the moon washed over his face. The wrinkled face showed shock only briefly before quickly gathering itself.

  "A-ah, Venerable One," he said. "What, what are you doing out here so late?"

  "Me? Oh, I couldn't sleep," Long Tao said. "Wondered what the sky looked like, so I came out for a little bit. What about you, village chief?"

  "Ah, I, I have some urgent matter to deal with in the next village over," he said. "Now that the orchard issue has been resolved, I can take time--"

  "Yeah, yeah, yeah," Long Tao interrupted, jumping off the cracked wall. "It confounded even me, I have to admit. That parasite... it doesn't usually infect people. It should have been perfectly content on sucking away the Life Qi of the orchard, possibly for dozens of years. Perhaps trapping an occasional straggler in a dream stance, but hardly aggressively hunting for them. Why, I asked myself?"

  "Uh, Venerable One--"

  "--it's not intelligent, so it wasn't its choice." Long Tao slowly walked over, stopping no further than six feet from the man, who seemed rather tense. "It's a tool, sort of like a sword or poison. A tool that people use to exercise their desires. But... no, that can't be it. That parasite shouldn't even exist here. Then it hit me--what if... somebody, somebody really clever, made it? It's not impossible, after all. Mimic its effect with an actual array, feed the ordinary vine seed a specific combination of ingredients, and, with a bit of luck and a lot of heartlessness, you'll have yourself a parasitic spirit."

  "... who are you?" The man's voice and posture suddenly shifted, his expression turning dark as a sword appeared in his hand. "What the hell do you want?"

  "No, no," Long Tao wagged his finger with a smile. "I ask questions, Mr. Village Chief. And you... you answer them all, enthusiastically."

  "Hah," the man scoffed. "Looks like you're not nearly as smart as you think you are. A mere Qi Condensation brat dares to flaunt in front of me, the Great Wild? I was going to let you people live for a while longer, but it seems there's no need. You've wrecked my plan and made me lose a lot, so I'll have you spit out compensation!"

  He struck rather swiftly, but Long Tao was unimpressed; the man was merely at the peak of the Spirit Manifestation Realm. While rather rare to come upon just so randomly in the world, the realm itself was... nothing. He garnered that even the kids, if they fought together, would be able to kill him.

  Long Tao easily slipped sideways and dodged a stab aimed at his heart; without losing a second further, he reached out and grabbed the man's sword-holding wrist, pressing on it so tightly that the bone cracked. The man let go of the sword instinctively, but just as he was about to scream, Long Tao became a stirring shadow that appeared behind the old figure, pressing his palm against the latter's mouth, silencing him.

  "Great Wild, was it?" Long Tao whispered as he quickly tapped his index finger at several spots across the man's body, sealing his acupoints and meridians. "The only wild thing about you is that you thought this wouldn't be the end of your pathetic life."