Chapter 158

  Sages of the Abyss (II)

  Long Tao dragged the man's unconscious body away from the village and to the nearby hill. Just as he tossed him on the ground, the man awoke, coughing and trying to free himself of restraints to no avail.

  At the same time, Long Tao started a small fire, isolating all light and sound with a temporary array he'd quickly fixed up using only Qi. It could be seen by practically anyone with any talent, but for this purpose, it would do just fine.

  As the fire began to roar, he extended his left hand and almost 'slashed' with his finger before curling it inwardly. First there was a faint yelp, and then a dragging noise as a fresh body of a rabbit suddenly appeared. He caused it to float above his palm as he skinned it, all the while eyeing the man with pressed lips.

  "Why aren't you talking yet?" Long Tao asked.

  "Talk about what?"

  "You."

  "There's nothing to say."

  "Hm. You do look like someone who doesn't have a single interesting story to tell."

  "..."

  "I've tried human meat once, you know?"

  "H-huh?"

  "Not by will," Long Tao said. "I was so exhausted battling this wolf-like demonic beast that I didn't realize somebody had spread poison in the air. Next thing I know, I'm waking up strapped to a chair, being fed by a one-eyed bitch." He'd finally skinned the rabbit and flew it over to the fire, rotating it with invisible threads of Qi. "It tasted awful. Left me gagging for years."

  "... why are you telling me this?"

  "To let you know I'm someone with plenty of interesting stories."

  "..."

  "Hm," Long Tao hummed. "Very well. How about this: if you don't start talking, I'll start chopping. And not just the rabbit."

  "... you think I'm afraid of torture?"

  "I don't care whether you are," Long Tao shrugged. "You're just pissing me off, and I've found that chopping people up is a nice way to vent."

  "You're a monster."

  "Certifiably," he grinned, his lips stretched oddly under the shadows of the fire. "I can just read your Soul," he added, causing the man to finally shudder. "I don't want to, mind you. It would put a massive strain on my body, and it'd take me months to recover. Still, I would recover. But you... well, it's one thing to die, but to die while being Soul Searched? Oof. Few worse ways to go."

  "... so what are they? Your puppets? An illusion? Friends you created because nobody wanted to breathe the same air as you?"

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  "Hey," Long Tao's voice dropped as a thread of Qi flew, easily dissecting the man's entire left arm. The limb fell sideways as blood sprayed out--but just for a moment. Before it could even truly dye the earth beneath, something invisible closed the wound. The old man, surprisingly, didn't scream--merely bit his lip until it, too, started to bleed. "From your stench, I can tell you're not from here. And nobody not from here doesn't want to be here--which leads me to believe either you were told to come here for some higher purpose, or you were kicked out.

  "Based on your reaction, it was the former. Hmm. I don't get it," Long Tao sighed, leaning back as the scent of the burning rabbit meat began to waft. "So many souls converging upon this middle-of-nowhere no-land. What is so interesting about it?"

  "... the views," the old man squeezed through his teeth as Long Tao laughed.

  "Ha ha, funny. I am quite enjoying the view of your pathetic existence slowly fizzling out. But... you still haven't talked."

  "Nor will I."

  "Haah. Fine," Long Tao shrugged, standing up and pulling the rabbit meat from the flame. It was already sizzling, so he blew cold Qi at it to cool it before quickly eating the entire rabbit--in less than ten bites. "Soul Search it is." He crouched by the man and extended his right arm, pressing his index finger right between the old man's brows. At the same time, he began to chat and draw a circle on the ground with Qi.

  "Stop, stop, stop!! I--I'll talk! I'll talk!" Just before the circle was drawn, the man cried out, prompting Long Tao to stop.

  "Why even pretend?" Long Tao sighed, feeling... tired.

  How many times has he had this exact conversation in his life? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Sometimes they said yes, sometimes they said no, sometimes they annihilated themselves--soul and all--but it had stopped being interesting... many, many times ago.

  It was odd, the hollow feeling within his chest. It was like a tide, he noticed--coming and going. Like there were depths of him wrestling for his heart--the scarred self, the one who endured the betrayal of everything, desired nothing. Just emptiness.

  But then there was the human self--something so primal lodged so deep inside that it could never be fully destroyed.

  "M-My name is--"

  "--I don't care," Long Tao interrupted. "Where are you from?"

  "N-north."

  "..."

  "S-Split Heavens! I'm from the Split Heavens!"

  Split Heavens?

  The name was vaguely familiar, though probably not as it was right now.

  "Why are you here?"

  "... on, on a mission."

  "What kind of a mission?"

  "..."

  "Soul Search~"

  "I--I'm on a Sect's mission!" The man gritted his teeth and squeezed out the words.

  "Oh? What Sect is that?"

  "S-Sages of the Abyss..."

  "..."

  "They--they're a secret group in the Hidden Abyss Village. Nobody knows their identities, but it's said if you fulfill six missions for them, you will be reborn."

  "Hoh," Long Tao exhaled softly, sitting down cross-legged and pressing his fist into his cheek, thinking.

  The names, naturally, meant nothing to him--there have probably been millions of groups that called themselves 'Sages' or 'Abyss' or any of the combinations of the two.

  What interested him, however, was how they were in possession of a parasite.

  "I assume they gave you the spirit."

  "Y-yes," he nodded. "And, and told me to plant it, and what to do with it..."

  "What do you do with excess Life Qi?"

  "Store it."

  "Oh."

  Well, once all the nuance of it was stripped, the truth behind it all was rather pathetically simple. Then again, it almost always was. Beyond the veneer of complexity and the shrouds of mystery, there would always lie a simple desire.

  Whoever the 'Sages' were, they were harvesting Life Qi. Why? Long Tao had no idea, and he suspected that the old man in front of him had even less idea.

  There could be a million reasons--as a cultivation resource, to feed some demonic beast, to concoct some pills...

  However, there was a reason why very few, even in his day, dared toy with the idea of harvesting Life Qi. It would begin ticking of the clock--and, one day, the ticking would stop... and all involved would find themselves very much dead.

  "I, I store it in these special containers, and once a year, I take it north to the mountain, hand it over to a, a strange man, and he gives me a reward and another container..."

  Is that so?

  Long Tao mumbled, stroking his chin.

  ... wouldn't people capable of procuring a parasitic vine have a... particularly filled vault? His lips stretched out into a grin.

  His birthday was coming up soon, and he was due for some nice presents.