Chapter 425
Whispers Abound (IX)
I've been embarrassed more than a few times since coming to this world, and it's happened again. I kind of, sort of, maybe, or possibly forgot that I can make alchemy recipes. For some reason, my brain has been inundated with the idea that I can make arts--martial and shamanic, yes, but just arts--and nothing else. I can craft the perfect art to ascend and descend a mountain, but that's it.
Somehow, I'd forgotten that in the system's capacity was this little thing that could be just as life-altering. I suppose the reason is that I'm not an alchemist myself, and none of my Disciples are one, either--okay, well, this guy that's about eight times older than me, give or take, apparently is, but he doesn't count. There's no way I can see him as 'one of the kids', and if I could, it'd be the creepiest thing I've done yet.
As such, I just... forgot. Well, I consider it a victory that my brain hasn't been completely deep-fried like the freakin' chicken wings. It's endured remarkably well considering that seeing people bleed used to make me a bit woozy. Now? How many heads have I witnessed being chopped off right in front of my face?
Too many.
Reminds me of the early days of the internet, where you could Google any damn thing you wanted, and the result for it would be just... there. On the first page, front and center. Beheadings? People leaping off the buildings? Somebody setting their balls on fire?
Yeah.
It really is a miracle I'm as well-adjusted as I am already.
"What do you think?" Lao Shun asked.
"... I think you just became my most impressive disciple," he chuckled, taking a deep breath.
"Is it depressing that my first thought wasn't, 'I was already that considering your other Disciples are literal children', but was, 'Oh, at last!'."
"Yes, very much so. You alright?"
"Hah. Just infected by the kids, I suppose." He stood up and stretched. "I'll be locked up in my room until it's time to leave. Do not bother me."
"Even if the world is ending?"
"Especially then," he said. "Let me die in the bliss of my ignorance and arrogance."
We laughed for a moment as he walked away, and I once again found myself alone, a cup of pills in hand that cost more than most of the other things in my possession. I gave them another lookover before putting them away and standing up, too.
The remaining days we spent in the city were rather calm. No one came to attack or harass us. I gave the kids a pill each, though, per Lao Shun, its effects will take at least ten days or so to fully show. So, for now, not much of anything happened. The kids stayed at the inn, cultivating, now that we have Spirit Stones to spare, Lao Shun, as he said, locked himself up in his room and never left, not even to eat, and Long Tao... well, I don't know much of what he was doing.
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I'd occasionally catch glimpses of his Qi as he fluttered out of the inn's bounds, usually at night, though where he was going he never said... and I never asked. I don't think it bothered him particularly that I confronted him--I mean, he's a bit too old for that, I imagine--and I'm fairly certain we've gotten to the point in this, uh, friendship (?) where honesty is appreciated. Maybe it even makes him reexamine parts of his actions. Though I'm doubtful.
On the day before departure, while everyone else stayed in the rooms, I went downstairs and joined a rather great procession of people eating at the inn. Despite it costing a decent amount, it was fully booked, though I imagine that would change come tomorrow.
"We have a spot here, Fellow Daoist," A small group of three saw me looking around like a headless chicken for a seat and offered one at their table, and I happily accepted. They seemed young, though considering that checking their status windows would cost me 100, 400, and 2000 points, respectively, I'm guessing they aren't.
The one who offered was precisely the 'youngest' of them, who looked to be in his mid-thirties, well-groomed with quite pale skin. I wouldn't call him classically handsome, as it were, but I imagine he's got one of those faces that would grow on people.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoists," I said, sitting down. "This humble one's name is Lu."
"I'm Gong, this is Kang," he said, pointing at the 'oldest' one whose status window cost 2,000 fucking points to see. "And this is Yijun." The woman was rather beautiful, though cloaked in that thorny vibe that you kind of pick up on once you've tried hitting on enough girls in the bars. "I'm guessing you are heading to the Mountain, too, Fellow Daoist?"
"Ah, yes," I said. "I have a few curious kids with me, and I got blessed a few years back to have received an invitation."
"Your kids must be quite talented," the man said. "They don't hand invitations out to just anybody."
"I think they merely took pity on us." I played the 'humble, dumb buffoon' role of mine that I've been perfecting. "Are Fellow Daoists members of a sect?"
"Indeed. See?" He pointed at the left breast of his robes, to a sigil that, frankly, I couldn't actually recognize. "You don't know it?"
"I'm rather ignorant of the world, Fellow Daoist," I said. "Please don't be offended."
"Ha ha ha," he laughed rather merrily for a moment. "No, no, it'd be much, much stranger if you did recognize it. After all, this is our first time leaving the mountain in over 200,000 years. Well, not us, but the Sect."
"That's enough, Gong," the 'oldest' of the three, a man who had the face of someone who meant business, warned, though Gong seemed ignorant of it.
"Ah, relax. He's really tense about it, you see. They both are."
"I've noticed."
"Of course! Who wouldn't? They look like dolls with sticks up their asses," he said with a sigh as I held back a laugh. "But don't mind them. That's just who they are. Even back on the mountain, they were sticklers for rules and such."
"Rules are there for a reason, after all." I offered a compromise, which made the man smile rather strangely for a moment.
"You interest me, Fellow Daoist."
"Uh. Forgive me, Fellow Daoist, but I'm not looking for a Dao Companion."
"..."
"Pfft."
"Khm." the other two--Kang and Yijun—stifled their laughter the best they could, though their dancing shoulders betrayed them. I feared for a moment Gong might be offended, but thought too much about it, it turns out.
"I haven't heard these two laugh this much... well, ever. And though it aches my heart that you won't be my Dao Companion, that isn't exactly what I meant," he said, still smiling. The trio were refreshingly... honest, though it could be that they were just that good at lying. "Interesting people are hard to come by, I've learned. And when I do chance upon someone like that, I like making friends with them. Well, Fellow Daoist? Though we can't be eternal Dao Companions, we can at least be friends, no?"
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