Chương 326: Truths and Lies (XII)

People were jumping off the edges of the seats, directly into the lake, all in a bid to run away. Few, however, twisted their heads and glanced back and bore witness to the purest Sword Qi they'd ever seen--an entire tower-sized array of it burst forth like a leviathan unleashed and devoured all in its path. It was the singular draw of the blade, meant for a singular destruction. Young Lady Yawen could hardly turn to face it before it overcame her, splitting her in half as though she were a piece of paper.

Blood sprayed out as the pieces of the body and the organs that had fallen out shuttled downward, while the horrifying array of Sword Qi simply fizzled out, as though it had completed its purpose. Shao Li knew, with every essence of himself, that he had to stay--he, a historian, had to stay and bear witness to today, as he had a feeling it would shape the future of everything.

So, amidst the fleeing familiar and distant, he paused; he was shaking, terrified still, but the thirst in him settled him down just enough for him to take out a scroll, imbue a faint trace of Qi into his fingertip, and begin writing.

"... YOU BASTARDS!!" a roar split open the heavens as the City Lord grasped toward the falling bits, twisting his fingers into a strange contortion as energy beyond this world splintered out--they were tiny, twilight-colored tethers that seemed to latch onto every individual piece of Lady Yawen, be they tiny droplets of blood or the disintegrated pieces of skin.

The tethers rippled back toward the City Lord as they began to weave together as though controlled by an invisible hand, putting together a person like he were sculpting her. ** Huh. You see weird shit all the time in this world, I guess. As soon as I saw the City Lord react not with immediate rage and anger but instead with some kind of skill, I dug out something that had been sitting in the corner of one of the spatial rings for a long time now-- Imaging Talisman.

It was always somewhere in the back of my mind, but never quite intensely enough to pull it out--until now. That skill, martial art, whatever it was, looked far too tantalizing to pass up on, and I simply hoped it was below Divine grade--which it, luckily, was. [--Imaging Talisman (Mythical) used] [...] [Assessing targeted Martial Art] [...] [Assessment Complete: Tome imprinting is possible] [Tethers of Naẁa (quasi-Divine) has been imprinted] [Requirements: minimal understanding of the Dao of Energies; must be at a Demigod Realm for full functionality; must have absolute control over Qi] [...] [Tethers of Naẁa] [Type: Special Art] [Rank: quasi-Divine] [Host Comprehension: None (Currently fails to meet minimum requirements)] [...] [Per its namesake, the martial art of unknown origin mimics the nature of Naẁa, the Boundless Broodmother of the Abyss, who is said to possess such fine control of her spiderwebs that she can forge materials out of thin air by coalescing particles of matter in a perfect fashion. Though the imitation falls well short of the original, it does well enough as a mimicry; even Initial Mastery will allow the cultivator perfect control of a tether within a hundred feet. However, using it as anything more than a party trick initially is impossible due to unsustainable levels of Qi consumption; for even a moderate chance of combat use, one must first reach Perfected Mastery or have Qi reserves rivaling someone at '???' Realm] If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. [Comprehension Difficulty:???] Huh? Well, uhm... that's not really what I was expecting?

I was expecting an art that would allow me to put together a body and bring somebody back to life?... but when I saw the City Lord throw a mountain-sized bundle of pills into the mass of flesh, blood, and gore, and a massive marble the size of a tennis ball on top of it, I kind of understood that the art was merely there to bring back as many pieces of her as possible, while the pills were the means to stitch her together.

Still, if somebody told me an hour ago that someone who was dissected into hundreds of pieces, cleaved in half while their organs fell out, would be able to come back to life... nah, I'd believe it. This world is fascinatingly weird. The set of pills and the marble converged as blood and viscera surged around them, creating a perfect storm of Qi as the body itself began to appear; it was like being lab-grown, though it was clear that it was nowhere as easy as it seemed.

The City Lord was sweating and turning pale, and even I could tell the sheer quantity of Qi he was expending to keep the process going. It lasted for about twenty seconds, so not that long, before her physical body--sans a few missing parts, like random bits and pieces of flesh--reappeared... and another three seconds before she gasped and opened her eyes. As soon as she did, rather than being agonizingly horrified over having just died, she exploded into a maniacal roar, her voice coarse and drowned in hatred.

"I WILL KILL YOU!! I WILL SHRED YOUR CORPSE INTO A MILLION PIECES AND INCENERATE THEM ALL, ONE BY ONE!! HOW DARE YOU?!! HOW DARE YOU POINT YOUR FILTHY SWORD AT ME?!!! AAAAAGGHHHH!!! KILL THEM, KILL THEM ALL!! KILL EVERYBODY THEY HAVE EVER KNOWN!!" Okay, yeah, she's lost it, completely. Dozens of shadows appeared rather abruptly, shooting from seemingly every-which-way, and aggressively surrounding us all.

"Your sin cannot be forgiven," the city lord said.

"Annihilate them."

"Master Alchemist," Long Tao spoke up suddenly.

"If you wish to live to see another day, give me all your highest-grade pills."

"E-eh?"

"No hesitation~" I was just about to try and convince Lao Shun, too, when the man just tossed a ring toward Long Tao, who seemed just as surprised as he caught it.

"If we do live to see another day," Lao Shun grinned bitterly.

"I'm going to get so drunk I won't wake for a month."

"Hoh," Long Tao chuckled, turning toward me.

"Master... will you be alright?"

"Go--" Just then, another window appeared next to me, all while the shadows had already converged toward the kids. [--you have completed Quiet Drain quest] [City Lord Lu has used all the meticulously gathered Life Qi, as well as all the means of obtaining it, to just barely keep his daughter alive on the brink of death. Having thwarted his plans, you are now his primary target] [Reward: Breath of a God (???)] [Breath of a God (???) -- used automatically upon obtaining; all your Disciples will advance by 1 minor realm. They cannot achieve a breakthrough this way. Instead, those at the peak of their realm will gain a guaranteed upgrade to the nature of their breakthrough when they do undergo it] [--emergency quest detected] [Quest: Falling of a Sage] [Difficulty:???] [Context: you have drawn the hatred and ire of the Silent Sage, and he has marked you for death. Either escape from his clutches or turn the table and kill him] [Reward 1: Infernal Cauldron (Mythical)] [Reward 2: Upgrade one of your created Martial Arts by automatically giving them the 'Growth' aspect]"... if it becomes too much," I said, trying to hide my grin.

"Just take the next step. It'll be alright."