Chương 33: Vast-Body Art (IV)

I have to admit, I didn't expect this now-expectant girl to be so obedient over the past two months. Then again, she was just entering... those years, so maybe I got a bit lucky? Nonetheless, she didn't practice Qi even once despite me never explaining much of why, instead just drinking tea as prescribed and doing random chores. However, whatever patience she had in her had long since worn thin; the radiance in her eyes was unconcealable, and the desire contained therein couldn't be pushed back any longer.

Luckily, it didn't need to be.

"When I took you in, I told you I'd offer you a true path," I said, trying to sound as grandiose as I could. It was a bit difficult, truthfully, as the two of us had a bit of an audience: that being Long Tao and the mute boy Hua.

"And you've endured well," finishing, I fished out the pre-prepared tome from my robes. It was relatively thin, as I only included up to the second form--it'd be at least a couple of years (God, I hope so; let her not be a freak, too!) before she'd need the others. She took it with trembling fingers, as though she were grabbing ahold of the world's most divine treasure.

"It's a method suited solely for your unique physique," I added.

"I won't be able to help you cultivate it beyond offering some shallow advice. However, as far as I understand it, you will need quite a lot of resources; you don't have to worry about that. Here's the first batch." I handed her a satchel of about 50 mid-grade stones, which I hope is enough to last for at least half a year. Though, knowing my luck, that's not lasting a month.

"Ask your Senior Brother to teach you the auxiliary art to extract the Qi from the Spirit Stones at a much higher purity.

"Whenever you've run out, come find me and I'll give you more. However, you are not allowed to descend the mountain carrying any of them. If you need to buy something, come find me first, and I'll give you lower-quality ones to spend."

"Disciple obeys, Master!" She hugged both the stones as well as the tiny tome and fell to her knees; honestly, I... well, I feel all sorts of awkward. There's a twelve-year-old girl digging her knees into the floorboards, and all I want to do is screech and tell her to get up... but I endure. There are many things that this world finds acceptable that I never will--no, I won't allow myself to. But as when you're a tourist, you adjust; bit by bit, I hope that Long Tao influences her slightly on how she treats me.

Less a godly entity to bow to and more this... weird-ish uncle that gives her stuff on occasion and then shoos her away.

"Alright, that's enough of that," I coughed and dismissed her.

"Go study. It won't be easy, but I hope that you'll succeed in the competition in four months' time. There are more rewards for you if you do." The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Yes, Master!" She truly ran off as though there were demons chasing her; the joy on her face erupted like fireworks, and even I couldn't help but smile. There was no way I could understand her--after all, cultivation to me was... well, it wasn't really anything just yet. I don't cultivate --mostly because I just can't.

If there's an approximate, though, it'd perhaps be like that time I broke my arm in high school and could only stay on the bench for like 3 months, watching my school's basketball team play while I acted like a cheerleader. At the end, when the doctor cleared me and I could also start playing... perhaps I felt a little bit like her. Even though I sucked, and none of my shots would go in, there was a sense of liberation... like a weight had been lifted off of me.

"Master," Long Tao startled me out of my nostalgic thoughts; I looked at the boy with an askew gaze, suspicious. He had mostly remained quiet and distant for the past month and a half, rarely initiating a conversation. Now that he has... I'm scared.

"... yes?"

"Give me the copy of the method you gave the kid," he said, casually extending his hand out, palm up. I so wanted to smack him... but didn't, of course. I'm a bit of a dummy, a bit of a moron, three-parts an idiot, and a frequent forgetter of all things (important and otherwise), but even I know not to touch the dormant nuclear bomb...

"Why? It really is as I said--wholly restricted to her physique."

"I'm curious," he shrugged.

"Both about the method as well as how you just so happened to have a method perfectly suited for her unique physique."

"..." my eyebrows danced for a moment as a thousand thoughts swarmed me. There was no good answer—that was the truth--so I lied.

"When I was young, my father told me about his secret and hidden treasures, and that method was one among them."

"..." It was his turn for his eyebrows to dance. The two of us kept staring at each other for a long while--if there were bystanders... thank God there were no bystanders. Well, there was that mute kid. But, well, he's... you know... mute.

"Tsk."

"... did you just click your tongue at me?"

"I would never, Master. Fine. Then give me my cloaking art."

"Do you think I'm housing a buffet of cultivation methods and arts here, kid?!"

"... what's a buffet?" Haah. Well, that's just depressing. No, wait--this monster died 10, 000 years ago. Maybe, since then, the world's advanced in the matters of buffet-style dining?

"Uh, a fancier word for a stall."

"You don't strike me as a fancy sort, master, so why use the fancy words?"

"Haah." I sighed helplessly, wondering why he was being so pushy. There was a story there, and if I indulged, it's actually possible he'd share it, but... no. Not now, at least. I'm too freakin' weak! I don't want to have a brain aneurysm trying to follow the tales of Long Tao and how some godlike people betrayed him in the past!

"Go cultivate." I dismissed him, turning around and leaving without giving him a chance to object. I vastly preferred when that old monster just kept to himself, doing whatever it was that he did in the solace of his own thoughts, and left me completely alone. There was one tiny alcove that I discovered curved against the tall edge of a cliff on one of the sides of the flattening; I'd go there occasionally, mostly to escape the reality I've yet to fully accept.

It overlooked the misted mountains framing the valley, deliberate in its majesty of nature. I was never much of a hiker back on Earth, or much of a nature wanderer at that. Here and there I'd take girls out on a date to a zoo or a park, but forests? Mountains? That was for the adventurous spirits holding no fears in their hearts... or something to that effect. Here, however... it felt different. Perhaps because nature is the only thing that reminds me of home at all.

I'm sure that will change in time, as more and more of its 'mystical' parts will become visible to me, but for now... it was my solace. My warmth. My sanctuary. My home.