Chương 357: Ghosts of the Mine (III)

I'm actually surprised they chose to join us. Ever since we met them earlier today, I've been sitting on a bed of nails, worried. After all, it cost me 500 points just to glean parts of that woman's status window, and seeing those parts hardly settled my nerves. Anyone pretending to be far weaker than they are worries me. And yes, I'm deeply aware of the hypocrisy, but I approach it from a heartfelt sentiment: rules for thee, not for me. Or something of that nature. [--Creator's Eyes used. 500 points spent] [Target: Qian Shuren] [Age: 983] [Talent:???] [Cultivation Realm: Shedding Mortality Realm (Body Stage) (Temporarily Sealed Forcibly) --> Peak Sovereign Realm] [Cultivation Method: Nirvanic Song Sutra (???)] [Cultivation Arts:???] [...] [Traits] [Heavenly Chosen (Legendary) -- as someone chosen by the Heavens, she will always get favorable outcomes no matter what] [Reborn (???) -- underwent a Nirvanic Rebirth, having soaked in a cauldron of Dao] [Assassin (???) -- capable of being unseen by Dao itself and driving a dagger into the back of even Emperors] [Virtuous (???) -- deeply devoted to the Path of Virtue, she loathes liars, cheats, and thieves and only ever kills those she finds beyond salvation] [--Host is too weak to discern any other Trait] [...] [Assessing suitability...] [A set of Anomalies Discovered...] [...] [Host can discern only one of them] [A Special Physique discovered, Dao Body (Divine)] [Dao Body (Divine) -- said to have been one of the first Seven Gifts that Dao presented to humanity. The Dao Body is considered one of the rarest physiques in existence, and all those found to be in possession of it are relentlessly hunted down by the Heavenly Court, deemed heathens for trying to impersonate the nature of Dao. Possessors of the physique will never struggle to comprehend Dao or Heavenly Laws, will gain mastery of all cultivation methods and arts far more easily, and have the capacity to temporarily embody Dao itself in a show of prowess only few can ever match. Can only endure one instance of it, however, upon which the Dao Body will disintegrate and leave the bearer an ordinary mortal] [...] [Recommendation: There are no recommendations matching the host's current understanding of the target] [...] [Final Assessment: a talent beyond this realm. Short of a tragic end, guaranteed to become an Empress] Is this the result of the classic protag aura that the kids exude? I mean, it has to be, no? Otherwise, how the fuck do I explain just chancing upon the most talented person (BY FAR) in this world by randomly walking next to a fucking lake, in the middle of fucking nowhere, without seeing a single-other-fucking-person for almost a month?!... yup.

I mean, I kind of knew that the kids were a magnet for weird stuff and that we'd randomly come across wild things, but isn't this a bit too much? Not only is she the most talented; she's also by far the strongest. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Ah, fuck me. What are you doing here, in the middle of nowhere, with a bunch of thug-looking dudes? Haah. Just because her realm is 'technically' sealed doesn't really fill me with joy.

I extended the invitation because, well, I was kind of worried she'd just attack us and take the food anyway. But to see her walk over, following Xi Zhao rather politely, was... well, fascinating, in more ways than one.

"Fellow Daoist," she greeted, bowing slightly.

"Thank you for the invitation."

"Not at all; the more the merrier," I said.

"Please, have a seat." We'd already spread out a bunch of chairs around the wooden table, and all six of them promptly sat down, their gazes betraying their desires as they kept glancing toward the cauldron of food. As Long Tao finished, Dai Xiu, Xi Zhao, and Xing Feng helped with distributing the bowls, as what he made was a potato-meat stew. I have no idea where he got the potato (or the meat, to be honest; but maybe he just hunted something?), but I'm not complaining. Anything but plain, unseasoned rice.

It smelled nice, like a proper meal, and nobody really stood on ceremony as we started eating immediately.... but, by God, before I was halfway done with my bowl, all six of 'em finished their second bowl. It's like they hadn't eaten in years, and it was a do-or-die situation for them.

"Would you like more?" I asked when I saw them push the bowls away.

"Uh, no, no, we couldn't," the woman said.

"Nonsense. Please, have as much as you'd like; you're making our little cook fairly happy." Oh, bite me, you and your glares. You know just how insanely strong she is, so just pipe down and play along.

"... really?"

"Of course." Anyway, Long Tao made four full cauldrons of the stew over the span of two hours, and we went through all of them. Well, when I say 'we', I mean those six were responsible for eating three of them, at least.

"That was... beautiful. Boss, can you learn how to cook? If you did, we could eat like this every day!" one of the men spoke up to another one of them. Though they weren't anywhere near as strong as the woman, the five still were rather scary; four were at the peak of the Void Transformation Realm, and one was even in the early stages of the Inner World Realm. The reason why I wasn't as scared of them as I was of the woman was the trait they all shared: Moronic, with the tier ranging from 'Legendary' to '???'

which... well, it made me a bit sad for them, to be honest. But a lot sad for her. Because she had to live with them, it seems. The kids slowly got up and dispersed, leaving only me at the table with the woman and five morons, whom she seemed to quickly send away back to their camp, leaving just the two of us. Honestly, I started feeling like I did back when I used to date in my teens: nervous, clammy, and wishing I'd never asked the girl out.

"Where are you headed, if you don't mind me asking?" She was the one to break the silence.

"Ah, we're headed to the Spirit Vein City," I said honestly, as I didn't know if she had the means to discern when somebody's lying.

"Then, you are crossing the southern point of the Heavenly Void Range?"

"Indeed, that is the plan."

"We are headed there as well." Her face suddenly beamed into a massive smile.

"If it's not too much trouble, could we travel together? We--we will pay for the meals, of course!"... ah. That's why. They just don't want to be eating some dry garbage. I get it. I really, truly, deeply get it.