Chương 387: Ghosts of the Mine (XXXIII)

"... h-huh?" Lao Shun had already headed toward the wall, as did the five men on Shuren's end, with only she looking flabbergasted.

"Ah. Yes. Fellow Daoist."

"Hm?"

"I'm fairly certain I've died."

"..."

"Yes, indeed. I've died and failed my rebirth. I am now stuck in an eternal cycle of punishment, and you are my punisher."

"I'm really, really, really not."

"Then... just what are you?" though she whined, she did walk with me toward the wall and start plucking. Well, we were using Qi, so it ended up being fairly easy.

"Your Disciples... no, they can't even be called that at this point. There perhaps are two or three children their age I'm aware of who can stand tall with them. Do you know what those three are called?"

"What?"

"Reincarnations of Emperors," she said.

"Or are given a ridiculous title, 'Child of Dao'. But... your Disciples might truly be just that: Children of Dao." Well, that kind of puts me ill at ease, you know?

"... rather," I said.

"I'm fairly certain I know why you think that, and it's not because we are those things. When you met us, what did you think of us?"

"Uhm..."

"That we're just average, inconsequential little nothings that would likely die crossing this place if you weren't to accompany us?"

"..."

"I've noticed that a lot of highly proud people do that," I said.

"That old alchemist over there that's pretending not to hear us is the exact same way. The day we met, he was so convinced I was a foul charlatan trying to thieve glory under his nose that he was shocked by the most minor things. If you expect little, getting even a bit feels overwhelming. Now, I'm not so ignorant as to claim we are ordinary; I know better than everyone else just how special those kids are, believe you me. But Heavens are vast, Fellow Daoist.

Endless, some say; and in them, a myriad of miracles occur every day. Sometimes, you read about myths and figures in distant history, and you always think, 'This is certainly exaggerated'.

"Only those who live the myths can ever verify them; so, perhaps, we are living one of those stories that, in a million years, teachers will be telling kids, and kids will be thinking, 'What nonsense! I'm the most talented person in my entire world, and I'm not even tenth as good as them! Impossible!' Or, perhaps we are merely slight anomalies in a world shorn of them, and above us reside things and people well beyond our ilk. Nobody quite ever truly knows, do they?"

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. How much of my speech she believed, I can't say. In fairness, I barely believed it, so it's unlikely that it was a lot. While true that people underestimate us and a good amount of shock stems from that, I also know that the kids are doing things that they clearly should not be capable of, per everyone's reactions.

And then there's me, the herald of the little gremlins, who takes heat for the things I both am and am not responsible for. Alas, those are the burdens of a Master. The battle concluded in about fifteen minutes, as we were about halfway done with scraping the stones off the walls. While Shuren and Lao Shun primarily focused on higher-quality stones, I was a damn vacuum and just sucked up every little stone I came across.

I wouldn't call it PTSD, far from it, but in the time I've had the kids, the fear of not having enough Spirit Stones has been becoming more and more crippling. If I could fall asleep ever again, I'm pretty sure that would be one of the most common nightmares I'd face. As such, despite knowing most of these stones can't be used to 'feed' the children, as it were, I don't care. I want them all.... alright, I may have a problem.

"Master, we'll help, too!"

"Master, you should rest!"

"I'll massage your shoulders!" That's how I ended up seated in a lotus position while Xi Zhao kneaded away at my shoulders and the other kids strip-mined the entire wall. Honestly, the massage felt... nice? I do pack most of my tension into my shoulders, I've been told, so to have someone just beat it out of them... yeah, feels pretty nice.

"Master," Xi Zhao spoke up at one point.

"Hm?"

"I've learned Single Severance," His words pushed all that tension that disappeared straight back into my shoulders, and he must have felt it, as I could practically hear his head hanging low.

"Are... are you mad?"

"No," I said.

"Why would I be mad?"

"Because... Senior Brother Tao said that I am mad," Xi Zhao continued.

"That pursuing this Dao Path was equal to simply throwing myself into an active volcano. Nobody has ever achieved it, and most everyone has given up trying ages ago."

"Hm," I mulled over my next words carefully before saying them.

"You know, Zhao'er," I said.

"There was a time in history when 'nobody has ever achieved it' was true for quite literally every Dao Path. Even the most common ones. At one point in our history, there had never been somebody who walked the path of Sword Dao. Or Body Dao. Or Fire Dao."

"..."

"We all forge ahead, blind to what awaits--the best we can do is equip ourselves with the tools to help us deal with whatever restless storm we may wake. If you've truly chosen this path, then devote yourself to it; and should you ever falter, I will be there, always, to hold you steady."

"... what if I fail?" he asked, his grip on my shoulders lightening.

"You won't fail," I said.

"Your Master will, for failing to teach you properly. Remember that. If anyone mocks you or tells you that you're failing, tell them back: it's not me! It's my stupid Master who failed to teach me properly!"

"Pfft."

"This is no laughing matter!" I said, barely holding back my laughter.

"So, if you don't want the world to make fun of your Master, you better not fail."

"... I won't, Master," he said, his voice suffused with that glazed kind of convictions that only teenagers can truly ever hold.

"I will make the world say you are the best Master ever, I promise."

"Hm." We finished with mining the chamber in about an hour flat and immediately continued our descent--there were exactly six pathways leading out of it, but as Long Tao shouted directions into my brain, we didn't meander and headed for the leftmost one. Everyone handed me the stones for 'safekeeping', a very thinly veiled way of just giving them, and they totaled in not so small twenty-five thousand or so. Most of them were low-grade ones, but there were also about three thousand mid-grade ones.

A small amount, sure, but that was just one random-ass chamber. He he. By the time we're done with this place, there's gonna be stones falling out of my pockets! Or, well, my spatial rings--no, wait, that doesn't make any sense.... ugh. Magic made being rich pretty lame, as you can't 'accidentally' brag about it. Dammit.