Recluse
“Hahaha, I’m rich! I’m bloody rich!” cheered Daoist Chu Buqu, counting his spirit stones waltzed into a decrepit temple at the city outskirts.
“Shifu, I should’ve loaned you a spirit stone,” bemoaned Chu Xiachi, sighing over his bankruptcy.
“I told you to trust me, haha. I told you that you need to be daring if you want to win big. That’s why you have to learn from me,” enthused Daoist Chu Buqu, overjoyed that he did not have to hand over his spirit stones to Chu Xiaoqing.
“Wow, Mu Yu has made it into the top twenty. How cool…” commented Chu Xiaoqing.
Chu Xiachi snatched over the rankings sheet. “Shifu, Xiao Ran just jumped to rank sixteen out of the blue.”
“If Xiao Ran is bouncing around, that means the old bugger permitted it. We can’t lose to them. Beloved disciple!”
“Present!” responded Chu Xiachi, wearing a stoic visage.
“Go seize rank fifteen. Always be ahead of Xiao Ran. I want to see that old fart foaming at the mouth!”
“Roger!” Chu Xiaochi leaned in to whisper, “Shifu, are you going to bet again?”
“You bet. I’ll go all in this time.”
“Can you count me in?”
“What are you going to bet with, your behind?”
“Shifu, can you lend me a thousand as support?”
“Your fault for not believing me. It’s too late for regrets.”
“Shifu, if you don’t give me the loan, I won’t have any motivation to fight. If I lack motivation, you’ll lose your bet.”
“You’re blackmailing your shifu? If you lose, I’ll put you on a ducking stool!”
“I swear to take rank fifteen!” Chu Xiachi heaved a heavy breath but then had an idea. Smiling, he approached Chu Xiaoqing to request, “Hey, um, can you give me some encouragement? Shifu is going to rig this bet, so I’ll kill it this time, okay?”
“Mu Yu is so cool…”
Yep, Chu Xiaoqing did not hear a word of their conversation.
***
Bai Jie, who sat at the centre of his majestic palace, had become comparable to the heart of the universe, the one the stars orbited around and beings bowed to, yet he could not relish the feeling of having total control over the world for he was furious over things not playing out the way he intended for them to. Humans typically did not look nice when they were angry, yet he resembled a symbol of justice that had been vilified.
“The five divine apostles have gone missing in action?”
Bai Jie’s subject kept his head down.
“What about the soul energy?”
“Your Eminence, none of the soul energy travelled back here.”
“Zhuge Xiaosheng and Daoist Yuan De’s soul energy?”
“Neither did theirs. Our two divine apostles and those two must still be alive.”
“Still alive? Are you telling me over a hundred souls of Eastern Desert City didn’t return here because they’re still alive?”
Bai Jie’s subject lowered his head to the ground. “Please forgive me, Your Eminence! Due to Mu Yu possessing a power that allows him to absorb souls, we have no means of corroborating what happened.”
“What happened to rank sixteen?”
“Xiao Ran killed Liu Ernian. Liu Ernian’s soul energy did not make it back, either.”
“Another recluse, huh? You can’t sit still anymore, huh?” Starting to tread on air, Bai Jie mumbled to himself, “I planned to lead cultivators in a crusade against those five once they went out of control, but the plan has backfired on me. Sword Shadow Dust Gale, Sword Shadow Dust Gale, I need to give you more credit.”
Nobody kneeling dared to budge an inch despite Bai Jie’s perceptively long pause.
“Eliminate all ultimate immortals getting in our way. I don’t want anyone of the final nine to be anyone I can’t control,” commanded Bai Jie, leaving.
***
Xiao Ran, donning a blue robe, peered into the distance from atop Windgazing Rock, a rock on a cliff three kilometres above ground level. “How did you find me?”
“Liu Ernian died here,” answered Lie Shang, appearing behind Xiao Ran’s sword that was plugged into Windgazing Rock, on an angle.
“I wouldn’t have killed him if he didn’t come to this small Perfect Water City,” Xiao Ran replied whilst continuing to admire Perfect Water River, the river that that flowed through the city, nourishing the land.
“Perfect Water City truly is an amazing city. Rarely do you come across a city without any cultivators. The view of the city from this cliff, Windgazing Cliff, is also quite the spectacle.”
“What do you want from me?”
“I want to see your shifu.”
Xiao Ran moved his head with and then against the wind. “He doesn’t want to be involved in conflicts in the cultivation world.”
“It’s impossible for you to remain out of it when Third Heaven Palace traces Liu Ernian’s death back to here.”
“You’re right. Regardless, I had to kill him as he set his sights on this city.”
“Anyone of them would be interested in a city without cultivators.”
Xiao Ran concurred with his head. “Answer me this.”
“What?”
“What realm is your cultivation out?”
A sword created a vacuum as it breezed through for a split second.
“Is that a satisfactory answer?”
“Sure is.” Xiao Ran lifted up the corner of his lips. “You’re probably better than your martial brothers at hiding your skills. I don’t think anyone is giving you enough credit. My shifu told me told me to wait here for you, claiming you were coming for Xiang Nan.”
A snow eagle soared across the sky.
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