AIR Chapter 153-156

Chapter 153

The rest of the day went about as I thought it would. A bit of socializing here, a bit of drinking there, but I managed to keep my peace for the most part. The only one with enough guts to talk to me was Gai Jin, and he was a good kid, so I didn’t mind that much. 

I felt something in the distance. I watched as two women entered the region, one of the ninth rank and the other at the peak of the fifth. 

“That damn Fisherman,” I muttered. 

A rank nine already? 

How long until I was dealing with people of my own rank?

I walked away. 

Nighttime was one of my favorite times of day. If only because the limitations and rules of the night were still obeyed by many cultivators. 

That meant that all the talking and drinking came to a quiet end and we all went to bed, eventually. 

Though none of us really needed to sleep. The cultivators rested in the new hotels over at cultivator town. 

A few of them got handsy and then promptly met Rin Wi and Yai Mien. 

I saw a bushy-haired man and pale-skinned woman flying off into the distance at some point. Both girls were resolute to spend the night in Cultivator Town just in case, but the rest of the visiting group quickly understood the nature of the situation.

I liked the night. I didn’t sleep much. It just wasn't necessary. It was a privilege or a treat sometimes, like eating and drinking tea, but not a necessity. 

The cold night air pushed through the forest leaves. Gauntlet was walking around, picking up any stray coagulations of laws left behind by the beasts. As for the beasts, they were having a gathering with Lin Tai. The marketplace thumped in the distance and cultivator town, being right next to it, felt alive as well. The village was filling up with mortals.

I sat down in front of my home, eyes closed and hands together and I meditated.

The cycle of drawing in qi, cycling it and pushing it back out was fundamental to cultivation. And that didn’t change at higher ranks.

The whole process could be thought of as an exchange, a taking and a giving. You took from the world and made it and gave  back what you couldn’t use. 

But this realm was at the tenth rank. It couldn’t produce high enough quality qi for me to cycle through. And more than that, I needed daos and laws to cycle through as well. 

But there was something else. Unlike laws and qi, Dao could come from anywhere. It could even come from oneself. 

It was the philosophical aspect of cultivation. Introspection, understanding, and something else, something more. 

The most similar thing to it in mortals was love. The love people held for their family members, that was similar to how a Dao felt. 

I breathed, I circulated, and I cultivated. 

I took in the people, the drinking, the dancing, the business. I took in the lives of many people and all they had within them. The joys, the conflicts, the happy moments, and the sad ones. 

Someone in the village had just lost their mother. I could feel their pain and their struggle. It didn’t feel wrong or out of place. It was normal. It was right. 

But I could see the edges of the person unraveling. I could see the grief digging itself into them, trying to keep them caged for the rest of their life. 

No. 

That would not last. 

I touched them, ever so gently.

And in the moment, nothing changed for the person. They were just as sad, just as pained. And the grief would still be there, but most of it would pass. 

I breathed. 

If this was cultivation then maybe it wouldn’t be too bad.

I felt space ripple in one spot then ripple again next to me. 

Then aura, overwhelming aura of a ninth rank demigod. 

“Do not ask me who I am, just listen. You are the cultivator known as Bill Ter Ance, yes? Nod your head to verify.”

I shook my head. 

“You are not the cultivator known as Bill Ter Ance?”

I nodded my head. 

I could sense confusion from the woman behind me. She was pushing out her aura and overwhelming an immortal rank cultivator, at least in her mind. And in that situation, an immortal should not be able to lie to a demigod. 

“Where is he?”

“Couldn’t tell you,” I replied, getting up and dusting myself down before heading to the village. 

“I did not say you could speak.”

“Its much more efficient than nodding.”

“I did not say you could leave either.”

“Go away. I’ve got enough going on as is.”

“You’re Bill Ter An--”

“Its Bill Terrance. First name Bill, last name Terrance. And yes, that would be me. Now go away. Find somebody else to bother.”

Then I walked away, but she was behind me. 

I was going to piss in that damn river the next time I saw that old bastard. 

“You are not of the immortal rank,” she stated, walking by my side. 

“Oh, someone has eyes.”

“Why can I not sense your rank?”

“What’s the normal reason you wouldn’t be able to sense someone’s rank?”

“Either they are stronger or they’re using a technique to hide it. But you can’t be beyond the ninth rank. I know of every demigod within Ah-Marin and you are not one of them.”

“Well then, that clears it all up then. I’m using a technique, now go away.”

“No. If it were a technique, it would have to be executed at the ninth rank or higher to fool me.”

“So?”

“So you have to be at the ninth rank or higher.”

“Bravo,” I clapped. “You’ve done it again, solved the mystery twice over. Now leave.”

Then she reached for my shoulder. I debated dodging, but that would just bring out more questions. How can you dodge me? How strong are you? Do you practice evasive techniques?

I let her touch me and turn me. 

She was an average girl. Beautiful, even by multiversal standards, but still average for the most part. 

She had red hair that had grown all the way down to her shoulders and crimson red eyes to match, but her face displayed anything but fragility. She looked mean, like an old grizzled war vet, and wore a perpetually stiff face. 

“Please?” I added. 

“What?”

“Please leave?”

Her eyes squinted. 

“You still want me to leave?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“You look violent and angry.”

She looked confused for a moment before understanding. 

“Your rules state no violence?” She asked. 

“Yes.”

“I see. And what if I wanted to stay?”

“Why?”

“I have my reasons.”

“Just follow the rules.”

“You’re not worried about the people chasing after me?”

“No one is chasing after you.”

“Not right now.”

“Hm,” I nodded. “Good point. Leave. I don’t want the people chasing after you to come here.”

Her aura fluttered. 

“Wait-- I--”

One thing to note was that she was in shackles, shackles made from a ninth-rank drainer wasp, supplemented with heavy arrays that limited her combat prowess heavily. 

“Please,” she bowed. It was formal and strict, and her aura roared in hatred at the action, but she did it anyway. 

“I am in desperate need of a place to rest.”

I stopped walking.

“Why here?”

“The Void Blade Empire believes you're just another immortal who came into the realm via some merchant boat. I was planning on leaving the realm to get these shackles removed.”

Of course. 

I thought for a moment. I could break her shackles and send her on her way. I could flat out refuse her. 

I could just allow her to stay. 

But breaking her shackles would reveal that I wasn’t just at the ninth rank. It might spread awareness, and my small little valley could be overwhelmed by demigods soon.

But then I looked at the girl and saw her for what she was. 

Tormented and tired. A dark and twisted ball of vengeance writhed inside of her. She hated so much but feared just the same amount. They were looking for her, and if they caught her, she would go back to chains. 

And I could help.

“Don’t go around telling anyone about me, and as long as you stay here, they can’t find you.” 

Her shackles broke. 

“Gauntlet!” I yelled. 

The golem materialized next to me, disguised as a big and robust man. 

“If she breaks the rules, knock her out.”

The big man nodded. 

I called for Mei Shan and she responded, arriving almost immediately within seconds. 

“This is…?”

The woman, who had been entranced at her free wrists and ankles for the past few seconds, finally looked up and introduced herself. 

“Fey Lin Fo. I have been given a third name, as one who has abandoned their sect. I was of the Eternal Darkness Sect, and stole the Void Blade Technique from the Void Blade Sect. I thank your hospitality, Honored Master.”

“Keep an eye on her Gauntlet.”

The eleven-foot-tall man nodded. 

“Right this way Miss Fo,” Mei Shan said. 

It wasn’t said with a submissive tone or an arrogant one. It was filled with just the right level of respect for an equal. 

The woman certainly noticed it but she was still in shock at her shackles to even note it.

Chapter 154

Fey Lin walked, and a fifth-rank walked with her.

Mei Shan had told her that she should use a different name than her official one. Even if small syllable names were common and even if there were surely people with the same name as her, that was no reason to risk it.

So she had made a new name, Lin. It was common, it was small, and it was hers. 

Mei Shan shrugged at it. And then the second thing hit her. This girl, this child who wasn’t even an immortal, had talked to her like she was an equal. Was this an insult? If so, by whom? By the strange man? By the girl? What should her reaction be to this? Was this a test? Did he expect her to kill the servant?

No. He had rules. No violence within this area, yes. Maybe this was a test to see what she would do when faced with such disrespect. 

But then, she had a thought. The girl had talked to her casually, but she had done the same with Bill Terrance. Was she also a powerful cultivator masquerading as a nobody? 

No, she obviously served the demigod who had broken her shackles with a mere thought. 

But she had been so casual with him as well. She hadn’t bowed or greeted the man in any formal manner. She had just spoken, as if she was an aid rather than a servant. 

Could that be it? Fey Lin thought. No. No that couldn’t be the case. She would follow his rules for now and do everything she could to stay in his good graces. 

“Here,” Mei Shan said, holding out a wooden mask. “Mister Bill said that your face might cause trouble, and that you should hide it in order to avoid attention.”

Oh yes, her face. The man hadn’t been moved at all. 

Then why had Fey Lin Fo done it? Why had she asked the man for help?

He was a man. He was a person. She had seen women with husbands turn red in her presence. She had started battles among clans and wars amongst sects, just for her face alone.

She should have fled as soon as she knew he wasn’t just a mere mortal and she certainly shouldn’t have begged for aid. 

She had asked for aid before and she had paid the price for it. Her body had almost been taken. Everytime it had almost happened, another had intervened to save her. Her pursuers were only disrupted by others who wanted her. 

She was a jewel to be had, a fruit to be savored, and the only reason she had been chained up and left to her own devices was because none would allow the others to have her. And thus they kept her, claiming her own choice would set her free. 

People desired her, not as a person but as an object.

But this man didn’t. He had no attraction towards her, and she knew this. 

He judged her for her troubles and allowed her to stay as long as she followed the rules. 

He didn’t desire her. If anything, he disliked her presence. 

Fey thought about this and put on the mask, nodding slightly and set it on her face. 

For some reason, she trusted the man. There was something there, something genuine. She could tell that he pitied her. 

But more than that, there was a desire to be near him. 

What was that feeling? It wasn’t love. Fey Lin loved no one. She cared for few, but loved none.

It was something different.

She felt something platonic and pleading. As if she was standing next to a peaceful pond in her youth. She felt like a little girl, staring at the pitch black sky in wonder. She felt like a young lady standing in front of her elders. 

She felt like a… person. She did not feel like Fey Lin Fo, the Saphire of Ah-Marin, but like any other person, being judged for their merits. 

The mask fit like a second skin and she felt her face grow and shrink. 

“Hm?”

She used her senses to see herself and saw… a plain woman looking back at her. She had black hair, fair skin, and an oval, somewhat chubby face. 

“Incredible,” she sighed. 

“Yes, Mister Bill says you can take it with you and travel. He says they won’t be able to detect you with that mask on.”

“Truly?” Fey Lin asked. 

“Truly,” Mei nodded.

“Then does that mean he wants me to leave?” Fey Lin asked.

“No, just that if you choose to do so, you will be safe.”

“Why?”

“He is a strange man, I think.”

“Yes, but why all of this? And for nothing? Is he really that powerful that there is nothing he wants in return for freeing me?”

Mei Shan smiled. 

“I asked myself the same thing not too long ago.”

“And? Do you have an answer?”

“He’s just being kind,” Mei Shan shrugged. “That’s all there is to it.”

“Kind?” 

“Yes, kind.”

“Then why not rule the realm? Why not take over and bring that kindness to this place?”

“Like I said, he’s a strange man.”

“What does he want?”

“Peace,” Mei Shan answered. 

“Then why not enforce it?”

“He has no desire to rule or take over people. I think he mostly wants to drink his tea and stare at the sky.”

“The world will never allow that,” Fey Lin said with surprising venom in her voice. 

“Yes, he knows. I believe he’s getting ready for that.”

“For what?”

“For the world.”

Chapter 155

Fey Lin Fo did not understand, at least not completely. 

To have ideals and to not bring them to fruition smelled of weakness to her. A person could expect the world to change to their desires, they had to beat it into a different form. And yet here was a man with the biggest hammer refusing to shape the metal of the world. 

He wanted the metal to bend of its own will.

How foolish. 

Mei guided her through the village, though she already knew most of it. Her senses wandered, touching upon everything she could. The village, the cultivator, the people, the forest. 

She stopped walking. 

That forest was dangerous. She hadn’t noticed it before because she had teleported directly next to that man, but had she walked through that forest, she might have died. 

No, she definitely would have died. She could feel something hungry staring back at her. It was something primal and animal, and it was a feeling she had only felt a few times throughout her life. 

Celestial beasts were everywhere in existence, but they were lacking in Ah-Marin. The humans had long since cleared the realm of any beasts beyond the ninth realm and of the few beasts in the ninth realm remaining, all had been made peace with. 

Whatever was in there, it was beyond her, at least of the tenth rank.

Fey Lin Fo shivered with truer fear than she had ever felt. 

“How strong is that man?” She asked. 

“Very strong, and yet not strong at all.”

The meaning of her words were clear. He was capable, but there were stronger beings out there, and Mei Shan had witnessed them. 

“Would you tell me of the political situation within the realm? It is hard to get good news from here.”

“You do not have attendants for such things?”

“Mister Bill likes to stay within the valley, and we do the same.”

They walked around the outskirts of the village. 

“Well, the realm is ruled by the Ten Great Sects of Ah-Marin. They all have some sort of territory on the planet, though some rule over major empires while others hold only cities and small regions.”

“And this is determined by resources and qi density?”

“Yes,” Fey Lin nodded. “The smaller the territory a sect holds, the more valuable it is. My old sect, The Eternal Darkness Sect, holds only one city, and yet it is one of the most powerful sects within the realm.”

“What makes the city so valuable?” 

“You know the anatomy of the realm, yes?”

“Not that well.”

“Well, Ah-Marin the realm is tied to Ah-Marin the planet. The realm used to be a much weaker one, incapable of creating anything above the seventh rank, then some ancient arraymaster created an array at its center that gathered qi and grew the realm beyond its limits. The planet acts as the heart of the realm.”

“I see,” Mei Shan nodded. 

“I hear it is a common way through which realms form and grow,” Fey Lin added. 

“It is very common.”

“Truly?”

“Yes.”

Fey Lin nodded. She had never left the realm, but she had thought about it and read up on many things concerning the outside world. To hear that the center of her realm, the very thing around which her life revolved, was common—that was staggering. 

But she kept her composure. 

“Yes, well, this array has vents, through which it releases condensed laws and qi. Those vents allow for extreme cultivation, allowing most of our sect to rise to the eighth rank with few troubles.”

“I see, and the other realms have similar territories?”

“In some ways. At certain spots the qi is thick and will stay that way. That is where the small territories are established, but at other spots, qi is wide and comes out at a steady pace. In those cases, the sects create sinkholes. Sometimes through enchantments, other times through arrays, qi flows down into their central area, and they can use it to cultivate easier within the depths of the empire. If you use your senses to feel the flow of qi and where it's heading, you could use that to guide yourself to the center of the Void Blade Empire.”

They kept walking, having now reached a rather large house with a small gathering of people standing in front of it. 

There was a strange metal pole poking out of the ground and standing firm in the center. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, people of this small town, residents of Oasis Village--”

“Get on with it, Mackie!”

“Alright, alright, Mister Chin. No need to raise your voice. We are gathered here today to unveil the newest innovation brought to our small town by the recent burst of economic growth and trade! I present to you the Lamp Post! Made with metal and powered by a small array on the inside, along with the crushed residue of old and dull spirit stones. It will charge during the day and light up during the night! Any city within the region has it, and this is officially our first one! Hoorah!”

The crowd repeated the cheer three more times and stayed gathered around the light while in discussion about how it functioned. 

“And if you try to steal it, remember it’s not just old man Jha anymore, it’s a fifth-rank cultivator you’ll be dealing with,” The man named Mackie added. 

“You should remind yourself of that, Mackie!” An old lady yelled. 

“Madam, I do not steal from anyone.”

“You robbed me blind with that sale last Tuesday! A bag of flour straight from the Hidden Viper, he said, it would make the greatest of breads! It was just regular wheat--”

“Madam, all issues with the product should be taken up with upper management.”

“You’re a one man business, Mackie!”

“Well then, who else wants to have these lamp posts by their home? For an extra silver, I can put you on the hurry-up list and have them installed at--”

“There is no hurry-up list, and you’ll go get the rest of them tomorrow, Mackie,” an old man cut it. 

“But—alright, Mister Chin, keep your hat on. Tomorrow, though, it'll be at least a week before I can get back to ya!”

“That’s fine, we’ll see you then, Mackie.”

“That’s Mackie,” Mei Shan explained. “He’s one of the village's best merchants. He goes out and buys everything they need from the rest of the region, and he always gets the best prices too. He’s a great haggler, to a fault at most times. He might work for the village, but that doesn’t mean he won’t try to get the best prices here as well. Ah, and that is who we’re here to see, Chin!”

Mei Shan waved at a mortal man. 

He looked at Mei and nodded. Then he looked at Fey Lin and frowned. 

“Another one?” He asked. 

Now what could that possibly mean?

Chapter 156

“Alright, you can stay right here with Cai and near the rest of the girls,” Chin said while guiding both Fey and Mei to their destination. 

“If you don’t like your house, you’re welcome to build a new one in its place, just talk to Mei about it before you do.”

Fey Lin nodded. 

“Thank you,” she said. 

That felt indescribably strange. It felt like thanking a dish or a shoe. She had never in her life thanked someone of the first rank. In fact, she had never had something be done for her by someone of the first rank. They seemed so far removed from her, so cut off from her world that she saw them more as… things rather than people. 

That disgusted her. 

She knew what it felt like, being treated as an object instead of a person. She wasn’t blind to the irony of it all, but it felt so strange. 

People couldn’t understand it, but she could imagine a mortal. Fully. She could create a person in her head that had all the complexities and abilities of a mortal soul.

She could think up his entire being. To her, he was nothing more than a complicated thought.

So it was strange when she found herself being stuffed full of mortal food at their dinner table that night. The lady seemed eager to feed and Mei Shan ate with the mortals, so Fey Lin did the same. 

She hadn’t eaten in a millennia.

Fey Lin swallowed and ate as much as the woman offered and she offered quite a bit. 

Food was a strange thing in a cultivators world. Past immortality, it was a waste of time, an unnecessary habit of an inadequate body. And that was it should have been now, nothing more than mere waste. 

But for some reason, the food tasted pretty decent. An immortal chef had cooked this and the meat she was served came straight from some qi beast. But even that wouldn’t have been enough to make her eat. There was something more here. 

And it came from that woman, Medin. Her dao was expressing itself. She was a mortal, a person of the first rank and yet here she was daring to use her dao on a demigod. There should have been some insult in that. It certainly would have resulted in death within the courts of Ah-Marin. 

But here, it was merely an aid. It was an old woman using her desire of hearth and home to help calm a troubled soul. 

Fey Lin Fo ate and bathed in the warmth of the place. 

Daos like that were a rare one. 

“What of the courts themselves?” Mei Shan asked. 

They sat together in a corner on two small chairs. 

“The interactions between sects aren’t all that common, but they do happen and they are important. Every one thousand years, all the great sects meet at one of the sect’s main residences. Each sect sends a representative and they all bring news and trade with one another. Though passive trades happen, this meeting is when relationships are forged and alliances are made. There’s even a banquet and an auction.”

Fey Lin’s sentence hung there, finished but not completely expressed. Her tone was calm and she looked entirely composed. The only thing that implied that there was more to that sentence was her cadance. 

“I was to be sold there, this year I think. I didn’t know till I broke out but my contacts notified me that they had purchased a device to… tame me. And for the right price, any sect could have bought me.”

She sipped her cup of tea. If there was a God-King listening to this conversation, they would have seen Fey Lin’s aura. They would have seen the calmness of it, the pitch burning of wrath it held. 

“The Eternal Darkness Sect?” Mei Shan asked, equally unperturbed.

“Yes.”

“Are they a demonic path sect?”

“No. There are no major demonic sects within the realm. Though the sects do contain demonic cultivators.”

“Oh? Are there any righteous paths?”

“No, just orthodox. There is a firm balance amongst the sects. It has been ten million years since that last culling and we-- they expect it to be another fifty before the next one.”

Mei Shan had no response to that. 

Cullings were common within realms. Immortals lived forever, and while there were practices to cut down their numbers, eventually some of them would reach the highest rank achievable within the realm. 

And then they would sit there, at the top of the food chain, desiring nothing more than that small and comfortable spot. But after some time, there were too many chickens for the coop. To many cultivators trying to reach the coveted ninth rank, and too many ninth ranks trying to reach the tenth. The qi within the realm would dissipate and thin and a certain amount of the population would have to be forcefully expelled or warred against. 

It was a cycle of death fuelled by the need to cultivate. 

Fey Lin had known it. At one time, she had sought that coveted position of demigod. A ninth rank being, able to choose and control her life. That was what had pushed her to this level. 

She believed she would be free at the ninth rank. 

That was until they all turned on her. All the ninth ranks within her sect united and bound her within that ball of chain. 

Just when she thought she had found freedom, she had instead found her chains. 

“Would you like more tea, dear?”

Medin was next to her, holding a steaming hot pot filled with roots and leaves. Medin held it on a small platter and grabbed the handle with a large piece of cloth. 

“Mei here says you’re a new cultivator and this tea right here is Mister Bill’s favorite blend, you know.”

“Mister Bill? Bill Terrance, the cultivator?”

“Who else? He always says he loves this specific blend, says it warms his soul. Why don’t you try it?

Fey Lin held out her now empty cup and Medin poured the tea gently. It was boiling hot but that couldn’t hurt Fey Lin. She gulped down the tea so fast that it looked like she breathed it in. 

And nothing changed. 

Fey Lin swallowed the tea and stared down at the empty cup. 

“You’re drinking it too fast,” a voice said. 

It was Bill Terrance.

He walked up to Medin and gave her a slight bow, holding out his own cup. 

Medin just nodded and poured, keeping one hand on the kettle’s lid so that the whole pot wouldn’t go spilling over. 

“Thank you Miss Medin.”

“I’ll go make some more. Just let me know if you need it!” The large woman said. 

“Tea is about flavor and ritual. You have to drink it the right way to bring out its best taste.”

The cultivator swirled the tea in a cup and infused his own qi into the drink. It bubbled and grew and became something more than tea. 

“Tea is just flavored water, you see. The water is the substance but what you’re really there for is the taste.”

He sipped the drink. 

“If you enhance the drink it can be refreshing,” he whispered. 

“But… that’s just an expulsion of qi. To infuse the water with your own qi wastes some of that qi in the process.”

“It's worth it for a good cup of tea,” the man replied. 

Fey Lin Fo took her cup to Medin, who gave her a surprised face and then poured her some tea with a smile. She did what the demigod had done. She pushed her qi into the tea and mimicked the man. 

She swished the tea, focusing on the process of infusing it with her own qi. Qi was lost and concentration was wasted. In her hand was a cup of tea containing qi of the eight rank. The laws were simple, the makeup of the qi was simple, but the qi itself was at the eighth-rank.

She took a sip and the mortal flavors shined. Her qi enhanced the flavor, that was the thing Bill had focused on. And while the flavor was a thing to be observed, it was not a cohesive concept like daos or laws. 

It was flavor, a concept of tea but a concept that was hard to enhance. 

What she had done was make the flavor more real, as real as she was. She had taken a mortal thing and made it all that stronger. If she poured this into the ocean, it would make the sea taste like tea. 

She smelled it and took a sip.

It was imperfect. Notes of sourness had turned into wails and the hidden taste of leaves had come out and into the open. But the taste, for all its flaws, was all consuming. It was sweet and woody with a mixture of herbs and honey blossoming in her mouth. 

This would never be served by an immortal chef. 

She took another sip. 

But there was something strange about it. It contained a bit of the person that had made it. It was Medin’s recipe and that warm nature of hers was also in there. She was actively letting a mortal affect her, enhancing an old lady’s will and letting it influence her own. 

A mortal’s creation enhanced by her divine self. 

“It’s good,” Fey Lin Fo said with a smile. “Thank you, Miss Medin. It’s delightful.”