Book 2: Chapter 51: Whispered Meeting? |
Rong sat at the edge of a chair he had been given by Yin Hu. A personal gift that was likely the greatest treasure he had ever found or received. Just sitting on it for an hour had helped clear his meridian, core, and Spiritual Roots of the majority of contaminations he had gained throughout his lifespan. He understood that it would be the perfect tool to help boost him past the bottleneck within his cultivation.
He had been stuck at the Heavenly Realm for the past thousand years and any advancement seemed distant and impossible.
Yet, even with the opportunity so much closer, he chose to wait.
The words of his Patriarch and new master had been clear. His Spiritual Roots, body, cultivation, everything he had worked endlessly on were worthless in his sight. So much so that they needed reestablishment through miraculous elixirs that should have been impossible.
Rong’s eyes shifted back toward Jun and Shui sitting next to each other and sharing their experiences when each one had been focused on their own bubble.
Taking time to learn from each other just as the Calamity, acting as their Ancestor, had told them to do.
Each one was a bright sun of Qi and powerful energies that nearly blinded him when he tried to peek at what he should expect from Yin Hu’s promises. Only once had he seen anything that ridiculous in the form of a core or cultivation. A single being that had been forced to ascend before his eyes. Yet, the girls’ potential and Qi were far more pure and untainted than the Magistrate of Jackal Island.
How are they still here? Will I also have a core that vibrant? Is it worth restarting my cultivation after thousands of years of grueling wars, battles, and life and death situations that I survived?
Even though he was a Spirit with an amorphous body, phantom injuries still plagued him.
His first fatal wounds, his most grievous wounds, even a few that were ignored that kept resurfacing whenever he called for his power. The only form of contamination within his core and meridians the chair had not cleared for him so far.
Zhong Da approached him. “Senior Rong.”
Hu Rong turned to him, hiding how giddy he felt at someone else calling him senior instead of the other way around.
“What do you make of the oddities that our Patriarch has committed to? What was up with that bush? Wu Xui and I could not find anything when we looked even with our Dao and cultivation.”
Rong shrugged his shoulders. How many times had he done the same exact thing and tried to understand Yin Hu? It didn’t take much for him to come to a final understanding that it was a futile task to attempt. “Master’s mysteries are greater than I can understand. He will tell us when he intends to.”
“You’re right,” Zhong Da frowned. He was unable to conceal the look of curiosity when he looked back at Yin Hu. “Aren’t you fascinated?”
Hu Rong turned to look at their Patriarch.
Yin Hu was standing before a copse of trees and a large boulder. He had pulled down all the vines and thick layer of moss that had covered the stone and started staring at it like it had something on it. Touching it and scanning through as though it had words or images to be read. It was a strange thing to sit here in the middle of the day after having grown accustomed to moving at a blistering pace for so long.
Only reaching the First Calamity had they slowed down at all.
Yin Hu had been acting peculiar ever since he brought Zhong Da back to be healed.
Da Ruis joined them when he noticed they had started speaking.
Rong flicked a stone through his non-physical form. “Old ghost–”
“Don’t call me that, ugly spirit.”
“–you’re the most experienced between us. What do you think is going on? Why did we stop here of all places and times?”
“It’s hard to get a read on him,” Da Ruis shivered. “I can’t believe I tried to take the Hu girls from him. I still can’t see his power, but I can see the dragons. I can see their hostility and hatred in the air around us. Only reason we haven’t been consumed by endless fire already is because the Patriarch has decided otherwise.”
“Dragons?” Rong frowned.
He knew that Shui had the mountain sized bear and Jun the She-Devil. There had been no indication of dragons.
“You think the one I saw in the forest was the dragon–”
Da Ruis laughed. “First it isn’t one, Zhong Da.” he reached down and grabbed a stick. Da Ruis’s form had begun to stabilize more the longer he stayed around Yin Hu. He began drawing six forms, winding around one another. “Six dragons. Beyond anything on this speck of dust you call home. There are only hints of their existence unless they make themselves known, unfortunately, I knew what those hints look like because I’ve seen creatures that powerful before.”
“When?” Rong asked.
“Around the time the six dragon hatchlings appeared. They let their presence become discernible for a very few seconds. I believe they were contacting Lady Shui, but I don't have any proof of that.”
“How strong are we looking at? I need to make sure my wife knows too. We are part of this Hu Clan whether we like it or not, better to be prepared with enough knowledge.” Zhong Da peeked back at their Patriarch. He had moved to the other side of the boulder, hand still touching it in strange circular patterns. It made them all wonder if he was casting a technique.
Da Ruis rubbed his translucent beard. “If I had a scale… I would guess roughly as strong as the Hegimonite…” Da Ruis paused for a second. “What you dubbed as the First Calamity before it was fatally injured.”
“My God… Six dragons that could kill a fully powered Calamity?” Rong whispered.
Rong couldn’t imagine what that even looked like. It had taken everything in existence on this world just to survive a dying tentacle demon only to find out that whole war was nothing but its dying throes as it failed to harvest their world on time. Everything he had thought was reality had been flipped on its head in ways he could not truly understand. What type of power existed in the grand universe that could fight something like that?
Or were they just that pathetic?
“You seem to misunderstand, ugly spirit. Not six dragons that could fight the First Calamity, but rather each one individually could kill. They are all far more powerful than the fat bear and arrogant bit–” Da Ruis snapped his head and raised his hands placatingly toward where Jun’s sword lay sheathed. The ghost had a connection to the Spirit Realm that even Rong could not match.
Something about fully materializing and taking form on the physical realm blinded them to the spirits.
Then why is he here? If he is so powerful that even his servant spirits were strong enough to destroy the entire world. Why arrive and cause this much fear and havoc?
Rong noticed that the other two had the same exact thoughts. Maybe tinted slightly different based on their knowledge and experience, but along the similar lines.
Zhong Da got closer, looking left and right in a conspiratorial fashion. “His thought process is beyond anything you would understand. Everything is under his eye. He likely noticed us from the beginning and slowly made his way to us in perfect timing.”
Rong was about to respond, but stopped himself as Yin Hu walked away from the giant boulder.
Everyone in the clearing perked up as they watched him stroll a distance away and directly in front of a giant patch of bushes surrounding a single large tree in the center of the clearing. He stood before it for a few seconds with his hands behind his back and saying nothing. Long seconds passed as they waited for whatever it was that would happen when their Patriarch would move.
He shifted.
The world around them shattered like glass.
Jun and Shui screamed.
Rong, Zhong Da, and Da Ruis launched themselves to protect the girls only to freeze in their spots. Eyes widening and mouths dropping as the world changed before their eyes.
Before them rose a palace of white stone that towered over them and cast a long shadow upon the entire clearing.
Where Yin Hu had stood previously was a mural of bright colors.
Right now a massive shut gateway made of silver and black wood rested before him.
“Huh,” Yin Hu said in a dismissive tone. “I didn’t expect it to shatter so easily.”