Book 3: Chapter 7: Foggy Mind and Enlightenment |
Zhong Da was furious as they left the bureaucratic building with the little girl they said would guide them.
Chun the large man had called her.
He understood that the ‘large cultivator’ had a name and had said it a dozen times, but Zhong Da refused to remember it. Making it a point to not utter those syllables the entire time they were dragging their faces through dozens of parchments, signatures, pre-requisite information filled and filed, and getting them to the right people to stamp their approval for as soon as possible.
They’d spent an entire day doing nothing other than sitting there like fools.
Never had he been so insulted.
Never would he suffer such insolence again.
He was Zhong Da. Dong ZhenKang. Silver Mountain Gang Boss and one of the strongest people within this entire city. A member of a Calamity’s newly founded clan and a key contributor too. Not some rabble they could push off to the way side and deal with hours after the fact when it did not take that long to take a stamp, press it on ink, and then transfer the stamp onto a piece of paper.
“Dong Dong,” Wu Xui whispered to him.
He turned to her, eyes still burning fiercely the entire time. “Who bothers us now? Shall I murder their entire fucking lineage–”
Zhong Da blinked and looked around. He found himself within a courtyard of a large U-Shaped house. The guide girl waited at the doorway, trembling from abject fear and terror, Hu Shui and Hu Jun nowhere to be found, and the Patriarch was busy setting the place up for his usual tea setup. Table, lounge chair, pot, and cups. The only thing missing was the Demonic Tree Spirit that had been trying to sneakily touch them to sap their Qi from their cores.
“W-When did we…?”
He shook his head and followed Wu Xui into what appeared to be their allotted wing. A private section with space to sleep, cultivate, train, and lounge comfortably.
All made of high quality wood.
It took only a few minutes of him standing around and doing nothing while Wu Xui made the place look like home. Placing their bed, drawers, cultivation mats, weapon racks, rugs, paintings, vases full of flowers, and a hundred other designs she enjoyed. Preferring a deep crimson secondary and white primary to the high quality wood that made up the general atmosphere.
She stopped midmotion as she was finishing the perfect placement of the bed pillows and turned to him. Subjecting him to a raised eyebrow. “Are you going to stand there the whole time?”
“I…”
“Go ahead. Find you something to do…” She paused as she remembered something. “Actually. Have you finished setting up the shop yet? The carriage is still outside of the courtyard’s gates. That surly ox had been quite upset at being woken up after we took so long. You be careful riding with him without Shui or Master to keep it calm and peaceful enough to not cause an issue…”
Zhong Da nodded and smiled.
Ever since he learned the truth of his progenitor's demise, he hadn’t been mentally there. Even his base as a cultivator did not help keep his mind from fogging up with unintentional stray thoughts and reverie of a dozen different topics within a short span of time. It was a strange feeling he hadn’t experienced before. Never had he felt… the flecks of grief before.
Maybe I have a Heart Demon. I need to purify myself lest it festers and hurts my new righteous cultivation base.
“She was the worst seamstress in our clan… You aren’t listening.” Wu Xui sighed and guided him out without waiting another moment.
Zhong Da stepped out of his wing. He intentionally took his time to survey the area to regain some balance and found Shui bullying the little Chun girl in that strange ball game she enjoyed so much. Only Rong was her match at the game and he was currently thousands of miles away probably fighting a war against Demonic Cultivator forces that occupied the ancient abode of the Hu Clan.
He turned to Yin Hu with a knowing look, wondering if he was going to stop Shui.
It did not seem like it.
“Sit,” the Hu Ancestor said and waved him forward.
Zhong Da almost took a step forward until the Hu ancestor waved his hand once more. This time summoning a chair and additional cup of tea.
Heavens… T-This can’t be what I’m thinking…
“Let them play until they grow tired, then we can worry about the shop afterward.”
“Yes, Patriarch! I am unworthy!” Zhong Da dropped and kowtowed five times before the Hu Ancestor. Never before had he shared his Immortal Tea with anyone before this moment except for the greedy, sneak Demonic Spirit Tree. He was the first to ever be offered in his memory. Not Rong, Shui, Jun, or any of the monsters that had passed by them ever had a miraculous encounter like this.
First was the healing potion that remade his foundation; pure and vast.
Then the new arm that gifted him an ancient Dao of white flames that could kill a Heavenly Demon of grand power.
And now this…
Zhong Da came to a realization at that moment.
I’m a favored member! Even if I am part of the Outer Sect, he still smiles upon me.
“Get up. A Hu does not bow.”
Yin Hu’s words only made his thoughts prove truthful. What outer sect member was not asked to kowtow before the Patriarch of their Clan or Sect? None that’s who.
Zhong Da jumped to his feet and struggled to fight the shaking of his limbs. He did as any good sect member would and grabbed the pot. Pouring his master a cup and then filling his own, making sure to not waste a single drop of the Immortal Elixir masquerading as tea.
And an Immortal Elixir it was.
Zhong Da dropped into his seat without the ability to carry them any longer.
He took a deep breath, aroma beyond anything he had ever imagined, filled his nostrils and snaked their way down into his dantian.
His core trembled. Foundation shook.
The Qi within him rumbled to life as it transformed and was purified beyond recognition. Dao made firm and strong.
Zhong Da stared at the cup as though it could speak to him, because it did. He could not partake in this. No cultivator on this planet could take a sip without suffering the backlash of a thousand suns filled with Qi rushing through their veins, its miraculous power keeping them alive to suffer through this until it faded. Leaving you a dying husk. This was an offering and a lesson beyond anything Zhong Da could have expected.
He understood and bowed his head deep before his Patriarch. He could feel the awakening of an enlightenment itching at the back of his mind. Zhong Da had to hurry before it vanished completely. “Thank you, Senior, for this lesson. I was blind. A fool with a heart filled with arrogance and ego. I dare not speak the evils of my heart to you lest you look down upon me and cast me aside.”
Zhong Da stood once more and bowed again, the only reason he didn’t kowtow was because he had been explicitly told not to just a moment ago.
Then he spun on his heels and walked back into the private wing he had been offered.
Another gift he could not repay.
Wu Xui made a sound of surprise and tried to speak to him, but he ignored her and walked past to where he knew the meditation room was located. She followed him closely, worried about his health and mind.
Zhong Da sat upon his favored meditation cushion.. more gifts from the Hu Ancestor, and then turned to his lovely wife. “Dearest Xu Xu. Enlightenment has come for me.”
He closed his eyes without waiting for a reply in fear of losing it.