Chapter 55: Night In Shang

Night came very soon and we camped at a low ground surrounded by dunes. On the cold sand were 14 small grey tents, giving shelter to 26 of us in this unforgiving night.

These tents surrounded a large bonfire that gave us the warmth we dearly needed. Over the fire, sizzled the meat of a beast I didn't know about. Men talked amongst themselves in low voices while sipping wine.

Wine was better to have in a desert than water. It gave heat and energy while also keeping our bodies hydrated. We had to sparingly use water here.

We had brought two separate tents with us. One for me and Chunu, another for Ling'er and Feng Yi. At first, me and Hu Shuo were supposed to stay in one tent while the girls stayed in another.

However, Hu Shuo refused my offer. He had made friends with two rank 4 practitioners here and stayed in their tent. Hah, he'd finally learned to avoid me. Though, I practically owned him after I found him in a beggar's state that day. That wasn't because of me, he himself had chosen to gamble.

After I provided him the food and living area, he had to obey me. I stopped calling him as brother Hu from that day. Getting tricked by a mere rank 1 prostitute, then losing everything in a gamble, I thought he was better than that, but he turned out to be a simple mortal through and through.

I gave him a good body tempering technique, Three Sword Body. If he still couldn't make something out of it, then my time was truly wasted. I sighed and took out my flute.

Suddenly, a melodious sound accompanied the cold winds, going past the fire and into the ears of practitioners sitting outside their tents.

Its harmony broke the whispering atmosphere and pleasantly lulled the merchants waiting for food. Young girls giggling, silent men and women warming their hands, a few sleepy children - they all looked at me, and the flute in my hands.

I took long breaths and converted those to music through the holes of my instrument. Sometimes, the tone went low... lower... the lowest, and then suddenly higher! Like the unpredictable winds of Shang desert.

My foot lay on the yellow mat over the warm sand, warm due to fire. My back was straight, and the eastern winds didn't disturb me. I had my eyes closed and was practicing the 16 Breaths of Stillness.

In this breathing pattern, I felt my body calming. My skin had been tempered day to day, my muscles were tense, and I'd forced myself into the pagoda state everytime I practiced Copper Pagoda Body.

I'd actually practised it to prepare myself for another technique called "Star Pagoda." The reason Copper Pagoda Body was the best for me in earlier stages was because of its simplicity compared to other techniques.

If I really was the original Zuifan, I'd have practised Star Pagoda from the get go. I came from earth and even though I got Zuifan's memories, I knew I needed real experience in cultivating myself before trying out the best thing.

'One simply cannot practice correctly without experiencing it,' I thought, taking another long breath. Right now, I was finally getting a hang of practicing these techniques.

I didn't feel the same cringe hearing the name "Star Pagoda" and looking through the ways of creating a Perfect Yang Body by using Star Energy. This world was magical and things such as Qi, internal energy were normal.

I thought I'd already come to terms with that, but only after a month, I finally accepted the wonders that I seemed to already know. Zuifan's memories had fully settled within me now and I also understood Chunu, his (or rather my sister) better.

A long fading melody echoed in everyone's ears after I completed the 16th breath. I brought my flute down. My lips were dry from blowing so much.

It wasn't the best of melodies and I'd only recently learned the flute. The reason I could play it was because I'd practised a breathing technique. Be it any flute player here or on earth, they could make my playing seem like a child's first words.

Still, there was no denying that it sounded calming. That was the effect of 16 Breaths of Stillness. I could feel my mind and body getting light after this.

"That was a really good playing," Ule said after a while of silence. He didn't know much about music so of course he'd think it was the best.

"I didn't know that big brother could play the flute," commented Chunu. She was beside me.

"We've got a musician among us, looks like the journey won't be so boring!" The chief's son, Du Qingsan was very friendly. The same couldn't be said about his sister Du Aini.

Some cheered while others just looked at me with varied smiles. The meat was ready, so they started heating up the mushroom soup. A few boys came to me, asking if I could teach them how to play the flute.

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Boys were like this and though I could mingle with them by taking this opportunity, I didn't feel the need to. I just told them the truth that I'd only recently learned and couldn't teach anyone. They thought I was being prideful and left with sour faces.

"I also want to learn..."

"It's time to eat, go take out our bowls."

Shooing Chunu away, I stood up and went towards Feng Yi and Lingling's tent. They were looking at the sky. Counting stars maybe?

'Hmm? Just who's sneaking glances at me?' I turned my head left and right. I could feel a gaze on me from behind the tents, sometimes from the group of people talking. The person wasn't hostile so I hadn't been paying much attention to him/her.

I loosened my frown and put that matter to the back of my head. Seeing me come over, Ling'er spoke, "You seem like a gentleman here compared to what you were back in the auction."

She still hadn't forgotten the 'slapping' from that day.

"Is the beast fed?" I asked.

"Seems to be sleeping. I just checked on it." Feng Yi said, pulling her scarf to cover her ears. Washed was the make up from yesterday and the faces of both girls were devoid of any deceptive blushes or whites. Even so, they looked pretty in ther own regards.

I felt no need to voice this out, and sat down alongside them. I stretched my legs forward and my hands backward, both creasing the sand in their own limbic way.

"What if I told you that Posion Asura is actually me?"

This question was directed towards Ling'er, of course. Feng Yi already knew about it. After I said that I'd hunt down Posion Asura one day in front of all the Hanai merchants, Lingling had been asking me what that was all about.

"I would be surprised," She said, her expression apathetic. It wasn't a reply I'd expected.

Feng Yi pointedly looked at Ling'er. They had only recently known each other and were incapable of guessing what went inside the other person's head.

"Are you though?" Ling'er asked me. The bonfire's red light shone on her face, flickering and shadowy just like my background to her.

One day I earnestly told her I found my master and today, I still earnestly told her that I'm, in fact, my own master. It didn't make sense and she would learn to not trust me if I kept lying.

"It was all a ploy from the start. Yes, from the time I accepted Gang family's mission. I killed them, I could've chosen not to but I still did it."

This was true. I was a killer and had been a killer prior to my transmigration. I usually didn't kill if there was no need. What led me to target Gang family? I probably felt a subconscious need to prove that I am the true me, and have not been affected by Zuifan's memories.

"And I feel nothing. They are mortals and they die quickly."

This was also true. Yet, I didn't realise how at that time, my thinking had changed ever so slightly.

I exhaled a long breath and looked up. The sky was a dark canopy strewn with countless tiny white and blue dots, twinkling away with no care for a random lower world such as this.

Ule had told me he could read the stars and tell the way without using a compass. It was a handy skill to have in a desert.

'I'll have him teach that to me tonight.'

The bonfire crackled and I heard Chunu calling for us.. The food was ready, it was dinner time.

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