Chapter 23: This Young Master Has A Talk

The Mourning Pool was green and the only light in the night, it dyed the world around them with its color. The trees were solid and heavy with fruit. Moonflowers carpeted the ground, unlike the pale flower that Song Yuelin dropped in his lap these grew tall and vibrant blue.

“A Liquid Meridian realm leaves this behind when they die?”

“Typically the liquid qi is absorbed into the environment. It takes the right conditions and luck for a pool to form.” Song Yuelin knelt on the lush grass at the pool’s edge.

“They sound rare.” Chen Haoran struggled to sit up. He couldn’t miss the chance to learn about the next realm.

“They are uncommon yes. Particularly since they’re an incredibly useful resource for any cultivator who stumbles upon them.”

Something heavy settled in the air. Song Yuelin had said it in an offhanded way, his tone neutral, but it was clear that he had his own opinions on the practice. Chen Haoran hesitated but pushed forward regardless.

“Will you tell me about the Liquid Meridian realm?”

“What is there to say?” Song Yuelin said. Chen Haoran had the feeling it was rhetorical. “In the Qi realm, one concentrates the qi into a single point until a drop of liquid is created. They shepherd that droplet through their meridians as it grows larger becoming a stream, a river, a torrent, and finally-”

“A flood,” Chen Haoran realized. “You said a Liquid Meridian realm’s qi floods through their body. That wasn’t a metaphor.”

Song Yuelin did not turn around. “A Liquid Meridian realm is a walking flood. Both in its destructive potential-” He motioned to the scenery around them. “-and the life-giving benefits left in its passing.” Song Yuelin huffed a laugh but it was a harsh contrast to his typical joy. “It’s almost beautiful in its own way.”

Chen Haoran dragged himself over to Song Yuelin. In the pool’s unnaturally still waters he saw a face with bloodshot eyes and sagging with exhaustion. He touched his face, his reflection looked alive in the liquid qi as if at any moment it would reach out and touch him with the same hand. He peeked over at Song Yuelin’s reflection. The face in the water had more in common with the stones strewn across the pool’s depths than the man it was ostensibly a reflection of. Chen Haoran looked away and instead peered deeper into the pool. It was a clear view to the bottom.

“There’s no body,” he noted. Anyone who moved it would have taken the liquid qi with them. Had it decomposed then?

“There never is,” Song Yuelin airily replied. “A Liquid Meridian realm gives up that right.”

“What?” Chen Haoran felt cold.

“A Liquid Meridian realm must hold their flood gates firmly in control, it’s what separates them as cultivators from a typical disaster.” Song Yuelin’s hands clenched and unclenched. “That control is lost upon death, their qi rushes out and devastates the area. The body is destroyed in the process. There are many names for it, The Last Water, the Water of Regret, the Reaper’s Riptide, the Final Flood.”

“What do you call it?”

“Sad,” Song Yuelin whispered. Lost in the reflection of the pool.

Chen Haoran didn’t know how long they sat there. A ripple suddenly spread through the pool and their reflections were distorted. Song Yuelin’s eyes regained their clarity and he shook his head as if removing the last of the strange spell he was under.

“My apologies Young Master Chen.” Song Yuelin looked embarrassed. “That was unseemly of me.”

“It’s fine Song Yuelin.” He wouldn’t begrudge someone having a moment. Even a bastard like Song Yuelin.

“Regardless I’ve already delayed Young Master Chen enough.” Song Yuelin swept his hand to the qi pool. “If you will.”

Chen Haoran frowned “I’m not interested in robbing a grave.” His own people back on Earth had seen their fair share of that. His situation wasn’t so desperate now that he’d have to violate his principles for strength. The Gifting power would give him plenty of opportunities in the future. He didn’t need this one.

Song Yuelin blinked in confusion but realization dawned on his face. “It’s not a problem Young Master Chen. I’ve already checked, this Mourning Pool belongs to a monster, not a cultivator.”

So if it belonged to a cultivator there would definitely be a problem.

“It’s important to you though, isn’t it?” Chen Haoran said.

Song Yuelin stared at him, shocked. He looked at Chen Haoran as if he were some strange object. Right as Chen Haoran began to get worried, he smiled. Not like his typical obnoxious ones but smaller, more muted, but all the more significant for it. “Yes,” he said. “It is important to me.” He rested a hand on Chen Haoran’s shoulder and nudged him forward. “However my duty to my master is more important.”

Chen Haoran stared at Song Yuelin but all he did was shoo him forward. Tenderly he dipped his feet in the pool, it was warm and what felt like lightning raced up his legs. Using the edge to keep afloat he slowly slid into the water.

“It’s best to submerge yourself completely,” Song Yuelin said. “Remember to circulate your cultivation method.”

“I barely have any strength in my limbs,” Chen Haoran admitted. “I don’t know if I can swim back out.”

Song Yuelin placed a hand on Chen Haoran’s shoulder. “Do not fear it Young Master Chen. Qi is life. It aids all beings; it will not harm you.”

Chen Haoran searched Song Yuelin’s face for any trace of falsehood, but he knew he wasn’t lying. He could feel the truth surrounding him. He took a deep breath and let go of the edge. He sank like a stone into the deep. The pool itself was only three times as deep as Chen Haoran was tall. To his senses though it might have well been an ocean.

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He touched the bottom and the lightning-like feeling was too much to bear. He opened his mouth, gasping for air, and his lungs filled with liquid qi. Yet he did not drown. The aches and exhaustion he suffered from were washed away with the abundance of vital energy. Remembering Song Yuelin’s words he used the Yellow Dragon River Refinement, the yellow dragon was vivid in his mind as it swam through the deluge of qi in his meridians. The dragon feasted and grew endlessly larger, it’s gluttony wasn’t enough to consume all the qi, however. More spilled over and filled his body, Chen Haoran could almost feel it soaking into his cells.

A transformation occurred, he could feel something being squeezed out of his body. The yellow dragon roared. Chen Haoran’s qi exploded. A vortex of liquid qi formed around him.

He advanced.

The Sixth-Layer.

Chen Haoran jumped from the bottom of the pool and the liquid qi rose with him. He burst out of the pool with an eruption of qi. As he landed before Song Yuelin the qi evaporated into the air.

“Congratulations on your advancement Young Master Chen.” Song Yuelin clasped his hands and bowed.

Chen Haoran ignored him in favor of studying the black oil he found himself covered in. “What is this?” he asked. He sniffed it and nearly vomited. “It’s so foul,” he gagged.

“Those would be the impurities within your body,” Song Yuelin helpfully informed. “It’s the unhealthy residue that a person accumulates in life from their diet and environment. A cultivator can gradually expel it as they rise in cultivation but removing it earlier will be far more beneficial to you.”

Chen Haoran cycled his qi and the filth was scoured off him with a single burst. Flexing his hands he felt the new power the Sixth-Layer provided. He also felt cleansed, or perhaps lighter would be the better word. Like the impurities had been some kind of weight that he was now free from. He could see why the Mourning Pools were so valued by cultivators. Chen Haoran looked back at the now empty hole in the ground.

“This doesn’t feel right,” he said.

“If not us then it would be someone else,” Song Yuelin consoled.

Chen Haoran looked at him. Song Yuelin didn’t look bothered by the pool being ruined. “Can I ask why these Mourning Pools are so important to you?”

Song Yuelin hummed as he considered the question. “I just think they’re nice,” he finally said. “For a Liquid Meridian realm who wouldn’t otherwise have a marker of their passing a Mourning Pool is a wonderful honor.” He smiled. “If fate is kind then I hope to have such an honor when I pass, somewhere secluded perhaps.”

If fate was kind Song Yuelin would have an undisturbed grave. Chen Haoran’s thoughts slowed as the implications crystallized in his mind.

He shook it off. “Don’t worry about it,” he said instead. “I’ll have a massive monument built when you die.”

Song Yuelin laughed. “I’ll thank you in advance then.” Song Yuelin dusted his robes off. “I must say I didn’t expect today to turn out as it had. I thought you were going to lead me to some hidden ruin instead of randomly run around the mountain.”

“I’m still pissed at you for that,” Chen Haoran reminded him. “I wanted to use your help to find some gifts for Lan Fen when she left isolation training.”

Song Yuelin blinked at him. “Young Master Chen, why didn’t you say so earlier!” Song Yuelin tapped his Storage Bag and a stream of liquid shadow came out of it carrying herbs, cores, and other animal parts. The small pile was worth far more than the useless junk Song Yuelin had given him before. “I’m always willing to assist Young Master Chen with his romantic affairs!”

Chen Haoran pinched the bridge of his nose. He didn’t bother correcting Song Yuelin. “When did you even get all these? I thought you said the mountain was picked clean.”

“We are a bit further in now,” Song Yuelin pointed out. “And I had plenty of time while you were doing evasion training.”

Chen Haoran froze.

“Song Yuelin,” he said slowly. “Did you leave me alone while I was being chased by that stampede of monsters?”

Song Yuelin dared to give him a thumbs up. “Not to worry Young Master Chen, I had it completely under control!”

“Song Yuelin!”

The bastard laughed at him. A full-belly type of laugh that left him teary and had him keeling over.

“Just you wait for the day I reach the Liquid Meridian realm, you bastard.”

Song Yuelin regained his composure. “I beg for Young Master Chen’s mercy,” he said, wiping the tears from his eyes. “As an apology, this servant will show you the power of a Liquid Meridian realm.”

Song Yuelin looked out into the distance. The barest slivers of a new day could be seen rising over the horizon. Chen Haoran felt the ground shake.

“My opponent is almost here anyway.”

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