Chapter 69: This Young Master Is Nice

“South?” Chen Haoran looked at Xie Jin in surprise.

“I’m going back home anyway,” Xie Jin said. “Why not come with me? There hasn’t been a royal in the jungles since the Sunset Emperor.”

Chen Haoran could come up with several reasons why he wouldn’t want to go with himself anywhere. For all that Xie Jin seemed like a straightforward personality, there was no way he didn’t recognize that.

“I don’t know…” Xie Jin might have done him a favor by searching for him but the fact of the matter was he still didn’t know him all that well. “Why invite me?”

“I’m returning home with nothing right now. No success in the exam and no position in the Palace school.” Xie Jin had a longing look on his face. “At the very least I could return with a friend. My trip here wouldn’t be completely worthless. Attitudes aren’t very kind toward the Empire down south anyway, and there are plenty of wood and water treasures and-” Xie Jin’s words spilled out in a rush and Chen Haoran couldn’t tell if the boy was trying to convince him or himself.

He held up a hand and interrupted the word vomit. Xie Jin shut his mouth and looked at him with hopeful eyes. He hesitated. It wasn’t like he had any better options, and it would be nice to have company.

“If you’ll have me,” he slowly said.

“It’ll be an adventure,” Xie Jin promised.

They didn’t waste any more time after Chen Haoran agreed with Xie Jin leading the way they quickly made their way out of the valley and in the direction of the single road that connected Clearsprings City to the rest of the Empire. Xie Jin regaled Chen Haoran with all that had occurred in the city after he left and spent plenty of time complaining about Two-Shadow and the fruitless searching he’d done while looking for Chen Haoran.

When night fell they laid out their bedrolls and made camp in the open air. Phelps crept down from Chen Haoran’s back and poked his snout around the leaf litter scattered around the forest floor. Xie Jin waved his sleeve and his Gu beetle swept out from the much too small space. It hovered in complete silence, a stark contrast from its loud wingbeats before, before flying out into the waning light at some silent command.

“For the night watch,” Xie Jin said after seeing his look. “Its senses are much better than hours so we won’t have to worry.”

“The more I hear about your beetle the more convenient it seems.” It almost made him want one of his own. He brought a hand down and patted Phelps’s head. His pet was still more useful though.

“What even is that anyway?” Xie Jin asked.

“This is Phelps.”

“What’s a Phelps? I’ve never heard of a beast that goes by that name.”

“No.” Chen Haoran laughed. “Phelps is his name. He’s a sloth. Have you really not seen one before?”

“I’ve seen monkeys,” Xie Jin mused. “But there's nothing in the jungles that looks like that.”

“I can say the same. I’ve no idea what a Gu is. What’s its name?”

Xie Jin did a double take. “Name?”

“Does it not have one?”

“Gu aren’t really-” he paused and considered his words. “They’re not something we just name.”

“Are they special or something? Two-Shadow said something about shamans.” Chen Haoran squinted and looked Xie Jin over with doubt.

“What’s that look supposed to be?”

“No it’s just-” He waved his hand at Xie Jin. “When I hear the word shaman I picture someone a bit more serious looking than you?”

“Are you saying I’m frivolous?”

“Not frivolous, just not serious.”

“Bastard. I should leave you in this forest.” Xie Jin flicked two fingers as if they were claws in Chen Haoran’s direction. Whatever the hand gesture meant he was sure it was one of respect and acknowledgment.

He laughed while Xie Jin grumbled. The boy stared into the direction his Gu left in and absentmindedly touch his bone arm ring. “Gu are special.” Xie Jin said. “They have a long history in the traditions and folklore of my people. Naming them isn’t something lightly done.”

“Are they dangerous or something?”

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Xie Jin smiled. “You really don’t know anything about the South huh?”

“I know those bone ornaments you wear are some kind of rite of passage but that’s about it.”

“You interested in them.” Xie Jin flexed his arms and preened. After Chen Haoran had been disgusted enough he turned to show off the two black bone rings wrapped around his arms. Carved all around into the bone were some scripts of unknown meaning. “The south is filled with boneyards. Great skeletons of long-dead beasts scattered across the jungle, some big enough that you could walk for days from the head and still not see the tail.” Xie Jin’s voice was warm with remembrance as he spoke. “For the youth of Zumulu, these bones represent their first glory. Receiving your bones is to be recognized by your elders as a worthy addition to the clan.”

“Are those markings decorative or do they mean something?” Chen Haoran asked.

“A motto,” Xie Jin said. There was some mysterious emotion in his voice. “An expectation.”

“They’re pretty cool.”

Xie Jin blinked at him, then smiled. “They’re super cool.” He started wildly waving his hands around. “That’s not the only cool thing about my homeland though, the jungle and waters are absolutely teeming with life! There have been so many powerful water cultivators who were raised by the rivers and lakes. Resources and rivals abound and-”

Chen Haoran listened while Xie Jin excitedly extolled the virtues of his home. Phelps had settled himself into his lap and rested his head along his leg. He brought out a piece of glowing moss and fed it to him. The sun dipped below the horizon but there was no moon to light up the night after it. Without his qi-enhanced vision he wouldn’t be able to make out Xie Jin’s form at all.

“Ah damn,” Xie Jin said when he realized he couldn’t see. “Sorry, Brother Chen I got too absorbed. I’ll start the fire now.”

“Hold that thought,” Chen Haoran said. He looked up into the starry night sky. A practical ocean of stars twinkled down at him. Clearsprings City couldn’t be compared to the light pollution of a modern Earth city but it was still no place for observing stars. Here in the depths of the mountains, however he was blessed with a sight he could never see back on Earth.

There were more than just stars in the sky, however.

“Do you know anything about the higher realms of cultivation, Brother Jin?”

“You mean the Star Core realm?”

The White Tyrant wasn’t just Star Core that much he knew in his soul. He had said he was at the second highest realm of cultivation. Just how far above him was that? How many others out there in this new universe were at his level? The White Tyrant had hinted at it. Somewhere far above him there was life, cultivating life, at a far higher level than this world. His fingers twitched towards his scimitar. He fought the urge to pull it out and snorted. Just the planet was already more than enough for him. He’d leave dreaming about space to Lan Fen.

“Every cultivator wants to reach the Star Core realm,” Xie Jin said. Blithely unaware of his thoughts. “With that level of power, even the Empire has to show you respect. You live for hundreds of years. Heaven and Earth open up to you and you can travel wherever you want. They boil seas and rupture land just as an aftershock of their power.”

Chen Haoran could hear the yearning in Xie Jin’s voice. He had to admit he was a bit enthralled himself. The picture he was painting was an envious one. What would he be like if he ascended to that level? The longevity alone was tempting enough. He half wanted to stop what he was doing and start cultivating right now.

“Are there Star Cores in the south?” He asked.

“There were,” Xie Jin said, frustrated. “We might still have some. I don’t know though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Zumulu–no.” He shook his head. “The world isn’t so bright anymore.” He cast a longing look to the sky above. “And no matter how strong the Star Core they never stay.”

It didn’t sound like he was just talking about death.

“Where do they go?”

Xie Jin pointed to the sky. “Up.”

Phelps squealed.

Chen Haoran flinched. “Sorry, bud. I haven’t forgotten about you.” That was a lie. He almost did forget. He pinched that know of Phelps’s blindfold and loosened it. The strip of silk fell, and Phelps slowly opened his eyes. He blinked them rapidly, but that didn’t stop him from swinging his head back and forth. Finally, he cast wide eyes to the stars. Phelps squealed; he hooted and bounced and rolled.

“Excitable fellow huh?” Xie Jin’s laugh became strangled, and he watched with shocked eyes when Phelps started floating in the air. “He can fly?”

Phelps rose higher and cleared the treeline. His gaze was riveted on the stars, and a nervous part of Chen Haoran thought that Phelps would keep rising till he could grab them. He smothered that worry and watched when Phelps finally stopped and floated in the air. The sloth seemed uncertain and, rather than keep going, floated back down to the earth and settled on Chen Haoran’s shoulders, where he loudly squealed in his ears.

“Welcome to the world Phelps.”

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