Chapter 9: Chapter 9

Dai Zian had completely lost Wan Yuanjun... kind of. 

Seeing the confusion evident on his face, Dai Zian let out a snigger and said, 'Or, he is insane, and just thinks that he's normal. That is his dilemma.'

Perhaps Xiao Si could hear them, because he twitched in irritation and frowned.

As Wan Yuanjun opened his mouth, he closed it again, for Guo Heng and waved at him to shut up.

Dai Zian continued, 'The brat doesn't know what is right or wrong, sane or insane. He probably doesn't see the purpose of living either. Instead, he has been trained to follow the commands and morals of others. Perhaps he has once met someone who knew of his ethical dilemma, and had given him basic guidelines — but the Demonic Sect, once figuring out what they are, or at least what some of them are, have abused that fact... Though to be honest, I think the person who gave him the "guidelines" wasn't the greatest ethics teacher. Basically, he doesn't understand what he should do, why he should do, and how he should do, so he's picking out people to tell him his what's, why's and how's for him instead.'

Lifting up his finger, Dai Zian lounged backwards, 'You told me a grand total of one keyword: saviour. That's probably his requirement for someone to become his moral standard, and the purpose of his life. To summarise, he has no idea about anything in this world... and so relies on someone else to fill in the blanks for him.'

Wan Yuanjun slowly understood. But one thing... 'How did you know all of this?'

Shrugging, Dai Zian replied, 'I guessed.'

So everything he said was a guess?!

What kind of "guess" was this?!

What the heck?!

Dai Zian looked at Wan Yuanjun's gobsmacked expression, and a rather disgusted expression made its way to his pure, innocent face, twisting his features into one of disdain. 'Hah. You're just like me. Pretending to be something you're not. Fool.'

...Bastard.

Guo Heng finally asked Wan Yuanjun, 'Are you sure you want to keep him?'

Dai Zian nodded, agreeing with Guo Heng despite being the one to first advocate for the Demon Children: 'While it is ethically superior to keep him alive and "heal" him, I don't think you can. Though you may have his devotion now, there's no telling if he'll be swayed again. He abandoned the Demonic Sect because you fit his requirements. If they fit his requirements again, I can confirm that he'll leave you for them. After all, they're more of a "saviour" to him than you are.'

Smiling, the cheerful monk continued, 'I'd say, if you don't kill him now, he'll kill all of us soon instead.'

'How are you so sure? Maybe he wouldn't.'

Dai Zian simply said, 'Then, I'll ask him.'

---

Crushing a red jade token in his hand, the boar-masked man asked to his palm, '...What should I do now?'

These jade tokens were commonly found in the cultivation world. When crushed, they would release a pulse of spiritual power, establishing a connection with their other pair. Although they were one-use only, many cultivators preferred to carry a few on themselves, lest they fall into a situation wherein they were unable to use their energies. It was far safer to carry a few as a safeguard.

Like now, for example. Since the boar-masked man was so close to the Shining Star Sect, a prominent orthodox sect, it wasn't safe nor convenient to use his demonic energy. It was more reliable to use his tokens instead, even if they were slightly messy to clean up with all of the jade rubble.

The voice issuing out of the token's crushed pieces was distinctly the pig-masked man's jeering leer. The other replied, 'Just do and say what I tell you to do. Very simple.'

Uneasy and unsure, the boar-masked man shifted his squatting posture a bit — he was sitting in the fork of a willow tree, the long tresses hiding his figure — and sighed, 'It's the seventeenth time already... can't we just pick a new star? I'm sure that there's many in your —'

The man interrupted confidently, 'It's him. It has to be him.'

'I —'

'I gave you that slap for a reason. I'd say that you use it.'

'The prediction! It's already pointless to be here, so why should I —'

'...Are you questioning me?'

It had been a long, long time since anyone last dared to interrupt or defy him, the mortal realm's greatest Seer.

He whispered, 'Are you really... going to defy me?'

The boar-masked man, the Sect Leader of the Demonic Sect, shuddered in fear, regret pooling like lead into his stomach. 'No, no, I won't. I'll listen. But why... We can just get another one! We can just — just train another Mistake into a Puppet, why must we —'

The pig-masked man laughed. 'You have it wrong. I can just get another — but you can't.' His voice dropping deeper — and the boar-masked man could see it through his voice; the other was surely pursing his lips, leaning forward in a mysterious leer, eyes glinting with danger — he continued, 'Never forget our relationship here. You are the puppet-master of the Puppets; I am the puppet-master of all.'

Laughing darkly, the Seer said, 'The entire world is my stage. You all serve to entertain me and my audience. Your ideals just happen to align with my most perfect script.'

---

'Hey, brat, are you up yet?'

The boy opened his eyes. 

He was slightly dazed; it was the kind of light-headedness that came with nausea and discomfort, though he didn't show it on his face, remaining mostly expressionless.

Who was he? What was he doing here?

There were three men staring down at him. One was dressed in modest yellow and red robes, a monk of the highest position, though Xiao Si didn't know that. Neither did he know of the status of the other two — both wore blue and white, elegance and nobility written onto their bones, though the shorter young man had an odd expression that rather ruined his cold aura.

The younger turned to the other man, 'Is this really a good idea?'

The monk replied, 'It's only temporary. It'll be easier to ask questions when he's like this.' Seeing the younger shoot a glare at him, the monk snorted, 'Chill. It won't hurt him, he'll be fine. Dunno why you care so much though.'

As the two bickered, the other, cold and aloof man, had turned to the boy, asking him, 'Who are you?'

The boy felt an urge to tell him stuff, so he did. 'I don't know.'

The monk rolled his eyes at his answer. 'Genius, really elaborate.'

The younger man said, 'He's a child.'

'Even when I was a drooling newborn I was more eloquent.'

The man, having lost his patience at the two, snapped, 'Shut up!'

The other two wisely shut their traps.

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Turning back to the boy, the aloof man asked a different question, though it was similar to the first, '...What are you?'

The boy knew this question. 'I'm a Mistake.'

The others all displayed different reactions to his reply; the monk blinked in pleasant surprise; the man frowned in some uneasy emotion; the young man revealed a confounded expression.

'And what might that be?'

The boy replied, 'I'm not sure... but different people have told me different things. Would you like me to tell you?'

They all nodded.

The boy began, 'The first man told me, a Mistake finds mistakes... the second told me, a Mistake is a mistake, and should never be born... the last told me, a Mistake is the most fascinating creature I've ever seen.' 

The monk smiled. 'Very good, little brat. Now tell me; how old are you?'

'Ten.'

'Do you really think that ten-year-olds are like you?'

The boy thought about it, and concluded, no, most ten-year-olds really weren't... He nodded his head in agreement.

'How are they different from you?'

Looking up in thought, the boy pinched the crook of his elbow, saying, 'They don't like the things I do. They get scared more easily, and they aren't as strong as I am... they think differently from me, too.' Swaying on the spot, he continued, 'They call me weird things, they say I'm insane. But... I don't think I am. They're just strange; they just don't know it... or maybe they're right, and I am strange, but I really think I'm normal, I'm not strange at all...' The boy rolled off in a tangent, swaying side to side as he talked and chattered.

Meanwhile, Wan Yuanjun was looking at Dai Zian in some mix of horror, amazement and shock.

How was his "guess" so accurate?

Guo Heng couldn't seem to care less, though, merely deciding to listen carefully to the boy's illogical and chaotic rambles.

After asking him more questions, Dai Zian walked over, and flicked the boy on the forehead, causing him to blank out.

Wan Yuanjun said, 'You all know what Mistakes are, yet you've never told me.'

Dai Zian said, 'Well. Mistakes are a very dubious existence... Some say they exist, some say they don't. And even for those that do, no-one's quite sure what they actually do.'

Guo Heng added coldly, 'They're all fools. Mistakes do exist, but people fear the unknown.'

'...Why didn't you tell me?' Wan Yuanjun knew that he was one of the few his master considered a "person", and therefore he was often confided in, even if only in passing...

The Guo Heng replied, 'Because we don't know what they do either. But we are aware that they are very important, just not why.' Flicking his sleeves indifferently, he continued, 'Especially since I didn't know if anyone was eavesdropping. But since we've already begun...'

Dai Zian cut in, 'Hey, idiot. Have you ever wondered why... the Demonic Sect would hold a Spring Cleaning?'

He had a point.

It was well-known that the Demon Children were very powerful, yet the Demonic Sect kept killing them off. Granted, they seemed to be gradually getting stronger, so why didn't the Sect just keep a whole bunch of children and train them together into a brainwashed army? Clearly, the Demon Children were already quite successful, so what was stopping them from putting it into large-scale practice?

Dai Zian continued, 'Spring Cleanings aren't that well-known outside of the higher-ups of the cultivation world. The Demonic Sect keeps a very tight grip over their members... Well. From our informants and practical knowledge, whenever a Spring Cleaning is held, large numbers of Demon Children die... But they also experience a sudden surge in power and lethality. Naturally, this... This is the result of a Mistake killing another Mistake.' Swinging around his arm, Dai Zian reclined on the bed, shoving aside the dazed Xiao Si as he did so, 'Even then, it is more profitable to keep many Demon Children at a moderately high level, like an army of relatively skilled soldiers. The Sect's actions of creating one extremely powerful individual isn't the best idea, considering that said individual might defect, like our buddy here.' Tapping on the little boy's head, Dai Zion's mouth continued to flap, 'So, it's very clear that what the Demonic Sect aims to achieve is worth this risk, and short-term power isn't their goal, either. Additionally, they aren't very flustered over the loss of their home base... so it also implies that they don't view land or territory to be of much value.'

Guo Heng said, 'We don't know what they want, nor what they plan to do with these Mistakes... and they clearly know about these strange things.'

Wan Yuanjun squatted down to look at the boy. 

The boy mumbled something unintelligible, nothing could really be understood.

Like a bad signal, his words were disjointed and strange, finally piecing together to make a sentence: This time failed too.

---

Once everyone cleared out, the boy sat on his own, his mind muddled. He rubbed at his head, rubbed at his arms, and rubbed his chest.

He preparing himself for it again.

That feeling.

Of wrongness being turned into something before wrongness.

---

Somewhere far, far away, in the heavenly realm, a great being sighed.

Those mortals were too stubborn.

That Seer was...

Little brother, why do you try so hard?

Is this fun to you?

But this timeline had gone wrong again.

Did he not turn time back far enough?

They shouldn't have... forcibly taken the loved one away.

Let's try again.

It had been over twenty thousand times.

What was one more?

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