Chapter 29: 29 — Quest

I set out before dawn, right before the sun had begun to rise above the horizon. Purple hues splashed across the sky mixed in with red and blue as the morning sun made its presence known.

Labby sat on my shoulders, her nose sniffing the smell of the grass carried by the early morning breeze. The Qi was gentler this early, less turbulent, and I could still sense the hints of Lunar Qi from the night present in the air.

I’d packed my pills for the day, letting an old man know I may be out for a while. I’d wondered if leaving Labby behind would be the better choice, but with her excitable nature and how she loved to stick by me, I ended up deciding to take her with me.

“Labby can take care of herself!”

She protested with a squeak, and I laughed in reply as she thumped her feet in protest. Light sparks of lightning crackled around and I pet her head gently.

“Should I leave you back home then? You can take care of yourself after all, so there’s no need to bring you along with me, is there?” I said with a slight smile.

“Labby wants to go with the Great Master, but she can also take care of herself. Labby is stronger now too!” she exclaimed as sparks crackled across her once more and I shook my head. I couldn’t deny her growth with her breakthrough. Her Qi now changed as well with her new insight.

I continued on my way, bickering with Labby and answering her questions about the things I’d been teaching her. The sect gates appeared a few minutes later, my gaze falling upon the boy’s figure standing in the distance.

I saw Yi Liuxiang turn towards me as he sensed my presence. Hurrying slightly, I walked closer as he greeted me with a slight bow.

“This one thanks Senior for accepting this one’s offer,” he said, and I nodded. “Zhi Zhu greets senior, and his spirit,” I heard a voice whispering, an odd high pitched and clicky sound coming from nearby.

My gaze shifted to the large black spider on Yi Liuxiang’s shoulder, that I’d somehow mixed in with his long hair. I felt the hair on my arms rise for a moment as eight eyes stared at me.

“Labby doesn’t like Zhi Zhu,” Labby spoke in my mind, crackling nervously with sparks. Taking a moment to hide my surprise, I nodded to the spider as I saw it click its jaw

“I should be the one thanking you for the opportunity. I probably would’ve been lost all by myself if I’d been trying to earn the sect tokens,” I replied as I heard Labby squeak.

“Also, you really don’t need to be so respectful. I’m not much older or higher in cultivation. You can call me Lu Jie, I won’t mind,” I told the boy who stared at me silently for a moment. I wasn’t used to being called Senior. The term made me feel extremely awkward.

“If Senior says so,” the boy said, and I wanted to sigh.

“Let’s head on outside the sect,” I said, letting the matter drop as the boy nodded. Out in the sun, I noticed how extremely pale his skin was. Almost a pure shade of white, like his body lacked any blood. Combined with the long black hair, the boy looked more like a walking doll than an actual person. I’d have trouble telling whether he was a guy if he had been wearing the clothes of a female cultivator if I couldn’t sense his Qi.

Shaking the thoughts out of my head, I walked ahead, as we approached the gates to the sect’s premises. The entirty hills in this area were owned by the sect, yet the walls to keep wild spirits out only extended halfway down the hill. Which was still impressive considering they didn’t have any modern technology available to build this.

We walked up to one of the guards standing near the entrance of the sect, carrying spears, yet I didn’t see any armour present on them. Did cultivators simply not wear armour? Maybe they just had some Qi infused clothing that served as armour for them.

“Name?” one of the guards asked, as Li Yixuang held out a wooden slip in front of him.

“Yi Liuxiang and Senior Lu Jie, both on a task from the sect,” the boy said, as the guard had a look before nodding. “May fortune be with you disciples,” the guard said, and I dipped my head as I walked outside.

A few minutes of walking later, as the sect gates began to disappear from sight, I opened my mouth. “So, I know that you’ve already sent me the information. But what exactly is the task we have to do? There were mentions of a spirit herb and of scouting the area and whatnot,” I said as Li Yixiang paused.

“Ah, very well. The task is to gather the twelve essence lotus. A rare herb that blossoms once every year has been found near a Qi vein, which had appeared a few months ago in the village of Taizhou. We are tasked with gathering the herb but the task primarily includes scouting the Qi vein’s location and helping the villagers with the wild spirits.”

“Isn’t a Qi vein a good thing?” I asked, confused. From all I knew, a Qi vein would be a massive boon for a village as the ambient Qi would rise, leading to a higher chance of cultivators coming from the village. Not to mention the spirit crystals that could be mined and sold for the village.

“Not always Senior, the empire is merciful in its jurisdiction but it is far from all reaching. A Qi vein could attract bandits and rogue cultivators, who often do not care for the foibles of mortals ransacking as they pleased. It would bring the wrong attention to the village, and may very well cause its demise. The increased Qi would also attract many wild spirit beasts, which is what the village is struggling with,” the boy explained, in a measured tone, and I nodded. That actually made a lot of sense, and it once again reaffirmed to me just how harsh this world could be. Not that things were any better back home.

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“Labby would like to see the Qi place, and the lotus,” Labby said out loud, and I felt her excitement bubbling. I’d have to make sure she didn’t just eat the flower.

“So, I assume you know the way to the village,” I asked, smiling awkwardly.

I saw a slight smile tug at the boy’s lips as he nodded. “Zhi Zhu has charted a path to the village. The mercantile roads go through the town and take a longer route around the seventh peak. We can take a shorter path headed straight for the village,” the boy said as I saw the spider click its jaws once more.

A map charting spider huh? That was quite a mental image right there.

“The path avoids the spirit woods to the east, going through the valley to arrive at Taizhou. Zhi Zhou has found the path to be fifty Li,” the spider said, in its odd high pitched clicky voice.

A Li was around 500 meters from what I know so… twenty-five kilometres??

“That is quite far,” I said.

“Now if we run, I suspect it’ll be midday by the time we arrive,” the boy said and I stared at him. Guess we were sprinting a marathon.

***

The wind blew up hair as the hills passed by in a blur. Labby had returned to sitting comfortably in my pouch. Qi thrummed in my body and I marvelled at the ridiculous speed both of us were running at.

I really hadn’t been doing much physical work or testing my limits as a cultivator. Something that I should probably rectify. The cold breeze against my skin with Qi pulsing in my core as the world seemed to fly by, was a sensation that I found difficult to describe and I almost found myself laughing. I was almost tempted to let both my arms up in the air, behind my back like a certain ninja. It’d be far too silly but the temptation was strong.

Time had passed by in a blur, with some conversations happening here and there for the first few hours, before I’d simply enjoyed the silent change of the scenery, admiring the strange spirit beasts that went about their lives every so often.

“Senior looks pleased,” Yi Liuxiang commented, and I turned to look at the boy. His hair was tied together in a tight knot that let the lush black hair down to his shoulders now, as they flew in the wind behind him.

“I don’t get the chance to run like this too often,” I replied, not feeling even slightly out of breath.

“It is indeed quite pleasing, isn’t it? Just letting yourself out in the wind, free of the restraints of the world. Almost as if we were the wind itself, blowing freely wherever we wished to be,” the boy said. I smiled, a bit surprised at the casual language he had switched to, but glad for it nonetheless.

“It is quite pleasing, yes. Something you do often,” I asked the boy and saw his smile falter for a moment.

“This one wishes, but no. Opportunities are rare and few, and this one isn’t esteemed enough to serve as a messenger to the lords, the task often left to higher realm cultivators,” the boy said.

“Lords? Are you perhaps from one of the larger clans?” I asked the boy, who continued to run in silence for a moment.

“This one’s father is,” the boy said, before falling quiet.

The answer was obvious enough and I made no further comments on things.

“Taizhou is close,” Zhi Zhu whispered as I turned. A shallow stream stood in our path, far in the distance, beyond which I saw the village of Taizhou start to appear.

“Labby wants the lotus!” Labby said, crackling with sparks as I felt her excitement speeding up a bit.

It was time to begin our quest!

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