Chapter 67: Chapter 65: A Lack of Focus

After the suspicious food at the free city, and then an interminable amount of time traveling and eating nothing but seeds and small hard buns (allegedly a 'specialty' Lady Gu's disciples created), the food given to him by the horrifyingly faceless woman was the best thing he had eaten in weeks. Months perhaps. Bo could not really keep track of the days anymore and did not care to. Focusing on the present moment kept his chest from clenching up.

He looked into the bowl, the soup was a thick brown broth with long worm-y looking things swimming around in it and cut up chunks of something that he could not name but decided tasted good, along with the worm-y looking things. He slurped his food up quickly, looking back at Li Baobao who was rather listlessly poking at his own food. "If you don't want it, I'll have it," he said.

"Bo!" Rui Yifu said, "why are you begging for food like a dog?" His face may have changed but his attitude certainly had not, which disappointed Bo to some degree. He was hoping Rui Yifu would be nicer. Still he could not help but feel a little bit more at ease around him. It was like his mother was alive again.

As soon as that thought crossed his mind he felt a sour taste in his mouth.

"I'm not begging. He doesn't want it," Bo pointed at the still full bowl.

"No."

"Why are you telling me what to do? You're not my boss!"

"I... I'm just thinking, I'm sorry," Li Baobao seemed to snap from some reverie and began slowly eating, eyes fixed to some stitching on the tent.

The tent flap opened and the old woman tottered in, holding a leather flask in one hand that she gave to Rui Yifu. "Hey Auntie! Thanks for the food! It's really good." Bo said gratefully. "Uh, did you see Boss out there?"

"Who?" The woman tipped her head in confusion before she opened her lipless mouth. "Ah, the young man. No, I last saw him in the morning."

A frown tugged at Bo's mouth, "huh. Maybe he just wanted some fresh air?"

"I'm sorry about us eating so much of your food," Li Baobao said softly.

"Don't worry about it. I only eat three times a year," then she leered over Li Baobao while Bo widened his eyes. "I don't mind payment though!"

"O-oh, of course..."

"How do you only eat three times a year?" Bo asked, raising his voice to be heard over the clink of coins.

"She's a cultivator, for some on that path one of the first things to learn is a denial of hunger to focus on meditation," Rui Yifu explained, opening the top of the flask and taking a deep drink from it.

The old woman laughed, "well it wasn't the first for me. I learned it later. No one approaches the desire for immortality the same way, even within sects. I eventually got myself down to only needing a little bit of food three times a year but..." she touched her ruined visage, "that was as far as I got. If I had not gotten so far, I would likely be dead."

Bo imagined the slow process of learning to ignore his hunger. The thought of that constant empty gnawing. He had gone hungry, often in fact, but he would always manage to eventually forage something. Simply just waiting it out until he could feel no more? "If that's how you become immortal, I'm not interested," he stated flatly while ignoring Rui Yifu's glare.

"Well, like I said there are different ways. Not everyone tries to obtain it through self-denial of life's necessities, and some people just have slightly more potential and might end up cultivating entirely by accident," she pointed at him. "I can feel it in you, it's faint but it's there."

"Hasn't been much use," he said.

"No one said such a thing is 'useful'," the old woman shrugged.

The tent flap rustled as it was pushed aside and Liu Xie came in with a strong medicinal scent around him. Bo's eyes immediately moved to the man's hand, smeared with red with small shards poking out of it. He quickly got to his feet, "Boss what happened!?"

"It's nothing," Liu Xie snapped, picking some green and white shards from his bloodied palm and tossing them onto the ground, before grinding them under his heel with an awful frown on his face. Then he looked back up with his face abruptly serene and placid. "Are you and Li done eating? We're leaving."

Bo's tongue was tied up, he looked at the others and while the old woman seemed more irritated at the bloody dust now on the floor of her tent, Li Baobao had gone as pale as a ghost and Rui Yifu had crossed his arms while staring directly up at Liu Xie. "Where are we even going?" Rui asked.

"...we need to find a red mountain and a river that splits in two, a village run by-"

Rui Yifu's eyebrows raised, "where?"

"In the Northern Kingdom."

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Bo ate another mouthful as he watched the exchange, strangely happy that Rui Yifu was the one speaking. Li Baobao was also quietly eating, seeming to shrink in on himself like a little mouse. Bo was also especially happy the bitey little sister was not there either. A dry lump appeared in his throat. How was she doing? Liu seemed confident that she was still alive but how could he be sure? The fire in the city drifted behind his eyes, melding with the fire in a small village by a river, enshrouded by a forest...

"Hm, that sounds like several different places," Rui Yifu observed, although it sounded more like he was speaking out loud.

"What do you mean 'several different places'?" Liu Xie asked in a freakishly monotone voice that made Bo shiver.

Rui Yifu, unperturbed, did not answer for several long minutes. Then he turned his face to the old mutilated woman, "is there a river or lake nearby?"

"Hm? Ah, yes," she nodded, "there's actually a large river just north of here. We followed it for a few weeks on the way to the mountain, I don't know it's name however but I can tell you if you just keep going north from the camp you'll reach it by evening if you start now."

"Thank you for your generosity," Rui Yifu got up, picking up a sheathed sword that had been laying behind him. Bo began getting up as well but Li Baobao remained on the ground. "There's actually several red mountains in the Northern Kingdom, but there's only one that has arable land around it."

"What does that have to do with this?"

"If Lang Lang is involved, he'd want to move his village to somewhere that they can still farm in, you idiot."

Liu Xie made a slight face, "I never said anything about Lang Lang, Rui."

Bo slurped down the remains of his food while trying to ignore the increasing snappish tone the other two were taking and then offered his hand to Li Baobao."C'mon, looks like we're about to start walking again."

Li Baobao slowly turned his face up to him, "aren't you tired?"

"Uh, not really, I slept pretty well," he shrugged. "Did you have a nightmare or something?"

"We-We've been walking for days and days, and there was that fire, and the monsters, and that lady saying you have 'potential' or whatever! You aren't tired? Or confused?" Li Baobao was talking fast, his eyes growing wider with disbelief with each word. "You're just accepting all of this?"

Bo shrugged again, refusing to consider or even think Li Baobao's words. He grabbed the other young man's arms and hauled him to his feet, "if it's right in front of me why wouldn't I accept it? Besides, it's not like we can go back yeah?"

The color slowly drained from Li Baobao's face, but nodded slowly. Then he turned to the old woman, "thank you again for your generosity."

"Good luck on your journey, young man. May you find peace with your choice."

If Li's face got any paler, Bo thought he would entirely vanish. So Bo swung his arm over Li Baobao's shoulder and looking over at Liu and Rui noticed both had already left the tent and were walking away. He pulled Li Baobao with him, quickly matching the pace of the two men ahead. It was still early enough to feel a tinge of coldness in the air, but people were already out. Tents rustled from a light breeze as the mountain behind them loomed over all. He could still Gu's disciples already in the camp as well, passing out food or disappearing into tents with medicine or bandages. The path was relatively clear for them since whenever someone would see Rui Yifu they would gasp and run away.

After he was sure Li Baobao would continue to walk on his own he allowed his arm to drop away and instead cast his eyes to the new addition to Rui Yifu's person. "...Hey Li, is that a sword?" He pointed at it.

"Uh, yes?" He answered, confused.

"Where did he get that? Do you think he knows how to use it?" Bo asked.

"What are you muttering about?" Rui asked, turning his head to look back at them. "Stop straggling! Walk faster!"

"Stop yelling! Walk slower!" Bo demanded in the same tone, "where did you get the sword huh? I don't remember it being in the stuff I rescued."

"That's none of your business."

Li Baobao had stopped and was looking at a pair of young disciples who were hurrying about behind them. Bo watched them for but a moment, taking Li Baobao's hand again. "Come on, you don't want Rui to yell at you too, do you?"

"N-no."

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