Chapter 8: Chapter 8: The Quest Begins

Probably wasn't anything major. Yun Xie shrugged it off as he listened to the conversation taking place before him.

 

"I am simply a wandering cultivator. It is a mere coincidence that I was to meet you in that humble establishment. As one of Orthodox, I, Yu Tian,  feel an obligation to help you demolish this insane Cult."

 

Bing Yuxia cupped her hands smiling, her rich voice as flattering and persuasive as ever.

 

From what he could tell, the cross-dresser seemingly didn't plan on revealing herself yet. The only reason she had revealed her identity to Yun Xie was due to the power disparity between them.

 

It was not wise to lie to one stronger than you after all. Not to mention the fact that he seemed rather neutral.

 

Yuxia didn't yet trust these two individuals, and they were in a much worse position than her so she had no reason to needlessly expose who she truly was.

 

He Shuren hesitated for a split second, before cupping her hands.

 

"Brother Tian, as much as I appreciate your help, this is a personal matter. It is a vendetta. We'd hate to bring an outsider into our own troubles."

 

She spoke with much humility fitting of a Clan member, trying to remain as polite as possible. She could probably tell that there was much disparity in their cultivation and skill.

 

Yun Xie stared up into the night sky as the bright stars began to ever so slowly fade away. It would be a few hours until the sun rose once more.

 

"Nonsense! What I'd give to help such a beautiful lady like you~ And of course, your poor brother." Laughing playfully, Bing Yuxia leaned in close to Shuren, revealing a set of perfectly alined shiny white-teeth.

 

"I-Is that so. We thank you for your assistance. We will not forget this favor."

 

Eyes flicking to her brother, Shuren bowed down with a flustered expression on her face. Yun Xie snorted a little. She'd been completely charmed.

 

"Ahem…"

 

Clearing his throat, Yun Xie wiped a droplet of blood off his wide-brimmed straw hat, face still obscured in shadow.

 

"Hello. I'm Yun Xie, of the Tiny Hill Sect, and I honestly didn't mean to get involved. But I did. And now I am here. Since I have absolutely nothing to do, I'll be joining you guys. You're welcome."

 

He Gengxin dead-panned, his posture slouched over as he tilted his chin down more. The man before him seemed like a complete mortal…. Yet that strength displayed before. Brutally executing a Heaven's Primal cultivator with ease. After so much despair and slaughter, a small part of him felt that…. Perhaps there was some hope

 

But this guy was still weird.

 

He Shuren creased her eyes a little, trying to discern anything from this man. A nonchalance indiscernible from deviousness or truth. A "mortal" who had coincidentally sat at the same table as them and ended up dispatching those cultists as if they had been expected guests. He was dangerous.

 

What was his motive? What did he want from them? And why was he such a weirdo?

 

"Senior Xie, me and my cousin cannot thank you enough."

 

A paranoid glint in her eye, He Shuren cupped her hands, bowing. To people not of this world, it would seem weird to join up on such a whim, but this was the Cultivator way.

 

For smaller groups, strength in numbers was key in deterring and facing many threats. Despite an evident lack of trust.

 

"So what now?" Yun Xie, as always, asked the big questions, looking around them at the expanse of a field. He'd read their minds to glean off information, but only some background details. It was a pain fishing around in someone's mind after all.

 

"In his dying breath, my Grandfather left us a message. To tread towards the Immortal-Holding Cage. But in that, something is definitely off. The most plausible reason the Cult even wants us is the Cage. It holds our and many other legacies after all..." He Shuren stroked her chin and narrowed her eyes.

 

"You know…. I feel it would be… Better if we just flee out of the Hundred Cities Region for the time being. Wait until this whole tragedy has gone by for a while before we do something about it. Perhaps catch some sleep."

 

A low hoarse voice suddenly spoke as the other three turned in surprise. This whole time, He Gengxin had been completely quiet, his gaunt baggy eyes shifty and dry, but finally, he started to voice his depressing opinion.

 

"Grandpa… Died to protect us. He was stabbed over twenty times and half-eaten from the soles of his feet up. Over a hundred of our Uncles and Aunts with powerful cultivation were dismembered and relieved of their organs. I wish we could end them."

 

He Gengxin rummaged about in his pocket, his voice monotone and sad, filled with some morbidity.

 

"But….. I wouldn't be lying to say I just want us to turn tail and run like a coward. Four against over ten-thousand, most likely. This isn't a fantasy novel, Shuren. None of us are secretly Virtuous Paragon's or godly fighters. Our luck was spent the minute those bastards stabbed our first brethren."

 

It was obvious that this guy was a pessimist. Yun Xie could understand his point of view. It seemed they had somewhat of a realist on their hands. Of course, the two of the He Clan had no idea they were standing by the Prime Descendants of one of the Hundred Cities most prestigious powerhouses, and a literal anomaly.

 

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Not that he was going to say anything about that minor detail yet.

 

"If I cannot bend heaven, I will raise hell. Even if half of my limbs are cut off and I am bleeding to death, I will brutally cull and stab my blade until my consciousness fades and my heart stops beating!"

 

*Chirp. Chirp Chirp.*

 

It would have looked more dramatic and cinematic if it wasn't in a pitch black field surrounded by the incessant chirping of crickets. A short breeze blew by, causing Yun Xie's hair to blow about.

 

"Well said, Sister Shuren. Well said." Bing Yuxia smiled in response, clapping her hands lightly.

 

He Gengxin looked around at the other three, his eyes rather droopy as he sighed. He really wanted to just take off and completely evade the Cult all together. But just leaving his last family member to die was definitely something he was against. It was going to be a long month.

 

"Since everyone feels the need to die, I will join you." Slumping down even further, He Gengxin sighed again with a pained look on his face.

 

He Shuren grumbled something about spinelessness under her breath, before clearing her throat, a fire lit in her eyes.

 

"The Immortal-Holding Cage is a prison created long ago by my ancestors. During the Ancient Ming Era, it was used to hold some of the Darknesses' cruelest and most vicious. From legends, it rests in the Southern Drowned Earth."

 

Hearing this, Yun Xie raised an eyebrow. He'd wandered this part of the Mortal Emperor World for quite some time, so he'd heard of its many sights.

 

One of which was the Southern Drowned Earth. Legends said that long ago, an Immortal Emperor traversing the land carried a magical gourd. When his mood was good, the gourd would pour plentiful rain and such across the land, turning it into a blooming paradise. But when he was angry, it would turn everything into a wasteland of desolation.

 

One year, a powerful Ancient Kingdom situated among the waves of one of the Hundred Cities continental lakes angered the Emperor greatly, so with that, the gourd was poured and the whole sea was turned to bitter sand, drowning all within and around it.

 

Every century, thousands of cultivators and sects took upon the Drowned Earth in a certain month, for that was when the sea was most calm. For endless treasures awaited within the Ancient Kingdom down below.

 

To some people, it could be considered a pseudo-Burial Ground of sorts, though even with the treacherous conditions, it could honestly be accessed at any time. It was simply more dangerous.

 

The power of the Immortal Emperors was ridiculously overpowered at times.

 

"It would indeed be a good location to hold… Them. They wouldn't be able to launch a full-scale attack to free the prisoners in that hostility. Countless variables. But the fact that the Sea is calming just around the time of your Clan's slaughter….."

 

Bing Yuxia stroked her chin thoughtfully, exhaling a cold snowy breath.

 

"Something is wanted." He Shuren finished as she internally growled. Why would their grandfather ask them of this? What internal meaning was held within this?

 

Meanwhile, Yun Xie had stepped away and crouched down, his long slender hands pressing into the cold powdery earth below him. Void-like shadows danced about, the moon's weak glow barely illuminating the area. In this ethereal lighting, he was a mere black silhouette, unknown and mysterious.

 

With his left hand, he bit the tip of his thumb, and droplets of bright red blood began to flow. Smacking his outstretched hand into the ground, a wavy ink-blood scrawl formed in a circular web around his hand before spindling out in longer strands outwards.

 

<Summoning Jutsu: Great Toad Trading Caravan>

 

The three other cultivators widened their eyes as a giant cloud of bursting smoke filled the air . Yun Xie simply smirked as slowly, a multitude of entities took shape.

 

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Bing Yuxia's eyes flickered in confusion. There was definitely no murderous intent or anything…. Just Toads? She really had nothing against toads, it was just rather strange. Before her, was what seemed to be a miniature caravan.

 

What seemed to be two bursting bamboo carts sat, with straw-laid wheels and paper frames. Pots and jars filled with oil, insects and spices were stacked haphazardly upon these carts, tied down by thick splayed rope.

 

Dragging into the ground behind one of the carts was what seemed to be a modified iron plow, which stuck straight up into the air, a small olive-green toad hung sacks of rice and grain. There were a multitude of other oddities, such as a few wheelbarrows with large clay pots boiling with some kind of revolting sludge, and an ornate litter made from woven bamboo that seemed to emit smoke every five seconds, the toad carriers muscular in dirty brown robes.

 

At the front, were a group of toad warriors. They were all dressed in haori and wore variety of weapons at their belts. Some had overcoats covered in bleached straw while others had iron cast pots on their heads. The most noticeable toad was probably the one in the middle of these warriors, a giant silver naginata in its web-like hands, and a giant stack of packages and barrels on it's back.

 

It was warty like most, speckled in red and orange with damp green moss growing on its underbelly. A pair of large bulbous eyes seemed to glow an eerie yellow in the darkness.

 

Yun Xie clapped his hands to the rest of the cultivators.

"As much as I would love to stay here in the freezing cold… Maybe we should hurry up."

For a good three seconds, everyone was frozen in place as the caravan belched another bout of thick powerful smoke. Bing Yuxia was the first to act as she lightly floated forwards, her foot gracefully stepping upon a pot. She smiled back to the two of the He Clan.

A journey by Toad was about to begin. An anti-climatic one full of lame twists.

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(A/N: I have stuff to do this and next week so I probably won't be updating much.)

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