"Just what kind of monster have I gotten myself involved with...?" Ying asked herself as she pulled out all the items within the storage ring onto her floor. A heavy crash sounded out as her house shook from the weight of the items or item she should say. Ying had full confidence now that the girl she met yesterday was no ordinary person. Besides the strange abnormal qi, what she has just been given is enough to prove that. In front of her laid multiple objects, the first one to catch her eye was also the one staring back at her and caused her house to shake from falling onto her rug.
It was a colossal monstrous sword! Its length was taller than any man. The size of it made it seem as if it was meant for hunting dragons and giants! Just staring at the blade, made it felt like her heart was already severed in two by the curved sword. But the craziest thing was the human eye fixed at the base of the sword staring directly at her as if it was alive!
Her eyes were forced to meet directly with the sword"s eye.
The strange abomination, that which should not be but is, the unexplainable.
Her soul felt captured in its gaze. Being caressed and gently molded the longer she stared. Ying"s body moved without her permission.
Before she knew it, her hand was gripped around the sword"s handle while the eye was still staring deep into her inner palace. It was studying her, learning from her soul. Ying attempted to release her hand from the sword"s handle but her body only strengthened her grip on it. It was only a matter of time before she lifted this cursed sword and lost all control over her body.
But what she expected wasn"t how things played out.
"I can"t lift it..." She murmured.
Her thin delicate arms couldn"t even make the sword budge. She willed all the qi within her body and tried again to lift the demonic looking sword but still no movement.
"YOU PIECE OF JUNK! WHY ARE YOU SO HEAVY!? DIDN"T YOU WANT TO TAKE OVER MY BODY OR SOMETHING!?" She exploded in embarra.s.sment.
She felt the sword"s presence around her soul feeling embarra.s.sed about its weight. An extra vein appeared on her forehead.
"YOU"RE SAD THAT I CALLED YOU HEAVY!? I"M A FOURTH STAGE QI GATHERER AND I CAN"T EVEN GET YOU TO BUDGE! I"M THE ONE WHO FEELS LIKE CRYING IN THIS SITUATION!"
Trying to lift the giant slab of iron forged in the shape of a blade took all of her energy. She couldn"t even stand up and was now sitting on the floor with her hand still gripped around the sword"s handle. She looked over at the other "gifts" she was given and honestly hoped they were nothing like this thing.
Ying felt a wave of sadness wash over her from the sword.
"Oh, shut up!"
Thankfully, the rest of the objects inside the ring seemed normal. A white letter, 35 spirit stones, and a book. She grabbed the letter first and opened it up to read it.
"Gather these things for me. I will need a mask, a basic talisman kit, a book on formations and talismans, and a watering can. Use the stones I gave you to pay for these items and keep the rest for yourself.
The weapon and the book are so I can stay true on my part. With those two, gaining the strength you wish is only a matter of time. So, make sure you don"t disappoint me.
Signed Jing"
The final words of the message sent s.h.i.+vers through her body. The most positive outcome she could imagine from those words was the sword and sword art being taken away from her. She didn"t wanna think of the scarier possibilities.
Not to mention that she can just fork out 35 spirit stones without any issue. It would take her 7 months to get that amount unless she took on only dangerous tasks for 4 or 5 months. Ying didn"t know if it was a good thing or worrying thing that Jing was rich. It just added more mystery to her background. She was only a 1st stage Qi Gatherer. Shouldn"t she use these stones to quickly cultivate through the ranks?
"Jing huh... The name isn"t as mysterious and frightening as I thought it would be. I better get started on getting this stuff for her then. No point in delaying the inevitable."
Ying got up from the floor with her hand still gripped around the sword. She glared at the sword and her hand. The sword sent feelings of happiness and excitement. It seemed excited to be going out with her.
"Are you out of your mind!? I would look like an idiot trying to lug your heavy self around this place!" She yelled at it.
Ying tried to release her grip from the blade but soon felt a strange feeling go through her hand and spread throughout the rest of her body. She stared suspiciously at the eye sword. It looked at her happily and expectantly as if it wanted her to try something. She tried to lift the sword again while using all of her qi and noticed that she managed to slightly lift it off the ground this time. She used both of her hands to try and drag it behind her.
The sword was constantly sending waves of glee at her as she just proved she could carry it around.
"I move as slow as a freaking turtle! Just because I can drag you around now doesn"t mean I should!"
Ying was barraged by the eye sword"s feelings of anxiety, loneliness, and sorrow. She angrily let out a sigh. She could swear she even saw a tear fall its eye.
"What are you a freaking child...? Fine, you can come with me but you better keep doing whatever you did earlier to make me lift you. If I"m gonna be carrying you around, you better make it worth my time." Ying conceded to the child-like blade.
And once again she felt the happiness of the sword trying to drown her. She rolled her eyes and unconsciously let out a small smile. Ying grabbed the letter to remember what she needed to buy and put it in her pocket. She left the spirit stones inside the storage ring and started dragging the heavy hunk of metal outside her door very slowly.
Her muscles were strained to the limit as she dragged the blade through the sect. Sweat visibly flowed down her body as she used all the power within her body to lug this thing around. Looks of ridicule and laughter plagued her as she headed towards the Exchange Hall.
"Hahahaha! Look at that dumb girl! Are you putting on a show!?"
"If a normal sword isn"t good enough for you, why don"t you try something more ladylike!?"
"BWAHAHAHA! I CAN"T BREATHE! CAN YOU EVEN CALL THAT A SWORD?!"
Ying would"ve already decapitated everyone making fun of her by now if she could even raise this stupid blade higher than the heel of her foot. Giving up wasn"t in her blood and she sure as h.e.l.l wouldn"t start now. Even if her arms stopped working, she"ll carry this d.a.m.n thing in her teeth if she has to.
But this thing was full of mystery and abilities, so it looks like it wouldn"t come to something as drastic as that. Ying found out that when she was nearing her body"s limit, the sword would send that strange energy into her, giving her newfound strength and power to keep trekking forward. The increase was gradual and slow but the sword made her feel as long as she kept her grip around its handle, it wouldn"t stop coming.
And isn"t this exactly what she wanted? Sure, she"d like if it was more of an instant noticeable boost in power but Ying isn"t one to shy away from hard work and painful things. Especially if it can give her the power she needs for her goals. Her cultivation technique was one known for its dangerous possible side effect of burning the user into ash if they couldn"t control the wildness of the fire qi brought forward by the technique.
But despite that dangerous drawback, it would give the user nearly unmatchable power if they could master the fierce uncontrollable fire qi. Ying is only in the initial realm with the technique and could only use the fire qi to ignite herself at this stage. Once she reaches the intermediate realm, she"ll be capable of unleas.h.i.+ng burning flames at a distance on her enemies. Only cultivators at the Qi Consolidation stage and above can use qi to attack from a distance which is why this cultivation method is considered to be above the rest during the Qi Gathering realm if you didn"t include the possible drawbacks..
So, Ying who chose such a vicious cultivation method can be said to have great courage and a fearless spirit or simply a fool who doesn"t know her limits. Only time will be able to tell which kind of person she will turn out to be.
"Finally... I made it to the Exchange Hall..." She said with relief in her voice as she haggardly caught her breath.
She flipped her sword onto its side so that its sharp tip wouldn"t cut into the floor of the building and slowly but surely dragged herself inside. She received even more stares and whispers but ignored them as she was halfway finished with her errand. The snide remarks and mocking laughs aren"t something new to her. Xiaohui and her little pack of b.i.t.c.hes try and make her life a living h.e.l.l every week.
Just wait till she"s gained enough strength to get payback. She"ll show those arrogant pieces of c.r.a.p why you shouldn"t mess with a Yue! The Yue family doesn"t know the meaning of forgiveness! And to think all of this started because of a stupid boy. She would laugh at this situation if her life wasn"t made a living h.e.l.l because of it.
Cheng Chi. The 5th ranked disciple in the outer court and also the boyfriend of Xiaohui. One day, while she was getting her monthly stones, apparently she caught the eye of Cheng Chi. Xiaohui claims that he was staring at her a.s.s and Xiaohui has placed her on her s.h.i.+t list out of jealousy. After that day, she and her pack of b.i.t.c.hes have bullied her ever since.
Thinking back on it just riled Ying up even further.
"G.o.d d.a.m.n IT, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO BE SO HEAVY?!" She screamed.
Her mood calmed down after letting out some of her bottled-up emotions and she step by step made it inside the general store inside the Exchange Hall. Inside were items similar to those that would be sold by normal mortals. Books, clothes, accessories, household items, furniture, and more. Ying went over in the accessories area and looked for a mask that would perfectly match her image of Jing. There were some pretty general and standard masks but the one Ying chose was much different from the rest.
The mask she picked was a demon"s mask. It had two large overgrown canine jutting from its mouth, red skin, two small horns on its forehead and a wide evil grin.
"It"s perfect!"
Ying grabbed the mask and a watering can to purchase at the counter. She paid 1 spirit stone for both and placed them in her storage ring. She then traveled to the Formations and Talismans store 2 shops down 10 minutes later. She asked for a brush, 5 jars of spirit ink, and 100 talisman slips.
"I can give you the first 3 items but I cannot give you a spell book. Only Array elders can give spell books out. You would have to apprentice under an elder that specializes in talismans if you want to be taught spells and formations."
Ying didn"t expect something like this. She also doubted Jing knew about this rule either or else why would she ask for her to buy it when she couldn"t. Ying was a cultivator on the martial path so, she knew little of the ways of an array master. She fought some from time to time on the ranking but they usually didn"t pose much of a challenge towards her to get much of an idea on them besides being helpless and weak.
"Is there any other way I could purchase spells?" She asked.
"You could exchange for them with contribution points."
"Goodbye."
Ying immediately left after paying for the brush, ink, and paper. She could not afford to use her contribution points on mortal-ranked spells that costed 10 contribution points each. She only had 100 this month! Maybe if she took on some dangerous tasks for the sect, she could save up for next month but for now she"ll just tell Jing what the clerk told her.
It took Ying almost an hour before she returned home. Before she walked in through her door, she noticed that the door was slightly cracked open. Her grip tightened around her sword handle.
"I swear if those b.i.t.c.hes broken into my home, I will cut off their legs!"
Ying gathered power in her legs and kicked open her door. Only to see the familiar figure from this morning staring at her from on top of her table.
"Hoo?" It c.o.c.ked its head completely horizontally
A relieved sigh exited from her lips. She wouldn"t actually be able to back up her words from earlier if they really were in her home.
"It"s just Jing"s messenger bird."
Ying noticed that it had another item in its mouth. It was a letter. She opened up the letter and read it.
"Place what I told you to buy inside the storage ring and give it to Li Li. He will bring it to me.
Signed Jing"
Ying did as the letter commanded and was left inside her room with the eye sword, 15 spirit stones, and the sword art. The sword was staring at her and then at the sword book and then back at her as if it was expecting her to start training with it right this instance.
"Are you crazy?! I can barely lift you off the ground right now! Forget practicing how to use you, I can"t even wield you like a normal blade! And you better not get sad! We"ll talk about practicing the sword art once I can finally wield you like a normal blade." Ying sternly said.
The sword eye couldn"t help but be a little bit sad after being yelled at but it wasn"t too sad. It was happy Ying wasn"t planning on throwing it away and was still holding it while cultivating with one of the spirit stones.
______________________________________________
It was late at night, the moonlight was reflecting off the surface of the pond. The water was s.h.i.+mmering in a beautiful light, exposing all the fish in a serene divine-like light.
Plop!
A fis.h.i.+ng lure fell inside the water with squirming bait pierced onto the hook. The echoing splash caused all the fish to quickly dash a few meters away from the source of the impact. About 3 seconds later, they all forgot about it and one of the fish decided to investigate the flailing insect trapped on the hook. And the only way fish know how to investigate things is by putting it in their mouths for a quick taste.
"Caught one." A gentle voice said with some satisfaction in his voice.
The fish tried to free itself by quickly swimming as far away as it could but the size of the pond was limited and it couldn"t go very far. It was forced to dash around in circles before tiring itself out and unwillingly being caught by the man with his eyes closed. He held up the hook with the fish and felt the flopping body of the fish.
"Now that"s a healthy fish isn"t it? Good size on this one."
What he didn"t notice however were the small discreet steps of a young girl. She was standing behind him as he was grinning at his catch.
"Why yes it is..." She agreed.
The blind fisherman didn"t jump in surprise or suddenly pull out a hidden blade but instead turned in her direction and smiled.
"I didn"t realize anyone else was here. I apologize if I bothered you with all the noise."
Jing just stared at the simple uncle.
"I don"t have any spirit stones if that"s what you"re after. I used mine for this month already." He lied with a slightly sad expression.
Jing smiled as she noticed his lie. Still no feelings of hate, anger, or such appeared on his face.
"What a kind older man. Really interesting..." She thought.
"I"m not interested in any external belongings of yours."
"That"s good to hear. I don"t have much of anything really." He smiled in relief from not being robbed or beaten tonight.
"I do want to know something though..."
"Sure. What would you like to know young lady?"
"If you had the strength to get back at those who wronged you, would you?"
A sad smile appeared on his face as he was lost in thought. Jing respectfully gave him time to think and answer her question.
"I wouldn"t."
"Why not?" Jing asked even more interested than before.
How can there be such a pure and kind man in a world like this? It makes no sense. She has to get this anomaly on her side. Even if he doesn"t have much use now, she can easily change that. His strange benevolent att.i.tude is worthy to keep by her side. He may be the only one of his kind.
"I realize that the world we live in right now is not how it should be. Human nature isn"t as ruthless and unforgiving as it may seem. We can be far more than just animals in human skin. The law of the jungle should only apply in the jungle not to the entire world. The ones who treated me wrongly don"t believe that it was wrong to treat me in that way. They were taught that if you have strength, you can do whatever you please to those weaker than you. It"s not their fault they were raised in such a skewed and misguided way. Maybe if they were taught to treat others with respect and kindness growing up, they would have grown into honorable young men."
"That type of thinking is far too pure."
"What about those that have done inexcusable actions then? Will you forgive those that would dirty your daughter, kill her, and then laugh and mock her while drinking ale later?" Jing asked.
"I may be a patient and gentle man but even I know when one deserves punishment. A monster who would do something as terrible as that doesn"t deserve to be treated as human."
"I see... Well then. Would you like to join me?"
She could see the old man was taken aback.
"Join you? What do you mean?"
"To help me make this sect a better place. I"ve seen the horrible and disgusting ways this sect treats its disciples and frankly I"m not impressed. I plan to change this sect from the bottom up and I will need people who I believe also share that vision. Will you help me?" Jing asked.
"I... I... I would love to help you but... I don"t see how I could help with such a big goal. I"m blind, I have no talent, the only things I own are the clothes on my back and this fis.h.i.+ng rod of mine."
"All I require of you is your loyalty and body. If you follow me exceptionally well, I can even aid you in your dream of teaching the world how to be just human."
The fisherman chuckled as tears starting dripping from his eyes.
"Look at me... getting teary-eyed eyed like a baby. How shameful. Still having such childish dreams at my age. It"s silly right?"
"Not at all. Immortality isn"t something that is only coveted by the young. Plenty of people wish for immortality."
"Immortality huh... I only wanted to be a cultivator because cultivators always amazed me growing up. The strength to fly through the skies and cut through anything with divine strength but as I grew older, I realized that maybe being powerful isn"t all it is cut out to be. I"ve seen plenty of cultivators endlessly chase after power and strength at many costs. Losing their friends, family, morals, bodies, and even souls all in the search of more power. In the end they either die or become nothing more than cruel heartless husks."
"How would you avoid such a fate then if you were given such strength?"
"Get a hobby." He answered simply.
Jing let out a loud genuine laugh at his answer.
"You"re pretty interesting you know that? What"s your name?"
"Lei Zhi. What about you young lady?"
"Jing. So, what do you say about my question from earlier?"
"I"ll join you. I still don"t see how I could be of any help but I"m here if you need me."
"Good. I"ll leave some stuff for you. I"ll get in contact with you when I need you. Farewell Zhi." Jing told him as she refined a few stuff right in front of him before dropping them on the ground for him to grab later.
"Goodnight Jing. Nice meeting you."
[New Ally Gained!]
[Name: Lei Zhi]
[Rank: Qi Gatherer 3]
[Occupation: Martial Artist]
[Techniques: Flattening Gorilla Palm (Initial), Tricky Fox Steps (Intermediate), Bronze Skin (Advanced)]
[Cultivation Method: Book of Qi]
[Loyalty: 85% (Has a good impression of you and is happy and willing to follow you improve the sect.)]