1567 A Tree or a Forest
Outside the window were blue skies and white clouds, and the streets were packed with people. The housewives who had gotten up early to buy vegetables had baskets hanging from their hands, and when they ran into acquaintances, they would stop on street corners and discuss how so-and-so had a new son or how the wife of so-and-so wasn’t being a proper wife and was having an affair with some warrior.
There wasn’t much technology to be seen in Subduing Demon City; the people even communicated with each other using special crystals. For eight hundred kilometers around the city the lands were filled with fields and orchards, a sight which made Xia Fan feel like he had traveled into the past.
His room only had a few simple pieces of furniture made of wood. Xia Fan sat in front of the desk, looking out the window at the streets and trees as he planned out where he was going to tour today.
It had been a week since he had seen Turan, who had vanished after arranging for Xia Fan’s dorm and giving him a crystal that he used for paying for things. Before leaving, he had told Xia Fan to familiarize himself with the environment of Subduing Demon City. The lifestyle in the Lower Realm was very slow, with everyone taking their time and planning for the future.
!!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A knocking came from outside. Xia Fan opened the door, and in came a chubby head with little eyes narrowed into crescent moons, the mouth flas.h.i.+ng a silly grin.
“Traveling Buddha! How did you get here?!”
Xia Fan was startled. He had never imagined that this guy would also come to Subduing Demon City. This was truly a wonderful surprise for him!
“Ah, all the brothers thought you would be lonely all by yourself. So? While I wasn’t around, did you get with any girls? Let me check things out.
“Suspicious. Your house has the scent of a young woman. Did a girl spend the night at your place?”
Xia Fan laughed. “No young woman, but there’s a bucket-shaped woman, Mama Qin, who’s responsible for cleaning! She’s the one who left behind the perfume. If you’re not afraid of Hidden Water getting angry, I can introduce you to her.”
Traveling Buddha shrugged. The mention of his wife brought up a resentful look on his face.
Traveling Buddha liked to be together with people. The Skywings had no rules and were very carefree, not like his inflexible father, who nagged him every day. The Skywings also didn’t have any airs, and there was also his best friend, Xia Fan!
But Traveling Buddha couldn’t help but miss his wife and child. Maybe it was because he had grown up and learned how to take care of and be concerned for others. Moreover, Traveling Buddha was very worried that if his father who ended up raising his son, he might turn into another Traveling Buddha, rebellious and not caring about anything!
“Like you, Traveling Buddha has become a probationary apprentice of Subduing Demon City.”
Turan walked into the room and closed the door behind him. He sat himself on the sofa and took something out.
Traveling Buddha rolled up his sleeve and showed Xia Fan his right arm. His arm had a symbol that appeared to be an invincible vajra. Xia Fan rubbed it with his finger, but there was no getting it off. The color was the exact same as the real thing!
“How did you get it on?” Xia Fan asked.
Traveling Buddha said roughly, “This old man drew it on me! I don’t know what he used, but while it hurt a little first, the effects are really good. It’s basically no different from the natural Symbol, and you can immerse it in water with no problem.”
Xia Fan nodded. The warriors of the Lower Realm had natural Symbols, manifestations of powers above special abilities. In the Middle Realm, special abilities were gained by opening one’s seventh brain region, the age they were opened at dependent upon one’s talent.
But in the Lower Realm, a talented person had their seventh brain region opened up from the womb! When they were born and even when they were breastfeeding, they could already use their talents, much earlier than the warriors of the Middle Realm. To take Xia Fan as an example, he wasn’t very talented, as he had only opened his seventh brain region when he was an adult, and that had been because of Grandpa Blind’s present.
Turan summed up the entire process as evolution. After all, only the strongest warriors of the Middle Realm had the right to enter the Lower Realm! Even the old grandpa sweeping the streets had once been some bigshot of the Middle Realm who had once ruled a region. But the compet.i.tion in the Lower Realm was crueler, and their talents were slowly stripped away until they fell to being ordinary people.
It was like a game of Big Fish Eat Small Fish. In the Lower Realm’s pyramid society, the strong would get stronger and stronger, while those who lost would lose everything and become nothing.
Turan searched his belongings for quite some time before finally producing a chestnut-shaped crystal.
“We’ve already established contact with your father. Traveling Buddha coming to Subduing Demon City was actually his idea,” Turan informed him.
A message from his father?
Xia Fan was startled, and his heart began to beat faster in anxiety.
Turan said, “It’s like this. Your father thinks that since the Skywing force had been divided into two, it’s best to keep it that way. Sending you down to the next level is extremely dangerous, and we risk being discovered by the demons.
“If you and Xia Geng stay here, you can serve as a reserve force for the Skywings. Your father is very sharp, and he always likes to have a back-up. The Skywing main force is already very strong, so even if you joined them, you wouldn’t be able to change anything.
“Moreover, the Skywings serve as special operators. If you two are split up, the enemy will have no idea that a second Skywing force exists, which will add a huge variable to the war. The only problem is that you can’t meet for now, so you might come to long for him. Thus, he sent you a letter in the hopes that you will live peacefully in Subduing Demon City. When your father needs you, you and Xia Geng can suddenly appear and give the enemy a big surprise!
“I’ve already told this to Xia Geng, and though he complained, he agreed completely with your father’s reasoning. He’s already set up residence in the White City and has thrown himself into tough training. You and Traveling Buddha will also need to work hard.”
So I inherited the habit of always keeping a card up my sleeve from my father…, Xia Fan thought to himself. He felt like being part of an ambush force wasn’t a bad position. As it was often said, a weapon was often more powerful when it was still sheathed!
Turan continued, “The two of you are in Subduing Demon City because we’ve a.n.a.lyzed that you have a probability of unlocking an even stronger talent. You’re different from the rest of your clan. When you were young, you didn’t have your seventh brain region unlocked, and your ability was forcibly obtained later on. To rate your speed, it can only be described as barely satisfactory. Even the seven-year-old Xia Di is much faster than you.”
Xia Fan was embarra.s.sed. While he had seemed powerful and mighty in Ashen Moon, and was called a speed maniac by everyone, when he returned to the Skywings, he discovered that his talent was very lacking. Even Xia Di was several times faster than him, let alone anyone else in the clan! After all, the Skywings had inherited the Speed Law and were as fast as light, streaking across the galaxies!
When will my speed be comparable to light? Is that even achievable in my lifetime?, Xia Fan thought sadly.
Turan said excitedly, “What I want to tell you is that while your speed might never catch up to your father’s, you have a special attribute that he does not: diversity! How long did it take for you to learn the Law of Gold?”
“I took about a week to get my foot through the door, but progress was slow after that, and I ended up needing a few more months,” Xia Fan replied.
“That’s right!” Turan’s eyes flashed. “Even though it’s a non-combat basic law, you need only one week to learn the basics and several months to completely master it! This would be an astonis.h.i.+ng performance no matter where you went!
“Moreover, you mustn’t forget that when you opened your seventh brain region, you not only received the Speed ability, but the Scent ability. This is a sign that your actual talent is diversity! If you learn Subduing Demon City’s unique method of talent unlocking, you have the opportunity to grasp even more terrifying abilities!Even if your Speed is a little lacking, you still might be able to catch up to your father when it comes to overall achievements!”
Xia Fan scratched his head awkwardly. “Why does it sound like you’re saying that I’m going to end up learning a lot of things, but being a master of none of them?”
Turan replied, “You can’t say it like that. Mastery has its advantages, but so does being an all-arounder. Don’t forget that your const.i.tution is very special, your body tougher than that of any of the other Skywings! Because you consumed energy stones starting from a very young age, your foundation is superb! The most important thing about being a person is being happy. Even if you can’t become a sky-sc.r.a.ping tree, you’re still very rich if you have a forest!
“Come, this is your father’s letter. Hurry and read it.”
Turan pa.s.sed that crystal to Xia Fan, and then he pulled on the lazy Traveling Buddha. “Don’t you have eyes? What does a letter from his family have to do with you? Come with me.”
“I was always calling my family in front of Xia Fan, so why do I have to leave for him to read his letter?” Traveling Buddha grumbled, but Turan ultimately dragged him away so that he could be a.s.signed a room. Since he was here in Subduing Demon City, he needed to live here, so he also needed to have all his living arrangements settled.
Xia Fan watched Turan and Traveling Buddha leave, and then he gripped the cool crystal in his hand and took a deep breath.