The rush of the wind passing by filled my ears as the world passed by in a blur of colors. Even as I ran as fast as I could, my mind struggled to keep up with the fact that a human could go at such speed. It was one thing to sit inside a car and watch the world zip by, and another to feel the rush of the wind in rhythm with the movement of your body as you flew across vast grasslands.
I had picked up a movement technique from the Library after consulting Liuxiang over the last week that we’d spent working on the drugnade’s outer frame and formations. The Movement art was called Wind step, and was quite literally exactly as it sounded. I would gather my Qi near my feet all the way to my abdomen, and then kick out with a burst of wind behind me.
I was on my way to Taizhou, having almost finished my work on the frame for the drugnade. The visit here had both been prompted to check in on Su Lin and the rest, alongside my own purposes within the Qi vein, where I suspected I could find some remnants of Gu spirit herbs.
What had surprised me was when Labby had elected not to accompany me on the journey. She’d been frequently going to the inner sect, and while I felt safe enough to leave her in Yan Yun’s care, I still sent Sheldon after her to keep an eye on things.
If Labby didn’t want to tell me about her new training routine with martial arts then I planned to respect her choice and not pry into the topic, but that did not mean I’d let her run around freely within the inner sect where any cultivator could kill her with a flick of their wrist.
I also couldn’t deny a strange overprotective feeling that rose within me when I noticed Labby starting to grow independent and try things out on her own. Her world had revolved around me ever since she’d broken through, and even though I was aware that she needed to grow independent and look at the world with her own eyes, it still felt a bit lonely when I saw it happening.
What a weird feeling.
I looked up, and noticed the town starting to appear in the distance. With a renewed pulse of Qi, I kicked off harder, rushing at ever faster speeds towards Taizhou.
I’d continued to cultivate with the spirit herbs every so often, and while there had been no new visions or voices, I’d definitely felt the flow of Qi from the air around me to one of my cores, while the Gu had flowed to my other core from the Earth beneath.
The process left me exhausted and shivering each time, though the amount of gunk coming out of my body reduced substantially with each iteration. I’d already burned through three sets of robes due to that, and had to ask for some more, explaining away the loss as an accident.
And disgustingly enough, I’d also stored the gunk in a little box after experimenting with it. It was impurities from my body if I was to follow the text books from the library but I was damn sure that the human body didn’t come with cancer black gunk inside of it. At least, I was reasonably sure that was the case.
Whatever the case be, I’d certainly benefited from the new cultivation. My body felt lighter, and my skin somehow felt softer despite the layer of firm muscles building underneath it. It was a surreal sensation yet it also felt undeniably good, even if the cultivation process itself was horrendously painful.
Feeling my body break down and repair itself over and over again was not a pleasant feeling.
My attention shifted back to the village, as I heard kids running around, first in fear, and then in curiosity as they saw my face. I waved my hands around awkwardly, wondering if any of them remembered me, when a kid jumped out shouting.
“It’s saviour Lu Jie!”
I almost stumbled in surprise at the words as the kids ran about in a frenzy. People began to walk out of their homes as I walked in, looking at me with wide eyes as a gaggle of kids surrounded me with shining eyes.
“Saviour Lu jie, is it true that you wrestled a turtle larger than a mountain?” a kid asked, staring at me.
“Shut up, Li. You know nothing. Saviour Lu Jie burned through those scary wolves that moved even beyond death in a single breath. No mountain turtle can hold him back,” another kid shouted, as he turned towards me, as if asking me to validate his story.
“It’s not a lie, my pa told me himself. A turtle bigger than anything he’d seen, and Saviour Lu Jie beat it with just a single outstretched hand, taming the wild beast.”
“He also healed the handsome brother as well!” another kid shouted, and I stared in confusion looking around to the adults smiling near by to ask for help.
“Kids! Stop bothering the honoured cultivator or I’ll send you to the old lady!” a girl shouted, walking in as kids all ran around, rushing away at her words. “Please forgive the children. We don’t get visitors here often, and honoured cultivator’s friends have become a target of tales and fables for the kids,” the girl said with a bow.
I squinted at the girl, struggling to remember her face for a moment when the memories returned. Ah, she was the village head’s daughter. Yin, I think, was her name.
“Oh it’s alright. I was just surprised to see them so friendly compared to before,” I said, looking at the girl who glared at any kid who tried to hide and sneak around.
Yin turned towards me, her eyes not rising to meet my own as she talked. “Forgive me if I overstep myself, honoured cultivator but. It is relieving to see that you too are human. The only time before this that we’d met a cultivator had been upon news of some disaster or other similar dealings with spirits, as cultivators do not mingle with mortals like us much. Having cultivators now living amongst us, and having one such as you save the people of this town has done a lot to change our views.”
“I see,” I said, turning to look at the kids happily running about. There were still many who were hesitant, and afraid to come near me and I smiled at one kid staring at me, waving, who promptly ran away, hiding behind his mother’s back and got a chuckle out of me.
“You can drop the honoured cultivator stuff, and look at me when talking to me,” I said, to Yin.
“But honoured culti-”
I cut her off with a raise of my hand. “My name is Lu Jie and if anything I’d rather be called an honoured mad scientist,” I replied with a grin on my face.
Yin nodded, looking up at me. “Understood… Lu jie.”
I nodded happily, smiling. “Can you take me to Su Lin and Granny Lang? Wherever they may be staying right now.”
“Gladly,” Yin said, and I followed behind her.
The path led me across the village of Taizhou, and we were interrupted more than once by kids jumping on the poor girl, using her as a method to try and talk to me a bit more. It felt weird to be given so much attention, and a part of me wanted to just walk back and rush into my room with my comforting notes and thoughts, but another part of me, a part sleeping inside my spirit relished the attention, relished the sensation of being wanted.
Right at the outskirts of the town was what looked to be a newly formed home, with parts still being in the works. I extended my senses, quickly finding Granny working within, and Su Lin and the rest near by, working on the house and other things.
“It'll be an incredible boon to have an Alchemist in the village. My mother used to know a few things about healing and herbs, but any serious injuries or illness had to be rushed to the city for treatment. With cultivators in the village perhaps we’d even be able to obtain some resources from the Qi vein!” Yin said, her voice rising in excitement. She caught herself a moment later, turning away. “Apologies, I forgot myself.”
I waved her apology away, not paying much mind. The people here weren’t used to a cultivator being so casual, then they should, because I had many plans in mind for this place.
“Ah boy, you’ve arrived too?” Granny spoke from within her shop, and I stared at her in surprise. She never talked to anyone when making her pills.
“What? You look as if you’ve just seen a ghost. This old woman won’t die that easily!” she cackled, and I smiled, walking closer and regarded the old woman. Somehow, even she looked better than she had before.
“It seems you’re liking it here?” I asked granny, raising an eyebrow.
“Bah, I can live anywhere, as long as I have enough spirit herbs to perform my craft. If you’d told me there would be so many herbs found here, I would’ve ran here on my own!” Granny Lang said, cackling to herself and I echoed her cheerful mood.
“Ah, Brother Lu Jie,” a familiar voice said, and I turned freezing mid step. A face with familiar rat-like features looked at me, yet the bucked teeth were the only similarity to Su Lin that I could recognise. Instead of shaggy hair and rough robes, I saw a cultivator, with sharply cut hair tied behind his back, revealing his face properly for the first time. The typical slouch I associated with him was nowhere to be seen as he stood tall, extending to his full height, with a sharp expression on his face.
“Who are you and what did you do to Su Lin?!” I exclaimed in mock shock, as Su Lin looked at me, before turning towards granny in confusion.
“Would ya like it if I talk like this then?” He spoke, grinning and I chuckled, walked ahead and extended my fist.
Su Lin walked closer bumping his next to mine. “It’s good to see you Lu Jie.”
“You too Su Lin. You changed a lot in just a week, huh?” I asked, and Su Lin looked at me with an odd expression.
“Apparently I weren’t regal enough and brother Zhang wanted to leave a good impression so…” the boy said with a shrug, slipping back into his natural speaking method and I laughed.
“Where is he?” I asked, and got my answer before Su Lin needed to reply. The sensation of the lunar blossom set as my spirit anchor reached me. I turned around and was greeted by Zhang, his head dipped in a bow.
I stared at the boy, his looks almost back to what I’d seen back in his core, the vision of a cultivator with bright burning eyes. I smiled, patting Zhang’s shoulders as he lifted his head.
“It is good to see that you are doing well,” I said, and received a smile of my own.
“All thanks to you,” Zhang replied and I nodded, sensing his Lotus bloom. “I hope there’s been no issues with the Lotus Bloom? It’s all quite untested, and you’re my first ‘patient’ so to speak, so feel free to send a letter to me if something comes up,” I said and Zhang shook his head.
“On the contrary, I feel better, almost as good as I had done back when I could cultivate. I know I’ve said this often, but this is a debt I’ll never be able to pay back,” Zhang said and I shook my head.
“Oh you’ll totally be able to. The data I’ll gather from studying the lunar blossom will be worth more than enough for whatever help I provided,” I replied with a grin, patting Zhang’s shoulder when I saw him try to refute my words.
“Boy, in regards to that. As I’d written in the letter, an elder from the sect had come and recognised the flower you’ve set in Zhang’s core. He left something for you, that you should have a look at,” Granny Lang said and I frowned.
“Elder Tian Feng?” I asked, having narrowed it down to possibly be the only Elder who would know about the Lunar Blossom.
“I didn’t get a name, but he had a moon spirit who was very interested in the blossom and more importantly you. Come in and have a look for yourself,” the Granny said, walking into her new home and I followed behind.
I glanced idly around the house, seeing the many herbs hanging around like Granny’s old shop and shook my head. We headed further into what looked to be Granny’s chamber, and the old woman bent down and picked out a wooden box.
“He’d told me to hand you this whenever you came by,” granny said, handing me the box.
I noted the strong seal set on it with four glowing characters. It was only due to practising with Liuxiang on formations that I was able to detect the lock present within the seal, and pulsed my Qi, unlocking the box. Gently I opened the case, and took out the folded scroll inside. I idly glanced at it, when something else present within caught my attention and I froze.
I stared at the seed of Gu sitting inside.