I looked at the floating images with wonder. They reminded me of shadow puppets, or moving paintings, but were so incredibly lifelike that it was as though I stared through a window.
“What is this?” I asked.
“It’s Howling Blossom Valley,” said the Butcher Bird, misunderstanding. “And that is the expedition you came with. Now, I answered your question, so answer mine: point out your master.”
I frowned at the image.
“He’s not there.”
“Only groups of nine can enter through the Howling Blossom Valley portal,” said the Butcher Bird. “With you included, and those eight, that makes nine. Since no other groups have entered in decades, your master must be in that group.”
I laughed.
“Even though you knew I was telling the truth, you still didn’t believe me!”
“A cabbage cannot be a master,” said the Butcher Bird. “You telling the truth doesn't make something true.”
I looked at the bird as though it were crazy.
“How can you say that when you're a talking bird?”
The air cracked, and my neck ripped apart. Blood sprayed in an arc as my head flopped about on the ragged remnants of my neck. I couldn't move from damage to my spine, and the attack came so instantaneously that I didn’t think to use blood control ahead of time. The Butcher Bird watched dispassionately as my blood sloshed onto the floor. After a moment, I regained control and healed the injury.
I hadn’t seen the attack, and I couldn’t even tell what the attack had been, only that it was instantaneous and painful. I’d become so used to not feeling any pain that these savage wounds inflicted by the Butcher Bird were truly pushing me to my limit.
“No matter how many times you hurt me,” I said. “You won’t change my master’s identity.”
The Butcher Bird’s eyes gleamed within their dark mask.
“That would be an interesting experiment. How much pain is needed to change the truth?”
It went from sitting on the back of the other chair to perched on my blood-spattered knee with no indication that it moved through the space between.
“You attacked the bricks earlier,” I said. “Was it something they said that upset you?”
The Butcher Bird cocked its head.
“You are talking nonsense.”
I raised an eyebrow and called out to the room between rooms.
“Can you back me up on this?” I called out.
“You’re on your own!” the bricks called back.
The Butcher Bird shrieked, and the air shimmered as it shot a blast from its beak. Dust blew out from the room between rooms, and I coughed as it swept into the room.
“Why did you do that?” I asked.
The Butcher Bird cocked its head so erratically that a faint clicking sound came from the vertebrae.
“You are talking nonsense,” it said. “You are no longer fascinating. I will dispose of you unless you point out your master.”
I glared between the Butcher Bird and the images displayed in the air.
“I can’t do that,” I said and braced for more pain.
“Why do you adhere to this belief? Is it perhaps a fault in your design? I do not understand how you think a cabbage can be your master. A cabbage cannot talk or teach. If you brought a spirit herb through the portal, I might have understood, but you did not. It is simply a vegetable.”
“He might be simple, and he’s not the best teacher, but he can certainly talk.”
The air shimmered as the bird peered closer.
“Fascinating. Very well, I shall accommodate your delusion. Your junior sister is a member of that group. They’ve just reached the location of one of my experiments. I’ve been wanting to test it on humans, and this is the perfect opportunity.”
The Butcher Bird fluttered over to the other chair and perched on the wires. Light glowed from within the pool of blood as the Butcher Bird activated a series of formations.
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“What are you doing?” I asked. “What will happen to them?
The Butcher Bird twittered.
“To answer those questions, I’ll have to show you.”
Lights glowed as the images shifted.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked.
“It’s not your turn to ask a question, but I’ll give you one for free: curiosity.”
###
Hours had passed on the trek through the steaming jungle, and though tension was high following the incident with the Butcher Bird, the cultivators were naturally relaxing after their time unmolested. They moved through the jungle with purpose, inspecting the brightly colored flowers and mushrooms that grew from the damp trees, and noting the lack of animals or insects and the silence that came from this.
Besides the feather touch of their movement techniques and the drip of ever-present humidity, the jungle swallowed them without a sound.
The jungle wasn’t as never-ending as they’d first suspected, and the expedition of eight broke through the dense trees and found themselves on the edge of tall grass that cut off any further vision. The blades whispered relentlessly as they rubbed each other in the balmy spring wind. The cultivators paused at the change in biome, resting and taking the moment to reassess. Until now, they'd unquestionably followed the momentum set by the Shen Clan. The group of them moved through the jungle with the agile stamina of Qi Condensing cultivators, keeping their senses peeled for potential obstacles, but now any semblance of a path vanished into the grass, and questions grew like weeds.
Ran Cong took the moment to survey for poisonous herbs with Ran Qin and Ran Yiliu assisting him.
Chen Ai stood closest to the grass, listening with her spirit and closing her eyes. She reached out, but didn't touch. The grass blazed in her spiritual senses like a fire. It didn't give the impression of a reagent or spiritual herb, but more like how meltwater gives the impression of ice.
The region of tall, swaying grass had an identity all its own, and once they stepped inside
…
“Sense anything interesting?” Song Shuai asked, interrupting her thoughts.
“I was about to.”
“Oh?”
He waited for her to reach out again, but whatever moment was there was lost. The grass no longer blazed so brightly. Of course, if enlightenment could be grasped so easily, everyone would be immortal.
“It's gone,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” he said sincerely. “The elders of my sect often say ‘lightning might not strike the same place twice, but the thunder echoes’.”
“Oh,” said Chen Ai as she thought on his words. “They sound very profound.”
“They’re very proud and pompous,” he replied with a grin. “They’d love to hear someone thought they were profound. In my personal experience, lightning often strikes the same place twice, especially if that place is designed to catch lightning. You’ll find your epiphany, don’t worry about that.”
“You’re also in the 9th Stage of Qi Condensing?”
“I am.”
“Are you seeking your epiphany to move to the next realm?”
He shrugged.
“I already have my epiphany.”
Her eyebrows shot into her hair.
“What? Then why haven’t you advanced?”
“I was hoping I could come to this valley,” he said. “And you can only come if you’re in the Qi Condensing realm.”
“What did I just hear?” Shen Tongtong said as she walked over to them. “You wanted to come here?”
“Sure, didn’t we all? I mean, that’s why we’re all here, right?”
The Shen and Ran clan members exchanged a look that seemed to sa,y ‘outsiders are crazy.’
“I don’t think it’s like that,” Chen Ai said. “I’m only here because of my senior brother, and he sort of dragged everyone else along as well.”
“Do you…” Shen Tongtong trailed off.
“What?”
“Do you think he’s still alive?”
Chen Ai scoffed, and Shen Tongtong’s face reddened.
“Excuse me for being hopeful!” she said. “He made a strong impression on the Stone Cicada Trail, and I didn’t expect him to be killed straight away!”
“Oh, sorry, I’m laughing because he is almost certainly alive.”
“What?! How can you be so sure?”
The other expedition members gathered around their conversation.
“I’d like to know as well,” Ran Cong said.
“I’ve fought the man,” added Song Shuia. “And he didn’t strike me as someone who could face off against a Nascent Soul spirit beast and win.”
“He’s full of surprises,” Chen Ai said. “After all, his disciple is a Core Formation swordsman prodigy.”
There were some nods at that as everyone mentally reassessed their expectations. With these new expectations came hope. If the expedition leader can survive, why can’t they?
It was the perfect time to press forward, except the wall of grass continued to obscure any possible paths. Each blade stood well above Chen Ai’s head. Even using movement techniques, they would be hard-pressed to stay on track, let alone stay together, and there was no telling what lay hidden inside.
“I’ll lead the way,” Chen Ai said with more confidence than she felt. “I use grass qi, so I should be able to find a path.”
“Should?” Ran Qin asked.
“Do you want to lead the way?” Chen Ai asked.
Ran Qin gave her a polite bow.
“Please, lead the way, assistant expedition leader.”
Chen Ai frowned at her, but getting angry was just putting off the inevitable. She drew on her qi -- once more marvelling at how strong and fast the response was after her recent breakthroughs and the meridian-expanding pill -- and reached out to the grass. If she could connect to a single blade, then she could hopefully connect to the field and establish some kind of route leading them safely toward the temple.
Though ‘safely’ might be an optimistic word. Things had been safe so far, and nobody believed their luck could hold forever.
Before her finger touched the grass, she felt a strange prickling crawl over her skin, as though she reached into hot water. Sourcelight played between the swaying blades, and they slowly bent over to form a path.
“Very impressive!” Song Shuai said.
The rest of the expedition gave polite applause as a path continued to fold itself into the grass. Chen Ai wasn’t sure if she should take credit or not, but she was pretty sure she hadn’t done this. When she crouched down and touched the grass, it was still alive, simply growing wrong. The path ahead seemed safe, though her spiritual senses didn’t let her see too far ahead.
“What are we waiting for?” Ran Qi asked her with a sweet smile.
“Hold my pack,” Chen Ai said as she tossed the large, overstuffed burden to the delicate musician.
Annoyingly, the heavy pack wasn’t too heavy for the Qi Condensing cultivator, but Chen Ai focused on the weight of her club in her hands as she strode onto the freshly formed path and headed deeper into the grass.
Let me know if I missed a character. I want this list to be exhaustive. I tried posting, but Royal Road has a maximum of 30 options per poll :( So I have narrowed it down to the 30 characters who influenced the plot the most (it was brutal cutting some of them from the list, Dr Wu's Door, you shall be missed!) :)
Who is your favorite character from the first 100 chapters?
