Halfway back to the sect, Lilith and Seph stopped to rest.
Seph hadn’t had a moment where he could just relax and organize his thoughts and his feelings in a long time.
The alchemy trials could be roughly counted as a resting place, especially that he cultivated a few times under the watchful eyes of his alchemy mentor Zhi Zixin.
But again, not really. He had to fight five distinct groups of monsters during the alchemy trials.
It was like he forgot what it meant to rest. He needed it, but he hadn’t thought of it.
There was way too much depending on his constant alertness and constant progress for him to rest. He had a matter he wanted to attend to—a matter of life and death, the life or death of his mother, and he was adamant he wouldn’t fail her, and he didn’t.
Then came the freak scar of fate that popped up in the middle of his village, probably because of him, but again he faced a situation that he couldn’t deny his full attention. He was going to save the villagers no matter what, and he did.
In the end, it wasn’t he who suggested this break; it was Lilith.
She felt his energy, a lot of nervous energy, a lot of tiredness that he hadn’t realized he suffered from, because he was a new yin cultivator.
He doesn’t know his limits; he didn’t know he had limits, but she knew. She had been there almost from the beginning. She had been there potentially with the best yin cultivators that walked the face of Jianghu.
She definitely was there with the best yin cultivator to walk the face of the Earth, her dear father, the one who started it all, the blueprint against which all shall be measured for time immemorial.
She felt there was something special about Seph, after all, her father himself vouched for him, and she wanted to help him, guide him, even though they were close to each other in cultivation stage, she knew more.
Lilith liked him; she knew that much already, but she didn’t know how much she liked him. She didn’t know if she fancied him, or if she just liked him as a cultivation companion.
That didn’t matter though, they had all the time in the world to explore their feelings, to help each other grow, and the best time to solidify your gains was in times of respite like that moment they shared in the rough camp they created to spend the night.
While Lilith was exploring those feelings and thoughts, Seph was busy doing something; items appeared and disappeared.
Sun was super interested in what was happening, watching wide-eyed at the magic show in front of him.
The monkey still didn’t seem like he was getting used to all the magic surrounding him; it was still new and alien to him.
Ghostly palm strikes, hands emerging from the ground as if there was a mass burial of living people trying to get out.
Disintegrating men made of sand that form a giant a few seconds later.
A man that could become a storm of insects, another man or woman? He wasn’t sure; it confused him, but they could split into two entities.
A ghost that talked and screamed at him each time he touched one of the ghost’s books.
That’s only mentioning a few of the wonders the monkey had seen so far after accompanying Seph on this wondrous journey.
And it didn’t seem like they were going to stop boggling his little brain soon.
His heart still weighed heavy with the burden of his constant failures at cultivating, but he understood the assignment. This was a time to rest, and he was going to do just that.
Seph eventually looked like he was done with the task he was doing. He completely emptied his old spatial sack of everything, except the fruits that he kept as food for his monkey companion.
He extended his hand with the sack towards Sun, who stared wide-eyed at the gift he was being presented.
The monkey pointed his little finger at himself to make sure that the gift was for him.
Seph just nodded with a smile.
The monkey screeched happily and took the spatial sack. He looked inside to see what was inside and found nothing.
He looked angrily at Seph and clenched his fist threateningly and called Seph names in Monkeyese.
Seph laughed so hard, but he stopped himself, and taught Sun calmly how to project his energy into the spatial sack to claim ownership of it.
Sun did just that, and his eyes went wide as saucers when he saw all the fruits inside.
He put his hand inside and got out an apple, and started eating it, completely forgetting to thank Seph for his gift, not that Seph minded since he didn’t need the sack anymore after gaining the bigger capacity, and smaller size, spatial ring.
Seph had stashed all his father’s bookshelves back when he was in his secret cultivation room.
He still wasn’t sure how to feel about the possibility that his father could be a cultivator.
If that was the case, was he ever even going to meet him?
Their world was vast, even if Seph had only been in his village and only went to the next village to save his mother and their neighbors from the scar of fate.
But he knew now that he was going to go everywhere in search of more gains. He saw how horrible the scars of fate were, and he had a goal to close as many of them as possible.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
It was a monumental goal, but he had all the time in the world, and he had already made the right friends to help him in achieving that goal.
One thing that he was glad was finally done was saving his mother and securing a wonderful future for her in that new village.
But again, he had to close that scar of fate or even the neighboring village would eventually be in grave danger, when the monsters increased in number and wandered to that village attracted by the human souls in it.
He let out a long sigh once he realized how tired he was. He thought it was good that Lilith had suggested that they camp for the night.
He had been pressing forward like a battering ram all that time, with barely any time to rest.
Did she know he was tired and suggested this to give him some respite?
He didn’t really understand her; he didn’t know if she fancied him, or if she was just carefree like that.
She seemed thrilled to be with him.
Now that he thought about it, did she ever know young people her age thousands of years ago when her father was alive?
Or was she the only yin cultivator offspring amid Scorn and his generals?
More importantly, Seph didn’t know how he felt about her; he had never been in a relationship.
One thing he knew for sure though, he was happy to have her as a friend, and he felt responsible for her wellbeing somehow after he saved her from the coffin she was in.
Now that he thought about it, did they really seal Scorn off-world? That would be insane, that he had only ever seen two villages in his world and had already visited another.
Suddenly, Lilith punched his shoulder when she saw how deeply in thought he was.
“Hey! What was that for?” Seph exclaimed.
“I didn’t want to leave you with your thoughts much longer. Who knows what you were thinking about after all?”
At that moment he noticed that her costume had changed again; her scales had turned into short shorts and a crop top, but they looked different from any other time he had seen them.
It used to look like she had actual dragon scales covering her body, but now the dragon scales formed small shapes of fire on her armor, that glinted with actual fire because of the fire they lit when they started camping.
“Oh, you perv! You were thinking about my clothes again, weren’t you?” Lilith said with feigned indignation.
Seph said absentmindedly, still trying to understand how her armor works, “Yes.”
He then snapped out of his stupor and said, “What? No, of course not, I just now noticed your clothes changed again.”
“See why I have to snap you out of your reverie? You just can’t help yourself and think of my clothes, and who knows what else; this is the only thing you admitted to doing so far.”
“No, I swear I don’t!” Seph said quickly, like he was in front of the town’s judge.
Meanwhile, Sun was laughing his ass off.
“Hey! Stop laughing and help me here. You too noticed her changing clothes, right?”
Sun looked at him feigning surprise and made an X with his little hands to signify that he never did such a thing and then lifted his head up in feigned indignation.
Baby was watching the whole thing, and she laughed 4 times without making a sound; her mouth just huffed out a ring of smoke with each laugh.
Lilith scratched her dragon friend’s head while looking at Seph feigning displeasure.
“Aww, come on, you are all ganging up on me. Sun, I thought you were my friend; you already forgot all the fruits I gave you!” Seph looked frustrated with all of them.
Sun looked like he remembered something; he held his finger up to Seph to stop him from speaking and dug his hand inside the spatial sack and got out a banana and started peeling it and eating it in front of Seph.
“Un-fucking-believable, look at him without a care in the world, like his friend didn’t just get accused of committing a heinous act.”
Lilith stopped laughing, and she suddenly lunged towards Seph and hugged him.
The sudden hug really surprised Seph; he didn’t know what to do for thirty seconds, and then he hugged her back.
She said, with her head on his shoulder, “Thank you for saving me from that prison; you are a great person. Don’t you allow anything else that happen make you forget that.”
Seph smiled from ear to ear, and he didn’t know how to respond.
She let go of the hug and got out some ingredients from her spatial ring that she had bought from the neighboring village and started cooking something for the group. Baby really loved her cooking after all.
It dawned on Seph after a few seconds. “So, you were joking all this time?!”
Lilith just laughed and didn’t even look at him.
“Damn it, she keeps getting me with that.” Seph feigned disappointment in himself, but for the first time in so long he felt so relaxed.
He remembered he hadn’t checked his masteries for a long time, and he activated his Eye of the Veteran skill to check on them.
Palm Mastery: level 5 (new skill+)
Gourd Mastery: level 5 (new skill+)
Death Element: level 5 (new skill+)
“Wow, I got three new skills from my masteries.” Seph was astonished, and then his mind couldn’t help but think about the fight inside the Scar of Fate. Had he known about his new skills, could he have won? Did he even have all three new skills or did he get them after the near-death experience?
Lilith said excitedly. “Tell me, tell me!”
“Okay, hold on; let me check them first.”
He checked the death element new skill first, and then each of the masteries.
Death Element: Level 5
Splatter of Pestilence: spews most of the gourd’s contents to shower any enemy within 2 meters in pestilence. The substance will mostly get sucked back into the gourd except for the amount that already hit your opponents.
Drawback: High consumption of the substance; be careful or you will run out if you use this skill frequently.
Gourd Mastery: Level 5
Gourd Spinner: Spin your gourd in the air or on the ground and it will circle you autonomously for sometimes before it loses power.
Palm Mastery: Level 5
Fast & Precise I: Palm attacks 25% faster and 25% more accurate.
Seph told Lilith about his new skills. It wasn’t smart to tell anyone about your skills as you never knew if they would betray you one day, but Seph trusted her, maybe too fast, but he did anyway.
“Your skills are oddly similar to one of my father’s former generals turned betrayers.” Lilith said with apprehension in her voice.
“Oh, actually not only my skills, I think most disciples that took part in the legacy trials got skills that were once used by your father’s generals, but your father used those skills before them, it was like he was a god that could do everything but had to give away many of his individual powers to others.” Seph told her, not sure if she knew her father used to own all the power that he gave his generals.
“I think I heard that lightly mentioned long ago, but I didn’t understand it at the time since I was so young, but that explains a lot.” Lilith said, her apprehension dissipating now.
Seph thought to check his Eye of the Veteran skill too; he thought maybe he had identified a new boss somewhere, but he doubted it. Only the monsters that formed the wall in the scar of fate seemed like they could be a boss to him.
Quest
Eye of the Veteran lvl 3: Identify 10 unique bosses.
Progress: 5/10
After finding nothing new other than the Minotaur boss, he said. “I think I have one last thing to check.”
Name: Seph ???
Class: Undead Buddhist lvl6
Cultivation Stage: Body Dismantling (IV)
Lifespan: 18/45 years
Strength: 52
Dexterity: 24
Intelligence: 35
Wisdom: 20
Constitution: 28
Perception: 35
Luck: 15
+4 free attribute points
Seph noticed he had gained 2 levels in his Undead Buddhist class, which gave him 2 points each in strength, intelligence, and wisdom plus 4 free attribute points.
He didn’t like the disparity between his strength and dexterity, so he added the free attribute points in dexterity; his melee prowess was important to him after all so he could deliver his palm strikes, which won him most fights.
