Chapter 42

  Hidden Monsters (I)

  It was a lovely day--

  Birds were chirping, the sun was burning, and the smell of tea was sweet and inviting... but my heart would not calm. It beat like a drum at a rock concert, and this became the first day I desperately missed being a pharma salesman. Even if not legal, if I started feeling this way, I could always pop a color or two and feel better within minutes.

  Now?

  It's anxiety city, and I'm taking a scenic route, apparently.

  It's been about 13 hours since I inspected the 'mute Hua', and I've been fearing for my life ever since. It doesn't make sense, not really; technically speaking, I'm stronger than everyone currently on this peak.

  Yes, even if they are old monsters with the kind of talent I will never have, at this very moment, I could beat all of them. But what of it? That would end any of my future potential, and I would inevitably have to replay this entire saga with some other monsters.

  Thus, the fear.

  In what, maybe a year? Yeah, a year, if that, all these monsters will be capable of just... well, ending me is a polite way of saying it. I don't think Long Tao has an interest in doing it, and it seems Dai Xiu has taken an above-average liking to me, but the mute boy... no, not a boy. The dude's nearly five centuries old.

  Jesus.

  Five hundred years. That's the approximate distance between when Shakespeare was writing his magnum opus(es?) and when I was learning to use the big boy toilet.

  And yet, here he was, acting like he was a mute teenager in service of Dai Xiu.

  I always knew the girl wasn't just your run-of-the-mill hidden talent (these kids seldom are), but what kind of a level are we talking about here if she has a Demigod as a protector?

  Yes, I don't exactly know how strong that realm is, true, but I do know that it's at least stronger than the Void Transformation--which means that the mute is stronger than our Sect Master. Well, in theory.

  Haah.

  All kinds of fates spiral and unravel, it seems. Long Tao was killed and reincarnated, Dai Xiu was poisoned and abandoned here, and Hua somehow found himself Oathbound to a twelve-year-old girl.

  And then there's me, with perhaps the oddest fate of them all: an Earthling on the cusp of dying, instead transported over yonder, system in place, no directly stated goal or aspiration.

  Maybe I'm just bound by the law of nature to attract monsters like them? Ah, who knows.

  Now, the big question is, should I hand over the Heart-Stitching Art to the old servant? Let's look at those vaunted pros and cons.

  Pros: bring yet another world-level threat to my side; yet another bus to ride to the glorious tomorrow; a wealth of potential knowledge on secrets.

  Cons: I might wake up dead tomorrow 'cause he'd likely be suspicious as all hell about me; he sells me out to some tertiary party, and I get locked up in a basement, tasked with shitting out one art after another into eternity (and, hey, though an introvert I am, I don't wanna live in a basement in a world of immortals. That's beyond depressing).

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  Nope.

  Not any closer to making a decision. I could ask Long Tao; there's no doubt in my mind that old monster must have noticed 'something'. It's unlikely that he knew as much as me, but he probably did know that the old mute weakling wasn't either a mute or a weakling. But what would I gain by siccing one monster onto another? Just more headaches.

  Forget about it.

  I'll just do what I do best: pretend it's not happening. He's a mute, hardworking lad who can wolf three bowls of tasteless rice like it's nobody's business. And it is nobody's business--especially mine.

  Speaking of my businesses, the reaping of the rewards came--all the Spirit Stones from the bets were promptly delivered, along with the Stones earned as part of the distribution.

  In total, yours truly had:

  18,398 mid-grade Spirit Stones and 28,330 low-grade Spirit Stones.

  Holy crap.

  No, seriously, holy crap. I'm freakin' loaded! It'd be kind of like winning 10 mil in a lottery back on Earth, except I can't really blow through my wealth here by buying boats, cars, and--no, nothing else. Just boats and cars. Just the legal stuff.

  Khm.

  Strangely, however, that wasn't the most endowing part of my endowment--it was the tiny little device that they were delivered in. That's right, baby, I got myself a spatial treasure!

  It's not a ring but a small satchel, leather-made, bound with silver stitching around its edges with dotted, golden lines across its surface forming an array. It was woefully unstable, and I was repeatedly warned that it cannot hold anything living, not even a grain of rice, and it has a shelf life of about 8 months left.

  Not even that could depress me, because, boy, let me tell you, the feeling of making something appear out of thin air and then disappearing it the next moment... yeah, it's priceless.

  The entire day after the competition felt a bit like a blur, however; I was busy both counting the Spirit Stones and counting on the second old monster not to realize I knew about him, leaving me very little room to breathe.

  Low-key. Just be low-key.

  The night passed and the dawn came, and with it appeared a child on my peak.

  It was a girl, younger than even Dai Xiu. She looked to be about seven, yet, much like most monsters in this cursed house of mine, she did not act like a seven-year-old.

  "My name is Light."

  "... really?" I asked. She spoke in a wholly apathetic voice, much like Long Tao.

  "Why would I lie about my name?"

  "Right. Of course. One question."

  "What?"

  "Why the hell are you here?"

  "Young Master sent me."

  "... I'm going to need a bit more than that."

  "Your Sect Master sent me here," she said. Hm? Is she the kid he told he'd send to me?

  ... I don't have a good feeling about this.

  "Oh. Is that so?"

  "Yes."

  Please, please, please--just this once, this one tiny little time, just let me be wrong. Let my godforsaken intuition be wrong. Please

  [--Creator's Eyes used]

  [Target: ???--Light]

  [Age: 6(?)]

  [... anomaly detected]

  [...]

  [Talent: ???]

  [Cultivation Realm: ???]

  [Cultivation Method: Demonic Starsurge (???)]

  [Martial Arts: ???]

  [...]

  [Traits]

  [Demonic Inheritor (???) -- inheritor of the Demonic Origin, a direct descendant of the previous Demon God]

  [Eyes of the Mind (Legendary) -- transcendental ability of comprehension; can break their mind into a dozen separate entities that work independently]

  [Bane of Blood (Legendary) -- old resting Curse from 80,000 years ago cruises through their veins, disallowing cultivation above the Demigod Realm]

  [Apathy (Epic) -- special Physique & Bloodline have severely waned the essence of humanity, rendering almost all emotions nearly extinct]

  [??? -- anomalous behavior. The host's cultivation realm is insufficient]

  [...]

  [Special Bloodline and Physique detected: 'Demonic Bloodline' (Ancient) and 'Star Devourer' (Jade) physique]

  [Recommended: cannot cultivate common cultivation methods. Requires one capable of converting Origin Qi into Demonic Qi. Due to Host's limited strength, it is currently impossible to create a suitable art. Recommended that the target continue cultivating their current art, supplemented by Spirit Stone Augmentation for a quicker conversion]

  [...]

  [Final Assessment: an Inheritor-level talent, bound and cursed by the lineage that has struggled to survive for countless millennia. The curse gates what would otherwise be a guaranteed Empress. Only 4 sentients across worlds have knowledge on how to undo the Bane, but it will take many years before the Host can gather the necessary materials]

  Huh.

  Well... fuck.