Chapter 218

  Spirits Blossoming (VII)

  Luckily, Long Tao didn't do anything stupid... I don't think.

  He'd gone and come back, and the city wasn't falling apart, and there wasn't a martial law being put in place, and there weren't squadrons of guards patrolling the streets looking for him.

  So far, so good.

  As for where he'd gone and what he'd done? I don't actually know. He came back at the crack of dawn, which was precisely when Gu Hai swung by to drag us all to the canteen--or, well, they called it a Dining Hall here--to have breakfast.

  While the kids sat down with the sect's disciples, I was ushered to the seat of honor right up there with the elders and the sect master.

  "Sit, sit, young friend!" Gu Zhao seemed rather jovial (likely because I said I'd help him deal with his biggest headache)--though I do wonder how he'd feel if I told him that the girl (woman?) will likely die long before he prepares any kind of a 'cure'. "Everyone, this is our guest of honor, Junior Lu! Treat him as you would treat me! No, wait, you treat me worse than a criminal--so treat him the opposite of the way you treat me!"

  They laughed, though beneath that guise were the examining looks; I looked to be about thirty but had still limited my cultivation realm to the peak of Spirit Manifestation. All kids, actually, did this per both Long Tao's and my instructions.

  To others, only Wan Lan looked to have broken through into the Foundation Establishment, while everyone else was hovering between the 10th stage and the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm, including Long Tao.

  Honestly, of all the utility arts, this one was likely second only to the Art of Survival, as it's like a secondary layer of secrecy.

  "Welcome, Junior Lu."

  "I hope the kids haven't bothered you."

  "I haven't seen old Zhao this excited about someone since our last visit to a brothel."

  "What brothel, you bastard?! Don't drag me down to your dregs!"

  Though I really did want to interact and feel a part of it all, I couldn't. The reason was simple: the food. It looked so appetizing that I don't know why everybody isn't immediately jumping on it. I thought they'd be vegetarians or something since, you know, they're alchemists and all (does that even make any sense?), but no.

  The spread was massive, and there was everything--there were boiled eggs, slices of beef jerky, fresh fruits and salads, poached salmon, honey-coated chicken breasts, a few soups and stews... and I could see it. The tiny glistening specks of spices adorning their juicy, well-prepped surfaces.

  Oh my God.

  They even have curry rice with chili.

  "Are you alright, Junior Lu?" My expression must have twisted at some point as the voice dragged me out of the haze. I glanced sideways at Gu Zhao, smiling at his concerned expression.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "Yes, sorry. We've been travelling for a long while, so all this food..."

  "Ah, how impolite of me. Everyone, dive in. Time to eat."

  And eat I did.

  Within seventeen minutes, I was in a food coma, so slumped in my chair I looked like one of those PSA pictures for lower-back problems if you keep sitting wrongly in a computer chair.

  I've sweated thrice over, twice due to just how hot some of the spices were (namely chili), and once because... well, I don't know, honestly. Maybe meat sweats? I sure did eat a lot of meat.

  A lot.

  I'm pretty sure that at some point I've become an exhibit, as they all finished eating and just stared at me, like I was a hungry ghoul who hadn't eaten in weeks.

  I didn't care, though. Let them judge me.

  I finally had a meal. Not just food, but a meal.

  Fuck.

  Now I can't let that girl die. This grace given to me... I must pay it back, and the best way to do it is to make it so this smiling bag of skin is credited with saving her.

  "Junior Lu, you sure do have an appetite," someone commented with a coy smile, but I was so tired I couldn't even lift my chin to see who it was.

  "Oh, hush, woman. I once saw you eat raw nettle because you thought it'd make your skin shinier."

  "Just once? I've seen her do it dozens of times."

  "Huh? You're going there? How about you, huh? You think none of us know you literally chew lemons when nobody's looking? You consume half the allotted limit! We only get so many of them, and you have the audacity to eat half--and in the most barbaric way possible!"

  ... hm?

  It just dawned on me that a fight broke out. Well, not a fight--but more that they all just started throwing shade at one another.

  Finally sitting up, I looked around and saw Gu Zhao's expression was mellow, as though this were a completely normal occurrence.

  "It wouldn't be a collective meal if there weren't a few fights," he said. "That's why we usually don't eat together."

  "Oh. Well, those who are close fight; it's just the nature of things."

  "That it is, indeed."

  "You've been quite kind to me," I said, taking a few grapes as a post-meal snack.

  "Ha ha, hardly. It's the least I can do for... well, you know."

  "Speaking of what we know," I said. "I will tell you something. But," I said. "Only if you swear an Oath not to question it further." His expression turned deathly serious. Luckily, nobody was even aware that we were talking, as some of the 'fights' became, well, fights. No Qi was used, however, just the good ol' fisticuffs. "I swear it will not be harmful to either you, your disciples, or the sect."

  "... upon the vast Heavens, I solemnly swear to uphold your condition. Should I fail, may the grace of the firmament smite me." I don't actually know if these oaths work, but I've seen that the cultivators take them pretty seriously.

  "First," I said. "Ginseng won't save her."

  "What--"

  "Second," I interrupted. "Even if it could, by the time the tournament finishes, she will have died." His frown deepened as I continued. "I do have a way to save her, and you can take all the credit--rather, I'd prefer you did--but... you can't ask how, what, where, or when. It's a lot to take on faith alone," I added. "So, I will also add this: that young girl over there with her nose up to the sky." I glanced over at Ren Xinyi, but I needn't have, as he seemed to have immediately realized who I meant. "If she's to have any future at all... you need to find an Elemental Spring for her. Otherwise, she'll barely outlive a mortal, all her potential wasted."

  "... I wasn't wrong."

  "Hm?"

  "I've lived for centuries now." His lips weren't moving--he spoke directly into my mind, looking away and taking a sip of water. "And when you do live that long, you learn to trust your instincts above all else. Do you know what my first instinct was when I glanced upon you all?"

  "..."

  "Run. It was to run so far away that this entire city becomes a dot."

  "..."

  "Only twice I've felt that way before: when I accidentally stumbled into a dragon's lair and when I met the Maiden of the Stars. But it was odd. I couldn't pinpoint which one of you caused the feeling to originate." Oh. "It took me longer than I'm happy with to realize... it was all of you. Ordinarily, I would have avoided you all like a plague; it is seldom a good thing to befriend a harbinger of change, let alone a whole army of them. But here I am, breaking my beliefs." I remained silent. Not because I didn't have anything to say.

  ... I didn't know how to speak telepathically.

  Now, this did embarrass me a great deal.

  "Very well," he said. "I will believe you. Come meet me at the same hall as yesterday to tell me what you need. I hope, for the sake of all my kids, the change you will bring will not leave my home desolate and in ashes."