Chapter 248

  Legends and Myths (VI)

  "Look at her."

  Those were the first words he spoke to us before I could even ask him a question. Turning around, I nearly spat my throat out--there, writhing on the floor, wasn't a human. It was... I don't even know, honestly. An amalgamation of rotten and decaying flesh? A misshapen, horrible thing that looks like a landfill come to life?

  It didn't writhe for long, seeming to die within a breath's time, which was when I got the explanation.

  "She was a Wraith?!! How is that possible?!" Lao Shun was now on his feet, as though he hadn't just nearly pissed himself, shooting over to the misshapen corpse and crouching next to it. "I can't believe there was a Wraith hiding here. No... forget that. Why would a Wraith be here?!"

  "She's a defect," Long Tao said. "Do you think she would have died so easily otherwise?"

  "Oh! A defect! Yes!" Okay, for the love of God, clue us in! "Yes, the stripes around the flesh are of the wrong color. And the smell... hmm, indeed. She was--how did you know she's a Wraith?" Lao Shun asked as I took a deep breath.

  "Why don't we first get the hell out of this city?" I said. "If someone sees this, I don't imagine a scenario in which we look good."

  "Ah, yes!"

  We sped out under the cover of the night, making as little noise as possible.

  Getting revenge?

  Hah! Forget that. Once the news spreads of what happened in there, I imagine that old crook will live in perpetual terror, which is revenge enough for me.

  We boarded the thick, lengthy chain after a few minutes, carefully--yet still speedily--descending it. The kids, oddly, appeared mostly unbothered, save for Rayce, and though I was really tempted to check the status windows, I held back.

  It's probably the special-trigger reward for Long Tao achieving an 'immense feat'.

  ... except, I still don't really know what that feat was. They say she's a defect, and sure, I can buy that, but she did still kill a slew of strong Elders with only a thought. If that's a defect, then what the hell can a real thing do?!

  It took us about fifteen minutes to descend the chain, even at our increased speed, prompting me to look back yet again in awe at the damn thing. It truly was a fortress, though I imagine we'll come across cities much 'fancier' than this in the future.

  We didn't meander around any longer, speeding off toward the nearby forest and finding a small clearing about fifteen miles in where I pitched the tent and we could finally catch our breath.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  "Mister Alchemist, how did you not know?" Those were the first words out of Light's mouth as we sat down in a big circle.

  It stung.

  Light, dear. I didn't know either.

  "E-eh?"

  "She had weird hair," Light said.

  "Yes, yes! And weird eyes! Like worms swimming in them!" Dai Xiu added.

  "Any time I looked at her, I just wanted to draw my blade out and chop her head off." And that lovely sentiment is brought to you by Xi Zhao.

  "I just felt that her Qi was... twisted," Wan Lan said.

  Okay, seriously. What the hell?! What good is my system when I need to spend hundreds of points to do something that apparently the kids can do off the cuff?

  "Stop pretending," Long Tao said. "None of you knew she was a Wraith. At best, you knew she wanted to kill us."

  Oh, that shut them up. So much so that their cheeks grew a bit red.

  "As for how I knew," Long Tao turned to Lao Shun, stared at the man for a moment, got up, and just... left. He went into his own, detached corner of the tent without saying a word.

  "... was that an answer?" Lao Shun asked, somewhat befuddled.

  "As good a one as you'll get," I said, kind of disappointed that he didn't explain. Honestly, I'm still not quite sure even what happened there. Just how did he get a drop on her?

  "Well, as long as he identified that she's a Wraith, killing her wouldn't have been hard," Lao Shun sighed. "Especially if he also noticed the defect."

  Noting the kids' curious gazes, he grinned with a bit of pride and continued.

  "You must be asking: how was she then able to kill all those Elders so effortlessly? She didn't! I mean, she did, but not through some fancy art--she must have, at some point, infected their minds with Wraith-Bugs and detonated them. Probably to scare us."

  "What are Wraith-Bugs?" Wan Lan asked.

  "Her children."

  "Ewwww!!" Yeah, I was tempted to ew-out too, to be honest.

  "Ha ha, yes, it's indeed a bit... repugnant, but not too unnatural. Wraiths are one of the sub-species of shapeshifters," he said. "I'm not really all that familiar with them either, truth be told; their existence is very much an enigma as they don't reveal their true bodies once they inhabit that of a human. I'm assuming that she was banished from her home due to the defect, but... well, I don't really know. Regardless, her cultivation--even if outwardly impressive--was actually truly hollow. I imagine even a mortal could have killed her. That attack that she released before dying--that was essentially all the Qi she had, and it probably took her decades, if not centuries, to store even that much."

  Okay. Nice.

  A neat little rundown.

  That still didn't explain how Long Tao knew--no, that's a dumb question. Of course he knew. He's probably killed dozens of Wraiths before in his life; asking him to explain it probably involved certain things that would break the illusion he's just some random, super-talented kid (if it wasn't already shattered).

  "Ooh!" the kids exclaimed in acknowledgment and began to compete (with words) over who could have killed her as quickly as 'Senior Brother Tao' did.

  At the same time, I couldn't endure Lao Shun's piercing gaze, so I left the tent, with him coming out the very next second.

  "You hid some things from me," he said.

  "Hiding implies intent."

  "That kid almost killed me."

  "..."

  "Even if I am an Alchemist and cultivation is simply something I do on the side, I'm still at the Inner World Realm. And that kid's at the Foundation Establishment." I nudged my eyebrows up a bit. "No. He's, what? Fifteen?"

  "..."

  "By Gods," he exhaled a breath that truly appeared to hold the weight of that realization. He seemed shaken, and I honestly don't blame him. "This... is going to be fun."

  ... alright. Not the direction I thought this would go in.

  "Fun?" I quizzed.

  "You're young, still, and you don't know the dullness of eternity," he said. "No... even with that, deciding to gamble with you may truly have been the wisest thing I've ever done."

  "You almost just got killed by a kid."

  "Exactly! How exciting is that?!"

  "..."

  Nah.

  Why?! Why, oh the Heavens?! Why do you keep surrounding me with weirdos?! I'm so tired! I just want one normal person!

  No, wait, I have Rayce! That's right!

  ... shit. I just jinxed that, too, didn't I?