Chapter 130: Breakthrough (Patreon)

“This way please, Elder Chen.”

Hu Chen followed the servant’s directions, letting himself be guided through the hallways of the Peng Family’s estate.

“Here it is.”

The servant approached a doorway that was flanked by two guards.

“Elder Chen has arrived.”

“We greet Elder Chen!”, the guards exclaimed in unison and one of them pulled open the door. Hu Chen entered and the door was closed behind him.

“My humble greetings, Elder Xia!”

The Xia Family’s Matriarch was seated at a table, seemingly sorting through several ornate pill containers that were laid out before her. A couple paces behind her stood a man in the robes of a senior member, prominently carrying the Peng Family’s crest alongside that of the sect. Hu Chen bowed deeply before he approached the two.

“Elder Chen. How nice to see you could make it.”

Meixiu Xia greeted him with a warm smile, though she did not return the bow.

“Of course, of course. I wouldn’t dare ignore your invitation.”

He really wouldn’t dare, though calling it an invitation was a stretch in and of itself. It may have been formulated as one, but when the head of a pillar family called for him, it was a summons and nothing else.

“That honors me, Elder Chen. Let me introduce you to Senior Member Hao Peng.”, She gestured at the man standing behind her. He looked to be of medium age, his long black hair and short beard framing sharp facial features. “I believe you two aren’t acquainted yet?”

He nodded.

“We have not had the pleasure of conversing yet; my duty to the family has rarely left me with time to leave the estate. Though I’ve naturally seen Elder Chen at official appearances of the council.”

He performed a quick, cordial bow. His movement, just like his tone of voice, matched the sharpness of his face. Hu Chen returned the gesture, though he didn’t bow as deeply as he had towards Meixiu Xia.

“We’ll be right with you, Elder Chen.”, Meixiu Xia interjected. “Please wait for just a moment.”

Hu Chen did as he had been told – it was not like he really had a choice – and stood in place, glancing around the room trying to figure out why he was even here. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for him to be summoned to the estate of one of the pillar families. What was out of the ordinary was that he had been summoned to that of the Peng Family at the behest of the Matriarch of the Xia Family.

He knew that, in the years since Elder Jiang Peng’s death, the Peng Family had been locked in an intense internal conflict, since their former family head had long neglected to appoint a designated successor to his position. While Hu Chen knew to stay well away from this sort of conflict, he was aware that several of the other elders had involved themselves with it, so his best guess was that his summons today was somehow related to that.

After a while, Meixiu Xia seemed satisfied with the cultivation medicine arranged before her waved for him to approach. As he got closer, the Hu Chen could make out the pills’ fragrances just well enough for him to tell that they were unbelievably precious. He felt a sting in his chest; if he’d had access to this sort of drug, he might not have had to ruin his cultivation to make it to the Dao Contemplation Realm.

“Elder Chen, I have a favor to ask of you.”

That was a nice way to phrase ‘I have an order for you’.

“Of course, what can I do for you, Elder Xia?”

“You see, Hao Peng here would like to become my disciple, and I’d like you to act as a witness for it.”

If his position had allowed it, Hu Chen would have raised an eyebrow to comment that statement. This was a highly irregular request. While master-disciple relationships usually lasted for a lifetime, they would usually start when the disciple was still rather young. It was also very unusual for a member of one Pillar Family to be taken in by a member of another Pillar Family, not to mention a family head.

Beyond that, this sort of relationship was a mostly private bond between the master and disciple, so the oath was usually made in private as well. While there were some cases where the oath would be held before the public, such as when the bond was simultaneously meant to signal the choosing of a successor, Hu Chen did not know of any cases where a designated witness was involved.

Of course, this wasn’t his place to express any of those concerns.

“I’ll be happy to do so, Elder Xia.”

“I expected nothing less, Elder Chen. Very well then…”

She turned towards Hao Peng, who bowed deeply.

“Honored Sect Elder Meixiu Xia, I ask that you take me as your disciple.”

“I will grant your wish, Senior Sect Member Hao Peng. I shall take you as my disciple. You may take your oath.”

Hao Peng fell to one knee.

“By the heavens above me, by the earth below me and by…”, his speech stalled for a moment and he swallowed, “…by my ancestors looking down upon me, I, Hao Peng, swear that I shall respect Meixiu Xia, Elder of the Lunar Peaks Sect and Matriarch of the Xia Family as my master. As her faithful disciple, I shall honor these bounds till the day I perish.”

Meixiu Xia smiled faintly, waiting for a moment before she spoke.

“I, Meixiu Xia, shall take Hao Peng, Senior Member of the Lunar Peaks Sect as my disciple. As his master, I shall provide him assistance and lead him as he walks the path of cultivation.”

She turned to look at Hu Chen, who took a moment to realize she was signaling him to speak now and almost stumbled over his words as a result.

“I, Hu Chen, bear witness to the oath forged between Elder Meixiu Xia and Senior Member Hao Peng. By my honor as an Elder of the Lunar Peaks Sect, I hereby confirm that the former has taken the latter as a disciple!”

“Thank you, Elder Chen.”

Meixiu Xia turned back.

“Hao Peng, you may rise now as my disciple!”

“Thank you, Elder Xia!”

As he rose from his position, Meixiu Xia approached Hu Chen, stopping only when their faces were just a hand’s breadth apart. Her eyes suddenly lost their usual warmth, and Hu Chen could feel a shiver run down his back as she spoke with a quiet but commanding voice.

“Elder Chen, I believe I hardly need to mention this, but everything that just happened will remain in this room and between the three of us, unless I ever explicitly say otherwise. Are we on the same page?”

Hu Chen felt her aura pressing down on him, making it difficult to even breathe. He needed to consciously force his mouth to open to respond.

“Of course, Elder Xia.”

She smiled and from one moment to the next, her suppressing aura was gone.

“Great, I knew I could count on you.”

She turned around and walked to the table, beginning to transfer the drugs to her spatial ring.

“That was all I needed from you, Elder Chen, but since I don’t want to make you run around unnecessarily, I’d advise you to wait here for a while.”

Without waiting for an answer, she clapped her hands and the doors flung open.

“Servants, Elder Chen will be staying here for a while. Please make sure he wants for nothing in the meantime.”

With those words, she made her way towards the door. As she was about to leave the room, she turned around one more time.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be back in a bit.”

With that, she was gone. Hao Peng performed a respectful bow, then he followed her. Hu Chen was left behind in his confusion as a group of servants swarmed around him.

“Elder Chen, would you like some tea.”

He nodded weakly.

…

“Please sit down and expose your back.”

Hao Peng obliged, assuming a lotus position at the center of the large formation that adorned the room’s floor. He watched as Meixiu Xia laid out the array of pills before him. Some of them came from the possessions of the Peng Family, others were supplied by her. Each and every one was worth crates upon crates of spirit stones.

“Take them in the order we have discussed. Start with these three, then wait until I have activated the formation before you continue.”

He did as his new mistress had said while she stood up and began letting her Qi flow into the formation. The moment he swallowed the first pill he could feel the powerful Earth Qi it contained start to rampage through his body. As he did his best to contain it, he swallowed the second and third pills in quick succession. As they interacted, the Qi’s ferocity increased tenfold. Hao Peng felt drops of sweat roll down his forehead.

The formation began to glow and as it did so, he could feel it start to interact with the rampant Qi. For a moment, the Qi seemed to calm, but then its intensity redoubled again. Hao Chen’s vision blurred, his head began to pulse with pain and his mind went blank. Every last shred of his attention focused on not being torn apart by the forces inside him, but he could feel that it was a losing battle. Even with all his experience as a cultivator, it wouldn’t be long before his body and soul started taking permanent damage.

Then, suddenly, he felt a cold, delicate hand press on his back. A presence gentle, yet infinitely greater and more powerful than his own made its entrance and the storm of Qi inside him calmed as quickly as it had brewed.

“Take the other pills now.”

The voice was quiet but demanding, it would brook no disobedience. He followed its instructions.

As he took the next pill, he felt his soul open up, suddenly ready to start accepting the monumental amount of Earth Qi that was still swirling around inside him. As it did so, he could feel it try to swell out of proper proportions – it couldn’t actually take in more Earth Qi, as his reserves were already full – but the presence of his mistress held it firmly in place.

Another pill, then another and another. Hao Peng could feel his mind open up in ways he couldn’t have imagined before. He had spent a long time at the peak of the Dao Attunement Realm, contemplating the Dao of Earth to increase his understanding, but suddenly all his knowledge flowed more freely than ever.

“That’s it.”

Hao Peng realized he had taken the last of the pills before him.

“Concentrate. Focus on yourself and only on yourself.”

The presence of his mistress calmed his mind and steadied his soul.

“The time has come.”

Hao Peng closed his eyes and the world around him disappeared. There was only him, his soul and the calming presence of his mistress. He steadied his mind and dove into the Dao of Earth.

He pondered questions he could never have thought off before. With every answer, his understanding changed and reformed, again and again. Time lost its meaning as he sunk deeper and deeper into the truth of the world. Now he could feel the existence an entirely new level of understanding, just out of reach. He approached it, question by question, answer by answer, inch by inch. An eternity seemed to pass, it felt like he could never actually reach it…

And then, everything snapped into place. It was sudden and unceremonial. He had imagined it like an explosion or like bursting through a wall, but it was just a simple click in his mind. And yet it changed everything.

Hao Chen’s world seemed to expand a thousandfold as he suddenly saw truths he couldn’t have imagined. His soul roared in triumph as he expanded to become more than he had been before.

And in the midst of it, only one thought crossed his mind: It was worth it!

Allying with Elder Xia hadn’t been a step he’d wanted to take, but his rivals in the family had themselves allied with other outsiders. The moment the other Pillar Families had begun to involve themselves, staying independent had ceased to be an option for those who wanted to attain victory.

When Elder Xia had reached out to him, Hao Peng had only accepted her offer out of desperation, as the other family heads had already found their own allies among the leadership of the family, but he had quickly learned that in doing so, he had made the perfect choice.

In a war fought without swords, it had been haunting to see the skill with which she had outmaneuvered the opposition and slowly brought the entire family under her thumb. It had taken five years, but there was not a single person left who could oppose his – or rather her – leadership over the Peng Family.

It had been a hard pill to swallow, having to hand so much control of his family over to an outsider and Hao Peng had spent many a night cursing his decision. Yet in this moment, as he stepped upon a part of the path of cultivation he would have never reached or been allowed to reach had he not done what he did, it was all worth it.

He had closed his eyes as a cultivator of the Dao Attunement Realm, now he opened them as one of the Dao Contemplation Realm.