Chapter 652 - Storm of the Abyss (XXV) (Patreon)

I considered for a moment telling her. After all, it wouldn't hurt to get a whole-ass Holy Land on my side to fight the nefarious little things. But I also considered that I met this woman some six minutes ago, and though I admired her beauty a great deal, my gut wasn't all that impressed and ready to trust her.

"Why are you talking to him? He doesn't know how wretched of a personality you have," Shufen interjected as though sensing my hesitation. "Until he gets to see the full brunt of it, talk to me."

"Hm?" Wuhan's eyes smiled though her lips did not, making for a very uncomfortable little thing as she pulled back and looked at Shufen. "The only wretched thing at this table is a woman devouring food and drinks as if she hadn't eaten anything better than runny porridge in centuries."

These two kind of remind me of Yas' and her mom--only a bit more brutal, perhaps. The two would go at each other passive-aggressively over dinner, while I and poor Ted just awkwardly ate and occasionally looked at each other to recognize the kindred spirit.

"If you were a proper human you would have sent me gifts like this every day," Shufen said.

"Seeing as you weren't a proper human, the only thing you could have done with them was watch them rot."

"It's the thought that counts, little Wuhan. Didn't anyone ever teach you manners?"

"Manners are for those who earn them, not wretched things trying to squeeze me dry over inconsequential things."

"Well, seeing as the lack of those inconsequential things has caused quite a catastrophe," Shufen finished off her glass of wine. "Maybe it wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world to give in?"

"Tsk," the woman clicked her tongue and sighed, and I wanted to sigh with her, to be honest. "Aren't you embarrassed?"

"Why would I be?" Shufen shrugged. "I'm living at last, little Wuhan. You'll learn, in due time, there's nothing quite as precious as being capable of living."

"Hah," the woman sighed yet again, resting her head against a pair of her fingers and leaning back. "All I asked for was the location of the bastards who attacked my home. Why do I have to endure your childish behavior to get it?"

"Because," Shufen said, the tone of her voice turning strangely serious. "What of it? Even if we tell you, what will you do? Abandon the sect that needs you now more than ever to pursue, what, revenge? Are you ten? You know what would happen the moment you left this place."

"The wolves would come to feast," Wuhan said.

"Hm. And though you've raised a talented little sparrow, she would buck under them in an hour. Say you even managed to somehow got that revenge--you'd return to nothing but ash and stone, and would have to go on yet another journey of the same ilk. You'd spend your senior years a wandering nomad, and you're no woman for it."

"So, you're telling me I'm not strong enough," eh? When the heck did she say anything like that?! "Odd. Have we truly gone so blind as to fail to see a group rivaling a Holy Land emerge? Or have we become far too caught up in our own little games to even care?"

"You could fill libraries with things you lot failed to see," Shufen chuckled. "This would merely be a footnote."

"How gracious of you, o' the wise one."

"The one you fought," Shufen continued. "What was she like?"

"... strong," Wuhan said, her brows scrounging up again. "If we truly battled to death, I'd probably win--lacking a limb or two after the fact--but only under the condition that we were trapped someplace that wouldn't let her escape. Her movement arts are... immaculate. I've never heard of anyone in this world who'd reached such mastery of Dao of Lightning. There's only one explanation--"

"She's not from above," Shufen interrupted. "I can guarantee that much."

"How?"

"Because her Dao, just like yours, is infantile," she said. "Sort of like how baby's first steps are. Rough, uneven, and prone to faltering. Most babies, though, have parents that correct them, teach them, and guide them. But without them, babes never learn to walk properly. Some look at dogs and wolves and crawl on all four. Some skip along with bent knees. Whatever form they find most fitting. Her Dao, like yours, is like that. Grasping at concepts you understand, but without a guide to tell you where to look."

... wow. This is not the woman I've been interacting with all this time. Where's the one who gets all agitated because someone called her old?

"Even more bewildering, then," Wuhan said. "That someone like her can emerge without so much as a whisper."

We fell silent, and I realized I wasn't really much of a participant in the convo. Whether it was because Shufen was protecting me, or because she wanted to maintain 'mystique' of me, or whatever other reason she may have, I didn't know. Regardless, I was happy. Rather, I've made a choice: in the future, I'll just let her talk. She's a wily old thing that can navigate any social interaction under the sun. Shit, I may as well just make her the figurehead of the whole thing. I'll blend back into the shadows, and she'll be the sect master, the face that everyone knows.

Yeah, wow. That's actually perfect.

"Will you tell me how you two connected?" Wuhan asked.

"He came to visit me," Shufen said. "And I liked the sound of his voice."

"Hm. Funny," Wuhan grinned, though it was clearly fake. "A man I have never seen before in my life walked into my sect and sold twenty Pure pills, something that has never been seen before. On top of that, he is chaperoned by a gaggle of children more talented than any I've seen in all my years of living, and in his procession resides an old monster who'd suddenly rediscovered her youth, seemingly from the clear, blue sky. If I didn't know any better, Fellow Daoist Lu, I'd assume you were a harbinger of sorts, and that chaos is your mistress."

... well, she's not exactly wrong, but I well and truly don't want to be. It's just hard to not be that when you have a whole heap of kids blasting off protag aura that's like a goddamn beacon for everyone else.

"I am just a humble Master of sweet few," I said. "And lucky to have Disciples who far surpass me in talent."

"Hm. Magnanimous spirit will crumble like a wall made out of clay, Fellow Daoist. But... I will respect it. Please understand that I cannot reimburse you fully," she added. "As my sect will undergo a great era of change. I will return the pills, and add on top 200,000 high-grade Spirit Stones, as well as a promise that, should you ever need a soldier if you choose to wage war upon those who intruded upon my home, I will wield my sword for you. And if you ever need a sanctuary... please, settle as far away as you possibly can from my humble home. We cannot bear the weight of your calamity."