Chapter 656 - The Living Giant (IV) (Patreon)

I don't know what I thought would happen when I summoned a freakin' mountain, but apparently I don't know much of anything these days. Have I been so desensitized by the system that I didn't believe, even for a second, that me summoning a mountain would be a big deal?

Turns out, it was.

Everyone just stood like damn statues, letting the rushing river slam against and past them, standing and looking up at the spawned behemoth. I saw it--Long Tao's neck veins tensed, and his fingers clenched into fists, and I knew he was fighting the urge to come over and beat the answers out of me.

Shufen was no better, her eyes widening until I could see into her skull, glaring at me as if conjuring daggers with her gaze and throwing them into my soul.

Alright, fine.

Maybe, maybe I should have given you guys a heads up, but, in my defense, I am a very forgetful and oblivious man. How was I to know conjuring up an entire mountain out of thin air and damming an entire river in the process would somehow result in people being shocked?

... haah.

Despite my shouting, they all got very wet, from head to toe, and then some more before most spun around and rushed over to me.

"Master, what is that?!!"

"Master, how did you do that?!!"

"Master, can you slap me so I wake up?!!" I don't know who said that last one, but please stop.

I did want to provide answers, but I didn't have any either. The Living Mountain was as much a mystery to me as it appeared to be to them. But...

"Let us explore it," I candidly and expertly evaded the question, though by now it looked like the audience had wizened up to it. A few rolled their eyes, a few awkwardly coughed, and even the damn bird nesting on my head cawed in a way that I swear to god felt sarcastic.

Ignoring the environmental damage I was causing by damming up the mouth of the river by a goddamn mountain, I took a leap over and everyone else followed. The feeling changed a bit as I landed on the surface--for starters, the sounds of the rushing water quieted until I could barely discern them. The somewhat scorching feeling of the sun diminished until it was pleasant. And, perhaps most insanely, the somewhat murky feeling of Qi in the air as it was mixed with a whole bunch of other things... it wasn't there. Sort of like the difference between breathing in a valley city dab-smack in the middle of the winter when it's consumed by smog, and breathing in a fresh lungful of mountain air.

The kids landed one by one, each with their own little declaration, though I've gotten deaf to them for a moment. Standing at the base, I could actually see the mountain's top, but it wasn't... natural. I could see everything, even the parts on the other side. Every bark, every leaf, every branch, every blade of grass, every single line eroded away by time.

Suddenly, as if from a blue sky, a rush of energy erupted from around me as I saw a carpet of gold and red unfurl--from it, a miniscule, fingernail-sized mote of energy roared and thundered, crying out like a newborn before shuttling forward and bursting through the ground and going someplace inside.

"Was... was... was that a Spirit of a Mine?" Shufen stuttered from my right while Eternity furled (is that even a word?) back into a carpet, though it stood like a goddamn person. Reminded me of a certain movie with a certain urchin and a certain princess.

"Yeah, that was a Spirit of a Mine," I mumbled, immediately feeling the changes under my feet. The Qi grew even thicker, so much so in fact that the mountaintop went from being clear to misty.

"Hey," Shufen's voice dropped as everyone else dispersed, even little Naǒ taking flight off my head and toward the mountaintop, crying out in joy. I think.

"Hm?" I looked back and saw an angry woman. It was a very, very, very familiar sight--the same posture, the same expression, the same curved eyebrows. In this world as on Earth, it seems like I made women angry in the exact same way. "Hey, why are you angry?"

"Why am I angry?" oh no. She was scowling through her teeth. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe I stubbed my toe a bit. Maybe I didn't sleep well enough. Or maybe, just maybe, my innermost beliefs of everything in existence are being broken and shattered on a near-damn-daily basis because of you!"

"..."

"Come on. Take it out."

"Take what out?"

"Everything."

"E-eh?"

"Everything that you own, everything that you have, every little thing that will cause me yet another shock and force me to reevaluate everything I thought I knew. Take them all out."

"No, no, there's nothing else."

"Nothing else? So, no more Living Mountains, no more Spirits of the Mine, no more Divine Beasts, eh?"

"No..."

"If you lied to me, I will kill you."

"..."

"You lied to me."

"Er, I, I'm going to explore the mountain..."

"Hm. Explore. Preferably someplace no one can hear you scream." wow.

"You're a rather violent person, Shufen," I said. "But your Master would appreciate it if you directed that violence, you know, away from me."

She glared at me for a moment before sighing, rubbing the bridge of her nose, and walking away. Tsk, I knew it. No one can resist my zen charms. Or they simply get so tired of dealing with me that they choose not to bother any longer.

I took a brisk walk around, taking in the sights. It was kind of pointless as I could see the entire place by just closing my eyes. Every detail of it was finely carved directly into my mind. Still, it was sort of like the difference between being someplace in person and checking it out on Google Earth or something. There's more to reality than the shapes and colors, after all. There are sounds, subtle changes in the air, the warmth or the chill, and a thousand minute sensations that an image, no matter how perfect, can't capture.

It was all that more important because this would become our home. Be that here, or wherever I plant it in the future, this mountain will become the heart of our sect. I can already imagine it--above the misty mountaintop, when Naǒ grows up, she'll fly and spew flames. Beneath, there will be a pavilion coated in mystique, where I'll lazily spend my days, always bothered by one or another kid. And below would be more pavilions, housing all the others as they come and go from the far world. And further below would be homes of other Disciples, and various kinds of rooms.

Bit by bit, the somewhat plain, barren terrain of the mountain changed. Before long, it was a small city, housing tens of thousands, vibrant with sounds and colors and life.

I'll make it so, one day. Just once before I die, I wanna sit on that mountaintop and look down upon the world full of light. Just once.