Chapter 657 - The Living Giant (V) (Patreon)

"This is a Divine Art," Brother Tao said.

"Yes," Master said.

"This is a Divine Art," Aunt Shufen said.

"Yes," Master said again.

"This is a Divine Art," Uncle Shun said.

"Yes," Master said once again.

"A Divine Art?" Brother Tao said again.

"Indeed," Master nodded.

"A Divine Art?" Aunt Shufen said again.

"Indeed," Master nodded once more.

"A Divine Art?" Uncle Shun said again.

"Indeed," Dai Xiu was getting a bit confused. Nobody else said a thing besides those three, though Brother Yimu was drawing circles on the ground and praying to Buddha. Grant me strength to endure, o' Great Buddha... he mumbled like a ghost.

"An actual Divine Art?" Brother Tao said as Dai Xiu noticed her Master's expression dance.

"... hey. Are you all deaf? Did seeing the art make you all go deaf? Or did you hit yourselves on the head and suffered some short-term memory loss? A Divine Art, it's a Divine Art, it will be a Divine Art whether you ask once or ten times or a hundred. So, the next person who says Divine Art quizzically, I'll throw you off the mountaintop and into the lake to fetch us some fish for dinner."

"..."

The threats seemed to have worked, but Dai Xiu was still a bit confused. It was the art that Master promised her, and it was indeed great... but it was Master. Why were Brother Tao and Aunt Shufen and Uncle Shun so confused? Master was capable of doing anything under the heavens. Why was it weird that it was a divine art? All of Master's arts are divine, after all. Like the one which heals wounds more quickly than most of Uncle Shun's pills, or the one that allows her to cultivate so quickly and keep up with others despite not being as talented, or the one that allows them to restore Qi so quickly while fighting Dai Xiu often wondered whether she ever even spent any.

She read the first few pages of the thick tome yet again, and though she understood parts of it, most of it still eluded her. There were many words she couldn't understand, and it seemed like the way to do it for her own specific physique was different than for the rest.

"But a Divine Art--"

Brother Tao's flight was beautiful. Master tossed him with a great deal of precision, like a javelin. Brother Tao drew a grandiose arc across the sky, arms and legs crossed as his robes and hair fluttered, carving out a path directly over the edge of the waterfall and toward the lake. Master watched him, his hand above his eyebrows as if to shield his eyes from the sun that wasn't actually shining into them.

She smiled, as did many others, with a few even cracking a laugh--namely Light and Shufen.

"But seriously, Divine Art--" Aunt Shufen took to flying, too. "WAIT! YOU SAID THE NEXT PERSON! YOU NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT THE NEXT NEXT ONE!"

Her scream was audible as far as she broke past the waterfall and headed toward the lake, with Master once again striking the same pose, a look of pride on his face. Nobody laughed this time, though they did look at the lake somewhat oddly.

Aunt Shufen, Dai Xiu knew, was much, much, much older than Master. In fact, so many years older that it would be far more appropriate to call her Grandma Shufen, but she looked ready to commit murder whenever anyone called her that, so they just called her Aunt.

"Why do I have a feeling sights like this will become extremely common now?" Uncle Shun commented, standing up and walking over next to Master.

"It's good that they take a swim. It'll cool off their heads," Master said.

"Hm. So, what's the plan now? We sail to the island normally?" Dai Xiu's ears perked up as she stealthily looked at the two.

She'd been looking forward to the 'island' for a while as Brother Yimu had shared that it was a place of constant war. There were many rifts and portals to in-between worlds where humans and infernals fought every day, all the time, for tens of thousands of years now. She would get to fight them all, and so soon at that.

"Hm. Oh, right. You don't happen to know anything about constructing a mirror-world to act as a prison for counter-elements of Dao so that the negatives don't pollute the world?"

"... what?"

"Thought so."

"Why do I feel like I'd just been insulted?"

"Let's prepare fire for when they bring fish," Master said.

"You really think they'll bring fish?" Uncle Shun asked.

"I'll keep throwing them back down until they do."

"..."

The two dispersed as she shuffled over to Brother Yimu. The mountaintop was flattened from the onset, and they had quickly constructed a simple pavilion with a roof and no walls, and Brother Yimu was currently leaning against one of the beams holding up the roof, mumbling something into the wind.

"Brother Yimu--"

"--Little Xiu," he interrupted her. "Do you think we are born mad? Or do we go mad and start seeing things that aren't there?"

"E-eh?"

"One of the Elders of my former sect used to say that life was an imaginary thing," Brother Yimu said. "That we are all lotus flowers leisurely floating on a pond's surface, imagining the lives that we are living. That nothing is real, and all is but a temporary projection of Dao. Am I a lotus flower creative enough to conjure up someone like Master?"

... he was a lost cause, it seemed. So, she shuffled over to Lan'er.

"Go away," she said. "I am currently studying my innermost peace."

*What does that even mean?!

Dai Xiu pouted, but she left her alone nonetheless, walking over to Brother Zhao. He'd gotten much taller and his shoulders had broadened, and he had even become handsome, some might say. She caught herself staring at him a bit too often, but all the fire in her would go out the moment he'd start talking.

"Hm? What's wrong, Xiu'er?"

"Why are you calling me Xiu'er?" she scrounged her brows and asked as he put on that dumb, apologetic smile of his. She hated it, as it was extremely disingenuous.

"F-forgive me, Sister Xiu, I misspoke."

"Can you help me with this?" she asked, pointing at the tome in her hands.

"I, I really can't," he said, his smile shifting slightly. "Whenever I try to read it... my head hurts. It's like the words don't want to stay in my mind."

"Huh. Maybe you're just dumb?"

"Maybe."

"Hey."

"Hm?"

"Can you stop using that stupid smile with me?"

"Er, w-what do you mean?" she sighed and rolled her eyes, reaching over and pulling down the corners of his lips until they were flat.

"This," she said. "It suits you best when you don't smile. Haah, if even you can't help, I guess I'll have to try on my own. Ugh, I hate this. I'll definitely disappoint Master yet again..."

She turned around and walked away, mumbling to herself, while a pair of eyes stayed on her back for a long while after, lips not quite sure as to what to say.