Chapter 684 - Gold and Glitter (XII) (Patreon)

Shufen's thoughts raced faster than she could process them.

Not only did she not know there was a Seed of Condemnation within her, but she didn't even feel it while breaking through. No, that part at least made sense--it was designed in such a way as to not be perceived. And yet, this young boy not only perceived it, but stopped it.

Stopped the Seed of Condemnation from blooming.

Of the many, many, many miracles that he'd showed her, starting with healing her and lifting her from the husk that she had been, this one might actually be greater than all the other ones combined. After all, even if they were unimaginably great, they were still explainable to an extent. Or, at the very least, they had a precedent--no matter how distantly old, it existed.

Blocking the seed, though?

That wasn't even possible. In fact, the Court didn't even hide the seed from the public--practically everyone under the blue sky was allowed to enter the exhibit and inspect the Seed as closely as they wanted. Even Shufen's Father had studied it for a few centuries before giving up, boldly proclaiming that there, indeed, was no way for an already-planted seed to be either destroyed or blocked.

And yet...

"Stop gawking at me like that," her Master harrumphed after a few moments, as both the old Divine Blade as well as her couldn't stop staring at him with slacked jaws. "What's done is done. And you, shameless thing; you said you wanted a reward? Fine, fine. Tell me what you're lacking, art-wise?"

What was she lacking, art-wise? Nothing, of course. Though she cultivated Enduring Eternity as well as Protean Song, Shufen already had a library of arts practically mastered, all coming from her clan. Even the lowest tier one was low-Myth, so to say she lacked in that department was false--and yet, she could not say it. Anything this man brought out was like a treasure people would drown a Secret Realm in to obtain.

"Something that can pierce defenses," her requirement was extremely simple. She relied heavily on striking first from the shadow and, even if not killing, at least severely injuring the person. Once her cover was blown, her combat prowess dropped by at least eighty percent.

And the bane of both her as well as Tuan Clan as it was were those who had layers upon layers of defenses. Despite her having several dozen arts in her mind all designed in an attempt to penetrate various barriers, she still chose to ask for that as none of them were all that good against truly solid defenses.

"Hm, fine. I'll see what I can dig up," he said, swatting his hand out as if shooing her away. "Go away, now. Come see me later today."

She walked away and down the mountain, still absentminded. Was there truly anything the man could not do? No--he did not say that he 'destroyed' the Seed in her, merely that he blocked it.

As if finding the straw of life, Shufen yanked at it and finally came to her senses. That was right--even he, miraculous though he was, could not destroy the seed, merely contain it. It was still inside of her, and it was still a dormant explosion waiting to go off.

She sighed and cursed; just how paranoid were the Courtiers to have added even this contingency? When they left her to breathe, she was a cripple through and through. She was fairly certain there were only two people in existence, outside her Master, who could have cured her. And yet, despite that, they still planted a Seed.

It wasn't as if Seeds themselves were cheap. Rather, it took one tree well over a million years to bear just one fruit, and that one fruit might have an useful seed within it. Though they were never for sale, naturally, it was estimated that one seed cost the Court around one hundred thousand Divine-grade Stones.

The depth of cruelty and paranoia was truly unrivaled, she mused as she gnashed her teeth. She'd never given up, even on the troves of death--the desire for revenge. She plotted and planned and made a list of names of those who had to die, and that desire had only gotten stronger since recovering. Even now, when she knew that a single misstep might cause her to reveal not just her existence but also her Master's to the Court, it hardly dulled that want.

She only saw red, deep and dark, and in that red she saw the faces of men and women who simply had to die. Taking a deep breath, she retired to her cave to stabilize her Foundation. It was quite a few steps better than the one she achieved previously, though still following the same path of Shadows.

Though others came by to congratulate her, they didn't stay, flitting off to do whatever it was they did when Master wasn't looking. It was quite insane, actually, how different their behavior was around that man and when he wasn't there. Different people, practically.

By the time the evening arrived, she had managed to fully stabilize the leaking Qi. Feeling strengthened, she changed into a new set of fresh robes and climbed back up, pensively excited about her 'gift'. She didn't know whether the man could procure yet another miracle, but she did know that if there was anyone who could, it was him.

He stood outside the pavilion, sitting on a chair on the porch and sipping some mushroom tea, clearly waiting for her. Without saying a word, she climbed up and sat opposite of him, staring at him for a moment; were she a child like him, too... no, she shook her head. Men like him cannot be coveted, she knew.

"You've stabilized it completely?" he exclaimed with a bit of surprise, prompting her to smile.

"Of course. Lest you forget, I've already done all of this before."

"Hm, right. I do keep forgetting you're older than almost everything else in this world."

"Haah," she rolled her eyes and visibly scowled at him, but, for all her fronting, she didn't mind much him joking about her age. Him being the key word. "Yes, yes, I'm ancient and withering and old. And you're still not giving me my gift."

"Here," he tossed her a booklet, a frown etched on his face. "It's not that good, but it should do for now; I'll keep digging for something better, though."

She knew better than to take his words at face value, excitedly taking the booklet and reading through it. It wasn't particularly thick--six pages--denoting the marvels of the art called 'Barrier-Diffusing Art'. Very direct naming, as always, though the art itself was not simple at all.

In fact, the more she read through, the deeper her frown got. The art itself did not, in fact, dissolve any barriers, no; rather, it was like a guide of sorts, meant for her to learn how to identify the weak points of any barrier she faced. If Master, one glance would be enough to discern the weakness even in the Imperial-grade barrier.

... isn't... this kind of completely and utterly insane, though?! Was her thought as she looked up. There was no way he just had this lying around, that was for certain. Though she suspected it for a while now, this confirmed it: her Master had the ability to create arts and methods. And not just ordinary ones, but extremely complex and grand ones, and do so something on a whim.

Huh, she mumbled to herself. Best not to think about it. Let's just pretend I don't know, for my sanity's sake...