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RM 55: The Tailless Fox (III)
🕑 Added 2025-04-25 15:46:04 +0000 UTCWhen Wang Yang came to be, he could hear some familiar and unfamiliar voices beyond his closed eyes.
“Is he… ok?” Xu Qiang’s labored voice came through first.
“He seems fine. No poison or heavy internal damage. A healing pill should be enough for him.” Another soft, regal voice gave him the answer. A voice he didn’t know, but the steps soon moved away, and a new set of steps came near.
“He is out of danger, so you can continue with the trial.” Li Muchen’s voice made his eyes open wide.
Unlike the comfort of a soft bed, they had laid him down on the hot sand with only a cloth as a barrier. A few disciples walked in the vicinity, but none came too close. Soon, they all left.
“You woke up early.” Muchen noticed Wang Yang first.
“Master… you saved me.” Wang Yang said.
“No, you saved yourself.” Muchen shook his head.
“…Has the trial ended already?” Wang Yang asked.
“It hasn’t. Why?” Muchen sat down on a nearby rock.
“How? I was inside there for two months! Cough!” Wang Yang broke into a coughing fit. His throat turned scratchy, and his body ached all over.
“Drink this first.” Muchen handed him a gourd. Water from a special spring and a healing pill mixed into it for easy consumption.
“Thank you…” Wang Yang gulped the water in one go.
“You said you were there for two months, right?” Wang Yang nodded at Muchen’s question.
“Only 16 hours passed outside while you stayed trapped in an area with distorted space and time. And, you made some progress as well.” Muchen didn’t know why Wang Yang took longer than last time, but he had achieved more things than last time because of that.
He is on the verge of a breakthrough to the 8th layer of Qi Refining. But I didn’t think that he’d be able to form a bond with the sword this early. Wang Yang had found the same sword last time, but it took a few years before he could form a bond with it. However, he has already achieved that this time.
“Only 16 hours… I thought that…” Wang Yang clenched his hands. His mind raced with all the negative thoughts that piled up inside him in solitude. If he wasn’t lucky, he would’ve died. Facing that such a possibility could’ve come to pass, his face turned solemn.
“Whatever you faced in there, you have overcome it on your own.” Muchen placed a hand on Wang Yang’s back. “Don’t dwell on it, learn from it so you can do better if a similar situation arises.”
“…Ok. But I also have a question.” Receiving Muchen’s nod, Wang Yang continued. “If I train more in such a place…”
“Perish the thought. Even if only 16 hours have passed outside, you have indeed aged 2 months. You were already lucky enough to survive when the formation collapsed.” The sword Wang Yang pulled from the altar held the sealed area together. Once he took it out, the formation broke, and the area reappeared in the physical world.
“I won’t ask for details…” Cold sweat covered Wang Yang’s face.
“You should get some rest now. Don’t worry about the trial.” Muchen chuckled at the sudden look of horror on his disciple’s face.
“Sorry…” Wang Yang clenched his hand, but before he could speak a flick landed on his forehead. “Yaaww!”
“What are you sorry for?” Muchen smirked. “You’ll place first in the trial.”
“Master… I don’t think it’s a good idea to rig sect trials.” Wang Yang rubbed his forehead with a pained look.
“This brat… do you want a few more?” Muchen branded his finger threateningly.
“Sorry, sorry…” Wang Yang slid back covering his head.
“You’ll place first because you found the most valuable treasure in the trial.” Muchen sighed, pointing at the silver sword lying beside his disciple. “That’s my Master’s first sword, Serenity.”
“W-Wait! Master’s Master, then…” Wang Yang looked at the sword, then at Muchen, then back at the sword. The now ordinary-looking silver sword turned out to have a larger history.
“Yes. You found the Sect Master’s sword.” Muchen shook his head at his dumbfounded expression. “My Master started the treasure hunting trials for me and my fellow disciples. We trained our quick thinking, trap detection, resourcefulness, tracking, time management, and teamwork while hunting for treasures hidden in the valley. That’s why we continue the tradition and give the disciples the same chances to develop.”
“Could no one find this sword?” Wang Yang asked, his eyes glued to the sword.
“We found every other treasure but this one. Almost like our Master didn’t want us to find it.” Muchen’s Master had stuck the sword in a space sealed by a formation that distorted space and time. Above all, it changed location with no entry or exit points. It felt a bit too harsh for a test, but he understood the reason behind it later.
“Well, now that you have found that sword, which is still counted as a hidden treasure. You have won the trial, no one can deny that.” Muchen concluded.
“Oh, ok.” Wang Yang nodded. If he won, he won. There wasn’t much he could do after that.
“Master, are brother Xu and others, ok?” He asked at last. If he had gotten caught in a mishap, something could’ve happened to one of them, too.
“They are all fine. They reported what went wrong with you first and helped search for you the whole time.” Muchen reassured him with a pat on the shoulder. “You have good friends.”
“Hmm… Master… Well, I…” Wang Yang looked at the ground, going over his words before multiple times before he could make a convincing reason.
“Here, take this.” But Muchen handed him a pill. “It’s a tier six Complete recovery pill, should be enough to bring you back to your best condition.”
“…Isn’t this expensive?” To a disciple like him, a pill like this would cost an arm and a leg.
“Depends on what you put it up against.” Muchen winked.
“I understand, Master.” Wang Yang ate the pill and rushed off with his sword. He stopped for a moment and looked back. But shook his head and continued in the sandy desert.
“Isn’t it wonderful to be young?” Muchen said.
Only the howling wind answered back. All the senior disciples that joined the search for Wang Yang had left for their posts. Wang Yang left to catch up with Xu Qiang and his group. So, only Muchen and the entrance of the previously sealed cave remained there.
“Let’s stop pretending, shall we?” This time, Muchen looked at the entrance of the cave.
“32 sensing formations, 45 tracking formations, 76 restraining formations, and 108 sealing formations.” The voice of a juvenile girl echoed around Muchen, however it soon gained maturity and robustness of an old man. “You are certainly well prepared.”
One word came from the left, another from the right. Elusive like the wind, this voice stayed ever changing. In both form and place.
“I have to show at least this much to respect a legend.” Muchen smiled.
The formation held by the sword Wang Yang pulled, sealed a certain creature in that place. That’s the reason Muchen’s master had the area change places, and even if the sword was included in the treasures, it wasn’t meant to be found. It contained something that shouldn’t see the light of day. He knew because he had faced that thing in battle, the creature that destroyed his sect and killed his junior brother, Li Xianquan.
“Is this how you humans show respect? You aren’t even here.” The voice of a mature woman huffed.
“I apologize, there were some constraints on my part. So, the puppet was all I could send.” Muchen, or the puppet he controlled from the Sky Garden to set things up, smiled.
“The nerve you have…” The voice turned gruff like a sailor’s. “So different, yet so similarly irritable like that one.”
“Are you talking about my Master?”
“Who else if not the one that sealed me here for a thousand years?” The voice lowered into the depths of hell.
“Well, you destroyed three countries in the middle continent, what else was my Master supposed to do?” Muchen sighed.
“You know nothing about the truth. Not you, not your master.” The voice turned serene like a bard’s.
“Are you talking about the Beast tribe genocide or their dealings with Demonic sects?” Muchen asked.
“You… How do you know?” The voice changed back to that of a young girl. “They erased all that from history.”
“Is that important?” Muchen sat down on the rock. “The way you exacted your revenge was wrong. To reach one guilty, you killed a thousand innocent.”
“You know well.” The voice of a young man answered.
“I am not trying to condemn you or anything. I wanted to have a proper conversation with you.” Muchen said.
“What? Did you know me or something?” The voice asked.
“Something like that.” The memory Muchen had wasn’t good. He only remembered a mindless beast that his Master pitied. By the time he had slain, he wanted to know more about the real person behind that veil of madness.
That’s why he didn’t stop Wang Yang from participating in the trial. He wanted him to reach the distorted space and lift the formation. All that so he could finally have a conversation with this person, so he could finally understand how this person was before rage and murder consumed them, before this creature turned into a puppet for the Demonic Sects.
“…What do you want from me?” The voice calmed down along with the wind.
“A partnership,” Muchen said.
“Partnership? You? A cultivator of the righteous path? Don’t you know who my enemy is?” The seductive voice of a mermaid scoffed.
“Tao sect.” Muchen knew them well. The largest sect of the Righteous Path, and also its biggest betrayer. “The enemy of an enemy is a friend, no? But, if you want me to swear upon my cultivation, I can do that too.”
“To think a madman like you is roaming around, looks like a lot has happened since I was sealed.” The voice chuckled. “Alright, I’ll give you a chance.”
“Good. The first step of my plan is very easy.” A graceful smile hung on Muchen’s lips. “You have to become my cultivation pet.”
“…”
“I am being serious.” Muchen shrugged at the silence.
Although it sounded somewhat grandiose, a cultivation pet wasn’t much different from a normal pet. Aside from the fact that it could help in cultivation. And, it must obey its master, or get disciplined. If having a conversation with the creature was Muchen’s personal reason, then this was the real intention.
“…You must be out of your mind, human!” The voice howled to the sky. Along with her, the wind. A dust storm rose in an instant. It tore a hillside into bits with the dunes of sand displaced over seconds. Now, it moved towards Muchen.
But he remained unperturbed on his rocky cushion.
“Being sealed for a thousand years has taken its toll.” One snap of his finger and the storm collapsed on itself. “All your illusions and deception are nothing more than party tricks at the moment.”
The air peeled away. Howling winds and trembling earth, all flew like feathers in wind. Muchen faced the little, white furball at the entrance to the cave. A white fox with three red dots on the forehead. The yellow eyes and white fur stood out in the desolate desert. However, the most striking part about the fox, was the absence of the tails.
“You…” It protested with a growl as feeble as its appearance.
“Join me and complete your revenge, or die in vain after enduring a thousand years. The choice is yours.” Muchen’s eyes held no light.
“I was wrong… You aren’t like your master at all. You are tainted…” She gritted her teeth. “Tainted by evil.”
“Good and Evil… they are both sides of the same coin. If pursuing my revenge makes me evil, then I’ll accept that.” Footsteps neared, and Muchen’s voice doubled. Another figure appeared from the shadow of the hill. “After the dust settles, I’ll pay for my sins in full.”
The real Muchen stepped into the light, he stored the puppet in his storage ring, and stared down the tailless fox.
“So, do we have terms?” He asked.
...
This is today's chapter.
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See you all tomorrow.
Comments
Crazyone47
Yay cute pet
