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009 - Celebrating with Fireworks
🕑 Added 2024-07-03 18:34:05 +0000 UTCQin Yun didn't pay much attention to the meeting with the upper echelons of the clan. He was too busy trying to make sense of the overflowing information now present in his mind. While his brain was a marvel in terms of information storage, it still couldn’t cope with lifetimes of memories.
As such, Qin Yun had no choice but to relegate some of the most irrelevant memories to something akin to cold storage deep within his mind. While he could still access them if he wished to, bringing them back to the surface would take some effort. He had no choice; this was the only way to keep his sanity.
As for the meeting itself, it was as Qin Yun expected. While they continued to beat around the bushes, trying to obfuscate their true motives, Qin Yun could glean the true intentions hidden within this impromptu wedding.
As he was made aware, the Yun Family was a respected family within the Western Domain, but their clan bordered the inner regions. This meant their reach and means were much more potent than those of the Qin Family, which were relegated to the outer wastelands.
The continent they lived on was quite peculiar. It was akin to a disc where the further one travelled toward its centre, the denser the amount of spiritual Qi in the atmosphere, as if a spring spewed it all from its core. As such, most clans and sects wished nothing more than to migrate toward the continent's core, which led to massive conflict over territories.
While the Qin Clan had once been an overlord with an immortal at the helm, they had declined ever since his disappearance. As such, they had lost their territories and were forced out to the outer regions of the Western Domain.
According to the Patriarch, this was their chance to find their way back to the inner regions. Apparently, the Yun Clan was connected to the Immortal Phoenix Sect, a subsidiary sect below one of the overlords of the outer regions, the Immortal Beasts Sect, and could leverage this relationship to give the Qin Family an opportunity to rise in the world.
Of course, they wouldn’t do this out of the goodness of their heart. Their condition was Qin Yun’s mother’s inheritance. Qin Yun had long figured as much, yet he couldn’t oblige as he had no such thing.
His mother had always been mysterious, and some even believed her to have come from the core region of the continent. As such, they believed her inheritance to be something miraculous. How they came to the conclusion that Qin Yun even had such a thing, he had no idea. Still, they seemed quite certain that it existed, enough to offer it as a bargaining chip despite failing to prove its existence.
They probably figured she wouldn't leave her son here without insurance as she left. Thus, over the years, they tried countless ways to make Qin Yun spit it out, yet they couldn't use force in case she ever came back to check on her son. They could only make him turn it over willingly.
While Qin Yun didn't know how marrying a girl from the Yun Clan would let them achieve their goal, he still had some guesses. Still, he didn't think much of it as it was bound to end badly for the Qin Family when the Yun clan would eventually realize they had been duped. Still, this was none of Qin Yun's concern. They would probably try to pin this on him, but he had long been prepared for such an eventuality.
As Qin Yun exited the Patriarch's residence, a maid approached him, wishing to lead him where his wife awaited him. Although the wedding was a sham and the ceremony a joke, Qin Yun still had duties to fulfill as a husband. Still, he was in no hurry and dismissed the maid as he could find his way alone. He had much more important things to do.
Once alone, Qin Yun found a secluded place to examine his recent gains. He had finally processed all the memories he had received, and something interested him greatly. Those crystal bugs were quite peculiar as, despite his wealth of knowledge and experience, this was the first time he had encountered such a bizarre race.
Qin Yun extended his hand, lightly touching the hovering black sphere, retrieving an object from within. Once the slight flash of light receded, Qin Yun held one of the Crystal bugs' legs in his hand.
The limb was hard, akin to diamond, yet Qin Yun could feel some sort of energy flow within despite being severed and badly damaged. On the legs were sharp, hardened spikes that protruded from its surface, resembling a saw.
Qin Yun swung it lightly as he would a sword. The leg cut through the air unobstructed, yet he could feel space tremble slightly with each cut. It seemed their ability to affect subspace wasn’t only about communication but also used to sever it.
Qin Yun stashed the limb back within the sphere and then brought out one of their heads. The head was a round crystal ball yet possessed mandibles that resembled an ant. Qin Yun couldn't identify any sensory organs or brain within the crystal skull.
Yet, after observing closely for a few minutes, Qin Yun saw a powerful exotic energy swirl within the crystal. He wondered how such an energy could still reside within the crystal despite the creature being long dead.
With his curiosity getting the better of him, Qin Yun injected a small amount of his Innate Qi into the crystalline structure, hoping to probe its mysteries. At first, he was unable to since the crystal seemed to be rejecting this foreign invader. He raised an eyebrow, stupefied that inert tissue could somehow resist his will.
With much time and effort, Qin Yun could finally inject his Qi within the Crystal Skull after using close to a third of his Innate Qi. While such a wasteful spending gave him a heartache, he felt it was worth it if he could somehow quench his curiosity. Maybe he would find something within that would help him further his cultivation. Their ability to affect subspace was already tantalizing; he wondered what other secrets they held.
With some apprehension, Qin Yun carefully prodded the energy within with his Qi, trying to unravel its mysteries. Still, once the two energies collided, Qin Yun felt an intense burst of energy as the two expanded by over twice their amount. They swirled within the crystal as if Yin and Yang, both empowering and restraining each other.
Each time the two energies collided, it would produce a small tear in space through which a small mass of blackened matter emerged, fuelling the process, which strangely resembled something akin to nuclear fission.
The energy and Qi rammed into the black matter, disintegrating it almost instantly, producing even more power while still being held into the confines of the crystal. Fortunately, the process wasn't infinite, as the swirling energies would lose some velocity each time they collided.
Qin Yun let out a sigh of relief since if such a thing didn't happen, he had no doubt that once the energies reached the maximum threshold of what the crystal could contain, an explosion would occur. As for its scope, Qin Yun estimated, after many calculations, that if the skull in his hand were to explode, it could wipe Jin City off the face of any maps.
With this newfound knowledge, Qin Yun saw many valuable applications for this crystal substance. This treasure could expedite his cultivation. The only problem was finding a way to extract the new Innate Qi from within.
Try as he might, Qin Yun couldn't find a way on such short notice to extract that Qi without risking the stability of the swirling energies within. If he were to disturb the balance ever so slightly, he risked the process collapsing entirely, crushing all the remaining power. To be successful, he would need a way to extract it all in one go or to find a way to harness that exotic energy as well.
Still, he could ponder all this later when he found the time. For now, his bride awaited him, but before storing the crystal ant's skull, Qin Yun noticed the space around it behaving strangely. While his cultivation was low, Qin Yun had dabbled in the Dao of Space a few times in his previous lives. He instantly recognized the problem.
A sort of force field enveloping the skull pulsed at regular intervals, making the subspace tremble slightly. While such a thing didn't mean much in and of itself, one had to remember those creatures were adept at communicating through subspace channels similar to this one.
While Qin Yun didn't know if his hypothesis was correct, he wouldn't take any chances. He launched the crystal head high into the sky. Once it reached its apex more than a mile above the ground, Qin Yun dug his feet into the ground, creating deep grooves, before punching with all the strength he could muster.
A wave of air and energy akin to a cannonball was emitted from his fist, travelling close to Mach 30. The impact of breaking the sound barrier created a shockwave that broke the nearby wall while also deafening anyone unfortunate enough to be close to him. The wave travelled upward and hit the crystal object just as it started its descent.
While the crystal was sturdier than most metal, it still couldn't withstand Qin Yun's full-powered strike. The crystal cracked and shattered, spilling all the energy contained within into the surrounding atmosphere, creating a light show reminiscent of fireworks.
The light produced blanketed the city, illuminating the world below. While some were startled by its sudden appearance, they remembered that today was the wedding of someone from the Qin family and thought not much of it, as they figured someone in the clan wished to celebrate it with this light.
Many left their houses to marvel at this colourful display, yet some chose to inquire as to who was responsible. Fortunately, once they reached the area where it was believed to have been launched, Qin Yun was already long gone. He had no wish to be questioned as to its origin.
As for whether or not the bugs would find that subspace communication, Qin Yun wouldn’t care either way. While those bugs were strong enough to battle against the Systems Commonwealth, what could they do against cultivators who were akin to gods?
Even if they were to somehow find this place, Qin Yun had no doubts they would simply be exterminated, just as so many other races were before them. Cultivators weren't in a habit of sharing their worlds with others.
With this minor incident out of the way, Qin Yun still mulled over how he could best use what he had learned as he took the path toward the pavilion where his bride awaited him.
Their lodging for the night was an old pavilion secluded from the rest of the clan. As he approached, Qin Yun noticed the grounds were in disrepair, and the grass around the stone tiles was overgrown.
Qin Yun couldn't help but shake his head, thinking that his clan couldn't even be bothered to keep up appearances despite wanting something from him. Why would they think he would give in to them if this was how they treated him? It seemed they were much too blinded by their own arrogance that the thought that he would defy them never crossed their minds.
Qin Yun approached the pavilion and saw a tiny flame flicker inside. It seemed his bride was still awake, waiting for him. He made sure not to stifle his steps so as not to startle her with his presence. He opened the building's exterior door, which creaked as it slid along a rail, yet he couldn't see the woman inside.
Thinking nothing of it, Qin Yun took a step inside and scanned the room but was stopped by the feeling of a cold, metallic blade resting on his bare neck while he felt another in the middle of his back.
