Cultivation System: Elder Edition

Chapter 381

Ghosts of the Mine (XXVII)

Setting aside the rather uncomfortable possibility that I might end up having to fight that which everyone else seems to worship, the funeral was rather nice. Nothing too extravagant and fairly short, yet still pleasant. As far as ways to go away went, this one wasn't really bad. Set your carcass on fire while looming over the vastness of nature, turned to ashes, scattered among the mountains and valleys, and becoming one with them.

"A lovely ceremony," Jesus! This old thing will never stop scaring me, will he?!

"Indeed," I kept my cool... though seeing his smirk, I may not have kept it as cool as I think I did. "Not a bad way to go." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Do you think about death often, Master?" he asked.

"Often? No. On occasion, mostly."

"Are you afraid of it?"

"Afraid? Ha ha, no, not really," I chuckled almost involuntarily. Even back on Earth, I never feared death--I simply feared dying. "Why? Are you? Ah, I suppose you are at that age where boys and girls begin to recognize their finality." Hey, if you're gonna be an ass, then so am I. "You're still young; don't worry about it."

"..." his eyebrows danced and danced for a little while as he stared me down. "I won't. Thank you for the advice."

"Anytime."

"I've always found it that only the weak and the fools are unafraid of death," he said. "Which one are you, Master?"

"Both," I said.

"Tsk. Shameless."

"Why didn't you kill him?" I took the chance to ask.

"Who?"

"Who? The Minister of Lying--who do you think?"

"Oh, that thing."

"That person."

"To you, perhaps," he shrugged. "I don't have to kill him."

"Won't he annoy us in the future?"

"For a while, perhaps," he said. "But I left with him a present, one that will handle it for us."

"... should I ask?"

"Probably not."

"Haah. Fine, setting that aside," I said. "How far away are we?"

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"We're here, actually."

"E-eh?"

"It's likely the reason they chose this place as a 'burial site'," he said. "Its abundance of Qi."

"Really?" I frowned. I'd like to think I've become a bit more sensitive to changes in Qi, but I honestly can't tell the difference between here and at the base of the mountain.

"Touch the ground," Long Tao said. I bent over and pressed my fingers against the dirt and--holy mother of God, I've been zapped! I jerked my hand back as I had to endure the cawing laughter of the bastard next to me who knew this would happen.

It wasn't just an abundance of Qi--it was almost akin to there being about a dozen or so hurricanes' worth of energy just below the ground's surface. Honestly, I fear I would legitimately die if I tried to endure it for longer than a few seconds.

"Won't it kill us if we barge into that?" I asked.

"Of course," he shrugged. "All Spirit Stone Mines are like this, even the ones of lesser quality. Due to the sheer density of Qi within such a small space, my grandfather told me stories and myths of how the first cultivators, before they knew how to make arrays for it, would enter Spirit Stone Mines to train themselves. It's an awful method all-around--it causes meridians to expand unnecessarily to accommodate the volume of Qi, which makes them brittle by nature, and which more often than not leads to the eventual implosion of Qi within them, causing one of the most painful deaths ever known to man.

"Nobody knows who invented it, but, at some point, a 'Spirit Lay Line Array' began to circulate among the Sects. By slowly digging toward the veins and lining the array along the walls, the array itself captures and traps the abundance of raging Qi. It stabilizes the mine just enough to slowly dig unpolished stones from it, but every array has its lifespan. Once it expires..."

"The place goes boom?"

"No, you just have to lay a new one."

"..." wow. He's really an ass. How many times has he led me on and then mocked me with that damned sneer?! "Does this place have that array?"

"I mean, it's been quite a while since it was last trekked. What do you think, Master?"

"So, I imagine a family member of your extensive family tree taught you how to lay down this array?"

"They may have," he smirked. "But I won't have to."

"Why?" I was honestly a bit exhausted; he always paused at these points and explicitly waited for me to nudge forward. He could have gotten it all out in a singular monologue, but no, it's like he's in a goddamn movie and needs to pause for dramatic effect.

"Didn't I mention it'd be nice to have some vanguard?" Wow. "I'm fairly certain somebody whose father is an emperor or whatnot ought to know how to lay down the simple Spirit Lay Line Array."

"You know," I said. "For someone so distrustful of others, being willing to let them know how to enter a Spirit Stone Mine... I'm proud, Tao'er. You've come far."

"... you taught me well," he said. "So, if they betray us and stab us in the back, it's your fault."

"Regardless," I said, rather unconsciously at that. "Whatever happens, you all should always blame me."

"Even if we kill the only Emperor here?" Can't... can't you just say some normal shit once in a while?!! I side-eyed him for a moment and sighed.

"Even if you kill every Emperor who has ever lived," I said. "When they ask, just say that weird-looking old man over there tricked me into doing it."

"I'd rather take on the wrath of the world than have it think that weird-looking old man somehow managed to trick me into doing it."

"Yeah? Well, your cooking still sucks."

"... pfft."

"Go away. I need to go and be my charming self and persuade people to help us get to the Spirit Stone Mine but also not disclose it to anyone else."

"I believe in your charms, Master!"

"Haah."

If anyone listened to us talk, would they truly buy the 'Master-Disciple' relationship?

Regardless, I walked over once again after having just left. They were chatting about something or another, stopping once they saw me approach, with the five men giving us space as Shuren stood up.

I can only hope that my boyish charms (compared to her age) are good enough and that whatever Long Tao is planning this time around doesn't blow back into our faces as it often tends to do whenever he decides that we 'need to go someplace'. It happened in that forest, it happened in that city, it happened on that mountain, and then again in that other city--

--he really is a protagonist, huh? Everywhere we go, ghosts seem to follow...