Chapter 494 - Ripples (II)

Chapter 494

Ripples (II)

"Excuse me, Senior, do you know which way is the Eternal Edge Mountain?" Han Yimu stopped an elderly man carrying a bundle of hay on his back and asked with a rather apologetic smile.

"Huh? What is that? No such mountains here, boy! Stop bothering me, go away!"

He got the same response he got the last seven times he'd asked. In fairness, all of them were mortals, and it was unlikely that they knew where a martial arts sect was, but it was depressing nonetheless.

Sighing, he looked up at the blistering sun before scouring his surroundings and noticing the faint trace of shade to his left. Walking over, he sat on the ground, leaning against the boulder's cool side.

He was cursed.

Undoubtedly, unequivocally cursed. Throughout his life, things seldom went his way. When he was six, a revered Immortal came to their village seeking young kids with potential, eventually shepherding off Little Ya. Why? Because Han Yimu wasn't there! He got lost in the nearby forest chasing a butterfly! What hurt was that he was about a thousand times more talented than that wreck.

In fact, last he heard, Little Ya became an outer servant of some no-name low-level sect.

Then, when he was fourteen, during the trials for the sect's entry, he was in the lead when he accidentally stumbled into a hole and found himself in an underground cave system. It took him two months to exit, and everybody presumed he had either run away or died.

There were dozens upon dozens of similar incidents, all leading up to the latest one.

He'd turned twenty-four just the other day and was celebrating with some friends, thinking about taking some sect missions to hunt for points when the order came down for all Core Disciples to gather.

Though he loathed to do it--as he was never picked for anything good--he still went and joined his Brothers and Sisters. It turned out that it wasn't anything good, for a change; whomever they picked would have to descend into the Lower Realms and investigate something or another.

They drew lots, and his name was the first one to be picked. Of twenty other names, it had to be his. Some shot him sympathetic gazes, some were jeering, and that bastard Xi was openly mocking him, telling him he may as well stay down here, as that was where he belonged.

He had no true backing in the sect, as he was an external entry; even his Master had barely taught him anything and had never truly fought for good things to come his way.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

But he had no choice but to come down here, and now... he was lost.

Not that he was ever good with directions, but something went horribly wrong with the Teleportation Array, and he did not arrive in a bustling city as he anticipated. Instead, he found himself in an unending field of nothing, with only an occasional mortal village to be found.

What was worse, he couldn't even use Qi just yet, as he'd need at least a couple of weeks to grow accustomed to the sparse and low-quality Qi here.

Sighing, he lamented his fate yet again, wondering just why he was even struggling. The only thing he got out of a sect was a Heaven-tier cultivation method and a couple of equally awful martial arts. All resources that he got he got with his own fingers; he hadn't really developed any meaningful relationships with anybody, and the only reason he was a Core Disciple was because they physically could not keep him out since he won the latest competition.

In fact, during the competition, twelve out of sixteen Elders didn't even know who he was.

"Eh? Young man? What are you doing here?" an elderly woman's voice snapped him out of his daze as he looked to the side; the woman was another mortal, perhaps in her sixties, with hunched back and skin as wrinkled as paper.

"Resting," he said.

"Tsk, tsk. You are so young; what are you resting for?"

"I can't find it."

"Can't find what?"

"Eternal Mountain or whatever its forsaken name is."

"Huh? What is that?"

"A sect."

"... a sect? You mean one of those fancy immortal abodes?"

"Y-yes! You know about it?!" He got rather excited and shot up to his feet.

"Oh, pipe down," she seemed a bit startled, pulling away. "I don't know nothing about any mountain, but if you're looking for an immortal abode, I hear there's one north of 'ere. Should take you ten days by horse, maybe."

Han Yimu felt tears coalesce in his eyes--he had direction. It didn't matter whether it was a mountain or not, so long as he found a single cultivator, they'd probably know to point him in the right direction.

"Thank you," he said, walking over toward the woman and gently placing his hand on her shoulder; tiny motes of Qi shot through his palm and poured through the woman's entire body invisibly. It wasn't much--it would merely ease her aches and make the last couple of decades of her life tolerable. Though he was told it was beyond a taboo for a cultivator to interfere with a mortal's fate... he hardly cared. "I will never forget your grace."

"What a weird fella," he caught her words as he ran off toward the north, merely smiling.

Perhaps he was weird--no, he definitely was. There was a reason he had no friends in the sect despite the fact that he was fairly talented. Beyond the fact he had no heritage or family or backing, what seemed the most off-putting for others was just... him.

But it didn't matter; once he completed this mission, he was promised a whole month in the Oblique Hall! The last time he went in, he could only spend two hours in there, and his sword arts progressed more during that two-hour period than they had in over five years beforehand.

Realistically, all he had to do was doll out some compensation, pretend to listen to the 'sect masters' of these nowhere-lands yap and complain about how they were mistreated, nod along for a day or two, and maybe execute one or two of the branch's leaders. The only reason this mission was considered annoying was because of where it was--somebody like him staying for too long in the lower realms would mean that the overall quality of his Qi, and thus his foundation, would decrease.

In fact, too long of an exposure would be akin to being poisoned.

That was precisely why he was in a hurry and probably why somebody 'helped' him get lost through the array.

Regardless, now that he knew where cultivators were, it was only a matter of time before he completed his mission and went back.

... unless something completely out of his expectations occurred, of course.

"Ah, I did it again," he mumbled into the wind. "I jinxed myself again..."