Chapter 122: The Sweet Sound of Empty Promises

Listening to the childlike, slightly creepy voice inside his head, An still kept his mouth shut, careful not to make a foolish mistake.

Standing still, he just watched the pouch, trying not to miss anything strange, constantly reading its Qi flows.

<"It's been a while since I've met such a distrustful little thing... Heh, I give you my word, I'm not plotting anything against you! You should know, in my past, once I gave my word, not even the heavens themselves had the power to make me break it!">

'Sure, sure, your word's worth about... nothing right now.' An understood that trusting whatever was inside this thing was a gamble he might not walk away from with his skin intact.

<"Since you're this shy and distrustful... my name is the Great Black Rose! My name once threw entire planets into terror! My voice alone could shatter an ocean of time! My gaze alone could crush the hearts of the greatest generals! My mere enchanting sigh melted glaciers by the millions!">

After her introduction, a brief pause followed. Thinking it over, still constantly reading the Qi, An wrapped his mind and dantian in his own Qi, though he knew this protection was next to worthless against whatever was inside this pouch, it might still buy him a few crucial extra moments.

He decided to finally respond, understanding the risk, but letting curiosity win out anyway. "Disciple of the Heavenly Soul Sect, Hu Yu, Clan Hu."

<"Hm, a clan? Heavenly Soul Sect? So you're from this planet, then?"> Toward the end, her voice shifted slightly, growing a touch higher and faster, as if she were calculating something.

"Yes. I'm native to this planet. My clan holds territory near the sect, where the older generation occupies several high-ranking positions." He nodded, and as he began describing his fabricated clan, his chin tilted up slightly.

<"Heh, so this planet actually managed to develop this far after all... not bad, not bad...">

Hearing this, An just stayed quiet.

<"Hmm, little one, how about a trade?">

Her sudden proposal left An slightly puzzled, and tense. "A trade?"

<"Hehe! Don't worry... an exchange of information, question for question. What do you say? You can go first, if you're scared!">

The offer genuinely piqued An's interest. Thinking it over for a few seconds, he nodded and asked his first question. "What is Chaos energy?"

<"Ho? Heh! I expected your first question to be much simpler, much more down to earth!"> Hearing the laughter inside his head, An waited patiently.

Seeing no reaction from him at all, she stopped laughing, and after a brief pause, started answering. <"Chaos energy is the energy of creation-... How do I put this so someone at your peak Qi Condensation cultivation could actually understand...">

Hearing her bring up his cultivation, An smiled internally, realizing that even against something inside this pouch, clearly stronger than Golden Core, his Qi Silence was still holding up almost without issue. Even though he'd kept his Qi signal set to the mid stage of Qi Condensation ever since entering the underground chamber with the pouch, sensing something was off, the fact that whatever this was could still tell his actual cultivation was higher told him his disguise technique wasn't quite as flawless as he'd thought.

<"One theory from the Compendium of Fundamental Principles claims: existence itself emerged from Qi. Qi, the forefather of all things, the foundation of everything, the beginning of everything... and so on... But ever since the discovery of Chaos energy, the greatest minds have been tearing their hair out trying to figure out which came first, Chaos or Qi.">

<"The thing is, before the first being who used Chaos energy as their own Qi ever appeared, no one had any idea what Chaos energy even was... Everyone assumed it was just some branch, some mutation on par with, say, demonic energy... But once that being was discovered, everyone realized it existed entirely separately, completely independent from the system everyone else lived within... I'm not sure I can explain this in a way you'd actually understand...">

Falling silent for a few seconds, whatever was inside the pouch gathered its thoughts and continued. <"Alright, picture two lines. One is Qi, the other is Chaos. They run parallel to each other. Neither has a beginning or an end. The Chaos line can, at any moment, take a piece of the Qi line and use it for itself. But the Qi line can never interact with the Chaos line the same way... it can only exist alongside it.">

'So all these so-called scholars, once they discovered this being and saw what it could do using Chaos as its own energy, must have started wondering which of the two was actually the source... and whether one might be the origin of the other.' Working through what it had told him, An got a rough grasp of what Chaos energy actually was, and at the same time found himself with far more questions than before.

<"My turn now! Hmm... when was the last time representatives from the Upper World came down here?">

An felt a small flicker of surprise, not expecting the question to be this simple. "According to my clan's records, a little under a hundred years ago." Making it up on the spot, An's serious expression helped sell the lie.

<"A hundred years? That rarely? What's causing such a long gap between visits?"> Something inside the pouch didn't even notice the mistake it had just made.

"Issues with the Council's ruling. They sealed off direct access to this planet. And that was two questions... which means you owe me two answers now." He took two steps back as he spoke.

After a long pause, he heard a click of the tongue in his head, and a faintly irritated voice. <"Fine, go ahead, I really did ask you two questions...">

"Alright… A disciple entered the sect alongside me, and during the ceremony, the moment the results were announced, everyone learned he had spiritual roots with only a single element... When I heard that, I was more surprised than I'd ever been in my life, I'd never heard of a cultivator having just one element…”

“Some time later, I learned this disciple, with his single Wood element, became one of the rising hopefuls in alchemy... After meeting him, and becoming something like friends, I also learned he can see more than me, more than anyone else... He told me about layers of Qi and things like that, but I never really understood any of it... And all the attention he gets-... Ahem." Formulating his question, An let a hint of envy slip into his voice, careful that whatever lived inside the pouch wouldn't suspect he was actually talking about himself.

<"Heh! Ha! Hahaha!"> It suddenly burst into wild laughter, and didn't stop for a long while.

<"I don't even know if your friend's lucky or not..."> It suddenly fell silent, clearly waiting for An to stumble and ask a second question too hastily.

But seeing that he kept quiet, it sighed and continued. <"Eh, if the rules haven't changed, and they clearly haven't, your friend's finished, the moment he sets foot in the Upper World... Only a miracle, and an enormous amount of luck, could possibly save him.">

Falling silent, both An and the pouch stood in quiet for several minutes, until he finally decided to ask, understanding he was at a disadvantage in this situation. "Why?"

<"Ah, hehe! Alright. The thing is, cultivators like that... what were they called... hold on, I don't quite remember... Ah! Purists! That's it!">

<"Some claimed they were a whole new race of beings, born straight from Qi itself. Others called them a mistake of the universe... But everyone, no matter what they thought or how, agreed on one thing... Purists were a threat. All because of how they understood Qi itself, and their strange, unique mutations.">

<"As for your little friend… if seeing Qi and interacting with it is his only mutation, then he sits right at the very bottom of the Purist hierarchy, hehe, double bad luck... Hm, where was I... From the very first moment of their cultivation, Purists immersed themselves in studying Qi itself, rather than relying on knowledge passed down by others, the way you and I once did-...">

<"Ahem, by the way, a great many techniques for both the Combat and Non-Combat Paths were originally written by them... Everyone hated them, and everyone used their knowledge anyway, hehehe...">

<"Where was I... Oh right, at one point, one of the factions forming a foundation of the Upper World itself launched a mass hunt against the Purists... Everyone jumped at the chance, finally waiting long enough for this moment. But! Hehe! It came as a massive shock to them, when they found out just how badly they'd underestimated these Purists...">

<"This so-called hunt for individuals turned into an actual war, one where entire galaxies were wiped out, one after another, by nothing more than the snap of a single Purist's fingers... The death toll climbed so high they eventually started counting it in planets, and galaxies… So! My turn again!!">

Listening to her, An made a point of carefully arranging his own expression, so nothing about it would raise her suspicion. 'So I'm a Purist, and the lowest of their hierarchy at that? Honestly, that's a strange name that doesn't fit at all... a Purist should be someone who sticks to tradition and rules...'

<"Hmm... Oh! Judging by your sharp mind and obvious talent, you must sit near the top of your sect's ranks! Tell me, are you a candidate for the Upper World?">

An pretended to be caught off guard, acting surprised by the question. "How-... Yes! My Master told me that when they arrive, I'll be traveling with them, to represent my sect."

<"Hmm, representing your sect... I'm liking you more and more by the minute.">

Hearing the voice in his head shift into something more mature, more feminine, laced with flirtatious, tender notes, An sent a flush of blood to his cheeks and lowered his head slightly, looking away. "M-my turn... what happened next with the Purists?"

<"Heh? You're that invested in the story? Alright! After a long, drawn-out war, the greatest warlords finally gathered and, waiting for the moment the Purists, specifically, their leadership, gathered together in one place... they attacked!">

<"After winning through sheer numbers, and losing more than ninety percent of their own heads in the process, they finally rid the Upper World of the Purists... Although plenty of people believe a massive number of lesser-known Purists simply started hiding who they were and kept on living as they always had... There was no shortage of disputes within the Council itself, after a disaster like that... Publicly, everyone was told the war had been won, but those in the know knew the real truth.">

<"Hehe! And you know what's funniest of all? There's no way to identify a Purist just from their energy, or how they wield their Qi! The only way to know for sure is for the Purist themselves to admit it! Hahaha!">

Smiling faintly, nodding along every so often, agreeing with her. 'She's right about the confession part... no one could ever identify you as a Purist, unless, of course, you slip up somehow, without even knowing who you really are... Like I did with that old bastard, Elder Shoa... He clearly knew from the very start that I was a Purist... Which probably means the whole sect already knew, the moment my root results were announced... and I'm only realizing this now, damn it...'

<"Now, my question to you. Hm. Who's your Master?">

Every question only confirmed An's growing suspicions. 'She's trying to figure out whether I'll be useful to her... And to get me to open up more, she's answering my questions in full, holding nothing back, showing her own openness in return...'

Nodding, he started answering. "My Master's the Vice-Leader of the Sect... Not that long ago, about a year back, when I placed second in an inter-sect tournament, the Vice-Leader took me on as his personal disciple..."

Saying this, he noticed a huge clump of Qi burst out of the pouch. 'Was that involuntary, or deliberate? I thought it couldn't release this much energy at once... This could get dangerous. I need to wrap this up.' Realizing the longer he stayed near this pouch, the higher the odds something would go wrong.

"What are the Lower Worlds, really?" After thinking it over, An decided to ask the question that had been nagging at him ever since he'd read that journal, the one where he'd first learned this planet's name.

After a long pause, the pouch released another burst of energy. <"I have a proposal for you.">

He barely managed to keep himself from rolling his eyes. 'And here we go...'

<"Listen, I promise to help you, not just with limitless information on any question that interests you, but with your cultivation too! In this lower world, the techniques are clearly at such a primitive level that, even in my own world, generations ago, they'd have been considered garbage.">

<"Techniques, help with your cultivation, and limitless information that'll prepare you, help you even, once the time comes to head to the Upper World... But in exchange, you have to promise to take me with you!">

Hearing her serious tone for the first time, An's expression shifted, doing everything he could to look genuinely interested in her proposal.

"What guarantees do I have that you won't turn me into your puppet, or something like that... How can I trust you, when you're so much stronger than me?" Letting a hint of visible fear show in his eyes, he shook his head.

Suddenly a clump of Qi burst out of the pouch, several times larger than before, An nearly bolted from the spot.

<"I can swear an oath that I won't harm you... but in exchange, you have to take me with you!">

'She's not asking for an oath in return... Is she that desperate, stuck here? Or am I missing something again?' He just nodded a few times, making it clear he was waiting for her oath.

<"Ah, oh Heavens, oh Qi! Bear witness! I, the Great Black Rose, swear that I hold no malicious intent toward the one standing before me, Hu Yu, have never held any, and never will! Should I break this oath, may my flesh rot and melt, like ice under a blazing sun-...">

Standing across from it, a wide smile spread across An's face, though his actual thoughts and feelings ran in the exact opposite direction. 'There are so many holes in that oath... "malicious intent" doesn't mean you won't want to, or won't try, to do something to me regardless... Flesh... how would I even know if this thing still has flesh at all. I don't even know what this thing is. A ghost? A spirit? A soul? Something else entirely?'

<"So, what do you say? Do you believe me now?">

Seeing him fall silent again, she started trying to persuade him further. <"Together with me, with my knowledge, you'll become the most exceptional cultivator of your entire generation, not just in this little world, but in the Upper World too! With my help, others will bow the moment they lay eyes on you, terrified of your boundless power!">

<"My knowledge, becoming yours! Hidden locations across countless worlds, holding more than enough resources to push your cultivation forward! All of it, yours-!">

Suddenly, that alluring female voice cut off, the being finally noticing the shift in An's expression.

His face had gone completely neutral, his gaze cold and empty.

Sensing something was wrong, she suddenly heard his real voice, no acting left in it at all. His calm, tired voice. "Thank you. This whole time, I couldn't tell whether you were actually capable of interacting with the outside world at all... And once you started trying to persuade me... I realized you can only project your thoughts into my head, but anything more substantial than that, you're not capable of... maybe not yet, anyway."

He turned, pushed off the ground, and started rising into the clouds above.

<"S-stop! How dare you! Liar!! Stop-!">

Flying higher and higher, the curses and threats in his head grew fainter and fainter.

Once he'd risen into the clouds, An picked a random direction and shot off at maximum speed, trying to put as much distance between himself and that place as possible. 'Who knows what she actually is, and what she might be capable of, if I've made her angry... which means I need to get out of here as fast as I can!'

…

‘No! No! I refuse! I can't spend another minute here! I refuse!!’ Inside the pouch, in that black void, two enormous red eyes, wrapped in black smoke, darted around, searching for something.

‘You!! You'll do perfectly! Just work, please! This is every last bit of Qi I have left!’ Beginning to concentrate, the space inside the pouch started shaking, and the pouch itself along with it.

Woosh!

Suddenly the pouch vanished, as if it had never existed at all, leaving behind only a fresh, still-wet skeleton.

….

Hovering in midair, An turned his head sharply, even several kilometers away by now, he still felt the shift in Qi.

Focusing, he confirmed there was no longer any trace of that strange pouch where he'd left it. His face went slightly pale. 'Looks like I wasn't entirely right... that pouch really could do something to its surroundings after all.'

Turning, he sped up. 'If my calculations are right, this Sacred Land closes in a day, maybe less.'

'The important thing is making sure my plan works... The moment I get teleported back to the altars, I need to try to disappear without any delay. There'll be chaos in those first few seconds, I'm sure of that much, and if I can take advantage of it, then... hm.' Continuing to fly through the crimson clouds, he scanned everything around him, constantly changing course to avoid any danger.