Chapter 111
A Mortal Friendship
A few days later, Tobias lifted a cloth to his face to stem another nosebleed. Hun Jia put aside the manuscript she'd been reading to Hun Fen. They had fallen into a simple routine, so Hun Jia frowned when Tobias didn't move into the lotus position.
"Did something go wrong?"
Tobias shook his head.
"Then why aren't you meditating?"
"I've picked the low-hanging fruit."
"I don't understand."
"You can only achieve so much by doing the same thing. The insights that were easy to gather are now gathered, so now I can only gather the more difficult ones, which means I will take longer and longer to form comprehensions."
Hun Jia reached for a nearby manuscript. She flipped through the pages until she found the section she wanted. "Are you referring to this aspect of gathering dao insights?"
The section explained how different environments, actions, and emotions made it easier to gather certain insights. And that if an insight was not easy to gather, you should attempt to create different circumstances to gather it.
Tobias nodded.
Hun Jia closed the book. "May I ask you a personal question?"
Tobias nodded again, hardening his aura to keep the conversation private.
"Do you consider Lung Mei to be your daughter?"
Tobias smiled. "I do."
"She only views you as her master."
"I'm well aware of how she sees me."
"Have you told her?"
"Not in words."
"Why not?"
"She would reject me."
"She loves you. She knows you care for her. But I believe you're right. Do you know why she would reject you?"
"Her mother brainwashed her, and then she rapidly progressed her cultivation, cemented these thought patterns, and corrupted her dao. I've been wandering the world with her for over a century, hoping she would grow up, and being heartbroken that she hasn't. By now, she should look twenty-two, but she is the same age as she was when we first met."
Hun Jia turned to the stack of books and sorted through the pile until she found the one on how cultivation affected your personality. "This doesn't mention anything so extreme."
"I wrote that before I encountered Lung Mei, and I still don't fully understand what's happened to her, so I haven't bothered to update it."
Hun Jia placed the book aside. "May I ask, how cultivating affected you?"
"I am happy to answer, but I advise you not to ask that question of other cultivators. This tends to be a touchy subject for most."
"Oh. Why?"
"Cultivation offers you power. Powerful people hate the idea that this power comes at the cost of their mental freedom."
Hun Jia frowned. "I thought there were methods for dealing with that."
"There are, but those methods reduce the influence, not eliminate them."
"Oh."
"As for how cultivation has changed me, I think like a magistrate."
"What do you mean?"
"My stomach meridian was opened the day I became a magistrate, and my cultivation progressed through my actions as a magistrate. These early years of my life were my most stressful and emotionally challenging, and improving my cultivation made me a better magistrate, influencing my dao."
Tobias removed his magistrate mark from his storage ring and handed it to Hun Jia.
"Being a magistrate is who I am. It is how I think of myself. It shapes how I study cultivation and interact with the world around me."
"In what way?"
"I once had the opportunity to become the emperor of The Three Kingdoms, but I turned it down. Becoming emperor would have been the easier path to making the changes I wanted, but a magistrate is not an emperor, so my mind lied to me and convinced me there was a better way. It took me centuries to notice the influence this mindset has over my decisions."
"You carry the unconscious dao of a magistrate within you."
Tobias nodded.
Hun Jia looked down at her own body, and horror suddenly transformed her features. "Will Hun Fen become an eternal courtesan if she cultivates?"
"Yes, though the influences will be much weaker than my own."
"But she's been studying since she was old enough to walk."
"Which is why the influences will be much weaker. Hun Fen is not a courtesan. Neither are any of the other girls you are training. Until they become Flowers, they are merely highly educated and refined girls and young women."
Hun Jia gave him a steady look, unafraid of their power difference. She was protective of her daughter, and the dao of beauty guided her actions, making that protection a beautiful display of her commitment. "You're certain of this?"
"There are no certainties in cultivation, but the Silver Blossom Pavilion does not behave like a brothel. Hun Fen's decisions and choices as a Flower and Blossom are what her cultivation will be influenced by, and the freedom she has to make her own choices means those influences will never be strong."
"Did you not choose to become a magistrate?"
Tobias shook his head. "I chose what type of magistrate I wanted to be, I chose to do a good job and uphold the law with kindness and mercy, but there were no other options available to me to escape poverty."
"Do you regret it?"
"The changes cultivation has made to my dao do not allow me to regret it. I am who I am."
"Then The Magistrate is not alias."
Tobias froze, realising the implications of her statement. The obviousness of the name had completely eluded him until she pointed it out. He had been treating it as an alias, but it wasn't. His dao was manipulating him to walk the world as his true self.
Tobias groaned. "No. It's who I am."
***
As the weeks dragged on with no end in sight, Tobias began to spend more time distracting Hun Jai. She could see her daughter, but she couldn't hold her. Her daughter could hear her voice, but she couldn't hear hers. No mother wanted to be in this situation, and Hun Jia was finding it increasingly difficult not to panic.
So, Tobias taught her about cultivation, not just what was in his books, but discussions on the very nature of what it was. Tobias had spent centuries simplifying cultivation so anyone could understand it, but Hun Jia didn't know that. She simply thought that cultivation wasn't as complicated as mortals believed.
And in many ways, she was right.
Studying cultivation helped to distract her from her worries; it kept her mind busy and gave her confidence that she was becoming someone her daughter could approach with her problems. Tobias didn't mind the additional lessons. Hun Jia was a wonderful student. She asked all the right questions and followed his answers with ease.
Tobias scanned their surroundings, searching the surrounding mountains and plains. They had run out of fresh meat, and he needed to go hunting. His connection to his surroundings let him feel the environment's balance and what he could take without harming it.
Hun Jia had only been talking to her daughter for a few minutes, but Tobias had warned her this session would be short. He wasn't gaining any insights from the method he'd been using, so he couldn't extend how long she communicated with her daughter unless he tried new ways.
Hun Jia turned to him and smiled.
Tobias smiled back.
They were both raising a child alone, so they had many things in common, and Hun Jia was easily the most educated and refine mortal woman Tobias had met outside The Three Kingdoms. She was also pleasant company, reminding him a lot of Xu Ling when they first met.
The two of them had grown close over the past month.
Her questions had also grown less hesitant. "What's it like being a nascent soul realm cultivator? I see you looking around, but I have the feeling the world you see isn't the one I see.
Tobias considered the question and how to answer.
His existence would terrify her if he were to explain it. What he was capable of would horrify her. She was not ready to comprehend his existence or what her daughter would become, but he didn't want to lie to her.
He considered her a friend, a connection he would have for only a few brief decades, and he did not wish to sully that friendship with dishonesty.
"Have you seen a yellow-faced monkey before?"
Hun Jia laughed. "We purchased one for the pavilion. It was a delightful little creature, curious and fun, but it threw its poo at a suitor, so we had to sell it."
"Yellow-faced monkeys seek out food, family, and shelter. They are similar to humans in this regard. The difference between your existence and my own is the same as the difference between you and that monkey."
Hun Jia frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Up to the peak of the core realm, cultivators are mortals, extremely powerful mortals, but still mortals. Once they become nascent soul realm cultivators, they become something else entirely."
"I don't think I follow."
Tobias held out his hand. "This hand is not flesh and blood; it is dao and spiritual energy. It is not a limited existence like yours."
Tobias manipulated his dao, and his hand turned to iron.
"I have studied the dao of iron, and through that study, I have reached enlightenment. Now I can combine that dao with my own and transform my form with it."
Tobias wriggled his iron fingers.
Hun Jia took his hand in hers, and Tobias stopped holding the weight.
Her eyes bulged as she stopped his hand from falling. "It's heavy."
"It's iron."
"But it moves like your hand."
Tobias nodded. "It is both iron and my hand. An impossibility that the mortal form cannot replicate."
"But how?"
"It's because I'm not mortal. I'm not immortal either. I'm in a state of change. I am a being that is becoming something else. Something that is not limited by physical form or the restrictions of this world."
Hun Jia gave Tobias a very measured look. "You're telling me what you can do, not what it's like to be you. Are you afraid to scare me?"
Tobias nodded.
"I understand you can kill a mortal with a wave of your hand."
"That's a misconception."
Hun Jia frowned. "I'm sure you could. I've seen what you can do."
"No. The misconception is that I would need to wave my hand. I can kill mortals with a thought."
Hun Jia sucked in a breath. "Excuse me."
"I said I can kill mortals with a thought. Most do not figure out how to do this until they reach the sage real, but I have."
"That's terrifying."
"It is, but it's also not something you need to worry about. It's difficult for us to pay attention to mortals. Unless you do something to draw that attention, we will ignore your existence."
"Because we are little more than monkeys to you."
Tobias nodded.
"You don't seem to have a problem paying attention to mortals."
"My dao is more tied to the mortal world than most. It makes it much easier for me to acknowledge your existence. Many would prefer that I not be able to do so, but a magistrate is based in the mortal world."
"Is that why you dealt with the bandits who attacked Blossom Genji's home?"
"Yes."
"You still haven't explained what your existence is like, only what you are capable of."
"True. But I've given you the context you need to understand what I'm about to say. Being a nascent soul realm cultivator means walking through life with few surprises. From the Silver Blossom Pavilion, I can see the entirety of what is going on in Ming City. I can tell you how many hairs are on everyone's head. I can name all their physical ailments and the shape of their bodies down to the last blemish."
Hun Jia stared at Tobias. "Do you know what I look like unclothed?"
Tobias nodded.
Hun Jia laughed, which was the opposite of how most reacted. "Is that why your disciple called you a deviant when we met?"
Tobias laughed with her. "No."
Hun Jia's laughter died out, but she kept smiling. "And yet you know what I look like unclothed."
"I cannot help it."
Hun Jia smirked. "Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?"
Tobias laughed again. "You can take it however you wish, but perhaps you should hear the reason first."
"I'm ready to hear all sorts of justifications."
Tobias smiled. "When a core realm cultivator brushes someone with their aura, they see everything about them, which is why it's considered rude to do so. However, it's also difficult not to do, unless you are willing to walk around with the spiritual equivalent of your eyes close, so core realm cultivators must accept that everyone walks around naked."
Hun Jia laughed. "So as far as you're concerned, I'm sitting here naked."
Tobias nodded.
"You make it sound worse for those in the nascent soul realm."
"Everyone learns to retract their aura, so this doesn't happen constantly. However, my eyes are now so sharp that I see between the weaves of fabric. I see both the dress you are wearing and your skin underneath when I look at you. Those in the sage realm see right through you, which is why they have even more trouble noticing mortals."
Hun Jia didn't find this disturbing. She leaned forward with interest. "Why can't you see through my skin?"
"Your spiritual energy prevents me from doing so without active effort."
"What other differences are there?"
"I can read the minds and memories of animals, changing them as I wish. Mortal weapons cannot harm me. I understand the emotions of mortals like they are shouting them at me and can read the surface thoughts if I wish."
Hun Jia smirked. "And what sort of surface thoughts am I experiencing now?"
"It's rude to look into a mortal's mind."
"You have my permission."
Tobias gave Hun Jai his full attention, and the woman before him unravelled, becoming much clearer to him. He laughed. "You are considering moving your arms forward so you can use your biceps to display certain assets, hoping to see if you can make a nascent soul realm cultivator blush. It won't work."
Hun Jia moved her arms the way Tobias had said, giggling the entire time.
Tobias rolled his eyes, but didn't look away, because he could see it would invite more of this behaviour. "I'm in complete control of my body. I must consciously make myself blush for it to happen."
"Then blush for me."
Tobias blushed.
Hun Jai smiled and leaned back. "You don't look at me the way men look at women. I'm nothing but a child dancing around naked to you, right?"
"You live long enough, and you begin to see all mortals as nothing but children. You see their actions and know how their story will unfold. Occasionally, one will surprise you. And when that happens, you find them fascinating, because they are not cut from the same cloth as others."
"What do you do when that happens?"
"You invite them to be your friend, and if they accept, you invite them into your heart. You walk beside them. You share their joys and heartache. And then you part ways, because their life is fleeting."
"That sounds like a very tragic existence."
"It's life. It's what mortal experience. And it's better than the alternative."
"What's the alternative?"
"The alternative is finding someone you could care about and then hardening your heart and walking away. It's refusing to live and merely existing instead."
Hun Jia gave Tobias a very happy smile. "You want to be my friend, don't you?"
Tobias returned the smile. "I would like that very much."