Wow.
It's been a while since I'd seen them brutalize each other that much. Well, 'each other' was a bit of a lie; it was Long Tao brutalizing the newcomer. There was a time I would have stepped in and stopped him, but judging from Han Yimu's response to the whole thing, I'd be doing so pointlessly.
Besides, I'd learned that, despite how he was on the surface, Long Tao was far from a monster that some of these cultivators were. If he was beating him, he was beating him for a reason. And even if I can't understand that reason, it didn't mean it was a stupid one.
As such, outside of wincing and grimacing on the odd few occasions when the crack of the bone was so loud I would have sworn it was actually the sound of thunder ripping the world apart, I stayed silent and away from it all.
Though the stew was ready in just shy of forty-five minutes as I really let it, well, stew, I waited for a few minutes longer before the 'lesson' finally came to an end. By then, the rest of the kids had gathered around Lao Shun and me and we all watched in collective silence as the proverbial bell rang and Han Yimu was freed from the torture.
One would think, however, judging by his expression as he joined us that he'd just been dancing with the hottest girl in the club of the past hour. Okay, maybe he wasn't that happy or proud, his his gaze was clear and his lips were faintly curled up.
"You endured that, too?" at some point during the meal, the conversation drifted to the fact that everyone had endured Long Tao's 'lessons'. That question was aimed at little Feng who replied after swallowing a mouthful of rabbit meat.
"Hm!" he nodded. "Every day, one hour, for weeks. At first, it hurt. Then it didn't hurt as much. But brother Tao saw that it wasn't hurting as much, so he started beating me harder again. He he" is that really something that warrants a 'hehe'?!
"Ah, I remember when I met brother Tao for the first time," Wan Lan said. "I thought he was some brat Master picked up out of pity. I didn't think that for long, though."
"Really? When I first met him, I thought he was kind of cute," Dai Xiu said, leaning back. "In an ugly kind of a way, though." Long Tao winced in the corner, drinking something.
"How did the two of you meet, Master?" Rayce asked. "I don't think I ever heard the story."
"Me neither!" Xing Feng.
"Ooh! Oh--was it that brother Tao was fighting against some bad cultivators and Master chanced upon it and saved him?!" that was Dai Xiu. Ah, yes, me saving Long Tao. A day may come, but it hasn't yet.
"Ho ho, no, nothing quite amazing like that," I said. "It was the enrollment day for our sect, back in the day. I was sitting there, not being chosen by anyone. Until it was his turn. In front of the entire crowd, he boldly said he'd become my Disciple."
"Ooh!"
"Everyone, even Elder Qin urged him to reconsidered due to my... uh, reputation. But he ignored them."
"Ah, he must have known that you were amazing, Master," Xi Zhao said.
"Ho ho, did he? I'm fairly certain he only chose me because he thought he could do whatever the hell he wanted without any oversight."
"So, it really was just a chance encounter?" Lao Shun asked.
"Weren't all our encounters by chance?" I said with a shrug. "The reason I found Dai Xiu was because I just heard of this place in the sect where the 'discarded' kids lived. Or Xi Zhao--I still remember him looking at me like I was a plague when I handed him the fixed variant of his martial art. I honestly just wanted to test something for a bit; not for a second did I think he would crawl up to my peak and beg me to take him in as a Disciple."
"Wow." Lao Shun exclaimed softly, though still looked kind of unconvinced. I mean, I get it; considering the roster of kids I've got, he must think I've ripped them from some treasure trove of talents.
"He he," Light suddenly chuckled. "I'm different than all of you."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"Master didn't find me--I found him! He he~" alright, but why do you look so smug about it?
"... ugh. You just go lucky." Dai Xiu said.
"Nuh-uh. From the day I met him, I knew he was... different." the day I met her flashed through my mind; I had a major panic attack, from what I recall, when I read through her status window. Nearly shat my pants, too.
Aah.
I've come such a long way...
"Unlike other adults, he didn't care how I talked to him."
"Ah, yes," Dai Xiu nodded. "I noticed that too. I could yell and I could chirp and he would never reprimand me."
"That's because Master is kind," Wan Lan said. "If it were me, I would have beaten you into silence."
"Yes, yes, we know, you wild woman. Is there anything in the world you won't first try and solve with your brutish fists?"
"Don't start, you two," Rayce, surprisingly, came between the two of them. "We are having a nice moment. No matter how it happened, what matters is that we either chose or were chosen by the greatest Master in the world."
"That's true."
"Only the blind will think otherwise."
"..." alright, I'm getting major first and second-hand embarrassment from this shit. I really thought I was over it, finally. But... apparently not.
"Alright, if you've all had your fill and chatted enough," Long Tao suddenly spoke up. "Go beat each other for a bit. I need to ask Master something."
"... little Xiu, let's go see if my fists are the only thing I know how to use."
"Ugh. Fine, fine..."
"Brother Zhao, can you please look at my sword form?"
"Of course, little Feng. Come on."
"Uncle Alchemist, can you help me with my ink formula? I'm having some trouble with it."
"Yes, yes..."
"New guy, can you fly?" Light asked confused Han Yimu as the other kids dispersed.
"Uh... no?"
"Heh," she looked at him smugly. "I can. Want me to show you?"
"... sure."
"Let's go."
And, just like that, it was me, Long Tao, the bird on the top of my head, and the statue of a hunchback pointing at Long Tao from the side. He put away the bottle, drew in the air with his fingers for a moment, and finally spoke up.
"There's one place we should visit before going to the Island," oh boy. Is this another one of his side-quests that will take us two years to finish?
"Where?"
"Heavenly Void Range," he said. "To see about a pup we left behind."
"..." huh? Pup? What--aaah! The tiger! Shit, I totally forgot! Okay, it's a side-quest that will probably not take us two years. I kinda put him out of my head once we met the 'King' of that place and I nearly shat myself, but... we do have one beast companion; may as well start stacking them bright and early, especially since the little phoenix has been begging for a method all this while. Two birds (or one bird and one tiger, at least) with one stone and all.
END OF VOLUME V
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter (& the volume) ^^As always, it's mostly for my internal tracking; we're kicking off from the same place tomorrow in the next volume. See ya' :)