Before the old man's shout even faded fully, the kids that were with him leapfrogged the distance between them and Light, falling to their knees and shouting the exact same phrase in the exact same tone.
I wasn't terribly shocked that they recognized her; not only was her current appearance broadly similar to her original one, but I imagine there's some kind of a 'innate' switch that lets the members of the Cult know when they're in the presence of their leaders and whatnot.
However, though they prostrated themselves on the ground in full display of subservience... Light remained silent. Her gaze was kind of bereft of much else but slight surprise; all in all, I'm fairly certain that Wan Lan has a deeper bond to the concept of Demonic Cult than Light has. To her, it was all about her parents--anything beyond that, as I kind of glimpsed in her memories, was kind of a blur...
"How can you recognize me?" she asked after an awkwardly extended silence.
"Even if my eyes were gouged out and my ears ripped and my nose jammed with a pillar of stone, I could have recognized the Great Princess, her darkness of one! Though the rumors swirled, I dared not believe them. But to think you were alive... there may yet be hope for the great Cult!"
Though he probably didn't mean much by it, being burdened didn't seem to sit well with Light. Before she could say whatever she was going to say--and knowing her lack of filter, it was not going to be nice--I interjected.
"While a touching reunion and all, we aren't here for that," I said. "But rather to see whether we can be of help. Don't you have members of the Holy Lands pursuing you?" the man's expression as he looked at me was... well, if looks could kill and all. He probably loathed that some little tit like me interjected in the grand reunion, but did well enough to hold himself back.
"... we don't need any help. Certainly not from someone like you," he said. "Now that the Princess is here, we can tunnel away while you lot buy us some time. Princess, we should--e-eh? P-Princess...? Is, is everything alright?"
Welp, he committed a cardinal sin according to these kids--he was marginally (but not really) mean to me. Even Wan Lan's expression darkened beyond the night as the kids looked ready to commit murder. Knowing it was likely to come to that, I quickly stepped in.
"Just presume I've used some brainwashing art on them," I said. "And behave accordingly. Now, tell me: how many are chasing you?"
"You used--"
"--this is the last time I'll step in," even I grew tired and annoyed as we really didn't have time for this shit. "One more word out of your mouth that isn't an answer to my question, and I'll suddenly enjoy the distant mountains while you enjoy the last few breaths of your life. So, use whatever last few specs of intellect you have in yourself to think really carefully about what your next words are going to be."
He was about to explode onto me when one of the kids behind him suddenly grabbed his shoulder, prompting him to pause. Before he could say anything, that same kid--a late-teen boy from the looks of it--spoke up.
"Apologies, Senior," he said. "Master Bo has grown weary from protecting us and shocked from having met the Princess. Best we could tell," man, this kind is one smooth talker, especially considering he was still holding onto 'Master Bo' who looked so red in the face from anger he would pair quite nicely with that spewing volcano in the distance. "It was two Elder-state Warships, both composed of around a hundred people each."
... hm? Wait a fuck.
What do you mean a hundred people each? Are you telling me there are two hundred people currently on your ass?!!
"There were about ten to twenty Elder figures, with the rest being Disciples." right. Well, now I know why it's 20,000 points.
No, wait, scratch that shit--why is it just 20,000 points?! Should you add another 0 to that shit, system? We're talking two hundred martial artist with at least ten Elder-level figures, which probably means that even the weakest among them was at the Demigod Realm, and I'd be shocked if there wasn't at least one True God Realm cultivator among them.
Though we are plenty strong, this wouldn't be a damn tournament or something, but a fight for our life... and we will never win it. Discarding whether Elders participated at all or not, I'm fairly certain even if their Disciples just swarmed us like a locust horde, we'd still stand no chance.
"... how badly will we be fucked if we use, uh, that?" I turned to Lao Shun and asked. It took him a moment to realize what I meant--the reversal array.
"Considering that they've put together a force of two hundred to hunt--no offense--this," he gestured toward the big ol' Bo and the kids. "It's probably not as simple as 'we must kill the remnants of the Cult'. If I were a gambling sort, I'd wager that, due to the all the happenings recently, they are being extremely careful with their most precious Disciples. That is why they've sent double-digits Elders: form of sanctuary protection under the guise of an external mission."
"..." he stayed silent afterwards. "That still didn't answer my question."
"If we get caught, we'd be no different than them," he said. "Public enemy number one. Because we will have crippled the entirety of the Holy Lands' futures."
"Huh," I said, stroking my chin.
The few times I interacted with the members of the Holy Lands... weren't actually all that awful. I mean, yeah, we were looked down on and talked down to, but that's just sort of par for the course. I mean, that guy staring deathly daggers at me did the same just now.
So, deciding to unilaterally kill two hundred people--most of whom were literal children--did not still well with me. While I can (and I can't believe I'm even thinking this) excuse an occasional 'murder of convenience' for points or rewards and such, this was simply too much.
Besides, it may be the petty bitch inside of me, but I'm far less inclined to help these guys now that I've met them than I was like ten minutes ago.
"We'll get you to the mountains," I said, pulling out the chariot; though the fit would be tight, we'd all be able to get in there. I'll drive them to the mountains and drop them off there while we scurry away. "Afterwards, you'll be on your own."
"... you really think you're somebody?" aah. If only people would take my kindness and shut up. Wouldn't the world be sunshine and rainbows? "You loach swarming the Princess! Even if I incur Her Grace's loathing, I must cull you lest you become a parasite that will doom her!"
Though I didn't inspect him, I did immediately pick up on the fact that he was a Demigod. I'm not quite sure when I stopped being instinctively terrified of that, but it's happened, for sure. Especially because he was on his own.
As such, when darkness and shadows swarmed him and he disappeared, I didn't panic--unlike the kids. I drew out something I hadn't used in a long, long time--Blossoming Blade--and struck whilst trying to imbue the attacks with my infant-level understanding of the Space Dao.
Three strikes shot out in the blossoming arcs of colors, twisting space around it, while the opposite energy settled into the blade, charging the crystals embedded in the handle. The twisting attacks sheathed the darkness and pushed him backwards some forty yards, surprising everyone--even me, to be honest. I knew I'd gotten stronger, but I thought I'd be able to fight him to a draw, at best. Not push him forty yards back with a rather casual stroke.
... yo.
Did I become, like, uber strong or something?
Nah. It's likelier that guy is simply pretty weak, on top of being exhausted from running away for so long.
But sheesh. I sure did feel cool doing it, regardless. Especially considering how the kids looked at me after the fact. As if they needed more zeal... oh boy. Is it better that I don the mantle of the pathetic, weak Master again? No, come what may, I'll try to be the cool and suave sort of a Master, that cleverly avoids all fights that will make him deeply uncool and un-suave.
Hah. What a perfect plan that is for sure never going to backfire...
Small correction on the yesterday's chapter: I indicated that MC only had enough materials for 1 use of the Reversal Array left, but he actually has enough materials for two. Anyway, hope you've enjoyed the today's chapter & see you tomorrow ^^