Chapter 142: The Inevitable Troubles Have Finally Arrived

The old man sitting beside An noticed his strange, almost dazed expression and misunderstood it, assuming he had reacted that way to his story.

Nodding, Old Oluye continued.

“Exactly. You were lucky. They take you in from childhood and keep you isolated from the outside world. You have no idea what kind of hell can sometimes be found out there...”

He suddenly glanced around to make sure no one could overhear him, then lowered his voice.

“My grandfather used to say that the world we live in is nothing more than a training ground for the true heirs of the great clans and families. And a prison for those who failed, the heirs who didn't live up to expectations... Over hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years... the population of our planet grew from these unwanted, discarded heirs and their followers. And now the branches of the great clans treat them as their property... eh...”

The two fell silent.

An had heard everything the old man said, but he was still focused on trying to understand the strange paradox surrounding his thoughts about the novel.

With no wind to carry it away, the old man's thick tobacco smoke hung around them.

Baldi was listening too, but without paying much attention. He simply inhaled the smoke he liked through both his beak and nostrils at once.

‘It's like I can almost grasp this thought, like I can piece it together... But the moment I try to pull at it, the moment I put even the slightest effort into it, the thought falls apart without leaving anything behind... It's irritating.’ Giving up, An turned back and lowered his eyes to the book.

“Don't worry. If all the fictional stories I read in the sect are anything to go by... Sooner or later, some so-called Hero will appear and set things right. The rich will suffer, and the poor will get their fill.”

“Ho... If only such a time would come. Perhaps the world really would change.” The old man reached toward the bird, first glancing at An to see if he minded. Seeing that the young man couldn't care less, he began stroking the rooster, who didn't resist now that the source of the smoke was closer.

“No. The world wouldn't change. It would merely turn upside down. The poor would become rich, establishing their own clans and families in memory of their ancestors because they were afraid of ever ending up at the bottom again. And the former rich families and clans would become the new class of peasants and slaves... Then they would start waiting for their own Hero, who would turn the world upside down again, restarting the same cycle over and over...”

An began writing runes with energy in front of himself, experimenting with different sequences.

Watching the runes take shape directly in the air, the old man tried not to miss a single detail.

“Then what do you think should happen? What would have to happen for the world to change so that, supposedly, everyone could be ‘happy’?”

“Everyone being happy? I don't think that's possible. Every person considers themselves unique, the center of the universe, and that's exactly why a perfect world is impossible... You could only... Hmm.”

An began working faster, inserting dozens of connections into the chain while trying to calculate how to reduce its future energy consumption.

“You could only what?” The old man wouldn't let it go, promptly pressing him with another question before An could change the subject or steer the conversation elsewhere.

“Destroy everything. All life, every planet, every world. Everything. The air, the molecules, even Qi... Then create everything again from scratch, giving the recreated world everything it needs at the same time. Recreate every human, beast, and creature, and give them all the same opportunities. That way, the entire world of creation could, in principle, exist like a scale with millions of different pans, each one constantly seeking balance... Of course, this method would create an enormous number of problems of its own, but it's a rough starting point.”

Having finished the rune chain, An compressed it down to the size of a walnut and began creating a new one.

“Then... That's radical, I'd even say too cold-blooded... But what about people? Wouldn't their thoughts and impulses have to be altered just like the world itself, so that this strange balance could be maintained?”

Resting his chin on his hand, the old man frowned as he looked over An's shoulder at the rune chains.

“No. Those very thoughts and impulses would be what maintained the balance, because people would be afraid of ending up among the pans that no longer existed on the scales.”

Having finished the second chain much faster, almost instantly, An reduced it to the same size and placed it beside the first.

Then he immediately began working on the third and fourth.

“Still, that's too cold-blooded. Talking about killing every living thing... Heh! For a second, I even thought you were a follower of the demonic path.”

Shaking his head, the old man nevertheless began thinking about it. He really had felt a coldness and detachment in An's voice. Not toward him, but toward the subject itself, as though it didn't touch his morals or conscience in the slightest. Even cultivators he'd encountered who followed the demonic path had never given him such a strange feeling.

An merely smirked.

“We're all killers... We're willing to kill friends, brothers, sisters, and parents over broken bowls, over old pills that have almost turned to dirt... What's the difference between killing ten cultivators from a hostile sect because the higher-ups of the both sects couldn't agree on who should control a spirit stone vein? Killing several people because someone called the young master you serve an idiot? Killing hundreds of commoners because one of them gave the princess you're obligated to protect and obey a dirty look? Or destroying all life for the sake of a bright future, for your bright future... What's the difference?”

An turned his head, looked into Old Man Oluye's eyes, and spoke slowly. “We're all killers.”

.

.

Thirty-four hours later.

‘Hmm. I still can't figure out how these three consecutive chains work. Their purpose is hidden so deliberately that I simply can't understand what they're supposed to do.’

After copying every rune and all the dozens of chains he'd found on and around the artifact, including those on its power components, An spent the last twenty hours studying three strange chains that made no sense to him.

They didn't work when Qi was supplied to them individually, nor when he supplied Qi to all three at once and tried different combinations.

‘Hmm? Could my luck have finally run out?’ He turned his head and looked into the distance, where two workers were making their way across the deck toward him. One was Old Oluye. The other was a black-haired, blue-eyed young woman.

“Rune master. The captain wanted to know how the repairs are progressing. He also wanted me to warn you that the beasts could attack us at any moment, and our lives depend on this artifact.” She folded her hands respectfully across her chest, bowed her head, and spoke in one breath, her voice carrying both reproach and distrust.

Hearing her tone, Old Oluye sighed softly and shook his head. He didn't blame the girl, only her youth and inexperience.

An looked at them both, smiled, and turned back to the runes in front of him. “It's already too late. They're here.”

Not understanding what he meant, the woman frowned and was just about to ask a question. “Hm? What-”

“ROOOAAR!!”

“ROAR!!”

“GRUAAA!!”

Dozens of terrifying roars echoed from the distance, coming from the dense forests surrounding the ship's crash site.

“W-what is that?!” The young woman nearly jumped in fright at the sudden noise. Together with Old Oluye, she rushed to the railing.

Looking down, they saw that the other ship workers had already received their orders. They were doing everything they could to help the passengers move closer to the ship.

“We have to help them somehow! We need to find a way to get all of them up here as quickly as possible!” The woman shouted, turning toward the old man, then back toward An.

She never expected to see the rune master simply sitting there as though nothing had happened.

“Y-you're just going to sit here? We have to help them!” She took several steps closer to An.

“Hm? How do you think I'm supposed to help them?” An continued studying the runes.

“But you...”

She suddenly fell silent.

The young woman realized that she couldn't sense anything from this rune master at all. Not even the pressure cultivators unconsciously released, which usually gave a rough indication of their cultivation level.

Realizing that it wasn't important right now, she didn't dwell on it. Instead, she turned around, jumped onto the deck, and pulled a sword-shaped flying artifact from the spatial bracelet on her wrist, identical to Old Oluye's.

“Everyone, stay calm! Gather in front of the ship!”

Captain Bongromonte's voice suddenly rang out across the ship.

Looking down, the old man and the woman saw the captain flying through the air toward the ship's underside.

With a single diagonal strike of his hand, he tore a huge hole through it.

The ship immediately let out a terrible groan as a powerful vibration spread throughout its entire structure.

A deafening screech traveled from the very bottom of the ship all the way to the stern, passing through the side where the two of them were standing.

SCREECH!

“AGH!”

“Ugh!”

Both of them covered their ears at the same time, wincing from the pain.

“Ugh! Damn it! I almost went deaf!” Tilting his head to the side, the old man began cleaning his ears, trying to ease the ringing.

“Sergeant Oluye, are you all right?” The young woman recovered more quickly. Although her cultivation was on the same level as the old man's, her much younger body recovered considerably faster.

“Ha! My body may be old and worn out, but I'm still at the peak of Qi Condensation! You little brat!”

Quickly pretending that nothing was wrong, Old Man Oluye straightened up and turned back toward An.

The young man was still sitting in exactly the same position, studying the runes and completely ignoring his surroundings as though nothing was happening. The old man wasn't surprised in the slightest.

He turned back and looked down.

“ROAAR!”

“GUA! GUA!”

Among the trees, already very close to the ship, enormous creatures suddenly emerged. The low trees gave the two of them an unobstructed view of their massive forms.

“W-what are those, Sergeant Oluye?” The woman barely whispered the question, unable to tear her eyes away.

“I don't have the slightest idea...” The old man stared in astonishment, his eyes wide as he gripped the railing.

“They're a subspecies of Sheymen Octopuses, usually called Terra Octopuses.”

An turned his head and studied the Qi flowing from the creatures through the ship. In particular, he focused on one specific beast - a third-rank beast.

Only when the third-rank Terra Octopus drew closer did he sense the anomaly coming from it.

There were two spirit cores inside its body instead of one, as there should have been.

‘Two cores can't exist inside a single creature... A core is formed when a creature begins cultivating, just like a human's dantian. A beast can't cultivate two different cores at the same time, especially cores with conflicting elements. It simply wouldn't possess the intelligence to do that... Unless someone did it to the beast.’

He frowned, realizing that there was a chance this wouldn't end quickly or easily.

“Hey, you two. If you're staying here, then...” He waved his hand, and three identical rune chains instantly formed in the air.

He directed each chain toward one of the three: Baldi, the old man, and the young woman.

Activating the chains, he immediately wrapped all three in transparent membranes.

“What is this?!” The woman tensed immediately. She hadn't even seen what had happened. She only felt the flying runes made of energy appear around her before dissolving into the air as though they had never existed.

The old man wasn't particularly worried. He trusted An.

Baldi didn't pay any attention either. He continued sitting a short distance away on the railing, watching the spectacle below.

“Don't use your Qi, and don't speak too loudly. Then you won't be detectable.”

An stood up, put his book away in his ring, walked to the railing, and leaned against it as he stared into the dense forest.

“Oh, and if you want to go down there, you'd better do it now. You've got at most a minute before they're here.”

The young woman fell silent and, for some reason, found herself staring at An's bare feet.

Frowning slightly, she turned her attention back to the forest, repeatedly looking between the crowd and the trees, nervous and worried about the people below, unsure what she should do.

“What about tobacco? Can I smoke?” The old man pulled his pipe and a small pouch from his bracelet, then froze, staring at the barefoot young man with a strange expression.

An activated his Qi and added several rune connections to the chain surrounding the old man.

Then he nodded, giving him permission.