Lil' Peashooter

The stage was, once again, vacant. After the previous display, a lot of people who had planned to go up were now convinced that they should not.

Eventually, a gangly young man climbed onto the stage, sweating profusely by the time he was able to pull himself up. The guards exchanged glances of secondhand embarrassment but said nothing, even the people in the crowd were cringing and trying to look away.

The young man had multicolored braids in his hair, and when he opened his mouth there was clearly a large amount of thin meshed wire wrapped around his teeth for style. He pulled up his sleeves, showing off the faded images he had drawn on his arms with charcoal and writing ink.

After making a show of biting his lips and dragging his wire-teeth along them, he shrieked. "Yow! That shit hurt!"

Someone in the crowd sneezed, which evoked more of a reaction than the young man on stage could possible have.

"Oi, oi! Watch where you point that blaster, okay?"

"Yeah! We don't want to catch something. Jeez!"

"Sorry, guys, I think it might be allergies. I'm really so sorry." A young woman responded, covering her face with her handkerchief and apologizing hastily. The men that had chastised her just now became pale with regret and let out loud harrumphs.

"Ah, no, I apologize. I should have watched where I was standing. Please, feel free to sneeze all ov- I mean, feel free to sneeze whenever you want. Heh heh!"

Seeing his fellow accomplice earnestly apologizing, the other guy surreptitiously punched himself in the balls, grimacing and wincing as tears filled his eyes. With a breaking voice, he said, "I'm truly sorry, fair maiden. I deserve to suffer the fire of ten thousand hells for daring to claim this was your fault. You are well within your rights to ...punish me."

The crowd was more bothered by those two thirsty men than they were with the young man on stage. He had to loudly clear his throat in order to bring the attention back onto him, then he smiled and waved.

"What's good, y'all? My name is Xiao Wanshou, but you can call me Lil' Peashooter if you wish, you-already-know."

Once again, the people cringed and hurriedly tried to look away out of embarrassment for him.

"Anyway, I'm here to spit some bars for y'all so listen up. Can I get a beat?" He sent the request out for anyone, but no one responded. He began to worry that no one would provide a beat for him, and this almost sent him into a frenzied, hyperventilating panic.

Logean Wuji came to his rescue, waving his hand and crafting a different bamboo flute then tossing it toward the stage. It soon halted its descent on its own, floating in the air and beginning to play itself.

A series of short, blast-like, notes were played in quick succession, providing the perfect kind of beat for Xiao Wanshou. He started to 'bop' to the music, performing a series of mini-squats and nodding his head repeatedly while saying, "uh," rhythmically.

His face lit up once he got into the beat that flute was 'putting down,' and he let out a little laugh. His entire act was dependent on whether or not a beat was able to be provided. It would not be inaccurate to say that, without a beat, his talent would be trash in the eyes of the locals.

He was quite used to their negative reactions as well, but this was his opportunity to be recognized by a superhero-like existence. Someone who lived above the mortals that did not understand his style. If anyone would get him, he thought, it would be Logean Wuji.

The people in the crowd were heavy on the skepticism at first, but they slowly got into the music coming from the flute. Some of the sounds did not even sound like flute sounds, yet they were clearly coming from Logean Wuji's magic flute. Maybe it was because Logean Wuji had provided the music, but some of the people also started to emulate Lil' Peashooter's dance moves.

Very soon, a lot of the younger and more nimble people were 'bopping' as well.

"Yeah, uh, yeah! Uh, yo, yeah!" Finally, Lil' Peashooter got wound up and put his hand to his mouth as if he were holding an object in it.

"I'm Lil Peashooter named Xiao Wanshou, Sir Wuji wound me up now watch me go! I'm the original rapper, show-stopping MC. Can't cultivate but I got a lotta qi's (cheese), huh!" With each word he delivered, his free hand would rapidly jerk back and forth, as if he was delivering the words of the most important argument of his life.

"Where, in this world, can I be free? To perform, to live, to write and be believed- I concede, not even my family had faith in me! But I digress, sometimes having more is worse than having less, unless we're talking money, then you best believe I'm about to collect!"

More than half the crowd was jumping along with him, surprised at how naturally it all seemed to come together. Logean Wuji did not know whether to laugh or cry, and he was not the only one. The village elders, Ye Hong and Ling Ji'er, even two youngsters sitting atop a house with a boy-shaped imprint in it.

Lil' Peashooter continued, feeling hyped and gassed up by his audience for the first time in his life.

"Come at me, fool, you already know I got the tool," he said while making a gesture with his hands that no one recognized.

"I'm well equipped to blast ya to the past, so stay cool, uh!"

Finally, the beat switched up a bit and got a lot faster. However, he seemed to have been expecting this as a flurry of words came out of his mouth faster than most people could process them.

"I'll show you all what I got, while I'm in my spot. Leave you all slack-jawed and awed, a lot. Make up for the time of my life that I wasted, payback for all the blood that I tasted. Now enter the dragon, AKA my space, surrender your passion or get shot into space, uh! I'mma go before Sir Wuji gotta cut the beat, here's my back just in case you wanna follow me!"

The beat then instantly cut and Lil' Peashooter struck a pose, folding his arms and bending his body. The ones who were 'vibing' with him erupted into cheers and shouted his name in unison.

"Xiao Wanshou! Lil' Peashooter!"

"Xiao Wanshou! Lil' Peashooter!"

"Xiao Wanshou! Lil' Peashooter!"

Xiao Wanshou was stunned, taken aback and in utter disbelief. Never in his wildest dreams did he think something like this was possible for him to achieve. When he imagined it back home in his shack, he pictured around three or four people just cheering weakly, afraid to express their true emotions.

In this world, where culture mattered more than a lot of things, his style was shunned and seen as an abomination- a mockery of the arts. His parents had said this, his friends had broke off all relations with him and no one would even hire him for day-jobs anymore. Even so, he never stopped dreaming and believing in himself, especially when no one else did.

That he could stand atop a stage now, looking down at dozens upon dozens of adoring fans, was- without a doubt- all thanks to Logean Wuji. Shedding a tear, Xiao Wanshou looked up at Logean Wuji and mouthed the words, 'thank you,' sincerely.

Soon enough, he left the stage and went somewhere to take a breather. Quite a lot of the younger females found him afterward, giving him jade slips on which were inscribed their credentials. This would allow him to send spirit transmissions to them, which was, in a sense, magical text messaging.

Logean Wuji recalled the flute and then returned it to nothingness in his hands. As for Ye Hong and Ling Ji'er they were looking at him strangely for a bit.

"What is it, you two?"

"Ah, well, you see..."

"Ye Hong wants to know why you seemed to show an interest in Lil' Peash- I mean, Xiao Wanshou's talent." Ling Ji'er took advantage of Ye Hong's pause to throw all the responsibility onto him. If Sir Wuji became offended, he would surely take offense with Ye Hong now.

"Isn't it obvious? Just look at those people. They loved it. When have you ever seen the locals so ...'turnt up,' so to speak."

Ye Hong and Ling Ji'er stroked their nonexistent beards, counted fingers and muttered random things.

"Let's see...."

"....carry the one..."

Logean Wuji chuckled and stopped their madness, "It doesn't matter how long it's been. What's important is that he is able to entertain them today. If he can continue to do that, it's entirely possible that he will, singlehandedly, advance this society and usher in a new era of music to the realm."

Ye Hong and Ling Ji'er were both taken aback, finding his words to make a great deal of sense. Unfortunately for Ling Ji'er, Ye Hong was the first to say, "As expected of Sir Wuji. Your every action is filled with insightful wisdom."

She could compliment Sir Wuji now, but it would lack the flavorful effect that Ye Hong's had. She could only pout and say nothing, looking down at the stage and who would be next to come up.

The people were still going on and on about how awesome Lil' Peashooter's performance was, trying their best to relive it and also sharing details of their favorite parts. Seeing that no one else was coming up, the hooded figure finally made a move.

Gouki who, with his students, was standing near the statue, looked on curiously at this secretive person.

A wave of summer heat filled the air all of a sudden, silencing the chatter and drawing everyone's gaze back to the stage. Directly above it, the hooded figure levitated within the loop of a flying ring of blue fire, surveying the crowd.

In a single, smooth motion, they pulled the cloak off of them and tossed it into the air where it quickly combusted, burning to nothing but molecules of ash. A blonde haired girl, her hair tinted with red tips, stared blankly at Logean Wuji.

"Greetings to Sir Wuji," she bowed as her figure descended and the flames were extinguished, showing her respect toward this mighty figure. Logean Wuji nodded, only then realizing that the others had failed to pay their respects to him and coughing dryly, overlooking it this one time.

After all, passions were high during this time and sure to erupt.

The girl was wearing a sturdy looking set of light, black and gold armor with a signature flame symbol on the chest plates. The minute someone in the distance saw this flame symbol, their shout shook the plaza and a biting cold rose up against the heat, easily driving it away and replacing it with the frigidness of winter.

"Yan Yinshao! You dare show your face outside of the Yama Clan!" In a streak of scintillating, bright blue light, Bi Xue all but teleported toward the stage and landed with a burst of cold energy that caused those closest to the stage to shiver. Aside from the village elders, who were taken by surprise, everyone else was sneezing, hugging themselves or trying to hug others and shivering.

"Bi Xue, traitorous scum of the earth! If I don't kill you now, my name isn't Yan Yinshao!"

Logean Wuji's smiled thinned, almost vanishing but remaining just beneath the surface.

'Now I can see just how far you've come, Bi Xue. I may owe you one now though. I took it upon myself to send Yan Yinshao a 'dao-message of heaven and earth,' telling her that the path forward in her cultivation led to this village. Heh-heh!'

'If you win, I'll be sure to pay you back for entertaining me.'