Talents of the Taigao Tribe (1)

Mother Guan had already arrived on the stage before the twins, her face the very mask of discontent, disapproval and disappointment. She gave them both an icy, threatening look that caused them to subconsciously hold onto each other.

This sight, and the echoes of Logean Wuji's vocie that had yet to fade out, caused the children to both fall to their knees. Logean Wuji arrived on the stage at that time, his arms folded behind him as he frowned at them.

"Super Young Master, sir, we didn't mean to attack you specifically! You see, what had happened was that we lost control so-"

"Lie to me again, Ji Tianshan, and I will be forced to reap three souls instead of just yours." Logean Wuji's cold response stunned her to silence. Thinking about his words, she quickly realized who were the other two souls: her brother and her aunt.

"Young Master, please forgive my sister and I. We got carried away and thought that the best way to show off our power was to attack you directly. We are truly sorry for offending you."

Logean Wuji, though moved, remained icy. "What did I just say about lying, Ji Haogui. Do you value your sister and aunt's lives so little?"

Ji Haogui's mouth remained open, but he did not know what to say. 'If I tell him the truth, won't he kill my sister?'

Mother Guan suddenly looked off into the crowd, finding a worried Xun Gu. She kept her expression, but sent a simple spirit transmission. "Don't worry, Xun Gu. Sir Wuji will not harm them."

Ji Tianshan crawled in front of her brother, her eyes brimming with tears but refusing to let them overflow. "It was all my fault. My brother didn't want to, but I convinced him. I even put too much power into it, so we lost control! Please don't punish my brother!" Pleading, looking into Logean Wuji's eyes, Ji Tianshan tried desperately to stop herself from crying.

Logean Wuji's expression suddenly softened and he smiled at her, waving his hand and sending the wind to pick them both up and place them upright before him. He crouched, patting them both on the head and speaking much softer.

"Tianshan, Haogui, you two are extraordinary. However, you need to remember that, no matter the situation, you will only succeed when you act together. Do not be fooled into thinking that fusing together means you are one; it does not."

The children were a bit confused, but once they realized they would not be punished their expressions immediately brightened. Listening to his words, the children realized that their brains hurt just a bit.

"When your spirit bodies fuse in such a way you need an even stronger, more thorough sense of unity. More than anything, you need to achieve a oneness of thought and action. Without that, the fusion is pointless."

After that, he left the stage and the children to Mother Guan. She spoke to them while leading them off the stage, a small smile creeping onto her face. As they left, Old Man Sun prepared to make his move.

With him was the brown haired Ye Zhiyuan, wearing a silvery chiffon dress, leather belt and transparent shoes, This was a huge step up from her previous look, and was provided exclusively by Old Man Sun.

To the side was Ye Zuliao. No longer was he a bumbling drunkard, but a ramrod straight little soldier with a determined expression and a huge mouth. He wore his silk robes like an esteemed royal prince, creating a dignified air. Even his black hair was tied up and held in place with a fancy pin.

Even so, his nose twitched spasmodically and his tongue shot out of his mouth to slide wetly over his lips, caressing them as he fantasized about eating or drinking something.

Finally, and similarly dressed, was Ye Wanshi. He had acquired a pince-nez at some point, wearing it proudly and stylishly. In his hands was a paper scroll, tied with brown strings, seeming quite ancient. His bright amber eyes were full of vigor and confidence, which was his default setting.

Together, they followed Old Man Sun to the stage.

"Greetings, all." Old Man Sun commanded silence with his bass voice, shushing an entire crowd with two simple words. Somewhere in the crowd, a group of freakishly large and simply dressed people saw the three children on stage and started to shout and wave.

"Zhiyuan! Wanshi! Look over here! It's me, Cousin Fu!"

"Wanshi! Zhiyuan! Good luck, okay!"

Ye Zuliao sighed, becoming despondent. It was evident that his fellow tribesmen really weren't holing out much hope for him. Still, he would at least get to eat and drink some nice things very soon.

"Ahem, right then. I am an elder of this village. You may call me Old Man Sun. Children, introduce yourselves."

Ye Zhiyuan nodded, stepping forward to the edge of the brick stage and bowing her head in greeting. "Hello! I'm Ye Zhiyuan!"

Ye Zuliao followed, but when it was Ye Wanshi's turn he struck a pose and markedly adjusted his eyeglasses. "I am called by many names, peons."

Old Man Sun, Ye Zhiyuan, Ye Zuliao and the Taigao tribesmen in the crowd all rolled their eyes, thinking, 'Ah shit, here we go again.'

"Some call me the reincarnation of Solomon. Others say I am a descendant of Shouxing or some other wise deity. The truth is, I am none of those things. I am merely me, the Ye Wanshi."

Though it was clearly all for show, the people couldn't fight the mystifying aura around him from turning him into a peerless expert in their eyes. Although Sun Wukong was a bit of a showoff himself, he could never stand it when other people dared to show off in front of him.

"Ahem, anyway. Take it away children." He walked off of the stage, meeting Father Tang and smiling contentedly.

"So, 'Bai Zihou,' what do you think."

Father Tang heard this and shrugged, "I don't think anything at all, Old Man."

"Oh please," Old Man Sun scoffed, "I know you tried to sabotage Zuliao with that immortal wine. Unfortunately for you, we both underestimated his ability."

Father Tang sighed, folded his arms and closing his eyes. "Indeed. Honestly, I was afraid he would impress Sir Wuji more than Bi Xue would. However, after I saw how things turned out, I'm afraid not even talent like his will be able to top what Bi Xue accomplished. Publicly accepting her as a disciple before the talent show even ended; think your Zuliao can top that?"

Old Man Sun sneered. "We'll see, you old fart."

On stage, Ye Zhiyuan looked up to Logean Wuji and the others, smiling sheepishly. "Um, so um, today I will be demonstrating my magic arts..."

A weak wind blew past, its quiet sound even louder than Ye Zhiyuan's shy voice. A pained expression appeared on the face of an audience member who then said, "Speak up kid! Don't worry, the pedophiles were executed to appease Heaven the other day!"

Ye Zhiyuan, along with everyone else, were silent for a short while. It was true that, during Logean Wuji's evoking of the Omni-Law and his announcement to remain in his new realm, Akna-Logea, the lesser people had thought that Heaven was giving them a divine decree. In their fear, they had performed all sorts of deeds and sacrifices in hopes that they could appease Heaven.

Logean Wuji coughed dryly and sipped his tea, pretending to know nothing about what was happening.

Ye Zhiyuan cleared her throat and steeled herself, finally finding her outside voice.

"Today I will be demonstrating my magic arts! Please advise!"

After that, she slammed her palm together and closed her eyes, focusing on an image of something in her mind. Sitting at the other end of the stage, Ye Zuliao crossed his fingers and cheered for her in his heart, not wanting to disrupt her concentration.

"How boring. It took her 7.001 seconds to perform this technique during practice, so I'm guessing it should take her at least 8.057 seconds to do it here, in front of an audience. Actually, this was still a bit to conservative. After all, Zhiyuan is a pigeon-hearted sook so this is a special case. Look, it's already been 14.579 seconds and she still hasn't done it. How embarrassing."

Ye Wanshi scowled, causing Ye Zuliao to look at him with contempt. "Can't you just be supportive of your fellow tribesman? Sheesh!"

"Heh, you would know ALL about that, Iron Stomach. Keeheeheeha!" Ye Zuliao blushed embarrassedly after hearing that. The memory of him proclaiming this, while drunk, was far too clear in his mind- though he wished it wasn't.

Finally, Ye Zhiyuan let out a shout and spread her palms apart, creating a large space between them. As she widened them, a portal-like space opened up, the borders of which were constantly fluttering and throbbing unsteadily. Yet, from the unstable magical breach in space, three shiny items started to fall out.

Old Man Sun's jaw loosened, almost causing him to remain standing with his mouth wide open in shock. Composing himself, he wiped his mouth and looked on.

Meanwhile, Ye Zuliao was raising his hands into the air excitedly as Ye Wanshi blankly stared at what was happening. "Look at that, Mister Know-It-All. She could only create one at a time during training, but now look at her. That's three divine items at once!"

Ye Wanshi's expression sank even further and he scoffed, "A minor miscalculation, you dullard."

"You're the dullard!"

In the crowd, a number of people started to gasp or cry out in shock. The more those items revealed themselves, the easier it was for them to recognize just what they were.

One of them was a sword with a golden hilt, the blade of which was dripping a thick spiritual liquid. Despite the fact that they were mortals, the stories of things beyond their realm had been passed on through generations. Thanks to the Logean Clan's presence, a lot of the more common stories were told even to the mortals. These had now become, like Logean Wuji, legends and fairy tales to them.

"It can't be... The Blessed Sword of the Lady of the Lake, Excalibur!"

Then the other item came falling out, once again evoking shocked cries and other histrionics.

"AH MA GAWD! LOOK AT THAT THING! WHAT IS IT!?"

"It cannot be! Those sleek, golden curvy prongs... That..."

"Its King Atlan's Trident, the Trident of Neptune! What on earth is it doing here!?"

A shining golden trident stood on the stage, its weight causing the floor around its base to crack. As the dim sunlight hit it, the rays were reflected onto the people in the crowd, proving to them that it was as real as it gets.

Ye Zhiyuan was trembling visibly, but she kept her focus and took a breath, beads of sweat running down the sides of her face. With this burst of effort, the final item came out to stand amongst the others.

"Uh... What's that thing?"

Looking at it, the people in the crowd went from feigned amazement to confusion and then finally to a not-caring-anymore-and-looking-at-the-other-two-items expression.

This weapon seemed to be a kind of metal cylinder with odd buttons and parts that no one recognized. A bizarre pattern looped around it, adding a touch of black to the silver of the metal.

Ye Zhiyuan, who was breathing heavily, brought her hands back together and closed the breach. The minute that she did that, her body suddenly felt relieved- too relieved. She was on the verge of collapse, about to fall when a short figure caught her from behind.

It was none other than Ye Zuliao, come to support his fellow tribesman. As he helped her stand, Ye Wanshi went over to the weird object and pressed a button. With a photonic whir, a blade composed of pure burning light arose, emitting intense waves of heat.

"This is a lightsaber, you dolts," Ye Wanshin grinned.

Seeing her final item being properly displayed, Ye Zhiyuan sighed and closed her eyes. Immediately afterward, the three items faded away from view, vanishing from existence. They required a constant supply of her energy to remain physical, so once she stopped exerting herself they naturally stopped existing.

Logean Wuji's eyes brightened and he placed his teacup on the table, thinking about something.

'There's no doubt about it. That girl, Ye Zhiyuan, has an innate creation ability. I'll definitely learn more about that soon.'