61. The What And The What?

***

"Oh, you are here. I was looking for you," Eun Ji says as she steps into the hut. "You are making pills?"

Tanji raised his head and nods. Before him was a pill cauldron. He was seated on the ground with both hand stretched towards the cauldron, releasing flames. Beside him, to the right was a set of herbal materials and to the left were jade bottles.

"Yes, I need to make as many as I can before the great tide," he replied.

After handing the barrel to the chef yesterday, Tanji entered one of the many huts and began making pills.

Eun Ji looked at him, and didn't know what to say. To be honest she wanted to ask him a lot of things but didn't know where to start from. The lad in front of her was a complicated book that she so wanted to understand.

"You said you were looking for me?"

"Huh? Oh, I wanted to ask if it was okay for me to enter the pool?"

Tanji looks at her and then turns back to the cauldron. "Sure, but don't go below the first feet. Your body isn't like theirs," he replied.

"Alright."

"And ask for a water bead. That's what they use to breathe under water. Hold on, I'm trying to remember what they call it. Hmm, Angami, I think."

"Okay," Eun Ji said. "See you later then."

"Alright."

She stepped out of the hut and Tanji sighs. "I wonder how Hiro, Shin and Mia are doing. With the way things are changing, I hope they are safe."

He exhaled and the flames flowing out of his hand ceased. He opened the cauldron and took out six pills.

"I'm running out of materials," he mutters as he placed the pills in a bottle.

"Lord Tan, the chief sent me to bring you over. There's something you need to see," a voice sounded from outside.

"What is the matter?"

"You should come see for yourself."

Tanji takes a deep breath and exhaled. "Alright, I'm coming." He stands to his feet and steps out of the hut. What greeted him was a huge bird. It looked like an ostrich but had a bigger body, a shorter thick neck, and what looked like a hump on its back. It had blue and white feathers and mane fur around its neck.

Sitting comfortably on it and holding onto its mane tightly was a man. Tanji shook his head slightly. "Not this creature again," he thought.

"Get on, lord Tan."

"I prefer to walk, where is she?"

"She's outside the walls."

"And she's calling me there? No, no, no, why is it happening?" Tanji cried and climbed on the bird. "Go!"

"Kah," the man called out and gently back-kicks the bird, causing it to run. Tanji did his best not to fall off, but it was easier said than done. The bird was moving at a very fast speed.

In no time they arrived at the gate and went through it. The chief and several others were outside gazing to the sky.

Tanji's eyes widened at the sight before him. There were dozens, tens, no hundreds of huge hands tearing the sky and raining down to the ground. In each hand was a person.

He jumps down from the bird and rushed ahead to were the chief stood. "The last part of the prophecy, I told you right," Tanji says. "The great tide is coming sooner than expected. And the waves will come faster too."

He raised his hand and pointed to the distance. In that direction the sky and space beneath it cracked slowly until it reached the ground. "That's the direction of the beast's cage. It's already falling apart."

"What… what do we do?" the chief asked.

"Take everyone that is free and gather as many of those who were dropped from the sky as you can. We would need all the strength we can get."

"You all heard him. Get on a Raka, and go! Anyone who is not in the Takita should go!" the chief yelled and everyone around her rushed into the village. She turned to Tanji and said. "Someone has to stay and protect the village."

"Correct judgement, you are the strongest after all. You are more suited to stay behind."

"Kah," the man cried out and kicked the bird. Immediately, the bird shot away into the forest.

Tanji turned to the sky. The crack was increasing and so were the number of hands dropping people from the sky.

"Hiro, please get stronger quickly. Shin, Mia, please be safe."

…

"Have you finally gotten up?" Hiro hears Hong Xi's voice. "You ended sleeping for almost two days."

He sat up right, and looked at his surroundings. He found himself in a room that had only a bed in it. But he wasn't the only one in the room.

A man with an average build stood in front of him. He was about five feet, ten inches tall and dressed in a long plain brown garment. He was bald, had brown eyes, full eyebrows, a slightly crooked nose and thick lips. If he had a mala bead, anyone would mistake him for a monk.

"How are you?" he said.

"Ah," Hiro bowed his head and cupped his hand. "This junior greets senior Xi."

He smiled at Hiro and said. "The right word should be master, because from today onwards you are my disciple."

Hiro tilts his head at him. "You comprehended a bit of the dao of time," Hong Xi says.

"Oh, I got onto the path of time."

"You could tell it was the path of time? How?"

"I just could."

"Hmm, well yes you did. I felt it when you entered."

"You felt it? How?"

"Haha, unlike other paths, the path of time isn't crowded. I'm sure you saw it there are only a few people."

"Yes," Hiro nods.

"And the reason I felt it is because I have gone so far in the path that I am almost one with it. Unfortunately, I failed to become one with the path of time and failed to escape death."

"Does that means senior is dead?"

"It is hard to explain, but you can say that. After all I am alive on borrowed time."

"Borrowed?"

"Yeah, let's leave that for another day. Sit let us talk," Hong Xi snaps his finger and a small long table appeared between them. On the table was a kettle and two cups. He sits and gestures Hiro to take a seat too.

Hiro sighs and takes a seat. "May I ask what senior wants to talk about?"

"You," Hong Xi replies. "Honestly, you are strange. A human who has strength above his number level without skills, techniques, tricks or a strengthened body is strange."

"Skills? techniques…? Um… tricks? Strengthened body? What does senior mean?"

Hong Xi turns the content of the kettle into the cups and drink from a cup before answering.

"I watched your fight in my maze. You didn't use any special skills or martial art techniques. The only thing special was that spirit flame and you mainly used it against a large number of beasts. So I am curious, what are you?"

He squints his eyes at Hiro and continues. "Your blood says you are at least ninety six percent human and four percent a divine beast. So you are definitely a human. However you can cultivate this energy, have a crazy healing ability that isn't human, have a very powerful eye pupil that doesn't match your low realm, have a strong strength, capable of taming a strong spirit flame, even though it seemed to be dying, and a great cultivation speed. These things I listed are heavenly defying already."

Hiro blinks at him and says. "Is that so?"

"Of course. This energy is the same energy the divine beasts cultivated to purify their bloodlines and grow stronger, you should understand what that means."

"Hmm? I think I do."

"It means, as long as you purify the divine beast's blood in you, there is a chance of becoming a full divine beast one day. Though it may take a very long time."

"I see."

"We have deviated. Tell me everything about you. I want to determine your origin."

"Hmm, that would be hard even for you senior."

"Try me. My knowledge is more vast than the sea and ocean."

"Haha, okay senior."

"Is something funny!?" Hong Xi's voice resounded and the walls shook.

"No, no. The thing is, currently in the outside world humans and beasts are fighting. There seem to be several battle fields, I didn't really bother about how many. Well, I woke up in one of them, with no memory of anything, fought and was heavily wounded by something they called an ancestor level beast…"

"An ancestor level beast? What is that?" Hong Xi asked.

"The strongest level beast in the outside world."

"Hmm, you don't know about divine beasts so it can't be a sacred level beast. Then a monarch level beast, the beast equivalent to the emperor realm?"

"The what now?"

"The emperor realm, the highest realm humans have reached."

"Never heard of it, what I know is the ancestor realm."

"Name the various levels you know."

"Hmm, the body tempering realm, the foundation establishment realm, the core formation realm, the nascent soul realm and the ancestor realm."

Hiro could see Hong Xi's eyes twitch nonstop. He watched as Hong Xi refills his cup before taking a sip from it.

"So the ancestor realm is after the soul realm? That means you speak of the Ascension realm? The realm were one completely surpasses the mortal existence and tries to be renewed. If he succeeds, he will become a sage, if he doesn't he would either remain there or fall back to the peak of the soul realm."

"The what and the what?"